PTI Make it Monday #183

Hello fellow crafters! How have you all been?! It has been quite a while again since I last posted! Lately, have had so much going on at home with work and the kiddos being in school, I haven't found much time (or motivation!) to do anything crafty! Usually around this time of year I spent most of my free time in my craft room creating Holiday cards and favors, but I haven't done much of anything at all this year!

I finally got a little bit of motivation to come into my craft room today and try to get started on making Christmas Cards. I still have been following my blogs and I love all the projects everyone has come up with so far this year! I am also behind on ordering anything new, I haven't ordered any stamping supplies since June! I hope to get a Papertrey Ink order in this month when the release comes out on the 15th!

Speaking of Papertrey Ink, I wanted to try out this weeks Make it Monday challenge. Dawn McVey has challenged us to try Dry embossing over heat embossing. This is such an easy technique, and the possibilities are endless! I made a Christmas card using Papertrey Ink's Wonderful Words: Snow stamp set, as well as TPC Studios Winter Activities Stamp set. I used 2 different Stampabilities rubber Snowflakes stamps, and heat embossed them with Inkadinkado's Linen White embossing powder. Over that, I added some dry embossing with Sizzix Texturez Plates. Here is my card:

I love the "pop" of the blue and red against the neutral colors. This would be a fun card to create a card set with, especially since the Winder Activities stamp set has so many cute images! Thanks so much for stopping by today, I really hope I can find the time and motivation to make some more cards here in the next few days! Have a great day!

The Liebster Award

Good evening fellow crafters! I hope you have all had a fantastic weekend so far! Today I am posting without showing a project because back on February, 28. 2014. the wonderful Linda over at Lin's Craft Corner nominated me along with some other fantastic bloggers for the Liebster Award on her post here and I am ashamed to say that I forgot all about it :( I was completely honored because 1.) Linda is one of my most frequent blog visitors and often leaves a very nice comment! and 2.) I've never been nominated for a blog award!

If you haven't heard of the Liebster Award or even know what the heck it is, you can find all the details here. I was a little confused at first because there are several different sets of rules for the award, and then there is an official set of rules of the award towards the bottom of the blog post. So I wasn't sure if I was supposed to follow the official set of rules or pick one of the sets of rules to follow..make sense? Anywho, Linda gave me her own set of questions to answer, so here are my answers:


1. How long have you been making cards? I've been fascinated with making beaded jewelry since I was a teenager. My older sister would take seed beads and make little flower bracelets out of them and I thought they were so pretty, so I taught myself to make jewelry. Everything I know about making jewelry, I am self-taught. After my first daughter was born in 2004, I really got into scrapbooking. The idea of taking plain ol' photos and jazzing them up with some awesome layouts and embellishments was the coolest new thing to me! I loved it, I couldn't get enough. I was first introduced to Stampin' Up around 2007 when I attended a Hostess workshop, and was hooked ever since.
2. When did you start blogging? My family and I have used to internet for as long as I can remember. I am not that old, but I do remember dial-up days, DOS computer systems, and even the sound of the dial-up modems! I had wanted to start a blog for a while but was worried about not getting enough readers or followers, but I thought what the heck, I needed to find inspiration and fellow crafters who loved to do what I did, and I just love reading other peoples blog stories and seeing their projects. I launched my blog in March of 2010.
3. What are your favorite color combinations? I love pairing Kraft cardstock with subtle colors. I have yet had the chance to own any Papertrey Ink stamp pads, so the majority of my stamping pads are Stampin' Up. My favorite collection to use from them is the Subtles collection because they work so well with Kraft cardstock.
4. Who is your favorite Card Designer? Oh, man, it is so hard to pick just one. It is insane how many different card designers are out in blogland, I can spend hours upon hours browsing other designers card galleries, but I guess if I had to choose just one, Dawn McVey is my favorite. She is never afraid to step outside the box and always create such beautiful cards. I love the way she can take any Papertrey Ink floral stamp set and create something wonderful with it! Plus, I have to admit I am a little jealous of all her international travel adventures!
5. What do you do with all of the cards you make? If I really, really love a card that I make, I have to admit that I hoard it for a while. I do keep all my handmade cards in Photo boxes so sell through my Etsy shop, or to have in case I need one for a friend or family member.
6. What are your favorite kinds of stamps: flowers, geometric symbols, backgrounds, etc? I love image stamps, anything that is easy to color. When I first started getting into stamping, I really liked stamping in black ink and going back in and coloring the images in with my Prismacolor Markers. My favorite stamp sets to use are the Papertrey Ink Tiny and Tremendous treats stamp sets. They are so fun to use, even if not for the holiday they are created for! I am trying to get more into stamping images with colored inks and I getting more used to color combinations.
7. What style of cards do you make? CAS, Layered, Shabby Chic, etc? Clean and Simple. I love to make a simple card set. If I sell a card in my Etsy shop, I try to make it worthwhile to my customers by offering them a card set that they can use for a while. I realize that not everyone wants this and some people just want a specific card or two, and am working on creating different card styles now so I can have more single cards on hand.
8. What challenges do you enter? If I have time, my favorite challenge to enter is Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday Challenge. It is nice to have a weekly challenge with a video tutorial and I like that I different Design team member comes up with something new every week. This challenge has definitely helped me improve my stamping and cardmaking techniques over the last few years!

