Thinking Inking

Sketched Blooms Thanks Flap Card

Welcome! I've been working on my MFT March release cards for the last few days, trying to get finished before my Copic teaching trip to Dallas this coming Thursday. Tonight I finally wrapped it up and had a chance to make something that I could share now. Last month I hadn't had a chance to use the MFT Stamps Sketched Blooms 2 stamp set, nor had I ever used the Blueprints Die-namics 28 either. Well, now I've remedied that! ;-)

I knew that I wanted to use patterned paper on my thank you card for a special friend's mother, but I was concerned that using a flapped die might now work well without a more substantial weight of paper for the flap. To alleviate the problem of thinner patterned paper, I used my X-Press It 1/4" High Tack Double Sided Tape to adhere my patterned paper layer to a layer of cardstock before cutting the flapped card front. By using high tack tape rather than glue, I didn't have to worry about getting stickiness all over my die--always a good thing. (And at $3.95 for 55 yards, it's a good deal too!) Patterned paper is the Tranquil Textures paper pack.

My next issue was that I wanted to add dimension to the layer under the flap, so I knew that I needed to use foam tape to lift that flapped layer to make room for the dimensional layers underneath the flap. Here I used the X-Press It 1/2" High Tack Foam Tape.  I go through my share of foam tape. . .

Next I masked an area on my card base that was slightly larger than the window opening of my flap and used my Copic Airbrush System  to create a background on which to stamp flowers. Here I've use BG05 for most of the sky and B63 toward the bottom. (I ended up adding some G43 a little later to the very bottom as well.)

Similarly, I airbrushed the inside left, bottom corner so that I could stamp coordinating flowers inside my card. (I should have masked the top flap where it was scored--you can see where I managed to get some overspray of the BG05 there.  Oops. . .)

Here's what my card looks like when you lift the front flap. (I didn't realize when I picked this stamp set that it doesn't have a coordinating die set: that meant I had to fussy-cut the two stems that I wanted to be raised.)

And here is the inside.

I'll probably play with flap cards again in the future--they're fun, and I'm pretty sure that my friend's mom will like it! Thanks for stopping by today,

Vintage Easter Egg: Power Poppy Instant Garden

Welcome! I'm back today with a new digital release from Power Poppy Stamps, Vintage Easter Egg. I've recently visited Georgia and South Carolina for a several days, and it was certainly Spring-y there! While I was away, quite a bit of our snow melted here at home to;, but never fear, we got more today. :-) It's still okay for me to use Spring colors on this Vintage Easter Egg, right?

In addition to the Vintage Easter Egg image with a sentiment, there is also an image with a blank tag so that you can personalize the egg tag for your favorite little person.

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color the Vintage Easter Egg image and background. 

I colored an extra tag and large flower so that I could raise those image parts with foam tape for some added dimension.

If you get a chance, please be sure to visit the following blogs for more Vintage Easter Egg-iness! 

Power Poppy Blog

Barb Walker

Jessie Banks

Nancy Sheads

Thank you for visiting today,

_____________

Supplies Used:

Image: Vintage Easter Egg (Power Poppy Stamps Instant Garden)

Cardstock: X-Press It Blending Card, Smooth White (MFT), Grapesicle (MFT), Cool Cucumber (MFT).

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Copic Markers (all listed in post)

Dies: Blueprints 13, Blueprints 15, Inside and Out Stitched Oval STAX (All MFT Die-namics)

A Beautiful Day: MFT Beautiful Butterflies Kit RELEASE

Welcome! It's release night, and the My Favorite Things Stamps Beautiful Butterflies Kit is now available. My third card is a soft pink and gray concoction: I really wanted to use vellum layers on butterflies for one of my cards, and pale pink and vellum just seemed to be happy together. :-)

I layered two pink inks (Tickled Pink and Cotton Candy) and a pale gray ink (Cement Gray) to stamp the butterflies. Next I layered plain, die-cut vellum butterflies over the top of stamped, die-cut butterflies and then ran a line of glitter glue down the center line of the raised butterflies. Easy -peasy! (But my card does require a larger than normal envelope.)

