I don't know if this really qualifies for the Spotlight Stamping technique that was showcased on the MFT blog yesterday, but that was definitely my inspiration for this card.

I had had this idea swimming around in my head last week to use the stepped up chevron Die-namics to make a tone-on-tone background. So I started by diecuting a bunch of those and then laid them all out on a piece of printer paper that was cut to 4.25 x 5.5 inches, spacing them .5 inch. Then I used press-n-seal cling wrap to hold them all in place while I cut out a stitched circle. I used my favorite Distress Inks for rainbows to color each of the chevrons in the circle, being careful not to pull them up from the Press-N-Seal.

Now was the tricky part. I needed to somehow transfer all of the chevrons that were remaining white to my card front without the pesky printer paper in the way. Press-N-Seal to the rescue again! I placed a piece of the wrap onto the front of my chevrons, pressing down really well and carefully peeled off the back wrap and scrap paper. I then used some spray adhesive to completely coat the backs of my chevrons, and lined up the cling wrap to my card front. After pressing down each strip I carefully removed the press-n-seal wrap. I was expecting a bit of the adhesive to rub off the wrap, but was pleasantly surprised that I didn't have that prob-llama.

I carefully removed each of my colored chevrons from the die-cut circle of wrap with my tweezers and applied some multi-medium to the backs and fitted them all back in place.

The Llama and sentiment are both from MFT's Llama Love set, and the llama is colored in with assorted copics.

So as I said earlier, I've decided to get a burst of creativity in today in order to enter MFT's 2016 Card Design Superstar Contest. This is my 2nd card for today, and it is so strange to actually be crafting more than one project in a day. But it seems once I got my creative juices flowing I didn't want to stop.

This one uses one of MFT's older sets which unfortunately has been retired. This is the You're Super stamp and coordinating dies. This little super hero girl is so cute and fun to color. For the girl, I brought out my Prismacolor pencils which probably haven't been used in five years or more. My Prismacolor color combinations are (Hair: PC944, PC943, PC1032, and PC1033); (Skin: PC927, PC939, and PC921); (Cape: PC901, PC996, and PC1024); and (Outfit: PC932, PC1026, PC995, and PC949) and everything was blended with a colorless blender pencil because I was too lazy to go look for my gamsol.

For the front I blended together Chipped Sapphire and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks with a little Hickory Smoke at the bottom. Then I sponged Versamark ink over MFT's Star Celebration Stencil on some heavyweight vellum and heat embossed it with detail white embossing powder. When I laid this over the card front, I was disappointed that the color didn't come through as much as I'd liked so I sponged the same Distress Inks over the vellum and diecut the bottom edge of the vellum with one of the edge dies in MFT's Stitched Basic Edges Die-namics. The sentiments on the front and inside are both from the You're Super set and were stamped with Versamark Ink and embossed with the same white embossing powder and diecut with the starburst image from the die set.

As always, please leave a comment down below if you happen upon this post and feel free to link me up to your creations if you are also entering the contest.

I finally got some time to play and be creative this morning. Oh how I've missed getting my fingers all inky. And it's a good thing too, I almost missed out on entering My Favorite Things 2016 Card Design Superstar Contest!

So first up is an interactive card I made using MFT's new Llama Love stamps and dies. I so adore these little llamas! When I first saw them in the September release previews I knew they were going to be fun to create with. And they did not disappoint!

This particular llama is my favorite of the 4. I love the little ear that is sticking up. The llama and sentiment on the inside were stamped with MFT's Black Licorice Hybrid Ink and I colored the llama with various copics. All of the cacti are stamped with MFT's Jelly Bean Green Dye Ink and then colored with copics. I know normally you shouldn't use dye inks when coloring with copics, but I really wanted the lines of the cacti to blend with the coloring. I think these inks are amazing because I had no bleeding of the ink and I got the result I was hoping for. The sun rays behind the llama were created with MFT's Sun Ray stencil and Distress Inks (Rusty Hinge, Scattered Straw, and Squeezed Lemonade). The "Hay You" was actually created with diecut letters using MFT's Happy Birthday To You Die-namics over some scrap cardstock that I had blended using the same Distress Inks.

So the interactive part of this card comes from using MFT's Circle Flop Card Die-namics. This was my first time using this, even though I've had it for months, and I was a little intimidated with how well it would work. Turns out, it was super easy to line up, cut perfectly and showcases my cute little llama. And speaking of cute, how fun is that sentiment on the inside?

