Neat & Tangled: Be Bold!

Hello Everyone!
I hope you are having a lovely Easter weekend.  Its a bit cloudy today in So. Cal., with the sun coming in and out, but that is okay, it won't deter anyone from Easter egg hunting.  Today I will be featuring Neat & Tangles Big Bold Brew! I've been wanting this stamp set for a while and finally got a chance to purchase it.  I LOVE coffee, so coffee themed stamps sets are so much fun because I can relate.  Every morning I have a nice cup of joe to wake me up.  :)  The card is simple with the main image taking main stage.  I started by using Tim Holtz's Splatter Stencil to ink blend some Ground Espresso Distress Ink to the background.  I used post-it tape to cover areas of the stencil I did not want to use and moved it to the areas I wanted to use.  After I used MFT's Extreme Black Ink to stamp my images on white cardstock so that I could Copic color the images.  A change for me was coloring the boy with blond hair rather than a dark color hair, I usually gravitate to dark colors for hair colors.  The coffee cup is quite large so I used four shades of blue . After I colored the images, I fussy cut it out.  I used Versifine Onyx Black for the sentiment, which came from the same stamp set.  I popped my main images and adhered the hearts with glue.  I hope you like my card.  :)

Hair (YR24, YR 21, Y23, Y11)

Cup (B18, B16, B14, B12)

Coffee (E29, E17)

Skin (E21, E00, E000)

Pants (R24, R22)

Hearts (R89, R29, R24)

Shoes (C7, C5, C3)

MFT Sketch Challenge 377

Hello everyone!
Today I will be featuring MFT's Watercolor Flowers stamp set.  I haven't done a challenge in a while and wanted to try this week's challenge.  When I saw the sketch I immediately thought of the stamp set.  I wanted to work with inks today rather than color.  I started by stamping the first layers of the flowers with Simon Says Stamp Inks in Sea Glass, Pale Blush Pink, and Lemon Chiffon.  The second layer I used Maliblue, Goldilocks, and Cotton Candy.  The last layer I used Audrey Blue, Sunshine, and Doll Pink.  I used my MISTI to stamp the layers just in case I needed to double stamp; also because I knew I wanted to use Rangers Holographic embossing powder to layer on top of the last layer of inks.  Once I stamped my layers I fussy cut the images.  I then used a piece of Canson XL watercolor paper to do a background.  I started by putting a layer of water onto the paper and using Distress Ink in Cracked Pistachio to pounce some color one, but it wasn't quite looking as I hoped, so I changed my method to the packing technique.  I used both Distress Inks and Distress Oxides in the colors Cracked Pistachio as well as Lucky Clover.  I also used Twisted Citron in Distress Oxide.  Once my smooching was done, I used the largest rectangle in MFT Stitch Rectangle Stax 1 to cut the panel.  For the sentiment I used the Springtime Blooms stamp set to heat emboss in white on black cardstock.  I popped the sentiment up as well as the two larger flowers.  I adhered the smaller flower to the watercolor panel.  The final touch was to add some Jewels.  I used strong adhesive to adhere the panel to the card base as it warped a bit when I water colored it.  I hope you like my card.  :)

Lawn Fawn: Happy Spring!

Hello Everyone!
Today I will be featuring Lawn Fawn's Happy Village and Easter Party.  I started by stamping the images I wanted to use on white cardstock with MFT Extreme Black ink because I wanted to Copic color them.  I then fussy cut the images.  Then I used the stitched rectangle stax to cut 2 panels with heavy white cardstock.  One of the panel I used stitched Hillside Border die to die cut two grassy boarders, which I then used Distress Inks in Mowed Lawn and Twisted Citron to ink blend.  I then ink blended the other stitched rectangle panel with Squeezed Lemonaid and Mustard Seed.  I wanted a nice bright sky rather than the usual blue.  I then layered the grassy boarders and popping up the top layer.  I adhered the images down popping up the main images.  I used a sentiment from the Easter Party stamp set by using Versafine Onyx Black and Black embossing powder.  I usually don't put anything but a sentiment inside the card, but I had an extra image that I adhered inside.

