Thinking Inking

One Last Batch!

Welcome! Yes, more late Christmas cards. . . but most of these I can pass out after church , so I'm still good there, right? :-} When I realized I needed a few more, I wanted to use a different sentiment. I was also in a pink mood. No surprise there. . .

  

I lettered this verse using my Apple Pencil on my iPad Pro (Procreate app) when I was practicing one evening, so all I had to do was to change the color, save it as a jpg file, and print it out. I placed six of them in a Word document so that I could print out two pages and have enough. I am giving that document to you, if you'd like it--it's attached here: Download For Unto You is Born_Deb Olson. (I left off the "Merry Christmas from the Olson family part.) Fine print: This is for your personal use, not for sale. Enjoy! I should also tell you that I used digital paper that I purchased HERE, Carina Gardner's La Petite Paperie Marguerite. I printed them at 8" square since that was as large as my inkjet would print, then got two cards out of each 8" x 8" piece, saving the scraps for contrasting patterns.  

I probably won't be posting in the next few days. But that's okay--you probably won't be looking at blog posts anyway. ;-) The Merriest of Christmases to you and your loved ones!

Last Minute Card Rush. . .

Welcome! I'm popping in for one quick post. I have to admit that I've made fewer cards this year than I have made in YEARS. It's been a crazy Fall and early Winter, and my crafting mojo has been hiding somewhere. (If you see it, send it home, okay?) But the flip side of that missing crafting mojo is that my floors are clean. Really clean. ;-)  

Since I had mailed only ONE card prior to today, I knew that I had to get at least a handful made. I also knew that I didn't have time to color any detailed images. (My apologies go out to my Copics.) So I simply reduced and printed out some of the lettering projects that I have done in the last few weeks as I practiced lettering in preparation for my last official Copic Lettering class in Phoenix in January. Some were in eggplant tones, some in blues, some in teals, and most in red. And I pulled out the patterned paper ghosts of Christmas past--mostly because I was too Scrooge-y to buy new paper this year when I still had five-year old paper in my closet. . . (Seriously, it's almost time for some new paper.) I got probably 20 cards made. That's not many, but it's 20 more than I would have had! I still have a few to send out tomorrow, and a few to hand out at church on Sunday. Late? Yes. But remember, my floors are clean. . . ;-}

I hope that YOU have been much more motivated than I have. Merry Christmas!

 

Just Bee-cause: MFT Release Replay

Welcome! It's time for the December My Favorite Things Stamps Release Replay, and I have another Meant to Bee card to share today.

Here's the inside of my card. After I die-cut the dome window for the front of my card, I didn't want to waste it; so it became the focal starting point for the inside.

For the outside, I airbrushed the white background with a couple of Copic markers (BG02 and YG13) after I lightly marked in pencil the area that I need to be sure was covered. I had also stamped the beehive a pale gray ink for placement purposes so that I'd know how and where it would work in my window. 

The rest of the images were all stamped in black ink and colored with Copics (listed below in the supply list), then attached with foam tape. I coated the bees' wings with fine glitter and added a sprinkling of clear sparkling sequins  to accessorize my card front.

Thanks for visiting, and be sure to visit the MFT Stamps blog for complete list of the participants in the December Release Replay!

 

Wishing You Peace: MFT December Release

Welcome! It's that time--December My Favorite Things Stamps Release time, that is! I saved a simple Christmas card to share today. When I saw the Our Town Die-namics, I knew that I wanted to create a snow scene on a clear winter night.

My challenge was to take a straight line of houses and figure out how to curve them to the snowy hill. I started by die-cutting my snowy hills and the row of house--Our Town Die-namics.

Next I tried clipping the curve like you would when you are sewing a sleeve into a garment, but that left some of the houses overlapping one another in the curves. So I simply cut them apart and glued them onto the back of the hill individually, leaving appropriate space between each house.

With the town hugging the hill, I still needed a pretty sky. Copic airbrush, anyone? (Actually, you could probably do something very similar with Distress Inks if you are good at blending/applying those.) I used the Copic Sketch markers shown above starting at the bottom with the lightest marker and working my way up toward the darkest marker. (I kept the colors lighter near the horizon since lights from the earth would probably make the lower sky look lighter.)

It still needed something, and my old standby the tiny bow didn't work out for me. Eureka! I had STAR sequins--and that was just what it needed--a star, with a tiny rhinestone in the middle! 

All of the new December products are now available, and the links below should all work. Each of the MFT Design Team members 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. Good luck, and thanks for visiting!

