You and me

It's FIRDAY!  Whewww, for me this week has flown by because I've been so busy and had some exciting things happen. *wink* Later this morning the Kindergarten class is throwing a Mother's Day Tea Party and my 5 year old insisted I attend. So I've taken a few hours off my work day to participate.  But I've also got a super-scheduled weekend ahead of me with volunteer work and a huge function at the kids' school. 

Todays card is actually a mistake of sorts. *smile* I originally had another image panel on the card, but when I dropped it, it fell off and I decided I liked it better without it! Do things like that ever happen to you?

Here is the original.

It's nice too, but maybe a bit too fussy...?I don't know. You can see I moved the sentiment. I just love this sentiment! I thought it was perfect for an anniversary card for my hubster, so I'm going to put this card away and keep it until August.

So did you see the news yesterday? *squeal* I am officially a Design Team member for Practicing Creativity Designs! The uber-talented and super sweet Courtney Baker picked lil' ole' me to be on her DT.  Check out the incredibly talented team: Courtney, Alice, and Paulina.  I just know we are going to have lots of fun.

I wanted to thank all of you who showered me with sweet comments yesterday. *blush* I felt so uplifted by everyone's congratulations. I love what I do and don't need accolades, but man is it nice to be "pointed out" occasionally! *Smile* You all raked in the good karma yesterday for sure! I hope you'll stick with me on this new journey...where would I be without all of you?

Thanks for stopping by today friends! Hope your weekend is stupendous!

Good news.

So maybe you noticed this little picture and logo on my sidebar. I am on the Sasya Sketches DT!  Each Wednesday they post a sketch and you have one week to enter your card. There is always a really great prize package for the winner.

Yes, the majority of the blog is in Russian, BUT they do translate the important parts, and we all know how to add our links using MR. Linky, right? *grin*

Go check out this weeks sketch and create your card. You can't win if you don't try! THere is a chance you will be selected as a guest designer for the following week too! How fun is that?Plus you can see my first contribution as a new DT member!

Here is a card I created for fun using sketch #8. It is NOT the card used for my DT commitment though, so make sure you go see that one all the other amazing designer's cards too. Lovely stuff there at Sasya Sketches, I promise!

Stamps: For the Love of Dots by Practicing Creativity Designs, Everyday Classics and Birthday Basics by PTI.

Thanks for stopping by today. Do something creative!

Oh, and if you get a chance, stop by Courtney's blog too for another fun announcement...*squeal*

Embellish Challenge

Happy Wednesday! Any plans for today? There is just something about this day that I love. I usually wake up cheerful and happy on Wednesdays....strange!

This set of 3 1/2 inch square notecards was made for the challenge being issued by Embellish Magazine and spondered by Practicing Creativity Designs.

You can enter until May 6th, so go make something!

I love bright colors but this was a stretch for me! So instead of incorporating them all into one card, I made a set of small notecards with no sentiment so they can be used for most anything. The green one and the yellow one are my favorites!

Stamps: Background Basics: Retro, Everyday Classics, and Friends till the End by PTI. For the Love of Dots by Practicing Creativity Designs.

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope YOU have a good Wednesday too!

Lighten your load

I'm not feeling talkative today, but wanted to post this fun 70s-feel card I made a few days ago. Most of you know that orange is my favorite color, and I LOVE creating with it!

Stamps: Background Basics: Retro, Polka Dot Basics, On My Couch,  On My Couch Additions, Chair-ished

Paper: Orange Zest, Kraft, Vintage Cream, Dotti Biscotti

Thanks for stopping by today, have a great Tuesday!

PTI Princess Challenge no.6--Spring (WARNING anniversary set used)

Good morning! Did you all have fun blog hopping last night? I only got through three pages, but I'm going to see the rest today. WOW, there was some really inspiring stuff!

Todays card is for the PTI Princess challenge that Bethie issued--Think Spring!

Spring means green buds on the trees, bird chirping everywhere, and mud. *grin* So I used my woodgrain stamps to signal trees, and the new Anniversary set from PTI for the birds and buds! Sorry, no mud on today's card...

I used a Glaze pen to add some color to the berries. I love that it was the exact color as Terracotta Tile!

Thanks for stopping by today, have a good one!

Cherry Blossom branches

Greetings! This post is for the Blog Hop with Papertreyink. The theme is TISSUE PAPER!

I remember making really funky things with tiny tissue paper squares in elementary school. We squashed them up around a pencil eraser, dipped them into glue, and placed hundreds of them into a drawn shape.

