Glitzy Flower

I just love yellow and red and haven't done a card in those colors for ages, so...voila. And, it's not a baby card, as promised!

I stamped the flower from Hello Friend three times and cut them into different sized pieces for layering, so my flower has lots of dimension. I also lined the petals and leaves with a glitter pen, very pretty in real life.

What's In It?
Stamps- Hello Friend (LAD)
Paper- banana, real red, celery, kraft (SU)
Ink- rich cocoa (Memento)
Other- AC ribbon, label 4 nestie, sakura glitter pen, pearl cluster, dimensionals

Party Animal Thanks

I decided to raid my stash of stamped images while I was making my thank you cards. I had a couple of this image left and just couldn't resist it. It's called Party Animals by Penny Black. So I actually made two of these.

And I also got to use my brand new goodies from Papertrey Ink, the "thank you" from Lily of the Valley, the frame stamp and matching die from Fillable Frames 2, and the eyelet lace border die. And since all those little circles from the eyelet die were laying on my desk, I just used one of them for my flower center and covered it in Glossy Accents. I colored the Party Animals with Copic markers. Papers are Georgia Pacific white, SU celery, and DCWV Nana's Nursery.

Now, I promise to have something other than baby thank yous for you soon.

Be a Mix Member for a Day

I know it's a little late, but I've been REALLY busy today. We just finished painting the nursery~ green on the bottom, cream on the top and now I have to run as we're late for a picnic. Buuuuuutttttt.... I wanted to let you know, straight from the Lizzie Anne Blog:

"Hey Lizzie Anne Fans... we have an exciting promotion going on TODAY ONLY! We are listing four of our Monthly Mix sets at the club price of $25.00 on our website today (Saturday, May 22nd!) If you aren't a Mix Member and you would like to try out our stamp sets before deciding to join the club, now is your chance! The following stamp sets are $25.00 today:

It's Good to Be Queen
Singing in the Rain
Celebrate
Christmas Wishes

The retail price for these sets is $39.99 so get them today while you can... we know you'll love our Mix sets. They are a tremendous value.

Also, when you sign up for the club you can choose an additional Mix set for only $10.00! This is 75% off the retail cost. For more information, visit the Monthly Mix Club page!"

Go to the blog for all the links. Yes, I'm running THAT late. Sorry. But I didn't want you to miss out on this opportunity. Eek, Josh is calling up the stairs for me.

Snail Mail Thanks

I've got another group of quickie baby thanks for you today. I used an old layout, just changed the orientation. You can see the original here. I even used up some older snaps for the wheels while I was at it. The paper is pearlized white from Paper Accents. I think I used Cameo Coral and Certainly Celery ink, as well as onyx black VersaFine. I created a template to draw the outer part of the frame using a stray piece of thick acetate. That way I could just center it, then trace. Then use a ruler to add the inner frame.
The snail is from Baby Button Bits and the sentiment is an older anniversary set called Simple Little Things, both from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping in today! I love your visits.

Design Process

Granted these are pretty simple cards, because I'm trying to get a stockpile of thank yous before my baby shower, but it does give you a little peek into my trial and error design process.

I started with this week's Sweet Sunday Sketch from Karen, which you can see on this first front card. Now, I kept all of the cards, even the "mistakes" because I'm really trying to get some quick thank yous together. But, you can see that I didn't quite like the colors I used, so I switched to yellow polka dots, a green rattle, a blossom die cut rather than a plain circle, and green embellishments rather than teal. Trust me, the sketch is totally cute, but I just needed to move on. So I also made just one strip of wavy punched green. You can see these results in the second picture, rear card. I decided that I didn't like the two sizes of dots, so I switched to fewer, and all large, dots. Like I said, a very simple card, but...tada the Bethany Paull trial and error design process in motion. Even now, I'm wondering why I didn't pop up the blossom on dimensionals, ha!

I curved the clear sentiment stamp on my block to mimic the circle, then I drew the green border lines with a marker tracing a couple of circle nesties.

Oh, and here's a close up of my favorite of the bunch.
What's In It?
Stamps- Baby Button Bits, Polka dot basics, damask designs (PTI)
Paper- retired SU designer paper and dark pink, also celery (SU) and white (GP)
Ink- taken with teal, apricot appeal, celery (SU)
Other- Basic Grey pearls, Making Memories brads, EK Success punch, blossom and circle nesties, BG and PTI buttons, old olive marker

Doggone Best Tag

It's the 17th of the month and that means it's also Lizzie Anne design team challenge day! This month's challenge is to design or decorate your own packaging. I found that so often, the gift itself is pretty enough to just about stand on it's own. All you need to add is some nice ribbon and a creative over sized gift tag. So that's what I've done here.

My in-laws dog sat for us while we spent last weekend at Niagara Falls, so we picked up a little thank you. It's a sampler pack of mini ice wines. If you've never tried these, I really like them. Very sweet, and definitely a dessert wine, but so yummy. They make it from the grapes that have frozen on the vine, turning them sugary.

Sorry for that little sidetrack. Now, back to this cute tag. Isn't it so perfect for a dog sitting thank you? I cut the pattern paper with my largest blossom nestie. Then cut the ruby red circle layer, as well as the top white layer. I stamped the dog and sentiment from Playful Pals with tuxedo black Memento ink so I could color it all with Copic markers, including a grassy hill I just drew in directly with the green markers. Afterwards, I added the puffy clouds with white ink and a q-tip. I added a little loop of ribbon between the patterned and red layers so it would be all ready for hanging.

Here, you can see how I used the same ribbon to tie up the box and hung the tag by it's loop with a bit of copper cording. I'll add a brief message to the back, and my little thank you gift is all ready for presentation.

