Monday Inspiration with Prickley Pear

It's Monday, so time for some inspiration from Prickley Pear.  I loved this sheet of designer paper that I found in my stash and decided to build my card about that.   I love the blue and red together.   It's another great combination that works for Christmas and many other occasions.

Stamps:  Ellie, Christmas Good Will

Be sure to check out the blog for more inspiration!

I snapped this while Laila was napping over the weekend.  She doesn't always want to nap, but her sleep has been a little off with the holidays and she's been falling asleep during her "quiet time" in her bed.

Geeky for MFT

Another challenge card! Yay!  This one uses a fun new set with coordinating dies that Jason got me for Christmas.   As a total nerd/geek family, it's perfect to make cards for us.  :)   I used the sketch at MFT Wednesday Sketch Challenge.  

I don't have any ovals and am waiting on a new mat for my Cameo, so I had to modify the sketch a bit to work with what I have.  I wish I'd made a square card now as it would have looked really awesome.  Maybe I'll try to fit a redo in this week! 

Laila is enjoying her easel that Santa brought.  :)   She's mixed up and used things on the wrong surface, but so far it's all washed off and been okay.   As long as she's having fun and being creative, it's all good! 

Make It Monday with PTI

Can you believe it is almost a new year?!   I can't.  I did sit down last night and think about my crafty goals for next year and wrote them down.  I feel like having that reminder there on my desk might be the key to making them happen!   One thing I want to do is to get back to doing challenges and trying new techniques.  I miss that so much!   It helps me improve as a stamper and stretches my creativity and I just need to make time.   I decided to start early and played along with the Make It Monday challenge at Papertrey Ink.  

We had family spa day today to relax.  Laila loved it and didn't want to get her feet out!  lol

Paper Smooches for Mom

Greetings!   Did everyone survive the holidays?   We did and I am so glad that it is over.   I feel like I have been too busy to even look at my stamp room and that had to stop and fast!   I did manage to sneak in there earlier this week and put this card together for my mom.   I was so sad that she didn't come down this year and thought I'd make a little card to let her know how much we missed having her.  I guess I do have to share her with my brother sometimes, but man!   Anyway...  The Paper Smooches SPARKS challenge is anything goes this week so I used my cute sewing machine again as I love it and it's perfect for Mom.

I hope everyone had a great holiday.  I know Jason totally spoiled us and I have lots of new crafty goodies, Copic markers, and some storage for my markers.   I have been working all day trying to get my room organized and straightened up.   I need to make an IKEA run next week for more stuff and get more listed on eBay.   So much to do! 

Watercolor Background Tutorial

Today I wanted to share a tutorial on three different ways to make a watercolored background.  I am such a big fan of these and I think you will be too once you start making them.

Suppies:
Watercolor paper
Water
Distress Ink
Markers (not alcohol-based)
acrylic block
dye ink
paintbrush

Using the distress ink is super easy, especially if you have a Ranger silicone craft mat.  Just swipe the ink pad on the mat, spray it with water, and lay your paper in it.   You can use a few different inks to get a multicolored background as well, Just swipe the ink pads near one another on the mat and then spray with the water.  This is what it will look like after; it will be much softer once it dries.

The second method is using reinkers. This one feels so very artsy to me.  I am not a painter, but this gives me a chance to play one.  Just drop a little ink on your mat, spray your paper with water, and then paint!

     

Finally, the last one uses markers and an acrylic block.  Super easy.  Just color on the block with the markers, spritz with water, and "stamp" it on your paper.   

Here's a look at the three panels once they've dried.  You can get many different looks depending on the colors and shades of inks/markers/reinkers that you choose.   You are only limited by your imagination.  

I ended up going with the first panel for my project because I wanted to cover it with vellum and it seemed to be the best choice for that.   For my card I just embossed the gorgeous JJ0017 Believe stamp on the vellum and then layered it over my watercolored panel.  I added some other blue and silver details and I am loving how it turned out. 

I hope you'll give this a shot and come share a link to your project in the comments! I'd love to see them. 

FMS Panda!

It's Wednesday and time for a new sketch at Freshly Made Sketches!  Our lovely queen of layers, Narelle, is our sketch designer this week.  I thought I probably should mat each of my layers in Narelle style, but then I got lazy.  lol  Jason's birthday is tomorrow, so I made this cute little card for him and will stamp a happy birthday message inside.   I hope he likes it.  :)

Remember you can interpret the elements many ways.  I think the team did a great job of illustrating that this week!  I stayed pretty true to the sketch.  Again, lazy.  :)   I love this new panda set I got from Mama Elephant.  It's been on my wishlist for ages and I got it with some of my Christmas money. Yay!

She's just about quit napping for me, but we do have quiet time every day where she can play in her crib or go to sleep.   After she likes to snuggle with me on my bed and we watch a PBS show together.  It's nice and relaxing for us both.  

Coffee with MFT

I am really enjoying my Black Friday order from My Favorite Things, especially this coffee die and stamp set!   :)   Isn't that cup just the cutest?  I love it!   I used those, plus a die from a Blueprints set and the new scallops die to play along with their sketch this week.

I'm off to enjoy my first cup of coffee and snuggle with this cute, silly girl.  

Prickley Pear Monday Inspiration

It's Monday and time for some new inspiration from Prickley Pear!   I did a bit of a weird color combo for a Christmas card, but I really loved this sheet of designer paper and pulled the colors from there.   It's a very simple card, but I love it.  :)

Stamps: EE0074 Flourished Partridge, FF0092 First Day of Christmas

My sweet girl.  :)