MFT February Round Up

I'm recapping all my MFT cards for the month today, but I couldn't resist slipping in an extra card.  I am a huge fan of the Birdie Brown line at MFT, and this You're Super set might just be my very favorite.



I kept this card very simple.  She's stamped on watercolor paper and very sketchily painted in with Kuretake Gansai watercolors.  I wanted to give her that rough, sketchy, black & white comic book look.  I almost left her all black and white, but I decided she need just a little hint of color, so I colored in the star.

OK, onto this month's cards:



















Don't forget, there are two challenges currently open at the challenge blog, a sketch challenge and a color challenge.  Would love to see you play along!

MFT Color Challenge 16

Time for a new color challenge at the MFT challenge blog.

Here's a sneak of my card over at the challenge blog (I used a doily as a stencil to create the background):



I decided to make another card since I had some pre-colored doily from the first card.  Here's what I came up with using the same colors as well as the Fishnet stencil and a sentiment from the I Love You More set.



Be sure to head over to the Challenge Blog to check out all the projects and get the details.

MFT Sketch 217

It's Wednesday, which means a new sketch at the MFT challenge blog.

I'm excited about this one because it's great for using up your scraps.



Here's a little sneak of my official card.  I decided to go ahead and whip up an extra card since I have so many scraps.



This sketch really is a quick and easy one that allows for mass production.  I hope you will play along!  Now head over to the challenge blog to see all the DT cards and get the details.

Hello

Here's another card that was picked up for publication, but didn't end up in print.  

The category for this one was piecing, and you all know I like to piece.

I used Avery Elle's Rounded Diamonds, stamping it a ton of times in three different BG patterned papers.  Then there was A LOT of fussy cutting and reassembly.  I can't exactly remember, but I'm guessing this was at least two shows on the DVR.



That's all for today, thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  Basic Grey - Carte Postale 6x6 pad; Avery Elle - Silver Fox and White Cardstock; PTI - True Black Cardstock
Stamps:  Avery Elle - Rounded Diamonds; Waffle Flower Crafts - Flower Circles
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Kuretake Glue Pen

Essentials by Ellen Winter Release 2015 Bog Hop

Hello, and welcome to the Winter 2015 Essentials by Ellen Release Hop!  I'm THRILLED to be participating and will be showcasing several of the new stamp sets and dies on my post today!  You're going to love this release, so many wonderful sentiments, images, and dies.  OK, here's what I made:



First up, a card featuring the You Rock dies (some of you are lucky enough to have these already as they were part of Ellen's Black Friday special last year, but now they are available for general purchase) and the Hello Gorgeous stamp set.

I wanted to use the gemstone die in a different way, so I die cut a whole slew of them, ran them through my Xyron sticker maker and then adhered them to a panel of cardstock to create a pattern.  I wanted to add some extra sparkle, so I cut another group of them from silver glitter paper and then popped the negative cuts into the top of the stones.  I think it gives it a slightly Art Deco feel.



I cut a strip out of the panel to create a space for the sentiment, which was embossed in silver.  Some thin strips of silver glitter paper accent the opening, and the original panel with the die cuts was popped up for some extra dimension.

My next card features the Folk Heart dies and Love You So stamp set.  The dies come wired together, and although I'll eventually snip them apart and use them individual, for this card I just left them together and die cut them several times using three shades of red/pink cardstock.  



I freehand cut some hearts from printer paper to use as bases and then assembled the hearts.  I wanted to create some shine in the card, so I inked them with Versamark and clear embossed them.  I ended up doing this twice to get a really good glazed look.  

The hearts were then adhered to the top and bottom panels, and the excess was trimmed away.  The sentiment was stamped in Versafine and clear embossed, and then the heart panels were adhered with foam adhesive.  



I just had to squeeze in one more card, because the Bold Blooms dies were begging me to use them, and who am I to refuse?  This one was just fun, fun, fun to make.  I started by die cutting a bunch of blooms and leaves.  I positioned the flowers to get an idea of where they would go, and then removed them and 'colored' them in with a paintbrush Dylusions Spray Mists. 



Once that was dry I added some dark splatter as well as a little bit of stenciling/paste for some extra texture.  I wanted to glam it up a bit, adding a strip of gold cardstock which was stitched on.  The flowers were then adhered (just the center part of the flowers).  The sentiment comes from the Hello Gorgeous set.  I added a bit more stitching to that and then popped it up.  A few gold sequins finished it off.  



Ok, not for the fun stuff, I get to give this new stamp set, called Hello Gorgeous to a lucky someone!  Please leave a comment to enter my giveaway!



