Make It Monday: Modern Whimsy

Hello!  It's been awhile since my last post.  I've just had too much going on, but I had to carve out some time to craft just for fun, otherwise I would have gone nuts!  This week's Make It Monday challenge to try the "modern whimsy" look intrigued me and I decided I'd try to play along.  Here's my card:

This card uses the Winterberry stamp set and dies, Wonderful Words: Holiday set and die, Holly Jolly die and Bells & Boughs die.

Thanks for stopping by!

September 2013 PTI Blog Hop: Wreaths

Happy Fall!  I'm back to share a card I made for this month's PTI blog hop, which was to create a card with a wreath.  I'm not quite ready for Christmas yet, and since Fall just arrived last weekend, it was the perfect time to celebrate my favorite season.

I kept things pretty simple on this card and made good use out of some fall patterned paper scraps in my scrap bin.

Thanks for stopping by!

SAF 2013: All 10 Projects

Well, I made it.  I got all 10 projects done.  My friend Kristie and I got a late start yesterday working on our projects as we made a few stops at some local crafting stores and did some retail therapy first.  We started on our projects after dinner, working into the wee hours of the morning.  We got a few hours of sleep, then got up and crafted the rest of the morning into early afternoon in our jammies.  Here are all 10 of my cards:

Thanks for stopping by!

SAF 2013: Sugar Coated

This card just might be my most favorite of the SAF bunch I made, and I'm not even a glitter person.  I like how it looks, but I hate the mess it makes!  I hadn't used the baby word die since I first ordered it and wanted to use it,  so I was trying to think what would be a good image to stamp on it and the pattern I associate most with babies is polka dots, so that was starting point for my card.  The baby in the sling image is from the Bundle of Joy set.

SAF 2013: Limited Ingredients

The hardest part of this limited ingredients challenge was figuring out how to line up the dahlia blooms as I hadn't inked up this set before.  Once I figured that out, the rest pretty much fell into place.  I opted to leave the 1 3/4 " circle punch off.

SAF 2013: Whipping Up Scent-sational Cards

I remember how much I liked scratch and sniff stickers when I was kid.  I have a vivid memory of hoarding a certain sheet of chocolate-scented images that my mom let me pick out at Hallmark to add to my sticker collection.  It was fun creating my own scented embossing powder for this crafting challenge.  I look forward to mixing more scents to go with the images in the Scent-imentals set.  In anticipation of fall, I wanted to create a card to celebrate the arrival of my favorite season, so chose to work with the pumpkin image and emboss it with pumpkin pie spice.

SAF 2013: Custom Accents From the Oven

Although I had some trouble with my spider web die cut at first, I was pleasantly surprised that I was able to get my shrink plastic to work on the first try.  After the web shrank, I colored it with Black Soot alcohol ink and a silver alcohol ink mixative.  I was happy with how this card turned out.

SAF 2013: Gallon/Quart/Pint

The gallon/quart/pint challenge was a fun one to try and using this design principle will help me with future projects.  For my card, I chose Dark Chocolate (gallon), Berry Sorbet (quart) and Melon Berry (pint) as my colors to work with.

SAF 2013: Sprinkle of Salt

The salt project gave me a bit of trouble at first, but I was able to salvage my project, by die cutting the word "hello" from water colored and salt impressed background paper.  All in all, I'm happy with how my final card turned out.

SAF 2013: Mixing Mists to Match

For the mist project, I decided to pull out the limited edition Reasons to Smile set that came in my SAF kit.  I created my own mist using my Fine Linen ink refill.  I added a few droplets by flicking the end of the sprayer on to the stamped panel, then spritzed the entire thing, which softened the flowers and made them look water colored.

SAF 2013: Rolled Dough Designs

Here is my next project in the line up.  The paper clay was a bit tricky to work with and kept sticking to my die cutting plate, but it was still a fun product to try.  I die cut the hand/heart from the Love Lives Here set out of the paper clay and stamped them with the coordinating images in the set.

