You are Exceptional with Mama Elephant

 

Hello crafty friends! Davina here, with a cute Shabby Chic inspired prize ribbon for you today . The May release was so cute and full of incredible school themed sets perfect for all of the end of year projects, cards and thank yous. I have been seeing so many fun beaded and custom felt prize ribbons as of late, and I wanted to make a ruffled paper version on a card, using new stamps from Mama Elephant. 

                                              

I started by choosing my images from the new You’re a Superstar stamp set,  then I went into my stash of Creative Cuts and found some scalloped dies that i thought would layer beautifully. I decided on the pretty Caly Circle Lace dies and the super fun Combo Circle layering dies. Patterned papers always decide the color combos for my projects, so after choosing some shabby chic striped paper for the background layer, I selected some soft rose cardstock to make the base of my prize ribbon. I cut 2 of the larger doily style shapes and then 2 from a dusty soft blue for the smaller layers. All of these paper pieces received a very gently ink blending along the edges and some soft gold splatters on the pink. For the center of the ribbon used colored ink from The Stamp Market to partially stamp the sentiment. I wanted to make faux beads for the word exceptional, and used the wonderful Creative Cuts die set called String of Letters. After cutting the “letter beads”, I assembled them by sandwiching 2 circles and some bakers twine with a teeny dot of hot glue. It’s a tedious few minutes, but these kinds of accents make a world of difference.  

                                           

You must get the rest of the accents ready and placed before adhering the bracelet portion with the letter beads. That way it can be applied with the appropriate amount of “give” and swing without covering anything up. I took a strip of the striped paper and gently misted it with water to make the folding of the ruffle easier. I glued die cut the row cheering cuties across the strip and got ready to assemble the ribbon.

                                                

Using some creamy crepe paper from a party streamer roll, I scrunched up about 14 inches to make the ruffle. I then cut it in half to double the length now that it was scrunched up to about 6 inches. I ran some hot glue around half of a large pink circle, then quickly arranged my ruffle. Then I worked on the other half and just cut off and discarded the extra. I arranged a few foam dots in the center space then put my second gold splattered pink circle. After assembling my Circle Combo for the middle portion, I adhered that to the middle and glued on the row of characters towards the bottom of the medal. Finally i attached the string of letter beads with a dot of glue on just the first and last letter so that the word itself can swing and wiggle. 

I selected some soft and thin sheer ribbons to layer at the bottom of my medal and left them only long enough to reach the bottom of my card. I distressed my patterned paper by rubbing some thinned gold paint along there edges then adhered my large ruffled prize ribbon to the center. I think it would have been nice to apply a magnet to the back and just make the ribbon removable, but I didn't think of until it was too late. 

I hope you enjoyed this project, imagine how many different prize ribbons you could create for so many occasions! Thank you for stopping by, Davina 

March Designer Series with Mama Elephant

Hello Crafty Friends! Davina here, with my March Mama Elephant Designer Series project. The March release is in full swing and I just love all the new photo themed products and playfulness of everything. I especially love the Penguin Park stamp set and the whole amusement park vibe! I decided to make a 2nd card for this release using the fantastic castle image surrounded by the penguins, but to make it a little more special, I chose to make a swinging pendulum style interactive card. 

I stamped and colored my images from the Penguin Park stamp set before diecutting them out, and cut two of the little penguin that would be holding the balloons. When making a pendulum on your project, it’s important to remember that the image needs to be heavier at the bottom, to ensure it swings easily and falls back down to the original placement. I used the Spring in the Air Creative Cuts for my grassy hillside and layered it over an ink blended sky. Because I knew the top would be bulky with my swinging balloons, I mounted the grass with some foam tape to add a little weight to the lower half of my card. 

                                                     

I tucked my castle under the hillside and arranged a few images onto the hillside letting them extend off of my matted background. I prepared the panel using more foam tape, to make room for the Snap n Slide disc (available from PearBlossom Press), and used a hole punch to cut the access for my sliding disc. I snapped the 2 piece disc into place and mounted the whole background onto my card base.   

                                                      

Now that everything was in its place I was able to add a large glue dot to the exposed half of the sliding disc, and adhere my ballon holding penguin (with a second penguin added for weight) In the remaining sky, I added a small speech bubble using a little sentiment from Happy Together Sayings, and a few glittery die cut stars.  

