Happy 3rd Birthday to Lawn Fawn!!

Hello!  I'm here today as part of a Blog Hop celebrating Lawn Fawn's 3rd Birthday on behalf of Stamp Fever!  

Stamp Fever is a charming little store in Orange, California. We carry all things related to the crafting hobbies of stamping, card-making and paper crafting.  We stock a variety of stamps, papers, inks and supplies. We can also provide special orders for items you find online. We offer weekly stamping classes along with demos and make ‘n takes throughout the month.

Stamp Fever participates in the Southern California Shop Hop! Our design team goes all out to deck our store in theme related finery and we always have a charming Photo Op to add to the memories of your Shop Hopexperience.

Stamp Fever is hosting a Lawn Fawn 3rd Birthday celebration! The party is on Saturday March 16 from 1-4. If you are in the area, please stop in for a visit and to share some birthday cake with Kelly and Mike, owners of Lawn Fawn. Kelly will share a special Make ‘n Take featuring one of Lawn Fawn’s newest sets “Summertime Charm”.

There will be prize drawings at the party but we don’t want to exclude our blog readers. We will randomly choose one winner from those who comment at The Stamp Fever blog and one more random winner from comments on the Hop Participant blogs. To increase your chances of winning: Follow the Stamp Fever blogin a reader or by email subscription; sign up for our Newsletter; follow Stamp Fever on Facebook and leave us a comment there. Each winner will receive a Lawn Fawn Stamp set and coordinating Lawn Cuts Die set.

Comment to enter prize drawing until 10:00 pm PDT on Friday March 15. The random drawing will take place at the party. The two winners will be announced Sunday, March 17 on the Stamp Fever blog.

You should have arrived here from my friend Barb Engler's blog.  Now here's the card I made for today's Hop:

I used these Lawn Fawn sets: Flutter By, Bannerific, and Sophie's Sentiments, and most of my papers are from their Bright Side paper pad.  

Now hop on over to see what my sweet friend Marcy Kaminski has done for you!!  If you just happened upon my blog today and would like to start the Hop from the beginning, here's the full blog list:

Nicole- Unify Handmade

Chari- MossyMade

Britta- Britta Swiderski Creative

Vera- Ling's Design Studio

Lynnette- Netter's Notables

Barb- ...Enjoying Life

Lin- Sending Hugs    

Marcy- En Papillote Arts

Kathy- Wading in Creativity

Katie- Katie's Quarks

Virginia- Yes, Virginia

Melissa- Love My Scraps

Deborah- Society of Stampaholics

Nancy- Happy Heart Studio

Lawn Fawn Blog

Stamp Fever Blog

Annette- My Clever Creations 

Happy Birthday, Lawn Fawn, and many more!

Another Hero Arts Scramble

Over the weekend the Hero Arts flickr group had another of our 90-minute scrambles.  This time our hostess was Linda, and she asked us to use embossing, either the wet method (ink and embossing powder) or the dry(embossing folders or scoring).  Linda had a wonderful turnout, over 40 cards were entered!  Here's what I made:

I stamped and white embossed this lovely lacy-looking flower from To/From Petals and paired it with a sentiment from Find Joy, trimmed out my panel, framed it in white, then placed it over a panel stamped with the Lattice background.  My papers are the dark and medium tones of the Pool layering papers.

If you'd like to see some gorgeous cards, even more special because they were all made, photographed and uploaded in 90 minutes, please visit the flickr post!

Happy Everything

I adore everything that Julie Ebersole does, and this month she is our Muse at the CASE Study challenge.  Here is her card this week:

I loved all the white against the kraft and her bright coloring inside the white embossing.  Here's my take on her card:

I used 2 Hero Arts stamps, Newspaper Tulips and Friend Definition, embossing them on kraft cardstock with VersaMark ink and white embossing powder.  My first attempt at coloring my tulips was disastrous, so I decided to add my color with my sentiment, which is a Simon Says die-cut called Oh Happy Day.  I could have added a stamped "spring" or "birthday" or whatever, but decided to leave it alone so it could be used for any of these occasions.

Go visit the CASE Study challenge to see the wonderful examples from the Design Team and also the other entries - I guess I'm not the only one who Julie inspires!

Country Fresh

Paper Crafts Connection has a challenge each month with a different theme.  This month, it's "Country Fresh"!  I come from the generation that had "country" decorating, and I embraced it fully, still love it.  So I wanted to play along with this challenge.

My mind went right to the October Afternoon Farm Girl paper pad that I bought just after Christmas.  It has everything I needed for this card:

I chose several of the papers that I thought coordinated well, and fussy-cut this adorable little girl and popped her above my gingham panel.  The canning labels are included in the pad too; I chose a blank one and stamped my Hello inside using barn door distress ink.  The sentiment is from a Hero Arts set called Florentine Message Border - the size was just right.  I used my new Tim Holtz ruler to pierce "stitches" all around the card edges, and added some October Afternoon buttons, and my card was finished!

