Wedding card

Tonight is the big night for our Cards For Heroes party, but tomorrow is a big deal for a different reason. My cousin's son is getting married ... I used to babysit him and his siblings when they were little ... sigh ... time does fly doesn't it!

George & Amy hand made their invitations so I used the same color scheme and card shape just in a smaller size (4.25 " square )

For this card I used Kind & Caring Thoughts - a new set from SU! coming in July. The invites were a dark and light blue, but I decided to throw a little splat of red in there - to be all patriotic.

Inside I used another sentiment from this set - perfect for a wedding.

Thanks for stopping by!

{Wedding card supplies - all SU! unless noted}

Paper: Night of Navy, Naturals White, Bitty Box patterned - pure poppy (PTI)

Ink: Night of Navy, Handsome Hunter marker, Real Red marker

Stamps: Kind & Caring Thoughts

June Blog Hop - Days of Summer

I can't believe its Blog Hop time again already ... the summer is flying by!!  This month's theme is the lazy days of summer.  In these parts (central Iowa) summer always means Freedom Fest!  This year's festival is particularly meaningful since last year downtown had 10 square miles flooded (yes, there were upwards of 21,000 people who had to be evacuated as the Cedar River crested at 31' and change - nearly double its flood stage.) We've been told it was the Midwest's equivalent to Hurricane Katrina.  We went way beyond the 500 yr flood plain even.  But Iowans are resilient and we had a modified Fall Fest last year.  While I was not personally affected beyond the inconvenience of not having running water for a few days, I know several people who lost everything.

This summer we've already had a Healing the Heartland weekend sponsored by Serve the City - a coalition of local churches (the Newsboys and Barlow Girl played a free concert!) and a Run The Flood 5K race to raise money for the continued recovery.  This year's Freedom Fest will be a blast just because we won't be defeated. We'll eat some great BBQ on the bridges and just have an all around good time.

Freedom Fest ends on the 4th and always mean flags and patriotic stuff all over the city and so I made a flag card using the new Vintage Picnic set from PTI.

I  started with a kraft base and used the gorgeous new Scarlet Jewel on the side.  I stamped stars from Star Prints in burgundy and added a bit of the bitty dot scarlet jewel ribbon to the card base as well.

For the focal layer I stamped the wicker basket (my personal fave from the set) and the stars and flag  bursting out the top. 

I colored all of the focal layer with my Copics

I also added a little C1 shadow to highlight it all.  I finished it off with some vintage wood buttons.

Thanks for stopping by ... enjoy the rest of the Hop!

{Happy 4th card supplies - all PTI unless noted}

Stamps: Star Prints, Vintage Picnic Baskets

Paper: Kraft, Scalret Jewel, Night of Navy (SU!) and NAturals WHite (SU!)

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Black, Burgundy (SU!)

Tools: Copics Sketch markers

Embellies: Scarlet Jewel bitty dot ribbon, vintage wood buttons

Raspberry Suite Color Challenge 10

This weeks Raspberry Suite Color Challenge is Berry, Melon, Brown and Cream.  This was a color combo right up my alley!  Love me those earth tones!

I used a chocolate base and stamped Background Basics: Retro in Vintage Cream ink.  The Flowers are form Upsy Daisy and are stamped in Regal Rose. 

The button is a PTI vintage button in melon berry  tied with cream  jute.

Inside I repeated the daisies but stamped off to lighten the color

Thanks for stopping by!

{Upsy Daisy card supplies}
Stamps: Background Basics: Retro (PTI), Upsy Daisy (SU!)
Ink: Vintage Cream (PTI), Regal Rose (SU!)
Paper: Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet (PTI), Very Vanilla (SU!)
Embellies: (All PTI) Vintage buttons (melon berry), cream jute

Last Card for Heroes

The Cards for Heroes party is coming up on Friday. I am really looking forward to getting together with friends to stamp and support this great organization!

Here is the last card that I designed for the event:

I needed at least 1 birthday card in the mix and I thought this one could be for either a guy or a girl.

I love the chocolate tea leaves patterend paper ... and I'm pretty darn proud of that crocheted flower too. A couple of weeks ago I went to visit my mom and had her show me how to crochet again, so yes that is one of my own creations.

I mixed directions for the center ring from Little Birdie Secrets that I found through Melissa Bickford 's blog and and the large petal directions from Nichole Heady to get this one.

