Tag: mft stamps

Hey there pumpkin pie!

Hey there, sweetie pie pumpkin pie!!! Hee hee. I LOOOOOOVE THIS CARD! Lolz. Is it okay for me to say that? It has everything I love: Fall, gingham, texture, warm colors, leaves, and PIE! (I'm cracking myself up here!) How was your weekend? Happy Monday! The temps have changed here and we are having cool nights and it's so amazing. The smoke from all the surrounding fires is thick in the air, so we spent all weekend inside. Which meant lots of crafting. I hope you're doing well this morning! Thank you to everyone who shared their 9/11 story on my last post. And thank you to everyone who sent me an email with warm thoughts. I'm grateful!

I keep a big bin on the counter in my craft room and I put my new/never used products in it so I can quickly find them and craft when I'm ready. This card today uses three things from the new bin! A couple of new stamps and dies from My Favorite Things, and new patterned paper for Fall. The finished card is an A2 card base from cream cardstock. Lots and lots of layers of papers, dies and textures…and colors! Usually I'll pop in some teal or aqua with my Autumn colors, but today I'm using a true blue, kind of on the dusty side, to match that blue in the patterned paper.

I chose all my papers before I did my Copic Coloring – that's a good tip for having everything match! I started the card by doing my layers: Cream card base, kraft layer, gingham layer, wrap of pumpkin paper, then an orange circle, vellum circle and textured circle. Whew.

I stamped all my images using brown ink on cream cardstock. This gives the card a warm feeling – totally different from using black ink on white cardstock. I colored everything with Copics – pumpkin, leaves and acorn. I die cut the little pie and inked the edges with distress ink. Is that not the cutest thing ever??

The textured circle is a beautiful embossing folder from Taylored Expressions. SO much pretty texture!! Love it. All the elements were attached to the front using foam circles. I used liquid glue to attach the sweetie pie word dies over everything else.

I stamped the sentiment onto a stitched rectangle (again using brown ink) and put it up in the corner of the card. I adore the mixed fonts!

Okay, sweetie pies! Take on the week! Thanks for coming by today to see my project. On Thursday I'll have two posts – two different blog hops! It's gonna be fun, so make sure to come back!! XOXO

CLICK HERE or on the graphic below to see the supply list for this card! (Affiliate links used)

September 14, 2020
Sending Hedgehugs! Fun card featuring My Favorite Things Stamps!

Hello everyone! Another week has flown by, and here it is Thursday already! Dang! It’s been a busy week… Some fun, and some not so fun things going on around here. It has literally rained BUCKETS here in the past month, and very high winds too. Unfortunately, our roof has sprung some leaks in the process of all this storming… It seems like everyone else needs a roofer too. It has been a full time job just trying to get a contractor to come out and do an estimate and repairs. They are so busy. It’s not too bad, but it’s frustrating making all those phone calls, etc. Usually I love the rain, but right now I wish it would stop for a minute. Anyhooo….I’m way off topic. Hope you are having an amazing week. I am going to do something fun this weekend – I’m going to my first ever Stitches West Convention! It’s in Santa Clara, which is a couple of hours from here. Stitches is a YARN CONVENTION! Yes, I’m “hooked” on yarn. LOLZ. Some of the ladies from one of my yarn meetups filled me in on this fun event. Can’t wait to get ideas and look at patterns and watch demos. Should be a really great day – that’s tomorrow!

For today, I have a cute and fun card to share with you. I’m sending hedgehugs your way! This Happy Hedgehog stamp set from My Favorite Things is a favorite in my craft room. I’ve made lots of cards with it already. I colored the little hedgies for one of the days of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge. And straight away made them into a card – using lots of other cool supplies from MFT Stamps. Can’d wait for you to see!

I started with a white card base in a horizontal orientation. I used Sunny Studio gingham paper to cover the entire front of the card base. I die cut a scallop border onto white cardstock and layered that over the gingham for my focus layer.

Next I stamped and die cut out the Hedgehogs and flowers and mushrooms (EEK) and colored them with Copic Markers. I added touches of white accents with a gel pen. I set them aside to work on the HUGS and sentiment part of the card. The HUGS is a big word die from MFT. I used a piece of white cardstock and blended three different shades of brown distress inks (Colors in supply list). Then I splattered white paint and brown ink over the blended part. Then I dried that paper with my heat too. THEN I die cut it out of the already inked paper. MUCH easier than trying to ink the letters separately. Trust me, I’ve done that too! LOL.

Aren’t they the CUTEST??? This could be a great card of encouragement or ‘just because’ if someone needs a hug. Can’t wait to send this one out.

I added a few Doodlebug Mini Hearts as the last step. I’m not sure why, but this card told me it needed a pop of red!

Thank you for stopping by today! Sending you big giant squishy HEDGEHUGS! I hope you have a splendid day and a great weekend. XOXO

February 21, 2019
Fiesta! Pinata! Fun party card with My Favorite Things!

Helllloooooo! Let's have a fiesta today! I've got a card with LOTS of color, fun dies, and a Pinata! What could be better than that?? Not much if you ask me! LOL. I can hear party music in the background as I'm typing this right now. These dies are so cool and fabulous. I've been wanting to make something with them for a few weeks now. All the stamps, dies and stencils today are from My Favorite Things Stamps. YESSSS! Let's party!

I started with a bright white A2 card base. Then I layered hot pink…then I stenciled some vivid yellow sun rays… THEN I made a pinata! This card has a lot going on, but it's all fun. I popped the sentiment in rich black for contrast with all those bright colors. This card has it all: stamping, die cutting, stenciling…

I really like the font on this fiesta die. It's really pretty, but festive at the same time. It's going to get used a lot. I added a stamped sentiment underneath the die to make this a birthday card. I stenciled the radiating rays using Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink and a sponge.

