Back on the Blogging... Horse

Well hello there crafty friends!! I haven't blogged in about 4 years and I'm happy to say I'm officially back at it! Today I'll be sharing a card I made a little while ago using fun products by Lawn Fawn and Mama Elephant I made this card for the Physical Therapists who helped my 14 y/o son with recovery after a tragic accident on Thanksgiving that left him with two broken femurs (surgery followed along with lots of PT). He's a lot better thanks to so many amazing men and women (doctors, therapists, etc) and I had to create a little something to show our appreciation. I love the Disney movie Chicken Little - and wanted to create a card based on that theme!

For this card I took a piece of Bristol card stock and inked it up with Distress Oxides and then flicked on some water and Finetec Watercolor to create the look of stars/night sky. The alien images/dies are Lawn Fawn's Beam Me Up and the Chickadee is Mama Elephant's Favor Bag Accessories Chickie Dies - the sentiment involved a bit of cutting (GASP!) of various Pretty Pink Posh sentiments (Encouraging Greetings Stamp Set & Thoughtful Greetings Stamp Set) along with Lawn Fawn's Violet's ABCs (I adore these alphas!!!). Added a few accents with a white gel pen and this baby is done! Thanks for checking it out and I hope you have an amazing day!!

Sharing Handmade Kindness!

Hi guys! My first blog post in over a year! Wow. I wanted to get started back up with the acceptance of a challenge over on Jennifer McGuire's Blog. Even though I haven't posted on my blog in the past year, I've been actively making cards all this time, just haven't had (taken?) the time to post about them. Anyway, cards are my go to way of showing others that I care. I love making them, but mostly I love the fact that randomly receiving them makes someone smile. This challenge is right up my alley :). I hope you'll consider participating and linking up as well - and I'd love to see what you create. So, I've been watching Kristina Werner's ink smooshing videos a lot and have just fallen in love with this technique! The set of cards I'm sharing today, all use this technique with various Distress Ink colors and they all have variations of this Mama Elephant stamp set (which is SO wonderful - and versatile). I'm sending a set of these to a friend overseas. Her husband is in the Navy and they are currently stationed over in Italy - which is wonderful - but can also be really hard for a new mama with 2 little boys and no family or friends nearby. I wanted to make her smile and brighten her day. Hopefully a bunch of these cuties will do the trick!

Thanks for peeking & I hope you spread some kindness today as well!!

WCMD Mini Book Challenge

Is this not the best day ever - World Card Making Day ROCKS!! I am so inspired I can hardly help myself! I've got another post over on the CC2G Blog - This one is to make a mini book! If you've never tried to make one, you must rectify that immediately! They're a great way to start scrapbooking - but as I'll share today - not JUST for scrapbookers. So, I wanted to share a fun idea I saw on Pinterest. We all know that Ashley Cannon Newell is amazingly talented right? Well, she has a FANTASTIC tutorial on how to make a mini book/card set. Go check it out, I'll wait. The video itself is just flawless. You know, some videos when you go to create your own version of the project - it just ends up...off...somehow. Sizing doesn't quite work, you've got to tweak things... it doesn't quite come out how the person in the video's project did - technique wise (does this happen to anyone else - or just me?!?). Rest assured crafty girls - that will not happen to you with this tutorial. Flawless I'm telling you. Here is my take on this awesome project.

Here is a pic of all of the cards in this mini book:

Then here is another that is a bit different.

and then this is the set of cards included with this mini book:

On this 2nd mini book, I only used kraft paper to construct it, then just embellished the covers. I thought it would be too "plain" but that's not the case at all! The cards are so fun that they add the fancy it needs :) Cute right - and very easy. I kept my pages "clean" or plain (just like Ashley did in her video). That way the cover of the mini and the cards were the stars of this show :). Each pocket includes one card and a standard A2 envelope. I love the prospect of gifting it to someone as a card set, but encouraging them to use it as (or maybe give it to some one to use it as) as a mini "scrapbook" or picture holder afterward. Each pocket can fit about 10 pictures comfortably - which means this can hold up to about 50 pictures and is a great gift for peeps with kids in their lives. Give one of these to Grandma and after she's used all of the cards, she can fill it up with pictures and whip this baby out of her purse and show off her grandbabies in the blink of an eye! Anyway, I've made 4 of these in the past 5 days! It's THAT kinda easy and they are so much fun. I have big plans for these adorable mini books - I'm thinking Teacher Appreciation Day, friend's birthdays, etc. These are going to make lovely gifts. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed that. I can't WAIT to see the minis you all come up with. Won't you play along with me?!?

