MFT Sketch Challenge #289, MFT Camp Create-Fantastic Foiling and a Busy Monday!

Hello everyone!! It was an EXTREMELY hot and humid day here today. A huge storm front went through and cooled the temperature off a little bit but it still remains very humid. Not my favorite weather!!

I have had very busy Monday at this point and am very tired. I got up early to go to the gym because I had a breakfast date with a friend. I LOVE summers!! I then came home, had time to throw in some wash and clean the bathroom. I put up some new organizers I bought at IKEA on Sunday. I took a quick photo with my phone. (Excuse the quality-something is wrong with it and the photos are all blurry!!)

I even had a chance to take my shower curtain down and wash it. You know you are old when something like that excites you!!

After my breakfast date, I came home and made manicotti shells for what was supposed to be our dinner. However, my breakfast did not sit well and so we are going to have it tomorrow. I even had enough shells to make an extra pan to freeze!

I know, I know, weird to make manicotti in the middle of the summer but I am getting kind of tired of grilled food. I HATE to cook in general but when I do, I have to do as much from scratch as I can.

While the shells were cooling, I cut up a bag of lemons, juiced them, grated their rinds, as well as juiced a bag of limes to make some home made sour mix for margaritas.

I then froze it until this weekend. Yes, it stays in the fridge but I don't like to chance things!!! Char and the dog kept me company while I was doing all this.

We bought tickets for the band Twenty One Pilots for January-Charlotte's 16th Birthday Present (her birthday is in December)-for Chris, Charlotte and I so we cooked along to some music.

Now for my REAL reason for posting!! I was a crazy woman yesterday in the craft room. I did a bunch of cleaning up AND had time to create some projects for My Favorite Things Camp Create -Fantastic Foiling and the MFT Sketch Challenge #289.

 

I combined the two challenges and created two cards. For my first card, I kept it to a black and white color scheme with the foiling being in silver and mint green.

I had NEVER foiled before and I have to say, it was kind of fun. However, I have a regular old laminator and I think I am going to break down and get a mini Minc. I don't know it if it was the toner paper I used, the die cutting or what but on all my foils, I have bits that just would not foil.

I used patterned paper scraps, as well as the MFT "Wild Prints" paper for the accent behind the foiled sentiment, which was die cut using MFT's "Celebratory Greetings" dies (retired.)

I have to say, I LOVE that "Wild Prints" paper pack and thought it was perfect for this card!!

I made the second card using the same patterned paper cut with a die from "Blueprints 13" but changed it up by using a "Red Hot" card base. I am not a designer for MFT (I wish!!) and get no compensation but out of any dies I own, I use this particular Blueprints die more then any other die in my stash.

The foil on this sentiment was very imperfect and I did try to mask the imperfection but it did not work.

I added a bit of black glitter tape behind the sentiment to make it pop out but I would not recommend doing this at all. I had a difficult time getting the "cheers" to stick to the glitter!

Well, that is all for today. Thank you for stopping by. I will be back tomorrow with some of the other cards I created for Camp Create.

I am always great at making the cards but HORRIBLE at taking the time to photograph them!!!

Supplies:
Paper-Card Stock-MFT-"Red Hot," "Black Licorice" Patterned Paper-MFT-"Wild Prints," Doodlebug Design, Icraft Toner Paper
Foil-I Craft "Silver Foil" and Heidi Swapp "Mint Foil"
Dies-MFT "Blueprints 13" and "Celebratory Greetings" (retired), Paper Smooches "Stars"
Other-Foam Adhesive, Big Shot, Recollections Black Glitter Tape, Darice Sequins, Silver Stickles

July Calling all Sistahs Blog Hop

It is the 17th of the month of July and what does that mean? It is time for the "Sistahood Blog Hop" over at CAS-ual Fridays Stamps. This blog hop takes place every month on the 17th to support breast cancer awareness. Remember girls, make sure you check yourself monthly and get those mammograms!!

You should have come here from Lydia Evans Blog. If at any time you get lost along the way, just go back to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog for the list of links.

I created a card with a technique that I saw over at Jennifer McGuire's blog. It was to create a pattern with smaller stamps around a focal point. 

I used CAS-ual Fridays Stamps "Girlfriend" set and stamped an abundance of flowers in three different pinks around a sentiment from the "Calling all Sistahs" stamp set.

After the stamped panel was mounted onto a pink, top folded A2 card base with adhesive foam, I used Glossy Accents and pink Stickles to jazz up the inside of the flowers. 

A really simple and FUN card to create.

If you would like to join us in our next blog hop, you can click on the links below to buy the products used on my card. Michele is donating 50% of the sales of these stamps to the National Breast Cancer Foundation. For more information, please see the blog post here. With your help, we can beat this disease!!

"Calling All Sistahs"         "Hope Ribbon"

"Ruffled Ribbon"               "Sistahs Fri-Dies"                "Hope Fri-Die"

Want a chance to win a prize? Just comment on the hop along the way and a random gift certificate for $15 will be given away out of the combined commenters. The more blogs you comment on, the more chances you have to win!!

Next up is Penny Ward. 

The complete list for the blog hop is below. Remember, you can also go to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog too, which is where this blog hop originates. 

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps

Bonnie Sharp

Jeanne Jachna

Jennifer Ingle

Joanna Harty

Kara Stainbrook

 Kelly Griglione

Kimberly Rendino

Lisa Lahiff

Lori Kobular

Lydia Evans

                                Nora Noll<<<<You Are Here

Penny Ward

Rahmat Gouse

Shona Chambers

Sue Nagata

Susan White

Vicki Dutcher

Heather North

I thank you for stopping by today. Have a fabulous Sunday!!

Supplies:
Stamps-CAS-ual Fridays Stamps "Girlfriend" and "Calling All Sistahs"
Paper-PaperTrey Ink "Raspberry Fizz" and Hobby Lobby Thick White Card Stock
Ink-Hero Arts "Soft Pink" and "Bubblegum" dye ink, Simon Says Stamp! "Doll Pink"
Other-Big Shot, Glossy Accents, Stickles "Thistle," circle die, foam, adhesive

Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge #14

It is the middle of the month and that means it is time for a new Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge! Are you ready?

I think that this is the most fun board EVER! I had a hard time choosing a row because I wanted to to do all of them! 

I finally settled on the middle row down-Doodling, Chalkboard and Laurels.

I have NEVER done a chalkboard card so I thought it was time I tried. I have admired many designers cards in this style for some reason, felt I would never be able to pull it off. Now that I have done it once, I know I will be able to replicate this fun technique.

I started by die cutting a piece of black paper with the My Favorite Things Blueprints Die #13. Then I drew some laurels in with a white colored pencil. To get the shape I wanted, I traced a circle on each side and drew the leaves freehand from there. 

I mounted the black card stock to a white, A2 top folding card. I then took Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink and randomly smeared it on the edge using a Fantastix blending tool.

Next I stamped the "hugs" sentiment from WPlus9's "That is All" stamp set onto black card stock with Hero Arts Unicorn White Pigment Ink and then heat embossed it with Ranger Ink's White embossing powder. I then die cut the sentiment using the matching die.

I took WPlus9's "Bountiful Blooms" dies and die cut some shapes out of black card stock. I wanted the flowers to look "chalky" so I colored them in with Prismacolor pencils.

I then took the die cuts and layered them over the hand drawn laurels. I used foam adhesive to pop up the sentiment and the blue flower. I added a bit of yellow gel pen for the stamens in the pink flowers and a yellow rhinestone for the middle of the blue flower. 

To finish the card off, I added some dots of Nuvo Crystal Gloss Drops in "Sweet Lilac" to the card front. 

Now I challenge you to hop on over to Stamping Smiles Designs Tic-Tac-Toe Challenge and join us for Challenge #14. I cannot wait to see what you create!!

