PTI July Blog Hop ~

Hi there!  I’m bopping along with the July Papertrey Blog Hop today.  Here is the inspiration photo

I honestly didn’t believe that I would be able to use all the colors together.  Once I started playing with my new favorite stamp set (and everyone else’s apparently!), I was able to get them all in.  Well, kind of…I don’t have simply chartreuse in a useable form (old sponge pad that never gave a good color), so I used Ranger Distress crushed olive.  I’m not thrilled with my new melon berry pad either, but as long as I was able to do use it as a second generation stamping, I’m okay with it.

So here’s the order of the large rose: second generation harvest gold, harvest gold, summer sunrise.  The trio of roses as well as the background paper is second generation melon berry topped with berry sorbet.  The background paper also has a second generation harvest gold script stamped over it.  I’m so not happy with the ribbon.  I’m sure I’ll end up ripping this off and replacing it with seam binding or white organza or something.  In the essence of time (my family wants to eat…can you believe it??), however, I had to stick with what I have.

K, have fun on the hop!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  ;o) lyss

Genuine Friend ~

Hi there!  I’ve been on a little crafty spree lately ~ spending entirely too much money but having a blast!  I’m worth it, right?! {wink}  I’ve been playing along with CAS-ual Fridays every week, but I always forget to post before the deadline.  For some reason, I think that I have until late Thursday night and miss the deadline by about 5 minutes.  I’m on top of it this week though!  I was cleaning and organizing in my cave, when inspiration struck…then I couldn’t find the Take 3 die that I knew I had bought.  Of course, it was up on the magnet next to my cuttlebug that I thought would be very helpful.  It only took me a 1/2 hour to find!  lol

The challenge this week is to make a clean and simple card with a black base.  I think CAS usually tends to mean tons of white space to people, so I guess this challenge just changes the spectrum a bit. 

I sprayed the base lightly with alcohol before impressing it with the woodgrain impression plate – wow!  What a difference that makes!  Water makes it curl, then I try to flatten it while it dries and lose some of the impression, so this little tip really made me happy!  The butterflies are some of my favorites – I have a large monarch tattooed on my shoulder.  The sentiment is from PTI's Friends til the End and is embossed.  A sparkly little orange button made me go back and add a little orange Spica to my monarchs afterward. 

I was too lazy again to head up to my picture taking area, so I may have to figure out a way to take pics in my cave again.  These are ok, but it was hard to capture the sparkle IRL.  It’s much prettier in person. 




Another fun thing I accomplished today has been on my crafty to-do list for a while now.  I bought some cheapo fun foam a while ago with the intent of making my own stamps out of a few dies.

I plan on using the tag stamp to address envelopes.  Not my idea at all…totally found it on Pinterest and finally made it happen!  Go me!  Hope you’re having a super fantastic day!  Thanks so much for stopping by!  ;o) lyss

Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-faire 2 ~

I’m back with my last challenge card for a bit.  I’ve got to go mow the lawn after this – boo!

This is for the knot or ribbon challenge.  I really wanted to use some smokey shadow twill  with the elephant die from Sweet Baby, but I didn’t want to cut my die apart.  Therefore, I chose Dawn McVey’s video with how to tie the perfect bow – genius!  I got my card all made though and no longer had the scarlet jewel ribbon I thought I had…whoops!  I substituted vintage cream twill.  While I was at Dawn’s blog, I chose to CASE one of her Sweet Life/Signature Greetings II preview cards.  It’s a lot easier to get more done when you get to CASE! lol

The roses use Ranger Distress Victorian Velvet stamped off once, PTI Autumn Rose and Scarlet Jewel.  The leaves are the old sponge pad Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado.  Pretty and simple, especially with those wonderful die cuts!  Love, love, love this set!!  I feel like it needs something more down in the right hand corner but I don't know what.  Any suggestions?  Well, thanks for looking again!  Hope you’re having fun  ;o) lyss

Papertrey Ink Stamp-a-faire 1 ~

Hello all!  Sorry I’m late to the party!  My husband’s friend has a new girlfriend who called this morning…we’ve been on the phone for the last 2 hours!  Yikes…where did my day just go???  Anywho, I will be playing along with as many as the Stamp-a-faire 2012 challenges as I can squeeze in along with my honey-do list for the day!  The first project is the make and take from Nichole Heady as a warm up for the day.  I don’t have the special stamp set, so I combined images from Daydreamer, Flutterby Friend and Four of a Kind.

