PTI Anniversary Celebration

It's February and that means it's PTI anniversary time. Nothing gets me blogging quite like amazing contests with fabulous prizes. Mercenary? Yeah, just a bit.

My first card is from Day 2, when the stamp designers all provide a free upload. I chose Heather Nichols' cool image. I paired it with the PTI Sunshine Impression Plate and some Studio Calico wood veneers to make a quick card for my cousin.

 

 The next card is from Day 1, when the Design Team chose some of their favorite projects in an inspiration challenge. I chose the fabulous Trendy Tree Tops card by the even more fabulous Maile Belles. Nothing quite brings home how not Maile Belles awesome you are like trying to be Maile Belles awesome. For example, I had to add ribbon because there was a harsh line from the edge of the impression plate across the card. I buffed out some of it with my scoring tool, but it was still noticeable. Still, I'm happy with this card and it's for a dear friend's baby shower so thank you Maile for all the amazing inspiration!

Thank you for looking!

Supplies:
Happy Birthday - Free Image Download
Paper - PTI Stampers Select White, SU Baja Breeze
Other - PTI Sunshine Impression Plate, Studio Calico Tiny Stars Wood Veneers, Glossy Accents, Stardust Stickles

Showers of Blessings -
Stamps - PTI Scattered Showers, Scattered Showers Additions
Ink - Memento London Fog, Grey Flannel, A Muse Studio Pebble, SU Pink Pirouette
Paper - PTI kraft, Stamper's Select White
Other - PTI Sunshine Impression Plate, Notebook die, A Muse Studio Shell ribbon, pop dots

Thinking of You

Obviously, I need a little push to blog. ;) A group of online friends felt the same way and came up with a monthly challenge. The theme this month is Thinking of You cards. I had high hopes of getting several done. There are several kinds of thinking of you cards, after all. January is highly saturated with birthdays, though, and one is all I managed. Today. Yep, that's right. Laaaast minute.

Like I said, there is more than one kind of Thinking of You. Some are almost Sympathy cards, others are more like Hello. I think this one could go either way. If I just wanted to pop one in the mail to say hey, I'd probably add a few rhinestones. If it's for a death, illness, or other trauma I'd probably leave it be. I've seen some beautiful and tasteful sympathy cards with rhinestones, but I always feel awkward when I add them.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Stamps - (These are from a muse studio. I'm not certain of the sets because they were given to me individually, but I love them!)
Ink - a muse studio Fern, Versafine Onyx
Paper - PTI Stamper's Select White
Other - PTI Woodgrain impression plate, pop dots

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)

PTI Anniversary Day 1 Part Deux

Like I said, might even be two posts. ;) Squeezed in a second card tonight, this one inspired by Ashley Cannon Newell's project. I'm so excited she's on the design team! Her work is amazing!

I used an unusal color combo for me: Soft Stone, Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist, and Smoky Shadow (except it's really SU Basic Gray ribbon and Memento London Fog ink because I haven't bought the grey collections from PTI yet. But I will. That Smoky Shadow satin has me swooning.) I used several sets for this one, which is nice. Makes me feel all mix and matchy. Background Basics: Hearts, Text Style, and Polka Dot Basics 2 and the new Simply Jane. I cut a felt rose from the closest thing I have to Lemon Tart. No idea who makes this felt. I picked it up in Austin at The Stitch Lab. Great store. You should go if you're in Austin and like sewing. I digress.

I saw another poster made a top 5 PTI products list of her own and loved it so I'm stealing it. I'm hideously bad at this kind of thing but here goes.

1. Woodgrain Impression Plate. - I. Love. It.
2. Cloud Dies - Because they make every card cuter. Except this one. Well, maybe this one, too, I didn't try it.
3. Simple Alphabet - Used it a bazillion times.
4. Cardstock - Especially white, kraft, Soft Stone, and Lemon Tart.
5. Buttons - I love digging through the bag and looking at every single one. Oh, and using them. That's fun, too.

Thanks for looking! See all the awesomeness here. Can't wait to see what Nichole's got in store tomorrow!

