MFT Stamps Ninja-mazing

MFT Stamps Ninja-mazing

Hello!  Welcome back to my blog!  Thanks for joining me today!  I just purchased this stamp set from My Favorite Things Stamps (MFT Stamps) called "Ninja-mazing."  I love that these images are larger than some of the other stamped ninjas.  This stamp set comes with three ninja images a pagoda and a few throwing stars.  There are a few sentiments as well:

• For a Ninja-mazing friend
• let's kick it soon
• I'm on a secret mission to seal your heart
• I'd face ninjas for you
• I spy a great friend
• You've snuck right into my heart
• I'm your secret admirer
• Hi-ya

This little Ninja I colored with Copic markers and used some gold glitter tape to make his head band. 

I turned this card into a slider card using Lawn Fawn's "Slide on Over" slider set.  For the background I used distress inks and stamped some of the images from this set for interest. I spritzed with water for some water marks. 

This card was really fun to make.  I love interactive cards so making a slider card with this set was exciting for me.  I hope you enjoyed this card. 

Thanks for stopping by!  :) 

Brother's Scan n Cut for Stamped Images

Brother's Scan n Cut 2 CM350

Good morning!!! I hope you are having a wonderful day!  Here is California the sun is shining and summer is in full swing.  It is hot and sunny!  :) 

For me, summer makes me want to eat ice cream and shop!  Recently on Amazon, there was a super sale on the Brother's Scan N Cut 2 machine. I have never seen the price this low in my life.  My friend is the first one who introduced me to the Brother Scan N Cut machine. She cut out some of my stamped images in no time at all and the cuts were perfect!  Since then, I was sold.  The only thing holding me back was the price point.  The machine normally runs over $300 and initially it was even closer to $400. Recently on Amazon I was seeing the machine under $300 but the day I bought mine it was an amazing $225! I'm thankful for Amazon Prime because that meant I would receive my machine in just a few days! 

My machine arrived and it's amazing. I had a little trouble with the set up because there was a small black piece that holds the blade which flipped out. I didn't know where it came from or how to get it back in.  After googling a bunch of things, I didn't find any help online.  I eventually figured it out and once my blade was in, I was able to run a test cut with my machine.

Background, I have a Silhouette Cameo and a Cricut Explore Air so I love cutting machines!  This machine is wonderful though because it's a stand alone machine, no need for a computer, app, or anything like that.  It even comes with preloaded images that you can cut, manipulate, etc.  I love that you can do everything right there on the machine.  It reminds me of the Cricut Expression with the Cricut Gypsy attached to it!  I loved my Gypsy!  The cuts are clean and wonderful.  Previously I was using the Silhouette Cameo with the Pixscan mat but the last few times, the cuts were off and the machine started putting in more cuts than necessary instead of one smooth cut it was making a bunch of small cuts. I offset the images but the cutting was not just to my liking.  I justified this purchase with the fact that dies are so expensive and if you buy the stamps and dies, it's going to cost you sometimes up to $35 or more.  I would much rather buy dies that do borders or different fun things.  I love that I don't have to buy coordinating dies any longer. yay!!!

So getting started was a breeze once I had the blade in.  You turn on the machine and select Scan. Once you load your mat you can scan the images on your mat and then choose if you want to offset the image with a white border around it, of you can choose to have the image cut next to the line.  I have tried both now and I can say that I was very happy with the results.  

This is the machine, unboxed and set up on my rolling cart

It comes with a few tools, a holder for markers, two markers to get you started, a stylus, and a spatula.

The machine is about the same size as the Cricut Explore Air.

The screen is a good size too.  It's just right, not too small or too large. 

I cut out a few images on the machine and was very impressed. This was my first attempt below.  for these images I added a .04" offset so there was a little white around the edges. 

I cut some colored in and some in black and white and there really was no difference, the machine cut them all out nicely. 

Overall, I'm very happy with this purchase.  I have recently been coloring sheets of stamped images and using those images on cards.  This will cut down my fussy cut and die cutting time.  I can't believe I can cut an entire page in just a minute. 

