My Cup of Tea

Hey there! Another HOT day here in central Illinois. We've had temps in the upper 90's with the heat index in the triple digits for almost a week now. It makes it unbearable outside...but, on the bright side, not much to do besides stay inside & CRAFT!

In light of the weather, I thought it was funny that my card today is all about teacups. While I was staring at this color combo (the challenge this week over at The Play Date Cafe), I got inspired by the PDCC coffee cup logo & came up with this design. It's also my entry for PTI's Make It Monday challenge to stamp on patterned paper. 

Hope you like it!

Stamps: Warm Happiness Too (PTI), Absolutely Delightful (Simon Says Stamp)

Paper: Basic Gray (SU), white & patterned papers (PTI)

Ink: Basic Gray (SU)

Accessories: Heart Prints die & Warm Happiness die (PTI), rhinestones (Kaisercraft), dimensionals

Papertrey June Blog Hop Challenge

Hey there! Thought I'd start off the week with a sweet little gift tag I made for Papertrey's June blog hop challenge. 

Here is the inspiration pic we were given. Pretty, right? It gave me LOTS of ideas, too!

My jumping off point was this fun ruffled ribbon I had in my stash...it's a perfect match with Aqua Mist cardstock. I went with the "just a little something" sentiment so I can use it for any occasion whenever the need strikes.

Lots of PTI goodness on this one--stamps, impression plate on the flower, cardstock, & button. 

Hope you like it! Happy hopping!

Stamps: Background Basics: Text Style II, Everyday Button Bits (PTI)

Paper: Lemon Tart, kraft (PTI)

Ink: Versamark, Adirondack Espresso

Accessories: Polka Dot Basic II Impression Plate (PTI), Nestabilities flower, PTI button, SU linen thread, SU corner rounder punch, ribbon (The Ribbon Boutique)

Papertrey April Blog Hop Challenge

Hey there! I'm SUPER excited to be participating in Papertrey's April blog hop! I haven't joined in on the fun in ages, but when I saw this month's inspiration pic, I was definitely inspired to play along!

The fabric made me immediately think of my PTI dress form, & I pulled the colors & polka dot pattern into my design as well.

Here's my finished card. I plan on using it as a thank you card for a valued co-worker. She makes my life as a teacher infinitely better!

Have fun hopping!

Stamps: Signature Series: Dress Form (PTI)

Paper: PTI kraft, white, Bazzill textured white, PTI pp

Ink: Raspberry Fizz

Accessories: Dress Form Die (PTI), Raspberry Fizz button (PTI), Hibiscus Burst ribbon (PTI), SU heart punch, stick pin (from stash), linen thread (SU), dimensionals

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

TGIF! It's time for another Papertrey blog hop! This month the focus is on scallops. 

I made a scalloped butterfly using a edger punch & a PTI butterfly die, then added another scallop to the bottom of my card.

Tip: I recommend using patterned paper rather than cardstock to create your butterfly. I found (at least with my Cuttlebug) that the butterfly becomes too thick for the die to cut through. I also used a thinner generic white cardstock to attach the patterned paper to (again to diminish thickness).

Hope you like this! Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Cupcake Collection (PTI)

Paper: SU textured cardstock, Bitty Dot Basics pp

Ink: Fresh Snow

Accessories: PTI butterfly die, SU scallop edge punch, PTI button, Michaels pearls

Birthday Cupcake

Happy Sunday, all! Hope you're having a good weekend. I have the day off tomorrow for President's Day, so I will be a busy little bee in my craft room. Hoping to catch up on some DT work as well as whip up a few things for some pub calls. I'm getting behind with all the work I'm doing on my school's musical...three-hour rehearsals 4 nights a week! Forgive me if I don't make it around to your blog as often as I usually do.

It's rainy here today...perfect for crafting...so I got busy with a few challenges. I combined Papertrey's Make It Monday #2 (use a vellum sentiment strip) with JUGS72 (aqua, melon, & kraft) & the Totally Stampalicious challenge to add glitter or bling. I glittered the frosting on my cupcake...I figure if you can't eat it, at least I can make it pretty to look at, right?

