Happy Birthday

I sent this card off to my sister-in-law the other week to celebrate her birthday, one of the few July birthdays I'm actually going to get a card in the mail to... and hadn't bothered to post it (b/c as the saying goes at work these days, "It's July").  So when I saw the new A Passion For Papertry Ink is "celebrating birthdays" that was enough of a motivator.   And don't forget Moxie Fab World is having an all things birthday challenge fun on their blog.  Did you see the May Arts showcased all the final Design Team projects with a giveaway?  Wishing you all a fabulous July, it's all a blur in my book. 

feel better soon

So while searching for inspiration this evening I saw Debby's stunning card and decided that I wanted to CASE it.  A Passion for Papertrey's latest challenge is "Inspired By" so I'm going to play along.  I've used PTI Rose Posie, Waltzingmouse Stamps sentiment, Wplus9 Folkart Florals die, PTI Tag sale, PTI double sided banner die, leftover paper from a past Artful Delight card kit, Creative Imaginations Preposterous paper, and May Arts velvet satin edge and metallic velvet ribbons.  Sending this card off to someone special who's having battling some health issues.  

And if you missed my birthday post, click here, there's a little giveaway....  I ended my day at a fabulous local art walk, for photos of that event (including flame throwing) click here for my work blog.

thank you teacher

So I already follow along enough card challenges to make my head spin, so I hadn't jumped in to the Muse Challenge (yet), but Lynn's card really stood out in my google reader (yeah one of these days I'll get around to switching out of reader).  I thought, "Oh I'll make a red card" and look-- back to the ol favorite kraft base :)  I've got a few more challenges for this card-- A Passion for Papertrey is to stamp your own background and I've used the Hero Arts tweed background and the Happy Trails pencil for the background of this card.  And lastly, this week's PTI Make it Monday challenge was to use something other then paper to emboss and I made this fun card earlier this week with tin foil, but in the video Heather used aluminum tape and I said in my earlier post that we probably have some in the garage, but the DH was out of town, well he's home and when I asked him this morning if we had some he said yes, so I embossed the tape with a Tim Holtz sewing embossing folder and it looks like an awesome little ruler.  Lastly I stapled on some May Arts ribbon and asked Ben to write up a math problem for my card, and I'm done! 

Materials: PTI Happy Trails, Hero Arts tweed background, PTI notebook die, Fiskars circle punch, Tim Holtz embossing folder, Versfaine black ink, PTI kraft ink, aluminum tape, May Arts chevron twill ribbon, staple, PTI kraft card stock, October Afternoon patterned paper

celebrate

Who can resist the current Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger?  My card is made up of the following goodies-- Freshly Squeezed Jar, Pink Paislee stars, Waltzingmouse Stamps sentiment, PTI notebook die, Lil Inker Designs stitched mat die, Tim Holz woodgrain embossing folder and two little tabs of May Arts ribbon (woven velvet and faux canvas).  I inked up the jars and then after the ink was dry added a layer of glossy accents (and accidentally dropped the glossy accent tube onto the wet jars in the process, gotta love that), and then distressed the notebook die with antique linen.  I'm not sure what we're celebrating, but if the gals at A Passion For Papertrey are "celebrating" and I'm just squeezing in with the deadline for this challenge.  Hope you all had a great weekend...  I discovered this fabulous new upcycle shop in my community, click here for the blog post I did for my work blog.

a note of thanks

Welcome to another 365 Cards Super Sketchy Sunday.  I was playing along with the PTI In Bloom impression plate (for a project for the May Arts blog later in the month) and this panel was a mistake-- I forgot to put in embossing mat, so it just lightly inked the paper instead of embossing it.  I added some butterflies, the bottom ones are embossed and the top ones are vellum, it adds a cool effect when you look at them closely.  Other goodies on the card are the PTI Happy Trails sentiment and May Arts woven velvet ribbon (be proud girls, the non-pink girl in me really likes this ribbon).   A Passion for Papertrey is having a thank you challenge, just barely squeaking in with enough time.

 To see what the rest of the 365 Cards DT have created go check out their blogs, Wendi, Rose, Jenny, Annie and Janice.  

a note of thanks gift cards

Thank you card set... if you're looking for my May Arts Christmas hop post click here.

