February Blog Hop: Think Spring!

I don't know about you but we've had one long winter. As much as I enjoy the snowflakes falling from the ground and the snowmen built in our front yard, I would definitely say that I'm ready for spring. Papertrey Ink's blog hop is to make something that would bring on the spring. I decided to make some box sets of cards for Mother's Day. I chose three lovely spring colors: Summer Sunrise, Lavender Moon, and Hibiscus Burst for the covers along with Harvest Gold, Raspberry Fizz, and Plum Pudding as the darker accent. I used Smokey Shadow as my neutral color because I wanted a bit of a softer feel that I could get with the gray shade as opposed to the True Black ink. Even though I was up very late last night finishing the cards, I'm very glad that I made all three sets. I put three cards in each box; I added two thank you cards and one birthday card along with the envelopes. I took a ton of pictures but won't post them all here. I'm just going to show a sample of each type of card in the different colors and then a picture of the boxes. The first picture is the Lavender Moon version of the box.

The next three cards are samples of the cards that I made. I made one of each in each color for the three boxes. I won't bore you with all nine cards though. :) The first thank you card features the Chevron cover plate and all of the stamped images are from the new Garden Grace stamp set, which is very much one of my favorite floral sets.

I wasn't sure if I liked this card when I first started making it. It sort of reminded me of cheetah spots, which could be a cool alternative for the use of the small flowers in the Garden Grace set...may have to try that sometime. Anyway, I put three of the individual flowers together, stamped them, and then did the overlay. I cut out the "thank you" words and just doused them in glitter.

The third card is the most simple and is just a one layer card. I'm not always good at one layer cards but I do really like how this one turned out. I think the Garden Grace set is just so lovely it doesn't need much extra.

I did take pictures of the sets and am going to include them but just because I think they look so pretty all laid out on the table.

I hope you enjoyed hopping to my blog and I hope my mom enjoys her Mother's Day box of cards!

MIM: Layering Dye and Pigment Inks

I will be honest. When I saw this MIM's challenge, I didn't know the difference between dye and pigment inks. However, once I watched the video and surfed the good ol' web, I felt silly for not knowing. I pulled out the Beautiful Butterflies set and also the Stitches & Swirls set. I went with a monochromatic color scheme and I think it turned out well. I used Pure Poppy, Raspberry Fizz, and Hibiscus Burst. I like how the colors go together but I especially loved how the flowers pop from the butterflies. I'm also proud of my new little stand. I found that in Joann Fabric's Valentine's clearance for just $1.99!

Building Blocks of Design Challenge

Wow! What a challenge. I rolled some really interesting combinations but I did the best I could with my rolls. Let me explain. Nichole issued a challenge where you visit the design team blogs and on each blog there is an element that must be included on the card. Here's what I got: Color selection one: Pure Poppy Color selection two: Enchanted Evening Color selection three: Melon Berry Neutral selection: True Black Occasion selection: Thank You Technique selection: Heat Embossing Embellishment selection: Rhinestones Fiber selection: Button Twine There was even a sketch selection but I can't post that here. I'm ready to go to sleep so I'm simply going to post the card. Here it is!

Just a closer view of the embossing. I think this picture shows pretty much every element in one snapshot.

PTI Stripes Challenge

The most recent challenge was to make a card that focused on stripes. I had several ideas running through my head but all of them had to do with various shades of one color and glitter. I tried the ultra glossy first but something went wrong and it was a disaster. I decided to get out my glue pad and just layer on the glitter. I don't often grab green as my main color scheme but I had three shades of Martha Stewart glitter that made the Papertrey Ink Watercolor stamp set just pop. I accented the phrase with some lavendar rhinestones. I like the simplicity of the card and I think they'd be great to make as a set. My only problem is that my entire craft space floor, the stairs leading back upstairs, my hands, and various other parts of our house are littered with glitter. Go figure! Here's the card and another picture that hopefully shows off the glittery loveliness.

