Beary Belated Birthday Card

 I am a terrible procrastinator when it comes to mailing out anything... which I know is very weird for a cardmaker. Is it just me? Or do you all have lots of fun making cards and then never can seem to pop them in the mail in a timely manner? 

This card was designed for my uber talented cardmaking friend, Kevin Bray. Seriously, go check out his blog, you'll be amazed by his creativity. He also has a rockin' Insta account. For the most part, I'd say Kevin and I have pretty opposite styles of cardmaking - he's an amazing colorist with a knack for getting cute, clean cards absolutely perfect. I'm a mixed media card artist who colors up a white spot with a single brush of a finger.

Anyhow, I wanted to send him a card for his birthday... which was in July I think... (I know, I already disclosed how terrible I am as a human being).

But I didn't want to design any ordinary card, I wanted to design an uber cute card and try to be as clean as I'm capable of. 

I pulled out all my sunny Faber Castell gelato colors and cut out a bunch of hexagons, because I was using this adorable little bear and bee stamp set, so I thought it fit the brief.

I die cut the hexes and smudged them with different color gelatos then layered them all together in the background of the card.

I created an even bigger hex for my focal panel and colored this adooooooorable bear from the Studio Katia Kobi the Birthday Bear stamp set. Then I stamped little bees all around and glittered up the wings (photos suck for glitter). 

In the end, it's probably not clean, but it IS super cute so *brushes shoulders*. I hope it made someone very happy three months after their birthday. 

I am so rude. 

 

I'm going to link this up to Cute Card Thursday's Dies and Punches challenge and NBUS challenge because this whole stamp set has never been used.

Thanks for stopping by!

Joy Clair + Coffee Loving Papercrafters Blog Hop

I'm soooooo fleepin excited to share with you all that the Coffee Loving Cardmakers Design Team is teaming up with the Joy Clair DT to celebrate the release of their brand new stamp set "Coffee Love".

You should have arrived here from Robyn Jordan's blog on the hop list. You're definitely going to want to hop along because you could win a $25 Joy Clair gift card to buy all the lovely stamps you want! 

I just adore the sketchy coffee cups in this set and I know I'm going to be using it for all sorts of occasions because it has sentiments for thank you cards, valentine's day cards, and hello cards. 

My fave cup of the whole set is this little guy with the scribbly heart in the center. I raised him up  using some black Ranger embossing powder and then colored in the heart. 

I used some coffee-themed designer paper from American Crafts and stamped a coordinating sentiment from the Joy Clair Coffee Love stamp set. 

I took my inspiration for the layout from the sketch challenge over at Paper Craft Crew Challenges. 

Well that's all from me! Now get to hopping! 

Your next stop is Dana Warren! 

Llama Tell You - Stamp Release + PRIZES

YOU GUYS! Errrrm... ok you (mostly) GALS! There's a new stamp set on the block and it's all sorts of adorable fun. 

Yours truly just designed a new stamp set for STAMPlorations called Llama Tell You. Who doesn't love a party animal?! Hehe - sorry I just thought I'd throw in one more pun for you. 

And there are **PRIZES** at stake so pay attention! 

The card above was inspired by the sketch at Sketch Saturday 

Not only am I giving away one of these stamp sets personally to someone who leaves a comment on my blog or the other two designers who made cards for this hop, STAMPlorations is giving away a $25 gift card to one of of the lucky commenters, too!

So come on over and party hearty with us! 

P.S. This week all of the Big Grins by Becca Cruger stamp sets are 10% off, and you can also get an extra 20% off by using the code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. Pretty nifty. 

Start hopping here! 

You can find Llama Tell You in the STAMPstore. 

Fusion - Truck Bouquet

We're over this week's hump and much closer to hippity hoppity Easter! But after Easter comes Mother's Day and that's the type of card I'm showing off today. 

Now... for those of you wondering how many mothers I have - no, I was not adopted by a tribe of roving gypsy women and I did not grow up on a polygamous commune.  I sell my cards at craft fairs and mother's day cards always fly off the shelves during this time of year.

This particular card is inspired by the newest Fusion Card Challenge.

I loved the big ol' bouquet of roses, and also chose to incorporate the sketch. If you haven't played along at Fusion, it's super duper easy! You can choose either the sketch, or the card, OR both and create a fusion! 

