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New challenge at MPC ....link up your themed project for a fab prize!

Welcome to another fun challenge from Mountain Plains Crafters!  Remember that old song from The Byrds, "Turn, Turn, Turn"?  To everything turn, turn, turn...there is a season, turn, turn, turn..and a time for every purpose under Heaven. 

Depending on what part of the country you live in, the dog days of summer are hanging on by a thread or you're starting to have cooler days.  So with cooler days in mind, our theme is Leaves/Autumn.  You can go with a leaf theme or Autumn or both.  Link your new project using this theme for a super nice prize from our sponsor Pan Pastel, a Donna Downey Mixed Media Paint kit!  (Colors may vary)

Want to see how to use Pan Pastel paints?  Go here: techniques or check out their video gallery and while you're at, go visit their Facebook page and tell them Mountain Plains Crafters sent you!

This challenge will run for a month to give you lots of time to strategize for your project.  We ask that you link no more than 2 projects to the Inlinkz link below which does require that you use a blog or photo hosting site such as Flickr.  This contest begins Aug. 27, 2014 and ends 9/24/14 at 9:00 am ET, with a winner picked on Monday, 9/29/14 via Random.org.

So without further ado, here are some fabulous creations from our design team to get your crafty juices flowing!

Pam

Christina

Fall is my absolute favorite season!  Summer is just too hot here in Texas and I always anxiously wait it out until autumn arrives with it's cooler temperatures, blustery days and crunchy leaves. I love seeing the leaves change colors; I've always been fascinated how they start green and end up vibrant shades of red and gold, which is what inspired this card. I can't wait for fall!

Terri

Paula

Fall is my busiest time of the year and my very favorite! Enjoying the marching band at football games, cheering on the Cross Country team, and soon the pumpkin patch at the church. The ground gets completely covered by the leaves abandoning their trees & covering the floor of the woods.

All this plus cooler temps on their way, well sign me up!

Debra

Fall for me is everything pumpkin.. Pumpkin bread & pies shared with friends. Pumpkin lattes at the local coffee shops, that are so good  on chilly autumn evenings. The color - pumpkin - in my favorite Graphic 45 paper, "Steampunk Spells".  My favorite autumn glitter that is perfect to use on pumpkins. Falling leaves, sweater weather- Grateful for so much  this time of year !!

MariLynn

I love fall with the little bit of chill in the air. Fall to me is trips to the apple orchard and hot apple cider. It is high school football games on Friday night. It is marching band competitions. It is a time when God goes crazy with the colors of the leaves. It is probably my favorite time of year.( I used multiple sentiments from multiple Mark's Finest Papers sets. )

Jennifer

While summer will forever be my favorite season, there is a lot to love about fall. Pumpkin spice lattes come to mind, as does the beautiful color display Mother Nature gives us in the changing leaves. It's also the time of year to start thinking of all the things we're thankful for, especially my dear friends!

 Enter your link below:

An InLinkz Link-up

With Thoughts of You...

I hardly ever stamp directly on a card.. Blame it on my OCD.. If it isn't perfectly centered, even on both sides, positioned exactly and looking just right, it bothers the heck out of me.. I don't think I'm alone in this but I have been trying to adapt.. I will choose a design that doesn't really have to be "just right", something without words printed in a straight line.. But even then, I  usually stamp a design on a piece of paper, cut it out, maybe mat it, and layer it on a card base.. So tonight, I wanted to give it a try again.. I know there are several stamp positioners on the market -- I even have 2 of them -- but I rarely get them out and use them.. So, I found a piece of cardstock that I had partially embossed with a Stampin' Up folder and decided to start with that and carefully stamped my Inkadinkado design.. Also in my scrap drawer, I found a small piece of Fiskars Cloud9 Design paper, used it to punch out several hexagons to fit the embossed section and after adding a few pearls, my card was done.. I looked at it, LOVED it .... Didn't second-guess it.. Success !!

DEBRA

Mountain bear love

I love this stamp set from Lawn Fawn called Love You S'more.  It's so versatile and can be used in multiple ways.

I've been in an Autumn frame of mind lately as we've had unusually cooler temperatures here in the South.  Yesterday was such a beautiful, cool day and I was in the mood to make a watercolor night scene so I grabbed this set for inspiration.

I used my Tim Holtz distress markers along with a couple of Pentel watercolor paint brushes to create the watercolor background.  Before painting the sky, I heat embossed the stars and later added some Stickles glitter glue for sparkle.  The pink/green plaid background DP is from a DCWV adhesive mat stack.

The luscious green chevron ribbon is from May Arts Ribbon.  Isn't it the perfect accent on this card?  I even stamped the sentiment directly onto a piece of the ribbon.  The bear, moon, bird and trees were cut with the Lawn Fawn coordinating dies with my Cuttlebug.   Love how this turned out!

TERRI

End of summer/Back to school!

