Show and Tell

happy happy day

One more graduation card for you today. Another non-traditional sort. For some reason, this year I just haven't been into school colors and lots of caps, tassels, diplomas, and such.

SHOW

The outside of the card doesn't really look graduation-ish at all — but I didn't buck tradition entirely. The inside did get a little more typical... except that I played off the "happy, happy" on the front and added an additional "happy" to the "happy graduation" sentiment.

This card has been mailed to the daughter of some good friends; she graduates from high school today.

Julie comes from a very musical family and was one of the drum majors for our local high school marching band this year. A drum major with a very snappy salute, I might add. :) 

We loved getting to see the Marching Sabres perform a couple times this year. As parents of former members of the same high school band, we enjoy the opportunity to relive those high school days by attending a football game or a band competition. Or both. Of course, that's made all the more special when someone we know and love is involved!

TELL: stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Background Basics: Sheet Music, Little Bitty Bird, Polka Dot Basics, Fillable Frames #12, Tag-its #4); cardstock is PTI (Harvest Gold, Hawaiian Shores, Stampers Select White) and Paper Source (some discontinued shimmery red); ink is PTI (True Black, Hawaiian Shores), Stampin' Up (Real Red), and VersaMark; also used PTI dies (Little Bitty Bird, Clouds #1 & #2, Edgers #1) and impression plate (Picnic Plaid), three circle punches (3/4", 5/8", 1/2"), and a Sakura Stardust pen.

[Yes! I was having all sorts of difficulties getting this post finished and had to go into the HTML to try to figure it all out — and I did it! I don't even know a single thing about HTML, but after much trial and error I got it to work. Yay, me!]

Sorry about that little break in the flow here... sometimes you've just gotta share your triumphs, you know?

So — I hope you have a great day and a productive week. I've made my list and am counting on a week of checking things off around here. Of course, I always feel like I can do anything on a Monday morning. Now to just carry that through to every day this week. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon. I plan to be back tomorrow with some One Layer Wednesday cards — trying to take a little time to get back into the challenge mode. Again, have a great day!!

Chairs to you!

Grrrrrr. I finished this post... went to save it... and then realized that I had lost my internet connection. Poof. All that work gone. You'll probably be getting an abbreviated version now. (And maybe that's a good thing!)

SHOW

 
I made this card for our son who just moved into a new apartment — all by himself. No roommates. No sharing of anything. Including the bills. As his parents we find that a little scary. Not sure why... he seems to have it all under control. Guess it's just a parent thing. We are, though, very proud of him for taking action when his previous living situation appeared to be eroding quickly. And — he's in a two bedroom apartment, so if times get tough he can get a roommate. And — it's close to where he works so if times get really tough he can leave his car parked and hoof it. (Of course, times would have to be pretty tough for that extreme of a measure! haha!)

When I was making the card, the chairs seemed to need a little something, so I tried to create some shadows in the upholstery with a Copic marker. I find the few Copics that I have to be quite intimidating because I really don't know what I'm doing when I pull them out, but it is quite amazing how just a little touch of shading in the upholstery "creases" can make a difference.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Chair-ished, Border & Corners: Circles); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Night of Navy, textured Wild Wasabi) and PTI (Kraft); patterned papers are bits of scraps; ink is SU (Early Espresso); also used SU's Chocolate Chip marker and 1-3/4" circle punch, PTI's Woodgrain impression plate, and a C1 Copic marker for a little shading. 

So — we gave this card to Ian on Saturday night. He invited us to his new apartment for dinner — a fun first. Ken & I sat on the stools he has at the kitchen bar and he stood up in the kitchen. Yes, it's a bare bones place right now. But the dinner was yummy and the apartment was clean. And it can stay clean because we also took him a little housewarming gift of a bucket full of cleaning supplies. I guess that's another parent thing. :)

That's all for tonight. Thanks so much for spending a few minutes of your time here. Your visits mean a lot to me! I'll be back tomorrow with a graduation card. Hope to see you then!