(sorry about the pic quality…I’m trying to fit in as many challenges as possible, so I’ve set up a temp spot inside my stamp cave instead of walking all the way up the stairs to take a pic {chuckle})

The sentiment is from Daydreamer.  I really love the sentiments in this, but to my eye, they are always a bit crooked.  Hope you all get to play along today and join in the fun!  If not with PTI, I hope you’re getting inky somewhere!  Thanks for stopping by!!  ;o) lyss

Lil’ Inker Excitement ~

Hello, hello!  I’m so excited to be able to share some news with you today that I’ve been keeping a secret for what seems way too long!  I am proud to announce that I am part of the brand spankin’ new Lil’ Inker Designs Color Team!! 

Initially, this team was formed to showcase and preview the 2 Cute Ink line of stamps; however, during the process of choosing a team, a new illustrator has joined!  There will be a new line of stamps the Color Team will be playing with.  So exciting!  You’re going to want to stay tuned because we are gearing up for a new release of three 2 Cute Ink stamps in August, as well as a few images from the new line!    Now onto some crafty goodness…
Since Jen del Muro was the first to open my eyes to this darling stamp line with this card, I thought it only fitting to follow her July Sketch for You to Try. 
I used the adorable Cocoa Bear for this card.  I wanted to try the *fur* technique (or at least that’s what I’m calling it) to add texture to him.  Since I’d never tried it before, I took a couple pics along the way.  The first shows you the little guy all colored up with a swatch of the washcloth I used to add the texture.  I then dampened the washcloth with colorless blender solution and laid it on top of the image.
 
Oh geez!  Sorry, that swatch is smaller than I remember it being when I edited the photos!  lol  It was only to give you an idea anyway. ;o)  I can tell you that I was not happy with the result.  So I colored over him again with the lightest of the browns I’d used to color him to remove some of the texture.  I won’t let this stop me though.  I’ll just have to keep trying to find a cloth with the right tooth…or whatever you call it!  Here he is in all his glory!

I had colored over the whites of his eyes, so I added them back with a white gel pen.  His hat and mittens are paper pieced and lightly shaded, and there’s some white fluff on the pom of his hat and some liquid pearls on the marshmallows in his cocoa.  Lucky guy!  It’s kind of hard to see, but he’s matted on a couple of Spellbinders Labels 3 die cuts for a different type of mat.
Cocoa Bear is actually the second card that I created.  I didn’t want to showcase a stamp that one of my teammates had already shared, so I started a new card this morning (Wednesday as I’m typing this).  That just means I’ll have more Lil’ Inker goodness to share later on this month!
Ok, I’ll let you all off the hook now.  If you’ve read to the bottom,
1. thank you!
2. you can see the official release of all the Lil’ Inker Designs Color Team here on the Lil’ Inker Designs blog
3. be sure to leave comments for everyone!  There is a prize hidden on one of the new team members blogs!
Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you have a fabulous weekend!

Lovely Layers Celebrate ~

Hi friends!  Not a very creative title, I know.  I just can’t think of anything!  In the midst of all the sympathy card making, I also had to make a birthday card for my brother’s girlfriend, Sarrah.  I simply adore her!  Therefore, not just any card would do…I couldn’t just pick one out of my stash, I had to make one with her in mind.  Which is why I have a gazillion cards on hand at all times! ;o)  I’m sure none of you other crafters are like that, right?!

I recently got her to try out the slippery slope of Pinterest and noticed that she loves turquoise/teal and purple.  Yay!  I had a jumping point for my card.  Plus, I got the new Lovely Layers and dies from PTI {took for-freakin’-ever to get in the mail!!!} so I just had to use those.  CAS is what is speaking to me lately.  I can’t get excited about coloring with my Copics and I feel a little guilty about that.  Oh well…here’s the card that this post is really about!  lol

Wow!  I didn't realize how hard it is to see the difference in the colors on the computer.  Ok, so the leaves are memento new sprout and su! wild wasabi.  The petals are pti aqua mist and hawaiian shores.  The center is memento summer sky and pti enchanted evening followed by…I don’t remember!  I played with so many inks, I’m not sure what I ended up with, but it may be ranger distress dusty concord and su! almost amethyst.

I have some really thin dimensional foam stickers that I used between each layer.

The sentiment is from Waltzingmouse Stamps Say It Loud.  As usual with my sentiments, it is stamped with Versafine Onyx Black and clear embossed.  I highly recommend doing this with your sentiments, or at least stamping them with the Versafine.  It’s so worth it!

