CCEE2212 Eiffel Tower Day

Frances winds up her stint as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling us that today is Eiffel Tower Day.  She asked us to create a card with a French theme, bonus points of you include the Eiffel Tower.  I had to dig deep into my stamp collection to find this collage background with the Eiffel Tower on it.  I wanted the background stamp to be the star of this card, so I didn't want to cover it up much.  So I created this bokeh background and then stamped the collage image over it -- just adding a simple sentiment strip at the top.

 Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for more Eiffel Tower cards.

CCEE2120 -- International Tiara Day

Liz continues as hostess for the CCEE Stampers by telling us that today is International Tiara Day and also the birthday of Queen Victoria.  So she asked us to get out our crowns and gemstones and see what kind of creation we can create.  It might be a card for your most favorite little princess in your life; maybe you would like to create a crown for someone you have had regard for; or maybe you love the look of Victorian styled art and decor.  We could go wherever our imagination leads us.

I actually made this card for my daughter-in-law for Mother's Day.  The stamp is an old one I found in my stash, but the background was made with a new (to me) stencil set from Taylored Expressions.  There are three different stencils in the set to create that Bokeh background.  The sentiment is a die-cut from Karen Burniston.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more bling!

CCEE2043 More Than One Fold

Frances asked the CCEE Stampers to make a card this week with more than one fold.  It could be a Gatefold card, a Z-Fold card, Easel card, etc.

I recently saw a Creek Bank Creations YouTube video in which Julie Creek made a very clever tri-fold slimline card.  This is my version of her card.  The background on the second layer is called Bokeh Background, one of my favorite inking techniques.  And that large Stampin' Up butterfly lends itself very well to a slimline card.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog for some more cards with more than one fold.

I decided to add another card onto this post.  Karen Burniston is releasing a new batch of winter dies, which are available for pre-order now and will be shipping the first week of November.  I have a sneak peek card using dies from this release which fits in today's "More Than One Fold" challenge.  It's a fun pop-up, enclosed in a gate-fold card.

Inside the gate-fold card is this cute penguin floating along on an iceberg.  He is made with the Karen Burniston Surprise Ball Pop-Up, the Bitty Ball Pop-Up, and the new Animal Add-Ons 3 set.

I hope you like my "bonus" card.

STAMPtember -- Simon Says Stamp meets Riley & Company

STAMPtember is a fun month of collaborations between Simon Says Stamp and various other stamp companies.  Today that company is Riley & Company, and they produced a cute stamp set called True Friends.

The Karen Burniston (KB Riley, LLC) Design Team got to play with this cute set to show it off.  As I have become addicted to slimline cards, that is what I made -- using the Karen Burniston Katherine Label Pop-Up die and a few dies from a couple other sets.    I created a background with one of my favorite techniques -- Bokeh Background -- using several Ranger Distress inks and some sponge daubers.  I "attached" the little sign with a push pin from the Karen Burniston Office Charms.  Be aware that there is a coordinating die set to go along with the stamp set, but I fussy cut Riley and his friends before popping them up on foam pop dots.

I carried the Bokeh Background to the inside along with the Happy Birthday phrase die and the Katherine Label, one of my go-to Karen Burniston dies.  I added three copper sequins to coordinate with the copper-colored trim cardstock.

That stamp set was such fun I decided to make a second card, this time using the Karen Burniston Frame Pull Pop-Up die set.

When you pull that little arrow/tab, up pops the frame.  Those scissors are from Karen Burniston's Office Charms set.

I want to thank Simon Says Stamp for giving me the opportunity to play with the cute new set.

CCEE1635 Bokeh Background

Another month, another CCEE Stampers hostess . . . and this month it's me!  I started off the month with a simple background technique challenge -- Bokeh Background.  You can find a tutorial for this technique here on Splitcoaststampers:  http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/resources/tutorials/bokehbackground/   I put a strip of washi tape around the edge of my card base, and then sponged on the circles.  After pulling off the washi tape, I added the sentiment and glued on the butterfly die cut.

I really like this background, and I hope you'll check out the CCEE Stampers blog to see how the rest of the team handled it.

MFP Stamp Shop Butterflies & Bugs Blog Hop Day 1

WELCOME  
TO MFP STAMP SHOP

Bugs and Butterflies
 BLOG HOP

 Watch out for creepy crawlies !

JOIN US EACH DAY, April 26-29 FOR A BUTTERFLY KISSES GOOD TIME!   WE'LL HAVE  TUTORIALS AND DT INSPIRATION. THERE WILL BE PRIZES FOR LEAVING COMMENTS ON THE DESIGN TEAM'S BLOGS AND PRIZES FOR TRYING OUR TUTORIALS.  YOU WILL HAVE 2 WEEKS TO ADD YOUR PROJECT TO THE APRIL 29th POST FOR US TO SEE, SO THERE IS NO EXCUSE NOT TO JOIN IN THE FUN. 

