A big card and a butterfly

Wow, can you believe the weather today?  It was 85 degrees here in Howard County and I (shamefully) had to put my air conditioning on.  I am very heat sensitive and all the pollen flying through the house these past weeks has made me and my kids miserable.  How is it that hubby Kevin has lived in this area his whole life but never developed allergies?  Not fair I say!  While the kids were at school today and I was in air conditioning heaven, I had an opportunity to play with my stamps and the Fancy Pants paper we are featuring for Design Team this month.  My camera is busy having it's battery charged so I used my scanner to get pics of these cards.  Trust me, they look better when you see them in person as the scanner really washes the colors out.

My first card is a big one, measuring 5 x 7.  I used a "back side" of a Fancy Pants paper as my background.  I always think of the plain colored flip sides of paper as the "back sides" mainly because of their lack of pattern.  The calla lily image is from Impression Obsession.  I think I brought this stamp home a year ago but never took the time to play with it.  Calla lilies are my absolute favorite flowers (my wedding bouquet was made solely of calla lilies and greens) and finding stamps made of them is rare, so I snatch them up whenever I can.  I colored the flowers with Copic markers and added some bling, a big bow, and a Hero Arts sentiment to finish the card off.  A couple of things about this card...1) it would make a great birthday or sympathy or Easter card...2) I used the FABULOUS Imaginisce Imagicut ribbon tool to cut and seal the ends of my bow.  It cut through both the organdy and the satin like butter!  This is a must have tool for anyone that does not like the ends of their ribbon fraying.  Word of caution...do not use it on twine.  Apparently natural, tiny cotton fibers do not like having heat applied to them :)

My second card is a butterfly card based on sketch from which I was asked to create something.  I moderate an online stamping group and one of the activities we do is weekly sketch challenges where we post a sketch and then a card or ATC that we created with that sketch.  For this card I used several different patterns from Fancy Pants (loving these bright happy colors!), a little bling, an Impression Obsession butterfly stamped in Ranger Watermelon ink (a favorite color), and a little Hero Arts sentiment.  Again, I used the Imagicut to cut and seal the ends of my bow.  Following a sketch really helps in the creative process because half the work is already done for you.  There are lots of fabulous sketch sites out on the web on which to base your cards and layouts.

The sketch:

My card:

Remember to peruse the Design Team section when you are shopping in the store to see our projects in person.

I look forward to seeing you soon!
Cindy

Awesome new tool - I'm in love!

Anyone who knows me knows that my absolute favorite embellishment is ribbon.  And anyone that has ever taken any of my classes knows that I always seal the ends of my ribbon with a lighter so that the ribbon does not fray.  Imaginisce, creators of adorable paper lines and terrific tools, has come out with a new tool that is a must for anyone that likes ribbon and hates the ends fraying.  It is called the Imagicut and I am in love with it.  This little tool cuts and seals the ends of your ribbon at the same time!  It is small, light weight, battery operated, and works like a dream.  Imaginisce says it cuts and seals all kinds of ribbon up to 3" wide and can cut straight, on a diagonal, and like a chevron.  I brought mine home just this past weekend and have been happily playing with it for days while trying to keep my 8 year old away from it (he thinks it is cool too).  I will be bringing it along to my upcoming classes so that you can try it also.

This is just a little enabling from me to you.  I always like to share tools and products that I love.  I am not a paid sponsor for any company (heck, Imaginisce does not even know who I am); I'm just a stamper and a card maker who loves good product.

Want one of your own?  We're happy to order it for you!

Cindy

New American Crafts & Jillybean Soup

Hi Everyone,

A lot of card makers came out to play today.  We will still have cards available to make all day Saturday from 10-6 PM and Sunday 12-5.  There are still Free paper packs available with a $25 purchase too.

Our American Crafts order showed up early today and somehow they managed to get it all entered an out on the floor.  We got a lot more than this line but I am not at the store to take photos.

New Jilly Bean Soup.

My Mind's Eye has a nice online newsletter with great ideas.  Our restock order will be in on Monday if you want to get any of their great products.
http://issuu.com/mymindseye/docs/2012_03_mme_newsletter?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fcolor%2Flayout.xml&backgroundColor=3A2614&showFlipBtn=true

More Dare to Share samples

Katie Ford made this fun funky folded card.   She added some great stamped and Copic colored images.  I love that she "sewed" the twine through the die cut eyelet circles.

