fresh & fun

Okay, so sometimes I am a little slow. I saw these banners at other blogs before, but I didn’t really pay attention. Today I read it again. This is so cool! A Muse is holding weekly challenges! You can win free A Muse Merchandise! I love challenges! I love A Muse! I am sooooo in! It’s already the third week that this is going on, but better late then never, right?

Well….run to the A Muse blog and check out this weeks challenge. It’s a sketch challenge. I LOVE those!!!!

Here is my card made with the sketch.

I started out with a 5 1/4″ x 10 1/2″ piece of Basic Black cardstock. I cut a 5″ square piece of shimmery white cardstock and stamped the Paisley Background (Stampin’ Up!) with Going Gray classic ink.

I cut a 2 1/4″ piece of brushed silver cardstock and stamped it with Black Palette ink and My Favorite Things “Behind the Scenes” polka dots. I love clear stamps for backgrounds like that. It’s a piece of cake to line the dots up. I taped the silver cardstock on to a bigger black piece of cardstock and cut the edges with decorative scissors. I added black organdy ribbon with silver cord on the top third of that strip.

For the center image I stamped A Muse’s Chandelier stamp (7-4101B) in Black Palette ink. I colored it with Prisma color Pencils and blended those with gamsol. I added shine to it with the Sakura Sparkle pen and even more sparkle over the lights with Stickles Stardust.

The main image was layered on a black scalloped circle and taped on with dimensionals.  Last I stamped you light up my Life in Black Palette ink with Karen Forster snap stamps.

Check out all the A Muse stamper on this map:

First of all, I want to wish you a Happy Mother’s Day! I already talked to my Mom yesterday, because she is going on a one day excursion today.

Last night it was the first time EVER that I did a challenge a day early. I have to confess that I hadn’t see Candy’s gallery before. Beth sure knows how to pick them. Candy’s gallery  is filled with great cards! While I was browsing I saw she made a card with Stampendous bees. I had to pick that one to case.

The gift bearing bee was stamped on shimmery white cardstock with brown Palette ink. I colored her in with Marigold Morning, Ruby Red, Close to Cocoa, Chocolate Chip, Bordering Blue, Sage Shadow and True Thyme. I doodled the borders with my brown Micron pen and colored it in with some of the colors I used for the bees.

The background on top of my 5 1/4″ square True Thyme card is stamped with My Favorite Things Behind the Scenes stamps and my Hint of Pesto Versamagic Dew Drop.

The patterned paper is Fancy Pants, the ribbon one of my new favorite from May Arts.

I hope you all have a wonderful day. I don’t know how much stamping I will get done today! The sun is shining and we are going to the beach in about an hour.

Here is another card that I made with the sketch for the Fresh and Freebies challenge.

This is a Thank you  for someone helping me purchase something. I thought these stamps from My Favorite Things would be perfect for this card.

I stamped the image on shimmery white cardstock with brown Pallette ink. Next I colored it in with several Classic inks and aqua painter. I used More Mustard, Chocolate chip, Ruby Red, Not Quite Navy, Creamy Caramel, Cameo Coral and Bordering Blue. I layered the image on a chocolate chip layer.

The saying is stamped with brown Pallette ink on shimmery white cardstock as well. I punched it out with the Window Word punch.

My card base is More Mustard cardstock . The patterned paper is My Mind’s Eye, Tres Bien collection. The brads in my prima flowers are ruby red Brads from Stampin’ Up!.

Today’s sketch challenge was a tough one for me. I usually don’t like this layout at all. Luckily Toy is super fast creating her challenge card. She added circles over the required four squares. I like the way it softens up the layout.

I started stamping the Images from the new My Favorite Stamps sets called Baby First with black Palette ink on Whisper White cardstock. I should have used Shimmery white. Next time! I colored the images with aqua painter and several Stampin’ Up! classic ink pads. I punched them out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch and layered them on 1 3/8″ black circles.

The squares behind the circles are 1 1/2″ bashful blue cardstock pieces. I softened the edges by using my white Versamagic Dew Drop on it. Then I paper pierced the corners and highlighted the piercing with white gel pen.

To make the scalloped square I pierced 4 smaller scallop squares (Marvy Scallop Mega punch) together and layered a smaller black square over it.

The black behind the saying is made Asela Style. Check out her blog, she has a great tutorial for it there.