Glittery Brads

I bought some glittery brads who-knows-how-long-ago and decided that I should dig them out and use them. After all, nothing looks all that glittery sitting in a drawer — it's gotta see the light of day to really sparkle and shine! (Hmmm. I'm sure there's some kind of parallel to life there, I'm just not philosophical enough at the moment to connect it...)

And, I'm still trying to get caught up with sketches from Clean and Simple Stamping. The first card will be for last week's sketch, FTL 93.

 

 

 

 

 

SHOW

 
I'm trying out some color and stamp combinations for a little project I'll be working on later this summer. You'll have to stay tuned for more on that. :)

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Turning a New Leaf, Daily Designs, Year of Flowers: Sweet Peas); cardstock is PTI (Hawaiian Shores, white, Dark Chocolate) and Stampin' Up (Sahara Sand); ink is SU (Craft White), PTI (Hawaiian Shores), and VersaMark; also used Stamp 'n Stuff embossing powder (Detail White) and glittery brads from the Target dollar spot.

The next card follows FTL 44 — and, in my humble opinion, is anything but clean and simple. It also took me a lot of time over the course of two days to get it to where I was content with the way it looked. But, I find that some cards are like that. :)

 

 

 

 

SHOW

 
Part of my problem here was that I was absolutely determined to use this new patterned paper that I just fell in love with. I rarely buy a pad of 12x12 patterned paper. I'm more of sheet here and there kind of girl. But this paper from Anna Griffin (Isabelle Collection) was too beautiful to pass up.

This card is on its way to my adorable California-girl niece who is graduating from high school this weekend. I don't think she's a super girly girl (a disadvantage to living 3000 miles from family is that you don't really know all their likes and dislikes) and the card was looking quite girly and very "Lily Pullitzer-ish" so I shabbied it up with some ink around the edges which I think greatly improved the card (never thought I'd say that!). Hope she likes it. I'm sure she'll at least like the check that we slipped inside. :)

AND TELL:  stamp is from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Classics); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Pink Pirouette) and PTI (white); patterned paper is Anna Griffin (Isabelle Collection); ink is PTI (True Black, Tea Dye Duo); ribbon is PTI (Raspberry Fizz satin); also used the EK Success embossed scallop border punch, PTI's Beautiful Blooms flower die #2, a PTI white button, Kaiser gemstones, and vintage choir music.

Yesterday was Day 18 with Flylady's Beginner BabySteps. The task for the day was to read FlyLady's Eleven Commandments. Check. Did it. Even printed them out and put them in the front pocket of my control journal. Numbers 4, 5, and 6 are the tough ones for me. Numbers 8, 10, and 11 — easy peasy. (I'll let you click on the link to see what those are...)

I also tried again to get in bed at a reasonable time.

 
With no PTI release to distract me, I did pretty well. It'd be great if I could get in bed at this time every night, but — well, we'll see. I do get distracted by other things. Like...

I start the Sunday crossword puzzle on Sunday morning while we're having breakfast at Bojangles and work on it all week. I usually step away from it in the middle of the week to do the Sudoko at the bottom of the page and then turn back to the crossword puzzle. It's amazing how what made no sense suddenly comes to you after a little brain break. Most of the time I finish it on Saturday night. Usually without peeking at the answers — but there are those times... You know. You do what you have to do to get the job done. :)

That's it for today. I'll be back tomorrow with a couple more cards for Natasha's Clean and Simple Stamping card layouts. Or, maybe I'll show you my card for this week's 2 Sketches 4 You sketch. Hmmm. Guess I'll decide later.

Thanks so much for stopping by! See you tomorrow. 

3 {Chairs} 4 U

I haven't had a chance to play along with the challenges in the Moxie Fab World lately, but carved out a little time this weekend so that I could just squeak this card in before tonight's deadline. The challenge is called "Three Cheers for Chairs" — participants were to create a project using chairs in an innovative way. Well — given the name of the challenge (which I'd forgotten when I started working) I don't think I was too innovative, but here's my card...

SHOW

 
And, just in case the recipient doesn't "get it" — I finished the inside, too.

