Father's Day Card using Best Pun Ever

Hi everyone! Kari back with you to share a fun simple Father's Day Card.  Father's Day is approaching quickly - and I wanted to show case the fun set Best Pun Ever to make this Father's Day Card.

I started out by creating some "gold" card stock.  I didn't have any in my stash, but I did have a Gold Pigment marker from Inkadinkado - Unfortunately - I believe these markers have been discontinued, but you can get the same effect probably from just applied some VersaMark Ink onto a piece of scrap white card stock and using some embossing powder, or there are some paper pads that have metallic papers in them as well.  Once I created my gold card stock piece, I stamped the trophy image from Best Pun Ever with Versa Fine Onyx Black Ink, as well as the #1 image in the middle of the trophy and then once all that was dry, I  die cut it using the Coordinating Dies.

Then, I worked on creating the layers for my card.  I have 3 different colors of card stock that I thought worked well together, as well as make the gold pop.  I created a 5x5 square card out of some red card stock, and then die cut a piece of navy card stock for the next panel using one of the Small Stitched Square Stackables dies, and then a piece of lighter blue using one of the small Stitched Rectangle Stackables dies.  I wanted these pieces to have some texture to them - so for the red card stock, I had a wood plank background stamp, and used my Versa Mark ink to ink up my stamp.  It is hard to see in the photo, but in real life it gives it a nice texture.  I did the same for the navy and lighter blue card stock panels using different background stamps - I used a thin stripe background for the navy, and a star background for the lighter blue.  

For my sentiment - I intended to heat emboss it in gold, but since I used Versa Mark for the background, I was afraid the embossing powder would stick to the whole panel once I stamped down my sentiment, and of course it did - although I let it dry and I used my powder tool.  I know there is a way around that, but I just continued on, and I stamped the sentiment down, and took my Gold Signo Broad Pen and went over the sentiment by hand.  I think it turned out fine.

I will give this card to my dad for Father's Day!!  Thanks so much for stopping by, and remember we have our fun Calling All Critters Challenge going on right now - so hope you are able to play along!

Kari

On Trend: Spotlighting

Hi everyone!!  Kari back with you, and today I wanted to feature a popular technique that I think is getting a lot of attention again - Spotlighting.  This technique is a fun one.  It can also be a little bit of a tedious one - especially for " OCD" peeps like me :)

For my card, I chose to use Quinn's Capital ABC's and the Party Balloons dies from Lawn Fawn.  I first die cut a piece of my favorite white card stock with the largest Stitched Square Stackables, and then I got all the letters I needed for my sentiment. Before stamping, I die cut my balloons from different colors of card stock. I placed them down onto my panel how I wanted and then it was time for stamping.  Since this alpha set I was using is larger, there are only one of each letter, so in order to help with that, I placed another letter in its place until I was ready for stamping, and before I stamped anything down, I removed the letter that didn't belong, like the 2nd "P" in Happy.  I just stamped it afterwards.  I chose to stamp it all in VersaFine Onyx Black Ink - one of my favorites. I stamped my sentiment first with the balloons in place, and then I removed them, and stamped it again to fill in the "gaps" that the card stock balloons left behind.  

Then, it was time to pull everything together.  I added some foam adhesive on the back of my balloons, and line up the best I could with the letters that were stamped on my main panel.  Since I added foam tape, it gives it a fun dimension 3D look.  Once I was done with my main panel, I prepped my card base by cutting it down to a 5x5 square card, and I stamped a thin lined stripe in some Pale Tomato ink for a tone on tone look.  I then added more foam adhesive to the back of my main panel, and adhered that into place on my card base.  For a final touch - you know what's coming....yes...wink of stella :)

I debated on adding it to everything...the letter and balloons, but I refrained! HA!  

I think it turned out pretty good, and it will make a fun birthday card to give :)  Thanks for taking the time to stop by today!!  See you all soon!

( Fun side note - today I am celebrating 8 years of married bliss to my wonderful hubby *grin* )

Kari

Happy 5th Birthday Lawn Fawn!!

