Kraft Overload

I promise that I will make something again without a Kraft base. Someday. But I love using it, a lot more than I ever thought I would. So here is a card that I got inspired to make after the Papertrey blog hop last week. There were a lot of people that used Enchanted Evening and Scarlet Jewel on their "fall inspired" projects. I wouldn't have reached for these colors together for fall projects without seeing them on the blog hop. There were some really neat projects using this combination, and I wanted to give it a try, too. I really like this color combination, and might see what else I can come up with!

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, SU Small Script, SU Upsy Daisy
Ink: PTI Enchanted Evening, Fresh Snow, Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Enchanted Evening, Kraft, Scarlet Jewel, White
Accessories: PTI Scarlet Jewel Ribbon, Martha Stewart Doily Lace Punch

Didn't take long at all

Well, my son has only been in school since last Wednesday. Yesterday when he got off the bus he had a really runny nose and looked pretty tired. Last night was his first flag football game. We went to that and I didn't think too much about the runny nose until I looked over on the sidelines and he was lying there....and he looked like if he held still for about 30 more seconds he'd fall asleep. I was a little frustrated. Not with him, but with school germies. My son's pretty good at hand-washing and sanitizing {for an 8-year-old boy anyway}, but obviously you can't avoid all germs and sicknesses. But I thought we'd make it past the first week before we caught something. He woke up with a fever and still looked completely lethargic, so he's home today. Thank goodness my little kindergartener wasn't nervous at all to ride the bus by herself this morning. We could have had a disaster on our hands. Anyway, on to my card:
When previews for Papertrey Ink's fall sets started popping up last month, this little leaf was shown as a preview. I loved the little swirls in it so much. I actually did try to talk myself out of this set though. I have a Hero Arts set from last year with a cute little leaf that I never used last year. So I tried to make a cute little leaf card so I wouldn't want to buy anything new. Well, the darn leaf had a defect, the rubber was missing a chunk out of the outline, and stamped horribly. So this set made it onto my list anyway. This card was totally inspired by a card here on Susan's blog (the second card down). I like it so much I'd have done a straight case, but didn't want to have to try and figure out what size envelope to use for a card like that. So I changed it to something I could handle. Plus, Susan is really great at one layer cards. I can handle "clean and simple," and find myself drawn more and more to that style. But the art of one layer cards is a totally different thing.

Stamps: PTI Fall Elegance
Ink: PTI Melon Berry, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Kraft, Rustic Cream, Summer Sunrise

Season of Gratitude

I am so excited to participate in the Papertrey Ink blog hop tonight. The challenge is to create a project inspired by any aspect of fall: colors, fabrics, textures, etc. Part of the challenge is to try and work a little outside of your comfort zone. Well, CAS definitely is my comfort zone. So that didn't stretch me. The thing that did was adding more than one color to my fun little leaf stamps. I've never done the "rock and roll" technique or added more than one color to a stamp in quite this way. I'm sure to many people that's not a challenge at all, but to me it was. I am glad I tried it, because I think the multi-color leaves look really neat.


So that is the card I came up with. I had so much fun using these leaves and can't wait to make more fall/Thanksgiving cards with this set. I love it in fall when the colors start to change and the weather starts to turn. I used to not enjoy the beauty of fall as much as I do now. Fall meant winter and winter meant cold weather and snow. Then I met my husband and we started dating in the fall. Now, as soon as I feel that crisp fall air, it brings back a lot of great memories for me.
That's all for now. Happy Hopping!

Stamps: PTI Fall Elegance
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Melon Berry, Ripe Avocado, Scarlet Jewel, Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Kraft, Ripe Avocado, White

Congratulations

Happy Monday! Well, last week ended up a little crazy. School started for my 3rd grader on Wednesday, and my daughter had her kindergarten assessment that day, too. The next day my brother was in a pile up on the freeway, which had me stressed out, until I was able to find out he was okay. Friday brought an unexpected doctor's visit, Saturday we had a birthday party, as well as a bridal shower I found out about on Friday. So, this is the super quick card I made for the bride-to-be. Kindergarten starts Wednesday, and I'm hoping we quickly adjust to the school routine.

