My Favorite Things Idol~Picture My Vacation

My Favorite Things Idol~Picture My Vacation
Originally uploaded by Buckeye

I am very fortunate. Not only am I in the top 5 of the My Favorite Things Stamping Idol competition, I was able to spend most of the week in San Diego on vacation. So, coming back home meant I had little time to put together this week's Idol challenge...Frame It.

I decided that with San Diego fresh on my mind, I would attempt to recreate some of the "frames" in my digital camera. I just love taking pictures on the beach, and of things tropical.

All stamps are from various My Favorite Things sets. Images stamped with Marvy Dye black ink onto Neenah Solar crest white cardstock and colored with Copic markers. I also did a lot of brayering and sponging on the images to create the scenes of each "photo".

I put the entire creation in a 12 X12 scrapbook frame and included a photo order form.

Thanks for looking. I hope you enjoyed my vacation as much as I did and that you'll participate in the voting that will go live from 10:00pm Tuesday, April 28 and will conclude 10:00pm on Wednesday, April 29 in the My Favorite Things forum on Splitcoast. Here's a live link for voting.

"One Layer Card for Mankind"

"One Layer Card for Mankind"
Originally uploaded by Buckeye

After having a week off from the My Favorite Things Stamping Idol competition, it was fun to get back to the competition. I am delighted to be part of the Top 6. Thanks to all of you that have supported me thus far.

This week's challenge was to make a one layer card....something I have never ever done. First time for everything, huh?

I've always read that with one layer cards, it is important to use white space. So, I decided to be a rebel and stamp on black cardstock. I stamped the astronaut image from My Favorite Things Ben Paper Dolls set onto black cardstock with Colorbox Black Pigment ink. I heat embossed this image with black embossing powder. Then I drew a moon (horizon?) line with a Versamark marker and heat embossed with black embossing powder. It was at this point of the card, that I rubbed a Brilliance Moonlight white pigment ink pad directly onto the card to create the moon. I added some shadowing and craters with Prismacolor pencils. I then proceeded to paint the astronaut image with Brilliance Moonlight White reinker. I colored the shoes, gloves and part of the mask with Prismacolor pencils. Then, I used a Sakura glitter pen to add a little sparkle to the mask and a couple of the astronaut's patches. I then doodled the stars and the border with a white gel pen.

So, yes...gasp. No Copics and not much pencil work to this card. Very unexplored territory here for me.

This card was inspired by photos of Neil Armstrong on the moon. I guess I'll call it "One Layer Card for Mankind", a play off the infamous quote.

I had a blast making this card. Make sure you visit the My Favorite Things forum on Splitcoast and vote for your favorite one layer card. The voting begins at 10pm Tuesday, April 21 and will run until 10pm Wednesday, April 22. Here's the link if you'd like to vote (for me I hope) Link to Vote

The Week Off

My Favorite Things~Ben Paper Dolls
Originally uploaded by Buckeye

Just because I have been enjoying the week off for spring break, and I have the week off from the My Favorite Things Idol competition...there is no way I'm taking a week off from stamping.

This is a card I made using one of My Favorite Things newest set, entitled Ben Paper Dolls. This is actually a spinner card, where the image of the superhero goes around and around, somewhat like that of a game spinner.

Anyway, I stamped the image of Ben and this image of the superhero's clothing onto Georgia Pacific white cardstock with Marvy dye black ink. I colored the image with Copic markers. The smallest yellow panel was made using a brayer and lots of sponging of Sea Shells Conch Shell dye ink and Hampton Arts Color Blast Yellow dye ink. The yellow star was computer generated and colored with Copic markers. The sentiment was also computer generated. The white stars are from a star punch. Patterned paper and colored cardstock were also used to complete this card.

I'm having a lot of fun with this paper doll set, as there is also an astronaut and a pirate costume. How fun is that?

Speaking of fun, I'm having fun being My Favorite Things Guest Designer for April. Can it just be April forever? And, can this week off from work be forever too?

Wildflower Nights

My Favorite Things~Build A Bouquet
Originally uploaded by Buckeye

I am honored to be one of the Top 7 in the My Favorite Things Idol competition. Thanks to all of you for your kind words, support and votes.

This week our challenge was to make a card using the My Favorite Things "Build a Bouquet" stamp set. This particular stamp sets feature solid stamps.

The card you see happened pretty much by accident. I was playing around with the set, having fun making the flowers by stamping one of the solid flower images multiple times with Marvy dye brilliant yellow ink. I was doing some shading and touch-ups with Copic markers. I cut the flowers out, and tossed them aside on my messy stamp area....they landed on some wildflower scenery cards that I had made during a Michelle Zindorf class last fall (yep, my area is that messy, and yes...I was fortunate enough to take her class)...and I was taken with the look of the brilliant yellow against the blue. It pains me to say this, but blue and yellow really do go well together.

From this, I proceeded to make many more flowers, using the above mentioned method. I decided to create a My Favorite Things wildflower scene by cutting apart many of these flowers and placing them every which way on the paper.

To create the scene, I brayered SeaShells cloudy blue dye ink and Adirondack Sailboat Blue on the panel. I then sponged more Adirondack Sailboat Blue and some Adirondack Denim dye ink around the image panel. I sponged Adirondack Lettuce and Adirondack Willow around the bottom left of the panel to create the ground.

It was then that I began randomly stamping direct to paper, portions of the flower images with Marvy Brilliant yellow and Marvy Cherry ink, using the emboss resist technique and heat set. I stamped the two "stems" in this set randomly with Lettuce and Willow Adirondack inks and applied a Versamarker over these lines and embossed. I drew in some extra stems by hand using Adirondack Willow and Lettuce pens.

It was with this, that I then positioned the flowers that I had made and cut out earlier around the wildflowers. I decided late in the game that I needed a moon, so I stamped a circle included in this set using Stazon white and cut out and positioned on the card.

Ribbon, corner punches, and colored cardstock were also used to create this card.

If you want to see some incredible cards, check out the My Favorite Things Forum on Splitcoast. Voting is from 10:00 pm Tuesday through 10:00 pm Wednesday. Here's the link My screen name is LittleSeaOtter. If you like my card, I would sure appreciate the vote.

Flopsey's Flowers

Flopsey's Flowers
Originally uploaded by Buckeye

I am absolutely elated to be the Guest Designer for My Favorite Stamps. What an honor!

My role this month is to introduce you to some of the new releases from My Favorite Stamps.

This card was made with the set entitled "Flopsey's Flowers". Isn't Flopsey the bunny adorable? What I like so much about this particular set is all of the sentiments that come with the bunny image..."Missing You Bunches", "Bunches of Thanks", "I'm Sorry", "I Didn't Mean To", and "You're My Favorite", making this set extremely versatile.

I stamped the image with Marvy Dye black ink onto Neenah Solar Crest cardstock and colored the image with Copic markers. I drew in the ground. The flowers were stamped on a scrap piece of paper and added on top of the original image to add some dimension. I added some Stickles to the middle of the flowers for a little sparkle.

Various patterned paper, ribbon, spiral clip, pop-dots, and a paper piercer were also used to create this card.

Stay tuned this month for some more creations using the newest releases. I got so lucky to be selected Guest Designer during such a fantastic release by My Favorite Things.