PTI December Blog Hop: gold and silver

I loved the golden dotted wedding cake photo with the pretty pale pink flowers on top.  So pretty.  I used that as inspiration for this card.  I actually took a very elegant looking card that Dawn McVey shared back when she had just released the art deco background set.  Love that set.  Anyway, I changed up the colors to incorporate the pinks, golds and silvers for this blog hop challenge.  I think it turned out very pretty.  It looks so much better than the lighting on my photos shows.

Hope everyone had a truly blessed Christmas day and are enjoying the vacation from work the holidays brings.  Have fun blog hopping.  There have been some truly gorgeous cards posted this month.

Supplies used are:
stamps: art deco background basics, rosie posse, and mixed messages
inks and papers: soft stone, white, pink pirouette, hibiscus burst, fine linen
other: silver ribbon, silver pearls, gold and silver embossing powders

MIM#194 stamped borders and December Blog Hop

I am doing double duty with this card I just made for this week's Make It Monday challenge and the December Blog Hop.  Super excited that it turned out kind of like I was envisioning in my head.  Lots of metallic shine on this card even if the photos don't show it.  Pretty, sparkly, and full of new year celebration vibes.  I will probably use it for an early January birthday card.  Or maybe for my mom's birthday in January.  She is a pretty sparkly person.

Used Circles cover plate stamp set for the stamped embossed circles as well as gold and silver embossing powders.  I used tag sale die for the focal point tag, sequins, black rhinestones, ribbons, and a Stampin' UP! set for the tag glass and sentiment.  Fun card.  

MIM #194 Sympathy cards and stamped borders

Here is my entry into this week's MIM challenge.  I can't believe I actually got a card done on the first day of the challenge.  Might be a first for me.  I went with a color scheme from the Stamp A Faire 2014 color combo inspiration cards Nicole posted for the event.  Never ever would I have dreamed this color scheme up.  I just knew I wanted to use Melon Berry, so this seemed to fit.  I think it looks pretty, uplifting and serene all at the same time.  

Supplies used:

We have melon berry, canyon clay, ocean tides, enchanted evening, and ripe avocado.  I also used linen vellum as my focal point tag.  I used the Happiness In Bloom stamp set along with Signature Greetings 2.  I think I may have needed to use a slightly smaller flower as I kind of filled up the card even though I stamped on the edges.  I guess that is an excuse to try this challenge again and enter one more time. 

Thanks, Melissa, for giving us this technique and a reminder to keep some of these sympathy cards in our stash.  

Make It Monday challenge: December 21st

Here is my quick attempt at this very cool technique to sort of blend in your die cuts into a monochromatic ombre look.  I am sure all of you are just as busy with last minute Christmas preparations, so squeezing in some crafty time is hard to do.

I used Stampin' Up! Night of Navy blendabilities markers for my gradient colors.  I used PTI Birthday word dies and Wonderful Words: Birthday for my sentiment.  I popped up my sentiment using the Papertrey coaster board as a quick and easy alternative to stacking lots of die cuts.  I used sequins and Martha Stewart Snowflake punches to turn this cool blue color palette into a wintery birthday card.

I pray that all of you have a blessed Christmas, that you are once again in awe of the amazing gift God gave us in and through his son, Jesus, who is God in flesh with us and our savior.  It was an amazing humbling act of Jesus to be born as a man to live the perfect life and fulfill God's holy standard, which we could never do,  and die and take the punishment for our sins, which we so justly deserve, so that we could be made clean, justified, and forgiven and have the hope of an eternal relationship with God again.  Oh how great and wonderful are the riches we have received in Christ!   Come Lord Jesus, Come!!! 

Ombre background stamping: MIM challenge this week

I made another attempt at ombre background stamping today.  If my stamping was a little bit crisper, I would say this card is practically perfect.  I tried to do a gradient of reds and greens for the holidays, topped with a kraft frame with one of my favorite things of the holidays--cookies!  I am a baker at heart, and I am already filling up my freezer with Christmas cookies like date nut bars, gingersnaps, chocolate gingerbread, faux matzo pecan toffee bars, rugelach, fruitcake cookies, salted chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookies, buckeye brownies, mint brownies, turtle brownies, pecan sandies, oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies,  cheesecake gems, and probably some more.  I plan to take trays of cookies to church on Sunday mornings, give trays to some of our doctors that have been involved in John's ongoing care with his brain tumor, friends, and to Christmas parties.  Plus I will be giving some to family as gifts as well.  Who doesn't love cookies, and they never get put on the shelf in the closet.  

