Feminine Graduation Card

My sweet niece is graduating this year.  I held her the day she was born, and it just doesn't feel like very long ago.  But somehow it is.  I wanted to make a card just for her.  She truly is something special!

Pretty Pink Posh's May Release is full of fun graduation themed products, and the timing could not have been more perfect.  The first thing I used was the Layered Graduation Stencils.  I knew that my card was going to be busy, so I blended the ink colors (Cheeky & Salmon from The Stamp Market) very lightly to create a subtle background.

Next up were the mugs.  I pulled out my trusty Winter Mug dies and got to work.  Not just any mug would do for this artsy niece of mine, so I created dip dyed mugs.  I used The Stamp Market's Cheeky ink and blended with a progressively heavier hand for each masked section.  I added a touch of TSM's Salmon ink to the mug with "yay!" on it. 

Then I die cut several pieces from the Graduation Mug Additions (diploma, shooting star, numbers, graduation cap), Valentine Mug Additions (rose), and Birthday Mug Additions (balloons) to fill and surround the mugs.  I blended Cheeky and Salmon ink on some of the pieces to add a little color. 

The sentiment also came from the Graduation Mug Additions Dies.

Finally, I adhered my whole panel to the card base.  This card is large in size (closer to a 5x7), but it is so perfectly my niece.  I'm excited to give it to her. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Two-Story Birdhouse

Hello!  Hearing the birds happily sing this morning reminded me of a card I made a few weeks ago.  The end of the school year is a pretty crazy time around here, and I have several cards that I have made that I haven't had a chance yet to share.  

Pretty Pink Posh's May release included several bird and birdhouse products.  My mom loves birds, so creating with these was extra enjoyable.  One of my favorite products was the Decorative Birdhouses Dies.  I love the different shapes of houses and mix and match options.  As I was playing around, I thought "Why not do a double decker/two story birdhouse?"  And the more I thought about it, the more I loved the idea. 

I'm not a shabby chic cardmaker, but I did try to channel a bit of my inner Melissa Phillips while creating this card because shabby chic/folk art just seemed the right direction to go.  After all, I was creating a fancy birdhouse.  I started by lightly blending Pigment's Eucalyptus ink on my card base, making the card edges darker.  Then I blended Pretty Pink Posh's new Swiss Dots Stencil on top with Concord and 9th's Wheat ink. 

To create my birdhouse, I die cute the medium and large birdhouses from the Decorative Birdhouses Dies in white and kraft.  I blended Eucalyptus ink lightly onto the birdhouses to accentuate the scalloped white trim.  I also layered the rooftops and base pieces a few times, so there would be added dimension.  I added one of the doors from the Decorative Birdhouses Dies to the bottom house and opted for small circle (from the Spring Foliage Dies) for the upper level.  The stitched circle matched the stitched details in the birdhouses splendidly.  

On the bottom birdhouse I added a little flower and leaves (from the Spring Foliage and Nature Essentials Dies) to up the folk art feel.  I decided not to add a bird on my card to further highlight the "Missing You" sentiment (from the Spring Birdhouses Stamp Set).  I may be the only one who notices that little detail, but it makes me smile nonetheless.  

The last step to the card was to create a place for my birdhouse to hang.  I embossed and die cut the little circle loop in the Spring Birdhouses Stamp Set and hung it from some branches from the Spring Foliage Dies.  I mirrored the same look at the bottom of the birdhouse, but instead placed a heart in the center.  The final touch was adding a few Marshmallow pearls on the branches. 

Thanks so much for visiting!  I hope that you are having a lovely day!

Pretty Pink Posh May Blog Hop

Good morning!  Welcome to Day 2 of the Pretty Pink Posh May Release Blog Hop.  There are three $30 gift certificates up for grabs (one winner each day), and I'm so happy you are joining us!  

Graduation season is upon us, and it also happens to be a super busy time for most families (including mine) as there are many end-of-school-year activities and productions happening.  I wanted to come up with a card design that would be fun, but also quick and easily reproducible.

Graduation is certainly a cause to cue the confetti, so naturally I made a shaker card.  This simple shaker design is accomplished with the frame from the Fancy Cake Dies.  I layered the frame several times and then filled it with the new Blue Shimmer Confetti Mix.  I LOVE the new shimmer confettis!  They are so much fun!

