Mark's Finest Papers September Blog Hop

Hello! Welcome to the September 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!
This week's new releases are:Autumn Glory, Boo To You, Covered Bridges, Get Your Broom On .For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.
So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set:Get Your Broom On? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)
For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Get Your Broom On. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's MFP blog post.
Emily
Nancyruth
Neva
Faith
Dawn
Marilynn
Patricia
Chrissy
Karen
Pam
Joanne
Markie
Carol
Mark’s Finest Papers

Get your Broom on and fly along with us on the last day of this hop. THIS is one of the most fun Halloween sets ever. I had such a blast making cards with this set. Fun for you is the fabric pieces that MFP is now offering in their store. I used two of their different pieces on this stair step card. This was the perfect set to make a stair step card with. I know you will have just as much fun with this set as I did. Hope you're the one who wins it. heh-heh-heh.

Have fun, it's not too early to start your Halloween cards.

Mark's Finest Papers Blog Hop

Hello! Welcome to the September 2011 MFP New Releases Blog Hop!
This week's new releases are:Autumn Glory. Boo To You, Covered Bridges, and Get Your Broom On.For your convenience, all these sets are available TODAY at Mark's Finest Papers.
So, do you want to WIN today's Featured Stamp Set: Autumn Glory? (If you don't want to wait to win, you can always purchase the sets right away! We'll substitute a set from NEXT month's release if today's winner has already purchased this set!)
For your chance to win: Comment on the following Design Team members' blogs TODAY before midnight EDT. There will be ONE random winner chosen from the comments on today's Blog Hop blogs. That winner will win Autumn Glory. We will announce the winner's name on tomorrow's MFP blog post.
Lois
Vicky
Dawn
Anne
Peggysue
Connie
Linda
Karen
Patty
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Debbie
Mark’s Finest Papers

I'm not on the official blog list, however,I'll appreciate any comments you leave. I so love it when you feel moved to do that. :) Have fun with this hop and stop by the blogs of my fellow talented designers and leave them some love for a chance to win this beautiful set.

I am posting two photos of this card to show you that sometimes Less IS more. I kept looking at the first photo and wondering if it needed something and so added some ribbon but really, it is such a beautiful scene that the ribbon only detracts from it. I took it off and like the plain beauty of this Autumn Glory.

IN MEMORY OF…..

sEPTEMBER 11, 2001

9/11  :  You remember, don’t you?  You remember exactly where you were when you heard the sad news.  It was said with such a terrible impact it was hardly believable and yet so believable.  How could anyone do that? 

We have many friends in New York City, what a frustrating time to try to get a hold of them by phone.  They were crying, we were shocked, after three days they were all accounted for, all alive.  What a relief, what a blessing.  Oh, our hearts break, still today for all those lives lost.

A personal friend of Gilbert,  is Michael Lamonico,  the head chef for the restaurant Windows on the World, on the 107th floor of the World Trade Center.  He lost so many people he cared about.  Lost all the people he worked with on a day to day basis.  He is alive because he had an eye doctor appointment on the lower levels that day.  He can hardly take it in, he is alive and everyone else is gone.

This post is a tribute and a memorial for all those who lost their lives, all the ordinary people, all the fire fighters, all the families, for every single person who was affected that day because of a senseless act against innocent people. 

We remember you all…your memory is forever etched in our hearts.

LiveJournal Tags: 9/11

PENTEL OIL PASTEL CRAYONS

USING BABY OIL

Here’s another sneak peek at the new MFP releases coming out Tuesday.  This fall set called Autumn Glory is such a beautiful set for masculine cards and thank you cards.  The main image is from that set.  The sentiment is from the stash at Edith’s house. She and I had such great fun coloring these images and creating a couple of cards.  We used the Pentel Pastel Oil crayons that I found at Good Will for ninety-nine cents.  I see online though, that these would be a very inexpensive way to get beautiful shading.  A box of 16 in only $2.99.  You could probably find these at any hobby store. 

The technique:  You simply outline your image with a darker color, rough color the large spots with a lighter color of the same family.  Take a Q-tip, pull off some of the cotton so you have more control of where the color is going.  Dip the end in baby oil and in a small circular motion begin blending the colors together.  It leaves you with a gorgeous finish, don’t you think?