Instead of smooshing them all together into a shape, I decided to see if I could make cherry blossoms on the branch from Take a Bough. I'm really pleased with how they turned out. So pretty! Paired with a strip of PP from the Pretty Pastels collection, some thin silk ribbon, a sentiment from Communique Sentiments, a few buttons, some stitching, and lots of inking...it turned out well, don't you think?

Here's a simple photo tutorial on how I did it in case anyone is interested. Add some color to the tissue paper, crinkle it around a pencil or large stylus, dip in glue (I used Mod Podge), and place on your cardstock.

Thanks for stopping here on your Blog Hop journey this evening!

Fly away birthday

ETA: This post was scheduled for this morning but apparently didn't work!

Howdy everyone! Hope you are all enjoying your weekend. I'm actually away in the Finger Lakes so I've scheduled this post for this morning. Fly Away is the newest release from Becky Oehlers. It's perfect for little boys (and big one's too!). My oldest sister Janet is a pilot, so actually the set is perfect for anyone who likes planes!

See the cool bubble looking paper along the bottom of the card? I made it using a stamp from the For the Love of Dots set by Practicing Creativity Designs. It's so cute! I alternated Summer Sunrise, Spring Rain and Orange Zest ink. The card base and a few other details on the plane are Terracotta Tile.

Quick and easy really! This card is for my nephew Joey who turned 9 in February. I still haven't seen him to give him his gifts, so he won't realize I made the card late! *grin*

Thanks for dropping by. Have a creative day!

Woodgrain thanks and sugar cream pie

I love it when a plan comes together! (sorry, a bit of 80s tv there...remember The A-Team?) I was super excited to get the woodgrain impression plate from PTI, as it was my first impression plate purchase. Unfortunately, my Wizard doesn't work too well with it, but I made do. After impressing on kraft, I used my Cognac Palette Hybrid ink pad and rubbed it accross the entire surface to make the ridges stand out. I love that color BTW...wish PTI would make a cardstock to match.

The trees, bird (see her in the trees?) and sentiment are from Through the Trees by PTI, stamped in Burnt Sienna Palette Hybrid ink. I think the Terracotta Tile and Aqua Mist colors pair well with the kraft/cognac color.

I made this Sugar Cream pie on Wednesday evening. It may not win any beauty contests, but MAN, was it good! I think this has beaten out my all time favorite pie (Key Lime) in the taste category!

I serioulsy suggest you try it. No frills, no fancy-shmancy embellishments needed, just unfussy pleasures of taste. (It did NOT need the soy whip I put on top at all.)

I'm posting the recipe with my adjustments in parenthasis.

SUGAR CREAM PIE

(AKA Hoosier cream pie, Amish sugar cream pie, and a few others)

2 c. heavy cream (soy creamer)

1/2 c. all-purpose flour (whole wheat pastry flour)

1/2 brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar plus 3 T. for sprinkling

1/2 c. whole milk (soy milk)

2 t. vanilla extract

1 9-inch piecrust, unbaked

1 T. unsalted butter (soy butter)

1 t. ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 F. Combine first 6 ingredients in mixing bowl. Fit crust into a 9-inch pie pan, and dot bottom with butter. Pour filling into crust. Combine cinnamon and 3 T. sugar and sprinkle over top of pie. Bake until set and center is firm, about 1 hour (mine needed an extra 10 minutes). Cool.

(we liked it better chilled, but could not wait that long the first night because the whole house smelled of warm snickerdoodle cookies!) I love that it doesn't have eggs, because our youngest is allergic.

So what does everyone have planned for the weekend?  We're heading to the Finger Lakes to pick up our youngest who spent the week at "grandma camp." Spring Break ends today for our boys, so it's back to the grindstone come Monday!

Thanks for stopping by, TGIF!

Fabulous one layer challenge

Kristina Werner has issued a challenge for one layer cards using only stamps and CS. I dug out a set that hasn't seen ink in porbably 4 years! Fontwerks Flower Power by Elsie Flannigan. It's so cute and full of doodled flowers that I just love. Stamped with black and white on a HS card base, and added some piercing and dashed lines with a gel pen.

Here is my FAILED second attempt:

This card, while one layer, did not turn out so well, but I wanted to show you all that mess-ups DO occur, most of us just don't show them on our blogs! lol The idea I had in my head wasn't executed well and this card did not turn out correctly. I think maybe if I turn it long-ways and redo the masked/embossed part it might be better. This just isn't visually appealing. When masking, it is so difficult to keep things in line and even. You can see my blue sponged rectangle is all wonky, and it should be further down the card base too.

