Martelle-isms

Happy Valentine's Day!

2012-02-14T11:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a few cards I made for Valentine's Day...Unfortunately I didn't get around to posting them until now, so you get a two for one :)

in her momma's footsteps

2012-02-13T10:52:00.000-05:00

Over the weekend, Lexi and I had a girls weekend as Daddy was out of town. I decided that was the perfect opportunity for her to make a card for her daddy.

She picked out the stamps (Tiny Treats: Valentine) and the colors. She had a bit of help lining stuff up, but did the hearts all by herself.

And, just to save it for posterity sake, I took a pic of the inside, too. She told me what to write and then signed her name. She messed up the first e (it's sideways) and re-did it so her name looks like Leexi. Ha!

you blow me away {easy valentines}

2012-02-11T22:50:00.005-05:00

This is the first year that Lexi is in school (preschool) and needing to have Valentine's for her classmates. I knew I didn't want the traditional cartoon character ones that you can pick up anywhere for cheap, but I wanted the Valentine's to be fairly inexpensive.

I searched high and low on Pinterest and nothing was smacking me in the face saying, "DO THIS!!" Ok, I take that back...I REALLY love the "I "Wheelie" Like You" that includes the Hot Wheels, but she has more girls than boys in her class and I didn't know what to do for the girls. So, we made a trip to the Dollar Store.

I saw these packs of bubbles....3 in a pack for $1?!? Awesome. And they had boy and girl colors (not shown is a pack with green, blue, and yellow), too. I threw them in my cart while the gears were grinding as to what I could have as a saying....

"you blow me away valentine!" PERFECTO!!! I grabbed some lighter weight cardstock (on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off..score!) and set up the wording. This kind of thing is not my forte, let me tell you. I think it took me longer to get this set up than it did to go to the store, buy everything and put it all together! ha!

Once I got it printed out, I cut them all to fit right over top of the existing label. I didn't want to make things more difficult than need be, right? :)

I'm thrilled how they turned out. And, even with buying a pack of 50 sheets of cardstock, it was less than $10 for the whole thing!

I asked Lexi if she wanted to write her name and she declined, so I wrote all the names. She did put the heart stamps on, though, after picking out her favorite color (PINK) to stamp them in! {Note: I used MTF Jotted for my text}

Happy Valentine's Day!

pj's

2012-02-07T22:53:00.004-05:00

My niece's birthday is a few days after Christmas. I knew she'd get a ton of toys for both, so I figured I'd make something that my SIL would appreciate a wee bit more than toys she had to find room for! On Black Friday, I found some awesome flannel (you can't beat $1.49/yard!) and picked it up. I also grabbed a plain white shirt to go with it.

I used basically the same process as I do when making Lexi's pants...use her old ones as a pattern and make them longer or shorter. Since Brooke is two, she went shorter, but the rest of the pants are the same as Lexi is super skinny and could fit into a 24 month pant if she didn't have such long legs!

I love the final product. Unfortunately, the ribbon is just for looks (although it can be untied, it's stitched to the pants). One of these days, I'll learn how to use it as a draw string.

I cut out one of the smaller flowers to use on her shirt to tie it in to the pants. Pinned it to the shirt and sewed around it twice to make sure it would stay. I wish I could have these for myself, I love them so much!!

happy birthday!

2012-02-06T22:20:00.004-05:00

And we are on to the FINAL card I made for Day #2 of the PTI Anniversary. This is a total first...four cards made AND blogged about! Wow. Anyway, my final image comes from Dawn McVey. I always love her designs and this is no different.

I was flipping through all my scraps and found this little gingham in my stash and knew it would be perfect with the Raspberry Fizz! On Mat Stack #1, I used one of the flourishes from Holiday Photo Finishers stamped four times. I love that set...amazing what you can do with it when it's not Christmas!

I added a bit of Raspberry Fizz grosgrain ribbon and a Ripe Avocado button to finish it off. Thanks for looking in to see what I made...hope you enjoyed my crafty time tonight! :)

hello

2012-02-06T22:12:00.004-05:00

My third card (I can't remember the last time I was this productive!), has an image from Maile Belles. I love her simplicity in her card making. Not only did I use her image, but I took inspiration from one of her posts in January.

I love the pops of color with the black image and ribbon. I used Dot Spot and Polka Dot Basics for my dots in Plum Pudding, Raspberry Fizz, Summer Sunrise, and Spring Moss and a spare ribbon I found in my stash.

LOVE

2012-02-06T22:00:00.004-05:00

My second card for the Designer's Challenge was from Melissa Bickford. I decided to cut up the LOVE and make it 4 small squares instead of one large one. After just having done Heather's, I felt like I'd wind up with the same card.

Another simple card with no stamping! I die cut 2 flowers from Flower Fusion #3 in Summer Sunrise and Spring Moss and added a Hawaiian Shore button in the center of each.

Simple and cute....I'm having fun playing along! :) Stay tuned for more...

PTI Anniversary Day #2

2012-02-06T21:48:00.005-05:00

I'm gonna have a bunch of quick posts for you tonight...you're lucky!! PTI is celebrating their 5th anniversary this month and is hosting lots of challenges and contests. Today, we celebrate the designers. Each designer designed a new "stamp" that we were able to print out and use in a card or project.

My first image was from my favorite designer, Heather Nichols. I'm not a fan of how this turned out, but it was a quick and easy card with no stamping!

A little Aqua Mist, some wood buttons....yes, you see THREE of them!!! I've been hoarding them, but what's the fun in that?? :).... and some twine. Simple :)

cinnamon

2012-01-14T21:29:00.000-05:00

One of the easiest projects EVER!!

One mason jar, a glue gun, cinnamon sticks, twine and a candle and VOILA! You have a perfect winter decoration! :)

rags to riches

2012-01-12T21:11:00.002-05:00

Have you ever started a project and thought, "why in the HELL am I doing this??!?!" Yeah...that was me. I had this hairbrained idea that I could make a rag quilt. I saw a pin on pinterest for a baby rag quilt. This one was different. It had long strips instead of those itty bitty squares. The directions were step-by-step. Easy-peasy, right?

Let's just say that I started this in, oh...October. It was going to be a gift for my niece who was to be born in December. Thought I'd have PLENTY of time. Good thing, since I didn't finish it until about 2 weeks ago!!

I learned a lot making this. One of those things was that I'm not a fan of quilting! I give MAJOR props to all the quilters out there! I do absolutely LOVE how it turned out.

I spent 5 hours just doing the binding. Whew. The one side was cake. The other, not so much. I'm not a fan of hand sewing! That bee fabric is my favorite :)

And, if you're still reading...I'll tell you what I did. This quilt went to my niece as I already said. Her mom is B's sister and they live in Florida, so I had to ship it down to them. I decided that it needed a note to go along with it and this is what I wrote:

Dearest Olivia:

This is a very special quilt for a very special girl. You see, when your grandma passed away, I was lucky enough to receive her sewing machine. With that sewing machine, she made quite a bit of things, including very special blankets and quilts for your mommy and Uncle B. I know if she were still here, she would've made you a special quilt with that very machine and so, I did it for her. She would've been so excited for you to be here! Lots of love

Aunt Liz

pick your plum

2012-01-09T17:05:00.001-05:00

Have you ever heard of Pick Your Plum? OMG...awesome site!! They have one deal every day for incredibly cheap. Back in October (I think), they had a great thing of vinyl for $3.95 or something like that. Now, when you get the items, it's generally something crafty that you have to put together or that you need something else to go with it. Make sure you sign up and you'll get their daily email of what is the deal of the day!

So...I turned the vinyl into these..

I didn't much care for that red flower (I did it on my cricut), so it did come off and I put another flower there.

I love how they turned out. I was able to get remnants of wood at Menards for $1.69 and sanded them, found some $2.99 spray paint at Hobby Lobby to use and then put the words on. I actually didn't use all the words they gave me, so I still have some left. And I have another board that I don't have a pic of because I was an idiot and put "faithful" on there twice!!

These were all Christmas gifts for my mom, aunt, and SIL (I kept one for myself, too!). I know they all loved them!

Christmas wrap up

2012-01-07T16:34:00.006-05:00

Yes, I realize that we're a little past Christmas!! I apologize...with trying to make so many things for Christmas and then hitting a few birthdays and year end at work, I haven't had a chance to post! I figured I'd just post the last of my Christmas things in one post :)

My girlfriends and I always do an exchange and I made a few cute little photo holders for them. Because there are 11 of them, I had to do something simple for packaging. I got a stack of paper bags, Ripe Avocado and Scarlet Jewel ink, my Peace, Be Still stamp set and went to work!

