A Lori Whitlock Sweet Sixteen Cupcake Card & Gift Bag

It's Mendi here and I'm so excited to be sharing a fun Birthday card and gift bag set that I made using several of Lori's darling shapes and papers from Echo Park's Splendid Sunshine!

This set came about because I was wanting to create a "Sweet 16" milestone birthday card.  I was thrilled to see that Lori already had the work done for me with her cute phrase (and even more thrilled to realize I had a "happy" stamp that matched perfectly from Avery Elle's Oh Yeah set).  I chose to turn the number 16 into candles with the help of a little embroidery floss and a flame cutting file from another candle by Lori.

For my cupcake I used some Glossy Accents on the sprinkles and flames and a paper piercer with a ruler to form holes so that I could hand-stitch the ribs in my cupcake wrapper (after ungrouping and removing other cutouts).

After I was done I thought it would be super fun to make a matching gift bag, but I didn't have any of Lori's newest cupcake boxes so I tried to get creative.  I took her apple favor box file (keeping the base the same size and discarding the apple portion) and enlarged that same cupcake to create a front and back for my little box.  I was able to sandwich a little ribbon between the layers to form my handles and it worked perfectly.

To create my little Birthday ensemble I used the following cutting files which are available for purchase in Lori's Shop:

• Cupcakes
• Apple Favor Box
• Simple Borders (zig zag)
• Cupcake Birthday Card (for flame)
• Phrase: Sweet 16 (Silhouette Store only)

I hope I've inspired you to play a bit today.  ;)

P.S.  Before I go I wanted to spread the word about an amazing opportunity that is opening up on Lori Whitlock's Creative Team.  She is currently on the search for a couple people to add to her team (both digital and paper crafters).  This is such a fantastic team to work for with sweet people and lots of perks.  If you love Lori's SVG cutting files and her Echo Park paper collections, this might be the perfect fit for you.  You can read all the details HERE.  :)

A Doodlebug Patriotic Parade Thank You Card

Just dropping in to share a quick little card I created for my local card club at Craft Warehouse using Doodlebug's Patriotic Parade collection.  I love how vibrant the colors are this collection and how the floral prints can be used all summer long.  :)

For my sentiment I used a sticker from the Stars & Stripes Quote Stickers, layering it over a flag from the Red, White & Blue Pixies Assortment.  A little Doodle twine and a yummy star sprinkles sticker and I was done.

I'll be back on Monday to share a fun new Birthday ensemble I made for Lori Whitlock.  I hope you have have a lazy and relaxing weekend.  :)

Lori Whitlock's July Blog Hop ~ A Tokyo Disney Layout

Hello and welcome to Lori Whitlock's July blog hop!  You should be arriving here from Corri's blog (or you can start from the beginning of the hop at Lori's blog).  ;)

Today I have a layout to share using Lori's adorable new We Are Family collection along with a number of her ultra cute cutting files!  

I really wanted to find a way to use the darling globe paper and when I came across these photos of my daughter on the train at Tokyo Disneyland I knew I had found the perfect subject to use it with.  To get my creative juices flowing I started off with a fun sketch (No. 160) by Liz Chidester.  

For my title I used some stickers from the collection and paired them with a title cut from red vinyl using the "Billabong" font.  I grounded my title by creating a little scene with Lori's Hot Air Balloon and clouds.

I chose to embellish the rest of my page with a couple of Lori's newest travel images.  I altered her adorable globe shape by un-grouping it and welding it to two basic circles for Mickey's ears before grouping them back together.  I love how it turned out!

To create my layout today I used the following SVG cutting files by Lori:

• 6 Clouds
• Travel Icons (camera)
• Travel Icons 5 (globe)
• 9 Starburst Seal Set
• Hot Air Balloon Card

In honor of today's hop Lori 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 Monday when you use the code "Summer".  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.  Traci is your next stop in the hop.  :)

• Lori Whitlock
• Corri Garza 
• Mendi Yoshikawa (you are here) 
• Traci Penrod 
• Lorrie Nunemaker 
• Chrissy Guido 
• Stephanie Chavers 
• Ashley Cook 

Thanks so much for stopping by!   :)

Summer Treats with Doodlebug's Fruit Stand Collection

Today I'm sharing some gift ideas for sweet summer treats over at Doodlebug's blog using their adorable little bags with one of my all time favorite collections, Fruit Stand!

