PTI Blog Hop: January

  Although I am in Florida about to leave on my Carribbean Cruise, I still wanted to play along with this month's  PTI Blog Hop since I didn't participate last month due to all the hustle and bustle of the holidays. The challenge this month is to create a card with Black as a background.

I must admit, black backgrounds are not my thing. The card I posted was my 3rd attempt. I began with a Valentine theme, but decided I couldn't send anyone a Valentine with a black background. My 2nd attempt was a floral card which I nixed. Finally, I needed to make a birthday card for my nephew who has a birthday in early February and decided a black background would work.

After much ado, I like this card. If you look carefully, you'll see I used the herringbone IP to add some texture. the sentiment is stamped in Fresh Snow.

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you enjoy the Blog Hop. I will comment on people's blogs when I return.

Retrosketches # 47

I just love the simplicity of the sketch for the Retrosketches challenge this week.

Initially, I didn't want to use a floral image, but realized I needed a birthday card for my adult neice.

So I chose to use the roses from Sweet Life.

The embossed panel is raised slightly. I placed the die cuts under the negative images.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.

Duo Challenge: Cas-ual Friday/ MIM#100

 I am leaving on a 10 day cruise to the Eastern Carribbean in a couple of days. S ince I need another thank you card, I thought I would check out one of the challenges. This week Cas-u-al Friday has a challenge to make a card with one side long and one side short.



Here's my card:  (Sorry for the blurriness of the picture.)

Because I didn't have an envelope for this card, I decided to make one and play along with this week MIM #100: How to Package Cards with Oversized Embellishments. My card is oversized and the button hangs off a bit too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just continued the pattern on the card onto the envelope.



  I made my envie using a plain piece of Dark Chocolate card stock cut like this before I used Scor tape to secure it..

 

Here's an up close shot of the BB: Medallions using Kraft and Aqua Mist.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

89 and Counting

     Last weekend, I flew to NJ for my uncle's funeral. Although a sad event, there was a silver lining because I got to see some of my cousins whom I haven't seen in 13 years; the last time was at my mother's funeral. There was a lot of reminiscencing about the "good old days".
     I also had the opportunity to see some of my mom's friends. One of them was having a birthdday today, so as soon as I got home I made her this card.

 Here's a close up shot of the party popper.

The inside:

Since I only mailed it yesterday, she'll probably receive it Saturday or Tuesday.
I am submitting this card to the Addicted to CAS. The cue word is embossed.
Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Cased Quatrefoil Christmas card.

  Still on a roll for Christmas cards. When I saw this card from PTI's September 2012 release
I knew I had to make a it. However, I never got around to making one this past Christmas (2012).
I finally found some time today to do so.  Here are my two versions.

In the card below, I used the Sew Simple border stamp set and embossed it and the sentiment in gold.

Each card is so different. I really don't have a favorite. Do you?

Now thinking about a card I can make using all the cut-outs.

Thanks for taking a peek.

Happy Birthday DH!

 Today is my husband's birthday. We didn't really have a chance to celebrate it since I just returned from a quick trip to NJ where I attended my uncle's funeral. He turned 90 this past September.
  I'm planning on having a family dinner on Sunday (hoping no one gets sick in the meantime). It's a good thing I had made his card a week ago. I still had to find time to go shopping to pick up a present so I could give it to him today.

Never really sure which way to position the ribbon on the cracker. The tiny stars are from the Heart Border Die. He really liked the card. Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Penguin Birthday

 My great neice had a birthday earlier in the month. She turned 5. Her favorite color is yellow. I thought a spinner with a touch of yellow in the background woud be perfect for her,

The penguin is from a wood mounted stamp I bought year ago and rarely use. Although she live in AZ, I thought the penguin works for a winter birthday.

 Here's an up close shot of the stamped image. I used my Copics to color the hat and paper pieced the present.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.

MIM # 99 Take 2

I just love the theme of this week's MIM: Repeats and Rainbows.  Here is the 2nd card I submitted for the challenge. I chose color scheme # 3 because I wanted it to be more masculine.

 Here's a close up shot of the Thank you & chevrons where I continued the rainbow.

Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Scripture

     Although all my Christmas decorations are down and away, I've yet to put away my stamps and Christmas paper. I'm still in Christmas mode. I don't want to get behind like I did this past christmas. Besides I still have a lot of ideas I am jotting down in my compostion book so when I have time, I can just make it materialize.
Since I didn't have the chance to ink up my set, Beautiful Blessings: Holiday, I wanted to make a card using it. My goal this year is to ink up the sets I buy.

     I was inspired by this card  by Debbie Olsen. Here is mine.

I love using dyed seam binding for a ribbon, especially on cards that will be mailed as the bows are less bulky.  This ribbon was dyed using PTI's Scarlet Jewel ink. The paper is from the Christmas Cottage collection.
thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Bah Humbug! 2012

      Here's the 2012 rendition of the Bah Humbug card I send to my "jokester" brother-in-law. He looks forward to receiving this type of card every year.

     I thought I would use the color black this year with just a touch of christmas colors. The letters were cut using my Sizzix dies.