Have a FABULOUS day!!

CAS-ual Fridays Stamps July Holiday Release Day 6

Happy Friday! It is another day of sneak peeks from the new CAS-ual Fridays Stamps sets that will be available this Saturday, July 16, 2016 in the store. That is tomorrow so you don't have long to wait!!

Today I am showcasing a simple card I created using the new CAS-ual Friday Stamps "Star of David" and "Spin the Dreidel" stamp sets.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do when I saw these sets. When I was in elementary school, I remember having classmates parents come in and teach us how to play the dreidel game, as well as give us the history behind the Hanukkah holiday. (Something that you would never be able to do now with all the secularism in school. ) These parents used to bring in brightly colored dreidels and chocolate coins for each student. It is one of the few happy memories I have of this time in my life. I created my card with the colors of those dreidels in mind.

I started off this card by stamping the sentiment from the "Star of David" set with black dye ink. I then stamped the different dreidels from the "Spin the Dreidel" set randomly around the sentiment.

Next I colored in each dreidel with Copic markers and highlighted them with a combination of Stickles, Glossy Accents and Nuvo Crystal Drops.

For the blue borders, I used a combination of blue glitter tape and a stamped border strip from the new CAS-ual Fridays Stamps "Holly Jolly Borders" set that I had colored in with blue Copics. My last step was to adhere a trio of sequins in colors that matched some of my dreidels.

For more fabulous sneak peeks using these stamps, please hop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog for all the links to the other designers blogs. You don't want to miss all their beautiful projects! Also, three winners will be drawn randomly from all the comments that are made on the designers blogs this week.

Also, if you use my code-nora2016- at the CAS-ual Fridays Stamp Store, you can get 15% off your order. Remember, the new release will be in the store tomorrow!!

I thank you for taking the time to stop by today. I hope you have a FABULOUS friday!!

CAS-ual Fridays Christmas in July Release Party Sneak Peek Day 5

Hello everyone!! It is another day of sneak peeks from the new CAS-ual Fridays Stamps sets that will be available this Saturday, July 16, 2016 in the store.

Today I am excited to show you two cards that I created. One showcases the new "Mistletoe & Holly" set and the other is a simple card I created using the "Holly Jolly Borders" set-one of my new FAVORITES!!

For my first card, I started by stamping the mistletoe image from the "Mistletoe & Holly" stamp set onto white card stock and then coloring it in with Copic markers. 

I then stamped the sentiment from the same set under the mistletoe. Next, I adhered borders that I created using the "Holly Jolly Borders" set above in below the stamping.

To give the bow a little sparkle, I covered it with clear Wink of Stella. I also covered each of the berries on the mistletoe with Glossy Accents.

While that was drying, I stamped the background with the new "Starlequin" stamp on red card stock with black ink. I adhered the red paper to a top folding, white A2 card base. I then adhered a green patterned paper banner that I created from a scrap.

Th last step was to adhere the stamped panel onto the card front using foam adhesive. I have to say, this is one of my favorite cards that I created from this release. It all seemed to come together so easily.

For my second card, I used the new "Holly Jolly Borders" set for all the stamping.

I first stamped the sentiment border in red onto a top folding, white A2 card base. I then set it aside and stamped multiple borders in black on white card stock. I colored each of the borders in with different shades of green using Copic markers.

I adhered the green stamped panels using foam adhesive on each side of the red sentiment. To finish off the card, I placed red gems randomly in the sentiment block.

For more fabulous sneak peeks using these stamps, please hop on over to the CAS-ual Fridays Stamps Blog for all the links to the other designers blogs. You don't want to miss all their beautiful projects! Also, three winners will be drawn randomly from all the comments that are made on the designers blogs this week. Who doesn't love a prize?

To get 15% off your next CAS-ual Fridays Stamps purchase, use my code nora2016.

I thank you for taking the time to stop by today. I hope you have a fabulous day!!