Catherine Pooler Designs | My Happy Place Anniversary Card

I re-created this anniversary card for a commission and you can see the original reel HERE on Instagram.

Updated supply links are at the bottom of this post.

Hello, friends! I'm back with the anniversary card I'll be giving to my husband this weekend. We're celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary and it's sad that we won't be able to do much since restaurants are still closed and we can't travel. We'll just have to make up for it next year!

I used the Best Place stamp set and coordinating dies, with Spring Pick-n-Mix patterned paper from the Best Place Bundle. All of the ink colours can be found in the supply links below and they were inspired by the Spring Pick-n-Mix patterned papers.

From Best Place, I used the picnic basket filled with daffodils, baguettes and wine. The tufts of grass and birds are also from this set. Of course, I threw in a bunch of other stamp sets because I just can't help it!

We love the mountains and enjoy travelling to places that offer grand views so I created my scene with Mountain of Thanks. I used the rock-n-roll technique to stamp the ombre mountains with combinations of Seafoam and Skylight, Skylight and Daydream, and Daydream and Juniper Mist.

The sun, which is from a widely-released Club Sursee set called Summer Lovin', was rock-n-rolled in Shea Butter and Polished. The tiny hearts above the birds are from Hey There Dumpling and the sentiment is from One Liners Sentiments. I used various adhesives to assemble the different elements for dimension and visual interest.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Taylored Expressions | Mini Slim Father's Day Cards

I'm so excited to share the Father's Day card that I made for my dad and the Father's Day card that Damian made for his dad. I had several new products from Taylored Expressions that hadn't seen ink yet and Damian was also convinced that we had to use them. ;)

Based on the products we selected from my stash, we decided that the mini slim size was the way to go. I selected the Mini Slim Top-Fold Card in Sugar Cube and I used a pastel blue blender brush and Gumball ink with the Mini Slim Rectangle Masking Stencil to create a soft frame. Then I used a dark blue blender brush and Blueberry ink with the Mini Slim Candy Cane Stripes Stencil to create strips on opposite corners of the card base.

Next, I ombre stamped On the Block - Love and On the Block - Dad using Gumball ink on the top half of the word and Blueberry ink on the bottom half of the word. I used a sponge dauber to soften the transition between the two colours. I gold embossed sentiments from Mini Strips - You're the Best and Building Blocks - Love Additions and die cut them using the coordinating dies. Then I set aside all the pieces to work on the images. 

As I've mentioned many times before, it's rare for me to give my dad that doesn't feature flowers since he's been an avid gardener his entire life. I decided to use the adorable row of flowers from Bitty Borders, which I stamped in Oreo ink and coloured with Copic markers. I die cut a second set of the flowers and used Bearly Art liquid glue to stack them for a bit of dimension. I assembled my finished card by using foam tape on the block words and the centre building block, a tape runner to adhere the other two mini strips, and liquid glue to attach the flowers. I just love the different levels of dimension and the visual interest provided by the stencilling in the background!

Damian watched me do the ombre stamping on my card and was super excited to try it on his card. He selected the Mini Slim Top-Fold Card in Toffee and started by stamping On the Block - Dad using Gumball and Blueberry inks to mimic what I did on my card. Using Hoppy Days was a must for my husband because he loves beer. I love beer, too, and we both love most alcoholic drinks. LOL Damian was so excited to re-create the ombre effect on these mugs of beer and had so much fun doing it. He used Potato Chip ink on the top half of the clear filler stamp and Pineapple ink on the bottom half. He used a sponge dauber to soften the transition lines and stamped each beer twice in the mini MISTI stamping tool to perfect the ombre effect.

To make this special card pop, Damian created a frame by trimming a 3.5" x 7" piece of silver glitter cardstock and cutting out the centre using the largest of the Stitched Mini Slim Stacklets. He used Bearly Art liquid glue to attach this frame to the card base.

