60 Birthday Wishes

Happy Weekend!  I'm back to share a card I made yesterday for a 60th birthday celebration I'm going to tonight.  After I finished it, I realized that it would work for this week's MIM challenge--to glitter a die cut!

I also made a coordinating tag for the special bottle of Washington wine I'm bringing the birthday boy.  Do you know how stressful it is to select a bottle of wine for a wine connoisseur when you aren't one yourself?! I got some great recommendations from my co-worker, whose dad has worked in the wine industry for years.  Fortunately I was able to find one of the brands he recommended at my local wine shop.

 

That's it for me.  I've got a busy weekend of card making ahead of me--two babies, an engagement, and a few birthdays!


Card details:
All supplies from PTI unless otherwise indicated
Cardstock/Paper:  Simply Chartreuse cardstock, Hawaiian Shores cardstock, Aqua Mist striped patterned paper, green paper (My Mind's Eye Home collection) Classic Crest white (Neenah)
Dies:  Tag Sale #2, Super Stars borders, Seeing Stars, Limitless Layers 1 3/4" pinked circle, numbers (Slice Basics 1 cartridge from Making Memories)
Stamps:  2012 Birthday Tags
Ink:  Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse
Other elements: lily pad white glitter (Doodlebug), Hawaiian Shores saddle stitch ribbon

Tag details:

All supplies from PTI
Cardstock/Paper:  Simply Chartreuse cardstock, Hawaiian Shores cardstock, Aqua Mist striped patterned paper
Digital element: Birthday tag image from PTI 2011 anniversary download freebie
Dies:  Wine tag, Tag Sale #5, Limitless Layers 1 3/4" scalloped circle
Ribbon:  Simply Chartreuse saddle stitch

April PTI Blog Hop

I'm back to share my project for this month's PTI blog hop.  To view the inspiration photo and hop details, visit Nichole's blog here.

The beautiful colors and floral motif were the inspiration for my card:

Thanks so much for stopping by!


Card details:
Cardstock:  Pistachio, A Muse Studio; Floral patterned paper from Gossamer collection, Memory Box
Stamps: Simply Jane by PTI
Dies:  Simply Jane by PTI
Ink:  Lilac Posies, Rose Bud, Bamboo Leaves from Memento; Fine Linen from PTI
Embellishment:  Rose from Recollections (Michaels)
Tools:  Scalloped Border punch from Stampin' Up

Crafting with Kraft

I'm back to share a couple of cards I made yesterday. I didn't specifically plan to use kraft on both of these, it just turned out that way.

First up is a thank you card I needed for my boss. She just returned from a Spring Break vacation to Disney World with her kids and brought each of us on her team back a little souvenir can of flavored coffee. This gave me the perfect opportunity to break out my Heart 2 Heart #1 set and die, which I hadn't used yet. Feel free to click on the photo for a closer look.

I also tried a couple of other fun products on this card. First the Tag Sale #6 die. I love that the decorative tag hole reinforcer is a separate piece and you can cut it with a different color or pattern paper. I used a coffee cup stain background stamp (from Inkadinkado) on the kraft cardstock, which I stamped with PTI kraft ink (see the faint rings and splotches?). I then used two different sprays to give the kraft panel some more "oomph." I sprayed some Goosebumps texture spray a few times. Have you heard of it? It's by Tsukineko and it's clear and gives a raised water drop-like effect when dry. I've heard they've come out with a few more kinds of this spray, one of which is a shimmer. Cool! I also tried out my Mister Huey's color mist in Clay. From the name you would think it would be almost a terracotta color, but no, it's more of a dark grayish brown. I figured I'd give it a shot. It turned out really cool and gave the paper the effect of drips of coffee on it!

On to my second card. One of the new items PTI is releasing this month is a set of notched flower dies. I've been intrigued with them, but wasn't sure if I really *needed* them, besides, I've got to maximize my crafting $$ and make sure I'm buying things I'm really going to love and use! So, I decided to see if I could make one of these notched flowers on my own.


I punched a 1.75 inch circle from Raspberry Fizz cardstock and then just went around the circle and cut little notches at somewhat spaced intervals. The end result was so-so. Definitely not uniform notches in even intervals, but it was still sort of charming. I decided to see what else I could come up with to make it into a whimsical flower. I found a scrap of Pure Poppy bitty dot paper and punched a 1.25 inch circle out of it. I roughed up the edges a bit with my finger nail and did the same to the notched flower. I stitched the two layers together with some Martha Stewart red baker's twine and fastened with a Dark Chocolate button. The leaves are cut from Simply Chartreuse cardstock using the larger leaf die from Sending You and then I roughed them up with my fingernail as well. Flower done. Not too bad. The rest of the card just sort of fell together from there. I tucked a couple of pearl head pins behind the flower for some additional interest.

So my final consensus on the notched dies? I still may get them because I don't know if I will have the same amount of patience each time when I go to cut them out myself and the Type A in me gets annoyed when things aren't balanced and evenly cut! LOL! Still, it's nice to know I could execute a reasonable substitute on my own.

