MFT Design Team Reveals!

As of July 1st My Favorite Things is announcing it's 3 teams!
I am proud and honored to announce that I will be staying another term with MFT....rough choice (I know)...lol! I am on MFT design team...but there are 2 other teams you may not be aware of. They are the Scrap & Arts team and the Challenge team. To see the complete lists and their members you can find them on Kim's Blog Today!
To celebrate my spot with the team I thought I would post this little card.
The sentiment is where I was inspired with the "heart" theme. I took some of MFT's fabulous felt and cut a heart shape using 2 sizes of my heart nestabilities.
I stamped and colored "Snow Day" by MFT with my copic markers. I then stitched on the felt heart.

Here is a little close up of the copic coloring. I used RV42 and RV0000 for the coat and R24, 27,29 for the mittens and scarf. The hair is E57, 59 and the skin E50, E21 with a little R20 for the cheeks. I used BG0000 and faded it away to white with my blender pen for the background.

We celebrate Canada Day today....so I will be off to watch my son march in his school marching band for the parade! Happy Canada Day to my Canadian Friends!

Quite the Pear

Here is a playful design. I stamped my pear image in vanilla pigment ink and then embossed with clear powder. I used YG21, YG25 to color my pears.
Yes, you can color on so much more than white paper....copics look really neat on kraft card stock!
I used some of the same alphabet chipboard as yesterdays post but today I took my YG21 marker to them so that they would match. A little bit of twill tied up with a button and the fun gingham patterned paper and that was all there was to it!
Here are all the card deets:
Stamps:
Feelin' Fruity (My Favorite Things)
Ink:
Vanilla Pigment Palette (Papertrey Ink), Black Brilliance (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Kraft, White (Neenah)
Material Girl (Cosmo Cricket)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Chipboard Letters (Cosmo Cricket)
Twill Tape
Button (Making Memories)
Clear Detail Embossing Powder (Stampendous)
Twine

I'm off to my son's school awards day....the last official day of school! Let the summer begin.....although I think someone needs to explain this to our weather system....it has been a cold summer so far....
See you tomorrow!

U ROCK SEATTLE!

What a fabulous weekend I had in Seattle! The copic certification was a blast and all the women were so friendly and fun! Plus.....the venue was perfect....really close to lots of shopping (including a fabulous stamp store)!

Here is a really fun card...this is kind of what my kids looked like in the back seat of the car on the way to Seattle (glued to their itouches).
I echoed the fun dots in the cardstock in the bean bag chair by using my blender pen to create the little dot pattern. I also used my blender pen to fade out her pants.
Here are the rest of the card deets:
Stamps:
Tweeny Tween Rock On (PI) by My Favorite Things
Ink:
Tuxedo Black Memento (Tsukineko)
Paper:
Core Impressions Card Stock (Cosmo Cricket)
White, Black (Neenah)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Dymo Label Gun
Chipboard Stickers (Cosmo Cricket)
Journal Tag (Cosmo Cricket)
Circle Die (Spellbinders)
Sanding Block

I seem to have lost most of my voice so I am spending the day quietly unpacking in my studio....getting it ready for more creative time this week.
Happy Monday!

Sketch Friday!

Happy Friday! I am off to Seattle this weekend to teach a copic certification! Oh how I love my job....coloring all day.....
I can't quite seem to get enough of this little cutie....She is "Make mine a double" from My Favorite Things! She is paired up with all my new Melissa Frances goodies! Isn't that rub-on just perfect for her....
The paper line is called Vintage Posy and is a perfect fit for this Pure Innocence line of stamps!
I also used my Jumbo Scallop Die-namics die to cut the little felt border...both the felt and the die are from MFT.
Here is a little close up of the copic coloring detail. I love that I can color in my rub-on's too!
The hair is E53, 57 and 59. The skin is my stand-by colors of E50, E21 and R20 for the cheeks.

You are going to want to play along for sure this week as Taylor is offering up a stamp set to the cutest 3 creations! The deadline to enter is Thursday, July 1st at 10pm PST and the winners will be announced on Friday July 2nd during out next sketch challenge.

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
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

Hope your weekend is as colorful as mine!

You are my Sunshine...

