My Baby Girl is 11

Hi there blog friends! I hope you will indulge me as I write up a little post for my beautiful girl who is now 11! People, I cant keep a plant alive. How did I end up with an 11 year old child? And she has turned out so lovely too; sweet, kind, and beautiful. I am lucky to be her mom. A few pictures of the birthday girl:

Pre-Teen Birthday Party Favor Boxs

Hi there blog friends! My little girl is turning 11 on Monday and today we are celebrating with a party at the gymnastics studio. Even though the gym puts together most of the party I thought some party favors were in order. Its kind of hard to know what to do with girls this age- that whole in between stage.

I decided to use PTI favor box #3. I cut them out with my cuttlebug in three different colors. You can get two boxes out of one sheet of 8.5 x 11 or 2 boxes out of one sheet of 12x12. The 12x12 works better as you will sacrifice a little of the side on the smaller paper. I've got a couple of different sets here: PTI: Just for You, Floral Fusion, and Vintage Labels.

Inside the boxes are these handmade jewelry kits. We bought a thing of beads at Michaels. We also bought some beading thread and some charms. Each kid got a tablespoon full of beads, enough thread for a bracelet, and a charm. We used a spellbinder's die (labels one) to make the topper. I filled out the rest of the box with some suckers and some hard candy.

Remember/ Thinking of you card

Hi there! Here's another card I made using the Remember Set. I used an orange zest, pure poppy, and ripe avocado color scheme. That long green piece was made by trimming out the end with a spellbinder labels one die. I think everything else is pretty self explanatory. Thanks for stopping in!

Stuff

Hi Blog friends! Quick check in and card for you today! I have been out of town for the last week because my mom was suffering some health problems. Just got back home last night and I am worn out. But I had some cards that I made before I left and here is one of them. I used a kraft base. I embossed it with a spellbinders rectangle. I added some pp and a square stamped with the bird from Iconic Images. The small medallions and sentiment are from the same set. All products are from PTI.

Embellish Magazine Color Challenge

Hi there! Wow look at that, two posts in one day! Will wonders never cease? LOL! I made this for the embellish magazine color trends challenge. You can see all the details here. For this card I used a base of Hibiscus Burst. I layered on some Lemon Tart bitty boxes patterned paper. I stamped the leaf on New leaf card and cut it out. I stamped the flowers from Flower Garden on Hibiscus burst card and then stamped them again with bitty backgrounds gingham. I cut out everything and glued it down. The sentiment is from Iconic Images. All supplies are from Papertrey Ink.

All White Ink

Hi blog friends! I made this card for a challenge. Then I realized that I read the challenge incorrectly and it didn't even qualify! Story of my life, I tell ya. I do like the way it came out. I am using a few PTI sets. The flowers and stems are from Honey Bees. (They are the reason I can not sell that set). The frame is from Fillable Frames and the sentiment is from one of the Floral Fusions. Everything is stamped in Fresh Snow ink. Then I went back and added lots of little bling centers. Thats it! Simple, easy, and cute too. Bling is also small, so it will mail just fine. Thanks for stopping in today!

Water Pitcher Set

Hi there blog friends! I have a full card set for you today. It features the water pitcher from PTI's Iconic Images. Also used on the card is the frame from vintage labels.

The whole set.

The pink cards.

The aqua cards.

Close up of the envelope. Thanks so much for stopping by! If my ipod is finally charged I am off to go running! (Something I do not enjoy but have been doing faithfully for the past 3 months.) I have so many complaints about running and exercise perhaps it needs its own post. I haven't done a whiny exercise post in so long! LOL!

Colorful Vines

Hello there blog friends! I have a colorful card for you today using an older set from PTI- Beyond Basics Borders. Its pretty self explanatory. I stamped the border in a variety of colors, chopped it up and reassembled it. I added a sentiment and some polka dots. I also inked the edges in white. That's all there is to it! Thanks for stopping in!

Poppies

Good morning blog land! I have a card using an older PTI set, Remember. I have had this set for quite awhile and I love how many different looks you can get from the stamps included in it. It has solid stamps for the flower color and then line stamps for the design. On the actual card I just used the line stamp and then colored with my copics. On the envelope I used the solid and line stamp in combination. The dotted frame on the envie is from Fillable Frames. The stems and sentiment are all from Remember.

Close up of the card. The frame is hand drawn. I used a white panel on a white card. I did this because of the copics, they bleed through and I didn't want to line the card. In an effort to use more of what I make, this card is written in and waiting to be posted. Yay! Thanks for stopping in today!

Masculine Thank You

Well at least I think its a masculine thank you. I sent it to a man, so hopefully he wasn't thinking it was a frilly girl card. I wanted to put ribbon on it but instead settled for twine. All products are from Papertrey Ink. The stamp sets are Inside and Out: thank you and Through the Trees.

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. Its summer so we have been traveling off and on. My kids are out of school so I have been taking them places and hanging out with them. I really haven't done a whole lot of crafting lately. I did, however, upload quite a few pics today so I should have some blog fodder this week. As always, thanks for stopping by!

Shady Tree Studio Blog Hop

Hi friends! Guess what? Shady Tree Studio is about to release new stamps! Please check them out on Nancy's blog. The design team is having a blog hop to celebrate the new release. If you came here from Roxie's blog you are in the right place. If you are just stopping by, go to Nancy's blog and start there- that way you won't miss a thing! You can win some free stamps, so check out the rules because you'll need to leave some comments.


