Knitting

I am getting back into knitting after making a scarf and then not taking it any farther. I've seen so many cool patterns and there are so many things that I want to make that I am back into it. A few other ladies and myself have started to meet at the local Barnes & Noble...Starbucks, chattering, and knitting is a great combination. If anyone that reads this lives in or near Elizabethtown and wants to come to the knitting group, please let me know. We are trying to grow our group. We will be meeting this coming Thursday for some more fun.

April Blog Hop

Well, tonight is the night for the Blog Hop and I hope everyone is ready for a lot of fun. Paper Trey Ink has been one of my new loves when it comes to stamping and card making products. The Blog Hop is a fantastic way to share inspiration with other crafters. Go check out the Blog Hop and chat it up with everyone tonight on the Paper Trey Ink forums: www.papertreyink.com and just click on the forum & gallery link at the top of the page. If you like my projects, you can also vote on the forum starting at 8 tonight.

I couldn't stop once I got started with the small squares. I would have made more but it got to be too late last night. I'm so excited about how many possibilities there are with these squares.

Here are my projects:
Fatherly Tree

PTI circles
PTI white cardstock
acrylic sheet
brown felt
Frosted Lace Stickles
Father stamp is from PTI Mixed Messages stamps
Palette Ink Burnt Umber
Blocked pattern

Supplies:
PTI squares
Liquid Applique
PTI Paper Tray stamp set
PTI white cardstock
Happy Life
Palette Ink Burnt Umber

MIA

Sorry I haven't been around for the past few days. I've actually been working hard on getting up to date with some purse orders. I also went to a knitting group on Thursday night. That was a blast but I have so far to go! I basically relearned how to cast on with the help with two of the ladies that are in the group. I am hoping to make a card or two tomorrow but I'm still working on the purses and I really need to finalize my thesis project. I have already turned in my thesis but I have to be ready for my 10 minute presentation for Tuesday evening. I hope it all goes well. I will be walking on air to my car when it's over.

Note Card Set

Well, I didn't win the GSS contest. I was terribly bummed out this morning but I'm getting over it...I'm going to share with you the second project that I made for the contest. This one is for Mother's Day but shhhh....don't tell my mom or MIL. First of all, the clear containers are from Easter. My DH bought chocolate eggs for his students, they came in these containers, and I snatched them up...convincing him that I could do something with them. Recycling is good, huh? I also used my brand new square Nestabilities which I have fallen in love with. I now have the whole set of squares and the whole set of circles. I bought both of them at www.ucutathome.com because you get a 40% monthly coupon so I treat myself each month to a new set of Nestabilities. Anyway, the rest of the set is somewhat self-explanatory but I would like to do a tutorial sometime soon. Maybe for the next release if I can afford to make a purchase. I made 12 stickers (two sets of 6) to go with the set and tied Berry Sorbet twill around each set of 6 stickers. I used a notepad that was already sitting on the desk and just revamped it to match the rest of the kit. I had bought the little wooden containers at Michael's for 50 cents...yeah, I totally have about 20 of them :). I decorated a pen, made 6 mini-cards to put inside the decorated container, and used my Scor-Pal to make levels for the different parts of the kit. There are going to be quite a few pictures so please bear with me.

On the college front, I took my exam tonight and I think I aced it. It started at 4:30 and I was out of there at 5:03. It was cake. Just to turn in a paper tomorrow and present my thesis next Tuesday.


Stickers

Decorated Pen

Notepad

Wooden Box

6 Mini Cards

Supplies:
wooden container
PTI cardstock
Palette ink pads
PTI patterned paper
Scor-Pal
Acrylic box
PTI ribbons
PTI Bags, Boxes & Tags stamp set, Wedding Day set, Papertray set
Nestabilities

PTI GSS Submission

How about them acronyms? :) I actually entered two projects into the Paper Trey Ink Guest Star Stamper contest for the month. Last month, I entered a card but I realized that I wanted to do something bigger and better. With Mother's Day and a Wedding not too far off, I decided to focus on those projects. The first project I made was a wedding gift set. I had bought $ frames from the Dollar Tree and then I painted each of the individual frames white. Then, I used Wedding Day by Alli Miles. I chose three different stamps: the butterfly, the square image, and the swirl fern image. I used my new wonderful square Nestabilities and made three pictures using the Wedding Day set. I popped up the center image all together. You can really see the detail of what's behind of each popped up image. You can see what I did by looking at the card because I used the same images. I did add Spring Moss and the fern. Hope you like them! I will share the note set tomorrow.


