Homemade Christmas House

I got it done!!! YAY! I was suppose to spend the day preparing for our vacation but I am obsessed with this little house, LOL. Its done now. I used PTI's Homemade and Home for the Holidays. The house is from a template by Lauren Meader sold through PTI.All the little Christmas elements are from PTI's Home for the Holidays. They were originally meant to coordinate with Boards and Beams. The house base is lemon tart. All the elements are stamped on cream, colored with with copics and then applied to the base. The roof is pure poppy.
I took the time to shade the roof tiles this time. It took forever! Not sure I would do it again. LOL
I masked the little holly swags and then colored them with copic markers. The glow in the windows are copic marker and blender pen.
What do ya think? I hope you all have a fab Thanksgiving! I will see ya in a week!

Homemade House

Have you been to PTI lately? Perhaps you saw the cute little house template from Lauren Meader? And the gorgeous companion set illustrated by Nichole Heady? Of course I bought both! And here is the cute little house that I made. What do you think?I used cream cardstock for the base and ripe avocado for the roof tops. I stamped in ripe avocado, pure poppy, and dark chocolate. There is also a bit of lemon tart. The glow in the windows is copic marker and blender pen.
I am not sure if its done yet but we are leaving for vacation and I wanted to get some pictures up before we leave. I am contemplating some avocado brick work in the front of the house. Maybe some copic shading on the roof.... that probably would have been easier before I put it together! LOL.
Speaking of putting it together, it went together very easily. I didnt need the written directions. The hardest part is adhereing everything. I used score tape. All the design elements are stamped separately and then cut out and adhered. It takes 5 sheets of cardstock to make this little house, so you dont want to mess it up with a miss stamp! Its hard to part with 5 sheets of cardstock! LOL
Thanks for stopping by! I would love to hear your comments.

Christmas and Randomness

Hello!  I still have a few more simple Christmas cards for you.  I posed them in front of my daughter's little tree.  It was a kit we bought at Joann's.  My dd and her brother had such fun putting them together.   Definitely worth the five dollars.   Anyway on to the card.  I have new leaft cardstock from PTI, it was embossed with my label one spellbinder die.  Next I punched another label one out of white.  I stamped it in palette viridian leaf with Waltzingmouse stamp's label one set.  I added the wreath from PTI's 2008 tag set.  I colored the berries red with red stickles.  I added the peace sentiment which also came from PTI's 2008 tag set.  I thought the bottom needed something so I added a piece of sticky tape and coated it in glitter.  It looks so sparkly!  This was a quick and fun little card to make.
In the random news, we had an awesome time on our field trip! So much stuff to see, the university was so welcoming, the kids really enjoyed themselves. We filled every minute of the day! I was in such a good mood that I decided to make breakfast for our entire staff this morning. I prepared homemade cinnamon rolls, blueberry muffins, sausages, eggs, juice, coffee, hot cocoa, fruit salad.... it was a feast! And everyone was so surprised. I just love surprises like that. So much fun. Of course, now I am exhausted!! Thank goodness only one more day in the work week. Happy Friday y'all! (Or Thursday night if your reading it as I post ;) )

Some More Christmas Goodness

Good morning! Happy Wednesday to you! Today I have another simple Christmas card. This one is made with both Waltzingmouse and PTI stamps. The layout is similar to the previous day's cards. I stamped WM label border on some PTI white. Then I stamped the dove stamp from PTI's 2008 Christmas tags. I added a PTI sentiment in white and flanked it with some cute little scrolls from WM stamps. Simple, fast, and easy!

Today I am off to UOP. It's a gorgeous private college in Stockton. We are taking the 4th graders at our school on a field trip there, hoping to plant the seeds of college in their young minds. I work in a school that is in a very poor area, most of the kids are on free lunch, etc. So helping them see college is attainable, fun, and a worthwhile goal is really important. I can't wait to go on this trip today. Its going to be so fun. Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Three

I have for you more simple cards featuring PTI, Waltzingmouse, and Hero Arts. The fancy border is by Waltzingmouse Stamps (link over in the side bar). Its part of Label One set. The sentiment and stockings are from PTI. The little holly sprig is from Hero Arts. I love that sprig because you can easily color the berries. The ornament on the first card is from PTI's Take a Bough. Everything stamped on PTI white cardstock.

