I Love Mew

Hi there,

So, I decided to leave the card alone and not add any more to it. Less is more, right? I'm super happy with how the card turned out and I definitely also learned a few things along the way--mainly what NOT to do when creating a shaker card with micro beads. lol.  Anyway, here's the card and my take on the MFTWSC302 

I used the MFT BB Knead You stamp set...soooo cute. I tried to color the kitty to look like ours; she's a tortoise shell and she's grey and white with tan patches all over. 

I hand doodled the string coming from the ball of yarn and squiggled it a bit to give the string some "yarny" texture. I used the largest of the MFT Stitched Rectangle Scallop Frames and also decided to use the MFT Stitched Interactive Window Trio die for the first time EVER. Once I had the windows cut out and stamped the images that would be under each window flap I decided to make it a shaker card.

I first layed the front panel with the windows onto the card front and traced the squares so I could see where I wanted to stamp the images and sentiments that would go inside the shaker and be concealed by the flaps. I stamped one of the yarn ball images in the first window, one of the mice in the middle, and the I Love Mew sentiment in the last window underneath the kitty. Then I masked off the area around the window and added some Tim Holtz distress inks; Spun Sugar along the bottom portion of each window and Tea Dye across the top.

Next I added some acetate on the back of the front panel to create the windows and then added foam tape and micro beads. I kind of did things backwards and had trouble centering the card panel with the front panel but in the end it all worked out. 

I think this would make a cute Valentines or anniversary card...or a Just Because card.

So, that's my card for today. I really enjoyed creating this card. Hope you like it, too.

Have a blessed and crafty day.

Hugs,

Bettina :)

Sneak peek

Hi there

I'm working on the next card sketch challenge by MFT and I'm nearly finished. Here's a sneak peek

Just trying to figure out if it needs anything else before I post final pics.

Have a blessed and crafty day.

Hugs

Bettina :)

Beary Special Surprise Birthday Card for the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge

Hi there all,

I decided to join in on the MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge. As I'm posting they've already moved on to the next challenge but you can find the sketch for last week's here

Anyway, I had some grandiose idea about what I wanted to do and here's a glimpse of it in the planning stage

It was going to be a tri-fold card. But, alas, time ran out for me and I couldn't quite figure out how to execute my design idea in time, so I ended up with this card:

It ended up being a regular side-fold card with a peek-a-boo window. I used a different image from the same stamp set - it's the Beary Special Birthday stamp set - and I think it turned out sweet. It would be a really cute little boy's birthday card, I think.

I used a SSS stencil for the stars and masked a section to create the lines with Tim Holtz distress inks.

I forgot to write down the colors but I used warm greys to color the bear with Spectrum Noir markers. I was going to also use this card to join the MFT color challenge, but then felt it needed a pop of color and added the red circle frame. Here's the inside:

Well, that's my entry for this week. I'm off to create something for next week's challenge. Hope you have a chance to join in the fun, too.

Have a blessed and crafty day,

Hugs,

Bettina :)

Show Piggies

Helloooooo world

Thought I'd share a project I finished yesterday and see if I can get back into the swing of writing a few blog posts now and then. My, how I've neglected this blog. But I'm super excited to share this project. I call it a dimensional card but I'm not sure if it's a card? I suppose you could call it a diorama. So, what happened was that I watched this tutorial by Kelly Latevola and decided I wanted to try my hand at free-style coloring some curtains. She used copics while I used spectrum noir markers but I was really very pleased with the results considering it was my first time trying something like that. Getting started was really the most intimidating part.

Well, so then I decided I'd try to shade the scallop edges cause they just looked too white and flat. I realized that shading white things is not my thing. lol. Definitely need more practice with that technique but it wasn't bad enough for me to toss the entire piece.

I'd been itching to use the new stamp set by MFT called "Hog Heaven" which I purchased not too long ago from Jamie in her Not2Shabby shop here. It has the cutest little piggies and one of them has WINGS people!!! Well, I thought a flying piggie would make for a pretty amazing show and add to that some dramatic curtains and VOILA!....

That's what I came up with and it's also my contribution for World Card Making Day. I originally planned on using foam tape to add dimension but it just wasn't enough. I felt like this card and the scene I had in my head needed more dimension and depth and it would require way more foam tape than I was willing to spare. So, I created an accordion style frame that's about 4-5 folds deep (7 score marks spaced at 1/4"). Had I watched this tutorial, or something like it, I probably would have struggled less and it would look slightly less wonky, but overall, I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out. You can't tell, but the flying piggy is actually suspended by a thin thread so he dangles to and fro. lol. He spins so I really need to add a mirror image but I didn't have time.

Used the cloud die from the ME Landscape Trio die set and MFT's grassy hills die. Also, used a Tim Holtz stencil for the sun rays and had some wood grain patterned papers that I used for the stage floor and for the fence (I simply stamped the fence image onto the paper and fussy cut it out). I also fussy cut the piggies...and the curtains...you probably already figured that out. lol

Anyway, cute, right?!