What kind of goodies are you making for the holidays?  What is your must have Christmas treat that you either have to make or have made for you?  Are there any other food traditions you are passing down to your children that have been passed down to you?  

Supplies:
Art Deco background, scentimentals, real red, hibiscus burst, pink pirouette, limeade ice, kiwi kiss, and avocado inks, avocado satin ribbon, red bakers twine, kraft and white card stock.

MIM ombre backgrounds

Here is my next entry into the ombre background MIM challenge.  Laura was saying she wanted to see if we could create a Christmas themed background.  Well, here is my attempt.  The sentiment circle needs something, but I can't figure out what.  Maybe I need to scatter some sequins on the card...  Anyway, I used SU! real red, pink pirouette, pool party and kiwi kiss.  I tried to follow a rainbow gradient with green coming in between the pink and blue.  I used an old PTI sentiment set from Lisa Johnson.  I also used a framed out die.  The card stock I used to stamp on was shimmer card stock so it shimmers a little.

MIM challenge: PTI

Well, I finally got around to stamping again after several weeks of just no mojo.  Didn't want to stamp, didn't know what to stamp, and didn't have time to stamp.  I really liked Laura's MIM ombre builders stamp challenge.  I love the ombre builders set and what she and some of the other design team members have done with it.  So I saw this awesome fall color palette on the ColorQ blog.  It just seemed like it would really work well for an ombre piece.  I also added a touch of Laurie's MIM challenge from a couple of weeks ago by stamping partially on my die cut word.

Okay weird random finding. I have had my thankful word dies for at least a year and a half, maybe even two years.  I just got them out today to die cut this word and realized that I have 2 "grateful" dies and no "blessed" die.  Gotta see if PTI will fix that after so much time.

Anyway, here is my card.

 I used SU! inks in chocolate chip, crushed curry, pumpkin pie, kiwi kiss, and PTI canyon clay.  I used a PTI die for the word, Autumn Acorns dies for the leaves, and Autumn Acorns for the leaves and mini acorns partially stamped on the word die cut, and Ombre builders stamp set.  Whew!  Hope you are having a blessed month of November and are taking the time to remember your many many blessings.  God is so good and gives common grace to all.  We need to thank him for that.

Speaking of blessings, it was 2 years ago this week that my amazing younger son, John, had his 8 hour surgery to remove a lime sized brain tumor.  He was just a week or so away from turning 9. We were so scared, wondering if he would survive the operation, if there would be brain damage due to bleeding from the surgery, what type of tumor it would turn out to be, if they would even be able to remove the tumor....so many unknowns.  God was so amazing in his grace and mercy to us that day, really the week before when we found the tumor, up through the week of his surgery and 4 days in the hospital till we got to leave.  God gave us a supernatural peace through the whole process that really defies all explanation.  God allowed them to get pretty much all the tumor out, with our John really being the same little boy as before.  No brain damage.  The tumor was not malignant so as to spread to other areas of his brain or body.  He recovered in record time, and has had to have only one radiation treatment.  His follow up MRIs every 3-4 months have all come back with no growth to the tumor that they could not remove.

The whole story of how we found the tumor and the doctors we have had working with us is another story of God's sovereign hand in all of this.  Praise be to God who does all things well!!

I also count myself blessed to have a wonderful godly husband, whom God had allowed to work hard to provide for our family.  And I have another wonderful son, Nathan, who is 13.  So far navigating the "teen" years with him have been a joy.  God is molding and shaping him into a wonderful young man--serious but with a quirky sense of humor, tender hearted but with a self controlled strength.  I am so blessed each and every day just getting to have a relationship with all three of my guys.

What are your blessings?  Feel free to leave a comment and share.

Tiny treat bag for October Blog Hop

Gotta love a tried and true color combo.  I decked out a bag with various PTI papers, Dawn's Season's Greetings set, and a little glitter and twine.  If it was a kraft bag, I could sing "brown paper packages tied up with string...".    Just trying to come up with a little something non-card with the blog hop challenge color palettes.  Have a great day.  We are enjoying summer like weather today in Alabama. Kind of hard to be thinking about the holidays.