What do you think of this? I just love that little reindeer, the bow is a seperate stamp too- gives you even more options. I used a little big of masking on this with both the tree and deer. When I got done building my scene I colored it up with my copic markers. Next I covered all the images with glassy accents. My daughter loves this card. Her favorite part is the glassy accents. Its a little difficult to photograph but it gives the card a really cool look. The sentiment is stamped on the bottom in white ink and scored above and below with my scor pal.
One more view:

Thanks for coming by. Your next stop on the hop is Joanne. Off you go!

Shady Tree Studio Christmas in July (New Stamps!)

I've got new cards over at Shady Tree Studio! Come say hi!

Shady Tree Studio Christmas in July (more new stamps!)

I've got a post over at Shady Tree Studio today! Come see us!

Shady Tree Studio Christmas in July (New Stamps!)

Shhhhhh... my post day isn't until Wednesday but I have a little something I want to show you. Its made with brand new stamps from Shady Tree Studio!

Isn't that the cutest little snowman? Don't you just love his primitive style? Cute little buttons? This is a little tag I made using a die from Quickutz. All the stamps are from Shady Tree Studio and will be released on July 29th. Pretty simple construction here. Die cut the kraft paper. Then stamped it up with a variety of inks. Colored the snowman using copics and American Crafts slick writer in white. I added some buttons and a pretty ribbon to finish it off.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy!

My little guy, my baby, turns 8 today! Where has the time gone? We had a party yesterday where he ripped it up with all his little buddies. It was fun. We rented a ginormous waterslide. Totally worth the money. It entertained all the boys the whole time, and my daughter too! Here are a few pictures of the boy over the years:





And here he is today: He is 8!

You're too Kind

Almost no stamping on this one! I've got some double sided patterned paper, kraft cardstock, orange ribbon and one PTI sentiment stamp. A little bit of punching action and some rounded corners and its good to go. I love that paper, its Echo Park's Summer Days

Baby Shower Ensemble

Hi there blog friends! One of my college friends is expecting and had a baby shower last Saturday. I bought out the Carter's store and while I was there I saw this adorable bag. (Note I did NOT stamp on the bag- it came that way). I thought it was perfect and I could easily make a matching card and tag.

First up the tag. It features the little frog from PTI boy basics. I used one of the tag dies (can't remember which one- sorry.) Some ribbon to look like water and orange button for the sun.

Last we have the card. Same froggy. Sentiment from Baby button bits. Doodle bug button with PTI ribbon. A little copic and white pen work and we are good to go. Thanks for stopping by!

Shady Tree Studio's Christmas in July! (3)

Hello there blog friends. Its another post for Shady Tree Studio's Christmas in July. I also have another card up on the STS blog today. Click here for a peek.

Today's card features stamps from last year's set called, Just Believe. It also has a little sneak peek. The checkered border, isnt it divine? I stamped the tree first and then masked it off before stamping the border. This way the tree looks slightly in front of that border. I colored everything with my copics and called it good. Thanks for stopping in today.

Make It Monday: Edger Pockets

Hi there! Today I have a card for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge. You can find all the details here.

I have a ripe avocado card base. I made the pocket out of spring moss. I used the edger on both edges of the pocket. This is edger #1. I poked some holes with my paper piercer and sewed the pocket together with some twine. The pocket is stamped in avocado ink using stamps from Beyond Borders. I added some melon berry ribbon and buttons to finish it off.

The tag is made from Simple Chartreuse cardstock. Its stamped with stamps from Floral fusion. The white flower is from MM. Thanks for stopping by today! I will be back tomorrow with some new Shady Tree Studio.

A Tale of a Living Room Corner

Often I find myself drooling over freshly uploaded pictures of peoples' crafting rooms. I love looking at them, dreaming of the someday when I might get my own room to decorate and craft in and leave as messy as I want. I used to craft at the kitchen table. That had one major drawback. People always wanted to eat there, which meant cleaning up my mess and putting it all a way. Every. single. time. One day after drooling over internet crafting spaces I was sitting in my "formal" living room, when I got an idea. Why not use this space? No one used the formal living room because there was not a tv in there. No one really sat on the couches except for the cats. (And most of the time they were happier to scratch the couches instead of sit on them). So I thought, "Hey self, why not use that one tiny corner there. Its just one empty corner, no one will even notice." And so in the beginning it looked like this:

A tiny little gate leg table- which I could fold up when not in use. A little shelf on the wall. I took over the shelving unit on the side as well. A couple of things on the table top. No big deal. You hardly even notice such a thing.

When it was time to craft I would lift up the table side and spread out. I borrowed a dining room chair to sit on. Easy peasey. But then....

It started to look like this. All. The. Time. I started crafting on the floor because as you can see there was no room on the table! And I bet you can guess how often it got all cleaned up. You will also notice things started getting added to the wall. I needed more organizational space because frankly I had lots more stuff! Stuff started to sit on the floor and on the couch. Things were beginning to get out of control. Sooooo.....

I purchased this! Cute enough to be in the formal living room... look how pretty the top is. Nice neutral color. We had gotten a new wood floor and it went nicely with that as well. And the sides had cubbies... lots of extra room!
So you would think that by now I really wouldn't need anymore space... but you would be wrong because somehow I always needed one more little thing. Which brings us to today. The newest acquisition:

A ribbon shelf! A whole lovely shelf devoted to ribbon! Look room to grow as well! Built for me by my husband... and since he built it maybe he doesn't care that I am slowly taking over the entire living room.

And here is the final result... for now anyway...