Lawn Fawn: Beam Me Up (Scotty)

Hello Everyone!!!
I hope you have had a wonderful weekend.  I have been having so much fun with the new Lawn Fawn release this week.  Today I will be featuring one of the stamp set in this release called Beam Me Up.  I haven't done a galaxy background in some time, so I was excited to create one for this card.  I usually create pretty colorful galaxy backgrounds, but for this card I wanted it to be a bit darker.  I used Stitched Rectangle to die cut a panel that was 2 3/4in x 4 1/8in .  I then ink blended with Distress Oxide in the colors Faded Jeans and Black Soot.  I don't have Chipped Sapphie in the Oxides yet, so I decided that I would need to go a bit heavy with Faded Jeans on the top portion of the panel and faded out or lighten the pressure and ink amount towards the bottom.  I used Black Soot to add a bit of depth.  After I ink blended, I used a drop of acrylic paint in white and a drop of water to mix in with the paint to dilute it a bit so that I could flick the paint onto my panel.  I then took some perfect pearls in the color perfect pearl and added a drop of water to it to create a paint.  I flicked this onto the panel as well (the perfect pearl is beautiful when it hits the light). I then stamped the images I wanted to use on white cardstock with MFT's Extreme Black ink as I wanted to Copic Color my images.  I also stamped the light halo on some velleum using Versifine Onyx Black and embossed it with the new Lawn Fawn Glow in the Dark embossing powder.  I was super excited to try this embossing power.  I then heat embossed a sentiment with Simon Says clear embossing ink with Rangers White embossing powder on black cardstock.  I popped my galaxy panel using foam and multi-medium matt.  I also popped the spaceship and the monster it is carrying up.  I also popped up my sentiment.  I hope you like my card.  :)

My Favorite Things: Tweet Tweet

Hello everyone!
Today I will be featuring a card using the Tweet Wishes stamp set from MFT.  I was going to do a one layer card, but decided the card may need some interest.  Most of the background is one layered.  I started out by taping a 1inch boarder all around the card with post it tape to create a mask as I only wanted the center to be ink blended.  I used a stencil I made from the Grassy Hill boarder die to ink blend some grass (Distress Ink: Mowed Lawn & Twisted Citron) then used the cloud border stencil to create some clouds above (Distress Ink: Tumbled Glass).  After I stamped the images I wanted to use using MFT's Extreme Black Ink because it is waterproof and wanted to use my zigs on Bristol paper.  I fussy cut the images and adheared my flowers down to the background and popped up my main image.  I used Versine Onyx Black to stamp and heat emboss a sentiment from the stamp set.  I added a satin sequin as a finish.   I hope you like my card.

My Favorite Things: Itty Bitty Bears

Hello everyone!
Today I will be featuring a stamp set by MFT called Bitty Bears.  These little bears are soooo cute I could not handle it.  I used this set a few months ago for my Christmas card series, but have not used it since and I thought that would be a shame not to utilize the cuteness.  I wanted to incorporate as many bears as I could into the card.  I first choose the color medium I wanted to use to color the images, which was Prismacolor Pencils.  I used craft cardstock to stamp the images I choose with MFT's Extreme Black Ink.  I used my MISTI to stamp them as I wanted to go back later to re-stamp the images.  When coloring with Prismacolor Pencils I noticed the waxy texture of the pencil tends to cover the lines.  The MISTI is such a great took to be able to re-stamp the images to get those lines back.  Once I colored my images I fussy cut them out and began to work on the background.  On another A2 panel white cardstock piece I die cut rows 3x3 of the 2nd to the largest inside/out circle die.  I then used that panel to help guide where I should ink blend my base piece.  I used Distress Inks in the colors Abandoned Coral, Spiced Marmalade, Squeezed Lemonaid, Twisted Citron, Mermaid Lagoon, Salty Ocean, Chipped Saphire, Seedless Preserves, and Wilted Violet.  At first I wanted to use my Distress rainbow background with the circle die cut panel, however my images seemed too dark for this bright piece, so I decided against it and re-thought my layout.  I then decided it would be better on a white cardstock panel as this made the images pop more.  I then used the Happy Duo Die-namics from MFT to die cut the work Happy.  I die cut 3 pieces with black cardstock and one piece of white cardstock.  I layered the black pieces together and put the white cardstock piece on top.  The black cardstock serve as a highlight so that it did not get lost on the white panel.  I popped the bears into 3x3 with the Happy sentiment in the 2nd row.  I then heat embossed the birthday sentiment from the stamp on on black cardstock with white embossing powder.

I still had my original panel and thought it a waste if I did not use it, so I decided to stamp the same Bitty Bears as my first card, but instead of using my Prismacolor pencils on Kraft I Copic colored the images on white cardstock.  I used my white gel pen to add highlights and also used my Spectrum Nior Glitter Pen to add some sparkle.  I then fussy cut the images.  I wanted to make sure the images fit on my rainbow background and circle panel so I laid the objects out.  I popped the circle die cute panel up and adhered my images.  I used a sentiment from the Bitty Bear stamp set which I stamped with Versifine Onyx Black ink.   Hope you like my cards!

