January PTI Blog Hop

This month's PTI Blog Hop challenge is to ink up either stamps that haven't been used before or those that have been collecting dust. I ended up making three different cards for the challenge:

This card uses two sets I hadn't inked before--Background Basics: Hearts and Damask Designs. I also experimented with a new style that I haven't tried before, shabby chic. I like how this turned out, I think I will give it to my sister for Valentine's Day!

This card features the Borders & Corners Heart set, both in stamping the card background as well as creating the love heart on the tag. I've used this set before, but it's been awhile. I also explored my scrap bin to pull together the bits of patterned paper and card stock to make the card.

Finally, this card combines a bit of the old with the new. The old set is the Round & Round anniversary set from last year; the new set is the Mat Stack 3 set which just arrived in the mail last week. The music background is a non-PTI stamp, I think it's from Stampendous and I got it at Michaels with a 40% off coupon!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Happy Hopping!

PaperTrey Playhouse Challenge: Creative Backgrounds

Hello and Happy Tuesday! I managed to get a card done for the current Papertrey Playhouse challenge, which is to create a stamped background. I have some great background stamps in my collection and I rarely use them. Even more rare for me is to use a single stamp and create a background with it, so I decided to do just that.

There is a lot of discussion on the PTI forum right now about PTI's anniversary, which is coming up next month, and speculation about this year's anniversary stamp set. My favorite anniversary set released thus far is the Everyday Classics set. It has some great all purpose images and sentiments, and since it's been awhile since I pulled it out, I decided to create my challenge card using stamps from this set.

This card was made entirely from scraps in my scrap bin. I created my background paper with the large flower image in the Everyday Classics set. Then I stamped the scroll frame image twice on a Mat Stack 1 die cut and added the sentiment to the middle. I mounted this piece on top of a Mat Stack 4 die cut and glued both layers on to my background paper. A few purple pearls to underscore the sentiment and I was done.

Thanks for looking, and enjoy the rest of your week!

Holiday & Birthday Thank You

Growing up, my mom and grandma made it mandatory for me and my sister to write a thank you note when someone gives you a gift. To this day, I still do this. I think I might be one of the few people who do. I hardly ever receive a written thank you from anyone when I give a gift now. The art of the handwritten thank you note seems to be a rarity these days. I guess most people think that if you give a verbal thank you that is sufficient.

Since Christmas and my birthday (1/1) are a week apart, I typically will send out one thank you note after my birthday to express my thanks, especially if someone gives me a gift for Christmas and then another for my birthday.

I finally purchased the On Ice set from PaperTrey Ink last week. This is a set I debated over for quite awhile, as I really liked the sentiments, but the main ice skate image wasn't a "must have" for me. (I've only ice skated once in my life, and most of that experience was spent with me flat on my backside on the cold, hard ice! I was a really good roller skater, though.) I finally caved, and since I decided to buy the stamp set, I might as well get the companion ice skate die, too. This has quickly become one of my favorite sets, and I plan to use this set for my January calendar page next year.

The colors for the card are a bit unusual for me. When I prepared my Top 10 for 2010 blog post last week, one of the things I quickly observed is that I prefer bold, bright colors for my creations. Pastels, not so much. When I saw the one lonely sheet of blue and pink snowflake paper at my LSS, I thought of my sister, as she adores pink. The On Ice stamp set was already en route to me, and a card idea was forming in my head to pair the skates with this paper. I was really pleased with how this card turned out, so I made another one using a different sentiment in the set and changing the color of the sock cuffs. Here are the two cards together:

I have a few more of the thank yous in progress on my craft desk as I write this. I will finish them up this afternoon and get them out in tomorrow's mail.

Happy Crafting to you!

P.S. I posted on my blog earlier today with January's calendar page, so feel free to scroll down and take a peek.


Card details:
Card stock, stamps, buttons and dies by PaperTrey Ink; Patterned paper by Basic Grey, Eskimo Kisses collection; Divine Twine in pale pink and gray; Copic C4 marker; Memento inks in London Fog, Summer Sky, Angel Pink and Tuxedo Black; Diamond Stickles; Glossy Accents; K & Co pearl stickers.

New Year, New Calendar

Happy New Year! I hope 2011 is off to a good start for you. Yesterday was my birthday (yup, I'm a New Year's baby!) and I spent it crafting and then enjoying a fabulous dinner with my family. Doesn't get much better than that.

