MFT Weekly Sketch Challenge #469

Hello, friends and welcome back! Being on Christmas break is always nice because it gives me time to sit and create! Although, after making all those holiday cards my creative juices flow a little slowly. That's why I like to participate in challenges. I find that by looking at a colour palette or sketch can trigger an idea. And this weeks Sketch Challenge from MFT Stamps did just that!!

I followed the sketch closely but did switch a couple of things! That's the beauty of these challenges. You can follow it exactly, flip it around or switch out shapes! It's wherever the creative process takes you!

I used the second large Stitched Mini Scalloped Rectangles to house my little scene. I coloured the adorable little girl and her basket of flowers from the Bring Out the Sunshine Stamp Set and used the co-ordinating dies to cut them out.  On the scalloped panel, I used the Drifts and Hills Stencil to create a little grassy hill for the girl to stand on.

Instead of the clouds from the sketch, I die cut 3 hearts using the Infinity Heart Dies from Hero Arts and used my alcohol markers to colour them.

I adhered the panel and the hearts on a white card base with liquid glue and used foam adhesive to adhere the girl, the flowers and the sentiment. The sentiment comes from the Essential Sentiments Set and was stamped onto a speech bubble die with the little tail cut off.

I just had to add some white gel pen details to a few areas as well as some Nuvo Crystal Glaze!!

Thanks for dropping by! 

See you soon and...stay awesome :)

Laurie

Scrap 'N Stamp "Love is in the Air" Blog Hop

Hello, my friends!!  It's time for another one of our fabulous blog hops for Scrap 'N Stamp Canada!! The theme this time around is Love is in the Air!  The time has come for Valentine's cards but I think it's always good to have some general love themed cards in your stash!!

My card for you today is more of a general love themed card but could definitely be used for Valentines Day!!

Those cute critters, as well as the sentiment, come from the Furever Friends stamp set from My Favourite Things. This is an older set but is so adorable, I couldn't resist using it!!  I created a cloudy background using Broken China Distress Ink and the Cloud Stencil (also, MFT).  This ground portion was cut with a Stitched Hillside Borders Die and inked with Twisted Citron Distress Ink.

To incorporate more of a love theme, I used a heart die to cut the centre portion of the inked panel. This gave the card a lot more interest and dimension!  I first adhered the focal panel directly to a white card base.  I die cut the same heart die out of craft foam and pieced it into the opening.  I prefer using craft foam over foam tape for this as it gives a solid backing with no gaps.

I used Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive on the top portions of the bears and bits of the same craft foam for the feet to match the height of the heart.  I stamped the sentiment with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto a white cardstock strip and glued that on top of the heart.

Definitely, a lot of "love" in this card but not limited to Valentines Day!!  

Thank you for joining us on this "lovely" hop. Here is the full Blop Hop lineup:

Tara

Laurie (that's me!)

Amy

Kia

Nancy

**Giveaway**

We're giving away one $50 Gift Certificate and each designer will get to give away a Valentines gift pack (set of heart clear stamps, rub ons, red pen, and sparkly paper value $25). All you have to do is leave a comment on each stop of the hop for a chance to win!!

**Remember**

You have more chances to win if you enter the SNS Facebook Challenge page by creating a love-themed project and sharing it with us.  You can find all the details there :)

Until next time...stay crafty!!

Laurie

MFT's 2018 Card Design Superstar Entry: Clean & Simple Genius

Well, holy cow!! I'm entering a challenge, can you believe it?  I got so excited when I seen the 2018 My Favourite Things Card Design Superstar Challenge that I just had to enter!

There are 3 categories in this challenge: Clean & Simple Genius, Colouring Virtuoso and Innovation Master.  While I love colouring, my skills are what you'd call..lacking. I do love a good interactive card but honestly, I'm terrible at them!! Seriously. I struggle through a simple shaker card :).  So that, my friends, leaves the Clean & Simple Category!

