Balloons!

I made this birthday card for a friend. I didn't forget her birthday, but I did forget to put the card in the mail. I hat it when that happens! Anyway, I love how it turned out and got to color with my Copic markers! The balloon stamps are from Papertrey Ink and I just cut them out and mounted them on some cute, cloud vellum paper (American Crafts), then embellished with cloud chipboard from Studio Calico.

Enjoy your day, hope it's sunny where you are!

A Birthday Card

Lately, I have been making lots of birthday cards. I have been stock piling them for when I need a special card for a special someone! I have been using SRM birthday stickers to make my job a tad easier and Papertrey Ink dies to stick them on.

All put together on a couple layers of pretty paper! Here's a similar one with different colors:

Do you LOVE that music note paper from My Minds Eye? It's practically singing the birthday song for you! So, now I have a few birthday cards in my stash... I just hope I can remember to send them out! ;)

Papertrey Blog Hop!

Good afternoon, crafty person! Today is the Papertrey Ink blog hop! They provided us with a photo challenge, which I LOVE! One of my favorite colors is yellow, so this was a wonderful inspiration photo for me! 

Make something wonderful using that photo above?! No problem-o! It's so happy! So, this is what I made:

I used the new AC Dear Lizzy Neapolitan paper (the yellow polka dots), Maya Road ruffled ribbon, a scrap of silver glittery paper that I used a border punch on and the buttons, stamp, ink in Shadow, die cut and twine are all Papertrey Ink. The stamp was a complimentary exclusive stamp and I love it! I have used it so many times and it fits perfectly in that label die!

If you want to participate in the blog hop or just see all the creations to gain some inspiration, CLICK HERE. Have a happy Sunday, friends!

Sweet and Simple

I whipped up this card last week so fast... it's sweet and it's simple. I love it when you let patterned paper do all the creative work for you!

I used a Martha Stewart doily as my backdrop for my crepe paper flower. The center buttons and seam binding tape are vintage. The sentiment is from Papertrey.

Cute for a springtime birthday!

Have a good weekend!

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!

Coloring Outside the Lines!

I love to color... I love fresh, new crayons and I love my big girl Copic markers! I admit, Copics are a bit intimidating. Is it the big price tag? All the blending? Technique? Probably a little of all that I mentioned! Well, this week, Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge is all about coloring outside the lines. Watch the video HERE.
Here's my card...

A close up of the scribble lines for candles...

I used Papertrey's lavender moon cardstock as my base and stamp sets "Make A Wish" (candles) and "Big & Bold Wishes (sentiment). I added a load of glitter to really make those candles *sparkle* and a few giant rhinestones to finish it off! Enjoy!

You Make Me Hoppy!

Hi there, hoppy Sunday! Hope you have had a little time to create today... I'm squeezing a little in before I head into a busy week! I loved the Card Patterns sketch this week, and I actually needed to make several cards for various reasons. This one is going to my animal loving niece, along with a pack of animal stickers- just for fun. :)

The stamps are from Papertrey Ink and the patterned paper is Echo Park. The frog embellishment is from an Etsy store called "Ring-O Crafts."

If you get a chance, and want to play along, here's the sketch: 

Enjoy your Sunday evening!

Papertrey Ink Blog Hop!

Hi friends... this is my second post for the day! I wanted to squeeze in a card I made for the Papertrey Ink July Blog Hop! This month, the inspiration came from this awesome photo:

I wish I had a spot in my house that looks like this! It looks like such a happy place... the perfect spot to read or do some needlepoint! ;) 

This is the card it inspired me to create:

Quite simple, actually. It was leftover Sassafrass paper, odds and ends, paired with some Papertrey ribbon and sentiment stamp. A happy little card!

Click here to join the hop and see all the creations!

With Sympathy...

Unfortunately, I've had to send a few sympathy cards in the last week. I got out my new Basic Grey Out of Print paper pad and used Paper Smooches Friendly Flowers stamp set. Added some ribbon, colored and paper pieced the flower and then used my Papertrey set for the sentiment. Easy, pretty, tasteful.  