Here is a side shot so you can see how I layered everything…

This pinata die set is the cutest, most creative thing I've seen in a long time! It's so easy to make. There is a large background die and then you layer all the other pieces on top of that solid piece. It is very user friendly and easy to figure out which piece goes where. Genius! I used three shades of bright hot colors. You could make a rainbow too! Or any color combination that you love. I used some Lawn Fawn Cord to make a bow and tie up my pinata. I also added a few gems at the end. Ya know…it needed….MORE! Hahaha.

This shot shows the layering of the pinata die pieces. I used thin foam dots to put the pieces together. I gently lifted up some of the fringe with my fingers. Careful not to bend the paper and crease it.

Thanks for joining me on this fiesta today! AY CARUMBA! We stamping girls know how to have fun, don't we??? I hope your week is a party and that it's awesome. Take care – see you soon! XOXO

July 11, 2018
Bitty Bear Hugs!

Hi friends! Happy Friday to you! I'm so happy it's Friday! My husband has been away for work all week and he's coming home today. He hasn't met the new kitten yet! I am so excited for them to meet. I've been texting my husband so many photos of the kitty all week and I know he wants to hug him! I'll be happy to see my hubs and catch up. Also, tomorrow I'm going to Hero Arts for the Northern California stop of Kathy Rac's 30 Day Coloring Road Show! YEAH! I know several people who are coming and it's going to be a great time. I have no expectations that I will get any coloring done. I will be tooooo busy talking and chatting! Keep and eye on my Instagram stories tomorrow for behind the scenes! I hope you have had a great week! Happy weekend!

Today's card is FUN! I finally finally inked up and colored my MFT Bitty Bears stamp set! I've been making an effort to use some of my cool stamp sets that I haven't used yet. These Bitty Bears are SOOOOOO CUTE! EEEK! I had a great time coloring the bears and bringing them to life! Then I made them into a happy card. It took me some time to come up with a good card layout for these guys. I wanted to put all six of them on the same card…

I made an A2 card base out of pretty deep aqua blue paper and then die cut a stitched rectangle from white paper. I die cut the "HUGS" die into the white layer about 2/3 or the way down the paper. I left room on the sides for the "bear" word and the little hearts. The bears were attached to the card with foam tape. The white layer was attached to the blue layer with foam tape also to let the hugs part be raised up.

THESE BEARS! So sweet!

The word "bear" is from a large sentiment that says "sending you a big bear hug" and it's from the MFT Happy Pandas stamp set. I wanted just the "bear" from the large sentiment… Here's my trick: I lay down washi tape over all the parts of the stamp that I don't want. Then I get the stamp good and inked up. Then I remove (carefully) the washi tape. Now only the small part is inked, and I stamped it down on the edge of the HUGS die. I use this trick all the time.

Here is my little row of Bitty Bears! I had fun standing them all up to take a photo! It's easier to see how I colored them too. I used a few shades of brown and the way I colored them I tried to make the center of their tummies a lighter color to look round. The fun thing about these bears is that they can be brown bears, black bears, grey bears….even white polar bears – all depending on how you choose to color them. I made a few extra to put in my planner too, since they're the perfect size.

Here's a side shot so you can see the way it's all layered and put together.

This card won't fit into an A2 envelope because of the red balloon sticking up from the top. I almost always (90% of the time) use A6 envelopes, even for my A2 cards. This way there is a little extra room for a bow, or if something is sticking off the side, etc. Postage is the same for A2 and A6!

That's it for me today! Thanks for ALL THE LOVE on Instagram and Facebook about my new baby kitty! He will get a name this weekend now that my husband is home. He's been such a good kitty already. Follows me around everywhere and is very snuggly. Just what I needed. He loves sleeping on my work desk – I have a blanket there for him. He makes me so happy. I hope you have a great weekend! Thanks for stopping by my blog today!

Thank you for using my affiliate links to shop – I appreciate it and it keeps my blog going! XOXO

June 29, 2018
Lucky Charms! Happy St. Patrick’s Day 2018!

Hellooooo! Thank your lucky charms it's Friday! LOL! It's almost St. Patrick's Day – so let's celebrate a bit early! I didn't want to wait to share this fun card with you! I'm kinda late in making a St. Patrick's Day card this year. I wanted to make something a little different, so I decided to use a rainbow! All the stamps and dies in today's card are from My Favorite Things stamps. I adore this rainbow and cloud die set (Called End of the Rainbow). I used some shamrocks and a lucky golden horseshoe to complete the scene. I've been addicted to using my Mission Mijello Watercolors – now that I got my palette all set up and ready to use. I love the colors – and they are so creamy and dreamy to paint with. I don't know what took me so long to make my palette!

I started my card with an A2 card base from white cardstock. All the die cut pieces were cut from Bristol paper. I have found that the Bristol paper is thicker and very smooth, and can hold up to watercoloring much better than the Neenah cardstock. It's a nice alternative to watercolor paper when you want a crisp surface to stamp on. It doesn't bleed through or get pilled. I got the rainbow pieces really wet and they held their shape nicely.

I die cut the rainbow out and left out the last piece (purple) because I just wanted the first five colors. I used my watercolors and a wet on wet technique to color the rainbow colors one at a time. I made the color darker at the bottom of the pieces and lighter at the top. I dried each piece with my heat tool in between, and added paint splatters to each piece. I also watercolored the two shamrocks, the cloud and the horseshoe the same way…using my heat tool to dry the pieces.

In this photo you can see that the rainbow is lighter at the top! I stamped the sentiment directly onto the card base in black ink. I added some gems to look like rain! I think this sentiment is so nice! Perfect for lots of occasions – not just St. Patrick's Day!

