Retro-Fresh Challenge

This is Dressy Ebony. She's also a digi from The Greeting Farm! This month's Retro Fresh Challenge was do something with sunshine and summertime!  Using MTC, I did a print and cut that allowed me to print Ebony on one side and cut the hole for the sun on the other. I printed the sentiment on yellow cardstock and mounted it behind.

Most of my cards go to friends or are mailed to family. When I was making this, my seven year old, loved it! I knew it had to go to her. I am trying to be more aware of making sure the ones who live with me get those special notes, as well. Trying to not miss a birthday or to send a thinking of you card is in the forefront of my mind, but my kiddos won't be small long! Now that my daughter is reading and writing, she loves to find my scribbled notes all over the house. It makes my day that I made her day!

Lettering Delights

I'm thrilled to announce that I'm now an affiliate for Lettering Delights. I've been purchasing their fonts for several years, but exciting changes have happened over the past few months. LD has partnered with MTC to bring quality graphics & cutting files right inside the MTC program.

I can't wait to share with you some of the things I make using these great files.

Farm Fresh Friday Challenge

This is the first card I've had a chance to make in over a week!! I was going through withdrawal! LOL My husband took a group of teenagers to Ohio for a youth conference last week, and while he was gone, I  redid his office. He loves it. I could NOT have done it myself. I had 3 very kind handymen come pitch in. I'll post their thank you cards soon.

The Greeting Farm challenge this week was to use 4 layers and ribbon and /or button. I  colored  Country Anya  with Prismacolor pencils and odorless mineral spirits.

***Please excuse the droopy button. I had to fix it with another glue dot!!***

DIY Textured Cardstock

I had to run to get some cardstock the other day. I picked up a large package & afterwards realized it wasn't textured. I guess, the price should have been a clue, as textured cardstock is usually a few dollars more.

On my way home, I had a light bulb moment! I remembered a purchase that I had made long ago, a Dreamweaver Stencils "Faux Cross Stitch". I remember opening it and realizing it was just a piece of screen. Luckily, it was cheap. If I embossed the screen onto regular cardstock, would it look like textured cardstock?

I dug out my stencils, found the screen, and added my other hardware store treasure, plumbers gasket, to the mix to get a very good impression. This is how my "sandwich" went in my Cuttlebug: A plate, B plate, plumbers gasket, cardstock, screen, B plate.

If you've not heard about the plumbers gasket, you are going to be very excited to hear about all it will do for you. It can be purchased from Lowe's for about $1.50. (I'm sure most hardware stores will carry it if you don't happen to have a hardware store near you!) This red rubber adds additional tension to your machine allowing tiny details "pop". I've even run some lacy ribbon through, and the pressure from the gasket transferred the lace pattern to the cardstock.


Here is the finished product:

I hope you can see the details. I left a small border on the left side, so you can compare the results. Is it "EXACTLY" like textured cardstock? No, but it is close, & for the savings (granted, it's only a few dollars difference, but that's a new digi stamp...LOL) I'm good with that.

Easel Card

I like different fold cards, though, I usually make mine plain and simple. This stamp set (Majestic Mountain, TAC) was what I wanted to use to make my father in law's Father's Day card. This is the perfect kind of stamp for an easel card, as the stamp is a work of art. I really enjoyed making this, and he loved it!! 

As you can see, I'm really liking the Kraft cardstock!! =)

I found the tutorial to make this card on Splitcoast Stampers. They have both a written & video tutorial. 

Schedule Mini Album

My love for crafting can sometimes get me into trouble!! Things that should only take a few minutes end up taking way longer than anticipated, and the laundry piles get higher and higher!! I know that never happens to any of you! A few years ago, I was able to go to a Fly Lady  Convention. I was excited, and I got many things done and clutter sorted. A few weeks ago, my kind hubby asked if I was ever going to "Fly" again. He insists I need a schedule (I pretend I don't, only because I can't bring myself to confess it!! LOL) Well, I told him I'd make my schedule, but it had to look pretty!

Here is what I came up with:

I think this turned out cute. There wasn't a whole lot of room for decorations, but the patterned paper adds enough decoration for me! 

My favorite part is the back. Every night, my husband will ask me "What was your favorite part of the day?" Now, I have a little place where I can keep those moments.

Feel free to download the MTC file or SVG file for this album. This is my first time uploading a downloadable link. If you have problems with the download, please let me know. Have fun making it your own!

Country Bumpkin

I am truly enjoying my Summer! I've had more crafting time over the past few weeks than I've had in months! My craft room is a wreck, but  I'm  having so much fun!! Today's card is based on the Deconstructed Sketch by Deconstructing Jen.

Many scrappers and card makers have been using kraft cardstock for years. I'm slow to the party, but I'm hooked!! This is definitely going to be a permanent part of my paper stash!!


