What an amazing day! Thank you all for stopping by and joining in on all the fun – this was the biggest and best blog party to date and I’m so happy we got to share it with you! We have two more cards to inspire you for the night! They were also made by Kristin Hayne and she used our Special Delivery Gift Tags! I love this idea of using a gift tag on the card, such a fun and customized idea!

We also have SEVEN winners to announce from today! The number corresponds to the blog post you won and the winners are as follows:
#1: Melissa
#2: lovin2scrap
#3: Amber
#4: Holly Harris via email
#5: Peggy
#6: Grace Palazzolo via email
#7: Julie Campbell

Congrats everyone! Please email me your address, along with the number of post you won and we’ll get your prizes out asap!
There is still another chance to win, though! We are very excited to announce our final contest of the night! We, with your help, would love to help out Operation Write Home (previously known as Cards for Heroes)!
They are an amazing organization that gathers cards and sends them to our troops so our troops can write home to their loved ones! Finding cards and even stationary is sometimes impossible for our deployed men and women, so these cards mean the world to them! With help from people like you, Operation Write Home has currently sent over 204,000 cards to our deployed heroes! That is truly amazing!!

You will receive one entry in our contest for every card you send in to “Operation Write Home”, using our packing slip, by October 26th! For example, if you send in 5 cards, you’ll get 5 entries into our drawing!

Very important, you have to send them in with our special our packing slip, NO GLITTER can be used on the card and they must be postmarked by October 26th! You can go to their website to learn what sizes of cards work best and other tips like what theme of cards they are looking for. And, if you can, it really helps to include a couple extra dollars in the package to help them pay for postage for shipping the cards overseas.

We will be drawing three winners from the entries in November and the amazing prizes are as follows:
$75 Gift Certificate to our store!
$50 Gift Certificate to our store!
$25 Gift Certificate to our store!

All winners will be notified by email in November! And, remember: EVERY CARD COUNTS! Even if you can only make one card, that card will touch at least two peoples lives, the sender and the receiver(s)!

Thanks so much for making today an amazing one!
xo, Elle

Alright, time to make some cards! We love this sketch from PageMaps.com by Becky Fleck! It is a pretty flexible design, take a look at what Kristin Hayne made off the sketch:
So cute! The sketch looked like so much fun, I had to try it! Here’s what I made:
Sketches are a ton of fun! They really help if you’re stuck in a creative rut or have run out of ideas. You can even try turning the sketch sideways or upside down for even more ideas!

Alright, another HUGE PRIZE PACK:
For this posts prize, we decided to do a card sketch challenge! Who and how can you enter to win this one?
1. Everyone can enter! Just leave a comment or email us (SUBJECT LINE: BLOG PARTY – GIVEAWAY 7) to be entered to win!
2. Gain a second entry by posting a link to a card you have made off the sketch! Post a photo of it online and leave a second comment here, with the link!

Happy creating, everyone! See you at 10:00 pm pacific time
xo, Elle
p.s. Our last contest/prize is the best one yet! Make sure you check back at 10:00 pm!

Wow – today has been amazing! We love you guys so, SO much!

We have some more card inspiration from cards made out of our Holiday Card Kit! And, some of these use our Cut Out: Holiday Greetings – which is a very inexpensive way to spice up a card and add a greeting to it!
Quick, easy and simple cards that will mean so much to the recipient!

Are you guys having fun today?! We hope so and we hope you’re being inspired to create! We have another giveaway pictured here:
We’d love to see what inspires you! To enter this giveaway let us know one of your favorite blog, site, etc. that you love to visit that inspires you – let us know when you leave a comment or email us (SUBJECT LINE: BLOG PARTY – GIVEAWAY 6), we can’t wait to check out all the links! All prize winners will be announced at 10:00 pm, tonight!

We’ll see you again at 8:00 pm and then at 10:00 pm for our last blog party post – it’ll be a BIG ONE!
xo, Elle

These next two posts are dedicated to cards made from our Holiday Card Kit!
Our Holiday Card Kit includes enough items to make 20 cards with for $12.99! That means you can make holiday custom cards for 65 cents a piece! Our colors coordinate with lots of things, so you’ll be able to add leftover buttons and ribbons from your stash!

Our next giveaway includes our card kit and lots, LOTS MORE!! Here’s what’s included:
Just leave a comment or email us (SUBJECT LINE: BLOG PARTY – GIVEAWAY 5) to be entered to win! All prize winners will be announced at 10:00 pm, tonight!

We hope to see you again at 6:00 pm (pacific time)
xo, Elle!

How about tiny cards? These are tiny and great for if you are in a time crunch and need a card! By just writing on the back of one of our circle die cut tags you have an instant “Card Tag”!

Here are some cute ideas for how to dress up your candy for Halloween using some of our Halloween items! We couldn’t resist making the little witch broom candy bags from Martha! And, don’t forget about our printable candy bags!
I can’t wait for the trick-or-treaters to show up and to make some goodies to hand out around work 🙂 That will be a fun surprise for everyone!

We have another HUGE giveaway! One person will win the giveaway pictured below:
We’d love to hear if you’re dressing up for Halloween! Leave a comment or email us (subject line: BLOG PARTY – GIVEAWAY 4) with your or your kids costume ideas and you’ll be entered to win! We will be announcing all our winners at 10:00 pm (pacific time) tonight, so there is still time to enter the other giveaways below!!

