CPS 144

This card is for this week's CPS sketch. I used Elzybells stamps, all else is SU except for Dew Drops. I used the Liquid Applique with glitter again. Card base is Bashful Blue textured CS, other layers are Pretty in Pink and Wild Wasabi.

Mojo Monday Sketch 115

This card is for this week's Mojo Monday Sketch. I really like this sketch--it's simple! Stamps are Elzybells. I stamped the image in black Stazon on watercolor paper and watercolored with various SU reinkers and an Aquapainter. For the "snow" I used Liquid Applique and sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds glitter on it while it was still wet. After it dried I heated it with my heat tool and it pops up--very pretty! I love this stuff for Christmas time! Card base and scalloped circle are Bazzill, ribbon is PTI, all else is SU. This was such a fun image to color! I hope you all enjoyed looking.

Holiday Button Bits

My friend Sandye from Splitcoaststampers sent me some images from PTI's Holiday Button Bits, so I have been making some projects with them today. She stamped these holly leaves in a dark green (SU's Handsome Hunter maybe) and I thought it might look fab with PTI's Raspberry Fizz. Well, (with apologies to Chris) it does! Card Base is SU Whisper White, green layer is retired Forest Foliage, corner punch is SU. Border punch is EK Success, all else is PTI. Thanks to Sandye for sending me these adorable images!

Angel card--double embossing

This card uses the double embossing technique, found HERE. I used SU Shimmer White, Allegro Cuttlebug embossing folder, and oval Nesties. I embossed the angel from SU's Holy Triptych in gold and again used the floating reinker technique to color her dress. I used Cranberry Crisp and Bravo Burgundy. I watercolored her hair with Soft Suede and her hands and face with Blush Blossom. I sponged the edges with Champagne Shimmer Paint and matted on Bravo Burgundy. I used retired SU organdy ribbon and Prima poinsettias and a gold brad. Card Base is SU Brushed Gold.

This is a fun technique and very elegant looking. Check it out! Have a great day!

Church Christmas Card

Hi, everyone, have not had much time for stamping lately, but I have been working on some things, and I finally got it more or less put together! My friend Banu is very good at combining challenges; this time I managed it. This is a 5 1/2 by 8 1/2 sized card, so everyone at church can sign it and follows this week's Mojo Monday sketch, and it is also my entry for Gina K Designs first ever customer blog hop! Here I used two of their latest releases, Festive Frame and Vintage Borders. I embossed the frame and sentiment in gold on SU shimmer white and used the floating reinker technique to color the poinsettias. Very quick and easy: I just wet the area with my Aquapainter, then picked up a little color on the end of it and touched it the the wet area. The color spreads out and after it dries, this is what you wind up with. I used an Aquapainter to watercolor the rest of the image in the usual way. Colors are Ruby Red, Handsome Hunter, Soft Suede, and Summer Sun. I used the retired SU Linen BG stamped and a mask and Sage Shadow ink to add a little detail to the blank areas of the frame. Next I used my Spellbinders Grand Borderabilities Poinsettia to cut and emboss the border in Real Red. I used SU's Champagne Shimmer Paint to sponge the central poinsettia image, tied on some gold ribbon (Hancock Fabric I think, from last year). The dark green layer is the retired SU Forest Foliage, which I think is a much prettier color than the current Handsome Hunter and so I hoarded some! I stamped an element from Vintage Borders in Champagne Shimmer Paint on this layer above the frame. Hope you've enjoyed this--I enjoyed making it!

PTI Swap Round 5--Sketch 1

This is my daughter's favorite of the three PTI swap cards I made for this round, and I have to say I think I agree with her. I wanted to do one that was not a Christmas card, and I love this little bicycle from PTI's Everyday Button Bits. I also really like this color combo. DP is PTI, CS base is SU Bashful Blue, layers are Enchanted Evening and Pure Poppy. I colored the images with Stampin' Pastels and a blender pen and sprayed with a fixative, and stamped the sentiment with SU's Craft White. You can't really tell from the pic but I did use zig-zag stitching on the DP layer. Maybe I should have used dark blue thread instead of white. Buttons and ribbon are PTI of course. You can see the sketch below. Hope you all enjoyed looking! Have a great day!

