Inspiration Wednesday

GOOD MORNING my sweet friends & welcome to another "Inspiration Wednesday!".  

Today is kind of a bittersweet post & I just could not find myself to do a video for it.  I "literally" just found out yesterday that a fellow design team member & friend lost her long battle with cancer over the weekend.  She was Miss Vivienne Holden also known as "Sweet Viv" & I was lucky to have met her through Peachy Keen Stamps.  Just being on the same team with her was SUCH an inspiration to me.  She was the sweetest person who was always so positive & left me the BEST comments on my blog! I remember getting the sweetest messages from her when I first started making stamps & one of her famous lines were "Another Smasher" release! :) Sweet Viv will TRULY be missed by ALL of her friends in the crafting community including myself.  I send my condolences to her family & her fur babies across the pond.

Now onto my special card today.  This card was inspired by Miss Nikki's tribute card she created for Sweet Viv HERE.  This was a set that the TALENTED Miss Kathy (owner of Peachy Keen Stamps) designed for Miss Vivienne a while ago.  So Miss Nikki thought it would be a great idea for all of us who have this stamp set to create a card in Sweet Viv's honor.  If you do not have this set & would like to also create a card,  you can download it for free in the Peachy Place HERE. 

This card took me almost 2 hours to watercolor!  The only reason why it took that long is because I would watercolor a section, then walk away! lol…. I wanted it to be PERFECT & I wanted to do Sweet Viv's special stamp set "PROUD".  I used my FAVE watercolors Winsor & Newton.  In addition to the "Vivienne & Friends" set, I used 2 sets of mine as well.  The sentiment is from "Treasured Moments" & the flowers are from "Window Sentiments & Flowers Stamp set".   These are not available in my store because I am in the process of revising them soon. 

I thought by adding the flowers in the background would spice up my card a tad! ;)  I also used my ruler to create a sidewalk so it wouldn't look like she was walking on air!  Last I added some shimmer from my clear Wink of Stella to her & her doll's hair bows & to her shoes.  I am very happy with how this came out! THANK GOD for skinny paint brushes because those flowers were extra small! lol….

"Vivienne & Friends" 

Creating a card or project with this set is our way to honor Viv's memory and let her family across the pond know just how special she was to us. Here's the link to The Peachy Place where you'll find Nikki's card, and a link to her blog https://www.facebook.com/groups/419054411574091/

You can ALSO download for free this Peachy Keen's "Vivienne & Friends" in the Peachy Place as well.

Now onto the AMAZING Miss Kim & Miss Nikki!  Don't forget to click on each name to visit each blog! 

Miss Kim

Miss Nikki

Thank you all for stopping by my sweet friends.

P.S.  Sweet Viv….I hope I done you PROUD my friend.  Rest in Peace sweet Angel….

My Creative Time's Farewell Blog Hop

Good morning my sweet friends & welcome to our "Farewell Blog Hop".

Today is a "bittersweet" day for us here at My Creative Time.  I have mentioned earlier this month that there were going to be some changes for the new year & this is one of them.  

Having 18 design team members has gotten to be sooo much for me.  My goal for the new year is to have a smaller team & that means letting some team members go :(  I have tried to make a video for this blog hop at least 3 times & just could not do it.  It was too emotional for me because this was the hardest decision I had to make.  Unfortunately this is why there is no video for you today :(

 Some of these ladies have been w/me since the beginning & I consider us family here at MCT.   So this post is going be hard to get through :'(  I decided not to do another design team call because that is a lot of work & I am really busy with my boys right now.  These ladies that are part of this blog hop today will NOT be gone forever!  They are a part of my new "Alumni Team!"  This means they will guest design for me sporadically throughout the year & they will also be part of a few blog hops!  These ladies are AMAZINGLY TALENTED & I KNOW they will be picked up by other design teams asap!  So hopefully their new teams will let them do the guest spots for me.  "My Creative Time" would NOT be the same without them!  If I could keep ALL 18 members, I TOTALLY would, but unfortunately, I can't.  So I thought having this "Alumni Team" would be GREAT! 

For this hop,  I thought the theme should be a "Friendship" theme which is very fitting for this hop.  

Here is my card I created! I wanted to do some watercoloring for it & I love the way it came out.  I thought having the butterflies hang off the card would look pretty.  Since I used soft colors for the watercoloring, I thought this card needed some vellum butterflies layered on top of the yellow & turquoise butterflies to soften the card.  To add a little something extra, I used my fun stitched edge die for the scallop edge. 

