Little Birdie with Matching Envie!

Hello blog friends!  Its Tuesday and I am back to work, that break was short lived!  I did get some cards made on vacation and even got pictures so hopefully I will have some time to share this week.

This card combines a couple of my old favorites along with a new favorite!  The houses are from PTI Bird Watching.  The birds are from Little Bitty Bird.  My new favorite is the background stamp which is from WMS heirloom backgrounds (same bg set that I used on the flower cards last week).  The patterned paper is from the new 6x6 Doodlebug.

Here is the matching lined envelope.  I love lining envelopes, they look so professional!  I used the envie liner die from PTI.

The front of the envelope featuring a fillable frame and bitty bird.

The back of the envie.  The details make all the difference!  Now to actually send this to someone!

Making Lemonade Out of Lemons....

Or how to fix the card you just spent 30 minutes coloring on.  This card originally looked like the two I shared yesterday- right up until I dropped an ink pad on it.  Yep, sad but true.  I couldnt let all the work go to waste so here is my fix.

I trimmed out the flower and leaves.  Luckily the ink pad only hit the sentiment and white space.  Next I took a piece from the base (the kraft portion) because the rest of it ripped when I was peeling off the flower.  I made a new base out of plum pudding cardstock.  I stamped the panel with the sentiment and added a little bit of ribbon and bling.  Yay, a card saved after all!  Thanks for stopping by!

In Bloom Roses

Well good morning friends!  I am up early because we have a 9am baseball game today.  I do not enjoy it, not at all.  Plus its cold. Sorry I go off topic so quickly!  Anyway today I give you the birthday card I made for my mom.  Its got the big rose from In Bloom.  I masked the rose to add the leaves and then colored it all with my copics.  The background is stamped with the houndstooth from the new set Heirloom Pattens by Waltzingmouse Stamps.  The sentiment is from PTI- Botanical Garden.


Here we have essentially the same card in a different color scheme, with a different sentiment and a different background from the same background set.  Waltzingmouse backgrounds are awesome they are the full length of the card and super easy to line up and you get so many in one package.  This set has 5 different backgrounds in it! 

Let Your Heart Sing

Hello Friends!  I am 5 for 5 this week- unbelievable how easy it is to keep up the blog when one doesn't have to work everyday.  Today I have a little card featuring Bitty Bird and Bitty Bird Additions.  The grass is from the Hanging Out set.  I love that grass!  A little bit of copic action on the house and the tree branch.  Some twine from my mega roll from May Arts- I will be able to pass it on to the kids when I die, no way will I ever use it up.

Bitty Bird with Doodlebug Paper

Hello there blog friends!  I have some more bitty bird for you today.  And some lovely patterned paper too.  The pp is from doodlebug.  The blue is 12x12 but the flowers are from their new 6x6 pads.  Yes, doodlebug in 6x6!  LOVE!  There are quite a few different sets here.  I have the bird house from bird watching.  The little flowers and the little stems are from Tag Its.  And then the birds are from Little Bitty Bird. Most everything is done in copics except for the yellow bird, he is paper pieced.  I hand cut that scalloped tag, its also from Tag Its.  Thanks for stopping in!

Congrats on Your New Home (Plus Some Extra Rambling by Me)

Good Morning!  Day 3 of my spring break and I am a happy girl.  Its 8am and I am still in my pjs.  Truth be told I drove the kids to school in them.  Ack!  I promise I didnt leave the car.  Today I have a card I made with PTI boards and beams.  Its not a set I use often and find it difficult to get a clear stamp of that house but once that is out of the way I love coloring it.  Thats all I have for today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!
PS.  Did you see the Hunger Games?  Did you read the books?  I read them all and then saw the movie yesterday.  I thought they did a pretty good job although I think they let the Katniss character off a little easy in the movie.  She is not nearly as hard as she is in the book.  Loved how they showed the game makers in their little room making the game.  That was really cool.  Thoughts?

Little Bitty Bird Welcomes Baby

Good Morning blog friends!  I have some Bitty Bird for you today.  Just love Heather Nichols' stamp designs.  Totally my style.  I stamped all the elements in kraft ink.  Then added the details with both stamps and copic markers.  The sentiment and the grass are from Hanging Out. 
I'm on Spring Break this week, but my kids are back in school so I am looking forward to lots of crafty time.  Also some movie watching and book reading.  I plan on being a slug.  LOL!  Have a great week!