 

I hope the recipients felt a little sun on their face when they got the card. It's always hard to lose someone you love...

PTI May Blog Hop!

Hi Friends! Today is the May Papertrey Ink blog hop! The challenge this month was to use flowers! Here's my card:

I used the Papertrey Everyday Button Bits set for my flowers. The felt bee is one of my creations, also available in my Etsy shop! I printed the sentiment "thanks a buzz-illion!" on my computer and trimmed.

Thanks for stopping here along the hop! Enjoy all the creations... I know I will!

A Weeks Worth...

Lots of fun stuff to share today... a weeks worth of news and creations!

It's been a whole seven days since my last post, and I apologize for that! It was so busy with the kids on spring break and I had a three days girls weekend! So, let me start the roll of events that happened:

I got a few new stamp sets in the mail. One from Papertrey and a couple from Paper Smooches. I love this monster and cute sentiment that I used from 2 sets of Paper Smooches stamps:

I taught Anna how to use my SLR camera. Of course her favorite photo op was of me chopping onions:

*Note: for those of you who have sensitive eyes and cry buckets when you chop onions, put on a pair of goggles. I keep them in the kitchen drawer. ;)

We made a trip to the Zoo, spent a day hiking, the kids saw the new movie "Hop," went fishing a couple of times, and had a few play dates:

We celebrated my sister-in-law's, my niece and my birthday:

And Mac finally lost his first tooth:

I'm pretty sure he holds the record for loosing his first tooth at such a late age... he's 8!

And last but certainly not least... I got word Friday night I am being *PUBLISHED* for the very first time in CARDS September 2011 issue!!! I am so excited. Persistence finally pays off. :) Thanks to those of you who really believed in me. You know who you are and I love you for it!

I have a TON of layouts, cards and a mini album that I did on my 3 day scrappin' trip with the girls. I just got back yesterday evening, so I haven't had a chance to photograph any of my projects. I will post them asap!

Papertrey March Blog Hop Challenge

The March Papertrey challenge is to use embroidery floss! I love to stitch on my cards and scrapbook pages, so this was a very fun challenge for me. First, I used my new Martha Stewart score pal and embossed the outer edges of my card. Then, I added the two patterned papers and following the "x" design in the paper on the top half, I decided to do a cross stitch pattern with my floss. I die cut the butterfly in raspberry fizz felt and punched another to layer. Lastly, I stamped my sentiment in chocolate ink.
Can't wait to gawk at everyone else's projects!

Fun with Foam!

Good morning, friends. Just a quick, short post today to show a couple cards I made with fun foam. The Papertrey Ink "Make It Monday" challenge was to use fun foam in a creative way. I did some die cutting here:
and here, not only did I do a die cut, but sewed a little heart too:

Fun foam is very easy to cut, sew and craft with. This was a great challenge... I would have never brought out the kids fun foam for one of my projects! :)

No RED!

The Jingle Belles challenge this week is to make a holiday card using "NO RED!" While red is one of my favorite colors, especially for the holidays, it wasn't hard putting one together without it...
I love this new ice skate stamp set from Papertrey Ink. It comes with different sock patterns and lots of darling sentiments for winter. My sentiment is a SRM sticker. ;) I embossed the snowflake pattern and added "snowball puffs" to the end of the laces and some chunky glitter to the ice skate blades. Closer:

I love the colors and had a ball making this one... since it involved glitter! The thing about Jingle Belles is that I can take my time making a super, awesome, detailed holiday card once a week and have a load of them done and ready to send by the time Christmas comes along. The only problem I'm going to run into is deciding which one to give to whom! Enjoy!

Bag Tags

Papertrey Ink is continuing with all their challenges, new releases, giveaways and more for their fourth anniversary. It has truly been such fun, waking every morning to find new inspiration in my email box! Love it!
The challenge for today was to make a tag. I made two of the same because I had *two* special people in my life receive awards from my alma mater, Sacred Heart Academy.

Inside the decorated bags was a treat... Yummy white chocolate party mix! Everybody loves this treat, it's the perfect blend of sweet and salty, and makes a ton! I plan to give some with Valentines too! Want the recipe? I thought so!

