Papertrey CPS Sketch Sponsor

Papertrey Ink is the CPS sponsor this week. Below is my take on the sketch and I'm using a fun new product that Papertrey will be carrying very soon. It's the best felt you will ever use, made of 100% wool. Oh, is it heavenly. My head is full of ideas of what to use it for...cards, sewing, scrapbooks, my handmade doo dads. It's going to eventually be available in all the wonderful PTI colors. You should check out the rainbow of colors Nichole has displayed with Vintage Buttons on her blog today....drool!
On my card today, I cut the felt with a new Papertrey die that will be released this month too. That's right, Papertrey is releasing all new, exclusive die and impression plates. Be sure to check Nichole's blog out daily to catch all the buzz about the new PTI products coming soon!
There's a bunch of the Papertrey girls playing along with the CPS sketch....Nichole's post lists the participants at the end of her blog post today. Enjoy!

Musical Heart Card Supply List

Ink: PTI Fresh Snow

Cardstock: PTI Kraft

Other: Large heart punch, flower punch, black/white gingham ribbon, vintage button,Rustic Cream twine, vintage sheet music

February Personal Day Plans

Hi everyone. I'm busy working on projects for upcoming releases so I don't have a project prepared for today. Instead I thought I'd talk about my February personal day coming up on the 19th. Now I could easily spend each of these personal days just working on my scrapbooks. But I thought it would be fun to change things up a bit.

So this month I'm going to work a little bit on my scrapbooks, catching up on some journaling I need to do and work on a few layouts to finish up 2009. For the rest of my personal day, I'm going to work on some meal planning. I know many of you might be saying, *What, you wanna cook on your day of fun?* Actually yes, I love to cook. And I love to collect recipe books and search for new recipes. I just got a new cookbook from Books Are Fun that comes to our library so I'm excited to try some new recipes. And maybe some from my Pioneer Woman cookbook too.

So what will I be doing? I'm not much on freezing meals because I fear that what goes in the freezer will get forgotten and then will get freezer burnt. So I do a little bit of freezing and then prepare the rest of the meals fresh on the day we eat them. I don't' know exactly what meals I'll pre-plan but I know that I'll be browning up a lot of ground beef seasoned with onion and spices.......to use for tacos, spaghetti, Mexican food, etc. I'll probably bake up a lot of seasoned chicken breasts too for these little pizzas and wraps I like to make. A few baked items like brownies, cookies and muffins will be on the list too. I might make a double batch of my mom's BBQ meat balls to keep in the freezer...one of the few meals I like to freeze. I also like to chop up a bunch of onions to keep in the freezer.

Between now and the 19th I'll be collecting recipes, making a grocery list and developing my menus in some sort of printed format that I can keep on hand. I plan to share some recipes with you too. And if you have any great recipes that use basics like ground beef or chicken, I would love for you to share them. Low fat meals would be a bonus.

I'm excited about my personal day this month. It feels good to be on top of the game and have some menus planned in advance. So tell me, did you take your personal day in January? If so, please feel free to share what activities you did.

Okay, heading out to basketball games now........have a great day everyone.

Jordan's artwork...

Edit: Jordan told me to tell you that she will be making more Love Shacks. She went right to work after school. She is tickled pink, I tell ya! Thanks for all the nice comments!

Happy afternoon everyone. I just got back from town with my folks. I took them in to a church garage sale, we went to eat at Wendy's and then went to Walmart. Such an exciting life we lead!

Here is my sweet, wonderful, little red named Jordan. She's 11 and is cute, smart, popular, athletic, funny and oh so crafty. (Hey, it's my blog and I'm the mom.....of course I'm going to boast about my daughter. Jordan is not into cell phones, emailing and Ipods too much. What she loves though is to be crafty and creative. I wonder where she gets that from??

Here's Jordy working on her first quilt...a black and white quilt composed of squares. We're to the tying point but haven't completed it yet. And that's Boots, our tom cat offering his assistance.
Here's Jordan, capturing a rebound at a recent basketball game. She's still limping around this week because she's so physical on the court. Oh how we love the sports!
And here she is second from the left pictured all sassy with Josey and some friends. Last Sunday was the KU/KSU men's basketball game and it was a battle to the end. And I'm talking sister vs. sister....you should have seen the game too!
Onto the crafting....Jordan likes to make stuff. Lots of stuff. And then more stuff. So much stuff that we've resorted to taking photos for the scrapbook and then we have to get rid of some of it. Her latest venture is her framed houses made of fabric and found objects. Her first Valentine creation is front and center in my Valentine decor this year. So cute!!
Here it is up close. Lots of fabric, buttons, felt.....she spent hours and hours cutting felt hearts and hand stitching them....picking just the right buttons...making sure everything was just so. I call these creations The Love Shacks.
She's set up permanent residence in my craft room with her own table and supplies. Here's her new sewing box that Santa brought her.
And here's just one of the messy little piles that is evidence of her crafting ventures. Looks kinda like my table, come to think of it.
I told Jordan that I would post her art from time to time in my Etsy shop. But no guarantees of a sale. This morning, I posted one of The Love Shack creations in my Etsy shop and then had to run to town with the folks. When I came back, her creation had sold!!!!! She will FLIP out when she gets home from school. I am so excited for my budding little artist! She wants her own sewing machine realllllly badly so that's what her earnings will go to. A big, huge thank you goes out to wonderful person who purchased Jordan's artwork. You'll be hearing from us soon!!

