Baby Boy - Bundle of Joy

Well, it's Christmas Eve Eve and my kids are very excited for the festivities to begin. I hope to get some crafting in this week while I'm off from work! Here's a card I made to welcome a new little baby boy to the world.





The star is from PTI Star Prints and the yellow matting is made of felt - it gives a nice soft feel to the card. And the little tag was attached using a mini safety pin - so cute!

I wish you all a very merry and blessed Christmas season.

Using tissue paper

This was an experiment for me. I believe Betsy showed this technique on a MIM a long time ago and I've just never posted the card I made. I used Mehndi Medallion as the background and the limited edition Round and Round stamp set.



Once you stamp the background, you take some regular tissue paper (like you'd find in the gift wrap aisle), ball it up with lots of crinkles, then smooth it back out. Put glue all over the front of your card - don't miss a spot. You'll need a wet glue for this - no glue tapes. Then simply lay the tissue paper on top. When it's dry, trim the edges.

PTI MIM #144: heat embossing on vellum

Vellum is such a pretty material to work with and the Papertrey Ink vellum is such a nice, heavy weight. Love that stuff. I was able to play with this week's MIM and made a Christmas card.



I used Wreath For All Seasons and embossed it in Zing Leaf. Then embossed the sentiment, also from Wreath For All Seasons, in white. the pink dots were made with Smooth in Taffy color.



I rounded the bottom edge and then adhered it to a white panel that had been dry embossed with the woodgrain impression plate. Then all that was adhered to a Kraft card base with a strip of Raspberry Fizz stripe paper to anchor it at the top. A little twine and a sparkly snowflake bottom to finish it off!



Thanks for stopping by.

Black on a baby card? You betcha

I have a friend that was expecting a baby girl (she has since had her) and I sent her this card to congratulate her on her pregnancy. She seems modern and hip and edgy to me - not so much into the pastels and soft, foo-foo stuff, so this card seemed to fit her personality.



The design is very CAS and quick to put together.



Supplies:
Stamps: Say It With Style, Star Prints (PTI)

Sympathy card

Sympathy cards are hard to make. Sometimes I just forego it and buy something. But here is one I was happy with.



The base cardstock is Soft Stone (PTI). The butterfly is die cut from the same Soft Stone cardstock and then embossed with white - such a neat look. Some patterned paper, a white mat, a hand cut banner and it's all done.

Follow your own star

Football is over, soccer is over for my son, and soccer is almost over for my daughter. Finally might have some time to get in the craft room again.

Here is a card that I CASEd from (I think) Amber at Damask Love.



I loved the idea of tone on tone with some texture from the die cuts. I also like the little bitty star inset inside the big star.



Have a great day!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, white (PTI)
Stamps: Star Prints (PTI)
Other: star die (PTI), star punch (unknown)

PTI MIM #131 - Striped embossing

This week's Make It Monday video was by Betsy Veldman and was on striped embossing. Interesting technique! I went through all my stamps and thought it might be kind of cool on this arrow from Get To The Point. I like it but either my embossing ink is wonky or my embossing powder is wonky. Not sure which but the coverage on my arrow isn't great.

And here's another shot...


I wanted to do real stitching but realized I was out of white thread and red thread was in my machine and I was too lazy to change it to something else. So...faux stitching it is! lol :)

Supplies:
Stamps: Simply You and Get To The Point (both Papertrey Ink)
Paper: Soft Stone bitty dots, Limeade Ice (PTI)
Ink: Slate (Fresh Ink)
Arrow was cut by hand.

PTI MIM#130

Hey there! I'm getting this posted just in the knick of time for Papertrey's Make It Monday #130 - Using Heat 'N Bond to make fabric die cuts. I'm so glad Erin made a tutorial for this - I desperately needed the hand-holding to figure this out. Yes, I know it's not difficult but still...I appreciated it.



I used my Love Lives Here house die with some Heat 'N Bond to cut a little house out of both yellow and out of red fabric. Then I cut the red roof and ironed it onto the yellow house. I set it on die cut using a die from Sending You. I backed it with some woodgrain paper from MME. It kind of reminds me of a little fairy door on a tree stump. Does it to you?



I also used the grass and flowers and the bitty heart (all from Loves Lives Here) to fill in around the house. I used the PTI cloud dies and cut off the bottom for a different look. A bit of twine and it's all done.



Kinda cute, I think. So glad I tried this technique - can't wait to try it again.

SAF - Gallon/Quart/Pint challenge

Hi! It's me again with one more challenge that I finished up late last night. See three more posts below for SAF and the blog hop.



Gallon: Smokey Shadow
Quart: Limeade Ice
Pint: Hibiscus Burst
And lots of neutral Soft Stone thrown in there.



Here's a close up of the heart embellishment. I used the Love Lives Here die and die cut it twice - once in Limeade Ice and once in Hibiscus Burst. I "embedded" the pink heart into the green circle. Then I used a circle punch to cut a pink mat for the circle just a little bit bigger. Then I covered it all in Glossy Accents.


