5th Birthday Sliding Froggie card

I needed a card last week for my nephew's fifth birthday. I had been wanting to use my new PTI Sliders dies, and I thought they would pair nicely with Boy Basics: Frog Hop (one of those sets that I've owned for a long time, and hasn't gotten much use!). I also used Big Birthday Wishes, By the Numbers die collection, Bitty Dots paper, and the heart border die (for the small scallops).

I used both scales of the Background Basics: Medallions. On the sliders panel, I cut a 2nd panel from Hawaiian Shores and trimmed it down to just the bottom half, then stamped with the small-scale pattern. I adhered that over the Lemon Tart slider panel. I used a Limitless Layers circle to mat the number (I couldn't decide whether to use yellow or blue, so you see how I handled that... lol), and popped both the circle and the number up on foam adhesive.

I used the "hoppy day" sentiment inside the slider, and added lots of little flies to buzz around.

I don't usually do so much to the inside of my cards, but this one was a fun design to carry over to the inside. I wanted something to tuck down into the grass, and that little snail from Flutterby Friend was just perfect!

I was really pleased with how the card turned out.... and slightly panicked when my nephew opened it and started to pull/yank at the "pull here" and I was afraid he was about to rip the whole slider apparatus off the card! LOL! But I was able to show him how to gently pull it up before that happened. The slider dies are awesome - it's so easy to put together the mechanism, and it slides out just perfectly smoothly!

Thanks for stopping by!

Make it Monday: Colored Kissing & Color Throwdown 183

I finally got some stamping time in today, so I decided to use it uber-efficiently and kill two challenges with one stone, so to speak! :) The Make it Monday challenge this week is "colored kissing", kiss-stamping a pattern onto a solid stamp to add a colored overlay. I'm also using the color scheme for Color Throwdown 183, which I translated into PTI colors as Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, Kraft and Canyon Clay.

For the kissing technique, I added the small line pattern (in Aqua Mist) from A Little Argyle to a car (in Spring Moss) from Enjoy the Ride. I layered Mat Stack 3 and Layerz for the focal point, and used Think Big Favorites for the "celebrate". The edges are all inked up for a more rustic, masculine look.

The Mat Stacks are popped up on dimensional adhesive, and I finished it all off with a Spring Moss button and some rustic twine.

Here is a close-up to better see how the "kissed" pattern worked out.

And here is the Color Throwdown inspiration:

Thanks for stopping by! :)

Make It Monday: Die Cutting Partial Images AND ColourQ #127

Yes, you read that right! I completed a card for this week's MIM: Die Cutting Partial Images, and I also managed to incorporate the color scheme for the current ColourQ Challenge #127! I translated the color palette into PTI's Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, Melon Berry, and Stampers Select White.

Now, I had this idea in my head for the MIM, to cut some of the Turning a New Leaf dies out of a square to make a "frame" of sorts. But I was having problems trying to do it as per Betsy's video (the little bits that I needed to use to shim the die were so small that I was having a lot of trouble getting them to stay in the die; and I also had no idea how I could position the dies just right for my square frame cut). So, I came up with an alternative method (after lots of trial and error) which I'll explain below the card. But here is the card (5 1/4" square), using the TANL dies and stamps, Pretty Peonies, Text Style 2, Tiny Tags, sentiment from Tag Its #1, and the woodgrain impression plate:

I stamped and hand-cut the peony twice, and shaded it with Copics (using techniques from this MIM from waaay back!). The frame is popped up on dimensional adhesive, and then the top peony is also popped up again on the frame. After spending a LONG time (and several rejects, lol) getting that leaf-frame panel just how I wanted it, I wasn't sure what to do about a sentiment. I didn't want anything to cover up much of the panel! Enter: Tiny Tags! Along with a Simply Chartreuse button and a bit of Dark Chocolate twine... problem solved!

