Grateful: My First PTI

Hello! I had some time to get inky, so I made a CAS thank you card using my one and only PTI set. I have long admired PTI stamps, but I really can't afford them most of the time. I happened to get this set second-hand from someone who was reducing their stash. Lucky me!

I'm playing along with PTI's Make It Monday #99: Repeats and Rainbows.

Stamps: PTI Spots & Dots, Unity Simple Blessings; inks: Memento inks in Tuxedo Black, Summer Sky, Pear Tart and Lilac Posies, Distress Inks in Tumbled Glass and Spiced Marmalade

I don't have any PTI inks, so I used a mix of Memento and Distress Inks to get as close as I could to one of the color schemes we were asked to follow. I masked off a strip where I wanted the stamping, then used a Unity stamp for the sentiment and a few rhinestones to give it a bit more interest.

Thanks for stopping by today, and have a wonderful day!

FWF and many thanks

Hello! This week's Friends With Flair card is a super simple one! I don't know about you, but I have quite a few thank you cards to put in the mail for gifts I received on Christmas, and a card like this is a perfect way to say thank you!

Stamps: ippity by Unity kits Devoted and Music of My Heart; patterned paper: Stampin' Up!

Any patterned paper and matching ink can be used for this card, so I plan to whip up a bunch more!

Remember to visit all the FWF blogs and leave comments for a chance to win a prize! Have a terrific weekend, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

{ippity} Thanks(giving) Blog Hop

Welcome to the thanks(giving) blog hop with a few {ippity} chicks!!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday! It usually marks the beginning of the holiday season, but Thanksgiving is when I give thanks and give back for all that I'm thankful for. So this blog hop is centered around giving thanks and thanksgiving!

Pull up a chair, grab your favorite beverage, and hop through the blogs!

I decided to use Thanks for all Things on my card today. It's a cute little set that can be used in so many ways! I saw a really cool technique by Betsy Veldman (stamper extraordinaire!) that mimics batik fabrics. I knew I just had to try it on this card. A little raffia, which always reminds me of the straw bales I sat on during fall hayrides and bonfires, takes the place of ribbon.

stamps: {ippity} kit Thanks for all Things; kraft cardstock: Bazzill; watercolor paper: Impressions; ink: Ranger Distress Inks in Faded Jeans, Dusty Concord, Spiced Marmalade, Black Soot; clear ep; raffia

How would you like to win some {ippity}? How about this set, Thanks for all Things?

Remember to leave a comment (winner will be picked on 11/25!).  Some of the other chicks are also giving away blog candy, so comment away!!  Happy hopping!!!


Next up visit JenMarie at taylor-made by jenmarie. The complete list of hoppers is below.

angie - {stampsings of the shug}
lisa - schnauzer scraps
andrea - ippity stamps 4 u
jen m - mitten's papercrafting
barbara - {ippity} do da
kim - scrappin creations
cheri - the paper freak
jenmarie - taylor-made by jenmarie
noelle - noelle scraps a lot
jenny j - jen's cup of creations
sarah - the joys of creating
crystal - crystal's craft corner
susan - paper & joy

Thanks for visiting!

PS ~ Do you love {ippity} stamps? Check out my {ippity} page!

Sugar Creek Hollow mania is coming!

Next week, we have a bunch of fun planned for you, so make sure you visit the Sugar Creek Hollow blog every day this next week!

To whet your appetite, how about some eye candy that I've been waiting to show you?

This card was soooo super simple to make. I measured my square nestie before I printed out the flourished frame so I could fill the square with the image. The center of the frame is blank so you can fill it with anything you want. I chose to cut a circle of the same background paper and use a rub-on sentiment. I think this card took me a grand total of 15 minutes to make from start to finish! Using a monochromatic color scheme really sped up the assembly time, too, since I just needed to make sure the different shades of brown didn't clash. The card base and flourished panels are both a cream color.

supplies ~ cardstock: The Paper Company, dsp: DCWV Old World Stack (dark brown), The Christmas Stack (polka dots), The Crafty Stack (scalloped mat), image: Sugar Creek Hollow

The card second card uses the cutie patootie primitive angel. I used my Prisma pencils & OMS to color Primsy to match the dsp.

supplies ~ carstock: The Paper Company, dsp: DCWV The Crafty Stack, image: Sugar Creek Hollow


Thanks for stopping by to visit today! Remember to stop by Sugar Creek Hollow's freebie page every Friday for a free digi!

