Crafty Day

A few months ago I posted about a "stamp camp" I hosted for my mother in law, aunt in law, and their lovely friends. We all had such a good time that we decided to make it a quarterly occurrence.

We had an afternoon filled with yummy food, laughter, and stamping! We talked about marriage, jobs, and life in general. I am amazed at the outlook these ladies have on life. They help remind me that even when my circumstances are not the greatest, that I can still choose to look for God's blessings. These ladies are always so thankful when we get together, but the truth is it does me a world of good as well.

Alright on to the crafting!

Something I wanted to show these lovely ladies this time around was that they could use a card layout with just about any stamp set they own. I used the layout from a previous post and used it to come up with two cards.

Here is the original card I made using the layout in question:

{See original post HERE}

Unfortunately the picture doesn't do it justice, but I love that pop of color behind the stamped image!

Here is my first card using the same layout:

First off, like some of my other cards, I feel like the picture doesn't do it justice. Anyone have any good tips for taking pictures of your cards, because I can't seem to get it right. I love this card, it makes me think of my niece who love all things super girly. The last time I took her to the movie she was adamant that she had to bring her purse with her; she's 6. 

Supplies

Stamp Set: My Favorite Things Magical Unicorn set by Birdie Brown
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers (various), White Gel Pen, Distress Oxide Ink in Abandoned Coral
Paper: Neenah Classic Crest, and scraps of patterned paper from my stash

Accessories: 3M Foam Mounting Tape

The second card using the same layout:

I love how the layout worked with this card. It just feels like this little guy is exploring space. It makes me think of the movie The Martian with Matt Damon. 

Supplies

Stamp Set: My Favorite Things Space Explorer set by Birdie Brown

Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic Markers (various), White Gel Pen, White Pigment Ink, Distress Oxide Ink in Peacock Feathers, White Gouache

Paper: Black Card Stock , and scraps of patterned paper from my stash

Accessories: 3M Foam Mounting Tape

I wanted my last couple of cards to be simple.

When I first saw this set by Avery Elle, I knew I HAD TO HAVE IT! I love puns so I know that this Lava You set was going to be a part of my collection. Anyone else picked this one up?

Supplies
Stamp Set: Avery Elle Lava You
Inks: Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Oxide Ink in Vintage Photo, Distress Oxide Ink in Candied Apple
Paper: Neenah Desert Storm Card Stockand a piece of patterned paper by Doodlebug

Last but not least....

I knew I wanted to do a purple card because a few of the wonderful ladies I was crafting with love this color. This was a pretty easy card to do. The hardest thing by far was the embossing. The front panel is a piece of watercolor resist scrapbook paper I picked up at Michael's a couple of months ago, but you could easily recreate with any of your favorite background stamps and some clear or white embossing powder!

Supplies
Stamp Set: Impression Obsession Thoughts
Inks: Distress Ink in Milled Lavender, Seedless Preserves, and Dusty Concord
Paper: Stampin' Up! Perfect Plum Card Stock and Patterned Resist Watercolor Paper from Michael's
Accessories: 3M Foam Mounting Tape, Copper Embossing Powder


Thank you all for stopping by. Until next time, keep on crafting!

Never too soon for Halloween

It seems like every year goodies for certain holidays start showing up sooner and sooner. I know that this can make many people roll their eyes, but not me. I love the first signs of Halloween goods popping up in stores, because that means fall is upon us. This for me starts the most magical time of the year. We start with Halloween, all the adorable costumes, and all the spooky movies. So it should not come as any surprise that my cards for this week are Halloween themed.

I picked up MFT Stamps Witch Way Is The Candy by Birdie Brown a couple of years back and did nothing with it until this year. Honestly, I used to have a job where I was on call 24/7 so as much as I love crafting, I never have time for it. These days though I have a set schedule and much more time to do what I LOVE!

This week I made two Shaker Cards using Witch Way Is The Candy.

My first shaker was easy enough to make. I used Stampin' Up!'s Summer Sun Cardstock for the frame and base of the card because I thought it went really well with the patterned paper from my stash. I die cut some clouds out of white cardstock using Lawn Fawn's Puffy Clouds Border Die and inked it up with some black soot Distress Ink. I threw in some Doodlebug Sequins and BAM, shaker was done.

