Happy Valentine's Day!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful Valentine's Day!  I  was hoping I'd be out and about today, but as luck would have it, I am home and nursing a bad cough and the flu.  I look pretty awful and while I'm sure my husband loves me the just the same, I am certainly not feeling "valentine-y" today!  Actually, all I want to do is crawl under the covers, but it turns out my youngest is home with me too today - double ear infection.  Thankfully he doesn't have any fever, so he's acting normal, except for his nasty cough.  We're just a symphony of coughing around here today, heh.

I wanted to share this card I made for the Design Team Favorites Challenge at Papertrey Ink.  I got so overwhelmed doing the other challenges that I almost forgot about this one!  Here is the card by the very talented Betsy Veldman that inspired me:

And here is my take on her card:

I used PTI's Stamper's Select white cardstock for my card base, the Beautiful Blooms die #3 for the flowers, and various stamps from the Hello Sunshine, Funky Florals and Daydreamer sets.

Hope you like the card!  Enjoy, and thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink Watercolor Challenge

I have another card to share and post over at Papertrey Ink's Anniversary Challenge: Watercolors.  I don't usually use this method in my cards, but I always like to see what others do with the watercolor effect.  

Here is my take:

As I look at this card, I find so many imperfections, but I guess having a watercolor effect on your project isn't meant to be so very linear and precise.  My card really does look like something my 5-year old would have created, haha!, but it was fun to do!

For the watercolor effect, I used various Distress Inks diluted in water (Broken China, Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade and a mix of Shabby Shutters and Mowed Lawn), the sentiment, flowers and bee are from the Tag Its #3 stamp set - quite versatile for such a small 5-dollar stamp set!

Thanks for stopping by.....enjoy the festivities over at PTI!

Sketch Challenge @ Papertrey Ink

There is a sketch challenge going on at Papertrey Ink in honor of their 6-year anniversary.  Mind you, they've been having challenges for 5 days straight!  And it's been a bit hectic for me to try and keep up with Nichole's blog, but once upon a time (see? I don't even know exactly when it happened...) they had something called Stamp-a-Faire, which sounded pretty awesome judging by the rave reviews after the fact.  I, of course, have no idea where I was at the time, but surely my head was buried in the sand because I don't know how I managed to have this huge event fly right by me without me noticing.  

In any case, with another big event at hand like their anniversary, I promised myself I would try my hardest to participate as much as I can, and so far I have been pretty good about keeping afloat. So the laundry doesn't get done immediately - who cares!  There's always tomorrow, right?  

Today's challenge involves choosing one of the 5 sketches available at Nichole's blog, and creating a card based on the sketch you chose.

The sketch I chose is this one:



...and here is what I came up with:

I used the "Adorn" paper from Authentique's "Hope" collection - not exactly your typical Easter colors, but that is exactly what it's supposed to be: spring-y Easter paper.  Of course Authentique and I are tight like this, ha ha, and I just couldn't walk away without at least snagging a few sheets to play around with at home.  The frame is from PTI's Fabulous Frames set (why I waited so long to get this die set, I don't know, but it's a great investment and I'll be using it a lot for my Project Life-type scrapbooking); I also used the Turning A New Leaf die set, along with some Prima flowers.  The sentiment is a sassy one, and it comes from the Happy For You stamp set.  

I really enjoyed this challenge and hope to continue contributing to all the festivities!

Thanks for stopping by - hope you like the card!

PTI Challenge number....I've lost count?

It's pretty late, and tomorrow will be another busy day - BUT!  I must share a tag I will be posting over at PTI's next challenge that is due tomorrow morning!  Really early!  Which is why I'm still awake! ;(

But despite the sleep deprivation, I have to say this challenge caught me by surprise, and in a positive way.  It involved getting inspiration over the internet (Pinterest and the like) and making a wrap/tag/gift packaging project.  At first I wasn't planning on joining this challenge because, surprise-surprise, we were at a wrestling tourney all day (and I do mean ALL.DAY.), and I wasn't sure whether a) I had the time to surf the 'net for the perfect inspirational photo, and b) I had enough time to get inspired, then translate that inspiration onto paper.  Luckily for me, I came across this adorable tag that was handmade (then posted, then sold on Etsy) by Tara Anderson.  Really sweet little tag, and the important thing was that it got me into inspiration mode!  Here is the original found on Etsy:

And here is what I came up with:

I have to say, I'm pretty happy with how this tag turned out.  Truthfully, there was no rhyme or reason to any of the prepping as I pretty much went through my really scrappy scraps and did some quick die-cuts.  Some die cuts were already sitting around collecting dust, and others were "overstock" cuts from past card projects.

PTI items used: rustic white card base, Tremendous Tags die set, Get To The Point die set, Beautiful Blooms die set, Delightful Dahlia die set, and sentiment comes from the Garden Variety stamp set.  The pretty butterfly is a Cheery Lynn die - I believe it is the smallest version of their butterfly dies.  The black ink is from Hero Arts.

Hope you like the card...enjoy!  And thanks for stopping by. :)

Addicted to CAS!

I've been really enjoying the clean and simple cards lately.  I have been posting some of my creations at CASology, as well as CAS-ual Fridays, but I found another fun site that does clean and simple cards: Addicted to CAS!  I've been in a valentine-y mood for the past few weeks, so I thought I'd join their party since their code word for their 2-week challenge is HEART.  I mean, honestly, what a perfect challenge to stumble upon!  And I better post this quick because they're about to close the postings in a few hours!

