A Fairy Happy Birthday {Avery Elle}

Hello lovelies, :)

I am on the Avery Elle blog today with a fairy sweet birthday card- perfect for anyone who believes in magic. 

I stamped and die cut some clouds along with one of the little fairies from the Pixie Dust stamp set.  I colored her using one of my favorite coloring mediums these days, the Kuretake Clean Color Real Brush Zig markers.  I've had these markers for a few months, and we got off to a rough start.  After experimenting with a few different types of paper, I am happy to report that we are finally getting along better.  My favorite paper for these Zig markers is the Strathmore Bristol smooth surface pad. 

I adhered the fairy and clouds to a piece of patterned paper from The Every Day collection pad, stamped the sentiment and attached the panel to a Silver Fox notecard from the Midnight Collection.  As a finishing touch, I added some sequins and a bit of sparkle to the fairy's wings using a Wink of Stella clear glitter brush pen. Additional supplies are listed below. 

Pixie Dust stamp set

Die: Pixie Dust Ellements

The Midnight Collection A2 Folded Cards

The Everyday Collection Paper Pad

So that's all for me today.  I do hope that you can take a minute to stop by the Avery Elle blog for even more inspiration for the Avery Elle Design Team. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

Tooth Fairy Smile Card {Paper Smooches SPARKS}

Hello friends, 

Today starts another Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  This week, it's a Designer Drafts or sketch challenge, and here's my take: 

My youngest daughter, Sophie, is at that age where is seems like she has a wiggly tooth every other week.  I thought it might be fun for the Tooth Fairy to leave her tooth payment in a cute card. 

I stamped the starry pattern at the bottom of a pink notecard before adding some white pigment ink to give it a dreamy look.  The tooth fairy's wings are made from vellum which I die cut with the Hearts dies.   All Paper Smooches supplies are linked below. 

Stamps: 

• Spring Fling
• Royal Cuteness
• Scripty Sayings

Dies:

• Hearts dies
• Tooth Fairy die

And here's a look at this week's inspiration sketch: 

Ready to play?  You know the routine!   You have until 11:59 PT on Saturday, May 30, 2015 to link up your take on this week's challenge to the Paper Smooches SPARKS blog for a chance to win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Paper Smooches store.  

Be sure to check out the amazing inspiration from the other members of the SPARKS design team playing along with this week's challenge: 

Larissa Heskett
Lori Tecler
Lynn Mangan
Savannah O'Gwynn

I can't wait to see what you create!  

Thanks for stopping by!
Katie

Sweet Valentine Treats {Paper Smooches SPARKS}

Hello friends!  

Today starts another Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge.  This week is an ANYTHING GOES challenge, so albeit a day late, I thought I would share the Valentine's Day treats that my girls handed out to their classmates on Friday.  

Valentine's Day is like the winter equivalent of Halloween whereby sugar and all things sweet seem to rule the day- at least for the classroom set.  The girls LOVE Pixy Stix and begged me to figure out a way to make these sticks of sugar into a Valentine.  We ended up fashioning them into arrows complete with feathers and heart arrowheads. 

We die-cut hearts using the Hearts Dies and glued a heart to the end of each stick.  Colorful card stock cut with the Feathers Dies adorn the other end of the arrow.  I wrapped the base of the feathers with a bit of washi tape to help keep them in place.

It's just not Valentine's Day without a punny sentiment, so the Love Struck stamp set came to our rescue with the fitting "Quill You Be My Valentine" sentiment.  We stamped the sentiment onto a circle punched from white cardstock and mounted the circle to pink card stock cut with the Pinked Circles die before glueing it to the Pixy Stix. 

Once dry, the girls could write the to and from information on the back of the circle.   From what I was told, most of these arrows didn't make it out of the classroom parties and were consumed on the spot.  So now, a moment of silence for the 2015 Gehring Valentine's... we barely knew thee, and are grateful for your contribution in making this Valentine's Day just a bit sweeter.  