There is also a Grand Giveaway in the CLASSroom!  To enter, be sure to leave a comment there, and at every stop along the hop by March 2^nd; winners will be announced March 4^th!

Your next stop is Julia Stainton, but here is the full hop order in case you get turned around:  

• The CLASSroom - http://ellenhutson.typepad.com/the_classroom_new/  

• Sandy Allnock - http://sandyallnock.com/

• Teri Anderson - https://terisplace.wordpress.com/

• Laurel Beard - http://www.laurelbeard.org/

• Heather Campbell -  http://parkermolly.blogspot.com/

• Kittie Caracciolo - http://www.kittiekraft.com/

• Sharon Harnist - http://paperfections.typepad.com/

• Broni Holcombe - http://bronih.typepad.com/

• Nichol Magouirk - http://nicholmagouirk.typepad.com/

• Jean Manis - http://jeanmanis.com/

• Jennifer McGuire - http://www.jennifermcguireink.com/

• Donna Mikasa - http://3umbrellas.blogspot.com/2015/02/essentials-by-ellen-winter-release-2015.html

• Chari Moss - http://www.mossymade.com/

• Catherine Pooler - http://www.catherinepooler.com/blog/

• Miriam Prantner - http://mprantner.blogspot.com/  YOU ARE HERE

• Julia Stainton - http://juliastainton.com/blog/

• Carissa Wiley - http://www.sprinkledwithglitter.com/

Happy hoppin’!

Bloom Where You Are Planted for Waffle Flower Crafts Challenge

I haven't been posting much on weekends of late, but I needed to pop in to share this card I made during my little crafty get together on Monday for the current Waffle Flower Crafts Challenge.

Here's the inspiration photo:



I was extremely uncreative in my incorporation of the colors, but I do like the effect of the color blocked panel in the back.

Then it was just a matter of stamping/coloring/fussy cutting.  The image is from the Potted stamp set, and the sentiment is from the Planted stamp set.  The fussy cutting on this one took a little time because of all the details, but I think it's worth it.

OK, back to the salt mines.  My night of freedom has been postponed to next weekend since the Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance (or the Dinner Daughter Dance as Carina is referring to it) was postponed because of snow, but I'm hoping to get some crafting done this evening anyway.

Celebrate for Jane's Doodles

Happy Friday!  I'm over on the Jane's Doodles' blog sharing this card today.

I created a 'table' for my glasses by using the thin stripe from Dots and Stripes, inking it up, and then swiping the ink pad across the stamp to create the woodgrain.

The glasses were stamped slightly overlapping one another because I wanted to play with the colors a bit and show the difference in color where the different liquids overlap.  I simply colored them with Copics, and where they overlapped, emphasized that with a little extra Copic coloring.

To give it a little more interest, I used Liquid Glass (similar to Glossy Accents) on the glasses.  I wanted them to appear distinct, so I did this in two steps.  I added the Liquid Glass to alternating glasses, and once that was dry, went back and did the others.




You can see that this creates a distinction between the glasses.  I got a fair amount of bubbling when I did this, but it actually works in this instance since many of these drinks are bubbly.

I hope you have something to celebrate this weekend!  Tomorrow night I've got an evening all to myself as Andrew is taking the girls to the Daddy Daughter Dinner Dance at church.  Have a great weekend!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy cardstock; Basic Grey - Clippings 6x6 pad
Stamps:  Jane's Doodles - Cheers, Stripes and Dots
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black; CTMH - Chocolate Cardstock; Ranger - Antique Linen Distress Ink
Other:  Copics; CTMH - Liquid Glass; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

Friends Warm the Coldest of Days

If this is true, I need some friends right now.  It's supposed to be REALLY cold today!

I was lucky enough to have a fun crafty get together over the weekend and this is one of the cards I made.

I just love this sweet image from My Favorite Things.

She's colored with Copics, and the background was inked and the snowflakes stamped with white pigment ink.



I used some doily bits to create the snowdrifts and then added a bit of stitching and embossed the sentiment.

Super quick post because I am just swamped right now, but I hope you are having a great week and staying warm!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  MFT - Sweet Tooth, Smooth White and Night Shift Blue Cardstock
Ink:  MFT - Blueberry Hybrid Ink, Black Hybrid Ink, and Sweet Tooth Pigment Ink
Stamps:  MFT - Birdie Brown Warmest Wishes
Other:  Copics; Stampin' Up - White Embossing Powder and Doilies; Tombow - Mono Adhesive

MFT Sketch 216

Another Wednesday and another great sketch from My Favorite Things.

