My Favorite Things Weekly Sketch Challenge #137

This might be the first time I've succeeded in participating in a MFT weekly sketch challenge. I get the emails every week, but my busy life gets in the way! I like the challenges because it forces me to use some of all of those lovely stamps that I've bought and then not yet even inked!

I've had Ring Me and the dies for quite some time and haven't used it, so I was glad to be able to do so for this sketch.

Supply list:

Cardstock: White (card base); Razzle Berry (MFT)
Patterned Paper: from Razzleberry Lemonade collection (SU)
Stamp Set(s): Ring Me (MFT); Banner Builder (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Rich Razzleberry (SU); Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Embellishments: handmade flower from Mod Podge Melts Mold
Tools: Ring Me dies (MFT)

Papertrey Make It Monday #129

Super quick post coming up here..I really wanted to do something for this week's Make It Monday challenge, Resist with White Crayon. I love that idea, it's so cool! But I was lacking mojo, and none of my stamps were screaming at me "use me for this technique!" Then I saw a card made with a Raisin Boat set I have that has a stamp that looks kind of like crayon scribbling and got an idea...

Here's the stamp set that got me thinking...

...and the card I came up with. Super simple and fast and probably not tremendously awe-inspiring, but I like that I was able to put it together very quickly and I like how the resist turned out! Fun. I can't wait to rev up my mojo again and try this with some other of my PTI stamps. (the sentiment is from All About You Additions)

Supply list:

Cardstock: White, True Black (PTI)
Stamp Set(s): All About You Additions
Ink/Colorants: Cranberry (CTMH); Orange Zest, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Blueberry Sky (PTI)
Tools: White Crayon, Ink Blending Sponges

Papertrey Make It Monday #128

This week's Make It Monday challenge is to stamp a random background. I hadn't used any of my button stamp sets in awhile so I thought I'd pull those out and put together a card with kind of a thread/sewing theme. I really liked how the background was turning out, as it looked like the buttons were falling from the sky. Then I got the brilliant idea to stamp the "thread" in the button holes and after that I wasn't as thrilled with the results. But oh well, live & learn. I initially stamped those threads with a darker ink and I realized that when you looked at the BG, all you saw was those little "threads"! So I tried to soften that effect by going over it with a white gel pen, and that helped some.

Here's the end result:

Supply list:

Cardstock: Confetti Cream (SU); Parchment (CTMH); Misc peach-colored
Stamp Set(s): Stitched Sentiments, Hanging By a Thread, Sew Simple Borders, Button Up (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Riding Hood Red, Blushing Bride (SU); Kiwi, Sunkiss Yellow (CTMH)
Embellishments: Misc fibers
Tools: In Stitches banner die, Thread Card dies (PTI)

Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge #231

Yay, two posts in one day?? Could I be coming back with a vengeance?? Hmmm, I'm not counting any chickens, but happy that I got to do two challenges this week so far. (And last week I did several cards for the Papertrey Blog Hop, so I'm thrilled!)

So this is for the Flourishes weekly challenge - Timeless Tuesday #231.

The challenge is "Something Old, Something New, Something Borrowed, Something Blue." Just off the bat I'll say that my "blue" turned out to be more like "blue-green" but I hope it's close enough to count. My something old is from a really old Basic Grey 6x6 paper pad from the Nook & Pantry collection. Back in 2011 I went on a crazy patterned paper buying spree, and I think I bought enough to last two lifetimes and am still using it up.

The something new is not really a new Flourishes set, but new to me, since I bought it awhile back and have never used it (I have a bad habit of doing this...buying sets that then sit untouched for months & months!) So Fresh Baked is NEW for me. Plus I used the Silhouette cut files with the stamp set, something I've not done before. I LOVE my Cameo!!

Finally, the something borrowed is from the Fresh Baked gallery..I actually was inspired by two cards:

This one for the coloring of the apron...

