Hello!!!
I hope you are ready for another fun challenge at Tuesday Throwdown!  This week we want to see your birthday themed cards!!  And we have an awesome sponsor for you - Winnie & Walter!!!  They have provided us with some uber amazing products for this challenge so be sure to stop by the Tuesday Throwdown blog to see lots of inspiration!

For my card, I have used the Scenery: Stripes stamp set and the In A Word: Hello Cutaway die.  I have been dying to get my hands on a stripe stamp set for some time now, but they were always sold out or I opted to go with something else...so when the opportunity came to get this set from Winnie & Walter, I didn't hesitate :)

I figure you can never go wrong with having a good stripe set in your collection.  There are a million things you can use it for!! 

So I used one of the solid stripes in the set to stamp some blue and yellow stripes for my background.  Originally I was just going to do an opening with the word die hung across it...but then decided it would look better as a shaker card!  So I filled it with some fun Pretty Pink Posh sequins that coordinated well with the background.  Then added a solid black frame around the oval and adhered my Hello word across the front.

The final detail I added was a few scattered sequins around the outside and some little black dots.  Honestly, the card could have gone without these...I'm not super fond of them.  But it's too late to remove them now, so oh well :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!! <3

Happy Friday!
It's time for a new Sami Stamps release!  This one is super fun!  Totally different from anything Sami has done before and I love it!  The release is called Getting Stronger and you are going to love it!

It's all about macho men!  I love it so much!  For my card, I used the Stronger Already image and colored it in with my colored pencils.  I wanted to keep my card pretty simple since it is a masculine theme so I opted to just to a simple striped panel and leave the rest plain.

There is a tiny little silver strip across the middle that has been recessed back behind the other panels that have been adhered with some fun foam.

I paired this fun image with a sentiment that felt appropriate and is a great one to live by.  It's never about how you fall, but how many times you get back up and I totally agree with that.  When we fall, sometimes it may seem easier to just stay down.  I know I feel that way sometimes...but we have to fight.  We have to keep pushing forward.  Never give up and always do your best to believe in you!  Because while it is nice to have others believe in you and be the ones to build you up...you can't rely on that, someone will let you down.....you have to be there for yourself!  Stay strong :)

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Addicted to CAS #92-Stripes
    Fab n Funky #313-Add a Sentiment
    Freshly Made Sketches #245

Have a fabulous weekend!! <3

Happy Tuesday!
We're starting a fun new challenge for you today at Tuesday Throwdown.  This week we're asking for you to make One Layer cards!  I know this can be a challenge or seem really scary...but it doesn't have to be!  Just some simple masking can make a gorgeous one layer card!  Give it a shot!

Our fabulous sponsor this week is Kim Sherrod with her A Muse Studio business!  Kim is the wonderful leader of our Tuesday Throwdown team and I just adore her!  Be sure to check out what's available in her shop!

For my card today, I used some gorgeous Simon Says Stamp products!

Since it's a one layer challenge, I had to do some planning before cutting and embossing.  I started by lining up my "prayers" die where I wanted it to be on the card, and cut that out.  Then I used the Stitched Journaling Card die from Lawn Fawn and embossed that into my Ranger Watercolor Paper.  To do this, you need to have a rubber embossing mat.  This keeps the blade of the die from cutting your paper and instead absorbs that pressure and indents the paper, leaving an embossed design.  It's really fun to play with!

To add some dimension to my card front, since it's one layer, I took my watercolor paints and added a shadow around that journaling frame so that it popped up off the card front.  Then I stamped my images from the Roses For You stamp set from Simon Says Stamp.  I received this stamp set from them as a welcome gift, and I absolutely love it!  The scribbly roses are just gorgeous, and so much fun to emboss and drop color into!

I wanted the Prayers sentiment to stand out but had been trying to avoid straight black.  But in the end, that seemed to be what would work best, so I did sort of an ombre wash on it making the bottom darker and then fading it slightly up to the top.  Once it was dry, I added a heavy coat of Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle to it, and then finished off the sentiment with phrases from the Prayers stamp set.

Be sure to stop by Tuesday Throwdown to see the rest of the DT's creations!  Then join in this fun challenge!!

I'd like to enter this card into the following challenges:
    Artistic Inspirations #160-Anything Goes
    Casology #206-Art
    Craft Your Passion #320-Anything Goes
    Work It Wednesday-Wafer Thin Dies or Stencils

Thanks so much for stopping by! <3

Happy Friday everyone!
I have a super fun project for you today featuring one of the new images from our most recent release at Sami Stamps!  I wasn't able to get a project put together last week when the release came out, but I wanted to be sure to put something together this week since these images are just so darn cute!

This card features the Floating Kitty 4 image and I just adore it!  To start my card, I did some splashy watercoloring for the background, mixing some blues and teals together.  Then took my Landscape Trio die from Mama Elephant and cut the panel apart into layers of clouds.  Once that was all cut, I took some soft grey ShinHan markers and added shading to the bottoms of each cloud layer so that there was a bit of dimension at each layer.

Doing this helped to give the feeling that each layer was behind the one in front of it.  It's a subtle effect, but gorgeous!  Once I had everything colored, I gave the whole panel a nice spritz of shimmer mist, so now the whole thing sparkles!

Then I set to work on my image.  I printed it off on watercolor paper and did some simple painting on it.  The cat was the hardest since I was painting it like my little Storm and I always struggle with shading out black.  It's always either all dark or all washed out...but I think this time I got it pretty right :)

I used the same teals from the background to paint in the balloon and then coated it with a thick layer of glossy accents.  Everything was fussy cut out once it was dry.

Now the fun part!  There is a string drawn into the image, but I wanted to do something a little different with this card so I cut the cat away from the balloon and added my own string wrapped around his paws.  The balloon was attached using some foam tape, but I left the kitty completely free...so it swings!

I couldn't stop playing with this card last night!  Just having that kitty swing back and forth across the card made me so happy!

Since I wanted the focus to be on the swinging cat, I left the rest of the card free of embellishments.  They just would have gotten in the way anyhow :)

So be sure to swing by Sami Stamps to see this full Floating Kitties release, and then join in our Anything Goes challenge that just started!!!

Hello!
I want to thank everyone that participated in the blog hop celebrating our 300th challenge at Tuesday Throwdown!

It's time to announce the winner for my prize!

Francesca Ferrari!!!

You've won the $12 gift certificate to Sami Stamps!! 

Please shoot me an email at scrappysweetcreations@gmail.com so I can get you this wonderful prize!

Thanks so much everyone!

<3 Emily