Stampin'B Challenge - Song Title

This week's Stampin'B hostess is NancyRuth, and she asked us to create a card inspired by a song title. While I was not a child of the 60's (actually I'm a pre-baby boomer, having been born in 1941), but I love the music of the 60's -- and one of my favorite singing groups was The Fifth Dimension.




The musical Hair had many great songs, "Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine In" being one of them. That's the song title I chose as the inspiration for my card. In case you are unfamiliar with the song, I've included some of the words.

I stamped the small sun from Mark's Finest Papers set, Hello Sunshine, with Versafine Black Onyx and then colored it with Copic markers. Using a punched scallop circle, I sponged in the clouds and the "glow" around the sun. As the second line of the chorus mentions stars, I used a scrap of starry paper for the top background.

Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers Hello Sunshine
Paper - Mark's Finest Papers Blue Skies, Dark Night Navy, Snow Storm Smooth; unknown DP
Ink - Versafine Black Onyx and Majestic Blue, Tim Holtz Distressed Scattered Straw and Tumbled Glass
Accessories - Copic markers, Clear ep, Sponge dauber, Corner rounder, Ribbon, Scallop circle punch for cloud template

Stampin'B Challenge #94 - Banner

Emily was the hostess for this week's Stampin'Bs challenge and asked us to make a card using some kind of a banner. This gave me an opportunity to make a Valentine card for my mom's assisted living facility. There are 90 residents who live there, and my sister & I make cards for several holidays throughout the year -- Valentine's Day being one of them.






My daughter gave me a bunch of odd-size envelopes (7 1/2 inches by 4 3/4 inches) that were extra ones from her office's Christmas cards. They were just the right size for this four-pennant card. After running the white panel through my Cuttlebug using the Swiss Dots folder, I cut the four pennants from a piece of DP from Basic Grey's Green at Heart paper pad. I cut the letters using the Cuttlebug Alphabet Curls and Swirls dies. Using my Xyron X made gluing the back of those letters a snap! The sentiment was a little long for my Word Window punch, so I cut it out and then fed it through the punch to cut the ends. The hearts across the bottom were made with a Martha Stewart border punch. Thanks, Emily, for letting me add one more Valentine to my pile!

Stamps - SU Holidays & Wishes
Ink - Versafine Satin Red
Paper - Mark's Finest Papers Cherry Slush and Snow Storm Smooth; Basic Grey Green at Heart DP
Accessories - Cuttlebug, Swiss Dots Folder, Alphabet Curls and Swirls, Bakers Twine, Martha Stewart heart border punch

Featured Stamper - Whoistracy

Today's Featured Stamper on SCS is Tracy (a/k/a whoistracy), someone with whom I was unfamiliar. I actually had time to CASE two of her cards.

For my first CASE, I chose this card, using the same layout and similar colors. I did, however make several changes:

* Different cup stamp
* Eliminated her stitching

The papers I used are from a DCWV stack called The Crafty Stack that I found recently at Joann. The teacup image is from Mark's Finest Papers' brand-new set called Floral Tea. Tracy had popped up the pine sprigs and Christmas balls in her teacup -- I just popped up the tag from the teabag.

As I was looking through Tracy's gallery, I passed no less than seven cards with a quilt pattern on them before coming to this one. I got the impression that she really likes quilts. My best friend's birthday is next month, and she is an avid quilter. So I'll give this one to her as a birthday card. I'll put the birthday sentiment inside.

I kept the layout of Tracy's card, but made some changes:

* No stitching

* Substituted buttons for her rhinestones

* Square card rather than rectangle

As I had that DCWV Crafty Stack still on my desk, I used scraps from it to make my "quilt." The images are also from a new Mark's Finest Papers' set -- this one called Sew What? I think this was my favorite this month.

Mark's Finest Papers Blog Hop -- Day 4

Welcome to the final day of the MFP January Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!


And…LOOK for the WINNERS of the Blog Hop TOMORROW!!!

Our New Sets are: In the Forest, Happy Pansies, Sew What, and Floral Tea.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs TODAY. On Saturday, January 15, 2011, a winner will be chosen from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for today. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day of the blog hop. You DO NOT have to comment every day. However, the more days you comment, the more chances you have to win!) If you miss a day, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning.

