Mark's Finest Papers - Blog Hop Day 4

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


Our New Sets are: In My Mother's Garden, Bearded Iris, Oh Boy, It's a Girl and Garden Fairies.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!***

What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, April 16, 2011.

***See the MFP blog for all the contest rules and PRIZES!


I'm not part of the official Blog Hop today, but thanks for stopping by to look at my creations. I had fun with the Garden Fairies set.

My card has lots of glitter. I had made a glitter card once before and loved the way it turned out, and I thought a fairy needed lots of glitter in her life. After making the background, I placed a sheet of acetate over the "frame" and attached it with the ribbon. Then I placed the stamped diecut on top of the acetate and added a little bling!




My box was made as a gift to a co-worker who has been having many health problems, and I wanted to make her feel a little better. She loves fairies -- has all kinds of them all over her office. I had received some Christmas cookies in the box and kept it because I liked the unusual shape. I just covered the lid and added the stamped fairy, which is colored with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. I wrapped some ribbon around the edge of the lid and across the top, adding a bow and a flower. I gave it to her last week, and she loved it. I am so glad!





My brother-in-law gave me these Lladro-like clowns for Christmas many years ago.




Be sure to visit the "official" blog hop stops and comment in order to be eligible to win a guest designer position for Mark's Finest Papers. Be sure to check out the MFP Swap on Splitcoast. If you have any MFP stamps, you might like to join us.

Emily-

Karen-

Patty-

Roxie-

Vicki-

Liz:

Claudine-

Dawn-

Nicole -

Marilynn-

Peggysue-

Connie –

Emily N.-

Neva

Silvia

Patricia

Chrissy

Guest Designer, Lillian

Mark’s Finest Papers

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

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


Our New Sets are: In My Mother's Garden, Bearded Iris, Oh Boy, It's a Girl and Garden Fairies.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!***

What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, April 16, 2011.

***See the MFP blog for all the contest rules and PRIZES!

My first card for today's set, In My Mother's Garden, is for both the MFP Blog Hop and the Stampin'Bs challenge. I was the hostess for this week's challenge -- my challenge was to use a square, a circle and an oval somewhere on your card. My square is obvious -- it's a square card. In addition, I used the lacey square Nestabilities die to make a border around the image panel. The circle also is pretty obvious -- the sentiment is on a circle nestie. The oval is a little less obvious. If you take a look at the top of the watering can, you will see it is an oval-shaped can. I hope that's not cheating. Of course, it's not cheating -- the hostess of the challenge would NEVER cheat!

I actually stamped the watering can twice, popping up the second (colored) image and adding some stickles to the flowers. The background paper is from Basic Grey's Green at Heart paper pad.





My second card needs very little explanation. After stamping the trellis I cut the top to go around the trellis and matted it with MFP Dark Chocolate Bar. All coloring was done with Prismacolor pencils and Gamsol. There are also stickles on the flowers of this card.




Like the clown on Tuesday's post, this clown was also made by my mother. (Crafting is in my genes, you see.) She knew I loved Elvis, so she found some material with Elvis' image all over it and made the stuffed clown. This trapeze is hanging in a corner of my dining room.






Be sure to check out the rest of the team's creations using In My Mother's Garden. Comment on each post to be in the running for a guest designer position with Mark's Finest Papers. And be sure to check out the MFP Swap on Splitcoast. If you have any MFP stamps, you might want to join us.



Lois (that's me)

Vicky

Dawn L.

Anne

Emily

Karen

Patty

Roxie

Vicki

Liz

Claudine

Dawn M

Nicole

Marilynn

Geri

Lynn

Neva

Silvia

Guest Designer, Lillian

Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers - Blog Hop Day 2

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


Our New Sets are: In My Mother's Garden, Bearded Iris, Oh Boy, It's a Girl and Garden Fairies.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY!

We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!***

What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, April 16, 2011. ***See the MFP blog for all the contest rules and PRIZES!


I recently joined Technique Junkies, a subscription newsletter, which is chock-full of fun techniques. My first card was made with one of these techniques. As you can see in the second photo, there are a series of messages tucked inside the card. This card set was originally made as a baby shower gift. However, baby had other ideas; and she was born by C-section the day before the baby shower! Inside the little can is a pair of baby socks. There is a tutorial on SCS for this pop top container.









