Six Pack Butterflies!

Since it's Sunday morning, it's time for another Crafty Ho's Challenge, and this week is an interesting one. The theme of the week is 'Six Pack' to be interpreted in any way you seem fit. I decided to create a six 'pack' of butterflies! I used my new stamp set caller Butterfly Dreams from Paper Trey, this set is just so pretty and I decided to pick three colors and use them for the card. I really like how this one turned out, I picked the six larger butterflies in the stamp set and stamped two in Lemon Tart, two in Summer Sunrise, and two in Orange Zest. I also used some fun matching floral DP to go with the 'pack' of butterflies, after I stamped each image I cut them out, folded them and then used glue dots to attach them to the background. Be sure to check out the Crafty Ho Challenge Blog to see who else played along this week, everyone did a great job!
Stamps: Butterfly Dreams from Paper Trey; Paper: Whisper White, Lemon Tart, In Bloom DP; Ink: Lemon Tart, Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest; Accessproes: Pop Dots, Kaiser Self Adhesive Rhinestones, Glue Dots

Little One!

Good morning all! I thought that since this cards recipient has received her package I can share this card with everyone! I made this card to match a onesie I made for miss Charmine and her new little wonder Isabelle! I had so much fun with these little creations and it was great to finally stamp with this stamp set. I have had Little Lady since it came out and I never had a chance to use it!

Here is a picture of the rest of the package I sent along, I sent her two little cutie outfits I found, some hair bows, the onesie I stamped, and of course some baby embellishments! I don't make baby things very often but I love to create baby things when I can. I hope you liked today's post, I thought it would be nice to share on a Friday! Enjoy your day all!

Stamps: Little Lady from PaperTrey; Paper: Whisper White, Pure Poppy, DP; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Pure Poppy; Accessories: May Arts Ribbon

Another Father's Day Creation

Good morning! I finished all the Father's Day cards for my coworker on Wednesday night, this card being one of the last three. I have lots of PaperTrey Ink stamps, but to look at my card collection or my blog you seriously wouldn't know it. I use their papers all the time, their buttons have become one of my favorite embellishments, and their DP is yummy....and those you see several times a week here, but their stamps never seem to get their ink time! Well this set finally saw some ink, and although this card is very simple, I really like how it came out. In fact, my coworker just loved this card, he wasn't sure if he wanted to give it to his brother anymore. I hope you like it, a little Fatherly love. Have a great day!
Stamps: Father Knows Best from PaperTrey Ink; Paper: Whisper White, Dark Chocolate, DCWV Spring DP; Ink: Spring Green, Dark Chocolate; Accessories: Pop Dots, May Arts Ribbon

A Little Baby Fun

I was going through all my pictures and I realized that I had yet to share with you all the fun things I created for Jana when we heard she was expecting. The Pretties Girl's decided that we should either buy or create something for her and the baby as well as create a two page scrapbook layout. I decided to buy a few fun onesies and get to work stamping some fun kiddie images on them. I went with these little frogs, fishes, and an elephant from Paper Trey, as well as this adorable baby tin and washcloths to finish off the package! Don't these look adorable! Then it was time to try a fun two page spread for the 6x6 album all the Pretties Girl's pages would be able to fill. I rarely scrapbook anything anymore, but when I do I have so much fun! Baby pages are always a lot of fun to create!Christie was so nice to send us all the same papers so that our 6x6 pages would all flow together nicely in a cute little 6x6 scrapbook. I used my fun Baby First set from SU! (one of my all time favorite baby sets) and this adorable stickers I found for baby! I really did have a lot of fun laying out these pages, I missed it to be honest.
Plus, no present is complete without a fun baby card! I made this card using the fun Gina K set How Sweet it is, I love the images and the simplicity of this set. Hope you like this set of goodies today, I had forgotten all about the fact that I still had images to share with you from these goodies!

