Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

The challenge this month is all about using scallops:

This month we decided to dedicate the Blog Hop to scallops!  We want to see your best use of scallops, of any sort, on a project!  This can include scalloped borders, offset-scallops, stamped scallops, scalloped mats, scalloped frames, layered scallops, scalloped tags or anything else you can dream up!  You can use dies, patterned scissors or even circle punches in a row to achieve your special look.  We are looking forward to seeing all of your amazing creations!

I knew I wanted to use gingham for the scallops.  I had recently gotten the All About You Additions stamp set and I wanted to use the flowers, so my plan came together pretty quickly and I made this card:

Thanks for looking!  Now go check out the rest of the Blog Hop participants on the list over at Nichole's blog.  Have a great Blog Hop day!

Details:

Cardstock: PTI Rustic White and New Leaf

Patterned Paper: DCWV Flower Shower

Stamps: PTI All About You and All About You Additions

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: Copics, atyou Spica glitter pens

Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

A Chocolate Bunny and a Tweet

As soon as I saw this post by Betsy Veldman, I knew I wanted to make a card with an Easter basket on it.  Of course, my Easter basket had to have a chocolate bunny and I had the perfect solution for that with a Cricut cartridge I had called Easter 2010.  This is what I came up with:

My favorite part is the chocolate bunny.  See how I couldn't resist and took a bite out of his ears?  Hehe.  I made the cute little pink bow with my Bow Easy.  I rarely use it but it sure came in handy for this because it is such a tiny bow.

Oh, and I forgot to mention earlier about a tweet I got last week.  I was so excited when I saw that Nichole Heady picked my card for the daily spotlight for PTI's Make It Monday #2 challenge on using vellum sentiment strips.  That is so awesome!

Details:
Cardstock: PTI Rustic Cream, Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain and Lemon Tart
Patterned Paper: PTI Pretty Pastels, Cosmo Cricket Togetherness collection
Stamps: The {Stamps} of Life bunny4Easter
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Tea Dye Duo
Other: PTI Favor It 3 die, PTI egg die, Cricut Easter 2010 cartridge, PTI ribbon and button, Fiskars border punch, Corner Chomper
Size: 4.25" x 5.5"

Make It Monday #3

This week's challenge is about adding glitter strips to your project with Score-Tape.  Go to Nichole's blog to watch the technique video for this challenge.  I was really excited about this challenge because I have never added glitter to a card.  I have a pack of Martha Stewart glitter in lots of colors that I got at Michael's a long time ago during a sale.  But it just sat in my drawer, I was intimidated by it.  So today, with Nichole's challenge, I pulled the glitter out and made the following card:

I love it!  It was scary at first with the glitter but it was actually pretty easy.  This is a technique I will definitely use more.  This is also the first time I used Papertrey's Luck of the Irish stamp set (and I've had it almost a year).  I really like the sentiments in the set and I think the little clover added the perfect touch to this clean and simple card.  

Be sure to check out the other challenge submissions here.

Details:

Cardstock: PTI Stampers Select White

Stamps: PTI Luck of the Irish

Ink: Memento Bamboo Leaves

Other: Martha Stewart glitter, Score-Tape (1/2" and 1/4")

Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

Happy Spring Bunny!

I am the hostess for the February Papertrey INKers challenge and my challenge is to use the color of your favorite flower on your project, but you can not use a flower on the project.  Wow, I didn't realize myself how tough that would be.  Yellow roses have been my favorite flower since I was a child.  It's my mother's favorite flower, too.  I've always liked yellow, it's such a cheery, happy color.

Here is my yellow card for the challenge:

The cute little bunny came from The {Stamps} of Life.  I love that he is holding a sign and he is a nice size for cutting out.  He also fits perfectly with these new papers from Echo Park's Springtime collection.

Details:
Cardstock: PTI Harvest Gold and Stampers Select White
Patterned Paper: Echo Park Springtime collection
Stamps: The {Stamps} of Life bunny4Easter
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: Copics, PTI ribbon, pearls from Michaels

Happy Birthday Primrose!

I'm getting more cardmaking done right now than usual because I have a bad cold and am stuck at home.  So in between naps and with my newfound pal Dayquil, I've been in my craft room (I hate daytime TV).  Next up is the latest Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge at My Favorite Things.

I've really fallen for the Pure Innocence stamps by MFT.  These little girls are so sweet and a lot of fun to color.  I also used some paper from a Cosmo Cricket collection that I bought a long time ago and never used.  I think it is perfect with this PI stamp.

Details:
Cardstock: PTI Kraft and Rustic White
Patterned Paper: Cosmo Cricket Honey Pot collection
Stamps: MFT Pure Innocence Primrose, PTI Big Birthday Wishes
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Tea Dye Duo
Other: Copics, atyou Spica glitter pens, PTI Bookmark die, pearls from Michaels
Size: 7" x 5"

PTI Make It Monday #2

This week's challenge is about using a vellum sentiment strip on your project.  Go to Nichole's blog to watch the technique video for this challenge.  I rarely use vellum so this was a good challenge for me.  I'm into scallops right now and I knew I wanted to make a card that was all scallops.  When I saw the Pretty Pastels paper pack, I thought they would be perfect for this card:

Adding the vellum sentiment strip was tricky because I wanted it to be in a wave.  I dug through my stash of adhesives and found some clear tape strips.  It worked perfectly and I was able to get the look I wanted.

