Another quick layout for you today to celebrate Lawn Fawn’s June Inspiration Week! This time I used the new scallop circle dies to create a few box flowers—my favorite kind of handmade flower! I love using different patterned paper designs to create a single flower, and Lawn Fawn’s cheery designs make these flowers especially fun!

Be sure to pop by the Lawn Fawn blog for more die-cutting goodness. {grins} Plus, you know, a chance to win Lawn Fawn loot!

Hi everyone! Just a quick layout share for you today—my first for Lawn Fawn’s June 2013 Inspiration Week. I wanted to really highlight some fun ways to use the Admit One Lawn Cuts on a layout, namely: a balloon border/frame, a ticket border/banner, and a monogram fair-ribbon accent. Using the dies to cut out the stamped images and balloons made this go together really quickly!

Let’s start with the Hers card. To get that soft “watercolored” look, go slowly. Wash color over an image, let it dry, and then add another layer of color where you want to add shading. Letting it dry between layers creates those pretty lines in the color. For this card, I went “clean and simple” letting the image stand out against a white background, and embellishing it with just a strip of grid paper inside the card and a single stamped flower. A bit of Glossy Accents on the headlight adds a bit of cool shine.

Just Because Card recipe: Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White; Patterned paper: American Crafts Amy Tangerine Yes Please; Stamps: Paper Smooches Spiffy Scooters and Word Up sets, and Stampin' Up! Raining Flowers set; Dye ink: Stampin' Up! Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Early Espresso, Melon Mambo, and Regal Rose; Solvent ink: Jet Black StazOn; Other: Glossy Accents and watercolor paper.

Side note: I love Stampin’ Up! inkpads for watercoloring. Yeah, I may be a little biased, but the flip-back top is ideal for creating little pools of ink in the inkpad’s lid. Just press the pad and the lid together before opening the inkpad, and then don’t lock the lid under. Voila! A nice, neatly contained watercolor palette. I like to use an Aqua brush for watercoloring, but you can also easily use a regular brush and a little cup of water. I tend to spill… so the water reservoir in the Aqua brush is a good idea for klutzy Kim.

And now for the His card. Here, I went with an eclectic look, pulling in a wood accent, some enamel dots, a die cut, and a sticker to embellish the card. But, more importantly, this is a good example of how monochromatic watercoloring can make this technique work well for a masculine card. Watercoloring definitely leans more toward the girly side, since it’s such a soft look. I used three different shades of blue on the scooter and I think this card would be a fun one for a guy. (Especially with the strip of “cork” paper inside the card. It’s a little hard to see in this photo.)

Hey! Card recipe: Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White; Patterned paper: Studio Calico Spencer's card kit; Stamp: Paper Smooches Spiffy Scooters; Dye ink: Stampin' Up! Baja Breeze, Island Indigo, and Pool Party; Solvent ink: Jet Black StazOn; Sticker: BasicGrey Hey You; Digital die-cutting files: Studio Calico April Flower Bits; Enamel dots: BasicGrey Basics; Wood veneer accent: Studio Calico Front Row scrapbooking kit; Washi: MT; Corner rounder: We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you’ll pop by next week for another watercolored card. And, if you like the idea of focusing on one technique/idea per month, let me know.

Just a quick post today to share my projects for Lawn Fawn‘s May 2013 release! Up first (above) uses a really fun technique I learned from Online Card Classes. Yay!

I’ve scrapbooked this photo before, but I really wanted to re-do this one with Lawn Fawn flair and Blue Skies! Nothing like being goofy in front of a camera with your best friend, right? My early twenties were filled with wonderful road trips, and I wanted to try to capture the fun we had.

Time for a trip in the way back machine, courtesy of Lawn Fawn’s A Good Apple stamp set!

And finally, another Pink Lemonade layout to whet your whistle for summer adventures. I just love clustering stars cut using Lawn Fawn’s Puffy Star Stackables nesting dies.

Whenever I think of my second shipment from Stitch Fix, I’m going to think about Portlandia. And be reminded that I can’t quite trust my own opinion when it comes to clothes and how they look on me. After the onslaught of positive reinforcement from Instagram and Chris’ enthusiastic thumbs up, I ended up keeping the entire box—despite my initial reaction to some of the pieces. So, here we go! That Catherine knows what she’s doing….

Vintage Market: Striped Scarf
The scarf was super soft, and I knew right away that it was a keeper. The teal and gray stripes were perfect for me, especially with the bright, vintage-wash neon I’ve been wearing lately. A great accessory.

