MDCC33 - Card Thursdays - Paintables!

Hello and welcome to our Thursday card makers challenge! Last week we challenged you to use lace cardstock on your cards in a creative way - look at this winning submission from Agnes:


Agnes, be sure to email me your address so I can send you your prize!

Today we have another fun product challenge -- Paintables cardstock paper by Prima! This is beautiful 12x12 white cardstock paper in a weight similar to watercolor paper that has preprinted designs. You can use markers, pencil, watercolors, inks - it's pretty much whatever you'd like! You've got to check it out at the store - and, this week it's on sale! We were dying to know what our designers would come up with, s0 we thought a challenge was definitely in order! One of our lucky players will win a 12x12 sheet of Paintables cardstock this week:

Now, as always. we want everyone to be able to play, so if you don't have any paintables but you're interested in maybe winning some, show us a great watercolor card! Check out our designer takes on this challenge:

Giovana Smith - A Place to Praise and Craft

Melissa Earnest - MME Designs

Leah Cornelius - Paper Blossoms

Cathy Weider - The Seaside Rose Cottage

Incredible, as always - we are so proud of our designers! I'm sure they've inspired you, so be sure to play along with our Paintables/watercolor card challenge - we can't wait to see what your creation inspires in us!

MDCSB20 - A Sketch Challenge

Hello and welcome to this week's MDC scrapbooking challenge! This week we thought we'd keep it simple and have a sketch challenge... of course we turned to one of our favorite sketch artists, Julie Bonner! You can visit her awesome sketch blog here. Since the design team needs time to prepare, we all did last week's sketch #7, which is here:



However, in case you'd also like to play along with Julie's blog, you have the option of using that sketch or the current sketch, #8:



Both are awesome sketches! Here are the design team samples for sketch 7:


Mia Montalvan-Castrillo - Scrappin Mama Mia
Mia used papers from Imaginisce and Best Creations, rub-ons from Bo Bunny, and flowers from Prima.





Melita Chow - By His Grace
Melita used papers from Prima's Space Boy collection.




Maria Levine - Ria Creations
Maria used lace cardstock and patterned paper from sei.



Tamara McKlveen - Tam's MDC Creations
I used brand new papers we got in from Mark's Paper Company and bling from Zva Creative.




Everyone did such a wonderful job with the sketch - we can't wait to see what you can do! To play along, you just need to post a comment here with a link to your blog post or photo upload. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, please use keyword MDCSB20. It's that simple! This week one lucky winner will win the papers from Mark's Paper Company's August collection! Thanks for stopping in and happy scrapping!!

MDCC32 - Card Thursdays - More ATC's and Lace!

Hello and welcome to today's MDC Challenge! This week we're continuing on with two favorite themes we've introduced recently. First of all, last week we introduced a Valentine's ATC challenge - and the design team had extra fun doing our own ATC exchange! We had so much fun we decided to extend our challenge! We DO have one winner so far - one of our favorite players, Carla! Here's Carla's Valentine ATC:

Carla - please pm me your address again so we can send you one of these awesome ATC prize boxes put together by Cathy:

Each box contains an assortment of MDC papers cut to size, a scrap bag to add color and decorative trims to your cards, a sampling of May Arts ribbon and buttons from Basic Grey's sugared collection, some of Cathy's handmade flowers and embellishments, and two stamps from the Daisy Bucket and Imaginisce lines.

Carla wins the first one, which also includes some handmade and signed ATC's from Cathy!! So, that still leaves another prize package left and the obvious solution is to extend our challenge another week! There will be a little change - since it is now well past Valentine's day, your ATC can be any theme... BUT, it can't be a co-challenge with our second challenge (which will be posted below...) Cathy gave us an excellent tutorial last week so if you need a little help please visit her blog for more information. The main thing to remember is that your card needs to be 2.5" x 3.5". Please leave a comment on this post with a link to your picture to be considered for this follow-up challenge!

So, that leads us to our second challenge this week... we loved the beautiful examples our scrapbook team put together for the lace cardstock challenge on Monday, and we thought it would be fun to carry it over to the card makers! So, the second challenge for today is to use lace cardstock in a creative way on your card! Check out these awesome samples from our design team:

Dawn Schulte - Dawn's Special Creations

Dawn used patterned paper from Melissa Frances, lace cardstock from sei, and stamped images from Serendipity.

Katheryn Heflin - My Children, My World

Katheryn used patterned paper from Imaginisce, stamped images from Daisy Bucket, and lace cardstock from sei.

Leah Cornelius - Paper Blossoms

Leah used papers from Daisy Bucket and Bo Bunny, stamped images from Daisy Bucket and Scenic Route, bling from Kaiser, and lace cardstock from sei.

Maria Levine - Ria Creations

Maria used patterned paper from Imaginisce and lace cardstock from sei.