I love the finished product and it took no time to complete!

And here's the rest of the cards I sent out this year.

The first one I tried flipping over the die to just make an impression instead of cut...it didn't turn out perfect, but I like it :) I did find that it was better to stamp the snowflakes and THEN impress the die. The ink/stamp didn't like when I did the impression first!

I was in love with that little snowman this year!

You can't see it too well in this picture, but there are raised scor lines above and below the snowflakes. Love!

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and were able to spend a lot of time with family! Thanks for checking in! :)

simple christmas

2011-12-12T10:03:00.000-05:00

I decided it was high time for me to show some cards on here again! I actually took some photos of a few of them I made and will be sharing them as I get a chance to blog. I have to make at least 65 Christmas cards to send out from our family. Because of that, I wanted to try and come up with something easy that I could replicate fairly easily. Joyce had posted a link to her blog of a few CAS cards she had done and I thought, BINGO! Exactly what I was looking for! :)

I started with a base of Rustic Cream cardstock. Both snowflakes are from Peace, Be Still (love that set!) stamped in Scarlet Jewel and Ripe Avocado. I also used my Photo Finishers Die and cut out the straight lines in Ripe Avocado and then stamped using the Photo Finishers: holiday set. I am so in love with that stamp and die set! I think most all of my cards used one or the other in some form or another!

Thanks for the inspiration, Joyce!!

handprints

2011-12-08T21:55:00.004-05:00

One of my very first times pinning something, I came across this picture and decided I was pinning it and I WAS going to make it!

source

Thankfully, on Black Friday, Jo-Ann's had their canvas all 60% off (heck yeah!!) and I got an additional 25% off my purchase, so I brought home a nice large canvas. Amazingly enough, I already had paint on hand (no pun intended!). All I needed was a cooperative little girl.

She LOVED it!!! And was so excited to do it.

I think I actually like how mine turned out better than the original! :) It's hanging at the bottom of the steps and every time Lexi sees it, she says that's MY painting! Proud girl!

go bucks!

2011-11-02T21:19:00.000-04:00

About a month ago, I had seen this pin for an ADORABLE headband and knew I had to make one myself!

Unfortunately, I messed it up when I attached it to the elastic so the Block O isn't vertical, but I still love it!

happy november!

2011-11-01T20:58:00.002-04:00

Since October and Halloween is over and done with, and I don't do much for Thanksgiving (at least craft-wise), that means it's time for CHRISTMAS!!!! Back in September, when I saw this card that Heather made, I knew I had to get Tag It's #8 and Holiday Photo Finishers and try and do some sort of take on it!

I wanted to make quite a few of them to start knocking out my Christmas card list, so I went a little easier and used patterned paper and no snowflake dies.

I'm in love with it! I used both Tag It's #8 and Peace Be Still snowflakes for the background. The polka dots are from Jillibean Soup and the crackle paper is just some scrap I had laying around. I did a bunch of the photo finishers in all 4 designs and was able to put different sentiments inside.

Minus the stitching, I was able to knock out about 15 of these in about 45 minutes including cutting! Unfortunately, the stitching went much slower because my machine wasn't having all of it!

trick or treat bag

2011-10-25T09:27:00.000-04:00

My little Rapunzel needed a new trick or treat bag that was a bit bigger. I had some cute Halloween fabric and figured I'd try a tutorial I had pinned. It was really easy to follow and didn't take too terribly long (maybe 2.5 hours, but I'm slow at cutting and that darn computer drags me towards it a lot!). Rapunzel LOVED it and it was perfect for going to Trunk Or Treat on Sunday :)

fall

2011-10-23T20:50:00.002-04:00

Last week, I posted a picture of a mason jar I had wrapped in twine with a white candle in it and had said I needed to take more pics of what they look like now.

I had a bunch of little pumpkins, gourds, and corn that I've used for the past 6-10 years or so to decorate with. They were originally from Pier One and I've gotten so much use out of them! They fit great in the mason jars and at some nice fall colors.

The other one I have, I put in small metal leaves that came from the same decor pack as the gourds.

And here's my whole basket together with the Indian corn!

camera bag take 2

2011-10-21T10:53:00.000-04:00

I made another camera bag for a friend. This one I made twice...I screwed up the first one!

Her favorite color is orange, so I found this in my stash of fabric and was able to put the plain orange as the liner. I was even able to use some Raspberry Fizz ribbon as a strap/holder.

Unlike my last bag, this one has a velcro closure. Not what I wanted, but it worked :)

raspberry fizz felt

2011-10-20T10:43:00.000-04:00

I love PTI's felt. The best thing about their felt is using it for more than just card making! I die cut 6 flowers from the Flower Fusion #2 die. One I used as a base and stitched the other 5 into it. Each flower was folded in quarters (in half and then in half again) and the pointed corner was stitched down. Love how full these flowers look! I then attached them to a headband with my glue gun.

apple towels

2011-10-19T10:10:00.000-04:00

I found some towels on clearance at Target oh, about 9 months ago! Two for only $1.50. I've been wanting to sew something on them, but couldn't figure out what. I decided I'd do something for my mom's birthday. She has her kitchen in red and green apples.

I pulled out my Cricut and used the Plantin Schoolbook cartridge (I never use those anymore!) and cut out an apple on cardstock. I then took squares of fabric and adhered heat n bond to the backs, traced the apple and cut it out.

I had one heck of a time getting the back of the heat n bond off so it could adhere to the towels, but I did it. And then I sewed them to it. My mom absolutely loved them. And, bonus, the green fabric matches the cushions on her kitchen chairs exactly :)

I had also seen a cool decoration on pinterest using Mason jars. While we were at Brandon's grandma's, I noticed she had a bunch and she told me to go ahead and take as many as I wanted. Score! So, I made one up for my mom. I didn't put any epsom salt in the bottom since it was only August and I thought she might want to do something else with it before Christmas.

I made a few up for myself. One of the parties we threw, I cut a bunch of wild flowers from our yard and put in them. Right now, I have small decorative pumpkins and gourds filling one for fall. I'll try and take a picture :)

wedding wishes

2011-10-18T10:43:00.000-04:00

I'm way behind in showing stuff as this is from June.....oops! The patterned paper is from Jillibean Soup Blossom Soup. It's amazing how well the flower from Flower Fusion #3 goes with the patterned paper! I did a stitch around the outside, though you can't see it as well from the pictures.

taggie

2011-10-17T10:32:00.001-04:00

I've had several babies come into the family this fall (my SIL (brother's wife), sister and other SIL (husband's sister)) have all been pregnant! I love the influx of babies, but it's meant that I've needed some good baby gifts. I've always loved the little taggie blankets and wanted to make one myself. I found a good tutorial and followed that.

It was so simple!! I think it took me longer to pick out the fabric and ribbon than it did to make it! I added two lines of stitching around the outside just to make it a little more finished than in the tutorial.

happy day

2011-10-14T22:25:00.000-04:00

I love Little Bitty Birds :) I think it's one of my favorite sets...I tend to pull it out for everything! I honestly can't tell you what this card was for. I think it was a birthday?!? Anyway, I'm not too keen on coloring, so these are just from my pack of 12 Crayola colored pencils that I've had since I was probably 12!

I've been making some more cards, so you'll start to see those come back into the rotation here too. I hope you've been enjoying all my other crafts, too!

Rosettes

2011-10-13T18:05:00.000-04:00

If you've seen some of my prior posts on my friends frames, you've seen my fun little rosettes I've been making. The best part about them is that they can be used for anything! Right now, I have one decorating my purse (or suitcase as my husband lovingly refers to it!).

I made the above one for a friend's birthday and she asked me to make some for her niece. Apparently, her niece LOVED the one I made for her, so I happily obliged.

Hot Pink, Purple, Black, Blue, Orange and White. And a little clip on the back so she can put it wherever she wants. She even got a skinny little headband so if she wants, she can put them on that in her hair!

friends

2011-10-12T11:10:00.000-04:00

Awhile back, I made a quick, easy frame over Labor Day weekend to showcase one of my favorite pics of my friends and I. Well, it went over pretty well, so I made another one for my friend for her birthday.

I used the same black spray paint, just changed it up a bit. We're Ohioans and most everyone here is REALLY into the Buckeyes (including this friend), so I figured some leftover Buckeye paper would be perfect. Now, if only we had a recent pic of us in our OSU garb, that would've made it even more perfect! But, I found a good one from NYE.

I had some black fabric with white and gray polka dots on it and made 2 rosettes to help make it a little girly and add interest in the top corner.

I think it turned out great..now we just have to take pictures at our next buckeye gtg!

