Find Joy in the Ordinary with Lydia Evans

Hi there everyone and happy Friday! Lydia here with you again for my third post as guest designer here at Neat & Tangled. You may have guessed it but I have another floral card for you today but this time we are going rainbow themed...
 

To start I repeatedly stamped images from Send Pretty Mail and white heat embossed them allover the top part of a watercolour piece of card. I just love the different sizes of these images as they fit so well together and for those small empty spaces the dots fill the space so nicely.
 

Once I was happy with the amount images I covered the whole piece of watercolour card with fresh clean water, and then added in drops of colour. I used Distress Ink as I love the way they blend and bleed into each other creating a beautiful soft look. I didn't colour the whole piece and yet let the colours at the bottom blend out by themselves, giving an ombre look.
 

The sentiment is from Scandinavian Prints, I stamped white embossed this onto some white card to give this great contrast to the soft bright background. Thank you so much for stopping by and I'll see you again next week! Hugs, Lydia x

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July Guest Designer - Lydia Evans

Happy July!  Today we're delighted to announce Lydia Evans as our guest designer for the month.  Lydia is so talented!  Her coloring and painting are just beautiful and her work with florals will leave your breathless.  Case in point, her first project for us today!  But first, here is a little bit about Lydia:

I'm Lydia, I live in Buckley, Flintshire, North Wales, Uk with my husband and our two little ones.
I have always been crafty, from ever since I can remember I have been cutting paper and sticking things. I got into stamping through scrapbooking, I started scrapbooking in 2009 when I have my little boy and then wanted to take my pages further and make my own pattered paper, stamping helped me do just that. My passion is for CAS style cards, I sometimes like to add lots of techniques into my cards but there is always a clean look about them.

Hello everyone and happy Friday! How surprised and delighted was I when I was asked by Neat & Tangled to guest design for them for the month of July?!?! Well... very! I love the fun and fresh style of their images and sentiments .... and their florals are just swoon worthy. If you know me you know I can't resist a good floral. So to start I had to use one of my favourite ever 'Neat & Tangled' stamp set, 'Scandinavian Prints', with a few added extras. To start I drew a circle using a pencil into place where I wanted my wreath to be. I did the pencil very faint so it was easy to rub out once all of my stamping was complete. I stamped a number of large flower shapes from the 'Scandinavian Prints' and layered these up using smaller images from the set. It really is so much fun playing around layering the images up as there are so many different 'flowers' you can come up with. I also used some elements from 'Send Pretty Mail' to add in smaller more 'open' images to give more variety and interest to the floral wreath. I used a less classic colour combination but I think the blue and kraft leaves with touches of navy goes really well with these funky, modern floral blooms. For the sentiment I used 'so' taken from Gardenia Blooms Journaling Card and Awesome die. To make the 'awesome' stand out more from the background I cut the shadow for the word out of vellum and added this behind. I cut the 'awesome' from navy card and added a Wink Of Stella over it and some Glossy Accents. Thank you so much for stopping by today I really do hope you enjoyed your visit and feel inspired. See you again soon! Hugs, Lydia x

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Neat & Tangled / Hemptique Collaboration Week 4

Happy Tuesday!  Can you believe that it's already the last week of April?  Today is our finally Hemptique collaboration post.

Each Tuesday this month we have been showcasing projects that combine Neat & Tangled and Hemptique products.  Be sure to leave comments on these posts we're picking a lucky commenter this weekend who will win a Hemptique prize pack.

Today Mayuri, Taheerah, Danielle, and Sveta have cards to share.

First up is Mayuri:

I used some of the Hemptique Handmade Hemp paper to create a background panel for a little word die-cut. The paper is very absorbent, and soaks up water really well - its great for simple watercolour washes.

I wanted to keep the card really clean and simple, and actually, this design would work well for mass producing a bunch of cards. So I simply foam mounted the watercolour panel to a card base and adhered the 'Hello' die-cut piece to the front.

To finish, I added a couple of sequins from the Gold Mix.

Onto Taheerah now, who also used the wonderful handmade Hemp paper on her card!

I decided to use my hemp paper in the same manner as you would watercolour paper! I tore a piece to roughly the same size as an A2 card then used the flower stamps from the Send Pretty Mail to create my hydrangea-like flower!

