MFTGUESTDT0812

I have been sitting on this design sketch for the past month; I chose a school theme to make a card for one of my good friends at school. Summer break is just so short; I can't believe there's only a week left. I had the apple colored and really liked how it turned out, but wasn't happy with any of my paper choices until I found this dp at Michaels called "The Edumacation Stack." The image is from MFT's A la mode line and is called "Apples for Teacher." She is stamped on x-press-it blending paper with memento black ink and colored with copics. I used SU cardstock in wasabi and real red for the layers. The green layer is dry embossed with a 'large circle' folder.

The sentiment on the front come from other MFT set: "Teacher's Pet" and is curved to fit the shape of the MFT die oval tab.  I colored small brass brads with R29 to match the image. I love using my copics to alter embellishments: they match so perfectly and it saves me a lot of time looking through all my stash for a perfect match (which is often close, but just a bit off). I usually color them before I add them to the card so I can get around the sides. The hardest part for me is taking time to let them dry throughly - I usually have to touch up the color after applying them to the card.




Other dies that I used include the star border, fishtail flags (I can't seem to make a card without this die) and the stacking stars cut from MFT wild cherry felt and topped with a button and twine.

She is colored with copics: her skin is E50, E00, E11, and R20. Her hair and shoes are E13, E37 and E59. Not very visible is her hair clip colored with a lemon spica glitter pen.  Her shirt is YR21, YR23 and YR24. Her skirt and the leaf come from YG25, YG63 and YG67. The red apple is YR21, R14, R24 and R29.  The ground is W3, W1 and 0. The background is BG10, BG70 and 0. I did not use the BG11 at the top so it helps reflect the light source.

I am always so inspired by all the designs that I see online and my personal challenge this summer was to 'step up' my inside design. I used scraps of paper (I am basically lazy - I use what is on my work space) and repeated the star border die. I space the paper scraps apart so that the red base peeked through the stars (and it wasn't just that the stamped paper was a bit short for the space.)  I really like how it sparks the inside. The sentiment comes from the MFT set: "Clearly Sentimental About Teaching." I use the small bottle (of glossy accents to apply glue to small/thin pieces like the stars because the tip is tiny. To apply, I hold up the bottle and squeeze gently to bring a small drop to the end of the tip and then I just touch the paper to the glue very lightly. Too much and you will have very shiny adhesive showing where you don't want it. If some does push out, I quickly use my fingernail to scrape it off. I also like this product to adhere any buttons or other embellishments;  it is really strong and works on all types of surfaces.