Family

2011-10-11T10:24:00.000-04:00

Back in March, one of my friends put on a Quarter Auction (it's basically a raffle where you can get items from Direct Selling companies for a quarter or a little more!). While my friends and I were walking around, we saw those cute blocks above and everyone said how much they loved them and thought that I could make them myself.

So, when one of the girls who said she loved them got married, I knew the perfect gift. I went out in search of some blocks because I was too lazy to cut them myself :) and my first stop was Hobby Lobby. Now, I don't know about you, but I can't pass up their clearance section. And I'm so glad on that day, I didn't...because I hit the JACKPOT!!!

A clock, made out of dice blocks! They were all wrapped together, but I was pretty sure they'd come apart. I only needed 6, but I figured an extra few wouldn't hurt. And for $2.90, I couldn't pass them up. So, I took them home and started my project.

Each one got a nice sanding and a wipe down. And then I started to spray...I did 2 coats of brown.

And then I got to try something I've never used before...CRACKLE PAINT!! Way cool! I got a cream color and wound up doing 2 coats on each block. Before I was done with the last block, the first few had already started crackling.

You'll notice on the back of the blocks, there were already holes drilled in. How awesome is that??

The brown was coming through nicely. I'm not sure if I needed two coats of brown, but I wanted to make sure the red was completely covered. After I finished painting and letting them dry, I made vinyl letters on my cricut in brown and applied them to the blocks. Here's the final piece:

What do you think? How does it compare to the original? I loved how they turned out, and I hope that she did, too! :) Here's some more close up shots.

Amazing what you can turn those ugly clearance items into, isn't it??

Camera bag

2011-10-10T09:46:00.000-04:00

For my birthday, my awesome husband got me a new point and shoot camera. The one I had was 6 or 7 years old and wasn't even ours...used to by my FIL's. I wanted something I could easily tuck in my purse and have with me all the time. The only problem? I didn't have a case. For a month or two, I kept it in the bag it came packaged in, but I knew it wouldn't last. So I pulled out some fun fabrics and attempted to make a bag myself!

This was my first time using interfacing. It was pretty easy to use. The black fabric I had picked up on a whim one day at Jo Ann's....before I was really even sewing anything!

It rolls up so there's a little more padding on the camera. Unfortunately, I forgot I wanted to put a strap on it. Thankfully, my camera has one on it, so if I'm just carrying that, I can keep the strap hanging out and it works perfectly! Of course I had to finish it off using a PTI Spring Moss Button! :)

Pinterest Craft

2011-10-09T19:19:00.000-04:00

Are you on Pinterest? I am....I'm in LOVE. I resisted for awhile because I knew it would be a total time killer! But, in the long run, it saves me time because I'm not emailing myself pictures to keep! Quite a few of my friends are on there, too and so when I needed a housewarming gift for one of them, I started with her Pinterest site! :)

She had this cute little plate that I thought would be super simple...Here's a version that I had pinned from Little Birdie Secrets:

Instead of the Menu, her's said "Notes" at the top. So, since she pinned, it, I followed suit! I found a square plate at Wal Mart, got out my cricut and black vinyl and in a matter of 10 minutes, I was done! I like easy crafts like that!

On the back, I used a circle of velcro to attach a dry erase marker. I wanted to make it so it was hidden, but easily accessible.

Birthday Note

2011-10-08T18:58:00.000-04:00

Amazingly enough, I have two cards to share in a row! :) Well, that's because I have two friends who happen to share the same birthday!

I'm always jealous of the stampers who can use sets for different purposes and can mix and match them...I haven't been able to do that very well...but I think I did here! I used Take Note, Tag It's #2, and Birthday Basics.

After looking at this now, I think I probably should've done another stitch across the top of the Berry Sorbet, but I didn't...Oh well!

make a wish

2011-10-07T18:42:00.003-04:00

Imagine that...I'm actually posting a card!! This was one of those where I needed a birthday card and needed one quickly, so I did simple.

The pp is from Jillibean Soup, Blossom Soup..a fun, summery paper pack. I die cut Flower Fusion #3 on Kraft and stamped it in Pure Poppy. I added a black rhinestone for a little depth and to pull the color from the sentiment.

So far, I only have one of the Think Big Favorites sets, but I love it!

a new someone

2011-09-03T23:42:00.000-04:00

I haven't done much paper piecing...it seems to take FOREVER to do and, let's face it, I'm just not that patient! ha! But...I decided to give it a try on the flower from Baby Button Bits. I do like how it turned out. I just used a purple, yellow and green that I had in my scrap bin.

The edges of the flowers are colored lightly using a red Crayola colored pencil. I love the little leaves sticking up! I'm glad I stepped out of my comfort zone for this one...I really like how it turned out. Now, will I do this much paper piecing again? Probably not! :)

friends

2011-09-02T23:25:00.002-04:00

I had to print a picture out for Lexi. She needed a family picture to take for preschool. Yes. Preschool. I can't believe it! Anyway, while I printed out one of the three of us, I decided I needed to update a few pics I have in frames. I did one of my friends and I on our girls trip to update another one I had of all of us about 2 or 3 years ago. However, after printing and going to put it in the frame, I realized it was a 4x6 and my frame was a 5x7! So, you know, instead of making myself a mat, I had to just make a whole new frame!

This started out as an ugly light brown frame. I sprayed it black to go with all the rest of the black frames in my house. It's a fabulous frame as it comes with a 4x6 mat that has two layers on it! I knew I wanted to do something with the mat...I couldn't leave it alone :) So I pulled up my SCAL, and cut out friends in my wish i were taller font, which is one of my faves! The paper is Jillibean Soup, Blossom Soup.

Then, I thought it needed something else....so I pulled out some green and white fabric that went with the Blossom Soup and made some fabric flowers to put on top. Love how it turned out! A simple project made with everything I had on hand :)

And, yes...my friends and I have a thing about pyramids....whenever we're together in a group, it seems we have to do one :)

PJ Pants

2011-08-13T16:32:00.004-04:00

Wow...guess the summer got the best of me and my blogging, huh? Thankfully, I have been busy doing some crafting....more with my sewing machine than anything else, though. I've got some stuff that needs blogged about, so hopefully you'll come back again!

After I made my daughter a pair of ruffle pants, I figured they were pretty easy and I could handle making her some pj pants.

Pretty nice for the first attempt, huh? I'm pretty happy! I love them and so does she, so that makes me a really happy camper! On her ruffle pants, she's always asking which is the front and which is the back, so this time, I made a little bow and sewed it on.

It's a light pink, so it looks great with the black and white. I hope you're having a great summer....I just can't believe it's almost over already! :(

Felt

2011-06-13T22:04:00.003-04:00

I've been out of the card making for a bit. I've been finding it hard to make them lately for some reason. But, I've at least been doing some crafting with PTI supplies! In my last order, I got both Flower Fusion #2 and #3 and several new (to me) felt colors. I've been seeing several of the designers make hair things and lots of felt out in blogland and felt I needed to try my hand!

Sorry about the sizing of pics...I don't know what happened! Of course I deleted the raw images before realizing they're too small :( Anyway...the first clip is just on a barrette. It's one of those ones that are a triangle shape that snap back and forth. I cut out 2 Raspberry Fizz and 2 Hawaiian Shores Flower Fusion #3 flowers and sewed on a small button in the center then used my glue gun to adhere them on.

This one was a little more time consuming. Each "flower" took 5 of the Flower Fusion #2 die cuts. I folded each one in half, then in half again and hand sewed the points to a circle I cut out just a smidge larger than the original flower. I adhered to the headband with a glue gun and then put another circle on the other side to make a sandwich with the headband.

I also added a few leaves on the bottom flower...not sure if I like it or not, but I knew I didn't want all three to have leaves!

This one is harder to see...I may have to try and take another pic of it later. I found this awesome tutorial in my Women's Day magazine and had to try it. So super simple! I did it the way they suggest for the one below, but my center circle was too big to fit a button, so I made a third layer at 5" instead of 6". The top one, I wanted something different, so it's two layers and then two circles cut out with a True Black button in the middle and two leaves. The bottom one also has a pin and a clip on the back, so you can wear it however you want!

I'm pretty pleased with how they all turned out! I also made Lexi a pair of pj pants the other night, so I'll have to share those, too :)

Mother's Day

2011-05-23T07:00:00.000-04:00

I know we're far off Mother's Day (ok, at least we're still in the same month!), but I still have a few cards to show off that I actually took pictures of. Once again, I apologize for the picture quality! Just like my last card, I was looking for a bit of inspiration. This time, I searched for "mothers day" and up popped this FABULOUS card by Laurie Beth. Once again, I didn't have any of the same stuff, but I improvised!

