Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  I hope you all had an enjoyable weekend.  Mine was busy, as usual.  Yesterday was picture day for Hollyanne.  She looked so pretty in all her recital costumes.

I have a card to share with you using Marble the Unicorn & Unicorn Sentiments.  I love this set, this was part of the original release from EFD.  I also participated in the Unscripted Sketches challenge which was to use their sketch and it's also National Chocolate Chip day, so I used Chocolate Chip card stock.

I am really pleased with how this card turned out.  I also am still amazing myself as I clean out my craft room and get it organized for packing on what I find.  I found this great textured ribbon in a card kit I received in a swap.

This is a detail photo of  Marble.  I used the Out of the Box technique on this image.  She is printed on card stock and then I cut the box to 1 1/2 inches on the sides and bottom.  I cut around her head and horn.  I like this technique - it's a little extra work, but I think it's worth it.

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Heidi Grace, Basic Grey
Copics:  B000, B02, Y28
Prismacolor:  Driftwood
Tools:  Scallop Square Nestibilities

I hope you enjoyed my card.  Thank you for stopping by to visit me today!

Hugs,
Melissa

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and an enjoyable Mother's Day.

Today I have a really cute bag to share with you that I am also entering into the Fussy and Fancy Friday Challenge.  It's not a basket, per se, but it's cute anyway!

I did get my Cricut Expression and was delighted that I could actually cut a bigger pattern!  I used a candy box SVG file from the SCAL Yahoo Group.  It's a lovely gable box design.  I used the Mallard Duck image from Ethereal Forest Designs as well as the Duck Sentiments.  I'm going to fill this with some treats for one of my favorite residents at work.  I think he's going to love it, I hope.

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Paper:  Piggy Tales
Copics:  BG01, BG05, E29, E53, E57, C10, Y17, YG63, YG67, YR23
Tools:  Nestabilities Scallop Circles & Ovals, CM Circle Cutters

I hope you like my box and that it gives you inspiration to try one for yourself.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  I hope you had a great weekend!  I worked all weekend, but it wasn't too bad.

I cannot believe it's May already!  I also can't believe I am down to my last 4 posts for Ethereal Forest Designs.  My term ends this month, but it's been a pleasure to work with these great images!  I will miss it, but with an impending move, Hollyanne's dance recital and other end of school year stuff - I simply must put those things ahead of everything else.

What I made to share with you today actually came from looking in all the drawers of my organizers in my craft room.  I have been cleaning out, weeding out, organizing and selling a lot of my craft supplies.  There is so much that goes unused, so I'm hoping to get some buyers who will love and use my neglected stuff.  If you're interested, please check out my Stamps For Sale page on this blog.  So anyway, back to what I made.  Some time ago, I'd received these chipboard shapes and BIG paperclips.  I stashed them away because I really didn't know what to do with them.  I almost threw them in the for sale box and then it hit me... USE THEM!

I made bookmarks!  My son, Levi thought these were really cool.  He hasn't even seen them finished it.  He watched me "dress" one of the chipboard shapes.  Anyway, I used the elephants from the first release at Ethereal Forest Designs.  This is Elmyra and Elmer.  The sentiment I created.

Here's Elmyra up close.  I followed a tip given by Angie Kennedy Juda, she made these cute little boxes.  But she also shared a great way to layer the Word Window punch.  You can see the video here.  It really was another forehead slap idea.  Why didn't I think of that!

And here's Elmer up close.  Elmer is actually holding a heart - but I covered it up with a little prima flower to give it a more everyday feel.

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Perfect Plum, Pale Plum,
  More Mustard, Chocolate Chip
Paper:  Apr 09 Spring Kit Digi paper from Two Peas
Copics:  BV00, BV02, BV04, RV02, W-3, YR23
Tools:  SCAL/Cricut, Word Window punch, White gel pen
Embellishments:  Prima flowers, Basic Gray Porcelain collection brads

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  I do love when you visit.

Saturday Share

Good Morning!  I hope your weekend is going well.  I working this weekend - but I did enjoy a couple of days off during the week.  Today's card is my 2nd for the sneak peek week at Ethereal Forest Designs.  I do hope that you have enjoyed the cards & projects shared throughout the week by Darsie and the rest of the team.  As I said, we are featuring the sentiments sets and I certainly have been inspired!

