MFT's Ready for the Tree...Stitching it up

WOW!!! This card was a labor of love...and can I just say I love it?  The idea behind this card has been brewing for a few days, ever since I saw the December Guest Designer Challenge for MFT on SCS which is to use stitching on a card. I knew exactly what Pure Innocence image  I wanted to use, "Sending you a Little Christmas"  (It's out of stock right now but I'll link it as soon as I see it's available again).  I had the idea of creating a scene in my head but it took some time to created the final product. Like I said... it's a labor of love.  I decided I wanted to make a few trees (two with DP and the third with felt).  The felt tree has been hand stitched with Linen Thread as had the tree trunk.  The DP trees were sponged with Always Artichoke and then machine stitched.  I had some help from my mom to do the stitching on the trees... I'm not the best at sewing so I knew if I wanted it to look good, I needed the help on this part.  The snow was sponged with Brocade Blue and then machine stitched as well with a zig zag stitch. The PI has been watercolored with my Tombow Markers and then I painstakingly cut around it with a craft knife so that I could pop it up.  Another labor of love on that one I tell ya!!  I added some Diamond Stickles to the stars, hat trim,  boots trim, as well as Fruit Punch Stickles on the little tree in the sleigh. I then added some Rhinestones, Dew Drops and Buttons as "decorations" on the Christmas Tree. 

I love the whimsical, folky type look that this card has.  I can tell you one thing... I need to brush up on my sewing skills....  Be on the lookout for some sewing on my cards in the future. 

Stamps:  Sending you  a Little Christmas - MFT
Paper: Gina K White, Early Espresso, Echo Park DP, Watercolor paper
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black. Brocade Blue, Always Artichoke
Accessories and Tools: Clear Detail Embossing Powder, Water brush, Tombow Markers, Felt, Linen Thread, Thread, Tombow Multi Glue, Rhinestones, Dew Drops, Buttons, Pop Dots, Sewing Machine, Sewing Needle, Fruit Punch Stickles, Diamond Stickles

Hope you like it!!!!

CDS Sneak Peek - Blooming Bouquets

Hey there!! Welcome to the sneak peeks for December's release at Clear Dollar Stamps!! We have a bit of "spring" to show you in the form of flowers. This fantastic new set is called Blooming Bouquets and has a co-ordinating set of dies! I don't have much felt so my colors for my card were based on the felt colors I had on hand. See the dies in action?? Isn't it great?  I am a flower lover so for me this is great. I know that I'll use both the stamp set and dies again and again.   I've used one of the smaller flowers from the stamp set and stamped it in various colors.  I tried to keept the card clean and simple to show the flowers in all their glory.

Stamps/Images: Blooming Bouquet and Blooming Bouquet Dies
Cardstock/Papers:Gina K White, Basic Black, Melon Mambo
Inks: Rose Bud Memento, Studio G Blue and Lilac Pigment Inks
Accents/Tools: Felt, button, linen thread, Cuttlebug

My second card uses one of Jen del Muro's sketches from October and I was inspired by the DP which dictated everything about my card.  I love how it feels like the flower is popping off the page with it's color.  There are so many flowers in this set that are so versatile and can be used in many different combinations.

Stamps/Images: Blooming Bouquet
Cardstock/Papers: GIna K White, Early Espresso, Bazzill Swiss Dots, Scenic Route DP, MME DP
Inks: Old Olive, Pumpkin Pie
Accents/Tools: Crochet Ribbon, Rhinestones, Nestabilities   

Make sure you check out what the other girls on the DT have made with this set.  Candy, Katie, Angela, Christi, Gloria, Lisa, Shell, Linda,  and Barb all have some great eye candy for  you!!! Check it out!!

MTSC101 Friendship warms the heart

How much do I love snow... I love it!!!  Over at SCS, the MFT challenge this week is about what you are thankful for.  I am lucky to be thankful for so many things in life but mostly I am thankful for my great family and friends.  So I made this card in honor of that - friendship.  I've used the MFT set called "Merry Kissmas" - one of my faves.  I know I mentioned yesterday about my coloring meltdown the other night so when I sat down on Wednesday night I decided I need to pull out my neglected Tombow Markers and took them for a ride.  I forgot how much I like them so I think I'll go back and forth between the Watercolor pencils and my beloved Tombows.  I have to be honest in saying that this card is one of the most fun I've had making a card recently.  I love the sketch - Thanks Mercy!!! Your sketches always rock!!! So you've guessed it... My card is for Mercy's Sketch Challenge this week.   As I was making this card, I kept thinking about the lighter DP panel and wondered what it reminded me of... and then I realized... "It's Snowing Gingerbreads" which is this week's Tuesday Trigger at the Moxie Fab World blog.

