Hop! Hop! Beep... Beep... Beep!

Hello and WELCOME to the next stop on MFT's December New Release Blog Hop! If you're arriving here from Natalie's blog, you're right where you should be! If not, stop what you're doing and go back to Kim's blog right away to catch the fun from the start. We've all got a LOT to share with you, and there are a whole lot of special guest designers this month who want to show you their stuff!

Now, on to the fun! :)

Tonight, I have another card using the adorable robo-couple of the moment, Robot 2. I think you're going to have to agree with me when I say that you NEED this adorable robo duo in your arsenal! :)



This is a digi-stamp, meaning that you download and print it yourself on your home printer (or if you don't have a home printer, you can take it to a print shop and have them print it CHEAP!) This month, MFT is releasing FOUR new robot digi stamps. They are super easy to work with, MUCH cheaper than standard stamps and make for a nice, crisp image.

But you know what my favorite part of the digi stamps is? You can print them WHATEVER SIZE you want. Really. You can size them up or down to fit YOUR specific project with no loss in quality. Today, I wanted a really big robo-couple for my card, so I made them 4 inches tall. On my card a couple of days ago, I wanted them smaller, so I made them 2.5 inches tall. If you have a printer and paper that will accommodate it, you can even make them HUGE. They're seriously so fun to work with!

For this card, I colored my robots with Copic Markers, Copic Spica Pens, a white gel pen and Glossy Accents. I cut them out and popped them up on thick pop dots. Here's a side view that shows some of the dimension.



I also pulled out my Baby Braddies, which is an embellishment I haven't used before! I am in love! They are so tiny I kept dropping them, but they add the perfect amount of bling to the card! I am so glad that I have a ton more on order! I can see these becoming favorites of mine!

And here's a close-up or that awesome digi couple!



Supplies:
Stamps: Robot 2 Digital Stamp by MFT
Papers: Papertrey Ink's White, Georgia Pacific White, DP by My Mind's Eye and Cosmo Cricket
Inks: Stayz-On Black and Brilliance White for inking the edges
Accessories: Baby Braddies by MFT, Screw Brads by Oriental Trading, Pop Dots, Copic Markers, Copic Spicas, White Gel Pen, Glossy Accents, Rub-on by Cosmo Cricket

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you share my excitement over this new digi image. I have literally fallen in love! :) Next up on the hop is one of this month's talented guest designers, BONNIE! Trust me when I say that you are not going to want to miss what she has to share with you!

Enjoy your evening!

A Krafty Cool Yule!

Hi again! :)

Is everyone starting to get ready for Christmas? My hubby and I spent yesterday pulling out decorations and getting the lights put up outside. We still have a couple of finishing touches before we turn them on for the season. I'll have to take some pics when we're all done and share them with you all.

I wanted to share another card that I put together for the MFT Guest Designer contest that Bar and I are hosting this week on the MFT forum at SCS. In case you missed my earlier post about this, the challenge is to use Kraft paper in your creation.

For this card, I pulled out the new MFT release from this past month. I LOVE this Cool Yule set! It's perfect for the snowy time of year! :)



To make the card, I used one of the Fossil scallop notecards from the MFT store. I punched holes in the scallops, using my cropodile and then outlined them with a white gel pen. Then I stamped on my image and flocked it. I colored all the white areas with a white gel pen first, so the Kraft color wouldn't show through the flocking. I added Glossy Accents to the nose, ears and paws, paper-pieced the scarf with a scrap of patterned paper, and finally added a ribbon and chipboard button accent for a fun one-layer card.

Here's a quick tip for flocking: Just glue up and flock your whole area. Then, while the glue's still wet, you can take a pin and smoosh it away from the detailed areas you don't want it in (like I did for the eyes and mouth).

Supplies:
Stamps: Cool Yule, by MFT
Inks: Memento Black
Papers: Fossil Scalloped Notecard by MFT
Accessories, White Gel Pen, Copic Markers, White Fun Flock, White Grosgrain Ribbon, Patterned Ribbon and Ric Rac by American Crafts, Chipboard Button

There's still time to play along in the challenge! Check it out HERE!

