A Fabulous Day...

I'm sharing something soft and shabby with you today.  These sweet strawberries are from Market Street Stamps and can be found exclusively in their April kit: Vintage Spring Market.  I love them and think they are perfect for sending summer greetings!

The berries are paper-pieced then shaded with Prisma pencils. (Side note: I've had my pencils since approximately 1997 when Santa tucked them under the tree. How's that for a fun fact? ;)

I combined the Simple Circles & Heart border dies from PTI along the top then added a label and encouraging sentiment from Signature Series: Dress Form.  I really like everything layered up like this... lots of details to notice and enjoy.

I'm also adding this card to the PC Magazine Gallery Idol competition. (crossing my crafty fingers!)

I hope your weekend has been restful... I'm wishing you a fabulous day!

Stamps: Market Street - Vintage Spring Market; PTI Bells & Boughs, Fillable Frames # 7, Signature Series: Dress Form
Ink: PTI Fine Linen & Dark Chocolate; A-Muse Studio - Blush
Paper: PTI Sweet Blush, Fine Linen, & Vintage Cream; Echo Park - This & That 
Tools: PTI Simple Circles & Hearts border dies, Bells & Boughs dies; MFT Oval Stax, Fishtail Flag Stax, & Oval Decorative Doily die-namics

Sending Sunshine - Play Date Cafe #132

Hi friends!  This week at The Play Date Cafe is a favorite... it's Color Splash week!  I chose to create an encouragement card and send some sunshine to a sweet friend.   I'm also popping it as an entry into the Paper Crafts Magazine Gallery Idol contest.  

Black & White (or cream) + a "splash" of Mustard

I chose several of my Papertrey Ink sets to create with this week.  The background was stamped using Background Basics: Wrought Iron and my focal point is the  Garden Variety II frame combined with Simple Sunflower.  The flower centers are embellished with black pearls from this week's fabulous Cafe sponsor:

I hope you will join us this week at The Play Date Cafe.  The "splash" challenges always stretch me creatively and I have so much fun thinking in "black & white".  I can't wait to see what you create!

All Supplies are Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Simple Sunflower, Garden Variety I & II, BB: Wrought Iron
Paper: Vintage Cream & Kraft; My Mind's Eye 
Ink: Summer Sunrise & True Black
Tools: Simple Sunflower dies, Seed Packet Frame 2 die, Tiny Tags die; CSS Butterflies 1 die-cuts
Sassy Somethings: black pearls from Want 2 Scrap; Prima trim; Crate Paper button; True Black grosgrain

You Bring Me Joy - Play Date Cafe #131

Hi friends... I'm popping in today with a card for the Play Date Cafe that reminds me of a garden party... green grass, bright butterflies, and sweet friends.  Plus, the sentiment was a perfect fit for the opening round of this year's PC Mag Gallery Idol competition : encouragement.  Isn't it always the best feeling to get happy mail from a friend?!

Our color story this week:

Seaweed, Algae, Goldfish, & Black

I am head-over-heels in vintage love with the new Au Naturel set from Clear & Simple Stamps.  I used the insect medallions to stamp a background using two shades of light green ink.  I sponged the edges with tea-dye inks for a bit of distressing.

I've noticed a lot of stacked pre-made embellishments in my craft store lately and thought I would try to create one myself.  The details on my layers: PTI Doily Details, double-ended banner, stamped butterfly from CSS Butterfly Garden 1, CSS Build-a-Flower die-cuts, and finally an orange button tied with twine.  I had a lot of fun piecing it together.

We hope you'll join us this week in the Cafe... we always love to see how our colors inspire your creativity.  Plus, we have Simon Says Stamp joining us again this week as a sponsor... can't wait to see what you create!

All Supplies are Clear & Simple Stamps unless otherwise noted.

Stamps: Au Naturel & Butterfly Garden 1

Ink: PTI Spring Moss; SU! Certainly Celery; A-Muse Studio Pumpkin; Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper: Kraft Like a Rockstar (original & cream), Glamazon Green

Tools: Butterflies 1 die-cuts & Build-a-Flower die-cuts; PTI Doily Details die;

Gallery Idol: Congrats

I had a moment recently.  While prepping all the materials for a totally unrelated project (think: babies), I had an a-ha moment for the Papertrey Ink Alpha-block die.  Are you ready?  Are you sitting down?  SCRABBLE tiles.  Oh. My. Word.  The crafty-mojo goddesses are smiling on me. {click the picture for an enlarged view}

SO, a fantabulous idea such as this had to be for something special... something important... something sassy... something like PaperCrafts Magazine Gallery Idol competition.

I have to admit, Gallery Idol intimidates me a bit.  I mean, we're talking cream of the crop here - the most fantastic crafters from all around the world bringing their A-game to compete for some seriously awesome prizes.  It is worth a try - it is worth my best.  And scrabble tiles, my friends - well, I think they're pretty darn great.

My tiles were cut using coaster board and Papertrey's Alpha-block die then stamped with the My Favorite Things (MFT) Typewriter Alphabet (numbers are also part of the set).  I used Ranger Tea Dye distress ink and the PTI tea-dye duo for "antiquing".  A few of the tiles got a bit of Fresh Snow as well.  I didn't want them all to look the same - some needed to be more aged, etc.  Then, I embossed each tile with 2 coats of UTEE for dimension and shine.

The patterned paper is from October Afternoon and my tag was made using the MFT Notched Tag die-namic and stamps.  The little bit of sparkle makes me smile... something sassy to keep it "me".

Hope you have a great weekend... I've got Father's Day cards to get done so you can look forward to a few masculine cards next week.  HUGS!

What's that?  One more look?  Ok.

P.S. For those that love the little details: I had hubs look up the values for the Scrabble tile letters so that they would be accurate.  My type-A personality loves that sassy something!  ;)

Stamps: My Favorite Things - Typewriter Alphabet and Notched Tag stamps; Cardstock: PTI Kraft, Aqua Mist and Rustic Cream; Patterned Paper: October Afternoon - 5 and Dime collection; Ink: PTI tea-dye duo, Memento Tuxedo black, Ranger Tea Dye distress ink; Tools: PTI Seeing Stars dies and Alpha-blocks die, MFT 1/4" Rosette die-namic and Notched Tags die-namic; Other: Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel by Ranger (available at Michaels); Sassy Somethings: PTI Basic Black grosgrain, Glass glittered star from MemrieMare on etsy