Okay, I hope you enjoyed my day 2 of using this Brother's Scan N Cut 2 Machine.  Hope you have a wonderful day!!! 

Hog Heaven Slider Card

Good afternoon!  It's a beautiful overcast day here in California! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend so far! I thought this would be the perfect weekend to create some cards!

Today I thought I would make a card with the new stamp set from the MFTstamps haul.   This set is the Hog Heaven stamp set.  If you'd like to see all of things from the haul, please visit my last post where I shared all my craft goodies with you!  I am also using the new slider foam pieces that MFT has.  I wanted to try them out!

This amazing set has multiple hogs on it (cute little piggies as I like to call them) and quite a few super creative sentiments! I figured I would be making quite a few cards with this adorable set so I colored in a few sheets of stamped images.  I stamped out about two of everything from this set.  I colored in all the images using Copic Markers colors R20, R21, and a touch of RV06 for the cute little piggies, B00 for the wings on the flying pig, R24 for the girl pig's bow, B39 and E07 for the box as well as the flower pot and two shades of each color for the flowers, BV00, BV04 for the purple, Y00 and Y08 for the yellow, Y08 and Y17 for the cupcake, B00 and B02 for the blue flower and BV00 and R20 for the flowers in the left corner.  These images were fun to color and then I cut all the images out using my Silhouette Cameo with the PixScan Mat (I offset by .04").  

I admit, I had nothing specific in mind when I was putting this card together.  I knew I wanted the pig to slide but other than that the ideas just wandered around in my head. Hopefully some of those other ideas will come to life and I will have more cards to share with you soon! :) 

I started by cutting a green hillside using some hill dies.  I used two different colors so that the hills didn't fade into one another. Recently I purchased this paper pack called Pink Lemonade and it has so many cute pages in it and they're all on textured paper. I don't think you can see the texture in this picture but it's very cute in real life. Using Lawn Fawn's Slide on Over dies, I cut the slightly curved slide path.  I also used this one because it was nice and short, I didn't have that much room for him to slide since I wanted both pigs on this card. 

For the sliding pig, I cut a strip of paper from the same background paper I used for the popped up front panel of this card  and adhered it behind where the slider piece was onto my base card so that it wasn't just white in the background.  I used the new MFT Stamps Slider Elements I adhered one side to a small piece of paper so it would slide and then other to the pig. Using foam tape,  I created an area for my slider piece to fit perfectly so the pig would "fly" effortlessly.  I also added foam tape on the back of my panel so the entire front panel was raised up.  I did this so that the pig would have room to move!

Last but not least, I added some Nuvo Crystal Drops because I feel everything should have a little sparkle or shine!  

This was the finished product.  I hope you are inspired and go out there and create some handmade beautiful gifts/cards/etc.  Have a wonderful weekend! 

My Favorite Things Haul

MFT Haul

I am in love with the My Favorite Things Stamps (MFT) images.  The artists that design these stamps and come up with the sentiments really amaze me!  This most recent purchase was inspired by one critter....a turtle!  Yes!  I love turtles, among other animals, it is one of my favorites.  So when I found out there was a new stamp set with an adorable turtle, I immediately had to log in and buy it!  This is the second order I have placed with MFT Stamps and I am again very impressed by their packaging, attention to detail, special offers and speedy deliver!  They give free shipping once you spend $75 on their site.  You also receive a free die if you spend $60 and there is additional discounts once you hit certain money markers.  If you spend $100 you receive 10% off your order, if you hit $250 you receive 15% off and at $500 you receive 20%.  Let me tell you, it is easy to hit those discount marks! They also send out an email once your package has shipped with a tracking number so you can check on your purchase as often as you like using that tracking number.

Everything came nicely packaged in the My Favorite Things Box and with this extra bonus...a mint!  :)  At least if my husband asks what I got I can give him this mint and maybe hide the box? hehe jk

These are the stamp sets I ordered, I will go into more detail below. :) Love their images!

Bought a few things like snips, dies, etc.  

