Gingerbreads E'rywhere!

Hey friends, how are you?

 We have been invited to our son's in-laws for Thanksgiving - our two girls are spread out and our youngest daughter will be traveling with her in-laws, so it's a quiet time for Jim and I...and top it off, I will be dog sitting. 😀 BUT, if it works out, we will join them for a bit.

I wanted to make a gift for our hostess, something she could use - at home and for the holidays, so I created 8 gingerbread tags - 4 girls and 4 boys, paired with a gingerbread mug and tea towel. And when the to/from tags are cut off, the gingerbread all become ornaments you can place on your tree or use for decorations!

Everything on the gingerbread tags comes from Pretty Pink Posh (Gingerbread Holder and Christmas Holder Additions); I then finished them off by adding holiday greetings and to/from tags using The Greetery's Tear Strip Tags (I've owned this die and stamp set HOW LONG, and just used them for the first time 😁).

The final picture shows the large mug and a hand towel tucked inside; I think the set will make a nice gift showing our appreciation for the invitation and the work that goes into feeding a large group of peeps!

  

Two girls / two boys with tags 

 

Two girls / two boys without tags

 

 

Two girls / two boys with tags 

 

  

Two girls / two boys without tags

 

 Gingerbread mug and matching tea towel

 

MIUCB - Keep It Simple (Stupid / Silly = KISS)

Oh friends...this time at Mix It Up Challenge Blog we're going with KEEP IT SIMPLE...which is truly next to impossible for me. lol... Therefore, I renamed it KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID/SILLY = KISS!

I made 4 cards in different colors with this layout / design; I'm showing the purple one here, but I'll share the others soon!

I added the Pretty Pink Posh scallop piercing die in the background; the flowers were created with the beloved SSS Elegant Rose stencils. I then splattered some black gaouche and some Tim Holtz Statue Foundry Wax (which has to be heat set). 

I used Spellbinder's Alabaster for the main panel, cut with a scallop die and adhered to Papertrey Ink's True Black cardstock to help the main image 'pop', finished it off with a touch of sparkly stickles. 

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you join us at Mix It Up; and if you don't want to play with KEEP IT SIMPLE, we always enjoy seeing ANYTHING GOES!!

LTSCB - Happy Halloween (a few days late)

At Love to Scrap Challenge Blog, it's always ANYTHING GOES, but this go-round, I'm sharing the suitcases I made for our kids for Halloween. These photos were right before I put the luggage 'handle' on them, but you still get the gist!

For the past few years, I've made a card for each of our kids (3 + 2 in-law kids); but this year, I created one suitcase per family / kid, but gifted things to encompass everyone. 

Teal is for our oldest daughter, Forest Green is for our youngest daughter and hubby, Orange is for our son and wife. I put $31 cash inside the suitcases, then gifted other fun things to each kiddo. 

The suitcases are a die from Papertrey Ink, they are an absolute favorite for 3D gifts. I used one for our son's couples shower with his bride-to-be.

For all of these, I added hot foil using the Spellbinder's web background with opaque black foil, then shading around the edges. I then die cut everything possible - HA - from Pretty Pink Posh: Halloween Mug Additions, Big Halloween Cupcake Dies, Spooky Mug Additions, Ghost Holders Die, Spooky Fence Die, I think that's all of them. 

I then started shading and layering all the pieces - I kept each suitcase similar in layout.

I hope you enjoy seeing these and are inspired to create your own 3D project, we'd love to see it, or as always, ANYTHING GOES, is an easy one - so join us!!

Love to Scrap - Anything Goes

And…he’s married! 💍✨

Welcome back to another post for Love to Scrap! The timing couldn’t have been more perfect—our son tied the knot at sunrise on 08.17.25.

Yes, you read that right…SUNRISE, 6:30 a.m.! Which meant my wake-up call was 3:15 a.m. so I could meet my stylist at 4:00 for hair (and a little makeup help). Totally worth it though—the photos are going to be LEGIT! 📸

This is the card I made for their wedding (their colors were pink and orange). I tried out one of Jennifer McGuire’s techniques—definitely not as flawless as hers, but for a first attempt, I’ll take it. 😉

Now, confession time: as I type this, I’m dog sitting, and for the life of me I cannot remember which flower stamps and dies I used. 🙈 I’ll check when I’m back home in early September and update. Promise!

