MFT Monday Sketch

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a fabulous weekend and are having a wonderful Monday!! Everything for me was fine til about an hour ago, and now I am not so sure I am gonna make it through today without getting sick. Man my head hurts!! I just got a couple of cards finished, and before I head off to bed, I wanted to share it with you. This card was made using the MFT Monday sketch posted on the My Favorite Things member forum on SCS. Cindy Haffner is so super talented and is always coming up with awesome sketches for us all to play with(plus her samples make you drool they are so amazing!!)! My card was made using the newly released Friend's Furever set by MFT. If you haven't got it yet, you should, it is too cute!! When I first saw this set, I thought to myself, I wish this was a girl because I have so many nieces, but then I saw where some of the design team members had simply added a pony tail to the boy and made their own girl-GENIUS!! My DP is from the Nana's Nursery Baby Boy stack and has some of the yummiest paper ever!! This is pretty basic, but the boy was colored with my SU markers and I sponged in the sky and the ground. The hardware is from my SU stylized silver hardware(gosh I hope they put that in the new catalog, and some black, we NEED BLACK!!). I am gonna go lay down for a few minutes and see if I can get the room to quit spinning, wish me luck!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

stamps-Friends Furever

ink-Black stazon, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi

paper-DCWV Nana's Nursery, Soft Sky, Wild Wasabi, and Very Vanilla

tools-SU markers, stylized hardware, silver brads, wasabi ribbon, aquapainter, sponge

Featured Stamper Sunday

Today's Featured Stamper over on Splitcoast Stampers is Jennifer 0f Jennifer's Sweet Designs. She is a super sweet person and awesomely talented stamper. She always leaves the sweetest little comments for me on my cards and I sooo appreciate them! Unbelievably, I still needed a couple of Mother's Day cards, so I decided to case two cards of Jennifer's. I started with this one and as per the rules, I had to change a few things on it. Since this card is for my MIL, I decided to change the colors to Perfect Plum and Pale Plum. Then I stamped my flower from Fabulous Flowers four times, twice in Pale Plum and twice in Perfect Plum. To give the flower some depth, I cut out four different layers of the flower and popped each layer up. On the top layer, I added three silver brads. I left off the punched flowers and the sentiment circle at the bottom because I couldn't get them to work, so I added a piece of purple organdy and stamped the sentiment directly on the lower panel. Sadly, I still haven't replaced my corner rounder(I broke it-boohoo), so I had to use my Martha Stewart punch to create the scallops along the panel. The top flower was replaced with three silver brads.
stamps-Fabulous Flowers and All Holidays
paper- Pale Plum, Perfect Plum, Pearlized White
ink-Pale Plum and Perfect Plum craft ink and Perfect Plum classic ink
tools-silver brads, purple organdy, clear ep, edge punch,
My second card( and by FAR my favorite) was made using the SU set Bloomin Beautiful and was based on this card here. I colored the flowers with my markers and blended them with my aquapainter. The flowers were actually stamped twice, once on the oval for the stems, and the again on another piece of watercolor paper for me to color and pop up. I cut out the ovals with my nestabilities and added a sentiment to the bottom. The changes I made from Jennifer's card were the colors, added popped flowers, I changed the bow and wrapped it around, and added hardware to the sentiment and instead of dew drops, I put brads in the top corner. At first, I didn't have the green layer, but I thought it needed some more color so I added it and I am so happy I did!! Well, that is all for me for now(unless I get to stamp some more)! Happy Mother's Day to all of you out there who are mothers, and for those of you that struggle every day to become a mother, don't give up hope! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
stamps-Bloomin Beautiful and All Holidays
paper- Rose Red, Wild Wasabi, Very Vanilla, Rose Red DSP, and Watercolor paper
ink-Black Stazon
tools-small oval punch, hardware, silver brads, oval nestabilities, cuttlebug, markers, aquapainter, cream organdy

