thank ewe (with Elena)

Hi there!

I have a simple and sweet card to share today, on my last day as part of the Neat and Tangled design team:



I used images from Barnyard Buddies and G.O.A.T., from our newest release, and added a little sign to house the sentiment (from Beach Day.)

The sweet blue and white gingham on the card base set the tone for the soft card I wanted to create. I colored the images with copic markers, and filled in the gaps between images with tufts of green grass.



A huge thank you to Danielle for allowing me to part of her Neat and Tangled team for the last 3 years, and to everyone who has brought my designs into their craft rooms - I am so grateful!

♥.

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Fairy best friends with Elena

Hi there!

Elena here, with a sweet friendship card using images from To The Stars, from our newest release.



I did the softest ink blended sky using Lawn Fawn's Mermaid ink and an oval makeup brush. Honestly, those brushes make it too easy! It's foolproof.

Then, I flicked some white paint onto the sky, to give it a dreamier quality before laying in the clouds and fairies.



I gave the girls matching hair colors and outfits, and finished off the card with a sentiment from So Many Sentiments.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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Eggstra special with Elena

Hi there!

Elena here, with a card that's a little... eggstra:

I started out by stamping the main bunny-and-egg image from Eggciting 2 times. I kept one intact, but cut the egg away from the bunny for the 2nd. It takes the 2 bunnies to haul this giant egg!

I paper-pieced the egg-wrapper for a different look, stamping the image onto floral patterned paper, trimming out that section, and over-laying it onto the die-cut egg.

The sentiment was borrowed from an older set that I illustrated, Eggstra Special. That egg is definitely a little extra!

For one final touch, I brought in the butterfly and dotted trail line from All The Bunnies.  I love how it connects the sentiment to the large egg.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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Jump for joy (with Elena)

Hi there!

Our newest release hit the store this past Friday, and I have another card to share using a brand new set, Jump For Joy. It features images that I illustrated, and some of my favorite sentiments ever.

I kept this card very clean and white, with the only pops of color coming from the critters and the grassy hills (made using the Stitched Slopes dies). I positioned the jumping hedgehog so that he is having a sweet moment with the raccoon. I just think they are too cute like this!

I created a chunky outer frame for my card and stamped the sentiment at the bottom, just like a picture frame. The tiny little heart place between the raccoon and hedgie reinforce the sentiment perfectly. 

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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an elephant tutorial with Elena

Hi there!

Elena here with a little tutorial on how to stretch your stamps. The newest release features this sweet elephant, but I want to show you how to remove the swinging girl so that the elephant can be used on his own.

First of all, you need to ink up your stamp, but wipe away the part of the trunk where the string is:

Next, you will want to die cut the image:

For the last step, you'll need to use a black pen (I used a copic multi-liner pen so that I could safely use copic markers to color the elephant afterwards) to draw in the missing lines.

Then, with just a few scissor snips, you can break the elephant free from his swinging duties:

It's a simple way to be able to use your elephant in a new way! I have him blowing hearts for Valentine's Day, and the XOXO sentiment from Just Because sends extra hugs and kisses to the recipient.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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reindeer family fun with Elena

Hi there!

Elena here, with a Christmas card that mixes a few sets to create a family of winter deer:

I started out by stamping out my deer. The mama and papa deer are from Oh Deer, and the little one making a tiny snowman is from Santa's Wonderland. I think they all look so cute together!

I colored them all using my favorite brown copic marker trio: E30, E31, and E34. I went back in and added some W5 in the spots that would be most shaded.

I added rolling snowbanks beneath their hooves, using our Stitched Slopes dies.

I added a gingham paper sky and popped up the focal images before creating a frame using 2 rectangle dies.

I stamped out the greeting, from Nativity Play to the bottom of the frame using a crisp black ink. I'm so happy to have this french greeting for all of our teacher cards this year! We live right outside the city of Montreal, and our kids are in a french-immersion program.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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Stay cool! with Elena.

Hi there!