Enjoy your evening!

Love, Digital-Style

Hello there! :)

I'm back with another teaser for the new MFT release, which goes LIVE this Wednesday, December 2 at 10 pm EST.

As part of this release, there are several new digi stamps being released, in addition to the normal super high-quality clear stamps that MFT normally offers.

One of those new digi stamps, Robot 2, inspired this card, which I think might be my favorite card I've made in a LONG time.




ACK!!! I know! Isn't this robot couple so cute you want to scream?!!! I have such a thing for robots. They just make me happy. Maybe it's because my hubby is a geek, so they make for easy obvious cards for him. Heheh

For the moon, I cut a large gray circle and popped it in to a Cuddlebug folder to give it a cratered moon look. Then I inked over the craters with shimmery white and silver ink to make it shine. Finally I glittered selected "craters" so that the card would really SHINE! :) I popped the moon on a glittery black and white polka-dot background to kind of abstractly simulate the night's sky. I don't know what the blue is supposed to represent. I just looked right! ;)

I started to stitch neatly around the edges, but then my sewing machine went wonky (that's been happening a lot lately!), and the needle actually BROKE OFF in my card. So to fix that mess, I just decided to crazy stitch around the edge instead. I think it works. I love happy accidents!


Here's a close-up of that moon:




And a side view, so you can see the shimmer a bit more:




And here's that adorable robocouple. :) I wish you could see me -- I'm grinning from ear to ear. This couple makes me want to go give my hubby a big smooch (but the lazy bones is still in bed!).




I colored the robots with Copic Markers and then went over selected parts with Copic Spicas and Glossy Accents. This whole card really shimmers and shines!

Supplies:
Stamps: Robot 2 and Love Machine, by MFT
Papers: Papertrey Ink's White, Heather Gray Cardstock, Pink Cardstock, Bazzill Bling Tiara (for card base), DP by My Mind's Eye and Doodlebug Designs
Inks: Memento Black, Brilliance White, Brilliance Silver, Colorbox Cyan
Accessories: Copic Markers, Copic Spica Pens, Glossy Accents, Sewing Machine, Chipboard Letter "Thickers" by American Crafts, Cuttlebug Folder, White Gel Pen, Sparkling Ice Glitter

Be sure to check out Kim's blog after 11 am EST today. She'll have links to all the other things the design team has been making with this and other digi stamps and with our newest Flopsey! :)

Enjoy your day! Thanks for dropping by!

Are you Ready for a Teaser?!

Hello!

Hope everyone had a super fantastic beautiful Thanksgiving! We had an ARMY of people over, and the day was great! We spent yesterday recovering in the quiet and solitude and eating yummy leftovers! LOL It was a great day.

Today I have a very special sneak peak of one of the adorable new sets being released by MFT this Wednesday at 10pm EST! :)

Check out these ADORABLE doggies! :)



For this card, I cut out a bone shape from off-white cardstock, inked up the edges to make it look more "bone-like," and attached it to a slightly larger Kraft background bone that I also cut out. Then I just kind of embellished away! :)

I added a "collar" detail with another piece of Kraft cardstock and added "studs" with black eyelets. Then I attached a nice big bow with a cute little "dog tag" I made. To make the dog tag, I cut a large circle out of red cardstock and attached a tiny circle to the back of it, with just a smidge of the smaller circle sticking out from behind the back. I stamped my sentiment (heh heh!) on a smaller Kraft circle and attached it to the tag, before adding a black eyelet. Then I just tied it to the bow! Here's a close-up of the bow detail:

.

And here's a close-up of these two sweet love-puppies! :)



I colored the dogs with Copic markers and added accents of Glossy Accents.

