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« January 2009 | Main | March 2009 »
Once again, it's blog hop time at Papertrey Ink!
The challenge was this:
Easter and other spring celebrations will be here before you know it! And besides, there's nothing better to beat the winter doldrums than to turn our minds towards those first spring flowers bursting through the ground and the birds returning with their sweet songs. Your challenge this month is to put a little "spring" into your step, by incorporating the flowers, familiar sights and colors of spring into a project. Think birds nests containing newly laid eggs, flowers in pretty pastels, new green leaves, baby chicks and anything else that speaks to your creative soul! We look forward to seeing all of your interpretations of this fun challenge!
My card was a disaster from the start. I'm not happy with it but I spent soooo long on it I decided I had to post it.
I like the inside though so you can see that :)
Supplies
Stamps: PTI With Sympathy, Spring Tags, Heartfelt Basics
Paper: New Leaf, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Stamper's Select White
Ink: New Leaf, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise
Dies: Nestabilities Circles, Scallop Circles.
Other: Scallop scissors, Melon Berry Ribbon
Not the kind of card you ever are in the mood to make when you actually need one, I figured it was best to have one or two on hand.
I got out the sewing machine. I can't sew in a straight line to save my life... The long border was cut with scalloped scissors. The focal image border was cut with nestabilities. I didn't have one the right size so if you look closely you can see that I actually cut a few of the scallops out vertically.
Supplies:
Stamps: With Sympathy, Polka Dot Basics - PTI
Paper: Gold, Vintage Cream - PTI, and an ivory shimmery paper from my stash
Other: Gold Detail Embossing Powder, Nestabilities Scallop Rectangles, Ribbon, Scallop Scissors, thread
Studio Crew Member, Queen of the Crop finalist, and mother of two sons, Anna Benjamin, was recently diagnosed with cancer. The Scrapbookgraphics family wants to show our support for our dear friend…and you can help! The Studio Girls have put together a grab bag of goodies that you just won’t believe! It’s an amazing assortment of mini kits and elements at an incredible value! The grab bag will be available for two weeks only, so get it while everything is altogether at this great price (most everything will be available separately in individual studios later).
This grab bag includes contributions from Studio Maya, Studio Alana, Studio Baersgarten, Studio Birgit; Bluebell Designs, Studio Ellie, Studio Flergs, Studio Helene, Studio Lorie, Lotta Designs, Studio Manu, Studio mgl, O.N. Designs, Studio Phuong; Studio Tangie, Studio Traci, Studio Wendy, and Studio Ziska:
10 mini kits
5 alphas
2 element packs
1 brag book album
2 fonts
1 template pack
$7 coupon to Studio Maya
Coupon to Studio Helene, good for her next kit
SPOILER: To see the contents of the bag, you can click on the previews in the store.
Proceeds from the sale of this product will go to assist Anna with housekeeping and meals while she goes through treatment.
Thank you so much for your support of this project. Get well soon, Anna!
Anna loves Tea, Teacups, etc, so I sent her this little get well card.
All supplies from Papertrey Ink.
Papertrey Ink is hosting the CPS sketch again this week so I had to play along :)
I haven't used this Owl stamp set that much so I wanted to pull it out which meant I had to color :P
Supplies
Stamps: PTI Wise Owl, Martha Stewart Pattern stamps
Paper: Ripe Avocado, Lemon Tart, Stampers Select White - all from PTI
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Pure Black
Punch: Making Memories Corner Rounder
Other: Ribbon, Brads, Copic Markers
Hi everyone,
I need your input so please take a second to comment.
If you were looking to buy a condo and the living room was staged like this:
would it give you a good idea of how you would be able to use the room?
Or do you perhaps think this looks more like a hallway than the main living room?
Please leave your honest opinion. We're having a bit of a disagreement with our stager and she says that this is appropriate for the room since it's such a narrow space. In my opinion, by staging this room to look like a hallway and not showing the potential of this room, she is doing us a grave disservice. She claims that she is the professional and we should value her opinion above anyone elses. We however, believe that the buyers who are telling us that the layout doesn't work for them have a more valuable opinion.
