Pretty Pink Posh Insta Hop: Spring Foliage

Good morning! I’m super excited to be part of Pretty Pink Posh’s Instagram hop today.  

I chose to create with the Spring Foliage Dies from the brand new release.  Remember how much I love the Fall Foliage dies?  Then it won’t surprise you at all that I loved working with these. They are slightly smaller in scale than the Fall Foliage dies and have stitching lines. 

I chose a cheerful color scheme and cut sheets of die cuts in Concord & 9th’s aqua sky, sorbet, honeysuckle, buttercup, sprout, and clover.  I arranged the die cuts on my background starting with the largest leaf springs, working down in size to the smaller flowers, and finishing with the dots.

I embossed a sentiment from Crafty Sentiments to finish my card. 

Thanks for visiting today! Make sure to head on over to my Instagram account, so you can check out more projects featuring this new release and join the fun and get entered in to win a Pretty Pink Posh gift certificate.

Craft Dash #14

It's been about three weeks since I made a card.  I still have a super sick baby - we finally got over the flu and a cold, were well for one day, and then came down with either strep or a virus (still waiting for the doctor's test results but its likely a virus).  The last two days have been the worst, so my husband decided I needed a break today.  I just sat in a daze for a while, browsed some blogs (after taking a long crafting break it was hard to get started), and finally I sat down and made a card for this week's Craft Dash.

I finished everything on the card (minus the buttons) in 7 minutes 44 seconds.  Then I sat and hemmed and hawed trying to decide if I wanted to glue the buttons on or not.  With literally just a few seconds to spare I finally decided I might as well just do it.  I finished my final button adjustment just as the 10 minute timer went off.  I just wish I had noticed that the banner was a little off...I could have used some of those last two minutes to fix that!  Oh, well.  It feels good to finally have an opportunity to make a card, and I finished just in time.  My son woke up from his nap and came in when I was cleaning up.  He saw the buttons still dumped out on the ground and said, "Whoa holy moly.  Lot a buttons." :) He and my husband have been playing with the buttons for the last 10 minutes so I could write this post.
Supplies
Stamps: TAWS (All About You)
Ink: Memento (Tuxedo Black)
Paper: PTI (Berry Sorbet, Kraft, Stamper's Select White), Making Memories (Honey Dew stripe)
Other: CTMH (buttons, grey wool marker)

10 Minute Craft Dash #11 & PTI MIM #103

 

This card is a double for two of my favorite challenges.  This week PTI's Make It Monday Challenge #103 is diecut double-ups and the 10 Minute Craft Dash #11 Challenge is to feature hearts.

The last few cards I've made I've thought are okay, but this card I love.  A few days ago I was looking through my dies for a different project and my PTI Pretty Peonies Dies landed on my PTI Mat Stack #1 die and I knew it was a match made in heaven.  I knew I would use it for PTI's diecut double-up challenge, but I didn't have any ideas for the rest of the card, so I didn't make anything.  Fast forward to today.  When I saw the 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge was to feature hearts I was a little apprehensive.  The DT's cards were amazing, and honestly, I don't really have much in the heart category.  I pulled out the few stamps I own that have anything to do with hearts and just stared at them for a minute.  That's when I remembered the die pair I wanted to use, found a heart stamp that fit inside, and things just started to fall into place.  The colors were a given...they're the colors I have in our home Valentine decor and actually all of the papers I used were already sitting out because I hadn't filed them away after using them on other projects.

The stitching was something I hoped I could do, but I wasn't sure I'd have time to do it.  I was super excited when I finished the rest of the card at about 7 1/2 minutes because I knew if I sewed quickly I'd still make the time limit.  I finished the whole card in 9 minutes 46 seconds (although it wasn't until about 12 minutes that my heart stopped racing...I see it as an awesome bonus that I get a little cardio "workout" when I participate in the craft dash challenges).

Supplies

Stamps: CTMH (All My Love), PTI (Mat Stack 1 Collection, Pretty Peonies)
Ink: SU (Basic Gray)
Paper: MME (Lime Twist), Paper Studio (Merry Merry), PTI (Rustic White), Recollections (Aqua Dot)
Other: PTI (Pretty Peonies Dies, Mat Stack #1 Die), red thread

10 Minute Craft Dash + Moxie Fab Itty Bitty Challenge

I decided to make a card (the larger car card) for this week's 10 Minute Craft Dash #10 Challenge since my first entry was a game for my son.  I wish I could tell you my exact time, but I only know that it was over 10 minutes.  I set the timer on reverse (counting down), and when it went off, I still wasn't done.  Boo!  My first Craft Dash fail.  My top 3 time consuming mistakes: my husband coming home from work and coming in to talk to me during the challenge, changing the size of the card three times during the challenge, and building my own sentiment with itty bitty individual alphabet stamps.

I know I used the same car from PTI's Enjoy the Ride on my first craft dash attempt, but since that was my first time using the little car (even though I've owned this set 2 1/2 years), I decided I had to try it out on a card.  My favorite part of the whole card are the little hearts getting puffed out of the little exhaust pipe (that I added by stamping a portion of the cakestand in Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake set).  I realize that isn't where an exhaust pipe sits on a car, but that was the best place I could figure out to put it on this car. 

