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.

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.

I think it is safe to say Spring has finally arrived for North Carolina. The Bradford Pear trees along our neighborhood driveways are in full bloom which means there are 4 noses in our house that are completely stuffed with allergies. Oh well, I refuse to let that keep my windows sealed any longer. The fresh breeze blowing in is so refreshing and worth the daily doses of sudafed we are now taking.
And speaking of refreshing, I went with Ruthie and her preschool class on a field trip this week to a local farm. Ah it was so nice to just run around and play outside. And Ruthie rode a horse for the first time! It was so cool to see her just jump right up and completely feel at ease on this huge creature. I can't wait to enjoy riding with her more. Another mile marker for us this week was registering Ruthie for Kindergarten. Oh my goodness, I just can't believe it is time for that already. How big my girls are getting.
With all the fun stuff this week I only managed to snag a few minutes here and there to do a bit of stamping, but I wanted to participate in 2 challenges, so this one fits both.
First is the Poppy Seed Challenge from the very talented Lisa Johnson. This is Lisa's 2nd Poppy Seed Challenge she has issued. Unfortunately I didn't get to play along the first time (due to my incredible slackness), but I wasn't going to miss this one although I know I'm cutting it close by submitting it on the last day. *ETA: oops deadline was last night. Oh well next time I'm not going to wait to post. :)


Secondly is the Mojo Monday 131 . I loved the longer card style of the Mojo Monday sketch. And I have a ton of these longer envelopes left over from a previous project class I taught, so I'm always on the lookout for long card ideas.



And here is my card (click to enlarge):


Supplies:
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White (PTI), Aqua Mist (PTI)
Patterned paper is from Everyday Blessings paper pack (PTI)
Stamps: I can't remember the set name but it is from TAC from many years ago. Extras: Ribbon (Spring Moss PTI), Button (Aqua Mist PTI), tiny pearl (Kaiser craft), Ribbon tag die is from Spellbinders.

Ok I am in so much trouble! If you want to join me in drooling over so many yummy concoctions then you should definitely check out The Cupcake Project. I knew there was no hope of me not making these goodies, the only question was which to make first. Well I didn't have to look far into the posts to find my trial cupcake. The Margarita Cupcakes of course. So yesterday with the help of the girls we made them. Oooooooo, such a fabulous decision! And definitely a good choice for a Monday afternoon. :) I wish I could share these with others though because I'm in danger of eating the whole batch.

On another note, I was stamping and yet again forgot to post in time for the Compose A Card challenge. :(
Oh well. I had to make a cupcake card in honor of my new found yummies. Hmmm now what will be my next cupcake?

So I've been having fun playing with my stamps. ;) It has been a long time since I've just played, so to get my juices flowing I tried out Becky Oehlers Compose-A-Card Challenge. I wasn't thrilled with my final product and then to make matters worse the deadline for this particular contest was last night and my files wouldn't upload from my camera. So I didn't enter it but thought I'd post it anyway here since it did get me thinking about creating, and after all that was my goal. So here is what I made for CAC#3. Oh and I love how Becky puts a song up with each challenge! I could just listen to the Wicked soundtrack all day!


After making that card look what else I created:


And see those 2 teapots? I stamped those on some paper I made with my Distress Inks that have been in my ink cabinet forever and never used. I also have a red one from that same session but can't figure out a good card for it yet. Maybe it will make an appearance sometime soon. Anyway, that's all for today.

YAY! I actually scrapped a page today. This hasn't happened for so long, and it feels so good. Not only did I scrap but I scrapped on paper! Well sorta. :)
I used Jen Caputo's Photo Grids to layout my photos in photoshop, and I used her new awesome text paths for my journaling. And she has a great video tutorial on using them up at Digital Scrapbooking TV, check it out HERE.
Anyway it felt good to pull stuff out of my stash and actually use it. For instance the paper the journaling was printed on was stuff I know I bought back in '98, both of the yellow circles behind the photos were cut with my lighthouse cutter (which hasn't seen light outside of it's pretty purple case since we left Colorado back in 2001) the little splash label was cut from some who knows how old patterned paper (same line as the stripe paper in the background) and then UTEEd, ooo and I used some Making Memories Rub-On letters that I bought just before I started digi-scrapping 2 years ago so they had never been opened, and the buttons are a couple years old and tied with same aged scrappers floss. In fact the only thing recent in this whole layout is the vintage cream twill ribbon from my most recent PTI purchase. I'm so excited that I'm using things up finally. I don't know why I've just kept amassing stuff instead of actually using it. Ah maybe next time I will break open some vintage club scrap kits circa 2002-2006. ;)

I also tried a project I'd seen HERE using toilet paper tubes to make a cute basket.

