Last 2 PTI challenges

These are my last 2 entries for the Papertrey Ink anniversary challenges. I waited until the last minute because these were also Valentine's items that weren't being delivered until today.

This is for the bags/tags challenge - a little something for my favorite grandson:

I used the Nuts for You stamp set to paper piece the squirrel for my tag. I freehand cut the little heart he's holding. I used some matching paper to create a band that wraps around the folded down bag and the twine goes through all the layers to tie everything together.

Here's a picture of our little cutie:

He's 16 months old already - where does the time go? And he is so full of the devil energy, you jus can't imagine! He keeps us all on our toes, that's for sure but we love him like crazy!!

This last card I made for Alex's Mommy and Daddy - my daughter and son-in-law - for Valentine's Day and is based on the metallics challenge:

We were supposed to use silver and/or gold and neutrals but I snuck in a little blue as well because I couldn't work the birds out in a neutral or metallic color. The cage is embossed in silver and the mat is a silver paper over a piece of Spring Rain cardstock. Inside the card says Happy Valentine's Day Love Birds :)

Thanks for popping by - I hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Day!
See you again soon!

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!

The end of Valentine's weekend

Did anyone spend the entire weekend celebrating Valentine's Day? We sort of celebrated from Thursday through Saturday but there is still a piece of cake left so I guess we'll finish the celebrating today after all. Plus I'm making a new recipe for dinner so that's something to celebrate.

Anywho, I have a couple of final cards to share with you although if you need card inspiration at this point you're, umm, late. But you can file the ideas away till next year!

I made this card to send to my Mom and Aunt - both very important ladies in my life and lovers of the sweets. Inside the sentiment reads: I donut know what I would do without you!  Stamps by Hero Arts.

And this is one more card I made for Beautiful Blooms by Jen. Stamps are from Your Next Stamp.

 

That wraps up the hearts and goodies for this year but come back and visit soon - I will have more to share later this week!

Valentine's Day

I'm back with a few more Valentine cards but first, I have a very special little Cupid to share with you:

My grandson Alexander Cupid, shooting love arrows straight to Grandma's heart! I'm smitten :)

Now for a couple of cards - 1st, the card I made for my daughter and son-in-law:

I added a little bit of everything that says Valentine's Day to me - chocolate, hearts, sparkles, flowers, ribbon and lace - it's all there! And inside, an original (corny) poem written by me :)  In addition to a card, we gave them a couple of yummy cupcakes to blow their diets on!

This is one of the gifts we had for my cutie patootie Cupid - a set of teething keys and a handmade tag. The Key to my Heart piece was cut on my Cameo (file from the Silhouette store). I thought the tag was a good idea so Mommy can add it to his scrapbook later.  He also got a onesie that says "eligible bachelor" on the front and a touch and feel book from Uncle Jacob.

Overall, we had a lovely, low key Valentine's Day with the people that means the most to us - our children and grandson. I hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day too!

Back soon with a few more 'better late than never' V-Day cards!

Valentine's Day Cards

I know, I know - I have been MIA. And I don't really have a very good reason, except that I have been spending free time with a little special someone (more on him in the next post) and my stamping time has been just about zilch! But I have been thoroughly enjoying myself so I have no regrets!

I did get back into the stamp room recently to create some Valentine cards for Beautiful Blooms by Jen (where you can find my hand-crafted cards for special occasions). Here are a few of the cards now in stock and ready to go with your Valentine's Day flower order!

I love the Fancy Footwork of a couple dancing the Foxtrot (or is it a Tango?)

 

Simple elegance with a little sparkle - the perfect Valentine!

Or, if cute is more your style, this owl is a hoot! Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I keep most of the cards for the store simple with few embellishments so no additional postage is required for mailing. Buttons and bows are fun but usually require money down at the post office!

I have more to share with you in the next couple of days so please stop back and visit me. I promise I will try not to disappear again any time soon!

Stamps by Papertrey Ink.

Last of the Valentines

I have one final Valentine card to share with you before moving on to Spring and Easter. This is the card I made for my wonderful son:

Very simple but perfect for him. And the sentiment is spot on! (Products from Papertrey Ink).

In other news, there really isn't much other news. It's been a few busy days but not very blog-worthy. I will be blogging about a shopping trip I took to Ann Arbor over at Are You on the Fence this week so I hope you'll stop by there and check it out. And I will be back this week with a final Pretty Palette challenge (more on that change later) and a few other odds and ends.

And before I go - do you watch Downton Abbey? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts on the season finale. I'm too sad to discuss at the moment.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!  No matter how you celebrate, I hope you have a special day with those you love!

