February PTI Blog Hop!

How can it be the 25th already????  WOW that went fast!!

Welcome to my little stop on the blog hop :).  I'm here to share a quick, clean and simple card with you today...with...yes, scallops.

The sentiment is from Birthday Bash Sentiments, stamped in New Leaf ink, on Select White CS.  The image from Damask Designs is stamped in Fresh Snow ink onto Hawaiian Shores CS.  That layer is trimmed with a scalloped piece of New Leaf CS (punched with my EK Success Single Embossed Curve punch) and a bit of Hawaiian Shores Grosgrain. TA-DAAAH!

Easy to whip up a bunch to have on hand for when you need them, too!

Thanks for popping by (told you I'd be quick!) - make it a great day!

Supplies:
Stamps: Damask Designs, Birthday Bash Sentiments
Ink: Fresh Snow, New Leaf
Paper: Select White, Hawaiian Shores
Accessories: EK Success Single Embossed Curve Punch, Hawaiian Shores Grosgrain

Make it Monday with Chick Lil'

Heeellloooooooooooo...in my best "Uncle Leo" (RIP Len Lesser) from Seinfeld voice :)

It's been a while since I've shared some papercrafted goodness with you all.  I've got a fun little card to share with you today that incorporates not one, but TWO challenges going on right now.

The first is Papertrey's Make it Monday challenge, which was to add glitter lines to your project using scor-tape.

The second is a challenge hosted by my friend Pam...well, her daughter actually...she issued a throwdown, and I decided I was up for it :).  The challenge is to create a card inspired by this photo:

What a beauty, right??  Sooo, I sat and stared at my stamp table for a while...and then I went to bed.  I just couldn't figure out what I could do that would pull the two challenges together.  And then, while I was at work yesterday, I suddenly had it!  Of course, so inconveniently in the middle of the day, when I'm away from stampland...but I had it.  So last night, I didn't even turn on the computer, as I knew I'd get sucked in to a round (or 200) of Bejeweled Blitz or Oregon Trail (such a silly game, but brings me back to my childhood).

Here's what I came up with:

I know my flower has more red than yellow...but while my intentions were good, I think I got a little carried away with my cherry cobbler ink pad.  The flower was made using PTI's Beautiful Blooms II #1 die collection.  I folded a single sheet of yellow tissue paper, so that there were 16 layers of tissue, and ran the 3 dies through my Cuttlebug together...talk about a time saver!  Then I stacked them, fluffed them, inked them, fluffed them some more...but the final thing that made it work was a spritzed it with a little water, and THEN fluffed some more.  Now -- the water may have done NOTHING, but I felt like it did something, so I'm sticking to that story.

Oh, "what's that" you say??  Look at that yummy glitter frame around the outside.  Yes, there's my scor-tape with glitter!  My card is 5"x5".  There is a scored frame (though kind of hard to see) at the 4" mark.  Just to the outside of that was a penned border, and then my fabulous glitter border.  Really dresses up that white base.

That cute little sentiment is from Flower Garden Sentiments, I'm so punny sometimes ;).

Thanks for stopping by for a look!  Make it a great day!

Supplies:

Stamps: Flower Garden Sentiments

Ink: Fresh Snow (PTI), Cherry Cobbler (SU!)

Paper: One Sheet Wonder (Cardstock Couture), True Black (PTI)

Accessories: Tissue Paper, Copic Multiliner 0.1, Scor-tape 1/2" width, Dazzling Diamonds glitter, chartreuse felt, scarlet jewel button, embroidery floss 

A Quick Comparison...

I was going through some pictures on my computer...and I found a few that I thought really showed off how much snow we got here this Winter...  This first picture shows my house, the day after Christmas...we were just getting our first "real" snowfall that day...

We have gotten near, if not record snowfall this January...here's what the front of my house looks like as of the beginning of February...

Remember the train in the front yard??  Yeah - it's still there...it's just buried under snow...oh and the little pathway Christmas trees????  take a look at this picture

These are my girls, but see that dark spot below her feet???  YEP -- the trees!  We're getting some warmer temps this week -- and I'm SO thankful...maybe some of the ice will start melting off of our roof!!!  Here's some icicle shots I took a few weeks ago we've had some incredible ones this year - some are at my house, some are at my Mom's...

Here's to warmer temps!! :)  Have a great day!

PTI Go-To Sentiment Card...

So, I've been wanting to participate in the PTI challenges going on this week, but have had a few obstacles... 1 being, for the first time since BEFORE CHRISTMAS, I've had to work a FULL week this week! LOL.  I'm still sort of in disbelief about this...ha! I'm EXHAUSTED!

Secondly though - the other issue is I've been taking my photos outside since one of the lights for my tent broke...and since I work all day, I only get to stamp at night...and by the time I get to photograph...too late!  I just might catch up and play along anyway, because there's lots of fun challenges going on!

ANYWAY -- enough blah blah blah, I know, I'm getting on with it.

