Winnie & Walter Guest Blog Post....Floral Cards

I love a good floral stamp set, especially when I can create a vintage look with the images and have lots of options for adding color.  It's also great when the stamp set has a fun typewriter font that I love so much.  Winnie & Walter's The Big, the Bold and Extras has just the look I love.  

I used a journaling card as the building block for my images.  I stamped the images in brown ink, stamped the filler image then colored a few accents with Copic markers.  For the banner I did some two step stamping with a light pink ink.  My vintage typewriter came in handy for adding a birthday sentiment.  I popped the flowers and birthday sentiment up with pop dots.

A strip of washi tape placed diagonally is accented with a staple.  The journaling card has stitching to add a homespun look.  I used a pretty patterned paper from my stash for the background.

*Sigh*...beautiful floral images on a card just can't be beat.  Thank you so much to Winnie & Walter for having me as their guest this week.  Be sure to check out all their fun stamp sets & see their social media links on their blog sidebar.

Birthday Cake Cards..using Pan Pastels for candle glow

Today I have some birthday cards to share using a Papertrey Ink stamp set, Pan Pastels and some leftover patterned paper from a Gossamer Blue kit. 

 I started out by stamping all the layers of the birthday cake and candles onto a Becky Higgins blank journaling card.  After that I used my Pan Pastels and a small sponge applicator to add the candle glow to all the candles on the cake.  Pan Pastels are super soft and blend beautifully.  It was so easy to create a soft glow.  You can blend with your fingers or use an eraser to remove color if needed.

 Next I added some fine glitter to the cake.  What's a birthday without sparkles, right?

 I prepped my card bases with pretty patterned papers.

Then I added my stamped layered + brads and enamel dots.  

 A little bit of glitter, a little bit of dimension + the glowing candles.

 A fun little stash of cards.

 It's so fun to just sit and create.....adding special little touches here and there.  Hope you enjoy.

One of these cards has made it's way into my shop this morning.  I'm clearing out a little of my stash so look for new handmade items all week.  Thanks for stopping by.  I've gotta run...Charlie gets to go to school today.  He had a bath last night and is all soft and smells soooo good.  Josey gets to use Charlie as a prop for a speech she is giving today.  Lucky Charlie!

Stocking my stash...

It's getting to be that time of year when I start making my Christmas gift lists.  Our moms always look forward to their pretty sack of cards so this week I'm stocking up my stash of cards.  It's so cute to see both my mom and Eric's mom and his grandma tear open the sacks first thing and go through each and every card.  It's what makes stamping and card making so much fun.

So since I had all my supplies out from assembling the Happy Day Card Kits, I just kept on creating. Many of you have commented on the happy colors of this kit and mother agrees.  She saw this stack sitting on my counter today waiting to be photographed and said...."ohhhh, what cute cards, I love the colors."  Little does she know that many of these will make it into her gift this Christmas.  

So here's stash #1.  In addition to the kit items, I used lots of items that are still available in the shop.  

A nice stack of Dainty Doilies came in very handy to add a little texture to my cards.  The little strips of Studio Calico fabric strips come in the Happy Day Card Kit.  

 Grid Paper Labels with stamped sentiments also made my card making go really quickly.  The grid lines help to line up stamps nice and straight too. A little machine stitching adds fun detail without adding any bulk to my cards.

 This Aqua Stripe Washi Tape is fantastic for quick and easy cards.  Just rip & stick.  I love that you can see through the stripes on this one.

 Here's stash #2 of my cards that I'll be using for gifts.  A funny little thing....the moms seem to love the simple cards more than any fancy, heavily layered cards.  I think they like the simplicity and clean lines.

Here I used a wood veneer butterfly from Studio Calico.  I tied twine from this colorful bundle around the butterfly then added a cut strip of the washi tape.  All of the patterned papers I used for my cards today are from the 6 x 6 paper pad that comes with the Happy Day Card Kit.  It's nice to challenge yourself to use just one little pad of paper.  Limiting your choices when you want to mass produce cards is a great tip.  

 Here I made some notched little pennants from a scrap of patterned paper and the fabric strip.  Buttons from the Pastel Button Assortment are just the right finishing touch. I like to mix one white button with one colored button.

 Here I stamped my Hero Arts sentiment on a Starburst Grid Paper Label.  I absolutely can't get enough of my printed labels.  They are so easy to stamp or run through my vintage typewriter.  I know I'll be using them lots in my Daily December. I used more of the aqua stripe washi along with some October Afternoon washi from the 9 to 5 collection.  The cute girl typing is also from an OA 9 to 5 stamp set.

 The Large White Parcel Tags made their way onto many of my cards this time.  They're just the perfect size to fill up some space on a card.  I like to layer them under a horizontal strip of patterned paper & a strip of Washi tape.  Here I typed my sentiment and then added a wood veneer typewriter from Studio Calico.  It was a fun discovery to find that a strip of Washi tape fits right in the typewriter to act as paper.

