Interactive Musical Birthday Card feat. Avery Elle and Lawn Fawn

Happy weekend, craft friends! If you still read my blog, you may remember last year's POST featuring another cute band of musical animals. Tomorrow, one of Damian's friends turns 16 and I'm pretty sure that if it were up to my son, this wouldn't have been the card of his choice. Lucky for me, I've been talking to the birthday boy's mother and she said that he would absolutely love a cute card! I was so happy about that. ;)

The last time I used Avery Elle's Forest Dance Party stamp set and coordinating dies was when Damian and I collaborated on this CARD for Father's Day last year. This set is currently on clearance at all stores listed in the links below so be sure to grab it before it's gone! Both Damian and his friend play drums but they also play trumpet and guitar, respectively, so these animals are absolutely perfect for this card.

I stamped all of the images and sentiments with Versafine Clair Nocturne ink and clear heat embossed them on watercolour cardstock. Then I used mini distress inks smooshed on a silicone mat to watercolour them. When they were dry, I die cut them and set them aside to work on the Reveal Wheel panel from watercolour cardstock and ink blended it (top down) using Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord, Faded Jeans, Chipped Sapphire, Peeled Paint and Forest Moss distress inks. Then I splattered the panel with Tsukineko Sparkle Shimmer Spritz.

I cut a piece of My Favorite Things Colorful Canvas patterned paper in Chantilly Cream and cut it with the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A Dies so it would cover the card base. Then I cut the wheel itself from heavyweight white cardstock as well as from Lawn Fawn's Really Rainbow patterned paper in Purple Posies. Then I used the Reveal Wheel Friends & Family Sentiments to heat emboss on the wheel before assembling all the pieces on the card base.

I appreciate you stopping by and, if you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Pop-Up Father's Day Card feat. Avery Elle, Lawn Fawn & Taylored Expressions

Hello, crafty friends! Today, I'm sharing the card my son and I collaborated on for Father's Day. I've had all these amazing Avery Elle stamp sets for some time and was desperate to use them! I'm a huge fan of Elena Roussakis' illustrations, previously for Neat & Tangled, and now for Avery Elle. The critters are so adorable and hard to resist!

One of my favourite sets is the Forest Dance Party because all the animals are playing musical instruments. Since my son plays trumpet and percussion, we included the fox playing a bugle and the bird playing the triangle. As always, we coloured the bird in widgeon colours. ;)

The sweet beaver is from Maple Syrup and the stool, books and coffee are from Feels Like Home. We stamped all the images with Tuxedo Black ink and coloured them with a mix of (mostly) Copic markers and Sketchmarkers. All of those colours and links are in the supply list below.

We created the Platform Pop-Up from Dark Brown Woodgrain cardstock and both the hills and Platform Pop-Up Add-On from Into the Woods 6x6 Paper Pack. After securing the animals to the hills with glue dots, I stamped the sentiment from Maple Syrup on a piece of patterned paper but broke up the original sentiment on two lines.

For the custom name, we die cut the letters from Mini Caps Alpha & #s by Taylored Expressions. As previously mentioned HERE and HERE, Bucky is my husband's nickname and the term of endearment we use for his (originally Minecraft-related) beaver persona. 

This style of card could be used on any occasion or as an every day encouragement card. I hope you find inspiration in this project.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Sources: 

Ellen Hutson | Essentials by Ellen March 4th Release | Reveal Week - Day 3 + Gift With Purchase!

It's an exciting week with a new Essentials by Ellen Release available this Friday, March 4th! Today is Day 3 of Reveal Week and we're sneak peeking two new sets - Berry Basket and Strawberry Fields. I'm so in love with today's products, especially the Berry Basket, which can be used in so many ways and over the next few days I'll be sharing different ways to use it.

The Berry Basket Die is meant to be used as a 3D gift box in its original format and you'll see that below. On my card, I've used it flat on a card but I've layered it with Hero Hues Paradise cardstock to make it appear dimensional. I also partially die cut the bottom of the die cut to preserve the corners and perfect edge that the die provides, rather than simply cutting it off with a trimmer.

