How to Make a Towel Wrap (Viewmaster)

This is a card I created for the My Favorite Things Guest Designer contest this month, I got an ambassadorship for the month! :) I wanted to make a girl chatting with ther manicurist at the spa, it's a view master card that allows you to use several of the greetings from the "And Then I Said" set from BCDZYNs. The image is colored with Copics. I added a few images from Rupa's "Perfectly Polished" set, the polish bottles are popped up with glue dots and covered with Crystal Lacquer. The shadows for the bottles are done with a dark Grey Copic. Her shirt is pieced from Basic Grey Bittersweet papers, which I also used for the trendy "poured concrete" counter. ;) Her face is layered to give it a paper tole effect and self adhesive rhinestones bling the card and her hand up a couple notches!

The picture helps show how the card was assembled before I added the girl and other decorative elements that completed the scene. I used the SU! word window punch for the window, the sentiments are on a circle underneath, the brad allows it o turn. For more on View Master card construction, see this post.

I had several people email me or leave comments saying they don't think they could draw that towel...well, as with all the other "new do's" I've given her, it IS still her hair! Let me show you, you can do this. I colored in the bangs and left the rest of the hair white.

Then I made a curved line to connect the outside to the next section in.

I repeat this as I work toward her chin on both sides.

Here you have the complete wrap with just a bit of light gray on the underside of each section for a shadow. Finish coloring and cut out! ta da! I'll be back in another post to show you some flesh coloring tips, this is one of the only "lady" stamps I have, so I've gotten lots of practice with it! :) I have another card coming up soon that is similar in concept, really fun, can anyone guess?

"And then I said...

...I'd rather be eating chocolate!" (That always makes ME feel better!) Here is my newest creation with BCDzyns "And Then I Said" and two of my own stamp sets: "Say it with Flowers" and "Little Tees" (you can swap out "Just So Sporty" or "Tee Talk" for her jammies top here though with the word you like best!)
For awhile I'd been thinking this image leaning forward kind of looked like she needed to be lounging in some fabulous bed, so after coloring and cutting her out, I placed her on a piece of this Black Market Lucky 'n Love DP to create my sheet and pillow, and sketched a very simple silhouette as if she's half laying on her side, propped up ( nice and "hippy"! LOL!) and a few lines to the left to look like a pillow. Once you're happy with the shape, adhere to the DP and cut this out. (If you look up at the finished card, I trimmed a little more off than I originally drew under her arm, just keep playing with the shape til you get it the way you want. ) I placed another piece of paper from this pack below her to look like the fitted sheet on the mattress and adhered all that to my Pure Luxury 80 lb CS. Another Black Market print, Taken with Teal Base and sateen flower colored with an aqua Copic and rhinestone brad complete the card! (You'll also the in the finished card I added some shadows with a gray copic to the DP under her body and arm, and a nice little "dent" from her head in the pillow) :)

Thought this would make a perfect "get well" or "cheer up" card, or even a (ahem!) "come hither" card for Valentine's day! I'll be back with that one later, (but don't worry, this blog will still be rated "G") ;) I may take some step by step pics of it to show how I color her with the Copics :) Hope you enjoyed this, have a great day!

TIP: If using a pen, err on the side of "bigger" than you want the first time when sketching your shape, you can always come back in smaller with your line. If using a pencil, once you are pleased with the outline, go back over it in a black pen, so you have an outline to match the stamp.

PS ONE more day to enter the Paper Temptress give away! Don't forget to scroll down and check it ut if you have not yet already!

Laptop Pop Up!

This giveaway is now closed. Please enjoy anyway! :)

Good morning!! Note: today's post uses two sets I Did NOT design, but I just love how they go with the set I DID design, look! :)

Here's one of those "fabulous" (she must be, her shirt says so, right? courtesy of my set from November: "Tee Talk"! ) coiffed "ladies" (see "how to make a perfect ponytail" in an upcoming post!) The "fabulous" on the tee is embossed in silver, the shine and dimension look just like a real iron-on! The greeting "You've got mail" is from "Who's that e-girl?", another set I {heart} from My Favorite Things (today's sponsor!) Wonder what the message could be...?

I was so excited to make this pop up card, it turned out exactly the way I envisioned it! As you pull open the card, the "screen" lifts up and a big popped up button on the "keyboard" reads "Sending {{{Hugs}}}. ( Press repeatedly!!) :) The focal point I simply framed up on a piece of Black CS with extra below it. Cut down each side to leave an 1/8" border on either side and then cut down and out at an angle when I got to the end of image. I also scored a fold 1/8" down from the bottom of the screen and folded. Now the laptop looks like it's 3D and open, ready to power up!! Wouldn't it be great to have a gbig honking "Hugs" button on your laptop?
To make the "button", I stamped my sentiment on white CS and then punched a word window out of scratch paper, then moving the punch over and punching again to make it long enough to fit the whole greeting. I placed it over my stamped greeting and traced inside the punched out window with a black pen, and then shifted it down and traced just the bottom to make the "key" look dimensional. I colored it with my C-3 Copic, cut it out and popped it up on dimensionals.

