Valentine's Candle Enhancer

This is an idea I came up with yesterday while staying home with my DD who has strep. It uses Chris' technique of cutting up PTI plastic storage boxes and running them through a Cuttlebug embossing folder. The CB folder I used here is Textile. I took a 3" by 12" piece of Basic Grey DP, scored it every 2 7/8". This gives you 4 sides plus about 1/2". I punched holes in each side with my Marvy circle punch, used the next size up to punch a circle out of the embossed plastic, used glue dots to affix the plastic to the back side of the DP, then used Sticky Strip tape to seal the flap into a cube. Outside is decorated with punched hearts and rhinestones from K & Co. Sentiment is from PTI's Out on a Limb Sents. Here is a pic with the tea light turned off, maybe you can see the embossing on the window a little better.


This was very easy to do, and I think makes a cute little Valentine's Day decoration. Hope you enjoy looking. Have a great day everyone!

What's the Buzz?

Quick post today--instead of doing housework I tried Sara's sketch and Chris' technique (see blog list at right for their blogs). What fun I had! Sara, don't know if this CB folder (Birds and Swirls) counts as Flourishes, but if so it's only cheating a little LOL! All products except CB folder and eyelets (SU Barely Banana ret.) are PTI. Now I have to go to work!

Absolutely Fabulous Raspberry Fizz!

Morning all! On Mon. I got my new PTI order. I am crazy about this color, Raspberry Fizz, actually released last month by PTI . I used the flower from the new With Sympathy set (it matches the flower in the DP) and glittered it up. This sketch came from the latest issue of Papercrafts Magazine, it was just so cute and I knew it would be perfect to use with this color and DP. The sentiment is from Mixed Messages, punches are all SU. Little flower and brad are unknown.

This is a sympathy card. I had a little trouble getting it right, and I'm still not really satisfied with it. CS is Mellow Moss by SU (die cut with Top Note die from SU), Stampers Select white by PTI. I love the flourished vines image, stamped it in PTI Ripe Avocado. I embossed the flowers in white. I was going to mount the piece on RA, but it didn't look right. I stamped the flourish in Mellow Moss on the white for a BG and mounted on MM card base. Butterfly is Martha Stewart punch out of Lavender Moon CS by PTI.

Sara has posted a sketch challenge inspired by this flourish image--give it a try! Hope everyone has a great day!

Another ODBD Easter card

Hi, everyone, sorry for the crooked pic. This is a card I made with one of my new ODBD sets, He is Risen. I wanted a very rustic, antique feel. I have a hard time with this particular image--it is so hard to think about the torture Christ went through for our sins. I stamped Confetti Cream CS with the Linen BG stamp (SU retired) in Creamy Caramel, then overstamped the cross in Really Rust. I sponged over the image and around the edges with More Mustard, then followed around the edges of the piece with Chocolate Chip. Then I used the cracked glass technique--tutorial found HERE. In hindsight I should have used one more layer of UTEE, but oh well. After I cracked it I rubbed Choc. Chip ink into the cracks. I used the same stamping technique, minus the cracked glass, on the sentiment. I used some retired SU DP for the background. The corner looked a little bare, so I added some flourishes from and Inque Boutique set I have, again in hindsight I wish I'd done something else. I used an Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware label holder, brads, and oval clip, and stained a piece of twill tape with ink and tied it to the oval clip.

I put up the cards I posted here the other day on the sign up posters for my stamp class at church, now there is ONE person signed up LOL! DH said, maybe when it is closer to the date more people will sign up. I hope you all enjoyed this card, and that you're having a great week so far!

Surprise Pop-Up Get Well Card

Here is another surprise pop-up card I had actually made a while back, but was reminded of it by the PTI blog hop. The tutorial may be found HERE. Front of card is covered with Scenic Route patterned paper. Sets used are Pond Life and Pond Life Sents by Papertrey Ink. Colors are Certainly Celery, Old Olive, and Cool Caribbean by SU. Lemon Tart Satin ribbon by PTI, Pink polka dot is from Michaels. Tiny brads are Queen and Co., flowers are unknown. Poor little turtle, he's on his back and all stressed out!

