Happy Birthday to my hubby!

Today is Mark's birthday, so once again, he's "2 years older" than me! HAH! I really struggled a bit over this card, and it ended up different from what I had originally pictured, but I'm happy with the result so I guess all is well. :)

I really wanted to use Big Birthday Wishes, which I only recently added to my stash. I have had that fun Tag Sale #4 die for a while, but it has been woefully neglected. It was the perfect size for this sentiment, and I dressed it up by adding the cake image from Tiny Treats: Birthday. I felt like the bottom of the tag needed something... a scroll or medallion or some decorative element, but as I scanned my sets I decided to pull out Modern Basics, which I think worked perfectly.

The little present is from Make A Wish Additions and uses the dies also. Do you notice that subtle striped pattern? That's one of the background strip stamps from Half and Half, done in Versamark! I really like the effect, will definitely need to remember that! Other items used: Spellbinders Lacey Circle die, Stampin Up notebook edge border punch, PTI Argyle Socks patterned paper, cardstock colors Terracotta Tile and Dark Chocolate, Blueberry Sky button.

I finished the inside also, with a sentiment from Big Birthday Wishes, coordinating patterned paper, and the Modern Basics stamps again.

Thanks for looking!

Stamp-a-faire Challenge #10

Nichole has offered up one last Stamp-A-Faire challenge, and kindly given extra time to get it posted! This last chaellenge is to "add a stamped focal point over a stamped background, all in the same layer!" I just love this challenge, as I've been trying to do more layered stamping.... I love the look!

So I decided to start my layering with BB: Sheet Music, one of my favorite sets, and it hasn't seen the love that it deserves lately. I layered a branch from Little Bitty Bird, and the sweet little birdie, who is popped up on foam adhesive and shaded in just a bit with Copics. I added the sentiment from Make A Wish, again layering it right on top of the focal point.  

All of this was stitched onto a kraft panel that I impressed with the woodgrain Impression Plate, then added a strip of Pink Paislee patterned paper, before adhering it to my spring rain card base. I sort of imagine that the music is giving the impression of that sweet Little Bitty Bird singing the "happy birthday to you" to the recipient! :)

 

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink July Blog Hop: live, laugh, love

I managed to get a card finished for this month's PTI Blog Hop! This month, Nichole provided us with a gorgeous inspiration photo (see below) and basically said "run with it", lol. I took two elements from the photo to inspire my card: (1) I LOVED those colors! The shades of Hawaiian Shores and Orange Zest jumped out at me, as that is one of my favorite PTI color combos, anyway! (2) That window... what a perfect opportunity, since I've been wanting to make a "window" card with the Alpha Blocks die, ever since I got it! 

So, I used some of the Damask Designs patterned paper to pull in the aqua colors, with an Orange Zest card base (die-cut with Edger #1) and accents. I cut the window from Kraft and then used the woodgrain Impression Plate on it, inking with Versamark first to better bring out the texture.

I made the little panel to go behind the window, stamping Gracious Vases images and coloring with Copics. The sentiment is from Fillable Frames #8 and stamped onto a double-ended banner die cut.

Here is the photo:

 

Thanks for looking!

Summer Card Camp Week 4: Happy Birthday

This will probably be my last Summer Card Camp card. I used one of the alternate color combos for the week (see below): pink, aqua, green, brown and white. I used Damask Designs patterned paper, Half and Half die with a Flower Fusion flower, grass from Love Lives here, a double ended banner, and a sentiment from Gracious Vases.

Here is the color combo:

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday: Dry Brushing

I was excited when I saw the technique for this week's MIM! Back in the day, before I discovered paper crafting, one of my favorite crafts was painting ceramics, and dry brushing is a great technique to get depth and texture in ceramics painting.

For my card, I dry-brushed green paint around the vintage cream focal point panel. Then I stamped it with a grid background stamp from Market Street Stamps using Jenni Bowling Malted Milk ink, which is just dark enough to add that bit of texture without overwhelming.

I then added flowers from Daydreamer in Hibiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise and Terracotta Tile, with all but one stamped and hand-cut so that I could pop them up on dimensional adhesive. 

For the sentiment, I die-cut Little Labels and dry-brushed again using a paint color that matched Terracotta Tile. I stamped the frame in Malted Milk again and the sentiment in brown. It's popped up on the focal point, which is matted on Terracotta Tile and then I added the twine, in keeping with the rustic look and feel of the card.

Thanks for looking!

Stamp-a-faire Challenge #3

I got one more SAF challenge done! (See my last post for my take on Challenge #1.) For Challenge #3, courtesy of Heather Nichols, we were to "punch a window from you card cover and tie ribbon or twine from the window to the side of your card." I had fun die-cutting my little window with a Fillable Frames die, and then using the die again along with Mat Stack 4 to create a "frame".

