My Favorite Things

Papertrey Favorites Scavenger Hunt

 

Hello there and welcome to stop number 4 on the Papertrey Favorites Scavenger Hunt!!  Today is the first day of Anniversary Festivities at Papertrey Ink and to get things started, Nichole has a fun little game for you to play....a scavenger hunt!  

For my card, I used what has become one of my favorite Papertrey stamp sets....it's a set that is sooooo versatile and really classy and elegant too.  

 

I stamped a pretty pattern using a single image and stamping it four times in a sort of star shape and then used a sentiment from the same set.  I punched out a extra jumbo scalloped circle to use as a mat behind a large dark chocolate button for the center of my 'star'.  The whole thing was made just a tad bit vintage-y by using some Vintage Touch Tea Dye ink on all of the edges of each layer of card stock.  

You might have noticed that I haven't mentioned the actual NAME of my favorite Papertrey stamp set, which is the only set I used in my project today.  Today's anniversary contest involves you seeking out the name of each design team member's favorite set as part of a scavenger hunt.  You may recognize the set instantly or you may need to do a bit of research in the Papertrey store HERE.

Each of the design team members have been assigned a number in accordance with their scavenger hunt order.  You'll notice according to the graphic at the top of this post I am stop number 4.  Create your numbered list and head over to Nichole's blog to enter to win ALL ELEVEN of the team's favorite stamp sets!  Be sure not to delay, because the contest ends on February 2nd at 7am EST.  The winners will be announced by noon the same day on the February Release Winners page.  Have fun and good luck!

Designer Favorites Scavenger Hunt

1. Erin Lincoln

2. Maile Belles

3. Betsy Veldman

4. Dawn McVey  (You're Here!)

5. Debbie Olson

6. Heather Nichols

7. Lisa Johnson

8. Melissa Phillips

9. Michelle Wooderson

10. Niki Estes

11. Kim Hughes 

Thanks for stopping by today, Dearies!!

  

Birthday Fun w/the Fam!

Hello, All!!  How are you today?  I hope you're doing well.  I just had to share a few photos with you from last weekend, when we got together with my family to celebrate some January birthdays.  This is my niece, baby Ally, although I'm afraid I can't really call her a baby too much anymore.  She will be two tomorrow!  This photo of her totally makes me laugh.  Hee.  She was so excited, she picked up a balloon and gave it a good squeeze, until we all told her to be careful that she didn't pop it!  Ha.  Thankfully, she's an obedient little thing and she quit squeezing before it popped.  I love the look on her face though!  So darn cute.

 

This is Ally's little brother, Malachi, with my Dad (aka "Pops"!).  Side note: You should hear Ally say "Pops" when you ask her "Who's that?".....Oh my gosh, cutest thing ever.  Anyway, back to Malachi.  He just turned 1 two weeks ago, so for the last two weeks, my sister has had two one year olds!!  That'll all change tomorrow when Ally officially turns two but for now, crazy right?  Talk about 'never a dull moment'!!

 

Now this picture may look a little boring at first, but it's really very funny!  Let me tell you why.  This is a picture of two of the babies' uncles and their Grandpa (Pops) (also known as my brother, my husband and my dad).  They're all trying to get baby toys out of the ridiculous packaging as fast as they can while we're all trying to keep the babies busy while they wait to play with their new toys!  Hahaha!  I KNOW all of you moms out there, know what this is like!  The kids get new toys but they can't play with them until you can get out the power tools to hack-saw them out of the top-security packaging that they come in!  LOL!

 

Here's the little man trying out his new toy saw while wearing his new 'hard hat' and a new pair of shoes (which are still tied together - ha).  I'm not sure who had more fun with his new tool set -- him or all of his aunts and uncles!  :)

 

Seriously.....this little face just melts me.  She's at that age where she's just so fun and interactive.  KWIM?  She knows every family member by name and carries on conversations (though you might not always understand them) and laughs and wants to play with us (or just use my iPhone to watch Muppet movies on YouTube!).  And when she says "Dawn", I'm like buttah!!....BUTTAH, I tell ya!