I even rescued the brown cardstock from her garbage pile, it was the back of a store bought card, then I ran it through the Cuttlebug with a Sizzex embossing folder.

Edith didn’t have any black brads and I used her  black Copic marker to help with that little issue. 

So this really was a cobbled together card.  The entire thing is made from scraps. 

LiveJournal Tags: MFP,AUTUMN GLORY,PENTEL PASTELS

SPEEDY THE CAT CHALLENGE #72

USE A PUNCH

Carol, bless her heart, gave us an easy challenge this month.  Use a punch.  I love using punches and for this one I used Martha Stewarts fence punch.  Aren’t these Halloween Stamps just the greatest?  Here’s a sneak peek for you on the release coming up this week at Mark’s Finest Papers. 

The card went together quickly and it was just FUN to make.  Why don’t you hop on over to Speedy the Cat’s blog and make a card with us…you could win a great stamp set being released next month.  You get yours right away, though, you won’t have to wait ‘til next month.

LiveJournal Tags: MFP,MFPDT,GET YOUR BROOM ON,HALLOWEEN

Speedy the Cat challenge #71

colleen said let’s use bling

BLING??? that’s all that shiny and rhinestone, diamonds and such, right?  Well, okay then, I have just been waiting to find a reason to use this beautiful lacy bling that is from Mark’s Finest Papers.  It is all one piece and very easy to use.  I’m tellin’ ya, they offer more embellishments to purchase than you can believe.  It’s so fun to browse through it all.

…….waiting for the drum roll…..TA-DA…. here it is.

All papers, stamps and embellishments are from Mark’s Finest Papers.   Both sentiment and image are from the All Aboard set. Thanks for looking. 

Marshmallow Girl

door county stamps

Here’s my other purchase from Oscar’s in Door County.

Oh my goodness, she is just TOO cute.  This was so fun to work with.  The marshmallows are melted applique so they are soft to the touch.  The fire is three layers and looks real.  (yes, I fussy cut those little pieces)     I learned about doing the leaves from here.  (thanks Edith from SCS) This is a combo of water colors and markers using the gum arabic. The leaves and papers were a gift from a drawing at Operation Write Home.  How fun to get new stuff for free!  Thank you, OWH.  It made my day.  

You might want to click on this picture to get the detail to make you smile.   Thanks for looking. 

I always appreciate your comments. 

Technorati Tags: Door County Kids,Marshmallow Girl,Campfire Girl

Door County Kids

pumpkin girl

Door County is a resort area on Lake Michigan within easy driving distance from us. About two hours and we are transported to a whole new environment.  Oscars in Sturgeon Bay has been a favorite stop of mine for many years.  Oscar makes the cutest stamps and calls them Door County Kids.  She’s a great lady with a lot of talent.  Her store is always packed with ideas.  She has a Scrapping room set up too besides the cards.  If you’re going to the Door, don’t miss Oscars!  She has a store in Egg Harbor too.  She was leaving for the post office just as we got there and she jumped out of the van and called out, “I’m running to the post office, go ahead and go in, I’ll be back shortly.”  ha-ha, Who does THAT anymore.  It was great!   Here’s the card I stamped with my new purchase.
The image is colored with  gum arabic in an aqua pen and Stampin’ Up Markers.  I’ve been reading a new book I got on shading and shadows and I practiced a bit on this piece.  It all sounds pretty confusing but practice, practice, practice is what they say helps.

Technorati Tags: Door County Kids

Speedy the Cat Challenge #70

Carol says use some lace

Carols challenge to use lace stumped me for a bit.  I think of vintage when I think of lace and I’m really not a ruffles and frills kind of girl.  Think more, Eddie Bauer and LL Bean.

This entire card is out of character for me.  I love flowers but don’t use them much in stamping. I love butterflies but same story.  I think because they are so delicate looking and my stamping is more bold I haven’t quite found a fit but THIS, ah THIS, I just love01he way it came out, so finally I am showing you the Wisteria that I wanted to show you as a sneak peek three weeks ago. I hope it makes you feel relaxed.  Deep Breath, now, ah there, let it out.  Don’t you feel better?

