Stitched with Love - Saint Patrick's Day

You don’t need to be Irish to wear a bit o’ the green and take part in the fun tradition of Saint Patrick’s Day. If you have a sneaky leprechaun that likes to surprise people with little treats for this holiday, a hand-crafted card or tag provides a great finishing touch. We’re having a lot of fun conceiving new pattern ideas to use with our Cross-Stitch Tag Die-namics and the prospect of rainbows and four-leaf clovers was too good to pass up! Our team, as always, is on-board as well and they have plenty of inspiration to share with our newest cross-stitch pattern collection…good luck resisting this colorful quartet of designs!

What fun designs these cross-stitch patterns are! I made tags but they would work so well as the focal point of a card, too. I used DMC embroidery floss because I have a TON of it from my cross-stitchin’ days. For the shamrock I used #911

And for the top hat I used #909, #3322, and #310

   

They were both stitched on Smooth White Card Stock, the tops were covered with Fresh Squeeze Chevron Paper Pack, the grommet was cut from Black Licorice card stock, and finished off with some tiny gingham check ribbon and solid baker’s twine. The back was covered (if you’re like me the back side of your cross-stitch is pretty messy ;-)) with Sweet Tooth card stock.

And that’s it! Thanks so much for stopping by today! See you soon!

All products from My Favorite Things unless otherwise noted.

Die-namics: Cross Stitch Tag
Patterned Paper: Fresh Squeezed Chevron
MFT Card Stock: Smooth White, Black Licorice, Sweet Tooth
Supplies: E-Z Runner, Multi Medium Matte Glue
Tools: QuickStik Pick-up Tool, Precision Tip Glue Applicator Bottle, craft tweezers
Other: Die-cutting machine, ribbon, baker’s twine, DMC floss, tapestry needle

Let’s Celebrate–MFT February Birthday Project Challenge—Up, Up and Away!

Welcome to the February MFT Birthday Project Challenge! Few things say “birthday” like a beautiful bouquet of balloons. For this month’s challenge, focus on a single bobbing balloon or cover your card in copious amounts of colorful images or die cuts.





Why do one balloon when you can fill your card front with them, right? That’s easy to do with Big Balloons Stencil. To begin, I stamped Balloon Strings Background on a Sweet Tooth card stock base with Cement Gray dye ink. I wanted the strings to be really subtle and this color ink worked perfectly. Next i stenciled balloons all over using bright colors (listed below).



Next I stamped the sentiment from Handwritten Happiness with Extreme Black hybrid ink and added a bunch of stars cut from Silver Sparkle card stock—some popped up on foam tape.

And there you have it! Remember, you can get all the details by visiting the MFT Challenge Blog. You have the chance to win a $50 in MFT voucher. One winner is chosen at random each week!

Thanks for stopping by! See you soon!

All products from My Favorite Things unless otherwise noted.

Stamps: Handwritten Happiness, Balloon Strings Background
Die-namics: Blueprints 13, Tag Builder Blueprints 4, Tag Builder Blueprints 6
Stencils: Big Birthday Balloons
Dye Ink: Razzle Berry, Limelight, Daffodil, Orange Fizz, Wild Wisteria, Lush Lagoon
Hybrid Ink: Extreme Black
MFT Card Stock: Sweet Tooth
Specialty Papers: Silver Sparkle
Supplies: foam mounting tape, Multi Medium Matte Glue
Tools: Smart Grid Paper Pad, MISTI, Square Bone Folder, Scor-Buddy, QuickStik Pick-up Tool, Precision Tip Glue Applicator Bottle, craft tweezers
Other: Die-cutting machine

You’re Raw-some–Chibi Lights Event

Hello everyone, today is the first day of a two-day Chibi Lights collaboration. Chibi Lights are so much fun so be sure to check out all the Design Team projects at the MFT Blog, along with all the details about an awesome giveaway. Be sure to check out the Chibitronics blog, too, as they are giving away a prize as well. 




I have actually had this card in mind since this set was released and just never got around to doing it. In fact, I’ve had the lanterns colored for that long! To begin is this card, I sponged my background on Smooth White card stock, leaving an area lighter for the lanterns and embossed the “line” for it from Be Mine Banner. I marked where my lanterns were going to go and punched holes in the center area for each.

On my Sweet Tooth card base I arranged my circuitry in a parallel pattern since I had multiple lights—instructions for this pattern are in the Chibi Lights starter kit.

Here’s a little video showing the lights going on and off:



To create the “switch” I cut a piece of Sweet Tooth card stock to slip under the battery to break the circuit and turn the lights off. When I remove the paper, the connection resumes and the lights come on :) I stamped “PULL” from Interactive Labels Stamp Set on the slip of paper to let the recipient know what to do to light up the card. I used Chibi Conductive Fabric Tape Patches to protect the connection from the switch paper sliding in and out. Love these things!!



After I got my lights set up I popped the card front up on foam tape—it takes a couple of layers to match the thickness of the battery—and stamped and colored my images. I added them and the sentiment and it was done!

Chibi Lights are so much fun—there are several new products that are in my shopping cart right now that I am looking forward to using soon.

Thanks so much for stopping by! See you soon!

All products from My Favorite Things unless otherwise noted.

