Sending Lots of Love

I have been seeing these adorable Lawn Fawn slimline cards everywhere and I am sure you have, too.  The images are so cute and I finally broke down, bought the stamps and dies, then made my own and here it is:

What I Used to Make my Card:

White Slimline Card Base

Lawn Fawn Special Delivery Stamps, #LF2466

Lawn Fawn Special Delivery Dies, #LF2467

Lawn Fawn Special Delivery Box Add On Stamps, #LF2468

Lawn Fawn Special Delivery Box Add On Dies, #LF2469

Lawn Fawn Cloudy Stencil, #LF2250

Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink in Broken China

Watercolor Paper {I use this}

Zig Clean Color Brush Markers

Gina K Amalgam Ink Pad in Obsidian Ink

As always, my first area of business is to stamp, color, and cut all of the elements I want to use on my card.  Second, I used the cloudy stencil to make the sky and stamped the sentiment directly onto the card base. I dressed up the canary to make him look like a mailman and adhered him and the owl to the card, followed by all those cute little letters and hearts.  I really enjoy making scenes and I am happy I am fortunate enough to have acquired all the cool backdrops that I have as they make it so easy to make a scene card.  Honestly, I am not a huge fan of Valentine's Day but being able to make a cute card like this makes all the engagement commercials worth it! 

I hope this card put a smile on your face!  I appreciate you taking the time to visit me here and I hope you'll consider following me.  If you do, leave me a message so I can follow you back. Fondly, Christi

I am entering my card in the following challenges:
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Make a Slimline Card
Mod Squad - Must Have the Word LOVE
Fab 'n Funky, #510 - Love, Heart
Cuttlebug Mania - Put an Animal on it {hope the birds count!}
NBUS Challenge, #23 - Never Before Used Stuff {the stamps, dies and stencil!}
Shopping our Stash, #438 - Love is in the Air
Double D Challenge - Valentine Love
The Paper Players, #527 - Hearts and/or Stars

Snarky Birds and Cats

I am back with a whole bunch of cards to share with you!  I, like most of you, am stuck in the house and decided I'd play only with the items I had in my craft room at the moment (I still have a great deal in storage).  While flipping through all my half finished cards, lots of already colored bits and bobs and die sets this is the bunch I came up with.  I love snarky sentiments and I had so much fun pairing the animals with the sayings.

I remember when Tim's Crazy Birds were all the rage and when I got my set I stamped and colored like crazy!  I ended up with a huge surplus of crazy cats, birds and dogs.  I have six cards to share with you so to simplify things I compiled a basic list of items used in making this set. All of the cards are sized A2 (5 1/2" x 4 1/4"), every bird or cat was colored and cut prior to making the card using either Zig Clean Color Markers or Prismacolor Pencils and sometimes both mediums were used.  All of the accent dies are the ones I had on hand from MFT Die-Namics, Sizzix, Spellbinders, Mama Elephant and other manufacturers.  The sentiments are from Riley & Company Funny Bones and were stamped with Gina K amalgam ink in obsidian.  Last but not least every card used either Bird Crazy stamps and dies or Crazy Cats stamps and dies.  If you have any questions about the specific items I've used please feel free to contact me.  Now here we go!

Sentiment #RWD-399 {Unfortunately this stamp is discontinued}

Sentiment #RWD-441
Background Paper from Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes Petite Pack, #LF1355

Sentiment #RWD-370

Sentiment #RWD-535

Sentiment #RWD-530
Kraft Card Base
I think I tarted up the cat to use on a Halloween card

Sentiment #RWD-578


I hope you got a giggle while reading these, I can relate to every single one!  I have only used a small fraction of the precolored animals I have but my muse was going crazy and I had to get creating some other cards, too.  I can't choose a favorite; one second I like this one, then the next I like that one - do you have a favorite one, or maybe one that speaks to you? Please leave me a comment - I'd love to know what you think! Let me say after taking almost a year off I feel so good to be crafting again and I hope you enjoyed my post! Plus, after this past week I needed to laugh! Hugs, Christi

