Skip to content

A Bit of Green for Two March Birthdays

  • by

My brother-in-law and my niece’s husband both celebrate March birthdays, so the Simon Says Challenge this week for a “bit of green” fit the bill perfectly. 

Star1

I started with PTI’s Enclosed Star die and stamp, cutting twice, once in green (Simply Chartreuse) and once in black and piecing them together. A few black enamel dots finished it off. Pretty quick and easy.

For the next card, I switched out the patterned paper (from the same pack).

Star2

Here’s a closer look:

Star2Close

And the  a peek at the inside:

StarInside

Linking up to Simon Say’s Wednesday Challenge.

Wednesdayblog-logo

February Papertrey Ink 2016 Blog Hop Challenge and Pretty in Pink

  • by

The inspiration piece for this month’s blog hop at Papertrey Ink is so lovely, soft and springlike.

PTI Feb Blog Hop

It was a great color combination for an early April birthday card that I was getting ready to work on when this inspiration piece appeared. I’d already chose the Bold Blooms watercolor paper by Papertrey Ink, so pulled out my Kuretake watercolors, and mixed up some colors to match.

PTIBlogHop

After it was watercolored, I adhered it to a Memory Box green card, added a gold die cut sentiment that was in my “die cuts to use” box, and added a few sequins. 

DebbieClose

The last touch was to add the butterfly from the inspiration piece. I used an old Martha Stewart punch and a piece of patterned paper with gold dots from the “Fancy That” paper pack by MME. It wasn’t quite the right color of pink, so I added a wash of watercolor to it, and now it’s just right.

You can check out the other creations right here.

I’m also linking this up to the FUSION challenge, Pretty in Pink. I channeled the color and also the blooms!

FusionPrettyinPink

 

Color Throw Down

  • by

I’ve been working on getting the cards made that I need for the next month and a half. While I had a die laying on my desk for another project, I happened across a blog where the card maker was participating in a challenge called “Color Throw Down.” I was unfamiliar with it, but when I saw the colors for this week, I knew I’d participate. The die I had on the desk worked perfectly for it. It’s one I purchased some time ago, but hadn’t put to use. Here are the inspiration colors.

Color Throw Down

My new bathroom is functional, and almost totally “decorated.” When I post photos, you’ll know this color combination is right up my alley! It’s been painted two shades of gray with white woodwork and red accents. Even the shower curtain in red, gray, and white. Since I had to make several runs through the die cutter for the first card, I had extra pieces for a second card as well. 

 

Celebrate2cards

Aside from the multiple cuts on different colors of paper, this comes together quickly. I used “Fog” and ” “Smoke” from Simon Says, and “Select White,” “Pure Poppy,” and “Smoky Shadow” from Papertrey Ink. The die is the “Stars and Stripes Photo Card” by Frantic Stamper. Although it includes a die cut for “celebrate,” I preferred the Wet Paint II die from Papertrey.

Celebrate1

CelebrateClose

Celebrate2

The star dies are also included, and that worked out well. An enamel dot or two and the cards were done.

We’ve had a busy weekend, and I’ll be back tomorrow to participate in Memorandum Monday. Hope your weekend is going well.

Memorandum Monday: The Valentine Edition

  • by

I’m back again this week, joining and waving to Sian and friends who post something new they did or used for the first time over the weekend ( or in my case during the week.) I saw some Valentine products I couldn’t resist this year. Now that I have grandchildren who I can create for, this holiday is ramping up for me. 

First off, my favorite and an almost total case of a project Danielle Flanders did for the release of this stamp and die set: “Petite Places: Home & Garden.” I’ve resisted this whole line of product from Papertrey Ink, but Danielle got me on this one. I knew Skylar would love it, and I made a second one for a crafty friend who loves this kind of thing. She makes wonderful creations from paper, but she’s not a stamper, so I knew she wouldn’t have seen it. Got to say, both loved it, and for a first try, I was pretty pleased with how it came out. By using different colors, you can change out the look of the project so it would be great for other occasions.

CandyJarLR

CandyJarTop

The clear dome makes photos pretty tricky, but in this one you can see the cute little swing hanging from the tree. There are also lots of other little additions I didn’t add this time. I added a strip of adhesive cork paper to made the walkway, and combined some green Flower Soft and glitter to made the “grass.” I threw in a few flower sequins as well.

The card for Skylar and Ella used Simon Says “Baby Party Animals” which I’ve used before, but the sentiment is from “Paper Hugs,” included in last year’s February card kit which I had never used.

WillYou

With all the stamping, sequins, and die cut foil hearts, this is definitely a busier card than I usually come up with.