Until next time. Have a blessed & crafty day!

Bettina :)

Thank You Window Card using Art Impressions "Purrr-thday" stamp set

Hello Crafty Friends,

Earlier this week I finally finished that window card I mentioned in my previous post. Personally, I totally love how it turned out. I got to use my cricut cartridges since I don't have a whole lot of dies. Most of the dies I have are the basic shapes but I really like looking for ways to put my Cricut to use.

So, the card ended up being a tri-fold because that was the best way I found for the window card to work since it was a kind of "Thanks from all of us" and I needed room for everyone to be able to sign.

I never seem to be able to use just one stamp set and this card was no exception. The focal image of the back and front cats is from AI and the inside sentiment "You're the Best" is actually spliced together from several stamp sets because I don't have a stamp with that exact sentiment.....errrr....well, I found one after the fact but it wasn't the right style or size anyways. lol. The greeting in the front was created with an alphabet stamp and cut set by Hero Arts, which I just purchased. The inside of the window has a greeting from yet another stamp set (which I can't recall at the moment). I also can't recall at the moment where the pattern paper came from. Hmmmm....

So, enough chit-chat about memory loss....here's the card.

You can see that there's not a lot of room to write because of the window and the pattern paper. I suppose I could've omitted the pattern paper or used a lighter print, but I really didn't want the recipient to be able to see the message(s) through the window. The solution to that dilemma was to make a tri-fold. I didn't take pics of the card completely opened but the floral panel opens up to reveal blank pages ideal for signatures and personalized messages to the recipient. To create this fold I basically made another card base and simply glued them together.

The yellow paper was more of a happy accident to cover up a bad stamp job. I don't use yellow much but I think it totally works in this case. You can see the floral paper through the window. Love it!

And here's a close up of the inside...

There's some acetate in between the window frames. I actually cut out the center piece from the bottom of the window; originally it was a 4 pane window but you couldn't see all of the cats' faces so I cut out that center piece and it looks neat-O.

The banner was created using that same Hero Arts stamp and cut set I used to create the greeting in the front. This stamp set actually comes with a couple of dies; a fishtail banner and a flag banner. I scored it at Joann's for less than $10. Yay!

Thanks so much for stopping by. Hope you enjoyed the card. If you have questions or comments, please feel free to leave them below.

Have a blessed & crafty day.

Hugs,

Bettina :)

Thank you card sneak peek

Hi again,

Just thought I'd give you a little sneaky peek at a Thank You card I'm working on. This stamp set is super fun; it's from Art Impressions and it's called Purrrthday. I purchased mine here from Simon Says Stamp a while back.

I colored the image following a tutorial by Kristina Werner but I substituted her Copics with my Spectrum Noirs.

I haven't decided yet if I'll be making a shaker card but it will have a window; that's all I know. As soon as it's finished I'll be sure to post pictures. It's almost nearly done.

Thanks for stopping by. Hoping you're enjoying some nice spring weather.

Have a blessed and crafty day.

Hugs,
Bettina :)

Happy Easter and Happy Spring

Hello there,

Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter and a restful Spring break.

I had the chance to make a few cards over the past couple of weeks. Here they are. The top card is an Easter card and a Mother's Day card. I had actually made a second Easter card like the one shown only with floral background paper but I already sent it out to my daughter.

The penguin card is for my youngest daughter's birthday which is coming up soon (sigh)

The Mother's Day card was inspired by this beautiful card made by Debbie Hughes. I actually used my Cricut Country Life cartridge for the vase and a SSS stamp set that came with the May 2014 card kit. The roses and leaves are cut from vellum and the swirls are white embossed in the front but colored with pigment inks in the back. Then I arranged the elements in three different layers; either flat, or one to two thicknesses of foam tape.

The Easter card is just a 3.5"x3.5" square card. I colored a stamp with Spectrum Noir colored pencils and used Gamsol to blend out the colors. For the background I used some Tim Holtz Salty Ocean (I think) distress ink. Then it's just centered on a scalloped circle die cut and a simple bow for embellishment. Kept it fairly simple. :)

Finally, the birthday card was inspired by this card, which I found on Pinterest. To create the background I applied some white pigment ink onto purple cardstock using a stencil I had. Then I used my Cricut Create a Critter cartridge to cut out some balloons, but I also used an egg die to cut out oval shaped balloons. I didn't like how "flat" the balloons looked so I distressed the edges of each with similar colored distress inks. I created the penguin entirely with the oval egg die which I cut from black and white cardstock and then used my version of punch art but used the die instead. The feet are upside down hearts punched from yellow cardstock. For some fun I gave him googly eyes and a fun hat. I think she'll like the card; I enjoyed making it.

So, those are my card shares for today. Thanks ever so much for stopping by.

Hope to be back soon.

Have a blessed & crafty day!

Hugs,

Bettina :)