Flower Inspiration

During the May PTI Blog Hop, I was totally blown away by this card from Dawn McVey. I love the flower she made on the front. When I saw that it was made with just torn circles of paper, I thought ... I can do that! While Dawn's card used randomly torn, mostly circular pieces, I knew to make camp easier (and to appease the engineer in me) I would start with punched circles.

I used 4 graduated circles punches starting at 1.75" down to 1". I distressed the edges with a scissors then curled it up (these were maybe a little too small - my hands started cramping up a little on the smallest one :o)

I punched 2 ovals for the leaves and cut them to have a pointy end, then stamped with Background Basics: Text Style and distressed & pinched them to give them some texture and dimension.

I finished it off with a chocolate button center and the largest flourish from Fancy Flourishes.
Thanks for stopping by.
{Flower card supplies - All PTI unless noted}
Stamps: Fancy Flourishes, Background Basics: Text Style
Ink: (SU!) Pretty in Pink, Garden Green
Paper: Sweet Blush, New Leaf
Embellies: Chocolate vintage buttons, sweet blush dotted satin ribbon, circle & oval punches (SU!)

May Blog Hop - Yellow Challenge

This month's blog hop challenge was intimidating to me ... use yellow. I'm not a yellow fan, but I wanted to try to stretch my creative wings a little. I actually made 2 projects for this one, one using more golden yellows (those I like) and one using just a nice light yellow (which I am growing fonder of by the moment) So maybe the only yellow I'm really intimidated by is that bright bright beach ball yellow :o)
For this first card I used PTIs Lemon Tart and SU! So Saffron. I used a SAMJ to make sure I stamped both of the layers identically then sliced and reassembled as the patchwork layer. The teapot was stamped in So Saffron with a chocolate chip border.


I also learned this week that you can color on rhinestones with Copics (props to Melissa Bickford - thats where I read about it)! How cool is that! So I used the middle color (Y26) from the Lemon Tart trio to color the rhinestones before adhering them to the teapot. I also had to use my new Fancy Flourishes so added the large flourish on the right.
I also tea stained it with the Tea Dye Duo.

For my second card I wanted to do a simple card and use buttons as a floral arrangement. I used the Lemon Tart vintage buttons. The centers are tied with either hemp or a carmel gingham that I colored with my darkest brown Copic (E47).

I stamped the stems in Mellow Moss. The sentiment is from Rustic Branches, that I cut and embossed with a Nestability tag die. I also used my CB swiss dot embossing folder. I liked the tie in with the swiss dot background and ribbon

{Teapot card supplies - PTI unless noted}

Stamps:Tea For Two, Best Blossom (SU! - retired)
Ink: (All SU!) So Saffron, Chocolate Chip
Paper:(SU!) Naturals Ivory, So Saffron, More Mustard, (PTI) Lemon Tart
Embellies:Rhinestones (Martha Stewart)
Tools: Tea Dye Duo, Copic -Y26

{Button Bouquet Card Supplies - All PTI unless noted}
Stamps: Neverending Joy (SU!)
Ink:SU! - Mellow Moss
Paper:White, Dark Chocolate, Lemon Tart
Embellies: Lemon Tart vintage buttons, Lemon tart satin dotted ribbon, carmel gingham ribbon (SU!) hemp
Tools:Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss embossing folder, Copic (E47), Nestability tag die

Thanks for stopping by. Enjoy the rest of the hop.

CPS Sketch and Kristina Werner Color Challenge

I tried to combine color and sketch challenges again this week.

CPS Sketch Challenge #117

... and Kristina Werner's color inspiration challenge #53

It was a little difficult because I wanted to get all elaborate but 5 colors just doesn't make it easy. I like what I came up with though.

The red was throwing me until I decided to make it just a bit of an accent instead a primary color in the design.

Thanks for looking!

{Congratulations card supplies - all Stampin' Up! unless noted}
Stamps: Around and About Sentiments (PTI), By Definition (SU! retired)
Ink:Pacific Point, Summer Sun, Real Red
Paper:Pacific Point, Summer Sun, Real Red, Basic Black
Tools:Top Note Sizzix die, Big Shot
Embellies: Red Gingham ribbon (SU Retired), Black vintage button (PTI)

New Stuff!!