On the inside, I added a LOVE die from Pretty Pink Posh. I didn’t snap a picture because I had to “make it work” after a little card mishap—but that’s crafting for you, right?

Thank you so much for stopping by! I’ll leave you with a couple of my favorite wedding photos. (Yes, the first time his groomsmen tossed him in the air, I screamed. By the second time, I was just trying to get my phone to record video! His wife wisely put a stop to it after his hand grazed the lights. 😂)

Come join us over at  Love to Scrap—we’d love to see what you’re creating!

Party Hats for you, and you, and you!!

I am always inspired by other artists and tend to Copy and Share Everything (CASE) from their cards. These are no exception. I saw party hats JUST LIKE THIS from Arsenia (plant769 on Instagram) and knew I wanted to make some too.

I set about with a color palette and then mixed and matched the colors all day long! I love how the stripes are continuous on the card, looks so cool. For each card, I used the Cascading Star Stencil in the background, perfect addition to all types of cards.

Once again, I had fun shading my die cuts using Simon Says Stamp's Pawsitively Saturated inks, these  inks are my ride or die!

The irridescent stars are so pretty, and of course, I went to town with my white gel pen. #youarewelcome 😁

Which one is your favorite, light pink, green, or dark pink? I love the light pink card the most. Super fun birthday cards I can't wait to send!

Thanks for stopping by; hope you have a great rest of your week and weekend!!

MIUCB - Paper Piecing or Anything Goes

Hello, friends! Welcome back to another challenge at the Mix It Up Challenge blog! This time we're focusing on Paper Piecing; however, we always welcome ANYTHING GOES, too!

I took a bit of liberty with the "paper piecing" and didn't use it in the typical sense I am familiar with! Instead, I used this sweet doggy from Pretty Pink Posh and paper pieced on some different colors of cardstock for one of his ears, the patch over one eye, and his tail (it's sticking out from the side of the package). I actually did it to one of his paws too, but it ended up being hidden by the bow. 

This card was 100% CASE'd from Nichole Spohr; she provides so much inspiration! I made two of these cards and gave the other to our soon to be daughter-in-law for her birthday. 

I cut the ribbon and bow from super sparkly silver paper. I cut the circles from a darker purple than the gift box, but then added copic coloring to give them even more dimension, I REALLY love how they turned out!

My color inspiration came from Pinterest, HERE.  The base was a wonky stitched rectangle, also from Pretty Pink Posh; if you zoom in, you can see I also used the cascading star stencil  with clear sparkle paste.  I added lots of splatters to the background and finished the design off with a little bling.

Thanks for stopping by; whether you're paper piecing or just creating - please take a moment and share your design with us, we love seeing them!

Some-BUNNY Loves You

Hi friends, how ya doing?

If you follow me on Snapchat (whimsycreation) or Instagram (whimsical_creations), you will notice this as being a much more involved version of the treat boxes I made for the Ronald McDonald Children's Home (RMCH). I made 10 of these with only the bunny peeking out to take to the RMCH; I filled the boxes with green and pink faux grass, then added as much candy as I could pack in to each one. I also took the leftover candy to RMCH, I hope the families were able to enjoy the items! 

All die cuts are from Pretty Pink Posh (bunny products and treat box)- goodness, I so love their products!

Anywho, as I was cutting the boxes for RMCH, I cut 2 extras to create little care packages for a couple dear friends. One's favorite color(s) is black and white; I didn't know the other's favorite color, so I did a light lilac.

Before I die cut the boxes, I used the Spellbinder's Tufted 3D Embossing Folder to emboss the full panel. I embossed, die cut, then embossed again to help with any embossing that was somewhat flattened during the die cutting process. 

Once complete, I highlighted the black box with white pigment ink and the lilac box with a dark purple ink. All inks, except the white pigment ink, are from Simon Says Stamp pawsitively ink. I adhered the boxes together with double-sided tape to make sure they were strongly secured. I then die cut and shaded lots of elements from the Easter Mugs Addition and Big Easter Cupcake dies; the bunny is from the  Bunny Face Shaker dies. The inside of the bunny ears were cut from white card stock and some were cut from a light grey card stock, shading was added with pink Copics. 

Oh, I almost forgot, I purchased the grass border die, also from Pretty Pink Posh. I die cut it from a couple different shades of green card stock and also added shading. I was able to create two rows of grass from one die cut. 

