MFT Sketch 329

It's another Sketch challenge at the MFT Challenges blog. I enjoyed making this card for a friend and, although I adjusted the sketch a bit, it helped me come up with a great layout!  Here is the original sketch:

Here is the card I made:

I flipped the sketch and put the vertical strips on the right side rather than the left.  I also eliminated the small circle element. But I think the sketch is still pretty evident. And I think this is the first time I have used a Pure Innocence image (although it is an older one, but she's so darn cute!!) Oh and the sentiment is from the Sweet Sloths stamp set.

Thanks for popping by and taking a look!

Back with a "new to me" technique

Sorry I've been gone a few days. I had a few things going on that trumped blogging. This little guy is one of them:

This is right before a surgery that Alex had to have last week. Everything turned out A-Ok and he's on the mend!

I've also been working on my son's business website: Nerd Nation. Not much to see there right now - everything I've been working on is behind the scenes and will be public soon. I'm very excited for this business venture of his and hopefully it will be a great success!

But I did stumble upon a little creative trick I wanted to share with you. Maybe you already know this but it was new to me! While I was creating the other day, I needed to emboss with a die in my Cuttlebug. In order to make the plate "sandwich" tight enough for a good impression, I grabbed a couple pieces of scrap cardstock. What I didn't realize was that one of the scraps had already been used to cut a die image from:

And as I layered this with a piece of plain cardstock and ran everything through the Cuttlebug, what happened when I took the pieces apart was this:

That die cut sheet of cardstock embossed the image onto the plain sheet of cardstock!! This opens up a whole world of possibilities for using dies to create embossed images!! Did you already know this trick?

Here is the card I made from the embossed piece:

 

 

Here's another - it's hard to see the image in the one above but the colors are better:

Isn't that cute? I'm really excited about this discovery and I hope I was able to share something new with you too! Have a great day!

PTI - color/sketch and Maile Belles

My favoritest ever stamp company, Papertrey Ink, is celebrating it's 8th anniversary and I am playing along with a couple of their challenges this week. Because there's product up for grabs and I'm not passing up the chance to win!! So today I have two cards to share with you. The first one is a color/sketch combo card based on the following inspiration:

And here is my card:

I used Sentiment Signs for the text panel on the right side and Polka Dot Parade #12 for the candle and the "just for you" sentiment. I managed to get all the colors in there as well with the dots around the sentiment in a Copic close to Simply Chartreuse and a piece of baker's twine that is definitely the color of Raspberry Fizz.


The next challenge I played with was using a piece of artwork designed by Maile Belles and recreating the feel and look of her card. This was tricky because her artwork is sooo amazing but I'm happy with the end result. Here are her cards I was trying to "copy" the style of:

I wanted something clean and simple with one large image to the left of the card and a sentiment going across the image and this is what I came up with:

Instead of stamping the large image, I die cut the heart from the card front and used that as my "image". The inside of the card was lined with a metallic looking red paper. The card front was also embossed with the Damask Designs impression plate, although that's a little hard to see in this photo. I added the band across the heart which was a die in the Uncorked die set. I'm not sure what set the sentiment itself is from but it fit perfectly!! The border at the top is a trimmed piece cut from the Heart Border die.

This card is also being entered at Curtain Call where the challenge is Kissing Booth and here's the inspiration photo:

Yep, I think this card fits the bill!

That's all for me tonight. I plan on being back again soon with more challenge entries and maybe a few other goodies along the way. My hope is to get this blog moving again so stay with me!! See you soon!

Birthday "things"

We went to a 50th Birthday party this evening and this is the little gift I made for the birthday girl:

All made from felt and dies from Papertrey Ink. The iPhone case has a simple notch for sliding the phone in and out; the coin purse has a zipper on the back.

These are very fun to make and I'm sure I'll be sharing more of these soon!

There is also a special birthday coming up soon - my grandson will be one year old in less than a month! (Where did the time go?) His party theme is Mickey Mouse and we are taking some photos tomorrow for his invitations. This will be hung in the background somewhere and then be used as a high chair banner the day of his party:

These were cut with my Cameo and strung on PTI ribbon. Can't wait for big guy's big day!

Thanks for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

It's time for the monthly Papertrey Ink customer blog hop! Our inspiration is this photo:

I went with the colors of pink, white, gold and bows. Here's my clean and simple card:

I used the Sentiment Signs set and Ribbon & Bows, creating a gift-like image. The bow was embossed in gold and I added three pearls for a little added bling. Ink and mat color is Hibiscus Burst.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy hopping!

And now for another card and local news

Last time I posted, someone very special in my life was celebrating his birthday. I think he had a pretty good day - one of his favorite breakfasts, dinner at Red Robin and Guardians of the Galaxy! Oh and this card:

The background is embossed with a new folder from We R Memory Keepers (I know it's hard to see - they're pennants) and then I simply added the sentiment and the die cut numbers (from Papertrey Ink) and voila - a card for a wonderful son!