PTI Swap Round 5--Regular Card

This is my regular card for the PTI swap. It is also my entry for the CPS sketch this week. You can see it HERE. This card uses the PTI set Made of Snow. I paper pieced the hat, mittens, and scarf. DP used is last year's PTI, I think it's called Vintage Christmas. Base is Ripe Avocado, layer is Pure Poppy. I die cut two circles from Gina K's heavy base weight white CS with my inverted scallop circle Nesties, trimmed them down (it's more than a 1/2 circle), and embossed with my Cuttlebug snowflake folder. I used Real Red eyelets at the corners ( SU ret.) Small green buttons are from my LSS and pom-pom trim I found somewhere, JoAnn's or Hancock Fabric maybe, not sure.

I love this stamp set because it is so versatile. There are 2 snowman bodies and 3 heads, depending on which accessories you wish to add. I also really like this sketch and I'm pleased with how the card came out. Hope everyone likes it!

PTI Swap Round 5

Here is my card for the PTI Round 5 Sketch # 2. Not much stamping on this card. I was trying to think of something a little different to do, and I remembered I had these felt snowflakes from SU last year. I thought they went pretty well with the Rustic Snowflake DP and Holiday Button Assortment that I just got from PTI. CS is Pure Poppy. I added Stickles to the snowflakes because they looked a little plain, and the sentiment is from PTI's Signature Christmas. I'm afraid this card is a little boring--that's why I added the Stickles, to jazz it up a bit.

Here is the sketch--really cute sketch! More swap cards tomorrow--stay tuned!

Stampin Up! Workshop

Hi, everyone! Last Sunday I had an SU workshop at my house. My friend and demonstrator Karen showed us three cards and we made one, this first one here, which is my favorite. It is so elegant! She took 3 pieces of the thin chipboard used to stabilize a package of patterned paper, cut them into triangles and glued them together. She used this under an embossing folder, with the glossy CS inside the folder used various shims (each machine is different) and ran it through the Big Shot. This is the Petals a Plenty folder from SU's mini catalog. You can get a frame effect by getting a wood oval frame from Mike's and doing the same thing. Wood works better, because the chipboard compresses after a few passes. I absolutely love how this card turned out!

This next card is another of my favorites. We used the movers and shapers die from SU to create a window in the card front, then punched out the ornament (the punch is slightly smaller than the die) and adhered it behind the window. Quick, simple and stunning! Needless to say I ordered this die and the above embossing folder. (Karen's good, what can I say?) You can see the card front in the next pic. Sorry these are kind of out of order, I am still trying to get the hang of uploading pix on my new computer.

I just love that green snowflake paper, don't you? I never think to use green with snowflakes, only blues, purples and pinks. But this is just so fresh and crisp--makes me think of a cold snowy evergreen forest.

This last card uses shimmer paint on the old olive layer, though it's hard to see in the pic. (Yup, you guessed, it I ordered some of that too!). Karen showed us how to take the top note die cut and cut it repeatedly turning it each time to get this pointy circle. Very creative, if you don't have any Nesties. I also learned a new trick with my beloved blender pens. When I want to do two different colors on a stamp, I use two markers. Karen inked up the center stamp with an Always Artichoke pad, then removed the ink from the bird with a blender pen and colored it with a red marker. Turns out you can teach an old stamper new tricks!

All products used here are Stampin Up!, of course, most are from the holiday mini catalog. Hope you've enjoyed looking and maybe learned a trick or two yourselves!

Dad's Birthday Card

My mom's birthday is tomorrow. I already sent her a card but didn't have time to make a blog post about it. It was one I had in my stash anyway, because this week has been crazy busy and I just didn't have time to make one. But this morning I made this for my dad, whose birthday is Monday. Stamps are Gina K, stamped in Timber Brown Stazon on watercolor paper and colored with an Aquapainter and SU pads. I stamped the pumpkins first, masked them, stamped the scarecrow, masked HIM, then stamped the cornstalks on either side. I actually did one yesterday but colored the cornstalks green. Well, that makes no sense because by the time the pumpkins are ripe the cornstalks are kind of a goldy brown. So I re-did it that way. Card base is PTI's Orange Zest, sent to me by my dear friend whom I've never met IRL Banu. The orange and green buttons came from her too--thanks Banu! Card base is stamped with SU retired Canvas BG in Really Rust. DP and wood button are PTI, twill tape is SU (stamped with the sunflower image in this set), sentiment is from PTI's Birthday Basics. I love fall, it is definitely my favorite time of year. What's your favorite season?

