Wow! The past two days have been such an ego booster.  What crafter can't use a boost or two?  The reason you ask?  Why the Liebster Blog award!!  I have been nominated by two fellow crafters. Joyce and Nancy.
  Joyce is a dear blog friend who comments daily on my blog. She is an awesome card maker who participates in many challenges and blog hops.
 Nancy is a follower who totally threw me for a loop with this surprise. She too makes some awesome cards;some with a vintage style.

Liebster' is German for 'dearest'.  The award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers. 

Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:

Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
Copy and paste the award on your blog (see above)
Hope that those you award forward it to their favorite bloggers

Below are five fantastic bloggers who  inspire me with their work. I love having this chance to let them know how lucky I have been to meet them through this shared stamping adventure!

 Jen   Onlyloveisrealpapercrafts.blogspot.com

Elena Justmeprints.blogspot.com

Deanna Jean Klosetkreations.blogspot.com

Anna craftsinthebend.blogspot.com

    Terri  terrbear38.blogspot.com

Check out the awesome work of these ladies. You will be impressed!!   This was such a difficult  task limiting it to only five as there are so many other card makers I could have nominated.

Once again thanks to Joyce and Nancy for acknowledging my work.

Easter Wishes

  Happy Monday! I didn't get as much card making done as I had planned over the weekend, but I have lots of ideas scribbled on a piece of paper.  Now where did I place that little piece of paper?
  Today's card is one using Sweet Spring and Scrambled Eggs. I soooo love these two sets. While creating this card I went out of my comfort zone on two elements . One was stamping a background, and the other was coloring with my Copic markers. I played it safe using only small areas to color.

    I knew I wanted to include the little basket  from Sweet Spring in the card. To make it work I decided to fill it with the flowers instead of Easter eggs as I had originally planned.  The flowers are layered as some have double the amount of dimensional squares or none at all.

     Here's an up close shot of the sentiment. Love that oval gingham stamp!

    I am happy with the way the card turned out. Thanks for stopping by.  Hope you have a great day even though it's Monday!

Supplies: PTI CS" Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, White
Ink: PTI: Dark Chocolate; Palette: Noir; VersaMagic: Sea Breeze, Thatched Straw
Stamps: Scrambled eggs, Sweet Spring
Dies: Christmas Label, Scrambled Eggs, Mega Mat Stack 5
Copics: RV000, RV06, RV13
Other: Aqua Mist Saddle Stitch ribbon, Dimensional

PTI Blog Hop February 2012

  The 25th  is one of my favorite days of the month. That's because Papertrey Ink has their monthly Blog Hop. The challenge this month is to make an interactive card. To find out more about this challenge and see all the wonderful cards submitted Click here.
  I was fortunate to receive my PTI "goodies" before today so I chose to make an Easter Card for my two granddaughters using the Spinners die as well as the Scrambled Egg set & accompanying die.

     This card was so easy to make using the new die. I used my Martha Stewart scissors to make the grass. The tiny Easter eggs are from a small cheap set I picked up somewhere ages ago.  You never know when a stamp set will come in handy.
      Here's a close up of the little bunny. He is so adorable. Love those ears!

       I thought the loopy opening of the spinning die was perfect for this sentiment.
 

      If you follow my blog, you know that my granddaughter Olivia is the "Purple Queen". So of course, her card is is made using Lavender Moon and Royal Velvet.

     Thanks for stopping by. Be sure to check back to see more Easter cards.

Happy Anniversay DH!

   Today is my wedding anniversary! Since I have parent conferences tonight, we really won't be celebrating, although my DH did buy me a bouquet of flowers yesterday. Here is a CAS card I made for him. I know he won't understand that the tree is the tree of life.

      I added the twine at the bottom to give more texture to the card. The two knots represent our children.

    I do love the way this card turned out. I am getting better at CAS cards.  thanks for stopping by.

