5 Favorite PTI Things

Here's a card I made a while back. I used some of "My Favorite PTI Things".
The cloud die, envelope die, Larger Than Life flowers, vintage cream cardstock. twine and my $15 grass stamp.
What's that you say, a $15 grass stamp? Yes. I split the Hanging out set with another gal. I ended up not ever using the stamps, but loved the grass stamp. I RAK'd the rest of the stamps to her and kept my beloved grass stamp. Oh the things I do for Papertrey products.

Make It Monday #51 Dimensional Banner

As soon as I saw Nichole's video for the latest Make It Monday I knew exactly what I wanted to do. The only problem was executing it. I couldn't find the time until today.

The pink flowers are much softer than the picture shows. It's called Lemonade by Fresh Ink. I love these pigment inks. They never let me down! I did order a few of PTI's newest cubes just to try them out. So far I have been pleasantly surprised by their performance.

I tried to wrap the flowers in some vellum to mimic the look of the packaging that comes from a florist. I had a lot of fun creating this one. Now I need to find some more time to make something else. Thanks for stopping by!!

Stamps: PTI Larger Than  Life, Mat Stack 1

Ink: Amuse, PTI, Fresh Ink

Paper: PTI Simply Chartreuse, Rustic Cream, Sweet Blush

Misc: Vellum, PTI Woodgrain Impression Plate

Sending Lots of Love

I apologize for the terrible pictures recently. It's been cloudy and rainy here and I have yet to learn how to use my awesome T3i.

I've been seeing so many of those window cards, I just had to get the die. I quickly whipped this one up last night. Behind the window I adhered blue cardstock and some vellum. In real life it has a nice opaque quality.

I wanted to keep it clean and simple but I can't decide if it turned out too busy or a bit boring. I am still struggling with my *style* but I know with some practice I'll get there. I just need to stay off Pinterest long enough to actually spend more time in my craft room. ;-)

Stamps: PTI Sending You

Ink:  Fresh Ink

Paper: PTI

Misc: PTI Fence Die and banner die, Amuse Butterfly Die, 

Poppystamps Window die, PTI Woodgrain Impression Plate

Hello Friend

I've been seeing all of the aqua and red color combos all over Pinterest so I thought I'd put it to use myself.

Stamps: PTI
Ink: PTI, Colorbox
Paper: PTI Aqua Mist
Misc: White Embossing Powder, pop dots

One Layer Wednesday 76 & Less is More 52

It's been a looooong time since I sat down and made a card for a challenge. So I chose ones that I thought were fairly simple. Well, that is until I had about 4 cards wasted because it just wasn't looking exactly like what I had in my head. Does that ever happen to you?

I combined Less is More Week 52 Sketch and Simplicity's OLW.

Susan's challenge was to use white, gray and a pop of color.
Less is More has a sketch to use. (I have more ideas swirling in my head for this one, so if I get time I hope to make another card before the deadline.)

Stamps: Hero Arts, PTI

Ink: Amuse Slate and Sugar

Paper: PTI

Misc: stamp a ma jig

Organizing my Dies, Embossing folders, Impression Plates and more!

Recently, I was reading about die storage on the PTI forum with much interest. I have tried a few different ways to store my dies but nothing ever really worked to my liking. Until I saw this you tube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=rc6ce14lYa4#!

I was instantly in love. As a matter of fact I ran out to Staples an hour later to buy everything. For a procrastinator, that is very rare. ;)

{you can click on the pictures for a larger image}

I bought a binder by Martha Stewart and some protectors and pockets. Martha has her own line but I bought a cheaper brand just because that's me. Cheap.  But she does have some really cute tabbed dividers that I had in my hand. But I really don't need them so I left them there.

 I fell in love with the binder right away!! It is a perfect match to PTI's Aqua Mist and it has a really nice texture to it. No way was I going home without it!

So the first thing I did was add the page protectors and the pockets. The pockets are a PERFECT fit for the Impression Plates. And as a bonus, they can also hold my Spellbinders Impressionabilities and Cuttlebug Folders. You can fit more than one, but I don't have many so each one gets it's own home.

The last thing I added was the pocket in the back. It is expandable and has a velcro opening. I put my Spellbinder Embossing mats and PTI Impression Plate mats inside there. I have been struggling to find a home for those so I am very happy!!

