top o' the mornin' to you

please click images for larger view:





Happy St. Patrick's Day! it's still late tuesday night here, but i wanted to have a happy card up & posted for you to enjoy bright & early as you start your day!! someone catch that leprechaun for us- we need some good luck & wishes for Mimi's surgery tomorrow morning (thurs)! people pics coming soon! have fun today! we'll be having green milk with our breakfast and maybe some green eggs too!
{{GIANT HUGS}}
-g
xoxo
^o^

interesting deets:
i was inspired by the amazing free templates on MFT created by the awesome Kathy Daume (i have 2 of her template cards in progress but got crazy inspired & sidetracked by this project LOL!)
i took a 5.5"x5.5" dk green cardstock scrap & made a shamrock template on it using heart punches- i punched & lightly tacked 3 XLG hearts down & then traced around them, & drew in a stem. i cut the whole shape out and removed my hearts. i punched some smaller hearts out of the blingy cardstock to add in the middle as accents (a la Kathy's awesome ideas)- and wa la- a cute shamrock 'tree' for my 4 leaf clover girl to stand under!! so simple & super sweet- no?!

The image is stamped several times- her shirt & pants are paper pieced, and her arms, clover and even her feet/ground are layered a second time for some fun dimension.

supply info:
Stamp is 4 Leaf Clover, Pure Innocence line from MFT.
Ink: Memento tuxedo black, cat's eye dark brown (accent)
Papers: Sour Apple cardstock (base) and cream paper panels from MFT, Bazzill bling (emerald city) and dark brown and dk green cardstocks
Patterned Papers: Sassafras Lass, Fawnd of You (from Life is Beautiful line), Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety mini deck (6x6) papers
Other: Copic Markers,Spica (Copic glitter pen) marker, pop dots, Marvy Uchida heart punches (sizes large & xlg)

quick card

hi again all! i forgot today was a friend's birthday so i put together a quick card this morning using MFT's Who's That Birthday Girl set- it is the cutest set ever (includes darling number candles, extra cake layers & awesome sentiments too, but my friend is turning 40 & i worried she might be a little sensitive so i opted to place a few regular candles on top of my cake!)

here's the deets: i used bazzill bling (from the sugar daddy pack- the dark brown) for the base and then some of the way cool Basic Grey Nook & Pantry papers for layering & paper piecing (i use the 6x6 paper pads for cards.) the edges of the base & bottom layer were distressed using a small razor blade. i added some of the awesome lace fabric ribbon from MFT's bakery blend ribbon nest (you need this ribbon nest!) and sewed around the background layer with my sewing machine (please don't look too close- it's crooked but i'm trying LOL!)
i stamped the main image twice on creme paper panels & colored with my copic markers. her dress was stamped onto the flower patterned Basic Grey nook & pantry paper, cut out & glued to the main image. the candles were stamped & cut out and added to my main image. her hands were colored, cut out & added on top of the cake in the main image (a la MFT designer Joanne B's awesome paper piecing tutorial video-here) the flames are accented with a copic spica pen (but it doesn't show). once fully assembled, i cut out the main image with my nesties and used the die as a stencil to sponge tim holtz tea dye distress ink around the edge-i love this look! the main image panel is adhered to the card using thick pop dots:



here's the inside:

this is just simply a trimmed creme paper panel a liner distressed with the same tea dye distress ink and a strip of scrap paper from the card front. i LOVE these sentiments in this set & had to use 2- just too fun!
anyway- thanks for looking & i hope you're having a great Wednesday afternoon.
asking everyone to please keep us in their thoughts- we go for our pre-op visit with the dentist tomorrow, and the pediatrician exam/sign off for surgery on friday- hope both appointments go quickly & easily for my sweet girl. thanks so much!
{{GIANT HUGS}}
-g
^o^
xo

MFT WedStampClub

Cindy & Frances posted an awesome sketch challenge for this week's Wednesday Stamp Club over on the MFT forum at Splitcoast Stampers. i totally went WAY out of my comfort zone and sewed on my project- AcK! i don't know what i was thinking LOL! i'm going to need serious practice to get better at this- but it was fun to do! the amazing MFT DT & forum friends can totally rock some stitching & piercing wizardry (check out this recent post on the MFT blog to see some!) - i'm a long way from this amazing group... but i'm learning, right! it was good fun on this freezing, rainy Vegas afternoon with my sweet, stuffy-nosed-kiddo hanging out drawing pictures in the crafty space with me!



