Getting back to crafting, and a tag....

I've done a little crafting here and there the past year, but only usually for a specific project.  I've really missed the outlet of just playing around without the pressure for my project to come out right-or even look decent!

I spent some time creating over this past long weekend and plan on sharing some things here.  I'm not sure if anyone still reads here as I'm so inconsistent at posting.  Sorry about that for any of you who still hang around!

Starting off simple to get back into things, here's a little tag:

 

Cardstock, button, stamps(Mini Blooms), bakers twine, and tag die: PTI
Ribbon and ink: SU!

FSM23 and PDCC 120

When I'm out of mojo, I love to combine a sketch challenge with a color challenge to make the planning of a project so much easier.  With all the colors and layout picked for me, I just get to do the fun part and get inky!

This week I worked with Freshly Made Sketches #23:

And the Play Date Cafe Challenge #120:

And here is my take on the two challenges:

I used a cute little $5 set from PTI to bring together a really quick and easy card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

FMS19 and CTD176

Freshly Made Sketches  has a great new sketch to try this week.  The scalloped border immediately made me want to use my newest border die, so I was all ready to get started.


Then I saw the Color Throwdown Challenge for this week and just love these colors together! The bed in the inspiration photo is really beautiful, too! 


And here is my project combining the two challenges.  It isn't exactly what I planned in my head, but it's not too horrible :)

Stamps: PTI Botanical Sihouettes, Mehndi Medallion

Ink: SU! Rose Red, Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip

Cardstock: SU! Crumb Cake, Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze, Rose Red DP, PTI white

Dies: PTI Mat Stack 5, Mat Stack 1, hearts border, filigree border

Color Q Challenge 81 + Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger

When perusing the challenges this week, I knew right away that these two would be a perfect match!
The Color Q Challenge #81 draws inspiration from these adorable little knit bunnies.  They look so cuddly and come in a great variety of spring colors.

The Moxie Fab World Tuesday Trigger reminded me of the colors of bunnies.  I was thinking Old Olive leaves, soft pink blooms, and a bit of sunshine added in with So Saffron.  I could also envision a Soft Sky background behind this beautiful boquet.

Just this week I picked up this fun leaves on a branch die from Sizzix.  I wasn't even looking for dies, but at 40% off at J's I figured I might as well go down that aisle.  This little die jumped out at me as perfect for Spring projects and at sale price it was just over $4.  What a steal!

I wanted to base my card around the leaves and a bouquet of sorts seemed to be the right idea.  It was really easy to arrange them around one of the fun doily die cuts from PTI.  Hand-rolling my own flowers has been a challenge, but I think I'm starting to get the hang of it.  What do you think? :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamps: PTI Tiny Tags

Cardstock: SU Soft Sky, So Saffron, Old Olive, Pink Pirouette, PTI white

Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette

Dies: PTI Mat Stack 4 and Tiny Tags, Doily Details Sizzix leaf

Other: PTI bakers twine, i-rock rhinestones, Making Memories paper flowers (white)

Happily Ever After Challenged #16 - Sweet Sixteen!

Ted over at Happily Ever Crafter has a fun challenge going on in honor of his 44th birthday.  The challenge was to incorporate purple and green into a project and to use four of something. 

This challenge was right up my alley because I also love purple and green together!  Add four bright and shiny rhinestones and I've got it covered!

Here is the LINK if you'd like to participate, too!

Happy Birthday, Ted!!!  May all your wishes come true!

Stamps: PTI Mat Stack One, Mat Stack Four
Cardstock: PTI white, Royal Velvet
Ink: SU Wild Wasabi, Momento black
Other: PTI doily die, Mat Stack Four die, SU rhinestones

A try at vintage...

I've never really tried the vintage look before but I've fallen in love with all the PTI sets which have recently come out that are geared around the vintage look.  I had fun mixing and matching these sets to come up with this card.  The tea dye duo inks made it really easy to add some aging and depth to the edges of the elements.

I think I'm going to like this whole vintage thing!

Stamps: PTI: Postmarks, Mat Stack 4, Tiny Tags, Background Basics Text Style.
Cardstock: PTI: Kraft, White.  SU: Baja Breeze, Groovy Guava.
Ink: SU: Baja Breeze, Chocolate Chip.  PTI: Chai (tea dye duo)
Other: PTI dies: Doily Details, Postage, Tiny Tags, Mat Stack 4. Cricut: hearts.  Martha Stewart butterfly punch. PTI: bakers twine. Flower: hand-rolled. 