Supplies:
Stamps: Love at First Sight, by MFT, MFT's Twisted Sentiments
Papers: "Whip Cream" Cardstock by MFT, Kraft Cardstock, Red Cardstock, Black Cardstock, Papertrey Ink's White
Inks: Memento Brown, Colorbox Taupe, Versamagic Brown, Memento Black
Accessories: Circle Punches, Black Eyelets by Making Memories, Pop Dots, Copic Markers, Glossy Accents, Brown Grosgrain Ribbon, Red Striped Ribbon, Red and White Buttons by MFT

Do you have a knack for Kraft? This week, the fabulous Bar and I are hosting the Guest Designer Challenge over in the MFT Forum at SCS. The challenge is to use Kraft to craft up something wonderful! We'd love if you joined us -- the entire January new release, and the chance to post teasers with the Design Team is up for grabs -- that's QUITE the prize! There's also a whole bunch of fun ladies sitting around waiting to chat it up with you! :) Why don't you come join us?! :)

Now, head on over to Kim's Blog to see what the rest of the team has been creating with this fun set!!! :)

Have a great day!

It's a Two-fer!

Hey there! :)

My posting has been incredibly sporadic lately, and I know it. This week my hubby and I have been totally preoccupied with planning, cooking and cleaning for a giant vegan Thanksgiving feast we're having on Thursday. I'm really looking forward to it, but I'm also looking forward to it being over! :) You all know how that goes.

Since I haven't been sharing much, I thought I'd do a two-fer today and share two projects at once! :)

First is a card I made a crazy long time ago. For some reason, I completely forgot to share this one before now!



For this card, I stamped the image and colored it with chalks and copics before assembling the layers. Then I tied on a giant bow, using this yummy ribbon from MFT.

Not much to say about this card, other than it reminds me of (much) warmer times! It's going to be a long winter! ;)

Supplies:
Stamps: MFT's On the Pier
Inks: Memento Brown
Accessories: Brass Brad, Buttons by Oriental Trading Co., Edge Distresser, Copics, Chalks, Ribbon by MFT, Twine

Next up is a card that's starting to feel a little more seasonally-appropriate. Christmas card season begins in 3 days! :) I am WAY behind this year!



For this card, I used the star template that Kristina Werner put together to make a fabulous star-shaped card. I cut out the base of the card from super sparkly white glitter paper. I think it brings a lot of FUN to the card! :)

Here's a close-up of the fun button treatment I added. I didn't have any glittery buttons, so I just coated a button with tacky glue and dipped it in glitter!




And HERE is a close-up of this adorable polar bear, from the newest MFT release, Cool Yule. I decided that this guy NEEDED to be flocked! I colored in his non-flocked parts with copic markers and then added Glossy Accents to his nose, ears and paws.



Stamps: MFT's Cool Yule
Inks: Memento Black
Accessories: Copic Markers, White Gel Pen, Glossy Accents, Fun Flock, Blue Grosgrain Ribbon, Button, Glitter, Blue Ribbon, Felt Heart by Oriental Trading Co, Snowflake by Stampin' Up

Thanks for dropping by! Hope you all have a fabulous Thanksgiving!!!
Enjoy your day!

Hellloooo Out There!

I have become the world's most neglectful blogger. Sorry about that. I guess I've just been having too much fun offline :) I've been creating lots and sharing very little. Let's remedy that.

To ease myself back in to blogging, I thought I'd post a seasonally-appropriate card. I put this baby together for today's Limited Supplies Challenge at SCS. The challenge was to make a long and skinny card, which (aside from shaped cards) is one of my very favorite kind of cards to make! I don't make them nearly often enough, so this was a fun one! Yippee! :)

I spent ALL DAY yesterday cataloging stamps from the last 6 months. They are finally all indexed and put away, so I have some desk space back! While I was doing that, I came across this Kim Hughes set that my mom had gotten me for my birthday. It was uninked until now, but I think I'll be pulling out this set a lot! I have a not-so-secret girl crush on Kim Hughes.

On to the card! :)



I hate how everyone skips right from Halloween to Christmas, forgetting that there's this whole very-important occasion in between (that a lot of people don't understand is NOT about how much you can eat in one sitting). So I thought I'd make a card to remind myself. :) I colored my image with Copic markers and assembled a pretty simple card.

I had some "issues" with the bow. I must have played around with different ribbons and formations for about 45 minutes before I came up with something respectable. All in a day's work right?

