PaperFections

Copic Watercolor Background: Take 2!

I updated my Copic "watercolor" technique with a new/different paper! It's perfect if you don't care for the super glossiness of glossy paper. I hope you'll join me over in Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom for all the details and I hope you are staying dry wherever you are ... we've been getting rain for two days straight and more is on the way tomorrow! Happy weekend! Read more →

Die-namics Design: Cover-Up Craze

My Favorite Things put a lot of thought into their products and their line of Cover-Ups Die-namics reflects their attention to detail when it comes to what works for YOU! Designed to layer beautifully on a standard A2 card size, Cover-Ups add dimension and texture. These designs are equally as beautiful tone-on-tone as they are with bright, contrasting pops of color. You’ll be amazed at the creative ways the MFT design team has featured Cover-Ups in their projects this month! I also love using Cover-Ups on my scrapbook pages ... here's an example: I love how easy it is to get perfect, bold accents with Cover-Ups! Here, I used one of my favorites, the Floral Fusion, cut from this month's new Tickled Pink cardstock, and layered it behind my girls' photo booth strip of photos. The Happy Die-namics was cut from Tickled Pink, and Cranberry Cocktail cardstock, then layered together across the top of the page. An additional Happy Trio (this month's Free with $60) die cut (from Blue Breeze cardstock) was added to the title line. On the left side of the page I placed a leftover strip (from a previous project) of all the new March colors of... Read more →

MFT March Creative Challenge: Stylin’ with Stencils

Stencils may not get the same recognition as stamps and dies but believe me, they simply can’t be beat in terms of versatility! Their flexibility and durability make them the perfect choice for adding color and texture with any number of mediums and with close to 70 different options in two different sizes available in the MFT shop, you’re sure to find the perfect design for your next project. This month, the MFT Design Team is inspiring you to play with stencils. (All bold products are linked below in the supply section). My first card uses the new Polka Dot Stencil and one of my very favorite ways of using stencils ... with watercolor! I placed the stencil over Primitive White cardstock and then used these Premium Dye Ink Refills to color in the dots: Tropical Teal, Coral Crush, and Steel Blue (which happen to be the current Color Challenge 17! The Polka Dot panel was cut with the curved panel from Blueprints 22 and placed onto a Tropical Teal card base. Next, the Happy Die-namics were cut from Coral Crush and Tropical Teal cardstock, layered together, slightly offset, with Copic X-Press It Foam Tape. The Totally Happy sentiment was... Read more →

Creative Construction with MFT Blueprints 15 & 18

I love My Favorite Things' Blueprints Die-namics because they take the guesswork out of crafting beautiful cards in quick fashion when you’re short on time or inspiration. I also love them for their versatility and ability to be mixed and matched when I have the time and inspiration to create something truly unique. MFT's new Creative Construction Challenge focuses on these attributes each month, challenging the design team to both assemble a card based on one of the provided Blueprints sketches as well as design an original card combining elements from the featured Blueprints. Wonky panels are trickier to execute than they might appear at first glance. This month’s challenge focuses on Blueprints 15 and Blueprints 18 that make creating die-cut panels with a little sass to them quick and easy! (All bold products are linked below in the supply section). My first card uses Blueprints 18 and follows one of the provided sketches (with a little addition of a cloud!): The sweet Wish You Were Here Pure Innocence girl was stamped with Black Licorice Hybrid Ink onto a Primitive White cardstock base and colored with the Copic markers listed below in the supply section. The Blueprints 18 wonky panel... Read more →

More Copic "Water" Coloring

I'm hurrying Spring along over in the CLASSroom today! I hope you'll join me there to see how I used my Copic Various Ink Refills to "water" color these beautiful Bold Blooms stamps by Julie Ebersole for Essentials by Ellen. Happy weekend! Read more →

MFT March Release Rewind

Happy Friday and welcome to My Favorite Things March Release Rewind! The design team hopes to inspire you with more ideas for those new March products you've purchased and are patiently awaiting to be delivered, or to help you finish up your shopping if you are still on the fence about anything! :) My first card today uses the awesome new Dog House Die-namics I hadn't gotten to use yet this month. It was a perfect match for the dogs in Birdie Brown's You Make My Tail Wag stamp set! I decided the dog house needed to match my Small Brick Wall house card from Tuesday night's New Product Launch (found two posts below this one, HERE), so I did the same watercolor technique, then die cut the Dog House from the watercolored brick. The house trim was die cut from plain watercolor paper and shaded with Copic C2 (as were the Clouds). The dog house was popped up on Copic's X-Press It Foam Tape. The dog was stamped with Black Licorice Hybrid Ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card and die cut with his coordinating Die-namics, then colored with Copic markers (colors listed below in the supply section). Grassy... Read more →

MFT March 2015 New Product Launch!

