Top Ten of 2010

Several of my blog friends (You know, the friends we have in our computer?) have been posting their Top 10 cards of this year.  It caused me to look back at my blog and see how things have changed for me.  I noticed I was stuck on several stamp sets and color combinations throughout the year, as well as seeing how my style is fluid. 

I've cheated a bit. (There's always a loophole, right?) I have my Top 10 Categories instead. You can click on the link below each card to see details and lists of supplies!

Here's my list:

Favorite Butterfly Cards Category:

Butterfly 1

Butterfly 2

Favorite Halloween Cards Category:

Spider 1

Spider 2

Favorite Cupcake Cards Category: 

Cupcake 1

Cupcake 2

Favorite Cards w/ Circles Category:

Celebrate Life!

Happy Fall

Favorite Long-Shaped Cards Category:  

Happy Birthday

Fly Away!

Favorite Pink & Green Cards Category:  

Precious and Few

Smile Friend!

Favorite Paper-Pieced Cards Category:  

Happy Fall

Share Joy

Favorite Cards w/ Sewing Category:  

Thank You

Thank You Teacher

Favorite Cards w/ Buttons Category:  

Basket of Joy

Life is so much better...

Favorite Cards w/ Knots Category:  

Ain't No Sunshine

In Sympathy

My Goals for 2011 are:

1.  Update my blog regularly - which means I need to create regularly!

2.  Use more patterned paper on my cards and layouts.

3.  Catch up on my scrapbooking and use stamping more often on my layouts!

 

Thanks for taking the time to get through this lengthy post!

Papertrey Ink's December Blog Hop!

ETA:  Thanks to Nichole and the random number generator for picking this card as one of the winners of the Blog Hop this month!  Now, I have the hard task of picking out a stamp set!   So many awesome sets to choose from!

I'm very excited for this month's PTI Blog Hop!  Here's Nichole's challenge for us:

Holiday Leftovers
It's that time again for our annual holiday leftovers challenge!  Use scraps of wrapping paper, parts of  holiday cards, recycle gift tags or bits of ribbon on a paper crafting project.  We all have plenty of it  laying around after all the holiday excitement and this is your chance to incorporate some of those pretty  little things into an amazing piece of art!

We had a family Christmas with my aunt the Saturday before Christmas, and she had the cutest little tags on everyone's gifts.  I used the one she gave me to create this card:

I stamped the background with Tin Types, cut out a border with the new Banner Borders die and some snowflakes from the Peace Be Still die set.  The sentiment is from this year's Holiday Tags (love them!!)

Here's another view:

I can't wait to see what everyone comes up with using their leftovers!  I have a few more of these cute tags that I snagged after my sisters opened their gifts...they don't know what they were overlooking!

Have fun on the hop!

Papertrey Ink Supplies:
Stamps:  Background Basics: Tin Type, 2010 Holiday Tags
Paper:  Kraft Stampers Select White
Ink:  Pure Poppy
Tools: Banner Border, Peace Be Still snowflake dies
Other:  Vintage Cream Felt, Pure Poppy Buttons, Rustic White Twine
Leftovers:  Tag from gift

Many Thanks

Merry Christmas to you all!  May you be blessed with family and friends today!

We spent last Saturday at my aunt's house celebrating Christmas with her, my uncle and some cousins.  We try to do it every year, just to revisit childhood for a moment.  I gave her a stack of 10 cards that I made - that was all she wanted - and she loved them.  I made this card to send her for the wonderful meal, gifts and planning of a great day.

I'm thrilled that I finally love my Wreath for All Seasons set and am looking forward to making many cards with this set.  I just purchased the Mat Stack 4 die and I can't wait for the Mat Stack 4 stamp set to match - it'll be awesome! 

