clean and simple cards...

 Hello!  Popping in with two clean and simple cards today.  First up is a card for Color Throwdown, Freshly Made Sketches and the Pinkfresh Studios monthly challenge.   The idea to use my Pinkfresh ink cubes for my squares came from my friend, Greta.  She shared a card on Instagram where she used ink cubes to add squares of color.  I thought it would be perfect for the layout of Freshly Made Sketches.  I initially tried it with just pressing the colors on to scrap cardstock, but I didn't like that everything came out a little too wonky.  So I decided to press the colors (Sapphire, Slumber and Key Lime) on to white cardstock and die cutting with a small square Spellbinders dies.  I layered the squares on to a white cardstock panel and then added the sentiment (from a very old Pinkfresh Studio stamp set) and then added the leafy branch die cut from orange glitter cardstock.   I also added white crystal gems from the Spellbinders Essentials Crystal mix gems pack and the little white baker's twine bow.   And yes... I stuck faithfully to the sketch!  Sometimes when you have an idea that is a good as this one you just need to go with it!

This next card is for the MFT Design Superstar challenge.  I love creating clean and simple cards and so I had to play along with the challenge.  I used the MFT Spread Your Wings mini stamp set and matching dies.  I stamped 3 of the butterflies in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colors with Copic markers in shades of blue-green.   After coloring and die cutting the butterflies I added some silver Nuvo Crystal Drops to the bodies of the butterflies as well as little dots on the wings.  Then I figured out how I wanted to arrange the butterflies on my card front.  I used two retired MFT die sets (Mini Stitched Scalloped rectangles and ovals) for the main panel and the small oval.  I was going to use a light gray panel, but decided to go with all white in the background so the butterflies would pop.  I arranged them in a manner that draws in your eye and adhered them to the card front along with the sentiment.  I almost added more dots of the Nuvo drops, but decided that in this case less is more!

Thanks for stopping by and have a lovely day!

Cards for MFT...

 Hey there!  I'm popping in with a couple of cards that I made for some MFT challenges.  Their annual card design superstar contest is going on.  I decided to challenge myself and enter the coloring virtuoso contest, as well as the clean and simple challenge.  First up is the card for the coloring challenge.  I have a lot of MFT's beautiful floral stamp sets and I used the Rose Garden set to make my card.    I stamped the image on smooth bristol cardstock with VersaFine CLAIR Nocturne and then colored with ZIG markers.  Because this is a coloring challenge I challenged myself to color the images using two very different colors.  I started by coloring the flowers using a pink ZIG and once that layer was dry I added in light yellow.  I pretty pleased with my coloring on this image.  I die cut a piece of white cardstock with a label die from MFT (I think it is no longer available) and then trimmed down the two pieces even further to widen the center.  I had inked up a piece of bristol with Speckled Egg distress oxide ink, die cut it with a mini scalloped rectangle die from MFT adhered it to the center of my card base and then trimmed down the sides.  I adhered the other pieces with foam tape and then added the rose image to the center.  The sentiment is from another MFT set and was embossed with white on vellum and die cut with an MFT fishtail banner die.  A larger fishtail banner was die cut, layered with the first one and adhered to the card front. 

The second card is for the clean and simple challenge for the Card Design Superstar.    For this card I used the super cute Stacey Yacula Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes.  This card is going to my sister-in-law who has a couple of turtles.  I stamped the little guy  and a cupcake on smooth bristol and colored with ZIGs just like I did with the first card.  After coloring everything I die cut the images with the matching dies.  I used another small rectangle die from MFT to cut the little piece behind the turtle and the cupcake.  I cut a strip of black and white striped patterned paper and adhered that on one side of my cardstock base.  I trimmed down a panel of white cardstock and adhered that to the front with foam tape.  I then created a messy loop of black thread, adhered the rectangle on top and then added the turtle and cupcake.   The sentiment from the same set was stamped on a fishtail banner with Nocturne ink, trimmed down to fit the design and adhered.  

