MFP Blog Hop Day 1 - Christmas Selections

Welcome to Mark's Finest Papers a Heinrich Company's 

   October Blog Hop! 

This month's New Stamp Set Releases are:

Christmas Selections Featured October 23
Poinsettia Blooms Featured October 24
Cracked Hello Featured October 25
On The Fly Featured October 26

Please hop along with us! You have a chance to win one of the above stamp sets! Just comment on the team members' blogs (don't forget this one) each day for more chances to win! (You do NOT have to comment on all the blogs each day! The names are drawn randomly!) All four winners will be announced on October 27, 2012 on the Mark's Finest Papers blog. You can go back and comment if you missed a day. (HINT: The more you comment, the more chances you have to win and comments on the MFP blog count twice!) The deadline for commenting is 11PM EST on Friday October 26, 2012.

For several months I've had a "theme" running through my blog hop cards.  This month's theme is TAGS.  Today's set of small images was perfect for making tags for Christmas gifts.  Chances are good that I'm going make a few more of these before the holidays roll around.

I recently won a postage stamp die and thought I could use it for some of these small images.  So I made two strips of postage stamps -- one with the bluebird and one with the cardinal.  Then I had to figure out a layout for them.  Here's what I came up with:

The rest of the team has been busy creating with this set of cute little images.  Be sure to hop over to their blogs to take a look -- and don't forget to comment for a chance to win a free stamp set.

Lois (that's me), Vicky, Jane C, Pat G., Karen K., Patty P., Angela B, Marilynn, Pam, Debbie, Cathy C, Bonnie, Kathy, An'Jenic, Thrifty Stamper, Toni, Tangii, Tammylee, Janis L, Sue, Kelli, Janine, Mark's Finest Papers

Speedy the Cat's Friends & Inspiration Challenges

I actually did two cards for this week's Inspiration Challenge on SplitCoastStampers, which was an initially very "challenging" site for me; but as I wandered through it, it got much easier to find something. My first card is actually for two challenges. In addition to the IC, it also was made for Speedy the Cat's Friends challenge. This week the Jr. and Sr. Design Team members for Mark's Finest Papers were the hostesses. We were to use a diecut on our cards.

My inspiration for this card was this apron from the Oompa website. I took the color and shape as a starting point. Oh, and there's a flower on it! I love coloring the roses from MFP's Spring Roses. After stamping with Palette L'Amour Red and clear embossing, I colored them with Copic markers. I cut the ovals from Basic Grey Porcelain DP and MFP Clean Oven Gray (don't you love that name?). The sentiment is from MFP Daffodil and Anise. I added some Faith dots with a white gel pen and hung the fairy charm from the bow.

The inspiration for my second card was this lunch box, with its patchwork of horses. I revisited a technique I haven't done in a long time -- faux postage -- because the lunch box gave the same feel. This is also a sneak peek of a soon-to-be-released set from Mark's Finest Papers called Southwest Cowboy. To get the shading right on my "stamps," I taped them down with some removable tape and then sponged Tim Holtz Tea Dye ink around the edges. When I removed the tape, the lines were straight and clean. I love those big pewter brads; they look so nice on a masculine card with the twine strung between them.