Inspired by a Sketch

Okay, now if you know me at all, you know that I like to S-T-R-E-T-C-H the borders on the Inspiration Challenge about as far as they will go. With that said, no one should be surprised by the card that I made for today's Inspiration Challenge over on SCS. I decided to take a peek at it last night and LOVED the inspiration piece. It is this super gorgeous sun catcher. So, when looking at an inspiration piece, I really try to run with the first thing that popped into my head. If you have been to Beate's blog(or any of her sketch teams), then this is gonna look familiar to you. That's right, believe it or not, the inspiration piece inspired me to do Beate's sketch challenge!! It was the oval shape of the sun catcher that caught my eye, because in all honesty, I have never seen one this shape before-isn't it gorgeous!! I was going to try to incorporate the birds on my card, but for some reason I am bird challenged. I have the hardest time stamping birds, I just don't think they look right when I stamp them, so I went with a flower. I got my colors from the yummy DP by SU called Ginger Blossom. It is one of my all time favorites, and I tend to hoard it, so I forced myself to use it. While I was photographing this card, I realized something was missing so I added the brads and the flowers, it was kinda boring without them. This is another gift card holder card and is going to be given to my DH's Granny tonight at her Mother's Day dinner. I have to say, I am very anti-eating out on Mother's Day, so the night before is kind of pushing it for me. Anyone who has worked in a restaurant on a holiday, ESPECIALLY Mother's Day, will know exactly what I am talking about-talk about INSANITY!! Travis and I decided(well, I decided and he had no choice but to go along)that we would take all of our mother's out to dinner, but after the fact. I know it is not as special, but seriously, Mother's Day is one of the busiest days to eat out and I never plan to do it as long as I live!!Well, that is it for now! My niece Taylor's birthday is today, so I am going to have to get ready to go spend a few hours with some screaming kids!! JOY!! Have a great day, and thanks for stopping by!!
stamps-Embrace Life and All Holidays
paper- Ruby Red, River Rock, Very Vanilla and Ginger Blossom DSP
ink-Ruby Red and River Rock
tools-paper piercer, template(thanks Jody), river rock ribbon, gold brads, primas, oval nestabilities, cuttlebug

How did this happen?

How did Mother's Day sneak up on me?? Here I was stressing about getting all the shower stuff done for my sister, and then I realized I only have 3 Mother's Day cards done when I really need about 8?? I had better get to work!! I decided to make this card for today's limited supplies challenge into a gift card holder(since that is all I ever give out for Mother's Day) that we learned to do a few weeks ago for the technique lover's challenge. Today's limited supplies challenge was to make a card using no stamps. You could use any embellishments, rub ons, whatever, just no stamping! For some reason, I got a total mental block when faced with this super simple challenge, so all I could think of was my Bazil Bling Blossoms. I bought a bunch of these in different colors, and decided this would be the perfect opportunity to use them. I had some scraps of this DP laying around, so I used it to make the bottom panel and the strip across. I tied a cream organdy bow around it and then added my flowers. The big one is the Bazil blossom, the other two started out white and I colored them with markers. The plaque at the bottom is from Making Memories and simply says Love. What do you think?? Thanks for looking and have a great day!! I am off to crank out some more cards and get started on shower stuff(my poor neglected husband, house and dog are taking a back burner)!!

paper-Pale Plum, Close to Cocoa, Very Vanilla, and Enchante' DSP

tools- SU markers, Heidi Swapp flowers, Making Memories brad and plaque, Bazil Bling Blossom, and cream organdy

Triple Play

For all of you wondering, no, I am not talking about baseball!! For my card today, I tried to combine three different challenges. Don't know how well I did, but I like it!! First, I started with the color challenge on SCS this week which was to use Lovely Lilac, Pretty in Pink and Certainly Celery. Then I used the sketch challenge on SCS, which you can see here. Finally I decided to do today's ways to use it challenge to use chipboard. Since I hadn't ever used it before today, it was quite the adventure for me!! My flowers are by Maya Road and I bought them at the Paper Pretties store. I started by covering the flowers with some SU DSP from the Lovely Lilac pack and also the Prints Pack. After they had dried, I sanded and sponged the edges and added rhinestone brads for the flower centers. On the big flower, the center was too big for just the brad, so I added a large eyelet. The circles(which were part of the sketch) were cut out using my Cuttlebug and Nestabilities. To make the flower stems and add the bow at the bottom, I used celery grosgrain. I used my paper piercer(and new template-Thanks Jody!!) to make the holes in the corners of the card, main image panel, and sentiment panel. One of my holes ended up too big, so I added a small rhinestone brad to each corner. I also used my swiss dots folder on the main white panel too. Normally I don't combine challenges, but I was anxious to get stamping, but completely exhausted. I mean, if the colors, sketch, and embellishments are basically chosen for you, you don't have to use your brain!!LOL!!
stamps-All Holidays
paper-Certainly Celery DSP and CS, Lovely Lilac DSP and CS, Pretty in pink, Pearlescent White, and Prints Pack
ink-Black Stazon, Lovely Lilac and Pretty in Pink
tools-Maya Road Blossoms, rhinestone brads, big eyelets, celery grosgrain,
In all my excitement from this weekend, and exhaustion from this weekend, I forgot to share this super cute gift that was waiting for me on my pillow when I got to the hotel!! It is from Melanie(mel mel) and it was filled with the goodies you see here!! She used the set she designed for Gina K., What's In Your Tin? to decorate it!! Thanks Melanie for the super cute gift, I really appreciate it!! That's all for me now, thanks for looking and have a great day!!

