Sending Love

Told ya I'd be back today with another post! Two posts, actually, as it's Wednesday and there's a new challenge at Whimsical Designs, which you can read all about here. :)

On to my project for Heartstring Designs today! Using a piece of Kraft cardstock and chipboard embellishments for their Summer Lovin' kit, I created a CAS card:

I created the background using Tim Holtz Distress Inks (I believe in Tumbled Glass, Broken China, and Pine Needles) and water. I put some ink in each color on wax paper, misted it with water, and then pressed my paper onto the wax paper to let it absorb the ink, then helped it dry using my heat gun. Super easy and fun technique! There's also some enamel dots on there from My Mind's Eye, and the 'sending love' sentiment is from Sweet Stamp Shop's "Packaged Pretty" stamp set.

As this is my last post for Heartstring Designs, I'd like to give a quick shout to Madge for giving me this awesome opportunity and thank the design team for being so warm and welcoming! It was truly a pleasure creating with your kit and being inspired by all your projects. :)

To the Beach!

Oh how I'd love to be on the beach right now! Especially after this unusually chilly summer weekend. At least crafting a summer project provides sort of a mental getaway, right? :)

I'm having such a good time guest designing for Heartstring Designs that not only do I have a project to share with you today, but I'll have another one tomorrow, too!

Today's project is a card featuring Peachy Keen Stamps and of course, items from the July Summer' Lovin kit!

Items from the kit include the light blue base paper, the anchor paper, and all the embellishments. The striped and patterned papers aren't from the kit, however they are from the same Fancy Pants line that is included by the kit, called Down by the Shore. Such a fun summer collection!

The octopus is just too excited to be headed to the beach! He's from Peachy Keen's June stamp set of the month, and I colored him with Copics Y11, Y13, Y17 and Y67. I'm also linking up this card to their photo inspiration challenge this week:

 Don't forget to check out the new Heartstring Designs Ning site, and stop back here tomorrow for another post using this month's fabulous kit!

With Liberty & Justice For All

Happy Tuesday! I'm back with another project for my guest designer stint at Heartstring Designs! This week I decided to create a couple of tags using their July bonus kit, which includes patriotic papers by Authentique!

I was so inspired by these gorgeous papers that I made not one, but two tags! All papers and stickers are from Authentique.

I used 3 Girl Jam crinkle ribbon to add the finishing touches to each tag.

I was a little intimidated by this paper collection at first since it's a bit vintage for my style, but it really started to grow on me when I was making the tags! I'll definitely be saving my leftover scraps to make more 4th of July projects next summer.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

First PL Layout & Exciting News!

Happy Tuesday! Today I am SUPER excited to announce that I'm the July guest designer for Heartstring Designs! This is my first time working with a kit club and so far I'm loving it! 

If you've never heard of Heartstring Designs, they're a monthly kit club and provide an awesome kit every month for great price! You can read more about them on their About Us page, and even visit their brand new Ning site, where you just might learn a little about me, too!

Now, on to my first guest designer project using July's Summer Lovin' kit! A few of you may know that I'm planning on starting Project Life next month when I move. My poor Jade collection kit has been sitting all alone waiting for me to start playing with it! This weekend I finally got to do that when I put together my FIRST Project Life layout using a few cards from the Jade edition, and lots of goodies from the Summer Lovin' kit!

Here's an overview of the whole layout - I'm really proud of it! Even though Project Life is made to be simple, I've seen so many great pages that the thought of making my own was a bit intimidating, but I'm really happy with how it turned out! Now for some close-ups... 

I used the striped Simple Stories card from the kit to document the weather for the week, we're headed into a bit of a heat wave! I printed off a screenshot from my iPhone and added some Thickers and a chipboard embellishment from Simple Stories. 

I documented one of my bike rides (something I've been doing a lot of this summer) using a bi-fold card from the Jade kit and a chipboard bicycle also from Simple Stories. I even got to use my date stamp for the first time, woo hoo!

I journaled a tiny bit about an ice cream date with my sister using a Jade card and a cute little ice cream cone chipboard embellishment from Simple Stories. 

The polka dot card is from Simple Stories (love it!) and I took a picture of my book and sunglasses out on the chair where I read on our patio. The fabric tape and the chipboard sun are from the Summer Lovin' kit, and I used more sparkly Thickers to spell out 'relax.'  

Putting together this page has got me feeling super excited to start doing this on a weekly basis and sharing my layouts with you! I'm hoping to have a regular Project Life feature on my blog towards the end of August. :)

Check back next Tuesday for another guest designer project using more awesome supplies from the Summer Lovin' Kit by Heartstring Designs!

Heartstring Designs Mustache Challenge!

Happy Monday! I had some extra time last week, and thought it'd be fun to play along with the current mustache challenge going on at Heartstring Designs! I'll admit I never hopped on the mustache bandwagon, but I still had a great time coming up with a card for the challenge!

It had to be inspired by this sketch, and be masculine while featuring a mustache:

Here's my take on it:

I LOVED working with this sketch! I love all the detail it has. Papers are from the Fancy Pants "Swagger" collection, which worked perfectly for this challenge!

The #1 and "You're Amazing" stamps are both from Close to My Heart, and the DAD letters are some alpha stickers from my stash. The gears are by Tim Holtz, and I added some green pearls to bring out the green in the polka dot paper. I also added a strip of crinkle ribbon from 3 Girl Jam.

To give the card a more "manly" feel, I distressed and tore the edges of the paper. Distress Inks I used include Chipped Sapphire, Pumice Stone, Walnut Stain, and Broken China. 

If you have a mustache fetish this challenge is perfect for you! One random winner will receive 3 rolls of washi tape AND a special mustache surprise. :)

Thanks for stopping by!