Stamps: SU Pretty Petals, Congrats
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Ripe Avocado, Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI Hibiscus Burst, White
Accessories: PTI Plum Pudding Satin Ribbon

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Do you ever have one of those cards that you alternate between loving and not loving the whole time that you are making it? Well, that's how I feel about this card. Last week I was looking at the inspiration challenge on Split Coast Stampers. I found this fun picture that inspired me:
Granted, I don't usually need inspiration to use pink, but still. When I saw this picture I thought it would be fun to use as an inspiration piece. So I started thinking about my card. Then I saw this Fall-to Layout from the Clean and Simple blog. And I decided to combine the inspiration picture with the fall-to layout. Well, as I was working I loved it, then I didn't, then I did. Now I'm not sure. I wish I wouldn't have smeared quite so much ink on the edges. That is what is bugging me the most. And the flower is a softer pink and the Hibiscus Burst cardstock seems darker than what I wanted it to be. But I love the layout. So I guess it's not all bad.

Stamps: PTI Friends 'Til The End, Background Basics: Text Style
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Chai, Chamomile
Copics: RV10, RV13, E43, E47
CS: PTI Hibiscus Burst, Kraft, Vintage Cream
Accessories: Top Note Die

Back to School!

I can't believe it's the end of summer for us. My little boy starts 3rd grade on Wednesday and then next week my daughter starts kindergarten! It doesn't seem possible that it's already this time of year again. This is what I made for my daughter to give her some goodies in before her first day. I know I'm doing it backwards since my son starts before her, but I haven't decided what to do for him yet. I don't think he'd like the floral theme too well. My plan at this point is to fill it with some little bite size chocolates. I was going to take a picture with it full, but the little people in my house that love chocolate ate all the stash up. So I took a picture with it next to finger nail polish so you can get a better idea of the size. A lot of these 3-D projects look bigger to me than they actually are....so here's a comparison photo.

That is all for now. We're hoping to go and swim and pretend that it's not really the end of summer! Enjoy your Monday.

Stamps: SU Pretty Petals
Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, Summer Sunrise
CS: PTI White
Accessories: My Timeless Templates: Milk Made, Offray Ribbon

I Believe In Santa Clause

Today I made a card using a cheap stamp combined with the most expensive stamp I've ever bought. Last year I saw some card using this Santa from Rubber Stampede, and I couldn't resist hunting one down. I paid as much for this darn stamp as I usually do for a set. But I absolutely love it. Then I ran across some Studio G stamps that had the "always believe" in it, and I knew it would go perfectly with my cute little Santa image. Here is a card I made last year before Christmas (before I had any copics that gave me a good skin color), and a little tag I made using just part of Santa's face. I want to get some of that glossy stuff to put on his glasses. The cards I've seen with the glossy stuff covering his glasses look so realistic, they are really neat. This card is 4 1/4" square.

Stamps: SU Bold Snowflakes, Rubber Stampede Santa, Studio G
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Colorbox Silver, Versamark
Copics: R00, YG95, B21, RV13
CS: PTI Ripe Avocado, Spring Rain, White
Accessories: Circle Nestabilities, Scallop Circle Nestabilites, Ranger Clear Embossing Powder

Happy Little Ornaments

Well, this card just made itself. haha! I was looking at some of my cheap Christmas stamps from Studio G and thought that it might be fun to make a row of the ornaments and then add a Merry Christmas at the top. I do like the Kraft part. I just don't know if I like it on the green. I tried adding it to a white background, cream background, red background, and finally the green. I really wasn't crazy about any of them. But I like the layout on the top note die. I think it's kind of fun. And in fairness to my little card, this isn't the best picture. We did finally get a new camera so that I can see what I am taking pictures of. But the coloring on the camera seems really off to me. The background and ribbon is Ripe Avocado from PTI, so if you are familiar with their product, that's what it is (the ribbon on my post just before this one is the same ribbon...doesn't look like it does it?). It is one of my favorite greens to use. I love it, and I don't think that this picture does it justice at all, and Photoshop wouldn't help me save it either. So I'm off to see if I can figure out a way to pull this off, because I want to make more little ornament cards.

