Concord & 9th: Garden Path

Hello, friends!  It is with absolute delight that I get to share a card with you today using the Garden Path Bundle from Concord and 9th's fabulous new release.  (You can check the new release out here.)  I assure you that I am honored and humbled each time I have the opportunity to guest design for Concord and 9th.  I have so much respect and love for the good people who run this company.  Not to mention I absolutely adore their products!

I fell in love with Garden Path before I even saw it.  I knew from the name that I was going to love it.  I'm all for being creative with your supplies, but I also really appreciate when a product makes beauty effortless.  Do you know what I mean?  So when I started created with these fabulous stencils, I was completely smitten.

To show you the beauty of this product, I kept things simple.  I used the stencils as designed.  No fancy shading, just simple blending of a lovely palette of Concord and 9th colors: background = powder; flowers = nectar, creamsicle, carnation, briar rose, watermelon, buttercup, honeycomb; leaves = eucalyptus, rain forest.

I did blend an extra set of flowers and fussy cut them out to add a bit of dimension, but I'll let you in on a secret...that was to cover up a mistake!  The panel was perfect and I accidentally used the wrong color on one of the flower centers.  I couldn't bear to throw it away, so I improvised. ;) 

This bundle is brilliantly designed, not only do the 5 stencils work both to layer and mask, but the sentiments in the Garden Path Stamp Set are designed to fit perfectly in the open space. 

I did get a good chuckle when one of my daughters brought my card to me and with great concern told me that there were ink splatters all over it. :) I put her fears to rest and told her they were intentional.  I'm still not sure she approved. Lol. 

Thanks so much for joining me today!  Make sure to come back tomorrow.  I have lots more projects to share throughout the week.  It's going to be fun!  

CARD SUPPLIES (all Concord & 9th)

Stamps/Dies: 

Garden Path Bundle 

Garden Path Stencil Pack

Garden Path Stamp Set

Ink: 

background = powder

flowers = nectar, creamsicle, carnation, briar rose, watermelon, buttercup, honeycomb

leaves  = eucalyptus, rain forest

Pretty Pink Posh March Blog Hop Day 1 + GIVEAWAY

Good morning!  I'm delighted to be participating in Pretty Pink Posh's March Blog Hop.  (You should be arriving from Barbara Tarayao's blog.)  I absolutely adore the spring products in this release and today is the big day!  Everything is available to shop HERE. 

I am so excited to share today's card with you! I decided to make a faux shaker, so I used the Slimline: Scallop Frames but did not add an acetate layer. This card is like a happy explosion of spring, but the faux element helped me control the explosion a bit. :) These happy colors have had me smiling for days! (All colors listed at end of post.)

Let's talk about the cupcake.  How adorable is this chubby chick?! I can’t get enough of him. He is one of the darling cupcake toppers in the new Big Easter Cupcake dies. 

Did you notice the polka dot cupcake wrapper?  So cute, right?  A happy discovery I made is that one of the flower centers in the Spring Mug Addition Dies is the exact size of the stitched polka dot circles on the Big Easter Cupcake's wrapper.  That made it really easy to add lots of fun colors.

I also added a little embossed sentiment to the cupcake wrapper using the new Sentiment Strips: Easter Stamp Set.  It has everything you need to cover Easter/spring. I surrounded the cupcake with a a bunch of cheerful, layered flowers from the Spring Mug Additions.

To fill my "shaker", I added eggs from the Big Easter Cupcake Dies and little flower centers from the Spring Mug Addition Dies. 

Thanks so much for visiting today!  I hope that you leave smiling. :) Your next stop on the hop is the incredibly talented Kristie Marcotte.  Happy hopping and happy shopping, friends! 

***GIVEAWAY DETAILS***

There are three $30 Pretty Pink Posh gift certificates up for grabs (one winner each day). Winners will be picked randomly along the blog hop. Comments must be left by 11:59 PM PST on 3/13/2024. Winners will be announced on the PPP blog.

Blog Hop Day 1

Pretty Pink Posh blog 
Nichol Spohr
Amy Rysavy
Marine Simon
Barbara Tarayao
Lindsey Larsen
Kristie Marcotte
Lea Lawson
Carly Minner
Davina Cantrell

BIG EASTER CUPCAKE CARD SUPPLIES: (all with clickable links)

Big Easter Cupcake Dies 

Big Birthday Cupcake

Spring Mug Additions

Sentiment Strips: Easter Stamp Set

Slimline: Scallop Frames

Cardstock: Buttercup, Grape Soda, Grapefruit, Lilac, Nectar, Parsley, Pink Lemonade, Seaglass, Sprout, Tidepool, Wheat (Concord & 9th); Lemon Tart, Hibiscus Burst (Papertery Ink)

Waffle Flower New March Release + GIVEAWAY

Hello!  I'm so thrilled to be joining the Waffle Flower Design Team to introduce you to their Sweet Strawberry Release this month.  The release went live today, and you can shop for all the new products HERE.  I've been sharing cards the last few days on Instagram and I have one more to share today as well as a GIVEAWAY. Yay! 

