Concord & 9th - Feature Friday with Banners and a Turnabout

 

Hi Friends! So excited to share that I'll be guest designing for Concord & 9th this month! I've loved this company and their products since day one, and they've only gotten better. The assorted cardstock pack and ink colors have just the best colors, and wouldn't you know they're on sale now!?!

 

But let's talk about the new March release! The new In the Garden Turnabout Stamp is a wonderfully Springy design that just makes you want to dust off all your gardening tools.

And how about the word banner from Banner Builder Too Bundle? Love all the sentiment combinations, and it's a great addition to the first Banner Builder set if you have that. Those adorable flowers are part of the Friendship Garden Bundle die set and make a nice way to jazz up a sentiment.

The little doily underneath is from the Grateful You Bundle. It's a circle die, but to make it stretch and fill the card more I cut the white circle in half and extended it under the green circle.

Here's a "sweet" baby card featuring the sentiment with the Banner Builder Too Bundle. And why have one sentiment when you can have THREE?! This is a frankenstein sentiment with parts of three different phrases: 

- happy easter BLESSINGS
- WELCOME SWEET BABY
- know that YOU'RE LOVED

Once I had the sentiments all stamped, I joined both of the background banners to make one giant banner going all the way down the card.

The two-toned background cardstock gets some nice texture with the Stitched Vines Cover Plate. I think these stitched designs are always perfect for baby cards - they're so delicate and sweet. 

 

Hope you liked my first Feature Friday with the new March release from Concord & 9th! I'll be back for a couple more times over the next two weeks with more goodies, so stay tuned : )

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

- Kelly

 

 

Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks so much for your support!)

 

In the Garden Turnabout Stamp

 Banner Builder Too Bundle

Friendship Garden Bundle

Grateful You Bundle

Magnolia Messages Bundle

Simply You Bundle

 Stitched Vines Cover Plate

 

Cardstock Pack

Ink Pads Bundle

American Gothic and a Thirtieth Birthday Card with Essentials by Ellen New Release

 

Hi Friends! I've got two very different cards from the latest Ellen Hutson Release! This first one is channeling the classic American Gothic painting by using several of the Bear Ware 2 barn accessories (the dress, overalls lol, glasses, barn). And then of course the punny sentiment from Bear Ware Dress Up Sentiments - May the Fork Be With You

All these fun accessories really make the "painting" jump out of it's frame (stamped with the woodgrain from Rustic Woodgrain. I had the pitchfork literally outside of the frame, as that's the piece that relates to the sentiment.

The bushes in the background, and the clouds under the sentiment, are made with the organic shapes in the new Abstract Nature stamp set.

I think this would be a really fun card for a younger, or older, guy, with the Star Wars reference.

Here's another fun one, this time for a thirtieth birthday! This one is just a matter of diecutting all the alphas and arranging them on your card. 

Popping the alphas on some chipboard makes a difference.

The new release includes the Classic Block Numbers and Symbols die set, which is great for birthdays and for making your sentiments a little more custom. The exclamation mark really came in handy to fill up an empty space at the end of the last line. 

That's all from me today! Have a look at the new release if you're interested, and thanks for stopping by!
- Kelly

Pinkfresh Studio February 2022 Stamp, Die, Stencil, and Hot Foil Release

Hello Friends! We have another gorgeous release from Pinkfresh Studio including several stamp/die/stencil/hot foil sets, a gorgeous slimline set, and several wonderfully textured stand-alone coverplates (staples for backgrounds).

I went a little nuts (ok, fine, I was in overdrive) over one set in particular, and you'll see several 5 different ways to use this set in this post!

You may have come from the blog of Karin Hogger, but if not feel  free to start at the beginning of this hop with Pinkfresh Studio.

Songbirds on Branches Stamp

This is the set I couldn't put down, Songbirds on Branches. I love that it's so versatile - you can use it to cover the whole card, use portions of it, use it in die form, etc. And the sweet focus of the two birds looking at each other can be used for love cards, friendship, marriage/anniversary, miss you, so many occasions.

Here are 5 different ways to use this set!

#1 As Intended

Not everything has to be clever when you sit down to create. When you have a solid set like this, there's no need to over complicate things - just use it as it's intended and you have a wonderful card. For this first card, and to "warm up" to the set, I just started grabbing colors with my stencils and blended away on the stamped image.

The only thing "extra" is did was try to expand on the foiled sentiment of Let's Connect with a tiny foiled heart in between the birds. 

#2 Inlay a Die

This is similar to the first card, with an additional step after stamping and blending color onto the image, and that's to inlay a die or set of dies. I put the Stitched Scallop Rectangle Dies over the panel and then raised them with additional layers of the stitched scallop dies.

I was inspired by the beautiful antique blue and white transferware plates, as I thought this was reminiscent of one of those patterns. So that's why I stuck to only shades of blue for the coloring. It was actually very freeing - no tough choices to make!

The inlay detail, especially all the scallops, echoes the ridges of the transferware plates.

#3 Use a Portion

No need to use the whole design, feature just the focal point to get a different look! Here I placed the Essentials Ornate Oval Die Set over the two birds, and now you focus more on them vs. all the leaves. You can also center the design this way.

I used one of the new rubber cling sets, the Spark of Goodness Stamp, on the background panel as a sort of "replacement" for the leaves background. 

