Kiss the Cook!

Welcome here! I have another teaser peek for you today....this is showing you just a wee bit of a new set called "Bon Appetit". It has a lot of sweet little sentiments...perfect for tags and such....I had a hard time just picking one sentiment! I stamped the little whisk and spatula on Kitschy Kitchen patterned paper. Have you "kissed the cook" today?

Here are the details about the upcoming release on October 4 at 10 PM EST:

• The MFT release is on October 4 at 10 PM EST. You can attend the release party from 8-10 PM EST here in the forum for fun, games, and prizes! All the new sets and dies will be available October 4 at 10 PM EST.
• The guest designer contest is ON! Check out the forum for details on how YOU can win over $100 in stamp sets and play along with the DT for a month.
• If you'd like to see all the teasers for today, please click on over to Kim's blog NOW! Be sure to leave comments as you go for a chance to win one of 2 $10 vouchers being given away daily, just for leaving a comment. :) Check Kim's blog every day for the winners.

Abundance

Today's teaser for My Favorite Things is a sentiment set that speaks to abundance. I love this sentiment and I thought the little image enjoying cookies spoke to this sentiment as well. I used Melissa Frances' Kitschy Kitchen Collection for the papers and yes...you are spotting a new Dienamic Die as well.

Here is a little closer shot of this new die. I popped them up with dimensional tape to give them a little more focus. I love this die for small details such as this! The edges so clean and perfect!


Here are the details about the upcoming release on October 4 at 10 PM EST:

• The MFT release is on October 4 at 10 PM EST. You can attend the release party from 8-10 PM EST here in the forum for fun, games, and prizes! All the new sets and dies will be available October 4 at 10 PM EST.
• The guest designer contest is ON! Check out the forum for details on how YOU can win over $100 in stamp sets and play along with the DT for a month.
• If you'd like to see all the teasers for today, please click on over to Kim's blog NOW! Be sure to leave comments as you go for a chance to win one of 2 $10 vouchers being given away daily, just for leaving a comment. :) Check Kim's blog every day for the winners.

Autumn

 It is teaser time at My Favorite Things and I am SUPER excited to show off my card today! This card was done with the new set "Inspired by Autumn". I stamped the pumpkin and then masked it and stamped the pumpkin again on both sides of the center.
I used my little mask and stamped the leaves under the pumpkins to ground them.

 Next.....the copic marker coloring! I used YR20, YR12, YR16, YR18 and BV01 for the pumkins and then a whole bunch of colors for the fall leaves having Y21 as the base tone.
My airbrush went to work too....without masking. I airbrushed YR31 above and to the right of the pumpkins and then E31, 35 to the left and bottom of the pumpkins.

 Here is a fun shot of the newest flower from MFT. This is the rolled gardenia. I cut it out in felt and then airbrushed a little E35 to make it match my fall card. I stitched around my image with fall colored thread. Last step, stamping the sentiment from this set and adding a little colored pearl detail to draw your eye.

Can you believe that this was WHITE X-press it paper when I started.....LOVE my airbrush :)

Here are the details about the upcoming release on October 4 at 10 PM EST:

• The MFT release is on October 4 at 10 PM EST. You can attend the release party from 8-10 PM EST here in the forum for fun, games, and prizes! All the new sets and dies will be available October 4 at 10 PM EST.
• The guest designer contest is ON! Check out the forum for details on how YOU can win over $100 in stamp sets and play along with the DT for a month.
• If you'd like to see all the teasers for today, please click on over to Kim's blog NOW! Be sure to leave comments as you go for a chance to win one of 2 $10 vouchers being given away daily, just for leaving a comment. :) Check Kim's blog every day for the winners.

Sketchy Wednesday and Copic Updates

 My favorite time of the year has arrived again! Fall!
I do love summer but there is such a warm, beautiful factor to fall that has made it my favorite season.

I pulled out this Pure Innocence image from last fall to play along with the My Favorite Things sketch challenge today. Keep scrolling to see the sketch.

I used a couple of MFT Die-namics in this design as well:
Dizzy Doily Duo (the smaller one)
Fresh Cut Grass
Mini Pennant (for the sentiment)

I colored "Li'l Pumpkin" with my copic markers. See the close up to the left showing the little doodle design I added to her dress with my gray multiliner.

Speaking of copics.....
Have you seen the certification schedule for the end of 2011? All the classes are on there so don't miss out....there won't be anymore till 2012!


My last class is an intermediate certification in Langley, BC October 22nd....come and join the fun! I am familiar with this area so I will be able to point you to the BEST shopping during breaks :) 
The applications are on the copic site HERE.