The inside was stamped with a mixture of PTI and Waltzingmouse.  I’m super happy with this card and these beautiful stamps!  What have you gotten lately that you love?  I’ll be ordering tonight right at release from Papertrey.  I must have the new Sweet Life and dies…I’m hoping I’ll be one of the first 100 and actually have my order packed and shipped in a timely fashion.  We shall see…

Will anyone else be racing the clock to order tonight?  Have a super Sunday!  I’m off to ride my new cruiser bike with the hubby and the little!  Toodles ;o) lyss

Cloud 9 Blog Hop ~

Hey there, hi there, ho there!  I’m so very happy that I’ve moved my stamp room downstairs – I just love being in my little cave hidden away, yet still down around the family.  I don’t know about you, but just coming into my cave and seeing all my things makes me happy too.  So if I’m not feeling the mojo, just bopping in and looking around can lift my spirits a little.  LOL  Yeah, I’m weird…I know.

There’s a new challenge blog for lovers of Wplus9 Designs stamps called Cloud 9.  It’s pretty cool since I love Wplus9 and the owner, Dawn.  July’s theme is an inspiration photo.  I chose to use Poinsettia Patterns to create a background paper using some of the colors from the photo.  I was also drawn to the large flowers.

 

I started with Tumbled Glass Ranger distress ink, adding some Enchanted Evening PTI on top for the first part of the pattern.  Then Memento Angel Pink with Worn Lipstick Ranger distress on top (which happens to be a perfect match for Berry Sorbet).  It needed a little extra something, so I added some dots of Wild Wasabi SU!.  The sentiment is from Verve’s Thankful Blossoms and is stamped on a strip of vellum.  I simply folded the vellum around the paper and secured it to the backside. The flower is cut from Berry Sorbet using the Beautiful Blooms II #3 dies, the leaves are from Delightful Dahlia and the leafy vine flourishes are from My Favorite Things.  I also added a few rhinestones after the first photo shoot.  lol 

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Hope you’re having a super day wherever you are!  :o) lyss

Farewell, Gentleman Jim ~

Sad post today.  My husband’s Uncle Jim has passed away.  It’s been a long time coming…when we visited them last September, he had an aneurism on his aorta.  We were all very scared he would pass during the Christmas holiday.  He has had tremendous heart troubles throughout his life (read 11 bypasses), but was kept here for one reason or another.  This pic is from a few years ago, but it’s such a great one of the hubby and his favorite uncle that I just had to post it. 
Jim was a very accomplished man.  He came from nothing – no indoor plumbing etc. to a multi-millionaire.  He left home at the tender age of 16 (although his generation of 16 was a bit more wise to the world than ours now, I think!) and moved from Missouri to California.  Eventually, he was a car salesman, owned many dealerships throughout his life, married his sweetheart at 19 and stayed with her till the end.  They’ve been married since 1945 – 66 years!!  And were still so in love.  Anyhow, he was a profound influence on my husband.  Doug looked up to him and learned so many things from him.  We are very sad to see him go but very thankful for the time we had with him.
Being a card maker, I did what I know how to do…make the family cards.  I have the hardest time finding something to say once they’re made though.   I sent one to my in-laws and one to his widow. 

This uses Simple Sunflower and Think Big Favorites #3 from Papertrey Ink.  The vines were some that I had left over from another sunflower card I made. 

I added a few flicks of a Copic to add some depth to the flowers and leaves.  Oh, and I used the dark chocolate ink.  Love it!  Pretty simple and straight forward…although it still needed a big padded envelope because of the buttons.
Hubby and I had a little tiff the morning I was to send these.  I don’t think he wants to deal with his grief, so he wouldn’t write in the cards.  I argued that I didn’t think the message came across the same unless it was in his handwriting.  Finally, he agreed…I just had to let him get to that decision on his own.  Funny how similar we are.  If you tell me to do something I was already planning on doing, I won’t do it out of spite.  So stubborn!  :o)

This is the second card I made.  I wanted something to just pop in the mail.  Plus, I was running out of time, coughing my head off and had come down with pink eye in both eyes.  Damn germy kid! 

This is a CASE of a card I found on Pinterest when I searched for sympathy cards, down to the colors even.  I added a butterfly because of a little ink mishap and embossed the sentiment.
A few flicks of the ocean tides matched Copics and a little pop up and out on one flower.  The base of the flower is glued straight down while the petals are up on a thin dimensional.  Very simple and easy to pop in the mail with a stamp.  I need to learn to make more of these.  All images on this are from PTI’s Botanical Silhouettes. 
Thanks for looking!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  I’m off to work today and then get to buy end tables for my living room that match my coffee table tomorrow.  I’m super excited about that!  :o) lyss