Thursday, May 26, 2011

Stampin'B Challenge- Collage Card

I don't often do collage cards, but that's what the Stampin'Bs challenge was this week. I used images from Mark's Finest Papers' Garden Fairies set, stamping some of them with Memento London Fog randomly on the Sweet Fairy DP from Prima. Two of the images, the fairy silhouette and the butterfly, I stamped with Memento Bahama Blue on smaller scraps of the same DP, matted them with MFP Bang Up Blue, and glued them to the outer edge -- cutting off the excess.



I added the punched-out butterflies, flowers/brads, and rhinestones; as well as the sentiment punched out with a circle punch and popped up with a Pop Dot. I actually like the way it turned out!

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers - Garden Fairies
Paper: MFP Premium Heavy White and Bang Up Blue; Prima Sweet Fairy DP
Ink: Memento London Fog and Bahama Blue
Accessories: Circle punches, MS butterfly punch, Rhinestones, Prima flowers, Brads, Pop dot

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Inspiration Challenge and Speedy's Friends

Today's Inspiration Challenge on Splitcoast was Spotted Moth, an on-line shop with lots of unique handmade clothing and accesssories. In working my way through the myriad of lovely items, I was looking for something that would enable me to also make a card for Speedy's Friends' challenge of a tone-on-tone card. When I reached this lovely dress, I knew I had a winner!



I found some pretty pink patterned paper (that was a mouthful) in the Basic Grey Olivia paper pad, put one piece on some MFP Premium Heavy White cardstock and matted the other with MFP Snow Storm Smooth. I like to use the heavyweight cardstock for card bases, but I don't want to waste it on matting. The dianthus is colored with Copic markers, then cut out and popped up on pop dots. I actually stamped part of it twice, and popped up one of the petals a second time.

In addition to my card, I also got a head start on my Christmas list. I had seen some very nicely done coasters by Geri, another member of the Mark's Finest Papers' design team. She told me she found the coasters at Michaels. My best friend loves everything Southwest, and I thought a set of these coasters would be a good gift. I used images from three different MFP sets -- Southwest Cowboy, Regal & Proud, and Bold & Free. The coaster I made for the challenge is this one, inspired by this feather necklace.




Here is the entire set of coasters.



Thanks for stopping by my blog today.

Card:Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers - Butterflies, Dianthus and Flourishes; Daffodil and Anise
Paper: MFP Premium Heavy White, Snow Storm Smooth; Basic Grey Olivia DP
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories: Copic markers, Pearls, Pop dots


Coasters:
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers - Southwest Cowboy, Bold & Free, Regal & Proud
Paper: MFP Hazelnut Brown, Corn Husk
Ink: Tim Holtz Distressed Tea Dye, Memento Potters Clay
Accessories: Coasters, Sponge daubers

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Stampin'Bs Challenge - a Spring scene

NancyRuth, who is currently on hiatus, was hostess for this week's Stampin'B challenge. Her challenge was to make a spring scene. Whenever I think of spring, I think of pastel flowers, so I used the wheelbarrow filled with flowers from Mark's Finest Papers set, In My Mother's Garden. The grass is from another MFP set, Tropical Vacation. After I colored the image and cut it out using a Spellbinders Labels Five die, I sponged in the grass and sky. The colors in the Basic Grey Olivia DP were perfect. BTW, do you see Speedy sitting there? He's trying to decide if he should jump up into the wheelbarrow!



I added some ribbn and the stickpin, and I was finished. If you'd like to play along with the Stampin'Bs, we'd love for you to do that!

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers - In My Mother's Garden, Tropical Vacation
Paper: MFP Premium Heavy White, Spring Leaf; Basic Grey Olivia DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Tim Holtz Distressed Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass
Accessories: Copic markers, Spellbinders Labels Five, Ribbon, Stickpin, Oval punches, Sponge daubers

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Inspiration Challenge and Speedy's Friends

True to its name, the Inspiration Challenge chose a very inspirational site this week -- Doodletart Glass. It was a beader's heaven, with beautiful hand made glass beads. I was so inspired that I actually did two cards.

My first card, inspired by this bead, was done in monochromatic blue colors for the Speedy's Friends' challenge over on the MFP blog. I realize that gerber daisies do not naturally come in blue, but asters (which look very similar) do. So maybe this is card should be called Blue Asters instead of Blue Daisies.



