Cupcake Insirations Challenge and Paper Sweeties Mash Up!

 

This week Paper Sweeties is the sponsor over at the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge Blog!  Use the picture above as your inspiration and play along and maybe you'll win some fun Paper Sweeties goodies!

 

Here's what I came up with for the challenge:

 

 

I just love the little giraffe and elephant that are a part of the Paper Sweeties Bouncing Baby stamp set!  And I love all of the colors in this challenge.. this is what inspired me and of course those banners.  I was planning on keeping the background white like the frosting on the cupcake.... but the thought of a white sky just pained me so I used my watercolors to make it an ever so soft blue which was good because it allows my cloud die cuts from the Let's Go To The Beach Sweet Cuts stand out with their sparkly sparkles.

 

I didn't think these two were going to fit in the umbrella from the Showering You With Love stamp set and dies.  And it does look a little squishy in that umbrella boat... but they're good friends... they don't mind!   And I cut my little waves from paper I'd watercolored previously using the waves dies from the Let's Go To The Beach Sweet Cuts.

 

 

Another one of my favorite go to sets are these happy banners from the Birthday Banners stamp set and the coordinating Dies.  Sometimes I like to stamp and color them and sometimes I just like to cut them out of glitter paper.  For this one, I decided to do both!

And I decided for my sentiment since I didn't need a baby card right now and not sure when I do need one, will it be a shower, or a congratulations, or maybe a birthday party so I thought the Hip Hip Hooray and banner from the Hello Friends Stamp Set and the used the coordinating banner die from the Be Happy Sweet Cuts set that also has a bunch of cute shapes that you'll use over and over.  And remember that little yellow flag on the umbrella boat?  When I cut the end off of my Be Happy Banner, it was just right for a flag.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by and be sure to check out all of the artwork over at the Cupcake Inspirations Challenge Blog and play along!

 

 



The Cutting Cafe May Release-Elisha Jean and Friends

 

You may or may not know that The Cutting Café has a sister site, The Cutting Café Shop where you can now get clear stamps, paper, ribbon, embellishments, and more.  You may be familiar with Sassy Owl who has made appearances in many of my projects... she is from the From Owl Of Us set over at the Cutting Café Shop. 

 

This month, Regina has a new release, Everyday Elisha Jean and Friends. 

 

This adorable set comes with three sweet little girlies and a separate dress, shirt, and a few cute sentiments.  All week each Design Team member has been revealing their creations with this stamp set.  Here is what I've made:

 

 

It's no secret I'm in love with the Clear Cardstock available over at The Cutting Café Shop so I chose to make a couple of cards using it and the new set.

 

I cut my card out of the clear cardstock, and then folded it in half and used my scoring tool to really press down and get a fold in it.  I also used the Layered Flower Set from The Cutting Café to cut these flowers out.  I cut them out of two sided paper so it was easy to cut one sheet and get two different colors of flowers.

 

I love that the dress is a separate stamp so you can easily stamp on any pretty printed paper, cut it out and layer it on.  There is also a shorter shirt version so her top can be different from her skirt... so adorable!

 

 

When I saw this cute little girl, I saw one of the boys' childhood friends, Elizabeth so I made her a redhead for this card.  Although, Elizabeth would not be caught dead in a dress...lol. 

 

Just love this stamp set and I'll be featuring more projects made with them over the next few weeks and so will the rest of the Design Team so stay tuned!  Or just head on over to the Shop and get yours right now!  But still checkout the Design Team's makes for some inspiration!

Cutting Cafe Shaped Albums

 

This week is all about the many great shaped and word album cut files available at The Cutting Cafe'.  Be sure to make the rounds to all of the Design Team blogs on Saturday and check out so many beautiful designs.  For my project I chose the Mixed Shapes Album.  The cool thing about this set is you can cut it as a larger album (6x8) or a smaller album (3.5 x 5).  I chose to work with the smaller album because I had a bunch of small picture I'd taken with my phone and decided to make a mini album of the pics of my dogs, Jack and Riley.