Waltzingmouse Sketch Challenge

Hi friends!  Its time for the WMS sketch challenge.  I am home, its spring break, and I had some time so I thought I would play along.  The challenge for this week is One Layer.  You can see the details here.  So whats does one layer mean really?  Well if you look at the examples you can see it means different things to different people.   I think of my card as a one layer but then I can see where you might think its two.  Originally it was just going to be the white base but it needed something.... Anyway here it is:

I used WMS Cottage Home and lots of copic marker coloring. The sentiment is from PTI. Thanks for stopping in today.

Waltzingmouse Thanks

Hello Friends!  How are you all?  I have been up to my eyeballs in books at the school's bookfaire.  Thank goodness it ends this Friday because I am so DONE!  Anyway, today I bring you some Waltzingmouse.  I apologize for the crappy photograph.  The weather here sucks and I am reduced to shooting on my craft table with my OTT light and well, I am not the greatest photographer anyway.
I used the new WMS chicken wire background.  So cute and so easy to line up!  The chicken and the other patterns are from WMS French Country and the sentiment is from Say It Loud.

PTI March Blog Hop

Its PTI bloghop time! Above is the inspiration photo that you can find with all the details on Nichole's blog. I don't know if I ever mentioned this but I find it so hard to work from a sketch or an inspiration photo. Most of the time I just sit down at my desk and go. Rarely do I look at anything before hand. So I always find these kinds of things really challenging for me.
I have had little bitty bird on my desk for awhile now.  So I just pulled it out again to make this card.  I thought this up last night.  Its not a super original idea as I have seen other cards (with various other animals,etc.) lined up with one different.  I thought it would work well with Little Birdie.  I paperpieced all the birds and all the stripes.  I used a new Doodlebug 6x6 pad and some PTI patterned paper.   Thats all their was to it!  Thanks for coming by!

For Janelle

Hello Friends!  I am back with a very special card for a very special person, Janelle.  You may know Janelle from her blog, Show and Tell.  I "met" Janelle on the Papertrey Ink forum.  Sadly Janelle has been battling with a brain tumor.  Dana and Laurie organized this hop to let Janelle know that we are all still thinking of her and pulling for her.  You can see all the blogs in the hop (and link up your own special card for Janelle!) on Laurie's blog- Soapbox Creations .

Janelle- I think of you often and pray for your health as well.- Michele
Card Deets:
Stamps: PTI Little Bitty Birdy
Paper, Ink, Ribbon: PTI
Copic Markers 

Pretty Peonies

Good Morning blog friends!  Today I have a card I made for my momma.  She has been pretty upset because one of her friends recently got a new job.  Of course she is happy that her friend has a new job, but sad because she has worked with her friend for over 30 years.   So understandably she has been just a little tweaked out by the changes.  Anyways I thought maybe this might cheer her up.  Pretty simple construction here:
1.  Stamp the background in kraft ink on fine linen paper
2. Stamp the frame on new Cosmo Cricket paper.  Hand cut
3.  Stamp the bigger flower and color with copic markers
4. Cut ribbon and stripe with markers.  Adhere
5.  Glue it all together and add the little pearls.
Thats all there is to it!  Thanks so much for stopping by!

More WMS French Country

Hey friends! One more card using Waltzingmouse stamps French Country Set. Thanks for stopping by!

Waltzingmouse Brilliance!

Hello Friends!  Let me swoon over Waltzingmouse stamps today!  WMS are awesome.  They just finished another terrific release.  I ordered during the release and got my stamps on Monday.  Super fast service, especially since they are coming from Ireland!  I love this latest set, French Country.  So much awesomeness packed in.  You can't go wrong.  I stamped the big border in kraft ink on rustic cream paper.  The background below is also stamped in kraft.  I colored a bit with copics and then added some pearl trim.  Loving this set!

Happy 50th

Hello Friends!  I have a good friend who turned 50 on Saturday.  (She's my birthday twin- except I turned 39).  And I made up this little card for her.  I bought those number dies from PTI when they first came out and this is probably only the second time I have used them.  Don't think I would repurchase if I had it to do over, however, I have them now and they sure are cute.  The paper is some newer Cosmo Cricket.  The big ribbon is from my LSS.  It came in a grab bag so no idea who the manufacturer is.  Well thats all I got!  Thanks for stopping in.

Pretty Peonies and New Cosmo Cricket

Hello friends! I made a couple of cards over the weekend.  I also had a moment of weakness and bought another 6x6 pad and a few copic markers.  I used my new PTI anniversary set, Pretty Peonies for this card.  I also used some distress ink and PTI tea dye duo.

Here's a close up. I don't know why the colors look so different. I took the pictures at the same time, edited the same also. Weird. Well anyway, thanks for coming by!