A close-up of the peonies, and you can also see the woodgrain texture nicely:

So, if you're interested, here is how I created the partially-cut frame panel. It was definitely inspired by Betsy's video, but I just had to use a variation on the technique to make it work for me. First I used a square Spellbinders die to die-cut 3 layers of thin chipboard, which I adhered together. I also cut the same square from a piece of craft foam. This would be the eventual size of the inside of my frame.

Now I put the following sandwich on my BigKick cutting plate. Clear cutting plate, cardstock (larger than necessary, as I will cut it down to size later - easier than trying to cut it perfectly "squared up"), and then the negative space from the foam cut square.

Next, I laid the dies, cutting side down, placing them how I want them to cut in my frame. Remember, the open square in the middle is to be the inside of the frame, with the leaves running through it.

Next I placed my triple-chipboard-square carefully on top, so that is lined up with the open square in the craft foam. It helps to use a bit of scotch tape to hold this in position; it's going to want to shift when you crank the sandwich through.

Last, to add some extra "shimming" thickness and also just help hold the sandwich together, I put about 6 layers of acetate (just the pieces that the stamp sets come on - I knew there was a good reason to save them!) on top. NO top cutting plate - this is it! Then I held the whole thing together (again, that chipboard shim is going to try to move - you want it to stay right on top of that open square, because it is taking the place of your top cutting plate, to apply pressure to the dies to cut the paper) and cranked 'er through!

It worked just like I thought it would: the craft foam was just nicked a bit at the edges by the dies, but not cut through. The dies only cut the paper where the chipboard square was, hence cutting away from the INSIDE of the frame. I then used the negative space from cutting the chipboard as a guide to use a craft knife to cut out the inside frame. Then trimmed the edges uniformly, stamped the leaves, and ran through with the impression plate. 

Thanks so much for the inspiration, Betsy! This is definitely a cool technique, and one I am glad to have tried and hope to use again!

Here is the ColourQ inspiration:

I am going to try to incorporate more color challenges into my crafting, as I notice that I tend to use the same colors again and again. I need to get out of my comfort zone and be a bit more colorfully-adventurous! :)

sorry - that was a long post! :) Thanks for stopping by!

Cub Scout Blue & Gold Banquet invitations

I wanted to share the invitations I made for some special guests that we invite each year to our Cub Scout Pack's Blue & Gold Banquet. This is a pot-luck style dinner where we award a lot of badges and our oldest scouts will formally "cross over" to join Boy Scouts. We also invite a few people associated with the church that charters our Pack, and I made 3 of these invitation to send to them.

The color combo is PTI's Enchanted Evening, Harvest Gold and Kraft - a perfect Cub Scout color scheme! The Fleur de Lis is from the Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Accents set. The circle and pinked circle are PTI's Limitless Layers. Then I used Mat Stack 5 and Argyle Socks Patterned Paper, matted with Mat Stack 5 Layerz. 

I added a tone-on-tone pattern to the small circle with the smallest diamond lined pattern from A Little Argyle, and impressed the large yellow panel with the Picnic Plaid impression plate, after stamping the sentiment from Autumn Acorns. The pinking shears border die cuts set off the main panel, and tie together with the pinked circle mat.

We are looking forward to our banquet later this week, and my oldest Ryan *sniff* will become a Boy Scout! Hopefully mama won't get all teary-eyed! :)

Thanks for looking!

Make It Monday: Customized Frames

Today I managed to finish the Make It Monday card that I started 2 days ago, lol! The challenge this week, coming from Dawn McVey, was to use multiple stampings of a frame image to create a larger frame. This is such a great technique - it's always nice to find ways to get more "mileage" out of your stamps! I love the frames in the Celebrations set. I used the one that is in two completely separate parts, selectively inking one side of it in Raspberry Fizz, and then stamped it 4 times, rotating a quarter-turn each time. It was fairly easy (ok, I confess - there may have been a couple of botched attempts! ;) to create this fun, large frame shape:

 

I love how the outside ended up looking almost circular, with the inside is a perfectly square frame. The word "celebrate" fit so perfectly four times, so I stamped it in Summer Sunrise, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Moss and Orange Zest, and ran the panel through with the picnic plaid impression plate.

