Make it Monday #97 (Take 3)

I made this card for  PTI's Make It Monday #97: 2012 A la Carte.  I had the intention of using it for a 10 minute card dash as well, but my baby woke up in the middle of my first and second attempts making the card, and then I had to come back to it three or four times to get it finished up, so the 10 minute idea was definitely lost.  And actually I ended up making this card twice because there were a couple things about the first card that bugged me, but I loved the chevron background I had created.  My husband thought the first card was okay at first, but after showing him my second card I asked him if I should even bother sending the first card to someone or if I should just pull the buttons off and trash the card.  He said I could send it to my mom. (That's a really nice way of saying that it doesn't look that great, but your mom loves you and appreciates any card you send.)  

My first attempt making this card only used Make It Monday #82: Cutting Stamps. I cut the candy canes 5 cent stamp in Friendship Jar Holiday Fillers, so I could just use the words candy and cane separately to make the red part of the chevron pattern.  However, as the card evolved I started thinking about some of the other previous Make It Mondays, and I ended up using Make It Monday #90: Creating Focal Point Sentiments with Stamps & Dies and Make It Monday #94: Detail Glitter Technique again like I did on this card.  (I have to use glitter as much as I can while it is out because I know in a very short time I won't be able to handle the mess it creates anymore, and I'll pack it all away...probably for a while.)

Supplies (all PTI unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Chocolate Alphabet Small (CTMH), BB: Chevron Stripes, Friendship Jar: Holiday Fillers, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: Fresh Snow, Real Red (SU)
Paper: Soft Stone, White
Other: Block Alphabet Die Collection, Snowflake Punch (Marvy Uchida), Garnet Glitter (Martha Stewart), buttons, embroidery floss

Card 2 for 10-Minute Craft Dash #9, CSC83, & MIM #97

 

I made another Christmas thank you for the following three challenges (click on each photo to go to the challenge):

PTI's Make It Monday #97 

I made the card last night and waited to photograph it until this morning, which was silly because it's still snowy today and the sky is completely gray. There isn't a lot to this card, so it only took me 5 minutes 43 seconds to finish.  To my surprise, the most time consuming part wasn't the selective stamping (christmas) or the glitter, but rather aligning the letter stamps on the acrylic block.

This card was so quick to finish that just for kicks I decided to see how long it would take me to make three more since I had pulled out two sheets of white cardstock. I set the timer again and finished all three in 9 minutes and 33 seconds, and I spent the whole last minute just dusting off the extra glitter from the cards.  If only I could write on the insides that quick. :)
For the Make it Monday Challenge #97: A la Carte, I went back and used MIM #94: Glitter Detail Technique.  Obviously if I hadn't been doing the 10 Minute Craft Dash as well, I would have been a little more precise with applying the glue, but I still love how just a little glitter adds so much.

Supplies

Stamps: Friendship Jar: Holiday Fillers (PTI), Short Order Alphabet (SU)

Ink: True Black, New Leaf (PTI)

Paper: White (PTI)

Other: Martha Stewart Glitter (White Gold & Garnet)



Christmas Stockings

This post is mostly for my family (I promised I would show them the finished product), and it explains a lot about where my very limited crafting time has been spent over the last month.  We were one stocking short this year, and when I saw Camille Roskelley's Merry stocking pattern (love her!), I decided I had to make all of us new stockings.  Let me preface this by saying that I am not a quilter and hardly a sewer, so this task was pretty ambitious.  Thankfully, one of my sisters loves quilting (and is amazing at it), so she helped a ton with the quilting part on the chevron and the pinwheel stockings.  And this tutorial was amazing if you are thinking of sewing anything with hexagons.  I don't think I could have done done the hexagon stocking without it.  Her tutorial made the pattern directions make sense, and maybe even simplified it a bit.  I love the fabrics I used, and I'm mostly pleased with the way they turned out (although I only finished them two days before Christmas, so there was no time to actually quilt them).  The only major snag was having to make up my own way to attach the cuff and tag (and I'm sure if I knew more about sewing the cuff directions would have made sense and I wouldn't have had to make my own version up.)  Okay, enough chit chat.  Here are the stockings.

