Lovin' My New PTI April Goodies!

I've been playing all afternoon with my new stamps, dies, ink and paper from my Papertrey April release. I am just loving so many things from this release. I was a little on the fence about the Postmarks background stamps - but I'm SOOO glad I got it! It adds such a nice vintage flair to the backgrounds. I've used it in the cards below:

I've been playing with the Garden Variety and Garden Variety 2 sets too, as well as the YOF Collection and the new seed frame dies #2. To give you a better idea of how some of the purples work together, here is the Violet card up closer:

That's a royal velvet border, with a rustic cream front, stamped with Winter Wisteria ink, with a Lavender Moon seed packet. They all look great together IRL! You can see that Postmarks background better in this up close picture - don't you just love it?

Here is the second card, which is very similar:

It has a Dark Chocolate border, with the same rustic cream front, stamped with the Postmarks background in Dark Chocolate ink. The seed packet is cut from the striped Dark Chocolate paper pack. The sentiment is from Movers & Shakers. The twine in both cards is from the Twinery.
Hope you enjoy them! I'm also having fun playing around with my Strawberry patch stamps and the Perfect Patches die cuts - more to share on that a bit later. Thanks for visiting!

Friendship Jar Project

Hello! I decided the other day, that it was high time to pull out my Papertrey Friendship Jar stamp sets (I have all of them) and give them some love. I have been inspired by Melissa Phillips to use glitter more on my cards - I just love her Friendship Jar cards here and here. So I die cut a bunch of jars - big and small, and went to work. Some of these I made duplicates of because I liked them so much. Almost all the cards are covered with fine clear glitter, although it doesn't show up very well in these pictures. There's still lots of glitter on my desk, and I can count on my husband to let me know I have glitter on my face when he comes home in the evening. haha - I just tell him it's part of my sparkling personality - :)

Anyway - here are the cards and a couple tags - I made 10 cards total and two tags.

I used all PTI supplies (except for some ribbon and the red gingham paper). Stamp sets: Friendship Jars, Summer fillers, Spring Fillers, Framed Out #2, Postmarks, Background Basics Twinkle, Background Basics Argyle, PTI patterned paper.

Note: I just love PTI Enchanted Evening ink on Blueberry Sky paper (You've got Mail card). It really pops! Hope you enjoy! Now, to go clean up all that glitter!

Monday with Melis Challenge #1

Hello! I had fun participating in the Monday with Melis (Melissa Phillips on the Papertrey Team) today. Her challenge was to create a card with a birthday theme, using a heart, a background stamp, scallops, and buttons. I seem to be in the baby card mode lately, with a little 7 month granddaughter and another grandchild on the way, so I created this card for a child's birth-day - as a congratulations card for the new parents. I used the Background Basics Twinkle set on the top half of the card, the heart border die and Aqua Mist felt, antique buttons from my stash, and the scalloped border dies (small and medium) with felt for the rosettes. I also used the Filigree border die, the Sending you die, Inside Out Baby sentiments stamp set, PTI Aqua Mist cardstock, Versacolor "Celadon" ink, and some lace on this card. I had to split the sentiment line "The Greatest of Gifts" into two lines by selective inking in order to get it to fit on the Sending You die. Hope you enjoy!

2012 Easter cards for the Grandchildren

Hello! I had such fun creating Easter cards for my grandchildren this year! I thought I'd share them with you.

First up is the card I made for Lucas, our 9 year old grandson. I found it was harder to make an Easter card for a 9 year old that wasn't too girly, or too childish. I decided to use the new Seeing Stars stamp set from Papertrey Ink, as well as one of the sentiments from Movers and Shakers Sentiments. I also used the double ended banner die and the new stars border die. it isn;t real Eastery on the outside, but the inside message is an Easter one.

The next card is for my 7 month old granddaughter Chloe. I try to make her a birthday card each month (for the first year). This was her first Easter card. The stamp I used on her card was a Tilda stamp from Magnolia. I love coloring these with my copics. I used Flower Soft on the tummy and bottom of her foot. I used the computer generated tutorial on Make-it-Monday #59 by Erin Lincoln to make the sentiment on the top of the card. I cut it out with a Spellbinders banner die. I also used PTI white cardstock, and Happy Spots patterned paper. The ovals were cutout with Spellbinders Labels #10 dies. The ribbon is an Offray ribbon from an outlet near me.

The last Easter card is really a tag, it's for my yet unborn grandchild. The baby will be born in September. I do not know the sex yet, so I left the tag gender neutral. I used the  Friendship Jar stamp set and Tag Sale #3 from Papertrey, as well as some copics to color the image in. Again, the ribbon is from the Offray outlet.

Hope you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

Using the Card Base-ics die from Papertrey

I was very excited to get my Card Base-ics die from Papertrey a couple weeks ago. I already had a use in mind for it. I make cards for the secretary at our church to send out to folks in the congregation when they are sick or going through a rough time, or just need encouragement. I usually like to include Scripture on the card, but it's almost impossible to choose the right verse with the right inside sentiment. That's where the Card Base-ics die comes in. Using the die, I was able to cut out bases for the cards, which included the little flaps to insert a sentiment.

Then I stamped several different Scripture verses on white cardstock, most using the PTI Library card die (which fits perfectly in the card flaps).

I also used the Christmas Label Die and printed out various inside sentiments from Healing Touch Sentiments and put scor-tape on the back to affix on the inside of the card.
Luckily, the secretary at the church is a former stamper, so she is comfortable in putting these elements together. She was very excited when I showed her how she can custom choose the right Scripture and inside sentiments for the particular card she is sending! An added bonus is that the recipient is able to just slip out the Scripture verse from the front card flaps and carry it with them in their wallet or purse for encouragement during the day. Here's the complete set, which I then packaged up in a PTI clear card box (the older, bigger ones that stamp sets came in). Hope this inspires you to get out those Card Base-ics dies and put them to work!

Papertrey MIM #56 - Die cutting a partial image - card 2

  
Hello! I am participating in Papertrey's Make it Monday challenge this week. Betsy Veldman did a video here on how to die cut only part of a die. I received this Hallmark card from a friend and decided to try to case it with stamps of my own.

I set out using the Beautiful Blooms 2 stamp set from Papertrey, aqua mist and raspberry fizz inks, and a sentiment from Inside Out Thank You. I did a trifold card, scoring and folding an 11" x 4 1/2" at 3 1/2" and 8".  I am pleased with the results and hope you like it too!

 Thanks for looking!

Papertrey MIM #56 Die cutting partial images

Hello! I am participating in Papertrey's Make it Monday challenge this week. Betsy Veldman did a video here on how to die cut only part of a die. The butterflies in Beautiful Butterflies immediately came to my mind. I had a little trouble with the right side of the butterfly almost cutting through, but due to the thickness of PTI cardstock, it just made an indentation. So with no further ado, here is my card for the challenge.

I used PTI cardstock, Beautiful Butterflies stamp set, Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse, Spring Moss and Spring Rain inks. Thanks for looking!