Christmas, yet again

I love the simplicity of this card, I have a few more that are really similar. Once I got started I couldnt stop making them. First I embossed my PTI white cs with my label one nestie. Next I stamped a coordinating border from Waltzingmouse stamps Label one stamp set. I added a Hero arts holly sprig and a sentiment from PTI's stocking prints. I can not tell you enough about WM's label sets, they are wonderful. The designs on them are so fresh. Claire really outdid herself. Not only that but these things show up in my mailbox lightening fast and they are coming all the way from Ireland. My hat is definitely off to Claire. If you haven't ordered from her you should. She is the best.
This second card is very similar, except instead of holly I used a stocking from PTI's stocking prints. I cut it out and popped it up on some dimensionals. This is another great set, I can see using this one for many Christmases.
Have a happy Monday. I am taking my kids to the zoo today with a friend. Hopefully it will warm up a bit, I don't like to freeze. However its a small zoo so it only takes an hour or two. Thanks for stopping by!

Christmas Cards

I have been making a ton of them this weekend... I even took pictures, so things are going to be Christmasy around here for the next few days. I used stamps from Waltzingmouse Stamps, Papertrey ink, and Hero Arts.   First off I have to gush about WM stamps gorgeous Label 1 die set!  OMG it is to die for.  That gorgeous little border you see here, thats from the Label one set.  The polka dot background is also from WM.  The little noel is from PTI's 2008 tag set.  The cardstock and ink is all PTI.  The little bird is from Hero Arts.  I bought it last year, don't know the name.  Those cute little hearts I scored at Big Lots, super cheap.  They are from Heidi Grace.  I don't believe they are being made any longer, but I did just buy mine last week so if you have a Big Lots you may be in luck. 
This card is identical to the first one except that I swapped the hearts for buttons.  Love those PTI buttons, but hate mailing them.  LOL.

Birthday Wishes- Giga Style

I have to say this one of my most favorite cards.  The picture does not do it justice.  I started with a dark chocolate base and stamped a pattern using giga guidelines in chocolate and cream.  In real life you can see it peeking through the vellum.  Next I stamped the giga on piece of vellum thats slightly smaller than the base.  I added a strip of cream that a stamped with the big sentiment and some matching small tiles from guidelines 2.  Chocolate bow finishes the whole thing off.  Everything is PTI.

Speaking of PTI, last night was release night.  A whole bevy of yummy new stamps just waiting to be bought.  Of course I had to order.  I got this great new set of leaves and an architectural set called Homemade.  Hoping it will arrive before we go to Disneyland.  Did you order?  What did you get?

Another Notebook

Can you stand another notebook? And more Giga Guidelines? I made this patterned paper the other day and so far have used it on two cards and two notebooks. Totally fun! This notebook has a plum pudding base. I also have some aquamist along the edge, I punched it with the threading water punch. I have some cute button accents in both aqua mist and plum pudding. There is some spring moss twill running down the side. The circle is stamped with the things to do stamp from PTI's Take Note. The faux stitching was done with one of my copic markers. Hope you like!

Happy Veteran's Day tomorrow. Remember to thank a military veteran for his or her service. We just got done donating to a huge collection at work for some very hard working marines stationed in Afghanistan. One of them is the son of the PE teacher at school. I have known him since he was a scrawny 4th grader. Now he is a buffed out hero. I am proud to know him.

How About Some Guidelines?

How about some Guidelines? I have been loving PTI's new Giga Guidelines. So much fun to play with and so easy to use. I also like mixing them up with original guidelines and Guidelines 2. So much you can do with these little guys. On this card I started with a piece of rustic cream cardstock. I drew one inch gridlines in with a pencil because I wanted the pattern to be straight. I stamped the dark chocolate stamp first and then went back with the same stamp (but smaller version) and stamped the spring moss design. I love the way it came out. I added a few rhinestones in the centers. I adhered my pp to my spring moss base and lined the edge with cream twill. Next I used Waltzingmouse's No. 4 labels stamp to stamp my dark chocolate which I then cut out with my spellbinder nestie. I stamped the sentiment from Giga in Cream and added a prima flower with a spring moss button. Thats it! All done. I still have a good half sheet of this paper left so you will probably see it again. I also have a few more Giga projects for you provided I find some blogging time over the next few days. Thanks for stopping by and big thanks to those who leave me comments. Seriously, I am not lying when I say they make my day!

The Last of the Aqua and Chocolate

Well at least for now....  anyway I made this in my aqua chocolate frenzy a few weeks ago.  The base dark chocolate stamped in versamark with a stamp from PTIs vintage labels.  The little strip of pp is made from more PTI stamps... I think from Vintage labels?  The sentiment is from Vintage Picnic.  The frame on the nesties and the little design under it is from waltzingmouse stamps.  I added on some cute aquamist buttons and called it good.

