November PTI Blog Hop: Cover Inspiration

Happy November!  I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  I'm back with this month's projects for the PTI blog hop.  This month's challenge was to take inspiration from a book or catalog cover.  I've found that as I've gained experience in my crafting hobby that I regularly look at things with a critical eye, especially to see if I can translate an idea into my crafting projects.  Clothes, food, furniture and print material in particular are often the springboards for some excellent color combos or card layouts.

This time of year seems to bring a lot of junk to my mail box, however even if I don't plan to buy anything from a catalog or promotion mailer, sometimes I save it because I'm drawn to the graphics.  This was the case for my two inspiration pieces for my blog hop projects.

My first project was inspired by this ad from Bath and Body Works:

I liked the bright colors, the warmth of the cozy slippers and the pretty bow.  All of these elements I tried to incorporate into this card:

The striped patterned paper reflects the candy cane border of  the ad; the stockings represent the slippers; the sentiment band takes the place of the green satin ribbon.

I decided to make a second project because I was also inspired by this catalog from Franklin Covey:

I was drawn to the graphic gray chevrons paired with the bold red and white snow background and the decorative frame for the focal image and came up with this:

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


Card details:

Deck the Halls
Cardstock:  Pure Poppy and Rustic Cream (PTI)
Paper:  Red and White stripe (Authentique)
Stamps: Love Lives Here: Holiday; Holiday Photo Finishers (PTI)
Ink:  Pure Poppy, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse, Sweet Blush (PTI)
Dies:  Love Lives Here: Holiday; Holiday Photo Finishers (PTI)
Accents:  Lily White Sugar Coating glitter (Doodlebug); glitter pens in red, yellow, pink (Spica)

Happiness & Joy
Cardstock:  Soft Stone, Pure Poppy (PTI); white (Neenah)
Stamps:  Background Basics: Chevrons, Stylish Holiday Sentiments (PTI); Snow Day Background (A Muse Studio)
Die:  Tag Sale #6
Ink:  Fresh Snow, Pure Poppy, Soft Stone (PTI) Tea Dye distress (Tim Holtz)
Accents:  rhinestones (K and Co.); silver glitter brad (Making Memories); peppermint candy punch (Martha Stewart)

October PTI Blog Hop: Non-Traditional Holiday Color Schemes

Another month gone by already?  Boy this year is flying!  I'm back to share a couple of cards I made for this month's PTI blog hop.  My friend Kristie came up to visit me last weekend for some crafty shopping and card making!  I was sorry to see the weekend come to an end, we were having such a good time!  Anyway, I have been debating about purchasing PTI's Vintage Ornaments stamp sets and dies for awhile now.  Kristie has them and brought them up with her so I could try them out and decide if they needed to move from my "maybe list" to my "buy list."  Verdict's in and the stamps and dies are now on my buy list!

I apologize for the poor lighting in the photos.  Photographing at night, even with an Ott light is not ideal.  I made one card using the Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores combo.  The pink and blue striped paper from Candy Cane Prints worked perfectly for this card.  I think this one is my favorite of the two:

My second card uses the Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf and Simply Chartreuse color combo.  I also got to try out my new Diagonal Stripes impression plate:

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I look forward to seeing your creation too!

PTI September Blog Hop: Felt & Fabric

Happy Fall!  I'm back with a couple of projects I made for this month's PTI blog hop.  My first one is a re-purposed tea canister (if you are a tea drinker and enjoy apple cider, try Republic of Tea's Hot Apple Cider herbal tea--it tastes just like cider without the sweetness and it smells heavenly!)  that I dressed up with some patterned paper, a strip of brown fabric as a bow, a handcrafted tag and some die cut foliage.

The tag features the Autumn Acorns stamp set and dies and the Borders & Corners Circle set.  The die cut orange sprigs that are tucked under the fabric are from the Winterberry die set.  This little canister would be perfect for packaging up some ginger spice cookies and sharing with a friend.

 

My second project is a Halloween treat bag that I crafted using the larger boxy banner die.  I cut two of the banner shapes out of orange felt.  Then I used the jack-o-lantern face dies from the Shape Up pumpkin die set to cut out the face pieces from black felt.  I stitched the face onto the front of one of the banner pieces, then blanket stitched the two banners together creating a pocket.  Some chartreuse ribbon stitched in for a handle, and you have a little handmade treat sack for a special pumpkin in 

your life!

