CASe this Sketch #263

Hello Everyone,

Today I am playing along with CASe this Sketch. I love this simple graphic sketch. Well, recently I have been bitten by the alcohol ink bug and I had a few backgrounds kicking around on my craft table. I love creating these backgrounds, but then I find myself not wanting to use them because I like them so much! When I saw this sketch I knew I wanted to use one of these backgrounds. Here is my card:

I made this background with a darker blue and aqua coloured alcohol inks - I love the colour saturation. I chose this Memory Box die because I have been craving daisies - it is the Tilth Floral die. I added a simple sentiment banner - can’t remember the stamp set I used. I love the simplicity and the way this card turned out.

Thanks for stopping by; please feel free to leave a comment - I love the feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse #257

Hello Everyone,

Here is this week’s Muse card by the Uber-talented Tracy McNeely. I love the simplicity of the cluster of flowers balanced by the simple sentiment. Here is my card:

I switched the orientation from portrait to landscape, but the idea of a cluster of flowers balanced with a simple sentiment was what I was going for. I coloured my little daisies with my Zigs and blended the colours with my Nuvo Aqua Shimmer pen - it is very sparklicious in real life. The flowers are from a very old Annabelle Stamps stamp set; I don’t have the name of it even. The sentiment is from the Birch Press Designs set called “Just Because”. Here is a close-up of the sparkle on the flowers.

It is much sparklier in real life - hard to capture on the camera! Thanks for stopping by - please feel free to leave a comment; I love to get the feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology: Bug!

Hello Everyone,

This week the cue card at CASology is: Bug! Now I will admit I was a little stumped since I don’t really have any bug related stamps. When I was in my craft room labelling and storing some new stampsets, I had an epiphany. I may be taking some liberties with my interpretation of  “bug”, but I think it works. Here is my card:

Maybe I am stretching the theme a little with this card, but I think my reference to a snail qualifies :) This is a new set from Gina K called “Stuffed with Love”. It is a great little stamp set. I coloured the little envelope and hearts with my Zig Clean Colours and added some shimmer with my Nuvo Aqua pen. Here is a closer look at how shimmery this is in real life.

A very simple CAS card - hope you like it! Thanks for stopping by and please feel free to leave a comment - I love the feedback!

Happy Stamping, 

Meg

CASe this Sketch #260

Hello Everyone,

Time to play along with CASe THis Sketch  I love the simple sketch for this week. I didn’t keep my “white space” quite as white as the sketch and I did turn things on their side too. Here is my card:

I used one of my favourite background stamps from Simon Says Stamp called Mod Flower Background - I stamped it in versamark and then heat embossed with silver. I coloured the big flowers with my Prisma colour pencils and the smaller flowers are done with my clear Wink of Stella to give a bit of shimmer. The “Happy” is from MFT’s “Happy Wonderful Christmas” and is die-cut from the silver glitter paper from this month’s MFT card kit. The banner sentiment is from a Simon Says Stamp set - have to check which one. The little glitter flower is an old die set I have -don’t remember where it is from. I used my purple Nuvo Glitter drops for the center of the flower. I popped the whole panel onto a mat made from the MFT silver glitter paper. Super-thrilled with the way it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment, as I love to hear your feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASe This Sketch

Hello Everyone,

This week I am playing along with CASe this Sketch. If you rotate the sketch clockwise 90 degrees, you will see that I flipped this a bit. Here is my card:

I used a “Thanks” from  the MFT “Twice the Thanks” die-namics and the sentiments are from the stamp set that matches called “Kind Thanks”. I actually made this card to send to a YouTube blogger named Christopher Allen. He vlogs about lifestyle, organization and luxury items, but the heart of  his channel is really a message of kindness. I encourage people to check him out. I have been enjoying his channel so much that I thought I would send some handmade kindness his way. 

To make this card I die-cut some stencil sheets with the second largest heart from MFTs stacked hearts dies. Then I sponged the heart with Delicata gold and clear embossed - it is shiny and glittery! Then I die cut the “thanks” sentiment out and stamped the other sentiments in versafine Black Onyx (I clear embossed those as well). I die cut four extra thanks from Neenah Solar White and stacked them up with the original die cut on top. Then I inlaid it. I love the clean and simple style of this.

Thanks so much for stopping by - I would love to hear what you think, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASology: Swoon

Hello Everyone,

This week over at CASology the cue card is “Swoon” - perfect for Valentine’s month. I am sure I am not the only one busily creating Valentine’s Day cards. Every year I bring a bunch in to work for my co-worker’s; they are so popular, that they start asking in January if I am going to bring the cards in.

Of course I have been playing with some of my new sets, but for this card I combined old and new together.