Thanks for HOPPING by, I hope this gives you some inspiration!

MIUCB - Layers

Hi friends! I'm finishing up posting the last of my holiday cards and how fitting, as this month at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog we're focusing on layers (or anything goes)! And if you've been around for any length of time, you KNOW I love me some layers - lots and lots! I'm not so good at Clean and Simple, ya know!! 😉

Along with my love for layers, is my love for Pretty Pink Posh products - always fun, whimsical and oh so cute!!

This Big Christmas Cupcake die set was released last year - just in time for the holidays. I had so much fun cutting all the little pieces, making  packages, a big ole bow, snowflakes and some adorable scallops for my tree - in sparking white cardstock of course! The candy cane comes from the Winter Mug die set. I pulled out the Winter Words stencil for the background and some peppermints from the Peppermints Clay Confetti pack to add some fun dimension to the tree. 

Lots of ink blending, some additional stamping on the tree, splatters and the wonky rectangle dies to wrap up my sweet little cupcake!

Hope you will pop over and join us at the Mix It Up Challenge Blog - we love seeing what you create!

Mix It Up Challenge Blog - Ink Smooshing

Hi friends - I hope this note finds you doing well. How's your weather? Ours has been hot, hot, hot...and humid! But Fall is just around the corner, BUT I'm not going to wish the days away!

At Mix It Up Challenge, we're playing with ink smooshing - I LOVE ink smooshing and although I'm not thrilled with this card, I do love how the cupcake turned out. 😀 I used Tim Holtz watercolor paper for the cupcake; the cupcake and stencil (background) are from Pretty Pink Posh. 

I started by stenciling the background, then stamped over the top with Simon Says Stamp's YOU background stamp in a gray ink. I die cut the main panel and popped up the border.

I used Simon Says Stamp's Pawsitively Saturated inks, it's tough to see but there is hot pink, and orange in the frosting. The flower is a light pink. The wrapper is done in purples. Once dry, I dripped on some water droplets and dried with a paper towel; I then stamped circles from Reverse Confetti's Poppies stamp set onto the wrapper (Reverse Confetti is no longer in business, but this is still one of my favorite stamp sets!) 

To finish it off, I made the card into a shaker with lots of little shaker bits inside!

Thanks for stopping by - I hope you are inspired to join us with either ink smooshing OR anything goes; we enjoy seeing your creations!

3D Balloons with lots of Bits and Baubles

Hey friends - how are you doing? We are having some beautiful weather of late, mid-high 80's, low 90's; I'll take that over the 100+ days ANY TIME!!

Friday and Saturday, I judged at our County 4H Fair - always fun, and long! 😊 Friday was Food and Nutrition (definitely out of my league, but I try my absolute best); Saturday was Visual Arts and that is much more in my wheelhouse. The kids are always fun and the learning experience is probably unmatched in the real world. They need to speak up, make eye contact, be able to explain what they made, HOW they made it, etc. I saw some incredible creations!

Anywho, onward we go to this card. I took all my inspiration from Lilybean Paperie; I absolutely love everything Melissa creates! This was so much fun and a whole lotta work. lol

I die cut the balloons from Tim Holtz watercolor paper and heavily shaded with Distress inks, then splattered with water, dried those drops and splattered some watered down white gouache and distress spray strains to each balloon. I cut the strings from mirror cardstock and set everything aside. 

I then die cut lots of little bits and baubles from the Hey Honeycomb Flower Power dies and Pretty Pink Posh Birthday Mug Additions. Some of the pieces I had cut previously and was able to use - can't beat that.

The sentiment is from the Four Square Birthday Tags stamp set, it's ombre - which I love. I assembled all the pieces; the balloons were mounted with foam squares, most of the bits and baubles were adhered directly to the balloons. Then I got out my white gel pen and added ALL THE HIGHLIGHTS, love me some white gel pen! 

The background is two different Bitty Bit Raspberry Fizz papers from Papertreyink. I added some shading to the top layer, and in between those papers, I added a scalloped layer of vellum, all these were cut with The Ton Nested Slimline dies (stitched and scalloped).

I sent this card to someone I love dearly for their birthday; I hope it touched their heart!

And thank YOU for stopping by, I appreciate your visit and hope this spurs you to create and mail your cards!

Have a great day!