My Time Made Easy Preview - Grammy's Sewing Kit

I can't believe we are already into the August previews for My Time Made Easy!  Part of the release is a sewing theme.  Lauren has designed this amazing template that resembles a sewing box.  It's called Grammy's Sewing Kit.  Wait until you see what how it opens!

Cool huh?  It cantilevers open to reveal what's inside the bigger part of the sewing box.

Then the top boxes open as well.  I used Always Artichoke as by base an then used this sticky back fabric.  As I write this, I cannot remember who makes it, but I got it at JoAnn's.  I added some roses on the top of each of the boxes.  I used smaller pink brads to attach the boxes to the base and these pretty pink flower brads to attach the handle.  This really is quite simple to put together!

I also made this card using the new Spool of Thread Card cut file.  I cut it out of cream cardstock for the base, more of the sticky back fabric, and kraft cardstock.  The button card is from the new digital stamp set called Grammy's Sewing Kit.  I colored it in GIMP and then sewed on the buttons.  The base is white cardstock, so I distressed it with some Antique Linen ink.

And here is the set. 

You'll be able to see and purchase all the new products on Wednesday, August 1.

We are also welcoming some new designers to our team.  Tina Hale will be on the design team and Chrissie Tobas is designing some of the products for MTME.  Welcome girls!

We have more inspiration from the team.  Stop by these blogs to see for yourself.

MTME Gallery

Lauren Meader

Debbie Marcinkiewicz

Farida Rone

Tina Hale

Thanks for stopping by!

Just Us Girls #147 - Photo Inspiration

We have a great photo inspiration challenge for you over at Just Us Girls!  Vicki is our hostess and chose this beautiful picture for our inspiration this week.

 I, of course, focused on the beautiful butterfly and chose to use the black, red, and white colors from it too.  I used three Memory Box butterfly dies on my card.  I started with the Butterfly Delights border die and backed the opening with PTI's Bitty Dot Basics paper in red.  Then I cut the solid butterfly with the Vivienne Butterfly die in red paper and the Darla Butterfly detailed die in black.  I used Glitter Ritz glitter on both in Poppy Orange and Cool Highlight.  The Cool Highlight glitter on the black made it look gray...not the look I was going for, but I kind of like it.  The body was also cut out of black and I didn't glitter it so it stood out more.  The beautiful sentiment is from All a Flutter Sentiments set from My Time Made Easy.

Here's a closeup of this beautiful butterfly.

I used this Clean and Simple sketch this week.  So many ways to interpret it!

Here are some blogs you can visit to get more fabulous inspiration.

JUGs blog
Elise Durenberger
Lynn Mangan
Maria Levine
Marisa Ritzen
Vicki Dutcher
Esther Peck, July Guest Designer

I'd like to take this time to thank Esther Peck for joining us this month as our Guest Designer.  She did a fabulous job for us and her creations were all beautiful!  Thanks so much!
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Now I have something Olympics connections to tell you about. My coworker's brother, Matt Anderson, is participating in the Olympics. He is a volleyball player and we are so proud to have him representing us. He is from my hometown of West Seneca, just outside of Buffalo, NY, and we even went to the same high school (although MANY years apart!). His family is so proud of him and yesterday West Seneca declared it Matt Anderson Day! Here is a very cool picture of him!  Isn't he just so handsome?  So Top Gun, don't you think?

 And here is his offical Olympic photo.  He is 6'10" tall and has been tagged at jumping over 12 feet to smack that volley ball!  Amazing!

Good luck to Matt and all of Team USA!  We will be cheering you on!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pretty Palette #67 & DT Call

Have you seen that the Pretty Patterns and Pretty Palette Challenge blog is looking for some designers?  You can read about all the details here.

Here are this week's colors for the Pretty Palette Challenge.  I just love this color combo!

 I found all these colors in a My Mind's Eye paper pack.   I don't recall the name of it as I write this post.  The image is from the Fine Finish digital stamp set.  I colored the image with the challenge colors in GIMP and used the print & cut feature on the Cameo to cut it out.  The rest is pretty self-explanatory.  My neighbor is celebrating her birthday today, and I gave this to her last night as we sat outside in their yard by the fire.  Such a nice night!

