September PTI Blog Hop

I can't believe it is already the 25th of September! Wow! Where has the month gone? My oldest started kindergarten this year, and it is hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that he will be starting his 4th week of school already.

This month's PTI blog hop challenge is to create a project based on this photo:

I love the colors and all the white, crisp lines. I am a big fan of simple card design with lots of white space. Know who does this perfectly? Laurie at Soapbox Creations. Its one of my very favorite blogs. I kinda feel like I found my inner Laurie for this card. Here is what I came up with:

Along with the photo and Laurie, I was also inspired by Nichole Heady. I was going through Nichole's blog, looking back at some of the posts that were created before I discovered PTI, and I came across this post. I thought the layout was perfect for the linear photo. Thanks for the extra inspiration, Nichole!

Well, I better get off the computer and back into the real world. We have a big day today. My sister is coming to visit. I am going to take her out to dinner and a movie for her birthday (although its kinda a gift for me too. I get to have a night out with one of my favorite people-and kid free!) We are also HUGE Green Bay Packer fans, so we are going to have some couch time rooting on our favorite team. Once the kiddos are in bed for the night, I have some serious blog hopping to do. Sounds like a PERFECT Sunday to me!

Thanks for stopping by!

First Day of School!

Today was the first day of school for my oldest son, DJ. He started kindergarten today. (sniff, sniff- they grow up so fast!)

Isn't he cute holding that super-cool Scooby Doo lunchbox!

I made him a little treat for his lunchbox using the Lunchbox Die. I LOVE that die. So, so many possibilities.

This is the inside of the lunchbox note. I included a little note that DJ will be able to read (we've been practicing this summer!) and a snack size M&M package. I folded the sides in a tiny bit to get it to fit. Works perfectly. A smidge of adhesive keeps the M&Ms in place. He will love the little unexpected treat!

And, here is a little something that I made the teacher. Inside are 9 Hershey Nuggets decorated with Limitless Labels. If I had 23 5 year olds at one time, I know I'd need some chocolate! My middle son, Dean, starts preschool on Tuesday, and his teacher will get one, too.

Thanks for stopping by!

September PTI Blog Hop

Time again for another PTI blog hop. The challenge was to come up with a project inspired by this picture:

And, here is what I came up with:

I thought this would be a nice card to include with a Barnes & Noble gift card or just passing a great book along to a friend.

Thanks for stopping by.

Wedding!

Not mine! I've been happily married for 7 years. This wedding is for a former co-worker. She asked me to make her invitations and favors. I was honored that she asked. So, I have been very busy the last few weeks making around 200 wedding favors. I really enjoyed doing it and feel so accomplished now that it is completed.

First up is the invitation that were sent out a couple weeks ago.

The invitation started with a picture of an invite that the bride-to-be really liked. But they were $24 per invite. Yep, $24 per invite. And that is without the personalization. Yikes. I told her I could do something similar for 1/6 of the price. The process evolved with help from the mother of the bride and the BTB, and the above is what we ended up with. They are really pretty and the BTB was thrilled.

This is the wedding favor that used Favor It 3 from PTI:

They are simple and elegant with a bit of bling. They also serve as the place cards for the guests. Genius!

Because I was so honored that the BTB asked me to do such an important part of her wedding, I made a Thank You card for both her and her mom who I worked very closely with through out the process. Here is the card that I came up with.

I kept the same style and colors as the invitation and the favors, which is so beautiful. I hope Sara has a beautiful wedding and lives happily ever after!

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy First Birthday, Reese!

One of my good friends from college has a precious little girl who is turning 1 this Friday. I made her this little card to celebrate the occasion.

Everything is from PTI except the Label 1 dies from Spellbinders.

Thanks for stopping by!

One Layer Inspiration

I was inspired by a couple of members of the PTI design team, Lisa Johnson and Betsey Veldman (who isn't?) and also inspired by the need to mail a couple cards that I wanted to keep down to one layer.

