September GSS #4

Ok this is the last project I have for you from my entries in the September GSS. I guess I was on a roll but I have to admit that this is my favorite time of year and was so enjoying making all these projects.

I made more of this card to send to my family for Halloween. Again I just don't have the time to be making all of their cards different.



I wish that when I was making this card the orange zest cardstock was available so I had to settle for some Bazzill Basics. I used the Spooky Treats I & II set and the moon was a circle stamp from the Around and About set where I used a Stardust Gelly Roll pen in clear to add a little sparkle. I also used some true black and kraft cardstock.

I'm so glad you stopped by to check out my projects. I'll have some more to share with you soon.

September GSS #3

Today I'm sharing two more projects I entered in the September GSS. For the first card I made a few of them to send to family members to welcome in the Autumn season.



I love the Autumn Abundance paper pack. I like the fact that it can be used for fall projects or everyday projects. For this card I used the pumpkins and swirls from the Fall Elegances stamp set. You'll probably notice this card looks familiar. Well it's the same design I used for last months Blog Hop. I just changed the background papers. I also used Nichole's envelope liner template to line some kraft envelopes with the plaid paper.

For the second card I made more of these to send to my family for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately I don't have time to make every card different.



Again I used paper from the Autumn Abundance pack combined with some bitty box paper in dark chocolate and summer sunrise. For the focal image, I used some lace, punched out some circles and the stamps are also from the Fall Elegance set.

Stay tuned tomorrow when I'll have one last project from the GSS contest.

September GSS #2

Here's another entry from the September GSS.



Unfortunatley when I made this project PTI has not released the orange zest color collection. So I had to use some Bazzill Basics cardstock. I did not fold down the top of the Pack a Picnic template cause the pumpkin face won't look right. I had to make the handle a bit longer as well. I used a Martha Stewart border punch on true black cardstock. This project came together really fast.

Stop back tomorrow when I'll share a couple more porjects I entered in the GSS.
Enjoy your Sunday!

September GSS

I was so tickled that Nichole chose one of my entries from the Septemeber GSS as an Honorable Mention.



I always print out all the Timeless Templates that I purchase onto cheap cardstock and cut them out. I do this for two reasons, one cause my printer doesn't seem to print some of the templates correct and two if I want to use a dark paper I can trace the template on to it as in this case. I used true black cardstock, traced the template on to it and cut it out. I them stamped the spider web in fresh snow and assembled the template. I used the smaller Pack a Picnic for this project. As Nichole mentioned, I didn't fold down the top piece to give me more height. The tag was made from new leaf, plum pudding and kraft cardstock. I added some orange glitter and rhinestones to add a little sparkle.



For the money holder I used a piece of kraft cardstock and stamped a bunch of sentiments from both Spooky Treats I & II. I then folded it about 3/4 of the way up and stitched on both sides and added some fresh snow on to the edges. I added a trick or treat tag and ribbon to finish it off. For the glassine bag I repeated the spider web stamping it in true black. I added some orange glitter to the tag and stapled the top shut.

Tomorrow I'll share another project or two that I entered in the GSS contest. Thanks for stopping in.

With Sympathy

I just love the Autumn Abundance patterned paper by PTI. I like the fact that the different designs can be used not only for autumn but everyday projects.


Here's a sympathy card I made with the leave pattern along with the bitty box paper in dark chocolate. I used Nestabilities Labels One on the rustic cream cardstock and cut it in half, the sentiment is from the Mega Mixed Messages stamped in dark chocolate. I crimped a strip of summer sunrise to hide any seams and added a pearl on either side of the sentiment.

Well it's Sunday evening and it's time to go relax a bit to get ready for the work week. Have a good evening and thanks for stopping in.

Celebrate Just because

Here are a couple of cards I made today. The layout is the same, I just changed out the colors. I got this idea from a project that Lauren Meador did awhile back. I think it was on one of her Timeless Templates. I've been enjoying making my own patterened paper and PTI stamps makes it so easy to do.


I stamped the gridline from Guidelines One set on an angle in summer sunrise. The flowers are from the Around and About set stamped in fresh snow and summer sunrise. I used a white Gelly Roll pen for the middle of the small flowers. Here's a close up.