For this card, I kept things pretty simple.  No embellishments, bling or bumpies.  I did this so you can see that is only takes a few materials and one great sentiment to create a card that will make your recipient feel special.  I used EFD's Giraffe Sentiments.  I also used another fun SVG file from Wanda's Cards and Crafts.  This is actually a card - the file even has perforations to make folding easier.  I have to admit, for my card here I didn't want that part of it but I don't know how to make it not cut the back part of the card.  So I cut it off and layered it onto my card front.

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Brown (Bazzil)
Paper:  Michaels
Tools:  SVG from Wanda's Cards and Crafts, SCAL/Cricut, Circle cutters (CM), Nestabilities

This card went together very easily and very quickly.  That's nice if you're short on time.  Thank you stopping by!  Have a great week.

Ethereal Forest Monday

Good Morning!  Happy Monday.  I do hope your week is off to a good start.

The card I have to share with you today from Ethereal Forest Designs is the 2nd installment of sneak peek week.  Darsie kicked it off yesterday with a stunning card!  All week long we are featuring the wonderful sentiment sets so you can see just how versatile they are.  They can be an accent to your card, but they do create a very pretty focal image.

This image is from the All Occasions digi-stamp set.  I colored the word "Sunshine" with a yellow Copic marker to highlight it.  I also used flowers that I got from Michael's.  They were regularly $6.99, but they were on the clearance rack for $3.99 - but when the clerk scanned them, they were only $1.99!!  Can't beat that!!  I also discovered another great place for SVG files.  The black mat was created using a SVG cut found at Wanda's Cards and Crafts.  I grabbed a few of her files yesterday to try them out.  Fun!

Supplies:
Card Stock: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Basic Black (SU!)
Copics:  Y11
Tools:  SVG file, SCAL/Cricut
Embellishments:  Prima Calypso Tin (Teal), gold brads

Thank you for stopping by today.  I hope your day is filled with sunshine, smiles and a bit of inspiration.

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  I just worked 5 days straight - which I realize is pretty normal.  However, that is 5 days on my feet the entire time and running around, lifting people, on and on and on... I am pretty tired and looking forward to being off today and tomorrow.  My aching feet need the rest.  LOL!!

Anyway, I have a really fun card to share with you.  My monthly card group challenge card was to create a flower pot pocket card.  This was a fun card to make!  I incorporated a couple of great images from Ethereal Forest Designs and I am happy with how this card turned out.

So here's the front of the card.  Isn't this design cute!?

Here's a close-up of the sentiment.  It's from the Occasions Set and it was just perfect to use with the flowers in the pot.  Then you pull the flowers out of the pot and you get this...

And here's Jewel peeking through the flowers.  This is one of my very favorite images from the April release.

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Paper:  Martha Stewart Woodland Collection, Imaginisce Baby Powder
Copics:  BV00, BV02, E00, E02, E53, E57, RV02, RV10, V06, Y06, Y11,
  Y15, YG03, YR16
Embellishments:  Offray ribbon, SEI buttons
Tools:  Martha Stewart border punch, Nestabilites scalloped oval, CM oval cutters,
  Sizzix Hello Kitty flowers die, SU! flower punch

I hope you like my card.  I want to make a bunch of these and share them with my senior friends at work!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  Happy Monday to you!  The reality of this is, my post was set on auto-post because I had to be at work at 6am this morning.  Did you catch the EFD blog hop yesterday?  If not, there's still time to have a chance at winning a $10 voucher to store.  Scroll down to get the line up.

Today's card is a very clean and simple card.  OK, the real story is, when I sat down to create something... anything on Saturday, it all turned to yuck!  I definitely wasn't feeling my muse.  But finally I got this card together and I am happy with how it turned out.

I love having words as the focal point of a card.  And with this message, it seemed to add anything else would detract from the card.  Whether it's the loss of a loved one or just feeling a bit of heartache, this card says it all.  I picked some great paper to bring the design element into the card.  What I am really excited to tell you about is that I used an SVG shape that I got from SVG Cuts for free.  This is a great set designed by Mary Rudakas.  A very talented SVG designer.