Goodness....being an Auntie really is awesome.  

As for what else is going on around here, preparations are in high gear for the Anniversary Celebration at Papertrey Ink!  Did you know that Nichole has 14 DAYS of festivities planned??  It's true!  Starting on February 1 (just 2 days away), she'll be making announcements and giving away prizes every day on her blog!  Let me just tell you -- you won't want to miss out on all of the fun!  This is THE biggest Papertrey party of the year and I can't wait to get this party started!  That being said, I guess I'd better scoot on back to the studio!  Ha.

Have a great weekend, Peeps!
 

Aussie Trip Update -- Let's Get Together!

Hi there!!  Attention all Aussies.......the plans for our trip to Australia are coming along nicely.  Bart and I have booked our flights and hotels (and a few days with our dear friends!) and will be in your beautiful country in just 6 weeks!!  Can you believe it's almost here already?!  We can't wait to come visit and are now in the process of booking our excursions and planning what we'll be doing with our time while we're there.  Lots of you suggested doing the bridge climb when in Sydney, so I think we're going to book that one for sure.  We're just hoping for the U.S. dollar to improve slightly, against the Aussie dollar before we book it.  Hee.  That's what you do when you're married to a number head!  :)

Anyway, so many of you dearies have mentioned trying to meet us when we come over and honestly, we'd LOVE to meet as many of you as we can.  With our time being somewhat limited, we're thinking that we'd like to plan 3 different informal gatherings at local coffee shops.....one gathering in each of the 3 different parts of the country that we'll be visiting while we're there.  We've come up with a tentative plan at this point, and thought it best to go ahead and share those plans with you in the hopes that you could let us know if you might be able to come or not.  Obviously, if no one has any interest in coming to meet us, we'll do something else with our time......I'm sure we can go visit some kangaroos or something!  Haha!  So, here's what we're thinking so far....

Sydney - Wed. 3/17/10  7:00pm - Starbucks (525 George St.)

Broadbeach - Sun. 3/21/10  3:00pm - Three Beans (13/90 Surf Parade, Broadbeach 4218)

Cairns - Mon. 3/22/10  7:00pm - Bang Espresso (14 Spence St.)

If you think you might be interested in stopping by at one of these gatherings, just leave me a comment and let me know which one you'd be at and we'll go from there.  Once we get closer to our trip, I'll post again to let you know what the final plan is for these get-togethers but we figured we'd try and give you as much notice as we could.  :)

I hope we get to meet lots of you while we're there!!  What fun that will be!

Have a goodie, Peeps!

 

A Birthday Card & a Button Video!

Edited to add:  The nail polish I'm wearing in the video is by OPI and the color is "Parlez-Vous OPI"?  So sorry....I intended to put this in the original post because I figured some of you would ask....and sure enough, you did.  :)  I'll try to remember to let you know next time.

Hi All!!  

I have a sweet little birthday card to share with you today.  I've been wanting to try this new color combo and I have to say that I love how this turned out.  I decided to shake things up a bit and stamped dots in Smokey Shadow ink (which is a dark gray) on kraft card stock, rather than using a more brown ink color.  What a cool look, don't you think?  The gray and tan would, of course, be perfect for masculine cards, but I was needing to make a girly card so I paired it up with some rustic cream and berry sorbet card stocks.  I'm really happy with the end result.

 

The sentiment and flower images are from last year's exclusive CHA set at Papertrey, Floral Fusion.  I punched out the heart with a Mega Scalloped Heart Punch and then stamped the flower and stems so I could get them positioned just right on the heart.  

And since I've had quite a few requests to see how I attach buttons to the centers of my bows, I shot a quick little video for you.  There is also info in the video about my button jar storage, for those of you that have been asking about that as well!

You can watch the video here on my blog or you can view the video at YouTube.

Thanks so much for stopping by today, Peeps!  

Have a goodie!