 Here is the inside of the card:

****GIVEAWAY ALERT****

For our giveaway today, EACH ONE OF US is giving away a $15 gift card to the My Creative Time store!  All you have to do is leave a comment at EACH stop! Don't forget to leave a way for us to contact you if "YOU" are the lucky winner!  You will have until Sunday, December 21, 2014 @5pm PST to leave your comments! I will have all the winners on my blog on Monday, December 22, 2014~!

The next person in this hop is the TALENTED Miss Lee-Ann! 

Unfortunately something happened unexpectedly for Miss Micia. :(  So she was not able to do a project for this hop, but I still wanted to include her in this line up so we can all leave her a message anyway. 

BLOG HOP LINE UP

Emma - http://www.creativetimeforme.com

Lee-Ann - http://leescraps.blogspot.com

Candace - http://www.pcquickutzclub.blogspot.com

Leanne - http://createdbyLeanne.blogspot.com

Teri Beri - http://teriberi2.blogspot.com

Cassandra - http://www.Ctimz3.blogspot.com

Shar - http://scrapendipity.blogspot.com

Cindy - http://www.cindybcreations.blogspot.ca

Stacey - http://staceyscreativecorner.blogspot.com

Micia - http://lilowldesigns.blogspot.com

Thank you all for stopping by & I hope you all enjoy this bittersweet hop.  

Before I leave, I want to address these ladies:

I just want to say "THANK YOU" for ALL of your BEAUTIFUL projects that you have showcased using MCT products to PERFECTION!  You are ALL SO VERY TALENTED & I know every team out there will be fighting over you! ;)  We will have our "Alumni Team" & still be a family. THANK GOD for social media....right?  Sending you ALL BIG HUGE HUGS! xoxo

Scrapping the Little Things & Online Watercolor Class Day Five

GOOD MORNING my sweet friends! I hope ALL of you crafty Mommy's had an AMAZING weekend!  I had the BEST birthday/Mother's day weekend!  I wanted to thank those of you for the SUPER SWEET birthday cards AND gift cards I received in the mail! I was pleasantly surprised that so many of you know when my birthday is! I felt EXTRA SPECIAL…..THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart! xoxo

Okay, now onto my 2 projects for today! First up is my card (above) that I made for my homework for day 5 of the "Online Watercolor Class for Card Makers" that I am taking! Okay, I was SUPER EXCITED to get the "Derwent Inktense Color Pencils" for my birthday! In one of the instructional videos, one of the teachers used these for her card! I thought, what PERFECT TIMING for me to get these! ;) So I used these watercolor pencils for my card today. (If you decide to purchase these pencils, I highly suggest using your coupon because they are little bit pricey!) I had picked up this flowery stamp from Michaels a few months ago, but I had filed it away so good, that I could not find it! lol…. LUCKILY when I was looking for something else, I found it! ;)  The sentiment is from my "Treasured Moments" stamp set! 

Okay, now onto my smash book page! I took this picture of my boys & my hubby at church last month for my niece's baptism. I just LOVE how this pic came out so I HAD TO add it to my smash book! Instead of just adding it straight to my page, I thought it would be fun to use this Brick Stencil that I've been hoarding for some time now! ;)  I used silver embossing paste & I was pleased w/it when I was done! I basically just added everything to it & it was all done. 

MCT products used:

~ And then some

~ Lowercase fun dies

~ Stitched tab die

~ Stitched bracket dies

~ 4x4 Journal die & more (hearts & star dies)

(a few sneak peeks)

Now onto my AMAZING design team! WOW, I was in AWE of everyone's BEAUTIFUL pages today! I even have sweet Miss Nancy here joining us today as a Guest Designer!!! Don't forget to click on each name to visit each blog & leave them some much DESERVED 

L-O-V-E!!!! ;) 

Miss Candace

Miss Cassandra

Miss Cindy

Miss Emily

Miss Lee-Ann

Miss Shar

Miss Nancy (Guest Designer)

Okie dokie! That is it for today my sweet friends! I will see you all back tomorrow for some more crafty FUN! Thank you for stopping by! xoxo's

P.S. you still have time to join in on our challenge going on right HERE! :) 

HAPPY TEACHER APPRECIATION WEEK, a Guest Designer & Day Four Online Watercolor Class!

Good morning my sweet friends & HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY!!! I thought this day would NEVER get here! It's been a CRAZY BUSY week! 

Okay, I'm not sure if you noticed, but I am THOROUGHLY ENJOYING this Online Watercolor Class I am taking right now! Here is a link to it if you are interested! http://onlinecardclasses.com/watercolor/class-info/

Don't forget to scroll down to my AWESOME "Guest Designer" for today! :) 

For my card today, I FINALLY used my Tim Holtz distress stains! YEP, I can't even believe it my self~ ;) I believe the colors I used were: Picked Rasberry, Salty Ocean & Seedless Preserves.

