MFT Color Challenge #101

The palette of MFT’s color challenge this week seemed very wintry to me, so I broke out my new “Winter Hills” set, which I had been itching to use ever since I got it for my birthday. I stamped the image in teal ink rather than black to give a frostier feel to the trees and the snow-covered hills, and I used coral shades for the sky to evoke a December sunset. My lighter teal color veered away from the saturation of Summer Splash since I needed something very pale for the shadows giving dimension to the snow, but Copic BG000 fits the category of light aqua. The teal of the roofs is more green than the ink of the outlines, but since the palette is so narrow, the colors harmonize rather than competing—I hope! The red house and barn round out the tetrad, but it’ll be fun to try a less conventional color for them next time.

I applied clear shimmer to all the white spaces within the frame—glimmering snow was just the little something to take the super-simple card up a notch. The shimmer is arresting in person, but no matter how I tried, I couldn’t get the photos to represent it well in its entirety. Whenever the camera did succeed in capturing glitter, it would only catch one area rather than every snowbank. One day, I will manage to photograph glitter properly, but it is not this day.

Supplies
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink “Winter Hills”, “Vintage Picnic Sentiments”
Ink:  Memento Teal Zeal, Love Letter
Copics:  R27, BG000, 0;  Blendabilities Costal Cabana dark, Calypso Coral light, medium, and dark
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, Spectrum Noir clear shimmer pen

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

PTI’s “Create Along With Us” Challenge, September 2018, & MFT Sketch Challenge #402

This month’s Papertrey Ink release was heavily Christmas-themed, but since I’m not yet in the mode of making Christmas cards, I looked for inspiration that I could use for a more generally autumn- or winter-themed card for the Create Along With Us challenge.

What first drew me to Michelle’s card was the color scheme, but the reason I ended up choosing it as my inspiration piece was the background, since I could emulate that with the large pine branch stamp from PTI’s “Winter Woods” set. I love the Ocean Tides ink color, but I haven’t anything like it (I’m going to have to get the cube during PTI’s anniversary sale next spring). The closest I could come to the color was Hero Arts Forever Green, and that’s definitely green, not greyish blue-green. Still, it works well for pine needles. In hindsight, I think perhaps the card would have been more cohesive if I had stamped the wood of the branches in grey rather than brown and if I had chosen lighter colors for the background, but at least the color of the branches is realistic.

Although I have a fox stamp from a Stampin’ Up set, it’s horizontal, so I chose the chickadee from “Winter Woods” since it fit the vertical layout I was following from both Michelle’s card and this week’s MFT sketch challenge. Since the chickadee faces right, I flipped the sketch to accommodate it. The solid pine trees behind the chickadee are from the aforementioned SU set; I fussy-cut them and colored them with an alcohol marker to make the focal point bolder than the background.

For the banner, I smooshed a strip of cardstock against the Field Greens ink pad and let it dry overnight. It was still a bit splotchy when I went to stamp the sentiment, but at least it coordinates! The finished card is busier than I prefer; if I ever have time in the future, I’d like to tackle the design again with much lighter ink in the background. It might be fun to use the other birds from the same set—perhaps softer green pine branches for a background for the cardinal or pale grey snowflakes behind the bluejay.

Supplies
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink “Winter Woods”, “Vintage Picnic Sentiments”;  Stampin’ Up “Life in the Forest”
Dies:  Papertrey Ink “Winter Woods”;  My Favorite Things “A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 2” (3 9/16” x 4 13/16”; 1 7/8” x 3 1/8”)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black, Grey Flannel, Toffee Crunch, Northern Pine;  Hero Arts Field Greens;  Simon Says Stamp Fog
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White, cheap lightweight grey cardstock from my stash
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, Bic Marking Forever Green

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Color Challenge #100

This card is my final entry for MFT’s one-hundredth color challenge, but it’s the first idea I had for the palette. The similar shades of blue brought to mind the gradation of blues that one sees in photos of misty mountain ridges, and that concept immediately paired with the backpack-wearing bear from Neat & Tangled’s “Schoolhouse” set. Who says he has to be headed to school—why not let him be a hiking bear?

I stamped him in a Copic-friendly brown ink so dark it tends to look black, then I fussy-cut him. Usually when I fussy-cut I’ll trim right along the stamped line, but since I don’t have a brown marker the right shade to color over the edges and I wanted an easier shape to cut out, I cut him with a border. To get a uniform margin, I cheated a bit: I laid the cleaned stamp over the image and lightly traced a pencil around the stamp, then used that as a guide for cutting.