Once I started assembling everything I realized the background of the card front and the inside of the card were too stark white up against the warm colors. So I sponged some Antique Linen Distress Ink over the bottom portion of the card front and used the same ink to stamp the faint lines on  the inside of the card. The lines are from MFT's Distressed Patterns stamp set and add a really nice subtlety to the inside.

I hope you like my little creation and if you do please leave me a comment down below. And if you have any of these stamps, stencils or dies, please link me to how you've used them. I love looking at more inspiration.

I've decided to come back to my blog once again. And once again this is taking place in September.

I know it is generally thought that January is the month of new beginnings and fresh starts, but it seems that for me September fills that role. Maybe it is from my days as a classroom teacher and September was always the beginning of a new group of students and often a new room to set up. Or perhaps it is because now September is when my own children are starting a new school year and after 3 months of not having any time alone I'm suddenly given time to ponder my own projects. Whatever the reason, this seems to be the season that brings me back to this little blog.

As I was looking through the blog today trying to decide if I really wanted to continue it or just delete it, I was reminded of all of the wonderful people I've interacted with and been inspired by over the years. Many of my links were outdated and more than a few are no longer in use. So as I visited each of these sites in order to update my blog, some that I hadn't seen in over 5 years, I remembered what brought me to blogging and scrapbooking/stamping in the first place. This community is amazing not just in talent but also and very importantly in encouraging one another. I originally started out with scrapbooking back in 1996 because I wanted to make a scrapbook of college life. In 2000 I started working and teaching classes at a little scrapbook store on the weekends or during breaks when I wasn't teaching in my middle school classroom. This is where I first became intrigued with using stamping in my scrapbooks. a couple years later when my first daughter was born I stamped and sent out my first actual cards - her birth announcements. I was hooked! I loved the immediate satisfaction I could get from cardmaking and soon after that I became involved with The Angel Company. When my second daughter came along in 2005 I realized I really couldn't continue with traditional scrapbooking because I often left a page in progress on my desk for days as I could only grab a few minutes at a time to work on it, And now with a toddler and a newborn this was risky and meant many ruined pages. Thus began my love affair with digi-scrapbooking. With each new adventure I met new friends on forums or at conventions that shared the same creative passion I had. They were there to give me feedback on my creations as well as to provide a listening ear when I had just had a rough mommy day. Until I no longer made time for them or creating. Even though I've had this blog since July 2006, I've not really been active on it or in anything crafty since 2010. This past spring though, as I was sorting out my craft room to decide what should be trashed, what could be donated to schools, and what I might be able to sell, my oldest became interested in cardmaking. Here just as I was going to get rid of everything and move on, she was wanting to join me in creating! She helped me remember what I loved about being creative, what my soul had been missing over the past 6 years.

Now we create together and so I've decided to once again open up this blog to share our creations. We have plans to work through a few weekly challenges to get us back in a groove and hopefully will even upload a few YouTube videos since this is one area we both enjoy gaining inspirations from. Over the past few months we've gotten lots of new goodies from My Favorite Things, Simon Says Stamp, Lawn Fawn, and a few newer companies that I'm just starting to learn about. I've got so many ideas and I can't wait to share them.

For those of you in the Raleigh, NC area I have tons of goodies that I am getting rid of. Tons of brand new stamps from my days as a TAC demonstrator (The Angel Company), papers, lots of stickers, and even a few tools. I'm still in the process ( and this may take a few days) of photographing everything and putting it into a flickr photostream that you can see here:

If you click on show info at the top of the slideshow, it will give you price info for that item. If you see something you want, send me an email. If you aren't local to me, I can mail stuff and will let you know exact shipping charges.

Well I've returned to checking in on blogs and forums and thus been inclined to resurrect this blog. Mainly because I've been so inspired to pull out my stamps and create this past week, now I just need to find the time to actually do this. It is so hard when all of my stuff is scattered in 3 different areas of the house. I can't wait to figure out my new crafty space. I also have really missed getting together to stamp with friends, my stamping buddies have all moved away from this great hobby, which I understand completely. I mean life happens and there isn't time for everything, and I myself haven't really created in quite a long time but I'm longing for that exchange of creativity, that camaraderie, and yes the sharing of stamps would be wonderful as well.

This past year has been quite the drain on all of us here in the Nutt house. Many hurdles have been crossed, issues have been solved and others have cropped up, but through it all we have loved one another deeper and seen an even deeper love for us from God our Father. His grace really is sufficient! We are clinging to this as we continue to face challenges for Ella. I can't believe she is a big 4th grader now! It's a new year with new experiences just waiting for us, and new opportunities to delve into. It is a time for hope!

Just a quick post about Wed-Friday lunches because I need to finish helping the girls with their scrapbook projects.