I am certain that Jordan will go into mass production mode now....so be looking for some more of her creations soon. I think I'll start charging her rent for her space she's taking up in my craft room. Or maybe I can barter for a framed piece of green artwork for my craft room. :)

Thanks for visiting....Jordan will love to read any comments you leave!

You warm my heart..........

Hi friends, today is a new day. There was a fresh snowfall last night and the world is beautiful around me. It looks like a winter wonderland outside. I have a new project for you today too!

I was so tickled to see this Coffee to Go stamp from Karen Lockhart's new collection. We've been enjoying caramel cappucinos from the local gas stations......hey, they're a lot cheaper than Starbucks and my girls like them because they're sweeter. We love the warm cups and steamy goodness, right down to the last drop. Karen's new Coffee to Go stamp reminds me of our coffee ventures so much. I thought it would be fun to do a little masking with the stamp. I started by stamping the image as usual onto cardstock and then colored it with my Copic markers. Next I used Eclipse Masking Tape to stamp another image.

Then, using fine tip scissors I precisely cut out the part of the image I wanted to mask. No need to cut around the top because I knew I wasn't going to stamp over that part of the image.

Next, I placed the mask carefully over the stamped image. I used a little oval stamp from PTI to stamp over the mask.

Next is the fun part. Peel up the mask to reveal the entire stamped image. Viola! Now you've got a new stamped image that's multi colored and more dimensional looking. Tip: When you're done with the mask, place the mask right on the wood stamp of the same image. It stays in place and you'll always know where it's at.

And here's my Copic colors I used on the coffee cup image.

Have you had your coffee yet today? Doesn't it smell sooooooooooooo good? Enjoy!

P.S. Stay tuned a little later because I have a darling piece of artwork that Jordan did. She's been making so many pieces in fact, this one will be for sale in my Etsy shop. She's very excited to see her artwork on my blog when she gets home from school. I can't wait to show you....coming in a bit.

Seventeen.....

Edit: Thank you everyone from the bottom of my heart. Your messages brought me such comfort and hope. It's nice to know that people care. Nice people like you. Now.....my husband came home from work tonight and said he read my blog post today. He then said, *You know you're only 40 right? I said , *I am?* I totally thought I was 41 until he did the math for me. I'm still a young chicklet.

(Brent, Jeff, Craig....Senior Photos)

Today is a day of reflection for me. 25 years ago today my wonderful, sweet, funny brother Jeff died in a car accident along with his best friend Brent. Jeff was 17 and a senior. I was 15 and a sophomore. Jeff will always be 17 to me. That funny, always smiling, athletic, good looking, ornery boy. I am now 41 and I will never be 17 again. As the years roll past, I keep getting older and the memories of our younger years together fade away. I keep our memories alive though through our photos and telling the girls stories about Jeff. But it's not the same. It will never ever be the same. I miss you Jeff.

So today, I don't have a cute card to share with you. I don't want you to feel sad for me. I would like to encourage you to live for today. Be the best you can be. Be the better person. Forgive if you need to. Say I'm sorry. Love and laugh more. Don't be so serious. Be a good friend or mother or father or sister or brother. Do something nice. Stop worrying about what you can't change. Change what you can. Tell someone you appreciate them. Say I love you. Play with your kids. Call your mother. Send a card. Live for the moment. Eat chocolate. Do the right thing. Step away from the computer. Get off the phone. Visit your grandparents. Make time for someone else. Listen. Appreciate what you have. Take care of yourself. Take more photos. Update your scrapbooks. Slide down a slipper slide. Make every day count.

You might not be here tomorrow. You might not get another chance. Make all the wonderful moments of your life turn into precious memories. Thanks for visiting today, you all hold a very special place in my life.

Michelle

Red, White and Cream

Melissa Phillips has more inspiration for us today from A Creative Mint. Look at this photo below, isn't it divine? I love all of the vintage buttons, twine, clothespins, labels and old letters. Very inspiring, indeed.I knew I had a lot of red, white and cream goodness in my collections, so I decided to gather all my goodies into one spot. There's Papertrey ribbons, vintage ribbons, vintage buttons, glitter, twine, old sheet music, paper doilies, ric racs and more.I decided to use some tags to make Valentines that will be inserted into Papertrey medium glassine bags. First, I distressed all my tags and a sheet of PTI Stamper's Select White cardstock with Ranger Distress ink in Antique Linen and my handy dandy brayer.

