Ink It Up with Heidi Shafer -- Neat and Tangled's Beary Merry

Today, I've joined again with
Heidi Shafer of Mapleberry Musings for Ink It Up.

Ink it Up is a challenge where, on the second and fourth Wednesday 

of each month, Heidi and I share cards that we've made with new stamp sets

that we haven't used yet.

Today, I'm sharing some cards that I made using my 

Beary Merry stamp set from Neat and Tangled.

I started by stamping the bear, present and sentiment onto a piece of watercolour paper, 

which I diecut using my Mama Elephant Femme Frames diecuts.

I coloured him in using my Zig Clean Colour Real Brush Markers and a water brush.

I stamped the present a second time and cut it out by hand, coloured it in 

and then adhered it to my card.

I also paper-pieced his scarf using some Studio Calico patterned paper,

which I also used to mat my card.

On this card, I used the same supplies and colouring techniques,

but I used the coordinating diecuts.

I didn't do any paper piecing, but I did blend blue ink behind the bear before

adhering him with dimensional adhesive, but it's hard to tell in the photo

(oh how I miss more hours in the day when it's daylight!)

I just think this bear is so adorable!

Before I inked up this stamp set, Sage did.

She made some cards for the 14 people she delivers newspapers to each day

(which I thought I photographed, but now can't find!)

She also made a cute tag for the secret Santa exchange she did with her choir.

She stamped him onto a Reverse Confetti tag

and coloured him in with my Zigs and a water brush.

Then, we rolled up a $5 bill and tied it with twine and adhered to the card,

so it looks like the bear was holding it.

Apparently, everyone could tell it was Sage's gift. ;)

Okay, that's it for us for today.

Don't forget to hop over to Heidi's blog to see what
she created for this Ink It Up.

Thanks for looking!

Guest Blogger

Hi, this is Sage.

My mom asked me to be guest blogger for her today

to share my card that I made at my birthday party.

We had a Paris theme and did some watercoloring with my friends.

I started by using black watercolour and painted the bottom section, 

then I added the yellow sun just on top of the black/grey bottom. 

I took a darker pink and painted the top, making the section small. 

Then I took a lighter pink and made a bit bigger section. 

The last colour I painted is skin colour which blended in with the light pink 

making another colour as the water mixed them. After it dried I stamped the city scenes Eiffel Tower off to the side and the next to it.

After it dried, I stamped the Eiffel Tower from Papertrey Ink's City Scene in Delicata Silver

 off to the side and the sentiment (from Papertrey Ink's Fresh Flower Wraps) next to it.

Well, that's it for me.

See ya next time!

Five for Friday

Well, we've had quite the exciting week...

1. First of all, we had with our Back to School Feast on Monday.

We made homemade pizzas and while they was baking in the oven,

we had appetizers (a new addition to the feast!)

While we ate the appetizers, we all went around and shared 

things we were looking forward to in the coming year,

as well as prayer requests.

Then, we prayed for the person to our left... and timed it perfectly

for the pizzas to be done!

And of course, we needed to finish off our meal with cake!

 2. Jonah started Grade 9 on Tuesday afternoon.

Austin went to school with him on Wednesday morning, but he's signed

up for a Culinary Arts Vocational program for his first semester of Grade 12, 

and starts officially there today.

We met with Sage's teacher on Wednesday morning and she started on Thursday,

in Grade 7.

How is it that my baby is in Junior High?

I guess this is the last year all three will pose like this for me.... unless

Austin really enjoys Culinary Arts and returns for a semester next fall 

(which is an option for graduating students to come back for one semester.)

I guess we'll see.... just like we'll see what the year ahead holds!

And, at Jonah's request, we invited some friends to come and 

play Laser Tag with us last night.

The perfect way to kick off the new year, don't you think?

3. And I have some exciting news...

After substitute teaching for the past 7 years, I decided that it was time

to go back to work full time.

I thought that I could maybe try to find a teaching position,

but that idea didn't excite me very much.

Then, as I was browsing a local job find website, I saw an ad

 for a kitchen designer for Decor Cabinets, here in Morden.

And I thought: "Imagine getting paid to design!"

So I wrote up a resume and cover letter that stressed my passion for 

creating beautiful things and applied for the job.

I had an interview two weeks ago and on Tuesday this week,

they called and offered me the position!

I am beyond thrilled and start on Monday!

So, this will definitely be a new chapter for me and for my family,

but I think it will be very good.

4. A few weeks ago, Cameron took Sage horseback riding with some friends.

Upon their return, he suggested that Sage make a card to thank them.

I can't remember what I was doing when she went to make her card the other day, 

but I didn't have time to join her.

I told her she could use whatever she liked and she came back upstairs with this card:

Isn't it fabulous?

I swear I provided no guidance -- she is incredible!

5. And lastly, I have a card that I'd like to share for this week's

  Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: From Black and White to Colour.

