Create Along With Us - Dec. 2018

Hello friends.  Hope everyone is enjoying this wonderful time of year and are not so busy that you don't have time to reflect on the real meaning of this season.  I'll admit I've been a little panicked this week because we are celebrating early with our girls (this Sunday), so I have to get everything finished up and I'm not quite ready yet!  But I did take time out to make a card for the Create Along With Us challenge...mostly because I fell in LOVE with Laurie Schmidlin's card (HERE)!  We don't get much sun here in Michigan during the Winter months (something to do with being surrounded by the Great Lakes that holds the cloud cover in), so seeing Laurie's bright and happy card made me want to switch up from reds and greens to yellows, pinks, & reds!

I used the Sweet Blush Bitty Big paper in the stripes like Laurie did but turned mine vertically.  Next I added a piece of vellum that I tore at the bottom and added Dazzling Diamonds to, along with a strip of white cardstock that I also added Dazzling Diamonds to.  For my heart I used one of the Limitless Layers: Heart dies and then stamped it up with flowers from Butterfly Blooms and an older set Beautiful Blooms.  The sentiment I added to a Pure Poppy strip from the Butterfly Blooms set.  A yellow enamel dot, a rustic twine bow, and some iridescent sequins finished off my CASE of Laurie's card.

Hope you all have time to play along this week...there's LOTS of beautiful and fun inspiration to be had during this release week, and it feels so good to just sit down and relax and play in the craft room!  You can find all the info to play along right HERE.  

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Create Along With Us - Nov. 2018

Hello friends.  I feel like all I've done for the past 2 weeks is post to my blog and IG daily to keep up with the tag challenges, but I do have to admit that I am having a blast!  There are some regular challenges that I like to play along with though and I feel like I am trying to just cram them in, so excuse me if you feel like I'm posting too much...this will all change in another 2 weeks and then you will wonder if I've fallen off the face of the earth!  JK!!  But I won't be posting as much once the tag challenges are done.

Because this is a release week at Papertrey Ink, I am playing along with their Create Along With Us challenge where we pick a card from one of the designers to try and CASE.  Every month it's hard to pick just one, but I knew on the 1st day that I had to copy Lizzie's card using the new Enchanted Forest set...I totally fell in LOVE!!

Isn't this just the prettiest card?!!  I fell in love with the nighttime sky and the colors: Ocean Tides, Pine Feather, & Mint Julip.  Here's what I came up with:

I started by blending my sky with Blueberry Sky and Enchanted Evening inks and then splattered with a bit of water and then splattered again with a bit of white acrylic paint.  For my trees I used In The Meadow and O'Tannenbaum and then added my snowbanks using the In The Meadow dies and running them through a hardwood embossing folder before adding Dazzling Diamonds glitter.

I love the way Lizzie did her sentiment and I used a rectangle die to cut out and stamp and emboss my sentiment (Penned Elegance: Christmas) in gold and then laid it back in with foam tape on the back to give the dimension.  My little rabbit is also from the In The Meadow set and I pop dotted him for some dimension too.

LOTS of inspiration as usual to choose from, so play along and you might win a $25 gift certificate!  You can check out all the details right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Create Along With Us - Oct. 2018

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's Create Along With Us challenge, and the challenge for me this month was only picking ONE thing to try and re-create!  I thought the month before was bad, but everything they're releasing this month is something I really, really want!!  

One of the sets I really LOVED is the new Pleasing Envelopes, but since I don't have that set yet, I used the Bold Borders: Yuletide cover plate die and came up with this:

So many of the designers made cards and matching envelopes with the new set that I couldn't pick just one designer to CASE!  I blended Ocean Tides, Pale Peony, & Autumn Rose inks on a piece of white cs and then used the Bold Borders: Yuletide die to cut my blended piece out.  (Oh and I splattered water on the blended piece before I die cut it.)  I adhered it to a white card base and then used WOS on the holly leaves and the Be Merry die cut.  I die cut another of the borders and used it as a stencil for my envelope with the same ink colors, and then added the "Sending Heartfelt Greetings" from the Don't Forget To Write kit.

