Winnie & Walter Release - Day 1

Hold on to your hats, folks, things are about to get a little crazy here in the Nest! For the next week I'll be debuting new release projects from three different companies.

Winnie & Walter has an amazing amount of goodness coming at you, starting with several new cutaways and stamps that are perfect for the all the new babies in your life.

 

There are cutaway words (congrats, sweet, baby) as well as more Big Bold words ("on," "your," "little," "girl") and useful sentiments (from all of us). As you can see, they all coordinate with each other so you can really go nuts making your own greetings.

Along with the sentiments, there are a few sneaks on this card from sets that will be revealed later in the week : ) So much goodness here! After I finished making this card, I challenged myself to use up the leftover pieces while I was still thinking about these sets. I knew if I would put them all back in the "scraps" bin, they would likely not see the light of day again, and that would be sad.

  
That's how this card came to be. The "precious" cutaway is slightly bent in between each letter, turning it from a linear sentiment to an arched sentiment.

It reminds me of Pat the Bunny, with the tall, skinny bunny and the arched title

   

The bunny is watercolored and has a few layers of comic backing boards underneath him. The sentiment is layered, and the inside of the card is lined in patterned paper.

 

I still had scraps on my desk, so that explains this last card. You'll see the same too-tall giraffe who can't keep his head out of the "b." New on this card include the "girl" sign that dangles from the crook of the "y," and an adorable scripted sentiment which will be featured later this week.
  

I've got some foam tape behind the giraffe's head to make it look more like the giraffe is peeking out, and less like the giraffe is about to be hung. Or at least I hope that's the case, hahaha!
  
 

  
Be sure to check out the other amazing projects on the Winnie & Walter blog. As usual, leave a comment there for a chance to WIN all of today's goodies. Speaking of winning, comment on this post for a chance to win ALL TEN stamp sets in this release. Nice!
 

I'll invite you to stop by my blog every day this week ... there is just so much to show you! 
  

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

More Teen Boy Birthday Cards

  

Hello! I'm on a roll with teen boy birthday cards! Here is another candidate for those harder to please creatures that live under my roof. This one uses all the cool colors of the rainbow (Catherine Pooler Inks) to create a sort of background on the card with the CAS-ual Fridays Shenanigans birthday sentiment. Then on the bottom of the card the rest of the message surrounds the last, purple "birthday."

Did you notice that the tail of the "y" in "happy" perfectly encircles the dotted "i" from "birthday"? Oh, that makes me happy. And reminds me of just the sort of design detail Ardyth would use on her CAS cards.

Here is my progression of cards, until I figured out that the "y" would cradle the dotted "i" and was finally happy enough to stop. The others are definitely usable, especially for the teens.

The spacing, the colors, the layout, all make me happy on this card.

  

These cards are over at the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps blog today if you'd like additional information. Feel free to use my code "KELLY2017" which will save you 15% off any purchases at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps.

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Create Your Own Checkerboard

Hello! For this masculine card I wanted to create a cozy, knit checkerboard as the main focus. I have a few photos showing how I did this if you're interested ...

   

  

 Using my MISTI, I stamped the sweater border stamp from Catherine Pooler's Holiday Mittens Set along the entire panel. Since the height of the sweater stamp is 1/2", I moved my card down 1/2" to stamp each color. This gives you the luxury of consistent, even spacing. 

  

  

Knowing the height of the horizontal sweater stamp is 1/2", I cut 1/2" vertical strips from the panel so that each block of color would be a square.

 

Once all the strips were cut, I turned every other strip upside down so they alternate directions. 

  

Then it's just a matter of putting adhesive on your panel and attaching all the strips to the panel. Fun, right? You can get so many different looks with this technique. I wonder what rainbow colors would look like?!

I embossed a few words from Catherine Pooler's You're Amazing set for the sentiment. Before all the strips were completely adhered to the panel, I wove the "because" strip through to tie it in and make it a little more interesting. 

If you are a Stamp Nation member, you still have time to join any or all of the challenges to celebrate their 6th birthday and win some prizes. This card was featured in their Lime Rickey Challenge to make a masculine card. Masculine cards are typically not as fun for me to make, so this challenge is exactly what I needed!

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Kelly

Winter Birthday Card

 

Hi Folks! I'm over at the Winnie & Walter blog today sharing this winter birthday card. Stop by if you're interested to check out the details.

 

 

Thanks for looking!

-Kelly

Calling All Sistah's Hop

Hello! Time to check yourself and check out some fun cards on the monthly CAS-ual Fridays Calling All Sistahs blog hop. This card features an actual pink ribbon, from my prized stash of vintage seam binding ribbon. I love this stuff immensely. It mysteriously holds it's shape and never creases, bends or goes flat, so it's perfect to be folded like this on a card. When it's taken out of the envelope it will pop right back in place.

I sewed the panel onto the card, with an additional layer of pink polka dots sandwiched in between.

