Hello! I have a very feminine card to share with you today for the PTI Blog Hop. I LOVE the inspiration photo this month!! The color combination is so striking, and I love all the different textures as well. I also am a big fan of stripes combined with florals, so I knew I had to use that in my card.

I used Background Basics: Super stripes to make the angled stripes in the background. I made sure to use the same angle as the birthday sentiment. The main flowers are popped up with foam tape, and a few sequins give it a special, shiny touch!

Thanks for visiting! Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Ruby Rose, Background Basics: Super Stripes
Cardstock: PTI - White; Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy
Dies: PTI - Ruby Rose
Ink: PTI - Hibiscus Burst; Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy, Pretty in Pink; Tim Holtz Distress - Mowed Lawn
Other: Sequins, Foam Tape

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

Hello! I have a fun watercolor card to share today for this month's PTI Blog Hop. This inspiration photo was all it took for me to make sure I absolutely participated in the blog hop this month! Isn't it just gorgeous?! Those colors are so ME! I was so excited to have this as my inspiration ;)

So, I wanted to basically replicate the look above. The hexagon cover plate popped into mind, and I randomly water colored the background layer using the same colors. I'm still relatively new to this water coloring thing, so it was kinda experimental!! I really LOVE the look though.

The sentiment is from Fancy That and is stamped with True Black ink on vellum. A few sequins add a finishing touch!

Thanks for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of the hop!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Fancy That
Paper: PTI - White; Strathmore - Watercolor; Vellum
Die: PTI - Hexagon Cover Plate
Other: Watercolor Paints - Hobby Lobby, Sequins

Top Dog Dies Chevron Card Tutorial

Hey there! My latest tutorial for Top Dog Dies has now gone live on the TDD blog. Make sure to check it out. If you like CAS, graphic cards, I think you will love the tutorial!

Here's a peek....

Top Dog Dies January Release!

Hi crafty friends! I'm popping in for an exciting post. Top Dog Dies has released 6 new exclusive dies! I've been having fun playing with the new goodies over the past week, and you can see what I've created down below, after I introduce the new dies to you!

 Dotted Tags

Elephants

 

 Dotted Borders

 Feathers

Little Birds

 

Corset Background

Aren't they just awesome?!?! I'm loving the little details of the pierced holes around the edges of a lot of these dies. It gives them such character!

I hope you enjoy my cards using the new stuff! I've included the supply list at the end of the post for each card. If you are looking for even more inspiration, make sure to check out the Idea Gallery on the TDD website!

Supplies:

Happy Birthday card:
Dies: TDD - Feathers, Dotted Tags  
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Sketched Shapes (sentiment)
Cardstock: PTI - White
Patterned Papers: Amy Tangerine - Plus One; MME - Moments
Other: Twine, Washi Tape, Foam Tape

You and Moi card:
Dies: TDD - Corset, Corset Background, Dotted Borders, Elephants (small hearts) 
Cardstock: PTI - Rustic White, True Black; Stampin' Up! - Lavender Lace
Other: Patterned Paper: Pebbles

Thanks card:
Dies: TDD - Little Birds, Dotted Borders 
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Mini Blooms (sentiment)
Cardstock: PTI - Rustic Cream; Stampin' Up! - Kraft
Other: Patterned Paper: Poteeka Souflee - The Paper Studio; Sequins; Rainstones (PTI)

Baby Elephant card: 
Dies: TDD - Elephants, Dotted Tags
Cardstock: PTI - White, True Black
Patterned Papers: Lawn Fawn - Let's Polka; Pebbles
Other: SU Corner Rounder Punch, Sizzix Embossing Folder - Stripes, Foam Tape

Masculine Birthday

Hello! Poppin' in real quick to share a masculine birthday card I made for my BIL. I'm really diggin' this!! I rarely use a black card base, but LOVE the contrast of the white and yellow with it! The yellow chevron is washi tape, BTW!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Watercolor Wonder, Giga Guide Lines (sentiment)
Cardstock: PTI - White; Stampin' Up! - Basic Black
Ink: Staz-On - Black; Sweet Stamps - White Dye Ink
Die: PTI - One Liners: Happy
Other: Washi Tape

World Card Making Day!

