Happy Father's Day

OK, I know that Father's Day was a couple of weeks ago! I promise, my cards were on time... I just haven't gotten around to posting any of them until now! :) This is the card that I made for my daddy:

I used some of the PTI Argyle Socks patterned paper, which has a really nice selection of patterns for masculine cards! Also used Alpha Blocks set and die, Label Basics set and die, and a Fillable Frame, along with some buttons and twine, the Woodgrain Impression Plate, and the Edgers #1 die. And I stitched! I love stitching on cards and layouts, and would do it SO much more if only I had a thread fairy to change my thread and bobbin on my machine, lol! ;) But I'm trying not to be so lazy. :)

Both the label and the Fillable Frame are popped up with foam adhesive.

I gave my husband two Father's Day cards, but I never took a photo of one of them, so I need to track it down and get a pic so I can post those. :)

Thanks for looking!

Summer Card Camp Week 1

Summer Card Camp began today! Our week 1 color combo is definitely out of my comfort zone! Check it out:

I think the purple threw me off the most. I'm not a huge purple fan. But luckily, I did get the new Damask Designs patterned paper in the latest PTI release, and it includes a Royal Velvet pattern (I think I just might even buy a package of the cardstock in my next order.... gasp... did I just say that?). :) So I pulled out a sheet of that, long with some Hibiscus Burst, Orange Zest, Spring Rain and White. Here's what I ended up with:

I used Polka Dot Basics 2 to add the fun dot pattern to the orange. The sentiment is from Gracious Vases, the circle tag is from Birthday Tags and the cake is from Tiny Treats: Birthday. Dies used are Doily Details, banner, and Edgers #1. The banner and tag are popped up on dimensional adhesive. I added some stitching (I'm trying to do that more often!) and gems to finish things off.

I can't wait to see whats in store for tomorrow! I've already pulled some papers to try this color combo again. Thanks for looking!

Make It Monday: Polaroid Two-Step Masking

I've been on a roll and gotten quite a bit of stamping done in the past couple of days! Could it have something to do with the fact that: (a) Vacation Bible School, which I spent every spare minute on the past couple of weeks is over, and (b) I'm in denial about the fact that I start teaching a summer trig class a week from tomorrow? Whatever it is, I'll take it! I couldn't wait to tackle this week's Make It Monday, using Nichole's "Polaroid Two-Step Masking" technique. What a fun way to make a focal point!

I started to play around with this and was using kraft cardstock and white ink for my focal point panel, just like Nichole does in her video. But as I zeroed in on what I wanted for the focal image, I decided to try it with white cardstock and light blue ink. I really love how it turned out!

After masking and creating the blue frame, I masked the frame and stamped the rainbow and small balloon, then colored them both with Copics. Then I masked the rainbow and stamped the sun and rays. I die-cut and colored the larger balloon, and cut and textured the cloud with the Sunshine IP. The sentiment is from Vintage Picnic, and all the other stamps are from Up, Up and Away. Cardstock colors are Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, and white.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday: Reverse Masking

I finished a card for this week's Make It Monday challenge a couple of days ago, but just realized that I'd better it posted since the new challenge will be up tomorrow! The challenge is reverse masking - essentially, using the negative space of the stamped image as a mask. Here is my card:

After cutting the mat stack 5 shape, I used the long banner from Banner Builder to create the lines. Then I masked with Post-It notes on the lines, sponged in the "shelf" with blue ink, and added images from Grunge Me with Fresh Snow ink. Next, I stamped the vases outlines and solids from Gracious Vases, and created a reverse mask for each vase shape. Then I masked and one by one applied patterns from Text Style, Polka Dot Basics and Geometrics backgrounds sets. I added fillers from Gracious Vases, Fancy Flourishes and Sending You, and the sentiment from Gracious Vases. I popped it all up and attached a loop of ribbon (Terracotta Tile and Summer Sunrise) and a button, and added some stitching and layered it all on the new Damask Designs paper, Spring Rain and Summer Sunrise cardstock.

Thanks for looking! :)

Blog Giveaway WINNERS!!

