Thursday, April 26, 2012

CCEE1217 Scallops, Flowers & Buttons

Once again Cindy has given the CCEE stampers a great challenge -- use Scallops, Flowers and Buttons on our cards.  I used a brand-new set from Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company, called Daffodil Greetings.  Sage is one of my favorite shades of green, and I found some old DP in my stash using Stampin' Up's retired Sage Shadow in the pattern.


I covered all the bases.  Obviously, the daffodils were the flowers.   I used scallop squares to mat the flower panels, along with a scallop cutter for the horizontal panel.  And I have lots and lots of buttons, so I used two different sizes for my card.

Thanks for stopping by my blog today, and be sure to check out the rest of the cards the CCEE team has created.

Stamps:  Mark's Finest Papers - Daffodil Greetings
Paper:  MFP Fresh Cream, Lily Pad; SU retired DSP
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black
Accessories:  Copic markers, Square nesties, Buttons, Clear ep

Friday, April 20, 2012

MFP Blog Hop Day 4 - Train Talk

 Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's  April Blog Hop!
This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:

Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17
Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18
Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19
Train Talk Featured April 20


Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the blogs listed below (don't forget this one) each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day to win! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 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 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.

After reading one of the sentiments in today's set, I decided to have a little fun with my first card and try to make a mountain tunnel. It may or may not have worked -- you be the judge! The "tunnel" was made using Petite Ovals nesties, and the trees are from another MFP set, A Walk in the Woods.


My second card is definitely a guy card. I braided six pieces of hemp together to form the "rope" ribbon and attached it to the card using an antique-look brad. The DP is from Basic Grey Oxford paper pad, which has lots of guy prints. The birthday sentiment is also from another MFP set, North American Woods.


Thanks for stopping by my blog today. Be sure to hop through the rest of the DT members' blogs and comment to win! Lois (that's me),Vicky , Anne , Pat G., Karen H., Patty P., Mary, Marilynn , Karen K., Pam , Debbie , Nancy, Bonnie , Kathy, Brenda, Toni, Tangii, Anna S, Sue, Kelli, Janine, Mark's Finest Papers


Card 1 Stamps: MFP Train Talk, A Walk in the Woods Paper: MFP Snow Storm Heavy, Licorice Whips, Morning Sun Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy; Tim Holtz Distress Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass, Vintage Photo Accessories: Spellbinders Petite Ovals, Copic markers


Card 2 Stamps: MFP Train Talk, North American Woods Paper: MFP Speedy the Cat's Cream, Garnet, Morning Sun; Basic Grey Oxford DP Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black Accessories: Spellbinders Circles and Inverted Scallop Circles, Double-Ended Tags; Copic markers; Twine; Brad

Thursday, April 19, 2012

MFP Blog Hop Day 3 - Hey, Cowboy & CCEE1216 - Color Challenge

 Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's  April Blog Hop!
This month's New Stamp Set Releases are
Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17 Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18 Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19 Train Talk Featured April 20
Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following 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 four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 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 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.


Apologies  --  Blogger apparently messed up my narrative for today.  I am away from home attending a family member's funeral and cannot do more with this post except apologize.









Wednesday, April 18, 2012

MFP Blog Hop Day 2 - Daffodil Greetings

 Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 
April Blog Hop!
This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:
Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17
Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18
Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19
Train Talk Featured April 20


Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the blogs listed below (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 four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 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 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.

Today's set, Daffodil Greetings, just screams yellow and green! And both of my cards today use that color combination. My first card is a standard A2 shape. After stamping the single daffodil, I used a round "plastic canvas grid" as the template for the pierced circle around the bloom. The center of the flower is stamped twice, popping one up for dimension.


My second card is a Joy-Fold card. I added a pearl flourish embellishment.