I started with a base of Spring Moss and layered Smokey Shadow. The top layer, I stamped a sheet of Rustic Cream with the large flower from Delightful Dahlia in Spring Moss. I love the look of the Spring Moss with the Smokey Shadow. So pretty!

I love, love, love this Raspberry Fizz ribbon! Totally sets off the Spring Moss and Smokey Shadow! Thanks for the inspiration, Laurie Beth!

New Leaf Inspiration

2011-05-21T07:00:00.002-04:00

A lot of times, I find I'm without inspiration, so I do a search on PTI's gallery. For this card, I had a piece of New Leaf cut perfect for a base, so I did a search just on New Leaf. And I found this perfect card by Aimes. Of course, I have absolutely NONE of the items she used, but I was able to make it my own and I love it!

I stamped a few rows of Polka Dot Basics in New Leaf on the bottom. Then, I made a fun little "skirt" with some white grosgrain ribbon and a strip of Smokey Shadow.

I finished it off with layered pink flowers and stitched on a lemon tart button and rounded the top edges. Thanks, Aimes, for the inspiration! :)

A Fairy Party

2011-05-20T11:07:00.009-04:00

My little girl turned 3 on April 29th. To celebrate, we threw a fairy party. Unfortunately, I didn't get pictures of everything I did (boo!), but here's some of the homemade touches. We had the party in an old firehouse, which, unfortunately was a '60's firehouse and not an old charming one with a fire pole!

I started off with her invitations as the inspiration for everything. Pink, Purple, Green, and Blue are the colors I used. I found several different invites on etsy and took different ideas from each one and my DH put it all together. I love how they turned out!

All the kiddos seemed to have a blast. Each of the girls got a pair of wings to wear for the party.

(lexi is below in the bright pink)

The next few pictures are of the food. I tried to go along with the fairy theme...so I had dirt complete with worms, pixie dust so the fairies could fly,

fairy gems,

a fairy garden, (pigs in a blanket in the background)

crab stuffed mushrooms, fruit tray, fiesta party dip and beer bread. I also had DH's grandmother make mini cheesecakes and I had cupcakes, meatballs, spinach and artichoke dip, and pinwheels. YUM.

I used the fairy from her invite and made it into an svg file and cut it with my cricut on vinyl. I put it on a canvas and painted over it purple, then pulled the vinyl off to be left with the white. I added Tinkerbell's famous saying (sorry, it didn't turn out well here), "All you need is a little faith, trust and pixie dust"

I had two banners that I hung that I didn't get pictures of hanging, but here's one that I made. The first one I made with fabric I had laying around and a white grosgrain ribbon.

The second one, a friend made for me last year for Lexi's 2nd birthday. I had put Happy Birthday on using fabric and heat n bond. in the hot pink fabric.

And, finally, here are the water bottles I did. The centers I also used as the cupcake toppers. For table centerpieces, I had little tubs that I planted yellow and purple flowers and added a fairy in it, too.

Thanks for letting me share!!

Card Set

2011-05-19T18:09:00.000-04:00

Back in January, one of my good friends was married on a cruise ship. Unfortunately, we couldn't go, but I was able to keep her reminded of her wedding when she was back in the cold, Ohio weather with some fun notecards.

I had made her bachelorette party invites and these followed the same color scheme. I started out with a Captured Card Case....Orange Zest bottom and White top. I cut a piece of Summer Sunrise and stamped one of the sentiments from A Day At The Beach. I felt that was appropriate for a wedding gift! The ribbon is some I had in my stash.

I know when I got married, I LOVED anything personalized with my new last name! So, all of the cards have a P on them for her new last name. The dotted circle is from Take Note and the P is from Just Rite Curlz Monogram set.

Simple Birds

2011-05-17T07:00:00.000-04:00

Is it bad that I don't even remember making a card?? Who knows how long ago I put this one on my camera!

Obviously, I was going for clean and simple, and I think I succeeded! Hawaiian Shores for the base with a bit of Green Boutique pp. The bottom swirl is stamped with Versa Mark. I'm in love with those Little Bitty birds! I think I could use them on everything and not get tired of them! :)

This is the perfect card for any reason...I like that I don't have a sentiment on it!

Thanks for stopping by!

monkey around

2011-05-15T17:51:00.002-04:00

I apologize in advance for the quality of these pics! I was using my small point and shoot and it was a dreary day outside!

Back in February (yes, it's been awhile since I offloaded this camera!), I did some cupcake toppers for a 1st birthday party.

I was able to use pp I had on hand and used my cricut to cut out the larger 3" circles. The 2" and 1.75", I used punches for. A third were done in Happy Birthday from Birthday Basics, another third were done in a monkey (not sure of set, but it's not PTI), and the rest were done in 1's that I cut from my cricut using the Plaintin SchoolBook cartridge. It's been awhile since I actually used a cartridge!

I attached each large circle to a lollipop stick and they worked perfectly! These ones I used a 1/8" piece of scor tape to attach, but when I did ones for my daughter's party, I used a glue gun...much easier and faster!

sewing

2011-04-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

If you're my facebook friend, I apologize for you seeing these pics again :) But, I'm so proud of myself. I was at my friend's house on Monday and took my sewing machine. She showed myself (and another friend) how to make capris with ruffles on the bottom. I used a pattern for the first time and was actually able to line everything up and sew it.

Are they not adorable?!?! I'm estactic that they actually fit Lexi. They'd be much better if she would decide it's time to be potty trained and could wear big girl undies and not a diaper!

Sorry for the poor quality..these are from my phone :) She absolutely loves her new pants, so that made me happy!

birdie birthday

2011-04-08T07:00:00.000-04:00

I think this just has to be one of my favorite cards I've made in awhile! It screams "Liz" :)

The funny thing is I'm not sure how this all came together. but, it did. The notebook was originally die cut for the other side (it's patterned paper), but it was so crooked! And I don't own the birdie die (or the notebook one), so I used those when over at my friend's house for craft night and just had them laying around in my stash.

I used a yellow-green color of colored pencil to color in the leaves. And I did the heart in berry sorbet. I shocked myself by using THREE wooden buttons! The recipient doesn't realize how lucky she is to get those! :)

Monkeys

2011-04-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

I loved this monkey paper when I saw it! My best friend's daughter turned one in February and she had a monkey themed birthday. And it was purple! So, I thought this was perfect :)

The sentiment is from Birthday Bash Sentiments stamped in Plum Pudding. And my rhinestones are technically supposed to be gems for your fingernails! I got a bunch of them awhile ago in Target's Dollar Spot. I'm telling you, those dollar spots have some good stuff!

pictures

2011-04-02T16:35:00.002-04:00

I haven't updated my blog in awhile with Lexi pictures, so since I pulled some off the camera from February (I'm behind a bit..sorry!), I figured I'd post these! We were making Valentine's Day cookies...yum!

It's an "A" for Alexia :)

And a different day...one of my favorite outfits...she's so stylish :)

Papertrey Pallenge

2011-04-02T15:53:00.003-04:00

If you follow the Papertrey PALs blog, you know we've started back up again with our Pallenges. Rebecca hosted the first one and challenged us to create an Easter project. I knew I was going to have a hard time with this as I don't really have anything Easter themed. And DH's grandma always gets Lexi an Easter basket, so I didn't need to do anything along those lines.

So, I figured I'd somehow do a card. As I was searching the dollar bins at Michaels (those bins are wonderful!), I came across an adorable little chick stamp. It's wood mount, but I figured I'd try it out. Hey, it was only $1!

Here's my final product :) I had to stamp him a couple times because my fingers got so sweaty trying to cut him out, that he had black splotches all over his face! I don't do well with cutting, so I get nervous I'll screw it up!

I took a bunch of scrap papers and cut them with my 1" square punch and then used my sewing machine to make it look like a fun spring quilt. And I did put a panel of lemon zest inside to cover up all my sewing!

Thanks for the challenge, Rebecca! Come join me on Monday as I'll be hosting the next four weeks and our next challenge!

Baby Shower

2011-02-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

I needed a baby shower card for my college roommate. She's not into the typical cutesy baby stuff, so I knew I needed something different that wasn't necessarily baby related. She's having (or actually HAD as Miss Grace came about a month early!) a girl, so I wanted some pink.

I started out with the pp. I love this paper as it's a little distressed and is oh so girly! I was able to pair it with Dark Chocolate and Raspberry Fizz.

I die cut the Mat Stack 1 and stamped it with the stamp from Round and Round. I punched quite a few sheets of an old book and scrunched it up a bit. I added a Raspberry Fizz button in the center.

I finished it off with a zig zag on the sewing machine and stamped It's A baby shower in the bottom corner.

