Wednesday, May 28, 2014

A Doodlebug "Day To Day" Father's Day Dress Shirt Card

Hi there!  Did you all have a good Memorial Day weekend?  This week sort of snuck up on me and I can't believe we're already half way through it!  I thought I would pop in and share a Father's Day card I created which was published in Paper Crafts Card Creations Volume 12 special issue.


I had so much fun creating this little dress shirt!  Papers and embellishments (including that cute tie) are from Doodlebug's adorable Day To Day collection.  Hope you all enjoy the rest of your week.  I have several projects I'm busy working on that I can't wait to share.  ;)

Friday, May 23, 2014

A Kick Off To Summer: CardMaker Magazine Blog Hop

Welcome!  I'm excited to be joining CardMaker Magazine's blog hop today as we kick off to Summer!  You should be arriving here from Kristie Hartfei's Blog or if you are just now joining in the fun you can start from the beginning at CardMaker's Blog.  :)

In honor of the hop I created a couple new cards.  First up is a country inspired card featuring Technique Tuesday's Poppy Sentiments stamp set and their Photo Frame DIY Steel Die (and some patterned papers by Simple Stories).  I finished off my card with a sentiment from the Say It-Hello stamp set and the matching Hello die.  I don't know about you, but there is something about poppies that just make me happy.



Up next I have a card using Technique Tuesday's new Straight Talk-Happy die and their coordinating Say It-Happy stamp set.  This was a really fun (and pretty easy) card to make.  As a finishing touch I machine stitched each layer with coordinating thread--I love the little detail it adds without a lot of extra effort.




I hope I've managed to inspire you a wee bit.  ;)  You're next stop on the hop is Technique Tuesday and just in case here's a complete list of all the blog hop participants:
Thanks so much for stopping by!   Make sure to check out all the other inspiring cards and blogs and leave the gals some love.  ;)


Thursday, May 22, 2014

Lori Whitlock Candy Themed Layout with Link Up Challenge

I’m excited to be hosting a Link Up party on Lori Whitlock's Blog today!  :)

I am calling my challenge an "out-of-the-box" challenge.  I think it's always awesome to get a little more mileage from our shapes and feel like we're getting a great bang for our buck so I would love to see all your ideas on how to uses Lori's shapes in ways other that how they were originally intended.  

Examples of this could be:

  • Using a shaped card (as I did) as an embellishment on a layout.
  • Merging Two shapes together
  • Ungrouping a shape and using the inside pieces or outside outline only
  • Using an element from a card or layout file on another project
  • Cutting a one layer title out of multiple colors to make each word a different color
  • Turning a shape into a shaped card
  • Using one of Lori's 2-page layouts as a single page layout
  • Repeating a shape to form a border
  • Stretching or distorting a shape to fit specific dimensions of your project
Let your creativity guide you!  :)


For my example I made a layout with a focus on Lori's darling Bubble Gum Machine Shaped Card which I used as a flat embellishment.  As an added twist I used the shiny mark from her apple shape on each of my gumballs and then adhered a circle behind each with a coordinating lighter shade of cardstock.  

For my scalloped button border I used Lori's 3 Borders, duplicating and welding the largest scallop together and removing the inside cutouts.  For the scalloped mat behind my focal point I reduced one of Lori's 12x12 Background Circles in size and also removed the inside cutouts.  For my date tab I used Lori's 8 Tabs and just removed the inside cutouts before cutting.  I finished off my layout using Lori's adorable Vintage Font for my title.  I love that with a little clever thinking I can get so many different looks with Lori's awesome shapes!


For this challenge you can use any or Lori’s files from her SVG Shop or the Silhouette Online Store. You have until June 4th to link-up your project.  The winner of a very cool gift card will be announced here on the blog on June 5th!  I can't wait to see what you come up with!  :)




Tuesday, May 20, 2014

A Doodlebug Patriotic Parade Wreath & 4th of July Layout





I'm up on Doodlebug's blog today and I can hardly contain my excitement!  I am a sucker for red, white and blue and I couldn't wait to dig into Doodlebug's newest Patriotic Parade collection using it for both a layout and a wreath to decorate my home with for the fourth!