Bitty Baby

While I was sick these past few months, my family was invited to a cousin's surprise baby shower. Unfortunately, none of us attended the party, but my Mom finally got together a package of adorable outfits and goodies for the soon to come baby and she asked me to create a card for the package. Making baby cards can be so much fun, so I pulled out one of my favorite baby stamp sets 'Bitty Baby Blessings' from Paper Trey and got to work. Did you know I own a lot of Paper Trey stamps, ink, ribbon, and papers? I doubt you do since I don't pull them out often enough, but lets just say that two years in a row I have beyond qualified for the free stamp set for being a loyal customer...oopps! Of course today was also the PT Blog Hop, I really need to start doing those again, I participated in I believe one or two, so the goal is to create something for next months blog hop, we shall see how great that plan goes. Since Kim's having a baby girl I went with all pinks and shades of red, plus I used this super cute Nana's Nursery Baby Girl DCWV paper I have plus the cute onesie from the 'Bitty Baby Blessings' set. Hope you enjoy today's baby card, I had a lot of fun creating this card and I am glad I can share it with all of you. Have a great Thursday, and be sure to come back here tomorrow, its Paper Pretties sneak peak time, in fact, have you heard the recent Pretties

~On Sunday March 1st, Paper Pretties will be having their monthly Stampin In Your Jammies party!! The party starts at 6pm CDT and will last until 9pm. We will be issuing a challenge every hour so be sure to come and play along!! Besides the challenges, chatter, and all around fun, we will also be releasing Bunny Hop Sopia to the public as well as a new stamp set!! Sneak peeks start on Friday, February 27th!! Hope to see you there!!

~Paper Pretties is having a release on the March 1st so that means it is time for another CUTIE PIE CONTEST!!! All you have to do to enter is upload a card you have made using Paper Pretties stamps to the Cutie Pie Contest gallery over at the Paper Pretties website. Entries must be in by no later than 8pmCST on February 28th to be considered for the prize. Besides getting to call yourself a CutiePie, you will also receive all the new stamps that are released on the 1st!! Good luck!!
Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings from Paper Trey; Paper: Whisper White, Berry Sorbet, Cameo Coral, DCWV Nana's Nursery Baby Girl; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Accessories: May Arts Red Grosgrain Ribbon, Spica Clear Glitter Pen, Taylored Expressions Twinklets, Quickie Glue Pen

Whimsy Stamps February GD Call!

I almost forgot to post and share this! Today is the last day to enter the Whimsy Stamps February Guest Designer call! In order to apply you were asked to create a card following the below sketch and using Whimsy Stamps or if you don't have any, which unfortunatly I do not (I have some on order!), to use any animal image as your focal point. Here are some details on the Design Team Call:

If you'd like to try out for this guest spot, here are some details....

*Submit your entry between now and January 26th.

*This call is open to all, from anywhere on the globe!

*All participants must have their own blogs to display artwork and promote Whimsy products, specials, and activities.

*Your entry must follow the guidelines below to be considered and must be turned in by January 26th, late entries will not be accepted.

*Enter as many times as you wish, but please follow the guidelines for each of your entries, only new work will be accepted as an entry.

*Monthly guest designers will receive free Whimsy Stamps to work with during your design period as well as links to your blog from our site.I created this card not only for this Whimsy Stamps February Guest Designer call, but also for my Dad's brithday! Today is my Dad's birthday and although we had cake yesterday, I know he will still love this card. Thank you for stopping by, hope you enjoyed the card, I had a lot of fun playing along with the wonderful sketch!
Stamps: High Hopes, It's a Celebration from Paper Trey; Paper: Whisper White, Dark Chocolate, ChatterBox Courtyard Stripe; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Memento Rich Cocoa, B05 Process Blue, C1 Coll Grey No. 1, E11 Barely Beige, E35 Chamois, E47 Dark Brown, G21 Lime Green, Y06 Yellow, Y21 Buttercup Yellow, YG67 Moss; Accessories: may Arts Grosgrain RIbbon, Pop Dots

A littl Paper Trey

I could have sworn I posted this box forever ago, but it seems I was mistaken, so I thought I would share it today. I was in a Secret Sister Swap where we had to create something for our Secret Sister and my Sister was a massive fan of Reece's Pieces and I wanted to make something that looked super pretty. I used some of my PaperTrey DP and my Floral Frenzy set to create the little flower centers on each piece. Then placed everything into these cute little boxes I ordered a while ago to create different gifts from. I finished it all off with some ribbon and a great tag. Enjoy!
Stamps: Floral Frenzy from Paper Trey; Paper: PT DP, Lavender Moon, Whisper White; Ink: Lemon Tart, Lavender Moon, Plum Pudding; Accessories: May Arts Grosgain Ribbon, Nestabilities

Happy Mother's Day!