When you pull on the ribbons, it opens to reveal: "Slow down and get well soon."

This is a fun card to make, and very easy if you follow the instructions. Hope you all enjoyed it--thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink January Blog Hop Entry

Hi, everyone, this is my first PTI blog hop! The challenge for this month is to create a birthday card.

Here is my entry. It is a Surprise Pop-Up Card. The instructions may be found HERE. I used two of my fave PTI sets, Pond Life and It's a Celebration, both designed by Candice Aguilar. It also uses two of my favorite PTI colors, Sweet Blush and Berry Sorbet. I stamped the pennants from It's a Celebration on Sweet Blush CS in Sweet Blush Palette Ink. I stamped the cupcake image on PTI's Stamper's Select White, added stickles to the dots, then I masked it and stamped the turtle shell in Certainly Celery (SU) and the detail in Ripe Avocado (PTI). Then I overstamped the detail in Versamark, easy to do with clear stamps and embossed with a mix of clear and hologram highlights EP for some sparkle. I stamped the head, feet, and tail in Ripe Avocado, stamped, embossed and cut out the party hat and popped it up. I added a googly eye to Mr. Turtle. Ribbon is PTI.

"Inching by just to say (hi)" is from Pond Life Sentiments.

When you pull the tag, the front panel opens to show the inside, in this case, "Happy belated Birthday", also from Pond Life Sents. This is very appropriate for me, since I usually remember the birthday of a person 500 miles away on the actual day of his/her birthday! I am the world's worst at getting cards in the mail on time!

I hope you like my blog hop creation; can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with! Thanks for looking!

Arrow of Light Ceremony

Here I am with my son, Matt

and my daughter, Emily,

at the pack meeting

after the Arrow of Light ceremony.

On Tuesday night I found out I was supposed to decorate an arrow for the Arrow of Light ceremony for Matt's Webelos den. On Wed. I found out it was supposed to be done by Thurs. night which was the night of the ceremony! Wed. night I met with one of the den leaders who showed me how to wrap colored embroidery floss around the point end, then I was supposed to personalize the arrow. Since I was pressed for time I resized photos on the computer, printed them out, laminated them, punched a hole and tied them to the arrow. I also scanned a Harry Potter book cover, some scrapbook pages, and a Nintendo DS game cover for Clone Wars (one of Matt's faves). I tied a Pikachu and some Legos on as well, as those are passions of Matt's (though I think he is about to outgrow Pokemon--finally!) and stamped a soccer ball and music staff and tied those on as well. I was pretty happy with the way it turned out, and the other moms were kind of impressed. The moms were supposed to present the arrow they made for their son at the ceremony. Next month he crosses over to be a Boy Scout--I can hardly believe it.

The different colors of floss stand for the different levels--Tigers, Bobcat, Wolf, Bear, Webelo and finally yellow for Arrow of Light. I have pix of Matt with his sis, his best friend Hunter back in NC,

Matt with me and his dad at the Pinewood Derby District race in Wilmington, NC, Matt with our dog, Lyle, Matt in a field of sunflowers here in KS, as a Webelo, with his friend Nate here in KS, the Harry Potter and Clone Wars things,

the soccer, music, legos, and Pokemon.

Matt is all those things and so much more! I think he's the best boy in the world. I teared up a bit at the ceremony. I have to say I think Scouting has been such a great thing for Matt and our whole family. We have met so many great parents and kids through Scouts. Tomorrow is the Pinewood Derby, so we will be there tomorrow night racing Matt's car. This will be his last one--they don't do it in Boy Scouts. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you all have a great weekend!

Easter Cards

Morning everyone! Yesterday I had a chance to play with my new Our Daily Bread Designs stamps. They are so pretty. I am going to be teaching a stamp class at my church, so I have been playing around with ideas. This first card uses the sets The Cross of Christ and He Is Risen. CS and ink are SU Whisper White, Pale Plum and Perfect Plum. The Perfect Plum layer is embossed with the Birds and Swirls Cuttlebug Embossing Folder. Ribbon and eyelets are SU retired. I have to tell you, Perfect Plum is probably my least fave color, but it looks nice with Pale Plum and both are good for Easter cards.