I learned this technique from Miss Yana Smakula's instructional video yesterday! She basically applied all of here inks directly onto a good size stamp clear block, then took a wet paint brush & started to blend the colors oh so slightly! But, I found that adding Versamark to your clear block first, for some reason applies your ink much better onto your watercolor paper.  I saw Miss Jennifer McGuire add Versamark ink to her block in her instructional video a few days ago! So, after I applied my inks to the block & blended them just a tad w/my wet watercolor brush, I grabbed one of the background stamps from "Build a Chevy Background", proceeded to stamp it directly onto that ink that I put onto the bigger clear block! Then I stamped directly onto my watercolor paper! I proceeded to do this 4 separate times to get the chevrons on here w/different lengths! Next I stamped the word "amazing…" from "Treasured Moments" using Jet Black Archival Ranger ink!  The "you are" die is from my upcoming May Release! ;)  So, after I finished the first layer, then I sprayed the ink that was leftover on the big clear block, then took a piece of watercolor color paper & rubbed it directly onto the ink & basically smeared it all over until it was completely covered in these AWESOME distress ink colors! Before I adhered my 1st layer onto the fully watercolor background piece, I tied a piece of kraft color hemp twine to it & made a bow! Then I used my pop up rage to adhere it to the colorful background piece, then adhered them both to my black card!

Okay, for my next 2 items, I wanted to share w/you the Teacher Appreciation presents Anthony gave to his teachers! These were cute pens in a pot that were made by one of our board members from our travel baseball team! It was a fundraiser for Mother's  Day, but I decided to use mine for Teacher Appreciation Week! Anthony has 2 lady teachers so he gave these to them along w/a gift card from my FAVE place in the whole world "Starbucks"! hehehe! 

Here is the 2nd one! Basically all I did to these was add the tag! I used my "Round Tab & Tag Die" & layered my "Stitched Curly Label Die" onto my "Curly Label Die".  The teacher stamp is from my "My Teacher Rocks" stamp set!  For his other 3 "man" teachers, Anthony gave them Starbucks gift card!  Since Baby Aaron has way more teachers, it was easier for him to just give them ALL Starbucks gift cards! 

Okay, now onto my AMAZING "Guest Designer" for today! Everyone, please welcome Miss Monica w/Crafti Moni blog!  Isn't here flower pot just GORGEOUS??? Don't forget to click on her name to visit her blog & leave her some bloggy love! ;)

Miss Monica (Guest Designer)

Anyways! That is it for today my sweet friends! I hope you ALLL have a FABULOUS weekend & HAPPY HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of my crafty Mommy's out there~!!! I hope you ALLLL get spoiled because you ALL deserve to be treated like a QUEEN, not only on Mother's day, but EVERYDAY (in my opinion) hehehe! ;)

See you all back here soon! xoxo

Whatever Wednesday & Online Watercolor Class Day Two!

GOOD MORNING my sweet creative friends & welcome to another "Whatever Wednesday"! On this day, my team & I get to make "whatever" we want! ;) So today, I'd thought I would incorporate what I learned for the 2nd day of the Online Watercolor Class I am taking!  I am SO ENJOYING it!!

For today, the class was taught by Miss Agnieszka! Her instructional video was to use watercolor pencils! I was ECSTATIC because I have been hoarding my Stampin Up watercolor pencils for 12 years now!!! LOL….. I KNEW there was a reason why I kept them! hehehe! ;)

I LOVE how they came out! You can see the entire process of me making this in my video below! I thought it would be cute to just add a simple flower to the center of the card! I used my "Stitched Daisy Die" along w/the little cute tag from my "Chunky Jar Accessories"! 

Okay, for my next card, I wanted to give this technique a try that Miss Jennifer McGuire did in her instructional video! Basically, I masked off the edges of my card using some post it tape! Then I stamped the rose from "Bloom where you are planted" directly onto the white card stock using black ink. Next I used a new product that I just picked up from Michaels called "Fineline Masquepen".  This is a liquid that you coat your entire image & it serves as a mask. When this stuff dries, it dries clear & that is when you are safe to start your watercoloring! For this technique, I used my "Grumbacher Deluxe Transparent Watercolors".  I really liked this watercolor set as well.  So all I did was used my paintbrush & started brushing on my watercolors until I got it to be the exact consistency that I wanted! Then I just ran my heat gun over it QUICKLY because I wasn't sure how it was going to affect the mask that I had over my flower. After it dried, I stamped my sentiment using "Treasured Moments" stamp set, then I proceed to carefully remove the mask! It was actually pretty EASY to just remove it w/my fingers! EASY PEASY……Here is the end result!  Your image is bright white & stayed intact. Last I removed the post it tape & as you can see, my edges stayed pretty sweet. :) Then I layered this piece to a yellow card stock then added it to a black base! I was actually really have w/how this came out! OH, I added some orange enamel dots that I had in my stash! ;)

Here is my video showing how I used my watercolor pencils for my first card!

