Market Street Stamps March Block Party

Every month Market Street Stamps has a Block Party and its really fun to play along. I recently purchased the Hippie Chic stamp set used from a stamping friend, so I decided I'd play with it for the party. Here's the card I created:

I paper pieced the dress form in woodgrain paper from Amuse and gingham Dark Chocolate paper from PTI. I colored the guitar with Copics, and stamped the sentiment right onto the PTI kraft ribbon. I tied the Twinery twine around the ribbon.

The Venetian patterned paper is also from Amuse.

My dad always tells the story of how when he met my mom, all he saw were her legs in her fringed skirt when she was carrying her guitar. This card reminds me of that story :)

Want to play along with this month's party, too? You could win a chance to be a guest designer for Market Street Stamps. Get all the details here.

Paper Smooches Sparks

Time for another Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge with another set that Kim Hughes sold me on in her class that I took last Friday, A Little Lovin'. Here's my card:

Here's the inspiration photo that the Sparks team picked out for us to use:

What stuck out to me the most were the two different colors of green, the huge cotton tails of the bunnies, and their different colors of ears. So I started out with an Amuse notecard base (I got a set of notecards for hosting the Amuse party a few weeks ago and placing an order). Then I used some PTI Spring Moss cardstock and the snow drifts die to cut out some "hills." I used the SU Sizzix polka dot embossing folder on the front hill and also inked the edges. Since I only used one bunny, I gave him two different colored ears to go along with the photo, and a huge cotton tail :)

The sentiment is from PS sentiment sampler and the ribbon is from Amuse.

I tied a small bit of pink Amuse ribbon in the knot, too, to bring in some of the ear colors in the inspiration photo.

Thanks for stopping by :)

The 12 Kits of Christmas: March 2012

It's that time again, time for the 12 Kits of Christmas! :) If you just stumbled upon this post and have no idea what I'm talking about, see my first post, here, where I explain what it's all about. This month's kit is from Suzanne!! She seriously sent so much stuff that I could have created several more cards, but I stopped at SIX!! Take a peek at the supplies she sent:

And without further ado, here are the cards I created with the kit contents:

Everything above was in the kit except the card bases, the holly berry die, the pine bough die, and the snow drifts die. These are not usually stamps or papers that I would have on hand, but good grief, it was fun getting to experiment with them! I can't believe that I even created purple Christmas cards! But I love them :) I feel like some of the cards turned out so vintage. It is hard for me to pick a favorite, but I think that the purple one with the text snow and the first card turned out to be my favorite (you know I love the cutie pie bird ;) What do you think? I am dying to see what everyone else created with their kits, and I bet you are, too :) Off you go onto the blog hop!

Suzanne: thecardyard

Cathy: EmptyNestCrafter

Joyce: Cards-by-the-Sea

Kim: CupcakesCardsandKim

Amy: Stamp-n-Paradise

Kara: KandRDesigns

Sharron: OnPapillionWings

Marybeth: Marybeth's Time for Paper

Jeanne: AKeptLife

Jessica: The Paper Parade

Christina: SeaGlass&Sentiments

Renee: ItsAPatchworkLife

Paper Dolls: Spring Bling

I am really excited to be a member of a very talented group of ladies called The Paper Dolls. They've been around for over a year now (maybe two?) and have their own challenge blog! This is my first time participating as a member of the Dolls. I played along with the first challenge of the year put on by Suzanne and Renee, Spring Bling. You can check it out, here. Now on to my card:

I just got my PTI package in the mail yesterday, and in there was the Little Bitty Bird Additions set (I actually don't own the original, but you don't need it because this one comes with its own birds!) The fence, music notes, birds, and sentiments are from the set. I also used the Mat Stack #5 die in kraft.

The Double Ended Banner Die was in my package, too. At the shoebox swap I went to last Saturday, Sarah used it in this way by scoring it, and I thought it was such a great idea!

The grid stamp is from Market Street Stamps, the ribbon is from Amuse, and the cardstock is from PTI. And how could I forget an important part of the challenge? Bling!! I used a whole row of rhinestones to the left of the ribbon to fulfill this aspect ;)

This challenge was easy and fun, and there's still time to play along, so go check it out and link up your card!

And don't forget to check back tonight (or tomorrow) because its time for another round of the 12 Kits of Christmas :)

Retro Sketches #4

Last Friday I got the chance of a lifetime...to meet the owner and designer of Paper Smooches, Kim Hughes!!!!! It is no surprise at all that her stamps are as cute and sweet as they are, because that is just what Kim is, so incredibly sweet and adorable :) I'll be posting the cards that we made soon (we made 5!) but this set is one that we used, and of course she sold me on it ;) Here's my card:

And here's this week's Retro Sketches challenge that I used:

Oh my goodness, aren't the flower and bees SOOO cute?? Behind them is PTI Frutti Tutti patterned paper and kraft cardstock cut using the 1/2 and 1/2 dies. The embossing folder is from Cuttlebug and the fence is a Martha Stewart punch.

This cute sentiment came with the set, too :)

And here we are!! Me, Christina, and Kim (top row), Karolyn (who came to help Kim run the class) and Suzanne.

I can't tell you how thrilled I am that Kim put this class on her blog and there were still spots left only an hour from my house! It was a night to remember, for sure :)

PTI March 2012 Blog Hop

Hi everyone, I'm here with a bright and cheery card to play along with PTI's March Blog Hop!

Here's the inspiration photo that we were given this month:

I was most inspired by the striped bag in the bottom right of the photo. I decided to make my card base just like it, complete with folded over "flap" that has a pinked border. I was also inspired by the aqua mist polka dot paper in the lining of the box, and the big aqua mist bows on some of the bags. And finally, the sweets in the photo, hence why I chose the sentiment I did ;)

Everything on the card is PTI except for the pearls which are Recollections from Michaels. Now off to see what everyone else created for the hop :)

CPS #257 & Color Throwdown #183

Kasia totally sold me on the Paper Smooches Chubby Chums set (although anything PS wouldn't be too hard to sell ME on ;) when she made this card. So in my most recent PS order (got extra stamp $$ for helping the hubby with yardwork LOL) Chubby Chums has become part of the growing PS collection :) Here's my first card I created using the adorable cat image from the set:

I used this color combo from Color Throwdown's challenge this week:

And this sketch from CPS:

This sketch is clean and nice, I'll probably go to it again one day. All the cardstock and the ribbon is PTI. The circle punch and embossing folder are SU, the pearls were from Michaels.

So I made this card for my friend (who is a cat lover) because she is taking a Wilton Cake making class and brought this beauty over to me on Sunday night! Check it out:

Look at those gorgeous flowers that she handmade! And then that basket...the whole cake looked like a lovely basket of spring flowers. It was almost too pretty to eat....ALMOST ;) Inside it is red velvet and divine!! :)