Lovely Amazing You

While sitting next to my youngest daughter, trying to keep her awake to finish homework, I thought I would complete my project for the next day.  Good idea, right?  I pulled two stamp sets I hadn’t used in a while and asked her for a color idea.  She said dark blue, so I went with Night of Navy.  The card began.

Lovely Amazing You

She wasn’t having the best of evenings and her older sister came to the rescue, even though she is out of state attending university.  I do think that technology can interfere with real personal relationships, but this was perfect.  The infamous ‘snapchat’ was just the thing.  The sad faces turned to happy and then on to absolutely silly.  And that is how I chose my sentiment.  Thank you my sweet daughter for being the best big sister ever.

Lovely Amazing You

The brayer was still out from workshop so I let it give me my background on the large polka dot embossing folder.  Kind of artsy looking, even if I didn’t keep it perfectly clean.  I then decided to do a lot of sponging to disguise some of that, can’t hide it all, and also sponged lightly all over the paper.  Nice.

Lovely Amazing You

The little notebook sheet was created with a stamp from the Tap Tap Tap set, offset on some Night of Navy cardstock, raised up on dimensionals and embellished with basic rhinestones.  I even used the 1/16″ hand held punch and punched actual holes over the stamped ones.  Pretty cute.  I finished off the project with a bow of seam binding ribbon and decided I loved it!

Have a creative day!

Moana

For All Things

It can be hard to get even the simple things done when you don’t quite feel yourself.  That is why today’s project is super simple, just what I needed.

For All Things

I started with a half sheet of very vanilla cardstock and scored every 2″ on the 8.5″ side which left me a 1/2″ edge to seal the box together.  I also scored along the length at 2″ to make the bottom, and at 3/4″ at the top and then 1″ over from there.  I know I am not very exact at sharing my measurements, but it works out I promise.  Oh, I did do my stamping before I scored, forgot to mention that.

For All Things

I have held the box together using the tear n tape adhesive.  I do like that stuff, easier to work with than sticky strip.  The flaps are folded together and adhered with the same and then I got to sponging.  All the edges and even on these bitty little flowers.  I love that look!  I put the largest basic pearls inside each flower and grabbed for a scrap of ribbon.  The dotted lace trim has a good bit of stretch to it, so it is held on just by that.  Not a glue dot or anything.  That makes it easy to use and re-use.  A simple bow and it was all done!

For All Things

Have a creative day!

Moana

Journal Inspired Butterfly Basics

My husband bought this pretty journal and I immediately took it to my desk to stare it down.  I just knew there was a card in there somehow.  Well, after sharing swaps for nearly two weeks my creative bug was on high alert.  I sat down last night and gave myself some time to go at it.  And I did.

Journal Inspired Butterfly Basics

Isn’t is uncanny how close the colors are?  I guess that is why I migrated to it.  I have other off market stamps that might have gotten closer to the tree, but I really wanted to get my brain in gear for workshop this weekend.  I couldn’t be happier with the end result.

Journal Inspired Butterfly Basics

The borders are a narrow 1/8″, my favorite.  I bravely opened up my new elegant dots embossing folder and rubbed Stazon all over one side and then ran it through the  big shot.  I loved the result, and most of the ink came off.

Journal Inspired Butterfly Basics

I used lots of butterfly framelits and layered everybody up.  The smaller one has two black die cuts over the delightful dijon layer.  Light sponging made everything look a little grungy and tied it together.  There is a little stamping inside, as well as more sponging.  I used plenty of glue dots to hold the butterflies together and layered like crazy with dimensionals.  So fun!

Have a creative day!

Moana

More Thankful Swaps

Isn’t this a lovely pairing?  The colors of fall are so beautiful to me, truly my favorites.  It should be turning fall here, but is still hot like summer.  A girl can dream, and enjoy pretty cards about fall, right?

More Thankful Swaps

These are other swaps that were completed samples for me, but I can’t wait to make them myself.  I have a lot of the tools, but didn’t get that cute little bear.  It comes from the Thankful Forest Friends set and I saw it as a bit too whimsy for me.  I think he, and his friends, are adorable and have put it on my wish list.