My favorite....this was the most labor intensive because the hexagons are completely sewn by hand, but I love how it turned out and so does my husband (which is good because it is his stocking.)

 

The cuff bugs me on this one, but it's my fault because I was determined to work this fabric in because I love it so much.  I'll probably redo this one.  I really love how this stocking looks (pom-poms and all...wish I'd seen it before I did mine.)

This isn't a great picture, but I love how this one turned out, too...though I wish I had paid more attention to the way the penguins were facing when I did the cuff.

One final shot of them all. :)

10 Minute Craft Dash #9, CSC83 & MIM #97

Update: I was super excited to see that Paulina, the 10 Minute Craft Dash creator, chose this card as one of her favorites for Challenge #9. Thanks so much, Paulina!

Today I decided to participate in three challenges: 10 Minute Craft Dash #9, CAS-ual Fridays Challenge #83 (CSC), and PTI's Make It Monday #97: 2012 A la Carte using the previous Make It Monday #90: Creating Focal Point Sentiments with Stamps & Dies.

  

This was my first time doing 10 minute craft dash and CSC.  Their combined challenges were to create a CAS holiday-themed card in less than 10 minutes, which was the perfect challenge because if forced me to keep things simple, work quickly, and just go with it (even if it means ignoring slightly smudged stamping and unequally spaced letters.)  My work area is a mess and I was a nervous wreck, but I finished in 9 minutes 44 seconds!  I was so excited that I actually made the deadline that I ran downstairs to show my husband the card.  When he saw me he asked, "Are you over-heating?" When I get nervous and stressed my face and neck get really flushed, and apparently I was red as a tomato. :)  For PTI's MIM, I went back and did MIM #90: Creating Focal Point Sentiments with Stamps & Dies. 

Anyway, here is my holiday thank you card.  We were spoiled with gifts and I think I might mass produce these to send out.  My favorite part about this card the color scheme because it matches the decorations on our tree and the stockings I made this year.

I'm actually shocked that I was able to die cut as much as I did, but I knew what dies I wanted to use, so I pulled them all out, and I pulled out my tiny avery sticker labels (which I like to use to position my dies..they hold well, but peel off the paper and dies easily). The labels held everything in place, so I could run all 6 dies through at one time.

SuppliesStamps: Mat Stack 3, Movers & Shakers Sentiments (PTI)
Ink: New Leaf (PTI), Real Red (SU), Cool Carribean (SU)
Paper: white (PTI)
Dies: Block Alphabet, Fabulous Frames, Tiny Tags (PTI)
Other: Honeydew Twine (the Twinery), Xyron Sticker Maker

PTI December Blog Hop - Take 2

This is my second card for PTI's December "White & White" Blog Hop.  After I did my first card, I decided to go super CAS. This card was a quick one.  The polka dots are stamped in the negative space of the die cut and then the whole panel is popped up.

Oh, and here's the beautiful inspiration photo.

Supplies

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics 2 (PTI)

Ink: Sahara Sand (SU)

Paper: White (PTI)

Other: Script Alphabet Die Collection (PTI)

December PTI Blog Hop: White & White

It's been a super long time since I posted here...or played along with a Blog Hop at PTI, but since all of my Christmas gifts are finished, I had a few minutes tonight to make a card.  I loved the inspiration photo...  

but I've never made an *all* white card, so it was a bit of a challenge.  A good challenge, though.   The photos are pretty dark, but I promise everything is bright white or sparkly silver in person.  My husband thinks it looks like a wedding thank you.  I kind of agree.

Supplies

Stamps: Think Big Favorites #19 (PTI)

Ink: VersaMark Champagne

Paper: PTI (white), SEI
Other: Martha Stewart Glitter (white gold), PTI button (vintage cream), Fabric Fancies flowers (silver), ribbon