Sunday, August 25, 2013

WPlus9 Monday Mood Board Challenge #18

What a fun and nautical-feeling mood board over at WPlus9 this past couple of weeks!  I was inspired to make a couple of cards with this one.  There are some gorgeous entries you can ogle over at WPlus9, just click here to check it out for yourself.



First up is a simple banner card.  I stamped the banner repeatedly over the background and then showcased a single banner, done in watercolor pencils and popped up on foam adhesive for added dimension.






Lastly, I was inspired by the monogram from the Mood Board photo, and I just HAD to try out my new Monogrammed stamp set from WPlus9.  I love that stamp set!



A simple one-layer card, but perfect as a thank you note, or better yet, done in a rainbow variety set to gift to someone special.   
I'm going to put that on my to-do list.    :)

All stamps and dies from WPlus9.

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

PTI June Blog Hop - A touch of Gold



This month's PTI Blog Hop challenge is to create a project incorporating a touch of gold.  Just check out this inspiration photo ... so elegant!  If you would like to check things out for yourself, you can find out all about it here.



I chose to incorporate a bit of gold with a soft and pretty pink baby card, using gold ink and a trio of gold star sequins.




The Striped Sweater stamp set was used to cover the card base, alternating Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush, and white inks.  I sprayed some pearl shimmer mist on the white panel before embossing it with the Quatrefoil plate for a deeper impression and a little extra sparkle.  :)  The card was finished with a Sweet Blush pattern paper word die cut and a hand-crocheted strand, wrapped around the main panel and tied in a bow.




My second card boasts an animal print panel, created using the backs of some flower stamps from my stash, with touches of gold embossing.  The sentiment was embossed in white, and the stripes on the tag were embossed in gold using scor-tape.  A girly-girl, hot pink double-bow tops the card off.  :)   My DD is so excited to give this card at her next invited birthday party!



Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Friday, June 21, 2013

Sweet Birthday Wishes

Have you seen the gorgeous inspiration photo over at WPlus9 this week?  It's so fun and summery!  If you'd like to check it out for yourself, you can see it here.

I just HAD to try out the new milk bottle stamp from the new release set, Milk & Cookies, from WPlus9.  Isn't it just the sweetest little thing??  I paired it up with the Written on Ribbon set to make one sweet birthday card.



I used a craft knife to cut a few slits into the ribbon diecut to allow the milk bottle to slide right in.



A punch was used to make a scallop edge on the card front and some washi tape on the inside edge to contrast against the scallops.  Lastly, the card was finished with an appropriately decorated sentiment stamped inside.



Thanks ever so much for stopping by!   Hope you have a "sweet" day!

Supplies:
WPlus9:  Milk & Cookies, Written on Ribbon, Chantilly Trim, Fresh Picked, Fresh Preserves, and coordinating dies
Other:  Ink, scallop punch, Copic markers, washi tape
Finished size:  3.5"x5"

Sunday, June 2, 2013

PTI Make It Monday #118: Photo Postcards

This week Papertrey Ink has a tutorial and challenge hosted by Ashley.  She has shown us a fabulous idea and technique to create photo postcards by using our stamps to dress up our photos.  Wow!  Why hadn't I thought of that?  :)
If you would like to check it out for yourself, you can find all the info here.

I rummaged through the photos I had on my phone to see if any were good candidates for this challenge.  I came up with more than a few.  :)



The first photo I knew right away that I wanted to pair with this great sentiment from the Petal Pushers stamp set.  I felt it was the perfect match.
This is actually the second photo I stamped on.  Let me explain.  I had my photos printed at Target.  They are the glossy finish, like Ashley used, but the PTI dye ink did NOT soak into the photo, like it showed in Ashley's video.  The upside to that was my stamp did not stick to the photo.  The downside ... neither did the ink.  I have that photo with ink, still in a pool, not dried, for the last two days!  Phooey!  So, with this photo, I used white StazOn ink.  It turned out perfect!  It turned out so wonderful, that I decided this would make a great father's day card!  So, that's what I did.  Adhered it to a card base and will have the kiddos sign it for Daddy.  :)




My next attempt was riddled with ink woes as well.  I decided to stick with the StazOn ink, except this time it didn't turn out perfect at all!  What?!?  Who knows why?  If you know why, please clue me in.  :)  So, I restamped the sentiment with just a pigment white ink.  The results: brighter and more readable, but still wet 2 days later.

The photo is of my DD made up like a sugar skull for last halloween.  It was so fun painting all that on her face.  Hopefully the ink on the postcard will be dry by this halloween.  haha!