This was the stamp set that inspired it all!  There is a little turtle in this set and I think he's adorable!  This stamp set is called "Mermazing," and I agree, these mermaids are amazing!  It has three mermaid images, a few seaweed images, two schools of fish, a larger fish, of course the turtle, some shells and a rock that the mermaid can sit on.  The sentiments include (I'm using capitals where they are used on the stamps, so please don't think I'm yelling at you!) "We're MERMAID for Each other," "You Are MERMAZING," and "I Need to SEA YOU SOON." I love this set and will be making some cards with it very soon! 

This set is Polynesian Paradise.  It also has a turtle in it, so of course I added it to my shopping cart!  This set has one hula girl, one chameleon, a part, a toucan, the turtle, a few flowers and some leaves.  The sentiments read "OUR FRIENDSHIP Keeps Me Walking on Sunshine," "Mahalo," "Warm Wishes & SUNNY SMILES," "HELLO, SUNSHINE," "Let's HULA, " "THANK YOU for Your Hospitality," "ALOHA," and "Sending Saltwater Kisses."

This next set I came across while filling my shopping cart and it has these wonderful little piggies!  This set is called Hog Heaven.  There are 6 pig images on this set.  One f them is the back of a pig and the face of the pig so you can definitely make some cards where the pig is peaking out a window or a planner clip.  I can't wait to experiment with this one!  There is also a wooden gate and a crate in this image set.  A few flowers, a flower pot and cupcake finish off this set of images.  The sentiments include "I'M IN GOT HEAVEN When You're Around," "It's your day," "HAM IT UP, on Your Birthday," "OINK," You HOG My Heart," "I'm TICKLED PINK of You," "Thank You SOW MUCH, " SQUEAL," "HELLO," and "Miss You PIG TIME." I love the clever sentiments that the designers for MFT have for their stamps sets!  

I am a sucker for all things Ninja! Being Japanese American I love seeing Asian inspired art!  This set reminds me of my three nephews who have recently taken up Karate.  My brother and I used to take Karate when we were young and I really enjoyed it!  This set has three ninjas, a pagoda, ninja stars and the Torii.  The sentiments are "FOR A NINJA-MAZING FRIEND," "I'M ON A SECRET MISSION TO STEAL YOUR HEART," "I'D FACE NINJAS FOR YOU," I SPY A GREAT FRIEND," "YOU'VE SNUCK RIGHT INTO MY HEART," "I'M OUR SECRET ADMIRER," AND "LET'S KICK IT SOON." 

On the left is the free die set I received with my purchase.  It has four banner dies in different lengths!  I love this because I can stamp some of these sentiments on paper and die cut them out with the banner dies!  This other set is called Mini Delicate Doilies.  It has four pieces in the package.  I loved how detailed they were and can't wait to try them out!  I can see using these behind wording or to add a little pop to a card! 

The package on the left is the slider foam adhesive pieces to make slider cards and I also ordered a pair of snips to cut apart my dies.  Since I've been purchasing so many dies lately, I decided it was good to have a nice pair of metal snips.  

This last item is toner sheets.  I don't have a laser printer at my house so I bought these to do some foiling!  I recently heard that Gina K has come out with some cute patterns and colors for foiling and I can't wait to get my hands on some.  I love that these sheets are already done and I can easily reach over, die cut an image and foil it quickly without any hassle.  

I look forward to playing with all of these products soon and of course will be posting my projects.  I'm sure I will be visiting this site again soon because there was a hot air balloon set that was out of stock and of course I need it too.  :)

Thanks for stopping by, I hope to have some creative projects up soon!  Have a wonderful day! Go get crafty!!! 

Elephant Shaker Tag

Elephant Shaker Tag

Hi and welcome to my blog!  Thanks for joining me today!  

May is a big birthday month for my family and friends.  This year there have been some big birthdays too!  I decided that this year I was going to add a tag to presents.  I think it adds a little handmade thoughtfulness to the present. 

My nephew has a natural artistic ability.  He has been drawing pictures since a young age and even though he is only 7 this year, he has already become quite the little artist.  You can follow him on Instagram as thelittleartistwithin.  His birthday was this week and I thought I would add a little something to his gift.  He appreciates cute art which makes me love him that much more.  