The white panel is popped up on the Summer Sunrise panel, which is adhered to the Hawaiian Shores 5.25" square card base. I added the sentiment (also from Celebrations) on a banner die-cut, tied on twine and a Hawaiian Shores button.

Thanks for the great technique and fun challenge, Dawn & PTI!

And as always, thanks for stopping by!

Liebster Blog Award

I was completely surprised and humbled to have been awarded the Liebster Blog Award by my fellow stamper, Audrey!

Liebster' is German for 'dearest'. The award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog (see above)
4. Hope that those you award forward it to their favorite bloggers.

Now, I have to confess that I don't get nearly as much time to browse and comment on my favorite blogs as I would like to! But there are several that check out regularly, have items from on my Pinterest boards, and get lots of awesome inspiration from. :) So I'm happy to pass the award on to:

Becky - The Lakeshore Stamper

Keva - How Now Brown Cow

Taheerah - Fill Your Paper with the Breathings of Your {Heart}

Nadine - Wahine Inks

Deanna - Kloset Kreations

Thank you again, Audrey! You are a huge inspiration to me, so being on your list really brings a smile to my face! :)

PTI February Blog Hop: Interactive Cards

Over at Papertrey Ink, it's all about interactive cards this month - including the Blog Hop Theme! I decided to create an "easel card", because I've seen a few of them around (most recently, this cute card on Ted's blog), and I had a vision that involved using the Poppystamps Window die that I recently purchased. :) My new PTI order arrived while I already had this card in progress (can't wait to play with my new zippers and sliders dies and Movers & Shakers set!), so I used my brand new Lovely Leaves stamps to make the pretty little tree branch behind the window. :) The window is popped up on the base (which is layered with a piece of the new Aqua Mist patterned paper), with the tree image on white cut to fit just behind the window.

My color scheme is Aqua Mist and Canyon Clay, with a little bit of Hawaiian Shores, Spring Moss and a touch of Raspberry Fizz thrown in. Here is the front of the card: The Canyon Clay rectangle mat is only attached to the lower 1" of the card front, below a score line in the front panel.

When you open the card up, this is what the inside looks like.

The inside of the card is created on a 4.25"x2" strip of Aqua Mist, which I scored and folded 1" up from the bottom. This piece is attached to the inside of the card, with the lower 1" adhered and the upper 1" able to fold up. I stamped Spring Moss with Polka Dot Basics 2, and then used a border punch to punch 3 layers of grass, which are layered together and adhered to the "flap", and then I used various flower die-cuts from the Flower Fusion series and adhered them, tucked down into the grass. The sentiment is stamped on the label die-cut and adhered to the lower part of the inside flap.

Now, when you fold up the front panel and the inside flap, and tuck the lower part of the front panel down behind the inside flap, this is what the card looks like:

How cute is THAT? :) Here are some more angles to get a view of how the whole mechanism "works".

And here is how I stamped the front of the card, with Background Basics: Sheet Music in Aqua Mist, layered with Turning a New Leaf in Hawaiian Shores. Most of this isn't really seen of course, unless you peek behind the front layer. :)

Well, this was a fun challenge - thanks PTI! I can't wait to make some more fun, interactive cards with my new PTI goodies!

Make it Monday: Creative Coasters

In the latest Make it Monday challenge, Jenn Ellefson shows some cool techniques involving the PTI coasters, a brayer, and ink refills. I used Turning a New Leaf (inked with Spring Moss), several Flower Fusion dies (inked with Summer Sunrise and Jenni Bowlin Chewing Gum), and the picket fence die (inked with Kraft). I stamped the flowers with Orange Zest and Rasperry Fizz.

The Tiny Tag is stamped with Spring Moss and tied onto the fence with twine. For flower centers, I pulled out my massive collection of brads, lol. The fence and flowers are popped up on dimensional adhesive.