My Sunshinny Day, Pure Innocence girl is red-cheeked from chasing butterflies all afternoon! she is so sweet- i love her & am so glad to have her in my 'collection'-you'll love her too!


deets: i stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on a creme MFT Perfect Paper Panel, that i had pre-cut and embossed with my scalloped circle nesties. she was colored with copic markers.
the card base is MFT Banana Split heavyweight card stock. The PP is Basic Grey: Monarch (from the urban prairie line) and i layered my pp strips on top of the bright, happy MFT Sour Apple.
i sewed with my machine using a lime green thread (gutermann 02776)
i distressed the edges of all the papers.
i added some canary tsukineko dauber-duo to the edge of the scalloped circle to help it stand out. i punched some butterflies with my Martha Stewart 3 in 1 classic butterfly punch, and glued only one wing down for dimension using a quickie glue pen. I kept them white so they wouldn't draw much attention away from the adorable image. the whole image panel is adhered to the card with lots of thick 3M foam dots- 1/4" baby- i love the dimension!
i used some of the gorgeous, silky MFT birthday bash ribbon, and 4 (i hoard these you know!) yellow MFT glittered garnishes to the corners.



i finished the inside with scraps of the sour apple cardstock and pp.
i cut another circle nestie out,stamped the sentiment, and inked up the edge with more canary ink dauber. i used my fiskars threading water punch & the larger punched out butterfly (couldn't throw it out you know!)
thanks so much for looking! gotta run dinner to the office for the poor hubs who's working late for us!!

You can find all the MFT cardstocks, adornments, awesome stamps & accessories here!
xoxo
-g
^o^

major mft love

in order to occupy the hubs tonight while i shopped & chatted online at MFT's March Release party on SplitcoastStampers, i bought him a new video game & made a card to go along with it:
(please click image to see it larger)


i used MFT's digital robot stamps- Robot 1 and Robots2. i resized the images in Photoshop and printed them out on my inkjet printer. i cut the pair out with my scalloped circle nesties, and the baby robot i just trimmed out close with some scissors. i stamped a tiny heart on them all using a teeny heart stamp from MFT's Love Machine set & then colored the images with my copic markers. i popped up the little robot 'girl' between her 'parents' with pop dots. i think she's so super sweet! i used MFT's robot digi-papers and a licorice gate fold card which made this super easy- it was just a matter of print & trim papers to fit the base! LOVE that!

inside i used more of the fab digi papers & my nesties. The heart is repeated again, and i used a favorite sentiment from the Clearly Sentimental about You set. a metal Tim Holtz sprocket gear embellie was just perfect too! the hubs really loves his card & bought me lots of goodies at the party tonight- he works so hard & spoils us rotten!

i made my daughter a sweet little love note today too- i just love to tuck these into her lunch or attach them to a small treat or toy:
i used MFT's Valentine Flopsey, a heart punch, cardstock & patterned paper scraps, and my martha stewart heart border punch! i colored flopsey with markers. sorry it's a bit blurry pic-this was like a 10min quickie thing before i picked her up from school and she loved it ^o^


we're busy with pre-op appointments for her for the next couple of weeks- she goes in for oral surgery soon- not to worry it's just some fillings & crowns, but she's only 5 so they'd rather put her to sleep & do the work rather than have her try & sit still in a chair for several long visits and cause her all that anxiety & trauma. she has cavity prone enamel but we're gonna fix 'er up & in the long run, she'll be just fine and have a beautiful smile! {{GIANT HUGS}}