Be sure to check out the rest of the cards in today's hop and comment for a chance to win a new stamp set from Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company. Lois (that's me), Vicky , Anne , Pat G., Karen H., Patty P., Mary, Marilynn , Karen K., Pam , Debbie , Nancy, Bonnie , Kathy, Brenda, Toni, Tangii, Anna S, Sue, Kelli, Janine, Mark's Finest Papers

Card 1 
Stamps: MFP Daffodil Greetings 
Paper: MFP Lily Pad, Snow Storm Smooth; Prima Sweet Fairy DP 
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Bundled Sage 
Accessories: Copic markers, Petite Ovals nestabilities, EK Success punch, Pearls, Pop dots 


Card 2 
Stamps: MFP Daffodil Greetings 
Paper: MFP Lily Pad, Snow Storm Smooth; Prima Annalee DP 
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black 
Accessories: Copic markers, Pearl flourish and small medallion

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

MFP Blog Hop Day 1 - Fabulous Dogs

 Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's
  April Blog Hop!
This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:
Fabulous Dogs Featured April 17
Daffodil Greetings Featured April 18
Hey, Cowboy! Featured April 19
Train Talk Featured April 20


Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following 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 four winners will be announced on April 21, 2012 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 11PM EST on Friday April 20, 2012.
We're starting off this blog hop for all the dog lovers out there. My cards for today are pretty simple ones.




Be sure to check out all the canine cards from the whole team and comment for your chance to win one of the new April sets. Lois (that's me), Vicky , Anne , Pat G., Karen H., Patty P., Mary, Marilynn , Karen K., Pam , Debbie , Nancy, Bonnie , Kathy, Brenda, Toni, Tangii, Anna S, Sue, Kelli, Janine, Mark's Finest Papers

Card 1 
Stamps: MFP Fabulous Dogs 
Paper: MFP Garnet, Speedy the Cat's Cream; Bo Bunny Timepiece Collection DP 
Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Rhubarb Stalk 
Accessories: Copic markers, Large brads, Circle punch, Corner rounder 


Card 2 
Stamps: MFP Fabulous Dogs 
Paper: MFP Snow Storm Smooth, Licorice Whips, Ripened Tomato; unknown DP 
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black 
Accessories: Copic markers, Circle punch

Friday, April 13, 2012

Triple Layer Pop Up Card

This week's featured tutorial on Splitcoaststampers is the Triple-Layer Pop Up card.  I love trying new techniques, particularly 3-dimensional ones.  So I tried one -- and was pretty pleased with the results.  Last year I saw a card Lynn McAuley (allee's on SCS) had made using a now-retired set from Mark's Finest Papers called All Aboard, showing a train on a trestle bridge, and it's been in the back of my mind ever since as something I'd like to try.  A new set called Train Talk, being released next week, also has a train as one of the images (actually there are three trains in the set).

Here is the inside of my version of Lynn's card --



If you look at the tutorial, you will see that there are three layers on this card, separated by small "boxes" to pop them up separately.  I made the trestle using my Cheery Lynn lattice die, cut in half.  You can't see the oval cut-out part behind the trees layer, so I took a photo of this layer to show you.


I created the cut-out portion by cutting with a Petite Ovals nestabilities die, and then cutting a frame using two different sizes of the ovals.

When the card is finally constructed, it is a bit bulky; so Kim Score, who wrote the tutorial for SCS, suggested putting a belly band around the card when it's closed.  I made the band using multiple images of the railroad track from the MFP set, On Track.  The locomotive is also included in the new Train Talk set.  Here is the front of my card.


If you have some spare time, you should give this technique a try.  It was very fun!

