A card using the new CHA set - Four of a Kind

On the very day I returned from CHA I made this card. I so wanted to dig in to the Four of a Kind set from PTI. I also used Signature Greetings & Text Style 2.

I'm trying something new in uploading my photos by storing them at Flickr first and then copying the HTML over here. This is all new to me so please pardon any goofs I might make. I'll get it figured out eventually. ;)

I'll be working on a post of my craft room next. I have all the photos taken, and now just to edit and upload and then put the blog post together. I'm hoping by the end of the weekend. *Keep your fingers crossed* :)

CHA Chicago

Oh, what fun I had in Chicago at the CHA summer Super Show. Again, I came home wishing I had taken more pictures. But, when I'm at an event I either a) don't think to take more pictures or b) am too bashful to take more pictures. I need to get over my timidness and just do it because I love having the memories. And, yes, technically I know I'll always have the memories even without the pictures but I hope you know what I mean. :p

Here I am with the most wonderful PTI team: Debbie Olson, Heather Nichols, Nichole Heady, little ol' me, Dawn McVey, Jennifer Ellefson, and Mish Wooderson. Behind me is the PTI booth.

I think the Meet & Greet at the end of the day was a great way to just hang with the girls and chit chat. They were all so warm and friendly and genuine. I'm sure they were just beat after a busy day but they persevered and smiled some more. I really liked each and every single one of these ladies and I wish I could have found a way to tell them that without sounding like a major suck-up or a star-struck teenager geeking out over the Jonas Brothers. They are just icing on the cake to a wonderful stamp company.

I met Taheerah and I just have to say how tall I felt. :) I'm usually the short one, standing at a mere 5'3". Taheerah was just as sweet in person as she is online and I was so glad I got to meet her.

Here's a group of us after the Friday evening show. Cherie, Margorie (Moodyblue), Nadine, her friend Maria, Sara, and Taheerah. Oops, looks like I didn't get Leann in the picture. Note the three Hawaii girls giving me the "hang loose" sign. :)

Here's Sara and Taheerah.

Another one of Taheerah (how does she get in all these pictures? lol) and Leann.

Here is Nadine and me. I just noticed that we're both wearing shirts with lots of flowers on the front. Debbie Olson said I look like a Prima flower. :) I did get lots of compliments on my shirt but what was so funny was that for most people the next question was "did you make it?" Being at a "craft show" that's probably a very fair question but no, I did not make my shirt. I sew only on paper!

Here's one last picture from our get together on Friday night. In the front is Nadine, Taheerah, and me. In the back row is Sara, Marjorie, Cherie, and Leann. I so enjoyed getting to know these ladies better!!

Okay, this last picture is of my "haul" from the weekend. Let's see, I finally bought Turning a New Leaf. I had hoped to get Just the Ticket but it was already sold out. Rats! Guess I'll just have to place another order...lol. I loaded up on all sorts of dies and impression plates. Knowing that I was going to CHA, I had resisted purchasing any for the last several months. I got the Sunshine, Woodgrain, and Bookprint impression plates. I got the bookmark, tea pot/label, jar, jar lids, jar label, BB #3, and Just the Ticket dies. Four colors of felt, five packs of paper (including Harvest Gold, which did sell out later that day), some baker's twine, the Bitty Dot 2009 paper pad, vellum, clear cardstock and six spools of ribbon. Oh, and a pack of envelopes. Whew! That's a lot of stuff. It really helped to clear my "wish list". Don't worry though, there's still plenty on my wish list. lol

It was so fun just walking through the PTI "store" and picking whatever I wanted off the shelves. I LOVED seeing all of Nichole's samples in person. How fun and awesome!!

You can also see the four make-and-takes that I did. The bottom left is the card and the felt flower we made on Friday. At the top of the picture is the Christmas tree card (which I goofed up so don't mind the bad inking job) and then on the right is the second card from Saturday. I got to use the envelope die and I liked it a whole lot more than I thought I would. That just might have to get added to my wish list! :)

I would go back in a heartbeat next year and would highly recommend another get together with the forum friends.

Tag for CHA

I'm headed off to CHA in Chicago on Friday and the girls on the PTI forum decided to make tags to hang off our bags so we can know when we meet one of our fellow forum friends. Here's my tag.

