Leafy Thank You (Moxie: Fabulous Felt Challenge, CAS FTL#155, PTI:MIM#31)

Sorry it's been a while since my last post, my health hasn't been doing very well.  If any of you have had a full historectomy and are willing to talk about it please email me.  I am in the process of considering one and doing some research.  I am only thirty five and have never had any children, so I am struggling with the emotional part of it as well.  Thanks for your support, as always.  Now for the card...

The sentiment stamp is from the retired collection of A Muse Artstamps.  The patterned paper is from the Lime Twist collection from MME, which is so adorable!  I love that collection!  The last 3 collections from MME have been so cute and I have been completely addicted!  The rest of the supplies for the card are all from PTI.  I made the felt flower for the Fabulous Felt Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.  The Turning a New Leaf stamp set from PTI is what I used to stamp the background for PTI's Make It Monday challenge on Nichole's blog.  The challenge was to create a background with non-background stamps.  How do you think I did? 

My card is based on this week's sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping.  Along with the sketch we were supposed to use a color panel from ColourQ because it is ColourQ's 100th sketch and they teamed up. 

This is the color panel I chose for my card to go along with the sketch.  I really love the colors in this panel and will probably use it again.  The neat thing about the ColourQ blog is that you can use the previous week's color panels to make projects and then link them back to the blog for fun.  The panels have so many color combos to choose from.  I hope you all have a great week!  Happy Crafting!!

Odds & Ends (PTI: MIM: freestyle copic coloring, Cosmo Cricket sketch)

Well hello there!  I know it's been a while.  I had a pretty bad migraine and then was having tons of problems with my internet.  My router actually broke and I had to get a new one and install it.  We only had our old one for a year so it was ridiculous that it broke!  I was really frustrated, but it's fixed now.  On with the details of the card...

For today's card I used the Friends 'til the End stamp set for the flower and the Autumn Abundance set for the sentiment, both from PTI.  I "freestyle" copic colored the flower for PTI's Make it Monday challenge on Nichole's blog.  The baker's twine is from MME.  All of the patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Odds & Ends mini deck.  That little pad is soo cute!  I'm in love with some of those patterns!  I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out.  The punched edge is a border punch from EK Success.

The colors of my card were inspired by the PTI blog hop photo above.  I used blue background patterned paper to represent the girl's blue dress.  The gerber daisy and the flower patterned paper represent the pink daisies in the suitcase.  I wanted to use red as a prominant color because red was the first color that popped out at me when I looked at the photo.  The green patterned paper behind the image and the green ink for the sentiment represent the green leaves and the green grass in the photo.  If you would like to play along in the blog hop you have until 9pm EST Aug. 25th and you can find all the info on Nichole's blog.   

 The design of the card was inspired by the sketch this week at the Cosmo Cricket blog.  If you link your take on this sketch to the blog by Aug 27th you have a chance to be published in CARDS magazine.  You can read all the details by clicking on the link above. 

I hope you enjoyed my card.  I hope you're all having a great week!  Happy Crafting!

J'Dore Anniversary Card (PTI: MIM: decreasing apetures)

Hello everyone!  I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!  Summer has finally arrived here in Oregon!  We've had 3 straight weekends with 80 degreee weather, can you believe it?!  I thought I'd share a couple pics of my cute as a button niece, Caylee, since a few of you were asking....

This one is her sleeping on her momma's chest.  Isn't she just the cutest thing EVER?!  Maybe I'm a little biased, but I really don't think so. :)

This is one with her eyes open and she's even trying to smile for you.  It's at a weird angle cause I'm holding her cradled in my arms and my hubby is taking the pic above us.  She's got the perfect amount of hair and is so skinny and long.  She's super mellow and likes to smile A LOT!  The perfect baby in my opinion. :)

And here's one of the proud parents.  That's my little bro and his girlfriend.  They are doing pretty great for not knowing what do at all.  My brother wants to do everything, which I think is so cute.  He'll change his mind soon enough. :)  Hope you like the pics, now on to the card...

I made today's card for this week's challenge for PTI on Nichole's blog.  The challenge was to make a project using decreasing apetures, or windows, and add a glittered one for your last one if you so desired.  I wasn't feeling the glitter this time.  I needed an anniversary card for my in-laws so that's where this card is headed.  The patterned paper is from the new Lost and Found 2 paper pads from MME and I am in love!!  The flowers are Prima and aren't they beautiful?  I just love that color!  I used the tag trio and labels 9 Nestabilties dies.  I didn't have a heart die for the last window so I had to settle for a Marvy heart punch.  All other supplies are PTI:  limitless layers dies 1 3/4", cardstock, sweet blush ribbon, damask designs stamp set, and mixed messages stamp set.  Hope you all enjoy this card!  I gotta dash...Happy Crafting!