Here's the inside:

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink Supplies:
Stamps:  Wreath for All Seasons, Inside and Out: Thank You (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  New Leaf,  Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy, Christmas Prints
Ink:  New Leaf, True Black, Pure Poppy
Tools: Mat Stack 4 die, Pure Poppy Twill

Beep Beep Birthday

My brother-in-law's birthday is on Christmas Eve.  That stinks, doesn't it?  I always try to separate his birthday present from his Christmas present so that he feels a little special.  I didn't want anything Christmas related to his card.  Here's what I came up with:

I cut out the Mat Stack 1 and traced around the die on red cardstock to mat the mat.  (hee hee)  Then I paper pieced the robot.  After adding a little texture to the card base, I popped up the sentiment and added the eyelet lace border with some nailheads in the center. I stole some googley eyes from my son's stash (shhh!) and the card was finished.  Loved making it!

Here's the inside - with a gift card on the left:

 Thanks for looking!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Hero Arts Robot (CL242), Papertrey Ink Signature Greetings
Paper:  Smokey Shadow, Stampers Select White, Pure Poppy (PTI), random light grey
Ink:  True Black, Pure Poppy (PTI)
Tools: Mat Stack 1, Eyelet Lace Border dies, Linen Impression Plate (PTI)
Other:  Bic Mark It Markers, nailheads, rhinestone, stolen googley eyes

Fly Away

I'm sorry that my blogging has been hit or miss lately.  With the holidays approaching, I have been busy at home and at work, and I'm just worn out.  It's a little tiring trying to keep 115 eleven-year olds calm during the 3 weeks of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Then, I come home to a 5-year old that is even more excited!  Whew!

Because of all of that, the project I'm sharing with you took me over a week to complete.  I would do a little work, then have to leave it for another time.  One of my friends at school is sending her daughter to Washington D.C. for Spring Break and giving her the tickets (or the money??) for a Christmas present.  Rather than just stick it in an envelope, she asked me to make her something.  So here's what I came up with:

I had the design in my head for quite awhile before I was able to start, and it turned out pretty much how I imagined.  Don't you love it when that happens. 

Here's the inside.  I had no idea what I was going to do in there, but I like it!

I'm giving it to her tomorrow.  I'm sure she thought I forgot already, but I didn't!!  I hope she likes it!



Thanks for looking!

Enjoy the Ride!

This is one of the cards I created when I first received Every Day Button Bits from Papertrey Ink.  I've joked before about loving this set so much that I sleep with it under my pillow.  Even after 1.5 years later, I still love this set and it's still one of my favorites.

I used the bird image as a duck and the grass image as the water for the duck to float on.  I used glitter to give a little sparkle to the water.  I still love this card and that set.  Think I'll go play with it now!


Papertrey Ink Supplies:
Stamps:  Every Day Button Bits
Ink:  Enchanted Evening, Summer Sunrise
Paper:  Stampers Select White, Enchanted Evening
Accessories: Summer Sunrise grosgrain
Other: yellow button, Hero Arts prisma glitter

OTWC #36

To be honest, I was so relieved to make a card that had nothing to do with Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas.  I fell like I've been so busy trying to keep up with the holidays - all of them - that I haven't been able to enjoy my everyday stamps.

Kim gave us a great challenge on Off the Wall Craftiness this week.  Here's her inspiration:

 

 I pulled out my new stamps from Wilson Designs to create my card.  My aunt has requested handmade cards as her Christmas present, and she loves owls, so I may make several of these for her.

I used black embossing powder on the owl, sentiment and circle images.  I just purchased this powder and really, really like it!  Can't wait to use it again.

Thanks for looking!  Hope you can play along with the challenge.

Supplies:
Stamps:  Everything's Owlright (Wilson Designs)
Ink:  Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), Versarmark
Paper:  Dark Chocolate, Fine Linen, Kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Zing black embossing powder
Tools: Circle Cutter (EK Success)

Warm Winter Wishes

This is one of many Christmas cards I have been working on.  I want to do something a little differently on each card.  This time, I used a circle for the shape  - inspired by The Shabby Tea Room's challenge this week - to make a shaped card.

The circle is 4-inches in diameter and the patterned paper panel is cut from Nestabilities Blossom.  I also wanted to participate in the LAST Everything But the Kitchen Sink Challenge this week which was to create a card with texture.  So, I added some felt for texture, a button with twine and that awesome saddle stitch ribbon. 

Here's the inside:

Thanks for looking!