Oh well, It was fun playing around with my new stamps from PTI, called Masculine Motifs. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Fly a kite Congrats

How fun is this? I know this is not my typical style, but I've been feeling bright and cheerful lately so it apparently shows in my creativity! Stamps from Practicing Creativity Designs, supplies from PTI. I used my Copics to color the kites after stamping them on white and cutting them out. I LOVE the clouds in the You're Dandy set...so cute!

On another note, We had a scare here last night. My hubster was out riding his bike and was attacked by a dog that had apparently broken loose from his kennel. He got away and made it home before calling the local police to make sure the dog wouldn't hurt anyone else. The owner came home and got the dog back into its kennel and convinced Animal Control not to take it away. Poor lady was terrified we were going to sue her.

Wanna see my husband's leg? WARNING--GROSS PICTURE!

I was little perturbed that he was bleeding on the carpet while calling the police, but then he lifted up his jeans and I freaked out a bit more! lol

He's off to get a tetanus shot this morning. It's been about 13 years since his last one!

Thanks for stopping by, have a creative day!

SWEET!

Do your kids say this? It seems to be the word of choice for my 10 year old lately! Come to think of it, my best friend says it a lot too! *chuckle*

I was in the mood for bright and fun today so I thought I'd post this card I made a few days ago. I created the patterned paper on the bottom part of the nestie shape using the cool "ray" image from Practicing Creativity Designs set called You're Dandy. Wanna see how?

First I stamped the large ray image along the edge of my CS using Palette Hybrid ink in Sunflower, Orangerie, Beaux Arts Blue, Giverny Green and PTI Perfect Match ink in Pure Poppy.

The I repeated the same image in those same colors in between the first set of rays.

Last, I used a Copic Multiliner SP (this one is 0.03) to add dashed lines along the rays.

Then I just framed the section I wanted with my nestie and cut it out! I cut out another one using plain white CS and combined sections of them both together, covering the line with ribbon. The sentiment is from another set from Practicing Creativity Designs, called For the Love of Dots.

I cut the artisan edge out from the black card base and added dashed line with a white gel pen to tie in the dashed lines on the PP I created and also the ribbon. Simple and cheerful, in a nutshell.

Thanks for stopping by today! Have a good one!

Couch friends

Ok, so I know this isn't a chair, but I really like that sentiment!

Notice the couch cushions? I stamped them again on an angle so the couch would look more 3D.

I had fun stamping the BG with BB: Retro in white and then adding the EE dots with a Copic to pull in the darker blue color. Rug is embossed with white e.p. and I added some simple stiching to adhere the scallops at the bottom for the sentiment.

Hope you have a wonderful Sunday. I'm keeping this short because I have a lot to do, so I'll be back tomorrow with more chatter.

Thanks for stopping by!

Dandy notecard set

Happy Saturday everyone! I've been playing with some new stamps I received in the mail yesterday from Practicing Creativity Designs. Fun, high-quality, clear images that stamp like a dream! And I'm a sucker for those dandelion images too. *wink*

I picked out six colors and their corresponding darker shades to create these notecards.

1. Lemon Tart/Summer Sunrise

2. Aqua Mist/Hawaiian Shores

3. Sweet Blush/Berry Sorbet

4. Melon Berry/Terracotta Tile

5. Spring Moss/Ripe Avocado

6. Lavender Moon/Plum Pudding

Then I stamped the fun background image of overlapping circles on each card base in three different ways. Using the darker ink, I stamped both dandelion images on Stamper's Select white CS and added the teeny tiny seeds to look like they were blowing in thew wind! A quick sentiment in black and they were done!

I really like the sentiment here, because the inside of the cards can be "Thank You", "Get Well", "Happy Birthday", "thinking of You", etc. I think I may actually give these to my mom for Mother's Day as a gift.

Thanks for stopping by today, hope you have a great day!

Another Notepad

A few weeks ago Amy posted a really great notepad that she had made for someone. She mentioned that she was always making them but didn't have one for herself. I agreed. Always making fun things for others but not for ourselves. (Isn't that just like us crafters?!) So I suggested a trade. I make one for her, and she make one for me!

This is the one I made specifically for her.

I stamped the Damask Designs image in White Snow pigment ink on Sweet blush CS and then again, slightly off-center with Sweet Blush pigment ink. It gives it an embossed look that I really like (and Amy said she thought it was flocked and tried to feel it! lol).  I stamped the text onto the Spring Moss CS with Sweet blush ink too, and then layered it with Aqua Mist CS.

Additions include buttons, Berry Sorbet ribbon, and the scalloped circle "note to self" sentiment, all on a kraft base with a white notepad inside.

It was really fun to make this for her, and it feels good to send some snail mail to someone I only know through this amazing hobby. Hope you enjoyed it too Amy!

Thanks for stopping by today! Be creative!