Feeling Springy......

Who's that Girl has a little spring in her step today, despite the fact that it is freeeeeezin' cold here in the Northeast!  brrrr.  

Today's Thursday, which means a new MFT sketch challenge!  I've been a bad friend and hadn't made a card to play with Frances and Cindy in a few weeks, so I grabbed my box of MFT's and looked for one that hadn't seen ink in a while.  I chose "Let's Go For a Walk" which to me is one of the classics for My Favorite Things.  

As I mentioned the other day, I've been playing around with the MFT Digital Paper Packages and I just love them!  I couldn't help but use this sweet pink patterned paper with just a touch of black.  Put all my favorite Copics including E31, E33, R11, R20, W1, W2 all to good use.  I don't know about you, but I never like the look of straight black marker, it was just too much for these polka dots, so I softened them by adding a coat with my black gel pen afterwards.  

The dogs are celebrating in style too, they all have Spica pen bling on their hats and on their collars.  

I fussed and fooled around with this for a while, because I really wanted to incorporate the larger grey felt flower along with the white one, but finally succumbed and added a gingham bow instead.  In linking this up, I realized that I sorta blew the sketch by turning my sentiment into one of the embellie placements, but hopefully my girls will forgive me! **wink** 

Elves? Martinis? I'll take some of both!

I'm so relieved to have my cards done, it was a labor of love for sure, and I'm very glad I made them, but its been fun to get to just play a little too!

This is, a giant card.  Its 5 1/4 x 6 1/2, but I really really wanted to use "Merry Christmas?" from MFT because this so epitomizes how I'm feeling right now, and I wanted to use the fabulous MFT Sketch Challenge #60.  In order to get the proportions right, I had to go big.....

I figure, back in the day, when I bought cards at Hallmark, cards were bigger than this anyways.

The background is cuttlebugged with the folder with all the ornaments on it, I had to run it through two times to get this full panel done, but its okay, the seam is behind the vertical striped panel!  

After I cuttlebugged, it, I crumpled it all up then flattened it out again to give it an worn look.  Then sewed everything down.

This paper is Fa La La from Making Memories along with a package of coordinating ribbon I tripped across this afternoon during a cleanup (whoops.) 

Today is a new release day for MFT's "BcDzns" line and lots of girls on the team will have previews for you, you can begin the blog hop over on Kim's blog. Don't forget to check out this month's Hot to Trot Designer Jana Hull along the way!

Its also Wednesday which means you'll find a new Challenge, Tutorial and of course, the Wednesday Hookup!  Get going on over on the Splitcoast Member Company Forum for My Favorite Things to check it all out! 

Two things I don't have

A little girl, and willpower.  

I told myself that if Jen del Muro used that cute Nana's Nursery paper one more time, I was going to have to buy it. Then I found a coupon for Joann's in my mailbox, then, I ran across the paper while doing an errand.  So, its mine.  Giggle.

This super cute Princess Fairy birthday set is from My Favorite Things. So, is this sketch.  Well, sort of. This is the MFTSC34, only I flipped it left to right.  My friend Nancy taught me that the people always need to face into the center, so I had to switch the layout around a bit, but I really like what Cindy set up for us all this week.

Instead of putting my smaller oval on the top of the larger scalloped nestie, I framed it out.  

Hope you all have a fantastic day. Summer has arrived, and suddenly, it is quite warm here.  I'm so glad our local pool is finally open for business and we can get some swimming time in!

Stay cool!

Yum!

Sometimes, I just love rainy afternoons. The little girls that I watch hunkered down with a craft this afternoon - and I grabbed a craft for myself and the three of us hung out, chatted and created.

They were so into their rainbow fish that I got a chance to pull together a quick card with an upcoming set from My Favorite Things. Kim's so sweet that she's letting me post this early. (Thanks KIM!)

Trust me when I say that you're going to love this entire set, and all the other goodies coming out in just a few weeks time. Everything is just completely adorable.

The cupcakes are colored in with my copic markers, then I stamped the sprinkles on it and coated them with stickles. Ooooh, this little card just makes me want to heat up the oven and bake something! (Um, or run out to the bakery?)

This card is for this week's sketch challenge over on the My Favorite Things Member Company Forum. I completely adore this paper, from the Blue Hill collection from Crate Paper.

So, don't forget, its "Celebrate MFT Day" treat yourself to a little stamping time with either your latest MFT's that you may have picked up at the last launch, or any other of your favorite things you may already own. Don't forget to post on Splitcoast with "MFTMAY08" so we can all celebrate together!

My Favorite Things Sketch Preview

I've got a little MFTeaser for you today!! Hooray! This one features Cindy's fun sketch for this week over on the My Favorite Things Member Company Forum.

This set is called "Friends Furever" and both my boys adore this giant dog being hugged by the little boy. Both pals are colored in with copic markers after being stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Chocolate ink.

This paper from my Local Stamp Store Right at Home Scrapbooking cracks me up! My favorite part is the row of fire hydrants across the bottom of the card. My little guys calls them "dog pee pee's" because we're always telling him not to touch fire hydrants because dogs pee on them. As a result, he thought this card was SO funny when he saw me working on it.

Don't Forget!! My Favorite Things is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, May 7 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time. Lots of fun is planned including finding out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. Head over to the MFT forum on Splitcoast Stampers to find out all the details and we hope to see you there on Wednesday night.

I'll be back tomorow with another MFTeaser featuring a different set from the release!