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Simply Jane, Background Basics: Hearts, Background Basics: Polka Dot Basics 2, Background Basics: Text Style
Ink - Papertrey Aqua Mist; Memento Dandelion, London Fog
Paper - Papertrey Soft Stone, Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart
Other - Papertrey Simply Jane dies; yellow felt; Stampin' Up! Basic Gray taffeta

PTI Blog Hop and a New Arrival

I cannot believe I'm actually doing the PTI blog hop! It's been months since I've managed to hop! I loved, loved, loved the pumpkin picture with all the fun patterns and was all set to do something like that.

And then, totally didn't. I noticed the acorns and thought, "hey, I have a rockin' acorn set from PTI that hasn't seen enough ink." And then, "hey, I need to make a baby card for my friend who might come visit tomorrow." So I made this instead. :)

I used the onesie die, the canvas and linen impression plate, and the Autumn Acorns set and acorn die. The felt is not pti and I promise the dark one is green not black! I don't know what's up with that, but it's a very pretty dark olive green that I got at Joann's for an abandoned project a few months ago. Super simple, but I don't have much time to stamp lately.

Our own new arrival showed up earlier this month and I'm pretty nuts about her, too. Her brothers are over the moon and her dad is already in abject terror of her dating. She's pretty and sweet and took a nice little snooze so I could make this card tonight. Thanks for looking!

Supplies:

Stamps - PTI Autumn Acorns

Ink - A Muse French Roast

Paper - PTI Orange Zest, GinaK Ivory, Stampin' Up! Close to Cocoa

Other - PTI Autumn Acorns die, PTI Onesie die, A Muse light green felt, dark green felt from JoAnn's, PTI Canvas and Linen impression plate, scor-tape

Dino Birthday

Well, I am just not keeping up with things! It's been a month since my last post. I didn't think it had been that long. Baby girl will be here in three weeks and that's the excuse I'm going with. ;)

A very sweet little boy belonging to a very dear and sweet friend is having a birthday tomorrow. We are going to do everything we can to get to his birthday party this weekend since we'll be staying close to home once Little Miss gets here. It's dino themed. I love this retired My Favorite Things dinosaur set (that another dear friend sent me) and pulled it out for his card. FYI: I did make *my* sweet little boy a birthday card and might actually blog it some decade soon. Also, I used the MFT sketch challenge sketch for this but didn't realize the upload deadline was today at noon. Oops! It's a really cute sketch so don't be thinking it was my idea or anything. ;)

I colored the dino body with copics - um, green ones - and then dotted all over it with the colorless blender to give it some texture/not have to blend so much. The paper is Basic Grey Life of the Party that I got half off at Hobby Lobby today because they have finally started carrying some 6x6 pads! Whoohoo!

Supplies: Stamps - My Favorite Things dino set

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Tim Holtz Distress Ink Peeled Paint

Paper - PTI white, SU certainly celery, Basic Grey Life of the Party 6x6 pad

Other - sponge, copics, pop dots

Nuts About You

I haven't done a Tuesday Trigger in forever. Ages and ages forever. I got new PTI stamps for my birthday this week and I was itching to try them out so I checked out this week's challenge. (My birthday's not until October, but my mom and my friend Alyssa decided to gift me early so I could get a little craft time in before baby girl arrives. :) Thanks!)

Here's the trigger picture. The yellow chairs reminded me of mushrooms. I don't have any cute mushroom stamps, but I did just get Maile Belles' adorable Autumn Acorns set and acorns are kind of like mushrooms, right?

So I came up with this. I stamped the acorns in Memento Dandelion and Angel Pink inks and added a little sparkle with a clear spica pen, which is apparently afraid of my camera because I have yet to take a picture where you can see it. Stamped the sentiment and that darlin little acorn on a circle punch out, added some black mats, and c'est tout. A nice, nutty CAS Tuesday Trigger. Thanks for looking!