I wanted to wish you all a very Happy Mother's Day! Today I got up and made my mom waffles with all sorts of berries plus I picked up some berry syrup as well to make the meal complete. Afterwards I spent some time with her in the garden. We were planning where we will be adding more plants to fill up those empty spots that happen every year with some perennials. My brother and sister went with Mom to Blockbuster to distract her while I picked up her gifts....an hour massage and a pedicure! A little bit of pampering is what she needs! I also created this card while she was gone, a bit last minute, but I love how it turned out!The paper and ribbon is from PaperTrey and the stamp sets both come from Gina K. Stamps, isn't it too cute! We went to an early dinner and when we got home my sister unveiled the cake she got for us, over cake we pulled out all her gifts and she loved this card. I have been looking at these stamp set since they arrived and I finally got to ink them up! The sets I used were Just So Hippy and Hip Hop Accessories from the Melanie Muenchinge line available from Gina K. Designs I hope your Mother's Day was as wonderful as mine!
Stamps: Hip Hop Accessories and Just so Hippy from Melanie Muenchinge at Gina K; Paper: PTI Summer Sun, PTI Lemon Tart, Whisper White; Ribbon PTI Summer Sun Grosgrain; Markers: Y11 Pale Yellow, YG23 New Leaf, TR23 Yellow Ochre, YR31 Light Reddish Yellow; Accessories: Light Yellow Brads

Out on a Limb

One of my coworkers asked me to create a card for their Wife for Mother's Day and he wanted the card to be large. Sorry the image is so poor, I brought it to work and took a picture there, which was obviously a bad idea. I used the PaperTrey stamp set Out on a Limb and Gina K. Stamps sentiment 'Happy Mother's Day' that was part of the Kindred Greetings For Her. I like how this came out, he wanted a simple card that was mostly white, with accents of some colors. I went with PaperTrey's Sweet Blush for the light colors. The ribbon that flanks the side of the card over the binding I created (it holds together two sheets of 8.5 x 11 Bazzil cardstock) is from May Arts. Hope you enjoy the card, sorry I haven't posted, I am taking on a new task at work as an Assistant Manager in the region I work for so I have had little time to stamp, but hopefully I can attempt the Pretties Wednesday challenge tomorrow!

Tilda

I still have a large amount of stamps that I have yet to ink up, but I am trying to get those images stamped out as much as I can. I colored in this adorable Tilda from Magnolia Stamps on Monday and it has taken until now to actually complete this card, but its done! I used some of the cute Prima flowers that I own and never seem to use as well as one of the new sets from PaperTrey Garden of Life for the background on this card. I love how this card came out, not colors I typically use but they really seem to work well together. I also love how my shading really came out on this card, I seem to be improving on my Copic marker skills and I am thrilled. Like anything practice makes perfect, so maybe one day I will reach near perfect with these markers. I have been asked by a few people where I get my Copics from so I thought I would let you know. I joined Gina K. Copic club, from which I a getting the entire Copic Ciao Box "D". I have also ordered some of the Copic Sketch markers from electricPaperie, eBay (not my favorite but typically cheaper), and most recently my Copic Ciao markers have been coming from Hanna Stamps. There are many places to order these markers from, but I try to look for the larger varieties and the best price, if I am close with an order to be eligible for free shipping I look around...always a sucker for free shipping. Have a great one all!

Stamps: Tilda from Magnolia Stamps, Garden of Life from PaperTrey; Paper: SU! Pretty in Pink, PTI Summer Sunrise, PTI White; Ink: Noir Black, E00 Skin White, E31 Brick Beige, V000 Pale Health, YR61 Yellowish Skin Pink; Accessories: Pink Brads, Pale Orange Brads, Pink and Orange Primas

Blog Hopping!

Ladies do you know what day it is? Its PaperTrey Ink's Blog Hop Day! The 25th of every month bloggers create cards based on a challenge Nichole issues for that month and post about them. This month its all about the new line of patterned paper from PaperTrey and I was ready to play along!
I decided to use the patterns Nichole posted in the PaperTrey Forum as the base for a wonderful boquet of flowers. I used the patterned paper and stamped the rose type flower from the new set Garden of Life over the paper. I then cut out each image and stamped some leaves and stems on the card base using Spring Moss PTI ink.
I used dimensionals to give the card some 'pop' and added Summer Sunrise Grosgrain ribbon across the card base to ground the flowers. I then stamped the totally cute sentiment 'Friends are the flowers in the garden of life' in Summer Sunrise to complete my card. Make sure to visit the forum and check out the other wonderful creations!
Stamps: Garden of Life; Paper: PTI White, PTI Summer Sunrise, PTI Lemon Tart; Ink: PTI Summer Tart, PTI Spring Moss; Embellisments: PTI Summer Sunrise Classic Grosgrain Ribbon