 

I cut the album twice... once in kraft papers and once in some of that great clear cardstock from The Cutting Café Shop and mixed the pages together.  

 

After I had cut the two main sets, I made sure the template with the pages was attached and made the whole template smaller by about a quarter of an inch and then cut again on two different pieces of two sided design paper and it worked out perfectly to add a second layer to my kraft pages!  I just trimmed off the end with the holes, distressed and layered them on.

 

I decided to paint the edges of my clear cardstock pages with some white gesso and then some gold sparkly paint... just 'cause...

 

I LOVE the adorable printable stamp set, Animal and Bug Love available at The Cutting Café.  All sorts of cute little critters including this sweet little puppy and that awesome I Ruff You background printable.  LOTS more great images on that set and you'll be seeing more of it for sure.

 

 I just love the clear pages and how one page can play off of another... like here where that cute little pup is peeking through from the page behind it!  Or below where the picture from the next page peeks through (better if I didn't have glare on the picture...lol)

 

I got lucky and found book of sayings that I bought oh so long ago all about dogs... and at first I didn't think I'd be able to use them because they were very big and made for 12x12 pages, but then I realized I could cut them out in label-like strips and they fit just right and the look is popular right now.  Then I used some of my sayings I've saved on Pinterest and typed them up printed them out too.

 

I also used a paw stamp and stamped a bunch of paws on some kraft cardstock in white and gold so I could use them as embellishments.  (Above I just stamped and embossed right on the page, but I liked being able to cut out and pop up the ones from the kraft paper.)  I also cut some flourishes in gold metallic and  some glitter hearts with my dies.. not to mention some leftovers I had saved.... LOVE using my leftovers!

 

I just love that I Ruff You background!!

 

So thanks so much for stopping by and be sure to check out The Cutting Café Blog on Saturday so you can see all of the awesome albums made by the Design Team... shaped and word albums galore!! 

Lessology May 2016 Challenge #58 - Chalkboard Fun

 

 

This month's Lessology Challenge is all about Chalkboards.  I had all kinds of ideas but I finally settled on this one.  I bought this chalkboard paper some time ago from Stampin' Up 'cause I thought it would be cool... and it is... but until about a month ago it sat all packaged up doing nothing.  I've also been wanting to create a pocket letter... all the rage right now and they seem like so much fun... and guess what... they are!!  This is a gift... and it might be for you... so I'm not gonna give away all of the secrets... but I'll show you a few.

 

 

So when I sat down to start it we had just heard that we lost a wonderful man and musician, so he was on my mind.  I used some chalk to create a little bit of a solar system around the crown and hard to see, but I speckled it with a little bit of glitter pen.  I added the handwriting with a gel pen because none of my chalk pens had a small enough tip.  So... here's to Prince... it still makes me teary... but I'll leave it at that..

 

I bought some chalk ink at the same time I got the paper, but I wasn't happy with the way it stamped... it seemed so faint and maybe I just didn't know what I was doing, but I decided I liked the look of these soft embossing powders on it... kind of chalky looking I think, but definitely pops...which is what I wanted.  This card is full of things that I love.. the gold doily... the cacti, the gold bling and that cute little pup... one of my favorite digital images from Craftin Desert Divas.  I think they'll be loved where they are going too.

 

LOVE this stamp from Unity... I think it's a good one to repeat in the mirror every morning....

 

Another Unity stamp ... this owl... so cute!  Don't you love her glasses??  And the sentiment... I think I've been heard to say that once or twice.  Throw in some of my favorite Gold dotted washi tape, gold shimmer trim and a leftover star from some gold project...lol... I've had a few of those... I colored him (outside the lines too) with some colored chalk.

