postmarked missing you.

I know I'm late to the whole post-card party, but I couldn't resist.  Have you been *wasting* time on pinterest, like I have?  (I could argue the whole "time enjoyed isn't time wasted" but for now, let's just say that there are sometimes more important things in life than looking at pretty things...) My friend recently said that if she spends time on pinterest before bed, she dreams pretty things :)

I've loved looking at all the wedding stationary that has this whole vintage postcard vibe....

I'm obsessed.  sigh.  If only I could re-plan my wedding... without actually having to go through a wedding again, lol!  

So, being completely inspired, I came up with an-almost-1-layer card (if you don't count the 2 popped-up elements).  I love the depth and interest that I managed to create on this one layer!  

Here's a close-up of the text portion... with a bit of masking, I kept the text-style II background within the blocks to make it look like a hand-written postcard (but prettier.  No one wants to see my handwriting, believe me.)

Thanks for looking!

happy monday!

Here's a quick card I made with PTI's botanical silhouettes:

I was inspired by this card.  I love the bright colors, the sponged-blue-ink around the edges and the twine around the bottom.  For the sentiment, I used the new PTI set, wonderful words additions - but without the dies.  I stamped Y-O-U from an alpha set I already had.  Gives it a different look, no?

Hope this was a bright and cheery way to start your beautiful day.  Happy Monday!

Flowers.

It's PTI blog-hop time!  I'm so excited to see what everyone's come up with - there are so many ways to use flowers in our work.  Since I'm desperately longing for a real spring (the kind that comes with sunshine and some warmth) I decided to go all "birds and blooms" with this one.

For each flower, I cut 6 flower-fusion #1 shapes.  Each layer was folded, folded again and then stitched in place.  I love the frayed edges, and that each flower looks a bit different.  I also die-cut the banners from an old t-shirt and stamped on them with text-style II.  I did the same thing on the leaf die-cut after stamping it with vintage cream.

I think I'm a little obsessed with banners lately.  Love making them, love looking at them.  There are a few that haven't been taken down in the house from the kids' parties...I even whipped up a cute banner for my kids to hold up during our family photoshoot this morning.  Speaking of which - time to put on some makeup and get everyone going!  I can't wait to sit down with a tea later this afternoon and make my blog-rounds!  Have a great day and thanks for looking.

MIM - sympathy.

Sympathy cards are hard enough to send out, let alone create.  It's a fine balance between somber, elegant, and uplifting at the same time.  When I saw that the PTI: MIM challenge was sympathy cards, I decided to add to my stash... I figure that when you NEED a sympathy card is probably not the best time to be creating one... you know?

I have never tried the "emboss-resist" technique before, but gave it a whirl here.  The clear-embossed florals (from PTI's "larger than life") "resist" the ink that I sponged and stamped on top - so cool!  The bird is from SU's "notably ornate" set, and was "kissed" with PTI's "text-style II".

birthday drive-by.

I know I said I would do an "elegant" card next, but ummm.... baby steps, m'kay?  There are no googly-eyes on this card, and only a mildly punny sentiment.  I would like to think I'm moving in the right direction :)

I stamped the truck (from SU's loads of love set) onto some Basic Grey designer paper.  The gifts got stamped on the other side of the same paper.  I love paper-piecing as an alternative to coloring the images sometimes - it gives such a different look!

The background was stamped with the Hero Arts clouds background stamp, and I softened it a bit by sponging some blue ink around the edges.  The grass was created by snipping a fringe all along a strip of Old Olive paper.  The whole thing was foam-mounted onto some Kraft paper.  I stamped SU's A to Z onto the kraft base, so it could peek through the "hole" I punch out of the cloud layer.  The "driving by" sentiment was tucked into the curves of the car.  Thought it looked smart that way.

On a completely unrelated note, do any of you moms with little ones ever get embarrassed by your kids?  Not when they're babies and throwing a tantrum.  That happens to all of us (I hope).  I mean, I took my 2 older ones to a birthday party and my usually too-cute-for-words 4 year old was yelling at some other little boy with his hands on his hips:  "you just don't do that!  that's not nice and don't ever do that again!"  The boy (who is older and much bigger than Thomas, which I think only makes it more ridiculous) was just standing there with his arms up in the air, all "what did I do?  what did I do?"  HA.  And that was just one of many off-putting moments for me.  So please, make me feel better by sharing your own story.  Or advice.  Or contempt for the fact that I was really embarrassed by my own son :)

Happy weekend!

fruit salad

I guess we're continuing our cutesy, punny streak on the blog - I promise my next card will be completely elegant... we'll see if I can pull that off, since it's been awhile...

I pulled out the new-to-me lawn fawn set "silly valentine" and stamped the fruit.  After I colored them in with copics, I created a mask for each and randomly stamped with PTI's "text style II" over top.  I used LF's "smitty's abcs" to create my saying.  I was racking my brain for what could work with the cute fruit and that's what I came up with.  What d'you think?  I added some basic grey paper to the bottom of the card and stitched and stuck everything to an SU kraft card-base.

This card was created especially for my first guest-blogging experience.  My awesomely prolific and self-professed non-crafty friend, Bethany, invited me over to her blog to share a bit about myself and my creative process.  I'd love it if you would check-it-check-it-out!

sew blessed...

it's not a typo.

it's the cheesiest pun ever.  I live for this stuff.  My hubby recently asked me why I gravitate towards the cornier stamp-sayings... it's inexplicable, really.  All I know is that pun on the page = smile on this gal's face.