I used some of my favorites products from the new release on my card. 

I cannot get enough of the Strawberries Die!  With berries, flowers, and leaves of various shapes and sizes, the possibilities for arrangements are endless.  I've made several cards with this die set, and no two arrangements are alike.  You're gonna love them.

I also used the new Sweet Plaid Texture Die (one of my favorite texture plates of all time! Truly!) and the Sweet Plaid Panel Die. These actually coordinate with a gingham paper pad, which is really cool and gives you some extra fun design options. I used the negative of the A2 Lacy Layers Die to frame out my plaid background. 

I finished my card using the Nesting Circles Dies and stamping a sentiment from the Sweet Lattice Sentiments.  With a fabulous pairing of fonts and a variety of heartfelt sentiments, I'll be reaching for this set all year. 

*****GIVEAWAY*****

Just leave a comment below by 11:59 pm EST March 7, 2024 and you will have a chance to win a $20 gift certificate to Waffle Flower Crafts.  I'll be accepting comments on my instragram account, too, so make sure you head over there as well for an additional entry. :) Several other design team members are hosting giveaways, and you can use #WaffleFlowerGiveaway to quickly search for them. 

*****Waffle Flower Spring Sale*****

And if things couldn't get better, Waffle Flower is also have a HUGE Spring Sale going on right now (March 5 - March 15, 2024).  You can shop the sale HERE.  This sale contains products like the hugely popular Postage Collage and Intertwined Bears.  Shop early for the best selections!  No code is required - all prices marked as shown.  Can be combined with Last Chance items. (Not eligible for returns/exhanges.)

CARD SUPPLIES:

Sweet Lattice Sentiments

Sweet Lattice Sentiments Matching Die

Strawberries Die

Sweet Plaid Panel Die

Sweet Plaid Texture Die

A2 Lacy Layers Die 

Nesting Circles Dies

C9 Whimsical Wings Butterfly

Hello!  While attempting to clear out my photos, I stumbled upon this card that I made many months ago.  I rarely take photographs of cards that aren't assignments, but I fell in love with this one and remembered wanting to document it before I mailed it off. 

I used Concord and 9th's Whimsical Wings Bundle, which is something I gravitate to often.  I've used it for birthdays, thank yous, baby showers, etc.  I just think it is beautiful!  And it is easy to create with.  Sometimes I go really detailed with the stamping and stenciling, and other times I just die cut the butterfly.  No matter what, it is always so pretty. 

I chose a lovely color palette using some of my favorite C9 colors - Ballet Slipper, Pink Lemonade, Sorbet, Clover, and Evergreen. This time I used both the Whimsical Wings Stencil Pack on my background and the Whimsical Wings Stamp Set on the butterfly.  I stamped just the basic images and opted not to add any of the fill-ins.  Then I die cut an assembled my butterfly.  

This card has me dreaming of spring....isn't that a happy thought?  Thank so much for stopping by and letting me share my card with you. :) 

Pretty Pink Posh Interactive Cake Card

Good morning!  Earlier this month Pretty Pink Posh released it's first interactive die - the Interactive Cake Dies. My teammates made some AMAZING birthday cards using it, and there is a great intro video tutorial in the product description here that you can watch to see one way to put it together.  I made mine before the video was recorded, so I put mine together a little differently (more on that later). 

I started by die cutting the major Interactive Cake Die pieces (the large cake base, the smaller inside layer, and the pull tab).  I blended a light ballet slipper pink on the larger layer and adorned both layers with the beautiful Spring Corner Frame to mimic lace. 

I added a few gold embossed sentiments from the Sentiment Strips: Birthday stamp set to the inside layer as well as the Large Celebrate Shadow Script at the top of my card.  Then I die cut and added some candles to the top by the pull tab.  

The diagram below shows how I put the layers together, so that the hidden layer pulls out but not completely. First, I cut a small strip of cardstock and adhered it to the bottom of the inside cake layer (represented by the pink line).  You want it to extend just beyond the width of that smaller layer.

On the back side of the large cake layer, I built a track with narrow foam strips (the blue lines in the photo).  I wanted the smaller layer to always show a bit, so I did not put the foam tape at the very bottom, but rather a 1/2" or so up.  The most important pieces of foam will be the two that jut in at the top (where the red arrows are pointing).  These will stop the insert from sliding all the way upward because the strip of cardstock you added to the bottom of the smaller layer will catch on them as you pull upward 

After I had it all assembled, I removed the backing to the foam tape and adhered it to an evergreen card base.  It's a little difficult to explain, but if you watch the video link above, Mindy shows a really easy way to put it together.  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

INTERACTIVE CAKE CARD SUPPLIES:

Dies: Interactive Cake Dies, Spring Corner Frame, Large Celebrate Shadow Script

Stamps: Sentiment Strips: Birthday

Ink: ballet slipper

Paper: evergreen