 So, I've got a nice little stash built up to add to the holiday card pile.  So happy about that.  If you purchase(d) a kit and want to keep on stamping past the supplies that I included for the 4 cards, keep that paper pad out and just keep going.  I've got additional aqua envelopes and cream envelopes in the shop that coordinate with the colors in the kit.  The Mixed Greetings Card Kit is still available too, perfect for adding more cards to the gift pile.  Happy card making everyone!

March Papertrey Release Projects...

Hi there, today I'm back to share my Papertrey March release projects with you. All of my projects today use my handmade border strips that I showed you in this post. The decorative strips made it so easy to come up with card designs. I'll definitely be using them on more projects to come.

First up is a simple birthday card using 2012 Birthday Tags.
I stamped a few stars on my Rustic White base card, layered on a border strip and tied on some baker's twine. I layered on a dimensional tag made by piecing together different colors of stamped images. By using the new Edgers #5 file folder die, I had the perfect spot for another little sentiment. A few splatters of Mister Huey ink finish off the card.
Here I used Tremendous Treats: Birthday and Heart-2-Heart #2.
I paper pieced the cute turtle shell and colored the rest with Copic markers. Washi tape, some ink splatters and machine stitching finish off the focal point. My border strip features a few of Dawn's dies, the heart and star borders along with ric rac and a scallop.
Up next are some cute gift sacks I created using Medium Glassine Sacks from my shop + Heather's Framed Out #2. I added a few border strips with Scor-Tape, tied on some baker's twine and popped up the colorful, stamped frames. Remember that confetti I showed you in my last post? It's making it's debut here in the bottom of the sacks.
Last week Josey got invited to a birthday bonfire. I always like to send a little gift for Josey's girlfriends but it seems that kids these day just plan events very spur of the moment. Since we live in the country it's not always convenient to make a town run. So I'm making up a few of these gift sacks to have on hand. They're perfect for tucking in a few candy bars that we can pick up at the convenience store on the way to an event. I always find that my gifts are packaged way cuter if I have something made up in advance.
I made a few fancier versions of the gift sacks in case I need a gift for one of my girlfriends too. This time I used my Kraft Sacks as the base, splattered with Mister Huey white ink. Wanting to use my confetti, I thought why not make a "party in a sack"? So I filled some Small Glassine Sacks with confetti (you can see my version in this post) and stitched up the opening with my sewing machine.
These were tucked under my handmade border strips with a hand cut notched banner underneath. Nichole's new set 2012 Birthday Tags was perfect for creating a bright circle embellishment.
I stamped the arrow stamp from Movers & Shakers Sentiments on the sacks, pointing to the confetti sacks. If the recipient wants, they can rip open the sacks for instant fun, confetti spillage.
The "celebrate" is from Think Big Favorites #13. I can't wait to fill these goodie sacks with a special treat for friends.
Here's a gift ensemble I created for my sister for when she comes to visit this week. Her birthday is coming up and she loves my cards as a gift. I'll tuck them all into another "party in a sack" gift bag.
Here's the card trio. By using the colorful border strips I didn't need a lot of other embellishments. I used stamps from 2012 Birthday Tags along with others from Movers & Shakers Sentiments. Ink is the old style Smokey Shadow.
For the tops of the cards I used Kraft cardstock with white ink and the new Background Basics: Wrought Iron set. I love it as a pretty little background.
And here's a close up of the confetti gift sack. This time I used a clear bag to package the confetti. I added in some punched doily pieces and vintage book print. The tag was made with 2012 Birthday Tags in Smokey Shadow and Ripe Avocado.
I hope you enjoyed my projects this month. I think while my work table is still a mess I'll just create some more fun birthday confetti sacks and cards. That confetti IS addicting. :)

Be sure to visit the other Papertrey Design Team blogs for their remaining projects you haven't seen yet this month. Links are on the left. Enjoy!

Fall Birthday Cards...

Hi there, I'm back today with a few Fall birthday cards. Lots of October birthdays in my family so it's been fun gettin' crafty this month. My cards today were inspired by a scrapbook page by Keisha Campbell. You can view the page here at Keisha's blog. I was particularly inspired by the clever use of her little banner she created with manila tags and baker's twine. So off to work I went. Be sure to stay a while at Keisha's blog, she does amazing work. Thank you for the inspiration, K.

Here are my two completed birthday cards, I just love the Fall color palette.
I started off by creating the tags for the card banners. All of my papers I used today are from a 6 x 6 pad of My Mind's Eye patterned paper....Darling Deer I believe it's called. I added some pieces to Small Manila Tags, splattered with October Afternoon Sprinkler spray mist and then cut the tags into flags. The tags were topped with Studio Calico chipboard butterflies and tied with Vintage Buttons in Terracotta Tile. I used Chocolate Baker's Twine for the buttons and to create the garland.
For the card bases, I used Rustic White and more of the MME patterned paper. Using Papertrey's Birthday Bash Sentiments I made two separate pieces for the sentiments. One was stamped on scrap paper that I notched with scissors and the other was stamped onto a Label Basics shape. You can see below that I stitched all the sentiment pieces to my cardstock piece before I adhered it to the card front. This way, no stitching shows on the inside of the card.
So happy to have a few more cards crossed off the list this month.
How about you? Have you made your card list for this month? Have you mailed out any cards? Make your list and get crafty! :)

girly birthday cards

Hey friends. What a week it's been! I don't even want to know the amount of $$ I've spent on gas this week hauling the reds around. And we're off for a weekend ball tournament tonight. The fun never ends!

