It's been awhile since my last post - sorry to my few faithful readers. With the Memorial Day weekend and lots of family events, I haven't had much time for crafting. BUT... I did make a quick belated birthday card using the Pond Life turtle. I LOVE this turtle - so cute and easy to stamp! I also LOVE the Bitty Baby DP from PTI.

Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Pond Life, Pond Life Sentiments
Paper: PTI Spring Moss, Misc. Purple, PTI Bitty Baby Blessing DP
Ink: PTI Spring Moss; Pallette Ink Burnt Umber; SU! Old Olive
Accessories: PTI Spring Moss Twill Tape,Sakura glitter pen, Queen & Co Brads, dimensionals

Thanks for Looking!

Hang in There!

Heya! I made this card tonight using a new set I got that was not (gasp!!) Papertrey! I know! But this monkey was so cute, I couldn't resist. I have friend who's suffering through her pregnancy with lots of N&V and I felt inspired to send this to encourage her :).

For the top leaves, I used the 2nd stamped image to get a lighter stamp for dimension. For the bottom leaves, I used masking with a post-it note for dimension. I colored in the images with SU! markers. For a little ZING! I used my Sakura glitter pen for the bananas.

Fine Print:
Stamps: Changito by Stampendous
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White, Lemon Tart; SU! Kraft
Ink: Pallette Noir Black, Burnt Umber; Versamark, SU! Green Garden, Old Olive
Accessories: Pop up dots, Sakura glitter pen, SU! Markers

Thanks for Looking!

Tee Hee!!

I'm so excited AGAIN!!! I got another honorable mention at Nichole's blog!! Click here to see!! It's almost as nice as winning something!!

Simple Alter

Being in the field I am, sometimes you get stuff for free. Usually it has company logos, drug names, etc., emblazoned all over said stuff. A few years back I got this clock that was BEGGING to be altered. It wasn't until after I got married, after I set up a craft room and after I cleaned up some stuff from my mom's house (which incidentally still has a lot of stuff still there- my bro can attest to this), that I found this again. I thought it would be perfect in our office/craft room 'cuz I tend to lose track of time. It was pretty simple - I popped the plastic cover off and used the existing paper insert to trace a circle onto patterned paper. Don't you just love the paper? It's from 'My Mind's Eye.' The hard part was lining up the hour marks. Actually the hardest part was feeding the clock hands back through the hole - I bent the second hand a little but no one can tell :).


I wanted to keep it elegant, so instead of searching for numbers to use, I decided to use brads. I used silver square brads, angled onto their points like a diamond, and green rhinestone brads to mark each quarter hour.
So not much to altering this but I am SO happy with the result - especially since it's pretty AND practical.

Thanks for looking!!

My Humble Craft Room

Hey all, there was a thread on how people store their cardstock on the PTI forum and I said I'd post some pictures :). I recently tried to re-vamp my craft closet/desk with the adage that "if I can see it, I'll use it," running in my head. I really, really tried to not buy anything extra, but use stuff that I had and make it work for me. So for this current re-vamp, I only bought the cropper hopper paper holders and dividers. (This excludes all the stuff you see in the closet that was already there!!) So here it goes!

Please ignore the general mess - but this is as organized as I can get.

Etha, this is for you - Here's how I store my cardstock & papers:

Here's where my Stampin'Up! Designer Paper is organized by design. Then all other patterned paper is organized by color - all reds together, all yellows, all blues, etc.

This set of trays are 12x12 that I set horizontally. I use it for solid 8 1/2x11 cardstock.

It's worked so far. I do need to come up with better system for scraps - for now I just throw them into a drawer. I go to the drawer first before I take out a new sheet but I do have to dig. I have been trying to put back larger sheets back where I got them.

Here's a shot of my desk - it's right next to the closet - it looks messy, but that's clean people! :)

It's definitely not perfect, just felt like sharing! If I had unlimited funds, I'd totally re-do EVERYTHING, a la Nichole Heady, but alas, it not to be....YET!!! :) :)
Debbie

Birthday Boy!

