Happy Birthday, Dad!

My dad is the best. I'm definitely a daddy's girl, still, and I don't plan to change! :-) His birthday was Tuesday, and this is the card I made for him. I wanted to do a retro card--in fact this is the main reason I bought Ad Sense! It's such a unique stamp set. He loved it, and put it next to last year's (which he refuses to take down, LOL!).

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Ad Sense, Polka Dot Basics, Simple Alphabet
Paper: PTI--S.S. White, Terracotta Tile, stash
Ink: Versafine--Onyx Black; Watermark; PTI--Terracotta Tile, Enchanted Evening
Misc.: Dies--PTI Ad Sense; Embossing Folder--Cuttlebug; Embossing Powder--Filigree Clear & Stamp Diego Ultra Detail White; ScorPal (embossing around edges of dark blue card base)

Papertrey June Blog Hop

It's that time again! The 25th of each month is the day for Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop! This month participants were given this sweet picture below as inspiration for a card or project.

And here is my card:


I must admit that picture inspirations are the hardest for me. I'm not sure why. Maybe because I'm so visual that I have to fight the desire to duplicate every. single. thing. in the photo, which would be a disaster! :-) I chose to make a "happy healing" card for my boss, who is home right now having had back surgery. I am so glad that PTI came out with the Healing Touch Sentiments stamp set because it's more than just "get well." Sometimes the situation is more (or less) than that and it just doesn't sound appropriate to say, "Get well." Now we can be nuanced in our wishes and it just feels better, you know?

I chose Simply Chartreuse as the background cardstock because the color stood out to me. I sponged layers of colors to mimic the wall in the picture. I decided to focus on bringing out the tulle, wood, and white wicker aspects, as well as using some Smokey Shadow ink to represent the shadows in the photo. I made a butterfly using aqua tulle, embroidery floss, pearls, and pinking shears. The composition of the card is obviously based on that of the picture, with the "action" down in the lower right. I added a Healing Touch Sentiment, also in Smokey Shadow. (I used an atyou Spica black glitter pen over some of the flourishes and sentiment for some sparkle and highlight.) There, I did it, LOL! In my efforts to not be totally literal, this is actually pretty CAS for me--I hope my boss likes it!

Thanks for stopping by my blog to say hi! I am working today, and don't have reliable internet access there so will most likely be doing my "hopping" tonight and over the next couple of days. I can't wait to see what you all have made!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Healing Touch Sentiments, Fancy Flourishes
Paper: PTI--S.S. White, Rustic White, Simply Chartreuse; stash
Ink: PTI--Smokey Shadow, Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse, Orange Zest, Terracotta Tile; Versacolor--Cinnamon, Camellia; Colorbox--Yellow Citrus
Misc: Corner Chomper; Die--PTI Take Three; Embossing Folder--Sizzix; Tulle--Michaels; Pearls--Zva Creative; atyou Spica pen--Black; Embroidery Floss--DMC White

Happy Father's Day (and C4C92)

Hello! This was my Father's Day card for my dad this year, and I'm also entering it in Crazy 4 Challenges #92 challenge, which is to use twine, floss, string, etc. on your project.

A little bitty story behind this card . . . when I was a kid, we had a black and white houndstooth couch (imagine it on red & black indoor/outdoor carpeting--it was the '70s!) that I *loved.* I've been wanting to make chairs & couches with a houndstooth pattern ever since I bought Papertrey Ink's On the Couch, and recently I found houndstooth stamps in two different sizes of patterns--none as small as I wanted, but not too bad. ( BTW, this will pretty much insure that PTI will come out with a houndstooth set in the next few months, LOL!) I wanted to see if my dad would "get it" and he did--he understood the houndstooth reference right away! :-D

Please click on the picture to see the card bigger--I used a background stamp on both the card base and the creamy white panel, and an impression plate on the brown area--PTI's Vineyard Impression Plate made the perfect textured carpet--and they are hard to see. :-)