First up is a card inspired by Betsey Veldman's Iconic Images card here. And, here is my one layer version of it:

Don't you love the color combination? I had to save up for a few months to be able to afford a qualifying order from Stamp-A-Faire, and boy am I glad that I did! Love the background building stamps!

I was also inspired by this card by Lisa Johnson. Here is my version of the card:

The flowers look like they are black, but they are really dark purple, Elegant Eggplant by Stampin' Up to be exact. (I really need to take a photography class!) I used Botanical Sillhouettes given to me by my wonderful friend Amy.

Well, I'm off to mail these cards. Thanks for stopping by!

July Papertrey Blog Hop

Its that time again. I love the 25th of the month! Its PTI blog hop time!

This month's challenge was to come up with a card inspired by this picture:

Isn't this photo really inspiring? The colors, the butterflies, the white bench, the throw with the medallion. Just beautiful! I was also really inspired by Betsy's card here, and thought the impressed doily fit the feel of the photo and my project.

Its really hard to see the impressed doily, so here is a closer look. I sponged some white ink so the sentiment would stand out a bit more. It shows up better in real life. Also, it would help if I could take a decent picture!

There are a lot of GORGEOUS projects at Nichole's blog to check out. Thanks for stopping by to see mine!

Stamp-A-Faire Challenges

By the name of my blog title, you probably get the idea that I don't have a lot of time to do the hobby that I really enjoy (scrapping). I wasn't able to even start any of the Stamp-A-Faire Challenges until my 3 little angels (ahem) were in bed at 8:00 CST. And, as you moms out there know, just because you put a kid to bed doesn't mean that they stay there. Anyways, long story short, I had 2 hours to work on the challenges, which were really fun, by the way. To help with the time issue, I combined a couple challenges into one card. I was able to get 2 cards done, but I was only able to link one. Just ran out of time. Darn.

Okay, enough excuses. Here are my cards.

The first one is for Challenge 9 (use a stamp in a new and interesting way), Challenge 8 (create a card that is cut back around an inch and creates a lip to add a design element) and Challenge 5 (create a faux border with a solid shape).

The light bulb is the largest balloon from Up, Up and Away flipped upside down (stamped with the smooth side rather than the design side). The month that I discovered Papertrey Ink was the same month Up, Up and Away was released. When I first saw the dies, I thought of a light bulb right away. This was my chance to finally make the light bulb I pictured all those months ago.

Now on to the card that I didn't get to link. I created this card to go with Challenge 1, 4, and 6.

I'm going to use this for my son's friend's birthday party on August 12, so even though I didn't have quite enough time to link the card, it will still go to good use.

Here's to hoping Stamp-A-Faire is an annual thing! Thanks for stopping by!

Thanks, Coach!

I'm back for a third day in a row with a card for my oldest's T ball coach. He participates in T ball through the local YMCA. The coaches are all volunteers and really deserve our thanks. I'm not entirely sure what I will be including with the card yet. I made a frame and included a team photo for DJ's soccer coach. I hope to do something different this time.

Isn't that pattern paper fun? I got it in a large sports theme paper pack with a 40% off coupon at good ol' Michaels.

Thanks for stopping by!

The Sky's the Limit

A friend of mine is having a really hard year. I mean really hard. I wanted to send her a card to let her know that things may be hard right now, but the future is bright.

I love the way cards look with a lot of white space. Here is my attempt at the technique.

I was really inspired how Nichole Heady folded her card off center and put the sentiment on the "inside" of the card here. I recreated it vertically to give my balloons a little more height.

Its another hot one here in Wisconsin. We are off to my oldest's T ball game. We better take lots of water!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hip Hop Hooray!

Its been a while since I've posted. Life is just plain busy right now. But, last Friday I had a chance to get together with a couple of friends and do some scrapping. It was so nice to get out and have a little girl talk and create! Here is one of the 3 cards that I made.

