Just a little card

Here’s a card I made for this weeks MFT sketch challenge. I actually got it done ON Monday, LOL! Sean is off on vacation this week and I have some free moments to make last minute gifts, there are a few, and to play.

I have more to do tonight and more to upload, so I’ll save my yapping for now.

Although, I think I MAY have overdone it on the brown and patterns.

The DEETS:

Stamps: Icing on the cake, hot stuff, essential sentiments-MFT
Ink: graphite brilliance black, chocolate chip, ruby red-SU
CS: chocolate chip, ruby red, apple cider DSP, ginger blossom DSP-SU  white-Papertrey
Accessories: copics, nesties, corner rounder punch, ribbon from M’s, dimensionals, sponge

Rain or shine

I finally got around to the MFT sketch challenge, one day before a new one comes out! And I FINALLY inked up my ‘Rain or shine’ set that I’ve had for a week. I have a Christmas EXPLOSION in my craft room right now! All my mailing projects will be sent out on Tuesday so I’m in crunch time.

I just love this set “Rain or shine”. Being in rainy Washington state it just seems like an all year, any occasion set for me. Plus I have a miniature pomeranian who has a winter coat so the doggie is so perfect! Although Martin’s coat makes him look more like Sherlock Holmes, it’s olive and caramel tweed. He is seriously cute in it!

Here’s a picture of Martin when he was a wee little puppy snuggling with one of our cats, Connor.

He was and is so stinking cute!!!!!

So here’s my card. I used Judikins Diamond glaze on the rain coat and puddle for super wet and slick looking conditions!

I really wish I had rain boots and a rain coat like this! Ava has brown and pink polka dot rain boots and they are FABULOUS! And in case your wondering why I use the Judikins diamond glaze instead of SU crystal effects…….it’s cheaper. I can get a HUGE bottle of it on sale at joanns.com for close to the price of a wee bottle of crystal effects. With some things I am all about a deal. It saves more money for the important stuff, like stamps!

I hope your Sunday is finding you well! Sean is off this week for vacation so I should have plenty of time to play and get all my stuff done! My mom has asked me to make her something special and Im really hoping to have that done soon. And then of course I can show you!

The DEETS:

Stamps: Rain or shine-MFT
Ink: grahphite brillaince black, tempting turquoise, old olive-SU
CS: tempting turquoise, old olive, petals and paisley DSP-SU  whitePapertrey
Accessories: Judikins diamond glaze, ice rhinestone brads, dimensionals

In the jungle….

I had a chance to play today so I made my 2nd card for the MFT sketch challenge. This one is a gatefold card and the oval closes the two layers together with magnets. I also decorated an inner flap for writing a message, and for an excuse to make a pile of leaves with the hat! Sean saw it and said “Hey, did the lion eat the girl?” I guess it could look that way, but hopefully he’s the only one that thinks that!

And when the card is opened:

I had a lot of fun with these sets the past couple days. Actually I had to go clean them off after I finished the card!

We got our new rental car for the next week, more like boat! It’s a Nissan Armada and boy is that a big machine! Sean drove over to the mechanic and rescued the car seats out of our toyota. And then went to look at a Nissan Quest…..I could possibly have my own mini-van as soon as tomorrow!  I dont know yet, I have to look at it first and then there is the back and forth on pricing. I will keep an update, in case your sooooo curious!

Oh and tomorrow is the new MFT releases, and I cant wait because there is a set perfect for Seattle called “Rain or shine”…cant wait to order it!

The DEETS:

Stamps: Its a jungle out there- MFT stamps
Ink: graphite brilliance black, old olive, always artichoke, garden green, bashful blue, chocolate chip-SU
CS: Always artichoke, chocolate chip-SU white-Papertrey
Accessories: copics, nesties, ribbon from stash, dimensionals, magnets.

It’s a jungle out there!