To fill the basket with strawberries, I stamped all of the images from Strawberry Fields using Catherine Pooler's inks. I ombre-stamped the strawberries using Party Dress and Coral Cabana, using a blending brush to soften the transition, and Garden Party to stamp the tops. Then I used Catching Rays to stamp the bee, Lemongrass and Party Dress to stamp the little flowers, and Lime Rickey and Grass Skirt to stamp the leaves.

I created the card base and panel using white linen cardstock, then glued the back layer of the Berry Basket on to the panel. I added the strawberries and leaves with glue dots. I stamped the sentiment and die cut it using the Tag Trio Dies, adding a gold glitter layer. I attached the tag to the basket with metallic gold string and popped on the front of the basket with foam tape.

I love making tags and gift boxes and definitely don't make enough of them. This new Berry Basket Die will change the way you share your gifts! To make this box, I cut four pieces of the die from kraft cardstock, using liquid glue to attach the tabs at the top and bottom of the box. 

Inside this box, for show, I used a piece of 12x12 patterned paper and the We R Memory Keepers Gift Box Punch Board to create a box. To give you an idea of the volume inside the Berry Basket, the gift box measures 2.5" x 2.5" x 2.5". I created the layered tag from heavyweight white cardstock and Paradise cardstock, die cut from the Farmhouse Tags. I added the previously stamped images from Strawberry Fields and popped on a heat foiled sentiment from the Casual Greetings Hot Foil Stamp Set, shared in yesterday's post. I tied the tag on to the box using Midnight twine.

Ellen Hutson is running a gift with purchase March 1st through 7th. You will get the Lucky stamp set free with any purchase of $75 or more! This means you can qualify for this free set when the new release goes live, while supplies last. It's a fun and fabulous freebie so get it while you can!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll see you again tomorrow for more sneak peeks!

Sources: 

Ellen Hutson | Summer of Stamping: Week 1 -- Avery Elle IG Hop

The Essentials by Ellen Summer of Stamping is HERE and the Brand Ambassadors are celebrating with an exclusive Avery Elle stamp and die combo called Soak It Up! There's an Instagram Hop with the Avery Elle design team to bring you inspiration using these fabulous new products! While appreciated, comments left here are not eligible for the $25 gift certificate. Please head to Instagram for all the details!

I have been a long-time fan of Avery Elle's Peek-a-Boo stamp sets. There are quite a few of them and I think I own most - if not all - of them! I love the variety of cute animals and the different accessories that come with each set. I love mixing and matching all the sets, even the seasonal ones. While these animals are wearing sunglasses and were specifically designed for summer, they can still be used year-round.

I picked the cat and dog for my card and they're enjoying a game of water polo. The cat is clearly in possession of the ball but the dog doesn't seem to mind. LOL I started by choosing my images, stamping them with Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink and heat embossing them with clear embossing powder.

I decided to create the background scene first, by die cutting the Abstract Sunset from watercolour cardstock and using distress inks to blend the different sections. For the sunset - from top to bottom - I used Scattered Straw, Wild Honey, Carved Pumpkin and Ripe Persimmon. For the water - from top to bottom - I used Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Peacock Feathers, Broken China and Tumbled Glass. 

I mixed up the colours for each section and added colour from the previous sections to make it look more realistic. After the water panels were completed, I used a distress sprayer to create splatter and also used shimmer spritz to make it sparkle. I set all those pieces aside to dry while I watercoloured the images.

I smoosh my ink pads on a silicone mat and use artist brushes to colour the images. I used the same colours in the background to colour the stars, water droplets, beach ball and swimsuits. For the cat, I used Pumice Stone, Hickory Smoke and Black Soot. For the dog, I used Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Gathered Twigs and Ground Espresso.

Before assembling the card, I used the Stitches Cover Plate on two-thirds of the front of the white linen card base. Then I cut a silver glitter mat which I attached to the card base before assembling the ink blended Abstract Sunset background. The bottom three layers of waves were popped up with foam tape, as were the heads of the cat and dog for dimension. Everything else was attached with liquid glue.

Thanks so much for hopping along!