Here's a closeup of this adorable image.



Supplies:
Stamps: Autumn Trees by Kim Hughes for Cornish Heritage Farms
Papers: Brown Cardstock, Kraft Cardstock, DP by Colorbok, Basic Grey, and Scenic Route, Papertrey Ink's White
Inks: Memento Brown
Accessories: SU's Notebook Paper Punch, Brown Grosgrain Ribbon, Buttons by Oriental Trading Co., Raffia, Brads by Making Memories, Edge Distresser, Pop Dots, Copic Markers

What's everyone got planned for Thanksgiving? We're having a slew of people over for my very first vegan Thanksgiving. Wish me luck! :)

Enjoy your day!

*Clearly* The Coolest Hop Around

Okay, I'll stop with the plays on words now... ;)

WELCOME to the November new release MFT Blog Hop! If you're arriving here from the very special Melody Rupple's Blog (who has some very exciting news to share, by the way), you're all set! Otherwise, you should start from the beginning at Kim's blog and check out all the eye candy along the way! Hidden along the way is some blog candy for you too, so it's totally worth your while!

As promised, I'm back with pictures of my other project that I made for this week's HTDT Tutorial in the MFT forum on SCS. In case you missed my earlier blog post today, the tutorial is on using your MFT clear stamps to stamp on acetate! I have some hints and tips to share as well as two fun projects that you can make with step-by-step instructions! So if you haven't yet, head on over there as soon as you're done hopping! :)

Tonight I want to share with you a super fun way to send someone a greeting! Remember when you were a kid and there were those things that came in magic kits that had a picture that would miraculously turn to color when you pulled on the tab? I feel like no one knows what I'm talking about, but I'm sure as soon as you see my card, it'll jog your memory. Magic cards are so fun (and surprisingly not that hard) to put together!

Here's the card:


And here's this baby in action!
   

When you slide the tab up, Flopsey immediately appears in front of you in full color! And when you slide it back down, he returns to the original, paler version on himself. Abracadabra! Presto Change-o! Cool, right?

The slider tab also comes completely out of the card, if you want to display it as two pieces...



or you can slide the whole slider piece into the front part of the card, to always display Flopsey in his full-color glory!



Remember, there are full instructions over at the tutorial, so you can make one of these yourself! So try it out! I'd love to see what you come up with!

I wanted to show you one more thing before I go...a close-up of my blinged-out letters for the card front:



My goal was to make the letters look like they were lit up by Christmas lights. I colored in each empty hole with brightly-colored Copic Spicas. Then I topped each one off with a dab of Glossy Accents. I think they make pretty good Christmas lights, eh? :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Tree Trimming Flopsey and Bling 'bet by MFT
Papers: Acetate, Papertrey Ink's White, DP by My Mind's Eye, Bazzill Bling for Card Base
Inks: VersaMagic Magenta, Memento Black, VersaMagic Chalk Ink
Accessories: Glossy Accents, Mounting Tape, Copic Markers, Chalks, Copic Spicas, Ribbon from my stash, Corduroy Button by Making Memories, Star Brad, Circle Punch, Large Metal Eyelet

Hope you've enjoyed this stop on the hop! Now head on over to Frances' fun blog and see what she's got up her sleeve! :)

Enjoy your evening! Thanks for stopping by!

Clearly Fun...

Hey there! :)

Are you guys all ready for the big MFT new release tonight? Word has it that you might have to shop quick. Kim mentioned that she didn't know how popular the Pure Innocence (adorable little girls) line would be, so she may have under-ordered. So get those trigger fingers ready to hit "Buy" right at 10 pm EST tonight if you want to get your hands on them!

I'll be back for the most super amazing blog hop EVER tonight, but I thought I'd share something with you now to tide you over until then.

This fun Christmasy project is made using the new release, Polar Love.



This is a shaker-style ornament, using acetate for the shaker's front. When you shake the ornament, the snowy ground moves! :)





To color the image, I painted the bears with acrylic paint on the back of the acetate, before assembling the shaker. Here's a close-up for the bears.



