Papertrey Princesses Inspiration Challenge

Yes, I know I've been a bad blogger of late.  I think there are a few reasons for this.  First, after having two wonderful weeks off at the holidays, I just couldn't get myself motivated and back into a routine. Second, I think my Mojo went on holiday as well.  Third, 'Life' just got in the way.

I think the 'renewal' of The Papertrey Princess challenges are just what I needed to get my motivation back. (or at least some of it).

Our first challenge of the year is from the amazingly talented Anya. (a link to her blog is in the sidebar on the left).  Anya chose an inspiration challenge.  Here is the picture of the inspiration piece.  I love the colors, textures and elements in the sewing basket.

Here is my card.  I think the stripes, the colors, the sewing, the pinked edges and the pins are all represented in the card.  I'm pretty happy how it turned out.  Thanks Anya for your inspiration piece.

The stamp sets used are all from Papertrey Ink.  The stripes are from the Faux Ribbon set and the stamped circle image are from the Daily Designs and Daily Design sentiments sets.

Thanks for taking a peek and I'd love to hear what you think.

Thank You card.

Here is a card I made with the intentions of sending in to Paper Crafts last publication call for Thank You cards.  I have never sent in anything for pub calls and basically got cold feet with this card as well.  So here is a basic Thank You card using Papertrey Ink supplies.  The Stamp set is Fancy Flourishes, the sentiment is from Giga Guidelines.  The cardstock is Spring Moss and Chocolate Brown.  The Patterned Paper is from The Turning a New Leaf set.  One tip I used making this card, is to use Copic Markers to change the color of your embellishments.  For example the button was a totally different color brown and did not match at all.  I simply colored the button with a dark brown Copic Marker and it matched perfectly.  I did the same for the little metal accent dots under the sentiment.  They started off life as bright lime green.  A little dabbing of dark brown Copic and they also match.  Thanks for taking a peek and let me know what you think.

On a personal note, I just want to Thank You all so much for your kind comments to my GSS win and project.  Thank you for letting me gush a bit.  You are all so sweet.

A Dream Come True!

I won the Guest Star Stamper contest for December on Papertrey Ink!  This month I was asked to be the January "Guest Designer" as part of my prize package.  I cannot begin to tell you how honored I am to be acknowledged by the best in the business.  This truely is a "Dream Come True".  My complete sample design, directions, supply list as well as full photos will be included with the purchase of the template through http://www.papertreyink.com/ on January 15th. And, it's only $5.

I would like to add a big "Thank You" to those of you that visit my blog and leave such sweet comments.  I can't tell you how much you encouraging words mean to me.  Another big "Thank You" to my "real life" friends as well as my "cyber friends"  who are always so generous with taking the time to let me know you are reading.

I hope you like my sample and can't wait to hear what you think.

It's My Baby's Birthday Today!

Of course my baby is 27 years old today, so he's a big baby. :)  Here is a picture of him that one of the guys at work took.  He was actually at a trade show in Las Vegas working, when they decided to rent bikes for the day and go for a cruise.  (see I told you he was a big baby)

Here is the card I made for him.  He loves his IPOD and listens to it all the time.  When I saw this stamp from Stamping Bella, I knew it would be perfect for him.  I used Copic Markers to color the image and Cosmo Cricket - Boyfriend patterned paper.  Thanks for taking a peek at let me know what you think.

PS.  I'm so excited!  My gift card holder that I posted on December 16th won the Guest Star Stamper contest for Decmeber over at Papertrey Ink.  I know those of you that are familiar with this contest understand my excitement.  Thanks for letting me share.

Happy New Year and another GSS submission

Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season.  I sure have enjoyed being off work for 2 weeks, I really wish I could stay home all the time.  Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket? 

We spent the last few days up at our cabin (in Northern Michigan) doing some snowmobiling.  There was lots of snow up there and the trails were in great shape.  We got home late last night, but not before stopping for a wonderful New Year's Eve dinner.

Now for my project.  This was entered in the December Guest Star Stamper contest at Papertrey Ink. 

I posted a couple weeks ago that my boss recently got married.  I wanted to get them a little keepsake to remember the occasion.  Since they had a December wedding, I thought a Christmas ornament engraved with their wedding date would be a nice gift.  I decided to make the packaging to show it off a bit more.  I made the Fold and Go template from Papertrey Ink using transparancy.  I then stamped it with the Snowflake Serenade stamp set with White Stazon. (It's my favorite holiday set - so versitile). I added a bit of bling on the snowflake centers.  Thanks for taking a peek and let me know what you think.

