JustRite Violets

I love vintage botanical prints like the samples below. I have several pieces of framed artwork similar to these and they are some of my very favorites. I'll have to take a photo sometime.
I was inspired to use JustRite's Breath of Spring stamp set, particularly the violets bouquet, to create some cards with this vintage, botanical feel. I stamped the floral image right onto some patterned paper. I love the subtle, polka dot background it instantly gives my images. Be sure to look for this type of paper when you're shopping, it's not just for backgrounds...stamp right on it and then color. These papers are from K and Company. Thank You sentiment is from Papertrey's Big and Bold Wishes stamp set.
I love the E31 Copic marker that I used for outlining the image. Instead of a blue color, this tan color really ties in that vintage feel. I just love how soft and pretty these cards turned out.
Tip: When coloring floral images, simply do an Internet search for the type of flower you're going to color. Then print it off to have a visual reference at your stamp area. It's a good thing.

Holly Gift Card Envelopes

A box full of pretties........ Stamped 4 x 4 envelopes, using a Hero Arts background stamp.

Tied up with wide vintage lace, a glittery holly leaf, Christmas tag, button, leaf ribbon and twine.......perfect little envies for gift cards or cash this holiday season.

Just uploaded to my Etsy shop, see link at the left. Hope you're having a great Sunday afternoon! Off to visit with my company more. :)

Quilt Block Cards

Isn't it great that our various crafting ventures just overflow into each other? I love that one day I can be knee deep into the sewing and the next day I can create fun cards.....all about sewing. Today I've created some fun friendship cards using one of Karen Lockhart's quilt block stamps(Quilt Block I). I stamped the quilt block image onto patterned paper and colored a portion of the designs with my trusty Copic markers. By stamping on to the patterned paper, a lot of the color is in place...making for a quicker colored image. I lined the bottom of my card with 1" punched squares of coordinating patterned paper from K and Company.

I finished off my cards with a friendship sentiment from Papertrey's Quilter's Sampler stamp set, some tied Vintage Buttons and a strip of twill ribbon.

Hope you're having a fabulous Friday! I'm recovering from a mild case of the flu. I'm sick of laying in bed though so I'm up and at 'em.....a little bit of sewing, a little bit of card making, a little bit of reading. Hope you have a fantastic weekend everyone!

Snail mail...times 4

I did a fun little twist on this card layout. I stamped Karen Lockhart's Writing Letters stamp four times on four different patterned papers. The sentiment *snail mail for you* is from Vintage Picnic from Papertrey. Patterned papers are from K and Company. For each stamped image, I used a Grey Copic Marker (like W3) to outline the stack of letters. This gives the images a little more definition and depth. Each color of letter stacks got a coordinating tied button to match.

Stamping on patterned paper is such a fun way to get lots of color onto your images...without a lot of work. Just use a sharp pair of fine tipped scissors to get nice, precise cuts. Easy peasy. Hope you're having a great day! Have you made a card lately.....make 'em and mail 'em ladies!

Be thankful....for apples

When the last big storm rolled through, our local apple orchard had a ton of apples blown off the trees. They've got bushels and bushels of apples for sale now. I think I hear a fresh baked apple pie calling my name soon! JustRite has picked a winner of a stamp too. This pretty little basket of apples is from the Autumn Blessings Borders and Centers stamp set. I love that JR is now carrying more images that can be colored with Copics. I chose to color my apples with both green and red...I love those rustic looking apples that you pick right off the tree. Ranger Glossy Accents dots the apples for a little shine.

I cut my colored image out with Spellbinder's Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities die templates. The embossing gives the main layer some great texture and the red scallop layer really brightens up the apple image. Patterned papers are from K and Company. Kraft base card and ribbon are from Papertrey.

So here is my question of the day for you. Do you prefer cobblers or crisps? I made a peach crisp the other night and had to explain to the family what the difference was between a cobbler and a crisp. I definitely prefer a peach crisp or an apple crisp over cobblers. It's the oatmeal that does it for me. I love the yummy taste and the texture it gives the topping. And the cinnamon, definitely have to add some cinnamon.

Hope you have a warm and *crispy* kind of day! I'll be working in the stamp room today!!

Fall flowers...