The Final Tease!!

These are my two final teaser cards for the MFT release that happened today at 9:30cst. I made the first one using the Goin' Places set, isn't it adorable!!! I love the colors on this, even though they were a STRETCH for me! The paper that I used was my inspiration and I got my colors from there. It is some retired SU paper(Dots and Dashes) that I didn't even know that I had!! The airplane and the banner are two separate stamps, and the sentiment is also from the set that I curved on my block to fit inside the banner(I practiced on scratch paper). That is one of the things that I love about clear stamps, you can arrange them any way you want on your block so that they stamp the way you want them too. I don't remember who I saw do this first, but they are a genius because honestly, I never would have thought of it myself!! I colored the image in with my SU markers and outlined it with my gray marker. I added the brads in the top and bottom corner(relatively) and then added a spiral clip with some yummy grosgrain ribbon. Hope you like it!!

stamps-Goin' Somewhere

ink-Black Stazon

paper-Green Galore, Only Orange, Ballet Blue, Whisper White and Dots and Dashes SU DSP

tools- spiral clip, grosgrain ribbon, brads, markers, aquapainter

My second card is from the set Friends Furever, and I have to say, it is my favorite set from the new release!! I used my SU markers to color it in and my spots were added with my Creamy Caramel marker. The paper is from SU(East Coast Prep) and I cut it into 4 equal pieces and added silver brads to the corners. I made my sentiment circle using several SU punches and some more silver brads. I pulled my colors from the paper. Again, the colors were a stretch for me, but I got them from the paper!! That is all for me now, I am worn out and need sleep!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!! I am going to leave you with a few more pictures from my trip to Arlington-don't worry, I am about done!! The first one is of my roommates Vanessa(Loubella) and Melanie(mel mel), the second is me with Bev(TexasGrammy), The third is with Carolyn King(Cammie) and the last one is me with Christy(cpine)-the wannabe door prize stealer!!LOL

stamps-Friends Furever

paper-More Mustard, Taken with Teal, Wild Wasabi, Ruby Red, Whisper White, and East Coast Prep

ink-Black Stazon

tools-circle punches, word window punch, silver brads, SU markers, aquapainter

Another Teaser

This is my last teaser before the party, and then afterwards(if I am still conscious)I will post some more!! I am really loving these new sets and am dying to get back to stamping!! I think tomorrow(as if I haven't drove enough) I will go shopping for some much needed stamping stuff!! I was so good on my trip and didn't buy much, so now that I am home and have all the bills paid, I know what I got, and it is burning a hole in my pocket!! This is from the new set being released at the My Favorite Things release party being held in the SCS member forum! The fun starts at 9est(8cst) and the new sets will be available at 10:30est(9:30cst), and trust me when I say that you need them!! My card is from the set Goin' Places and it is a fabulous set for anyone who travels. I used some paper from the Basic Gray Two Scoops collection to paper piece her dress and add a panel on the lower half. I colored the rest in with markers, and besides that, the rest is pretty easy, but if you have questions, be sure to shoot me an email!! Thanks for stopping by, and I hope to see you at the party!!
stamps-Goin' Places
paper-Brocade Blue, Wild Wasabi, Whisper White, and Two Scoops by Basic Grey
ink-Black Stazon and Wild Wasabi
tools-cuttlebug, swiss dots folder, wasabi ribbon, silver brads, SU markers, blender pen, word windo punch

