MFP July Blog Hop day 4 - Presents

July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured July 9th
Lotus Blossoms

Featured July 10th
Shello

Featured July 11th 
Be Virtuous
 

Featured July 12th

Presents

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 four winners will be announced on July 13, 2013 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 11PM EST on Friday July 12, 2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

"Dino News"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Dragonflies"
                                                      

Here's the Design Team:
Patty
Lois
Jane C
Debbie
Pam
Pat G
Thrifty Stamper
Marilynn
Karen K
Bonnie
Kathy
Angela
Cathy C
Toni
Sue W
Janine
An'Jenic
Kate Z
Shirley Q
Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

This card was way out of my comfort zone. I decided not to color at all but to paper piece the present. I doodled and stamped the birthday sentiment to make the background. Not my usual style. I had a picture in my mind of a project I wanted to do, but I am still figuring out how to do it. I wanted to cut the top of the box and have a hidden panel that when you lifted the lid you could read the sentiment. If I ever figure out how to do that, I will share that card at that time.

MFP July Blog Hop Day 3 -Be Virtuous

July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured July 9th
Lotus Blossoms

Featured July 10th
Shello

Featured July 11th 
Be Virtuous
 

Featured July 12th

Presents

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 four winners will be announced on July 13, 2013 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 11PM EST on Friday July 12, 2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

"Dino News"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Dragonflies"
                                                      

Here's the Design Team:
Patty
Lois
Jane C
Debbie
Pam
Pat G
Thrifty Stamper
Marilynn
Karen K
Bonnie
Kathy
Angela
Cathy C
Toni
Sue W
Janine
An'Jenic
Kate Z
Shirley Q
Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

I used tea to paint behind the leaves of the bamboo. The long skinny panel on the left was a smooshed weed. I thought it looked really neat with these oriental images.If you don't know what I'm talking about when I say a smooshed the weed. I took a weed from my yard. I put it between 2 pieces of white cardstock and smooshed it as I ran it through my cuttlebug.

MFP July Blog Hop Day 2 - SHELLO

Before we get to today's hop, here is the answer to my question yesterday.

 What is the difference between a water lily and a lotus blossom?

Answer: a water lily floats directly on the surface of the water. A lotus blossom has a stem that raises the leaves and blossoms out of the water.

  "The lotus is a plant that grows out of the slimy mud- the still, putrid water – to produce the most beautiful flower. It’s compared with life; that whatever your life circumstances, it’s possible for the most pure and beautiful thing to rise.”  Geoff Cochrane

July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured July 9th
Lotus Blossoms

Featured July 10th
Shello

Featured July 11th 
Be Virtuous
 

Featured July 12th

Presents

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 four winners will be announced on July 13, 2013 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 11PM EST on Friday July 12, 2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

"Dino News"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Dragonflies"
                                                      

Here's the Design Team:
Patty
Lois
Jane C
Debbie
Pam
Pat G
Thrifty Stamper
Marilynn
Karen K
Bonnie
Kathy
Angela
Cathy C
Toni
Sue W
Janine
An'Jenic
Kate Z
Shirley Q
Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.



What I like most about the set we are showcasing today is that it is so much fun to color.
When ever I start coloring an image I like to look at images on-line to give me inspiration. I got inspiration for coloring my sea turtle HERE. 
 Now everyone knows that you need expensive markers, or colored pencils to color images. Right?
No!
I like to use cheap crayola water color paint.  I think I spent $4.00 for this box at Walmart around Christmas. I plan to get more when Walmart has the back to school specials. I bet you can get some for very little money then.

On the lid of my box, I just mix the colors until I get a variety of colors to work with. For my sea turtle, I mixed orange/brown, green/brown, black/brown and red/brown and pink/brown.

I started with my black/brown mix. I didn't color the shell all the way in so that there would be shading.
I painted the edges and then wiped the excess paint off of the brush unto a scratch piece of paper. Then with a mostly clean brush I pulled the color from the edge to fill in the shell.

 Here is a video showing a little of my painting. It isn't the best video, because it was hard to video and paint at the same time, but I think it will give you an idea of what I was doing.

 

Here is how my turtle looked all colored.

I then fussy cut him out to put him on my card.

Here is how my card turned out.
I used the get well sentiment from Mark's Finest Papers set called

Birds and Trees

and I used the praying for you sentiment from Mark's Finest Papers set called

Hum Along

I made this  easel card for my friend Steve who had surgery. Praying that he heals quickly.

MFP July Blog Hop day 1 -Lotus Blossoms

July Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured July 9th
Lotus Blossoms

Featured July 10th
Shello
 

Featured July 11th 
Be Virtuous
 

Featured July 12th

Presents

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 four winners will be announced on July 13, 2013 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 11PM EST on Friday July 12, 2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

"Dino News"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Dragonflies"
                                                      

Here's the Design Team:

Patty
Lois
Jane C
Pat G
Debbie
Kathy
Angela
Thrfity Stamper
Toni
Janine
Sue W
Marilynn
Karen K
Bonnie
Cathy C
Pam
Kate Z
Shirley Q
An'Jenic
Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co.

This set is a lot of fun to work with. The part of the Mississippi river that I live by has a lot of lotus blossoms in late summer. I took this photo of the lotus blossoms last summer with 4 Canadian Geese.

