Casing Ingrid Danvers...

I loved the January PTI Blog Hop.  This month the format was different and there were thumbnail pictures of each participant's projects.  It made it so easy to go back and find cards you loved and wanted to try and make for yourself.  I was immediately drawn to a card by Ingrid Danvers using the Little Lady Stamp set.  Here is her card: 

And a link to it:       http://ingriddanvers.com/archives/5855

I admit that I had an absolutely identical card whipped up in about 15 minutes.  No point in posting the picture, as I did not change it a bit, except I used red twill instead of red satin ribbon.

The next day, I did however, make an additional card that was a little different using the very same design and a different PTI stamp set, Butterfly Dreams. 

Here is my card :                       

I stamped Raspberry Fizz butterflies on the Sheet Music background and used two colors of felt and some Hawaiian Shores Bitty Dot paper on the two types of butterfly die cuts.  One thing that was just a bit different was the bitty dot border cut on the top of the card.  I originally was going to use the Victorian Lace die, but after I cut it, I saw the piece that was left over and actually liked it better on this card.  It is nice to know that one die can produce two different types of looks.  The last thing I used was a few rhinestones for the center of the butterfly.  I would like to thank Ingrid for the inspiration to make two cards to add to my "Gonna give them to someone, someday card collection".

Blog Candy From Moonlight Stamper

Here's a chance to win a PTI stamp set, Calendar Basics from Wendy of Moonlight Stamper.
  Follow this link:
http://www.moonlightstamper.com/blog/papertrey-ink-blog-hop-and-candy-too

Mojo Monday 175

I had the best day yesterday.  When I got home from work, I met the mailman in the driveway and did he have some great stuff for me! My PTI order, some stamps I split with a PTI friend, some beautiful  new felt and a great book to read from another PTI friend.  I  spent the rest of the afternoon and evening putting away my stamps and making this card. I will have to get to the book a bit later!  Once again I turned to a sketch challenge for my inspiration.  I used Mojo Monday 175 .   Here is a link for more information. http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/2011/01/mojo-monday-175.html

Here is my card:                            

I have been counting the days until I received the damask Mat Stack #3 image and knew I wanted to use it for the focal point of this card.  I chose Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding and Spring Moss for my colors.  I got to use my new double-ended banner die with a great sentiment from Simple Sentiments.  Every single sentiment in that set fits so perfectly on the cute banner.  I know I will use it over and over again for many different occasions.  You can't see it too well, but I used a snippet of my new green felt that I bought from:  www.etsy.com/people/materialevidenceshop?ref=ls_profile.   It is a perfect match for Spring Moss cardstock and is an excellent quality felt.  I found this felt source from a PTI friend, Jen Carter who always has such great felt on her cards.  I used the green felt as a base for the cute little butterfly and some Plum Pudding bitty dot paper for the top layer of the butterfly.  Here is a view of the cute felt butterfly:    

I used some pearls as accents and popped up the banner with dimensional foam.  I can't tell you how much pleasure I get from assembling a card using so many of my beloved stamps and embellishments.  Thanks for sharing my excitement!

PTI January Blog Hop



Today is the January PTI Blog Hop.  Our challenge this month was to use a stamp set that has never been used.  Since I have used some of every set of stamps I have, I used
a little creative license and made a type of card that was new to me.  This is my first "Shaped" card and I used a free svg file from

Maria Bell.  Here is a link if you want to check it out.   http://stampininspirations.blogspot.com/2010/04/little-cs-new-relese-cc-design-stamps.html

I think the cupcake file is just adorable and I used lots of PTI supplies to make my card.  My favorite element is the Sunshine impression plate I used for the frosting part of the cupcake.  Those swirls are just perfect to imitate icing.  Niki Estes made a cute cupcake card recently that inspired one of the elements on this card.  Here is a link to her card: http://nikiestes.typepad.com/my_paper_creations/2011/01/birthday-cards-tags.html.  I love the circle/pinked circle with the big Number One on it.  This card is for a sweet little girl who turns one next week and I used Background Basics Tin Type on both the rickrac and the number (don't know why I don't use this more often). The raspberry fizz circle has Background Basics Sheet Music stamped on it with Versamark.  I scored the back of the cupcake liner with my ScorBug which gives a really nice texture on the "right" side of the patterned paper.  I added a bit of prisma glitter to the edges of the cupcake liner.  I can hardly wait to give this card to sweet little Leah.  Thanks for taking a look at my project.

CPS 99-Little Bitty Bird

Today I had some time to create and again decided to use a sketch challenge for my inspiration.  I used CPS#99.  Here is the sketch:                       

If you want to get more details:  http://cardpatterns.blogspot.com/2011/01/sketch-99.html

Here is my card based on this sketch:

I used a kraft base, impressed with the woodgrain impression plate.  The Sweet Blush strip was embossed with a cuttlebug embossing folder, just because it's almost Valentines Day and I only get to use this folder a few times a year!  For the scallop in the sketch, I used the loopy border from Little Bitty Bird.  I thought was a bit different than using scallops which was my first thought.  I wrapped a few loops of red/white twine and tied it in a little bow.  The focal image is once again one of those cute little birds perched on a branch colored with gel pens.  The bird is cut with some felt and the eye is a tiny rhinestone.  This was a very quick card to put together.  Think I will send this off to a friend...just because!

All Materials PTI other than the twine and Cuttlebug Heart Embossing folder.