And this one for the layout:

So here's what I came up with:

Supply list:

Cardstock: Lemon Tart (PTI); Sno Cone (MFT)
Patterned Paper: Nook & Pantry collection (Basic Grey)
Stamp Set(s): Fresh Baked (Flourishes)
Ink/Colorants: Island Indigo (SU); BG10, BG13, BG15, BG18 Copic markers
Embellishments: Pearls (Oriental Trading); Grosgrain ribbon (SU); Satin Dot ribbon (CTMH)
Tools: Beaded Ovals & Ovals dies (Spellbinders)

Papertrey Make It Monday #127 - Double Backgrounds

Here is my contribution to this week's Make It Monday challenge: double background stamping.

Supply list:

Cardstock: Soft Stone, Fine Linen (PTI)
Stamp Set(s): Background Basics: Birthday Fun, Dot Spot, Bountiful Banners (PTI)
Ink/Colorants: Groovy Guava, Calypso Coral (SU); Cranberry (CTMH); Licorice Black (MFT)
Tools: Mat Stack 6 Collection dies, Bountiful Banners die

Papertrey July 2013 Blog Hop

Well it's been a long time since I've been able to participate in a monthly blog hop, but here I am today, barely getting this post up! I've spent the last couple weeks (it seems) working on cards for this thing, so I wasn't going to miss it!

I really loved all the color combos, so I made a card for each one (though one was a 70th birthday card that I already gave to the recipient and forgot to photograph it first, so oh well.)

This has to be a quick post because I have to take my kids to VBS this morning, so I'll add the supply lists later...

I made a couple cards with this color combo, using PTI's Distressed Stripes and the Cloud die.
The sentiments are from Flourishes (He is Risen) and My Favorite Things (Cheerful Blessings).

The next couple cards use Watercolor Wonder along with sentiments from My Favorite Things (Clearly Sentimental About Art) and Out on a Limb Sentiments (the quote from Martin Luther). For the first one I also used Butterfly Dreams.

For the one below, the background was clear embossed with a flower image from Wildflower Garden. (it didn't turn out like I had imagined and hoped it would..oh well, live & learn! :)

For this next one, I used stamps from Rosie Posie, and the sentiment is from Star Prints. I used an edge die & coordinating embossing folder from Stampin' Up.

And last but not least, a more graphic kind of design...

This one uses PTI alphabet dies and a badge flair embellishment by American Crafts. The flourishes above & below the sentiment are from Mat Stack 2 Collection.

That's it for me today! I hope that next month I'll be able to jump in and participate again, this was so much fun! :)

Catching up from 6 months of being MIA... :(

Well, the prodigal blogger is returning (at least for now). Life has a way of making me a very sporadic crafter...I go in fits & starts. I haven't stopped all together, but sometimes long stretches go between card making sessions, and even longer stretches between blog posts! I'd like to start getting back to it, so this post will include a bunch of cards that I've done in the last 6 months, just so it becomes evident that I have still been creating even though I've been too lazy to blog my creations! :)

In February, I made these favors for my daughter's kindergarten class using WPlus9's cute set called Bitty Buddy Valentines.

These ones were for my older daughter's 3rd grade class for Valentines. I made them with Papertrey's Tiny Treats: Valentines set and the My Favorite Things Lollipop Treat die.

Assorted birthday cards:

These were fun to make...I have a subscription to House Beautiful, which is WAY too uppity for my wallet, but which has a few pages with nice color combos. I ripped those pages out and decided to make cards with those color combos! I photographed the pages to show how nice those combinations look on cards! This was a fun inspirational idea.

Some thank you cards, including teacher thank yous from the end of the year:

And additional assorted cards for different occasions:

And lastly, a really fun graduation card for a cousin of mine who graduated from nursing school...I really love how this one turned out! I used my Silhouette Cameo machine for the envelope & words...that machine is so cool! I'm still learning about what all it can do...

I'm sure there were more cards even than this, but I didn't get around to photographing them all. Hopefully I will start getting back into the groove that I managed to get into in 2011 where I was participating in a lot of challenges and blogging often. Those were good times!