Triple Shaker with Bunnies!

 Hello! Alison Heikkila here. Last Thursday I made this cute shaker card over on the Doodles Paper Playground FB Page during a FB Live. We combined products from a bunch of companies and we created an adorable card with sherbet colors and 3 different Sparkle Blends. I say "we" because i never make all of the decisions about how we make a project. I love when the viewers chime in with suggestions or opinions on the choices I give them. So we're essentially all making the project together.

*Links to all products used are in Alison's Blog Post. 

I had pre-colored and cut out the bunnies (from Mama Elephant) to save a little time during the FB Live. I had also pulled out the Houndstooth background stamp from Erin Lee Creative and 4 colors of Distress Ink. We used Spun Sugar, Mustard Seed, Carved Pumpkin, and Abandoned Coral. I cut my windows easily with the circles from Your Next Stamp's Peek a Boo Trio die.

For our Sparkle Blends, we decided to use Grapefruit, Lemonade, and Candy Corn. The colors went really well with the bunnies and the Distress Ink colors. Look at how many different items are in each of those little windows! I didn't even use all of the components in each of the Sparkle Blends. I used a piece of Lawn Fawn paper for being the shaker windows. My sentiment is a the Painted Hello die from Simon Says Stamp, which I used Therm O Web's Adhesive Pen on, and then foiled with Peach Princess Deco Foil. I also added a "shadow" layer using another piece of Lawn Fawn cardstock. The card base was rimmed with Rustic Wilderness Distress Ink, which was the perfect match to the Lawn Fawn paper.

I think this card came out adorable. I love the colors...the Sparkle Blends are a happy surprise inside those circles...and those bunnies are adorbs. If you didn't get a chance to catch the FB Live, you can check it out HERE. It would be great if you were with us for the next time! They're always on Thursdays at 8PM EST on the Doodles Paper Playground FB Page. Thanks for stopping by. Have an inspiring day! 

Monoprinted Hello

Greetings! Alison here. I have been on a huge monoprinting kick since I have gotten a couple of new Gel Press plates. I love working with them, but I can easily make 25 sheets of prints in one sitting, so I need to use some before I make more. One thing that I like to do is to keep the monoprint as the focus, add a great sentiment, and a ton of Sparkle Blends around it. That's what I did on my card today, which features the Candy Corn Sparkle Blend from Doodles Paper Playground.

For this monoprint, I used my 6" Gel Press, with the Impressables Repeat Circles plate, and fluid acrylics from Deco Art Media. I honestly can't tell you what colors I used, as I just gather a bunch of colors and play, without thinking. Monoprinting becomes almost like a meditation...I get in the zone, and I just make prints. It's freeing and very satisfying. After this print was dry and trimmed down, I used the Web Stencil from Sassy & Crafty to add more detail to the sides of the print. I kept it loose and imperfect.

I then added my sentiment which is from Sassy & Crafty's Happy Everything stamp set with Vintage Sepia VersaFine ink. Now I could finally add my Sparkle Blends! You can see I went a little hog wild with the sequins, but it's the perfect way to add not only shine, but texture too. The Candy Corn Sparkle Blend has pretty shades of orange, yellow, and white, plus little clay candy corn pieces, which I opted to leave off of this card. I glued all of my sequins down with On Point Glue. On my card base, I painted on a metallic orange spray to help really ground the monoprinted panel.

I really like how there's not only circular sequins on the card, but also all of the thin circles from the Impressables, which really help to move your eye around the card. You don't always need to make a shaker card to have impactful sequins, and I think this card is a good example of that. Be sure to head over to the Sparkle Blends Shop to see all of the gorgeous options that are currently available. Don't judge a Blend by it's name! Just because I used Candy Corn today, doesn't mean it needs to be Halloween. Each Sparkle Blend has so many wonderful bits in it, you can always change them to suit your needs easily. Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!