More Rustic Wildflowers: MFT Stamps Release Countdown Day 1

Release Day for My Favorite Things Stamps is almost here! Tuesday evening at 9pm Eastern time, all of the December products will be available. Today I have a sweet floral card to share using the new More Rustic Wildflowers stamp set.

I die-cut my front panel, then lightly airbrushed it with a Copic Y32, leaving the Stitched Scallop Basic Edges 2 Die-namic in place to mask the edge of the scallop from the ink.

Next I stamped, die-cut, and arranged my flowers. After using foam tape to attach them to the airbrushed base, I added Nuvo Jewel Drops and sequins to accessorize my card. The gray dotted base panel is from Gray and White Basics Paper Pack.

In addition to the products that I've shared here, there are several fabulous new products being showcased today; I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps Blog for a complete list of designers playing along with today's new products AND to enter for prizes! Remember that while all MFT products that I used are linked below, the NEW product links won't be live until Release time--that's Tuesday, December 5, at 9pm Eastern time. All other links should work now. Thank you for stopping by today,

Friendly Forest: MFT Stamps Release Countdown Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of the My Favorite Things Stamps December Release Countdown!  At 9pm Eastern time tomorrow night (Tuesday, December 5), the December release will be live and all of the new products shown in the past few days will be available.

For today's card, I chose the Friendly Forest stamp set and coordinating Die-namics. Since the animals were all solid stamps and didn't require coloring, I thought I could spend most of my time building a forest to showcase some of the animals.

Here's how I built my forest: I airbrushed a 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" panel on which I had already penciled in the area that needed to be covered with color. I went from a fairly cool blue at the top (B23) to a warmer blue-green (BG05), to the grass in the foreground (G43), overlapping the layers a bit to tie them all together. I did no masking and have no hard edges, but with the trees on top, it should still read as ground and sky.

Next I adhered the trees and leaves to the airbrushed background and framed the image with both the card front and frame. All of them are somewhat neutral browns, but just different enough so that they don't all morph together into a one-layered look.  Finally, I added my stamped, die-cut animals and sentiment. (I used a black gel pen to darken the eyes, but I didn't see one to look in the MFT Stamps store. Any black pen would work, but a gel pen gives you some shine too.) Simple enough, right?

In addition to the products that I've shared here, you may enjoy checking out several fabulous new products being showcased today; I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps Blog for a complete list of designers playing along with today's new products AND to enter for prizes! Remember that while all MFT products that I used are linked below, the NEW product links won't be live until release time--that's late Tuesday, December 5, at 9pm Eastern time. All other links should work now. Thank you for stopping by today,

I Bee-lieve in You: MFT Stamps Release Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the My Favorite Things Stamps December Release Countdown! I wanted to play with the Meant to Bee stamp set for today's post, mostly because my son's nickname from when he was very young was "The B."  Besides, that beehive is fun to color! 

To keep my colors earthy and natural, I tried a cardstock that I've probably never even used before: Safety Orange. (Using a brighter color base totally changes the mood of this stamp set--I'll share one of those in a few days.) All of my Copic colors are listed in the product list below. The blue-violets were used for shadows on the beehive. You probably can't see it in the picture, but I used microfine glitter on the bees wings--sweet sparkle! And that new Honeycomb Background is a perfect complement for Meant to Bee.

In addition to the ones that I've shared here, there are several fabulous new products being showcased today; I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps Blog for a complete list of designers playing along with today's new products AND to enter for prizes! Remember that while all MFT products that I used are linked below, the NEW product links won't be live until Release time--that's late Tuesday evening (December 5) at 9pm Eastern time. All other links should work now. Thank you for stopping by today,

Painted Flowers: MFT Stamps Release Countdown Day 4

Welcome to day four of the My Favorite Things Stamps December Release Countdown! I chose the new Painted Flowers stamp set to introduce today because I knew it looked like one I could use over and over with different color schemes. And with its swirly stamps (which I did not use today), it can just as easily be a whimsical floral set as a soft floral set. The stamp sets showcased over the next few days will be available on Tuesday, December 5, at 9pm Eastern time.

I needed a sympathy card for a friend's mother, and Painted Flowers worked well to frame the sentiment from the Deepest Sympathy stamp set. 

While I have linked all products that I used below, the links to the NEW product links will not be live links until release night, 9pm Eastern Time, Tuesday, December 5. All of the other links should work now. Be sure to check the MFT Stamps blog for more December Release inspiration AND for a chance to win some great prizes! Thank you for visiting,