Copic Time

I have been having such fun with this month's mini set over at My Favorite Things. Its titled "Happy Mother's Day" and till now, I've been doing a lot of paper piecing with it.

This time, I decided to just strictly color it with copics, no paper piecing. I sat and worked on it while my husband and I wrapped up a movie we'd started the night before. We both fell asleep the first night, I tell you, if I'm not stamping, its hopeless to watch a movie. I'm out like a light.

This is my submission for Cindy's sketch challenge that she runs on the MFT Member Company Forum each week. Thanks for another fun one Cindy!

The sentiment "Much Love" is from My Favorite Things "Essential Sentiments." There are lots of cute sentiments that will mix and match with many of the other stamp sets from MFT. I think most, if not all of them will work with the SU word window punch? But this one looked sweet in the oval punch and then I hand cut an oval mat for it because I don't have both of the oval punches, just one.

If you're working with copics, the best advice I have for you is practice practice. I'm using this stamp set for a swap I'm in and its been a great way to work on my coloring skills. I have a lot of paper piecing to do for this swap, but at least I've got a head start. Usually I'm cranking this stuff out only days before its due. Giggle!

Coincidentally, coloring with these babies, is very relaxing for me. A super stress reliever, so the repetition of coloring in all these ladies and their flower pots is an extra bonus for me!

Have a great day everyone!

MFTeasin' Again

Every week over on the MFT Splitcoast Member Forum, you'll find a new sketch of the week. I had just so much fun working on this one.

I'm not sure what the name is of this pretty patterned paper from Scenic Route as I've had it in my scrap pile for ages, but I thought it was just perfect for this project. I love this cheerful palette!

For the main image, I stamped three times. Once onto Stampers Select to color in the flower pot, flowers and leaves, once again onto So Saffron cardstock which I then stamped with the polka dotted pattern from Behind the Scenes.

I stamped with Versamark, covered with white embossing powder and hit it with my heat gun. Then I stamped the image again onto a pice of Stampers Select to use as the base of the image. Lots of paper piecing, but it was so worth it, because I just love the dimension

Be sure to pop on over to the gallery on SCS to see all the other creations for this week!

This set is "Happy Mother's Day" from My Favorite Things. Don't forget MFT will be hosting a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday night (April 2) from 9-11 p.m. EASTERN time. A fun evening is planned including mfteasers of the newest sets and a chance to become MFT’s next Guest Designer. Head over to the MFT forum for more details.

Today's the Day!

Today's the day that I can begin to share with you the samples I've been working on with the two new stamp sets that will be available Wednesday April 2nd!

Just after Christmas, I saw these fun clear frames from PageFrames at Eclectic Paperie and I added them to my basket. No idea what I would do with them at that moment, but thought they'd be fun to play with. And as soon as I received "Happy Mother's Day" from Kim, I knew that I'd found the use for the frame.

I began by stamping the image on Shimmery White paper and then colored it in with my copic markers. Then I added some diamond glaze to the front of the piece and applied the clear acetate square right over the top and pressed to distribute the diamond glaze. The extra oozed out the sides and I wiped it away with a damp cloth. And set it aside to dry overnight.

I traced the scalloped frame onto a piece of SU Designer Prints paper in Soft Sky, trimmed it out, and used my same trick with the Diamond Glaze to affix the paper to the clear frame.

The next day, I sanded all the edges of the frame with a little white sanding block and applied Basic Grey magnets to the back of the piece and affixed a quick piece of double stitched ribbon.

The card base itself is super quick. Its a 5 1/4 square card and I used versamark and the small flower image from this stamp set to stamp a border all around the edges to compliment the scalloped shape of the main panel. Then, I affixed the other half of the magnets to the card front secure the main panel to the top.

So, what's with the magnets? The recipient can pop this main panel off of the card and hang it on the fridge. I shudder to think that all the cards I make for people might find their way into the trash at some point (GASP!) and this gives me hope that the front can be popped off and treasured instead.

I'll have another MFTeaser tomorrow for you using the other April release "Can You Dig It." Be sure to pop around to the other MFT Girls blogs and galleries to see what they've come up with. The new stamps will be available Wednesday night! Details to follow on the launch party on the My Favorite Things Member Company Forum- which is always a blast! Hope you can join us.

DinoMite!

If you're here a lot, you know that while I love all things girly, I'm a proud mama to two little boys, so I'm a sucker for anything I can use for fun things for them (and all their little friends too!)

Dino Mite by MFT is a go to for me for boys cards. Actually, I've even used it for a cute girl card before! I've been dying to play along in the MFT weekly sketch challenge, and since I had a card to make for an upcoming party, it was a great excuse to play!

The image was stamped on my Cryogen White cardstock with brilliance black ink. I watercolored with (you guessed it, my new favorite technique) watercolor crayons and an aquapainter.

I used Old Olive and Really Rust crayons, along with Sahara Sand for the background around the dino. The cupcake in the set comes with only one candle, but I stamped some extras to attach to the cupcake for our friends third little birthday.

I created some coordinating designer paper using a piece of Old Olive cardstock, my versamark pad and the cupcake stamp.

You probably can't see it here, but I copy catted Cammie's little fringie technique on the kraft layer across the front of the card. This was so fun to work on!

I peeked over at this week's sketch challenge, and as always, looks fun, and the samples are ahh-mazing already. But, I've got a pretty full schedule this week, so I'm not sure I'll get to it. But, if I wake up tomorrow morning with a card design in my head (which, surprisingly isn't that unusual...) I might get to squeak one in!!

Have a great day!