YCU - November Challenge

Welcome back. This month's Young Crafters Unite challenge is to create masculine cards. I know that these are sometimes a struggle for some, but for me, they are so much fun to create. I've already submitted one of my YCU Blog Hop cards for the challenge, but I had this one to throw in to the mix as well.   

Cardstock: Crumb Cake (SU), Solar White (Neenah) Ripe Avocado (PTI)

Patterned Paper: Wander collection (BasicGrey)

Stamps: Critters in the 'Burbs (Lawn Fawn), Fillable Frames #1 and #11  (PTI)

Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Fresh Snow (PTI), Bahama Blue (SU)

Other:  Copics, Sunshine IP (PTI), Sponge Daubers, Glitter (MS)

Thanks for visiting. And {{hugs}} to my two newest followers.

YCU Blog Hop

Welcome to the next stop on the Young Crafters Unite blog hop.  If you hopped here from Jessi's blog, you're on the right track.  I've never participated in a blog hop, but this hop's theme was too hard to pass up -- I LOVE making masculine cards.  So much in fact, that I've got a couple to share. 

Cardstock:  Spring Rain (PTI), Charcoal (Bazzill) / Paper:  Oxford Collection (BasicGrey)

Stamps:  Birthday Bash Sentiments (PTI)

Ink:  VersaMark, Fresh Snow (PTI)

Other:  Clear EP, ribbon (SU), buttons & twine (PTI)

And the Runner - Up ...

Cardstock:  Solar White (Neenah) / Paper: Wander Collection (BasicGrey)

Stamps:  Say It With Style (PTI), Bake Me a Cake (Lawn Fawn)

Ink:  Tuxedo Black (Memento), Malted Milk (Jenni Bowlin),

Faded Jeans & Tea Dye Distress Inks

Other:  Copic Markers, Glossy Accents, Ad Sense die (PTI)

Thanks for visiting.  Your next stop is over at Neelu's blog.  But before you leave, be sure to leave some love below.  The talented ladies at YCU have some great prizes for lucky random commenters.

Happy Hopping!

Stay Tuned ...

It's been a LONG time since I've updated my blog, but that's about to change.  Hope you'll drop by on Friday when I take part in my first blog hop.  I'm so excited!!

See you soon. 

with sympathy x 2

Do you ever look at a finished card and think, "I like it, but it just needs something" in order to be perfectly complete.  Well, that's how I felt about this first card:

Love the vases, but the white space in the middle of the card was bugging me.  On my second attempt, I used the little filler bouquet of flowers to help balance out the swirly sentiment.

 All Supplies PTI unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  Solar White (Neenah), Oxford Collection (BasicGrey)

Stamps:  Gracious Vases, Think Big Favorites #3

Ink:  Fountain Pen (Jenni Bowlin), Cranberry (ColorBox), Vintage Touch Duo

Other:  Copic markers, glitter

Now this is a card that makes me happy.  Is that wrong considering it's a sympathy card?  I hope not.  Thanks for stopping by today.  And, please leave a link to your blog in your comment.  I'd love to check out your work. 

Have a great day!

Be still ...

Happy Sunday, friends.   Lately, I haven't been all that enthused about blogging so I'm making a bit of a change to my blogging style to see if it works for me.  Today's card is one that I think would make a beautiful gift set.  In fact, I think I'm gonna whip up a few more using the other fab prints in Damask Designs when I'm done here.  The reality that the house is clean(ish), empty, and quiet is also a motivating factor to hide & stamp.  LOL
 

All Supplies PTI unless otherwise noted:

Paper:  solar white (Neenah), Damask Designs

Stamps:  Daydreamer, Happy Trails, and Plain Jane (Verve)
Ink:  Stick Candy (Jenni Bowlin), lilac and purple (Memento)

Other:  white grosgrain ribbon, Happy Trails & Mat Stack 3 die, Spica glitter pen

So, what do you think about the CAS approach to blogging?  Thanks to all of my followers and those of you who leave comments for me.  It puts such a smile on my face to know that you took the time to leave me some love.  {{hugs}}

Rhythm & Soul

Some people have babies.  Others have fur-babies.  Well, my dear friend's first baby was her baby grand.  Which makes complete sense considering she's a music teacher.  I put together a little hostess gift as a thank you for having us at her cottage last week using Rhythm & Soul and included this mini set.

