Thanks with Lanterns

Hi!  It's Friday!! Yea!!  I always love those words! LOL!

When I got the Clearly Whimsy Up, Up & Away stamp set, this was the first card I made with it.  I used the stamps from that set that could have been hot air balloons or tree tops as lanterns. I don't know what it is about things that hang, but I really like them!  LOL!  So, I decided to use these stamps to create something a little different.

To create the dotted line that the lanterns are hanging from, I carefully cut apart the two stitched border stamps from Basic Backgrounds & Borders 1.  I curved the stitched stamp on my block and stamped where I wanted them on my cardstock.  Then, I started stamping my lanterns in various colors, trying to keep the spacing fairly even.  I stamped the sentiment from Up, Up & Away Additions and then added some sequins to finish the card off.

I'm entering this card in the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes & the Pink Elephant Anything Goes Challenge. 

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

XOXO

Hey everyone!  Don't you just love it when you find a photo that just inspires you?  That happened to me this week and I just couldn't get it out of my head.  Yesterday I sat down and used that photo inspiration to create a card.

First, I was very inspired by the colors.  I picked several hues that I found in the photo of the cake (shown below).  I loved that the pattern on the cake had a similar design to the Cover Up Die: Pieced Chevron by Lil' Inker Designs.  I used the cake as inspiration for the placement of the various colored chevron pieces.  (I have a tip on an easy way to place the chevrons below!)

Here's the inspiration photo I was using: 

Source

I used the largest lips from a great set for Valentine's day or any love card called Smooches.  In the inspiration photo there are feathers (LID has a great feather set too: Fancy Feathers) but I wanted to make this a love card so I embossed white lips dipped in gold embossing powder instead.  I also embossed the "xoxo" sentiment (also from the Smooches set) in gold onto vellum. I wrapped the vellum behind the cover plate and then attached it to the card base.  I popped the lips up with dimensionals.

Now for that tip I promised you!

When using the Cover Up Die: Pieced Chevron I am often using several pieces of cardstock and piecing them together in different patterns.  I don't like when the pieces fall out and then I can't match them up like I'd like because I'm not sure exactly where they go.  I found that an easy way to keep the pieces in place so I can easily place them, is as soon as I take the cut piece off my die cutting machine, I take a piece of tape (a low tack tape works best, but any will do) and  run it down the middle of 2 rows of the cut pieces.  I do this 3 times and it covers a portion of each piece. 

This is what my pieces look like when I was done placing them.  I still have 4 of the cover up dies with pieces in place to easily store & use again!  I just tuck them into a plastic sleeve and store with my dies & stamps!  There's much less waste this way!

I'm entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes that is featuring Lil' Inker Designs products.  

I'm also entering it in the Pink Elephant Anything Goes challenge.

Thank you for visiting today!  I hope you all have a very wonderful day!

Cover Up Die: Pieced Chevron

Smooches

Fancy Feathers

Valentine's Treat Ideas

Hey everyone!  We are moving into the month of love soon!  Are your kids pestering you about what kind of treats to pass out at school this year?  I have a fun idea to share today!

I have had this world die in my stash for a few months now, itching to use it!  I decided now was the time and I wanted to use it in an out-of-the-box way so I'm using it on a tag for Valentine's Day treats.  

I started by die cutting the Frantic Stamper Planet Earth die in both a watercolored patterned paper and a pink cardstock.  I wanted the earth to match the sentiment so my paper needed to be a fun colored patterned.  I cut out the double pointed banner that is included in the Diagonal Card Sketcher set of dies and stamped part of my sentiment on it.  I layered this on top of the die cut earth with dimensionals.  The little hearts are die cut from the Elementals #2 Lacy Heart Frames and are the perfect size for adding tiny embellishments to projects!  Here they frame the rest of my sentiment.

The tag is cut with the Elementals #7 Coved Labels die set.  These are intended for labels but as soon as I saw them I thought that they were the perfect shape & size to use as tags!  To make them into a tag, I punched a hole in the top of one side and then added an eyelet as reinforcement for the hole.   I love how well the earth and banner layered on top of the tag! 

I'm entering this in the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Anything Goes Challenge.  I'm also entering this at the Time Out Challenges blog with a Valentine's theme & an optional use of hearts.

Here's a picture of the dies I used for this project:

Planet Earth

Diagonal Card Sketcher

Elementals #7 Coved Labels

or

Coved Labels

Elementals #2 Lacy Heart Frames

Other Supplies Not Listed Above:

Patterned Paper: We R Memory Keepers Love Notes

Ink: Fresh Ink Slate

Stamps:  Paper Smooches Word Salad

Twine: Hemptique

Bottles: Hobby Lobby

Chevron Ombre Love

Welcome to my blog!  I'm so happy to have you here!  I hope that you had a wonderful weekend!  We had a very windy day yesterday, but I think it'll be worth it because today it is suppose to be 67 degrees!  67!! In Kansas!  In January!  WOW!!  It's so crazy but I will not complain about that! :)

For my card today, I used the new Cover Up Die: Center Point Chevron for the background.   I was inspired by the photo for the newest The Card Concept Challenge #27.   When I first saw the inspiration photo for this challenge I knew right away I wanted to play along and use one of my all time favorite dies from Lil' Inker Designs!  

I chose 3 colors of pink that I thought closest matched the colors in the inspiration photo and started with the lightest at the top, working down to the darkest at the bottom.  The new LID Hearts Banner Die Set was PERFECT for this challenge and I cut one of each (trimmed to fit) to drape across the top of the card.  I added the cute Doodled Love Word die to the bottom.  I finished the card off with a few gold sequins.

