Holiday Card Series Day 2: Lawn Fawn-Winter Bunny (a design team project for White Rose Crafts)

Hello Doodle Friends,

Today I am sharing Day 2 of my Holiday Card Series--which also happens to be my Design team project of the week for White Rose Crafts! I created two cards this time, featuring the same image and sentiment. I was able to achieve a slightly different look by switching up the pattern paper I chose.

I started by stamping this adorable "Winter Bunny" by Lawn Fawn at either end of a piece of Recollections 65#, white cardstock that was 4 inches x 5.25 inches, using my Original Misti stamp positioning tool. Using the Misti, I was able to leave the stamp on the door and just rotate my paper 180 degrees to ensure the bunny was in the same position at both ends. 

Holiday Card Series Day 3: Heffy Doodle-Elfish Antics (Design Team Project for White Rose Crafts)

Hello Doodle Friends,

Tonight I am sharing a pair of super cute cards I created with one background I created using a variety of the supporting image stamps from Heffy Doodle's absolutely adorable Elfish Antics stamp set from the November 1st 2017 release, available to purchase now in the White Rose Crafts store.

Who doesn't love a 2 for 1 deal? Amiright?

I knew I wanted to do some coloring on Recollections kraft cardstock using my Spectrum Noir Colored Pencils-Primaries set, so I decided to use the small, supporting images included in the stamp set and create a random pattern on my kraft panel. I used Versafine ink in Vintage Sepia and my Misti stamping tool to ensure that I got crisp clear images with a softer, tone on tone look on the kraft background. I also stamped each of the elves and one of the candy canes on a separate piece of kraft paper. Then I used traditional Christmas colors to add some very simple coloring on all of the images. I used colored pencils to lay down a base on the elves and extra candy cane before using Sakura Glaze pens in White, Red, Green and Yellow to help make the colors pop. Finally I fussy cut the images leaving a bit of a kraft border.

I trimmed my panel by 1/8 inch on each side and chose a deep red Neenah cardstock cut to 4 1/8x5 3/8" to mat my background on. I then used the second largest oval die from my Darice Embossing Essentials nested oval dies to cut a window in the center of my colored panel. I adhered my panel to the red layer and tried layering my elves inside the window, but they blended into the red more than I liked, so I used the largest Darice oval die to cut a piece of vellum to layer on top. I liked that it overlapped the kraft panel a bit. I took a piece of the kraft card and used my Versamark ink pad and Recollections Snow white embossing powder to heat emboss the cute and punny sentiment and trimmed it down. I felt it blended into the background a bit too much, so I inked the edges of the banner with Versamark and heat embossed them with the same white powder. I used double sided tear tape from White Rose Crafts to layer the adorable girl elf on top of the vellum oval, after deciding that both elves made the design too busy, and used foam tape to pop sentiment banner on top. I used 1mm foam tape on the back of the vellum, hidden behind the elf and sentiment, and adhered it in the center of the red window. I mounted the panel on a top folding US A2, portrait card base made using Recollections 110# White Cardstock, leaving a tiny white border around the edge. I felt the card needed just a little bit more definition, so I used my White Sakura Gelly Roll pen to draw faux stitch lines around the stamped kraft panel and a double stitch line around the edge of the vellum oval, to look like a stitched seam. For the final touch, I added a double coat of Spectrum Noir Clear Overlay Sparkle Pen to the sentiment banner.

A Few Big Announcements

Hello Doodle Friends,

I am excited to share some really amazing news with you today about a new opportunity for me!

A few weeks ago, I was asked by Kay Barnes, owner of White Rose Crafts LLC, to be the founding member of her new design team and help her grow her business. 

Kay and I met online last year in a Facebook destash group, and began to chat on and off between sales. At some point, Kay introduced me to her shop, and I was impressed by her excellent customer service, extremely competitive prices & reasonable shipping, but most of all, by her enthusiasm for her work. White Rose Crafts is an online retail store operating out of Amissville Virginia. It offers a variety of stamps, inks, decoupage & many other supplies. Kay, a UK native, specializes in importing high quality, European brands to the US at affordable prices, as well as providing many of the US brands you know and love. 

