CAS Colours & Sketches #292 - Colour Challenge

I've been on a hiatus of sorts from my CC&S DT responsibilities for the past several weeks, but am back with you for the remainder of the year. 

This week Samantha created the colour challenge and I knew what I was going to do surprisingly quickly! What a fun and simple card, yet I love how it looks.  The flower stamp is from MFT and the sentiment is PTI. 

Hope you will join our  CAS Colours and Sketches challenge this week.  Take a look at the DT inspiration here.

CAS Colours and Sketches #280 - Sketch Challenge

Jeanne's sketch for this week's CC&S challenge really tested my creativity.   A Spellbinders vine die I from my collection served as the outer shape and then a very old Pure Innocence stamp from MFT became the focal point.  The sentiment was from the stash of discards on my desk and is perfect for this card!

Take a look at the rest of the DT's makes and then try your hand at this week's sketch!  Hope to see you in the gallery!

CAS Colours & Sketches #279 - Colour Challenge

Jeanne is hosting the July challenges on the CAS Colours and Sketches Blog.  She has a different combination of colors for us this week - and a reminder to me to get the new SU In-Colors! I think I'll get good use of them!

The gingham background is from Right at Home Stamps.  I substituted PTI's Melon Berry for Grapefruit Grove and Wisteria Wonder for Highland Heather.  The sentiment is from MFT and uses black heat embossing powder.

I hope you will play along with this week's colours, but first take at peek at the DT inspiration.

Challenges Entered:
Pammie's Inky Pinkies #1826 - AG
Crafter's Cafe July 1 - Keep it Simple
Just Us Girls #447 - AG
Crafty Catz #423 - AG with twist of embossing

ATSM Challenge #292

It's a "Make Your Mark" challenge week on the Addicted to Stamps and More Challenge Blog.  I pulled out my Copics and colored up this cute unicorn from MFT's Magical Unicorns stamp set.  The background is called Watercolor Background from Right AT Home Stamps and the sentiment is from Avery Elle.

Come and play along with us this week.  Hope to see you in the ATSM Gallery!

Challenges Entered:
Crafty Cardmakers #211/ - No Patterned Papers
Incy Wincy 5/7/ - Things that Fly
Sweet Stampin' 5/12/ - Myth/Magic/Fantasy

CAS Colours & Sketches #271 - Sketch Challenge

It's a sketch challenge this week on the CAS Colours and Sketches Blog.  I created this sketch with a new die I purchased from MFT in mind. The birds are MFT's Birthday Chicks stamp set; I inked up their Happy Birthday background stamp behind the windows.   This was such a fun card to make, I know I will bring the stamp set out again in the near future!

Hope you will play along with this week's CC&S sketch.  Remember, you can free free to flip or rotate the sketch.  Take a look at what the DT has created to inspire you HERE!











Challenges Entered:
Crafty Cardmakers #211/ - No Patterned paper
Cute Card Thursday #528/ - AG
Just Add Ink #407 /- Just Add "O" - My "O" is the old MFT background stamp & old SU embossing folder
Just Us Girls #439 /- word week- "Shadow"

CAS Colours & Sketches #264 - Colour Challenge

Fiona's colours for this week's CC&S challenge made me long for a hot summer day.  When I was blending the Pumpkin Pie and Rose Red inks, all I could think about was orange and raspberry sherbet!!

I started by creating a background using heat embossing with white EP and blending inks around the tulips and Bermuda Bay dots.  The stamp is Abstract Florals from Right at Home stamps.  I die cut PTI's Large Tulip Tag Die
from the paper and layered it on top of MFT's LJD Rectangle Peek A Boo Window die. (Which I have been using a lot lately!!)  A strip of washi tape is on paper under a hello die cut, some Wink of Stella, and then Rose Red ribbon finishes off the card.