I wanted to participate in this month's GSS, especially since I didn't quite follow the directions a few months back :). So I decided to make a Boy Birthday Card. I combined a sketch from Amy Rysavy's blog with a color challenge from Kristina Werner's site. I was too late to partcipate in their actual blog challenges.


I used Pond Life & Pond Life sentiments... I am SUCH a sucker for anything "Punny." I combined 2 phrases for the sentiment section. To make the fishies more interesting, I used my versamark marker to make them able to hold on to chalk. Chalked them with pearlescent chalk, THEN I added liquid crystal over that. I wasn't sure how that would turn out but the fishies are now shimmery AND shiny :). Also, I don't have Wild Wasabi ink, so I used my SU! Green Garden and stamped the ink off once before stamping on my paper - I think it turned out as a pretty close match! To make a subtle background on one of the cardstock components I used the bubbles from Pond Life to create a background piece... I like how that turned out too. The colors were really outside of my comfort zone but in the end, I think came together pretty well.

I used Birthday Basics to finish off the inside with an extra fishy.


Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Pond Life, Pone Life Sentiments, Birthday Basics
Paper: SU! Wild Wasabi, Pumpkin Pie, Bashful Blue CS; PTI Stamper's Select White CS; SU! Jersey Shore DP
Ink: SU! Pumpkin Pie, Green Garden, Bashful Blue; Pallette Noir Black
Accessories: Pearlescent Chalk, Liquid Crystal, Marvy Mega Circle Punch, Versamark marker & stamp pad.

Thanks for Looking!

Clearly a Birthday

I needed to make a birthday card for my mom - her birthday and Mother's day are really close together and the least I could do was make her 2 cards! :). I'd never used acetate or transparencies for cards and I've been wanting to try Nichole's challenge. I got transparencies made for copiers and they were thinner than I wanted... I'm may need to go and get a different brand to see if they're any thicker.

The Front

The Inside

Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Boxes, Bags, & Tags, Birthday Basics
Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White; PTI Pink Patterns DP
Ink: PTI Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss
Accessories: Making Memories square brads, Transparency sheet, Sweet Blush Grossgrain Ribbon

Thanks again for looking!!

It's All Gone!

I've been meaning to post about my haircut for a bit, just didn't have the pictures. I've had long hair for a few years now... the last time I had really short hair was in 2003. Actually since I've known my husband, I've had long hair. He was a little sad to see it all go, but he likes it (like he had a choice :) ). Well, it had gotten to the point where I needed a haircut, but then I thought, "Hey, if I grow it out a little longer, I can donate it!" So I waited a little longer, then a little longer, until it was reeeaaally long. To the point where I couldn't WAIT to get it cut. I don't have any good before pictures...

But, here's a before, not the best picture but you can see how long it was:



Then I got it CUT! Here are my self portraits:

This is from the same day

This is today, I know it looks like I'm gonna attack you, but really, I'm not.

I've decided to donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths. It was hilarious when my hair dresser cut the ponytail, then plopped it onto the counter. How much you ask, was cut off? 12 inches!!!! Can you believe it? I feel very light and am totally loving the new 'do, it's really easy to maintain and I think I look younger - which is PLUS now that I am of the 30+ set. :)
Just wanted to share! :)

Jumpin' to Say Hi!

A good friend moved to Atlanta a while back and I wanted to send her a quick hello. I wanted to use the "hoppy hello" from PTI's Pond Life... and once I got going a little scene developed.

I wanted to draw attention to the little froggy, so I used liquid crystal to highlight him and the water drops.

Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Pond Life, Pond Life Sentiments
Paper: PTI Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Stamper's Select White CS
Ink: PTI Aquat Mist, Spring Moss; Pallette Burnt Umber; SU! Creamy Caramel
Accessories: Fiskars Large & Med. Oval punch; SU! Ticket Punch; Making Memories Slot Punch; PTI Aqua Mist Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon; Liquid Crystal; Rain Dots

Thanks for Looking!