My only sunshine, you make me happyyyy when skies are grey....
The sun is trying really hard to peek out today...
Here is a card made by teaming up Melissa Frances paper products, My Favorite Things stamps and of course...my copics! 3 Things that make my creative sun shine!
How did I make the image match my ribbon and papers? You will have to keep scrolling for that.
I used the Ella paper from the Vintage Posy Line by Melissa Frances as well as MF rub-on sentiments.
This is Fairy Sweet Jolinne by MFT.
Here is a close up of my copic coloring. For a final little bling on the wings I added some doodlebug glitter. She is cut out using the spellbinder blossom die (one of my favorites!).
How did I get it all matchy, matchy? I took the same BV04 that I used to color her dress and made my own little shimmer spray.....There is a video on how to do this here.
Today I did a few photos on how I colored my ribbon.
Here are the ingredients to make my shimmer spray. I used about 1cc of my refill and the rest of the liquid was blender....
Just a little aside.....see all the ink down the side of my refill......this is what happens when you are squeezing the bottle while opening it at the same time! I'm not kidding at certifications when I say to work over a craft sheet!
I added about 2 pea size amount of Forever Violet Perfect Pearls by Ranger....oh what a pretty shimmer this adds!
Here is my finished solution....don't forget to label it!
I bought 100 yds of 100% rayon seam binding. I just clipped off a generous amount then spritzed it on....it helps to work on a craft sheet so that you can gather up all the extra ink spray.
Since I was not going for the purple hand look today I decided to wear some gloves while giving my ribbon a good squeeze to crinkle it. It dries nice and quick due to the alcohol ink....love that!

Now my ribbon matches my image perfectly! I wasn't done with my spritzer though.....I also sprayed the edges of my card and the matted blossom die behind my image.

I love to make more use out of my reinkers this way....if you have them....might as well use em'!

Have a great day!

Moxie Monday!

Happy Monday! Today I just felt like stamping.....not much else. I wanted to throw retro/vintage images together with a modern layout design. Kinda fun! This is the "Bicycle Life" set from Cornish Heritage Farms. I love these vintage bikes! I stamped them randomly in gray, orange, turquoise and ultramarine versacraft ink on light blue card stock.
Sometimes these clean design are the hardest to get the balance right. I tried to make sure that my darkest color (ultra marine) showed up 3 times. The sentiment, bike and the chipboard button (one of my favorites from Jenni Bowlin).
When doing a clean design you also want to keep in mind where your eye moves on your layout. Here I wanted my eye to start in the top left and keep moving down to the bottom right...this is why I stamped my lightest color in the middle so that my eye would keep moving.
I played along in the MOXIE FAB WORLD challenge.....as I couldn't pass up on playing with the bicycle theme!
Hope you all had a great weekend!

A Very Special Weekend Offer!

Many of you have read THIS post about Eric’s battle with cancer and the impact it’s having on the Liles family. Susan Liles designs for MFT, TCP and VERVE, and all three companies have banded together in a fund-raising effort that also benefits YOU!

By shopping at either TCP, VERVE, and/or MFT, you can save 10% now through Sunday, June 20th.

In addition, the three companies are donating a portion of the proceeds for the next three days directly to Susan and Eric so they can devote their energy and time toward healing and caring for their children and not worrying about how to pay for rising medical bills.

The MFT Deets:

The code for MFT to save 10% is SusieQ. You’ll enter it at checkout in the promo/discount code field and click “Redeem.” It will discount everything on the site, no exclusions!

The TCP Deets:

No code is needed! Everything in the store is 10% off!

The Verve Deets:

Save 10% on everything Verve, no code needed!

What a great way to get some fun stuff and support a fellow stamper at the same time! Happy Shopping!

Another Year of Piano

Today is the last day of piano lessons before my kids get the summer break. As I quickly routed around my studio this morning I knew I needed a specific card. Here is one that came together in minutes....
I stamped the aged music scrapblock (CHF) in latte ink from Ranger. I decided that I wanted to stamp just a portion of the large "piano girl" image (SEP from Cornish Heritage Farms). Stamp the sentiments that I had close at reach and then sprayed it with my YGo3 mister filled with green perfect pearls and blender. You should see the pretty shimmer on this card. I decided to deck out the envelope a little too!
My daughter is entering grade 9 piano this year so she will be doing theory over the summer. I love to listen to her "practice". She has been taking piano with our teacher since she was 5 and has a lot of passion when it comes to music. The photo is her receiving an award for the "Adjudicator's Choice in a Canadian Class" at our local piano festival. A little "proud mom" moment.
A little story about the trophy.....my son also takes piano and he had the trophy adorning the mantle last year (this year he chose to write a piano exam instead of doing the festival). The trophies get returned after one year so.....this year my daughter decided it was her turn.....no....they aren't competitive......
My daughter now holds the "year of trophy reign"....we will see what next year brings!

