Ahhhh......

Settling in to watch the closing ceremonies tonight! What a ride Canada!

Teaser Day!

Today is "teaser" day at My Favorite Things....I adore this new sentiment set that will be released March 3rd....called "Clearly Sentimental About You"! There are a lot of SWEET sentiments in this set, all of which have a mix in fonts like you see here.
I was inspired by the TUESDAY TRIGGER at Moxie Fab World when I made this card. The design in the patterned paper spoke to me. I used a spellbinder die to cut these shapes out of Melissa Frances patterned paper, lightly sanded the edges to reveal the white core and popped them up with dimensional foamie.
Why not stamp on twill! I used versacraft ink (which is intended for fabric) to stamp on my cotton twill. I liked how the sentiment speaks of "light", when I think of "light" the color that comes to mind is definitely yellow.

Here is the original inspiration from Kimbery Crawford!


















To check out and see the other MFT teasers check out Kim's Blog for the entire list!

Have a great day!

Taylored Expressions Challenge #102!

My daughter chuckled when she saw this card..."but mom....mennonites don't dance". Heeheehee, maybe it is better said that we don't dance well....but in my mind's eye my dancing dress would twirl like this one! She was so much fun to color with all those pleats!
This is a new set by My Favorite Things called "Dance the night away".
I paired her up with some "ever after" Cosmo Cricket paper, I just love the combo of grey with tangerine.
A little close up of the copic marker coloring. I added some ground with my multiliner pen. Can you see all the fun shadowing under her skirt? Love open images like this to color. This paper was white to start. To finish off the image I airbrushed Y31 and then added a little W3 on top of that. The pearls.....wow those were just fun to add...a girl needs to have accessories!

In following Taylor's sketch I let the bottom panel be my main image panel and the small little panel became my sentiment "panel".

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Make a Difference















Olympic note:
Couldn't help but cry during the Canadian's figure skating performance....I feel such compassion for her and am proud of her at the same time. Amazing what she has done despite circumstances!
Although I am sad to see the olympics come to a close....I think my laundry and other neglected duties have piled up enough...time to slowly get back to regular life (not that that is a bad thing)!

Have a great weekend! (GO CANADA)!

Lovely Lace

Lovely Lace....I have so many things that I HAVE to do but in my morning blog travels this morning Julia posted a challenge that well.....my "have to's" got pushed aside.
LACE! Ok, you know that anything in the fabric vein reels me in. I had this left over eyelet trim from when I did curtains in my daughters room when she was a baby....ok that is 14 years ago!
I paired up this darling pure innocence girl with my Melissa Frances products and I love how sweet it turned out. Makes me yearn for all the beautiful freshness of spring.
Here is a close shot of the copic coloring. I used my multiliner to add a little more "ground" to the image. I added a few shots of airbrushing for the sky and a few highlights of spica pens for some shimmer.
Here are all the card deets:
Stamps
Bloomin' good day (Pure Innocence) by My Favorite Things
Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Patterned Paper (Melissa Frances)
White (Neenah)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Black Multiliner and Air Brush System (Copic)
Resin Flourish, Lace ribbon, Rub-on Sentiment (Melissa Frances)
Eyelet Lace (My sewing bin)
Blossom DIe (Spellbinders)

Olympic Note: Yesterday was an AMAZING olympic day for Canada! I did a HUGE pot of hamburger soup yesterday in the afternoon because I knew from 4pm on I would be glued to the TV.
The Canada/Russia game was awesome! It was so great to see our team dig in hard and play some fantastic "Canadian" hockey! The women's bobsled teams topped the podium! Clara Hughes did an amazing job of her long distance speed skating too! I'm sure the streets in Vancouver were buzzing last night!
Way to go Canada....our best olympic showing yet!

See you tomorrow for Taylor's Sketch Challenge!

