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Thanks, Again!

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I needed two more thank you cards today, and had quite a bit of fun pulling them together. It was nice to have some uninterrupted creative time. The first one is for the amazing woman who planned all the meals for the youth retreat, purchased all the ingredients, cooked the Saturday night casseroles (delish!), and supervised the rest of us in the kitchen for the weekend. I cased this card design from a card I pinned here quite some time ago.

YouAre

She is indeed, all of these things! Here's a peek a the inside, which I kept small and tidy as there will be multiple signers!

YouAreInside

The next card is a thank you to Betsy's parents who had us to brunch yesterday. Paul made amazing scrambled eggs with cream cheese (I think) and brocolli. 

3Thanks

I found the Spiral Notebook die laying on my desk and started with that. Once I found the striped paper, the rest came together quicking. I'm a huge fan of these word dies. I have several from Simon Says and a few from Papertrey Ink. They just make a card pop!

ThanksDetail

I'm linking both these cards to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge:  Thanksgiving/Thanks.

Wednesdayblog-logo

Card Recipes:
Card #1:
Cardstock: Select White, Hawaiian Shores, Pure Poppy (PTI)
Stamps: You (Simon Says), Movers & Shakers & Around and About Sentiments (PTI)
Dies: Get to the Point (PTI), You (Simon Says)

Card #2:
Cardstock: Select White, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise (PTI)
Patterned Paper:  Snap! (Simple Stories)
Dies: Thanks (Simon Says), Spiral Notebook Page (PTI) 

CASology: Triangle & A Bit of Holiday Joy

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This week's challenge at CASology was just perfect for creating Christmas trees, and I'm still in need of some Christmas cards. Once again I finished this right under the wire!

Week 70 - Triangle

Although I could have easily cut a couple of triangles, I knew there were at least a couple in my collection of dies. These came from matching dies for Papertrey's "Hello, Sunshine," and "Tranquil Triology" stamps.

Joy

I thought I had the right little star for the top of the tree among my gems, but nothing really worked. Then I remembered the gold mirror paper I've had for ages and used the Simon Says "Holiday Shapes" die to cut the star. That die gets a lot of use! The gold twine is as old as the mirror paper, and I wish I could remember where I bought it. Fortunately, the quantity on the spool is very generous and it's unlikely I'll run out anytime soon.

JoyDetail

I'd hoped to get the focus on the star; didn't work, but there's no time to retake the photo and get this up before the challenge closes.

The youth retreat was a huge success, and I'll have a few photos later in the week. The adults were exhausted by the end of the weekend, but I'm sure the teenagers were doing fine today.

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Select White (PTI), Bazzill Textured green from scrap drawer, mirror gold (unknown)
Card: Paper Source
Patterned Paper: "Christmas Cottage" (Teresa Collins)
Twill: Scarlet Jewel (PTI)
Stamp: "2008 Holiday Tags" (PTI)
Dies: Holiday Shapes (Simon Says), Tranquil Triology, Tag Sale #6 & Hello Sunshine (PTI)

One Card: Two Challenges

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One of my favorite challenge sites is Retro Sketches, and I'm just getting Challenge #88 posted under the wire. Once I saw the CASE Study challenge #165, though, I knew I wanted to create a card for one of our good male friends. The gray and black color combination of the CASE Study inspiration seemed perfect for a masculine card. Here are the challenge inspiration and sketch:

Challenges

In addition to the color combination, I like the polaroid frame in the CASE Study card. I substituted a sentiment banner for the bow since I was creating a masculine card.

HappyBD

The layering follows the Retro Sketch pretty well, too. All the patterned papers came from a 6X6 paper pad included in a Studio Calico Card Kit in February. The polaroid frame is one of the frames included in Papertrey's Fabulous Frames die set. I hand cut the sentiment banner, but used the Count Down Die cut for the smaller banner, trimming off a bit to layer two patterned papers. "HAPPY" was die cut with the Headliner alphabet, and the Wonderful Words: Birthday die and stamp finished it off. All the dies are from Papertrey Ink.

