Make A Wish

Good morning friends.  Figured I could get away with a summery feeling "Fall" card today, since it's supposed to be in the 90's here in my "neck of the woods"!  I just want to put on a pair of jeans and make a pot of chilli...is that really so much to ask?!!  I know, I know, a couple of months from now I'll wish it were in the 90's again! 

Still had PTI's "Mum's the Word" stamp set sitting out this weekend, so made another card with it using SU!'s Wisteria Wonder and Certainly Celery inks and cardstock.  Take a look:

I know the bright color of the leaves made this much more summery feeling than a typical "Fall" flower should be, but hey, artistic license and all that, right?! :0)  And I love how the green "pops" against the purple, don't you?  My background is the Chevron Plate from PTI and I love how it makes such a striking background so quickly and easily!  The most time consuming part of this card was "fussy" cutting the flowers and leaves, but I'm one of those who truly doesn't mind cutting out images when they are simple shapes.  All that was left was the simple banner towards the bottom, and the card was finished! :0)  This will definitely make someone smile on a cold Fall day!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I hope you all have a wonderful Tuesday!  Stay cool!!! :0)

Smile

Good morning friends.  Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  Very low key here...still adjusting to the empty nest!  Did get some serious crafting time in though, so all's good! :0) 

Just a very simple card to share with you today.  After the past couple of Christmas challenges with all the kraft, red, and green supplies out, I decided to make a non-Christmas card with all those colors, and this is what I came up with:

If you click on the picture, you can see the background stamp I used a little better...I used SU!'s "Canvas" stamp with Crumb Cake ink.  Haven't used that background stamp in ages, and I'd forgotten how much I like the look of it!  The design paper is from SU!'s Season of Style and the apple is a PTI die that I stamped with one of the little background stamps from PTI's "Strawberry Patch" set in Cherry Cobbler ink.  The "Smile" is from PTI's "Tiny Tags" set, and then I finished with some seam binding ribbon (The Craft Spot), lace from my stash, and some sequins.  Simple, but I'm sure it will put a smile on someone's face! :0)

Thanks for stopping by today and have a wonderful Monday! :0)

MIM#130 Heat N' Bond and Die Cutting

Good morning friends.  Don't have a card to share with you today, but I do have a fun little project that I made for Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge.  Erin Lincoln over at PTI made a cute little decorated muslin bag using material and Heat N' Bond, and then dies to cut out shapes and letters from the material.  I've been seeing these little decorated bags quite a bit recently and have wanted to try my hand at them, so this seemed like a good time!  You can buy these bags pre-made, but I decided to make my own (I used to sew quite a bit before card making took over my life!).  I've also been wanting to "tea stain" something since I saw some of the video's during PTI's Stampafaire, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity to stain my muslin, sew them into little bags, use some of my background stamps to stamp the bags, and then finally, decorate with the material and die cuts.  I've made several, but I'll just show you one today - take a look:

Are these not the cutest little bags ever?!!  I love the color from the tea staining (black tea is the ticket to getting a nice color...I had tried with lace before using the mint tea I like, and while it smelled good, it didn't stain all that great!), and if you click to enlarge the picture, you'll be better able to see the background where I used my "French Script" stamp and Crumb Cake ink (both SU!).  Next came the fun part of decorating and I pulled out some material scraps I had and Wonder Under (same as Heat N' Bond).  I used PTI's Holly dies and the "merry" die (also PTI).  If you enlarge the picture, you can also see that I added a few red pearls to the smaller holly leaves over the "merry" to bling it up just a bit.  Very simple decorating, but I love how it turned out! I'll definitely be making a bunch of these to give small gifts in for this Christmas! :0)  Make sure you check out the other entries over at Nichole Heady's site http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/capture_the_moment/ ...there are some awesome idea's there including another muslin bag where the gal (Angela Pearson) did an entire little mini scene using fabric - too cute!! :0)

That's all for today friends, but thanks so much for stopping by and have a wonderful weekend! :0)

PEACE

Good morning friends.  Today I'm sharing another Christmas card and playing along with both Festive Friday's and Merry Monday's challenges.  Gotta love it when you can make one card that fits two challenges! :0)  Festive Friday's is doing a trigger challenge this week using the word "Peace" and Merry Monday's is having us make a card that uses kraft, red, & green colors along with either ribbon, twine, or burlap:

                              

I love the colors for Merry Monday's and I also love my "Peace" die from PTI, so this was a fun card to create!  Take a look:

I started with a 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" kraft card base, and then used the Peace stamp from PTI's "Peace, Love, & Joy" and Crumb Cake ink to make my background.  I had originally thought to stamp the whole card base with the background, but had gotten 2/3rds of the way done when I realized I liked it just the way it was!  I stamped the wreath from PTI's "Wreath for All Seasons" in Crumb Cake and then stamped the little leaves with Old Olive and the berries with Real Red (all inks SU!)  I layered the wreath with a piece of Real Red cardstock and then tied some twine on the side.  Lastly, I cut out the word Peace using PTI's die and kraft cs, and then sponged it a little using Crumb Cake ink.  I pop dotted the word to make it stand out a little bit and really like the look of it against the rest of the card. :0)

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and make sure you check out all the other entries at both sites, as there is some amazing inspiration there!  Have a wonderful Thursday and I hope to be back tomorrow with something I'm excited to share with you for PTI's Make it Monday challenge. :0)

Mum's the Word

Hello friends.  Not used to posting this late in the day, but better late than never, right?!  (been having computer issues...grrrrrrrrr!!!)  Just realized as I'm writing this up that this is my 200th post!  What a blessing this blog has been for me since I've been out of work!  Definitely gives me something to look forward to every week and also keeps me out of trouble...welllllll, kinda!  But anyway, the card I want to share with you today is from a new set by Dawn McVey (Papertrey Ink), called "Mum's the Word" and I LOVE it!  Here's my first card I made with it (yes, there will be more!):

Didn't it turn out pretty?  Started with a piece of off white cardstock that I embossed using a Darice ef, and then centered it on a card base of Cranberry Crisp (SU!).  I used the same off white cs to stamp the mums using Cranberry Crisp and Pumpkin Pie inks and Old Olive for the leaves.  I fussy cut them out and then adhered to the center embossed  cs.  I made a banner out of the same off white cs and used the birthday sentiment that came with the stamp set.  I also added some diamond bling  to sparkle things up a bit. :0)  I just love how pretty and elegant this card turned out and really like the ease of use in this stamp set...you will definitely be seeing more cards made from this stamp set this fall.

Hopefully I'll be back tomorrow with a Christmas card I made for the Merry Monday's and Festive Friday's challenges.  Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day! :0) 

Hello House Mouse

Good morning friends.  Still getting used to this "empty nester" life, but having one in college does mean I need to make cards that I can send (rather than ALL texts!), so that she has something in her mailbox to look forward to every once in awhile!  I love House Mouse stamps (by Stampendous) and had fun making up a card to send to my daughter.  Take a look:

Isn't she cute?!!  I colored her (her name is Monica) with my Copics and also added some glitter to the ribbon (which you can see better if you enlarge the picture).  I sponged the background with my cloud template to add a bit more of a contrasting color.  The design papers are scraps from my stash,  the button is SU!, and the sentiment is from PTI's "Embroidered Blooms". Coloring takes a bit more time than some of the quick & easy cards, but I love how this card turned out and my daughter loved it too!  (it was her first piece of mail in her dorm mailbox, so she was thrilled to have something in there!)

I've been busy in my craft room, but haven't had a chance to take pictures yet (our older dog Brinkley is a bit neurotic when it comes to me pulling my camera out, so I try to wait until he's outside so he doesn't flip out!!).  So, as soon as I get some photo's taken, I'll be back with some more inspiration.  Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Tuesday. :0)

It Feels Like Fall......

Good morning friends.  Our air-conditioning broke on Friday and I was moaning and groaning about how hot it was even just last night, and now here this morning it actually feels like Fall!  Amazing how just a few hours can make such a BIG difference!  It's September, Labor Day, and cool, so I guess I should be posting some more fall feeling cards, right?  I know I have a lot of "favorite" stamps, but SU!'s "Blooming with Kindness" flower stamp truly is a favorite of mine, so I hope you don't get sick of seeing it!  Here are a couple fall feeling cards I made last week using the flower:

The first card I used SU!s "Canvas" background stamp (click on the picture to enlarge to see the detail better) and the 2nd card I used SU!s "Print" and "French Script" background stamps.  My colors are Pumpkin Pie and Really Rust (both SU!).  I think the rest is pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! :0)  And did you notice on the first card how I cut away from the top of the flower...I've seen Debbie Olson from Thinking Inking do that on a few of her cards and I love that little extra added detail!

Well time to get busy here...have 27 jars of salsa I canned this weekend to get put away and a bunch of other chores before I can sit down and "play" this afternoon.  Hope you all have a wonderful holiday today (IF you're not working that is!!) and I'll be back with more inspiration tomorrow.  Thanks for stopping by and sharing part of your day with me! :0)