My card was pretty easy peasy to put together. I stamped a back panel using a floral burst from Unity and then stamped my focal panel once with the same design.

I watercolored my flowers with a combo of Distress Oxide inks and Distress Inks. 

To complete the look, I stamped a snarky sentiment from my brand new Sweet and Sassy Mom set, which will be released by STAMPlorations in the next couple of weeks! 

Taaaadaaaa!

I hope you'll hop over to Fusion and play along! 

I was inspired to play along in: 
CCEE Stampers - Humor
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - S is for Silly

A Punny Valentine's Day Card

Ah, February, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways:
1) You give me reasons to make tons of punny cards
2)  I can fully express my love of all things hot pink
3)  You're short - just like me

 

If you haven't guessed by now, I've got another Valentine's Day card to share with you! Actually - two of them! I loved the first one so much that I made it in duplicates. 

But before I get toooo far ahead of myself, let's talk about where I'm drawing my inspiration from. It's time for a brand spankin' new STAMPlorations theme & sketch challenge. 

As lovely as the sketch is, I saw the theme "Stamps & Retro" and could see no further than that. Especially since I just got the new Hello You 5x7 Stamp Club set and <3 <3 <3 everything about it!

I could not WAIT to ink up that typewriter. I also wanted more of a V-day lovey dovey sentiment, so I decided to make my own. 

I verrrrry carefully (because stamping is such an exact science right? <-- please see sarcasm in the dictionary for a full definition) drew a tiny little sheet of paper and then hand-lettered a punny typewriter-related phrase. 

I layered and layered and layered following the sketch from the Hand Stamped Sentiments challenge. 

Figuring out how so many patterns could go together and not clash was so fun, that I decided to do it a second time in order to create a more masculine version and used the color challenge from The Color Throwdown.

Taaaaa-daaaaaaa! 

My cards are also going to play along in:
Simon Says Wednesday - Color of Love
Craft Rocket Challenge - It's a Love Thing
Cute Card Thursday - Be My Valentine

Thanks for popping by!!

Snarky Birthday - My New Stamp Set Design!

I'm doing a little happy dance today because I've got a BRAND NEW stamp set out at STAMPlorations and it's a punny fun-filled birthday set. I adooooored playing with it and I hope you all will love it, too!

 

All of the sentiments in the set are super snarky <3. Take, for example, the card above! 

This card is going to play along in the following challenges:
Aud Sentiments - Masculine + Sentiment
Seize the Birthday - Birthday theme with optional "felt" topping
Addicted to Stamps & More - Make your Mark

Here's what the full A Snarky Birthday to You set looks like:

Psssssttt.... My bloggy followers can get 20% off this set
(and any order in the STAMPlorations shop)
by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. 

 Go check out the full release that STAMPlorations is putting out this time! There are tons of lovely new stamps! 

And you just have to go comment on the STAMPlorations blog to win them alllllllll!

Thanks for popping by!

Reindeer Games - Stamped Christmas Card

Jingle Jingle Jingle!
I'm back with ANOTHER Christmas card. I'm not even sorry because this one is just plain adorable. 
I started crafting last night and new I wanted to try out the new Stitched Snow Hills CUTplorations die cuts. What followed was a card that just makes me grin all over my face. 

This post is also serving as a reminder to go play along in the STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch Challenge. 

I chose to play along with the theme portion - but you could use the sketch or the theme and sketch. 

I began by sponging a background using Salty Ocean Distress Inks. 

I created three snowy hills from the Stitched Snow Hills CUTplorations dies and sponged around the tops to give them a little more dimension.

 

I also die cut three bright green patterned paper trees and sponged around their edges with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. 

I assembled the background and used Picket Fence Distress Spray Stains to create some white splattery "snow". 

Here's the final product. Don't you just adore that happy little reindeer? He is from the Reindeer Games stamp set (designed by yours truly) and he makes me so happy. The sentiment is from the Trendy Christmas Trees stamp set. 

I'm going to link this up to:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - Christmas Critters
Just Add Ink - Choose 2 (Die Cut, Patterned Paper)
Winter Wonderland - Poinsettias or Snow is Falling (Snow)
Cute Card Thursday - Christmas/Holidays

Thanks for popping by! I hope this card makes you smile as much as it did for me! :)

Bring on the MistleDoe Christmas Card

My mind is switching over to the holiday season, and my brain is panicking at the sheer lack of Christmas card creation I've done over the past year. GULP! 

