MFT Countdown: 2

Hello,  hello!

The December release from My Favorite Things is coming to go. Just a couple more days to go.

And I’ve got a couple more cards to share with you that I whipped together with some of the new stuff.

On your mark. Get set. Go. 🙂

This is card #1.

I created that background paper myself by stamping the Zebra Background stamp onto cardstock with a little tone on tone ink action.

I created the photo props with the help of the Photo Booth Props Die-namics (which land at MFT on 12/2). To make the tie stand out a little more, I stamped a pattern on it with the Desert Bouquet stamp set.

 

And this is card #2.

The same supplies came out to play again. This time, I die-cut the photo frame with pink cardstock rather than white. I think it’s kinda fun to mix things up.

Speaking of mixing things up, check out this final card.

I again cut a photo frame with the Polaroid Cover-Up Die-namics. But this time I stamped Zebra Background onto it. Love that wild look it gives.

Here’s a list of MFT supplies I used to make these cards:

• Polaroid Cover-Up Die-namics (arrives at MFT on 12/2)
• Photo Booth stamp set (arrives at MFT on 12/2)
• Photo Booth Props Die-namics (arrives at MFT on 12/2)
• Zebra Background stamp (arrives at MFT on 12/2)
• Desert Bouquet stamp set (arrives at MFT on 12/2)

Once again, be sure to stop by the MFT blog to see who all is playing (and sharing projects) today!

MFT Countdown: 3

Hello again!

I’ve got a couple more cards to share with you today that I whipped up with My Favorite Things’ December release.

Can you handle the excitement? Sure. Hope. So. 😉

I had such a fun time with this first card.

The little zebra is from the new Wild Things stamp set. It’s such a cute little set of critters!

Since I had my heart setting on making a birthday card, I cut a little hard from cardstock and plopped it on on them.

I also added a couple stars cut with the Pierced Stars STAX Die-namics. Just love those dies.

Of the critters from the Wild Things stamp set had to come out and play for this second card as well! 😉

To give the tiger a little extra dimension, I stamped him two more times on yellow cardstock, cut him out and then stacked the cuts up to make his face pop.

I also stamped the background for this card. Did it with the Giraffe Background stamp. Such a fun one.

Here’s a list of MFT supplies I used to make today’s card:

• Wild Things stamp set (lands on 12/2 at MFT)
• Wild Things Die-namics (lands on 12/2 at MFT)
• Pierced Star STAX Die-namics (lands on 12/2 at MFT)
• Blueprints 21 Die-namics (lands on 12/2 at MFT)
• Giraffe Background stamp (lands on 12/2 at MFT)
• Zebra Background stamp (lands on 12/2 at MFT)
• Polaroid Cover-Up Die-namics (land son 12/2 at MFT)

Be sure to hit the MFT Blog to see which design team members are sharing projects today.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

MFT Countdown: 4

Hello again!

It’s another day of counting down to the December release from My Favorite Things. You just might say that today’s countdown leaves me a bit starry-eyed.

Read on, friends. Read on. 😉

So the two projects I’m sharing with you today both use the new Pierced Star STAX Die-namics (which land with MFT’s December release on 12/2). I dig stars… like a crazy sauce… so I’m super duper geeked over them! You are probably going to see them a lot more in the coming days so consider yourselves warned. Hee!

I just had fun with this one by die-cutting a bunch of stars.  One of those larger stars has a smaller star cut out of it. It was an easy process. I set the large star onto a piece of cardstock and then set the smaller star in the middle of it. I used a little washi tape to hold it place and then ran it through my die-cutting machine. The end result was what you see.

And here’s another card I created with Pierced Star STAX Die-namics. Here I just cut a bunch of stars and stacked them on top of each other.

It’s a little hard to tell but I did stamp the new (also part of the December release) Giraffe Background Stamp pattern onto the yellow paper here.