Giovana Smith - A Place to Praise and Craft

Giovana used patterned paper from Daisy Bucket, bling from Kaiser, and a stamped image from Serendipity.

So we can't wait to see your creative ideas for using lace cardstock! Leave us a comment with a link to your blog post or picture and you could win a piece of this lace cardstock from sei. Thanks again and happy creating!

MDCSB19 - Scrapbook Mondays - A Little Lacey..

Hello and welcome! It's time for another scrapbooking challenge! (By the way, cardmakers, don't be shy! If you ever see a 'scrapbooking' challenge that you can work with, you're more than welcome to play along!!)

This week, we thought it would be fun to work with lace cardstock - we just got in two beautiful lace cardstock designs with the sei Lovebirds collection and we were totally inspired! The challenge for our designers was to do something creative with lace cardstock, rather than just sticking it down, and boy did they rise to the challenge! Check out their beautiful creations for this week:

Laurie Rodick - Lovin My Life

Laurie's page features an acetate background, paper and lace cardstock from the sei Lovebirds collection, and pink swirl bling from Prima.

Robin Wade - Creating Memories...

Robin used lace cardstock to create a masked background! She used paper and embellishments from Daisy Bucket and ribbon from May Arts.

April Dycus

April misted her lace cardstock and used cut out portions. She used papers and embellishments from Imaginisce.

Renee Griffith - Lasting Memories

Renne attached her lace cardstock with stitching and brads.

Tamara McKlveen - Tam's MDC Creations

I cut my lace cardstock into a frame for my photo, and threaded ribbon through it. My background paper and lace cardstock is from sei, the pearls are from Kaiser, and the butterfly was stolen from this May Arts ribbon.

So what will you do with your lace cardstock?? This week one winner will win this lace cardstock from sei:

It's so easy to play! Just leave us a comment with a link to your blog or photo - if you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet please use keyword MDCSB19 - and that's it! We're so excited to see what you come up with - happy creating!

MDCC31 - Card Thursdays - Beautiful Things Come in Small Packages...

Last week we challenged our players to create the ultimate paper pierced card. Paper piercing is a favorite and very versatile technique - it can be used a little or a lot, as an accent or as a focal point. Everyone submitted fabulous examples and we so enjoyed everyone's creativity! We were especially awed by the beautiful card submitted by our winner, Irene:



Great job on the challenge, Irene! Please be sure to PM us with your address so we can send your prize out!

This week one of our designers, Cathy Wieder, came up with a very exciting little challenge to share with everyone (hint! hint!) This week we're going to do ATC's!! Here's what Cathy had to say about them:

Beautiful Things Come in Small Packages! Artist Trading Cards, or ATC's, are miniature works of art made in the same way that "regular" greeting cards and scrapbook pages are made. We love making ATC's because they need not have a purpose, a greeting, or sentiment; they are art for art's sake. They are also a great way to use up small scraps of paper that are just to pretty to throw out.



Three rules apply to ATC's: First, dimensions of an ATC are always 2.5 inches by 3.5 inches, which is the standard size for all trading cards, from baseball to YuGiOh. It doesn't matter whether the card is oriented in the portrait or landscape position, but the actual dimensions are not negotiable and you must adhere strictly to that size. Embellishments need to be relatively thin as these cards are often slid into plastic card sleeves to protect and store them.

Secondly, no matter what techniques or media are used to make them, ATC's are considered true works of art and are signed, dated and numbered by the artist just like any other valuable collectible.

Lastly, by definition, Artist Trading Cards are never sold. Unlike other trading cards, where the lines have blurred and they are commonly bought and sold by collectors, Artist Trading Cards may only be traded or given away. This makes them even more coveted because you simply can't buy one created by your favorite card artist. And since they are not mass-produced, acquiring one from an artist you admire is exciting.

ATC's have many uses as a collectible treasure. They can be stored or displayed in card albums or other decorative holders, mounted in a frame or shadow box and framed as an art display, or used to embellish cards and scrap book pages. They can be given as a gift of art to become a treasured place marker in a book, bible, or cookbook, or as miniature cards or gift tags for any holiday or occasion.

The small size of the Imaginisce and Daisy Bucket stamps are perfect for making ATC's, but even larger stamps can be used in creative ways to embellish an ATC. This week, we challenge you to make a Valentine card to share with your significant other, child, relative, or friend. As always, post a picture of it on your blog or in a gallery and then leave us a comment with a link to your creation.

To celebrate this special challenge we'll be choosing TWO winners this week! We will pick one humorous Valentine and one traditional Valentine from the submissions... the winners will each receive an ATC prize pack!

A special thanks to Cathy this week for coming up with the idea for our challenge and doing the ATC history and instructions - if you need any other tips or tricks be sure to check out Cathy's blog, The Seaside Rose Cottage.


