Fly Away With Me

It was my daughter's birthday yesterday and this is the card I made for her.

I chose this cute Gorjuss stamp called  Fly Away With Me  to use as she really loves these girls. 

It is one of their small stamps and so was very quick to colour with my Copics and I used her favourite colours too :)

I created a galaxy background using Distress inks, paint splashes and a few die-cut stars.

I fussy cut the girl out and used foam tape to give her more dimension on the card.

I also used a simple Happy Birthday sentiment from the Up In the Air set by MFT.

Copics used :

E 000, 00, 13, 21, 33, 35, 39

W 00, 1

R 20, 22

YG 01, 13

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges ;

Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Bright, cheerful colours

Dare 2B Artsy - Bright colours

Stamping Sensations - fantasy and magical

My daughter really loved her Birthday card!  YAY!! :)

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Floral Birds

I have a card for Anna's Craft Cupboard to share today.

I used this beautiful bird from the American Crafts, All the Good Things collection by Vicki Boutin.  The stamp set is called Floral Birds.

It was fun dreaming up colours this bird could be, but I went with my favourite combo of blues, aquas and purples :)

For the sentiment, I used the MFT Love You Die again.  There are just so many ways to use it!

I decided to die cut it from white card and then cut it out to just use the "You".

I left it like a stencil so that you can see the watercolour background through the negative space.

I white embossed a sentiment from the Up in the Air set by MFT, masking off the "you" and glued them together onto the card.

I decided to create a background for the bird by smooshing some Tim Holtz Distress Inks with water onto watercolour paper.  

I used Salty Ocean, Tumbled Glass and Broken China.

I also added some jewels from the Jillibean Soup Watercolour with Shapes Shaker Card Sequin Pack.

These are very pretty and were just the perfect colour to work with the rest of the card and give it a little something special.

I'd like to enter my card in the following challenges :

Fashionable Stamping - One for the girls
Southern Girls - Nature
Word Art Wednesday - sentiment
The Cat's Pajamas - Animals


Thanks for dropping by today :)
Kathy

New Best Friend

I was lucky enough to get a fabulous stamp set from Anna's Craft Cupboard to play with :)
It's by My Favorite Things and is called New Best Friend .

I had lots of fun colouring it and I took my inspiration from the current Colour Challenge at Anna's.
The challenge uses gorgeous shades of blue and green contrasted by grey, black and white.
It was a combination I couldn't resist!
So I coloured the girl and dog using Copics in similar shades and found some papers to match too :)

All the papers I used are from the Vintage Girl Tiny Prints Collection by Photoplay.
This is a fabulous collection!  I can honestly say that I love every single sheet (both back and front)!
And that never happens!

It is 12" paper but the designs are on a smaller scale, so the paper works equally well for card making and scrapping.

I edged all the papers and card with Black Soot Distress Ink and white embossed the fun sentiment from the set onto black card.
The little banner is from the MFT Up In The Air set. I just stamped it onto the same green paper as the background and fussy cut it.
I also stamped a little paw print  from the New Best Friend set in the bottom right corner.

I love this stamp, it is just so sweet!
There is also a cute girl holding a cat in the set that I can't wait to use :)

The colour challenge at Anna's is a great one!
I hope you can play along with us :)



More information about the challenge can be found here.

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

MFT Blueprints 5 - Tag Builder Die-namics tags

I have another post for Anna's Craft Cupboard today featuring the fabulous Blueprints 5 -  Tag Builder Die-namics by My Favorite Things.

There are so many wonderful elements included in this die that I thought I would make a few tags to showcase some of them.

This Tag Builder Die-namic includes a solid tag with a stitched edge that you could use on it's own but I have used it for the back of all of these tags.
It also includes two other tags.  One has a rectangular window with stitching around that (bunny and hippo tag) and the other has a square window with a smaller rectangular opening below it. (house tag)
They also have an opening for string or ribbon to go through and two different types of reinforcements for this.

