Art Makes Me Happy...

Deb here from the Design Team....  What makes you happy ??  After a long day at work or taking care of your family, what recharges your batteries so you can get up the next morning and do it all over again?? Art makes me happy; creating a card is a process that comes straight from my heart. I also love to read and curling up with a book of new techniques or my nook (with approx 800 books) is heaven to me. Artsy/craftsy books and projects help me re-charge MY batteries.  Sitting in my Craft Room surrounded by my favorite stamps, new supplies and works in progress puts a smile on my face, even on the dreariest of days. The card below was such fun for me to make. The crayon box stamp brought back such happy memories of coloring as a child. Art was making me happy back then too. The Unity Stamp Company & Donna Downey Studios set "Art & Possibility" has some amazing sayings including "paint your dreams",  "Art is not a measure of skill but of passion" and "embrace possibility".. How do you paint your dreams?? Find what makes you happy and do it.. Re-charge your creative batteries as often as you can. Make time for YOU.. You'll be glad you did..

Supplies: Graphic 45-Hampton Art stamps "An ABC Primer" , Unity Stamp Company "Art & Possibility" , My Mind's Eye Every Day Chalk cards , doily, enamel dots, patterned paper, Copic atyou Spica glitter markers

wishes

we all have wishes

wishes for ourselves

wishes for others

wishes for the world we live in

This wonderfully huge stamp is Unity Stamp Company's Canvas Wishes

Clear embossed then watercolored with watercolor paint

sentiment is also from Unity Stamp Company, Kit of the Month: Love in an Instant

stamped with Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue

and just a tiny bit of bling

My wish is for you to have a wonderful day!

Inking silk flowers tutorial

I made some colorful inked flowers from my ivory May Arts flowers and turned it into a tutorial.  Follow the link below to my personal blog to see all the details.  Won't take long at all.  Hope you enjoy it and get ideas for your next project.  (Psst....that sentiment kit is on sale right now at Unity for only $8.00, orig. $20.  Better jump on it!)

                                                               Terri    Tutorial at Waving My Wand

Products used from these sponsors: 

Unity Stamp Co Everything More kit

May Arts Ribbon olive mini raffia bow ribbon and ivory silk flowers

Clearsnap Smooch Glitz glitter accent inks

Happy Wednesday!

Christina here from the MPC DT! My mom has been having a rough time at work with some of her coworkers and has been a bit down in the dumps about everything, so I decided to make her something she can have at her desk and look at when it seems like things are bad. I believe the power of positive thinking is strong and we could all use a little help with that now and then!

I really love this sentiment from the Unity Lasting Thoughts kit. It was so easy to let the sentiment take center stage with a little bit of glitter to highlight the stars. I topped off this simple card with a little bit of May Arts black baker's twine. If you haven't tried May Arts' baker's twine, you need to! It's a nice heavy weight with a smooth finish and perfect for cardmaking!

Hope you liked this simple and quick card; thanks for stopping by! :)

Let not your heart be troubled

For those.of us who are crafty obsessed, we follow trends, blogs, company forums....you name it.  I'm a big fan of Teresa Collins products and follow her blog. 

I'm asking you to lift her family up in prayer as they deal with her husbands cancer.   Her recent post inspired me to make this card.  There's a lot of hurt and pain in this world.  But if you trust in Christ, you have hope.  Blessings to each one of you.

                                       Terri

Embossed Gratefulness

Here's a Cuttlebug embossed card with fussy cut glitter flowers.  I've added a few strands of May Arts Ribbon natural jute and stamped a sentiment from Unity Stamps {Leafing} Grateful set.  The tiny frame was cut from a piece of We R Memory Keepers Inked Rose paper.  Love!  Terri

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Other supplies:  Teresa Collins Vintage Finds chipboard border, Studio Calico Woodgrain enamel dots, Martha Stewart adhesive ribbon, foam dots

sense of wonder...

oh yes, like a little one with a kitten, or a puppy, or a turtle.

