Happy Holidays 2018 | Action Wobbler ft. MFT "Jingle All the Way"

Hello everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day!

Today I want to share a card (and video) featuring My Favorite Things "Jingle All the Way" stamp set! That's right, folks. No Lawn Fawn in this one.... except for the dies, but shhhh!

I recommend watching in HD over on YouTube!

Check out the video above to see how this super cute card came together. You'll also see the extensive list of Copic markers that I used (there's a lot), how I got the texture on his hat as well as hear about my new (to me, I'm sure everyone else already knows) discovery for editing my videos!! I cannot even tell you how excited I am about this!!! - 5 exclamation marks excited. That should tells us all something right there, yeah?

I hope you like today's card (and video) and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and on YouTube! (For real, I get legit excited when I get new subscription notifications). Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Lucky Duck Pivot Pop-Up | ft. Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I am super excited to share with you a tutorial video and card using the new Lawn Fawn Pivot Pop-Up Die set, as well as a couple of their new stamp sets from the spring 2018 release.

I know I've been sharing a lot of Lawn Fawn lately, and I really do try to mix it up with other brands, but I'm in Lawn Fawn mode right now. Their images just make me so happy and we can use some happy here in Calgary; it is so snowy and yuck! I'm soooo done with winter, but Mother Nature seems to have other plans - most of which include record levels of snowfall. UGH!

Check out the video for the complete tutorial on how to put this card together, as well as how I coloured all the images.

For the outside of the card, I stamped this little duck from "Lucky Duck", the flight trail and the dragonfly from "Toadally Awesome" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock then coloured them with Copic markers.

I adhered the panel to a piece of soft blue cardstock and mounted that to the front of my top folding standard A2 sized card base.

For the inside of the card, I stamped all the images with Memento ink on the same paper and used the Brother 2 Scan N Cut to cut them all out. I coloured each of them with Copic markers and ran them through my sticker maker to get adhesive on the back.

For the top background of the card base I used a piece of blue paper and adhered some die cut stitched clouds and the sun so it wouldn't look so plain.

For the pop-up I used Broken China and Tumbled Glass Distress ink to create my sky, and Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress ink for the grass.

Once I had the mechanism put together (see the video on how I did that) I mounted all my images in place.

For the sentiment I used part from the "Lucky Duck" stamp set and "teacher" from the "A Good Apple" set.

This card is going to my daughter's kindergarten teacher - who is super awesome.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook, and now on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think!

Happy Hoppy Day Series | Easter Pop-Up ft. Lawn Fawn Stamps and Dies

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a super fun pop-up card using Lawn Fawn stamps and dies. If you're like me you see the Lawn Fawn releases and you just have to have it all. Exercising restraint when it comes to Lawn Fawn is sooo hard. I legit have sets that I haven't even opened. Shhh don't tell. I will use them at some point.

I love using the pop-up die because it's always such a surprise when you open the card. It's so exciting to see such a plain looking card and then you open it and SURPRISE!!! there's something super fun on the inside.

For the outside of the card I stamped this bunny image from Lawn Fawn's "Eggstra Special Easter" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I coloured it with Copics and used the Scan N Cut to cut it out.

I wanted to keep it all simple and used some of the pieces of cardstock from the inside to create an accent bar across the front.

For the inside, I stamped all my images with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and cut them all out with the Scan N Cut (I actually cut these out at the same time as the one on the front). I coloured all the images with Copic markers.

 The thing I love the most about the Scan N Cut is that I can stamp and mask images to make single layers and cut them out as a single piece. Just one more reason to pass on the die sets!

I used Lawn Fawn's "Stitched Hillside Pop-Up" die to cut the base and sponged it with Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Ink to create the grassy look. I sponged the inside top of the card with Spun Sugar and Worn Lipstick to create a soft pink sky.

I had some stitched clouds left over from another project and adhered them in place. I used some super sticky two-way to put all images in place.

