I'm Moxie fab? Pinch Me! I must be dreaming!....

On second thought, don't pinch me, I love this dream! :) *big smile*

Just gotta take a moment to say THANK YOU to Cath Evaldson of Moxie Fab World for Paper Crafts for highlighting my winning project for the Cards and Gifts week Mother's Day Challenge. I was over the moon excited to see her post here. I am so honored to be standing alongside some of my craft heroes...truly, it's a dream come true!

My entry, as well as 3 other winning entries, used the My Timeless Templates by the FABULOUS Lauren Meader! You can purchase them exclusively from Papertrey Ink. They are so fun to work with, you gotta try them. Have you entered my blog candy giveaway to win a free template? See this post below.

OK, gotta get back to my craft table.... thanks for letting me share :)

MTTC01 as sweet as jelly beans and don't forget, blog candy

Hi all! I finished up my card for the My Time to Color Challenge #1 over on Lauren Meader's blog. Check out the challenge and play along! Also, see the next post for a blog candy giveaway here on my blog! Here are the colors Lauren posted for us to play with:

I needed to make 6 thank you cards for family members who made sure to make my girls' Easter extra special. I thought it would be a good time to break out this sweet set from My Cute Stamps. Have you seen these? Really cute stuff over there and they shipped with lightening speed! I used stamping and paper piecing of the animals and flowers for a fun and colorful effect. The bunny's ears are also popped up with a bit of foam tape and if you enlarge the card, you can see the pale blue coloring detail on the fun loopy font used for the sentiment. This technique brought me right back to 7th grade and doodling on my binder for some reason ;) There are actually five stamps used on this card and I wanted to make sure they lined up just so and could be repeated 6 times for the thank yous I need to send. Below was my trick for getting that done.

I simply arranged my stamps face down on my trusty SU! grid paper that is always on the work top. Then I used my largest acrylic block to adhere them as a group. Ink them up, stamp on precut cardstock, and repeat. OK, not a ground breaking tip but it was a light bulb moment for me today. :)

Thanks so much for stopping by....your interest truly makes my day!

Supplies:

Paper: white CS by Georgia Pacific, Bazzill (gray), and Papertrey Ink Bitty Dots

Stamps: My Cute Stamps

Ink: SU! Going Gray

Border Punches: SU! (scallop) and Martha Stewert (lattice)

Ribbon: Costco

Other: Fabric writer in shiny red, iridescent pink glitter, button, gem, embroidery floss, Zig Writer

So honored and excited! and a little Blog Candy baby, yeah!

I am SO excited to share! Last week I submitted a couple of projects( see here, here, and here) to the very talented Lauren Meader for consideration for her design team call. Seven new DT members were listed this morning....and I am SO honored to be one of them!!! I can't wait to help share inspiration through Lauren's challenges every week!

To visit the My Time to Create design team blogs, click on the links below:

Lisa

Odette

Jen

Pam

Tracey

Kristen

Dawn

Kendra

MacKenzie

Maria

Tamara

I am SO excited to be working with them!

OK, so I had better go finish up my color challenge project for my first official My Time to Create Design Team contribution....boy does THAT feel good to say :)

You can participate in the challenge by adding your creation to the Mr Linky on Lauren's blog here.

And last but not least, to celebrate this very exciting day, I have some blog candy to offer up. Lauren is the creator of the super cute and fun My Timeless Templates for Papertrey Ink. These are the templates I used to create the projects I linked above and they are so fun to work with. If you haven't tried them, I think you should so I am giving away one $5 gift certificate to Papertrey Ink which is the amount you would need to purchase a template download. To be entered in the drawing, please click and add yourself to my Followers list and/or Subscribe To list on the right side bar AND leave a comment on today's post. I will be randomly drawing one name from the comments on this post this weekend after my post for the My Time to Color Challenge! DT member Tracey is also giving away blog candy today...great idea Tracey!!

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you'll visit often and find inspiration here!! :)

oh baby! Bitten by the Bug and Peggy Loves Vintage Challenge

Hi all! So if you've been through my blog before, you know I have a real love for vintage images. I also happen to admire a ton of designers who do amazing things with their cricut so I am a faithful follower of this cricut oriented blog called Bitten by the Bug. I am telling you, what these ladies can do with a die cut is amazing! So this week, they have teamed with Peggy Loves Vintage (click for the Etsy link) for an awesome image CD giveaway that I am just so excited about! The challenge was to use one of Peggy Loves Vintage free downloads AND a cricut cut.