Game night

Do you love to play games? Our family does a lot of it's communication when we sit down together and play a game. My dad and I visit around a competitive game of cribbage. We will sometimes invite other families over to our house for a "game" night....I thought these would make fun invites!
I am LOVING this new scrapblock from CHF "Crossword". I love that I can make it any color I want! Instead of my crossword being black I stamped it in aqua ink over the fun new "garden variety" paper from Cosmo Cricket. I played up the black and white theme from a crossword into the letters...they just jump off the page....I love that!
Gotta have dinner too! The sweet little oven is from the Kim Hughes Collection "Baked with Love" and I covered some dinner themed chipboard with patterned paper too.

Here are some of the "copic" details I wanted to point out.
I added the same B02 marker from my oven towel around the perimeter of my chipboard. I also didn't have an "N" so I stole one from another letter set and used my marker to make it black.
I colored my oven with a series of grays....C00, C3, C5.

Here are all the card deets:
Stamps:
Crossword (Scrapblocks), Baked with Love (KH) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Aqua Versacraft, Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Garden Variety (Cosmo Cricket)
White (Neenah)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Black Multiliner pen (Copic)...to hand draw the "&"
Chipboard oven mitt (Maya Road)
Chipboard and tiny type letters (Cosmo Cricket)
Jewelry Twine


Olympic Note.....did you see the pairs dance last night! WOW! That young couple sure delivered! It was also really heartwarming to see the friendship shared between the American and Canadian teams!
Big Hockey game tonight....we'll see if we can get r' done!

Birthday Girl!

Going to a little 1 year old party today! Who doesn't love a little pink when you are 1!
I wrapped up special goodies....(official olympic mittens and a little book).
Here is a closer look at the card. I actually colored this image "Apple for you" by My Favorite Things when I was in Anaheim at the Copic booth and hadn't used her on a card yet....
I love the new little type letters that Cosmo Cricket is now carrying, I used them to spell out her name.
See the sweet little flowers I made with my blender pen....then just added dots of chocolate spica pen in the centers.

Just a quick post today....off to party with the little one and then sit back and watch men's olympic hockey....GO CANADA! Should be interesting in the streets in Vancouver tonight..as they play team USA. We are really close to the border and there have been a ton of people coming across today.....should be exciting!

Special Friday Sketch!

Where do you find your inspiration? There are many places for me....A photo, a sketch, a purpose....
A photo...
Here is a beautiful photo that I found on one of my favorite blogs....Melissa Phillips' "Lilybean's Paperie". What gorgeous inspiration, I just LOVED the subtle color combo!

A sketch...
You can scroll down and see Taylor's sketch challenge, I flipped the sketch on it's side and had my twill flowers act as my "square" panel. The twill flowers I made with regular 1" twill (that I had tea dyed). The blue panel is a gorgeous background stamp from Cornish Heritage Farms called Vintage Chintz. The music paper is from our piano bench...one of the books that is in pieces anyway. The stem of the flower I gathered with a basting stitch and I cut a couple of petals out of my white twill which I then airbrushed with my YG91 copic marker.

A purpose....

Taylor is kicking off a dragonfly card drive. You can send in cards featuring a dragonfly image in exchange for an entry to win a $50 gift certificate to the TE Store. She'll be giving away one $50 gift certificate per 50 cards she receives.
The cards are being donated to the neonatal intensive care unit at Sanford Hospital in Sioux Falls, SD. This is where Taylor's sister in law and a good friend from high school work as labor and delivery nurses. They give cards and memorabilia featuring dragonflies to families who lose a child in birth or during the early stages of life.
What a meaningful calling! Complete details you can find on Taylor's Blog.




Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Make a Difference

We are checking out some of the olympic buzz this weekend! I am so looking forward to heading into the city! Wishing you a fabulous weekend!

MFT Blog Hop!