WillYouClose

I ordered a die and some clear totes from Reverse Confetti to made Caleb’s valentine gift. This combo is sure to get lots of use; it’s perfect for hostess gifts, small birthday gifts . . . I can think of almost endless possibilities. The patterned papers are “Pure Poppy + White,” from Papertrey Ink, and the heart border die is also an older Papertrey die.

Tote

Here’s the tote with the card, which also uses new stamps and dies from Papertrey’s “Valentine Pin-up” kit. I have plenty of material in that kit to create for grandchildren for several years to come. The little fox was one of my favorites.

FoxyCombo

I used a Simon Says heart die to make the balloons, and used another new die, “Balloon Strings” from Papertrey. It’s been on backorder for awhile, and just came in the last order.

FoxyClose

We have a wonderful homemade candy shop nearby, and that’s where the Valentine candy corn and the chocolates in Caleb’s valentine came from. I was thrilled to find little chocolate cars wrapped much like the Matchbox cars Caleb loves.

ToteClose

And here’s what the tote looks like from the side.

ToteSide

We had quite a lovely Valentine’s Day. It started with some car trouble due to the extreme cold, so we ended up coming in at the end of the first hymn for church. It was worth the effort to get there, though, since we had an excellent guest preacher and some beautiful solos by the bass section leader in our choir. From there I went to Sunday Seminar presented by Ann Meredith, a professor of religion at the University of Rochester. One of my friends was amazed that I had never attended one of her presentations, and said I would love it. Indeed, I did, and luckily it was the first of a three part series. It’s days like this when I realize what wonderful resources we have in Rochester.

We played duplicate bridge in the afternoon. The last couple of times we’ve played we haven’t done very well, but yesterday was much better. There are several couples in the group who play bridge regularly, and two who play competitively. We play only in this group, and do not study or practice, so it’s quite a miracle that we can keep up with them. We rarely come in first (and we didn’t yesterday) but we seem to hold our own, and have been playing with one of the couples for 42 years. The group started the year we were married. We came home for an hour, and then met friends for dinner. Quite an usual (and different-“new”) Valentine’s Day for us. I hope your weekend treated you well.

Happy Valentine’s Day

  • by

I’ll be back tomorrow with some more valentines to share for Memorandum Monday, but today I have one to submit to the Card Concept challenge blog. Here’s the inspiration photo:

CardConcept48 copy

Clearly, the hearts were my inspiration.

WithLove

I have to admit that photographing valentines can be a challenge in itself, especially when reflective papers are being used. I started with a piece of patterned paper from Teresa Collin’s “Studio Gold” collection, then die cut Simon Say’s “Heart Tic Tac Toe” from the middle and backed it with red and gold foil paper from Michaels. The sentiment is one of the dies from Papertrey’s “Swoosh” set. There are a variety of categories to choose from at Card Concept, but I guess this fits the CAS Layered category the best.

Here’s another look at it.

WithLoveClose

Tracy outdid himself this Valentine’s Day. I received a gorgeous bouquet of flowers, a charm for an Alex and Ani necklace, and a gift certificate for a facial. I’m a spoiled lady! Our duplicate bridge group is playing this afternoon (very unusual; it’s usually a Saturday night), and then we’re off to dinner (again!) with friends. It’s been a cold, but festive weekend.

Addicted to CAS: Bloom

  • by

The current challenge at Addicted to CAS is Bloom.

ATCAS - code word bloom

We could all use a bloom or two here today. The high was 0° and the wind is blowing hard enough that the wind chill was predicted to be -24°. I ran a few errands after helping register folks at a conference this morning, and decided I was not going out again although I should have gone to the gym. I stayed home and made soup instead.

Tomorrow is my niece’s birthday. I know she reads my blog, but I hope she’s already opened the card, or won’t have time to check here before she opens this card tomorrow. I thought she should have some blooms as well. I’m guessing it’s just as cold or colder in Vermont.

JasmineBD

I chose not to purchase the “Bold Blossoms” stamp set last month at Papertrey Ink, but I did buy a pack of the watercolor sheets that already have the blossoms printed on them. I used my Kuretake watercolors. They’re not quite as transparent as the Daniel Smith ones in my palette, but they are vibrant and colorful. After watercoloring the flowers, I die cut the sentiment with “Birthday Cheers” die, and added a few Pink Posh sequins. The card was in my stash, but I’m pretty sure it’s a Simon Says cardstock.

We’re off to friends for dinner, so I am going to have to bundle up one more time.

Addicted to CAS: Red

  • by

A quick post to enter this week’s challenge at Addicted to CAS. 

ATCAS - code word red

Red is my favorite color, so I wanted to play along. I started with a Paper Source tag and envelope that’s been in my stash for a long time. 

