oh boy, a bundle of joy!

i think it's quite apparent that i am a lover of all things lawn fawn...i mean what's not to love about their stamps? cute, fun, cheery and just all around amazing! yes please!

with that said, it was a no brainer that i was going to try my hand at the challenge going on over at lawn fawn - i mean, i get to play with lawn fawn stamps...yes please! :) the challenge is being held to find some cards to be showcased in lawn fawn's cataloge and booth at the winter CHA - craft & hobby association! so exciting!!

with that said, here's my card! it's not the first card i made for this contest, but it's my favorite so far! :)

i hand drew a cloud card template and then created the card with the assistance of this handy dandy lawn clippings video!

the stamp set i used is 'plus one'. the stork is paper pieced; on the bundle i heat embossed the teeny tiny star stamp from that set. i also heat embossed the sentiment. then, (and this is my new favorite technique/thing to do on cards) i used the two heart images from that set and stamped them in white ink. i used my glass accent to color in the hearts and then sprinkled them with glitter...it's SUPER fun! and i've found the glitter tends to stick better - read: it doesn't get all over your hands and everything else it touches. :)

so that's my card! hope it made you smile!

i would really love for one of my besties to tell me they're expecting so i can send them this card...hint hint!! :D ha ha!

enjoy! and happy new year!!

may your 2012 be filled with inky fingers and crafty masterpieces!

love for rudolph

i know christmas is over, but i'm still feeling the holiday spirit! not to mention, i've had this card idea in my head for a few days, so i just had to make it or risk losing the gem forever! ;) ha ha!

i made this card for the most recent paper smooches sparks challenge. check out the inspiration photo one more time:

yeah. love it! i was inspired by christmas and the reindeer! here's my card:

so, i decided santa is sort of the show stopper at christmas, and to make a card with some love for santa's right hand man - rudolph! :)

i paper-pieced the carrots, and wove the basket myself with some kraft cardstock strips, fun! the basket and some of the carrots are popped up for dimension, and it's hard to tell, but the background is the merriest and most wonderful, sparkly turquoise paper! the paper smooches stamps i used were 'alpha dots' and 'vegtasic'.

that's it! hipefully it helps wind down your christmas spirit, merrily! :)

enjoy!

for santa...only

i had this card in my mind for a long time, and when i saw the latest challenge at lawnscaping was texture, i was like. yes. it's time to come to fruition! :)

i love adding texture (and dimension!) to my projects, so this was super easy. here's my card:

i dry embossed the inside of the polaroid and then rubbed my white chalk ink over it. i was going for a blustery winter day look. i also added accentuated the dry embossing with some extra pops of my white viva pen. i also added some glossy accents to the milk; love that effect!

all of the stamps (lawn fawn, baby!) were paper pieced - of course. i tried to hide the penguins (a dad and a little boy in my mind!) as if they were the ones creating the card. the dad penguin is supposed to be trying to sneak a cookie!

so that's my card! it was totally inspired by my cookie-monster husband and my 3 year old mann! :)

enjoy!

back to my old tricks

i have to say, i giggled the entire time i was making this card. it's totally me. and i couldn't wait to post it! i don't know why mustashes are so funny to me!!! ...but i digress...

the latest challenge at wee memories is 'anything goes' - holla! free reign!

so here's my card:

yep! mustaches (mustach-i??) are still funny! especially if they're oversized...add a pun to that...yep. it doesn't get much more sam than that! :)

it's a pretty simple card, the snow is torn white cardstock, and of course the bunny and sentiment are lawn fawn stamps. the star of the show is the mustache, and that's from the craft's meow.

hopefully it made you smile!

enjoy!

a very ps sparks christmas

the latest challenge at paper smooches sparks challenge is christmas themed! yahoo!

boy was i inspired! it also helped that i wrote and sent all my christmas cards and then realized i was 5 short!! hoo boy! needless to say, last night i made a bunch of cards for this challenge! i'll post 2 of the cards here, and then get to another post later with the other cards! :)

so let's see, what could i have called to me from the inspiration photo?