WCMD Mixed media Challenge

I'm back again with another CC2G WCMD Challenge!! This one is hosted by the fabulous Tiff and I was super excited about it too! I love incorporating mixed media into my cards. Even if it's just mashing some guesso into the background or using a stencil with some plain white molding paste. Mixed media can mean SO many things - and all of them are just fantabulous! Here are my cards:

So what I've done is made a little card set using a variety of acrylic paint, masks and mists to create backgrounds/card bases. (I mean, I made a BUNCH of them - it was glorious - see!!!)

Then I stamped/heat embossed them with one of my most adored stamps ever by Christy Thomlinson. I just feel so empowered when I see this image. Will you be playing along with us? I'd love to see your mixed media projects!

CC2G WCMD Photo on a Card Challenge!!

Happy World Card Making Day crafty friends!! I am so excited to be hosting this challenge over on the CC2G Blog today! Aren't all the challenges so fun?!? So many talented ladies on this DT! Do you ever add photos to your cards? I've seen this wonderfully done on Pinterest and was excited to give it a try. Ok, so sometimes I post random pictures on Instagram/Facebook of rainbows, rainy days, the sun bursting through the clouds (does everyone else do this too?). I get so inspired by the sky. God is just seriously amazing - and I feel WONDER when I look up. I wanted to add that - a little wonder - to my cards ;). So in case you don't know about them, let me share, there is a lovely company (SocialPrintStudio ) that I use to print my Instagram photos. If you don't "know" them yet, you need to get on that. The photos are amazing quality - thick, sturdy, beautiful photos (and pretty dang cheap as well!!!). The last time I placed an order with them, I added a bunch of my Insta pictures of the sky - so I was VERY excited about this challenge!! Here are the cards I created:

For both of these cards I went deep into my stash and got out some patterned paper I hadn't played with in a while. Paired that with my Lawn Fawn Polaroid die, American Crafts Polaroid die, Paper Smooches sentiment stamps, and some twine/sequins for fancy :). I love how they came out! Hope you guys play along with me and this Photo On a Card Challenge!! I cant wait to see what you create!! Don't forget to stick with us CC2G gals all day - the fun wont stop cause it can't stop!! I'll be back later participating in the Mixed Media Challenge and I also made a so fun mini book/card set that I'll be sharing later - so stay tuned friends! Heather

Punny B-Day Card - Lawnscaping Challenge #86!

Hi there! I know I've been an awful blogger, but the gals over at Lawnscaping Challlenge Blog had a wonderful theme I couldn't refuse! Their most recent challenge (#86) is...WATERCOLORING!! How could I not play?!? I've been LOVING watercolor cards lately, so I was super excited to play along!!

So, do you guys do Pinterest?!? I am in love with the site, personally. No, I don't fill boards with imaginary wedding stuff or clothes I'd love to wear. Mostly I use Pinterest for inspiration. I love finding a "punny" little images that I can incorporate into my cards. So, when I see something like this:

I totally think: THAT COULD BE A CARD!! Immediately I realized I have this awesome Critters Down Under stamp set that I actually won from Lawn Fawn, but haven't actually inked up yet - it was perfect!! Here is my card for the Lawnscaping #86 Challenge:

^ obviously, that is the inside of the card :). As you can see, I changed my sentiment from "koalifications" to "KOALAfications" - seemed necessary :). The alpha set that I used here is Lawn Fawn's Sally's ABCs which is my favorite Lawn Fawn alpha set (that I currently own). I just stamped the image and letters with black archival ink and clear heat embossed it. There you have it, a punny little birthday card! Thanks for peeking! Can't wait to see everyone's creations!

CupCards To Go Summer Sneaks!!

Hi everyone! I just wanted to pop in and share my sneaky peeks from the CC2G's Summer kit. This kit is called Ariana which means: Golden Life - and I can assure you, is full of golden accents to play with!

So there you have it, I hope you'll check back in with me for my full reveals next week. CC2G is having a week of sneaky peeks over on the blog, so you should definitely go check that out! I'm so lucky to be on such a fabby DT full of talented ladies!