In the "official" set of Liebster Award rules, it says to name 11 random facts about yourself.

1. I am a middle child with 4 sisters.
2. I have 2 children, both girls, and one fur-baby.
3. I am an introvert.
4. I do not have a best friend. (I blame random fact #3)
5. I plan and hope to go to pharmacy school within the next 5 years.
6. I would rather read the book than watch the movie.
7. I graduated in 2003 and have been able to keep the same job since 2005.
8. My life partner and I have been together since 2001.
9. I am currently addicted to playing the game Hay Day.
10. I love to run, have done 2 half-marathons, and hope to complete a marathon before I turn 30 (I only have 4 months left, yikes!)
11. I work 6 days a week and am secretly super excited for the summer so I can spend some much-needed time with my kiddos!

5 Blogs that I nominate to receive this award:

1.) What did I do today?
2.) Lefty Scrapper
3.) The Scrap Yard
4.) Love Papercrafting
5.) Pattie's Crafty Cave

The questions that I would like these lovely, wonderful Crafty ladies to answer are:

1.) Who, if anyone, influenced you to start crafting and how long have you been doing it?
2.) What is your favorite crafting technique/style (card making, scrapbooking, jewelry making, etc.)?
3.) What is your favorite crafting company or store?
4.) Where is your favorite place to create?
5.) What is your favorite way to stay organized?
6.) What is your favorite die-cutting machine?
7.) What was your first big crafting splurge and was it worth it?
8.) Is there anything in your crafting stash that you refuse to use on a project?
9.) What 3 crafting tools can you not work without?
10.) If you could have any crafter/designer come to your house and give you free tutorials, who would it be?

Whew! I think this is the longest that it has ever taken me to write a blog post! Those questions sure got me thinking! I have to thank Linda again for thinking of me when she was nominated for this award. I really hope that with the summer coming up here in a few days, I have more time to craft and spend here in my craft room. It has been so hot outside this past week that I will definitely not mind staying home and inside most of the week! We reached a record high of 109 degrees here this week!

Anywho, thank you so much for stopping by and taking the time to read through my whole post, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Papertrey Ink Make it Monday #167

Good afternoon fellow bloggers! It's been a little over 2 months since my last blog post, I can't believe I've waited so long to post a project on here! With school winding down in just a few days, the last few months have been such a blur. Last minute school projects, school performances, field trips, and awards assemblies have kept my mind on everything except crafting! I can say that I definitely missed it!

I wanted to participate in this weeks Make it Monday challenge for Papertrey Ink because the challenge is a little bit different than usual. The challenge is DIY notebooks with Erin Lincoln. She makes the whole process look so simple, I couldn't wait to try this out and make some little notebook of my own! Since school is ending next week on Tuesday, I've been wanting to put together a little "Thank you" gift for my kids teachers. I though little school notebooks would be a great addition to the gift.

