My Favorite Sneek Peeks

Hello! Here are some samples with 2 of the 5 of the new sets being released this Wednesday at My Favorite Things. I used this week's MFT sketch for both cards, partly from laziness, but mostly because it's a great sketch!

For the first card I used a small set called Be Calm. You might remember from the last release there is another tub. When this is all done you can have the whole set. I haven't seen them all yet, but I can picture doing a set for many different things, I think I will save the ideas for a surprise;) I stamped the image with Versamark on cream cardstock and then embossed with white ep. Because I didn't use watercolor paper, I used a blender pen and ink pads to lightly color and shade the image. If you use too much color, the paper might pill. I also used some more of that paper ribbon from K&Co, which I confessed yesterday I have been hoarding. Some cream pearls from the Pretties Kit finished this off pretty nicely.

For the second card I used a new Who's that girl? called Call Me. This set is so fun, you know how I like to color. I used a combination of SU! markers, watercolor pencils. and a blender pen to achieve the look I wanted. I used my Cuttlebug to make the flower. I will have at least one more sample in the next 2 days. I have to spend the better part of tomorrow working a in fireworks booth for my son's baseball team. It is supposed to be 106 degrees tomorrow. Just so we are clear, I am whining:(

Thanks so much for stamping by!

Laura

Greetings...

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend! I have to tell you that I have been trying to sell some of my cards on ebay. I really don't know why I haven't shared sooner, probably because I didn't think anyone would care. I still don't think that you will particularly care, unless you are interested in doing it too. I haven't had a ton of luck with it yet but, I have to admit that I just love the thrill of the auction and I love more that I am not the one bidding. It appeals to me for some reason. Plus if a card sells I get money in my PayPal account that I can use to buy even more stamps that I couldn't possibly use in my lifetime. There is my confession for the week and can I tell you I feel positively free:) Another reason I chose to share this is because it seems for a card to do well on ebay it has to be really done up...lots of layers and detail. I have been working on some other things for the MFT release that I can't share until tomorrow so for now I will share this hedgie.

I stamped him twice and colored him with a combination of ink pads and watercolor pencils, lots of blending and shading. I cut out the flowers and ladybug, popped them on dimensionals and added crystal effects. The layers are stitched and the cool panel at the bottom is done with some fun stuff from K&Co. called paper ribbon that I have been hoarding (I guess I have more confessions to make. The card is 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.

I should be back for the next three days with some fun sneak peeks from My Favorite Things. Have a fabulous day! Thanks for stamping by!

Laura

Hello!

Wow, long time, huh? I went to California over the weekend to surprise my favorite aunt for her 60th birthday. It was so beautiful and the kids were having such a great time, we stayed a little longer. I have to admit that I have also been having a hard time getting my mojo back, so I tried to push through it today by doing the sketch challenge. But before I get to the card, I have few things to share.


I got a call from Paper Crafts yesterday telling me I won the Stamping Royalty contest with an entry for watercoloring, WHOO HOO!!!!! The card will be published in the November/December issue and I get a prize pack worth $200, how cool is that?



This is me with the newest member of the Dirty Dozen, Carole Burrage (TruCarMa) and a fellow designer for MFT. She was in town before I went on my trip to CA and I took her to the very random and unusual stamp store, Viva Las Vegas Stamps. I really don't have the words to describe what the experience was like, other than I don't think this store could exist outside of this town. If you are in Las Vegas let me know and I will be happy to take you there, now that I know where it is. Carole is so unbelievably cool, I hoped some of her uber cool rubbed off on me!


On to the card! I used the cupcake set released just this month from My Favorite Things. I stamped the stand and cupcakes onto the decorative paper and certainly celery with VersaMark and embossed it with white ep. I cut the cups out and attached them and then used dimensional paint and real candy decorations to finish the tops of the cupcakes. I added some paper piercing and faux stich marks with a signo pen. The SU! frame punch and a few dew drops finished it off.

