Beary Belated Birthday Card

 I am a terrible procrastinator when it comes to mailing out anything... which I know is very weird for a cardmaker. Is it just me? Or do you all have lots of fun making cards and then never can seem to pop them in the mail in a timely manner? 

This card was designed for my uber talented cardmaking friend, Kevin Bray. Seriously, go check out his blog, you'll be amazed by his creativity. He also has a rockin' Insta account. For the most part, I'd say Kevin and I have pretty opposite styles of cardmaking - he's an amazing colorist with a knack for getting cute, clean cards absolutely perfect. I'm a mixed media card artist who colors up a white spot with a single brush of a finger.

Anyhow, I wanted to send him a card for his birthday... which was in July I think... (I know, I already disclosed how terrible I am as a human being).

But I didn't want to design any ordinary card, I wanted to design an uber cute card and try to be as clean as I'm capable of. 

I pulled out all my sunny Faber Castell gelato colors and cut out a bunch of hexagons, because I was using this adorable little bear and bee stamp set, so I thought it fit the brief.

I die cut the hexes and smudged them with different color gelatos then layered them all together in the background of the card.

I created an even bigger hex for my focal panel and colored this adooooooorable bear from the Studio Katia Kobi the Birthday Bear stamp set. Then I stamped little bees all around and glittered up the wings (photos suck for glitter). 

In the end, it's probably not clean, but it IS super cute so *brushes shoulders*. I hope it made someone very happy three months after their birthday. 

I am so rude. 

 

I'm going to link this up to Cute Card Thursday's Dies and Punches challenge and NBUS challenge because this whole stamp set has never been used.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stenciled Backgrounds & Paper Pieced Flowers

Today, I'm up on the STAMPlorations Blog with a little tutorial on how to make this card.  

The tutorial has some super fun ways to use up leftovers by creating your own artsy patterned paper with stencils and Distress Oxide inks. 

Vibrant & fun! I would be remiss if I didn't mention where the inspiration from my card came from. The moment I laid eyes on the inspiration image for The Card Concept, I just knew I needed to dream up something. 

Thanks for popping by and go take a peek over at STAMPlorations! 

Cupcakes and Sprinkles!

What is the haze like in your neck of the woods? I am smack dab in the middle of the country, but our sun is a bright orange, veiled by a gray smoke. If it's this bad here, I can't imagine what it's like where the wildfires are raging. My heart goes out to those of you who are impacted and on the west coast. 

Whilst living in the cover of darkness, I thought it would be the perfect time to spend a moment in my craft room. I'm popping in quickly to share my make. 

My stash of birthday cards is running quite low and so I thought I'd stock up my stash this weekend. Seize the Birthday is running a die cut challenge, so I looked at my magnetic wall and found a fun die I haven't used in a bit. 

I don't craft with die cuts very often as a main focal point, but what better way to stretch your crafty muscles than to try something out of your comfort zone? I found some lovely patterned papers and used the Cupcake Builder #1 set from STAMPlorations to get to work building layers. 

I find mixing and matching patterns both relaxing and challenging, but I loved the way all these patterns wound up. To finish off my card, I added some beads for "sprinkles". 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Celebrate! STAMPlorations turns 5!

5 years.

We're celebrating 5 years of one of the most generous, lovely, and amazing stamp companies out there - STAMPlorations is turning 5!!

And what would be a celebration without a little bit of a party?! This month, the STAMPlorations is offering up some pretty sweet swag if you party along with us

In honor of the shindig, we're all sharing our favorite creations we've made for STAMP along the way. 

I'll start with a brand new card, created just for this celebration.

 Products used: A Snarky Birthday to You | Celebrate word die

We're also sharing our top 3 cards we've ever made while on the design team. 

I'll start with this card.

First of all - look at that great photography. (haha, I'm joking of course). 
But this card is the one that started it all. Nearly 3 years ago, Shery Russ, the owner of STAMPlorations, took a chance on little ol' me and added me to her design team. The card above is the one I submitted for my call and it will ALWAYS have a special place in my heart. Right now, it sits on a shelf in my studio, reminding me daily just how fortunate and blessed I am. 

Next up? 

