MFT Color Challenge

Hello there!  I'm here today with a card I made for the current MFT Color Challenge.  My card uses a few more of the goodies Santa brought me from the MFT December release :)

I don't have any MFT colors but I had good matches from PTI so I used their Sweet Blush, Limeade Ice, Enchanted Evening and Smokey Shadow.  The stamps and dies are all from MFT, I used the Stitched Hexagon STAX, Doubly Amazing dies and Amazing stamp set, and Die-namics Sequins.  I added a coat of Glossy Accents to the word "amazing" and to the sequins to add a bit of extra interest to the card.  I really love the hexagon dies and am looking forward to playing around with them more, I see many uses for them!

Tonight my family is going to a dinner theater to see a performance of A Christmas Story.  It's a musical version of the movie and looks like it will be a lot of fun!

Have a wonderful day!

Baby

Hello!  I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas!  I was happy to have some time yesterday to create a card for the current MFT Sketch Challenge using some new goodies that Santa brought me :)

Aren't these elephants just the CUTEST?!!  They're from a new Birdie Brown set called Adorable Elephants.  A little story, elephants are one of my favorite wild animals (along with monkeys), and as you know there have been MANY cute elephant stamp sets released over the past couple of years by various companies.  I've debated and debated which set to purchase because I had no elephant stamp sets in my stash, but could never make up my mind which I liked best (this is SO like me, sometimes I just can't make a decision to save my life lol!)  Well when I saw this set, I instantly fell in love with it and knew it needed to come live with me.  So Santa, being the accommodating fellow he is, brought me this set along with some other MFT goodies from the December release.  I'm so happy with all of the new products I received and you'll definitely be seeing them used on my cards over the next weeks.

Back to this card, the patterned papers I used for the card base and baby blocks are from the American Crafts My Baby 6X6 paper pad.  The little Scrabble tiles I used to make the word "BABY" are from Simon Says Stamp.  The elephants were stamped on Tim Holtz watercolor paper and I used Hickory Smoke and Worn Lipstick distress inks to color them.  The white center panel of the card was cut using an MFT blueprint die and then I used an embossing folder to make the raised  dots.  I finished the card by cutting some pink hearts and covering them with Glossy Accents.

Hope you're enjoying your holiday, I know that I'm very happy because my husband has this whole week off of work and I LOVE having him home with me!  Thanks for stopping by today!

CAS(E) this Sketch #153

I'm back with my second post today, this time using the current sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch to make another Christmas card.

I love these Game Tile stamps from Simon Says Stamp!  I'm a huge word game enthusiast so these definitely tickle my fancy.  I stamped the letters using Versafine black ink, and colored them using my Zig Clean Color Brush markers.  I added some very light blue around the letters to make them pop a bit more, and then to finish I used my white gel pen to cap the letters with some "snow".  This was a really fun card to make and I think it's perfect for the sketch challenge!

Thanks for taking the time out of your busy day to stop by and visit!

Freshly Made Sketches #217

Hello, friends!  It's the Sunday before Christmas and I have some down time today to make a few cards.  I ran out of Christmas cards, sent them all out in the mail, and I'll need a few more over the next couple of days to hand deliver to friends and neighbors, so I'm using this opportunity to get a few more done.  I used the sketch from Freshly Made Sketches to fashion this card.

I used 3 colors of distress inks, Salty Ocean, Seedless Preserves and Cracked Pistachio, adding to watercolor paper and then cutting with the dies after it was dry.  Next I splattered a bit of white paint on the die cuts.  To give the die cuts some dimension I cut several plain pieces and glued them up with the watercolor piece on top.  The black paper is shimmery although it's hard to see here.  The sentiment is from PTI and the clear sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.

This is quite a nontraditional Christmas card for me, but I love how the watercolor pieces look on the black, very dramatic.

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a wonderful day!

Another coffee card...