Challenges Entered:
Lil Patch of Crafty Friends #78/ - AG
Crafty Calendar March/ - Add A Tag
Hiding In My Craft Room #344/ - Tic Tac Toe
(Ribbon, Glitter, Blending)
Inspired By All the Little Things #82/ - Photo
Cards In Envy 3/18/ - No Patterned Paper
Dream Valley #175/ - Spring Colors

Sketch Saturday - Sketch #268

 I made this card for a Summer Card Camp Class I am taking in July over at Online Card Classes.  I used colors from the first week when I put this sketch together.  The stamp is from MFT and the balloon is from Papertrey Ink's Birthday Style die set.  The flowers are part of their Mini Blooms set. You can't see it in the photo, but I used Stickles on them.  Cards that look simple actually take me as long to make as any card I color with Copics!!

Bunny Zoe's Crafts is sponsoring this week's challenge.  I hope you play along with us this week.

Sketch Saturday- Sketch #265

This week for Sketch Saturday, I'm using another Doodle Garden image.  Here's a boy that I colored back in March.  I love the whimsical look of Jennifer Nilsson's kids.

I bought this cutie from MFT months ago and just inked her up.  I pieced her pants, the heart, the flower, and the peace sign - which made things a little simpler.  It's hard to see in the photo, but the heart, peace sign and flower have glitter on them.  The hair on this girl was really tricky for me!  I probably colored 4 or 5 heads before I settled on this one.  I used a card I pinned on Pinterest as a model for my coloring. (Thank you Jenny Peterson!)  I really like how the light hits her hair in a variety of spots.

Stop by the other DT members and check out their creations! This week's sketch sponsor is Milk Coffee.  They are offering digi images to the winner of the challenge.  I hope you will play along.


Challenge entries:
Make It Monday- anything goes
Use It Tuesday - Bring on the Sunshine
Tuesday Throwdown - Glitz and Glimmer
Simon Says Stamp - anything goes
Hiding in My Craft Room - anything goes
Stamping for the Weekend - anything goes
CMC Copic Challenge Group - Colors of Summer
Oozak Challenge - Anything Goes with a Sentiment
MarkerPop! - anything goes
Wednesday's Creative Inspiration Blog - anything goes
Crafting By Design - anything goes

A Little Stretch

Paper Doll - MFT

Today's card is one that is a bit outside of my comfort zone and challenged me in a whole different way.  It's inspired by images that are black and white photos and then a little color is added.

The girl is an MFT stamp.  I colored her with Copics to look like a black and white photo.  I then pieced her dress and colored it very light pink and pieced the angel wings by using a butterfly stamp  - (keeping it looking black and white).  My Ranger inks came in handy to create the pink background.  I brought out my paper doll die to add the string of paper dolls in her hands.  The overall card kind of has an "arty" feel to it.  The sentiment and butterfly are from Stampin' Up!.

My card in going in these challenges:
Friday Mash Up - I stretched this challenge a bit  and the card itself isn't as neutral, but the girl herself captured the challenge (neutral with a splash of color).

Crazy 4 Challenges C4C187 - no patterned paper

Avenue 613 - Anything goes  (My Euro Clown card was a "Top 3" in their last challenge!)

Simon Says Stamp Challenge - Take a picture!

Sister Act Card Challenge #7

DC Just My Type & die - MFT

Welcome back to the seventh week at the Sister Act Card Challenge.  I hope you will play along with the many folks who enter our challenge each week.  This week the sponsor is Louby Loo's Digital Delights.  We aren't using a sponsor image this week, so I went into my stash and used a fun matching stamp and die set from MFT called DC Just My Type.  The paper doll die cut behind the typewriter is from MFT as well.  The papers are old ones from Stampin' Up!  No Copic coloring for this card - just a little brown around the edges to give it an aged look.  Check out the cards from the other DT members.

This card is also part of:
The Use It Tuesday Challenge #55 (lots of old papers - I even cut into a full sheet of 12x12 houndstooth for this!)

The Hiding In My Craft Room challenge to use scraps - the red from the paper dolls, and the notebook looking paper are from my scrap drawer. The black bow was a scrap (unused from another card) as well.

More Poppies . . .

. . . and no wrangling (unlike yesterday's poppy card)!

Pretty Poppies - MFT

Hurrah - another card with MFT's Spring Poppies set, and this one was a breeze!  I love the set and this card!  It's going in the box I am putting together for Operation Write Home.