The stamped heart is from a Concord and 9th set that came out last year called “Big Hugs” (I think) and the banners are from a new set by MFT called “From the Heart”. I love the sentiments in this set - like all MFT sets they are very versatile.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you are enjoying your weekend. Feel free to leave a comment - I always love to hear from you.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse # 250

Hello Everyone,

This week I am playing along with the Muse Card Club Challenge  Posted above is the delightful inspiration card. When I saw it I immediately knew that  I had to use my new products from MFT. Here is the card I created:

The heart cut out is MFT’s new stitched heart die and the little monster and sentiment are from the stamp set called “Monster Sized”. It is a super cute set with all kinds of monstrously good puns. Be sure to head over to the Muse Card Challenge to check out all the wonderful creations. Thanks for stopping by and feel free to leave some feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASE this Sketch

Hello Everyone,

This is this week's CASe this Sketch. I really love that it can be interpreted so many ways. I chose to do a landscape version of this sketch. Here is my card:

I combined two different stamp sets from two different companies. The stamped images are from an old Hero Arts set called "Brush Strokes" - I had forgotten about it and found it while I was looking for something different. The sentiments are from MFT - Huge Love die and From the Heart sentiments. I used Altenew inks - I just love that they make ombre so easy.

I love the way this card turned out. Please feel free to leave a comment and thank you for stopping by.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Happy New Year: CASology - Encourage

Hello Everyone,
Happy New Year! Today I am joining the challenge over at CASology where the cue card is "Encourage". What a great word. So, every year at this time, I make a resolution to blog more consistently and it works for awhile and then I let life get in the way. Disclaimer - I am a school teacher (grade 7/8) and during the school year, with all the marking and prep work, I have little energy for blogging which starts to feel a lot like work instead of a release... this is why it falls by the wayside. This year I have made a shift in my role at school and moved into Special Education, and I have less at home prep work to do. So, I feel that will leave me more time to blog. I have also been bitten by the bullet journal bug and am staying a lot more organized - if you are crafty and you haven't checked out bullet journals, STOP reading and go check it out.

Here is my card:

I don't know if you follow Jennifer McGuire or not... wait a minute, what am I saying of course you do! Before Christmas, she posted these amazing videos to show how to create amazing backgrounds with alcohol inks. I am sure the alcohol ink supplies around the world immediately dwindled as everyone placed their orders (me included). It is so addictive and easy. So, I created a background using amethyst, pool and silver additive. I die cut the flower using the fantastic SSS die "Flower Frame". I LOVE this style of die as it is SO versatile. Here is a close-up of the background because the picture does not do it justice.

It is quite stunning in real life. The sentiment is from the Birchpress sentiment set "Just Because" (another recommendation from the wonderful JM).

Thanks for stopping by, and feel free to leave a comment. Now, I get to go and check off a task in my new Bullet Journal! :)

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Belated OCC Day Five Rainbow Maker

Hello Everyone,

Day five at the Rainbow Maker class featured adding texture over a rainbow background using stencils. In my last post I used a texture paste. This time I thought I would use Deco Transfer gel for Foil. I used Salty Ocean, Fossilized Amber, and Candied Apple Distress Inks. To get the I created the secondary colours of the rainbow, by overlapping the primary colours. Next I used a Neat and Tangled basket weave stencil and added the Deco Transfer Gel. This is awesome stuff, but you have to make sure that it is completely dry before you try foiling over it. I let mine dry overnight. If you don't, you will end up with a melted blobby mess - ask me how I know!:) I use my Minc mini to apply a beautiful Gina K mango foil. It is very hard to capture in the photo, but it is just gorgeous. I finished it off with an SSS sentiment die and vellum circle. 

Here you can see the foil goodness a little better. Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment as I love to read the feedback!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

OCC Rainbow Maker Day Five

Hello Everyone,

For Day Five of OCC Rainbow Maker we are focusing on stenciling over rainbow blended backgrounds. So, for this card I created my ink-blended background with Candied Apple, Squeezed Lemonade, and Salty Ocean distress inks. By overlapping the primary colours, I created the secondary orange and green, without having to add an orange or a green ink. Then I used some Heidi Swapp metallic white texture paste using my MFT Brick Stencil. The neat thing about this texture paste is that it is slightly translucent and iridescent, so it picks up the background colour. To finish it off, I die cut a Lawn Fawn sentiment from home-made toner paper and foiled it with Gina K mango foil. Here is a better picture which shows off the foil and the paste more.

The colour of the foil really picks up on the yellow-orange in back ground. I popped the sentiment onto a Paper Smooches vellum die cut. I love the way this card turned out. Here is another close-up of the quality of the foil and texture paste.

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you think.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Online Card Classes Rainbow Maker Day 4

Hello Everyone,

Today over at Online Card Classes Rainbow Maker, the focus is on watercoloured backgrounds. I chose to do the traditional "smooshing" technique. I used Candied Apple, Crushed Pumpkin, Squeezed Lemonade, Cracked Pistachio, Mermaid Lagoon, and Wilted Violet Distress Inks. I smooshed each ink pad onto my craft sheet and spritzed it liberally with water. Then I smooshed my Tim Holtz Watercolour paper into it. I love the way it turned out. After heat setting, I followed Laura Bassen's lead and topped it all off with a simple white die cut from Concord and 9th. I didn't even feel the need to add a sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by - I love to hear your feedback, so please feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse 228 and Online Card Classes: Rainbow Maker Day 3

Hello Everyone,

This is the inspiration card for this week's Muse Challenge - it pairs perfectly with the Online Card Class Rainbow Maker. The rainbow focal image in the Muse card is the perfect inspiration for my rainbow "hugs". The white sentiment embossed on a black background was inspired by the black background in the card. I felt it needed a little something more, so I embossed the card panel with my hearts Next Level EF. I also couldn't resist adding Wink of Stella to the rainbow die cut. The sentiment and the die are both from Concord and 9th!

