Dreaming of a Mexican vacation...

Yesterday, as I was sitting in my lovely, warm home, with the wind howling outside and snow on the ground, I was dreaming of sitting on the beach in Cancun, sipping a strawberry daiquiri, getting a delightful tan. I think those dreams, combined with this photo, prompted me to make the following card and matching envelope.


I thought that Pretty Peonies was a pretty darn close match to the flowers in the inspiration photo, and it's one of those sets that I love the look, but just haven't found the perfect project for. The color combo is just so bright and cheerful, and the stylized look of the flowers is fantastic. Plus, I've never used that pretty butterfly, and I thought this was a great time to do so. I used my Lifestyle Crafts Treat Bag die in order to make this project compliant with this week's MIM, and boy, is that thing HUGE!! It creates a final pocket of 4x6 inches, so I had to use 12x12 paper to make this pocket. The only thing that I don't care for is the texture that was on my Coredinations 12x12 card stock... not the best for stamping, but it got the job done. In order to accommodate this 4x6 size, I had to cut my card down from standard A2 size to 3 3/4x 5 1/2. I have to say, I kinda like this slimmer size!

I hope this little burst of summer has brought a little colorful cheer to this dreary, cold season. :) Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies:
Stamps: PTI Script Sentiments, Think Big Favorites, Pretty Peonies, Fancy Flourish, A Little Argyle, BB:Chevron
Ink: PTI Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse
Card Stock: PTI Hawaiian Shores, Lemon Tart, White, Simply Chartreuse; Coredinations pale yellow
Dies: PTI Pretty Peonies, Lifestyle Crafts Treat Bag, Spellbinders Labels 18
Miscellaneous: Hawaiian Shores ribbon, Sakura white Gelly Roll pen, Sakura Stardust yellow pen

Cuckoo for... Shabby chic?

This week, I have had shabby chic on the brain. I've always loved the style, but my projects somehow always seem to fall a little short of being truly shabby chic. I've been scouring Pinterest in the hopes of finding common denominators in all of the shabby chic photos and projects that I love, and the most basic thing was WHITE. And lots of it. Also lots of aqua or pale blue and pink, which is a color combo that, if you've seen any of my previous projects, you will know is a favorite combination of mine. Well, I was on a crafty spree yesterday, and this was one of the projects that I came up with. I don't think that it quite falls in line with this week's MIM, as I used a pre-fab white paper treat bag, but I still like it.

I'd love some more followers, so please feel free to follow by email or by Google Connect!

Thanks so much for dropping by! I will be back soon with the fruits of the rest of my crafty day. :)

Supplies:
Card stock: PTI white, Aqua Mist, pink shimmer vellum from Hobby Lobby
Ink: PTI Sweet Blush, Aqua Mist, Memento London Fog
Dies: PTI Beautiful Blooms 3, Photo Finishers, MS 6, Turning a New Leaf, MFT flourish dies
Stamps: Super Stripes, Over Under Easy, Natural Beauties
Miscellaneous: Teresa Collins adhesive pearls

PTI Blog Hop- v. 1.2

Hi again! This card only works with the Blog Hop, but it is definitely my favorite card from today's activities. Seriously, I don't think you could make an ugly card with The Sweet Life even if you were TRYING. Those roses are just stunning, and done in my new favorite color combo: Berry Sorbet, Raspberry Fizz, and Pure Poppy. (Thanks to Dawn McVey for that lovely color combo!) It is such a lovely, vibrant combination... And mounting them on a black background really makes them pop even more! I love the mint and coral combo that is so chic right now, so I used some MFT Spearmint CS for some little flourishes to accent the roses. They don't need much... Some minty green Liquid Pearls and an embossed sentiment from Over Under Easy finished it off.

