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

A Soap Opera?!

Hello!

Well, here's a card that started out totally differently...

I wanted to try two new techniques that I have spotted in blog land lately, on making your own backgrounds (which I am loving right now).  I actually combined the two techniques into one, and was pretty happy with the results.  I designed the rest of the card and put it together.  And then two things happened:

- First I used a cluster of balloons from Mama Elephant, which I had the rabbit holding from string.  As a last minute thing, I decided to add some Wink of Stella to jazz up the balloons a bit.  But hardly any glitter was coming out.  So I squeezed the top...a little harder than I should have, and a giant blog came out of the pen and all over my balloons!!!  Gah!  But, okay.  It only hit the balloons and the background was still salvageable.  So I tore off the balloons and went to work again.

- Rather than using the ME balloons, I thought it would add more dimension if I used some PS balloons and coloured / cut them all out separately.  I figured the result would be worth the effort.  And it was.  Perfect, the card was fixed and ready to be photographed.  But wait a minute.  Was it?  Nope.  When I replaced the ME balloons with the larger scale PS balloons, the card was totally off centre, and totally off balance!  Grrrrr.  What can I add to balance it out?  Hmmmm.  I tried a few things, but nothing looked right.  Then I thought: splatter, that will even things out!  So I covered up all of the parts that I didn't want splatter on and went for it.  I liked the look.  I took off the mask hoping it was done, but nope, it needed splatter in a few other places.  I masked it all back up again, added a bit more splatter and it turned out just how I wanted it to.  I took the panel and glued it to a note card.  What I didn't realize was that the splatter hadn't dried yet and there were black splatter smudges everywhere!!  My little creation was ruined!!! 

So I ripped off the balloons again, along with the bunny.  This time, I gave up on creating my own background (for now - I will try again another day!) and just pulled out some patterned paper.  And here, after all that blabbering and complaining, is what it ended up looking like:

Because I had given up trying to do the background technique, I thought I'd try a different VERY new to me technique - sewing!!!  I sewed the banner on!!!  Mom, if you're reading this, I really did!!!   I left the threads dangling like I've been seeing so much lately.  But aside from that, just stamps, patterned paper and some Copics.  Now that I see the photo though, I'm going back for one last final surgery - that heart (from PS heart dies) on the left on it's side is driving me crazy!   (With all these surgeries, this card might as well be starring in an episode of General Hospital!).

Hopefully I can make a fresh start on the background technique in the next day or so and have a little more success this time around!  I'll show you as soon as it's done :)

Thanks SO much for stopping by to see me!
Shannon

Trip to Hawaii #2

Hello!

A week or so ago I made a "Bon Voyage" card for a friend of mine who was going on holiday to Hawaii...and today I made another card, for another friend who is going next week!!  When's it my turn?!  Ha ha! 

Here's what I came up with this time around:

Still using Get Outta Town, and used some of the same, and some different images on this card.  My fave part of this card is the sentiment!  I am in LOVE with those alpha dies as well as with the trend of "stacking" layers underneath to create a chip board effect.  I just doodled the border with my white gel pen, added some Wink of Stella to the flowers and a bit of Glossy Accents to the centre of the hibiscus.  And that was it! 

Going to enter this into the Paper Smooches Anything Goes challenge this week.

Thanks for coming by!
Shannon

Anything Goes and One Special Card

Hello!

Couple of cards today!  The first one is going out to a very special boy named Colin in Michigan.  Have you heard the story?  I saw it on the news a few days ago.  Colin is turning 11 in March.  When his Mom asked him if he would like a party, he told her there was no point, because he didn't have any friends.  It just broke my heart.  Ugh, nothing gets me more that a child suffering - whether it be from in illness, from bullying, from loneliness.  His Mom set up a Facebook page in order for friends and family to send him positive, encouraging birthday wishes, which she thought would be better than a party.  To her surprise, it went "viral", FAR beyond family and friends.  The number of "likes" exploded and is now over two million!!  But, I don't Facebook.  I know, I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the entire world who doesn't!  So I couldn't "like" the special page  I felt sad that I couldn't do my part.  Then, I was visiting over at Ellen Hutson's "The Classroom" to check out one of my favourite features, Hello Monday, by Julie Ebersole.  This week, Julie featured a card that she made for Colin!!  I had no idea that the family was also accepting cards!  Well, of course, I got straight to work!