MIM #54 Glitter Buttons

     Two MIM challenges back to back for me. I'm on a roll. This week Ashley Cannon Newell hosted PTI's MIM challenge. She demonstrates how to glitter buttons. This is a cute idea. Of course my spray adhesive was clogged. My next idea was to see if Diamond Gaze would do the trick; not exactly the best result. So I finally pulled out my bottle of Frosted Lace Stickels to give a more dramatic effect.
    Since I am mailing this card and am tired of paying for extra postage, I used the button die on PTI's Bitty Dot Berry Sorbet paper to crate my buttons.  I haven't used my Flower Fusion stamps much so I decided to use them. In fact the flower from Flower Fusion # 12  has a button stamp as its center.

    A close up of the attempt to glitter my buttons.

       I think the color combinations on this card definitely creates the image of spring.  Although the winter here in Cincinnati has been mild, I can't wait til spring arrives. I still haven't seen any robins.  could this mean we are still going to have a big snowstorm?  Hope not. Thanks for looking.

MIM # 53 Creative Coasters

  It's been awhile since I participated in a MIM challenge. Although it's a last minute card, I can't believe how fast it came together. Earlier today I spent hours making a card that I cased. Go figure!

      Before I cut the butterfly from the Love Lives Here Die Collection, I brayered the coaster with Versamagic Thatched Straw ink. Each butterfly was sprayed with Deep Plum & Patina Glimmer Mist.
I used LemonTart and Aqua Mist CS to coordinate with the butterflies.

   A close up shot of the butterfly made from the coaster. Each butterfly is propped up with dimensionals.

     Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies:  CS: PTI: Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Rustic White

Ink: London Fog, Thatched Straw

Stamp Set: Sunflowers

Dies: Mat Stack #!, Turning a New Leaf, Love Lives Here

Other: Cane IP, Glimmer Mists: Dark Plum, Patina, Dimensionals.

Vintage Birthday??

  I cased this card from Heather Nicole's gallery.  I stink at vintage.  Love the look, but just have such a hard time replicating it. Not so sure I like the rhinestones. I might remove them before I mail this card off to my sister-in-law for her birthday next month.

If you look carefully you can see the polka dots stamped in Fresh Snow on the Fine Linen cardstock.    
  Here's a close up of the image from Botanical Silhouettes stamp set.

   Thanks for looking.

Supplies: CS:  PTI: Kraft, Fine Linen

Ink: PTI"s Fresh Snow, Kraft, Chamomile; Palette: Noir

Stamps: Tin Types, Botanical Silhouettes, Enjoy The Ride

Other: Spring Moss Satin Ribbon, Clear Embossing Powder, Half & Half Die, rhinestones

Tranquility Trilogy Sunflowers

      I finally found some crafting time. I decided to make a card based upon a stamp set that has received very little love from me:  Tranquility Trilogy.  As I perused this stamp set, I noticed one of the triangles had sunflowers inside.  I decided to pair up that image with my sunflower stamp.  After much playing around with the triangle stamp this is the final product.

  The card base is Fine Linen.  This is the first time I have used that color as a base. I think it coordinates nicely with the Dark Chocolate cs.  Here's an up close shot of the sunflower. I used Memento Dandelion as a base and dabbed Memento Cantaloupe on top to create the two tone effect.

        Coming up with different layouts using the triangles is challenging for me.  I think that is why I do not use this stamp very much. Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies: CS: PTI: Fine Linen, Dark Chocolate, Vintage Creme, Stampers Select White, Ripe Avocado

Stamps: Tranquitlity Trilogy, Sunflower, Botanical Silhouettes

Inks: Memento: Dandelion, Cantaloupe: PTI: Dark Chocolate

Dies: Sunflower

Best Valentine Ever!

    This is the valentine I received from my 3 year old grandaughter.  Her mom got the idea from Pinterest.It starts out in a nontraditional way with a pair of hands.....

        which open up....

             with the message....

        Of course mom did most of the work. Olivia wrote her name. Not bad for a 3 year old. Olivia will tell you she still needs help with her v & a.

   Just wanted to share something precious with you.  For those of you who are grandparents you definitely understand.  Thanks for stopping by.

                    

Happy Valentine's Day!