Details:

Cardstock: PTI Stampers Select White

Patterned Paper: PTI Pretty Pastels

Stamps: PTI Egg Hunt

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Other: PTI Vellum, PTI medium scallop die, PTI double ended banners die, crystal from my stash

Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

Still doe-se-doe'n after all these years!

Well, I guess I gloated just a little too much about the great, sunny weather we'd been having here in NorCal.  Now it's rainy and cool and ... I caught a cold.  Yuck!  I didn't get much done this weekend in the way of crafting but I did manage to make one card, one that a friend asked me to do for her parents' 60th wedding anniversary.  I had a lot of fun with this one.  I found this awesome stamp on eBay and they were super nice and rushed it to me.  Oh, I had so much fun coloring it!  What do you think?

I love this old square dancing couple.  They are so cute.  Here is the cute sentiment I also got to go with it:

And here is a close up of my copic coloring.  I love how the dress came out. 

Details:

Cardstock: PTI Kraft and Rustic White

Stamps: Art Impressions Square Dancers (Golden Oldies) and inside sentiment

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Patterned Paper: Melissa Frances Kitschy Kitchen, DCWV Flower Shower

Other: Copics, atyou Spica glitter pens, PTI Sweet Blush ribbon, crystals from my stash, corner chomper

Size: 5.5" x 5.5"

PTI Make It Monday #1

Papertrey Ink is celebrating their 4th anniversary this month and every day so far they have been making an exciting announcement.  Today's is a new weekly challenge called Make It Monday.  The first challenge is called Go-To Sentiments.  You can read about it here and see a video by Erin Lincoln demonstrating this technique.

Since I need to make some baby cards, I decided to go with a baby theme.  Here is the card I made:

I really like it.  What a great technique!  This patterned paper is My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Tickled Pink.  I thought the banners at the top and images on the sides would frame the sentiments nicely.  I really like how it turned out.  I used four different stamp sets, all Papertrey Ink: Bitty Baby Blessings, Baby Button Bits, Night Night Moon and Love Songs.  No embellishments were needed!

I had a lot of fun with this challenge.  I look forward to future Make It Mondays!

Details:
Cardstock: PTI Kraft
Patterned Paper:  My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy Tickled Pink
Stamps: All PTI: Bitty Baby Blessings, Baby Button Bits, Night Night Moon and Love Song
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate and Tea Dye Chai
Size: 5.5" x 4.25"

Fantastic February in Northern California

We are having the most fantastic weather here in NorCal right now.  Last year was such a cold and wet winter that carried right over into summer, it seemed that we had no spring.  And this year seems to have started that way too, but for the last couple of weeks, we have had such gorgeous weather.  And we are taking advantage of it as much as possible before the cold and rain comes again.  This morning I took Marley up to the Briones Regional Park and we had a great two hour hike.  Here are some photos:

Who's a cutie pie?!

At the top of Briones

  Hope you are having a great weekend too!

Welcome Little Boy!

I have several baby cards to make for colleagues at work for this spring.  When I saw this My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Club sketch challenge, I knew it would be perfect for a baby card.

It's the first time I've actually made a card from a sketch and it was really fun!  And easy!  I am definitely going to use sketches more.  I used the fun new a la mode - Oh Baby! stamp set from MFT. I love coloring with copics and this was fun and challenging (thank goodness for the colorless blender - love that thing!).  Here is my card:

I am off to walk Marley; we seem to be having an early spring here in NorCal.  I know we need the rain but I am really enjoying the ability to take Mar up to the nice, green hills and letting her chase (I mean play with) those ground squirrels.

Thanks for stopping by!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Details:
Cardstock: PTI Rustic White and Dark Chocolate
Patterned Paper: My Mind's Eye Fine and Dandy True Blue
Stamps: MFT a la mode - Oh Baby!
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Other: PTI Orange Zest ribbon, copics, EK Success border punch, Nestabilities oval and scallop oval dies, chipboard embellishment from Joann's
Size: 5" x 7"

Happy Anniversary!

Earlier in the week I finally made it through every single post for Papertrey's January Blog Hop.  I can officially say I hate word verification for comments!  That got annoying real fast when trying to blog hop a lot of posts.

I have two wedding anniversary cards to make this month - one for my hubby and the other for my parents.  After a fun walk with Marley this morning - the weather is absolutely gorgeous here in NorCal - I got busy in my craft room.  While I was checking out the Papertrey Design Team blogs last week, I saw this card by Lisa Johnson, and I had my inspiration.  I've been really into music paper lately, but this is the first time I've used Papertrey's Sweet Symphony paper.  This is what I came up with:

This card is going to my hubby for our 29th anniversary in a couple of weeks.  Shhh ... don't tell him.  I like this one so much that I may give it to my parents too.  Just change up the color a bit.  Will see what else I come up with (but sometimes I can be so lazy).

Details:
Cardstock: PTI Kraft, Aqua Mist and Rustic White
Patterned Paper: PTI Sweet Symphony
Stamps: PTI Heart Prints, Verve Love Story
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate and Tea Dye Duo, Versamark watermark
Other: PTI Ribbon, PTI scallop die, EK Success heart punch, Zva crystals
Size: 4.25" x 5.5"