January Blog Hop

New Year's Resolution

With the new year comes a clean slate along with many resolutions. This month's blog hop challenge involves you challenging yourself to use a Papertrey stamp set that has yet to see ink or even one that might be collecting a little dust! Go through your stash and see what little used treasure it might hold. 2011 is the year where what's old is new again!

This month's challenge was a bit of a challenge because I didn't know which set to use.  Yes, I have lots of sets that need to be inked up.  Saturday was a glorious snow day so I made two cards for this month's hop.  I think a personal challenge for the year will be to ink them all before ordering more.  HA!  That should last until 11:59 PM Feb. 14th.  Then all willpower seems to go straight out the window. 

First Set:  All Star

 

I needed a card for my teenaged nephew and I just know that cutesy Tiny Treats or heartsy everything else would not work for him.  So, I zeroed in on one of his great loves, soccer.  Even though this Valentine doesn't say I love him, he knows that I really am one of his biggest fans.

Second Set:  Little Bitty Bird

Can I just say that Audrey was absolutely right.  She told me I'd love this set and oh how I do.  In fact, I've got another idea rattling around in my head just dying to get out.  Hopefully I won't forget before I find time to hide out in my craft room. 

This year, I'm aiming to participate in all 12 Blog Hop's.  Wish me luck!!  Thanks for stopping by.  Follow along if you like what you see, and hopefully I'll see you next month, if not sooner. 

Happy Hopping!!

tiny treats valentine

Just a quick little Valentine's day post.  I love mini cards and decided to keep this simple.  The base is a 4.25" square, so that it will still fit into a standard A2 envelope.  I'm still trying to get all of my Valentine's Day cards and gifts together before the big day.  So far, so good.  Only a few more cards to go and I'm all set. 

Hopefully, I'll have some of my gifties put together soon to share.  I would love to get them done soon, but, I'm planning to make & bake some tasty treats from Our Best Bites.  If you haven't checked this blog out yet, WHAT are you waiting for?  Getting going. 

Well, I am off.  Thanks for swinging by for a visit. And don't forget that tomorrow is Papertrey's Blog Hop. I can't wait to share what's up my sleeve with you all!  

Supplies:  All PTI unless otherwise noted

Cardstock:  spring rain, solar white (Neenah)

Specialty Paper:  cork (unknown)

Stamps:  Tiny Treats Valentine

Nestabilities:  Labels Three (Spellbinders)

Other:  Copics, baker's twine, pure poppy button

sweet, little baby

What I absolutely love about the Tiny Treats sets is how well they co-ordinate with other Papertrey sets.  For this cards, I combined the sailboat image from Tiny Treats Valentine with a sentiment from Baby Button Bits to create a sweet baby card. 

Of all the cards that weren't picked up by CARDS this month, this lacy creation is my absolute favorite.  I started out with a Crumb Cake base and dragged the edges through some Fresh Snow ink to soften the edges.  A Wilton doily was the base of the oh-so layered focal image.  The Pure Poppy circle was popped up on foam dimensionals as was the sentiment banner.  I hand cut the banner to follow the sentiment, and trimmed the ends to look like the double-ended banner die.  The layered gingham and satin ribbons are my favorite part of the whole card. 

Even with the lace and satiny bow, I think this card would work for either a boy or a girl.  What do you think?  I just found out this week that my classroom assistant is expecting in June.  And to think I thought I had no one to give this sweet baby card to.  Problem solved! 

Hope you enjoyed your little visit with me today.  It's such a thrill to have people who follow and visit.  And actually read my ramblings.  Thanks for humoring me.  You guys rock.  Have a blessed day!!

let's celebrate

Another summer inspired card. I'll apologize upfront for the poor picture quality. I really need to find better editing software, fast. The Orange Zest and Enchanted Evening look great together. The stamps are all Lawn Fawn. Instead of using Copics on everything, I used some In Bloom paper for the retro one piece suit.

If you have any suggestions for editing photos, let me know in your comment. Photoscape? Photobucket? Photoshop? What would you recommend? I'd love to hear your opinions.

Have a great day, friends.
 

Catch-Up Time

This month, Sarah has posted a couple of great challenges for January over on our group blog. After checking out Debbie's post today, I was inspired to finish the cards on my table and get them uploaded tonight in one photo laden post. 

Challenge #1 - The One Layer Card

Keeping it simple and one layer is a bit of a challenge for me.  I decided to layer some Lemon Tart with a pale green woodgrain print.  Then, I used Turning a New Leaf and some clear embossing powder to create my leaf pattern.  To bring it out, I used some green Memento inks and the Tea Dye duo inks and a sponge blender to add depth and definition.
 