   
I thought that adding pieces of the little paper bunting that my daughter Britt made last Christmas gave the card a bit of a celebratory feel. Red, purple, and yellow is a rather odd color scheme, but it seems to be working in this case.

This card actually went through several renditions. It kept evolving, mainly due to mistakes that I made — the biggest of which was stamping "hip hip hip hooray" three times on the inside of the card before I even realized what I had done. I certainly had the whole idea of "three" firmly implanted in my brain, didn't I? :) And that's how the inside sentiment came to be on three (there's that number again!) different panels. You know my "no do-overs" motto, right? Well, some things you just can't ignore. And, reworking is not really doing over, is it?

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Chair-ished, Fresh Alphabet); cardstock is PTI (Stampers Select White, Lemon Tart, Guide Lines II Grid, Lavender Moon); patterned paper is Cosmo Cricket (from the Garden Variety collection); ink is PTI (True Black); ribbon is PTI (True Black satin); also used pieces of a pre-sewn paper bunting.

Here is what Ken treated me to on Mother's Day.

We went to the matinee performance of Cavalia.

Aren't those tents delicious? I love the festive yet regal look of them.

The performance (kind of like a Cirque du Soleil with horses) was really amazing. Of course, anyone who can do a flip amazes me. Doing a flip on the back of a moving horse? I can't even imagine. 

We got out of the performance in time for Ken to pick up a late afternoon golf game with friends. The golf course happened to be right next to some U-pick strawberry fields. I didn't pick, but I did buy.

My picture's not very good, but the berries sure are! It's amazing how much better fresh picked strawberries are than those in the produce section of the grocery store.

On the way home I decided to stop at my local independent scrapbooking store to treat myself to a few sheets of patterned paper or something... and... it... was... closed. Not as in it's Mother's Day and it's Sunday and we're closed. As in, the space is empty and it's for lease closed. :( Too bad. Another one bites the dust.

Well, that's all my ramblings for today. Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a fabulous week!

  

Totally Scraps

When I got home this afternoon I decided that before I could make something I really needed to tackle the pile of scraps beside my paper cutter. But — while I was going through them, I got a bit distracted (who, me?!) and came up with this card.

SHOW

I've seen others do this technique before and have been wanting to try it, so this was a perfect opportunity. To make the patchwork strip, I layed three long strips of double-sided tape right next to each other on the back of one of the lightweight cardstock label inserts that come in Papertrey Ink cardstock — along the short side. Then I just started grabbing strips of cardstock that had been trimmed from various projects that I've worked on recently and placed them across the tape smack against each other. I didn't cut the width of any of them and didn't plan out colors or patterns — just grabbed and placed until all the tape was covered. I used my paper cutter to trim all the edges even, giving me a patchwork strip that is about 1-1/2" wide. I had kept the sides from the rick rack piece that I cut for yesterday's card — they were the perfect length to tuck under each long edge. The star and the circle-punched star were from my little bags of punched scraps. The stamped sentiment is really the only "new" thing about the card — and it used a scrap, too. Cool, huh?

AND TELL:  sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink (Communique Sentiments) and I have no idea right now where the star is from; cardstock base is Stampin' Up (Cream Confetti) and the rest is a variety of scraps; ink is Stampin' Up (Tangerine Tango); also used were scraps from PTI's rick rack die and scraps punched with Stampin' Up's star and 3/4" circle punches.

That's it for now. I need to get back to sorting scraps — but I'm feeling like making more patchwork strips. Hmmm. Diagonals might be nice...

Thanks so much for coming by — see you again tomorrow. And, this time I already have a project ready to go. No need to rush home from work to make something. Yippee! Have a great evening!

And now presenting...

my first "inks" from my new Papertrey sets. The first card is for FTL79 from the Clean and Simple Stamping blog. I knew exactly what I was going to do from the moment I saw this week's sketch. And that never happens to me.

SHOW

I can testify that PTI's new dies cut wonderfully. Well, I've only cut this one piece, but I'm confident that it will continue to perform. I love having the matching die and stamp. Love the concept. Love that they're coming out with a new set every month. Love that the stamp set is $5 and the die is $5. They're perfect for the kind of cards I like to make. Can you tell that I'm even more in love with Papertrey Ink than I was before the newest release? 