Thank you to everyone who entered to win my first ever blog giveaway! (You can see the original giveaway post here.) After numbering all of your comments, I used Random.org to generate the prize winners.

First I drew for the Echo Park Paper Pad, Summer Days. Ohhhhh, this is such a fun pad of paper!

  

And the winner is....

Did you ever wonder if Random.org ever generates the first or last number on the list?? This time it did - Jen's was the last comment to post, lol! Congratulations, Jen! I hope you enjoy the paper!

And finally, the drawing for the amazing Papertrey Ink Anniversary Set Botanical Silhouettes:

And the winner is...(insert drumroll here):

Congratulations, Gina! I know you will love this set, and I can't wait to see what you create with it!

Jen and Gina, please email me (link in my top right sidebar) with your mailing address so I can get your prizes out to you! 

Thank you again to everyone for playing along, and for your kind comments. I hope you'll continue to visit my blog!

hello, friend

Just a quickie post, since I've been neglecting the blog lately! The boys got out of school and suddenly it seems like we are very busy with "summer vacation" stuff, lol!

I have to say that this is one of my favorite cards in a long time. I used PTI's Postmarks and Grunge me, with the Think Big Favorites sentiment. The background panel is sponged and then I used the lines-and-circles image from Grunge Me with a very light touch. I think it sort of looks like a foggy mist.

Thanks for looking, and don't forget to comment on this post for my Blog Giveaway, if you haven't entered yet! :)

my first ever BLOG GIVEAWAY!! :)

Who doesn't love a blog giveaway?? Well, I've always wanted to do one but never have, so I'm going to try to make this a good one! First of all, there are TWO prizes up for grabs! But I'll get to the prizes in a minute... first, I want to share a card!

This card uses the new Papertrey Ink Anniversary set, Botanical Silhouettes. This set is not available for purchase from PTI, but was only available as a bonus based on purchases from February 2010 - February 2011. I was, er, uhm, well... shall we say.... a good enough customer to have earned some extra sets! ;)

The flowers + fence panel here was inspired by this lovely card from Laurie. Along with Botanical Silhouettes, I used the new Beautiful Blessings, and the picket fence die. Of course, there's a little Tiny Tag on there, I love those little tags as a sweet finishing touch on so many cards, and I really loved Laurie's idea of tying the tag to the fence! 

The fence was cut from kraft cardstock, and then I ran it through the woodgrain impression plate which was inked, letter-press style, with Versamark ink. It gives just that little extra little bit of oomph to the impression to add a little more texture.

OK, now that the preliminaries are finished, let's get to....

the giveaway!

Like I said above, I managed to earn some extra PTI Anniversary sets, so I knew that I wanted to do a blog giveaway for one of my extra sets! So here is Prize #1: Botanical Silhouettes!

You can see the whole set, and also the amazing inspiration from the PTI Design Team in the gallery, here. And for even more amazing projects, check out Nichole Heady's work with the set on her blog, here.

BUT WAIT.... I know that many of my blog visitors are my fellow PTI-obsessed stampers who have already earned their own anniversary set (or two... or... more ;) and I don't want to leave you all out! So I'm going to also give away a 2nd prize to a separate winner, this fun and colorful 6x6 Echo Park paper pad, perfect for the summer days ahead!

And in both cases, I may have a few other little surprise embellishments and goodies to include as well!

HOW TO ENTER: just leave a comment below and tell me your favorite Papertrey Ink stamp set (even if you don't own it...yet!), and please let me know in your comment if you already have (or will be getting) the anniversary set! In that case, I will only include you in the random drawing for the Echo Park paper pad. International friends are welcome to enter, BUT please understand that I reserve the right to substitute a $10 PTI gift certificate, if shipping to your country turns out to be cost-prohibitive (or, in the case of the stamp set, to ship the stamps to you without the original packaging). :)

DEADLINE TO ENTER: 11:59pm Eastern Time, Saturday June 25. I will post the winner on my blog by noon on Monday June 27. Good luck, and thanks for visiting my blog!