Here's how I made it:

I used 6 strands of embroidery floss and a US size 4 hook

1. Ch 5 and slip stitch to form a ring

2. Ch 3 then make 9 dc through the ring, join to top of ch w/sl st

3. Create the petals in the first dc using the following pattern (sc, 5dc, sc).

4. Continue creating a petal in every other dc using the same pattern until you have 5 petals. Fasten off

Thanks for stopping by!

{Happy Birthday Card - supplies}
Paper: Spring Moss, Tea Leaves - chocolate pattern (PTI)
Ink: Chocolate Chip (SU!)
Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes ( SU! new)
Embellies: Spring Moss stitched grosgrain ribbon, vintage wood buttons, white jute (PTI), crocheted flower

Cards for Heroes - Day 3

Only a couple more days until the big party!

My third design I took from a Splitcoast Stampers Sketch Challenge

I wanted a more masculine card so went with greys and black and burgundy.  I used French Script for the small panels and Damask Design for the sentiment.  I thought hte fonts complimented each other nicely

Thanks for stopping by!

{Just Because card Supplies - all SU! unless noted}
Paper: Basic Grey, Going Grey, Basic Black, Bravo Burgundy, Naturals White
Ink: Basic Grey, Bravo Burgundy
Stamps: French Script, Damask Designs (PTI)
Embellies: Black vintage buttons (PTI)

CFH - Day 2

The Cards For Heroes party is fast approaching .... here is the second card I made for it ...

I have wanted to try this background since I first saw Nichole Heady show it on her blog. 

I randomly place the letters from the Trajan Monogram alphabet set and stamped on black card stock using Fresh Snow ink.  I added a bit of Black & White Basics patterned paper and the Miss U sentiment.  I did not put the U on the background although since all the letters aren't showing you can't really tell (but I  know its not there :o)

{Miss U card supplies - All PTI unless noted}
Paper: True Black, SS White, Black & White Basics patterned
Ink: Black
Stamps: Mega Mixed Messages, Trajan Monogram Alphabet

Card for Heroes Party

My good friend Michelle and I are going to host a Cards for Heroes party this week.  Cards For Heroes is an organization that sends hand made cards ot our service men & women all over the world.  The soldiers can use them to encourage each other or keep in contact with loved ones back home.  I first heard about this organization during the Memorial Day blog hop and wanted to help ever since.

I have designed several cards that people can make at our party if they want.

I will spot light each of these cards this week.

The first design I thought I saw in the new Paper Crafts magazine but when I went back to check the designer to give them credit I can't find it - if its your please let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.  Suffice it to say I love the clean simple look of it!

Instead of scallops I used my pinking shears on the "shelf" piece.  The "vase" is an oval punch of SU!'s new Razzleberry Lemonade DSP that I snipped the ends off.  I finished with a sentiment and eyelets in olive.

{In my Thoughts card supplies - all PTI unless noted}

Paper: Linen Vellum, Razzleberry Lemonade DSP (SU! new), Dusty Durango (SU! new)

Stamps: Floral Frenzy

Ink: Momento Tuxedo Blank, Old Olive (SU!), Close to Cocoa (SU!)

Tools: Anywhere hole punch and eyelet setter, Pinking shears, oval punch (SU!)

Embellies: olive eyelets (SU!), Y38 Copic Marker

Ilze's gonna be big ...

Thats what a friend of mine's daughter said when I asked about her impending 3rd birthday.  Ilze is just the cutest little girl I've ever seen (barring my own 2 lovelies of course!)  When she said this she was wearing a red gingham dress  with lady bugs embroidered on it.  I just had to make a card with that theme - it was so precious and summery.

I used PTI's Background Basics:Retro for the stripes - that set gets more and more versatile the longer I have it.  I keep seeing different ways to use it!  I also used my new Fresh Snow ink - the first I've gotten from PTI.  The coverage is amazing - better white than anything else I've got!

I made the lady bug and the dotted bug trail using PTI Little Lady stamp set

Inside I used my new Cupcake Collection stamps  - Ilze said her favorite color was pink so I made a pink cupcake(Pixie Pink ink) in a pink wrapper (Pixie Pink stamped off once)  and pink candles (paper pieced from Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday paper).

Pretty fun huh!

Thanks for stopping by!

{Make a Wish card supplies}
Paper: Patterned - Girl Friday (Cosmo Cricket)
           Card stock: Pure Poppy(PTI), Naturals White (SU!)
Stamps: Background Basics: Retro, Cupcake Collection, Litgtle Lady (all PTI)
Ink: Real Red, Basic Black, Pixie Pink (All SU!)

