World Of Michael Trent

  Welcome to a new Woodblock Wednesday, the day of the week to use woodblock stamps in your art.  On the last Wednesday of the month, my friend Amy celebrates her love of woodblock stamps with a post on her  Woodblock Wednesday  Instagram page. If you make a card of your own and link it to hers, you have a chance to win her giveaway.  Check out all the details on her IG post  HERE . I recently found this wood-mounted rubber stamp from Outlines Rubber Stamps that had never been inked up.  Sadly, this company closed many years ago.  They were one of my favorite companies, and I still own a huge box of their stamps since they never seem to go out of style.   I made a top-folding A2 card base using Kraft cardstock.   I adhered a piece of Valentine's Day paper to the front of the card and a piece of white cardstock, 4" x 5.25", to the inside for a message.    I stamped the image on white cardstock using Versamark ink, embo...

  Hello everyone, and Happy New Year.  Welcome to the January 2026 Edition of the Crafty Elves Countdown to Christmas with  Deb  and  Lisa  - otherwise known as The Crafty Elves . On the 25th of each month, we (the Crafty Elves) post one or more holiday cards in hopes that we inspire you to start  making your own.  This way, by November, we will have cards ready to mail or to give to people during the holidays.           I am kicking off 2026 with a slimline Christmas card full of triangle trees...I mean,  Repeatable Christmas Trees , a digital image from Line Art Lover on Etsy.  I fell in love with this image because the trees are all in one image, and there is no need to layer them in a graphics program.  Easy peasy! If you would like to re-create this card or make one like it, this is what I did: I made a top-folding slimline card using white cardstock, 3 5/8" x 8 5/8".  Then I adhered a piece ...

  Hello everyone.  It's been forever since I made a StenDoodle design, and I have been itching to get back into playing with my stencils.  Today, I made a Valentine's Day card incorporating a StenDoodle design in the coffee cup.  This is the perfect card for that coffee lover in your life.   What is a "StenDoodle," you might be asking.  Well, it's a technique I came up with back in June, 2013 that merges doodling with stencils.  You can read about how this idea came about on  THIS post on my blog.  You can also search my blog for "StenDoodle" to see more of my work.     What do you need to make this card?  For the background paper, I used the digital Brew & Blend Craft papers from KCS Designs by Kim on Etsy . For the coffee image, I used the Framed Coffee To Go #1 digital image from Stamplorations . For the StenDoodle technique, I used the  Punchinella Trio stencil from Joggles .   For color, I...

  Hello everyone.  I've been busy making a few coffee-themed projects for February, but as soon as I saw this collection of My Surreal Valentine Journal Pages from KCS Designs by Kim  on Etsy, I knew I had to stop and make a few cards.  This collection has 20 unique, surreal images that I know some of you will love too.    And I knew they would pair perfectly with the Valentine's Day Word Snippets , also from KCS Designs by Kim. This digital kit has 100 words and phrases in 4 coordinating colors that are perfect for card making, scrapbooks, even your journal or Traveler's notebook.  There are some really cool words/phrases that you don't always see in a Valentine's Day word kit.  Here are the 3 cards I made, front and inside.   Thanks so much for stopping by the blog today.  I'd love to know what you think of these surreal images as Valentine's Day cards.   If you want to see more of my work, come check all of my social me...

  Hello everyone, and welcome to the December 2025 Edition of the Crafty Elves Countdown to Christmas with  Deb  and  Lisa  - otherwise known as The Crafty Elves . On the 25th of each month, we (the Crafty Elves) post one or more holiday cards in hopes that we inspire you to start  making your own.  This way, by November, we have cards ready to mail or to give to people during the holidays.              Another year completed!  Deb, Lisa, and I have been doing this for a few years now.  And, being December 25th, Christmas Day, there is no need to make a Christmas card.  So, I made a New Year's Card to help usher in 2026.    To make this card idea: I made a top-folding slimline card using white cardstock, measuring 3 5/8" x 8 5/8".   Using a stitched rectangle slimline die, I di-cut a piece of glittered white cardstock, which I adhered to my card front.   I cut a piece of wh...

  Hello everyone.  I needed to make a few quick Christmas cards today.  I wanted to make square cards, and I had an idea in my head that included wreaths with a sentiment in the center.  I used images from the Christmas Clip Art digital collection from KCS Designs by Kim to make the cards.  I love how they turned out. Let me show you what I did.   First, I made a 5.25" square card using white cardstock.   Then I cut a piece of white cardstock, embossed it with the Deck Planks 3D embossing folder from Altenew, adhered a piece of white fun foam to the back, and then adhered it to the card front.     Using the  Christmas Clip Art Collection from KCS Designs by Kim on Etsy, I printed the holly leaves image 16 times on a sheet of white cardstock, and used my Scan N Cut to cut the images with a small border.   The next part is optional, but I liked how it worked out for me and for the card.  I taped the 2 larges...

Hello, everyone.  Last week, Ruy and I went to a few stores that sell MDF.  MDF is a man-made pressed wood used in the arts and crafts industry here.  You can buy everything from boxes, wall art, and appliques to use on the boxes, all the way up to small pieces of furniture.  I went in search of the words Merry Christmas to use on a card front.  I didn't find the English version, but I did find Feliz Natal, which is Merry Christmas in Portuguese.   Below is a short video of the inside of Paraiso das Caixas, one of the stores I went to.  Next time, I plan to record a better, more in-depth video to show what is made with MDF.   But this is a taste of heaven... If you are curious about what MDF is, what I bought, and how I plan to use them in my art, check out this video where I explain it all to you. And these are the items I bought in Parasiso das Caixas.    The other store we visited is called MDF na Web, and these are the item...