Yesterday I ran out of daylight to take a picture of this card (I've been trying to post one card per day for the blog hop), so it had to wait for this morning.  I'm linking it up to the Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

I was the lucky winner of this Lizzie Anne Designs coffee stamp in the Fall Coffee Lover's Blog Hop and so I wanted to ink it up for this blog hop.  The prize was from Hetty in the Netherlands :)  I stamped the cup in brown ink then masked it and added the stenciling (stencil from Stamplorations), using Salty Ocean Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from MFT's Hug in a Mug.  I added some brown splatters, some water spots, and twine and a button to finish the card.  Quick and easy card to make :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

Happy International Tea Day!

Did you know that today is International Tea Day?  I'm not a huge tea drinker, although I do love iced tea in the summer, but my daughter Ali LOVES hot tea and drinks a cup or two almost every day.  I made a Christmas card today for the Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop in honor of the tea drinkers in my life.  Although it isn't specifically a "tea" card, the cup reminds me of a tea cup :)

This is the first stamp that I've purchased from Stampingbella.  I've had my eye on their stamps for a long time now and was so happy to find this Maisy and Madeline have Some Tea at a Black Friday sale.  I used Copics to color, and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  The sentiment is from My Favorite Things Hand Lettered Holiday stamp set.  The paper is from Basic Grey's Eskimo Kisses 6X6 paper pad.  I finished the card by adding some gold sequins.

Thanks so much for visiting me today!

Sending You a Cup of Cheer

Hello everyone!  This is my second post for today, and this time I have another card for the Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.

For this card I used patterned papers from Cosmo Cricket's Jolly by Golly.  I thought that the paper with the coffee cups and snowmen was perfect for my card.  The large coffee cup is from Concord & 9th.  To make it this is what I did:

1.  Stamp a snowflake onto watercolor paper, embossing in white.
2.  Stamp the outline of the coffee cup around the snowflake using Vintage Sepia VersaFine ink.
3.  Watercolor using Distress inks, Ground Espresso for the coffee and Fired Brick for the cup.
4.  When everything was dry I used my white Uni-ball Signo pen to add lines to the snowflake,
      making it look like cappuccino art.
5.  Fussy cut the cup of coffee.
6.  Add glossy accents to the cup.

I really love how the cup of coffee turned out, it looks so real :)

The sentiment is from MFT's Hug in a Mug stamp set.  I added some wood pieces and snowflakes, with some German glitter glass added to them, to finish the card.

That's all for now, thanks so much for stopping by today!

Winnie & Walter Rerun #7

Hello and happy Monday!  Today I have a card to share that I made for this month's Winnie & Walter Rerun challenge.  I don't own the set they're using this month, Winter Woodland, so I used Gayatri's beautiful card for my inspiration.

I've been itching to use the images from Elsa's Flora on a card (other than the poinsettia which I've used several times now), and this was a perfect opportunity to do so.  I used Distress stains direct to stamp to achieve a loose watercolor look.  The color palette is Vintage Photo, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Fired Brick and Broken China.  I used my blending tool and Ground Espresso Distress ink around the edge of the card, but I felt it need something more so I added the gold embossing.  The sentiment was made from the two Evelyn T. stamp sets, Merry & Bright and Happiest of Holidays, and I embossed with gold.  I simply ADORE the beautiful sentiments in these 2 stamps sets!  I think they're elegant, yet playful, such a great combination!

That's all for now, hope you have a wonderful day!

Happy National Cocoa Day!

Hello!  Did you know it was National Cocoa Day?  I made a card in honor of the day for the Winter/Holiday Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!

I created the plaid paper for this card using MFT's Candy Stripes BG Builder and Simon Says Stamps Basic Stripes.  The colors I used were Wplus9's Last Leaf and Gala Apple, and Versa Fine black.  I used MFT's Hug in a Mug stamps and dies to make the cups of cocoa and sentiment, and the snowflake dies are from PTI.

Hope you can enjoy a nice cup of cocoa with a loved one today :)

Feel Better

Hello!  It's a dreary Saturday here in PA, I wish the sun was shining but it's supposed to be back tomorrow :)  I have a card that I'm entering in 3 challenges, a rarity for me to enter a card in that many challenges but I managed to do it with this one.

