I'm back...sort of

I havent been posting much, for good and bad news. Good news - I"m expecting. Bad new- been sufferng pretty bad from hyperemesis, which is severe "morning" sickness.

So energy for crafting has been at an all time low - shopping for crafting has not though !! The new goodies were just too tempting to ignore so I took my bucket to my craft room and started creating my first things in MONTHS - it felt great ... until the nap I had to take from expending so much energy !


Heres a couple of cards I made for fathers day. First is a really fun discovery I had with my PTI woodgrain inpression plate - it works on CORK !!

I ran it through my big shot, and then because I wanted the grain visible upon potographing, I brushed it with my Cognac pallette pad to bring out the impression a bit more. Kind of draped some EE saddle stitch ribbon across the card, and used and EE cutout and fillable frames #5 dies and sentiment. Used some SUPER old ranger embossing powder, and trust me when I tell you embossing powder can get old. it didn't stick to the versamark very well, but I think the roughened look suits the card so i didn't do over.




Next card is one I made for my hubby - he's a teacher so I thought the ledger paper from Dawn's March color couture download would be great. Super sinple card, 3 stars from star prints, some Dark Chocolate Twill, and stamps from 3 sets make up the sentiment - Trajan Alphabet, Pond Life and Get to the point.



Decided this scholarly card looked great photographed in the clutter on my desk. ENJOY !!

Die storage

Hi all, wanted to show everyone how I store my dies cause I LOVE this way...it keeps everything together and takes SO little space.

I bought this great rubber stamp storage binder from Taylored Expressions with some additional inserts. I then went to walmart and got these Elmers adhesice magnet sheets ($2 each !) to cover the inserts. right now I only put the adhesive on one side, i didn't want to worry about one side sticking to the other side. I was able to put mynestabilites, as well as PTI dies on there, and even the border dies - although they do stick out the page, they still fit inside.

Since the binder is closed all the way around, the dies dont fall out.

Thanks for looking !

Woodgrain X 2 and butterfly's

So last posts card was bothering me....too much cork i guess so I took it back to my craft room and edited a bit.....i like this a lot more and you can see the background so much more

OK, time to let go !!!

Next card is some fun I had with my PTI felt. Wow. this stuff cuts like BUTTER ! I ran it through my big shot and at first I thought it might not have cut cause it was just sooooo smooth !

The customs people are still playing with my PTI butterfly die, so I used my SU butterfly Bigz die, and it is still just beautiful ! I had a solution sitting around with some SU Frost White shimmer paint and rubbing alcohol, so I just sprayed it on the butterfly for such a subtle shimmer. I also took the platinum shimmer paint to "paint" the border on the outline of the butterfly. Background is Dot Spot win Plum pudding and Smokey Shadow, and I sewed a little french dot in the centre of each circle with some MS crochet thread that matches lavender moon exactly. Trail of black rhinestones...SU label die and sentiment from Asian Fusion...also edged the die with some 2 way glue and MS hematite glitter....

Woodgrainy

Ok, do you have those people in your life, really close individuals who know you make cards but have NEVER asked you for one ???

Is it stubbornness or pride that makes you pull out all the stops on cards for them ??

So I have a male birthday card for just one of those people in my life. I started with a PTI kraft base, Enchanted Evening layer, and then another craft base that I stamped in SU's wood grain background. I moved it a tiny bit and stamped it again to get a bit of a thicker wood grain. Then I sponged it in brown craft in, and then in navy craft in on top of that. I LOVE the way it turned out. Use my NEW PTI scalloped border die on some quickutz cork.I also used PTI's fillable frame die #1 for the sentiment layer (just cut the EE one in half and placed it behind the kraft one. Stamped happy birthday from Say it with Style and coloured in with some copics. Enchanted evening saddle stitch, and some vintage hardware on the bottom left finishes it off.

Everything looks slightly crooked in the pic I can promise it's not! I took it at a bad angle...

Here is another close up of the wood grain detail.

Hello bloggy land

Are you getting excited for the new release at PTI ??? I am even though i haven't yet received all of last months release goodies !!!

A couple of cards to share with you today.......

The first one is a belated birthday card (all my husbands fault) he comes home and tells me they had a little party for one of his co-workers at work today. Not only did her forget to tell me to make her a card, but he didn't even think to grab one out of the 50 or so he has on his desk (he sells my cards at work ) !!!!

So, I wanted something cute but fast - didn't have a lot of time last night- so I turned to Dawn's colour couture. Some really cute embellishments, colour combo's that take me out or my comfort zone, and they are super easy to cut out.

In the first card I used this belated birthday embellishment. Layered it on a punched piece of berry sorbet (new SU border and corner punches, I finally got them to work for me. Well ok, not really but I covered my boo boo with another flower embellishment !!!). Spring moss and ripe avocado layer, on a vintage cream base. I used SU ribbon and corduroy button, pure poppy ribbon was just a tad too bright.

Next up is a little card I made for a co-worker who really needs a lift.
I used some beautiful autumn PTI paper, along with spellbinders labels 5. Summer Sun and Vintage cream layers, along with some Orange Zest saddle stitch. I used a few Orange Zest and terracotta tile buttons, and layered everything on a spring moss base. Little cloud image is SU.

PTI Blog Hop

Inspired By.......

Hello and thanks for stopping by on the PTI Blog Hop. This months theme is getting inspired by the fabulous Design Team. While I'm super inspired by Niki's distressing, Dawn's colour combinations, Michelle's vintage touch and Debbie's colouring, I'm MOST inspired by Nichole. (and now thanks to the video I can pronounce her last name properly !!!)

I LOVED the technique she used with vellum here.

Since my release goodies arent here yet, I duplicated it as best i could with the medium flower from In Bloom. I stamped the flower in smokey shadow, and then coloured the middle a bit with a yellow chalk writer marker by Marvy uchida. I then sponged some fresh snow ink on the middle of the flower a bit like Nichole does in her post. I matted it on Kraft and then Lemon tart. Flower is a couple of punches and a sentiment from Start Prints. Lemon Tart Satin dots....quick and easy !

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of the hop !

WaltzingMouse Blog Hop

Hello and thanks for stopping along on the WMS blog hop ! If you stumbled upon my blog, please make sure to start at the beginning (with a big mug of tea!) over at Claires blog http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.com/2010/02/welcome-to-our-first-blog-hop.html

Today's card started off with the beautiful Cross stamp from Celtic Heritage. I stamped it in Paris Dusk memento ink - LOVE that colour !! If anyone knows where I can find the perfect blue-purple paper to match that ink let me know!
I also love to stamp intricate images like this in memento so I can colour - I used BV00 and BV02 for colouring in the detail on the stamp. Made a little frame for the cross to pop out of (got that straight from Claire's bog) with stamps from Very Vintage labels #1, and used the same stamp set for the scrolly background. Tied some organza and satin ribbon behind the cross (I'm hoarding this ribbon like no tomorrow, you should have seen how long it took me to tie this bow as I cut the organza too short, but refused to cut another piece I was determined to make it work !!) Popped out an initial on the bottom..this is a baptism card.



As for the cross, I smooshed it in versamark and embossed it in SU iridescent ice embossing powder, then added a dollop of glitter with some Crystal Effects...LOVE the sparkle !!