Hi all!! Kari back with you from the FB Inspiration Team and I am excited about this post as it is a special one.  Today is a celebration of Lawn Fawn!  Lawn Fawn is the reason why we have this challenge blog, because we love the company and everything about it!  For me personally, I started stamping and creating cards right about the same time Lawn Fawn came about, so it is my tried and true stamp company!  They have come a long way, and have provided us as crafter's with some awesome products to use for our creativity!  They started out with just stamps - and now they have pretty much anything you need for your projects - from stamps, to paper, to dies, to twine, to embellishments, and they just introduced their own line of ink!

So - I wanted to make a special birthday card to celebrate their 5 years!!

I used some new products and some older which is only fitting I think.  I started out by creating the embossed background and embossed it in gold embossing powder.  I then die cut from the Party Balloons die set, the heart from New Leaf card stock, and I also die cut the number "5" from Quinn's 123 die set from Audrey Blue card stock.  I also stamped the coordinating stamp onto the die cut and embossed it as well in gold.  I also die cut one of the strings from the Party Balloons die set True Black card stock.  I set those pieces aside.  I stamped the microphone from "Stay Tuned" in Lawn Fawn Black Licorice ink.  I fussy cut the microphone out ( which I normally don't like to do ) and I wanted to wrap the balloon string around the bottom.  I did a little more stamping on my main panel using some more of the new Lawn Fawn Inks in Cranberry, Fake Tan, Sunflower, Freshly Cut Grass, and Mermaid and I stamped the music notes also from Stay Tuned.  For my sentiment, I used the Happy Birthday from the stamp set #Awesome, and the "To" and the "You" from Thank You Tags. For a final touch I added some wink of stella to the microphone for some shimmer.  I had to be careful with it though, b/c I noticed that I had smudged the black ink a bit, which surprised me a little since this is a fast drying ink...it must be the card stock I was using.  

I put all my elements together, and placed them onto a 5 inch square card.

Happy Birthday Lawn Fawn!!!!!  Here's to many more years of happiness with awesome creativity!

See you all soon!

Kari

Valentine's Day DIY: Hershey Nugget Candy Packs + video!

Hi Lawnscaping Fans!!

Kari with you to share a fun DIY project just in time for Valentine's Day which is Sat!!  I was thinking there are a lot of projects out there that you can do that can be whipped up in a short amount of time, and this one is no exception.

I've taken some Hershey Nugget candies (5) and dressed them up a bit to make a cute little Valentine Gift that you can give to family, friends, co-workers, mail carrier ( that delivers our happy mail;) ) just about anyone.

I've also made a video showing you how I pulled this all together.

I've also showed you that you can get more out of your pattern papers, specifically the Snow Day 6x6 paper pad.  There are other patterns that are great even beyond the holiday season.  There is two patterns I picked out - the red one with a small dot pattern as well as the teal "bokeh" pattern ( or at least that is what I call it).  

I started out by taking the red pattern paper and cutting it down into 3" x 1" strips to cover up the candies.  Then, I cut down the teal pattern paper to 5" long X 2 1/4".  I took the red strips and some small glue dots and adhered two glue dots on one of the pattern paper and then wrapped the candy with the end to be on the bottom side of the candy.  Make sure you take your time, wrap them fairly snug and line up the ends of the pattern paper on the bottom side.  Once I was done wrapping up the candies - I worked on my candy base.  To make sure they fit properly, I just laid one of the candies in the middle of the pattern paper, and made a tic mark on either side of the candy, that way I knew it was centered, and then I took my scoring board tool and scored on those tic marks.  Then, I took my bone folder and really made a good crease in the paper and folded up the sides to make side flaps for the candy base.  Then, I took my Tombow Extreme Adhesive and applied adhesive all the way down in the middle of the base to adhere the candies to.  My tip is down apply pressure until you are sure you have the candies where you want them if you use this same adhesive, but it is VERY strong!  Then, I took a sandwich bag that has the fold over flap, and cut that flap off and wrapped up the whole thing and taped the bottom.  