I tried to do a retro-modern look to decorate the correspondence side:




I found these cute photos of minecraft characters my DDs made out of cardboard and duct tape.  My first thought was to make some birthday gift tags out of them.  I know it's not a postcard, but the idea is the same.  :)     
This time I tried black memento ink with my sentiment.  No better than the dye ink.  And with the dark color, I think it even looks worse.  I used PTI Aqua Mist for the sentiment on the second tag.  (the Aqua Mist ink does show up a bit more in person)




A look at the festive backside:



I really love this stamping on photos idea!  I don't think I would have come up with that father's day card on my own, and I really love it!  More importantly, I think my DH will love it!  With that, I am going to need to come up with some new materials to attempt this in the future.  Either different ink, or different photo paper.  How about you?  Did you give this challenge a try?  What was your outcome: difficulties or success?  I'd love any tips you may have for me!!


- Post edited to add more projects. - 


I love this photo of my DS with his face painted from Family Night festivities at Chick Fil-A:



I turned it into a "thinking of you/have a good day" postcard:



This is a photo of my DD dressed as the clown, Emmett Kelly, for her Famous Hoosier project at school:



Doesn't it make the perfect "Missing You" postcard?



And lastly, a postcard of our new family member, sweet Zulilly.  We adopted her in February from a local rescue shelter who saves felines from surrounding area high-kill shelters.  She is the sweetest little thing!



We have a couple of feline-loving family members who would enjoying seeing our new addition to the family.  :)





That's it from me.  Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Saturday, May 25, 2013

PTI May Blog Hop - Floral Color Challenge


This month's PTI Blog Hop challenge is to create a project incorporating florals using one of the provided color inspiration photos.  Oh, what can I say about those inspiration photos ... so beautiful, how could I not be inspired!  If you would like to check things out for yourself, you can find out all about it here.


The first card I created was inspired by these monogram cards by the talented Dr. Amber.  I love the tiny florals she accented her monograms with.  I used a word die cut out of gold shimmer paper and my Mini Blooms dies, along with some Copic coloring to make this CAS card.  The colors are drawn from the pink bouquet inspiration photo. 







The second card I created was inspired by the photo Cristina used for inspiration in the last PTI release.  I just love that photo!  I decided to go with the green bouquet inspiration photo for this one.  I popped the panel up with dimensional adhesive and placed a strip of washi tape to the side.  I rather like how this one turned out despite the fact that I totally winged-it.  :)



I even bothered to add a coordinating floral inside this card.  :)






My next card uses the red bouquet inspiration photo.  I used some papers from a MME Miss Caroline paper pack and the Autumn Abundance image colored with Copic markers.  I finished it off with some stitching, buttons, and twine.  For those of you participating in the June 24th card kit swap put on by Joyce, you'll be getting some of those papers and one of those colored images.  :)




My last card is inspired by the orange bouquet photo.  I used more of the MME Miss Caroline papers and a paper pieced YOF: Rose.  I'm also entering this card into this week's MIM challenge hosted by the uber talented, Melissa Phillips.  I wish I had just a smidge of her talent!  I really struggle with paper piecing, and this card just doesn't sit right with me.  I can't put my finger on what it is.  If you have a suggestion on how to make this card look "finished", I'd be happy to hear it!  



Today is not only the PTI Blog Hop, but it's my anniversary too!  Now that I've got my cards posted (a girl's got to have her priorities - ha!), it's off to do something special to celebrate ... hopefully, that will involve eating some yummy cheesecake!  :)

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Hoot & Holla'

Have you seen the Monday Mood Board challenge over at the WPlus9 blog?  It's so fun, bright, and cheerful!  I couldn't resist making up a fun card using the inspiration over there.  I was so surprised how quickly this card came together, which rarely happens for me!


I was able to use up some of the washi tape that I've managed to accumulate a drawer full of.  That felt like an accomplishment in itself.  :)


Thanks ever so much for stopping by!

Sunday, May 12, 2013

Packed with Love


I decided to make a bit of an unconventional Mother's Day card this week, inspired by the gorgeousness of this week's Monday Mood Board challenge over at WPlus9.  Reminds me of a modern country style.  I love the color palette and the wooden hearts are my favorite.  Then, I thought I'd be so smart and spice up my wooden hearts with a few impression plates for added character.  It went just fine in my test run, fine on my next two impressions, then with my Simple Stripes IP ... oops!  I love the look, but be warned if you try this at home, folks!



At least I had the common sense to use a corner and not mess up my IP smack dab in the center!  :)

Given that I used an IP with something other than paper, I am also entering this card into the Papertrey Ink Make-It-Monday challenge #115: Beyond Paper with Impression Plates.



Happy Mother's Day!  Hope your day was "packed with love"!

Thanks ever so much for stopping by!