I also made it using this week's fabulous colour combo from the

Colour Throwdown #409:

I also added some grey into my card, to give it more of a "black and white" effect.

I decided to use my Colour Pop Butterflies stencils and stamps to make my card.

I started with two panels of white cardstock and stencilled/stamped the butterflies in 

three shades of grey on the one and in aqua mist, hawaiian shores and tropical teal

and harvest gold and summer sunrise on the other.

Then, from the coloured panel, I diecut the Mat Stack 5.

I stamped the sentiment (from Choose Joy) and 

adhered the diecut over the black and white panel with dimensional adhesive.

Thanks for looking!

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Camp Create -- Session 3

I was thrilled to see that MFT was offering a third session of Camp Create 

earlier this week and even more excited when Sage said she's play along with me!

So, today, I'm sharing the cards that we made for the week of camp.

Day 1's challenge was Monochromatic Magic.

I wanted to make a card to thank Denise, our slo-pitch

team's organizer and coach.

Since her favourite colour is pink, I knew this would be the 

perfect challenge to make her a card.

I decided to use the stamps and dies from my Flashy Florals kit.

I started by partially stamping my background using the 

MFT Scattered Surface Background stamp.

I stamped the flowers on their coordinating diecuts

and had fun stamping my leaves in pink, too!

I diecut the "thanks" die from white cardstock and blended ink

onto the bottom half of it before adhering it to my card with dimensional adhesive.

Sage used the same background stamp to make her card.

She blended ink onto white cardstock and diecut it

with the Soda Pop bottle dies.

She added the details to the bottles and stamped the sentiment 

(also from Soda Pop) onto it.

We both earned this badge:

Day 2's challenge was Awesome Ombre.

We were both inspired by Laurie's fabulous card to use

the same Geometric Grid stencil that she used.

We also both decided to use this challenge to create birthday cards

 for my twin brother -- whose birthday is today!

Happy Birthday, Chris!

Sage created her card first.

You may know that Sage is new to ink blending -- not that 

you can tell from the results on her cards!

But this was the first time that she blended ink using a stencil -- and she loved it!

She used four shades of ink to create her ombre effect.

She stamped the sentiment (from Soda Pop) and added some enamel dots.

For my card, I used the ColourQ Challenge #354:

Here's my card:

I used my new Clarity Stencil Brushes to apply Hawaiian Shores ink 

to my white cardstock panel.

I, too, used the Soda Pop sentiment, stamping it onto strips of black cardstock

and heat embossing it in white.

I stamped the "Chris" using Hand Lettered Holiday (I selectively

inked the "Christmas" stamp) and added a trio of enamel dots to finish it off.

For this challenge, we earned this badge:

Day 3's Challenge was Remarkable Resist.

For my card, I used the Color Throwdown #405:

And MFT Wednesday Sketch 293:

I used emboss resist three different times on my card.

I started by stamping the lines from the leaves onto a piece of 

white cardstock in Altenew Forrest Glades. 

Then, I stamped over top in versamark using the solid leaf image, 

which I heat embossed in clear.

I blended Altenew's Frayed Leaf ink over top with my blending tool.

For my background, I heat embossed the Scattered Surface Background stamp

in white and blended Altenew Ocean Waves over top.

I diecut my Flashy Florals blooms and stamped them with Ocean Waves 

in the centre and then a second time in versamark (using my MISTI).

I heat embossed these in clear and then stamped the blooms in yellow

over top, so the centres resisted the ink.

I added a Reverse Confetti All Framed Out diecut to frame my sentiment

(stamped in Forrest Glades using PTI's Phrases and Praises stamp set.)

Sage decided to use the Soda Pop set again to make her card:

She stamped the sentiments onto her card base and heat embossed them 

in white before blending ink over top and spritzing it with water.

She blended ink onto white cardstock and diecut her bottles from it.

It's so bright and cheerful -- I love how it turned out!

Here's the badge we earned:

Day 4's Challenge was Divine Dry Embossing.

For my card, I used my Soda Pop stamp set and dies,

as well as MFT Colour Challenge 51:

Here's my card:

I started by embossing a MFT Circle onto my background and trimming 

a strip off of the side (I was planning on using something else for my border --

like a dark cardstock, impressed cardstock or patterned paper -- but in the end,

I just replaced the strip, with a bit of dimension for the card front.)

I blended ink onto my circle and adhered my pop bottles over top.

I stamped the sentiments (from Soda Pop) onto black cardstock,

heat embossed them in white and cut them into strips, which I adhered

with dimensional adhesive.

A few wooden stars finish it off.

Sage used the thanks die from the Flashy Florals kit to make her card.

She impressed the die and then diecut it from a post-it note,

which we used to create a mask (I helped her with this, since it was new to her.)

She used my Clarity Stencil brush to brush Hawaiian Shores ink 

over the bottom half of the word.

She stamped the leaf from Modern Blooms in three shades of green to make a wreath.

