Happy Birthday Wishes

This is a flash back to some of my favourites in the early 2018 Essentials by Ellen releases. This interactive card is for my dad's birthday, and a plate of fortune cookies is a perfect way to wish him a happy birthday!

I started with the Fortune Cookie dies. I cut them from white cardstock and blended Antique Linen Distress Ink, and Over Coffee Catherine Pooler ink over them, darkening certain areas to give some dimension.

 I die-cut and stamped the 'fortune' as well.

Then I played around for quite a while with how to present the cookies. I started down a very Chinese red-and-gold path, which was fun, but I felt like it might be a bit much for my very understated dad.

I turned to my go-to circle mat on a square card and had a little brainstorm! I cut the circle with one die, then chose a much smaller circle and just embossed it in the centre to make a little plate! I took the 'birthday' and 'wishes' sentiments from Totally Random Sayings Vol 2, curved them on my acrylic block and stamped them on the ridge of the 'plate'.

Finally, for the background, I did some tone-on-tone stamping using the Happy from Totally Random Sayings Vol 2, with Black Jack ink on Slate cardstock. I put the whole thing onto an Oyster card base.

And although my dad is really not a 'sparkly' guy,  I couldn't leave it completely plain - I found these tiny gold iridescent star sequins at Target and added a few. Here's a link to some Studio Katia sequins that are similar.

I used:

FS623 - Birthday Crown

Congratulations to this week's Splitcoaststampers' Featured Stamper Challenge, Lori (aka ArtzadoniStudio).

I chose this card as my inspiration:

I focused on Lori's:
-crown theme
-soft blended background
-script sentiment

I changed:
-die cuts instead of stamping
-added a shaker

I have been dying to make this crown since my Layered Tree dies arrived too late for Christmas! I used two of the dies cut from gold mirror cardstock to create my crown, and then added some of the new Party Mix Gems for sparkle.

I used the Stitched Notes dies to cut a white stitched rectangle panel, and then used a Scallop Circle die to create my shaker frame.

I blended Catherine Pooler Fiesta Blue ink on my cardbase and then filled the shaker with more of the gems.

I used the new Happy Birthday Script dies to create my sentiment.

Here's a quick, no-voice video:

I used:

Essentials by Ellen January Release

The latest Essentials by Ellen release is now live! 

There are 2 new additions to the Leading Ladies family - Leading Gentleman and Little Lady, along with It's a Date, which is full of fun images and sentiments that can be used with any of the Leading Ladies or on their own. And there's a whole new suite of dies that will work for any of your starry occasions!

My first card shows the Little Lady dreaming of her future.... I used the Star Trail dies to create an upward- trending sky and blended the background around the stars. I also cut a few extra stars from some glitter cardstock and glued them on for extra sparkle. I embossed the sentiment with silver embossing powder.

My second card uses a single heart outline stamp from It's a Date, along with a now-famous sentiment.

Finally, I used the Circle of Stars die and one of the previously released Alpine Window dies to create a dreamy winter scene. I used the Alpine Circle die as a mask and blended the sky before using the Circle of Stars die, run through my die cutting machine only part way, to create the stars in the sky. I used a partial sentiment from Little Lady.

Pretty Pink Posh 5th Birthday Celebration Blog Hop

Good morning! I'm thrilled to be part of Day 3 of the 3-Day birthday blog hop to celebrate Pretty Pink Posh's 5th Birthday! See below for the full list of today's blogs!

I made a clean and simple card using some of the goodies from the January release, and a video with some tips for creating a frame for a die cut when you don't have the die in 'the next size'.

I started by cutting the new Decorative Tag 2 die in white and black. I stamped one of the Crocus Flowers and a partial sentiment from Simple Sayings Courage onto the white tag and then I coloured the flower with Copic markers.

To create my frame, I simply snipped the black tag right across, and then glued each end so that it was extending beyond the edge of the white tag. I popped the combined tag up on a soft gray card base and then added some gems from the new Party Mix Gems for some sparkle.

Here's my video:

Here are today's blog hop participants:

Pretty Pink Posh blog
Yana Smakula
Vera Rhuhay

Ardyth Percy- Robb <<You are here
Sandy Allnock
Jeanne Jachna
Heather Hoffman
Gemma Campbell
Kelly Latevola

$25 gift certificates will be given to 9 people who comment during the blog hop. 

Fusion Card Challenge - Hi!

Good morning! I'm excited to be a Guest at the Fusion Card Challenge Anniversary challenge today! Thanks so much to Michelle Lupton for inviting me!

I used some brand new stamps and gems from the January release from Pretty Pink Posh, along with some older dies I had in my stash.

I started by creating my soft watercolour background with some Catherine Pooler inks and lots of water. 

Then I used Versafine Clair Nocturne ink to stamp the Crocus Flowers across the panel before adding more watercolour to them, to make them stand out from the background.

To assemble the card, I rotated the sketch and changed some proportions - making that dark strip very narrow (but so pretty with that scalloped edge from Stitched Borders 1!). My sentiment is from Everyday Greetings, stamped on a stitched circle from Stitched Essentials 1 and layered onto a label from Stitched Labels 1. I added a couple of small gems from Party Mix for sparkle.

Here's a quick video:

I used:

Pretty Pink Posh 5th Birthday Celebration Blog Hop Day 2

Today is Day 2 of the Pretty Pink Posh 5th Birthday Celebration Blog Hop!

I'm not on the hop today (I'm on Day 3, Friday), but I've got this pretty Valentine featuring the new Floral Hearts stamp set and matching dies.

This set comes with an outline stamp and a filler stamp - you can use them separately or together. And then - genius! - there's 3 dies - one cuts the 'wreath', the other cuts the solid whole heart and one cuts the inside portion.

I used the outline stamp and the wreath die to cut two of the outline hearts. I snipped one so I could link them together. I used a simple red-only colour scheme, and lots of the little sentiments that come with the set.

Here's the blog hop list - be sure to hop and comment for a chance to win!

Pretty Pink Posh blog

Laura Bassen

Eloise Blue

Melody Rupple

Nicky Meek

Cathy Zielske

Dana Kirby

Amy Rysavy

Suzy Plantamura

Wanda Guess

AJVD - Turning Thanks

I'm on the A Jillian Vance Design blog today with this fun and simple thank you card!