Monday, Monday! {I Puffy Heart You}

Wow! last Wednesday, really?? that was the last post from me? Sorry blogging friends. I've been busy creating, but I have also been busy busy with my boys.  I'll get to share all the crafty goodness over the next week, since MFT Teasers start on Wednesday!! Your gonna LOoooove the May release.  For today, I've got a bit of Unity to share with you. 

This month's Kit of the Month is a fantastic kit. This darling panda is my FAVE and I love the sentiment with him. I stamped these both with MFT Black Licorice ink. The heart is Sno Cone cs cut with a Heart Stax Die-namics. 

I used some new Heidi Swapp papers......yep, a bit of neon going on here. I always love the when other's use these bright, gorgeous colors, but I am afraid of them. I mixed it with a bit of a neutral with the grey striped background. 
I tied it all up with some pretty ribbon from SU (last year Sale-abration, I believe). I also added some of the trendy, new sequins. 

You have two days left to grab this month's kit. Head over to the Unity store before it's gone!

WSC121-Best Year Ever

Hello, Hello! I created a little chalkboard art for a birthday card I needed this week. It is such a fun technique. It's Wednesday Stamp Club time from My Favorite Things and that means a new sketch is up. 

It was a great way to the Vertical Greetings II Die-namics. I just love this label shape. I cut it from Black Licorice cs and stamped a sentiment from Birthday Greetings with versamark ink and gave it a good coating of white embossing powder. I then used my Prismacolored pencils to add some "chalk" doodles.  

 A few other dies I used to dress up this card are the banner from All Star Die-namics and the Open scallop border (from Open Simply Scallops Trio Die-namics....brand new from the latest release). I used a sentiment from Doodle Garden-Party Girl. It was the perfect size to fit in that cool banner Die-namics. I stamped the sentiment in black licorice ink and sponged the edges with some wild Cherry to help it pop. 

I used some Cashmere Dame papers, a bit of washi tape (new from SU), a little bit of hemp twine and it's all mounted up on some Banana split cs. 
here is this week's sketch. 

I sure hope you'll join us for this week's WSC challenge. There is always a prize up for grabs. 
We encourage you all to play along, and to enter your card in the weekly draw for a $15 gift voucher to the MFT Boutique. Simply follow the sketch and create a card or other paper creation. You may use any stamps and supplies that you wish. Each week, a keyword is assigned to the sketch. All you need to do to enter, is upload your card to the gallery at SCS, and enter the given keyword in the keyword box, during the upload process. After the deadline, we randomly choose a winner from that week's entries and the winner will receive a $15 gift voucher. If the winning card uses MFT stamps, the participant will earn a $5 bonus, for a total of a $20 gift voucher! 
Upload your creation to SCS using keyword MFTWSC121 for a chance to win this week's prize (see above). You have until noon Tuesday, April 30 to play along.

Hop on over to the MFT Blog for all the details. 
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April MFT Creative Challenge {scene building}

Hello my crafty friends. It's the April edition of the My Favorite Things Creative Challenge. This month we are sharing projects with scenes created with stamps and Die-namics. I had so much fun with this card.  I decided to use some masking techniques with the new Wendy Burn's stamp set, Cupcake Cutie. I just adore that little doggie. I decided to create a puppy party. 

Here is the full card. The pups have gathered to tell the birdie happy birthday. Isn't that fun?!!

When creating a scene it's important to think about the placement of all of the stamps and dies you'll be using. You also want to think about scale and make sure you are using elements that are somewhat proportionate to each other. 

I started with a 4x 5.25 inch panel of x-press it blending card stock. I knew I would be coloring directly onto it with my copic markers, so I went with the card stock I knew would give me the best results for coloring. The finished panel is matted on a Hot Fudge cs piece. 

I then started with my sky and built my scene from there.   You can see a cloud filled sky background behind the branch.

 I cut out a Jumbo Cloud Stax Die-namcis and used that as a mask to sponge around with Sno Cone ink. It's an easy way to add fluffy, white clouds to any scene. Start toward the bottom and work your way up, making sure to change the direction of the die cut cloud each time you move it. I started about half way up my panel and worked towards the top.   I love how the sponging around the cloud die adds a "subtle something", some extra texture, without adding bulk to my card.

After I had my sky started, I went in and started on my puppies. I used some Eclipse Masking paper to make a mask of the pup, minus the balloon. Since the string is such a skinny piece, it was too hard for me to cut out and have the dogs clustered together without the lines showing or looking funny. The lines were easy enough to draw in on their own. 

When masking it is important to remember that the first image you stamp, will be the image that appears in the foreground. On my card, the puppy with the blue bow, was the first dog I stamped. 

After I stamped him, I went ahead and placed the mask over top of him and then stamped the second pup.

 I use washi tape to cover my stamp in places were I want to omit the image. Here it was the string and balloon, I wanted to omit.

. Make sure to remove the tape, before you stamp your image. 

 After you have the first pup masked, go ahead and stamp your next pup and repeat as many times as you'd like.

Here are what my first two dogs look like after I removed the mask. 

After you have your dogs stamped, go ahead and add in the balloons. This time I use washi tape to cover up my puppy and string, before I ink up the balloon. 

Remove the washi tape, stamp. (you can see here my stamp wasn't completely clean and you can see a small line from the balloon string. That is ok, here, since I will be filling in with my multiliner. Most times I'm not that lucky. lol! and I have to restamp the whole panel again. 

Fill in the string with your multiliner. Then color the images. 

Here are the copics I used to color the balloons and my puppies. I made them each unique and used Michele's dotted technique to add texture to their fur. I love this look. 

Here is my finished puppy party. I sponged on some Factory Green ink and added in some springs of grass with my Prismacolored pencils. I also added a sweet little rolling hill cut with the Sno Drift Die-namcis. One little yellow flower from Embellished Eggs stamp set fit nicely to the left of my pups to help fill in some white space. 

The sentiments are from Party Time.  I stamped the word "happy" three times, one from each pup, and then "birthday" all with Black Licorice Ink. They fit perfectly inside the Say What speach bubble. I popped it up for a bit more dimension with a foam dot. 

I have always loved this Branch and Leaf Die-namics. It's an easy, quick way to show some nature on any card. I cut multiple leaves in two different colors, Factory Green and Sour Apple and adhered them to the branches. I sponged on some Factory Green ink to the edges. Check out the embossed veins on  each of the leaves...love the Die-namics that add this detail with one pass through your die cut machine.  

The branch was also the perfect spot to nestle my felt birdie. It's his birthday and the puppies are here to tell him, so. I cut the smallest bird from Easter Elements from Banana Split felt. I used the coordinating polka dotted wing stamp from Embellished Eggs. 

I masked up more of the single balloon image and stamped them in MFT ink:  Wild Cherry, Orange Fizz, and Blu Raspberry to create a festive feeling to the inside of my card. I hand drew the strings with my Copic Multiliner. I used the Happy Birthday sentiemnt from the Cupcake Cutie long the bottom. 

Be sure to head over to the MFT blog to see who is playing along this month. There are some great scenes created by the design team. Don't miss 'em!

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