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Fillable Frames #1, Heart Prints, Mixed Messages); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Confetti White, Wild Wasabi) and Creative Memories (metallic gold); ink is Stampin' Up (Wild Wasabi), PTI (New Leaf), and Stazon (Forest Green); also used a clear Kaiser rhinestone, PTI's Fillable Frame #1 die, EK Success medium heart punch, and a square punch to cut the notch out of the gold paper strip.

The next card follows FTL30. Don't laugh when you see the card. Just remember that I don't do do-overs and am committed to showing whatever I come up with. (Be gentle with me...) 

 

SHOW

OK, I'll laugh at myself. Copic markers are a mystery to me. I know and understand the concept of coloring and shading, but my efforts were going so badly that I just gave up and colored the whole thing over with basically one color. Yep. I think I need to practice. A lot. I was hoping the glittery Stickles in the flower center would redeem the coloring, but — well, not so much. Oh, well. I like the set and will try, try again. I have big plans for it so I must persevere. I do like the way I placed the flower on top of the ribbon knot, leaving the ribbon ends peaking out underneath like leaves. There's one part of the card that worked! :)

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Year of Flowers: Violet, Mixed Messages); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Certainly Celery) and a piece of shimmery pearl from somewhere; patterned paper is from my stash; ink is Memento (Tuxedo Black) and PTI (Plum Pudding); ribbon is PTI (Ripe Avocado satin); also used Copics (PTI Lavender Moon trio) and Stardust Stickles.

I told this story on the PTI forum, so if you read it there please forgive me for being repetitive. As soon as I saw that PTI was coming out with a new flower set for every month and that the first one was violets, I knew that it would be in my shopping cart. You see, when my dad was born my grandfather gave a little bunch of violets to my grandmother. She passed away a year and a half later when my dad's sister was born and my grandpa never remarried. But I remember that every year when we celebrated Dad's birthday, Grandpa would stop by with a fistful of the violets that grew wild next to the walkway that leads from the country road up to Grandpa's house. Today would've been my dad's 79th birthday. I want to learn to color just so that I can do these violets justice. So, practice, I will. And when I'm good enough, I'll share some gorgeous creation in memory of my dad.

Thanks for coming by today and indulging me in a little walk down memory lane. Hope to see you again soon! 

Scrappy Punches

or punchy scraps? Hmmm. Well, no matter.

These cards both use, as primary elements, punched shapes that I previously made from scraps that would've been destined for the waste basket in many craft rooms. (Those craft rooms are probably both neater and more organized than mine...) They are also made using card layouts from the Clean and Simple Stamping blog. The first is for FTL73.

SHOW

The messy circle flowers on this card use 1", 3/4", and 1/2" circles that were punched from scraps and stored in little bags (like I showed in yesterday's post). I just dumped them out and chose ones of similar colors to layer for my flowers. Each flower was wadded up, sort of smoothed out, and stuck through the center with a paper-piercer to make it easy for the mini-flower brad to be inserted. Each flower is attached to the card with a glue dot. Oh-so-easy.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Fancy Flourishes, Mega Mixed Messages); cardstock is Stampin' Up (Barely Banana, Basic Black, Dusty Durango); ink is Stampin' Up (Basic Gray); also used printed paper scraps and black mini flower brads.

The next card is based on FTL24. I meant to follow the sketch more exactly, but was going by memory so instead of having a panel attached to the front it's basically a one layer card. Oh, well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

SHOW

Once again, all the shapes were punched from scraps of previous projects and just kind of came together as I started working. (The star was punched from a scrap that had already been run through the Cuttlebug to get the embossed texture.)

AND TELL:  stamp is from Papertrey Ink (Star Prints); cardstock is PTI (Vintage Cream); printed paper is from the scrap pile; ink and ribbon are from PTI (Dark Chocolate); also used punched scraps (Stampin' Up star and flower, Martha Stewart leafy branch) and a metallic mini-flower brad. 