For the benefit of my family and friends here is a short video of Marie at the piano....if you are a papercrafting visitor feel free to skip over this:


The sketch girls are taking a break tomorrow so I am going to enjoy a little long weekend, enjoying father's day with our family....so I will see you next week! Enjoy your weekend!

Copics and Fabric

I have had a lot of questions on whether you can use copics on fabric....and of coarse the answer is YES! I love using them on fabric projects....the washability of copics is another issue entirely.
First off....I do try to keep my copic fabric project to those that do not require a lot of washing...For example, projects on cards or scrapbook pages, home decor items such as coasters, book and journal covers.
Copics can go through the wash but you will notice fading after several washes. Take my example below:
UNWASHED:

I stamped these Pure Innocence Girls from My Favorite Things in Versacraft Ink from Tsukineko. I then colored them exactly the same with my copics....cute huh!
I then sealed the one that says "sealed" with my PYMII spray by creative imaginations. This spray is used for scrapbook pages or any kind of item that you want to protect from UV light.
Copics are a dye based alcohol ink so they will fade over time with UV exposure if left unsealed.
WASHED:
Here is a photo after I had done 7 loads of laundry. They went in every load, washing with warm water and Tide in my machine and going through the dryer. I had lots of laundry waiting for me when I returned from Toronto....
See the one on the left that was sealed did seem to keep it's color better. Even the stamped image line stayed better. They both did fade....but still are cute!
I will often stamp and color little onesies....because I know that if it is lucky enough to see the wash 2 or 3 times before the little one has grown out of it that it has done well :)

Also, remember that you do have the option of going back and reinking faded spots if you wish.
I have yet to go to a store that manufactures t-shirts to find out if they have some magical sealant for fabrics or not.....so if you know of something like that....lemme know!

Enjoy your day!

VIP Blog Hop!

Welcome to the VIP blog hop and shop for My Favorite Things!
What is VIP? It is a ONE DAY ONLY product that gives you the opportunity to purchase the WTG set TWO WEEKS early. Here are the details about the VIP Kit:

*July VIP* (June 15th 10 PM EST through June 16th)
Who's That Gardening Girl? VIP $36.75
Who's That Gardening Girl? $15.95
Ruffled Ribbon Garden Collection (2 yards each of 3/4" ruffled ribbon in Tomato, Celery, & Sunshine) $7.95
Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety $5.95
Garden Button Collection $1.95
Set of 10 White Scalloped A2 Notecards $4.95
Green Thumb mini stamp set (FREE, $9 value)
Here is the fun card I made for the hop. You all know how I love to color so this fun little gardening box is perfect for me! I chose the leaves in my garden....the fruit is yet to appear.
I wanted to go with a clean look for this card by just adding some fun strips of Garden Variety patterned paper by Cosmo Cricket. Perfect paper for this image!
I paper pieced her shirt and then colored the rest with my copics. What a fun WTG (who's that girl) set!
Next on the hop.....BARBARA.....I'm sure she has created something very fun to enjoy!
Happy Hopping!

Fabulous Toronto

No....Toronto isn't the center of the Canadian universe (LOL)....but it is a FABULOUS city where I met some TERRIFIC women!
Suffering a little from Jetlag, but I wanted to post just a few pictures from my weekend.
First off....my consumer copic card classes. WOW...they were so fun! Here is a shot of one of the classes. I did 4 consumer classes at Forever Scrapbooks, what a great shop! The owners were wonderful and I "twisted" Anna's arm to bring MFT into the shop! YEAH!

