PTI November Blog Hop

Hi there,
It's been way too long since I posted any cards! Summer is so busy with outdoor activities, but now that winter is setting in, I hope I can devote some time to stamping. When I saw the inspiration for this months blog hop at PTI, I had to dive in. I'm completely in love with this color palette.
Chartreuse with Hawaiin Shores! Plus a lot of white with silver. I also added some Limeade Ice, and a scrap of a darker turquoise, maybe from SU, that was as close as I could find to the darker blue in the challenge photo.

 

I love this ornament die, but have never tried paper piecing with it (& probably never will again! That was finicky).  I first cut the outline from white card stock & the detail die from a Luxe Silver adhesive sheet, then cut it four more times in different colors to get all the pieces needed to fill in the frame.

Once the ornament was pieced together it was pretty quick to pop it up with foam on a stitched rectangle matted with Hawaiin Shores. I added a sentiment in silver embossing, a chartreuse bow, and adhered it all to a white card base, et voila! My first Christmas card for this year is done. Now I just have to decide who to give it to!

 

I'm also going to link this baby up on the Work it Wednesday challenge on the SSS blog. They are wanting to see what everyone is sending out for Christmas this year, so get over there and show off your creativity!

Thanks for stopping by,

T

MIM #210

Hi there,

I'm posting a Mothers' Day card today for the Make it Monday challenge. This Keep it Simple: Mothers' Day set is really getting a work out lately! I just wish I had a Fathers' Day set.

The challenge is layering vellum over a patterned background to soften the look. I opted to take it one step further and use my new Sheer Basics patterned vellum, which has stripes that are a little more opaque than plain vellum. I like how the bold stripes contrast with the more busy, flowing floral pattern of the debossed background. I inked up the embossing folder with markers, and embossed the flowers on the vellum with matching Zing powders. A little banner for the greeting is secured with a button and twine.

Thanks for stopping by!
T

PTI April Blog Hop

 Welcome to Blog Hop Challenge Day at PTI! I've been on a bit of a Mothers' Day jag this week, filling up my box to sell a bunch of cards to family at a birthday dinner tomorrow. When I saw this inspiration photo on Nichole's blog, I thought it was perfect for Mothers' Day, so here I go again!

I used the navy and white stripes in my background, and the pink roses for my bouquet, keeping it fairly simple with nothing more than a white embossed sentiment to finish things off.

That's all for now. We are having a garage sale today, so hopefully I'll have some free time to do some hopping later this afternoon!

Thanks for stopping by,
T

MIM #207

 Hi there,
Last minute, I know, but I managed to squeeze in some double partial die cutting tonight when we got home from Easter dinner at my aunt's. Laura Bassen showed off this fun technique for the Make it Monday challenge. I find if I neglect to try something out as soon as I see it, it fades from memory within a few weeks, so I made it a priority to make time for this. Now, hopefully I'll remember to use this idea again another day.

I'm loving this pink/yellow and orange combo lately. Must be a spring thing? Reminds me of tulips, I guess. Too bad the colors look a bit darker in these pics, but it does pick up the dry embossing, which sometimes gets lost in a brighter photo. I wanted to highlight the heart, so I cut a second one in white and gave it some stripes with pink, yellow and orange markers.

Off to bed, though tomorrow is another holiday for me. Looking forward to seeing what PTI has in store for us in tomorrow's Make it Monday video! I'm pretty much never home on a Monday to watch it, and pull out some stamps to play with, so tomorrow is a special day.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

CC#31

 Hi there,

It's my Mom's B-Day today. Hard to believe she's 70! Scary. The good news is, her and my Dad (who is 75) were off to the gym when I called her earlier. They are making a habit of working out lately, so hopefully they will be staying healthy for a long while yet.

So, today I needed to make her a card. Why, you may ask, did I wait until the last day to make her a card? Good question! I was wishing I had started sooner. Talk about being behind the 8 ball. I had no idea where to start, but gathered a bit of inspiration from the Card Concept Challenge's cup cake theme. I vaguely recalled having a cup cake die set, and though it would pair well with this shaker kit and sprinkles. I actually ordered this kit a year ago with plans to make something fantastic for my niece's 7th and Dad's 75th birthdays, but was horribly disappointed when it was on back order, and took MONTHS to arrive, too late for either birthday. I basically chucked it aside when it arrived, and it has been collecting dust ever since. Well, it is dusty no more since I needed to come with something fab on a tight timeline. These dies really do make it quick to stick a shaker together. I spent more time picking out paper/colors than assembling this.

We'll see what my niece thinks of it, and if she'll be expecting one for her birthday. She was pretty enthralled with the infinity card I made for her brother's birthday and wanted one of those, but maybe she'll change her mind?

