Blogging birthday + giveaways!

It's time to celebrate my 1-year blogiversary!!!

This last year of sharing my cards & creations, and a little bit of me, has been so great.  And that, because everytime I have posted something, SOMEONE has popped by and encouraged me.  If you hadn't have been here, it would have been all depressing and *cricket noises.*

So thank you for saving me from that :)

And, because I like to celebrate in style - I'm giving away a 15$ gift certificate to your choice of my favorite stores:  either Papertrey Ink, or Simonsaysstamp.

Also up for grabs is a cute little thank you set:

To qualify:

1. become a follower of my blog and leave me a comment saying you're a new follower OR

2. leave me a comment telling me you're already a follower.

I'll choose a winner by Monday morning, Feb. 13th (mostly so that the recipient would be able to use their GC in the PTI store on the 15th, if they'd like! woot!)

And, because it can't be all giveaway and no card:

It's my blogging-birthday card!  I started out with a kraft base (slightly smaller than a regular A2 size), and a mat of white cardstock.  The edges of the mat were distressed, and inked up to look like old paper.  I also stamped a background of "text-style II" over the entire thing, but I don't think the photo picked that up.  The silhouette is from "simply jane" and she was stamped directly onto the white panel.  The frame, from the same set, was stamped in "autumn rose" ink, and popped up on foam squares.  A little rose gem finishes it all off...

Thank you so much, friends, for popping by!

MIM #52: double-sided stamped die-cuts.

hi peeps!

I'm playing along with this week's MIM challenge - stamping on the reverse side of a die-cut, and folding it over to show the "other-side" stamping.

I used "in bloom" to stamp a border along the right side of the card, masking the leaves and blooms as I went along.  After I cut it out, I used a black marker to trace along the edge, to help it look more finished (sigh.  my markering skills look more than a little sloppy in the pictures, but more forgivable in real life.)

For the MIM technique, I stamped the same flower and leaves onto white paper, colored them, and cut them out (note to self: purchase dies.)  The leaf isn't symmetrical, but I made it work by only stamping part of the leaf on the backside, and only curling that small part of the paper.

Even though the border isn't perfectly cut out, I still like the look - I'll be trying this again!

Thanks for peeking!  And please, please, please come back tomorrow - it will be my 1 year blogiversary, and there will be a few giveaways! 

PTI anniversary, day 2.

Hi all!

A quick one today, with more pictures than type.  Check out the full sheet of freebie digital images to play with *here*

I chose the retro cassette tape to create a quick "welcome back" card for my hubbie (I was a superbowl widow yesterday, hee hee.)

I should get bonus points for creating my own sentiment with "simple alphabet" - those letters are TINY.

...was totally chewing bubble yum and twirling my hair while creating this card, 14 years old again...

I sparkly-heart love ya, babe!

and ps, my hubs and I have known each other since kindergarten.  I think I still have a mix tape or 2 lying around somewhere...

PTI anniversary, day 1.

I don't usually post on Sundays, and I was even reasoning with myself that I have a lot on my creative plate - what with making all of the decor for my little sister's upcoming baby shower - so I might not be able to post much to the old blog this week.... pfffffft!

That was before I remembered it's:

And they started out their celebrations with the offer of a SWEET prize.  All you have to do is create a project inspired by one of their designer's favorite PTI creations and link it up *here.*

Being in the midst of creating all things baby girl-related, I couldn't help using Melissa's onesie card as my jumping-off point:

(and, as a bonus, her top 5 favorite PTI products).

Here's my take:

I just finished creating those fabric-wrapped-styrofoam-balls last night... perfect for a baby-shower centerpiece, don't you think?  And I love how the onesie card compliments it so well.  I might have to incorporate it all as our centerpiece...

I stamped the pink onesie base with a versamark-layer of "polka-dot basics II", and then the florals and dots from "harvest berries" over-top in fresh snow ink.

The stork is from "bundle of love," and I stamped him off to the side to make room for the grey-tissue-paper hearts.  I sewed a stack of them in place with my sewing machine, so that I could fluff them up a bit.  A pop of whimsical texture...

The sentiment, from "baby button bits," was curved to fit around the oval shape.

Hope you like it!  I guess you'll be seeing alot of PTI on the blog this week ;)

My happy.

After the messy desk fiasco that came with making *this* card, I felt the need to scale back a bit...

One set.

It came in the mail earlier this week, and I just wanted to play.  I stamped the line pattern in SU's peach parfait ink, and rested the bird's branch right at the top.  The sentiment was stamped right under the bird's "squawk" lines, since he's doing the talking for me...

I then grabbed my post-it notes, stamped the sentiment again, and cut it out to create a mask.  I also masked the peach pattern under the bird before stamping the frame in aqua mist ink (PTI).  I did a quick coloring of the bird and flowers with copics, and added some glossy accents to the little flower-buds.

I know I do alot of masking, but honestly - it's such an easy technique, and there's a "how'd you do that" factor to it - I'm in it for the glory, don't you know.

The grid pattern is from a studio calico mini paper pack - I wish half the pack were this pattern!  It was hard to cut it up and use it on a card.... oh, those crafty-hoarding-tendencies...

BUT, I did use up a flower gem! yay me!  Isn't pretty?  It's SU, and I love it.

I'm entering this bad boy into the "animal antics" challenge over at the Simon Say Stamp blog.

Here's wishing all of you an amazing weekend!

MIM #51 + "things my kids said" thursdays.

I so love this look.

If you're on Pinterest, you've seen graphic art with these folded banners, right?  And, now the tutorial on how to rock it, paper-style.  Thank you, Nichole Heady.

I used a few stamp sets: fancy flourishes, grunge me, rosie posie (but look!  a different flower from that set!), love lives here (sentiment), background basics: woodgrain (back of sentiment banner), and text-style II (for the vertical strip on the left side of the card).  Whew!

The ink colors are a little less numerous, but only slightly: memento brown, antique linen distress ink, fresh snow, aqua mist, spring moss, and autumn rose.

I'm telling you, my "craft table" (those are sarcastic quotation marks because I work on a tiny corner of our computer desk) was FULL.  As in, I might have knocked a few ink pads to the floor and felt terribly claustrophobic while creating this card.

I started out by stamping my flourishes, and then adding the flowers, and going back in with the ink splots wherever my eye decided they should go.

I liked the idea of the stamping being concentrated near the bottom of the card, and the banner coming up out of it.  The only thing I wish I could undo is the stitching near the top.  You know when something seems like a good idea, and your sewing machine is right there, and you go for it, and then there's no way to undo it, and you're not so sure about anything anymore?  exactly.

In other news, my card-making blog needs a little je-ne-sais-quoi that has nothing to do with card-making.  I was thinking of starting a "things-my-kids-said" thursdays" (less catchy than "wordless wednesdays" or "five for fridays," I know, but bear with me).  Here's my gem of the week:

You know you're due for another vacation when your 4 year old son holds a burnt-out bulb to his ear and yells "hey mom! I can hear the beach in there!"

Hee hee!  Anyone else have "things-my-kids-said" to share?

Thanks, in advance, for the giggles.  (or nice comments about my card.  either way.)

CFC #37

I love a good sketch challenge!  Even though I'm coming in on the last day, here's my take on the Cas-ual Fridays Challenge this week:

I found a rub-on sentiment in my stash (I'm desperately trying to use up what I've got!) and built my card around it.  

Thanks for looking!