More Framed Out

Hello Friends!  I have another Framed Out card for you today.  I stamped the frame 3 times in three colors.  Then I stamped the interior frames.  Finally the sentiment and two little icons from the Tag It series.  I added a strip of bitty dot ribbon and I was all done!  All products are from PTI.  Thanks for stopping in!

Framed Out!

Hey there friends!  Got some new goodies this past weekend and these are my favorite!  New mini set by PTI.  So very cute.  I love the little die and the matching stamps.  I also got 4 of the the new ink and I love that too.  Took kind of a minimalist approach with this card, lots of white space.  I am a fan of white space.  I am using new versions of summer sunrise and hawaiian shores ink.  The big frame is from the new aqua mist patterned paper pack.  Stamps are all from the Framed Out mini set.  Thanks for stopping in today!

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!

Happy Thoughts

 Good morning blog friends! Thought I would do a quick little post this morning. I made this card a few days ago when I made my WMS card for the WMS blog hop. This card uses PTI's Boxes, Bags and Tags as well as PTI's mat stack set.  The sentiment is from Fillable Frames.  I used Harvest Gold, Orange Zest, and Summer Sunrise papers and ink.

Morning Glories

Hello Friends!  I have some PTI Morning Glories for you today.  I had stamped these out a long time ago to color on vacation.  Well I ended up never coloring so I found them whilst cleaning up my mess and decided to get in a little Copic practice.   So here they are all colored up in shades of pink!  I love the way they came out.  If I remember correctly these are RV55, 63,69  or something close to that.  The leaves are G07 and G09.  The leaves read a little funny in the photo.  I am not sure why, they dont really look like that in real life.  Not much else going on here except for more twine (gotta use that 400 yards up!) and a little tag using PTI Boxes, Bags, and Tags and Mixed messages.  Thanks for stopping in.
 

Papertrey Ink- Make It Monday Challenge

Hello friends!  Well now that I can finally hobble around in my boot, I am getting some crafting done! I decided to try out PTI's Make It Monday this week.  It was hosted by Ashley Newell and it featured glittered buttons.  You can see all the details here.
 
I used Everyday Button Bits to make the two birds.  My purple button was a bit on the small side so I elongated the tail and the beak.  The flowers and grass are drawn in with a copic multiliner.  All the coloring is done with copics.  The patterned paper is from Echo Park.

More Waltzingmouse Love

Hello friends! I have another Waltzingmouse card for you today. This one uses Spring Baskets, which is one of my favorite sets. Claire packs so much goodness into one set, its amazing all the things you can do with it.  For starters the basket is in two pieces.  The bottom and top are different stamps.  The daffodils are also a separate stamp.
 
I colored the basket and butterflies with my copics.  When I color this basket I color each little strip individually.  It takes more time, but I like the effect it has.
 
A close up of the tag. These are the only non-waltzingmouse stamps. The circle and sentiment are from PTI. Circle is from Boxs, bags, and tags. Sentiment is from Mixed Messages. Tag is is from cuttlebug (provo craft).  Those little tags are some of the only dies I have from provo craft.  They are worth digging out the second B plate. The butterfly is paper pieced.

One more look...  Can you see the versamark butterflies in the background?  I stamped them all around the edge before I attached the main panel.  The twine is something new I picked up from May Arts.  I bought it on Amazon.  400 yards or something like that.  It will last me until I die.  LOL Thanks for stopping in.

Valentine Pouches and Bookmarks

Hello friends! I have some Valentine fun for you today. These are the pouches I made for my kids' teachers.  I got the cute little bags from Michelle Phillippi.  You can buy them in her shop.  I folded them half way up and then secured them with score tape.  This gives you two pouches.  One from the fold and one in the bag.  I have seen them done where people sew them but I do not enjoy sewing.  The score tape worked great.  Next I added lots of little fun pieces from pink and red cardstock and some patterned paper (Simple Valentine)  In the bag are some giant Ghirardelli bars and some smaller candy and a bookmark.


Here are all three together.  Each one is a little different.  I get bored doing the same old thing.
 
Next the little bookmarks.  I used the bookmark die, some old ribbon, scrap paper and Simple Valentine and Tiny Treats stamps.
 
 Last we have the candy bar wrap.  I did this up for my hubby.  Its another giant Ghirardelli Chocolate bar.  I wrapped it in pp and added a stamped embellishment.
That's all I have!  Thanks for stopping in!
 

Waltzingmouse Blog Party!