Hey there! Happy World Card Making Day! I hope you were able to squeeze some time in to create for this very fun day ;) I think this is the first time in a few years I was free to craft on WCMD!!

I have a card to share with you, but I must tell you that I didn't actually make it today. Is that wrong?! I worked on creating cards for the WCMD contest being held by Paper Crafts and Scrapbooking Magazine. Therefore, I cannot share those cards with you here on the blog. Instead, I'm FINALLY posting another card that I made for the Stamping Royalty 2014 contest earlier in the year (I was a winner in the Thank You category!). It's not my winning card, but one of seven entries I sent in. I really love this one! It's very different from my usual CAS style. Hope you enjoy!

If you're curious and want to see another card I submitted to the Stamping Royalty contest, check out this post ;)

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Doodlie Do, Background Basics: Super Stripes; Uniko Studio - All Occasion Sentiments #1
Cardstock: PTI - White; DCWV - Gold glitter cardstock
Ink: PTI - True Black
Other: Prisma Color pencils

Moxie Fab World: Graphic Garland

Popping in quickly to enter my card into the Moxie Fab World Fabulous Friday Challenge: Graphic Garland! I LOVE this photo inspiration!!!!!!!

Here's my super CAS birthday card!
Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Live Love Life; Giga Guidelines (Birthday sentiment)
Cardstock: PTI - White, Smokey Shadow; SU - Only Orange, Taken with Teal, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Ink: PTI - Orange Zest, Smokey Shadow; SU - Taken with Teal, So Saffron, Certainly Celery
Dies: PTI - One Liners: Happy

A Bridal Shower...

A fellow Uniko Studio DT member, Ren-Yi, just got married last week! Beverley over at Uniko has organized a wonderful surprise Bridal Shower link up for Ren-Yi, and anyone is invited! Just pop on over to the blog to see the details and all the wonderful cards people have created for her!

I just want to say Congrats, Good Luck, and Happy Wedding Day to Ren-Yi! I hope it was all you've dreamed of and that you made many wonderful memories to look back on! ;)

I am very, very happy with how this card turned out! One of my favorite places for inspiration is Pinterest, and this is the photo I used for inspiration....

Pinterest Source

Isn't it just gorgeous?!?! I can't stop looking at it! One of the most beautiful wedding cakes I've ever seen.

So, I knew I had to include the gold chevrons on my card. And the beautiful, soft colored flowers. Here is what I came up with...

First, I embossed 2/3 of the card base with a chevron stamp and gold embossing powder. I'm amazed I got them to line up that well, LOL! Then I used PTI's Rose Posie die-cuts and starting stamping away on each die cut. Some of the flowers (and leaves) are adhered directly to the card base, and a few in the foreground are popped up with foam tape. Finally, a simple but appropriate sentiment is stamped at the bottom, on the card base.

Here is a bit of a close up to show the shine of the gold embossing powder!!

I hope you like what I've created, and I would love to hear feedback! Have a super duper happy day! ;)

Supplies: 
Stamps: Uniko Studio - Background Builders: Chevrons, Flower Power #3; PTI - Rosie Posie, Rosie Posie Step 2
Cardstock: PTI - Rustic White
Ink: PTI - Hibiscus Burst, Lemon Tart, Classic Kraft; SU - Groovy Guava, Cool Carribean, Certainly Celery, So Saffron
Dies: PTI - Rose Posie
Miscellaneous: Gold embossing powder, Foam tape

Papertrey Ink March Blog Hop

Here's my clean & simple card for this month's PTI Blog Hop. It's all about HIGH GLOSS, and I used Glossy Accents to highlight the black vases. I also covered every dot on the designer paper with the glossy accents too! See the second photo for a closer look. I think it looks pretty cool! How about you?!

Oh, and the three Hibiscus Burst flowers on the left vase are from the Circle Scribbles stamp set!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Hopping :-D

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI -Gracious Vases, Circle Scribbles
Cardstock: PTI - White
Ink: SU - Sage Shadow; PTI - True Black, Hibiscus Burst
Other: PTI - Aqua Mist Patterned Paper, Glossy Accents, Foam Tape

Papertrey Ink MIM #153

So this week's Make it Monday finally suckered me into trying water coloring for the first time. I watched Dawn McVey's video and figured it looked easy enough! I made a trip to Michael's and got me some watercolor paints and brushes.