Merry and Enchanted

Here is a card made with PTI's Merry and Bright. I just love blue and silver for Christmas! Christmas is also a time when I tend to do a lot of embossing--I guess because embossing just seems so festive and special. Here I stamped one of the trees from Merry and Bright Additions in Enchanted Evening. I embossed the star (from the original M & B) in silver. On the Enchanted Evening cardstock layer I embossed the scroll (or tree stand, depending on your point of view) in silver. Card base and layer is SU's brushed silver. Brads are SU, and cord is SU ret.

Hope you enjoyed looking!

FTL 13 Christmas Cards

Hi, I have been having the MOST fun with FTL 13! Here are some Christmas cards I made using this super easy sketch. The first 2 card bases are Close to Cocoa. I used Gingerbread House, a VERY old set from SU which I love and will never part with! I embossed the gingerbread men and candies in white and the greeting (from SU's Loads of Love--current) with red. I used blender pens and Stampin' Pastels to color the red hearts and candy stripes. Ribbon is from last year's holiday mini catalog, it's called alpine. Don't know if you can tell from the pic, but the button is heart-shaped and is from my stash, tied on with PTI's jute. The one with the candies was actually the second one I made, and I think I like it better--makes me think of "visions of sugarplums"!

The next card is basically the same.

This last card is done on Riding Hood Red. Set used is Loads of Love. Trees are embossed with green, greeting is stamped in Palette Burnt Umber. I made two of these just alike.

These cards will be for people around here. Family and friends far away are getting photo cards.

Have you started your holiday cards yet?

Mojo Monday 107 Button Bits

I finally got to play with my Button Bits set from PTI. I used the Mojo Monday sketch for this week, #107. Card base is Summer Surise by PTI, focal image is stamped on GKD layering weight. The rest is SU: Pacific Point, and Good Morning Sunshine DP. I layered one of SU's large round clear buttons over some of the DP, stamped the wing in Summer Sunrise and cut out. Small bird is one of SU's corduroy buttons in Pac. Pt. The eyes are a 1/16th punch hole stuck on with a drop of Crystal Effects on top. Butterflies are from PTI's Butterfly Kisses, stamped on DP in Kiwi Kiss ink and cut out, antennae added with marker. Ribbon is SU retired. Used Nesties and the SU tag corner punch as well. I love making this card--it is so cheerful! Hope you all have a great day, and work in some stamping time!

Farm Fever Get Well Soon

This is a card I made for our pastor who injured his back. I have a dirty little secret--I love puns! Oh, I can hear you all groaning, but it's amazing how many stamp sets are out there that use puns. Our pastor, judging from his sermons, is also fond of puns, so I thought he might like this. The set is Farm Fever, SU retired, and Farm Backgrounds from Pink Cat Studios. Card base is Gina K Luxury Base Weight in Pumpkin Spice. I also used GKD layering weight white for the focal image. Pinked circle was made with Nesties and Pacific Point CS (SU ret.) Corn stalk was watercolored and cut out. I used SU cotton twill, PTI wooden button and jute for the embellishment. OH! I almost forgot, I flocked the sheep (hmm, there may be some pun opportunities there!)--it actually shows up pretty well in the pic for once, go figure.

I hope you enjoyed this card, have a great day!

CAS With Sympathy

The mother of a friend of mine from church passed away unexpectedly last Fri. so I wanted to send a card to her family. Since I wanted to get it in the mail yesterday, I wanted a quick but lovely card and CAS came through for me! This actually uses a sketch from a while ago, FTL 13, you can see it HERE. I used Pocket Silhouettes and Warmest Regards (ret.) both from SU. Ink is Certainly Celery (SU) and ribbon is Sweet Blush Satin from PTI. Card base is Gina K Luxury Base Weight White. I almost think you could send a blank piece of this to a person, and they would still feel special because this CS is so amazing.

I have to say, I LOVE this sketch, and have lots of ideas to use it for Christmas cards. If you've never checked out CAS, you really should--they have some great sketches, and their DT always makes very lovely cards.

WCMD PTI Challenge--Mexico

My inspiration for this card came from the brightly colored floral images you find in Mexican folk art. I don't have any Spanish phrase stamps, so I had to go with English! CS is Summer Sunrise and Raspberry Fizz, DP is RF Mix. all by PTI, colored with SU markers (Summer Sun and Only Orange). Stamps are all SU, as are felt flowers and rhinestone brads. Sent is RF and Stazon Black. Enjoy!

