Ice, Ice, Baby

Simon’s Monday Inspiration Challenge is about ICE. These Frosty snowflakes look like they are sitting on vellum but it’s actually the back side of the die covered with pigment ink before being embossed with the Big Shot.  Jennifer McQuire did a video how to right HERE.

Penguin Present

Stamping time has been few and far between.  Good thing I had my holiday cards all made this year.  I hope to do that again for next year.  This time of year just is so busy from September on for us.  Do any of you make your cards ahead.  I had 47 cards made and that covered my entire list.  WHEW!

This one I am making for next year’s batch.  It is for the MFT Sketch Challenge.

This is the first entry in forever that I didn’t have the right stamp to use from MFT.    But i love the layout and always look for ways to use my big speak bubbles that IS an MFT die.

MFT #81 Color Challenge

This must be my all time favorite set from MFT.  I never tire of creating with these little guys.  Having the dies is a huge bonus.

It’s been a while since I played in any challenges and I thought it would be fun to take a peek at what’s going on at MFT for their 81st color challenge.

I pulled out my scraps of the required colors and this is the result of those pieces.

Challenge:  Simon Says Furry Friends

a boatload of cards

it’s not necessary to feel sorry for me that i haven’t had much stamping time.  I had a fabulous trip to Trinidad and Tobago.  A welcome retreat before our winter weather started.  It has been gloomy since I returned.  THAT is the reason I like to leave.

My responsiblites with my niece who is paralyzed as a result of a drunk driver has also stepped up again as we move forward with more therapy and other methods to help her regain momentum. 

Therefore, I squeeze in stamping time and now I will upload a boatload of cards all at the same time.  Little explanation.  Just a place for me to keep all my creations in one place.  Thanks for stopping by, if you have, and your comments are always welcome if you care to leave them.

wedding bells

I missed the cutoff time.  Ah well, there’s always another week.  I wanted to play with these Harvest Mouse images.  They are my favorite MFT stamp.  This was for Sketch Challenge 353 but i got too busy today to get this finished in time to enter it. 

I used a little heart die from Sizzix to give the little guy mouse a heart to hand to his lady in place of the apple that is in the picture.  I also paper pieced a skirt for the girl mouse, otherwise she looked like a boy mouse.   I used the MFT label sentiments to make a customized sentiment for the card.

WCMD Challenge #4

This MFT Challenge is a make and mail challenge.  Get it made and get it out to the mail box.  I will address this and mail it on Monday.  Masculine card for someone i don’t regularly send to but sometimes.

This set is called By the Numbers and I have no idea why i purchased it.  This is the first I’ve used it .  The little rectangles are only 1” x 1.5”.  I’m glad it has a couple of nice sentiments with it, maybe that’s why i purchased it.  If anyone has any good ideas on how to use this set please give me input.  Maybe it was made for ATC’s. 

Simon’s WCMD gallery 

WCMD MFT #3

Use a number as a focal point.  I love this set of MFT number dies.  It’s retired.  I’m so sad I didn’t purchase the letters that go with it.  I did find some Spellbinders letter dies marked way down at Hobby Lobby and I’m glad i picked them up.  I just love a bargain, don’t you?

I stacked the dies over yellow cardstock for a bit of interest.  The basket on the mouse’s head had to go to make room for one of the pumpkins that I turned into a jack-o-lantern.  I had the little leaves and black  cat from punches that a friend gave me about ten years ago.  I keep everything, good grief!  I was glad i had them for this project.  Just a little added interest.

MFT Challenge #3   Simon Says WCMD

No Stamps

2nd challenge at MFT for WCMD is to not use stamps on your project.  I used a pre-cut butterfly that was on my desk.  The stitched tag die was the perfect background for him.  The clouds are the reverse side of the back ground paper I used.  The sentiment die is from MFT, i cut it three times. Twice in MFT blueberry cardstock and once in a golden yellow. I offset the yellow the teeniest bit when stacking to anchor the sentiment visually.   Here’s a second picture to show the butterfly wing peeking out from the vellum wing on the top.