This shot shows the shimmer on the sentiment, and the sprinkles on the cup cake a bit better. As it turns out, my cup cake die cuts were too large to fit on this card, so I ended up just hand cutting a base and using a cloud die for the icing. Whatever works! I would like to have added a candle on top, but it seemed a little too crowded and busy already. Speaking of, I'm not sure what style this card would be. Clean and layered, I guess? It's definitely layered, but a little less "clean" than my usual style. Busy and layered?!

Time to make black forrest cheesecake! Thanks for stopping by,
T

Floral Fusion

Hi there,
Don't you just love anemones? They bloom in the most gorgeous colors. I don't have an anemone stamp set, but I figured this hostess set from SU would do the trick if I watercolored them like anemones.I wouldn't normally think of using chevron stripes vertically, but I initaially started this card following the layout from the Fusion challenge. With these large flowers, it just wasn't working, so I ended up flipping the card to landscape giving me vertical stripes instead. I thought about cutting another piece of vellum, but then decided to just roll with it. Why not?

Here is a look at the challenge graphic that kicked thisproject off:

I love how saturated the colors are. Mine aren't as deep because I used watercolor paints. I think Copics would be fabulous to capture this depth, if only I had the right shades.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

MIM #204 - "smooshing"

Hi there,

This week, the Make it Monday challenge at PTI is some thing Laura Bassen has referred to as smooshing. Basically, it's just inking up an acetate sheet, spritzing with a bit of water, then smooshing your card front right into the puddle, and peeling it back to see what is revealed. It's a bit of a craps shoot, really. You never know what your going to get!

I smooshed 4 different color combos last night, and just set them aside to dry, and had a look this morning. This one was my fave. I think it's just raspberry fizz and summer sunrise, though I used 3 colors on the others. This may have been the first one I did, and I wasn't that enthused with it, but they seem to get better as they dry. All 4 turned out pretty well, so I'm sure I'll turn the rest into cards as soon as I figure out what I want to do with them.

Hopefully this shot allows you to see the Wink of Stella added to the butterfly and sentiment die cuts? I'm more than a little addicted to that pen. The shimmer it adds is so pretty, and it's such a quick and easy way too add little something to a card. I couldn't bring myself to cover up any of this background, so I cut the butterfly from the card front, mounted it on raspberry fizz cardstock, then added the butterfly back in after jazzing it up a bit. I colored the rhinestones yellow to tie them into the color scheme.

 

Fun! I'll definitely use this technique again. I think it's a great way to inspire a project when your not sure where to start. Just smoosh a background and see where it leads you.

 

Thanks for stopping by,

T

CC #30

Hi there,
I made a Thinking of You card today inspired by the Card Concept's latest challenge.

I was drawn to the spring look of the pastel shades in the bouquet, and made a clean, layered card with a bouquet is similar colors. I also added a bit of embossing inspired by the texture of the vase.

Now, I really must get to bed because it's midnight according to the clock. Is anyone else tired of dealing with this whole daylight savings concept? The clock is not fooling me! I know what time it really is, and I'm not looking forward to struggling to get up for work for the next couple of weeks. I really wish we could just put an end to this semi-annual tom-foolery.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

MIM #203

Hi there,

Wow, this week's Make it Monday challenge was lots of fun. I was very skeptical when I watched Ashley's video, thinking there's no way this won't look like a hot mess if I try it! It did start out that way. I thought her watercolored images were so pretty, it was almost a shame to doodle on them, and I figured I may get stuck at that point. Mine weren't that pretty! So I had nothing to lose by forging ahead. I still didn't like the look when I first outlined the images, but as I added more details, they gained more dimension and started to come together. I think I'll have to try this again with some other stamps. I don't have a lot of solid images, but was thinking I could use the back of some of my floral images.

It's always difficult to capture with a camera, but I added some glitter to the butterfly wings to jazz them up a bit.


This is the sample card that Ashley made to demonstrate this awesome technique. You have until Monday morning to post a project if you want to dive in and give it a try!

Thanks for stopping by,
T

LIM 213: This makes me happy!

The theme this week at the Less is More challenge is a project inspired by something that makes you happy. Well, today I am very happy that it has stopped snowing! This was the scene out my front window a couple of hours ago:

Thank goodness that quit, and the sun came back, which got me thinking about spring! So I thought, why not do some flowers in a sunny yellow with a bit of a country feel, like what I expect to see out this window in a couple of months?

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Muse #106

Hi there,

So glad I could make a bit of time today for the Muse challenge. I liked the way Shona's inspiration card had a narrower front panel with a border peeking out on the right. I should do that more often and use some of my patterned paper. Shona also inspired me to choose pink, which I tend to neglect. Not my fave color, but other people like it, and these cards aren't for me ultimately, so why not?! I also loosely followed her simple layout.

Did you notice my kitty, Jezebelle, in the background of my photo? She hopped up on the chaise to help me get a good shot.

Isn't she helpful? Really, I think she just wants her chair back!

