Whimsy Inspires - February Challenge

Good morning!

It's the 3rd Wednesday of the month, time for the monthly Whimsy Stamps challenge. This month the theme is anything goes, so come play along for a chance to win a Whimsy prize.

When I shared this cute little goody bag I made for my daughter a little while ago, I mentioned that I would be making a boy version too. Here it is using Whimsy's new "Frog Prince" stamp. I made this one for my son and filled it with some goodies.

 

The image has been colored using copic markers and Faber Castell Polychromos pencils.  The two hearts in the "sky" part are from the Whimsy stamp set "All you need is love" from an older release. When I was taking this photo, I was still playing with the thought of adding the die cut "Love" to the bag, but in the end I left it off. The love die is also from Whimsy, and  I also used one of Whimsy's stitched border dies for the hill behind the frog. The grass in front has been simply cut using scissors.

The goody bag instructions can be found HERE on Splitcoast Stampers. If you ever need a little treat bag, this one is super easy to make. Of course mine took a little longer because of the colored image, fussy cutting, etc, but the basic instructions are really quick and easy.

I am also playing along here: 
Creative Chicks - Anything Goes 
Deep Ocean Challenge - Hearts (Week 2) 
Craft-Dee BowZ - (February) Anything Goes with a Handmade Bow 
Crafting from the Heart - Always Anything Goes 
Get Creative Challenges -  Hearts 
Stamps & Fun = Creativity -  Dots 
Where the HeART is - (February) Love 
Dragonfly Dreams - Projects With Hearts and Flowers 
Eclectic Ellapu -  Purple Team ~Mark or Decorate Gift Box/Bag

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Bookmarks for Valentine's and Mixed Media Monthly

Happy Valentine's Day!

I spent the whole morning yesterday playing with stamps and inks, and today I get to show you the 3 bookmarks I made :-) If you are following me on Instagram, you might have seen them already. 

All 3 bookmarks are double sided. Below is the one I made for the kids, side 1. 

Below is the other side. I didn't really plan on adding blue here, but I hadn't cleaned my stencil last time I used it, so I got some blue ink mixed into the modeling paste.

 I made two of these, pretty much identical, so both kids would have the same one.

I used copic makers for coloring the images above. You can see that it was bleeding through the paper a bit, but since they are of vintage style, it doesn't really matter.

Since I was having so much fun, I decided to make one for my husband too. He loves to read, so it will come in handy :-)

Side 1

Side 2

The images on hubby's bookmark were colored with Faber Castell Polychromos, mainly because I have trouble coloring the cats above with copics, but I decided to color them all with pencils because of the bleeding through. 

These were actually pretty easy to make. I simply used different stamps for the background, sponged some distress inks along the edges and then stamped my images right onto the tags. After coloring, I used a stencil and some modeling paste to finish them off. 

I wanted these bookmarks to last a while, so I laminated them. 

You can see in the first one here (below), that there is more blue ink on the modeling paste. It was the first backside I made. (Didn't get as much blue on the second one, which you can see above.) 

Sorry about the bad photo above, it was copied from my Instagram account. These are the 3 I made. Since I made two of the same I was able to photograph both sides of that one, but not of the 3rd one.

Product List:

Share a Hug, So Very Much, Furry Affection, Butterfly Suite

(all above are by Penny Black)

Distressed Backgrounds and ink splats (whimsy stamps)

little hearts in envelope stamp by SU

Tags by Altered Pages 

Distress inks in various colors

copics, faber castell polychromos pencils

stencils (sorry I don't know the names) 

modeling paste, grosgrain ribbon

These bookmarks are made to fit the challenge at

Mixed Media Monthly - Think Pink (pink hearts, pink umbrella)

Lots of love and hearts challenges so I am also playing along here:

Bloggers -  Love is in the Air
Chocolate, Coffee & Cards -  Love is in the Air 
Fussy and Fancy - It's All About Love