And one more shot...


Supplies:
Cardstock: Soft Stone, Smokey Shadow, Hibiscus Burst, Limeade Ice (PTI)
PP: Soft Stone bitty dot (PTI)
Stamps: Think Big Favorites
Other: Love Lives Here die, circle punches

SAF - Salt Technique

Another SAF challenge to share. Please scroll down to see the blog hop and another challenge.



I tried the salt technique and while it was fun to color with watercolors I don't know if the salt did much. I didn't have sea salt so just used kosher. Maybe that makes a difference? DH bought some coarse sea salt today so maybe I'll give it another try to see if I see more of a resist.





Supplies:
Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Ocean Tides (PTI)
Stamps: Happiness in Bloom (PTI)
Other: Watercolor Paper, reinkers in Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado, and Ocean Tides

PTI Bake & Take challenge

The "opening ceremonies" for Papertrey's Stamp-A-Faire was a bake and take challenge. We were to select one color combo and one sketch and bake up a card.

Here was the color combo I selected.

And here is the sketch I chose.

I put them together and baked up this holiday card. Quite unconventional colors for the holly and berries, but you know what? I totally love it! So modern with the clean lines and an unexpected twist. And it came together so quickly. This just might be this year's holiday card!

And a close up of the sentiment, which was embossed, and the holly and berries, which were outlined with my white pen.

Supplies:

Cardstock: Smokey Shadow, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse, Orange Zest, Hibiscus Burst (PTI)

Stamps: Everyday Classics (PTI)

PTI August Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to the blog hop for Papertrey Ink!

The challenge this month was to create a card based off a color/sketch combo. This is the one I chose. Doesn't that cake look delicious?

And here's my card.

I made this card for our summer nanny to thank her for watching the kids this summer. I know she's a book reader so when I saw this patterned paper in my MME stack I thought it would be perfect, especially with a gift certificate to Barnes & Noble enclosed!

A close up of the "ruffles". I embossed them with Background Basics: Text Style.

And here is the packaging I made to go with it.

The card (and gift card) are enclosed in a glassine bag. Then I cut two of the "handles" using the Front & Center #1 die. One on the front and one on the back adhered with Scor-Tape. I embossed her name on the front using Headline Alphabet and then a flower using Bloom Builders #3 die. Felt was cut with a button die and then topped with a button and twine.

Thanks for hopping with me!

Supplies:

Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Kraft, Hibiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Spring Rain, Aqua Mist (all PTI)

Dies: Bloom Builders #3, medium scallops, Front & Center #1 (all PTI)

Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style (PTI), sentiment (Paper Smooches)
Other: Hibiscus Burst satin ribbon, PP from MME, embossing powder

PTI SAF

It's time for Papertrey Ink's Stamp-A-Faire celebration. Regrettably, I won't be able to play tomorrow because my son has a soccer tournament out of town. But you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be playing on Sunday!

Here's me and my crafting "kitchen".






My stamp storage (basket is busting at the seams!) and cardstock.


Happy crafting!

Modern card set

I was inspired by this set of letterpress stationery that I saw on Pinterest. At first I thought the gray paper was part of the card but then I quickly realized it was the envelope. But, the seed had been planted and I couldn't let it go.



So, I pulled out some cardstock and my Headline Alphabet and created this set of cards using the exact same words as the stationery.



Here's is a close shot of the "Hello" card. I used Hawaiian Shores cardstock and ink.



And another one. I offset the white cardstock on top of the color and I LOVE it. It looks fresh and modern. And, even though I don't have a picture of it, I did the exact same thing on the inside of the card - I adhered some white cardstock touching the bottom and right sides rather than centering it.



And here's a shot of all of them with the words I used - all beginning with "H". You could really use them for any occasion - birthday, thank you, thinking of you. Probably not for a sympathy card though. The Hawaiian Shores (turquoise) card looks so mellow in this photo for some reason.



It just so happens that I made this gift set for a wedding shower we attended yesterday for my husband's cousin. Here's the little holder I made for it. Also tucked in there is a gift certificate for BBB. They were out of the towels I wanted to get and it would be easier anyway to have them shipped right to her home in Boston rather than transporting them half way across the country from Iowa to Boston.



And the back:



I used some larger rivets on the sides of the box so it would be less likely to tear. And some black twill for the handle.



I may just have to make more of these. I'm just tickled with the clean and modern look of them. So easy to replicate and they're flat for easy mailing (I'm all about the practical!).

Thanks for dropping by!

Supplies:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Hibiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse, Kraft, White (PTI)
Ink: Tomato Red (Fresh Ink), Hawaiian Shores (PTI), Hibisucs Burst (PTI), Mango (Fresh Ink), Simply Chartreuse (PTI)
PP: MME
Stamps: Headline Alpha, Wonderful Words, Enjoy The Ride, 2009 Halloween Tags, Happy Trails (PTI)
Other: cloud die, scallop punch, rivets (We R Memory Keepers), twill, book page