VSN and Make It Monday

VSN is still going strong! One of the challenges is to make a card based on your first love, no, not your kindergarten crush, even before that. Whatever toy or lovey you carted around everywhere or what your kids are carting around now. Only problem is I don't recall having one special toy and my kids are equal opportunity carters at the moment. I've also been wanting to participate in the new PTI weekly challenge, Make It Monday. This week is to use double sided tape to make glitter strips. On top of that, I needed a birthday card for the twin girls down the street and they were having a bee themed party. Then I thought of the Fisher-Price bee pull toy that my mom gave me when I was pregnant with my first, which just happened to be the first toy she bought when she was pregnant with me. Everything clicked into place. :)

You can watch the great video Dawn McVey made showing how to make the glitter strips here.

I only have 1/8" scor-tape right now so I used red tacky tape. It worked the same, scor-tape is just a bit more user-friendly. My mom got me one of the Martha Stewart glitter sampler packs a few years ago and I love having tons of colors. The actual bee image is from the Unity Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety set. 'Happy' and 'day' are from PTI's Paper Tray set and the 'Bee' is from Honey Bee Sentiments. I feel weird using a non-PTI stamp for one of their challenges, but I don't have any of their bee images and I really do love this little guy. You can check out all the VSN challenges here and all the Make It Monday entries here. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - Unity & Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety; Papertrey Honey Bee Sentiments, Paper Tray

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Papertrey White, Hibiscus Burst

Other - Terrifically Tacky Tape; Martha Stewart Onyx Glitter, Yellow Barite Glitter; Papertrey Limitless Layers Die, Copics (Y11, Y15, Y17, BG000, C0), clear Spica pen; foam tape

CPS, TGF, and VSN!

Was that enough acronyms for ya? :) It's Virtual Stamp Night weekend at Splitcoast! Lots of fun challenges to get your creative juices flowing! I used this week's CPS sketch for Michelle's challenge to make a card featuring a red dress. I love Flirty Anya from The Greeting Farm and have been itching to ink her up! Perfect opportunity!

I tried to make her hair streaky and, well, I'll keep on trying! lol. She's still super cute even with her funky hair. I'm always thrilled to use up some old patterned paper from my stash, too. Come check out all the fun VSN challenges over at SCS! Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - The Greeting Farm Flirty Anya

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - PTI Stamper's Select White, Stampin' Up! Summer Picnic DSP, Real Red

Other - PTI Pure Poppy and Blueberry Skies buttons, PTI Jute Button Twine, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Copics (E13, E15, E25, E47, E49, R24, R27, R29, E00, E30, R20, B32, B34)

BIG Birthday

I've completely lost track of which PTI anniversary day it is because we've been sick. (So sick I left PTI in my mailbox overnight! Gasp!) But we're mostly feeling better today and I had to make a card anyway because it's my grandmother's 80th birthday party tonight! The PTI challenge is to use something big on your card and 80's a pretty big birthday so they seemed to go together nicely. :) My big things are a tag and numbers.

The 80 is Basic Grey chipboard my mom found at Big Lots once upon a time. I would have used the PTI Number dies but I haven't caught them in stock yet. Sadness. My glittering skills could use some work, although the sparkles I couldn't get rid of look fairly festive on my face. My husband even thought they were on purpose. :) If you're wondering about these colors, they are the colors in her oh so 1950s bathroom, which has always cracked me up. :) Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink Trajan Alphabet, Fresh Alphabet, Outline Alphabet

Ink - Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel

Paper - Papertrey Ink Rustic White, Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Basic Grey Pink (Bittersweet?)

Other - Papertrey Ink In Bloom impression plate, Scarlet Jewel button, thread, shipping tag, Stampin' Up! Bravo Burgundy marker (to touch up the letters), Martha Stewart Glittering Glue, White Gold glitter, ribbon from my stash, pop dots

PTI Color Contest: Belated Birthday

Here's my second card for the fabulous PTI Anniversary color challenge contest! This time I used Heather Nichols' colors - Kraft (of course!), Spring Rain, Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado.

