Happy Birthday D!

Hello! Did everyone have a good Thanksgiving? I did, although our guests left me with something to remember them by--a cold! Ugh, I hate being sick and thus I am the worst patient in the world. Reeeaaally cranky and whiny. You may have guessed that by now, LOL! The card I'm presenting today is one I made for my SIL's birthday. Her name starts with a "D," hence the ghost letter, and otherwise it's just strips of paper, stamps, and impression plates. I made the balloons by cutting small ovals with Nesties and then attaching little hand-snipped triangles to the bottoms. The tag is a punch. Please forgive the infamous kitty condo--I still haven't gotten the light box out again! :-D

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Background Basics: Tin Types & I honestly can't remember the set the "Happy Birthday" is from, but it's PTI!
Paper: PTI--Dark Chocolate, Green Tea Leaves; stash
Ink: PTI--Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Melon Berry, Fresh Snow
Dies: Spellbinders--Classic Ovals
Impression Plates: PTI--Tin Types; Cuttlebug--Polka Dots
Misc.: Ghost Letter--Heidi Swapp; floss--DMC Ecru

Birthdays are the Best

Yes, that is my television, in all its dusty glory! I was in a hurry and didn't want to take the time to set up my photo thingee, so I just popped the card down in front of the TV, since it matched the color scheme. :-) This is a birthday card that came together quickly for me. I tend to be very spontaneous in card making (the only area of my life I'd call spontaneous, LOL), so all I knew going in to it was that I wanted a black, white, and hot pink color combo. (This was because the recipient, after seeing another card I'd done with a black base and bright color accents said, "Now this I like." LOL! I teased her mercilessly that she meant that she hadn't liked any of the cards I'd made for her before, and made sure to make this year's birthday card to her specifications!) After pulling the papers, I saw these rhinestones in my bling drawer, and they matched Raspberry Fizz exactly--woo hoo! So then Blooming Button Bits came to mind . . . check and see if there's an appropriate birthday sentiment in there . . . yep! Good to go!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Blooming Button Bits
Paper: PTI--True Black, Raspberry Fizz, SS White, & Bitty Box; stash
Ink: Versacolor--Evergreen
Ribbon: Stash (it came off of a gift and matched R. Fizz exactly! Don't you love when that happens?)
Rhinestones: Kaisercraft & Stamper's Dream (teeny ones)
Dies: PTI--Mat Stack 4, Envelope Liner; Spellbinder's--Scrap-Mart custom design
Embossing Powder: Ranger--Super Fine Detail Clear; Stamp Diego--Ultra Detail White
Misc: Impression Plate--PTI Linen; Corner Chomper

I'm Back!

Hello! Remember me? LOL! I'm back to blogging tonight with a card I made for a friend's 80th birthday. That's kind of a big deal birthday I'd say, and I wanted to make something special. My friend loves pink almost as much as I do, so it was a no brainer to choose it as the dominate color of the card! I tried a first for me--the cupcake liner flower/backing for a flower. I didn't really know what I was doing, I just distressed and folded the liner until I liked the look. I haven't made another one since. But I sure hope to as a LOT of liners came in the package, LOL! The cute crocheted flower is courtesy of Lisa V. (visit her blog here). I won a package of these lovely, almost Berry Sorbet colored flowers (she has them in an online store, although I think she is out right now) and am stretching them out for as many cards as possible! I also bought some basic crocheting supplies and intend to learn how to make them. It can't be that hard, right? Even for a complete crocheting novice? Yeah, I'm not going to hold my breath. :-D So, anyway, hopefully I'll be back soon to post a few more cards I made while I was busy letting life overwhelm me. It's nice to be back!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Birthday Bash Sentiments
Paper: PTI--Vintage Cream & Berry Sorbet; October Afternoon--Cherry Hill: Recipe Box; Mellissa Frances--Kitschy Kitchen
Ink: Ranger--Antique Linen & Tea Dye distress inks; Versacolor--Pink
Border Punch: Recollections
Tag Punch: McGill
Dies: Spellbinders--Labels 9
Ribbon: Etsy Shop
Cupcake Liner: Wilton
Crocheted Flower: Lisa V.
Other: Sewing Machine