My second card is a little simpler, with a color-blocked background, which I ran through my Cuttlebug using the Lattice Square embossing folder. I found some Colorbok Sticky Stitches somewhere (don't even remember where!) and ran strips along the edges of each of the different color blocks. I thought it sort-of looked like a baby blanket. The cute little giraffe panel is popped up on dimensionals.






In the real world I am a bookkeeper. My son Doug gave me this Emmett Kelly accountant figurine for Christmas one year. I actually have several Emmett Kelly clowns in my collection.





Be sure to visit all the participating blogs today and comment in order to be eligible for the opportunity to be a guest designer next month. And be sure to check out the MFP Swap on Splitcoast. If you have any MFP stamps, you might want to join us.

Lois (that's me)

Vicky

Dawn L.

Anne

Peggysue

Connie

Claudine

Dawn M.

Nicole

Marilynn

Geri

Lynn

Emily N.

Patricia

Chrissy

Guest Designer, Lillian

Mark’s Finest Papers

Mark's Finest Papers Blog Hop - Day 1

Welcome to the MFP April Blog Hop! This month, we are releasing 4 NEW SETS! Our New Sets are: In My Mother's Garden, Bearded Iris, Oh Boy, It's a Girl and Garden Fairies.For your convenience, all 4 stamp sets are available for purchase TODAY! We have a NEW Blog Candy Contest! BE A GUEST DESIGNER!*** What do you need to do to qualify? Just comment on the Design Team blogs during the blog hop. The winner will be announced on the Mark’s Finest Papers blog on Saturday, April 16, 2011.

*** See the MFP blog for all the contest rules and PRIZES! ***

My card for today's set, Bearded Iris, was made using the Delft Tile Technique, which was spotlighted on SCS a couple of week's ago. After following the tutorial directions for making the background, I cut a Labels Eight die cut in MFP Dark Night Navy and another one from the Snow Storm Smooth piece on which I had colored my large iris.

After seeing Geri's animal tiles she made using the MFP African Veldt set, I was inspired to use a set of coasters my sister had given me several years ago, which had sat dormant in my supply closet. I stamped the potted iris four times, coloring each one differently -- after I had Googled "Bearded Iris" on the internet to get four different varieties.

This is a photo of all four coasters.

I had shared some of my salt and pepper shaker collection with you previously, so I decided to share some of my clown collection too. This is the first clown I received. It was a gift from my mother, who did marvelous creations in ceramics. I have many of her pieces throughout my house.

Make sure you stop by all the design team's blogs and comment in order to be eligible for the wonderful opportunity to become a guest designer for Mark's Finest Papers.

Lois (that's me)
Vicky
Dawn L.
Anne
Peggysue
Connie
Emily
Karen
Patty
Roxie
Vicki
Liz
Geri
Lynn
Emily N.
Neva
Silvia
Patricia
Chrissy
Guest Designer, Lillian
Mark’s Finest Papers

Clowns, Clowns, Clowns

Today I'm posting something a little different. I thought I would explain my screen name -- Clownmom. For many years I have collected clowns -- big and small, glass and cloth. Here are a few of them.

This trio of clowns were made in the look of Lladro -- obviously they are not Lladro, but the muted colors give the same delicate feeling. My late brother-in-law gave them to me.

This court jester was also a gift. A former girlfriend of my son makes porcelain dolls. She is very talented, as you can see. This beauty stands in my living room.

I have worked in the association management business for over 30 years. About 20 years ago, we had a meeting in Sarasota, Florida -- the winter home of Ringling Brothers/Barnam and Bailey circus. The hotel representative gave each of the attendees one of these pewter clowns as a token. When he found out that I collect clowns, he gave me one of each of the designs.

I have several Emmett Kelly figureines. My son gave me this one -- an accountant. As I am a bookkeeper by trade, he thought it was appropriate.

My living room has a cathedral ceiling. My late husband put this shelf over the opening into the dining room. It was the perfect place for several of my "sitting" clowns.

Finally, the photo in the header of my blog is of a clown riding in the basket of a hot-air balloon -- which hangs in my living room. I'm the only person I know who has a hot-air balloon in her living room. I had always wanted to ride in a hot-air balloon; so for my 50th birthday, that's exactly what my late husband gave me. It was wonderful!

Thanks for letting me share another one of my passions with you today.