pti saf challenge : sweet sugar coated embellishments

 

a very sweet sugary "hello" for another pti stamp.a.faire challenge :)

pti saf challenge : mixing mists to match

a beautiful background was created with an aqua mist refill + rubbing alcohol & some doilies that i cut in half and layed over the watercolor paper. i used my finger instead of a spray bottle and love how it turned out. this was a super fun technique!

august pti blog hop

it's time for papertrey ink's august blog hop...where has the summer gone so quickly?!

color combo : hibiscus burst, summer sunrise, harvest gold, spring rain & aqua mist (the sketch associated with these colors has the 5 striped lines & the sentiment in the upper right above the lines).

i made this card with a special little girl in mind who i read about on the pti forum. after i got the card photographed, i immediately put it in an envelop so it's ready to go out in the mail tomorrow! here is a brief summary that a friend of her family's wrote:

"Our family has a dear friend who is fighting Leukemia for the second time. Her name is Meena and she is 7 years old. She actually relapsed in April with Philadelphia Chromosome Leukemia. She wont be coming home from the hospital they expect until the end of October or first part of November. She will be having full body radiation and then a bone marrow transplant. If anyone would like to help brighten her days by sending cards, I know her and her Nana (who has full custody of her) would really enjoy them.
Nana (Becki) is currently in her last semester of school to be a Nurse Practitioner. She stays day and night with Meena and doesn't leave the hospital except to go to clinicals during the day. They could both use encouragement and smiles!"

my prayers are with meena & meena's family as she goes through this trial in her life. i really hope this sweet pink owl card can bring a smile to her face!

pti saf challenge 2 : tea staining techniques

 

i stained my twine with berry blue kool-aid for about 10 minutes...the result looks a lot like hawaiian shores. color scheme, hawaiian shores, limeade ice & neon green!

pti saf challenge 1 : breakfast bake & take

 

color recipe : royal velvet, lavender moon, ripe avocado, scarlet jewel & raspberry fizz.

stamp sets : turning a new leaf, natural beauties, stylish sentiments : birthday.

friday night meet & greet : pti saf '13

just poppin' in quickly to shout a big "hello ya'll" from kentucky! after seeing some of the ladies' die organization in the meet & greet video, it's got me thinking i need a new plan. do you agree? :)

july pti blog hop

quickly popping in to share my card for this month's pti blog hop! i created a "funky" card this time, as i like to call it. it features 2 papertrey ink stamp sets : irresistably ikat and bountiful banners (sentiment). the little outlined triangles were created by using a SC mask and outlining some random triangles here and there with a fine tip pen. pretty fun...hope you enjoy :)

June Blog Hop

so happy you stopped by to see my card for this month's papertrey ink blog hop!  i started a new job at the end of may so i haven't had as much time to papercraft as i like...but so happy to get this card made in time to participate. my touch of gold shows up in the gold embossed herringbone stamp. a goal of mine is to use more of my pattern paper stash as well, and i'm loving this dark blue floral pattern paired with the sweet blush cardstock. the butterfly is stamped with pure poppy ink and an orange enamel dots sits on top. i really love how it turned out...hope you do too! can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with. i love the 25th of the month for all of the inspiration it brings! :) happy blog hopping!

pti may blog hop

it's all about beautiful, colorful blooms this time around for papertrey ink's may blog hop. i chose to go with the "orange bouquet" color palette. i bought some watercolor paper the last time i was at joanne's and this is the first time i've used it. it's not as pretty as i had imagined it would be at first...i think i need some more practice at the whole stamping/watercoloring lol. i was ready to scrap it, but then stepped away for a bit. after i came back and added the sentiment, i liked it a whole lot better. i guess it's not that bad after all :) thanks for stopping by today! happy memorial day!

make.it.monday no.117

phew, i've missed out on quite a few make it mondays lately :( but glad to grab a minute to participate in this week's challenge of paper piecing. this is another favorite technique of mine. i like that you don't have to be good at coloring, or own a million copics to do this lol. and i'm always happy to use some of my gorgeous pattern paper for a good reason. i really love how this flower came togethere once i got the patterns together. this might be one of my favorite cards i've ever made! :)