I used three different designer papers from Prima's Sweet Fairy collection, piercing the edges. To give a little interest, I did an out-of-the-box cutting of the image panel and added some stickles to the centers.

My second card, which actually was the first one I did, was inspired by a purple bead. I learned a valuable lesson when I made this card. Ultra smooth paper is not a good choice when coloring with Copic markers. The paper doesn't absorb the ink very well. I'll remember that next time! I cut the flourish using a Sizzix die and added some Prima flowers.



Because I donate lots of birthday cards to the assisted living facility where my mom lives, I like to make most of my cards into birthday ones. I used the same sentiment (from MFP Bearded Iris) on both cards.



Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Blogger has been rather wonky this week; so, if you didn't get a chance to check out the Mark's Finest Papers blog hop of brand-new sets, take the opportunity to go back and look at all the beautiful creations the Design Team put together for this release.



Card #1
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers - Greet the Day With Daisies
Paper: MFP Premium Heavy White, Bang Up Blue; Prima Sweet Fairy DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Beau Arts Blue
Accessories: Paper piercing tool, Stickles


Card #2
Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers - Bearded Iris
Paper: Super Ultra Smooth Vanilla, August Greens; Prima Sweet Fairy DP
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distressed Milled Lavender
Accessories: Sizzix Flourish #2 die, Copic markers, Petite Ovals Nestabilities, Prima flowers, Brads, Sponge dauber, Pop dot

Saturday, May 7, 2011

Inspiration Challenge and Speedy's Friends

Because the SCS Inspiration Challenge is my favorite, I actually did two cards today. The site for today was Henrietta's Handbag, a shop with lots and lots of very creative handbags. As I was looking through the bags, I came across this felted bag, which immediately made me think of the American flag, with its stars and stripes. The bag has dots and stripes, but you get the idea! For my card I used a brand-new set from Mark's Finest Papers called American Made, which will be released on Tuesday. Speedy's Friends challenge was all about paper, ink, and stamps -- no embellishments. So there are no pearls, no Prima flowers, no ribbon on this card.



I actually did two cards for the Inspiration Challenge. This card is a little more fun, inspired by this funky market bag.

I didn't have an image of a lily pad the right size, so I cheated and Googled "lily pad" on the internet and found one that would work. So I printed it and cut it out.



Thanks for stopping by my blog today. I hope you liked what you found.

Card #1
Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers - American Made
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Rhubarb Stalk; Tim Holtz Distressed Faded Jeans
Paper - MFP Snow Storm Smooth, Ripened Tomato, Dark Night Navy
Accessories - Cuttlebug and Stars embossing folder, Spellbinders Labels Trio, Sponge dauber, Spica silver glitter pen

Card #2
Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers - Our Side of the Pond and Whispering Winds
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - MFP Snow Storm Smooth, Lime Squeeze
Accessories - Copic markers, Pebbles pearlescent chalks, Labels Four Nestabilities, Pop dots, Computer for lily pad image

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Stampin'Bs Challenge -- Flower Soft, Liquid Applique or Glitter

The Stampin'B challenge hostess this week was Faith, and she gave us a choice. We could use Flower Soft, Liquid Applique or Glitter. I chose Flower Soft. Actually I chose three varieties of Flower Soft.



After I stamped the wheelbarrow from Mark's Finest Papers In My Mother's Garden and colored it with Copic markers, I then stamped the little grass images from MFP Tropical Vacation to create some "ground." I cut the image out using Spellbinders Labels Twenty-One and sponged the edges. I used Ultrafine Flower Soft in Citrus Crush and Raspberry Fizz, plus regular Flower Soft Fuschia on the flowers.

I have found that you can sometimes make a nicer mat (narrower) if you draw around the edge of the die and cut it out with scissors. By using the same die as your inside piece, you get a 1/8" border all the way around.

Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers In My Mother's Garden and Tropical Vacation
Paper - MFP Premium Heavy White, August Greens, Snow Storm Smooth; K & Company Julianne DP
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black; Tim Holtz Distressed Bundled Sage and Tumbled Glass
Accessories - Flower Soft (Ultra Fine and Regular), Labels Twenty-One, Sponge daubers, Pop dot, Copic markers