This week at Mami Doodles we are creating cards for the beach. I just returned from a marvelous trip that included two days at the beach doing nothing...well, by nothing, I mean not working ;) For this challenge, I decided to showcase an older Mami digi that is perfect for this week's theme.
Stamps: (Lil Alex with Bucket) Mami Doodles
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Vintage Cream) Papertrey Ink; (Heat Wave) American Crafts
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Point 88 Pens) Stabilo
An easy peasy card - just some coloring a little bit of pattern paper and a bit of self-made sand. I cut the star fishes out from the Heat Wave paper collection. Doesn't it just fit? Here an up-close look on Alex, who was easy to color!
Go check out the rest of the DT's inspiration to feel the summery heat and I hope you'll come play along. After all the summer days are limited, and before you know it you'll be crafting christmas...! If you need a free digi, hop on to Wendy's blog. She has some cute flip flops that would fit this theme. Don't forget to link back to her blog and give her kudos!
Note: If you are looking for DYSU challenge - please keep scrolling :)
Are you ready for this week's PaperPlay Challenge theme? Then come and create something Fruity. This theme is perfect for this time of the year. Our strawberry picking season ended about two weeks ago; we're in the middle of our raspberries and next week blueberries are available. It's so exciting how just a few miles in any direction from my house either a farmer's stand, a farm for pick-your-own, or a local fresh produce section in my grocery stores offer the local good stuff! Do you go fruit & vegetable picking?
Stamps: (Punny Fruit & Vegetables) Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps; (Frame-It) Waltzingmouse Stamps
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - White, Ripe Avocado) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger
Embellishments: (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor; (Glossy Accents) Ranger
I masked the the pair of pears to make them sit together. A quick frame and a nice rich avocado card stock to bring it all together. Quick & easy...!
Since a little bit of shine can never hurt fruit, I added a layer of glossy accents! So come play along this week and beet out the competition. *har har*
Our sponsors this week:
How do you like our little release party so far? Do you have your shopping list already made up? If so, I wanna hear which sets you're getting!
Today's preview at The Craft's Meow July Release is a large sheet that will give anyone an excuse to create cards. The sentiments on this set are sweet and dear that you can send to a mom, a friend, a sister, a co-worker, a teacher, a kid...you get my point ;) It's a Michelle Bertuzzi stamp set called Baggin' Some Rays and its release can't be timed any better - perfect to celebrate our summer season.
In fact, when I saw this stamp set, I already knew what I wanted to do. I just had to go sit down and make this card...read on to hear how this sweet, simple card turned out to be the card full of nightmares!
Stamps: (Nina B Designs - Baggin' Some Rays) The Craft's Meow
Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - White) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Raspberry Fizz, Orange Zest, Hawaiian Shores) Papertrey Ink; (Memento - Tuxedo Black) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (#742 - Light Tangerine Thread; #3806 - Light Cyclamen Pink; #926 - Medium Gray Green) DMC; (Nestabilities - Small Classic Circles) Spellbinders
WARNING: This is a CAC card. Clean And Complicated card, not very CAS. I really enjoyed making it until I realized how much work this was. Here are the steps:
- Stamped the center of the sun onto a scrap paper; cut it out
- Stamped center of the sun onto the white card stock with Versamark after measuring out the spacing
- Lined up scrap paper center with stamped Versamark center
- Placed plastic cross-stitching canvas over the circle and paper pierced a grid onto my white card stock
- Rinse & Repeat last two steps for the other two centers ;)
- Grab floss and start cross stitching each center
- Cross-stitch some more
- Cross-stitch yet some more
- Take a nap
- Cross-stitch
- Go to work
- Cross-stitch; get fed up; stamp the rays and cut out; die cut centers out
And because this card was made with lots of love, blood and sweat, here is an up-close look.
I was kidding on the blood, but I did prick myself a few times, cause card stock is stubborn! Here a few things to keep in mind:
- I had a small grid and used two strands of floss. The small grid gives good coverage (no white card stock showing). The larger the grid, the harder to cover the white space, unless you add more floss, but card stock buckles and tears.
- Card stock is no Aida cloth. The more the card stock gets stabbed and pierced, it loses stability and integrity. I could feel how the centers got very soft after I reached the half way point. Kinda like paper that has been set out in damp weather...
- The smaller the grid, the more time-consuming. Really ;) Take your time estimate and triple or quadruple your time. A friend asked how long it took to create the centers and I thought was about 45min. I was cross-stitching while listening to Bones in the background. Four episodes in, I was still stitching on the same center - and each episode is about 43min. 'Nuff said.
- I'm usually not such a snail when cross-stitching, but cross-stiching on paper is naturally slower - no tugging, no pulling fast, holes aren't pierced perfectly...
- And it goes without saying that one should make all the x's go in the same direction. It gives it that clean, uniform look...*smile*
So I hope this blog post was informative. It's my Lessons Learned that I wanted to put into a blog post to remind me not to underestimate the time needed to execute some ideas.
But onward to fun things - if you would like to win this fun stamp set, get your summer spirit on and leave a little love on each of the DT's blogs. You never know from whose blog we'll draw a lucky winner. You'll have until 10:00 pm Pacific tonight / 1:00 am Eastern tomorrow to make the rounds and leave comments.
You'll want to see how each Design Team member interprets summer...! What things are you looking forward to this summer?