So I got my box of new stuff from Papertrey yesterday and had to make something right away. I wanted to play with the star prints to make a card for an upcoming class.I stamped the number filled star randomly in red, navy and river rock. I also got the tea dye set and decided to make it look all old and vintage-y. The tea dying was SO simple. The ink is thin and really wet, so you just rub it on the card stock and voila! I did both the chamomile and the chai. I tried to get a picture, but it is much darker in real life. (the flash washed it out some)

I used Background Basics: Text Style on the red layer. This comes with 3 different fonts so I used the most scripty looking to add to the vintage feel. I did a little chai tea dye on the edge of the red layer as well. I also got the vintage wood buttons in my wonderful box and used those in this hemp & button detail.

Thanks for stopping by.

{Wish Big supplies - all PTI unless noted}
Stamps:Star Prints, Background Basics:Text Style
Ink: (All SU!) Real red, Night of Navy, River Rock, white stazon
Paper:Kraft, Pure Poppy, white
Embellies:Tea Dye Duo, hemp, vintage wood buttons.
Tools: scalloped edge punch (SU!)

Color And Sketch Challenge

For today's card I combined the latest Raspberry Suite Color Challenge

and the latest CPS sketch challenge.

I love making stripes with baby wipes especially in those luscious sherbet summer colors (OK, the aqua may not be a real sherbet color, but it certainly is in the same family :o). I used that for the larger background layer. I mixed up my own batch of a pseudo aqua mist and also mixed cameo coral with regal rose to better approximate the berry sorbet color.

I used the flip flops from my Sparkling Summer stamp set, since they are as summery as the colors. I wanted to color them aqua but my Copic order hasn't come yet to match the PTI colors, so I decided to play mad scientist and mix up a batch of my own. I mixed about 10 parts Cool Caribbean with 1 part Kiwi Kiss and diluted it with some drips of water. I think it came out pretty darn close.

For the dotted strip I used my Crop-A Dial to punch the white strip and then layered it over the berry sorbet. Then I realized that I had buttons in the challenge colors (or awfully close) so I added those to get some height on the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

{Thanks card supplies}

Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages (PTI), Sparkling Summer (SU! retired)

Paper: (All PTI) Aqua Mist, Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate, white

Ink (All SU!): Cool Caribbean (retired), Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Cameo Coral, Regal Rose

Technique: Baby Wipe Stripes

Embellies: PTI vintage buttons in melon berry, dark chocolate and aqua mist

More graduation cards

I decided this year not to make traditional graduation cards. These next few card are all pretty non-traditional.

First up is one inspired by this card by Dawn McVey. I changed up the colors and the size. This one is for a foreign exchange student that attends my church. She is graduating from high school then returning to Russia.

I love the button and ribbon treatment Dawn used so kept that, but used my eyelet punch from SU! instead of a standard scalloped edge punch.

Inside I continued the patterned paper and brown swirl pattern.
{Good Luck Card supplies - all PTI unless noted}
Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages (PTI), Flourishes (Autumn Leaves)
Paper: Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate, Tea Leaves patterned - poppy, Spring Moss (PTI), Naturals Ivory (SU!)
Ink:Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Tools: Labels One nestabilities, Big Shot, eyelet punch (SU!)
Embellies: Real Red grosgrain (SU!), chocolate vintage buttons (PTI)

This next card is for my nephew. I was trying to have a "theme" of winter, spring/summer, and fall to go with the "future endeavors" of the sentiment. I showed a friend and she thought it was a beautiful card but the concept was a little too cerebral. We'll see if anybody in my family gets it :o)

I hand wrote the sentiment using a Signo white gel pen. I don't usually like my penmanship, but it turned out OK on this one.


{Future Endeavors Card supplies - all supplies SU!}
Stamps: Branch Out
Ink: Chocolate Chip, Old Olive, Always Artichoke, Pumpkin Pie, Ruby Red
Paper: Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss textured, Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory
Embellies: Glitter


And finally this card is for a friend of mine who is graduating from college this week. She is a single mom who went back to school at nights to finish her accounting degree. I'm so proud of her!