I added a strip of Spring Moss Bitty Box paper, and a Hibiscus Burst leafy vine die-cut, and stamped the card base in white using Polka Dot Basics 2. The butterflies are from Flutterby Friend, and the little one is popped up on foam adhesive. The sentiment is from the new Little Labels set.

 

Ahhh, how I wish I could just stay in my comfy, cool basement and stamp the day away working on more of these challenges! Alas, that isn't going to work out, as we are heading to the Pittsburgh Pirates game tonight - sold out! Ah well, hopefully that will be fun too, and the rain will stay away!

Have a good Saturday, and thanks for stopping by!

Stamp-a-faire Challenge #1 + Summer Card Camp Week 4

I'll admit it: I'm envious beyond words of the PTI friends who are attending the special Stamp-a-faire event in Cincinnati today! Hopefully it will be an annual event and I might get to go next year. :) But in the meantime, Nichole and the DT have challenges that will be posted all day on Nichole's blog, so that we can play along too!

The first challenge is: "Create a project featuring patterned strips that are created with some of your favorite decorative elements." I have had a design element in my head for a while that I thought fit this challenge well, so I pulled out Modern Basics, stamped a pattern, and colored it in. While I was at it, I figured I would use a color combo from Card Camp Week 4, so that my card will be for that challenge also! The color combo (see below) is pink, orange, yellow, blue and purple... wow, definitely brighter colors than my usual palette! But I think they look nice in the Modern Basics motif.

I used a Bitty Box patterned paper for the purple, and Sending You for the sentiment. Also added a banner stamped in white with Polka Dot Basics 2, and three little pearls.

Here is the Card Camp color combo that I used. Thanks for looking!

Summer Card Camp Week 4

I got a chance to do a few more cards for the last week of Summer Card Camp, so watch for a few posts in the next day or two! Today I'm sharing a pair of cards that both follow one of the bonus color schemes included in Friday's post (see below). This might be a somewhat "loose" interpretation of the colors, as they printed out looking rather different from what I see on my computer screen, lol. I read the combo as green, butter yellow, vintage cream, brown, and another shade of green.

I'm trying to use more patterned paper. I have SO much of it laying around, after all! LOL! I used the new Peaceful Garden, which I'm really loving. I layered several images on the Half & Half die-cut, and added the sweet little butterfly from Postmarks.

Here is the color combo.... like I said, a "loose" interpretation! LOL :)

Thanks for looking!

Summer Card Camp Week 4

I got some time today to work on a card for this week's Summer Card Camp challenge. The color combo this week is right up my alley! Two shades of blue, two shades of green, and white. I found some patterned papers in my stash from Bella Blvd's Hello, Beautiful line that I thought worked perfectly with the combo. I had a hard time getting the colors correct in the photograph, especially the Spring Moss cardstock that is the card base and the sentiment strip. 

I used my new Half & Half set and dies from PTI, with an embossed sentiment from Daydreamer, and the Leafy Vine border die. I added a border at the bottom with a Fiskars border punch. I felt like it needed more blue so I added the 3 little gems near the sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

with a heavy heart

NOTE: I drafted this blog post yesterday, Sunday, July 17, but decided to hold off on posting it. I am now posting it as-written on Sunday, because it's important to me that it be read as I wrote it on that day.

I have a card to share today and will include it at the end of this post. But today, my post isn't really about the card. It's about the very special friend for whom I made the card. I uploaded the photo a couple of weeks ago, shortly after I made it and sent it to her. I didn't post it here right away because I wanted to make sure she got it first. Last week I got a sweet message from her thanking me for the card.

Although I first "met" my friend Chris through our mutual involvement in the online papercrafting community, it turned out that she lived only about 30 minutes away from me. We eventually met "in real life" and would get together every so often (usually involving food and scrappy shopping).

Chris has been very open about her fight with cancer for the past almost 2 years. She fought it with grace, bravery, and an amazingly positive attitude. It seemed at one point like she had kicked its ass, but then it came back for more, and came back nastier than ever. It was less than a month ago that she told me about her latest battle, but she seemed very positive and upbeat about a new, promising course of treatment. It was around this time that I made the card below for her. I was so glad to get the note from her that she had gotten it.

The call from a mutual friend came as a complete shock. Chris lost her cancer battle this morning. I'm a bit sketchy on the details, but I think that it was an abrupt and premature end that nobody was expecting to come so soon. It was a privilege and a pleasure to know Chris and to call her my friend. Throughout her ordeal, she displayed such grace and resolve, and at times even managed to face it with humor.

I had been planning to share the card below at some point, but just hadn't gotten around to blogging it yet. I did not expect to be sharing it under these circumstances, but as I have been thinking about little else but her today, it seemed like a small but fitting tribute. The card was intended to encourage her and let her know how much my family and I have been thinking of her and praying for her, and I hope that it served that purpose and brought a bright spot to her day.

Products are PTI (Beautiful Blessings, Daydreamer, woodgrain Impression plate).