  Happy Valentine's Day! Do you celebrate this day?  My husband & I just exchange cards on this day since our anniversary is a week later. When I first saw this card made by Ginger from Ginger Pie Designs. 
I knew I had to case it for my husband's valentine. I made mine a tad smaller. I used my Wishblade to cut the letters; otherwise this would have been a chore. I originally thought about using my Outline Alphabet stamps but realized I didn't have Copics to match all 3 colors.

  Pattern paper from PTI's Simply Valentine is peeking from behind the panel of letters.Thanks for looking.

PTI Anniverrsary Sketch #5

     TGIF! What a week. It seems to have lingered forever. I didn't get much crafting done this week. Had intentions of making lots of cards tonight using the sketches Nicole released today as part of  PTI's anniversary celebration.  Turns out that I only made one card. It will be for my mother-in-law. My card is based on sketch #5.

   

     A close up shot of the sentiment with the leaves from the sunflower stamp set.

    Thanks for stopping by. I have to get this card in the mail quickly so it gets to my mother-in-law on time for Valentine's Day.

Pinterest Inspired

  Okay, I cheated!  The challenge at PTI today is to create a card inspired by an image found on Pinterest, an online pin board.  I created my card first, then found an image. I really wanted to use the freebie image PTI revealed earlier in the week.  Besides I still have 2-3 more valentines to make.

  

     After I took the picture, I decided to add a heart embellishment to the heart.  Looks like there is some extra adhesive I need to remove.

 



       In case you are interested, here's the Pinterest image.



 

 

Thanks for looking.

Color Combination Challenge

  Just a quick post for PTI's anniversary contest where one is to design a card using one of the DT's favorite color combinations.  I chose Heather Nicoles: spring moss, aqua mist, kraft and vintage cream. In addition, I used the freebie image she designed.
  What I thought was going to be a quick card turned into one that needed a change in direction when I realized I could not emboss just the top half of the card with my swiss dot Cuttlebug folder. Instead I added a piece of aqua mist cardstock to the bottom half and stamped it with BB: Polka Dots in vintage cream ink. (You can barely see it in the photo.)

     The vine is layered over some kraft twill ribbon.

  Thanks for stopping by.

DT Inspiration--Danielle Flanders

     Papertrey Ink has a challenge on their blog today, based on the designers' favorite projects. You are to choose one project inspired by a DT member and create something using that as your inspiration. My inspiration was Danielle Flanders' glassine bags. I just love these bags. I have them in all three sizes. Danielle was very creative in her thinking outside of the box by using her bags as a party invitation.
 

 

    I on the other hand stayed with the traditional use for the bags. Since Valentine's Day is around the corner, I decided to package up some treats for my coworkers.  I never feel comfortable using staples when packaging food. Wanting to use something other than ribbon/twine I decided to use  these mini clothespins.

    With some scraps of paper and doiles, some rhinestones, my heart border die and some valentine stamps, I transformed them into these.

     
         I browsed through all my different dies and valentine/love stamps and made a variety of tags.

Here's the end result of a few of them.

    This is what's inside each bag. (Sorry for the glare from the wrappings)  Chocolate covered cherries are my favorites.

  I made 13 of these bags. My goal was to refrain from using twine, ribbon or buttons. So far so good. I  have three more to make.  Luckily I still have a week until Valentine's Day.   Thank you Danielle for your inspiration. The timing was perfect. Thanks for looking.

21st Birthday

     My neice turns 21 this week. She can now legally do everything she has been doing since she's been 16. (hehe).  The best thing about making cards is that one can design the card based on the receiver's personality. There is a lot of symbolism with this card. Here's a brief explanation.  I love her dearly. She's a singer in a band and she also writes her own music. Country Pop is her style. Hopefully, one day she'll be a star.  She's already a star in my book.

   I sponged the background of the rustic white panel using Pure Poppy, Berry Sorbet and Pixie Dust inks to create the gradiation.  This was the first time I tried something like this, and I am very happy with the outcome.
    The sheet music background was stamped in London Fog. I still haven't mastered the techniques of stamping off on another piece of paper first. So when I stamped it onto the card panel, the image was uneven.  I had to do it a 2nd time. I was off somewhat with my stamp placement, but I think I managed to conceal the major errors.

Thanks for stopping by.