MIM #21 - 2 step masking

I absolutely LOVED this card that Nichole Heady created during the June countdown posts - and now so thrilled that she created a how-to video!

For my take, I created my mask in the same way that she taught, so that I could sponge fresh snow ink around, leaving a striking black rectangle in the middle of my mat.  Perfect space for stamping my tulips (also in fresh snow ink) and then using a q-tip to apply some blue and green pastel inks.  Do blue tulips even exist?

The q-tip isn't a tool for precise application, obviously, but I thought it added to the softness of the image, along with all that billowy white sponging around the rectangle...

The black panel was matted onto another layer, covered in BB: gingham.  I finally think I've got the hang of lining up those ginghams!  I love a full panel of that pattern - I'm going to be using it a lot more now!

Thanks for looking!

happy easter, peeps!

I just wanted to pop in and wish everyone a happy easter.  Hope you enjoy a meaningful day with family and loved ones, some good eats and lots of chocolate...  I have a song in my heart, as we celebrate the resurrection of our Saviour!

 We whipped up (by that I mean, I forgot I had bought the peeps until 15 minutes before we were leaving for church when I spied them in the pantry) some treats to give out to our friends this morning.  To our favorite peeps! ha ha - I crack myself up.

The kids and I popped a few peeps and some chocolate eggs into each cello bag... that sugar stuff is crazy - it got everywhere!  We stamped (I did let them help this time!) the chick image from PTI's friendship jar spring filler set and they carefully dotted some pastel colors into the polka dots with their markers... I hand-wrote the sentiment and we stapled it all together just in time to spread the luv to our favorite peeps.

MIM - on Saturday

This week really flew by... I haven't missed participating in a MIM challenge yet, and I didn't want to break my streak.  I have to admit that I'm not head-over-heels for this card.  The stitching is sloppy, which is bugging me.... but at least the kids were excited by this card!  They asked that it be given to them on Easter Sunday, with "lots of chocolate, ok?" haha.

The challenge this week is "heat-embossing."  Really not my go-to technique. At all.  I find it messy and I absolutely hate it if it's not cleanly done.  When there are extra gold or silver or (even worse) white flecks on the paper?  blech.  So I mostly (when I do heat-emboss) use clear embossing powder.  Wanna see it closer-up?

The kids had fun running their fingers over the stamped images.  So did I, truth be told.  

ps - did you notice the eggs in my apothecary jar?  I stamped PTI's "textstyle II" and "background basics: gingham" onto white tissue paper (y'know, the filler you put into your gift bags) and then modge-podged strips onto some dollar-store plastic eggs.  Our crafty spring decor... 

Card supplies

stamps: friendship jar spring fillers, tag-its (PTI)

paper: whisper white, certainly celery, baja breeze, pink pirouette, daffodil delight, bashful blue dsp (all SU)

ink: versamark, daffodil delight, early espresso (all SU)

misc: clear embossing powder, scallop edge punch (SU)

birthday tags & sewing machines.

There was a lot of under-the-breath-muttering that went into this project.  I must have sounded pretty bad over the phone, because my sister packed up her 2 kids and ran over to help me out with my machine.  We're not friends, let's put it that way (my machine and I, obviously... I like my sis just fine.)   But I'd like for this relationship to work out...for so many reasons... but let's start with paper, I guess.  Work my way up to fabric later on...

Love the look of stitching on cards.  I know my stitches are far from perfect, but I think they're pretty cute.  In a "look what I finally accomplished" kind of way :)

I've never even tried the zig-zag stitch on my machine before!  I feel like I just ran a marathon.  I need to eat some chocolate to calm my nerves.

I look forward to becoming better acquainted with my sewing machine... tomorrow.

Here are the deets on my birthday tags:  I stamped the tulips from "friendship jar spring fillers" and the "happy birthday" greeting is from tag it's 1.  The tag shape and papers are all SU.  I need to use up some of my stash. Why do I keep buying more papers without using up the old ones?  It's inexplicable... some women can't resist a new pair of shoes - it's patterned paper for me :)

friendship jar

I resisted for so long... but those tulips sent me over the edge - I had to have this set!  And by the way, I WAITED for it - I don't know what Canadian customs was doing with my package for, like 3 weeks, but whatever.

It's a really, super-simple-I-just-want-to-stamp-this-already design.  Hee!  And I decided against coloring the tulips for 2 reasons:

1- my copic skills are laughable (although in the privacy of my own home I'm a rockstar, they don't compare to what I've seen on other blogs)
2- I don't trust keeping copics on the table when my 3-year-old Thomas is crafting beside me.  He doesn't get the whole "those are your markers, these are mine" bit :)

So, we decided to use scissors.  He likes cutting into things better anyways - appeals to his boyish desire to destroy things... I paper-pieced the tulips and leaves while he destroyed the image I stamped for him.  He doesn't care for "too-wips," apparently... (When I first showed the set to my daughter, she was over the moon for the tulips - but Thomas kept thinking we were saying something about "2 lips."  He was confused when he couldn't spot a set of lips in the set - lol!)

Here's a close-up so you could see how I popped up the paper-pieced tulips (but not the leaves).  I thought it gave a bit of dimension to an otherwise simple card.

Thanks for looking!