To create my wreath, I combined a couple different popular wreath styles that I've seen floating around Pinterest lately (examples of which can be seen here and here).  I started by covering a 9" foam wreath form with strips of paper that were cut 1.5" wide by 12" long and then used my ATG adhesive to wrap them around it, starting with the outer ends and then squeezing them tight around the wreath.  Afterwards you can simply cut the ends into cute little V's (or in my case I created my strips on my Silhouette software with the V's already cut out from each end).

After I was done I cut out stars that were both 2.75" tall and 3.5" tall on my Silhouette and scored them towards the center, which allowed me to fold them and make them more dimensional.  Wendy Sue shared a great tutorial on this a couple years ago (found here).  With the explosion of patterns for my other paper strips, I tried to keep this layer more monochromatic using my favorite tone-on-tone Petite Prints.  To adhere them I used a glue gun on the five inner spots were the star folding inward and held my fingers on the spots until it looked like the star was stuck tight.  I was surprised at how quickly this came together and it is something I know my family will enjoy for many years to come!


Up next I have a layout using some favorite photos of mine from several years ago.  I was happy to finally have the perfect collection to use them with!


This collection has so many great little embellishments to mix and match!


I found this collection to be so fun and happy to work with.  I hope you will pick some up and play along too!  Make sure you stop by Doodlebug's blog to find out how you can win this entire collection!  :)




Friday, May 16, 2014

Some Doodlebug Cap & Gown Graduation Cards

Today I thought I would share a couple of simple, classic themed graduation cards I created awhile back for a magazine call using Doodlebug's "Cap & Gown" collection from last year.

First up is one using a row of double ribbon bows with a brad in the center.  For both of these cards I used the same 2 pieces of patterned paper, a grad cap doodle pop and a sentiment from Papertrey Ink's
Happy Day stamp set.


For my second card I went square in design and used a piece of red print washi tape down the center of my band.  Both of these went together pretty quickly and were a lot of fun to make.




On a side note with all the problems with Feedburner I have just switched my email service to MailChimp.  I'm hoping this means you will now be receiving regular feeds and emails from me.  Please let me know if any of you are experiencing any issues with the switch.  Also, if you have a blog of your own and use Feedburner you might look into switching to another service as well.  It took me awhile to realize it, but I am no longer receiving emails from most of the blogs I subscribe to.

I hope you have an awesome weekend!  Check back on Tuesday when I'll be sharing some projects I'm very excited about using Doodlebug's new fourth of July collection.  ;)


Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Lori Whitlock May Blog Hop: Sailboat Birthday Boy Layout



Hello and welcome to Lori Whitlock's May blog hop!  You should be arriving here from Corri's blog (which also happens to be the first blog in the hop if you would like to start from the beginning).


Today I have a birthday boy layout to share.  I had so much fun creating a little scene using Lori's adorable Boat Set.  I was able to enlarge the same waves from the set to duplicate another border along the top of my page as well.  

For my title block, I mixed two of Lori's darling fonts "Happy" and "Sweet" (linked below).  I love how they look together and I how I was able to use the same font for my journaling to create a cohesive look which is always a bonus in my book!



To create my layout today I used the following SVG cutting files and fonts by Lori:
(I also used Echo Park's Wave Border for the background of my little scene which I purchased in the Silhouette store).

In honor of today's hop is giving everyone a free SVG download on her blog HERE.



She is also offering 30% off all shapes and fonts in her shop through Sunday when you use the code "May14".  Visit her shop to see all the new goodies she has in store!  :)



Be sure to check out all the other inspiring projects at my fellow teammates blogs and leave them some love.  Brigit is your next stop in the hop.  :)

Monday, May 12, 2014

A Layout & Card using Doodlebug's "The Graduates" Collection



Hello there!  I have some projects up on Doodlebug's blog today using their newest collection, The Graduates!  I adore how versatile this collection is and by being monochromatic you can tailor it to match so many different school colors.

First up I have a layout I created documenting my little sister's high school graduation.  I had a lot of fun personalizing the little caps from the Mini Diplomas & Caps set by adding a brad and some solid colored embroidery floss.

Like most of the team I am also captivated by Doodlebug's newest product, star sprinkles!  I decided to incorporate them into my star border and I love how they look!


I decided while I had my supplies handy I would whip up a quick card (and I mean quick).  I'll admit I'm not usually a very fast paper crafter, but I think I actually created this in less than 10 minutes!  I made this for my same little sister who will soon be graduating from Oregon State with her black and orange school colors.  I love the personality little wiggle eyes add to the owl stickers!