I am entering my bunch of cards in the following challenges:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies, #39 - Anything Goes w/ a Critter

Carlin's Cards - Scrap Paper & Dies {the bulk of the backgrounds are made from scraps}

Crafty Animals, #39 - Anything Goes as long as there is an Animal

Moving Along with the Times, #119 - Things with Wings

International Art & Soul, #84 - Humorous

Inkspirational, #214 - Funny Sentiments
Try it on Tuesday - Cut it Out! 
SUYP, #55 - Anything Goes with a Cat

Creative Moments, #91 - Use Birds or Bees {I used Birds}
Sweet Stampers, #44 - Animals and/or Birds

Pets or Animals at Die Cut Diva's

Hello, fellow die lovers!  Have you entered the current challenge at Die Cut Diva's yet?  This month's challenge is Pets or Animals and we are sponsored by the fabulous Frantic Stamper!  They are offering an adorable prize, worth $20!

I decided to use a Frantic Stamper die that I already owned to make this card:

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Pink Paper
Frantic Stamper Floral Frame & Hummingbirds, #FRA-DIE-10412
Oxide Inks
Impression Obsession Love Die, #DIE385-B
Wood Heart {you could use this one}
VersaMark Pad 
Hero Arts Pink Prisma Embossing Powder {from My Monthly Hero Kit, Jan. 2018. But any of these pink embossing powders would work}
3 mm Pink Crystals {I got these from online, looking at the Nail Art section!}

The first step to making this card was gathering all my pink, purple, and red Oxide Inks plus a piece of watercolor paper to make the floral frame.  I just worked the colors until I was happy; layering them, spritzing them, adding more color, subtracting color, and I didn't write down the colors I used.  If you have any Oxide inks then you are familiar with the process - if you don't have any Oxide inks, what are you waiting for?!?  Once the paper was fully dry {this is very important - it is disastrous trying to die cut wet, or even slightly damp, paper - trust me!}, I cut out the frame.

Then I cut the hummingbirds out of white card and attached little pink gems for their eyes {as I said above, I got these from the Nail Art Supply section of an online retailer - I got 10 different colors, all divided up in a container similar to a weekly medicine holder, for less than $5!} and set them aside to dry.  

Meanwhile, I chose a wooden heart from my stash and began embossing it with VersaMark ink and pink embossing powder.  I think I embossed it at least 10 times; I didn't want any of the wood to show through.  I actually worked on the

heart for two days, obviously taking many breaks along the way.  I had a scrap piece of paper floating around on my desk from this project and, frankly, I was at the point where it needed to be used or thrown out.  I was pleasantly surprised to see that the shimmer on the scrap matched the shimmer on the heart really well.  So I cut the word love from that paper and attached it {draped it?} over my wooden heart.  The heart was glued onto the card, as were the hummingbirds and there you have it!

Looking at this write up it makes it appear that there was a lot of work involved making this card, but the construction went smoothly and it didn't seem as labor intensive as this tutorial sounds.  I wanted to stretch myself and NOT use cats on the card - trust me, they are my go-to, as many of you may know - and it was fun to think outside the litter box!  I hope you can find some time to enter the Pets or Animals challenge at Die Cut Diva's because you can't win if you don't play!  Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Floral Hummingbirds Card in the following challenges:
Die Cuttin' Divas - #374, Heat Embossing 
Shopping Our Stash - #359, She's a Crafting Machine {used Big Shot & Heat Gun}
Back to Basics - #5, Heat Embossing
Sunny Day Crafting - #25, Any Animal 
Happy Little Stampers - (M) Anything Goes with Dies

Prison Orange ~2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

I am frantically making cards for the 2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop - so far, out of the few I've made, this is one of my favorites.

