Dynamic Duos #7 Melon Mambo and Black

The kids are in summer camp this week. Yahoo!! That means I get to play in my craft room. Or be lazy and do nothing without kids calling my name every 2 minutes. 

This morning I did both. I was lazy, then I whipped up a card for this week's Dynamic Duos.

Of course it didn't come without some major mistakes. I got some ink on the white part below the tree. So I decided to add the ribbon there. :) And the other smudge is on the ribbon. But let's pretend it's not there and it's just a shadow. ;)

This card also qualifies for The Paper Dolls latest Challenge which is to use something you have received from another crafter. I received this gorgeous ribbon from a PTI forum friend. I bought a stamp set from her and she gave me a ton of ribbon as a RAK. This is the first time using the ribbon. My next project will be a Thank you card for her. Hope to see you all soon!

Stamps: PTI Trendy Tree Tops

Ink: SU Melon Mambo, Versafine Black

Paper: PTI White, SU Black

Misc: PTI Raspberry Fizz Ribbon

CAS-ual Friday Vellum - Take 2

CFC57: Create a Clean And Simple project using acetate or vellum

I had a few extra minutes last night while the girls were preoccupied with a friend sleeping over so I thought I'd play with some vellum again. 

I made a vellum envelope and then stuck a mini card inside of it.

I added a heart with a vellum butterfly as the "seal".

If you pull the mini card out, you can write a little note inside of it. I stamped some of the mini flowers from the Year of Flowers set on the front. 

Don't hold your breath, but I might even have another card to post this week!

Cathy, please don't pass out. ;)

Stamps: PTI Postmarks, Trendy Trees and Year of Flowers, Lawn Fawn You've Got Mail

Ink: Amuse Sugar and Wheat, PTI Kraft, Fresh Ink Pink Lemonade

Paper: PTI Rustic Cream and Sweet Blush, Vellum

Misc: PTI Envelope Die, Amuse Butterfly Die

CAS-ual Friday with Vellum

I love CAS-ual Fridays and I'm so happy whenever I get a chance to play!

CFC57: Create a Clean And Simple project using acetate or vellum

I know y'all must be sick of my over-use of butterflies. I'm sorry. I just HAD to use them with the vellum.

I went for a Letterpress look with this card. I inked up the embossing folder with my Amuse ink and cranked it through the Big Shot. It's not perfect, but it's a cool effect.

I die cut the vellum butterflies and glued them over the butterfly images. I used white vellum on the bottom three and the top tiny one is pink vellum.

I love the 3-D effect the butterflies give it!

 I made another card with the same products but different colors and layout. I'll try to post it tomorrow. Hope you are having a good weekend!

Stamps: PTI Beautiful Butterflies

Ink: Amuse Slate, Sugar

Paper: PTI White, SU Pretty in Pink, Vellum

Misc: Amuse Butterfly Dies, Darice embossing folder

Dynamic Duos #6

I have been watching this new Challenge blog from the sidelines called Dynamic Duos. I love how it's just 2 colors. I can definitely handle that!

I love the colors for this week's Challenge. I don't own all of the SU colors yet. But I was able to make do.

I just acquired PTI's Iconic Images set. At first it didn't appeal to me but it's slowly been growing on me.

I stamped then cut out the water pitcher. The flowers are from PTI's Year Of Flowers set. A few of the flowers with stems fit really nicely into the pitcher. I tried a few different looks out but I like this one best.

The gladiolus were hand cut and adhered. Not because I like to fussy cut, but because the copic marker I initially used didn't match too well with the cardstock.

I am in the midst of learning how to stamp images in black, scanning them, and then making my own die cut files in the Silhouette Cameo. I am really, really excited because it seems to be working out very well. I'll be able to save a lot of money on dies to spend more on stamps!!

(My craft room is not completely done yet. I hope to have it presentable for a picture soon.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: PTI Iconic Images, Year of Flowers

Ink: Amuse Slate, Memento Black, Copic Markers

Paper: PTI Sweet Blush, Rustic Cream

Misc: Pop Dots

New Craft Room in Progress

I've been gone for a while, I know. I've missed card making and blogging so much!!

School is out at the end of this week so I have been trying to finish up some home projects before the girls are constantly under foot and I can't get anything substantial accomplished.

I am in the process of re-painting my craft room. Here is the before photo. (Minus the kid stuff.) It was a lovely shade of blood red with a racing car strip border. I was dreading re-painting this room. So it sat this way for almost 4 years. I finally got motivated because my daughter wanted to move into this room. I had to remove the border and prime the red. Then I painted it a nice shade of blue similar to Spring Rain for my little girl...

She was in this very pink room for a couple of years. Pink was her favorite color forever. Her entire wardrobe is pink. Her room, bedding, jewelry, toys. EVERYTHING. Then recently she declared that blue is her favorite color. So that began my painting frenzy.

I got to prime this entire room. Took a while. But it will be so worth it because it is now going to be  my brand new craft room. I looked at about a dozen different paint chips until I finally found the perfect light turquoise. 

Turns out, it is exactly the same color as Aqua Mist! I am so happy! Aqua Mist is my favorite PTI color. I was worried about how it would translate onto a wall, but so far it's really pretty.