This little number, created with a stamp set I designed just for STAMPlorations called Wonderful Life. I love the happiness embedded into the bright colors, and this picture is actually my facebook cover photo, too!

Lastly, I chose this one. 

I've learned a LOT from Shery over the past couple of years, like how to layer on stencils in a background to create a rich design with tons of depth. This card above is the perfect example of her influence!

 So now - it's time to party!! Hop on over to the blog for all the celebration details.

$500 in prizes! You read that right. 50% off flash sales. FREEBIES, PEOPLE!

Llama Tell You - Stamp Release + PRIZES

YOU GUYS! Errrrm... ok you (mostly) GALS! There's a new stamp set on the block and it's all sorts of adorable fun. 

Yours truly just designed a new stamp set for STAMPlorations called Llama Tell You. Who doesn't love a party animal?! Hehe - sorry I just thought I'd throw in one more pun for you. 

And there are **PRIZES** at stake so pay attention! 

The card above was inspired by the sketch at Sketch Saturday 

Not only am I giving away one of these stamp sets personally to someone who leaves a comment on my blog or the other two designers who made cards for this hop, STAMPlorations is giving away a $25 gift card to one of of the lucky commenters, too!

So come on over and party hearty with us! 

P.S. This week all of the Big Grins by Becca Cruger stamp sets are 10% off, and you can also get an extra 20% off by using the code STAMPGIRLBECCA at checkout. Pretty nifty. 

Start hopping here! 

You can find Llama Tell You in the STAMPstore. 

Happy Birthday Artsy Masculine Card

Hi Friends!
It's a brand new month and that means a brand new challenge over at STAMPlorations Theme & Sketch.

I'm not usually a 1-layer card kind of girl, so when I saw this sketch, I was a little intimidated.

For this challenge, you can either use the theme OR the sketch OR both. It's really up to you. :)

I faced my fears head on and decided to tackle the sketch. I pulled out some funky little gear shapes from the Artsy Tribal Doodles set and stamped away using Distress Inks. 

Once I had the stamps alinged, I used some Distress Spray stains and dabbed them on, spritzing them with water so they bled onto my card. 

I added a sentiment using the CUTplorations Celebrate Word Die and some little Tim Holtz sticker sentiments to complete the look. 

If you want to check out any of the products I used, or wind up adding anything from the STAMPstore to a shopping cart, make sure to use code STAMPGIRLBECCA for 20% off your purchase. woot! 

I hope you'll go check out the Theme & Sketch challenge and play along this month. You could win some AWESOME prizes. 

Seize the Birthday Surprise Party Guest

That's right, folks, you get not one - but TWO - lovely postings from me today. 

That's because I'm the Surprise Party Guest for Seize the Birthday's latest challenge. 

I'm so thrilled to be playing along with their uber talented team again. 

For the "toppings" this go round, they want you to create a card using a kraft base. But don't worry, if you don't feel like getting krafty, you can just create ANY kind of card with a birthday theme and still link up. 

I wanted to play with my new Feathery stamp set from STAMPlorations (available for 20% off in the STAMPstore by using code STAMPGIRLBECCA) so I pulled out a sheet of vellum and got to embossing. 

To give my kraft background a little pop of texture and dimension, I used some Ranger Texture Paste through a Winnie & Walter stencil. 

I loved the sketch put out by CAS Colors and Sketches this week and used the heck out of it. 

Taaadaaaa here's my full card.

I'm also going to play along at:
Crafty Gals Corner - anything goes
Simon Says Stamp Wednesday - anything goes


Thanks for popping by! Now go check out the rest of the awesome creators over at Seize the Birthday!

Seize the Birthday Guest - Text Background

I'm kicking it old school with the ladies at Seize the Birthday challenge as their surprise party guest and I had so much fun playing along in their latest challenge.

I love a good card with an old-timey vintagey feel to it, so when I read that the new challenge was to use a text/script background I was all sorts of happy. 

I stamped some gorgeous poppies from a Penny Black stamp set and watercolored it in using some Dina Wakely Scribble Sticks. 

I used some black and tan damask paper as well as some vintagey text paper for my background.

My card was also inspired by the sketch challenge going on at The Paper Players right now. 