Kut from the Kloth: Leandra Denim Buttondown Shirt
Next up, the chambray shirt I’d asked for—yippee! This was was a darker denim than the previous one and had more Western detailing. Not my usual style, but the fabric was (again) very soft but with a crispness that I liked. And it fit beautifully!

Just Black: Carter Skinny Angle-Length Jeans
Admittedly, I was terrified when I saw these. I adored the color (love, love, love), but… skinny jeans? Me? And… they sent me a size smaller than I’m used to wearing in jeans. And not specifically a tall size. In my comments on my profile, I’d specified my measurements and that I needed a certain inseam length in order to not look like I’m wearing floods. Too many jeans have gone to the goodwill because I bought them in desperation and didn’t hold out for a tall size. One of my big “Shopping Fails”—Desperation Shopping. So, it was with a great deal of cringing that I put these on.

They’re a dream. This is the first pair of ankle-length jeans that actually hits my ankle without being a tall size. Heaven! And they’re a really lovely stretch denim. Machine washable! Hooray! Still, yikes, skinny jeans… The Instagram peeps said to keep. Chris confirmed that I did not look like a stuffed sausage, despite what the mirror told me.

Fate: Melissa French Terry Blazer
Initial Reaction: Oh boy. Shoulder pads. Shoulder pads? What? Yes. Shoulder pads. And tabs on top of the shoulders. Oh boy. Am I going to look like a linebacker.

Chris told me that I looked good—it would be better without the tab detail on the shoulders, but it looked nice. After thinking about this one, I decided to go for it.

Glad I did! I put together this outfit for work. So much classier than my usual tank, cardi, and jeans combo. I look like I put in some effort. And I felt like I was wearing a sweatshirt. Win. I’ve actually worn the blazer to work twice now. It looks fab with the necklace from my first Fix.

Collective Concepts: Ivy Bird Print Tab Sleeve Blouse
My first reaction was definitely a negative one. First, I had said no white clothing or black clothing on my profile. I tend to look super washed out in white and black. It’s not a good look for me. I need color! Second, I had said nothing sheer on my profile. I can’t feel comfortable and confidant if I have to worry about wearing something underneath a shirt or worry if my bra is showing. (Confession: I live in constant fear of my bra showing. It’s kind of neurotic.)

I put it on with my aqua shorts for the Instagram picture. It was not so fantastic. But I tried it on later with my regular jeans and with the new coral skinny jeans. Chris loved it and told me I was crazy. (Ha!) And that’s when I decided to keep the whole fix.

I wore the bird shirt and coral jeans to a friend’s baby shower, and felt so pretty and put together! I had to take a “happy ducks” picture to offset my “boo ducks” picture from the initial try-on.

So there you have it, my second Stitch Fix! I can’t believe I kept everything from only the second try. My closet is starting to look downright fashionable! I’m currently on the fix-a-month schedule, until my wardrobe fills out a bit. The next one hits on May 23, and I’m hoping for some Stitch Fix gift cards for my birthday on the 17th.

One of the BEST parts of this fix? Three out of five pieces were made in the USA! The scarf, the jeans, and the duck shirt are all USA-made. I cheered in my feedback, so hopefully more USA-made clothes will be coming my way. Whoo hoo!

If you want to give Stitch Fix a try yourself, they’re still invite only, so here’s my referral link to sign yourself up!

http://stitchfix.com/sign_up?referrer_id=3064425

Disclaimer (’cause I gotta): I’m in no way affiliated with Stitch Fix, nor do they sponsor me in any way. I just really love their service!

Okay, so let me preface this with a simple fact. My second Stitch Fix gets here tomorrow. This one arrived on April 13th. The fact that I just “Could. Not. Wait.” ought to tell you a little something about how freaking much I loved this.

Backing up…. Like most of the crafty, scrapbooky community, I learned about Stitch Fix through the adorable Stephanie Howell (Love her!). And then I went on a review-reading bender. I was sick, so what else did I have to do, right? Ha!

If you haven’t heard of Stitch Fix, it’s a brilliant shopping service that uses data to help stylists pick out clothes. Um. Oh my… That’s what I went to school for! Data! And People! And more Data! And using that data to match people with things they’ll love! Sure, it was books, movies, and other things in my world, but, yes, clothes! And the more feedback you give them, the more data they have, and the better the service will get. Like Pandora! Must Have! (Melts into a geeky puddle.)