Birthday Boy Wishes

2011-02-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

It seems I always need boy birthday cards, so I decided to make a few for my stash. I had this fun transportation paper leftover that I had used on a frame and I figured it would be perfect.

Pretty simple, but what young boy cares about his birthday card?? The base is Summer Sunrise. I probably should've done Pure Poppy or Dark Chocolate for the sentiment, but I used Summer Sunrise instead. It does show better in person!

happy valentines day!

2011-02-14T07:00:00.001-05:00

I made some little 3x3 valentines to send to the grandparents from Lexi this year. One of my good friends has the Heart Prints set, so I borrowed it from her and made a few cards. All the cards have kraft bases and I just changed up colors and specific stamps.

The first one uses Melon Berry. I think this heart is my favorite one of the set.

The second card is a bit of Raspberry Fizz with a row of hearts stamp from Inkadinkadoo. I also put a piece of Pure Poppy Twill as an additional pop of color off the side.

The last card has hearts in Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy and Scarlett Jewel. I made my own banners (I so want those banner dies!) attached to some twine. I love the xoxo in fresh snow with the Hugs and Kisses sentiment over top!

Thanks for all the love you leave me!! I hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day with that special someone...whether it be a husband, wife, son, daughter, mom, dad, fiancee, boyfriend or girlfriend!

Hair do-dads

2011-02-12T07:00:00.001-05:00

Back in September, I made a fun little hair thing for myself (sorry, no pics). I wore it to work a few weeks ago and one of my co-workers wanted me to make one for her. I already had fabric in my stash, so I sat down one night and cut up a few different circles and then figured out which ones would go together. Here's what I came up with:

Not sure how well you can see it, but the back layer is a smokey shadow color with black leaves on it. I topped it with a True Black matte button.

This one is topped by a Raspberry Fizz button (which was very hard to match to my fabric, if I may say so!).

Here you can see the gray/black fabric better. I added 3 Raspberry Fizz rhinestones to the middle.

Here's how I do the back: it's just a small circle of felt that I adhere inside a bobby pin and then attach the fabric to the felt. These are all about 2 inches, so not huge. And, yes, I know that they are not all symmetrical, but that's what I love about them!

Polka Dot Thanks

2011-02-10T07:00:00.000-05:00

These aren't the most exciting cards, but I really like them. I'm trying to use up some old pp I have so I can justify buying more :) I was also trying to use up some scraps for the frames and was able to fit two different ones on the tiny sheet I had left. Love when that happens!

Make It Mondays

2011-02-08T19:54:00.003-05:00

This week marks the first installment of PTI's "Make It Monday's". It's a weekly challenge taking place on their facebook page. The challenge this week was to make a Go-To Sentiment card using the same sentiment from a bunch of different stamp sets.

It was just my luck as I had done a tag for our neighbor's birthday two weeks ago and hadn't shared it yet! I used a bunch of different happy birthday's, stamped in Enchanted Evening on Hawaiian Shores cardstock.

I don't have the numbers die, but I do have my handy, dandy cricut! I can't remember which font this was (I used my SCAL). I popped the 5 up on dimensionals and then tied the tag on the gift bag with some Aqua Mist twill.

Pink and Blue Birthday

2011-02-08T07:00:00.000-05:00

I lost my mojo for awhile. Well, I shouldn't say that...more so I lost the craft time I had, so when I did have time, I didn't know what to do! I found a layout by Dawn that I loved and tried to try my hand at it.

I'm not 100% thrilled with it, but I do love the color combination. And I really like when I can use a stamp set not for its intended use! (this is from baby button bits)

I don't have the Limitless Layers Dies or the banner dies, so I had to make do...I cut the banner myself and the bottom layer was cut from my cricut.

Valentine Topiary

2011-02-06T20:48:00.002-05:00

About a month ago (if not longer), I started seeing these adorable topiaries on different craft blogs. I finally realized they were made out of cardstock and I thought, hey, it wouldn't be too hard to make that myself! Um, yeah...It took me entirely TOO long! But, I'm in love with the final product, so it was worth it.

The most expensive part of this was the styrofoam ball I used underneath! I got the moss and foam inside the pot from the Dollar Store, the pot is from an arrangement of chocolate covered strawberries B gave me one year, I already had the dowel rod and pink ribbon, and the paper I picked up from Michael's for cheap with their valentine's stuff.

This is one of those projects you start out thinking, "this is going to look so stupid" (ok, please tell me I'm not the only one to do that....), but I kept with it and am so happy I did!

yay!

2011-01-10T07:00:00.001-05:00

One of my friends is off on a cruise ship to get married today! I wish I could be with her to share in her special day, but, unfortunately, it's an incredibly busy time at work and there was no way I could go. She had asked me to make her a sign/flag that she could use in her pictures. I didn't really have any requirements besides it needed to have the word "yay" on it.

So here's what I came up with for her.....

I used poster board as my base. I cut two triangles and covered both in the hot pink fabric (her colors are hot pink, orange, and green). Each side got orange rick-rack ribbon around the edges. I then made a little pocket with some leftover fabric which allows the stick (wrapped in orange ribbon) to slide in and out. That way, she can pack it easily in her suitcase.

I used my cricut to cut out the yay! in vinyl. It was easy to put on and she can remove it if she just wants it for decoration.

Em, I know you'll be a stunning bride! I can't wait to see all the pictures and celebrate when you get home! Congratulations and here's to many many happy years!

note card gift set

2011-01-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

I made a set of notecards for my aunt for Christmas. But, before I did that, I started with a box. I printed off a Captured Card Case template from PTI. The base is New Leaf and the lid is Hawaiian Shores. I matted it with a piece from Green Boutique. I decided to be economical and used a ribbon I had received on a gift to wrap around the box and give a little dimension and added interest to the top.

The notecards are a standard sized card, 4.25x5.5, but only single layer. So I was able to get 4 cards out of one sheet of paper.

I used a sliver of Green Boutique and then New Leaf scalloped circle. On top, I matted a piece of white which I stamped one of the Take Note circles in Aqua Mist and an E from the dollar bin at Michaels in New Leaf.

ribbon wreath

2011-01-05T07:00:00.000-05:00

Before the holidays, there were quite a few blog posts floating around about ribbon wreaths. I thought they were pretty darn cool and seemed simple enough. So, I decided to make four of them for my siblings for our homemade Christmas gifts.

The ribbons are all from JoAnn's. I got the Christmas ones they had. There were 5 of them in this width and were on sale for $1.00 each for 9ft. Each wreath took 5 spools basically. I started with a green wreath form I got from the Dollar Store and I picked up a box of straight pins (for a dollar...holla!) while I was there. So for about $6.25 and about an hour, I made a pretty fine wreath. The siblings seemed to enjoy them :)

And my niece enjoyed it, too, as evidenced below :)

Felt hair do-dad

2010-12-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

At almost midnight on Dec 23, I realized that I didn't have any cute hair things for Lexi. And of course, I wasn't about to go out on Christmas Eve to look for something! So I had to make do with what I had....

I grabbed a barrette from Lexi's stash and hot glued a small strip of red felt to it. I cut 5 small circles, folded them, and put a dab of hot glue in the center and attached it to the strip of felt.

Ignore the George pj's :) I had her try it on when she got up in the morning!

Christmas Wrap Up

2010-12-27T12:29:00.003-05:00

I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and Santa was good to you! I thought I would share a few of my decorations I had up for the season.

First up, I love these berries. I found them on sale at Jo-Ann's and threw in two sticks of the white berries. The pitcher I've had for years. The picture is one I found for a free download, but can't remember where now! It was a larger size and I shrunk it to a 5x7.

Here's a close up of the picture. I love it. And I wound up giving them to my girlfriends for a christmas gift this year at our annual party.

Here's a side table with my Noel Blocks and fabric tree. I think I shared the frame here last year. It's just a black frame with a piece of Christmas paper behind it. I put the Believe (done in vinyl) on the glass.

My siblings and I always make our gifts for each other (there's 5 of us). My sister made these snowmen last year. I love them...they're done with socks filled with rice. One for Lex, B and me! :)
Here's one of our trees (I have two). This one just has bulbs on it since it has frosted tips and holly berries in it. Notice the little gray kitty sleeping underneath.

Merry (belated) Christmas all!

party with a purpose

2010-12-16T19:00:00.000-05:00

One of my friends, her mom was recently diagnosed with lymphoma and has started undergoing chemo to get rid of it all. Some of her friends have decided to do a silent auction to raise money to help her in paying for all the treatments that are so costly. Unfortunately, I won't be able to be there, but I figured I could do the next best thing and donate something for the auction.

