MFT Guest Designer Contest

Happy New Year's Eve! Chris and I will be spending a quiet evening at home with Anna and Caroline while Kyle and Megan are celebrating elsewhere. It has become a tradition with the girls on this night to get in our PJs, enjoy some appetizers, play games and watch the NYE programs on TV. I'm going to enjoy these evenings while I can, as I know how fast time flies!

I hope you all are well, and I hope your holiday season was filled with family, fun, and blessings. I did do a bit of papercrafting during the Christmas season to create some fun packaging and tags for gifts, but I was working on the fly and didn't take a single photo! They were cute, though! ;)

Today I spent some time making a card for the MFT Guest Designer Challenge. It is such a great sketch -- you can find all the contest details HERE. Here's my entry:

I just *love* these papers from Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 Mini Deck, and I had fun mixing the patterns and colors. I used two Die-namics: Gift Card Pocket - Vertical and Hearts a Plenty. I stamped the sentiment from Gift Card Greetings in Watermark ink and heat embossed with vanilla scented (yes, scented!) embossing powder. The heart was cut from Red Hot felt and topped with a Kraft Button and Hemp Cord. I did some piercing and machine stitching, and I added mini black brads to the corners of the center panel.

I'm headed over to SCS to upload this to the gallery, and I'm keeping my fingers crossed! I SO miss designing with my fabulous friends and the amazing products at My Favorite Things! :)

Thank you so much for stopping by to visit. I wish you all a happy, healthy, and blessed 2013.

Happy New Year!

Christina

Christmas Tag

Hello! Happy Tuesday! I am enjoying my day off for Election Day (I hope you all got out to vote!), and I decided to start on my Christmas tags. I think this year I'm going to keep the wrapping simple and let the tags do all the work! :)

I used this week's MFT Wednesday Stamp Club sketch #96 for the layout. Papers are from Lost and Found Christmas 6x6 by Mind's Eye.

Here's a list of MFT products used:
Seasonal Sentiments
Die-namics Traditional Tags STAX
Die-namics Jumbo Banner Day STAX
Die-namics Dainty Dots Border
Die-namics Let It Snowflake
Kraft Cardstock
Whip Cream Felt
Kraft Button
Hemp Cord

I cut the Dainty Dots Border from a cork sheet, and I cut one of the cork circles from the border to fit perfectly over the punched hole. I embellished with lots of adhesive rhinestones.

That's one tag down, many more to go! It just might be time to play a little Christmas music and get to work! :)

Thanks for stopping by today -- have a great day!

Christina

Thankful

Hello! Happy Sunday to you!

Now that Halloween has come and gone, I am fully in Thanksgiving mode. I truly love Thanksgiving. It's the one holiday where you can focus on family and blessings, without wrapping paper flying across the room. KWIM?

Anyway, I was inspired by my fabulously talented friends on the MFT Team, and I created a banner for our fireplace mantel.

 

I used quite a few MFT products:

Die-namics Fishtail Banner Stax

Die-namics By the Letters

Die-namics Open Scallop Doily Duo

Die-namics First Place Award Ribbon

Hot Fudge Cardstock

Whip Cream Cardstock

Kraft Buttons

Hemp Cord

I sponged the edges of the Whip Cream Cardstock with Tea Dye ink, and I machine stitched around the individual banners. I added a bit of adhesive rhinestone bling -- I love the combination of homespun and shiny touches. :)

This project has me ready for more holiday crafting. I can't believe it's all just around the corner! Thanks so much for stopping by today. Have a great day!

Christina

You Are My Anchor

Hello there, friends! I hope you are well! I definitely hit the ground running when school started, and I haven't had much time to breathe since -- but I'm slowly carving out more "me" time. :)

I was itching to play with my MFT stamps, and I found the perfect reason -- to make a card for the MFT Guest Designer Contest. I certainly would love to work with my old friends again, even if just for a month! I miss them all so much! You can get all the details about the contest HERE.

My daughter Megan is a freshman at the University of Kentucky this year, and she has fully embraced college life. She pledged a sorority, and her initiation is next week. I made her a card with her sorority's mascot, an anchor. This sweet a la modes You Anchor Me set could not have been more perfect! The sorority's colors are blue and pink, so My Mind's Eye 6x6 Dwell papers were just what I needed.

I used three Die-namics as well: Rounded Banner STAX, Jumbo Banner Day STAX, and Double Scallop Border. I colored and paper pieced the image, then I cut her out and popped her up on the embossed panel. I distressed the edges of the paper and cardstock and did some machine stitching. The scalloped border was cut from a cork sheet. The letters on the banners were stamped with the Banner Day Alphabet.

I'm excited to see the new stamps and Die-namics from MFT when they're released October 16! Maybe I'll see YOU at the Release Party! :)

Thanks so much for checking in today -- have a great day!

