Saturday, February 28, 2015

One More Card for 12 Kits of Occasions

**This is my second post for the day.  For my full 12 Kits of Occasions post, please go here.**
Hi!  I'm back to share one last card I made with February's "Bye, Bye Birdie" kit.  (You can see the rest of my cards here.)  I didn't get a chance to photograph this one last week and though the skies are still grey, I took a picture of it this morning.  One of my biggest sources of inspiration for cards is children's clothing.  Probably because I'm surrounded by it. :) Prints with animal silhouettes are quite popular right now.  For that matter, I see a lot of adult clothing with animal silhouettes as well.  Anyway, when I saw all the different bird die cuts Sharron included in the kit, I knew I wanted to use them to recreate one of these prints.  I love how it turned out.  It makes me smile.  I'm linking this one up to the "Anything Goes" Simon Says Wednesday Challenge.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!

12 Kits of Occasions: Bye, Bye Birdie!

Hello!  I'm so happy to be sharing February's 12 Kits of Occasions cards today.  Sharron sent the most perfectly packaged kit filled with birdie goodness!  I loved the variety of birds she included.  The papers were really neat as well.  You can see all the details about the kit and a sampling of all the other designers' fabulous cards over at the 12 Kits blog, so make sure to head over there next.  Okay, onto my cards. :)
This is the very first card I made.  I couldn't decide if these were little love birds or just two little birdie friends chatting on the swing.  I guess I need to decide, though, because that would certainly influence who I give it to.  What do you think?
I had two favorite cards.  This is one of them.  I just love it.  The top of each patterned paper in the kit had a narrow strip of a coordinating pattern running across it.  I simply trimmed the panel, so both patterns showed and glued this tiny sentiment and bird on top.  Easy peasy.  I was tempted to make an entire set of cards with this same design.  I still might. :)

Because this card is made with a bunch of small things, I'm entering it into CASology's Week 135: Mini Challenge.
I know this next card doesn't have a sentiment on the front, but I just couldn't bare to cover anything up.  My very first thought when I saw this paper was of Kiawah Island, which sits just off the coast of South Carolina.  We visited there when I was 12 or 13 and it's forever been engrained in my mind as one of the most fun, beautiful, peaceful places ever.  The entire stay we walked or rode bikes (no cars), and we saw tons of marshes full of beautiful birds.  The paper was so neat and the scene just created itself with all the die cuts Sharron included in the kit.  I couldn't help but smile when I saw that Michele was similarly inspired by the paper.
This next one is uber simple, but every time I tried to add more or rearrange items, I just kept coming back to this.  Why?  It reminds me of our kitchen growing up.  Our kitchen table and chairs were very similar to the kraft and blue color, and that little bird would have fit in just perfectly with the kitchen decor.  So I just had to leave it like this, and naturally, I made this card for my mom. :)
Please bear with me on this next one.  There are things I like (the window with the focal point on the inside of the card), but there are things I'm not crazy about.  It was one of those that I just had to stop myself because my continued "fixing" seemed to be making matters worse.
Ahhh...and my other favorite is last.  I adore this little penguin.  I was thrilled to see it in the kit as this set has been on my wish list for quite some time.  It just doesn't get any cuter that that. 
I have one more card to share, but I didn't have time to photograph it, so I'll be back soon.  Also, some of my very favorite items didn't make it onto my cards (yet!), so make sure you check out the other ladies' blogs to see how they've used this fabulous kit.  Thank you again, Sharron!!!
Marybeth
Michele (our newest addition...yay!)
 Taunya (Guest Designer)

PS I'm entering these cards into the Simon Says "Anything Goes" Wednesday Challenge.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