Simon’s gallery for WCMD uploads

WCMD

Today is World Card Making Day.  Whaaaaattt??? Who knew we had a day set aside just for our craft.  When I told Gilbert, I’m sure I detected an eye roll.  LOL

MFT is hosting several challenges today to give us a kick start on having fun this day. To kick it off MFT said use Rainbow Colors ROYGBIV …I love REAL rainbows however, i despise using rainbow colors in cardmaking all on one card. Because I won’t back down from a challenge, I threw my hat in the ring.  To make it “subtle” I chose MFT’s BIG BOLD Background stamp and colored seven dots on one row.  I covered my cardstock except for a small strip and sprayed the cardstock with a light mist, then squished the stamp down onto the wet strip.  Just what I wanted.  Soft!  I flipped my cardstock to the other corner and repeated the process.  After stamping and masking one of the flowers from Floral Frenzy diagonally across the panel I wanted to be done but it looked like it needed some fill in and i had smeared a couple of the dots and to cover them up and make them seem part of the back ground I used a light color wash onto the non-water colorer paper and decidd I rather like it.  Thanks for the extension out of my comfort zone MFT.

Simon Says is giving us a gallery to post our cards for prizes.  Thanks Simon.

Walk on the dark side 3

for this 3rd entry into Simons Monday challenge i chose the dark stormy sky and the black witches hat for my interpretation of “the dark side”

Stamps by Judith and also some Paper Pumpkin from last year SU kit.

walk on the dark side 2

Simon’s challenge has me thinking and making halloween cards for our sweet little neighbor children.  Just simple one layer cards.  Use dark Ink Simon Says in their Monday Challenge.

Black is about as dark as it gets and I used a Tim Holtz featured company stamp alao. The Tim Holtz stamp is the large spider web.  The smaller circle web is something i purchased at Goodwill and have no idea the company.

Walk on the Dark Side

Simon’s Monday Challenge prompted me to find the few Halloween stamps I own.  Here’s my creation with the Tim Holtz featured company. I stamped the goblins in black and then went over it in a dark green.  I used  oxide inks for the back ground  masking the moon and fillin in the color after spritzing the sky.  The moon looked a little bare  and i found an old Mark’s Finest Papers stamp to put the scary witch in front of the moon as if the goblins are looking at her and afraid to move.   

Yellow, Red, Blue

Primary colors and make one of those colors a pale yellow and you have the MFT color Challenge #78  I used MFT’s fancy florals and tombow markers to get my color scheme.  The colors don’t have to be exact but close enough to kind of sort of match.    I wasn’t sure I liked this but after two days of looking at i do like the uniqueness of it.  Yes, I will happily mail it to someone.

Simon’s Xmas Challenge

Such a cute little guy this mousie is.  I was practicing using my Tombow markers for shading and direct to water color paper.  It’s so fun to learn.

I used the current SCS sketch from today for a simple background that lets the image have center stage.  The image is from a company called Whiff of Joy and the sentiment is Prickely Pear.

Simon Says Wednesday Christmas Challenge

Cleaned ‘er up a bit

There is something about a clean stamp room that just helps me think.  Simon’s Challenge this week is to make a Christmas Card.  With summer just arriving here in Wisconsin for us it’s hard to think about Christmas.  But wait, it’s only 83 days away!!  Yikes.  Glad I have been making cards all year along with ABC Christmas challenge.  Their challenge last month was use a Trio and also a current sketch.  I was too late with my creations to enter their challenge but I like to play along anyway.

Here is my Trio card.  Three window openings with my MFT window dies.  The little birds are Unity and the sentiments are from Prickley Pear.

NBUS schtuffs

Darnell has her annual NBUS challenge running.  Never Before Used Stuff.  Don’t we all have some?  I found this sweet little image in a box of stamps I purchase long ago at a rummage.  It’s new to me.  Also the DP pack still had that annoying fold over piece of sticky plastic on it. Why do they do that?  Don’t  they know we want to FLIP through the pack of papers???  The little pull tag was a new die to me too.  Now since this went together so well I decided to make another similar card with the dragonfly. 

RAWHR!!

It really is turning fall on us.  It makes me sad.  However this year our leaves are not turned yet, two weeks in a row we had close to 90 degree temps here in northern Wisconsin.  Whaaaaaat???  Ah well, everywhere I look I see signs of fall and the calendar says it is. 
Simon’s Monday Challenge this week is to make a Halloween card.  I decided to pull out my cute house mousies!  I also pulled out my Copics.  I believe it’s been over a year since I used them and oh how fun to blend and blend.  But then, I pulled out twenty copics, right???  How can one image take twenty different colors.  But it did.  My MFT die cut fence is 8 layers deep.  Spray adhesive is an easy way to attach so many of them to one another.  I couldn’t be without that stuff.  One can lasts a looooonnnnngggg time.  Sometimes you have to use a solvent on the tip though to keep it spraying smoothly.
Here’s the result of all that copic coloring.  I mounted the image onto a stenciled background made with Hero Arts stencil and Broken China and Peacock Feathers oxide 
 inks sponged onto black card stock. 
This qualifys for NBUS challenge as the stencil and inks are NBUS also the sentiment die. That little arrow taggie like thing and the crooked fence too has been around a LOOOONGGG time.

