Stamping In Utah

My mom decided she really wanted to stamp when I came out this month. She loved the idea of baby onesies so I brought all the supplies. I now realize that it might have been too much stress for a first stamping experience. 

But mom rose to the challenge and did great!  She did say she was tense everywhere, because if you mess up, it's not something you can really fix, although we could have worked something out. 

Of course we used my favorite stamps from my favorite company. Papertrey Ink. I think someone reading had asked who PTI was. This is the companies full name, and you can check out all there amazing products here. I love this stamp ensemble for a baby. "just hatched." very cute.

Mom did great and had some really cute design ideas. Here are only 3 of the 5. The others were the egg/nest combo and a cute cupcake. These are going to be happy babies!!

Deets:

Stamp Sets: Green Thumb, Birds of a Feather, (PTI)  Hey There Cupcake (Stampendous)

Ink: PTI: Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, Plum Pudding, Summer Sunrise. Palette: Chartruese. Stazon Jet Black

Accessories: Gerber Baby Onesies

I did this card a long time ago, and it kind of looks like it too. Patrick used his crazy photoshop skills to make it look good. He even put a shadow on it. cool.

Anyway. This Card uses PTI's Faux Ribbon. Check out the link. Basically its a bunch of line stamps that when you put them together you can make paper ribbon. So I took some SU! Purely Pomegranate paper and stamped three stamps. One on both ends (the same stamp) and then one in the middle with SU! White Craft Ink. I actually then stamped in between the white ribbon lines with a thicker ribbon stamp with Purely Pomegranate ink, but you can't really see it in the photo. 

The stamps are a bit short to go across the standard sized notecard, so what you do is cut it in half (or where ever you want) and then cover the gap with an image. Which is what I did here with a beautiful bloom. Works pretty great and then you don't have to try and line up the stamps to make it long enough.

I'm starting to get the hang of Faux Ribbon and really like it. Lots of possibilities. 

Deets:

Stamps: Faux Ribbon, Beautiful Blooms

Ink: Purely Pomegranate, Pink Passion, Old Olive, Summer Sun, Craft White all SU!

Paper: White notecard from Wal-Mart, SU! Purely Pomegranate, SU! Stampers Select White

Accessories: Pop Up Dots

Happy Fourth OF JULY!!!

It's a great day. I'm spending the 4th with my family, but wanted to post something. Of course, I didn't actually put together a 4th of July project (uh hello, I'm on vacation!) I thought maybe this one would fly cause it uses great July colors. This is actually a thank you card for my SIL. We are going on a cruise for thanksgiving and she did ALL the work to get the thing booked for us. So I wanted to say thanks and thought this little boat would be appropriate.  It's a sailing card. Get it? Well, hopefully she did. 

I love these stamps! (of course cause they are PTI).  I cased the shape of the tag with the sentiment on it from Lauren. Scroll down this post to see it, and make sure you check out all the cool things she does. I'm amazed every time she posts. Very clever girl. 

Anyway. Here is the envelope I sent with the card. 

I really loved the back flap stamped like that and was really excited when I sent it and then two days later, it came back to me. I was a complete idiot and forgot to put on the zip code! So of course the envelope was not salvageable and I didn't have time to do a new one because the card was already late, so I sent it in a blank one instead. Really lost on the cute factor with that mistake. Maybe I will never make that mistake again, except its not the first time it has happened. So yes. I'm a dork.

Anyway. Hope you have a fun, hot and memorable 4th of July. Let freedom ring!

Deets:

Stamps: PTI Bitty Baby Blessings, Faux Ribbon

Ink: SU! Basic Black, Navy Blue, Ruby Red, Summer Sun

Paper: S.E.I for paper piecing sail, SU! White

Accessories: Eyelets

Baby Gift

Here's another baby onesie and burp cloth that I stamped on using PTI stamps. I love how easy these are and how great they turn out. You should try it too! I bet you giggle when you realize how fun it is. One tip is to hold the stamp in position on the cloth for a little bit longer than you would on paper. This gives the fabric a chance to soak up the ink.

This one has now been given away, so I'm in the clear with posting it. We pray the receiver's will be able to put it on their little girl sometime soon!

Here is the set together. The ribbon on the burp looks a little funny. Its supposed to be a moss green color, but I had a problem photographing it so I had to color correct it. It does look better in person!