You could leave it like this...or you could add a tag if you wanted to.  I thumbed through the pattern paper, and there are some small tags that you could use to adhere to the bottom for sentiment if you choose to present it this way.  I chose the one that say You Warm My Heart and cut it down to fit the bottom of the candy pack. And, you are done!! Now its time to give to someone that is special to you and treat them to some yummy chocolate!

I hope this gives you a fun idea for this Valentine's Day or anytime to give a fun treat!!

Below is the video is if you are interested!!  Remember we still have our Clean and Simple Challenge going on, and going strong!

See you soon!

Kari

Joyful Wishes Shaker - featuring Winter Bunny

Hi Friends!  Kari back with you to share a fun project.  Shaker cards are all the rage right now in the card making corner of the world, and I have one to share with you.  I've made a few shaker cards since I've started my card making days.  They can be challenging, and definitely time consuming, but I think it is all worth it for the final result.

For my shaker today, I used Winter Bunny and its coordinating die.  I started out by stamping him out onto a piece of smooth white card stock, and then I die cut him out.  I then added a bit of color to him with a few Copic Markers.  I used R22, R24 and R29 for his scarf, R20 for the rosy in his cheeks, a little of C1 for shading around his body and E37 and E39 for his sleigh.   I set him aside and die cut my red card stock frame out of some PTI Pure Poppy Card Stock using a frame from AE, and one of my circle dies from Sizzix.  I also used the circle dies one size larger to cut out my background from Lawn Fawn's Snow Day 6x6 pad.  I also die cut a piece of white card stock using the same circle die and the Curved Edge die from Simon Says Stamp. for my snow drift.  I adhered a piece of acetate to the back of my red card stock for the window and added my bunny die cut to the front for a bit of dimension.  I stamped my sentiment from Joy to the Woods in VersaFine Onyx Black ink, and then I started to put my shaker together.  I added some sequins and silver confetti pieces from Pretty Pink Posh in the middle of my background and even adhered a few permanently so they all wouldn't shake to the bottom.  I added two layers of foam tape to my frame and adhered that to my white card base. Here is a close up for you.

I think it turned out pretty cute.  The one thing to remember when making shaker cards, is to have patience!!  Thank you all for stopping in!!  Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!!

See you soon!

Kari

Die Cut Negatives as a DIY Stencil

Hi Friends!  Kari from the Inspiration Team with you today to share with you on how you can stretch out your die cuts - particularly the negatives.  Now I recently purchased some Modeling Creme by Viva Decor in Mother of Pearl ( I am gearing up for Christmas Cards, can't you tell? ) so I wanted to see what would happen when I used the birch tree dies from Joy to the Woods, and use the negative and use it as a stencil.

First - Here is my completed card.

Overall, I think my experiment didn't turn out too bad.  The longest part of this whole process was drying time of the modeling creme.  So - it literally took me several hours to complete this card from start to finish - so its not one to duplicate I don't think.  

I die cut out the trees from white card stock, and I applied my DIY Stencil to my Smoke card stock panel, and applied the Modeling Creme, and I wanted a thin layer as possible. I removed my DIY stencil and allowed this to air dry for well over an hour...maybe even two.  I knew I wanted to add some snow, so I took another stencil I have - the falling snow stencil and I used it to apply more modeling creme.  I will use a line I have heard from the awesome Jennifer McGuire - we make handmade cards, not HallMark, so with that said when I went to remove my falling snow Stencil, it messed up my trees toward the top.  I check it and it was dry - or so I thought, so I had to allow the snow to dry before fixing my trees.  I reapplied my DIY stencil, and fixed as best as I could, my trees. They didn't turn out as smooth as I wanted, but I didn't want to scrap it after all the time it took to come as far as I did.  So - I just set it aside again to dry.  In the meantime, I stamped and die cut the Cardinal from this set - so pretty, and I die cut my sentiment "Joy" from the Lawn Fawn Die.  I die cut a red layer and three white layers.

Below I wanted to share with you my DIY stencil.  When going into this I knew that I would not be reusing this stencil, which is fine with me.

I hope this inspires you to look at your dies in a new way to use them as a stencil to see what cool creations you can make!

See you all again soon!