Birthday Blue

One of my close friends at work is having a birthday tomorrow and I realized I had yet to use any of my new PaperTrey stamps. I decided to pull out my Its A Celebration set and get stamping. Now, she is one of the people who helped me pick my cards for the Gina K. swap, so I wanted to do something nice for her, but something different then what I have already shown her. Her favorite color is blue, so I used a few different shades and some liquid applique to add some more dimension. She also loved the embossed paper I showed her on another card I had created, hopefully she likes my take on her birthday card! Enjoy Ladies!

Some More PaperTrey

I am really enjoying my new PaperTrey stamp sets, I pulled out my Just Hatched set and my Shapes by Design sets to create these fun card. On the first card I used my Jumbo Scalloped Punch to punch out the Aqua Mist CS and mat the 'Little One' sentiment on it. Then I used Aqua Mist CS as the base and added some of the new DP that PaperTrey released, this paper comes from the 6 x 6 pad and I love it! Then to tie it all together I used the Satin ribbon, also just released, to complete the card.The second card I created using the sentiment 'Thinking of You' and the wonderful shapes from Shapes by Design to create some great background paper. Lastly I tied some white grosgain ribbon around the base to tie it in, oh and don't forget the little shapes under the sentiment. I love these sets! Let me know what you think! (I tricked the system, I brought the images to work and uploaded them...lol....I win!)

PaperTrey!

Today was a lot of fun at work we had our second International Foods day! Most of the office brought in a dish from their heritage and everything was super tasty. I was going to make Enchiladas but I ran out of time so I whipped together some Guaqumole and a layered dip with tortilla chips, nothing traditional Mexican but yummy just the same. I am mostly Polish but I am closer to the other side of my family, the Mexican side which means some Mexican food….yum! There was SO much food brought in that everyone made up plates for dinner and dessert tonight, plus if you brought in food there was still plenty to return home with. Out of the 50 people in my office I would say at least 35 of them brought something in so we had a wide variety of salads, appetizers, main courses, and desserts from all around the world.
Also, since it is Wednesday I don’t have anything special planned for after work so it is stamping time! I pulled out my newest PaperTrey stamps and goodies to try something a little different then I typically create. I love the new 'Shapes By Design' set and I think these colors work well with the set, the green is the new Spring Moss from PaperTrey. Enjoy!

Stamping Away

Did you see? Kimmie commented on my tin below…yay! I am thrilled that you enjoyed the tin, that lion is just adorable and I was lucky enough to have a SGF get this set for me…thank you! Now tonight is the release party for My Favorite Things who is apparently releasing three new sets. I don’t have it yet but I will be receiving the new Mini set through PaperPretties and I have been eyeing the new twisted sentiments stamp set that the MFT Design Team has been sharing, they look wonderful! In fact Kimmie is one of the MFT Design Team members who has been show casing the new sentiments, so I decided to use one of my newer MFT stamp sets for the second challenge she posted for her birthday celebration….a sketch challenge! I love sketch challenges simply because no matter what the sketch each card that follows that sketch is always different. I took a different take on Kimmie's Sketch, taking it as a stepping stone and not an actual sketch persay....enjoy! I also decided to try out the Mojo Monday sketch challenge that Julee posted using one of my newer Verve Visual sets. I have now used two of the 6 I own…lol….I don’t feel so bad about purchasing those new sets yesterday. This set is called 'Seeing Stars' and it features all sorts of stars in some great designs and patterns. I just had to have this set, I was going through what stamps I own and I realize that I did not own any star stamps! So a solution appeared….Verve Visual has three fun sets using stars and I am enjoying playing with this set. This paper is also from the Basic Grey Two Scoops paper pack, I had not seen anyone use it and it sort of jumped out at me tonight so I gave it a whirl!Oh! Have you stopped by Nichole’s blog recently for all the PaperTrey news? I am so excited to see everything they have in store for their customers at PaperTrey. I ordered more than the 14 sets this year so I will be receiving the anniversary set and I am planning on placing an order, a nice size order. I did not place an order last month since I had not yet used the stamp sets that I picked up in December, so I think its time to ink those babies up! The challenge Kimmie posted today was all about making a Valentine’s Day card, so what better time to use the PaperTrey stamps!