SAF 2013: Tea Staining Techniques

I'm back with my next SAF project.  I think this one may be one of my favorites out of all of the cards I made.  I dyed some white felt in a mug of coffee and die cut the mugs from the Warm Happiness sets.  The little heart tag from the new Coffee Cozy Details die collection added the perfect finishing touch.

SAF 2013: Breakfast Bake and Take

Here is my project I made for the Breakfast Bake and Take challenge, which combined a color recipe and sketch recipe:

I look forward to trying out the other color and sketch recipes in future projects.  I'll be back soon to share the rest of my nine SAF projects.

August PTI Blog Hop: Fast Food Color & Sketch Challenge

It's been two months since my last post.  Work and other events in my life took over my summer, but hopefully I can get back into my crafting groove and blog a bit more regularly now that the cooler months are approaching.

I did a very quick and simple card for this month's blog hop this afternoon.  After completing all 10 of the Stamp-A-Faire challenges between yesterday and today, my brain is a bit fried!  I was taken with the rainbow birthday cake layers in the inspiration photo.  I'm not really drawn to pastel colors, but since I've spent the last two days crafting outside my comfort zone, what was one more card to stretch me creatively?!

Here is my card, which is a very literal interpretation of the inspiration photo:

I think I might go back and try to glitter up those stripes a bit.  But that's for another day!

Thanks for stopping by.

June PTI Blog Hop: A Touch of Gold

Long time, no posts!  I've been doing a fair amount of crafting, just not much picture taking of the projects.  I decided it was time to get my act together and fix that, just in time for this month's PTI blog hop.  The challenge was to add a touch of gold to a project.

I had more fun with this challenge than I thought I would.  Out of all of the metals, I prefer silver over gold.  I'm not sure why, the cooler tones just seem to appeal to me more.  I made two cards for this challenge.

This first one is my favorite of the two as I'm particularly enjoying the nautical trend lately.  Living in Seattle near Puget Sound provides plenty of inspiration for all things water-related! The anchor is embossed in gold powder.  I just got the Out to Sea stamp set and I can see myself using it quite a bit.  I love the navy and white striped paper from Fancy Pants' Down By the Shore collection.

I went with summery colors on this one, and broke out my American Crafts glitter tape for the occasion, too!  Keeping up with more trends, I put the Irresistibly Ikat set to use and added another trendy element--a sequin.

Thanks for stopping by!

Renewed Interest in Older Products

Happy Weekend!  I'm back to share a quick card I made yesterday afternoon.  My boss was in Mexico on vacation a few weeks ago and brought back some little clay painted jars for her employees that she picked up in a local pottery studio.  I wanted to give her a thank you note and I remembered I had some Mexican-themed stamps from way back in the days of A Muse wood-mounted stamps that would be perfect for my idea.  While my personal crafting style has definitely evolved over the years, one of the things I liked (and still like) about A Muse products is that it was pretty easy to create some great cards with just a few simple supplies.

It's so easy to get caught up in all of the new products that are constantly coming out, and I certainly enjoy acquiring new supplies like most crafters do, but I have a hard time getting rid of the old stuff.  And when occasions arise that prompt a certain idea you want to execute--like the one I had yesterday--it's great when you can go into your stash and find exactly what you want to carry out your plan.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope you've had some time to create this weekend as well!

April 2013 PTI Blog Hop: Design on an Angle

I'm back to share my April blog hop card, which was to create a project that features something tilted.  For my card I broke out my Wonderful Words dies and die cut the  "you" at an angle on the white panel.  I prefer to use the little pieces inside the die cut letters when using the negative portion of a word die cut, so for this project I adhered them flat on to the card base, but popped the white panel up with foam dots to give the card more dimension.  The dots stamp is from Savvy Stamps.

Thanks for stopping by!

March PTI Blog Hop: Sequins

 

I'm back to share my PTI blog hop card.  This month's theme is to use sequins.  I was a bit amused to see sequins make a return in crafting popularity.  I remember when they were on trend probably a decade ago.