I cut each "sheet" for my notebook at 4¼" x 2¾" using 5 primary colors. I used Kraft cardstock for the outside of my notebook. The stamps sets I chose to use are Papertrey Ink's Clip Tips, Monthly Moments: May, and Back to School. I used Scor-tape the same way Erin does in the tutorial to put everything together. The notebook came together quickly, which is nice to know if I want to make a bunch more of these. What a great idea for a craft fair item also!

Thanks for stopping by, hopefully it won't be too long again before I am able to get crafty and post another project. Hope you all enjoy the beginning of your summer!

Papertrey Ink Make it Monday #157

Good afternoon fellow crafters! It has been quite a while since my last post, I have been super busy! Sadly, while I was able to place my PTI orders for February and March, I still have not been able to play with most of my new goodies! I am so anxious to get started on my Monthly Moments journaling pages! Have any of you used your Monthly Moments sets yet?!

Last month, we took a last minute, short trip down to Anaheim, California to visit the good ol' Disneyland again. We sure do love our Disney visits. It's all been a busy blur since we've been back, can't seem to get ahead on anything, I definitely wish I was back there right now! We had a blast as always and cannot wait to go back again! Of course one of the main reasons we were excited to visit this time was to meet Anna and Else from Frozen. We had to wait it line for almost 4 hours to meet them! It was insane, there were so many people!

DH and I took turns waiting in line while we took the girls on other rides. I am glad we waited in line though because apparently they aren't going to be there year round!

Anywho, back to this week's challenge. Since we have been back from Disneyland, I have not been in my craft room to craft. I've used the computer a few times, and so have the girls. I've thrown my PTI and Simon Says Stamp order boxes in here, but that is it, so I was so happy and relieved when I finally got to sit down and make a card yesterday! I wanted the PTI Sweet Life stamp set for the longest time, and I finally ordered it last month. And let me just say, the detail in this stamp set is AMAZING. I was a little confused at first how to stamp all the layers, but I think I got the hang of it. I used the matching dies to make my "cover plate" and stamped my roses inside the die cut parts. I ran out of foam tape so had to used dimensionals to put the card together instead. I would have preferred the tape so the card didn't pop up so much, but all in all, I love the way it came out.

Last month I also ordered Simon Says Stamps entire set of 19 new Dye Ink pad colors as well as their matching cardstock. I have always been a Stampin' Up Ink pad exclusive kinda gal, and I really wanted to set outside of the box and order from either Simon Says Stamp or Papertrey Ink. Of course, I would have preferred PTI, but unfortunately, every time I try to order, they are always out of stock on a couple of the ink colors that I want, so I decided to go with Simon Says stamp instead. I haven't had a chance to try them yet but Kristina Werner has a few good videos showcasing them, and I can't wait to try them!

I work late tonight so need to start getting ready. Thanks so much for stopping by, have a wonderful weekend!

PTI Make it Monday #153

Happy Monday fellow crafters! I hope you all had a fabulous start to your week! I am about to head off to bed but I wanted to show you the card that I made for this weeks' Make it Monday Challenge.

Dawn McVey has challenged us to create a project using heat embossed sentiments with a watercolor background. I will be honest, this was actually my 4th attempt at a card tonight. I wouldn't say my first 3 attempts were terrible, but I just wasn't getting the "watercolor" look that I was going for. I finally figured out that the paintbrush I was using was just too fat, so I switched it out for a thinner one and this is my finished card:

I used PTI Pretty Peonies stamp set along with TPC Studios Card Crafting Hello stamp set, stamped in black pigment ink and embossed with clear embossing powder. I didn't want my water-coloring effect to come out too strong, so I am happy with the way my 4th attempt came out. Glad I didn't give up!

Anybody else having trouble receiving their PTI orders this month? I was really hoping to have my PTI order in by now, but unfortunately it still has not arrived. I don't think I've ever had to wait more than a week for an order to come in, and the UPS tracking number still only says that a shipping label was created, not that a package has been received for mailing out yet. I'm getting worried that something went wrong with my order :( I was looking forward to participating in the Blog Hop tomorrow with the new Bunny Bag die, and now I don't think I will be able to...

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your week, until next time, thanks for stopping by!