So, now it's your turn!  Make anything you like using Paper Smooches Stamps and link up your creation to the Paper Smooches SPARKS blog by Saturday, February 21 at 11:59 PST.  The winner of this week's challenge will receive a $30.00 gift certificate to the Paper Smooches shop!  Yay!!! 

Be sure to check out the inspiration from the other Paper Smooches SPARKS team members playing along with this week's challenge: 

Lynn Mangan

Lori Tecler
Larissa Heskett

Savannah O'Gwynn

That's all for me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  I can't wait to see what you create! 

Katie

Spooky Spider Favors {Avery Elle and Halloween Week}

Hello friends,

Halloween week is coming to a close on Stamping Lightly and today I am over on the Avery Elle blog with another easy project perfect to pass out at classroom Halloween parties or even to trick or treaters.  With so much candy available during this holiday, here's an approach for a party favor that's candy-free.

I trimmed Fizz card stock into rectangles measuring approximately 2" x 2.75".  Next, I stamped the spider web image from the Boo stamp set using orange dye ink.  Using the Pinked Elle-ments die set, I die cut a pinked edge banner from black card stock and stamped and heat embossed the Boo sentiment.  I attached the banner to the cards with some adhesive and a tiny staple. 

Finally, with a craft knife, I cut a slit in the center of the spider web and inserted a black plastic spider ring.  I was able to pick up a pack of 30 rings at Five Below for a dollar, so these are super affordable favors.  You could also stamp a message on the back of the card and have your child sign his or her name- like Valentines, only scarier. :)

Well, that's all for me today.  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Katie

Batty Candy Boxes {Halloween Week}

Hello friends!

Welcome to Halloween Week at Stamping Lightly!  Yes, I know that Halloween is NEXT week, but if you are anything like me, now is the time that I start thinking about what I need to do to celebrate Halloween with the kiddos (and their classes).

All week long, I will be sharing some ideas for Halloween Tricks and Treats- simple paper crafted projects that you can easily create to add a homemade touch to your Halloween celebrations. Although I typically make a lot of cards, Halloween is ALL about the candy, so today, I am sharing a simple idea to transform a candy box into a spooky sweet bat.

You will need: 

• Black card stock
• Candy Box punch board by We R Memory Keepers
• Halloween Sweets and Treats stamp set and coordinating mega dies by Papertrey Ink
• Versamark ink
• White embossing powder
• Score Tape 
• Black and White Baker's twine

I trimmed a piece of black card stock to 7" by 5".  Using the instructions included with the punch board, I punched and scored the card stock. 

Before assembling the box, I stamped and heat embossed the bat face with white embossing powder. 

I formed the candy box into a rectangle securing it with strong adhesive- red line tape or score tape works well for this. I tied one end of the box closed with baker's twine and added a few small pieces of candy to the box before tying the other end of the box closed.  

I die cut the bat ears using the coordinating dies from the Mega Halloween Treats and Sweets die set, added a thin line of glue and inserted the ears into the seams of the box.  If you don't have these dies, you could also cut simple triangles from card stock and use them for the ears.  Likewise, If you don't have the Halloween Treats and Sweets stamp set, you can improvise with any small circle stamps or even google eyes and a white gel pen to draw the mouth.  You can make two of these batty treat boxes from one 8.5 x 11 pieces of black card stock making these cutie boxes easy and pretty economical as well. 

Well that's all for me today, but I will be back tomorrow with some more ideas for Halloween treats. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

Great Job! {Paper Smooches SPARKS}

Hello friends,

It's time for another Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge! This week is Anything Goes. It's Back to School time at our house and that was the inspiration for my card!

I stamped the images from the Smarty Pants set onto a kraft card base with kraft ink to make a fun background.  Next, I trimmed a wide strip of white cardstock at an angle and stamped the lines from the Notebook Paper set in blue ink.  

I die cut several pencils using the School Icons dies and adhered it to the bottom of the notebook paper panel.  I stamped the sentiment from Good Gab and matted the panel with black cardstock and adhered it to the card base. Finally, I die cut a few stars using the Stars dies and adhered them to the card. 