Be sure to stop by the MFT Stamps Blog for more inspiration using the Beautiful Butterflies kit! Thanks for visiting,

Beautiful Butterflies Card Kit	Premium Dye Ink Pad Cotton Candy	Die-namics Blueprints 25	Tickled Pink Premium Dye Ink Pad
Smooth White Card Stock	Translucent Vellum	Cement Gray Hybrid Ink Pad	Cement Gray Prestige Card Stock
Tickled Pink Prestige Card Stock	Nuvo Glitter Drops - White Blizzard	Foam Mounting Tape 1/2"	Scotch Quick Dry Tacky Glue

InLinkz.com

So Special: MFT Beautiful Butterflies Kit Countdown Day 2

Welcome! It's Day 2 of the My Favorite Things Stamps Beautiful Butterflies Kit Countdown. I went a different--and less colorful--direction with today's Beautiful Butterflies card because I needed a card for a more subdued occasion. It's a good thing that butterflies are versatile! ;-)

I paired the butterflies with the new Denim background stamp to give subtle texture to my background, finishing with the sentiment heat embossed on a simple gray banner.

I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps blog for a complete list of participants in the Beautiful Butterflies Countdown--I know that you'll see some great ideas! Thank you for visiting today,

Beautiful Butterflies Card Kit	Die-namics Blueprints 15	Die-namics Stitched Fishtail Flag STAX	Peach Bellini Prestige Card Stock
Gravel Gray Prestige Card Stock	Steel Grey Card Stock	BG Denim Background	Smooth White Card Stock
In the Buff Premium Dye Ink Pad	Peach Bellini Premium Dye Ink Pad	Coral Crush Premium Dye Ink Pad	Nuvo Glitter Drops - White Blizzard

InLinkz.com

Thank You: MFT Beautiful Butterflies Kit Countdown Day 1

Welcome! It's almost February Kit Release time for My Favorite Things Stamps. Are you a butterfly lover? If so, then this month's Beautiful Butterflies kit may be for you!

I've kept this card pretty simple, as long as you have light and dark ink pairs for two-toned stamping. I used an older background stamp set, Distressed Patterns, to pull in more color that coordinated with my butterflies, and used a splash of gray for the cardstock on which I stamped my sentiment.

I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps blog to see more inspiration with the Beautiful Butterflies Card Kit! Thank you for visiting today,

Beautiful Butterflies Card Kit	Distressed Patterns	Die-namics Blueprints 13	Foam Mounting Tape 1/2"	Smooth White Card Stock
Cement Gray Prestige Card Stock	Gravel Gray Premium Dye Ink Pad	Orange Zest Premium Dye Ink Pad	Hybrid Ink Pad Orange Fizz	Hybrid Ink Pad Lemon Drop
Lemon Chiffon Premium Dye Ink Pad	Ripe Raspberry Premium Dye Ink Pad	Premium Dye Ink Pad Cotton Candy	Sour Apple Premium Dye Ink Pad	Limelight Premium Dye Ink Pad
Periwinkle Premium Dye Ink Pad	Grapesicle Premium Dye Ink Pad

InLinkz.com

A Tweet Friendship: MFT Release Replay

Welcome! It's time for the My Favorite Things Stamps February Release Replay, and I have another Purr-Fect Friends card to share.  My last one involved mostly cats, so I thought I would play with the bird images from Purr-Fect Friends on this card. 

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color the Purr-Fect Friends images. I put just a bit of airbrushed BG53 on both the cage die-cut and the area behind it, with no masking needed.

I used paper from the Fresh Squeezed Chevron pack for my background, along with a frame cut with the new Single Stitch Line Rounded Rectangle Frames. On the inside, I continued with the rest of the sentiment from the front, "Makes My Heart Sing." 

I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps blog, where you will find links to all of the other Release Replay posts for February! Thank you for visiting today,

Purr-fect Friends	Die-namics Purr-fect Friends	Die-namics Single Stitch Line Rounded Rectangle Frames	Die-namics Blueprints 27
Die-namics Blueprints 25	Blending Card by X-Press It	Smooth White Card Stock	Black Licorice Prestige Card Stock
Gravel Gray Prestige Card Stock	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Versamark Ink Pad	White Detail Embossing Powder
Fresh Squeezed Chevron Paper Pack	3 mm Sparkling Clear Sequins	Foam Mounting Tape 1/2"	Nuvo Glitter Drops - White Blizzard

InLinkz.com

Our Friendship: MFT Release Night

Welcome! It's February Reveal Day for My Favorite Things Stamps: all of the new goodies that you've been seeing online for the past few days are now available. I played with the new Purr-Fect Friends set tonight. I loved the contrast between a plainer cat and one that's "da bomb" because, honestly, one out there cat is about all any friendship can take!

