Just Be Happy Card

Happy Saturday to all my UK friends and Friday to all my US friends! 

I am jumping up and down with excitement to show off this latest design... Well more like the stamps that I used are jumping up and down. ha! 

It's been a great week filled with tons of community happiness and fun here in Grand Forks, North Dakota. So as I was rifling through my stamps to find the best one to use in a design, I stopped dead in my tracks at Tomorrow Doesn't Exist. It's so full of movement and life! 

To echo those sentiments, I wanted to create a colorfol and vibrant background. 

I used some Ken Oliver Color Burst powders on a sheet of white paper and spritzed them with water to get them good and inky. 

I topped my sheet with the Fibres stencil and sprinkled on some Black Soot Distress Spray Stain, followed by a healthy dose of Spiced Marmalade and Barn Door Distress Spray Stain. 

Ooooo color. :) 

I embossed a big ol' happy sentiment from the Tomorrow Doesn't Exist set, and also embossed some of the gears from the Somewhere In Time stamp set. 

Add a healthy layer of glue to the mix and viola! 

One super fly, happy, vibrant, cheery design. :) 

Thanks for popping by. Now go check out all those fun stamps in the Visible Image shop!

Celebrate! STAMPlorations turns 5!

5 years.

We're celebrating 5 years of one of the most generous, lovely, and amazing stamp companies out there - STAMPlorations is turning 5!!

And what would be a celebration without a little bit of a party?! This month, the STAMPlorations is offering up some pretty sweet swag if you party along with us

In honor of the shindig, we're all sharing our favorite creations we've made for STAMP along the way. 

I'll start with a brand new card, created just for this celebration.

 Products used: A Snarky Birthday to You | Celebrate word die

We're also sharing our top 3 cards we've ever made while on the design team. 

I'll start with this card.

First of all - look at that great photography. (haha, I'm joking of course). 
But this card is the one that started it all. Nearly 3 years ago, Shery Russ, the owner of STAMPlorations, took a chance on little ol' me and added me to her design team. The card above is the one I submitted for my call and it will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart. Right now, it sits on a shelf in my studio, reminding me daily just how fortunate and blessed I am. 

Next up? 

This little number, created with a stamp set I designed just for STAMPlorations called Wonderful Life. I love the happiness embedded into the bright colors, and this picture is actually my facebook cover photo, too!

Lastly, I chose this one. 

I've learned a LOT from Shery over the past couple of years, like how to layer on stencils in a background to create a rich design with tons of depth. This card above is the perfect example of her influence!

 So now - it's time to party!! Hop on over to the blog for all the celebration details.

$500 in prizes! You read that right. 50% off flash sales. FREEBIES, PEOPLE!

Unicorns and Gelatos and Circles - Oh My!

Magic was in the air of my craft studio - mostly because I broke out the mythical creatures (namely in the form of a glorious unicorn from the Visible Image Believe in Unicorns stamp set).

Just look at that majesticness!

 To make this shimmering creation, I started with a good base of black and grunged it up a bit using the Fibonacci background stamp. This stamp has quickly become one of my faves because it is so big and covers the whole background of a design perfectly. 

Next, I created my own patterned panel using a sheet of white cardstock and the Universal stamp set, which has all these scribbly circles.

I used three colors of extra bright gelatos to add a pop of color to my creation. 

I love working with Gelatos - there are so many ways to use them. If you haven't tried them, they're a sort of gel-like crayon that is water soluble. So you can use them as crayons, or mix them with water for unique watercolor effects.

 For this technique, I applied a thick layer and let the colors overlap as I was scribbling, then I used my fingers to blend the colors together.

I put everything all together, and created a my unicorn focal circle, then added a sentiment from the Go To Words stamp set. 

Products Used:

 

Thank you all for popping by!

Coffee Collaboration Hop - Lil Inker Designs

You guys. This stamp set is just so stinkin' cute and I am so excited to show it off to you. The Coffee Loving Cardmakers crew is collaborating with Lil Inkers for the release of their Super Coffee stamp & die set. 

 

This set is all full of charm and humor and BONUS! You all get the chance to win it! 

★Let’s do a little giveaway, shall we? Leave a comment on the Coffee Loving Cardmaker's blog and all participating blogs for a chance to win one of two Super Coffee Die & Stamp Bundles★ 

 

How generous is that!?!? 

Here's my design - as someone who absolutely believes coffee is better than superman, I had a ton of fun figuring out how to make the coffee superstar POP. So I literally used pop dots. :) 

I added in some bling and die cut the coffee mug and voila! super coffee to the rescue.

You KNOW you all want to win this set, so be sure to go hop along with the rest of the crew!