Perfect pearls on black paper

Mama Elephant Christmas Card Tags

Snowflake Christmas Card Inspired by Kristina Werner

Hedgehog Card Heaven – Studio Calico’s Penny Arcade Card Kit

With Mama Elephant’s metal dies, my card productive has soared through the roof. Here are some cards with my favorite recent stamp set. I love hedgehogs!

Scrapping My Stash – The Inlaid, Metal Die Cut, Amazingly Happy Edition

My mom asked me a few months ago if I would make her some birthday cards. Looking through my scrap box recently, I found so many lovely papers — unfortunately, they were mostly scraps smaller than 3×4. I started grouping matching pieces and started getting an idea. Using the Mama Elephant metal dies, I created a new background paper by adhering all the pieces on a scrap piece of printer paper and running them through the Evolution Advanced. After that, I ran the new piece through the die cut machine again using the Happy die from Studio Calico. It was so easy and fast. I made all three cards below in one quick session.

   

I really like the slight deboss left by the Happy die. I used the Avery Elle Sending You stamp set for the birthday sentiment. 

Sparkles and Bokeh

I’m still learning to use my stamps for more than sentiments. Below is my first fail attempt at using the My Favorite Things Bokeh set. Oh well – next time!

Believe in Magic – Disney-themed digital stamps

I bought the Smalls kit from Studio Calico last month but quickly realized that the digital file would be more versatile. To create this simple card, I resized the digital stamp using Silhouette Studio and then sketched the castle and sentiment using the black Silhouette sketch pen. I colored in the word magic with an opaque Sakura pen in Moonlight. After masking off the bottom of the castle, I stamped the stars in Delicata Gold In using stamps from the Mama Elephant’s “Believe in Magic” set.

Some thoughts on the Silhouette sketch pens… I really love the form factor of the sketch pens and was all set to buy the full set after playing with the black one I received as a gift. After a few sketches, however, the ink ran out. So disappointing because this pen sketches so smoothly and requires almost adjustments. I’ve read other reviews with similar complaints so unfortunately I don’t think I’m the only one.

People who help you sparkle

The other day, my friend and I were talking about how lucky we are to be friends and how we push each other to be better people. I made this card for her as a reminder to surround herself with people who help her sparkle.

The polka dot background paper is from the Studio Calico Sandlot Paper Pad. I also used the Mama Elephant Creative cut dies for the tag and for cutting out the water color piece. These dies are seeing heavy use – I’m so impressed with the slightly rounded and polished edges.

Studio Calico Hercules – The Fever Cards

I originally purchased the Hercules set because I thought I would love the Fancy stamp. I still haven’t played with the stamp but I  have fallen completely in love with the whole kit. I had a very bad reaction to some medicine last weekend and couldn’t sleep at all one night and ended up making a bunch of cards using cut flowers from the kit and some of the gorgeous gilded project life cards in the new Heidi Swapp set. I even love the transparent doilies! This might be the very first Studio Calico Set I ever kill!

I also absolutely adore the transparent doilies and little turquoise dots included in the kit. I have other turquoise colored dots but something about these bring out the colors in the flowers so beautifully. I don’t know how to describe it but they’re not as shiny, but in a good way. I used the same PL 3×4 for the next two cards – I just love the sentiment and that little gold heart at the bottom.

 

I love the flower so much that I tried to create my own using my Neocolors, which I also adore. I made the flower and leaves below on some scrap paper.

Mama Elephant Wedding Wishes and Cheeky Statements

My love for Mama Elephant is well documented on this blog. Below are some recent projects using the Splendid stamp set and my all-time favorite set, Good Times.

I cut out a circle on water color paper using the Silhouette Cameo. Then, I heat embossed the Splendid sentiment in white powder, which was followed by using the Distress Ink pads in Squeezed Lemonade, Peacock Feathers, and Mowed Lawn to achieve a water color look. The little birds were stamped in Staz-On ink and then colored in with a water color brush using Neocolors.

My love of water color continued on this card. I used a one inch punch to create the circles from a water color tester sheet I made after purchasing a set of Faber Castell Gelatos last month. I popped some of the circles up using foam tape. The sentiment and dancing peeps are from the Good Times set.