Here's what I came up with:

Very simple and hopefully masculine enough for an 11 year old boy!  I also used a sentiment on the inside from PS Slang Gang that says "have the best day evah".  Well, actually, I had to add the "have" but that was easy enough to do with another stamp and a little masking.

If you have time, why not make a card and send it to Colin too, and let him know he's got friends!
His address is:
PO Box 756 Richland, MI 49083-0756

And here's my second card:

Like so many of you, I'm trying to use up what I have!  I just kind of went for a more scrappy look but  I'm not sure if there's too much going on here or not!  It's out of my comfort zone a bit, but I think it's always good to stretch yourself once in a while and try something a little different. 

Both cards are all PS, off to the Anything Goes challenge they go!

Thanks so much for stopping by, and please consider sending a card to Colin!
Shannon

Washi background

Hello!

Trying out more new to me things today.  I saw a tutorial over on the WPlus9 blog on how to use washi tape with a diagonal stripe to create a background.  I LOVED the idea, because I have had this roll of washi tape for months (Wal-mart purchase) which I adore, but can not make it look like it belongs on anything!!  So I gave it a shot.

Here's my card:

Ironically, I didn't use any WPlus9 sets on this.  The angel and the cloud are Mama Elephant, the "thank you" is PS and the "for being there" is spelled out using Lawn Fawn's Milo's ABCs.  I do love how the washi background turned out, but two downsides for me - it wasn't quite as simple as I was hoping it would be to get the lines to match up - I was straining my eyes every time, and, although it is subtle, you can see where the lines where the pieces of tape meet.  Would I do it again?  Probably! 

That's it for me today!
Hope you are enjoying you Sunday!
And as always, thank you so much for coming by!
Shannon

Oh Hello!

Hello!

Just a quick post today.  I really wanted to make a hello card for a very special friend today.  When I saw Shari Carroll's video over at Simon Says Stamp this morning, I knew I wanted to try this technique to make the card. 

Have a look :)

The colours are not as soft and pretty as Shari's, they actually took on more of a muted look.  I'm not sure if it was because I used a different type of paper?  But I do like the different look it gives.  Once the "painting" was done, I used my Hero Arts Wet Cement ink to overlay a Hero Arts background stamp.  Then I went to work on the focal point.  The letters are also HA (I LOVE this set!) and that sweet little bunny holding the flower is Mama Elephant.  I also used an ME die for the scalloped border.  A few hits of the Wink of Stella glitter pen in the tiny circles of the background (you can't see them because I added them after I took the photo!) and my card was all done!

Thanks for stopping by today!!!  Hope you are having a good weekend!
Shannon

Bold!

Hello!

Bold is the key word over at Casology this week!  I have really enjoyed experimenting with new things lately, especially backgrounds.  So that's where this card started: with a bold background, and then it evolved from there.  It is totally Joni inspired!!!

Here it is:

A lot of distress inking going on here.  The hearts that are stamped in the background were squirted with water before stamped on the paper.  Added some splattering and did a little bit of blending and the background was complete.  Just added those Savvy flower stamps, the WPlus9 leaf dies in white and vellum.  The banner is Paper Smooches and the Happy Birthday is Lawn Fawn.  I added a subtle WPlus9 sentiment in the top right hand corner as well.  Some Wink of Stella on some of the flowers finished it all off.

I'm sending this to a lady that I used to work with before she got transferred out of province last year - that's why I used the "miles apart" sentiment.

Hope you like my BOLD card!!
Thanks so much for coming by today!!
Shannon