Easter Joy

Hello there! TGIF! It's been a busy week, but an exciting one, too! At the MFT Release Party Monday night, I found out I will be the MFT Guest Designer for the March Release!!! When Jody announced it, I literally did the Happy Dance around my house! I am SO very excited to stamp with my MFT friends again -- I have missed them so much! :)

Yesterday I received my new goodies from Monday's MFT release (shipping is SO fast!), so of course I had to get busy right away. I made a card for this week's MFT WSC Sketch, which you can find right HERE. Since I have a ridiculous number of 6x6 paper pads which haven't seen much action lately, I dusted off some BasicGrey Urban Prairie paper and paired it with Sno Cone and Sour Apple cardstock.

The bird and sentiment, from the new LJD Embellished Eggs, are stamped in Black Licorice Premium Dye Ink. I cut out the bird and wing with Die-namics LJD Easter Elements and popped them over the Leaf-Filled Flourish. I finished with a trio of buttons tied with hemp cord.

That's all for now! We have a pretty relaxing weekend ahead, which is a very welcome change. I hope you have a great weekend planned for yourself, too!

Thanks so much for taking the time to visit me today -- have a great day!

Christina

Thoughts of Easter

Hi there! I'm so glad you stopped by. Today I have a Stamper's Dream card to share with you. The weather here is finally getting warmer, so my thoughts have turned to spring and Easter. I inked up this Egg Topiary stamp and paired it with My Mind's Eye Alphabet Soup Girl paper.

I cut and embossed the panel with one of the Labels Eighteen Nestabilities, then I sponged the edges. I wanted to keep the image soft and springy, so I watercolored it with an aquapainter and various inks. I added some Stardust Stickles here and there for a little sparkle. I embellished with some plaid ribbon, Pink Burlap String, and a pearl flourish.

We've been enjoying our spring break "staycation" so far -- we've already checked bowling and a trip to the park off our list. We're hoping to go somewhere with the girls this afternoon -- maybe the zoo!  :)

I hope you enjoy your day, whatever your plans may be! Thanks for spending some time here with me today!

Have a great day!
Christina

Time to Hop and Shop!

Hello! You've made it to my stop on the MFT January Release Blog Hop! Hopefully you've come here from Amy's Blog -- if not, be sure to go to Kim's Blog and start from the beginning! Believe me, you don't want to miss anything! :)

I'm thrilled to be showing you one more card featuring Pure Innocence! I just can't get enough of these sweet images! This set is called My Basket of Eggs. The words in the set can be combined in different ways for spring or Easter projects. Here I created an Easter card.

I paper pieced the dress and arms, and I popped up the basket with its glittery eggs.

I finished the inside as well, placing the sentiment there also.

This set and all the new releases are available NOW -- just go HERE to the Brand Spankin' New category on the MFT site!

Next you're off to visit Michele Boyer, who, in my opinion, is a rock star! I can't wait to see what she's created! :)

Thank you so much for hopping by!

Christina

Stamps: Pure Innocence: My Basket of Eggs (MFT) Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko) Cardstock: Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette (SU!), Whip Cream (MFT) Paper: Girl Friday (Cosmo Cricket) Other: Copics, Cuttlebug, Bloom Dots embossing folder, Arched Lattice border punch (Martha Stewart), Old Olive ribbon, corner rounder (SU!), button, twine, glitter, dimensionals, sewing machine

ATS Mid-month Release!

Happy Sunday, everyone! Today All That Scraps is releasing a new set of Paper Pleasing Digi Images by Julie Buhler. They are beautiful Easter images! For my sample, I printed the daffodil image and sentiment, then I colored with Prismacolor pencils. I sponged around the image and sentiment with So Saffron ink. I did some machine stitching and added some ribbon and Dew Drops.

Now, I'll admit I was a little hesitant to use the digi images at first. I am and always will be a girl who loves stamps and ink. :) But, it is nice that you can change the size of the digi images in order to vary your designs. If you go to the ATS Blog, you can see that Julie's sample and mine have the same images, but Julie's sentiment is larger. I decided to print mine smaller so I could use my oval punches. I also could have printed it larger to have it be the inside sentiment or a large focal image. Pretty cool, huh?

Here are a couple of tips I've discovered for working with the digi images:

1) The cardstock I use when printing digi images is Georgia Pacific white cardstock, purchased at Walmart. SU! Whisper White is too smooth, and the ink will smear when the image is colored.

2) You don't need fancy photo editing software in order to use the images. I have an HP printer, so I just opened my files with the HP photo managing program. After choosing to print, I then decided which paper size I wanted. For the daffodil image, I chose the Wallet size (9 to a page), but only printed one image per sheet. For the sentiment, I chose the Contact Sheet (33 to a page), again printing only one image. To print larger images, I could have chosen the 3x5, 4x6 or larger -- you get the idea.

Give the digi images a try -- you just might find that you really like them! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'll be back tomorrow with the MFT Who's That Girl Challenge!

Have a great day!
Christina

Digi Images: Paper Pleasing Easter Images by Julie Buhler Ink: So Saffron (SU!) Cardstock: Bashful Blue (SU!), Georgia Pacific white Paper: Le Jardin (SU! retired) Other: Prismacolor Pencils, Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), Lace Edge Punch (Martha Stewart), Sunflower Dew Drops (Robin's Nest), oval punches (SU!), white organdy ribbon, blue dotted organdy ribbon, sponge, dimensionalssewing machine