Thinking Inking

Sending Hugs: MFT Release Countdown Day 4

Welcome to Day 4 of the My Favorite Things Stamps September Release Countdown! Today I chose the Birdie Brown Fall Friends set to showcase--I loved coloring these images, as well as airbrushing a Fall sky background. (And we've had a few nippy mornings here in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan already--Fall's coming!)

Shown above are the Copic Sketch Markers that I used to color the Fall Friends images and to airbrush the background. 

For the background, I stamped random leaf images on my cardstock, and then stamped the Itsy Bitsy Polka Dots Background in a lighter green ink. After that, I colored the leaves with Copic YG91--just enough to slightly darken them and make them stand out a bit.

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, 10am Eastern Time, Tuesday, September 4. All of the other links should work now. Be sure to check the MFT Stamps blog for more August Release inspiration AND for a chance to win some great prizes! Thank you for visiting,

Not Normal: MFT Release Countdown Day 5

Welcome! It's Day 5 of the My Favorite Things Stamps September Release Countdown. Today I'm sharing a sentiment from the new Sassy Pants Best Friends stamp set, paired with two older sets, Monster Sized and the Whimsical Woodgrain background. The new stamp sets showcased over the next few days will be available on Tuesday, September 4, at 10am Eastern time.

When I read through the sentiments in the Sassy Pants Best Friends stamp set and got to the "You are not Normal" sentiment, I immediately thought that it would be fun to pull out my Monster Sized stamp set--I loved that little monster with his claws over his head! I also used some of the Sunset Glitter cardstock for my circle frame. 

Again, while I have linked all products that I used below, the links to the NEW products will not be live links until release night, 10am Eastern Time, Tuesday, September 4. All of the other links should work now. Be sure to check the MFT Stamps blog for more August Release inspiration! Thank you for visiting,

Make Today Beautiful: MFT Beautiful Bloom Kit Now Available!

Welcome! The My Favorite Things Stamps Beautiful Bloom Kit is now available. I told you on my first post that all three of my Beautiful Bloom cards were really different from one another, and now you can see what I mean! On today's card, I colored the bloom with my Copic Markers (all listed in the supply list at the bottom of my post). 

As long as I spent coloring it, I wanted to let the bloom take center stage! So I chose an airbrushed mandala (MFT stencil linked below), and a mandala die, along with a couple of tag dies to accessorize my bloom. 

I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps blog for a complete list of all of the designers participating in today's kit reveal! Again, the Beautiful Bloom Kit is now available at MFT Stamps. Thank for visiting, 

Friends Like You: MFT Beautiful Bloom Kit

Welcome! It's Day 2 of the My Favorite Things Stamps Beautiful Bloom Card Kit Countdown; this kit will be available Tuesday night at 8pm Eastern time. For today's card, I played with watercolor--my Distress Reinkers--on watercolor paper. (All colors are listed below in my Supply List area.)

I stamped my Beautiful Bloom images in Versamark ink and heat embossed with detail white embossing powder before watercoloring--easy and relatively quick too!

Be sure to check the MFT Stamps blog for a complete list of participants in today's kit preview. Again, the Beautiful Bloom Card Kit will be available Tuesday night, August 21, at 8pm Eastern time. Thank you for stopping by today!

With Sympathy: Beautiful Bloom Kit

Welcome! It's August kit time at My Favorite Things Stamps, and this month we have a floral kit--my favorite kind! I'll have three kit cards over the next three days, and all of them are very different. For tonight's card, I kept it simple--gold embossing on shimmery gold metallic cardstock. Instead of using the Hello, Beautiful sentiment set that comes with the Beautiful Bloom kit, however, I chose a sentiment from an older sentiment set, Brushstroke  Expressions. 

The gold cord is some that's been in my stash for years, from May Arts. I purchased a 300-yard roll of both gold and silver several years ago, and I should have enough to do for the rest of my life! ;-) 

Be sure to check the MFT Stamps blog for a complete list of participants in today's kit preview. The Beautiful Bloom Card Kit will be available Tuesday night, August 21, at 8pm Eastern time. Thank you for stopping by today!

Creative Color Café FALL Schedule

Creative Color Café classes will be coming to Dallas/Irving, Texas; Toronto/Stouffville, Ontario, CANADA; and Minneapolis/Eden Prairie, Minnesota in September and October on the dates shown above. Cindy Lawrence and I would love to have you come color along with us! We have some fabulous sponsors and images, as well as plenty of hands-on Copic instruction. More information can be found HERE, and the class registration page is HERE.

Hope to see some of you there!