I'm also going to play along in:
Craft Rocket Challenges - Something beginning with "F" (flower)


There is some gorgeous inspiration up at the Seize the Birthday blog and you all should go check it out!! 

SURPRISE Party Guest - Seize the Birthday

Awwwwww was I EVER flattered beyond belief when Nancy Leppeck of Scrapper@Heart reached out to me and asked me to be a surprise party guest for Seize the Birthday.

I've always admired Nancy's design aesthetic AND her incredibly lovely comments so of course my answer was a hearty HECK YES!

I don't know about you, but I'm always, always running out of birthday cards to send out. Playing along in Seize the Birthday's challenges on the regular keeps me in stock (mostly) with fancy-dancy birthday cards of all types.

 

Each week, they come up with new "Toppings" (challenge theme) to use for your designs. You don't necessarily have to use the toppings to play along though - any birthday card works. 

This week's toppings are BALLOONS and so I pulled out my trusty STAMPlorations A Snarky Birthday to You stamp set and inked up the balloons. 

I snagged the sketch from Just for Fun Rubber Stamps sketch challenge to inspire my design.

 

I hope you'll head on over to Seize the Birthday and check out the rest of the AMAZING inspiration!

Growing in Unity Gal - Guest Designer

The first time I ever laid eyes on a Unity stamp, I fell in love with the sketchy, pretty designs. My aunt is a Unityaholic and she let me use some of her stamps while I was slowly growing my own collection. 

It seems like Unity is always having one sale or another and my wallet complains to me every time I go check out their deals (but my heart rejoices... so suck it, wallet!) 

This week, I get the opportunity to be a guest designer for Unity *happy dances* and I'll be sharing a new design every day this week! 

I haven't played much with my Distress Inks lately - gasp! - so I remedied that but doing some Distress Ink watercoloring. 

I stamped a floral arrangement from the First Friend, Best Friend, Forever set. Next, I smooshed three different colors of pinks onto my craft mat, then used a wet paintbrush to pick up the ink.

This is why I love Distress Inks - you can stamp with them, but you can also do so many different techniques like watercoloring. 

I also used some Distress blues and greens to color in the leaves and water. 

 

Since I had a lot of color left over on my craft mat after I was done watercoloring my image, I used the Distress Ink double dipping technique to marble a piece of paper. 

 I layered my focal image with black, white, and bits of gold, adding in a strip of my marbled panel. I finished it off by stamping a sentiment from the For the Guys stamp set. 

This whole design was inspired by the latest challenge at If you Give a Crafter a Cookie. 

I loved the combo of patterns and colors going on and HAD to try to replicate that on a card

I'm also going to enter my card over at Seize the Birthday. I'm not using the Aqua/Green optional toppings, but I wanted to play along anyhow. 

Also, if you're feeling like leaving some extra bloggy love today go check out my fellow GIU gal for the week - Rebecca Wong Pui Yee. Who doesn't love a Rebecca?! 

And make sure you leave a comment on my blog!! Unity is giving away two stamp sets to those of you who are kind enough to drop some lines below! 

Happy Birthday Interactive Card

I can't believe it's Thursday already! Where has the week gone?! I don't know what's going on with my crafty mojo lately, but all it's letting me do is create fairly clean-line cards. GASP!!!

Luckily, I'm liking the end results, mostly. 

This latest creation is inspired by the new Fusion challenge - which went live TODAY!! 

If you haven't played along at Fusion before, well guess what?! How you want to play is in YOUR hands! You can choose either the inspiration image or the sketch... or you can mash 'em all together and use both! Boom! Choices! 
 
I loved that teal and pencil color combo, and broke out these adorable little library card holders from American Crafts that I've been hoarding since the dawn of time. 

I pulled out my big ol' box of embellies and just started miscellaneously sticking things wherever I wanted to. PLOP! Chipboard stars. PLOP! An arrow tag I purchased from the Target Dollar Spot. PLOP! Washi tape. 

Maybe I should have titled this post the PLOP card... 

My favorite thing is that this card is interactive. When you pull out the center panel, you can see the full sentiment, which is from the Verve Wishing You sentiment stamp set.

I also took my inspiration from Paper Play Sketches latest sketch.

Cheers! And I hope you all come play along with us at Fusion!