To finish off the card added a couple butterflies that I had laying around placed them in the sky to fill up some of empty spaces.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook, and now on YouTube! Drop me a line in  the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Out of This World Birthday | ft. Lawn Fawn "Beam Me Up"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I have a birthday card using stamps from the new Lawn Fawn set "Beam Me Up". I showed this set in my recent Haul Video and I couldn't wait to get started playing with it. I have so many more ideas - and not just for Birthdays, but for Mother's Day and Father's Day and Just Because. It's going to be great; so stay tuned!!

To begin, I created a galaxy background using Distress Oxide Inks, I started by randomly sponging on Broken China, Lucky Clover and Wilted Violet, then going over them with slightly darker colours and finally going over the whole panel with Black Soot. I applied an additional layer of the Black Soot around the edges to make it appear darker.

I used my Distress Sprayer to spritz clean water and patted that dry with a paper towel. Once the panel was completely dry, I used some Copic Opaque White to splatter some brighter stars, then set the panel aside to dry again.

I then stamped the ship with the alien, the cake and a couple presents with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock, coloured the images with Copic markers and used my Scan N Cut to cut out all the images.

To create the beam I prepped a piece of vellum with my powder tool and stamped the image with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed with white detail embossing powder, then fussy cut it out.

Once I decided where I wanted the images to go, I prepped the bottom of the panel with my powder tool and heat embossed the greeting with the same white embossing powder.

I then adhered the gifts and the cake down to the panel and the beam over top, being careful to hide the adhesive behind the embossed lines. I popped the spaceship up on some foam tape and placed him over the beam.

I adhered the panel to a piece of black 65lb cardstock, then mounted the entire lot to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

Finally, I added glossy accents by Ranger over the dome of the ship and over the lights.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar, over on Facebook and now on YouTube! Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays Series | Dimensional Goody Bag ft. Lawn Fawn "Goodie Bag" Die

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

For each seasonal series, I like to include a couple "not cards", generally a tag and a goody bag. I've already done the tag (which you can see here), today I have the goody bag or gift card holder - it will work for either. I wanted to kick it up a notch this time around, so I made a windowed goody bag with a dimensional scene.

To begin, I used the "Goodie Bag" die and cut a piece of kraft cardstock twice to form the bag. I then cut just the front panel of it again from a piece of "Perfectly Plaid - Chill" patterned paper. I then used the outside stitched rectangle to cut a window from the patterned paper and one of the kraft panels.

Using super strong tape, I adhered the patterned paper panel to the kraft panel. I used the "Stitched Hillside Border" dies to cut some snowbanks from 110lb white cardstock and trimmed them down to the width of my bag, adhering one to the outside of the bag to give even more dimension.

On a scrap of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock I stamped two trees and the Sasquatch from "Lovable Legends" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and cut them out using the Brother 2 Scan N Cut, then coloured them with Copics. 

For the inside back panel of my scene I sponged Tumbled Glass, Salty Ocean and a bit of Faded Jeans Distress Inks to create a sky making it the darkest at the top. I used the Distress Sprayer to spritz on some water and give it a splattered look.

Once all my pieces were dry, I adhered some sparkling snowflakes that were left over from another project to be stars in the sky.

To get the dimensional snow, I used a Marvy Snow Marker to add snow to the trees and the tops of the hillsides. I've found the best way to use this marker is to press it down on an acrylic block and use a small cheap paintbrush to add it where I want it. I cannot control the flow from the marker directly and I have ruined more than one project trying to apply it directly - lesson learned.

I adhered a piece of acetate to the inside of my window and assembled my whole scene before securing it to the bottom of the bag. I used two layers of foam tape around the edges of the window and pressed the scene into place. Only when I was satisfied with its position did I finish assembling the bag.

This took a bit of time to put together, I recommend folding the bag together to see where all the pieces need to go without adhesive or with a repositionable adhesive before bonding it permanently. The end results are well worth the potential frustration, and with a bit of time and patience these can come together relatively quickly.

To finish off the bag, I adhered a few more sparkling snowflakes to the outside and used coordinating ribbon and baker's twine for the bow at the top. I didn't actually have mini bells, but I had brads that were bells, so I clipped off one of the pokey things and curled the other, then used some invisible thread and a needle to tie them into place.