Tomorrow night is the monthly Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. Hopefully I'll get something created for it today. I haven't participated for a few months and have really missed it. Of course, I have no shortage of things to keep me busy between the house, work, and my crafty to-do list...

Hope you're having a great day! Thanks so much for spending a few moments with me!!

Congratulations, You Did It!

If you come visit here very often, you know that we have regular company on Monday nights. You also know that she just had her 25th birthday AND that she just bought her first house.

We'll, tonight is her housewarming party, so a little gift seemed in order. The total inspiration for this gift tag, hanging on a simple kraft gift bag, came from Dawn McVey — specifically this post.

SHOW

Most of the components of the tag were already stamped and laying in my discarded images drawer — so you would think that I put this together quickly. However, it didn't quite go like that. For whatever reason, I labored over this one and it took most of my time last night just to do a simple tag. That's a little disgusting. I guess my mojo suffers when I don't have time to do something creative every day.

The fleur de lis images are stamped with VersaMark and clear embossed. My favorite part, though, is the way the swirls at the top turned out. Unless you have the Everyday Classics stamp set (PTI's 2009 free Anniversary Stamp Set) you probably won't understand this part, but I inked half of the stamp, turning it on its side to stamp and then I flipped it and repeated the process. It's fun to use a stamp in a new way, don't you think?

Oh, and if you're curious, inside the bag is a set of 4 candles with clear glass candle plates. I'm thinking that the little plates could also double as coasters. Just a little something for the new homeownder.

AND TELL:  stamps are from Papertrey Ink (Damask Designs, Everyday Classics, Background Basics: Text Style) and Hero Arts (the house stamp has a 1988 copyright on it -- yikes, it's old!); cardstock is PTI (Kraft, Ocean Tides, Raspberry Fizz, White) and Stampin' Up (Old Olive, Lavender Lace); ink is PTI (True Black) and Versamark; also used Stampin' Up punches (Curly Label, Modern Label), Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch, clear embossing powder, and clear adhesive rhinestones made by Kaiser and purchased through PTI.

It's a busy weekend around here. Tonight we actually have two parties to go to (although I may beg off of the second one and let Ken go it alone). Then tomorrow morning I have Bible study (which I am totally unprepared for) and tomorrow night we have another party. Sunday morning we're walking in another 5K, this one for Breast Cancer and in honor of a neighbor who is a two year survivor. Practically our whole street is walking, which is pretty cool, but since it's on Sunday morning, we'll go to our church's Saturday night service. And, of course, since it's football season, we'll need to watch the Panther's game on TV (they're in Atlanta this week — and hopefully they'll do much better than last Sunday!). Whew! I'm getting tired just thinking of it.

Hope your weekend is fun and restful!

Caterpillars

Yesterday I mentioned that I had an idea for using more of my obsessively punched scrappy circles. This first card is for Kazan's Sketch 33 from 2 Sketches 4 You.

The circle idea was inspired by the artwork from last year's Friday class of 4 & 5 year olds at the preschool. They, in turn, were inspired by Eric Carle artwork. (You know, The Very Hungry Caterpillar author and illustrator.) 

I love this picture. I told the kids to hold their artwork in front of their faces while I took the picture and, wouldn't you know, one of them peeked! Forced me to get permission from the mom to put the picture out here, but made the photo just precious to have that one little peeker! (Thanks, Meredith!) Don't you just love all those little legs and feet, too? I really love looking at how they're each standing. Love those kids! Wow — just looking at the picture is making me excited for the new school year to start. I kinda miss being around the little buggers (or boogers, whichever you prefer)!

Anyway, you probably didn't come here for all of that. Here's the card:

SHOW

AND TELL:  sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Button Bits); cardstock is also PTI (Kraft, Vintage Cream); patterned paper is PTI (2008 Bitty Dot Basics) and 3/4" circles punched from a variety of scraps; ink, button, and ribbon are PTI (Dark Chocolate all); also used EK Success large embossed scallop punch, Spellbinder's Classic Oval Nestabilities, PTI's Chamomile Tea-Dye Ink, Stampin' Up's Close to Cocoa marker, and PTI rustic jute button twine.