This one's very CAS. I pulled out Pond Life, which has not gotten enough love, and stamped the cutie pie turtle in green and brown. The Spring Rain panel got run through the Woodgrain impression plate and sponged with walnut ink. (I stamped the sentiment poorly so I took Maile Belles advice bia PTI Radio and flipped my cardstock around to cover it up.) Thanks for that! My brain is kinda fried right now and I might not have thought of it on my own. ;) Sad, but true. Loved that radio show. Might listen to it again tomorrow! :) Anywho, the card is Kraft with beautifully rounded corners thanks to the Corner Chomper. I finished it off with some linen thread and buttons that came off one of my husband's Hawaiian shirts. Thanks for looking!

Supplies - Stamps: Papertrey Ink Pond Life and Additions

Ink - Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Palette Burnt Umber, Tim Holtz Walnut Stain Distress Ink

Paper - Papertrey Ink Kraft, Spring Rain, Stamper's Select White

Other - Marvy Mega Circle Punch, Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Stampin' Up! Linen Thread, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, sponge, buttons, pop dots

PTI Color Challenge: Birthday Wishes

It's Day 4 of the PTI anniversary contests and today's prize is a huge stack of ribbon, felt, and cardstock. Yes, please! You can enter one card per color combo and there are 10 combos! I did two. Would love to think I'm going to stay up and do a few more, but that's not going to happen. It's day 3 of the stomach bug/diaper rash plague here and I am just about whined out. As soon as my poor guy goes back to sleep I'm hitting the hay.

So, back to the fun stuff, I chose Betsy Veldman's color choices - Scarlet Jewel, Hibiscus Burst, Harvest Gold, and Rustic Cream. I don't think I've ever used In Bloom without coloring the flowers before. - Truth be told, I've only stamped In Bloom a handful of times because I had trouble getting a clear impression. I sanded the stamps with an eraser, stamped on a mousepad, used light pressure, used heavy pressure, everything I could think of and always had a blank spot on my image. Today, I used a tip I saw somewhere on the PTI forum to stamp in Versamark before stamping in your real ink. Whoever suggested that, thank you so much!!! It stamped perfectly! - I stamped the big flower on Hibiscus Burst and the smaller flowers on SU So Saffron since I don't have Harvest Gold cardstock yet and cut them out. The base is Vintage Cream, no Rustic Cream either, and the mat is vintage cream impressed with the In Bloom Impression Plate. The sentiment is from Daily Designs Sentiments also in Scarlet Jewel. It should be a bit more to the left, but oh well. Next time. I added Harvest Gold satin ribbon and a Hibiscus Burst button. It was a little stark so I inked the edges with Antique Linen Distress Ink. The whole panel is popped up and the pink flower is popped up again. Thanks for looking! Check out everyone's entries here.

Supplies - Stamps: Papertrey Ink In Bloom, Daily Designs Sentiments

Ink - Papertrey Ink Scarlet Jewel, Tim Holtz Antique Linen Distress Ink

Paper - Stampin' Up! So Saffron, Papertrey Ink Pink Hibiscus, Vintage Cream

Other - Papertrey Ink Pink Hibiscus button, Harvest Gold satin ribbon, In Bloom Impression plate, sponge, pop dots

PTI Contest Day 2: Rainbow Note

Whew! I did get another card made! I'm really liking these little tags. Methinks a tag set is getting bumped to the top of my PTI wish list! I went with Melissa Bickford's tag this time. Such a cute little rainbow. This card came together pretty fast, which is great because, otherwise, it wouldn't have gotten made. :)

I colored the rainbow with Copics and the dots in the cloud with a clear spica pen. Die cut the black with the Limitless Layers scallop. I don't own the notebook page die (I know, sadness) but my fab friend Alyssa cut several for me. This is the first one I've gotten to use, mostly because I keep forgetting where I put them. I used the Sunshine impression plate for the yellow background and stuck it on a black card base. It needed something, but I didn't want to use baker's twine on every card I made today ;) so settled on the rhinestones. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - PTI Tag Download

Paper - PTI Lemon Tart, Georgia-Pacific white, unknown black, notebook paper

Other - Copics (R29, YR16, Y15, YG09, B24, B000), Spica Pen clear, 1.75" circle punch, PTI Limitless Layers scallop die, Notebook Page die, Sunshine Impression plate, red rhinestones, pop dots

PTI Contest Day 2: Just For You

It is day 2 of PTI's anniversary contests. Today's prize is just as sweet as yesterday's and takes up a lot less room! You get to co-design a stamp set! I KNOW! How freakin' awesome is that?! And they gave us these adorable printable tags! I'm not a huge fan of digistamps, but these are really uber-cute and I like that I can just print, punch, and color. No formatting or resizing or anything. Sweet.