Kari

PURR-fect Birthday using Goodie Bag Die

Hello everyone!  Kari here to share with you a way to embellish the awesome new Goodie Bag for a cute little birthday gift.  I also used the adorable kitty image from Spooktacular!  I adore this kitty probably as much as I do the goodie bag die!

I die cut my goodie bag out of some Mint CS from SSS, and then I trimmed down a piece of white CS to help build my scene.  I stamped my kitty images from Spooktacular, and did a little masking, so it looks like they are sitting close to each other.  I colored them in with some Copic Markers and if you happen to follow me on any social media like Instagram, you know I am a fur baby mama to two sweet kitty's Daisy and Katie, and I just had to color them similar to my babies :)  I also used some images and elements from Critter's in the Burbs, one of my all time favorite LF sets, and one of my first that I purchased.  I also die cut some Lucky Limeade CS using the Grassy Border Die.  Once I had my scene stamped, inked, die-cut and adhered, I assembled my goodie bag, and placed my focal panel onto the bag, and to finished it off, added some chevron ribbon :)

And, do I spy shimmer!?  Of course, Wink of Stella had to make an appearance as well!! *grin*

I hope I was able to give you some ideas on how to decorate your goodie bags!  If you don't have this die I HIGHLY recommend it!!  :)  

Thanks for stopping by today!!   See you all soon!

-Kari

Thank You Mini Treat Bags

Hi everyone!  Kari from the FIT back with you today.  I am sharing a fun and easy way to dress up some mini bags that you can give as gifts for a birthday, thank you, or really anytime.  I am focusing on making thank you treat bags today.
These particular treat bags are from Whisker Graphics.  They are really inexpensive, and you can get them a various online stores, or even a local scrapbook store near you might even have them.  I had to buy mine online as I don't have any scrapbook stores around me ( yea - it sucks - ha) Anyhoo - I am using an oldy but a goodie Lawn Fawn stamp set called Many Thanks.  I love this set :)
Here are these fun little treat bags all dolled up!

You can put a multitude of different bite size goodies in here...here I am showing you that you can fit a Reese's cup :)  And, don't think I didn't eat one while writing up this post *wink*

Here is a close up up these sentiments that I stamped, cut out and adhered on these bags with some foam adhesive.  

I did a little masking on each sentiment to get different colors that I wanted - for the first I of course wanted different colored lollipops, and I inked those up with Rose Bud, Bamboo Leaves and Dandelion Memento Inks, and for the other sentiment I inked it up in Versa Fine Onyx Black and Tangelo Memento Ink.  And, of course I added a bit of shimmer with my Wink of Stella Glitter Marker!  Fun huh!  

I hope this gives you an idea to dress up those treat bags and give for when you just want to give a little something sweet :)

Thanks for stopping by today on the blog!  I'll see you next month!

Kari

Hi There - featuring Our Friendship Grows

Hello everyone!! Kari back with you to share more on my card that I made for our newest challenge that just went up yesterday!!  We are doing a summer color combo - so one of my favorites that I thought would fit the bill is Our Friendship Grows.

I first die cut all of my frame pieces from the Hello, Sunshine 6x6 - still one of my favorite paper pads!  So happy I have a backup of this one! Then, I worked on my sunflower.  I stamped it out in Memento Tuxedo Black as I used Copic Markers to color it in.  I only used 3 colors still sticking with our color combo challenge but wanting to add definition.  I am no where near an expert when it comes to coloring with Copics - but that is just it...these markers make an amateur like me look pretty decent in my opinion.  Once I was finished coloring in my sunflower, I used the coordinating die to cut it out ( thank goodness there are dies for this set!).  I prepared my card base which is the Simon Says Stamp 120 Ultra thick white card stock and I adhered my "Hello, Sunshine" scalloped piece straight down onto my card base and then I stamped my sentiment that comes from the Simon Says Stamp Stripe Greetings set and then added some Lawn Trimmings to my blue piece and then added some foam adhesive and adhered that piece down onto my card, and then added my sunflower also with foam adhesive.  For a final touch, I added some Wink of Stella ( the clear is my favorite) and some Glossy Accents.  These two together are so fun!!

I hope you are able to join us for this newest challenge!!  Can't wait to see all the beautiful projects linked up in the gallery!!  See you all next time!!