 

I will miss you, Chris. You were an amazing and talented woman, a devoted mother and wife, and a good friend. You were taken from us too soon. Heaven definitely scored an angel today. ♥

Make It Monday: Pocket with Edger Dies

I love love love the technique that Dawn showed us in the newest Make It Monday video on Nichole's blog! I couldn't wait to try it. I used Out of this World for the "theme" and attached a rocket to the little message tag to pull it up out of the pocket. I added those fun grungey-ish stars to the front of the pocket from Est. 1776.

But notice the top edge of my pocket? That isn't an edger die.... that's Mat Stack 5! I wanted to vary the shape of the top edge and the front edge for added interest... and because I just LOVE Mat Stack 5. But this presented an engineering problem, as I wanted to use the "positive" shape of the die, not the negative shape, but only cut one edge. A-HA! Light bulb moment! (They are few and far between, lol.) I lined up my Spring Rain cardstock carefully on the top edge of the die, and ran it through my Big Kick just far enough to cut that top edge. Then I reverse cranked it right back out, and voila - a Mat Stack 5 edge, right where I wanted it!

I attached the rocket on the tag so that the flames would stick out over the top of the pocket, and added the sentiment to the tag along with a Fillable Frame.

The front sentiment "thank you" is from a Verve set, and the "friend" is from Flutterby Friend. I also used Polka Dot Basics 2 for the large dot background on Lemon Tart, and Geometrics for the grid at the bottom. The eyelet border die in Enchanted Evening is the border and Edgers 1 made the edge on the front of the pocket.

Thanks for looking!

thank you cards: Summer Card Camp Week 2

Here is another post for Week 2 of Summer Card Camp. This time I made a few thank you cards with the color combo, using Outlines Alphabet and coloring with Copics. I also used a different impression plate on each one, and different borders from the Banner Borders die. The "you" is from Verve Friendly Phases.

Thanks for looking! :)

just a note: Summer Card Camp Week 2 (again!)

Quickie post... I finished this card a couple of days ago but just got around to taking a pic today. This is my 2nd card for the Week 2 Summer Card Camp color combo.

I used my Delightful Doilies set and die, and colored with Copics. Also used the Sunshine Impression Plate and the Eyelet Border die, and the Anniversary set Botanical Silhouettes for the sentiment.

Thanks for looking!

a Two-for-One Monday: PTI Make It Monday & Card Camp Week 2!

I was thinking about taking a nap this afternoon, but instead, I ended up at my craft table! Since there was a great new challenge for PTI's Make it Monday, and also a great new color combo for Summer Card Camp, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to kill two birds with one stone! :)

Here is the new color combo:

And the MIM technique, linked above, is basically to use re-inkers and craft foam to make your own multi-color inkpad to ink a single stamp in multiple colors. COOL! (What WILL that Betsy Veldman think of NEXT??)

So instead of inking up an image with multiple elements, I decided to use the technique to get a "gradient" inking effect. I used Pure Poppy, Orange Zest (PTI) and Mango Madness (Versamagic) and inked up the foam so that the colors were just touching at the edges. Then I used Daydreamer to stamp the gradient-type flowers. I also blended Simply Chartruese and Spring Moss on foam to stamp the stems, leaves and grass. I used the first color-blend to stamp the sentiment from Think Big Favorites #2, and added the word "friend" from Little Bitty Bird. 

I stamped my Summer Sunrise card base in Fresh Snow ink using Polka Dot Basics 2, and then added a strip of Spring Moss Bitty Dots paper matted on a strip of Pure Poppy Cardstock. I layered a block of Simply Chartreuse cardstock and then popped the focal point up on foam adhesive.

Here is a close-up of the multi-colored stamping:

Thanks for looking!

just for you friend

Just a quickie post today to share these cards that I made to include with the prizes I sent out for my recent blog giveaway. I really love how the focal point panels turned out, using the new Daydreamer set. I'll link up everything else below.

Thanks for looking!


SUPPLIES:
Stamps: Daydreamer, Flutterby Friend, Tag-It's 3, Boy Basics: Frog Hop,  All About You.
Die: Wonderful Words

one more for Summer Card Camp - week 1: Window card

I managed to get one more card done for Week 1 of Summer Card Camp! I was eager to try a window card, after Jennifer did a technique video about it. I've been wanting to try it, and have a big stack of acetate sheets that I've saved from my PTI stamp sets! It took me a couple of attempts to get a result that I was happy with. The first time, I used one of the Fillable Frames dies, which made a great little window. But then, I tried to hand-cut a frame around the cut-out, and it was NOT working out! So I started over, and used a couple of nesties this time.

The orange and blue patterned papers are Echo Park, and the purple is PTI. I also used Think Big Favorites #2 for the large sentiment, and the "You're the best!" is from Flower Fusion #5.

I can't wait to see what's in store for week 2 of Card Camp! Thanks for looking!