 

So you may be wondering where the heck the upcycled item is on this project... here it is.  I had to get a new cord for my Ipad.  I have two cords that look like someone chewed them.  Yes, I do have a dog that tends to gnaw on inappropriate items from time to time... but this was not him... anyway, I bought the cord and when I opened up the box there was this AWESOME silver shiny cardboard that was part of the packaging.  LOVE it!!!!  And of course I saved it.   I cut three of my cards out of it and embossed them with different folders. I have some left over too but not nearly enough ... I think I could use an extra cord... don't you?  The cute sentiment is from The Sweet Stamp Shop... with the font it might be hard to read, but it says "I Can't Adult Today"... tee hee!  I really can't.

 

 

And here's another great Unity stamp... I just love some of their sentiment stamps...this is one of my favorite quotes and was so excited when I found it.  Another good reminder on those tough days. That cute little lion is from Reverse Confetti.

 

So I'm not gonna show you what's in the pockets behind the cards, but I will tell you while I was working I cut some extra items and added a few more goodies.... like I said... I don't want to give away all of the secrets.  There's also a good chance I added a few more items to the front before you even read this...that's just how I am...

 

Can't wait to see what YOU create for the Chalkboard Fun challenge!

 

 



Big Hugs From Paris and Craftin Desert Divas!

Bonjour mes amis!  And Happy Tuesday!  Lisa BZibziak (yeah... that's not French... it's Polish...lol) here and today I'm up on the CDD Blog to show you a card I made using some of the new Paris Themed Digis available now in the CDD Shop! 

 

 

Just love these new adorable digis and one of the things I love the most is they come in sets and the images are separate so you can easily mix and match your images.  I love to cut out the digital images... the same as I do stamped images... so that I can pop them up and add dimension and layers.  But the awesome thing about digital stamps is you don't have to cut them out.  You can size and create your scene layering one stamp in front of another before you print it.  You may remember my herd of cows from a couple months ago...

 

 

On this one, I layered a few cows together for my background and printed and cutout the front one to pop it up.  To get the two front cows in the herd to have their feet over the die cut grass I just cut the bottoms of their feet from the paper a bit and slid the grass underneath.  So much you can do with digital stamps!  Anyway, back to Paris...

 

I am in love with the new dies and stamps from the April Release!  On this card I used the new Picture Frame die and the new Wishful Thought Word dies to cut out the word Big and the coordinating Wishful Thoughts stamp set to stamp Hugs.  I also used some of my old favorites, Fancy Frames and The Sky's The Limit.

 

The adorable little girl is from Painting Paris and the poodle is from Paris Friends.  The bird (yes... there is only one bird in the set...but you only need one... you can flip it to face either way and size it in any size you want) is from Paris Accessories and so is the Eiffel Tower.  I colored in my images with my alcohol markers.

 

I cut out a piece of watercolor paper using Fancy Frames and used the smooshing technique with my distress inks and blocks to add some blue sky and green grass for the background.  A few paper flowers with CDD sequins for their centers finish it off.

 

If you're new to digital images or just want a refresher, check out this video on the CDD website about Getting Started with Digital Stamps here!

 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Passez une journée merveilleuse!  And if you need any help with using your digital stamps, you can find me and the other Digi Design Team Members over at the Craftin Desert Divas Gallery on Facebook! 

 

Hope to see you again soon!

 

Here are the products I used:

 

Painting Paris

Paris Friends

 

Paris Accessories

 

Picture Frame Die

 

Wishful Thoughts Stamp Set

Wishful Thoughts Word Dies

Fancy Frames Dies

The Sky's The Limit Dies

Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge #158

 

Welcome to this week's Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge!  I couldn't wait to get my hands on this paperpack, stamp set and dies!  They are all available right now from Close to My Heart!  The new Tickled Pink stamp set and Tickled Pink coordinating dies and the beautiful Calypso paper pack and Complements.  Not to mention that washi tape!! Yummy!  Love it all!  The colors, the images (pineapples!!  flamingos, flowers... all kinds of tropical goodness!!)