I went a little off-road with my take this week.  Here's my sneak:

Be sure to head over to the blog to check it out and see what the rest of the team made.  And please be sure to play along too!

Neat & Tangled and Cosmo Cricket

Neat & Tangled is collaborating with Cosmo Cricket this week.  I'm so excited about this team up!  Cosmo Cricket is one of my favorite paper companies, and their Just Add Watercolor line is amazing!  I'm working with the 12x12 paper pad which includes full size sheets as well as several cut apart sheets.  I could not stop at just one card, so I've got three to share today!



The top and bottom strips of this first card were created using one of the cut apart sheets.  I used Kuretake Gansai watercolors on all my projects today, and used a couple shades of blue and pink to create the pattern.

For the main panel I masked off the So Very Blessed sentiment and stamped it with dye ink, then stamped over top with Versamark and clear embossed.  Using a not too wet brush and just a touch of soft blue, I added a wash over the sentiment.

Then I added a couple of torn pieces of vellum beneath each of the watercolor patterned pieces to soften them and stitched them down.



For the next card I wanted to see if you could emboss over the embossed patterns.  Happily, you can! I embossed the sentiment, on one of the 4x4 cut apart pieces and added some watercoloring and then let it dry.  The secondary sentiments were embossed in gold and popped up.



Finally, I had to pull out Origami Map since it lends itself so well to watercoloring.  For the background I chose one of the 12x12 patterns and added a rainbow of watercolors to it.  Then I stamped/embossed/die cut the Origami Map and added rainbow watercoloring in the reverse direction.



I layered the map over a black die cut and popped the entire piece up as well as the sentiment.



These were so fun to make.  Playing with that Cosmo Cricket watercolor pad was addicting, don't be surprised if you see some more of these cards here!

Be sure to head over to the Neat & Tangled blog today.  Two DT members are posting each day this week, and we'll draw a comment from over there for someone to win a 12x12 paper pad at the end of the week.  You'll want to stop by the Cosmo Cricket blog too as they are giving away a $25 credit to the Neat & Tangled store!

Neat & Tangled Supplies Used:

Origami Map


Origami Map Die
 

All My Heart

 So Very Blessed

Lawnscaping Birthday Celebration

Today is a special day! It's Lawnscaping Challenge's 100th challenge! I have been invited as a special party guest by Design team Member Karin Akesdotter. Be sure to head on over to the Lawnscaping Blog where you can see ALL of the Design Team projects as well as ALL of the special party guest projects. 



For my project I used Louie's ABC dies and some critters from a variety of sets.

I was going to inlay the alphas, but since I used patterned paper, they were sitting deeper than the cardstock and then I felt like that threw the perspective of the animals behind the letters off.  So, I popped the cardstock letters back into the panel and then adhered the patterned paper letters over top.



The other great thing about this card is that I was able to use up a bunch of scraps and patterned paper pieces.  I feel like I'm sitting on an every growing mound of 6x6 papers, so I'm trying to be less chintzy about using them.

Anyway, be sure to head over to the Landscaping Blog for all the challenge details.  This winner will receive a stamp set of their choice from Lawn Fawn!

Supplies Used:  Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Cardstock; PTI - Harvest Gold Cardstock; Misc 6x6 papers
Stamps:  Lawn Fawn - Hello Baby, A Birdie Told Me, Critters Ever After
Ink:  Memento - Tuxedo Black
Other:  Lawn Fawn - Louie's ABCs dies; Copics; Tombow - Mono Adhesive; Kuretake - Glue Pen

Oh Happy Day!

It's Friday, the thirteenth no less.

This is a card that was accepted for publication a while back that I haven't had a chance to share until now.

Really simple to do.  I used a few distress ink colors, masking off the strips with post it tape.

The die is Studio Calico.  I cut it first from Ranger glossy cardstock and adhered it offset from some black die cut.



I used a SMASH label maker to create the secondary sentiments and popped them up with some foam tape.

I'm looking forward to the long weekend.  We have a lot planned, including a sleepover at my mom's, making white radish cake for Chinese New Year (which is next Thursday) and a crafty get together.

Hope you have something fun planned too!

Supplies Used
Paper/Cardstock:  CTMH - White Daisy Cardstock; PTI - True Black Cardstock; Ranger - Glossy Cardstock
Ink:  Distress Ink - Festive Berries, Spun Sugar, and Mustard Seed
Other:  Studio Calico - Happy by Paper Sushi Die; K & Company - SMASH label maker; CTMH - Dimensional Foam Tape; Tombow - Mono Adhesive and Multi Mono Adhesive