Thoughtful Wildflowers

It seems like I am forever in need of these types of cards...either a thinking of you type of card or even a sympathy card-and one that can be easily mailed such as a one layer card.

I needed to build my stash so I created a few of these one layer cards featuring Catherine Pooler Designs products. Her line of inks are perfect for multi-step/layer stamping. These flowers from Wonderful Wildflowers fill up a card front so nicely and are so easy to stamp too.

This card came together quite easily. I started by stamping the base of the flowers in Skylight, arranging the flowers in a cascading motion from top to bottom, leaving room for the sentiment. I then added the flower layer with Daydream, then the outline of the flower with Juniper Mist. I added the interior stamp of the flower with Shea Butter, then arranged some leaves in Seafoam and Sage. To fill in some gaps and add a bit of interest, I added some of polka dots, stamped in Mint to Be. The sentiment was stamped in Juniper Mist and comes from the beautiful stamp set, Faithful Flutterings. There are many perfect sentiments for a thinking of you or sympathy card in Faithful Flutterings!

I had the card on the table for a while and some water splashes got on it from a spilled glass, but I love the way that the ink reacted to the water and added some more interest to the one layer card...a happy mistake!

 

Affiliate links are used, I appreciate your support!

Catherine Pooler Designs Ultra Smooth White Cardstock Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Daydream Ink Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Skylight Ink Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Sage Ink Shop at: CPD
Catherine Pooler Designs Seafoam Ink Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Mint to Be Ink Shop at: CPD		Catherine Pooler Designs Juniper Mist Ink Shop at: CPD
Catherine Pooler Designs Shea Butter Ink Shop at: CPD	4 pack Life Changing Blender Brushes by Picket Fence Studios Shop at: CPD	Mini MISTI Shop at: CPD	Precision Craft Glue by Bearly Arts Shop at: CPD
Catherine Pooler Designs Wonderful Wildflowers Stamp Set Shop at: CPD

Kids' Hugs

A hug from a child is like nothing else! My boys had some plushies that they loved unconditionally as well, just like the kids in these cute stamps.

I was inspired to create a card with the colors from the Butterfly Reflections Ink August Mood Board. I adore these colors together! The link up for the Mood Board is on the talented Davina's Blog.

I colored the cuties from Neat & Tangled Better Together Stamp Set and die cut them with the coordinating dies. I then die cut the front panel of a blue card base with Neat & Tangled's Tiny Cuts Die. 

I then finished the card with MFT's Twice the Hugs Die-Namics.

Slimline Birds

There's something about a slimline card, I used to make them all the time in the very beginning of my crafting adventure and with the recent surge in popularity and products, I'm excited to create with this style again!

I had colored these little birds from Hello Bluebird's Silly Birds Stamp Set with Copic Markers, then inked up a cloud background around them.

I finished the card with a heat embossed sentiment and some shimmer pen and white gel pen accents.

Have you gotten on the slimline trend? I love the added landscape for creating that the size allows!

The Dairy State

Wisconsin is known as the Dairy State, and home of one of my favorite foods...cheese curds! I love that I can travel less than 30 minutes any way and stop for some fresh, squeaky cheese curds. Along the way I see many diary farms complete with red bards and a lot of dairy cows! Pretty Paper Boutique is hosting a challenge, the first being Home is Where the Heart Is and I was inspired to create a little dairy farm scene that represents my home state and where I currently reside.

I created a one-layer story book inspired card featuring two classic Lawn Fawn sets, Critters from the Farm and Critters from the 'Burbs, my first ever Lawn Fawn stamp set. I stamped the scene with brown ink onto linen colored card stock. The images were colored loosely with light shades of Copic markers and a small dose of colored pencils as well. A bit of masking and doodling helped complete the scene. I added details with a white gel pen, inked the edges of the card with linen distress ink and finished with a stamped sentiment.

Even though the winters are extremely long and extremely cold, and most of my immediate family live far away, I do enjoy calling Wisconsin home!

The Hardest Climb

There's a new challenge up at StampNation-hosted by my crafty pal Susan. (StampNation is an online resource where "paper crafters share the love of stamping and card making!) She challenged us to create a project inspired by our favorite tv show or movie.

Recently, I finished watching the series Everwood. It worked it's way into becoming one of my favorite shows-reminding me of high school and college times. I was inspired by Everwood's setting...the beautiful state of Colorado. I just had to pull out the Mountain of Thanks Stamp Set from Catherine Pooler Designs again.

My card today was created by first by applying It's a Girl, Sweet Sixteen, Suede Shoes and Juniper Mist to a panel of Ultra Smooth White Cardstock using the direct ink to paper technique, then die cutting the pattern from the Right Angle Cover Plate Die to form an abstract sky. Then I used Juniper Mist and  Suede Shoes ink to stamp the mountains from the Mountain of Thanks Stamp Set, die cut with the Mountain of Thanks Dies, and It's a Girl and Sweet Sixteen for the clouds. I finished with a stamped sentiment in Juniper Mist from Mountain of Thanks, and a larger coordinating Congratulations sentiment from the Congratulations Sentiment Stamp Set stamped in It's a Girl.

My work team is prepared to internally transfer a team member to be a team lead, and I'm excited to hand over this card to whomever gets the position, as I know that each one of us works extremely hard!