Yesterday was a CRAZY day here in Washington, we had major flooding and I was crazy enough to go out in it! Most of the area’s that I was in were dry, except for one patch where the water came up to almost the hood of my car! SCARY!! But they had closed most of the roads where it was really bad. Several highways and freeways were closed so it made all the other routes terribly hard to drive.

So when I got back late last night I felt the need to stamp, I just wanted to get lost in my project. MFT had their weekly sketch up on their member board on SCS so I went ahead. I have 2 ideas for the sketch and this is the first. Since I got it done so early I will be doing the second one sometime this week.

I made a Z-fold card, and in order to show all the panels at once I needed to lay it down. I really love the way the scene turned out!

I stamped the images first then colored them with copics and then sponged the ground and sky, then stamped my heart out with the grass and leaves. That was the fun part, watching it go from a blank piece of paper to a full blown jungle! How absolutely fun!!

Stay tuned for another fun and bright card, plus I’ll be getting a move on some new jewelry techniques I have recently learned. I’ll be incorporating the new Papertrey Spiral bouquet into the jewelry…….curious??? 

The DEETS:

Stamps: It’s a jungle out there-MFT
CS: close to cocoa, old olive-SU  Papertrey white
Ink: graphite brilliance black, certainly celery, old olive, always artichoke, chocolate chip, soft sky-SU
Accessories: copics, nesties, dimensionals

The card that almost killed me

The sketch on the MFT board this week was super tough, it had a rectangle, a circle and a wavy line! SHEESH! A couple day’s ago I got inspired about the wavy line and the circle but got stuck on the rectangle. So I stopped and tried to find a way to incorporate a rectangle into my design, but I couldnt. So I went ahead and made a card anyway.

There are a few little elements in this card that kept getting lost! Those pesky little sea shells and that hat! I have no idea where they went, maybe stuck to my feet, but I had to remake them several times.

Finally after working on this sketch for several days and remaking things over and over I am happy it’s done with. But I am also happy with the card. I really like some of the elements I used to make it and I am proud of how it turned out. And since there is so much going on I thought I would explain how I made it.

Instructions:

1) I started with a piece of Papertrey white CS and cut and folded it to standard size.
2) Next I punched out 3 scallop circles in scrap CS and then cut them to make my clouds. I held one at a time in place as I sponged “soft sky” around it. I ended up with 3 clouds and extended the “sky” to almost the bottom of the card.
3) Then I cut a piece of bashful blue CS to 4.5 x 5.5 and put it in my swirls cuttlebug folder. Then I trimed it where I like the pattern for waves.
4) I then accented the waves first with waterfall stickles and then again underneath it with lace stickles to make the seafoam and set it aside to dry.
5) I stamped the gal, seashells and hat in graphite brilliance ink and heat set it, then colored them in with my copics and cut it all out.
6) Next I cut a piece of white CS to 5.5 x 2 and then tore the edge. I sponged the whole piece in creamy caramel ink, then randomly with a little chocolate chip ink for the sand. I sponged more chocolate chip ink around the torn edge for contrast.
7) Then I took a small sponge and used white craft ink along the torn edge, then poured white EP onto it and heat set it. With the chocolate chip more heavy under the white it makes a nice shadow.
I then adhered the waves and sand to the card and then adhered my seashells and lady to the card. I used dimensionals to adhere the hat, giving it some shadow.
9) Next I inked up the sentiment with my black SU marker to fit it in a circle punch, (1 3/8) I used my paper piercing tool to punch a hole in the “I” for the crystal brad. This was layered onto a so saffron scallop circle and placed onto the card with dimensionals.
10) Finally I stamped the birds in the sky with brilliance graphite ink.

I really need to clean my desk so that I wont loose so much small stuff next time and spend half the time looking for it! I hope your week is going well!

The DEETS:

Stamps: By the seashore-MFT
Ink: brilliance graphite black, creamy caramel, soft sky, white craft
CS: Papertrey white, so saffron
Accessories: 1 3/8 circle punch, scallop circle punch, white EP, copic markers, ice rhinestone brads, cuttlebug embossing folder, lace stickles, waterfall stickles, sponge.