The background is stamped with the My Favorite things stamp set Behind the Scenes. The top part is stamped with white Versamagic Dew drop and polka dots, the bottom with Brocade Blue Stripes that I stamped horizontal and vertical to make my Plaid. Clear Acrylic stamps are so easy to line up! I will use this set a lot I think.

Are you interested in FREE STAMPS????

My Favorite Things is holding it’s first ever CARD CONTEST! Send in your favorite MFT card creations for a chance to win 3 FREE MFT stamp sets! From now until May 31st, we are accepting card samples and all submissions will be entered in the drawing! Enter as many times as you’d like, but with each card submission include a small note with your contact information for the drawing. One winner will be randomly selected using an extremely scientific method (my 3 year old will pull from the hat!) and will receive their choice of any 3 MFT stamp sets! The cards will not be judged, and will be featured on my blog, some on my site gallery with artistic credit and some will even be sent to stamp stores across the states to represent My Favorite Things! Sound good? Send card submissions and contact notes to: My Favorite Things - 214 Hall St. Eustis, FL 32726

Mondays are always busy mornings for me. There is regular laundry and all the bedsheets and towels to wash, vaccuming, dusting, moping and cleaning bathrooms. Let’s just say…Monday’s are not my favorite days. I haven’t gotten a chance to stamp yet. I still have to mop and do one more load of laundry. But I have another Fairy card to share with you that I made yesterday. This time I used the Dancing/Springing Princess stamp from the My Favorite things stamp set.

I love this Fancy Pants Paper from the Key Lime Pie collection. It’ so cute and fresh.   I scored and folded my 4″ x 11″ piece of  patterned paper. You can find the tutorial for this trifold here.

I  used the scallop circle from Marvy to punch out my frame out of Pink Passion Cardstock. I stamped the Linen background over it in white and distressed the edges white as well.  I adhered it where I wanted my window to be and cut a window in the center with my Coluzzle cutting system.

Next I stamped and colored my main image on the white cardstock that was punched out with the biggest Marvy Scallop circle.  I stamped the birthday greeting on the inside. To color the girl, I used Blush Blossoms, Bashful Blue, Pixie Pink and Green Galore Classic ink and my aqua painter.

The Saying For A Birthday Princess comes as a straight stamp. But you can shape clear stamps while sticking them on your acrylic block. That’s what  I did for this saying.

The ribbon is from May Arts and I bought it from Cindy, aka Starlitstudio!

The ribbon is optional. You can also just tie a knot through the hole, without running the ribbon all the way around the card.

Yesterday I didn’t just get one box with goodies from Ecletic Paperie, I also got a new stamp set from My Favorite Things!

If you haven’t checked out their stamps yet, go and take a peek. I love their cute images.

I love that little Fairy/Princess. I think she is adorable. I wanted to make a sample with her and my new papers. I was asked to make another Trifold card for someone and thought this little stamp would be cute for it.

I started out with Rose Red Cardstock from Stampin’ Up! as my card base. The patterned Paper is from the Pheobe 6×6 paper pad. I had a bit of a hard time cutting into that gorgeous paper. But you know what…I can always order more, right? LOL

First I stamped the Saying “Have a Fairy Nice Day” all around a white circle. Then I stamped my sweet fairy in the middle.  I tied the card shut with wide white organdy ribbon from Stampin’ Up!

The center page has a little wand stamp on the bottom. The rest is left free for a note.

You can see my tutorial for the triangle trifold here on my blog or at Splitcoaststampers in the resource section.

Sorry I am late posting again. I did stamp most of the day. I decided to try to get a package together for Stampin’ Up! Artisian Award. I can’t show you what I made this morning…..and it’s sooo cute. I can’t stand it! I had two stamping buddies over stamping with me all morning long. It was so much fun! Thanks for coming Stephanie and Rainy!!!!

Anyway….I did get to stamp a card for today’s color challenge this afternoon. My Time, Lauren, filled in for Emily and posted a wonderful color combo. I will use this again soon I am sure. She picked: Chocolate Chip, Really Rust, Old Olive, So Saffron and Cool Caribbean.

Since I haven’t used My Favorite Things stamps in a while, I pulled out my favorite image of my MFT stamps out and used that. I just love the shopping girls. I have a link to MFT listed on the right hand side of this blog.

This will be the perfect card to send a thank you note to all my enabler online store friends, aka Joy, Cindy and Ellen! LOL  I am so into contraband ribbon, punches and soon paper! I can’t wait to get my newest order.