None of the sentiments I have on hand seemed quite right for the card, so for now I’ve forgone a sentiment. Once I decide who I’m sending the card to, I might add a sentiment in Persimmon ink beneath the focal square. I think this would make a good encouragement card for someone setting out on an adventure, such as graduating school or getting a new job or embarking on a significant trip, but it would also work as a thank-you or birthday card for any of my mountain-dwelling relatives who like hiking—so we’ll see.

Supplies
Stamps:  Neat & Tangled “Schoolhouse” (bear)
Dies:  My Favorite Things “Inside and Out Stitched Square STAX” (2.75”)
Ink:  Memento Espresso Truffle
Copics:  E34, E43, E30;  Bic Marking Sunset Orange
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White, cheap lightweight blue cardstock from my stash
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Sketch Challenge #401

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted this card by Larissa Heskett and fell in love with the color scheme. My sister’s birthday is approaching, and she loves pandas, so making her a card provided the perfect excuse for CASEing Larissa’s. This week’s sketch challenge from My Favorite Things suited the layout I had in mind, and I’m also submitting the card to MFT’s Birthday Project.

I stamped the flowers multiple times, two layers for the orange, three or four for the yellow, because I wanted deep colors as well as a solid impression to capture the details of the flowers. I drew in the stems and am not happy with them—it’ll be a while before I can freehand anything satisfactorily. Whatever I draw never quite conforms to the law of gravity, and the lack of realism bugs me, but the only way to improve is to practice, so I’m continuing my attempts and trying to convince myself that the wonky results are just going to look whimsical to anyone else.

I edged the matte in the same orange ink, just smooshing the cube onto the paper. The cheaper cardstock rippled a little as it dried, but my dictionary helped mitigate that somewhat, and the focal panel disguises the remaining undulations.

Supplies
Stamps:  Mama Elephant “Incoming Mail” (panda);  WPlus9 “Fresh Cut Florals”;  Papertrey Ink “Keep It Simple Birthday III” (sentiment)
Dies:  My Favorite Things “A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 1”
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black;  My Favorite Things Dye Persimmon;  Hero Arts Butter Bar
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White, cheap lightweight white cardstock from my stash
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, Sakura Pigma Micron 01 (0.25 mm)

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Sketch Challenge #399 & Color Challenge #100

I particularly like this fortnight’s color challenge—it’s a splendid palette for the one-hundredth challenge, and I’ve had so many ideas for how to use it. Practicality must come before sheer play, however, so I’m first applying the palette to cards for my grandmothers for Grandparents Day, which is Sunday, September 9.

Memento Toffee Crunch makes a good Kraft, and Memento Morocco stamped twice makes a good Persimmon, but I have no ink pads the right shade of blue. The closest I could get to Blue Yonder is VersaColor Atlantic, and that’s a bit too purple, and I have nothing at all near Blue Breeze. (A good range of blue ink cubes is next on my crafty wish list.) I’ve had a sheet of persimmon paper hanging around these past few weeks, hoping for a home on a card, and I found a light blue scrap of cardstock in my stash that’s near enough to Blue Breeze to round out the palette.

I also followed this week’s sketch challenge, and the circle element gave me a good way to ground and form the floral cluster. I’m still rubbish at arranging flowers—it takes me hours to find something that looks pleasing—but it’s so much easier to fiddle and find the right arrangement now that I have dies for them. Taking inspiration from Inge Groot and some other MFT designers, I went with white leaves, and I really like the simple silhouette look they give to a card.

Supplies
Stamps:  WPlus9 “Fresh Cut Florals”;  Hero Arts “Many Everyday Messages” (sentiment)
Dies:  WPlus9 “Fresh Cut Florals”;  My Favorite Things “Fab Foliage”, “A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 1” (¾” x 2”);  Hero Arts “Nesting Circle Infinity Dies” (2.25” circle)
Ink:  VersaColor Atlantic, Smoke Blue;   Memento Morocco, Love Letter, Toffee Crunch
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Kraft, cheap light blue cardstock and persimmon origami paper from my stash
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, liquid glue

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Summer School: Monochromatic

Since I was running out of time last night to complete the second session of My Favorite Things Summer School, I abandoned my plans for a more elaborate take on a monochrome card, pulled out my dies, and whipped this up. The die-cut panel lets the colored cardstock base show through, and an auxiliary sentiment in matching ink finishes it off.

With that, I have graduated from the second session of Summer School.