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!   I just have to say that I really dislike the new blogger!   I don't know why they had to fix it when it wasn't broken!  

flowers and hearts...

Hello!  Popping in with a couple of cards for a few challenges.  Currently MFT has their Card Design Superstar contest going on.  I don't consider myself a card design superstar, but it is good to challenge yourself to take on something that can help you improve your skills and to that end my first card is for their coloring virtuoso challenge.  I'm not a coloring virtuoso by any stretch of the imagination, but thanks to videos by the very talented Kristina Werner I have substantially improved by coloring skills to the point where I have more confidence to try things like no line watercoloring.   I inked up the MFT Flowers in Bloom stamp set with Antique Linen distress ink and stamped it on the smoother side of the Ken Oliver watercolor paper.  I then colored all the flowers with the Coral Crush color from the Ken Oliver/MFT Fresh Flowers Color Burst Trio.   I colored the stems with the Jellybean Green.  Once the image was dry I then added in some additional shadows with coral and brown Faber-Castell Polychromos color pencils.  The image was then die cut with the matching die.  I decided to use the current MFT sketch for my layout so I will also be posting the card there.  The banners were die cut with a fishtail flag stax die and the sentiment (from the Stacy Yacula Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes set) was stamped in black ink. I did all my die cutting with my Gemini Jr.  I'm pretty pleased with how my coloring turned out and really enjoyed using the Color Burst medium.  Think I may need to get some additional colors!  (Compensated affiliate links used where possible.)

My next card is also for the Card Design Superstar contest.  This one in the clean and simple category.  I used the current FMS layout for my card, as well as the Paper Players challenge to use metallics on a clean and simple design.  I looked through my MFT dies and settled on a birthday theme using the Celebrate die, as well as a cute little heart shaped balloon die and the banner die from the Stacy Yacula Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes die set.  I die cut the balloons from a dark pink and orangy-pink metallic cardstock from Stampin Up!  Boy was it a bear trying to photograph those balloons!  The banner was die cut from silver.  I die cut the word celebrate three times from MFT smooth white cardstock and adhered them together with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive.   The balloons were then arranged on a panel of MFT Smooth white cardstock and adhered with the Deluxe Adhesive.  I then adhered the banner and the word celebrate also with deluxe adhesive.  All my die cutting was done with my Gemini Jr.  I finished by stamping the sentiment (also from Sending Sweet Celebration Wishes) on vellum with VersaMark watermark ink and embossing with silver embossing powder.   In retrospect I should have used black embossing powder as it is hard to see the sentiment, but over all I'm also pleased with how this card turned out.  (Compensated affiliate links used where possible.)

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful day!

rain or shine...

Hey there!  Fall is fast approaching and while we do not have the severe weather that is affecting the east coast our typical Pacific Northwest fall weather has arrived... rain.   So my card today is rather appropriate.  I used the MFT stamp set Rain or Shine along with the matching dies.  The 2018 MFT Design Super Star contest is going on right now and one of the categories is coloring virtuoso.    I'm not sure that I can call myself a coloring virtuoso, but I have been working on improving my coloring skills and to that end decided to enter as a challenge to myself.   MFT design team member and product designer Torico shared a video that showed how to do speedy coloring with Copics and color pencils.   Torico is definitely a coloring virtuoso and so I was able to pick up a few things from her and gave the technique a try.   Overall I think I did a fairly good job, but still have lots to learn when it comes to shadows, etc.   I used the sketch from the current MFT sketch challenge so I will be adding the card there, as well as to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge to pop it up.  I popped up lots of things on my card.   After coloring and die cutting everything I inked up the Stitched Mini Scallop rectangle with Lucky Clover and Broken China distress oxide ink.   The sentiment was stamped and die cut with a Slanted Sentiment strip.  Then I layered up all the images as you see on a panel of MFT smooth white cardstock and then added the panel to a light blue cardstock base.   For my color pencil coloring I used my small collection of Polychromos pencils and Prismacolor pencils.  The ink was Memento Tuxedo Black.