I'm excited to create more of these for the seasons to come, but I'll definitely be saving them for those special friends who will treasure the bag as well as the gift inside.

I hope you like today's post and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays Series | ft. Lawn Fawn "Toboggan Together"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today, I wanted to share a fun scene of the reindeer hard at work gathering the presents for Santa and his sleigh! Despite what looks like a lot of dimension, this card is relatively flat and costs no additional postage to send in the mail - and that is always a bonus.

To begin, I stamped the sleigh and masked the top then added the presents and stamped the reindeer from "Toboggan Together" as well as the trees from "Yeti, Set, Go" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I cut them out with the Brother 2 Scan N Cut and coloured them with Copic Markers.

I then cut the stitched hillside and the Hillside Forest border from the same cardstock and used Distress inks to give the snow some colour, and to fill in the forest line trees.

On my very back panel I sponged Tumbled Glass Distress ink for the sky, once that was dry I prepped it with my powder tool and stamped some snowflakes using VersaMark and heat embossed them with "Snow" embossing powder by Recollections.

I then put my layers together. I was able to find some ultra thin mounting tape at my local dollar store, and let me tell you this stuff is fantastic. I think it's supposed to be for hanging stuff on the walls, but I've never known anyone that would use tape to do that. Either way, it works like a dream on cards and it's only about half the thickness of my regular mounting tape.

The very front layer and the reindeer/sleigh are popped up with this foam tape. It didn't occur to me to take a picture of the side to show just how thin this card is, but it's a touch thinner than a regular shaker card would be. That's exciting.

To finish off the panel I used a length of brown bakers twine to make the reindeer have reins and pull the sled. I then mounted the panel to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Holidays Series | Christmas Tag ft. Mama Elephant, Lawn Fawn and Close to my Heart

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

We're just over half way through this year's Happy Holidays Series, so today I thought I'd share a "not card". For each each series, I'm trying really hard to include a tag and a gift card holder or box, not because I don't have enough cards (believe me I do), but because I like to share things that are a bit different.

Today's "not card" is a spinner tag that features a mash up of my holiday stash. And if you decide you don't want to use it as a tag (or give it away.... because that happens), you can always hang it from the tree!

To begin, I stamped the both of the dancing reindeer from Mama Elephant's "Reindeer Games" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and cut them out using the Brother 2 Scan N Cut; then coloured them with Copic markers. I adhered them back to back, sandwiching a length of Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread between them.

I used the "Tag, You're It" die from Lawn Fawn to die cut the tag from a piece of "Perfectly Plaid - Chill" patterned paper and one from plain white cardstock (110lb). To get the window in my tag, I used a mini book-mark die as it was just the perfect size to fit and allow him to spin.

I prepped the lower portion of the blue tag with my powder tool and stamped my greeting from CTMH's "Just to Say..." stamp set with VersaMark ink and heat embossed it with silver embossing powder.

I had bunch of these glittering snowflakes from Lawn Fawn's "Mini Snowflakes" die set from a previous project so I adhered them with Nuvo Deluxe Adhesive (review coming!) liquid glue, then set the tag aside to dry.

The back I kept super simple, just stamping the "To and From" from CTMH's "Card Word Puzzle" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink.

Once both halves of the tag were completed I used super strong two-way tape to completely cover one side. I then placed my spinner where I wanted him to go and pulled the ends of the thread tight so he wouldn't sag when standing upright. I pressed both sides of the tag together to make sure it was all good and stuck.

I pulled a piece of natural twine through the top and knotted it off for the loop. I used a piece of 1/8" red ribbon for the bow - I chose red just to pull together the little bit of colour from his nose.

Finally, to finish it off completely and because I just can't stop myself, I used a clear Wink of Stella glitter brush pen over his antlers and nose then added some Glossy Accents by Ranger over the noses as well.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Pirate Party | ft. Lawn Fawn "Ahoy, Matey" Stamps and Pop-Up Dies

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Today I wanted to share one of my very first attempts with the Lawn Fawn "Pop-Up" dies. And because it's me, and I can't do anything the easy way, I'll be showing the Stitched Hillside Pop-Up and the Hillside Ocean Waves Add-On.