Hey there blog friends!  Guess what?  Its the Waltzingmouse Blog Party!!!  I just realized I haven't been giving my WMS enough love lately.  So here I am with an entry to the blog party.  The theme this month is spring and you can read all about it here:  Waltzingmouse

And here is my entry!  Nothing says spring like a cute little Chickie!  All stamps are by Waltzingmouse stamps.  In the background we have Dainty Doilies (these are the best and only doilies you will ever need!).  The label is from Holiday Labels 14.  The polka dot is my favorite.  The little chickie in the egg is from Lil Buddies and the sentiment is from Spring baskets.  Patterned paper is from BoBunny.

Bitty Bird Valentine

Hello blog friends! I have the Valentine I made for my hubby to show you today. Sorry its a little late for inspiration this year! I was really busy with work, lesson plans etc. but last night while I was running (jogging, actually) I got distracted and turned my head for a second. Well that was all it took. My foot came down on the edge of the asphalt, I rolled my ankle and went head first into a gully. I landed on my shoulder in a mess of gravel. So today I am nursing lots of cuts, bruises, and worst of all, a severely sprained ankle. Will go to the dr. today and let a professional look at it because its a mess. However no walking means no work. No way can I stand and teach all day. I thought about trying to sit and teach but then upon reflection decided I should give this poor foot at least one full day of rest. I have some crutches (yes I am such a klutz I own crutches) and thats how I am getting around at the moment. Well that was probably more info than you needed, eh?
So anyway, onto the card.  I started with a piece of cream cardstock.  I stamped it with the little birds and branches from Bitty Bird (PTI).  The heart is from Simple Valentine and the sentiment is from Love Birds.  The birds and leaves are colored with copic markers.  I lined the inside of the card (um cause I dropped an ink pad on it) with some blue patterned paper (PTI) and I stamped it with a simple little sentiment.
 
Thanks so much for visiting me today!

PTI Challenge- Butterflies

Hello friends! Its been awhile! We had a bout of sickness go through the house. My daughter and I were both down with it for awhile. However, I am back today with a new PTI Anniversary challenge. This one involves Butterflies and you can read about it here.
My card today uses Butterflies from the set Butterfly Dreams.  The leaves are from Turning a New Leaf.  The sentiment is from Big Birthdays (or something like that...sorry!) and the frame is from Fillable Frames Additions.  I messed this card up big time!  It was originally a single layer cream card with only the butterflies layered on.  It was all done and I went to stamp the back with my custom name stamp and completely screwed it up.  I couldn't toss it though so I cut apart the front and layered it on some Spring Moss cardstock.  I also cut out the inside and adhered it to the inside of the card.  All better now!  I leave you with a close up of the little butterflies.  Some are popped up with dimensionals and others are adhered straight down.  Thanks for stopping in!
  I

Happy Anniversary PTI Challenge

Hello Friends! I came home from my MIL's to see that PTI had started their anniversary festivities. So that means its challenge and contest time! I created this card for the challenge. You can see the details here. It's inspired by Heather Nichols. I used her sets, Bitty Bird and Fillable Frames. I used her signature Kraft paper and some white gel pen accents. Heather always inspires me. I really like her CAS style and her rustic feel.
I started this card with a Kraft base.  I centered the frame and stamped it in Dark Chocolate Ink.  I masked it off and then stamped the rustic branches all around.  Next I added the tiny butterfly, sentiment and bird.  I came back with my paper stump and some ink (I was using dew drop chalk inks) and "colored" the leaves and butterflies.  I stamped some berries and then used my gel pen to add some accents.  Thanks for stopping in today!

Baby Shower Ensemble

Hello Blog Friends! I don't know if I mentioned it but I am expecting a new little niece or nephew. My SIL is due in March! This weekend we are having her baby shower. I was charged with favors, invites, and prize gift bags. I somehow never got a picture of the 40+ invites... but I do have some pictures of the other things.
Prize bags and favors

Gift bag and tag. Yes I stamped a giant gift bag! It took a little bit to get it done!

Gift bag with the matching gift card. Sorry the lighting is not the best on these. The sun was already going down by the time I had some time for pictures. I used mostly PTI product, although the pin stripe on the card is from Waltzingmouse Stamps.  From PTI I used Polka Dot Basics, Sweet Baby, Mat Stack 4 set, Bitty Baby, Boxes, Bags and Tags.  The patterned paper is Happy Dots from PTI.  Thanks for stopping by today!

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. 

Stitches and Swirls Thank You

Good Morning blog friends! I have a quick little card for you today.   I was trying to use up some of the many vellum strips I have left over from making my SIL's baby shower invites.  Pretty simple to do the only thing that may need explanation is the leaf die cut.  I covered the cardstock with scor tape and then glitter and then I die cut it.  Works pretty well, but it does stick the die a bit.  Thanks for stopping in!