MIM #12 & CR84FN Color Challenge

Today I made a card for Papertreyink Make it Monday #12 (Hand-drawn Line Frame) that also fits the color challenge at CR84FUN.  Top find out more about the CR84FN challenge, here is a link for the details. http://cr84fncolorchallenge.blogspot.com/2011/04/cr84fn24-terrific-top-3.html  The colors this week are Red, Aqua and White.  Such a great combo!

Here is my card:

I used my Impression Obsession Cover a Card: Roses stamp in Hawaiian Shores ink to stamp the pattern around the hand-drawn frame.  It was actually easy to draw the line frame, much easier than before I watched Nichole Heady's MIM tutorial.  Here hints about drawing penci marks at each corner helped so much to  create a straight line.  I stamped the sentiment from Mat Stack #4 and used that sweet little ladybug stamped with it's red polka dots for the main image.  The little train is made with red stickles and is quite glitzy in person.   I need more practice making even dots with my stickles, otherwise I was happy with the results of this card.  Thanks for taking a look!

Amber Ink Project #2 or "I'm not Paula Deen"

I have been feeling a bit nostalgic lately. My kids are grown and my oldest son Matt, is married and is the one who most often is the cook in his family. He often calls me on the phone and asks me how to make something that I used to make for him when he was living at home. This is where I will tell you that, “I am not Paula Deen, Rachael Ray, Giada or any of the Top Chefs.” I never cooked anything that was a spectacular, creative, one of a kind recipe. I am very much like Sandra Lee whose cooking show is called “Semi-HomeMade”. I use frozen or packaged foods to make something that is “sort of” homemade.

As I was scanning the Amber Ink store for something to make for my second project, I spotted some ipaper which really jumped out at me. It is Eat Me, Drink Me-Blue:Tiny.   I decided to use this paper to make a recipe box that I could give to Matt with some of his favorite recipes in it. As an added bonus, Amberink sells recipe card digital stamps that I was able to download to use with this recipe box as well. How lucky was I? The recipe cards are called Back to School Recipe Card: Ingredients and Back to School Recipe Card: Directions

Here is the recipe box that I am going to give to Matt.

Keep in mind that this is going to a man. Had it been for my daughter-in-law, I would have sparkled, laced and flowered it up a bit, but for Matt, I kept it very plain and simple. I covered a recipe box I got from my LSS with the Eat Me, Drink Me paper and added some PTI Blueberry Sky Saddle Stitch ribbon. I die cut Mat Stack #4 and a Limitless Layer circles from Enchanted Evening cardstock. I used a computer generated sentiment and punched it out with a 1 ¾” circle punch.

Now, on to the Recipe Cards to go with the box.



(The cards were adhered back-to-back after being photographed)



Aren’t these just perfect to use with the Eat Me, Drink Me paper? I sized them to fit the recipe box and printed them out on white cardstock. The first recipe I wrote up for Matt was his favorite cake that I only make once a year on his birthday. (All of my kids have a different cake that I only make once a year; makes their day very special.) Even grownups like their birthday to be special. Since his cake is a Strawberry Cream Cheese cake, I had to stamp a few strawberries on the recipe card and some other birthday-related stamps to add a little color and interest. I have written up all of his favorite recipes and plan to do the same with all three of kids. My hope is that years from now, they will open up this recipe box and be reminded of some of the “semi-homemade” food I used to cook for them.

Make sure you check out all of the great ipaper, digital and clear stamps available in the Amber Ink Store.

Birthday Words and Polka Dots

Today I made a card for Papertrey Ink's April Blog hop and Impression Obsession "Do the Polka" challenge.  Papertrey Ink's challenge was to make a masculine card.  See the details here: and for the Impression Obsession challenge, we were to use polka dots, my favorite.  See the details here: http://mitrafriant.typepad.com/impression_obsession_news/2011/04/do-the-polka.html

I just got  my first Impression Obsession stamps a few days ago.  I ordered four of their Cover-A-Card stamps, and do they ever cover a card!  They are 5 3/4 x 5 3/4 and so detailed and easy to cover an entire card with no mess-ups on lining them up.  My card uses Cover A Card: Birthday Words and it was the perfect choice for a masculine card stamped in dark chocolate ink onto spring rain cardstock.  I took a tip from Nichole Heady and stamped it onto the back of the card as well.  It really does make the card look as though I had used patterned paper for my cardbase.  I used a Papertrey Ink polka dot impression plate for the dark chocolate strip and also used a 5 x 7 polka dot cuttlebug folder on Mat Stack #1.  The sentiment is from Think Big Favorites #1.  It needed a little more color, so I added three candles stamped in pure poppy and some orange stickles for the little birthday candle flames.  I am so pleased with how this card turned out and I think my "dread" of making a masculine card is now over.

Amber Ink Project #1

Today I will be showing you my first project as one of this month's guest designers for Amber Ink.  Amber Ink is a company that sells digital stamp images, but also clear stamps and digital paper as well.  For my first project I chose to use one of their digital images, Raccoon Friends.  Here is my card:

Isn't this raccoon the most adorable thing ever?  He was such fun to color using copics too.  What I love about Amber Ink images is that you can get each image individually, or as a group.  This little raccoon came in a group with another raccoon and the tree as one image, but also individually.  That makes it not only economic, but versatile too.  I also used a scaled down version of the birds nest from Papertrey Ink's Birds of a Feather set and a sentiment from PTI's Flutterby Friend.  The grass and flowers are from Love Lives Here.  For this project, I used patterned paper  from The Paper Loft called Back Country.  I think the colors blended so nicely with the cute grey raccoon and browns of the tree trunk.  Hope you liked my first card for Amber Ink.  Make sure to check out their site.  You won't be disappointed.