Elena here, with a card that features a set from our newest release, Stay Cool.

I started out by coloring the images that I wanted to feature: the little kid on the polar bear, and the ice-fishing kid. I colored their parkas and mittens in a neutral light brown (using copic markers E30, E31, and E33.)

I added warmth to the polar bear using light grey markers (W3, W1 and W00,) but I was very light-handed with the coloring. I left most of his body uncolored and just gave shadows where I thought they would be.

The ice-fisher found a present instead of a fish, and I also added a tiny snowman from Snow Fun as an extra cold-weather friend. I die-cut the COOL sentiment and colored it using a light blue marker (B0000.)

For the background, I used a piece of Altenew's Nebula washi tape, and also grounded the image using a piece of their Golden Edge washi tape. I added some white enamel snow dots to the night-sky background to finish things off.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

5

Nativity scene with Elena

Hi there!

Elena here, with a card combining 2 of the sets from our latest release: Nativity Play and Angel Wings.

I am so happy to have a nativity set for my Christmas cards this year! I stamped out Mary and Joseph and colored them with copic markers. I created stripes in Mary's tunic with a darker red marker, and gave Joseph a darker skin color. I just love the way Mary is looking down at baby Jesus!



The angel has come to give them good news! I know the angels come to tell the shepherds, but still. Maybe I'll create another card with a few shepherds and sheep! Joseph could definitely stand in for a shepherd and the sheep in Nativity Play kills me, he's so cute.



I set the images against a patterned paper of night sky, and the sentiment was heat-embossed onto a kraft-colored hill. With a W1 copic marker, I added some shading below the images. I love how this adds dimension and grounds Mary and Joseph.

I hope you like it! If you create anything with any of these new sets, we'd love to see! Be sure to tag us #neatandtangled on instagram!

♥.

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You're a treat!

Hi there!

Elena here, with the sweeter side of halloween:

I used images from You're A Treat to create this soft card. Even the black cat is more of a soft grey! I used a warm grey copic marker (W1) to shade the pumpkin just the tiniest bit, so that it still looked like a white pumpkin. No bright orange on this card!

I gave the adorable witch a darker skin tone. I find it tricky to find the right combo that doesn't look too purple, or too yellow, but I was happy with this one. My daughter was thrilled that I colored the image to look like her! In case you'd like to try it out, the copic combo I used was E21, E35 and E37.

Once the images were all colored, I stamped the greeting in a bold black ink, to ground all of them. I then set them against a hazy rose-beige sky, amid vellum clouds. The Making Waves die provided the most perfectly sized clouds for this card! And cut out of vellum, they are subtle but still add texture and a more interest to the background.

To finish things off, I used a white gel pen to add accents to the images, and to add little twinkly dots to the sky. 

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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Good stuff inside!

Hi there!

Elena here, with a trio of Christmas treat boxes:



I used our new Gift Card Box to create these fun packages. I don't know about you, but between teachers and my sisters, I give a lot of gift cards over the holidays. I love being able to make a gorgeous packaging for them! This box is a snap to put together, and doesn't require a lot of glue. I like that it's just one piece, fold on the score lines, adhere and done. No need to cut a second piece and fiddle to put it together.



To decorate the top of the boxes, I heat-embossed both the frame and the sentiment from Thanks So Much. I feel like this set, which coordinates with the box die really makes both must-haves. I love how Miriam designed these products!

I also added a few images to the tops of the boxes: the snowman from Get Yeti and the little trees from Bunny Slopes.

A few wooden stars adds an accent to balance out the other side.

When the box opens, I shredded some white computer paper to make the gift card presentation feel more special.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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Have a snappy birthday (with Elena)

Hi there!

Elena here, with a fun birthday card featuring some cuties from our newest release:

All 3 of the gators from Later Alligator are here for the party! I also added some of the smaller images from the set. A little bird to perch on top of a gator's snout, a fish balloon, a crawling snail and the frog stuffed animal.