Fillable Frames #10 provided the cutout and frame around one of my favorite sentiments from Signature Greetings.  Overall, I'm pretty happy with this.

Challenge #2 - The Black Base Card

Isn't this adorable.  It's amazing what you can do when you start with a funky piece of ribbon.  I combined the butterfly from Baby Button Bits, a sentiment from Spring Tags, and the Take Three die for this little gem.  I'm a little hooked on Crystal Effects and had to gloss up the wings just for fun. 

Hope you like it!

life is good

In keeping with my 2011 goal to get published, I'm trying to submit, submit, submit to at least one magazine call per month.  This card was done for CARDS Magazine's call for their June 2011 edition.  Since it didn't get picked up, I thought I'd post it here.  Of the four I sent them, this is one of my favorites so I thought I'd share it with you first.  I just love the sparkly coconuts.

Not much else to say other than, thanks for dropping by.  Gotta run the car over to the dealership for a little bit of work.  Stay tuned for the remaining rejects to hit my blog.  They are actually pretty good, if I do say so myself.  Later!!

Supplies:
Paper:  solar white (Neenah, spring rain (PTI), cork (unknown)
Stamps: palm tree, surfboards, Life is Good sentiment all from Relax set (Verve)
Inks: tuxedo black, VersaMark, cranberry (ColorBox)
Other:  green felt (PTI), black detail EP (Stampendous), book print impression plate (PTI), labels three (Spellbinders), rhinestones (Studio 18), (BG10, BG23, R17, R59) Copics

Who loves you?

In my feeble attempts to challenge myself, I am trying to use a wider variety of sizes for my card bases.  This tall & slim creation uses a lot of PTI products.  In fact, I think it's almost all PTI.  I have to confess, I am hard pressed to break up with SU Crumb Cake. 



To dress up the interior, I used a little Crystal Effects from SU on the heart balloons.  WOW.  In real life, they have so much shine and dimension that they look like really expensive embellies.  Crystal Effects also makes the pink ink look so incredibly rich.

Thanks for visiting today. 

See you all soon!

Suzanne

Supplies (all PTI unless otherwise noted)

Paper:  crumb cake (SU), stampers select white, dark chocolate, happy spots (printed)

Stamps:  Tiny Treats Valentine, Love Songs

Ink:  rose bud, tuxedo black, rich cocoa (Memento)

Other:  Take Three die, Limitless Layers

vintage valentine

Happy Wednesday, Friends.  I'm trying to get a jump on all of my holiday crafting for 2011, so I'm starting Valentine's Day early.  I was in Michael's on the weekend and found this gorgeous print that I literally fell in love with in the store.  I mean, I bought three 12 x 12 pieces of this.  I have been dying to ink up & create with Love Birds, so I was just messing around in my craft room last night (instead of marking book reports LOL).  This is what I came up with:

Hope you are having a great time.  And for my PTI forum buds, I hope you're working on your Holiday Central goals.  I've got big plans that I'm hoping will come to fruition over the next few weeks.  You may want to follow my blog so you'll know when I start to post my Valentine treat sets.  They're going to be great.

Have a great day!!
Supplies: 
Paper:  white (Neenah), red (Bazzill), print (Anna Griffin)
Stamps:  Love Birds
Ink:  Cranberry (ColorBox), Tuxedo Black, Chamomile Tea Dye
Other:  Large Circle & Petite Scalloped Circle dies (Spellbinders)

cake & polka dots

Surprise, it's another birthday card!  This one uses one of my favorite image sets Bake Me a Cake from Lawn Fawn.  I just {heart} this company.  The card was supposed to be a masculine birthday card, but I realized the only manly paper I had was either this or a camoflage print.  Since my buddy is not the army type, he got the dots. 

I don't usually do square cards, but I'm finding that it's so much easier for me to create a layout from scratch on a square base instead of the usual A2 base.  Good thing I bought a 50 pack of square envelopes.  I love the finished look.

It's hard to believe that the entire Christmas vacation is over and it's back to work & school this morning.  Where did the time go?  And why am I still exhausted?  Guess that's what happens when you cram lots of fun, family, and friends into two weeks. 

See you all soon & thanks for taking time to drop in for a visit!

Supplies
Paper:  crumb cake (SU), spring moss (PTI), solar white (Neenah), all prints (retired SU)
Stamps:  Bake Me a Cake (Lawn Fawn)
Colouring Mediums:  tuxedo black ink (Memento), Copics
Other:  Limitless Layers dies (PTI), rustic button twine (PTI)