The Torch Has Landed

I have some fun news today.  I have been passed the torch.  What torch, you say?  Well, as you scan through your favorite blogs, you may have seen these cute little badges of a dark haired beauty holding up what looks like an Olympic torch.  For the record, I look nothing like that, but I am thrilled to now be able to display one of those badges on my own blog.  The badge represents a one month guest designer position with Amber Ink, a very creative company that sells both digital and clear stamps as well as some beautiful and fun digital papers.  I was lucky enough to receive this torch from my sweet friend, Amy Everson.  I have known Amy for a while now and she was actually my Holiday Swap partner over on the PTI forum as well as a member of the Papertrey Posse which I also belong to.  I am so grateful to Amy for offering me this opportunity.  I will admit I am more than a little bit nervous about all this, but I have fallen in love with Amber Ink products and am looking forward to sharing some projects with you using their products in the coming month.  So, thank again, Amy.  This should be a very exciting month for me.   I will be sharing my first project with you all tomorrow.  Wish me luck and make sure to check out the Amber Ink website.  You will love it.

Here are the other creative ladies who will be carrying the torch with me for the month of April:
Michele Greenwood:  http://whimsicalcreations.blogspot.com/
Anne Cullen :  http://craftyannyskoolkardz.blogspot.com/
Katie Kahl:  http://katiesscrappyplace.blogspot.com/
Jane Matsumoto: http://whoopsiedaisy-jane.blogspot.com/

Card Pattern Sketch #111

I made one more card using CPS #111.  My first card is here:  http://emptynestcrafter.blogspot.com/2011/04/papertrey-posse-april-challenge.html

I used Background Basic Sheet Music stamped with Smokey Shadow Ink.  I tried a new green ink, hoping for a match for Simply Chartruese, but it is a bit too "limey" as a match, but nice if you aren't trying to match cardstock.  The stamps are Larger than Life, with one spring popped up on dimensionals.

Here is a pic of the sprig popped up:

I rolled up the ribbon with Scor-Tape and added some little flowers, pearls and a label from Friendship Jar tied with twine.  I like how this card turned out as it is a little truer to the sketch. 

Papertrey Posse April Challenge

Today I made a card for the Papertrey Posse April Challenge as well CPS #111.  For the Papertrey Posse, this month was a fun and simple challenge.  We were to use two of the Papertreyink Make It Monday techniques on our card.  I chose MIM #2 Using Vellum and MIM #9 Heat Embossing. 

I just borrowed YOF Gladiolus from my PTI friend Renee and thought that big beautiful image perfectly fit the CPS sketch #111.  Here is the sketch: 

Here is the card I made:

It is all Papertreyink and very simple.  The only thing a bit different is the piece of Distressed Dot patterned paper behind the vellum strip.  I sprayed it with 3M Super 77 spray and as long as you lay the vellum on perfectly the first try, no adhesive shows through it.  There is a little bit of prisma glitter on the gladiolus centers and 3 rhinestones colored with copic markers on the top right.  Thanks for taking a look at my card.

Hello Sunshine

This is a card I made a while back for a PaperCraft submission.  It is based on this sketch:

Here is the card I made:

I used lots of Fall colors on this one as it was for a Fall submission.  This was the first time I rolled twine for the center of a flower too.  It very easy to do using scortape.  The ricrack is impressed with the linen impression plate and I used Distressed dot paper for the flowers.  I am looking forward to seeing the magazine when it comes out to see which one was chosen.  I am still plugging away, trying to get something published.  I do believe it will happen one day.  PATIENCE.  I keep telling myself that.

Papertrey Posse April Petite Challenge & MIM #9



Today I made a graduation card that fit two challenges.  First, the Papertrey Posse April Petite Challenge and second, PTI Make-It-Monday #9.

The Papertrey Posse challenge was a sketch challenge hosted by our hostess, Debbie.  Here is the sketch:

Cute sketch, don't you think?
The Papertreyink MIM #8 challenge was to use heat embossing and here is my card:

I used Hawaiian Shores cardstock and embossed it with a cuttlebug folder.  The heat embossing is done with clear embossing powder on Background Basic Woodgrain on both Mat Stack #4 and on the little sentiment banner.  I popped up the graduation hat onto the car roof from Enjoy the Ride (I am sure I have seen this done before, but don't remember where).  I put the graduation year onto the license plate and wrapped some twine around the card base.  Of course I had to put the cute little puppy from Tiny Treats Valentines as the driver of the graduation bug.  So cute.  The papers are from the Hawaiian Shores paper pack and New Leaf for the doily.  Thanks for taking a look at my card today.

HEC Sweet 16



Today I made a card for Ted's HEC Sweet 16 .  Ted is having birthday #44 on April 20th and to celebrate, we were to make a card in mostly green and purple (Ted's favorite colors) and to use 4 of something on the card.  For my card, I used four panels each with Little Bitty Bird branches stamped on it.  I colored them with four different color pens and on the last panel, diecut a bird from green Bitty Dot paper and put a cute little party hat on him.  In my mind, that little bird is Ted celebrating his special day.  I embossed the green cardbase with the Pacific Vineyard impression plate that I think looks very much like the little branches in the Little Bitty Bird stamp set.  Don't you agree?  A double ended banner and sentiment from Enjoy the Ride and Birthday Bash Sentiments finish off my card.  I hope Ted get's lots of entries this month and I know we all wish him a very happy birthday!