I finished the card off by adding some glitter glue to the castle windows for a little sparkle. I love how swishy this is and how freely my ballon penguin swings. Make sure to check out the fun new products from the March release. Thank you for stopping by, Davina 

February Designer Series with Mama Elephant

Hello Crafty Friends! Davina here with you today, to share my Designer Series project for February. This release is chock full of cozy home “feels” but I wanted to focus on one of the new Creative Cut die sets playfully called the Silly Shaker Frames. I made a sweet full sized slimline card, with 3 shaker frames arranged onto the scene. I especially love that the die set includes 2 different sized dies to create custom faux sequins with your colored paper scraps and that they combine beautifully with actual sequins and shaker beads to fill your frames. 

To make my trio of shakers, I cut multiple frames from an assortment of papers. I used a pretty variety of patterned papers for the base, and beautiful glitter cardstock for the top frame. I stamped some of the house images from Little Agenda House and chose to add very faint and minimal coloring to them, before adhering them to each of the shaker bases. I put a little pile of sequins on each base before carefully topping with my foam tape backed frame. 

I arranged all 3 frames to my long slimline panel onto the available space. Then stamped and colored 3 different pairs of animals for the 3 frames. I used the larger animal images from the Stackable Cuties stamp set as well as a little speech bubble from the same set for each pair. Then, I found a teeny version of each cutie in my “Agenda” sets. I used Little Monkey Agenda, Little Unicorn Agenda, and Little Pig Agenda stamp sets. 

I placed a sentiment from the new Home Sweet Home set in the center, then arranged the images onto the frames, making sure to leave some of each house visible, and also making sure my long scene would feel balanced. I really love that I was able to find some floating/flying critters to fill my shaker frames and kind of make a “moving” themed card. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and make sure to check out the new Mama Elephant February release, Davina 

Mama Elephant January Designer Series

Hello crafty friends! I feel like it’s been a while since I shared a blog post for my beloved Mama Elephant projects, but I'm back, with a glittered sparkly birthday card featuring the new Birthday Celebrations Stamps and CC dies. During last weeks Stamp Highlights, you may have noticed that I made all of my cards using matching colors and papers, and I continued the theme to this project as well. I find it easier and quicker to reduce the choices for markers and papers when I match my cards into little collections, especially when i need multiple projects at the same time for releases. Bonus, everything is cohesive and looks beautiful when shared together too.

As always, I made my marker choices for coloring by matching my patterned paper pack. I know that all of the papers with match each other, and the colors will coordinate seamlessly since I'm sticking to a palette that a professional has compiled. After stamping and coloring all of my images I ran them through the die cutting machine using the Birthday Celebration CC dies. I built an arched centerpiece for my scene using the B2B Arches CC die set and adding an additional popped up layer of coppery glitter cardstock for the “floor”. Before assembling I gently inked the edges of my arch with oxide inks and added a splattering of coppery paint. 

I centered my arch onto a stitched panel cut using the largest layer from the Combo Rectangle CC die set then added one more hand cut layer of coppery glitter to layer that upon (I may have cut my little floor layer from the middle of this panel). Wink wink. I adhered my images and the birthday banner to this panel when I decided I would make an additional swag of cardstock circles to layer over top. I had the circles on my desk already from a previous card, so I just glued them to some black thread and taped the thread behind the panel. 

I love stripes and use them all the time, so there are always tons of striped paper scraps at my disposal. I trimmed one to fit along the side of my card back and centered my decorated card panel on top. I really love that the little circle swag moves a little bit. It will lay flat in the envelope but have movement when the card is handled. I also really love the subdued glam that the glittery copper cardstock adds to these cards. It’s all cute enough for a young person but “grown up” for an adult, and to me that’s exactly what I strive for when planning my cards.

I hope you like this card and check out the Birthday Celebration set if you haven’t already added it to your collection.  Thank you so much for stopping by, Davina 

Mama Elephant July Designer Series

Hello Crafty friends! I’m super happy to be here with you,  on the Mama Elephant Blog, with my Designer Series project. The June release was large and full of so many wonderful designs. I especially loved the cute new Halloween sets, as spooky cards are my very favorite to make. The card I'm sharing today uses many stamp sets, but the main focus are the cute new witches from the stamp set called Bewitched. 