Cover Up Die: Center Point Chevron

Hearts Banners Die Set

Doodled Love Word Die

I'm entering this card into the following challenges this week:

 The Card Concept Challenge #27

I think my card style for this challenge would be Clean & Graphic.

I'm also entering this card in the Simon Says Have a Heart Challenge!

Time Out Challenge: Valentine's Day with the optional twist of Hearts

 

Thank you SO MUCH for stopping by!!  

ShowCASe Your Style Flying High

It's time for another ShowCASe Your Style Challenge!  This week the theme is based on an inspiration photo that I have shared at the end of the post.

I took inspiration from the photo by using the hot air balloons & clouds and also through the colors in the photo.  I stamped the balloons from the new Clearly Whimsy Up, Up, & Away stamp set and cut them out (there is a coordinating die set available here too).  I stamped the fun little banner onto the largest balloon that is included in the stamp set.  The sentiment is from Up, Up and Away Sentiments.  I also die cut those wonderful clouds using the new Stitched Clouds die set.  I love those swirly clouds!  

I hope you'll play along with us!  We would love to see your creations using stamps from the Clearly Whimsy line, but all products are welcome to be used and no one is disqualified from winning!  The challenge is open for 2 weeks.  You can link up your cards and see the other DT samples by clicking here.  There are prizes up for grabs too, so be sure to check that out too!

Have a great day!  

Other products used:

Patterned Paper: Avery Elle The Everyday Collection, Heidi Swapp September Skies

Cardstock: PTI White, Soft Stone, Melon Berry

Ink:  Amuse Ocean & Papaya; Fresh Ink Coral; Avery Elle Raspberry & Truffle

A Little Robot Love

Hey everyone!  Did you check out the Lil' Inker Designs release last week?  I have another cute robot card that I want to share with you today using the new Robot Builders stamp set!

This card is made using the adorable stamps from Lil' Inker Designs called Robot Builder.  These stamps are so much fun and have so many possibilities.  I first started by die cutting my mat from the Stitched Mats: Side Stitched Rectangles dies and stamped my robots on that piece.   I thought it would be fun if the girl & boy robot were holding hands so I spaced everything so that they could do that!    I attached the panel to my card with a little adhesive and the red clothespin.  Lastly, I stamped my sentiment, also from Robot Builder.

If you haven't checked out the latest release from Lil' Inker Designs, you should take a peek!  Lots of cute new stamps & dies available!

Thank you for visiting!  I hope you enjoyed today's card!

With Sympathy

Sympathy cards are never fun to make.  Finding something appropriate can be very difficult.  And because they aren't fun to make, I don't usually have any on hand when I need them.  With that in mind, I made two different versions of the same card using the Frantic Stamper Small With Sympathy word die.

I created the background with the Triangle Card Panel die.  I really like how versatile this die is! 

 I chose to leave most of the triangles in place (I taped them on the back side of the cardstock so that they would all stay in), and only popped out two rows.   You can see here that when I was finished with the card front, I popped the triangle panel up with dimensionals.

I die cut the small With Sympathy with gold cardstock.  Then, I added a small butterfly from the Petite Butterflies die set and added a gold glittered enamel dot to the center.  I tied a piece of twine around the bottom of the card front to finish it off.

This card is almost identical to the first, I just changed up the colors for a more feminine look.

I still incorporated the trendy gold into my card, but this time as an accent bow. 

Dies I used on these projects:

Small With Sympathy

Triangle Card Panel

Petite Butterflies

And, if you would like a more elegant "With Sympathy" die, this is also available

With Sympathy Large

Thanks for stopping by today!

Clearly Whimsy Stamps Release Blog Hop

Welcome to the ...

Clearly Whimsy Stamps January release BLOG HOP!

The CWS design team have been sharing some amazing creations made with these new stamps and dies over the last couple of days, and today we are celebrating their release with a GRAND BLOG HOP!

The hop starts today and ends on Wednesday, January 21st at midnight EDT.

If you would like to hop along with us today, please CLICK HERE to start the hop at Amy's blog.

Probably my favorite image from the Get Well Soon stamp set is the heartbeat image.  I love that it has a heart in the middle of it!  So cute!  I embossed that image in pink on my light gray cardstock.

The sentiment is from Get Well Soon Additions.   I really like how this set was made well for mix & matching sentiments! And it coordinates so well with the Get Well Soon set!

Be sure to take a look at all of the Design Team blogs today!  Here is a complete blog hop list in hopping order:

Whimsy blog

Amy Kolling

Sylvia Blum

Heather Pulvirenti

Jen Carter  -- You are here!

Kristie Goulet

Becky Carafa

Alanna Moses

Debbie Eastman

Denise Lynn

PRIZE ALERT ... We have hidden a fabulous prize of a $25 GIFT CERTIFICATE at one of the stops on today’s hop!  We will draw the lucky winner from the comments left here and on today’s design team posts, so be sure to visit everyone and leave a comment to be entered into the draw.

Please visit the Whimsy blog for a full reveal of this month's new release. The entire new release is available to buy from the Whimsy Stamps store RIGHT NOW, and if you love our new clear line as much as we do, why not ask your LSS to stock it!

Clearly Whimsy is running a special promotion until Sunday 18th January, and have discounted everything in this release by 10%!! Whimsy Stamps also offers FREE SHIPPING for US orders over $75.

     

Finally, we would like to let you know that our friends over at StampNation are celebrating their 4th birthday this week and Whimsy Stamps is one of their sponsors! As well as giving away some great prizes, we also have a special offer for StampNation members - you can find details about this on the StampNation site.

We hope you've enjoyed this release!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!