Love the detail on the birds with just the two different colors. This sentiment is just one of the many fabulous phrases that comes in the Lily Frame Stamp set (along with a frame of lilies, and two main words Friend and Thanks!)

#4 Feature the Die

A nice option that you can use is the coordinating Songbirds and Branches Die. This will cut out the birds and the branches they are on, as well as the plain branches if you want to use them or save them for another project like I have. Using these dies allows you to swap out the background entirely for a different color, a different pattern, or a different texture like with this new Floral Grid Coverplate. 

It also lets you add a shape, like these Stitched Shaker Hearts. Love when I can tie in the sentiment with features of the card - "There couldn't be a person with a more generous HEART." Another winning sentiment from Pinkfresh, as opposed to "thank you"!

#5 Layer the Die

Yet another option is to make the panel as intended, and then layer on die pieces to give it more dimension. How about more uncommon sentiments?! "Good people deserve good things" - YES!

These blue branches on top are the ones left over from my last card, and compliment the yellow/brown leaves on the panel. It forms a nice little canopy for these two birds. The Matte Gold Pearls fill in the spaces. 

Songbirds on Branches Stamp

Thanks so much for going through all the cards with me! I hope you got to see how versatile this Songbirds on Branches Stamp set is, maybe sparked some ideas for yourself, and also found some different color combinations for the birds/leaves!  

GIVEAWAYS:

We will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel!! We will also be giving away a total of TEN $25  gift cards, so comment along the hop for more chances to win. The winners will be posted on March 8, 2022 on the GIVEAWAY PAGE, so check back and claim any prize within 2 weeks. GOOD LUCK!!

I'd like to send you now to the blog of Koren Wiskman, who has some delightful projects to share with you!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Thanks so much for stopping by!
-Kelly

Supplies used (thanks so much for clicking your support!)

Songbirds on Branches Stamp

Songbirds and Branches Die

Songbirds and Branches Layering Stencils

Songbirds and Branches Hot Foil Plate

Lily Frame Stamp

Spark of Goodness Stamp

Hearts and Stars Coverplate

Daisy Chain Coverplate

Floral Grid Coverplate

 

Free Shipping Days For Colorado Craft Company!

Oh Happy Days! Free shipping at Colorado Craft Company!!  Any purchases on February 12th or 13th will qualify for free shipping (including the new release items!)

Here's the code you'll need to use: FREESHIPPINGKG

I shared two of the mice cards in the blog hop on Thursday, here's the third card:

Adorbs! The little mouse is teetering on the carnation tea cup so he can stretch just a bit more to say "hi!"

Love how this sentiment, which also comes in the Tea Cups and More Stamp Set, fits perfect around the mouse and the tea cup, with the tail even snaking in between words.

Sure hope you find some sets to take home over these two free shipping days!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kelly

Supplies Used (affiliate links, thanks so much!)

Teacups and Mice Stamps

Teacups and Mice Dies

New Colorado Craft Company Release!

 

Hello Friends! Exciting news, there's a brand new line debuting at Colorado Craft Company today! Kris Laurent of Pretty Little Lines has illustrated several new stamp sets with coordinating dies. I think you are going to love her style ... cute but not overly cutsey. And lots of florals. Here's one of the sets, Best Friends Forever.

Best Friends Forever Stamps

You can see there's a swag of flowers that I doubled up to form a wreath. The die set is super versatile, as there's a die for the outside of the swag, and a completely seperate die for the inside of the swag. I chose to use both here, but you could totally use just the outside die to create a fun flap. 

I have a circular piece of vellum in the middle of the wreath, with the little heart sprigs and die cut sentiment adhered on. Love using the smaller coordinating pieces in a set, like these heart sprigs.

Here's a quick peek at the back. I cut another layer of the florals in cardstock to make the wreath more stable. The tab on the stand is adhered behind the sentiment area so it's not visible from the front. I kept the stand from sliding down by running some gold thread through a hole I punched and knotted the end. It's a cute and easy-to-do detail.

Another adorable set is the Teacup and Mice Stamps. This set has three different mice who can interact with three different teacup/flowers. I love this little guy's expression. It really looks like he's saying whatever sentiment you're going to put on your card. This sentiment is included in the set.

My kids alwasy save me the little doillies that restaurants put underneath their cups (so cute) and I've used one here for a little table cloth for the tea cup. You might notice the vellum LOVE letters layered behind, those are from the new Sitting Gnomes Dies set.

Here are those cute LOVE dies again. I "love" how they're just the right size to overlap a bit and span the entire card. I've used a different little mouse guy, who's holding a tiny heart on his tail (also included with the love dies).

I modified the sentiment from the mouse set a bit. It actually has an exclaimation point after the "Just wanted to say you're amazing" but I changed that into a comma so it now reads "Just wanted to say you're amazing, love" 

What's a release without a little giveaway? Each designer on the hop will be giving away $25 gift card to the shop. Just leave a comment along the way. Winners will be picked and announced February 15th. Good luck! 

You may have initially come from the blog of Kassi Hulet, but if not, feel free to start at the beginning with Adrienne Kennedy CCC. I am now pleased to send you to Nichol Spohr who's got some wonderful projects to delight you with!

Thanks so much for stopping by!
Kelly

 

Supplies Used (affiliate links used, thanks so much!)

Sitting Gnomes Dies

Teacups and Mice Stamps

Teacups and Mice Dies

Best Friends Forever Stamps

Best Frieds Forever Dies