Non-PTI Supplies:  Patterned papers (from Stampin' UP! and American Crafts  Dear Lizzy collection),

Ink (Colorbox & Memento), Happy Birthday sentiment (Verve), and satin ribbon (Offray).

I love the texture from the impression plates over the Copic pianos.  For the masculine cards, I used the woodgrain IP and the In Bloom IP for the pink cards (which isn't as crisp an impression as I would've hoped for).  I realized that I did forgot to take a pic of the card I gave as the actual thank you card, but it also used Rhythm & Soul, and the same colour palette from the gifts.  Minus the red.  :)

Thanks for taking a look today at what I've been cooking up in my craft room. 
Have a blessed day, friends. 

August Challenge - All About Me

Every little girl has wanted a pony at some point in her life.  But, they usually outgrow it.  Me.  Well, I just developed a crazy love of (you guessed it) Carousel Horses ... When I was in university, my older sister gave me a Christmas ornament which was the start of my collection.  Each year, there's a new horse released which is added to my tree.  When my sweet niece was 3 or 4, she tried to steal one of mine because "they're pretty."  So, I bought her her own.  But, that gave way to a new tradition the two of us share.  And now, each Christmas, my niece knows that once their tree is up, Aunt Suzanne will have a special ornament for her - an ornament to match the newest one on my own tree.

All supplies PTI unless otherwise noted.

Paper:  Rustic Cream, all prints (Hopscotch Collection, BasicGrey)

Stamps:  Admit One (LawnFawn), Birthday Basics

Ink:  Fountain Pen (Jenni Bowlin), Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo

Tools:  Wonderful Words die, Tag Sale 3, Edgers #2,

Other:  Copics, seam binding (Hug Snug)

When I saw this set previewed, I just knew that I could not pass it up.  In my mind, carousel horses mean Christmas & family.  So, this card is perfect for my niece's birthday.  My ornament collection is one that always reminds me of my sister, and now, my niece. Regardless of where we are all spending the holidays, whether together or apart, the tree in my home always is dressed in reminders of them.  I know.  I'm such a sap.  LOL

Thanks for stopping in.  I hope you'll take some time to pop by the Papertrey Posse blog and join in the August All About Me challenge.  Have a good one & happy stamping!

SAF Challenge #3

What a day it's been.  Of the first seven challenges I checked out, an entry for Challenge #3 is really the only one that came together easily.  Funny, the last one I tried, is the only one worth blogging.  Nichole & Heather challenged all of us PTI junkies to combine punches and ribbon to create an interesting card front.  Since, my punch box is heavy (and SO messy), I used my trusty Mat Stack 3 die for the opening. 

 Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise noted.)

Paper:  Hibiscus Burst, Rustic Cream, and In Bloom (print)

Stamps:  Daydreamer and Fillable Frames #1

Inks: blue, dark green, and black (Jenni Bowlin),

light green and purple (Memento)

Other:  sponge daubers, satin ribbon (SU)

Even though the official contest closes tonight, be sure to drop by Nichole's blog to check out all of the Stamp-A-Faire challenges.  These challenges definitely give the mojo a good old-fashioned jump start.  Thanks Nichole for the inspiration as always.  And thanks blog-friends for dropping by!

Card Camp Finale

It's the final week of the Summer Online Card Camp and I am so excited that this week's colour palette matched a piece of patterned paper I had pulled out to use for a co-worker's baby. 