Jordy has a birthday party to go to next week and I've noticed that I never have any teenage/girly type cards in my stash. So my goal this summer is to add a few fun cards in here and there. When I want teenage girl type cards, I always reach for my Stamping Bella stamps. I love the whimsical images, especially the one I chose to work with today called presentahbella.

I stamped the images on solid cardstock and then again on some new My Mind's Eye patterned paper. Most of the papers and twine I used today are from the Lime Twist collection. I used my Copic markers to color in the girls on the solid cardstock and a few more to color in some spots on the paper pieced presents.
I adhered the presents to the main images and added a few quote bubbles that I cut out from this adorable paper. I stamped *happy birthday* sentiments onto the bubbles and popped them up with pop dots.
Next up it was time for a few embellishments. Using more of the Lime Twist paper I cut some strips and then notched the end to create little flags.
These were adhered to my card fronts and then buttons were added using some Lime Twist twine.
I also added some staples using my Tiny Tim stapler + some clear rhinestones that I colored with my Copics. Instant matching.
And here's my little stash-o of birthday cards for the girls to choose from.
I stitched around the focal image to add a little interest to the white + I added some glitter. Love all the mixy matchy colors in this one line as you can see on all my little notched strips of patterned paper.
Again, I love those little quote bubbles. Just too cute.
Hope you enjoy! Do you have some favorite stamps to use for teenage girl cards? I'd love to hear about your favorites.

Okay, we're off to see the Wizard. Well not really. We're really off to see Bud the softball coach. Catch ya later, peeps. Have a great weekend! Stay tuned because on Monday I'm teaming up with a crafty friend for an ongoing summer project. We'll be blogging our progress and I'll tell you all about it June 6th!

A few favorites on my birthday..

Hi friends. I've taken a few days after the Papertrey release this month just to re-group and wind down after a whirl wind of a month. The girls' last day of school is tomorrow...so today I'm soaking in the last few days of a quiet house. After that I am looking forward to having my girls at home for the summer. I LOVE having them at home all day.

I don't have anything crafty to show that I've made recently but I thought since it's my birthday today I have to post something, right? I thought a few of my favorite photos would be nice to share today, in random order:

My favorite redheads. Josey and Jordan at Josey's 8th grade graduation last week. I am so proud to be their mother. No short shorts or heavy eye liner needed to show their outer beauty. Only an *I love you, Mom* needed for me to see their inner beauty.

Now a few favorites from my Pinterest site........so many to choose from. All photo credits are linked on my pins at my Pinterest site.

From my organization board.......a wonderful framed corkboard for visual inspiration.
From my vintage finds board......a pretty Jadeite green cart filled with pretty papers. I am hoping to make a liner for a few of mine soon and fill with vintage wallpaper rolls that I've been collecting.
From my airstream love board....oh how I would love an airstream camper, complete with vintage finds, cute table settings, old quits...and a dog. :) To fit in that bikini would be nice too!
From my crafty spaces board.....a lovely crafty studio with soft lighting....and uncluttered.
From my paper crafting board........this wonderful display with vintage ruler, milk glass vases, that to die for truck, and a garland made from old postage marks.
From my blog board.....a softy and shabby card complete with lined envelope + small note with clothespin. I need to send more cards, how about you?
From my tablescapes board.....an old wooden table table covered with lace linens, mixy match chairs, flowers and garlands of vintage handkerchiefs. Wouldn't you love your fresh squeezed orange juice to come from here?
From my food finds board....pink lemonade with all the fixin's.
From my simply sewing board....quilts and more quilts. Definitely on my list of to do items for the summer.
From my quotes and sayings board....I've been going back to this one a lot. Seems there are people everywhere that like to knock others down. From work, from the girls' school, from life in general. I guess it takes all kinds to make the world go round.

From my scrapbooking board.....wonderful page layouts from the most creative people ever. I'm loving these page starters from Sassafras lately.

From my Project Life board.....still going strong, still loving it. This simple little sucker wrapper from Lisa Truesdell's pages just melted my heart. Wouldn't you love to be able to touch a sucker wrapper from when you were a kid?
From my pretty little places board...... to walk through the woods and find this?!! Makes me want to build something out of nothing with the girls in the back timber this summer. Maybe a cute fairy house would be more our scale.
And lastly my favorite thing said to me today...Eric called to ask what I was doing for my special day. I told him I was working on my Project Life album. He replied something like this...."You know, that's pretty special what you do. To see all the scrapbooks you had laid out for Josey's graduation party was really neat." And that is why I scrapbook, friends.

I hope you all have a great day and an AWESOME summer. I'll be back into my crafty goodness really soon so stay tuned to some fun projects, new Etsy items and some fun new features on the blog.