What's yours?
Thanks!
ETA: Yes this is the main living space, where they would watch TV and stuff... we originally had the couch on the wall that the mirror is on and the TV on the left wall (there is a painting hanging on the wall there now). We also had a recliner in the left corner.
I have some new templates in the store and I think they are pretty keen :) What do you think?
You can grab them here. But first you may want to see some samples? Ok here ya go, I even made a hybrid layout with one of them :)
They are normally $6. But I currently have them marked down to $5. Hurry, offer expires 2/23 at 11:59PM EST!
I wanted to show you my Hybrid layout up close. Celebrating our sailfish landing over Christmas :)
I used a bunch of goodies from a Studio Calico kit and just added some ribbon from PTI.
I love how easy templates make hybrid layouts :)
Lastly, I did a bit of spring cleaning and added a bunch of craft goodies to ebay. Go check it out!
Today is another Little C's Diva Designah sketch challenge. This sketch was created by Sr. Diva Designah Maria Bell. Here is her sketch:
Here's what I did with it:
Isn't that bouquet so cute? It was so easy to make. I started with a piece of purple handmade paper from All Natural Accents and cut it with a circle scalloped Nestability . Two folds made the circle into some pretty floral wrapping paper. Then I just laid some adhesive down on the inside and piled on various leaves and flowers, also from All Natural Accents. I tied a ribbon around the whole thing to finish it off.
Supplies:
Stamps: Just for Fun Background Swirl, Stampendous congratulations (from a wedding set)
Flowers, Purple Paper, Leaves: All Natural Accents
Paper: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Palette
Dies: Nestabilities (rectangles and scallops)
Other: Ribbons
Go see what the other Little C's Diva's did:
Tonight is release night at PTI making this the last of the release countdown challenges.
Dawn's cards and color schemes are all so awesome. I chose the color scheme she used on her I Love You Card at the bottom of this post.
I put this on Adam's pillow so that it will be waiting for him when he wakes up.
Supplies
Stamps: PTI Love Songs; Just for Fun Background Swirl
Paper: Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, Stampers Select White - all from PTI
Ink: PTI Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate
Dies: Nestabilities Circles & Rectangles
Other: Aqua Mist Grosgrain and Dark Chocolate Satin ribbon
One year ago today I turned in the keys to my apartment and we spent our first night as Homeowners.
I thought it would be fun to take a look back at some of the changes we've made in our first year in the house. It's been a fun and busy one!
A few of these you've seen before but some will be new. They all get bigger if you click on them. Before and Afters, before always on the left :)
My Bedroom
We ripped up the carpet, refinished the hardwoods, painted, and got rid of the flowery curtains
My Bathroom
Ripped down the wallpaper, painted, new light fixtures, new everything fixtures, removed all of the wood and either replaced or painted white.
Craft Room
Ripped out wallpaper, painted, removed ugly carpet, unpacked my beautiful craft supplies.
Living Room
Ripped out carpet, refinished hardwoods, ripped out flowery curtains
Kitchen
Just ripped out the wallpaper and painted. Hopefully this is the year for the kitchen.. as soon as someone buys Adam's condo. Anyone want a place in Bucktown?
Basement
We wound up fixing up the basement earlier than planned. We ripped out the carpet, replaced the carpet (with the same kind of carpet... ), ripped out all of the wallpaper, patched the walls up, painted, installed the bar, dartboards, mounted tv on wall in Ikea Expedit unit, etc.
Backyard
Removed giant bird house, replaced with firepit, ripped out 6 bushes, added a concrete patio next to the deck, moved picnic table to back corner, installed a hot tub!!!!, installed hot tub bar (wasn't up yet in first picture, see below)
Whew... I'm tired just looking at all of these pictures. I don't think I was really that impressed with myself until this moment seeing all the before & after pictures together.
What's left?
The kitchen: it's getting gutted, a wall torn down (or turned into a breakfast bar type thing) between the kitchen & living room, new floors, new paint, new cabinets, new appliances, new backsplash, etc. I have it all planned out, we just have to sell the other place so we can afford it. Come on stimulus plan, work your magic!!