This and That Notebook

I made this for Dawn McVey's color challenge then never photographed and entered it. That seems to be a recurring theme in my life lately... do something, never quite finish, never quite get it there on time. It means I have too much on my plate or I need to make better use of my time. I think its probably a little of both. I have been putting in some long hours at work and then I have all my home responsibilities too. I also have an unhealthy addiction to facebook, LOL! Anyhow on to the notebook. I used leaf green cardstock from PTI. I stamped it in dark chocolate using the grid stamp from Off Beat Backgrounds from Waltzingmouse stamps. Next I stamped a cream panel with roses from PTI's flower garden. I stamped twice, once to get the dark image, then again for the softer image. If you enlarge the image you can see the softer image better. Because I didnt read the color challenge (I just looked at the pic) I thought the pink was suppose to be hibiscus, which is what I used (it was suppose to be raspberry fizz). I mounted the cream panel onto a thin dark chocolate layer. I put some hibiscus twill onto the green portion then mounted on my panel. I covered the roses in crystal stickles. I added a punched kraft border to one side. I punched out a scalloped cream circle and a plain dark chocolate circle and paired them. The cream circle is stamped in leaf green with a stamp from Take Note. The hibiscus border is also from Take Note. The last thing was the addition of hibiscus buttons tied with cream twine. Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome Friday!

Holiday Notebook

For this notebook I pulled out Rustic Snowflake. Michelle Wooderson had just done a whole post on red and cream so I thought I would give that a try. The base is PTI vintage cream, its stamped with pure poppy. The red panels are Pure Poppy stamped with vintage cream. Pure poppy grosgrain and cream twill are tied on, as well as some cream buttons tied with jute twine. I also added a few red rhinestones to the centers of the snowflakes. On the inside is a PTI notebook in cream and chocolate. The other stamps are all from the Take Note set. Thanks so much for coming by! I hope you have a great Thursday! I can't wait for the weekend, myself. I haven't had a chance to craft all week.

Notebooks!

The first in quite a few notebooks that I have made with PTI's new Take a Note set and cute little notepads. Those notepads are a good deal, only 60 cents each and such a perfect size. I also love the dark chocolate lines. For the base of this notebook I used melonberry cardstock. I stamped it with the plaid stamp from Waltzingmouse stamps in dark chocolate and melonberry ink. Next I cut a piece of dark chocolate cs and adhered it to the front. After that I stamped the pencil image and box image on some PTI kraft. I cut it out and adhered it to the dark chocolate panel. I punched a kraft circle and stamped it with the circle image and the sentiment. I added a piece of melonberry bitty dot ribbon and a melonberry button tied with jute twine. Thanks for stopping by! Have a fabulous Wednesday.

Guidelines Thank you

Another Guidelines card. I stamped the base of this one the day I got the new Giga Guidelines and then promptly lost it in the pile of mess I had made. Does that ever happen to you? My husband assures me I am the messiest woman he has ever known. Its probably true. Anyway I stamped the top panel with Giga Guidelines in Aquamist on cream cardstock. I then used a stamp from original Guidelines and stamped in plum pudding. The sentiment is from Giga and is in plum pudding as well. The little strip of purple is plum pudding cs punched with my threading water fiskars punch. I added some tiny purple rhinestones and called it done. Have a fabulous Tuesday!

Guidelines!

Well finally I got around to taking some pictures!  I have been really busy with school and with my kids but I have been crafting. Unfortunately I hadn't taken a picture of a darn thing lately!  I have enough pics taken now to get the blog moving for at least this week and part of next week.  I even found a notebook I had made for Dawn's color challenge, which is now long over!  Oh well!  For this card I pulled out a couple of PTI's sets:  Giga guidelines, Guidelines 1, and Guidelines 2.  These are some of my most favorite sets.  Sometimes I just like to sit and build backgrounds on a blank piece of paper.  For this background I used the gridlines cardstock from PTI.  It makes building the background even easier.  Everything is easier to line up.  If you use a gridlined block its even better!  I started with big Giga stamp in Spring Moss (original formula).  Next I added in a tile from guidelines 2 in aqua mist (new formula).  Finally I went back with a stamp from guidelines 1 in plum pudding.  Next I stamped the sentiment from Giga Guidelines on some plum pudding cardstock that I had scalloped with my corner rounder.  I added a layer of aqua mist bitty dots and some satin aqua mist ribbon.  I added to that a plum pudding button tied on with cream twine.  Everything is mounted to a Ripe Avocado base.  It is so pretty IRL.  I think it might be one of the ones I hoard!  LOL!  