And a close-up of the glittery tag I made for the ornament...



For full instructions on how to make this project, check out my HTDT tutorial: Using Clear Stamps with Acetate HERE on the MFT forum at SCS! :)

(It's all easier and less-time consuming than the tutorial might make it look!) And there's also a full tutorial there for another project that I'll be sharing at the hop tonight!

Supplies:
Stamps: MFT's Polar Love
Papers: Heat-safe transparency, DP by My Mind's Eye and Scrap DP (purple), Georgia Pacific White
Inks: VersaMagic Chalk Ink, Colorbox Ink (for inking tag edges)
Accessories: Fine Art Glitter, Acrylic Paint, Nestabilities, Bullnose Clip by Oriental Trading Co., Ribbon by Lasting Impressions (blue) and Making Memories (purple ric-rac), Buttons by Papertrey Ink and Oriental Trading Co., Stampin' Up Tag Punches, Candy Dots by Pebbles, Inc., Mounting Tape

Enjoy your day! Be sure to stop back tonight at 10 pm EST for the hop! :)

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

Hello everyone! :)

In case you didn't know, today is my dear mother's birthday! :) So it's already a super special day, to begin with. It also happens to be the day that MFT is rolling out the very first teasers of its all new, completely EXCLUSIVE line of adorable little girl images, Pure Innocence.

You guys are just going to DIE when you see all these cuties! I was the oddball out this time around and didn't fall over the second I saw them, but as soon as I started creating with them... man. Let me just tell you that you are not going to want to miss the teasers! This line is so so FUN! :)

Today I thought I'd share with you a card that I put together with this adorable little balloon girl. So, happy birthday, mom! Enjoy your card, internet-style! :)



Now let me tell you, just about everything that could have gone wrong with this card did. I picked out a beautiful green layer to go over the purple one. But once I got through sewing the layers together and making room for the ginormous bow, the layer wouldn't fit. I had already broken my sewing machine trying to sew the layers, so I didn't want to cut down the green layer and re-sew the edges. So it just got left off. Since I messed up my sewing machine mid-layer, one of the corners was sewn a little wonky, so I had to pop down some buttons in the corner to cover it up! Then I somehow managed to swipe my whole hand through the Glossy Accents on the girl before she had dried. So I had to carefully clean up that mess too! Phew! I'm tired just thinking about it! :) Luckily, it all worked out in the end! :)

Here's a close-up of this cutie-pie!



Supplies:
Stamps: MFT's My Balloon
Papers: MFT's Cream Perfect Paper Panels, Brown Cardstock, DP by My Mind's Eye
Inks: Memento Black
Accessories: Wide Purple Grosgrain ribbon, Pop Dots, Copic Markers, Chalks, Glossy Accents, Buttons by Papertrey Ink

If you get a chance, head on over to Kim's blog for more info on this awesome new line of stamps, and then go head over and see what the rest of the DT girls have been creating with it!

Amy
Melody
Cindy
Michele
Frances
Susan
Kirsten
Natalie
Jessie
Christina
Jody
Barbara
Joanne

(and hey, when you're all done with that, you should DEFINITELY pop over to my mom's blog and wish her a Happy Happy Birthday!) :)

Enjoy your day! Thanks for stopping by!

Some Christmas Fun on Halloween

Hey, I'm back with a couple more shares for you guys! :)

I'm waiting for the trick-or-treaters to start heading over, so I thought I'd jump ahead in the season a little and share a couple cute Christmas projects I put together. It's been Christmas in the stores since about August, so I guess it's okay if I start early too! :)

First, I put together a cute little gift tag using one of the newest MFT Who's That Girl releases, Santa Baby. Isn't this image totally adorable (and a little naughty)???



I just love that sentiment! :)

To make the tag, I altered a wooden tag I had lying around. I painted the sides with acrylic paint and covered the whole thing with fun Christmas-themed paper. Then I paper-pieced and colored my image, and added Glossy Accents and Puffy Paint to a few parts to make them "pop," before adhering it to my tag. I stamped out my sentiment and cut it to look like a banner and popped it on top of my image. Finally, I added some super festive Christmasy ribbon.