Looks like a fun sketch....you notice that I flipped the "die element" to the other side. I can never seem to follow a sketch to the letter....:)
Want to see what the other girls came up with and how to play along? All that info you will find on Kim's blog.
Enjoy your day!

Just sitting here.....

I have a friend who is hurting right now and I am doing exactly what my sentiment says.......just sitting here thinking about you....

I figured I had done enough of the "sitting here" and decided to make her a card. Yes, I have a gazillion cards sitting in my drawer that I could just pull out....but it didn't mean the same to me as making one especially for her.
This is done on some Webster's petite papers and I stamped the Hero Arts chair. I masked the chair and then stamped the doily and embossed it in vanilla.
Tied up with ribbon and then added the sentiment with a special Melissa Frances broach.

Here is a close up of the chair detail...I added some micro brads and then a little rhinestone to the center of each "button". This was to balance out the sparkle of the broach. Colored with my copics directly on the Webster's pages patterned paper with my B90 series.

Now....off to deliver my card :)

VIP Product Tour!

 Welcome to the mid-month release of the newest "Who's that girl" collection from My Favorite Things. We all know what a special month October is for Breast Cancer Awareness so this is "Who's That Girl Chooses Hope"!

I paired up this image with Clementine papers from Cosmo Cricket, I love those coral to orange colors as we enter fall. You can see from the close up on the left that I paper pieced her top and then "BEDAZZLED" it with some amber colored rhinestones.
The skin tones were colored with my copics, E50, E01, E13, BV00.

 Here is a shot of the inside of the card, bringing in a lot of the elements that I had used to create the front....the rounded corners, stamped sentiment and rhinestones.

 Look at everything that is in this VIP collection! Lots of fantastic sentiments and that rolled gardenia die! You can hop to Kim's blog and see the full list of designers that will each show you something different with this set.

My Heart

 Welcome to the Wednesday MFT sketch challenge. If you want to see the sketch you can scroll to the bottom of this post. I took a very clean and simple approach to this sketch using some darling new Clementine papers from Cosmo Cricket.

The image I used is "love you with all my heart" from the Pure Innocence collection at MFT!
A little peek at the inside where I continued with the vertical format that is on the front.

Below are some step by step photos of the copic marker coloring process. My light source is coming from the upper right of my image.

 Skin tones....I stayed fairly light with my skin tones as the whole card has a light feel to it.

 The dress, shoes and hair clip. I did a cast shadow of the heart...you will notice later on that I looked at my shadows again and decided to lengthen it.

 Here is the heart....I used the R05 very sparingly as it is quite vibrant and high in value.

 The hair....quite simple to suit the image.

 I only used the (half strength) Y21 on the right of the image as that is where my light source is. I added the R11 to the left of the image for some shadowing. My Y21 is a custom blend of half blender solution and half Y21 refill. I find this mix easier to fade away to white.

So here is the sketch! If you want to play along be sure to enter the keyword "MFTWSC37" to your post on Splitcoast Stampers. The forum for the chatter on this sketch can be found HERE.

Want to see what the other DT members came up with? Check out Kim's blog for the list.....

Copic Notes:
I am off to Ottawa this weekend teaching copic certifiications so my blog will be quiet.....see you next week!

September Creative Team Challenge

Guess what this months' challenge is for the MFT design team.....NO COLORING! ACK! Guess who that is SUPER hard for.......ME!

This challenge pushed me to some of my stamping roots where I used ink pads for my color....
I pulled out the set "Sew Nifty" and went to play :)
I used patterned papers from the wonder Kitschy Kitchen Collection from Melissa Frances. They have a beautiful homespun quality to them.
I put together some photos for you below so that you can see my process in creating this card.

I think I use this 3/8" rosette die for this purpose more than I do to create rosettes! I love the perfect pleating I can give to my cards. I cut it 3 times and then folded like you see in the photo.

I taped them all together using xpress-it double sided tape. I held it down in the photo otherwise it tends to want to curl.

For my "no coloring" I stamped my sewing machine image in versamark ink and then embossed with colored powder.

I have a whole stack of distress inks that just sit there if I don't think about them! I did overall shading with the frayed burlap ink and then swiped the 2 corners with the fired brick. I added some of the distress ink to the flaps of my pleats too.

I die-cut a "simply scallops" from my patterned paper and stitched it on (zig-zag style) with my machine.

I love the twine you can buy at the MFT shop! I didn't want the white so I snipped off a section and separated the white and aqua threads.

Last little touch....wrapping the twine around my stamped bobbin and then adding a stick pin and vintage button from my stash.