Stamps: Studio G
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Copics: RV29, YG95
CS: PTI Kraft, Ripe Avocado
Accessories: Taylored Expressions shiny sparkly things, PTI Ripe Avocado ribbon

FTL31

Happy Wednesday. I can't believe summer is winding down. Next Wednesday is the first day of school here. Yikes! My daughter is starting kindergarten, too, this year. Unfortunately kindergarten doesn't start until a week after regular school. So she's quite bummed that she isn't going to get to ride the bus for a whole week after her brother is already riding it. On to my card. I used the Fall-to Layout #31 from the Clean and Simple Stamping blog. I actually made 2 cards using the sketch, and they went together quickly. The second card {not pictured} followed the sketch, and I wrapped the ribbon all the way around the card front, instead of just the main panel. The bow on the other one didn't turn out so well, so I didn't try to get a picture of it. I plan on using the sketch again, so I'm writing down my measurements here so I don't have to remeasure every time I want to make this. The big panel is 4 3/4" x 3 1/2 ". The patterned paper is 2" x 3 1/2".

Stamp: Clear Dollar Stamps Words Of Sympathy
Ink: PTI Plum Pudding
CS: PTI Sweet Blush, White
DP: Basic Grey
Accessories: PTI Ripe Avocado Ribbon

Finding Inspiration

Each Sunday at Split Coast Stampers there is a "Featured Stamper" whose gallery you can browse to pick out a card for inspiration. Then you create your own card, making at least 2 changes so you're not just copying their card. Well, since I've mentioned my creativity is down, I decided to look at the featured stamper's gallery today. Finally, I settled on this card as my inspiration. I loved the text background and the silhouettes, together with the butterfly. I tried to achieve a similar look, substituting stamp sets I have for the ones that she used. And I really liked that she had embossing on her card. I decided to emboss my butterfly instead of the text background. Most of the time I add a sentiment to the front of my card, but I left it blank this time, like my inspiration card. There you have it. I'm hoping for a fun, creative week. 2 Mondays until school starts.

Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Text Style, PTI Life, SU Great Friend
Ink: PTI Chamomile, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, Summer Sunrise, VersaMark
CS: PTI Kraft, Ripe Avocado, Rustic Cream, Summer Sunrise
Accessories: Ranger Clear Embossing Powder

Merry Christmas To You

I know that my posts have been few and far between lately. I haven't been feeling the greatest, and my creativity is down. But yesterday I got my crafting area cleaned up {mainly} and decided to just make a card, even if it was something super simple. Girls all over the card world start planning Christmas early, so I've already been seeing a lot of Christmas cards popping up. I decided to pull out some of my Christmas stuff and make a little card before I wanted to go crazy and order new Christmas goodies. I am pretty happy with how this card turned out. I do want to make another and add glitter all over the bottom, like on this great Christmas card by Susan. I don't have any glitter other than my glitter glue, though, and thought that if I did the whole thing with that, it would end up looking really gloppy. Have a great Saturday!!!

Stamps: SU Best Borders, Studio G
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy
Copics: E43, RV29, YG95
CS: PTI Ripe Avocado, White
Accessories: Glitter Glue

Sloppy Joes

A couple of years ago I did "once a month cooking," where you can prepare meals for an entire month. It is so much work the day(s) you get all of the meals ready, but it's so nice to have meals for a month. This is my cousin's recipe that she gave me that works great for OAMC. It's my husband's favorite sloppy joe recipe. It's also great the day your prepare it. It doesn't have to stay in the freezer a few weeks to taste good.

Monday, yet again.

Last week was a long one for us. There was a lot going on, and it definitely didn't help me feel very creative. So I was really looking forward to this weeks CAS challenge at SCS to get me going, yet again. Well, just my luck....it called for stitching, be it faux or real. I can't do real stitching, and don't really want to try fake stitching today. So I just went out on my own to make a thank you card.
Now we are down to 3 Mondays until school starts, and I can't believe it. This will be another busy week, but I'm hoping it doesn't take away from crafting this time. Have a great Monday!

Stamps: SU Artfully Asian, River City Rubber Works sentiment
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate
Copics: RV10, RV13, RV29, YG95
CS: PTI White, SU Rose Red