I may need to paint another coat on it. I really don't want to, although it probably needs it. I'm trying to find the energy...

Then I need to move all of my furniture back into the room and set it all up and unpack all of my supplies and find new homes for it all. Whew!

I can't wait until I'm finished so I can have my space back. And time!! I miss stamping and I miss visiting everyone's blogs. I feel so out of the loop. Hopefully I will be back soon!! XO

Happy Birthday Joyce!!!

Today is the birthday of a very special friend of mine, Joyce. She is a constant ray of sunshine and simply makes my day whenever she stops by my blog.  

I wanted to create something a little extra special for her.

I made a sort of tri-fold card. The front of the card is supposed to look like the inside of a house with wallpaper. You look through the window outside to see the butterfly and cattails.

Once you open the card, you can see the butterfly and cattails better and....

...it reveals the Birthday message....

Opened all the way, you see another message and some more cattails, a flower and butterfly.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOYCE!!!! 

I hope you have a wonderful weekend full of love and time spent with family and friends!! XOXO

Here are the rest of the ladies who also joined in the Birthday Blog Hop. Stop by their blogs, 

you won't want to miss what they created!!

Kim

Renee

Cathy

Michelle

Kara

Gayatri

Tracey

Mary Beth

Kristin

Jessica

Christy

Sharron

Jeanne

A different kind of post today

Once upon a time, I wanted to start a blog where I would show my crafty and cheap home decor items. I think it lasted one whole month before I just got too busy. And I never returned to it. You can see it here:

http://onawalmartwallet.blogspot.com/

Fast forward 18 months and the bug bit me again. So I started perusing Craigslist. I found this solid wood dresser on Craigslist for $50. Kind of pricey, but I liked the design and really needed the drawers to help organize my home. So I grabbed it up!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

After a few coats of white paint and some primer it is transformed. I spray painted the handles a nice blue. I know it's kind of different looking, but I need to put blue in my house any way I can get since dh won't let me paint any walls blue. ;-)

I am super happy with it and it's so much nicer than what has been in the foyer for years.
(This boring Ikea sofa table.)
Our dog has a balloon in his mouth, by the way. And the girls were chasing him. Fun times.

Thanks for stopping by!

I will have a new card on here this weekend. I missed stamping!!!

Bitty Birds Jar; An Evolution

I saw the most adorable Mason Jar Diorama on Pinterest the other day. I just knew I had to use the Little Bitty Birds Addition set to try to replicate it and create a card.

Below you will see the final result. I tried matching it up as best I could.
I used the Friendship Jar set for the banner underneath the birds.
I wanted this card to be clean and simple.

This one was my first draft. It's very CAS.

This next one was me playing with the ink colors. I am horrible at coordinating colors. I liked the combo and went searching for some patterned paper. And lo and behold, I had some October Afternoon in my stash that was a perfect match!

This was my final try before almost giving up. I will not tell you how many jars I have left over with little bitty birds in them. Well, okay. You might see one tomorrow if I can finish it in time for a color challenge blog.

Thanks for stopping by!

All products Papertrey Ink except for the patterned paper which is by October Afternoon.

Playdate Cafe Challenge (PDCC 126)

This week's Playdate Cafe challenge was to use these three colors:

Avocado, Blue Mist and Grey Wool

I was able to use Fern (Amuse), Hawaiian Shores (PTI), and Slate (Amuse)

The first card I created, I used the same Hero Arts Brocade stamp simply because I had it stamped already. Hee. Took me all of 5 minutes to make. I added the sentiment and, of course, a butterfly.

My light box has been a bit under the weather so I had my sweet little girlie hold the card for me outside.

The next card I made took quite a while to come together. I envisioned something different but I knew I wanted to use the Chevron stamp. Everything else was me second guessing what to use, where to put it. I'm still not sure I like the bow on the bottom, it almost went on the top.

For the Chevron background I tried PTI's MIM "Generational" stamping. Kinda cool, kinda grungy.

Well there you have it from the blogging world's insecure stamper. ;-p

Gratitude Card :

Stamps: Hero Arts Brocade, PTI Beautiful Butterflies

Ink: Amuse Fern, Slate, PTI Hawaiian Shores

Paper: PTI White, Chartreuse

Misc: pop dots

Thank you Card:

Stamps: PTI Chevron, Mat Stack, Floral Fusion, Beautiful Butterflies

Ink: Amuse Fern, Slate, PTI Hawaiian Shores

Paper: PTI White, Chartreuse

Misc: PTI Hawaiian Shores Satin Ribbon, Pop dots

Colour Q Take 2

Back for another try at the Colour Q Challenge.

I haven't really played with my new Beautiful Butterflies set yet so I thought I'd break them in. 

I also took this picture outside since my indoor light box has been horrible lately. I either need to make a new one, buy one or pray for no rain when it's time to shoot.

I also made this with the CAS-ual Friday Challenge this week in mind, which was to base it on a song. 

(Unfortunately I missed the deadline. )

"True Colors" by Cyndi Lauper has been a favorite of mine throughout the years. 

Boy am I dating myself here!!

Stamps: PTI Friendship Jar, Beautiful Butterflies

Ink: Amuse and Fresh Inks

Paper: PTI White

Misc: Twinery Twine, pop dots