Every Day with You Is a Treat: MFT and Friends

Welcome! Today I'm playing along with the My Favorite Things MFT and Friends challenge. I hadn't played with the Birdie Brown Frightfully Sweet stamp set during the release, and I knew that I wanted to try this one for sure! Yes, it's a Halloween set, but I have another use for my card: my son is home for about two more weeks before he goes eight hours away to college. He's already spent six weeks there this Summer, so I've already had a trial run of the empty nester thing. . .  You know--that time in life when you check your phone every five minutes for a glimpse into your missing son or daughter's world--a simple text message! And, yes, I confess that I even have a special message tone for him that Rick and I both listen for. Anyway, I made this card for him, because we realize that our days with him are definitely limited at this stage of life. He'll like it--I reared him to realize the value of homemade cards ! :-)

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color the Frightfully Sweet image..

I love MFT's shaker dies and pouches; they take the pain out of making a shaker card! I popped up my little fox on top of the shaker pouch and airbrushed a dark Copic sky behind him. By the way, I always use an antistatic pouch after I airbrush a dark background for a shaker. Otherwise the Copic ink can sometimes stay a little tacky so that the shaker materials don't shake freely. Using an antistatic pouch on your freshly airbrushed surface keeps that from happening.

Would you like to play along with us? Then check out the blog post here. Thanks for stopping by!

Your Special Day: MFT Release Day!

Welcome! It's August Release Night for My Favorite Things Stamps!  I paired the new Fluttering Friends stamp set with Distress Oxide inks for tonight's card, creating a birthday card.

Using detail white embossing powder, I heat embossed the dragonflies on watercolor  paper. Next I lightly mashed four colors of Distress Oxide inks on my paper and then misted with water. I used a paint brush to move the inks around just a bit. After the background dried, I die-cut it and added Nuvo Jewel Drops on the heads of the dragonflies. Finally, I heat-embossed and painted my little floral swash to decorate the end of the sentiment strip. 

All of the new August 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 on the giveaway, and thank you for visiting,

On My Mind: MFT August Release!

Welcome to Day 2 of the My Favorite Things Stamps August Release Countdown! At 9pm Eastern time on Tuesday, August 7, the August release will be live, and all of the new products shown in the past few days will be available. Today I chose the new Rolled Roses Die-namics to feature, pairing it with the previously release Mini Rolled Rose Die-namics and a sentiment from the new Fluttering Friends stamp set. 

These felt roses were simple to create with the rolled Rose Die-namics; in fact, I probably spent more time trying to decide exactly how I was going to arrange them than I did making them! I did a simple airbrushed background with a couple of my Copic markers, but kept most of the background clean and white. 

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 night (Tuesday, August 7) at 9pm Eastern time. All other links should work now. Thank you for stopping by today,

Tu-tu Sweet: MFT Release Countdown Day 3

Welcome to Day 3 of the My Favorite Things Stamps August Release Countdown! I chose the Pure Innocence Tu-tu Sweet stamp set, paired with the In the Spotlight stencil and the older Floral Fantasy background. For the spotlight, I airbrushed Copic YR31, then masked that yellow area and airbrushed Copic N4 on either side of the light--simple airbrushing. 

My Tu-Tu sweet girl is colored with the Copic markers listed above.

I hope you get a chance to visit the MFT Stamps Blog for a complete list of designers using 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 (August 7) at 9pm Eastern time. All other links should work now. Thank you for stopping by today,

Our Sincere Thanks: MFT Release Countdown Day 4

Welcome to day four of the My Favorite Things Stamps August Release Countdown! I chose the new Mandalas--both the Die-namics and the Stencil--to showcase tonight. I also couldn't resist using one of the Painted Poppies again, paired with a sentiment from the From All of Us stamp set.

I began by airbrushing Copic G43 and BG01 through the Captivating Mandala Stencil, then simply layered up from there with a die-cut Mandala and a watercolored poppy and sentiment. I love the little iridescent bubbles for a finishing touch--they're fun to use!

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, August 7. All of the other links should work now. Be sure to check the MFT Stamps blog for more August Release inspiration AND for a chance to win some great prizes! Thank you for visiting,

In Our Hearts: MFT Release Countdown Day 5

Welcome! It's Day 5 of the My Favorite Things Stamps August Release Countdown. Today I'm sharing the Painted Poppies stamp set and coordinating Die-namics, along with the From All of Us sentiment set. The stamp sets showcased over the next few days will be available on Tuesday, August 7, at 9pm Eastern time.

I stamped my images in Versamark ink, then heat-embossed with detail black embossing powder on watercolor paper. Next I quickly watercolored the images with Distress Ink Refills. After watercoloring a simple background, I used foam tape to pop my poppy garden up and added an embossed sentiment.

Again, while I have linked all products that I used below, the links to the NEW products will not be live links until release night, 9pm Eastern Time, Tuesday, August 7. All of the other links should work now. Be sure to check the MFT Stamps blog for more August Release inspiration! Thank you for visiting,