I saw another stamper color the dots from the Stampin’ Up!’s Au Chocolat Designer paper and I loved the look. I knew I wanted to try that as well. So I colored the spots in the colors of the challenge.

The main image is stamped on Prism paper. I told you I am going contraband. It’s gorgeous cardstock that is watercolor paper on one side, smooth cardstock on the other. I colored the images with Stampin’ Up! classic inks and aqua painter. I did color around the image lightly in cool caribbean, but unfortunately it doesn’t show up too well.

The brown brad is from Cindy (Starlitstudio’s) store. So is the gorgeous, double sided ribbon I used.

I am off to cook dinner and then hopefully get one Scrapbook page done. Tomorrow morning I am helping out at school.  Have a great evening!

I stamped another trifold. This time with a cute mouse from My Favorite Things. I had the mouse in the house for a while now and it was time to get her all dirty. This trifold is like Cami’s trifold, but with different measurements and without the slit punch. It will fit in one of the small open ended envelopes Stampin’ Up! sells.

 I stared with a 6 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ piece of Pretty in Pink Cardstock. I scored at 3 1/2″ and 7″.  I then added a 2 3/4″ x 4″ piece of saffron designer paper with white circles from the Spring Flower pack. I thought it would go good with this card. I layered a chocolate chip scallop circle over it and cut a circular window out with my Coluzzle.

Here is how the inside looks like:

I stamped the mouse in Brown Stazon on Whisper White and colored the image in with So Saffron, Pretty in Pink, Chocolate chip and Brocade blue and my aqua painter. I then layered it on a piece of chocolate cardstock and taped it down. Since MFT stamps are clear, you can bend the image on your acrylic block to shape them not just in a straight line. That’s what I did with my greeting on the front.

I tied the card shut with ribbon. and taped a little cheese that I had colored and punched out with the 1 1/4″ circle punch underneath.

I really like this cute set. It also comes with a cow and three sayings. I will have to use that next.

I finally finished today’s Ways to use it Challenge card. This one was hard for me. Julia wants us to mix up different manufacturers products. Well…I have to say. Besides may arts ribbon , the gorgeous Marvy Urchida scallop edge punches and a few My Favorite Things stamps, I only own Stampin’ Up! products. I don’t have other paper. So I pulled out this bathtub beauty from My Favorite things and made my second Clear stamp card.

I started with a piece of 8″ x 9 1/4″ shimmery white paper from Stampin’ Up! I folded it in half and added polka dot paper from our retired Love me Designer paper pack.

I stamped the My Favorite Things bathtub lady in black stazon and colored her with Blush blossom, pretty in pink and going gray Stampin’ Up! classic ink. I added dazzling diamond glitter with the 2 way glue pen on the mirror. For extra dimensions I added the glitter over the bubbles with liquid glue. I still have to get used to that the newer liquid glue is so much more liquid then the older kind, which was more like gel.

The ribbon is from May Arts. You can find it at Cindy Lyles online store! The saying is from MFT  and is stamped on shimmery white cardstock. I punched it out with my 1″ circle punch from Marvy and layered it on a black punchout from the designer label punch. I added two white gel pen circles to make faux brads (I really need white ones bad!) and the card was done.

I hope you are having a great afternoon. I am off to run to the grocery store now. Hugs and smiles

I got my first sets of clear stamps the other day from My Favorite Things. They are so fun and girly. It will take a me a bit to get used to acrylic stamps….but here is my first attempt.

I saw a pretty composition book at Walmart. The colors on it were Chocolate Chip, Lavender Lace, Pumpkin Pie, Certainly Celery and White. I loved that combo. I pulled out my notepad right there in the aisle and wrote it down. I am such a scatterbrain, that if I don’t do that, I will arrive home thinking….what was that color combo of the gorgeous book again?

Anyway….here is what I came up with.

I started of with a  4  1/4″ x 11″ piece of Chocolate Chip cardstock folded in half.  I took a 4″ x 5 1/4″ piece of apricot appeal cardstock and used the retired stripe template, white craft ink and the sponge daubers to make a soft striped background. I colored the image with Stampin’ Up! Marker.

The white strip on the right hand side is 1 1/4″ x 4″, the retired patterned paper is 1″ x 4″. The brown circles are punched with the 1/2″ circle punch, the colored tiny circles with the 1/4″ circle punch. Inside the colored circles are the antique brass brads from the vintage brad selection.