PTI 7th Anniversary Building Blocks of Design

Good evening fellow crafters! Are you ready for Valentine's Day?! I almost am, still need to finish up the kids' classroom Valentine Treat bags. My oldest daughter's birthday is on Monday, but they do not have school so she also wanted to take cupcakes to celebrate her birthday tomorrow. Still need to bake those, so will be up later than I hoped. I work late tomorrow and won't get out until 10pm, but right after that we are surprising the girls with a weekend trip to Disneyland (neither of them have any idea!). We will leave tomorrow night, stay Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, then leave Tuesday, and be back to school and work on Wednesday! I can't wait to go back, we love it there! We last went in August and are definitely ready for another trip back!

So anywho, since the girls have school in the morning and I work at night, we celebrated Valentine's Day tonight. We had a nice simple dinner, we all opened our gifts and cards, then I went ahead and took a little bit of time out to make a card for today's challenge over at Papertrey Ink. When you visit each blog, each DT member has a different Building Blocks Option list for you to roll the dice to or use random generator to. Here is my list:

Ashley's Color Selection #1 Pure Poppy
Betsy's Color Selection #2 Berry Sorbet
Cristina's Color Selection #3 Aqua Mist
Danielle's Neutral Selection Classic Kraft
Dawn's Sketch Selection #3
Erin's Occasion Selection Birthday Card
Heather's Technique Selection Spray Misting
Laura's Embellishment Selection Rhinestones
Melissa's Fiber Selection Baker's Twine

And my Birthday card:

I used Embossed Resist on my background using Hero Arts Line Dots Cling Stamp. I used some Heidi Swapp Color Shine mists in Gold and Sweet Cherry for my Spray Misting. I used Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack #5 die, and embossed that with some dots, then adhered that to my embossed, spray-misted cardstock. I stamped my flowers using PTI's Ruby Reprise Stamp set, then cut them out by hand. I adhered all my flowers to the card, then added some white Baker's Twine. On top of that, I added a PTI double-ended banner die cut stamped with the "Happy Birthday" sentiment from PTI's Stylish Sentiments: Birthday stamp set. I also added some Glitter to each side of my card, did you spot that? :)

I...love...this...card! I really do. And I love Heidi Swapp's Color Shine spray mists! They are so sparkly! I really was hoping to do at least 2 or 3 cards for this challenge, but I still just have way too much to do! Thanks for stopping by, have a Happy Valentine's Day!

PTI 7th Anniversary Stripes Challenges

Good evening crafters, hope you all have had a fabulous Wednesday! I am over here with droopy eyes, struggling to stay awake. I am very tired but wanted to get this card up before it was too late. This is for the Papertrey Ink Stripes Challenge.

I used to the same purple cardstock scraps to create my "lattice" stripes on the card front, right on top of some striped embossing. I used Hero Arts Sew Me Flower Jewel Stamp set for the flowers and leaf, along with Papertrey Ink's One-liners Happy Die collection and the Year Round Happiness Stamp set.

I am not too sure how I feel about this card. You know how sometimes you make a card and you're like "WOW! MAN, I LOVE THIS!" and other times you start, want to quit, but finish anyways, then say to yourself "What the heck was I thinking?". Well, that's how I feel about this card. Maybe it's all the purple, maybe I am just too tired. Maybe I am just too frustrated because I couldn't get good enough lighting to capture a good enough photo.

I should probably go to sleep, I do not work tomorrow, but I have a ton of things to do. Need my rest! Thanks for stopping by, have a great night!

PTI 7th Anniversary Stripes Challenge

Good evening fellow crafters! I can't believe I have been able to participate so much this month in all these Papertrey Ink challenges! It definitely is exciting! I cannot wait to get my hands on all these new products and start playing around with them!

Today the challenge is to incorporate stripes into our projects. I made a fairly simple Thank you card:

I used Papertrey Ink's Boutique Borders: Thanks stamp set and coordinating die, along with a Recollections cardstock pack called Purple Passion. Each cardstock strip is 1/4" and stuck onto the card with Scor-tape.

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful night!

PTI 7th Anniversary Words Challenge #3

Last post for tonight fellow crafters. The challenge the other day on journaling cards got me inspired to do a little scrapbooking, which I haven't done in a very long time! I made this 8½ x 11" scrapbook page, with of course Kraft cardstock, and some patterned paper scraps.