Welcome to the MFT blog hop! If you have come here from Melody's blog you are hoppin' just fine! If you are a regular visitor to my blog you will want to start from the beginning...a very good place to start....Kim's Blog is the start of the hop!
How fun to play with a new set that is being released TODAY! This bunny (too sweet for words) is one of the many images in an adorable new set called "What's Crackin'?". It is another fabulous set by Stephanie Fizer for My Favorite Things! You can find this set HERE!
I wanted to make a cute little tag/card combo...this way whomever I give this to can take the tag off and use it for themselves as well!
See how the cute lil' tag detaches? The base card still looks cute too! I had to use my new garden variety paper from Cosmo Cricket, who could resist those carrots....not the bunny!
The large grommet is from my sewing stash, I like the very large eye it creates, it makes room to string lots of my twill.

Here is a close shot of the image. I hadn't cleaned up from yesterday's watercoloring with my copics so I decided to give this little bunny the watercolor copic treatment. I love how soft he looks!

Since we are doing the bunny hop here.....HOP on over to SUSAN'S BLOG as I am sure she has dreamed up some awesome blog goodness!
Happy Hopping!

Gold, baby, Gold!

If you are Canadian I think it would be almost impossible not to be celebrating today! Whoops and Hollers came from our family room last night as we watched a Canadian skier take GOLD! The first one for Canada on Canadian soil! YEAH! So.....I celebrated in the best way I know how...to color and create a card for the event. See how my black flourish has a "C" shape for canada. I decked out my little "Flurry of Love" Pure Innocence girl from My Favorite Things in true olympic ware. I used my 0.1 multiliner to write CANADA on her toque.
Here is a close up of her. I stamped her in versamark ink and embossed her in GOLD (of coarse). I used my copics like watercolors.

Here you can see my little plastic palette and I filled my water brush with copic blender solution. A great look you can achieve using your refills this way! It is going into my little book that I carry around to certification events....PROUD to be CANADIAN!

Off to watch more Olympics...the men take the downhill ski hill today and the pairs free skate is today as well....you can tell how I will be spending a lot of my time in the next two weeks!
Hope you are having a good one!

100 Sketch Challenges! Video Tutorial

Wowie! We are at 100 sketches for Taylor's Friday Sketch Challenges! We can't let this occasion go by without celebrating a little! Taylor has some fun prizes up her sleeve all you need to do is play along and post this banner on your blog, please go to TAYLOR'S blog to get the code.
Taylor is giving away one $25 gift certificate to a random participant and FIVE $25 certificates to the top 5 cards judged by the Taylored Expressions Sketch Crew (that includes me)!

Here is my inspiration with the #100 sketch. I paired up many of my favorite things.
MELISSA FRANCES papers and rub-ons
MY FAVORITE THINGS pure innocence girl
SPELLBINDER dies
COPIC PRODUCTS!
A couple things to note: Rub-on sentiments are fabulous! They stick to uneven surfaces and even to twill...like I did here!
Sewing on paper adds such a pretty vintage touch. To sew around the circle....just go slow and keep lifting your presser foot (with the needle in the down position) and shifting your paper. I did this about every 5 stitches or so.
Try to do all your pencil coloring (like I did for the shadowing around my girl) AFTER you are all done your marker coloring. This way you won't be in danger of clogging your nibs with the waxy residue of the pencil.
Here is a close shot of the main image....I colored her with copic markers, then I shadowed around her with my prismacolor pencils and while my circle die was still in place I airbrushed a very soft BV0000 to change my white paper to a soft lavender.
I was meaning to post this tutorial last week on how I color skin tones....so I finally got to it.
The video is a little dark, as the day is really rainy and gloomy here, but you get the idea...
Here is the video version of coloring skin:


Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
And welcome too a new sketch girl.....LORI CRAIG! Woohoo! I love Lori to bits and I'm sure you will enjoy her fabulous takes on the sketches as well!

I hope you all enjoy your weekend....I'm looking forward to the OPENING CEREMONIES and the OLYMPIC EVENTS here in the next two weeks! I think we will venture into the city next week and check out all the VANCOUVER highlights!