To color the gators, I used copic markers YG11, YG13 and YG67 for the main green of the bodies. I then colored the scales with the darkest color, YG67. The tummies were colored with a trio of yellow copic markers: Y000, Y17 and Y11.

Once I had all of the images colored, I heat-embossed the sentiment onto a kraft banner flag. I then created a frame around them all using the largest scalloped rectangle die from the Scalloped die collection. I cut into it using an oval die from Lawn Fawn and voila! A custom frame.

I used a subtly dotted patterned paper behind the gators, and another striped one on the card base.  Nothing too bold, since I wanted the images to really pop.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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You're a wiener!

Hi there!

Elena here, with a fun card featuring a set from the newest release, Hot Dog.

I think this set is the most fun ever. I colored 2 of the hot dog characters with copic markers. One of them is #teammustard and the other, #teamketchup.

I ran my white cardstock piece through the die-cut machine with the Stitched Sunburst die. I love the hot-dog, with his hands on his hips, and the stitched lines behind him. Makes me giggle!

His friend is handing him the trophy, which I stamped with #1 right there in the middle. It works perfectly with the sentiment! I added that that to a sentiment flag, and grounded the hot dogs with a piece of picnic-perfect gingham paper.

These hot dogs are perfectly bbq-ready and are sure to make anybody crack a smile!

♥.

5

Have a colorful day! with Elena

Hi there!

Elena here, with a sweet card using a set from our newest release, Paint Night.

I did some primary-colored cards using this set for the release week - like THIS ONE, so I wanted to do something more soft and girly for this card.

Instead of using one of the images meant to fit into the canvas, I used copic markers to draw stripes in soft rainbow colors and did my best to blend them together.



The girl's apron was colored a soft pink, and I drew in a "paint line" onto the tip of the paintbrush and colored the tip blue. The paint splashes give some movement to the images.

I stamped the greeting onto the easel, and finished off the card with a fun patterned paper.

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

5

Daddy and me (with Elena)

Hi there!

Elena here, with a card featuring our new Mommy Daddy and Me stamp set:

I used the image with the big bear and cub. I think it's sweet, how the cub's face is smushed in there a bit.

I started out by sponging a sky background for the bears to sit in front on, and gave them a ground to lay on using our Stitched Slopes die.

Once the bears were colored and cut out, I placed them onto their background and adhered everything to a cream-colored card base. I stamped the greeting directly onto the cream base and added a tiny heart to finish things off.



I like the simplicity of this card, especially to gift to dad. If it was for mom, I would probably add more, but this seemed like just enough for a "guy card."

I hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by!

♥.

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Neat & Tangled Throwdown - Party Ensemble Challenge

Happy Monday friends!  We're really excited about today's post!  For the last several years we hosted a bi-weekly and then monthly challenge called Little Tangles.  Although we elected to discontinue that this year, we still wanted to host periodic challenges because we love to see what you guys create using Neat & Tangled.

These quarterly challenges will be be more complex and bigger, and by bigger we are also referring to the prizes!

Our first challenge is a Party Ensemble challenge, and our resident party expert Elena prepared the cutest sample ensemble for you today:

Hi there!

I'm thrilled to share some ideas for decorations for your next dinosaur party:

I used the images from Prehistoric to create the party ensemble. I have to admit that this is still one of my favorite sets!

The little boy riding his dino would be perfect for a little boy's birthday party or a boy's baby shower. I colored all of the dinosaurs a fun blue and cut cupcake wrappers to match.



There is candy inside these fabric favor bags, and I used the tiniest dinosaur on a flag die-cut (from Classic Tag 2) to add that pop of blue that was being carried throughout the decor.

The mammoths are definitely not blue (but so cute!) so I added striped straws, and the tiny dinosaur again on the drink bottle labels.



Before adhering the mammoth and his dino buddy, I took a navy copic marker's highlighter edge and drew a stripe at the bottom of each wrap-around-label.

Last, but not least, I created a table sign using the new Square and Chevrons cover-plate. I love this die! I opted to cut it out of a blue cardstock, and then used different blue markers to color the different pieces before putting them all back together. The "RAWR" - cut using the journaling alphas - stood out in their bright white.