The challenge for the first Make it Monday challenge was to create a "Go-To Sentiment Card"  I tried -- I kind of feel like I more made a background paper out of sentiments...but I'm going with it, and I'll keep trying on my own, just because I thought it was a neat idea.  This will be my hubby's valentine this year.

I went through all of my sets and pulled out all of the "love" sentiments, and got to work.

I've added the three little hearts from Wonderfully Whimsical, as well as one of the hearts from Heart Prints for accents.  I'm fairly satisfied with how this turned out - I will definitely be trying this one again!!

Thanks PTI for the challenge, AND for the opportunity!!

Supplies:
Stamps: (All PTI) Round and Round, Heart Prints, Damask Designs, Mod Squad, Simple Little Things, Signature Greetings, Wonderfully Whimsical, Beyond Basic Borders, Background Basics: Tin Types
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Versamark, Fresh Snow
Paper: Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Select White
Accessories: Stickles, Clear EP, dimensionals

Papertrey Favorites...

I'm AMAZED by the giveaway over on Nichole Heady's blog today...and figured I'd be foolish not to give it a go, lol.  I'm reposting a card I made back in April for my friend Pam, for her birthday.  It was for a blog hop, and I'd have to say, it's one of my favorites I've made this year.

I cut the sides of the dress free hand, using punches for the neck and arm openings.  A little stamped tissue paper made the ruffled skirt, and Raspberry Grosgrain trimmed it nicely :).  Thanks to Nichole and the peeps at PTI for this awesome opportunity -- and to the rest of the PTI design team for their seemingly effortless showcasing of the new products each month!!  Happy 4th Anniversary -- wishing you many more!

Getting Organized...

Soooooo, those of you that are familiar with me, know that I moved my crafty space up to the main floor of my home, after a few run-ins with some unwanted house guests... Since then, I had gone through a VERY long creative dry spell, and now that I'm getting back in the game, I'm trying to get my space organized, for as little investment as possible.  So far, so good, really...I've not invested too much $$, but have spent a little time, and honestly I think it's worth it.  I think I'm going to like my new set up, once it's finished, of course.

So, my next two posts are going to be dedicated to some of my 'home-made' organization.  I made my own color cubbie out of foam core board...that will be my next post, but today is about die storage...

I've been hemming and hawing over die storage for a while.  I wasn't sure exactly HOW to go about my dies and embossing plate storage.  I wanted something that was compact enough, but easy to see what I have, and it had to be NEAT.  My friend Barb, had a cool system, where she put her nesties on magnetic sheets, and filed them in metal dvd cases, and those were filed in photo storage boxes...and then there's Dawn, who made the most adorable die storage for all of her PTI dies...so I thought, and thought and thought, and then POOF!!  I finally figured out how I was going to store my dies.  I took elements from Barb, and Dawn, and made my own system.

 I went to Home Depot, and bought these Magnet vent covers.  They measure 8"x15", and 3 come in a pack for less than $5!  I cut each cover in to 6 4"x5" magnets... (so that's 18, count them, 18 magnet sheets for less than $5)

Then I cut some Kraft CS 4.25"x7.25" and mounted the magnet on one side, and I've written the name of the dies on the tab with no magnet.  Eventually, I'll cover those with nicer labels, but I've at least got them all labeled for now, so I know which dies are which.

 

ETA: the magnet on the card with the number dies measures 4X6.5 (or 6.75, I can't remember!) In order for me to fit them all on one card, I cut the magnet larger :)

Then, I broke out a photo box, and used some of the foam core that was left over from my color cubbie, and made a couple of dividers for the box (they measure 4.25" x 7.5") and I hot glued them in place.  I've organized my dies/embossing plates/folders as follows:  Spellbinders are up front, PTI dies are in the center, and all of my embossing/impression plates are in the rear.

 I was so proud of my little creation, I shared it with hubby (who was SO enthused, I might add) but he was curious what I was going to do with the vent covers, so he got what he asked for, right??  Anyway, while he was sitting there, marveling at my work(*snicker*), I took my PTI rick rack die, and just laid it across the PTI section.  You see, it's too wide to fit sideways in the box, and I still want to be able to put the lid on the box.  So, I was just going to lay the die, diagonally in the box.

Hubby says "you're going to leave it like that?"
I reply, "Well, yeah.  I'm not sure how I'm going to store it yet, look, it won't fit".
So hubby says "I can't believe you are going to go through all of that, and leave that thing like that".

Then, all of a sudden... POOF! (it happens alot around here) hubby had a BRILLIANT idea.
Hubby: "Babe -- do you have a piece of magnet left??"
Me: "Yes, I have this larger piece that I haven't cut yet"
Hubby: "You should glue that to the inside lid of the box.  Put the long one on that magnet.  Then it will still be in the box, but stored neatly."
Me: "WOW -- that is a FANTASTIC idea, and I'll have plenty of room for more!"...

then of course, he sat there, all satisfied with himself for the rest of the afternoon ;).

So, there you have it...my die storage... oh, and I'm slowly but surely procuring enough white photo boxes that I will soon be able to build a fort with them...and I will share my plans for them with you, as they happen...

Until next time...thanks for stopping by, and make it a great day!!