Two of my three boys will be in school this fall, the oldest in kindergarten, and my middle will start preschool. That means lots of birthday party invitations. I decided I had better start stocking up on boy birthday cards. I was inspired by Nichole Heady's felt frog here and wanted to make one, too. But, with the light blue paper rather than the dark green that Nichole used, I think it came out looking a little babyish. So, I added a big bow on the top and will tuck it a way for a little nephew of mine whose having a first birthday in about 6 months! (At least I will be prepared!!)

It is really hot and humid here today. I think I will take my kiddos to the splash pad when they get up from their nap in a half hour! They will be thrilled!

Thanks for stopping by! Stay cool!

Color Inspiration

Well, there is nothing like waiting until the absolute last minute! It is nearly midnight MDT time (almost 1:00 my time!) and I finally am getting my card done and up on the blog for the Color Inspiration #6 challenge over at papercraftsconnection.com. I absolutely LOVE this color combination, but my mojo escaped me until this afternoon, and then I didn't have time to work on my vision until after fireworks tonight. But, here it is:

I was also inspired by Nichole Heady's challenge (that I am a day late for) highlighting the polaroid 2 step masking technique. You can watch a great video showing the technique here.

Thanks for stopping by!

4th of July Treats

Oh my goodness, life has been B-U-S-Y! I recently left my part time job to be a full time at-home mom again. My husband, who has been unemployed for a year and a half, was offered a job that requires travel and on-call time. Plus he is still taking classes for EMT and paramedic, volunteering for 2 different local fire departments, and trying to maintain a growing business. That makes me sorta a single mom right now. My hopes and prayers is that all this hard work now will lead to a future where we can worry a little less about money and have a wonderful family life.

So, my oldest will be starting kindergarten in the fall. Our school district offers a summer class called "Kindergarten Jumpstart" that helps the kiddos transition to big kid school. They are having a 4th of July party today, and I wanted to give the kids in DJ's class a little treat.

I made fun little Uncle Sam pins for each of the kids. You can find a tutorial here. But, I have to warn you that the tutorial said to use markers for the hat, but using marker on fun foam did not work for me. The marker rubbed right off. So, I paper pieced the hat and clear embossed them to give a little shine.

Here is one that I packaged up in a clear cello bag. I threw in a couple of dum-dums (DJ's favorite). I used Papertrey's Banner Borders die for the bottom of the topper.

And here are the lot of them all together. (I just love how they look grouped up like that!)

Have a GREAT 4th of July weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink June Blog Hop

This month's PTI blog hop challenge was to be inspired by this photo:

"We thought we would start a short inspirational series with the Blog Hops for the next few months as a fun way to spice things up! This month we are providing you with a beautiful photo to help trigger some creative ideas with color! This inspirational photo is just dreamy and it's the perfect thing to give you a creative jumpstart that will lead to nothing but fabulous results! We look forward to seeing everyone's interpretations using this inspiration!"

I love the photo that was chosen. I live with 4 males and a male dog, so I don't have a lot of inspiration that involves pink and ruffles. So, I was particularly drawn to the pink ruffle dress. I recently bought some really pretty ribbon by Tim Holtz that reminded me of that pink ruffle dress. But, the ribbon is white. So, I dyed it pink.

I simply used some pink re-inker and water and soaked the ribbon until it was the color pink that I wanted. Here are some pictures showing the process:

This picture shows the before and after.

And, with that now-pink ribbon, I came up with this card:

Thanks, PTI, for the inspiration! And, thank you for stopping by!

Pink Thank You

I am blessed to have a wonderful PTI forum friend, Amy, who was so very generous to send me one of her extra anniversary sets. Thank you so much, Amy!

I don't have many flower sets. Not because I don't like flowers (I love them), but because money is tight and I buy my craft supplies on a need basis. Since I have 3 boys, my craft needs are mostly non-flowery.

Ever since I was surprised by the stamp set in my mailbox, I have to say, I can't seem to put Botanical Silhouettes down! I love all the flower options there are and how versatile it really is.

I was really inspired by this card by Debbie Olson in the PTI gallery, and had to make one for myself. Here is my version.