Supplies: 

Birthday and Mother's Day Cards by Damian

This past week, we celebrated my husband's birthday and, of course, Mother's Day. It was an eventful week, well, as fun as it can get since we're still in lockdown. Special events call for special cards and there's nothing that makes me happier than when my son spends time in my craft room!

As most of you already know, we're big beaver fans and my husband has taken on the persona of a beaver, first in Minecraft and now just about everwhere. LOL My son is also obsessed with widgeons and you can read more on that story HERE. Of course, my son had to use Avery Elle's retired Wood You? stamp set and coordinating dies, with a widgeon from Technique Tuesday's Duck Swan Goose stamp set and a sentiment from Beau & Beatrice Beaver. Since Wood You? has been retired, I was so happy to see a brand new beaver set, Maple Syrup, in their latest release and you can find that in the supply links below.

My son clearly had a lot of fun making my Mother's Day card, using six stamp sets from Taylored Expressions and a slimline die from Catherine Pooler Designs. As always, when making a card for me, it should include a panda because that is my persona. LOL This particular panda is from Hot Flash Grumplings and has the most hilarious expression.

Damian had a little help ombre stamping On the Block - Mom with Earl Grey and Poppy Seed inks, followed by heat embossing with halo embossing powder to make it extra sparkly. I had already stamped and gold embossed the Mini Strips - You're the Best and stored them in my Simple Storage for Simple Strips and all Damian had to do was choose the ones he wanted to use.

Damian chose all of my favourite things, including chips, red wine (or maybe it's port wine), coffee and cake. Of course, he included a little widgeon on my card, too. Both of these cards are so cute and special! I hope you enjoyed Damian's creativity this week!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies for Hubby's Birthday Card:  

Supplies for Mother's Day Card: 

Christmas Cards from the boys

I hope you're all having a wonderful start to the New Year! I'm popping in to share the cards that Damian and Chris made for Christmas. I love that they're winter-themed and have something in common - a widgeon (small river duck). LOL I'm not sure if I ever mentioned the widgeon story here on the blog but during a game of Scrabble last year, I started by placing all seven tiles to spell the word widgeon for a bonus 50 points. Then a couple of months later, I came across the Squishmallow Avery, which apparently has a cult following, and purchased it on a whim. It's now my son's favourite stuffed animal.

Damian's card features the Duck Goose Swan and Hello Winter stamp sets from Technique Tuesday on Strathmore Toned Grey mixed media paper. He modified the widgeon to look like the Squishmallow Avery and used the MISTI stamping tool to stamp the other images around the widgeon. Then he coloured everything with Prismacolor pencils. I always love it when he uses coloured pencils and this card is definitely a labour of love!

Chris' card also features the widgeon from Duck Goose Swan but in a more comical way. Here, the widgeon is actually my son who has an addiction to lattes. Don't worry, they are always decaf lattes and he doesn't have them all the time. If we're out, he will get a treat from Starbucks or I will make them at home using David's Tea. Yum! 

The rest of this card features Speech Bubbles, Peek-a-Boo Pals and Cocoa Stand from Avery Elle, as well as a retired Safari Die for the snow by My Favorite Things. If you're looking for a similar landscape die, I recommend Slimline Stitched Hillside Borders by Lawn Fawn. All of these images were coloured with Copic markers.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Avery Elle | Totally Awesome Slimline Card

I had these Copic-coloured images from Avery Elle's retired Stoked stamp set lying around for years and I found them recently while cleaning up my craft area. Normally, I don't keep scraps because it's quite obvious that I never use them. I really love the cute boys in this set so that's probably why I hung on to them. The third boy in the set is a drummer and since my son plays drums, I'll be hanging on to this set even though it's retired.

I used two different Hero Arts ombre inks to stamp the solid speech bubbles and created a background scene that was reminiscent of a lot of mountain areas that literally have two different seasons at different elevations.

I created the background using the Honey Bee Stamps Winter Wonder Background stencils, distress inks and Taylored Expressions Blender Brushes. This particular slimline card measures 3.5" x 7.5" and I love that I can use the We R Memory Keepers Envelope Punch Board to create the perfect size envelope for it!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

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