The fish room: (actually another spare bedroom, so named for the previous owners fishing collection that was stored in here). This room will become Adam's 'office' and possibly a guest room. It still has wallpaper and paneling that needs to come down.
Basement bathroom: It's pretty ugly. Tile floors like a school (yuck), wallpaper, a nice jacuzzi tub surrounded by cracked tile and nasty brass fixtures, I could keep going... this is low on the priority list. Probably won't happen this year.
Windows: The previous owners had replaced all of the windows in the house except those in the living room. They are about 55 years old. They need replacing. We hope to get this done this year as well.
Well, that's all I got, Happy Valentine's Day to all of you and Happy House-a-versary to me!
I was coloring again. Coloring an image that is totally different than anything I've stamped with before. And I think he is just the cutest thing ever!!!
I started by stamping Walkabout Wally with Memento Black ink on PTI's Stampers Select cardstock. I colored him with copic's (no I didn't write down the colors) and matted him with PTI's Spring Moss. For the larger matte, I roughed it up big time with files, sandpaper, and anything else I could find before pulling out the sewing machine and making sure to stitch up one of the corners.
Now to find a little boyscout to give this to... .heheh
Supplies:
Stamps: Walkabout Wally - High Hopes Rubber Stamps (Main Image); Happy Birthday is from Papertrey Ink
Paper: Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Kraft, Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Memento Black, Copic Markers
Other: Buttons, String, Sewing Machine.
Another day, another anniversary challenge from Papertrey Ink. Today, Nichole issued this challenge:
I was really excited about this challenge because I have to say, out of all the people I send cards too, I think my childhood best friend appreciates them the most. I always get a call from her just after she receives them and she always ooh and aahs and makes me so happy that I sent it to her. So this one is for her and hopefully it will make it to her before she reads this blog post.
For the color scheme, I decided to stick with the same one the PTI team used in the spirit of the challenge.
Here's another view of the card where you can kind of see the inside.
Credits
Stamps: PTI Out of the Box
Paper: Vintage Cream, Raspberry Fizz, Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado - all from PTI
Ink: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, Dark Chocolate, Versamark
Dies: Nestabilities Squares & Scallop Squares
Other: Ripe Avocado ribbon, upholstery tack (for flower center)
Today I wanted to play along with the CPS sketch, it's my first time but PTI is one of the sponsors this month which gave me the kick in the butt I needed to play along. You can see my sample above!
Here is the sketch:
You'll notice I used strips of cardstock stamped with words again just as I did on this card and these two too.
Every time I post one of these cards I get a bunch of comments/emails saying it looks like it must have taken forever and so I wanted to take a few pictures to show how untrue that is. They are really quick and easy!
I start by just cutting several strips of paper 1/4" wide. I usually use my scraps to do this and just slide along my cutter in 1/4" increments until I get a big pile. Then I stamp them (I'm using PTI's clear stamps so it's really easy to line them up. I lay out a bunch of strips and then just stamp down the line, it takes a few seconds to go down the whole set of strips.
Then I run a piece of scrap paper through the xyron machine and just layer the strips on, budding each piece up to the previous one. I stagger them and don't worry about overlaps on the side.
Then I trim off the excess
Now you can just punch a shape, run it through a die cut machine, or trace something on the back. Here you can see 3 different hearts created three different ways.
For the first one, I punched it. The 2nd, I traced a Heidi Swapp chipboard piece onto the back, and the last one was a sizzix die-cut.
The chipboard shaped heart wound up on the first card up at the top of the post, here's what I did with the others.
Credits
Stamps: PTI Love Songs; Just for Fun Background Swirl
Paper: Sweet Blush, Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, Stamper's Select White , True Black, - all from PTI
Ink: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Sweet Blush, True Black, Aqua Mist
Dies: Nestabilities Rectangles & Scallop Rectangles (small), Sizzix Heart, EK Success Heart Punch, Martha Stewart Border Punch
Other: Pink satin ribbon, Kaiser Crystals, Heart Charm (Target $1 spot)
I sure am glad some of these PTI challenges are happening over the weekend so that I have time to work on them :)
To celebrate the release of all kinds of polka dot goodies over at PTI, Nichole issued the following connect-the-dots sketch challenge. (Click through to Nichole's blog to download the puzzle)
Here is my card:
Nothing too fancy here, just a little masking to stamp all the balloons, some glossy accents on the balloon highlights, and some buttons & bows. I got the idea to line the cards in the pink paper from this card on Becky's blog. Loved that idea!