Dear bloggy friends! I am lucky to have you in my life! Happy Friday, and enjoy the weekend! We don't have specific holiday plans. I'll be busy in the studio – lots of fun things coming up in the next couple of weeks! XOXO

March 16, 2018
Something to perk up your day!

Hi creative and crafty friends! The week is half over already. Hope you've been having a good one. It is very warm here in Northern California and my garden is already bursting with daffodils! The tulips are not far behind. My husband does a beautiful job switching out flowers in our big flower bed in front of the house. I think he said he planted 350 bulbs! All different kinds. It is going to be magical. I love the symbolism of renewal from the bright green leaves bursting through the dark earth after Winter. I've been taking it easy on myself just trying to navigate dealing with the grief I'm feeling; and my friends have been so wonderful checking on me all the time. Monday a big stack of cards came in the mail which produced more tears (but happy ones). Sometimes it takes a bad event to remind you that you are so blessed.

My solace when I'm upset is creating and crafting and staying busy! A couple of weeks ago I stamped and colored these awesome coffee images from Honey Bee Stamps (you may have seen them on Instagram) and the other day I made them into a fun, clean and simple, graphic card. I pretty much love anything that has to do with coffeeeeee. Coffee stamps, coffee stickers, coffee paper…coffeeeee. LOL. And I'm so in love with Honey Bee stamps designs. Hope ya like it!! Just a touch of gingham too!

I started with a bright white card base. Next I attached some gingham paper to a sheet of white paper and then ran the whole piece through the Big Shot with a Stitched Rectangle Die. This gave me a really nice crisp edge to the patterned paper.

Since the stamps were already stamped, die cut, and colored it was easy to assemble the pieces. I did end up stamping some ice cubes into the iced coffee and then I added Diamond Stickles as accents on some of the pieces. Can't go wrong with some glitter, right?

Here are the Copic Colors I used as well as the rest of the stamp set, so you can see all the images.

The sentiment is from one the Perk Up stamp set from My Favorite Things! It's perfect with these images! You can see that I added droplets and gems for some more pizzazz!

Thank you for stopping by today! Hope the rest of your week goes great! Remember to do something creative! On Monday I have a really fun project to share! Hope to see you then. XOXOXO

February 7, 2018
8 Year Blogaversary! And, my end of the year wrap up for 2017!

Hello my dear blogging friends! Today I'm celebrating my EIGHT YEAR BLOGAVERSARY! Wowza! Every year when I do my end-of-the-year wrap up post I can't even believe that another year of fun and creativity and crafting has passed! This year went by especially fast! I look forward to writing this post each December, and sharing with you my favorite projects from the past year. CLICK HERE to read my wrap up from 2016! This year end post helps me wrap up the year and reflect on my creative journey. I feel like I grow in new ways each year, both as a person and as an artist. Having my blog is a lot like having a diary or a journal and it's really cool to look back at eight years' worth of cards and projects all in one place! I am so grateful to have this place to share with the world and with you my creative supporters and friends. Thank you for being part of it all with me! It wouldn't be the same without the interaction from you, and all the friends I have made through the years. You bless me all the time with your kindness and love.

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas! And, Happy New Year 2018! Be sure to check back here on New Year's day because It's the Season's Givings Blog Hop day! All of the bloggers in the hop are giving away prizes! TONS and TONS of prizes! It is always really fun! You don't want to miss it, I promise!

2017 was a very busy year. I had some really great crafting opportunities, and my photography business kept me busy in addition to stamping and designing. It was also a hard year for me. Not bad, just hard. Lots of trials and growth this year. I went through a lot this year and it forced me to deal with some very deep things that I've not wanted to deal with. That being said, I can 100% say that I am emerging here at the end of the year a stronger and more confident person. More sure of my place in this world. More sure of my identity in Christ and less dependent on the opinions of others. I'm only 53 years old and I finally figured that out (laughs at herself). In all seriousness, there was a lot of quiet time with God this year and HE has changed me, sharpened me, refined me, with HIS ultimate wisdom and love. I've spent a great deal of time at home this year, becoming closer to my husband and my few very dearest friends. Blessings to be sure. I don't ever want people to think that my life is picture perfect or amazing all the time. It isn't. I am always grateful, though, no matter what is happening. That is my choice in life and it's one of the ways I honor God. Life is hard. For all of us. Grace is AMAZING and we should dole it out often and in abundance. Especially to ourselves. I'm a bit anxious and excited to go forward into the new year as this 'new' me. Maybe a bit hesitant, too. But I know I'll be fine. That is the promise. My family is doing well and we are happy and healthy, and that is what really matters.

Here's what I wrote last year: "My word for 2017 is BRAVE. Brave enough to be myself without the fear of the judgement of others. How powerful is this concept? I am a work in progress… Free to be my authentic self, the real me. The ability to say how I feel, find my passion, stand up for the things that matter, don't settle, don't apologize…. That, to me, is bravery."

Reading this now, a year later, I'm like whoa! That was SPOT on. I tried to be brave this year. There were a LOT of tears this year. Buckets of tears. But in our darkest places we find out how strong and brave we can be, right? (Every time I hear that song Be Brave – I cry! OMG I love that song) CLICK HERE to see the video!

My word for 2018 is TRUTH. There is only one truth and it is solid, stable and unchanging. My identity is anchored to the truth of who I am to God. Lack of being anchored in the truth causes us to rise and fall with circumstances. The truth keeps us from drifting afloat. Gives us hope. The other facet of this is that I often don't want to SEE the truth as it is put before me. I want to always believe the best in people and situations, and that gets me hurt. Truth is a more realistic way of navigating this harsh world… So TRUTH has two meanings for me. I've already started using this in my journaling and planning for 2018.

Do you choose focus words or resolutions for the new year? I'd love to hear! Leave me a comment about your hopes for the new year!