Our design team had a lot of fun this week coming up with their own ATC's:

Leah Cornelius - Paper Blossoms

Melissa used paper from Melissa Frances and stamps from Basic Grey.

Giovana Smith - A Place to Praise and Craft

Giovana used paper from Daisy Bucket and a stamp from Stampavie, and Stickles from Ranger.

Melissa Earnest - MME Designs

Melissa used papers and an image stamp from Imaginisce, ribbon from May Arts, and a sentiment stamp from Serendipity.

Dawn Knight - Dawn's Rubber Room

Dawn used papers from Daisy Bucket.



span style="font-size:130%;">Dawn Schulte - Dawn's Special Creations

Dawn used paper, a sentiment stamp and rub-ons from Imaginisce, ribbon from May Arts, and bling from Zva Creative.

Cathy Wieder - The Seaside Rose Cottage

Cathy used paper from Imaginisce, stamps from Daisy Bucket, ribbon from May Arts, and bling from Kaiser Craft.










Linda Boucher - MDC Linda's Page
Linda used cardstock from Core'dinations, paper from sei, and a stamp from Daisy Bucket.




Tamara McKlveen - Tam's MDC Creations
Tamara usd paper from Prima, a stamp from Daisy Bucket, and flower and bling from Zva Creative.



It was such fun making these mini creations - we can't wait to see what you can come up with! And don't forget - we're giving away TWO prizes next week, so make sure to leave us a comment here with a link to your Valentine ATC - Happy Creating!!!

MDCSB18 - Scrapbook Mondays - Product Challenge

Happy Monday! It's time to begin a new week and a new challenge for our scrapbookers! We'll have more on that below...

First, here's last week's winning layout for our Lists of Love challenge, created by Agnes:

Congratulations, Agnes! Be sure to pm us your address so we can get you your flowers!



We've got some beautiful new paper in at the store - the Lovebird collection from sei. It features double sided, cardstock weight patterned papers that are accented with shimmer, glitter, and foil - it's just so lovely IRL!! There are also two die cut lace cardstocks to choose from, as well as coordinating rub ons and embellishments!


This week, we asked our designers to create pages using the new sei collection! So that everyone can play along, if you don't have any of the Lovebird collection you can play a color challenge - red, teal, and white! Here's what our designers came up with:





Mia Montalvan-Castrillo - Scrappin Mama Mia
Mia chose to do the color challenge, so she used a chipboard butterfly and alphabet stickers from Scenic Route, patterned papers from sei and Daisy Bucket, and flowers from Prima.







Maria Levine - Ria Creations







Wow, thanks to all our designers for their beautiful pages and awesome inspiration!! We hope you'll find some time to play along this week! To play, just leave us a comment with a link to your blog or photo upload. If you upload to Splitcoast Stampers or Papercraft Planet, please use keyword MDCSB18! It's that simple!


We also wanted to take a minute to let you know about some great specials over a MDC - this week Outlines rubber stamps are on sale 40% off, Croppin Companion products are 30% off, and everything Prima is 25% off!! Make sure you head on over and check it out!!



Hope you have a happy and productive week, and happy scrappin!!

MDCC30 - Card Thursdays - Paper Piercing Challenge

Hello happy stampers!! My understanding is that's it's pretty cold across the US today - I know it is here in Florida, so I hope that whereever you are you're staying warm. Which gives you an extra excuse to stay inside and stamp and scrap!!

Last week was my first go at creating my own sketch, and we had some very beautiful entries! We wanted to share this card with you from Jilly:



Thanks so much to everyone who played last week - we always love seeing what you guys come up with :)

This week's challenge is to use creative paper piercing on your card. We love the look of traditional paper piercing, but we'd also love to see some piercing used in unconventional ways, so pull out your thinking caps and wow us! Check out our designers piercings below:


Leah Cornelius - Paper Blossoms
Leah used papers from Bo Bunny, an image stamp from Basic Gray, and a sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket.




Maria Levine - Ria Creations
Maria used papers, stamps, and a flower from Imaginisce.




Dawn Schulte - Dawn's Special Creations
Leah used paper from sei and stamps from Daisy Bucket.




Katheryn Heflin - My Children, My World
Dawn used papers and a sentiment stamp from Imaginisce and a Serendipity image stamp.



Tamara McKlveen - Tam's MDC Creations
I used paper and rub-ons from Basic Grey, and a sentiment stamp from Daisy Bucket.




This week's most passionate piercer will win this super cute pack of rub-ons from Imaginisce!

It's so easy to play along with us - just upload your project to your blog (Or splitcoast stampers, or papercraft planet using key word MDCC30) and leave us a comment here with a link to your upload! We can hardly wait to see your creations!

Thanks so much for stopping in today - happy piercing!!