PTI Stamp-A-Faire Morning Timer Challenge: Card 2

I had so much fun making a quick card, that I decided to make one more before all the light was gone today for Papertrey's Stamp-a-faire Morning Timer Challenge.  This one took me 15 minutes 33 seconds to make, but I know I could have done it in a lot less time if I hadn't been determined to use scraps I already had that were all funny shaped and a little difficult to cut into strips. 

PS Can I just tell you how much I adore this color scheme?  It wasn't until after I made this card that I realized it is almost identical to the color scheme we're using to redo one of the rooms in our home.  This card was so fun and quick to make.  I think it would be great for mass production.

Supplies (all PTI unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings, Bountiful Banners, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: berry sorbet
Paper: aqua mist, berry sorbet, hawaiian shores, melon berry, stamper's select white, sweet blush
Other: Bitty Baby Blessings Die, butterfly punch (Martha Stewart)

PTI SAF Morning Timer Challenge: Card 1

Hello!  I'm popping in to share a card I made for PTI's Stamp-a-faire Morning Timer Challenge.  This is the only challenge I was able to squeeze in...the 20 minute time limit was just what I needed.  Do you remember my list of things to do I posted Saturday?  Well, I ended up jumping to the bottom of the list and the cleaning consumed my free time that day.  I didn't even get a single card made until today.  But there is something so satisfying about finishing a card quickly (and having sparkling clean bathrooms :) ).   I finished this one in 15 minutes 53 seconds.  I'm also joining the Cutting Edge Blog Hop over at Pretty Pink Posh.  It seemed fitting since the majority of this simple card is made from die cuts.

 I chose to work with the following color scheme and layout.

Supplies
Stamps: Simon Says Stamp (Happy)
Ink: Simon Says Stamp (Fog)
Paper: PTI (Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz, Stamper's Select White), green 
Other: PTI (Birthday Trio Die, Sketched Shapes Dies), PPP (Sparkling Clear Sequins)

Thank You + 3 Challenges

 

I got to make a card...hooray!  It's especially good because I had a really important thank you to send to my aunt.  And I was really excited because I was able to draw inspiration from three different challenges to help pull this card together.  I hopped along Case Study's Anniversary Hop earlier this week and knew I wanted to use Tasnim's Beautiful Card as my inspiration.  I didn't use the same watercolor technique that she did in her card, but I did watercolor the flowers.

Tasnim's Beautiful Card

The only cover plate die I own is PTI's Horizontal Chevrons, so that was the natural choice to try out the this week's Make It Monday technique to use the negatives from a cover plate die.  And since I was using one die already, I decided to use two more (PTI's Pretty Peonies and Turning a New Leaf), so I could join the Pretty Pink Posh's Cutting Edge Blog Hop.

There's lots of dimension on this card, which makes me quite happy.  It's my favorite part actually.  It's almost like sending some real flowers in the mail. :)

Linking to These Challenges:

Case Study Anniversary 4th Anniversary Hop: Week #3
Make It Monday #177: Using Cover Plate Negatives 
Pretty Pink Posh Cutting Edge Blog Hop

Supplies

Stamps: PTI (On My Couch, Pretty Peonies, Turning a New Leaf)

Ink: PTI (True Black), SU! (Green Gable), VersaMark

Dies: PTI (Cover Plate: Chevron Horizontal, Pretty Peonies, Turning a New Leaf)

Other: PPP (Sparkling Clear Sequins), SU! (aqua brush, watercolor crayons, white embossing powder)

Meeting, Greeting, & Blog Hopping

Happy Saturday!  I made this card for my dad's birthday, but the sentiment is pretty fitting for all the blog hops it will be participating in.  Today is Papertrey's big Stamp-a-faire event and to prep for the occasion I made a card last night.  The picture below shows what my son and I have been doing to prep this morning (taking pictures) and my goals for the day. :)  I was going to try to take photos by myself, but he wanted to help.  I took a picture of him with the card, and then he told me excitedly, "Mom, you hide behind the card, and I'll take a picture of you!"  So this is what we'll submit for their "Meet & Greet" Challenge.

