I Pledge Allegiance

Today, I have something to show using the new I Pledge Allegiance stamp from Our Daily Bread Designs. The paper is an old, old K&Co pattern from my stash (I'm guessing at least 2-3 years old). I added the stitching, but otherwise, the paper came already blocked. I did some heavy distressing to the sentiment panel using a distressing tool and Ranger Distress Inks, including tearing some slits and roughing them up for an even more aged look. The little pieces of hardware on the sentiment panel are by 7 Gypsies, and are threaded with some natural colored burlap string. Some piercing and brads in the corners provide the finishing touch.

Thanks for visiting!



Stamps: I Pledge Allegiance (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream, K&Co dp
Ink: Weathered Wood, Antique Linen, Vintage Photo, and Walnut Stain Ranger Distress inks
Accessories: 7 Gypsies paper fasteners, distressing tool, burlap string, foam adhesive, sewing machine, SU vintage brads
Size: 5 1/2" square

MFT May Blog Hop

My Favorite Things is blog hopping today, so if you haven't come here by way of Frances and you'd like to start at the beginning, the place to go is Kim's blog. If you've already been through the hop so far, what do you think of the peeks?

I've put together a little something with Stephanie Fizer's Owls and Blueberries set, which is just too cute for words! I did my coloring with Copics and Prismacolor pencils and stamped a few extra bluebell sprigs to pop up on foam adhesive. The image circle was cut with Nestabilities and layered onto a green shape cut with Labels 3 Nestabilities. I added some punched borders, some ribbon and hardware, and some paper piercing and called it done.

Next is an out-of-the-box creation using the manicure girl from Girls Day In:



I fancified her robe into a dress, drew in a sparkling new diamond and turned her into Girls Day "In"gaged :D Can't you see her sitting there as her friends line up to check out her big ol' rock? I pulled the sentiment from Essential Sentiments (which, incidentally, happens to be in the Bubble Bin this week). "Dreams Come True," another sentiment in that set, would work well, too. The dress is paper pieced, and the rest is colored with a mixture of Copic markers and Prismacolor pencils. Her diamond sparkles thanks to some Stardust Stickles. I had a lot of fun with this one!

Ready for some MFT scoop? Here's what you need to know for the rest of the week:

Right now, you can find all sorts of fun tips for working with your new stamps in the How'd They Do That area of the MFT Forum on SCS.

Tomorrow night, from 8-10 pm, join us for the New Release Cocktail Party, also in the MFT Forum. We're releasing four new sets, as well as the Chocolate Kiss patterned paper packs, coordinating ribbon bundle, and coordinating Crystal Adornments. You'll also find Smooch Paint and Spring and Summer Cup O' Button Packs in the store.

During the New Release Party, we'll be announcing the winner of this month's Guest Designer Contest.

Mother's Day Bonus: From Wednesday to Friday, $100 orders receive a FREE Floral set (your choice)!

Next stop on the hop is the fabulous Carole!!

Happy hopping!



Owls and Bluebells:
Stamps: Owls and Bluebells (My Favorite Things Presents)
Paper: MFT Perfect Paper Panels, Prismatics Brown Suede Medium and Dark, SU Basic Black and Whisper White: K&Co "Retro Florals" cardstock pad
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, SU Basic Black, VersaMark
Accessories: Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, blending stump, white and clear embossing powder, SU hardare, Cuttlebug Just My Type embossing folder, Scor-Pal, EK Success wavy border punch, Spellbinders Fancy Scalloped Border Piercabilities, Labels 3 Nestabilities, and circle Nestabilities, Offray narrow black organdy, paper piercer, foam adhesive, lavender twill, burlap string

Girls Day "In"gaged:
Stamps: Girls Day In (My Favorite Things)
Paper: MFT Perfect Paper Panels, Papertrey White, Cosmo Cricket "Everafter"
Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Ranger Antique Linen Distress
Accessories: Copic markers, Prismacolor pencils, Gamsol, blending stump, clear embossing powder, foam adhesive, Cosmo Cricket ribbon, BossKut flourish die, Martha Stewart flower punch, 1/2" circle punch, Fiskars lace border punch, Angel Wings Shimmerz

Eenie Meenie, Mani, Pedi

I just **love** the sentiment in My Favorite Things's new Girls Day In set - what a hoot! This set, along with three others, will be released this Wednesday, May 6. The three patterned papers I've used for today's card are all from Chocolate Kiss, a new MFT paper pack also being introduced on Wednesday. Even the ribbon and button are new :)

Join us tomorrow (Tuesday, May 5) at 10 pm Eastern for a blog hop full of fun peeks (it will start on Kim's blog), and then again on Wednesday (May 6) in the Member Company Forum from 8-10 pm EST for our New Release Cocktail Party. Can't wait until then? Go HERE for more MFTeasers!

Have a great day!



Stamps: Girls Day In (My Favorite Things)
Paper: PTI Lavender Moon and Dark Chocolate, MFT Perfect Paper Panels and Chocolate Kiss dp
Ink: Brilliance Graphite Black, PTI Lavender Moon
Accessories: MFT chocolate satin ribbon and pink grosgrain, MFT button, pink burlap string, Copic markers, Labels 4 Nestabilities, paper piercer

MFT Guest Designer Contest

This just in ....

My Favorite Things is changing up its monthly guest designer contest. Starting with this next release (which is this coming Wednesday, May 6), the contest will be announced on the Saturday prior (that's today!). Deadline for entries is 11 pm on the Tuesday before the new release, so for this month, that's THIS Tuesday, May 5. And then the winner will be announced during the release party on the 6th! Here's what you could win ... the full One-Click Collection of the new release FREE. This month, that's a $51.90 value!