Supplies:
Stamps: Santa Baby (by MFT)
Papers: DP by My Mind's Eye, Scraps for Paper Piecing, Georgia Pacific White
Inks: Memento Black, Versamagic Magenta
Accessories: Green Ribbon, Wooden Tag, Pop Dots, Glossy Accents, Puffy Paint, White Gel Pen


Next up is a fun Christmas card that came together really quickly, thanks to a punch and the new MFT background stamp!



To make this card, I inked up my background stamp with light green ink and then just "kissed" the edges of the stamp with a darker green ink. I stamped it out and matted it on colored cardstock. Then I just re-stamped the background image in red and green and used a star punch to punch out some shapes. I added cute buttons to each star and popped them up on dimensionals on top of the stamped background. Then I just stamped and cut out my sentiment and added another button accent. A totally fun and quick card!

Supplies:
Stamps: In the Background (by MFT)
Papers: Georgia Pacific White, Red Cardstock, Green Carstock
Inks: Colorbox's Lime and Green and Red
Accessories: Buttons by Oriental Trading Co., Embroidery Floss, Corner Punch, Star Punch

That's it for today! I think I'm going to take tomorrow off, but be sure to stop by Monday. I have a teaser for a super duper new MFT set that I'll be by to share!

Enjoy your evening!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Hope everyone is having a positively spooktacular day! :)

I started a massive DoodleFactory Halloween project a couple months ago. I colored, embellished and cut out literally dozens of Halloween characters for this cool Halloween album I was going to make. And wouldn't you know it, I never got around to assembling the album. Seriously, people, this is the story of my life. I have more half-finished craft projects than I know what to do with!

I was determined to not let all my hard work go to waste this time around, so this morning I got up early and put together a couple cute jars of candy for some adorable little kids I know, using the pieces originally meant for the album.

Voila!

I filled the first jar with eyeball gumballs and a creepy gummy snake (yummy!)









  
  

The second jar is filled with an enormous gummy millipede (ew!) and giant gummy tarantula!






  
  

Hope you enjoy! :) Happy Halloween! Have a super fun and safe day!

Miss Me? :)

Hello Bloggin' Buddies! :)

It's been a while, huh? My hubby and I went out of town at the beginning of the month (down to New Orleans, and then we took a cruise from New Orleans to Mexico). It was fun, but ever since I got back I have been SO unmotivated. And worse than that, I haven't been feeling very chatty. Which explains my lack of blogging...

I'm still not feeling particularly chatty, so I'll keep this short and just share a cute little gift I put together for a gardening-loving friend.



To make the bulbs box, I used a fry-box template that I created a while back. You can see another project I made with this template HERE and find a link to download it for your own use HERE.

Then I wrapped a ribbon around it, slipped it through a Nestabilities background circle I made for it and added my stamped image! Then I just embellished a little bit and stuffed the box full of crocus bulbs. I thought it still needed something, so I made a quick tag to top it off. The tag was super easy. I just cut some chipboard into a cool shape, covered it with patterned papers, inked the edges and then added my cut out sentiment.




Supplies:
Stamps: MFT's Garden of Joy
Papers: Papertrey Ink's White, DP by My Mind's Eye
Inks: Memento Black, Colorbox Taupe for inking tag and Nestabilities edges
Accessories: Copic Markers, Tiny (seriously tiny!) Buttons by Lasting Impressions, Brown Faux Suede Ribbon by MFT, Sheer Purple Ribbon, Twine, Large Eyelet, Circle and Scallop Nestabilities, Chipboard

Hope you enjoyed this little project. I'll be back tomorrow with more (and maybe I'll even find my chatterbox by then!). :)

Enjoy your evening.

A Balanced Blog Hop

Hello, and welcome to MFT's October new release blog hop. If you're arriving here from the crazy talented Jody Morrow's blog, you're all set. If not, you should probably head over to Kim's blog now and catch the hop from the beginning. The design team has a lot of fantastic things to share with you this month, and there's also some pretty sweet blog candy hidden along the way!

