October 2015: PTI Blog Hop

Happy October!  I'm back with this month's PTI blog hop project.  It's my first holiday card of the season.  I typically can't get into the holiday spirit until after Halloween and Thanksgiving, but that leaves me very limited time to work on holiday projects, so it's nice to be working a little ahead.  :-)

This month's inspiration was all about the traditional red and green Christmas colors, greenery, ribbon and shiny ornaments.  All sorts of things to jump start the creativity.  Since my October release order just arrived on Friday, it was an easy decision for me to break out the new Spruce & Sprigs set and dies, along with the Wet Paint Holiday dies.  I found some red metallic card stock in my stash from eons ago.  Sure hope I can find some more, as I only had one sheet.  I liked the effect of stamping the pine sprig in Pinefeather Green on Aqua Mist card stock.  Some Glossy Accents on the berries to give them that natural shine and that pretty much finishes up my card.

Thanks for stopping by!

September 2015 PTI Blog Hop

Happy Fall!  This time of year is my favorite.  I love the cooler temperatures, the changing colors of the leaves, football season, and the anticipation of the coming holidays.  I had to make time to play along with this month's PTI blog hop because the inspiration photo was just so lovely.  It makes me antsy to get my fall home décor out and put up...maybe this weekend.

As for my card, I used two older PTI stamp sets, Wreath For All Seasons and Embellished Elegance (along with the coordinating leaf spray die).

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I look forward to seeing what you made for the hop!

August 2015 PTI Blog Hop

Wow, it's been almost four months since I last posted.  This year is just vanishing.  I carved out some time last weekend to participate in this month's Papertrey Ink blog hop.  You can find the inspiration photo here.

Here is my card inspired by the gorgeous colors of the yarn in the photo.  I will admit that my first take on this card was an absolute flop.  I tried to incorporate multiple colors of twine onto my card and it just didn't work.  So, I salvaged the embossed leaf panel and note card along with the leaf and thankful die cuts and set out to re-do the panel with multiple inks sponged on it.  Take two turned out much better.

Thanks for stopping by!  I look forward to checking out your creation as well!

April 2015 PTI Blog Hop: Navy with Shades of Pink

I'm finally back with a card to share for this month's Papertrey Ink blog hop.  The inspirational photo was lovely and the perfect reason to pull out some of my newer Papertrey supplies and put them to use.  This month's theme was navy with shades of pink.  I love blue, but I have a hard time with Enchanted Evening because it's very dark, so it's not a color I reach for very often.

I was inspired by the lovely bouquet and gold dots on the menu card in the photo.  Bitty Bouquets stamps and dies and the Circles Cover Plate die fit the bill for translating my inspiration to paper.

Thanks for stopping by!  I look forward to checking out what you made for the hop!

Make It Monday: Cover Plate Stencils and Embossing Paste

Happy Weekend!  I just returned from a ski vacation in Colorado.  Perfect ski weather last week and we managed to escape Denver Friday night before the big snow storm hit yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon I was able to spend some time in my craft room making thank you notes for my boyfriend's family who hosted us during the week.  I took the opportunity to incorporate this week's Make It Monday challenge into the first card I made.

I've had embossing paste in my craft stash long before embossing paste became trendy.  Had I used it before?  No.  But I found a jar of gold embossing paste on my shelf and thought it would look nice on Hawaiian Shores with the Mighty Bloom impression plate.  My boyfriend's sister had some art work she'd painted herself in her dining room and one of the prints reminded me of the Mighty Bloom impression plate.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Blue Ombre

Boy I'm glad the Papertrey anniversary festivities occur just once a year.  I've been staying up way too late this entire week trying to keep up with all the challenges.  It's been awhile since I've sat down to create just for the fun of it and I've enjoyed it tremendously.  I just wish my full time job didn't take up so much of my time!

Today's challenge was all about creating a blue ombre card.  Since blue is my favorite color, this was right up my alley.  I broke out my Mighty Bloom cover plate and die cut a stencil out of it, then used the distress ink blender tool to apply four different blue inks to the flower petals of the stencil:  Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Ocean Tides and Tropical Teal.

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Metallics & Neutrals

It's Hump Day!  I'm back with two cards I made for Papertrey's metallics and neutrals challenge today.  I've been enjoying the gold trend in crafting.  I'm not normally drawn to gold, I much prefer silver tones for jewelry and home decor, but when crafting I've found I prefer gold to silver.  I guess I like the warmth it gives; silver has a much cooler appearance (good for snowflakes!).

Here's my first card. I die cut the Circle cover plate from gold foil card stock and adhered it to a True Black card.  A fun sentiment from We Go Together stamped on a Limitless Layers Circle die cut and finished off with a couple of gold sparkle heart enamel dots.

My second card features a gold foil heart from which I die cut the Wet Paint love word.  Some gold foil heart washi tape adds a nice accent to the bottom of the panel.

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Ink Up Never Used Stamp Set

I chose to work with the Hands of Time stamp set and clock hand dies for the "ink up a stamp set you've never used" challenge.  This is a birthday card for someone very special.  I even broke out some of my special Studio Calico matte gemstones for this project.  Might as well stop hoarding them!

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Build a Bouquet

I'm back with a card for Papertrey's anniversary "Build a Bouquet" challenge.  I combined the Larger Than Life and Sweet Life stamps and dies to create a Valentine bouquet for my mom.

I'm not sure why the photo is appearing so distorted.  Click on it for a better view of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Bagged and Tagged

Papertrey Ink's third challenge during the anniversary festivities is to create a coordinating bag and tag ensemble.  The timing was perfect because I just completed this package for a dear friend. I love the Whisker Graphics patterned bags.  They make packaging up a simple gift so easy and they look so festive.  I'm usually drawn to the bright colors and playful pattern ones.  Adding a handmade tag embellishment finishes off the package nicely.

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Inspired by Maile Belles

Papertrey Ink's second anniversary challenge is to create a card inspired by designer Maile Belles.  I've been intrigued with her panel cut outs and decided to try that technique paired up with a few of her stamps sets, Beautiful Butterflies and Watercolor Wonder.  My favorite thing about this card is the color combination.  It makes me think of a warm, summer day...wishful thinking as it's a soggy, gray, winter day here in the Pacific Northwest.

A few shiny stickers and a dusting of clear Wink of Stella pen on the butterfly are the finishing touches to this birthday card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Color & Sketch Challenge

When your creative juices aren't flowing, it's nice to be able to pull out some color combinations and card sketches to help jump start the crafting process.  I chose this color recipe and this card sketch to inspire my card for the first Papertrey Ink anniversary challenge:

 

 

And my card is below.  I just got a new version of Photoshop Elements and I'm still learning, so bear with me and hopefully my photo editing will improve.

 

I chose to make my card square rather than the standard A2 size.  I used Balloon Bash and Wet Paint III stamps and dies.  Believe it or not, the yellow paper is Lemon Tart Bitty Box, and not Harvest Gold as it appears in the photo.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

New Year, New Look

I'm back!  Sadly my blog was neglected for most of last year.  Life was just busy and when I had the time to sit down and make something, that's pretty much all I had time to do.  The photographing, post drafting and blog publishing stuff just didn't happen.

I'm back now and I decided it was time to freshen up the blog a bit.  So I applied a much cleaner, simpler template--still blue, though!  It was time for a face lift.  I can't promise I'll post real frequently, but hopefully I can beat my pitiful five posts from last year!