I actually really liked how the card turned out and since I had all the supplies still out (and had failed my 10 minute challenge), I decided to make a smaller version for Moxie Fab World's itty bitty card challenge.  It measures 3x3 in size, and I'm pretty sure that I like it even more in the tiny size than I do in the regular size.

Here's a comparison of the two.

Okay, so it bugged me that I didn't make the 10 minute challenge with my car card, so I attempted Craft Dash #10 one more time...and this time was a success!  I finished in 9 minutes 44 seconds.  I built the cake with Lawn Fawn's Bake Me a Cake set, adding the text in pink pirouette from PTI's BB:Text Style.  Next I stamped and cut out the happy banner from PTI's Tag-it's #10, then stamped birthday on the cake.  I topped it off with some glitter and some rhinestones.  

Happy <3 Day Supplies

Stamps: Enjoy the Ride (PTI), Background Basics: Retro (PTI), Bake Me a Cake (Lawn Fawn), Sans Alphabet (CTMH)

Ink: Pink Pirouette (SU), Basic Gray (SU), Spring Moss (PTI)

Paper: White (PTI), Spring Moss (PTI), Gray

Other: Flipping Out Die (PTI)

Happy Birthday Supplies
Stamps: Bake Me a Cake (Lawn Fawn), Background Basics: Text Style (PTI)
Ink: Basic Gray, Pink Pirouette (SU), Spring Moss (PTI)
Paper: Spring Moss, White (PTI)
Other: Sterling Glitter (Martha Stewart), Rhinestone Stickers (Recollections)

10 Minute Craft Dash #10

Update: Yay! This project was chosen as one of Paulina's Craft Dash #10 Favorites.  I was surprised and excited when I saw because I knew that I was taking a chance on this project...it's not a card and I realize that doesn't appeal as much to many.

I was really excited to be able to participate in 10 Minute Craft Dash #10 this week.  While I love making cards, I've decided that I need to devote a little more of my crafting time to things that would actually benefit my little boy.  So I made a list of things that I want to make for him, and one of those things was a touchy-feely book/cards because my son loves the touchy-feely "That's Not My..." series from Usborne Books.  Plus, we desperately need little *quiet* activities to carry in the diaper bag when we go to church.  So here they are:

Oh, I almost forgot.  I finished the cars in 9 minutes 56 seconds.  Yeah, only 4 seconds to spare...I was almost a complete nervous wreck.  Hopefully it is okay that I did each of the colors separately.  I was going to mix them, but I changed my mind because because we are working on learning colors right now, too.

I die cut the cars twice in each color, stamped the front of one in each color, and then used my X-acto knife to cut out a portion of the hood out for the touchy-feely part to peek through.  I made the little bumps on the green car with glossy accents, I used rubber mesh on the gray car, and the pink car has some pink satin fabric.

This was so much fun, that I decided I might as well make some cars for a matching game, so I reset my timer and in 8 minutes 2 seconds (mostly just so I would work quickly and not waste time) made some more cars.  You may wonder why I chose the particular numbers on the hoods.  Well, I realized while I was doing this that I really ought to eventually make them in all the colors, so I quickly thought about the general order that I would introduce the colors to him taking into consideration primary/secondary colors, color preferences that he is showing, and the few color words he can say.  And that's how I came up with 5, 6, and 11.

Well, as soon as I finished, I kept thinking about the other colors and finally just decided that I had most of the supplies out already, so I might as well finish them now.  That was also the moment that I realized that I probably shouldn't use the matching game for the Craft Dash Challenge because the whole project was going to have 11 colors, not just three.  So I found the other eight colors and made two of each, so eventually we can play a matching game.  I'll probably hole punch these, too, and stick them on the ring with the touchy-feely cards.

Touchy-Feely Car Supplies

Stamps: Enjoy the Ride (PTI), Loads of Love (SU)

Ink: Blush (CTMH), Basic Gray (SU), New Leaf (PTI)

Paper: Pink Pirouette (SU), New Leaf (PTI), Gray

Other: Enjoy the Ride Die (PTI), X-Acto Knife, pink satin fabric, rubber mesh, Glossy Accents, Binder Ring

Expanded Matching Game Supplies

Stamps: Enjoy the Ride (PTI), Fresh Alphabet (PTI)

Ink: Blush (CTMH); Basic Gray, Brilliant Blue, Chocolate Chip, Elegant Eggplant, Pumpkin Pie, Real Red, So Saffron (SU); Fresh Snow, New Leaf (PTI)

Markers: Autumn Terra Cotta, Chocolate, Grey Wool, Outdoor Denim, Pansy Purple, Sunflower, Tulip (CTMH)
Paper: Pink Pirouette (SU); Lemon Tart, New Leaf, Pure Poppy, True Black, White (PTI); Eat Your Carrots, Grapesicle, Waterslide (MM); Brown, Gray

Other: Enjoy the Ride Die (PTI), pink and white colored pencils

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)



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