Mad for Plaid

I have my eye on the new PTI Perfect Plaid stamp set, but I wanted to see if I could create some pretty plaid patterns using what I already have.  I am really trying to be good at not buying new stuff, even though I have a shopping cart full of my wish list items.  I really like the plaid I made on the DAD card.  It turned out nice.  It was the second one I made.  The plaid on the bug car card was a little too much.  I will keep trying out patterns, but I sure do want that plaid builder set for the thin triple line stamp.   The Simple Stripes set just doesn't have that.

MIM #214: Using neutrals for background stamping

I played around with my stamps yesterday during a few free moments so I could try this week's MIM challenge.  The two cards didn't turn out perfectly or exactly like I was looking for, but they are pretty good.  I used soft stone and fine linen as my light neutrals, however, the fine linen is not as light as I would like.  Might have to try the tea dye ink and see if that gives a softer effect next time.

I liked this challenge as I always love Dawn McVey's subtle backgrounds she creates on a lot of her cards lately.  Enjoy!

knock... knock... anyone here?

My blog has been quiet for awhile as this spring has been totally crazy busy for us.  I have had very little time to craft and participate in weekly challenges and monthly blog hops.  June is likely to be quite blank as well, as I have some big house projects I am working on.   You know when you have lived in a new house for 7 years, it is time to do some maintenance, cleaning out, and rearranging of stuff, and that is exactly what I am doing.  Painting, reorganizing, purging, moving bedrooms around are in store for the next 3 weeks.  Hope to be done by Father's Day weekend.  In a holding pattern this coming week due to waiting on my new shelving units to get here, and for someone to check out the furniture we want to get rid of to see if they want some before we have a thrift store come and take it as a donation.   Sigh... I am ready to dig in and paint and clean out.  Waiting is hard, but I have been busy getting lesson plans in the computer on our awesome Homeschool Planet planner.  Love it!  I got a huge chunk of that done yesterday.  Wow!  Sometimes a daunting task is easier when you just dive into it and get started.

Plus we are going to take a few fun days to play: going to Huntsville botanical gardens to see the special LEGO sculpture exhibit one day, bowling, movies, skating are on the menu for some other weeks.  The summer is going to whiz by I know.

Have a great summer, and I hope to be back in July with some crafty goodness.

Wonderful Wedding Season and Gifts

The summer wedding season has arrived, and we have two family weddings to attend this year.  Yay! All the younger cousins are getting married these days, so it is time to make some creative gifts to give.  I love to cook/bake, and I love to craft.  Therefore, my gifts usually incorporate something along those lines.  For our June bride and groom, my beautiful cousin and her fiancé, we have a classic black and red recipe card box ensemble and a yummy homemade chocolate cake mix to be whipped up in the new KitchenAid Mixer we chipped in with my parents to get for the new couple.  Sweet!  I may whip up a set of thank you notes too, but for now, this will be fine.  The colors for the table linens and towels they registered for their kitchen were in red and black, so I figured that would be a good color scheme to make the recipe box.

What kinds of projects are you working on this summer?  What are your go to wedding gifts to give?

MIM#209 white on white die cuts with a pop of color

It has been since February since I have been able to get my act together to do a MIM challenge in a timely manner.  Whew!  I am so ready for April to be over and things to somewhat slow down again. I did make a card for the March Blog Hop last month, got it posted to the blog, and then because we were out of town, I totally forgot to post my link to Nicole's blog on the blog hop day.  Bummer.

Here is my version on the MIM challenge for this week.  Lots of people used the ideas that I had come up with, so I think I came up with something else unique.  I used Rustic Wreath and some pretty pink Fabulous Flowers to make a pretty little baby card.  Sentiment placement was a huge challenge.  It turned out okay.  I can tell I rushed a bit.  White space cards are hard.  I feel like I should have matted the card front on a piece of pink paper just to give it more definition.

I guess this challenge will get a revisit this summer when I have more time to play around with it. I can see some fun designs with the cover plate dies with some flower focal points, a spot or two of geometric color thrown in.

April Papertrey Ink Blog Hop: navy and pink

Loved the inspiration photo for this month's blog hop.  So elegant and pretty.  I would love to make a card with a pretty table scape like that.  Maybe next month.  Crafting time hasn't been around much this month, as April is a whirlwind month for us with birthdays, anniversary, Easter, doctors appointments, etc.  Crazy.  I am so looking forward to May-July when we get our Summer vacation from school and get to rest and catch up.

Here is my entry into this month's blog hop.  I loved the card that Lizzie Jones did for the PTI color play, so I made my own version.  I used The Sweet Life, Four Square, Mixed Messages in navy, pretty in pink, hibiscus burst and raspberry fizz.  Love it.  Simple and elegant and the Celebrate today could be for birthday, wedding, or graduation.  Perfect.

March PTI Blog Hop: blue and yellow inspiration

I am going to keep this short and sweet.   I love the inspiration photo for this month's blog hop.  What an amazing assortment of pieces and patterns to use as a jumping off point.  Dishes, linens, light shades, cabinets, wallpaper, headboard, woodgrain, flowers, lemons, etc.  So many ways to go.  I kept my card simple and cheery.  I used a stripe embossing folder to mimic the headboard cabinet doors on the bottom of the cabinet chest.  I used kraft from the picnic table, and then aqua and lemon tart and a brighter yellow for my flowers.  They kind of remind me of a modern take on a hydrangea.  Can't wait to see what everyone else makes.  I have a whole collection of blue and yellow cards I have ideas for that I want to make, but this one will have to do for now.  Happy blog hopping.  

These two cards I cased from some cards in my Pinterest files.  I used PTI printed papers, Rosie Posie and Rosie Posie additions, Fillable Frames, and Mini frames sentiments.  I think I like the kraft base card the best of these two.