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Monday, November 23, 2009

SYTYCS Finals

Entries from the six finalists are due by midnight today for MFT’s SYTYCS challenge. Boy have these past few days been a major rollercoaster! You should check out all the entries, boy are these ladies some TOUGH competition. Not only are they super talented, but they definitely brought their A game to the challenge.

This week’s theme was freestyle and I was fortunate enough to be paired up with the super talented Amy Sheffer as my mentor!! Swoon, I just about fainted when I saw her name!! She’s the best and she’s been so super helpful. Thank you, Amy!!!!

Okay, ready to see my project? Warning: this post is super long and picture intensive (16 pics in all)!! After many hours of brainstorming and a consultation with Amy, I decided to base my project around ballet and make a gift set for a little girl (or a big girl!). The set includes: a ballet stage with several Isabelle dolls, a takeout box with more clothes for her to change into (this can later be stored in her closet), a wall hanging with a frame for a ballerina’s head shot, a luggage tag to identify her toy bag from other little girls’ toy bags, and, finally, a card.

So first off, the stage. This ended up looking different than what I had envisioned, but I’m still happy with it. The stage, a.k.a. closet, closes up thanks to some teeny hinges, some grommets, and ribbon. The base is made of Styrofoam covered up with pink satin and edged with pink tulle. I trimmed the base with crystal beaded trim. The sides are made of chipboard painted with acrylic paints and covered with embossed metal sheets from Ten Seconds Studio. The edges are blinged out with stickles and sparkly trim. Inside, there’s three dolls on white popsicle sticks in different ballerina outfits. Since the inside is metal, the clothes can be stored there when it’s time to put away our toys. I laid down cotton batting that I colored with alcohol inks and sprayed with gold glimmer spray. Here’s the pics:
Next, I made a wall hanging to showcase a prima dona. Okay, so the picture in there is me, but I don’t know any ballerinas! I took a canvas and painted it with acrylic paints and sprayed it several times with gold glimmer spray. It’s so sparkly and pretty in person. Then I stamped several Isabelle sayings in black ink, added a cute 3-D sticker, some black crystal swirls, and prima flowers that are held together with a designer grommet. The edge of the canvas is covered in pink ribbon to hide the staples and a thicker ribbon was attached to the back for hanging. The backside was removed from the frame and the frame was attached with glue dots. Here’s the pics:
Then, I embellished a tiny takeout box I had in my stash of alterables to hold Isabelle’s clothes collection. This was the easiest project!! I simply added a belly band, strung some primas on a brad, and presto! A tiny metal tag with sparkly stickers was also added on with some polka dot ribbon. Here’s the pics: I also decided that every little girl needs a tag to identify her stuff from all the other little girls stuff. The tag was made out of Bazzil cardstock and my nesties. Some bling was added to the corners on both sides. One side reads “My Play Things” in pink sparkly letters and the other side boasts an Isabelle with a blank space to write you name in. A grommet hole on top with pink ribbon finishes off the piece. Finally, you need a card of course. The front of the card is a sketch from Jen Del Muro, I think. A boho blossom, some pink and black bling, and a cute bow tie the concept together. The inside is a pop up card of an Isabelle at her dance studio. The silver cs is the “mirror”; a tiny barre is made up of a thin dowel colored with memento ink, and laquered with diamond glaze; and a shiny wooden floor for her to dance on. Some more sparkly pink letters complete the sentiment.
Here’s a few more details: The paper dolls were colored with copic markers, blinged out with a stardust pen and stickles, cut out, laminated with a xyron, and attached to magnets that were then attached to the wooden sticks. The clothes was also colored with copics and blinged out with stardust and stickles. The Isabelle on the luggage tag has clear glaze pen on the dots and heart on her dress. The metal was embossed with a cuttlebug folder and then sanded with a buffing block to remove the paint on the raised portions. Whew, I think that explains it all. Are you still there? Please be sure to stop by MFT’s SCS forum and show the finalists some love. They did an outstanding job!

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Tea For Two

I had a couple of days off last week and used one of them to do some projects in my stamping room. One of my papercrafting goals is to use some of the tools, supplies, and stamps that I haven't used yet or have rarely used. Some of this stuff involves techniques that take me out of my comfort zone so I've kinda dragged my feet on using a lot of this stuff. I decided to take this on slowly so my first project is a simple card I made using primarily unused products: Tea for Two stamp set from MFT, Bloomin Dots CB folder, EK Success Swiss cheese border punch, homemade glimmer mist, and an unopened BG paperpad - Eva.
I colored the stamp using copics and then popped it on the card using dimensionals. I used diamond glaze on the teacup dots and liquid applique on the bunny tail for added texture. The black cardstock was first misted with glimmer spray and then run through the cuttlebug. I also finished out the inside for a complete look.
In total, I made 4 different projects on Friday and I'll be posting them throughout the week as I get a chance to edit the pics.

Supplies:
Stamps: MFT - Tea for Two (have I mentioned how much I {heart} MFT's stamp sets!!!)
Paper: Bazzil, Basic Grey - Eva
Inks: Memento, copics
Misc: Cuttlebug, Bloomin Dots CB folder, homemade glimmer mist, Swiss cheese border punch, ribbon, liquid applique, diamond glaze

Thanks for stopping by!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

My First Bella Card

I LOVE the Stamping Bella lines but I only own one stamp and have never used it before today. I’m not sure why, since all their stamps are so cute! I used Curly Surpriseabella to make a birthday card for my aunt’s birthday this week (actually it was yesterday). Although it’s a pretty straightforward card, it took me over an hour to make! I was rather surprised when I looked at the clock and realized that so much time had passed by. Here’s the card I made for her:
I also added a gift card slot inside. When I make these flaps, I like to use my Tombo Mono Multi and stick an old gift card inside while the glues still wet to make sure I leave enough slack for my gift card.
Supplies:
Paper: Basic Grey – Gypsy; Bazill-Preppie
Inks: Memento – Tuxedo Black; Impress – Poppy Red, Lemon Yellow
Misc: prismacolors, OMS, ribbon, button, floss, pop dots, nestabilities

I’m taking a class tomorrow at Anthologies on how to make a decorative cover for candle holders using Ten Seconds products. I just discovered Ten Seconds and I’m loving all of their stuff. The videos on their website are hilarious. I still haven’t purchased any of their product since I don’t know how to use it, but hopefully that will change tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

MFT's Guest Designer Challenge

My Favorite Things is gearing up for what promises to be an amazing release tomorrow at 10 pm EST on their SCS forum. They are releasing a new line of stamps called Pure Innocence that will just make you squeal! They are so darn cute! A new Flopsey and some other furry creatures are set to be released tomorrow as well. I'm so excited!! Be sure to stop by the MFT lady's blog to get a whoppin dose of eye candy from all of MFT's AMAZING design team. These ladies have outdone themselves this time.
MFT is also hosting a November Guest Designer challenge on the SCS forum. The main theme of this challenge is to use white as your main color. This contest has produced some amazing entries so far. Several cards feature dry embossing, heat embossing, lots of sparkle and shine, and some very creative layouts! I had some time yesterday so I decided to play along. Here's my entry:
Supplies:
Paper: White cardstock, vellum
Stamps: MFT - Isabelle Paper Dolls
Ink: Memento - Tuxedo Black, Paris Dusk
Misc: circle cutter, swiss dots cb folder, organza ribbon

Thanks for stopping by!