Pin Cushion Tuesday Trigger

I'm so excited to get to do the Tuesday Trigger challenge! Love them, but I just haven't been able to keep up in a long time. I'm also super stoked about how this card turned. It's actually similar to what I envisioned, which is a rare thing for me.

Here's the trigger picture.

And here's mine.

Okay, so it looks nothing like the sweet pin cushion in the photo, but I was dying to try to turn the PTI pumpkin die into a tomato so I went with it. You can be inspired by function over aesthetic, right? This card is mostly die cuts. The tomato body is the pumpkin shape up die, the leaves are trimmed from the Autumn Acorn leaf die, and the strawberry is the Fruit Fusion berry die. I even used the pumpkin section die as a guide to poke holes for my stitching. Traditionally, I'm not much of a die girl (except for clouds!) so this out of the box for me. The sentiment is from GinaK's Sew Pretty set, which is awesome. The pins are stuck between the layers so there aren't any sharp edges. I'll probably include an 'open with care' note when I send it, just to be safe. :)

See all the beautiful entries at Moxie Fab World. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Sew Pretty
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - SU Poppy Parade, unknown green
Other - PTI Pumpkin Shape Up die, Autumn Acorn leaf die, Fruit Fusion Strawberry die; green DMC embroidery floss, needle, paper piercer, vintage buttons, pins, mini glue dots, circle punch

August Papertrey Blog Hop

Yeah, it's been forever...again. But there's a breeze in the air that says fall is on the way and nothing makes me feel crafty like fall! Everything's better in fall, really. Just a few more days until Starbucks kicks over to fall beverages and I will be drinking salted caramel and pretending it's cool outside and all will be right with the world. PTI's August release was the perfect kickstart for fall crafting. I could not resist those pumpkins. I mean, really, so cute.

The very first of fall is all about apples here, though, not pumpkins. I trimmed the pumpkin cut into more of an apple shape and ran it through the houndstooth embossing folder then sponged it to give it some depth. The stem is impressed with the woodgrain plate and I used the Sending You leaf die with some A Muse green felt. The only thing I don't like about this die right now is there isn't a lot of room on the back to attach the stem. I used mini glue dots, but it still feels tight. The new Think Big label pairs well with this Rosh haShanah greeting from Mazel Tov. The label is impressed with the linen side of the Linen and Canvas impression plate. I used my fingernail to distress all the edges. And now I am ahead one holiday card!;) I didn't really follow the blog hop photo so much as the idea of fall textures and textiles.

Check out all the other blog hop cards on Nichole's blog. Thanks for looking!

Supplies - Stamps: PTI Think Big 19, Mazel Tov
Ink: A Muse Espresso; SU Riding Hood Red; Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo, Worn Lipstick
Paper: SU Riding Hood Red, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla
Other: PTI Shape Up Pumpkin die, Marvy Mega Circle punch, Cuttlebug Houndstooth embossing folder, PTI Woodgrain and Linen & Canvas impression plates, A Muse Studio green felt, PTI Sending You die, mini glue dots, pop dots

Summer Bucket List

Wow! Two months since my last post. Time flies when you're chasing kids! The littlest one is 8 months today and crawling everywhere, eating things her brothers dropped on the floor as she goes. My husband was recently diagnosed with diabetes so I'm trying to figure out how to cook for all this. I gotta say, we're eating a lot more vegetables now!

Without further ado, and, mostly so it's not on a scrap of paper for me to lose, our summer bucket list:
Swim lessons
Go to the beach
Go to the lake
Go to the spray park
Play in the sprinkler
Make water bombs and play
Family water gun fight
Go to the zoo
Go to the science museum (brand new dinosaurs! which sounds historically and biologically impossible)
Tie dye
Make a glow lantern
Make chalk paint
Play with puffy paint
Crazy hair with chalkhttp://pinterest.com/pin/74027987594442912/
Condensed milk painting
Make dinosaur feet from kleenex boxes
Make glow-in-the dark something - slime, play-dough, etc
Make play dough
Make moon dough
Paper plate crafts
Handprint crafts
Paper sack crafts
Yard bowling
Build a fort, campout in living room?
Make puppets
Paint faces
Pick grapes
Make ice cream
Make popsicles
Play in the rain (ya know, if it rains this summer)
Have a picnic at the park
Find fireflies
Have a nature scavenger hunt
Mail Morgan a get well package
Buy hoola hoops, let hilarity ensue
Have a red, white, and blue breakfast

This is off the top of my head, totally not organized, and in no way comprehensive. I'll be back to rearrange and add to it later, but it's a start! :)

Cheater Sketch

Happy spring holidays, people! Or just happy spring. Take your pick. It's a busy time for cards. Lots of birthdays in March and April. Not sure if you've picked up on this, but I'm not really that great at managing my time. Or remembering things. (Which is annoying because I used to remember not quite everything but darn close.) So it's good to have a few cheater card sketches.