Supplies & Dimensions: 4.5"x4.5"

Stamps - PTI Autumn Acorns

Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, Angel Pink, Dandelion

Papers - Stampin' Up Very Vanilla and Pink Pirouette, unknown black

Other - Paper Shapers 1.75" circle punch, Marvy Super? (the blue one) scalloped circle punch, clear spica pen, pop dots

Someone Special

We had a very nice Father's Day. Low-key, lots of good food, and it's wasn't too hot. We went for a walk just a little while ago and the youngest had fallen behind distracted by a mailbox. We all called for him to come on and then Jeff dropped to one knee and held his arms out wide and both boys took off running for him and fell into his arms hugging him. **melt** He's such an awesome dad. I can't wait to see him with another baby. I am so blessed.





I used this week's Make It Monday technique for his card. Trees always seem very Father's Dayish to me. I'll probably use one on my dad's card, too. (Yes, I'm bad. I haven't made Dad's card yet.) Anyway, I used 4 different greens on the leaves and I like how it turned out. I wish I had done it a little more evenly, but oh well. The frame is a piece of cork that is probably too thick for my cuttlebug but nothing broke so I guess it's okay. The button is either a PTI button that someone sent me because I cannot for the life of me find them on the site or it's a button off one of Jeff's Hawaiian shirts that is no longer with us. No worries, folks. He has plenty more.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day (or just a great Sunday). I'm gonna sneak a cupcake now. ;)

Supplies - Stamps: PTI Father Knows Best
Ink - Pear Tart, New Sprout, Bamboo Leaves, Cottage Ivy, Rich Cocoa, Desert Sand
Paper - GP white, SU Bashful Blue, PTI kraft
Other - PTI button twine, wood button of unknown origin, cork, staples, PTI Sunshine impression plate

Family Cards

I'm trying to be better blogger, which is proving difficult since my wireless network card is on the fritz, so I thought I'd share a couple of family occasion cards. First, my cousin is living in New York looking for a job in the fashion industry. She ended up in the hospital for an emergency appendectomy two weeks ago. She has friends there, of course, but no family remotely close by and was feeling a little lonesome. She loves her coffee so I thought a card and some free Starbucks would cheer her up. The colors are from the (small) gift card I sent her. Super quick and easy. Took me longer to clean up my area to take a picture than it did to make the card.

Next up, my uncle got married this past weekend. It was a very pretty wedding in my aunt's (not the same couple, my mom is the oldest of 7 kids) backyard. I have to confess that I actually made this card for a Paper Crafts call, although now I can't quite remember what the specifics were. I liked it and thought it would be great for an outdoor wedding.

There ya go. Some random cards from me. :) Today is my little sister's birthday so maybe there'll be something new here tomorrow! :) I hope so, anyway! Not really sure what I'm gonna make her just yet. Also random, I am totally trying these Mocha Cream Cheese Phyllo Triangles sometime this week. Anyone wanna visit?

Perk Up card: Stamps - Waltzingmouse Stamps Frame It, GinaK My Cuppa Joe, Crafty Secrets Coffee and Tea

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - PTI Aqua Mist and Stamper's Select White, Basic Grey Urban Prairie, Nook and Pantry, and Origins 6x6 collections

Growing in Unity card: Stamps - Unity Growing in Unity, Eco Chic

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black and Rich Cocoa, Ranger Distress Ink Vintage Photo

Paper - PTI Rustic White, Stamper's Select White, Dark Chocolate

Other - Copics (been too long for me to know which ones, sorry!), scissors, PTI woodgrain impression plate, PTI small scallop border, Martha Stewart blush seam binding, Marvy Mega circle punch, sponge, PTI Ripe Avocado button, SU linen thread, pop dots

CPS, GinaK, and Old Paper

I actually did a CPS sketch before the deadline! Yay! I combined it with the Emboss Resist technique challenge on StampTV. Yay! :) This is for CPS Sketch:199.

It's a cute sketch. I didn't round the corners because I was afraid with the big scallops on the blossom die that it would be too many curves, but now I think I should have. I don't heat emboss much anymore because I have issues with it warping my cardstock. Pretty sure this is user error. You can't emboss resist without it, though, so I pulled out my SU Irridescent Ice, Versamark, and the butterfly from GinaK's Take Flight. No warping, but I think I still managed to overheat it because the right side of the butterfly wasn't very sparkly. I die cut it with the largest die in the Nestabilities Blossom set. After sponging it with Memento Grape Jelly and Lulu Lavender I added a smidge of stickles to balance the shimmer back out.