I very quickly discovered that creating a pop-up card is a lot more "work" than I regular card. It's also like creating two cards in one. There's the outside, which still has to look attractive and make people want to pick it up and then there's the inside (the real star of the show) which has to completely blow their mind.

I assume that I will get faster over time, but this card took a bit of time. And by "bit", I mean "a whole friggin' lot".

For the front of the card, I wanted it to be appealing, but very subdued. I have never tried doing a whole card front in a vintage look and I thought a treasure map would be a great place to try it out.

To begin, I cut down a piece of Strathmore Bristol Smooth paper and stamped the palm trees, the X, the North Arrow (compass-looking thing) and the water waves using Antique Linen Distress ink. I then used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers to add very dull colours to the map, but still give it depth.

For the torn edges, I used my fingers to rip all the way around the panel - I find this to be more organic than if I were to use a die. I sponged Antique Linen over the entire panel, then Scattered Straw towards where I wanted to start building my shadows. I then used Gathered Twigs, and finally Ground Espresso to create the finished dirty/burnt look around the edges.

Behind the map, I sponged Gathered Twigs on a piece of patterned paper and adhered that to the front of my standard A2 sized card base. I covered the back of the map with two-way tape and set that aside until I was ready to assemble the whole card.

I wanted the inside of the card to be very opposite of the front. I wanted this to be bright and cheery and really, really POP!

I stamped out all my images using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and coloured them with Copic markers, and used the Brother 2 Scan N Cut to cut them all out. This was especially helpful for the large palm trees (from Critters from the Past) as well as the treasure chest with coins and bird, as I used the masking technique to create my own flat images.

I used the Stitched Hillside Pop-Up die to create the base for my layers. I sponged Antique Linen, Scattered Straw and Tea Dye on the foremost hillside and down the base of my card to create the sandy beach.

I cut both sets of waves from the Stitched Hillside Ocean Waves Add-on die and used Distress Oxide ink (Broken China and Salty Ocean) then spritzed with clean water for the oxidized look. The smaller wave fits perfectly over the smaller hill and I adhered it there. The largest wave took a bit longer to dry, so while that was happening I used my cloud stencil and Tumbled Glass Distress ink to create a soft cloudy sky. I then adhered the back wave directly to the card base.

Once all my setting pieces were in place I was finally able to add all my little images and put together my scene. At the bottom of this post is a zoomed in picture of the inside of the card. Don't forget to check that out.

It was after everything was together that I decided I wanted the coins to sparkle - so I added clear Wink of Stella glitter over the coins, then covered them with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

I stamped the greeting using CTMH Chocolate Ink. Once the Glossy Accents were dry, I was able to put the map on the front of my card.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

I will definitely be making more pop-up cards, but maybe "for the art of it" or special occasions, definitely not as a replacement for my beloved single layer cards.

Happy Holidays Series | Spinning Bear ft. Lawn Fawn "Beary Happy Holidays"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

Welcome to the second card in this year's Happy Holidays series. Today, I wanted to share a sweet little spinner card that I created using the skating bear from Lawn Fawn's "Beary Happy Holidays".

The 2017 fall and winter release from Lawn Fawn is amazing. They have certainly outdone themselves with the stamp sets this year. Even during the sneak peak I had so many ideas, how could I resist this adorable bear? And he's not alone in the set! So much fun ahead!

To begin, I cut down a piece of shimmering cardstock to the same size as a standard A2 card base. I lined it up with the front and ran both layers through my die cutting machine with a scalloped circle die at the same time. This ensures that the opening will match up perfectly when the card is put together.

I then removed the front shimmering panel, prepped it with my powder too and used my MISTI to arrange all the snowflakes and the greeting. I stamped them with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with silver detail embossing powder.

Since none of these snowflakes are repeated, this is an easy card to mass produce.