 

I cut a few leaves from Artistry out of some green glitter paper and used my CDD Stitched in Circles dies to cut the cute little wreath around the sentiment circle and Fancy Frames for the pink scalloped rectangle.  And don't you just love that vellum pineapple from the Calypso complements??  I used some of the Calypso sequins as well, and sprinkled around a few of my recently purchased Doubleclick Skittles.  I found those perfect paper flowers from my LSS, Scraps of Love.

 

And these flamingos and the sentiment from Tickled Pink... one of my new faves... I think you'll be seeing them again!

 

Thanks for stopping by and don't forget to stop on over to Atlantic Hearts and check it out!  Will this be the week you finally play along??  We've been waiting for you!

Craftin Desert Divas Linky Party In the Garden!

 

Welcome to this week's Crafting Desert Divas Linky Party! The theme for this Linky Party at Craftin Desert Divas is “In The Garden”!  Please play along and create something that fits this week's theme and link up at the Craftin' Desert Diva’s Blog.

Every other Monday is the beginning of a new semi-weekly Linky Party over at the CDD blog. We hope you will share your projects with us! And there are prizes! Every Linky Party will have a winner and a Top 3!  The more times you link up…the more chances you have to win!

 

Here is my project for this week's party (links to the CDD products I've used are at the bottom of the post):

 

 

When I was trying to decide what to do for this In The Garden Linky Party I knew I wanted it to be different, but what... so I started perusing the myriad of images over at the CDD Shop to see what I could find.. and when I saw this adorable Pretty Little Lady digital image I knew I wanted to use her in some way and then I stumbled upon the Watering Can House and that was it!  This Doodlebug Hello Sunshine paper was perfect for my little scene.  For my sky, I used the smooshing technique on some water color paper and then sprayed it with some extra shimmery blue.  While I waited for it to dry, I used my Outdoor Landscape dies to cut out some rolling hills.  I glued the green hills onto the watercolored paper and then used fancy Frames to cut out the background layer for the scene.  Love the look of it!

 

 

As I've stated countless times recently.. I'm really loving using digital images along with my stamp sets.  It was so easy to pull in this little lady bug and then copy the image, resize it and flip it to create her little sister.  I will tell you... coloring these small images with any of the markers I have was not easy and this is about the fourth or fifth picture I've taken as I've found... things...lol!  Don't look to close please... so tell me... what markers do you use for tiny fine coloring?  I used my CDD sequins to give a little color and the feel of flowers planted around the shrubs.

 

One of my favorite stand by clear stamp sets from CDD is Home Sweet Home... I used the bird and that cute little sign from that set... the sign... I added that and took my fifth set of pictures...lol!  I found it while looking for a solution to another problem..lol!  And the sentiment below is also from Home Sweet Home.  I use it often.

 

 

Another tool I've been using a lot are the Sky's The Limit dies... the sun and clouds especially get a lot of use... they are a great addition to any scene... the stitching... LOVE!

 

And of course this adorable little guy from the I Toad You So 2x3 stamp set... so happy I thought of him.  And don't worry!  These little critters are all friends... they're having a party!

Thanks so much for stopping by today and be sure to go to the CDD Blog and check out all of the other Design Team creations and then play along this week!  You could win some free stuff!  And come back tomorrow because I'll be up on the CDD Blog with another cute Digital Stamp creation!

 

The Products and Links Are: 

Watering Can House http://craftindesertdivas.com/watering-can-house-digital-stamp/
Pretty Little Lady Digital Stamp http://craftindesertdivas.com/pretty-little-lady-digital-stamp/
Home Sweet Home Clear Stamp Set http://craftindesertdivas.com/home-sweet-home/
Toad You 2x3 Stamp http://craftindesertdivas.com/toad-you/
Fancy Frames Dies http://craftindesertdivas.com/fancy-frame-dies/...
Outdoor Landscape Dies http://craftindesertdivas.com/outdoor-landscape-dies/
The Sky's The Limit Dies http://craftindesertdivas.com/the-sky-is-the-limit-dies/
Doodlebug Hello Sunshine Paper Pad http://craftindesertdivas.com/hello-sunshine-paper-pad/