 I made this card with two blog hops in mind: Case Study Anniversary 4th Anniversary Hop: Week #3 and Pretty Pink Posh's Cutting Edge Blog Hop.  It was inspired by the very talented Anika Lerche's card that was part of the Case Study Blog Hop.  Argyle was a must for my golf and sweater-vest-loving father. :) The die I used for the Cutting Edge Blog Hop is from PTI's Sketched Shapes dies.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!  Thanks so much for stopping by today!

My Inspiration: Anni's Card

Supplies

Stamps: PTI (Autumn Pattern Pieces, Wet Paint III)
Ink: PTI (aqua mist, enchanted evening, lemon tart, new leaf, pumpkin pie), VersaMark
Paper: Michael's (white card stock, tracing paper), PTI (enchanted evening)
Other: Marvy Uchida (3" circle punch), PTI (Sketched Shapes Dies), SU! (white embossing powder)

No card...just some thoughts

Hello!  We've been without internet the last several days and my inbox is overflowing with emails, comments, posts, etc. to catch up on. Thank you to all those who have commented in the last week or so.  Please know that I appreciate you and hope to be visiting soon.  My days have been full and no card making has happened for a couple weeks, but I have hopes for some crafty time soon.  I'm not sure why, but tonight I'm feeling overwhelmed with gratitude.  I hope you don't mind me sharing a few of my random thoughts.

-I'm so grateful for rain.  We've had a lot this week.  I love everything about it...the sound, the smell, the way it revives and makes everything fresher, newer, and more beautiful.
-I'm grateful for gardens.  We have an itty bitty patch to garden in, but few things make me happier than to pick and cook with things that we've worked to grow.  My very favorite things growing are a mix of wild flowers.  I found some random packs of seeds and let my son scatter them in the front.  They've taken all summer to grow and I have no idea what they are, but they are the cutest most colorful and happy flowers I've ever seen.  I love them more because he is the one who planted the seeds and has been helping to water them.

My Sisters...between the two of them you will find every good quality that exists.

-I'm so grateful for good people.  I've been more and more aware of how much good there is in people lately.  I've seen so many examples of tenderness, love, genuine concern, generosity, sacrifice, perseverance, quiet service, etc. in the last bit.  Isn't it wonderful to be able to learn from and be inspired by others?
-I'm so grateful for family.  One of my very favorite things to read about as I hop around to blogs are comments and love being expressed by others about their family.  I love the pictures they share.  I love my family so dearly and know that they are my absolute greatest blessing I've been given.  And I love that God has given me many opportunities to "add" to my family...I have "adopted" grandmas, grandpas, parents, etc. throughout my life.  I think He knows I need family, so if I'm not able to be around my own, he sends someone to fill that void.  I rarely share pictures of my family...not because I don't want to but just because they are so precious to me.  But I will share a favorite.  It's several years old, but it has my two favorite people in it and captures what I love the very most about my husband.

-I'm grateful for new days and new opportunities to be better...to constantly be able to try harder to change, to grow, to ask forgiveness, to add more that is good and pure to my life.  Here's one more old picture, but it is the perfect illustration to me of why I'm so grateful for new days and why I always want to strive to be better.

Have I lost you?  That's okay if I have.  I know this is a card blog.  For some reason I just felt the need to share tonight and since I didn't have a card, my thoughts is all I had.  I truly hope you are having a blessed week!

