Caly Person

Did my title catch your attention? It’s true – I have lots of confessions. I’m a terrible self-critic. I sell myself short a lot. STOP IT, you say? UGH….I know….I know….!!! I really can’t help myself! When I was asked to be a part of the design team with Splitcoaststampers, I was sooo honored – I still can’t believe that I was a part of that!  At moments I felt like I wasn’t going to make it through it and had serious doubts initially because I was very pregnant and didn’t think I could make so many cards and keep my personal blog and YouTube channel up to date. I just poured all the time I had into it and still haven’t recovered.  It was such a wonderful experience and I really have no regrets!  Having a newborn is a full-time gig!  I still have 5 months of cards to post and I feel like I will never finish doing that – I just wish I had more time!  I am so distracted while working and WISH I could craft instead…and I’ve been consumed by this contest by My Favorite Things:

 

Last year – I had even more self doubt than I do now. I don’t know if you all follow other blogs and try to leave a comment for a 1/3000 chance to win a $25 gift voucher or you tag friends on Instagram to win giveaways. I do….and then I wonder why I even bother?!  HAHA. I’m not complaining – I promise! I’m laughing at myself and all of us in the stamping community that LOVE creating and sharing our passion so much – we get sucked into everything that is posted. It’s because I desire so much to be a part of something bigger. I don’t want to JUST make cards – I want to inspire others and feel like I’m actually reaching people.  I get disappointed and often feel like I’m not good enough – anyone else out there feel that way?! Well…I’m going to stop that right now because I WANNA BE A CARD DESIGN SUPERSTAR!!! I really really do!

We are able to share 3 of our designs using MFT stamps and die-namics. The contest ends Thursday night so I’m going to post one every night for the next 3 nights and I hope you’ll follow along to see what I’ve created!

My first card is an interactive card I made using the Beary Special Birthday set.

I stamped the image twice and cut it apart (leaving off the bear’s paws on the gift box) in order to make the card interactive. You’ll see what I mean in my next few photos.  The bear’s ears stick out a big – so I stamped the other presents to help hid his cute ears.

SEE?!? You pull on the tab and you reveal the bear! OK – maybe I’m a bit proud of myself. Just a teeny tiny bit. My husband thinks it’s genius but he’s a little biased.  😀

Peek-a-boo!

SURPRISE!!!

Let’s talk about the rest of the card, shall we?  I colored the background with Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers (man…that’s a mouthful!), spritzed it with some water and let it air dry. I flicked some plain water on it, let it sit for a few seconds, then used a piece of paper towel to soak up the excess to get a speckled background. Color, get it wet, dry, get it wet, soak up extra water. Got it?! LOL – we make it complicated!

I stamped the balloons, colored them, then covered them in glossy accents. You have to…to make them shiny! It’s fun-you have to do it! Do it!!!  To make the banners and pennants, I used distress ink and die cut the pennants using MFT’s Stitched Alphabet Banner die-namics. The word “SURPRISE!” is embossed with white. I LOVE the Wonky Rectangle dies – it finishes off so many cards for me!  I also decided to mat the piece on some Gold Sparkle Card Stock by MFT too. See my supplies below.

I hope you all liked this! Please tune in for the next two days to see the other two cards I’ve created! I’m excited about them! I know I’m teasing you but I didn’t want to put all three of these cards in one post! I won’t be as silly tomorrow – I’m hoping to go to bed early tonight now that I am done making these cards… 😛

XOXO,

SUPPLIES:

*Disclaimer: I am not being paid by any company to promote their products. I make cards using stamp sets and materials which I love and I love to share. To view where these items can be purchased, click on the linked abbreviations below (SU for Stampin’ Up!, SSS for Simon Says Stamp, EH for Ellen Hutson, AMZN for Amazon, LF for Lawn Fawn, MFT for My Favorite Things, etc.).

Copics: E55, E31, E41, Y11, Y15, BV00, V25, R17, R29R20, RV23, RV13, BG11, BG13, BG49

ZIG:  036 Light Blue, 049 Green Shadow, 084 Deep Violet

Distress Ink:  Peacock Feathers

MFT Beary Special Birthday EH | SSS | MFT	MFT Stitched Banner Alphabet EH | SSS | MFT	White/Gray Big Shot	Big Shot Magnetic Platform EH | SSS | AMZN
Standard Cutting Pads EH | SSS | AMZN	EK Success Powder Tool EH | SSS | AMZN	Versamark Ink EH | SSS | AMZN	SU Heat Tool
WOW Clear Gloss Superfine SSS | AMZN	HA White Embossing Powder SSS | EH	MFT Black Licorice Hybrid InkSSS | MFT	Versafine Onyx Black EH | SSS
Ranger Tim Holtz Mini Distress Inks EH | SSS	Canson XL WaterColor Paper Pad EH | SSS | JOANN	Neenah Solar White 80 lb EH | SSS	MFT Gold Sparkle Card Stock
Recollections 110 lb	Copic Sketch Markers EH | SSS | MERRIARTIST	Pental Aquash Water Brush Set	Ranger Mini Mister EH | SSS
Ranger Mini Round Foam Blending Refills EH | SSS | AMZN	Ranger Mini Round Blending Tools EH | SSS | AMZN	Zig Clean Color Real Brush EH | SSS | AMZN	MFT Wonky Stitched Rectangle STAX EH | SSS | MFT
ATG Gun EH | SSS | AMZN	Glossy Accents EH | SSS | AMZN	Mini Multi Medium Matte Glue EH | SSS	Scotch Precision Ultra Edge Scissors
SU Stampin’ Dimensionals	Absorber	Martha Stewart Mini Scoring Board EH | SSS	Mini MISTI – Laser Etched
SU Paper Snips Scissors	Teflon Bone Folder EH | SSS	Gold Baker’s Twine	White Foam Sheet 12×18 10pk