First up is a treat bag using the darling cherries from the collection.  I created my tag using a sticker from the collection which I traced onto printer paper and then cut out slightly smaller and adhered to the back of the sticker to cover up the stickiness.  For my cherry border I used a strip of patterned paper topped with a fancy frills border sticker which I cut in half lengthwise to form a scallop on both sides.  I finished it off my bag with a button added to the center of each cherry.

Next up I have a strawberry themed treat.  For my tag I wanted to use the little strawberry sticker tab but it wasn't quite fitting with my stamped sentiment so I simply took my craft knife with a metal edged ruler and trimmed it down.  A few Ladybug and Bubblegum Mini Jewels were added to the strawberries as a finishing touch.

I rounded out my trio of summer bags with a citrus theme!  The little sticker tag had a green lime on it that didn't quite match the rest of my bag so I covered it up with a darling orange doodle pop.

To carry out each my themes I used a lot of stickers from both the 12x12 This and That stickers and Fruit Stand Icon Stickers, along with coordinating twine and a stamp from Lawn Fawn's Happy Summer set.

These were so much fun to make and I'm hoping they will really brighten each recipients day!  :)

Thanks for stopping by.  :)

Lori Whitlock Little Man Car Shaped Card with Challenge

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

Today's challenge is all about shaped cards!  I'm a sucker for shaped cards and Lori has sooo many good ones to chose from.  This challenge can also include shaped cards you create from 2D cutting files as I shared in a past video tutorial HERE. 

For my project I used Lori's darling Car Shaped Card and then added a doggie driver using her dog shaped card.  It's probably hard to tell, but I thought it would be fun to create a compound path and cut the windows out of both the card base and card front.  This allowed me to sandwich a piece of clear acetate between the layers for my car windows to peek through to the inside.

I embellished my car with some metallic paper, silver brads and some seriously ancient metal rim pieces by ScrapWorks called Hugz (they have metal prongs that pierce through the cardstock and fold over on the backside).  ;)

For the inside of my card, I added a fun sentiment from Technique Tuesday's new Mister Man stamp set.  Black enamel dots were the perfect finishing touch for my puppy dog's eyes.

For this challenge you can use any or Lori’s files from her SVG Shop or the Silhouette Online Store. You have until July 16th to link-up your project.  The winner will receive a gift card to Lori's shop and will be announced on her blog on July 17th!  

Have fun playing and let your creativity guide you.  I can't wait to see what you come up with!  :)

A Pebbles Inc. Americana Home of The Free Layout

As promised I'm back today to share a layout using Pebble's Americana collection.  I had so much fun with this one!  I decided to create my page's theme around one of the cutouts from the collection that says "One Nation Under God".  I usually am a bit shy when it comes to being vocal about my faith and belief in God, but I thought it was important to document my values for my children and future grandchildren.

For my title I used some of Pebbles glitter foam thickers in combination with an older set of red rub-ons by American Crafts called MiniMarks (ginger font).  I decided to play up the natural feel of this collection with some wood veneer stars, buttons and twine, using them in combination with the die cut shapes and pinwheel from the collection.

For my journaling I printed it on vellum using my printer's specialty paper setting, giving it plenty of time to dry and then used 3M Spray Mount as my adhesive.  This product is awesome at giving even coverage without any visibility, but it's also lethal stuff so make sure to do it inside a big cardboard box and in a spot where you have plenty of ventilation.  ;)

Pebbles really knocked it out of the park with these papers!  I love how they can be both Patriotic as well as just a pretty red, white and blue picnic sort of line with a focus on the florals and ginghams (I have another layout in the works that has nothing to do with the fourth of July that I'm hoping to finish and share later in the summer).