Now, I'm not a super purple person. I like it. I like to wear it. I just don't create with it because I have a hard time finding colors that look good with it. I pulled out severals papers from my mountain o'papers and decided on this one from the Basic Grey Lily Kate collection (making it older than my first child). Very springy, but I hope not easter eggish. The sentiment is from My Cuppa Joe. Stamped it in Grape Jelly on a kraft strip and punched the ends with a square punch to make notches and glued everything down with the pink ATG gun my mom gave me. That's pretty much it. :)

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Take Flight, My Cuppa Joe

Ink: Versamark, Memento Grape Jelly, Lulu Lavender

Paper: PTI kraft cardstock, Georgia-Pacific white cardstock, Basic Grey Lily Kate paper

Other: Stampin' Up! Irridescent Ice embossing powder, Spellbinders Blossom Nestabilities die, Stardust Stickles, sponge daubers, craft knife, square punch

Thank You Veterans!

Thank you to all the veterans and active duty military (and families!) protecting freedom and democracy for the rest of us! Happy Veteran's Day! (And thanks to my awesome friend -and Air Force wife! - Jen for loaning me this great set!)



Supplies: Stamps - Greeting Farm Hero Ian, Papertrey Ink Let Freedom Ring
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Brilliant Blue, Real Red, Versamark Dazzle Diamond
Paper - Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White
Other - Copics (It's been a while so I'm not sure which ones, sorry!), pop dots

Chirp, Chirp, Tweet, Tweet

If you recognize that then you spend way too much watching Nick Jr. just like me. ;) Today, I have a triple challenge card! I picked this sweet Crafty Secrets bird image (thanks Jaala!) for the SCS Hope You Can Cling To Cancer is for the Birds challenge. I've loved this set for a while so I'm excited to finally be playing with it! The sketch is from CPS. It's super cute! I was also inspired by this week's Tuesday Trigger, Sweater Weather.


I was inspired by the colors, the texture, and the overall cozy feeling.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: Stamps - Crafty Secrets Bird Notes

Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Ink Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo

Paper - Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart, kraft, Stampin' Up! Very Vanilla

Other -Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, yellow rhinestones, American Elements ribbon, sponge, Copics (Y00, Y11, Y15, YG93, YG95, B000), pop dots

Card Patterns Sketch 87

Woo hoo! I was very excited to find out this morning that my butterfly card was picked as one of the Moxie Fab Trigger Targets! So awesome!!! And, what made it even better, was my friend Tessa (Kraf*T*y Mama) was a Trigger Target, too! Yay!

Today's card uses Card Patterns Sketch 87. This is such a pretty sketch! I had a few ideas pop in my head for it, none of which are on this card. ;) It just sort of happened. I like how it turned out and it came together pretty quickly. Love when that happens! The sentiment is from an older Unity Kit of the Month. This was the only circle I had that would fit it so I inked the edges to give it some definition. The colors are Stampin' Up! Old Olive and retired In Color Soft Sky. I wish they'd bring Soft Sky back! The felt flower qualifies this for the Splitcoast Hope You Can Cling To Flower Power challenge. Off to MD Anderson at the end of the month. :) I tied the bow, but decided it was a little plain. Slipped the seam binding off and stamped the background with PTI Text Style in Antique Linen Distress Ink and that did the trick.

There's plenty of time for you to make a card with this week's sketch! Check it out at Card Patterns! Thanks for visiting!

Supplies: Stamps - Unity November 2008 Kit of the Month, Papertrey Ink Text Style

Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa, Distress Ink Walnut Stain and Antique Linen

Paper - Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Soft Stone

Other - Martha Stewart seam binding, Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream felt, Beautiful Blooms 2 Dies #1, Sweet Blush button, Marvy Giga circle punch

Tuesday Trigger

I got to play this week's Tuesday Trigger challenge! Isn't this a great inspiration piece! I love the vignetting in the photograph and the monochromatic feel.

