MIM #261

Hi there,

It's been basically forever since I posted anything! I generally get too busy during the summer, and stamping falls by the wayside unless I need to quickly make something for a birthday party or wedding. Well it seems that summer is winding down, and we are having a dreary day (and too windy for flying) so why not pull out some craft supplies and look for my mojo?

I was enamoured with the card Betsy made on this week's Make it Monday challenge at PTI, and wanted to give that idea a try.

Wow, her photography is fantastic. Anyway, the challenge was to utilize floral sets in a way that is guy friendly. I always have a shortage of man cards in my stash, and this seemed like a lot more fun than my usual "go to" for guys, plaid. (Actually I did think about working some plaid in here!).

I used my Life, Meadow Greens, & Simple Sunflower sets for the foliage and flowers. I'm not sure how masculine this is? My husband did give it his approval, but he may be a bit biased! My line of thinking was that sunflowers = farming, and are not too fussy/fancy, so they make a good fit for a more masculine feel.

I found a scrap of kraft that was already embossed with a woodgrain texture, and it was just the right size to fit with the floral images, although it's a little too big and sort of defies the rule of thirds. Breaking it up a bit with twine and sentiment banners partially corrects the problem. I doubt most guys would recognize the rule of thirds had been broken anyway, right?

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Day 10: Paper Crafting Alphabet

Hi there,
This is my last post for today. I wanted to participate in the last challenge for the week of anniversary festivities at PTI. I only had a wee bit of time before heading out the door with my honey for a Valentine's date day, so I had one shot to throw something together. The challenge is to use the letters of your name to see what elements to use in your project. Given my tight schedule, I probably shouldn't have used all 5 letters, but they all sounded appealing! I used bakers' twine for T, added a polka dot border for A, used an unused set for N (actually I have used this set before, but only the poppies, this was the first time I've ever used any other stamps out of this set!), I used a gingham folder to add a dry embossed texture for I, and lastly, I used a stitched rectangle die cut for S. I wasn't exactly blown away with the results, but I didn't have time to tweak it, and it's not too shabby, so I'm rolling with it.

We then headed off to the Canadian Museum of Human Rights, and then the Great Ice Show at the Forks, followed by dinner at one of our favourite Thai spots. It's been a hectic day! Time to turn in.

Drinks at the ice bar with my Love

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Day 9: Saturday Snail Mail

Hi there,
I'm doing a second post today for yesterday's challenge at PTI. It's a thank you to the warehouse staff that do a fantastic job of getting orders shipped out efficiently, especially each month a release time when they are super busy!
Thanks for stopping by,
T

Day 8: Color Pop Fortune Teller

Hi there,
I think I'm getting more crafting done this week than I have the past year thanks to PTI's anniversary! The Day 8 challenge  is a color challenge using one of those folded paper thingies like you used to use in grade school to find out who you were going to marry/how many kids you would have/etc. Good times! I got limeade ice, blueberry sky and spring rain, so it seemed like I should make a guy-friendly birthday card. I never have enough of those in the shoe box. I was trying to squeeze in a few challenges today (last day!), so I thought I'd choose a color blocked layout with white embossing.for a quick card with some punch.
Thansk for stopping by,
T

Day 3: Grab & Craft Challenge

Hi there,
Day 3 of the PTI anniversary fun is a Grab & Craft challenge. The idea is to spend 5 minutes grabbing supplies from your craft room, and then using them all on a project.

It didn't even take me 5 minutes to grab stuff. I knew I wanted to use this striped grosgrain ribbon because I never use it, because it's generally too fat to fit on a card. I had just seen this ribbon scrumching technique last week at stamp club and was determined to try it out at home and use some of my unloved ribbon. I knew exactly the layout I would use, so it was as simple as picking some bright inks and cardstock to match the ribbon, and a stamp set to stamp a background. It's so easy to get striking results with this Friendly Flowers set, and I'm short on thank you cards, so Keep it Simple was an obvious choice for a sentiment since it would give me a variety of fonts to choose from. An ignored pack of brads that totally coordinate with these flowers was the last thing I grabbed. Hopefully I will remember to use those brads with this set again in the future.

This project was pretty quick to assemble, too. I probably spent more time fiddling around with the ribbon and brad than I did on stamping. I should probably pull out some more stamps and colors and make a few more of these babies.

Thanks for stopping by,

T

Day 2: Dress Up Inspiration

Hi there,
I made a card for Day 2 of PTI's anniversary countdown. The challenge is to create a project inspired by an item of clothing. I just happened to pick up this top on Saturday, and thought it was perfect for this task.

I started out by using the blue, yellow and brown tones to smoosh a watercolor background on a stitched rectangle, then embossed trees over top once it was dry. I was pretty happy with the simplicity of it, so decided not to add much more. Just a bit of matting for contrast, and a sentiment embossed in white on vellum.

I hate to make the same card twice, so I love a watercolor background. Even if I tried, I would never be able to replicate this one.

Thanks for stopping by,
T

Day !: DT Favorites

Hi there,
It's aniiversary time at Papertrey Ink. I decided to jump in on the Day 1 challenge and make a card using Lizzie's favorite color palette from one of last year's projects.

Thanks for stopping by,

T

Create Along With Us - Jan 2016

Hi there,
I decided to join in with the Create Along With Us challenge that coincided with release week at PTI. I loved a card that Nichole posted the first day, and thought it would be a great opportunity to use up some paper scraps. I seem to be a bit over run with scraps lately! Here's a look at her card:

Yum! Love these colors, so much. Just gorgeous though it's a very simple design. I'm short on baby cards though, so I pulled out some pastel scraps to see what I could use to make strips. I opted to a unisex card, but will probably nake a few more this week.

I had tons more scraps, so I've pulled out the bolder colors as well and layed out a few color schemes to make up a bunch more cards. Time to refill the old shoe box!

Thanks for stopping by,
T