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used on the Purr-Fect Friends images.

I used a small strip of patterned paper from the Rainbow Stripes paper pack to give a little pizzazz to the bottom of my card, and I airbrushed a little blue atmosphere and some cool gray shadows on the background as well.

Again, all of the new February products are now available, and the links below should all work. Each of the MFT Design Team will have projects to share tonight, so please check out the MFT Stamps Blog for many more cool projects and products, as well as a chance to win fabulous prizes by commenting on the MFT DT New Product Release posts by the end of the day on Thursday, February 9. Good luck, and thanks for visiting,

 

Purr-fect Friends	Die-namics Purr-fect Friends	Die-namics Blueprints 27	Blending Card by X-Press It	Smooth White Card Stock
Black Licorice Prestige Card Stock	Rainbow Stripes Paper Pack	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice	Versamark Ink Pad	White Detail Embossing Powder
Quickie Glue Pen	Cool Diamond Microfine Glitter	Foam Mounting Tape 1/2"

InLinkz.com

Together We Can Do Anything: MFT Release Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the My Favorite Things Stamps February Release Countdown! Today I've used the Happy Together stamp set and coordinating Die-namics.

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color the Happy Together images. I airbrushed the sky with a Copic BG13 using a randomly torn paper towel as a mask. That's my favorite way to airbrush sky! The grassy foreground is also airbrushed with a Copic G43. I used a 0.3 Black Copic Multiliner to sketch a loose treeline to separate the grassy area from the sky. (The treeline is solidly colored with G24--not airbrushed.)

Keep in mind that while I linked all MFT products below, the links to the NEW release products will not work until Release Night, 9pm, EST on Tuesday, February 7. (All other links should work now.)

I hope you have time to check out the MFT Stamps Blog for a complete list of participants in today's countdown and to enter for prizes there! Thanks for stopping by today,

Pure Innocence Happy Together	Die-namics PI Happy Together	3 mm Sparkling Clear Sequins	Die-namics Inside & Out Stitched Circle STAX
Die-namics Stitched Circle Scallop Frames	Die-namics Blueprints 13	Die-namics Blueprints 27	Blending Card by X-Press It
Smooth White Card Stock	Cotton Candy Card Stock	Sweet Celebration Paper Pack

InLinkz.com

Space Explorer: MFT Release Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the My Favorite Things Stamps February Release! I chose the Space Explorer set to use today--you can see why, right? He's cute!

I thought I would show you pictures of my airbrushed background, because it was experimental for me. I pulled out some of my Fluorescent Copic colors--probably the first time I have used some of these! I sprayed a splotch of three fluorescent colors first, keeping a light yellow green near the top where I thought I might want my moon image. (All colors are listed toward the bottom of the post on my Copic Colors Map.)

Next I used my Copic C6 to airbrush around the fluorescent circles.

Finally, I used C10 to deepen all of the in-between spaces. The fluorescent colors were standing out a little more than I wanted them to by this time, so I lightly airbrushed C4 across the entire card front.

Looks like it will work! I had to think about that moon position/lighting for a bit; at first I had the light side of the moon facing my little space explorer, but when I thought about the moon not actually shining, but only reflecting the light of the sun, I decided that both the moon and the space explorer needed to be lit by the sun, with their light and shadow patterns the same.

Shown above are the Copic Markers that I used to color the Space Explorer and moon images. For the sentiment tag, I heat embossed detail white embossing powder onto black cardstock, then airbrushed my fluorescent colors (same ones that I used in the background) onto the white embossed sentiment.

While I linked all MFT products below, the links to the NEW release products will not work until Release Night, Tuesday at 9pm, Eastern, on February 7. (All other links should work now.) Be sure to to visit the MFT Stamps blog to enter for today's prize, and to see a full list of links for the DT members showcasing today's release sets! Thanks for stopping by today,

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BB Space Explorer	Die-namics BB Space Explorer	Die-namics Blueprints 24	Die-namics Stitched Fishtail Flag STAX
Blending Card by X-Press It	Smooth White Card Stock	Silver Foil Card Stock	Hybrid Ink Pad Black Licorice
Versamark Ink Pad	White Detail Embossing Powder	Foam Mounting Tape 1/2"

InLinkz.com

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When We Hug: MFT Release Day 5

Welcome to Day 5 of the My Favorite Things Stamps January Release! The set that I used today was a sentiment set, Lots of Hugs, paired with its coordinating Lots of Hugs Die-namics. (I trimmed the "s" from my die-cut since I needed a singular version of "hug.")