That fabulous pieced couch is made from the Black Market Ebony and Alabaster pack! I colored the e-girl with Copics to make her match the girl on the front. I added line with my pen below her ankles to separate the "carpet" from the "wall".

If you've never made a pop up, it's very easy to do. Score a strip of CS at 1", 2", 3", and 4".(These measurements can be bigger or smaller depending on how far out or big you focal point is, just make sure they are the all equal measurements) Fold at scores and adhere the last little 1/4 piece to the end to make a little "cube". Put adhesive on three sides of it, and press it into the scored fold of your card with the side without adhesive facing UP. This way your cube will stick to the top and bottom of the inside of the card and the last sticky side will be out to press your pop up focal point against.

other deets: Sateen flowers are colored with Copics, adhered with glue dots and embellished with Self Adhesive rhinestones, my hands down favorite embellishment of the moment! This is one of those things I have to buy several of at once, to make sure I don't run out!

So today's prize is appropriately from Kim of My Favorite Things and BCDZYNs, she will send BCDZYNs "And Then I said" stamp set to one of you luckies!! (yeah, I know a LOT of you probably already have this set, but you can give it to your stamping BFF or PSF! They'll love you for it!) Be sure to leave a comment here for a chance to win it, today if you could spend a little time going through my archives and letting me know your favorite or some of my favorite projects I've shared here(unless you already know LOL!), it will really help me choosing what to share and how to make the blog the very best it can be this year for my readers! Then go leave Kim some love at her blog for helping a sistah out! :)

Now for a blog hop: can't wait to see what all these generous and talented ladies have whipped us for today!

Charmaine, Donna, Jessica, Lee, Michelle, Theresa, Joanne, Cathy, and Tammy who will all be using my sets in some form or fashion , thank you all!

The blogaversary bash continues, a new prize offering tomorrow, tonight an update on our winner from yesterday and another guest design spotlight...see you soon!!

PS there may be a clue in this post about an upcoming sponsor... ;)

A Quickie...2COOL!!

Told you I had more good stuff to share with BCDzyns and the "Little Tees"! I have not yet completed cards with these next two, but I thought I'd leave you with a little tee shirt inspiration before our peeks start tonight at midnight( in case you need help finding another set to throw in your Gina K cart on Thursday so you can earn all those free sets!!) ;)

No new do's on these (but there ARE more to come, I promise!) but I had to share how two accessories stamps, the tiara and shades, in my "Little Tees" are also a perfect fit for the BCDzyns girl: Check 'em out!! (one is JLo inspired, the other Elle Woods LOL!) And of course their cool tees, "2COOL" and "DIVA" greetings are also from "Little Tees" !) :)So...have you bought these sets yet???

2FUN!!

(MFEO) "Made for Each Other"...

So I got this great new stamp set from BCDzyns "And Then I Said", for many reasons, because:
I love the girl and all the sayings,
I love Kim (whom Gina also loves, which automatically made us friends by proxy, and I've had the pleasure of hanging with her twice!), AND
I knew when I saw this set, that it + several of mine* (and a little "out of the box" vision) would = MAGIC!

First, I gave her a haircut and a new freakin' sweet TEE! (using my "Tee Talk" set; layout is this week's SCS Sketch challenge)
Oh, but do you even recognize this girl with her flirty new 'do?! (I had my hair long for years, but not anymore! A lot of the ladies I send cards to wear their hair shorter also, so I'm SO excited about making different looks with this one stamp...) Check out how very easy it is to crop that luxurious mane!

Don't you love it?! Now look at these below, don't they all look like completely different girls? And all the single words from all THREE of my shirt sets fit, woo hoo! (yeah, it totally looks like we planned it, even though we didn't, hee hee!! Just about one of the most perfect combos ever from two different stamp companies on one project, dontcha think!) Is that fun or what??

I had an absolute blast coloring about 15 of these ladies with my Copics(all from Box A)** the other night to look like people I know (and a few I don't, hee!), and with customized t-shirts to go with LOL!! I'll be back to show you just how to create each of these styles (plus several more, you really won't believe!), along with cards to match, but I'm not even close to being done with showing you what else you can do with these sets together (and with another one of mine from Gina K Designs!! Can you guess which?) Hopefully I've already got you thinking you need them ALL...

If you're a first-time customer of My Favorite Things or BCDzyns, when you order ('cuz I know you want to!) please let Kim know "Melanie" sent you! ;) (and if you're an MFT regular, but don't have any of my "Tee" sets yet, well...what are you waiting for??) :)

More to come!!!

* Tee Talk, Little Tees, and Just So Sporty

** My coloring's really improving, no?? It's practice, AND that great paper!! :)

Card also uses Brushed Silver CS, self adhesive rhinestones, Floral Fantasy CB folder