* pops of red

* cute critters

* christmas!

i think i can work with those conditions! :)

so here is my 1st card:

its the owl from the chubby chums set - and i paper pieced him in christmas colors! :) (ps - danielle, i should have made this one for you!! too bad i had already mailed your christmas card! i'm sorry!)

the sentiment was created with the alphadots set and the sentiment sampler!

as you'll start to notice with these cards, i rediscovered my viva pens! so a few of the cards have some snow-bling on them!

on to the 2nd card:

i used the hot concoctions set! i'm starting to like that set more and more! again, the coffee was paper pieced - with nice warm and welcoming paper, in my opinion! :) i used the super groovy snowflakes from the swanky snowdudes set for the background (and even a few on the inside of the card), i used my versamark watermark stamp pad so it would be subtle.

i refrained from adding any 'snow-bling' as i call it...but it was tough! :) i did add some some glossy accents to the whipped cream...apparently whipped cream is glossy to me...can you tell i don't drink a lot of coffee?

so those are two of my cards!

i hope they helped get you into or carry you in the holiday spirit! :)

enjoy!

wee memories christmas card

i have a christmas card to share today! it's for the current challenge over at wee memories - holiday themed!

and that's perfect, as i'm scrambling (as usual!) to get the last of my christmas cards made and sent! :)

here's my card!

i tore some white cardstock and then rubbed down the edges so it would have some texture and maybe even look a little 'snowy'!

and, oh, what a surprise, i used lawn fawn stamps! :) 'fly free', 'critters in the burbs', and 'pa-rum-pa-pum-pum'! i used the train puffs of smoke as popcorn on the tree! all of the other stamps were paper-pieced and i even added some white chalk ink on the belly of one of the birds - that was fun and a little messy. two things i love when crafting! :)

the tree and birds were popped up for some dimension! and i added some bakers twine around the tree as the string that holds the popcorn! :)

it's a simple card, but i really like the colors!

enjoy!

lawnscaping blog hop!

it's time for the 2nd lawnscaping blog hop! *squeal*

and this time, the theme this time is the color RED!

if you arrived here from the amazing Shein Shein's blog, then you're on the right track! if not, head over the lawnscaping blog and see what it's all about!

the hop runs from friday, december 9th - sunday, december 11th! make sure to comment on all of the blogs because there are LOTS of prizes to be won! all the details can be found on the Lawnscaping home page (http://lawnscaping.blogspot.com).

the hop is being sponsored by some amazing companies. Lawn Fawn, Mold Muse and Whiskers Graphics!

everyone will have until sunday, december 11, 2011, 11:59 pm EST, to leave comments on all the blogs to be eligible for a prize! the winners will be announced on monday, december 12th.

so here's my project - i'll try to keep it short since i know there's a TON of amazing blogs to see!

i made an advent calendar!!

(i'm sorry - it was super hard to photograph!)

the banners were cut on the cricut and then i sewed them together to make little pockets! i used twine to connect the banners and then adhered them to a poster-sized picture frame so that i can keep it for years to come!

i made a list of activities for us to do each day, and when mr mann wakes up in the morning, we find the day and read our activity!

i used pretty much all of the lawn fawn christmas stamp sets! (pa-rum-pa-pum-pum, cozy christmas, bows & holly, and frosties) as well as harold's abc's.

i decided to keep one of the banner's pretty simple (it reminded me of rudolph!!), and others i just embellished randomly with various paper-pieced stamps from lawn fawn (and ribbon)!

so that's my project!

next up is the uber, amazingly talented Christy Rueling!

If you've gotten off track, don't worry! Head on back to Lawnscaping to see the complete list of designers and prize information!

enjoy!

hi friend!

i was able to sneak in a little crafty time this afternoon - yay!

i decided to make a card for the latest challenge at the paper smooches sparks blog! the inspiration photo is so wonderful! it's light and airy and cheery! well, that's my opinion!

anyway, i personally love the colors (did i mention before that these are the colors my son's nursery is decorated in? not sure - picture of the freshly painted room is below!), and so i knew i was going to create something for this challenge!

i used paper smooches stamps (of course!) for this challenge - forest whimsy, hang ups, and sentiment stampler!

everything is paper-pieced! yahoo! and i just love that gnome stamp!!

the mushrooms are all layered over each other and the gnome, and the grass is popped up for dimension

i loved making this card, and i hope is shows!

enjoy!

ps - as mentioned...here's a picture of the littlest mann's room! the furniture wasn't moved back, but you get the idea!

lawnscaping challenge guest designer!

i am beyond honored and excited and (and nervous!) to be a guest designer at the lawnscaping challenge!!

i still can't believe it! the challenge this time is super fun - to make a tag or treat bag! awesome!! i love being able to use my lawn fawn stamps for a project other than a card!

so, here are my bags.

first the fronts:

i created the bags using standard card envelops, how fun is that? if you're curious as to how i did that, here's a video tutorial (from the hero arts blog) that shows you the steps!

then the backs:

i used lawn fawn's 'making frosty friends', 'critters in the forest', 'pa-rum-pa-pum-pum', 'frosties', and 'cozy christmas'. i love mixing all of the stamp sets together! all of which were paper-pieced! i wanted to make these gift bags for christmas, but not with the traditional colors!