Wonderfully Wrapped Valentine Box

                                                                                                                                             
Now that my PTI friend Ted has received his Valentine swap gift from me, I want to blog a bit about it and how I made it.  The box is a gable box called Wonderfully Wrapped made on my Cricut and created by Lauren Meader of My Time Made Easy. http://mytimemadeeasy.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=7_5&products_id=319

This box is really easy to make.  I couldn't believe how easy it was to put together.  It is a very large box too.  It fit a ton of candy when I filled it.  I cut the box base from Vintage Cream cardstock.  The decorative panels are of coordinating bitty dot basic paper.  Here's a picture of the box from side showing the decorative panels:

I also cut a medallion on my cricut and stamped a 1.75" tag using the sweet leaf image from Flutterby Friend colored in colors of pink, red and burgundy.  A limitless layer die was behind the tag.  The entire medallion was adhered to a Mat Stack 3 diecut embossed with a sizzix embossing folder.  Some Pure Poppy buttons and twine were added to the sides of the box.  Had this been for a girl, I would have used a box, but I didn't want to girly it up too much.  I figured the red/pink leaves were enough!  Some red saddled stitch ribbon, stickles and a coordinating tag tied with red/white twine completed this box.  I also made a coordinating card.                                        

I love the way it turned out.  I got to stitch it with my new Sew Mini.  It was so much easier than using my old sewing maching.  I was so pleased with how to project turned out.  I tried really hard to make it "perfect", with no little mistakes.  Making a card for someone who really knows his stuff was a bit intimidating.  I hope you all will give these little boxes a try.  I think you will be like me and be surprised how easy it is.  Thanks for taking a look.

Materials:

Wonderfully Wrapped by My Time Made Easy

All other Materials, PTI

Mojo Monday 173- Little Bitty Bird

I found myself needing a little inspiration today, so I checked out some of the sketch challenges posted this week.   I ended up making  a card using Mojo Monday Sketch  #173 using Little Bitty Bird.  Here is the sketch:



For the details of this sketch challenge, read here: http://mojomonday.blogspot.com/2011/01/mojo-monday-173.html

Here is my card: 

I think these little birds are so sweet and used Pure Poppy and Sweet Blush cardstock, impression plates, some gel pens, stitching, red felt, ribbon and heart-shaped rhinestones to bling up my take on the sketch.  I have several sketch challenge sites bookmarked now, so I should never be at a total loss for inspiration.

Little Bitty Bird Anniversary

My Little Bitty Bird stamp and die set arrived yesterday and within an hour, I had my first card completed.  I have absolutely loved all of the cute cards I have been seeing with this set.  For my first card with it, I used Music Background, Framed, Wreath for All Seasons, Mixed Messages and Fresh Alphabet stamp sets.  The music background is stamped on a white panel with Sweet Blush Ink.  It is so soft and pretty.  In honor of our 31st anniversary, the sweet little birds are blue and pink perched on a dark chocolate wreath with Spring Rain berries.  A sentiment from Mixed Messages and three teeny blue heart shaped rhinestones added to the corner of the frame finish this card.  I love this card, but when I showed it to my daughter she told me it was a little "corny" and why would I have little fish inside a wreath?  I may end up drawing on little bird legs, but when I look at it, I see nothing but birds.  What do you think?  Should I add legs?  I am quite sure my husband won't care either way! 

2011 Christmas Card #1

                  

 I can't quite give up on Christmas just yet.  Today I made my first card for Christmas 2011.  I used a stamp set I got after Christmas for $1.39.  Honestly, that is about what it was worth, even though I really do love the images.  Once you have used a quality clear stamp, you really can't compare it to stamps you get at a discount.  Anyway, I used lots of tea dye on this card and cut a doily using an svg file on my cricut.  I stamped the image directly onto the doily cut from Fine Linen cardstock.  I cut a frame from some Spellbinder dies, ran it through my Xyron and glittered it all up with Prisma Glitter.  I doubled up some patterned paper and cut a medium scallop border and wrapped it around the card spine.  A few glittery snowflakes on opposite edges and a little more tea dye finish on card #1 for next year's Christmas season.  Don't think I will wish anyone a Merry Christmas just yet though!

HEC #13 (Using a series of 1's)

                                                                                 
Today I played along with one of Ted's HEC #13.  Click here to read more about this particular challenge:
HEC #13.  Ted's challenge was tough.  We were to use a series of 1's in honor of the new year with all of it's 1's (1/1/11, etc).  I found this very challenging despite my personal stamping style being CAS.  To me, my card feels almost naked.  I found it very difficult to use only one layer, one color, one stamp and one embellishment.  I wanted to add a bow, a rhinestone or almost anything to perk up this card.  Here is how I interpreted the fine points of the challenge:
1 card layer:  Spring Rain cardstock
1 matt layer:  White embossed with Cuttlebug folder
1 stamp :  Sentiment from Damask Designs
1 ink color:  Spring Rain
1 embellishment:  Bird covered with prisma glitter

I think I covered all of the challenge points, but can tell you, I know I definitely need more "stuff" on my cards.  So, thanks Ted for the challenge, but I think it's safe to say that I won't be making any more "1" cards in the near future!

Thinking of You

                                                                             
Happy New Year!  It has been almost one year since I started my blog and my first card of 2011 is one of encouragement meant to let someone know that I am thinking of them.  I recently won the PTI stamp set Butterfly Dreams on Niki Estes blog and this was the first opportunity I had to use it.  Berry Sorbet is such a cheerful color and the butterflies come out so crisp and clean looking when stamped in this color ink.  Spring Moss was a soft and dreamy color to pair with the Berry Sorbet cardstock.  I used the sprig from Flutterby Friend and a few Berry Sorbet flowers and a sentiment stamped in Dark Chocolate on the circular focal point panel.  Spring Moss saddle-stitch ribbon with a small tag stamped with the word "friend" were added over a Banner Builder scallop.  The last touch for this card was a cute butterfly with some pearls layered on the butterfly body popped up with dimensional foam.  All in all, a cheery little card to ring in the New Year.