You're Sweet!

How about something fresh and fruity....ahhhh strawberries! I miss the summer fruits right now, when they sit warm and ripe on the counter just waiting to be inhaled. Oh, and the fragrance of them! I just love these berries with a little personality! They are from the Feelin' Fruity set at My Favorite Things. I thought they matched my chipboard piece really well from the Garden Variety Collection at Cosmo Cricket!
I colored the strawberries with my copic markers and then used my multiliner to doodle around my die cut and I doodled the little black scallops on my chipboard piece as well. I didn't have any black pearls...therefore the joy of copics that I could color them black!

I am loving this gaffer tape as well. It was perfect as I just wanted a strip across the front and it "stays put" so well!
Here are all the deets:
Stamps:
Feelin' Fruity (Stephanie Fizer) by My Favorite Things
Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Garden Variety (Cosmo Cricket)
Aqua, White Card Stock (Papertrey Ink)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Pearls (Kaisercraft)
Gaffer Tape (7 Gypsies)
Black SP Multiliner, Black Spica Pen (Copic)
Flower (Prima)
Blossom Die (Spellbinders)

More Stampendous!

Hi! Back with more Stampendous fun today....Love these little "build your own scene" kind of sets....this one was perfect for making a shaker card filled with little micro beads. Colored in with my copics of coarse!
I combined a few stamps for this card. A beautiful wood mounted sentiment, a clear flourish set and butterfly set....a little bit of glitter for the butterfly too.
I went for a clean simple look here....love the butterflies stamped in vanilla pigment ink. The main butterfly I stamped into my essentials glue pad then covered it with stampendous glitter.
This was my favorite one of the lot....My life as a taxi driver these days! Yes, the monkey is waving out the window...not gesturing (lol). I paired this image up with Cosmo Cricket "boyfriend collection" paper.
Ending with something simple and sweet. The fun little stamped trail behind this bee made me think that she needed a trail of jewels too!
So there you have it...another five cards in one day, now if I could only create them as fast as it is to post them....now that would be the ticket!

Have a great day!

Stampendous Catalog

I had fun creating some cards for the new Stampendous catalog! Today and tomorrow I will show you some of the fun stuff I created!
Who doesn't love robots? I wanted to make a valentine themed robot card. This is a set where all the pieces are stamped separately so that you can "build your own" robot.
I used copic markers to color these cute metal bots....
This cute changito monkey is one of my favorite characters in the stampendous line. Here is a little bit of a "scrappy" card with Cosmo Cricket's Cogsmo paper collection.
Here I mimicked the shape of the changito using my nestablities from spellbinders. I wanted a cleaner look that focused on the image and the coloring.
One of my favorites where I used a piece of denium and incorporated it into my design. I also added a little bit of stampendous' flock to the changito. A definite "touch and feel" card.

Make sure you stop by tomorrow where I will show you another series of cards I did for Stampendous! Have a good one!

Copic Winner and Certification Dates

First off congrats to the winner of some copic sparkle!

Barbara said....
As always, your card is gorgeous! I am brand new to Copics so I would love to add these to my collection! Thank you for the generous offer!
:-) Barbara

Barbara, please e-mail me with your mailing info so that I can get that off to copic...congrats!

I thought I would also let you in on my updated certification line up. I have store (card classes) visits lined up for Calgary, Alaska and Boise when I am out in those areas so watch for those as well.

Certifications:
Portland Oregon Sunday March 28th
Calgary Alberta Sunday April 18th (Certification), Saturday April 17 (card classes at Scrapbookers Paradise)
Anchorage Alaska Sunday May 23rd , Saturday May 22nd evening card class
Vancouver BC Sunday May 30th
Boise Idaho Sunday June 13th , Saturday June 12th (card classes)
Seattle Washington Sunday June 27th

July and August tentative plans for Spokane WA, Kelowna BC and Prince George BC....I have yet to set dates for these.