More Thankful Swaps

This window frame framelit set is a must have.  Paired with the brick wall embossing folder, there are endless options to enjoy.  I can honestly see myself making way too many projects with those in hand.  How fun!

More Thankful Swaps

The Into the Woods designer paper is so wonderful.  As I said, fall colors are my favorite, and these showcase them beautifully.  Hard to resist for sure.

I think my little stamping group would love the swap idea.  We haven’t yet, but I am going to have us try this out for sure.  Everyone has a different style and a unique set of artistic skills.  It is so fun to experience so many all at once.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Thankful Swaps

I have been out of town this last weekend and it is nice to be home for lots of reasons.  I did love my trip, seeing my daughter and son at university is just fantastic!  Something about your own space though, just feels cozy.

Thankfuln Swaps

I also discovered that I am not the best blogger on my iPad.  They were pretty basic, but I managed.  I was honestly just too tired yesterday and had tons more standing in line waiting to be tended.  Day survived.

Thankfuln Swaps

There were several fall themed swaps I wanted to share as well.  I had recently ordered this stamp and framelit set but haven’t gotten to play with it just yet.  So it was nice to play at the demonstrator workshop event.  Working through someone else’s vision is different, but entertaining.

Thankfuln Swaps

While it is fun to share these swaps, I am getting anxious to dig back into my supplies and create.  Especially with some of the new treasures.

Have a creative day!

Moana

For All Things and Flower Patch

While enjoying a long and lovely visit with my daughter this morning, fall came up.  It is her favorite season of the year.  She is getting excited because where she is attending university fall has begun.  The temperatures, the colors, the smells, she loves it all.  So, together we created this card.  What a fun way to stay connected.

For All Things and Flower Patch

The card is made from a Hello Honey card base, layered with a Cajun Craze framed stamped card front.  I used the leaf stamp from the For All Things set to create the paper.  One full ink stamp and then several others around it until the ink runs out.  I did this using Cajun Craze, Hello Honey and Almost Artichoke.  Such a great trio.

For All Things and Flower Patch

A quick stamp from the Flower Patch set for the sentiment and it was nearly done.  I adhered a strip of the new Striped Cotton Ribbon and layered my sentiment with a bit of color.  The Bitty Banner Punch helped me get the banner edges and it was all done.  Well, I did have to sponge nearly everything of course.

For All Things and Flower Patch

Have a creative day!

Moana

Hello You

How do you decide what to work with?  Today, I went with my skirt as inspiration.  While I am not wearing black and white zebra stripes with butterflies, the colors are right on.  I could hold it on display and coordinate so nicely.  I love how it turned out.

Hello You

I have to admit, this is the first time I have used my file tab edgelits and I have had them for a long time.  I wanted to use them, just in a different way.  The paper helps out a lot here, and I like them vertical instead of horizontal the way a file folder would normally look.  Mission accomplished.

Hello You

In order to coordinate the inside with the outside, I took the small butterfly stamp from Kinda Eclectic and stamped away.  It makes me so happy to have the inside match the front.    The card actually is quite simple, with patterned paper like this you do have to have some limits, just some.

Hello You

 

Have a creative day!

Moana

Ray of Sunshine and Pretty Petals

How about another one of those crazy mornings, that absolutely ran away from me.  To be honest, I was helping out everyone else and didn’t get my own goodies done.  Everything came together and worked out so, no worries!

Ray of Sunshine and Pretty Petals

Is this designer paper adorable or what!  This particular print reminded me of a recently retired stamp that has the most beautiful poppies in it.  I do love it when everything goes together so nicely.

Ray of Sunshine and Pretty Petals

A simple layering of designer paper, with coordinating paper and a length of ribbon to bring it all together.  I did a double layer of tags and squeezed in this sunshine sentiment keeping everything in calypso coral.  Love that color.  Six pretty little flowers all sponged and centered with basic rhinestones and I am in love with this card.