PTI WCMD Challenge--Japan

The challenge was to make a card using Japanese art as an inspiration. I immediately thought of Out on a Limb, probably my favorite PTI set. I found my inspiration HERE. I used glossy CS and sponged my scene with Old Olive, Blue Bayou, Basic Gray and Soft Sky inks, using a torn paper mask. I hand drew some trees and smudged some Whisper White Craft ink in front of the mountain. Then I stamped the branch in Palette Burnt Umber, the flowers in Craft white (embossed with white), leaves in Old Olive, and berries in Tangerine Tango. Stamped the sentiment in the corner in Palette Burnt Umber. Card Base is Blue Bayou, finished off with some gold cord. I'm pleased with how it turned out. Hope everyone had a great WCMD on Sat!

Halloween Mini Pizza Box

Well, Stampin' Up! was my first stamp love, and my only one for years. But then the young and attractive PTI came along and turned my head. Since then there have been others, I admit it, but you never forget your first, right? LOL! SU is my go to company for Halloween stamps, probably because I have so many and I can't bear to part with them, even though they are all retired now, except for this one I just got, called Sweet Centers, from the Holiday Mini Catalog, and it's actually an all-season set. The neat thing about it is you can order treat cups that fit into the centers of the images to fill with candy or

confetti or anything you like! But instead of using one of those, I decided to try a mini pizza box. You can find the directions HERE. Everything I did to the box I did before assembly. I used Pumpkin Pie CS and used my coluzzle to cut a hole in the lid. I cut a square of retired SU Halloween DP, coluzzle'd it and added Lovely Lilac eyelets at the corners. I stamped my focal image in Kiwi Kiss on white CS and punched out a 1 3/4" circle in the middle. I cut a layer of Lovely Lilac CS and coluzzle'd a slightly hole in the center so it would show through the main focal piece. Then I used black Staz-on on a square from an

old PTI box. I adhered this to the back of the LL piece and adhered the whole thing to the top of the box. Next I stamped images from two retired sets on the edges of the box. "Happy Halloween" is from Spooktacular Greetings, and the border is from Happy Fright Night. I used Sticky Strip (aka Terrifically Tacky Tape or red-line tape) to assemble the box. This box is 4" square and 1" deep. That's a lot of candy corn baby! I'm thinking more along the lines of a big chocolate chip cookie or maybe a large thin brownie! What do you think? This project went together in a snap and was really fun to make. I hope you enjoyed it too. Thanks for looking!

ODBD Three for Three Challenge Card

I have become quite a fan of Our Daily Bread Designs stamps, particularly since I have been making cards for the church. ODBD is having a challenge to make a pocket card--you can read all about it HERE. I decided to make a double pocket card. You can find the directions HERE. I used SU Afternoon Tea (ret.) and folded according to directions. I made tags from PTI Vintage Cream CS, rounded the corners and used my SU eyelet border punch across the bottom. I used Sing to the Lord and stamped the scriptures on the tags in Close to Cocoa. I sponged with Groovy Guava (SU ret.) and stamped dogwood blossoms in Soft Sky (SU ret.). I added Groovy Guava double stitched ribbon. The butterfly on the front is die cut using SU Sizzix Butterfly die. I repurposed an old PTI stamp box for the die cut and stamped the Amazing Grace Hymn on it in Staz ON Timber Brown. I added pearls (from Hobby Lobby I think).






Here is a picture showing the tags. I absolutely love the way this turned out and hope you do too. I hope everyone had a good weekend and is looking forward to the week ahead. Thanks for stopping by!

Gina K. Autumn Blessings

I've been in love with Gina K. Designs' Heavy Base Weight Luxury CS for a while now. It truly is luxurious. But I finally tried their stamps too, and I really like them. Here I've used Inspiration Mosaic and Autumn Beauty. GKD also recently came out with Pumpkin Spice CS. This is what I used for the card base here. I have to say, there are other colors I like better. In any case I used the Inspiration Mosaic for my layout. I stamped one of the sunflower images and the pumpkins in Palette Burnt Umber on PTI vanilla. I made some patterned paper of my own using various images from the Autumn Beauty stamp set: Corn stalks on SU Ruby Red CS, branch on SU Pumpkin Pie, small sunflower on Summer Sunrise (PTI), and leaves on GKD Pumpkin Spice. Images are watercolored with SU inks. Sent. and leaves are stamped on vanilla, colored, sponged, punched out with SU large oval punch and mounted in Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware (SU ret.) Other patterned paper is PTI's Autumn Abundance, a gorgeous collection of DP. This card was very time consuming to make because of cutting out all the different squares, but I really like how it came out. If you were making multiple cards, you could have 1/4 sheets of each of your patterns, stamp the mosaic on each one, then cut them out so each card would have different patterns in each square. Hope you enjoyed looking! Happy Stamping!