I used this sketch for my inspiration.

Today is also Mick Jagger's 69th birthday!  I found this picture of him on Facebook (he is my friend on FB!) that was taken last week!  Let me tell you that he is rockin' 69!  Happy Birthday Mick!

Back to the Pretty Palette post.  You can stop by these blogs for more inspiration.

MTME blog

Jackie Randolph

Mary Vogel

Romaine Rancier

Don't forget about our DT call and thanks for stopping by!

Maria Levine's Got {ippity}? Design Team Birthday Hop

Maria Levine's Got {ippity}? design team is having a birthday blog hop!  Maria's birthday was last Friday, so we decided that this month's hop would be a birthday theme.  Maria is an {ippity} chick which means she sells these great rubber stamps.  {ippity} is part of the Unity Stamp Company, in case you weren't familiar with this line of stamps.  You can go to this site and choose her as your {ippity} chick if you order any of these great stamps.

The hop started at Maria's blog, so if you are just stopping in to see my card, why not start at the beginning and hop with us. She's giving away a prize to one random commenter, but you have to comment on all the design team's blogs in order to be able to win!

Now on to my card!  I'm using this cute set called "Bee" Better Together.  It comes with a sentiment that says "we're better together" but it didn't fit with the birthday theme, so I used this sentiment from the Fabulous Girl set.  Since I was working with bees, I printed out this honeycomb paper from the My Time Made Easy digital paper pack called Buzzy Blooms.  I added a Daffodil Delight panel embossed with a Tim Holtz honeycomb folder.  The wings of the bees were popped up and I added some Star Dust Stickles to them.  I love the black and white gingham ribbon against the yellow and black.



I followed this sketch from the Sweet Sunday Sketch Challenge.

So now that you've stopped by my blog, you'll want to follow the hop and go to Julie's blog.  We also have a guest hopping with us...woohoo!  Here's a list of the blogs you need to hop to in case you get lost.

Maria

Lisa (you are here!)

Julie

Jamie (our July guest!)

Martha

Vicki

Thanks for hopping with us!  

Stamp-a-Faire Homemade Embellishments

I've been watching the videos for PTI's Stamp-a-Faire and I really enjoyed the one that Heather Nichols did for the Homemade Embellishments segment.  I pretty much cased her embellishment using different colors.  I cut a piece of felt (I think this may be Raspberry Fizz, but I'm not certain.  I have to get better at labeling them when I receive them!) using a circle nestie.  I didn't emboss it, but it did leave that little bit of impression around the perimeter which gave me something to follow as I was stitching around it.  Heather used floss, but I used some crochet thread.  The Beautiful Blooms die was used for the flower.  The paper pack I used was Indie Bloom from Basic Grey.  I added that pretty heart button that came from my sweet friend, Diane Zechman.  It was strung with the same crochet thread.  The green ribbon is from American Crafts.  This is actually a tag card.  I got these tag cards at a stamp show.  They are from a company called The Paper Cut, and these are cool cause you can use them as a card or cut them apart for a tag.  I punched a hole in the top and added more ribbon and thread.  The sentiment is from Happy Trails.  It's stamped in Versafine ink.  I love the precision you get with this ink.

Here's the inside.  I added some of the same paper on the bottom and the sentiment from Signature Greetings.  I'm sending this to my friend Maria's niece Jennifer who had us all over yesterday to celebrate Maria's birthday.  Jen is really "so sweet" and I wanted to thank her for a great day.

So I guess I earned another badge!  Thanks for stopping in today!

Stamp-a-Faire Ribbon Technique and Mojo Monday #250

 Please click here to see my JUGs color challenge card.

Hi again!  I had to make a special card for my best friend Maria.  Tuesday is her 50th birthday, and today her family is having a small get-together for her.  I came up with this card.  I'm entering it into PTI's Stamp-a-faire ribbon technique challenge.  One of the challenges is tying a ribbon, which I can do with my eyes closed!  I wanted to try one of the other techniques on this card, but when I saw the Mojo Monday sketch, none of them but this one would work.  I'll do another with the other techniques because they were interesting.