Welcome to the March New Product Launch from My Favorite Things! This is the design team's chance to highlight and share more of the new release products that are NOW AVAILABLE for purchase at the MFT Store! Be sure to leave a comment here on my blog post, to be entered for your chance at winning a $100 gift voucher (see last paragraph below for details)! Tonight I'm focusing on MFT's fun new Small Brick Background stamp and Window Die-namics ... (all bold products are linked below in the supply section)! My first project is an 8-inch scrap page of a gorgeous lunch spot at the Hana Hotel in Maui, Hawaii, where my husband and I spent our honeymoon. This photo hasn't had a good permanent home for a while, so I wanted to scrap it before it got lost in another move! I stamped the Small Brick Background with Versamark onto this month's pretty new After Midnight cardstock -- it was a perfect compliment to the beautiful blues of the ocean! I intentionally partially inked the top right corner and lower left corners of the page, so the bricks would fade out. That's one thing I love about MFT's... Read more →

My Favorite Things March Release Countdown-Day 1

The time has come -- it's the final day before the My Favorite Things new March products are available tonight, March 3rd. Be sure to head over to the MFT Blog to see today’s full product reveals AND enter for your chance to win a $75 gift voucher on each of the 5 countdown day blog posts there! Today features more great pet products! I used Pet Accents Die-namics and the staggered Paw Prints Stencil, along with a sentiment from Birdie Brown's I Knead You stamp set to create this card (all bold products are linked below in the supply section): I did a little play on the "I {heart} U" phrase ... I hope that kind of translates, LOL! I love that there are two sizes of these items in this die set -- makes for great versatility! The die cuts (cut from Primitive White, Electric Red and Black Licorice cardstock) were popped up on Copic X-Press It Foam Tape on a Blueprints 23 stitched rectangle panel which was dry embossed with the Paw Prints Stencil. A tiny gold metallic cardstock paw print was inlaid into the red heart. The I Knead You sentiment was gold heat embossed on... Read more →

My Favorite Things March Release Countdown-Day 2

Welcome back to the My Favorite Things March release countdown ... All the new products will be available next Tuesday night, March 3rd. Be sure to head over to the MFT Blog to see today’s full product reveals AND enter for your chance to win a $75 gift voucher on each of the 5 countdown day blog posts there! Today features fabulous new Television Die-namics and Stay Tuned stamp set from Laina Lamb AND all FIVE of this month's beautiful new cardstock colors: (in order on the television): Tickled Pink, Cranberry Cocktail, Field Day, Blue Breeze, and After Midnight (all bold products are linked below in the supply section): Isn't this retro TV awesome?!! And it has so many fun coordinating sentiments in the Stay Tuned stamp set! I cut 1/2-inch stripes of all five new cardstock colors and glued them together onto white cardstock, then die cut the center of the TV from the color strips. The TV and antenna were cut again from Black Licorice and silver metallic cardstock and pieced together. The Blueprints 23 stitched rectangle panel was die cut from Smooth White cardstock and the sentiment stamped with Black Licorice Premium Dye Ink. A strip of... Read more →

My Favorite Things March Release Countdown-Day 3

Welcome back to the My Favorite Things March release countdown ... All the new products will be available next Tuesday night, March 3rd. Be sure to head over to the MFT Blog to see today’s full product reveals AND enter for your chance to win a $75 gift voucher on each of the 5 countdown day blog posts there! Today features TWO sweet new Pure Innocence stamp sets: Feline Better and Woof You, another fabulous Die-namics set from the Inside and Out Stitched series -- this time Rounded Square STAX, and the fun Stitched Speech Bubble Edges Die-namics (all bold products are linked below in the supply section): I stamped the girl and cat with Black Licorice Hybrid Ink onto Copic X-Press It Blending Card die cut with the Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Square STAX, then colored them with Copic markers (colors listed below in the supply section). The background was airbrushed with Copic Y23 and is actually softer and not as blotchy as it appears here! The Stitched Speech Bubble Edge was die cut from Sno Cone cardstock, fit for placement, then the top trimmed with the the Inside and Out Stitched Rounded Square STAX ... I adore... Read more →