Papertrey Ink Supplies:
Stamps:  Holiday Button Bits, Tree Trimming Trio
Ink:  Pure Poppy

Paper:  Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White, Christmas Prints
Accessories: Pure Poppy Saddle Stitch, Rustic White Twine, Pure Poppy Button, Vintage Cream Felt
Tools: Peace Be Still die
Other: Nestabilites Blossom die

Layout

Hi, Stranger!  It's been awhile, huh?  Sorry for my absence from the blog.  Thanksgiving was here, I was not, and now a few days later, I'm coming up for air.  I did some creating on Thanksgiving Eve, making 24 tags for my sister-in-law.  They were part of her birthday present.  I had no time to take pictures though.  She loved them and that's all that matters, right?

Here's a layout I did awhile back.  It was based on a card sketch on the Hero Club blog.

Getting all the pictures cut correctly and into the circle was a challenge. I added the drawn in circle and nailhead brads for some details. 

This was the May that my son turned 4.  He's 5.5 now.  I'm behind on my self-imposed deadline.  Better get busy!

November PTI Blog Hop!

 
Woo Hoo!  It's that time again!  Happy Thanksgiving to you all!  I hope you enjoy your day today with family, friends, and a full belly.  I am so blessed and so thankful for all that I have.

Nichole challenged us this month with this:

TAG TIME
Recently the design team and I put together a variety of holiday tags that are perfect to keep on hand for quick wrap options.  Now it's your turn to inspire us and the rest of the Papertrey community!  Design a holiday tag or two using all of your favorite goodies and share it with all of us!  We will all have plenty of inspiration to create a large stash and try to get ahead of the hustle and bustle of the season!

I've already created a bunch of tags this year, and you can see them here, here and here.  Today I have one of my favorite tags that I have created using Tiny Treats Christmas.

Here's another set:

 

I'm excited to hop around and see what everyone else has come up with.  Hoping to get some ideas!  

I'm celebrating with family this weekend, so my blog will be quiet for awhile!  Enjoy your holidays and your family!

Papertrey Ink Supplies:
Stamps:  Holiday Button Bits, Tiny Treat Christmas, Fillable Frames #9
Ink:  Dark Chocolate, True Black, Smokey Shadow

Paper:  Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White
Accessories: Pure Poppy Saddle Stitch and Bakers Twine
Tools: Tag Sale #1, Fillable Frame #9 die
Other: 1-inch punch, Versamark,  white embossing powder, rhinestones, Sakura Stardust pen, Bic Mark-It Markers

EBKS #27

I loved the sketch this week at Everything But The Kitchen Sink.  Winter gave us this to work with:

You could do so much with this sketch!  I decided to use some leaves from my favorite Hero Arts set.  Here's my card:

I stamped the leaves  on several colored scraps and then cut...them...ALL...out.  It took some time.  And now my hand hurts!

After placing them around the edges, I die cut the frame and stamped the outline and the sentiment.  I completed the inside like this:

Thanks for looking! 


Supplies:

Stamps: Round and Round (PTI Anniversary Set), Gobble Gobble (PTI), Hero Arts Happy Thanksgiving

Paper: Fine Linen and Dark Chocolate (PTI), scraps

Ink:  Orangerie, Dark Chocolate (PTI)

Tools:  Mat Stack #1 (PTI)

OTWC #34

Kim chose some great colors this week at Off the Wall Craftiness.  Here is her color inspiration:

Isn't it pretty?  I did have a slight problem with it.  To me, it looks a bit yellow, but Kim called it peach.  So, do I use yellow or do I use peach?  The design team's examples showed both, so I chose peach.  (I think I'll make another card with yellow!)  Here's what I came up with:

I have not used Wreath for All Seasons like I thought I would and have been struggling with liking anything I made with it.  After asking for some advice from some PTI Forum friends, I decided that matting the wreath is a good way to go.  I like the way it turned out.

Here's the inside:

 I know I said I was going to get some scrapbooking done, but cards are so much faster.  I usually scrapbook "in my head" for a few days and then put the layout together.  I need to start thinking about my next layout. Until then, it's cards for me!