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in other news, i can't stop crying tonight. i took my baby to get his first haircut today...i did fine while we were there, and he did too. he got to sit in a fun car chair and watched an elmo movie. he sat still and didn't make a peep, so as far as that went, he was great! he got a special certificate, a balloon & sucker, then we went on our way to the mall. on our way home from the mall, however, eh hum, mommy lost it. i kept glancing back at my sleeping boy in his carseat and the tears have been coming ever since then. he looks adorable with this sweet new do, but i can't believe how much it changed him and made him look like a big boy. (these photos were taken just 3 days apart) i guess that's part of the process of growing up & becoming a parent though. he'll always be my little bean, no matter if he's got long or short hair or how old he is :)

make.it.monday no.110

i've had a busy last few weeks and this is the first time i have played along with the make.it.monday in quite a few weeks. it felt good to get a little crafty time in! collage stamping is one of my favorite ways to build scenes...it's fun to just stamp away without really having to worry much about placement or if your impression isn't totally perfect.

we had beautiful weather yesterday, and will again today & tomorrow. a perfect spring weekend. i'm about to go out to start weeding the flower beds and prepping for flower planting! hope you have a nice weekend. thanks for stopping by!

pti march blog hop

well another month has flown by & it's time for the march papertrey ink blog hop. although it's officially spring, it's snowing right now where we live. i'm ready for the warm weather, but can't complain much because i've barely even seen snow this year!

the sequins on my card didn't photograph very well, but they are there. the one on the right of the balloon is actually a bright green one, and the two left of the sentiment are orange & fuchsia. i just attached them with a little 1/8in scor-tape. it seemed to work well, although it took more time to attach them that way, as opposed to a dab of glue of some sort...but that's ok.  the pattern paper with the cute little horse pattern is from the new dear lizzy line. i'm very bad about hording my paper so i want to start incorporating it more into my cards. if i don't use it, i'll keep it forever lol! and of course, the stamps are maile's new birthday style stamps. love em! ink is summer sunrise, smokey shadow & raspberry fizz.

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well my mister officially has declared us farmers and went to the mill to buy baby chicks. we are going to raise them for eggs. we have 12 of them, and they're just under a week old. they are pretty cute, although it's going to be a lot of work...which i am kinda dreading somewhat. it's not that it will take a lot of time, it's just one more thing to worry about. once they start laying eggs this fall, i'm sure it will be worth it.

this past saturday, weston & i had a great day in louisville. we went to the mall to the apple store for a new macbook battery, then old navy, gap/gapkids, new york & co, eddie bauer, american eagle, archivers (yippee) and got chocolate chip m&m cookies from the booth at the mall that sells yummy cookies. we had so much fun. then we went to kohl's, and got some dinner at chick-fil-a. followed by a quick run through joanne fabrics. it's been a long time since i was shopping at the mall and thankfully westy was so good for me!

a couple weekends before that my sister, billie, kyle (her bf) and my brother, spenser, came to visit! it's been quite awhile since their last visit, so we enjoyed the company! on saturday the guys went fishing, while billie, weston & myself went to bardstown and walked around some of the little shops downtown, had a couple yummy cupcakes, went to the antique mall and then to zappos. i got a new pair of birkenstock sandals for cheap...gotta love that! 

pti february blog hop

monogram is the word for this month's papertrey ink blog hop. nichole posted some beautiful monogrammed projects to get some creative juices going for this challenge...there are lots of great ideas on pinterest too. this card came together so quickly and beautifully using maile's new mini blooms stamp set. i created this "B" (using headlines alphabet die) card with my sister, billie, in mind. thanks for taking a peek at my little card, and i hope you enjoy all of the great projects today along the way! xxo andrea.

make.it.monday no.104

pinwheels! that's what this week's papertrey ink make it monday is focusing on. as i was creating my little pinwheel, i kept trying to think back to the last time i made one...and i'm not sure that i ever have!? i used some sweet blush pattern paper and a cute strawberry pattern paper from a dear lizzy collection. sigh...& i'm totally loving these sentiments from maile's mini blooms set! hope you enjoy!

westy & i had a quick weekend vacation and traveled up to indiana for a couple special visits. we even got to stop at university of indianapolis and have lunch with my sister, billie. hi bill! thank for having us for lunch! :) xxo andrea.

project favorites challenge : pti 6th anniversary

here's another card to enter in a papertrey ink challenge. this time my card focuses on one of maile's project favorites. i added in some pretty floral pattern paper to my design though. i really like how this one turned out!

watercolor challenge : pti 6th anniversary

i played along today with papertrey ink's watercolor challenge and created a colorful birthday card. i used lots of different sets on this one. i found that my ink didn't really spread that much after i stamped the image, so i had to dab my inkpad on the acrylic block, then pick that up with a wet paintbrush to apply to my card...but it's the same difference :) after the fact, i'm not sure about that scarlet jewel brush streak (i already have a wooden paintbrush streak stamp...had it for years). after i see the card in the photograph, it kind of looks like blood?! lol. i assure you, it's not.