I made a set of 8 4x4 cards. They're fairly plain and simple, but since I was doing 8 of them, that's exactly what I wanted! :) The base is kraft with a layer of Turning A New Leaf on top. For once in my life, I thought outside the box with my stamps and stamped the leaf image from Beyond Basic Borders on FF #8 die and then stamped the frame over top of it in the darker of the tea dye duo. I stamped the thank you in scarlet jewel.

I figured that just making the cards wasn't enough. I had a nugget tin sitting around, so I looked to see what else I could do...

Magnets and clippies to match the cards! I normally put small magnets on the back of my clippies, but they don't fit in the tin if I do, so these are just plain clippies.

I hope whomever winds up with this set enjoys them and they spend a lot to help offset some of the chemo costs!!

frames

2010-12-12T21:19:00.002-05:00

I've been doing quite a few altered frames lately. Some of them are ones I find cheap at Hobby Lobby on clearance, some are the wooden $1 ones at Michael's. I love when I find them already painted on the edges...saves me lots of time!

Here's a few I've done recently for craft shows.

The Diva:

The Psychedelic:

Purple Swirls:

School Spirit:

Flower Power:

tis the season

2010-11-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

While I was looking for scraps to make my word blocks, I stumbled upon this lovely piece of wood. I sanded it down, painted it, and cut the vinyl out on my cricut. I used Vintage Cream felt and my Peace, Be Still snowflake die. And, adhered pinefeather buttons to the center.

Holiday Planner

2010-11-17T07:00:00.001-05:00

boys will be boys

2010-11-16T07:00:00.000-05:00

I've been loving altering frames lately! I've been on the lookout for cheap frames that I can alter. The best ones are at Michaels...they have ones for $1.00. Of course, then I have to paint them, but they're still cheap!

I found this cute paper at Hobby Lobby. And after rounding the corner to the sticker aisle, found this perfect boys will be boys sticker to embellish it!

noel blocks

2010-11-15T07:00:00.000-05:00

I made some noel blocks using scrap wood in our garage. I just sanded it down and painted it!

I cut the letters out of brown vinyl using my cricut. I love when I actually break that thing out! :)

Being that these were scraps, I did have some imperfections on the wood, so I made sure to strategically place the paper and ribbons so you couldn't tell :)

clips and magnets

2010-11-14T07:00:00.000-05:00

I love making magnets and clips! I made up a few sets using PTI's nugget tins. Both the clips and magnets have the same paper, allowing a great set to give as gifts! If I don't put the clips in a tin, I'll adhere a magnet on the back, but using the tins, there's not enough room.

On the less busy papers, I normally stamp a few words (maybe later, important, stuff, bills and coupons are on this set).

Christmas Stars

2010-11-13T21:21:00.002-05:00

I made up some stars for my last craft show. I've made a few for myself and friends, so I decided to try some to sell. Unfortunately, they didn't sell, but I still like them :)

The first one uses paper I picked up from Hobby Lobby. I used a snowflake die from Peace, Be Still along with a Scarlet Jewel button to add some interest.

The second star uses 5 different papers. 4 were just some I picked up and the top is from PTI's Holiday Cheer.

Word Blocks

2010-11-04T20:44:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty sure I shared some blocks on here last year that I did with black and white vinyl. This year, I decided to make a few more. I used some green and maroon paint I had on hand and painted a few scrap blocks left from a home project.

The Believe is one I did last year and still had sitting around :)

I promise that the love and joy are green! I couldn't get the true color to come out for me :(

Masculine Birthday

2010-10-18T22:16:00.000-04:00

I'm proud of myself for finally coming up with a good masculine card without using Star Prints! This one's for my dad who celebrated his 60th birthday on the 7th.

After showing my DH one of Pine's cards from the September PTI release, he told me I needed to get Woodgrain. I'm glad I listened to him!

I love when you're able to use holiday stamps for non-holiday cards. The acorn and branch come from the 2009 Holiday Tags set. I masked the sentiment and just used the image using the Chamomile Tea Dye duo.

Invites

2010-10-17T21:58:00.005-04:00

One of my good friends is getting married on a cruise in January, so of course she needs a batchlorette party! I said I'd do the invites. Her "theme" is pink, orange and green and starfish, so what's more perfect than PTI's Day At The Beach!

I did my first gate-fold card and I liked how it turned out. Originally I was going to stitch around the two white panels on the front, but I knew that would take too long!

The inside of the card has a fun little girly drink, complete with an umbrella. YUM!

Pumpkins

2010-10-10T12:55:00.003-04:00

I had a free few moments the other night and made Lexi a super cute pumpkin shirt. I saw something similar, but on a pillow and thought it would be cute for a shirt :)

The orange is fleece and the patterned is regular cotton fabric. I just stitched around each one and added a stem at the top.

She wasn't too thrilled at me taking pictures of her so early in the morning, though! :) Her fun hair corkers were made by my friend, Sarah, of polka dot kid shoppe.

Stuff

2010-09-12T14:53:00.003-04:00

As promised, here's a few of the things I've been working on!

One of my best sellers....OSU magnets! GO BUCKS!

A new, never been seen (from me at least) item are my To Do frames. These come with a Dry Erase marker.

New phrases for my clippies!

And a peek at one of the Christmas cards (I've made a TON of these so far!). I've used a bunch of different colors since I tend to get bored with them after awhile! :)

And last but not least, altered frames. This is one of my favorites that I made this week. I have about 6 of them I've made recently to sell :)

Hope you enjoy!! And, if you're in the area, I'll be setting up shop at the Worthington Market Days on September 25th, so come on by!

Pallenge #15

2010-09-12T14:35:00.002-04:00

I want to apologize to my fellow PALs as I've been kinda absent lately! I have every intention of doing challenges, but life tends to get in the way. Well, that and the craft shows I've been getting ready for! I have my third one coming up on the 25th. I'll do a post of a few of the items I've been working on!

Anyway, on to the Pallenge. Diane challenged us to use four different colors: Plum Pudding, Hawaiian Shores, Melon Berry and Simply Chartreuse. Only problem is that I don't have any Simply Chartreuse. So I had to make do with Spring Rain. Don't shoot me! :)

Thanks for a great challenge, Diane!

Circles

2010-08-01T22:25:00.003-04:00

Earlier this month, Diane posted an awesome card using a circle punch and fun paper. I told her I was going to case it, and I did. TWICE! These both went off to special friends who helped me celebrate my birthday :)

Now that i look at the second card, I think it needs a ribbon, but oh well! :)

I love how so many different sentiments fit in those fillable frames even if they aren't meant for them!

Thanks for sharing such a great card, Diane! :)

Bows, bows and more bows!

2010-07-26T22:41:00.002-04:00

My little girl has some of the finest hair and it gets in her eyes all the time! I'm always looking for something to pin it back with that's functional AND cute. And it doesn't cost an arm and a leg! Enter Rhiannon, from Harper Makes Three! She makes fabulous bows that meet all three of my requirements. Lex loves her clips Rhiannon made her (a flower and a ladybug!).

Right now, Harper Makes Three is having a giveaway for any bow on her site! Make sure you check it out!! (and if you're a buckeye fan, see those cute buckeye bows!)

PTI Blog Hop!

2010-07-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

Wow...It's been awhile since I played along with the blog hop! Our challenge this month was to use office supplies. Because I'm lazy, I used what I have in my crafting area and didn't go upstairs to the actual office!

I used a base of Plum Pudding. I thought the journal cards from Green Boutique looked like fun notepads and made a fun list of items to do for a birthday girl! I adhered them together with staples and attached them with a small binder clip to the base.

I also attached a piece of aqua mist with a fun border of staples around it for added dimension and office supplies. I finished off the left edge with patterned paper using the rick rack die.

Sunflower Birthday

2010-07-14T07:00:00.000-04:00

I've never done much paper piecing and layering of stamps, but I've always wanted to try! So, when I saw a card that Debbie Olson did using Round and Round, I knew I needed to try. Besides, how fun is a single color sunflower?!?

I don't think it turned out too bad, although I had a hard time cutting the circles so they looked ok and weren't all jagged. I think I need to get a sanding block :) I actually broke out the Cricut to find the sun-looking circle behind the focal point. Something I need to do more of! Generally, it sits with a bunch of stuff in front of it that I'm too lazy to move! LOL

Supplies (all PTI unless noted):

Paper - Kraft, Turning a New Leaf, Stampers Select White, Summer Sunrise

Ink - Dark Chocolate, Summer Sunrise, Ripe Avocado

Stamps - Round and Round

Other - Cricut, Ripe Avocado twill ribbon

Pbbbllllleeettt

2010-07-13T07:00:00.000-04:00

I found this on our computer as I was moving images around. She makes me laugh!! :)

Birthday

2010-07-12T07:00:00.000-04:00

I'm a wee behind on updating with cards! One of my good friends (and fellow PTI lover!) had a birthday in early June. I, of course, had to make sure I used all my best PTI stuff on her! I wanted something that was elegant and classy just like she is...well, the way she is as long as she's not on a girls wine trip!