I've been making calendars for 13-14 years now. Over the years I haven't been very consistent about taking pictures of them, though I do save each one (when I need a good laugh I pull out the very first one I made--I wonder what I was thinking when I made some of those pages?!). Anyway, I decided this would be the year that I would photograph the entire calendar and around the first of each month post that month's page. Here is January:


I used the Bind It All to bind the calendar together. I think that machine has already paid for itself since I've used it so much (it also helps that I got a 40% discount on it!). Prior to getting the BIA, I used to take the calendars to Office Depot and have them bound there. The stand is also from Bind It All. Last year was the first time I used the stand and I really liked having the calendar sit up a bit higher. I take the calendar into work and have it on my desk in my office, so it's nice having it a bit closer.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend. I'll be posting again later today with a photo of the holiday/birthday thank you notes I made.

Top Ten for 2010

Over on the PaperTrey forum there is a thread about posting your top ten creations from 2010. I thought this was a great idea, so I perused my blog and decided on my top ten favorites for this year. These are in no particular order of preference (feel free to click on the pictures for a closer look):

I made this card for a spring card color challenge Nichole hosted on her blog back in March. I love this color combination and I enjoyed practicing my Copic coloring skills.

This cheerful card was made for one of Lisa Johnson's Poppy Seed challenges back in March. The sweet bunny tag was part of the packaging from some baby soap, which I repurposed for this card.

I think this card is one of my all time favorites. I made this card for the June blog hop. While the picture is okay, the card really pops in real life. I haven't been able to part with this one yet; it is still displayed on my desk as a source of inspiration.


This is also one of my absolute favorites. I love the color combination and layout, which was inspired by Dawn McVey. I made this card for a dear friend's birthday.

Doilies were a big trend for 2010. This card was one of my first featuring doilies. I like the more earthy color combination of this card.

I found this card in my picture file, and realized I never posted it on my blog. The picture isn't great (the sentiment is gold embossed and says "Hello Friend"), but I love this hydrangea flower that I colored with my Copics.

This card was my first and only card I submitted for a magazine call this year. While it didn't get picked up, I'm proud of myself for trying. I practiced my Copic skills again by coloring the coffee percolator.

I made this card for the October blog hop. For a long time I made cards in the clean and simple style and now my style has gradually evolved to include more layers and embellishments. This card takes me back to the CAS style, which is perfect for the message of peace conveyed here.


These tags were featured on my November blog hop post. I made a total of 12 as part of my gift packaging for my calendars (I plan to post pictures of the calendar months throughout the coming year).

Finally, last week I posted about the cocoa packets I made my employees for the holidays. I was really please with how these turned out, and I would love to make more!


Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you have a safe and Happy New Year and best wishes for 2011!

PaperTrey December Blog Hop Challenge: Use Your Leftovers

Time for another PTI Blog Hop! This month's challenge is to incorporate left over bits of wrapping paper, gift tags, ribbon, etc. and transform them into a new project. This year I bought some adorable rustic mitten wrapping paper from Hallmark. As I was wrapping some of my gifts last week, I made sure to save any decent scraps so I could use them for this blog hop challenge.

Several months ago I also picked up a Sizzix mitten die from JoAnn's, in hopes of making some tags, ornaments and things with it. That didn't happen, but there's always next year! I was curious whether the die would cut felt, as it's one of those chemically etched types, and I've only tried to cut felt with PTI's dies and Nestabilities. So I used some of my cheap-o felt to test the die, and it worked! My test mitten is the one you see on this card.

The red baker's twine wrapped around the card is left over from the yardage I purchased to make all of the tags seen here in this post.

I stamped the snowflakes from the Peace Be Still set on the kraft card base and the sentiment is from the Holiday Button Bits set.

Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of the hop!

Have a Cozy Christmas

Merry Christmas! It's been awhile since I last posted. Not that I haven't been crafty, I've been plenty busy in the craft department. I just haven't been good about taking pictures and posting them! In October I transitioned to a supervisor position at work. I have a team of four people and I wanted to give them all a little something to wish them a Happy Holiday. I decided to make a cocoa packet slider and attach a Starbucks gift card. Since three of my team members are guys, I wanted the design of my wrap to be gender friendly. After doing a test one and settling on my design, I had all four whipped up in no time. My team was really pleased, and I couldn't believe all the questions I got about how I made it. I didn't realize how hard it is to explain the concept of a die and a die cut machine to a non crafter!

I basically made two slider pockets for this project. The larger one for the cocoa packet and then the small bag on top for the gift card. The cocoa cup tag image and sentiment is from PTI's Tiny Treats Christmas, and the snowman holding the coffee cup is from A Muse.

I hope you have a cozy Christmas!

Project details:
Blueberry Sky cardstock, holly patterned paper from Christmas Prints collection, Limitless Layers die, cocoa cup and sentiment stamps all from PaperTrey Ink; Snowman Gent stamp from A Muse; red cardstock from stash; red stitched ribbon from Michaels; baker's twine in red and green from Martha Stewart; Copic and Copic Spica markers; EK Success circle punch; mini white bag from stash.