Cheater cards are tried and true. Change your colors and elements and you have a card. No is-this-going-to-work or maybe-if-I-added-this. Excellent for when you need to make a card quick. Such as when you are behind 3 birthdays and your grandmother hurts her back.

Today's cheater card is brought to you by the letters WMS and the number 3. Stamp this frame from the Waltzingmouse Frame It set and put three images in the middle. Add a sentiment and, bam, card made.

Using up pattern paper scraps makes the card more festive and makes me feel frugal. I love to feel frugal. Just be sure the paper isn't too dark or you won't be able to read the sentiment. You can read the sentiment on the card, just not in the picture. It says "great big hugs". The butterflies are a Martha Stewart puch and a random 6x6 sheet of Basic Grey. It needed a little more texture so I clear embossed PTI Text Style on the butterflies before adding the rhinestones. I pinched the wings up and glued down the middle.

For my sister's, I colored the cupcakes, cut them out, and popped them up. (Here's my cheater coloring trick. I like to color on cardstock and then cut out the image. I can color quickly and don't have to be careful about going outside the lines. If you hate cutting it's probably a bad idea. I kind of like fussy cutting. My coloring nemesis is overblending so going fast helps me getter better contrast. Too careful = too much ink for me.) The inside says "Please enjoy these Kosher for Passover cupcakes". Yep, she has a Passover birthday.

PS - if you are observing Passover and like cookies, oh my goodness, the Martha Stewart chocolate chip cookie recipe is amazing. So yummy!!

Thanks for coming by!

Supplies Butterfly card:
Stamps - Waltzingmouse Frame It, PTI Text Style
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa, Versamark
Paper - My Mind's Eye floral paper, Basic Grey blue paper, PTI kraft cs
Other - Stuart Superior clear embossing powder, Martha Stewart butterfly punch, rhinestones

Cupcake card:
Stamps - Waltzingmouse Frame It
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - Basic Grey Life of the Party, Georgia-Pacific white cs, SU So Saffron cs
Other - Copics (R000, RV00, RV11, Y21, Y32, E30, E23, E31), pop dots, sponge

Happy Birthday!

It's my mom's birthday! Mom is awesome. She is fun, frugal, well-read, smart, and pretty. A wonderful grandma, too. And she's probably on her way over here so I better get a move on!

Here's a picture of us 32ish years ago. Shockingly, we both have our eyes open! Not sure where my nose is, though. Yeah, I should probably scan more of my childhood pictures. Mom is beautiful here, though, and that's what matters today. I can look cute in old pictures on my birthday. *wink*

I used this week's Waltzingmouse Sketch and I love how it turned out. The patterned paper is from the Basic Grey 6x6 Life of the Party pad. L0ve them! So festive. :) Okay, I have a guest room to clean up. Thanks for looking!


Supplies: Stamps - Waltzingmouse Frame It
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa, Tangelo (sponged the orange layer a little for definition)
Paper - Basic Grey Life of the Party 6x6, SU Peach Parfait, PTI kraft, Rustic White
Other - PTI Woodgrain Impression Plate, Twinery bakers twine, Copics (R00, R20, G00, G02, Go5, YG06, E21, E23)

CASEing Lee

Hey! We went on a roadtrip! Two days in the car one way with three kids and we all survived! Not much crafting going on although I am learning to knit. But. The StampTv challenge was to CASE Lee Murphy. Lee is awesome. I have met Lee in real life twice. Must make card. Apparently, also must learn to write challenge deadlines on calendar because I strolled over to stamptv at 8:45 to see that the deadline was 8. Doh!

Lee's beautiful card is here. Her's is fancier than mine. This will be a sympathy card and I like to keep them fairly simple. I did intend to dry emboss it, but didn't realize until just now that I hadn't. The boys were in and out of my craft room the whole time I worked on it and it's a wonder it got finished at all!

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK flower I won in a grab bag!

Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa

Paper - PTI Rustic White, kraft, SU Chocolate Chip

Other - Kasiercraft pearls, E25 copic (colored the pearls), A Muse medium scallop die, unknown ribbon

WMSC86

Not much crafting this week. But I did squeeze in a card for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge last night. Hooray! :) And, again, I only have one WMS set so far so if I keep doing this challenge just expect to see a lot of this cupcake. ;)

I don't love this card. I love all the elements, just not how they combined. It needs something else. Maybe a glittery button? Three tiny ones? Plain ribbon going one way and ruffled the other? Not sure. I did love making it and playing around. Just had to stop before I figured it all out. It's a process, right? :) You can see all the pretty cards on the challenge blog. Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps Frame It

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - SU Barely Banana, PTI Dark Chocolate

Other - Copics E43, E31, E35, Y21, BV00, BV02, BV04, V15, C0; Star Dust Stickles; PTI Limitless Layers dies, Birthday Cuttlebug folder, PTI Lavender Moon satin ribbon; 1/4 in scor-tape