Create a Smile: You are a Rare Find

Hello everyone,
Today I am featuring Crokisses by Create a Smile.  While creating this card I was channeling my inner Kelly Letavola, of course my coloring is not as fantastic as her.  I love that she uses bright colors and for the most part is one-layered.  I started my card with an A2 panel.  I decided to focus the images in the lower right side of the panel.  I stamped (with MFT's Extreme Black ink) and made masks for each of the flowers using full adhesive post it notes. I used the smaller flower to fill in areas here in there.  Once I masked all my flowers I used Distressed Oxide in Salty Ocean to ink blend concentrating on the flowers and fading it out.  I then took off the masks and Copic colored my images.  I then used a sentiment from the stamp set with Versifine Onyx black and heat embossed it with rangers holographic embossing powder.  I wanted the flowers to be glittery, so I used Spectrum Nior's clear shimmer pen, then used my white gelly roll pen to add some dot details and highlights.  For the final touches I used some Gems and Sequins for the centers of the some of the flowers and around the sentiment.  Hope you like my card.

My Favorite Things: Rainbow Hello

Hello everyone!
Today I will be featuring a CAS card inspired by MFT’s YouTube video.  DT member Stephanie created an array of rainbow colors cards with the hillside stencil.  For the card I created I used MFT blooms background stamp to heat emboss with white embossing powder.  I then used the hillside stencil and distress inks in the colors mermaid lagoon, twisted citron, abandoned coral, picked raspberry, and wilted violet.   I then used another white cardstock panel to die cut an inside out scallop circle.  I then popped this panel on top of the rainbow emboss resist background.  Hope u like my card.

Lawn Fawn: Happy Happy Happy!

Hello everyone!
Today I will be featuring Lawn Fawn's Sweet Friends and Happy Happy Happy stamp sets.  I wanted to create something bright and fun.  Also, I wanted to practice some water coloring.  I first stamped the images I wanted to use on Canson watercolor paper with MFT's Extreme Black hybrid ink, which is waterproof.  I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers to color my images as well as my water brush to lighten some areas.  Once I finished coloring I fussy cut the images to the line and used a black marker to outline the edges.  I then used another piece of Canson Watercolor paper to do a rainbow backdrop with my Kuretake Tambi pallet.  I then used MFT's the largest die from the Stitched Rectangle Stax 1 to die cut the background piece.  I also die cut a piece of vellum with the same die and used MFTs Scallop Boarder die 1 to cut down the Vellum piece to 2.5in.  I used Happy Happy Happy stamp set to heat emboss the sentiment on the vellum piece as well as black cardstock with white embossing powder.  I popped a few colored image on the vellum as well as the Happy sentiment and adhered some flat.   I finished the cards with some Jewels.

Mama Elephant: Cloud 9

Hello everyone!
Double the treat today with the blog posts.  :P  Today I will be featuring Mama Elephant's Lovely Piggies and Technique Tuesday's Cloud 9 stamp sets.  Mama Elephant released the Lovely Piggies stamp set in December, however, I was in the Christmas card making season, so I did not get a chance to play with it.  Since Valentines is coming up I thought it fitting to break it out for a card or two.

I used the second largest Gina Marie Stitched Scallop die to cut out the center of a 4.25x5.5 panel to create a scallop inside edge.  This looks a bit different from the Inside Scallop Frame die I have from Gina Marie because the scallops are reversed.  I loved the look of it.  I then lined this with my card base and tape the edges so that I could use the cloud border stencil.  The reason I lined the base with my scallop panel was because I wanted it to be one continuous scene even after I pop up the scallop panel (which I planned on doing at the end).   I used Distress Oxide in Picked Raspberry rather than Distress Ink because of how fluffy the chalkiness of the ink made it look.  I then used one of Honey Bee's Ocean Scene builder stencil to create rays of light with Distress Oxide Fossilize Amber.  Finally I used Simon Says Stamp Falling Hearts Stencil with Distress Oxide in Candied Apple to do an ombre of hearts.  I then adhered some of my images down and heat embossed my sentiment from Technique Tuesday's Cloud 9 stamp set with Versifine Onyx Black as well as Iridescent Confetti Black embossing powder.  I lined and popped up the scallop panel with the base peace and popped up my Cupid Piggie.

I hope you like my card!