First off, *Thank You* to each of you for all your sweet comments. They really made my day and it's always nice to hear what elements on the cards catch each person's eye. Secondly, did you like Life is a Carnival? You know you wanna get it... ;)
Today's preview at The Craft's Meow July Release is a small stamp set that will give you lots of bang for your buck. I love banners; I love alphabets & fonts - so this one is a good set to have in your stash. It's another Nina B Designs stamp set called It's a Banner Day. So let's get a our party hats out and celebrate, right?
Stamps: (Nina B Designs - It's a Banner Day) The Craft's Meow
Paper: Paper Basics Card Stock - White, Sweet Blush) Papertrey Ink
Ink: (Perfect Match Pigment Ink - Fresh Snow) Papertrey Ink; (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar; Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Antique Linen, Spun Sugar) Ranger; (Brilliance - Pearlescent Beige) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (White Thread) Gütermann; (Rustic Cream Twine) Papertrey Ink
Major confession time: When I saw this stamp set I was excited - can't have enough banners. But I was clueless how to showcase this set. A banner strung across with some pattern paper is a tad too straightforward. I wanted to do more for this little guy, you know? That's when it hit me...
Create a fun background using the letters. White ink on pink is always great. I love the soft, sweet color. Add some zig-zag stitching around the card and I had a great base. At this point I was stuck again...what next? So I took out some Antique Linen to distress the edge without a real reason. Hey - I do my best thinking when procrastinating some ;)
Four-piece banner made me think of four letter words - totally irrational because you can cut them apart, which I eventually did ;) But yes, with many friends being preggers, the phrase "Baby Girl" just popped into my head. I stamped the banner frames in Pearlescent Beige, added the letters and cut each banner out. Distressed the edges with some matching pink ink and strung them together with twine. Time to go hanging the banners up...:)
So if you would like to win this wee little darling stamp, get your party spirit on and leave a little love on the DT's blogs. You never know from whose blog we'll draw a lucky winner. You'll have until 10:00 pm Pacific tonight / 1:00 am Eastern tomorrow to make the rounds and leave comments.
You'll want to see how each Design Team member celebrates...!
[2011.06.30] I'd like to enter this card into The Stamp It! Cards Week Challenge. Go check out the challenge description :)
Were you blown away by the preview of Lovely Birds yesterday? It is a very sweet set and I can't believe what the other girls have created. So blown away! Well, our four day previews for The Craft's Meow July Release continues today with one of my favorite sets! Today we are highlighting a Nina B Designs stamps set called Life is a Carnival (Oh, this is so true!). So hop on in, and we'll take you on a ride...
This stamp set has three huge gorgeous rides, a few fun fair items that any kid or adult enjoys and some awesome sentiments to fit any celebratory or fun occasion. I think this unique stamp set will be one of my favorite go-to-stamps.
Stamps: (Nina B Designs - Life is a Carnival) The Craft's Meow
Paper: (Preppie Pack) Bazzill Basics Paper; (Curtain Call Borders) Graphic 45;
Ink: (Memento - Tuxedo Black; Versamark) Tsukineko; (Tim Holtz Distress Ink - Antique Linen) Ranger
Embellishments: (Embossing Powder - Ebony) Martha Stewart; (Baker's Twine - Chocolate) Papertrey Ink; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor (Kraft Mini Ticket Strips) Maya Road; (Metals Stickers - Silver Metal) Mark Richards
I decided to highlight this Carnival stamp set by creating my own background with the ticket stamp and some Antique Linen ink. I fell in love with the carousel and wanted it to stand out. Two steps later, the carousel was heat embossed and cut out. Does it not look divine?
I also had some yummy Graphic 45 Curtain Call in my stash, purchased a while back from The Craft's Meow Store *grin* I used Maya Road Mini Tickets to create a nice visual line to anchor my carousel at an angle, and pulled out the Curtain Call borders to stamp on my sentiment. I love the little details in this sentiment...can you see the little rivets around the center height of the fonts?
Three lucky winners can take take this darling stamp set home for free. All you have to do is comment on each designer's blog. You never know from whose blog we'll draw a lucky winner. You'll have until 10:00 pm Pacific tonight / 1:00 am Eastern tomorrow to make the rounds and leave comments.You'll want to see how each Design Team member's life is like a carnival...!
Have you been seeing the cute previews on The Craft's Meow store blog? I know that you've been dying to see what's up and this month I have the honor of guest designing for Lisa and the Craft's Meow. So, welcome to Day One of the previews. Today we are highlighting a Nina B Designs stamps set called Lovely Birds.
This stamp set has a variety of *eight* cute little birds and three amazing scenes to place these birds with. Two sentiments to make this a great everyday set! Shall we go see?
Stamps: (Nina B Designs - Lovely Birds) The Craft's Meow
Paper: (Paper Basics Card Stock - Kraft) Papertrey Ink; (Basic Card Stock - White) Recollections
Ink: (Jenni Bowlin - No. 11 Brown Sugar) Ranger; (Brilliance - Pearlescent Beige) Tsukineko
Embellishments: (Impression Plate - Woodgrain; Rustic Cream Button Twine) Papertrey Ink; (Soft-core Color Pencils) Prismacolor;
I knew immediately that I wanted to play with the little patch of flowers and little bird house. After coloring it, I wanted to pop it onto a little rustic wood. Isn't it adorable?
So, how badly do you want to win this stamp set? *wink wink* Three lucky winners can win this one by commenting on the designer's blog. You'll have until 10:00 pm Pacific tonight / 1:00 am Eastern tomorrow to make the rounds and leave comments.
And you don't want to the amazing work by this Design Team...!
