Smitten + Type It with Lea Lawson

http://leascupcakesandsunshine.blogspot.com/

Welcome to Part II of Lea's guest design post for us. She thoroughly wowed us all yesterday and dare I say today is even more amazing?! Just take a look see yourself!

All You Need is Love card by Lea Lawson

Stamps used: Smitten

Where do you begin? So many pretties to look at! Love that washi! The perfect paper choices. The heart hand stamp on woodgrain paper. The twine. The jewel and pin! The red feather stamp peeking out. It's just gorgeous!

Cherish card by Lea Lawson

Stamps used: Type It

I love this pretty pink + grey color combo! She has masterfully pieced together so many different elements again. I'm still picking my jaw off the floor! You too, right?

Thank you so much for sharing your talent with us this month, Lea! I can safely say that I am beyond the moon head over heels in love with your work! :)

Cosmic Stars + Starry Night with Lea Lawson

Let's dive right in and meet today's guest designer! It is none other than the sweet and insanely talented Lea Lawson! Lea first caught my eye when I first started stamping. Her style is a beautiful eclectic mix of clean and drop dead gorgeousness. Let me tell you, it is not easy to pair together many different products and embellishments, and Lea can do so effortlessly and masterfully. We are sooo happy to have her join us this month! Are you ready? Please make sure you're seated! :)

http://leascupcakesandsunshine.blogspot.com/

Lawson, and I reside in beautiful Missoula, Montana. I have been married to my husband, Josh, for 10 years, and we have two of the cutest dogs in the world- a yorkie named Bailey and a cocker spaniel named Sadie. I am a professional photographer, who focuses on weddings and senior portraiture, but also throw my hat in on some families and babies at times.

I have been crafting in some shape or form for as long as I can remember! When I was younger, I would use stationary items (Lisa Frank was my idol) and stickers, then cut up my photos (EEEK!) and arrange them together.  The finished product would hang all over my walls and closet doors.  When I graduated from high school, my aunt Amy gave me a scrapbooking kit, and my love affair with paper crafting started...

While I used to scrapbook more than I made cards, the tables have turned and I actually barely scrapbook any longer. {Although...I am going to start digitally scrapbooking this year!}  The card making community is wonderful, and I have met some amazing women through it. You can see my work in publications like Paper Crafts Magazine/Special Issues, Cards Magazine, and occasionally in Scrapbook Trends Magazine.

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Smitten card by Lea Lawson

Stamps used: Cosmic Stars, Smitten, On Target

Love how soft and pretty and SO LEA this is! 

We're Compatible card by Lea Lawson

Stamps used: Starry Night, Cosmic Stars

If THAT isn't eye candy then I don't know what is! Seriously, are you not drooling yet?

W.O.W. Lea, I love love love what you've created for us today! And we're so lucky to have her back here tomorrow for MORE! Yayyayaya!

Online Card Classes 2 Winner!

Hola, popping in to announce the winner for the Online Card Classes 2 giveaway winner. 

Random.org chose comment #32... which belongs to Melinda! 

Congratulations! Please contact us and we'll help set you up! :)

GIVEAWAY ALERT! Clean & Simple Card Making 2

 

Online Card Classes is back with an all-new take on one of our most popular classes: Clean & Simple Card Making 2! Join Kristina Werner, Jennifer McGuire, Julie Ebersole and friends to discover the “secret” to minimalistic and fabulous cards. Learn new techniques and be inspired by 26+ videos and 34+ clever and creative card designs. Gather inspiration from your fellow students and Online Card Classes teachers in the forums and galleries. Then print out class PDFs to take Clean & Simple Card Making 2 with you wherever you go. Plus, with lifetime access, random giveaways and shopping discounts galore, you’ll be able to outfit your card making stash in clean and simple style. 

We are excited that they will be using Mama Elephant products in this class!

For more information on the class, check HERE. Class runs January 28 - February 8, but you can join any time and have lifetime access!

Wanna win a spot? I bet you do! Just leave a comment and I'll pick a winner by Sunday night, just in time for class Monday! :)

Smitten + Type It with Leigh Penner

http://leighpenner.blogspot.ca

Leigh Penner is back to show you the rest of her projects. And if yesterday was any indication, today does not disappoint either! Here are her projects using Smitten and Type It.

So Sweet layout by Leigh Penner

Stamps used: Smitten

Leigh used many of the stamps in Smitten to created this perfect layout. It is beyond sweet!

Check out that gradient color stamping! L-O-V-E!

Our feather image also included in Smitten, Leigh created some texture by cutting it up a bit. Clever!

I <3 You card by Leigh Penner

Stamps used: Type It

Wow, did she pick the perfect patterned paper to go with the design or what! The card itself it perfect. Everything about it. I have no more words. :)

Thank you, Leigh... for leaving me speechless. I was completely enamored by everything you created for us! You were an absolute delight to have as a guest designer this month and I am so thrilled once again that you were our first winner! Congratulations, again!!! 

