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Welcome to my piece of blog land!

Thanks for stopping by my blog. I appreciate your taking time out of your busy day to take a peek at what I've been up to.

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Make It Monday



Papertrey has a fun challenge for this Make It Monday. Nichole has challenged us to stamp our sentiment on vellum. See the details and Nichole's video here.

My youngest's two year birthday is coming up in March. He is obsessed with balls. LOVES them. Goes crazy when he sees them. Even sleeps with them. So, when I asked if he wanted his birthday theme to be monkeys (what I wanted it to be), he said, "No. Balls."

And so a ball theme birthday party it is. The first thing I thought was, "I have to get me that "Have A Ball" stamp set from PTI!"

This is what I came up with for the party invitations:

Oh boy, was there a LOT of masking going on in this card! I used Simple Alphabet for the sentiment and the idea was to make the letters mimic a bouncing ball. Originally I wanted to keep it one layer, but when I saw the Make It Monday challenge, I thought the vellum would be a nice touch. Love how the vellum sentiment strip can be feminine or masculine.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, February 14, 2011

Happy Valentine's Day!

Are you feeling the love??? I sure am! Look what my WONDERFUL husband got me for Valentine's Day.


I know most women wouldn't want a sewing machine for Valentine's Day, but this is EXACTLY what I wanted. I am so (haha! no pun intended) in love with all of the lovely stitching on cards that's so popular right now. Now I will be able to attempt it, too.

I have a confession to make.....I have no idea how to use a sewing machine. None. Never used one before. So... this should be interesting. But, I had to upgrade from hand stitching. My first attempt of stitching on a card for an earlier PTI anniversary tag challenge did not turn out too well.

Oh, one more thing....my WONDERFUL husband also got me a Papertrey gift certificate to add to my order for tonight. Love.him. Happy dance!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Valentine's Day!

Friday, February 11, 2011

PTI Tag and Frame Challenge

Here I am today with yet another challenge from Papertrey. They are celebrating their 4th Anniversary with some amazing challenges and with some even more amazing prizes. Check out Nichole's blog and join in on all the fun.

From Nichole's blog, "Your challenge today is to create a tag that incorporates a frame of some kind!"

Here is what I came up with:


This tag is going on a gift for my dear friend's daughter. Little Emma is turning 3 and her birthday party is tomorrow. I used Tag Sale 1 with Fillable Frames 11. I stuck a cute Martha Stewart doily on the top because those PTI designers have me doily crazy.

Thanks for stopping by.

Thursday, February 10, 2011

PTI Button Challenge

Papertrey's anniversary festivities are still in full swing. Today Nichole announced a great new product line designed to make decorating with buttons more fun and creative. Check out her introduction of Button Boutique here.

Nichole also challenged us to use buttons in a new and innovative way. I think that a project I completed with the Calendar Basics for my January page fit the challenge nicely.


I created a sweet little snowman from three of Papertrey's awesome Vintage Buttons from the Holiday Mix, a tiny Baker's Twine scarf, and felt hat and carrot nose.


And this is the whole calendar page with the snowman button embellishment.

Thanks for stopping by.

Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Make It Monday Part 2



I had some time today to try my hand at another card using the go-to sentiment technique highlighted here by the uber talented Erin Lincoln and shown beautifully by the one and only Nichole Heady.

My husband's family has a lot of boys. We have 3 beautiful boys. My brother-in-law and sister-in-law just had a baby boy a few days ago. My husband's grandma has 14 great-grandchildren, and of those only 3 are girls....and one of those is adopted.

One of my husband's cousins is pregnant. We are really hoping for a girl. And, to help get the girl vibes going, I created this card.


Thanks for stopping by!

Monday, February 7, 2011

Make It Monday


PTI announced a new weekly challenge yesterday. Every Monday PTI will debut a video (yay!) on a paper crafting or stamping technique and then challenge us, the PTI fans, to take that technique and make it our own. This week, the very first Make It Monday, the technique was Go-to Sentiments. Check out Erin Lincoln's video and get the challenge specifics here.

And, here is my take on it:


My style is simple and clean, and it shows on this card. I used Dawn's label from the Anniversary Tags freebie download to embellish.

Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Papertrey Anniversary Tag Challenge Take 2

After the Superbowl (Yay Packers!!!!), I created another card using PTI's free anniversary tags. It is the exact opposite of my first card.


My stitching is NOT perfect by any means, but I thought it turned out cute. I love the rainbow tag and see myself using it a lot in the future.

Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Anniversary Tag Challenge

The anniversary festivities are still in big swing at PTI! Nichole and the PTI design team gave us a wonderful gift for their anniversary....FREE digital tags!!! LOVE them all!

Nichole also gave us a challenge: create a project with one or more of the tags by Monday 7:00am EST (that's 6:00 my time!) Oh, Nichole, you are KILLING me! Its Superbowl Day and my beloved Green Bay Packers are playing!

I ran to my craft room and whipped up a quicky wedding card with my husband's cousin in mind. He is getting married next month and I was so inspired by Beth's sentiment tag, I had to quick make a monochromatic card for the happy couple.



I kept it simple and all in white. Added a little bling, and called it good.



Here's a close up of the tag with that sentiment that I just love.


Also, an FYI that my sister-in-law had her baby yesterday. We traveled a couple of hours to get a peek at that little bundle. Actually, he was quite a big bundle, coming in at a whopping 9.1 lbs! Welcome to the world, sweet baby Marcus Daniel!

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Papertrey Cutomers Favorites

As part of the BIG anniversary party over at PTI, there is a contest for a HUGE give away of over $700 worth of PTI goodies. One way to win the loot is to re-post your favorite project using PTI products over the past year. I only just discovered PTI last summer, and because my husband was laid off, I haven't been able to buy as much from my new FAVORITE store as I'd like. But what I did buy, I put to use.

My favorite project from last year was the very first project I made with my very first PTI products. The project also happened to be my very first PTI blog hop!


The challenge for this blog hop was to use a plain ol' paper bag in your project. I loved the idea so much, I created my blog so I could participate.

So, PTI has been a big part of my life since July 2010. I have truly loved getting to know PTI and cannot wait to see what's in store for 2011!

Friday, February 4, 2011

A Gift for Marcus

Well, my sister-in-law still hasn't had her little bundle yet. Today is her official due date, and tiny Marcus has yet to make his appearance. And its a good thing, too. I just finished his gift 5 minutes ago!

I got it in my head to make onesies using PTI felt and Simple Alphabet. I think that they turned out nice. Let me know what you think.


Here is the star onesie. I used Simple Alphabet to stamp "Twinkle" under the felt star. I think "A star is born" would be a cute sentiment, too.


Since little Marcus is coming so close to Valentine's Day, I thought a little heart was fitting. Again, Simple Alphabet was used to stamp the sentiment, "Made with Love" Other sentiments I thought of are "Sweetheart" and "Heart Breaker"


Here are the two onesies together. I really enjoyed making these. I have tons of ideas for more designs using felt and punny sentiments. I am thinking about making some and opening an Etsy shop. I'd love to get your feedback.

Thanks for stopping by!