Tuesday Trigger: Poolside Inspiration

Cath has another Tuesday Trigger posted- here it is:


Gorgeous, no? Well the texture & the colors grabbed me. And since I have a million things I really should be doing- I thought I'd make a card instead! I wanted to try out the core'dinations cardstock for this- thought it would look great with the PTI impression plate. I wish I had a piece that was a little more green; this was the closest I had. And I wanted that punch of blue- hence the prima flower.

Not sure the woodgrain impression on the kraft shows well in the pics- but it adds nice texture in person. Seam binding & machine stitching finish it off.


This was my first time participating in a Tuesday Trigger over at Moxie Fab- always so much inspiration there! Go check out what the others have done with this challenge!

Thanks for stopping by- I'd love to know what you think! :)

April PTI blog hop!

I started playing along with PTI's blog hop three months ago- and I can hardly believe I've managed to play all 3 months!! Hooray! This month the challenge was to use tissue paper... Here's my take:


PTI berry sorbet & stamper's white cardstock, fancy flourishes stamps (in colorbox rouge and PTI fresh snow), fiskers border punch, several other scallop/flower punches, offray coral rose ribbon & I hand sewed those little pearls/ sequin/ bead combos....



I'd love to know what you think!! Thanks for stopping by & happy hopping! :)

EBTKS sketch challenge #13

It's the 15th of the month, so time for an EBTKS sketch challenge! Here's the inspiration:





And here's the sketch:


Well I, once again, must say thank you to the EBTKS gals!! I've really enjoyed being able to play along as a guest designer this month!!! This is a fun sketch, and after this week of sketches from Paper Crafts Connections, I realized that sketches can be a starting point, or a complete map for the finished product. This is my take:




Cardstock is PTI sweet blush & stampers white. PTI scattered showers umbrella that you may recognize from a banner I made in February with the emboss resist technique. SU! close to cocoa brown, clear embossing on PTI polka dots & text. The umbrella is cut out & popped up for dimension. A little tea ink to the edges, brown satin ribbon, and a doily finish it off.

This has been a great time-and I encourage you to head over to the EBTKS blog & play along!!

This month's sponser is---May Arts! They offer a fabulous array of gorgeous ribbons. The winner will receive multiple yards of 29 different ribbons--how cool is that? I wish I was eligible to win!

Thanks so much for stopping by- let me know what you think!!!

So Sketchy!

Kim Kesti had a little challenge to use a sketch from this weeks promotion of Paper Crafts go-to sketches. Above is the sketch I chose, but turned it upside down....

And look at me- breaking out of the pink- I know, you probably can't believe it either! The pp is Jenni Bowlin, green is OOOOOOLLLLDDDD Creative memories stamped with PTI text background in white. Sentiment is from PTI scattered showers stamped in SU! garden green (I think), and cut with labels nesties. Trim & buttons from my stash & a little crazy stitching for fun! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to know what you think!

Still in Pieces

You may have noticed my obsession with paper piecing- it's really Cath's fault! She has the paper piecing challenge going and I'm enjoying it!

This is another Pure Innocence image- watercolored with ink & pieced with MME pp (shocking, I know! :) Stamped in PTI smokey shadow on white cardstock, cut with nesties & layered onto smokey shadow & aqua mist. A little ribbon from my stash & stickles top it off!

Go see the other crazy talent at Moxie Fab!

I'd love to know what you think! Thanks so much for stopping by!

Pieced Pure Innocence

I've got another sweet pure innocence birthday girl to show you... isn't she sweet? I pieced her from that tiny stack of paper from Rubber Soul in Poulsbo. She's stamped on PTI vintage cream with PTI smokey shadow & watercolored with inks. The balloon has some clear glaze pen & there's some pink stickles on her barret & heart on her dress. I layered her on some Creative memories pink cut with my nesties, and also on more of that sweet paper which was border punched with the MS doily punch. PTI fancy flourishes is stamped on the left in SU! Old olive & May arts pink satin ribbon with a button tied on finishes her off....



Moxie Fab is still in pieces *giggle* so head over to check out the other great pieced goodies!
I'd love to know what you think! Thank you so much for stopping by!!!

Pure Innocence for my birthday girl....