Ray of Sunshine and Pretty Petals

 

Have a creative day!

Moana

Sending Good Thoughts

Yesterday quite simply just ran away from me.  Sometimes there are too many things to get done, too many people to help, and one too many places to go.  So, this was for yesterday.

Sending Good Thoughts

How about a nice masculine all occasion card?  Nice combination if you ask me.  When you have a great background stamp like Hardwood, the card almost finishes itself.  The front was stamped in early espresso and sponged lightly until I liked the look.  I tried something a little different for my inside stamping.  I just used this huge stamp at an angle and stamped opposite corners.  It worked out pretty good.

Sending Good Thoughts

I had to stamp my sentiment a few times though,  I wasn’t being very patient and then it didn’t look straight.  It doesn’t have to be perfect to make me happy, but maybe not look all wonky either.  A quick trip to the banner triple punch and my front layering was done.  How easy is that?

Sending Good Thoughts

 

I did layer the banner element up on dimensionals and accessorized lightly with two silver mini-brads.  That is all it needed.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Thoughts & Prayers, Praying For You

How weird is it to make a card with yourself in mind?  I have to think that sometimes that is more than okay.  More than okay, it is a great idea!

Thoughts & Prayers, Praying For You

I have to say that I am proud of this little card though.  My thoughts were more than scattered as I sat down to work.  I have a small stack of scraps to the side that I just haven’t filed back.  Today I made this project entirely from scrap, with the exception of the pearls and ribbon.  How cool is that!

Thoughts & Prayers, Praying For You

That makes my work easier, cleans up that little stack, and keeps my main stash of paper untouched for one more day.  I do feel a paper order coming on though.

Thoughts & Prayers, Praying For You

 

I love love love this brick embossing folder.  It makes so many fun looks and I love how it is 6×6 so I can have my bricks facing how I want regardless of my paper direction.  Wheeee!

Have a creative day!

Moana

Thank You For Being You

I am feeling a little extra grateful this morning.  There are those out there that step forward and go beyond their own limits just to be kind and take care of others.  Truly a beautiful thing.

Thank You For Being You

So, it had to be all about a special thank you.  Not to focus on too many distractions, just keep the emphasis on the thanking, specifically ‘you’.  With this totally awesome Larger Than Life Alphabet & Numbers set, no problem.  I am looking at this card across the room and it is so obvious what the card is about.  Perfect.

Thank You For Being You

The card base is the heavy weight whisper white card stock.  Love that stuff.  I just like knowing that the base will stand up to whatever I put down on the front.  Today’s isn’t heavy at all, but I know it won’t tip over or curl.  Happy days!

Thank You For Being You

 

What makes this project even better?  It has all kinds of fun, but it won’t need extra postage because it is flat.  How cool is that!

Have a creative day!

Moana

I’m So Grateful For You

After yet another awesome summer concert I am super exhausted!  So I asked my daughter this morning what color she thought this flower would be.  She talked about purple, orange or yellow.  I thought about tropical, but went with elegant eggplant.

I'm So Grateful For You

It is hard to tell, but there is silver ink painted over the purple.  Of course I had to get out my trusty aqua painter for all three ink colors I used.  Totally love that thing!

I'm So Grateful For You

There was a heavy amount of sponging as well.  I loved the sentiment, but it was the second half of the front sentiment and it was basically a dangling participle.  So, I just didn’t ink up the ‘and’ and the beginning.  Perfect!

I'm So Grateful For You

I may have been half asleep for this project, but it turned out really wonderful.  It is great when I get to sit back and be impressed with myself.  A job well done.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Love You My Friend

In the middle of cleaning out book shelves I had an idea for a card.  So I went to my desk, pulled out the stamps, dies and ribbon, and went back to my shelving.  This morning I just looked at them and thought, “What did I have in mind?”  Not sure, but this is what I ended up with.

Love You My Friend

I think it is funny because if you don’t read the little word love that is inside the heart cut out, the tags just say “you my friend”.  A bit basic, but really made me laugh.