I printed the image out first.  Then I cut a piece of scrap card stock using SCAL and the Cricut with my chosen shape.  Then I removed the cut out shape (positive) and set that aside for later use.  Using the negative of the cut out I placed my image behind the opening and positioned where I wanted it to cut and then carefully placed it onto the cutting mat and pressed firmly.  I then removed my negative piece and put the mat back into the Cricut and cut the shape again.  I hope that made sense - but I am feeling another tutorial coming on!  Let me tell you, I have been known to be laying in bed thinking this out.  How I could use digi-images with SCAL/Cricut tools?  I am thrilled that I got it to work out just the way I wanted it.

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Chocolate Chip, Neenah Milled Ivory
Paper:  Prima The Breathe Paper Collection
Tools:  SCAL, Cricut

I do hope you like my card.  And check back - I may just have to do a tutorial on how to do this technique.  Thank you so much for stopping by.

Ethereal Forest Designs 2nd Blog Hop!

Welcome to the Second Ethereal Forest Designs Blog Hop!!! If you just happened to drop by my blog and you are not aware of this wonderful event taking place, please go back to our Design Team Coordinator, Darsie Bruno’s Blog HERE and start your hop!

Along the way, please make sure you comment on each one of the design team members blog, then return to the Ethereal Forest Designs blog and make a comment. At the end of the hop, one lucky winner who has commented on all the blogs will receive a $10.00 voucher to the Ethereal Forest Designs Store.

Here is my creation for the EFD Blog Hop:

I used the new Lily Bouquet image for my card.  I love the raindrops falling on the beautiful flowers.  I created the card using an SVG cut for the mat and then cut the image with an oval cutter.  I used Pumpkin Pie card stock although the photo editing software sort of made it look more like Only Orange.  LOL

Supplies:

Card Stock:  Pumpkin Pie, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White

Paper:  Two Peas in a Bucket Digi kit

Copics:  C8, B000, Y06, Y11, YR16, YR61, YG03, YG63

Tools:  SCAL, Cricut, CM Oval Cutters

Embellishments:  buttons, rose and black stitched ribbon

Here is a list of the blog hoppers in case you lose your way.

Darsie

Audrey

Betty

Charlene

Melissa

Shirley

Ethereal Forest Designs

The winner will be announced on the Ethereal Forest Designs blog on Friday, April 16^th. Deadline to complete the hop will be Thursday, April 15^th!

Thank you for taking the time to play along. Now, to continue the blog hop, please visit Shirley. All of the images used in the design teams creations can be found at the Ethereal Forest Designs Store.

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  I'm running a bit late here.  I went to bed last night confident that I had set up this post to auto-post and guess what!  I didn't!  LOL

I had a really nice weekend, even though I worked all weekend.  I enjoy my job so I didn't mind being there.  Coming home with an aching back and sore feet isn't fun, but nothing a couple of Advil, a big glass of water and a good night's sleep won't fix.

Today's card features another new image for the April release at Ethereal Forest Designs.  I really love cards that feature words as the focal image.

I also really love clean and simple cards.  I used the sketch from Eat, Sleep, Stamp which was a very easy sketch and it worked so well with the image I chose to use. This is from the Occasions Set.

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Paper:  Basic Grey Porcelain collection
Copics:  RV000
Embellishments:  brads Basic Grey Porcelain collection

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I do love our visits.

Another Sneak Peek for Ethereal Forest Designs

Good Morning!  Happy Saturday to you.  I have to go into work this afternoon, but I did enjoy some time with my children and BEAUTIFUL weather.

I have another sneak peek to share with you for the April release at Ethereal Forest Designs.  And we've got a blog hop coming up soon that you'll not want to miss.  For this card I used Jewel Flowers and doesn't she look like she's have a fabulous time surrounded by all of the pretty flowers!  This has to be the happiest, most colorful card I've created!  I told myself as I was making it that I felt like I was creating a Spring Fiesta!  LOL

I did follow the sketch for Truly Scrumptious - fabulous sketch!  I didn't do their optional part of the challenge which was Fly Away... I wasn't sure how to interpret that, but I did love the sketch!

Supplies:
Card Stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Bazzil
Paper:  Citrus Mat Stack
Copics:  B23, BV02, BV04, C10, E00, E02, E37, E57, R27, R29, RV02, V04, Y11, Y15, Y17,
  YG03, YG63, YR16, YR61
Embellishments:  SU Certainly Celery grosgrain ribbon, white buttons

I hope you enjoyed my card and that you felt some Spring happiness.  Thanks for stopping by!