My Little Helper's Card #2

Hi!  I'm back to share another card my three-year-old son made for my mom.  (We're linking it up to the Simon Says...Summer Vacation Kid's Challenge.)  When we set out to make this card, I suggested that maybe we should use pink because that is Grandma's favorite color, but he didn't agree.  He said, "No, green.  She likes green like me."  I had card bases in green already, so I pulled one out.  Remember how much fun he had cutting when he made this card?  Well, he wanted to do some more, so we got more paper out, and he went to town again using a different pair of decorative edge scissors.  After he glued a piece on, I asked him what we should put on the card, and he said a turtle.  I was grateful I had one.  When we got the turtle stamp out, he saw the balloons in the set and decided he wanted them, too.  He inked everything up and stamped it on by himself.  His favorite part, though, was spritzing the water to clean the stamps.  Let's just say that more than the stamps got wet. :)  I did choose the pink paper (my mom really loves pink), but he punched out the butterflies, and then much to his delight I let him put them through the Xyron machine.  He LOVES that thing!  Then he stuck the butterflies on to finish off his card.  I asked him to show me his card, so I could take a picture of it, and this was his pose.

He decorated the inside, too, and I wrote exactly what he said about it.  Don't you love his chubby little fingers in the bottom corner?  

I'm not sure where the tornado thing came from, but I do know why he commented about writing an email.  Earlier this morning he found a calculator.  He immediately started pushing buttons and said he was sending messages.  My family lives on the other side of the country, so he's familiar with having to communicate with them through a variety of electronic mediums.  Here he is typing "We love you" to my mom. :) 

And I'm happy to say that as soon as he finished his card, we put it in an envelope and took it to the mailbox, and my mom was thrilled when she got it.  And he was thrilled when he got a special thank you call from Grandma. :) 

CASE Study 4th Anniversary Card

Hi!  This is my second post today...shocking, right?  But the festivities have begun at CASE Study to celebrate their 4th anniversary, and I stole a few moments this beautiful rainy evening (hence the darkish photo) to finish up a card in honor of the celebration.

I hopped along to see all the amazing cards last week and had ideas to CASE a bunch of them...maybe I still will just for fun.  This particular card was inspired by Lisa Spangler's awesome card, a bit by Jeanne Jachna's beautiful card (lots of layering of patterned papers and embellishments...for me anyway), and subconsciously by a previous Fusion Card Challenge layout as well.

 

Lisa and Jeanne's cards respectively.

This card is a bit out of my comfort zone, but it's fun to try something different every once in a while, right?  And I figure that's somewhat the spirit of the CASE Study Challenge, too.  Thanks so much for stopping by today! I've had a lot of fun making cards the past couple weeks.  I've had/made more opportunities than usual, but I've also had a lot of needs for cards pop up, and I don't have a very deep stash at the moment.  I'm a bit worn out now (more cards = less sleep) and have lots of my "day job" responsibilities to attend to, so I'll probably be a bit more occasional in the next little while.  I sure do appreciate all the kind words you all leave in comments, though.  Thanks so much for making the last couple weeks so happy!

Wedding Congrats with *Embossing Paste

Hello, friends!  Inspired by Papertrey's Make It Monday #176: Backgrounds with Embossing Paste, I tried embossing paste for the first time last night.  Actually it was modeling paste, but it works the same. :) I didn't have re-inkers in all the colors I wanted, so I used Laura's tip and just smushed some ink on my surface, then rubbed it into the modeling paste.  (PS Have I ever mentioned that Laura is one of my most favorite crafters ever? And she's a hoot.  It doesn't get better than that.)  This CAS card was also inspired by The Card Concept #16 to create a wedding card using this photo as inspiration.

I pulled from the colors, using vellum to represent the glass in the photo.  When I first looked at the photo, the rims of the glasses appeared to be dipped in gold, so the twine on the tip of the vellum banner was supposed to represent that.  Of course now that I look at the photo, I don't actually think the rims are dipped, but oh well.  Because I'm such a tactile person, I had tons of fun playing with the modeling paste....I can definitely see myself using it again in the near future. :)

Supplies (all PTI unless otherwise noted)
Stamps: Congratulations Mini Stamp
Ink: aqua mist, lemon tart, limeade ice, ocean tides
Paper: aqua mist, rustic white; vellum (Michael's)
Dies: Double Ended Banner, Notched Hearts Banner
Other: buttercup twine (The Twinery), modeling paste (Michael's)