My Favorite Things March Release Countdown-Day 4

Welcome back to the My Favorite Things March release countdown ... All the new products will be available next Tuesday night, March 3rd. Be sure to head over to the MFT Blog to see today’s full product reveals AND enter for your chance to win a $75 gift voucher on each of the 5 countdown day blog posts there! Today features some fun new I Knead You (cat) and You Make My Tail Wag (dog) stamp sets and coordinating Die-namics from MFT's Birdie Brown line! (All bold products are linked below in the supply section). My first card uses the I Knead You stamp set with the awesome new Blueprints 23 I told you I can't put down! Aren't these kitties the cutest?!! I stamped them onto Blueprints 23 circles die cut from Primitive White cardstock with Black Licorice Hybrid ink and colored with Copic markers (colors listed below in the supply section). The kitty circles were inlaid into a Berrylicious panel die cut with the Blueprints 23 stitched rectangle panel and circles. The speech bubble and "Meow" were white heat embossed onto the Berrylicious panel and the "Just Fur You" sentiment white heat embossed onto the Black Licorice scalloped... Read more →

My Favorite Things March Release Countdown-Day 5

Happy Friday and welcome to the first day of the My Favorite Things March release countdown ... All the new products will be available next Tuesday night, March 3. Be sure to head over to the MFT Blog to see today’s full product reveals AND enter for your chance to win a $75 gift voucher on each of the 5 countdown day blog posts there! I was in a watercoloring mood for this card, which showcases today's featured Circle Scribble Flowers stamp set by Lisa Johnson, the fabulous brand new Blueprints 23 Die-namics, and fun Circle Grid Stencil (all bold products are linked below in the supply section): I am absolutely in love this new stamp set ... so many fun design opportunities with it! And don't get me started on the awesome new Blueprints 23 Die-namics -- I won't be putting this one away for quite some time, folks!! For this card, I white heat embossed the flower scribble lines and leaves onto watercolor paper which was die cut with the stitched panel from Blueprints 23. Next, I used these Premium Dye Ink Refills and a water brush to watercolor the panel: Cotton Candy & Ripe Raspberry, Lemon Drop... Read more →

Essentials by Ellen Winter 2015 Release & Giveaway!

Hello, and welcome to the Winter 2015 Essentials by Ellen Release Hop! I’ll be showcasing several of the new stamp sets and dies on my post today, starting with this beautiful Fancy Thanks stamp set and Folk Hearts designer dies, on a Copic Various Ink background (all bold products are linked below in the supply section): I adore the shape of Julie's Folk Heart dies and the fonts in the Fancy Thanks stamp set are simply gorgeous! Here's how I created the background: 1. Squeeze out Copic Various Ink Refill RV63 onto a scrap piece of acetate (to use as a palette). Using a 1" Round Ink Blending Tool, pick up the ink from the acetate palette, thoroughly saturating the foam pad. Pounce the ink onto a piece of Ranger's Specialty Stamping Paper. The surface of this paper is very slick/slightly coated, so the ink won't immediately soak into the paper -- this allows the ink to remain wet longer, and for it to be moved around a little. (You could also use glossy paper). No need to completely cover the cardstock, and you want to leave the look of the round blending tool ... it is creating a bokeh... Read more →

Essentials by Ellen Sneak Peek!

I'm so excited to share a sneak peek of Julie Ebersole's newest release of Essentials by Ellen clear stamps and dies today (releasing on Monday)! Over on Ellen Hutson's the CLASSroom, I share you how I watercolored these cuties -- I hope you'll join me there! Then I'll be back on Monday with some more projects for the big release blog hop we'll be having! Happy weekend! Read more →

MFT Die-namics Design: Express Yourself

Words are the foundation of card design. We all love a beautifully crafted design but the sentiment is really what makes a hand-made card special. Word Die-namics are such a valuable tool, as they can be used to create layered die cuts for added dimension, to create peek-a-boo effects, as a mask for different coloring mediums, and so much more. This month, the My Favorite Things design team is featuring the incredible versatility of word Die-namics! My first card was very difficult to photograph, because the "happy" and balloon were die cut from silver foil paper! So here's a good photo of the silver foil elements, but the "birthday" is a little difficult to see at this angle (all bold products are linked below in the supply section): Below, the "birthday" shows up a little better. Both words are from the Happy Birthday Die-namics set -- I love the scripty font! I die cut "birthday" from a Copic "watercolor" background I made with Copic Various Ink Refills (you can find more details about this technique here). Next, I die cut the "birthday" word again four times from Smooth White cardstock and glued them all together using my Copic Glue Marker.... Read more →