Market Street September Sneak Peek Day 2

Are any of y'all night owls out there?  I think I saw every episode of '90s-era Law & Order by watching the 2 am reruns back in my younger days.  Even if you're not a night owl, I think you're still going to love this Market Street "Night Owls" set because it is so adorable.  It actually inspired me to try something out of the ordinary for me and decorate the inside of a card.  So first, the outside:

This is some Jenni Bowlin Core'dinations cardstock that just required some light sanding for that fun receipt pattern.  I cut the circle window and also cut the same size circle from a post-it note to use as a mask for Wild Honey distress stain I used to paint the moon.  I stamped the sentiment on a transparency and embossed it with black embossing powder.  If I had been planning ahead, I would have adhered the transparency between the card base front and the core'dinations cardstock, but I wasn't so I didn't and just adhered it to the back of the cardfront on the inside.  But that's ok, because there is so much cuteness going on, you won't even notice it when you open the card to find this scene:

WHAT?!?!  Are those the cutest owls you've ever seen?  holding coffee cups?  ON A POLKA DOTTED BRANCH?!?!  Heck yeah, they are!  I paper pieced those cute little owls using some My Mind's Eye paper (and even purposely stamped the chevron owl so the chevrons would be in the middle of the owl which is so unlike me to plan ahead that much [see previous paragraph] or to allow myself to cut an owl out from the middle of the paper instead of the edge).  Their eyes were colored and cut from some cream paper.  The set comes with two coffee mugs, one outline with a left handle and one solid image with a right handle.  But it totally works if you stamp the right handle and then paper piece it with the left handled one like I did here.  The tree branch was also paper pieced, but the polka dot pattern is actually part of the stamp--so cute!

Fortunately, Market Street Stamps doesn't force you to be a night owl to order their new release stamps (well, at least if you live in North America): you can order these babies owlets starting at 7:00pm (central) on Thursday night and for ONE WHOLE WEEK after that, new sets are 15% off individually or 25% off if you buy that month's bundle (all sets in the release)!

Unfortunately, I can't be held responsible for you oversleeping tomorrow if you stay up late looking at all the other samples on the MSS blog tonight!

Market Street Sneak Peek Day 1

Yup, it's Market Street Sneak Peek time again!  I have a quick little sample to show you for a fun little set called "Happy Pumpkin."

Quite the happy pumpkin, eh?  This was so super easy to make, too!  I downloaded the gable box from Silhouette and cut it out, then stamped the spiderweb all over it (the spiderweb is from another set that is sneaking today called Sweet Spooks).  I stamped the pumpkin and cut it out, then attached it with foam tape.  The sentiment is also from Happy Pumpkin; I stamped it, cut it out with a nesties four label, then tied it on with some Twinery onyx twine.

All the sets will be available Thursday at 7:00 Central.  Make sure you head over to the MSS blog to see some more sneaks of today's sets and come back here tomorrow for another sneak!

Market Street Sketch Challenge!

It's the third Wednesday of the month, which means it's Market Fresh Sketch time!  Visit their blog to see all the details and design team samples.  Here's the sketch:

and here's my take:

I knew I wanted to use this map paper paired with the Market Street Compass stamp, but I was having trouble coming up with the other two elements of the sketch.  While looking through the goodies that came with the paper pack, I found this "be true" slip.  Perfect for the horizontal piece!  The pack also had  a list similar to the one shown, but the scale was too small, so I just typed up my own and printed it out.  I stamped it with Market Street Vintage Notepad background, but sadly I don't have a notebook border punch.  Instead, I marked equal spaces along the side, punched the holes out with my crop-a-dile, then tore from the side to each hole.  Adding some distress ink really made the look!

