July PAO - OCAM

This was a particularly fun card to make for several reasons.  One, the recipient of my OCAM (one card a month) this month was for one of my dear friends, Nancy.  Two I used a favorite theme...coffee.  And three I am goofy over dies and this Pop N' Cut coffee cup is just amazing.

Thanks for looking.

Building a Card: MIM #127

This week's Papertrey Ink MIM challenge was a fun one for me.  It just so happened I had been playing last night with Mat Stack 6 Collection of stamps and dies.  Just the ticket to complete today's "twice stamped background".  As I went through the process I could see my card building and coming to it's completion.  So I took a few step out photos of the process.  This is a real mix of PTI stamps and dies and I am very happy at how they all worked together in creating this card.  My design is not at all original and pretty darn close to the sample given.  But hey...copying is a form of flattery, right?

My first step was to create the twice stamped background.  I used two of the arrow-like stamps from LIve, Love, Life with Memento Bamboo Leaves ink on a turquoise card stock.

Next was to create the label and greeting.  I used die cut shapes from my already cut stash of Mat Stack 6 Collection and the accompanying stamps.  This one is particularly fun to use due to the multiple parts you can add to this label.  I adhered the whole panel to a cream card stock for a 5"x5" card.  The base of the label is a shimmery copper text weight paper that is very rich looking.

Now came the fun part of making the flowers and leaves.  I chose (since it's the only flower and die set I have) Happiness in Bloom stamps and dies.  This is one sweet and versatile flower collection.  I had not used the leaf stamps or dies yet and was extremely impressed with the delicate leaves and how nicely it stamped up.  I stamped the smallest flowers twice in Memento Angel Pink and two more in Memento Rose Bud.   The pink ones I edged with the Rose Bud and then colored in the centers with a Spectrum Noir marker.

 I layered the pink over the rose ones for some depth and shadow effect and then tucked the leaves at the sides.

I have noticed of late that my tastes have turned a bit on the gaudy side...at least for me who has always preferred the color of mud, LOL.  I am happy with how this turned out.



All stamps and dies are Papertrey Ink
All ink Memento die ink
All card stock came from my enormous Club Scrap stash

Latte Girl

I am a bit of a coffee geek.  I love to make lattes on my La Scala Butterfly Espresso Machine with fresh coffee beans ground at the time of brewing in the morning and afternoon.  I have (ahem) acquired numerous coffee related stamps over the years as testimony of my fondness for caffeine.  Finally yesterday I stamped and colored this cutie from MFT's "Miss You A Latte" set.   Another one of my stream-of-consciousness cards.

This card has everything going on in it.  Label stamps and dies (PTI Mat Stack 6), latte embossing folder (Sizzix), Latte Girl (MFT) and a varied assortment of colored pencils with a little Spectrum Noir markers thrown in.  Oh, and don't forget the glitz...Glitter Glaze from MFT that I painted the embossed coffee cup and steam with.  Yeah, now that I look at it, maybe I overdid this card a bit.  Well I don't mind...I rather like it, LOL.

Thanks for looking.

Birthday Card

My niece is turning 14 next week.  Just can't believe it.  I remember that baby with the killer eyebrows.  Now she is a killer looking young lady.  Anyway I started this card yesterday while at a card making/scrapping group get-together and which is quickly becoming a regular thing.



Pinks, browns and greens.  An unusual color combo but it seemed teenage-girl-appropriate.   The cover was embellished with a pocket stamp and die from Paper Smooches.  I added the green-dotted kerchief and the Happy Birthday die is from Elizabeth Craft Designs.

Inside the card is a Sizzix Pop 'n Cuts using a generic label shape die that can be used for any occasion.  I added a PTI label and die, stamped with a sentiment from MFT and highlighted letters and flourishes with a white Signo pen.  Side panels are also die cuts and label stamp from PTI.

PTI Blog Hop July

This was a close one.  Though I had a whole 8 minutes to spare in posting this card.  This month's PTI Blog Hop Challenge is about color.  I found it quite challenging due to most of the combinations are similar and not necessarily my favorite blends.  Though this photograph seems off, IRL the colors are actually spot on.

I used the Friendship Jar and Friendship Jar Fillers for all my stamp selections.  Oddly enough my few Copic Markers were just the right colors or close to the above combo.  I first stamped the brushes, colored them and then stamped the jar over the brushes.   My "coloring" of the jar is something less than desirable.  Need to work on that one.  All card stock is from Club Scrap with the exception of the white panel.  The pink panel is dry embossed with a heart embossing folder which I had at the ready in a wonderful pile of pre-embossed panels thanks to my friend Jen, Queen of Embossing:)  It was fun to work on the clock and push myself in an area I was not very comfortable with.  This is also the first time for using the jar stamp collection.  They are going to be a lot of fun.  

Thanks for looking.

EDITED:  I couldn't stand how the first jar looked so I went back over the "glass" with a blender pen and it's much better now.  Obsessive?  Maybe.