Well Thursday was my sweet girl's 5th birthday. Yep, she's an April Fool's baby- this is the first year that she kinda gets that. She must have told us the same April Fool's joke dozens of times. And she still is telling me- ok, so she thinks April Fool's is for the whole month- pretty cute.
So I had to get this sweet Pure Innocence image just for her birthday. How could I not- the birthday girl is part of the set. It was meant to be! I paper pieced her with Jenni Bowlin paper which just happened to match my sweet girl's dress! Added some thread & pearls that also matched her dress & watercolored the rest. Added clear glaze pen to the balloon- doesn't really show in the pics. A ribbon ruffle (yes, I realize you're probably tired of both pink & ruffles from me....) with machine sewing down the center. I'm not a copic girl, so I added some chalk around the image to make it stand out a little more.


Moxie Fab still has their paper piecing challenge going on too- check out all the fab projects here!
I'd love to hear what you think!!
Thanks so much for stopping by- and Happy Easter everyone!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Pea!

Where did the last FIVE years go? I remember the day this sweet miracle came into our lives like it was yesterday (well, quite a bit better than yesterday, truth be told!) .... She wanted a barbie birthday cake this year- and let me know that it was ok if we bought it (we ALWAYS make the birthday cake!). I borrowed the cake pan, but I didn't have a ton of confidence in the barbie cake being delicious, or large enough to feed all the family (ok- to have leftovers!). So I compromised by making cupcakes too. And doesn't my girl have sophisticated taste? Her request was for mocha cupcakes...mmmmmm! Mommy can do that!

So here's our princess....

and her barbie cake (which did turn out edible!)

And the delightful mocha cupcakes (with Starbucks chocolate covered espresso beans, of course!) She picked out the sweet wrappers... not exactly on theme, but when you're five is there much difference between princesses & barbies?

EBTKS challenge 12: String...

I'm so excited to have been invited to be the Guest Designer with the uber talented kitchen sink girls!!! (pinch me!)

The challenge this go 'round was to use string on the card- my mind immediately went to balloons....

The card base & green layer are PTI. I die cut the balloons with the celebrations cricut cartridge. The patterned paper is from the tiny stack I got last summer at Rubber Soul in Poulsbo (WA).

A border punch of the same paper (fiskars), and the sentiment is from PTI's scattered showers (stamped in white & heat embossed). The 'string' is sewing machine thread!

This is a pretty clean & simple one- what do you think?

Thanks so much for stopping by- and a HUGE thanks to the Everything but the Kitchen Sink gals!
Head over & see what everyone else is doing with string!

Betsy's Thursday challenge

My cricut is smokin'! Can you tell? Betsy had another challenge with diecuts- paper piecing them! Again with the Storybook (I *heart* it so...). And here's another shocker- My Minds Eye paper! It's a little hard to see the stitching in the pics (if you click on them it may be more obvious)- I cut this 3 times, pieced it together & then popped it up on dimensionals- and thought this frame was too pretty to not incorporate! A little PTI flourish stamped in versamark & prisma glittered, and pom-pom ribbon trim.

Betsy suggested we add our cards to the Moxie Fab challenge going on right now too- 'picking up the pieces'! Head over to see some great paper piecing ideas!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I'd love to hear what you think! :)

Betsy's Friday challenge

Betsy Veldman is having a few challenges this week- all relating to paper piecing. Friday's challenge was to create a background- so I used my new go-to cricut cartridge Storybook to create this scrolly background; I used PTI tea dye inks on the card base & the scrolls, and the sentiment is from damask designs (spring moss ink). Nestabilities on pink felt for the bird. Those little pearls are from a local scrapbook store. Finished off with PTI spring moss ribbon.


Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to know what you think! Stop by Betsy's blog to see what others have done!

PTI blog hop!

My second PTI blog hop- and two months in a row!!!
I had a ton of fun last month and this month it was all about BUTTONS! I can totally do buttons!
I don't have any of PTI's button stamp sets- but thought they looked great with giga guidelines! And who doesn't love glitter? (Ok, my husband.....)
Guidelines 2 stamped in between, with little french knots- and a crepe paper ruffle!

Thanks so much for stopping by- I'd love to hear what you think!