the pink bag was clear embossed with the hero arts 'magical background' cling (the same stamp was used for the other bag too!). fun note i discovered with the snow pen i have - if you sprinkle glitter on it before you heat it to make it puff up, the glitter stays - hence my sparkly snow on the white/blue bag!

so those are my bags! thanks so much for stopping by, and don't forget to participate in the challenge at lawnscaping!!

a mini-menn layout

the inspiration photo for the latest challenge at lawnscaping makes me drool! lol! i don't know what it is, but i could stare at it all day! i love the colors and the texture possibilities...it's just perfection!

so of course i wanted to create a layout for this challenege that emitted that same feeling of warmth and homey-ness (and love!).

it's a layout celebrating just how much our little menn love (and look like!!) their dad! i thought the colors and textures were perfect for a more masculine feel (despite the fact that i made felt flowers - for the first time! - on the layout...).

the background of the layout is adhesive corkboard...um yeah...it's pretty awesome! i used some dark red paper to border the pictures, but i distressed them (with my house keys!! lol!) and some grey paint (courtesy of my big little mann). the title was made with lawn fawn's quinn's abc's - i cut each letter out once in red/orange paper and once in grey and then made the shadow effect. i also used, 'harold's abc's'. 'critters in the forest', 'clear to see', 'say cheese too' and 'my silly valentine' throughout the layout. :) yeah you heard me...6 stamp sets!!! lol! *whistle*

everyone says that the boys look just like josh, so i went with the whole idea of 'apples not falling far from the tree' for this layout...

i used some glossy accents for the glasses and wooden letters (representing the boys' names) to pull in the glass bottle in the background. seriously...glass, cork...paper, felt...yeah. i love me some texture, you think? :)

enjoy!

gobble gobble!

last week i went to a petting zoo with my little menn, and there were turkeys there! and boy, i have to be honest here...they're pretty ugly! nothing like the cute little lawn fawn turkey ('turkey day' mini stamp set)!! ha ha!

anyway, it inspired me to make a thanksgiving card, just for fun! no challenges! :)

i came up with the idea of those little winter birds 'dressing' up like turkeys! ha ha!! can you see it? the little birds are from 'making frosty friends' and the turkey feathers are actually flowers from the 'petite floral's set! it made me giggle! my husband just shook his head and walked away.

he knows me too well!

this is how the scene plays out in my head:

real turkey - what the?!

mini fake turkey - yeah, i'm dressed like a turkey. deal with it. :)

anyway, happy thanksgiving to everyone!!

besides the usual gratefullness for family, friends, and health, i'm grateful everyday for the opportunity to share this crafty hobby with so many other like-minded people! i'm inspired every day at the craftiness of others online!

enjoy!

nose and mistletoes

i was inspired by this saying that popped into my head, and it was one of those times that was nagging and nagging at me. so i just HAD to make the card to go with the sentiment as soon as i could!

this card was also created for the challenge to make a christmas card with paper smooches stamps!

so, what was the setiment...well here it is!

from my nose to my mistletoes!

(and inside it says a simple merry christmas!)

i used the stockings and birds from 'hang ups' and the sentiment was created (of course) with alphadots. :) i used some bakers twine that i had, and of course i just adore teal and red and white together! especially for christmas! :)

i heat embossed the sentiment with this new embossing powder that i recently purchased from simon says stamp! instead of giving a shiny, smooth effect, this powder puffs up and gets all texture-y. it's fantastic!

alright that's it.

enjoy!

a very special birthday

my mom's 50th birthday is tomorrow - i can't believe it! and she can't either! i had a hard time turning 30 this year...and she's in the same boat! how does life go by so fast?!

anyway, now that you know my dirty, dark secret (i'm 30!!! ew!)...ha ha! ...i want to share a card i made for her birthday! she lives in florida, so i won't see her on her birthday, but we'll be making our way down there in a few weeks for thanksgiving! anyway, i sent the card in the mail yesterday along with her homemade present from her little grand-menn (my boys! ha ha).

i am playing along with wee memories, since the challenge this week is birthdays and celebrations!

so here's my card:

my mom's favorite color is purple, but as you may have heard me complain about before...purple blocks my creativity! lol! i'm serious, for some reason, i can't create things with purple! i had to rise above for this card though, and actually, i really liked how it turned out! i only used purple as the accents, and i think it really helped! ha ha!

the airplane and clouds are from lawn fawn's 'bon voyage' mini-stamp set. i made the banner and used some glue dots to make it pop up so it looked like it was in flight. :) i used lawn fawn's 'harold's abc's' stamp set to create the sentiment which i heat embossed.


inside the card, i used 'harold's abc's' (heat embossed) again, as well as some american craft's numbers...the name of the stamp set escapes me though... :/

so that's it! it was a blast to make!

enjoy!