To continue the "treasures found at the bottom of pioneer grandma's suitcase" theme, I decided to use the cracked glass technique.  If you haven't heard of it, you basically stamp your image (I also added some distress inks), then emboss the whole thing multiple times with Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel.  At some point, you can also try to get a giant glob of embossing enamel onto your thumb while you're heating it, but I'm not sure I'd recommend that step (unless you're looking to go into bank robbery using only your now fingerprint-less thumb).  Pop it in the freezer for a few, and then gently crack it.  You can then sponge some more distress ink on it, then wipe it off to really accent the crackled look.  Here's a close up:

In other news about being true to yourself and having eyes that clear and hearts that are full, I hope y'all saw that COACH TAYLOR won the Emmy for best actor!!!!  YES!!!!  I may have jumped out of my chair and started clapping when they announced the win.  So I think I will end this post by linking to this picture, and if that smile isn't just infectious, well, I don't know what is.

Market Street Compass	Market Street Vintage Notepad	Pink Paislee Daily Junque Map	Rough Typewriter Font	Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel	Antique Linen Distress Ink
Wild Honey Distress Ink	Vintage Photo Distress Ink	Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream Cardstock	A Muse Studio Slate	A Muse Studio Wheat Cardstock	A Muse Studio Bermuda Ink

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Two for the Price of One!

(to get the full effect of this post you really should yell the whole thing, and perhaps pretend you're flipping through the channels late at night)  

"Hey y'all, it's Meg, here today with a special deal for just for you.  I'm going to show you how to get -yes, TWO!- cards for the price of one. Now, I know what you're thinking, 'Meg, is it difficult to make two cards at once?' "
"Oh, my, that was just what I was thinking!  So is it difficult?"
"Not at all, Suzy Stamper! You can accomplish this in just three easy steps!"
"Wow, I've seen two-for-one cards with as many as fifteen steps and you're telling me we can make them in three?  I've got to see this!"
"Well, prepare to be amazed as we start with the first step.  All you need to do is arrange the leaf diecuts on a 4.25 x 5.5 card base in Silhouette Studio and cut the whole thing out of orange cardstock."
"That seems easy enough.  But what if I don't have a Silhouette at home?"
"We've thought of that, too!  You could easily download and trace a leaf image to cut, use a similar leaf die cut, or even trace a real leaf."
"A real leaf! What will you think of next?  Now what is step two?"
"Step two is really simple...stamp Market Street's Cane onto your card base and then Market Street's Bit of Burlap onto the negative left from cutting out the leaves, as well as each leaf."
"Each leaf!?  But that could take days!"
"Well, it could if you weren't using a Market Street background stamp, but since Market Street's backgrounds are card-sized, you can stamp all of the leaves in one go!  What used to take weeks now takes seconds!"
"Wow!  Those stamps sound amazing!  Does the background also stamp the sentiment?"
"Ok, they are amazing but not magical, Suzy Stamper.  If you want a sentiment on your leaf, stamp it first, then cover it with some removable tape before stamping the burlap.  This sentiment came from Autumn Greetings."
"Oh, I see.  I bet I could handle that!"
"I bet you could, Suze!  Then the final step is just to adhere the leaves to the card base!"
"But wait, you said we would get TWO cards!  What's the secret?"
"Well, the secret is the 'trash' left over from cutting out your leaves!  Layer it over another stamped card base and ta-da!"

"That's all the time we have for, so I hope you try to make your own two-in-one cards with some Market Street background stamps today!"

Supplies used in today's episode:

Market Street Stamps Bit of Burlap

Market Street Stamps Cane

Market Street Stamps Autumn Greetings

Silhouette 8 Fall Leaves

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So You're Saying There's a Chance?

I was not really a fan of Dumb & Dumber, but this joke always cracks me up:


Lloyd: What do you think the chances are of a guy like you and a girl like me... ending up together?
Mary: Well, Lloyd, that's difficult to say. I mean, we don't really...
Lloyd: Hit me with it! Just give it to me straight! I came a long way just to see you, Mary. The least you can do is level with me. What are my chances?
Mary: Not good.
Lloyd: You mean, not good like one out of a hundred?
Mary: I'd say more like one out of a million.
[pause]
Lloyd: So you're telling me there's a chance... *YEAH!* 


I always think of it when I submit to Papercrafts that even if there's 1300 entries, there's still a chance.  Sometimes, however, I think my card can do a little better than one out of a million, like everything came together to make the perfect card for the theme and really I should just go ahead and mail to them now.  


