Wish Big

Here's a card I made for my BIL's birthday a while back. I used Rustic Cream for the card base, Smokey Shadow for the squares, and some unknown dark orange cardstock. Star Prints was used for the sentiment and the stars and then Background Basic: Retro was used to create the stripes on the card base. You can see that I boogered on the stripes - the stamp slipped and I was in too much of a hurry to redo it. Oops!

Hope you're enjoying your Father's Day! Here's a couple pics of DH with the two kids in his life that call him "Dad." They were taken at the pumpkin patch last year so a bit old but not too bad. Guess I better get some more pictures of them together!

Until next time...

Teacher Gifts

Holy cow! It's been a long time. Funny how life has a way of prioritizing itself for you, isn't it?! We've been so busy lately with ball games (soccer, t-ball, and softball) and I've been working most Saturdays so all that seems to push blogging right down to the bottom of the priority list. I have managed to get some crafting time in though.

I know the end of the school year has passed for most folks but I wanted to show you the gifts I made for my kids' teachers. I took this idea directly from Betsy's blog. I loved the idea the moment I saw it and I must say they turned out quite darling. I'll definitely be trying this one again - so cute for holding gift cards! Even DH said they were neat, which is much higher on the compliment list than, "that's nice, dear." lol

I used the PTI large glassine bag and folded it in half. Then I measured the tag that my gift card was going to be on and sewed two straight lines so that they form a pocket on the front of the card. I then cut a piece of paper for the front; this ruler PP is from Cosmo Cricket. Seemed appropriate for a teacher card. :)

Here you can see how the card looks from the "back" (this is the other style I made.) You can also see the stitching on this one a little easier since I used red thread.

Here's a close-up of the pocket for the gift card to slip into. I used Top Note and Text Style (you can barely see it but it's there on the bottom of the circles.) You can also see a bit of the inside of the card.

Here's the inside of the card. I had some leftover "school" PP so adhered that to the inside and had the kids write a note to their teacher. We were in a hurry and against my better judgment I had my kindergartner just start writing without thinking it through and writing it on scratch paper first so that he could just copy it. This is what I get - lots of scribbles! :) Hope his teachers don't mind!

Lastly, I put the card inside a large glassine bag, topped with a scalloped strip that had been stamped with arbitrary letters from Outline Alphabet. Doesn't that look like chalk on a chalkboard? I know teachers don't use chalkboards anymore but, alas, I don't know how to make it look like a "smart board." :~) A pretty gingham ribbon and it's good to go.

I don't know if anyone is still checking my blog since it's been so long but, if you do, thank you so much! I hope to post again soon - many cards and even a few scrapbook pages I'd love to share with you. Have a great day!

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!

PTI April Blog Hop

It's time for the Papertrey Ink April Blog Hop. The challenge issued this month was to use tissue paper on our creation. I've never done that before so stuck with a simple tissue paper flower. I used my BB2 die to cut multiple layers of tissue paper that had been stamped with Polka Dot Basics2.

Thanks to Kimberly for letting me borrow her Labels Twelve Spellbinders die. I like how that part turned out. I simply popped up the Summer Sunrise with pop-dots.

The sentiment is inside. I intended for it to be below the cutout but goofed up (darn double images) so, I concealed my boo-boo with a bow and tied on a dragonfly charm. You can see a closer up image of the polka dots and the charm here.

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics 2, Round & Round for inside sentiment (both PTI)
Ink: Van Dyke Brown (Nick Bantok), Lemon Tart (PTI) Vintage Linen (Ranger), Vintage Tea Duo (PTI)
Paper: Rustic White and Summer Sunrise (PTI)
Other: brown polka dot ribbon (Hobby Lobby), charm and button (unknown), twine (PTI), Beautiful Blooms 2 die (PTI), Labels Twelve (Spellbinders)

Enjoy the rest of your Hop!

Vintage Smile

ETA: Thanks so much to 2S4Y for naming me as a "Fab 5" for this week's sketch. I'm honored and to be honest, it totally made my day.

I used the latest 2S4Y sketch shown below to inspire my card.

I'm positively giddy with how my card came out. I've taken some cues from Betsy Veldman and Melissa Phillips and went with more (and vintage!) details and colors and layers than I'm used to. That little "smile" word from Mixed Messages works so perfectly on the butterfly and on small tags. Love using the little words like that.

So, what do you think? Do you like it?


Stamps: Butterfly Dreams, Mixed Messages, and Text Style 2 (all PTI)

Paper: vintage ledger (Making Memories); green/pink flowers (MME), Pretty Pastels, Kraft, and Ocean Tides (PTI)
Ink: Vintage Tea Due (PTI), Van Dyke Brown (Nick Bantok)
Other: Top Note die (Sizzix for SU!), butterfly die (PTI), pink velvet scalloped ribbon (unknown), embroidery floss, button, Spica pen (it's around the edge of the butterfly)

Thanks for stopping by!