HBJune

I cut some Amy Tangerine “Plus One” patterned paper with Papertrey’s Phrase Play #5 die, backed it with a strip of paper from the scrap dish and some white card stock. I cut a second Phrase Play die from gray card stock, cut out the “happy” and layered it over the original. The stamp was also Phrase Play #5. Three Jenni Bowlin rhinestone stars (also in my stash forever) and some silver thread finished it off.

HBJuneClose

I love the silver envelope, and am glad I still have a couple of these tag sets left in my stash.

Memorandum Monday

  • by

A good part of our weekend was spent unpacking, getting groceries, and organizing. We did take time to go see a movie that’s received multiple Oscar nominations, The Big Short. It was both a fascinating and infuriating movie about the financial collapse in the mid-2000’s. One of the most interesting things the director did was to have several of the actors speak directly to the audience. It was effective and instructive, especially for someone like me, who didn’t understand the financial trickery that was really going on!

I needed a few more thank you cards, so here’s the “new” for the weekend. When I was at Whim-so-Doodle in St. Petersburg, I picked up a new die by Technique Tuesday. I’m guessing it will get a lot of use, since I make multiple thank-you cards every year. There were also two small open leaf dies that came with it, which I didn’t use this time. After taking the photos this morning, I realized I need to up the aperture on the camera.

Grateful

The cardstock is Papertrey Ink’s Tropical Teal and the patterned papers are from a 6X6 pack by Amy Tangerine called “Rise and  Shine.” I have a collection of these little clothespins, but have long ago lost the tag that tells me who made them. The little enamel heart is from another new goodie by Shimelle.

Here are two more thank you cards that I made yesterday afternoon as well.

Thanks1

I love the Block Talk Thanks die by PTI, and found this pretty patterned paper in my scrap tin—have no idea where it came from!

Since I had the Block Talk die out, I thought I’d try a variation of a card I pinned some time ago by Sheri Carroll.

3Thanks

I love the bright colors against the black background, a very different look from the inspiration piece.

Waving to everyone on this cold, windy, wintery day in western New York! Hope your week is a good one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Ombre

  • by

Having been on the road, I’m taking a quick and easy route to entering this week’s Wednesday Challenge, Ombre, at Simon Says. Papertrey Ink recently introduced a new paper pad called Ombre Stripes, and I snatched up a set. I’m always in need of a thank you card, and this was a quick one to create.

Thanks_blog

Among the many things I love about Papertrey Ink is how the products coordinate with one another. The ombre striped paper is a variation on New Leaf card stock, so I trimmed off one edge of the paper so there would be a border on the side. The sentiment is from the Wet Paint series of dies, and the enamel dots are My Mind’s Eye.

I have a whole list of crafty projects I’m hoping to get to now that we’re home, so hopefully, the blog will be a bit busier.

Less is More Challenge

  • by

This week’s challenge at Less is More is NEUTRALS. I rarely create a sympathy card with much color, and this one is all neutrals. It might be one of my favorite sympathy cards ever.

SympathyCard

I started with a Fog card cut with Simon Says “Stitched Rectangles,” embossed the sentiment from Papertrey Inks “Botannical Silhouettes” and then arranged a group of die cuts from PTI’s “Spruce and Sprig” cut from a variety of patterned and plain vellum. The silk ribbon bow is also Papertrey Ink. They no longer carry the ribbon, so I use it sparingly. The fog card was then attached to a card of Fresh Linen (also PTI.) Here’s a closer look:

SympathyClose

The first challenge of 2016. I think I’ll try to keep track of the number of challenges I enter this year. I’d like to do one once a week, so 52 by the end of the year would be awesome. Most likely they won’t be week by week, but that’s OK too.

DECEMBER 2015 Papertrey Ink BLOG HOP CHALLENGE

  • by

Pti

Today is the Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop. It was the colors of the inspiration piece that got to me, and I grabbed a few minutes when I first saw it to create three tags. I didn’t have anything specific in mind for them when I made them.

PTI3Tags

The tags were premade by Graphic 45, and then stamped and embossed using Papertrey Ink’s  Spruce and Sprigs, the Holiday Folk Mini-Market kit, Rustic Wreath,  and Believe. The “joy” is from WPlus9’s Hand-lettered Holiday set. Here’s a look at them side-by-side.

3Tags

Then just this week, I needed two quick cards, so two tags were quickly adhered to some Paper Source 4-Bar cards. I had time to grab a shot of just one of them.

PTICard

The last one was used on one of the Christmas presents. I ended up switching out the plaid ribbon for some gold thread.

PTIPackage

We’re on the road today, but Tracy assures me I’ll be able to link this up to the hop when the time comes. When I get to our destination I’ll be checking in on the rest of the blog hop projects which you can find here.