ODBDSLC27

The challenge at Our Daily Bread Designs this week is TEXTURE, whether it be by embossing, distressing, or through embellishments. Unfortunately, I needed a sympathy card this week. After I made it, I realized that it fit the challenge well, so I decided to submit it. Here's a second picture so you can see the texture a bit better:


I did lots of distressing, tearing, inking, and fraying and was happy with the result as it looks really different from any card I've made before! It's always fun to try something new, isn't it? :-)

Supplies
Stamps: ODBD--Lift Up Our Hands
Paper: PTI--Kraft & Vintage Cream; stash
Ink: Ranger--Frayed Burlap & Walnut Stain Distress Inks
Die: MFT--Rolled Flower
Distress Tool: Heidi Swapp
Misc: Sewing Machine, Canvas strip, ric rac--stash

HEC #9

And now for something completely different . . . Ted's challenge on Happily Ever Crafter for August was to keep it simple, stamps and pens only. This was really, really hard for me. I had a basic idea, but as I made the card, I kept starting to reach for dies . . . more cardstock . . . glitter . . . you name it. :-) Well, I did finally get something I liked, despite so-so masking and some questionable stamp lining up, LOL! I used a PTI set that hadn't seen love in awhile, Garden of Life. With the small leaf image, I stamped "grass" in various green inks. I stamped and masked FF #5, then stamped the two-step flowers. I colored their centers with a glittery pen, and then added the sentiment to the center of the Fillable Frame. It's actually a long sentiment, all one line, so I had to break it up by inking one part at a time. There! Something I'm pretty sure I haven't done before--a one-layer card! Think you're up to the challenge? Details are here on Ted's blog.

Supplies
Stamps: PTI--Garden of Life; Fillable Frames #5
Paper: PTI--Vintage Cream
Ink: PTI--Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Plum Pudding, Terracotta Tile & Dark Chocolate; Color Box--Yellow Citrus
Pens: atyou Spica--Red & Yellow

WMSC #10

Whew! Just under the wire! ;-D I decided to make a Christmas card for the Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge #10 (details here) since it was Claire's Christmas stamp sets from last year that first captivated me. I embossed the white card panel, and cut the snowflake paper out with a nestie. I stamped the gorgeous retro/vintage star and the holiday sentiment and embossed them in gold filigree embossing powder. I then took two of the border images and embossed them in gold as well, just under and over the embossed portion of the white cardstock. I love how that looks! I used gold brads for the two side elements, anchoring some teeny gold lacey ribbon with them, and using the ribbon for the tag bow as well. Another Christmas card for the "finished" stack! :-)

Supplies
Stamps: WMS--Seasons of Love & Very Vintage Christmas
Paper: PTI--SS White; My Mind's Eye; stash
Ink: Watermark
Embossing Powder: Filigree--Gold
Embossing Folder: Stamping Up!
Ribbon: Offray
Brads: American Crafts
Die: Spellbinders--Big Scalloped Squares SM

CTMH

I have several sets of CTMH stamps that I haven't used in AGES. My mojo is on vacation (I'm jealous, since there's no vacation for me this year), work is crazy and will be for the rest of the month, and my mom is sick so I'm kind of preoccupied with that. Tonight I said, "Enough!" and pulled out a CTMH set for a quick card to cheer me up! I used "With Love," some PTI patterned paper and cardstock, and ribbons and pearls from my stash. I purposely didn't add a sentiment because I thought the card could be used for several different occasions, depending on what I need. I feel better now. :-D

Supplies
Stamps: CTMH--With Love
Paper: PTI--Vintage Cream, New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Green Boutique & Simple Valentine
Ink: PTI--Hawaiian Shores & New Leaf; Versafine--Onyx Black
Button: PTI--Pure Poppy
Ribbon: Michaels
Twine: PTI--Rustic Cream
Embossing Powder: Ranger--Clear Super Fine Detail
Misc: Scallop scissors; Scor Pal; pearls