Something I love to do here on the blog at the end of the year, is to take a look back on my creative journey from the year before! This annual post is kind of like a cyber scrapbook! Thank you for joining along with me in 2017! We had some good times! My blog is my journal, and here I keep a record of my statistical progress. So, on that note, here are some fun stats from the year. Here at the end of 2017… I have now written 1262 blog posts in 8 years, received 32,915 lovely comments, and…drum roll…I hit the one million unique visitors landmark! That happened back in February! The company that I was using to track the visitors and blog hits went out of business…and one day I no longer had access to that information! Bummer… I am very happy that I can say that one million people have come to visit A Blog Called Wanda! Thank you!

Five years ago, I started the tradition of recapping my favorite projects from the past year. I get so much nice feedback about this! Here are my favorites from 2017… There are a lot! So grab a cup of coffee or tea, and settle in! I hope you enjoy the look back with me!

To see more information about each project,

please click on the the individual photos!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!

I appreciate all of you so much, all of your love and kindness and support!

I wish you the very best year ever! Cheers to 2018!

December 27, 2017
My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #335 – Pineapple Paradise!

Today I'm sharing my final card as the guest designer over at the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge for the month of May! I always love to join the wonderful gang over at MFT! CLICK HERE to go to the sketch challenge page. So…what is the Wednesday Sketch Challenge? Each week MFT shows us a new layout to jump start our creativity. This week is challenge #335. You can create cards, scrapbook layouts, home decor, treat containers, mixed media, etc. using this week's sketch! Be sure to link your project at the MFT blog for a chance to win a My Favorite Things Gift Voucher worth $50.00!! I hope you will make a card and join the fun with me this week! I truly love seeing what everyone else makes! There were a lot of entries last week which is awesome.

Tomorrow is JUNE!!! Gosh where is the year going?? I am in full mode for Summer crafting. I am obsessed with anything tropical! Pineapples, flowers, big monstera leaves, tropical birds…It's all so great and colorful. I am a tiki fan and love all things that are vintage Hawaii or sort of campy/tiki. It's my favorite. This past weekend we bought some really pretty outdoor dishes with pineapples and flamingos on them. Can't wait to eat outside now! LOL.

Today, for my final guest designer card, I'm using a favorite set from My Favorite Things called Polynesian Paradise! IT'S SOOOOOO CUTE! And, I paired it with one of my ALL TIME favorite stamps (EVER) which is the awesome giant pineapple background stamp – which makes tiny pineapples all over! EEEK! LOVE. So here's my card…. ALOHA!

And here's the sketch for this week! Often, when I am having a hard time coming up with a card idea, I will look up the MFT sketches and see if something strikes my fancy. It almost always does help start my creativity flowing! Just pick a sketch, and pick out a favorite stamp set – and create!! Also, another trick? Turn the sketch sideways for a different layout! Shake it up a bit to make it yours! Be inspired and have fun creating!

My card started with a crisp white A2 card base. I had a tropical color palette in my mind, so I stamped the pineapple background stamp in lime green ink that matched the green cardstock used on the top of the card. Next I layered pink and white for my top focal piece, as you see in the sketch. I die cut a flag stax for my sentiment and set it aside.

The fun part of this project was coloring all the flowers, the pineapples and that cutie patootie toucan! I stamped everything in the MFT Black Hybrid Ink which is a dream to work with. I colored everything with my Copic Markers (Colors listed in supplies below) I die cut everything out and started to see how I wanted to place everything for balance. I used two of the plumeria sprays and then cut out one more flower for the center.

It's hard to see in the photos, but the flowers, the pineapples and parts of the toucan all have clear glitter Wink Of Stella for some shimmer and shine. It shows up really nicely in person! I added tiny bits of white gel pen accents on some of the pieces too.

Everything was attached to the card using foam tape for dimension and interest. This card says "Welcome Summer" to all of us!

Be sure to pop over to the MFT Sketch Challenge Blog and enter your own card! Check out all the inspiration from everyone else, too! If you make a card, you have the amazing opportunity to win a $50 gift certificate to the MFT STORE!!! Woot! Click the graphic below for all the deets. Have a wonderful day! Thanks to everyone at MFT for inviting me to be a guest this month. I had a blast. XOXO

May 31, 2017
My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #334 – You are My Sunshine!

Today I'm sharing my third card as the guest designer over at the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge for the month of May! I always love to join the wonderful gang over at MFT! CLICK HERE to go to the sketch challenge page. So…what is the Wednesday Sketch Challenge? Each week MFT shows us a new layout to jump start our creativity. This week is challenge #334. You can create cards, scrapbook layouts, home decor, treat containers, mixed media, etc. using this week's sketch! Be sure to link your project at the MFT blog for a chance to win a My Favorite Things Gift Voucher worth $50.00!! I hope you will make a card and join the fun with me this week…and the rest of the month! This month has five Wednesdays, so I still get to do one more! So excited to be part of things this month. I'll be sad when it's over!

Today I'm featuring the adorable newest addition to the Pure Innocence line of stamps from MFT – Beach Day! She's a little cutie in her bikini ready for a lovely day by the sea. I gave her a fab palm tree for shade, and a fun cloud background! She is colored with Copic Markers.

And here's the sketch for this week! Often, when I am having a hard time coming up with a card idea, I will look up the MFT sketches and see if something strikes my fancy. It almost always does help start my creativity flowing! Just pick a sketch, and pick out a favorite stamp set – and create!! Also, another trick? Turn the sketch sideways for a different layout! Shake it up a bit to make it yours! In this case for this week I used a wave border die for the bottom part of the sketch! Be inspired and have fun creating!