I did say it was coming!

So after I posted earlier I began creating some DP with my new PaperTrey stamp sets, and I have completed a card! I hope to make a few more, a sort of set using the same colors and the DP I made. I love the layering quaility of this stamp set. I haven't gotten all the lining up correct yet, but it will come in time. I was so excited so the lining up is a bit off, but I love the results. Enjoy! By Saturday I should have at least one more card to share!

Friends Forever

Well, it turns out that Nichole picked a card for the WCMD Card Contest that I never shared with you! Out of the 16 cards I created she picked one of my cards from what I thought the hardest digital kit to create with was. Don’t get me wrong I loved all three sets and I had a blast making these cards, but the Bloom set was the hardest for me to create something that I felt was good enough. If you roamed through the PaperTrey gallery you will see what I mean! The entries were amazing and the styles used throughout all the cards and projects were noteworthy to say the least, I would not have wanted to pick only a few winning cards from all the creations! So without further ado the card that Nichole would like a tutorial on (LOL)…
I love how the layering comes through on this card. I am a huge fan or drop shadows on any graphics I create so I used the same method to these digital cards, out of the 16 I think only three or four did not include drop shadows below the image.

I started with the two background graphics, split the card at about 60% and 40%. I then added the leaf ‘ribbon’ as I thought of it to the divide between the patterns, allowing for each pattern to stand out on its own. I just kept adding the small leaves to complete a full line across the card. I then added the ‘Friends Forever’ sentiment circle over the entire thing, making sure to leave some of it overlapping the ‘ribbon’ I created. But I wasn’t done yet! The card was wonderful as it was, but it needed something else to make it pop. I added a drop shadow to the sentiment and the leaf ‘ribbon’. I loved the look, but it needed something else still so I embossed the ribbon a bit allowing it to stand out and really have a defined ribbon like quality. I hope you enjoy the card…I plan on posted the step by step graphics to this to let you see what I mean. Have a great day all!

Hello All

Sorry I haven't posted since Thursday. I've been buys making graphics for the HP website I am a part of plus I've been wading through all this mail! I am currently running three swaps (I added one on SCS tonight) and everything is starting to come in. In fact I received a wonderfully altered notebook and purse box from Molly who is a doll! She picked me for her friend for the friendship swap! Included in the altered purse box was the a wonderful Fella! That's right....Grillafella arrived at my home. I can't wait to use him, in fact he is now mounted but I haven't used him yet, don't worry something to come soon!

I did make one more wonderful card from the Believe PaperTrey set before sending out that massive box for the Paper Pretties Card Swap and in celebration of their new stamp set releases tonight I decided to share it with you! Hope you like it. No the wreath did not come with the set but a small spring of leaves and berries do so I created the wreath! I love it! Hope you enjoy it too.

Also Paper Pretties has introduced TWO new monthly clubs! The Copics Color Club and the Nestabilities Now Club. Talk about great ideas! Both the Copic markers and the Nestabilities N are expensive so Christie has come up with a way to get them all in an inexpensive way. You will receive 6 markers a month or one set of dies a month, depending on which class you sign up for. If you decide to join please remember to tell her that Jackie Rakoski sent you!

Digi Cards

So, I haven't been posting but that doesn't mean I haven't been making things over here. The above are a bunch of both 'handmade' and 'digital' cards I have created for the PaperTrey challenge. On the 15th the new release of at least 3 new stamps sets will be revealed and I will waiting and watching. Enjoy the card creations and look forward to my new MFT cards and when they arrive some cards from the new Hanna Stamps set that came out last weekend. I am loving all the new stamp companies I am trying out, it makes stamping a blast. As you may have noticed I do not only use SU! although I own MANY SU! sets and supplies I discovered all the other companies out there and I am trying them out deciding what works for me and what doesn't. So far I am loving acrylic stamps but I will always love my rubbah! Have a great night all.

Digi Kits

Well.....PaperTrey has partnered up with Paper Crafts to bring a few free digital kits. I have never attempted to make a card this way, but I thought I would give it a try so here is what I created so far with the first set, Snowflake Serenity. Enjoy....I am loving WCMD....all sorts of sales and events, how can anyone not love this community!

There is another set available now and one is being posted tomorrow. I promise to share any other creations I come up with!