I impressed the leaves and flowers with the Canvas Impression plate, and the fence with the Woodgrain impression plate. I also ran my Lemon Tart background panel through with the Sunshine Impression Plate (after stamping it with Polka Dot Basics). Here's a close-up to better see the textures:

Thanks Jenn & PTI for the fun technique and tutorial! And as always, thanks for looking!

PTI Anniversary Challenge: Interactive Cards

Well, it's the final day of the PTI February Countdown, and in today's post Nichole's challenge is to create an interactive card, to tie in to the introduction of the new PTI Movers and Shakers line of dies and stamps!  I haven't done too many interactive cards before, but I was eager to try out some ideas, and I managed to get two cards done today (and some laundry, lol!).

The first thing I thought of was to use the sweet airplane in Fly Away. I cut it from Stampers Select White and also from a coaster, and after coloring with Copics, adhered it to the coaster for more sturdiness.

I attached it through the slit in the background panel, which I created by sponging Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores inks on white cardstock, after applying masks cut with the cloud dies. The panel is attached to the Kraft base with foam adhesive. The plane is attached with a brad, to the sentiment strip cut from Aqua Mist, and stamped with a sentiment from Up, Up and Away. I added the word "pull" on the punched circle using Simple Alphabet, and the "congratulations" sentiment on the front panel is from Tag-Its #4.

It doesn't slide quite as smoothly as I was hoping, but the general idea worked out well. :) As the sentiment strip is fully extended, the plane "flies" across the card front.

My second card was inspired by the new Movers & Shakers: Sliders dies that Nichole introduced today. I can't wait to get these dies, but I wanted to try to mimic the same effect. Although it worked, it was difficult to "engineer", so I know the dies would make it much more effortless and slick!

Anyway, I tried to create the front "window" panel by cutting with my craft knife. It was doable, but it looked very sloppy and not "polished" enough, so I wasn't happy with it. Then I had a lightbulb moment! I used my Tag Sale #1 Die to cut the window panel. I just positioned it on my cardstock, face-down on my Big Kick platform. Then I put the other plate on top of the sandwich, but positioned it so that the edge of it was partway down the die, where I wanted it to STOP cutting. Cranked it through, and voila - a 3-sided window cut! I then trimmed down the panel (I did that AFTER cutting, so that I didn't have to have the die perfectly aligned), and scored at the top and middle. Then I cut the "slider" panel to go underneath. The rest of it is constructed pretty much like Nichole shows in her tutorial video.

I used Celebrations for the front sentiment panel. The color combo is Canyon Clay, Hawaiian Shores and Harvest Gold. After I was finished, I wished I had something more with the HS panel.... so I added the twine and button, which helped a bit, but I still think it's a little bit plain. I was trying to keep it masculine-appropriate, though, just because it seems that I have fewer male-appropriate cards in my stash (even thought that's what I usually need - husband, father, brother, sons, lol).

I added the button on the tab at the top because I thought it would make it easier to grab and pull, and also more obvious that that is what is expected. Here it is starting to slide open:

And completely extended! I stamped the slider with Polka Dot Basics 2, just for a little added interest.

The inside sentiment is a combination of Daydreamer, Birthday Basics, and a decorative element from Celebrations.

Well, it was fun to try a couple of interactive cards, and it definitely got my creative juices flowing for all the fun that can be had with these new dies! I just know they will make these cards a real breeze to make (and did you SEE the Zippers?? Oh my gosh, how FUN!!)

Thanks for stopping by!

PTI Anniversary Hearts Challenge #2: Love You Forever

The snow continues, and so does the stamping! :) This is my second post today for the latest PTI Anniversary Challenge: use hearts on a project (see my first post here). I still had Love and Marriage out on my table, and I really like that heart with the script words. I had been floating an idea around in my head to do a "cut out panel" with the heart, so here is what evolved:

Lots of sets used here: Background Basics: Circles for the rows on the upper part of the card base; Love Lives Here for the little heart that I "randomly" stamped in some of the circles (trying to deliberately make something look random can be harder than it sounds, lol!); Turning a New Leaf for the tone-on-tone pattern on the Pure Poppy and Hawaiian Shores panels; and Little Labels for the sentiment.