I needed a little inspiration to get me started, so I browsed my Color Palette board on Pinterest, and came across this one....what a beauty, right?!?! I just LOVE LOVE LOVE those colors...

source

...and I just LOVE LOVE LOVE how this came out!!! Let me tell you, I never realized how relaxing water coloring is!! As a crafter and artist all my life, I've always gotten such an awesome feeling after transforming a plain, white piece of paper into something so colorful and beautiful! It was so fun watching the colors blend together as I painted each one. I will definitely be doing more of this in the near future!

After embossing the sentiment with clear powder, I started at the top with the lightest paint color and worked my way down, slightly overlapping each color onto the previous color. Once dried, one corner was punched with a corner rounder, as was the card base, and adhered securely to the base. That's it! Easy peasy!

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Think Big Favorites #3
Cardstock: PTI - White
Ink: VersaMark clear embossing ink
Other: Clear embossing powder, Watercolor Paints (Michael's), SU - Corner Rounder punch

Papertrey Ink February Blog Hop

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!!!! ooohhhh wait....it's really not spring yet. Bummer. Well, I guess we can all stop and pretend it's spring while we sit and hop along to see beautiful PTI spring-like stamped creations ;) I sure hope I can inspire you with my spring-y card...

The Fancy Folk Art die is cut three times and layered together to form a thicker, 3-D look.

I have also entered this into the Hexagons: Happy for Hexagons Challenge in the Moxie Fab World!

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Hopping :-D

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI -Fancy Folk Art, Happy Hexagons, Doodlie-Do (sentiment)
Cardstock: PTI - White, Soft Stone
Ink: SU - Cool Caribbean, Pretty in Pink, Pale Plum,; PTI - True Black
Other: Happy Hexagon Cover Plate (PTI); Fancy Folk Art Die; Copic Markers

PTI MIM #152 - Layering Dye & Pigment Inks

Man, it's been quite a while since I joined in on Papertrey's Make it Monday. I thought this week's was pretty cool, so I made time to get crafty!

I stuck with my usual CAS style, and used the ink layering technique on the three large butterflies. When I tested it out on a scrap piece of cardstock, the craft color ink showed the white dots much better, and so did the pink ink. Unfortunately, on this piece, it didn't show up as well. I think this technique takes some practice and experimenting to master, because I had a hard time getting it to really show with certain ink colors. Anyone have any tips for me?

Anyway, the card base is stamped with mini butterflies along the edges. The next layer is embossed with a chevron embossing folder. For the focal point and ink layering technique, I repeatedly stamped the dot image from the Grunge Me stamp set, going from left to right across the panel. Once it was dry, I stamped each of the butterflies on top of the white pigment ink. Finally, the birthday sentiment was added in black ink. Oh, and the two corners of the focal panel have rounded corners.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI -Beautiful Butterflies, Grunge Me (polka dots), Quilled Elegance (sentiment)
Cardstock: PTI - White
Ink: SU - Purely Pomegranate, Basic Black; PTI - Classic Kraft, Royal Velvet
Other: Stampin' Up! Embossing folder - Chevron; Corner Rounder Punch, Foam tape

PTI Anniversary

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

I've been spending lots of time during the last week or so checking out all the new products that Papertrey Ink will be releasing tomorrow for their 7th Anniversary!! It's been so fun reading and seeing all the new stuff along with awesome samples by Nichole and the Design Team!

I'm playing along with the Day 1 Challenge, where you choose one of the 7 color combos provided, and one of the 7 sketches provided, and then create your card using those. The first sketch caught my eye right away and there was no turning back :) I thought it was perfect for my clean and simple style.

Here is the color combo...

I used the Live Love Life set my Maile Belles. It's the first time I used it, and I know it's gonna get a lot more inky time! I felt it needed a little more something since it's a one layer card, so I picked out some coordinating sequins and placed them randomly.