Deets:

Stamps: PTI Beautiful Blooms

Ink: PTI Spring Moss, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist

Ribbon: PTI Spring Moss

Accessories: Gerber Plain White Burp Cloth and Onesie

Am I Addicted??

I'm sitting here in the quiet of the house. Patrick is still at work, the kids are in bed and I was going to take some things over to the storage locker, but the place is closed. I just finished the book I was reading and now realize that I have NOTHING to do. 

I am itching to make a card. And I can't. I have packed away ALL my supplies. Most of it is in my suitcase waiting for Utah, some of it's in storage waiting for our open house to be over. 

I think I might die. I keep searching my bloglines for any crafting posts I may have missed. I want to read about it and then make something. anything. pleeease!

I think I have a serious problem. My card making addiction is Real.  And who would-a thunk it? I certainly didn't think I would be so interested in it all.

Maybe I will call someone. Kind of like a card sponsor. Maybe I should call ANN, who got me started on all this stuff and is probably laughing hysterically at my inability to find balance in my stamping life. Boy, do I have a craving. What am I gonna do about it?

I wanted to post something different than a card today. This is the box I decoupaged for my mother-in-law for Mother's Day.  I don't remember who the paper is by, but I bought plain wood boxes from Michael's (about 4$each) and cut the paper to fit, which got tricky around the curves. I then coated the wood with Mod Podge, covered it with paper and then covered the paper with another coat of Mod Podge. It's best to let the under coat and paper dry before adding the second coat. This prevents bubbles.

Then I found this quote that I thought would be nice. I actually used it on my own mother's box that turned out lovely, but I completely forgot to take a picture of it. This quote is from Abe Lincoln.  "All I am, or hope to be I owe to my Angel Mother." I thought it was fitting for both Patrick and I and the feelings we have for our mothers. I printed it out from my computer onto vellum, used some rub-ons for a border and adhered it with popup dots to the inside of the lid. Every time she opens the box she will know how special she is to us.

Oh, and of course I had to throw in a card. I used Beautiful Blooms from PTI for the red flower and some decorative stamps I found in the dollar bin at Michael's, which always makes my day. I added some rub-ons to the vellum envelope and tied some ribbon to the card. It all kept with that "see through" look of vellum which I like. And that was it. I hope to get a picture of the boxes I sent my mother and father for their days too. These boxes were really fun to do and simple, but meaningful, at least to me! 

Thank You Berry Much Extravaganza!

I pulled out one of my favorite stamp sets and tried to put a new spin on it.  I decided to make a OSW (One Sheet Wonder) using the strawberry stamp from Papertrey Ink's Green Thumb set.

I actually copied the pattern idea from some patterned scrapbook paper I had, but I can't remember the company.  The paper actually used different sized flowers intertwined in vines. I used PTI's Faux Ribbon set for the polka dot vines and added the strawberries at the ends. When you looked at the finished paper, all the images travel in one direction. So I chopped it up, and made it the card front.

I cut out a circle from the center of the card, then used the patterned paper cut in a circle and stamped the sentiment across the front. Matted the circle once with black and cut it with decorative scissors and then matted it again in red. I then placed it in the middle of the inside of the card so when you close the card it shows through. Added black ribbon and was done. 

I really like how it turned out. I'm always surprised at how fun and effective it is to make your own patterned paper. It's an idea that is NOT mine. Thanks to Nicole from PTI. She has the best ideas. Check this post here to learn how to make your own. Give it a try. It's FUN!

So I had some scraps left over, so I thought, why not keep the berry groove going? This time I wanted to do something different. Less cutesy even though it still turned out that way. I like this card though. Different from others I have done.
I had a long strip of patterned paper left so I cut it into triangles and put them in the corners. Still did the circle with the sentiment, but matted it with a larger red circle and off centered it. I wrapped Olive ribbon cord around it three times and adhered it.
I really like how this one turned out too. I'm going to enter it into Paper Trey Ink's Guest Star Stamper Contest which ends in July right before their new release. We will see what happens!

Deets:

Stamps: PTI Green Thumb, Faux Ribbon

Ink: SU! Ruby Red, Olive Green, &  Basic Black

Paper: SU! White, Stash Red & Black

Accessories: American Crafts Black Ribbon & Green Cord Ribbon