Yesterday I really enjoyed the group of women who took the Toronto certification....despite a little shipping hiccup we had a blast spending the day coloring and learning.
A few of them were even sweet enough to help me pack up at the end of the day and give me a lift to the airport....the sweetest gesture that I TOTALLY appreciated!
And who is that fun girl in the polka dots.....It's Kerry J! She offered to help me with my friday classes. What a treat it was to have extra hands to give out all my little card pieces. She is so nice in person and I'm really glad that I could spend some time with her! She totally "saved my bacon" by taking me out in the morning for some Starbucks....especially when it felt like 5am in my pacific time head. Thanks Kerry!
After teaching all day friday I had the bestest treat of all.....dinner out with some of my favorite stamping friends! Lesley Langdon and Jennifer Roach I know from the CHF team and Kerry went along with us too. We went to a yummy Thai place and ate and visited the whole evening. Not in the picture was Jenn's adorable little girl....wish I would have thought to swing her around so she could be in the picture too! Lesley took this photo with the timer on her VERY nice camera. Such a treat to hang out with these talented women!
I'll be back tomorrow night as it is VIP day at MFT! See you then!

Happy Birthday Taylor!

I am so happy I could be a part of the fun Taylor Birthday Hop today! She is the bestest! My tall buddy! Shoe style icon.....and I could go on and on....but most of all she is wonderfully sweet and a pleasure to call my friend in the stamping industry! Hope you have an awesome day Taylor!

I used one of Taylor's sets for my card...."Berries and Cherries". Using early bird papers by Cosmo Cricket. Copic colored just for you my friend!

Make sure you check out all the fun birthday cards on the Taylor Hop!
Here are all the links for you!

Alex Maldonado , Alice Wertz, Carolina Buchting ,Charmaine Ikach, Donna Baker, Jackie Pedro, Jenn Balcer, Jodi Collins, Karen Giron, Karen Motz, Lisa Hjulberg, Lori Craig ,Melissa Sauls, Monika Davis, Nancy McKinney, Rachel Sztonyk, Sandra MacLean, Sankari Wegman, Sharon Harnist,Jami Sibley

Sketch Friday!

Happy Friday! I am in Toronto this weekend but I managed to make this card up before leaving. I was very inspired to use a John Wooden quote due to his passing last week. For those of you who don't know who John Wooden was, he was a very good coach and inspirational leader for UCLA for many years.
Lots of pretty Melissa Frances products on this card. The journal tag, rub-on and patterned paper.
I paired it up with this pretty "Vintage Geese" image by Cornish Heritage Farms. The Wooden quote is also a CHF stamp.
Here is a close shot of the image. I did a little coloring with my copics on her apron and also added some ground for the geese.
I also colored my pearls to match her apron.....love doing that!

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
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Rachel Sztonyk: Gingerbread Gallery
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

I know it is a quick post today....but the time change is draggin' on me tonight as I am posting so I need to get some shut eye as tomorrow brings a full day of copic card classes here in Toronto!
Little fun surprise here tomorrow....gotta come and see!

Custom Copic Shimmer Spray

First of all....thank you to the many who congratulated me on my Melissa Frances design team spot on both my blog and via e-mail....thanks so much!
Today I have some fun "playing" that I know you are gonna want to try for yourselves!
I love to create my own custom shimmer sprays with my copic products that way they always match the image I am coloring! Love that! I did a little video of "how to make your own spray" further down my post.
Ah, BG72....one of my favorite colors....I colored this Jolinne "All Dressed Up" from My Favorite Things using that combo of BG72, BG75.
I sprayed the ribbon, resin piece and background with the BG72 mix. So pretty in real life....
I also paired up this design with the lovely "Leah" paper from Melissa Frances.
Here is a close up of my copic marker coloring. I love seeing this soft background behind her instead of just white.
Even though I did the background first I was still able to stamp this image and color overtop with my copics. I chose a dark brown combo for her hair (so that it wasn't blue) and I stamped so that her face was in one of the "white" parts of my mask.
Here is a close shot of the ribbon and resin piece that I colored. I loved it that the slight blue color got in all the little cracks of the resin. The ribbon colored up beautifully as well.

Wanna see how to make your own spray.....here you go! Enjoy!

Melissa Frances Design Team!