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink Supplies:

Stamps: Wreath for All Season, Inside & Out Thank You, Text Style #1

Paper: Vintage Cream, Blueberry Sky

Ink:  Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate

Accessories: Rustic CreamTwine, Canvas Impression Plate, Summer Sunrise  Buttons
Other:  Cream Ribbon, Color Box Sky Blue Ink, DCWV mat stack

Play Date Cafe #56

Wow!  This week has flown by for me!  What about you?  I wasn't able to get nearly as much crafting done as I wanted to, but I'm hoping that all changes this weekend.  I'm off to a good start so far.  I was able to complete a card tonight for this week's Play Date Cafe Challenge.  Here's their fabulous inspiration panel:

Awesome, huh?  Here's my card I created.  My nephew just turned 20 and I'll be seeing him Thanksgiving, so this one is for him.

Love these colors together and the felt just makes it all even better!  What are your plans this weekend?  Anyone doing any pre-cooking for next week?  That's on my list too!

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink Supplies:

Stamps: Star Prints

Paper: Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White

Felt:  Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse

Accessories: Pure Poppy Baker's Twine, Linen Impression Plate, Seeing Stars Dies, Pure Poppy Button

wee Memories HUGE Giveaway

Head over to Jenny's blog, wee Memories to enter into her HUGE blog prize!  She is celebrating 700 followers and check out what she is giving out as a prize!

 Seriously...

Seriously!

I'm crossing my fingers AND toes!

Hope to be back this weekend with some projects. 

Let It Snow!

I'm behind in my scrapbooking, so I may be devoting some time and blog posts to catching up.  This is a layout that has been waiting for me.  This was Christmas Day last year, my son's first White Christmas. 

I was excited to find some scrap paper that went with the theme of snow.  This was from a calendar set that I created a few years ago.  The snowman strip was at the bottom of the paper and the words that I cut out were from the middle.

I used 2010 Holiday Tags and Tiny Treats: Christmas to create the snow background. 

Have you found stamping and scrapbooking yet?  I usually try to buy stamps with both cards and layout in mind, but it doesn't always work out like that!  Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink Supplies:

Stamps: 2010 Holiday Tags, Tiny Treats Christmas

Paper: Spring Rain

Ink: Fresh Snow

Accessories:  Fillable Frames #9

Other: Brads, Kraft 12x12, white pen, patterned paper

Joy!

Today's post will be short and sweet because my card is short and sweet!

It's a mini-card for the Cards blog challenge.  The task this week is to make a mini-card that is not bigger than 3-inches! Here's mine:

 

I had this die-cut tag & that little scrap of rik-rak in a scrap pile and decided they belonged together. After heat embossing JOY on the tag, I dry embossed the card with my favorite Cuttlebug folder.  A little Pure Poppy baker's twine and some rhinestones and I was finshed.  Probably should make some more of these!

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey Ink Supplies:

Stamps: 2010 Holiday Tags 

Paper: Pure Poppy, New Leaf, New Leaf Bitty Dot Basics

Accessories: Pure Poppy Baker's Twine, Rik-Rak Die

Other: Zing white embossing powder, rhinestones, Versamark, Cuttlebug D'vine Swirls folder

OTWC #33

Here's this week's photo inspiration from Kim at Off the Wall Craftiness:

 

Isn't it beautiful?  I love pink and green together.  I went through a phase last summer when that is all I would work with.  Kim has put me back in that phase now! 

Here's my card:

My blog friend, Amy, challenged us to use one of the Button Bits sets for this week's challenge on Paper Dolls.  This set has been a favorite, go-to set for a long time.  I love it. 

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:

Stamps: Every Day Button Bits(Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Berry Sorbet, Stampers Select, New Leaf Bitty Dot Basics (PTI)

Ink:  New Leaf, Berry Sorbet(PTI)

Accessories: Berry Sorbet buttons & satin ribbon, New Leaf Bakers Twine, Linen Impression Plate

Other: Nesties Bloom Dies

My Big News!

Kim Wilson has chosen me to be a guest designer on her blog "Off the Wall Craftiness!"  If you click here, you can see the announcement - along with this week's color challenge which is fabulous!  I'm so excited!

