ABC Christmas Challenge x 3

Because of spending a LOT of days at the hospital these last weeks I haven't stayed caught up on the ABC Christmas Challenge.  F is for Frills or Not.....I chose not, just a simple gold cord.  I used my favorite things lamp post die.  I got this free over Christmas in my order and never got to use it.  I really like the simplicity of this card.  The sentiment stamp is from Oscar's Door County Rubber Stamps.  The stitched snow hills are also MFT.   Yes, I did run the lamps through the Big Shot for the little light pieces.   What we stampers won't do when we have an idea! 

Just to prove that I got caught up, I also made the D is for don't over do it and the E is for embossing.  I am entering only the Frills one.

 The D is a one layer card with masking and inking.  The E is a piece of gold foil paper embossed and adhered to the card stock front.

Stamps # 544 & 545

These very ancient retired stampin up images never go out of style.  For the Simon Says Monday challenge we were challenged to use food or beverage.  I chose beverage.  With letters going into the prison now, I need to make lots of one layered cards.  I am writing to two people regularly and I know they like to receive cards.  The layered look was created with clever masking using MFT pierced dies.  Tim Holtz distress inks and SU markers.  Our son loves coffee an unfortunately he is forced to drink instant made out of hot tap water.  ick but it serves the purpose of pretending you have coffee. 

Using a sketch

MFT Wednesday Sketch # 272

I really enjoy using sketches.  They used to be so difficult for me but now they really cause me to use things in my stash.  This entire card was made from scraps and i really like the clean simple look of it.  Thanks to MFT for their weekly sketches that trigger my creativity.

ewe baby #543 & 544

A simple little cute and cuddly card for an upcoming baby shower.   This fits for the Simon Says Cute and Cuddly Wednesday challenge.  I used my spell binders curved edges to emboss the subtle hills.  I sure enjoy embossing with my Big Shot and dies.  The little lamb is a Stampin' Up image.  The sentiment is MFT but i only inked up the parts i needed and hand lettered the rest.  I exchanged the heart the lamb was holding for a little baby rattle from a very old set of stamps i have.  It's been forever since i used this little lamb. 

it's in the stars

Simon's Says Monday Challenge is Lucky Stars.  I used this paper from the Boy Crazy pack from My Mind's eye.  The rest of the elements are all MFT.  I really like that diagonal stitched cut out die.  I used a bit of a sparkle pen on the CELEBRATE.  Masculine Birthday.  I made two of these for both of our oldest brothers, their birthdays are one day apart. 

swingin by

For the MFT Sketch Challenge I went searching in my MFT box of stamps.  I always love this little guy.  With spring coming it was the perfect stamp to use with the spring colors yellow and navy.  I don't know if you can tell on the photo or not that the background panel is embossed with large dots. 

Entering into:
MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #270
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Touchy Feely
Word Art Wednesday #221
Use Your Stuff- Twine or Lace

#542 A fun MFT stamp

I really like this set from MFT called Birthday Sentiments.  For this stamp i stamped with versamark and then sprinkled with Violet embossing powder from Hero Arts.  After heating it I sprinkled again and heated and then did that one more time.  I was so pleased with the way the word "you" came out with the triple embossing.

I stamped on water color paper and then used my old stamps from Mark's Finest Papers in the corners and water colored them with my Stampin Up Lavendar Lace and Garden Green.

I will enter this into Simon's Says Touchy Feely Wednesday challenge as you can't help but run your fingers over that triple embossing.   I then stenciled with Mowed Lawn distress ink through a Tim Holtz stencil and then I splattered paint around the finished panel.  It needed that ribbon but i didn't want to cover up any of the corner flower.  I just cut a small slit to line up with the edge of the number 2 and voila' we have something a little different.  Maybe i will start a trend. 

Also entering into Word Art Wednesday #221.  They have a $20 gift certificate to Newton's Nook that would be so fun to win.

Touchy Feely Stamp #540 & #541

Stamp #540 & 541 are Stamps by Judith.  I went through a phase of buying Stamps by Judith and I love them.  They are so fun to create little scenes like this. These are all from her line.  I've been wanting to pull them out and use them again.  All of these are her stamps but I have already counted the rest in my count down of stamps as I use them.

I thought the felt grass would be a nice touch with these images and that allows me to enter this into the Touchy Feely Wednesday Stamp Challenge with Simon.   Because it has a sentiment showing, I will also enter into Word Art Wednesday #221.  WORD ART WEDNESDAY COMMENTATOR PLEASE SEE MY NOTE BELOW.  THANK YOU

I have received quite a few store bought cards recently and I noticed that several of them had cut outs on the fronts with the sentiments showing through from the inside of the card.  Using my MFT sentiment dies I cut an elongated hole in the top of the card for the sentiment to peek through.   Thanks for stopping by.  Love all my crafting friends.

The die I used for the sentiment hole is a MFT die and the grass is also MFT dies.  

