PTI Blog Hop April, 2017

I'm playing along today with the PTI April 2017 Blog Hop where we have this photo for inspiration.

I took my inspiration primarily from the colors and the grey stem of leaves in the upper right part of the picture.  The shape of those leaves reminded me of Turning a New Leaf.  

Lots to see on the hop, so I won't keep you.  Happy hopping.

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PTI May 2014 Blog Hop

I really love the Aqua Mist and Melon Berry color combo that is the theme of this month's PTI blog hop.  I was inspired to make 6 cards, and I'm sure I could have made more if my May order had arrived in time and also if there were more hours in the day.

I will start with the card that I think might be my favorite--it combines roses from The Sweet Life with Background Basics Medallions and a sentiment from Ruby Rose.

All those popsicle cards shown during the last count down inspired me to take out my ice cream cones, and I was inspired by one of Maile's cards for this card using Sweet as Can Be.

I used an inlaid die cut technique on this card, overlapping Aqua Mist and Melon Berry beautiful bloom die cut flowers.

My next two cards are inspired by Susan over at Simplicity--I don't remember the exact post, but she talked about making 'missing you' cards where the design included something missing.  I can't remember all the details, but they inspired me to make the following pair of cards.  I used a butterfly die from Simon Says Stamp that I can't seem to get enough of and a sentiment from Botanical Silhouettes.

I made a pair, because  I needed to die cut one set of butterflies in each color, but only used half of them, so I made another card to use the other half.  These cards are going to Operation Write Home, as they are apparently always in great need of 'miss you' type cards.

My last card might be my 2nd favorite of the bunch--or maybe it is my first favorite--anyway--I used Betsy's technique from this week's Make it Monday #165:  Artsy Watercolor Backgrounds. 

I dabbed some circular sponges into the ink and then stamped them randomly over a small angled piece of white card stock.  Then, I went over them with a water brush and dried it with my heat gun.  I love the soft and dreamy look that results.  The sentiment is from Keep it Simple Birthday.  I love the medium sized birthday sentiments in this set.

Well, that's it for me today.  I know I am going to see so many amazing cards today--if I had gotten my order in time, I would have used those new butterflies, and I expect to see that lots of people did.

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Get Well

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends.  I hope you had a wonderful day being spoiled by your families.  I had a pretty relaxing day, made a few cards, and am now waiting for the dinner my DH is cooking for me.

I saw this beautiful card of Anita's, and knew I had to try something like it myself.  I started out using the 'get well' die cut words from Paper Smooches.  They have these fabulously long tails that I did not know how to work with, but once I saw Anita's card, she showed me the answer.

Inspired by Anita, I used sponge daubers and three shades of pink ink to sponge a gradient on a piece of white scrap paper.  I put that piece behind the negative space made by the 'get well' die.  I used a Paper Smooches alpha set to create the word 'soon', and Cutting Garden stamps for the flower and leaves.  I inked the flower in Hibiscus Burst rolled on the edges in Raspberry Fizz. 

I wanted to use that white 'get well' die cut, so decided to make another card.  It turned out that it was too difficult to get the kind of gradient I wanted on that die cut, so I scrapped it, and started with a fresh scrap of white paper.  I used some Distress Inks in various shades of green to make the gradient on this next card, and I used the actual die cut rather than the negative space.  The flowers are from Ruby Rose and Reprise, and they are inked in SU Calypso Coral and Crisp Cantaloupe.

I am entering these cards in the following challenges:
Addicted to CAS #38:  Off the Edge
Simon Says Wednesday:  Spring Flowers
Hip on Handwriting Challenge in the Moxie Fab World

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Retro Sketches and Make it Monday

Happy New Year!!  Is this what you feel like today?  Not me--I was asleep by 11 last night.

If you are looking for my 2013 review, please click here.

Today, you are going to see me use more patterned paper than I think I've ever used.  My first card  today is for Retro Sketches #91.  I was happy to see that they extended the deadline, which gave me time to play along.  I used scraps from MME On the Sunny Side and the cute little polka dot house from Polka Dot Parade #10.

This week's Make it Monday #146 Angled Backgrounds is a fantastic way to use up patterned paper scraps.   I used some scraps from Simple Stories Awesome to make a masculine birthday card.  The sentiment is from Stylish Sentiments Birthday, stamped on a Tag Sale #2 die cut.

Then, Kim gave me the fantastic idea to raid my 4-of-a-Kind and 12 Kits of Occasions leftovers, and I made three more cards using leftovers from 2 of those kits.  I could go on forever with this, but I ran out of time way before I ran out of patterned paper scraps.

This card is made from scraps from last January's kit where I was the hostess.  I saw the solid borders on Kara's MIM card, and borrowed that idea from her.  I die cut three 'love' words from Pure Poppy, glued them together and coated them with Glossy Accents for the sentiment on this card.

The scraps for the next two cards came from Christina's July kit.  My sentiment is a couple of 'happy' die cuts from Tipped Tops stuck together and adhered to a Fillable Frame die cut.

The sentiment on this card is from Ruby Rose, stamped on about half of a die cut from Angled Labels, and the faux stitching is from Sew Simple Borders.

This MIM runs through Sunday night, and I am hoping to make a few more cards using my patterned paper scraps.  It feels really good to use some of that paper.

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PTI December 2013 Blog Hop

Our inspiration for the Papertrey December Blog Hop is "...brown paper packages tied up with string..."  I used my Envelope Punch Board and this tutorial to make a brown paper box, and some PTI Twine to tie on a tag using Ruby Reprise Stamps, Ruby Rose Dies, and Tag Sale 9.

The box could not have been quicker or easier to make.  I started with a 12 X 12 piece of card stock I had in my stash.

I am also entering this into this week's ColourQ cQc#221.

Enjoy the hop.  I am looking forward to seeing some packaging inspiration.

Thanks for Visiting

PTI July 2013 Blog Hop

It's PTI Blog Hop time.  I love these blog hops.  I always have so much fun making whatever it is we are assigned to make, and then hopping around to see what everyone else has done.  This month, we had so many yummy color schemes to choose from.  I started early, since my parents are visiting, and I knew I would not get much crafting time while they were here.  

My goal was to make something using every color scheme, and to limit my flower cards to two.  As of this writing, I still have one color scheme left to go, but my parents will be leaving, and so I may just be able to pop in towards the end of the day with my 6th card.  

So, I'll just jump right in....

My first card uses my new Rainbow Circles dies, and was cased from this card by Nicole.  I got my order lightning quick this month, so was able to use some new goodies for the blog hop.  These dies are a little tricky to work with, so I was glad I had something to copy for the first time I used them.

Edited to add that I just realized that this card fits with the theme of CAS-ual Fridays this week, so I am entering it into their CFC110 Count Me In Challenge.

Lots from Ruby Rose on this card.

Mega Gracious Vases die and flowers from The Sweet Life on this card.  I was inspired to use a negative die cut for the vase from this stunning card by Amy.

The new Birthday Greetings set with the Rainbow Stripe dies.

Another PTI design team inspired card, this one using Live Love Life by Jess Witty.

That's it for me for now.  Enjoy the rest of the hop.  I will be checking everthing out as soon as my parents leave, and possibly making a card with the 6th color scheme.


Edited to add:  I will be linking up the birthday cards on this post to Seize the Birthday and The Birthday Card Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.