I kept it simple and used black and white with a splash of Raspberry Fizz for color. I love how easily the Kaisercraft rhinestones fit on the stamp!

Hope you had a great birthday, D! :)

Supplies (all PTI unless noted):
Paper - Stampers Select White, True Black

Stamps - Round and Round

Ink - Ripe Avocado, True Black

Other - Raspberry Fizz twill ribbon, Kaisercraft Raspberry Fizz rhinestones

Baby Shower

2010-07-11T10:26:00.003-04:00

I have lots of babies I know who will be coming into the world soon, so I finally needed to break down and get a baby set. I started with Baby Button Bits because the images are so sweet. And, of course, I let it sit for a couple weeks before inking it up. So, by that time, I lost ALL mojo!

I don't like how this card turned out in the least, but I'll share it anyway :) It's for my sister's shower today and they don't know if they're having a boy or girl, so I had to keep it somewhat neutral. I do love that bee image!!

Supplies (all PTI unless noted):

Paper - Lemon Tart, DCWV pp, Orange Zest, Vintage Cream

Ink - Dark Chocolate, True Black

Stamps - Baby Button Bits

Other - Dark Chocolate Swiss Dots Ribbon, misc yellow button, corner rounder

Happily Ever Challenged #8

2010-07-10T23:51:00.002-04:00

It's been awhile since I've had time to play along with Ted's Happily Ever Challenged, so I was pumped when I saw it the night I was just getting ready for an evening of crafting! Our challenge was to tune into Old Glory and use red, white and blue in our projects.

I wound up making a card for a local serviceman who is over in Afghanistan right now to thank him for his service. The base is Enchanted Evening with a mat of Stamper's Select White. I added a pp on top which looks a lot more red in person. There's a fun pattern on it, which I couldn't get to turn out well in the pictures :(

I used Star Prints to stamp onto Enchanted Evening and popped it up on dimensionals. The Thank You comes from Star Prints as well.

Thanks for a great challenge, Ted!

Wave your flag

2010-06-28T22:19:00.002-04:00

I was thinking the other day that I really needed some new 4th of July decorations in my house. Tonight I finally got a burr up my butt and decided to go hog wild and make something. I hit up Michael's on my way home (to buy a Cuttlebug..yay!! now I can buy PTI dies!!), and while I was there, grabbed a sheet of blue and sheet of red patterned paper.

I came home and (with dh's help this time) cut out everything I needed out of pressed wood. Here's the finished piece:

I feel like it needs something, but I'm not sure what yet....The paper on the square behind the star is from a DCWV pack and the cream is PTI's Vintage Cream. I have no clue what the blue and red are!

I went over the whole thing with my tea dye duo to add some old charm :) and added some fun tears in my paper. The whole thing is 17x8.

Pallenge #12

2010-06-26T23:25:00.002-04:00

I'm on a roll tonight! LOL! Pallenge #12 was issued by Tammy and was to make a Christmas in (almost) July card. I realized the other day that Christmas is only 6 months away, so this challenge is perfect since I need to begin thinking what I'm making this year! I think a few new Christmas stamps will be in order, too :)

The base is Ripe Avocado. I cut the frame out using a free svg file on my cricut and used Vintage Cream with tea dye duo on the edges. I don't have a candy cane stamp, so I improvised. I used a red marker and drew lines and then cut out the shape of a candy cane.

I tried to make my Pure Poppy Bitty Dots ribbon a little vintage, but it didn't work :( Tea dye duo doesn't stick to the white spots and Dark Chocolate makes the pure poppy to dark. Oh well!

Pallenge #11

2010-06-26T22:47:00.003-04:00

I'm a bit behind on my Pallenges and I apologize for that! I've had a lot on my plate lately and crafting for fun hasn't made the cut :( Anyway, Ingrid challenged us to do a card of red, white, and blue AND add a star (or more!). I figured there was no better occasion than my brother's birthday which is July 5th (and coincidentally the same day as mine....although he's 5 years younger).

I used my scor pal and scored a box at 1/2 inch all the way around and then popped up the large stars on dimensionals. Love the simplistic look!

Signs

2010-06-01T07:00:00.001-04:00

Awhile back, one of my good friend's mom contacted me about making her a sign to give to her daughter (my friend) that would go in her granddaughter's room when she was born. I didn't have a lot to go off of, though! I started out by hitting up Pottery Barn Kids and found her bedding, Sophie. Such a cute flower print with the skirt being striped and the comforter being polka dot.

I went and bought two white frames and then took the sheet plus a paint card that I had from PBK that matched the bedding, too, to buy paper.

I absolutely love how they turned out. The first one uses a font called Thinking of You. I thought it was a whimsical child-like font.

The second uses a more mature, but still fun font called Juice. I love font names! :) Originally, I was only supposed to do the second phrase, but then she came back wanting the first one, too. And then later she came back asking for a card, too! So, I made them all matchy :)

And here's all three together!

I hope you like them, Rhiannon! And I hope they work well in Harper's room :)

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-31T10:04:00.002-04:00

A special thank you to all of our soldiers currently fighting or who have fought. Especially those who have lost their lives for our country.

I hope my American friends are enjoying a day of family and getting to relax today! (and maybe get some crafting in?!)

Spring

2010-05-26T07:00:00.000-04:00

I love this card! And I really love that only one piece is actually patterned paper. The middle is Plum Pudding and I stamped Text Style I in Plum Pudding ink on top. The bottom is Spring Moss ink on Spring Moss paper using Polka Dot Basics I.

The ribbon is PTI twill in Spring Moss. I added a plum pudding vintage down in the bottom corner to add a bit of interest :)

Nesting Bazaar

2010-05-23T22:07:00.003-04:00

Come Join Us!!!

Pallenge #9

2010-05-12T22:20:00.003-04:00

Nadine has challenged us PALS to use our patterned paper! I've done a card specifically for the challenge, but haven't taken pictures. This one fits the bill, so I've decided to link this one up first :)

Before I got my PTI Anniversary set, I was looking through the gallery at all the Design Teams projects using Round and Round. I found one by Mish that I really loved. Since I didn't have my set yet, I decided to CASE it to the best of my abilities!

My base is Rustic Cream with some Tea Dye Duo sponged on the edges. I used My Minds Eye patterned papers. The strip of white I stamped with Polka Dot Basics in Plum Pudding and then used the wee bitty dot in the center. I kinda like how they're not all equal...some are off to the right, some are off to the left in the center of the circles.

I then stamped the flowers from Everyday Button Bits in Spring Moss and used my 1 3/4" circle punch. The buttons are Plum Pudding, Spring Moss, and Aqua Mist.

I finished it off with a Spring Moss twill ribbon. I did get my Anniversary set in a purchase I made earlier this month, so it's seen ink, I just haven't had time to take pictures! I always like trying to figure out a way to make a card without the same stamps...gets my mind working! :)

Supplies (all PTI unless noted):

Paper - Rustic Cream, Stampers Select White, My Mind's Eye Patterned Paper

Ink - Plum Pudding, Spring Moss

Stamps - Everyday Button Bits, Polka Dot Basics

Other - Spring Moss, Plum Pudding, Aqua Mist Vintage Buttons, Spring Moss Twill Ribbon, 1 3/4" circle punch, Fiskars threading water punch

Dot Spot Thanks

2010-05-12T22:18:00.004-04:00

Wow...just realized it had been a week since I blogged last! Sorry about that! I've been busy with getting a few orders done, making Thank You notes, making a wedding gift, and getting ready for my very FIRST craft show!! Yup, I'm doing it! :) I'll share the details later on it...first, though, I have a fun, easy thank you I made up.

This was so much fun to do. I made a couple of them and then decided to make a set of 6 to sell at the craft show. I think I did 8 in the time it normally takes me to do one card! Mass production at its finest :)

I stamped Dot Spot in Fresh Snow ink on Kraft cardstock. The thank you and brackets are from Beyond Basic Borders stamped in Plum Pudding on Lavender Moon cardstock. I finished it off with a Plum Pudding button and Rustic Jute twine.