All right, I've got a busy day ahead of me between laundry, grocery shopping and baking (Sea Salt Caramel brownies anyone?). Plus, I have to finalize my PTI shopping list for tonight!

Later!


Thanks a Latte card details:
Papertrey Ink: Simply Chartreuse, Raspberry Fizz, Kraft cardstock; Simply Chartreuse Bitty Dot ribbon; Heart 2 Heart #1 stamp set and die; Tag Sale #6 die; Tin Types impression plate; Simply Chartreuse and Kraft inks; Dark Chocolate button
Other stamps: Coffee stain background stamp (Inkadinkado); Thanks a Latte from Coffee Break set (A Muse)
Sprays: Mister Huey's Color Mist in Clay; Goosebumps (Tsukineko)
Other inks: Rose Bud, Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko); Toffee, Chestnut Roan (Color Box)
Other tools: Scalloped Rectangle (Spellbinders); Angled Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); heart punch (Fiskars)
Other: white pencil (Prismacolor); pink baker's twine (My Mind's Eye)

Warm Thoughts Notched Flower card details:
Papertrey Ink: Kraft, Raspberry Fizz, Simply Chartreuse cardstock; Pure Poppy bitty dot patterned paper; Dark Chocolate button; Sending You stamp set and dies; Background Basics Medallion stamp set; Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Chamomile inks
Other ink: Rose Bud (Tsukineko)
Other tools: 1.75 inch, 1.25 inch circle punches (EK Success), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)
Embellishments: Red baker's twine (Martha Stewart); pearl head pins (source unknown)

MIM: Ice Cream Scoop = Flower?

Happy Weekend! Earlier this week I found the time to make a card for this week's PTI Make It Monday challenge, which was to find a non-flower die and turn it into a flower. I went through all of my PTI dies and came up with a few possibilities, but decided to go with the least predictable of the bunch: the ice cream die that coordinates with the Sweet As Can Be Set.

The cone portion of the die didn't fit into my vision, but the ice cream scoop did, so I cut six "scoops" and adhered them to a circle base, then added a couple of punched scalloped circle layers and an aqua flower button from my stash, and there was my handmade flower embellishment!


Thanks for stopping by! Hope you're having a lovely weekend!

Take Two

It's Hump Day and I'm back to share a card I reworked last weekend. A lot of us crafters have made a thing or two that just didn't turn out like we planned. The first iteration of this card was one of those. I'd made the card for a challenge where I left the front of the white card base exposed then impressed a die into the front, creating a subtle frame and then stamping my sentiment inside it. The flower embellishment was added to the bottom corner of the frame. Blah. Too pale, too boring. So I didn't use it for the challenge, and the card sat and sat. I came across it in a box while I was sorting this weekend and decided that rather than toss it I would rework it. So here is Take Two:

Much better. More colorful, more fun patterned paper. I'm happy with Take Two.

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the downward slope to the weekend!

March PTI Blog Hop

Happy Sunday! Oh man, is there a full moon going on or something? I have had some annoying computer issues this weekend between updating my virus software, saving my photos, getting my photo editing program to work and then posting this to the wrong blog. I'm just now finally able to get this post done, and I actually finished these cards last week. Maybe I should take this as a lesson to take the photos and schedule the post as soon as the cards are done!

I made two cards for the March PTI blog hop. Visit Nichole's blog here to see the details of the challenge and the inspiration photo.

Here is the first card I made:

I loved the yellow stripes and aqua ribbon in the inspiration photo and wanted to incorporate those elements into my card. The striped paper is from Michaels and I scored it for $.19 on sale!

Here is the second card I made, which gave me the opportunity to use the new Medallions background set along with Rosie Posie (yes, I'm a bit of a latecomer to the Rosie Posie party!)


Thanks for stopping by! Have a lovely week!

Make It Monday: Graduated Backgrounds

Hi! I was really in the mood to craft when I got home from work tonight so I decided to play along with this week's Make It Monday. I chose to make my graduated background with Copic markers. I ended up making two cards, but I preferred the second one I did over the first:

The blue tones I chose to work with reminded me of water, and I remembered the cute fish image in the Tremendous Treats Valentine set, so I decided to make an underwater scene. I left the heart air bubbles uninked when I stamped the fish, stamped it three times on scrap paper, colored them in with yellow Copics, then trimmed them out by hand. I found the perfect companion sentiment in my rubber stamp drawer and the itty bitty rhinestones as air bubbles finished the card off perfectly.

Here is the first card I made:

The colors seem a bit off in the photo, the background isn't that dark in real life. Again, I went with a water theme on this one. Seems especially appropriate given all the rain we've been getting here over the last few weeks. I'm ready for some spring and sunshine!

Thanks for stopping by!

Best Fishes card details:
Cardstock and Tremendous Treats Valentine stamp set from PTI; Copic markers; Best Fishes stamp from Impression Obsession; Rhinestones from Michaels; Memento Ink.

Sun Will Come Out card details:
Cardstock, Scattered Showers and Scattered Showers Additions stamp set, umbrella and cloud dies from PTI; Memento Ink; Copic Markers; white felt.