Timeless joy

Tonight I decided to tackle two challenges, the new MFT sketch challenge and the ways to use it challenge which was to use hoarded brads.

I HOARD lots of different things; brads, paper, ribbon, my pretties kit, hodge podge hardware……..lots of stuff. Sometimes I buy things and they are so pretty I deam them too special to part with. Im sure you do that too.

When I started this card, it had been a few hours since I had read the challenge rules and only remembered to use something that was hoarded. So my first question was WHAT am I picking? LOL! I based the colors off the two ribbons and then decided to throw in some red for a POP! It was at the end that I realized that I was supposed to use a brad as my inspiration….duh! So I threw in one of my large ice rhinestone brads in the center of the heart.

The card front is cut halfway down so that the layered rectangles are half on the cardfront and half off……neat, huh? The layout is from the MFT sketch challenge this week. 

Last night was the release of Papertrey’s latest and greatest…………did you see the new sets? Did you get anything? I got some new sets, most importantly ‘Spiral Bouquet’!!!! I cannot WAIT to get it! I LOVE it oh so much!

Tomorrow will be a super happy fun mail day for me! I have my new Gina K coming, some candles I ordered from Illuminations (I had a wicked deal of $15 off $60 or more and buy 2 get 1 free!) and my free SU! set!!!!! And tonight SU! will release the S/S preview catalog online for demo’s only. I’ll report back tomorrow on what I see! Im so excited!

I hope your week is going well, my wrist is finally feeling better! I should be back tomorrow with something special!

The DEETS:

Stamps: Boho Blossoms -MFT stamps
Ink: real red, taken with teal-SU
CS: river rock, taken with teal, old olive-SU    white-Papertrey
Accessories: Nesties, punches in; 1 1/4, label, ice rhinestone brads, “flirty” velvet ribbon-SU, ribbon from Michaels

What a day!!!!!

First I need to share a bit about our weekend. On Friday night I was cold in the house, which isnt uncommon. But I was standing next to one of the vents (we have forced air) and it was blowing cold air even though the thermostat was at 74. Sean didnt feel cold and said it never feels like hot air and that was that. Then on Saturday I was really cold and I had the temperature held at 75 but the thermostat was reading 71…..something was wrong. So we spent a cold Saturday night here. Oh, and our fireplace is still broken. The repair people are 6 weeks out and it’s $250 JUST for them to come. I’m thinking a NEW fireplace might be cheaper.

So yesterday the girls came home and the house was cold. At night we bundled them with extra blankets and went to sleep. This morning the temp. was 66!!!! Holy cow, it was COLD in here! So I got on the phone with our heat people and they sent a tech out fast, like within an hour. Anyway, the part that was broken was under warranty so we only had to pay for labor. For 5 minutes of him being here can you guess how much we paid? $100!

But that’s not all. While he was here I fell………again…….down the stairs……..again……..

The really AWESOME thing (and that’s completely sarcastic) is that the dude was at the bottom of the stairs, and his instinct wasnt to HELP me as I fell and try to catch me or anything but to step out of the way. NICE! I smacked right into the front door scraping my wrist and elbow, twisting my right ankle….again. My wrist was nice and swollen today with a welt, and my ankle was swollen.

But in really HAPPY news, my new MFT sets came today. Hurrah!! So I finished last weeks color challenge, last weeks MFT sketch challenge and todays technique challenge for a pocket card all in one! WOW, that’s a lot!

What a fun set, and Ava really loved it! She had me stamping a scene for her to color. The hat was her favorite, I have NO idea why.

And I really need more copics. I only have 48 and I need more colors to blend and do all the fancy pants stuff with. I’ll have to add that to my list! LOL!!!

I hope your week is off to a better start than mine!

