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!