And here's a bonus, just for fun card in the same vein.

SHOW

AND TELL:  sentiment stamp is from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Button Bits), cloud stamps are from Unity (July 2009 Kit of the Month {pocket full of...}); cardstock is PTI (Stampers Select White); patterned paper is lots of scraps, some punched into 3/4" and 1" circles; ink is Stampin' Up (Soft Sky, Going Grey, Pretty in Pink) and PTI (Chamomile Tea Dye); also used Stampin' Up's Beautiful Butterflies die, PTI Sweet Blush button and Rustic Jute Button Twine, gems from stash, and black Creative Memories fine-tip pen.

Well, I've gotta get out of the house and to Curves before they close for the evening. Time to work off that Grande Java Chip Frap from Starbucks!

Don't know if I'll get a chance to post tomorrow. So, if not, I'll be back in a couple days. Thanks so much to everyone who visited and left me kind words yesterday. I had about 10 times the usual number of blog visits which was just amazing!! If that was your first introduction to me and you're back again today, thanks for stopping by. And thanks to all the "regulars", too! I appreciate each and every one of you!! See you soon...

A Kraft-y Week

Well, apparently I'm in the mood to use Kraft cardstock this week. Here are a couple more cards.

You know how I've been enjoying the Natasha's Clean and Simple sketches. Well, this is my take on this week's sketch, Fall to Layout 55.

This one had a little twist. You were to use a coordinating stamp to make sort of a patterned paper panel for the bottom of your card. Instead of stamping on separate paper, I took the REALLY simple route and stamped the polka dots directly onto my card base with Versamark ink. So, so easy.

 

SHOW

I say, "You're a star" quite often, I think. Although, it usually comes out more like "You are SUCH a star!" I seem to use the phrase mostly at work — we have some really fabulous teachers that come up with some really great ideas. And, then, there are those preschoolers who are just such original thinkers and deserve the star treatment, too. Hmm. I seem to remember telling my husband he's a star once in awhile, also. He's always amazing me with his skills and thoughtfulness! (Even after nearly 29 years of marriage!)

AND TELL:  supplies are from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted — stamps (Polka Dot Basics, Star Prints); cardstock (Kraft, Vintage Cream, Pure Poppy); ink (Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate) along with Versamark and Stampin' Up's Real Red; ribbon (Dark Chocolate Grosgrain); button (Pure Poppy) threaded with Rustic Cream Button Twine. Also used Stampin' Up's Large Star Punch. 

Then for my second card I used sketch FTL6. I did take a rather large liberty with it, though.

I started out by pulling out lots of patterned paper scraps, but was having trouble weeding through all my choices and coming up with a combo that I really liked. Then I remembered all the 1" circles that I already had punched out. (You may remember me commenting before on how I punch the living daylights out of any scraps that are on the way to the trash can — circles, flowers, butterflies, almost anything small. I have quite a collection!) So, I switched to circles. Much easier because my color choices were more limited. After a little arranging and rearranging, this is what I came up with.

SHOW

I do sort of wish I'd stamped the sentiment in Dark Chocolate instead of black, but — oh, well. What's done is done.

AND TELL:  stamp, cardstock, and ink is from Papertrey Ink (Everyday Classics; Kraft; True Black); patterned paper is from my stash of pre-punched circles.

I also have one piece of news about a blessing that came my way today — and it was way exciting to me. One of the cards that I did last week for the Clean and Simple sketch combined with Dawn McVey's Raspberry Suite color challenge made it into Dawn's challenge spotlight. Her challenges are true challenges for me — especially this last one as it included a couple of colors that I don't ordinarily use. To get recognition from her was a huge honor — and to be in the company of the other stampers in the spotlight was incredible. There are some really talented women there! (I kind of feel like an imposter or something!) Well, that's it for that. Hope you don't mind me sharing my excitement with you.

Now — I have another idea to use up some of my scrappy circles. Hopefully, I'll have those done for tomorrow. Hope to see you then — and thanks for coming by the blog today!