Toadily

Hi Friends!  I have a cute little card with an image from Penny Black today.  The set is called Toadily.  The sentiment is from Hero Arts.  Papers from Doodlebug, cardstock from PTI.  Copic coloring and thats about it.  Simple and easy!  Thanks for stopping in!

Appreciated Kitties

Hello Friends!  Another kitty card today.  Same specs as yesterday with the details.  Only changes are Ocean Tides PTI ribbon, PTI Kraft, and Echo Park Patterned paper.  Coloring done with copic markers.  All other info is the same.  Thanks for stopping in!

  

Great Cat Friends

Hello Friends! I've got a new little card for you today.  A couple of cute cats from Hero Arts.

Bought this set on a whim at my LSS.  I have a feeling it was on sale.  The sentiments are from Hero Arts as well and those I paid full price for.  I colored the cats with my copic makers.  Hadn't colored in awhile and just felt like doing something relaxing that wouldn't let me eat at the same time.  I am trying to reduce the old size here.  Reading and t.v. watching drive to the snackage but coloring not so much.  Anyway back to the card- Doodlebug paper, PTI ribbon and cardstock.  That sums it up!  Have a great week friends!

Hey New Stuff!

Hard to believe eh?  I got nothing in the way of excuses.  I've made plenty of cards- just kind of lost interest in photographing them.  I've lost interest in many of things I used to do regarding paper crafting but I haven't lost interest in card making.  I knocked out 10 cards last night.  I took crappy photos of 5 to share with some friends on Facebook.  And then I thought hey why not update the old blog?  So here I am!

Of course I shot this with my iphone- and its unedited. I make no promises of greatness here. I am not branding myself, I am certainly not trying to be the next big thing.  Sometimes I have to remind myself of that.  Especially when blogging becomes a "job" and I find myself comparing my blog to others.   Anyway, I digress!   Here is the card.  I know just who I am sending this too.  Hopefully I will find a stamp before too many days go by.   The paper is from one of the millions of 6x6 pads I unearthed on my desk.  It's double sided, if I hazarded a guess I'd say Echo Park but I am not positive and you should know by now I am to lazy to go look!  The owl stamp is from Hero Arts.  I bought it separated from the main set so I can't help you there.  The chevron stamp on the far right is from PTI- simple squares or something like that.  The friend stamp is also from Hero Arts.

PTI Blog Hop Interactive Cards

Hello Friends! Sorry for two posts in one day but I had no idea I would actually get something done for the PTI blog hop!  My darling hubby picked up my package from UPS late last night and inside were the new PTI zipper dies.  This is my first go at using them and I could not tear it apart.  I like it too much.  Sorry!  Most everything on here is from PTI with the exception of the twine (May Arts) and the buttons (a friend's mom sent me her old button stash- these really are vintage buttons!)  Thanks for stopping by!

Gift bag

Good morning blog friends!  I used my iphone to take the picture in Instagram so the colors are a little off, sorry about that.  That patterned paper is aqua colored.  The ink is dark chocolate.  I got the tiny lunch bag at Michaels.  There were a dozen in a bag for about 2-3 bucks.  I put some yummy chocolate chip cookies in there for a friend.  The plaid is made with Waltzingmouse's plaid stamp (I cut it apart and used only the skinny side), the sentiment and frame are from PTI. 

Two Birds in a Basket

Good morning! Are you enjoying your Sunday? I have a horrible cold, but other than that things are going well. Today's card features the Bitty Bird and the Vintage Picnic stamp sets from PTI. The background is from bitty bird, as is the sentiment, and the little birds. The basket and flowers are from Vintage Picnic. Those super cute buttons are from doodlebug.

Changes

Well where to begin? Let's start with the card. I made this for the last Paper Crafts Magazine call. This one didn't get picked up but in happy happy news another one did! So finally I will be published. To say I am excited would be an extreme understatement. I was shaking as I mailed that baby off! LOL! Anyway this card was for the paper piecing call. Let me just say cutting out that flower was so hard! But I love the way it turned out and now that it has been rejected I can give it away to a friend. ;)
On Tuesday I go back to work so if the blog goes quiet for awhile don't be concerned I just need to relearn how to budget my time. The first few weeks of the school year are always the hardest. I teach in the state of California, home to the world's laziest legislature, where they still haven't managed to pass a budget. I (along with all the other teachers in my district) took a big pay cut and there still isn't any money. The whole thing is beyond frustrating.
I bought a new computer! It was definitely time for an upgrade. I am now the proud owner of a MacBook Pro. Its my second Mac and I am thrilled with it so far. My kiddos will be pleased to be able to play with the old one. I know they will want to be dragging it off to their rooms but I insist the internet be used where I can see it. There is so much bad stuff out there.
Thanks for stopping in today! I will post the card deets below. Have a wonderful Labor Day weekend!
Card Deets:
Stamps: Friends Til the End (PTI)
Paper: Kraft, pure poppy, bitty dot sunrise, bitty dot pure poppy
Ink: dark chocolate
Bling: Hero Arts, A'muse

Happy Birthday Amy Jo!

It's my friend Amy Jo's birthday today! I made her a little gift that I will show you below. Of course its not in her hands yet because I am waiting for the new PTI cream envelopes to be delivered, so I can tuck some inside. In a minute I will get to the project details but first I want to give a little shout out to my friend.
AJ and I met on the internet. Its so crazy. We were on a message board for kids due in August of 2000. We have been friends ever since. She is one of my best friends. I know I can call her no matter the time of day or night. I know she always has sensible advice and a shoulder to cry on. She is so fun and funny too. She does nice things for people all the time. When we met up in St. Louis, she drove my favorite Iowa ice cream specialty (A cherry bon bon sundae from Whitey's) all the way from LeClaire IA to St. Louis packed in dry ice. I devoured the thing upon arrival. Anyway I just want to say I love ya AmyJo and I hope you have an awesome birthday!

This is the box of cards that I made AJ. I got the box template from the talented Stampin' Gal Val. Its free and super easy to use. I made it with Mind's Eye papers that I got from Beverly at Precious scraps. The rest of the paper is PTI cardstock. The A is stamped from a set from MM. The other stamps are from PTI's borders and corners circle and Birds of a Feather.Here we have one of the single cards. Same materials as those above with the addition of some prima flowers and a PTI dark chocolate button.

This is what the insides look like. I lined them so she wouldn't have to go find a gel pen to write.

Last but not least, tied off with an ocean tides twill bow. I think this is my favorite card. Thanks for stopping by my long winded post!!

We Interrupt Your Crafting to Bring You This:

Pictures from St. Louis! I took a trip with several of my very good girlfriends to St. Louis Missouri. It was so so so much fun! I just got back home last night (from an extended trip to my mom's...) so I have been gone for awhile. I thought I would share a few pics before I headed over to my crafting table to play with my stamps.This is me (in the hat) with my friend Amy.  We were so happy to make it to St. Louis.  Neither of us are seasoned travelers!  We navigated two airports, a bus, two shuttles, and two airlines as well as the St. Louis Metrolink.
Group picture of all of us.  Taken by some guy who claimed to be a photographer.  It did turn out rather nice, so maybe he wasn't lying.  I am in the center looking like the shortie of the group but really Edie (pink roses) is shorter than me.  I met all these lovely ladies on the internet... its a story that sounds so silly.  We met on a message board when we were pregnant with our year 2000 babies.  That would be my daughter, who is now 9.   We are from all over the country.... Connecticut, New York, Maine, California, and Iowa.  There are 2 girls missing from our little group, they couldn't make it out to St. Louis.