3 Challenge Get Well Card

Hello!  I had a few seconds, so I thought I'd pop in and share a card I made yesterday.  I have mixed feelings about the card.  I added, took away, added, took away....  I just love Danielle Flanders' work, but it is so very different from mine that it was a little hard.  Nevertheless, I did use PTI's Make It Monday #175: Creative Card Borders Using Non-Border Dies.  My color scheme came from Color Throwdown #304 and the patterns/extras on the card were inspired by CAS-ual Fridays #134: Tic Tac Toe Challenge.  I used the bottom row again (dots, gray, twine).  It's amazing how different this card turned out than the previous card I made for this challenge using the exact same row.  Okay, I have to run...hope you had a fabulous Saturday and that your Sunday is even better.

Supplies 
Stamps: PTI (Bigger Blooms)
Ink: PTI (true black)
Paper: PTI (pure poppy, soft stone, stamper's select white), random patterned paper scraps...some "older than the hills" as my grandmother would say :)
Other: PTI (Framed Out #11 die), The Twinery (maraschino twine)

CAS-ual Fridays Fun

My heart was feeling heavy after making these cards last weekend, so I needed to totally switch gears.  This card resulted.  It's fun and light and happy...all the things I needed.  I used CAS-ual Fridays Tic Tac Toe Challenge as a springboard.  I chose the bottom three: dots, gray, twine.

This challenge was just what the doctored ordered.  The end result makes me smile, and that is always a good thing, right?  We've had the most wonderful rainstorms this week.  We've also had plenty of warmth and sun....so basically the perfect weather week in my opinion.  And we get to see family today, so it's going to be a good day.  I hope you have a wonderful day as well.
ETA: In my excitement (aka rush) to get this posted, I also forgot to mention that I was inspired by this week's Simon Says...Make It Sparkle Challenge as well.  The glittery gold heart was the last element that I added to the card.  I thought the sparkle it added (along with the shiny string) enhanced the fun aspect of the card.
Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Bubble Talk, Polka Dot Basics)
Ink: SSS (Slate), VersaMark 
Paper: Michael's (gold glitter paper, white), PTI (Berry Sorbet, New Leaf)
Other: PTI (Bubble Talk Dies), SU! (white embossing powder), gold string...from my mom's house :)

My Little Helper

Both of my parents have August birthdays, so my son and I have been making cards.  My son (who just turned 3) LOVES to play with my craft stuff.  He sneaks into my shape punches as often as he can and is beyond thrilled when I let him run his punched shapes through the Xyron machine to make stickers.  He helps me make cards for different family members on special occasions, and when I saw Simon Says Stamp is hosting a Summer Vacation Kid's Challenge, I decided to share a couple of his most recent creations here.

Now this is where the real fun happened...the cutting.  He's been dying to cut for a long time, but I keep forgetting to get him little scissors.  I realized that some of my old craft scissors really aren't very sharp, so I finally gave in and taught him how to use them.  He was in heaven.  All he wanted to do was cut and cut and cut some more.

And here is his card!  I know it may look like I helped him with placement of some of the things on the card, but I honestly didn't.  I had the idea of doing a fish and that is about it.  He punched out the fish head and tail (he LOVES using my punches and will sit for quite a while punching out shapes if I keep handing him paper).  I held one of his punched squares, and he cut it in half with the scissors for the tail.  Then he glued the pieces on.  He also used the crimper for the first time and thought that was awesome.  I did put the glue on the back of the eyes, but he placed them on the fish.  Then I let him put glue on the fish and put the sequins on.  If you look close you can see he put glue on the majority of the body, but when he put the sequins on he placed them all in a row.  He scored the card (another tool he really likes), and I helped him fold it over, but he definitely got in on the folding action.  And finally he inked up the stamp and stamped it on himself.  I didn't even show him where to put it.  I just let him choose.  I've got to be honest.  I was so proud when he finished.  It turned out way better than I thought it would, and I was so thankful I restrained myself and let him do it on his own.  He didn't put things where I thought they should go in my head, but I think his idea turned out way better than mine. :)

He wrote on the inside of the card, and then I asked him what he wrote.  Then I wrote exactly what he said.  I know my dad will love the card.  How could he not? :)
P.S. Many sincere thanks for your sweet words about this post.  What a blessing to have such thoughtful, kind blogging friends.