I wanted to create an apothecary type scene full of potion bottles and spooky cute elements. I used the new  Arch Shop Window die set to make a faux hutch that I could fill with all of my images. I cut and inked the pieces from the die set, then just trimmed a piece of cardstock, to fit across the bottom of the card, about 4x1.5 inches. I used the Woodgrain cover to give some texture before ink blending, then topped with a piece of trimmed paper, cut from the long side of a stitched frame, to make the countertop. Once assembled, I backed with some plaid patterned paper that was gently distressed with black ink to make it look deep.

I stamped out many potion bottles from the Magical Wizards set, and the candles, stars, and witches hat from the Big Boo stamp set. I also got the books from the set called Keep Cozy (which is on sale right now). I had so much fun layering all my images together and stocking the shelves of my cabinet. I stuffed the glass dome from Bakery Bears with glittery stars and finished it with a colorful banner from the Tree Hugging cover plate die. 

I adhered my witches with their cute kitties and cauldron, across the bottom, and love that they look like young witchlings playing in the shop. I hope you enjoy this pink Halloween scene and that you are inspired to make some not so spooky cards too. 

Thank you for stopping by,

Davina 

February Designer Series with Mama Elephant

Hello crafty friends! Davina here, with Mama Elephant, sharing my Designer Series project for February. I created a bursting pop up box of “Happy Mail” featuring a super cute new stamp set called Handle With Care. I always appreciate when a large block text stamp set has the coordinating dies and this set is not exception, and I especially love all the cute little panda bears that accompany the text. I combined a few other stamp sets to fill this card and love that the older Incoming Mail stamps are also mail themed and pandas! They were screaming for a fun collaboration. 

I decided to make a pop up box card using the 3D Pop Up Box Card Die set, and to make it look like a cute cardboard shipping box. I began by cutting the main box twice using Kraft cardstock and then gently inkblending all of the edges and folds with Distress Oxide Inks. I cut the inserts, using the included hill, from bright patterned papers and assembled the box using hot glue (always my favorite way of making secure box cards)

I stamped the sentiments from Handle With Care with colorful matching ink and cut out using the coordinating Creative Cuts. Then after cutting some panels for the flaps, I adhered and decorated the “box”. I used some small stamps the stamp sets Essential Tag Sayings for even more decoration on the outer box by stamping directly on the box with a taupe colored dye ink. 

For the inside of the pop up design, I stamped and colored the images from Incoming Mail, and arranged them onto my inserts, and also onto the fold down panels. I always adhere my images onto the inserts using hot glue because it sets up quickly and is sturdy enough to hold the images securely, without the risk of them slipping down or shifting on accident. I love how cute everything looks together and the way that the images all complement each other. 

I hope you enjoy this look at my “Happy Mail”, and pull out your older box card dies and make a bursting little box card for yourself. Thank you for stopping by, Davina 

Mama Elephant February Stampede Blog Hop

Welcome to the Mama Elephant Design Team blog hop!

Our newest release is now live and available for purchase in the store!

www.mamaelephant.com

Today I’m sharing a fun trip of cloche type glass jars, that I created out of several die cuts, to fill some some beautiful Easter images from a couple of the new release sets. I used May Your Dreams, Basket of Goodies, along with that chick & eggs from Delivering Spring Happiness, to make some grass and flower filled displays. I used the B2B Arches and and trimmed the scallop frames for the bottom from Two Scallop Frames CC. I finished this off with a Spring Banner and love how fresh and vibrant this is.

 

Check out the rest of the hop for amazing inspiration from our Design Team!

To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is picking 1 winner to win a prize pack (winner will be notified in their comment on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube)! Open to Domestic & International (winner pays for shipping)

» 1. Leave a comment on the collective Design Team's Instagram Stampede post
» 2. Leave a comment on our Facebook Stampede post

» 3. Leave a comment on any of the Introduction videos on YouTube

 

Each action qualifies for one entry, max 3 entries per stampeder please and good luck!

(Winner will be announced and notified directly as a reply to the winning comment)

 

Check out the rest of the hop for amazing inspiration from our Design Team!

 

@mamaelephant
@vera_rhuhay
@nicholspohr
@dasmimz
@popsiclesticks
@cre8iveli

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day from all of us!

Christmas is here with Davina

 Hello Crafty friends! Davina here, to share some fun Christmas cheer with you today. I’ve said it many times, and I’ll say it again, the Mama Elephant Little Agenda series is one of my favorite collections of stamps. I love being able to add many little cuties onto my scenes, and i especially love combining them onto cover grid backgrounds. 

