Totally Hues #4

Rats, I missed the challenge deadline by a few hours! Oh well, it was still a great color challenge that I enjoyed doing. Guess I need to pay more attention to deadlines next time ;)

And here is my creation with those colors:

I also made a little treat bag to go along with the card. That's a Recee's Egg sticking out.

And the card and treat bag together:

I am loving these color challenges, they make me step out of my comfort zone and try bold, bright colors that I normally wouldn't have tried together, and I love the result! I don't use purple that often, but after using it, I may have to succumb to it more often, it is such a pretty color, and the other 3 colors truly set it off. The adorable stamp set is a Darcie's set that I got at the Black Friday sale at a local stamp store, but had just never gotten around to using (it also wasn't spring yet....although today it does NOT look like spring outside, it snowed last night and it is white everywhere!) The ribbon and buttons are from SU in addition to the scallop border punch. All paper is PTI and ink SU. The grass punch is Martha Stewart.

I made this card for a new member of the local women's volunteer group I'm a part of. We "senior" members all get assigned a "little sis" to help along and make sure she doesn't fall through the cracks. So I thought it would be nice to welcome her with a card and a little treat and let her know that if she plants her seed in our organization, she can certainly bloom and grow ;)

Shoebox Swappin'

This was Suzanne's lovely creation:

She cut every one of those flowers out for each of us before she arrived! Also, I love how she used the favor box die I've been using lately as a basket on a card front instead! How cleaver :) The cute patterned paper, the buttons, and the Stickles in the center of the flowers definitely made the card.

Dena's fabulous design:

Dena had just purchased the kite die from our local stamp store...I'm so glad we got to work with it! I absolutely love it. She also had the baker's twine which I'm also loving, and a really awesome technique for the clouds. She said she has had them forever, but I wish you could purchase them now...they were clear cloud cut outs that had a wooden handle on them. You held them in place and used inked sponges to make the awesome cloudy sky!

And Jayne's Adorable Easter Card:

I fell in love with this cute little bunny the minute I saw it. I I love Jayne's clean and simple style that reminds me so much of A Muse...which is how we met (we used to take all the A Muse classes offered at our local stamp store together). I already have in mind who will be receiving this CUTE creation :)

I had SUCH a great time at the little shoebox swap I hosted at my house this past weekend. I just wanted to share with you all the awesome cards that my stampin' friends designed, too bad all my friends out in "blog land" couldn't have joined, now THAT would have been some shoebox swap!

CPS #211

Here's my creation from this week's sketch:

The inside:

A masculine birthday card...I don't make many of those. It definitely still has some "girly" qualities, but I think it will work ;) What an easy sketch! It looked so plain, though, until I added the embossing folder on the brown cardstock. I have found that it bends the cardstock, though, as you'll see in one of the close ups. If anyone has any tips for that, let me know. Anyway, the stamp sets used are from PTI, the cardstock is PTI as well. The ribbon and Pure Poppy punch (behind the ticket) are SU. I colored the car with Copics. The wavy punch on the inside is from EK Success. Enjoy :)

Card Patterns Sketch 108

My take:

The inside:

I love how this card turned out...I think it truly is sweet :) I don't really know what kind of jelly is that color, however....but it did match the color scheme, so it got used. The sentiment, patterned paper, stamp, cardstock, and interior sentiment and frame are from PTI. The rhinestones are AC Moore, doilies Sysco (from kitchen at work) and clip from local stamp store. Enjoy :)

A Stamper's Dream Day

Me and 3 Queens of PTI :)

Amy, me, Suzanne, Christina (check out their blogs by clicking their name)

You can't go meet some seriously crafty ladies without a little crafty goodness to share :)

And inside? Delicious dark chocolate Ghiradelli brownies, made with Andes Mints in the middle! (Got the recipe from the PTI blog ;)

So their's didn't have the handmade on the back because I was making them up to the minute Suzanne pulled in my driveway ;) But it was supposed to look like this:

And I wasn't the only one who came bearing gifts...which totally made me giggle :) These AMAZING crocheted flower embellishments were handmade by none other than Christina. I was blown away by her creativity and kindness! And check out the adorable packaging, too:

Yesterday started off with a shoebox swap with 3 of my crafty friends (I'll post pics of that later) and ended with a trip into Boston to meet up with 3 awesome fellow PTI lovers and bloggers. Suzanne drove (thanks Suzanne!) and we met up with Amy who is in town for some training, and Christina who took the T in to meet us at Amy's hotel. We went all around the Prudential Mall (I think that's what its called) looking for a place that didn't have a 3 hour wait on a Saturday night, and settled on Cheesecake Factory with an hour wait, but that hour went by so fast, because we were talking craft talk the whole time :) Amy brought along one of her coworkers, and she was laughing at us because she said we were all so much alike. Anyway, it was such an exciting night, and I didn't quit smiling the whole time, they are SO sweet!