I don't have any spooky stamps, but I think it works on a birthday card. Yeah, I guess I do have a slightly dark sense of humor to make a birthday card inspired by a graveyard. :)

The vines were made with a Tim Holtz mask that I bought (under $3) after seeing a card Melanie Muenchinger made with it on her blog. That was over 6 months ago and this is my first time to use it. (Yes, I'm lame like that.) Love the effect! You just stick it down and sponge over it. (I use an art sponge cut in quarters on things like this and save the sponge daubers for cards that need smoother results.) The butterfly from GinaK Hope Is Faith is stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copics then sprayed with Vanilla Smooch Spray for a subtle shimmer.

Supplies - Stamps: GinaK Hope Is Faith, Sew Pretty (sentiment)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Distress Ink Soot Black

Paper - Papertrey Ink Soft Stone, True Black, Georgia-Pacific White (for coloring)

Other - Copics (B000, C0, C1, C3, N5, C7), Cutterbee scissors, Vanilla Smooch Spritz, Tim Holtz mask, sponge

Double Challenge Cards

So I'm back on a spending freeze. I have a couple of planned purchases, but, otherwise, back on the wagon. Jaala (The Witch Crafts) started one and I decided to jump back in with her. No craft shopping until we make 50 projects. She came up with the added rule that if it isn't blogged, sent, or given away it doesn't count. Oh my! That definitely complicates things! You may be seeing lots more of me in the near future. I really like to shop. :) On that note, I got to make a couple of double challenge cards! Always fun to kill two birds with one stone. Well, metaphorically anyway.

The first card uses the StampTV color challenge: red, chartreuse, and black. It's very striking. Remember me posting that Melanie Muenchinger was giving one of her new stamp sets away on her blog a few weeks ago? I won! I've been itching to use it and have other things I had to finish up. Splitcoast has a Hope You Can Cling To challenge to use something old and something new. Obviously, the stamps are new and I'm pretty sure everything else is at least a year old. Now, I will admit, I'm not that awesome at 2 step stamping. I need to just play with this set to really get a good feel for it. I love it, though, and I can't wait to try another card with it. I did stamp the flowers on a cardstock scrap so I could get the placement right this time. And so I didn't have to be super careful coloring. ;) On the jar, I outlined the glass with B000 and then tried to color in some water with C0. I'm not sure about the water. It seems like it should be there, but doesn't look right. Thoughts?

The second card is for the StampTV sketch challenge and the Hope You Can Cling To challenge to make a vintage card. I love this stamp set. Love. It. I had fun coloring her dress. I don't own a lot of pink Copics so I don't do a lot of pink coloring, but I tried R00, R20, and R22 and it worked pretty well! Isn't this a cute sketch? I might try it again sometime!

Floral Jar Card: Stamps - GinaK Buds and Vases

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Stampin' Up! Real Red, Kiwi Kiss, Basic Black, Georgia-Pacific White

Other - Copics (R22, R24, R29, YG03, YG06, YG09, YG95, B000, C0, Y15), Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, pop dots

Sew Vintage card: Stamps - GinaK Sew Pretty

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Charcoal, Distress Ink Tattered Rose

Paper - Georgia-Pacific white, Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush, Soft Stone, Stampin' Up! Basic Gray, Basic Grey Bittersweet

Other - Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush button, Swiss Dots Cuttlebug embossing folder, We R Memory Keepers Corner Chomper, Nestabilities Ovals and Scalloped Ovals dies, sponge

Unity Tuesday Trigger

A super quick post for the Tuesday Trigger. I loved this week's trigger picture! It's so happy and peaceful and fun. (And inexplicably at the bottom of this post instead of the top.)It reminded me of the super cute bird and tree fabric I bought recently so I decided to use it. I really need to bust out my sewing machine for cards more often. My sewing on cards skills need improvement! The sentiment is Unity and also qualifies this for the Unity WCMD stitching challenge. TFL!

Supplies: Stamps - Unity (It came in a grab bag I won from them)

Ink - Palette Burnt Umber

Paper - Stampin' Up! Peach Parfait, Melon Mambo, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate

Other - JoAnn's fabric, sewing machine, Nestabilities Ribbon Slider die, brown ribbon

Heart to heart Card Drive and Happy October!