 Jo's Scrap Shack - Valentine's Day
Scrap & Craft Challenge  - Valentines/Love/Romance

Tuesday Throwdown - Love is in the Air
Crafter's Cafe - Hearts
Crafting By Designs - Love Is In The Air
Crafting for all Seasons -  Have a Heart (2nd Week)

Inky Impressions - Valentine's/Love
Stampotique Designers' Challenge -  It's All Love and Hearts

Deep Ocean Challenge -Love is all around

 The Stamping Boutique - Hearts
Wags 'n Whiskers -  For Someone You Love
4 Crafty Chicks -Valentines

Also playing along here:

Frosted Designs Friday Challenge -  Get Messy x2 - use 2 messy items- I used inks and paste 

Just Inspirational Challenges -Any Animal
Simon Says Stamp -  All Creatures Great and Small 
Crafty Gals Corner -   Anything Goes
Simply Create Too - Anything Goes
Red Rubber Inspirationals -  So Sentimental 

Thanks so much for visting! I hope you have some fun things planned for today! The kids and I are going to be making some Valentine's cupcakes this morning and surprise hubby with them after he gets off work :-)

Whimsy Stamps November Rubber Stamp RELEASE DAY HOP

It's release day at Whimsy Stamps!!! Today Whimsy Stamps released several new super cute stamps, as well as dies, a couple of gorgeous designer paper packs and something completely new - digital card kits designed by Michele Roos for Whimsy Stamps. 

 If you'd like to see all the newly released products on one page, just visit the  
Whimsy Inspirations Blog to take a peek.

Of course we are holding another blog hop with some fabulous inspiration from the Design Team. 

And as always one lucky "hopper" will win two gorgeous new release stamps. All you have to do to be entered, is visit each DT member (listed below), and leave comments along the way.

For today I decided to use one of the brand new digital card kits designed by Michele Roos. These are so fun to create with and use! I used the kit "Frosty Night 1" and made this adorable little box. I thought it was the perfect size for a set of handmade earrings.

Yes, I did make those earrings myself. So proud of myself. I have been wanting to create earrings for some time now, but always got confused by all the different materials, stones, metals out there that I had no clue where to even begin. Finally decided to buy the e-book "visually teaching jewelery making", and that really helped me a lot. So there it is, my first pair of handmade earrings, which I will be wearing for my daughter's christmas dance recital :-)

The beautiful sentiment is part of the card kit. The penguin however is not, it is a stamp from today's release, illustrated by the amazingly talented Crissy Armstrong - Penguin Chocolate Surprise. 

The image has been colored using copic markers, and then cut out. I added a little bit of glitter to the bow and the hat.

Here is another view. I added an eyelet onto the polka dotted tag (which is part of the kit), then used some twine to hold the penguin and tag together.

Doesn't this make a cute little gift? Of course instead of the earrings you can add other jewelry, maybe some candy or even folded $$. The box measures about 2" square by 1 1/4 deep. Super cute!

And it was so easy to create, all I had to do is print out the template, then cut out, score and fold.

Be sure to visit the rest of the Whimsy Designers so see what they have made, and don't forget to leave comments along the way for a chance to win some Whimsy Goodies. You have until tomorrow, Thursday, noon EST to hop along. The winners from all the hops will be announced on the
 Whimsy Inspirations Blog on Friday!

 Shanna
Ellie (me)
 Melissa
 Shannah
 Jodi
 DeNetra
 Heidy 
 Debbie
 Ann-Marie
Janette
 Patricia 
 Simonne

Have a wonderful Wednesday and

 Happy Hopping!!

Summer Fairy

 

Welcome to the Whimsy Stamps August rubber stamp and die RELEASE!

Today, Whimsy Stamps are releasing 15 wonderful new rubber stamps, stamp sets, 4 fabulous new Shapeology dies, 4 new MRD digital paper sets and 2 new Shape EZ templates. These new goodies are available to buy right now from the Whimsy Stamps store along with all your Whimsy favorites.

