You like me...right now, you like me!!!!

I submitted to the GSS on Papertrey Ink. on a whim.....and well, I achieved an Honorable Mention!!! YIPPPEEEEE!!!! Here is the card I submitted under the category of clean and simple cards.



And if you don't 'get' my title, you can see it here:



WOW!!! She sure achieved big hair back in the day!

I am humbled by the recognition and thank you!!!

Embellish Magazine Challenge #3

I'm getting this in just under the time limit. Things have been crazy at my job IRL. I'm now working in THREE different departments at three different times during the day and I'm trying to balance everything with all three of my new 'bosses'. The receptionist went into early labor and gave birth today, which threw everyone into a tizzy because our plan-of-action went into effect three weeks early. But that's okay - a brand new baby girl has arrived for me to introduce to her the love of paper crafting!!!

So on with Embellish Magazine's newest challenge. I decided to make a pocket card to hold a book mark. I'm sure many of you (too many of you!) have had to come to grips with cancer in one form or another. My Dad died of pancreatic cancer in '06 and my Aunt (my Dad's twin sister) is a breast cancer survivor for over 20 years. My co-worker is also a breast cancer survivor having to ordeal the situation at only 35 years old. I know for myself that it doesn't make sense. Why? The eternal question that will never be answered. So we can only continue our journey to defeat this thing.

Okay - enough with the tears....here is my pocket card....



My gray paper that I used as the 'envelope' is SU! Going Gray. I cut a sheet of 8.5" x 11" along the 11" side and at 5.5" I folded it in half. I then scored along the 1" part of my front flap and punched with my Martha border punch.

Here is a pic of the inside bookmark. I only had white eyelets so I used a bit of my Copic markers E000 to tone it down a bit. The stamped image I got way-back-when my Dad was first diagnosed. It's from Endless-Desions and I cannot, unfortunately, give credit to who is the original author of this sentiment.




And here is my bling.....







Because I'm a bit under the time limit, I'll have to come back and fill in all the details. If you want more info, just leave me a comment and I'll reply back. Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink October Blog Hop!

The PTI Blog Hops are so much fun and they inspire creativity like nothing I've ever come across. The October Blog Hop is set up specifically for holiday inspiration and I hope I inspire!!

I make these little gift card/money holders for the people in my family. I make up a whole shoe box full and bring them to our family Thanksgiving dinner for them to take home as many as they would like. Not all of them are Christmas themed...most of them are not, but you can get a little sampling of them below...



I was on a roll with the PTI Polka Dot Parade paper so everything you see will have that paper on it. This can be easily switched up to incorporate any PTI patterned paper or any design that you hand stamp.

This is NOT my original idea so I cannot take credit for it. I've seen a lot of demonstrations on it but this is the best one I've found for video, because I'm a visual learner, so I hope this is useful. Thank you Dawn!

So here are the results......





Here is a picture of the inside holding a gift card....



And another pic of it showing money....actually, I've made so many of these cards that
I've learned that the money slot needs to be a bit wider if you want to fold the money in half rather then the way I did it for the picture. Just take your SU! Word Window Punch and extend it to almost the edge of your paper to be able to fold your money in half.



And here are a couple of shots of the closure tab so you can get a feel for how it all stays closed....






Thanks for hopping by!!! I hope I've inspired even though it wasn't all PTI all the time. Please leave a comment...I like to know what you think!!!

Embellish Magazine Challenge #2

So Ashley proposed a new challenge on Embellish to make a circle card. Easy enough.....I've done them before and any kind of a shaped card, other than a rectangle, is usually a big hit, because it's not expected. The second part of the challenge was to use the colors shown above.

I pulled out my Cricut Wild Card cartridge and went to work, cutting out the base of the card using the doily image from the cartridge on PTI Aqua Mist card stock. I threaded some PTI Dark Chocolate twill ribbon through the edges all the way around the card and tied it in a simple knot at the top. I love how this is coming together already!!

For my focal image on the front on the card, I stamped on a piece of Stamper's Select White with the branch from the original sized Out On A Limb set in Dark Chocolate ink, along with some leaves in Spring Moss and a bit of Melon Berry dots. I know Melon berry isn't a color choice, but it seemed kind of blah, so I went with it. I stamped and cut out the bird's body in Spring Moss and the wing from the Anniversary set Everyday Classics in Aqua Mist and cut it out and adhered it with pop dots. The result....



A deformed looking bird that looks like my 7 month old grandson cut it out. In addition, because I chose not to cut around the legs but rather DRAW THEM ON, well, quite frankly, I hate this card. So it has sat around my crafty cove for the last couple of weeks. Every day it would stare me down when I came into the room. Looking at me. Mocking me. Taunting me about what a crappy job I had done. I mean seriously....look at those legs!! And the cutting??? Forget it!