I hope you like what I've created!

Isn't that ensemble the cutest?  Now it's your turn!  We want to see your take on the challenge!

Here are the details:

1) Create a party ensemble that includes at least THREE different party elements, and submit it through the Inlinkz tool below. When linking, please link to the specific blog post, not your entire blog.

2) Link back to the challenge blog and display the challenge graphic in your post.

3) Neat & Tangled products must be the focal point of your project.  You can use products from other companies, but Neat & Tangled products should be the star.

4) You may enter as many times as you would like.

5) You have until Wednesday, March 28th at 11:59 EST to enter

6) Winner will not be chosen at random, but rather will be judged based on creativity and execution.

And what is the prize you ask?

The winner will receive the entire May Neat & Tangled release and will be invited to take part in May release week!

Are you up to the challenge?  We certainly hope so!  Good luck, we can't wait to see what you all create!

An InLinkz Link-up

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Neat & Tangled / Tonic Collaboration - Day 4

It's already Day 4 of our collaboration with Tonic USA!  Each day this week we are sharing projects featuring N&T and Tonic products on both the Neat & Tangled and Tonic USA blogs, there are also two big prizes to be won.

Here at Neat & Tangled we'll be selecting one lucky comment from our collaboration blog posts to receive a $75 credit to spend at Tonic. AND, Tonic will select a commenter from their blog to win a $75 credit to the Neat & Tangled store.

Today Elena and Bibi are sharing with us.  First we have Elena:

Hi there, Elena here with my card using the Tim Holtz stamping platform:

To me, these images look like a little children's book illustration, and I was determined to create a one-layer panel using the cuties from Ride With Me.

I took *a few* step-by-step photos to show you how I did it using the stamping platform.

First, stamp yourself a bear, but wipe the ink off of his butt and back leg before closing the press:

Create a mask for him and place it on top before stamping the bike (but again, wipe off a bit of the ink from the top of the basket before closing the lid.

Next, stamp yourself a hedgehog. Figuring out the placement is so easy with the stamping platform!

We're almost done! Mask the hedgehog and then stamp the bike again, to get all of the basket detail back.

The last step is to re-stamp the bear, while keeping the mask in place. That way, you'll get his back leg in the picture.

Stamp the bunny in the backseat, draw in any disconnected lines with a black copic-friendly pen and color the image!

Thanks for stopping by!

Next is Bibi:

Hi there, It is Bibi here and I made 5 easy and quick projects for you today using the new Panda Die, So Many Sentiments stamp set and Geometric Circles Cover plate, together with a cupcake, an envelope, and a banner die sets by Tonic Studios. 

I'm  sharing a video over the  Neat and Tangled Youtube Channel here with details about all these projects, and I also wanted to share about other fantastic products by Tonic Studios such as the Tangerine Die Cutting Machine, adhesives, the maxi Guillotine and the Tim Holtz Platform. All of them are a treat and make the crafty work a joy. 

I was thrilled when I heard about this collaboration as for me this was the perfect marriage because  I also have the honour to be part of the  British Tonic Studios Desing Team! Yay! 

The main project in the video is a cute Panda Cupcake Box and in the video,  I walk you through the process of making the box while showing you supplies by Tonic I use in a daily basis and I also love.

You can customize this box using the Panda Die to create different animals by changing the cardstock colour and adding different embellishments.

I keep it simple for you today so I stick to black & white projects with a hint of pink.

The cupcake box dies also have a die to create an insert to perfectly fit a cupcake inside. You can also use this cute Panda box as a goodie bag .. it is stinking cute, isn't it? 

I love it! 

Make sure to watch the video with tips and ideas here.

OK, leave a comment here to be entered to win a $75 credit to the Tonic store, and then head over to the Tonic USA blog to see what their team created.  Tomorrow is the last day of our collaboration and you definitely don't want to miss it, see you then!

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