Country Anya is available through The Greeting Farm. The ribbons were a bright lime green, and to tone them down to match the paper, I just used my Frayed Burlap Distress Ink and a stipple brush. The sentiment was typed and printed using the Roselyn font.

I posted some Prismacolor tutorial links a few days ago. I found another great resource also on Deconstructing Jen. This is a guide book on what different hair/skin combinations can look like. Goofy me! I tried to copy her colors, but I picked up the wrong shade of yellow...She still turned out cute, but not anywhere close to what I had envisioned!!

Kissy Kissy

Kissy Kissy was my first digi stamp purchase. It's another great image from The Greeting Farm. I had a few wedding cards to make, and out of all my hundreds of stamps (ooohhh, did I just say hundreds??? yes, I'm addicted to stamps!) I didn't have any wedding ones! Bugs, flowers, boats, cars, cute animals, but no wedding images. So, I HAD to buy one...

I must confess, I love red heads!!! In fact, as a kid I always wished I had red hair. Probably because Anne of Green Gables! So I was thrilled to get to do a red haired bride!!

Boy, Was I Wrong!

This is my take on a step card. I've never tried one. I usually just do a single image, so doing a whole scene was really fun. This is just an 8.5x11 piece of kraft cardstock that I folded at 1", 2", 3.5", 5" & 6.75". Then made the accordion folds.

I've had this stamp set for quite a while. I bought it when I first saw it. I couldn't help it! I love the vintage feel of it.

I used MTC to cut around my stamps. It is such an easy thing to do! I'll try to do a tutorial on this soon. In order to get the stamp placed just right, I had to use my Stamp-a-ma-jig. I've had mine for about 5 years now, and I think I can count on both hands the number of times I've used it. I never really saw the point..."insert post title here" (Boy, Was I Wrong!!). I'd have never been able to line everything up correctly without it! I've tried several times to get things aligned with this tool, but I finally, had a break through...repositionable tape!!

I'd get frustrated trying to get the paper to stay put as I placed the clear sheet over top, but with the repositionable tape, the page doesn't move while I get things aligned...Wow!! Perfect results...can't get any better than that!

 This card is being entered into the following challenges:
Pile It On (The Great Outdoors)
Cards for Men
The Stamp Man (Manly)
C.R.A.F.T. Challenge (Manly)
Paper Take Weekly (Anything Goes)
The Pink Elephant (Masculine)

For the Baby

I love babies! My youngest is now 18 months old, and baby fever has been creeping in again...aaaahhhh! But until he or she arrives, I'll enjoy making do-dads for other new mamas...

This is for a lady who has been visiting our church. She had her sweet baby girl this morning. Can't wait to meet her!

This card was done with Sweet Pea a Mabelle R.O. digital stamp. I used this weeks Mojo Monday sketch to start with.

I used MTC to do the print and cut again. The "doily" cut file is from Bird's cards. If you haven't seen her site yet, you need to. She has great digital stamps AND cut files. Anyone who uses MTC or SCAL will love combining them for some great creations!

I'm also entering this into Paper Makeup Stamps challenge. This week is spots!

For the baby gift, I did a 6x6 tile. This is done in MTC and cut from vinyl. If you haven't tried vinyl, it's addictive! Don't let the prices in the store deter you. I always thought vinyl was too expensive ($9 for Cricut vinyl at Walmart will only get you 2-12x24 inch sheets) I now get rolls of it online way cheaper than I could get in the store. If you aren't' sure you'll really like it, get some Contact Paper. You can get a huge roll at Hobby Lobby, and if you use a coupon, it's very inexpensive! (end sales pitch!LOL)

Enjoy your week!

ETA: Hubby took this sweet little gift over to the hospital. Do you notice what mistake I made??? LOOK at the DATE!! I can't believe I did that...He's the one who noticed (of course, he didn't say anything when I originally showed him. That would have made it easy!! LOL). The kind mother said she probably would have had it for a month before she noticed...pregnancy brain, gotta love it!!

Two in One!

I'm on a roll lately! Can't believe that I'm doing two posts today!! Guess it helped that I had the extra time today staying home with the kiddos!

Anyway, I've been on my challenge kick. I've really had to pace myself because I want to do one of everything!! LOL. I saw the sketch for Mojo Monday #244. I didn't think I'd be able to pull it off since I have so many projects lined up! However, as I was looking through one of my old TAC catalogs, I saw this idea and knew it would be a perfect fit for this sketch!

See the stitching on the baseball? It's a stamp. In order to get it curved, I just bent it a bit before putting it on the acrylic block. It was really very fun to do.