From today until 28 August the Whimsy DT and Special Guests will be showcasing these new products with a daily mini blog hop. Each mini blog hop has a new release prize hidden somewhere along the way and you have 24hrs to enter each prize draw by leaving a comment on every blog listed for that day. At the end of release week (Wednesday 29 August) we will post a Release Round-Up on the Whimsy blog. This will include a selection of DT work from the new release week together with a complete list of winners from the daily mini blog hops.

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For today's release day I created a card using the super cute stamp "Summer Fairy" from the Wee Stamps collection. Some of you might recognize this stamp, as it was a freebie in a UK magazine a little while ago. If you missed out on it, but would like to get it, you can buy it now as a cling mounted rubber stamp, at a little larger size from Whimsy Stamps.

I colored the image with faber castell polychromos pencils. The papers that I used here are from my stash, really old ones, but I thought they go well with the way I colored the image.

The butterfly was punched out with a MS punch, I used a stamp from Whimsy Stamps "Lavish Flourishes" for the butterfly's "flight".

The sentiment that I used today is from Whimsy's stamp set "Vintage Birthday Tabs 1".
It was cut out with the Tabs 1 die.
I embellished with some ribbon and a few sticky pearls. I did a little bit of sewing to finish it off.


I have also decided to decorate a cotton muslin bag with this same stamp.

 Now, this was my first time ever stamping on fabric, and especially coloring on fabric, so it is nowhere near perfect. But it was so much fun to do. I used my Memento black ink pad and prismacolor pencils to color. Of course before I started the process I washed and ironed the bag, as I read that tip on the internet somewhere. After I was finished coloring, and stamped the sentiment, I turned it around and ironed it again, to "set" the pencils. To finish it off I applied some glitter and added the beads to the strings. Oh, and the sentiment is from either the Spring letter seals sentiment set from Whimsy Stamps.

These wonderful baggies are available for purchase at State Line Bag Co. They come in different sizes. These are the premium cotton muslin bags.

I would love to enter my card to the following challenges:

• Bunny Zoe's Crafts - Summer
• Simon Says Stamp and Show... - Anything Goes 
• Stamp and Create - Stitch It Up 
• Stamptacular Sunday -  Card with a girl image
• The Crafty Pad - dies/punches

 

 Don't forget: To be entered into today's mini blog hop prize draw, be sure to leave a comment on ALL of the DT posts listed below by 12:00PM EST tomorrow: 

Ann 
 Ellie 
Erin 
 Iris 

If you'd like to see the rest of today's new release all in one place, simply visit the Whimsy Stamps Inspirations Blog.

New at Whimsy Stamps

Happy Monday everyone! I have some exciting Whimsy news to share today and of course a project too.

We are extremely excited to announce the arrival of Whimsy Stamps newest product line! Today Whimsy Stamps are launching their brand new line of templates and cut files called SHAPE EZ by TLC.

Whimsy’s very own Tammy Louise Cunliffe is the super-talented artist behind this new line, and she has designed some brilliant templates and cut files for making one-of-a-kind cards, projects, gifts, and more! These are down loadable templates and each file includes a JPG, PNG, PDF, and SVG version of the template along with how-to instructions. Each product is hand crafted and tested by artist Tammy Louise Cunliffe.

Some of the Whimsy DT have been busy creating with these templates to celebrate this debut release with a BLOG HOP! The hop starts today (Monday October 31st noon EST) and ends on Sunday November 6th at noon EST.

For this hop we have several different prize draws. One lucky hopper will win a grand prize of a $25 gift certificate (hosted at Tammy Louise's blog). In addition to this, we have hidden several surprise prizes throughout the hop, so be sure to leave a comment on every post along the hop to be entered into the surprise draws. All winners will be announced on the Whimsy Stamps blog after the blog hop has ended.

