Something's Fishy......MFT à la Mode Teaser no.2

Today we've got another fabulous à la mode to share with you. This one totally speaks to me. I Looooove the fishie (we are a fishing kind of family) and I LOOOOOVE the sentiments that go with this set. The sentiment I used today is my FAVE.

 DH  has been on my case lately, cuz honestly, I use this word a lot and now the boys are picking up my bad habit.   I  hate when they say it.  To them it's a bad word, but I can't stop using it myself.  You know, that ol' double standard. It's a bad habit, bad, bad habit....but I like the word and compared to some other choice words I could be using, it's really not all that bad, right?! LOL! I'm soooo glad it's part of this set.

So, I took the liberty to use it today and it was completely appropriate for this card which I'm sending to a friend who's husband lost his job.

I used the daity dots die-namic on this one and once again stamped my image on the X-Press It Blending cs.  The dp is by Bella Blvd (aren't those fishies just the cutest?!) and the yummy green cs is by MFT it's the Jellybean color. Don't let the picture fool you, it looks like a forest green, but to me it's a dark olive green. I really like it. I finished the card off with some stickles glitter accents to the fish-it's nice and sparkly!

Head on over to Kim's Blog. She's got all the details and the full list of Teaser Posts for today. See you back here tonight for the MFT VIP blog hop! 10pm EST.

Monday and a H{ippity} Hop!

***please scroll down for my MFT à la mode Teaser****

Happy Monday! and welcome to our third week with the new H{ippity}Hop Challenge with a Twist. Week one was a sketch, last week was the color challenge and this week is our inspiration challenge. Again, you want to play along each week, cuz the more you play the more chances you have at winning the prize!

 Just be sure you are using the same keyword

 each time you upload a card for this month's challenge:
IHHTC1 and ippity.

Isn't this photo Maria provided for us just adorable??!! I love all the polka dots and gingham. Of course I played that up in my card. I used a few {ippity} sets here-Here and Now and How You Doin'?, Dots for Sure.  I added some jumbo scallops with some large circles I had punched out from another card I never used. I decided to use a light pink instead of the red in the photo. That's what's great about an inspiration challenge, you can be inspired any way you choose!

Have fun with it and now hop on over to Maria's blog. If you get lost along the way, head on back to the {ippity} blog for the start of this week's hop. You'll want to end there too, so you can see all the chick's inspiration as well.

New à la Modes....Tease Time!

It's almost time for our My Favorite Things VIP package (tomorrow night!) and that means we've got 2 more CUTE, and I mean CUTE, à la modes being released.  This line of stamps keeps getting better and better!

Up first is the new Oh, Baby! set. I'm so happy to say I know a few people preggers right now, so I've got the perfect stamp to use on their cards. This one is for my friend, Tanya. She's a scrapbooker at heart but TOTALLY loves when I give her cards. I'm thinking I need to order her this stamp set as part of her gift. What a great accent this will make on pages, too!

My favorite part is the giant bow on the bear. You'll see along the hop, how cool it is to customize this part of the stamp.  It's super easy to paper piece. I used some Jillibean Soup dp for the bow and if you look close there are some alpha letters impressed into the blue cs. The à la mode is stamped on X-press Blending cs and I couldn't resist some customized buttons thanks to the button quartet die-namics.  If you struggle with the large button holes (I did, just didn't like the look of all that extra space).... try doubling up some twine to thread through the holes. I LOVE the look! Card base is the wonderful, Whip Cream cs that MFT carries.
Layout is Jen's,  ASFYTT.  I'm sure to play along this year and will have an easier time keeping up with the once a month sketch. Thanks for the change, Jen.
Kim's blog has all the info and the full list of à la mode teasers! Be sure to hop on over there to check it out!

More New to Me Unity!

I honestly had no idea of yesterday's hip hop theme with the Itty Bitties. Love those little stamps and CAN'T wait to see all the new ones coming with the CHA Winter Release. All I know is I have some sweet little Itty Bitties that have not seen ink and I'm slowing working through that stack. I guess it's like they say, "great minds think alike!"

I used this week's SCS weekly sketch to make this card. It's a great go-to sketch and I paired the itty bitty, hello my friend with the fabby Here's the Ticket kit. The Modern Homemaker dp was just the HAPPY feel I was going for. I love mixing patterns and when they are from the same line, it's usually a win, win end result.