One of the greatest things about this tag die, in my opinion, are the different ways you can die-cut your sentiments.  You get the fishtail label (bunny), the banner (hippo), the rectangle piece in the square window die (house) and there is a larger fishtail flag too.  They only fit smaller sentiments but there are usually a couple of these in most MFT stamp sets.

There are many other fun parts to this die too such as little hugs and kisses and hearts.
And even the left over parts from "windows" being cut out have stitching around their edges too, so you get lots of useful extras to use on something else :)

I decided to try making a shaker tag from the two window tag.
I've never made one before and I was really happy with how it turned out :)

This is how I made my shaker tag if you'd like to give it a try :)

• I used the solid tag to cut an acetate piece for the shaker front and a back from white card.
• I used the tag with the 2 windows to cut a front from purple card.  I also used it to cut some foam leaving the lower rectangle window in place. Because the sides of the tag are so tiny I thought I would try this instead of using foam mounting tape.  I had never done this before and it was SO much quicker and easier :)  I just used the die to cut it and then glued it to the back tag piece.
• I used the heart confetti die from this set to cut out some hearts in pink and purple and put them inside the shaker window.
• I glued the acetate sheet on top of the foam piece and then glued the purple piece on top of this.
• I cut another of the 2 window tags from white card and stamped the "Be Happy" from the MFT Happy Hippos stamp onto the rectangle window piece. I glued this in place over the foam in the bottom window.
• I stamped the house and heart banner from the MFT Up In The Air set, coloured them with Copics and cut them out. I used glue and glue dots to adhere to tag.
• The birds from the MFT Happy Hippos set were coloured with Copics, cut out and adhered.

I think this might make a nice tag for a new home or housewarming gift or maybe even for a wedding or engagement?

Trumpet Bunny Tag 

Ingredients :

Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes paper

MFT Strike Up The Band  (for bunny and sentiment stamp)

MFT Up In The Air (cloud stamp)

white card

On this tag I tried using paper for the top layer rather than cardstock. 

I used the solid tag die to cut a white cardstock back and the light blue paper from the Watercolor Wishes pad and the rectangle window tag die to cut the dark blue paper from the same pad.

It ended up being a lighter tag, but it is still sturdy enough and the papers look beautiful together.

Hippo Tag

Ingredients :

Doodlebug Spring Things Paper

MFT Happy Hippos ( for hippo, hat and sentiment)

white and pink card

I really love the banner die! I have wanted one for a long time, I think they look fantastic. 

I curved the sentiment stamp slightly and stamped it onto white card and then used the die to cut it out.  Then I folded the banner along fold lines and glued them down so that it was fairly flat. You could leave it though if you wanted to and then the banner would have more height.

Making these tags has been so much fun!!!

They are a great way to use up all those little bits of card and paper you have saved.

And they're a great way to use those extra stamps you've coloured and then done nothing with too.

When I was making my hippo cards last month I had coloured this hippo and the birds I used on the house tag and cut them out but then decided not to use them.  I actually just put them in the plastic sleeve the stamps come in for safe keeping and they were there ready and waiting to be used :)

I LOVE the Blueprints 5 Tag Builder Die-namics.  It's perfect!

I can't wait to make some more for Christmas presents :)

Thanks for dropping by today :)

Kathy

Up in the Air Dog

I’m back to share another MFT card for Anna's Craft Cupboard. 

I’ve used the Up In The Air set again but this time I have the dog in the balloon J

And I have used the same sunrays (AKA Sunburst or Starburst) technique as I used on my last card but with a few differences.

This time I chose a focal point that’s towards the centre of the card and the rays radiate all around it.

So I cut the paper into 4”x 1” rectangles this time and then cut them into triangles. So they are smaller, but I needed more of them.

There are 24 triangles on my card.

I inked around the edges of them with Antique Linen Distress Ink and glued the triangles onto a brown cardstock this time.  This was cut to 4 1/8” x 6” and I used a Kaisercraft C6 White Card for the base.

All papers are from the Bloom and Grow collection by Simple Stories.  And they are SO beautiful!

I decided to put the balloon and dog on a tag in the centre of the rays.