I hope you all had a good Monday.  I spent the day with my kiddies (they go to year round school and are off track right now) at the zoo.  We looked at animals and played at the park.  It was a really nice morning.  Tomorrow we are back to the work grind!  Thanks for coming by!

Happy Halloween!

Thats my hubby's head. He likes to dress it up! Happy Halloween from our family to yours!

Vintage Picnic and Plaid

Another of my aqua and chocolate creations... I was on a roll that day! This one uses PTI's vintage labels and vintage picnic along with Waltzingmouse stamps off beat backgrounds (plaid stamp). I used both dark chocolate and aqua mist inks. Dark chocolate twill as well. Labels one dies from spellbinders, I love them! I colored in the flowers with my trusty copic markers.

It's Blog Hop Time

Hello Friends! It is PTI Blog Hop time! This month's challenge was:
October Blog Hop

It's time for our annual Holiday Hop! Show us your best upcoming holiday plans for cards, gifts, wraps
or whatever else you have up your sleeve! With everyone's cumulative efforts the participant list will be
an amazing resource!

I have for you a gift idea. Perfect for someone you want to remember, yet don't have a lot of money in the budget for. I think it would be fabulous for a teacher, coworker, friend, or daycare provider. I got the idea from a wooden tea box I received from my best friend last Christmas. I was so proud of myself for coming up with the box! Its simple but I am not so great at the 3D thing. The size is based on the size of my Stash brand tea bags. The sides of the box are 1 1/4 inches. The base is 8.5 inches. So it pretty much uses up a full sheet of cardstock. The width is 3.5 inches. I made the accompanying lid 1/4 inch bigger in width and length. All materials are PTI except for the lovely plaid stamp which I got at waltzingmousestamps.
I used PTI's scarlet jewel and cream cardstock. After I cut the lid to size I scored it and stamped it in scarlet jewel with my plaid stamp from Waltzingmouse. Then I punched the edges with my Fiskars Threading Water punch. Next I stamped the teapots from Tea for Two onto cream cardstock and cut them out with rectangle nesties. I ran a length of scarlet jewel saddlestitch ribbon down the length of the lid and then adhered the teapot panels. I stamped a sentiment from Tea for Two in cream on scarlet cardstock. I cut it out and rounded the corners. Then I adhered it and added some cream and scarlet buttons
On the bottom part of the box I stamped some sentiments from Tea for Two. I did the stamping before putting the box together. On the inserts I stamped the little cup from the Everyday Classics set.
A couple more shots of the end and the inside. Hope you like this project and it gives you some ideas for inexpensive and thoughtful gifts.

Waltzingmouse Thank you

Hi there!  Its Wednesday, we are half way through the week!  Today I have a thank you card featuring Waltzingmouse stamps.  The only stamp not from WM is the sentiment which is from PTI.  I used WM off beat backgrounds for the lovely polkadot background.  I stamped it in ripe avocado ink on PTI's ripe avocado paper.  I added a strip of basic grey paper (sorry no clue what line). Next I stamped a piece of PTI spring moss with WM Very vintage labels.  I then cut it out with a spellbinder 4 nestie.  I added a lovely piece of summer sunrise grosgrain and tied it in a knot.  Then I layered on another nestie stamped with another WM Very Vintage Label.  I stamped on the PTI sentiment in ripe avocado.  A ripe avocado button and a little button twine finish it off.  Hope you like!

A Little More Aqua and Chocolate

Actually I have a lot more Aqua and Chocolate but I am not posting it all today... gotta spread out the love.  Today I have a thank you card to show you.  I used all PTI on this one.  The colors are Aqua Mist, Vintage Cream, and Dark Chocolate.  Thats the new Aqua Mist ink, which I must say is a thousand times better than the old.  The stamp set Vintage labels with the exception of the sentiment which is from either Beyond Basic Borders or Rustic branches... they look so much alike and I am too tired to run and check.
And here is a close up of all that yummy aqua goodness.  I got the idea for the background on the Aqua from a card on Dawn McVey's blog.  I can't find it now, but I think she showed it during the Vintage Label countdown.  I am off to work, have a great Tuesday!  Today I will be explaining solids, liquids, and gases to first graders; discussing Atoms and the periodic table with fifth graders; and reviewing magnetism with some cute 4th graders.  Hope your day is fun too!