Here’s a list of the MFT supplies I used to make these cards:

• Giraffe Background stamp (lands 12/2 at MFT)
• Pierced Star STAX Die-namics (lands 12/2 at MFT)
• Polaroid Cover-Up Die-namics (lands 12/2 at MFT)
• Friends Like Us stamp set (lands 12/2 at MFT)
• Photo Booth stamp set (lands 12/2 at MFT)

Once again, be sure to check out the MFT Blog to see which other design team members are sharing projects today. And did you see that Melania Deasy is guesting this time? So happy. She makes amazing projects! She’s one of my favorites!

November PS DT Blog Hop

Hi all!

It’s Pep Rally week in the Paper Smooches world, and the design team is banding together today to share a sampling of the NEW Paper Smooches December release with you!  FOUR new stamps and EIGHT new dies will be available to purchase on November 30th at 8:00pm pacific time. Once our release goes live, you will find our new products HERE.

To add extra fun to our blog hop…we are offering up a prize! 

The prize – a $25. gift code to choose what you like at the PS online store.

Here are the details:

• FOUR winners will be chosen at RANDOM from any of the design team blogs and the PS Blog to win the $25. prize.
• Just leave a comment on any of the design team blogs listed below or the PS blog for your chance to win!  (you do not need to comment on all blogs to qualify but it increases your changes)
• Deadline: You have until midnight PT on Sunday, November 30th to leave a comment.
• Please check the Paper Smooches blog on Monday, December 1st to see if you are one of the FOUR lucky winners.

• Ashley Marcu
• Emily Leiphart
• Erin Lincoln
• JJ Bolton
• Jocelyn Olson
• Kalyn Kepner
• Kay Miller
• Laura Bassen
• Laurie Schmidlin
• Michele Boyer
• Pamela Ho
• Teri Anderson

To increase your chances of winning:

• Tell us that you Facebooked about our blog hop
• Tell us that you Tweeted about our hop
• Tell us that you posted on your blog about our blog hop

(which means that you have up to three extra chances to win on each blog…. woot!)

Alright so enough talk. Here’s the card I made.

I used the new Incognito stamp set to stamp the classes, mustache and “You’re aDORable” words. Being the sneaky, sneaky sneak peeker I am, I used a few other products. The “Mr.” phrase is from the new Lovely Thoughts stamp set and the hearts from the Tiny Hearts dies set.

So there you have it. 🙂

Thanks for stopping by today. I’ll be back again later!

MFT Countdown: 5

Hi all!

Surprise! It’s countdown time again with My Favorite Things! The December release lands at MFT on December 2nd.

And I’ve got a couple cards to share with you today.

Both were made with the new Blueprints 21 Die-namics.

I dig the Blueprints sets because you get a whole lotta dies in one set. And they all coordinate together so you can make all kinds of cards. It just really makes putting a couple cards together really easy … and I like that a lot!

So this is card #1.

Other than the die-cut word, all the die-cut elements are from the Blueprints 21 Die-namics.

I added the pattern to the dark pink circles with the new Zebra Background stamp. I generally tend to not use a lot of animal prints, but there is just something about a tone-on-tone animal print that appeals to me. I think it’s pretty  fun!

And this is card #2.

I used the same supplies here. But this time I stamped the pattern onto the large rectangle.

I think it’s pretty fun!

So that’s what I have.

Here’s a list of MFT products I used to make today’s cards:

• Zebra Background stamp (lands at MFT on 12/2)
• Blueprints 21 Die-namics  (lands at MFT on 12/2)
• Many Thanks Die-namics
• Thankful Thoughts stamp set

Check out the My Favorite Things blog to find out which of my design team buddies are sharing projects today as well.

Go-to Gal Designer Challenge: Neat and Tangled

Hey all!

It’s time for another challenge with the Go-to Gals. This time, we challenged each other to make something with products from Neat and Tangled.

So what’s the scoop with these challenges? Well, every so often we challenge each  to make something (TOTALLY for the fun of it) with a specific manufacturer’s products. Sometimes, we all play. Sometimes, we all don’t. That’s OK because it’s all about having fun.

Neat and Tangled was an easy choice! Super cute + super fun products. Plus, Danielle, the owner of Neat and Tangled, is a gem! I’ve had the chance to hang out with her on more than one occasion and can tell you that she is 110% good people! (Hugs, Danielle!)

So enough blabber (… because I really could go on and on and on), here’s the card I made.

