MFT Card Design Superstar: CLEAN & SIMPLE GENIUS

 Again, down to the wire, although I've been thinking this design all week.  I pulled out my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to color my new fave Stacey Yacula's Warm & Feathered Hugs.  To keep it simple, I used the Drifts & Hills Stencil for the background and popped up my HUGS die with more than a few layers!  And finally, I found a simple strip sentiment from Stacey Yacula's most recent stamp set, Christmas Cheer, and cut that out with a Blueprints die-namic from set 27 I believe.

MFT 2020 Card Design Superstar: COLORING VIRTUOSO

 Here I am again just under the wire to submit my card for the Coloring Virtuoso challenge.

I kept it simple and used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to color in a white embossed panel of bristol cardstock.  I find that bristol works best for blending these markers.  To finish it off, I dug for one of my favourite sentiments.

MFT 2020 Design Superstar Card Design: INNOVATION MASTER

I didn't realize how long it would take to complete this card, so here we are right at the deadline of submission.  A lot of things went wrong, but I managed to get this card finished to how I (mostly) envisioned it.

By using My Favorite Things stencils, stamps, dies, and spin & slide disks, this card came into being.  I do not personally own any slimline dies, so I trimmed this card to size old-school style.

MFT Supplies:  Beach Buds Stamps & Die-namics, Interactive Swing Die-namics, Inside & Out Stitched Circles STAX Die-namics, Spin & Slide Discs, Stencils (Wave-Maker, Drifts & Hills, Make Waves, Mini Cloud Edges).

Stencilling wasn't exactly simple as I kept getting ink everywhere while shifting and masking other areas at the same time.  It was chaos!  As a result, I couldn't quite get the space needed to stamp the sentiment along the bottom of the sand.  Nothing I could do but forge ahead.

 

After evenings of stencilling card fronts, I finally settled and said, ok, I'm out of time.  Finally putting the pieces together (copic coloring was the simplest part, OMG), I had some adhesive issues where I pulled things apart and whatnot.  When I finally got to the interactive part, I knew I would run out of room for the top of the swinging acetate piece as a slimeline card has a lot less height than an A2! Can you see my modifications?! (SMH)

Finally closing the top with foam tape (double thickness was used to accommodate the slider) I could relax and just finish the front design.  I had planned to enter all 3 categories....it's not happening hah!!

And that's my story of creating an interactive slimline card with interactive dies designed for an A2 card.

Thank you for reading and best of luck if you go down this road!

Slimline Card Family Challenge

Every once in a while my sister and I create a weekend crafty challenge to get us rolling in the craftroom.  It doesn't always result in a completed project, but if one gets into the craftroom for at least a little bit of time, then that's a baby step (unlike this weekend in which I haven't even started).

Our slimline challenge was aimed at getting us to finally get on the bandwagon and give it a go.  With the Scrapshotz slimline class at the Creative Scrapbooker Virtual Scrapbooking Carnival coming up this month, we needed to get practicing with these strangely oversized-dies and card templates.  Since I recently purchased the Concord & 9th kite-themed stamps and dies, those were on my creative radar.  I knew I wanted to pop up the kites and make a scene using the Studio Katia slimline oval die.  With a little stamping and stencilling, it all came together.

Supplies:  Studio Katia Slimline Dies, Concord & 9th Kite String Stamps and Kite Builder dies, MFT stamps Mini Clouds Stencil, Oxide Ink Pads, Dye Ink Pads, Nuvo Shimmer Pen, nuvo drops, foam tape.

This was a successful card challenge! I was very happy how this card turned out.  A little weird trying to make the card base, but it just takes patience.

Big Grumpy Salutations

It took quite some time to get my hands on these Taylored Expressions Big Grumpy stamps.  Now that I have them, it's totally a great time to send these cards to friends and family and lighten up that mood.  A little snark for the people who get it!

Nothing like a little background blending and some copic coloring to bring this card together!

In addition to the sentiments included in the stamp sets (both Big Grumpy and accessories), Taylored Expressions has a free downloadable template of Covid-related sentiments that very much relate to our current experiences.  I recommend getting those to customize your cards.  I printed them on some cardstock directly from my printer, aligned the stamps over top of the sentiments with my stamping platform, and voila!

Coming soon to friends and family!!

Mermaids Are a Sign of Summer

For some reason, I'm drawn to mermaid stamp sets. They're just so well illustrated. This time around, I'm using the Neat & Tangled 'You Are Mermazing' stamp set (now retired). I've tried using it in the past, but struggled to color the images. This time around, it clicked. I made 6 cards total, experimenting with color variances.

Stamps & Dies: Neat & Tangled You are Mermazing .

Additional Supplies: Copic markers, frame: Lawn fawn, background: MFT Stamps stencil, sentiment: Honey Bee Stamps stamp set.

Get Cracking on Christmas with Jenn Shurkus

I really want to get cracking on Christmas, I really do, but I keep putting it off.  One year I attempted to make a set of Christmas cards each month.  Suffice to say I was at maybe 50% but it still helped me at crunch time and it gave me the opportunity to donate cards to a great cause because of my half-assed effort!

Well here we are more than halfway to Christmas.  One set of cards.  JUST ONE SET!  No excuses, but it's been a weird year.  Time has been moving in weird ways...at least in this house.

Without further ado, my card features some Simon Says Stamp stamps and dies.  I tested some watercoloring on both Arches and Canson XL and they reacted very different when laying down a colorwash.  The Arches definitely was more vibrant, but the blend was still beautiful (if slightly muted) on the Canson XL.

Good luck to everyone else trying to get ahead before the season suddenly appears ;)

Hello? Hello? HELLO?????

I'm still here.  I've just been lazy and keeping to Instagram for my crafty posts.  It's time to put more effort in and also join in some challenges to keep me rolling over the summer.  Here are two recent cards that I created in an attempt to get my crafty mojo back!

This was a personal challenge using a set of the new Photo Play stamps.  I used the pocket to create a subtle background and then popped up a trio of critters.  The sentiment is from my stash of pre-stamped/embossed strips (Mama Elephant).

Is there anyone else that pre-stamps a bunch of panels to colour so images are ready to go for when you are ready to create a card?  I had stamped 4 sets of these Studio Katia sweet peas and I've made 3 different cards so far!  Also from Photo Play, I used the Say it With Stamps: Friend stamp set.  I'm more for die cut sentiments, but this worked out pretty well!

Thanks for coming in and taking a peek at my projects!

Simon Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says: Use Some Green

Good morning!  All I can say is that time flies and priorities shift.  Now is a great time to be crafty and actually post some projects and challenges are a great way to get through that procrastination.  Therefore I've taken up the Simon Says: Use Some Green Wednesday Challenge.

For the Simon Says Stamp Blog Wednesday Challenge, I decided to pull out some new (yes, new!) products from my stash and start stocking up my birthday cards for future use.

(Products include:  Lawn Fawn, Hero Arts)

To join the challenge, here's a link:
Simon Says Stamp - Simon Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says: Use Some Green

Have a great day!