My initial idea came from a CASE of this card by Ellen Parker (this week's Featured Stamper Challenge at SCS.  When I saw Ellen's card, I knew I would break out the poppies again.  After all, I had my post-it masks all ready to go and wanted to put them to good use!  Everything is stamped except the flower centers, which I colored with my Copics (Y21, E41, 44, 47) - alside from masking, the card was super simple.

 I was thrilled to see that this week's Paper Players Challenge has a recycling theme.  Woo!  I used a number of elements that were recycled.  The little striped paper was sitting in a bowl on my desk.  (I heard a tip to keep striped paper handy because it can help with color choice on cards.)  I didn't have to do anything with it!  The bow has been in the same bowl, and the rhinestone I attached to the card were ones that I thought I was going to use on a card, but they didn't look right.  The bottom of a Memento Dew Drop ink is a perfect perfect holder for all of those little rhinestones and pearls that no longer have glue, but are still useable!

The challenge over at Avenue316's blog is a spring theme.  I think these poppies fit the theme quite well.  I'm only sorry there aren't spring poppies in MN.  We still have some snow - so spring flowers of any kind are a long way off around here.

Card Wrangling!

Pretty Poppies - MFT

This card should have been super-simple, but it was one of those days that I struggled for hours before finishing the card.  Yikes!  And it wasn't the poppies that were troublesome.

I was excited to ink up my new stamps from MFT.  These poppies are so great and easy.  I masked them, stamped the script background and colored the center with my Copics.  Bam! Done.  I made the card for a few challenges, the week's SCS Inspiration Challenge, and Unscripted Sketch Challenge #205.  Both utilized chevrons, so I was excited to break out my chevron dies and an MFT chevron background.  I also decided to use the ColourQ #183 this week (Calypso Coral, Daffodil Delight, Blushing Bride, Soft Suede).  Chevrons and colors are where my troubles began.  Suffice to say that this isn't exactly what I pictured when I started making the card.  And I certainly didn't expect to be working on it for more than three hours after I had finished the focal point!  It wasn't like I was coloring an image!  After an hour break, I went back with a fresh eye and finished the card.  Whew!  GE (good enough), 'nuff wrangling for the night.

Playing with Patterns

One of Favorite My Peeps - MFT

Back again with one more of the MFT kids I colored a couple of weeks ago.  I am using this one in a card for a new class called Pattern Play over at the Online Card Class website.  This class is all about using patterned papers.

Today's tip was using a combination of a bold pattern with a smaller pattern and a solid.  One of the other tips I found helpful was how striped papers are great for choosing a color palette.   I was excited to look through my stash of paper to find patterns I've had for a while, but thought they were too busy - and then look for a striped paper!  Easy lessons, but it still took a while to put the card together.  I think I'll get lots of practice this week!

I used the sketch from another challenge blog I found called Unscripted Sketches. This is my first time playing with them.  This week's sketch is  Unscripted Sketches #202.  I thought the stripes looked like the rectangles on the right side of the sketch.

Chalkboard Inspired

Movers & Shakers - PTI, April Showers - Flourishes 

This card is inspired by the chalkboard trend.  I am combining a few challenges for this card.  One is the Friday Mash Up #101.  I mashed the chalkboard look with stamps from two companies.  The sentiment is from PTI's Movers and Shakers Sentiment stamps and the tulips are from Flourishes April Showers set.  I decided to color over the tulips with yellow and the stems with green because it looked like colored chalk does on a chalkboard - often a little pale.  The umbrella is a die from MFT.

The second challenge this was designed for is Dynamic Duos Challenge #44 - using black and So Saffron.  And finally, Splitcoast Stampers Inspiration Challenge 380. The Inspiration is a company called Spoonflower.  What an amazing site!  I used this fabric as my inspiration.

I hope you'll leave a comment and follow my blog.  I'm hoping for 100 followers - 25 at a time!!

MFT - Part Deux

Back in MN from my trip to New York, where I was temporarily spoiled (yesterday) with spring-like temps in the mid 50s.  Landing back in Minne this morning, I was reminded it's still winter here ~ but thoughts of spring aren't far away.  No better way to combat a cold, gray day than spend some time making a card!