well...i'm still waiting to see my name on the release winner's page...but i guess i can wait until it pops up for the winner of the "stamps for the whole year" prize! hehe that would be totally awesome! i would just die if that happened!

thanks for stopping by to look at my card. there's nothing good on tv tonight so i might have to make another card for the design team project favorites challenge...just a couple more days to enter that one. have a good night! xxo andrea.

color challenge : pti 6th anniversary

i'm back with a card for today's papertrey ink 6th anniversary challenge, which is a color inspiration. i chose to work with the first color palette, which is full of soft beautiful colors and a pop of brighter pink. i worked with the lovely pretty peonies stamp set (last year's anniv. stamp set), tag-it's #2 and the cute leafs from turning a new leaf. we have to wait until the 15th to see what this year's set will be. i can't hardly wait! i'm sure it will be just as lovely!

thanks for stopping by my blog today...i hope you enjoyed my card :) xxo andrea.

sketch challenge : pti 6th anniversary

 

i'm back tonight with one more card to share...this one in particular is for today's papertrey ink 6th anniversary sketch challenge. obviously, i used sketch no. 5...very quick and simple. it just so happens that the smallest star from everyday classics fits perfectly within the largest circle/star image from boy basics: simple circles. i chose a more neutral color scheme (soft stone, melon berry, limeade ice & kraft) but by adding that pop of melon berry in there, i think it turned into a soft, feminine card...especially after i added the bow at the end!

thanks for taking a look. can't wait till 7am tomorrow for more papertrey ink introductions! xxo andrea.

make.it.monday no.103

i finally finished up my card for this week's make it monday...my mom and her boyfriend came to our house for a quick little visit this weekend! it was so nice to have them. my youngest sister, kate, went to spend the weekend with my other sister, billie, for her college's little sibling weekend. billie lives halfway from our hometown and my home, so since my mom was already halfway here, they headed south for the weekend instead of going back home. we had a good time catching up, drove through the jim beam factory area, went for a walk around lake nevin at bernheim forest, and cooked out on the grill on saturday night. we missed seeing the girls, but weston had some good one.on.one time with his grandma. pretty sure they both enjoyed it :)

i had fun making this card...love the mix of bright colors and neutral pattern paper for the background. thanks for taking a peek! xxo andrea.

project favorites challenge : pti 6th anniversary

i'm back today to share another card for one of papertrey ink's 6th anniversary festivity challenges. the design team picked their favorite cards of 2012, and you are suppose to pick one as inspiration for your own creation.

i adore jessica witty's clean, graphic, simple cardmaking style, and it's no wonder i chose this card of her's as my inspiration piece...it's kind of the reason i added background basics: herringbone to my cart when it was released!

printable freebies challenge - pti anniv. day 2

papertrey ink is celebrating their 6th anniversary with lots of fun announcements, challenges and prizes from february 5th-15th. for day two of the festivities, the designers supplied us with free printable focal points and the challenge is to create a card using one of them. i chose to create a birthday card using heather's design. it's been on my to.do list for the past week to make a birthday card for my one & only little brother, who's bday is at the end of the week, so this gave me extra incentive to finally scratch it off the list. i'll just pop it in the mail first thing in the morning! aaand done. i tried to keep it looking very graphic and neutral so he doesn't yell at me for sending him a girlie card :)

i just snapped this instagram of my little monkey having a quick snack...red grapes & right before that he ate a whole banana. he was laughing as he was sitting here saying "ah ah ah" which is his monkey sound, so that's why his eye looks a little squinty. lol he is so cute i can barely stand it. it's 3:15 now but mind you he had lunch at 12:30 of pasta with turkey gravy, corn and cheese cubes and 2 vanilla wafers for desert. then i had a snack a little while ago (bowl of cheerios) and he wanted some of those too. haha, i think someone is having a growth spurt!

thanks for stopping by! xxo andrea.

make.it.monday no.102

ashley's challenge for this week's papertrey ink make it monday is to stamp on, then assemble a pillow box.  viola:

 

i chose to die cut my pillow box from kraft cardstock and emboss with gold using background basics: medallion. i love how fun this pattern is, but how elegant it looks when using gold embossing powder. the vintage cream tag is one of the new tremendous tag dies, with a sentiment (in dark chocolate ink) from fillable frames #9, one of my most favorite mini sets! super cute if you ask me! in the detail pictures, you can see how the pattern wraps around from front to back in a seamless pattern.