If you arrived here from the Ann's blog then you are in the right place, but if not and would like to hop along then you will have to go to Debbie's blog to start.

Here is my little project for this release. I used the Shape EZ gift pouch template to make this bag.

Since I don't own an electronic cutting machine I simply printed the PDF file out on cardstock, and cut it out using scissors. I decorated with a strip of designer paper, ribbon and gold cord with a button, and added glitter to the scallop edge and around the sentiment. The beautiful sentiment came from the set "Winter Letter Seals", a rubber stamp set by raindropecho, available at Whimsy Stamps.

This is such a cute little bag!! Perfect for a small gift, maybe a necklace or ring, or money. So cute!!

I would love to enter this to the following challenges:

• Dream Valley Challenges - Anything Goes (ends 12th Nov)
• Little Claire's - Christmas
• Marks Finest Papers -Use your Scraps (SU designer paper scrap used, and ribbon scraps)
• Sweet Stampin - Anything goes
• Bah Humbug - die cuts (nestabilies scallop circles used)
• Crimbo Crackers -Anything Goes (ends 9th Nov)
• Paper Pretties - Embellish
• Paper Shelter Challenge - Anything goes
• Pixie Cottage - Sketch* and/or gold (I used gold cord)
• Simon Says Stamp - Anything Goes

Finally, here is a complete blog hop list in hopping order:

Debbie
Ann
Ellie (you are here)
Iris
Stephanne
Sylvia
Tammy Louise

Don't forget to leave comments on all blogs for a chance at some amazing prizes.

And here are the 6 cutting files that are being released today:

Shape EZ Dress


Shape EZ Flip Ornament


Shape EZ Flower Swirl


Shape EZ Gift Pouch


Shape EZ Poinsettia


Shape EZ Rolled Bag

Thank you so much for hopping with us and I hope you enjoy this new release!

A little backpack

Happy Friday everyone!!

I had some time to play yesterday while the kids had their friends over. I've been wanting to try making one of these backpacks forever, so that is what I decided to do yesterday. I found the instructions on Splitcoaststampers.

This first one was a little confusing, but now that I have made one, I am sure the second one will be much easier.
These are so cute! And they are the right size for putting a gift card in. I might have to start making some for christmas gifts.

Not much else besides paper used here, I embellished with a button and flower with brad. The closure is sticky velcro. I used some sheer pink ribbon for the straps and handle.

I am entering this to the following challenges:

• CCEE Stampers (use pink)
• Southern Girls (anything goes)
• Scrapbook Sisters - anything goes
• A Spoonful Of Sugar - ribbons and bows
• Everybody-Art-Challenge - Anything Goes
• Hooked on Crafts - Anything goes.
• House of Gilli - Ribbons and Bows
• Lexi's Creations - No Sentiment
• Make it Monday - Anything Goes
• Corrosive Challenges - Ribbons and Bows

That's all for today. Thanks so much for stopping by!

A little gift box

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

It's time for another challenge over at Digital Tuesday. This week it was Lora's turn to challenge us and she chose the theme

Sparkling Christmas

Our sponsor this week is Fairy Dust Crafts and the owner generously let the Design Team choose an image to work with. I went with Sammy Snowman. I was going to make a "snowman soup" in a baggie, then over the weekend I saw this gorgeous gift box that Vicki made for snowman soup, so I decided to try something new and make one of those. Thanks so much for the inspiration Vicki!! I have also used Maria's tutorial.

Along with the hot chocolate and candy cane I will be adding some hershey's kisses to the gift, along with a Border's gift card and then wrap it in cellophane.

The image has been colored with my derwent coloursoft and baby oil. Papers are from Bo Bunny (I think), card stock from Basill. I embellished with some grosgrain ribbon, a snowflake button with some silver cord and of course I applied lots of stickles glitter to the image and the snowflakes on the designer paper. It's terrible you can hardly see the sparkles for our sparkling christmas challenge, but I promise, it is very sparkly in real life.