Holiday Card Series: Bundled Up Bunny & Holly Lane Paper Collection

Hello Doodle Friends!

I am here with the first of many project shares I have planned in the coming weeks, so stay tuned!

Today's card is the first in my Holiday Card Series and features the adorable "Bundled up Bunny" digital stamp from Craftin Desert Divas.I printed her on Recollections 65# White Cardstock and colored it up using a combination of Spectrum Noir Next Generation and Colorista alcohol markers.

Once the image was colored, I added details using a white Sakura Gelly Roll Pen, some sparkle wind trails behind the leaves using my Sakura clear Stardust pen and added Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle pen to the bunny's little bow, the acorn, the bird's hat & to the snowy hillside.

Getting Back In The Saddle Again

Hello Doodle Friends!

I am back. I apologize for the extended hiatus, but I had some logging in problems with Blogger and Google that I was able to figure out and work through today, finally! Just a quick post today, but I wanted to let you know I have some very exciting things in the works with whiterosecraftsllc.com for November and in the meantime plan to start posting project shares and short written tutorials at least once per week. I know, I said that before, but now that I've fixed things, I'm really excited to get this blog started and really start building a presence in the crafting community! I am also working on a YouTube launch to be announced soon!






If you haven't started following me on Instagram, be sure to go do that. @doodles_paper_playground  I've started doing a bi-monthly Color/Theme Inspiration Challenge over there & this month's mood board (see above) is a fun and unexpected fall palate! I'd love for you to check it out and join in with hashtag #doodlescolorchallenge so I can see what you create!

Back soon, I promise!

Let me introduce myself...

Hello fellow paper crafters, cardmakers, stampers, colorists and creatives, 

My name is Amber MacMurtry. I am in my mid 30s and have always been crafty and creative. I am a stay at home mom and full time caregiver for my nearly 3 year old son, who was born with a hypoxic brain injury, resulting in developmental delays and many diagnoses, including Cerebral Palsy and Epilepsy. for the past 3 years, his well being and developmental progress have been my full time job--they still are, but his seizures have been controlled for a full year now, so I have had some time to work on self care in addition to his care. 

This is a stressful life, no matter how fiercely this mama bear loves her little man; and one I could not have fathomed while dreaming of doing art projects with my child while I was pregnant-dreams that have had to change, or be abandoned altogether. To combat the stress, which sometimes threatens to turn to depression, I often need a little creative therapy--which is where Doodles Paper Playground, and all of you, come in! 

I've named this blog after my son--

affectionately nicknamed Davey-Doodles by our favorite NICU nurse, 

and it stuck.

Since he and crafting are two of the best parts of my world, so I thought it only fitting that they come together here. 

Isn't he just the most adorable little chubby monkey ever? 
Okay, I may be more than a little bit biased! 😍 
But he is, just sayin'!

I have been paper crafting in one form or another for about 16 years and my preferred mediums have changed many times, but I always seem to come back to cardmaking. I began making my Christmas cards in 2011 and discovered all of these fun new products, techniques, & tools and quickly became addicted, I'm not ashamed to say. My cardmaking style has evolved quite a lot since those first attempts using ribbon and store bought stickers to create pleasing designs. I now love stamping, digital stamps, coloring using a variety of mediums, die cutting, ink blending & just about every other fun new technique that people come up with. Within the past year I have really begun to find my own style and to explore my creativity by pushing myself to use my supplies in new and interesting ways that may not be obvious to everyone. I love to combine products from different design companies and alter images to become something entirely different from what may have been intended. I love to stretch my supplies and put my own twist on each new big technique fad that comes along, and I really enjoy sharing those ideas with other crafters who may want to try something new and challenging. I do hope you'll follow me here and on Instagram @doodles_paper_playground.

To start, I plan to post a few times per month at least, more if I have time. I don't currently have a posting schedule, but once my son starts PreK in the fall, I will be able to work on that. I intend to approach this adventure with humor, honesty and, of course, creativity!

Thank you so much for visiting!

I hope you'll come back and look for my first card blog post later this week!

Happy Crafting,

Amber & Doodles