Well, the school supply shopping is finished and now I have a cute card to tuck into someone's lunch on the first day!

Ready to play?  You know the routine!   You have until 11:59 PT on Saturday, August 16 to link up your take on this week's challenge to the Paper Smooches SPARKS blog for a chance to win a $30.00 gift certificate to the Paper Smooches store. Woot woot!  

Be sure to check out the amazing inspiration from the other members of the SPARKS design team playing along with this week's challenge: 

Larissa Heskett
Lori Tecler
Lynn Mangan
Savannah O'Gwynn

I can't wait to see what you create!
Thanks for stopping by!
Katie

Summer Vacation Kids Challenge by Paige

Hello friends and happy Monday!    

About once a month, I organize a gathering of crafty friends for a day of creativity and fun.  My 10 year old daughter, Paige begged to join me for the crafty day, and how could I tell her no?  She was so excited to work on some projects and had a field day going through my stamps and picking out which ones she wanted to play with.

She had a grand time working on her crafty projects and even managed to create 2 cards that we wanted to share today for the Simon Says Stamp- Summer Vacation Kids Challenge.

First up- she thought the Science of Love set from Lawn Fawn was "totes cute" and she couldn't wait to ink it up!

She was able to arrange the images on a block with gridlines and stamped most everything at once. She had to add the hearts above the round beaker separately.  She then colored in the hearts and beakers with Spectrum Noir markers.  She attached the stamped panel to a piece of green card stock and adhered it to a white card base. She thought the card was missing something, so she asked one of my friends for some twine.  Tying bows on cards is a bit tricky, so mom helped her out a bit with that part.  

The next card makes me giggle because she was totally hungry when she made this and was begging me to run out and get her Subway for dinner.  I think that sandwich sort of looks like her beloved 6" turkey sub!  She die cut the shapes and stamped the coordinating images from Paper Smooches- Think Fast set.  She colored in the sandwich and fries with markers.  It's hard to tell in the picture but she stamped the hamburger on the red card stock to create a background. 

So Paige had a very productive crafty day out, but her mom, not so much... 

I should mention that Lawn Fawn's Science of Love set was previously unused, so the Month of Neglect has officially become a family affair!!  Thanks Paige- another stamp set used! 

Alrighty, that's all from us today!  I will be back tomorrow with a trio of fun tags from Waffle Flower Crafts plus a giveaway!  I hope you'll stop by!

Katie

FSS- Love you this much!

Hello and Happy Saturday!

I am on the Fresh Squeezed Stamps blog today with a double-header, two sweet cards for the little loves in your life! I am still thinking about Valentine's Day and this time I wanted to create a card that would work for the kids.  I hit upon a design that will work well for both boys and girls by just swapping out some colors and patterns.

Since I have daughters, I started first with the girly palette.

I was inspired by the I Love You This Much sentiment from Love Signs and in thinking about things that are vast, (to represent a large amount of love), I hit upon the idea of the ocean and combined a few of my favorite FSS stamps to make this scene.  

First I stamped the sentiment from Love Signs and the whale from Breath of Fresh Flair on a white cardstock.  I masked the whale and used the scalloped border stamp from Background Check to create the water and waves.   Lastly, I stamped and masked the cloud and sun from Weather Through.  I rounded the corners and adhered the stamped panel to a pink cardstock base that I covered with some fun polka dot patterned paper. 

By swapping out some ink colors and the patterned paper, here's the same card in a more boy-friendly color scheme.   I think this one will go to my nephews.  

That's all for me today!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Katie

Classroom Valentine Treats

Hello friends, 

Every year I struggle with the question as to make Valentine's for my kid's classes or to buy them.  I will be perfectly honest and admit that over the past couple years, I have done both. While it's easy to toss some money at a box of Valentines at Target,  I do enjoy making these sweet treats, but sometime I feel like I am working in Cupid's Sweatshop than making something memorable for (and with) my kids. 

