Retirement: Enjoy the Ride

     I just love the layout this week for the  Retrosketches # 17 challenge.

  My card came together so easily too! I used Hawaiian Shore and Aqua Mist.

Thanks for stopping by.

Mr. & Mrs.

      My niece is getting married this weekend. Since it is her second marriage, only her immediate family will attend. As I was  reorganizing  my craft room, I came across a paper bag I had saved. (Wish I had taken a picture of it before I desciminated it) I thought I would use the heart pattern in my card.

  I also used parts of the bag to make the hearts on the inside.

I am submitting this for CAS-UAL FRIDAYS challenge this week. In honor of  National Pink Day on June 23rd the card is suppose to use pink.

 

I think my card fits perfectly.  Thank you for stopping by.

PTI Blog Hop June

  I hope everyone had a wonderful, relaxing weekend. Mine was great. My husband & I went with another couple to a winery for lunch on Saturday. It was so relaxing sitting on their patio sipping wine.
  Today is also going to be a great day since it is PTI's monthly Blog Hop. This month the challenge was to create a card inspired by this picture:

 

     I focused on the colors and the ruffle to create my card.

I used Harvest Gold and New Leaf inks. I am thrilled to finally have all the PTI inks that match the cardstock.  To make the ruffle, I basted two strips of Harvest Gold grosgrain ribbons together. I used embroidery floss to create the green strip down the middle. Initially, I used my Zig glue pen, but ended up stitching it in place.Iused the Linen IP to give some texture to the background, but it didn't show up in the photo. The sentiment was stamped first in Harvest Gold with New Leaf on top to create a shadow effect.

    Since I messed up with the alignment of the flowers on my first attempt, I used the panel to make a CAS card.

 Thanks for taking a peek. I am eagerly looking forward to see everyone's ideas.

Anniversary

 My niece celebrated her first wedding anniversary earlier this week. This is the card I made for her. I actually took the color combination from Betsy Veldman's card that she made  for this week's Make-it-Monday.

 If the layout looks familiar it is a previous challenge from Retrosketches a couple of weeks ago. Here is an up close shot of the butterfly and flower image. The scallop border is actually created from the heart border die.

   Of course, I had to add some butterflies to the inside.

     
     Thanks for stopping by.

Merci

   
      On a roll with my second entry for PTI's MIM # 71: Bordered Sentiments. I am in need of some thank you cards for all the lovely gifts I received upon my retirement. So I thought why not continue with this week's challenge. My card was inspired from this card by Betsy Veldman.

     After I stamped the flowers, I used The striped IP to create some texture in the background. Because I didn't want the stripes around the bordered sentiment, I cut 2 strips of cardboard, glued them together and placed it on top of the IP where the sentiment was. This is one of those cards that turned out exactly as I had envisioned it.
   Thanks for stopping by. All comments are appreciated. They brighten up my day!

MIM # 71 Bordered Sentiments

   School's out,  wedding is over, Florida vacation is a memory. Ahhh, life is returning to normal. That means I have time to participate in PTI's  Make-it-Monday # 71: Bordered Sentiments.  I knew I wanted a rather large sentiment so I chose the one in Harvest Berries and decided to use the ginko leaves from that set as well.

   I still have not mastered the technique of background stamping. I had no problem with the background above the sentiment.  However, the background I created below the sentiment was not to my liking. I used the Sweet Blush bitty dot paper to cover it up. I also did not like the two black lines I had drawn above/below the sentiment so I used ribbon to mask them. Still not happy with the card, I put it aside and when I awoke this morning I decided to add the little ribbon.

  A little bit better, but still not a card I like.  If I have time later in the week, I think I'll try my hand at this challenge again. Perhaps I'll have more success. thanks for taking a peek.

Father's Day

  Another quick post. I made this CAS card for my husband. Turned out exactly as I had planned. I love when it happens like that..

Was even able to use the newest Frame It stamp & die.

I hope you were able to have a nice relaxing Father's Day? We had an unexpected but  pleasant surprise as my husband's brother and wife dropped by.  Thanks for peeking.

Wedding card.

     Just a quick post today showcasing the card I made for my son and his new bride. I just love black & white for a wedding card.

  The sentiment is the same one stamped on their wedding invitations so I thought it would be fitting for their card.

 It took two tries embossing the heart so it would match the embossed background. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Wedding

 My son married a wonderful girl from Brazil recently (June 2nd). It was a very small wedding; basically immediate family. They were married in a gazebo at a turn of the century home a couple of blocks from my house. Initially they were not going to have a cake topper. However, Bruna, my new daughter-in-law wanted something with both the American and Brazilian flags. This is what I came up with.

 Here's a close up shot. (Sorry about the glare) The banner reads Mr. & Mrs.

  The happy couple. Isn't she beautiful? Her gown was all lace.

Since the wedding was so small, I made wine tags for the bottles of wine each couple received as a token of their special day.

A close up shot of the tag.

  My son & I.

Thanks for stopping by.

MIM # 69 Take Three

  Nicole has some really neat sketches this week for her Make-it-Monday #69: Inspiration into Unique Sketches.  My 3rd submission for this week is based upon this sketch.

  I made this Father's Day card for my son-in-law. He is an awesome dad. I love the pattern paper, but was short on the main panel, so I  tweaked it a little. Not so sure if I like the flourish streaming behind the star. (It's not PTI but Inkadinkado.)  I have a feeling I am going to re-do this part of the card.

An up close shot.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Thanks

 Happy Friday! I can't believe that I have posted several times this week. Now that my son's wedding is over and school is out, I have time each day to create a little something. Today's card is pretty simple. It is a thank you that I gave to my sweet neighbor for the PTI gcs she gave me.

  I love this Pretty Peonies stamp set. It is my favorite, I have to keep telling myself that I need to use some of the other stamp sets I have. Thanks for looking. I hope you have a great weekend and find some time to create something beautiful.

MIM # 69 Inspiration to Sketch

  I'm on a roll. After not participating in the past 3-4 MIMs sponsored by Papertrey Ink, I have my 2nd entry already completed for this week's challenge. Nicole has several inspirational photos she transformed into sketches. My masculine birthday card is based upon this.

    I rotated the sketch to produce my card.

       I stamped the chevrons onto Soft Stone CS using PTI's Dark Chocolate ink,  Tim Holtz's distressed ink, Peeled Paint and PTI's Ocean Tides. The vertical sentiment is from Verses Rubber stamps. The green strip separating the sentiment from the chevrons is Ripe Avocado CS crimped.

Thanks for stopping by.

MIM # 69 Inspiration into Uniques sketches

      It's been awhile since I participated in a MIM challenge. In fact, I need to go back to the last three videos to view them.  This is one of those cards that did not turn out the way I had initially planned. Not wanting to use a floral image I opted to make a Christmas card. Figured I would get an early start. Choosing the coordinating pattern papers was easy. Finding an image that would coordinate proved to be futile. I initially planned on using the wreath from Wreath for All Seasons, but that didn't work. Next I tried a Christmas tree image; it was too small. To make it easy on myself I opted to stamp the sentiment from Wreath for All Seasons in the opening versus an image.

    Thanks for stopping by.

MIM Pocket Card

  Today's card is one I received from my neighbor, Elise, a couple of days ago honoring my retirement.  Since she doesn't have a blog, I thought I would post it on mine since the card is sooo beautiful.

   I just love the background she created using the Rosie Posey Stamp set. The color combinations on the Kraft CS is so striking. This card is really swaying me to buy this set

An upclose shot of the inside. Isn't she a sweetie giving me a PTI GC? Love her sentiment too. Perfect!

 Thanks for stopping by.