Lawnscaping Blog Hop & My Philosophy on 'Happy Accidents'

Welcome everyone to the next stop on the Lawnscaping blog hop! You just finished enjoying Paulina's blog and now it's my turn to share a couple of cards I whipped up with my favorite Lawn Fawn stamps! This was a fun challenge and I am so grateful to the Lawnscaping crew for letting me share what I made with you. Stay with me to the end of this post for your chance to win some great prizes!

{True confession time} I had planned to make two very different cards. You see, I am mildly obsessed with this stamp set, and I planned two Valentines themed cards using the hearts and a few of these critters. I had the whole layout in my head and I was just going to whip it up, and all would work out as planned. AHEM. Someone forgot that they lent this stamp set out to a friend and someone waited until last night to actually make the cards and so that someone had to come up with a couple of other brilliant ideas. I also have to admit that I don't have any of the specifically holiday themed stamps (like this one or this one) so I didn't have Kelly marie's cute stamps to make my job easy.

I did a little thinkin' about off the beaten path holidays I could use as inspiration for my cards. One was an obvious one, the other came to me after a little internet search. Check it out:

{HAPPY DERBY}

supplies: Bannerific stamps (Lawn Fawn), letter stamps-so old, no idea who makes them, ink (Papertrey Ink), colored pencils, glitter (Doodlebug), machine stitching

Some of you may be unaware, but the Kentucky Derby is certified holiday here in Louisville. Like, people take off work, kids are out of school, and businesses are closed kind of holiday. I think that qualifies it for it's own greeting card, don't you? (And for those of you who don't live in Kentucky, I think you should start a petition to get the day off as well. I would totally back you up on that). I have sent out Derby cards to my family in the past, with a little bottle of mint julep mix, just to help them celebrate the occassion properly.

I used my favorite Lawn Fawn stamp-Bannerific to get the ball rolling. It was the perfect way to frame my sentiment. I tried to give this simple card a little dimension by reverse appliqueing the white cardstock behind the green base and then layering the banner on top of that. I used Fresh Snow ink to stamp a bunch of small flowers from Blissful Botanicals as a subtle background. Flowers are pretty much everywhere Derbytime, especially red roses. I used one of the flowers from Blissful Botanicals to mimic a bouquet of roses. A little sprinkling of glitter finished it all off.


{TALK LIKE A PIRATE DAY}

supplies: stamps (Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts), Ink (Papertrey Ink), colored pencils, paints (Studio Calico, Tattered Angels), patterned paper (Teresa Collins)

Did you know that September 19th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day? Arrrr Matey! haha, I love it and you can bet I am going to celebrate it right! I mean, really, the possibilities are endless-drinking like a pirate, wearing an eye patch, searching for booty......awesome.

I know a couple of little pirates that are going to get this card and a few related gifts. I consider this a happy accident, I would never have thought of this had I not forgotten my other stamp set. And, really, isn't a Pirate hliday WAY more interesting than a muchy romantic one?

To make this card, I used alot of paperpiercing and masking. It took a little planning to make sure I did things in the proper order. Follow me --> 1. I stamped a few little friends from Critters In The Sea 2. I masked them off by stamping the same images onto Post-It notes, then I dripped blue Glimmer Mist and green Mr. Huey to give the background a little interest. 3.Color in my little fishy friends 4. I stamped and cut out the pirates' hat from a little guy in this stamp set from Hero Arts 5.I used that banner stamp again to create a place for my o-so-original pirate humor. I hope that made sense, I know what it's like to look at a project and try to figure out how it went together. I wanted to make it as clear as I could so you could do the same thing!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope I inspired you to create cards for something other than your regular holidays! Need some ideas? This calendar has a great listing of holidays and this one has more outrageous if not slightly inappropriate reasons to send out some happy mail.

I know what you're thinking....come on already-I want prizes!! haha.....well, leave a comment here for one chance to win. The generous folks at lawn Fawn are giving 4 lucky hoppers a chance to win the set of their choice (when I win, I am going to get this one ; ) ). I also heard a rumor of some MYSTERY prizes along the way.

Hop along to Kim's blog for more cards and more chances to win! If you get lost, just hop back to the Lawnscaping site to start over.

Thanks again for stopping by and hope to see you here again soon!!

Michelle