We've been having beautiful weather here in Kansas. It's nice and cool, no humidity and the mornings and late evenings get rather *crisp*. It feels like Fall is just around the corner....and naturally my design work follows suit with Fall images, colors and embellishments. Today I used an image from JustRite's Autumn Blessings Borders and Centers stamp set. I love these old watering cans so this was a fun image to color. I used my handy dandy Copic Sketch markers to create an old metal watering can filled with orange and yellow Fall colors. I cut my image out with Spellbinder's Oval and Scalloped Oval Nestabilities die templates.

Background paper is from K and Company....ribbon, sentiments,Vintage Buttons and Rustic Twine from Papertrey ink.

And speaking of great weather......it's wayyyyyy too nice to be sitting in front of the computer. I'm heading outside for the day to enjoy the beautiful day!

Pretty Pumpkins

This year we planted lots of different pumpkin seeds in the viney patch. They're just starting to grow and are the cutest little things. So I was excited when I saw this cute combo from JustRite's new Autumn Blessings stamp set. It's got the perfect sentiment and beautifully illustrated pumpkins. I think it will be fun to send out cards like this with photos of our pumpkin patch this fall.

This week, JustRite is sponsoring the sketch over at CPS. I wanted to play along and came up with the card design below. I used papers from Papertrey and K and Company for the soft orange-y background. If you'd like to play along, just visit the CPS link. You can view the sketch (it's posted on the left side). After you've created your card, you can upload it at the Mr. Linky place listed at the CPS site. Then everyone can click on your link to see your creation. Fun stuff!
I colored my pumpkins with Copic Sketch markers, using the background papers as color inspiration. I die cut and embossed the image with a Spellbinder's Oval Nestabilities die template. I then adhered my main image to a Spellbinder's Scalloped Oval Nestabilities die template. The snippet of ribbon and buttons was added to keep with the theme of card sketch.

The CPS sketches are great inspiration if you're in need for some new ideas. Plus you gets tons of ideas from the talented CPS designer's samples.

Above are the Copic colors I used to color my image.

We got over an inch of rain the other day so I'm anxious to see what's been cookin' in the garden. Nothing like a good rain to make a garden grow! Stay tuned tomorrow...I'll show you my cute new CHA bag with tag........and I'll have tips for packing for a weekend crop (by request). Well I'm off to work in the stamp room on some projects for CHA. Be back soon!

glittery vine cards

I needed some cards to put in my stash basket and also a few more for my mom for her birthday. I wanted something soft and pretty and vintage looking.

So I started out with Pine's Papertrey Rustic Branches stamp set. Pine's sets are so simple in design, I love that her images are so easy to work with. Using New Leaf ink, I stamped the vine and wreath images onto Kraft cardstock. I cut the vines into cardstock strips and punched the wreaths out with a scalloped punch. I also tied up some Sweet Blush Vintage Buttons with Rustic Cream Twine.Next, I reached for some supplies from my stash...pink Stickles and pink Martha Stewart glitter. Onto each stamped piece, I squirted a little Stickles, rubbed it with my finger, and sprinkled on some glitter. Just a little sprinkling will do ya. Let that dry.

I then went to work, assembly line fashion, and created a whole stack of pretty cards. I used PTI Rustic White cardstock for the card bases, K & Company patterned paper and various PTI ribbons. Doesn't it feel good to finish a bunch of cards?

For my cards sentiments, I used several from Vintage Picnic Sentiments. The vintage typewriter font paired with the nice script is one of my favorite looks right now.

And here's a few more.....

Look how pretty the pink glitter is, along with the tied pink buttons. Be still my heart.

I challenge you this week to put down the Popsicles and dig into your crafting stash. Find a few items that you haven't used in a while and make some cards! It's a new month, have you made out your list of cards you need to send? Doooooooo it! :) And have fun!!

You're hot...

My sister and I made yet another fun trip to Atchison, Kansas for a Nell Hill visit. It's our most favorite place ever to shop for home decor, decorating ideas, garden and party ideas. This time, we took a home tour of the owner's house and it was simply divine!! We ended back at the shop and boy did we shop! I always feel inspired to redecorate when I leave there.

Here's a few photos I took of some colorful, summer tablescapes. The ladies at Nell Hill sure have a good eye for putting the elements together. The colors in these two vignettes were so fruit punchy and fun!!

