PTI Swap--Sympathy

This card is for Jen's SCS swap, the sympathy category. I often find myself needing sympathy cards, but I rarely make them for some reason. I sold my PTI sympathy set to KJ, who has done some wonderful thing with it, but I still have Out on a Limb, one of my all time fave stamp sets. This card is very basic, but I think it's pretty, calm and soothing. Hopefully it would make someone grieving feel a little better.

Card base is SU's Perfect Plum, DP is PTI. Ink is SU Crumb Cake, PTI's hybrid Plum Pudding and Lavender Moon. I used my Bow Easy from Gina K to make my bow. It turned out very well, I think. Dies are from Spellbinders. Thanks for looking!

Homespun Angel

I have been having so much fun with this angel! To me she looks very folk art-y, and I got the idea to use her with my Quilter's Sampler set (also by PTI). Lining up those quilt blocks is a bear! I finally cut a 3/4" strip and scored it at 3/4" intervals. It's still not completely straight, but it looks okay. I stamped the blocks and angel in Palette Burnt Umber on SU's Crumb Cake. I colored the blocks with a blender pen and reinkers, Old Olive and Real Red (markers were too intense).

Ribbon tag is Spellbinders, felt ribbon is Martha Stewart. I used the original Love Lives Here dies to cut a little red felt heart and punched some pine boughs out of Ripe Avocado with the MS punch. Looking at this now I wish I had embossed the avocado layer--next time! This was really my idea for my PTI swap, but it took me forever to figure out how to line up those blocks decently and I got fed up. After I got the swap done I thought of my MS scoring board--love that thing! Anyway, I like how this turned out---hope you do too!

Warm Winter Wishes

I am ecstatic over the way this card turned out! I used the mitten die from PTI's Love Lives Here: Holidays for the mittens. The doilies are MFT's Dizzy Doilies. Sentiment is from PTI's Stocking Prints. CS, DP, buttons, and ink are PTI. Felt ribbon is last year's (or maybe the year before?) Martha Stewart. Jingle bell is SU and twine (yes, I finally broke down and bought some which means the trend is over!) is from Divine Twine. I needed a huge roll of it to make cards with the Girl Scouts for a charity we are supporting and that was the biggest one--I saw it in PaperCrafts. The sketch was Mojo Monday 199.

The hole in the bell is VERY tiny! I wound up using a single strand of DMC to tie it onto the twine knot, as I could not get the twine itself through the hole. Sheesh! The things I will go through to make a card. Anyway, I LOVE this card. Hope you do too--thanks for looking!

Christmas Angel

A couple of PTI releases ago, I ordered this stamp set, called Love Lives Here: Holidays. Along with the Christmas Labels set, and matching dies. I have the original LLH, and I love it, so had to have this one too! I love this angel image. I die cut her and embossed her in gold on Very Vanilla CS. The card base is Always Artichoke, the layer is Cherry Cobbler. DP is (let's all say it together now!) last year's SU. I pleated a strip of DP and glued the ends together to make the pleated rosette. This is a very bulky card!

Sentiment is from LLH: Holidays, label is from Christmas Labels. Lace is SU. I wasn't sure I liked this card at first but it has grown on me. Hope you like it too! TFL!

Another Christmas Angel

Can you tell I just love this angel? Here I've used last year's Christmas DP from SU, cut with Spellbinders. Card base is Sahara Sand, layers are Always Artichoke and Cherry Cobbler. I used a Cuttlebug embossing folder to emboss the green layer and sponged it with SU champagne shimmer paint. Angel is stamped on Very Vanilla with SS ink. Doily is an MFT die which I just got--love it! Very easy to use. I sponged it with the shimmer paint too.

The ribbon is SU. Stamp set and angel die are from PTI (Love Lives Here: Holidays). Stop by for another one tomorrow!

Recipe Card Swap

I joined a Weight Watchers recipe card swap over on SCS. For those of you that don't know, I did weight watchers for about 3 months and lost about 16 pounds! The last month or so I haven't been sticking to it like I should--I need to get back to it before the holidays undo all the good I did!

I signed up for 2 slots, and my recipes are both vegetarian. This first one is for gazpacho, which I love. It is from my Cuisinart instruction book cookbook. I used this SU DP (current! I know!) called Domestic Goddess--the opposite of what I am LOL! I used the Cricut Cartridges Elegant Edges (recipe and mat) and Country Life (utensil jug--cut at 2"). The ribbon is PTI Berry Sorbet.

The next one is for vegetable lasagna and it is to die for! The recipe was too long to get on one card ( and still be in a point size you can read) so I made it double sided and put it in a pocket. This was suggested by one of my fellow swappers. Again, CS and DP are SU, Cricut cart is Country Life. I used a SU embossing folder and some eyelets on the pocket.

I am looking forward to getting these back. I think I am going to make a cookbook for our youth leader at church who is also doing WW. We'll see if I get it done!

Thanks for looking!