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  Happy Monday to you!  I am so excited to be able to share a sneak peek with you for the April release of Ethereal Forest Designs.  Lee has come up with some wonderful images for Spring/Mother's Day that you are just going to love.

Here's my card that I made with the single rose and the Occasions Sentiments set.

I did follow the sketch from Our Creative Corner.  It was a fun sketch to follow.

Supplies:
Card stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Paper:  SEI Chocolat collection
Copics:  RV000, RV10, G99, YG95
Embellishments:  Ribbon, button

Thanks for stopping by today!  Be sure to visit the design team all week, we all have something to share with you.

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  I hope you all had a great weekend.  I worked all weekend, but it wasn't bad and I'm off today!  Yippeee!!!  I'm staying in my craft room all day!

Before I get to today's post for Ethereal Forest Designs... did you all enjoy the Sweet Sketch Wednesday Bunny Hop?  It was fun and there were so many great cards from the Design Team.  The winner from my blog, by random drawing is...

Deanne @ Three Trees!

Congratulations Deanne!  Please email Arlana at sweetberrydesigns@hotmail.com to claim your prize.

Now for today's card to share, I've used this image before but I love it and it worked perfectly with Cute Card Thursday's theme for this week:  Happy Anniversary.  I really loved the sketch from Eat, Sleep, Sketch so I threw that in there, too.

I used the Huggie Bears image and created my own sentiment.  I wanted them to look like polar bears so I used very little color, but did use my Copics and Prismacolor markers.  The paper and embellishment came from the CTMH Tickled Pink collection.  I love this pack!  The colors are spectacular.

I hope you enjoy my card and thanks so much for stopping by!

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning!  I hope you all had a great weekend!  I spent yesterday... the morning cleaning the house and now it smells so fabulous.  Then in the afternoon I took my kids to see Alice in Wonderland 3D - and I have to say, I really enjoyed it.  I am a huge Johnny Depp fan but I was a bit apprehensive with this movie because in my opinion the Mad Hatter looked a bit scary.  But it was truly wonderful and I love it when a girl kicks a little bahooty!  LOL

OK - well for today's Ethereal Forest Designs post I have this to share with you...

This is Mary Mouse and Mouse Sentiments.  I also played along with the Eat, Sleep, Stamp challenge (sketch #74).  I had a lot of fun with this card.  The sentiment didn't come out as clear as I'd like, but it does say "You're the cheese in my macaroni."  I'm going to send it to a friend of mine who just happens to love my macaroni and cheese.

Recipe:
Card stock:  Neenah Classic Crest Solar White
Paper:  We R Memory Keepers Explore - Meadow
Copics:  W3, RV000, RV10, E37, C8, Y15, Y17
Tools:  CM Oval cutters, SU large oval punch and pop dots

I hope you like my card that I made.  I think my friend will.  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Ethereal Forest Designs Monday

Good Morning! I hope you all had a great weekend! If you didn't join us yesterday for the blog hop, there is still time to do the hop and enter to win $10 in free images!!

Before I share my card I have to say... HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRENDAN! My baby turns 15 today. I can hardly believe it - it seems like it was just yesterday that we brought that sweet baby boy into this world and here he is... 15... taller than me (not hard to do)... and almost a man and certainly more mature than a lot of men I know. LOL


For my card share today, I have a sweet one to show you. I loosely based this card on the sketch from Just Us Girls. I omitted a solid line and scallops on the side because I absolutely adored this paper that I wanted it to shine through. Hopefully, it still counts.

Recipe:
Images: Huggie Bears and Bears Sentiments Ethereal Forest Designs
Card Stock: Neenah Classic Crest Solar White, Close to Cocoa & Really Rust
Paper: Recollections Garage Sale: Farm House
Tools: Nesties Scallop, 5/8" Circle Punch
Inks/Colors: Memento Tuxedo Black, Prismacolor Pencils & OMS

I hope you like my card and definitely get in on the blog hop. Thanks for stopping by!

Ethereal Forest Designs First Blog Hop!

“Welcome to the First “Ethereal Forest Designs” Blog Hop!!! If you just happened to drop by my blog and you are not aware of this wonderful event taking place, please go back to our Design Team Coordinator, Darsie Bruno’s Blog HERE and start your hop!

Along the way, please make sure you comment on each one of the design team members blog, then return to the Ethereal Forest Designs blog and make a comment! At the end of the hop, one lucky winner who has commented on all the blogs will receive a $10.00 voucher to the Ethereal Forest Designs Store.