I used PTI's Double-ended Banner dies to cut out a bunch of banners, then lined them up on the side of my page. Then I used the Super Star Borders Die to add all the stars. I used Wonderful Words: Memories Stamp set and coordinating die to add to the bottom of my page. I left the top left hand corner blank so I can add my journaling later.

Really can't wait for the Monthly Moments series that Papertrey Ink is going to be releasing. I've been focusing so much on card making that I've lost sight of all my journaling and memory-making, and would really like to catch up on it all. I am excited to see what the DT comes up with for this series!

Have a good night!

PTI 7th Anniversary Words Challenge #2

Here is another card I made for today's Papertrey Ink challenge.

For this card, I used PTI's One Liners: Happy Die collection, along with the Pretty Peonies stamps set and coordinating dies. The "mother's day" is from PTI's Year Round Happiness stamp set.

I really wanted to get started on some Mother's Day cards to add to my Etsy shop. In the process of trying to get all these cards made in time for these daily challenges, I realized that I need more floral stamp sets! Hopefully I can add some to my order with this month's release!

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!

PTI 7th Anniversary Words Challenge

Good morning fellow crafters! Super quick post this fine Monday morning as we are rushing to head out to work and school and start yet another week!

Today the PTI Anniversary Challenge is to create a project with the focal point on "words" using stamps or word dies. I used the PTI Wonderful Words: Friends stamp set for this card. I really like this color combo!

Thanks for stopping by, have a wonderful Monday!

Papertrey Ink Birthday Card

As Nichole states, we can take a picture with our card to earn another entry in today's challenge, so here is my older daughter holding up the first card that I made for today:

Papertrey Ink Birthday Card

Happy Birthday Papertrey Ink! I cannot tell you how thankful I am to have found you over 4 years ago. I placed my very first order with you on December 27, 2010, and have been hooked ever since. I cannot deny that it has been hard to venture outside of my PTI spoiled-ness. While I may not own any of your gorgeous ink colors (yet!) or too many of your stamp sets, I love and cherish everything I have ordered from you and look forward to many, many more years of giving you more of mine (and my DH's) hard-earned money. So, here's to you. "May your birthday bring you as much joy & happiness as you bring into my life." Because seriously, if I didn't have crafting and Papertrey Ink products in my life, I would honestly lose my mind over here.

Thank you for helping me improve my crafting abilities, otherwise, I would still be making cards that looked like this:

Yes, ladies and gentleman, that right there is my very first ever handmade card. So glad I saved it because I thought I was the coolest when I made that card, and while even now I don't think it is a BAD card, I think I have definitely improved on my crafting skills :)

Thanks for stopping by :)

P.S I will take my picture with my card later, as right now it is still very early Sunday morning, and you don't want to see all this, trust me. Have a great day!

PTI Anniversary 3x4 Card Challenge #3

Okay, looks like this will be my last post for tonight. I was hoping to make a lot more journaling cards today, because they are fairly simple and quick to put together, but time just got the better of me and it is already after midnight. Unfortunately, I do have to work tomorrow, so I need to try and get some sleep tonight because last night I only sleep 3 hours after trying to catch up on my final Etsy orders.

These cards are simple, came together quickly. Used Papertrey Ink's Wonderful Words Friends, Together, Hello, and Memories stamp sets and dies for these, along with Kraft cardstock. The patterned paper is from Recollections Garden Florals paper pack.

If this is your 3rd time stopping by today, I appreciate you taking the time to come and check out my projects, your comments and advise mean a lot! Good night!

PTI Anniversary 3x4 Card Challenge #2

Good evening crafters, hope you are all enjoying your Saturday! I just wanted to share with you real quick another set of 3x4 cards I made for today's Card Challenge for Papertrey Ink's 7th Anniversary!