Cards for church members

This is the card I made for the members of our church that can't make it to services. I used several sets from ODBD: Sing to the Lord (bird and dogwood blossoms), Amazing Grace Hymn, Scripture Collection 2 (on front) and Flourished Christian Symbols (inside). Card base is PTI vanilla, dogwood blossoms stamped in Soft Sky (SU ret.). Hymn is stamped in Soft Sky on vanilla and distressed with Close to Cocoa, matted with a C to C layer, distressed with Chocolate Chip. Bird is stamped in Versamark on vanilla and embossed in gold, watercolored with SU inks Soft Sky, Pink Pirouette, Cameo Coral, Wild Wasabi, Barely Banana and Close to Cocoa, cut out and popped up on foam tape. Scripture is stamped on vanilla in C to C, dogwood blossom stamped around edges with Soft Sky, punched with ticket corner punch (SU) and matted with C to C cardstock, also popped up.

Here is a detail of the bird, sorry for the blurry pic.

Here is a pic of the inside. Everyone from the church will sign these cards on Sun, so they have to be 1/2 sheet size instead of the typical 1/4 sheet size.

Hope you enjoyed seeing these cards as much as I enjoyed making them! Have a great day.

At Last! The Clock!

I have had this clock mostly done for several weeks now and finally put the finishing touches on it today. I bought this KaiserCraft clock kit from my LSS. They have a lot of really cute frame, shaped album, and clock kits. It comes with the pre-cut wooden parts and the clock parts. You decorate as desired! Here I used Good Morning Sunshine DP (SU retired), the bird chipboard (current SU catty), chipboard #'s and corner piece are not SU. I used acrylic paints to paint some of the chipboard and covered some with the DP. I used various buttons and ribbons(SU and PTI). The kiwi ribbon with the white polka dots is from the Pig Tales collection (SU retired). I never ordered it, so I put out a call for help on SCS and got some that way. I used Mod Podge to apply the DP. I used brown paint for the distressing.

Here is a detail of the ribbon and buttons. And of course my little angel-faced mischief-maker! Look at that gap across the front of her smile!

Here is a detail of the bird on the branch. I drew the veins on the leaves with a marker.

I am just so thrilled with how this turned out! Brad said "It's the best thing you've ever made." I don't know about that, but I love it and hope you do too. One thing I forgot to mention--the kit comes with an easel type stand, but I plan to hang it on the wall in my stamp room. Have a great day!

Brad's Apprentice Journal

On September 13, Brad and I will be beginning a course in the Apprentice program, which is a class designed to help you grow in your relationship with God. It is based on a book by James Bryan Smith, who lives here in Wichita and spoke at our church last Sunday, entitled The Good and Beautiful God, Falling in Love With the God Jesus Knows. You read the book, do spiritual exercises, keep a journal, and discuss your experiences in a small group. Everyone who's done it says it is amazing, and Brad and I are really looking forward to it. So I made him a journal. This is one of SU's chipboard covered books, covered with Basic Grey paper from long ago. The image is from ODBD's set Keep My Lamp Burning, and is the coolest lighthouse image I have seen--very collage-y. I inked up the stamp in Buckaroo Blue, then wiped the blue off the edges and corners and inked those up with Mellow Moss. I layered it on Buckaroo Blue and Mellow Moss CS and some Night of Navy and Mellow Moss eyelets and some hemp finished off the journal. I hope he likes it! I had a great time making it. Have a great day!

PTI Round 4 Regular Card 2

Well folks here they are AGAIN, On My Couch and OMC Additions! This uses one of my fave color combos, dark blue and rust. I think this would be a really good masculine card, maybe an anniversary card for your DH. It sort of makes me think of Archie and Edith Bunker on All in the Family. Is anyone reading this old enough to remember that show? My mom used to never miss it! BG is Polka Dot Basics stamped in Versamark and embossed with clear EP on Enchanted Evening CS, PTI's newest color. Sent is also embossed in clear. Chairs are stamped in Enchanted Evening, table is Burnt Umber, rug is SU Really Rust, and mugs are colored with RR ink and blender pens. Night of Navy eyelets (SU retired) match really well. I have to say, I never thought I'd use any of the couches and chairs except the one for paper piecing, but I really like this polka dotted one too! Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day.