Thanks for visiting today!

Emphasize the Negative

The 2nd challenge this week that Cath at Moxie Fab World has given us is called "The Emphasize the Negative" challenge: using the negatives left behind after die-cutting.  In keeping with my bunny theme for our grandkids that I started earlier this week, here's what I came up with:

I used my MFT By the Letters alphabet dies to go along with the bunny stamp I used on Tuesday ('Sweet Bunny" from Michael's).  I spelled out "bunny" on a paper from Doodlebug Designs Hello Spring, then popped it above a frame of green, and added it to my embossed card (Sizzix flower folder) along with my bunny which I also popped up.

Of course I had to use the diecuts, so here is the card that I used them on:

Both of these cards are cut down from an A2 card to about 3 1/2" tall, since they're going to little people, I wanted them to be little, too.

I'd also like to enter my card into the Die-Cut Diva's Anything Green challenge.  Thanks for visiting today!  

A Blessed Easter

Welcome to our monthly blog hop at The Craft's Meow!  Today we're featuring our stamps with a theme of Easter or encouragement.  You should have arrived here from Julie's blog.  If you'd like to start at the beginning, just go to The Craft's Meow blog for a list of the blogs participating.  I made 2 cards today, both using our new Easter Blessings set, designed by Karen Baker.

This card uses coordinating papers from the Doodlebug Designs Hello Spring pad.  I clear stamped and white embossed the darling little lamb and then just added the sentiment trimmed into a banner.  

I used more of the Easter Blessings sentiments on this card, pairing them with the beautiful flowers from Hope Blooms,  and used a springy aqua and yellow color theme.  These papers are BoBunny Mellow Yellow and Lasting Impressions Seaside Checks.  I kept my flowers white and added a seam binding bow anchored with a yellow button.

Thanks so much for visiting!  Your next stop is Lindsay's blog.   Enjoy the Hop - I know you'll be seeing all kinds of beautiful inspiration! 

Simon Says ...... A Bit O' Green

Hello!  It's Wednesday again and that means another new challenge at Simon Says Stamp!

It's the beginning of March, and most of us are getting antsy for Spring to arrive, and St. Patty's day is right around the corner, so our challenge theme this week is A Bit O' Green.  You can interpret this anyway you like.  The DT and our Guest Designer Dee are using Wplus9 products this week - they're not necessary to enter our challenge, but we'd love to see them if you have them......they have some wonderful stamp sets and dies! 

When I think of spring, I think of that special shade of lacy green that the leaves turn when they first appear - the world is in a green mist for just a short period during that time, and that's the feeling I tried for with my card:

I knew I wanted to feature the Folk Art Florals dies to make my little scene, and I used as much green as I could.  The sentiment is from Hero Art's Right at Home set.

Again, we have a $50.00 gift voucher to the Simon Says Stamp Superstore to give away to a lucky random winner - will it be you this week?

MFW Washi Tape challenge

Cath at Moxie Fab World is celebrating the publication of this newest Card Creations issue with some challenges this week.  The first is to use Washi Tape.  I got a great deal on some duos of Washi tape at Michael's last week, and decided to pair some of them with this cute bunny stamp, also from Mike's, that my friend Mary Anne sent me last Easter.

He's made by Rubber Stampede/Delta and called Sweet Bunny.  The sentiment is from one of Hero Arts first clear stamp sets called Anytime Messages.  I think I'll be sending this one to our little Alma, and will try to make 2 more for the little boys to send along, too (hopefully not as girly as this one).

And, thanks to Judy for reminding me, I'm also entering this into the CASology challenge this week.

Happy Spring to My Friend

I'm playing along today with this month's Hero Arts contest challenge and using a brand new stamp called Big Post Card.  One of my favorite card makers, Jacqueline, has been using this with gorgeous results; just look at all the cards she's made with it already, one more amazing than the other!  

So I pulled out a new paper pad, K&Co's Susan Winget's Floral Mat Pad and stamped the post card over one of the papers.

I used Latte chalk ink for most of the stamping and green hills mid-tone ink for the stamp.in the corner.  I added some stamps from these HA sets: Three Dotted Flowers, Carte Postale, and So Artsy.  The Happy Spring sentiment is from The Craft's Meow set Easter Blessings.  The little glittered heart in the center of the flower is a Sticko Glittered Hearts sticker.  Because this post card image is smaller than an A2 card, I was able to have my flower hanging over the edge and still fit it into an A2 envelope.  

It's been fun playing today - thanks for visiting!

March sketch at The Craft's Meow

It's the beginning of the month, which means we have a new sketch challenge at The Craft's Meow!