FWF...and is it really almost Christmas?

I cannot believe how quickly Christmas is creeping up on me. All our family lives over 1,000 miles away, so gifts have to go in the mail a couple of weeks ahead of time - I gotta get crackin'!

Closer to home, my school does a Secret Santa draw every year, so today's project is a set of thank you cards I made for my Secret Santa. I'm pretty short on time lately, so I wanted to keep it simple. Kelly Landers' post on the {ippity} blog was just what I needed! I just stamped with one color of ink, though, for simplicity's sake. I did the first three cards up with some ribbon, but also tried a few without it. This set was a breeze!

supplies ~ cardstock: Georgia Pacific, dsp: Stampin' Up!, image: {ippity} Devoted, sentiment: {ippity} Just Wanted to Say..., ribbon: Pebbles

If you would like to have one or both of these sets (or any other {ippity} set), I have them all in stock and ready to ship today. AND, if you leave a comment here and place an order this weekend, you'll get a $5 credit toward shipping. That's FREE shipping for up to 5 kits! Visit my {ippity} blog today!

Thanks for coming to visit! Have a fantastic weekend!

Friends With {ippity} Flair

Welcome to this week's FWF hop! I hope you've been getting lots of inspiration!

I finally received my {ippity} kits, but haven't had a whole lot of time to play with them. I decided that I needed some quick cards, since I'm also trying to put together a classy card set I can give away, teach in a card class/stamp camp or sell in my Etsy shop. I may have found just the ticket!

I sat down with the {ippity} kit called "Just Wanted to Say." With three frames and eight sentiments, you have lots of ways to mix and match them to get the look you want. It seems to be one of the more popular kits according to my little poll over on the right (which YOU can do, too).  --->

I started with a thank you card, since I need more of those and plan to make this a gift set, too. It's a simple little card that I cased from Jackie Pedro. I left more white space on mine and kept the stamping to a single focal panel. I also opted for stamping in VersaMark and using some pearlescent chalks instead of simply ink. For mass production, I'd probably just use ink that matched my dsp and cardstock.

supplies ~ cardstock: Martha Stewart, dsp: Papercraft Inspirations, images: {ippity} Just Wanted to Say



The second card is for a co-worker whose family lost a loved one this week. I decided to keep the same layout, drop the extra patterned paper and simply highlight with my chalks one of the birds from the dry embossing. The sentiment on this card was chalked, too.

supplies: cardstock: Martha Stewart, images: {ippity} Just Wanted to Say

If you like this set, feel free to pop over to my {ippity} blog to purchase your own. As a thank you, leave a comment here and I'll refund up to $5 on the shipping if you place an order this weekend.

Thanks for coming to visit today! Now it's time for you to hop over to Kerry!

Whimsy Challenge: Thank You

It's Monday, so that means it's another Whimsy Stamps challenge! This week's theme is to make a thank you card, so I decided to play on the word "you". I used a sketch from Jacksonbelle Embellishments' Tuesday Challenge and a pink, brown & white color theme from The Pink Elephant Challenge.

This image is super easy to color, and I used Prismas & OMS. I paired it with some wonderful Basic Grey paper and a few Prima flowers with metal button centers. The sentiment "Thank Ewe" is stamped on the inside of the card.

Remember you can play along with this week's challenge even if you don't have any Whimsy stamps, so why not give it a try? There's a super prize for one random entrant, and I'm sure you need a thank you card! =D If you want some inspiration, you can click on the design team links on the left under the Whimsy banner. Thanks for stopping by for a look, and come again soon!

supplies ~ kraft cardstock: Bazzill, dsp: Basic Grey Porcelain, flowers: Prima, buttons: stash, image: Whimsy Lamb, sentiment (inside): Scrappy Cat Elegant Memoir

It's Hip Hop Hangover time again

Welcome! Did you get to do the Unity Hip HOP yesterday? If you've never done one, you should! There's so much great inspiration from the design team, and there's also a chance each week to win some Unity goodness! Just start at the Unity blog and the next blog will have a link to click for the next one. Then head over to the Unity forum on SCS to chat away and get in on some more chances to win some Unity!