First, the Winter/Holiday Coffee Lovers Blog Hop.  I think this fits as a Winter card, at least I hope it does!  Next, I used the sketch from CAS(E) this Sketch #152.  And last but not least I was inspired to create this card based on Amy's cards over at CASEplorations December Challenge.

I used the Let's Chat stamp set from Concord & 9th to make this card.  I LOVE my cappuccino's and one of my favorite coffee shops always makes a design in theirs.  When I first saw this stamp set I had to have it because of that!  Up until now I've used only the heart on several cards because it reminds me of a wood grain pattern, so I was happy to finally use it in it's intended spot, inside a coffee cup! 

As I said, I was inspired by the colors in Amy T.'s cards over at CASEplorations.  I used colored pencils to color the coffee and cup, the foam and sentiment are embossed in white.  After I'd done that much of the card I felt it really needed something more, so I used the Do You See What I See stencil from Winnie & Walter to add some interest around the cup.  Next I added some water droplets and white and brown splatters to my card, and at that point I felt it was perfect :)

Hope you have a wonderful day, thanks for visiting :)

Peace

Hello!  This is my second post for today, and this time I'm sharing a card that I made using the sketch from the current Freshly Made Sketches challenge.

Originally I had something different in mind for the focal panel, but as I was looking through my patterned papers I came upon the deer paper and I thought it was so lovely that I decided to let it take center stage on my card.  This is one of my all time favorite Christmas paper collections, Jovial by Basic Grey.  To make the scalloped edge I used a scallop frame die from Winnie & Walter.  The word "peace" is from PTI.  I cut 4 of the words and glued them together, and then topped that with some glossy accents.  I finished the card with some Pretty Pink Posh and Darice gold sequins.  I love the serene feel of this card.

Hope you have a wonderful weekend, thanks for dropping by today!

Mugs & Kisses

Happy Friday!  Today starts the Holiday Coffee Lover's Blog Hop so I started making some cards for it yesterday.  The card I'm sharing today uses the colors from the current MFT Color Challenge so I'm entering my card in both challenges!

I just LOVE the Hug in a Mug stamp set and dies from MFT!  The sentiments in the stamp set are fabulous, and the little mugs and accessories are as cute as can be!

To make my card I tried a technique I saw on a Kristina Werner video recently, taking your ink pad directly to your paper.  Of course this technique has been around forever, but sometimes it takes someone actually using it and showing it in a fresh light to jog your memory!  At least that was the case for me :)  The colors I used here, because I don't own the actual MFT colors, were Wplus9 Cockleshell and PTI Aqua Mist and New Leaf.  I think these color match the MFT colors really well.  The heart on the mug was cut from Aqua Mist card stock, then I added a layer of Glossy Accents and sprinkled it with some German glitter glass.  Love the sparkle it adds!  I think with these cool, wintery colors and the sparkle this qualifies as a holiday card, what do you think?

Thanks so much for visiting today, hope your day is fabulous!

Paper Smooches December Challenge

This is my second post today, this time I have a card for the Paper Smooches December Challenge - Flowers.  I don't have many PS flowers (just one set that has a few small flowers in it plus the matching dies), but I didn't let that stop me from playing along :)

I cut a bunch of flowers using the PS Denim & Daisies dies in colors that match the photo, and combined and layered them in different combinations.  For the Ball jar I used some PTI Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores inks and did some ink blending, then I splattered it with some water droplets.  I wanted to incorporate the beautiful wood from the photo into my card somehow, so I decided to use the large Tree Ring Background stamp from Concord & 9th.  I stamped it using Gathered Twig distress ink, then I used several shades of brown distress inks to blend inside the ring.  I also added the splatters to my card with the brown distress inks.  The sentiment is from PS, and I added a few gold sequins to finish the card.  I figure this will card will help to brighten the day of someone who isn't feeling well :)

That's all from me today, I'll be back tomorrow with a card for the Coffee Lover's blog hop!

Holly Jolly

Hello!  I'm here today with a card that I made for the current MFT Wednesday sketch challenge!

As you can see I took some "liberties" with the sketch adding the square element, but I wanted to try out that new to me die from MFT.  I had no sets of square dies and ordered this one at their Black Friday sale.  I love the detail it adds!  And I can't say enough good things about the Hand Lettered Holiday sentiments!  I think they make any card they're added to beautiful!  I'm hoping MFT comes out with other sentiments in that writing style, I just love it!  The patterned papers are from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly 6X6 paper pad.  The snowflakes were cut from PTI dies and I added some Wink of Stella to them although you can't see it in this photo.  Very simple, quick and easy card :)

Have a great day!

Merry Merry

Hello!  I have a card today that I made for 2 challenges, the Curtain Call Inspiration Challenge - Dear Santa, and the Reverse Confetti December Sketch For You To Try.

When I saw the typewriter in the Curtain Call graphic I remembered that I had a typewriter sticker from an older SSS card kit that I hadn't used, and thought it would be perfect for a card.  I paired it with the cute little Santa from RC's Jolly Holiday stamp set, which I colored with Copic markers.  The word "merry", which I stamped twice, is also from Jolly Holiday.  The wreath and holly leaf dies are from Reverse Confetti.  The piece of lined paper underneath the typewriter is from a Reverse Confetti Quick Card panel.  The Kraft base was embossed with a Cuttlebug embossing folder to add a bit of dimension, and I finished the card with some large red sequins and tiny white pearls.

How's your Christmas crafting coming along?  I need to actually start MAILING some of the cards I've been making, I can't believe how quickly Christmas is approaching!

Thanks for stopping by today :)

Merry Christmas

Hello!  I'm here with a very last minute entry for the Freshly Made Sketches Challenge (I think I have about an hour left to get this in so I'll keep this short ;)  I'm also entering this in the Sparkle and Shine Challenge.

Isn't that graphic from the Sparkle and Shine Challenge beautiful?!  It inspired all of my color choices for my card.  The largest snowflake die is from Simon Says Stamp (love the intricate detail on it!)  The smaller snowflake dies are from PTI.  The sentiment and banner are from MFT.  I used 2 kinds of ribbon for the border, a very thick cream color and the thinner purple.  I finished my card with some gold Pretty Pink Posh gold sequins.

OK, off to get this linked up, thanks for stopping by today!

The Challenge #54

Greetings!  Today is the last challenge of the year over at The Challenge, we're taking a little break but will be back in January.  For this last challenge we have a fun sketch for you to try!

I'm not going to lie, I LOVE how my card turned out this time!  I give a great deal of the credit for that to the 2 amazing stamp sets I used here, Harvest Mouse and Hand Lettered Holiday, both from MFT.  I was able to pick up these 2 beauties at the Black Friday sale MFT was having, 30% off all stamps and dies.  I've seen these stamp sets used on MANY cards, and I've always loved how they looked, so I could not resist (even though I really don't have the money to be spending on all this new stuff, yikes!)  Anywho, I colored the mouse with Copics, and I think she turned out beautifully (for me, I'm not an excellent colorist by any means).  One thing that's really helped me with coloring with Copics is that I picked up a 4 pack of the Signo Uni-ball white gel pens and these babies are so great at covering up my boo boos when I go out of the lines (which I invariably do).  I also use the Copic colorless blender pen to try and push the color back, but sometimes that doesn't completely do the job and the white gel pen comes in awfully handy!  I don't remember where I heard this on the internet but thanks to whoever gave this tip.  I don't own many Copics (maybe 30 or so colors), but I did have colors that worked for this card so I went for it!  The sentiment background was stamped in a fairly random pattern with PTI New Leaf ink.  I used some of my sparkly white glitter paper from Colorbok to make the snow and snowflakes (the snowflake dies are from PTI).  

So there you have it, my last card of the year for The Challenge.  I've had so much fun being a member of Lesley's design team the past few months, and am looking forward to the new year with her and the rest of the team!   I hope you'll play along with this sketch, I can't wait to see what you make!

STAMPlorations December Challege

Hello!  After taking off for several days battling a terrible bug (the internal kind, no giant, radiation ridden bugs running around this house lol!), I'm back to making cards.  I made this one for the STAMPloration December Challenge.  I really do love the challenges over at STAMPlorations but I never seem to have enough time to play along with everything I'd like too.  I guess there are worse problems to have, right?  But I loved the sketch this month and immediately had an idea for a card using it.

I knew I wanted to use the tree stamps from STAMPlorations Oh, Christmas Tree stamp set on my card.  I bought these stamps a long time ago but hadn't inked them up yet.  Then as I was thinking about what to use as a background for the trees my mail came, along with a new stamp from Concord & 9th, the Tree Ring background stamp, and it was one of those great, serendipitous moments, hee hee.  The line of stars down the side are from the very versatile Star Scribbles from PTI.  The sentiment is also from Oh, Christmas Tree.  I used Brushed Corduroy distress ink to stamp the tree ring, and Pine Needles for the trees and sentiment.  I embossed the stars in gold first, but they didn't stand out enough for my taste so I stamped them again, slightly offset, in white.  The white on the trees is also embossing, there's a teeny tiny little speckle stamp in the Star Scribbles set and I used that.  Really great for getting spots right where you want them!  I also did some random ink splattering with white and gold paint. 

I really enjoyed playing along with this challenge and hope to be able to do so more often in the future!

Inky Paws Challenge #27

Hello!  Today I'm playing along with the Newton's Nook Designs Inky Paws Challenge.  I was really taken with the design teams cards using the beautiful graphic and had to try my hand at making a sparkly Kraft card!

I used the birds and word "love" from Flirty Flamingos to make my card.  I painted the hats and wings with some shimmery gold paint, it adds the "sparkle" to the card but was impossible to capture in my photo on this rainy day!  The little hats were cut from a Santa that's from a 1.00 stamp set.  The words "wishing" and "Christmas" are from Simon Says Stamp and "you" and "this" are from Winnie & Walter.  It was really fun designing this sentiment with all the various stamps and die cuts, here's a close up:

I love how this turned out, and I have a special couple in mind to send this to at Christmas :)  Thanks for stopping by today!

The Challenge #53

Hello there!  Last week at The Challenge so many of you linked up your gorgeous, traditional Christmas cards (thanks to all who played along!)  This week we're asking you to make a non-traditional Christmas card.  There are some wonderful examples by the design team members to spark your creativity, so be sure to take a look.

I'm also playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge, which is Anything Goes this week.

For my card today I started with white card stock.  I mixed some embossing paste with purple Perfect Pearls powder, and used the ARTplorations Leaf Prints stencil to apply the paste.

Now I'm going to share a "boo boo" with you, see the tiny black words on some of those purple leaves?  When I was running my leaf print panel (which was dry btw!) through my die cut machine I laid a piece of scratch paper down on top so I didn't get any of the paste on my upper cutting plate and there were some words on that piece of paper (it had been run through my printer at one point), and those words transferred onto the paste.  Rather than scrap the whole piece I decided to roll with it, and ran it through a few more time placing the words on several different leaves.  The words are backwards but they're so tiny you can't even tell.  I'll have to remember this happy mistake for the future because I kind of like it :)

The wavy Snow Drifts die is from MFT and I cut using shiny silver card stock.  The word "peace" (Aqua Mist card stock) and coordinating sentiment are from PTI.  I embossed "be with you" using silver sparkle embossing powder.  The card base is PTI Soft Stone card stock.  I finished the card with some sheer white ribbon and silver cording.

I hope we have as many entries this week as we had last week because I LOVE non-traditional Christmas cards and I'm excited to see what you all make.  Please join us!

MFT Sketch and SSS Wednesday Challenges

Hello!  I have a different kind of Christmas card to share with you today.  I'm playing along with the MFT Sketch Challenge and it totally inspired my design!  I'm also playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge.

I thought that these tall flowers from Fall Florals would work perfectly with the sketch.  I stamped them using Wplus9's Last Leaf ink, then I embossed the overlay in gold.  The sentiment is from PTI, and the sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh.  This card came together very easily and I really do love the modern, graphic feel of this (not my typical style!)

Thanks for stopping by today!