While I'm not officially a part of the Blog Hop today, thanks for stopping by and taking a look at my projects for this set, Floral Tea.

I'm a tea drinker (not a coffee drinker), so I'm always excited when I see tea image stamps.



My card is pretty straight forward, not a lot of explanation needed. The DP I used is from Basic Grey's Wisteria paper pad, and the card base is MFP August Greens, matted in MFP Mama's Favorite Purple. I added a little tea cup charm and some gold twine.



As I said before, I'm a tea drinker. I bought a Keurig single serve coffee pot so that my guests could choose their own type of coffee. A bonus is that there are K-Cups in my favorite brand of tea, Twinings Earl Grey. My 3-D project for today is an altered can (from Boy Scout popcorn) in which I can store the K-Cups. I cut the DP from a huge 12 x 24 inch coated pad from K & Company. I made a card to match.

Be sure to check out the official blogs in today's Hop for your chance to win a new stamp set from next month.

Emily-
Karen-
Patty-
Roxie-
Vicki-
Liz:
Claudine-
Dawn-
Joanne T-
Nicole -
Marilynn-
Peggysue-
Susan –
Connie –
Emily N.-
Neva
Mark’s Finest Papers

MFP Blog Hop - Day Three and Stampin'B's Challenge #93

Welcome to the MFP January Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!


And…LOOK for the WINNERS of the Blog Hop Saturday!

Our New Sets are: In the Forest, Happy Pansies, Sew What, and Floral Tea.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs TODAY. On Saturday, January 15, 2011, a winner will be chosen from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for today. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day of the blog hop. You DO NOT have to comment every day. However, the more days you comment, the more chances you have to win!) If you miss a day, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning.

My card for today's set, Sew What?, also doubles as my entry in the Stampin'B's challenge, which is to use a die cut -- in my case the Nestabilities Petite Ovals.



I stamped the dress form with Palette Nude and then colored the skirt using Copic markers. I found some DP with the same dark stripes and used it for the background.



My second project is a pincushion, which I made from a Prima flower container and some polka-dotted material. I stamped several of the smaller images on a long piece of white cardstock and glued it around the container, adding some red rick rack to the bottom and the lid.

Be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the Design Team to see what they did with this set, which I think is my favorite this month.

Nancyruth
Lois (that's me)
Vicky
Dawn L.
Anne
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Claudine
Dawn M
Joanne T
Nicole
Marilynn
Geri
Lynn
Neva
Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers Blog Hop - Day 2

Welcome to the MFP January Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!


And…LOOK for the WINNERS of the Blog Hop on Saturday!

Our New Sets are: In the Forest, Happy Pansies, Sew What, and Floral Tea.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs TODAY. On Saturday, January 15, 2011, a winner will be chosen from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for today. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day of the blog hop. You DO NOT have to comment every day. However, the more days you comment, the more chances you have to win!) If you miss a day, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning.

Today's set is Happy Pansies. Whenever I see pansies, I always think of my grandmother, who had beds of pansies all around her house. In addition to the pansies, she also had small flowers called Johnny Jump Ups. I'm not even sure they are related to the pansy, but they look very similar -- only smaller.

One of my favorite sites for card layouts is Page Maps, and that's where I found the layout for my first card.



The background paper on the right side of the card was created by stamping the single pansy from this set several times and coloring the images with a pale purple. I also added the bee, another image from the set. The other DP is from Basic Grey's Wisteria paper pad. For the focal panel I stamped the larger image and popping up the yellow petals on two of the pansies.



The MFP team has decided it would be fun to send birthday cards to each other, so I decided to keep all the addresses in a little book, which I covered using some Basic Grey Cappella DP. The three pansies were stamped using the single image and masking. After coloring with Copic markers, I cut them out and mounted them on top of the oval shapes.

Be sure to check out the rest of the design team.

Nancyruth
Lois (that's me)
Vicky
Dawn L.
Anne
Peggysue
Susan
Connie
Claudine
Dawn
Joanne T
Nicole
Marilynn
Geri
Lynn
Emily N.
Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers Blog Hop - Day 1

Welcome to the MFP January Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS!