Before assembling the rest of the card, Damian placed the secondary sentiments in the MISTI stamping tool and stamped them using Oreo ink. Then he used foam tape to pop up On the Block - Dad and the beers. Using a jewel picker, I added a few mini star sequins to provide a bit more balance to the card and also because bling is good. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Catherine Pooler Designs | You Are My Happy Place

Hello, friends! I'm back with the anniversary card I'll be giving to my husband this weekend. We're celebrating our 17th wedding anniversary and it's sad that we won't be able to do much since restaurants are still closed and we can't travel. We'll just have to make up for it next year!

I used the Best Place stamp set and coordinating dies, with Spring Pick-n-Mix patterned paper from the Best Place Bundle. All of the ink colours can be found in the supply links below and they were inspired by the Spring Pick-n-Mix patterned papers.

From Best Place, I used the picnic basket filled with daffodils, baguettes and wine. The tufts of grass and birds are also from this set. Of course, I threw in a bunch of other stamp sets because I just can't help it!

We love the mountains and enjoy travelling to places that offer grand views so I created my scene with Mountain of Thanks. I used the rock-n-roll technique to stamp the ombre mountains with combinations of Seafoam and Skylight, Skylight and Daydream, and Daydream and Juniper Mist.

The sun, which is from a widely-released Club Sursee set called Summer Lovin', was rock-n-rolled in Shea Butter and Polished. The tiny hearts above the birds are from Hey There Dumpling and the sentiment is from One Liners Sentiments. I used various adhesives to assemble the different elements for dimension and visual interest.

All stamps are 20% off at Ellen Hutson and, yes, that includes all the Catherine Pooler stamp sets featured here! The sale runs through March 17, 2021 so definitely check 'em out. ;)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

'Supplies: 

Masculine Tween Birthday Card

Today's card features Technique Tuesday stamps, a Trinity Stamps stencil and distress inks for watercolouring and ink blending. I made it for my son's champagne (golden) birthday and you know there's a story behind it. ;) As with many families during the pandemic and ensuing lockdown, we started playing a lot of board games.

One of our most-played games was Scrabble and in one of those games, I went first and laid down all seven of my tiles for 50 bonus points. The word was widgeon, a small river duck. It had been several years since I had done this so we started using the term widgeoning to describe laying down all of your tiles.

Then I was out shopping one day and came across a bunch of new stuffies and, lo and behold, one of them happened to be a widgeon! Seeing as I'm a sucker for cute stuffed animals, I brought the widgeon home with me -- for myself. My son didn't even think anything of it at first but as time went by, he found the widgeon quite endearing and now it's his favourite stuffie, on the verge of being an obsession.

Lucky for me, I owned Technique Tuesday's Duck Swan Goose stamp set (and coordinating dies -- 40% off at Ellen Hutson) which had the perfect duck image and sentiments! You can see another card I made with this set HERE. After heat embossing the image and sentiments, I watercolored and masked the widgeon and two sides of the panel.

I stencilled the entire background using Trinity Stamps' Layered Lakeside Mountain stencil. To finish, I splattered shimmer mist on the water and used a tiny attacher to put two 'kisses' on the card. I think this bit of hardware makes it more of a masculine card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Two Many Cards Video Series feat. LDRS Creative + Giveaway!

Hi, everyone! Samantha Mann and I are back with new videos for Two Many Cards. If you're new to this series, please visit my original post HERE, which explains how and why we're sharing our own unique take on the same products. 

Today, we're so excited to be featuring several adorable and sweet products from LDRS Creative. We're featuring the A Day in the Park stamp set and coordinating dies, the Boardwalk Mice stamp set and coordinating dies, Landscape stamps and die, the Miss You Die and the Rainy Day Stencil.

I made two cards, one featuring each of the two stamp sets and coordinating dies. All of the images and sentiments were stamped with Versafine Onyx Black pigment ink and heat embossed with ultra fine clear embossing powder.