Close up of the card, I like how the ribbon turned out:

Supplies:
All supplies are PTI unless otherwise noted...
square Nestabilities
Palette Ink in Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, and Aqua Mist
Frame from The Dollar Tree
White acrylic paint

Personal Ramblings

No card or project for today but I have a couple of things that I'm excited to share. However, they are for the PTI Guest Star Stamper submission and I don't want to share them until they are all released in the gallery over on the PTI forum. I'm just going to share a few personal things and then call it a night. This weekend, I've finished my 25 page thesis and an eight page paper for another class. I had turned in another ten page paper last Tuesday so I have a huge sense of accomplishment right now. I do have a final exam on Tuesday in my linguistics class, but I am in no way concerned about it. The professor gave us the exact questions and it's just a matter of reviewing the materials. My final project will be presented on April 22nd and I do need to get my Powerpoint and eight minute talk ready along with a handout. Since the paper is already done, I will just have to pick an interesting aspect. I feel like these past two and a half years have crawled by, but now it seems like it went quickly. I am thrilled that my Master's degree is almost finished and I can start to really focus on some other things.

Okay, enough rambling for today...I promise to share the big project I've been working on either Tuesday or Wednesday. I may also try to make a card to post for tomorrow as well. I am so excited to start creating even more than I already am. Also, I'm going to my first knitting group on Thursday and am excited about that as well.

Tagged by Choice

Niki Estes was tagged and offered for anyone to be tagged. Since I have never been tagged before, I figured I would play. I'm not saying I'm terribly interested and that my seven random facts are interesting but you can learn more about me.

1. I will finish my Master's degree in Spanish on April 22nd with a final presentation of my thesis at University of Louisville, where I've been attending for two and a half years.
2. I'm from Ohio and all of my family lives there. I live the farthest away of even the extended family and 90% of me wants to move back there.
3. I teach Spanish at the elementary level to students in K-6 although I taught high school for a year and 5th grade for a year. This is my third school within four years.
4. I have lived in Costa Rica (summer of 2007) and Spain (Aug. 2002-Dec.2002) and loved living abroad, especially in Spain.
5. I love most any type of craft...I enjoy cardmaking, scrapbooking, cross stitching, knitting, crocheting, altering, beading, sewing, quilting, punchneedling, I will try most anything.
6. Oh, it gets tough toward the end...The best vacation I have ever been on was when I was still an undergrad in college. My mom, dad, brother, and I traveled to New Mexico to visit my great aunt and uncle. We went through almost twenty states, visited Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse in progress, Pike's Peak, White Desert in New Mexico, and just saw a lot of scenery and states.
7. I have my own business called Plaid Leaf Purses. I am self-taught and was given the business. I want to start having Plaid Parties...sort of like Stampin-Up or Tupperware parties except with purses.

Happy Birthday!

Well, it's no one's birthday but I have a card ready for the next one. I just love PTI...I know...I'm a broken record. I don't have much to say tonight as I want to work on a project that's taking a lot of my time. I'll just share the card and not ramble!


Supplies:
PTI white cardstock
PTI Sweet Blush paper, ribbon, and ink
PTI It's a Celebration and Simple Alphabet stamp sets
Palette Noir ink
Diamond Stickles

Light, Tunnel, Life

Okay, you say, what in the world are you thinking with your title? I am thinking the original title was way too long so I condensed it. It really just has to do with a major achievement that is coming up soon. I will present the thesis for my Master's degree in Spanish on April 22nd. I just finished revising my final paper after my mentoring professor reviewed it. I have to make a few more minor changes as far as citations go and then it will be turned in next Tuesday, a week early. I just have to finish a small paper and then get my presentation ready. That's it! I know I talk about it all the time but in a few weeks...I won't be :). Woohoo.

