My Favorite Things Sketch Challenge #352

Good morning everyone...

Well, thankfully, the heat wave has broken here. The temperatures plummeted from almost 90F to about 50F overnight. Today is a glorious 55F with a breeze to clear out the house and beautiful sunshine.

I am participating in the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge #352 and you can see the sketch here.

I chose to use a new MFT stamp set I just got called Adorable Elephants. And let me tell you...they are adorable and then some.

 I started with an A2 white card base and covered the front with a scrap of pattern paper. I believe it is a very old design from Colorbok. 

Added a strip of yellow polka dot ribbon to which I sewed a piece of narrow lace.

I stamped that cute little elephant and coloured him up with the Copics you can see below. And then I fussy cut him out...even around those little hairs on top of his head. I do not have the dies that go with this set as yet but I do have a pair of very sharp scissors and a great deal of patience. :)

Cut a rectangle of soft purple paper and used a die from MFT Basic Stitch Lines all around it. On this I stamped the sentiment from the same Adorable Elephants stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Lastly I cut three balloons using the MFT Heart Balloon die which I did colour to match the colours in the pattern paper.

Layered it all together and all done.

Thanks so very much for stopping by....your comments make me smile.

Cheers,

Melanie

Reverse Confetti Sketch #52

Hello everyone...

I am back today with one more card for the Reverse Confetti Sketch # 52 which you can see here.

I do not have a whole lot Reverse Confetti stamps as yet although I do have a long wish list. I decided to use one of those adorable little piggies from the Cured stamp set.

I followed the sketch pretty closely. A piece of Anna Griffin pattern paper covers the entire card front. A used a wonderful old piece of Stampin Up ribbon that I have had for ages over top to bisect the paper. Over that I used a MFT discontinued tag die for the tag on which I stamped the sentiment from the same Cured stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

I cut two circles from my unending stash of scrap paper and then stamped the little piggie with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and coloured him up with the Copics in the photo below. Finished up with a few pink buttons and all done.

Thanks for stopping by....your comments truly make my day.

Cheers,

Melanie

PowerPoppy Hues to Use

Hello everybody...

I have a card today for the latest PowerPoppy Hues to Use.

Here is the inspiration photo. I just love hens and chickens in the garden. They are such charming little things, don't you think?

I really like that colour combination. I knew immediately that I wanted to use that gorgeous huge PowerPoppy Dahlia blossom. I actually grew a Dahlia a couple years ago that had these same pink tones so thought I would have a go at recreating it.

I opted to use a brand new set of ZIG Clean Color Brush Markers that I finally purchased. I have heard so many people rave about them so after mulling it over for ages, I took the plunge and bought them. I am accustomed to using either Copics, watercolours or just plain Prismacolor pencil crayons so these will require an adjustment period. 

I stamped my image with Memento Tuxedo Black on watercolour paper and selected two colours of pink to use for the petals. I had problems right from the start as the water brush I bought with the markers gushes out water so it was everywhere. I ended up using a regular paint brush and water to blend the colours. And, in actual fact I did not really want the colours blended as there was a pretty sharp demarcation line on the actual flowers.

Now that I have given you all the doom and gloom...here is the card.

I used a raspberry card base, layered on some olive checked paper, a strip of pink ribbon and then the focal image on top of Spellbinders Labels 42 Decorative Elements die in solid green. 

Yes, I know. I did fussy cut out the blossom. Yes. I know. It is a lot of work but I do it anyway. :) I used mounting squares for the blossom and the die cut behind it. I do love dimension on a card. 

I finished off with a wee sentiment from PowerPoppy Geraniums Takes Two which I cut with a Spellbinders Oval Majesty die and softened with a bit of ink and a soft pink flourish called Sprigs in the top corner, also from Spellbinders.

I cannot say that I am really happy with this card but there was a lot of hard graft put into it so kept on trying to save it. Clearly I need a much better water brush and a lot more practice with these markers.

Thanks a lot for stopping by....be kind with your comments!

Cheers,

Melanie

Power Poppy Hues to Use

Hello everyone...

I am having a go at the PowerPoppy Hues to Use challenge. 

I absolutely love the colours you can see in the photo below. They are autumn colours, they mean cool, sweater weather. Here in eastern Ontario where the temperatures are in the 30s (that is almost 90 for you fahrenheit folks) with a humidex in the 40s (well over 100) I can use any help I can get to feel cooler. Thankfully this ghastly heat wave is supposed to break on Thursday. We are certainly accustomed to sweltering heat in the dog days of summer here but autumn is our much needed reprieve and I miss it.  :(

I have chosen to use the terrific garden boot from PowerPoppy Feelin Fall. 

I coloured up the image with the Copics you see in the bottom photo. 

Kept the card layout very simple with a couple pattern papers in the requisite colours, a length of ribbon and a birthday die cut from Papertrey Ink.

Thats it for me for now. Off to run errands before the heat of the day becomes completely unbearable. Thanks so much for stopping by....your amazing comments really make me smile.

Cheers,

Melanie

Powerpoppy Power & Spark September Challenge

Hello everyone...

I am just sneaking in under the deadline for the PowerPoppy Power & Spark challenge for September which is shown below.