   

I love that the ribbon has a "shadow" ... the ribbon stamp from Word Ribbon is embossed in silver directly underneath the actual ribbon. You don't notice it right away, but catch some bits of silver on the edges. 

 
You may notice some sparkly goodness in the middle of the ribbon ... those are from the new Calling All Sistahs sequin mix by Pretty Pink Posh. They are limited edition; once they're gone that's it. Gorgeous!

You may have come from Claire Apostoloff's blog. If you'd like to start at the beginning of the hop, head on over to the CAS-ual Fridays blog.

Should you be interested in purchasing anything from the Calling All Sistahs line, 50% of the profits  are donated to National Breast Cancer Foundation. You are also invited to participate in next month's blog hop. Check out all the details at CAS-ual Fridays, along with information on prizes.

Don't forget the discount code KELLY2017 to save 15% off your purchases! 

    

 
Your next stop is the sweet Theresa Knopf with more goodies to share.

   

Thanks for stopping by!

-Kelly

Create-Your-Own Hydrangea

Hello! This little flower stamp from Catherine Pooler's Amazing Floral set got put to use multiple times to create a hydrangea.

With just four of Catherine Pooler's new ink colors and some second generational stamping, there's quite a lot of variety in this "hydrangea."

Super quick to make ... after stamping the flower randomly around a penciled circle, I stamped a few more in the center, and then filled in with the smaller flower stamps.

 

The sequins give it some added sparkle.

While I had everything out I made another hydrangea, this time without out the fuchsia. Aside from having another card in your stash, the nice thing about making multiples is that you can play around and change one of the elements to see if you like it better or not.

This card is featured in the Tiki Torch Challenge at Stamp Nation, where they are busy celebrating their 6th birthday. I was inspired by the clusters of flowers on the tiki torches in this lovely mood board.

If you're a Stamp Nation member, the challenges are open until January 31st!

Thanks so much for dropping by!

-Kelly

Teen Boy BIrthday Cards to Mass Produce

Hello! All the people in my house are males, so I'm always in need of masculine birthday cards for them or their friends. This card is a great candidate for mass production because of how quickly it goes once you have everything set up. Let's take a look!
 

 Using my MISTI, I stamped the sweater border stamp from Catherine Pooler's Holiday Mittens Set along the entire panel. I never really understood how wonderful the MISTI is until stamping this set of cards. It gave me such joy to know that every single row of knitted stamping was going to be spaced evenly. Without any effort! I just measured the height of the sweater stamp (1/2") and then made sure to move my card down 1/2" every time I stamped. Couldn't be easier!

The sentiment is from Catherine Pooler's Spot On (released as part of a Stamp of Approval Box). Happily, a 2" punch is just the right size to cut around the circle stamps! Dies are great, but anything you can do with a punch is so much quicker. Because of that, and because it's a pretty simple card, I went ahead and punched three more circles from my husband's comic book backing boards. They're thicker than the 110 lb paper, but still able to be cut easily (so thinner than chipboard). These are layered behind the sentiment to pop it up.

Wrapped some twine around the card and that was that!

Update: They have multiplied!! This design was so quick to make, I figured I had better make a bunch more of them before I put the supplies away. So that's what I did the next morning. 

The benefit of starting your project again in the morning is that you have a chance to think about potential improvements. This time I made notches in the sides of the card so the twine would be held in place. Since it's stamped on the sides you can't really see the notches unless you're looking for them. The prior cards I had to tape on the inside to hold the twine in place. Not only does that not look as nice, but I'm not sure it's going to hold up. I'll need to revisit those before sending them out!
  

If you are a Stamp Nation member, feel free to join any or all of the challenges to celebrate their 6th birthday and win some prizes. You have until January 31st. This card is featured in the Lime Rickey Challenge to make a masculine card.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

-Kelly

Stamp Kissing; A Butterfly Gets His Pattern

Hi there! This set of birthday cards was rescued by the stamp kissing technique, which I'd like to briefly share.

 My first attempt at this card ended up looking rather plain, as all the butterflies lined up for display were solid colors. Especially the large yellow butterfly. I wanted to add some of the distinctive coloring butterflies are known for so, with the help of my MISTI, I did some stamp kissing.

After stamping the butterfly in yellow (from Catherine Pooler Designs' Butterfly Notes), I inked up some spots from Catherine Pooler's Spot On set and stamped them directly onto the butterfly stamp. (what a messy stamper I am ... check out those inky fingers!! I often wonder while I'm out doing errands if people wonder why I look this way!)



Then I used the MISTI to stamp the butterfly again and all the spots transferred perfectly to the butterfly. I love using this technique, especially when the kissed designs bleed off the edge of the image, like the dots on the top of the butterfly. The only other way I can figure out to get this look would be to stamp through a mask surrounding the butterfly, and who wants to cut out a mask if you don't have to! Such a handy technique!
  

  
For the green and fuchsia butterflies I stamped with two shades of ink to make them a little more interesting.