Kim has also started her own stamp company, called Wilson Designs, and I've just received this set in the mail.  I can't wait to get to use it. 

Thanks for letting me share my excitement as being chosen as a Guest Designer! I'll let you know when my week will be.  Until then, you should bookmark Kim's blog and play in her fabulous color challenges! 

See you soon!  I'm hoping to get a lot created this weekend!

EBKS

I loved the color challenge at Everything but the Kitchen Sink blog this week. It is so unique and versatile, and I knew what I wanted to do with it, but had to get some Christmas tags created over the weekend.

With news of a family member passing away yesterday, it was high on my priority list today  and was a work of  love.

Here it is:

My great-uncle passed; he was 94.  He had a rich and wonderful life and was married to my great-aunt for 72 years.  She passed away in August, so his passing did not come as a surprise.  But still, when our older relatives leave us, a bit of our childhood goes with them, don't you think?  This is for his daughter.  I need to create one for his son that is a bit more on the masculine side.  Hope to get to that tomorrow.

Here's the inspiration from Everything but the Kitchen Sink.  I'm glad I was able to get this in on time.  It's such an inspirational photo.  Thanks to Kelly Marie @ Lawn Fawn Stamps for the great photo and prize for this week!

Thanks for looking!


Supplies:

Stamps: Flower Garden, Round and Round(Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Ocean Tides, Stampers Select (PTI), Bazzill mat stack

Ink:  Smokey Shadow (PTI), Versamark

Other: Zing white embossing powder, random ribbon that I wish I had more of

More tags!

I have some more tags from the weekend to show you.  Here I used the same die, Tag Sale #1, for the base of all of the tags, but mixed it up a bit for the focal points.

I've been searching for a reason not to give Holiday Button Bits away, and I think I may have found it in my making of the tags.  The images, like the one in the top left corner, are small enough to fit on a tag.  I think I'll try it with all the images and see if I can fall in love with the set again.  I tried stamping on felt again, with some success.  The dove image is so pretty and the sentiment is beautiful!

Thanks for stopping by!


PTI Supplies:
Stamps:  2010 Holiday Tags, Holiday Button Bits
Ink:  New Leaf,
Paper:  New Leaf, Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White, Kraft, Pinefeather, Bitty Dot Basics
Felt:  Vintage Cream
Ribbon:  Pinefeather Satin, New Leaf Swiss Dot, Pure Poppy Saddle Stitch
Tools: Tag Sale #1, Limitless Layers, Christmas Tree dies, Linen Impression Plate
Other: Versamark, Zing silver embossing powder, white ribbon, rhinestones,buttons, silver twine

More Tags for Sale!

I'm back today with another set of tags I created this past weekend.  This time I used the Tag Sale #1 die from Papertrey Ink.

I used a similar layout as I did for the tag I created for The Shabby Tea Room challenge.  Once I got in the groove of things, I was able to get several done in a small amount of time.  I'm hoping to get more created this week so there are plenty for us to sale at our fund-raiser.

Thanks for looking!

PTI Supplies:
Stamps:  2010 Holiday Tags, Holiday Button Bits
Ink:  New Leaf, True Black, Smokey Shadow, Pure Poppy,
Paper:  Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White, Kraft, Bitty Dot Basics
Felt:  Fine Linen
Ribbon:  Rustic Twine, New Leaf Swiss Dot, Pure Poppy Saddle Stitch, Pure Poppy & New Leaf Bakers Twines
Tools: Tag Sale #1, Limitless Layers, Rik-rak dies
Other: Hero Arts Stamp It Christmas, Sahara Sand ink, Versamark, white embossing powders, white ribbon, rhinestones, pearls, brads, buttons, glossy accents 

That is a lot of stuff! I should probably go and clean up now.  

Tags for Sale!

I've been making tags this weekend as part of a fund-raising project my friend, Tanna, and I are doing.  We've raised a good chunk of money by selling our cards and tags to parents and teachers at our school.  All the money raised is going to a family who has been stricken with a very expensive disease.  Every little bit helps!

