Papertrey Anniversary Cards!!!

I was short on time yesterday, so didn't get to play at the PTI party. Not so today!!

I went to PTI's Pinterest site, went to the Baby section, and used Debbie Olson's baby card as a starting point for mine.

I used Bitty Baby Blessing and Fancy Flourishes for the background; stamped in Memento black so I could color with Copics. The sentiment on the tag is from Mega Mixed Messages. Sweet Blush card base and ribbon. Not hard, but a little time consuming to color, lol!

Here is my version of Melissa Phillips card from June of 2011, it showed up on the 'favorites' day, and I wondered why I had not seen it before. Be still my heart! Pretty much a copy, except I used Memory Box paper to match the mint of that Library Ledger dot. Since I need to get 24 or 25 signatures on this one, I also layered the card onto a bigger base~ signatures can go on the back, too.

Last but not least is the card I started on the 'what is your favorite color combo day?' I used Pine's color combo, but Erin Lincolns card for the inspiration- ha! The Day 4 post is long, so you will need to scroll down to see the cards and color combos.

This card should really have been called Sweet Sunshine, lol. It's a very bright day outside, so not so good for photographing embellishments!!

A boy card like Lizzie's

Have I told you how much I love the Papertrey festivities? lol, I bet I have-

Yesterday PTI released a free download with a tag from Lizzie Jones. She showed it on a blue card, so I made a pink card. Last night I went back upstairs to the attic and made one just like Lizzie...

Taa Daa! I inked up the inside of a Sizzix folder to get white polka dots. The ink is a blue Studio g chalk, and it didn't photograph so well.

The sentiment is stamped in Marvy's Salvia blue, the ribbon is colored with Copics-

There is no 'card game' today, which is good since I have to work this afternoon. 13 more work days until retirement, but who's counting??

Papertrey Birthday Party Day 2

In my party treat bag from Papertrey today (hey, it is a party, right??) was a free download with lots of tags from the DT- and here's my entry!

I need 10 baby cards today, so it is a bright baby girl card-

All PTI products except for the Copic markers, I used R24 down the Fresh Snow grosgrain to make a ribbony part instead of coloring the paper.

Night NIght Moon border stamped in Berry Sorbet ink on BS paper. Polka Dotted paper for the baby from Bundle of Love. Sentiment from the bundle of Love set as well.

How to make it better? Put all of the add ons up higher; since the ribbon hangs down, it makes the upper half of the card look like it is missing something- with 9 more baby cards on the to-do list today, maybe I'll go do a boy version, lol!

Happy Birthday Papertrey!

It's February, and you know what that means! It's a party over at PTI, and I love PTI parties!! Today's challenge was to start with one of the DT's favorites, and go from there- I chose Danielle Flander's Birthday invite envelope, lol- how's that for inspiration?? My reality is, though, that there were at least 4 cards from the DT that I bookmarked to try this week as baby cards- it is true that I get almost all of my inspiration from this small but incredible group of women!

Yay PTI!!! I am your biggest fan!!!



Of course, it is baby card day, so I went with pink, and got it as close to a baby girl card as I thought I coiuld, without losing Daniell's design in there.



I used the January Flower Fusion stamp set that hadn't seen ink until this morning, and Autumn Rose ink and ribbon and buttons, another not yet used group of pretties. The stems and Martha Stewart punch edge are Spring Moss. The butterfly punch is another MS item. One button each from Autumn Rose, Aqua Mist, Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise and Lemon Tart.


I do have to say I am loving the new inks, all of them!!

Easy baby cards and jewelry from stamps

They might not be qualifiers for CAS, but man, they were easy!!

More of the heidi grace designs pink paper; this one has fuzzy words on it. All I did was cut a piece, tie on a faux silk ribbon, layer it on Papertrey's Pink Shimmer paper...

...make a bow with the Bow Easy, and tie on a charm.

Not sure who the paper is from, but the blue base is DCWV. The tag is a Cuttlebug die, the sentiment is from Amuse (I think!). I just raided my ribbon scraps stash and there it is, another very quick and easy baby card!!

Another thing I did today was finish a necklace and earring set. I made the pendant and earring dangles from Premo, following Gina K's video from a few months ago- here's a link-

I used a SU red rubber stamp, but other than that I followed her original design exactly- until I got to the making the necklace part, lol.

I love new things to wear, lol!!

Two Sweet Peas

10 pm here, and as I sat down to post these I realize I am exhausted, and need to leave for work at 0730 in the morning. I'll be back later to post product details...

Wes's Day

We had a lovely day today! Look!!!!

It was so cold ice was on the inside of the windows when we got up, but all in all, it seemed like a good day for a party!

Nick came over-
Livvy was here of course,

And Vanna,

Sam's mommy drove him all the way up from Massachusetts-

Jay liked his party hat~

Billy flew in a Birthday Card~


Look out, Kaleb!

We had cake

And piggy cookies
balloons ,

and presents!

Hello, Hedgies!

I blew out my candles...

Yay! Wes is two!!!!