I made this tag using the Adorable Elephants stamp set.  I colored the elephant with three shades of gray and colored his ears with two shades of pink.  I didn't do anything fancy with the coloring on this one.  I actually did some masking to create the balloon cluster.  I masked off the middle heart balloon and stamped the other two round balloons.  Then I removed the mask and colored all of them in. I colored the balloons all with just two shades of copic markers.  I was using bold colors that matched the background paper of the tag which was from an Echo Park paper pack.  

Echo Park has some wonderful paper pads!  I love their designs and 6"x6" paper pads.  The paper pads are small enough to take with you and are double sided so you have double the options! 

Okay, back to the tag!  I fussy cut the elephant and balloons out.  The tag I cut from a Queen & Co shaker tag die using my Cuttlebug.  The die cuts out the middle piece so in order to make the background piece, I used the top piece as a template and hand cut the base piece.  I used foam tape and created the shaker walls for the tag.  I filled the shaker with a bunch of sequins, and tiny cut stars to add some cuteness.  I attached the acetate on the foam tape and then glued on the top tag piece.  Using the Exacto knife, I cut a slit above the elephant's hand to make the balloons go behind his hand so it looks like he is holding them.  The finished tag went on his gift and I think it is so cute and makes my heart soar when he wanted to keep it.  :) Love this kiddo!  

I hope you are having a wonderful day!  I hope you are inspired to do a little crafting too!  Thanks for stopping by!  

MFTstamps.com; Queenandcompany.com

Marvel Characters Cricut Mystery Box

Cricut Mystery Box

I just learned about this amazing monthly program through Cricut!  Each month they release a "Mystery Box" which is basically about 3 cartridges of images for around $30.  If you follow people on youtube like KensKreations or some others, they give you a discount code to use when ordering these Mystery Boxes as well as a sneak peek as to what's inside.  

I am a huge Super Hero fan!  All of these new movies that are coming out are so exciting to me!  I recently saw Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2!  It was full of laughs and tears!  Woohoo, the mystery box had the Guardians of the Galaxy included along with the Marvel Avengers!  I love them all!  I had to start with Thor though, he is one of my absolute favorites!  Who wouldn't want Chris Hemsworth saving you for all the evils in the world?  

On the left is Thor.  I was amazed at how many little pieces these characters had!  The nice thing about the Cricut is that it lays out each color on a different piece of cardstock for you and it even tells you what color you should use.  Like a good girl, I followed what Cricut recommended for colors.  Although I did add in sparkle paper for his hair and shinny paper for the silver, for the most part, I did stick to the preferred colors.  This character is actually two sided and you can make both sides at once.  I attached a piece of ribbon to him so I can hang him on my Christmas tree this year! Again, he is A LOT of pieces.  Each piece of silver from his helmet have to be glued down separately.  In hind sight, I think I would use paper with sticker backing before I cut everything out so that I could easily transfer the pieces to the black background piece easily.  You can also use transfer tape to move them if they already have adhesive on the back and this way you can place them exactly where they should go!  

The second character I created was Rocket.  He was my favorite from Guardians!  He is always thinking and trying to figure everything out.  He thinks ahead and is always prepared.  I had to make him!  Again, there were a lot of little pieces.  I lost one of the tiny brown pieces for his outfit and ended up having to cute on little tiny brown piece all over but it was worth it! I did think they could have made life a little easier by making his blaster one piece but it still turned out really cute.  

I did use some special tools for this project.  I used a fine point tip on my glue bottle, I also used an Exacto knife to move small pieces as well as my Quickpix stick.  

These characters are amazing and detailed.  I look forward to making a few more, especially Groot!  Just be prepared and have a lot of patience when attempting to make small versions of these. :) 

Happy Crafting and thanks for joining me today! 

Unicorn treat holder

Woohoo!  I found a download card for the Silhouette design shop!  It's been a while since I've bought from the design shop but since I had this download gift card I thought it was a good excuse! What I had forgotten is that the credit is only good for one month! Yikes!!! So I downloaded this adorable unicorn design and had to try it out.

