Goodbye to MFT

Well, the cat is officially out of the bag now.  In case you missed it, MFT announced that 5 of the designers are departing the team and I am one of them.   You can read about it HERE. 

Today is filled with mixed emotions for me.   I worked my tail off to make the MFT design team.   I had three months of guest designing for MFT in 2013 and then one day back in December, it finally happened.  Receiving that phone call from Kim and Jody inviting me to the team has by far been the highlight of my crafty career.  I started my term on January 1st.   On January 2nd, I also started a new job as the Dementia Program Director for local nursing home after leaving my job of 5 years as the Senior Clinical Social Worker on a geriatric psych unit.   Over the he past 6 months, I have learned lots of lessons and I thought I would share them with you.

1.  The designers on MFT work their asses off..........and I am talking balls to wall!  This team crafts their hearts out and manages to produce a huge number of  amazingly creative products each month.

2.  My filthy mouth is unacceptable in the MFT designer's hub and I would never be allowed to say "asses" or "balls to wall" there.    OOPS!  :)

3.  I love stencils!   Now, I will never be a Mona Pendleton (she blows me away), BUT I have found

a way to incorporate stenciling into my style and I love it!  Me and modeling paste.....who knew! Thanks for the inspiration, Mona!

4.   Taking on a new job and joining MFT at the same time = STRESS.   Stress makes me cranky.

Stress makes me tired.   Stress makes me depressed.  Stress makes me withdraw from the people I love.   Thankfully, those people I love stood by me and patiently waited for me to realize that I had WAY too much on my plate and that I just wasn't quite myself.   Thanks, friends!  XO

5.  I like to try new techniques.  I can do more than color with copics and ya know what, I like it!

After some of the MFT designers were talking about signing up for the Online Card Classes, I did the same.  I learned so much and the classes left me looking at my crafty supplies with a whole new prospective.  I highly recommend them!  

6.  Creating approximately 20 cards a month for one team plus another 8 for another while working full time, being a mom to a 10 year son and a 12 year old daughter, a chauffeur for the aforementioned duo and their friends, and a spectator / cheerleader for baseball and football games made me feel like a stamping robot and I started to lose the love for the hobby I had so much adored. Apparently, there is a limit to what I can accomplish in one day. Hmph.   

7.  Reducing my stress level immediately reignited my creativity and desire to craft!    I am not going anywhere.  My blog will will not shrivel up and die from inactivity.   Stamping is my therapy!  I  love to create!  I do want to be on design teams. I will continue to design for SugarPea Designs  and The Deconstructed Sketch.    I do want to share what I love.  Having designed for MFT is like having a gold star on my crafty resume and I am thankful for the time I spent on the team and  lessons I learned about myself.   I will set my sights on new adventures I will work my tail off to get on new teams.   

That being said, I thought I would make one last card branded with my MFT watermark to say goodbye to MFT while also playing along with the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "W is for White."

I started with a sweet tooth CS card base.  I popped up the next layer that I created with the MFT Die-namics Chevron Cover-Up. 

I created the sentiment panel using a die from the Die-namics Horizontal Stitched Strips.  I stamped the sentiment from the Fall Foliage stamp set in black licorice ink.  I created the flowers using the Die-namics Royal Rose and Die-namics Mini Royal Rose.   The leaves are from the Die-namics Upsy Daisy.  

And there it is.  My final card as an MFT Designer.  Thanks for the fun ride!  Thanks for the lessons learned!  Thanks for the free stuff!  God, I am going to miss that!   

Thanks for everything!  

XO,

Kim 

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