I used a mix of Distress Inks and misted my stamp each time with water for that watercolour look, then used a damp brush to move some of the colour around. Once dry I used a grey pen to draw some of the detail back into some of the flowers for a whimsical look!

The sentiments from Better Together worked to finish the card without distracting from that flower, and some sequins from the Warm Golden Glow shaker mix coordinated perfectly as accents!

Next we have Danielle.  She and Mayuri had a bit of a mind meld this week, but look at how different this card is.



Rather than painting a wash on the paper, she was a little more random with the painting, allowing some white portions to remain.  She also used a heat gun to speed up the drying process.  Then she added gold embossing to the bottom.  The texture she achieved embossing the paper looks amazing doesn't it?



Last, but not least, Sveta created this card with a wonderful homespun feel.  Sveta used our Hoop Die and Handstitched stamp set.

She started by creating a simple pattern randomly stamping the grouped cross stitch stamp.

The texture of the hemp paper perfectly mimics fabric for the center of the hoop, and the use of different colors heightens the realism.

Wasn't this a great way to end our collaboration with Hemptique?  Be sure to stop by and leave them some love for them on their Facebook page, they are hosting a Neat & Tangled giveaway over there too.  Don't forget we'll be picking a winner this weekend, so be sure to leave comments on all the Hemptique posts!

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Dreams

Aga is back today with another beautifully stamped card.

Here's what she has to say about it:

Hello everyone! I’m back with another one layer card to share with you today. I love creating my own stamped backgrounds with small stamps, so when I saw Send Pretty Mail set, I immediately fell in love with it. 


For today's card, I wanted to create some whimsical floral background. I first stamped Dreams sentiment stamp and combined it with these pretty flowers that I coloured with watercolours. I love how all of the stamps go so well together.

Thank you for joining me today!

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Noticed By Neat and Tangled

We've been out and about checking out your work and love what we're seeing!

If you've been noticed, please proudly display this badge!

Hello Summer! This card by Judy using our free digital stamps is pure perfection!

 Yukari created this sweet card using our Paris stamp set! I love the soft colors and touch of sequins!


Get ready to party with Jeni! Who would love this birthday card using Tiny Triangles and Just for You?

Shelly linked this up for our last Little Tangle challenge.  Can't go wrong with Send Pretty Mail and Hello There die!

Lynnda's card using Gifts for You and Birthday Tag dies is party ready! I love all the little elements that add so much interest!

The colors on this card by Virginia are some of my favorites! Love how she built her own little flower garden using our Scandinavian Flower set!

 Shona framed our sentiment from Kindness Matters perfectly with those florals!

Thank you so much for using Neat and Tangled for your projects!

If you use Neat and Tangled and would like to be noticed make sure to play along with our Little Tangles challenges, add cards to our Flickr group, or share on our Facebook page!

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Guest Designer: Heather Campbell

We have LOVED having Heather pop in and join us for the past few months!  Today will be her last post with us and we sure are sad to see her go! Thank you so much Heather!

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ 

Hi all!  It's my last post guest designing for Neat & Tangled and it's been such a joy!  For my last card, I wanted to play with the new Send Pretty Mail and Hello There stamps and dies again.  I cannot stop using this beautiful hello die!  It's so versatile! 

To create this card, I first started stamping the flowers in various inks, then I added the leaves and berries.  Once I had it all  stamped, I colored them in very lightly!  When I'm stamping flowers like this, I tend to try and cluster them about on card and turn the images before I stamp them so that each bouquet is slightly different but still has the same color balance. 

I had intended to place the sentiment right on top of the flowers but ultimately I liked them hanging over top!  To create the border, I ran a strip of washi tape along the bottom!   

Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing part of your day with me.  Thank you to Danielle and the entire Neat & Tangled team for having me this past month too!  I hope you have a great day!  

Heather

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SImple Floral Backgound with Send Pretty Mail

Hello, Rachel here today sharing a super simple project with you. I adore the small floral images in Send Pretty Mail - they are perfect for a large focal point image or creating a subtle background with all the little elements.