PTI February Blog Hop

Hello!  I'm popping in today to share a card I made for PTI's February Blog Hop.  Below is the inspiration photo we were given.  It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do.  I watercolored a few backgrounds with several PTI inks, but I wasn't really pleased with any of them.  Then, I won a spot in Stamp Nation's newest Dye Ink Pads class last week, and I saw a card by Isha Gupta where she placed a watercolored strip down the left side of her card.  After that this card fell into place.  I used PTI's Phrase Play #5 stamp set and die, but I used the Journal Card #1 die to trim down the bottom of the Phrase Play panel, so it would be a square instead of a rectangle. Does that make sense? Then I used portions of my watercolored backgrounds on the card.  I turned it into a shaker with some Pretty Pink Posh sequins at the last minute because I thought my niece would think it was more fun.  Unfortunately we've had lots of cloudy days, so I apologize for the dark photo.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Happy hopping!
                                                                             Inspiration photo credit: Micklyn via society6

Saturday, February 14, 2015

PTI Anniversary Challenges: Take 4 & A Few of My Favorite Things

Hello!  I've been posting a lot lately....twice just today!  It's been fun.  Plus, the PTI Anniversary Challenges are pretty tempting, so I've been trying to carve out time to play along.  I made this card for the Honoring Mom's Challenge to create a bouquet with more than one stamp set and the Blue Skies Challenge to make a card with a blue ombre effect.  I knew just what I wanted to do.  I was a little disappointed in the white embossing powder.  Any one have a good suggestion on a true white powder?  I'm also linking this up to CASology's Love Challenge.  No better way to show someone you love them than to be there for them.
I love bouquets that have twirly twigs, neat greenery, and a few unique flowers, so I tried to recreate that.  My bouquet was built with PTI's Birds & Blooms, Bigger Blooms, Daydreamer, and Embellished Elegance.  The jar is from Friendship Jars: Summer Fillers and the sentiment is from Round & Round.  I watercolored with Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, and Taken with Teal.
And for fun, I thought I'd show you where I sometimes put cards for a few days after I finish them (usually as a reminder to myself to mail them).  I have a little corner on my dresser dedicated mostly to my son.  This picture is 3 years old, but it's a favorite.  The hand print is from about the same age...see his cute chubby fingers?  The drawing in the back was my mother's day card from my son and husband, and the white dish holding the card was my grandmother's, whom I loved dearly.  In fact, my daughter's middle name is my grandmother's name.  And if you've ever wondered why I take my pictures on a beat up cutting board instead of a nice smooth piece of wood, it is because the cutting board was that same grandma's.  She only cut bread on it, and I inherited it when I went to college.  I never used it for cutting because other roommates had cutting boards.  The stains and holes are from some of my very first craft attempts with stamps and eyelets in college.  So there you have it.  I use a beat up old board because it is sentimental.  Phew...that was a lot, but I thought since today is a day to celebrate the things and people you love, this was a fun way to show you a few of mine. Oh, and since I don't want to totally leave my other little one out, here she is helping me take pictures the other day.  Have a beautiful weekend!

I Choo-Choose You!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I'm just popping in to share a card I made for my son to give to my husband.  They both say "I choo-choo-choose you" to each other all the time.  I don't know how it started, but my son thinks it is hilarious, so I thought it only fitting to make a card with the sentiment on it.  I built the sentiment with a Lawn Fawn alphabet set.  The darling train is from The Alley Way Stamps, and though it is hard to tell, I paper pieced it with some patterns I stamped and slightly popped up the the roofs and smoke stack. Okay, next up are my son's class valentine's.
I have to preface these a bit.  I had grand ideas for his Valentine's, which included a cutely packaged non-candy gift.  Then he got a really bad cold, and I honestly didn't think he would make it to school the next week (he only goes 2 days a week), so I didn't even tell him about exchanging Valentines because I didn't want him to feel bad for missing out.  Fast forward a few days.  Late at night I realized that he was well enough to go to school and I had no Valentines.  Yikes!  
We happened to have a bag of dum-dums, so as soon as the kids went to bed I quickly tried to figure out what I could make with them.  A bunch of cute stamps from Lawn Fawn, TAWS, PTI, and My Cute Stamps, Verve, and Winnie & Walter and some super quick watercoloring and this is what I came up with.  The bunching on the cards bugged me, but my husband assured me that all the kids would care about was the sucker.  I figured he was right, and really I had no choice because of time.
This little guy is my favorite because my son loves green and lately has been in to dinosaurs.  Well, I have one more post to share, so I better go to get that ready.  Hope you all had a wonderful day!  I'll leave you with one last shot of the whole lot of them, which I am happy to report have all been passed out to classmates and neighbors.  Thanks for stopping by!
PS I'm entering these into a few challenges:
I Choo-Choose You Card:
TAWS February Link-Up
CASology #133: Love
Valentines:
Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: All Creatures Great and Small
TAWS February Link-Up