 
The lines for the address were stamped from the You Have My Heart stamp set.  I love this color combo and the way this card and envelope came out!!  :0)

I also really loved the new gift card/tag die with the options for a rectangle or oval window and got to thinking that maybe I could use the Gift Card Cozy Die and make a few small changes to it with what I had on hand.

I used a rectangle and oval die that I had to make the windows, but it doesn't have the stitching lines around them that the new die has.  I still think they turned out pretty cute though, and used Peaceful Pines, Fancy Flakes, Snowflake Sparkle, Holiday Greens, Phrase Play #8, On The Farm, & Penned Elegance: Christmas sets to create these fun little gift card tags.

One more picture and then I'm done...had to show off this cute little sleigh from last month's release:

   
I apologize for the lighting, but I really struggle when it comes to photographing 3D items!!  These are SO easy to put together and with a little bit of sponging around the edges, side pieces, and runners, it turns out so CUTE!!  I added a spray from Seasonal Borders: Winter and stitched up a little 4 X 6 fabric bag (thanks Kelly Lunceford for that idea!!).

Check out PTI's release and then play along with the challenge this week...you can find it all right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Create Along With Us - Sept. 2018

Hello friends.  Every month when Papertrey Ink has their Create Along With Us challenge, I struggle to pick only one card to CASE from their new release designs, but this month was extremely hard as every day I've been seeing cards and projects that I want to copy!!  Their design team has really outdone themselves for this Christmas release!!

I couldn't narrow it down to just one, so I chose 2 (a card and a project) to CASE for this challenge...both from Day 1.  My card is from Laurie Schmidlin and my project from Kelly Lunceford.

So technically I have 3 projects to share with you today...couldn't resist making a couple of Kelly's houses along with Laurie's card.

So let's start with Laurie's card.  She introduced the new Merry Mug set, and I think it's the stripe pattern that you can stamp across the center of the mug that really appeals to me.  I had to improvise a little with what I had on hand, but I think it came out pretty darn close!  The tea cup is from the Fancy Tea Cup die, and then I used Aqua Mist ink to make a stripe pattern using a Winnie & Walter stamp from the Holiday Trimmings set (CP).  My little holly die cut is from the Holly Jolly die and I added some Nuvo Drops in Autumn Red for the berries.  My cream on the top is from an IO stamp and my "Merry Christmas" sentiment is from an older HA stamp.  My background uses the Mix & Mat: Berry Boughs.  I love how Laurie had blended Aqua Mist ink on her 2nd layer, so I did that also.  Such a fun and homespun feel to this card.

I absolutely LOVED Kelly's houses using the Tiny Town dies, and just had to make a couple!  I never thought of using DSP for these houses before...I've always just used colored cardstock.  Aren't they so adorable with the patterned papers though?!  Kelly used Soft Stone Bitty Big DSP for her houses, but I didn't want to totally copy her, so I went with the Kraft Bitty Big DSP in the polka dots and stripes.  Kelly was using the new Sentiment Staples: Christmas set for her tags on top of the houses, but since I don't have those yet, I used a banner and sentiment from Just A Little Something for the tops of my roof, along with the holly die cut from Holly Jolly.

I used red & white twine to close my boxes up and the little wreath's on the front windows are from the Tiny Town: Gingerbread House die set.  I also added tiny little dots of the Nuvo Drops for berries on the wreaths and the holly.  My bottoms to the houses used the Shape Shifters: Circle 3 with Aqua Mist cs.

And here's one last picture showing the striped house:

These were all a lot of FUN to make and I'm so excited to have a couple small gifts boxes ready and another card for my stash.  If you haven't checked out all the excitement and fun with Papertrey Ink's new release, check it all out right HERE...it's going to be an expensive month for me as I want it ALL!!

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Create Along With Us - August 2018

Hello friends.  Playing along with this month's Create Along With Us challenge, where during release week, you can pick a favorite card from one of the DT and re-create it with stamps that you have.

