May 2020 12 Kits of Occasions

This month at the 12 Kits of Occasions Blog, Marcia Hill was our hostess and she sent the most adorable kit entitled “April Showers Bring May Flowers!” She challenged us to make our blogs bloom with life and flowers and COLOR!

First, my eyes went right to this adorable Stampingbella “Bundle Girl with a Snowdrop” and the amazing gingham paper!

I colored her with Zig Clean Color and Tombow markers and added a sentiment from Lawn Fawn’s “Hello Friend” set.

I added lots of Stickles and Wink of Stella Stardust pen details, because she reminded me of a sweet little garden fairy! Oh, and some Glossy Accents to her blue galoshes!

Next up is this gorgeous patterned paper with the beautiful tulip bouquet in a Mason jar! It is from a set called “Mandy’s Flowers” by Simon Says Stamp. Again I colored with Zig and Tombow markers. I added a mini paper bow from Mama Elephant, one of the “Simple Little Tags” from Memory Box and a sentiment from WPlus9 Studio.

Last up is this gorgeous silver embossed floral image that Marcia sent. It is called “First Blush” by Penny Black...

I colored the image with Copic markers then cut it out with this “HBD” birthday die from The Stamp Market. I added a Memory Box Branch die cut and a little birdie from a past kit that I colored with Copics, too.

I added lots of Nuvo Glitter Paste in “Moonstone” on the flowers and the bird, and embossed PTI’s Hawaiian Shores” cardstock with Stampin Up’s “Subtle” 3D embossing folder.

Thank you SO much to Marcia for sharing these gorgeous papers, die cuts, and florals with us this month! Made my heart so happy sitting in my crafting room in the sunshine! Thanks to all for stopping by today! ❤️

Inspired by Elmer

This week at The Library Challenge, the book to be inspired by is an old fave of mine...”Elmer” by David McKee!

I chose to make a watercolored card using Mama Elephant’s “Ella & Friends set,” die cut letters, and the “Windowpane Plaid Background” from the Greetery!

I heat embossed watercolor paper with the plaid using white powder, then used a Paul Rubens watercolors over the top. Added the watercolored letters and lots of Nuvo Drops bubbles. So much fun to make!

Deer Duo Throwdown

Playing along with the Color Throwdown this week, with the colors kraft, red, aqua, and orange...

I loved all of the colors againsy the black background, so I tried this...

More inspiration from my stamping day with Michelle and Karen...this time, Karen shared her adorable My Favorite Things "Delightful Deer" Die-Namics with us. I added some Zig marker coloring to them on the kraft paper (and glittered up the red cardinal I cut with the die set, too)! Cut PTI's Rustic Wreath from orange and aqua patterned paper, and a tiny bow cut with some Mama Elephant dies.

Some red Nuvo Drop berries, a polka dot embossed background like snow, and a sentiment from PTI's "Winter Village." 

Such an adorable deer duo from MFT that I will be ordering for myself soon (told you my shopping list gets so much longer after a day with Michelle and Karen)!

Red Truck Sketch

A fun "photo" sketch from Rita at Freshly Made Sketches this week!

I used the pick up truck from PTI's new Make It Market Holiday kit "Wonderland" and a polaroid die from Mama Elephant for my card...

The background is made with a backgrounder image from Cornish Heritage Farms, a snowy embossing folder from Sizzix, and the Scene It mountain and tree dies from PTI.

A little sentiment from Verve Stamps and some wooden stars and Crystal Snow glitter.  The "road" is made with an old Close to My Heart stitched set.  Snow much fun :)!

Fruit Stand Throwdown

This week at the Color Throwdown Challenge, the colors were so summery!  Aqua, yellow, red, and green!  It made me think of all of the fun, fruity cards I have been seeing, and farmstands all around!

I used PTI's Still Life Summer and Green Thumb for my fruits...

 The leaves are from a Waltzingmouse set and the mini "chalkboard" (Polaroid die!) is cut with a die set from Mama Elephant.