Other stamps and papers that I used were older releases: flowers from Mini Modern Blooms, and paper from the Fresh Squeezed Chevron paper pack. I used last month's Stitched Scallop Basic Edges 2 Die-namics to put a sweet little edge on my Smooth White cardstock, and then layered my flowers and words--easy!

As always during release week, the new items shown will be available on release evening, Tuesday at 9pm, Eastern, on February 7. Links for new supplies at the bottom of the page will work then; all other links should work now. Thank you for stopping by tonight, and I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps Blog for a complete list of participants in today's release blog hop, as well as for information on how to enter the prize drawing on the MFT Stamps Blog!

Lots of Hugs	Die-namics Twice the Hugs	Mini Modern Blooms	Die-namics Mini Modern Blooms	Die-namics Stitched Scallop Basic Edges 2
Die-namics Blueprints 27	Smooth White Card Stock	Cherry Crisp Prestige Card Stock	Limelight Premium Dye Ink Pad	Sour Apple Premium Dye Ink Pad
Gumdrop Green Premium Dye Ink Pad	Cotton Candy Hybrid Ink Pad	Cherry Crisp Premium Dye Ink Pad	Peach Bellini Premium Dye Ink Pad	Coral Crush Premium Dye Ink Pad
Foam Mounting Tape 1/2"	Fresh Squeezed Chevron Paper Pack	Nuvo Glitter Drops - White Blizzard

InLinkz.com

Copic Airbrush System Organization

 

Welcome back to my Copic organizational mini series. Today I wanted to share my Copic Airbrush System area with you. So where is it? That what I like--it's pretty much out of the way, but easily accessible since I use it several times a week!

Yes, it's hiding in the cabinet just to the left of my Copic Various Inks and extra markers. When we put the cabinets in, I asked Rick to put a couple of electrical outlets inside my cabinets for tools like my air compressor and under-cabinet low voltage lighting. The cabinet obviously isn't airtight, so I don't worry about the air compressor not getting enough air circulation. Rick also drilled a hole through the back right bottom of that cabinet so that I could run my air compressor hose through the hole, but I haven't used that much since I really just prefer to pull the hose and air grip out when I need it, and then put it right back when I finish with it rather than having cord showing on my countertop or hanging on my wall all of the time.

If you've been here very often, you've probably also heard me mention my Ellen Hutson Craft Assistant--a 12 x 12 magnetic board that I love for airbrushing. It lives in the drawer just underneath the cabinet holding the air compressor. I usually pull it out of the drawer and set it on the counter top to use it; but if the counter top is full (as it sometimes is), I sometimes just pull the drawer out and use the Craft Assistant right where it is. So far I haven't had to clean ink overspray off of my cabinet, but I'm sure I eventually will. It's really a better idea to pull it out and use it. . .

And that's what I usually do. (By the way, the metal is not warped. I just need to change my piece of scrap paper that I leave on the board to keep it clean.)

So when I'm airbrushing, this is the set-up. Then it all goes away pretty quickly, as you saw in the top picture on this post. In addition to my air compressor and Copic ABS3, I also have a Copic ABS1, which is a portable (canned air) version of a Copic airbrush system. That one is my traveling airbrush; at home I always use the air compressor.

Edited to add one more picture: I had to laugh this morning when I saw the only comment at the top of this post:

I hope it's okay with Trudie that I posted that, because it really made me think. . . You do know that when people take pictures of their work spaces,  they generally prefer for them to be Pinterest-Tidy, right? I mean, who wants to document the 95% reality when the 5% ideal is so much more appealing? [Warning, sermon alert!] We have an epidemic of beautiful women--and maybe men too, but I'm not as well-versed in how they think--who feel vaguely like a failure because their lives aren't as tidy/pretty/together as "everyone else's" around them. {{{Dear creative people, we're pretty much ALL in that same boat.}}} That's the point of my picture above. And, frankly, sometimes it gets much worse than that! When it gets too messy, I find that my creativity is sapped. That's when I stop and spend an evening cleaning everything up and putting everything away, and it again becomes a happy space for me. But don't be deceived into thinking that somehow YOU are the only one in the world who doesn't have your act--or work space--together much of the time. Keep making messes, and and keep making beautiful things that make your heart and the hearts of those around you SING. There, I feel much better with that sermon out of my head. ;-)

If you have any questions, let me know in the comments section, okay? Thanks for stopping by,