Technorati Tags: MFP,MFPDT,Butterflies and Wisteria,Lace

Blog Candy from Arty Carty

Who wouldn’t enjoy some blog candy?  This is a site I’ve just found that is so much fun.  Lots of good ideas here and they are giving away some wonderful blog candy. This is just one of them. Why not go and visit the Arty Carty blog and see for yourself?

Stamp TV Challenge

it’s called “back to School”

I think it’s been almost twenty years since I sent a kid off to school.  I really had to put on my thinking cap to create a card to enter into the challenge at stamptv.

It’s always fun playing over there.  I’ve won a couple of sets and it’s fun to see what everyone comes up with.  It always amazes me how one idea thrown out there can create so many different varieties of cards. 

Here it is.  

Hope you all had a super great Monday as summer is winding down.  The days have been gorgeous. 

Thanks for stopping by.

Technorati Tags: school,GKD challenge

PAPER TOLE

SWINGING GIRL

This is such a cute little image from High Hopes Stamps that I purchase at the Stamp Shoppe last summer and I never used it til now.  I made the back ground by lining up a ruler on my scoring mat and then just using markers to make the lines.  The really fun part of this card was doing the paper tole work.  I colored and cut out a second layer of her head and feet.  I turned the pieces over and using a stylus and went around the outside edges of those two pieces. Then I rolled some glue dots and placed them all along the outer edges where it’s curled over and you layer them onto the original colored image.  It pops up those pieces and gives them a lot of dimension.  Here’s a tutorial for you.  And here’s a side view so you can see what I did.

Isn’t she a sweetie? This is a fun technique I have used before but you have to have kind of larger plain stamps to do this with.  Something without a lot of detail.  I could have taken this one step further and layered her hair.  You can add as many layers as you like for a 3-D look.   Thanks for looking.  I hope you like her.

Thought I would go ahead and post the other Tole card I made some time ago.  I now have the perfect newly weds to send this to.

I got this adorable stamp at a thrift shop a couple of years ago along with a bunch of other goodies altogether in a bag.  It was a real bargain.

Technorati Tags: TOLE,Bride and Groom,Swinging Girl

SPEEDY THE CAT CHALLENGE # 69

EMBOSS IT- That’s Linda’s challenge to us

Isn’t this a gorgeous butterfly?  It comes from the Butterflies and Wisteria set that was released last week.  Embossing, that’s fun.  I think I emboss something on ever card.  This time I used dry embossing with the Cuttlebug folder I used for the back ground, I embossed the die cut also, and then I used Versamark black pad and sparkling black embossing powder for the butterfly.   The little leaf charms from Mark’s Finest Papers they were a brown metal and I used my copics to color them.  Didn’t that turn our great? 

Faith showed us how to do that with this tutorial.  Are you signed up with Speedy TV yet?  If not, join us, it’s fun, you learn lots and there’s a whole lot of stamping friends to get acquainted with.   Remember you get your name in the drawing twice for the Speedy Cat challenge when you use stamps from MFP.

Technorati Tags: Speedy the Cat,MFP,MFPDT,Butterflies and Wisteria,Altered Hardware

Trying something new

Swing z-fold card

Split Coast Stampers has the best tutorials and really is the NUMERO UNO stamping community.  They offer a variety of tutorials and challenges and help and chats….it’s just so much fun to scope on there.

So the daily challenge I chose this week was Monday’s Try a New Technique.  It’s called a Z fold card with a swing to it.  It was challenging and I don’t know how the Beate, the gal who does the tutorials got her cut out to be so smooth.  I was trimming and trimming again on those cut out edges.  It is a nice effect.  I put a smaller photo down in the bottom corner and if you click on the picture you will be able to see that better.

This card features Butterflies and Wisteria from MFP.

Thanks for looking. 

Technorati Tags: MFP,MFPDT,BUTterflies and Wisteria,Swing Z fold

Speedy the Cat Challenge #68

Use a distressed edge

Carol wanted us to use a distressed edge.  It adds a bit of texture to a card when you do that and just helps things not look so flat.  I like to do this occasionally and was glad for the challenge.  This is a new set by Mark’s Finest Papers and Stamps.  The entire set called Fun on the Farm is adorable. I hand cut the grass strip and used a bit of raffia for the “hay” I cut the curve on the cow’s mouth to give her a bit of an opening where I stuffed a bit of hay.  (tee-hee) I stamped her twice and cut the head out, then outlined the underside edge with a stencil tool to give the head a bit more dimension.  if you click on the image you will be able to see this better. The clouds are die cut stencils from Nestabilities which I placed on a strip of blue that i distressed with the edge of a scissors. The paper and ribbon came from a rummage sale. (love when that happens)