Credits
Stamps: PTI Love Songs
Paper: Sweet Blush, Raspberry Fizz, Stamper's Select White , True Black, Raspberry Fizz Patterned Paper - all from PTI
Ink: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Sweet Blush, True Black, Fresh Snow
Dies: Nestabilities Rectangles (large & small), Scallop Rectangles (small).
Other: Black satin ribbon, Pink Buttons, glossy accents
It's PTI's 2nd Anniversary countdown and today, Nichole issued the following challenge:
As soon as I got home from work, I started on this one using the same technique as I did on my blog hop card a few weeks ago.
Have I mentioned how much I love this set? It's so fun!!
Credits
Stamps: PTI Around and About Sentiments
Paper: Summer Sunrise, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides, Stamper's Select White
Ink: Memento Black, PTI Pure Poppy, PTI Summer Sunrise, PTI Ripe Avocado, PTI Ocean Tide
Dies: Nestabilities Circles, Scallop Circles. Sizzlit Primitive Star
Other: Buttons, String
I found this super simple tutorial for creating this little gable box purse on Splitcoast Stampers and had to try it out!
It probably took me about 20 minutes or so from start to finish on this one thanks to the beautiful handmade embellishments from All Natural Accents of Hawaii available at Little C's.
Supplies:
Flowers, Leaves, Handmade papers: All Natural Accents
Cardstock: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise
Ribbon: Papertrey Ink Summer Sunrise Satin
Stamps: Autumn Leaves swirls (for background)
Punches/Dies: Scalloped Circle Nestabilities, EK Success Whale of A Punch - Circle, EK Success Whale of a Punch - Oval
Other: Large orange button, string
Today is the Little C's Diva Designah sketch challenge and I'm so excited to share my card with you :)
Today's sketch challenge was created by Sr. Diva Designah Maria Bell.
I made a few tweaks, and here is my card:
Isn't that image just adorable? It's by Rachelle Ann Miller Stamps. I colored it with Copics (sorry, i'm no good at keeping track of colors), and added some flowers from All Natural Accents.
See what the other girls did here:
Corrina, Maria, Heidi, JackieLou, and MacKenzie
I hope you'll come play with us!
Supplies:
Stamps: Rachelle Ann Miller - Jump Into My Pouch (Main Image); The Angel Company (Hey Mama), Papertrey Ink - Borders & Corners: Circles (circle)
Flowers: All Natural Accents
Paper: Raspberry Fizz Cardstock & Patterened Paper, Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink), Lime Green (Club Scrap)
Ink: Memento Black, Copic Markers
Dies: Nestabilities
Other: Brads (Making Memories), Ribbon (unknown)
I have exciting news! Today marks the first day of my 6 month term as a DT member for Little C's!
Little C's is a one woman shop run by Jen Young out of Hawaii! They sell all kinds of fun goodies but my favorite line is All Natural Accents, a local Hawaii company that provides beautiful handmade papers, flowers, and embellishments.
Here is the first project I completed for Little C's.
I created this simple and super quick card using these fun tags from Three Bugs in a Rug
I was inspired by some of the circular tags to go ahead and crop the others into a circular shape as well. Did some quick random machine stitching across all of the circles and then popped the one with the greeting out with some foam tape. Added a gem to the flower on the greeting tag and I was done :) Gotta love those quick and easy cards don't ya?
Supplies:
Tags: Sugar Die Cut Tags from Three Bugs in a Rug
Paper: PTI Stampers Select White, Club Scrap (red)
Punch: EK Success Whale of A Punch circle
Other: sewing machine, black thread, red gem, foam tape