{Celebrate Today Card supplies}
Stamps: Flourishes (Autumn Leaves), Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: Old Olive, Kiwi Kiss, Chocolate Chip, Naturals Ivory (SU!), Friends til the end Patterned (PTI)
Ink: Old Olive, Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Tools: Beautiful Butterflies Bigz die(SU!), Big Shot
Embellies:Chocolate Satin ribbon, half pearls (pretties kit) (SU!)

My Timeless Template - Guest Star Stamper

For this month's Guest Star Stamper over at Papertrey Ink Nichole added a pretty awesome twist. They have created a special My Timeless Templates Guest Star Stamper category. The winner gets the new unreleased templates plus the opportunity to create something with those new unreleased templates for the Design Ideas that come with them.

Wow! Talk about an opportunity!

I decided to give it a go. I love the templates and they are so easy and so versatile. I needed a small shower gift to go with the kitchen gadgets I had already purchased so I decided to make a card wallet with some custom Thank You cards for the bride-to-be. I had already helped make the wedding and shower invites so I thought Thank Yous were the next in line (besides her future MIL already asked me about making some :o)

I used Plum Pudding CS and dotted satin ribbon to match the invites.

I printed one box from the All Boxed Up template on to Plum Pudding CS. I added a 1 1/2 inch strip of the plum Friends til the End patterned paper to the bottom and around the sides and the box was complete.

For the wrap I was inspired by the Recipe Wrap Up (free template download at PTI) but the size wasn't quite right for this project, so I modified it to create the fold over flap. I adhered a strip of the Friends til the End paper to the back for the wrap so it looks like it goes all the way around.

I machine stitched a border on the wrap and then masked at the stitch line and stamped the Friends til the End flowers randomly to fill in the empty space.

I needed a way to keep it closed so I made a belly band out of Dark Chocolate CS and plum pudding dotted satin ribbon. The flower is from SU! Pretties Kit. I tried dying it with Orchid Opulence ink but it didn't look quite right so I mixed in some perfect plum and I think I got a pretty close match. I finished the flower with a yummy chocolate vintage button that I threaded with linen thread. I also added a few lavendar rhinestones form Martha Stewart.

Inside I make a set of 8 simple Thank You cards tying the Friends til the End patterned paper and stamping together :

I used the sentiment from Damask Designs - love the font in that set!!!

So here is my project all together ...

Thanks for stopping by!

{Card Wallet Supplies ... All PTI unless noted}

Stamps: Friends til the End, Damask Designs (sentiment)
Ink: (All SU!) Elegant Eggplant, Perfect Plum, Orchid Opulence (to dye flower)
Paper: Plum Pudding, Friends til the End patterned, Stampers Select White, Dark Chocolate
Embellishements: Flower (SU!), Rhinestones (Martha Stewart)

Tools:My Timeless Template - All Boxed Up

Grad Card Week - Day 5

This graduation card is for another of the great teens at my church. We have 4 kids graduating this year, plus one exchange student who is leaving to return home to Russia.

For this card I wanted a rustic homespun look. I stamped the SU! Linen background stamp in dark brown on the back of a fabric scrap. The ink was dark enough to bleed through a little so make the muslin take on a lineny look. I then stamped the vine and berries from PTIs Rustic Branches in craft ink onto the front of the fabric. I stamped the berries in cameo coral and the vine in mellow moss. Then I sewed the fabric onto to scrap paper and frayed the edges.

I also sponged the edges of the card base with a little vanilla craft ink

The flowers are vintage buttons in Melon Berry with black gingham ribbon tied in the centers. The background paper is PTIs Green Tea Leaves in Melon Berry. To hide the edge I used my last scrap of chocolate dotted satin ribbon (lucky for me the release party for PTI is Thursday night so I can order some more when I get my new stuff!)

I stamped the vines and berries up the side of the card to carry the theme to the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

{For You graduation card supplies - all PTI unless noted}

Stamps:Rustic Branches

Paper:Kraft, Green Tea Leaves patterned, ivory (SU!)

Ink:(All SU!) Mellow Moss Classic & Craft, Cameo Coral Classic & Craft, Basic Brown, Vanilla Craft
Embellies: melon berry vintage buttons, black gingham ribbon (SU!)