I just want to add a big thank you for all the recent love regarding my freakish good luck streak of late. Consider each and every one of you hugged!!!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--On My Couch, Chair-ished, Background Basics: Geometrics; Technique Tuesday--Houndstooth
Paper: PTI--Fine Linen, Enchanted Evening, Dark Chocolate, Vintage Cream; stash
Ink: Versafine--Onyx Black; Watermark; E.P.--Filigree Clear
Misc.: Impression Plate--PTI Vineyard; Twine--The Twinery; Button--Button Lady; Copics--W-1, E19, E43; Corner Chomper

Card Patterns Guest Designer & More Good News

Guess what? I'm the Guest Designer this week at Card Patterns! I know, I can't believe it either, LOL! Isn't the sketch gorgeous? So many pretty possibilities . . . For my card, I flipped and mirror-imaged the sketch. I thought it looked fun that way. :-) I made the card for a friend's 50th birthday. I had NO IDEA that she was turning 50--she looks 40 at most--so I wanted to emphasize that fact with one of Papertrey Ink's sentiments from Big Birthday Wishes and young, light-hearted colors. I'm giving it to her tomorrow and hoping she likes it!

I have had the coolest couple of weeks in papercraft blogging land! A Stampin' Sisters in Christ Shining Star, an Our Daily Bread Designs Shining the Light award, a Waltzingmouse Stamps Top Mouse award, a Card Patterns Guest Designer gig, and just this morning, a reader alerted me to a shout out from Cath Evalson on the Moxie Fab Blog! What? Am I having a really long dream or something?? I don't want to wake up, LOL! Seriously, it has been one thrill after another around here lately, and I am so incredibly grateful! I have a feeling that times like this are very few and far between, so I am enjoying the abundance while I can.

In celebration of my good luck and also of passing 100 posts here on the blog, I will be giving away some blog candy soon! Stay tuned for some pics and info in the next week or so. And it's almost July. You know what that means . . . Jill's 2nd Annual Christmas in July Challenge!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Big Birthday Wishes
Paper: PTI--Vintage Cream; My Mind's Eye--Life of the Party; stash
Ink: Versafine--Onyx Black; Ranger--Worn Lipstick Distress Ink; E.P.--Filigree Clear
Misc.: Embossing Folder--Cuttlebug; Border Punch--EK Success; Ribbon--American Crafts; Button--American Crafts; Twine--The Twinery; Glitter--Doodlebug Design Sugarcoating; Dies--PTI Number Dies; Glitter Dots--Recollections; Corner Rounder

SSIC #92

Hello! It's baby time! This week's Stampin' Sisters in Christ challenge is to use something *new* on your project. Well, it just so happens that I had a couple of new products to try out and I needed a card for a friend's baby shower (she's expecting a boy, who will be named Moses). The not one but two new things I used were 1) the "wave-looking" border punch, and 2) Glimmer Mist, which I spritzed on the clouds. The border punch had been on my Michaels wish list for some time, just waiting for the right 40% off coupon, and the Glimmer Mist was a result of the Make It Monday challenge a few weeks ago to make your own. I liked using it, but thought that buying some "real" stuff would be easier than making it myself, and look better too.

I hadn't even thought of the border punch as looking like waves until it was sitting on my craft table--must have been the angle. Now I'm going to be hard pressed to see it any other way, LOL!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Bitty Baby Blessings & Up, Up, and Away; Sandylion--Girl Clear Stamp
Paper: PTI--Blueberry Sky, Bitty Box Basics; Cosmo Cricket--Togetherness; stash
Ink: Versafine--Onyx Black; Watermark; E.P.--Ultra Detail White
Misc.: Die--PTI Clouds; Glimmer Mist--Pearl; Border Punch--EK Success; Felt--PTI Vintage Cream; Baker's Twine--PTI