Here's a closer look:

HappyBDDetail

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: True Black & Smoky Shadow (PTI), Bazzill textured from scrap folder
Patterned Papers: Studio Calico
Dies: Fabulous Frames, Wonderful Words: Birthday, Headliner Alphabet, Count Down banner (PTI)
Stamp: Wonderful Words: Birthday 

Merry & Bright: CAS(e) This Sketch #52 & Simon Says

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It's been a wild couple of weeks, almost no creative time at all, and even less to get a blog post pulled together. But I really liked the sketch this week at CAS(e) This Sketch so I carved out enough time this afternoon to get a card made.

CTS_Sketch_52

Fortunately, this time the card came together relatively quickly just the way I envisioned it. I pulled out a new stamp and die, "Rustic Wreath," from Papertrey which I love.

Merry&Bright

Most of our Christmas cards this year are going to be photo cards that I ordered from Shutterfly. Nonetheless, I've decided I still need a few handmade Christmas cards. It's the first year in nearly 20 years that I haven't made all our cards, but we had a family photo taken this summer that I wanted to use on a card. The photo does not print particularly well on my printer, so I ended up at Shutterfly. It looks great on the screen, so I'm hoping I'll like it when it arrives.

Here's a closer look at the card:

MerryDetail

I think this card fits this week's Simon Says "Keep It Clean and Simple" challenge as well.

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Hope your week has been a bit less hectic. I'm looking forward to a pretty quiet weekend!

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Woodgrain (Simon Says), Bazzil
Dies: Rustic Wreath and Holly Jolly (Papertrey)
Stamp: Rustic Wreath (Papertrey)
Patterned Paper: Wonderland (Studio Calico) & a piece from the paper pack in the February Studio Calico card kit
Enamel dots: (Doodlebug Designs) 

Make It Monday

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Make-itMonday

Our recent trip was lovely and there will be photos to share, but for today I want to share a card I made for this week’s Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink. Although their stamps are my favorites, I don't often find time to play along with this challenge. This inlaid die-cut technique is one I’ve wanted to try for awhile, so I decided to put it to work for a thank you card for our friends in Charlotte. We spent a lovely day and a half with them at the end of our trip.

MakeItMonday

"Bubble Talk" was a rather impulsive purchase, but it's proving to be one of my favorite stamp sets with dies. I used it here as well as the "Wonderful Words: Thank You" die from Papertrey ink. After die cutting the main white panel with both dies, I cut the sentiment twice– once in Pure Poppy and once in Select White. Then I cut them apart, stamping the white "you" with one of the "Bitty Background Blocks II." They pop into the main panel as if they were one. The bubble die was stamped twice, once in Pure Poppy and then the sentiment was added in black.  It was a fun technique to try, and a great one for mailing since the card is flat. I'm sure I'll try it again.

Here's a closer look at the inlaid die cut:

InlaidDie

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Select White, Hawaiian Shores
Stamps: Bubble Talk, Bitty Background Blocks II (PTI)
Dies: Bubble Talk, Wonderful Words: Thank You (PTI) 

 

Tuesday Trigger: Apache Tears

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When I first saw the inspiration piece for last week's Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab World, I knew exactly what I wanted to do. Neither of these two cards come even close to the original idea. 

Autumn Arrows

I loved the arrows, and knew I had several stamps that might work. I decided on one of the arrows from Papertrey Ink's "Live Love Life," and stamped and hand cut multiple arrows in colors represented in the inspiration piece. I could not, for the life of me, get them put together in any way that I liked. Finally I just gave up. Later in the day I laid one of the arrows on some black cardstock, used a few die cuts from my "left-over die cuts" caddy, and came up with this.

HBArrows2

ArrowsDetail

Then yesterday after completing a card for another blog post, I used some of the supplies left laying on my desk to create this card. The Washi tape and tag from American Craft both have a chevron arrow design so I think it works for the challenge as well. Personally, I like this one a lot better!