The closeup shows a few fun details. I filled in the star with fine silver glitter from Martha Stewart which is simply following the original scanned image that shows glitter here. Works for me! Why fix it if it ain't broke? The image also had a pink ruffle border which I trimmed with fiskars scallop scissors. This turned out great and didn't require a bunch of fussy cutting. Also, I used a dotted tulle for the background of the card. This added some fun texture and the blues all play really nicely together. I LOVE "nice" !

And here is my card as a whole. The cricut cut I used is the "oh baby" sentiment from the oldy but goody, Zooballoo catridge. The letters were covered in more fine silver glitter and the heart insert was watercolored and put back in. I added the little pink star punch from a fiskars handheld punch. Since the tulle was a challenge to adhere without adhesive showing I came up with some ribbon edging on the folded edge of the card and then a ribbon tie closure which holds the card shut. All of the ribbon was adhered with Fabri tac.

Thanks for stopping by. This adorable vintage baby image was a joy to play with!

Supplies:

image: Peggy Loves Vintage

cartridge: Zooballoo

Glitter: Martha Stewart

Ink and watercolor brush: SU!

Punch and scallop scissors: fiskars

Other: ribbon and tulle netting

purse - o-nality comes in all sizes

It's PTI blog hop night! So excited to be participating again. Tonight is also the first blog hop using Lauren Meader's fab timeless templates!!! HOORAY!

I have used Lauren's purse-o-nality tote a few times already but this time I mixed it up by reducing it's size by about half. This tiny tote is the perfect size for a lipgloss sized gift, or a little pair of earrings. Something fun and girly!

The top has been embossed with clear embossing powder and the flowers from the Life set have been embossed in black. A little bling and it's done. I love it and I love Lauren's templates!

Thanks for stopping by and can't wait to see what all of you do with YOUR time tonight :)

This is a comparison between the template at full size and how my mini version turned out :)

Supplies:

Template: Purse-o-nality tote from Papertrey Ink/Lauren Meader

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Hibiscus, CM black

Stamp: Life set from Papertrey Ink/Lisa Johnson

Ink: versamark and Colorbox black

Embossing powder: clear UTEE, black

Other: gem

Thank you for your hospitality

Happy Wednesday everyone! Is it just me? I kept thinking today was Tuesday all day. But here it is Wednesday night! That's what happens when we go back to school I guess. I lose all sense of who what when and where. I'm sure I'll have it down by the time summer break rolls around. ha!So how about a little pineapple in honor of some great hospitality we received 2 weekends ago? Hubs and I had a fabulous dinner and visit with friends that had been a long time coming. As always, they were most gracious hosts! This pineapple stamp from SU! has long been awaiting such an opportunity for thanking some special friends. It's a nice, large image that accepts ink rolling for color variation very well. I chose more mustard and really rust for the pineapple and wild wasabi and kiwi kiss for the stem. The stem was stamped twice for a leafier look. I also used the stem stamp horizontally on the cream background that peaks out on the right end of the card.

The golden looking inked background behind the pineapple image was cream cardstock. I started inking just the edges with really rust and before I knew it, I was rubbing it on from edge to center in swirls. The cream cs is all but invisible but I loved the effect...very tropical golden sunset if I do say so :)

To finish it off, a simple sentiment peeking out from the edge and some lime green twistel tied around the fold. The clutter-maker in me wanted to add more but, really, I decided I loved it as is :) Cool!

Thanks for stopping by...I really appreciate it! Have a sunny day!

Supplies: (the shortest list yet I think!)

Cardstock: Georgia Pacific

Stamps: SU! and Papertrey Ink

Ink: SU!

Other: twistel

Hey COACH, what do you think of this purse?

Happy tuesday friends! Today's post is all about a special friend and the gift box that turned into a purse. Do you think COACH would like a paper purse designer? Hey COACH, I'm available *wink*

My very good friend and partner in craft had a birthday a little over a week ago. Elise is an honest to goodness artist of many mediums, a wonderful mom, a responsible steward of many critters on the family ranch, a true friend to those around her and well I could go on but she's gonna totally be blushing at my gushing already! :) If you want to check her out, you can find her at Mamacow Creations. I encourage you to visit her :)

From this angle, you can see a tiny bit of that freebie jewelry department box poking out. I started with the idea to decorate the box and before I knew it, I was sketching out a template, measuring and cutting! Pretty fun! The lavender moon cardstock was custom stamped by me using Papertrey Ink's Guidelines, Guidelines 2 and Damask Designs stamp sets. All of the houndstooth embossing on the chocolate cardstock is from a Cuttlebug A2 embosser. Lovin it!