Yeah.....Blogger is up and running again so I can share my news!
I, along with 3 other talented designers, have been asked to join the Melissa Frances International Design Team! I have been using a lot of MF products as you all know how much I love vintage. What an honor to be a part of a fantastic group of ladies!
You can see the formal announcement on the Melissa Frances blog HERE!
Here is a sweet little card I made to celebrate the day! All Melissa Frances paper products, rub-on sentiments, ric rac and that fabulous resin corner piece. I paired up these products with one of my favorite CHF images "Tulip Girl". Colored with my copics!
I am looking forward to sharing lots of Melissa Frances goodness with you!

Happy Monday!!!!

Think Green Friday

Happy Friday! Today's card literally took me minutes to put together. I don't do this often enough! I wanted to play along with the sketch challenge today and had little time to spare soooo.....patterned paper, stamp set and kraft card stock were scattered on my desk so that is what I used!
The stamp set is a brand new release as of yesterday called "Who's that girl goes green" by My Favorite Things. I stamped her on kraft card stock and paper pieced her shopping bags with the Cosmo Cricket patterned paper. I colored her shirt and pants with my copics and stamped the recycle symbol from the stamp set on her shopping bags.
I had some heavy thread in my sewing machine for finishing touches and stamped the sentiment on my twill tape.
The little brads were the only time consuming part....I had cheapo brads that I never used kicking around that I pulled the top pebble off of. I punched my patterned paper with a small circle punch, stamped the symbol and then used glossy accents to put the brads back together again. Voila....custom brads!
There in lies the "recycle" part of my card....lol!

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
Melissa Sauls: In Stamping Mode
Alice Lihsuan-Wertz: Alice's Little Wonderland
Lisa Hjulberg: The Craft's Meow
Lori Craig: Making a Difference

I know it is a pretty quick post today....I am prepping for my trip out to Toronto next week....lots of fun card kits to make!

Have a great weekend!

Blog Hop Release Day!

Yeah.....It is release day at My Favorite Things! SOOOO many sweet things this month and I am really pleased with the little project I get to show you today!
First off, blog hop info...
If you have come here from Barbara's blog you are hopping along just fine...If you are a regular visitor of my blog you might want to start at the beginning of the hop which is Kim's blog.
I get to show you one of the new Pure Innocence girls today! This is "Mud Buddies". I think she is so sweet with her little boots and gardening overalls. I paired her up with Cosmo Cricket paper products.
How about these little mud puddles....they are the cloud dienamics cut in the chocolate brown felt....giggle....I love em'! I loved the little overall color combo too (this went right into my sketch book) E21, E25, E27. Her hair is a combo of the E50's. I wanted her hair brunette but now the same as her clothes. I love that there are so many "browns" to choose from in my copics!

Here is the inside of my long card. This card will fit in a legal sized envelope. I created three little pockets on the inside to slip some seed packages. You could use red line tape to make the pockets but I found it just as quick and easy to sew the pockets. Don't you love the inside of this core impressions cardstock. It is a woodgrain embossed pattern by core'dinations. I love that it went with my theme.

Off to see some more eye candy....next on the hop is JULIE! I got to meet her in person this year and she is so sweet....just like you would think she would be from her blog. I'm sure she has something really fun to share!

Happy hopping/shopping!

Jolinne Teaser Day!

So are you enjoying all these teasers of the stamps coming your way on June 2nd from My Favorite Things? I know I have enjoyed making up the samples!
This is a peek at "In the Garden" Jolinne. I paired her up with some pretty Melissa Frances papers and rub-on quote.
Here is a little close up of the quote if you were having a hard time reading it. You can also click on the photo for an enlargement.
Here is a close up of my copic marker coloring. Lots of shading in this one and I really took my time trying to figure out where my lights and darks would be.
Here is are all the card details:
Stamps:
In the Garden (Jolinne) by My Favorite Things
Ink:
Rich Cocoa Memento (Tsukineko), Walnut Distress Ink (Ranger)
Paper:
Patterned Paper (Melissa Frances)
White (Neenah)
Whitewash Card Stock (Core'dinations)
Accessories:
Copic Markers
Flowers, Lace (Prima)
Pearls, Rub-on sentiment (Melissa Frances)
Sewing Machine

To see the complete list of teasers for today check out Kim's Blog at 11amEST.

See you tomorrow for release day! I have a cute little Pure Innocence girl to show you!