When I started to plan my project for today, I knew I wanted to imitate the fun colors on my card. I reached for some Wild Raspberry K & Company patterned paper and then selected my Copic Sketch Marker colors from there. I colored Karen Lockhart's Electric Fan stamp to match my papers......

...then cut and embossed the image with Spellbinder's Circle and Pinking Circle Die Templates. I love the glitter and shimmer and sparkle!
I finished my card off with Papertrey ribbon and Vintage Buttons tied with Rustic Twine.

I have a specific recipient in mind for this card, so I wanted to create a personal sentiment for the inside of the card. My sister (who I went to Nell Hill with and had so much fun), recently hurt her toe big time. She peeled back her big toe nail and had to make a trip to the emergency room to have the nail removed and to stop the bleeding (yes, you can pass out here like I did).....and she lost her prized pumpkin patch due to two hail storms. She had all of her grand kids help plant this huge field of pumpkins and had such fun plans for the Fall. We had a contest going to see who would grow the best pumpkins. Eric said, "We win"......I'm not telling that to Karen though!

So anyway, this card is for her. I just turned 40 this year and she turned 50. She's been experiencing some of the dreaded heat flashes that I call *personal summers*. I tease her all the time and she tells me........just you wait, Sistah!!! My time's coming I'm sure. So for the inside of my card I typed *You're 50....You're HOT (literally)........hope your personal summers are going great!!* I know it will make her laugh.

Do you know someone that could use a good, cheer up card? Or perhaps their own little pocket fan? Snort! Now is the perfect time to send them a card. You'll make their day!

Note: Did you know that Karen Lockhart now has a printable stamp registery that lets you keep track of your Lockhart stamp collection? Just to the link above and follow it back to the home page...you'll see the downloads. Cool, Karen!

Embellish It

Edit: Prize Drawing Winner......the winner of my Copic prize drawing is Tessa Wise! Congratulations Tessa, I've emailed you already for you contact information! Thanks to everyone for playing along and I 'll be bringing you more Copic posts soon!!

It's June 1st already, can you believe it? It's time once again for the Papertrey Senior Design Team Challenge and this month's is right up my alley. Nichole has challenged the Design Team to create homemade embellishments for a project. As you know, I've been doing a lot of this lately. The process of creating these little embellishments is so fun! Let's get started.

I first cut some 5-1/2" strips of Stamper's Select White Cardstock and punched the edges with a scallop border using an EK Success slim line border punch.Using the fun Day at the Beach stamp set, I embossed some images onto the cardstock strips using Clear Embossing Powder.

Then comes the really fun part. Using the Copic markers in YG93, YG13, Y35 and RV32, I colored horizontal lines across the strips. I used one full swipe across each time and kept on layering the colors, overlapping them a bit to blend them. The more you layers of lines you add, the darker the colors. I'm trying to achieve a certain tropical look that will match another embellishement that you'll see shortly. You can see how the clear embossing resisted the markers, leaving some fun sun and star fish elements showing through.

I wanted my embellishments to look a little vintage, so I used my Ranger Distress Ink Pad on the edges of the embellishment strips.

Next, I used The Essential Glue Pad and a big swirl from Fancy Flourishes to randomly stamp images onto the colored strips. Very sticky stuff.

I then dumped Glitter all over the strips to cover the stamped swirl images. I tapped off the glitter and gave the back of the strips a good flick with my fingers to remove the excess glitter.

And here's my finished glittery embellishment strips. The Copic colors I chose match the patterned paper(K & Company Wild Raspberry) I'm going to use for my finished projects. Zoom in on any photo to see the glittery details better.

Next, I created some fun focal point embellishments for a few summer time cards. I used more fun images from Day at the Beach to create a tropical drink theme. I did margaritas that have glittered rims for the salt and a cute little lime. And for the other drinks, I used colors from the embellishment strips to create a layered, fruity drink with more glitter for added sparkle. I want one!! And check out those cute sentiments...just chillin' and bottoms up...too fun! Vintage Buttons tied with twine finish off the embellments that have been punched out with circle punches.

And here's a fun basket full of finished cards. Be still my sun loving heart!