So my poor little blog is overrun with goodies... but that's what happens when you're a total procrastinator who likes instant gratification.  So today's project was a last minute throw together for a tangable gift for my mother-in-law (who I bought a gift certificate for).  So I made 5 one layer thank you cards, and then wrapped them in a plaste sleeve, packaged up with May Arts ribbon and then added a Mat Stack one die with some fun papers from Echo Park Very Merry Christmas for this week's Make It Monday challenge.  My cards also use this week's Play Date Cafe colors, hence the double posting in one day, gotta get it linked before the deadline.  And I even made it to the post office before they closed, so this project is en route!!!  And I forgot to link this up to my fabulous friends over at A Passion for Papertrey, can't forget those gals, since this is a PTI-centric post, happy holidays!

Happy 45th

Okay, please forgive me for posting 3 posts in one day, I should've posted this card yesterday, but forgot till I saw the reminder that the A Passion for Papertrey "Your Number's Up" challenge is about to close.  We got to spend several hours yesterday celebrating with the birthday boy, eating tacos and watching football (or talking if you were me), what a delightful way to spend an afternoon.  

For someone special wine label

TGIF!  I have a guest tonight at the Inn who wanted something special for his anniversary, so I ordered up some flowers (which he gets to pay for, but....) and made this fun wine label.  I'll complete the goodies with a coupon to go buy a bottle of local wine downtown.  I used this week's PTI Make It Monday Challenge (focal point with stamps and dies) and I have to admit that the top sentiment "For Someone Special" is from my very first PTI order, Mailbox Greetings, from over 2 plus years ago and I had never used that sentiment!  So thank you A Passion for Papertrey gals for challenging me to ink up some dusty stamps.  And I've also used the Play Date Cafe colors (why weren't you guys doing purple the other week when I had to make 10 purple cards???).  Wishing everyone a fabulous weekend.  (For a work related fun post, check out my ode to our free veggie cart, which just ended its 2012 season yesterday).

And I've got a fun fall jar project up over at May Arts, click here to get some creative way to package up some of your homemade goodies.  Many thanks to my friend Jessica for lending me some jars full of amazing homemade goodies.  And the Ribbon Lady has more giveaways, click here for a chance to win some free ribbon.

Materials: PTI Mailbox Greetings and Pretty Peonies, WPlus9 Woodgrain Silhouette, PTI Fabulous Frames and Pretty Peonies dies and Edgers #1 die, PTI kraft and royal velvet card stock, DCWV Bewitched card stock, vellum, Stampendous white and clear embossing powder, Tim Holtz distress ink dusty concord, Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder, EK Success 1 3/4th circle punch, Fiskars corner rounder punch, Tattered Angels black mist

Snowman Card and card class photos

Hello!  So last night I taught another card making class at my local Ben Franklin and this time around the theme was Christmas cards.  When looking for inspiration for the card I decided to CASE Christina's recent card (scroll down to the tags).  I love that everyone in the class decided to accessorize their snowman in different ways, too fun!  Below are a few snapshots from the class, my next class will be holiday tags, November 28th at 6pm.  And since I can't seem to post something with a challenge this card works well for the Lawnscaping Challenge "dust 'em off"-- while I've used the Lawn Fawn set, I realized when looking for snowflakes that I've had the PTI Winter Penguin set for awhile and haven't used most of the stamps on there.  Which means this project also works well for the new A Passion for Papertrey challenge too.  And one last challenge-- since A Blog Named Hero is doing a fun Hero Arts/Lawn Fawn week I thought this would be a perfect addition to their latest challenge "Use a die cut or punch", I think adding tags to cards is a great to add another layer (for the CAS girl).

Materials: Lawn Fawn Frosty Friends, Hero Arts Miracle of the Holiday Christmas sentiment, Tim Holtz and PTI snowflakes, Stampendous white embossing powder, PTI aqua mist and rustic white card stock, Echo Park Very Merry Christmas patterned paper, May Arts White Sheer with Diagonal Stripes Ribbon, Twinery Charcoal twine, PTI Tag It Sale die, Versafine black ink, water color pencil, Martha Stewart scor-pal, Spellbinders circle die, white scrap paper

thank you cards

TGIF!  Been meaning to post the photos from my card making class at Ben Franklin from the other night.   

The theme was thank you cards, one can never have enough right?  And the fall colors in our little town are so beautiful.   