I grabbed some spring colors and just started stamping away without much thought or planning! The nice thing about this set is that the images are small enough that you can always fill in gaps with teeny tiny dots, leaf sprigs or the tulip - it makes creating backgrounds really easy and fun. I made sure to alternate the direction of the stamps as I repeated them down my white rectangle, but other than that it was just relaxing and fun stamping.

I wrapped a piece of seam binding around the stamped panel (remember that stuff from about a year ago? I have hoards still!) and mounted it on a lime green card base with foam adhesive.  I also embellished a few of the circles with glitter. The sentiment is from another favorite, Paper Cut Flowers.

That is all for me today. Make sure to stop back again this week for more incredible inspiration from the design team and have a great day!

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Happy Monday + Mother's Day Cards

Hi friends!

Well, it's Monday again! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.  I'm a very busy bee packing all your new release week orders! A fun fact: I still pack each of your orders myself! It means a lot of late nights - but I don't think I could trust anyone else to do it!

So before I dive back in to packing, I wanted to share some quick cards I made this weekend for Mother's Day. I used our new Send Pretty Mail and Gardenia Blooms Journaling Card sets. It would be so easy to mass produce a card like this! You could easily do a variety of sentiments: hello, thank you, happy birthday.

I simply stamped some flowers and leaves, colored them, added a little bit of detail with my white gel pen, and cut them out.  I stamped the sentiment on a 4x4 card base, and then adhered my flowers with some foam dots. Super simple, but still really beautiful!

Speaking of clean and simple card making - that is the current challenge over at Little Tangles, our challenge blog. I would LOVE to see what you do with your Neat and Tangled stamps over there!  As always- free stamps are up for grabs!

Have a great day!
Danielle

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Video! Utilizing leftover cardstock pieces

Hello Neat & Tangled fans! Yana is here with you today sharing a quick video tutorial showing a fun and simple way to utilize leftover cardstock pieces. 

If you have been following the Neat & Tangled May Release blog posts you might have seen this Oh Hello card of mine. 

I loved it so much that I decided to create a couple more similar cards (as one can never have too many simple Hello cards on hand) and film a fun video tutorial for you! Hope you'll enjoy! 

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May 2015 Release Day 1: Introducing Send Pretty Mail + Hoop Die + Embellishments and a Giveaway!

Hello friends! Welcome to our May 2015 release week! We are so excited to have you join us. We have LOADS of fun, inspiration, and giveaways for you! We will be introducing 5 new stamp sets, 3 dies, and some new embellishments! Be sure to stop by everyday. All stamps, dies and embellishments will be available in the shop on Friday, May 8th at 8am EST.

We have A LOT of new products for you today so get ready! Sorry for the photo overload :)

First up is a sweet 3x4 stamp set, Send Pretty Mail. With some fun lettering and fresh florals, this set is perfect for dressing up those envelopes and letting your recipient know there is something special inside! It's also great for making cards! Send Pretty Mail is also our May/June You're So Neat Incentive stamp set - meaning that it's FREE for all orders $50 and over! You do not need to add it to your cart, and there is no coupon code.

We also have a new stand alone die which I think you will love because it is on trend and has endless possibilities!  (And there might just be some coordinating stamp sets coming your way  this summer!) Say hello to our new Hoop Die designed by Miriam Prantner! Perfect for creating little pieces of embroidery hoop art!

We've also got LOADS of embellishments coming your way this week.  Including two new sequin mixes.

Mermaid Tail Sequin Mix

 Sunset Shimmer Sequin Mix

And several new colors of Lucy's Little Things Sparkly Shaker Mixes!

English Rose

 Flamingo

 Forget Me Not

 Star Shine

 Phosphorescence 

 Glacier

And now how about some inspiration using these new products!

These girls are so amazing!!

And how about a giveaway!

To win Send Pretty Mail and the Hoop Die:

1. Be a follower and leave a comment! 

2. Follow us on Facebook and share about release with your friends! (leave another comment)

3. Follow Neat and Tangled on Twitter and tweet about our release, use @neatandtangled! (leave another comment)

4. Follow Neat and Tangled on Instagram and repost about our release! Use #neatandtangledrelease (leave another comment)

See you back here tomorrow!

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