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

PTI August Blog Hop: Fall-Inspired Patterns & Textures

Now that my camera battery has recharged, I was finally able to snap a photo of my card I made for this month's PTI blog hop, which is all about fall-inspired patterns and textures.  I recently purchased a set of Lifestyle crafts embossing folders, which included a houndstooth pattern as well as an argyle pattern.  I chose to use those as the starting point for my card, along with a sketch I found in an old Papercrafts magazine.

I inked up the houndstooth folder with kraft ink and then ran a panel of Fine Linen cardstock through my Big Shot Express, creating sort of a letterpress look.  Then I used the argyle folder and ran my card front through the machine as well.  I trimmed the bottom of the houndstooth panel, following the card sketch pattern.  A couple of Prima leaves and a Making Memories epoxy embellishment were clustered on top of the houndstooth panel and then I finished off the card adding the strip with the sentiment and a brown rhinestone.

Thanks for stopping by!  From the thumb nails I've seen thus far for the hop, there is plenty of inspiration to be found!  Can't wait to get closer looks.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!  I'm off work for the next week and I plan to get busy crafting!

Card details:
Cardstock:  Fine Linen, Canyon Clay and Terracotta Tile by PTI
Stamp:  2009 Autumn Tag set from PTI
Ink; Rich Cocoa from Memento, Classic Kraft from PTI
Tools:  Houndstooth and Argyle embossing folders from Lifestyle Crafts
Accents:  leaves from Prima; epoxy embellishment from Making Memories, rhinestone from Making Memories

PTI MIM: Ink Pads as Watercolors

I actually was able to make a card for this week's Make It Monday challenge!  Dawn was right when she said watercoloring was therapeutic.  It was so relaxing to just play around with the paint brush last night when I got home from work.  Unfortunately I don't seem to have an ink pad that works well with watercoloring--guess I'll need to fix that during one of my next shopping trips!  I was happy to  give a stamp set that hasn't seen much inking and some patterned papers that haven't had much use some attention for this challenge:

 As you can see, the ink from the stamped image ran a bit, but I still think this turned out okay.  I added some black enamel accents to the center of the flowers.  The jar of water I had sitting on my desk from a previous project must have been used with some pearlized water paints or something, because I can see a fine dusting of gold shimmer on the morning glories.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card details:
All supplies by PTI unless otherwise indicated
Cardstock:  Blueberry Sky; white (Neenah)
Patterned paper:  Simply Chartreuse bitty dot; Enchanted Evening vine
Stamps:  Year of Flowers:  Morning Glories
Ink:  Blueberry Sky, Spring Rain, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse, New Leaf, Pitch Black (Adirondack)
Other:  Black Enamel Accents (Ranger) 

July 2012 PTI Blog Hop: Summer Palette

Hi!  Long time, no post.  I'm just squeaking in my project for this month's PTI blog hop.  I made this card last night and then wasn't going to post it because apparently I misread the color combination and thought there was Hibiscus Burst in the palette and completely ignored the Melon Berry!  I remember thinking while I was making the card that is seemed strange to have two vivid pinks--Hibiscus and Berry Sorbet.  Yeah, that is strange, and yeah, I was wrong about the color palette!  Oh well.  I didn't have time to make another card, so forgive me for not quite making the mark on this one!

Thanks for stopping by!  I've seen some gorgeous projects in the hop today!

Card details:
All supplies by PTI unless otherwise noted
Cardstock:  Simply Chartreuse, Summer Sunrise, Cream (from Neenah)
Stamps:  Life
Ribbon:  Berry Sorbet
Impression Plate:  Linen & Canvas
Inks:  Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Berry Sorbet, Hibiscus Burst, Simply Chartreuse

June 2012 PTI Blog Hop

Happy Monday!

I'm back with a card I made for the June PTI blog hop.  This month's inspiration photo provides a beautiful summer color palette in aqua blue, fresh green and lemon yellow along with fun ruffles and pleats:

Here is my card:

I was really wishing I had the new Natural Beauties flower set for this card, but I will have to wait to purchase that set in July during Stamp-A-Faire!  The Stitches & Swirls set was a suitable substitute, but I can't get that Natural Beauties set out of my head!

Thanks for stopping by!  I look forward to seeing what you created!


Card details:
All supplies by PTI unless otherwise indicated
Cardstock:  Aqua Mist, New Leaf; Solar White by Neenah
Patterned Paper:  Aqua Mist and Lemon Tart Bitty Dot, Aqua Mist stripe
Ink:  New Leaf, Aqua Mist
Stamps:  Mega Mixed Messages, Stitches & Swirls
Dies:  Notched Flowers, Turning a New Leaf
Ribbon:  Lemon Tart grosgrain
Button:  Lemon Tart
Other: blue pearl head pins from Dritz