And then they pick the other two that I submitted.  


NOT that I'm complaining, of course, because this is the first time they've ever picked two for the same issue from me, but just goes to show you it's always a surprise.  One of the "chosen ones" was a card I made for Gallery Idol, but then went in a completely different direction.  I mention that because another Gallery Idol contestant, Amber, is hosting a Paper Craft Reject Hop, so I thought I'd join in.  


Wow, that was a lot of work to get to this card:

Ok, so yes, I think it would have been better if the colored gnome was maybe half an inch to the left, but I sure as heck was not going to restamp the panel.  It was definitely a fun card to make, trying to be "random" in my gnome placement but still not have the same gnomes too close together.  And Chowderhead font makes every day a party, doesn't it?  The colored strip of paper is becoming my go-to accent: it doesn't add as much weight to card and is easier to mail than a bow.   


Scheduling update: I think I was too excited about TAR last week, but unfortunately it doesn't start until next Sunday.  Fortunately that gives Mr Corgi and I more time to get through The Good Wife (we should be finishing up disc 4 today).


I hope y'all are having a wonderful weekend!  I have some blog commenting to catch up on and then some fun cardmaking planned.  Yippee!


Gnome Like You Supplies:

There She Goes My Little Friend	Chowderhead Font	Memento Tuxedo Black	Abyss Green BG75 Copic	Pale Olive YG95 Copic	Egg Shell E50 Copic
Acid Yellow Y08 Copic	Prawn R24 Copic	Chamois E35 Copic	Papertrey Ink Simply Chartreuse Cardstock	A Muse Studio Eucalyptus	Papertrey Ink White Cardstock

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My Mom Doesn't Share.

When we went on vacation with my parentals this summer, I brought along my card stash for my mom to shop.   A couple of weeks ago she was telling me that her friends have really been enjoying them, then she went on to say that my dad wanted to use one and she told him to get his own!  ;)  So I thought I'd make a set of notecards for my dad that only my dad would use.  Before you see them, though, you need to see a picture of my dad:

So here are the notecards:

I KNOW!  They are too cute, aren't they?  These first two I also made with the Embellish Stripe Color Trends Challenge in mind (my dad is not a big fan of the kraft so I went with this dark cream instead).  The eyeglasses and mustache were Silhouette cut files.  Here are the other two:

I mean, seriously, I can't even handle the argyle and I made the card!  They went on their merry way today so I'll report back later to let you know if he liked them and if my mom tried to steal them.

I made some other fun cards this weekend, but they are either being submitted or being sent to faithful blog readers, so I'll just have to tease you about those I guess.  My evenings are currently being used to watch all of The Good Wife Season Two before the new episodes come on.  Mr Corgi and I are now officially addicted (plus it now has actors from Law & Order, Gilmore Girls, Sports Night, and Friday Night Lights so I think if Michael Cera could guest star it will have officially checked all my favorite tv show boxes).  (No spoilers in the comments please!)   Speaking of shows that feature actors from other favorite shows, Parenthood starts tomorrow (featuring Gilmore Girls, Sports Night, Friday Night Lights (x3), Everwood, and Arrested Development actors).  And Amazing Race starts Sunday! (I should totally make a set of notecards for Phil that just have an inquisitive eyebrow on them!  That would totally not be stalkery, would it?)  What shows are you excited about returning?


Supplies:

My Mind's Eye Lime Twist Out of the Blue	Silhouette Funny Spectacle Mustache	October Afternoon Rocket Age	A Muse Studio Eucalyptus	Papertrey Ink Rustic Cream Cardstock
Century Gothic Font

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