My card was inspired by Debbie Olsen's card for the June Papertrey release and features a fantastic plaid from the K & Co collections, Sea Glass.

I just love the sweet ruffled gingham around the neck.  So cute.  I've been in a bit of a stamping frenzy, so I have lots to blog for the next week or two.  Seriously.  Do come back for a quick visit.  Can't wait to share some of the cards I made for a hostess gift for a musical friend.  Have a good one & thanks for stopping by. 

For My Dad

For Father's Day I just had to CASE this card from the April countdown for Grunge Me and My Hero, My Dad.  To make the card a little less funky and a little more "my dad," I took a more outdoorsy, approach since my dad is obsessed with landscaping and his garden.  I absolutely love the blue background behind the silhouette image from Through the Trees.  It was one of those times where it was okay to be messy with the Copics and not worry about the streaks.  And it looks just like watercolours. 

For the inside, I used the same colour palette and combined a few of the sentiments from My Hero, My Dad to finish it off.  The plan was to have say it all in stamps, since I hate trying to come up with the right words to write. 

Overall, I am thrilled with the finished result and I know my dad will be too.  He's a tough guy, who rarely wears his heart on his sleeve, but we all know that he loves his girls.  And I LOVE the fact that he saves every card we give him.

I hope you all have a wonderful day with the men in your life. 

hooray for me

Hi Friends.  Remember me?  It has been a crazy month with very little stamping (although LOTS of stamp buying, heehee).  But, school's almost out so that's gonna change soon.  This is just a super quick post to get my blogging feet wet again.  I recently made a graduation card for a friend who just finished his teaching degree.  Even though the colours of his alma mater (and mine) are red & white, I couldn't resist using this red and kraft print from BasicGrey's Life of the Party collection on a Fine Linen base.

Now, the goal for the summer is to have no uninked sets by Labor Day.  And man do I have my work cut out for me.  LOL  The last few Papertrey releases have been right up my alley.  This card uses an old favorite, Enjoy the Ride, and a new favorite, Wonderful Words.  I love those word dies.  They look SO cool with the glitter.  Thanks for coming back to visit.  I promise it won't be such a long time between posts. 

Have a good one. 

Happy Mother's Day

A quickie post of the card I made for my mom.  I had every intention of using the tulips for the Friendship Jars but realized when I sat down to stamp last night, there was just NO time to fiddle with Copics.  This baby fell together pretty quick and my mom loved it. 

I also spent some time sprucing up the inside using Turning a New Leaf and Mother.

As it turns out, great minds do think alike.  My PTI-loving sister used the exact same sentiment for the inside of the card she made!  LOL  That's the last time I give her free access to my stamp collection.  Now, I better go hide My Dad, My Hero before she sees that one. 

Hope you all had a great weekend. 

spring tulips

Of all the Friendship Jar Fillers, this image is possibly my absolute favorite, yet my greatest challenge.  Man, these flowers are NOT easy to colour.  I think know I spent more time Copic-ing than I did making the rest of the card.  But, my only regret is that I didn't have a Happy Mother's Day sentiment that fit the Jar Label die. 

The embossed border is a Stampin' Up folder that I had ordered yet never used.  It is so perfect with the gorgeous bouquet of tulips.  Don't you think?  This is definitely a card that I will be recreating in the near future. 

Thanks for dropping by!

Simple Birthday

Well, hello.  I was going through the folder on my desktop of card pictures and realized, I never blogged this one.  One of my favorite stamps to be released this year from PTI is Simple Sentiments.  Oh, how I love the versatility of this set.  This card was quick and simple.  Until I got to the rolled felt flower.  Wow.  That little embellie took FOR-EVER to get rolled right. 

The card base was covered with three prints from the By the Numbers paper collection.  The sentiment was stamped in Tuxedo Black ink which makes it stand out nicely from the wild background.  The flower was die cut from Harvest Gold felt using a Die-namics flower die from My Favorite Things.  I used a copper brad to tie in with the brown numbers on the card base.