It was so hard to choose this week as every card from every designer has been absolutely FABULOUS and just FULL of color...FALL COLOR!  There have been so many new color combinations for Fall that I never would have thought of like Dawn's Peach and Aqua, Melissa Phillip's pastel colors (for Fall?  Yep, totally worked!!), Melissa Bickford's BRIGHT primary colors, and the one that drew me the most...Spring Rain, Ocean Tides, & Enchanted Evening from Laurie Schmidlin!

 

Something about this card just totally draws me, and the way she blended these 3 colors together that I never would have thought of using in the first place, just blows me away!!  I am SO excited about this release and want it ALL...especially the Text & Texture: Leaves like Laurie used for her background!  Obviously not having that stamp yet, I decided to try using Text & Texture: Roses and came up with this:

 

My colors are a little darker than Laurie's as I had to stamp multiple times (using my MISTI) to get even coverage of each color...I think my little cubes are getting dry!  

After stamping the image I trimmed off the edges and then cropped the corners like Laurie did.  My grateful die cut using silver mirror cs came from the Especially You set, along with the rest of the sentiment that I stamped on a white strip.  I used a really OLD punch for my little heart using Pure Poppy cs and didn't stitch it like Laurie did...I love that look but it would not have looked too good with my sewing skills!

While the roses don't necessarily say FALL, I still really like how this card came out and will definitely use this color combination again!

You can check out all the beautiful cards on Papertrey Ink's site and then play along right HERE.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

PTI's Create Along With Us - June 2018

Hello friends.  Playing along with Papertrey Ink's Create Along With Us challenge, where every day this week the cards have gotten more and more beautiful and harder to pick just one favorite!  I was so sure I was going to try and create an underwater sea card after all the beauties from Day 1 and 2, and then today they introduced the new Botanical Bounty II stamp set and I fell just as hard as I did when the 1st set came out!  Then I couldn't decide which designer to CASE as I loved all of them...especially Melissa Phillips, Kelly Lunceford, and Michelle Leone's cards!  I finally decided to CASE Michelle's card (HERE) and just change up the colors a bit.

I've been on a real Berry Sorbet kick lately, so that was my card base choice, and then I die cut the dotted rectangle frame using the Mix & Mat: Flourishes die.  Next I stamped my Hello (Penned Elegance) using Pale Peony and Berry Sorbet inks.

Next, using my MISTI, an ink blending tool, and a sponge dauber, I stamped my flowers and leaves from Botanical Bounty using Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet, Orange Zest, Bright Buttercup, Simply Chartreuse, and Prairie Grass inks.  After fussy cutting them all out I played around with arranging them until I was happy.

A few iridescent sequins and some bakers twine finished off my bright and Summery CASE of Michelle's lovely card.  (see below)

I can't wait to get my hands on the new set and also the Shape Shifter: Oval 2 like Michelle used on her card...SOOO pretty!

No shortage of cards to be inspired by this month at Papertrey Ink...may have to take out a small loan to purchase all the goodies I want from this release!!  Check it all out right HERE to play along.

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!

Papertrey Ink's Create Along With Us - May 2018

Hello friends.  It's release week at Papertrey Ink and that means it's time for the Create Along With Us challenge!

There's always so much to be inspired by, but I just can't resist when Dawn McVeigh uses her signature Aqua Mist and New Leaf color combo with flowers!  Check out Dawn's card HERE.

I changed up a few of the flowers and colors, but stuck with Dawn's basic layout and the Aqua Mist card base stamped with the Cover Up: Quatrefoil stamp in New Leaf ink.

I used flowers and leaves from Farmer's Market Florals, Gran's Garden, and Stitching Garden with a variety of ink colors and then fussy cut them all out.

After arranging them all on my card base, I die cut and stamped my sentiment from the Wet Paint set.  I added a little WOS in the centers of a few of the flowers and leaves, but too subtle to see in my photos.

A little bit of work with all the fussy cutting, but I love the end result and it totally reminds me of a Dawn card!

There's still time to play along with this challenge, so head over to the gallery and see what inspired everyone else, and then play along right HERE. 

Thanks for stopping by today ... I love it when you do!