I used the Cuttlebug swiss dots at the bottom of the spring moss cardstock and added a couple of scor lines. The sentiment is from Damask Designs.

For my second card I used sweet blush cardstock and ink for the small flowers and fresh snow for the large ones. The sentiment is stamped in hibiscus burst. I'm not sure yet if I like the new inks from PTI. This is my first time working with them.



Well I'm going to get back to be crafty. Thanks for stopping by today.

Best Wishes

Wow, today is 9/9/09, we won't see that again in our lifetime.

Well here's another take on the same layout I did yesterday. I changed out the colors and used your basic black and white. I changed the border punch from scalloped to a sunburst. The focal image is made using the same technique and supplies. The sentiment was changed, I thought this might be nice for a wedding or anniversary card. I did add black rhinestones to some of the ends of the flourish to jazz it up a bit. What a difference just by changing the colors. Thanks for stopping in today and hopefully I won't go so long in between posts.

thanks so much

You may remember a card that looked similar to this that I entered in the August GSS. I just loved the layout and look of the card and decided to make a few more using that same layout.



For this card I used berry sorbet as the accent color. I stamped the large fancy flourish in fresh snow onto a kraft card base and inked up around all the edges. Then I cut a piece of bitty dots paper, scalloped the bottom and sewed a straight and zigzag stitch at the top and adhered it to bottom on the card after I inked up all the edges. For the focal image, the top layer is some lace that I gathered to resemble a flower and attached a button in the center. The second layer is a piece of In Bloom paper cut in a circle. For the third layer I stamped background basics text style on white cardstock and cut it out using my nesties scalloped circle. For the sentiment, I just cut a "V" at the end of a piece of white cardstock and stamped the sentiment from the mega mixed messages set in berry sorbet.

After making a few lace flowers to have in my stash, this card came together rather quickly. Stop back tomorrow when I will show you another take on this came layout. Thanks for popping in!

Thanksgiving Invitation

My sister and husband are hosting Thanksgiving dinner for his family and she has asked if I would make invitations for them. So this is what I came up with although Sis has not seen them yet.



For this card I used dark chocolate cardstock for the base and stamped the leaf image from the First Fruits stamp set in versamark. I used cooper embossing powder for the wheat image and dark chocolate for the "Your Invited" which is from the Warm Hospitality set. I left off the "to" from the sentiment. I matted this to a piece of dark chocolate shimmer paper that had some cooper/gold in it, although it looks more like gold in the photo. Sorry, I don't know who makes it. I then adhered it to the card base with some pop dots. I didn't want to add any buttons or ribbon that might cost them more in postage, so I kept it pretty simple. Sometimes simply is elegant. I hope they like them.

August Blog Hop

I'm so excited that autumn is right around the corner and am so looking forward to all the beautiful autumn colors. This month's blog hop challenge was to create a project to celebrate the upcoming season. I chose to use the new Fall Elegance stamp set.



The card base is ripe avocado, I added the bitty dots paper in ripe avocado at the bottom and distressed it with Chai tea dye to tone down the white dots. For the top I stamped the small leaves from the set in versamark. Martha Stewarts border punch was used on a strip of summer sunrise cardstock and I distressed that as well. On top of that is a piece of dark chocolate cardstock that I ran thru a crimper.



Here's a close up of the focal image. This is the first time I ever tried the masking technique. I think it turned out pretty good for my first try, what do you think? I used Palettes orangerie and raw sienna on the pumpkins stamped on rustic cream cardstock. The stems were stamped with ripe avocado and cognac. I added some scor lines around the edges and did some distressing. Two eyelets were added and some rustic twine was wrapped around the card and tied in a bow to finish it off.

I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone else has designed for this months blog hop. Thanks for stopping by!

August GSS entry

Happy Sunday! Today I'll be having the whole family over for dinner to celebrate my oldest brother's birthday. But before I get cooking I wanted to share one last project I entered in the August GSS.