Technorati Tags: Speedy the CAT,MFP,MFPDT,RAFFIA,FUN ON THE FARM,CUT OUT

On Using up Leftovers

Some people call left overs, plan overs.  But I don’t because I don’t plan ahead what I am going to do with the left overs.  I don’t plan to have leftovers, sometimes there just are!    So I investigated the refrigerator today and the only thing I knew was I wanted to use up that large chicken breast that I had grilled on Sunday.
Here's what was in the fridge:
1/2 cup of flat green beans
1/2 cup of cannellini beans                                          
3/4 cup of corn removed from the cob
1- 8  oz grilled chicken breast
3 TBLS grated parmesan cheese
1 cup of canned artichoke hearts (drain them)
I stirred this altogether and added garlic powder, garlic salt, a couple TBLS chopped fresh basil and parsley. I cooked one cup of high protein penne pasta, ran cold water over it, drained it well,  tossed it in with the above mixture and squeezed half a lemon and poured about 1/4 cup of olive oil over it all. It was SUPER yummy. 

Enjoy!

Technorati Tags: Recipe,Artichokes

Favorite Summer Salad

We were invited to a potluck and this is my GO TO recipe for taking a dish to pass.  It’s simple, healthy and very tasty.  You can change out the cans of beans for whatever you have on hand.

SALSA SALAD

1 can of Black Beans

1 can of Pinto Beans

1 can of Garbonzo Beans or Chick Peas

2 cups of frozen corn kernals

1/2 cup diced sweet onion

1/2 cup sliced celery pieces

3 Tablespoons fresh Cilantro

2 cups Pace Picante sauce

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

juice of half a lime

Mix all together, don’t thaw the corn. Decorate with a lemon skin turned backside out and piece of tomato and a couple of parsley sprigs.  ENJOY!!

Technorati Tags: Salsa Salad,Recipe

SPEEDY THE CATS CHALLENGE 67

ANY SHAPE BESIDES REGULAR  4X5

Making shaped cards IS a challenge for me but when the challenge comes from my friend Colleen, well, that makes it kind of fun. This is the old diamond shape cutter from Creative Memories.  I wanted to give you a sneak peak of the new Wisteria set coming out this month but this shape just said SEASHELLS to me.  The cute little ribbon was something I learned while scoping Carolina’s website.  She shows you how to do it here.
These images are from Mark’s Finest Papers and Stamps called Sand, Surf, Relax.
You don’t need stamps from MFP to play along and if you join us this week your name will go into a random drawing and you could be the winner of one of the new sets for Sept.  It’s fun!  Come join in. Thanks for looking.

Technorati Tags: SPEEDY THE CAT,BOW MAKING,SAND SURF RELAX,MFP,MFPDT

Stamping for fun

GKD challenges

Stamping just for fun is relaxing.  I always love the chance to win a free set of stamps.  StampTV always has some fun challenges up so I jumped on over there to see what would fire up my mojo.  I did have fun putting both of these together.  They were relatively simple.  I already had the bear colored and cut out.  I tried something new with using gum arabic mixed with water in an aqua painter.  You mix equal parts and then use water color pencils.  It gives a glistening effect to the color.  I would definitely use that again.  It works best on water color paper as it helps to move the color around smoothly, keeps the color more liquid as you work with it.  I got the gum arabic at a rummage sale but I think you can get it at a baking store more reasonable than at a stamping store. Thanks for visiting.  I appreciate all your comments and always take the time to read them.

Speedy the Cat Challenge #66

Anything but a ribbon

Use anything but a ribbon, hmmm, I’m tired of using raffia.  Aha, this beautiful cord came in one of the DT packs from Faith.  Everything on this card can be purchased from Mark’s Finest Papers. I love this shimmery pink cardstock and the images are all from the Brick Wall set.  I love the serenity of this set.  Remember to play along with us and link your card up here to be in the drawing for a free stamp set being released in Aug.

Technorati Tags: MFP,MFPDT,BRICKWALL,SPEEDY THE CAT