Hay There!

I just cannot get enough of these Cute Barnyard animals from MFT!  I love the expression on that cow's face.  Too cute/funny.  This is my entry for the MFT Sketch Challenge and also for the Simon Says Stamp Challenge "Going Dotty."

Thanks for looking!

Candy Cane?? What Candy Cane??

 

This is my entry for Papertake Weekly.  The challenge this week is to take your pick from a list of themes.  I 'm using both the provided sketch and the red color scheme.  The stamp is from the Christine Grove line at Stamping Bella.  I love her funny/quirky illustrations and the matching sentiments. Stamping Bella has a Bellariffic Challenge every Friday--I'm playing along a little early this week! (and running behind on everything else...it's all about priorities.  LOL)

Thanks for stopping by!

You are my ball of yarn...

I decided to play along with the My Favorite Things Color Challenge.   The colors this week look so fresh and fun!

My blue is a little bit off, but I still think it worked out OK.  I'm using MFT's I Knead You stamp set and the stitched scalloped dies.  I used a post it note to mask the kitty and a few balls of yarn, so I could make it look like the cat was lying in a big pile of yarn.  I thought it looked a little unfinished so I added a thought bubble and the line of Purrs at the bottom.  My husband came up with the idea for the sentiment on the inside of the card--"You're my ball of yarn." 

I'd also like to enter this in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is Anything Goes and the 7 Kids College Fund Challenge which is also Anything Goes. 

Thanks for looking!  Have a great day!

Hogs and Kisses

The animals from The Whole Herd are perfect for the mirror image stamping technique.  They're small (which means there are fewer lines to smudge) and they look so adorable next to each other.  For this card I used the mirror image technique to create a pair of sweet little pigs.  I thought they'd make a nice focal point for my card--which, incidentally, is one of the lessons from My Favorite Things Summer School. 

I've seen people use acetate and the back of a large cling mounted stamps to stamp the reverse image, but I used a  piece of rubber.  I went to Lowe's, picked up a rubber gasket (it's like 1.98 and it's in the plumbing section), and I'm going to make a few different sizes of reversing stamps by gluing the rubber and a little cushion to wooden blocks that were left over from unmounting a few stamp sets. 

As you can see, the impression isn't quite as crisp or as clear as the original.  (The pig on the left is the original.  The pig on the right is the mirror image).  This bothered me at first, so I tried going over it with a marker (I didn't like that) and then I tried going over it with a pen (didn't like that either) and then I tried a black pencil (the third time was not the charm--I didn't think it helped at all).  So finally, I just colored it as is.  I think it's much less obvious after it's been colored. 

I still want to try this technique using versamark and colored embossing powder--that might work better--but I only have clear embossing powder.  I actually have 2 jars of embossing powder--both of them are clear.  How does that happen?

ANYWAY--thanks for stopping by!  I hoped you enjoyed taking a closer look at the focal point on my card! 

Barnyard Hellos

My Favorite Things has been hosting a summer school for design.  I've really been enjoying the lessons, and the homework has been so fun that I decided to a little extra credit.  The most recent lesson is about white space or quiet space.  I decided to do a whole series of cards with Birdie Brown's The Whole Herd stamp set.  I die cut what each animal "says" out of a piece of white cardstock and layered it on top of a piece of cardstock that "matched" each animal.  Then I stamped the animal on top of, next to (or in some cases as part of) the word.  Here's the whole collection:

Don't they look cute together?  I love sets like this.  They all go together, but they each have their own personalities, too.  The sentiments inside are all some version of Just Sayin'---just sayin' hello, just sayin' I love you, just sayin' I miss you, etc. 

I couldn't stop adding baby chicks to this card. LOL.  They are so cute! I want to add them to everything. (But the lesson IS about white space, so I only added 3)

For the horse card, I  was worried that there wouldn't be enough room for the word and the horse, when I realized that the horse looks like an "H."  The horse is paper pieced out of Kraft paper so it will match the background and look more like the letters. 

For the goat card I thought about spelling "AHHHHH," because I think those screaming goat videos are so funny!  (OK--in case you don't know what I'm talking about, some goats sound like they're screaming when they bleat.  It's so bizarre that it's hilarious.  Do yourself a favor and watch this video!)

I think this one is my favorite.  I can't get enough of this sweet cow.  I love it's facial expression. So cute!  My husband think it looks like it's actually moooing. 

And last, but not least, there is this cute little pig.  I paper pieced the pig, too, in an attempt to match the background and make the "oink" look more cohesive. 

I'm also entering this card collection in the Simon Says Stamp Challenge which is anything goes this week. 

Thanks for stopping by!

hello sunshine

I'm playing along with the MFT Color Challenge for this week.  The colors selected were beautiful and they look great together, but for some reason I had a  really hard time with this color combo. 

Originally I colored some hot pink and purple mushrooms, but I thought the vibe was a little too "Lisa Frank." So, I tried lots of other combinations (that also didn't work) and eventually I came up with this.  As you can see, I did go back to the purple and pink mushrooms, but I also added soft pink and mint to the color palette which toned down the 80's feel of the card (at least a little).

Thanks for stopping by!

Hey, Chick!

I'm playing along with the MFT Sketch Challenge again this week.  I'm using the fun and versatile stamp set The Whole Herd.  I love all the cute barnyard animals.  Making this card did make me realize that I don't know what color chickens are.  I tried to make mine speckled, but it didn't come out quite like I intended.  The papers are all from my scrap pile, so I'm feeling a bit smug about that.  Haha.  I love using up scraps--not that I need to conserve.  I will never run out of paper.  I couldn't get the sentiment to stamp right, so after a few failed attempts I ended up hand writing it. 

My Favorite Things has also been holding summer school, and it's been so much fun to read all the blog posts and watch the videos.  I've learned some fun and helpful things.  For example, this card uses the rule of thirds AND it uses line to ground the chicklets (who were floating aimlessly on the gingham before I remembered my lesson!).  I feel good about incorporating 2 of the lessons, but there is more homework to do! 

Thanks for stopping by!