For this set of 3x4 cards, I made Monthly journal calendar cards using Papertrey Ink's Beautiful Butterflies Stamp set and the Framed Out #4 stamp set. And guess what? Those aren't printed calendar dates. I stamped those using Damask Love's Let's Make a Date Stamp set. I ordered this set immediately after I saw her little tutorial on how the set works last month, and I just received it a few days ago because she was waiting to get some more sets in stock. This stamp set is amazing, just the way it works to make each month is such a brilliant idea, I am so glad I ordered a set while she still had them in stock and I just love it!

Thanks for stopping by, have a great night!

PTI Anniversary 3x4 Card Challenge

Good morning and Happy Weekend Fellow crafters! Is it just me, or are you going to go deeply into debt with this month's Papertrey Ink Release? Did you see what Nichole showed today?! They are releasing their own project memories line called Monthly Moments! I literally spent a good hour or so really reading over and over the details of this line, I love it and I cannot wait for it to come out next week! I want it ALL!

So of course today's challenge is so fitting because we are asked to make a 3x4 journaling card, either for our memories albums or journals, or to place on TOP of a card. I was BEYOND exciting when I turned on my tablet this morning, still in bed, half asleep, and read through all the details. I immediately hopped out of bed and got to work!

Last month, I went to Michaels to scope out what kind of Valentines products they had in stock, and came across Heidi Swapp's line of products. There were stickers, stencils, cling stamps, spray mists, and much more. But what caught my eye, and what I fell in love with and just had to have ALL of, were these 9 mini stamp sets:

These stamp sets are BRILLIANT for Project Journaling, I cannot tell you how easy it is to create your own journaling cards. You can find all the stamp sets here, but I recommend you head over to your local Michaels or craft store and see if they have these, because at Michaels, they were only $3.99 each! And the best part? I got them during a 50% off stamp sale week, making them an awesome $1.99. Granted, the quality of the stamps is not the greatest, they are a little flimsy, but I still love them! (Guess I am spoiled by Papertrey Ink's great photo-polymer quality!)

So, back to today's challenge. I love to use index cards for my journaling cards, I don't often post anything Project Life or otherwise, because sometimes the journaling is too personal for me to share, but I can share these "before" cards with you at least. I used white Index Cards for these, cut down to 3x4, rounded the corners, added a 2" Kraft circle on top stamped with the Peony flower from PTI Pretty Peonies stamp set, along with various stamps from the Heidi Swapp stamp sets. Here are my cards:

I cannot wait to see the full release next month! The Monthly Moments is definitely my favorite part of the release so far! Thanks for stopping by!

PTI Anniversary Timed Challenge

Today over on Nichole's blog, the challenge is to create a project in 17 minutes or less AFTER grabbing 7 supplies in 7 minutes! At least we were given 17 minutes and not 7! I've never timed myself making a project, but this was definitely a challenge! I will have to admit it was fun, a bit crazy, but fun. I definitely had to make sure I had my sketch book handy so that I didn't waste any time on a Card Sketch or measurements as I was putting together my project today. I used this online stopwatch to time myself.

In addition to timing myself, I also wanted to challenge myself even more by making a simple card set. So I got all my supplies in 7 minutes:

1.) Inks (SU Elegant Eggplant, Cherry Cobler, Night of Navy, More Mustard, Crumb Cake, and Early Espresso)
2.) Cardstock (Kraft, White, and Early Espresso)
3.) Corner Chomper
4.) EK Success Punch
5.) Twine
6.) Brads
7.) Stamp Sets (Papertrey Ink's Year of Flowers, Hero Arts Solid Dots Cling Stamp and Hero Arts CL498 Stamp Set)

Like I said before, I needed to make this as easy as possible. In my sketch book I make sure to include the measurements needed for anything that needs to be cut out, that way I didn't need to waste time guessing. I also chose to use only one flower, the Daffodil, from the PTI stamp set, so I wouldn't waste time cleaning and repositioning stamps for each card. I made this Mother's Day Card set:

I can't believe I finished! How exciting and what a rush to finish a project while being timed! Think of how many projects we would finish timing ourselves! Just kidding, this was too much work, I like to take my time.

The craftermath:

I didn't make too much of a mess, the card design itself is pretty simple, so it was easy to put together. What took me the longest was adding the brads, the twine, and the dimensional adhesive, otherwise I think I could have finished earlier.

Thanks for stopping by, see you soon!