Cosmic Stars with Leigh Penner

Today we are pleased to showcase projects from our first challenge winner, Leigh Penner! You know how to grab my attention? Great overall design, great use of colors and layout, and clear sharp pictures. Leigh's got it all down! I knew she was talented, but when she sent me the new projects I was blown away! Let's get to know Leigh a little better, shall we?

http://leighpenner.blogspot.ca

My name is Leigh Penner. I am married to my husband of 16 years, Cameron, and together we have three children: Austin, Jonah & Sage. We live in Morden, Manitoba, Canada, where I work as a substitute teacher for our local high school. I have been scrapbooking for almost 10 years and got into stamping and cardmaking about two years ago. I have been published over 50 times in magazines and special issues like Creating Keepsakes, Papercraft, Scrapbooking Trends, Cards Magazine and more. I was so excited to win the Mama Elephant Colour Challenge 01 and get this opportunity to be a guest designer this month for such a wonderful stamp company

Leigh is here today to show you her projects using our new stamps Cosmic Stars and Starry Night; a stampy match made in heaven!

Twinkle, Twinkle card by Leigh Penner

Stamps used: Cosmic Stars, Starry Night

Isn't this card darling? I love the white embossed star pattern over black cardstock. (I attempted to do that this month, but my clear and white embossing powders were mixed together. The result is not good!) I love the yellow and black color combo and she balanced it out very nicely! Starry Night has so many sentiments and many of them are easy to combine!

Don't lie, you were amply impressed with Leigh today too! :) Go ahead, sing her praises and leave her some love! She'll be back tomorrow to wow you some more! 

Smitten + Type It with Betsy Veldman

http://scrapbookgirl.typepad.com/

Hey everyone, the incredible Betsy Veldman is back today to show you the rest of her projects from our January release. Scroll down one post to see what she did yesterday! 

You. Me. Oui. card using Type It by Betsy Veldman

Betsy created a beautiful watercolor card using the typewriter image from Type It. I love that she created 3 separate typewriters and broke up the You. Me. Oui. sentiment from Smitten. Really cute idea!

It's as beautiful as it is cool! Did you notice she stamped the sheet paper stamp on a notebook type of patterned paper. Very pretty!

Smitten With You card using Smitten by Betsy Veldman

Betsy really stretched our stamps and made them even more functional by selective stamping and separating sentiments. The arrows work so fittingly! What a great collage card!

Look at all the details! 

Such pretty cards and she makes them look so effortless! Thank you so much, Betsy!!!

Cosmic Stars + Starry Night with Betsy Veldman

Hey everyone, I'm so stinkin' excited, because today Betsy Veldman is in the house and she's gonna bring it!!! Betsy is one of those designers who I am constantly amazed at, she has an impeccable design prowess about her that simply cannot be matched in this industry. To the point, there is no one like her! And we are so happy to welcome her on board this month and show you what she does with our stamps!

Get to know Betsy!



http://scrapbookgirl.typepad.com/

I live in a small town in the NW corner of Iowa with my husband of 14 years and our three kids.  Making stuff has always been a big part of my life, ever since I was a little girl digging through my mom's boxes of fabric scraps...it seems to be a trait that has been passed down through many generations of women in my family!  Today I love stamping, card making, a bit of scrapbooking, as well as sewing.  My daughters seem to have caught the creativity bug as well and we love to craft together.  I currently work as one of the Paper Crafts magazine Go-to Gals, and I am also on design teams for Papertrey Ink, Pink Paislee, and Anna Griffin.  

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Hello Baby card by Betsy Veldman

Stamps used: Cosmic Stars, Starry Night

Isn't this super cute? She transformed Cosmic Stars into a baby set!



The cow peeking out is so funny!

You're Out of This World by Betsy Veldman

Stamps used: Starry Night

Ahh, I never thought to use the dashed lines from Starry Night to create a linear pattern. Very cool, love how Betsy's mind works!



Awesome, right? Betsy will be back here tomorrow with two more projects!!!

Stamp Highlight: Type It

 Today's Highlight is on Type It, our fun and fabulous typewriter themed set. 

Here's our Design team with their Type It projects!

happy b-day card by Alice Wertz



Alice's card is so fun and funky fresh! I love her layering of washi tape and paint splattering. 

hey there. miss you. card by Cheiron Brandon



This card by Cheiron is simplicity at its finest. Sometimes the images need no other fanfare but a pretty ink color.

many happy returns card by JJ Bolton



JJ knocked it out once again with this beautiful vellum card. I love how the vellum subdues the colorful typewriters underneath. And that twine? Perfection!

Hearts card by Mariana Grigsby



Mariana's card is bold and beautiful! I love that she created a scattered paper look by stamping the sheet 3 times. The duo colored twine to the side really balances the design.