This one started with the paper from Authentique called Carefree.  I LOVE the colors in this pack!  For the focal point, I used Big Birthday Wishes for the sentiment and Get to the Point for the numbers.   They were stamped in Black Versafine ink.  The flower was created using the Beautiful Blooms II #1 dies.  The button is kind of a cool one...a half circle.  I threaded it with some floss.  The rest is pretty self-explanatory.

Here's the Mojo Monday sketch I followed.  I left off one of the smaller flags.  It just didn't fit in there!

So, I'm off to my friend's party.  I bought her a Vera Bradley weekender bag in the new Indigo Pop color.  Here's a picture of it.

So pretty!  And I got her a new charm for her Pandora bracelet.  It's from their new line of zodiacs based on the Chinese year.  She was born in 1962 which was the year of the tiger.  It's a real cute charm.  Thanks for stopping in again today!  Have a great weekend!

 

Just Us Girls #146 - Color Challenge

Hi everyone!  Are you in the mood for a great color challenge from Just Us Girls?  Andrea chose a fabulous one for us.  These are some of my very favorite colors!  I wear them a lot and love to craft with them too!

I found these colors in the My Mind's Eye Hattie Papers pack.  I paired  it with this little cutie Pure Innocence girl called Make Mine a Double.  I paper pieced her dress and colored the rest of her with copics.  I added some Star Dust Stickles to the hearts and ice cream.  I love what some crafters have been doing with their embellishments, and I copied one I saw on Amy Sheffer's card.  I love the way it turned out.  I also pulled out my Pixie Singer craft sewing machine and did some stitching on my card.  I haven't used it in a while because the thread was always coming out of the needle while I was sewing and it was very frustrating!  But it didn't do it this time.  I think the problem was that I had taped the edges of the paper and the needle was getting stuck.  This time, I just ran some tape in the middle of the papers to keep them from moving around.  That seemed to work!  I need some practice, though.  I'm not a very straight and neat seamstress!

I also followed this week's MFT sketch.  I've been loving using them!  I'm also entering this into Crazy 4 Challenges.  Their challenge this week is to add stictching to your card.

You can see more inspiration on these blogs.

JUGs blog

Andrea Matthews

Elise Durenberger

Lynn Mangan

Maria Levine

Marisa Ritzen

Vicki Dutcher

Esther Peck, July Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by!  Enjoy your weekend!

A Quiet Day...

Hi friends!  I was going through my Google Reader of all the MANY blogs I follow (I swear I spend more time looking than stamping!) and found this photo inspiration challenge from Inky Impressions.  I immediately jumped for joy when I saw it because I have had an image colored and ready to use for maybe two years!  I'm almost embarrassed to admit that!  But I found it the other day when I was organizing and it was kismet when I saw this photo!

 And here's the image.  The umbrella and two chairs is what caught my eye.  This is an image by Art Impressions that I got at my LSS.  Like I said, it was already colored.  It took me a while to find some paper that worked with it.  I have TONS of paper, and I had a difficult time finding the right ones.  I finally settled on these from Basic Grey's Lauderdale paper pack.  I added the Cameo Coral flag that was cut with flag dies from WPlus9 Designs.  The blue flower was purchased at AC Moore and the coral flower behind it is a Prima flower.  I added some star dust stickles on the flowers in the picture and a yellow glitter pen on the lemonade pitcher and glasses.

I of course had to find a sketch to use (because I'm sketch challenged!), and I used this one from Sketchbook Saturday.  I had to change out the circle for my square image.  I also entered this into the SCS Free for All challenge called Weather or Not?

I'd love to know what you think of this one.  I kind of like the color combination and I think the image looks pretty good on it.  It's been waiting a long time for a home!  LOL!!  Thanks for stopping by!

CAS-ual Fridays - Let's Strip!

Hi there!  I was blog surfing early this morning and saw the title of this week's Cas-ual Fridays challenge "Let's Strip" and chuckled!  It seemed like a fairly easy challenge to complete.  I did this in the morning which if you know me is really unusual!  I am not a morning person and like to craft in the evenings.  But I kind of like this stamping in the morning!

