nothing but blue skies

i have to say, i love love love this inspiration photo for the most recent AEI♥U Challenge at the avery elle blog! the colors, the vintage feel, and the FUN! it's awesome!!

i couldn't wait to play along! ...and then i got a creative block! i couldn't make or think of anything! i hate when that happens.
anyway, i pulled through and made this card, which i do adore! 

i used some peacock feathers and distressed the sky background on my card. i reeeeaaaallly like it! i was going for darker at the top and lighter at the bottom (an ombre, if you will). :)

then i stamped and fussy cut out all of the stars from the celebrate stamp set! i added some glossy accents to the little stars, and then popped up the larger ones.

finally i added some white enamel dots (because i really love the white accents on the inspiration photo!!) and stamped the sentiment from happy camper!

i can't help but smile when i see this card - just like when i see the inspiratin photo! :)
i hope this card brightens your day too!
enjoy!

surf's up!

i have a quick post today! my parents are up visiting and we're having a great time together! 
but i wanted to share the layout i made for the current avery elle AEi(love)U challenge! :)

there was a sketch and i thought, i can make a layout with that! :)

now, i only have a few avery elle stamp sets...but that will change soon - i just placed a new order! i couldn't resist those new releases!! ha ha!
here's my layout!

it's from 4 years ago, (wow!) but it is still one of my favorite pictures ever. it's when my little mann was actually little! he was only one and there he is all about the surf board! :)
the stamp sets i used were hipster-potomus and celebrate!

the birds and hat (LOVE that hat) were paper pieced and popped up. i also outlined the birds with a grey copic -if you've ever been to a florida beach, you know that there are always seagulls everywhere! ha ha! so i had to add them to my layout!

the sentiment was created with thickers i used lots of stars from the celebrate stamps set too!

there is also a glycene bag that holds other memories and pictures, as well as a little tag that i journalled on about that day. :)

so that's it!
i'm so glad i was able to play along! i was almost thinking i couldn't make my stamp sets work! 
i am so excited to get my new ones in the mail!
enjoy!

a little birdie told me

i have been wanting to play along with the AEI(love)U challenge ever since they posted the inspiration picture! i LOVE it!! 

but after several failed attempts with washi tapes, wood veneers and mists...i almost gave up. lol! and then the idea for my card hit me, and after (literally) 45 minutes of masking, the card was finished! :)

i used all of my avery elle stamp sets for this card! granted i only have 4, but they're all on there! the little birdie was stamped and fussy cut and then popped up for dimension, along with one of the clouds.

then for the 'omg', i stamped it on the white cardstock, then stamped it again on that light pink. i used my craft knife to cut out the letters and then glued it to the card. so fun! and i can't wait to do it wiht more of the sentiments on the 'celebrate' stamp set! :)

now, onto the sentiment, i used sayings from 'hipster-potamus', 'funky monkey' and 'what's up?'. combine those sets with lots of washi tape, and ink (and inky, inky fingers) and i created the 'little birdie' sentiment on my card! :) i also stamped it out on a scratch piece of paper first to make sure it worked. and on the card it's not perfectly straight, but oh well! :)

so that's it! i purposefully chose the colors to match the ones in the inspiration photo. and the background of my card was chosen to mimic the feathers on some of those arrows in the picture! :) 

so that's it! 

enjoy!

brass monkey

i'm a big fan of beastie boys! LOVE them! and i have been wanting to use the monkey from avery elle's 'funky monkey' stamp set in true beastie boy spirit forever! today my ideas finally came to fruition! it helps that the sketch from the most current AEI(love)U challenge is super fun and inspiring:

i bought these really cool light wood/vellum tags (yeah, you heard that right, wood AND vellum tags, they're pretty sweet in person!) from hobby lobby today (shhh!) and i heat embossed the monkey in...what else? brass!

then i stamped the monkey image onto some cool patterned paper and paper pieced those onto the tag over the monkey, just to give the monkey a little extra elements. the jungle branch was paper pieced and popped up for dimension.

for the sentiment i masked the 'thanks a bunch' saying that is on the sentiment to spell the word 'that', and then stamped 'funky monkey'. say it with me now!! 'brass monkey! that funky monkey!' he he he! ok, so i added some yello striped washi to the side (sunshine) adn some fun different sized teal and yellow sequins (if ever there was a sketch that called for sequins, it was this one!)!

i really do, love this card!! i hope it make you chuckle or at the very least smile - and if you're like me...the song is now stuck in your head! there could be worse songs to have in your head though. :)

enjoy!