     I really like the inside sentiment I created with a stamp and my computer.

  Here's last year's card.
  Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek..

MIM: #99 Repeats and Rainbows

When I saw the card Nichole made with the rainbow scallop and glitter for this week's MIM, I knew I wanted to create a repeating rainbow card. I chose the rainbow color scheme #4 because I thought I would make this card for my granddaughter, Oliva, who just happens to love the color purple.

  This card took quite a long time because I practiced lining up the hearts on scrap paper 3-4 times before I actually got it looking semi balanced. If you look closely, you'll see that I used the Canvas/Linen Impression Plate. (I got the idea from Joyce after seeing her card.)

The sentiment stamp is from  the newly released From All My Heart. I think I will give this card to my daughter for Valentine's day instead of my granddaughter.
.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Dynamic Duos Challenge: # 34

  A quick post today with a card I made for the Dynamic Duos # 34 challenge. Melon Mango & Island Indigo.

I believe this might be the first time I have participated in this particular challenge. This card is for my neice who has a birthday at the end of the month. I wanted to play with my new Party Popper Stamp set too. (Sorry, the photo is so blurry, but I had poor lighting today)

 An up close shot. I used Hibiscus Burst and Hawaiian Shores for the confetti.

Thanks for taking time to take a peek.

First Double Challenge of 2013

I'm on a roll in 2013. I have been able to spend some time each day in my craft room. Since I am going on a cruise later this month, I know I'll be needing some thank you cards for the wait staff and room attendant. So I decided to create this card for two challenges.
     The first one is the ColourQ challenge.

     I used the palette Deanna  chose.  

The 2nd challenge is the Cas-u-al Friday's Thank you card challenge.

   

Here's my card.

 I fussy cut the stamped image after coloring it with my Copics. (Y21, R29, BG15, YG25)  The sentiment was stamped first with VersaMagic Turquoise Gem and then with PTI Simply Chartreuse.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek.

Silent Night! Holy Night!

Here's another Christmas card I sent this year using the Rustic White/Ocean Tides color combination. Soft Stone was the ink I used. (Hard to see the Nativity scene in this picture)

  An up close shot.

I love how this sentiment fit on the Perfect Patches die.

Thanks for stopping by.

Christmas Hairbows.

    I love making hairbows for my 2 granddaughters. So of course I had to make some holiday ones for them. I used the dies from  Winter Snow Globe.

To add some color I felt pieced parts of Santa's hat & suit. Some puffy paint was also applied to the pom pom on Santa's hat.

                                           

Here are the ones I made with the snowman die.

This is how I packaged them.

The hairbow my granddaughters love best is the one I forgot to photograph. It was the Christmas tree cut out in forest green felt with tiny beads sewn on simply placed on a hairclip covered in white grograin ribbon.
The snomen are my favorites.
Thanks for stopping by.

MIM # 98 Chalkboard Technique

  As much as I love PTI's MIM challenges, I don't participate as much as I would like. This week I decided to join in for the chalkboard technique. As much as I love the look of this technique, I don't think it is one for me since I don't consider myself to be very artistic. I believe this technique does well for those who are.

     The holly border looks fine, but there is something lacking with the sentiment.  I was afraid to add "more" since I didn't want to interfere with the busyness of the border. Still, I think I should have added some type of simple flourish under the sentiment.
      The kraft border is embossed with the woodgrain impression plate, but you can't see it in the photo.
      At least I have one Christmas card done for 2013!
      Thanks for stopping by.

A New Year with Retrosketches

  I decided to start the New Year off right by joining in the Retrosketches' latest challenge using this sketch.

 I used the newly Released Quilled Elegance Stamp set from PTI. I think this is a first for me; using a stamp set before the next release! I fell in love with this set the moment I saw it.

  An up close shot of the piece I fussy cut.

I love the color combination of Simply Chartreuse, Spring Rain and Winter Wisteria. Just wonder if I should add the little stamp image from this set to the purple panel? What do you think?

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year! 2012 was such a great year for me that I hated to see it come to an end. I hope 2013 is just as good. Most importantly, I hope that my family & I continue to be healthy. I believe good health is one of the "riches" of the world.
I have neglected my blog for well over a month. The hustle & bustle of the holidays left me too tired to keep my blog going. During that time, I made tons of Christmas cards (over 45) Christmas hair bows, tags, party poppers and even some birthday cards. Some I photographed, others I forgot to in the haste of mailing them out.  All in all Christmas was wonderful this year. Perhaps next year I won't get as far behind with my Christmas cards as I did this year.

I think I went through tons of Ocean Tide and Rustic White card stock. The majority of my cards used the PTI stamp sets:  Star of Wonder, and Nativity Silhouettes Additions.  Here's a sample of two of them.

I used Soft Stone ink on this card. Because it was barely visible, I switched to London Fog on the other cards I made.  The 2nd card uses the Sunrise IP. It is one of my favorite IP but adhering this one is very tricky as I always manage to have a bubble along some part of the edge.

Here's wishing you a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.