I would love to know what you think. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 
Stamps: PTI - Live Love Life
Cardstock: PTI - White
Ink: SU - Cranberry Crisp, Basic Black, So Saffron, Cool Caribbean, Pink Passion
Other: Sequins (Joanns)

Runway Inspired Challenge RIC #50

Hello and HAPPY NEW YEAR!! I can't believe 2013 is over and we're into 2014 already. Time flies.

I'm celebrating the new year by participating in the current Runway Inspired Challenge. It was so nice to sit down and stamp and not be thinking about any Christmas/Holiday planning and prepping that needs to be done! Now it's time to relax ;)

I studied this Runway Inspired photo for awhile before starting on my card. I was deciding exactly what elements to use as my inspiration.

I like the white flowers and the angle that is formed with the jacket being unzipped. Diagonals are such a paper crafting trend these days, so I wanted to incorporate that into my design.

The card base is cream, and the angled panel is PTI's Fine Linen. I repeatedly stamped the large flower cluster stamp from PTI's Mini Blooms with Versamark Ink, and embossed it with white embossing powder.

The "Happy" is die cut from gold, shimmery card stock. I think it looks so cool! :) Finally, "Birthday" is stamped on the same angle, right above the die cut.
Thanks for taking a look. So nice to have you stop by! Happy Stamping :D

Supplies: 
Stamps: Papertrey Ink - Mini Blooms, Modern Basics (Birthday)
Cardstock: PTI - Fine Linen; SU - Very Vanilla; DCWV - Gold Glitter cs
Ink: Versamark; PTI - Classic Kraft
Other: PTI - One Liners happy die collection; Sweet Stamps white embossing powder

Papertrey Ink MIM #140

This week's Papertrey Make it Monday is Ink Pad designs. I have several different brands of ink pads in my collection, and I combined them to create this masculine CAS birthday card.

Thanks for taking a look!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI - Happy Birthday Mini
Cardstock: PTI - White; SU - Basic Black
Ink: PTI - Classic Kraft; Stampin' Up! - Cranberry Crisp, Baja Breeze; TH Distress - Faded Jeans, Pumice Stone
Other: PTI buttons; Black Embossing Powder; Foam Tape

Moxie Fab World: All That Glitters is Gold

I haven't jumped on the Gold bandwagon much lately, but I decided to use it in this anniversary card for my husband. I'm entering it in the All That Glitters is Gold Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.

I've incorporated gold in several ways. The two outside hearts are embossed with gold ep (the middle one is red, glittery ep). The edge of the card front has a strip of gold, glittery cardstock. My favorite part is the stitching. I used gold embroidery floss along with the Sew Easy tool to stitch a zigzag pattern over the part where the card base and the gold strip meet. I think it gives the card that extra special touch ;)

Thanks for stopping in for a visit!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI - Heart-2-Heart #3; Uniko Studio - Pure Florals: Chrysanthemum
Cardstock: PTI - Rustic Cream; Glittery Gold cardstock
Ink: Stampin' Up! - Real Red ; PTI - Classic Kraft
Other: Gold embossing powder, Red glitter embossing powder; Gold Embroidery Floss (stitched using the Sew Easy tool)

Papertrey September Blog Hop Challenge

I've got a card to share with you for this month's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. The theme is Wreaths, and I experimented a little and came up with something a little different for mine ;) I would love to hear your opinions on this creation!

So for the base of the wreath, I first cut out a ring using two Spellbinders circle dies and cardstock. Then, I wrapped PTI Raspberry Fizz Satin Ribbon around the ring, on a slight angle so that it overlaps each other and the cardstock cannot be seen. It was adhered to the card base using Score Tape.

The flowers are from Mini Blooms, and three of them I embossed using gold embossing powder (they look a little green in the photo). They were also attached using Score Tape (LOVE that stuff!).

I added some gold trim at the top...not sure if I like it. What do you think?? I felt like it needed something. Maybe a gold bow would have worked better...

***I am also entering this in the Moxie Fab World: All That Glitters is Gold Challenge!***

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at my card!!

Supplies
Stamps: PTI - Mini Blooms
Cardstock: PTI - Rustic White
Ink: Stampin' Up! - Night of Navy, Pink Passion, Mellow Moss
Other: PTI Mini Bloom dies; Gold embossing powder; Gold trim (Michael's), Raspberry Fizz Ribbon-PTI