I stamped the front and back portions of the bear on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink and used the Brother 2 Scan N Cut to cut them out. I coloured the images with Copic markers.

To create the spinner, I put a piece of super strong two way tape in the middle of each half, I then placed a length of "Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread" through the middle. I added more adhesive so that all the edges would be completely stuck together and put the two pieces together.

I added adhesive all over the back of the front panel and used my craft mat to line up the loose ends of the invisible thread to make sure the bear was suspended in the middle. Instead of cutting off the tails of the thread, I lay them back and forth over the adhesive, so they won't go anywhere. I then put adhesive all over the front of the card base, and stuck the two pieces together.

When the card is standing upright, the bear hangs nicely in the middle of the opening. You can wind him up so when the recipient opens it, he'll spin around for a super fun surprise.

Typically I'd photograph the card standing up, but I didn't like the shadows, so flat it is. You could also create a light scene inside the card so that it is visible through the opening when the card is standing.

Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread is a nylon so it is stronger than normal sewing thread and basically clear which makes it just perfect for this type of card. I picked up mine at my local fabric store for less than $3. Considering the spool has 500 yards, I'll probably never need another!

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

2 Crafty Critter Crazies

Challenge #8

ABC Christmas Challenge

W is for White and X Marks the Spot

Hello Halloween Series | Mini Shaker ft. Mama Elephant

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

I cannot believe we're already ending the first week of October. I love fall and I'm always aghast at how fast the season goes. I'm nearing the end of my Hello Halloween series and working like crazy on Christmas designs.

When you really think about it, crafters are living in the future. The kids weren't even back to school yet and I had already been putting in a couple weeks of Halloween designs, by the time Halloween hits I'm hoping to have my Christmas cards done so I can start working on Valentine's Day.

LOL by the time Christmas arrives I'll be all Christmas'd out and working on Easter. It never seems to stop and the more we do this, the more time we feel we need for each season. Maybe after Easter, I'll start next year's Halloween cards. The cycle never stops!

And I love every minute of it.

To begin, I stamped the three little mice from Mama Elephant's "Meowlloween Extras" with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and cut them using the Brother 2 Scan N Cut. Then coloured them with Copic markers.

For my panel I sponged on Shabby Shutters Distress ink using a light hand in the middle and making it darker in the corners. I used clean water to create the splatter look, then when that was dry splattered again with Copic Opaque White and again with black ink.

Once that was completely dry, I used a small square die to cut three windows; and stamped the greeting from an older stamp set (long since lost the packaging, but I want to say it's an Inkadinkado set, not entirely sure). I popped the panel up on foam tape and created a mini shaker behind each window. I mounted that piece on some Recollections Halloween cardstock.

I ran the three mice through my little Xyron "X" sticker maker and adhered them straight to the panel, and mounted the whole thing to a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me on the right side bar or over on Facebook, so you don't miss any future posts. Drop me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Hello Halloween Series| ft Lawn Fawn Magic Color Slider

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you're having a great day.

For today's Hello Halloween card I thought I would use some awesome pattern papers, one of my all time favourite stamp sets and the Magic Color Slider Die set.

When this "Happy Harvest" stamp set came out, I almost died. I'm not kidding, I couldn't have been more excited. This was the perfect scene building set.

Don't get me wrong, their Christmas scene builders are amazing, but I'm a prairie fall girl and there is nothing more exciting than that crisp autumn air and the harvest and for me, this was the set.

This was also the first time I used the Magic Slider as a component to my card instead of the ONLY part of the card.

To begin, I created my Magic Color Slider using some Recollections Halloween paper. I stamped the wagon from Lawn Fawn's "Happy Harvest" on my acetate using Staz-On Black ink.

I stamped the scarecrow with his little crow on a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then used my Brother 2 Scan N Cut to cut him out. While I do have the coordinating dies for this set, I added the crow directly to his arm and the dies can't cut that. I then coloured him with Copics.

For the "Magic" piece, I stamped that same wagon, masked that off and stamped the corn stalks with CTMH Honey Ink, then I stamped the crow and coloured them all with Copics.