I hope I've inspired you to play with this fun new collection!  Make sure to check out Doodlebug's blog post HERE sharing how you can win it!  :)

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Some more Doodlebug Sugar Shoppe Birthday Cards

How has your week been going?  I feel like I've been checked out and have the energy of a slug after surviving 42 hours of cropping over this past weekend.  I am just barely coming out of my sleepy fog, but I wanted to share some fun cards I made over the weekend using Doodlebug's fun new Sugar Shoppe collection.

Doodlebug Design Inc. Sugar Shoppe Birthday Cards for Kids & Teen Girls by Mendi Yoshikawa

For those who know me, I spend hours and a good couple of weeks preparing "kits" for this annual crop, but this year with everything I had going on I only ended up having about 6 days to prepare so I was about 40% shy of the projects I normally come with ready to work on.  With that knowledge in mind I went looking for an extra challenge to help fill my time on Saturday and I found the perfect Snail Mail Challenge at scrapbook.com that looked easy to grab on the go with minimal preparation.  I just filled a bag with my favorites from the Sugar Shoppe collection and I was off. I should also note that every single one of these cards was created with the 6x6 paper pad (since I forgot to grab my 12x12 papers).

Card No. 1:  I made my background from washi tape strips and a borrowed Fiskars circle punch, topped with a little sticker from the collection.  Happy Birthday was stamped using Papertrey Ink's Keep It Simple: Birthday Mini Stamp Set (such a great versatile little stamp set that was perfect for these cards).

Doodlebug Design Inc. Sugar Shoppe Washi Tape Ice Cream Birthday Card for Kids & Teen Girls by Mendi Yoshikawa

Card No. 2:  I used a Simple Put Album Insert for this card.  These inserts make great jumping off points for greeting cards!  I just mounted an extra cupcake with foam tape over the one already printed for some extra dimension and added some enamel sprinkles and spelled out the word "girl" with coordinating stickers.  Super easy!

Doodlebug Design Inc. Sugar Shoppe Birthday Girl Cupcake Card for Kids & Teens by Mendi Yoshikawa

Card No. 3:  For this card I wanted to play with the darling tag stickers found on the Mini Tag Cardstock Stickers sheet.  Since I was arranging them across the card I was looking for ways to create some interest vertically so I borrowed a Martha Stewart border punch to layer some ruffles in different tone-on-tone prints.

Doodlebug Design Inc. Sugar Shoppe Ice Cream & Cupcake Birthday Card for Kids & Teen Girls by Mendi Yoshikawa

Card No. 4:  I used another Simple Put Album Insert for this card, this time layering a balloon sticker over one of the existing balloons and using my paper piercer to poke holes to string some doodle twine through to add some extra texture.  I finished off my card with a sentiment from the Multicolor Happy Birthday Doodles Cardstock Sticker sheet.

Doodlebug Design Inc. Sugar Shoppe Balloon Birthday Card for Kids & Teen Girls by Mendi Yoshikawa

Card No. 5:  This was actually my last card and I knew I was in a hurry so I kept it simple with some quick pennant shapes from some of my scraps leftover from my other cards.  It was fun to make though and went together super fast.

Doodlebug Design Inc. Sugar Shoppe Banner Party Hat Birthday Card for Kids & Teen Girls by Mendi Yoshikawa

Card No. 6:  For my last card I used that same borrowed circle punch and another stamp from the Papertrey Ink birthday stamp set.  After I had my circles arranged I really wanted to add a ribbon bow below them, but I didn't think to pack some so I improvised and created my own by layering several rows of Doodle Twine.  The funny thing is I never would have thought of doing this if I wasn't in a creative pinch, but I really like it.

Doodlebug Design Inc. Sugar Shoppe Ice Cream & Cupcake Birthday Card for Kids & Teen Girls by Mendi Yoshikawa

I have to say I had a lot of fun working on these cards.  I felt a bit of pressure at the very end as I saw the clock clicking closer to the deadline, but with the generous help of someone's laptop at the crop I was able to squeak in right in the nick of time.  I love that now I have 6 new girly birthday cards on hand the next time I need one in a hurry.  ;)


Supplies Used (available at Simon Says Stamp)


Supplies Used (available at Scrapbook.com)

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