Ways to use it!

Sometimes I like to find different ways to use very obvious things.  Images turned upside down, partial stamped images, stack the sentiments vertical instead of horizontal.  This time I used soccer ball dies to make ornaments and I love the effect.  The sports dies were a gift from My Favorite Things for ordering sixty dollars all at one time.  I wouldn’t have chosen them, as I have no kids in sports,  but I have found myself using the parts in different ways. This card is created for the MFT Color Challenge you can find HERE.  The colors screamed Halloween but I could not make myself come up with anything creative.  I really have no idea how this popped into my head.  Oh yes, it was because Simon Says is having an Anything Goes challenge and they are featuring Memory Box dies and I only have this one Frostyville die and some clouds by Memory Box.

I have combined the two challenges and this is what happened.  SQUEAL! I love it.  The little tag is also and MFT die from blueprints 4.

I added Wink of Stella to the centers of the ornaments to jazz them up a bit and added a sentiment from Mark’s Finest Papers.  Talk about combining companies.  Well that keeps the creative juices flowing, right?

Stamp Etching SU image #274

A very elegant way to dress up your stamps is called Stamp ETching.  You can see the tutorial on it HERE.   I have been wanting to play a bit more in the Splitcoast Stampers challenges and this one was chosen by a Team of four of us working together.  Using neutrals we chose to use this technique for a CAS (Clean and Simple) format.

I love the way it turned out but I doubt it will be a technique I would use often.  You must have an open line stamp to do this technique.

Stamp#273 My Favorite Things

For MFT Sketch Challeng #190 I had fun making this though I have never made any sort of western themed card before.  Well, maybe once.  The process was fun and I love their images.  Every thing but the plaid paper is MFT.  I love that company.
With all the fairs around in our small rural towns I thought this was the perfect card for this time of year. The little tag with the HB (happy birthday) seemed a bit like "branding" and western shirts come in plaids lots of time.  yeah, i get like that.

Stamps #271 and 272

This card was made for the SCS Technique Challenge on SCS.  Using a stencil you stamp your image over the stencil and then lightly sponge color over the stencil to leave the stencil shape in white.  It was okay.  I likely wouldn’t do it again.  I thought it was a lot of work for the result.  I like the result just wouldn’t put that much time into it again.  I made the main image a Gina K Designs image in SU Handsome Hunter.  The banner sentiment is a Simon Says Exclusive Stamp and I am entering this into their Wednesday Challenge Summer.  At this time of the year all our flowers are at their peak. I thought an bold image would be a good summer card.  I used a piece of Coredinations in a summery green to keep it more in the summer palette and not so fallish, not yet, please!   Thanks again Michelle for the die cut I used for the main panel. The buttons are MFT dies.

Stamp 270 The Cat’s Pajamas

Playing in Simon’s Wednesday challenge and also SCS CAS Monday challenge.  Simon’s challenge is Summer and SCS CAS is Stencil.  So this was a simple card to make and the perfect Washi tape on hand.  Loved that it tied all the colors together. I dotted around bun bun to make him look as if he is quilted onto the card.

Stamp # 269

Using an MFT Pure Innocence stamp and their sketch #189 and CAS challenge on SCS, I came up with this card.   The challenge was to use watermelon colors.  For the sentiment I used another PI stamp set from last fall, Chrysanthemum.  I cut the sentiment apart from the rest of it.  And used the rest of it inside the card.  It only hurts the first couple of times that you cut a sentiment a part.  I also stacked this one instead of the vertical orientation it had.   This also fits the Simon Says Monday challenge to Scratched Up.  I sanded the green Coredinations paper.  Paper piecing her dress with a scrap piece just gives this a nice little touch.  Colored with copics.  For the CAS part, it’s hard not to wrap ribbons or do ‘something” to fill up the blank spaces but all in all I like how it looks.  this was the perfect sketch for the CAS challenge.

Hey Baby! Stamp # 268

For Simon Says Wednesday challenge to Make it Sparkle I used Sparkling Stickles n the star.  It doesn’t show up well on here but it was just the added touch for this cute image.

A DTGD challenge card.

MFT Sketch Challenge and stamp #267

I wanted to get in on the Wednesday Sketch Challenge at MFT.  You can see their post HERE

I used their Hog WIld set and also their BIG backgrounds stamp.  Colored with copics and using up stuff that was left over on my desk after DTGD.  Most things are put away but I had a few scrap things that I for sure wanted to use.   This gray piece with the circle cut out was one of those scraps.

WOWSAS-DTGD Challenges

I have never played in the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoast but I was encouraged by new friends I have made on-line and so I took the plunge.  It is a week long challenge with several challenges every day. I was vactioning for three of the seven days. I had a lot of catch up to do and some of the challenges weren’t my style but I was determined I was going to do them all.