I hope you get a chance to play along if you are a StampNation member with this fun challenge! If not, please consider joining the StampNation community!

Catherine Pooler Designs has a fabulous "essentials" section in her shop. There are new fall-based items added, beautiful items with rich colors!

Affiliate links are used, I appreciate your support!

Catherine Pooler Designs Ultra Smooth White Cardstock Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs It's A Girl Ink Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Sweet Sixteen Ink Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Juniper Mist Ink Shop at: CPD
Catherine Pooler Designs Suede Shoes Ink Shop at: CPD	4 pack Life Changing Blender Brushes by Picket Fence Studios Shop at: CPD	Mini MISTI Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Mountain of Thanks Stamp Set Shop at: CPD
Precision Craft Glue by Bearly Arts Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Mountain of Thanks Dies Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Right Angle Cover Plate Die Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Congratulations Sentiment Stamp Set Shop at: CPD

A Fall Pick Pumpkin

I was so excited to see this cute little pumpkin face patterned paper from the newest mini-release from Catherine Pooler Designs. The Fall Pick-N-Mix Collection was released last Wednesday. This cute patterned paper is from the Fall Pick-n-Mix Patterned Paper Pack (also available as part of the Fall Essentials Bundle). As soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to create a small 3-D pumpkin to use for fall decorations.

I based the design of the pumpkin off of this template from Lia Griffith. I modified it a bit to fit the paper, and used a natural twig as the pumpkin stem. I then die cut a leaf for the pumpkin from the Hello Autumn Dies, it was the perfect size for this pumpkin. I used some natural fiber burlap string to tie a bow to finish the look.

I just think this is the cutest lil' pumpkin! I could also use this design for a name card for a fall table setting or fill it with candy for a little Halloween gift!

The Fall Pick-N-Mix Collection is small, but it is mighty! And packed full of cuteness just in time to begin your fall holiday crafting.

Affiliate links are used, I appreciate your support!

Mini MISTI Shop at: CPD	Precision Craft Glue by Bearly Arts Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Fall Pick-n-Mix Patterned Paper Shop at: CPD	Catherine Pooler Designs Hello Autumn Dies Shop at: CPD

Spellbinders Sparkling Christmas

I had the great pleasure to create with select products from the beautiful and fun Sparkling Christmas Collection from Spellbinders that released on August 10th. The collection of standard dies and dies for hot foiling will make your holiday crafting sparkle!

My first card features Shapeabilities Sunday Drive Etched Dies and the coordinating 

Die D-Lites Sunday Drive with Santa Etched Dies from the Sparking Christmas Collection. What a fun pairing to create a custom holiday cards! I die cut the pieces from Sunday Drive and colored them individually with ink or metallic gold. Before adhering them to the card base, I inked a road and added some snow to the card stock base. I just loved seeing the car come to life.

Next, I did the same process for the Sunday Drive with Santa, also very much enjoyed seeing Santa and Rudolph come to life and the whole scene come together.

My second card features how I used Sunday Drive with Santa by itself to create a clean and simple holiday card. I love the nod to the classic Rudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer song.

I ran Sunday Drive with Santa through my die-cutting machine nine times, and then inked each reindeer with various shades of brown ink, coloring the antlers with a marker. I arranged them in a grid form on a white card base, then added a red rhinestone to the center reindeer, making that reindeer Rudolph.

Eek, I love it so much! I finished the card by die cutting one of the holiday "license plates" options from Sunday Drive with Santa, trimming out just the words, coloring them with a marker and adhering each letter to the card individually.

Spellbinders has many samples and a lot of inspiration for this entire collection on their website too. I love their attention to detail and the intricacy of their dies. It really makes for easy and beautiful card making! Thanks again, Spellbinders, for letting me share projects made with this whimsically awesome collection.

MFT Summer School Days 5, 4, and 3

I'm back today with projects for the final three days of MFT's Summer School. I had so much fun creating projects for each of the lessons.

This first card is for Day 5: White Space. Truth be told, incorporating "white space" has always been one of my favorite design elements. Instead of choosing a white card base, I went with a sky blue, still keeping the card clean and simple with lots of non-busyness. I stamped and copic colored the dinosaur and leaves from the retired You're Rawsome Stamp Set, then added a sentiment from Happy Hippos and Ewe are the Best. I finished the card with a rounded corner and some Nuvo Drops.

My next card is for Day 4: Ombre. I started with some artist grade gray cardstock, then stamped the hippos from Happy Hippos in a stacked fashion-also one of my favorite things to do with critter stamps! Each was colored with a mixture of Copics and Prismacolor Pencils in shades of blue.

I also added the balloons and the bird, coloring them and the present with purple ombre colors-and just because they were cute and balanced out the stacked hippos. To finish the card, I stamped the sentiment from Happy Hippos, adhered the panel to a white card base and outlined the panel with black pen.

Last, but not least, I have a card for Day 3: Symmetry. I looked through all of my MFT stamps and found this yeti from Beast Friends. His body was perfectly symmetrical, so I stamped him onto watercolor paper, colored with the paints and then added some white gel pen for snowy fur.

I nestled him onto a backdrop made from the Peek A Boo Polka Dots Die Namics cut from white cardstock and a blue card base. I finished the card with a sentiment from the same set.

This card completes the five lessons-I've graduated! I'm proud to be able display the following badge!