Thanks so much for stamping by, I have missed you all!
Laura~

Serenity now!

Hello! I am feeling somewhat better today, I should be 100% by tomorrow, but I was so anxious to make a card for this week's MFT Challenge, I couldn't go another day without stamping. I painted the image with my new Pearlescent Watercolor set from My Favorite Things which sells for just $5.95. I used a paint brush with a cup of water handy. It adds such a wonderful shimmer to your project, I just love it! You will have to take my word on this since it doesn't capture on the camera at all:(

I stamped the image onto watercolor paper with Brown StazOn and used Pearlescent Watercolors to color it. The background was stamp with a bamboo background from SU!. I ran a piece of Sage Shadow through my Cuttlebug for the textured panel. The DP is from DCWV Old World Stack and the brads are from Deja Views. For the lotus flower, I used Liquid Pearls to give it some dimension and texture and then cut it out.




This gorgeous card is from my super sweet friend Jessie (knightrone). I am so lucky to have such wonderful, talented and generous stamping buddies. Thanks so much Jessie, you rock girl!

Thanks so much for stamping by!

Laura~

And the winner is....

The winner of the very fun blog bling to celebrate my 50,000 hits for a $30 shopping spree at My Little Stamp Shack is Katie Renz. Congratulations! Here's what Katie had to say...

Congratulations Laura!!! That's so cool that you and Carrie got together. At this very second, I have to say I love that Impression Obsession Coffee set. In a second though it could change.

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Timestamp: 2008-06-16 03:39:00 UTC

My daughter's luau went very well, but I have been completely laid up today with some sort of flu bug or something. It was all I could do to get off the couch to make this post. But I will be back in a day or two with some new stuff! Thanks to everyone who left a comment.

Thanks for stamping by!
Laura~

Blog Bling!

Hi! Last week my blog counter went over 50k, whoo hoo! To help me celebrate, my adorable and generous blogging friend, Carrie is offering a gift certificate of $30 to her Little Stamp Shack. I love the Stamp Shack because Carrie offers a 40% off coupon once a month and has free shipping over $40. She knows all about the stamping addiction and makes it easy to get the stuff we NEED! Yes, I am admitting she is one of my dealers:)

To win the $30 shopping spree, head on over to the Stamp Shack check out her stuff and then come back here and leave a comment on this post telling us what your favorite stamp set in her store is. Pretty fun, huh! I will do a random drawing on Sunday, June 15 to pick a winner.

I got this Stampendous stamp set from My Little Stamp Shack and just love it! I made this card for my husband's birthday over the weekend. The decorative paper is from K&Co. I stamped the monkeys twice on watercolor paper and cut the little monkey bodies to pop them up. I colored them with watercolor pencils this time. The vines and leaves were stamped and cut like this too. My husband is not crazy about the froo froo so I kept everything to a minimum here, but I think it's cute!

Wow this is a long post, but this is going to be it for the week. My daughter's birthday is Thursday, she will be 9. This year she asked if she could invite her entire class for a backyard luau on Saturday. She has 24 kids in her class. They won't all come, but I still have a ton to do this week (clean my studio and the rest of the house) and get the all the food and games planned and ready to go. I am going to miss you, but I hope you leave a comment to win the Blog Bling. I really appreciate all your kind comments. Have a terrific week, wish me luck!

Thanks for stamping by!
Laura~

More samples...

Hi! Here are some more samples from the exciting new line of stamps MFT is doing. The line is called My Favorite Things Presents and these stamps are from Annie LaPointe. I absolutely adore these fabulous floral images. Isn't this tub the cutest!