Stamps: Sushi Date, Interactive Labels
Die-namics: Sushi Date, Essential Fishtail Sentiment Strips, Be Mine Banner
Dye Ink: Banana Split, Cornflower, Blueberry, After Midnight
Hybrid Ink: Extreme Black
Specialty Inks: Versamark, Sweet Tooth Pigment Ink
MFT Card Stock: Sweet Tooth, Smooth white, Black Licorice, No-Line Coloring
Supplies: foam mounting tape, white detail embossing powder, Multi Medium Matte Glue, Chibi Lights Starter Kit, White LED Chibi Circuit Stickers Mega Pack, Chibi Conductive Fabric Tape Patches
Tools: Smart Grid Paper Pad, MISTI, Square Bone Folder, Scor-Buddy, QuickStik Pick-up Tool, Precision Tip Glue Applicator Bottle, Embossing Magic, Copics, craft tweezers, Mini Ink Blending Tool
Other: heat tool

Thanks–MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge #372

Hi, everyone, I’m back with this week’s MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge! Are you ready? Here’s this week’s sketch. All of the details about the sketch challenge are available on the MFT Challenge & Inspiration blog as well as in the weekly newsletter. The MFT Design Team will be on hand to provide plenty of inspiration to get you started.

This is a really basic sketch that you can take in all sorts of directions, I chose to create a watercolor rainbow for the horizontal element using Peerless Watercolors on Ranger Watercolor paper. I bordered it with paper from Black & White Basics Patterned Paper and adhered it to a Sweet Tooth card stock base.



Then I cut Twice the Thanks Die-namics from Brushed Gold card stock, stacked it on two layers of white card stock and adhered it to the watercolor panel. To finish, I added a 4mm Clear Droplet and Morning Dew Nuvo Crystal Drops.

And there you have it! Remember, you can get all the details by visiting the MFT Challenge Blog. You have the chance to win a $50 in MFT voucher. One winner is chosen at random each week!

Thanks for stopping by! See you soon!

All products from My Favorite Things unless otherwise noted.

Die-namics: Twice the Thanks
Patterned Paper: Black & White Basics
MFT Card Stock: Sweet Tooth
Specialty Papers: Brushed Gold card stock, Ranger Watercolor Paper
Supplies: foam mounting tape, Peerless Watercolors, Multi Medium Matte Glue, Nuvo Morning Dew Crystal Drops, 4mm Clear Droplets
Tools: Smart Grid Paper Pad, MISTI, Square Bone Folder, Scor-Buddy, QuickStik Pick-up Tool, Precision Tip Glue Applicator Bottle, water brush, craft tweezers
Other: Elmer’s spray adhesive

I’m so Sorry–CTD #480

Hi everyone, it’s time again for the Color Throwdown Challenge! This week’s SWEET combo is brought to us by Wanda, based on her gorgeous inspiration piece.




I just didn’t want to do flowers, KWIM? Sometimes I want flowers, sometimes I don’t—this time was a don’t, LOL! The green was easy, so was the gray, but I had to think out of the box for the purple. Then I came up with…purple sky! Yes! To create my sky I applied a watercolor wash and stamped the sentiment from Deepest Sympathy stamp set with Gravel Gray hybrid ink—I always use hybrid ink on watercolor paper because the fibers are so soft that dye ink will feather for me every.single.time.



Next I added Stitched Valley Die-namics, cut from Gumdrop Green card stock and stamped up some Modern Trees Stamp Set and Die-namics with Gumdrop Green dye  ink and Cement Gray hybrid ink, then popped them up on foam. To finish I added some enamel dots and some 4mm Clear Droplets.

And that’s it from me! Remember, you do not have to have the exact colors to play the Color Throwdown challenge. If you don't, just use the closest you have. So, c'mon over to the Color Throwdown blog and play along with us this week. Please use the link service to post your card and please link directly to your card so we can find it easily. And please include a link in your post to the Color Throwdown. If you upload your card to a public forum, please use the keyword CTD480 so we can see your beauty all in one place, and use #ctd480 and #colorthrowdown on social media. Hope to see you there! Be sure to check out what the other team members have come up with this week, including our incredibly talented Guest Designer, Claire Apostoloff!

Amy Rohl
Amy Rysavy
Barbara Anders (<—You are here!)
Broni Holcombe
Jodi Collins
Lisa Henke
Lori Tecler
Lynn Put
Vickie Zimmer
Wanda Cullen
Claire Apostoloff – February Guest Designer

All products from My Favorite Things unless otherwise noted.

Stamps: Modern Trees
Die-namics: Modern Trees, Stitched Valley
Dye Ink: Gumdrop Green
Hybrid Ink: Gravel Gray
MFT Card Stock: Sweet Tooth, Gumdrop Green
Specialty Papers: Ranger Watercolor Paper
Supplies: foam mounting tape, Peerless Watercolors, Multi Medium Matte Glue, 4mm Clear Droplets
Tools: Smart Grid Paper Pad, MISTI, Square Bone Folder, Scor-Buddy, QuickStik Pick-up Tool, Precision Tip Glue Applicator Bottle, Mini Mister, water brush, craft tweezers
Other: Die-cutting machine, enamel dots