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.

Papertrey Playhouse Challenge: Just in CASE

The latest challenge at the PaperTrey Playhouse blog is to CASE a card created by Niki Estes. Click here to see the card we were to CASE. This is my take on the challenge. I used the Year of Flowers Gladiolus stamp and paired it with Terracotta Tile and one of the Text Style background stamp images.

Thanks for stopping by! I'll be posting again later this week with the PaperTrey Playhouse challenge I'm hosting.

Card Details:
Stamps, cardstock and ribbon by PTI; ink by Memento; Copic markers

PaperTrey November Blog Hop Challenge: Holiday Tags

Hello and Happy Thanksgiving! It's the 25th of the month, which means time for another PTI Blog Hop. This month's challenge is to design a holiday tag. This challenge was perfect timing for me because I was in the process of working on the gift wrap for my annual gift of calendars to my family and friends. I took inspiration from recent posts by Nichole and Dawn to come up with these tags:


I kept the basic design of my tags the same for simplicity. The Tag Sale 2 die cut from Pure Poppy card stock, red baker's twine, and one of the background stamps from a Text Style set in white ink. The focal points were stamped with different images from the 2008 and 2009 Holiday Tag sets. (I hadn't ordered the 2010 set yet when I'd made these, but I will make a few more now that my order arrived this week!) I layered the tag images over one of the Limitless Layer die cuts, and even tried the lazy stamper's medallion technique that Nichole featured on her blog last month (I loved the look of it, but found it tricky to adhere the medallion to the tag; it also was a bit too time consuming for mass production). I finished off each tag with some sort of embellishment like the velvet holly leaves and sparkling red rhinestone berries, paper and felt poinsettias and other felt stickers.

The green prep cups and loaf pan were some great finds at my local Tuesday Morning. They are from Emile Henry, and if you frequent cooking stores you know that line of cookware is typically pricey! I love that shade of chartreuse green. So fresh. Incorporating these cups and pan into my crafting added to my inspiration and also kept me organized.

I made a total of twelve tags to attach to each of my gift bags. Here's a look at all of the finished tags:

Feel free to click any of the photos for a closer look. Enjoy the rest of the hop, and have a terrific Thanksgiving!

Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Playhouse Challenge #3: Tag Time

Hello and Happy Weekend! I'm desperately trying to fight off a cold bug that seems to have the upper hand right now. No fun. I will be filling up on more Vitamin C as soon as I finish this post! I played along with the current Papertrey Playhouse challenge, which is to make a creation with a tag on it, and as a bonus, to take inspiration from one of the PTI design team members. I love each of the DT members because they all have their own individual style. The one I'm most drawn to is Dawn McVey. I love how she selects unusual color combinations and creates unique layouts for her cards. My card layout is inspired by the one she did here (the card shown at the end of her post).

Though it's hard to tell in the photo, I used the woodgrain impression plate to create texture on my card front. Other than the kraft note card itself and the orange Dotty Biscotti paper, everything else was a scrap I had in my stash.

I'm off to nurse my cold. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Happy Halloween!


Card details:
Stamps, ribbon, button, twine, dies, impression plate, patterned paper by PTI; Indian Summer patterned paper by Basic Grey; Memento ink; brown cardstock from stash; Hero Arts note card.

PTI October Blog Hop: Winter Holiday Celebration

Thanks for stopping by! This month's challenge is to make a project that celebrates a winter holiday other than Christmas. I opted to make a card in celebration of the winter solstice. I kept my card simple, focusing on the frosty birch trees and emphasizing the sentiment that captures the essence of the season: peace. I haven't made a clean and simple card like this in a long time, and I'm really pleased with how it turned out.


Thanks for looking and enjoy the rest of the hop!