Supplies
Stamps:  Hero Arts “Stamp and Cut: Hello” (sentiment)
Dies:  My Favorite Things “A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 2” (4 x 5 ¼);  Hero Arts “Stamp and Cut: Hello” (sentiment)
Ink:  Hero Arts Butter Bar
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White, Lemon Tart
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, liquid glue

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Summer School: Visual Triangle

For the visual triangle challenge of MFT Summer School, I balanced different colors and shapes in multiple triangles throughout a floral arrangement. There’s a triangle of purple, of coral four-petal flowers, and of one shape of stamped leaves. In a much looser sense, the Fab Foliage die-cuts behind the rectangle form a triangle as well, since they are concentrated in the top left corner, bottom edge, and right side.

This was my first chance to use the Fab Foliage dies, and I loved it. Even with only one use, I can tell that they’re well on their way to becoming a staple for me.

I’m also entering this card in MFT’s Birthday Project.

Supplies
Stamps:  WPlus9 “Fresh Cut Florals”;  Papertrey Ink “Keep It Simple: Birthday II” (sentiment)
Dies:  My Favorite Things “A2 Stitched Rectangle STAX Set 2” (1 ⅞” x 3 ⅛”), “Fab Foliage”;  WPlus9 “Fresh Cut Florals”
Ink:  Simon Says Stamp Dusty Sage;  Hero Arts Field Greens, Soft Cantaloupe, Pale Tomato;  Memento Lulu Lavender, Sweet Plum, Elderberry
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, liquid glue

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Summer School: Ombré

Since I don’t have any tools for ink blending, I looked for other ways to achieve an ombré effect for the MFT Summer School challenge, but none of my outline stamps were speaking to me for the technique. Then I remembered Anja Bytyqi’s card that I had saved to my inspiration file, and that was the perfect layout—crisp, graphic, and very easy to pull together. I CASEd her card pretty closely, but I tried to change things up with different colors as well as different sentiments.

I layered the sentiment die-cuts twice for dimension, and this project persuaded me that I really do need more sentiment dies. I only have four Hero Arts Stamp and Cut words, which are small and a very loopy script, and this MFT “miss you” that I got as the free $60+ incentive with my order earlier this month. I’ve got my eye on a few of MFT’s sans serif word dies, as well as this alphabet die set from Cathy Zielske.

The strips on the blue card are ⅜” wide, and the strips on the yellow card are ½” wide, but they’re all spaced ⅛” apart from each other. The yellow stripes remind me a bit of a mug my parents had from the ’70s or ’80s—something about that deep yellow gradient seems reminiscent of the time period.

Supplies
Stamps and Dies:  My Favorite Things “miss you” die;  Hero Arts “Stamp and Cut: Joy” (die, stamp)
Ink:  Memento Morocco
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White, cheap colored paper from my stash
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, liquid glue

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Summer School: Rainbow

For the rainbow challenge from MFT Summer School, I whipped up a super-simple graphic card. I love sans serif fonts for designs like these—really, I just love simple cards that rely entirely on a good font. My stamping platform enabled me to stamp in precise increments and make sure each word had adequate ink coverage; I’d never be able to do designs like this without a platform!

Employing the graphic design principle of using lighter colors for weightier fonts and darker colors for thinner fonts to achieve visual balance, I selectively inked the stamp in a jewel-tone rainbow on the left and a pastel rainbow on the right. I love ink cubes—full-size ink pads are so unwieldy!—but Memento’s dewdrop design is unequaled. The difference between the dewdrops and the cubes was starkly apparent using them together like this; the dewdrops offer so much more precision, and they’re much easier to grip and maneuver.

Supplies
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink “Keep It Simple: Thank You I”
Ink:  Memento Teal Zeal, Grape Jelly, Lulu Lavender, Love Letter, Morocco, Peanut Brittle, Olive Grove, Pistachio;  Hero Arts Cotton Candy, Soft Cantaloupe, Butter Bar;  VersaColor Celadon, Atlantic;  Brilliance Mediterranean Blue
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Color Challenge #99 & The Birthday Project

The former youth pastor at my church and I happen to have the same birthday, and he was so ecstatic when he found out that he shared a birthday with someone that ever since I’ve made a point of giving him a card every year. He’s something of a comic, so this sentiment from My Favorite Things seemed quite suitable.

I’m playing along with the MFT Color Challenge #99—I jumped at the chance to use persimmon again—and I’m also entering MFT’s Birthday Project. This month’s theme is Clean and Simple, which perfectly suits my style.