White Chocolate Party Mix
2 packages of White Chocolate Bark- melted
5 Cups of Cheerios
5 Cups Rice Chex
1 1/2 bags of peanut M&M's
1 Bag pretzels

Mix all the dry ingredients in a big bowl and then pour melted chocolate over. Mix well. Spread onto wax paper or foil. Let cool 30 minutes and then break apart. Store in Tupperware or Ziploc bags, Will freeze up to 1 month.

It's a big hit, easy and cheep to make- perfect for mass gift giving! ;)

Papertrey's Free Download

Moving right along with Papertrey's Anniversary celebration, they had a free tag download on their blog. You had until 7:00 a.m. today to upload your project... I'm a little late. Dang. Oh well, I still had fun making this card and the free download is a good one. Check it out HERE and print your own for a project or two! I chose to use Maile Belles design and then added my own windmill. I used Papertrey's Bitty Box Basics for my background paper and some ribbon and rhinestones to add a little interest.

Enjoy and stay warm!

Papertrey Ink Anniversary

Papertrey Ink is having their 4th anniversary and they are celebrating with projects, blog hops and an over the top prize! Visit the blog HERE for all the details.
Today, I am posting a card I did back in June, 2010. One of the challenges at Papertrey, was to post a favorite project from last year. Well, this is mine: I used the "Everyday Button Bits" set, a chipboard cloud and some random paper. I think my fave part of this card is the green hills below the balloons, and also the fact that it could be used for either a guy or a gal! ;)
Enjoy, and scoot on over to the Papertrey blog to participate!

Cute Cupcake

Hello happiness... it's Friday. Although, it's not so happy in these parts... Anna is sick. Fever, headache, stomach ache, and pure misery has overcome her little body. We will be heading to the doc this afternoon.
On a sweeter note, how about this cute cupcake card? It's from the new Papertrey set "Tiny Treats Birthday" that I just got this week. This set was part of the January release and I love it... LOVE it! The tiny pink polka dot paper is actually from the stamp packaging- aren't I thrifty!? The die cute was also purchased from Papertrey and coordinates with this set. I can already tell it's going to be a favorite! I colored with my Copics and you can't tell from the picture, but the star is colored in with my Spica glitter pen to give it a little *twinkle.*

I used the Get Sketchy card sketch this week as my guide. I flipped the sketch to make my card. Get your entry in... the prize this week is awesome! A handcrafted belt buckle from an Etsy shop!

Have a great day... while Anna slumbers and Elan plays Lego's I am going to craft and organize and purge.

Papertrey Blog Hop!

Today, Papertrey Ink is having their blog hop. The challenge was to dust off an old stamp set that you either haven't used in a while, or one that has never been inked! I chose a set that I just had to have months ago and none of the stamps have been inked... until today.

The stamp set is called "Up, Up & Away" and has so many adorable images. Not sure why I haven't used them before... some of them are intimidating, I think. The sentiment is from the add on set to "Up, Up & Away."

I practiced coloring the rainbow a few times before liking a color combo. These are the markers I used:
I stitched yellow around the edge of the card before attaching to the card base. I did this by hand without a template, that's why it isn't perfectly even... and I'm okay with that! A cute, yellow heart button (also Papertrey) is the final finishing touch!

Enjoy! To find some amazing inspiration, visit the Papertrey blog and hop along!

Birthday Calendar

This year, for Christmas, I made my mom a Birthday Calendar binder. I filled the months with birthdays and anniversaries, and also filled the pockets with cards for her to send. I also made myself a binder... I intend to send birthday cards this year, and on time! :)

I ordered the binder, the calendar pages, and the calendar stamp set from Papertrey Ink. It's simple, but I didn't want it to be fussy... since it would end up in the kitchen or on a desk.


Here is one of the cards that went with it...

A nice, clean grid pattern! The card is 5x5 and I cut the squares at 1.5". Then, I added some Papertrey Ink twill ribbon and to finish, a SRM birthday sticker in the corner. Easy and pretty!

I'll post more birthday cards this week!