Love You My Friend

All of the detail work went pretty quickly.  I started out by using the heart die cut on the whisper white paper and then ran it through the big shot to emboss it.  I thought the stamping inside the heart would be tricky to place.  Not at all.  I just eyeballed it and it was perfect!  Go figure!  The tags were simple stamping on scrap.  I do save scrap a bit too much sometimes.  But, the half inch that gets cut off when I trim down my paper works perfectly for sentiments and the banner punch.  Some might call it clutter, but I have used them so many times.

Love You My Friend

Have a creative day!

Moana

Remarkable You

Working with great paper makes everything so much more fun.  Colored embossed paper, in such pretty colors?  Of course, why not!

Remarkable You

The project began with the new heavy weight whisper white cardstock, I love having such a heavy base, and gathered layers of stamping and more color.  The image and sentiment come from the same set, which is delicious by the way, and were stamped in black stazon.  I knew I would be water coloring, so that is the perfect ink to work with.

Remarkable You

I blended watermelon wonder with a touch of crumb cake and it turned out so nice.  I chose crumb cake because I was using linen thread and wanted to tie in the colors.  A large ribbon wasn’t going to work here.  It took too much focus away from the flower and sentiment.

Remarkable You

I think I would add a mat or two behind the flower next time, but left it alone for now.  It turned out nice, just right.  I do love a simple water color.

Have a creative day!

Moana

High Five – That Thing You Did

Yesterday was full of excitement at an adventure park.  I am not so brave, but I do try some because my husband loves them.  I went on my two favorite ones, twice, so I get a big high five!

High Five - That Thing You Did

It may not sound like much, but there are times when I don’t ride anything, so this is improvement.  But, I was pretty darn tired this morning and didn’t feel like creating much.  I was snapchatting my daughter at university and asked her for some help.  These were her color choices.  It was an enthusiastic choice, just like riding a roller coaster.

High Five - That Thing You Did

I used a full sheet of tangerine tango to make this bag.  My scoring measurements were 1 1/4″ and 4″ then repeat to leave a 1/2″ edge.  I scored the bottom at 1 1/4″ to match the sides and did 1/2″ at the top for easy closure.  Quick burnishing and folding put this large bag together.

High Five - That Thing You Did

I stamped the bag tone on tone using the matching tangerine tango ink.  The sentiment was stamped first in crushed curry, then since the other colors were darker and could handle it, I stamped over one edge in garden green and the other edge in tangerine tango.  It gave a really cool look I think.

A fun bag for a fun person I would think.  Now, to figure out just who needs it.

Have a creative day!

Moana

That Thing You Did

This stamp set is just the best.  The combination phrases really get me laughing.  This one in particular is my favorite.  You’re on my mind, but not in a creepy way.  How great is that.

That Thing You Did

I like how it looks all pretty and then this secondary saying just throws it off like crazy.  Almost like if you aren’t really paying attention, you will totally miss the joke.  My favorite.

That Thing You Did

A simple embossed background with the new cool boho chic folder.  I wasn’t sure at first, but that didn’t last long.  It is way cool.  Lots of options there.

That Thing You Did

This is short and sweet today because first, the card just doesn’t need a lot of explaining.  Second, I am posting ahead because I am taking my girls to a concert, that they have been waiting for since Christmas, and I wanted to focus on that.  I made this card as a thank you for my sister-in-law for letting us stay over at her place after the concert.  I also made a little matching tote with a bunch of other cards for her to use as part of the thank you.  Good stuff there!

Have a creative day!

Moana

The Little Moments

I got it into my head to open this paper, do a sponge ombre look, and call it good.  I loved this type of paper from the Sale-a-bration bonus catalog and couldn’t wait for Stampin’Up! to make more.  They sure did.  But I had a surprise when I opened the pack up.

The Little Moments

There were six white sheets and six colored ones.  I looked into the catalog to see what was up, and sure enough, there the colored ones are too.  I thought they were just examples of how it could look all inked up.  I did not pay attention very well.  Fun for me though!