This card uses Flourished Christian Symbols and He Is Risen. and the Doodle jumbo wheel from SU. I wheeled the Almost Amethyst CS with Versark and embossed with a mix of clear and hologram highlights embossing powder. Very pretty and sparkly in real life. Stamped the cross in Almost Amethyst and dotted flower centers with Stickles. Layered on Barely Banana, card base is Lavender Lace. All supplies except stamps and Stickles by SU.




On this card I decided to add some color to the vines on the cross. I colored the vines coming off the cross with markers, stamped on Whisper White. Stamped the cross in Bashful Blue on another sheet, colored the flowers and vines on the cross and cut out, popped up on the first panel, layered on Barely Banana. Used punches for the flowers and punched the corners out of Cuttlebug Birds and Swirls. Colors are Barely Banana, Certainly Celery, and Bashful Blue. All supplies except Cuttlebut by SU.

Tonight is my son's Arrow of Light awards ceremony. It is the last award he will get as a Webelo; next month he will cross over to Boy Scouts. He is growing up too fast! I have to finish decorating his arrow today. I will upload a pic here tomorrow. Have a great day!

Winter Fun with Lily and Tweet

Good Thursday morning, happy stampers! Did everyone spend lots of bucks at the PTI release party last night? Recession? What recession?

This card uses an image from Lily and Tweet by Pink Cat Studio. I just adore Melissa's Billy and Lily images. They are so cute! Here I watercolored Lily, Tweet, and their cool friend using SU colors. Card base is Bali Breeze, layers are Blue Bayou (SU retired), and Pumpkin Pie. Patterned paper is Scenic Route. Die cut is Sizzix out of Blue Bayou and coated with Dazzling Diamonds glitter, brad is round Ice rhinestone from SU. Fur trim on Lily's outfit is flocked and I added glitter to the bottom of the image.

Hope you enjoyed looking at this card as much as I enjoyed making it!

Sweetie Pie

Good morning all! Hope everyone is having a good day.

The last PTI swap I participated in we also did image swaps, not necessarily PTI images. Angela (monkeymama on SCS) and I are both Pink Cat Studio fans, and I got some images from her from the set Sweet Treats. Last night I was playing around with this one. I watercolored the image, put crystal effects on the cherries and liquid applique on the whipped cream, used a bunch of SU retired product, and this was the result! I like how it turned out, though I wish I'd sacrificed one of the other pie images and popped up the ice cream above the whipped cream. Pink Cat Studio is coming out with their newest stamps today or tomorrow, really cute Lily and Billy valentine stamps, and a cute kitty. Papertrey Ink is also having their release party tonight, and they have got some really great sets this month. I'm hoping my new SU catty will be here today too, so lots to look forward to. See you soon!

Coneflower Thank You

Hi, everyone, it has been a month since I last posted! What with the holidays and getting back into the swing of things, I haven't had much stamping time. But I did get to make a card today, in fact I need to make 9 of them. These are thank you notes for the team at Matt's school that evaluates kids for the gifted program and also for problems. He has been admitted into the gifted program and they are going to help him with his writing. This child can tell you the most elaborate story, but if you ask him to write it, he shuts down. He absolutely hates to write! So they are working with him on that also. They are so caring and professional, I thought they each needed a handmade thank-you!

For this card I used the Stampin' Up! set Inspired by Nature. Everything used on this card is SU unless otherwise noted. I used Perfect Plum, Summer Sun, and Garden Green markers for the flowers. I masked off the flower blossoms then inked up the grass with Garden Green, stamped off once, then stamped the grass. Cardstock is confetti white and Perfect Plum. Sentiment is stamped with Palette Noir, ribbon is Summer Sunrise from Papertrey Ink. Now I am going to go to my stamp room and play with some of the cool images I got in my last round of PTI swaps--Hopefully I'll have something to show you tomorrow!