Here you can see how I laid out the dies. I just cut some white cardstock in half, adhered magnets with my ATG gun and viola. I tried organizing my dies according to subject; outside elements, tags, envelopes, holidays.

You can easily put 2 pieces of cardstock and the dies in one page protector. The bottom picture shows how bulky it is with everything in there. The front cover actually sits perfectly even, it's just laying that way because it's new I guess.

So cheap me only spent $16.00 for this cute little compact die storage. Now I'm trying to figure out what else I can use the MS binder for. I'd love to see a few of these all lined up in a row on my shelf! :)

Thanks for stopping by!!

My Top 5 Favorites for 2011

Everyone else is doing their top 10 favorites, but since I have been such a blog slacker I can't gather 10, because well, that would be just about everything I made last year. :-/ I just can't seem to find the time since getting a full time job. It's my first FT job in over a decade so the balance of life has been very challenging!

So here are my 5 fav's:

Thanks for stopping by! I hope you enjoyed my short list. :)

Cupcake Birthday Banner

I know, I know. I haven't blogged in months. That's because I haven't crafted in months!! This summer was very busy. Every day I would wistfully look into my craft room wishing I could sit down and make something. Then I'd hear, "Mooooommmm!" and that was the end of that. ;-)

My daughter's bff was having her 10th birthday party and I wanted to make a little something special for her. She is such a sweet girl and my daughter absolutely loves her. She had a cupcake making party complete with fondant and some pretty amazing cupcake designs.

So I thought a basic banner just wouldn't do. I cut out 10 cupcakes with my Silhouette machine using PTI's cardstock. I matted each picture and then adhered them onto the cupcake. I then used the circle nesties to frame the stamped numbers. I took a few pictures so you can see it better.

(You can click on the pictures to see them larger.)

Did you spot that splint on my daughter's thumb? Yes, that was a fun trip to the Urgent Care. I got a call from the school nurse that she had hurt herself in PE. Turns out she was diving for a ball. She must have a high tolerance for pain because the nurse didn't call me for an hour and a half after it happened. The dr said it was broken but the hand specialist didn't find a fracture.  She said with children it sometimes doesn't show up for 2 weeks. Who knew?! We have a follow up visit next week. It still hurts her but she's gone to her soccer practice and games. Tough little cookie I got. :)

Anyway, hope you liked my project that I made. I had so much fun making it!!

Mega sized Mason Jar

I am totally and completely obsessed with PTI's Friendship Jar and Larger than Life sets. I cannot put them down! I made a bookmark recently...okay, maybe four or five....with the Mason jar and flowers yet again. I can't wait to get the newest Summer Jar fillers so I can obsessively use the Hydrangeas next. ;)

A couple weeks ago I was shopping at Walmart. I was looking for a container to replace our broken dog food holder. Lo and behold, I see a giant sized Mason jar on the top shelf!! I almost peed my pants with excitement!!!! I grabbed that sucker not knowing what I'd use it for but HAD to have it. 

My husband brought me home a bouquet of flowers for my birthday the other week and I knew exactly what to do with them!! I was so happy!! The flowers lasted quite a long time, a couple of weeks in fact. I got the warm fuzzies each time I passed the flowers in my Mega sized Mason jar.

I put a regular sized Mason jar next to it for size reference. (You can click on the picture to make it larger.) I can't wait to fill it up with other great things. I'm not sure what will go into it next but I'm sure it will look great!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Notepad Frenzy!

On the PTI forum there was a request for some notepads for a wonderful charity. I got to work...last minute of course....and made about 30 of them. They fit perfectly in one of the PTI boxes that I received with a recent order.

She mentioned that Butterflies were an important symbol so I was more than happy to add as many as possible. It also helped feed my butterfly obsession. ;-)

I found it difficult to come up with different layouts and color combos. But I tried my best to make sure there was some sort of variety.

Here are a few of my favorites. That Mehndi Medallion set is so awesome!! And at 5 bucks you can't go wrong!! Of course I had to add my mason jar/larger than life creation.

I've been in a creative slump for a very, very long time now and this helped get me out of it. I just hope the recipients enjoy them as much as I enjoyed making them.