EBTKS #11...Hope

Here I am barely under the wire again.... The challenge this go 'round was a sketch. I've had this in my head for a few days, but having the time to get it done, well.... I finally did tonight, so I apologize for the yucky night pics! Betsy Veldman did a post on dressing up dies today- funny, this was already my plan, but she prompted me to make it happen! This is the first time I've used "flair" on a card- takes me back to days of the letterman's jacket. Waaaaaaaayyyyy back!


The large butterfly is cut with a nestability, the smaller ones with the PTI die on felt. I used an embossing folder on the large cardstock butterfly, then added stickles. I couldn't help myself.

This one is going in the mail- I should've done it over a month ago- it's for my aunt. She's fighting, and it seems to be going well- thankfully!

Thanks for stopping by- I'd love to know what you think! :)

A Moment of your time....

Here's a link to take a simple quiz & give a book to a needy child! All you have to do is take the quiz (only 3 questions) and the organization will send the book! The goal is 90,000 books!!!http://k2kusa.org/

Consider sharing this on your blog too! :)
Thanks for stopping by!

Diggin' on Doilies & Lace....

Cath is having another great challenge over at Moxie Fab- using doilies & lace!
These are 4"doilies, and the top 4 have been glimmer misted & folded into quarters and adhered to the white bottom doily. I added a white flower that I had crocheted & topped it off with a yummy Jenni Bowlin button. The card base is PTI lavender moon, stamped with tin types (using versamark) and the sentiment is from damask designs (stamped in fresh snow & heat embossed with white embossing powder). I added some 1/4" May Arts silk ribbon & a Jenni Bowlin pin. This is the first time I've added a pin- I love them & have a couple different kinds, but have been hoarding them!! Hooray for using loved items!!!

Head over to Moxie Fab to see other lovely uses for doilies & lace!!!

Thank you so very much for stopping by- let me know what you think!!! :)

ETA- I see Betsy Veldman has a post about making your own flowers- this is similar to what I've done with the doilies- I folded mine back & forth (if that makes sense) for more ruffle....

Butterfly dreams...

I finally got a chance to use more than the sentiments from the Butterfly Dreams set! I made this for a friend last week, but didn't want to post it until I knew she'd received it!





What do you think?
And hope everyone had a little luck 'o the irish today!!
ETA- I guess I should've mentioned the deets! :) PTI butterfly dreams, fancy fluourishes & background basics text style, aqua mist & vintage cream cardstock, rustic twine, aqua mist, vintage cream & tea dye inks, little self-adhesive pearls (michaels) sewing machine, & eksuccess embossed curve punch- WHEW! That's one PTI card! I did distress both layers with tea inks, not including the punched bottom.....

Wishing you fair winds....

This was a card for my BIL's birthday- they're boaters too, and although none of us are sail boaters, I still thought it appropriate! Popped up the fore sail for some dimension & added that great core'dinations paper for the waves again. Through in my new May Arts twine for good measure!




Here's the inside- I really like this sentiment! :) (if you click on the pic it's big enough to read...)

Thanks so much for coming by- I LOVE hearing what you think!!

From Owl of Us...

Yes, it's true. I couldn't resist! I won this stamp from My Cute Stamps & needed to make a group birthday card. *giggle* And when I signed it, I also added "hope your birthday is a hoot". So incredibly corny. And yet, there it is!

PTI sentiment, but do you see that yummy pp & big red button? Jenni Bowlin. I *heart* it. :)

And I couldn't resist the glitter on his belly- also used a glaze pen on his eyes (her eyes?).

I also made (from scratch) MOCHA cupcakes for this event...go ahead and say "mmmmm". I'm going to go try one (I've been good all day!- but Cory says they're delightful- ok, he didn't use that word, but I liked the sound of it!)

AND, something that made me uber happy... I won the EBTKS challenge!! Yeehaa! There was so many wonderful entries, it is a HUGE honor to have been chosen!!!!

Thanks for stopping by- I'd love to hear what you think!

Let your dreams take flight....

Here's my latest fun! Over at EBTKS the challenge this month is to use fabric! I made the hot air balloon with some fabric I had on hand, the basket is from a starbuck's sleeve, and I wish I'd had this ready for Cath's 'floss' challenge! I think I'll submit it for the Stamping Olympics though.... :) The stamp is from PTI's new butterfly one, stamped in Smokey Shadow. PP is MME, and I was tickled pink to find it! It was just what I had in mind!

Thanks so much for stopping by!