Color Throwdown...4 Days Late :[

Hi friends.  I'm here today to share my very late Color Throwdown (CTD143) card with you all.  I had a friend in town this week, and I'm last minute with all of my cards, so I took a short break to hang out.  I DID finish my card on Friday but by then it was JUGS time, so I'm just now sharing.  Laura selected our fab color palette...check it out:

I recolored my MTME Fresh Cut Expressions Collection 2 paper to match the palette, and I was on my way!  Tangii's MTME Pretty Pattern Sketch (MTMEPPS11) was the inspiration for my layout:

My sentiment is digital from the MTME For Dad stamp set.  I imported the image in Microsoft Word, cropped it to only show the sentiment I wanted, and typed "Mother" above using Rose Red and a drop shadow.  I printed to the size I knew I wanted and cut it out with a nestie.  This sentiment perfectly describes my mother (heck, all of our mothers probably :)...and I plan to give this card to her on her birthday at the end of July.  Shh...don't tell her though ;]  LOL  She sees my cards on Facebook, but I'm hoping she doesn't notice my focal point!  OR, she only sees the thumbnail and the first little snippet of text...maybe she'll think I made it for someone else's mother.  *Crossing fingers*

I tried a pretty rolled flower using a cut file I made the second month we were in business (and never released), but it just didn't look right sitting there all by itself, so I crocheted a double layered flower.  Isn't it pretty?  I love how it turned out.  I triple wrapped some of my lime hemp twine and layered it under my bloom, pinching it together with the brad.  I wanted the twine to resemble or replace the leaves for my flower...and I love how it turned out ♥  I cinched my double looped yellow seam binding with some twine and hot glued my primas for a nice girly look.  I layered everything on my digi paper that I hand-stitched together, and I was finished!

I'm sure you've already hopped around the other CTD gals' blogs by now BUT just in case you didn't, be sure to check out their beauties! 

Bar

Broni

Carole

Cathy

Danielle

Laura

Tammy

Jen Mitchell ~ May Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you are having an awesome, Memorial Day weekend.  Remember, if you happen to watch the National Memorial Day parade tomorrow, look for me in one of the formations of active duty service members...I should be near the back (I'm short) :]

Just Us Girls {3-D/TEMPLATE} Challenge #86

Hello, my friends.  I took a short, unintentional break last week from both JUGS and the CTD, but I'm back today with the Just Us Girls challenge (JUGS86), sponsored by sweet, Andrea.  She challenged us to make a 3D project or template for Father's Day.  Easy, right?

I threw mine together fairly quickly for me.  I decided to use Lauren's Barrow of Blooms for my Father's Day template, and I filled it with dark chocolate Lindor truffles.  I used my MTME Autumn Leaves Collection 2 paper to decorate my side panels, and SU River Rock cs as my base.  I created my label cutting out my MTME Trendy Tags #4 cut file and layering my digital sentiment from the MTME For Dad set. 

There are a ton of different ways to format and print digi stamps, but I tend to use Microsoft Word for mine.  It's very easy to import the picture, crop and resize using the Format function.  I'm very familiar with graphic design programs, but Word is what I like to call "simple-stupid"...like, digi stamps for dummies :]  Perfect for this tired mind...  I'll show you another card with a digi sentiment this weekend that shares a few other options when working in Word.

I cut out an MTME Oak Leaf cut file to use as a tag for my bag of truffles.  I tied it down with a button and some black hemp twine.

That's really all there was to my project!  I will post my very late JUGS and CTD cards this weekend sometime...they're both finished, I just need to share them :]  Be sure to swing by the rest of the DTs' blogs for some fun Father's Day projects!  You'll just love what they've come up with!!

Just Us Girls







Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you have a safe, relaxing, LONG Memorial Day weekend.  If you watch the National Memorial Day parade this weekend, keep an eye out for me ;]  I'll be marching ♥

SURPRISE Birthday Blog Hop for Bar Anders!!

Hi friends!  Today I'm here to share a card I made for my CTD sister, Bar Anders.  It's her birthday and Tammy arranged an awesome blog hop in honor of Bar!  If you didn't arrive at my blog via Broni's, you may want to start at the beginning of the hop over at Tammy's blog.

♥ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BAR ♥

I made a pretty CAS, albeit semi-shabby card for her using Verve's "Believe" set.  I added several panels using sheets of dp from my MTME Wistful Wonder pack, and even stamped three graduated sizes of blooms from the Verve set, cut them out and layered them after curling the petals with my fingers to make them look a little fuller.  The leafy branch came from the MTME Branching Out cut file.  I distressed the edges of my panels and added some narrow, lace ribbon with a triple strand of craft thread along with a triple looped bow. 

