MFP Blog Hop Day 1 - Hot Air Balloon

Welcome to the Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company

September Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured Sept.23
Hot Air Balloon 

Featured Sept. 24

Witchie

 Featured Sept. 25

Chrysanthemum

Featured Sept. 26

Nutcrackers

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on today's participating blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All six winners will be announced on 

Sept. 27, 2014 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win; and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) 
The deadline for 

commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday,  September 26, 2014.

How old are you?  Do you remember The Fifth Dimension?  When I first saw today's stamp set, Hot Air Balloon, I immediately thought of The Fifth Dimension and their 1967 hit, Up Up and Away.  Here's a little refresher if you'd like.  Don't laugh at the clothes -- remember, it was the 60's!  I got rid of all my old LPs a long time ago, but I found a photo on-line.  I noticed on their website that they are still doing concerts.

Riding in a hot air balloon was on my bucket list.  And I'm happy to say that I have crossed it off.  For my 50th birthday, my husband arranged for me to go up in one.  HE didn't want to go up, but the dear man bought me a ride!  Actually, my neighbor (whose wife didn't want to do it) and I took an hour's ride over Central Florida, landing on the golf course at Walt Disney World!

My sister and her husband travel in their RV every summer.  Last summer they were in New Mexico during the annual Hot Air Balloon Festival.  Here is a photo she sent to me.   She said it was 5:30 in the morning!

And she sent me an ornament that she purchased.  I tried to use similar colors on my Top Note Box (directions for box were on a CD I purchased from Technique Junkies Newsletter).

Here's the inside of the box -- there are two compartments.

As you can see, I had fun with this set; and I'm sure the rest of the team did, too.  Be sure to check out all the cards/projects they've created.  And comment often so you have a chance to win one of this month's stamp sets!

Here's the Design Team for today:

Lois (that's me)

Kelli Jo

Karen 

 Kathy

Toni

Janine

Shirley Q

Vickie
Sandy

Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

Come on back tomorrow for more creativity.

Card

Stamps:  Mark's Finest Papers - Hot Air Balloon

Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Ranger Distress Tumbled Glass

Paper:  Mark's Finest Papers - Premium Heavyweight White

Accessories:  Heidi Swapp stencil, Copic markers

Box

Stamps:  Mark's Finest Papers - Hot Air Balloon

Ink:  Memento Nautical Blue

Paper:  Mark's Finest Papers - Deep Scarlet, Snow Storm Smooth; Stampin' Up Not Quite Navy; K & Company Americana DP

Accessories:  Top Note die, Copic markers, Corner rounder

On-Line Card Class - Day 1

While I have been using Copic markers for a while, I am mainly self-taught and thought I would like to take a class to help me improve my skills.  When I saw a link to Online Card Classes, that seemed to be the most economical choice for me.  Today was our first day -- the lesson plan was Blending Basics; and our homework was practice, practice, practice!!!  Here is my sheet for today:

This is a two-week class, and I'm looking forward to the rest of the videos and worksheets.

Tutorial Time - Weathered Wood

Today's Tutorial Time challenge on Speedy TV is perfect for making those guy cards, which are not always easy.  Jane Chambers wrote a tutorial for making Weathered Wood.  Here's my card:

I used three different Ranger Distress inks on my background -- Antique Linen, Tea Dye, and Rusty Hinge.  I added that classic car from Classic Dad, and . . . voila, a masculine birthday card.

If you'd like to give this easy technique a try, link up your card over on Speedy TV.  You might just win a free stamp set.

CCEE1438 - Wordplay Challenge: H - U - G

As the September hostess for the CCEE Stampers Blog, I asked the team to celebrate "Hug a Greeting Card Writer Day" by including  on their cards something that starts with each of the following letters - H U G.  I pulled out one of my Flip Card dies for this one.  Here's my card, which I might send to my sister who loves to cook:

And here it is when you flip it open to the inside:

My hugs are:

H - Happy Birthday

U - Utensils

G - Green

If you like Wordplay games, why don't you play along with the rest of the team.  Check out the blog and then link your card at the end.

CCEE1437 - Odd Day

When I was looking for a theme for today's CCEE Stampers challenge, I must have looked at a list of holidays for 2013 rather than 2014 and came up with Odd Day.  September 11, 2013 (9/11/13) was the last time for 92 years that we will have a day featuring three consecutive odd numbers, the final "Odd Day" of the 21st century.  But it seemed like such a fun thing that I went ahead and used it for the theme.  I asked the team to use an odd number of the same embellishment on their cards (e.g., 3 brads, 5 pearls, etc.).  Here's my card with its three enamel stickers.   I tried a new technique (for me) on my card.  I had recently bought some Tim Holtz masking sheets, and I cut out a peacock feather with a Spellbinders die and used it as a mask when I sponged on the ink background.

Hop on over to the CCEE Stampers blog and see what the rest of the team has created to celebrate (a year late) this Odd holiday.

Tutorial Time - Spotlight Stamping

This week's Tutorial Time challenge on Speedy TV is brought to you by Barbie Dopson; she did a tutorial on Spotlight Stamping.   This is a fun technique, in which you color only a portion of your image or scene, leaving the rest of it uncolored.  I decided to have a little fun with it and use this cute tree frog instead of a flower, which was my first thought.

Because my "scene" contains some masking and over-stamping of several images, I was a bit concerned that I couldn't do it exactly the same the second time.  So I just used my copier and made a second copy.  I colored the original because I wasn't sure how the ink from the copier would react to my markers.

If you'd like to play along with us, check out the Tutorial Time Challenge on Speedy TV.  Link up your card and you might win a free stamp set.

CCEE1436 - Newspaper Carrier Day

I'm the hostess this month over on the CCEE Stampers Blog, and my first challenge is in honor of Newspaper Carrier Day.  When I was young, it was kids on bicycles delivering the daily paper.  Nowadays, if you have a paper delivered at all, it's probably by an adult.  I used this what-may-be a disappearing holiday (lots of people get their news on the internet today) to honor newspaper carriers and asked the team to make a card using newsprint.  Here's my card.  I wanted to use my new Cheery Lynn globe die, so I looked for an article which would pertain to a globe or the world.  Fortunately, on the day I made my card, there was an article about NASA in our local paper.

If you'd like to play along, link up your card over on the CCEE Stampers blog.  We'd love to see what you've made.