One of the "requirements" was that we include our avatar pictures since that's how we could best recognize people. Hee hee. On this tag I used Kraft as my base with a scalloped edge. I then layered it with Dotty Biscott, another tag (French bookprint from way old Foofala stuff), another layer of Aqua Mist stamped with Library Ledger and Cupcake Collection. I added a little bit of glitter to the word, "cupcake". Can you see it? Maybe not. The "hole" is a small flower from Beautiful Blooms and a flower brad from my stash. All tied on with a Sweet Blush twill ribbon.

I'm so excited to meet everyone! See you soon. :)

41 years...

My parents celebrated 41 years of marriage this summer. They have five children - two girls and three boys - and five grandchildren - two girls and three boys. There's a fun little factoid that I only recognized just last summer. Doh! Where have I been? It's been that way for years! Here they are last summer with my son, Ben.

I live about 4 hours from where I grew up so every summer I ship my kids over to my mom and dad's. It's a great arrangement for everybody. Matt and I get some time alone, the kids get to spend time with their grandparents and cousins and my folks get to spend quantity and quality time with their grandkids. There just isn't much quality or quantity time to be had when we're there for short periods over a holiday.

Here's the card I made for their anniversary this year. I just bought this embossing folder at Hobby Lobby and love it. It's so fun!

The large heart was made using the Sizzix die from SU!. The tag was from a Cuttlebug die. Ribbon is from my neverending stash. Sentiment is from Mixed Messages. Inks are Creamy Brown (Clearsnap Colorbox) and VanDyke Brown (Nick Bantok). The white cardstock is PTI's Stamper's Select.

I traced around the edge of the tag with my Spica glitter pen. It added some subtle bling but I just couldn't get it to photograph well.

A "Go-to Sketch"

Morning, everybody. The other night, to get my mojo in gear, I flipped open my Go-to Sketches magazine and landed on page 133. It looked as good as any so I went with it. It's the one that has eight circles on the left-hand side of the card with a sentiment off to the bottom right. As you can see, I took a lot of liberty with this sketch. But I totally love how this card came out. Since I still have some of that paper left I may just make several more to keep on hand.

I used Rustic White for my card base and some Scenic Route and Creative Imaginations patterned paper. The circles and label were cut using nestabilities; my circle punches were just a little too puny. PTI Big and Bold provided the perfect sentiment stamped in Pure Poppy. A bit of ribbon and a wood button and the card was all done. Quick (at least for me) and easy.

I'm using another sketch today to make a card for my nephew's bday. It looks good in my head but we'll see how it actually turns out. Stay tuned... :)

Gettin' punchy

This latest card I CASE'd from Annie. You can see her lovely card here. I loved the layout of all the elements on the card along with the fantastic color combo. I still like Annie's card best but I liked challenging myself to use some of my punches that have been languishing in the back of my drawer.

I love that little girl punch. I also have a little boy one. I've had those for eons and McGill is the mfr. I have no idea if they're still available but I can't bear to part with mine, even though I use them so rarely.

I used Polka Dot Basics 2 as the background image for the punches, the "Happy Birthday" sentiment is from Enjoy the Ride, and then the flourishes from Fancy Flourishes. The ribbon is from a Love, Elsie line that I picked up ages ago. I'm thinking this would be a good card for my DD10 to give to a friend - it's "young" and colorful, just what little girls like, right? :)

Have a great day!

Enjoy the Ride, Birthday Boy

Here's a card I made for our godson, who just turned 9. Most of the card was made using Enjoy the Ride. I didn't like feeling like the card was just hanging out there - it needed to be grounded. BB:Retro to the rescue. It made the perfect lines for the car to sit upon.

I had a rubber stamp set with just the right size numbers and since he's turning 9 I thought that should be the number on the car. The green stripes make it look a bit like Herbie the Love Bug, don't you think? A couple silver brads for the headlights and the car was done.

For the "flag" I used my square hand punch to punch a few holes in the end. I'm hoping that the white background peaking through will make it look like a winner's flag. That might be a stretch but it's all I could come up with. My first thought was using a stamp with that design but, alas, I had none.

Hope you like it!