PTI Round 4 Regular Card 1

Ugh! Sorry for the terrible pic! IRL this card is adorable if I do say so myself! I just love this PTI set by Lisa Johnson, On My Couch and On My Couch Additions, and I think I finally figured out why! When I was younger (before I discovered stamping), my hobby was dollhouse miniatures. My mom and I were both totally into it, and I have every intention of going back to it someday. But with this set, it's like having a paper dollhouse, you can move furniture around, create little scenes...it really is just so fun. I bet people who like to decorate would love this set too. This is a variation on a card I did for an earlier post, seen here. BG is stamped with Versamark ink on Aquamist CS using Journaling Lines by PTI; I was going for a wallpaper sort of effect. Sofa is stamped on Green Tea DP, cushion is stamped on Ripe Avocado. I used Borders and Corners Oval around the sentiment and Nesties to cut it out. Mini library clip is from SU. Books and picture are colored using SU inks and blender pens. Hope you get some relaxing time today--whether it is reading, stamping or just vegging out in front of the tube!

PTI Round 4 Swap CAS card 2

This is my for my second spot in the CAS category over at our regular PTI swap. It is the FTL #56. When I saw it I immediately knew what I wanted to do, so this card went together super fast. CS, DP, ink and ribbon are all PTI, ribbon slide is Styled Silver Hodgepodge Hardware by SU. Colors are Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides, and Green Tea DP. Ribbon is Ripe Avocado. Set is Life by Lisa Johnson. Like the one from yesterday, this is a great go-to sketch. Hope whoever gets one likes it! Thanks for stopping by--have a great day!

PTI Round 4 CAS Swap

This is my first CAS card. A lot of my PTI swap buddies over on SCS like the Clean and Simple Blog, so Stephanie, our hostess for this round, added a CAS category to our swap. I had never tried this, but I really liked it! They have some great sketches, and you can knock out a card pretty quickly. These sketches would be good if you were mass-producing cards.

This is the Fall-To sketch #2. This one just really appealed to me. I used SU Soft Sky CS, Western Sky DP, River Rock and Blue Bayou ink, River Rock ribbon and Antique Brass Hodgepodge Hardware. Sent and flourish is from the PTI anniversary set Everyday Classics. DP is distressed and sponged with RR ink. This pic doesn't do the card justice; it was cloudy when I took it. Sorry! I really liked this sketch and think I will be using it alot in the future. I hope you enjoyed it, and I can't wait to see what my fellow swappers come up with. I tell you, I just love this group. They are VERY talented and also a lot of fun!

Gourds

My dad is what we in our family politely refer to as a "gourd enthusiast". In other words he is crazy about gourds! Gourds are (as you may know) relatives of squash and pumpkins. Lots of people like to use the small brightly colored gourds as fall table decorations. Not my dad! These days he mostly grows them for size. He can get them HUGE! He enters them in the fair every year and nearly always wins. Not this year unfortunately, as he and Mom came up here for a week this summer to stay with me and Emily while I was on call and Brad and Matt were away at Scout camp. All the gourd vines (they take over the entire yard) died of thirst. Sorry, Dad! This particular gourd is an African storage gourd (I left my card easel in the pic so you could see the size). They are lovely, round and smooth. While Dad and Mom were up here, I tried something I'd been wondering about for a long time--rub-ons on a gourd. Here I used some old SU ones. After I'd applied them I sprayed it with Matte Acrylic Spray. I think it turned out really cool! He also grows a couple of other varieties, dipper gourds (really long neck) and figure 8 gourds (I think they're called). They have a head, neck, and body, so you can tie a lanyard or something around the neck and carry stuff in the gourd. There is also a little wild gourd that grows near where he lives that is round and a bit smaller than a baseball. I think one reason my dad likes gourds so much is that he is a historian (retired) and gourds have played a big role in the way people live for centuries. My brothers and I used to be sort of embarrassed by the gourd thing, but then we found out that there are a LOT of "gourd enthusiasts" out there--some of them extremely artistic!

Keep in mind if you decide to decorate a gourd, the smaller they are, the more curvature they have. Less curvature makes it easier to apply the rub-ons, although if you use a vine type as I did here, it works pretty well. Hope you've enjoyed today's somewhat different post!