We don't celebrate as much as we did when our children were younger. And after 32 years of marriage, well I know the old guy loves me...I don't need a specific day for him to show it because he shows it every day! We still exchange cards (with our kids, too) and usually have a nice dinner and treat. This year, it's going to be take out (we don't brave restaurants on V-Day) and homemade cake pops. My first attempt at cake pops (photo coming soon) and I think they turned out ok. Not fabulous but ok. They taste good (yes, I sampled) but they're not much to look at. And talk about a lot of work! Bakerella I am not!

At any rate, yesterday I mentioned that my mojo had slipped away. Well today, I forced it out of hiding because I still had cards to make for little old February the 14th! Here is the card that was perplexing me the other night, now finished and I'm finally happy with the end result:

This is the exact same card I was trying to complete the other evening but I was trying to add watercolored flowers to the image and me and watercoloring just do not see eye to eye! So I dove in tonight with no watercoloring on my mind and the card turned out as I had hoped so all's good.

All products are from Papertrey Ink (except the washi tape, which is from various sources).

I have one more Valentine card to share with you in the next day or so and then it's on to Easter. Wasn't it just Christmas like last week??

Have a great day!

Crafting Woes

I don't know if it's the weather or what, but something has severly affected my crafty mojo. I've been in an organizing, cleaning mode lately and I think that impulse must be controlled by the side of my brain opposite the creative side. And now it's stuck there. But whatever the reason, the craft desk has just not been my friend lately. Case in point - this evening I was bound and determined to create another Valentine's card as so far? I only have 1. ONE. And it's 2 days away. So I started creating, and then re-doing, and then throwing away and then re-doing again and finally chucking it all and walking away. 2 1/2 hours later and I have nothing to show for it. I did manage to scatter a package of dies across the floor and spill water on my work surface (nothing was there at the time, although it couldn't have ruined anything I was working on tonight anyhow!) so there's that.

But I do have a card to show you that I made a couple of weeks ago. My one and only V-Day card so far this year:

I used Papertrey Ink's Happy Harlequin stamp set and a variety of pink-ish inks to create the pattern then added the die cut, 2 layer heart (dies from PTI also).

And that's all I got. Hopefully, the spirit will move me tomorrow and I will be a creating fool! If I have anything to show you, I'll be back soon.

Have a great day!

Valentine Treat Mug

Time has really gotten away from me this week - all due to reorganizing my craft room! What an undertaking! But I'm happy to say, I am 95% done and ready to get back to crafting. Pictures of the reorganized space coming soon.

Before I got caught up in IKEA shelving, baskets and more, I did create this adorable Valentine Mug from a Girl Boy Girl Designes template and my Cameo:

I cut the template from plain white cardstock and then stamped the border image (Quilled Elegance stamps from Papertrey Ink). I added some pink Copic coloring and tied a nice satin ribbon around the middle and then filled it with yummy goodies! A great, simple way to dress up a snack-y treat for Valentine's Day for a special someone!

You can find this and many more adorable templates here. Check it out - I'll be back with another GBG Designs project again soon!

Girl Boy Girl Designs

Hi all! Sorry I've been MIA for a few days - I'm on week 2 of bronchitis and a second round of antibiotics and it's all just been kicking my butt!

BUT, I had a couple of days over the weekend in which I didn't feel like sleeping 20 out of 24 hours so I squeezed in a little crafting. I am joining the team for Girl Boy Girl Designs and I am so excited to play along because Jen has the cutest templates that can be cut on my new Cameo!! (Oh, or any other cutting machine - the Cameo just happens to be what I have but you can use these templates with other systems as well).

This is my first project using the Pretty Purse template -

Isn't it the sweetest thing? And it's the perfect size for a gift card (or other small goodies). I used a piece of heavy double-sided printed paper to create the base of the purse and a pretty pink cardstock for the flap and handle. To dress it up a bit, I embossed the pink sections using an impression plate from Papertrey Ink. Here is a little close up so you can see some of the detail:

 I love that added texture! The closure is decorated with a hand-cut felt heart and a big button, threaded with some skinny white ribbon. Might be the perfect Valentine packaging! And easy? The template was so easy to cut and assemble. Be sure to check out the shop and pick up a couple templates for yourself. I'll be back to share more from Girl Boy Girl Designs soon~~

Have a little heart with Heart 2 Heart

It's almost time for Valentine's Day so we are celebrating love at Heart 2 Heart Challenges. We want to see what you create for someone you love and then link up at the challenge blog.

Here is one of the Valentine's cards I created for one of my family members - probably my son. Just frilly enough to be Valentine-y but not over the top.