And…LOOK for the WINNERS of the Blog Hop Saturday!

Our New Sets are: In the Forest, Happy Pansies, Sew What, and Floral Tea.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

For your chance to win BLOG CANDY, (a set that will be released NEXT month), visit and comment on each of the following design team members' blogs TODAY. On Saturday, January 15, 2011, a winner will be chosen from those participants who visited all the blogs listed for today. (There will be four different winners, one winner for each day of the blog hop. You DO NOT have to comment every day. However, the more days you comment, the more chances you have to win!) If you miss a day, you can go back and comment on each day's blogs, as the winners will be chosen Saturday morning.


I've made two cards for today's set, In the Forest.



I had made a stage card once before, but I wasn't happy with the fact that the pieces did not automatically "pop up" when the card was opened. In researching this type of card, I discovered the trick (which is to attach tabs from the cut-out piece to the back of the card, or to another piece situated behind it). So with this information I made another one. The front of the card is a simple version -- the inside much busier. In addition to the images from In the Forest, the popped-up trees and the bushes at the front of the stage are from A Walk in the Woods.




My second card is much less involved. After stamping and mounting the flop-eared bunny, I put a piece of ribbon diagonally at the lower right. I then stamped the sentiment on a piece of vellum and cut it the same size as the ribbon.

Be sure to visit the rest of the DT members' blogs to see what they have created with this set.

Nancyruth
Lois (that's me)
Vicky
Dawn L.
Anne
Peggysue
Susan
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Emily N.
Neva
Mark’s Finest Papers

Featured Stamper - UKJem

Today's Featured Stamper on Splitcoaststampers is Julie, whose screen name on SCS is UKJem. She has a relatively small, but wonderfully creative, gallery. I chose two of her cards to CASE today.

The first card I found is her Flower Accents card, which was made with very pretty flowers and a lovely sentiment.

My sister was visiting this weekend, and she brought her Heartfelt Creations Daisy Patch stamps and matching Spellbinders dies with her. I used them to make the spray of flowers on my card. The pretty Anna Griffith DP had just enough of a pattern to look good behind the large Labels Ten die. I used it uncut first but decided that it would look better cut into three sections.

I actually had started this second card earlier in the week when the faux tile technique was featured on the home page of SCS. Using the large scene stamp from the soon-to-be released In the Forest set from Mark's Finest Papers, I created the faux tiles. The completed tiles have been sitting on my counter all week while I tried to figure out how I would use them.

Julie's Cats Have Staff card had the right layout to use the tile. My card is 5 1/2 inches square. The base is Mark's Finest Papers' Flecked Dirt (don't you love that name?), and the DP is from the Basic Grey Archaic paper pad. I thought this card would make a nice masculine birthday card -- or even a sympathy card, which are not easy.

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Thanks for stopping by.

Stampin'B Challenge #92

Joanne (jojot) is the hostess for this week's Stampin'B's DT Blog challenge. Her challenge: use an old favorite along with something brand spankin' new!




The new thing on my card is actually not even available yet. I used a brand new stamp set called Sew What? from Mark's Finest Papers that will be released next Tuesday. The "something old"is a little more obscure. I used Sketch Challenge #6 from Splitcoaststampers -- from February 2005. I've seen the tag made as a bookmark on some of the cards in the challenge gallery, but mine is glued down. I stamped the dress form with Memento Potter's Clay and then colored the skirt with Copic markers. The DPs are all from Basic Grey's Cappella paper pad, and the tape measure is actually a copy of a real measuring tape, reduced to about 64%.


BTW, I'm having a lot of fun with this new stamp set, which includes fancy scissors, buttons, a spool of thread and lots of clever sentiments.
-------
Stamps - Mark's Finest Papers - Sew What?
Paper - MFP August Greens, Snow Storm Smooth; Basic Grey Capella DP
Ink - Memento Potter's Clay, Tim Holtz Distressed Bundled Sage
Accessories - copy of measuring tape, Copic markers, Sponge dauber