The basket die is from Impression Obsession (with a little bit of Vintage Photo Distress Ink to show some of its texture), the heart die is from Papertrey Ink, as well as the stitches (Button Boutique stamp set) and the sentiment (Pretty Peonies).  The black and red inks are from Hero Arts, which by the way are very good dye inks!

Hope you like the card - enjoy, and have a great weekend! 

It's Make-It-Monday Time!

The Ravens won the Superbowl on Sunday, and it was funny how on Monday most of my girlfriends were celebrating their victory...even at school this was all the kids were raving about.  Rightfully so, since we do live in Maryland, but the funny part is that my concerns weren't revolving around the Ravens' victory, but more on how I could manage my time (starting Monday!) so that I could participate in the various challenges that were all falling on this week (most of them at PTI's website).  Clearly I'm more of a crafting fan than a Ravens fan (sorry, Flacco! Ha!)  

I've known about PTI for several years, but it took me a while to make my first purchase, and even longer than that to participate in the challenges.  Now that my boys are a little older and ever so slightly more self-sufficient, I've been a tad better at keeping up with challenges and just "web life" in general. 

So, anyway.  Blahblahblah.  Here is my next card I'd like to share:

I will be linking this up to PTI's Make-It-Monday Challenge #103: The Die-Cut Double Up.

For this card, I used PTI's Sweet Blush cardstock for my base, the Tin-Types background stamp (using Spun Sugar Distress Ink), the Tremendous Tags die set, and the Heart-2-Heart #12 stamp and die set.  Patterned papers are random scraps from various collections: Jillibean, BasicGrey, and My Mind's Eye.

Thanks for stopping by - hope you like the card!

PTI Post #2

So I kept looking at Dawn McVey's cute "happy birthday" sentiment from today's free download and I kept thinking I should do a modest, cute and simple card that can accompany future birthday gifts.  The colors she chose are definitely sweet, so I thought I'd play up the scalloped edge and make the sentiment look like a flower:

I was going to wait until tomorrow to take the picture, but then I thought I may not make it in time to upload the picture, then post it on Nichole's webpage before the deadline, hence this mediocre snapshot done with a non-camera and in bad lighting (apologies for that). :)

I cut down some PTI Stamper's Select white cardstock for my base, used a petite scalloped circle (Spellbinders) as a resting place for the sentiment, then added the leaves using the Sending You coordinating leaf die.  Button is from October Afternoon; patterned papers are from Authentique's Free Bird 6x6 loose-leaf line.

Hope you like the card...enjoy - and good night! 

Papertrey Ink's 6-year Anniversary!

Don't you just love those feel-good anniversaries?  Speaking of which, Papertrey Ink is currently celebrating their 6-year anniversary, and they are going crazy at Nichole's website with all kinds of challenges!  Honestly, I will be needing to jot down these challenges as I'm determined to join every single one of them.  The first one I decided to do is, of course, the one that is due tomorrow, heh.  It involves downloading a free sentiment/image sheet, then choosing one of the elements and making something out of it.  I'm glad I didn't miss out on this challenge because I was really liking Heather's sentiment, which is the one I chose to work on:

I used Papertrey Ink's Edgers #4 for the loopy cut at the bottom (patterned paper is an old Stella & Rose line by My Mind's Eye, though I don't remember the exact name of the pattern itself); the star tag comes from the awesome Tremendous Tags die set, which I'm really using a lot these days; the heart die matches up with the Heart-2-Heart #11 stamp set, which is where the "love" sentiment comes from too.

This was a great challenge because I used up some of my old paper scraps, plus I loved how I didn't mull over any decisions: I just kept cutting, stamping and gluing and getting it DONE in record time.  

Hope you like the card...enjoy, and I hope you're posting your own creation too!

CASology This Week

So, after a whole weekend of wrestling tournaments with the boys, I'm glad to say I have the rest of the afternoon to do some crafting...at least until dinner time, which is the biggest chunk of "me time" I've had in a while.  Yeah!  Go me!  But seriously, I only have a little more than an hour to post my next card over at CASology's website.  This week, the cue card is "game," and I was a bit surprised I couldn't find any game-themed stamps in my stash.....until I remembered I had a great Tim Holtz Alterations embossing folder that I bought a while back that would fit nicely with this week's challenge.  Here is the card I came up with:

This was a fun card to make.  I started with a Bazzill base in Ruby Slipper, then simply took a Papertrey Ink rustic white piece of cardstock and embossed it using the Alterations folder by Sizzix.  After daubering various Distress Inks over the embossed image, I die-cut the label that matches Papertrey Ink's Ad Sense stamp set (which is where the sentiment comes from).

Overall, it was a nice quick card to make (I'll be using it for an upcoming masculine birthday).  And this is why I love these challenges: they really force me to remember and use my existing tools creatively, but without going too overboard. :)

Hope you like the card...enjoy the rest of the weekend!

CASual Friday's Challege!

I'm on a roll this week.  Not that I'm one of those super-early posters or anything, but I'm going all out and participating in three challenges, the first one being the "love letters" challenge over at CASual Fridays!

Here is my take on the challenge:

Last month I picked up several heart-themed stamp-and-die sets from Papertrey Ink, and since I'm up to my eyeballs in Valentine's Day cards, I thought I'd play along in this challenge and highlight some of these stamps and dies.  The pretty heart die matches up with PTI's Heart-2-Heart #11 stamp set, and the L,V, E and sentiment come from the "With All My Heart" stamp set, which I adore.  The card base was made with Papertrey Ink's Stamper's Select white cardstock.  Inks are Memento (Love Letter) and Color Box (Pink).

Hope you like the card...enjoy!