Thankful for YOU, Nichole

This card is for you, Nichole in honor of the first PTI Nichole Heady Appreciation Blog Hop:

For 28 years, most of my identity has been as a mother. My two oldest sons are both living on their own, married and in their own homes and my daughter is in college. For the last couple of years I have really struggled with "letting go", which is the way it should be. I have done a good job as a mom and am proud of the adults my kids have grown up to be. But...what do I do now?

This is where you come in Nichole. I discovered PTI and your Capture the Moment blog. With it, I found something interesting, fun and creative that I can do with my time that fills up a little bit of space that my day to day mothering used to take up. I have things to look forward to every day that are centered on me, Cathy rather than on me, Mom.

I probably will never meet you in person, although someday I hope to. Your blog, your cards, your videos, and your wonderful company has given me so much pleasure, excitement and enjoyment of life. Because of you, Nichole, I have met so many wonderful people on the PTI forum. I absolutely love reading about and talking about everything PTI and your readers are the most thoughtful and encouraging people I have ever known.

Thank you Nichole for touching my life in such a positive, meaningful manner and for bringing such a big smile to my face on a daily basis. This is obviously not just a job for you, just as it is not just a hobby for all of your readers. I appreciate you and am so thankful for YOU.

A Star Is Born

Lots of PTI goodness on this card today. Stamps, papers, dies, glitter, embossing powder and a little bit of computer work and messy stitching all mixed together for a sweet baby card. I used my Star Prints set for the first time and I used a little image from Favor It Baby on the Just the Ticket stamp set. It fits perfectly within the ticket frame. I tried very hard to make the computer printout line up within the library card frame. Did you notice there is some Night, Night Moon stamped on the Bitty Box Basics paper and on the Library Card Pocket? I have been challenging myself to really pay attention to details on my cards lately as that is what I always love about the cards made by the design team members. I'm not quite sure how I am going to fit this into an envelope though, those tickets stick out a bit on the sides.

Details:

Stamps: Night, Night Moon, Library Card, Just the Ticket, Star Prints, Favor it Baby, It's Official

Paper: Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain, Rustic Cream, Bitty Box Basics

Ink: Spring Rain, Enchanted Evening, Versamark

Accessories: Prisma Glitter, White Embossing powder, Library Card Pocket Die, Just the Ticket Die, stitching

My Favorite Card (Still is)

****This post is for the PTI Anniversary contest.  We were to post our very favorite card made with PTI products.  When I made this card, the post title was "My Favorite Card".  It still is today.  I have used this layout many times, but always love this one the best.

So today I made a card that is my very favorite of all the cards I have made so far. I just got the Mat Stack #3 stamp and die and have been wanting to make it the focal point of a card. I love it! It lines up so nicely and was the perfect mat for a baby boy card using a little onesie stamp. I stamped the onesie three times and paper pieced it popping up each layer with dimensionals. I finally figured out how to stamp text style script getting it to line up correctly. Turns out the trick was stamping from bottom to top. I had always done it the other way around. For me, that seemed to be the key. I got to use my new PTI dark chocolate twine and also my linen impression plate. I love this card so much, I am going to duplicate it to give to my niece and keep this one for my craftroom card shelf. I love days like this when a card goes together just as you pictured it. I think I am going to start a link in the forum for everyone to share their most favorite card and tell us why it is their favorite. How fun would that be to see?

Details: Card Size 4 1/4 x 4 1/4

Paper: Spring Rain, Dark Chocolate, Rustic White, Bitty Dot Basics

Stamps: All Booked Up, Text Style I, Night, Night Moon from PTI, Onesie from Technique Tuesday Cute as a Button

Accessories: PTI Dark Chocolate twine, linen impression plate

Night Night Moon and Large Scallop Die

I love the baby set Night, Night Moon. I love the title. I love the border stamps, I love the cute little duck and diaper images and I love the sentiments. I love everything about that set. So, I was especially excited when I realized that both the diaper and the duck images fit perfectly within the large scallop of PTI's large scallop border die. I love it when you find an image that fits within one of the PTI scallop border dies. For this baby card that I am giving to my niece who is having a shower for her baby boy to be born in a few months, I started with a kraft base and stamped the duck, diaper, bottle and rattle border in dark chocolate several times. It is super easy to line up and can easily be matched for any length of card. Next I cut a scallop in spring rain with the large scallop die and adhered it to the bottom of the kraft base. I stamped and cut out the cute little duck from a variety of bitty dot papers. I stamped each image three times. I used some dimensional foam on the bodies and on the wing. I got to use my harvest gold felt with the ric rack die for the first time on this card too. It is so perfect for a baby card. I used Fillable Frame #1, a sentiment from Night Night Moon and Fresh Alphabet letters to spell out the baby's name on the frame. The finishing touch was one last duck image cut out and adhered to the label. I am so happy with the way this card turned out.

Details:

Paper: Kraft, Spring Rain, various Bitty Dot Basics

Stamps: Night Night Moon, Fillable Frame #1, Fresh Alphabet

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening

Accessories: Large Scallop Die, Harvest Gold Felt