So tonight I decided to fix it. Not a do over...FIX IT! The one thing I didn't like about this card was the bird and his stick legs. So, I stamped him again on thinner paper, thus reducing the jagged edges when I cut him out. Also, I kept a slight white border around him as I cut, and I didn't amputate his legs this time. The next challenge was to pull off the old bird and put on the new and improved one, which was easy - he was only held on with pop dots. I was able to position him over just about all of the drawn on legs, except one little area, which I went over with a white gel pen. I then adhered him back on to his rightfully earned perch. In addition, I added a bit of bling to his eye. (If you click on the picture, it will get bigger.)



Now he looks like a nice little bird in a tree, one that I won't be embarrassed to give to someone! And before I go, a shot of the inside.



Someone once asked me why I don't stamp a lot of sentiments on the inside of my card. The reason is, for my own personal stash, I like to keep them blank on the inside, so when I do need a card, I can just pull one out and stamp the appropriate sentiment on the inside for whatever the occasion is. That way, I always have a bunch of cards that I can customize for whatever the occasion without having to manufacture a new card!

I hope you liked today's card....it was a doosey to say the least, but I'm much more happy the way this card ended! Thanks for stopping by!!

No Stamping Card... GASP!!! (A Review)

So I've had my original Cricut (aka Baby Bug) for over five years and I use it almost daily. It has a permanent place in my Crafty Cove and it never moves from that spot so it is always ready when I want to use it. Provo Craft has come out with a few cartridges that do a bit more than the regular 'Shadow', 'Blackout' and 'Silhouette' functions and I picked up one of those cartridges a couple of weeks ago when my LSS was having a rare sale. Let me tell you.. I'm in lOvE!!!

So, granted, these cartridges are designed for the Cricut Expression to be able to do the envelopes and cards in full size, but I have found I don't NEED an envelope that bad to make a card! I just make the card the size I need and away I go! The cartridge that I picked up is the Wild Card....great for making shaped cards (in my case without coordinating envelopes)!

So on with what I did....First photo....Card front.....I used PTI Spring Rain as the base. Then I used a few pieces of DCWV Glitter Stack to cut out the cupcake and candle/fame element.



Then I cut out the 'frosting' with PTI White Shimmer and the Dew Drops just added the perfect 'sprinkles' to the card....



The final touch to it was the Glossy Accents to the flame to give it a bit of shine...because you know I'm all about the gloss, shine, bling where I can fit it in!!!



BUT WAIT....there is more......

You have to see what I did to the INSIDE....



I incorporated the 'Happy Birthday' sentiment with the same cartridge with the same size and cut it out to 'hide' under the outside card dimension....A perfect card without - I KNOW - no stamping!!! I'm not giving up on stamping Heck NO!!! Stamping will ALWAYS be in my life....TTFN!!

Edited to add...I was in NO way, shape or form compensated by Provo Craft by any means...this was just my way of offering a bit of what I have come up with in my own way!!!

Do you Embellish???

I do and you can too!!! Ashley Cannon Newell is starting up a new web magazine over at Embellish. Directly from Ashley's site:

"The magazine will be published and available for downloads in December for $3 an issue. For $3 you will get a copy of a magazine full of ideas and concepts on how to use a color combination and creative elements on your projects. I am also incorporating video into the magazine for you to see how I make my cards using the color palette and provide helpful tips and tricks."

How cool is that??? Only $3???? That is so freaking CHEAP (cough, cough,....I mean INEXPENSIVE!!!)

So, playing along with her color challenge, I jumped in, and I just have to say, CHALLENGE indeed!! Whew! I would never 'thunk' up these colors together on one card! But I'm a basic kind of gal....two colors YES, three or for colors, plus a pattern....NO! But that is what a challenge is all about! So.....for your consideration, here is my take on the challenge...



I started out with PTI Vintage Cream cardstock cut down to 4.25x4.25....a cute little square card that can be mailed or just tucked into a gift bag, and stamped some dots using PTI's Polka Dots Basic stamp set in Baroque Burgundy.....I don't own Bravo Burgundy ink so I improvised!!! I cut out some flower images on my Baby Bug (original Cricut) in Stampin' Up! colors Pumpkin Pie and Summer Sun and layered them all on top....but it was soooooo flat! So I did a little trick....which a lot of you may already know, but if you don't, stick with me here. Paper has layers...and SU! cardstock can be broken down into two layers with a little bit of manipulating. All you have to do is take a bone folder to the paper and pretend like it's a bit of Christmas ribbon that you want to make curly. Bend the paper along your bone folder....front to back..forwards and backwards, and WA-LAH...you will find that the paper separates! Which makes for the dimension of the flowers on my card!!!

Here is a shot of the inside of the card......



The buttons and ribbon are PTI Scarlet Jewel the colors almost match with SU! Baroque Burgundy!

I used Diamond Stickles on the buttons on the front, and a bit on the inside. You may not be able to see it in my pictures, but each layer of the flowers on the outside and the single flower on the inside are stamped in VersaMark with the single circle from the same PTI set - Polka Dot Basics.



That's all for today, thanks for stopping by!!!