Hope you like it!

Stamps: Cupcake Collection, Simple Sentiments (PTI)

Paper: Berry Sorbet, Cool Caribbean, PTI kraft & white, white vellum

Ink: Berry Sorbet, Cool Caribbean, Adirondack Espresso

Accessories: Nestabilities circles, PTI buttons, Kaisercraft pearls

Think Big

Hi, everyone! Hope you're enjoying your weekend. I went to see The King's Speech last night. It was SO good; the acting was amazing, the storyline was inspiring (& quite funny in parts, which I wasn't expecting)...plus I got to stare at Colin Firth for two hours!

It was a busy week for me at work, & I've been disappointed that I haven't been able to participate in many of the anniversary festivities over at Papertrey Ink. BUT, I found a little time to play along with the Think Big challenge to incorporate something big into your project.

Since I am just itching for some springlike weather, I decided to make a big WARM sun for my card! I used a bunch of PTI stuff on this one...including an Impression Plate to give my "grass" some texture. The only things that aren't PTI are the ink & the Nestie I used to make the sun.

Hope you like it!

Stamps: Scattered Showers (PTI)

Paper: Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf, white, Bitty Dot Basics pp

Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black

Accessories: Nestabilities Lacey Circles, PTI cloud dies, PTI ribbon, PTI Linen & Canvas Impression Plate

Party Time!

Happy Super Bowl Sunday! I'm heading over to my brother's house today to watch the big game. He just bought a new 50" flat screen, so those commercials will look ah-mazing!

Today's post is all about parties, but not the Super Bowl kind...Papertrey Ink is celebrating their 4th anniversary! As part of the festivities, Nichole Heady has asked us to look back over our PTI creations from 2010 & post our favorite.  She will also be choosing one winner to receive a HUGE prize pack worth over $700! Woohoo!

Now I had a tough time narrowing it down...I made a LOT of Papertrey cards last year...BUT I finally decided on this little number that I made for a shoebox swap back in August. It uses one of my favorite sets, On My Couch, along with 3 of my favorite PTI colors--Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, & Raspberry Fizz, AND it has polka dots & a button...no wonder I love it!

Hope you like it, too!

Stamps: On My Couch, Polka Dot Basics (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz pp
Ink: Versamark, Adirondack Pitch Black
Accessories: PTI button, corner rounder punch, dimensionals

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

 It's the 25th of the month, which means it's time for the Papertrey blog hop! This month Nichole challenged us to dust off an old stamp set or use a set that has never seen ink.

I chose to use my Everyday Button Bits set. When I first got this set, I used it all the time, but I haven't used it much lately...AND I think I've only inked up these hot air balloons once, so I figured it was time.

Since I was using something old, I also pulled out some new (to me) products--the Up, Up, & Away sentiments set & the cloud dies.

Tip: For perfect placement of your dies, simply place them where you want them on the cardstock, then cover them with a Post-It note. Your die will stay in place, & the Post-It is easily removed.

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you like it!

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits; Up, Up, & Away sentiments (PTI)

Paper: Spring Rain, white

Ink: Adirondack Espresso, Real Red

Accessories: Cloud dies, ribbon, buttons (all PTI)

Papertrey December Blog Hop

Hi, everyone! Hope you had an amazing Christmas!

I'm joining in on the fun with the Papertrey Blog Hop...my first time...amazing considering how much PTI stuff I own!

This month we were asked to use up some holiday leftovers...scraps of wrapping paper, bits of ribbon, leftover tags, etc.


Here's a peek of the gorgeous Christmas card I used...and only a peek, because I forgot to take a picture of it before I started cutting into it. Oops!



And here's what I came up with. I incorporated some of that gorgeous red velvet damask from the original card.

I used my new butterfly die...








And since I added pearls to the body, I'm also entering this in A Passion for Papertrey's pearls challenge.

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Signature Greetings (PTI)
Paper: Basic Black, PTI white, PTI pp
Ink: Adirondack Pitch Black
Accessories: PTI butterfly die, Kaisercraft pearls, Fiskars upper crest punch, recycled Christmas card