 

I cut the base piece from 110 pound white cardstock so that it would be a little more stable. Then cut the hair, tail and back legs from a piece of lavender cardstock. This is one piece that hides behind the body. Next, I cut the body in white cardstock along with the front cloud piece. The wing and nose I cut from purple cardstock. Lastly I cut the blue cloud. To assemble, I glued the white body piece onto the lavender piece with Scotch liquid glue. Then I glued on the nose piece. I glued half of the wing and used a foam square to pop up the edge of the wing for more dimension.

I glued down the blue cloud and then the unicorn over it. Last I popped up the white cloud in the front.  The project is 3-D so it folds in the middle where I used some score tape to adhere the small flaps to the back and the ribbon is added to keep I together.

I was thinking this would make a great party favor for a birthday. So much fun. Such a cute quick and easy project!  After starting at this project I think I will go back and add some bling or sparkle to it.  All unicorns need to shine!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day and I hope to see you soon! 

Flamingos!!!

Flamingos! 

Hello!  Thanks for joining me today!  For us here in the US it is a holiday.  It's Memorial Day, a day to remember and appreciate those who served our great country.  My father in law and my father both served years ago. I am grateful for their sacrifice and hard work to help keep this country safe and free.  Thank you to those who have served, are serving, and the families of those who have and are serving our country.  Thank you.

Today I had the opportunity to get some card making done.  I initially was thinking of making a card for my friend that was a shaker flamingo card but I recently learned that she is making that for her daughter's birthday invites!  Yikes! There went my idea! It's okay though, it gave me a chance to think outside my shaker cards and figure out a new plan of attack.  She is really into flamingos right now so I had to come up with something cute. :)

I had made a flamingo the other day using my Cricut Explore Air machine, it was a free design from access that I was able to use as often as I wanted during the set time period.  The flamingo is adorable.  She has a little tutu and a ribbon on her head.  Her sassy attitude just made me fall in love with her.  I cut one out with my friend's birthday card in mind but at the time I was not sure what I would do with it. Today I thought I would put this cute flamingo to good use! I wish I had cut out a bunch of them!  She turned out so cute!

Planner paper clips are so cute and fun to make!  I decided to make this cute little flamingo into a paper clip bookmark.  I glued her to the paperclip and wanted to create a scene around her.  My thought was something fun for summer.  What comes to mind when you think of summer?  Beach? Vacation? Sun? Well, those are the things that came to mind for me.  I cut a few waves out using my Cricut Explore Air and then I die cut the beach out of some pink cardstock from Stampin' Up using the Impression Obsession Hills die set.  I cut the sun out using a die as well.  I love the stitched look on the sun!  Then I created a border using the Queen & Co. nesting rectangles.  I love these because they have a thick border around the edge which I used to hide the glitter tape I am holding the paper clip in place with.  I know no one can see it so I didn't have to use glitter tape, but I am in love with the shinny glitter tape!

After cutting everything out, I assembled the front of this card to look like a post card that was sent from a sunny beach somewhere where this adorable flamingo is relaxing on the beach.  I added a few wriggles on the sand with a white Signo Uniball gel pen just for some texture on the beach sand.  I popped up the entire frame with foam squares and the front was complete with the exception of the sentiment.

For the sentiment I use the Hero Art Stamp & Cut set DC150 which has a die cut for the word happy which is written in script and then has a bunch of sentiments included like "birthday," "anniversary," "mother's day," etc.  I love that it can be used with so many different sentiments! I ended up double cutting the "happy" and layering the two cut pieces together to give the word a little more stability.  I also put thin strips of foam tape before the letters so they were popped up off the sun.  I stamped the 'birthday" with black ink on the sun.  Did I mention I am obsessed with these Nuvo drops?  So after I was done I came back and looked at the card and I couldn't help it, it needed some Nuvo drops!  So I added three along the side.

Before the Nuvo Drops! 

My card is complete!  This card was super fun to create and I really hope my friend enjoys it too.
Today I ordered a bunch of products from My Favorite Things Stamps so I will be sharing my haul with you once it comes in!  I can't wait!

Thanks for joining me today!  Have a wonderful day!