And what purse is complete without a handle? This one is simply decorated using satin ribbon and Fabric tac for adhesive. I adhered strips of lavender moon paper to the edges of the box to dress it up a little.

A close up of the vintage look a like button and silk flower. The buttons are in a nice sized bag at Michaels and look very realistic.

Here is the purse opened up. The closure is a thin but STRONG magnet by Basic Grey on the underside of the half circle flap. These babies are the best at holding things together. A simple piece of chocolate bitty dot paper from PTI to cover the top of the box.

More chocolate paper to decorate and serve as a hinge to the box. I had to cut away the backside of the lid in order to make it hinge up like this. The bracelet is wired to a piece of lavender moon cardstock.

The teeny little card to match the purse uses mostly the same materials and adding in a border punch from SU! and the Sizzix daisy die. More hand stitching with embroidery floss.

This shows the flower dimension and the coordinating stamp inside the card.

On the centers of these stamped images on both the purse and the card are liquid pearls. Love that stuff!

And not to be forgotten...the backside of the purse has cute details too.

Thanks for stopping by! I love fun gift presentation and would love to see if you have a project link to share. Please leave it in the comments so I can come and be inspired by you :)

Supplies:

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Lavendar Moon and Dark Chocolate

Patterned Paper: PApertrey Ink Bitty Dots

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Guidelines, Guidelines 2, and Damask Designs

Ink: SU! Chocolate CHip

Embosser: Cuttlebug Houndstooth

Magnet: Basic Grey

Daisy Die: Sizzix

Border Punch: SU!

Other: ribbon, buttons, and embroidery floss

My Timeless Template Challenge #1

Happy Monday everyone! It was back to school around here for my oldest so while my preschooler and I are hiding in the house from the unseasonably hot weather we are having, I made a little something for Lauren's first Timeless Template Challenge. I combined the Lolli-pop along template and the Rounded Wrap up template in order to make a box large enough to hold a set of handmade cards. Go to Papertrey Ink to check out those templates. The other part of the challenge was to let a bath product somehow inspire your project. I chose this one from Bath and Body works.I liked the understated white, cream and caramel colors here. A very elegant combo I thought and a nice diversion from my usual super bright color combos.

So here we have it...my Rounded wrap up/lolli-pop along box with 6 cards and envelopes. I have a couple people in mind who might like this gift :) I cut a window in the front of the box and replaced that section with acetate so the card could serve as box decoration.

A simple ribbon ties this box closed and a little punched and layered tag lets the receiver know it's a handmade gift. I love this little stamp from Papertrey Ink's Simply Stationary set.

The card is a standard A2 size with a white cardstock base, cream embossed cardstock next and white cardstock again cut and embossed in an oval. The gorgeous butterfly is from my FAVORITE butterfly stamp set ever , Wonderful Wings, from SU! ...they retired it a few years back and I was shocked. Maybe they'll bring it out of the vault one of these days so it can be available again ;)

The butterfly was detail cut from the white cardstock and adhered over the white oval sticking down only the body and antennae. The wings were bumped up with foam tape.

Thanks for stopping by...have a beautiful day!

Supplies:

My Timeless Templates by Lauren Meader for Papertrey Ink (adapted Lolli-pop along and Rounded Wrap-up) Cardstock: Georgia Pacific, Stamps: SU! (butterfly) and Papertrey Ink (sentiment), Die: Spellbinders Nestabilities oval, Punch: Martha Stewert (lace border), CM (circle), and SU! (scallop circle), Embossing Folder: Cuttlebug swiss dots, Ink: SU! Creamy Caramel and Other: ribbon

My Time Sketch #30 and #31 and DT call

Happy Saturday everyone! And why celebrate such a wonderful day? It's the My Time saturday sketch with the super talented Lauren Meader! Check her sketch and her blog out...you'll love it! She is also calling for a few new members for her challenge DT. This is my entry and I hope you will make something to submit too! Check it out: Lauren's Challenge DT call post

Today I incorporated sketch 30 and 31 to make a card box and coordinating note card set with one of Lauren Timeless Templates found over at Papertrey Ink. Check out the Captured Card Case, perfect for those A2 size note cards and other goodies. She has a couple of free downloads to try as well so you can see just how easy her templates are.