The card I’m sharing today combines the new and adorable Little Elephant Agenda stamps, and the recent Elephant Cheer stamps. My favorite technique for using cover grid cover plates, is to layer a dimensional foreground at the bottom of the scene, while filling in the exposed grid with Agenda images. This is exactly how I built the card I’m sharing today. 

I cut two panels from white cardstock, using the Globies Cover Grid, and glued them together for a little more structure. I used some glittery Champaign colored cardstock for the snow globe bases and adhered them at the bottom of each snow globe. After mounting the cover grid over some winter themed patterned paper, I mounted the whole thing onto a slightly larger striped panel from the same paper pack. At the very bottom of the grid I mounted a glittery stitched hillside using some foam tape. I filled that hillside with stamped and colored images from Elephant Cheer, and added sparkling Wink of Stella to the stars. 

I added a Little Elephant Agenda image to each exposed snow globe window using a foam dot, and sprinkled a few die cut snowflakes around the card front. I finished the card off with the teeniest strip of a sentiment that I partially stamped from a different Mama Elephant Christmas set. I really love combining and mixing multiple sets onto my cards, and I always hope that my projects will inspire you to do the same. Thank you for dropping by, Davina 

Pretty Pink Posh Sneak Peek Outer Space

Hello crafty friends! Davina here with some “out of this world”, sneak peeks, featuring the June Pretty Pink Posh release. This playful release is full of imaginative play themed sets like construction, first responders, and space. I made a pair of cards that feature some of the space theme products and hope that you are as excited as I was. 

Both cards were created using the Outer Space stamp sets with the coordinating dies, and they are both shaker cards, using the new Shaker Beads mix called Beach Day. I felt like this color combo would be perfect for my space scenes and love the fiery gold and orange with the shades of blue. 

For the first card, I started by die cutting my background using the Pierced Star Plate from Bristol Smooth Cardstock. I inkblended my panel with a blue gradient starting with a light aqua and finishing with a dark teal around the edges. After splattering with several inks, including gold, I put it aside to dry while i worked on the other components. 

I made the shaker element using the new Planet Shaker Die Set. I inkblended the center using the warm colors, and cut the ring from holographic cardstock. I filled the shaker about 1/3 of the way full for maximum effect. Next, I stamped and colored my images using copic markers and added white highlights and some glittery Wink of Stella accents. I backed my star panel with some starry patterned papers I had in my craft stash, and assembled the cards with the shaker in the center. I finished the card off with a sentiment from the stamps set, on a bold white banner. 

I loved the results so much I decided to make a second version of the card but with the new Rocket Shaker Die Set, and the other images from the Outer Space stamp set. I backed this card in a dark navy blue version of the same patterned paper and used the larger more decorative sentiment from the set. I think the reflective holographic paper was absolutely the way to go with these shaker die sets, as the colors pick up so much from the copic colored images, and really bring the scenes to life. 

I hope you like this pair of cards as much as I do, and are inspired to stock up on the new release for these “out of this world” collection of products! Thank you for stopping by, Davina 

Mama Elephant April Stampede

 

Welcome to the Mama Elephant Design Team blog hop!

Our newest release is now live and available for purchase in the store!

www.mamaelephant.com

The new Mama Elephant release is here and it’s full of the cutest sets that make you feel like summer is just around the corner. I especially love the new Me and My Whale stamp set. There are 3 large whales that are so unique and beautiful. There are also several small mermaids that perfectly match the older Little Mermaiden Agenda set. I created a deep blue inky ocean that I filled with whales, mermaids and a cute sentiment using the new Typed Thank Yous. 

Check out the rest of the hop for amazing inspiration from our Design Team!

To celebrate the new release, Mama Elephant is picking 1 winner to win a prize pack (winner will be notified in their comment on Instagram, Facebook or YouTube)! Open to Domestic & International (winner pays for shipping)

» 1. Leave a comment on the collective Design Team's Instagram Stampede post
» 2. Leave a comment on our Facebook Stampede post

» 3. Leave a comment on any of the Introduction videos on YouTube

 

Each action qualifies for one entry, max 3 entries per stampeder please and good luck!

 

Check out the rest of the hop for amazing inspiration from our Design Team!

 

@mamaelephant
@vera_rhuhay

@nicholspohr

@dasmimz

@popsiclesticks

@cre8iveli

 

Thank you for stopping by! Have a great day from all of us!

