Focus on Words

Today PTI is introducing a new series of dies and stamps that I am very excited about!  It's called Phrase Play.  You can see the big announcement and the first in the series if you check out Nichole's blog here.

 Nichole posted this challenge today:

"So today we have shown you all kinds of fun ways to add *words* to your cards using the new Phrase Play stamp set.  Now it's your turn to give it a whirl for yourself!  Grab your favorite word die, alphabet dies or alphabet stamps and make a project that has a *word* for the focal point.  Have fun experimenting with the positioning of your word, whether it be at an angle, along the edge of your card, etc...  We can hardly wait to see what you make!"

Here's my take on the challenge:

Thanks for looking and visiting My Happy Place today!

PTI 7th Anniversary

Here are my cards for today's contest!

Using Betsy's design:

Also:  Turning a New Leaf, Circle Plate, Raspberry Fizz and Stampers Select cardstocks

And Melissa's design:

Also:  Background Basics:Retro, Enchanted Evening and Stampers Select cardstocks

PTI January Blog Hop

 

The blog hop this month at PTI is all about pink!  I don't use pink often enough, and when I do, it's usually Hibiscus Burtst!  In my card for the hop, I had to stretch myself a little and use Sweet Blush and Raspberry Fizz too!

I used the circle cover plate to create the background and then inserted some of the hearts from Heart to Heart #11.  I was pleasantly surprised when the fit right in the cut out circles!  The sentiment is from Thing Big #11 - stamped in Hibiscus Burst. 

You can see all the projects devoted to pink if you click over to Nichole's blog here!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Make It Monday 145

This week's Make It Monday was a catch up of anything we missed throughout the last year.  After looking through all the fabulous choices, I realized that I missed a lot.  I had high hopes of getting seven cards made today, but other things happened!  I did get one made for the Glitter Borders challenge.  Here it is:

I glittered up the Heart Border with my Xyron and some prisma glitter.  After I adhered the borders to the white panel, I stamped the hearts and sentiment.  Tiny Treats: Valentine was a favorite of mine, and I use it for so much more than Valentine cards.  I love that PTI came out with Tremendous Treats and dies.  I die cut the puppy, stamped and colored him.  I coated him with some glossy accents to give the card a little more texture. 

I still may go ahead and attempt the other six challenges I had in mind today, but it won't be in time for the challenge.  I haven't really crafted since August, and it feels great to be getting back into it!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

CAS-ual Fridays #124

 

I thought I would begin my New Year's Resolution of getting more crafting in my life a bit early with CAS-ual Friday's Happy New Year Challenge.  It is combined with the 10-minute Craft Dash Challenge, but I can't enter this one for that challenge.  I was interrupted way too many times by a hungry 8-year old boy wanting a second, and then a third dinner.  

I used a technique that I just love - glitter masking.  It's messy, and you really have to LOVE glitter to do this technique.  

First, I cut an adhesive sheet to the size I wanted and peeled off the backing.  The sticky backside is the side I needed.  Then I die-cut the word "happy" and the numbers for 2014 out of regular cardstock.  Being careful not to touch the sticky part, I placed the die-cuts where I needed them and firmly pressed them down.  I coated the remaining sticky part with black glitter, pressing down so that it covered all the area.  Then, I carefully peeled each word or number and applied the glitter for that section.  So fun!

Here's a close-up:

Here are a couple of other cards I've made using this technique.  If you get the glitter adhered correctly to the backing, you can even stamp on it!

Thanks for visiting!

Glitter Accents

It's Stamp-a-faire time at Papertrey Ink, and I managed to make one, yes only one, card.  I couldn't resist the glitter technique!  There are several others I can't wait to try, but I won't get them finished in time for the contest, but really - it's about the learning!

Here's my card for Glitter Accents:

The apples are die cut using the Teacher's Apple die and the sentiment is from Signature Greetings!

You can participate in this challenge by clicking here or see all the contests by going to Nichole's blog here.  

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Papertrey April Blog Hop Challenge

This month Nichole challenged PTI customers to this:

"It only takes a little *something* to take a project from ho-hum to amazing!  Even something as small as tilting your images or sentiments at an angle can have a huge impact.  This month we are challenging you to create a project that features something tilted.  Position a frame at an angle, tilt your text, add a background strip diagonally, create a border that has an incline, slant a sentiment block, the sky is truly the limit!  We look forward to seeing your projects!"

After scrolling through my blog, I realized I have many projects that have angles and tilts on them  - sometimes even on purpose!

Here' s my project for today:

Fancy Folk Art stamp set, Thanks die

I stamped this background several weeks ago for another project that went unfinished.  I couldn't make it work, so I set this aside for the right time - which is now!  I cut the mat and panel for the sentiment, adhered it to the background and trimmed it to fit.  I was happy to find that the sentiment fits perfectly on the panel.  Adding a few rhinestones was my finishing touch!

I have a second card for the challenge.  This is what I was thinking about while I was monitoring my students during their state assessment tests yesterday.  I was trying to think happy thoughts!  ;)

Up, Up and Away stamp set and Cloud dies

I know I'm going to love this theme for the blog hop, and I cannot wait to see what everyone comes up with.

Thanks for visiting  My Happy Place!