I didn't run into any issues until I went to color that precious witch. My hubby recently surprised me with a full core set of the Spectrum Noir alcohol markers. While they are similar to Copics, they don't blend quite the same as Copics do. There's definitely a learning curve to them, but they are great markers and a truly sweet gift from a fantastic hubby!

My second card using that cutie put up a little more of a fight.I knew I wanted to put a shaker tag onto a card front and started working on the tag first. My first tag ended in Utter Disaster. I am not saying this to be dramatic, my first tag warped, my sequins fell out due to the warping, it was not pretty. The only thing I managed to salvage from that first tag was the sequins.

Creating my second tag went much smoother than the first. The sentiment is embossed onto black card stock and comes from the HSH Halloween Additions set by  There She Goes. I used some patterned paper from my stash for the background of the tag and sponged some Spiced Marmalade Distress Oxide Ink onto some white paper and die cut it out for the top of my tag. I finished the tag off with some Lawn Fawn Gold Sparkle Cord, black ribbon, and some gold Pretty Pink Posh sequins.

My tag ended up just a little bigger than I originally intended so I made a 5x7 card base out of Canson watercolor paper. I used my Kuretake Gansai Tambi to watercolor the base with black and gold and put it all together.

My question to y'all is, are excited to see Halloween stuff already or do you wish they would wait until closer to the actual holiday?

Until next time, keep on craftin'!

Kickin' It

I think one of the reasons I am so drawn to My Favorite Things Stamps is their use of puns. I admit it, I'm a punny gal! Who doesn't love a good chuckle? And let's face it their stamps are FREAKING ADORABLE; I feel like Agnes from Despicable Me. IT'S SO FLUFFY!!!!

So this past weekend, between hair cuts, movies, cooking, and guests, I found time to work on a card that I have been wanting to make; I was inspired by Laura Bassen and Amy Rysavy.

Anyway I decided to use MFT Stamps Ninja-mazing stamp and die sets for my slider card.

I stamped my images on Strathmore Bristol Smooth Paper with Archival Black Ink and my Mini MISTI. As a side note can we talk about how much easier the MISTI makes life for stampers? I can't tell you how many times I would have to start over on a project because I could not get a clear image stamped. Anyways... 

I used my Zig Clean Color markers, along with my Pentel Aquash Waterbrush to color my images. Again, how cute are these stamps? 

I used my Cuttlebug and the matching dies to cut these out. I have to say I was pretty pleased with my results (except for that throwing star). 

And of course in usual Mercedes fashion, I forgot to take pictures of the other stuff I die cut. I used Lawn Fawn's Grassy Boarder Die, Impression Obsession's Cloud Dies, and a lovely set of really inexpensive round stitched dies (like $6). I have to say I was hesitant to buy the circle dies, but ended up being pleasantly surprised by them. 

I then missed taking pictures of all the important steps, you know like where I used my Exacto Knife to cut out the slider area on the back piece of grass. 

I used a piece of pattern paper for the back drop and some green textured paper for the grass. I laid out my scene and then added a piece of acetate to the back of my Ninja so he would be above the grass. 

My finished card with the slider still inside. 

My slider card with the slider pulled out. 

And last but not least, I used my remaining pieces to make a cute little scene on the inside of the card along with the sentiment Let's kick it soon (told you I love the puns). 

I promise next time I will do my best to remember to take pictures of all the steps. 

Now go forth and craft!

Sketch Challenge

Hi all I'm back? Did any of you miss me?

While I have been crafting, I haven't posted anything in quite some time. I have gone through a lot of personal stuff, but I am back. I thought it was time to get back on the horse and start posting again. Please be kind as I am a little rusty.

This week, I wanted to participate in my first ever MFT Stamps Card Challenge #340.

I realize it is only July, but for this Sketch Challenge I opted to use MFT's Witch Way is the Candy? Stamp and Dies. I absolutely LOVE this adorable witch. I used the sketch as a guideline and made a shaker card.

I remembered to take a picture as I was working with Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink in Fossilized Amber, but didn't take any of all the other work I put into it. I know, I dropped the ball!

I hope you like this card and much as I liked making it.