The card base is made with my beloved A Muse Studio gingham paper, love that aqua gingham!  A few Glossy Accents, PTI's Woodgrain impression plate, and some white opal Liquid Pearls to finish it off :)!

Just for Fun

I started this card for a sketch challenge, but it took so long that it ended up being just for fun! The birthday stamp is a wooden block stamp from Hampton Art, the flowers are "Fresh Cut Florals" from WPlus9, and the banners and hearts are cut with a Mama Elephant die!

Never-ending card

I started this card on our trip to NJ last month for the 200th sketch at Freshly Made Sketches, but never had a chance to finish it!  So I tweaked it a little more, and decided to post it anyway since the ole blog must be getting rusty!

Used Papertrey Ink's Petite Pots and some dies from Mama Elephant.

And some popped up flower and mini sequins!

Watercolor Blog Hop

Paulina at Pretty Pink Posh is hosting a fun Watercolor Blog Hop this weekend!  I was so inspired by the samples, that I decided to play along!

I used "Ella & Friends" stamp set and dies from Mama Elephant, paired with the "Bubble Confetti" stencil from Hero Arts.

The animals are watercolored using Tim Holtz Distress Inks.  The stencil was sponged lightly for the background.  The sentiment is stamped on vellum and I covered the dimensionals with little sequins.

I splattered the elephant with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Sea Glass to make her look all wet and shiny and clean!

The samples linked are SO gorgeous!  I actually purchased two flowers sets this weekend after browsing.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Ella's Birthday

My daughter Claire had a birthday party for her friend Ella yesterday, and what other stamp set could she choose for the card than "Ella & Friends" from Mama Elephant!  Just like yesterday's post, I had colored this Ella and made a watercolor background tag a few months ago.  It was in my "need to finish" pile, and the birthday was excellent inspiration!

Michael's had adorable denim gift bags on sale, so Ella has a denim hat to match.  She's holding birthday balloons stamped on vellum from PTI's Birthday Style!

Retro Ella

I finally got to play along with Retro Sketches!  Loved this banner sketch...

I used it with my sweet new "Ella and Friends" set from Mama Elephant...

Used fun paper from American Crafts and some fabric washi tape for the banner.

Here is a close up of the bunny with his bubble wand.  That bubble is stamped in Lichen ink from A Muse Studio, then edged with Stardust Stickles.  I stamped some bubbles in the background in Lichen ink, too, then added some iridescent sequins for "real" bubbles!

That bunny gets me every time!  I just love this set!

Celebrate Sketch

Time to play along with Freshly Made Sketches!  This week's is by Kim Singdahlsen...

I was playing along with PTI's challenges last week for their anniversary, and didn't get to make a card for the metallic and neutrals challenge.  I thought I would still use that color scheme for my sketch card...

I chose the balloon stamp and dies from PTI's Birthday Style and a sentiment from Layered Banner Banter.

The gold and silver balloons were cut with the die, and then the white balloons were stamped on plain vellum.  Cut mini star confetti and a banner with Mama Elephant Creative Cuts-Basics dies, and the bow is from the Mama Elephant's Confetti stamp set.  The black polka dotted paper is actually glittered and sparkly, too!

Awesome sketch, Kim!!

12 Kits of Occasions...My Kit!

Finally here with my 12 Kits projects!  We dealt with a round of this weird mini flu/general malaise feeling...then Eva with another round of the stomach bug, a greater than normal number of reports for work, and a complete computer breakdown.  The kids are having Wi-Fi withdrawal as the modem in the house is broken.  Frontier said they are sending a new one via UPS that didn't arrive on Friday like they projected.  We are set to get 7-11 more inches of snow to add to the 15 or so we had last Monday!  Thinking it won't even show up until later this week.   After some trips up to the local McDonald's to use their Wi-fi, Jason figured out how to turn my phone into a "Wi-fi" hotspot, who knew?  So now at least I can upload pictures...oh yeah, and send in reports to work! Hmm which was first on my list?