Here are four tags I've created this weekend: 

All are pretty similar in that I used the Mat Stack 1 die from Papertrey Ink.  On the top left tag, I was excited to try out stamping on felt.  Guess what... It works!  I added a little red rhinestone on the nose, put it all together and I was done.  The other three are stamped with Tiny Treats Christmas and colored with some Fiskars pens.

Come back tomorrow and I'll have four more tags to show you, this time using Tag Sale 1 die.

Thanks for looking!

PTI Supplies:
Stamps:  2010 Holiday Tags, Tiny Treat Christmas
Ink:  New Leaf, Dark Chocolate, Smokey Shadow, Pure Poppy, Versamark
Paper:  Pure Poppy, Stampers Select White
Felt:  Fine Linen
Tools: Mat Stack 1 and Limitless Layers dies
Other: Versamark, clear & white embossing powders, white ribbon, rhinestones, Fiskars pens

Shabby Tea Room #34

I loved this week's inspiration at the Shabby Tea Room blog.  Who wouldn't love red and blue together and all the shapes were wonderful!  I see polka dots, checkerboard, scallops and lots of cute tea cups! What do you see?

I decided to focus on the main colors in the piece, red and blue, and the blue bundt pan (which I wish I had!)  I need to get started on some Christmas tags, so that is also what my focus was.  Here's my tag:

 

I die-cut my tag, blue mat and rik-rak and then ran the tag through again with an impression plate.  After coloring the snowman, I added prisma glitter under the snowman and on the snowflakes.  Then I added glossy accents (which I may be addicted to) to the snowman and let him dry over night.  

Here's a close-up of the little guy:

I stamped the sentiment and inked the edges and put everything together.  It was still missing a little something, so I added the rhinestones at the bottom.  Die cuts make everything easier, don't they?

Thanks for looking!

Supplies:

Stamps:  Hero Arts Stamp It Christmas, Fillable Frames #9 (Papertrey Ink)

Paper:  Pure Poppy, Blueberry Sky, Stampers Select (PTI)

Ribbon: Blueberry Sky Satin Ribbon

Tools: Tag Sale #1, Limitless Layers, Rik Rak Dies, Linen Impression Plate (PTI); EK Success circle punch

Other: Rhinestones, Glossy Accents, Prisma Color, Aquacolor Pencils

Oceans of Joy

It's hard for me to resist buying any stamp set that has fish in it.  I turn away as quick as I can so as not to be tempted, but this Hero Arts set, Oceans of Joy, had me from "hello!"  I couldn't walk away.

I love that it can be used for several different occasions, paper-pieced, colored in, or blinged up! Here's a card I created for one of our teachers that retired.  He is an avid fisherman and intended on spending his retirement fishing as often as possible.  I thought the sentiment was perfect.

The paper was from my stash and I fussy cut the edges to highlight the waves.  I used some Stickles to make the top sparkle.  I colored in the fish with my Aquacolor pencils and blended with the Dove blender pen, then popped him up to give the card some dimension.

Thanks for dropping by today!  I'd love for you to leave me a link to any other "fishy" stamps you love!  Please enable me!

Supplies:
Stamps:  Hero Arts Oceans of Joy
Ink:  Enchanted Evening (Papertrey Ink)
Paper:  Spring Rain, Stampers Select (Papertrey Ink), patterned paper
Aquacolor Pencils, Dove Blender pen, Stickles

Play Date Cafe #53

ETA:  Thanks so much to the ladies at The Play Date Cafe for choosing my card as an Honorable Mention!  I'm thrilled!

Check out the color inspiration for the Play Date Cafe Color Challenge #53:

I have no idea what kind of flowers those are, but I think they are beautiful.  What a wonderful inspiration.  I dug around looking for some black/white patterned paper and remembered I had a fabulous package from Amuse.  It sure made this card easy to complete.

Here it is:

I used the sketch from my blog group's, The Paper Dolls, challenge for this week.  Jen gave us this sketch to work with.  I thought it would be great for this challenge. 

  

Thanks for looking!  Happy November everyone!  

Supplies:

Stamps: Round and Round (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Amuse

Tools: Limitless Layers (PTI)

Other: ribbon, pearls, aquacolor pencils