Happy June! It's the first June Friday, and that means it's time for a new Scrap n Stamp Inspiration Hop! Our theme this month is FOR THE BOYS - time to make some masculine cards. There are two "boys" in my family graduating from high school this month, so I knew what I wanted to make: 

CAS design, not too much bling, not overly cute - concepts I find helpful when needing a masculine card. I picked up these Picket Fence sentiment stamps and dies with graduation cards in mind, although there are lots of other possibilities as well. I decided "happy graduation day" would be my secondary sentiment, and stamped it down a panel of Neenah white cardstock in grey ink.  My mortarboard, from Crazy Things, is coloured to go with my graduates' school colours - two schools in two different parts of Ontario, and lucky me, they both have burgundy/maroon in their school colours. :D For a perfect match, I coloured some white cardstock with the same marker before stamping, heat embossing and die cutting the congratulations sentiment. I cut two more from some scrap burgundy cardstock to add dimension, and one from black cardstock to act as a shadow. For the grad cap, I simply cut three extra black ones. After adding a thin mat of black, I adhered my main panel to some matte silver cardstock. Masculine and classy! 

Hopping and commenting on this inspiration hop puts you in the running to win a $50 gift certificate to the Scrap n Stamp shop! If you happen to struggle occasionally with masculine cards, you might just pick up a few tips along the way, too. ;) Here is the entire hop order: 

SNS Blog --> start here

Lindsey --> that's me!

Karen --> next on the hop

If you are inspired to make some cards for the boys, we have just the sale for you! Simply click here or on the sale graphic below: 

Have fun hopping! 

That's my boy Duncan! And now his photo has a custom frame. I had picked up a pack of plain wooden frames at IKEA pre-pandemic, and so it was more than time to decorate one. I started by giving the frame a couple of coats of gesso to prep the bare wood, and followed with some white acrylic paint. For decoration, I added the three My Favorite Things cats to the top of the frame - I backed each one with some heavy cardboard for durability. From a design standpoint, they should contrast more with the white of the frame, but from Duncan's point of view, grey is just fine. :D The little paw prints on the bottom corners are from an older Lawn Fawn set. 

An inspiration hop means there's a prize to be had! One lucky commenter will win a $50 gift code to the Scrap 'n Stamp store. Visit and leave a comment at each inspiration stop for your chance to win. Here's the entire hop order: 

Happy April! The Scrap 'n Stamp design team and special guests are kicking off the month with an Embossing Magic Inspiration Hop! There are so many creative ways to use embossing powder, and we'll be showing you different ideas on our blogs, YouTube channels and Instagram accounts. Here's my card: 

I use embossing powder all the time - but mostly clear or sparkle, and mostly to emboss whatever images or sentiments I happen to be stamping. So it was fun to come up with a way to use these pretty pastel colours from Hampton Art! I decided they would be perfect to colour some of my Whittle dies. Of course, if you give me a choice between plain and sparkle, I'm probably going to choose sparkle! I coloured the belly of my shark with grey Copics before embossing the top half in blue sparkle. For the octopus, I wanted a little shading difference between his front and back legs, so while I used Versamark ink for the main body, I used black Versafine ink for the back four legs. The sun is done in yellow and orange sparkle powders. The watery background is an ink smooshed watercolour panel - next to all the sparkle, it looked rather dull, so I spritzed it with some shimmer mist. To keep the main panel from being too plain, I dry embossed it with a Heffy Doodle bubble wave stencil. Finally I added a sentiment from Poppystamps Whittle Sealife Sentiments set, then added some patterned paper along the bottom so the sentiment wouldn't be the only thing in black. Yep, that's the level of design expertise I aspire to. :D 

It's the first Friday of March, and we are celebrating Scrap 'n Stamp's 🎉14th birthday🎉 with a Birthday Bash Inspiration Hop! The design team, along with some special guests, are all making birthday cards, and here's mine: 

I started with my cupcake, stamping and embossing it before colouring the liner with Copic markers. After cutting it out with the matching die, I added sparkly frosting to the cake with some nebula Stickles Glitter Gel. I had to work a little bit quickly to get the stars somewhat aligned with those on the cupcake! While that dried, I stamped and embossed my sentiment from Birthday Banners, cutting it out with one of the dies included in the set. I added confetti to the top of my card with a snow stencil (mine is old and retired, but this one would work equally well) and distress ink, wiping off and shifting the stencil with each new colour. Once the glitter gel was dry, I put everything together, popping up the cupcake on a little foam tape. 

As with every hop, Scrap 'n Stamp is giving away a $50 gift certificate to the store! All you need to do to be in the running to win is hop and comment on the stops! Here is this month's hop order: 

It's the first Friday of February, and that means there's a brand new Scrap 'n Stamp Inspiration Hop! We're calling this month's Wild 'N Whimsy and featuring the stamp designs of Tracey Hey in association with Alpaca Pals! Since I, shockingly, didn't previously own any dinosaur stamps, I'm using the set You Rock: 

The sentiment is half the reason I wanted to make this card, I love it! I thought the sketchy nature of the artwork lent itself to watercolour, so that's what I did. His little red hearts are coloured with the same Catherine Pooler ink that I stamped the sentiment heart with. After die-cutting, I layered my watercolour panel over some patterned paper from my stash, and added both to a mini-slimline cardbase. 