When I think of sequins I think of parties so it was easy to come up with a birthday card for this challenge. I purchased some shaker cups a few months back but didn't execute the first card I made using one of the cups successfully.  Proof that it really is a good idea to read instructions first before attempting to use a product!

Thanks for stopping by! 

Forever & Always

I'm back to share a very special card for a very special couple.  Most of my blog posts don't venture too much into my personal life as I prefer to keep this blog dedicated to sharing my crafting projects, but there was some big news announced in my family over the weekend, and since it was an event worthy of a special card, I'm sharing the news and the card.  :-)

My sister and her longtime boyfriend announced their engagement yesterday!  No date has been set yet, but the ring is gorgeous and my sister couldn't be happier.  I just have the one sister, and now I get a brother as part of the deal.  :-)  Congratulations and best wishes to you both!

The big news prompted me to break out a couple of new to me stamp sets--Love and Marriage for the tree and Fillable Frames Additions 2 for the sentiment to create a special card.  I'm so taken with that beautiful realistic-looking tree.  I even pulled out my long-neglected pencils and used them to color in the tree.  If you click on the photo for a closer look, you'll see I penned in the initials of my sister and her fiance' inside the heart on the tree trunk.

And here's a peek at the inside of the card:

Thanks for stopping by and allowing me to share the special news!

Have a wonderful week!

Think Spring

Happy Monday!  I'm back to share a card just because.  No challenge, no blog hop, no contest.  Just because I felt like sharing, and because I'm looking forward to the warmer temperatures and pretty colors that spring will soon bring.  With spring in mind, I made this card to try out some new craft goodies I bought recently.  You might have heard that Michaels now carries Heidi Swapp Color Shine sprays and coordinating paper and embellishment products.  I had to buy a few colors to try them out, along with some of the cardstock embellishments.  Although my photo doesn't really show the shine on the butterfly, in real life there is a lot of sheen.

I used three colors of shine spray on the butterfly:  Sweet Cherry, Georgia Peach and Primrose.  These sprays blend beautifully.  I may have to invest in a few more colors.  :-)  The other new products on this card are the Hibiscus Burst striped paper and the birthday sentiment from the Cutting Garden set, both from Papertrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping by!  I hope your week is off to a good start!

February PTI Blog Hop: Marvelous Monograms

Hi, I'm back with this month's PTI blog hop challenge, to create something with a monogram.  For some reason this was a hard challenge for me.  I started in a completely different direction and when that didn't work, went back to the drawing board and finally ended up with this.  For such a simple card, it took a really long time to execute!

I used the vine image from Beyond Basic Borders as the background image.  The letter is from an alphabet set from Impress.

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing with Color

Another Monday, another week.  I'm so tired I can barely keep my eyes open, but I was bound and determined to make at least one project for today's Papertrey Anniversary festivities.  Anyone who has visited my blog before should know I prefer bright colors to soft pastels, so the fact that I chose the 6th color inspiration photo for my card should come as no surprise.

Thanks for stopping by!

PTI Anniversary Sketch #5

My last card for the night.  Sketch #5 was a bit of challenge for me because clean and simple is a hard style for me.  It's easier for me to add layers and embellishments on my cards, though I admire those who can pull of the CAS look.  I think if I had to do this one over I would have selected some slightly larger images to create my border; this card has too much white space for my liking.

Thanks for stopping by!  Hope you have a great week!

PTI Anniversary Sketch #4

Several shades of pink, hearts and damask=a perfect Valentine for a girl friend or a sister.  Sketch #4 is my second favorite:

PTI Anniversary Sketch #3

Back once more with my third card for the sketch challenge.  I think this is my favorite sketch of the five:

This was a great opportunity to dig through my scrap folder and find patterns that coordinate together for the chevron strips.  I also broke out the Bits & Buttons set for the first time.

PTI Anniversary Sketch #2

I'm back with my second card for the PTI anniversary sketch challenge.  I think this is my favorite card of the bunch:

This was my first time using the Framed Out #12 set.  I love that little polaroid frame; so many possibilities to add fun things to the center.  And I love the Studio Calico wood veneers.  They are so versatile because you can die them any color you want to match your project.

