Saturday, February 25, 2017

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

Today is shaping up to be a pretty fantastic day!! My sweet family is out of town and I have THE ENTIRE DAY to do as I please! I started off with a croissant and coffee from my favorite local bakery, Wild Love Bakehouse, and then straightened and cleaned up my craft space (and watched a few guilty pleasure movies, too!). I love a clean workspace but it never lasts once I actually start working!! Today is Papertrey Ink's monthly blog hop and since I've been participating in everything they have going on lately, I knew I had to do this one, too. I was going to try a new technique on black cardstock, but I have just rediscovered Graceful Greetings (and learned there's a second Graceful Greetings stamp set that I am currently on the waiting list for), and was inspired by a card I found on Pinterest by Betsy Veldman that used darker, richer colors. The colors I used are PTI Autumn Rose & Orange Zest, and SU! Daffodil Delight (my favorite yellow). I love the interest the black leaves add to the card. Thanks for stopping by today and enjoy this beautiful weekend!!

Monday, February 20, 2017

PTI 10th Anniversary: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: 2016


So, in a previous blog post, I told you that Brushed Blooms is one of my top 5, all-time favorite stamp sets. Painted Petals is another one!! I saved my PTI reward points for a long time and I'm so glad I did!! I didn't really like the reward set for 2015, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this one for 2016!! My card is a direct copy of a PTI design team member's card but I love it so much and I'm always so thrilled to send this card to friends! Painted Petals is a very forgiving stamp set, meaning that if you have trouble stamping layers perfectly like I do (even with my MISTI sometimes), you can still create beautiful cards. In fact, I used this set just last week to create two lovely sympathy cards. I often use the sentiments with other stamp sets because I love the way the words nest together. In fact, I would love to see more sentiment sets with smaller phrases that nest with a larger word. Thanks for stopping by and have a GREAT day!!

Sunday, February 19, 2017

PTI 10th Anniversary: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: 2012

The year was 2012. The stamp set was Hello Sunshine. A cute little set that I honestly do not use nearly enough! I'm sure I bought it for sentimental value - I sing "You are my Sunshine" to my little girl nearly every night so I tend to buy any sunshine-themed stamps. The inspiration for this card came from Lynn Put whose blog is called The Queen's Scene. She makes beautiful cards! I always like to have a few "thinking of you" card on hand to send whenever the need arises. Thanks for stopping by and enjoy your evening!!

PTI 10th Anniversary: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: 2015

I am so excited to use one of my all-time favorite stamp sets today, Brushed Blooms, to celebrate 2015! It is so versatile and beautiful and easy to use. I took my inspiration from a card by Dawn McVey, who always creates the most beautiful projects. I especially love the layers of colored cardstock on the right side of her card. I used PTI's Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy, Limeade Ice, & Simply Chartreuse; SU! Daffodil Delight; and Tim Holtz Broken China. The Scripture, which is one of my favorites, is from New Every Morning. This card is for a dear, sweet friend of mine is who is headed to M.D. Anderson in Houston next week for follow-up cancer treatment. I am so very hopeful that she will do great and will be able to have her port removed. Thanks for stopping by and have a great week!!

Tuesday, February 14, 2017

PTI 10th Anniversary: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: 2009

While my little one is napping, I decided to knock out another Papertrey Ink challenge! The year is 2009 and it was a great year for PTI. Friends till the End if one of my favorite stamp sets that was released that year especially when I discovered that I can stamp those wonderful flowers on patterned paper!! I recognized the patterned paper on Debbie Olson's card as soon a I saw it but it turned out to be Cosmo Cricket instead of PTI. You might think it odd that I still have paper from 2009 when it's 2017 but if you ARE thinking that, then you are obviously NOT a serious papercrafter!! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!!

PTI 10th Anniversary: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: 2010

I am super way behind on my projects for Papertey Ink's 10th anniversary extravaganza but I hope to catch up tomorrow. Today, Nicole and the gang are reminiscing about 2010, which was a tremendous year for my husband and me because we had our precious bonus baby in September of that year!! Very, VERY unexpected but so very wonderful! Anyway, I actually had one of today's spotlight sets, "A Wreath for all Seasons." It's a great little set that I often pull out especially in the fall, although I may work on a little spring wreath this year! Anyway, here is a sweet little Christmas enclosure card that I made for today's challenge. Thanks for stopping by and have a great Valentine's Day!! And remember, it doesn't matter what your Valentine's Day looks like as long as it's meaningful to YOU!! YOU ARE SPECIAL!!

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Make it Monday 275: Stamped Dangles

This week's PTI Make it Monday is stamped dangles, a really cute idea that I will definitely try again. I dug through a bunch of PTI stamp sets to find all the little trinkets I could - Reasons to Smile,
Circle Scribbles, Lovely Laurels, Stylish Sentiments: Birthday,
Think Big Favorites #14, and Mini Blooms. I used the following colors: PTI Limeade Ice, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Hawaiian Shores, Berry Sorbet, & SU! Melon Mambo. Thanks for stopping by and have a happy, healthy week!

Saturday, February 11, 2017

PTI 10th Anniversary: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future: 2007

Today, PTI is revisiting some of their first stamp sets and the challenge is to put a modern spin on them. I didn't have any of the old ones but I did have this stem from Painted Petals. I used a color recipe from the most recent Stamp-A-Faire ad now it's my favorite!! The sentiment is from Sketched Shapes which I bought for a reason and, of course, now I don't remember why! Does that ever happen to y'all? Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend! 

Friday, February 10, 2017

Papertrey Ink: Celebrating the Past, Present, and Future

I have been a fan of Papertrey Ink since 2008. I was a Stampin' Up! demonstrator for a few years and they are the company that turned me on to stamping so I was reluctant to "jump ship" and see what PTI had to offer . . . that is until I won the entire release in March 2009!! Holy cow, that was AMAZING!! So, in one fell swoop, I had a bunch of new photopolymer stamp sets (new to me!), ink, ribbon, the whole shebang (Life is still one of my very favorite stamp sets. It's so versatile!)! Since then, I have bought lots and lots and LOTS of supplies from PTI, attended Stamp-A-Faire in Cincinnati (LOVED!!), and faithfully followed along month after month to see the fantastic and creative new ideas the Design Team had to share. I have created a bunch of cards over the years using PTI products and my stamping style has evolved right along with them. But I think this card that I made and posted last November is one of my very favorites! I love the bright color combo and crisp die cuts and happy sentiment - EVERYTHING! I'm sure there will be lots of challenges this week to celebrate 10 YEARS OF PTI and I plan to participate in all of them!!

Thursday, February 9, 2017

Bold Blooms by Julie Eberole

HOLY COW!! Do I have a new favorite stamp set!! I stumbled upon Bold Blooms by Julie Ebersole stamp set on Instagram (which my bank account really wishes I'd stay off of for a while!) and completely fell in love! This card took forever to make because I used my MISTI to stamp every single image three times but it was totally worth it. I love these colors together - PTI Berry Sorbet, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse, & Hawaiian Shores, and Memento Angel Pink (thanks, annieb!!). Thanks for stopping by today and have a great Thursday!