Happy Birthday Card!

Hi Everyone!  Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but it has been a very busy time for my family right now.  My husband is about to start his internal medicine residency program.  We are very fortunate that we both have time off and we have been spending a lot of time together before he gets too busy with his program.  Of course, I still found time to take a SLIGHT detour on one of our day trips to a stamping store where I found a very cute beehive stamp.  I used the stamp to help create a card for a friend's birthday.

I used the Flower Bursts Pattern by Hero Arts to create the background for this card.  After embossing the background, I added bright color with Shaded Lilac and Pickled Raspberry Distress Inks.  I colored the beehive and bees with copics and adhered them with foam tape to create dimension in the scene.  

I am playing along with Lawnscaping Challenge this week.  It is all about creating dimension with your project.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend! 

-Allison

Happy BARKday!

Hello Everyone!  Today I made a card for Lawnscaping Challenge #59.  This week it is all about coloring!

Here is my take on this week's challenge:

I used the Critters at the Dog Park stamps and coordinating die cuts to create this birthday barkday scene.  This is one of my favorite new sets from Lawn Fawn, and I adore the coordinating dies, which make it so easy to have fun with the stamps!  I colored the dogs with copic markers.  Here is a closer look:

I wanted to bring some bright color in, so I selected paper from Funky Town by PTI for the background and birthday hats.  The sentiment was made using the Claire's ABCs by Lawn Fawn. 

That's all I have for today.  Thanks for visiting and happy crafting!

-Allison

10-Minute Craft Dash #19 Challenge

Hi There!

It has been a rainy few days...which means lots of time for crafting!  Today, I made two cards for the 10-Minute Craft Dash #19 Challenge.

 Whew!  Ten minutes goes by A LOT faster than I thought it would.  Even so, I really liked this challenge because it made me be more decisive on the placement of details which always tends to slow me down.  It was so nice to be completely finished with two cards under twenty minutes!   Here is my first card:

I had the layout in my head and gathered all the supplies.  This card took 8 minutes and 49 seconds to complete.  I was so excited that I completed a card under 10 minutes that I wanted to challenge myself with another card.  Here is the card from round two:

This card took 9 minutes and 57 seconds to complete.  I almost did not make it as I was having trouble lining up the background stripes.  But my sweet husband reminded me during the challenge that everything does not always have to be perfect.  This is great advice for me as a newer stamper because most often, when I do challenge myself to finish a project that I am not quite happy with, I end up really liking the project when it is complete.  

Have a great weekend and happy crafting!

-Allison

Paper Smooches SPARKS Challenge

Hello there!

I just wanted to pop by to share with you a card I created for Paper Smooches Trend Watch Challenge.  

The trend for this week is to design a card with gold.  One of my favorite color combinations is gold and pink, so I knew I had to make a card for this challenge.  Here is my take on the challenge:

This card was made using the In Bloom Stamp Set from PTI.  I colored the flowers with some pink copics and then embossed the flowers in gold.  I used Inktense Pencils to give the leaves more of a watercolor effect.  Here's a closer look:

For the background of the card, I used vellum with a gold polka-dot pattern and Sweet Blush paper from PTI for the card base.  Next, I stamped the sentiment, which is from the Sentiment Sampler by Paper Smooches.

Thanks for visiting today and happy crafting!

-Allison
  

Graduation Card

I have a rather large family, so the beginning of the summer usually starts off with graduations.  This year, we had three graduations to celebrate.  My sister-in-law graduating from law school, my husband graduating medical school, and my niece graduating from high school.  You could say we have been a little busy lately.  Because of all of these exciting events, I've had a great excuse to do lots of cardmaking.

Today I made a card for my niece's high school graduation.  The card is stamped with one of the stamps from the Irresistibly Ikat stamp set from Papertrey Ink.  This is one of my go-to stamp sets.  It is extremely versatile and can be used for just about any occasion.  I stamped the pattern with alternating colors of Dew Drop ink in Aquatic Splash, Pink Grapefruit, and Nautical Blue.  I am really happy with the color combination as it reminds me of summer and my sweet niece.  

The pattern is stamped on Whisper White and mounted on Basic Gray cardstock from Stampin' Up.  The sentiment is from Paper Smooches Sentiment Sampler, which is a great sentiment set to own.  

This week, I'll be playing along with the CAS-ual Friday Challenge to create a clean and simple congratulations card!

Thanks for stopping by and happy crafting!

-Allison