Prettie Wednesday

Two weeks ago Danielle(dlounds) challenged all the Prettie girls to make a masculine card, make it hard on us why don't ya!!! I tried every Paper Pretties stamp I own, but I just couldn't get anything to work for my "guys". If you haven't figured it out, all the men in my family are a little rugged. Hunters, fishers, retired military, you know, guys guys. I finally gave up and made this card, which I also used for my shoebox swap in Arlington. I need to apologize to Joni, because this hasn't even made it to the post office yet, but I promise it will tomorrow( I have a job interview there anyway)!! I used the SU set, Bronc Buster for the main image and Weathered on the bottom panel. For the shoebox swap, you had to have a 10 minute card, so this is pretty easy to make, but I did do a lot of distressing and sponging. Julie posted out challenge this week which is to Be Inspired by a website or blog and make a card or project based on that. We would love it if you would play along, just be sure to post a link to your card so that we can all see it!! Last week Christie challenged us to make a card using acetate(I guess I need to get started)!! That is all for this post, I need to get some of my MFT stuff posted, so I will see you soon!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great night!!
stamps-Bronc Buster, All Holidays, and Weathered
paper-Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa, and Confetti Cream
ink- Chocolate Chip
tools-sponge, brads, distressing tool and chocolate ribbon

Whoops!!

I almost forgot to post my second card and I really wanted to share some more pictures of the fabulous people that I met!! I just recently got a huge package of Paper Pretties stamps and Wade E. Bug was in it! Ever since I saw this set, I just knew that I had to have it! That little bug has got such a great personality and he is so super cute!! I colored Wade in with my markers and paired him with some super glittery paper from DCWV. My ribbon came from Embellish Online and I love it! The ribbon is actually double layered with some of the wide grosgrain from SU. I love me some brads, so of course they were put in each corner to anchor the image. For some odd reason, mainly because I was running around like a chicken with my head cut off before I left, but I forgot to put a sentiment on this one. Oh well, I will add something when I get home. Ahhh home, I can't wait. I have had an awesome time and below you will see some of the wonderful people that I met, but I am exhausted and I miss my dog(okay, I kinda miss Travis too). Thanks for looking and have a great day!!

stamps-Wade E. Bug

paper-Real Red, Basic Black, Whisper White, DCWV

ink-Black Stazon

tools-red grosgrain, red organdy, black brads, markers

Here are a few more pictures from my trip to Arlington. Yep that's me, hanging out with some VERY cool people! The first picture is with my girl Laura(lov'n life n vegas), who is now a My Favorite Things Design Team member. YOU GO GIRL!!! The second picture is with Kendra(scrapstampindiva), she is so sweet!! The third one is me with Carole(trucarma) who is just as funny in person, not to mention super sweet! And finally, that is me hanging out with Kim(The MFT lady) and Susan(susiestampalot). How stinkin lucky am I!!!!

Hello From Arkansas!!

Well, I made it halfway home today, but just couldn't do another 6hrs, so here I sit in my hotel room watching Idol!! Wouldn't you know it is supposed to get ugly here tomorrow night, so I plan on going to bed early and leaving as soon as I can drag myself out of bed. I don't know about you all, but I have had enough of the crazy weather! I am so sad to have to be heading home, due to work issues(darn that military), I really didn't get to see my brother as much as I would like. We did eat at some of the coolest places and we saw Ironman(awesome). I again apologize for the rough picture, but I am trying to take photos in a hotel room, and the light, well, it sucks!! This is another My Favorite Things teaser, but it is from the set Gone to the Dogs. It is definitely a MUST HAVE for any dog lover!! MFT will be releasing 3 new stamp sets at the release party in the SCS member forum on Wednesday from 9est to 11est. We hope you will join us for more fun, chatting and a new guest designer challenge!! Anyway, back to my card!! Isn't this poodle super cute!! I automatically thought of pink and black polka dots when I saw it. The paper is from one of my DCWV stacks(but I don't remember which one, I will add it when I get home!!) and is layered with Basic Black, Pretty in Pink, and Whisper White. This is a pretty basic card, but it is so super cute(in my opinion). I put liquid applique on the poodle to make her puffy!! The setiment is from the Friends Furever set that will be released on Wednesday too. That's all for me now!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!!

stamps- Gone to the Dogs and Friends Furever

paper-Pretty in Pink, Basic Black, Whisper White and DCWV

ink-Black Stazon

tools-liquid applique, markers, circle punches, cuttlebug, swiss dots, pink organdy, word window punch, pink brads