I'm off to play a little with my stamps:)

Taylored Expressions Challenge #99!

Whew! It's friday!
Seems like a very strange week, playing catch up from CHA and then on wednesday we went to see Billy Joel and Elton John in concert in Seattle. It was an AWESOME concert but I can tell I am aging because it was 2am when we got home and my ears were ringing as I laid my head down to sleep. Needless to say thursday came very early and my body didn't "spring" out of bed like I thought it should....ah, I'm not in my teens anymore...or my 20's for that matter...lol!
Being back in the swing of things again means back to the fun friday sketches that Taylor challenges us with! I have done cute a lot lately so it was time to hit "pretty vintage".
I thought this might make a nice valentines card for my hubby....he likes the vintage/classic looks that I do. The papers are by Jenni Bowlin, the rub-on sentiment and that beautiful resin frame are by Melissa Frances.
Here is a little close up so that you can see I colored this stamp of the month bird called "Spring Song" by Cornish Heritage Farms with my copic markers. I also added a bit of clear and black spica pen before adding a top layer of glossy accents glaze.
I love that you see the text of the patterned paper through my bird!

Speaking of spica pens....don't forget you have till 7pm EST to enter for your chance to win a SET of spica pens HERE!

Here are all my card deets:
Stamps:
Spring Song (SOTM) by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Black, White (Bazzill)
Patterned Paper (Jenni Bowlin)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Black, Clear Spica pens (Copic)
Oval die (Spellbinders)
Ribbon (SEI)
Rub-on, Resin Frame (Melissa Frances)
Glossy Accents (Ranger)
Sewing

Here is the sketch so you can play along in TAYLOR'S challenge.
Don't forget to see what the rest of the sketch crew came up with:
Jami Sibley: More is More
Monika Davis: M.A.D. Stamper
Lynn Mercurio: Stamperosity
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow

Enjoy your weekend...we are going to have some super bowl fun here....lots of snacks and sweets and coarse my favorite HOMEMADE pizza!
See you next week!

MFT Blog Hop!

Welcome to Februarys' official blog hop and shop event for My Favorite Things!
If you have traveled here from Melody's blog you are traveling the right blog hop path. If you are a regular visitor of mine you will want to start at the beginning of the hop....which is KIM! Make sure you comment along the way as there are blog goodies being doled out somewhere on the hop!
When I received February's releases this was the very first image I just HAD to stamp and then I saved it all the way till today to show it to you. I just LOVE all the wide open spaces to color on these "Jolinne" images from MFT! To have the room to show pretty shading and blending just makes my heart sing! I paired this sweet fairy up with Melissa Frances products (paper, ribbon and pearl). Rounded the corners and sewed my finished image on.
Here is a close shot so that you can see the detail. I will be showing a video upcoming sometime this month on how to color skin with copics....I had a lot of people stop and ask me about that at CHA.
Fun little detail shot of her wings. I stamped the image twice. Once on card stock that I colored and then again on vellum. I cut out the vellum wings and attached them to my image. I went over them with a mint spica pen and created a swirl design as well.
I love that when you look at her wings the color from underneath is softened....



I also wanted to let you know about the "Cherry on Top" promotion!

Cherry on Top Reward: This reward is for our most loyal MFT fans!
*When you purchase 7 full-sized stamp sets ($15.95 or $17.95 price point), on top of earning the Triple Scoop set of the month, you'll also choose ANY set on the site for FREE.
Simply add the "Cherry on Top" product to your cart and specify the set of your choice in the comments section of your order. (Two $9 sets count as one full-sized set, so you can mix and match sets of different price points to reach your desired reward level.)
*If your Cherry on Top reward set is out of stock at the time your order is filled, you will be sent a gift voucher for the amount of the set you chose.

Well, you are nearly at the end of the hop....inspired?! I know I am!
Now you need to go and visit a girl that I would consider the "cherry on top" for MFT!
Go and see what awesome creation MEL has come up with!