My MFT Idol Submission

As I stated in an earlier post, My Favorite Things Stamp Company is having an 'MFT Idol' Competition on Splitcoaststamers. All you had to do was submit a card or project using MFT Stamps. The judges will pick 12 Finalists today, then every week the Finalists will be given a challenge and the one with the least number of votes by the SCS community, will be voted 'off'. Leaving the last person the winner of a $250.00 prize! Well, I love MFT images and that sounded like a lot of fun to me, so I thought I'd play along. After looking at all the submissions, I know there is NO WAY I made it into the 'Top Twelve', but I decided to show you my card anyway.

If your unfamiliar with MFT, they are a very quirky company. They have many different styles of images, but they are most known for their 'headless women' that people either love or hate. I love them, but when my husband saw my card he said 'Where's her head? I don't think it would be appropriate in this day and age to send that card to a teacher, not with all the recent be-headings in the middle East and Mexico!' LOL! Now, I'm not laughing at the be headings, those are terrible of course, I'm just laughing at my husband making the weird connection in the first place. I personally look at the 'headless women' as more of a statement: the woman could be any one you know, that's why she doesn't 'look' like anyone...she could be you, a friend, a relative, a co-worker, etc. Probably the only thing I don't like about MFT is that they always make the women so skinny! Get real! How many teachers have you known in your life who have a waist line like that! LOL!

Anyhow, onto my card. I used the card stock colors Wild Wasabi, Real Red, Bordering Blue, White, and Basic Black. The designer paper is from DCWV 'The Grade School Stack'. I mounted both the main image panel and the female figure up on dimensionals. I added a clip, brads, and ribbon for embellishment. As I examine my card, I think I made an error when I stamped the image. I should have put the 'headless woman' up higher so that her head 'disappeared' above the card stock. Then it might not have looked quite so strange. LOL!

Have a great day! Amy

Keep Smiling

Keep Smiling. I needed to tell that to myself yesterday AND today. The Craft store I work at opened on Thursday. It was so suppose to be what they call in the retail world 'a soft opening'. The store was suppose to 'quietly open' allowing just a few customers 'to stroll in' so we could practise serving them. Well, it was more like a 'Grand Opening' with the droves of people we got! It was so crowded, like the day after Thanksgiving! We all felt so unprepared and inadequate. Nobody knew what they were doing. I could tell the customers were getting frustrated with us. And everyday, the crowds kept getting bigger and bigger. We doubled our projected sales on opening day, and each day after that we sold thousands and thousands of dollars more than the day before. So, that is good news. And the customers all seemed to love the new store and were so happy the company came to Eau Claire. So that's good news too. But I just feel like 'a total loser'. My first day I was on the Cutting Table. I did fairly well in that area because I am a sewer, and I really enjoyed helping the customers with their projects. But the second day I was on the cash register, and I was awful. I kept making mistake after mistake, and with every mistake I made, I became more flustered and stressed out causing me to make more mistakes. Then to make it worse, I had a customer who was so fed up with me, he actually said to me 'WHAT school did you graduate from?' I had to fight back the welling up of tears in my eyes and just humbly apologize. I just felt so stupid. Here I am, a college educated woman who can't even run a cash register! How ridiculous is that? My self-esteem is really low right now, and I am even fighting back the tears as I write this. And then I think, 'How silly am I to be so upset about this? Its just a minimum wage job, it won't be the end of the world if I lose it?', but then I think 'Yes, but if I can't do a minimum wage job well, how can I do ANY job well? Isn't this the reason these jobs pay minimum wage in the first place, because any loser like me is suppose to be able to do them?" This whole 'working outside the home' for the first time in twenty years has just been such a frightening, new experience for me. Its really causing me to question my own self-worth. All I can do is pray, and ask all of you in blog land to keep me in your prayers, and KEEP SMILING, no matter what happens at work or whatever anyone says to me.

I made this card for a stamper's mom who has had some health problems and is getting discouraged because she is constantly in and out of the hospital. Her daughter said she had a great sense of humor and would appreciate a humorous card. The image is from the retired Stampin Up! set 'Wisecracks'. The card stock colors are from this week's Color Challenge on Splitcoaststampers. They are 'Kiwi Kiss', 'Pink Passion', and 'Chocolate Chip'. The designer paper is Basic Grey. I mounted the main image panel up on dimensionals and colored the image with Copic Markers. The sketch is from 'Sheetload of Cards'.

If I'm not fired today or tomorrow, my next day of work will be Wednesday, and guess what? I'm back on the cash register again! I'm determined not to give up and quit. I told another co-worker, "I'm here to stay, whether they like me or not. They'll have to fire me if they want to get rid of me!". LOL! So please pray for me on Wednesday, that I will do well and please my employers and customers. Thanks. Amy

Just Buzzin By!

Being the avid gardener that I am, I fell in love with the new Stampin Up! set 'Just Buzzin By' the minute I saw it. I just love the faces on the cute little bees and the fun sentiments that go with the set. Plus, the big bee hive is super fun to color!

For my first card, I actually got the idea of putting the bee on top of the honey pot from a card I saw on Splitcoaststampers. But the rest of the card, is all my own idea. The card stock colors are 'Barely Banana', 'Bashful Blue', and 'More Mustard'. I put Crystal Effects on the Honey Pot and all the bees on all the cards have stickles on their wings. The flower is stamped, cut out, and popped up with dimensionals. Ribbon is Stampin Up! 'More Mustard' and American Crafts.

For my second card, I used a layout I also saw on SCS, but I changed the papers. The papers I used are Stampin Up! 'Barely Banana', 'Brocade Blue', 'More Mustard' and 'Bashful Blue' Designer Paper. One of the bees is cut out and popped up on dimensionals.

My third card is entirely my original idea. I used the retired Stampin Up! Wheel 'Hollyhock' to create a background behind my bee hive and on the card. I cut out the bee hive and bee and mounted them up on dimensionals, along with the main image panel. Card stock colors are 'Certainly Celery', 'Pretty in Pink', and 'Barely Banana'. Ribbon is Offray.

For this card I used Stampin Up! Designer Paper 'Bashful Blue' for my background. The scalloped edge was created with the Stampin Up! punch. The main image panel is mounted up on dimensionals. Clips, brads, and ribbon were added for embellishment.

My final card uses designer paper from Magnolia and Stampin Up! Cardstock colors 'Wild Wasabi', 'More Mustard', and 'Bordering Blue'. Stampin up ribbon was added for embellishment. The main image panel was mounted up on dimensionals.

I hope you've enjoyed seeing all my 'bee cards' and that it brought some warm, sunny thoughts to those that are still dealing with snow and cold (like me). The craft store I work at officially opened in Eau Claire today. All the team members are so nervous about working on the cashier or cutting table, PRAY FOR US! LOL! I don't work today, but I do work tomorrow and Saturday, so I'll definitely need your prayers! There is just so much to remember and everyone is afraid of doing something wrong.

God bless you all! Amy