This is one of the SU sets I got at my workshop, called Peace Within. I love cats, so I had been eyeing this one for a while. I particularly love orange cats, so I colored my kitty orange. This is the second one I did, as I colored the orchids on my first one purple. Then I decided I wanted to use that (retired) DP, so I did it over with pink orchids. I stamped the image in Palette Noir and used CO-pics to color it. Still need lots more practice with those things...I did discover that Neenah Solar White was better than Gina K for blending, too bad it's so darned expensive. I need to order some of the Copic CS (even MORE expensive) and see how I like that. But I guess if you're going to spend more than $6 per marker, you'd better be prepared to spend a little on paper. Insanity! Oozak.com has better deals on that stuff though. I'm still working with the markers I got for Christmas. But my birthday, anniversary, and Mother's Day are all coming up...

I used Nesties for the image and layer. Colors are Apricot Appeal (ret.), Tempting Turquoise, and Rose Red. Card base is PTI white. Thanks for stopping by today!

The Birds and the Bees...

No, no, not THOSE birds and bees...stamped, springy ones! My customer wanted some blank inside note cards, and these are two of the ones I came up with. Clearly spring has got my mojo working! This first card uses the (retired of course!) SU set Cheep Talk. Ink colors are Summer Sun, Pacific Point, and Kiwi Kiss. Baker's twine is from this year's Occasions Mini Catalog. Everything is cut out and popped up. Card Base is PTI white.

This card uses PTI's Honey Bees and Around and About sets. Ink colors are Daffodil Delight, Old Olive, Regal Rose, and Tempting Turquoise. That cute little bee fits in the circle really well and I used an itsy-bitsy rhinestone for her eye. I really like both of these--hope you do too!

Hmmm...

Well, this seemed like a good idea at the time LOL! Actually it's not too bad. Can't decide if it looks like someone's weird idea of bathroom decor or like someone's taken out a hit on Jane! To tell you the truth I kind of like it though. I used PTI's Guidelines paper and the Simply Jane set. Colors are Peach Parfait and Pear Pizzazz. Card base is PTI white.

I love the new edge dies and embossing folders from SU--very pretty! Hope everyone has a creative day!

Another Springy Notecard

Here I've used PTI's Turning a New Leaf and Script Sentiments (first time both sets have seen ink). I used Lucky Limeade and Island Indigo inks, CS is Daffodil Delight, Whisper White, and PTI white for the base.

I love the bright colors of this card! Thanks for dropping by!

Spring Garden

I made this card for a customer. She just wanted some notecards to send to people. All supplies are SU except the little tag--stamp set and die are from PTI's Tiny Tags. DP and ribbon are from the SAB hostess bundle currently going on at SU. Ink colors are Bashful Blue and Lucky Limeade. Card base is Pear Pizzazz.

Well that's it for today! What have you made lately?

More Fun With Jane...Austen, That Is!

The two "head" die cuts from PTI's Simply Jane set just beg to be used for cameos. I also just got a cool new embossing folder set from SU--the oval frame around the girl's head is one of them. I used the Mojo Monday Sketch #220 for this. There's not much actual stamping here--I masked off the rest of the HB sentiment from the set and stamped just "Happy Birthday" on the textured Baja Breeze CS. Then I reversed that process on the inside of the card.

I think this turned out kind of cool. It would also make a good Mother's Day card. Thanks for dropping by!

Wedding Card

Good morning! I don't have any wedding cards on hand; plus, I wanted to use my new PTI sets some more. I've had this card in my head for a couple of days now and finally got it made.

Card base is PTI white. I die cut the frame from Simply Jane and stamped and embossed it in silver. I printed out "Mr. and Mrs." using a font called Italianno. Background is Lace Bouquet, stamped in black. I die cut Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy from SU Basic Black. The ribbon is PTI and the brad is SU. Hope you like this--TFL!

Birthday Tags

Here are the birthday tags I made for my partner in the Cricut swap. Teapot is from Everyday Pop Up cards. DP is old SU, HB stamp in from PTI, spoil yourself is SU.

This tag has a metal butterfly that I colored with a Copic. Flowers are from Kate's ABC's. Stamp is SU. Ribbon is PTI.

Thanks for looking!

Valentine's DaY Tags

Hi, everyone! I joined a swap over on the Cricut MB. You were supposed to make 6 tags and send them to your partner. Well, for the first time ever, I had a swap package go astray. So now I am going to have to make 6 more tags and send them to my partner, who has been very sweet about the whole thing. But I think from now on I will just stick to my regular PTI swaps!

I cut the tags out of thin chipboard using my Gypsy and Cricut Expression. I cut cardstock on the first tag and patterned paper on the second to cover the chipboard back and front. I stamped the CS with a flower image from an old SU set called Gentler Times. The heart is from the same set and is embossed. I used SU Chantilly Lace for the ruffle around the heart. Stick pins are from Maya Road and ribbon is PTI.

On the second card I used last year's valentine paper from SU. I made a rosette and used a Cricut phrase (I think it's either from Calligraphy or possibly Lyrical Letters--can't remember). The hearts are from Sweethearts I think. I used an old SU set, Everyday Flexible Phrases for the words on the hearts. Again, ribbon is PTI.

I made St. Patty's Day tags and birthday tags too. I'll show those another day. Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday Sister

My customer needed a birthday card for her sister and wanted it to say "sister" on the front. I finally remembered this set, PTI's Women of Life, an oldie but a goodie I haven't used for a long time, but I plan on pulling it out a lot more from now on. Colors are Bashful Blue, Certainly Celery, and Marina Mist (sentiment). This is very simple but pretty I think.