Once I had the spacing of the layout figured out, I made multiples. Let's face it, after you've put all the stamps and supplies away, you're not likely to come back later and try to recreate your design. Having multiples, especially of designs I really like, makes it so much easier to say good-bye to them!

Here's one of the multiples. I'm still smack in the middle of my love affair with the new Catherine Pooler Inks. In fact, due to such extreme usage, I just placed my order for reinkers. If you're thinking about getting the inks I would definitely recommend to get the reinkers as well, since these spongy pads need reinking more often than the felt-pad inks we typically use.
 
These cards are featured in the Catherine Pooler Tiara Challenge over at Stamp Nation to help celebrate their SIXTH birthday. Happy Birthday, Stamp Nation!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Even More Cards with Catherine Pooler's New Inks

I had so much fun playing with the new Catherine Pooler Inks that I ended up with way too many cards for the blog hop yesterday! Here are the additional cards that didn't quite make the cut...

    

This card is similar to one of the blog hop cards, but there are no white spaces ... the whole card is saturated in color.

  
Wow!! Look how the yellow sits on top of the orange to give it that neat, transparent effect. Doesn't it look like a bokeh rainbow? This card just uses the back of one of the circles from Spot On, and the sentiment is a cute one from For Everything.

 

This card uses most of the cool colors in Catherine's ink line up, stamped with several butterflies from the Butterfly Notes set. Again, love how the inks react to each other ... check out where the blue butterflies overlap. The lighter Fiesta Blue is actually laying on TOP of the darker blue. Such a great property! And the coverage is just amazing with these inks.

This is a "don't give up" card. I had stamped this panel while I was making the previous card, but after it was done I wasn't happy with the large number of butterflies I stamped. It looked like a mass invasion!! Hahaha. So I set it aside, and a couple days later, after I had another discard laying on top of it, I thought it looked like a good enough card and just adhered the two pieces together. Ta-da!

If you're in the market for new inks, I would highly recommend these from Catherine Pooler. They are my new go-to inks. I would caution that the red and black inks stain your stamps, but given how amazing they are to stamp with I am completely fine with that.

Thanks so much for coming back to look!
-Kelly

CP Ink Party Collection Release Blog Hop

I am so excited to share a boatload of projects created with the NEW inks just released by Catherine Pooler Designs! I couldn't be more pleased with how these inks stamp, and now that there are more colors, it's really a no-brainer. Once you try them you'll see why. The coverage is AMAZINGLY solid. Every time I sit down to stamp I happily reach for my new go-to inks.

Shall we take a look? Let's start with my favorite!



How can you resist a rainbow of butterflies? I know, right?! I thought I was using every one of Catherine's ink colors, but after typing up the supply list I realized that I missed Tiki Torch, which would belong right between Orange Twist and the yellow Tiara. Darn it! They fit so perfectly around the circle I drew too.
 


The "Hello" sentiment is amazingly not from the Butterfly Notes set, but from Hello World. It's a perfect match to the butterflies though, with the tiny white dots along the H to match the tiny white dots in the butterfly, and the curl at the end of the O to match the curl at the end of the butterfly's antenna.


  
To add a little surprise element to the card, I cut out a circle of yellow foam to mount under the main sentiment panel. From the front you don't notice it, but once you look at it from the side it's a happy surprise.
    


This card is such a winner for me. It's simple, but the "Hello" is strong enough to carry the card. Although it took me awhile to play around with the elements (something that's often forgotten about when looking at CAS cards, they can take longer to put together because the design is so prominent) it was a snap to duplicate.
 

 
So I made a few more while I had the stamps lined up on my MISTI.
           


And then I made a few more! I timed the last one I made ... ONE MINUTE FLAT. You really can't beat that for mass producing cards. What a great set this would make to give someone.

     

   

You can also line it with patterned paper to jazz it up a bit, while keeping the front CAS. Stamps used on this one include Hello World and Amazing Floral.

    

  
This card shows off just how vibrant the new Catherine Pooler inks are. Crazy, crazy good!! I stamped with the backs of two different circles from Spot On, and a combined sentiment from Still Smiling and Amazing Floral. The bird nest of white thread is my nod to Laura Bassen, who as I'm sure you know, loves stamping in rainbow colors. You really can't go wrong with rainbows, and these inks are just the ticket.

If you're a member of Stamp Nation, you won't want to miss the Birthday Bash going on over there. Even if you're not a member, there is grand prize up for grabs for those who comment on all the stops in this blog hop. Catherine will announce the winner on her blog.

Next on your stop is Maureen Merritt,who is back from a slight hiatus. We are so happy to have her back creating! Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Here's the full hop order:

Catherine Pooler

Laurel Beard

Chrissie Tobas

Heather North

Taheerah Atchia

Kristie Goulet

Deepti Stephens

Lydia Evans

Ingrid

Allison Cope

Melissa Miller

Kelly Griglione <--you're right here

Maureen Merritt