I started with a crisp white A2 card base and created my main layer using white and deep aqua paper. This was my foundation. Before attaching that part of the card to the base, I stamped my sentiment in rich black. So cute – that sentiment! This new palm tree die is part of a really cool set that has a beach, this tree, shells, and a sunshine!! You need this!! LOL. I made my palm tree trunk from kraft paper and edged it with a bit of Distress Ink. The leaves are two different colors of green cardstock, also edged with Distress Ink. I added Doodlebug Sprinkles for coconuts! EEK.

The cloud background was created with the new MFT Cloud Stencil, which is awesome! I made the clouds a bit darker shade of blue – using Broken China Distress Ink. Love this look. I colored the girl image using bright and bold Copic Marker colors. I really wanted this card to be tropical!

What a fun project this was to make! And it's perfect as we head into Summer and Memorial Day Weekend! I say – let's jump in the pool and soak up some rays! Have a wonderful day my friends. See you soon! XOXO

May 24, 2017
My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #333 – All about Yellow!

Today I'm sharing my third card as the guest designer over at the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge for the month of May! I always love to join the wonderful gang over at MFT! CLICK HERE to go to the sketch challenge page. So…what is the Wednesday Sketch Challenge? Each week MFT shows us a new layout to jump start our creativity. This week is challenge #333. You can create cards, scrapbook layouts, home decor, treat containers, mixed media, etc. using this week's sketch! Be sure to link your project at the MFT blog for a chance at the weekly My Favorite Things Gift Voucher worth $15. Use whatever supplies you'd like in your interpretation of the sketch but remember, if you use MFT supplies, you can win up to $20! I hope you will make a card and join the fun with me this week…and the rest of the month! This month has five Wednesdays, so I still get to do two more! Yippeeee!

For today's card for the MFT Sketch, I'm using the brand new Flower Shaker Dies! Instead of making a shaker, I used the dies to make a giant sunflower as the focal point of my card. And, I used bright shiny yellow! I love yellow in Spring and Summer crafting! This would be pretty in any color combo though. The sketch this week has a cool diagonal stripes configuration which I know I'll use again. Let's get to it!

And here's the sketch for this week! Often, when I am having a hard time coming up with a card idea, I will look up the MFT sketches and see if something strikes my fancy. It almost always does help start my creativity flowing! Just pick a sketch, and pick out a favorite stamp set – and create!! Also, another trick? Turn the sketch sideways for a different layout! Shake it up a bit to make it yours!

I started my card with a crisp white A2 card base. Then I built my diagonal stripes out of kraft, yellow, and gingham papers. I wanted a really nice crisp and pretty edge so I used the stitched rectangles die to cut out the color layer. It looks so nice! Then I used the same colors to die cut a gorgeous giant flower to match!

I kept the color palette super clean. Just yellow, white and kraft…and one pop of dark brown for the flower accent. I stamped the sentiment onto a stitched banner and attached it across the flower. The flower center has white gel pen dots for emphasis.

One of my favorite go-to accents is twine, with a pretty matching enamel dot glued to the center!

Thanks for joining me today! Big thanks to the awesome team at MFT for inviting me to stamp with them this month – it's an honor! See you right back here next Wednesday for more MFT inspiration and a new sketch. Take care, until we meet again! XOXO And make sure to enter your own card on the MFT Challenge blog!!!

May 17, 2017
My Favorite Things – Sketch Challenge #332! Seaside Seagulls!

Hi everyone! Today I'm sharing my second card as the guest designer over at the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge for the month of May! I always love to join the wonderful gang over at MFT! CLICK HERE to go to the sketch challenge page. So…what is the Wednesday Sketch Challenge? Each week MFT shows us a new layout to jump start our creativity. This week is challenge #332. You can create cards, scrapbook layouts, home decor, treat containers, mixed media, etc. using this week's sketch! Be sure to link your project HERE at the MFT blog for a chance at the weekly My Favorite Things Gift Voucher worth $15. Use whatever supplies you'd like in your interpretation of the sketch but remember, if you use MFT supplies, you can win up to $20! I hope you will make a card and join the fun with me this week…and the rest of the month!

For today's card I'm using the super cute and silly new stamp set called Seaside Seagulls! It's adorable! And I looooove the sentiments that come with this set of happy birds! I decided to make a nautical themed card using red, white, blue and kraft. Always a good color combination.

And here's the sketch for this week! Often, when I am having a hard time coming up with a card idea, I will look up the MFT sketches and see if something strikes my fancy. It almost always does help start my creativity flowing! Just pick a sketch, and pick out a favorite stamp set – and create!! Also, another trick? Turn the sketch sideways for a different layout! Shake it up a bit to make it yours!

I started my card with a crisp white A2 card base and layered the fabulous gingham with kraft paper for my first layer. I wrapped some natural cord around the panel before attaching it to my card using foam squares. Then I stamped, colored and die cut out those adorable seagull friends!!

For the cloud background on the white oval I used the brand new Cloud Stencil from MFT, a sponge dauber, and some Distress Ink. It's the perfect backdrop for these seagulls!!

Thanks for joining me today! Big thanks to the awesome team at MFT for inviting me to stamp with them this month – it's an honor! See you right back here next Wednesday for more MFT inspiration and a new sketch. Take care, until we meet again! XOXO

May 10, 2017
My Favorite Things – Wednesday Sketch Challenge #331! Happy Panda!

Hi everyone! I'm happy to finally be able to announce that I will be the guest designer over at the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge for the entire month of May! YAHOOOO! This was planned some time ago and I'm so excited that now I can share some projects with you and join the wonderful gang over at MFT! CLICK HERE to go to the sketch challenge page. So…what is the Wednesday Sketch Challenge? Each week MFT shows us a new layout to jump start our creativity. This week is challenge #331. You can create cards, scrapbook layouts, home decor, treat containers, mixed media, etc. using this week's sketch! Be sure to link your project HERE at the MFT blog for a chance at the weekly My Favorite Things Gift Voucher worth $15. Use whatever supplies you'd like in your interpretation of the sketch but remember, if you use MFT supplies, you can win up to $20! I hope you will make a card and join the fun with me this week…and the rest of the month!