Today is FWF over on the Unity blog. Hop on over there to see the full list of bloggers.  Someone's got the hidden badge and if you find it and leave a comment, you just might win some FREE stuff!

Have a super FABBY weekend. I'll be back on Monday with the 3rd. week of our new {ippity} Challenge. It's an inspiration photo you won't want to miss! Hugs!

Some Icing

I know, I say it all the time, but seriously, I ♥ my dies! They are my most used stamping tool, besides my scissors and paper trimmer. This one is from TCP and it's called Icing and I think it is such a fun accent to any card.

I made this one for the TCP Tuesday Challenge which was an inspiration challenge.

 I thought the loopey loops looked like big yarn loops. I used the same colors in the hat and this darling little guy from Like You a Latte.

I also thought I'd share the birthday card I made for my son.  I only thought it fair, since I teased you with it last week-I said I'd post it and never did. He got his first Ipod, so this image from Stamping Bella, Dylan Lolipop, was the perfect fit!

 I used the same Icing Cut Up die with some dp to match by Oct. Afternoon-School House!  The stars are from MFT, Stacking Stars die-namics with the no. 9 from Banner Day alpha.

MFT Wed. Stamp Club-week 2!

It's week two of our new Wed. Stamp Club and that means another FAB sketch to work with.

 I'm two for two AND I'm ahead of the game on a brithday card for a dear, dear friend. She's going to be so excited that I remembered this year AND that I'm early *wink* *wink*!!!
I  used the Pure Innocence stamp, Something Special Just for You (sorry, she's currently out of stock. Keep checking Kim works hard to re-stock as quickly as she can).

I used more of the My Mind's Eye dp, Alphabet Soup (are you sick of it yet??? Hope not, cuz I've got more of it that I'm playing with ☺). I wanted to keep this relatively flat so I could mail it off without any extra postage, so instead of the buttons and baby braddies I wanted to use, I chose to go with some cross hatches to accent the edge of the main panel.

At first I was going to use the dainty dots doliy die-namic for my partial circle panel, but I just didn't like how it all fit together....too busy. SO, I used it on the inside with the layered labels die-namics and the birthday sentiment from the set. No need for it to go to waste, right?!!!

We are all sooo excited about all the participation in last week's WSC sketch challenge. It was so great to see all your wonderful creations. Keep up the great work.  Kim's got the full line up of samples from the DT and the Challenge team.

MFT Greatest Hits........Valentines

In 2011, MFT is working harder than ever to inspire you, and we have come up with something we think you'll really enjoy. Our Design Team Creative Challenge will be a new monthly feature, where we challenge our design team to explore their creative side using a specific theme or product. This month, we were asked  to get creative for Valentine's Day. It's a great occasion to get crafty, and put your supplies to good use. Are you ready to get some ideas for your Valentine's Day gifts? Visit Kim's Blog for a full list of participants to see everything from cards to gift ideas and everything between.

I was just giddy to FINALLY make myself a banner! I knew it would be perfect for this month's Valentine's Challenge and with all the cool dies and tools I own, this project really only took a little under an hour to create (and that was with kiddo interruptions, you know, "mom I need a snack", "mom he's bugging me", "mom, I can't get the Wii to work".....gotta LOVE that! lol!).

I started off with some Fossil cs for my base and used some yummy My Mind's Eye dp (alphabet soup-girl) in pinks and reds for my accent. The rest is all done with MFT stamps and die-namics. I need to tell you now, I'm officially addicted to these rosettes! The die-namic is brilliant and makes for REALLY fast, and gorgeous embellishments (I need to give Ms. Jody a plug, her sticky circle Boosters are the perfect for holding these together. No Mess, No Fuss!).

 Looks like the dies were a big hit on release night, cuz they are sold out at the moment. No worries, Kim will get them back in stock SPEEDY FAST! So keep checkin'! I used both sizes of the rosettes and cut each one in half before assembling them (that way I only needed to run them through my big shot for a total of 4 times-plus it was the right size I needed).

Here's some close ups of the individual banner pieces.

I also had fun digging through all my MFT stamps to find the right sentiments. I pulled sentiments from 3 different sets-PI Something Special Just For You (she's currently out of stock, too! sorry.), More Essential Sentiments, and You Spin Me Additions.

Other MFT products used:
Heart a Plenty die-namics
Perfect Plaid Ribbons
MFT Buttons

Don't forget to hop on over to Kim's blog to see the full line up of Valentine Inspiration from the DT! Thanks for checking in here!