Whew! That’s over. Still with me? If you want more of the ins and outs of how the system works, check out their official spiel here.

Unlike a lot of people who have signed up for Stitch Fix, I don’t hate shopping. I love it! I just want a little help with the higher-end, more stylish items. The not-so-everyday items that will step-up my wardrobe. I want to be uber chic … and I want help putting that dream wardrobe together. I just don’t have time for the kind of shopping it would take to pull it off. So, with this goal in mind, I set my price points a little higher than I believe most people do. I anticipated spending what I would spend at Nordstroms for the kind of pieces I hoped to get.

It took three weeks to get off the waiting list. Three weeks in which I read more reviews and pinned clothes like mad. I’m not a patient girl. I’ve accepted this. When I did finally get that happy e-mail, I scheduled my fix right away.

And… this arrived:

My happy box! In it was a quick note from my stylist, Catherine, who mentioned that she picked the items in the box based on my ratings on my profile. Gotta start somewhere, right? Sounded good to me!

First reaction: Everything is so soft. I could tell that each piece was high quality, which is exactly what I expected. (Good seams, no snags, great fabric). I apologize for the Instagram photos. That’s as good as it gets right now.

The one piece I don’t have a decent photo of was the silver circle necklace I kept. Considering I recently discovered jewelry (thank you allergy shots for helping me be able to tolerate metal touching my neck!), I don’t have any silver necklaces. Winner winner! Okay, I don’t have a great photo of the knit tunic top either. Sent it back: I kind of thought it made my hips look big. Plus, I already have a tunic-style gray sweater that I don’t wear very often.

I need a chambray shirt! I actually wasn’t sold on them before. Had never even tried one on. I thought: “Really? Really? Denim shirts?” But this… this was good. Very good. Chris was a fan. Too bad when I swung my arms forward, it was tight through the shoulders. Otherwise, the fit was great. No gaping across the bust, no weirdness through the hips. Just a bit tight through the shoulders. This was really hard to put in the “send back” bag.

Next. Okay, I had a moment with this one. Drawstring hesitation! But I tried it on and thought: Hey skinny lady! Whoo hoo! And then I swung the arms. Again, too tight through the shoulders. Fab everywhere else. Into the bag it went.

This is Chris’ favorite shirt. In my entire closet. Needless to say this is the one shirt I kept: 41Hawthorne Lottie Pintuck Sleeveless Silk Top. It’s sexy and soft and the color is perfect. Really perfect. I like to wear it tucked in because it’s super (super) floaty. But because the silk is so lightweight there is zero bunching when it’s tucked in. Score!

Plus, it looks fabulous with my JCrew staples: the Jackie Cardigan and Matchstick jeans.

In my notes, I requested that Catherine style me again. She really nailed it with the Chambray, Drawstring, and Silk tops. We just need to tweak the fit. So I asked them to take another crack at getting me a Chambray top. (Tomorrow maybe!) Next time, I promise I’ll remember the exact names of the clothes! And take better pics… One excuse: it was rainy.

If you want to give Stitch Fix a try yourself, they’re still invite only, so here’s my referral link to sign yourself up!

http://stitchfix.com/sign_up?referrer_id=3064425

Disclaimer (’cause I gotta): I’m in no way affiliated with Stitch Fix, nor do they sponsor me in any way. I just really love their service!

Welcome back for another day of fun with Lawn Fawn’s awesome-pants March release! Today, we’re featuring another favorite of mine: Sharp Backdrops. Seriously. This set has already gotten a ton of use, namely here. With arrows and cool triangle patterns, what’s not to love?

For my Sunshine & Smiles layout, I just wanted to go crazy with color! I ombre stamped a smooth white panel using a combination of Tempting Turquoise, Lucky Limeade, and Daffodil Delight, double-inking the background stamp to get the in-between shades. I just love how well Daphne’s Closet coordinates with Sharp Backdrops. The coordinating patterns make it easy to put together a positive-negative look by layering paper and stamped images, like I did here.

For the rest of the background, I stamped the diamond/triangle pattern in Daffodil Delight and then stamped Tempting Turquoise arrows over it. Layering these backdrops is a simple way to create a cool, pattern-filled background. An Amy Tangerine rub-on (watercolored in Tempting Turquoise) nicely rounds out the eclectic look.

Drop by the Lawn Fawn Blog to see what the other gals are doing with Sharp Backdrops! This is definitely a must-have set for trendy paper creations. {grins}.