Supplies:
Card stock: PTI True Black, MFT Spearmint
Ink: Berry Sorbet, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, New Leaf (all PTI), Versamark, Memento New Sprout
Stamps: The Sweet Life, Over Under Easy
Dies: The Sweet Life, MFT Flourish die-namics
Mint Green Liquid Pearls


I am definitely going to have to remember this "black background" concept... It is really lovely, and definitely something outside of my usual pastel/shabby chic routine. Thanks for stopping by, again! :)

PTI Blog Hop- v 1.1

Hi all! Today is the PTI Blog Hop, which is focused this month on bright colors on a black background. I've made two offerings following these guidelines, the first of which focused on the stamp set Happy Hydrangea. I got some pretty blue embossing powder at Hobby Lobby today, and I thought it was the perfect shade of blue for a hydrangea. (Hydrangeas are also my favorite flowers!) I also wanted to enter this card in the MIM for this week, so I'm killing two birds with one stone.

I will be back momentarily with another (prettier) card!

Supplies:
Card stock: PTI white, Spring Rain, True Black
Stamps: Happy Hydrangea, Think Big Favorites
Miscellaneous: Zing! embossing powder, Versamark watermark ink, Liquid Pearls, clear rhinestones

PTI Make-it-Monday #100

This week's Make It Monday focuses on the part that most stampers forget about: the envelope. It is technically about the different ways to package cards that have embellishments hanging over the edge, making it a challenge to find a suitable container for mailing, delivering, etc. Not only does Dawn give some great ideas for packaging a large card, she also gives some neat methods for decorating the outside of the envelope. Now, this card was put in a box that was to be mailed, so I didn't have to worry about my die cut roses falling off in the mail. I also used a few flourishes from Fancy Flourishes to help tie in the pink and aqua color scheme.

Supplies:
Card stock: PTI white, Aqua Mist, Autumn Rose, Sweet Blush
Stamps: Rosie Posie, Fancy Flourishes, Think Big Favorites, Holiday Photo Finishers, Over Under Easy (all PTI)
Ink: Memento London Fog, PTI Ocean Tides, Autumn Rose, Sweet Blush, Aqua Mist
Dies: MFT oval doily, PTI Rosie Posie and Simple Stripes IP, Spellbinders Matting Basics
Miscellaneous: Autumn Rose ribbon, Copics, Prima gems

Flourishes Challenge... Take 2.

I did another Flourishes challenge this week: Timeless Tuesday. We were challenged to do something new... Use a new stamp set, put a new spin on an old project, make a New Year's card. I chose to utilize one of my fairly new stamp sets- Sweet Nature. I got it a couple of months ago during the Flourishes Black Friday sale, but I hadn't had a chance to use it yet. I love the ranunculus flowers in the set... And the text stamp is so lovely. It gives such a shabby chic feel, in my opinion. I fussy cut the flowers and colored them with Copics. I added a beautiful crocheted embellishment sent to me by my crafty pen pal, and attached it with two pink pearl head pins to further enhance the shabby chic feel of the card.

I took down my Christmas decorations today... Sad face. Christmas decor always makes my house so cheerful and festive, and now it looks bare. This week will be dedicated to making Valentine's Day decor, which I will be sure to post! Talk to you soon!

Stamps: Flourishes Sweet Nature
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream CS, Flourishes Color Made Easy Poppy and True Blue collections
Ink: PTI Scarlet Jewel, Enchanted Evening. Memento Tuxedo Black
Dies: Flourishes Victorian Ovals, PTI Limitless Layers: Ovals (small), Spellbinders Matting Basics
Miscellaneous: Flourishes seam binding, Copics, crocheted embellishment, pearl head pins

Flourishes Love Letter challenge

Hi there!

So... I know I haven't really gotten that much better about posting, but I did take some time this week to do some challenges, one of which is the Flourishes "Love Letters" challenge. We were to use the colors of love, love-themed craft supplies, or "letter" themed craft supplies. M take is based on the color portion.

Stamps: Flourishes "Feminine Charm"
Card stock: PTI Rustic White, Flourishes Candy Pink collection, and Flourishes Emerald Isle collection
Ink:Tuxedo Black, Copics
Dies: PTI Filigree Border, MFT medium Flourish, Spellbinders Matting Basics

Thanks for dropping by!! :)