Playing with Mint Motif

I found Kimberly Crawford's blog last summer after seeing card after card after card in the magazines made by her. Let's just say I have many of her cards in my inspiration file! Imagine my delight when she moved to my town this winter. I can tell you that she is just as nice and sweet in real life as she is on her blog. And I can also tell you how nice it is to have a crafty friend "in real life". Someone to "talk shop" with, someone who is just across the table instead of at the other end of my computer. LOL

I was so excited for Kimberly when she told me that she was coming out with her own stamp line, Mint Motif. And how nice of her to let me play with her first release: Very Square and Very Square Sentiments. I'm having so much fun with it! I love squares and I really like the patterns that Kimberly included with this set. You can purchase the sets starting May 14 at i {heart} papers.

Okay, so onto the cards I made using these sets.

 

Those three orange squares (Memento Tangelo ink on PTI White) were made using one of the stamps in the Very Square set. I think this pattern is my favorite! I couldn't stop inking it up in all colors. The sentiment, from Very Square Sentiments, is stamped and then cut apart to give it more prominence on the card. I went back and forth on a ribbon choice but ended up liking this brown gingham bit the best. And a buckle! I think I've had that buckle (MM?) forever just waiting for the perfect situation. A bit of PTI Fresh Snow ink around the edges and it's done!

And here's a card that could be used for a wedding or an anniversary (mine's coming up in just a week!). I used the same design as for the first card above but just flipped it around a bit.

I LOVE polka dots and these are so fun! I inked up the stamps with Colorbox Pink Pastel and stamped them on PTI's Vintage Cream cardstock. This was then layered on the bottom of a Dark Chocolate card. I like having "reverse" polka dots, where I can color the background and have the color of the cardstock peeking through. The top half of the card uses PTI Fancy Flourishes and Everyday Classics on Vintage Cream. A Dark Chocolate satin ribbon wraps around the card and is topped with a Raspberry Fizz button and a sparkly gem. I love how the Raspberry Fizz color totally plays off the lavender. It's so pretty!

Here's the last card - I used just a sentiment on this one:

A Kraft (PTI) card topped with some Pretty Pastels patterned paper (PTI). I stamped the sentiment from Very Square Sentiments on a tag that is all inky and distressed. A bit of ribbon, scallops, button, twine and stitching finishes it up. It's a bit simple but I really like all these colors together.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a peek of these new Mint Motif stamps. Thanks Kimberly!

Happy (belated) Mother's Day

I know I'm a day late for posting this but I'm going to post it anyway because I really liked how this turned out. I made identical cards for my mom and for my MIL. They live on opposite sides of the state. Literally. One lives on the Missouri River and the other lives on the Mississippi River. So, there's no chance they're going to find out that I made the same card for both of them. Unless they read this post. LOL

I had a fantastic Mother's Day. We went to the nursery after church and picked up tomatoes and peppers for the garden. Then a quick trip to Theisen's (the local farm store) to look for sturdy tomato cages. No luck. Found just the regular flimsy ones. There were some more expensive ones at the nursery but $18/cage is pretty expensive to pay for cages, especially when you have to buy a dozen! Ouch!

(All supplies from PTI unless noted otherwise)
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams, Fancy Flourishes, Mixed Messages, Text Style
Ink: Spring Moss, Van Dyke Brown (Nick Bantok), Versamark (for the butterflies on the background)
Paper: Kraft, Ocean Tides, Vintage Cream, Pretty Pastels, ledger paper (Making Memories)
Other: prima glitter, butterfly die, Top Note die (SU!), Sweet Blush twill ribbon, scalloped circle punch

Hope all you moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day full of life's blessings.

Tucker's First Communion

My husband and I are godparents to our nephew, Tucker. Tucker is as cute as can be and such a sweet boy.

Tucker's First Communion was last weekend so we headed back to Matt's hometown for the celebration. The mass was for just the First Communicants and their families and wasn't until 1:00, which totally threw off our whole family's internal clocks on what time it was. We typically go to the earliest mass possible so this was way different for us.

The week got away from me so Tucker just got cash in his card. But, he seemed excited about that because he had it all planned out what game he was going to buy with all his gift money. LOL

Okay, onto the card...

Thanks again to Kimberly for letting me borrow some of her Spellbinders dies. I don't know if I would have chosen this Labels Thirteen just by seeing it in the store but once I used it I can see how versatile this label is. It's great. Sorry, Kimberly you might not be seeing this one again. Just kidding. :)

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Stamps
Ink: Van Dyke Brown (Nik Bantok), Spring Moss (PTI)
Paper: Rustic White and Spring Moss (PTI)
Other: Labels 13 (Spellbinders), Ripe Avocado ribbon (PTI), argyle embossing plate (SU!)

Catch you all later!