More Patterned Backgrounds

I made one piece of patterned background paper and used it to make 2 cards. These will be for some co-workers whose birthdays are coming up.



Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Beautiful Blooms, b&c monogram edition, Birthday Basics, Polka Dot Basics
Paper: PTI Sweet Blush, Stamper's Select White CS; PTI Pink Patterns DP
Ink: PTI Sweet Blush, Berry Sorbet
Accessories: Misc. White Brads, White embossing powder, EK Success Corner Rounder punch, dimensional foam, rhinestones stickers, Misc. stiched Ribbon, Making Memories Slot Punch

Thanks for Looking!

Beary Baby Girl

One of our church members welcomed a baby girl and so I wanted to make a card for some of us to sign. I decided to use a sketch from Amy Rysavy's blog.



I don't have Copic marker- doing my best to resist - but I have SU! markers and a few Tombow markers. I think having a grey marker is key to creating shadows and outlines. I got the idea from Judy from "Stamps by Judith," she works magic with markers!

Fine Print:
Stamps: SU! Bundle of Joy; PTI Beautiful Blooms, Mixed Messages
Paper: SU! Close to Cocoa, Purely Pomegranate; PTI Sweet Blush, Stamper's Select White; SU! Berry Bliss DP
Ink: SU! Close to Cocoa; PTI Sweet Blush; Pallette Burnt Umber
Accessories: SU! Ticket corner punch, markers; Sakura clear glitter pen

Thanks for Looking!

For Mom: Part 2

Based on Nichole's challenge a few weeks back, I went on a patterned paper making binge and I made a card for my mother-in-law. Nothing too complicated but I like the outcome!

Here's a close-up of the word window.

Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Beautiful Blooms, Women of Life
Paper: SU! Chocolate Chip CS; PTI Aqua Mist, Stamper's Select
Ink: PTI Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Lemon Tart; SU! Summer Sun
Accessories: PTI Aqua Mist dotted satin ribbon; SU! Word Window punch; EK Success Corner rounder punch

Thanks for Looking!

For Mom: Part 1

I had stamped the Out on a Limb panel a while back but hadn't attached it to a card yet. Can you tell I recently got a ticket corner punch? I think it's in almost every card!! :) I decided to use the stamped image for a card for my mom- for Mother's day. I hadn't gotten Polka Dot Basics yet so I used the itty bitty dot from Little Lady to create a polka dot background on the Spring Moss. Now that I have Polka Dot Basics - MUCH easier making backgrounds. I was never a polka-dotty person but I think I'm coming around to really liking them. It's much nicer than a plain piece of cardstock, yet not overwhelming.

Here's a close up of the window.

Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Out on a Limb, Women of Life
Paper: PTI Select White, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, Pink Patterns DP
Ink: PTI Perfect Match Spring Moss, Sweet Blush; Pallete Burnt Umber
Accessories: SU! Rose Red marker; Clear Sakura stardust pen; Making Memories Rhinestone brads; SU! Word window punch; PTI Sweet Blush Satin ribbon

Thanks for looking!

Little Lady Birthday

I made this birthday card for a good friend of mine. I decided to use a sketch from Taylor VanBruggen's site (Taylored Expressions Cupcake Challenge 12). I don't have anything cupcake related but liked the sketch :). I'm kinda new to sketches but I like how they guide you but still let you be creative!

I also decided to decorate the gift bag to match. She loved the whole package!

Fine Print:
Stamps: PTI Little Lady, Birthday Basics
Paper: SU! Groovy Guava, Ruby Red, River Rock CS, Ginger Blossoms DP; PTI Stamper's Select White
Ink: Pallette Noir Black; SU! Ruby Red; PTI Spring Moss
Accessories: PTI Spring Moss stiched ribbon; Making Memories Slot punch; Rhinestone stickers; Pebbles Pearlescent Chalk, SU! Sage Shadow marker, Versamark marker

Thanks for looking!