How excited am I to be this week's Color Throwdown Guest Designer?! Bloop bloop bloop!  The colors are coral, aqua and navy.  So nautical but lots of other possibilities too.


I started my card by diecutting the Lawn Fawn Speech Bubble Backdrop from Poptone Snow Cone cardstock.  I adhered it to the card base with Gina K Connect Glue.  I then stamped the Sunny Studio Best Fishes critters with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored them with Copics.
 

I sponged the Gina Marie Designs Fan Coral diecut with Distress Oxide Abandoned Coral.  The Memory Box Cheerful Crab is diecut from a Brushos leftover.

Once I determined my layout I stamped some Lawn Fawn Critter Chatter Pets sentiments with Distress Oxide Abandoned Coral. I love these!


And, of course, I had to add googly eyes.  I adhered these with Ranger Glossy Accents. 

Any Twilight fans out there?  I'm not one but I had to make this retirement card with that in mind.  A coworker has retired and they've moved to their vacation home in Forks, WA, where Twilight was based.  She's going to get such a kick out of this!


I sponged the card with Distress Oxide Mustard Seed, Blueprint Sketch, Ripe Persimmon, and Wilted Violet.  I spattered that with water. Once dry, I stamped the Whimsy Tree Swing image using VersaFine Onyx Black.  I used my MISTI in case I needed to repeat-stamp although I didn't.

Isn't the detail on that tree amazing?  Wowza!


I'm so glad I have the Whimsy Dracula Bite Me set as it had the perfect sentiment for my twilight pal!  That's stamped in VersaFine Onyx Black as well. So simple and tongue-in-cheek!

I'm sure you've been seeing many examples of the new Whimsy May release around. Well, here is my take on the Gnome Matter What set which is killer adorable!

I stamped the Gnome Matter What image using VersaFine Onyx Black on Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper.


I then masked it and sponged Distress Oxide Salty Ocean, Blueprint Sketch, Black Soot, Mustard Seed and Vintage Photo on the background. I spattered a bit of water and Copic Opaque white on the upper portion as stars.



I colored up the image using Zig Realbrush Watercolor Pens and added a few speckles with Copics.  The final touch was stamping the Gnome Matter What sentiment in Versamark and embossing it with Ranger White Super Fine Detail Embossing Powder. So cute!

Yay!  It's time for the Whimsy Stamps May release and it's bursting with cuteness (as usual!).  My card today features the new Dorky Dragon cling rubber stamp as well as the new Camouflage Background stamp.


I started the card by stamping the Camouflage Background onto the card base with Distress Oxide Twisted Citron. I thought it rather looked like the green of a field of flowers so I took the Speckled Heart Stencil and sponged it with Distress Oxide Candied Apple and Worn Lipstick to represent flowers.

I used the same colors to sponge a few flowers from the Build a Garden die set. I had some random yellow enamel dots in my stash that I used for the center of the flowers.  Love the added dimension and shine!




The last step was diecutting a circle using one of the stacked Pierced and Stitched Circle Dies and stamping a sentiment from the Gnome Matter What set in VersaFine Onyx Black.  Adorable!  This card just makes me smile and I hope it does you too!

I'm up on the Doodle Bugs blog today!

How could little ol' cat lover me NOT make a card like this? Punny and cute--win, win!

I started by diecutting and sponging the base layer. So bright and happy. I cut the fiesta from green paper but decided it need even more pop so I coated it with Glossy Accents.  I originally had a dot of Enamel Accents for the "i" but my cat had other ideas so the enamel heart covers some ugly.

I spent quite a bit of time working on the cat's shading. Quite pleased with how that turned out. Going to keep practicing adding those dark shadows on my other work.  What a fat little kitty now.

I'm entering this in Seize the Birthday without optional patterned paper, Time OUT #110, Simon Says Wednesday Use More Than One Stamp

The Details:  Hero Arts Cinco de Meow and Papel Picado Confetti die, MFT Fiesta die, Doodlebug Design Rainbow Hearts, Distress Oxide Twisted Citron, Squeezed Lemonade, and Picked Raspberry, Ranger Glossy Accents, Scor-Tape, Copics

And keep track of your sticky clear stamps! This card almost didn't get made because in typical Toni-fashion, I lost the sentiment for a long chunk of time. Finally found it stuck to a sticky dot on the back of a piece of paper in my recycle bin. Whew!

This idea came to me last weekend at a crafty shindig with my ladies (fun!) and then it occurred to me that maybe, just maybe, it could be a slider with minimal layering. YES! Notice that the Slide on Over die nests perfectly with the Road die? I just put a 1/16" strip of foam along both sides of the upper road to create enough room for the slider mechanism. I glued the slider cutaway to the bottom so it would look like a road regardless of where the card was at the time. Very cool!


I'm entering this in Tuesday Throwdown 335 Add Dimension, AAA 86 Diecuts, Simon Says Wednesday Use More Than One Die/Punch

The Details:  Lawn Fawn Slide on Over and Road Border dies, Distress Ink Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade, and Worn Lipstick, VersaFine Onyx Black, Memento Tuxedo Black, Love Cynthia Follow Your Heart and Let Your Heart Sing (sentiment), Copics

I have a coworker who is part of my grant submissions team that is leaving her position in January--we are so clucked!  LOL.  FYI I printed the sentiments using my laser printer.  I wish there was a stamp set that said all of these things and more!

I'm entering this in SIP #79 Anything but Christmas

The Details:  MFT The Whole Herd and Tiny Check 6x6 Paper, Copics, Lawn Fawn twine, Ranger Glossy Accents

Easy one layer card today.  I wanted to evoke a tropical sunset/Hawaiian shirt as I mean this for a retirement card.  I sponged various Memento and Distress inks on the masked off card and then used the MISTI to stamp the botanicals.  I used VersaFine so only had to stamp once.  That stuff has amazing coverage.  For the sentiment, I cobbled together my own as I only have one tiny retirement stamp.  I am loving the result!

Btw, over at the Happy Little Stampers CAS Challenge this month it's all about masking so why not stop by and join us?

The Details:  Distress Picked Raspberry, Spiced Marmalade, Mustard Seed, and Squeezed Lemonade, Memento Love Letter, VersaFine Onyx Black, Papertrey Ink 140lb white cardstock, Paper Smooches Botanicals 1 and 2, Mama Elephant Up and Away, Fiskars smile sentiment

I'm entering this in One-Layer Simplicity Challenge #19 Strip Down, Paper Smooches Sparks Anything Goes, and one new to me, Stamp Ink Paper Designer's Choice (anything goes)