What I learned, when the pressure is on I can still come up with some pretty unique cards.  Sketches are my friend when doing this many challenges so they don’t all end up looking alike.  I can stretch myself to do things I never thought of.  It was a great learning experience.  We are not competing with each other just stretching our own selves.  There are a lot of ways to get unique cards.

So there you have it.  51 cards in four days. I am now known as a Stamping Queen on SCS. 

I now have lots of work to do to blog and record the cards and keep track of all the stamps I used. Watch for the posts coming your way.

A borrowed stamp

THis stamp came from Edith’s collection.  He is SOOOO cute.  I have had this colored up and in a folder for about four years.  It seemed perfect for this MFT Wednesday 187 challenge and also DTGD with Splitcoast.   I am getting in just under the wire with like ten minutes to spare so no jag bagging today!!  

Stamp 266

fun to make this from a little gift card holder that was a bit of advertising from a trade show.  Stampers, we keep everything!

This should bring a smile to someone’s face, eh? The image is Stampendous, the sentiment is from Sweet N Sassy and the die cut sentiment is from Little Yellow Bicycle.

MFT July Color Challenge

This has been on my mind.  Why do I always wait til the end of the month to do these color challenges.  They seem to be the most difficult challenge for me.  I think because my brain thinks in large chunks and I just can’t see that many colors all on one tiny card.  But I’m learning.  I incorporated all four of the colors here and it doesn’t look busy or overwhelming at all.
Thought process: besides the obvious colors of the challenge…I have been seeing lots of balloons showing up and wanted to use a balloon theme.  The other thing I wanted to use a MFT image.
I have been seeing the ads for Stretch Your Stamps class, I could probably be an instructor for that the way I change my stamps around. LOL.  This little gal was holding a bouquet of tulips. The tulip season is long past us and I thought I could use the Blueprints #5 dies to give her a bouquet of ballons.  I love how this turned out.
A bit of water coloring with Distress Markers (big learning curve with those) not mastered yet. So here she is, already for the July MFT color challenge posting.  I will also enter this into Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Emboss It. 


All MFT die cuts. 
Cuttlebug Embossing Folder
hand cut bow for ballons

Stamp 265 MFT sketch

Gahhh!! Just getting this in under the wire.  I had in my mind to do this as soon as I got back from CO but lethargy took over and I digi-scrapped instead.  It seemed easier on my brain.  This is due posted on MFT site in two hours.

Wednesday Sketch Challenge #186  My mom needs a card.  She is home from the hospital and rehab and is itching like crazy with the shingles.  I thought this would put a smile on her face.  She loves doggies.

Image and sentiment is from MFT Hang in There (picked it up on super bargain sale) love when that happens.   Die cuts are MFT Blueprints 16.   So the little ring around the puppy….when I cut the circle die, I see it has two stitched lines around it but so disappointed when I cut it out, only one of the stitched circles show on the die and the other is in the negative part of the paper.  so sad.   Hmmm, what to do?  I found a plain circle die similar in size and very carefully taped it over the stitching that was in the negative portion of scrap paper and YES it worked.  Now I have my double stitching.

I colored my image with distress markers and water brush.  I am liking that water brush more and more. so simple. I thought the wood grain behind would be significant of a dog house. 

 

a gift from a friend

an online friend gifted me with this cute image.  I wanted to do one last card before I leave for Colorado this afternoon.  I am hoping Lee Murphy and I will be able to hook up for coffee or dinner.  (luvlee on SCS) 

I so wanted to play in the MFT sketch challenge for last week and Whew…I got it done.  My thought process was simply to use orange as I have seen so much of that popping up on cards across the cyber stamping world.

Using all MFT dies and sentiment, I quickly came up with this.  That’s the joy of using sketches.  The card is mostly done for you.    MFT Sketch 185 if you never have played hop on over and join the fun.   I used the rick rack as a butterfly trail to land on the nose of this cutie.

Stamp 264 Deconstructed Sketch

Deconstructed Sketch is being sponsored by MFT this week.  I wanted to join in. You can click HERE to see the details and join in.

I flipped the sketch like this.  I had water colored this sweet bear a couple of days ago and wanted to give him a home.  This sketch worked perfectly for him.  Where the point is on the sketch that looks like an envelope; I let the fish tail over hand the die cut to adhere to the sketch.

I couldn’t get the fly and hook sticker to work on the bottom of the sketch so I put it up in the above corner.  I liked the look of the single Candie element off in the right hand corner.  I found this very neat roll of twine at a thrift store.  LOTS and LOTS of it for $1.00.  I love those finds and it works perfectly with this image and back ground paper.

The image is from Darcie stamps and is retired.  Colored with SU markers and water brush. The dies are from MFT used to cut the panel the bear is on and the patterened paper.