I would like to add this to a couple other challenges:

• Stamp with fun (Christmas)
• Cupcake craft (non traditional christmas)
• Charisma (christmas gift)
• Pile it on (it's all in the wrapping)
• Stamptacular Sunday (winter wishes)
• Paper Sundaes (anything but a square or rectangle - hope a 3D item is ok)

I hope you find some time to play along at digital tuesday this week. I know most of you are probably done with christmas cards for this year, but you could always use another little gift for someone, or maybe you could make a gift tag, scrapbook page... or you could just work ahead for next christmas.

Hope you all have a fantastic day! Mine will be super busy, as all my tuesdays are!

Ellie.

Something for Halloween

Happy Friday!!
Hope you all had a great week and a wonderful weekend ahead of you!

It's time for another challenge over at Stamp Something. Our theme this week is

Something for Halloween


I decided to make some Halloween treats for this challenge, as I need some for the school and didn't want to wait until the last minute to start.

I made some matchbooks treats, they are holding a fun sized M&M baggie.


They are super easy and quick to make.
Here's is where I got the idea and directions from: Stamping with the stars.


I used some Bo Bunny and The Paper Company Designer Paper and black card stock from stampin up. The spider was made using a cuttlebug die. I used a white gel pen to add some eyes, and some stickles glitter for some dots on the back. I really wanted to cover those spiders in glitter but my son didn't want any glitter on them and I am using these for his class so I left it off. I adhered the spiders to scallop circles using pop up dots. The band just slides off the matchbook. Oh, and the flourish is a stamp by stampabilities.

Lots of fall and halloween challenges going on these weeks in blog land, and thanks to Karen from Feline Playful I found it easy to play along in all these challenges.

• Cute Card Thursday (theme: bugs)
• Pixie Dust Studio (theme: fall)
• Creative Cottage (theme: halloween)
• Stampin Royalty (theme: halloween)
• Cupcake Craft (theme: scary creatures)
• Kaboodle Doodles (theme: fall colors)
• Aly's Sunday Challenge (theme: halloween)
• Craftalicious (theme: anything goes)
• I did it creations (theme: halloween)
• Let's ink it up (theme: halloween)
• Bee Crafty (theme: halloween)
• Stamp Scrap and Doodle (theme: halloween)

I hope you get a chance to join us this week. Our sponsor is Bunny Zoe and as always there is a fantastic prize up for grabs.

And if you happen to use a Penny Black stamp, don't forget to enter it in this months Penny Black @ All Sorts challenge, as the theme this month is Fall. Lots of prizes up for grabs there.

Have a great day,
Ellie.

DTC #74 - Make a gift set

Happy Tuesday everyone!!Hope you're having a great week so far.

Tuesday means it's time for another fun challenge at the digital tuesday challenge blog. Our theme this week, chosen by the lovely Anneke, is

Make a gift set

It is all up to you what you create, it could be a big set or it could be a small set, anything that could be given as a gift.I always struggle with anything that is not a card, so this surely was challenging for me.

I decided to make a notebook with a legal pad, a bookmark and decorate an ink pen too. Of course I had to make a card to match everything.
Below is a group photo of everything.

Since it's kind of hard to see it all, I decided to take some more pictures of each item.

First I am showing you the card, I made it to match the notebook using same papers and sketch.

Below is the notebook.


And this is the bookmark, you can also see the legal pad inside with the decorated top.
I used different meljen's digi here because I thought it would be better for a bookmark than the mouse holding a pencil. The quote by Dr. Seuss was computer generated.


For my items I used Meljen's digistamps (which btw. are 25% off right now along with the other whimsy stamps but today 8/31 is the last day to get them at a discount), I just love this cute mouse whether he is reading, holding a pencils or whatever else he might be up to!