PTI Anniversary Sketch #1

Happy Sunday!  A weekend of crafting is exactly what I needed.  I cranked out a card for each of the five sketches this afternoon.  Here is my card for sketch 1:

I'm going to send this to a friend who gave me a darling basket filled with Valentine goodies today.

Brimming with Birthday Wishes

One last project to share today.  I remember when Erin first shared the cupcake wrapper card she made using the Cupcake Collection dies.  Such a fun birthday card.  This inspired me to look in my collection of dies to see what else I could find to "stack."  Teacups.  I had die cut and stamped the strawberry and green leaf cups for a previous project and ended up not using them, so they were my starting point for this card:

Lots of  old favorites on this one:  Victorian Lace border die, In Bloom impression plate, Tea For Two Additions and Little Bitty Bird.  Plus all of the bright pink colors that cheer me.

Thanks for visiting my blog!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Pretty Packaging Part 3

Hello once again!  This is my final project in the pretty packaging series today.  I was inspired by this simple brown lunch sack packaging idea from Pinterest:

 

And here is my take on it:

I die cut the top of the bag with the large Edgers #4 die.  I die cut a tag from the Tag Sale #1 die from patterned paper and embellished it with the die cut mug and image from Warm Happiness.  I die cut the longer double edged banner from kraft paper and stamped "Enjoy" from "Enjoy the moment" from Mega Mixed Messages.  The tag is tied  to the bag with some My Mind's Eye baker's twine.

I'll be back with one more project, a card inspired by a one of Erin Lincoln's.

Pretty Packaging Part 2

Hi again!  I'm back with a couple of decorative bags I embellished for Valentine's Day goodies.  I was inspired by this photo on Pinterest:

My first bag features a white paper doily under a die cut stamped with a solid heart image in Berry Sorbet from the Heart Prints collection and the open scalloped limitless layer heart die cut in Berry Sorbet bitty dot patterned paper. I topped off all those hearts with some pink twine and two paper flowers.

My second bag is a mini pink chevron bag from Michaels. I punched out a couple of hearts and adhered them to a doily die cut and then topped that off with some pink and red gems.  Inside are some Dove chocolate hearts.

Thanks for visiting!

Pretty Packaging

Happy Weekend!  I'm back to share some packaging I created for Valentine gifts, which is timely given today's Papertrey Ink anniversary challenge.  A few weeks ago Melissa Phillips shared these darling decorated mason jars for one of the Senior Design Team tips:

 I decided to do something similar, but rather than decorate the sides with stamped images and paper layers, I decided to pull out some floral stencils and acrylic paints and add a red rose.  I added a Martha Stewart doily accent and punched a heart from cardstock, then stamped "Sweet" from part of a sentiment from the Cupcake Collection set and adhered the whole thing to the lid, then tied a bow with Pure Poppy saddle stitch ribbon.

Here's a look at the top of the jar:

 

I filled the jar with dark chocolate Dove candies.  :-)

Thanks for stopping by.  I have some more packaging projects to share and will be back in a few minutes with those.

Designing with Digital Images Part 6 (Final)

The last image I worked with tonight is the "Love You" sign language tag from Lexi.  I stamped a little heart from the Heart 2 Heart #3 set on the hand in the tag as a little extra detail.  Definitely a clean and simple card.

Sorry for the terrible picture.  Taking photos at night, even with an Ott light, is not ideal.  Thanks for visiting my blog!  Hopefully this series of posts tonight makes up a little for the fewer posts I've had in general.

Designing with Digital Images Part 5

I can never have enough birthday cards in my stash.  The color scheme of this one is perfect for spring or summer.  For Lizzie's image I embellished the candle flames with yellow Stickles for some added pop.

Just one more card to go!
 