More Gift Card Holders!

I've been a bad blogger lately.  It's been so nice being on vacation from work that I'm just enjoying staying home and puttering around the house.  That is something I just don't get the time to do, working full time.  I thought I'd post some more gift card holders.  The first one was inspired by Diane http://dianejaquay.blogspot.com/2009/12/stocking-gift-card-holder.html 
She made some cute stocking gift card holders from the free Timeless Template at Papertrey Ink.  Here is my version.  Thanks Diane for the inspiration.

The next one was made using all Papertrey Ink products.  It uses the Cash and Carry Template (again) and the patterned paper is from last years Papertrey Ink holiday collection. The tag is from the Holiday Tag set.

The last holder today is from Lauren Meader's new company, My Time Made Easy http://www.mytimemadeeasy.com/  She is offering some free downloads of templates as well as Digital Paper.  Well, I was totally against the idea of Digital Paper, now that I have tried it, I'm a total convert.  Love being able to print off the color and size that I need.  I also like being able to print it on cream or white background.  (I also printed the same paper in pink for the stocking above).If I hadn't been able to try it for free, I wouldn't have know what I was missing. 

I hope you all have a fabulous, safe and Happiest of Holidays! Thank you for taking a peek today and I'd love to hear what you think..

GSS Submission - December

Back from a little trip with K.I.S.A. (knight in shining armour).  We ended up getting a great deal on a weekend flight and hotel to Chicago this past weekend.  We had so much fun.  Did all the tourist things, Top of the John Hancock Building, Shedd Aquarium, Chicago Pizza and did a bit of Christmas shopping too.  The city was decorated in it's finest Holiday sparkle.  It was just beautiful.

Now on to the project.  Here is a gift card holder that I submitted for the Guest Star Stamper for December on Papertrey Ink.  I again used the Gift Card template to create this.  All the products are Papertrey Ink except for the little pearly bling.  They were from some branches I got in the floral section at Michaels.  Really like how this one came out and the colors are great.

Thanks for taking a peek and let me know what you think.

Another Gift Package Idea

Happy Friday Everyone!  Hope you are all staying warm.  It is freezing cold here in Michigan today.  I think the wind chill was about -9 on my way in to work this morning.  We also have a light dusting of snow.

Now on to the project.  My daughter in law asked for a stockpile of Bath and Body works hand soap for Christmas.  Since I was able to get several bottles at the Outlet on sale, I was trying to think of a cute way to package them.  I bought six bottles and instantly thought 6-pack (and I don't even drink beer).  I covered the six-pack holder with several patterns of Cosmo Crickets, Early Bird paper for a fun cheery look that would work year round.  For a fun embellishment I cut the flower out of felt with a Sizzix die and my Cuttlebug.  I'd been wanting to try to cut felt and love the way it cut.  I will be doing this again for sure.  The only stamping on this project is on the tag.

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek.  I'd love to hear what you think.

Wedding Card

My boss is getting married on Saturday and I thought I'd make him a card. It's not a big fancy affair, just a small group of family and friends out of town. So I thought a simple card would be best. Tried to make it not too masculine and not too feminine.

This card used products from Papertrey Ink, except for the ink for the flowers. I used kraft card stock and stamped the cake with Fresh Snow ink then stamped the flowers in Pink Grapefruit ink by Versa. I added the leaves using New Leaf ink then embossed the card with my nestabilities. The Cake, Flowers and Leaves are from the Piece of Cake set. The sentiment is from the Sweet Love set. This is another one of those cards that looks so much better in real life.

Thanks for taking a peek today and I'd love to hear what you think.

Gift Card Template

Today's post features one of the Gift Card Timeless Templates from Papertrey Ink. This is the first time I've used this particular template and loved how it turned out. I'll be making many more of this one. This particular one uses Cardstock, ink, button and stamps from Papertrey Ink. The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket's Holly Jolly line. The ribbon is from my stash. The tag is from a Quickutz die. The first picture shows the gift card holder closed. The second picture shows how the gift card slides right out of the pocket. Thanks for taking a peek and I'd love to hear what you think.