Originally, I was going to stamp the heart directly on the blue panel. But I wanted more contrast and I wanted to bring in the Summer Sunrise to tie into the mat behind the red/blue elements, so I stamped it onto the die-cut heart instead. I also impressed the red with the Picnic Plaid impression plate, and the blue with the Canvas IP. The red is popped up on foam adhesive, and the "love you" label is also popped up. The twine and button finish it off!

It's still snowing here... who knows, maybe I'll get back to the stamp table this evening. :) Thanks for looking!

PTI Anniversary Continues: Hearts-A-Plenty!

It's a cold, blustery, snowy day here in the Pittsburgh area, but that's ok! I don't have to go anywhere, and it's just a perfect day for hanging out at my craft table! :) As the Anniversary month countdown continues at PTI today, Nichole issued a fun and timely challenge for today: create a project that incorporates hearts! I couldn't wait to get to it, since I had an idea for hubby's Valentine's Day card and hadn't actually sat down to work on it yet! :)

My color palette is Vintage Cream, Pure Poppy and Hawaiian Shores. I just knew I wanted to use that gorgeous tree from Love and Marriage, and I remembered how Betsy Veldman added the fun little heart to the tree trunk during the countdown. The sentiment is from the same set, and the little row of teeny hearts is from Tag-Its #11. I used the heart border die (fast becoming a favorite for me!) two ways: as the heart border between the image and sentiment portions of the card, and as the teeny little scallops peeking out from the edges. I layered the Mat Stack 5 and Layerz dies and then trimmed the top off, for the sentiment panel.

The whole image/heart border/sentiment panel is popped up on dimensional adhesive. Here's a close-up of the fun heart at the bottom (which is also popped up). I cut it with the medium die in the Heart Prints die collection, and then stamped it with the tree image so that it would coordinate with the tree on the card. I really love how it turned out - it's fun to find images that work in ways that you might not have originally thought of!

Thanks for looking!

PTI Anniversary: Pinterest Inspiration!

WOW, I managed to crank out some craftiness today! I completed THREE cards for the latest PTI Anniversary Challenge. After introducing PTI's Pinterest Boards, Nichole issued the challenge to created a project based on a Pinterest image. HOWEVER, I only realized just now as I am writing this blog post that I slightly misunderstood the challenge: I thought the inspriation was supposed to come from a pin on the PTI Pinterest boards, so that's what I used - but hey, that means I used an image on Pinterest, so I think that counts! ;) I have to post these quickly as we are off to a Cub Scout meeting tonight, so no frills, no fuss, just my projects and links to my inspirations! It was soooo easy to be inspired by the PTI boards! So here are my cards: 

1. Inspired by Dawn McVey's "Land Sakes"

 

2. Inspired by Maile Belles "Happy Birthday":

 

3. Inspired by Heather Nichols "Birthday Wishes":

Yikes, look at the time - gotta run! Thanks for looking! :)

PTI Anniversary Color Challenge!

Well the PTI Anniversary festivities continue, and today's challenge is all about color. Each of the designers shared a favorite color combo and then we pick one and use it for a project. Now, I was thrilled to have a color challenge and so many options to pick from, as I do tend to find myself reaching for the same colors time and time again - usually a combo of an orange (Orange Zest or Canyon Clay) and a blue or aqua (Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist or Spring Rain). So I promised myself that I would not pick a combo that had more than one of my most-used colors! I ending up choosing Lisa Johnson's combo: Kraft, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss and Aqua Mist.

I made a larger, 5x7 card, using Turning a New Leaf, Celebrations, and the sentiment from YOF: Lily of the Valley (which fit so nicely in the Celebrations frame!).

The panel and the frame are both popped up on dimensional adhesive.

Twine and a button always makes for a simple finishing touch!

Thanks for looking!