Today I'm sharing with you a 6x6 thank you card using Unity's Dream Tree and Just Plain Gratitude stamps. If you look closely, you can see some details that are subtle, but I love them. I started with a brown card base, then layered over that a piece of kraft cardstock that I watermarked with the gratitude stamp. Then I stamped gratitude again in brown. On some parchment paper, I used the same brown ink to stamp the dream tree and glued it onto the front.


On the inside, I used the same parchment and kraft, but this time I just stamped gratitude in brown ink and adhered the kraft to the bottom. Can you recognize the pattern on the kraft inside the card? It's the swirly part of the dream tree that I watermarked!


The envelope carries over the same theme. Gratitude is watermarked on the kraft paper envelope, and more of the brown cardstock base forms the flap on the envelope. If you look closely, you'll see the swirly part of the dream tree watermarked on the the flap, too!

I had never done watermarking before, but I really like the end result! Thanks for stopping by for a look; make sure you visit the other gals showing off their Unity! You can get a list of all the links on the Unity blog.

supplies ~ brown cardstock: DCWV, kraft cardstock: Bazzill, kraft & parchment paper: stash, ink: Ranger, VersaMark, tree image: Unity Dream Tree, gratitude stamp: Unity Just Plain Gratitude.

Sweet 'N Sassy release party challenge

I really wish I had more time this week...sigh...

Since I've started blogging, I've been introduced to so many wonderful stamp companies. I started stamping with my mom when I was in my teens, but when I moved away from home to go to college, then for a job, I got rid of all my stamps and gave it up. I've recently redisovered how much fun it is, and - WOW - has the stamping world changed! There are so many new techniques, embellishments and awesome stamps out there that weren't around when I was stamping!

Sweet 'N Sassy Stamps is one of the stamp companies I've discovered. I decided over the Christmas vacation that I was going to indulge in my newly rediscovered craft. When SNSS held an online release party, I decided to attend. I'm glad I did - it was a hoot! And they issued three challenges with more prizes (after they had already given a slew of prizes at the party!). I wanted to do all three challenges, but ran out of time and only got to do one of them.

So, here's the ONE card I got to do. It's based on Courtney's sketch challenge. As I've written in previous posts, I really love sarapapers, and this card features three of the coordinated papers from one of the sets. I don't remember which one, though - I threw away the cover when I was on a purging mission last summer. Anyway, I'm not usually a purple kind of girl, but I really like this combination. The purple mat under the patterned paper has a wonderful shimmer to it (and I have red and blue like this, too. Can't wait to use them!). I used a DCWV cardstock base that matched the blue flowers in the paper, some Marth Stewart ribbon I picked up on clearance at Michael's, some Darice gemstones and a Scrappy Cat blossom and sentiment. I almost didn't put any sentiment on it at all - this card is versatile enough to do for many occasions.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope you enjoyed looking!

supplies ~ stamps: Scrappy Cat thank you set, cardstock: DCWV, others: Paper Pizazz, gems: Darice, ribbon: Martha Stewart, markers: ZIG ColorTwin, adhesive: Glue Glider Pro PermaTac & ThermoWeb foam squares

Nine daisies and a dragon

I finished all four of the Jacksonbelle New Year's Eve challenges! I don't think I've made four cards in two days ever in my life! I also combined some challenges, so here they are:

The first one I CASEd from Becky Oehlers over at Hemidemisemiquaver Designs. So simple, but so nice! It was also for the Jacksonbelle challenge to make a card that reflects our New Year resolution(s) and the Hero Club Blog challenge to use a Hero Arts stamp in a thank you card with bonus points if you use a holiday stamp. I don't really make resolutions, but I do know I want to spend more time in 2009 being creative than I was in 2008. And the Hero Club Blog helped me see that my holiday stamps can be used creatively for something besides holiday cards! Can you see the holiday stamp? It's in the background. I used my Inkadinkado Christmas Silhouettes set to create a background before adhering the cardstock strips. I almost can't tell that it's holly leaves and berries! The photo didn't pick up the color right, but I used a shade of green a bit lighter than the green flowers, and the bottom panel of cardstock is pastel purple. The flower circles are a Hero Arts Daisy Border stamp that I colored and cut out then adhered with pop dots. Simple!