Happy October everyone! It's my birthday today! Lunch with all my guys, free mocha toffee frap, and lots of birthday messages and calls makes for a very nice day. I'm hoping to get a little crafting in tonight, too! We'll see, though. I kind of miss sleep. ;)

Speaking of crafting, you need to make a card for Carolyn King's Heart to Heart card drive. Carolyn lost her grandmother to Alzheimer's a few years ago and has a card drive to honor Alzheimer's caregivers. They need appreciation and recognition! It is exhausting caring for someone with Alzheimer's. There is a huge prize as well.

My grandmother passed away from Alzheimer's this year. Her care progressed from her just needing to be driven places, to having my brother live with her to be sure she took her medicine and didn't fall, to full time supervision. It took a lot of energy from a lot of people to take care of her. I miss her. A lot. Her birthday is coming up and I can't think of a better way to celebrate than by thanking the people who are helping patients and family members walk this road. I've made three cards so far and I'm hoping to make several more. I'll take them to the nursing home where Grandmommy was living, but Carolyn provides an address and even a sample note if you don't know where to send a card or what to say.

My card details are very simple. The first card uses the Clean and Simple challenge sketch from Splitcoaststampers this week. The fabulous pumpkin is from a set that Carolyn designed in honor of her grandmother and she donates her proceeds to the Alzheimer's Association. (She rocks. And she's super fun, too. I know, I got to meet her once.)
The second card I made from old mail. The flower is torn from the base of a card my kids destroyed and the the leaf is torn from the cover of a jewelry catalog. I inked the edges, glued the layers together, and added some stickles and dew drops. Dawn McVey has an awesome tutorial on making flowers like this (much better than this).

Go make a card for Carolyn's card drive and head to her blog. You might win an amazingly huge prize and you will definitely make someone happy. Complete win.

Pumpkin Card Supplies:
Stamps - GinaK Designs Whimsical Autumn, Thanks a Million
Ink - Memento Rich Cocoa, Tuxedo Black
Paper - Papertrey Ink kraft, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Chocolate Chip, Georgia-Pacific white
Other - Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Orange Zest button, twine, Nestabilities Scalloped Rectangle, Copics

Flower Card Supplies:
Stamps - GinaK Designs Inside and Out
Ink - Palette Burnt Umber, Stampin' Up! Tangerine Tango, Old Olive
Paper - Stampin' Up! Bashful Blue, Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate, orange and green scraps
Other - Dew drops, Stickles, Papertrey Ink Large Scallop Border, green grosgrain

Papertrey September Blog Hop Challenge

It's Papertrey Blog Hop time again! And in true fashion, I'm squeaking in at the last second! Good times! The challenge this time is to use a tip or technique we've learned from another stamper. Wow. There are so many amazing artists who have taught me so much! Someday I would love to do cards for all of them. This particular card uses a couple of things I've gleaned from Nichole Heady herself combined with all the fabulous colorists out there who have taught me so much about Copics: Debbie Olson, Theresa Momber, Sharon Harnist, and, of course, Colleen Schaan to name a few. Nichole rocks the white on white so much and I never would have thought to use the square punch to make the notch on the sentiment if she hadn't shown it on her blog. Now, I can't stop doing it! I really cannot say enough about the tips and tutorials and inspiration I have gotten from these crafters, but did I mention it's the last second?

Supplies: Stamps - Papertrey Ink In Bloom, Daily Designs Sentiments
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Palette Noir
Paper - Papertrey Stamper's Select White, Lemon Tart
Other - Copics (Y00, Y11, Y15, Y17, YG91, YG93, YG95, YG03), Basic Grey half pearls, square punch, Papertrey Woodgrain Impression Plate, lots of foam tape!, Cutterbee scissors

The Unpublishable!

It's coming right for you! Run, run for your lives! It's...the Unpublishable! Cue B horror movie music. Yes, I do amuse myself. Thanks for noticing. ;) I just had a card published and it was super exciting! And it was on my first try even! Since then, however, I've been submitting and not having any success. But that's ok! I love the cards I've been making (well, mostly) and I learn something everytime I go through the submission process. And I'm really excited to share these rejected cards because I think they're pretty cute. And I bet you've made some pretty cute cards that haven't turned out to be contest winners, or published in magazines, or maybe haven't even gotten many comments. So let's all stop being mean to ourselves and saying things like "Oh, I'm not very good."It's just not true.