Stamps:  Mark's Finest Papers - Train Talk, On Track, North American Woods (sentiment on front)
Paper:  MFP Blue Skies, Licorice Whips, Snow Storm Smooth, Cherry Slush, Hazelnut Tan, DCWV Photos 2 DP
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Barn Door
Accessories:  Copic markers, Cheery Lynn Lattice die, Spellbinders Petite Nestabilities, Double-ended Tags Shapeabilities, Cuttlebug Clockworks embossing folder

Thursday, April 12, 2012

CCEE1215 Three Embellishments

Cindy is our CCEE hostess for the month of April. For today's challenge, she asked us to use three embellishments. I've made a card using a technique I just discovered while reading the forums on SCS. It's called Starburst. I looked at several of the tutorials for cards and particularly liked this one on a blog called Handmade by Julie.


My papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Pixie-Licious paper pad. And the sentiment is from a set from Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company, called Daffodil Greetings, which will be released next week. My three embellishments are the ribbon, the Prima flowers, and a brad.  If you'd like to play along with the CCEE gals, here's the link.

Stamps: Mark's Finest Papers - Daffodil Greetings 
Paper: MFP - Lily Pad, Florida Peach, Snow Storm Smooth; Cosmo Cricket Pixie-Licious DP 
Ink: Memento Bamboo Leaves, Tim Holtz Distress Bundled Sage
Accessories: Ribbon, Prima flowers, Brad, Sponge dauber, Pop dots

Thursday, April 5, 2012

CCEE1214 - Embossing Folder

Cindy is hostess for the CCEE challenges for month of April, and she asked the team to use an embossing folder on today's card. I chose Grace's Frame from Provocraft for my folder and Dogwood Blossoms from Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company, for my image.


This card doesn't require whole lot of explanation. After running the cardstock and folder through my Cuttlebug, I stamped the image in the center and colored it, using Copic markers RV0000, RV11, RV14, G40, G82, G94, E33, E37 and BG10. I added the four brads in the corners, and I was finished.

If you'd like to play along with us, here's the link to the challenge.

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

Stamping on Candles

The Senior design team members of Mark's Finest Papers, a Heinrich Company, are presenting a series of tutorials on the Home of Speedy TV.  This week it's my turn.  Some of the tutorials are advanced; others are pretty simple.  Actually, I think that my project is fairly simple.  Stamping on Candles was one of the first techniques I learned when I started stamping.  The images I used for my project are from the MFP set called Mother's Magnolias.  

To get started you will need the following:
 Stamp
Coloring medium
Tissue paper
Wax paper
Scissors
Heat tool
Candle

June is right around the corner, so I thought I would show you how to create this candle centerpiece for a wedding. 
The images for my candles come from two different sets.  The flowers are from Mother’s Magnolias, and the sentiment on the small candle is from a set called Today, Tomorrow and Always.  I used the smallest magnolia as an accent with the sentiment.  It is actually part of a stamp which includes the words Happy Mother’s Day, but I cut it off that stamp.  That’s what I like about clear stamps – you can adapt them to your needs!

To start, stamp your image onto tissue paper and color it.  I usually color on the back side, but I don’t think that’s absolutely necessary. 
Then cut out the image fairly close to the edge, leaving only a small amount of margin.
Place the cut-out image onto your candle. 
 Cut a piece of wax paper approximately the height of your candle.  This will help avoid any “lines” on the candle when you’re finished. 

Hold the wax paper tightly around the candle and aim your heat tool at the image.  
 
 As the heat increases, it melts the wax enough to allow the tissue paper to meld into the candle.
  
 You can see the image becoming “shiny” through the wax paper.  Hold the heat on the candle only long enough to melt the wax sufficiently for the tissue to hold.  And be careful – hot wax is extremely HOT!  (I speak from experience!!!)
 
Carefully peel back the wax paper.  Because the image has melted into the wax, you really can’t see the tissue paper border around the edge of your image.  And it really does look like you have stamped on the candle.

 If your project consists of several candles, repeat the process on all the candles.

Here again is the completed centerpiece.
 I hope you try stamping on candles.  It is not really a difficult technique, but it creates a unique and personal project.




My daughter, who loves candles, has already taken possession of this centerpiece.    I hope you try this fun technique.