  Here's my first card for this month:

I used 2 TCM sets, Beautiful Spring for the butterfly, coloring it in with Spectrum Noir markers, and Easter Blessings for the sentiment.  Other supplies: unknown green gingham paper, Nesties scalloped rectangle die, cornflower and white cardstock, ivory seam binding, and EK Success Sticko dimensional sticker for the center of my bow.

I liked the sketch so much that I made you another card:

I've had the Stitched Flowers for awhile, but this is the first inking of this primrose in it.  Since I had my blue and green markers out for the card above, I used them again.  Then I cut them out and popped them above a panel I cut using the same scalloped rectangle die I used on my first card, and framed it with blue.   I used the pretty lace detail from Vintage Clocks and the sentiment from Fly Free.

Thanks for hanging with me for this long post!  I hope you'll be inspired to play along with us!  You have until the end of this month to enter a card.  We're changing things up going forward and you must use at least 1 TCM image or sentiment on your entry. The random winner each month gets to choose a TCM stamp set of her choice!  I'd love to see your take on this fun sketch by Nina B!  

A Very Special Thank You

After our recent Hero Hostess Blog Hop at the beginning of the year, our fearless leader Deborah Nolan had the fantastic idea for each of us to make some thank you cards to send along to Hero Arts in California, to be distributed to the office and factory staff, to let them know how much we appreciated them.  This is one of the cards I made.

I got the idea to stamp in those open spaces between the flower stems from the cover of a Hero Arts brochure that advertised the new 2013 stamps.   Whoever thought of this idea was genius!  So after stamping and coloring the Tall Flowers stamp, I then gathered lots of Hero Arts thank you sentiments, and fit them into the spaces. 

If you'd like to see a video showing my Hostess Sisters' cards, and some photos of some of the employees at Hero Arts, please visit the Hero Arts Club Blog.

Thanks so much for visiting today - I'll see you again tomorrow with a new sketch challenge at The Craft's Meow.

If I could turn back time........

If you're here to see my post for the current Simon Says Stamp challenge, please click HERE.

"If I could turn back time".....that's the current challenge theme at A Blog Named Hero.  And today's my day to have a post there as one of the February Guest Designers!  I adore shabby chic and vintage cards, and I had so much fun making this card today, using some of my favorite Hero Arts stamps.

I started with a piece of paper from Pink Paislee's London Market paper pad, distressing the edges with my fingernail and then with antique linen distress ink.  I overstamped some ferns using shabby shutters distress ink.  The Etched Flowers were stamped  and clear embossed on cream cardstock in Latte chalk ink., sponged with spun sugar distress ink and I used a spun sugar distress marker to darken some of the details slightly.  The leaves and centers of the flowers were also colored in with markers, then I carefully cut them out and popped them onto my panel.  The sentiment is from Friend You're the Best, and my seam binding was dyed with spun sugar distress ink.  I also added some pale pink pearls from Hero's Blush Mixed Accents.

Many thanks to Linda and Mary Dawn for having me as a Guest Designer this month - I love my Hero Arts stamps and love playing with them!  Thanks for visiting!

Simon Says.....Anything Goes

Happy Wednesday, friends - time for another Simon Says Stamp challenge and our theme again is Anything Goes.  The Design Team and our Guest Designer Sem  are playing with all things Tim Holtz.  We'd love to see your creations using these products, too, if you have them.

I made 2 cards today, 1 using a brand new set of stamps, and the other a set that's been around for awhile.  Here's my first, using the new Birthday BluePrint set:

I stamped directly onto my kraft card, then paper-pieced the cupcake using Echo Park and Little Yellow Bicycles papers, and distressed the edges of my card using vintage photo distress ink.  Since the stamp already has the word "birthday" on it, I just added the Simon exclusive Happy die.

For my second card, I made a card reflecting the colors of spring:

I stamped the Papillon cling background on white cardstock, embossed it in white, and then used these distress inks to sponge on some color: spun sugar, scattered straw, shaded lilac, and shabby shutters.  After it was dry, I attached the panel to a white card base, and added some white seam binding, some die-cut butterflies, along with a spring sentiment and some pearls.  

There's another $50.00 gift voucher up for grabs for the random winner of our challenge this week.

A new stamp

I just received some new Hero Arts stamps and inks recently and have been playing.

This card uses the new Painted Flower stamp, which gives a diffused water-color look when stamped.  I used bubble gum, cornflower, butter bar and field greens mid-tone inks.  The sentiment is from an older clear set called Made with Love.  I ran this stamped panel through a Cuttlebug Houndstooth embossing folder to give it a texture.  

Thanks for visiting today!  Have a great one!  I'll see you tomorrow for our weekly Simon Says Stamp challenge.