What I Used to Make my Card
White Card Base
Bird Crazy Stamps & Dies {already colored & cut}
Clean Color Markers
Riley & Co. Coffee. Because Prison. . .#RWD-544
Wendy Vecchi Mini Brick Stencil, #WVSFA053
VersaFine Onyx Black
Googly Eyes
Distress Ink in Hickory Smoke

This was an easy card.  I already had my bird ready to go, complete with her googly eyes.  I colored her with Clean Color Brush Markers.  I ripped a piece of scrap paper {making sure it was big enough for me to add my sentiment} and

stenciled all around it with the Distress Ink using the Bricks stencil.

Another Look

Then I stamped my sentiment and added my bird.  I love that this card was so easy to make and at the same time makes me giggle!  You know how I love my snarky sentiments!

Thanks so much for popping by! While you're here, I'd love for you to join my giveaway, you can get all the details here.  I am finding more and more good stuff to add to my package and I promise you won't be disappointed!  Hugs!  Christi


I am entering my card in the following challenges:
2018 Spring/Summer Coffee Lover's Blog Hop
Crop Stop - M, Anything Goes
CuttleBug Mania - Butterflies and Birds
The Artistic Stamper - M, Backgrounds
Country View Challenges - M, Be Humorous, entry #2
Dies R Us - #97, Birds
Sisterhood of Snarky Stampers - I is for Inky

Birds with Twofers Challenge #11

Jane has chosen our theme for TWOFERS this fortnight and it's birds (I can't get the Hitchcock movie out of my head now) and I have chosen to once again use the Bird Crazy set from Tim Holtz.  I had a bunch of birds laying about from my recent coloring excursion so I decided to put them to good use.  Funny, no matter how many I use, they just keep multiplying. . .

What I Used to Make my Card:
White Card Base
Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Bird Crazy Stamps, #CMS212
Tim Holtz/Sizzix Bird Crazy Die Set, #660954
Dylusions How About Never Set, #DYR48466
Tim Holtz/Sizzix Embossing Folder Snowflake, #660041
Core'dinations Brights - Atoll Aqua
Ranger Archival Ink in Jet Black
Distress Ink in Mermaid Lagoon
Various Distress Markers, Zig Clean Color Brush Markers & Various Water Color Pencils
Water Brush
Dove Blender Pen
Sander

Truthfully, I had the embossed background paper on my desk already (I was anxious to see the embossing folder at work since I purchased it after the holidays last year and it supposed to be snowflakes), I love that you can sand the Core'dinations papers to get a two toned look, so I sanded this to see the different color blues I could get. Having that piece of paper on my desk, along with all the birds floating around gave me the idea for this card.  

After I sanded the background, lightly so I wouldn't take off all the texture, I began to arrange my birds.  Once I thought that they were in place I stamped and cut out Dyan Reaveley's sentiment - I thought it was PERFECT because it's so true and the birds are so colorful, and this time of year can bring some sadness for so many people - I hope this brightens someones day! I edged the sentiment with some Mermaid Lagoon ink and then I had to rearrange the birds because the sentiment was a bit larger than I had planned.  

So I rearranged them, fit everything where it belonged and glued it all together.  Now it's YOUR turn to enter your bird creations on Twofers ~ you have two whole weeks and you just might win a $20 Gift Certificate from our amazing sponsor

So get the muse humming! Do pop by my design team buds, Jane & Zoe, to get some more inspiration. Thanks so much for stopping by ~ Fondly, Christi

I am entering my Birds card into the following challenges:
Creative Corner Challenges - (M) Anything Goes
QKR Stampede - #172, Feathers & Fur
That's Crafty Challenge Blog - Anything Goes
Cute Card Thursday - #406 - Anything Goes
Creative Ladybirds Challenge - (M) #11, Anything Goes
Eclectic Ellapu - (M) Purple Team - Cards to Die For (using Bird Crazy dies)
Crafty Girlz Challenge - (M) #10, Anything Goes
A Bit More Time to Craft - #11, Anything Goes