MFT - Guest Designer Challenge - Bling It On!

Hi everyone and Happy Halloween!!!!!  It's a very busy Monday around here!  It was a wild weekend here in the Northeast with a snow storm!  Really?  It's still October!  =)  But it allowed a lot of time to create and enjoy the newest My Favorite Things Guest Designer Challenge!  This month Jody and Joanne have challenged us to "Bling It On"!  There are SO many gorgeous entries in the gallery over at SCS that I highly recommend you pop in and check them out! 

I've thrown my hat in the ring using a gift pack that I'll be giving to a neighbor tonight who is having a Halloween gathering for the entire neighborhood!  So lovely!!  I've created a sweet treat and a crafty pack combined with blingy card to pull it all together.  

For my gift set I've used MFT's ALM - I Treasure Our Friendship Set. 

This set is PERFECT for Halloween and seriously SO cute!!!

When I chose this set to work with I then started thinking about "piratey" colors.  I pulled purples, golds, reds and browns for my cardstock and designer papers.  I have to admit...I worked on this for three days!  I'd do one piece and walk away from my craft desk and then come back and look at it.  I do this a lot as it always looks different when I come back a few hours later and review my creation with fresh eyes.

I started by coloring my image.  She is inked up using Momento Tuxedo Black Ink stamped on MFT perfect panels (sorry - they are no longer available *sniff*). I colored her with my Copics and my oh so sparkly Sakura pens.  I then paper pieced her skirt and leggings using G45 and SU! designer papers and sparkled up her treasure chest with blingy gold glitter.  As a finishing touch I added a feather to her hat!!  I made a tiny cut in her hat and put the feather through and adhered it to the back.  I then added Glossy Accents to the pearls and set it aside to dry overnight.

As you can see, I also used this week's MFT sketch challenge as my muse.  I have come to TRULY love sketch challenges as it allows you to focus a lot more on the contents of your creation as opposed to the composition as well as the contents.

My card base is retired SU! cardstock in Vintage Violet, layered with SU! Chocolate Chip and G45 DP.  I've used more SU! Chocolate Chip paper followed by Basic Grey then another layer of Chocolate Chip and then another layer of G45 polka dotted paper.  I added a strip of purple spider web ribbon from Michael's as an added blingy layer.  I stitched together my bottom two layers using my sewing machine.

Some of the small details are difficult to catch on camera when you do a full shot photo so I popped on my macro lens in order to capture these to show to you.  I used the small, script text stamp (located in the bottom right in the above photo) from the First Class Friends Set to bling up the background of my Basic Grey layer.  I stamped it with Versamark ink and heat set it using clear embossing powder.  I then sponged the edges of this layer with an ink blending tool and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.

I used a Martha Stewart butterfly punch to create my own embellishments in lieu of the circle accent pictured above on the sketch.  I punched them out onto purple cardstock (it was a scrap and I'm not sure which brand it is).  I coated a few butterflies with Glossy Accents and then sprinkled a pinch of Doodlebug glitter over top and set them to dry overnight.  I took the other butterflies and stamped them with a wood grain stamp from Smeared Ink.  I used Versamark ink and white embossing powder to make them pop.  I then inked over the top of the white embossing powder with an ink blending tool and Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink.  When everything was dry I tied some shiny, silver cord around the body of the butterfly and tied them in a knot at the top to create antennae.  I adhered a couple on the top of the card where the round element would go and one on the bottom for a bit of balance. 

I then decided that I wanted a sentiment on the exterior as well so I pulled out my very favorite Bracket Tab Die-namic. 

I stamped my sentiment and then adhered my panel to a scrap of purple cardstock and carefully hand trimmed around the bracket tab to give it some more dimension.  As a final exterior touch I added two blingy stick pins that are pushed into the foam adhesive popping the main layer up.  (I never like to leave pin ends loose anywhere on my card lest someone get poked!)

For the interior of my card I used the same SU! Chocolate Chip cardstock followed by the golden colored Basic Grey designer paper.  I used the SU! purple striped DP to create a scalloped cluster on the left hand side.  I stitched some eyelet lace (it reminded me of a pirate's puffy sleeves!) to the back of my scallop and adhered it down.  I then used a strip of scalloped bling to mimic the same bubbly shape of the purple paper.  I added another butterfly to the interior for cohesiveness with the front and added just the top half of the ALM pirate as a balancing element in the bottom right hand corner. 

In addition to my card I'm giving the hostess of the Halloween party some sweet treats that I cooked up yesterday using a great Halloween Treat recipe from one of my favorite Food TV hosts - Giada DeLaurentis.  It was a seriously easy recipe that can be customized with any of your favorite sweet treats!  I packaged it up using cello candy bags and I made decorative labels for the front of each one.  I used the same ALM set substituting sentiments this time using "Ahoy Matey".  I left my ALM uncolored but tinted the edges with my brand new Seedless Preserves Distress Ink and an ink blending tool.

I used my Hearts A Plenty Die-namics (swoonnnnnnn!) cutting first with my Ouchless Cardboard from Gauche Alchemy and purple craft felt from Michael's.  It's not NEARLY as great as the wool felt that you can get but the color was perfect so I ran it back and forth in my Big Shot a few times and trimmed any sections with my snips.  I adhered them together and added three blingy self-adhesive rhinestones.  I added it to my label and used the last bits of my spiderweb ribbon, trimmed into a "v" and popped on with an orange staple.  I don't use them often but when I need a staple the different colors available are awesome!!  

As one last add-on for my hostesses daughter I've gathered an old iPod box that I kept in my container of containers (say that 3 times fast! lol!) and put in it a bunch of adorable, sparkly foam Halloween themed stickers.  I wrapped the box with a scrap of the polka-dotted G45 paper, some very chunky and rustic twine - very piratey IMO, the last of the sparkly butterflies and a tag using the Notched Tag Die-namics set - yes...another of my very favorites! 

I'm one of those shoppers that gathers things all the time.  I have in my stash an awesome treasure chest that I'm going to package the treats and crafty kit in along with some chocolate gold "booty" and beaded necklaces to finish off my Halloween themed gift pack.  

I have to tell you the biggest challenge was getting a shot of all of the goodies together and having everything in focus!  Near impossible!  But here you go!  The entire package all together!

Thanks Jody and Joanne for another fierce challenge!!  I hope you all enjoyed my creations and get a chance to play along or hop on over to soak up the awesome inspiration in the MFT gallery over at SCS!! 

Have a fabulously fun and safe Halloween!!