PTI Bloom Builders #3 flowers

 I've been having fun making flowers with the new Papertrey Bloom Builders #3 die while sitting here at home waiting for a hurricane to make it's way up the east coast. We are on the west side of the Blue Ridge Mountains out here in Winchester, so we aren't supposed to get much. But better safe than sorry, so we're staying home. Anyway, I've been trying to experiement with some different materials with the BB#3 die.

Glitter fun foam, which cut through wonderful - 1 layer of each petal: (thought these would be really cute on a little baby's headband)

Vellum - 2 layers of each petal: love how the edges curled up all by themselves when I spraying on some glimmer mist

Cotton fabric - 2 layers of each petal: took alot of snipping to get the flowers to come out - used backing, but still wouldn't cut through all the way

Gingham patterened paper (My Mind's Eye) 2 layers of each petal:

PTI sweet blush cardstock 2 layers of each petal:

Set of 6 flowers:

I used the metal shim, standard plates and Big Shot to cut them out. On the fabric and vellum flowers, I also added a layer or two of cardstock underneath. I think I'll try felt next.... LOVE these flowers!

My Grateful/Happy Birthday Journal

Hello! I just knew I had to make a Grateful Journal for my husband's 56th birthday when I saw the one Dawn McVey made for her husband. Anthony is such a hard person to buy for, and I knew this would be better than anything I could purchase. I started by purchasing the new Grateful Journal stamp set and tab dies from Papertrey August 15th. I was very excited when they arrived the next week! I happened to have some chipboard 4 x 6 accordian fold books I'd purchased for $1 each and decided to cut them apart and use them for my journal. I covered each page with patterened paper - Road Trip from PTI - and punched three holes on the side with my Cropadile. I planned to bind it with three rings.

 I used a TON of PTI stamp sets and dies -  hopefully you can spot them here and there. The main set I used was the Grateful Journal set (GJ set).

Front Cover (page 1):

I used the GJ set, the button card, the TNL set & dies, the sunflower set, FF#7, the library card, and the woodgrain impression plate on this page.

Page 2-3:

On these pages, I used the library card, star punch, tiny tags, GJ set, little labels dies, half and half dies, and matt stack 5. The picture is of Anthony as a little boy, dressed up like his dad, who was a plasterer by trade.

Page 4-5:

These pages used the GJ set, the Journaling Lines set (remember & memories),  the simple circles die, the little labels die, and the heartprints dies. The picture on the left is of our kids one Easter when they were young. The pictures on the right are of Anthony when he was little.

Pages 6-7:

These pages use the library card, the GJ set, the heartprints dies, little labels dies, Beautiful Blessings set, Out on a Limb Sentiments set, and tag sale 1 die. The picture on the left is Anthony with our first child, Kelly, and the picture on the right os of Anthony getting ready for church with his Bible in his hands. Anthony's mom was such a good Christian woman, and I'm so thankful she raised him in a Christian home.

Pages 8-9:

These pages use the GJ set, the My Hero, My Dad set, and the library card. The picture on the left is our kids all grown up - pretty current - and the left side is reserved for a picture of Anthony with our first grandbaby, who is due to be born tomorrow! Hopefully I can get a picture of him holding her and get it in the album before his birthday on Saturday. That will be really special!

Pages 10-Happy Birthday:

These pages use the library card (again), the TNL set & dies, the sentiment from the Harvest Berries set, one of the Filliable Frames (can't remember which it is), Signature Greetings, one of the freebie circle tags given out during Feb. 2011, and the NEW Beautiful Blooms #3 die cut out of the new patterned paper - I just LOVE this die!!!  The picture is again of Anthony as a child.

Back cover:

The back cover uses a sentiment from Delightful Dahlia on the tab, a sentiment from Out on a Limb, a little label with "priceless"  from GJ set and the lines from Grunge Me set (thanks to the suggestion of Stephanie!). I used a small glassine envelope to put some extra pictures of Anthony and our kids in.

I tried not to "girly" it up too much - deciding not to put ribbons on the circle rings, and grunging up the edges a bit on the pages and the embellishments. I'm excited to give it to him Saturday! Thanks for sticking with me on the looong post! Hope you enjoyed it.

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #26 - Decreasing Apertures Card

Hello! Welcome to my blog! I have finally gotten around to participating in a Papertrey Make It Monday technique. The technique this week was to make a decreasing aperture card. That means cutting windows into your card front with multiple dies - at least that's how I interpreted it. Jennifer Ellefson did a great job demonstrating this technique on Nicole's blog here. Check it out!
Here's my take on this technique:

I used Ripe Avocado, Kraft and Simply Chartreuse PTI cardstock, the Matt Stack 3 die, one of the turning a new leaf dies and the corresponding stamp, a sentiment from Out on a Limb Sentiments, fresh snow ink and rustic jute twine. I really like how this turned out and will use this technique again. Hope you enjoy it too!