Faith Flowers

I'm back with a project using another one of Mabelle's beautiful images from Whimsy and Stars Studio.  This sweet little girl with her pot of flowers is called "Faith Flowers" .  It looked like Spring had finally sprung around here today so I was inspired to make a cheery, bright, and flowery card.

A lot of times when using images of people, I can't figure out where to put the sentiment.  The fabulous new set Tiny Tags from Papertrey ink makes it so easy to add a sentiment as a little tag.  It's super easy too because there is a matching die to cut out all the little shapes of tags.

For this little tag I just threaded the tag with some baker's twine and hung it from behind the felt flowers.  You can't tell from the still photo, but it's kind-of fun how the little tag just dangles and swings free. 

I hope all of you were able to enjoy a bit of sunshine today and here's fingers crossed for more to come! Yay for Spring!

Stamps: "Faith Flowers" by Whimsy and Stars Studio, Tiny Tags by Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Stampin Up Baja Breeze, Perfect Plum, Melon Mambo
Ink: Perfect Plum (SU), Memento black, Copics
Other: Doily Details die (PTI), Tiny Tags die (PTI), i-rock tool and rhinestones, baker's twine (PTI), felt flowers (Making Memories), Cuttlebug dots embossing folder

Happy Valentines!

      Good evening everyone!  How was your Valentine's Day?  I hope everyone had a fabulous day with whomever they spent it with.  My hubby had to leave for work about an hour after I got home from work, so it was a short and sweet take-out dinner for us and the kiddos!

I spent my "me" time tonight stocking up my shopping cart for PTI's February release.  I'm going to have a really hard time waiting for all of my new goodies to get here!  I'm super impatient when it comes to toys :)

Being the procrastinator I am, and add into that a super busy week, I still have to go make 20 Valentine goodie bags for the kids to take to day-care tomorrow.  So, it looks like I better get going.  I'll leave with a simple little ditty for tonight:

Stamps: SU Aviary
Ink: Memento black, Riding Hood Red
Cardstock: Kraft, Riding Hood Red, Vanilla
Other: MS edge punch, Crop-o-dile corner chomper

Sorry I was crabby...

...but with the week I've had I think I deserve to be a little crabby.  :) 

This is a little card I made as an apology to someone I was a bit crabby with the other day.  She knows I wasn't being crabby towards her, but I was a bit to crabby in general.  Simply said, I probably wasn't too much fun to be with at that time!  We all have our moments though, right?  :)

I hope you all have a fabulous and non-crabby week!

(holy cow, do you think I could say "crabby" one more time?  Doh!  I just did it again!)

Stamp: SU It's the Thought
Cardstock: River Rock, Tangerine Tango, White
Ink: Soft Sky, River Rock, Memento tuxedo black
Other: embossing folder, Nestabilities labels four, Prisma pencil with gamsol, ink blending tool

I'm Back!

Thanks to my fabulous hubby, our computer is back up and running! YAY!
So at least while I couldn't use the computer, I had more time to play with my stamps. :)
This one is a CASE from the new catty:

Stamps: Always
Ink: Baja Breeze, Pink Pirouette, Chocolate Chip
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla
Other: hemp twine, MS edge punch, SU scallop punch, circle punch

Today's the Day!

The new Stampin' Up catalog goes live at noon, Utah time. If you're not sure what time that translates to for you, HERE is a map which will tell you the current time in any timezone. How handy!
I still have a few catalogs left, so if you're interested in one please contact me.
I can't do another post again this week with no pictures, so here are a couple of quick 3x3's using one of my favorite sets EVAH!

Stamps: Pocket Silhouettes

Ink: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss

Cardstock: Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla

Punches: Scallop, Circle, Rounded Corner

Crumb Cake....YUM!

I love Crumb Cake! Both the sweet, crumbly, baked variety and the yummy color of cardstock. Luckily, the latter one is much easier on the hips!

Stamp: sentiment from Trendy Trees
Cardstock: Crumb Cake, Baja Breeze, Very Vanilla
Other: MS butterfly punch, misc. rhinestones, dimensionals

More Bling!