For this project I stamped Guidelines Two in fresh snow onto some spring rain bitty box paper. For the flower I took a strip of white fabric and stamped Polka Dots Basics in pure poppy onto it then stitched the top and pulled the thread to make it gather. I then cut a piece of lemon tart cardstock and a piece of tulle using my nestabilities scalloped circle. The little red flower was cut out of red felt with a Cuttlebug's die. To attach everything, I sewed a white button threw all the layers. I am so enjoying using different textures on my cards other than cardstock.

Well I better go get dinner started. Thanks for stopping by today.

Another August GSS entry

This card will be given to my sister and brother-n-law for their anniversary. I love this layout sooo much I think I'll make some more cards but change out the colors and sentiments. I loved making these flowers out of lace. I've made several to have on had and they were so easy to make.



The scalloped piece is stamped with the background basics text style on to fabric then I used some Heat n Bond to adhere it to a piece of cardstock. This made it very easy to cut out. The layer on top of that it a piece of patterened paper and then I made a flower using some lace and attached everything together with a decorative brad.

The card base is rustic cream and I used a layer of true black and kraft. I distressed the black bitty dots paper to tone down the white dots. It makes the dots look more cream than white. The flourish is stamped with Versamark. The sentiment is from Mixed Messages.

Tomorrow I'll have one last project I entered in the August GSS. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your weekend.

August GSS

Here are my entries in the August GSS. I made these for my sister as part of her birthday present. I'm making the same thing for my other sister for her birthday as well.



I had so much fun making these boxes.



I filled the Pack a Picnic box with all kinds of little things including a gift card holder that I forgot to photograph. I didn't fold down the top like it shows in the directions because I needed the extra height to the box.



My sister loves these colors and has it all through her home so I thought it was only appropriate to use them in these projects.



For the Card Couture I was originally going to use it as a recipe box but the recipe cards I got didn't fit. Even when I tries to cut them down. See my sister collects Roosters (not the real ones) and I found recipe cards at Michael's that had a rooster theme on them but I could only cut them down so far without cutting into the theme. So I decided to make it a tea box similar to the one Lauren Meador made. It's a good thing my sister likes tea!



And of course I had to make a card to complete the theme. I just love making these accordian flowers. I hope my sister enjoys them as much as I did making them. Tomorrow I'll share another project I made for the GSS.

Thanks for popping in!

Heartfelt Thanks

I can't believe it's been two weeks since I've posted anything. I've been working on a few things here and there but they're not ready to be photographed. I'm trying to get a jump on some of my Christmas gifts. Yes that's right I said Christmas. I always like to make some of my gifts to make it more personal but I always include a store bought gift as well. My goal is to have everything done before December that includes most of my baking. December is always a crazy month and I don't won't to make myself crazy trying to get it all done in the process.

With that being said and has nothing to do with my post today I thought I would share a card I made yesterday. After I had made this card I found this piece of pottery and couldn't believe how well the two went together. The colors in both are very similar.




For my project I used rustic cream cardstock as my base, stamped the fancy flourish using ColorBox pigment ink in Celadon. Which by the way matches very well with the aqua mist cardstock. I've been using this ink for a while since the aqua mist ink does not show very well. I did order the newly reformulated ink pad which I'm anxious to try. I then stamped background basics text style using the vintage tea dye over top of the flourishes and around all of the edges. I made a flower out of some vintage lace and tied a button to the middle using the rustic cream twine. This card was fast and easy to put together.

Thanks for popping in today!

Sweet Pea

There is a little story behind this card. My niece was born premature and only weighted 1 lb. 7 oz. at birth. From the day she was born my sister and brother-n-law called her Sweet Pea. Her birthday is in November and she will be turning 3 and I'm happy to announce that she is very healthy and has had no problems since birth.



I always make her a special birthday card. When thinking of what I could do this year for her birthday I remembered that the Green Thumb stamp set had a sentiment that said Sweet Pea. I knew right away I had to get this set for that sentiment.



I found that in the Birthday Basics set there was a sentiment that was in the same font as sweet pea and know this would be a great combination. This card is 5" x 5", using my square nestabilities I cut a window then measured out the lemon tart cardstock and cut a window just a tad bit larger. I used my scor pal to create the scor lines. Stamped my image in spring moss and punches out some circles in lemon tart, added some glitter and used pop dots. I finished it off by tying some lemon tart saddle stitch to the top. I am so pleased with how it turned out. Now how am I going to top this next year. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Celebrate Today

This is a birthday card I made for my brother.