Would you LOVE to see what the rest of the team created? Check out Kim's blog for the full list of designers today!

Birthday Lady and Copic News

Last week was the birthday of a very special lady....Melissa Frances! All the DT got together and made her a special card. I made mine using the oh so fabulous 5th Avenue Collection along with some of their BEAUTIFUL embellishments!

I used my copics to custom color the resin crown piece and to add a little color to the white roses. The sentiment is a combo of Melissa Frances rub-ons.  I love the ribbon trims that Melissa Frances carries as well....those cute pom-poms look great on cards!

If you would like to see at the DT cards you can enjoy them in this post on the Melissa Frances blog...and if you haven't sent birthday wishes her way yet...it is never too late :)

COPIC NEWS....

There are still a few spots left in the standard and intermediate certifications that are coming to Ottawa September 17th and 18th! Here is your chance to spend the day getting education in my favorite subject....coloring:) Here is the link to the applications.

Those of you here on the west coast...applications are now being accepted for the intermediate certification in Langley, BC October 22nd. Here is the link to those applications!

Have a fantastic weekend!

MFT Blog Hop and Shop!

Welcome to the MFT blog hop and shop event....well the time has finally come! After a week of teasing everyone can actually shop tonight!
I was excited to share with you this darling new Pure Innocence image "Feeling Froggy" for release day today! I created this little scene using Kitschy Kitchen papers from Melissa Frances.

I put some of the die-namics to work...the new "woodgrain fence" and the flat bottom clouds.
I colored this sweet girl with my copics and paper pieced her outfit...not forgetting to shade her paper pieced clothes too! I finished the image with some cute little microbrads for her overalls.

Now I am sending you off to the talented Wendy Bond! She gets to show you a sweet PI girl too! Enjoy the eye candy!

Die-namics Pep Rally!

Now that we've teased and tempted you all week long, it's almost time for you to grab all of your favorite Brand Spankin' New products from MFT.

But first…it's time for our Die-namics Feature and Pre-Release PEP Rally!  

Our Design Team has been busy creating jaw-dropping and inspiring projects for you, and we've saved the best for last.

Here is an in-depth look at this month's Die-namics, with an opportunity to revisit the amazing sets being released tonight at 10pm EST RIGHT HERE.

And while we are at it, how about we make your life even easier with a "cheat sheet" of all that's new?  Head over to the MFT Blog to print out a shopping list. 

How fun are these! I love the new "Homespun Birdhouse" stamp set and Die-namic! These little birdhouses can be made 3D! Keep on scrolling for the full tutorial so that you can make them too!

They would make cute little place markers at the table or treat boxes for party favors! I used some October Afternoon papers to make these. I used three different sheets of patterned paper and then cut out 2 of this birdhouse die from each sheet.

Here is a little peek at the side of the box....I added a little decorative handle secured with a brad.
Now that I am sure you are itching to make these....HERE is how!

We are going to construct the little box. You need these strips of paper with the shown dimensions. I am showing you on white but in my project I used patterned paper.

Score the narrow piece at the 1.5" mark and the 3" mark.

Do the same with the wider piece.

On the wider piece only, you want to score 1/4" away from the edge down the long side of the paper....on both sides. This is where your adhesive strip will go.

Apply adhesive to both edges. I love using X-press it double sided tape for this!

You want to make 4 little snips where your score lines intersect.

Set the narrower strip inside the larger strip.

Fold up the little flap that has adhesive on it so that it is secured to your inside strip.

Bring up each side and secure to form a box.

Here is what your little box should look like

To adhere the birdhouse die to the box I ran adhesive strips over my seams just for added strength.

At this point your can add a little handle and then decorate with all the different birds/hearts/feathers and such that are included with this die!
I can see little cute Christmas birdhouses coming out....or how about some spooky birdhouse treat boxes for extra special trick-or-treaters!

Here are the details about the upcoming release on September 6 at 10 PM EST:

• The MFT release is on September 6 at 10 PM EST. You can attend the release party from 8-10 PM EST here in the forum for fun, games, and prizes! All the new sets and dies will be available September 6 at 10 PM EST.
• Be sure to check in on the guest designer contest to see who is crowned the winner.  The announcement is made in the release party thread, AND on the guest designer contest thread in the MFT forum on SCS.  The winner will receive over $100 in stamp sets and play along with the design team next month.
• If you'd like to see all the teasers for today, please click on over to Kim's blog NOW! Be sure to leave comments as you go for a chance to win one of 2 $10 vouchers being given away daily, just for leaving a comment. :)  The final 2 winners will be announced at the release party, and will also be contacted by e-mail.