Kari

InLinkz.com

Flip-it Card ( You Brighten My Life)

Hey fans of Lawnscaping! Kari back with you to share another project with you.  Today, I have a flip it card for you!  Now - I am not about to tell you that I cut my card stock certain ways, and different increments of scoring - This is all done with a Sizzix die set - QUICK and EASY!  That's how I like it!

I also wanted to ink up some of my new Lawn Fawns sets I recently received from the new release!  This time I inked up Life is Good.

I also used papers from the "Lets Polka" 6x6 pad as well as the Rain Showers Lawn Cuts.

I didn't get a good pic of it but I also added some Wink of Stella to my sun and the sea gulls :)

I stamped out in Memento Tuxedo Black ink the sentiment "You Brighten My Life".  It is a fun interactive card  that will have the recipient asking "How'd you do that?"  :)

Thanks for stopping my the blog today!!

Kari

Customized Envelope ( Picture Tutorial)

Hello everyone! Kari from the FB Inspiration Team back with you to share how you can customize your envelope to go with your card!  This week our challenge is focusing on making your own background with stamps, and today I wanted to share with you how you can do the same for your envelope.

For this week's challenge I made THIS card, and you can read all about it over at my blog - so I will be sharing a picture tutorial on how I created the envelope to match it!


Start off with the stamp set Happy 4th, Hero Arts Shadow ink in Soft Vanilla, and a white envelope ( you can even make your own envelope if you so desire!)

Then, I die cut two pieces of Stamping Mask Paper and used the label dies from Simon Says Stamp to create some masks for my envelope.

I applied the masks to the envelope where the mailing and return addresses would be.

Then, I start stamping my firework images in Soft Vanilla Ink randomly all over the envelope, even on the back flap.  Be sure to stamp on/off around your masks as show here.

Then, once I have the images all over my envelope and I am happy with the coverage, then it is time to start adding some additional color all over the envelope. For this I am using a Ink Blending tool from Ranger, and Pale Tomato ink from Hero Arts.

I start by keeping a light hand and working in a circular motion on my scratch paper and onto the envelope.

Be sure to have light pressure but focus around the edges of the masks as this will accent your labels when you remove the masks.

Then, once you are done inking and happy with how much ink is applied, it is time to remove the masks and the big reveal!!

As you can see you have a fun pattern that matches your card, and a place to write your return and mailing address too!

I hope this had inspired you to try and give your envelopes that extra pizzazz!!

Thanks for stopping by today!!  Have a great rest of the week!!

Kari

Post-it Note Holders using Plastic Frames

Hello everyone!  Kari from the Inspiration Team back with you to share a fun project!  You can get really creative with making these Post-it notes holders.

These are made from inexpensive plastic frames that you just slip a picture in on the side.  Instead of using the frame of how it was intended when standing up, the base of the frame is at the top when laid flat.

One is a 4x6 frame and the other is a 3.5x5 frame.  I just cut my pattern paper to size and slip it inside the frame like I would a picture. And, then the fun begins with decorating it how ever you choose.  I chose for my 4x6 frame papers from the Dewey Decimal 6x6 paper pad.  I also chose the stamp set Science of Love.  

I adhered my Post-it notes to my frame with regular adhesive( I use PLUS adhesive).  I, then cut down a piece of Audrey Blue card stock from SSS and I used the Scalloped Stitched Border Dies, to give my card stock a bit of decoration.  I, then stamped out my sentiment from the same stamp set in HA Cup O' Joe ink. I also added some Coral Lawn Trimmings.

For my smaller frame - I did basically the same thing, except for my papers I used the Hello Sunshine 6x6 paper pad, and I used the Speech Bubble Border die as well as the Scripty Hello die.  I added some shimmer using the Wink of Stella Clear Brush Marker, and added faux stitching around the speech bubble die cut to make it stand out.

These would make fun gifts for teachers, friends, co-workers, or just because for anyone! They are easy to make and you could get your kids in on the fun!!

Thanks for stopping by today, and hope you are able to join us for our newest challenge going on now :)

See you soon!

Kari