By the way, there’s a card I shared the other day, using the same watercolor technique but with N&T’s Favorite stamp.

Here’s how I did it for this card: I just cut a base card from watercolor paper and then scribbled a lot of color with watercolor pencils onto it and then randomly spread the color with water.

I stamped on top with Neat and Tangled’s Warm Wishes stamp. I love that stamp so much! It makes me giddy.

Oh, and if you look really close at my card, you’ll see I added a little bit of white color to the mug. I did that with a pencil. And then I added a little hand stitching with my needle and floss.

Can’t wait to see what rest of the Go-to-Gal crew has cooked up this time

• Heather
• Kimmers
• Kimberly 
• Laura

Have a great day, all! Be back again soon.

MFT Creative Challenge: Christmas Cheer

Hi all!

Having some fun today with the My Favorite Things Design Team by taking part in November’s Creative Challenge.

The challenge this month? To do some holiday crafting. So yeah. Totally up for that so here we are! I made four (yep, four) Christmas-themed cards to share with you.

My personal goal when making these cards? To just plain have fun! And that I did.

I recently added the Suit & Tie Die-namics to my stash and had been anxiously awaiting that “right” project to use them for.  I thought this would be a fun one! Instead of going all traditional, I could use them to make a Christmas-themed suit card.

To make the buttons pop, I actually stitched them onto the card with real life floss. A fun touch.

The bow tie from the Suit and Tie Die-namics set showed up again on this card.

I wanted to make kind of a geeky card so that’s what I did here. 😉

The glasses are from the Geek is Chic Die-namics. I haven’t wiggle eyed much lately so I just had to (yes, had to) do it.

And do you get sentiment? Ho3 = Ho Ho Ho! 😉

The next two cards are bit more traditional.

A snowflake + a sentiment + traditional Christmas colors = both of them.

Still lots of fun!

Alright, so that is all I have got.

Here are the MFT supplies I used to make these cards:

• Suit & Tie Die-namics
• Geek Is Chic Die-namics
• Merry Messages stamp set
• Pierced Snowflakes Die-namics
• Little Letters Die-namics
• Peace Joy Love Die-namics
• Stitched Rounded Rectangle STAX Die-namics
• Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-namics
• Diagonal Stripes Background stamp
• Swiss Dots Background stamp

Be sure to hit the MFT Blog to see who else from the design team took part in this month’s challenge.

I Hate Goodbyes

Today’s post is a special one. It’s for the editors over at Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine.

(Hi guys!)

Paper Crafts & Scrapbooking magazine is ceasing publication.

The news was announced over a week ago by their publishing company to the magazine contributors who had projects pending for some upcoming issues that will no longer be published. (The last digital issue will be the February issue, while the last printed special issue will be the upcoming photo pocket special issue.)

Obviously, contributors are bummed.

I am too. But I’m bummed mostly for the editors who have worked so hard to bring the magazine to all of us. They are losing their jobs, and that just bites.

I have had a pretty incredible ride as one of the magazine’s Go-to Gals and Contributing Editors, and I’ve gotten to know each of these folks (those who are there and those who moved on) quite well. Each of them are people I respect and admire… and consider to be friends. (Yeah, man. Holly, Stacy, Kerri, Susan and Jennifer, you are NEVER ever getting away. BAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I know where you live. BAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Just kidding, of course… or am I? But I digress.)

I will be forever thankful to each of you editors for the opportunity to be one of the Go-to Gals.

Being a Go-to Gal has been one of those most awesome things I never imagined myself doing. From designing for the magazine to developing classes to helping figure out features (and giving feedback about what did or didn’t work each issue) to teaching (and even putting together some dang videos), it has been great experience.  And, gosh, how about that cruise I got to teach on!!?! Yeah, that was cool.

Thank you, editors, for all of it. You have pushed, challenged and changed me.

I have often stepped back and thought to myself, “I really like these people and really enjoy working with them.”

And so I stayed with it all these years. So there you go.

The card above pretty much describes how I feel about each of you.

Thank you, guys.

And one more thing.

Jennifer, thank you for giving the Go-to Gals another year in our term.