The best thing is that this design is easily customizable to the school colors of your recipient.  Blue and gold happen to be the school colors here, which is why I chose this particular combination.  

After my shaker was filled, I die cut several graduation caps from the Graduation Mug Additions.  I adhered them on top of my shaker in alternating directions to mimic caps being tossed in the air.

Finally, I die cut the Congrats Shadow dies with gold glitter cardstock and popped it up with dimensional foam onto my card.  

Thanks so much for visiting today!  This release has a fun variety of products, so make sure that you keep hopping and commenting along the way. (Comments for the giveaway must be left by 11:59 PM PST on 5/8/2023.  Winners will be announced on the PPP blog.) I am joined by the most incredible designers today, so you won't want to miss a single stop!  Happy hopping, friends! 

PPP Blog Hop Day 2

Pretty Pink Posh blog 
Rachel Alvarado
Lindsey Larsen (you are here)
Mindy Eggen
Jeanne Jachna
Amy Rysavy
Kristie Marcotte

Mother, I Love You

Hello!  With May about to begin, my thoughts have turned to Mother's Day.  

When I was little, there were a few songs we used to sing at church around Mother's Day.  One started with "Mother, I love you..." and another had the line "Dear mother, all flowers remind me of you." I always think of those songs this time of year, and I decided to use them as the theme for my card. 

To make a card with lots of flowers, Pretty Pink Posh's Floral Background Stencil seemed a good place to start.  I blended Concord & 9th's Sweet Pea ink lightly on the card base, and then again with a little heavier hand through the stencil.  

A couple weeks ago I shared a card using Pretty Pink Posh's Floral Corners stamp set.  It reminded me all over again how much I loved it, so it's making another appearance today.  I embossed two of the floral sprays and colored them with Zig clean color real brush markers.  I die cut them with the coordinating dies and placed them on the second largest Wonky Stitched Square.

For the sentiment I used the Mother Shadow Dies. I added a secondary stamped sentiment from Simple Sentiments using Grape Soda ink. 

I can't help but smile when I look at this card because it reminds me of my mom.  I love creating cards for the people I love dearly!

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I hope you have a blessed Sunday!

Flowers Great and Small with Concord & 9th

Good morning, friends!  I cannot believe it, but April is swiftly coming to a close.  Today I'm sharing my last official post using Concord and 9th's April Color Release.  It's been the happiest month with SO MUCH color.  I hadn't used a couple of the products releasing this month yet, so I combined them on this card.  And I'm happy to report that both the Flower Press Stencil Pack and the Triple-Step Posy Stamps are in stock, so you can still pick them up. :) 

One of the things I was really excited to see with the new color release was an expansion of the purples.  For today's card I used two new colors--Lilac and Fig-- and paired them with the previously released Eggplant, Oceanside, Sprout, and Parsley.

There have been lots of beautiful cards shared using the Triple-Step Posy Print Bundle in the more traditional way, so I decided to go a little different direction.  Every time I looked at those dainty little posies I would think of butterflies, so I decided to use them to use them on a butterfly.   Concord and 9th's Whimsical Wings Dies worked perfectly for this.  

I stamped two panels with the Triple-Step Posy Stamps in Lilac, Fig, Sprout, and Parsley.  Then I cut them out with the Whimsical Wings Dies.  I also cut a second set of upper wings in Fig to layer behind and used one of the layering dies in Oceanside to add detail to the lower set of wings.  If you look closely, you can see that I also added a few Lilac and Fig Enamel Dots to the posies.  They match the colors really well! I cut the butterfly body in Eggplant and then cut a few of the posies with the Triple-Step Posy Dies to create eyespots on the butterfly wings. 

I used the Flower Press Stencil Pack to create the perfect floral background.  A couple things about this stencil...First, I love it more and more every time I ink it up.  Second, the stencils themselves are noticeably thicker than other stencils I have used, and they are REALLY easy to work with even in tiny detailed areas.  Third, there are four stencils, but the images are large enough and spaced far enough apart that it is easy to add extra colors like I did here.  (I used all 6 colors in my color scheme.)

The final step on this card was a sentiment from the Triple-Step Posy Stamps stamped in Oceanside ink.  Thanks so much for joining me today and all this month!  It's been a fun one!  I hope I've been able to inspire you. :)