Never fear, though, I took the opportunity to use the new STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch challenge to create my first <-- yep you read that right, Christmas card of the season.

To play along with the STAMPlorations challenge, you can use the theme OR the sketch OR both. And you can use ANY stamps that you want!

I used my Reindeer Games stamp set because I can't even handle how goofy that reindeer is and it comes with a TON of punny sentiments!

The rest of the card is made with patterned paper and a 3D sticker from Jolene's Boutique. I guess I must be feeling my patterned paper lately because my normal inky techniques have been missing - ha!

I'm going to link this up to:
Aud Sentiments - Cute + a Sentiment Challenge
Moving Along with the Times - Cute Animals
Addicted to Stamps & More - Holiday

Watercolors & Rainbow - Oh My! Mixed Media Card

It's a new month! And that means rainbows! And glitter!! Right?!

Well, ok, not necessarily, I guess... but for my purposes we're going to pretend that a new month means rainbows and glitter because that's exactly what I've got to show you today.  

This card was inspired by the new challenge over at The Mixed Media Card Challenge, which happens to be - you guessed it - RAINBOWS! 

With the option of Dragonflies.But since I don't have any dragonfly stamps you get to see a boat instead. Taaa daaaaa!

This card began when I pulled this piece of watercolor paper that I had created an ombre rainbow on and then didn't know what to do with it. I stared at and decided to go all happy and nautical. 

I stamped and cut out some images from the Simon Says Stamp Sailing stamp set. I colored the boat with Spectrum Noir Markers and then I used some stripedy paper and sponged it with Distress Inks. To finish it all out, I added some sequin stars for additional shimmer and Wink of Stellad my clouds. 


All done! 

I'm also sending this cute little guy sailing to play in:

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - ATG 
Mixed Media World - Under the Sea
The Paper Players - (I chose beach, patterned paper, red) 
Time Out Challenges - I was inspired by the drippy rainbow print

Coffee Lover's Blog Hop - Day 1 - Woooooo

It's my most favoritest time of the year! The time when the ever-so-talented Amy and her amazing crew conduct a hop to end all hops. With coffee! 

In honor of the Spring Coffee Lover's Blog Hop, I designed a new set for STAMPlorations that's loaded with funny coffee sayings and great springtime images!

For my first creation, I designed a little packet for a coffee-loving friend of mine. I was shopping at a local boutique that sells handmade goods and found this amazing coffee soap from Sunny Soaps by Niska & Zoelle.  These two young entrepreneurs (they are 8 & 11 respectively) make the soaps in their home and are strong forces for philanthropic good in Grand Forks. 

On the inside of the pullout pocket, I stamped a snarky little sentiment and then I plopped the coffee soap in the polka-dotted package from Pebbles. 
This card was made for the Double D Challenge - Easter! 

Here's what the full Bunnies & Beans stamp set looks like: 

There's sentiments for all sorts of occasions - birthday, Easter, just because. :) 

My second card was specifically made with the Card Concept in mind. They have an inspiration image all full of luscious pinks and I couldn't help but to play along. I made a card in the design of Clean and Layered. (I think?). I also used the sketch from Sketchy Colors: 

Bunnies & Beans isn't the only set being released up at the STAMPlorations blog! There's also another set called Always Tea Time, designed by the uber talented Shery Russ! 

So elegant!

GIVEAWAY ALERT: 

Want to win Bunnies & Beans OR Tea Time? 

There's two ways to enter! 

I'm giving away two sets of Bunnies and Beans right here on this blog - leave me a comment to enter and let me know if you're international or U.S.-based. I'm drawing one winner for each! 

Alternatively, hop on over to the STAMPlorations blog, where they are giving away BOTH Bunnies & Beans and the Tea Time set.

Don't miss out! 

 PSSSSTTTT: Did you know there's a super secret (not really, but it makes it sound cooler) sale going on at STAMPlorations?! 

You can get 15% off everything in the ENTIRE SHOP! Just use code SPRINGCLBH now through the end of the hop!