Please Hop along with us!! 
 You could win one of the MFP Stamp Shop BUGS AND BUTTERFLIES related STAMP SETS.   Just comment on the participating blogs (don't forget this one) each day for more chances to win!  (You do NOT need to comment on on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly.)  Try one of the tutorials shown during the Hop and add your photo to the Inlinkz at the bottom of the APRIL 29 MFP Stamp Shop post. The winners will be announced on MAY 14, 2016, on the MFP Stamp Shop 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 and posting pics of your projects is Friday, May 13, 2016 at 10:00 PM EST.

Tutorials
April 27-- Flower Arranging by Sandy
April 29-- Retiform by Pat

Let's get started !!

In addition to the butterflies and bugs, my theme for this month's blog hop will be different ink backgrounds.  Today I'm showing the Bokeh background.  Bokeh is actually a photographic technique described as the aesthetic quality of the blur produced in the out-of-focus parts of an image produced by a lens.  Bokeh has been defined as "the way the lens renders out-of-focus points of light."  It is produced on a card by using sponge daubers of different sizes in different colors. 

The MFP Stamp Shop sets I used on this card were Swallowtail and Oopsy Daisy.

Here's the Design Team:

Bonnie
Gail

 Karen
Kren
Lois   (that's me)
Marilynn

Pat
Pam
Sandy 

Shirley

Toni

Vickie

MFP Stamp Shop 

Enjoy the Hop. Come back each day. We hope to inspire you to start your own Butterflies and Bugs projects.  Get to work on the tutorials, show us what you made by May 13th and check back on May 14, 2016, to see if you are a winner. 

CCEE1545 - Look for Circles Day

Frances is our CCEE Stampers hostess for the month of November, and she tells us that November 2nd was Look for Circles Day.  We were to create a card featuring circles -- how many can we include on our card?  I'm not sure how many circles are on this card, and to tell the truth I don't think I want to try to count them.  When I saw the word "circles" in the challenge description, the words "bokeh technique" screamed in my ear.  I had to make a baby shower card for a friend of my daughter's, who is having a little girl.  My daughter showed me a photo of the baby's room and it was sort of pinky-peach and aqua.  So I decided to make that card for my CCEE card today.

Check out the CCEE Stampers blog and see how many circles are on there today.

CCEE1530 - Watercolor Bokeh

Lynn continues as the hostess for the CCEE Stampers this week and gave us a technique challenge -- Watercolor Bokeh.  I have done some cards using the Bokeh technique, but never with water coloring (not my strong suit!).  So this was definitely a challenge.  I followed the tutorial on Splitcoaststampers, which helped somewhat.  I'm not completely happy with this; but, as the saying goes, it is what it is.

Hopefully, the rest of the team had better luck with this technique.  Check out the CCEE Stampers Blog to find out how well they accomplished this task.

MFP Blog Hop Day 1 - Gardenia

Welcome to the MFP Stamp Shop

March Blog Hop

 We're a little late this month due to delivery of our new stamps. 

But we made it before the end of the month so let's get started!!!!

This month's new Stamp Set Releases are:

Featured March 31

Gardenia

Featured April 01

Pirates

Featured April 02

Pirates 2

Featured April 03

Mushroom Selections

Please Hop along with us!! You have a chance to win one of these new stamp sets! Just comment on the design team members' blogs (don't forget this one) each day for more chances to win! ( You do NOT need to comment on on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly.) The winner will be announced on April 04, 2015,  on the MFP Stamp Shop 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 Friday, April 03, 2015, at 10:00 PM EST.

Let's get started !!

I'm going to show some different background techniques with several of my cards for this month's hop.  My first card using today's set, Gardenia, demonstrates a technique called Bokeh.  This is actually a photographic technique, using blurred lighting behind the focal image of a picture.  To achieve a similar look, I used sponge daubers in two different sizes and three different colors for the background.

My second card today uses scraps of coordinating patterned paper to create a background.  The sentiment is from another MFP Stamp Shop set, Lots of Words.

Please visit the rest of the team members' blogs and comment for a chance to win a free stamp set. Here's the Design Team:

Lois  (that's me)

Pat

Pam Mc

Pam T 

Jane

Janine

Marilynn

Sue

Toni

Karen

Sandy

Vickie

Shirley

MFP Stamp Shop 

Enjoy the Hop. Come on back tomorrow for more creative fun!!