PTI Christmas Card Swap

My friend Jen is hosting a swap over on SCS for all the usual PTI addicts. I joined the Christmas card and sympathy card categories. I'm still toying with the stocking stuffer category, but I'm going to have to make a decision soon, and it doesn't lok like it's going to happen. I still have to do the sympathy card. Anyway, here is my entry for the Christmas slot.

I used the new Love Lives Here: Holidays stamp set and dies, and also the Christmas Label set and die. I found THIS neat sketch over on the CAS blog and it was just what I wanted for this card. All CS, ink, and DP are PTI (Ripe Avocado and Pure Poppy). Gold brads and cord are SU. I embossed the angel in gold. That turned out to be a bit of a pain--I don't recommend it. Too many pieces parts to deal with. Angel and label are popped up on foam tape. Sent is also embossed. I'm fairly pleased with how this turned out. I hope the other swappers like it--they are such a talented bunch that the bar is pretty high.

Thanks for dropping in today. Have a good one!

The Last Halloween Hurrah

These are some of the treats I made for Emily's class. Sorry for the crappy pic, it was late when I finished them (?!? LOL) and so no natural light. These were made using my Gypsy and the Mini Monster cartridge. The narrow cello bags, CS, and DP are all SU. I made 23 of these guys!!!

When I saw those narrow cello bags in the SU mini, I thought they would be so cool. They're not. They're TOO narrow--1" x 8". I thought they'd be big enough for mellow creme pumpkins and Hershey kisses, but no. They are big enough for Tootsie rolls though, as I found out on Sun. I will post that project later--it's adorable. But I think in future I will just go with regular small cello bags. Tags are 2.5" square.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek!

Eagle Scout Ceremony

My nephew Tommy had his Eagle Scout Court of Honor on October 9 in Milford KS. He will be graduating this year and aging out of Boy Scouts very shortly. He has been accepted at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston, SC, where his father and two of his uncles went to school. I don't know if non-Scouters know what a huge deal becoming an Eagle Scout is. You have to complete many specific merit badges and plan and execute a service project before your 18th birthday in order to get it. It is a very high honor and a great responsibility, and I'm very proud of Tommy for achieving it. Here he is with his mom and dad (my brother Richard and his wife Lori). It's almost as much work (or more) for the parents of an Eagle Scout, and the ceremony is about honoring them as well.

Here are the cousins with Grandma and Grandpa: Bobby, Tommy's brother, Matt, Emily, Dad, Mom, and Tommy.

And here I am with Richard and Thomas, one of my other brothers. Thomas just retired from the army, hence the handlebar mustache and beard!

Here is the card I made for Tommy. I used the double Z-fold technique which may be found HERE.

The patterned paper I used is some Boy Scout paper with all the ranks listed on it. On the inside I printed the Boy Scout Oath on my computer and stamped congratulations (retired SU). The eagle on the front is from Our Daily Bread Designs.

I tied it closed with ribbon and used star brads on the corners.

I wish Tommy all the best in the next several years--he's got a lot of new experiences ahead of him! Thanks for looking!

Birthday Kitten

This was a card for my card lady's daughter who loves Siamese cats. The card base is cut from the DCWV glitter stack using Cricut cartridge Elegant Edges. The kitten is from Four-Legged Friends. She is cut from Crumb Cake, Very Vanilla, and Soft Suede and sponged with SS.

Greeting is PTI Birthday Basics, punch is SU's Modern Label. I added bling to the kitty's collar, corners of the main panel, and ends of the punch. I colored in the eyes and nose with markers.

Thanks for looking--have a creative day!

Baby Banner

A woman I work with had a baby a while back and so I made name banners for her new daughter Kennedy and big sis Zoie. I used Cricut cartridges Birthday Bash for the pennants, Create a Critter for the butterflies, and MS Holiday Cakes for the letters. I just love that font.

Circles and scalloped circles are cut with Nesties.

The dark pink CS is PTI's Raspberry Fizz (that is the last of it except for scraps). Other CS is SU's Pumpkin Pie and Pretty in Pink. DP is also SU. Orange grosgrain is PTI.

Here is my darling son who grudgingly agreed to hold up my project!

And in the background you can see my messy refrigerator and the best dog in the whole world, Lyle!

I used some retired SU felt flowers to jazz it up a bit, with rhinestone brad centers. And of course I had to add some glitter to the butterfly wings!

Thanks for dropping by today!

Teacher Treats

I am on the committee to help provide birthday treats for my son's middle school's PTO. I drew 3 birthdays in October. I bought 3 of those big Symphony bars and dressed them up. All the supplies are SU, and believe it or not, all the DP is in the current SU catty!

I used the lacy trim punch for the female teachers and tore the edge of the layer for the male.

The tag is made by cutting a 3/8" strip and sticking one end in the top of the jewelry tag punch, stamping it, and then sticking the other end in the bottom of the punch. That way you can have a tag as long as you like.

The fronts are a little plain, but I think they get the point across!

Thanks for stopping by today!