I am so excited to officially introduce you to another one of Stephanie Fizer's adorable friends tonight! This little lady is getting an early start on her holiday decorating! :) Like a lot of us out there, she's trying to balance it all herself!



You can grab your very own A Balanced Holiday set for $15.95 when it goes on sale tomorrow (Wednesday) at 10 pm EST over at the MFT store. The set includes this adorable image, some cute ornaments to dress up the tree, some presents for under the tree and three fabulous sentiments!

I know my blog readers really seem to like the shaped cards, and I do too! :) I usually like to create the shapes myself, but for today's card, I cheated a little and used a template by Kristina Werner.

After cutting out the card base pieces, I quickly punched holes around the edges using the larger hole punch on my crop-o-dile. I colored my girl with Copics and Copic Spica pens and added some shine to her outfit with Glossy Accents. Then I dressed up the tree with some of the fabulous Swarovski crystal rhinestones that MFT also has available in their store. I popped the image and a sentiment on the card front using some dimensionals and then punched two holes at the top of the card to thread my ribbon through.



Supplies:
Stamps: A Balanced Holiday, by MFT
Papers: White Cardstock for card base, Yellow DP by American Crafts, MFT's Perfect Paper Panels for the image, Green Cardstock
Inks: Memento Black
Accessories: MFT's Swarovski Crystal Rhinestones, Glossy Accents, Pop Dots, White Gel Pen, Copic Markers, Copic Spica Pens, Red Twill Ribbon

Now I've got to be going, but first I need to send you over to the amazing Cindy Haffner's blog. She's the next fun stop on this party train!

Enjoy your evening and thanks for stopping by!

From Fall to Christmas in One Day.

Well yesterday I shared all things Fall that are going on around me, and today I'm back with some Yuletide Cheer.

Before you all run away kicking and screaming "It's too early!!!," let me remind you that Christmas is only...dun dun dun...79 days away! It's getty chilly outside (at least it is here!), and it's getting harder and harder to ignore that winter is coming. And Christmas crafting takes a lot of time. So best start early! :)

MFT has been changing things up a little lately and are back to offering a Guest Designer challenge each month. That means that each month, you can participate in the challenge for your chance to win the next month's unreleased sets and the right to post early sneak peaks and participate in the blog hop with the rest of the design team members. Pretty snazzy stuff.

There's still time to participate in this month's contest, which closes tonight at 10 pm EST. The challenge is near and dear to my heart -- to incorporate fabric in to your creation.

I have dabbled in mixing fabric with paper and with printing on fabric in the past, but this time around, I decided to try something new. I pulled out one of the new releases being released TOMORROW and made this little cutie:



To make the ornament, I hand-cut two hearts from red felt. I love felt -- it's a great no-sew, non-fraying fabric, which means lots less work for me! Then, I blanket-stitched around the edges using cream embroidery floss. I had never done a blanket stitch and had been wanting to try it out forever, so I followed this online tutorial. It was extremely helpful and kept me from tearing my hair out! :) Before I stitched the last few stitches, I stuffed the heart with poly-fill. Then I finished up my stitching.

I stamped the mistletoe image with memento ink on a thin cream muslin fabric. Then I cut carefully around it with sharp scissors, being careful not to fray the edges. I colored it in using prismacolor pencils, applied a thin layer of fabric glue to the back of it, being sure to get close to the edges so it wouldn't fray, and then gently pressed it on to the front of the ornament.

I finished off the ornament by carefully tucking some cream twill ribbon in between blanket stitches at the top of the heart. Then I added a button, sewing through the ribbon as I sewed on the button, to secure everything together.

Supplies:
Stamps: Santa Baby, by MFT
Inks: Memento Black
Accessories: Red Felt, Embroidery Floss, Muslin Fabric, Prismacolor Colored Pencils, Button by MFT, Cream Twill Ribbon

Be sure to drop back later tonight (10 pm EST) for another fun project that I have ready for you. I think the stamp in the sample I have to share with you tonight is going to make you swoon! :)

Enjoy your day! Thanks for dropping by.