Blog Hoppin' in October PTI

I just had to make some Christmas packaging to go along with one of my cards I made for the blog hop earlier this week.  I had some ornaments left over that I embossed, so I thought a cute little box would be a perfect match.  I made my own template for a box to match the new box die that came out in the October release.  It was so easy, used less paper than with the die, and worked perfectly.  Saving money is the name of the game, and I am sure if I play around with it, I can probably rig my zipper border die to work just peachy with the box.  Since I figured out this template,  I can make them in larger sizes.  This box like all the other favor it boxes, is super tiny and does not hold much at 2 1/2 x2 1/2 by 1 1/4.  It needs to be at least 3 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches square or even 4 inches square.  I made a template for those sizes too.  Super easy.  Just a few score lines, a few little snips, a little glue and done. So here is my box all gilded and tied up.  What do you think?

Papertrey Ink Stamps for sale

I have lots of older Papertrey Ink stamps that are very gently used, some not even used at all that really need to find a new home.  Shipping is included with the price of the stamps.  I would prefer a Papertrey Ink gift certificate for payment, but will take a check sent in the mail as well.  Sorry, I can't ship overseas,  just in the US.  Email your interest to stampin.chick@gmail.com.


Year of Flowers: Poinsettias $15

Year of Flowers: Carnations $15

My Punny Valentine and Year Round Puns $20

Tiny Treats Valentine $18

Warm Happiness, Warm Happiness Too and matching die $28

Pond Life and Pond Life Additions $18

Birthday Basics $11

My Hero My Dad $18

Piece of Cake $18

Background basics: Houndstooth. $12

Borders and Corners Circles $16

Funky Florals (free set with $15 value) $10

Everyday Classics (Anniversary set) $12

Round and Round images and sentiments (anniversary set). $16

Simple Alphabet $10

Ambassador Monogram $10

Everyday Blessings. $12

With sympathy. $12

Spiral Bouquet $15

Limitless labels $18

Papertrey set $10

Favor it baby. $2.75

Oct. Blog Hop Senior Design Team wine bottle tag inspiration

Maile Belles did her Senior Design Team spotlight on using the wine bottle tag and tag sale #5 dies to create holiday tags and cards.  So I used the last color combo that I had not attempted in the October Blog Hop challenge and incorporated the two ideas.  I guess I also incorporated last week's MIM gold dipped elements challenge too.  Wow.  I really wanted to get those gold bells in their but alas, they look lonely up there on the circle opening, but would have been too busy on the bow.   Sigh...again, this was a hard blog hop for me.

PTI stamps for sale

Card 6 PTI October Blog Hop

Once again, a strange color combination.  How in the world to incorporate all those colors and smoky shadow too.  I liked the contrast on the inspiration photo, but wasn't sure how to pull off gifts with the limited supplies I have and make a Christmas card.  Then I thought, how about just doing a sentiment focal point and using paper piecing to add all the colors.  So that is what I did.  I added all the colors with my twine "tassel" too.


PTI Stamps for sale:

October Blog Hop: Card 5

This card uses the very unique/strange color combo for the holidays.  I had a really hard time using some of these color combos.  This one is hibiscus burst, summer sunrise, canyon clay, limeade ice, and new leaf.  Very strange indeed.  I tried to infuse as many festive elements as I could with the sequins and twine trimmings.  

PTI stamps for sale

PTI blog hop: Card 4

This card really doesn't stick to any of the color palettes, but it is Christmas themed, newly made, and I figured it fit the blog hop.  We have classic colors of red, cherry, chartreuse, and harvest gold.  I used Year of Flowers poinsettia, and Year of flowers mini, as well as Seasons greetings.

Papertrey Ink Oct. Blog Hop: Card 3

This card was fun to make.  I used Wet Paint holiday words, red, raspberry fizz, new leaf, and hawaiian shores (which looks more blue than turquoise for some reason), pink and green twine, and a hawaiian shores button.   The focal point is supposed to look like a present.