I love using kraft cardstock. I think this is a brilliant challenge and I am so glad to be able to participate.

I knew instantly what I wanted to use for my card and it is that fantastic big and beautiful PowerPoppy Dahlia. What a glorious image that is. 

I have decided to keep my card to just white and kraft.

I have stamped the Dahlia and leaf images on kraft cardstock with Versamark ink and embossed in white. After that I took a white Prismacolor pencil and just added a bit of "white" shading to the dahlia image keeping it quite subtle.

Then I sat down with a cup of tea and a pair of very sharp scissors and fussy cut everything out.

The base is a 5" white card over which I layered a piece of kraft cut with decorative scissors. I tried and tried to find a die that would work but could not come up with anything that I liked so it had to be the scissors.

The next layer is Spellbinders Labels 42 in kraft and Labels 42 Decorative Accents in white on foam tape.

The Dahlia and leaves are mounted on foam tape on top of that.

Lastly came the sentiment and I have chosen to use a die cut from Papertrey Ink...Congratulations.

I cut the die from white cardstock 4 times and layered for a nice thick sentiment. Because it is so pliable, I placed it on a curve for added interest. The "I" is dotted with single pearl.

And there you have my take on kraft cardstock.

Now that I am finished it is going in the mail to someone very special.

Thanks so much for visiting with me today....your wonderful comments truly make my day.

Cheers,

Melanie

Papertrey Ink September 2017 Blog Hop

Hello everyone...

I am so glad to be back in "stamp land" and taking part today in Papertrey Ink's terrific blog hop.

The inspiration photo is stunning as you can see here. I love the delicate florals the little bird is holding and that deep dark background makes the entire image jump out so you can see all the details.

I therefore chose to use the Spring Woods stamp set and dies as the Goldfinch happens to be one of my favourite birds.

I have used the branches from the same set to represent the floral element. I  used the Tag Sale Quilted die for the background in a suitable deep blue colour.

The card is a simple cream coloured A2 size with a strip of Harvest Gold bitty dot paper down the side to pick up the colour in the bird. 

The sentiment stamped in Memento Paris Dusk ink is from Keep It Simple: Get Well.

The other ink colours used are Memento Pear Tart, Peanut Brittle and Tangelo.

A wee bit of ribbon and a Canyon Clay button finish off the top of the tag.

Thank you so much for stopping by today....your comments truly make my day special.

Cheers,

Melanie

MFT Sketch Challenge 351

Hello everyone...

I have made a card today for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Sketch Challenge #351 which you can see here.

I recently received a delivery of fantastic new MFT stamps so I could not wait to use them.

For my card I have used the adorable little oinkers from Hog Heaven. They are so unbelievably cute!

 My card is a basic white A2 card and I have used the Rolling Hills die to cut the green pattern paper for the bottom section and then added the white picket fence all along. I love white picket fences. The top portion of the card has a very faint sponging of a soft blue ink for sky.

I have used the little piggie and have him leaning on the fence. Coloured him up with the Copics that are shown below and I fussy cut him out and popped him up on pop dots.

The sentiment is from the same set, Hog Heaven, stamped on a partial hand cut banner in Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I have used another sentiment, also from the set, for the inside.

This was a fun challenge and I am pretty happy with my little oinker.

Thanks very much for stopping by...your comments truly make my day.

Cheers,

Melanie

Make It Monday #297

Hello everyone...

It has been ages since I have posted anything here but it feels good to be back. I live on a small farm and the summer is growing season...practically every waking moment is spent out in the garden planting, weeding, harvesting and then storing away all that wonderful goodness for winter. Like a squirrel!  :)

The season is starting to wind down despite the unbelievable heat and humidity we are getting right now. Temperatures are around 90 with humidex over 100!

Not our usual sweater weather for eastern Ontario I can assure you.

So...since it is too hot for me to work outside I have taken this opportunity to return to the craft room for some fun.

I am playing along with Dawn at Papertrey Ink today with Make It Monday #297...Mixing Florals. Her project was great and I thought I would have a go.

I have used the following Papertrey Ink stamp sets...Bloomin Cute, Mini Blooms and Stitched Sentiments (one of my all time favourites). I have also used the Bloomin Cute dies and Bloomin Cute Sentiment dies.

I have kept my card really clean and simple (for me anyway).  I started with a basic white 5 x 7 white card and rounded the corners. I die cut the largest blooms and leaves from Bloomin Cute and stamped them. I was going for a sort of S shape on the card so arranged the largest blooms and then filled in with smaller and smaller blooms from Mini Blooms and Stitched Sentiments. These I stamped directly on the card.

I stamped the sentiment "so much" from Bloomin Cute on the bottom and used the sentiment die to cut out the word Thanks from some scrap paper.

The large flowers are on some mounting tape and I glued the sentiment directly to the card. 

I have used the following ink colours.

Memento: Tuxedo Black, Pear Tart, New Sprout and Angel Pink

Vivid: Sky Blue and Straw

Thanks so much everyone for stopping by. It is great to be back and getting my fingers inky instead of just covered in dirt from the garden.

Have a great day. Cheers...

Melanie