My New Crochet Box

I was totally inspired by this post from Melissa Bickford and this post from Nichole Heady dealing with crocheted flowers. I used to crochet but haven't in a while *cough* over 30 years *cough* but thought I could relearn it pretty quick.

I called my mom and arranged a quick trip home to learn again. After about 2 hours my mom kept saying - You need to hold the yarn with a little more tension. The best compliment was when, 5 hours after I started she said "You're holding it better" :o)

By the end of the weekend I pretty much had it down at least for the directions I was using (I found the link from Melissa's website easier to do with yarn. The embroidery floss is a little to fine for me to work with yet, but I can't wait to improve my skillz (with a "z") and try Nichole's pattern!)

So to help organize all my new crocheting treasures I needed a box, and well it couldn't be a plain box, so I decorated up a cigar box I purchased at Michael's for all of about $2.50.

I had also received my SU! preorder (love the new catty!) so decided to razzleberry it up. The paper is Razzleberry Lemonade paired with Soft Suede (another new In Color) and PTI Raspberry Fizz ribbon. I think they all tie together so well. I'm getting more and more comfortable with those bright, bright colors too!

Right there on the top is one of the flowers I made out of some Sugar -n- Cream variegated pink & white yarn

Inside I made a storage spot for my floss chart by adhering a flat large cello bag to the inside lid. This chart was so I would know what numbers I used that went with which CS colors. I also slid my flower instructions in there too so I have it all in one nice neat little package.

I lined the box with Pretty in Pink then decided I needed dividers and used the pink patterns from Bella Rose

Now I've got a spot for my hooks and scissors, a little spot for my scraps and a while lotta space for my floss and yarn. Easy for on the go. You can even see a few other flowers I made in the upper right of the box (white and red - the red one only ended up with 4 petals instead of 5 ... I guess I still need to work on my counting :o)

Thanks for stopping by!

{Crochet Box Supplies}

Paper: (All SU!) Razzleberry Lemonade (new), Soft Suede (new), Pretty in Pink, Bella Rose (retiring)
Other: Large cello bag (SU!)
Embellies: (all PTI) Raspberry Fizz satin and dotted satin ribbon, chocolate vintage buttons

For the chart I just cut a piece of CS 6x8.5 and punched CS closely matching the embroidery floss with my tag punch and adhered the floss number to the center of the tag. All floss is DMC

Morning Glory

One of my coworkers is taking the summer off to spend time with family. While I am just a wee bit jealous, I also am happy that she is able to do this. I wanted to make her a little send off card and also work on my Copic coloring. My new morning glory stamp was perfect for this card - that's why I got it off the SU! retiring list.

I was really happy with how the colors turned out, but I might have to read about making that sky background again. I'm not sure that turned out as well as it could have (but the tea staining covered and muted it so it's all good :o)

I used the Plum Pudding trio (V91, V95, and V99) for the morning glories. I did a little Y35 in the larger flower centers as well. The leaves were YG93 and YG95 from the Ripe Avocado trio

Thanks for stopping by!

{Morning Glories card supplies}

Stamps: Morning Soft (SU! - retiring June 30), Mega Mixed Messages (PTI)
Paper: (All PTI) Ripe Avocado, Ripe Avocado Bity Dots, White, Plum Pudding
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Always Artichoke (SU!)
Embellies: Chocolate Satin ribbon (SU!)

More Paper Flowers

I made this birthday card for a dear sweet friend. She is quite the gardener, so a floral card seemed in order. The base is a 4.25" square, and I did a modified layout based on CPS Sketch Challenge #117

Its the same paper flower from this post, but I started with bigger circles (cut with nestabilities) and tore the edges up a little before rolling and crumpling. I also used the darkest color from the raspberry fizz trio of Copics (RV19) to darken the edges a little more. At the center is a New Leaf vintage button (yep its green alright!)

The leaves were punched with a wide oval punch then stamped and crumpled and distressed. The flourishes are from Autumn Leaves.

I also colored some regular rhinestones with my dark chocolate Copic (E59)

Thanks for stopping by.

{Paper Flower birthday card supplies}

Stamps: Flourishes (Autumn Leaves)

Ink: (All SU!) Chocolate Chip, Old Olive

Paper: Parisian Breeze DSP, Old Olive, Naturals Ivory (SU!), Kraft, Dark Chocolate, and Raspberry Fizz (PTI)
Tools: Tea Stain Duo (PTI), Circle Nestabilities (Spellbinders), wide oval punch ans corner rounder punch (SU!), Copics

Embellies: Vintage button (PTI), Rhinestones (Martha Stewart)