The Not-So-Fun Cards to Make

Sympathy cards are by far my least favorite kind of card to make.  They are hard in so many ways.  These were especially hard.  Today is the funeral of a sweet young mother who left her husband and two young daughters (4 1/2 and 20 months) behind.  We've been friends with the husband's family family since I was a baby.  We even went on a few family vacations together, and his mom watched me while my mom taught aerobics at a gym.

One of the reasons that made these cards difficult is that I can't just sit down and make a card.  I try to make my cards personal.  They are often symbolic of feelings I'm trying to convey, a reflection of what the recipient loves, or what reminds me of the recipient.  I chose a brighter color scheme for the first card because I was thinking of those sweet little girls.  It isn't masculine (though I considered making one that was knowing the father would be the one reading the card), but I intentionally used colors that I thought were happy and might bring some hope.  And the sentiment reflects the most hope and help I can give...prayers.  

The second card goes to the parents.  When they told my parents their daughter-in-law had passed away they mentioned they felt like they were trapped in a nightmare.  The roses seemed soft and soothing to me, which seemed like something they need.
I used the same technique with both cards, inking the leaves/branches and roses (even the sentiment on the second) with multiple inks and then swiping the aqua painter over them before stamping.  I loves softness and the variation that resulted.  I realize there are some shadows and graininess in these photos, but I was more concerned with actually mailing them than the photography aspect.  Most of all, I'm hoping that somehow these cards will bring a measure of peace and comfort to this understandably heart-broken family.
Prayers Card Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Birds & Blooms, Inside & Out: Well Wishes) 
Ink: Hero Arts (Green Hills), PTI (Harvest Gold, Hibiscus Burst, New Leaf), SSS (Fog), SU! (Lavendar Lace)
Other: SU! (Aqua Painter)

Sympathy Card Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Keep it Simple: Sympathy), WPlus9 (Mother's Day Bouquet)
Ink: PTI (Spring Moss), SU! (Blush Blossom, Old Olive, Pretty in Pink)
Other: SU! (Aqua Painter)

Happy Birthday, Mom & Marybeth!

Today is two of my favorite ladies' birthdays: my mom and Marybeth (of Marybeth's Time for Paper).  (Fun, huh?) Happy Birthday!  I already mailed off my mom's card, but I wanted to share the one I made for Marybeth.  I chose to CASE this beauty--one of my all time favorite cards of hers.  It's a good thing I didn't have quite the right supplies because it was incredibly hard not to downright copy her card.  There are a few things I knew the card needed to have....things that remind me of her:
-pink (I actually used Marytbeth's blog header to inspire the colors.  My mom's card also has pink...it's a much darker shade, but pink's my mom's favorite color, so it reminds me of her, too)
-Lil' Inkers stitched die (this was a must)
-clear sequins (I tried so hard, but I just couldn't make it work..I added some glossy accents to the flower centers to try to compensate)
-clean layers
I smiled big when I finished this card!  It reminds me so much of Marybeth...mission accomplished. :) Now I just have to get it in the mail!
Supplies
Stamps: PTI (Birds & Blooms, Super Stripes), WPlus9 (Fresh Cut Florals)
Ink: PTI (Berry Sorbet, Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy, True Black)
Paper: PTI (Berry Sorbet, Ripe Avocado, Stamper's Select White)
Dies: LID (Stitched Rectangles), PTI (Turning a New Leaf), WPlus9 (Fresh Cut Florals)