Advent calendar

I created advent calendars for my nephew and one of my friends this year. 

I got the idea from the Lawn Fawn blog and used Lawn Fawn products.  The tiny gift box die is perfect for the little boxes and I cut them out of Knit Picky and Armoire papers.  I topped it with Lawn Fawn Puffy Star die cuts that I cut out of scrap paper and coloured gold with Spectrum Noir gold sparkle pen.

Cards for my nephew to give as gifts

My nephew is in grade one this year and two of his friends have moved away.  Both are big changes in his life.  I asked him if he would like me to make some cards to send to his friends and he liked that idea, so I am going to send him a set of cards with his Valentine's Day card.  Pictures and details of the cards are below.

Cute Birdies

I used the Concord & 9th Birdie Banners and Alpha Bits sets for both cards and, on the card on the right side, I added a tree from the Gina K. Designs set Friends 'til the End.  I stamped with a variety of Lawn Fawn inks and used Tim Holtz Ranger Distress Markers to draw the grass and colour the wings and tail on the birds.  The clouds were blended in using Distress Ink and the My Favorite Things mini clouds stencil.  The last step was to score a line around the edge of the front of the card.

Cute critter cards

These one-layer cards were made using the Gina K. Designs stamp set Friends 'til the End.  I stamped the images on the left card with Momento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured the images with Chameleon coloured pencils.  The card on the right was stamped using a combination of Lawn Fawn coloured inks and Momento Tuxedo Black ink.  The owl was coloured with coloured pencils and the grass was drawn in with a Ranger Distress marker.  I masked the owl with a trimmed post-it note and blended the clouds onto the card panel using Ranger Distress ink and the MFT mini cloud stencil.  The last step was, again, to score a line around the edge of the card.

Airplane cards

One of my nephew's interests is things that fly so I used this cute Lawn Fawn set, Plane and Simple, to stamp and die cut the images.  They were coloured with Copic markers and adhered to a card panel that was embossed using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Cloud Backdrop (Landscape) after being cut down to size with the second largest die from the Lawn Fawn 4-bar sized Stitched Rectangle Stackables.

Buzy Bees

The cute little bees from the Honey Bee stamp set Build-a-Bee set make me smile.  I hope they make my nephew smile, too.  I coloured the bees with Copic markers, embossed the coloured card panel with a Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder and used a sentiment on the inside from the Honey Bee Bee-You-Tiful Sentiments set.

Monster Truck cards

And, since he loves them, I had to make a couple of cards with monster trucks that he could send to his friends.  The notecard is a 4-bar sized Lawn Fawn card and the panel was cut with the second largest of the 4-bar sized Stitched Rectangle Stackables and embossed with the Stitched Cloud Backdrop (Portrait).  The grass and the label were also both Lawn Fawn dies. The trucks are from the Your Next Stamp set called "Got Mud?" and were coloured with Chameleon coloured pencils.

Valentine Card for my nephew

I made a Valentine’s Day Card for my nephew using monster trucks, which he loves.  Your Next Stamp has the perfect stamp and die set:  Got Mud?  I stamped all three monster trucks in the set, coloured them with Copic markers and die cut them to layer on my card.

I wanted to make an interactive type of card, so I used the Lawn Fawn Hillside pop-up die.  To decorate the front of the card I started by cutting a white card panel with the largest Lawn Fawn Inside Out Rectangle die.  The Copic airbrush system created the look of a sky in the background.  I then embellished with the cloud and sun dies from the Lawn Fawn Spring Shower set to create a scene for one of the trucks.

On the inside of the card I used blue coloured cardstock for the sky, embellished with the same cloud and sun dies.  The grassy hillsides were cut using the Grassy Hillside borders add-on die that coordinates with the hillside pop-up die.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts and the mud splatter stamps are part of the YNS Got Mud? stamp set.  The last step was to use my Spectrum Noir clear sparkle pen to jazz up the clouds a bit.

Let’s hope he likes his card!

The Ton Holiday Bows and Grand Bows

Grand Bows

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Who knew that the bow stamps from The Ton could be used to make a Christmas Tree for a card design?  I had to try it, especially after making a shoe tree a year or two ago.  I used the Lawn Fawn Stitched Scalloped rectangle die.  For a change, I used kraft coloured paper and I added a snowy backdrop.

Have you checked out my friend Jan's blog?  She's an amazing cardmaker and she's joined me on this blogging journey.  I'm so glad to have a partner in crime!  If you haven't yet, check it out:  www.smilegreatingcards.blogspot.com

Concord & 9th Christmas plaid background card

I love the Concord & 9^th Christmas stamps and dies released in 2017. 

Two colour combinations called to me for this card – blue and silver and red and gold. 

I used Neenah Solar White cardstock for the card panel and the card base.

The plaid background stamps so well; I love it! 


Along the sides of the card panel I adhered strips of glitter tape from The Ton. 

I cut the ribbon banner die (another favourite!) three times – once from white paper to stamp the sentiment and snowflakes on, once on paper that I stamped with ink to match the plaid colour on the card, and a third time out of scrap paper covered in glitter tape to match the edges of the card.  I layered the three banners on the front of the card. 


The ink colours are Lawn Fawn red (Lobster) and blue (Blue Jay) and Delicata gold and silver.  The sentiment is from the Christmas Cheer Turnabout stamp set.

I am really pleased with how these cards turned out.  I'll be using these stamps and dies again next year, methinks!

Valentine's Day card

This is a card that I made for my parents for Valentine’s Day. 

I started by cutting a white cardstock panel using the largest Lawn Fawn Outside-In Stitched Rectangle Stackable die.  I die cut a three- layered heart, twice in different colour combinations, using the Caprice Heart A – C dies from Birch Press Designs.  The falling hearts in the background are from Concord & 9^th’s Love Always stamp set and they are stamped using Peppermint Scrub ink by Catherine Pooler Designs.  The sentiment comes from the Simon Says Stamp Thoughtful Messages stamp set and is stamped in Versafine Black Onyx ink, which is my favourite ink for sentiments. 

On the inside of the card, I used an old sentiment stamp from Hero Arts that I’ve had for years.  It’s a favourite, so I use it almost every year.  The white cardstock that I used is Neenah Solar White (80lb) and the coloured cardstocks are unknown - I found them in my scrap bin.  Because I've been crafting for quite a few years now, I have collected some pretty good scraps and I have recently been making an effort to use them up.  I have a long way to go!

As I have had the layered heart die for quite some time but haven’t used it, I was inspired to participate in this week’s Work Your Stash Wednesday Challenge.

This is my first blog post, as I'm sure you can tell.  I hope I'm doing it right!