Here is my creation for the EFD Blog Hop:

The images I used is Miracle the Unicorn and Unicorn sentiments. I did follow a sketch from the Our Creative Corner challenge blog. I dug out some older decorative paper from PaperTrey Ink. I colored the image with Copic markers (B0000, B02, B05, RV000, Y28) and then inked the edges with chalk ink. Then embellished with ribbon, a ribbon flower and pearls.

Here is a list of the blog hoppers in case you lose your way:

Darsie

Audrey

Betty

Charlene

Karen

Melissa <--- You are here

Shirley

Ethereal Forest Designs

The winner will be announced on the Ethereal Forest Designs blog on Friday, March 12^th. Deadline to complete the hop will be Thursday, March 11^th!

Thank you for taking the time to play along. Now, to continue the blog hop, please visit Shirley. All of the images used in the design teams creations can be found at the Ethereal Forest Designs Store.

Ethereal Forest Designs - Release Day!!

Good Morning!

It’s here! The First Release Day for Ethereal Forest Designs! There are 27 images and sentiments for purchasing on their newly formed store. The design team has been busy creating cards this past week using the wonderful images and you can find them on the Ethereal Forest Designs Blog! Please take a moment to browse the images at the Store, then hop over to the Blog and leave a comment! You could possibly win a free image, if you do! We’ll draw a random winner who has left a comment on the EFD Blog on Tuesday, March 2^nd. Make sure you become a “follower” on their blog to stay up-to-date on Blog Hop, New Releases and Challenges information.



For my card today, I chose to have the sentiment be the focal point. This sentiment can be found in the set Giraffe Sentiments. I really love this sentiment.

Recipe Cardstock: SU! Chocolate Chip, Neenah Classic Crest Solar White Paper: SEI Chocolat collection Ink: Creamy Caramel, Chocolate Chip Embellishments: Primas Vintage flowers, antique brads, Labels 2
Nestibilities, Gold grosgrain ribbon

Thank you so much for visiting me today! Now get on over to the Ethereal Forest Designs blog!!

Ethereal Forest Designs - Sneak Peek #2

Happy Saturday everyone! I have just a quick post for you today. This card is for my 2nd sneak peek for Ethereal Forest Designs. I hope that you have been visiting everyday this past week because there have been some amazing cards and projects posted by the team.

This is Jewel Planting and also features Garden Sentiments. The store opens Monday and these awesome images will be available for purchase.


I followed the MyGrafico Challenge Blog sketch this week designed by Mary Vogel. The base is white card stock followed by a layer of fabulous paper that I received in a card kit. I colored Jewel with Copic markers and then inked the background with Distress Inks (Broken China) to create a soft sky. Matted it to Real Red card stock that I decorated up a bit with a Martha Stewart border punch.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sneak Peek Week at Ethereal Forest Designs

Good Morning! Happy Monday. I hope you're week is off to a great start.

I have a very exciting announcement. I have been asked to join the design team for a new company called Ethereal Forest Designs. Our lovely team leader Darsie kicked off the sneak peek week yesterday with her gorgeous card featuring Marble the Unicorn. I am thrilled to be a part of this team and am very excited to show you my card.


This is Elymira and she's so cute, she'd cheer anyone up. I created an easel card, portrait orientation. Most easel cards are in landscape orientation, so it took a little figuring on how to make it the other direction. I am very pleased with how it turned out.

I printed Elymira on Neenah Classic Crest Solar White card stock and colored her using my Copics. I pulled out some old SU! patterned paper (can't remember what it was called) and then kept my colors to the same as the paper. I topped the card with chocolate brown ribbon, but it looks black in the photo. I need more lighting when I take my photos or better photo editing software. I really wanted to repeat the flower that she's holding, so in my photo-editing software, I cropped out the flower and did a little clean up and then imported the image into my word document and resized to different sizes. Then added the sentiment and printed. I had to do a little more touch up with a pen, but the results are pretty good. What I did was more like when you color on a rubber stamp with a marker to only ink up parts you want and omit other parts - just digitally.



I printed a larger flower and cut Elymira out to create the stopper for the easel card.

I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek and that you visit Ethereal Forest Designs every day this week to see what the other girls have in store for you. You are going to love it! All digis will be available on March 1st.

Thanks for stopping by.