Supplies
Stamps:  My Favorite Things “Hog Heaven” (sentiment);  Mama Elephant “Little Cat Agenda”
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics:  W00, W1, W3, E43, E34, R27;  Bic Marking Sunset Orange, Moonstone Yellow
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape; Mama Elephant “Little Cat Agenda” dies

Dimensions
3.5” x 4.75”

MFT Summer School: Focal Point & MFT Sketch Challenge #398

This week, I’m playing along with the second session of My Favorite Things Summer School 2018. For the focal point challenge, I’m using sketch #398, since those circles provide great little windows to highlight the focal point of the card.

I backed the windows with paper I colored with the chisel end of a Copic to create subtle texture, then I popped up the front panel to create a dimensional shadow that emphasizes the focal images. Since I don’t have a realism-accurate color for the bluejay, I layered four different pigment and dye inks, using both second-generation stamping and double stamping, to get a blue that was neither too dark and bold (as it would have been if I had used only Mediterranean Blue), nor too unsaturated and grey (as it would have been if I had used only Atlantic). The birds are elevated from the front panel as well as the card base, and to create depth and visual interest I adhered the cardinal’s branch to the base but the bluejay’s branch to the front panel.

Supplies
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink “Winter Woods” (birds);  Hero Arts “Stamp and Cut: Thanks” (sentiment)
Dies:  Papertrey Ink “Winter Woods” (birds, branch), “Double-Ended Banners”;  Hero Arts “Nesting Circle Infinity Dies” (1.25” circle)
Ink:  Brilliance Rocket Red, Mediterranean Blue, Graphite Black;   VersaColor Atlantic, Cyan;  Memento Teal Zeal
Copics:  BG000
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White, copy paper
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, liquid glue, Elmer’s foam mounting squares

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

PTI’s “Create Along With Us” Challenge, August 2018

My favorite card from this month’s PTI release was Lizzie’s using the “Frame It Out: Many Blessings” wreath. I was particularly smitten with the color scheme she used—I have recently discovered a fondness for persimmon, even though I don’t tend to care for oranges in general.

For my entry into the August Create Along with Us challenge, I wove together six dogwood branches from PTI’s “Spring Woods” set to create my own wreath, which ended up being a little more sprayed and star-shaped than rounded. However, I managed to get the circle even, so I’m content with it for a first attempt at a wreath.

Since I don’t have a suitable orange shade of ink, I layered a second-generation impression of Memento’s Love Letter with two first-generation impressions of Memento’s Morocco, with satisfactory results. The brown I incorporated into the branches, but since I don’t have anything resembling PTI’s Ocean Tides (such a lovely color), I opted to leave that out. I did test a branch with leaves in VersaColor Celadon, but I preferred the look of the cream leaves—more subtle, less visually distracting. Since the wreath is already so busy, I forwent a sentiment. I only glued down the center of the wreath, leaving the ends of the branches free and able to be curled up slightly for dimension and visual interest.


Supplies
Stamps & Dies:  Papertrey Ink “Spring Woods”
Ink:  Memento Morocco, Love Letter;  VersaFine Vintage Sepia
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream
Miscellanea:  liquid glue, paintbrush, Press’n Seal

Dimensions
5.5” x 5.5”

MFT Sketch Challenge #393 & Color Challenge #97

For this week’s sketch challenge, I created a simple one-layer card with the sentiment and image forming the horizontal line across the center of the sketch.

Since the color palette was so pastel, black ink was too stark for the cupcake outline; the Copic-friendly Memento Toffee Crunch worked well instead and played as a darker shade of the tan included in the palette. My inks have less shade variation between them than the peach and coral in the palette do, but the hearts are a darker coral than the sentiment, although the shimmer makes the difference harder to distinguish.

Supplies
Stamps:  My Favorite Things “Hog Heaven” (cupcake);  Papertrey Ink “Just Desserts Sentiments” (sentiment);  Lawn Fawn “Winter Alpaca” (hearts)
Ink:  Memento Toffee Crunch;  Hero Arts Soft Cantaloupe (sentiment), Fresh Peach (hearts)
Copics:  R22, Y00, E30
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White
Miscellanea:  Spectrum Noir Sparkle clear

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Summer School: White Space

For the first challenge of My Favorite Things Summer School, white space, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Last Christmas, the cards I made with the word die from the Hero Arts “Stamp and Cut: Joy” set left me with a bunch of petal-shaped gold pieces from cutting the negative space inside the loops of the letters, and I’d been meaning to make a flower with them. My grandmother’s birthday is in a few weeks, and a simple, gold-and-cream flower card seemed just the thing.

