10 Minute Craft Dash & Little Red Riding Hood Giveaway

I knew I wouldn't have much time today, but I really wanted to make a card, so I turned to the 10 Minute Craft Dash Challenge for inspiration.  I've had school/Little Red Riding Hood on my mind (you'll see why in a second), and the challenge colors were perfect for where my thoughts were already occupied.

Please pardon the shadows in the photo.  Remember what I said about not having much time today?  The sun wasn't exactly cooperating (but I am so glad for the sun...did I mention it snowed here yesterday...sigh) and I had to choose between truer color or fewer shadows....I went with color.  This card reminds me so much of notes I would write in middle school--notebook paper, speech bubbles, short thoughts, mix of words and pictures.  Oh, and I owe a huge thanks to my sweet blogging friend Marybeth for being able to finish this card in time (9 minutes 46 seconds).  A while back she sent me these speech bubble diecuts to help hold me over until Papertrey restocked the Bubble Talk dies and I could place another order.  And if that wasn't good enough, she also sent me some of the Lil' Inkers stitched mat dies....love them!

Okay, so why have I been thinking about Little Red Riding Hood and school?  My sweet and super talented sister just created a few new educational packets based on the story Little Red Riding Hood and she has a giveaway on her blog right now that you could win them for free.  You have until next Friday, October 4th to enter.  My sister is a talented artist and teacher, and both of those talents are evident in her educational packets.  I know I'm biased, but I promise you any child would be blessed to have her as a teacher, and I've used her packets with both my toddler and older preschool/school-age children I've worked with and they are fantastic tools for teaching and fun, too.  Go check them out on her website Learn & Grow Designs...you won't be disappointed. :)

Card Supplies

Stamps: PTI (Bubble Talk), Verve (Notebook Paper Plain Jane)

Ink: Memento (London Fog), PTI (Pure Poppy), SU! (Blue Buckaroo), Versamark

Cardstock: PTI (Pure Poppy, Stamper's Select White)

Dies: Lil' Inker (Stitched Mats: Rectangles), PTI (Bubble Talk)

Other: SU! (white embossing powder)

PTI September Blog Hop Card 3

Hello!  Here's my last card for PTI's September Blog Hop featuring wreaths.

I had the idea to make a wreath out of snowflakes, so I pulled out my snowflake punch and got to work.  Since the wreath was all white I decided I wanted to make a bright and cheerful card.  I knew I wanted to pair it with aqua mist, then I found the bright green ribbon, and the last color added was PTI's hibiscus burst.  The card is pretty straightforward, so I spare you the details, but I did want to point out something that's hard to see.  After I added a bit of texture to the card, I flicked white paint on it.  It was more watered down than I had wanted but ended up creating a fun wet snow look that I just love.  I used my favorite Christmas sentiment from PTI's Star of Wonder set to finish the card off. Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you're having fun on the hop. :)

PTI September Blog Hop, Moxie Fab, CFC115 & CAS-ology #63

Seeing as I love wreaths I knew I would have to make more than one card for PTI's September Blog Hop.  

My original plan was to make this a Christmas card with a red, cream, and kraft color scheme, but when I finished wrapping my burlap wreath, my eye stumbled upon these beautiful leaves that I received in a surprise package yesterday from the super sweet Marybeth. (Thank you, Marybeth...you're the best!)  I'm completely in love with these stitched leaves and just had to add them to my project, so  I ended up changing the layout, color scheme, and theme. :)  

With the change of theme and colors, my card ended up working for the current CAS-ology Cue Card Challenge: Autumn and CAS-ual Fridays Challenge: Fall Colors & a Leaf.  Yay! It's been a while since I've been able to play along with these challenges, and I'm glad I finally got some extra time.  I'm also entering this into the General Craft Supplies Challenge that is part of the celebrations at Moxie Fab World for the new Handmade Cards magazine.  The burlap certainly came from my general craft supply (I bought it with intention of making a knock off of these cute ghost lights from Pottery Barn), but the wreath also has buttons and black sequins that were part of my stash long before they ever became popular embellishments on cards.

Supplies

Stamps: Sketched Shapes (PTI)

Ink: True Black (PTI)

Paper: Kraft, Scarlet Jewel, Spring Moss, White (PTI), polka dot (Haunted by MME)

Other: Stitched Leaves Die (Lawn Fawn), Gemstones (The Paper Studio), white burlap and buttons (Hobby Lobby), buttons

Papertrey September Blog Hop & Moxie Fab General Craft Challenge

I probably haven't mentioned this on the blog before, but I LOVE making wreaths.  It is one of my very favorite kinds of crafts to do.  Needless to say I was super excited when I saw that this month's theme for PTI's Blog Hop is wreaths...a perfect combination of two things that I love.  I've also been watching all the fun challenges at the Moxie Fab World to celebrate the release of Handmade Cards, and decided to enter this one into the General Craft Supplies Challenge.

I kind of feel like anything is fair game when it comes to cards these days, so I purposely pulled out supplies that I bought for other crafts to make sure I used something from my "general crafting" supplies.  The beads are from some necklaces/keychains I made with a church youth group I used to help with and the embroidery floss was originally used on some hand puppets I made a few years ago. 

The idea for the wreath on my card was inspired by some wreaths I've seen floating around Pinterest.  I love the argyle and have been wanting to make a wreath very similar to this for my front door.  I created the wreath by hand-cutting the diamonds from PTI's orange zest and true black cardstock, glued them on, and then wrapped the black floss around to create the argyle pattern.  Then I added the beads and the leaves (die cut with PTI's Happiness In Bloom Leaves Die).  I wanted to balance the shininess on the beads on the wreath, so I embossed the sentiment from PTI's Bountiful Banners.  Oh, and I added a little texture to the card front with PTI's Linen & Canvas Impression plate.

WPlus9 Monday Mood Board #20

Just popping in for a second to share a card I made last week.  It seems like I made it ages ago, though, as I haven't spent any time making cards in over a week.  Life has been full and busy but a good full--spending time with family, helping friends, playing outside, working on our home, etc.  I made this card using the current Monday Mood Board at WPlus9.  The inspiration this week was this card by the talented Elise Durenberger:

I used two of my favorite WPlus9 sets: Fresh Cut Florals (+ coordinating dies) and Strictly Sentiments 1. I obviously drew inspiration from the chevron and I used a similar layout....just rotated a bit.  I also used the same general color scheme (+ green and light blue).  The burlap was my interpretation of the twine and banner elements. My favorite part about the card, though, is that it has already been sent in the mail. :) When I did have a bit of extra time this week, instead of making cards I wrote on and mailed a bunch that I've been meaning to send out for a month (or more).  And I'm so glad I did.  It was time well spent.  Thanks for stopping by!  Happy weekend to you...