Designing with Digital Images Part 4

This card with Maile's digital image is my second favorite of the night.  I love the gradient pink color in the image.  It was a perfect companion to this collection of Basic Grey True Love papers.  Finally using up some of my patterned paper stash.  Too bad this didn't make a dent in my collection.  Sigh.

Just two more cards to go--#5 is next.

Designing with Digital Images Part 3

My third card uses Dawn's digital freebie.  This image made me think of the Green Boutique patterned paper pack and I pulled that out to use some of the paper and printed images.  I also made a 4 x 4 square card, since I had exactly half a sheet of patterned paper scrap.  I think this is a bit busier than I would like but it's still a fun card:

Card #4 is up next!

Designing with Digital Images Part 2

I'm back with my second card of the night.  I think this is my favorite card of the bunch as I'm drawn to the bright colors, cheerful image and anything tea-related is okay in my book!  Melissa Bickford has such a fun, cheery style.  I will definitely be making more cards with this image:

I'll be back soon with my third card!

Designing with Digital Images Part 1

Happy Wednesday!  In the last year or so my blog posts have dwindled down to about one or two a month.  While working full time keeps a roof over my head, my bills paid and funds my creative addiction, it does get in the way of me having time to play!  So when I do get the chance to play, I'd prefer to play more and blog less.

My creative time during the work week is pretty much limited to blog surfing and dreaming up card ideas while I commute to and from work on the bus.  However, the free digital images offered up as part of PTI's anniversary celebration today and the chance to win some customized stamps designed by Nichole were enough of a driver for me to push through the work day fatigue when I got home tonight and I sat down and made 6 cards!  That's more than I make in a weekend sometimes.  Nothing like a little competition to get my creative rear in gear.  Here's my first card, which uses Heather's digital freebie:

 Most of the cards I made tonight have little to no stamping on them.  I did swipe some white pigment ink over the impressed numbers panel to add some interest on this card, though.  I'll be back shortly with another card.  I'll keep the chatting to a minimum, though.  ;-)

Thanks for stopping by!

PTI January 2013 Blog Hop: Black Background

I'm back with my project for this month's blog hop which is to focus on a black background.  I have not really started on Valentines yet, and my limitless layer heart dies were sitting on my desk waiting to be used.  I also spied the rainbow color scheme worksheet from a recent MIM challenge that I didn't get a chance to play along with and decided to combine the two challenges together.  So here is my project:

I used the chevron embossing folder from Stampin' Up to add some interest to the black layer.  It felt strange to me not to put a sentiment of some sort on the front, but I couldn't really figure out a good place to add it, so I just left it alone.

Thanks for stopping by!  I look forward to seeing what you created!

Make It Monday #100

I enjoy the Make It Monday video series every week, but I usually run out of time and don't get to play along, or else I make the project but then don't create a blog post for it (that's usually the case for most of my crafting projects). This week though, I had the time to make the project and get my blog post done--perhaps the chance of winning a $100 gift certificate has something to do with it!

 

I decided to use an oversize envelope to package my card with the extended embellishments.  This challenge prompted me to use some new things I recently acquired--paper and an organization tool.  The floral paper comes from a new Recollections Valentine collection at Michaels.  I was able to use nearly the entire 6 x 6 sheet with this project.  That was satisfying because as much I love to use patterned paper, I'm often left with scraps of various sizes and then there is the dilemma of what to do with said scraps.  My other new purchase is the We R Memory Keepers Washi Tape Dispenser.  Depending on the size of washi rolls, the box says you can store up to 30 rolls.  I think I have about 22 stored in mine.  I wish I could say that took care of organizing my collection, but no, I still have nearly a shoe box filled with rolls of that lovely tape.  However, I've decided that I will swap the rolls out of the dispenser periodically with the change of seasons and holidays, thus giving more of my tapes equal opportunity for use.

 

Back to my project.  With this new organization tool, I now have some of my tapes more visible so when looking for a way to embellish my envelope, my eyes floated to my tape dispenser and I found two rolls that looked like they would pair nicely with the patterned paper.  And I really liked the look of the two tapes layered together.

That's it from me.  Have a wonderful week!