MSS Block Party: Your Help Needed

Hello to all of you who are so loyal in visiting my blog each week!  Thank you to those of you who may be finding yourself here for the first time as well!

Do you remember this card I posted earlier in the week?

It was chosen as one of Market Street Stamps top 10 for their Special Edition Block Party.  The cool part is that the winner of the block party wins $50 a month in free stamps from Market Street Stamps for a full year...$600 worth of stamps!!  WOW!!! 

Here's where I need your help!   I would LOVE if you would stop on over to the Market Street Stamps blog and vote for me!  It would really mean the world to me to have your support!  Even if you have never commented on my blog before but you find yourself visiting or maybe you comment regularly, I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE your support and vote!  (Yes, I am shamelessly begging!!) :)

Thank you SO MUCH for voting!! I am so blessed by all of you!  If I don't tell you enough how much I appreciate you and how much you encourage me, PLEASE know that you do! I enjoy hearing from you and  appreciate each of you so much!!

Here's the link where you can vote:  MSS Special Edition Block Party

Thanks again!!

Fringe Flower Birthday

I'm here today to share another project made using a FANTASTIC die from Lil' Inker Designs that is SO fun and something that you really should consider adding to your collection if you haven't already!!  What makes this product even more unique is it was the first of its kind of the market!  Love it!!  So, which die is it?

The Fringe Flower die!!

Seriously folks, this die is SO FUN!!

So now for my project that uses this die.  I tell you, I've cut so many things with this die! I love how different this flower looks just by cutting out a different type of material!

This was a card for a friend's birthday. Can you guess what type of material I used to cut that flower out with?

It is a brown paper lunch bag! 

The cool thing about this one was that I cut the flower from the side of the bag, which when the bag is folded, there are 4 layers that it cut through (the front, the back and then the 2 folded in sides).  So when I rolled this flower, I used several of those pieces together and it created this flower!  It looks a lot different than the flower does when cut with felt doesn't it!?  But still equally as fun and interesting!  You just can't resist touching it!

Here's a shot from the side that might give you a little perspective on the dimension of the flower.  For the center I attached a resin flower. You could add rhinestones, pearls, stickers, buttons, etc to the center to change it up and give it a different look every time!

Have I mentioned how fast Lil' Inker Designs ships?  Super fast!  They have super great customer service too!  I know you won't be disappointed!

Thank you for stopping by today!  As for myself, I am super, super excited to go to a Chris Tomlin & Louie Giglio concert tonight!  I feel so blessed to be able to have the chance to go!  I can't wait!!

The Twinery & Sweet 'N Sassy Blog Hop

Welcome to a special blog hop featuring products from best twine company around, The Twinery and a fabulous stamp company, Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps!  If you are following along on the hop you should have come from Dina Kowal's blog!  If you would like to start at the beginning of the hop you can visit The Twinery's blog for a complete list!

There are prizes too!!  By commenting on EACH blog in this hop, you will be eligible to win one of two great prizes!

The Twinery will give away to one winner:

One Ultimate Color Sampler Pack (retail value $25)

and

Sweet & Sassy Stamps will give away to one winner:
One Season of Change Stamp & Die Set (retail value $28)

(Shown below)

I was able to work with the Sweet & Sassy stamp set called "Seasons of Change" (which is the set WITH dies that you can WIN just by commenting on each blog in the hop!) which I have liked since I first saw it released a few months ago.

I really like the pattern on the leaves in this set! I wanted to make a fun Fall project using these leaves and the beautiful Fall colored twine from The Twinery!

So this was what I came up with!  I really like how it turned out!! This was inspired by a project that I had pinned on Pinterest where the creator had decoupaged real leaves onto a pumpkin.  I wondered if I could mimic that look using stamps and tissue paper and it worked very well!

I painted two pumpkins white.  The littlest one I used acrylic paint and brushed it on and for the largest one I spray painted it white.  Then, while that was drying, I stamped the leaf images from the set in various fall colors and then cut them out by hand.  This stamp set has a coordinating die set which I didn't have at the time I made this and that would have sped up this process tremendously!  So hint, hint...when you buy the stamp set, get the matching dies too!! :) 

I applied a layer of Mod Podge in the area where I was going to place a leaf and then stuck the leaf onto the pumpkin.  The white tissue paper blended in with the white paint very well and it is very difficult to even see the tissue paper on most of the leaves. 

Here's a closeup of the leaves on the pumpkin.  After applying the tissue paper leaves, you can seal them down even more by applying a top layer of Mod Podge too. 

After I applied the leaves, I took Mandarin twine from The Twinery and tied a knot at the bottom of the stem.  Then, I wrapped one end of the twine to the top of the stem and then re-wrapped it down to the bottom and then tied both ends together into a bow. 

At the bottom of the large pumpkin, I also tied a bow using Mandarin, Peapod, Lemondrop & Maraschino Twinery twine at the bottom of the stem.

This was such a fun Fall project to create! 

I love being able to use my stamps and twine for home decor!! This would be a great project for a gift too!

So...have you checked out the twine from The Twinery yet?  Here's a photo showing all of their colors!  Sigh!! They are so pretty!

Your next stop on the hop is Harriet Skelly!

Don't forget to leave a comment to be eligible to win the prize packs!  They are wonderful, wonderful prizes!

Have a terrific day!!  Thank you for stopping by!

Fringe Flower Gift Idea

I can hardly believe that Christmas is on our heels!  Where did the time go!  I've been thinking about Christmas gifts and what I am going to give this year.   The project I am going to share today was created for the Lil' Inker Fall Release but I haven't shared it yet.  I think that these would make great gifts!

I used the Lil' Inker Designs Fringe Flower die and rolled it with pink felt.  I stitched a little bit of yellow onto the end of the pink felt to make a yellow center when the flower was rolled.  I used the Original Pinwheel die to make the leaves and hot glued two of them onto the backside of the flower.  Then, I attached the flower to a large paperclip.

 If you make these for gifts, you could custom make the colors to the person's personality.  You can mix colors too as I will show you a little later.  If you are giving a gift or a gift certificate to a book store, this would compliment that nicely.  Or, if you wanted, you could use this to decorate the outside of your package too.

How about one more sample?

I LOVE mixing the two colors of felt together to make a flower that is full of color! I have a tutorial on how this works below. 

Here's what the backside of the flower looks like after I attached it to the paperclip:

I cut a circle with felt and then hot glued it onto the back of the paperclip.  This makes it look finished and hides all the pieces.

I hope you enjoyed this project and tutorial!  Thanks for stopping by!