You are right. Our team just clicked. It was the right mix. Laina completed us

While I am sad we won’t get to have another Ed. Board meeting, I’m happy that there were no sad memories to take with us from what was originally supposed to be our last Ed. Board meeting together.

(Hold on for a second. It’s 11 p.m. and I’m feeling a toast coming on.)

“Hooray! No Go-to Gal try-outs! We get to do it another year! YAY!” 😉

So even though that’s not happening now, it’s OK. There are only happy, smile-worthy memories!

By the way, be sure to check out the blogs of the rest of the team:

• Kimmers
• Kimberly
• Laura
• Heather
• (Laina’s out… she’s like on a cruise! Woot!)

Until next time. (XO.)

25 Days of Christmas Tags

Hi all!

Happy to be contributing to my friend Tracey’s 25 Days of Christmas Tags event with a Paper Smooches tag.

So here’s the tag I made for today’s festivities.

It’s doing double duty over on Tracey’s blog with a bunch of other fun tags today. Be sure to check them out.

I made a shaker tag by cutting three tags with Paper Smooches’ Gift Tags 2 dies. Two were from cardstock and one was from a transparency.

I cut a circle out of one of the cardstock tags and then cut a scalloped circle frame (from the Just for You Icons dies) to adhere to it. The transparency tag was adhered right to that first tag to create the window.

And both cardstock tags are held together with a LOT (… actually… more like… a monster lot) of foam tape.

The dove is from the A Blessed Christmas stamp set and the words are from the Joyful Greetings stamp set.

Be sure to check out Tracey’s blog. There are some great prizes up for grabs during her event.

And be sure to leave a comment on my post for a bonus chance at winning something from Tracey. You can read all the rules of contest here.

Be back later, gators.

ThingsCrafted Grand Opening Blog Hop!

Hi all!

Totally geeked out to blog hopping today with some of my favorite friends in honor of the opening of ThingsCrafted.

You should be arriving here from my buddy Kathy Racoosin’s blog. If you’re just joining us on the blog hop, you can head over here to the ThingsCrafted blog to start from the beginning!

A little background on ThingsCrafted: ThingsCrafted is a place where handmade design and customization come together to create a wonderful company who creates and encourages color, personality and community. ThingsCrafted was founded by Britta Swiderski, a designer with a background in the world of papercrafting and a history of working with awesome graphic design clients. ThingsCrafted provides custom products – starting with stamps – to suit your lifestyle all starting with handwritten designs. They all go from pencil to computer to your doorstep! We love to create stamps and designs for addresses, “made by”s for the projects you send to others, favorite phrases or shapes for project life and planner organization and so much more.

So I was lucky to get try out ThingsCrafted’s customized stamp. I decided to have a somewhat sassy stamp (medium rectangle sized) I could use on my pocket pages.

So here’s the stamp and a few journaling cards I made with it that I’ll eventually slide into the those pages.

Totally dig that mixture of different elements. Britta did such a good job bringing things together. This stamp is just plain fun and it’s a great size for my pocket pages!

 The other thing is I don’t feel like this is a “one stamping and done” stamp. I feel like it’s versatile enough that I’m going to be able to use it over and over. For a different look, I can change out how I color and/or highlight the words.

ThingsCrafted also offers some pre-designed stamps for those that want to try something new and handmade but don’t have a particular need for a custom stamp.

I used a couple of them to put this card together: Solid Banner and Happy.

While I used these on a card this time, I’ll use them on a scrapbook page in the future!

So thank you so very much for stopping by today. Before you go – make sure to leave a comment on this post and each one along the hop to enter to win a custom stamp! One will be given away at each stop along the hop. We’ll be getting in touch with you via email, so make sure you add your email to your comment! We’ll be drawing winners on Tuesday, the 25th of November, so be sure to leave a comment by then.

And wait! There’s also a special treat for everyone in the blog hop – 15% off your order until Tuesday, November 25th using the code GRAND15OFF as part of the Grand Opening event!

The next stop on the ThingsCrafted blog hop is sweet Jennifer McGuire.

Happy blog hopping, friends! Thanks for stopping by today!