Following in the clean and simple style with some added bling. Going simple with one layer makes it so easy to crank out a great set of notecards. I hope my friends and family like them becuase I can't stop making them which means everyone is getting a set!


Stamps: SU! Simply Said
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Riding Hood Red, Pacific Point, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, So Saffron
Other: Colorbok rhinestones

Bling!

I have recently discovered a fabulous blog, Simplicity by Late Blossom, by Susan Raihala, the queen of clean and simple cards. Her work is so beautiful, fresh, and clean looking. And my favorite part of her cards is the bling!

I was inspired to try some out for myself. This card isn't exactly the same, but total credit goes to Susan for the design as seen on her blog here. You can see I shamelessly lifted this one from her!


If you like bling as much as I do, you may find it more cost-effective to purchase your rhinestones in the jewelry-making aisle of your local craft store. I have found a significant cost difference as I can pick up a pack of 150 rhinestones for under $3. Add in a 40% off coupon and you're looking at $1.80. Not bad!

Stamps: SU! Pocket Silhouettes
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Baja Breeze
Other: flatback crystals from the jewelry isle at Michaels.

Catty CASE X2

Paper: Very Vanilla, Kiwi Kiss, Baja Breeze, Red Riding Hood
Stamps: Lots of Thoughts, Simply Said(large heart), Studio G(small hearts)
Ink: Kiwi Kiss, Red Riding Hood, Staz On black
Other: Martha Stewart onyx glitter, Therm O Web mounting adhesive, Cricut Printing Press(brackets)

Paper: Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Red Riding Hood, Kiwi Kiss, Pink Pirouette, Baja Breeze

Stamp: Happy Heart Day

Ink: Chocolate Chip

Other: Cricut George(flower and heart cut-outs), brad, jute, diamond embossing powder

Love U

I'm so excited, I figured out how to make my own Sticky Cuts! I ran a sheet of Therm O Web mounting adhesive through my Cricut to cut the letter U. Then I peeled off the backing, placed the letter on my card and pressed it down firmly. Then I just peeled off the top layer of paper leaving a clear adhesive letter. Then I covered it in glitter which stuck great!
This card is a CASE of one of my favorite makers, Krystie Lee. Here is her card: Tweet Heart in White

Stamps: SU Simply Said (heart), Studio G (love you)
Ink: SU Pink Pirouette, SU Riding Hood Red, SU Baja Breeze (flower), Staz On black
Other: Making Memories brad and flowers, Martha Stewart onyx glitter, Therm O Web mounting adhesive, Cricut Printing Press cartridge (letter 'U')

Simply Said

Paper: Whisper White, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss
Stamps: Simply Said
Ink: Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Red Riding Hood, Baja Breeze, Pacific Point, Chocolate Chip
Other: American Crafts ribbon

Always...Everything

I don't know why it took me so dang long to use the heart image from this set. The heart and the birdie were the main reasons I bought it. Luckily I was able to track down a little piece of Soft Sky to do this card. I'm going through withdrawals! :) Hopefully my final order of the In Colors will make it all in one piece!

Stamps: Always
Ink: Soft Sky, Groovy Guava
Paper: Wild Wasabi, Soft Sky, Groovy Guava
Other: Groovy Guava ribbon, scallop punch, 1 3/8 circle punch, scallop scissors, white gel pen

Version two:

Everything the same as above except colors, Wild Wasabi, Close to Cocoa, and Chocolate Chip.

It feels like it has been forever since I've stamped. Photography has been keeping me busy, but today was an extra day off work for the 4th and I just had to stamp it up!
Happy Fourth everyone!

Stamps: Friendship Blooms
Paper: Old Olive, Apricot Appeal, Ruby Red, Blue Bayou
Ink: Blue Bayou, Apricot Appeal, Ruby Red
Other: Blue Bayou ribbon, Fiskars scalloped scissors

Sheesh, I guess I should have photographed this against a different background other than white! Sorry for the pic.
This is one of a big set of thank you cards I made cased from Monica's great card on SCS.

Stamps: Seeing Spots

Paper: Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue

Ink: Close to Cocoa, Bashful Blue

Other: Making Memories silver brad