Luckily, his birthday was on Friday because Saturday morning we woke up to a water advisory. No drinking water, no showering, no washing dishes, boiling only makes the water worse....yeah, it wasn't fun here all weekend. Not that it was impossible but it just took more thinking power about things like "what can I cook that doesn't require water" and "how do I clean the dishes that are already used and need to be washed"? All restaurants were closed as were many other places and the likelihood of celebrating a birthday during a water advisory would have been greatly impacted. So we definitely got our party on just in the nick of time!

And now we have water again. And I'm off to run the dishwasher. See you soon!

Birthday Doodlie-Do

My Mom had a birthday last week and this is the card I dropped in the mail to her. Gifts come in a couple weeks when we celebrate a few summer birthdays!

I used Vintage Cream cardstock to stamp the images from Papertrey Ink's Doodlie-Do set in brown ink. I also added a couple extra leaves in order to extend the frame that the images were creating. To finish up the idea of a frame, I drew intersecting lines at the corners opposite the images with a brown Sharpie. Everything was colored with Copics (I haven't colored in awhile - it felt good!) and then the sentiment was added on foam tape.

In other news, this little guy is getting big:

My cutie patootie grandson, Alex, is now 9 months old! Where does the time go???  He's a rough and tumble, active, non-stop BOY and he keeps us all on our toes. But we wouldn't trade him for the world!!

That's it from me today - I'm off to start a new work week. Yippee skippee! Hope you have a good week and find a little time for some creativity! It does the soul good!

Birthday Cards

If you're a card maker, like me, I'm guessing you make plenty of birthday cards and are always looking for new ideas. Here are a couple of cards I recently made, using some ideas I found in a craft magazine (or two)...

This first card was super simple! I started with the Heart-2-Heart #2 stamp set from Papertrey Ink and stamped my three balloons with strings. This was double matted and then mounted on a colorful piece of printed paper which includes the colors of the balloons. A little embroidery floss tied into bows and added to each balloon adds a little texture.

The second card features the Boutique Borders: Baby stamps and a rainbow of ink and cardstock colors, all mounted on a black mat. Stamps from Papertrey Ink.

In other news around the home front, my daughter received another great report from the OB today - just 11 weeks until we welcome our new granddaughter! Please keep her in your prayers for continued good news and a healthy, safe delivery! If you'd like to see a few photos I recently took of her and her growing baby bump, you can find them here.

I hope to be blogging here more in the near future as I will be combining my other blog, Are You on the Fence, into this blog during the fall months. More on that as it approaches. Have a great weekend and I will see you again soon!

Happy Birthday to my favorite Mom!

Ok, so she's my only Mom, but she's still my favorite! Today is her 77th Birthday and, even though she's slowing down a bit physically, she's still going strong mentally! And I love her and admire her so much - she's such a great role model!

Here's a little card I made to go along with a small loaf of pumpkin bread we're delivering to her today. We'll celebrate with dinner, gifts and cake as soon as the whole family can get together!

Paper from Close To My Heart. Stamps from Papertrey Ink. Hope you have a wonderful day Mom - you deserve it!

Birthday Wishes

Some of my favorite creations are made when I just sit down, have no ideas in my head, grab a few stamp sets and just start playing. Such was the case the other evening when I made this birthday card for my favorite Aunt:

I started with a white card base and cut the Boutique Borders die (Papertrey Ink)from white cardstock also (sorry if this doesn't appear very white - it is in real life). Then I stamped the die cut with Boutique Borders Birthday in Simply Chartreuse and a peachy CTMH ink. The leaves and flowers are from Embroidered Blooms stamped in Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse, Fresh Snow and that peachy ink stamped on a piece of Simply Chartreuse cardstock. I ran my nail along the edges of this piece to rough them up and then mounted to the card.

Unfortunately, there isn't much else to report here. It's been pretty quiet and that's A-Ok with me! Jacob and I are heading to a Weird Al concert this Friday and then we're taking hubby to see Superman on Father's Day so I should have something more interesting to post next week. Or I could tell you about the spaghetti I made for dinner tonight, or the laundry I've been doing....yeah, I didn't think so.

Have a great day and be sure to check out what's new at Petite-Party Planners and Are You on the Fence!

Birthday Cards

I'm back with a couple more cards that I recently created but first I have to tell you that the whole "my cards will be sold in a store" thing that I posted about last week? Well, that hasn't happened quite yet. But hopefully soon!

Here are a couple of goodies to share for tonight:

All products from Papertrey Ink (except cupcake printed paper).

In other news, we are coming into Jacob's final school stretch....3 weeks and 1 exam week and then GRADUATION! I can.not.wait! We are both burned out on school - and papers, mostly! What lies ahead? Not sure yet but right now, we just want to get past this milestone!