And this was the card I made for the class (I CASEd myself).  I used up goodies from August Artful Delight card kit, a SRM sticker sentiment and some May Arts natural burlap string.  And here are some photos of the class.  Loved how we took one idea and created a whole set of cards.  

My thank you card idea got turned into a baby card and a hello friend card, love it!  And really, since a card post without a challenege just doesn't work for my little blog, I'm excited to play along with the new and improved A Passion for Papertrey crew who are celebrating friends.  (I've used the PTI double sided banner die on these cards).    Want to come make Christmas cards with me next month?  And if you missed the Ribbon Lady's shout out to the birthday girl yesterday, post a comment here or here for your chance to win a free spool of May Arts ribbon.

Air Mail postal card

Welcome to another 365 Cards Super Sketchy Sunday!  I've taken this week's sketch and gone postal.  I used this week's Play Date Cafe colors as my color scheme.  A Passion for Papertrey is having an anything goes challenge and since I've used PTI's Postmarked set for this card it works well for the challenge.  I love CAS cards...  

For more inspiration with the sketch go check out the rest of the 365 Cards DT:

Wendi, Rose, Jenny and Annie  

Materials: PTI Postmarked, PTI Postmarked die, PTI edgers #1 die, PTI white card stock, grey card stock, Fresh Ink gray, Tim Holtz distress ink ripe persimmons, Versafine black ink, Core'dinations card stock

Artful Delight- cherish the moments

Today I'm playing with more of the Artful Delight August card kit, sooooo many amazing goodies this month.  I started with a CAS card, love the look of the black Bazzil card stock for the base.  Every item on the card came from the kit, love that!  So after I made the card I started playing with some of the other pieces and decided to make a wine label (no surprise I'm sure to any of you).  I thought the sentiment "let them eat cake" worked well for a wine bottle (do you follow my logic?).  I used the card stock, patterned paper, Basic Grey sticker and twine and added the PTI die tag (perfect for the A Passion for Papertrey Ink challenge girls) and the Simon Says hexagon die and some Tattered Angels mist and I was good to go.

But then I decided that the Basic Grey sticker was perfect for a wine glass label, so I used the mini tag from My Favorite Things and some card stock from the August kit and added the sticker.  Don't you guys want to come over and drink wine at my house- I've got a whole collection of wine labels and wine glass tags... or better yet we could just make more!  Come play along with us at Artful Delight (there's a card and layout sketch) for your chance to win next month's kit.

Happy Birthday boy reading cards

Happy Saturday!  I finally sorted my book themed card order today (beware there's a few more coming on my blog tomorrow).  But today I've got two to share, love taking the same pieces and making slightly different cards.  I've used the faux embossing technique with the PTI impression plate (click here for my tutorial on it).

For this card I used the woodgrain embossing folder for the Mat Stack 3 die so I could play along with the A Passion For Papertrey gals.

And this one I've used the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge.

Materials: Top Card: Waltzingmouse Stamps Frame It sentiment, PTI All Booked Up, PTI All Booked Up Impression plate, PTI Mat Stack 3 die, Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder, Tattered Angels black mist, Versafine black ink,  PTI Double Sided banner die, EK Success 1 3/4th inch cirlce punch, May Arts ribbon, Tim Holtz distress stain antique linen, PTI kraft card stock, water color paper

Bottom Card: Waltzingmouse Stamps Frame It sentiment, PTI All Booked Up, PTI All Booked Up Impression plate, PTI Mat Stack 1 die, Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder, Versafine black ink,  PTI Double Sided banner die, EK Success 1 3/4th inch cirlce punch, PTI 1 3/4th inch Limitless Layers die, May Arts natural string, Tim Holtz distress stain antique linen, PTI kraft card stock, water color paper, black card stock, vellum

Thanks

Happy Wednesday!  Do any of you have the problem of finding inspiration at the absolute worst time? I made part of this card at 5:50am while waiting for my ride to the gym and then the light bulb to finish the card happened in the 20 minutes before I was suppose to walk out the door for work.  So I left house in a flury with my breakfast in hand and left the crafting mess in the way of my frenzied activity. I've used the Skipping Stones sketch and the B&W with a pop of color for the A Passion for Papertrey Challenge.  