Grad Card Week - Day 4

In this post, Becky Oehlers gave a tutorial on how to doctor photos in Photoshop to print on Clearly Creative Cardstock from PTI. For my next graduation card (this one for my niece) I decided to use her graduation photo and this tutorial to make a clearly unique card.

You can kind of see her on the left of the card (I'm not the best photographer, but this one was incredibly difficult to take a picture of).  I used SU! naturals ivory under the clear CS. I stamped the leaves and the sentiment on the ivory CS beofre I adhered it and used the ribbon and large black button to hide the adhesive line.

The "flowers" are more of PTIs vintage buttons (Hibiscus Burst) and they are tied with some black hemp in the center (SU! retired). The buttons are stuck to the outside of the card with glue dots.

Thanks for stopping by.

{Celebrate Today, graduation card supplies}
Stamps: Best Blossom (SU! retired), MegaMixed Messages (PTI)
Ink: (All SU!) Mellow Moss, Rose Red
Paper: Clear CS (PTI) Naturals Ivory (SU!)
Embellies: Raspberry FIzz dotted satin ribbon (PTI), vintage buttons (PTI), hemp (SU!)

Grad Card Week - Day 3

This graduation card isn't for a sketch challenge - I'm using my new favorite-est 4.25 square card. The patterned layer was made using Background Basics: Retro. It was inspired by a design makeover show I watched on HGTV ... the pattern of silver on brown (even the shape of the pattern) was on a pillow in the make over room. When I saw it I thought - I have a stamp for that!!! I sponged teh edges with silver as well, to soften it up a little.

I love the silver on the chocolate.

The focal layer was stamped in Momento Tuxedo black ink and colored with Copics. I also added some liquid glue and microbeads to the flower centers to give it some sparkle and texture. The sentiment for this card is so true of the recipient ... there is no one like her!

Inside I added some more blossoms, so it wouldn't be bare. I'm starting to not like bare insides for cards!

Thanks for stopping by.

{No one like you Card Supplies - All PTI unless noted}

Stamps: Background Basics Retro, Friends til the End

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, SU! Silver metallic

Paper:Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate, True Black, White
Embellies:Micro beads

Grad Card Week - Day 2

Today's card is for the CPS Card sketch. I've never participated in this before, but really like the layout when I saw it. I used it for another graduation card that I need (2 down 6 to go!)

This one is for the son of a good friend of mine. When I saw this sketch I immediately thought stars. I made the background paper using PTIs Background Basics: Retro.

The sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages

The stars are SU! punches.
Thanks for stopping by!

{Congrats Grad Card - all supplies PTI unless noted}
Stamps:Background Basics: Retro, Mega Mixed Messages
Ink:Not Quite Navy (SU!)
Paper:Ocean Tides, Baja Breeze (SU!), Not Quite Navy (SU!), White
Tools:Star Punches (SU!)
Embellies: glitter, ocean tides saddle stitched ribbon

Grad Card Week - Day 1

I have 8 graduation parties to go to in the next month so I thought I would use the sketch challenges out on the web to make some fun and new layouts.

This one is for Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try weekly sketch challenge. The graduation card is for a great teenager at my church.

The color combo is PTI's Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, and Dark Chocolate. I tried to edge the chocolate with white craft ink but it started to smear around, so I turned it into a new treatment of lightening the dark chocolate by rubbing white ink all over :o) I stamped the medium dots from PTIs Polka Dot Basics in dark brown over the smeared white ... I kinda like how it turned out, for all that it started out as a mistake.

I cut the butterfly out with my Bigz Beautiful Butterflies die and the Friends til the End patterned paper and used a chocolate vintage button with some linen thread tied through it for the center.

The sentiment is from Mega Mixed Messages. I also sponged the white layer with basic brown and spritzed it with pink passion.

Inside I used the cut out from the butterfly die and my color spritzer to bring both the color and the shape to the inside of the card.

Thanks for stopping by.

{Celebrate Today card - all supplies PTI unless noted}

Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages, Polka Dot Basics
Ink: (All ink SU!) Pink Passion (ink & marker), Basic Brown, White craft

Paper:Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst Patterned, Dark Chocolate Patterned, Dark Chocolate, White
Tools:Bigz Beautiful Butterfly die, Big Shot
Embellies:Chocolate vintage buttons, (PTI) linen thread (SU!)