The Little Moments

The resist pattern looks like raindrops to me, guess that is what it actually is.  Marina mist seemed to be the appropriate color choice, so I sponged away to make an ombre look.  I love how striking the raindrops are, yummy.

I took a sentiment from the watercolor wings stamp set and punched it out with the note tag punch and layered it up.  Pretty simple overall.  I started out with a 6×6 piece of paper, sponged it, scored it and stuck it together.  If I was brave enough to video you would have witnessed an epic ribbon battle.  No one was injured in the making of that bow, but it was close.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Timeless Elegance

Jumping in with both feet here everyone.  I managed to once again open a new pack of DSP, that I am so in love with, take out my favorite pattern and make something without guilt.  Isn’t this paper just so beautiful?

Timeless Elegance

I feel like I got into my daughters sketch book and took out drawings for a card front.  Almost a dreamy feel.   The whole pack of paper is so pretty.  One side has a hand drawn feel and the other sides are more patterned and organized.  Best of both worlds.  I also like that it isn’t just black and vanilla, but includes sahara sand for that perfect balance.  I will be buying more of this I can tell.

Timeless Elegance

To give a touch of color, even though it didn’t need it, I got out my blackberry bliss sponge dauber and did some ever so exact swirling.  It took just a few seconds to swirl around and bring in some color.  Good stuff.

Timeless Elegance

I tried to use a ribbon or something else to accessorize it, but kept pulling it off.  The paper spoke for itself on this project.  I couldn’t even do a layered tag for the sentiment.  So I used my versamark and embossing powder to put the sentiment right on the paper.   I even left the inside clean to keep the focus all on this paper.

Have a creative day!

Moana

Just For You Treat Bag Card

I started this project out completely different than it ended up.  Who doesn’t like an adventure now and again, right?

Just For You Treat Bag Card

The mini treat bag thinlits were out waiting to get to work.  I wanted to use he heart framelit and coordinating stamp.  After I pulled the paper and matching seam binding ribbon, it switched around on me.  Not a problem,

Just For You Treat Bag Card

Then I didn’t have a treat to put inside so I could give it away.  How can you give away a treat bag with no treats?  You can’t, that wouldn’t be any fun.  So I thought, does it have to hold a treat?  Why not make it an envelope and put a card to write on inside.

Just For You Treat Bag Card

Worked like a champ!  Now I have another choice with how I use this set.  Not everyone wants a treat, but something sweet to read is also yummy.  This little number will also fit inside one of our standard envelopes for mailing.  How cool is that!

A quick note on the stamp.  I stamped the image once and used the coordinating framelit.  It cut off the cool dashed boarder that I liked so well.  So I stamped it again, fussy cut it out, not my favorite activity, and layered it on dimensionals.  After I sponged everything of course.  Thought you might like that little detail.

Have a creative day!

Moana

My Dear Friend

I focused on one image for today’s project.  It initially reminded me of a Japanese maple tree as it starts to change colors.  They are so vibrant.  As I started to paint them I noticed the flowers and the leaves looking different.  I thought it was more of a shrub.  Put your glasses on, right?

My Dear Friend

I put the aqua painter to work here.  I stamped the image in cherry cobbler and brought the color in with just water.  Then I added in old olive and mixed the colors, just as the leaves would be looking.  I decided I wanted the flowers to stand out more, so I darkened the centers to bring out the detail.  I can’t believe I didn’t notice the flowers the first time.

My Dear Friend

Talk about being generous with the basic rhinestones, but I wanted all of the centers to sparkle.  Such a pretty look.  Is it over the top?  Well, if it is for a dear friend, you want it special.  The friend stamp seemed a bit lonely, so I wrote in above it using an old olive stampin’ write marker.  First try even, not bad.

My Dear Friend

There are so many new products used today.  The framelits, the embossing folder, the stamp, and they work together great!  I even got all nostalgic thinking about an old friend that I just don’t get to see anymore.  Guess I know where this one is going!

Have a creative day!

Moana