See you tomorrow!

Warm Winter Wishes

This is a card I made for the winner of my "Year of Cards" scholarship auction offering. I made it as a winter birthday card. The image is Pink Cat Studios, colored with Copics. I got a bunch from my DH for Christmas and have been practicing with them. Need a lot more practice, but I like how she turned out! I used white Liquid Applique for the ear muffs, trim on her clothes and the bird's hat, and snow (I added Dazzling Diamonds glitter to the snow). The tag is from PTI's first Christmas tag set (2008 I think?) with the coffee cup masked out. All other is SU, except for base (PTI) and main image (Gina K layering weight white). I put sent. from PTI's Birthday Basics on the inside.

Thanks for dropping by today! Have a good one!

Ooops, I Lied! Another Cricut Christmas Card

Sorry folks, but I wanted to show you how the card for our church's shut-ins turned out. I used Joys of the Season for the poinsettia. I cut out the base layer once (Old Olive) and the second layer twice, once out of Cherry Cobbler and once out of Real Red. I sponged the edges of the base and top layers and rotated the top layer and popped it up on foam tape for a mor full look. I added gold Stickles to the center. The sentiment is from Our Daily Bread Designs. I made 20 of these and they were a lot of work! And they did turn out just gorgeous, so I'm glad I did it. I started out with a simple plan in mind but I kept thinking of things like the extra layer cut from a different color and sponged that would just add so much! Our church had also given each shut-in a poinsettia plant for Christmas, which I didn't know about when I made these cards. A happy accident!

This card measures 8.5 x 5.5 to accomodate lots of the congregation members' signatures. Base is PTI. Thanks for looking!

Some Cricut Christmas Cards

Hey, all! Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and a happy New Year! I made these cards before Christmas but haven't had time for blogging what with everything else going on. I made so many cards for other people this year I didn't get my own made--how's that for screwed up priorities? LOL! I made 20 cards for our shut-ins at church, 15 for our staff appreciation gifts, plus a bunch for paying customers (woo-hoo!). So one of my New Year's resolutions this year is to make 1 Christmas card a week this year so that I will have a large stash and I can be ahead of the game next year. I wrote it down and stuck it on the fridge, so we will see what happens!

This first card is made using the Winter Frolic cartridge. I think I cut this cute little mouse at 3". I embossed the body and the scarf and covered the bow with Stickles and stamped on the package. The tag and sent. are from PTI's Tiny Tags. Paper is SU, except for base (Gina K Heavy Base Weight cream). I used a little black rhinestone for the eye.

This one was basically a CASE of a card that was on the front of the Nov issue of PaperCrafts. I absolutely love this stamp by Flourishes--one of the best Santa's ever! I used the Elegant Edges cart to cut out the layers and stamped Santa in Cherry Cobbler. Papers are SU except for GK HBW cream for base again.

Here again I have used the Elegant Edges cart--I just love it! I embossed the frame. The stamp set is long retired by SU--Solemn Stillness, embossed in Silver. Colors are Not Quite Navy and Baja Breeze. Base is PTI white.

Thanks for stopping by, even though I know everyone's probably sick of the holidays! One more Christmas card post tomorrow and then it's back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Christmas Cards for Girl Scouts

Every year the Girl Scouts do a Festival of Giving. Each service unit is assigned a charity to donate gifts to. This year ours was Mirror, Inc, an addiction rehab outfit. The usual things were on the list, toiletries mostly, but we decided to make Christmas cards as well, so the inpatients can send someone a Christmas card if they want to. I designed these 4 cards to be fairly simple and easy to mail, hence the abundance of baker's twine (from Divine Twine), which I've always resisted buying before. All the CS is SU, as is the DP (retired years ago, it was called Dashing. I loved it so much I bought two packs and hoarded it. Finally I used it!) All the components were pre-cut.

The first card uses PTI's Stocking Prints set. I die cut enough stockings for 12 cards (that's 36 times through the big shot, if anyone wants to know, plus a few extras). I also embossed the pieces so I wouldn't have to lug my big shot along. Of course the girls had never worked with clear stamps before so that was a challenge.

This next card I thought would be fun for them, since it uses Holiday Sampler, a long-retired stamp set that has LOTS of cute little stamps and lets you do some 2-step stamping. I figured they would get a kick out of choosing their own images and they did. There were lots of interesting variations on my design!

This card very nearly turned into a fiasco as I had them use Tombow Mono Multi, a liquid glue. I only had 3 tape runner-type Mono's, and they went to the other three tables. Plus I found it easy to glue the strings down with just a drop of glue. 9-11 year old girls don't get the concept of "less is more" when it comes to glue! The set is Delightful Decorations, and is still in the SU catty (I know, what a surprise!).

This last card uses City of David, an oldie but a goodie. One of the other leaders had been to an estate sale where she picked up a whole box of rice paper, which she gave to me. So I decided to use it on this card. Card base is PTI's white as it is very sturdy. Blue layer is Ballet Blue and the images are stamped with Night of Navy. I decided not to mess with eyelets on the girls' cards, so we just punched holes and tied the silver cord through. These turned out the best of the four designs for the most part.

Well, I hope these cards bring some holiday joy to the inpatients at Mirror Inc. Thanks for looking!

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!

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!