Next, I picked out a bunch of punches and a bunch of Papertrey stamps. I stamped the images onto my distress cardstock with Pure Poppy ink and punched them out with various punches.
I also distressed some heart paper doilies I found at Walmart in the Valentine aisle. I punched out circles from the doilies. Love that!
After I had all my stamped images punched out, I arranged them and then adhered them to my distress tag. There is no overlapping of the punched images on the tag. Instead I let those pieces hang over the edge of the tag and then I trimmed them off with scissors. Cool, yes?
Then I dug into my stash of PTi Vintage Buttons and found these neglected buttons that were somewhat bulky for a card and had shanks on the back. Voila...perfecto for my tags, just what I was looking for. To get the buttons on the tag, I threaded PTI Pure Poppy Luxe Satin ribbon through the buttons, brought the ends to the front, wrapped around the button and tied a ribbon.
And here are my beautiful tags. Oh how I love them, let me count the ways. Zoom in to get a better look at the details.
Oh, I also tied some red and white baker's twine from Martha Stewart around the buttons, so pretty. I love that stuff!
I slapped on some chipboard heart stickers that were leftover from a sheet of K & Company stickers onto my glassine bags. The tags slip right in. Source of tags is unknown, they were loose in my stash. I'm planning on tucking in some chocolate bars behind the tags and mailing these off to some special gals.
Now. You have to check this out. I didn't notice this until I was sewing on the buttons, I swear. It wasn't planned. Two of the hearts I punched from the sheet music have some interesting phrases that totally suit me....*Dance of the Butt* and *Clown Pranks*. What a hoot that was when I saw those on my tags!
Well, that's it for today. I must make a dent in a big project list. Hope you're enjoying the Papertrey festivities. And thanks for the challenge Melissa! Be sure to visit her blog, I think a few more PTI girls are playing along with her challenge.

Note: Some of the stamps I used from Papertrey are Giga Guidelines, TAke Note, Simple Valentine, Say It With Style, and Borders and Corners Circles.

More Valentine Scrapbook Kits

Hello there, I have added more Valentine Scrapbook Kits to my Etsy shop. You can read my original post HERE to get the main idea of the kit and ideas of how to assemble the pages and doo dads. Please note that once these kits are gone, they're gone. I won't be making anymore of them this year. Kits will ship out this week so you'll get them in time....or very close... to Valentine's Day, depending on where you live. These would make great gifts for someone who loves to craft....or take a photo session of some loved ones and create a mini album, celebrating those you love. Enjoy!!

Just Rite Garden Tour 2 Blog Hop

Welcome to the JustRite Garden Tour 2 Blog Hop. This month, JustRite is releasing more beautiful sets....perfect for spring...perfect for coloring! The set I'm showcasing today is called Breath of Spring. Please visit the JustRite Blog to see the set in it's entirety.

I'm focusing on the pretty daffodils in a pitcher image for my project today. I found these beautiful inspiration photos from the internet to share with you. When coloring flowers, I find that looking at a photo is the perfect way to capture just the right colors and get some wonderful shading examples.
The photo below is what I used for my color inspiration for my pitcher of daffodils. Ahhh, this photo just makes me long for spring even more. I can almost smell the sweet scent.
Here's my finished cards below.
And here's a closeup of my colored images. I paper pieced the vases and colored the flowers and stems with Copic Sketch markers. There is nothing like digging into my Copic stash then sitting down for a coloring session. Especially with flowers, they are one of the most fun things for me to color.
Here's the Copic colors I used to color my images, below. The BV(purple) color was used as an outline around the image but it's a little hard to see in the photo. Purple is a complimentary color of yellow so that BV marker adds some nice color to the images.
Here's a little sketch below for my card layout. It was inspired by Betsy Veldman's beautiful card that was featured in the recent Stamp It! magazine. You are welcome to use the sketch as a challenge for some of your own cards. And notice the colors on my cards too. I used yellow and gray which I've seen so much in the design industry lately. Give that a whirl too if want to add in a color challenge. Please post your project links in my comments section, I'd love to visit your blog to see your projects! My new friend Maile Belles is playing along with the challenge, so be sure to check out her blog today too.

And Betsy was kind enough to let me show her card on my blog. Isn't it beautiful?? I love the bright pink punches of color in the flower, the sentiment, the ribbon and the stitching around her card. And the card layout is one that I will keep in my sketch book to use over and over again. Thank you for the inspiration Betsy!!

Hope you enjoy my project today. Be sure to check out the other JustRite Designer Blogs to find more creative projects!!

JustRite Inspiration Blog
Angela Barkhouse
Barb Schram
Becca Feeken
Debbie Olson
Heidi Blankenship
Kathy Jones
Kazan Clark
Kellie Fortin
Michele Kovack
Sharon Harnist
Sharon Johnson