I stamped onto white card and coloured just the basket and cut the entire image out.  Then I stamped the balloon part of the stamp again onto patterned paper and cut it out and glued it on top. 

Paper piecing the balloon like this made it much quicker and easier than colouring it.  I could have also cut out each balloon segment in a different colour but I just thought that might be a bit too much on this card. 

I glued it to the tag and then adhered the dog on top. And because I was putting this onto a white base, I didn’t have to bother with the trickier cutting of the balloon that I did on my previous card.

I lightly sponged around the tag with the distress ink and stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment which is also from the Up In The Air set.

I hope you’ve liked seeing this technique and that you’ll give it a try too.

Kathy

Up in the air

I have another card and tutorial for Anna's Craft Cupboard today.

And I’m showcasing another fabulous stamp set from My Favorite Things (MFT) .

I got the chance to play with Up In The Air this month and it is so much fun to use.

There are just SO many possibilities with this set!  The sky is the limit! :) (ha ha)

I was also lucky enough to get the MFT Die-Namics Die - Spring Scene Builder to use and it is wonderful too :)

So I wanted to use these two together and create an interesting sky for the balloon to float around in.

I decided to create a sun ray background with patterned papers (AKA the Sunburst or Starburst technique).  

Here is how I created my card so that you can try it out for yourself :)

This technique can be wonderful for using up scraps of patterned paper you have in your stash.  You can use all different lengths, widths and designs and make them work.  But I actually cut mine from 2 new sheets of paper and cut them all the same size :)

When using this technique you need to firstly decide where you want the “rays” to radiate from.  I decided to put my sun in the top right hand corner of the card, so all the points of my rays start there.

I also decided to leave a space between my rays, but you can vary the look of the background by butting them together instead.

I used Spring-a-ling and Butterfly Net from the Spring Things  collection by Doodlebug Designs to make the rays.

·        I used a Kaisercraft C6 White Card for the base.

·        I cut a piece of white card 4”x 5 7/8”. This is the piece you will glue the rays to.

·        Then I cut 5 rectangles from patterned paper 1”x 6”.

(I cut 2 rectangles from one colour and 3 from another).

·        Then cut them in half diagonally.

·        I glued 1 ray along one edge, making sure the point of it was in the top corner of the card.

·        Then I glued a second ray along the other side.

·        I glued the other rays between these two, leaving a little space. They may overlap a little at the points or not be perfect but this is fine as it will be covered over.

·

·      Turn the card over and carefully trim away the excess paper.  I found this easier to do by hand, but you can use a paper trimmer.

You will notice some pieces are not quite long enough.  That is okay because I am putting some grass on the bottom of the card.

·        I cut the sun and clouds with the MFT Die-Namics Die - Spring Scene Builder.  I added some ink to the sun and glued it over the top of the sun rays at the right corner of the card.

                                       

·        I white embossed the cute sentiment from the Up In The Air set onto a piece of American Crafts – Key Lime Card. I used the hill piece from the die to cut it out and trimmed it down to fit.  Then I inked the edge of it and attached it to the bottom of the card.

·       There are trees with the die too, but I decided to colour the trees from the stamp set and cut them out and attached them to the hill.

I didn’t get the matching outline die with this stamp so I thought I would show you how I cut out the balloon too. (I guess this is just for people like me who don’t like to cut images out with a knife.)

Maybe you noticed something a bit wrong with this photo? Were you wondering why a dog has suddenly appeared?

Well I had my card all laid out just how I wanted it ready to be glued down when my daughter came in.  So I asked her what she thought of the card and she said “I really love it but there is one thing that would have made it perfect”. 

So I had to ask …. “What?”  And she said ……         

“The CAT”!

So I just had to colour up the cat and swap that puppy out of there so that my card would be perfect! :)

The dog is very cute too though and I will be back here on the blog later this week to show you how I used him on another card.  I hope you’ll come back to see. :) And in the meantime, please check out all the wonderful MFT goodies at Anna’s Craft Cupboard.

Kathy