2 Baby Cards and New Found Austerity

I confess, I envy Melissa Phillips, and her ability to make all things look vintage- all here and there and sparkly and wrinkled and pouffy and quaint and lovely. I buy the same products...and make flat cards. I make un-vintagy cards, all flat and discordant and well, flat.

Today I tried again, lol. I used the R. S. Tapestry's Baby stampset and lots of different inks, a doily picked up at some party or another, along with Basic Grey Capella papers and paper ribbons. Fake silk ribbon- I will say I got a very nice bow!

I ran some pink paper through the sticky paper maker both ways to make both sides sticky. That is Martha Stewart glitter on top, and some random buttons on the bottom right corner.

I have a bunch of pieces of this pink heidi grace designs paper, and need to use some up- our new found austerity (see below) needs to kick in now! That's a SU carriage stamp from Fun and Fast Notes, paper pieced and colored a bit with Copics. Bling came from a dollar bin at a Scrapbooking show. The diecut is with Papertrey's Filigree Border Die.

Stop here if you get squeamish. Squeamish about poverty, or squeamish about mice.

I have decided I don't want to go to work anymore. How's that for an epiphany? We have lived our lives such that we have no debt- none, zero, zilch. I have been developing a new sense of myself over the past year, and knew I wanted to try poverty as a lifestyle. Now, that may sound really odd to some, but let me tell you, I believe if you all think about it, the race for acquisition is not so healthy- for us or mother nature.

The DH thinks this is a wonderful idea (he has been a stay at home dad for as long as he's been a dad). He has already developed habits that will help keep us warm and fed and happy with Very Little Income. I so appreciate all he does to allow me to not have to go off to work anymore.

Ok, so we have mice. We have mousetraps to trap and kill the mice. It is not something I like to do, but well, food is food and mice will ruin it. Imagine my surprise when I came out to the kitchen the other morning to find this-

'What is this all about?' I asked.

'It's to make sure we don't lose the cheese!' he said.

Yes boys and girls, if you run low on money, rubber band that cheese to the mousetrap, so nobody walks away with it. You'll save millions.

Spring on a grim New England day

What a grim , rainy snowy gray winter day it is today. On the other hand, we are essentially halfway thorough winter, and have not had many days like today, so that is fine! Spring, though, is always welcome.

Whenever the Papertrey countdown days start, I am inspired and want the new sets like, well... TODAY, please! Lol. Instead, I have to go find a set that is similar enough and get the card close enough...

Here is a link to Nicholes card that I think is near perfection- She used a new set available on January 15th- Lace Bouquet. I thought maybe it was time to ink up Botanical Silhouettes.

I stamped in Smokey Shadow, but colored with Prisma pencils and blended with baby oil. I also put some glitter on the flowers, just because lately I cannot stop my hand from grabbing that glitter pen. The stems are stamped in Spring Moss, and the sentiment with Onyx Black.


It is hard to see the Text Style stamped background; I did it pretty light. It looks very soft and wonderful in real life. I put the twine on vertically, since the floral stamp is more horizontal than vertical, and the text stamp did not go all of the way to the edge of the layer

Not bad, eh?

The Fix- and a Baby Boy card

I received some suggestions as to what to do to stack the PTI cubes so they wouldn't fall, and I thought this was the best; especially since it cost me nothing! I had the bag of Bazzill chips, and can easily cut them from cardboard when I run out. A bit of craft glue and here it is!

Yay for little cubes showing off their color to me just to my right on my table.

Here is a small Baby Boy card, only 3 x 4.5. Is that a 'Bar' measurement? It started as a pack of RSVP inserts I picked up off a sale table somewhere; a pack of small single layers and matching envies. I made a card from PTI's Stampers Select, and layered on a Martha Stewart print. The blue card was stamped with some flourishes from Inladinkado's Sketchy Flourishes in Versa Mark. The Onsie is SU By Ones and By Twos, colored in Copics by my DD which I then stole from her pile of discards. The sentiment is from Memory Box. Lol, since I didn't stamp and color the onsie, this card took all of 10 minutes to put together. One of those cards that takes longer to think about then to do-

Wait, I think that is always true of the cards I make!

Cubism

Not that cubism, silly, this kind!

Although I bet Picasso would love this picture of color, ha!

So here is the dilemma. I now love cubes, and lots of little bits of color on my black shelves on my desk.

Except that with the PTI new cubes, here is what invariably happens. They don't latch together in any way, so they fall over. I was thinking they might sit more firmly on each other if I removed the label. But oh la la, that label is so colorful!

I got these little desk accessories at Job Lots, and I can get 8 cubes in each one, and they stack well enough on top of the tops of the cubes...

But I can only grow so much in this direction, the little spaces will get more and more empty as my PTI collection grows in the cubism direction, and dang it, those Job Lots containers are brown, lol lol lol.


What I really want is for the PTI cubes to go in each section of the black shelf, and not fall over. I was thinking of some kind of tray with sides, maybe made from cardboard and long coffee stirrers.

This is where I need the collective imagination from my PTI friends!