The second card with a little more labor intesive - I played with another one of my new High Hopes stamps, Lenny's Love Me Nots. I'm still not feeling great, so I decide to just use my ZIG ColorTwin markers instead of trying to watercolor again. I managed a bit of shading by using the same color in shaded areas, but going over it repeatedly to lay down more color. This one is for the Jacksonbelle challenge to make a birthday card. I also used a sketch I found on The Sketch Lover. I really liked the simplicity of it. After coloring the image, I matted it using some coordinating sarapapers from Hot Off The Press. I just love sarapapers! The camera didn't pick it up, but the darker purple paper has a shimmer to it that gives the card a little extra shine. The flowers were made from the same papers in two different size Paper Shapers flower punches with a little gemstone in the middle. The sentiment is a rub-on.


Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your New Year is off to a great start!

supplies for Nine Daisies ~ cardstock base: stash, colored cardstock: DCWV, daisy image: Hero Arts, background stamping: Inkadinkado Christmas Silhouettes.

supplies for have a great day ~ cardstock base: DCWV, floral and purple papers: Hot Off The Press sarapapers, dragon image: High Hopes, gemstones: Darice, rub-on: Joann's

Busy, busy, busy on New Year's Eve

Bill and I are still feeling pretty cruddy, but we managed a trip to town for about an hour. It was -35F in town, and -25F at our house, so we're glad to stay home this evening. So I decided to ring in the New Year crafting and chatting it up on the Jacksonbelle PCP forum! So expect multiple posts this evening, and make sure you enter my blog candy before midnight tonight (Alaska time, -0900 GMT)! I'll announce the winner tomorrow!

**********

So here's my first card of the evening. Simple, but I like it. I started by choosing my colors. I already had the sketch (Laura's Sketch #16 at 2S4Y) and a theme (Jacksonbelle's "Rings"). I looked in my stash for some coordinated papers and found some wonderful ones called sarapapers by Hot Off the Press. I also used cardstock from my DCWV mat stack.








I was going for these particular colors because I also wanted to try the KWerner Color Inspiration challenge for this week. Here are the colors she gave us. I sort of like 'em! I also like the shabby chic feel of the papers, so I tried distressing the edges of the cardstock a bit. I stamped the flower on white cardstock and colored it with my PrismaColor pencils. The Pink (PC929) in my set was too bright, so I blended it with a tiny bit of Sienna Brown (PC945) to mute it. Then I cut it out and popped a brad in the center.

I'll be back later with another card, so stay tuned!

supplies ~ papers: Hot Off the Press, cardstock: DCWV, flower image: Scrappy Cat "Sunny Days" set, {thanks} image: Studio G, brad: Making Memories

Simple thanks

I think this is the first time I've ever posted three times in one day....(now I KNOW I have too much time on my hands)!

I was doing my blog hop today and ended up over at the Hero Arts Club Blog. I really liked the simple winter thank you card they demoed, but I'm not feeling well enough to mess with my stamps, clean them up, yaddayaddayadda. Besides, my mom got me some new embossing folders for my Cuttlebug, so I decided to do a slight twist on the Hero card. Instead of stamping snowflakes, I just used my Snowflakes folder before punching out 3/4" circles. I also used my Swiss Dots folder to emboss the base instead of heat embossing the dots. For the sentiment, I just used Making Memories rub-ons. For these four cards, I think it took me a grand total of an hour ('course, I still need to make envelopes, but that's a snap).

supplies ~ cardstock: stash, embossed images: Cuttlebug, rub-ons: Making Memories