Hello and happy Thursday everyone. Before I start with the fun stuff, I wanted to let you know that this will be my last post as a design team member for MarkerPOP. Having a young family, things are becoming very busy for me, and my creativity has been hard to come by lately! I am really disappointed that I've had to come to this difficult decision to step down from the team, but I just know it's the right thing I need to do! I hope you've enjoyed the projects I've created during my time on the team. I loved this team and using all the fun products!!

Ok on to the crafty stuff! Today's card features stamps & dies from My Favorite Things, and a Tim Holtz stencil. First, I started by die cutting an orange piece of card stock from the MFT Blueprints 29 die set. Then, using MFT's Inside & Out Stitched Rectangle STAX, I die cut the dark grey card stock. To give the background behind the pumpkins a little more interest and texture, I ink blended some Black Soot Distress Ink over Tim Holtz's Mini Layered Stencil #22 (the leaves stencil). It's pretty subtle, but I LOVE the effect ;)

For the black and orange pumpkins, first I repeatedly stamped the star stamp from the Spooky Sweets set with VersaMark ink on black and orange card stock. It was then embossed with WOW! Gold Rich embossing powder--a NEW brand/product in the store! Make sure to check them out...there are a TON of colors to choose from! Then I ran them through my die cut machine using the smallest pumpkin in the Spooky Sweets die set.

The white pumpkin was also stamped with VersaMark ink onto Neenah white card stock, then heat embossed with WOW! Opaque Bright White embossing powder. The stem was embossed with the Gold Rich EP, then die cut. The sentiment is stamped on Neenah white card stock using the same gold EP, and then die cut using a banner die from MFT Blueprints 29. The white pumpkin and sentiment are popped up using some foam tape for dimension.

I hope you've enjoyed my fall/Halloween card today! I appreciate you stopping by. Have a great day.

Nicki
my instagram

We Flamin-go Together!

Hello crafty friends! I'm over on the MarkerPOP blog today sharing this super cute CAS flamingo card! I made this for my husband since our anniversary is coming up!

To start off, I used a Neenah Solar White card stock base. The Avery Elle "celebrate" die cuts also are Neenah Solar White, as well as the Lawn Fawn Flamingo Together palm trees and MFT banner die cut that "flamin-go" is on. The green part of the palm trees are stamped in Altenew's Forest Glades, and the brown pieces are stamped with Dark Chocolate.

The flamingos were stamped on watercolor card stock with VersaMark embossing ink, then heat embossed with black embossing powder. Using ZIG Clean Color Real Brush Markers in 028 Pale Pink & 021 Light Carmine, I colored in the flamingos lightly, and then used a water brush to blend the colors together. The beaks use ZIG CCRB 095 Dark Gray. Then they were die cut using Lawn Fawn's Flamingo Together die set. The heart was colored in using ZIG CCRB 024 Wine Red, then finished with a coat of Clear Wink of Stella.

Underneath the two groups of palm trees, I used ZIG CCRB 091 Light Gray to quickly color a shadow under them to ground them. The palm trees were adhered directly to the card base. The sentiment was stamped using black ink. The celebrate die cuts were adhered directly to the card base for some added texture, and a fun way to include another sentiment without taking away too much from the main sentiment. Since the card is being used as an anniversary card, I thought "celebrate" was perfect to include on it ;)

The flamingos were attached to the card base using foam tape, and the heart was glued directly to them.

I hope I've inspired you today! Thanks for stopping by!

Nicki
my instagram

Ellen Hutson Guest Artist Challenge

Hey there! I'm popping in tonight to share this card I created for the Ellen Hutson Calling All Artists Pin-Sights Challenge!

I used the Essentials by Ellen Totally Fabulous Designer Dies, and Altenew stamp sets - Painted Flowers and Sohcahtoa. To achieve a different color on the "TOTALLY" die, I first die cut it from the stitched panel, and it's still 'anchored' at the bottom (the letters don't actually get cut all the way). I wanted to make sure the word stood out, so I inked up a separate piece of cardstock with the Lavender Fields ink, then die cut "TOTALLY" from it, and snipped the letters off at the bottom. From there, I just glued each purple letter right on top of the white letters! Easy as pie! :D

If you look carefully, I also looped the "l" in "fabulous" behind the "T" in "TOTALLY", and rotated fabulous so it's on an angle. I really love that look!

Thank you SO MUCH for stopping by! Crossing my fingers to be chosen for a guest artist spot! :)

Supplies:

Stamps: Altenew - Painted Flowers, Sohcahtoa
Dies: Essentials by Ellen Totally Fabulous Designer Dies; MFT - Blueprints 29
Cardstock: Neenah Solar White

Ink: Altenew - Jet Black, Soft Lilac, Lavender Fields; Hero Arts - Charcoal

MarkerPOP Challenge #101 Embossing

Hello! Today starts a BRAND NEW CHALLENGE over on the MarkerPOP blog!! The theme this time is EMBOSSING. Head on over to the blog to get the details on how to enter for a chance to win some awesome stamps!!

I'm sharing this fun baby shower card today. I started off by ink blending a soft blue sky on the Neenah card stock base with foam applicators and Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass. Using MFT's STAX Stitched Circle Scallop Frames, I die cut the largest circle from the set using Neenah card stock. Using black embossing powder and VersaMark ink, I stamped and heat embossed the stork, balloons, and baby bundle from Avery Elle's Special Delivery stamp set on watercolor card stock. Those images were then die cut from the Avery Elle Special Delivery Die Set.

The images were colored in using Tim Holtz Distress Markers in Dried Marigold, Squeezed Lemonade, Bundled Sage, Tumbled Glass, and Wilted Violet. I then used a water brush to move the ink colors around and create a watercolor look.

After all the pieces were water colored, I adhered the circle die to the card base. I wanted to get the sentiment perfectly centered within the circle, so I used the wonderful MISTI tool to do that!! If you don't have one of these yet, I HIGHLY recommend it! It will greatly improve your stamping results!! So, I stamped the sentiment with VersaMark ink, and then heat embossed it with black embossing powder. When the sentiment is heat embossed, it really adds some 'punch' to the card. Love that shiny look!

The clouds were adhered directly to the card base, and the rest of the die cut elements were adhered using foam tape to add some dimension. A white gel pen was used to add a 'light spot' to the balloons.

I had a blast creating this card....I hope it brings you some crafty inspiration today! Thanks for stopping by!

Nicki
my instagram

Hello! with MarkerPOP

Good morning! I'm here for MarkerPOP to share another floral card with you. It features the Funky Flowers clear stamp set from MFT, and the sentiment is from the Spring Hello by Lia Griffith stamp set from Hero Arts.

First, I used the embossing magic pad to rub over the whole piece of Tim Holtz Watercolor Card Stock. Then, I inked up the flowers and leaves with VersaMark Ink, and stamped onto the watercolor card stock. Using a fine, white embossing powder, I heat embossed it. Using the following Distress Markers, I colored in the flowers and leaves quickly (Squeezed Lemonade, Dried Marigold, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Broken China, Bundled Sage, & Peeled Paint). The coloring didn't need to be perfect because then I took a waterbrush and brushed it over each petal and leaf to achieve a watercolor look.

The dark grey card stock was diecut using Lawn Fawn STAX Small Stitched Rectangle Die. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and then mounted the panel to the card base with Foam Tape.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. :D  Have a great day!

Nicki ~ Find me on Instagram

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Don't forget that there is still time to enter the giveaway for your chance to win one of five $20 gift certificates to the MarkerPOP store!! Check out this blog post for all the details! You have until Friday July 20th to enter.