Friday, February 13, 2015

PTI Challenges Continue: It's a Two-fer

I had a chance to make another card for PTI's Anniversary Challenges.  Yay!  This one was inspired by two challenges: Day 1: Color/Sketch Challenge and Day 5: Use an un-inked stamp set.  (PS I love when I can combine challenges.)
I was pleasantly surprised that finding an un-inked stamp set was pretty difficult.  Darnell has truly inspired me to use my NBUS (never-been-used-schtuff), and between her challenges and a large box of stamp supplies that I recently gave away, I don't have much left that I haven't used.  (Well, at least as far as stamps are concerned.)  I did finally find two un-inked mini sets, so I used a sentiment from Polka Dot Parade #12 on this card.  I also used my never-before-used PTI Bitty Button Stacks dies and a new diagonal striped stencil from Winnie & Walter.  I chose the following sketch and color palette to inspire my card.

This card took WAAAY longer than it should have to put together.  I'll spare you the details, but let's just say I could recreate it in about a fifth of the time, and I almost threw it away six or seven times.  Luckily, perseverance paid off, and I learned a thing or two along the way.  Learning is always a good thing, right?  Do you want to know what made me the happiest about this card?  There is no white!  Okay, there is a tad bit on the baker's twine, but I'm not counting that.  The colored card base alone was cause for me to celebrate.  
Oh, I better get going.  I think I hear a little one waking up, so I'm off to give a few cuddles.  Hope today is a cheery day for you!

PTI Challenge: Maile Inspired

Okay, so I am a giant fan of Maile Belles.  I mean huge.  Love, love, LOVE everything she makes. I knew I probably wouldn't be able to play along with all of PTI's challenges this week, but if there was only one I could play along, it was going to be Day 2's Challenge to create something inspired by Maile.
I just wish I had had time to photograph them better, but they had to go to my son's preschool teachers today...aaaannnd I made them late last night. :)  They were inspired by Maile's awesome stamped patterns which almost always have a triangular pattern using the rule of three and her use of black sentiments embellished with black rhinestones.

When my son saw the cards this morning, he said he wanted to make his own for Miss Kris, so I got out some inks and stamps and he went to town.  I'm a bit jealous of his color combo...I like it better than the ones I did. :) I got to help out in his classroom today, and he was so proud to give his card to the teacher.  It made me happy.
PS I'm also linking the Valentine card up to CASology's Week 133 "Love" Challenge.

Thursday, February 12, 2015

Papertrey Anniversary Challenges...

I know many of you have joined in on Papertrey's Anniversary Challenges, and I'm SO happy that I had a little time to finally play along.
Thank you Papertrey for having all the deadlines extended this year!  This card is for Day 7's Challenge to make a card using only neutrals and metallics.  I went super simple on this one.   About a month ago my dad asked me to make some thank you cards for him.  One of his goals this year is to send more thank you cards.  (He's a pretty awesome guy...the best really.  So loving and Christlike.)  To quote his instructions on the cards, he said, "Just keep them simple and masculine.  You know, maybe put a little chest hair or something on them." Ha!  My dad has a great sense of humor.   He's always makes me laugh.  Anyway, no chest hair on this card, but my husband said it was masculine (yes, I asked), and it actually reminded him of one of his ties, so I figure it'll work for my dad, too.  (Note to self: Take a closer look at the ties in the closet, so I can get other ideas for masculine patterns.) I may have cheated a tad on this card, or maybe I was resourceful.  I'll go with resourceful.  See the plaid?  Well, it's a piece of patterned paper.  I just added the gold stripes with a stamp from PTI's BB: Retro set. And the gold really is a beautiful color, though it looks more yellow in the photos.  Ok, I better go...so much for making this a short post. :) Hope you've all had a wonderful week!