My nephew is having his birthday in a few weeks, and he loves baseball. Since we are all from the Atlanta area, the Braves are our favorite. (Though to be honest, I haven't watched a game in quite a while!! I'd rather make a card...LOL) So I just had to put that on there! I used MTC to cut the Braves "A". I did a Google image search for it. Opened it in MTC, and it cut it! I love how easy MTC makes everything. No hand cutting or buying expensive stickers or embellishments!!

The red paper strip is actually white cardstock that I colored with my Bic Mark-it Markers. Love how the coloring gives it a weathered look!

Paper Makeup Stamps

Two of my sweeties were not able to make it to church today. After cleaning up all of their mess, I took a few minutes to unwind, and I came across Paper Makeup Stamps. I am thoroughly impressed with their challenges. So, I had to participate...

I was able to do this in record time!! I had the kraft background already made up from the other day! I remembered I had won a sweepstakes from Paper Crafts Magazine awhile back. I knew it had some of that sandable cardstock. I didn't realize until I opened it that it was already embossed. All I really had to do was cut it and print my digi stamp. I love these hot air balloons. They are free from Bird's Cards.

I hope you'll excuse my photos. I got a dslr from my brother. Unfortunately, it is having the hardest time focusing. More often than not, it is out of focus. Now, I need to get my point and shoot back out, but until then, at least I have a camera phone!

More Prismacolor Pencils!!

Yesterday, as I was finishing my post, a hero showed up at my door: Mr. FedEx!! I know I have problems, tee hee! But packages are my THING!! I love to get something in the mail...something I ordered, even more so... With all the coloring that I've been doing lately, my Prismacolor pencils have been multiplying!! I was still missing several colors that I had been wanting/needing. After seeing this tutorial for hair and skin coloring at Deconstructing Jen, I knew I'd have to get some more pencils. Micheals and Hobby Lobby both carry individual pencils, but they don't have the largest selection. I had to get them from Dick Blick Art Supply...

I can't wait to see how many more color combinations I can create with these!!

I will be attempting some new coloring techniques!! I found a two part tutorial by Gina K. using Bic Markers instead of Copic Markers. I already have those on hand, so I'm going to give it a try!

Here are the links if you are interested:
Part 1
Part 2

Farm Fresh Friday Challenge

Oh my, this week has gone by so fast!! I made this card for the Farm Fresh Friday Challenge at The Greeting Farm. This week's challenge was to use something old!! I found this to be EXTREMELY challenging. As I don't have many things just laying around! I really try to use everything I have...except my paper! I buy what I love, and I have a hard time parting with it.

The paper that I chose for this challenge was especially difficult to let go. It is from TAC (The Angel Company), and since I will never be able to get anymore, it was hard to part with...Silly I know, but true just the same!! (Don't worry, I didn't cry or have a break down or anything!! LOL)

This is HG Classy. She's a digi, & I had to use her!! Recently, we had our church's annual Ladies' Tea. I'm going to send her to our speaker as a "Thank You" for spending the afternoon with us. I'm also making another one for a church that invited me to speak at their Ladies' Tea. They were very kind and generous!! So, you see...I had to buy her...for someone else!! 

Happy Stamping!

More Digi Stamps

I've been enjoying my card making lately! The last card I posted was for my grandmother who has been having a tough time lately. This card is for our church secretary who has been having some health issues. I was looking through my stash of paper to try to match something to this cute Katrina from the Tiddly Inks Basement. I opened a drawer, and I realized I'd buried an open stack of paper that was given to me. I never even really looked through it. I got so excited when I found exactly what I was looking for.

I just love how she turned out! Though, this picture doesn't look nearly as nice as in person.

For these last two cards, I used Make the Cut to create the image. The term is called "Print and Cut". I was going to attempt to do a tutorial on this, but there is already a great video tutorial  from Sandy McCauley. Sandy is a wonderful instructor. She's the one I purchased my KNK Groove-e through. She's always available if I need anything, and so I trust her to be able to teach you far better than I can! 

In a nut shell, Print and Cut allows you to print ANY image you may have on your computer, and specify where you want the machine to cut. The possibilities are endless! I've printed apples, a basket, and an apple tree, and had the machine cut around each piece perfectly! Saved my hands from cutting around all those pieces. This is an amazing feature of MTC!

Since I'd done my print and cut (PNC) on white cardstock, it didn't match the background paper that I had selected. The easy fix was to take my stipple brush in brown and (starting on my scratch pad mat) blend it into the circle. To protect my image, I cut an approximate shape to cover her. As I stippled, I moved the "mask" around making sure to get as close as possible so there were no harsh edges. 

I'm entering this card into The Deconstructed Sketch #53 challenge , Tiddly Tuesday Challenge (flowers) & Shopping Our Stash (flowers).

Have a great weekend!