Okay, so that's all I have to share with you today, BUT be sure to hop along to Laura's blog for her inspirational goodies and to continue your tour of a HUGE ARRAY of talented papercrafters!

Thanks for swinging by.  Have a great Friday!!

Color Throwdown Challenge #142

I am SO excited to share my card today! I'm certain this is the FASTEST card I've ever made! LOL Took no longer than a half hour (I think). So, I'm either getting better at throwing these together or I got lucky tonight ;] Either way, it's a card I would feel comfortable giving away (though I hope I never need to). This awesome palette was selected by the ever so talented, Broni ♥ Check it out.

I used my new go-to set, MTME Sentimental Occasions and Occasional Labels. The bloom is from the latter. I simply stamped it in black and stamped a second time for the gray blooms. I then stamped my lime blooms using Memento New Sprout ink.  I ran my oval layer from the MTME Occasional Label cut file along my Memento London Fog ink pad and popped it up on my label.  My green cs is Bazzil Petty Cash.  I printed some of my MTME patterned paper for my base layers, Love Notes and School Plaid - Collection 1. 

The black ribbon is actually trim from the Hobby Lobby, and the gray ribbon came free with an order from Ellen Hutson.  I tied off the ribbon and button with some lime twine I picked up at Michaels.  ...and last but not least, my scalloped layer was a remnant I cut from my MTME Border Builders Elegance cut file the other day.  Not much more to it than that!  Super quick and easy! 

Be sure to swing by the rest of our DT's blogs to absorb some more inspiration!!  You can check out the rules and link your card over at the CTD blog :]

Bar

Broni

Carole

Cathy

Danielle

Laura

Tammy

Jen Mitchell ~ May Guest Designer

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you are having a fantastic week!!

MTME Pattern & Palette Challenges!

Hi all...I made a very quick card today for both the MTME Pretty Pattern (MTMEPPS09) and Pretty Palette (MTMEPPC09) challenges!  The sketch and the color palette were easy to use and just worked out perfectly for my card.  The funny thing is that I bought the ribbon you see on my card while I was out craft shopping last weekend.  When I saw Lisa's color selection, the lightbulb lit up!  PERFECT opportunity to use the ribbon.  Tangii's sketch made it easy to pull the palette together.  Some pretty paper and a layer of vellum...a little embossing and a pearled flourish, and I had a pretty, girly thank you card. 

I double looped my bow and added two extra tails by gathering my ribbon strips as I tied the bow down (hope that makes sense).  I adhered three blooms with a pearl brad using hot glue.  My paper is from my Love Notes Color Me Pretty pack (scaled to 5x7"), and my scalloped layer is my MTME Border Builders Elegance cut file.  The sentiment came from one of my new stamp set, Sentimental Occasions. I made this card for a sweet little gal who moved to Ohio last year with her family, Rowan Goble.  She was so sweet at Easter.  A co-worker was visiting and met up with her family during that time, and this little lady sent her home with a plastic egg filled with candies, chocolate and a large rubber ant, all for me!  LOL  Isn't that sweet?! 

Okay...that's all I have for you today.  Hope you find some time to play along with our new MTME challenges!  Tangii and Lisa and their teams are doing an absolutely amazing job each week!  Their projects have me drooling :]



Thanks for stopping by.  Have a fantastic week!!

*Kissing* With a Twist

Hi friends!  I'm hosting the technique challenge at Just Us Girls this week and I've challenged you to *kiss* with a twist!  Splitcoaststampers has an easy to follow tutorial for you HERE.

I selected the solid coffee mug image from MTME's Fancy A Cuppa set and the two larger individual daisy stamps for the technique.  This gave me a nice, large surface to twist my daisies ;]  I embossed my entire mug after I finished stamping...to give it that enamel look.  My sentiment, "Miss you a latte" is from the MTME Grab A Cup Sentiments set.  I thought it was perfect with my lone, hanging empty mug...symbolizing the fact that there was nobody to share a latte with :[  I tied it off with some beige hemp twine that I recolored with a dark blue Copic.  I layered two daisies that I stamped in navy, cut out, fastened with a brad and adhered to the triple looped hemp twine.

My daisy paper is a sheet from the MTME Coffee Beans pack that I recolored to match my mug.  I also added a strip of Fresh Fabric - Collection 1 navy paper for the strip I used to hold my grommets and tie off my twine.  See the slightly curled top right, and bottom left corners?  I totally channeled Julee Tilman on those little pretties!  I LOVE how she adds a curled corner to her cards...it really gives it a little something extra.  So, I gave it a go :]  My layout was inspired by the Card Positioning System sketch #217.  It was perfect for hanging my mug after I flipped the sketch!

