Love Birds...I mean Bees!

Hello!

It's a rainy day here, and what better way to spend it than make a card!  Of course I had to play along with Case Study again this week, with Joni being the muse!  I also wanted to try a technique that I learned over at PS Virtual Smooches a while ago.  Have you seen the videos Savannah and Emily do for this site - nothing short of AH-MAZING I tell you!  The technique I used today is to use a stamp to create a frame.  It took me a few tries to get a non-wonky oval, but in the end it turned out pretty evenly (just don't look under the banner - it may or may not be covering up some severe wonkiness there - ha ha!).  I'm going to enter this into the PS Sparks Challenge for this week as well - it's an Anything Goes!

Here's the card:

With wedding season approaching, I thought I would make a wedding card to add to my stash.  I went with love bees!  Just fussy cut them out and coloured their wings in blue.  Added glossy accents to kick it up a notch!  That heart in the middle of the two bees is just some white enamel that I shaped into a heart.  To create the oval, I just traced an oval with pencil and then tried to somewhat evenly space the flowers around it.  Background is distress inks.  Added the "forever" die cut and that's it!

Here's the inspiration card from Joni:

Hope you're having a good weekend and sneaking in a little crafty time!  Thank you SO much for stopping by!
Shannon

A Special EAD Blog Hop for Emma

Hello!

Today is a very cool day!  The amazing Amy Tsuruta asked me if I would like to participate in a very special blog hop that she is hosting along with a bunch of other EAD Designs fans!  EAD Designs is a company that created vinyl stickers and rub-ons, but unfortunately the company closed their doors over a year ago.  (unfortunately for sure - Amy sent me a few of their stickers to play with for this hop and they are AWESOME!).  Even though the company is gone, these ladies continue to inspire each other to use their fun goodies.

What all of our projects will have in common is that we are all using EAD goodies. 
And our challenge is:
KID-FRIENDLY

Not only was I honoured that Amy would ask me (and said YES right away!), but I was also touched by the reason behind this hop.  All of our cards from today's hop will be going to a special girl named Emma.

 Please read about Emma's story and the card drive hosted by Kelly.

Here's my card for Emma:

Isn't that owl adorable?!  Both she and the "cutie" sentiment are from EAD.  I put the owl on some Bazzill textured paper, and loved the grid look that it created on the owl.  Seriously, these stickers were SO much fun to play with!  Hope Emma likes it!

I also wanted to make a card for Addison:

That little bird, also EAD!  SO sweet!

And guess what?!  There is a surprise blog candy!  The more you leave comments on the blogs that are participating, the more chances you have to win!

Want another chance for a prize?!  Make a kid friendly card for Emma!  We'd love for you to join in the card drive!  Make a card for Emma, send it to Kelly and link up over on Amy's blog!

Commenting/Card link up open until Monday, March 24th at 11:59 pm pacific
Winners posted on Amy's blog on Monday, March 31st.

Have fun hoppin'!

Amy 
Colleen
Julie Smith
Julie Tucker-Wolek
Katie Brooks
Kelly
Lauren Bergold
Liz
Rose
Shannon
Stephanie
Wendi

Thank you so much for stopping by today and please consider sending a card to this special girl.
Shannon

Chugga Chugga Chu Chu!

Hello!

Well, it's no secret that I am a HUGE fan of Joni Nina Andaya.  She is a huge inspiration to me, and many of the techniques I try here are because of her.  So when I saw that she is this month's Case Study, you KNOW I had to play along!

This one didn't come about very easily.  A LOT of trial and error!  But just like the little engine that could, I kept on going...chugga chugga chu(chee) chu!!  I knew I could, I knew I could (it's in my name, afterall - ha!).  And here's what it looked like in the end (nothing like how it started, btw!!):

Big mix of everything going on in this baby!  The background flowers in grey are Casual Friday, the polka dot label is Stampin' Up.  The flowers on the label are WPlus9 and the birdies are Lawn Fawn.  Both sentiments are Studio Calico/Hero Arts.  Finished it off with a little distressing of the edges to frame it up a bit and a little baker's twine.

And here's Joni's inspiration card:

Gorgeous, huh?!!

Thank you so much for coming by today!!  Hope you enjoy your Sunday, and please stop by if you can tomorrow...I am participating in a very special blog hop and I'd love for you to be a part of it too!
Shannon

Two Technique Re-Try!

Hello!

So last week, I tried combining two new techniques on one card, and everything was going just fine until a couple of unfortunate incidents ended up in the entire card being ruined!!  It's okay, I've managed to stop the tears!!  So being the tenacious girl I am (sometimes!), I decided to try again today. 

The two techniques were from Kristina Werner and Donna Mikasa.

Kristina has been using the "smooshing" technique a lot lately - you can see an example here.  And recently Donna posted a card using "water stenciling" and as soon as I saw it, I knew I wanted to give it a try.

And here's the result:

Can you see the water stenciling in the background?!  It's subtle, but I love the little bit of extra it adds!

Not only did I combine two techniques, I also combined two challenges.  In fact, two of my favourite challenges: Lisa Arana's Wanna Sketch and PS Sparks, which is an anything goes this week.
For the sketch, I was inspired by the arc that the flowers created.  Play along if you can - I just love Lisa's sketches and I'm pretty sure you will too ;)

Thanks for the visit!!
Shannon