WOYWW

WHAT’S ON YOUR WORKDESK WEDNESDAY?  It’s a disaster that’s for sure.  But summer is for being gone and crafting in between, even if it means crafting on top of all the stuff you left out from the previous project.  I do need to clean it up today as a new friend is coming over and I don’t want her to have a bad impression of stamping.    She will find that out soon enough on her own.

Lets see, from left to right.  That’s the stamp that created the bear that is now colored.  Two sets of MFT stamps and sentiments.  The large argyle stamp is on my press plate.  I am trying a new watercolor paper by Northwoods and thus the water brush , tombow markers, and mini distress inks.   Most everything else is leftover from the card I created last night.  That compass stamp (that looks like a pocket watch) is a recent clearance purchase from Michaels.  The alcohol solvent is in a bottle behind it.  I don’t know why all those wood block stamps are out yet. and the washi tape I think I used a month ago.  as I am typing this, I think I see the need to get this cleaned up.  Later Taters.

Won’t you join us and see what other crafty people have on their desks?  Click here to see or to join in the fun.

Stamp 263-a brand new one

Inkadinkado makes some really cool stamps.  I don’t have many of theirs but this was on clearance at Michaels and I don’t have much in the masculine line for stamps.  Simon Says Wednesday challenge is CLEARLY.  I have stamped this image with StazOn on stiff acrylic (from packaging material) and cut it out.  I then took Ranger Alcohol ink in Wild Lettuce and added a touch of solvent with it.  I did that on my craft mat and then smeared it around a bit and laid the BACK side of the acrylic piece into it to give it a bit of color and old world look.  I already had the library cardstock cut with the wonky MFP die from BluePrints 16.  I distressed it with Peeled Paint distress ink and also the panel under it.  I distressed the edges of that bottom piece.

I hand wrote the book title and date but it was still looking a bit bare when I laid the cut out acrylic compass on it.  Using London Fog Memento ink I used that Argyle large stamp for some interest.  Stamped the MFT sentiment.  I popped up the entire panel onto the kraft cardstock and added some twine.  That bottom corner still looked a bit bare, I saw my note pad sitting there and thought a page number clipped to this would be a good finishing touch. 

I love the end result.  It can be a birthday card, a Glad for your promotion, new job, or grad card.  All bases covered with this one.

Stamp #262 My Favorite Things

Entering this into MFT Sketch 184 challenge.  So fun to create with a sketch.  I was in a bit of a hurry today as something unexpectedly fun came up and I have to pack and leave soon.  But I had just started on this and wanted to finish it.  I love this cute little Pure Innocence gal that is a recent purchase from MFT’s rummage sale.  

The Tim Holtz banners were a real steal on clearance at Michaels, I have a feeling I will get a lot of use out of that die.  love the wiggly edges on them.

I used Coredinations card stock in order to distress the banners. The other die cuts are all MFT. 

Here’s the sketch.   . 

Finally back in the stamp room Stamp#261 SU

I had a recent request for some anniversary cards and I realized I should get a few of those made up and in the stash.  I still had paper left after making the required cards and went ahead and made this one. 

I overlaid the designer paper with a piece of heavy vellum from SU to soften it a bit and then built from there. 

The large heart is slightly embossed.  I ran it through the Big Shot with an embossing folder and then ran it through again to flatten it so it has texture but not really heavy embossing.  It went better with the softness of the image that way. 

The dies are all from My Favorite Things excep the mini hearts which is Simon Says.

I used washi tape on the top to cove the obvious glue line left by the scor tape I used to adhere the vellum panel.  The Sentiment is stamped with Staz On.  It’s the only thing that works for me on Vellum.  I seem to always smear my Brialliance ink when I use it on vellum.

Making my own Embellishments

The challenge at Simon for Monday July 7th is to Start from Scratch.  Well this wasn’t SO very creative but it was from scratch.  I made this cute thank you card for our friends who had an POWERFUL display of fireworks and invited us over to watch it with them and their families.  It was a BLAST, literally!  So fun to watch the kids playing with sparklers and the display of in the sky stuff was as good as the one the town puts on.

Anyway back to the embellishments.  I used my dies from My Favorite things to make my own sequins.  I glammed them up a bit by adding Wink of Stella so they look like the real thing.  I also made my own sticker as we celebrated Nancy’s birthday on the fifth with the fireworks.  I took a star and colored inside the open part and then added the number 5 from a die cut and used white gel pen to highlight it, it looks a bit like stitching.  This pulled together pretty easily with some very old stickers that I have on hand.  I am little by little using some of them up. 

I also get a lot of mileage out of Simon Says Mini hearts die.  I think I use that die more than any that I own.  And I used Kristina Werners technique of the white gel pen dashes around the edges.