PTI March Blog Hop

The challenge this month was to use embroidery floss in a fun way, so I used it in place of ribbon, and I'm liking the effect it has...I think I'll have to keep using this technique in the future! Actually, the very near future.... the girls coming over on Saturday are making this as their shoebox swap card ;)

Anyway, can you tell I got my order today? I used the Sending You set and matching dies, and the gingham background set. I had trouble with this one. I couldn't get it to show up with Versa Mark, so I just picked one of my SU green inks, but I still didn't get full coverage, and didn't quite get it lined up right, so there is a "zipper" in between the two stamped images, lol. I used the floss to cover it up! I also strategically placed the die to cover the botched background, since I had already messed up the other side LOL I do like how it looks, I just need more practice. Also, I had stamped the vine all around the outside, but it looked too busy, so I just folded the card the other way and put the vines on the inside... hehe. All supplies are PTI except the ink and the ribbon border punch. The color choice was again from Dawn's Color Couture. I had just received my Simply Chartreuse paper, so had to use a color combo that included it :) So that's my card! Enjoy :)

Edited to Add:

Did you hear me on PTI radio?!?! That was soooo exciting! And then my friend Suzanne, was on, too! She called right after me so said "I live right down the road from Jessica who just called in" If you haven't heard it, you should definitely listen here.

Make It Monday #7

This Monday's challenge was to add color to colored cardstock. This kite stamp set is from The Stamps of Life set that I got to pick from my CPS win! The "Hip Hip Horray and bubbly border around it are from PTI. The yellow cardstock is SU, the Raspberry Fizz is PTI. The button and the clip are SU, the cloud paper is from A Muse. I used Stickles on the clouds to give them a silver lining. The polka dot ribbon is also A Muse. It was a cool technique that I probably wouldn't have tried otherwise. I'm so glad Make It Mondays exist :)

Make It Monday #6 & CPS # 209

The CPS #209 Sketch:

Make It Monday This Week was an Impression Plate Challenge

And this is what I created:

I'm having 3 crafty friends over on Saturday for some stamping, and I thought it would be fun to send little invitations :)

And of course there have to be matching favors, too!

The whole group:

A close up of one of the favor bags:

The back:

I know its hard to tell since I put the paper over it, but I did do the impression plate challenge on the Top Note die. It was neat, I will definitely use this technique again in the future.

Colored and outlined the owls with Copics:

I wanted to stick with the theme, and I just love how cute these turned out. The colors are, thanks again, to Color Couture by Dawn McVey :) The die and punches are from SU, the eyelet border punch is Martha Stewart, the square outline stamp, polka dots, and sentiment are from PTI. Cardstock is PTI. Not sure of the owl stamp off the top of my head. Plastic rosette is from SU, embossing folder SU, and ribbon SU.

Sorry for 2 posts in one day, but I wanted to get this up in time for the CPS deadline :)

Happily Ever Challenged #15: A Tribute to St. Patrick

Make sure to visit Ted's Blog, here to play along, too :)

A close up of the score lines I made with the Score Buddy:

Close up of the shamrock. First I punched the hearts, then put them in the Sizzix embossing folder to give the texture.

So its a couple of days late, but better than never :) I started this card over a week ago, but I just haven't been able to get it how I wanted. This morning I decided, I'm just finishing it! So I did. It is actually a St. Patty's Day thank-you note, because my parents gave me a very special St. Patty's Day surprise... $15 to Papertrey Ink!! Whoo hoo! So mom, if you're reading this, be surprised when you get the card ;)

This challenge was to use the colors of Ireland's flag and to incorporate a shamrock. I remember reading Ted's original post about how real shamrocks have a certain number of petals, but didn't re-reference the post before I made the card, and I did it wrong. They're supposed to have 3!! Sorry, Ted ;) Anyway, the big ribbon, orange punches, the eyelet border punch, the heart punch and embossing folder, the little button, and the background stamps are all SU. The banner set is from PTI. The pearls are from A Muse.