Less is More & CCC14

Hi I know it is still January but I am working on my 2014 Christmas cards and trying to keep on top of my CCC commitment this year.  For February the challenge is to avoid the Christmas colours - Red, Green and Blue so I went with the regal combination of purple and gold for this card which I am entering in the Less is More Sketch challenge.  The stamps used are from Verve and this is the base sketch.

 

 

MFTWSC161 - Pose!

Took down my box of MFT stamps and pulled out this image for a card I need for an upcoming birthday.  I used the latest sketch MFTWSC161

I used some wrapping paper on the background - one piece embossed and the other mounted on some mirror card.  The piece on the mirror card is just secured with a brad so could be removed and used as a bookmark.  The circular piece was cut with a Spellbinders die and the corner piece with a Cuttlebug die.  The image was stamped with Memento ink and coloured with Copics.  It was cut using a Spellbinders die - one I got for Christmas!

Thank you for looking and hope your week is going well despite the weather.

FOSTV109 - Dry Embossing

For this week's challenge I did something I hadn't done for a while - I pulled out my brass stencils and chose a flower stencil to emboss. I nearly pulled down my light box but I went for the lazy method by running it through my Grand Calibur and then going over with the stylus.  I used Pan Pastels to add the colour.  I also used my die cutting machine to emboss the left border which was a scrap from my tray and to cut and emboss my sentiment.  The right edge was punched.  The Marks Finest Papers set is on my Mother's Day Sentiment and uses the set called Mother's Magnolias. 

A look at the detail

Mothering Sunday, or Mother's Day, is traditionally a day to visit your mother church. It is now an occasion to bring gifts to your own Mother and it is celebrated three weeks before Easter.  This year it falls on March 30th.

Please join in our dry embossing challenge over at FOSTV this week.  Thank you for visiting.

Seize the Moment

I made this card using some Darkroom Door stamps I have had in my collection for a while.  Having stamped the image and the sentiment I was stuck for a sketch.  Couldn't find one I thought would work and I knew I didn't want to cover up the image so this is the simple layout I came up with.  I am entering it in the Word Art Wednesday challenge.

Hope you are having a good weekend.

Frog in my Boxers

This image from High Hopes always makes me laugh and hopefully will bring a smile to the recipients face too.

I used the challenges from Verve and High Hopes for this card.  High Hopes challenge 202 is to use a little green and the VLVJan week 4 sketch looks like this

Sorry I have been so quiet this week but thanks for dropping by and checking this out

FOSTV108 - Easel Cards

I tried to make a shaped Easel Card and wanted one for Easter so went with an Easter egg shape.  My card is a little bit smaller than I originally planned but I used my Spellbinders dies and this was the biggest one.  The blue layer had to be cut freehand.  I have used the sets called Daffodil Greetings and Spring Things and coloured with pencils.

Any type of Easel Card is this week's challenge and my colleagues on the team have made some great cards.  You can check out the challenge and their cards on the MFP FOSTV page here.

There is another stamp set up for grabs this week and it is called Snowball Mini and looks like this

Please come and join us.

Walk on a Sunny Day

I wanted to make a card for the High Hopes challenge as today was the first sunny day in some time. I walked my Mum's dog Tess without getting wet which was wonderful.  She still got muddy as the grass is really sodden but it was nice to be able to walk around and stop and look without rain dripping down your neck!

My card uses summery colours despite the fact it is only January and lots of butterflies. The image is from High Hopes and the sentiment is an old one from MFP.  The lace circle die is from Cheery Lynn and the butterflies are punched with a Martha Stewart punch.  I have also used corner punches, a Spellbinders die, an embossing folder and lots of tiny gems on the butterfly bodies.

I have combined a few challenges here
Viva La Verve Week 3 sketch
High Hopes - On A Sunny Day
Ribbon Carousel - Love, Birthday's and Chicken Soup
Word Art Wednesday - Anything Goes
Divas by Design - Use Ribbons

MFP January Blog Hop Week 2 - Yikes a Mouse - Jan16th

WELCOME BACK!!!


January Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 

 Featured Jan. 14

Swans

Featured Jan 15

Umbrellas and Fans

 Featured Jan 16

Yikes a Mouse

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All three winners will be announced on Jan. 18,2014 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for 
commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday Jan. 17, 2014

I have a simple belated Birthday Card made with today's set which I have already had to use.  Why do Birthday's early in the year catch me out?

 

 

 

Here's the Design Team for this week's hop:

Patty

 Jane C

 Thrfity Stamper

Marilynn

 Bonnie 

Cathy C  

Sue W

An'Jenic

  Amy

Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

Come on back next month for our 6 day blog hop.

MFP January Blog Hop Week 2 - Umbrellas and Fans - Jan 15th

WELCOME BACK!!!


January Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 

 Featured Jan. 14

Swans

Featured Jan 15

Umbrellas and Fans

 Featured Jan 16

Yikes a Mouse

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All three winners will be announced on Jan. 18,2014 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for 
commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday Jan. 17, 2014

 

I participated in last week's hop but you will also find my cards at the end of today's hop.  Please visit all the blogs in the list below.

Using Asian Delights as well - this card uses cranberry embossing powder and shades of pink ink

Using Be Virtuous as well.  The fan was masked so I could stamp the leaves and sponge through the stencil to make the background.  The sentiment is cut with a Spellbinders die.

Here's the Design Team for this week's hop:

Patty

 Jane C

 Thrfity Stamper

Marilynn

 Bonnie 

Cathy C  

Sue W

An'Jenic

  Amy

Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

Come on back tomorrow for more creativity.

MFP January Blog Hop Week 2 - Swans - Jan 14th

WELCOME BACK!!!

January Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 

 Featured Jan. 14

Swans

Featured Jan 15

Umbrellas and Fans

 Featured Jan 16

Yikes a Mouse

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All three winners will be announced on Jan. 18,2014 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for 
commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday Jan. 17, 2014

Here's the Design Team for this week's hop:

Patty

 Jane C

 Thrfity Stamper

Marilynn

 Bonnie 

Cathy C  

Sue W

An'Jenic

  Amy

Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

Come on back tomorrow for more creativity.

FOSTV107 - Black and White

Where has the day gone - well fighting with my printer after upgrading to Windows 8.1, preparing loads of questions and answers on perimeter, area and volume and then finding my student needed help with a completely different topic - all good fun!  Sorry this post is late though.

This week over at FOSTV we are making projects in black and white - we all did cards this week but you can make anything fitting the theme as long as it is something new and you only enter it for one Marks Finest Papers challenge.

My card has an oriental flavour but I have not designated it for any particular occasion - sometimes when I don't have a recipient in mind I prefer to leave them this way.

 

The flowers have been spritzed with a glimmer spray so look far prettier in real life and the white piece stamped with the umbrellas and fans was also embossed.  The Asian ladies are from the set called Asian Delights and the umbrellas and fans are from a new set called Umbrellas and Fans.

 

Please join us in this challenge; we would love to see what you create.  Hope you have a good week.

Ice Cream Kiddie

Hello hope you are drying out and warming up.  If you are feeling chilly think of summer and then this card might fit! 
The High Hopes 200th challenge is to use your favourite stamp - too tough!  This is certainly one of my favourites and I have paired it with the Mojo Monday sketch (Mojo327) to come up with this card.  The hearts and papers are chosen to remind of ice-cream.  The main image is from High Hopes and the sentiment and hearts are from Verve.

Thank you for visiting and leave me some love.

CCC14 - January

I don't know what the people in the Sutton shops thought of me today when I popped in to sort a few things, because there were specs of glitter all over my face.  I washed and brushed at them but all I seemed to do was move them from one place to another.  These 10 Christmas cards - my January set for CCC14 are the reason why. 
The theme is Peace and seeing a dog and cat so content together knowing how Mum's dog races after every cat is a great example of peace to me. 
I kept them to one layer so I am also entering them in the One Layer Simplicity challenge and Word Art Wednesday.

Thanks for looking and I hope the golden glow from my cards makes some of you suffering in the cold feel a little warmer.

MFP January Blog Hop - Out and About - Jan 9th

You have already seen some very creative ideas using the 3 new Paper Doll stamp sets during the Paper Doll Madness preview right here on the MFP a HC Blog and on Speedy TV. We continue with them for the first 3 days of the January Preview Hop.  Remember with our new format half of the design team will have photos of projects in this write up. The other half will have projects on their blogs. You must hop (list at bottom of post) and leave a message on each participating blog for a chance to win one of the new Paper Doll sets. Let's get started. 

  Preview Week Jan. 7, 8 & 9
Blog Hop Jan. 14, 15 & 16

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 

 Featured Jan. 7

Paper Doll

Featured Jan. 8

Formal Wear

Featured Jan. 9

Out and About

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the following blogs (don't forget this one), each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All three winners will be announced on Jan. 18, 2014 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 10 PM EST on Friday Jan. 17, 2014.

These are my out and about outfits for 4 of my dolls.

I originally wanted to pack my dolls and clothes into a box decorated to be a suitcase but in the end I opted for cheap folders in the sale rather than expensive boxes that then needed quite a lot more work to make them how I wanted.

 

ENJOY THE HOP

Here's the Design Team:

 

Lois

Kelli Jo
Pat G

Karen 

 Kathy

Toni

Janine

Shirley Q

Gail

Vickie
 

Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

Be sure to check back  Jan. 14,15 & 16 for the 

continuation of our Blog Hop. We will be introducing 

the other 3 new Stamp Sets for January.