Portobello Road layout by Pearl Lui



Pearl's layout is full of textures and dimension! I love that she used the large ledger stamp as her journaling block on top of the typewriter.

That's all for today! Be sure to leave our designers some love by visiting their blogs. :)

Stamp Highlight: Smitten

If you are looking for our January Stampede, scroll down or click HERE. There is still time to comment to win one of 3 gift certificates to our store!

(Smitten)

Smitten is today's highlight and it's a delightful and modern sentiment set. We threw in some trendy images for good measure! ;) I have long been a fan of versatile stamps that can be used for the light scrapbooking that I do as well as different sayings for my cards. I love the fresh look of Smitten!

Our Design Team is back to show you what they've done with this fabulous set!

You Are Simply Wonderful card by Alice Wertz 

Alice created a masterfully artistic splattered ink look on her card. (How come my ink splatters never look this good?!) Beautiful color combo!

You Are Simply Wonderful card by Cheiron Brandon



Cheiron went bright with her neon colors in this simple elegant card.

LOVE card by JJ Bolton



JJ, our die cutting queen is at it again! This is just fab.

Smile card by Mariana Grigsby



Love the bright confetti card with some circles popped up Mariana created. So fun!

Hey There card by Pearl Lui



Pearl created a sweet little gem combining sentiments. We love the altered arrow she created too!

I <3 This card by Savannah O'Gwynn



Sav probably knows I love a good pink and aqua combo card, such a sweet layered card!

We'll be back Monday! Have a great weekend!

Stamp Highlight: Starry Night

If you are looking for our January Stampede, scroll down or click HERE. There is still plenty of time to comment to win one of 3 gift certificates to our store!

Today we are highlighting Starry Night - an extremely versatile and plentiful companion sentiment set to Cosmic Stars. As you can see, there's also a cute star/snowflake border stamp too as well as shooting stars to create your own constellation pattern. I love this set!!

(Starry Night)

Let's look at what our Designers created with Starry Night!

Happy Birthday card by Alice Wertz



I always forget to stamp color on kraft, it's such a neat muted effect that Alice created beautifully here. She used the border stamp from Trifecta and the lion is from Cosmic Stars.

Scorpio card by Cheiron Brandon



Love the colorful background Cheiron created! This would work for any recipient, girl, boy, little girl, little boy! :)

Wish Upon a Star card by JJ Bolton



JJ created this beautiful serene wintry shooting star cosmic peaceful (I'm running out of adjectives here!) scene here. Isn't it breathtaking?

What's Your Sign card by Mariana Grigsby



Mariana created this playful card by using all the astrology signs. This is definitely fun! I love the multicolored gradient border she stamped also, that clever girl!

Reach For the Stars card by Pearl Lui



Pearl created a star sign by piecing together the dashed stars, that looks like the big dipper! Love the glittery mat!

Happy Birthday card by Savannah O'Gwynn



Savannah created her own background and Leo's star pattern by a tone on tone look by using Versamark Ink. We love the bright colors!

How about a round of applause for our girls?! :)

Stamp Highlight: Cosmic Stars

If you are looking for our January Stampede, scroll down or click HERE. There is still plenty of time to comment to win one of 3 gift certificates to our store!

Welcome to the first day of our Highlights posts for January. Over the next 4 days, we'll be highlighting one stamp set a day from our January release with inspiration from our Design Team.

(Cosmic Stars)

Today's focus and highlight is on Cosmic Stars a set that is brimming with possibilities! The animals work well for baby themed cards, the girls are suitable for friendship, and of course astrology! Each character represents an astrology sign. This is how the stamps will come to you:

As you can see, the astrology signs are clearly printed for reference only. For the actual word stamps, we created Starry Night for that. :) Now let's move on to our Design Team! Hold onto your socks!!! LOL! Wish Upon a Star card by Alice Wertz Alice created this fun pattern out of all the images. Her coloring, as always, is impeccable!

Scorpio card by Cheiron Brandon




Cheiron created a cool card with white embossing. I LOVE the glitter splatter she created, it looks like the universe! :P


Calendar set by JJ Bolton

JJ went all out and created an entire calendar set! Of course this works since each character represents a month! P.S. be on the lookout for a free calendar template coming out soon just for this set!

We're Compatible card by Mariana Grigsby



How darling is this card by Mariana? I loved that she paired two astrology signs together and used the fitting sentiment from Starry Night as well. 

You're the One card by Pearl Lui



Get out! Pearl created a fishbowl using the globe image from Believe in Magic! She simply flipped it upside down. If that isn't stretching your stamps then I don't know what is!

Aiming For Your Heart card by Savannah O'Gwynn



Savannah altered the sentiment from On Target to create this tiny cutie of a card! That image is seriously perfect for Valentine's!

Aren't they all so amazing and unique? Our Design Team rocks!!!