I wish more adults had a sense of wonder, I think everyone would enjoy life more and stress less.

So I want to challenge everyone to go out and look at someone, some thing

even if it's tiny or been around for years

like it's the first time you've ever seen it!

Unity Stamp Co.'s ...sense of wonder

My Comfort Zone...

Deb here with a new card that took me out of my comfort zone. My usual cards are created by stamping using an ink pad.. I have used many kinds of ink - pigment, dye and chalk. Tim Holtz Distress Ink pads ( a water-based dye ink ) are among my favorites so I had to have his Distress Markers when they were released in 2012. I have used them most often to color in an image but this time wanted to use the Direct-to-Stamp coloring with markers method. I chose a daisy stamp, that was not too detailed,  to see how well the technique worked. I was very pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it and even stamped several images using different shades of yellows and greens.. I had my 2 colors chosen, quickly colored the image and then breathed onto the stamp to "re-activate" the ink in case some of the ink had dried. The image was then stamped onto some watercolor paper and used as the focal point for my card. I love the look of the image and know I will be using this method over and over again. I even have several other floral stamps chosen to work with. I will also try some more detailed designs. Others methods are to mist the colored image with water before stamping; mist both the stamp and the paper or even just mist the paper before stamping.  This will give the image more of a blurred watercolor effect. Hope you like it. Let me know if you like to use this method for your projects or if you have any tips for me... 

Supplies : DCWV glittered card base, Inkadinkado Daisy stamp, Tim Holtz washi tape, 

Distress Markers in Mustard Seed and Forest Moss,  Unity Stamp Company "Basically Said" Thanks

Encourage and Inspire

Hi, this is MariLynn here. I made this card today. I call this card Encourage and Inspire
I hope this inspires you.

Hello Rose

I had to put my new We R Memory Keepers "Inked Rose" paper pad to use.  These papers are gorgeous!  So, I decided to do some paper piecing.  I've pieced a section of the rose paper with the green watercolor paper.  I wanted to do something different for dimension, so I cut a few wedges with a circle punch from each corner on one side of each paper, then placed the wedges at opposite corners.  Cool, huh?  

Another neat trick is punch a circle (I used a 3" punch here).  Now, punch each side of your circle to create leaf petals.  LOVE!  The flower was made from October Afternoon Cakewalk die cuts.  Love this pretty card.

                                     Terri

You like us!!

You did it!  Thanks for getting us over 200 likes on Facebook!  We're the new kids on the block so your support means a lot.  Here's a card I made today to share how we feel about our followers!  Keep sharing us with your friends and checking in every day.  We'll be having another challenge soon and that means another prize.  Woo hoo!  Terri

Supplies: Unity Stamps Jillibean Blossom Soup kit, May Arts Ribbon sequin, American Crafts ink, Marvy sunset blending ink, Freckled Fawn neon enamel dots, embossing powder, Lil Inker Designs stitched tag die, Jolees Boutique paper jute

Father's Day Inspiration

In tribute to all those amazing dads out there, here's a little inspiration from our design team to get your crafty juices flowing.  Happy Father's Day!

Terri

Pam

Paula

Sheryl

Two simple cards yet so purposeful.  Both of these took me only about 30 minutes to make.  My dad loves motorcycles and traveling the states on his.  My father-in-law loves to travel in his RV.  Ok...so it's not an RV lol.  Unity doesn't have an RV stamp.  But he'll get the meaning behind it.

Jennifer

Deb

My father died when I was 16.. Some of my earliest memories of him are sitting on his lap while he read to me and later walking to the library with him while he held my hand. Wish I could have shared Harry Potter with him and some of the latest mysteries I have read. He passed his love of books on to me and this card is for him....