Jackie P. also had the idea to sew her photo mat and make a cute spiral embellishment out of the twine.

Helen W. made this fun layered card.  She used the paper to punch the cute butterflies she used as a boarder and also to make the Tim Holtz rosette flower center.

Kathy B. combined both sides of the double sided paper on her card.

Alice created a fun notepad cover with her paper and made the butterfly into a button for her twine to go through. 

In like a lion...

If this is March's way of coming in like a lion, I say bring it on!  I am loving the awesome Spring weather and have been enjoying wearing sandals and flip flops again.  Spring makes me happy, happy, happy!  And March's Design Team pick, Fancy Pants's Be You and Childish lines make me happy too.  Bright colors, fun and playful designs, double sided paper, what more could you ask for!

I've had a chance to make 2 cards so far, one of the cards is doing double duty because we will be making it in my class on March 31st.  Here is that card.  It uses a delicate yellow pattern from Fancy Pants, some MFT stamps and a bit of Copic coloring.

My second card was just so much fun to make because I busted out my Distress Stains (boy do I love these Stains!) and colored up my paper flowers with them.  Once I colored them with the Stains, I spritzed them with homemade pearl spray (Perfect Pearls mixed with water) then hit them with the heat gun to dry them quickly.  I paired the flowers with the front and back sides of a paper from the Childish line, added a punched border, some ribbon and twine, a button, and a Hero Arts stamp and my quick, cute card was complete. 

Make sure to see all the Design Team creations when you are shopping in the store!

Cindy

MFT Floral Cards class samples!

Join me Saturday March 31st from 12 - 3 pm as we make 5 cards using a variety of beautiful floral stamps from My Favorite Things's "Inspired By" series.  These are some of my favorite floral stamps because they are realistically drawn.  We will be doing lots of Copic coloring as well as the Faux Letter Press technique on one of the cards. 

This class will be repeated in April as seats are going fast.  Call soon to reserve your spot!

Here is a list of Copic colors we will be using in class.  Please bring these colors with you if you own them:

Y06
Y11
Y19
YG03
YG13
YG17
YG61
YG67
RV000
RV02
R89
R29
R27
BV29

I look forward to seeing you soon!
Cindy

Dare to Share

Once again we have received lots of great shares from our talented customers.

Brent got creative with the twine.  She sewed it thru her layout visually tying together all her embellishments.

Vanessa did some Hero Arts stamping combined with some creative layering on her card.

Carol G. created this fun card.  I love the pearl embellishment she used for the edge of the skirt.

My March Demo Day card

It will be purplicious at my table for Demo Day on Saturday March 17th!  Join us from 11 - 4 pm to make a bunch of great projects on our always popular Demo Day.  We will be making a card at my table using the gorgeous Hero Arts Dogwood stamp.  I will have a variety of sentiments on hand in case you want something different from what mine says.  This card is perfect for Easter or birthdays or thank you or really just about anything.

I look forward to seeing you soon!
Cindy

On the Bright Side

On the Bright side is another amazing collection from My Mind's Eye! Talk about fabulous color-washed wood plank papers! I chose the white wood paper and some fun faux-stitched denim papers to begin my layout for my son's baby book (the one I have been trying to re-do!). We spent a weekend in 1994 at Kent Manor Inn on the Chesapeake Bay. The On the Bright Side collection had exactly the playful nautical tone I was hoping to capture. The diecut sheet has the fun pennant peices all ready to play with. I "strung" mine along baker's twine to replicate nautical flags. The title "The Sweet Life", which I backed with good ole Magic Mesh (You know you have some in your stash somewhere! Dig it out and challenge yourself to use it again!) Several other of the MME diecut shapes were used as mats for my photos. The denim one with the bracket shape I fussy cut to create a frame around my favorite pix of my then 2 year old son hiding in the hotel's bathroom cabinet. Also used another oldie but goodie in the form of rub-on alphies. Gotta love mixing the old with the new!