I used a piece of my favourite Halloween cardstock for the background of the card, sadly I have no idea of the brand as the packaging didn't make it. And I can't find any more of it, so it's officially a paper that I'm hoarding now. LOL, I want to say Imaginisce, but that may not be right.

I adhered the slider to the front, slightly off centre and added my scarecrow to the left.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right side bar; you can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

Lawn Fawnatics Challenge

#13 Fall Inspiration Board

Quick Look at the Brother 2 Scan N Cut in Action

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day!

I'm very excited to share with you a quick look at the Brother 2 Scan N Cut in action. Please keep in mind that this is just a super quick video, and I promise another, more in depth video will be post. Also, this is my first time posting a video to Youtube, so please be kind.

You can also see my first impressions post about this machine here.

As I become more comfortable with the video process and evolve my set up, the videos and their quality will improve. But for now, I am really just excited about this first look. 

The image being cut in this video is the little Hula Dancer from MFT's "Polynesian Paradise", cut on my regular 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. 

This video was filled by my good friend Andrea, who was kind enough to give me permission to use it on my blog.

If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right side bar, you can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

Happy Birthday Dragon | ft. MFT's "Magical Dragons"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Not surprisingly, I was playing around with my MFT "Magical Dragons" set when the idea for this card came about. I wanted the dragon to appear in the cave and the knight to be approaching and then the dragon to be all like "Huh? what's going on?".  I think the expression on this guy's face really just says it all.

To begin, I trimmed down two strips of green cardstock and then used the Lawn Fawn "Grassy Border" die to make my grass. I then cut a large grey circle and a smaller black circle and trimmed their bottoms to create a cave.

I used some Broken China distress ink to add a bit of colour to the background sky.

I stamped the dragon and the knight from MFT's "Magical Dragons" stamp set with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock and used my Brother 2 Scan N Cut machine to cut them out (click here for a first impressions review of the machine). I then coloured them with Copic markers.

I covered the knight with Spectrum Noir Sparkling Clear Overlay to make his armor shine. I love this pen, it sparkles so much in real life and it's even picked up by the camera!

To add some shading to the grass I used some Forest Moss Distress ink to darken it up some and some Hickory Smoke for around the grey of the cave.

I then used some regular tape runner to adhere everything together. I stamped the sentiment directly on the front of my standard A2 sized card base with Memento ink as well.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't already, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss any future posts, if you are viewing this on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first, you can also follow me over on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

MFT Sketch Challenge

Sketch #347

Update: This card was selected as Winner of Sketch Challenge #347!! Can't seem to find a winner badge though

Birthday Bear | ft. MFT's "Beary Special Birthday"

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Today I have a super sweet little bear who's just waiting for the party to start. While I've mentioned before that it was Lawn Fawn that got me going, MFT very quickly rose in the rankings for favourite stamp companies.

Their sweet little images are perfect for nearly any type of card and it is impossible to resist using them! It took a me a little bit to get my hands on this particular stamp set, but I started seeing these impossibly amazing cards and I couldn't hold out any longer.

To begin, I stamped the bear image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on a piece of 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. I ran that through my Brother 2 Scan N Cut machine (no more fussy cutting more me!!!) and coloured him in with Copics.

I used the Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkle Overlay on the balloon and covered that with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

While he was drying I stamped the party hat and the pile of gifts on a narrow strip of the same paper. I used Twisted Citron Distress ink to shade the background and then coloured the images in with Copics.

I trimmed down another piece of cardstock and used my half inch corner rounder to soften those edges. I then used Milled Lavender Distress ink to add a bit of colour and then my Gelly Roll black glaze pen to add some stitching detail.

I adhered down the strip, and stamped my greeting. Then I popped the little bear up on some foam tape and placed him down.

Finally I adhered the whole piece to the front of a standard A2 sized card base.

I hope you like today's card and are inspired to create something of your own. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right side bar so you don't miss any future projects. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me on Facebook. Toss me a line in the comments section below and let me know what you think.