I'll be back on Thursday with a new link up challenge for Lori Whitlock's blog.  Hope to see you then.  ;)

A Pebbles Inc. Americana Red, White & Blue Birdhouse

With the Fourth of July fast approaching I thought it was time to finally share one of the fun projects I've been working on!  I decided to alter THIS unfinished wood birdhouse that I picked up for a steal using a coupon at Michaels using Pebbles darling new Americana Collection!

To start I painted all my "seams" with white paint (by seams, I mean any corners that might be visible after adding my paper).  I then set to work covering it with paper.  The most challenging spot was the front so I took out my ruler and created a template on a piece of office paper.  After I got it just right, I used it as a pattern piece to cut out my patterned paper.  It was my first time approaching a project this way and it was wonderful--Super nice not to not waste precious paper.  After I got the front done, the back was basically the same (minus the two cutouts).  Every thing else was straight and easy.  ;)

To decorate my house, I added the banner stickers from the collection onto printer paper and cut them out so that they would not be sticky and attract dust when on display.  The "Proud To Be American" sticker was the perfect size and position to have my perch come out of one of the flowers.  I cut a star and scalloped circle on my Silhouette and I was done.

This was a really fun little afternoon project to make and I love how the wood slat paper looks like a faux treatment on my real wood birdhouse.  Now I'm on the hunt for a cute red bird to inhabit it.  ;)

I'll be back on Monday to share a Patriotic layout from this same collection.  Thanks for hanging with me today.  :)

"All About Me" Layout using Doodlebug's Sprinkles Vellum!

I have a new layout up on Doodlebug's blog using a staple in any paper crafter's arsenal: Vellum!  But not just any vellum, Sprinkles Vellum.  I am smitten.  I love it's translucent quality and those sweet little raised glossy polka-dots!

To fully show off it's translucent qualities I cut two butterflies on my silhouette in two different sizes which I layered on top of each other and then tied with doodle twine to form my antennas.I found that it was easy to hide my adhesive on the center of my bottom butterfly with the multiple layers (although 3M spray mount is an excellent product when in doubt--Just make sure to do it inside a big cardboard box because it can ruin any surfaces it lands on).  ;)

To form my diamond background I altered and cropped a square lattice card design on my Silhouette software and then cut diamonds slightly larger from different colors of the sprinkles vellum which I glued with a Zig glue pen to the backside.  I embellished the design with sugar coated brads applied at each point.

To repeat my color scheme I used small tone-on-tone polka-dot (and striped) prints from various 6x6 collection pads for my journaling strips.  I love that Doodlebug has a consistent color scheme year after year so I know I will always be able to mix and match.

There are so many fun ways to use this amazing product.  Make sure you keep checking back to see all the cool projects the team has up their sleeves.  :)

A Graduation Themed Layout for Shimelle Laine

Hello there!  After several previous false alarms, I finally do have a post over at Shimelle's Blog (for real this time).  ;)

She was looking for some people to fill in as she enjoys time with her new sweet baby and I was all too happy to help.  For today's layout she requested some ideas for graduation themed layouts so I pulled out some more of Doodlebug's The Graduates collection and a cute sketch by Creative Scrappers.  Here's a little peek of what I created.

Make sure you swing by her blog for a full view, along with lots of other great ideas.  ;)

A Hugs & Fishes Watercolor Card & Copic Marker Sale!

What says hello to summer than a couple of cute fish?  Today I have a card to share that I made using an older stamp set called Fishy Fun by My Cute Stamps.  

I created my background by inking it up with my distress inks and a foam applicator and then flicking drips of water on it to create the look of bubbles.  After they were dry, I stamped my waves and seaweed over the top.  For my fish I decided to finally break out my Faber-Castell Aquarelle watercolor pencils and then blend the colors with a paint brush.

Sadly I didn't have time to make a good example using my Copic markers for today, but I wanted to let everyone know about an amazing sale happening over at the Carpe Diem Store!  All Copic sketch pens are $3.99 (and Ciao markers are $2.79) through Monday, June 23rd, with automatic free shipping on orders over $35.  The sale prices will show up after you've added them to your cart.   I have been holding out for this sale for a long time so I was super excited to find them for such a great deal and pass it on to all of you!  

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend.  :)