Happy Birthday again! :)

I hope you guys are all having a good weekend! We're still cleaning here... my fam's gonna be here soon and well, the condo's only so big. Gotta remove some of the clutter (especially since my mom's bringing me a sewing machine!!!!)

Ok, one more birthday card! Can you ever have too many birthday cards? :-D This is for the TSG 17 challenge again -- just couldn't put down the Branching Out set!

I decided for this one to go with a more masculine approach. See, no ribbon or glitter! I was actually *this* close to putting glitter on it before I remembered that my hubs hates the glitter (and especially hates when it gets tracked into bed -- which is like every day, poor guy!). So for all the guys everywhere, I kept my "glimmer" to a minimum.


Stamps: (Branching Out) There She Goes, (Birthday Basics) PTI
Paper: (Enchanted Evening) PTI
Ink: Versamark
Accessories: (Silver Detail Embossing Powder) Ranger, Silver Jewelry Thread

SNSS Blog Hop - Verse time!

Welcome to the last day of the SNSS blog hop! :) This month we're focusing on bible verses (and in case you didn't come here from Deedee's blog, be sure to check out the blog hop -- links on the side bar).

The nice thing about the SNSS stamps is that there's so many scripture sets to choose from (and they're using King James which I know is important to some people). I decided upon a verse from Thanksgiving Scripture. It's been a year to be super thankful about (as every year is). From a stamping perspective, it's been a year where I've met so many great ladies and had so many great opportunities! From a non-stamping perspective, I became a Mrs. and well, can't complain yet!

I picked my favorite verse from the set and decided that it would go so well with my new Early Bird paper out (along with that adorable little chipboard bird!!) The nice thing about the chipboard is that it's a sticker! So don't try to apply adhesive to the back... it won't stick (I tried...haha).

To bring out some of the patterned paper a little (also lightens the card and makes the white panel where the scripture is not seem so out of place), I added some white faux stitching with my gel pen and my handy paper piercer. Tied a little red ribbon (to balance the red in the bird tummy and the red music note). Remember, rule of three!

I love the cheerful colors of this and isn't it just a fun way to bring a smile to a friend? Hope everyone's having a great week!


The next step in the blog hop is the ever so talented Ceal!


Stamps: (Thanksgiving Scripture) Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps
Paper: (Early Bird) Cosmo Cricket, Bazzill
Ink: (Ocean Tides) PTI
Accessories: (Early Bird Chipboard) Cosmo Cricket, Gel Pen, Paper Piercer, Ribbon

Happy Birthday TSG!

Wow, I can't believe August is almost over! Where does time go? It's still insanely hot here but it's supposed to cool down this weekend (thank goodness). Speaking of "thank goodness", I think the last of my bed bug bites are gone! I've been obsessively scanning our bed for bed bugs in case they hitched a ride home with my luggage (the hubs thinks I'm crazy -- but it grosses me out to think that I was bitten by bed bugs in my hotel bed). In case anyone ever thinks traveling for work is "sexy", I'll gladly show pics of my bed bug bites. ;-)

Ok, onto things that make me happy! Jessica challenged us to make some bday cards (TSG17) and I decided to ink up my newest TSG set Branching Out. Love this set! :) So fun to play with!

I decided to go with a nice cheery birthday card. Since I'm always behind with cards, I figured it was time to do spring bday cards! Haha! Maybe I won't be behind NEXT year. Wishful thinking...

So onwards with the card deets! I love using tags as part of my card. It's just a fun way to add some design. And it also keeps me from sticking with my straight layouts. For some reason, I'm ok with slanted tags but not other things! Haha!

I added some pearls as well, which I tinted pink with my copics. In hindsight, I might have tinted them a different color to stand out more. Eh, hindsight is 20/20! Since I didn't have any great bday sentiments with my TSG sets, I pulled out an old classic, Birthday Basics.


Stamps: (Branching Out) There She Goes, (Birthday Basics) PTI
Paper: (Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate, Cream, Bitty Dots) PTI
Ink: (Berry Sorbet, Dark Chocolate) PTI
Accessories: (Tag Die) Sizzix, (Pearls) Hero Arts, (Button) Making Memories, Twine, (Border Punch) Martha Stewart

August PTI Blog Hop

It's time for another PTI blog hop! :) It's been awhile since I've had a chance to play so I'm super excited to play this time around! This months theme was to be inspired by autumn. I've always loved watching leaves fall off the trees so I decided to play off of that theme.