MME: Follow Your Heart

My Mind's Eye has done it again! I honestly adore everything in the new collections! And, yes, most of it has come home with me. The wood plank papers are to die for with their rustic, yet feminine flair. I used these papers as my backgrounds for a layout of my beach weekend with my high school girlfriends last summer. It provided the perfect feel for my beachy layout. The new popular polygon designed papers are another fave of mine. I cut out some of the shapes and pop-dotted them for extra dimension. Two mini albums on the page house other photos that are not as exciting but still important enough to me that I wanted to record them. The albums were cut from more MME papers and bound together with jute and a trinket pin from their collection. My postcard journaling block is actually cut from one of the MME papers too. The gorgeous yellow bling and the other embellishments all also came from these gorgeous line. You have to come in and see it for yourself! But, hurry it is going fast . . . .

Gina A says "Love it! Love it! Love it!"

If you haven't already been in the store to see this month's selection - the incredibly beautiful papers from My Mind's Eye - you should literally drop everything and COME IN NOW! Seriously, I fell in love with each of the lines so it was hard to choose just one for my Design Team Layout. I ended up using the papers and embellishments from the Follow Your Heart line. Oh my, soooo beautiful! I loved using the paper with lines so I could journal right on my page. I also tucked additional journaling behind the focal point picture (Need to learn about adding "hidden journaling" to your layouts? Sign up for my Journaling 101 class!) The rest of the embellishments from the line, including the beautiful buttons (these are not your mother's buttons, ladies!) and some baker's twine, added just the pizazz I needed to finish the 2-page spread. Now I can't wait to create something else with the other lines! Have fun with your own creations, too!
Gina A.

Kim made a cute page for our Design Team wall this month.   I love how she has the banners going sideways up the side of the page.

Dare to Share cards from January's Challenge

Sorry this took me so long to post.  I also missed a few names.  Please email me if I missed you or your name and I will fix this post.  Thanks for all the great inspiration!

Angie Gittles combined some fun patterned papers on this card.  I love the faux sunburst quilting on this card.

Kelly Hooker created this fun stamped card.  I love how she used the hearts as leaves on a flower.

Jane combined a little BasicGrey and a little Pure Innocence equal one adorable card.

I love how Jill Botelier cut the flowers in half and used them to edge her circle.  The subtle versamark heart stamp for the background tied it all together.

Missy Gosson thought outside the box.  The layering of the black scalloped mat and coaster made such a cute hanging piece.

Carolyn Simmons had a similar idea but she used a mini canvas and easel for her lovely creation.

We only had one layout entry but it perfectly captured the theme.  I just love doilies on lauyouts and cards.

New class sneak peek!

Join me Saturday March 24th from 12 - 3 pm for an all new card class!  We will be making all occasion floral cards using a variety of fabulous floral stamps from My Favorite Things.  Here is a sneak peek of one of the cards...

Cindy

Loving the MME!!

What a fabulous pick for Design Team for February...the new lines from My Mind's Eye!  All the paper is yummy and there are a ton of terrific embellishments to go with the lines.  I have 3 cards to share with you...

My first card uses 2 different MME papers and an awesome wood butterfly embellishment from MME.  The stamped quote is from My Favorite Things "Inspired By Butterflies" set.  To alter my wooden butterfly, I rubbed Distress Stain in Barn Door all over it (what an fantastic product!) and spritzed it with homemade pearl spray made from Perfect Pearls and water.  There is a lovely shimmer to it when you see it in person.  I made antennae with twine which I colored with a Copic and finished the butterfly off with some teal rhinestones.  It was a messy but oh so fun card.

I am not so sure it I like my next card, but wanted to share it with you all because I put a lot of work into it.  I used the paper piecing technique and embossed the beautiful Hero Arts poppies stamp onto a MME patterned paper.  I then cut the poppy flowers out and glued them over top of the image which I restamped and colored in the stems with a Copic marker.  The sentiment is from a new Hero Arts set.  This was a time consuming card because of all the cutting, but it was fun to play with a technique that I do not use that often.

My final card for tonight will eventually make its way to Florida because I made it with my mom in mind since red is her favorite color.  I used a piece of MME paper as my background then did a bunch of layering and stamped my Hero Arts image in Black Cherry Staz On ink (my favorite red ink).  Of all the cards I made, this was the easiest because it was simple stamping and layering.

Remember to stop by the Design Team wall when you are shopping to see all of our creations in person!

See you soon,

Cindy

Flower Soft Idea

I just had to take a photo of this calendar page by Ivy Eicher.  Flower Soft is usually used by our card makers but she had a vision of how it would look on this Easter Paper by We R Memory Keepers.  The colors match perfectly and the Flower Soft really made the trees stand out.