You will want to visit all the stops on the hop to see the amazing cuteness of this line of stamps! And if you comment on each stop along the way, you might just bring some of the cuteness back to your house, since we're giving away a Tracey Hey set for each stop on the hop! For even more fun, we have lots of guests playing along this month, so you have extra chances to win! Here's the hop list: 

Lindsey  ---> you are here

Before I forget - of course there's a sale, too! Click the graphic below to take you to the Tracey Hey selection: 

Thanks for stopping by - enjoy your weekend and your hopping! 

Since this is my first post in a while, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome back for the January Scrap 'n Stamp inspiration hop, Tea for Two. The design team is ready to inspire you with tea-related, love-related, two-related creations! ;) And if you hop and comment along the way, you are eligible for a $50 gift credit to the Scrap 'n Stamp store! Here's my card:

To make this, I used two different Lawn Fawn sets: Thanks a Latte, which I find is really fun and versatile, plus the very first Lawn Fawn set I ever owned, My Cup of Tea. It was released in 2011, so not surprisingly, it's no longer available. :D  For the main panel, I used the tea bag, heart and tea leaf images from My Cup of Tea to make my own background. I stamped and die cut the tea mug from purple cardstock, then added the heart and lots of glitter with a Lawn Fawn glitter pen. To go with the glitter, I added some steam to the mug with Versamark and sparkle embossing powder. 

Head over to the Scrap 'n Stamp blog to start your hop! Here's the list of participants: 

Lindsey --> you are here! 

Remember to comment at each stop for your chance to win! One last thing... we have a sale to go along with our hop... 20% off coffee and tea-themed items this weekend! 

Welcome to the December Scrap 'n Stamp Inspiration Hop, where this month our theme is WRAP IT UP! We have a mix of blogs, Instagram posts and Youtube videos for your hopping pleasure - leave a comment at each stop along the way for your chance to win a $50 gift certificate! Perfect for treating yourself to a little Christmas present. ;) 

I made gift tags for the hop. Fun fact: I was on a Christmas tag design team for three years! (Tracey McNeely's 25 Days of Christmas Tags event - it's no longer running, but still a terrific source of inspiration.) I decided to pick one stamp set and create three different styles of tags using it. Here they are: 

I am using My Favorite Things Meowy Christmas stamps and dies for these. Here's a closer look at each one starting, of course, with the cat: 

I watercoloured the kitty and his ornament, and added lots of sparkle to the ball using Lawn Fawn Liquid Stardust. If you haven't tried this... you really should! One drop painted over my ornament, and you can even see it in a photograph!

This time I used Copic markers to colour my tree. The sentiments in the Meowy Christmas set, not surprisingly, are all cat-related, so I foiled a sentiment from the Spellbinders Mini Christmas Sentiment Strips and red foil. 

My third tag uses just the two snowflakes included in the stamp set: 

A little emboss-resist this time. After embossing the snowflakes in white, I blended wilted violet and chipped sapphire distress inks for the sky. I added a few spritzes of Avery Elle white ink spray. 

Are you ready to hop? Here is the complete hop list: 

Lindsey ---> me!

Allison ---> our guest designer!

The first Friday of November means it's time for a new design team hop at Scrap 'n Stamp! We hope you have SNOW MUCH FUN checking out the projects we have created for your inspiration. We're mixing things up a bit this month, with a combination of blogs, Instagram posts and YouTube tutorial videos! Just remember to leave a comment on each stop along the way for your chance to win a $50 gift code for the Scrap 'n Stamp store. 

Onto my project: 

Oh, hey! There's a sale on, too! 

Happy hopping, and have a great weekend! 

Just in time for the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend, it's the October Scrap 'n Stamp blog hop, and our theme is GNOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS! Gnomes have been popular for a while now, and the trend shows no sign of slowing any time soon. Scrap 'n Stamp has a fun variety of gnome stamps and dies to choose from, and I'm using Spellbinders' Holiday Gnomes for my card: 

Don't tell anyone, but I have to confess I'm not a huge fan of gnomes. I quite like the ones in this Holiday Gnomes set, though. Not too cute, and a Scandinavian flair. I picked the hairiest (although it's a close call) and coloured him with Copics. For the background, I blended some tumbled glass oxide ink with a little salty ocean for a wintry sky. I didn't worry about masking off the bottom and just faded out the blending. With Memento cottage ivy ink, I added the trees using another stamp in the set. The scene I created didn't really leave enough room for any of the sentiments included in Holiday Gnomes, so I grabbed a sentiment from Lawn Fawn's Thanks a Latte - even though it's a wintry scene, my gnome is very hygge, so I think it works. 

I'm using the fun Concord & 9th Birdie Talk turnabout stamp set and coordinating dies. Confession time though: I have yet to master this particular turnabout stamp. Luckily, the design itself is funky enough that I can get away with things being slightly off... that's what I tell myself, at least! :D It did help me come to the design decision to add a vellum panel over it - of course, it's really to make sure the big die cut bird doesn't fade into the background. ;) The bird, branch and speech bubble are cut from various colours of cardstock scraps. I picked one of the set's sentiments to white emboss on the speech bubble. It was easy to adhere the vellum onto the card base - I just added my adhesive under the bird, branch and bubble! 

As we do every month, we are offering a $50 gift certificate to one lucky blog hop commenter! Here's the master list: