Play Ball

I've taken the plunge and joined in for the monthly MFT Creative Challenge. This month the challenge was to "Frame It".

Hop over to the MFT Blog for a complete list of participating designers. I know the projects will be spectacular and hopefully inspire you to play along.

I took the challenge quite literally and created a fun baseball themed photo frame. I think this would be perfect for a picture of your sweet little league guy or gal. I framed a picture from the game we were at last Saturday.

I started with a plain wood frame from the craft store and I stamped the baseball bat from All Star stamps and Die-namics with frayed burlap ink.  Pure Innocence Baseball Boy was the inspiration for this frame. I stamped him with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured him with copic markers.

I used the All Star stamps and Die-namics again to create the baseball and the Just the Ticket stamps and Die-namics were perfect for creating the admission ticket.

To create the "Play Ball" title I cut out Wild Cherry card stock using the Mini Pennant Die-namics, then I stamped the letters from the Banner Day Alphabet stamp set. I added some Charcoal Twine to hang the banners and secured the ends with two silver brads. Well, I "faux secured" them with silver brads...I wasn't up to the battle of getting the brads into the wood frame, so I simply cut off the pokey ends of the brads and hot glued them in place. I curled the ends of the banners to give them a blowing-in-the-wind kinda look.

You can take the challenge literally, like I did, or think outside the box. But whatever direction you take, I hope you'll play along this month.

Here are the Die-namics I used:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

"Create" Framed Art

I have a fun framed art project to share with you today. This was a little gift I sent to a friend for Christmas and I had a blast creating it. My only regret is that I didn't make two of them so I'd have one to keep.  ;-)
Pin It

I started with an 8x10 black shadow box frame from the craft store and patterned papers from the My Mind's Eye Quite Contrary line (still one of my faves!).

I didn't really have a clear vision of what I wanted to create right from the start, but I definitely knew I wanted to use the sweet Pure Innocence - You Color My World set from MFT. I stamped her with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured her with copics. I thought the polka dot paper was perfect for paper piecing her little apron, and I added a coat of clear glaze pen to the paint colours on her palette to make them look wet.

Once I had her cut out I started playing around with placement and that's when the scene came together and I decided she should be painting a rainbow in a field. I used the rainbow die-namics die to cut out a few different papers then I pieced them back together. I added some puff cloud white felt clouds, which I cut out with the clouds trio die-namics. For the little butterflies I cut out the base layer from strawberry ice cream felt using the butterflies die-namics and cut the top layer from patterned paper using the slightly smaller butterfly die from the notched tag die-namics.

I used two of MFT's gorgeous flower dies to create the flowers from strawberry ice cream felt: the rolled scallop flower die-namic and the loopy bloom die-namic. The sour apple felt leaves were cut out using the flower and leaf trio die-namics and I used some pink and green ribbon for the stems.

The letters were super fun to embellish. I wanted them to be nice and sturdy so I used my by the letters die-namics to first cut out the letters from thin chipboard, then I cut them out again from pink card stock and glued the two layers together. Then I did the faux epoxy technique (which I seem to be doing a lot lately!) which is a layer of crystal Stickles (let it dry completely) then a thick layer of glossy accents.

Here are the die-namics I used:

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

MFT Creative Challenge-On a Roll, and a tutorial

In 2011, MFT is working harder than ever to inspire you, and we have come up with something we think you'll really enjoy. Our Design Team Creative Challenge is a new monthly feature, where we challenge our design team to explore their creative side using a specific theme, product or technique. This month, we're On a Roll!  Visit Kim's Blog for a full list of designers that have taken up the challenge!

I decided to use rolled flowers to create custom push-pins for a message board. I have a complete photo tutorial in this post so you can whip up some floral push-pins too...they're super easy!!!

I started with a blank cork board from the dollar store, decorated it with patterned papers, and I stamped the Pure Innocence-Making a List girl in one corner with Stazon ink. 

Then the fun began creating the push-pins. I used the Rolled Daisy and Rolled Rose die-namices along with three colours of felt. If you've ever created a rolled flower then you know they have plenty of dimension, so they worked perfectly to wrap around clear push-pins. 

Tutorial

Supplies: rolled flower die-namics (I'm using the rolled daisy for this tutorial), felt, clear push-pins, strong glue.

Cut the die-namic shape from the felt then apply glue to the center part of the push-pin.

Begin wrapping the end of the rolled flower around the push-pin, taking care to make sure it adheres to the glue.

Continue wrapping the entire flower. Once you get to the end, push the felt circle end onto the pin of the push-pin.

Apply glue to the base of the push-pin and press the felt circle down onto the glue. You can twist the felt circle at this point to "tighten" your flower. Set it aside to dry.

Finish the center of your flower. I used a 1/4" circle of brown cardstock and a rhinestone. 

Here are the die-namics I used today:

Thanks for stopping by!

Karen

Floral Place Card Holders

This is my third week as the featured artist on the Our Craft Lounge blog, and this week I created an adorable set of six summery place card holders.

It all started with some large binder clips and the Pretty Petals stamp set from Our Craft Lounge. The flowers in this set are so gorgeous!!!

I was in a cutting mood so I decided to paper piece the flowers and leaves in their entirety, and gave my copic markers the day off. I pulled out my Basic Grey Green at Heart paper pad and set to work. The oranges, pinks and purples are such a fun combination, and so cheery too!

I added some Rockin' Pink Sparkly Fluff to the center of each flower for a pop of bright colour and a hint of sparkle and texture.

Here's a picture of the back of the flower so you can see how I attached it to the metal clip. I applied a blob of glue (that's the technical term) to the back of the flower, placed the metal end in the glue and topped it with a circle of patterned paper to keep it all in place.

I used these for place card holders, but you could also use them to hold a photo, or as a fun and decorative way to close up a gift bag, and they might even work as a book mark too.

Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

Full of Beans

This is my second week as the featured artist of the month on the Our Craft Lounge blog and this week I'm full of beans!

Well, not literally, but I did decorate a cute little band aid tin to house a coffee shop gift card!!

I used the fun Fueled by Caffeine set from Our Craft Lounge and paired it with some My Mind's Eye Stella Rose patterned papers. The carafe is coloured with copics but the circles are paper pieced for a little texture. I had coloured them first, but it looked a little too plain for my liking. Instead of accenting with buttons, I used some real coffee beans, and boy did it smell good in my stamp room when I opened the bag of beans!! They were a bit of a pain to adhere because of the oils in the bean, but I worked at it and thankfully some Zots did the job.

I stitched up a simple pocket to house the gift card and it fits perfectly inside the tin, making it easy for the recipient to get the card out.

See you next Monday for my third OCL post!
Thanks for stopping by!
Karen

A Jazzed Up Notepad

I'm so lucky to be the Artist of the Month for Our Craft Lounge over on the OCL blog!!!

For my first project of the month I created a fun little covered notepad. I saw this style of notepad at Staples and brought one home as a prototype, but the one I made is way cuter!  ;-)

I used images from the Tree-iffic Trees set to decorate the notepad holder. The images were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and coloured with copics. The patterned papers are all from the Basic Grey Hello Luscious pad. I paper pieced the smaller circles on the tree and wanted the coloured part to look like leaves so kept adding dots of green to create that effect. I coated the trunk with Coffee Bean Sparkly Fluff for texture and a whimsical feel.

There's lots of dimension on the image.

I used a Basic Grey magnet to keep the flap closed and hid the inside magnet under a circle of patterned paper. You could definitely do this with any size notepad. I hope you'll give it a try!

Thanks Our Craft Lounge and see you next Monday with another OCL project!
And thank YOU for stopping by!
Karen