For all of the cards, I used a Kraft Cardstock base that has been stamped with a Background Basics: Text Style font stamp in Fresh Snow Ink. The edges of the cards were inked with Fresh Snow ink right from the pad. Rectangles of various patterned papers adorn the center of the cards. I love that these cards have a fun, tropical feel to them but that I was able to use more muted background papers.

Here's a close up of the glitter strips, the circle embellishments, more tied buttons and a snippet of Sweet Blush Twill Ribbon. Yummy little morslets of goodness!

And here's my margarita themed cards using green background papers and Vintage Buttons. Do you know how much I love margaritas? Lots...but I haven't had one in ages!!

And a close up shot of more glitterfication (new word). You should see these in person because it's so hard to capture them in photos! Come on over, we'll have a margarita...along with chips and salsa!

So bring on summer!! Turn on some Jimmy Buffet, slip on your flip flops and enjoy a nice cold tropical drink.

Annnnd, check this out: Nichole did the math for me and guess how much my glittery embellishments cost to make? NINE CENTS EACH!! That's a dime with change left over, peeps! If I were to go buy my glittery embellishments along with the circle images, I'd pay well over $5 bucks for that package. I think I should treat myself to a margarita with all that money I saved! The products Nichole used to figure the cost were consumable products, the rest were items you most likely have in your stash like stamps, the inks, punches, etc. So go make some some fun embellishments of your own, it just takes a little creativity.
And if you want to be even more inspired, be sure to visit the other PTI Designers' blogs. Kelly Lunceford is playing along too.

Nichole Heady
Becky Oehlers
Heather Nichols
Lauren Meader
Lisa Johnson
Kelly Lunceford

Have a great summer everyone! I'm very, VERY excited for the June Release at Papertrey so stay tuned!!

Pretzel Pretties...

Recently at Walmart (the place I really don't like to go to but don't have many other options), I found these assorted, white and milk chocolate covered pretzels. The packaging wasn't the prettiest but the pretzels did look pretty darn good. So for $3 bucks a package, I bought these two...white chocolate with mini chocolate chips and milk chocolate with chopped peanuts. With tax, they're about .37 cents each, not too shabby for some quick little gifts. And look, they stay good til 11/24/09!!! That made me laugh, who knows what they put in the food these days. So anyway, I came home and after testing each pretzel to make sure they were gift worthy..and they are......I decided to make some treat sacks. We're out of school already for the year but these would make wonderful teacher treats.

I used JustRite's What's Cooking Borders and Centers stamps to create a cute, circle tag for some little pocket cards.

The finished cards measure about 3.5" x 4.25" with a little insert to write a thank you note, birthday message, etc. I used K & Company patterned paper for the card front and Papertrey's Spring Moss Satin ribbon, some Dark Chocolate buttons and twine also.

To attach my pocket cards to the Large Glassine Sacks that holds two pretzels, I used some clothespins that I covered with the patterned paper I used on my card. Dark Chocolate buttons and twine finish off the clothespins. I think clothespins are one of the greatest little inventions ever created. And since my husband won't make me a clothesline, I have to use the little things somewhere, right! (The clothesline issue is another matter we'll discuss later.....I will get that clothesline someday. Eric thinks that it's a little embarrassing to hang your panties on the line for all to see.....however he does think it is perfectly fine to pee off the front porch!! Uh, what is wrong with that mental picture, you tell me!)

Sorry to digress there folks.......but you need to make some little treats like this. I know many of you say this: I don't think that way if I would see those pretzels at Walmart in the ugly packaging. Here's what you need to do: Always be on the lookout for things that can be re-packaged in another way. And have little gift wrappy stuff at home like glassine sacks, clear bags, ribbon, tags, etc. The JustRite stamps are perfect for little tags of this nature because they're quick and easy to punch out with circle punches or cut with Nestabilities. You could also pair the tags up with any of Lauren's Papertrey Timeless Templates, they would be perfect! And you don't have to spend a fortune, it's the packaging that makes all the difference. Think how fun this little treat sack would be for a little hostess gift or a take home dessert for visitors....or on a pillow of someone visiting your house. It's those little things that make people severely jealous of your craft skills...use it to your advantage girls!! Have a great weekend!

And remember to visit Debbie's blog today for a chance to win a Copic airbrush system! And leave a comment on my post yesterday for a chance to win some Copic Multiliner markers. I'll do my drawing on Sunday night!