I love the new Enchanted Evening color, makes for a great color for a masculine card. I embossed it with a Cuttlebug folder and added come Bitty Box Basics in spring rain at the bottom. The focal image is done with the Simply Stationary set and the sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages. I thought I needed to add another color so I chose summer sunrise. Here I added it to the bottom, used some saddle stitch ribbon and a scallop to the back of the focal image. The buttoms I had in my stash. I hope my brother likes his card. I'm anxious to see what the PTI design team has created for the challenge tomorrow. Thanks for popping in and have a good weekend.

July Blog Hop

It's that time of month for the PTI Blog Hop. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to participate last month so I'm excited to have a project to share with you tonight. This month we are to integrate text in our project, so here's my contribution.



I stamped Background Basics Text Style using dark chocolate ink onto some canvas material. Using the Cuttlebug large flower dies, I cut three flowers from the material and cut three small flowers in berry sorbet cardstock. For the card base I used spring moss and cut a strip of kraft and stamped it with Background Basics Retro in vintage cream and adhered it to the bottom of the card. I used my Scor Pal to add some embossed lines above and below the flowers. The button flowers I had in my stash that I tied with some rustic twine. I tied some berry sorbet twill ribbon around my card to finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the hop!

happy birthday

I made this card for my brother-n-law for his birthday.



I used Nichole's technique by attaching material to cardstock by using Heat n' Bond then cut out a square using my pinking shears. I stamped a fancy flourish in scarlet jewel and the sentiment in dark chocolate. Using my Scor Pal, I created an embossed diamond patterned on scarlet jewel cardstock and attached it to a kraft card base. To add a bit of color I used some spring moss satin ribbon.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: fancy flourish, birthday basics
Ink: scarlet jewel, dark chocolate
Paper: kraft, scarlet jewel
Other: spring moss satin ribbon, Scor Pal, canvas material, pop ups, pinking shears
Finished Size: 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"

Just Because

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I've posted anything on the blog. In the summer time, I don't spend as much time in my studio. Our weather has been absolutely beautiful here and I try to spend as much time outside. I did manage to get a few projects done though. I have a few birthdays coming up so I incorporated the gifts with my enteries in the August GSS for PTI. I also made a little number for the July Blog Hop. So while I had my stamps out I created this card.



One day I was playing around making some of those cute accordian flowers that Kelly Runceford features on her blog. I had this one laying around and decided to use it for this project. I used lemon tart cardstock as my card base and stamped it with fancy flourishes in fresh snow ink. Then stamped the background basics text style on some white cardstock in summer sunrise and matted to spring rain and scallopped the edges.

I'll try not to stay away from the blog so long but I can't promise you that if our weather stays as nice as it's been. Before we know it those little white things will be falling from the sky. Thanks for stopping by!

4th of July Treats

It's hard to believe that the 4th of July is in one week. I'm looking forward to seeing my sister and niece who will be flying in from Florida for the holiday. I've been planning the menu and getting things ready. I just hope the weather will cooporate, so far so good.



I made these cute little treats for my niece and nephews for the holiday. I used an empty can and wrapped blue cardstock around the center and red cardstock to the top and bottom. Then around the red I wrapped white ribbon. I punched out a bunch of white stars using different size punches and attached them to the blue cardstock. I filled the cans with pin wheels, sparklers, bubbles, rubber balls, snappers, pixie sticks and glow sticks. I hope the kids enjoy them.

I don't know if I'll have anything else to share with you this week. I will be busy with work, taking my parents to the doctors, getting the house ready for my guests, baking, etc. I hope you had a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Patriotic flower picks

Here are a few little decorations I made to add some patriotic flare to these flowers I just potted. This will be the centerpiece for our picnic table. I hope within the next two weeks these flowers grow so they will be nice and full in the pot. I guess I shouldn't have waited so long to plant them.