Paint Brushes

I am crazy over these MFT Paint Brush dies.  The detail is wonderful with the embossing of the bristles and the center piece that holds the brush.  The 3 piece brush is made with multiple colored card stock to get this effect.  To add to the messy fun are the paint swipes called Abstract Art also from MFT as are the sentiments from the set My Favorite Sentiments.

MIM #125

Wow, I haven't done a MIM in a few months.  Shame on me.  But this morning I had some time to myself and just dove into this challenge.  This week Papertrey Ink has us using watercolors on our stamps and then redefining the edges with ink.  So stamp first with watercolored stamp and then stamp directly over it again with the stamp edges inked with a coordinating ink to define the edges more.  I used Distress Inks for the edges.

All stamps are from PTI's Happiness in Bloom.  Papers are all from Club Scrap with the exception of the watercolor paper for the flowers.  And of course I made a custom envelope for it.

A tad late...

I am taking the Onlinecardclass.com's Summer Camp 2 card class.  I am not being a very good student. Summer time is just too distracting I guess.  But I did make an effort last week to make two whole cards!  There's a third one somewhere but I can't find it, LOL.  At this point I won't even bother to explain the lesson but one part of the challenge was the colors we were to use.

I do like my results and will be happy to send them to someone.

All stamps are from PTI - Live Love Life stamp set.  Card stock and paper from SSS or stash.

Envelope Punch - Product Review

How many "tools" have you collected and thought "what was I thinking"?  I don't want to talk about them.  But this tool I do.  The We Are Memory Keepers Envelope Punch is really terrific.  I finally caved in yesterday and got one.  I was so amazed at how easy it is to make an envelope, I ended making around a dozen.  Admittedly I goofed the first two because I didn't fully read the instructions.  But once I did...wow...I couldn't stop making them.

I made two cards today and mailed them off in their own custom envelopes.   It's possible that the recipients will like the envelope as much as the enclosed card.  I used heavy printed card stock from Club Scrap and Graphic 45 for the envies below.  The dark busy printed one will need a lighter label of some kind.  But I didn't bother to decorate the envelope due to the attractive papers.  They stand on their own.

Me and my Cricut

Still cutting away at my paper stash, using my assorted dies as well as the Cricut Expression.

Recently my friend Nancy noticed that the Close To My Heart Cricut cartridge "Artiste" has "swing" cards.  Now I've been going gaga over the Sizzix Flip-It cards so this was great news.  I went crazy and made about a dozen of the swing style cards plus the die cuts that match the swing shapes found in either Artiste or Art Philosophy, also from CTMH.  If you have a Cricut, I highly recommend you investigate the 2 cartridges available.  Plus a third cartridge will be available August 1st.  Sign me up!  I use these carts more than any other of the Cricut carts combined.  One of the great things about the CTMH carts is that many of the images coordinate with their stamps.  How cool is that!

Below I am sharing just a few of the pile of cards I made being that these are the most complete.  

All card stock is from Club Scrap assorted collections.  Stamps are from MFT and SSS.

Happy Birthday Chrissie!

Today is my dear friend Chrissie's birthday.  I hope my little package and the card below got to her in time.  She lives a good 2000 miles from me and it's been nearly a year since we've seen each other.  Sister to Jen and dear friend to me and Nancy, we are a special circle of friends that communicate every day.

Chrissie I hope you had a fabulous day today, and by your text of an hour ago I'd say it was over the top special!

Happy Birthday sweetie!

Dream Catcher Die

Playing around with more dies!  These two dies are both from Cherry Lynn Designs.  I have mentioned before how impressed I am with the excellent performance of these dies.  The two cards below are products of playing with scraps at hand.  Not a whole lot of thought went into these cards but they came together pretty well just the same.

Dies from Cherry Lynn Designs
Sentiment stamp from SSS
Feather stamp from MFT "Right on Target"

Happy 4th of July to all!

You'd think being the card-making-enthusiast that I am, I would have my seasonal and special occasion cards mailed well in advanced, right?  Ha!  Sadly that is not the case.  I am the type who finds inspiration for such cards, if I am lucky, (or the recipient is lucky) maybe a day or two before the event. But more likely the day of or after.  Fortunately my family and friends seem to understand this.  Particularly my wonderful crafting friends who may find themselves in the same boat...and you know who you are:)

At any rate two days ago this design came to me and last night I made them.  I had a rush of inspiration to combine a fun 6x6 pack of red, white & blue card stock (cover name long gone) with PTI stamps and dies.  The results are below and I am really quite happy with them.   They have an old fashioned feel to them bringing to mind American traditions of celebrating our wonderful country and the people who make it so for us.  There's nowhere else I would rather live.

I hope you all have a wonderful July 4th!

Materials used:

Papertrey - Ink stamps:  Vintage Picnic      Dies:  Mat Stack 6 Die Collection