Well, I guess I should get back to kitchen reno. We are getting very close to finishing with installing the travertine on the walls.

 We should have made our way right up the ceiling by the time this weekend is done, so no more stamping for me. That's OK, hubby is reffing basketball the next 3 weekends, so I'm sure I'll have more time to play then!

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

Hi there,

It's an action packed day between work and stamp club this evening. Glad I have time to squeeze in a post for this blog hop while I grab a bite for dinner.


When I saw this inspiration photo for the challenge, I was infatuated. A water-colored, geometric background! What's not to love?

I sponged my background in blue and green distress inks to make it kind of a unisex card, then spritzed it with water to get the colors to run. Pretty simple, but oh so pretty! I wish it looked as nice in the photos. I ironed the panel which helped to dry it out a well as flattening it so it would adhere more easily to the card base. I didn't want to add too much else to the card and cover up the background, so I trimmed the panel down a bit with a stitched rectangle die to add some dimension and give it a frame, then added a simple banner stamped with New Leaf ink and "happy" die cut from Hawaiian Shores cardstock over top. Pretty straightforward. In this case, the background is more of a focal point than a background.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

MIM#201: Cover Plates & Embossing Paste

Hi there,
 I made a little something this week for Make it Monday. I rarely remember to break out the embossing paste, so I was all over this idea. I used the horizontal stripe cover plate to cut a stencil to make some stripes on the bottom of my card base. I used reinkers to color the paste, which is pearlescent.

The flower and sentiment were both stamped on vellum.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

PTI Day 7: Heavy Metal

Hi,

I'm posting one last project for the last day of PTI's 8th Anniversary, a strictly metallic and neutral color scheme, which lends itself to a wedding theme. Unfortunately I ran out of daylight before finishing this card, so I had to take this pic with a flash, which washes out the color a bit. This is actually a vintage cream card base with silver embossing. This background is really getting a workout today! But then that's how a I usually work. When I pull something out, I like to use it a few different ways before putting it away again.

So that's it. I'm calling it a night!
T

PTI Day 1: DT Inspiration

Hello,
I'm posting another project for PTI's 8th Anniversary, this time going all the way back to Day1. I chose the 4th color recipe and the 7th sketch and tossed together a little something.
Thanks for stopping by,
T

PTI Day 4: Build a Bouquet

Wow, I am on a roll today! After doing very little stamping for the past 6 months thanks to our renovation projects, I am finally getting a chance to restock my "shoebox" with cards. My stockpile was looking pretty empty. The Day 4 challenge for PTI's 8th Anniversary was to build a bouquet using more than one floral set. I felt compelled to get colorful with it. I guess I'm anxious for spring to arrive, though I have to say, this has been a pretty good winter so far. Can't complain.

Hope to see you soon,
T

PTI Day 5: Spring Into Action

Hi there,

I'm back again with another project for the Papertrey Ink 8th Anniversary challenges. Day 5 challenged everyone to spring into action and use a previously uninked set, the perfect challenge for me since my primary motivation for starting my blog was to use my supplies more frequently! I didn't have to look too far to find something I hadn't used yet. I think I ordered this set last year, but too late to use it for Valentine's Day. It's the perfect thing to make a man-friendly card for my honey. Now I just have to get going on making his butter tarts before he gets home!

Have a good one,
T

PTI Day 3: Bagged & Tagged

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm back again with another post for PTI's 8th Anniversary. Luckily hubby is out reffing basketball, giving me some time to stuff his gift into this gift bag, and make him some heart shaped butter tarts!

Hope you are having a lovely Valentine's Day, too.
T

PTI Day 8 - Blue Ombre/ OLS13 - You Blend

Hi there,

The 8th anniversary festivities continue at Papertrey Ink, and the Day 8 challenge was Blue Ombre, so I decided to pull out a favourite set (Meadow Greens) and do some sponging with blues. The theme this month at the One Layer Simplicity challenge is blending, so I thought, why not change things up today and do a one layer card? They are a bit of a challenge for me because it's not my usual style, and this was extra challenging because I don't usually make anything this monochromatic. I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but even the rhinestone is blue! Blue, blue, and more blue, aside from the white card base and clear embossed image. I wanted to sponge in some green or purple, but then it wouldn't really be blue ombre, would it? It's seems a little plain to me, and I was tempted to add some more bling, but I was undecided where to put it, so opted to leave well enough alone! Sometimes less is more.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

PTI 8th Anniversary, Day 2: Maile

Hi there,

Papertrey Ink is celebrating their 8th Anniversary, and the festivities are in full swing. I'm thrilled that Maile Belles is back to designing this year. I love her style, and didn't have to look to hard to find a card of hers to use as inspiration for a new project. I've seen her use this technique a few times, and have wanted to try it out. I finally took the plunge today.

 

Here is her card:

Thanks for stopping by,

T