 

The Greeting Farm April Blog Hop

 

The April 2024 New Release is now available for purchase in The Greeting Farm Store. This month we introduced 3 new stamp sets. Our first set called MERMAID ANYA 2 takes us under the sea with a gorgeous Anya and her fish and sea horse friends. Next, our furry friends went on a road trip in a caravan in a set called ADVENTURE PALS. Our final set called MISS ANYA STYLE has a beautiful Anya with 4 stunning dresses.

I’m sharing a shaker card I made using the beautiful Mermaid Anya 2 stamp set. I just adore how her hair flows across her face and large coral and starfish fascinator. I combined a few images from an older set called Happy to Sea You. I adhered everything on top of a scallop scale shaker that I’ve had in my stash for years and years and I like how the beachy patterned paper peeks through from behind.

To celebrate this release we are having a short BLOG HOP! One lucky fan will take home the entire release!! You have until April 18th, 12pm CST/1pm EST to leave your comments on each Designer's Blog. Then head back to The Greeting Farm Blog to let us know you completed the hop.

**Remember to qualify for the prize you MUST leave a comment on each Designer's Blog AND The Greeting Farm Blog letting us know you completed the hop.

NOTE: Comments on The Greeting Farm Blog are admin approved so it may take a day for your comment to be visible. Please only comment once, and use the same name on all the blogs when leaving a comment. Do not pick the Anonymous option (otherwise we won't be able to verify that it's you).

We will announce the random winner later in the week on the Blog and in our Facebook Group: The Greeting Farm Fan Page.

TGF Design Team:
Cynthia
Davina
Elisabete
Meg

This is a short hop and definitely worth playing along! If you want to grab your favorites now, you can purchase the new stamps HERE. We will have more cards featuring the New Release from our Design Team Leaders starting on the 16th so be sure to stop by The Greeting Farm Blog to see more inspiration.

Happy Hopping!

Pretty Pink Posh Halloween Week

 

Hello Crafty Friends! I’m so excited to be participating in the Pretty Pink Posh Halloween Theme Week. All of their products are so wonderfully illustrated and designed, that it is a breeze to pull multiple stamp sets, stencils and dies together to make the cutest cards and decor. I did just that for this bright and bold shaker boxcard. 

I stamped images from newer and older sets to build this scene. Halloween Pals, Ghost Friends, Halloween friends, and Giving Thanks to name a few. I always use the coordinating dies to achieve a clean and polished look to my images. 

Before assembling this card, I created a flat mesh shaker using the new Cauldron Shaker Die. I cut the shaker twice, added a few stamped images along with some glow in the dark mini stars and some clay confetti pieces from the Halloween Party Mix. I sandwiched a small piece of orange tulle mesh to make a flat shaker using 1/8 double sided tape. 

For the background I inkblended an orange ombré sky and used the Spooky Sky Stencil to ink the bats and emboss the clouds onto my Bristol cardstock. I gently splattered with water and black ink to distress and “spookify” the sky. 

I was excited to use up several pieces of patterned paper remnants, that I had in my stash, for each of the layers and side panels of the box. I adhered my images and shaker through the layers and even made sure to have some floating pieces using acetate strips. I finished this up by stamping a sentiment on the back and adding a final pumpkin. 

I hope you love this fun and spooky card and appreciate you stopping by to see how I created it. Now is the perfect time for you to stock up on your Halloween supplies at Pretty Pink Posh, all of the Halloween items are on sale so don’t miss out! 

Davina 

Mama Elephant Stamp Highlights Joyful Greeting

 Hello crafty friends! I’m so happy to be participating with the Mama Elephant team once again. Todays “Stamp Highlight” is the wonderful Holiday sentiment set called Joyful Greetings. This tasteful and pretty set is full of Christmas messages that would be perfect for the front of a card or even the inside message. Each sentiment has a coordinating die so you can place the sentiment over a busy background like I have with my “Jolly” card. 

I wanted a soft yet bold background for this gingerbread man filled card, so I used alcohol inks on white photo paper for a textured looking background. I created a postcard frame using the Postage Frame Creative Cuts and fit my inky background inside. I stamped and cut images from the Gingerbread Cookies Stamp set using brown ink soft pastel Christmas colors. 

I finished this card by stamping my “Joyful Greeting” with Taupe ink and centering in the top of my card. I really love the results and think that these sentiments will coordinate well with any holiday themed stamp set. 

Please make sure to head over to the Mama Elephant Blog to see the inspiration from the entire DT for all of the amazing new products. You won’t want to miss out on the sale and free item promotions!