Halloween Boxes

Good Morning and Happy Monday. I do love a Monday, perhaps because I have the day off every week. Today I have for you a couple of little Halloween boxes. They are made with some orange Bazzill cardstock and a mix of Waltzingmouse and Papertrey Ink stamps. The bats and little stars are from WM everything else from PTI. The ribbon I picked up at Michaels last year. I made the box by copying the one my smashbox eyeshadow came in. I don't have any measurements I just took the original apart and traced and scored it. I was thinking I would make these for the teachers at school but it was way too time consuming so I need another idea before the 30th.

Aqua and Chocolate

Good morning and Happy Sunday! I have some aqua mist and chocolate goodness for you today. I stamped the little wreath from Rustic Branches onto vintage cream card stock. I added the berries in aqua mist and dotted them with eucalyptus stickles. I stamped the words peace, joy, and love in the center of the wreath with aqua mist. You can see it better if you enlarge the picture. The buttons are from PTI, aqua mist in color, tied with jute button twine.Here is a close up of the love wreath. I just love this color pairing. And I am so glad I got out some older stamps to play with... so often they just sit on the shelf. Enjoy your Sunday! Thanks for stopping by.

Fall Leaves

I have been meaning to post this one, but it got lost in the digital pile.  I ran across it today while looking for something else.  I have been working on new cards this weekend, so hopefully I will have some new stuff this week.  This card uses all PTI products.  The leaves are from fall elegance.  Swirls from Fancy Flourishes, melon, moss, and hibiscus ink.  melon, moss, and cream cardstock.  The sentiment is from the Butterfly Kisses.  Thanks for stopping by.

Grateful List

Hello and happy Saturday!  Today I have my grateful list for you.... ten things I am grateful for in no particular order:

1.  I finally got my paycheck! (It was an unhappy surprise when my paycheck did not show up on the first of the month.)

2.  My son cleaned his room last night so I won't have to whine at him today.

3.  The second grade pizza party was too much fun, love those little kids.

4.  No soccer this weekend.

5.  Mondays off!

6.  Computer guy fixed my software issue at school.

7.  Got to skip out on the staff meeting

8.  Facebook friends.

9.  Chocolate

10.  New stamps headed my way!

More Christmas

I have another little Christmas card to show you today. All products by Papertrey Ink. I took one of the trees from Tree Trimming Trio. I stamped it in Ripe Avocado. I then got out my lovely PTI buttons and covered the tree. I added green stickles to the little stars. The stand is stamped in Dark Chocolate. I inked around the edges of the cream cardstock in ripe avocado. This is my favorite card out of the latest batch. Thanks for stopping by! Have an awesome Thursday! I will be serving up pizza to some second graders at lunch today. They are so excited.

Christmas, so soon?

It is way early for me to be making Christmas cards. It does help that the weather just changed. I can not make Christmas cards when its warm and toasty outside! Usually I make all my cards in the first week of December. This is not a good idea, but its usually what happens. Anyhow... I made this card using PTI's new Tree trimming Trio. Love this set. Even cuter than you think it will be. It also has some great sentiments in it. My sentiment is there on the side because I scored my card in the wrong place! Happy accident, love the way it turned out.

That rain yesterday? Holy cow! I was 45 minutes late to work, along with the 5 other teachers who live out my way. My classroom sprung two different leaks. It was so wet and soggy! But its over now and its not like we don't need the rain. So bring it on, I say. Happy Wednesday!

Nothing Better

Hello! Happy Tuesday to you! Here in Northern California we are expecting our first big rain storm and if you listened to the news, you would think it had never rained here before! Looks like its going to be a pain getting to work this morning.
This morning I have a cute little friend card for you. I made the base out of PTI kraft cardstock. I stamped it in PTI ripe avocado with Waltzingmouse stamps off beat backgrounds grid stamp. The pretty flourish, leaves, and sentiment are all from PTI. The cute little ends on the label are from WM very vintage labels. PTI buttons, ribbon, and twine round out the card. Thanks for stopping in! Stay dry this Tuesday!

On a Roll!

Wow, two whole posts in two days! Don't get used to it.... I don't think I will make the whole week. Today I have for you another card using Waltzingmouse stamps. Very similar to yesterdays card. The cardstock is PTI's enchanted evening and vintage cream. Ink is enchanted evening. All stamps by Waltzingmouse except for the sentiment, that is from PTI's Wishing You set. The button, twill, and twine are also from PTI. Thanks for stopping in!