Being Cute Is What I Do - MFT

Today's post idea comes from a challenge site that's new to me, called the Friday Mash-Up!  (I love the name!)  They are celebrating their 100th challenge by having people choose one of their previous challenges.  I took the "mash-up" part seriously and combined a few.  Challenge #21 was dry embossing (a "regular" in my card making), and Challenge #32 was a girlie theme and favorite technique (Copic coloring).  Quite a mash, eh?!?!

The card uses one more of the MFT kids I colored last week . . .  in this one, I focused on creating the idea of ripples in her top in my coloring.  I cropped the image and framed her with a PTI die.

Copics Used:
Hair: E50, 51, 53, 57
Dress:  Y11, 13 15
Skin:  E00, 11, 13, R20

The die cut flower with the button in the middle mirrors the flowered background paper.  Don't the soft colors of this card make you think of spring?

Taking the Plunge . . .

Being Cute Is What I Do - MFT

. . . so wish me luck!
I am super-excited about today's posting.  I have decided to take the plunge and enter MFT's  March Guest Design Team contest!  I have toyed around with trying out for a design team for a while and think a one month guest role would be fun.  MFT is a great company and their stamps are perfect for honing my coloring skills.

 For this sweet little girl, I used a combination of paper piecing and Copic coloring.  Her face uses E000, 00, 11 & R20.  Her hair - E50, 51, 53, & 57. 

If you look closely, you can see the flower on her shirt has a center that's a French knot.  Her legs and feet use the "outside the box" technique and extend beyond the circle die.  I found that old felt scraps are the perfect barrier to slip under the edge of the die so it doesn't cut through the image.

The white card base uses a dotted swiss embossing folder, and all of the patterned pieces are layered on white paper.  

I've been coloring MFT images like crazy lately. You can see a different version of this same girl colored in the post below this one.  There's an adorable boy snowboarding two posts down!

This month's Guest DT sketch

I don't know where this will lead, but it has been fun to push myself to take a risk and try!  Cross you fingers and send good wishes my way.  The contest closes next week.  I'll keep you posted!


P.S.  I'm going out of town for a few days to the Big Apple!  (Mostly work and a little fun.)  I'll post a card when I come back on Sunday.

An Extra Day to Play!

Cute Is What I Do - MFT

We were dumped on with snow in MN today.  Our school had a snow day, so I got to spend the day in my craft room working on cards.

One of my favorites that I made was for the Designed to Color Challenge.    I loved the sketch and the MFT gal is perfect for coloring.  I tried to give her top some movement at the bottom.  I started subscribing to Designed to Color's quarterly publication a few months ago to help my coloring.  It's been fun to read.

Copic Colors Used:
shirt:  R20, 21, 22, 24
pants:  C1, 3, 5
grass:  G20, 24, 28, YG23
hair:  E50, 51, 53, 57
skin:  E000, 00, 11, R20

One of My Favorite Peeps - MFT

The sketch left me with half of a circle, so I made a second card.  This one is going to first grade girl who is moving to Illinois in a couple of weeks.  She's a real sweetie.

Copics and Paper Piecing

Snowboard Boy - MFT

Back again with another card.  This one is for the MFT Sketch Challenge.  I decided to paper piece the snow attire, but wanted to show dimension, so used my Copics to shade over the top of the patterned paper.  The boots and mittens are colored with Copics.  I used C3, C5 & C9 for the boots and E44, E47, & E49 for the mittens.  The snowboard is G40, 43 & 46.  Skin is E000, E00, E11, & R20 for the cheeks.

In putting the card together, I used the Cute Card Thursday challenge of "something old".  I interpreted the challenge as using old things from my supplies.  I rooted around in my scrap drawers and came up with some paper I have had in there for close to five years!!  Seriously - the brown paper was a scrap of about 4" x 8" and I loved it at the time.  The polka dot was about twice the size of the one I have used in my card.  Both have been passed over with the thought, "I can't use that one - what if I need it?!?"  The metal embellishments have been sitting around for years too.  It kind feels good to use some of this stuff I have been collecting!  I also think this card will work for the Papertake Weekly Anything Goes challenge this week.

One more thing to point out - the number 4 is actually cut from an embossing folder I have.  I don't have any letter dies, so I improvised.   This is a great birthday card for a little boy who took up skiing this winter, a.k.a. - my grandson, Ellis.