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment - I love to read your feedback.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Online Card Classes: Rainbow Maker Day Two Part Two

Hello Everyone,

Here is my second card for today's online card class Rainbow maker. The focus today is to stamp using rainbow colours and who better than Laura Bassen to demo that. She demo'd a plaid background using rainbow colours. LOVE it! I pulled out my old PTI set "Faux Ribbon" and went to town. Again I used my new Altenew inks - they are so beautiful to work with. When I finished the background, I added to Concord and 9th Hello die. I felt the card base needed some texture against the busy plaid, so I used one of my Next Level Embossing folders, from the geometric set.

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment; I always love to hear from you!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Online Card Classes: Rainbow Maker Day Two Part One

Hello Everyone,

Today in the Online Card Class Rainbow Maker, Jennifer McGuire showed a second generation stamping technique to create a background. She used hearts and a rainbow colour scheme. I decided to use a circle stamp (actually the backside of Neat and Tangled's Everyday Circles) and ombre rainbow colour scheme. I got out my new Altenew inks in red, orange, green, blue, and purple and created the repeated pattern. I used another Neat and Tangled set, "Out of the Box", for the sentiment. Since the background is quite vibrant, I kept the sentiment simple. I also couldn't resist adding some Wink of Stella to the circles - it is hard to capture in the picture, but it is very sparkly in real life!

Thanks for stopping by. Please feel free to leave a comment - I love to hear from you!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Online Card Class Day One: Rainbow Maker

Hello Everyone,

This week I am participating in Online Card Classes new class called: Rainbow Maker. One of the card's presented today used a double stencil technique. I created a heart stencil with my MFT nested hearts. Then I inked blended first with just the heart stencil. After, I overlaid the MFT Brick stencil and ink blended again - either with the same colour or a slightly darker version of the colour. So, for example, on the yellow heart, I used Squeezed Lemonade and then Fossilized Amber on top. For the purple I just used Wilted Violet. The sentiment is the Neat and Tangled Awesome die.

Thanks for stopping by. I love to hear your feedback - so, please feel free to leave a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Muse 228 and Online Card Classes: Rainbow Maker Day One

Hello Everyone,

Here is the inspiration card for this week's Muse Challenge.I was thrilled to see the use of rainbow motif, since this week I am participating in the latest Online Card Class called Rainbow Maker. I decided for my Muse card I decided to flip the colour scheme and do black die cut on a rainbow background. I used an inked edge technique with rainbow colours for my background and then glued my black die cut on top. The colours are Distress Inks: Candied Apple, Crushed Pumpkin, Fossilized Amber, Cracked Pistachio, Salty Ocean and Wilted Violet. The die is an SSS Daisy die. The sentiment is from Altenew's Label Love set. Here is my card:

Thank you for stopping by, I love to hear your feedback, so please leave me a comment!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASe This Sketch 232

Hello Everyone,

This is the new sketch for CASe this Sketch. It reminded me of a card I made a couple of weeks ago. I changed up the colours and the orientation. Here is my card:

I used my new Altenew inks and my Neat and Tangled set "On the Strip". The bold "Hello" is from another Neat and Tangled set called "Out of the Box". I love this card and layout... so easy to execute!

Thanks for stopping by and if you want to leave feedback, that would be great - I love to get comments.

Happy Stamping,

Meg

Another for CASe this Sketch 231

Hello Everyone,

Yup, I have another one for this weeks CASe this Sketch! I sort of turned the sketch on its side for this card. Here it is...

Can I just say that I LOVE this little chef - he is so stinking cute. He is from MFT's Recipe for Happiness - so is the sentiment. The heart background is made with MFT's nesting hearts dies and their brick wall stencil. I have some sheets of stencil plastic (bought it at the local craft store) and made a heart stencil with the dies. I put brick wall stencil under the heart stencil and sponged with MFT's Razzleberry Fizz dye ink. I coloured my chef copics and popped him up on foam. Love the way it turned out.

Thanks for stopping by; feel free to leave some feedback as I always love to hear from you!

Happy Stamping,

Meg

CASe This Sketch 231

Hello Everyone,

Here is the latest sketch over at the CASe this Sketch blog. I bought some new foils and some new microfine glitter and decided to put them to good use. Here is the card I created.

I used an old set of nesting dies from spellbinders to create my glittery background. It is hard to capture the glitterificness of these colours in the photo - you will just have to trust me. The butterfly is a Memory Box die and I cut it out of toner paper and foiled it with Gina K silver confetti foil - you can see it picks up on the colours around it. I felt the simple white "Hi" went perfectly - it is from Paper Smooches.

Thanks for stopping by; feel free to leave some feedback - I always love to hear from you!

Happy Stamping,

Meg