I missed a few episodes of PTI's MIM, but I thought I'd catch this one under the wire.  The challenge is to selectively ink up only part of a stamp.  I didn't have any stamps that read: sew blessed to call you friend (and why is that?  why would you offer a sewing set without including a few winners like that line? hee) so I made my own.  The s-e-w is from PTI's simple alphabet set, and the "blessed to call you friend" normally has a regular s-o in front of it.  After inking up the set, I used my finger (most people use a baby wipe, but I was too lazy to walk across the room...) to wipe off the s-o from the sentiment.  And thereby, a new, punnier sentiment is born.

In other news, the rest of the stamps are SU.  I stamped the dress-forms in versamark ink and stamped and cut out the measuring tape and the spool.  I wrapped some embroidery floss around the spool to give it some interest.  A little pin stuck through there finished it off... don't let your kids touch this card... the embroidery floss looks touchably soft, but that pin... let's just say I didn't blunt the sharp edge.

Hope your weekend is all blue skies and sunshine!

i chair-ish you.

I love that armchair.  Like, really love it.  I don't know why I don't break out this set more often.  I saw this card yesterday and was totally inspired.  I stamped a sheet of white paper with "text-style II" and then stamped the chair outline on top.  Adding another layer, I stamped the circles pattern in SU's cherry cobbler ink.  A few swipes with a copic marker added some definition and then I used my colorless blender to spread the color around.  The SU ink bled (on purpose - ha!) and covered the whole armchair.

The little cushion got the same treatment.  Doesn't this look like the most comfy armchair ever?  I want to curl up in it!  I stamped the kitchy little sentiment in memento black ink, and the rows of text style II underneath in antique linen distress ink.  I ragged-up the edges of the white mat - to underline the comfiness of the worn-in couch.  Sooo, to say it plainly:  your friendship is so cozy, and makes me feel as comfortable and warm as sitting in the cushiest of chairs.  Cheesy?  you bet.  But sweet too, non?

ice cream, is anything more delectable than...

ice-cream... (anyone else remember that song from the Anne of Green Gables musical?  anyone?)  I'm probably all alone there, but I was alternatively humming that tune and *internally* yelling: "I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM" while crafting last night... hee.

I think I've determined that all food-image stamps should have faces on them.  Remember those cute vegetables from Paper Smooches?  These ice-cream cones from Basic Grey are pretty awesome too.  And I think I made them even more adorable by adding some googly to their eyes...  but some of them turned out a little too googly *coughpinkonecough*.

I broke out my newest PTI set for the background (chevron stripes) - I seriously love it.  A little PTI sentiment on one of the ticket stubs finished it off for me.  I need more cards like this in my stash - all-purpose cards that I can use for whenever.  Thanks for looking!

mother's day

"A mother is a person who seeing there are only four pieces of pie for five people, promptly announces she never did care for pie."  ~Tenneva Jordan

Whether you have a mother or you are a mother - this post is for you.  It's cliché - but true for me - that I never fully realized the love of a mother until I became one...

So, happy mother's day.  If you're a mom, I hope you feel loved and appreciated in a special way.  If you have a mom, go ahead and put her up on a pedestal... where she belongs anyways...

Big birthday wishes

A little change of pace.

I was asked to make a birthday card for a couple celebrating their 25th birthdays together - so cute!  It had to be masculine, but feminine at the same time.  Sooo, woodgrain and big, bold numbers for him, and soft papers with stitched details for her.  Hope they liked it!

woodland party hats

Party-season is almost at its end over at casa Muni... and it's bittersweet, I won't lie.  I'll be happy to have my living room look grown-up again - without pirates, ballerinas and woodland creatures...  but at the same time, there's something magical about being a kid - and I've really enjoyed creating and celebrating these once-in-a-lifetime events.

Also adding to the nostalgia is that fact that my baby will be 1 tomorrow.  O.N.E.  I can't believe it.  The year has, at the same time, flown by and lasted forever.  The sleepless nights, the ng tube, the gagging and vomiting - those things won't be missed.  But first smiles, toothless grins, and tiny little toes?  I'm on the verge of tears over it...

Her first birthday party will be something special for us.  The celebration of our last baby turning 1, and a survival party of sorts.  I have the rest of this upcoming week to craft and plan to my heart's content, so here's a first sneak-peak at what I've made.

Homemade party hats!  I had fun with these, but they were more trouble than I initially thought when I dreamed them up.  I found a party-hat template online (there are tons of them to be googled), and just cut them out.  I stamped them with PTI's woodgrain stamps and distressed the whole thing.  The mat-stack 4 shape got a gingham imprint.  The sweet little deer (same one as from this card) was stamped and cut out (the long way - I wish there was a matching die for this little darling!)  A strip of green card-stock was fringed and fashioned into grass under the deer's feet.  hooves.  whatev.

The final, fun touch?

Soft, red-yarn pom-poms.  I love them!  If anyone is interested in how I made them, leave me a comment and I'll post a tutorial tomorrow... it's seriously easy and addictive.  I'm thinking a little garland of poms would be so cute.

Thanks for looking!