For the box I stamped tone on tone yellow ink on PTI lemon cardstock and the Friends til the End flower set. Rectangles with the scallop and straight nestabilities were next white white cardstock and PTI bitty dots paper. Next came more white cs edged with the fiskars threading water punch and topped with more lemon cs, this time stamped and embossed n white with a bud image from the friends til the end set. This pairing was popped up on foam tape.

Check out the yummy detail the white embossing gives! The final embellishments were made with buttons sewn on and more bitty dot paper and white cardstock. The butterfly stamp is a cutie and was stamped two times to enable the second layer to show "movement".

Projects should be finished off all around, top to bottom in my little opinion so I stamped more flowers on the craft cs bottom, embossed white dots on the lemon cs and a tiny strip of bitty dots to edge the sides. Yay!

To make the inside interesting, more tone on tone stamping and a cute little punched embellishment designating this as "handmade".

Using the #31 sketch, I made a coordinating card with mostly the same supplies and adding in the adorable butterfly punches from Martha Stewart.

That's it for today gals! This was my first try with the Captured Card Case and I am LOVING it! This will definitely be used over and over for gifts! Thanks Lauren for the inspiration today :)

Supplies:

Captured Card Case

Template: My Timeless Templates by Lauren Meader for Papertrey Ink

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart, Kraft and stampers select white

Printed paper: Papertrey Ink bitty dots

Ink: SU! White pigment, Summer Sun, basic brown and Pumpkin Pie

Embossing Powder: Inkxpressions

Stamps: Stamp Craft (butterfly)Papertrey Ink (Friends til the End, Simply Stationary and Polka Dot Basics)

Dies: Spellbinders nestabilities long rectangle and scallop

Punches: CM corner rounder and circle, Fiskars threading water, SU! Scallop circle

Other: satin ribbon, orange buttons, dmc white floss

Card

Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Lemon Tart, Kraft and stampers select white
Printed paper: Papertrey Ink bitty dots
Ink: SU! Summer Sun and Pumpkin Pie

Stamps: Stamp Craft (butterfly)Papertrey Ink (Friends til the End)

Punches: CM corner rounder, Fiskars threading water, Martha Stewart butterfly

Other: satin ribbon, orange buttons, dmc white floss

CPS111 sketch...Cupcakes Forever!

Today's card is inspired by the CPS sketch #111 challenge. Check out all the amazing cards inspired by this sketch here. This sketch was a tough one for me with all the linear and precise angles presented but I worked some randomness in anyway I think!

I decided to use some super cute images by Studio G that I picked up in the Michaels dollar bin area. The cupcakes and the sentiment on the card below are from the same sheet....for a buck! I think this sketch really highlights these small images well.

Other fun techniques and tools here are a nestabilities scallop oval die for the turquoise shape highlighting the folded paper pinwheel and fun sentiment. I have discovered that if you are using a 12 inch piece of paper for your pinwheel, using a one inch width by 12 inch length works well. I, so far, have escaped scoring the strip before accordion folding it...I just eyeball and fold back and forth at about 1/4 of an inch for the above look. Lots of scallops here between the die cut oval, the border punch and the ends on the sentiment banner. I also gave shadowing a whirl with my zig brush pens when coloring the cupcake wrappers. I am no whiz when it comes to color layering but I think the overall effect was good. I'll keep practicing... :)

This closeup illustrates the sparkle and shine well. The lime background is a glitter cardstock which matches well with the lime pen and stickles edging around the sentiment. I also applied crystal effects to the "frosting" on all the cupcakes for shine. The white dots have been stamped on the turquoise cardstock with white pigment ink but not embossed, just air dried.