August PTI Blog Hop

Well, it's August 25th and time for another PTI blog hop! This month's challenge was what autumn means to you. Autumn just happens to be my favorite season. Every year when spring rolls around, I waver a bit, but when it's autumn again, I'm sure: definitely autumn! We have a book of poems and paintings by Douglas Florian titled Autumnblings. It is a wonderful book. Here is a poem from it that tells my favorite part of autumn.


AWE-TUMN

When summer's seams have come undone,
then greens to reds and purples run.
A palette falls to forest floor,
And autumn leaves leave me in awe.

So of course I had to make a card celebrating the changing colors of fall.

Here I used Father Knows Best. I stamped the trunk and outline leaves on PTI Vintage Cream CS in Palette Burnt Umber ink. I used SU More Mustard, Pumpkin Pie, Really Rust, and Ruby Red ink pads and blender pen to color the leaves and sponge the focal piece. I embossed the sent from Out on a Limb Sents and the two little leaves from Father in gold on PTI Dark Chocolate CS. Nesties were used to cut out pieces of Autumn Abundance patterned paper, which I downloaded samples of for free from PTI--a nice service that they offer. This is possibly the prettiest DP they have ever come out with! I added PTI's wooden buttons, tied with gold cord. I used my eyelet border punch from SU on the Pumpkin Pie layer. This card just glows IRL.






Another thing about autumn is Thanksgiving. Autumn is a time for reflecting on our abundant blessings: family, friends, home. So I used the Gratitude sentiment from Spiral Bouquet. The BG DP and eyelets are retired SU. Leaves are punched out of Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate, and Autumn Abundance from PTI, Pumpkin Pie from SU.

Well, I hope you enjoy autumn as much as I do, and that you've enjoyed these cards as much as I enjoyed creating them. Can't wait to see what everyone else has come up with!

Elzybells B-day card for my Sis

Here is another b-day card, this time for my sister. It's from a clear set by Elzybells, and I thought it would be perfect for this type of card. Images colored with Stampin' Pastels. Dazzling Diamonds glitter on polka dots on package. CS is Gable Green, Taken With Teal, and Whisper White by SU. DP is Junkitz. No embellies other than the glitter. These images are so cute they don't need embellishing!











Here's how it looks open. I hope she likes it!

Hope you have a great day, thanks for stopping by!

Elzybells Birthday card for my SIL

My sister sent me some money to by EB stamps for my b-day and I finally got around to ordering them. Thanks Lin! These little bears are just the cutest! This sketch is from the SCS sketch challenge 239. It was a couple of weeks ago, I never got it uploaded. Bears are colored with SU Stampin' Pastels. DP is old Junkitz (Salsa I think). CS is Taken with Teal, Gable Green, and white by SU. Ric rac is SU Pig Tails, retired. Sent is from Mixed Messages by PTI. Rhinestone brads are SU. This is for my SIL. Unfortunately it is about a week late! Luckily she has been on vac the last several weeks so she wouldn't have gotten it on her birthday even if I had gotten it mailed on time. I hope she likes it--she is a SU demo so she may not LOL! Just kidding. Hope you all are having a great day--thanks for stopping by!

Boxed Birthday

This card was made using my new Out of the Box and OOB Additions, again by Lisa Johnson. CS is GKD white, PTI Enchanted Evening (also ink and ribbon). DP is Summer Sunrise Bitty Boxes, and flower is stamped in Summer Sunrise and cut out. I stamped happy in SS and birthday in SU white craft and embossed with white EP. Rhinestone in center of flower is SU. This card is very plain, I'm at a loss to know what to add. Any suggestions? Maybe some buttons...Hmm.

Don't forget to stamp today! Thanks for looking.

Friends to the End

Here is another card from the PaperCrafts sketch. Cardstock is Summer Sunrise, Plum Pudding, and Ripe Avocado by PTI, white by Gina K. DP is Plum Pudding Bitty Boxes. I stamped the small flower from Friends To The End by PTI on white, colored with SU inks. Stamped leaves on the avocado. Cut out, popped up. Focal piece is made with Nesties, jute twine is from PTI. You know, I wasn't crazy about the flower in this set at first, but I like it now. But the main reason I ordered this set is because it has a lot of really great sentiments for friends. You can never have too many sentiments in my humble opinion! Have a great day!