Message for Word Art Wednesday:
I have tried over the past few months to leave comments on your page.  I can link my photos but i cannot post a comment.  Every time I try to leave a comment in the comment box this is the message I get.  I see that a few others are posting comments but am wondering if any others are having this problem also?  The comment box always says Your Comment is saved for approval but i don't believe you are receiving them at all.  Thank you if you can help me in anyway with this.  I would love to leave comments for you all.  


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Square Cards

I've never really varied much from the standard A2 card but i saw a sketch on SplitCoast that i liked and it just worked perfectly for the square.  For some reason i had an extra square already folded and decided to make this masculine low embellishment card that a friend asked for.

Awhile back I had made this washi tape circle die cut for something and it didn't work for one reason or another so it took it's place on the corner of the stamp table with other "i will use them soon" pieces.

I found this Authentique paper today in my stash and it was perfect for the die cut with it's little horizontal green lines.  This is truly a Use My Stuff card.  I had the twine from off a little gift box that came to me over the holidays.  So there you have it, how a card is born.  I will also enter this into Word Art Wednesday.

Anatomy of a card Stamps 538/539

Where do you get your ideas?  How do you know what papers to use?  What makes you choose a certain stamp?  These are questions that stampers get and how do we really know how to answer them?  ~~This week, I needed a wedding card.  I chose the brides colors and even used the ribbon from the invitation she sent us.  I looked at Split Coast Stampers and this was the sketch for the week.  Okay, I think I like that.  Now, the papers.  Hmmmm...that piece in the back needs to stand out but not be too bold.  I thought originally about a paper with the flourishes like the ones i stamped but i couldn't find any and while looking I saw this paper that looks like textured shabby chic ribbons sewn together and had a decidedly elegant look to them.  Pull that out.  Then the next layer.  Since her invite had these similar flourishes i wanted to include that look.  Thanks to Mark's Finest Papers very old retired stamp I had the perfect set.  Once stamped in the corners with Eggplant Envy from SU I thought the panel looked a little bare.  I grabbed my Tim Holtz Stencil and sponged very lightly with Linen distress ink in both of the opposite corners.  To get the circle image I used the same set to stamp this elegant frame onto the scalloped Spellbinders die cut.  The curved open lacy look of the die offsets the square and rectangle panels perfectly.  Now add the ribbon to be the little panel that sits under the circle in the square and we have the sketch done perfectly.  Now in real life the colors are much more cohesive than what shows up here.  The ribbon panel and the hearts match almost perfectly.  The Eggplant Envy color and the ribbon match beautifully also.  The little gem???  Had to add that to cover up a spot that the ink caught the edge of the sentiment stamp.  So THAT's how we come up with a card.  Fun, eh?

Quick Card

It's fun to have the things on hand to make a quick card with.  I've been pondering this MFT color challenge since it was published though, so not sure how "quick" that really is.

Friend Angie sent me these sweet die cuts in a pocket letter and they worked perfectly for this color challenge.  The blue piece is stenciled with the MFT  FISH NET plastic stencil that i ran through my Big Shot and the sentiment is from the MFT Birthday Sentiments.  Recolletions at Michaels had these cute texting stickers that fit perfectly on here.

Mixed Media Fun

Simon's Monday Challenge is to recycle.  I took the Lovely Layered Cards class at Craftsy with Shari Carrol as the instructor.  I loved that class.  She showed us how to use corrugated cardboard from boxes that would be thrown away.  I found a few pieces and readied them to be used.  I used tea dye distress ink on the deer to help him stand out.  I thought it was kind of cool the way he was cut out actually gave him a white tail and white neck ring.  Just like the White Tail Deer we have here in Wisconsin.  I've been wanting to use up those card board button embellishments and this took care of a couple of them.  Can you see the glitter on the blue parts and the wink of stella on the sentiment?

This will also be my 5th entry into Word Art Wednesday Anything Goes #219

One Layer

Simon's Wednesday Challenge is One Layer  I will be needing one layer cards to send into the prison mail.  One layer no embellishments.  That's going to be a challenge.  It will stretch my brain.  I was glad for this first challenge to get some great ideas from the cards posted.

I chose simple for the first one.  I used my MFT dies for my balloon and embossed the die shapes into the 110 pound white card stock.  The sentiment is stamped with versamark and embossed with white embossing powder. I used my distress markers scribbled on my craft mat to give the balloon a water colored look.  The white sentiment resisted the water color and turned out just as i wanted. I traced the "string" with a gray marker and added a hand drawn bow.  Using my very old cloud stencil from Stampin' Up I sponged very lightly with Encore Metallic blue. (my favorite sky ink)
Entering into Word Art Wednesday #219

#537 Mixed Media

Doing a very simple mixed media with Heidi Swapp Color Shine spray and a dash of Dylusions in bubble gum pink.  I had no idea what i was going to create when i grabbed this tag and my misty spray.  I picked up my favorite MFT Moroccon tile stencil and gave it a spritz.  Then I grabbed my peacock feathers distress pad and sponged away.  Hmmm....now it looks kind of Christmasy.  Okay, I'll go with that.  I really like this Recollections Set I picked up from Michaels this past year and the sentiments came from a rummage sale.  Using my MISTI i inked up the acrylics (which really don't ink too well with distress inks) but loving my MISTI i was able to get triple coverage accurately.  It was looking a tad too blah for Christmas and I found my MFT double scallop die and a piece of gold foil.  Just what was needed, but it's a Chrismas tag now and needs just a shot of Bubble Gum Pink.  I masked with a torn piece of paper and gave 'er a spritz and a Christmas Tag was born.