Materials: Skipping Stones Grunge sentiment, PTI Rosie Posie, Life Style Celebration letterpress, PTI Tag It Sale die , Verafine black ink, Letterpress black ink, Tim Holtz Distress Ink festive berries, Stampendous clear embossing powder, water color paper, black card stock, vellum, May Arts ribbon, My Mind's Eye Rhinestones

Cards, challenges and wine labels

Please grab your wine/coffee, I've got a few items to share today.  If you're looking for my Lawnscaping blog hop post, click here.

First card is for my DT on 365 Cards Super Sketchy Sunday.  I wanted to try something other then a banner, so I used the Hero Arts Magic of Christmas branch.  Wee Memories is celebrating the holidays this week, so this is a good card to enter in that.  

And since I decided to indulge in a new Hero Arts stamp from their release, here's a card set using the December sketch.

Next up some wine labels.  I just had a huge card order and I've been on a crafting binge, trying to come up with the right items to mail them in time.  I love red and white together, click on the labels to have a closer look.  

The second and third label use some Smooch Spritz, so I'm going to enter those in the CAS-ual Friday "in the mist" challenge.  The label in the middle is perfect for the A Passion for Papertrey "Red/White Christmas challenge and label on the right has a Waltzingmouse sentiment, so I'm going to enter it in their tag challenge, wine labels count as tags right?

This CAS card is for the Moxie Fab World Pay It Forward Challenge and the Hello Friend is for the Moxie Fab World Celebrating Hobbies challenge.

If you made it this far, congrats!  I've added the rest of my crafty binge to my Facebook page.  

Materials: Hero Arts Magical Christmas, Tim holtz distress inks, PTI Photo Finishers sentiment, Fiskars corner rounder

Hero Arts Newspaper Tulip, PTI Mat Stack Collection sentiments, PTI double sided banner die, PTI white card stock, vellum, Tim Holtz distress inks shabby shutters and festive berries, Versafine black ink, Recollections black rhinestones

Wine labels: WPplus9 Woodgrain Silhouette and Spring Post, PTI Mat Stack 4 die, Coredinations cardstock, PTI kraft, white and chocolate chip card stock, Versafine black ink, Tim Holtz Distress inks festive berries and evergreen bough, Tim Holtz woodgrain embossing folder, PTI Limitless Layers 1 3/4th inch die, Fishars corner rounder, PTI edgers die

Hero Arts Poinsetta and Berries, PTI Photo Finishers sentiment and die, Coredinations card stock, PTI white card stock, Smooch Cherry Ice spritz, Versafine black ink, Stampendous white embossing powder, Versamark, Twinery Charcoal twine, PTI Limitless Layers 1 3/4th inch die, Fishars corner rounder, PTI edgers die

Hero Arts Poinsetta and Berries, Waltzingmouse Say It Loud, vellum, Coredinations card stock, PTI white card stock,  PTI Limitless Layers 1 3/4th inch die, Fishars corner rounder, PTI edgers die, Stampendous white embossing powder, Versamark, Versafine black ink, Twinery Chorcoal twine, Smooch Cheery ice spritz

Hello: American Crafts Amy Tangerine sticker, Yellow Bicycle tape, Tattered Angels black mister

Hello Friend: American Crafts Amy Tangerine sticker, Pink Paislee hand, Unity bit of burlap, Authentique Blissful and Free Bird patterend paper, PTI edgers die, My Favorite Things large scallop die, PTI kraft card stock, Tim Holtz distress ink

X-mas cards and Dear Santa Winner

Winner, winner, chicken dinner... according to Random.org the winner from this post of the nativity embossing folder is Lynn, congrats!  Thanks for sharing your Christmas wish lists, I'd take any and all of your various wishes.  If you read yesterday's post I made two Christmas cards and then promptly sold them when I took them to work to photograph them.  Well my employee wanted more red ones, so today I whipped up a few more of the same style.  Simon Says Stamp is having an anything goes challenge this week, since I can't have a post without a challenge can I?  And A Passion For Papertrey is having a red/white Christmas challenge, and these are just too perfect for that challenge.

Materials: Materials: Hero Arts Poinsetta & Berries, PTI Photo Finishers, Saavy Stamper dots, PTI Think Big Favorites, PTI white card stock, Coredinations red card stock, vellum, Twinery charcoal and Marschino twine, PTI photo finishers dies, EK Success corner rounder punch, Tim Holtz Festive Berries distress inks, Versafine black ink