Thanks for peeping in today! I hope you have a fabulous Monday! :)

Supplies (all PTI):

Paper - Kraft, Lavender Moon

Ink - Fresh Snow, Plum Pudding

Stamps - Dot Spot, Beyond Basic Borders

Other - Plum Pudding Vintage Button, Rustic Jute twine, corner rounder

Pallenge #8

2010-05-12T22:16:00.003-04:00

Diane challenged us Pals to make a summery card either using summer stamps or summer colors. I have no summer stamps, so I knew this was going to be a hard one! Luckily, I was crafting with a few girlfriends and one of them brought a SU! set that had a cute little girl in a bathing suit (sorry...I have no clue which one it was)

I wound up stamping her and coloring her in using SU! markers and cutting her out. Then I did the sun, too. I had no clue what I was going to do with it, but I brought it home and thought it would be perfect for an ocean scene. I cut out a base of Ocean Tides and Stampers Select White. I sponged on some Aqua Mist for a sky and cut out Ocean Tides to look like waves.

I'm not thrilled with the card, but I at least completed the challenge :)

Tissue Flowers

2010-05-03T07:00:00.000-04:00

I knew when I first started seeing these tissue paper flowers that I'd need to try them on my own! Of course, my scalloped punch wouldn't work on tissue paper; it kept tearing it. So I tried a circle. Thankfully, that one worked!

The picture makes the yellow a LOT more yellow than it really is. (it doesn't look like a rubber duck in real life. promise!) The base is Smokey Shadow and has a layer of Raspberry Fizz with Text Style #1 stamped on it. I always have a heck of a time getting this to line up. But, I keep working with it because I hate having stamp sets not being used.

For my first try, I don't think it's too terribly bad! I don't like how that button photographs, though :( I really need to get better at photographing cards. And if my DH would ever put Photoshop on my computer and give me a tutorial on it, that'd help too... :)

Supplies (All PTI unless noted):

Paper - Smokey Shadow, Raspberry Fizz, White

Ink - Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado

Stamps - Text Style #1, Beyond Basic Borders

Other - Yellow tissue paper, Raspberry Fizz Vintage Button, Embroidery Floss

A letter to my daughter

2010-04-29T08:12:00.005-04:00

A letter to my daughter on her second birthday:

I thought the first year went quickly. The second has gone by even quicker. You are still changing every single day and it amazes me. You've come so far in the past year.

At 15 1/2 months, you started walking. Our lives haven't been the same since! Walking opened up a whole new world for you as you were able to finally catch the cats, walk into the store holding momma's hand and go play on the playground at the park. Your favorite thing about walking, though, was being able to wear shoes. You always yell "Shoooes!" when you see them. And you now know the difference between regular shoes and sandals. (yes, you are my daughter!)

You still love your fingers. We've tried getting you to stop, but they are your constant companion. Most of the time, we also see you walking around with Doggie, your best stuffed friend. He likes to sit at the kitchen table with you for dinner time, cuddle with you at night time, and go with you in the car. If you can't find him, we often hear, "Goggie, where'd go?".

You absolutely love going outside. I feel horrible when we have to come in because you throw crying fits sometimes, you like it so much! I love watching you get so excited when we go "ow-siiide".

Every day you come up with new words. You also love music and like to dance and sing. We catch you singing your own songs all the time in your quiet little voice. You tell me in that little voice, "love you.....mommy" and it just melts my heart.

I love our weekend snuggle time and when you look at me with your big, beautiful blue eyes. You've been absolutely wonderful and I cannot believe how much you've grown and changed this year. I'm looking forward to watching you grow up. You are the light of my life and the best thing that has ever come to me. I love you with all my heart, Alexia Marie. Happy Birthday!

Love,

Momma

Spring Swap

2010-04-27T07:00:00.000-04:00

I participated in an Easter/Spring swap on the PTI forum. We got to send a card to one other person and didn't have any stipulations besides it had to be springy! I had the privilege of sending Kerry in Minnesota a card.

I don't have any spring specific sets, so I made do with what I had on hand. The base is Spring Moss with a layer of Stampers Select White. Both of the patterned papers are from My Minds Eye. I stamped Vintage Labels on them in Plum Pudding and hand cut them out.

The flowers on the base are from Little Lady stamped in Spring Moss, Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon, and Aqua Mist. They all have Lemon Tart centers. (I don't know about you, but any time I talk about Lemon Tart, it makes me hungry! LOL)

The flowers are from Prima and are attached with a pretty purple brad. I loved that I found a blue one to match the striped paper! Hopefully Kerry enjoyed it :)

I received one from Jennifer yesterday, so once I take a pic, I'll post it. I'm in love with it!! :)

Supplies (All PTI unless noted):

Paper - White, Spring Moss, Lemon Tart, My Minds Eye pp

Ink - Spring Moss, Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon, Aqua Mist, Tea Dye Duo

Stamps - Little Lady, Vintage Label, Hero Arts Alphabet

Other - Prima flowers, Making Memories Brad, Corner rounder

Big Week

2010-04-26T07:00:00.001-04:00

This is a big week in our household. Why? Because my baby girl turns TWO on Thursday. She's not really a baby any more :( I'm sad, but I'm loving it even more with how she interacts with us and everyone around her.

I thought it's been awhile since I shared photos..here's a few from the past week!

This one, she pointed to the camera and said CHEESE! so of course, Daddy had to take her picture!

She loves to brush her teeth...we hear TEEF! constantly in our house. There are much worse things she could be wanting to do all the time!

This used to be Daddy's book growing up. I think it's bigger than she is! :)

Peering out the window. I remember it wasn't too long ago that she had to stand on her tip toes and could just barely see out her bedroom window. Not so anymore!

Aw, Momma caught me! :)

Hope you had a great weekend!! Here's to a wonderful week!

PTI Blog Hop!

2010-04-25T17:00:00.000-04:00

Wow...I can't believe it's time for another PTI Blog Hop!! This time, Nichole challenged us to use tissue paper. Her comment was that we always get some in our boxes when we order, but that wasn't what I thought of when I heard tissue paper.

For me, I was thinking about the craft I used to do when I was younger where I'd put a square of tissue paper on the end of a pencil, dab it in glue and adhere it to paper. So, I took that old idea, and made it a little more "adult" :)

I stamped the tree from Beyond Basic Borders and adhered the pink tissue paper to look like a cherry blossom. The "sky" was stamped on using wadded up tissue paper and Aqua Mist ink. I stamped the Mother sentiment from Mega Mixed Messages along with the brackets from Vintage labels in Spring Moss and then embossed it with clear embossing powder. (sorry, my pic of that part isn't so good!)

I hope you enjoy! Is there anything different you'd do? Anything you'd change or add?

More 4x4s

2010-04-22T21:37:00.001-04:00

4x4 thanks

2010-04-21T07:00:00.001-04:00

I made this card awhile ago, just never posted it to the blog. I started out with a 4x4 white base, which is a rarity for me for some reason.

I went the simplistic route and just stamped the leaf from Beyond Basic Borders in Ripe Avocado and the sentiment in Dark Chocolate over top. I folded the ribbon and adhered it with some glue dots at each fold. The end has my favorite buttons...the wooden vintage ones! (I really hope PTI can get these back...I keep using them sparingly which is hard!)

Hope you have a terrific Wednesday! One day closer to the weekend. YAY! :)

Supplies (all PTI):

Paper - White, Dark Chocolate

Ink - Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate

Stamps - Beyond Basic Borders

Other - Spring Moss Twill Ribbon, Wood Vintage Button, twine

Happy Birthday Ted!

2010-04-20T07:00:00.001-04:00

Our lone male on the Papertrey Pals, Ted, is celebrating his birthday today! I hope you have a fabulous birthday!!

Onto his card....this satisfies TWO challenges! First is Pallenge #7 which Sue Ann challenged us to make a masculine card. And the second is the Clean and Simple sketch.

I kept it easy with "manly" colors of black, red and white. I popped up the two larger red stars for some dimension.

I'd love to know what you think (give me honest feedback!). Hope you have a great Tuesday!

thank you

2010-04-19T07:00:00.000-04:00

I've been busy stocking up on thank you cards the past few weeks. Lexi's turning 2 at the end of the month and we're having a birthday party for her. I figure if I can get the thank you cards made ahead of time, then they'll get out in the mail much quicker!

I'm loving using the frame from Fillable Frames #1. Seems when all else fails, I can use that one! The Raspberry Fizz flowers actually have Aqua Mist centers, although it's hard to tell in the picture. I liked adding the rhinestone to the Aqua Mist one to make it a little girly.

Supplies (all PTI):
Paper - White, Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz

Ink - Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz

Stamps - Fillable Frames #1, Little Lady, Beyond Basic Borders

Other - Kaisercraft Rhinestone, Dark Chocolate Bitty Dots Ribbon