It was my turn to send kits this month, and the theme was "Hello."  So I found this adorable paper from Pebbles called "Happy Day."  There was actually a sheet of "Hello" paper in it, and I thought the rest of the elements would be perfect for this theme.

Up first, an adorable sentiment from Lawn Fawn's "Hello Friend" set.

Added a Studio Calico wood veneer plane that I painted it white.  The happy clouds are from Lawn Fawn's "Hello Sunshine" stamp set.

Next a Lawn Fawn "hello" die cut with some WPlus9 Fresh Cut Florals that went perfectly with the patterned paper...

I love the bright royal blue color in these patterned papers!  A color I typically wouldn't choose on its own, but it's so pretty paired with the other colors in the pad.

I used some sweet birdies and heart balloons from Lawn Fawn's "Hello Sunshine" set cut with coordinating dies.  The sentiment is another from "Hello Friend."   The circle balloosn are actually large acrylic dot stickers made by Pebbles to go with the "Happy Day" papers, so I shined up the heart balloons with some Glossy Accents.  The Stitched Hills are another fun die from Lawn Fawn.  They frame and insert are cut with a Papertrey Ink die.  The birds are colored with Copics and their tails are glittered up by a Wink of Stella pen.

The coffee cup paper might be my fave sheet of all.  I made a gift card holder using the Waltzingmouse Stamps folded tag, as you can always give a Starbucks, Dunkin' Donuts, or Tim Horton's card as a quick gift!

The inside is stamped with a sentiment from "Hello Friend" and the coffee cup from Lawn Fawn's "Love You a Latte."

If you haven't visited yet,  be sure to head over to the 12 Kits of Occasions blog to see the projects, as well as the links to our two guest designers this month...  Karen and Michelle!

Happy 1st Anniversary, Fusion!

It's the Fusion Challenge's one year anniversary celebration, and the DT members chose this lovely photo to celebrate...

I chose to use just the photo as my inspiration...

The banners made me think of this My Mind's Eye "Love Me" paper that is so cheerful and sweet!  I made a matching mini banner at the bottom using the papers and a tiny banner die included in the Polaroid Fun dies from Mama Elephant.  I decided to make a chalkboard mason jar using a sentiment from Gift Card It, jar images from Candy Jar Christmas Fillers, and the Jar Essentials dies from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

Can't wait to see what Fusion has in store for their second year, there has been such inspiration already!  :)

Red bells

I am playing along with my first Merry Monday Christmas Challenge!  I had to after seeing this inspiring photo here...

It made me think of my Folk Art Christmas Additions set from Waltzingmouse Stamps.

I stamped a plaid background using the Cabin Plaid Background from Cornish Heritage Farms.  Added a sentiment from Verve Stamps.

The die cut bow is from Mama Elephant and the stitched rectangle from Papertrey Ink.  So many lovely festive samples in the gallery for this challenge, you should go take a peek!

Watercolor Balloon Sketch

Yay!  Got to play along with my favorite sketch challenge... Freshly Made Sketches!  This week's sketch is by Jennifer Brum. I ended up taking some creative liberties with the sketch.  You know how you start off with one idea, and then as you get crafting, the end result is very different from the original creation that you had developed in your mind?  That's what happened there!

Here is Jennifer's sketch...

Here is my card:

I started off with a watercolor "bokeh" background by Dawn Woleslagle from WPlus9 Blog seen here.  So inspiring!  Love the whole feel that this background gives a card...very dreamy, like you are floating :) Thus my choice to add some confetti and balloons...

I added some background stamping and a sentiment with my "Confetti" set from Mama Elephant. The balloons are from Papertrey Ink's "Birthday Style."  I die cut them from vellum paper then stamped the coordinating image using A Muse Studio and Fresh pigment inks in similar "sky" colors.  The "bow" image is from "Confetti" and I added it to the top of the sentiment.  I poked a whole for the balloon strings to go through to the back, then added a rhinestone.  This will be a fun card for one of my daughters to give at a party!

As always, thanks so much to Freshly Made Sketches for the inspiration...and to you for stopping by today!