The lotus blossoms that are on the Mississippi River near me are  cream colored lotuses. I decided to be a little wild, I don't know if there are lotus blossoms this color, but I made a card with lavender lotus blossoms. I chose the lavender color to match the rose petal paper I made. I was given a rose by a friend. I waited until the petals started to wilt and even dry out a little. I put the petals in a bowl with water to rehydrate them. Then I randomly placed them on a piece of white cardstock. I covered them with another piece of white cardstock making a rose petal sandwich that I ran through my cuttlebug. I stamped and masked the smaller lotus blossom and then stamped the bigger lotus over it to add some extra dimension.

 Here are two more cards I made using this set.

 

 

Do you know the difference between a lotus blossom and a water lilly? Come back tomorrow and I will tell you.

MIX23 and Mojo300 dragonfly birthday card

 The SCS MIX23 challenge was to use at least 3 different surfaces. The dragonfly was stamped, painted, cut out and I added glitter to make a glittered surface.I used striped textured cardstock, lace, mulberry paper and smooth cardstock for all my surfaces. I did MOJO300 sketch. The dragonfly and sentiment are sneak peeks of MFP sets that will be released next week during the hop.

mojo cards

These are the 2 cards I made this week using mojo300 sketch.

Don't worry- Chicory

There have only been a few times that I have seen a set and knew immediately that it was one I HAD to have. One of those sets was a Layers of Color sets with butterflies. Another time was THIS Our Daily Bread set called DON'T WORRY.  The reason this set appealed so much to me is the little chicory flowers. I love chicory flowers. They are hardy, beautiful and the butterflies and birds love them. I especially love doing the smashed flower technique with them. It creates such pretty papers. I made a lot of smashed flower paper last year but had only a few left, so I was super excited when the chicory flowers started blooming last week. 

These are three cards that I made using the ODB Don't Worry set this week. The top one was for the ODB sketch. It is kind of hard to see the little banner panel. Partly because it was an embossed vellum panel, and partly because I had placed the butterfly kinda close to it before I realized that I had almost covered it up.

 This card I made for my friend Ardy. She spent many, many hours preparing for a rummage sale for boy scouts. I had all the boys sign this card to thank her and my son Joshua who is the senior patrol leader presented it to her at our meeting Monday night..I tea-stained the card to give it a vintage look.

I made this card for the splitcoast sketch challenge. I really like how this card turned out. It is one of my favorites. One of my husband's customers, lost his mother this last week and my husband asked me to make a sympathy card for them.

Mark's Finest Papers Blog Hop Day 4 - Classic Dad

June Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured June 11th
Need a Vacation

Featured June 12th
Fire Fighter

Featured June 13th 
Be Proud
 

Featured June 14th

Classic Dad

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 four winners will be announced on June 15,2013 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 11PM EST on Friday June 14,2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

"You Are an Angel"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Wings"
                                                      

Patty P.

Lois

Jane C 

Debbie 

Pam 

Pat G 

Thrifty Stamper 

MariLynn 

Karen K 

Bonnie 

Kathy B 

Angela B 

Cathy C 

Toni 

Sue W 

Janine B 

An'jenic 

Kate Z 
Shirley Q 

Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co 

I made this card for my Grandpa who is  91 years  young. He was a mechanic and worked on a lot of old cars. When I saw this set it made me think of him. I wanted an embellishment that went along with the car theme. I thought a cross roads sign would but fun. I drew the sign so that the sentiment could fit inside. I wanted to have a map. I printed a generic map off of the computer. I wanted it to look antique so I tea bag dyed the map and sign. I distressed the edges of the map and sewed it to a red piece of cardstock. I only wanted a little bit of the red showing. I added a crumpled paper bag layer and a black cardstock base.

  

Here is a photo of my drawing that you are welcome to use for

your own projects.

I was thinking of a song to share with this card and this is what came to my mind.

Mark's Finest Papers June Blog Hop Day 3 Be Proud

June Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are

 Featured June 11th
Need a Vacation

Featured June 12th
Fire Fighter

Featured June 13th 
Be Proud
 

Featured June 14th

Classic Dad

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 four winners will be announced on June 15,2013 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 11PM EST on Friday June 14,2013.

 The special stamp set we have for you this month is:

"You Are an Angel"

 The mini stamp set we have for you this month is

"Wings"
                                                      

Patty P.

Lois

Jane C 

Debbie 

Pam 

Pat G 

Thrifty Stamper 

MariLynn 

Karen K 

Bonnie 

Kathy B 

Angela B 

Cathy C 

Toni 

Sue W 

Janine B 

An'jenic 

Kate Z 
Shirley Q 

Marks Finest Papers, a Heinrich Co 

 For the background for my card, I took a toothbrush and blue and red water color paint and I splattered it onto white cardstock.

When I stamp on white cardstock and then cut it out, you can see the white edges. This is especially noticeable when I have the image on a dimensional or a paper spring.

 

 By coloring around the edges of the image with a black permanent marker I am able to eliminate
the white edge.

 This is a short video showing how I make paper springs.

  Here is photo showing where I glued two of my paper springs to the back of the bear.

 Here is a side view of the paper springs once I put the bear on the card.

The finished card.