FM197 --- Party Animals

*So excited to be a Friday Mashup Glamette for this card.*

I've  been busy lately and haven't entered as many challenges but when I saw the one at the Friday Mashup Challenge Blog I knew I had to make a card for it.  After all, I had bought the From the Herd stamp set and what better opportunity to use it than this?

It's all about farm animals and bling, with bonus points for a goat.  Well, of course mine would have a goat.

I decided to make a tag with only the goat and the crazy chicken.  They were side by side and so inking them up with my Stampin' Marker was easy.  I used my Scalloped Tag Topper punch to cut the top of my tag and then used the Project Life corner punch to round the bottom corners.  After colouring my tag with my Blendabilities, I mounted it on Smoky Slate and cut a small border around it.  

My base cardstock is Smoky Slate followed by a layer of Naturals White.  Then I added a layer from the Adventure Bound Designer Series Paper Stack.  The grass image was the perfect background for my tag.

It's almost impossible to tell from my photo but the "Happy Birthday" is cut from the Dazzling Diamonds Glimmer Paper.  For some additional bling I also added a red rhinestone to the goat's bell to make it look more like a ruby pendant.

I couldn't resist using the retired Googley Eyes for the goat.  

For more cards with this theme, check out the Friday Mashup.

Twitterpated --- the best way to be.

*Thrilled to be picked "A Cut Above" for the Paper Players*

Get ready to hear all about what I love.  There is so much in this card that makes me smile.  Isn't that the best way to feel after creating something?

Those owls---I love them!  They are my creations.  I didn't just stamp them and colour them---well, yes, I did.  But besides stamping and colouring those adorable owls, I created the stamp from scratch.  Yes, I did!  I used the Undefined Stamp Carving Kit and my sketch and, after some heavy-duty carving, wound up with an owl stamp that makes me smile each time I use it.  What could be better than that?

The sentiment---I love it!   Twitterpated is a word with which I fell in love the first time I saw Bambi.  To have it as a stamp just rocks my world.  Don't laugh!  Maybe my world is easily rocked but I embrace the feeling.  In this case I heat-embossed the sentiment on the retired Designer Series Paper using my Early Espresso embossing powder.

The branch?  I just winged it and cut it out of a piece of Early Espresso Core'dinations paper after first putting it through my Woodgrain embossing folder and lightly sanding it.  The heart?  Thanks to my Hearts Framelits and my Silver Glimmer paper, the heart makes a perfect frame for my owls.

My base is Early Espresso and my next layer is Marina Mist.  For a bit of added texture, I used the Filigree Frame embossing folder on the Marina Mist.  As a final touch, I scattered some pink and red glimmer hearts across the card.

This was such fun to create!  I hope you love it as well.

I've entered this card in the Paper Players Challenge which is all about "critters" and Valentines.

I've also entered my card in the Dream Valley Challenges.

And, finally, I've entered my card in the Paper Plunge.

Hugs & Kisses

February is the LOVE month.  You go into the stores and everywhere you look there is the red and white that defines Valentine's Day.  Hearts abound!  You can buy kisses everywhere---well, chocolate ones, anyway.

My card is all about kisses---well, hugs and kisses.  I've embraced the huge Ampersand embossing folder and really made it show off by using a piece of the retired Real Red Core'dinations paper.  Sanding the raised image slightly makes that ampersand something special, indeed.  I wanted to keep things simple and so used the Good Greetings stamp set and inked up the "hugs" of the hugs & kisses stamp with some Whisper White craft ink and stamped it at the upper left of the ampersand.  Then I inked up the "kisses", inked it using the same craft ink and stamped it at the lower right of the ampersand.  Simple but very effective.

I decided to use my Hearts Border punch along the top of the Real Red piece and then mounted it on a base of Naturals White.  Just for fun I punched out one extra heart from my Silver Glimmer paper and glued that into the second heart from the left.  To finish off I added three Rhinestones alone the left top margin and then another three along the right bottom margin.

For more cards using the code word Hugs and Kisses, check out Addicted to CAS.

For more projects including Valentine Wishes, check out SUO Challenges.

For more cards including hugs and kisses, check out the Curtain Call Challenge.

Dare to Dream

I love the new stamp sets in the 2015 Occasions Catalogue as well as the wonderful new Designer Papers available.  I also love some of the stamp sets that have retired as well as some of that wonderful retired Designer Paper.  What really gives me a lot of pleasure is when the new works beautifully with the "old".

For my card I've dipped in to my older stamp sets and have used the retired Loving Thoughts set along with the current Papillon Potpourri set from the Annual Catalogue and the Butterfly Basics set from the current Occasions Catalogue.   I also decided to use a piece of the Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper from the 2014 Sale-a-bration brochure.

Stamps:  Butterfly Basics (Occasions 2015), Papillon Potpourri (Annual Catalogue), Loving Thoughts (retired)

Papers:  Naturals White, Basic Black, Whisper White, Vellum cardstock, Sweet Sorbet Designer Series Paper (retired)

Inks:  Memento Black, Crisp Cantaloupe, Hello Honey, Versamark & Black Embossing Powder

Embellishments:  Rhinestones, In-Color Sequin Assortment, Essential Wooden Elements, Dazzling Details

For more cards using this design, check out the Friday Mashup Challenge.