Bee Thankful (ESS #135, CR84FN35, PTI: MIM)

I hope you all had  a great day today!  It was finally hot and sunny here in the Pacific Northwest.  I think we actually hit above 80 degrees!  It's ironic that it happened on the first day of summer.  Hopefully it's a sign of good things to come. :)

My card this evening is based on a several challenges.  The first is the PTI Make IT Monday Challenge on Nichole Heady's blog.  It begins every Monday morning and ends the next Monday morning.  This week's challenge was reverse masking.  I punched a scallop circle from my Eclipse art masking tape and temporarily adhered the negative (what was left over) to the circle I die cut with my Nestabilities circle die.  I used the small flower stamp from the Snail & Co. stamp set from A Muse Studio and stamped the flower all over within the mask.  When I lifted it up there was a "flower ball".  I had seen this technique with the "flower ball" before on Julie Ebersole's blog, but I couldn't find the specific post for you.  I used bermuda ink from A Muse Studio for my flower.  I drew the stem with a Copic marker.  The patterned paper is from Basic Grey's Urban Prairie paper pad.  The beautiful green ribbon is American Crafts.  The sentiment stamp is one I picked up a couple of years ago from the Stamp Convention and it's from Eccentric Images Rubberstamps.  I bought a couple other ones from them and they are super cute!  I had always wanted to try this "flower ball" technique when I saw it on Julie's blog and I'm really glad I got the chance.

The layout for my card was inspired by this week's sketch at Eat Sleep Stamp.  I pretty much followed the sketch almost to the letter.  I chose to use ribbon where the vertical line on the left is, but decided not to put my image circle over it.  Other than that my card looks like the sketch.  The colors for my card came from the color challenge this week at CR84FN.  The color board is just below.  These three colors were very easy to work with and the first thing I thought of was a flower or something summery.  It could be because the sun is shining outside my window and I have the a/c on for the first time all year. :)  I hope you all enjoy this card.  Once again I tried something new and I really like the results.  Happy Crafting!

Elegant With Sympathy (PDCC #83, CAS FTL #141, PTI Make It Monday)

I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend so far!  The sun is just starting to come out here after a day of rain.  Here's hoping tomorrow is a day full of sun, fun, and much crafting! :) 

Today's card is a sympathy card per this week's Make It Monday challenge over on Nichole Heady's blog from PTI.  The sentiment stamp is from the PTI Mixed Messages stamp set.  I love this stamp set!  Its sentiments are perfectly worded and wonderful when you need something smaller in size.  They have the same set sized a little bigger in Mega Mixed Messages.  I love PTI stamps!  Their sentiments are always perfectly worded and are in the cutest fonts and their images are just as adorable!  I am a complete addict!  I just started using their other products too.  The black cardstock on this card is from PTI.  Their cardstock is thick and wonderful to use and your card will stand up easily. 

The patterned paper is from October Afternoon's Cherry Hill paper pad collection.  October Afternoon has to be one of my favorite manufacturers!  They make the cutest papers in the world!  I actually can't wait for their next collection to come out.   I get so excited when I get the email that their latest collection has come out that I rush to my computer and order the paper pad and embellishments to go with it.  The problem is that then I have to wait for them to arrive in my mailbox.  What are you gonna do?  The ribbon flower is from Jolee's.  I used a Fiskar's scalloped border punch on the striped paper and tied a sheer black ribbon from my craft supply around it.  The colors for the card were inspired by this week's color story from The Play Date Cafe.  The layout for the card was inspired by this week's sketch from Clean and Simple Stamping.  I hope you enjoy this card.  If you need ideas for making sympathy cards, again, check out this week's Make It Monday challenge on Nichole Heady's blog.  Have a great rest of your week!  Happy Crafting!

CAS FTL #141

Happy Easter Eggs (Card Patterns #111, Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger: Crepe Bouquet, CQC #81, PTI: Make It Monday #11)

I went with an Easter card this time since we're so close to Easter.  I love this stamp set by Waltzingmouse Stamps!  It's got so many Easter stamp options and others for spring and Mother's Day.  The background patterned paper is a new paper pad that I broke out from Melissa Frances called 5th Avenue.  It's not generally my style, but I bought it for the times when I want something soft or when I want to try the shabby chic thing.  The yellow polka dot patterned paper is by PTI from their 2008 Bitty Dot Basics paper pad.  I just love that paper pad and pretty much anything from that company! 

Speaking of Papertrey Ink, they have a Make it Monday challenge every week over on Nichole's blog and this week's challenge was to use your dies to emboss paper but not in the usual way.  You can see in my photo that I used one of the Nestabilities large square dies and embossed a square into my patterned paper to frame my card.  There is a video of exactly what to do every week for the challenge on the blog, which is very helpful, and sometimes I even learn a few new tricks.  I also stamped my image on cardstock that was die cut and embossed with the scalloped circle Nestabilities.

The layout was inspired by this week's challenge over at Card Patterns.  I used the buttons, by Buttons Galore, to represent the three dots in the sketch.  I tried to use the cardstock, patterned paper, and the embossed frame to represent the inner line in the sketch with the rounded corners.  I hope I did the sketch justice. 

Tuesday Trigger: Crepe Bouquet

The colors in the card were inspired by this week's Tuesday Trigger: Crepe Bouquet and this week's ColourQ Challenge.  The white dress was the background for the flowers in the Trigger story and white is the background for my image, as well as the basket the eggs are in.  The pink jumped out at me and it's my favorite color right now, so I had to use it.  In Cath's explanation she mentioned Easter, so that's the direction I went in rather than a card full of flowers.  The picture is just a little blurry so I chose a patterned paper that reminded me of that, plus I also wanted something soft that would easily work in the color scheme.  I was really glad that the colors for the Trigger and CQC were so close so I could blend the challenges together, but at first it was difficult to think of something to do.  I hope you like the card, and that you have a wonderful Easter weekend!  I'm trying some new layouts for posting to spice it up, let me know what you think.  Have a great rest of your week!  Happy Crafting!