Supplies:

Stamps: Studio G and Papertrey Ink Polka Dot Basics

Paper: Target dollar spot, DCWV (glitter), SU! cardstock

Pens: Zig scroll and brush

Ink: SU! basic black and whisper white

Scissors: FIskars Scallop

Border Punch: SU!

scallop oval die: Spellbinders Nestabilities

other: Stickles and Crystal Effects

A tiskit a tasket a vintage easter basket

One day to go before the big bunny arrives. I thought I would share my little area of Easter treasures today. This area on top of an antique oak dresser in my dining area serves as a spot for some of my favorite things. This is "mom's area"...the girls get the vintage sewing machine table to decorate. The vintage basket I speak of is the pink plastic one on the right. It was mine as a child and still boasts a flocked bunny and decorative butterfly twisted onto the handle many Easters ago by my mom. I love bringing this out every Easter and I have no qualms about filling my own Easter basket ;) Also of note is the California pottery style bunny flower vase (also a gift from my mom). She and I have had fun searching out mostly California girl vases and one day she came upon this bunny. There are a lot of California pottery makers but this one is by Poinsettia Studios and most of these types of pieces are circa 1940's and 50's. Too precious! On the left is a lovely milk glass pedestal bowl from Greg's grandmother. This is a treasured favorite that stays out all year long.

And for my next trick...a little handmade goodness! I had not decorated blown eggs in years and decided to try a few things this year. I may still add more to the eggs but for now they have been painted, glittered and monogrammed for the girls in our house using tissue paper and stamps from papertrey ink. I also had to try my hand at some vintage-inspired tags for my girls. The above tag with the rabbit and chick image from The Graphics Fairy is for my oldest who just started raising a rabbit for 4-H. I thought this would be a great way to remember her first Easter with Lilly the bunny.

This sweet little girl with the dressed up bunnies is from Clearly Vintage and is for my youngest. I reminded her that no matter how old she gets she'll always be mom's little girl...and it's also to mark the year she thought she'd dress the dog as a princess (that's another story though LOL!).

So what are you making or decorating with this Easter? I love doing little holiday spots like this...not so overwhelming as a whole house scheme.

Supplies:

Eggs~

Making Memories acrylic paint

Martha Stewart fine clear glitter

Papertrey ink stamps

Stickles glitter glue

Tags:

Vintage Images from the Graphics Fairy and Clearly Vintage

Ribbon rosettes made by me

Polka dot paper: Papertrey Ink Bitty Dot paper

Ink: Color Box chalk ink in chestnut roan

Buttons from Michaels

Other: eyelets, ribbon and lace scraps, pinking shears

Happy spring friday!

Hi all! Just a quickie Friday post with a little something for spring. I think there is nothing prettier than the addition of a flower to a card. Sooooo simple too. If you keep your eye out, you can find great deals out there on silk flowers and you can pull apart the layers to make them even more economical if needed.

For these two cards, I left the blooms layered and just replaced the plastic stem holder thingy with a clear button from SU!. I stamped a thank you sentiment in black staz on ink onto the button to customize it a bit. I love this trick and need to make a mental note to do it more often. Another note about these simple cards...the papers are from a DCWV Summer Stack from a couple seasons ago. In a printed paper pack, there are hardly any coordinating decisions to make since the colors are usually coordinated for you! Sometimes I really NEED no decision making in my life (LOL!) so easy matching sounds good to me.

Have a great weekend,peeps! And here's hoping the easter bunny brings you lots of peeps...or whatever your favorite easter candy delight is :)

Supplies:

Ink: staz on

Paper: DCWV

Stamps and buttons: SU!

Other: Ribbon, silk flowers and craft wire

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #3

Boy oh boy! These were daunting colors for me! What saved me was this lovely vintage image from The Graphics Fairy and then the perfect ribbon in the ribbon drawer! I don't work in reds and melons very often. So without further adieu, my challenge card. Isn't she gorgeous? I had fun getting some inks out, pinking shears and of course, some stamps. The new Life and Guidelines 2 sets from Papertrey worked great here.

Also, a first attempt at a pinwheel type of flower. This ribbon (from Michaels dollar bin! YAY) is wire edged and it made arranging the puckers really easy. I have tried this technique before with non wired ribbon and it did not work out well for this newbie. So wired is suddenly my very good friend. I will definitely try this again.

I also sewed in a plastic pearl and covered any mistakes, oops I mean I EMBELLISHED with some stickles around the pearl to finish it off. The flower is stitched to the cardstock and also attaches the little piece of tulle under the tied pink grosgrain ribbon. Just kept stitching until I felt like everything was down tight.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a good one :)

Supplies:

Vintage image: the Graphics Fairy

Stamps: Papertrey Ink

Ink: Vintage Cream by PTI, Regal Rose and Pretty in Pink from SU! and Chestnut Roan by Colorbox

Punch: Martha Stewart

Other: pearl, stickles, ribbon, tulle, vintage page of text and cardstock scraps