Thanks for dropping by.  Hopefully I'll have my Make it Monday card up in a day or two.  I just need to watch the video first.  LOL  Have a great evening, friends. 

April Showers ....

Hello again!  I've been bad.  My "to be inked" stamp pile is getting out of control which means only one thing.  I need to frantically get stamping before April 14th.  Today's newbie is one that I've been wanting for ages.  I just LOVE the umbrellas in Scattered Showers when you paper piece them.  The little guy is Emery from Verve.  Isn't he precious?  So, here's the card and the deets follow.

Stamps:  Scattered Showers (PTI), Emery (Verve)

Paper:  Crumb Cake (SU), Aqua Mist, White (PTI), Hopscotch (BG)

Ink:  Pumice & Broken China Distressed Inks, VersaMark

Other:  Spellbinders dies, rick rack trim, clear EP

I had a bit of an oops with the sentiment.  The first blue I chose was too light for the kraft base.  When I tried to stamp over it with a darker ink, it wasn't quite perfect.  Oh well.  The shadowing looks kinda intentional to me.  LOL  Then again, I may just have to cut & stamp a cute tag to go over top.  When I have time that is. 

Thanks for dropping by.

MIM #9 - Heat Embossing

Oh, my.  How time flies.  I had every intention of scheduling posts for this week and totally forgot.  Today's post is a quick update using lots of PTI goodness.  I made this card on Friday during a rare "ignore the family and stamp"-a-thon where I got 5, yes FIVE, cards done that are actually blog-worthy.  Colour me shocked.  This first one is not my favorite, but it is perfect for this week's MIM challenge of using heat embossing.  I love the gold sentiment on Enchanted Evening.  And I love the academic look.   

This card uses a variety of PTI sets.  In fact, each stamped element is from a different set.  Can you guess which ones?  Let me know your guesses in your comment.  Knowing the super-sleuths from the PTI forum, I'm sure you'll get them in no time.  Hope things are going well for you in your neck of the woods. 

Thanks for visiting!

girly birthday

What girl can resist pink, black, and glitter?  Not many.  The layout on this card is one that I've used a lot lately.  I find it is so simple, yet easy to change up for the occasion.  This time I used a piece of Sweet Blush cardstock impressed with the numbers plate (lovin' this one almost as much as my woodgrain IP).  I then layered on a strip of paper from the matching collection.  I dug out some DCWV adhesive ribbon from my scrapbooking days to cover the seam. 

The focal image was die cut using Mat Stack 4 and stamped in pale pink using Fancy Flourishes.  I traced the girly swirly with an uber-thin glue pen and sprinkled on some crystal Martha Stewart glitter.  It's my new addiction.  LOL  Now that April is finally here, it's time to break out the spring things.  Tulips.  Bunnies.  Flowers.  I can't wait.  It's been a long, LONG winter.  I'm so thankful that it's behind us. 

Hope you enjoyed your visit here today.  I know I did.  {hugs}

you're too kind

Happy Monday, Friends!!  I am in love with PTI felt.  Melon Berry felt is divine.  There's nothing I don't love about it.  *sigh*  It also makes me think spring.  The fact that the snow is finally melting (and will be gone for good soon, I hope) and the grass is green-ish, makes me want to break into the candy coloured, Easter egg and tulip inspired cardstock.  This was actually a quick card using the scraps on my table (which are numerous most days). 

I had a piece of Ocean Tides that I had watermarked stamped a few weeks ago but tossed aside.  I've really gotta stop stamping oddly shaped pieces of good cardstock with absolutely NO clue as to what I'm gonna use them for.  Thankfully, I was inspired to salvage this piece by turning it into the perfect background for a sentiment.  All in all, I like the way it all turned out.  Hope you do too.

Have a blessed day, friends!