This sweet little reject was made for the Cards: All Occasions call. I was trying to come up with an unusual color combo. I like these colors together. SU's Basic Gray and Old Olive, PTI Hawaiian Shores, and some incredibly heavy base weight GinaK Ivory. The butterfly was stamped on PTI white and colored with Copics then trimmed out. I ran a black marker around the edges at the suggestion of a friend, but I don't think I will do it often. I totally get why you should do it, but I don't have a very steady hand for that kind of thing and it just seems fraught with peril. The grey (or gray, I guess, since that's how they spell it) is scored with a Scor-Pal. I love doing this! GinaK has a great tutorial on StampTV. Basically, you place the cardstock on your scoreboard with two corner points on the same line and score at 1/2 inch intervals across the cardstock. Flip it so the opposite two corner points are on the same line and score again creating the diamonds. I matted the gray with the Hawaiian Shores. The olive border is the SU open scallop border punch. I stamped 'thank you' on a strip of olive and cut out the notch with a square punch. I only adhered the straight side so it looks a little bit more like a flag banner. I thought about sewing it but was too lazy/nervous. I've had great success sewing on paper and horrible failures and since I was stamping this the night of the deadline I didn't want to risk it. The butterfly is popped up on pop dots. I'm almost out of those things. Must get more.

Anyway, there you have it! Look for more rejected cards coming soon! :)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Hope is Faith, Inside and Out
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Paper - GinaK Pure Luxury base weight Ivory, Stampin' Up! Old Olive, Basic Gray, Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White (for coloring)
Other - Copics (BG10, BG45, BG48), Stampin' Up! Border Punch, Scor-Pal, Square Punch, pop dots

Clean and Simple Coffee

Say what? Two posts from me in one day? The insanity! ;) But I really wanted to make another card for the design team challenge at GinaK this time. And I know it's simple, but I love this card.

So the challenge is a favorite fall memory. This one is from October 2005, post-Hurricane Rita. We lived in Beaumont at the time and were very blessed. We evacuated with family, had places to stay, and, while we suffered some damage, our house was pretty much intact. Two houses down the whole place was crushed. Our yard and patio were wrecked, but that was just fine considering! Jeff did get to leave with us, but had to come back to the tv station the day after the storm hit. It was two weeks before I made it home and that's still the longest we've been apart. (A big thank you to all the military families and other families that deal with long absences for their jobs. I know two weeks is nothing to some of you and I hate that.) It was a very hot October and of course no one had power but I was so ready to be back! A cold front came through that night and we sat on the porch the next morning eating chocolate croissants and some self-heating mochas I had brought back with me so thankful to see each other, have a home, and feel an autumn breeze. Who cares if there are so many tree branches in your driveway you can't see the car parked there when you're eating pastries with the love of your life. ;) Guess who's getting this card? :)

There's not much 'splaining to do for this. I stamped the mug from Warm Winter Wishes, die cut it, left it in the die and sponged it with the blue. Then I stamped the mug again on a cardstock scrap, colored it with copics, cut it out, and glued it on. I am obsessed with cutting out the white in the handle for some reason so I just make a quick x-acto cut on the straight side and then use fine tip scissors to finish it. I grabbed a large green scrap and impressed it with my PTI woodgrain impression plate. I stamped the sentiment after impressing it and glued it all down.

Please look at all the wonderful entries on Gina's blog! Thanks for looking! (Oh, and you can still comment on my blog candy through Tuesday!)

Supplies: Stamps - GinaK Designs Warm Winter Wishes, Thanks a Million

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Stampin' Up! Tempting Turquoise

Paper - Papertrey Ink Stamper's Select White, Stampin' Up! Kiwi Kiss, Georgia-Pacific White (die cut and mug)

Other - Nestabilities Labels One, Papertrey Ink Woodgrain Impression Plate, Copics (YR02, YR04, YR07, R22, R24, R29, E35)