The challenge is to use strips of color or pattern on your CAS card.  I've been wanting to use chevrons, so today seemed like a good fit for this challenge.  I used a border from the Silhouette America store in Real Red, Only Orange, Daffodil Delight, Green Galore, and Bermuda Bay cardstock colors.  (I had to look up the colors of the rainbow because I didn't know all of them or the order they went in!  I left off the purple...no room!)  I laid them out, glued them down, and trimmed them up.  Then I inked up this sentiment from Paper Makeup Stamps.  I colored the word "color" in corresponding colors.

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you are enjoying your summer!

Just Us Girls #145 - Technique Challenge

Happy Saturday!  Is it hot and sticky where you are?  It is here!  So why don't you sit in your air conditioned stamp room and play along with our technique challenge over at Just Us Girls.  This week, I'm the hostess and I love all the Stamp TV techniques that Gina K does.  So I've chosen the Faux Window technique.  It's easy and you can use it for any season.   Let me show you what I've done with this technique.

I stopped into my stamp store unexpectedly today, and they had a great sale going on.  They had a buy one get one free sale on the Heartfelt Creations stamps.  I found this one called Mystic Hideaway.  It was just the perfect image I needed for this technique.  I looked up this stamp set online and they had examples of how it was colored and I followed one pretty closely.  I used copic markers in the YG, BG, E, and W color families.  After I had it colored, I cut it into a square, then cut it into fourths.  The squares were mounted on a piece of basic gray cardstock, then again onto white cardstock.  This give the impression of a window pane.  That whole piece was mounted onto another piece of basic gray cardstock that was impressed with PTI's woodgrain plate.   The sentiment is from a Darcie's stamp set (which didn't have a name on it, just a number).  I cut it out with a Cuttlebug die and ran a sheer dotted ribbon through it.  I added some Star Dust stickles on some of the vines and the grass. 

You can see more fabulous inspiration from our JUGs design team on these blogs.

JUGs blog

Andrea Matthews

Elise Durenberger

Lynn Mangan

Marisa Ritzen

Vicki Dutcher

Esther Peck, July Guest Designer

Thanks for stopping by today!  Hope you can play along this week!

Pretty Palette #66

Hi everyone!  It's time for another Pretty Palette challenge.  I hope you like this week's colors. 

I found papers in the Basic Grey paper pad Sweet Threads that fit the bill perfectly.  And I also found a sketch yesterday that I loved on SCS.  So I made the card and posted it yesterday!  I just couldn't wait to post it there!   It was a perfect sketch to use some new MTME products!  I used the Birthday Banner Triangle cut file for the triangle and scallop triangle.  The image and sentiment are from the new Magical Birthday Wishes digital stamp set.   I actually used my new Silhouette Cameo to print and cut out the sentiment.  I tried to cut out the image, but it just didn't work.  I have to work on that!  But I printed the image on my computer and colored it with copic markers.  I added some star dust stickles to the cupcake and then fussy cut it out.  It's mounted on dimensionals.  I just love this card!

This is the great sketch from SCS that I used.

Please stop by these blogs to see what the design team created.

MTME store

MTME blog

Mary Vogel

Romaine Rancier

 

Thanks for stopping by!

Hope Your Birthday Rocks!

Happy Sunday!  Our neighbors' son had a birthday last week and his party is today.  I made this card for him.  Kevin turned 15 this year!  I cannot believe how the time has flown since he was a little boy.  But time does go on.  I thought this would be a good teen boy card.  The stamp set I used is You're My Hero from Taylored Expressions.   I remember buying this set because part of the proceeds of the sale of this set were going to a charity.  Loved that!  I pulled out my new paper pad from October Afternoon called Sasparilla.  Love the patterns in this and again, I thought they worked well for a teen boy card.

I used the July sketch from Sketch for You to Try.  I haven't played with these sketches for a while.  So nice to be able to play this month.

Now here's Kevin's card from last year that I never posted.  I thought I had, but didn't.  How did that happen?  All these products are from My Time Made Easy.  The image is the Got Game digital stamp set and was colored using GIMP.  I added the "14" on his shirt (for his age then) and the "T" on his cap.  He was entering high school last year and that is the first initial of his school.  The paper is called Pop Some Fun digital paper.  The sentiment is from the acrylic set called Keep Strong.  I added the red star in place of the "o".

That's it from me for today!  Hope you have a great day and thanks for stopping by!