All supplies PTI unless otherwise noted:
Paper:  kraft basics print (BG), Ocean Tides, Solar White (Neenah), linen paper (unknown)
Stamps:  Think Big Favorites #1, Delightful Dahlia, BB: Newsprint
Ink:  black (Staz-On), Crumb Cake (SU), VersaMark
Other:  felt, spiral notebook, delightful dahlia (leaves), beautiful blooms #1 dies, chocolate button, cream rustic twine

butterfly in bronze

Well, hello again. I'm not sure what's happened to me, but my style has changed. Or evolved. Lately, almost every card I make has a vintage flavor to it. This one is no different. I had dyed this piece of seam binding ages ago, but never got around to using it. I started playing with it and pulled a thread at the top & one at the bottom, to get the gorgeous ruffling. Then came the hard part: building a card that did not detract from my ribbon!

I haven't used my Butterfly Dreams set in a while, so I decided to ink it up for the occasion. The butterfly was stamped using Rich Cocoa then coloured with Copics. When I was done, I went over the stamped image with a brown marker to make it pop. To soften the white edges, both the butterfly and the sentiment were given the vintage touch with some Tea Dye ink. A quick swipe of chamomile ink around the aqua layer and I was finished.

Hope you find time today to get inky!


Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise noted)
Paper - Aqua Mist, Fine Linen, White, By The Numbers patterned paper
Stamps - Butterfly Dreams and Birthday Basics
Ink - Baja Breeze (SU), Rich Cocoa (Memento), Crumb Cake ink refill (SU) and Vintage Tea Dye Duo
Other - butterfly die, banner basics die, BTN impression plate, white seam binding (Hug Snug)

Irish Bingo

Happy Thursday!  After blog surfing last week, I realized that there were a few stamps in It's Official that were seriously unloved.  But, it's not my fault.  You see, I'm not a bingo person.  I don't know any bingo people.  So, guess which stamp had yet to see ink?  I'm clearly still in a St. Patty's Day frame of mind so I grabbed Luck of the Irish to complement what any game player needs - luck.

I covered the entire cardbase with a fun BasicGrey print from the Hopscotch collection.  If you're a cardmaker who only buys BG paper in the 12 x 12 sheets, you should check out their 6 x 6 paper pads.  I love that they are the same great prints, but perfectly scaled for smaller projects.  The packs are big (36 sheets, 18 prints) but you use them SO quickly and they're cheap too.  Now if only my LSS would get the Marjolaine pad back in stock ... 

Thanks for visiting and for leaving me some love below.  I appreciate it!


Supplies:
Paper:  Solar White (Neenah), Hopscotch (BasicGrey)
Stamps:  It's Official, Luck of the Irish (both PTI)
Ink:  Baja Breeze, Crumb Cake (SU), Worn Lipstick Distress Ink (Ranger), Tea Dye Duo (PTI), blue, brown, & yellow stars (all Memento)
Other:  2 way glue pen, crystal glitter (MS)

fyi ... flutterby friend

I am always excited to find a new source of inspiration or a challenge to get me in a crafty frame of mind.  Last week, I discovered a brand new challenge blog called For Your Inspiration when visiting one of the uber-talented ladies in my PTI blog group.  Each week FYI gives you a photo that should jumpstart the old mojo.  This week, the challenge was to use this:

A few months ago I was crazy desperate to get my hands on Flutterby Friend.  Well, do you think I've used it once since it came home to roost?  I love that all of the images are open outlines just waiting to be coloured or paper pieced.  The FYI photo of the week is such a contrast in textures and colours, but I focused on the soft and sweet aspect instead.

And a close up on the star of the show:  

 

Isn't this little fella adorable?!?  I usually include a supply list, but time's short, it's late, and I need to get to bed.  Sorry.  LOL.  Thanks Keva for introducing me to yet another colour challenge website.  And congratulations on winning last week's challenge.  You deserved it!!