WOW! My design team has done it AGAIN!!! Look at all of these GORGEOUS projects today!!! Don't forget to click on each name to visit each blog & leave some bloggy love! ;)

Miss Candace

Miss Cindy

Miss Kim

Miss Lee-Ann

Miss Liz

Miss Lucia

Miss Shar

OMGEEEEE! My design team did an AMAZING job!!!!
Well, I hope you ALL were inspiring to make WHATEVER YOU WANT today! lol….

Thank you ALL so very much for stopping by & I will see you all back here soon! Have a FABULOUS day my sweet friends! xoxo

Thrifty Thursday

Good morning my sweet creative friends! HAPPY FRIDAY "EVE"! Well, I am SOOO READY for the weekend so I am HAPPY that tomorrow is Friday!  hehehe! 

Welcome to another "Thrifty Thursday"! WOW, all I can say is that I am ALWAYS AMAZED at what you can actually do w/those scraps!  Here is a picture of my scraps that I used today! I forgot to include the little scrap that I used for the sentiment :( I like to have a few card bases in my scraps! Only because if I just use a portion of one of my card stock, I immediately make a card base for future projects so I just like to keep those handy in my binder full of scraps! That's why a lot of times my card bases are ODD sizes.…. For example this card base measures 4 x 5.25.  I just used my Fun Stitched Edge die for my piece of polka dot paper, attached it to my card base! OH, before I did that, I used a polka dot embossing folder to embossing the card base first! THEN, I adhered the pattern paper to a little less than half of my card then trimmed off the excess! THen I used my Star Dies to cut my burlap paper to make a cute embellishment.  I made my embellishment by making a double bow w/my hemp twine, hot glued that down to my larger star, then adhered the smaller star directly on top of the twine using hot glue as well! Then I added a large sequin from Teresa Collings, then adhered a little white enamel dot on top~! Last I used the smaller star as a tag to stamp my sentiment on, then I made a tiny hole using one of my punches. I ended up using these star dies as an CUTE embellishment AND for a tag on my simple card for you today! 

MCT products used:

~ Treasured Moments

~ Stitched Edge Dies (will be back in stock next week)

~ 3 Star Stitched dies

~ Paper is scraps from my stash! ;)

Check out my AWESOME team's projects today! Click on each name to visit each blog!

Miss Candace

Miss Cassandra

Miss Lee-Ann

Miss Stacey

Miss Teri

Miss Veronica

Weren't these the PRETTIEST "Thrifty" projects ever???

ALSO, I apologize for not announcing the blog hop winner yesterday! Anyways, like always, I have random.org choose the winner for me! Drum roll please………..
The LUCKY winner of my April 2014 Release goes to………

quilt4fun2

I think this geotag looks very cute on maps but there are tons of uses I have not thought of besides flowers. Cute card to add to a layout.

CONGRATS Miss Quilt4fun2!!!!!! Please email me here at info@my-creative-time.com so I can mail out your HAPPY MAIL next month! (which is literally right around the corner!) .

THank you ALL for stopping by a my sweet friends! Have a FABULOUS day & I will see you back here soon! xoxo

Let's Promise to Always be Friends!

HAPPY HAPPY FRIDAY to ALLLL my creative friends! I have been waiting for this day since Monday! I sure LOVE my Fridays beause my boys have NO school on the weekends!;) Today I have another super simple card for you!  Someone asked to see a card using the index card only so this is what I came up with! In my video I show you how to put the file folder together because I had a few questions on how to do that! You can see below my video along w/a list of supplies I used! 

Supplies used:

~ Stitched File Folder & Index Card Die

~ Treasured Moments stamp set

~ We are Family stamp set

~ You are Here stamp set

~ Natural color Hemp

~ Authentique 6x6 paper pad "Celebrate"

Here is my video for you today!

If you haven't heard, YEP, you are reading this right, I am having a mini "Back To School" sale that is starting right NOW! Use the code: BACKTOSCHOOL to get 20% off of your entire order! The sale will end on Sunday, August 18, 2013 @ midnight PST!

NOTE: Sale applies to "In-Stock" items ONLY! 

You can start shopping HERE!

Have a FABBY weekend & I will see you all back here on Monday! xoxo