Grate friends

The friends I have are so sweet.  So many are supporting me these last two years through some very difficult days our family is going through.  This cute little guy will find his way to a near-by friend that often sends me little incouraging face book posts and drops by with little gifts.  I feel so humbled by the friendship of so many.  I think this might be a Penny Black retired stamps. So fun though.  I used my crysal effects on the lemon.

Simon Says Wednesday Stamp It Challenge

Fall’s not here

Everyone in blogland is posting Autumn this, pumpkin spice that and I’m over here in WI still trying to hang onto the summer that wasn’t.  Our hydrangea is just now starting to bloom.  My morning glories have buds but no flowers yet.  I know it’s almost mid—september, but come on….i was still hoping for a couple of sunhine days to get those flowers blooming.  Today we had sun but it was cold.  I went out for a walk and had to come home and put a sweatshirt on. 

Hydrangea it is, then for Simon’s Wednesday Stamp It Challenge.

no image

Working with the sketch challenge from MFT I pulled out elements from my blueprints #5 and #6.  I also dug around and found this little tag from who knows when I purchased it.  It went well with this scrap of paper i was using up.  The Viva pearl drops are gold but they look kind of green in the photo.

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge (sentiment stamp) Use a stamp

MFT Sketch #348

water color….happy sigh

Tomorrow I am taking a free on line water color class.  Not for cards, just for scenes.  I’ve always loved the softness of  the water color look.  In anticipation of the class I had to stamp and watercolor this beautiful flower from Altenew.  That’s what I like about Altenew.  You can “faux” water color by using all the layers or you can just take one layer and do your own version of water coloring with it. 

Simon Says Monday Challenge “Stamp IT” no digis allowed.

it’s an addiction, sure ‘nuff

Saw a fun meme the other day that said,  I’m convinced that buying stamping/crafting supplies is a hobby all it’s own as opposed to actually USING them.   Bwhhhaaaaa!!

Yep, that’s me.  I cannot resist running into our Michaels and Hobby Lobby just to see what’s on clearance.  I find so many good bargains.  Then there’s the actual “using” them.

Here’s one I purchased the other day and came home and inked that baby up right away.  I rather like it, especially for the clearance price.   I included the little banner die which i don’t think i have used before but got it long ago from MFT.  And isn’t that stitched tag, the bomb?  Bargain there too, i went shopping when MFT had their 50% off sale. Well, I think they still have it but there’s not much left, really.

Weddings Showers Spring and Fall 3

For this one I incorporated a bit of masking technique to add the umbrella in .  The Bridal Shower words are from the first free stamp set I got from MFT with purchase.  It was one of those invitation stamp sets and i figured i’d never use it but i have used elements from it several times, so that’s cool.   Simon Says Wednesday Challenge

Weddings Showers Spring and Fall 2

Spring and fall seem to bring showers, weddings and babies.  Making cards to cover these occasions. 

Entering into Simon’s Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge  I rarely play with my Stamps by Judith but they are too cute to give away.  I created a little gifting tree with the All Seasons Tree. Spellbinders sentiment tag. MFT sentiment

Weddings, Showers, Spring and Fall

Spring and fall seem to bring showers, weddings and babies.  Making cards to cover these occasions. 

Entering into Simon’s Anything Goes Wednesday Challenge

I used a very old Fiskars texture plate.  Yep, I still have them.  The image is something a freind mailed to me with a stack of others.  So fun.

BluePrint 6

The blue prints from MFT can be so useful.  When I am stuck in a mode where i want to stamp but don’t have an idea what to create I go to my Blue Prints sketches.  They are always fun, they always turn out better than I thought they would and i like the change up from the same old tired design i am currently in the mode of. 

The Color challenge from MFT is always great for inspiration too.  This is the one I used.

Her wee little socks pulled in the corn flower blue.  Isn’t she so sweet?

Simon’s Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes