MFT Summer School

Hello!  I'm back from vacation and ready to join in with some of the stampy fun going on out there on the internet!  I was bummed to have missed the Coffee Lovers Blog Hop because you know how I LOVE my coffee (and coffee stamps), but the rest of the summer looks pretty clear and I'm hoping to have plenty of PLAY time!

Today I have a card for My Favorite Things Summer School.  This looks like it's going to be lots of fun, and educational too.  I love learning new things and I'm hoping to play along with as many of the lessons as I can.  I don't have very many MFT stamps (not because I don't love them, but there's this little thing called a budget, BOO lol!), so I'm hoping to be lucky enough to win one of the prizes they'll be giving away so I can buy something from them.  Today's card does use all MFT supplies (except for the inks), and it's all about the rule of thirds.

Sorry for the slightly blurry picture, it's very cloudy here today and I was having trouble getting a clear shot.  Anyway, I used Blueprint 14 and Sun, Moon, & Stars Die-namics, and Blue Skies Ahead and Pinstripe stamps.  To make the striped background I inked up the stamp with 3 different shades of Distress Ink (Seedless Preserves, Salty Ocean, and Cracked Pistachio), then misted the stamp with water and stamped onto watercolor paper.  I thought that the contrast between the color and white was too harsh so I used a water brush to brush over the stripes, which spread some color but also kept the stripes intact.  For the sun I mixed various yellow DI's on some watercolor paper, then cut with the sun die.  I cut several suns and layered them together to add some dimension.  The sentiment is stamped with Salty Ocean DI.  I finished the card with some yellow and clear sequins. 

If you'd like to learn about "the rule of thirds", and play along, visit the MFT blog for all the details!

Thanks for stopping by today!

30 Day Coloring Challenge Day 1

Hello!  Have you heard about the 30 Day Color Challenge that Kathy of The Daily Marker is hosting?  She hosted one previously, this is actually the second one, and I didn't get to participate the first time and really wanted to try to this time around.  Kathy is an artist extraordinaire, her coloring skills are amazing, and she makes lots of videos teaching how she works her magic with paper and color.

I have to say up front, I pretty much suck at coloring lol!  I have my crafty "strengths", but coloring is not one of them.  For one thing, I've had shaky hands my entire life (it's a genetic thing), so that puts me at a disadvantage right off the bat.  I mean picture a drunken sailor with the DT's trying to color, and you get the picture ;)  Some coloring techniques are easier for me than others and I tend to stick with those.  For awhile I wouldn't even buy stamps that needed to be colored, I'd either buy solid stamps, or multi step stamps, or open images that could be paper pieced, because that I can do.  Recently though (and I think this probably has to do with the watercolor revolution that's taken place in the craft industry, because it's a more forgiving medium to work with), I've been buying more open images, and I'm determined to practice and get better at coloring.

Anyway, today's technique is coloring with Copics.  I played around with a Martha Stewart butterfly image for my card, and decided, based on the sentiment, to "color outside the lines" (obviously easier for me what with the shaky hands and all lol!)

Even if the butterfly itself doesn't look so good, I do like the finished card.  Butterflies are a pretty forgiving thing to color, you can take a lot of artistic license with them, so I guess it's all good :)

Thanks for dropping buy, have a great day!

CASEsplorations with Stamplorations

My second post today, this one with a card for the May Stamplorations CASEsploration challenge (just in the nick of time!)

We're casing guest Kim Markortoff this month, here is her fabulous card:

And here is my card entry:

I embossed Stamplorations Trendy Feathers in white, and then did some ink blending with DI Gathered Twig, Tea Dye, and Brushed Corduroy.  I added some water droplets to my card (the white splotches you see, the water activates with the DI to create this look).  The sentiment, also from Trendy Feathers, is stamped with Gathered Twig DI. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Elle's Studio Sketch Thursday Challenge

Happy Sunday!  I have a card today that I'm entering in Elle's Studio Thursday Sketch Challenge.  The sketch is for a scrapbook layout, but since I don't currently scrapbook I decided to use it to make a card.

And now for my card, using the Cienna line and Elle's April stamps.

Hope it inspires, thanks for stopping by!

Just a Note

Today I have a card that I made after being supremely INSPIRED by the Stamplorations ARTplorations Stencil Blog Hop!  I was blown away by all the gorgeous cards the designers made using humble stencils.  Now I've collected quite a few stencils over my crafting years, but to be honest I've not used them very much at all.  Seeing all the wonderful things you can do with a stencil over at Stamplorations inspired me to pull mine out and come up with a card.

I used 3 different stencils for my card, the large dot (used Tumbled Glass DI), the chevron (used Cracked Pistachio DI), and the tiny dots (used Wplus9 Cockleshell ink).  I blended the inks more heavily at the bottom and then lighter at the top to create a sort of Bokeh affect.  The stamped images are from Stamplorations.  The main panel is cut with a die from Winnie & Walter.

This was a very simple card to create, now I need to get brave and try some of the more challenging stencil techniques the DT shared.  I created a Pinterest board with lots of the stencil ideas shared by the DT, if you'd like you can check it out HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and have a terrific weekend!

In Focus with Gayatri Murali

Hello!  I have a card to share today that I made for the In Focus with Gayatri Murali challenge over at Winnie & Walter.  This challenge is all about the inlaid die technique.  It was fun to stretch myself for this, I've never done anything quite like it.

I used Gayatri's instructions to make this card.  I first stamped the long, solid triangle from Winnie & Walters Scenery: Rectangled & Triangled using Wplus9's Storybook collection of inks onto white card stock.  Then I cut the big word "hi" (In a Word: Hi Cutaway).  Next I cut the word "hi" from black card stock 8 times and glued them together, finally gluing the stamped "hi" on top.  The word "friend" (In a Word: Friend Cutaway), was cut from black card stock, and is covered with glossy accents which you can't quite tell in my photo but it looks great in person!  Mounted everything on a black card stock base, and added some black sequins.

Hop on over to the Winnie & Walter blog if you'd like to have a go at this technique, it's FUN!

Have a Beautiful Day

I made a card several days ago using the Essentials by Ellen Mondo Magnolia stamp set and I posted it on Instagram but forgot to put it here on my blog.  I've just recently started using Instagram and I'm really enjoying it.  The first picture I tried posting on it was very blurry, I discovered that the secret for me to get a decent picture with my shaky hands was to sit my phone on something to completely steady it before I snap the picture.  It's so easy to edit the pictures in Instagram too, which I like very much!  Anyway, here is the card I made.

I stamped the flower on vellum and embossed in gold, then colored on the backside of the vellum with Copics.  The watercolor underneath the sentiment was done with Picked Raspberry distress ink.  I just LOVE this Mondo Magnolia stamp set and dies, so many creative possibilities with them!