Hey howdy hey, all! It's still crazy hot outside and you wouldn't guess it, but summer time is winding down as everyone gets ready for the new school year. Bye bye BBQs and swimming pools, hello school clothes and books! The back-to-school season has always been my favorite and it still is. I used to love meeting my new teachers and getting my school supply list; now, I can't wait to meet my new professors and get my hands on my syllabus! To say goodbye to summer and greet the new season in craftiness, the MPC design team has created some fun cards for back to school inspiration; check them out!

t

Christina

Special teachers have always made a strong impact on me throughout my life and continue to do so to this day. I made this card with one of my favorite sociology professors in mind, as she definitely encourages her students not only to think outside the box, but to approach all matters from a place of love rather than judgement, which is crucial when studying sociology. Hope you enjoy it!

Jennifer

Ohhh books, how I love thee! I wasn't the jock or the popular one in school, I was the nerd with the glasses who plowed through a book a day. There's nothing better than losing  yourself in an amazing story...well, besides playing with crafting supplies! And yes, that is a real dictionary page.

Paula

I have two teenage sons. Back-to-school means Cross Country Practice at 6:30 am for one and Marching Band Practice every evening from 5pm-9pm for the other, Practices both for the week and a half before school actually starts. That is in addition to our regularly scheduled program {life}. Throw in some shoe and t-shirt shopping and we're ready for Open House!

Terri
Yes, I'm still hanging on to Summer!  Not ready to let go!  Actually, I just can't accept the fact that my one and only child has just entered high school, so thank you very much, but I'll hang onto the end of summer theme by a thread!  Or maybe a hook for these adorable fishies.  I hit a bit of a crafty funk and brought myself out by making homemade washi tape for the first time.  If you'd like to see the tutorial, you can go here.  Farewell summer, hello homework....ugh. 

Debra

Back to School always reminds me of my first grade teacher, Miss Igo. I was also a bookworm and loved being in a classroom surrounded by books. The ABCs, the ruler, the stacks of books and the apple for a favorite teacher all bring back lovely memories. The words on the tissue tape - Journey, Artful, Imagination - just by chance were on the piece of tissue tape I tore off. But they were all perfect as I reflected back on Miss Igo's classroom and created this card to share my memories.

 

MariLynn
My baby went back to school this week as a sophomore in High School. That doesn't seem right. My second daughter is in college getting her degree in education... following in mom's footsteps. But she is wanting to teach middle school instead of elementary.( I think it takes a special calling to teach that age.) I made my card for her as a reminder about what is important. Teachers can only teach to students who want to learn. My prayers are with all the teachers, students and school staff that they may all have a safe year.

And so it FLOWs.....

I am thoroughly addicted to FLOW magazine..... Came across it at Barnes & Noble on one of my many visits and now patiently wait to find each new issue.... It is a paper-crafter's dream.. Full of articles, stickers, postcards, paper, tiny envelopes and much more... Describing it could never do it justice... Check them out here at FLOW .. I did not think I could EVER use any of the magazine to create with until I found someone who loved it as much as I do.. I challenged her to create something with it for me and I would do the same for her... Well, she is a Zentangler and incorporated that into her first ever handmade card just for ME !! I made one for her as well and wanted to share them both with you today... I found a magazine and made a friend all at the same time... Enjoy our creative efforts... Then go find an image you love-- in a book or magazine or advertisement.. Put on your creative thinking cap and go with the flow ....    Deb

FLOW

My card for Faith

Bird image from FLOW

Faith's First Handmade Card for ME

Deer image from FLOW

Halloween card....Enter if you dare!

I recently had a visit with my cousin who is all about Halloween.  This girl goes all out.  I've seen it and yes, it is quite the spectacle.

 

With Fall just around the corner, I was totally in the mood to ink up some Unity stamps that I've had for awhile, and after getting all pumped up from my cousin on Halloween, that's the direction I went with.  Love this sentiment from the Unity Halloween Chatter kit!  And those orange Queen & Co bubbles give just the right touch of sparkle.  Let's face it; Q&C bubbles go with EVERYTHING!  ;) 

Terri

 

 

Ballerina card

We have a couple of little ballerina's in my family.  Hoping to use this as a birthday card or dance recital celebration card.  Lots of pretties on here that I couldn't wait to put together.  :)   

        Terri

SUPPLIES:

Queen & Co clear bubbles, FabScraps dp and stickers, Spellbinders Celebra'tions Tape It stamp, Pinkfresh Studio washi tape, vintage lace, gemstones, Tim Holtz Distress tool, American Crafts Blush ink, quilled flowers

Butterflies

If nothing ever changed, there would be no butterflies.

That is my favorite quote about these amazing critters. When my kids were little we would go out to the wild life preserve and catch monarch butterflies. Then we would put a small sticker on them to help track their migration paths. If I had to count all the butterfly stamps that I had it would take me quite a while. I love stamping my butterflies and cutting them out. I used to try and cut out the antennae. I learned that cutting a thin strip of black or brown cardstock folded in half makes great antennae. (I do mean thin... as thin as you can cut.) 

The designers are making cards with butterflies to share as inspiration. I hope you enjoy them. 

MariLynn

Paula

Christina

Debra

Terri

Sheryl

Jennifer