We both earned this badge:

Next up was a bonus challenge on Thursday evening:

 the Bonfire Craft -- Single Layer Savvy.

Sage was getting a little tire of making cards, so she decided to

make her previous "thanks" card for both the Dry-embossing Challenge

and for the Bonfire Craft Challenge, since it's a one layer card

 -- we hope that's okay!

And here's my card:

I started by stamping my sentiment (from PTI's Phrases and Praises)

in versafine onyx black ink and heat embossing it in clear onto a piece of watercolour paper.

Then, I stamped the leaves from Flashy Florals in five different shades of ink.

I took a paintbrush dipped in water and "coloured" over my stamped leaves

to create a watercolour effect on my card.

Here's the badge we earned:

And lastly, Day 5's Challenge was Stunning Shadow Stamping .

The store where I sell my cards wanted some anniversary cards,

so I decided, since I was using my MISTI to create my card for this challenge,

to make five cards in five different colours, using Modern Blooms.

I  started by stamped in the flowers and leaves in Wplus9 white

and then moving my panel over slightly and down to stamp the colour.

I diecut the "happy" from PTI's Colour Pop Butterflies kit and trimmed off

the "so" that was attached by hand.

I stamped "anniversary" on a strip of smokey shadow cardstock 

and heat embossed it in white (using PTI's Wet Paint stamp set.)

I adhered the strip using dimensional adhesive.

And here's Sage's card, using stamps from Flashy Florals.

Isn't it pretty?

I think she was getting a little tired of making cards, but decided

to persevere to earn all five badges.

When she was done with this card, however, she was saying

how much she enjoyed this technique. :)

It's always fun stamping with my best girl!

And here's the final badge we earned:

Okay, well, I know that was a lot of cards for one post

but I hope you'll indulge me -- it is my birthday after all! ;)

Thanks for looking!

Stamp-a-faire 2016 -- Part IV

After church today, Sage and I got everything packed for her week at camp.
Then, after lunch, we headed down to my craft area to complete the final three
challenges for Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-faire 2016.

I wanted to make some cards for Sage today to take along with her to camp.
Every night before she goes to bed, I bless her by saying:
"The Lord bless you and keep you, the Lord protect you and smile on you,
the Lord be gracious to you and give you peace."
When she's away at camp, I like to write the blessing in a card
for her to open before she goes to bed, along with some questions
about her day and statements along the lines of me missing her.

We started with cards for Kay's Watercolour Like A Master Challenge:

I decided to use the leaves from my Songbirds stamp set to make my card.

I stamped the leaves in tropical teal, green parakeet, blueberry sky, enchanted evening,

orange zest, summer sunrise, pure poppy and berry sorbet.

I stamped my sentiment (from Simon Says Stamp's Big Scripty Sentiments)

in versafine onyx black.

Sage decided to use my Feathers Finery stamp set,

along with this colour combo:

Isn't it gorgeous?

She was so frustrated with her watercolour, but I thought it turned out amazing

-- especially considering it was her first time using this technique!

She stamped the sentiment from Graceful Greetings.

I was inspired by her using the feathers, so I had to try it, too.

I used this colour combo, but I swapped berry sorbet for the pink

and added simply chartreuse:

My feathers got a little hard to see after the watercoloring, 

so I restamped them over top.

I stamped the sentiment from Walk By Faith.

Next, we tackled Lexi's Colour Blocking Challenge:

I scored my cardstock, created a mask for each rectangle with post-it notes

and blended ink onto each quadrant.

Then, using my Colour Pop Butterflies stencil, I stencilled the large butterfly

in each section and stamped coordinating stamps over top.

I stamped the sentiment and blended ink onto the "happy" diecut

before adhering it to my card.

Sage decided to make a birthday card for her dad.

She really enjoyed learning how to ink blend this weekend, so 

I helped her score her card and showed her how to mask the sections

for ink blending.

She diecut the cows from On the Farm from black cardstock 

and stamped her sentiment (also from On the Farm.)

And lastly, we did Heather's Pointillism Play Challenge:

I don't have a lot of PTI outline stamps, so I chose to make 

a fun Foxy card for Sage.

I have to say, this was probably my least favourite technique for the weekend!

It was just so fussy!

I stamped the tent from Summer Camp and the Foxy fox in versafine onyx black

and heat embossed them in clear.

Then, using some tiny circle stamp stamps, I coloured them in.

The sentiment is from Winter Woods.

Sage had a brilliant idea with hers:

She made a Calico cat so she didn't have to fill him in completely!

She smudged a little near the top, so I suggested she stencil the sun 

over top.

The sentiment is from Wet Paint.

Well, I knew I would have a great time participating in Stamp-a-Faire 2016

and I was totally right!

I thought Sage might make a card or two, but I was thrilled when she

spent so much time stamping with me and ended up making seven cards!

Thanks for looking!

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