XO

XODetail

 

Card Recipes:

Card #1: Cardstock: True Black, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz, Harvest Gold, Orange Zest (PTI)
                   Stamp: Live Love Life (PTI)
                  Dies: "You" (Simon Says), Headline Alphabet (PTI),  Typewriter Numbers (Memory Box)
                  Corner Punch 

Card #2: Cardstock: Select White, Pure Poppy
                  Patterned Paper: Hip Hip Hooray (American Craft)
                  Clothespin (American Craft)
                  Stamp: Balloon Bash (PTI)
                  Die: Fabulous Frames (PTI) 
                  Twine: unknown

Happy Fall: Two Challenges and Fall Foliage

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When I saw this week's CAS(e) This Sketch I knew exactly what stamps I wanted to pull out. 

CTS_Sketch_48

I've always love the "Take Three" series by Papertrey Ink, and the fall images are great. I chose pumpkins for this card.

HappyFall

You can see by the shadows that the pumpkins were attached with some dimensional tape. This card also meets the challenge at Addicted to CAS:  Autumn/Fall.

ATCAS - code word autumn

We had a fabulous weekend in the Adirondacks this past weekend. We left at 6:00 am, stopped in Old Forge for a hearty brunch, and dropped off the intrepid backpackers around noon.

IMG_4944ed_blog

Bob and Tracy have been working to hike most of the 46 High Peaks in the Adirondacks. Cathy and I have done a few as well with our kids when they were growing up, but we gave up serious backpacking quite a few years ago. After dropping the guys off, we head for Keene Valley for a bit of shopping (turned out neither of us bought a thing), and then checked into our hotel in Wilmington, NY. This was the view of Whiteface Mt. from our balcony.

IMG_4950ed_blog

We drove into Lake Placid, did some window shopping and had a lovely dinner overlooking Mirror Lake. The next morning we had a fabulous breakfast at our favorite diner, did a bit of shopping, and then changed into our sneakers to walk around Mirror Lake. 

IMG_4957ed_blog

It was a stunning day, in the mid-70's and sunny. By the time we got around the lake (about 2 1/2 miles) we were pretty warm and headed back to our hotel. We sat on our balcony, had some veggies and dip, and enjoyed the wonderful fall day. We decided not to drive back into Lake Placid and went to a lovely restaurant just a mile or so from our hotel. We'd been there before. The food is great, and very reasonable. I'll leave you with one last photo of the stream that runs by the parking lot of the restaurant.

IMG_4963ed_blog

The leaves are beginning to turn here, but it will be a couple of weeks before it's as beautiful here as it was in the Adirondacks. (The guys, by the way, had a great time, and added another peak to their list.)

Papertrey Ink September Blog Hop #2

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The afternoon flew by, but I did have time while watching The News Hour tonight to get another card made for the Papertrey September Blog Hop. "A Wreath for All Seasons" has long been a favorite, but I haven't pulled it out in a while. This month's challenge to include a wreath on your card was the perfect opportunity. Here's another look at the inspiration photo:

PTISeptBlogHop

I still have several October birthday cards to make, so that's the direction I took.

FallBD

I did the stamping on a piece of Rustic Cream Cardstock and then embossed it with my new Burlap Impression Plate.  The Brilliance Pearlescent Ink for the berries and part of the sentiment has a lovely sheen, so I chose some shimmer cardstock in rust and brown for the card itself. Here's a closer look at the pretty shimmer.

FallBDDetail

I found some rhinestones the perfect color and added a strip of them below the sentiment. I think my friend will like this tribute to her fall birthday!

I'm also linking this up with this week's CAS-ology Challenge which is Autumn.

Week 63 - Autumn

 

Papertrey Ink September Blog Hop

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Knowing I'd be arriving home from Chicago late last night, I got one project for today's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop done before we left. The challenge was to create a project with a wreath, and it was the perfect opportunity to get a head start on the gift exchange tags I need for Tracy's family. Here's the beautiful inspiration piece:

PTISeptBlogHop

I got so busy this morning unpacking and organizing for a new project, that I nearly forgot to get this posted.

ChristmasTags

I pulled out an old favorite, "Rustic Branches," which works perfectly on the Tag Sale #4 die. I tried a couple different techniques for embellishing the berries, but settled on adding a drop of Glossy Accents to each one.