This year, I think I have found a happy compromise and I wanted to share some of my prototypes today. 

I used the Paper Smooches Cupcake die to cut cupcake tops and wrappers from various colors of cardstock. I embossed the tops with swirly embossing folders from Provo Craft/ Cuttlebug and Lifestyle Crafts and stamped the cupcake wrappers with graphic designs.  The polka dots are from Paper Smooches Geo-Graphic and the diagonal lines are from Kissables 2. I adhered the cupcake to the wrapper and added a tag which I stamped with "You're Sweet" from Paper Smooches Giddy Gumdrops.  I used twine and a bit of foam tape to keep the tag in place.

I used the Hearts die to cut some various sizes of hearts from cardstock.  The sprinkles started life as a the hashtag from the Cardbooking Die collection.

On the back of the cupcake, I adhered a small glassine envelope that I found at a local paper and party supply store.  I tucked a chocolate inside the envelope and secure it closed with a bit of washi tape.

The girls can write the To and From on the back side of the cupcake wrapper before we adhere the chocolate.   Here's a closer look at a couple more cupcake varieties: 

Vanilla Cherry

Chocolate covered strawberry- YUM! 

I am excited about these Valentines because there are lots of little steps that the girls will be able to do like embossing the cardstock, putting the chocolates inside the envelopes and taping them shut, adhering the heart to the top of the cupcake with foam tape and signing the Valentines (of course). 

I am sharing this project with the Simon Says Stamp Emboss It Challenge and the Paper Smooches February Guest Designer search. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Have a sweet day!

Katie

I can't believe it's already November!

Seriously, where does the time go?  I have some guilt over the gross neglect of my blog of late.  My days have been consumed by this....

ghost brain veggie cups

and this....

deconstructed caramel apples with m&ms

oh and a bit of this...

the angel and the little witch belong to me :)

So you are probably not interested in my excuses... The real reason for my post today is that I am popping in today to share a card I made a few weeks back for publication call.  It was not selected, so I get to share it here. :)

Recently, I have been challenging myself to create cards using basic supplies and not looking for the perfect ______ (insert holiday here) stamp set.  This is the Thanksgiving edition of these efforts.... a Pilgrim Card!

I created the card by using cardstock and dies (pennants, circles, squares and banners.  I adhered the white collar with a bit of foam tape to give it some dimension. Notice I didn't stamp or include a sentiment of any kind.  I thought the Pilgrim collar and shirt spoke pretty well for itself. 

Before I sign off, it is fully my intent to post and share more regularly this month.  In fact, I might be back tomorrow with a little announcement.  For now it's a secret, but I can't wait to share! 

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

Katie

The question

Yesterday, Jason attended a funeral for one of his antique car club friends. As I was putting the kids to bed, Paige wanted to know where daddy was. I told her that he was at a funeral. She gasped and said, "did somebody die?" I nodded my head. She was quiet and then said, "will daddy give a kiss to bring them back to life?" I shook my head and said "no, honey, there isn't anything that we on Earth can do to bring him back."

"Did he touch a spindle?" Paige asked. "No, sweetie, sometimes when people get old, their bodies stop working and they leave this life to go live with God," I replied.

"Oh," she said, struggling for comprehension.

"Will I die?" she asked. "Well, Paigey, nobody has ever lived forever, so yes, someday you will die." She looked concerned, I continued, "but hopefully that won't be for a very long time." "Ok, Mommy," she said snuggling into her bed, "goodnight, I love you."

"I love you too," I said kissing her forehead. Closing her bedroom door, I wondered if I had handled those questions appropriately. I imagine the concept and finality of death must be tremendous to a child whose only exposure to the topic is through Disney fairy tales.

I wanted to be open and honest with her, but at the same time not scare her. Death is simply a part of life. Recently, It's been a familiar part of our lives having lost several friends and family members over the last couple of months. But what I really wanted to tell her is even through people leave us, they are never truly gone as long as those who remain keep their memory in their hearts. In that way, a little piece of us will always live on.