For my card today I'm using the SUPER cute Happy Pandas stamp set and dies from MFT. These guys are totally adorable! I made a general happy greeting card. Could be used for any purpose to make someone smile. Here's my card….

And here's the sketch for this week! Often, when I am having a hard time coming up with a card idea, I will look up the MFT sketches and see if something strikes my fancy. It almost always does help start my creativity flowing! Just pick a sketch, and pick out a favorite stamp set – and create!! Also, another trick? Turn the sketch sideways for a different layout!

I started my card with an A2 card base made from Kraft paper. I love kraft and red together!! Then I layered the gorgeous gingham paper from MFT in bamboo green to match the bamboo stamping! I stamped and die cut the balloon and panda and colored them with Copic markers. I stamped the bamboo in a pretty green shade. The sentiment is a long sentiment that would not fit in this space, so I just stamped the end of it – bear hug! Perfect!

I layered two white circles for dimension for my panda bear to sit on! The balloon is attached to the card with foam tape. I used a white gel pen to add a bit of highlight to the balloon and the panda cheeks.

Sending you a big bear hug right now!!

Thanks for joining me today! Big thanks to the awesome team at MFT for inviting me to stamp with them this month – it's an honor! See you right back here next Wednesday for more MFT inspiration and a new sketch. Take care – and happy panda hugs to you! XOXO

May 3, 2017
You can always lean on me! Happy Hedgehogs from MFT!

Hey everyone! Happy Saturday! How was your week? My week was pretty fun and full of lots of social activities and lots of crafting! Did you see that the reveal of the new Papertrey Ink products has started over on the official PTI Blog? The March release is huge and I can't wait to show you my projects in a few days! It has been such a whirlwind of crafting and creating – in the best possible way. I am delighted to be part of the PTI crew, and launching my first new release with them. Stay tuned! If you want to catch up on what's been revealed so far….CLICK HERE! There is a lot more to come!

I have also been trying to color every day as part of the 30 Day Coloring Challenge put on by Kathy Racoosin! YAY! Are you coloring every day? I'm trying, but not quite making it every day. The card I'm sharing today came about because I had colored these sweet hedgie images the other night…And I had to put them on a card. I love MFT stamps and I love hedgehogs – so this Happy Hedgehogs set was perfect for me. (Fun fact – I actually used to have a pet hedgehog and her name was Emma!) I used one of the sweet sentiments and this ended up being a friendship and encouragement card.

So I started with the cute hedgies and mushrooms all colored with my Copics, but I was drawing a blank on a card layout for these guys. One of my favorite resources for a card sketch idea is to go to the MFT resources section. CLICK HERE to see all their layout ideas in printable form!) I ended up modifying slightly one of the sketches! And I like how it came out. I started with a crisp A2 white card base. Then I die cut the Radial Circle die and the grass border die. I got out my pack of beautiful gingham paper for the bottom…. I love the red gingham to match the mushrooms.

My Copic Color choices are listed below in the supplies. I mounted the hedgehogs and the most of the other elements to the card using foam tape. I added a few blue sequins at the end for a bit of sparkle. For the circle focal element, I sponged Tumbled Glass Distress Ink around the edge, feathering the color in towards the center. Then I used some Izink in Jasmine (white) to speckle a few white paint drops onto the blue.

Here is the full stamp set! SO many cute images!!

The grass green border gives just a pop of color to separate all that white. I tucked the mushrooms in behind the grass. I love using AC Cardstock because of the slight texture. This is a beautiful shade of green…

I adore how the hedgies are leaning in to one another! This could be two friends or a mom and child…any combination! Mine are girlfriends! LOL.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you have the most wonderful weekend! It has been cold, and raining non stop for months here and all of a sudden it's 75 degrees out! Yahoooo! So nice to be outside and in the sunshine. Love it. See you soon! XOXO

SUPPLY LIST FOR TODAY!

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March 11, 2017
Stay Cool!

Hi everybody! Happy Sunday! It's two weeks before Christmas! EEEKS! And today is my husband's birthday so we've been celebrating all weekend! I made his favorite meal this morning (affectionately called BIG breakfast) and now we are in a food coma watching football. Buddy is snoozing in front of the window. It's nice and foggy. Life is good. Tonight my friend Shauna and I will go out for dinner and to the amazing Christmas concert at church. It's our annual girls night out tradition for the holidays. Friday the hubs and I spent all day in San Francisco going to museums, taking pictures, shopping and enjoying the holiday sights and sounds. Carolers and ice skaters, and busy shoppers, and so many beautiful decorations. It's pure magic and I feel so lucky that we live close to a world class city like San Francisco, and we can go any time we like. I am winding down on making holiday projects and thinking about putting away all the Christmas crafting stuff. My studio is a mess, like Christmas blew up in here! LOL. Time to move on to winter and Valentine's Day cards now!

I did my 2016 CRAFTY TOP TEN list a little bit ago, and the stamp set I'm using today is one of the things on my favorites list! CUTEST penguins ever in the Chill Wishes stamp set from My Favorite Things. I had so much fun coloring these guys with my Copic Markers! Then I added bits of glitter here and there. This would be a fun Winter greeting or Winter birthday card for someone special. They kinda crack me up. My favorite is the skier one!

I made my card base out of gingham paper (from Amuse stamps) and then used that pretty blue shade from the paper as one of my main card colors. I stamped and die cut the penguins and trees and then colored them with Copic Markers. I die cut a stitched rectangle and a stitched slope from two die sets from SSS (Supplies listed below) to make the setting for these funny guys. I stamped little snowflakes on the white pieces and also stamped my sentiment in the corner of the slope.

