Send a Card & Feel Better...

I woke up this morning to snow flurries. Only in Louisville, KY can you have 70 degrees with tornadoes one day, and snow the next. We all escaped the tornado path here, but our friends up the road in Indiana weren't so lucky. My family has been devoting lots of prayers to the victims who lost homes, family, friends, animals and special belongings.

I recently visited my local Archiver's and saw the new Dear Lizzy line, Neapolitan. *LOVE.* Everything about it reminds me of spring and summer! I especially loved the 12x12 paper "twinkling lights" that is filled with empty jars. Those empties leave a lot of room for creativity! Here's a quick card I made:

Sentiment stamp, raspberry felt and twine: Papertrey Ink; strawberry card base: Paper-Source;

Background paper: K&Co., Sweet Nectar.

I think the watercolor effect on the jars is super cute! Looks like I added that... but didn't! Anyway, I think I will make a few more of these. They were easy, fun and sadly, we have several sick people in our lives right now. I think getting a card like this would brighten their day, don't you?

I encourage you to make/buy a card for someone that needs a boost. This person doesn't need to be sick, but choose someone that needs encouragement or a lift of happiness. Let someone know you care. Hugs!

PTI October Blog Hop

*If you are here for the Jingle Belles card, scroll down to the post below. I am such a dork... I thought today was Wednesday!
OK... on with the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop for the month! I got this stunning picture via email for the inspiration and I had to participate!

Holy gorgeous! The colors, patterns, stacked fabric, and darling decor just screams "FALL!" I love it. With the inspiration of the photo pumping through my veins, I came up with this card:

I used all scraps on this card! The paper, the fabric strip and the orange twine were all scraps from another project! I hand cut some leave from the PTI chartreuse felt, added a button, the twine and a rhinestone. Then, I repeatedly stamped the PTI sentiment "birthday wishes." An instant fall birthday card. Enjoy!

A "soft" card...

Jingle Belles prompt this week is by a *lovely* guest star... she suggested that we use the term "snow is softly falling" and interpret it any way we like, making *soft* the focus. So, I used some soft felt and die cut my Christmas tree. I decorated with blue rhinestones and used a SRM sticker on the banner for my sentiment. The paper is a new fave... full of glitter! It's from My Minds Eye, lost and found collection.
Ok, off I go in a rush to link up before the deadline! I'll be back with my PTI blog hop entry! ;)

Peace

This weeks Jingle Belles prompt is "Peace." You can use the word peace or a peace symbol. I love the Paper Smooches stamp set, "Pretty Phrases" and that's where I started.

I embossed the sentiment in white on kraft and then added my patterned paper, felt border and small stitched felt heart. I used the new Claudine Hellmuth Studio stamps for my bird. First, I stamped him with white paint, then ink chocolate ink for the outline. I added a small silver rhinestone for an eye. This card was pretty easy and could easily be mass produced.

Enjoy!

My holly's not so jolly...

This week the Jingle Belles are rockin' it again with a fantastic prompt... "Holly and Ivy." I'll be honest, I don't have anything that remotely looks like ivy and I only have one holly stamp, and I usually use it for tags, and I couldn't think outside the box for some reason. What to do, what to do... make your own holly... with felt, buttons, and glitter, oh my!

I *like* this card, but I don't love it. Notice the BIG, F A T boo-boo? I stitched one of the leaves wrong... ahhh! I tried to redeem myself by adding red buttons for berries and showering them with glitter. Still, all I can see is non-uniform stitching. It's all good though, I'll send it to someone that won't notice, or at least someone that can't see well.

On a side note: the one thing I keep going back to to make my weekly holiday card is the Basic Grey "Jovial" paper pad. I love it and goes with pretty much any theme you work with. I love the prints and plaids!

And one more thing... It has been very easy for me to crank out these holiday cards each week. Why? Not only because Jingle Belles has great prompts, awesome sketches, and so forth, but I also have ALL of my Christmas stuff in one folder. That's right... paper, stickers, rub-ons, and embellishments are neatly gathered in a plastic folder for scrapbooking. So, when I'm ready to tackle the Jingle Belles challenge, all I need to do is reach for the holiday folder and BAM! A card is born.

Card Patterns Sketch

I have never played along with Card Patterns, but it's a great challenge blog and this is the year that I'm trying new things! I saw the sketch and loved it and immediately thought of a Valentine. The sketch for this week is:

I made this card in no time flat... I already had the felt heart laying on my desk with the die cut (just waiting... begging to be used!):

The card base is Paper-Source in strawberry, the background is a scrap from my stash, I believe it's Bo-Bunny, the die cut and stamp is from Taylored Expressions, the "XOXO" sticker is SRM, and the heart and fabric were put together by moi. I added some cross stitches to the die cut and "ruffled" the fabric just slightly by running my thread through the middle and giving it a little tug.

And closer...

I love the end result of my card and hope you do too! The Card Patterns sketch was fun to play with, and I hope you get a chance to play this week! :)

Warm Wishes!

This week, the Jingle Belles have their challenge up and it's a prompt: "Baby It's Cold Outside!" A good time to use felt, snowflakes, mittens and scarves, and anything else that might cozy up a holiday card! It has been snowing here and the temperature is dropping... a perfect time to make some mittens!

This is probably my favorite holiday card I have ever made. I love the stitching and the woolly mittens, the bright snowflake paper (by Crape Paper) and the perfect sentiment (by Papertrey Ink). A close up of those finely crafted mittens:

Now, this is definitely not a card I would mass produce. While I enjoyed making it, it was a bit time consuming. Thanks, Jingle Belles, for the nudge to create a fun card with felt- which I LOVE!

Happy Scrapping Derby Day!

Today is National Scrapbook Day and Derby Day! So, I scrapped a little this morning and going to a Derby party this afternoon. It was a fun day out at the track yesterday, no winners except for my outfit! It was comfy and cute!

Mom had a ton of this cute vintage floral print fabric leftover from my dress, so I made some embellishments! I cut out the flowers and I used felt, cardstock, floss, buttons and a little glitter glue. They turned out pretty swell!

To celebrate NSD, I am going to giveaway a set of these floral cuties. Just leave a comment to have your name entered into the pool for the drawing. They can be added to cards, scrapbooks, aprons, a jacket, lapel, etc. Fun, fun! I'll draw a name/number on Tuesday, May 5 at noon.