Happy St. Patty’s Day! While today’s post has nothing to do with the holiday, this Irish girl feels very lucky to be a part of the Lawn Fawn Design Team! The March release rules!

By now, I think it’s clear that I have some serious love for Daphne’s Closet! You can see previous projects using this collection here and here. The color scheme and the modern prints are just so much fun to use! Definitely my go-to collection this spring!

For this layout about my niece on a camping trip, I cut out flowers from Daphne’s Closet patterned paper and layered lots of paper strips and stickers to create a small collage right below the photo. A die-cut tag from my Silhouette and a glitter paper heart die cut (backed with Daphne’s Closet) complete the look. I love anchoring tags to layouts by looping multiple strands of twine through the hole in the tag and then adhering the ends to the back. My Lime Lawn Trimmings cord was perfect for this technique: strong and stable and the color is simply delicious.

Check out more Daphne’s Closet projects on the Lawn Fawn blog today! And don’t forget to leave some comment love for a chance to win!

I love mini albums. For me they’re sort of a hybrid between cards and scrapbooking: I’m all about the smaller form factor. So, when Lawn Fawn teamed up with Punky Sprouts (whose mini albums I’ve ALWAYS loved), I was so on board. (Soooo on board!) I chose to work with the Soul Sprout album, and made just a few minor modifications: I went with a horizontal orientation and went from 4 o-rings down to three. As such, I eliminated the first small scalloped page and, well, you’ll see what I did with the canvas page a little later on in the post!

For this album, I went with a simple summer theme, lots of embossing, and lots of die cutting using Lawn Fawn’s new Lawn Cuts dies. Love! I primarily used Daphne’s Closet patterned paper with one itty bitty strip of Pink Lemonade on the last page. The Narrators stickers are from both Daphne’s Closet and Pink Lemonade. I totally dig the grapefruit and turquoise combo in one project!

For the cover, I heat embossed Lawn Fawn Chevron Backdrops in white, and then spray inked the whole page using Studio Calico Mr. Huey in Lemonade. The cardboard page soaked up the ink; the page is barely tinted yellow. But it adds a little extra warmth. I then die cut “love” using my Quinn’s ABCs Lawn Cuts and stuck the negative on the page with some Narrators and a little label. Then, I stamped a sunshine from Lawn Fawn’s Partly Cloudy and embossed that, too.

Hindsight: If I’d thought about the sun earlier in the process, I would have masked off a circle when stamping my chevrons to have a clean spot for the sun. Still, it looks cool.

More Partly Cloudy on this page! I love the combo of the greeting from this set plus the alphabet stickers. I die cut the heart from the tag using my Hearts Lawn Cuts, and then added a few Daphne’s Closet die-cut hearts to the tag, too. (The spray ink looks like wet sand… don’t you think?)

I kept my nephew’s page super simple. Lots of embossed arrows from Sharp Backdrops for a background, some Daphne’s Closet and a die cut heart. I just love his expression in this photo. Yes, buddy, parades are kinda scary…

Here’s where things get a little wild. The mini album came with a canvas page, but it got bent during shipping, so I was going to iron it. And then I thought: Hmmm…. wonder if Lawn Cuts will cut canvas…. The answer: Yes. Yes, they will! If the canvas is nice and lightweight. You may have to help out with your scissors on some stubborn threads, but for the most part, you’re golden!

More die cut hearts, heat embossing, and spray ink here. I just love the little sun from Partly Cloudy. I also love that you can see this sunshine peaking out when the album is closed.

The last page… oh my heart! The kids were having the best time with the Slip ‘n’ Slide. The background for the layout turned out beautifully with some emboss resisting using October Afternoon Sprinklers spray ink and Lawn Fawn Interlocking Backdrops hexagons.

I used A Little Birdie Told Me Lawn Cuts to create some cute canvas speech bubbles and gave two of them a spritz with Mr. Huey’s. A few more hearts, and this baby was done!

Have an amazing day!

Hi everyone! Today, I just wanted to share a few cards that I made during Clean & Simple Card Making 2. For these cards, I used

• Some cardstock, twine, and patterned paper from my January Studio Calico kit,
• Homey Patterns, from Hero Arts and BasicGrey,
• Daffodil Delight and Pool Party Classic Stampin’ Pads, and
• a clear Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen.

I didn’t incorporate any special techniques into these cards, but really focused on getting my cuts straight, and then adding a few special details using my Stardust glitter pen. I love that little touch of golden sparkle!

Hope you are all having a fantastic week!