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT; Stamps and dies:  MFT; Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black; Coloring mediums:  Copic makers, Polychromos and Prisamcolor pencils

hello...

Hey there!  Popping in with a card for a few challenges:  MFT Design Superstar, Paper Players, Freshly Made Sketches and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge (pop it up... the strips are popped up).   As indicated the MFT Design Superstar challenge is happening right now and well... I just can't pass up a good challenge!  This card is for the clean and simple genius category.   I love a good clean and simple design and that is what this week's Fis all about!  I trimmed down some MFT smooth white cardstock into strips and then adhered strips of MFT silver glitter cardstock to the backs of each strip.  The butterfly (from the MFT Beautiful Butterflies stamp set) was stamped in the mint and blackberry colors per the Paper Players challenge and then die cut with the matching die. I wasn't really sure that I would like the mint and blackberry together, but I really do!   I adhered the strips with foam dots and then determined where I wanted the butterfly to be placed.  I stamped the word hello (part of a sentiment from the MFT Springtime Blooms stamp set) in Crumb Cake ink.   The butterfly was adhered and then I added the wood veneer butterflies to bring in a bit more of the crumb cake like color.  My fourth color per the PP challenge is silver.

Have a wonderful day!

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT smooth white and silver glitter; Stamps and dies:  My Favorite Things; Inks:  Hero Arts, Close to My Heart and Stampin Up!; Studio Calico veneer butterflies

delightful day...

Hello!!!  Wow... the week is almost over!!  I'm popping in with a card for several challenges:  MFT design superstar, MFT sketch challenge, SSS Wednesday challenge and Stamp, Ink, Paper challenge (watercoloring).   I am by no stretch of the imagination a coloring virtuoso, but I wanted to challenge myself to do some watercoloring and the MFT design superstar challenge was just the push I needed.  I got out my MFT Sweet Forest Friends stamps and dies and did some watercoloring.  I had to color the little fox twice because the first one didn't turn out so well, but I'm really pleased with my coloring since I hadn't really done any in quite some time.  After coloring up all my little critters with various ZIG markers I watercolored a panel of watercolor paper with a light blue ZIG and then part of  watercolor panel with two green ZIGs.  When dry both panels were die cut with the MFT Inside Out Stitched Round Rectangle dies.  I popped up the green portion on the blue background and then adhered the tree and the critters using more pop dots.  The sentiment was stamped on a scrap piece of watercolor paper that had been light colored with the same blue ZIG and then die cut with another MFT die.  I added a little bit of white baker's twine to finish things off.

i'm so jelly...

Hello!!  Hope you week is off to a good start.  I have a card that I made for the current MFT sketch challenge.  Since it is pretty clean and simple I'm also going to add this to the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday challenge.   I recently bought the fun MFT stamp and die set Ocean Fun and have been wanting to make a card with it.   When I started the card I was just going to have simple windows, but decided to change the windows to shaker elements.  I inked up my background with Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers distress oxide inks.  I trimmed down my white cardstock panel and then die cut the windows using a MFT Inside Out Stitched Round rectangle die.  Using removable tape I positioned the panel so that I could stamp the little background images inside the windows.  I adhered the acetate to the panel and created my little shakers.  The jellies were stamped using Salty Ocean and Peacock Feathers and then die cut them with the matching dies.  I used small pieces of the acetate to create little tabs to attached the jellies to the card.  This gives them a little bit of movement, but not as much as I had thought they would.  I think my acetate is too thick and thus too stiff.  Oh well... they still look cute.   I think I will also add this to the MFT design superstar challenge in the innovation category.  It isn't super innovative, but there will still be a chance to win $100 gc in the random draw.

Supplies:  Cardstock:  MFT white, PTI black; Stamps and dies:  MFT; Ink: Ranger Distress Oxide inks, VersaMark watermark ink; Hero Arts white embossing powder; clear acetate; sequin mix