The DEETS:

Stamps: By the seashore-MFT
CS: tempting turqouise, real red, white, so saffron-SU
Ink: palette noir, tempting turqouise-SU
Accessories: scallop circle, 1 3/8 punch, ice rhinestone brad, dimensionals, copics, corner rounders, sherbet ribbon.

Banana heart

It’s time for another MFT sketch on the boards at splitcoast. I knew I wanted to use my “It’s a jungle out there” set this time and I had a fun idea for it, to make a banana shaped heart! At first I wasnt sure it looked enough like a heart but then Ava said “Oooh, a banana heart!” and then Sean said “Cool, the banana’s are a heart”. So I hope you all see the heart as well!

Instructions:

1. Starting with a piece of close to cocoa CS cut and folded to standard size, I then stamped the safari hat in cocoa ink.
2. I cut two pieces of ribbon and adhered them to the cardfront with some snail adhesive.
3. Then I cut a piece of white CS to 3×2 and stamped the banana with palette noir ink into a heart shape. I colored in the banana with barely banana, so saffron and summer sun SU markers.
4. Next I inked up only the “banana’s” and stamped it in the middle of the heart. Then after cleaning the stamp, I inked up the “about you” and placed it under the  word “banana’s”. Both in palette noir ink.
5. I layered that onto a piece of so saffron CS that was 3 1/4 x 2 1/4 and distressed around the edges. This was placed on the card with dimensionals.
6. Then I cut a piece of white CS 2×2 and stamped the monkey and banana in palette noir ink, coloring him with close to cocoa, creamy caramel and cameo coral, and the above mentioned banana colors in  SU markers.
7. I then created the scene around him using the grasses and foliage in certainly celery, old olive and always artichoke. Then I grounded him with a blend of copics and colored a sky for him.
8. Sir monkey was matted onto so saffron CS that was cut to 2 1/4 squared and the edges were also distressed. And adhered it with dimensionals.
9. Finally, I placed 5 saffron eyelets to the top left corner with my trusty crop a dile.

And there you have my fun little monkey pants! I love this set and in case your wondering, no I havent chose what to do for Audrey’s birthday announcements.  I just cant even figure it out what to do for her and what to do with the cards. Im trying to make it easy on myself, but that just isnt my style….being easy on myself. Hopefully I can get inspired SOON!

The DEETS:

Stamps: It’s a jungle out there-MFT stamps
CS: close to cocoa, so saffron-SU, white -papertrey
Ink: close to cocoa, palette noir, old olive, certainly celery, always artichoke-SU
Accessories: ribbon from stash, dimensionals, copics, SU markers in; so saffron, summer sun, barely banana, close to cocoa, creamy caramel, cameo coral, so saffron eyelets.

Howdy Allison!

Hugs and kisses!

Today on SCS the charter member companies forums launched. So now there are forums for all your favorite companies like Gina K, MFT stamps and Papertrey. There are others, but those are what I’m interested in.

Anyway, over on the MFT forum there was a sketch challenge so I decided to play. I only have 3 MFT sets, so it wasnt too hard choosing a set, LOL. But I did decide I wanted to color, versus playing with the oh so lovely boho blossoms again.

I did a few things differently with this card. First I used watercolor paper for the image and chocolate drops, I used markers with my aquapainter, I really liked how it came out. I bought a big slab of watercolor paper at Michaels on Saturday and it was on sale…..SCORE!! Then I dyed a flower from the pretties kit with purely pom ink. I did that with my aqua painter as well, but next time I think I will sponge it to death so the color is more saturated.

I’ll just list the supplies for this one and if anyone has a question then you can shoot me an email.

The DEETS:

Stamps: How sweet it is-MFT stamps
CS: chocolate chip, au chocolate DP, purely pom, white-SU, watercolor paper
Ink: stazon black, chocolate chip, purely pom-SU
Accesories: rhinestone brads, cream halfback pearl, flower, aquapainter, markers, round coluzzle, dimensionals, chocolate taffeta ribbon.