Papertrey stamps for sale

PTI October Blog Hop: Card 2

Keeping this short and sweet.  I loved the bright cheery colors of the color scheme I used with the shiny silver added in.  I used Vintage Ornaments and Additions, silver embossing, white gold glitter, seam binding ribbon, silver stretchy string, and the following colors: aqua mist, hawaiian shores, raspberry fizz, blueberry sky, and wisteria.


PTI stamps for sale.

Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop: card 1

I made more of a wintery card, but I think it works for the challenge.  The stripes look like the texture of a cozy sweater.  I used Blueberry Sky, Hawaiian shores, soft stone, and new leaf inks, and PTI stamps.

PTI stamps for sale

September Blog Hop final card

Here is my last card for this month's blog hop.  I had lots of fun this week putting my own spin on the color and sketch inspirations.  Hope you had fun too.  I so wanted to incorporate the berries and twigs in the picture.  I thought the wonderful wreath set would work great until I found out that it doesn't fit in the limitless layers circles dies which coordinate with mat stack 3.  So I improvised with a little sketchy help from Dawn McVey and came up with this.  The glitter is reminiscent of snow, and the other little details are from the photo.  I just wish my markers worked better on my clear stamps.  They always ink up blotchy no matter how hard I try to make them even, so the mat stack 3 stamp did not turn out very crisp.   And I did not have any small autumn rose colored ribbon, so I used my marker to color this.  My markers are not PTI colors but SU!  In color from last year.  All in all I like it though, crafty flaws and all.  It is homemade right.   Enjoy the blog hop.  I hope to hop around and leave some comments throughout the day too.  

Papertrey September Blog Hop 3rd card

As you can see, I used the 3rd sketch and first color combo.  I used soft stone in there too as well as some vellum for my banner overlay.  I think this turned out lovely.   So what have you been doing lately to get in the fall spirit?  We have been baking up a storm in our house.  My sons just started a cookie business in August and we have been baking dozens and dozens of cookies.  Plus we just had a fundraiser for Childhood  Cancer Awareness Month where we sold cookies to raise money for better treatments and a cure for pediatric cancers.  I also auctioned off lots of handmade cards and gifts using much of my PTI supplies.  It was a great success!  We raised a little over $600 this year.   I think we might have a lull here for a couple of weeks in the cookie making, but the holidays are coming and that means cookie gifts.  

PTI September Blog Hop project 2

Here is my second card.  I used the second sketch and again, a combo of the colors.

September PTI Blog Hop: sketchy goodness

I loved the new September Blog color schemes and photo inspiration.  What a warm and cozy photo.

I am not ready for sweater and glove weather, but I am loving the crisp cooler fall mornings and lower afternoon temps, delectable smells of pumpkin streusel bread and apple spice bread baking in my oven, and donning my favorite fall outfits.  Alabama temps don't start getting fall like until early October, so I have a few more days to go.  Got a sneak peak yesterday morning with temps in the upper 50's and lower 60's but still got up to 80 in the afternoon.  It just means outfit changes during the day, but that is okay.

Anyway, you didn't come to this post to hear my musings about fall.  We are here for the September PTI blog hop.  I used a combination of colors Nichole put on the inspiration cards.  I don't know if I stuck to any one color combo, but switched things up a little.  I really liked the grays, navy blue, and mauve/rose colors.  I don't have any sweater pattern stamps, so I used patterned papers, impression plates, and a background stamp to achieve the look of the blue sweater print.  I kind of like it.

Here are my cards: I used the following sketch and colors.

SAF 2014: Last Timer Challenge

This card should have turned out better, but I didn't make the circle corner line up properly and I had white space there in the corner.  I thought it was correct, but when I went to cut off the excess of the circle, lo and behold,  there was just a little white space where it didn't cover.  Then I mistakenly tried to fix it with a corner chomper.  That did not work.   Anyway, if you could only know how long it took me to finally decide on what to do in making this card with the sketch and the color scheme I picked out, it was way longer than 20 minutes.  Making the card did not take 20 min. but thinking about how I would make it took a lot longer than that.  All day!!!

It was my last entry into the festivities so I am going to post it anyway.

August Papertrey Ink Blog Hop: pretty pink and gold stationary

Here is my quick entry into this month's PTI blog hop.  I made a pretty piece of monogrammed stationary.  I used Holiday Photo Finishers and the Circles from the set that goes with the circles cover plate.  I used raspberry fizz ink and gold embossing powder.