Hmmm mine is no where near as cute as Nichole's, but it was fun to do and everything I used was from my scrap pile. See Tricia, I do use those scraps. I think the next one I do I will use a border punch along the handle instead of my cloud scissors. I think the scallop they make is just too big for this small scale. Maybe I'll go pick up a Martha Stewart punch with my 50% off coupon I got the other day.

Ok just a quick post for today. I've been addicted for the past couple months to PTI (PaperTrey Ink) and just had to share my happiness with my latest purchase from them. They just released their new stamp images for Nov. and I had to get Teacher's Apple and Out Of The Box. I love these! Well I also ordered some paper and ribbons and the Out of the Box Sentiments and my wonderful yummy package came yesterday. :) I can't wait to create some things with them this weekend. Also they have some great challenges on the forums over there. Jen Caputo gave this awesome one a couple weeks ago and it included a great video! So I really wanted to use these TAC stamps and my bazzil bling paper so I never posted my creation over at PTI but here is what I did to play along.
Thanks Jen for a great challenge.

Ok I have to run pick Ruthie up at Preschool, but hopefully I will play with my new PTI stamps and be back later to share my creations.

So I was up late last night making these:

They of course are the girls treat bags to take to give out in their classes today. A total of 28! I'm pleased with how they turned out, but boy did they take a while. And I don't think my hand can take punching anything else out. I used the SU! photo corner punch for legs, scallop circle for the body, a 1/4 inch circle punch for the nose, and a Fiskars Threading water punch for the edges. The Trick or Treat stamp is from an Archiver's set I got a couple weekends ago. :) Gotta love those $1.99 clear stamps. Anyway, the little spider is cute! But he wasn't my idea. Tricia told me about the idea she saw on Splitcoast HERE where the spider was used to cover peppermint patties. However, since my girls were quick to inform me that 3 year olds and almost 7 year olds DO NOT like peppermint patties I knew I needed to adapt how to use him. I spent an entire Wed. morning stamp time at Tricia's house using her corner punch to get enough pieces for the legs and just barely had enough of the black ones, I wasn't thinking how many more of those I would need. But fortunately I did have just enough. And then adhereing those googly eyes was quite the trick. Glue was just too messy, glue stick didn't hold enough, I couldn't find my YES glue (although I do think this would have been the best option and has prompted a desire to clean and reorganize my stamp room) so in the end my handy ATG was used and wasn't too bad considering I could get adhesive on several at once. See:

Speaking of ATGs I saw a bunch over at 2Peas recently that were altered and I think I really want to color mine, but I think that is low on my to do list. Oh well, I better run, Ruthie's school party is in a bit.

This weekend was so much fun! My mom came down to celebrate her birthday and that means I stamped. It has been so long since that has happened and it really felt good to create something. We spent most of the day on Saturday out shopping at Archivers. This was mom's first time in there and it was so much fun watching her. :) After that we hit Michaels and A.C. Moore also. ACM was having a great sale on some organizers that I've been wanting so I picked up 2 of those and had them assembled before I went to bed that night. My favorite card mom and I made was this spinner card:


Isn't it cute? I know spinners are not a new thing, but this was the first one I've ever made and it was actually easy and fun to do. Which is a good thing because we made tons of them for a swap my mom was doing. Which was why I had to snap a picture, because I didn't get to keep one.

So now that I've gotten myself back into stamping and enjoying it (more on that later), I started going over to stamp at a new friend's house every Wed. morning after the girls are dropped off at school. Oh my gosh, Tricia has the most wonderful stamping space! I love it! There are also 3 other ladies that come as well but I have yet to meet them. I hope this will be a new group for me to really fit in with. I miss my creative friends and so need that regular interaction. So stay tuned to see what I stamp each week. :)