I used Copic Opaque White to add white highlights over my Copic Coloring. Then I used Hero Arts Prisma Glitter and a Quickie glue pen to add glitter accents.

All of the pieces are attached to the card using foam tape for dimension. I put the trees behind the penguins to make it look like they just stopped on the ski slope! LOL. Seriously. So adorable. Stay cool my friends!!

Thanks for popping by here today! I'm waiting for LOTS of stamps to arrive in the mail and hopefully they make it in time! EEK. I have three blog posts to do for next week, and no stamps yet! Wish me luck! Hope you have a fantastic week ahead. Love you. Bye! XOXOXO

P.S. I have some fun projects on the SSS Blog today – leave a comment over there for a chance to win a prize!

SUPPLY LINKS FOR TODAY!

Thanks for clicking and supporting my business!

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December 11, 2016
My Favorite Things – Twice the Wishes!

Hi everybody! Dang, Thursday already! Hope you've had a great week! Our washer died about a month ago and we had to buy a new set…. Well, today our TV died! I hate dealing with stuff like that, don't you? Luckily TV's are pretty inexpensive nowadays. Our old TV should be in the Smithsonian anyway…. I guess it was time. But, it's never a good time! I will look forward to watching movies in HD now though! And, please pray for us that we don't need to involve Comcast in the process! Oy.

I'm here today with a post to help celebrate the 10th Birthday of one of our very favorite stamp companies – My Favorite Things! Yes, they are ten! Isn't that awesome!? They launched a beautiful new card kit for July to help you craft and celebrate the birthdays in your life. I made a bright and happy giant birthday cake card today with lots of color! I used my distress inks to color the die cut pieces… And threw in some glitter for good measure. Supply links are at the bottom of my post.

I started with a pretty teal card base and layered that gorgeous striped paper on top. I always love a good stripe paper! I used the colors in the stripes to match my ink colors to tie the project together. The die cuts were cut out from watercolor paper.

How cute are those candles!? EEP. My cake is strawberry pink with chocolate frosting! In this photo you can see I added Diamond Stickles to the frosting and the candles. My circle was splattered with watercolor paint first, and set aside to dry.

To do my watercoloring, I used the wet on wet technique. I got the paper wet with clean water first and then added the ink. This gives a nice flowy effect I think. I want to bit right into this big ole cake! CHOMP.

I was going to stamp my sentiment onto the cake but it didn't quite look right to me… So I cut a strip of vellum and used my MISTI tool to get the exact placement I wanted. I adhered the vellum to the top layer by wrapping it around the back and gluing it down out of sight. I seriously adore this font!!

You, my friends, take the CAKE! Thanks for coming by today. I hope you have a great day and an awesome weekend to come! By the way, for everyone asking, my back is doing much better! THANK YOU LORD! I am back in action! Take care. XOXO

SUPPLIES FOR TODAY! CARD KIT LINK IS IN ABOVE GRAPHIC!

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July 21, 2016
My Favorite Things – Jungle Friends Card Kit!

Hi friends! (Insert Tarzan yell here!) Remember when Carol Burnett used to do that? Yes, I'm dating myself right now! LOL. I was lucky enough to be sent a beautiful card kit by my friends at MFT Stamps recently. It is SOOOO fun! This card kit is called Jungle Friends and it has the cutest jungle animal dies, punny sentiments and awesome patterned papers. The kit also has cool dies that you can use to make your own slider cards! YAY! CLICK HERE to see the full reveal of the kit on the MFT Blog! This kit is such a good value, for all the items you get. CLICK HERE to shop the kit at the MFT Store!

When I received my kit, I immediately thought "jungle party" and decided to make some colorful and fun party treat boxes. I used my Candy Box Punch Board to make the treat boxes and then used the card kit for everything else. Who doesn't want to be a party animal!? The treat boxes were made using the nice thick cardstock that comes in the kit. Then I used the patterned papers to add an accent around the middle (that part is 1.5 inches wide).

How adorable is this sentiment? I'm going to use this one a lot!! You can see here I tied the ends of my boxes using some natural twine, to go with the jungle theme. I used the MFT Flag Stax for my banners and the MFT Radial Stitched Circle Stax for the white circle layers.

After I die cut each of the animals I went back with a sponge dauber and a bit of matching ink to give a slight shadow effect on them. Here you can see the green ink on the alligator. I die cut the grass pieces out of some of the cute patterned paper!

Thanks for popping in here to my jungle today! My studio is a mess because I just got a giant antique postal cabinet at an antique fair last weekend. Trying to make room for it and then getting excited to start putting things away inside it. A nice addition….but you know how that goes! Organizing and cleaning first! I am so happy to share this fun Jungle Friends Card Kit and am grateful to the fine peeps at MFT for having me as a guest. Take care friends! XOXO

April 25, 2016
Happy Birthday Elephant Card!

I'm back already! Dang, there is A LOT happening around here lately!! I can hardly keep up with myself! LOL. How was your Christmas? I hope it was merry and wonderful! We spent the day at home with a roaring fire and had a very nice cozy day. I love a no-drama holiday! Hard to believe Christmas 2015 is already over. Now we have a new year and a fresh start to look forward to. Today is the day for Weekender with Wanda over on the Simon Says Stamp Blog. I really am having the best time doing my weekly feature! Thank you all for following along with me!

I'm posting a sneak peek here of my card. Head over to the SSS Blog to see the entire card and learn how I made it! I'm featuring cute new stamps from My Favorite Things. I'll be back in a few days with more crafty fun. Have a great weekend! XO

December 26, 2015
Have a Holly Jolly Christmas….Elf! I’m an MFT Guest Designer today!

Hellooooo! Here I am again popping in with a fun and very jolly card! Today is my second post as a Guest Designer for My Favorite Things! Woooot wooooooot! Thanks to the lovely peeps at MFT for inviting me and giving me this honor! I was so happy to be involved in the fun this month! My last card for my Guest Designer gig was made with an adorable Pure Innocence image. Well, the other line of stamps that I am CRAZY about from MFT are the Birdie Brown stamps drawn by the amazing Torico. Remember those super cute Santas last year??? EEEK. Well, this year there are elves!

I made a clean and simple layout so I could feature the awesome little elf and the gorgeous new words set too. (links at the bottom) I kept it really traditional – with red and green. Take a look!

I colored my little elf with my Copic Markers and then cut him out with the matching die. On my white background layer I stamped my sentiment and some little star images. Then I added a fun mix of rhinestones and enamel dots. 🙂

Many thanks for this fun opportunity MFT! CLICK HERE to go to the awesome MFT Blog and see lots of good stuff. Have a great day everybody! XO

October 28, 2015
My Favorite Things Stamps – Card Contest! Fall Cards!

OOOOOOOOH! I am SO excited to share these cards with you today! My new SSS/MFT order came in over the weekend and I was waiting for these two new Fall stamp sets to make some cards. The stamps are entirely too adorable. I wanted to make some cards for the Card Design Superstar Contest on the MFT blog and I am getting my cards done and entered just at the last moment. Whew! I hope you like them as much as I liked making them. Click on the link if you want to enter some cards too! You have until the 18th…tomorrow!

My favorite crafting season is in full swing now! I got out all the Halloween crafty stash this week, and the Fall stash too. Beautiful warm colors of orange and gold and olive. Ahhhhhh. Now for some apple cider and a sweater!

My first card was made with the new set called Harvest Mouse. EEEEEK. This is one little mouse I'm not afraid of! He's so sweet! I also combined some stamps with the Sunflower Sweetheart set to make a Fall scene. (I used the wheelbarrow from that set!) My card layout was made with the Blueprints 14 dies set. I tried all different combinations of papers with this one, but ended up clean and classic with cream, orange and kraft.

I colored all my images with Copic markers. I used cream cardstock as my base. I used the matching dies to cut out all the images. The little pile of leaves fit perfectly in the wheelbarrow! Yes! I cut out a bunch of extra pumpkins too for accents. Here you can see that at the end I added pretty prisma glitter to have some sparkle.

I made my own pumpkin/flower embellishment to put at the top of the card by my sentiment. The sentiment was stamped in brown ink onto a flag stax die cut.

In this top-down view you can see I've layered all my pieces with foam tape, but it's still flat enough to mail. I love using the Blueprints dies to do my card layouts.

For my second card I used the new Pure Innocence Thankful Friend stamp set! I was completely inspired by THIS CARD that Donna Mikasa made for MFT release week. She is one of my very favorite crafty gals and she used colored pencils on kraft paper for this particular image. GENIUS I tell ya! So I changed it up just a bit and used my watercolor pencils on kraft paper. I matched my colors to the MFT plaid paper I wanted to use on my card.

I layered two Cross Stitched Squares dies for my focal image. It felt like it needed something more…. I added some cute fluttering orange leaves and then put the card together! I wasn't even sure watercolor pencils would work on the kraft paper – but I like it! I learned to use just the tiniest amount of water…and wait for it to dry before determining if you like it or not. The water really darkened the paper and at first I was worried. But it dried really nicely. I went back at the end and used a white pencil to add a few highlights.

Isn't this the sweetest sentiment! I like to acknowledge my friends at Thanksgiving and Autumn and this would be the perfect stamp set to use to make 'friend' cards! I recently discovered MFT Black Hybrid Ink… where has that been all my life? Supah crisp! I used the Stitched Scallop Edges die to make a little orange border.

And here are my Fall creations!

CLICK HERE TO READ THE POST ABOUT THE CONTEST, AND TO ENTER YOUR CARD TOO! THERE ARE ALREADY OVER 400 ENTRIES! Thanks for coming by today – wish me luck with the contest! XOXO

September 17, 2015
Stamp-tember Exclusive from My Favorite Things and Simon Says Stamp!

Dang, this week went by fast! Happy Friday! How are you? I'm good – busy, but good. There is so much going on this month already. College Football started (yay), we made our first trip up to Apple Hill for donuts and cider, and I can feel the light changing, signaling my fav season. it's been two months since I left my corporate job and I'm finally calmed down! Wow, it has been a weird transition, and I'm so super grateful. Life is good. And I hope life is good for you too. Hello to all my new readers and followers! Stamp-tember has been a little crazy!

I'm blogging today to share a card I made with the awesome new collaboration stamp set between My Favorite Things and Simon Says Stamp! The limited edition set is called "Thanks for Being There" and it's a beautiful sentiment set. There are two large words in a pretty brushed font and then several smaller sayings in a different font. I love that look, don't you? And, I LOVE Stamptember! So many new stamps getting released, practically every day! Are you having fun seeing all the new products? I will have more tomorrow, too. Stay tuned!

For today's card I used the new stamp set "Thanks for Being There" along with the "Modern Blooms" stamp set and the Cross Stitch Squares dies…all from My Favorite Things. I used an Autumn color palette with some kraft and cream cardstock. I love using Fall colors!

My card base is kraft cardstock. I stamped some of the flower images with Versamark ink for a watermark effect. My main focal piece is cream cardstock. I stamped my sentiments in a rich brown ink. Then I gently edged the panel with Antique Linen Distress Ink and a sponge dauber. I stamped and cut out some of the flower images from Modern Blooms and mounted them with foam squares.

This stamp set is the PERFECT size for cards!

Here is what the full stamp set looks like:

CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE STAMP-TEMBER STAMP SETS! YAHOOOOO!

Have a wonderful weekend and thank you so much for coming by today!

September 11, 2015