Entering this into Simon's Monday Challenge to Spritz or Spray and Word Art Wednesday #219

Play Day

This bitter cold Saturday afternoon turned into a play day.  The sun is shining but -11 makes for a chilly room even with the furnace on.  When i turn all the lights on in my crafting room though it warms things up, or maybe it's my creative brain burning up, sparking with new ideas.

I really liked the SplitCoast Color Challenge this week and decided to make a second card and use the MFT #267 Wednesday Sketch Challenge along with it.   I have had this pack of designer paper for at least fifteen years.  it was one of the first packs i purchased from Michaels so long ago because it was half price.  I had visions of making all kinds of scrap book layouts with my newly found paper.  It never happened.  Now I find myself still trying to use up.  I DO like all the designs but with four cards from each sheet, it kind of takes a long time to go through the pack.

I used MFT LJD Wild flowers dies, stamps and stencil and sentiment.  Also using the MFT circle die with those cool little markings on it.  I took a piece of DP and used MFT pierced banner die. To get the great color I mixed a bit of Cameo Coral marker and Red Rose Marker and painted onto the cream with  gray flowers design.  Before putting the card all together I stenciled some of the wild flowers over the designer paper.  Using a tag from one of the BluePrints I stamped the little sentiment on it.
Entering into Word Art Wednesday #219 Anything Goes

Valentine's All Around

MFT Sketch

Use Your Stuff Challenge

How fun it was to spend the afternoon and evening making Valentine Cards.  I still have lots of Valentine DP left and I have only ever bought one small 6 x 6 pack of it.  DP goes a long way.  This was a very fun evening as i used many different techniques and lots of SCHTUFF!!  Washi tape, inks, embossing folders, crackle paste, designer paper, embossing folders, die cuts, stickers.  the only thing i didnt use was ribbon.   I am entering the second card from the bottom into the Use Your Stuff #210 challenge this week which is to use an embossing folder.  The pink and gray card I am entering into the MFT sketch challenge #266.  That is a sweet MFT frame die that i just love.  I used the negative portions of the die to create this card.

flowers all around

in the online water coloring class for intermediates we had to practice using our brush to make flowers. I thought the colors turned out so pretty and decided to make it into a card panel.  I trimmed the panel  down to 3 -3/4 by 5 inches and used a long forgotten corner punch to make a frame.  A bit of vellum made a perfect back ground for the die cut sentiment.

 A glossy sentiment with button and bow finish off this card.  Entering this into Word Art Wednesday #219.  I love the Kristina Werner stamps from Simon Says.

ABC Challenge C is for Cute Critters

 

It's been a while since i was able to dedicate an afternoon to stamping.  I wanted to catch up with the Christmas challenges.  This one is for the ABC Christmas Challenge #3 C is for cute critters.  I do hope cute birdies count as critters.  It's been about four years since i used this High Hopes stamp.  I used water color paper and distress markers to give a soft color palette to this.  The sky is something i created as practice with the Intermediate Water Color class from on-line card classes.  I made the sky on one panel and then stamped the birdies on another piece, painted them and fussy cut them out and adhered them with some spray adhesive.  Then sentiments come from SSS and Creative Imaginations.  This also qualifys for Word Art Wednesday #219 Thanks for dropping in. 

Stamps 535 & 536 Close to My Heart

Merry Monday #190 is Santa or Reindeer.  It was easy to incorporate both with this sweet patterned paper from KaiserKraft.

I stamped the images on Bazzil Ivory Shiny Linen and fussy cut them out.  A couple of brush strokes with my SU markers and some distressing with tea dye distress ink and i started liking the look of it.  It was looking a bit bare when I remembered that free banner die I got from My Favorite Things over the holiday season.  Checked my ribbon stash for the bare corner and found this ribbon but it was tooooo white.  A little smudging with the same tea dye ink and it was perfect.  This is the ONLY santa stamp i own.   I will enter this card into the Merry Monday challenge 190.  --Also, since i want to keep up with Merry Monday.  I am posting my card for last week which was a one layer card.  Embossing powder on the image and a couple of strips of red magic tape covered with embossing powder from "the best embossing powder in the world"  and voila' i have a card.  I am entering this in Word Art Wednesday #219 also.

Sparkly Butterflies

I made a couple of these because I still think that sparkly napkin technique is so beautiful.  However, my mind has been befuddled of late and I forgot the main step of using heat and stick powder to make the glitter stick.  As i started using my heat tool the glitter was just a flyin'.  hmmm....what to do...i grabbed the can of hairspray and gave it a couple of good coats and let it try.  it works!! no glitter falling off at all.   Simon's banner.  love that one.