thanks for taking a look!
xxo andrea.

pti january blog hop

morning ya'll! january blog hop time!

i got up super early this morning because i was suppose to babysit, but she cancelled because it's icy out...so i've been busy on pinterest this morning while weston played with his abc barn on the table right next to me...i'm teaching him farm animal noises. he's got the "mooooo" down pretty good :)  geeze, there is so much inspiration on the internet, it's kind of crazy. it's so true... "i was gonna make this, but i spent the last 3 hours pinning" LOL :) yep, so true!

anyhow...onto the black background challenge. i used funky florals for the first time for this card. it's a very fun set! i die cut the notched flowers from my black cardstock, then backed it with a subtle pink pattern paper. i stamped my flowers with pure poppy and hibiscus burst, with black centers. the sentiment got heat embossed since i still had all my supplies out from my make.it.monday no.101 card i made earlier on. i wish the pink airmail washi stood out a little more, as in a brighter pink, but i still like the added touch is gives. ugh, i seriously need to google how to change my camera resolution. my pics are looking majorly grainy.

thanks for taking a peek! we're off to make some frosted sugar cookies this morning! yu-um!
xxo andrea.

make.it.monday no.101

i broke out an older stamp set for this week's papertrey ink make it monday. the challenge heather presented features layered embossing, something i've never tried out before. i only have neutral powders (white, clear, silver and gold)...so it was especially challenging trying to figure out what to do! i decided to start with a neutral patterned paper, but one that had a subtle design to it to add a little interest. i stamped the largest flower from sending you in clear, then overlapped the next sized flower with silver embossing powder. boy, does it looks interesting in person...almost like the silver is made up of tiny glitter crystals where it overlaps the clear. i kept adding to my flower arrangement, building the composition with leaves and other small flower clusters. i added a sentiment, and finished with a pop of color, using green embroidery floss to tie a little bow around the pattern paper before adhering to my card base.  the only problem i was having was that the paper kept wanting to turn up at the end where i did all the embossing...i used a lot of score tape to adhere it, but it still looks like it's coming un-stuck in a couple spots. i have it smooshed in a heavy book from college right now. lol :)

thanks for stopping by!
andrea.

make.it.monday no.100

well it just so happens that last week for papertrey ink's make it monday, the card that i made extended over the confines of the card base, so i decided to use that card to continue on with this week's challenge...how to package cards with oversized embellishments.

i placed my card inside a large glassine bag, added a strip of pink airmail washi tape, a white paper heart doily, stamped banner (which i fussy cut ), plus a new tremendous tags heart with a stamped sentiment. i simply just finished off with a little bow of pink/white baker's twine through the tag hole. i really like how simple and easy this was, but how much it adds to the presentation of the card, especially because you can get a glimpse of the card through the bag. love!

since this is the 100th make it monday, the prize is $100 gift certificate...if ever i win a make it monday (which i have and i've been so lucky in that!) i hope it's this week! :) hope you have a nice weekend!

xxo andrea.

make.it.monday no.99

i created a fun little CAS card for this week's papertrey ink make it monday. following along with rainbow color scheme no.1, i chose to stamp some repeated hearts in all of the different ink colors and the sentiment in a light grey, underlined with some stitching. i think this would be a fun card to give you your child or even could be used as a non.traditional valentine. 

have you been keeping up with all of the CHA releases? i've been seeing lots of new product that would love to make their way into my stash, that's for sure! maggie holmes' new line for crate paper...love it. new dear lizzy...love it! love some of the new studio calico patterns too!

make.it.monday no.98

just popping in to share my card for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #98. thankfully, after Betsy originally showed her chalkboard technique, i added black cardstock to my cart and so i was ready when this popped up for this challenge! yeah! love when that happens.

it was so much fun to mix and match stamp sets for this. if you need some inspiration, just google "chalkboard art" and you will be in for a treat. there are so many beautiful examples out there! recently, the cover of Oprah's O magazine even featured chalkboard art...very cool! anyhow, i used the following PTI stamp sets: 2012 birthday tags, fancy flourishes, simply you, and the star is from stylish sentiments: holiday. the little arrow is a stamp from a heidi swapp set. i added lots of lines with my white colored pencil! must now find my pencil sharpener! the pattern paper is from a studio calico 6x6 (i distressed around the edges) and then finished the card off with some black twine & orange sequins tied at the bottom...can't resist adding those almost all the time now! :)

thanks for stopping by today. enjoy the rest of the weekend!
xxo andrea.