May's theme:

Girls Day In - celebrating all the women we love and all the women who deserve to feel pampered and beautiful!

Full participation details can be found HERE. (Use keyword MFTOCC0509.)

If you do enter, have fun and good luck! (And shoot me an email so I can be sure to look for your entry!)

Tea For Two

Another Saturday brings another wonderful Sketch for You To Try. I don't know how Jen does it, but she keeps designing fantastic sketch after fantastic sketch, week after week after week. This month's line-up is one of the best ever! To see this week's sketch, meet May's superstar guest designer, and see Jen's and the GD's samples, head over to i{heart}2stamp. You'll also want to check out the rest of this week's SFYTT samples:

Amy
Carole
Kelly
Susan

To play along, add yourself to the Mr. Linky form on Jen's post. If you upload to SCS, remember to use keyword SFYTT!

I've used Papertrey's new Tea for Two set and a color combo pulled from one of the inspiration photos (Heather's) in Papertrey's current Spring Fling Challenge. The teapot is stamped in Ocean Tides, trimmed out and mounted on a shape cut with Spellbinders' Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities. The sentiment is stamped in SU Certainly Celery. The punched border is done with the Fiskars lace punch. I also used Papertrey's Background Basics: Spots & Dots to add the little white circle pattern to the Spring Moss card stock. The button and ribbon are also by PTI.

Are you a tea drinker? If so, what are some of your favorite teas? I'm always looking for new blends to try. My all-time favorite tea is Jasmine, but I also love a really good Earl Grey and most spiced flavors.

Have a fun weekend!



Stamps: Tea for Two and Background Basics: Spots & Dots (Papertrey Ink)
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Kraft, Aqua Mist, Spring Moss
Ink: PTI Ocean Tides and Vintage Cream, SU Certainly Celery
Accessories: PTI ribbon and button, Fiskars lace border punch, paper piercer, sewing machine, foam adhesive

New ODBD!

Our Daily Bread Designs has released two new stamp sets and a single stamp. They are all patriotic in nature - perfect for Memorial Day, Independence Day, honoring and thanking our military men and women, and a whole lot more!

In God We Trust:

God Bless America:

I Pledge Allegiance:

We're also hosting a sketch challenge, and we'd love to have you play along! You can find all the details on the ODBD blog tomorrow, but in the meantime, here's the sketch so you can start thinkin':



And here's my take on the sketch:



The design team also added a little fun to the sketch, and so we are each working with a specific new product that Kelley is now carrying in the ODBD store. I know I've mentioned before that she's expanded the store considerably. The DT is having the best time playing with all the new goodies and we hope you will too! My product focus was either the Porcelain or Marrakech paper collections by Basic Grey. Hmmmm... Porcelain or Marrakech with patriotic sets? "Can't be done!" was my first thought. But here ya go - proof that you need not stay within the red/white/blue box for these awesome sets! Many of the other Bread Basket girls (our affectionate name for the DT) have also found creative ways to use products not specifically patriotic in nature. That said, for times when you DO want to use patriotic colors and papers, be sure to check out the collection of patriotic papers in the store. You can see them featured on the ODBD home page.

The first card I made with this set was definitely a traditional patriotic card:



This is a more clean-and-simple card than my normal style, and I really like it! Believe me, I tried adding a whole lot of layers and embellishments, because, well, that's just what I do (LOL!), but I kept taking them back off because this is what looked best to me!

As always, there's loads of inspiration for the new sets in the ODBD gallery. Check it out!

God Bless America
In God We Trust
I Pledge Allegiance

Got any fun Friday night plans?



Blessed Is the Nation (sketch card):
Stamps: In God We Trust (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: Papertrey Vintage Cream, Stampin' Up Night of Navy and Old Olive, Basic Grey Marrakech dp
Ink: SU Night of Navy craft, Night of Navy classic, Sage Shadow classic
Accessories: Labels 4 Nestabilities, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, Basic Grey Marrackech glazed brads, Spellbinders Piercabilities, Cuttlebug embossing folder, ribbon and lace (source unknown)
Size: 5 1/2" square

God Bless America:
Stamps: In God We Trust (Our Daily Bread Designs)
Paper: Papertrey Kraft and White, Stampin' Up Real Red and Night of Navy
Ink: SU Night of Navy, Ranger Vintage Photo Distress
Accessories: Circle Nestabilities, SU Real Red brads, Pink Hedgehog Papercrafts navy and white brads, Scor-Pal, foam adhesive
Size: 6 1/2 x 3 1/4"

Vintage Bookmark

Today is my day to share my creation for Verve's Project Parade. Our theme is It's A Girl Thing: Celebrating the Women in Our Lives. If you haven't been to the Verve blog yet this week, it's worth catching up. The projects so far have been fantastic!

I decided to make a bookmark for my mom highlighting one of the quotes from Because of You. My mom is an avid reader, and I love the thought that every time she picks up her book, she'll be reminded of the influence she's had in my life.

This was a super easy and quick project to make. I posted some basic how-to information on the Verve blog. Also be sure to head over there to see how you can play along for a chance to win a $25 Verve gift certificate!

Thanks for visiting,



Stamps: Because of You (Verve Stamps)
Paper: Basic Grey Porcelain dp, Papertrey Vintage Cream card stock
Ink: Stampin' Up Always Artichoke craft, Ranger Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Accessories: Papertrey Sweet Blush vintage buttons; May Arts burlap string, Spellbinders Labels 4 and Mega Curved Rectangle Nestabilities, ribbon (source unknown), foam tape