It took me a few iterations to figure out how to arrange the petals in the most appealing way, and the layout feels a little too empty, but there weren’t enough leftover pieces to make a second, smaller flower. I probably would have been better off making the design symmetrical on a vertical layout, but I really liked the notion of having the flower in the lower right. A scattering of sequins might help balance the layout, but I haven’t a sequin or rhinestone to my name, so spare and simple it shall be.

With this, my fifth project, I have completed all of the challenges from the first session of My Favorite Things Summer School 2018.

Supplies
Stamps:  Papertrey Ink “Keep It Simple: Birthday II” (sentiment)
Ink:  Brilliance Galaxy Gold
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream (base), Recollections “Paper Flowers” cardstock pack (gold cardstock)
Miscellanea:  liquid adhesive

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Summer School: Symmetry

I love super simple cards like this one by Ellenor Emilsson, so for the fifth challenge of My Favorite Things Summer School, symmetry, I went about as simple as possible. Since I was going to color with Copics and anticipated bleed-through, I stamped the image on a panel that I adhered to my card base after coloring. However, the tiny size of the flowers meant that the markers barely bled at all, so I could have made this a true one-layer card.

Since the card was so simple, it only seemed right to add a touch of shimmer.

Supplies
Stamps:  My Favorite Things “Hog Heaven” (flowers), Hero Arts “Stamp and Cut: Hello” (sentiment)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics:  R22, G12, YG45
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, Spectrum Noir Sparkle clear

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”

MFT Summer School: Primary Colors

For the second challenge of the My Favorite Things Summer School, I used varied shades of primary colors to give the image more visual interest than it would have had if I had used markers with the same bright saturation. A lighter red value helped keep the color scheme from seeming juvenile, and a dark yellow took the place of orange for the beaks.

Since Memento Tuxedo Black ink isn’t an intense black and I was using a wood-mounted rubber stamp and couldn’t ink the image twice, after I colored the birds I went over the lines again with fineliners to darken the outlines and give the image more definition. To finish off the card, I added a bit of shimmer to the heart.

In addition to submitting this to the MFT Summer School: Primary Colors category, I’m linking up to Simon Says Stamp’s Wednesday challenge “Red, White, and/or Blue.”

Supplies
Stamps:  Stampin’ Up “For the Birds” (image), Hero Arts “Stamp and Cut: Hello” (sentiment)
Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
Copics:  R22, R27; Bic Yellow Blaze, Moonstone Yellow, Blue Skies Blue
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, Pigma Micron 0.45 and 0.25, Spectrum Noir Sparkle clear

Dimensions
Card: 4.25” x 5.5”
Panel: 2” x 3”

MFT Summer School: Repetition

I’d seen these two cards on Pinterest recently, so when I was sifting through my supplies to determine what I’d do for the My Favorite Things Summer School challenges, the simple bird silhouettes came to mind as something that would work well for the third challenge, repetition.

I couldn’t decide which color I liked better for the birds, a row of just turquoise or a row of alternating red and blue, so I did both. For dimension, I stacked three die-cuts on the turquoise card, but only two on the red-and-blue card, since the hearts added a tiny third layer.

The hearts on the red and blue birds are partially inspired by a clock that used to hang in my parents’ nursery once upon a time: it had a border of hearts in these exact shades of red and blue, so when I saw the paper colors together, the heart motif immediately sprang to mind. I had already been thinking about die-cutting hearts in the turquoise birds, however, so the design choice isn’t entirely attributable to the clock. The heart die that comes with Lawn Fawn’s “Hedgehugs” mini set is the perfect tiny size for this sort of thing; I’ve used it even more than I have the adorable hedgehogs.

In addition to submitting these cards to the MFT Summer School: Repetition category, I’m linking up to Simon Says Stamp’s Wednesday challenge “Red, White, and/or Blue” and their June “Work It Wednesday” challenge.

Supplies
Stamps:  My Favorite Things “Hog Heaven” (sentiment)
Dies:  Papertrey Ink “Spring Woods” (indeterminate finch/sparrow), Lawn Fawn “Hedgehugs” (heart)
Ink:  Memento Gray Flannel
Paper:  Papertrey Ink Stamper’s Select White, cheap layering-weight turquoise, dusty blue, and dark red from stash
Miscellanea:  Scotch Permanent Double-Sided Tape, liquid glue

Dimensions
4.25” x 5.5”