This is the last card that I have photographed and actually I think the last one that I've made in a few days. I'm working on a larger project right now when I have time. I'll have to work on some cards too. I really want to post them on the PTI gallery so I can have all PTI stuff at one place. I'll have to work on that in a few weeks.


Supplies:
PTI cardstock
PTI patterned paper
PTI Boxes, Bags, and Tags and Favor It Weddings
PTI Berry Sorbet ribbon
Me & My Big Ideas rhinestones
Palette inks
Scor-it for Sweet Blush paper

Simple and Fresh

I just love PTI and according to the forums, the anniversary sets are on their way! I am so thrilled and can't wait to get my set! You can actually go take a sneak peek on the message boards but I'm going to wait and let it be a surprise...then I can join all of the other excited PTI addicts!

Today's card is a very simple birthday card that I wasn't even sure I wanted to post.
It's just not like anything I have really made and the colors are not true. My favorite part is using all four of the colors on the "Happy Birthday". I just kept masking it off and inked up all of the letters at the same time then just moved down the line of letters.

Once my Master's is done, I want to take a photography class more than anything and get Adobe Photoshop. Too bad my DH doesn't check my blog, this could be the perfect hint as to a graduation gift :). Oh well, I can save my pennies.

Here's the card:


Supplies:
All PTI...cardstock, It's a Celebration and Simple Alphabet stamp sets, Palette ink

Back to Work

Spring break is officially over! School starts back tomorrow but I'm okay with it because it means just 9 more weeks of school and it also means that there are just 3 more weeks until my Master's is completely done! It is actually close to being over and I feel like this is so doable. I have about 3 more pages to write for one paper, and then to just get my presentation ready for my thesis. I know I have had zero creativity so I'm hoping that will kick back in too.

Here's a card for today. I made this last weekend, I think.

Supplies:
PTI cardstock--white and Sweet Blush
Palette Ink in Sweet Blush that I ran over the embossing
Cuttlebug and Swiss Dots folder
Melissa Frances heart and ribbon
Martha Stewart white velvet ribbon
Cotton Candy Stickles
Martha Stewart glue and glitter for the butterfly
Heidi Swapp ghost butterfly
Button from stash...probably Rhonna Farrer
Heidi Swapp chipboard alphabet letters
Rub on...I can't remember where it came from

Birthday Bliss

I am so enjoying spring break but I don't seem to have any creative juices flowing at all. The bad thing is that I actually have a good amount of time but I can't come up with anything. I've thrown away three projects becuase I just wasn't happy with them. Maybe something will come to me this weekend before we go back to work. I haven't been home today since I was in Cincinnati giving a presentation. It went pretty well and I'm just glad it's over.

Here's hoping for a few days of creativeness. Maybe it's because I know I have three purses to make...maybe if I were to get that done then I could focus on some other projects.


Supplies:
PTI cardstock
PTI Birthday Basics stamp set
PTI Wedding stamp set
PTI Sweet Blush satin ribbon
Making Memories velvet brad
Maya Road flowers
Palette ink

PTI

Well, I was gone for a day or two more than I meant to be. I am on spring break from work and I'm trying to take it easy. It's so nice not to have a specific schedule and go into work. After our spring break, we have nine weeks of school left. Speaking of school, my Master's classes are almost over! With just three more classes total and the presentation night, it's really almost over. I so look forward to just driving home and not worrying about reading X amount of chapters, answering X amount of questions, and worrying about writing final papers of 10 or more pages. Did I mention that I was excited? :)

Well, my card today is using my awesome PTI stuff. I'm bummed about this month's releases though, which won't even be coming out until the 15th but I haven't made enough purse sales to have spending money on the new stuff. {Big sigh} I have been spoiled and have had money in my account to spend it on my personal stamping stuff but it looks like this month's stash will have to wait. Oh well, the anniversary sets are supposed to coming out soon and because I bought 12 sets last year, I should receive that before too long.

Here's the card today! I'm still trying to work on photographing. This card is more true-color but it's a bit dark. I'm working on it.

Supplies:
PTI everything :)...ribbon, cardstock, stamps, Palette ink bought from PTI
the rhinestone is Me & My Big Ideas