All of the images have been printed on couture 80lb card stock and colored using derwent coloursoft pencils and baby oil.

Papers are all from stampin up, designer paper is retired SU. The dark pink flowers are from a simply scrappin' kit that I didn't think I was ever going to use as I don't scrapbook anymore. Ribbon is from Martha Stewart (found it in the clearance isle at michaels a long time ago). The complete list of items used is below.

My giftset fits a few other challenges too:

• Aly's sunday challenge (theme: use pink)
• Paper Players ( theme: anything goes)
• Bee crafty (theme: digi and anything goes)
• Fussy and fancy (theme: back to school)
• Stamp Something (theme: back to school)
• Creative inspirations (theme: make a bookmark)
• Cupcake craft challenge (theme: let's get digital)

I hope you find some time to play in this week's challenge, I know it is more time consuming, but christmas is just a few months away and this is your chance to start making those gifts.

We also have another fantastic brand new sponsor this week, Fairy Knoll offering a great prize to one lucky winner. Be sure to check out their store!!
That is all from me for today. Hope you liked my projects, and be sure to visit the rest of the Design Team girls, everyone did a fantastic job again this week!

Have a great day,
Ellie.

Recipe:
Stamps: (digis) Meljen's, (rubber) stampin up-mini mates and small flower stamp.
Papers: (Stampin up) designer paper-retired, pretty in pink, basic gray; (I heart papers) couture 80lb card stock
Ink: HP injket, pretty in pink
Accessories: stampin up simply scrappin flowers and leaves, stickles glitter, Martha Stewart ribbon
Tools: Nestabilities circle and scallop circle, circle punch and scallop circle punch, scallop border punch, derwent coloursoft pencils, blending stumps, baby oil

A little gift set

Here's a little gift set I made last week.
It includes a notebook,
matching calendar bookmark and pen, and a "snowman soup". I also attached a gift card to a local store. The computer generated sentiment on the bookmark is

"Laugh joyfully,
live fully,
keep happiness in your heart."

Snowman soup

Was told you've been real good this year
always glad to hear it.
With freezing weather drawing near,
you'll need to warm the spirit.
So here's a little snowman soup
complete with stirring stick
just add hot water, sip it slow,
it's sure to do the trick.

My snowman soup includes a packet of hot cocoa with marshmallows, two hershey kisses and a candy cane.

The bookmark has the new 2010 calendar printed on the opposite side. I got the calendar template from here. I got the colored designer papers at the local stamp store, have no clue who the maker is. Card stock and aqua designer paper is from Stampin Up.

Have a great day everyone, be sure to check back tuesday, I'll have the matching card for you as well as my digital tuesday design team card.

Digital Tuesday Challenge #10 - make/decorate a bag or box

Hello and happy tuesday!
It is time for another fun challenge over at the digital tuesday challenge blog. The hostess this week is Lora, and she challenged us to create - not a card this time around- but make or decorate a bag. I almost never do this, so this was challenging for me.

But I loved doing this project. I found a wonderful template over on SCS's technique lover's challenge forum for a butterfly bag. And what better image to use than this gorgeous digi stamp from Fred, She said. Isn't Emma with butterfly adorable?And she is so much fun to color.

The bag template was printed on white card stock and cut out. I then sponged the sky and grass. Emma was colored with copics, cut out and mounted with dimensionals. I cut the strip of grass and added it for a little more texture. The butterflies were punched out with a martha stewart punch and the flowers with SU's flower trio punch. To finish this bag off, I added stickles to Emmas shoes, a few tiny rhinestones, as well stickles all around the bag. The sentiment is from SU's SAB set "Yummy". This little gift bag is perfect for a gift card or a small box of chocolates.

Now it is your turn to create or decorate a bag or box, I hope you will join the Digital Tuesday challenge this week. My grafico is the sponsor again this week and they are giving away one of their adorable digi-sets to one lucky winner.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog today, hope you are having a wonderful day!