What's In It?
Stamps- Playful Pals (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Paper- white (PTI), rose red (SU), offbeat (BG)
Ink- tuxedo black (memento), white (PTI)
Other- Copics, blossom and circle nesties, kiwi ribbon and copper cording (SU), dimensionals

Be sure to stop by the Lizzie Anne Designs blog and see what creative packaging the rest of the design team can inspire you to create.

Bird Song

So, I promised you something more on the clean and simple side today, and I'm delivering! Today is the reveal for Lizzie Anne Design's June Monthly Mix, Life is Good. It will be mailing out to mix members starting June 1. Check out how to get in on this great deal and see the entire set, here.

I used this sweet little song bird, stamped on kraft card stock and colored with a few Copic markers. The stamp has just the one music note, so I re-inked that one note and stamped it a couple more times to get the music trailing off the top of the panel. Then I drew the double border with a pen ruler.

Stop by the Lizzie Anne blog to see a whole list of design team members who are also showcasing Life is Good on their blogs today, as well as a few customers who are getting in on the action showcasing the Mix of their choice.

What's In It?
Stamps- Life is Good (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Paper- kraft, spring rain (PTI)
Ink- tuxedo black (Memento)
Other- Copic markers, EK Success border punch, American Crafts ribbon, dimensionals

Sweets for the Sweet

This card was supposed to be a quickie, then it ended up taking me forever. I am such a slow stamper. Hmm...blue or orange...double bow or single...to bling or not to bling...etc, etc, etc. But it's finally done. And you can't go wrong with cupcakes, right?

I used Jen's Sketch For You to Try and some Pink Paislee papers with this adorable cupcake from Papertrey Ink's Baby Button Bits. I colored a few highlights over the patterned paper, as well as the leaves with Copic markers.

What's In It?
Stamps- Baby Button Bits (PTI)
Paper- Pink Paislee, white (GP), pixie pink, soft sky, only orange (SU)
Ink- tuxedo black (Memento), white (PTI)
Other- Copics, prima and daisy d crystals, button, thread, grosgrain (SU-retired?), circle and blossom nesties, cuttlebug bloom dots emboss folder, dimensionals

Hopefully I can get a couple more cards done today in a little less time, as I need them for tomorrow. Eeks!

Little Baby Birds

I think these little birds are just the cutest and couldn't wait to ink them up. And now I'm just thrilled with how they work with that notebook paper stamp.

After stamping the paper, I added the little pink vertical line with a ruler and marker, just to give it a bit more of a realistic look. Then I added the sentiment. The birds, moon, and star got stamped on watercolor paper, then cut out individually. I also stamped them on the notebook paper so I didn't have to try to cut out the bird legs and the string on the star. I glued the moon and star (covered in star dust stickles) down flat, and adhered the birds with dimensionals. I added gemstones to my buttons and finished with a border punch blue strip, ribbon and machine stitching around the edges.

What's In It?
Stamps- Dream Big (Lizzie Anne Designs)
Paper- My Mind's Eye, caribbean, banana (SU), white (PTI), watercolor
Ink- pumpkin, caribbean, apricot, saffron, pretty in pink marker (SU), onyx black VersaFine
Other- EK Success border punch, MAMBI gemstones, Dashes Dots & Checks ribbon, star dust Stickles, thread, sewing machine, dimensionals, buttons, water color brush

I went for another ultrasound this morning and things are looking good. Josh has decided that the baby has his nose, and I have to agree. It's so cute. We also got a definite on the sex. It's a girl! So now I'm going to order my furniture and pick out the paint colors. Things are moving right along. I don't figure on having the nursery all ready for a couple of months, but when I do, I'll be sure to share pics. HUGS to you all.

Precious Baby Bee

Hello! How was your weekend? Josh and I made a little three day getaway to Niagara Falls, on the Canadian side. We almost cancelled because the weather was going to be bad, but decided we could use the relaxation as much as we would have enjoyed a busier weekend. It's just a little over a four hour drive, but such a beautiful place to be. And would you believe I forgot my camera? But I'm sure you've all seen pictures of Niagara Falls before anyway. We did manage to squeeze in the Cave of the Winds tour and a morning shopping in Niagara-on-the-Lake between rain drops...and snow flurries!

On to the card. This cutie is from Lizzie Anne's new Great Expectations sixlet set. (Just $11.99. How awesome is that?!) I cut the card 3.5 x 5.5 inches so I'd have room to hang the flower off the edge and still fit the card in a regular envelope. Besides, I think this is the cutest size card anyway. I embossed the card front with a Cuttlebug folder. I had to run in through twice to get a fully embossed front. Then I just used a stylus on a soft surface (my paper piercing foam mat) to finish off any circles that only got half embossed. That way there's no seam. Make sense? The flower is a Spellbinders blossom die, with a circle die cut in the center. I colored my bee with Copic markers and Stardust Stickles and added a bling swirl from Prima. And it's all ready for a new little someone! Papers are SU's barely banana, pixie pink, and cool caribbean.

Chalkboard Butterflies

Doesn't all of that white stamping on black remind you of chalk on a blackboard? I did it all with detail white embossing powder so it would be nice and crisp. I can't remember the last time I used so much black on a card, but I'm pretty tickled with how it turned out. I echoed the three big curves with dots of black Stickles and tied on a big, happy yellow bow. What's In It?

Stamps- Dream Big (Lizzie Anne Designs)

Paper- white (PTI), black (SU), Hello Sunshine (Cosmo Cricket)

Ink- versamark

Other- curve punch (EK Success), black diamond Stickles, organdy ribbon, dimensionals