Christina

JiFFy Time!

Happy Thursday! I'm so happy to be posting with my JiFFy friends today! Here's a little reminder of how it works: one of us sends the paper to everyone, and another of us chooses the image. We don't know what we're getting until it's in our hands. Sometimes it's a good combo, and sometimes it's a little bit tricky, but it's always Just For Fun. :)

This month Michele chose the paper, "Hide and Seek" from October Afternoon's Sidewalks collection, and Lori chose the image, "Ramona Fishing" from Stamping Bella.

I *love* this sweet image. She reminds me of my Caroline. :) Since the image is "sketchy" in nature, I colored a bit "loosely" and left some white spaces here and there. I colored and cut out a second heart and popped it up at the bottom of the fishing line. I distressed, sponged with Antique Linen ink, and did some machine stitching. I finished with corrugated and felt hearts, a button, and some twine.

Be sure to visit the other girls to see what they've done with this adorable image and papers!
Amy
Lori
Michele

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a great day!

Christina

Gettin' Dirty!

Hi there! It's certainly been a busy summer, but it's finally winding down, so I took a little time to get inky! Last week the Dirty Dozen, past and present, presented their challenges during Dare to Get Dirty over at Splitcoaststampers. It's always so much fun to hang out and get chatty with the Splitcoaststampers Design Team, and I'm honored to be a part of such an amazing group! Fan Club members can find all the challenges at the DTGD thread HERE -- there's still time to play along!

I combined the challenges of my good friends Joanne (Basilefamily) and Lisa (Lisahenke) to create this sweet card. This sweet Pure Innocence image just reminds me so much of a summer day! You can find her HERE at My Favorite Things. I used a couple Die-namics plus some twine, brads and a button to embellish, and I colored with Copics.

That's all for now, but I'll be back soon with something stampy! I hope to see you then!

Thanks so much for checking in -- have a fantastic day! :)

Christina

Getting Inky Again!

Hello, friends! It's been WAY too long since I've posted anything here. Thanks so much for being patient with me. I hope you all are well! :)

Much has happened since my last post -- here's the Reader's Digest version:

I hinted that I had a special date in my future, and many guessed that I was expecting. I was. Shortly after that last post, however, I miscarried at 15 weeks. It was a difficult time, but we were surrounded by lots of love and friendship which saw us through. I've learned that one of life's certainties is its uncertainty. I've also learned that God gives us so many blessings in the midst of sadness.

And I've learned that life keeps moving forward, so you'd better grab on and hold tight! These last several months have been busy with many things: Kyle's first year in college,  Megan's high school graduation after a wonderful senior year, and countless games and activities for Anna and Caroline.  Not to mention my first year back to teaching! The school year has finally ended, and now I'm digesting all that has happened in such a short time. I definitely kept my head down and plowed through, but something was missing.

I missed my creative time. I'm just not complete without it. So these last couple weeks have been spent getting my hands dirty in the garden and crafting with the girls. AND I STAMPED AGAIN!! Which brings me, finally, to the reason for today's post. :)

There's nothing better to get my mojo going than a MFT WSC sketch! This week's sketch (you can find it HERE) is a great one, and it gave me a chance to use one of my latest MFT purchases, Let's Grab Drinks. I gave Who's That Girl a pomegranate martini (my fave!) and paper pieced her dress. The scallops below the image were made with Die-namics Simply Scallops Medium. I colored with Copics and machine stitched around the panels.

Well, I think I can say it... I'm BACK. And it feels good.

Thank you so much for stopping by today. There's nothing like visiting with old friends! :)

Have a great day -- see you again soon!

Christina

Just For Fun!

Hello there, friends! Long time, huh? It's been an interesting few months here at the Fischer house. The job is going well, and the family is fine. We have been thrown a bit of an unexpected curve ball, but more on that later...  :)

I am SO happy to be posting today! My sweet stamping friends just couldn't let me stay away for long, so they asked me if I'd be willing to dust off my things and stamp once a month, Just For Fun. Yep, I'm back with the JiFFy girls! :) Here's how it works: one of us picks the image, and another picks the paper, and we all put them together and see what happens! And it's always Just For Fun.

This month, we've combined this beautiful Flower Basket paper from Pebbles' Fresh Goods collection with TCP's Admit One set and Big Ticket Cutups die (so generously donated by the very sweet Alma!). I had fun pulling ink colors from the paper, and I sponged the edges of the ticket with Antique Linen Distress Ink. The numbers on the side are actually a very important date in my near future (part of that curve ball I mentioned earlier...). Cryptic enough for you? ;)

Anyway, be sure to check out what the other JiFFy girls have created -- I'm sure there's plenty of eye candy in store!

Amy
Carole
Lori
Michele

I'll be back soon -- I'm so glad you stopped to visit!

Have a great day!

Christina