I chose Lisa Johnson's tag. It's so stinkin' cute! Colored it with Copics and popped it up on the Mat Stack 3 stamped with the frame from All Booked Up and "Just For You" from Daily Designs Sentiments. I actually chose my markers to match my paper for once so the blues are a pretty close match! I'm not sure which Basic Grey collection the paper is from, Urban Prairie maybe? Added some black and white baker's twine and a few rhinestones and it's a cute and easy card.

There are 8 more tags and you can enter once per tag so I'm hoping to be back later with another card. There is a little matter of the Super Bowl and the 77 party favors I still need to make for Nana's 80th birthday party next weekend so we shall see. You can check out all the tag awesomeness here. Happy Sunday!

Supplies: Stamps - PTI Tag Download, All Booked Up, Daily Designs Sentiments

Ink - Memento Angel Pink, Rose Bud

Paper - Basic Grey paper, PTI Stamper's Select White

Other - Divine Twine Baker's Twine, rhinestones, Copics (RV21, RV23, RV25, BG10, BG13, BG15, RV14), pop dots

PTI Favorites Contest

Oh. My. Word. Have you seen the prize offered on Nichole's blog today??? It's AMAZING! I would hyperventilate with happiness if I won. Seriously. I'm getting a little short of breath now just thinking about the possibility! :) To enter you can comment and/or post your favorite PTI creation of last year for a total of two chances. GO DO IT. NOW. (Or not, and leave me a tiny sliver of hope, haha.) Anyway, this leaves me with a quandary. I am not good at choosing favorites. At all. So I'm just picking one I like a whole, whole lot, that I haven't posted on my blog yet, that is mostly PTI and saving myself the trauma of picking my absolute favorite ever. ;) And here it is.

I made this card for the Dare to Get Dirty challenges on Splitcoast last summer. I had just gotten All Booked Up and was so ecxited to use it! Mixing patterned paper is not my forte even if it's all from the same collection and this is a lot brighter than my typical card but that's what made it fun. :) Thanks for looking and check out all the amazing entries in this contest here!

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink All Booked Up

Ink - Memento Dandelion, Stampin' Up! Real Red and Old Olive

Paper - Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, 2008 Bitty Dot Basics, Cosmo Cricket Garden Variety

Other - Martha Stewart Butterfly punch, rhinestones, Papertrey Ink Mat Stack 3 die, yellow gingham ribbon, pop dots

Tuesday Trigger: Sweet Treats

Hello! Wow, how did it get to be February? It'll be March before I even turn around. We avoided the Snow-pocalypse and just got some cold temps here. Southeast Texas, finding ways not to snow since forever. Onto brighter, or, at least, more shimmery subjects. Cath at Moxie Fab World had another fabulous Tuesday Trigger inspiration picture for us.

Isn't that fudge yummy?! Only problem is I was completely stumped. I don't make Valentines, this is a bit pink for my husband, and I just didn't have any awesome ideas. Now, not saying this is awesome, but I did finally come up with something I like. :)

I found this card very difficult to get a decent picture of. (Truly sorry if ending a sentence with a preposition offends you. It's my favorite grammar rule to break.) I'm including the natural light pic and the Ott light pic just because.

I really liked the pattern on the box lid and that inspired the vine mask and the fairytale paper on the heart. Smooch spritz is just cool. The sentiment is from PTI's Damask Designs and is a set I don't use often enough. I even broke open a new giant bottle of mod podge just for this card. ;)

My kids are destroying a bag of popcorn so I best go. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink Damask Designs
Ink - Palette Burnt Umber
Paper - Papertrey Vintage Cream, Sweet Blush, Dark Chocolate, DCWV Fairytale Mat Stack
Other - Smooch Spritz in gold and vanilla, wooden heart, sheer pink ribbon of unknown origin, Divine Twine baker's twine, Tim Holtz vine mask, scor-tape, matte Mod Podge.