ODBDSLC #63

Hello friends! Today I'm posting a card for Our Daily Bread Designs Shining Light Challenge #63. If you're a blog regular, you know it's one of my favorite challenges to participate in! This week's instructions were to use a sentiment only, no stamped images. I had this cheery paper from DCWV that I've been dying to use, and . . . do you keep an idea book? You know, something you can carry with you to jot down those ideas that just pop into your head at the strangest times? I started carrying one in 10th grade, when I was obsessed with sketching. Now my book is a mish mash of card sketches, embellishment ideas, challenges, color combos, and what appear to be random words strung together (what did I mean by, "violet lighty salsa stripe?" Lighty isn't even a word!) Well, I must have a million sketches in there and for this card I did something I'm proud of . . . I actually used one to make a card! I'm not saying it's super unique. I'm not saying it's the breakthrough of the century. But I did come up with it my own self, write it down, and then come back and use it months later. I feel so grown up, LOL! Before I list the details, I want to mention that the green spotted-looking paper behind the sentiment circle is glittery IRL. It's sooo pretty! But the glitz doesn't want to show up in a picture, so I am pointing it out because I am OCD that way. :-D

Supplies
Stamps: ODBD--Blessings
Paper: PTI--Vintage Cream; DCWV--Cotton Blossom
Ink: Memento--Tuxedo Black; Ranger--Spiced Marmalade Distress Ink; E.P.--Filigree Clear
Dies: Spellbinders Classic Circles
Misc.: Crocheted flower--Frog Feathers Etsy store; Pearls--Zva Creative; Brad--Creative Imaginations; Ric Rac--Wrights; pens--Spica atyou orange and gold

WMSC #50

Can you believe that Waltzingmouse Stamps' sketch challenge is at #50? Wow, where has the time gone? Here's the sketch for WMSC #50:


And here's my take:



And the inside:


This card is for the sheriff's birthday. No, really. I work at the Sheriff's Museum, and we started a tradition last year of me making the sheriff a birthday card from us. (You can see last year's here.) You'll understand when I say that I actually woo hoo'd aloud when Claire released her Western-themed stamps--I should be set for the next several years thanks to her, LOL!

Supplies
Stamps: WMS--Way Out West, Back in the Saddle, and Very Vintage Labels #3
Paper: Cosmo Cricket--Wanted; stash
Ink: Ranger--Vintage Photo Distress Ink; Ranger--Vintage Photo Distress Embossing Powder
Misc.: Chipboard--Cosmo Cricket Wanted; Die--Spellbinders Labels 3; Twine--stash; Edge Distresser--Heidi Swapp; Copic--W-3

CPS#117/CR84FN/C4C89

Today I have a 3-challenge card! I don't manage that very often, but these three challenges came together so well. The challenges I am entering are CardPatterns Sketch 117:

CR84FN 30 color challenge:


And Crazy 4 Challenges 89, which requests a card showing a favorite vacation spot or activity. Since my favorite thing to do on vacation is to READ (yes, even more than papercraft!), I chose this cute little reading hedgehog image:


Isn't it adorable? I'm not much into "cutesy" images, but I am trying to venture into those waters because I have a niece & nephew who kinda love that sort of thing! :-) This card is for my niece. She's only 15 mos. old, but my SIL took the sweetest pictures of her "reading" the other day. She was sitting cross-legged, paging through a book, and "talking" as if she was reading! How cute is that?! She only says one real word at this point ("Cooper," the name of their cat), but she was "reading!" I have high hopes for another bibliophile in the family. :-)

So, I flipped the CPS sketch on its side, used the soft color palette from CR84FN, and the subject matter from C4C! What do you think?

Supplies
Stamps: Stampavie (Tina Wenke)--Hedgehog Reading; PTI--All Booked Up
Paper: PTI--Kraft, Bitty Box Basics, Vintage Cream; Pink Paislee--Hometown Summer
Ink: Versafine--Onyx Black; E.P.--Filigree Clear
Copics: Y00, Y11, E50, E42, E43, E44, R01, R30, G21, G40, B37, B41, B45, W-1, Colorless Blender
Misc. Pen--atyou Spica Gold; Dies--Spellbinders Classic Ovals and MFT--Buttons; Twine--PTI, Cord--stash; Corner Rounder; Impression Plate--PTI Book Print (on kraft layer)