Thanks for stopping by!

For the Coach

My oldest, DJ, was in soccer for the first time this spring. He started out so awkward that first game and has progressed really well these past weeks. He even scored a goal!

His last game is next week Saturday, and I wanted to make a little something for his teammates and coach, so I made some frames to put the team picture in.

The good news is, I really like how the frame turned out. It started out as a $1 unfinished wood frame from Michaels. I painted it white with regular old acrylic paint (it took 3 coats), and then used All Star Team from PTI to stamp the images in black craft ink. **You absolutely need to seal the frame with a spray selaer when you are done stamping. The ink smears really easy, even when heat set.**

The bad news is that the team picture I took last Saturday didn't turn out at all and I hope that one of the other parents will be able to email a picture they took. I am a terrible photographer! Horrible. Need to take a class for sure.

I also made a Thank You card for the coach. The coaches are all volunteers and I wanted the coach to know that I appreciate her time. I was inspired by a card from someone else's blog, but I am sorry, I cannot find it now. It had a similar lay out, but it had balls that were bouncing. I thought it was a PTI design team member, but I just spent an hour looking for the card and couldn't find it. I'm sorry!

Thanks for stopping by!

And The Winner Is.......

Cathy Weber!

Congratulations, Cathy! A fellow Papertrey Posse member! I already have your address so I will get your Paper Crafts Volume 9 in the mail this week.

The winner was drawn the old fashion way; by pulling a name out of a hat. Everyone who left a message on the May 19 blog post between May 19 and May 23 was entered, and my sweet husband pulled the winner's name from one of his many baseball caps.

My goal this week is to actually get a project posted. Lets see how that goes. lol

Thanks for stopping by!

Blog Candy!

I was super excited last week when I found out that I won the Mother's Day giveaway on the Paper Crafts blog Paper Crafts Connection. Look at the great prize I won!

Isn't that apron adorable??? I love Fancy Pants!

Part of the prize is a copy of the new Card Creations Volume 9.

But, I already have Card Creations. So, I am giving away the one that I just received in the mail from Paper Crafts. All you need to do it leave a comment. I will pick a winner on Sunday night and announce the winner here on my blog on Monday.

Thanks for stopping by!

A May Wedding Card

Spring is here and love is in the air. My anniversary was Sunday, there was a big wedding, in case you didn't hear, in England, and we received our second wedding invitation for this summer in the mail today.

I have been inspired. I finally ordered Enjoy the Ride last week and haven't been able to put it down. I should have order this set a long time ago!

Here is a close up of the happy couple's car.

This is one of the rare projects that I am proud of. It turned out like I pictured it in my head and that usually doesn't happen. Something usually gets lost in translation.

Thanks for stopping by!

Easter and a Birthday

I have been so busy this past month! Lots of co-workers birthdays and Easter along with sick children and work. Although I didn't have much time to post in April, I did make some projects. And, even though Easter is over I thought I would share with you the treats I made for my oldest's preschool class.

Here is a close up of the "boy" one (being that it doesn't have any pink, says DJ)

I absolutely LOVE Polka Dot Parade, but know I have over used it the past few months. Time to pull out another pad of PTI pattern paper, I think!

And, here is a little box that I made for one of my co-worker's birthday. I used Nichole Heady's favor box that I got in the freebie section on her blog. Here is the link in case you don't have it.

And the view from above. I filled it with Hershey Kisses in spring colors.

Well, it is way past my bedtime. Good night, and thanks for stopping by!

7 years already?

My anniversary is Sunday. I've been married for 7 years. It seems impossible. Time goes by so fast when you are in love, I guess!

My hubby's favorite color is orange. It was a great opportunity to pull out PTI's Orange Zest, which I usually only use around Halloween! I was also excited to use Enjoy the Ride, which I finally got around to purchasing and came in the mail today. I thought that this masculine card was the perfect opportunity to try Nichole's frame technique.

Here is what I came up with.

The frame really helped finish the card, I think.

Thanks for stopping by!