For the details...I stamped the tub onto shimmery copper paper from The Paper Co. (I get it at Mike's or Jo's) with VersaMark and embossed it with copper ep. I added Platinum Stickles to the shower head, rim and claw feet. I stamped the hydrandreas several times on watercolor paper with Brown Staz-on and colored them with several shades of ink pads (burgandy, ruby red, old olive, and close to cocoa) and a blender pen. For the background of the image, I stamped the SU! Sanded background on Saffron paper and then stamped En Francais over that with Close to Cocoa. I used a fancy stitch on my sewing maching for the inside border and added the chocolate bow and a curvy corner element. Would you like a little tutorial on that, or is it self explanatory?


This is for today's sketch challenge with an image called Chamomile. I just stamped this in Brown Staz-on and colored it with watercolor pencils and a blender pen. I used the En Francais background stamp again on this with some paper I had in my stash. I stamp it with Versamark and highlighted some areas with pastel chalks using a small sponge applicator.

Here are the details again for the release party tonight...

My Favorite Things (http://www.mftstamps.com/) is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, June 4 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time. LOTS of fun (and a surprise release) is planned including finding out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. Head over to the MFT forum on http://www.splitcoaststampers.com/ to find out all the details and we hope to see you there on Wednesday night.

Thanks for stamping by!

Laura~

You're Simply Sweet

I have another card to show you! I did a lot of coloring with my ink pads and blender pen, so I kept the layout simple with paper from BasicGrey (flourish) and My Mind's Eye (stripe)The yummy ric rac velvet ribbon is from my LSS. Someone is going to have to send the dew drop police after me. I waited so long to get them I just can't help myself:)

Don't forget to join us for the release party to get your paws on these sweet stamps. See previous post for all the details. And check back early tomorrow for a BIG MFT announcement and for a special card I made for it. I think you are going to LOVE it!

Have a wonderful day, thanks for stamping by!

Laura~

You scream, I scream...

Hello! Here's a little peek at two of the new sets being released on Wednesday at the MFT party



The first is called Here's the Scoop. I went to my local Cold Stone Ice Cream shop and begged them for a couple of empty ice cream containers. I cut one apart for a pattern and traced it onto the adorable background paper from Basic Grey called Cupcake Confetti. I used my brown watercolor pencil to color the sundae glass that was stamped in brown staz-on on watercolor paper. I decorated the top with fruit punch Stickles and white opal Liquid Pearls. While the liquid pearl was still wet I added some real cupcake sprinkles. The rest of the glass was finished with crystal effects.

The second card is done using a set called Congrats all Around. I kept this very simple using some paper from Basic Grey and my new Robin's Nest Dew Drops.

Here's all the details for the release party...

My Favorite Things (www.mftstamps.com) is having a New Release Cocktail Party on Wednesday, June 4 from 9-11 p.m. Eastern time. LOTS of fun (and a surprise release) is planned including finding out how YOU can be the next MFT Guest Designer. Head over to the MFT forum on www.splitcoaststampers.com to find out all the details and we hope to see you there on Wednesday night.

Thanks so much for stamping by!

Laura~

Meet Me at the Cafe

*edit* I entered this card in a contest, wish me luck. I will put the picture back when I hear about it!

Hello! I have a some good news! I got an email on Friday saying that I am one of the winners of the May gallery challenge at PaperCraftsMag.com. My card will be featured there for the whole month of June, woohoo!

I just couldn't wait another day to use this MFT set called Meet Me at the Cafe. I paperpieced the outfits and the awning with paper from Deja Views (Global Views Collection). I colored the image with my ink pads and a blender pen. I used copper ep for the sign and the corner detail and the negative inking technique for the embossed panel. A little sewing and paper piercing and two hours later we have a very detailed card:) I added crystal effects for the wine bottle and glasses. I also used pebbles from Robin's Nest that just came in from Stamper's Dream. Very fast shipping!

Mark your calendars, Wednesday is the release party for My Favorite Things new sets for June! I will start sharing tomorrow with some sneak peeks. I'll give a hint, one of the sets is very sweet, yum!

Thanks so much for stamping by!
Laura~