TagsDetails

Each tag is tied with a piece of Pure Poppy Dotted Ribbon.

I'm hoping to find time before the links close to make another card. I've pulled out two more stamp sets with wreaths that I love. We'll see how the afternoon goes!

Runway Inspired #43

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LelaRose_007_1366.450x675

The minute I saw it, I fell in love with the colors and and the grid pattern of this Runway Inspired challenge piece. So I've been thinking about it, and finally just under the wire, I got a card made. 

YouDetail

The die cut "you" was laying on my desk from a previously "failed" attempt on another card, and I found the black and white grid paper in my scrap drawer. I think it's an old Paper Loft paper. 

You

And then the rest came together easily. A perfect card for all kinds of occasions depending on what is stamped on the inside. Most likely it will be a birthday card.

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Select White, Summer Sunrise, True Black (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned paper from scrap drawer
Die: Thinking of You (Simon Says); Double-ended Banner (Papertrey Ink)
Sentiment Stamp: You (Simon Says) 

Thanks

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Next to birthday cards, I make more thank you cards than anything else. That's because I'm a lucky lady and have so many wonderful opportunities and wonderful friends. I needed a few this weekend. When we were in Chicago, I had a chance to visit an Archivers store and came away with a few new paperpads and treats. It's fun to bust out the new goodies when it's time to craft.

ManyThanksDetail

One of the hottest trends now is the chalkboard craze. My Mind's Eye has a great little 6X6 paper pad and some darling tags. I used both on this card.

ChalkboardThanks

I'm linking this up to the Papercrafts September Challenge Gallery appropriately called "Chalkboard Craze."

As soon as I saw this stamp set, called "Arrows and Elements" being used on some of my favorite blogs, I knew I wanted it. But it was out of stock for awhile. I was able to order it when I was away, and it was here when I got home. It's by a relatively new company, Reverse Confetti. 

JustSayinDetail

The frame, the banner and the sentiment are all from "Arrows and Elements." The script "thanks" is an oldie but goodie by AMuse.

JustSayin

And finally an ombre Thanks using an Archivers exclusive stamp that I picked up the last time I was lucky enough to be close to a store. (The nearest Archiver is a little over four hours away from Rochester!)

Thanks

Although the colors are quite different, I'm linking this up to the Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab for the Honoring Ombre challenge.

Ombre

 

Card Recipe #1
Cardstock:  Select White, True Black (Papertrey Ink]
Patterned Paper: Chalk Studio (MME) 
Tag:  Chalk Studio (MME)
Stamp: Fillable Frames #1 (Papertrey Ink)
Silk ribbon: Papertrey Ink, colored with a Copic marker

Card Recipe #2
Cardstock: Select White, Pure Poppy, True Black (Papertrey Ink)
Stamps: Arrows and Elements (Reverse Confetti), thanks (A Muse)
Die: Notched Star Banner (Papertrey Ink) 

Card Recipe #3
Cardstock: Select White, Summer Sunrise, Pure Poppy, Orange Zest (Papertrey Ink)
Stamp: Thank You Grid (Hero Arts for Archivers)
Pearls: A Muse & Recollection 

 

August 2013 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

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I knew Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop came the day after the Stamp-a-Faire, but I had no time to prepare ahead. Luckily, the inspiration pieces are great, and meant to help you complete a card quickly. Since I need a couple birthday cards for guys in September I chose this combination of colors and sketch.

BlogHopSketch

I followed the sketch almost exactly, skipping only the ribbon/twine & bow. I pulled out some Fine Linen and True Black patterned papers and cut strips for some of the diagonals, and two thinner strips of Dark Chocolate. The 2012 Birthday Tags were a perfect answer for the circle element in the sketch.

BlogHopBDDetail

The Birthday Tags cut perfectly with a circle punch and I added slightly larger True Black and Fine Linen circles as mats.

BlogHopBD

Quick and easy—another sketch to come back to when I'm in a hurry for a card. You can find the other color combos and sketches here.