I got this idea from two people, Martha Stewart and Kelly Runceford. I used the Let Freedom Ring stamp set, pure poppy and prussian blue Palette ink, scallopped circle nesties and bbq skewers. Here is a close up of each.





It's hard to tell in the photos but I did add a little sparkle element to each pick using a Gelly Roll pen in clear star. The first one has it on the little swirlies coming from the firecracker. The second has it on the star, which I gave a 3-D look to it. The third one has it in between the two blue circles. I am working on alittle something to give to the kids (only 3) as a 4th of July treat. Hopefully I'll have those done sometime this week to share with you.

Well that's it for today, I hope everyone had a nice weekend, it's hard to believe it's over already. Back to the grind stone tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by.

Paper Wind Streamer

The 4th of July is fast approaching us, it's hard to believe that it will be here in two weeks. My sister and niece will be coming up from Florida to join the rest of the family for the 4th, unfortunately my brother-in-law can't make it. So I thought I would dig through my decorations to see what all I had to make things look festive for the occasion. There was not much other than a few flags and wreath so I thought I would make some decorations.



This idea came from Martha Stewart.com, it was rather easy to make. I took an empty oatmeal container and cut out the bottom. Then I wrapped some blue cardstock to the outside and inside of the container. I punched out four holes and added some thin cording so I could hang it. Using a star shaped punch, I created stars with white cardstock and adhered them to the blue cardstock. I then wrapped red and white grosgrain ribbon to the top and bottom of the container. I cut about 18 red and white grosgrain ribbon strips, each about 24 inches long and attached them to the inside of the container. Voila, done. This project can be used for any season just change the colors and use different punched.

Yesterday I bought some red and white flowers to plant in a container I have to use as a centerpiece for the table. I was going to pot them today but didn't have enough potting soil, so to the store I go tomorrow. I will post a photo once I get them planted so I can show you a little something I made to add to the flower pot.

Until then, have a good weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Father's Day cards

I missed a day, I was supposed to post pics of the father's day cards for my brothers in law and I got busy and forgot - forgive me. So here they are.



You know it's just hard for me to create a masculine card so I kept these very simply. The one on the left is done in soft stone & smokey shadow and the one on the right is done in vintage cream & chocolate brown. It's funny to see how the two photograph differently. The brown one seems to pop more than the gray one.

For both I used the Cuttlebugs houndstooth embossing folder for the bottom and for the top I embossed a nesties straight circle and stamped an image from Simply Stationary. I used my computer to create the Happy Father's Day and used a circle punch to cut them out and foam pop ups. Then to finish them off I used some coordinating ribbon with some ribbon slides I had in my stash.

Thank You for stopping by!

Father

Here's a card I made for my dad for Father's Day.



This layout is very similar to the one Nichole used for her All Star card. The striped background is from the Background Basics Retro set stamped in smokey shadow on soft stone cardstock. For the focal image, I used an embossing folder from Cuttlebug along with some images from the Simply Stationary set stamped in smokey shadow and summer sunrise. The stars are from the Everyday Classics set also stamped in smokey shadow and summer sunrise, cut out and adhered with some foam pop ups. The father stamp is from Mega Mixed Messages set.

Thanks for stopping by. Tomorrow I'll share with you the cards I made for my brothers-in-law.

birthday wishes

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since I last posted anything. Now that the weather is nice, I'm trying to get things done around the outside of the house. I don't spend as much time in my craft room in the summer, unless it's raining. I do have a card to share with you tonight. I just love the accordian flower that Kelly Lunceford created, so I decided to create one for this card.


The paper I used to create the flower is by My Mind's Eye and the button I had in my stash. I just picked up some embossing folders by Cuttlebug and used one here on some ocean tides cardstock. I just took my fresh snow ink pad and ran it across the embossing to make it stand out a bit. I stamped Background Basics Text Style on some kraft cardstock and adhered it to a vintage cream card base. The sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages stamped with Versa Magic Sahara Sand, which I thought matched the kraft cardstock very well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies
Stamps: Background Basics Test Style, Mega Mixed Messages
Ink: fresh snow, sahara sand
Paper: vintage cream, kraft, ocean tides, My Mind's Eye
Other: button, embossing folder. floss