MariLynn

Here's a sympathy card I made using watercolors and a wonderful sentiment from Unity stamps.  This is actually my favorite bible verse and I was so excited when I discovered the image at Unity.  Check out their products: high quality rubber stamps and a wonderful company.  Best customer service around in my opinion.  Stay tuned for some great Fathers day inspiration from our design team tomorrow....   Terri

Supplies: UUnity Stamp Co Season under Heaven, Twinkling H20's watercolor paint, pink paislee floral scroll, free hand drawn birds, Tim Holtz distress markers

Doughnut Days & We have a Winner !!!

Deb here to share a  Doughnut card in honor of National Doughnut Day, which was June 6. Also our Facebook page asked you to post a comment telling us what your favorite doughnut is and/or post a doughnut card for a chance to win a prize. Well, we have a WINNER !! Michele Vise George !! She told us that her favorite is Krispy Kreme with Chocolate Icing. Michele, please send your contact info to mountainplainscrafters@gmail.com within 10 days. And thanks to everyone for entering.

My card was made for a friend who meets me every weekend for coffee. She needed some cheering up and that doughnut stamp was my first choice. Pairing it with the coffee cup stamp seemed perfect !! I hope you all like it as much as she does.  I seem to be addicted to doilies lately and couldn't resist these yellow ones !!

Supplies :  Unity Stamp Company coffee cup from "So Empty Coffee", Stampin' Up doughnut, Freckled Fawn yellow doily,  Making Memories "English Garden" paper, Tim Holtz Distress Markers & a ZIG Wink of Stella Clear Brush Tip Marker.

Help us reach 200 likes! Almost there....

Are you crafty?  Or do you know someone crafty?  We've got lots of inspiration, tips and techniques to share and get your creative juices going. 

So share us with your crafty peeps, like us on Facebook, follow our blog and check in every day cause you never know when we'll have a flash giveaway.  Join us on our challenges too for prizes.  We've got awesome sponsors!!  Thanks for visiting- click below to like us on Facebook.

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Happy Father's Day

I have been asked to make some Father's Day creations and this is one of them. I used a piece of 5 x 5 card stock as a base for the dp pieces. I used World Traveler dp from Teresa Collins and sponged some burnt umber around each piece. I do believe this is one of my most favorite SU! sets~ Angler...for guy cards. My husband is an avid fly fisherman. The 5 x 5 base was put on dimensionals as are the flies and sentiment. A square brad and some May Arts twine/thread for interest.

How are your Father's Day cards coming along?

Pam

Coffee Anyone?

Jennifer here to share a cup of coffee with you this sunny Sunday morning! I was bit by the coloring bug recently and Unity Stamp's new Kimmie Girl (who I am totally renaming Jenny Girl...just saying...) was one of the results. Oh yes, self-portrait via a stamp and some markers; love it!

Supplies: Unity Stamp Co. Kimmie Girl, May Arts pink bow ribbon, chocolate brown ribbon from Michael's, Spectrum Noir markers, red Spica pen, card stock from PaperandMore.com

Birds and gray skies

Terri here, with my latest crafty creation.  A little Unity Stamps, May arts ribbon....lotsa luscious crafty goodies.  Supply list below.  Love our sponsors...they are the best.  You should check the links....Always a good sale going on...have a great day!  Be creative!

Visit Mountain Plains Crafters on Facebook!

Supplies:  Unity Stamp Co Jillibean Blossom Soup kit, May arts ribbon mini raffia bow ribbon, Inkadinkado birdbath stamp, Memento luxe black ink, Twinkling H20's watercolor shimmering paint, Basic Grey candy buttons, Crate Paper Maggie Holmes paper pad, Teresa Collins Vintage Finds wording, American Crafts pink sheer ribbon

WINNER of the Lawn Fawn challenge!!

Congratulations Barb McCarthy of
http://hegolfsiscrap.blogspot.com/2014/05/tribute-to-gus-gus-52214.html?m=1 who won via randomizer draw.  Please send your mailing address and also your email,  with your stamp set choice from lawnfawn.com, to mountainplainscrafters@gmail.com