My first card features the A Day in the Park stamp set and coordinating dies, Landscape stamps and die and the Rainy Day Stencil. I just love those rolling hills in the background and the details added by the stitching on the Landscape die. I coloured the bike tires in two colours to match a fun cruiser I saw with those exact colours.

My second card features the Boardwalk Mice stamp set and coordinating dies. I used ink blending brushes and masking paper to create the ground and sun rays.

All of the images were popped up with foam tape and I embellished the card with vintage shimmer pearls which add so much shine to the card. It's quite a magical scene with the daredevil mice, rainbow cityscape, sun rays and pearl accents!

If you're not familiar with LDRS Creative, I hope you'll check them out! Please let them know that Sam and I have sent you to their store to check out all their fabulous products.

GIVEAWAY

LDRS Creative is giving away a $30 gift certificate and one lucky winner will be chosen randomly from each of our videos. You must be a subscriber to both our channels! Comments will close at 11:59pm EST on August 15, 2020 and the winners will be announced in the YouTube description for today's video before the next video goes live. Be sure to check back to see if you're one of the lucky winners!

I love watching Sam create! Her enthusiasm is so contagious. Please head over to Sam's YouTube channel to see what she came up with.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

Travel Notecards feat. Essentials by Ellen

Last week, I posted a crafty haul on Instagram and my boys got right into some of the supplies to make travel notecards for each other since my husband was travelling. It has been our tradition for many years to exchange little cards ahead of each trip.

My son combined three Essentials by Ellen stamp sets to make his card: Bear Ware 3, Bear Ware 4 and Backyard Party. He coloured them with Prismacolor Pencils before using the coordinating dies (links below) to die cut the images.

He used a My Favorite Things A2 Rectangle STAX die and masking paper to blend distress inks for the background. I love how it turned out!

Chris used Background Party for his card, which is hilarious. He coloured his card with Copic markers and added action lines with a Copic multiliner. The scene reflects the antics of our outdoor pets and perhaps the stuffed animals in Damian's collection. 😂

The notecard die is from the Hero Arts My Monthly Hero Kit from May 2016 and it's one of our most-used dies! These kits are limited edition and once they sell out, they are no longer available. However, there are constantly new, exciting and unique dies in every monthly kit so be sure to check it out.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

{Evelin T Designs} Featured Stamp Set: It's BOO-tastic!

On this eve of Halloween, I'm on the Evelin T Designs blog with a card featuring the new stamp set It's BOO-tastic! (also sold at EH | SSS). I loved creating this masked one-layer card with these adorably spooky images. I started by stamping the images and creating masks for them. I stamped the pumpkins first on watercolour cardstock, placed the mask to protect it and stamped the rest of the images.

After stamping all of the images, I left their masks in place, cut a hill from masking paper and sponged the background with distress inks. Then I splattered the background with water and two distress spray stains. Then I removed the masks and used distress inks to watercolour the images.

If you are celebrating, I hope you all have a wonderful Halloween, whether you're trick-or-treating with your kids or having a party in your home or elsewhere.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

{Evelin T Designs} Featured Stamp Set: All Hallow's Cuteness

Happy Monday! I'm on the Evelin T Designs blog today with a card featuring the new stamp set All Hallow's Cuteness (also sold at EH | SSS). These Halloween illustrations are as cute as can be! I used the bird, bear, bunny and cat who are all ready for trick or treating in their costumes. It's so easy to create scenes with these cuties.

I stamped all of the images and coloured them using Copic markers. Then I stamped the images again on masking paper and covered the coloured images so I could sponge the background with distress inks.

After all of the colouring and ink blending was done, I used shimmer mist to splatter the panel. It adds a feeling of 'magic' to the scene, as if the bear fairy and cat witch are casting a spell on the bunny. The shimmer is hard to capture on camera but is so pretty in person.

If you missed the September Release Blog Hop, head over to THIS post to see more inspiration and leave a comment by 11:59 p.m. PST on September 22, 2019 for your chance to win a $25 gift certificate to the Evelin T Designs online store.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: