concertina cards with new pinkfresh!

Hello Lovelies! Welcome to the Pinkfresh Studio September Stamp hop! I won't bore you with "small talk" haha, but let me just say thank you to Pinkfresh for inviting me to join in the fun today! I'm so flattered and I'm having such a good time! Thank you Pinkfresh! Ok, let's talk stamps!!!

The new release is awesome but I found myself most enchanted with the Festive Llama stamps & dies. He's just so cute, I wanna snuggle him!

And he's perfect for the concertina/accordion cards!

The easiest concertina card to make is a 3-panel accordion made from a 5-1/2 x 12 piece of cardstock, scored at 4 & 8 inches.

I decorated the front with watercolor over embossed gifts and a "belly band" to hold it closed.

When the belly band is removed, the card opens to reveal a stamped stack of gifts and a circular window.

The final panel has watercolored llama on a wobble. He's like a dancing llama, hahaha!

I created a second card inspired by the stacks of presents. It's a 4 x 12 panel, scored at 4 and 8 inches.

The stamps are created to be easy to stack without needing to mask. I purposely spaced mine apart and at angles for a little extra whimsy. I also added lots of Nuvo Drops...glitter on the gifts and white for the pom-poms.

And I love shaped cards so I used partial die cutting to create an accordion line of llamas and hearts.

I feel like I've barely gotten started with these adorable stamps, I certainly have at least 2 more llama cards I *need* to make! So follow me on Instagram to see more and don't forget about the hop prizes! One random and very lucky commenter will win the whole release so make sure to leave a comment at each blog hop stop to enter! And enter before 11:59pm CST on Monday October 2nd 2017.

I'm the last stop on the hop but here's the whole list in case you missed anything...

Pinkfresh Studio Blog
Amy Tsuruta
Rebecca Luminarias
Elena Roussakis
Isha Gupta
Laura Contoni-Bassen
May Sukyong Park
Julia Stainton
Amy Kolling
Carly Tee Minner

Happy Monday!
Carly

hopping with Altenew!

Today we are hopping with our friends at Altenew to celebrate the release of the latest United We Flourish stamps & die set, Poppy Fields!

This is such a beautiful set, with some stunning (and signature) Altenew layering. Today I want to share Poppy Fields with 4 of my favorite mediums...

#1. Altenew Crisp Inks

The Altenew ink families make layering pretty much a no brainer! I used the Blush, Rouge and Crimson from the Red Sunset mini cube set and added a navy color from Memento - Paris Dusk. A little layering tip from me, start from the inside and work out. I find it much easier to line things up correctly if I stamp the smallest piece, like the poppy center, and work out to the piece that is really considered the "background".

#2. Distress Inks

This card started with a messy watercolor background using Abandoned Coral & Carved Pumpkin. I stamped the outline poppy in Paris Dusk and colored it with Distress Markers - Abandoned Coral, Worn Lipstick and Carved Pumpkin.

#3. Distress Oxides

This is a technique I love and I feel like this photo doesn't really do it justice, resist with Distress Oxide. I created a messy oxide background using Abandoned Coral and Spiced Marmalade. When it was dry, I stamped the middle poppy layer in Abandoned Coral, stamped the poppy background over it in VersaMark and embossed with clear powder (and the sentiment too). And then everything got covered in a wash of Salty Ocean.

#4. Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers

And I think the Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers are basically always a good idea! They are so vibrant and fun to use!

Thanks so much for hopping by! Your next stop is the amazing Lydia Evans' blog! Prepare to be seriously WOW-ed! And make sure you stop by The Classroom too because there are prizes! 4 randomly selected commenters will win a gift certificate!

Have a great day!
Carly 

1 new honey bee stamp, 3 cards & bunches of talented makers!

Fall brings some of my favorite things like sweaters & pumpkin spice, an excess of fun-sized Halloween candy and some awesome new crafty products from some of my favorite companies like Honey Bee Stamps!

I'm thrilled to be hopping along with my friends at Honey Bee to celebrate their gorgeous fall release! You should be arriving here from Brenda Noelke's blog and before you hop onto Emily Midgett's, I want to share 3 cards I have created with one of my favorite new Honey Bee sets, Gather Together.

This sweet little group of critters has my heart in a big way! And I love the sentiments included like "families are like fudge mostly sweet with a few nuts" or the sentiments you can build like "friends are the family we choose ourselves". Both things are so true!!! And again, those sweet little critter faces! 

In fact, I love those critters so much, I started by just stamping them in black off the bottom edge of my card.

I used two colors of Distress Oxide to stamp "hello", then added a few splatters and a few coral touches to the critters, like their noses and flowers.

The second thing I couldn't wait to try was some loose Copic coloring, the kind that always reminds me of storybooks. I chose bright, primary-ish colors and colored carefully so my coloring would look loose, a bit messy and not meet all the edges. Who knew it would be hard to look messy! LOL!

Lastly, I did some selective stamping and watercoloring practice. I say practice because as you can see, it's certainly not perfect but I think I'm getting better.

To stamp just bunny, teddy & foxy, I applied Antique Linen Distress Markers to just the three of them and stamped on smooth Bristol watercolor paper.

I scribbled my markers onto a clean acrylic block to use a as palette and watercolored.

Thanks so much for stopping by and making it to the end of this post, LOL! I know it was a long one. Hop on over to Emily's blog and have so much fun!

And there's prizes too! Be sure to visit each blog on the hop & leave a comment! Honey Bee will be giving away TWO $50 gift cards to the Honey Bee Stamps store. (Winners will be posted on our blog Monday, September 25th.)

Hugs!
Carly

no peeking shaker card

I adore the sassy "It's Coal" from the new No Peeking set! I like sass and I had these adorable little charcoal sequins from Pretty Pink Posh just begging to be made into a shaker card!

I started with the rectangle from the Essentials by Ellen Mini Windows die set to create a flap on an A2 panel of smooth bristol cardstock.

I masked around the window flap and inked it with Distress Ink Spun Sugar & Worn Lipstick.

Then I added polka dots because they are my favorite "color", haha!

I inked the front of my card with the same pinks and the back of the window flap so everything would be PINK!

Next I added the sentiments, "No Peeking" under the window flap and "It's Coal" on the card front where the window will open.

Acetate and foam tape behind the window flap created the shaker and a little rectangle & bow on the front turned the flap into a gift. And I love it!

If you haven't picked up the No Peeking set for yourself, I suggest you go right now! And fair warning, I'm about to be a big time enabler...

This weekend is the perfect time to treat yourself because there is a 20% stamp sale at EH...

Hugs!

Carly

right at home abstract florals = unicorns?

Well of course they do! I'm guesting over at Right At Home today talking about how I used the yummy RAH Abstract Florals to create unicorns.

Come on over!

xo, Carly

a card & a treat box in one!

I love Halloween! A holiday that basically revolves around candy, yes please!!! And as much as I love to receive (and eat) candy, I like to give little treats too!

Today I want to share a card that says "Happy Halloween" and gives a treat!

I started with the Stamp Witch's super cool tutorial for a diorama card and I added a tray to slip inside and hold treats.

To create the card, cut a piece of cardstock to 5-1/2 x 10-7/8. Score at 3/8, 3-5/8, 4, 7-1/4 and 7-5/8.

Die cut a circle "window" from the 2nd panel (not the first 3/8 section but the first 3-1/4 panel...does that make sense?) Decorate the last panel (on the right) as desired. I used stars from the Essentials by Ellen Got Candy set.

Create the tray that will go inside by cutting cardstock to 3-3/4 x 6. I used Bazzill Circus Peanut orange. Score at 3/8 inch from left, rotate 90 degrees and score again, etc, etc.

Cut the score lines on the left & right to create tabs. Fold up and adhere to make a tray.

Stamp, die cut and color little critters to decorate. I used the bear from the All Inside set and friends & accessories from the too-cute-for-words Bear Ware 2 set. 

Adhere a piece of acetate in the circle window cut from the card base. And adhere all little critters before folding up and adhering card base.

And the best part, add candy! The tray is only 3/8 inch deep so flat-ish things work best like fun size Skittles and M&M's. Sadly (and rather unbelievably) there wasn't any Halloween candy in my house yet so I used fruit snacks. And yes I eat fruit snacks, LOL!

A little bit of washi makes a great way to pull the tray out of the card (but its also easy to push it out from the bottom).

Thank you for stopping by!

Hugs!
Carly

supplies:
Essentials By Ellen Stamps, Got Candy
Essentials By Ellen Stamps, All Inside
Essentials By Ellen Stamps, Bear Ware 2
Essentials By Ellen Dies, All Inside
Essentials By Ellen Dies, Bear Ware 2
Lawn Fawn Circle Stackables
Memento Ink Pad Tuxedo Black
Copic T1, T2, T4, E01, G14, Y17, YR16
Solar White Cardstock
Bazzill Circus Peanuts Cardstock
Scor-Pal