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Classic Kraft, True Black, Fine Linen (PTI)
Patterned Papers: True Black, Fine Linen (PTI) 
Stamp: 2012 Birthday Tags (PTI)
Circle punches  

Sweet Sugar Coated Embellishments

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After a fantastic dinner with a group of church folks last night at a new restaurant, Revelry, I took a look at the rest of the Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-Faire Challenges. There are a few more I'd like to tackle, and I managed to get this one done this morning. Glitter was the focus for this challenge, and I ended up making a masculine card! I would have never thought glitter would be appropriate for a guy, but I do like this one.

GlitterBDDetail

Danielle Flanders demonstrated how to use Score-tape to creat a striped, glittered die cut. It was much easier than it looked thanks to her great directions, especially the quick way she took care of all the negative space after the Score-tape was applied. 

GlitterBD

I wasn't quite sure what to do after I finished the sentiment, but found the perfect Washi tapes and some black enamel dots to finish off the card. A little glitz is good for the guys, too, I think.

I just realized today is also the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop which I always enjoy. Is it possible to have too much inspiration? It's a good thing I'm in need of some cards for September! Hopefully, I'll be back later today with another card or two.

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Smoky Shadow (PTI), Medium Morning Mist (WorldWin)
Stamp & Die: Wonderful Words: Birthday (PTI)
Washi tape
Glitter: Ultra-fine Crystal (Mark Enterprise)
Enamel dots: My Minds Eye 

Mixing Mists to Match Challenge

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Stamp-a-Faire Logo

I have a second card completed for a challenge at the Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-Faire. For this one I mixed rubbing alcohol with a reinker to create a mist. It was easy to do, and I'm quite sure I'll do it again. My misting bottle is a mini-mister by Ranger so I had to make significant adjustments to the quantity, but it worked really well. Originally I tried a white embossed design like Nicole demonstrated and wanted to mist with Lemon Tart, a rather pale yellow. The white embossing just did not show well so I turned the watercolor paper over and misted the back side. Then I die cut the three flowers from Beautiful Blooms 2.

DearFriend

Much to my surprise, I liked the design created by my flawed embossing attempted and ended up using those instead! I decided to use another of the sketches from the first challenge to put together the card.

Sketch2

DearFriend1

Sticking with my goal to use my newer stamps, the sentiment came from Delightful Dahlias Additions. On Monday a group of us are taking a good friend out to lunch to celebrate her retirement. This will be the perfect card for a garden loving lady!

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: watercolor paper (Canson), Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise
Stamps: Delighful Dahlias Additions
Twine: Papertrey Ink
Pearls:  Kaiser
Dies: Beautiful Blooms 2 (Papertrey Ink), Tender Leaves (Memory Box), Happy Everything Tags      (Spellbinders)
Ink:  Lemon Tart for mist 

Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-Faire

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I've been "off the grid" for a lot longer than I expected. I really thought I'd have time (and energy) to blog from Chicago, but I was wrong. By the time we'd spent the day unpacking boxes and organizing Sarah and Adam's new house, all I had energy for was reading a few blogs! It wasn't all work and no play, however, so I'll be back with some photos of our week there. But today, and this weekend, I'm hoping to find time to play along with some of the challenges at Papertrey's second annual Stamp-a-Faire. 

BestWishesDetail

The first challenge of the day was a color and sketch challenge. The color combinations and sketches could keep me going all day, but new challenges will be popping up all day long! I'm quite sure I'll be back to play with more of these combos before long.

I chose this color combination to start with:

ColorRecipe1

And this sketch:

Sketch1

My personal goal is to use some of the newer stamps and dies that have arrived in the last few months. For this card I chose the dies from Maille Belles new set "Bubble Talk." None of the sentiments with that set fit my needs, so I turned to an older set, "Fillable Frames #7" for that.

BestWishes

I followed the sketch almost to the letter, just substituting the talk bubble for the circle. The inside sentiment is an anniversay one. I think I'll use this sketch again. It seems really versatile.

Card Recipe:
Cardstock: Enchanted Evening, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Rain, Select White, New Leaf, Limeade Ice
Die: Bubble Talk
Stamp: Fillable Frame #7
Enamel Dots: My Minds Eye