Happy Anniversary

  • by

Today is Matt and Betsy’s anniversary, and I’m here to share the card I made for them. It’s so nice to have them nearby, and to be able to hand deliver our card and gift. It’s a good excuse to get a little time in with Skylar and Ella as well.

This card was inspired after pinning this one by Joy Taylor awhile ago. I made a few changes, and I’m really happy with the results.

AnniversaryCard

I started with a piece of Tim Holtz’s watercolor paper, and added some Kuretake watercolors in two shades of pink. Then I sprayed a bit of Heidi Swapp Gold Color Shine. The gold thread is from a spool I bought so long ago, I have no idea where it came from. I die cut two words from the Wet Paint dies by Papertrey Ink in Raspberry Fizz, layered them, and added the stamped sentiment from the same set. A narrow gold mat was added before putting it on the white card base. I think this is a design I’ll be using again.

Hope your week is off to a good start. It’s a busy one here, as I’m sure yours may be as well.

With Sympathy

  • by

It’s been a difficult week. One of my very best friends had to admit her husband to hospice this week, and he passed away on Friday night. Six of their seven children arrived from all over the country, and it was as peaceful and kind as it could possible be. Nonetheless, we will all miss Jim’s sharp intelligence and great sense of humor. It reminded me that I had a couple of sympathy cards I hadn’t posted yet.

Sympathy cards are one of the hardest cards to make, and CAS ones have always seemed appropriate to me.

SympathyLeaf

This is a smaller card by Memory Box, a die cut circle cut with Simon Says stitched circles, and a die cut leaf by Memory Box. The sentiment is from Boutique Borders: Sympathy by Papertrey Ink.

SympathyClose

The next card uses the same sentiment with some border dies from that set stamped on the die from the Center Style: Masculine die set.

Sympathy

This is a fairly new die for me, and I can seen lots of applications for it, but it was perfect for a simple sympathy card.

I almost never have a sympathy card made ahead of time, and I was certainly not prepared for this week’s events. Once the memorial is complete, I’ll sit down to make a card for my friend.

Pairs: Process and Product

  • by

Yesterday was Ella’s first birthday—how time flies! Typically she is a happy little girl, and she and her sister are lots of fun. For once I started her birthday card with a pretty clear idea of how I wanted it to look. Here’s a view of the card in process.

Process

At this point, I had colored and die cut all elements for the card, and was laying it out on my desk trying to decide on which sentiment to use. After I assembled the card, as I stamped the last word of the sentiment, I got a smudge of ink on the card. So I took it apart and decided to use a brighter pink cardstock. So here’s the final product.

Product

The adorable little animals are from Simon Say’s “Baby Party Animals,” the frame from Pretty Pink Posh, the #1 from Papertrey’s “By the Numbers,” and the sentiment from Papertrey’s “Stylish Sentiments: Birthday.” The animals were all colored with Copic markers.

CardClose

And of course, I couldn’t post this without some photos of the birthday girl. Matt and Betsy had a lovely party for family and a few close family friends. Ella is teething, and was sound asleep when the party started. They woke her up an hour later, and she was not her usual cheerful self. She showed no interest in eating any of her personal cupcake. (There was a big cake for the rest of us.) 

DSC00330ed_blog

 

But once she was given a spoon, she had a good time going at it!

I’m popping this card into the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

 

DSC00345ed_blog

 

 

Papertrey November 2015 Blog Hop Challenge

  • by

Two days ago, I woke up with ideas for this month’s blog hop. I wanted to try the watercolor technique with the Spruce and Sprigs stamps, and it took awhile before I got anything I was happy with. I tried painting directly on the stamp with watercolor paints which I’ve see done on the card blogs with great effect. I never managed to get the right consistency, so I went back to using the Papertrey inks and spritzing them with water. I also added water directly to the watercolor paper before stamping.

The inspiration piece for this month uses pretty non-traditional colors, but I ended up liking them a lot. 

NovPTIBlogHop

Here’s the first of two cards I created with the watercolored images.

PTIMerry

I cut the watercolored piece with the Stitched Tag die and adhered it to a Tropical Teal card. Then I added a die cut sentiment (Christmas Cheer) and a snowflake (old Sizzix die) from silver adhesive paper and some sequins. The “Merry” came from the Stylish Sentiments: Holiday set from several years ago. I tied two different kinds of silver twine through the tag to finish it off. I also added some Clear Star Gelly Roll pen to the sprigs. 

MerryClose

Only one card can be posted for the blog hop, so I thought I was done, but as I was cleaning up, I picked up another piece of the watercolored paper, and came up with another card, which I like just as much.

PTIHoliday

Most of the supplies are the same. The two stitched rectangle dies are from Simon Says and they’re added to a Rustic White card base. 

You can find more holiday inspiration on Nicole’s blog right here.