I didn't actually make this card but my son, who is three, made for his daddy for Valentine's Day. I let him pick out all of the parts that went on the card and he even did the stamping. I'm so proud of my little man. He was so very proud of his project when he was finished and was excited to tell daddy that he had a "surprise" for him.

Word Challenge

The Papertrey Ink challenge for today is to take a word and make it the focal point of the card. Our neighbor across the road used his snowblower on our driveway and sidewalk so my husband wanted me to make him a card. I went with a very simple layout and was very happy with the final product. I die cut the large shape from the top layer, embossed the flowers on the aqua mist layer, and then double embossed the "thank you" in the center. Even though the picture turned out darker than normal, the sharp white and aqua mist is still one of my favorite color combinations. Here's my card!

Happy Birthday, Papertrey Ink!

Happy birthday, PTI!

Monthly Moments Trading Card Challenge

I tried to be a scrapbooker some years back but the perfectionist in me did not jive with scrapbooking. I would spend two hours on one page and I easily moved into card making when I found Papertrey Ink. I was able to put together a set of five cards in an hour and felt so much more productive. However, PTI is going to have something called Monthly Moments so that scrapbooking is put into pockets. I love the idea and have two Project Life kits in my craft space. I might mention that they aren't opened but I have read Nichole's blog post about their Monthly Moments kit and I'm excited. The challenge for today was to make a good old ATC card. I have to say that it was quite a challenge to work with only a 4 X 3 space but I think my card came together nicely. I did leave some open space so that a picture or some journaling can be added later. I added in some felt and punched the corners for a softer feel to the card. I am a big fan of stamping words with either ink or Versamark and playing with all of the background stamps.

Timer Challenge

Time is something that I often have trouble with in my craft space. I over-analyze colors, placement, and choice of stamps. I make four different layouts before I adhere anything. I could go on and on. The challenge today was to find seven items in seven minutes to make into a card and then spend 17 minutes making the card. I must admit, I'm not sure I was under 17 minutes but it was a lot better than my regular time frame. I chose the following seven items: 1. cardstock (I wasn't sure if I had to count it separate or not so I made it as one.) 2. die 3. rhinestones 4. Live Love Laugh stamp set 5. Versamark 6. PTI black ink 7. ribbons Here's what happened when I put all of those elements together on one card.

Thanks to the Designers

The PTI designers created some free images that can be used on cards. I used a thank you sentiment since that's a card that I need pretty often. I tried to pull all of the corresponding colors and incorporate them somehow onto the card. Even though I have a collection of cover plates, this is the first time that I've used them and I am in LOVE! What class they give a card. Plus, it jazzes up the entire card with a simple pass through the die cutting machine. Here's my card!

Kick Off to PTI Anniversary

Nothing like anniversary month at Papertrey Ink to draw me back to my blog. Let's just say that life has a way of passing you by and I was so caught up in all of the events in my life that my blog got pushed completely and totally aside. We moved back to my hometown, had another baby, bought a new house, my husband and myself both got new jobs, my husband had major surgery, and my baby had surgery at just a month old to correct a lip tie. That's the shortened version; don't worry, there will be no longer version later. Papertrey Ink is, by far, my favorite stamping company. I have been one of their loyal customers since the beginning, seven years ago. I went to CHA in Orlando and Chicago, and I traveled to the Stamp-a-Faire event in Cincinnati. If it has to do with PTI, I'm all ears. I decided that I was going to get some "me" time and that I would participate in as many anniversary contests, especially that have to do with making cards, as I could. I must say, it has been great, and it's only the beginning of the festivities! My first card is based on a sketch and a color code that Nichole provided on her blog. By the way, I'm so excited that these sketch and color recipes will be available for download. I wanted to do something with the star borders and so I just decided to line them up, use Versamark to stamp designs on top of them, and then I die cut the word "congrats" from the Wonderful Words collection. I added a vellum star behind the word because it just seemed to need one more thing. I love the little tiny confetti stars that are made from the middle star border.