I love "clean" cards. It has taken me quite some time to embrace the white space but now I'm pretty comfortable with it.  Although, my finished card turned out quite colourful. I hope this will still count as CAS!!

I used a ton of MFT product on this card starting with the Stitched Circles Stax.  I adhered them all together to cut as one piece. So instead of cutting full circles, they cut rings.

I went through my stash of scrap cardstock and picked out some rainbow-ish colours.  I discovered that I do not have any orange cardstock so a coral colour would have to do.

Look at all those beautiful rings of colour!! So many rainbow cards in my future!  To make one solid, rainbow circle, I die cut the largest circle out of scrap paper and glued each ring to it. Then I cut it (almost) down the middle.

This is the layout I had planned.  It's faint but I did use the Stencil Cloud with some Tumbled Glass Distress Ink to add a bit of interest and dimension to the background. Before I adhered the rainbows to the panel, I used the large stitched rectangle die from the Blueprints 15 die set (which is not available any longer).  This was the perfect size to frame my scene.

I changed my mind on the sentiment but thought I would show this anyway as the process was the same.  I white heat embossed, on black cardstock, a sentiment from the Beach Bunnies Stamp Set. I trimmed it out using the small banner die from the Blueprints 27 Die Set. 

Now it was time to put everything together!!  I adhered the rainbows directly onto the cloudy panel and foam mounted the sentiment strip. The entire panel was adhered to a pink card base.

It was looking a little "flat" to me so I die cut a few clouds from the Somebunny Co-ordinating Dies set and foam mounted those using craft foam (also cut with the dies).  

I added a good dose of clear sparkle to each cloud instead of adding any embellishments.

I know it's quite colourful but I think the design itself is quite simple!!  I actually LOVE the way this card turned out and I hope you do too!!

Thank you so much for stopping in today! I love it when you visit :)

Until next time...stay crafty!

Laurie

Father's Day Card for Scrap N' Stamp!!

Well, hello there!!  Today is my first official DT post for Scrap N' Stamp Canada and what great timing as tomorrow is Father's Day!!

I mixed and matched a few different brands for this card.  I love how everything plays so well together!  I started with the Hero Arts Luggage Tag Alphabet Set to stamp out the word"dad".  This is a great alphabet set because the size of the letters are perfect for card front sizes. Not too big, not too small.

I used two different inks for a gradient effect. Memento Tuxedo Black and Memento London Fog Inks. I cut those letters out and set them aside.

I chose three images from the MFT Bitty Bears set that I thought my dad would appreciate.  The bear holding the heart, the fish and the little leaf.  And nothing could be more perfect than to use the Mini Picture Frames Dies from Lawn Fawn. This is one of the sweetest set of dies!!

I coloured the bears with Copic markers and used the co-ordinating dies to cut them out.  The frames cut two different sections, the inner shape and the scalloped frame portion.  I used Tumbled Glass and Crushed Olive Distress Inks to add a bit of colour to the inner portions.

I played around with the layout a little bit before deciding that I needed one more of the frames to "hold" the sentiment.

I did't want to add another layer to the front of this card but I felt it needed just a little extra something.  I will often add a hand drawn border around the card front to eliminate the extra layer and to add some interest. I used the Uni-ball Signo Gel Pen for this.

Now, all I had to do was put everything together!!  I used Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive for almost everything on the card except the "dad".  I cut up tiny pieces of foam adhesive squares to give a bit of a lift!!

And even though this card is for my dad, I couldn't resist adding a bit of Wink of Stella and Nuvo Crystal Glaze to the heart, the leaf and the fish!

I couldn't resist and added a few matte enamel dots as well!! 

I hope you got a kick out of today's card because I sure did making it!  I hope everyone has a great day tomorrow, celebrating your Dad!!

Until next time...stay crafty!!

Laurie

**I wanted to mention that all products linked to the Scrap N' Stamp Canada shop are affiliate links. This means if you happen to make a purchase through one of these links, I will make a small commission, at NO cost to you!! Thank you in advance if you happen to make a purchase**