Cool Shades Challenge

I have to admit that this week's challenge at Paper Smooches Sparks challenge had me a bit stumped.  The two blues threw me off, and I had a serious block to the colors.  As I was cleaning up my crafting area, I ran across my glitter in one of my drawers and remembered a technique that a crafty friend once shared - glitter masking. It's a fairly simple technique, but it packs a pretty big punch.

Here's my card for today:

I began by cutting an adhesive sheet and peeling off the backing.  I used the Hickory Leaf die to cut several leaves from the adhesive backing.  I did the same with the butterfly die from Flap Happy. The trick is peeling off the diecuts only when you are ready to pour glitter over that area.  After getting all the glitter down, I used Staz On ink to stamp the sentiment, trail and antennae for the butterfly.  Adding a few black rhinestones for the body gave the card a little dimension.  

Here's a photo in the sunlight:

I hope you have a wonderful day, and thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Glitter Butterfly

The month of April brings a lot of birthdays for people I know.  Several dates mark the birthdays of 2 or 3 of my friends, so birthday cards are a common thing to make for me during this time of year.  I made two this weekend.

This one is for the Paper Smooches Sparks challenge.  The sketch challenge this month is this:

I used one of my favorite - and first - sets from Paper Smooches, Giddy Bugs.  I inked up the little butterfly with some new Hero Arts Orange Soda ink.  I shaded in the head and body with colored pencils, and glittered up the wings with some Doodlebug Sugar Coating glitter.  The sentiment was stamped on the orange cardstock and heat embossed with holographic embossing powder.  The Loopy Leaf diecut leaves are also from Paper Smooches.  I love the shape of them!

CAS-ual Fridays Blog is challenging us this week to use glitter on our projects.  I'm so glad I saw their challenge, because I really needed to add a little shimmer to that cute little butterfly.  Glitter did the perfect job!

You can play along with either of those challenges by clicking the links above.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Easter Bag

There's a fun challenge on the CAS-ual Fridays blog this weekend!  We've been challenged to create an Easter project - but it cannot be a card!

My project started out as a tag, but I had the problem of deciding what my tag would be placed on. For Easter,  I bought my son his first Bible, so I was thinking about how to wrap it.  I have some Kraft paper I was going to use, but opted for a Kraft gift bag instead.

Most of the stamps are from bunny4Easter from Stamps of Life.  Now a die has been introduced for the little cutie, and I'm probably going to have to get it.  I stamped him on Vintage cream in brown ink.  I shaded him in with some pink and off-white colored pencils.  (The clouds are from PTI.)

I hope you are having a joyous Easter, celebrating with friends and family!

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Picture Perfect Challenge

I loved this week's inspiration photo at the Sparks Challenge! It is very simple, yet beautiful!  I loved the soft colors and the corner on the frame.  I didn't want to lose the simplicity of the photo in my card, so I created a very simple CAS card with a lot of whit space.

I used two sets from Paper Smooches.  The sentiment and butterfly come from the Flap Happy set, and the hearts are from Giddy Bugs. 

Here's a close up:

I wanted to mimic the corner of the frame, so I used the D'Vine Swirls embossing folder on a piece of cardstock, and adhered it to the edge.  The white panel was popped up on a white card base.

If you want to play along and see the other cards for this challenge, go here! 

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Mixing Patterns

I'm going back to Day 1 of the this online class and looking at my patterned paper a little differently.  I followed Jennifer's advice and pulled out some of my neglected 6x6 paper pads.  The one I chose to use today is Lime Twist from My Mind's Eye. 

I created a card, then threw it in the trash can.  Then got it out of the trash can and tried to revive it a little.  So this is take two:

The original had just the orange panel and I was at a loss.  It looked bare.  So, I added the bottom red panel and the strip of stars to the middle.  I matted the strip to set off the patterns a bit, again using Jennifer's advice. I like it a lot better than the original.  

I'm off to try the resist technique on patterned paper now.  Hope I don't kill my iron...not that I ever use it.

Thanks for visiting My Happy Place!

Sparks Challenge

I caved.

It's Day 5 of the Pattern Play Online Card Class, and I'm tardy.  So many beautiful cards have been showcased on some of my favorite blogs, and I have this huge stack of patterned paper, and huge stash of scraps of patterned paper.  I just needed to figure out what to do with it. So, I enrolled in class tonight.

After taking a moment to peruse through a few PDFs I wanted to get a card started for Day 2 where Jennifer Rzasa worked with us on paper piecing.  The Paper Smooches Sparks Challenge has a wonderful color combination this week, so that has been on my mind the last few days.  Now, I'm so happy that it's Friday, and I had a chance to make something using these colors:

For my card, I used  my not-so-new stamp set, Flap Happy and the matching die.  I also used the Loopy Leaf die which is a companion die to the Leafy Greens stamp set.  Here's what I came up with:

I die cut the butterflies from cardstock and stamped them.  I also stamped them on the patterned paper and cut around them with scissors.  After impressing and inking up the Vintage Cream panel, I adhered the leaves to create a border, and then attached the butterflies.

Here's a closer look, so you can see the dimension as the wings aren't adhered to the die-cuts.

You can play along with this week's Sparks challenge if you click the link below:

Details here!

Thanks so much for visiting My Happy Place!