This card is for:

My Favorite Things

Sketch Challenge #346

Crafty Animals

Challenge #5

Brother 2 Scan N Cut | part 1 - First Impressions and Card

Hi everyone, thank you for stopping by. I hope you are having a great day.

Okay, gonna apologize now for a few things. First, I know it isn't technically review day (you'll still get one on Sunday) but I just could not wait. Second, This is going to be a longer post with lots of pictures. Third, The Brother 2 CM350 Scan N Cut is not something I can do all in one review. So as I become more familiar with it I will have more.

I've had this machine less than 24 hours and I legit think I'm in love. I've had other cutting machines but this... this is like nothing else. Based on my less than 24 hours of experience with it I can all ready say that this was the best thing to come into my craft room since my first set of stamps.

So my very first impressions:

• This is not a cheap purchase. I would highly recommend making sure that this is the right product for you. There is a quilting store in the next town that (as of this writing) sells this for $799 CAD. I did not pay that. I almost died when the lady on the phone told me the price. That being said, it was far less expensive on Amazon (Canada) and I still put it off until they had a deal going on. 
• It is about the same size as a Cricut cutting machine. It weighs about the same as well, unless you have the first release of the Cricut then maybe this one is lighter, 'cause that thing was huge.
• It comes with one low tack cutting mat, one blade, a tool for the touch screen (though your finger works) a lifter - you do not want to touch the mat! two pens and one pen holder cartridge which would take the place of the blade in the machine. And more instruction manuals than I have ever seen (They aren't in the picture) All the little tools have a cute little pouch to keep them together.

Here the machine is out of the box, set up and plugged in. Sorry about the lighting, I was way too excited to fiddle around with that. I had to get a picture immediately. The touch screen looks like a hand held gaming device on the top right. It is attached to the machine, don't try to pull it off. Don't ask why I felt that was important to include. It is on a tilter so you can adjust the angle of viewing.

Here is the mat, lifter, touch screen pen and in the bag are the two markers - black and red - and the cartridge they go in.

So for my very first cuts (after test but that's boring and I don't want to bore you. What kind of blogger would I be if I did that?) I decided to use the running unicorn from MFT's "Magical Unicorn" stamp set.

The top one is the original stamp using Memento Tuxedo Black ink on 110lb Copic-friendly cardstock. The lower one is a mirror stamp using the Paper Smooches "Stamp Mirror Blocks". You see what's happening here? 

So sidenote: I'm very new to mirror stamping and there will be a Technique Tip post about it once I practice more. 

The stamp was faint so I went over the lines with a 0.3 Staedtler Pigment Liner. I haven't been able to get Copic Multi-liners and have found that this works.

So basically all you do is stamp your images on the paper, scan it through the machine, crop the area and cut. I chose to add a mini border because it's awesome! And the machine does it all. 

Have I mentioned that this does NOT have to be hooked up to the computer or wifi? That's right this can be used as a stand-alone machine and that is currently my exact intention. It'll be a whole other post if my intentions change.

I coloured the images in with my BG Copic markers and created a spinning card! A glittering unicorn spinning card! YAY!

I used a homemade cloud stencil (spoiler: there will be a DIY post on making that coming soon too!) and Peacock Feathers Distress ink to create a cloudy background.

I sandwiched a length of Unique Ultra Fine Invisible Thread between my unicorns and suspended him in the oval window of my card. I stamped the greeting from the same stamp set in Memento ink and to finish it off I used Spectrum Noir Clear Sparkling Overlay pen on his horn and hooves and covered them with Glossy Accents by Ranger.

I hope you all like this first impressions post on the Brother 2 Scan N Cut machine as well as the first project I used it for. If you haven't all ready, please follow me over on the right sidebar so you don't miss more reviews and projects in the future. If you are viewing this via mobile device, scroll to the bottom and click "View web version" first. You can also follow me over on Facebook.

*disclaimer: I am not paid or given incentive to create product reviews. All reviews and comparisons I do are about products I have actually purchased with my own money, that I find interesting and that I hope others will find helpful. I am not sent products by companies to do reviews nor am I recognized by them for doing so.