One thing I know that lies ahead is getting Jacob's room painted just as soon as we get the school work done. He's needed some updating for a year or so and I can't put it off any longer. Then my room will get a make over hopefully in the Fall.

Well that's it for me tonight. Have a great week and I'll be back soon with more to share!

Another birthday card

One of my goals for this year is to make - and then mail - birthday cards to all my loved ones. I seem to start out the year well and then by November, the end of the year people are forgotten. So once again, I'm gonna try! Here's the 1st card for the stash (and I better get busy cause I have three February birthdays alone!)

 I used the new Embroidered Blooms stamp set from Papertrey Ink and created the background with Kraft ink (1st and 2nd generation stamping) and Simply Chartreuse. The sentiment was stamped with Kraft ink, die cut and added to the card with foam tape (the brads are there for looks only, not for mounting). I know it looks like there is blank space in the top left corner of the card but there are some flowers stamped there.

In other news, I am just about over "the bug"...hopefully the only one I will have in 2013 (I hope, I hope, I hope). Now I'm just holding my breath to see who is next in the house to come down with it.

Have a great day - I am hoping for enough energy today to get almost all the rest of the Christmas decor down and put away. Or at least put a really good dent in it. See you all again tomorrow with a new Pretty Palette challenge!

Happy Birthday, Aimee!

Today was my daughter's 32nd birthday. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to spend any time with her  because I have been fighting off the winter "crud". But hubby and son joined her and her hubby for dinner, cake and presents tonight. A good time was had by all (while I stayed home and ate a small bowl of plain macaroni - and then prayed my stomach would not be offended).

Here is the card I made to go with her gift:

Yes, she's 32. Hey, you're never too old for Hello Kitty! (And it was a test for my new Silhouette Cameo - which I love. You can check out my review Here). Wishes for a year of wonderful, Aimee!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop!

Today's blog hop with Papertrey Ink is based on a unique challenge theme - to be inspired by cover art of a book or magazine.

I recently received the premiere issue of Click (which I LOVE!!) and so I had the magazine on my desk and decided to go with what I could garner from its cover - see below:

I also tried to incorporate the chalkboard look that Betsy Veldman blogged about yesterday. Check out her post here if you haven't seen it already. I grabbed some new stamps (got them yesterday!) and this is what I created:

 

I started with a white card base and added a section of Ripe Avocado to the lower portion of the card. I stamped with white ink and dabbed some ink around to resemble chalk dust. The Party Popper was die cut and stamped and mounted to the card with foam tape. I chose to use ribbon as the popper tails rather than the stamp or die. The dotted ribbon was too perfect to pass up! After I added some white confetti, I used an orange pencil to go over some of the confetti pieces and the word PARTY. I tried to keep the colors similar to that of the magazine cover. Finally I added the die cut letters to spell happy at the top and finished it all up with some white pencil drawn lines on the main section.

I love when a challenge makes me think outside the box like this one did! Enjoy hopping to see what cover art inspired others and thanks for stopping!

Birthday wishes to a wonderful lady

Today I will be entertaining the entire family as we celebrate the summer Birthdays. We combine everyone who has a birthday from June-October into one day. Yes, we're getting lazy in our old age, I guess. The Birthday celebrants include my Aunt, my son, myself (I'm the October one) and a very special lady - my Mom. Here's the card I made for her that is tucked into her bag of prezzies:

All products from Papertrey Ink. I used Autumn Rose and Chartreuse as my colors, the Vineyard impression plate on the Chartreuse layer, some bitty dot ribbon in Autumn Rose and the flower (from the Stamp-a-faire set was stamped first in a Blush ink from CTMH and then overstamped in Autumn Rose. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from the Damask Designs set. This was a quick card to make but I think the results are fantastic! I know my wonderful Mother will love it - but not as much as I love her!

I'm cooking for 11 today so I better hop to it - see you again soon!

For a Gamer's Birthday

My son, an avid gamer, just celebrated his birthday a few days ago. And what did we get him as part of his gift? A new game, of course. And this card.

I started by creating the frame using Fabulous Frames from Papertrey Ink and then stamped the game controller inside the frame. I mounted it to black cardstock and then onto a white card and added the sentiment, stamped in Jacob's favorite color, green, to the bottom. Easy, easy - which is good cause I pretty much whipped it up last minute!

Happy Birthday again kiddo!!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

It's the once a month blog hop with Papertrey Ink again and I was excited to use some new stamps that arrived on my porch 2 days ago! Here is our Inspiration photo:

I pulled out some paper in these fabulous colors - the Damask Designs papers were perfect! I used the sketch that was posted this week at Deconstructing Jen and broke out my new 2012 Birthday Tags stamps (love!) Then I put all the pieces together to come up with this:

This turned out just about exactly as I had envisioned - love when that happens!  And you just can't go wrong with PTI stamps - beautiful!

Thanks for joining me and enjoy hopping!