Well, that's all I have to share today, but our awesome DT has a lot more ispiration for you!  Check em out:

Andrea

Dana

Elise

Kathryn

Lisa

Maria

Pam

Clare Buswell ~ May Featured Designer

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend ♥

Color Throwdown Challenge #141

Ahh...my friends.  I'm finally back after NOT finishing my JUGS card - yet...but I do have my Color Throwdown card to share :]  Danielle selected a FABULOUS palette that I MUST use for one of my next packs of paper!!  I can't tell you how many times I've reached for Aqua and Pink, or Aqua and Melon...I NEED some paper that I can grab and go (err...print and go).  Check out her fresh palette!

Mmmm...mmmm...LOVE IT.  So, you know by now, that I don't have an aqua/rose red pack, BUT, I do know how to recolor digi paper, so I was truly all set.  Plus I wanted to keep the top bg white, which made it easier to design the rest of my card :]  I chose to use my School Plaid paper and recolored it to a lovely melon because it matched the flower I colored better than rose red.  Oh, and if you're new to my blog you may not realize I typically DON'T color...especially with Copics since I have such a limited collection.  I do MUCH nicer work with watercoloring...but I'm trying to get better with Copics so that's what I went with.  That being said, I totally realize that my coloring is far from the best!  BUT, it matches the very pretty melon ribbon and hemp twine I picked up this weekend!!  Score!

I double looped my melon ribbon and twine under the aqua button...and layered it on top of some super cute aqua ribbon I picked up when Amy Sheffer and I went shopping at the Hobby Lobby!  I'll type a separate post about that OH-SO-FUN-DAY with Amy, later :]  She is awesome...

My bloom and sentiment came from Catherine Doucette's Bee-Loved and Bee-Loved Sentiments sets (consecutively).  I adhered a few yellow buttons from my stash to follow the Mojo Monday sketch (MOJO190) and also to subliminally represent the sun shining on my flower :] 

I layered my panels on some pretty Day At Sea cs from Couture Cardstock to finish up. So...that's my humble card!  Hope it makes you smile :O)  Check out our other CTD ladies for a huge dose of inspiration!!

 Bar

Broni

Carole

Cathy

Danielle

Laura

Tammy

Jen Mitchell ~ May Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by ♥

Throwing Down Some Color Mojo ;]

Hi all.  I'm finally posting my Color Throwdown #140 card.  No excuses - I'm just late :[  I made this card for my mom.  I'm SURE it will also be late arriving at her house, BUT, I know she'll see it posted on Facebook, so at least she'll have a sneak peek ;]  I used Bar's amazing color palette this week, and just so happened to have some paper I made that matches perfectly!  Check out the palette:

My paper is from two MTME packs.  The floral and the scalloped patterns are from Fun and Fortune, and the striped sheet is from Serenity.  I used the Framed Elegance flower on my round panel, and my Border Builders - Elegance cut file for my top scalloped panel.  The other scalloped panel is an MS punch.  My label is from the Spellbinders Ribbon Tags.  My sentiment is from the new Flourishes Motherly Love set.

Instead of creating a flag panel, I decided to pleat my kraft colored ribbon and pin it down with a brad. I added some hemp twine bows to my label, and embossed the zig zag on my smaller scalloped panel. 

My layout was inspired by the Mojo Monday sketch (MOJO189).

Well, that's all I have to share today.  Be sure to swing by the CTD blog and visit our CTD gals' individual blogs for some AMAZING inspiration!  Thanks for stopping by today.  Hope you are having an amazing week :]

SURPRISE Birthday Blog Hop for Lauren Meader!!

Hi friends!  I'm popping in real quick because the MTME gals decided to host a surprise blog hop for our lovely, Lauren Meader!  Today is her birthday and we couldn't let it slip by without sending LOTS of big wishes her way :] 

♥ HAPPY BIRTHDAY, LAUREN ♥

I used the new Bee-Loved set designed by Catherine Doucette for my card.  I also incorporated the JUGS technique that Andrea selected for challenge #82 - emboss resist. 

Tulips are Lauren's favorite flower so this set was perfect for my project!  I sponged two tones of pink on my tulip petals (Pink Pirouette and Regal Rose) and I sponged Certainly Celery on my stem and leaves. 

It's a little hard to see beneath my vellum layer in the photo, so here's a better shot:

Not much more to it than some triple wrapped and looped ribbon tied off with a butterfly gem and my sentiment embossed in white on top of the vellum layer.  So, be sure to check out the main hop hosted on the MTME blog.  We would love for you to make a card for Lauren and join us on the hop!  You simply need to post your photo on the MTME blog so that everyone can hop along!  Once you're finished hopping, hop on over to Lauren's blog and leave her some birthday love!