Heh, this card is the first one that my hubby has gotten excited about. He was asking about how I got the leaves the way they looked and what the background text said. So cute! :)

Anyways, enough babble and onto the card deets! I really wanted to create a "tree" look rather than just one branch so I stamped the branch from Out on a Limb a few times. Then I wanted to give the leaves a fun fall look so I inked them up in Summer Sunrise and randomly dabbled poppy ink over it. I say randomly dabbled since it's really hard to roll the leaves . And I wanted to get some of the red on the inner leaves as well. Such a fun fall look though!

I also did the same thing for the separate leave and to create the falling look I sketched a trail in pencil and then pierced. Erased the line once I was done piercing -- easy peasy! I also added a touch of glitter to the leaf falling to bring a little more emphasis to it.

Since I hadn't inked up my text backgrounds yet, I decided it could brighten up the scarlet jewel paper just a touch. The scallops are just circles punched out and then I added a little bit of summer sunrise as a continuation of the sentiment and the leaves. I'm actually surprised at how much I love the summer sunrise with the scarlet jewel. I kept trying other colors but this is the combo I kept coming back to.

Hope you all are enjoying the hop! Can't wait to see all the great projects!


Stamps: (Out on a Limb, Out on a Limb Additions, Everyday Classics, Background Text) PTI
Paper: (Summer Sunrise, Scarlet, Dark Chocolate, Cream) PTI
Ink: (Summer Sunrise, Pure Poppy, White) PTI
Accessories: 3/4 inch circle punch

RSCC15 - Thanks so Much

Hope everyone's having a great week so far. The hubs and I are just chilling (each in front of our respective computers... such dorks I know!)

It's been awhile since I've had the time or inclination for that matter to play in the color challenges but I decided that I needed to get back into stretching my comfort zone. :)

So I have just a fun little card to share today with this weeks Raspberry Suite Color Challenge! We were to use melon, cream, moss, and a med pink. Hmm... such pretty colors until I saw how BRIGHT hibiscus actually is. And I just wasn't feeling bright tonight so I tried to minimize it to be just my accent colors (ribbon, flowers, sentiment)

I stamped one of the images from Life repeatedly in both Hibiscus and Melon Berry onto some cream cardstock. I added some leaves in spring moss just so it wasn't a sea of pinkness! Also to give it some depth, I stamped each image twice so you see some "lighter" flowers.

I used some fun ribbon I had laying around that I felt was very close to the Hibiscus color (and I couldn't find any hibiscus ribbon... the horrors! I will have to fix that on my next order). Stamped my sentiment on some hibiscus paper and popped it on!


Stamps: (Life, Out on a Limb) PTI
Paper: (Hibiscus, Moss, Melon Berry, Cream, Bitty Dots) PTI
Ink: (Hibiscus, Moss, Melon Berry, Cream) PTI
Accessories: Ribbon

Yay, the weekend's almost here! I'm counting the hours! :)

Today's card is a fun one using Light of the World. It's such a fun set, especially since there's enough detail that you can just emboss the image if you're not in a coloring mood. :-)

I used clear embossing powder on cream paper. Love the look. :) The cream really comes out! I had a lot of yellow buttons leftover... so onto the card they went!

Hope everyone's having a lovely week so far! :)



For more ideas of how to use Light of the World, check out the Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps gallery!


Stamps: Light of the World (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper:PTI (Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Cream), Basic Grey
Ink: Versamark, PTI (Dark Chocolate)
Accessories: Buttons (Making Memories), Twine, Corner Rounder (EK Success)

I'll Never Forget You!

Hope everyone's having a terrific week!

This is just a fun little card using Elly and Friends. I actually had this card sitting on my craft area for the longest time. I couldn't figure out how I wanted to finish it off. Do you ever do that?

I really wanted to stamp Elly onto a fun patterned paper. She's just a delight to paper piece! :)

For some fun texture, I ripped my cardstock to give it a natural feel. And to help her "remember", I gave her a little string on her nose. Heehee! Elephants never forget though!

I think my own crafty downfall is using black or brown to do my supplemental highlighting. I just can't use other colors it seems! I just love the way it brings out the color though! :)

I also own a LOT of black cardstock (thanks to my favorite crafty roommate who made a scrappy book for a friend of hers). At least I think that's where the black cardstock came from...


Stamps: Elly and Friends (Sweet 'n Sassy Stamps)
Paper: PTI (Aqua Mist, New Leaf, Everyday Blessings)
Ink: Pallette Noir
Accessories: Ribbon (Offray), Tag Punch (EK Success), Border Punch (Martha Stewart)