I used the December Stamp of the Month (Mad about You) from Close To My Heart and two pink inks - Cotton Candy and Blush. I stamped the "circle-ish" image along the right side creating a geometric border of sorts. I also stamped three hearts that were cut with the Cricut and added them to the card front after tying some pink floss along the front of the card also. The words were added in black so they stood out. Simple but I like the results :)

I am also entering this card in the Color Throwdown challenge where the colors are Black, White and a bright pink.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you'll join us at Heart 2 Heart this week!

My last Valentine sharing

Valentine's is over (in case you didn't know) but I have one last project to share with you. I have actually had this ready to share for 2 weeks but keep forgetting. So, before I move on to chicks and bunnies, here's one last heart project:

This simple banner is hanging from a shelf in my living room. I cut the banner sections with my Cricut and the toppers with a die from Papertrey Ink. I also stamped the toppers with Damask Designs from PTI. A doily was layered on each banner and topped with a Cricut cut letter and then a few embellishments were added. If you click the picture, you can see the details a little better. Here's another shot before hanging:

And that's it for me in the hearts/love department this year. Hope you had a lovely Valentine's!

Sitting next to you....

Shhhh - don't tell but here is my Valentine card for my husband this year:

I based the design off a card from the very talented Betsy Veldman and even created a sketch of the design that is now posted as the newest challenge at the Papertrey Playhouse blog!

I used a few stamp sets including Just the Ticket, On My Couch and the Additions set, and Mat Stack 2 stamps and put the Mat Stack 4 and ticket dies to good use too. Paper is all from the Library Ledger pack (except for the solid brown and cream cardstock). All products from Papertrey Ink. The inside of the card says ...is my favorite thing to do.  And the tickets, tucked into the front of the card, include "coupons" for hubby :)

I hope you will stop by the challenge blog and try out the sketch for yourself. We would love to see what you create!

Valentines and Buttons

The challenge this week at Corrosive Challenges is to include buttons in your artwork. Not a problem - I love buttons! And to make it even easier, I had a complete kit waiting to be used that included a button. I purchased a Valentine Exchange kit from Michelle Wooderson (Mish Mash) and here is where the exchange came in - each person that bought a kit was to make any project we liked with the supplies and then send a photo of one project to Mish to post on her blog. I just sent my photo to her today so she should have it up soon!

This is what the contents of the kit looked like before I got to creating:

And this is the first of 2 cards I created with the kit:

I stamped the flourish with white ink onto the red cardstock and added a white round doily from my stash before finishing off the card with lots of kit goodies - the red doily heart threaded with baker's twine, the glittered pink heart, the white embossed heart, the ledger tag (which I stamped with "love you") and of course, a single red button. This card reminds me of making Valentine cards with my Mom when I was young and we would play with doilies and glitter and ribbon....such good memories!

Since I still had goodies left, I decided to create a second card:

This one includes the DP, ruffled crepe paper, yo-yo (modified to look more heart-shaped) and the remaining baker's twine that were all in the kit. I added the band of green cardstock, stamped with Text Style (PTI), the mat stamped with the decorative mat image from Round & Round (PTI) and another button, all on a Raspberry Fizz card. How cute is that ruffle? And now I have 2 more cards ready to go on Feb. 14th! This one is going to my Mom - she loves the yo-yos!

So how will you add a button or two to your card this week? Check out what the rest of the team created at Corrosive Challenges and then play along! And a big "mwahh" to Mish for such a fun Valentine exchange!

Have a great week everyone!

No bull about it

I'm back with another Corrosive Challenge to issue to you and it's one of my favorites! Can you guess? It's a sketch!

Ah, I love a good versatile sketch! Our sponsor this month is Kenny K and I used one of their digitial images to create my first Valentine card of the season:

Now I think that's a male bull (cause all bulls are male) but he/she had sexy eyes so I made "it" look like a girl. Which really gives new meaning to the phrase "no bull about it".....of course she couldn't be a cow with horns either unless again she is a he. Oh well, whatever this animal is, it's cute and made a sweet Valentine's Day card!

I printed the image and then cut out just the head and face, removing the body. Colored with Copics and adhered to the card with foam tape. As for the sketch, I altered it a bit to fit my image and narrowed down

the strips shown in the sketch with one being created from a piece of ribbon and the other (with the sentiment) created from the reverse side of the sparkly patterned paper. What's Valentine's Day without some red glitter?

On this inside, a simple message:

One card ready to go this Feb. 14th!

I hope you will play along with our sketch challenge this week. And while you're at it, be sure to check out what the rest of the team created based on this sketch.

Have a creative day and I will be back tomorrow so kick off H2H challenges for 2011!