Thanks so much for joining us today! Come back at 4:00 pm 🙂
xo, Elle

Thanks so much for joining us today – we are having lots of fun reading every one’s comments and emails 🙂 Thank you all so much for the kind words and we are glad to hear you are getting inspired!!

This post is all about making cards in bulk, especially for the holidays! Holiday card making can swallow up a ton of time, but we have some fun tips that will hopefully help you along the way!

1. Start with making a list of who you want to send the handmade cards to, schedule a time where you’ll sit down and create them, and set a goal. Last year I made a goal of having all my holiday cards done by December 1st. I worked on them for at least three hours every Saturday and it worked! They were completely done by the third week of November!

2. Pick 2 – 3 card layouts and stick with them! I used to think every one’s card needed to be different, but by the time I got to the 15th card, I was completely out of ideas! Then, one day I realized that most people wouldn’t even see each others cards, plus if I would have bought a box of cards at the store they would have received the same ones anyway!

3. Work in batches! If you are cutting, cut everything at the same time. Stamping? Stamp everything at the same time. Punching? Punch everything at the same time. Etc! 🙂 Create a little production line and it will speed things along!

Here’s a little peek at my production line I did to create the cards above:
I used our Gingerbread Dress-Up and Let it Snow Stamp sets, our Bazzill Paper Pack and our Holiday Papers!

At the same time, I made some gift tags with these stamp sets and bazzill paper packs, too!
Your cards and gift tags can be as detailed as you like or have time for – it’s really just the thought that counts!
I couldn’t resist added a little tulle under the girls dress 🙂
4. And, our last tip! Invite your kids, nieces or nephews to help you! They’ll add an extra special touch to the cards, plus you’ll be creating memories with them that will last forever!

We hope these tips help and we’d love to hear your holiday card tips, too! To enter this giveaway (pictured below) leave a comment or email us (with the subject: BLOG PARTY – GIVEAWAY 3) with your holiday card making tip!
This prize HUGE prize pack includes: Elle’s Studio: Cut Out Holiday Numbers, Holiday Journaling Tags, Holiday Papers, Gingerbread Dress-Up Stamp Set, Let it Snow Stamp Set, Holiday Vintage Snowflakes, Holiday Circles, Special Delivery Gift Tags, and a box 50 Christmas Card blanks with envelopes!

Can’t wait to hear your tips! And, check back at 2:00 pm for more!
xo, Elle

Here is some more Halloween card inspiration by Kristin Hayne! We love how the inside is decorated, too! And, even shows through on this on:
How awesome are those!? People love getting homemade cards, but when you decorate the inside it makes it fun to open, too!

For this posts prize, we decided to do a card challenge! Who and how can you enter to win this one?
1. Everyone can enter! Just leave a comment or email us (SUBJECT LINE: BLOG PARTY – GIVEAWAY 2) to be entered to win!
2. Gain a second entry by posting a link to a card you have made that has the inside decorated, too! Post a photo of it online and leave a second comment here, with the link!
This posts huge prize pack includes: Elle’s Studio: Halloween Flashcards, Halloween Circle Tags, Halloween Mini Notes, Halloween Papers, and Cut Outs Vintage Labels – Halloween. Making Memories: Glitter Die Cuts and Looking Glass. KI Memories: Wicked purple alpha stickers and Wicked Glitter Border Stickers. Martha Stewart Silhouettes and Halloween ribbons!

Happy creating, everyone! See you at noon 🙂
xo, Elle

Welcome to our blog party for World Card Making Day! We are so excited to celebrate the day with you! We have a ton of fun things planned for the entire day – check back every two hours for a new post from 8:00 am to 10:00 pm. There will be a giveaway at EVERY post (our biggest giveaways, ever!), plus inspiration, card challenges, and more!

We’re going to start off the day with two card ideas for Halloween! Both of these cards were made by Kristin Hayne and feature some of our new items for Halloween!
Too cute! These would be so fun to get on Halloween!

And, check out this amazing prize to start our party off! One person will win this huge prize pack:
The prize includes: Elle’s Studio: Halloween Mini Notes, Halloween Papers, Halloween Circle Tags and Cut Outs Vintage Labels – Halloween. KI Memories: Halloween Pack, and rubber stickers. Doodlebug Design Inc. Fancy Frills, Basic Grey glazed brads and Halloween Ribbons!

Just leave a comment or email us (SUBJECT LINE: BLOG PARTY – GIVEAWAY 1) to be entered to win! All prize winners will be announced at 10:00 pm, tonight!

Good luck, everyone and thank you for joining us today!
xo, Elle

Trick-or-Treat? We are celebrating this entire month – all October orders from our store ship with something good to eat 🙂

xo, Elle

We feel so lucky and honored to have Stephanie Howell as our Guest Designer for October! You can check out her full gallery here – it’s full of awesome eye candy and inspiration! Also, make sure you read her interview, she is an amazing wife and mama to two lucky girls!

Stephanie picked our Vintage Label Cut Outs for the “Special of the Month!” That means for the entire month of October they are 10% off!

Thank you so much, Stephanie, for all your amazing mini’s and layouts! They are beautiful!
xo, Elle

p.s. Don’t forget – blog party this Saturday!! Everyone’s invited 🙂