Hello all! Clare here today, with a quick and simple card – I broke my pinky a couple days ago, so we’ll cut right to the chase. 😉

I colored in this card’s background using the same technique from two weeks ago, except I only did a partial sun ray, using Tim Holtz Scattered Straw and Wild Honey.

I colored in that adorable little raccoon from Mama Elephant’s Rowdy Raccoons with Light Pink, Gray, Gray Brown and some water. I then die cut it, and adhered it to my base.

To finish off the card, I stamped a sentiment from My Favorite Thing’s Blue Skies Ahead.

Thanks so much for stopping in today and God bless!

Rowdy Raccoons (Mama Elephant)	Rowdy Raccoons Creative Cut (Mama Elephant)	Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock 8.5	Hero Arts Hues Dye Ink Pad – Black	Wild Honey Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)
Wild Honey MINI Distress Ink Pad (Tim Holtz Ranger)	Scattered Straw Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)	Advanced Tape Glider and Tape – Pink (Scotch)

Welcome back everyone we hope you had a great weekend. It’s time for a new Bi- Weekly Challenge and this week it’s all about sending Encouragement.

Create a Card to send someone a little “Encouragement” using any brand of products and Markers or Water-coloring mediums that we carry in the store. You may play along with other challenges, but excessive challenge pile-ons (more than 10) will result in disqualification for “The Prize”.

One entry will be chosen at random to receive our prize. Three additional entries will be chosen for the ”Top 3″ based on their creative use of the Challenge theme. The prize winner and top three can all proudly post their brag buttons on their blogs for the world to see! The Linky will close on Sunday, September 4th at 12 pm CST. The winner will have TWO weeks to claim their prize. *International winners will be responsible for shipping costs if they choose to claim their prize*

Check out what Clare has created below for our Encouragement Challenge. We can’t wait to see what you create!

Hello there! Clare here today, with a fun, sparkly encouragement card for this weeks challenge!

For today’s card, I started out by taking the adorable Mama Elephant Unicorns and Rainbows stamp set and heat embossing it with some glittery embossing powder. I then colored the unicorn in with my trusty ZIG’s, using Light Gray and Gray for the hair and hooves, Pale Pink for the wings, and Ochre for the horn. The reason the colors are so pale here is that I blended them out a lot with some water and a brush.

I then die cut my little horsey out, and laid it aside to create the starry setting.

For the starry scene, I first stamped the sentiment from Hero Arts Let Love Grow in white on some navy cardstock, then the little diamonds from the Mama Elephant stamp set in pearl. I added some gems, and then adhered my unicorn.

To finish the card off, I embossed two strips of paper in the same glittery embossing powder at the unicorn, then adhere them to a card base, and topped that off with my stamped and embellished navy panel.

Thanks so much for stopping in today and God bless!

Let Love Grow (Hero Arts)	Unicorns and Rainbows Coordinating Die Cuts (Mama Elephant)	ZIG Clean Color Real Brush	VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad	Embossing Magic Pad (Inkadinkado)
Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape .5″ (Scotch)	Advanced Tape Glider and Tape – Pink (Scotch)	Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock 8.5	Heat It Craft Tool (Ranger)

Welcome back everyone.. It’s Holly here today and this week our Bi-Weekly Challenge is all about “Embossing” so I created a cute card with some Heat embossed images and I watercolored them with Distress Inks. You can find out more about the challenge in this post here. I also have a new video for you today as well.. you can find a link for it at the bottom of this post.

I started out by die cutting a piece of Tim Holtz Watercolor paper using the All Prettied Up Creative Cuts from Mama Elephant. Then I used an anti static powder bag on it and stamped the Happy Mail sentiment from the Mama Elephant Happy Mail set in VersaMark ink and heat set it using some Hero Arts White embossing powder. Then I did some ink smooshing all over the background with a piece of acetate and some Pick Raspberry Distress ink. I added a few drops of water and lifted the color with a paper towel to create a distressed look. Then I heat set the panel and adhered it to the a top folding card base with some fun foam and my ATG.

I stamped and heat embossed images from the adorable Incoming Mail set also from Mama Elephant in White and Clear embossing powders onto a piece of Tim Holtz Watercolor card stock. Then I colored the images in with Distress Inks by creating a palette on my craft mat. I used a small damp paintbrush to add the color to the images. Once they were dry I die cut them using the coordinating dies from Mama Elephant and my Big Shot. Then I adhered them to the lower portion of the panel with some Ranger Multi Medium Matte and some Scotch Foam tape. For a touch of sparkle I added a few Pretty Pink Post Sparkling Clear sequins from the Mix collection.

I created two of these cards changing up some of the colors but they are both so cute!! I really can’t get enough of this technique with the Distress Inks.

Check out the video below for all the details on how I created these cards. Thanks for stopping by today!

Incoming Mail Creative Cuts Die Set (Mama Elephant)	Happy Mail Stamp Set (Mama Elephant)	Incoming Mail Stamp Set (Mama Elephant)	Tim Holtz Distress Watercolor Cardstock 8.5	Embossing Magic Pad (Inkadinkado)
Embossing Powder – Clear (Ranger)	VersaFine Pigment Ink Pad – Onyx Black (Tsukineko)	VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad	Neenah Classic Crest Cardstock – 8.5	The Best Ever Craft Mat (Ken Oliver)
Artist Brushes 7/Pkg (Ranger)	Salty Ocean Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)	Picked Raspberry Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)	Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)	Mowed Lawn Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)
Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink Pad (Ranger)	Pumice Stone Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)	Spun Sugar Distress Ink Pad (Ranger Tim Holtz)	Inkssentials Large Mister Spray Bottle 2 oz (Ranger)	Scotch Foam Mounting Tape .5″
Advanced Tape Glider and Tape – Pink (Scotch)	Sparkling Clear Mix (Pretty Pink Posh)

Hello all! Clare here today, with another card using the adorable Mama Elephant Unicorns and Rainbows stamp set. The card is sweet and simple, so let’s get right down to it!

For the background of the card, I stamped all of the images in Hero Arts Soft Pool, then I went in with my Pale Pink ZIG marker and colored little bits in, like the unicorn hair and stars. I topped the pink off with some Clear Wink of Stella.

Once I had my background finished, I embossed my sentiment onto black cardstock with silver embossing powder. Then I matted it with a piece of vellum, and adhered it to the card.

I topped everything off with some clear sequins, and that was it! Making this card was a snap, and you could easily make a set of cards from it, and just change the colors you use for each card!

Thanks so much for stopping in today and God bless!

Unicorns and Rainbows (Mama Elephant)	Unicorns and Rainbows Coordinating Die Cuts (Mama Elephant)	ZIG Clean Color Real Brush	Clear Wink of Stella Glitter Marker (Zig)	Lawn Fawn Cardstock Black Licorice
Quiet Morning Shadow Dye Mini Ink Set (Hero Arts)	VersaMark Watermark Stamp Pad	Sparkling Clear 6mm Cupped Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)	Sparkling Clear 4mm Cupped Sequins (Pretty Pink Posh)	Heat It Craft Tool (Ranger)
Inkadinkado Embossing Magic