See... it's snowing gingerbreads... now if only that were true.  (it would make my Christmas baking so much easier). 

SSSC94 From the Snow Family

*** If you are looking for my TSG Sneak Peek - Season's Greetings Post, please scroll down just a tiny bit to see it.

Hi there everyone!!! Happy Thanksgiving to all of my American readers and friends. I hope you are enjoying spending time with your friends and family today.  Such a beautiful time of year... it's snowing outside today (enough to close the schools today but not enough for me to not have to go to work... I'll tell you that I will have a very slow day ahead of me).  I sat down a couple of nights ago to color up some images and it just wasn't working for me. My coloring mojo was gone.... I literally tore up about 3 different images out of sheer frustration. It was as if I had never picked up a pencil or a marker before.  So I gave up that evening, watched TV, surfed for layouts and then last night I sat down again to color and it worked... My mojo was back!! Thank goodness...  I've colored up "Snow Family" which is a digi illustrated by Lori Boyd. I love her style and am so happy and thankful that I get to play with them now.  I've watercolored the image with my watercolor pencils (after heat setting it) and then I've used Karen Giron's Sweet Sunday Sketch from this week.  I love it!!!  My DP is from My Mind's Eye and Echo Park. I was shocked to see how well the colors matched. It's like they were made for each other. Each layer was dry embossed with embossing folders. I also used my "Let it Snowflake" die from MFT to create the snowflakes that I ran through my Xyron Sticker maker machine and then used MS Coarse Glitter.  Love it!!

I hope you all have a wonderful day and that you treasure those you love.

TSG Sneak Peeks - Season's Greetings

Today’s sneak peek for There She Goes features a new stamp set from Chris Dark that is a combination of a Country/Victorian style. These wonderfully illustrated images are perfect for creating elegant as well as whimsical holiday cards for your friends and family! I'm the third stop along the hop today and you should have come here via Alex's blog.  If not, you'll want to head back to the beginning at the TSG blog to see the amazing eye candy.

Can I just say I love this set???  I love the whimsical look to the images - kinda vintagey (I'm pretty sure that this isn't a word but oh well...) yet current.  Love it!!! I chose to use two of the tree images because I love the curved  look of them and I thought they went so well with this week's Taylored Expressions sketch (TESC134).  I've watercolored the image with my watercolor pencils and kept the card relatively simple.

Now it's time to head on over to this set's illustrator, Chris Dark!!! Give her some love - her images are all so amazing!!!

Seasons Greetings is a 4x8 stamp set that includes a total of 13 stamps and will sell for $18.


Would you like a chance to win the Seasons Greetings stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Seasons Greetings Blog Hop Challenge post. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Seasons Greetings stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Nov. 27) during the Release Party Chat.

TSG Sneak Peeks - Penguin Pals

TSG has a big announcement today and it has been soooo hard trying to keep it under wraps!!We are excited to tell you that TSG has joined up with Di Carubia (of Di’s Digi Downloads) to offer you exclusive TSG stamp sets that feature Di’s adorably whimsical illustrations!! For Di’s first TSG stamp set, she has illustrated these penguins that are too cute for words. They can also be combined with a variety of other images from the set for even more versatility and fun!! 

We're so glad you could join us today. If you just happened upon my blog, you'll want to go back to the beginning at the TSG Blog, otherwise you should have arrived from Alex's blog. 

I know for myself that this is a busy time of year and it's hard to keep organized... I like to call my life organized chaos. I can live it but I'm sure it would drive everyone else a little batty... LOL.  So to keep myself a bit better organized, I decided to decorate a journal I bought at Michael's in the $1.50 section.  It already had the great black and white stripes so I decided I didn't want to cover that part up.  Overall, it was a relatively quick and easy project.  I've watercolored the image with my watercolor pencils and then matted it on black cardstock and did the same thing with the Bo Bunny DP.  I then added some ribbon, a button, the sentiment and Voila... all done!! And ready to be thrown into my purse.

The next stop on the blog hop is the amazing Corinna!!! Her power has been out so I'm not sure if she'll be participating or not. 

Penguin Pals is a 4x8 stamp set that includes a total of 16 stamps and will sell for $18.

Would you like a chance to win the Penguin Pals stamp set? Here’s what you need to do- go to each of the Trendsetter’s Blogs and leave a comment on their Penguin Pals Blog Hop Challenge post. After you have finished checking out the eye candy and have left some love, return to the TSG Blog and add your name to the Mr. Linky at the bottom of this Blog Hop Challenge post. A winner will be chosen randomly using a random number generator to receive their very own Penguin Pals stamp set. The winner will be announced Saturday (Nov. 27) during the Release Party Chat.