{Happy Birthday supplies}
Paper: kraft, rustic cream, berry sorbet
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II, Floral Fusion
Ink: smokey shadow, berry sorbet
Other: berry sorbet saddle stitch ribbon, berry sorbet button, rustic cream button twine, Mega scalloped heart punch, SU! scalloped edge punch 
 

An Inspiration Challenge

My sweet friend Melissa Phillips has issued a challenge on her blog to create a card based on the following photo from A Creative Mint.  (Thank you, Leslie, for sharing your beautiful photo with us!)  If you haven't visited Leslie over at A Creative Mint, you certainly should pop over......her photos are soooo beautiful and soooo inspiring on soooo many levels!  (Was that enough SO's for you?  Hee.)  Anyway, you'll find tons and tons of beautiful eye candy at Leslie's blog and her "Vignettes of Color" posts make me absolutely swoon!  You know me and color!  Here is one of my recent faves......and here is another....See what I mean?  Gorgeous!

 

Aaaanywho, here is the photo that we were to use as inspiration for our card.  I loved all of the different textures, the different shades of purple and lavender, the sparkly sequins on the shoes and the soft creaminess of the winter white.  I tried to incorporate all of those elements into my card.

 

I stamped a Damask Designs pattern on a card base of vintage cream card stock and chose a sentiment from Damask Designs as well.  The flowers (from In Bloom) are stamped in plum pudding ink on lavender moon card stock.  I distressed the right edges of the flower panel both with an edge distresser and some vintage touch tea dye ink, to add some more texture to the card and stitched two sides of that same panel with my sewing machine.  I also added the glitter and the row of rhinestones to capture some of that sparkliness from the inspiration photo.

You'll definitely want to head over and see what Melissa was inspired to create this morning and Betsy Veldman and Heather Nichols are playing along too!  Also, feel free to play along with us in the challenge!  If you do, just pop over to this post on Melissa's blog and leave a link to your project.  We'd love to see what you create!

Take care, Dearies,


{Happy Birthday To You supplies}
Paper: vintage cream, rustic cream, lavender moon, plum pudding
Stamps: Damask Designs, In Bloom
Ink: plum pudding, lavender moon, vintage touch tea dye
Other: prisma glitter, Kaiser Scrapbook rhinestones, sewing machine, SU! scalloped edge punch 

Papertrey Blog Hop

It's that time again....time for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop!  Today's challenge is to create a card finished both on the outside as well as the inside, and to decorate your envelope a bit to coordinate.  Here's what I came up with.....

 

I stamped some of my favorite dots from Polka Dot Basics II in terra cotta ink on vintage cream ink.  Such a fun look!!  

 

The sentiment is from Giga Guide Lines and I stamped it in dark chocolate ink on a bit of bitty box basics patterned paper.

 

The 'flower' I created is from Giga Guide Lines as well....I stamped it in more terra cotta tile ink and cut it out and then layered it on a scalloped circle that I'd punched out with super jumbo scalloped circle punch.  For the center of the flower, I layered two buttons in dark chocolate and aqua mist.

 

I decided that I'd stamp a polka dotted flap on the envelope, to make it coordinate with my card.  Just think, you could stamp ANY background pattern on your envie flaps, to make them coordinate with the theme of your cards!  Talk about a fun and easy detail!

 

For the inside of my card, I added a few more elements that I'd used on the front -- stamped dots, rounded corners and patterned paper.  The sentiment is one from Birthday Basics -- such a pretty message.

 

To spruce up the inside just a bit more, I added a row of zig-zag stitching with my sewing machine.  This is a really great way to add some detail without adding any bulk to the inside of the card.

Hope you've enjoyed your stop here today!  Thanks for visiting me and have fun if you're hopping along on the blog hop!

{Birthday Wishes supplies}
Paper: kraft, vintage cream, dark chocolate, bitty box basics 
Stamps: Giga Guide Lines, Polka Dot Basics II, Birthday Basics
Ink: dark chocolate, terra cotta tile
Other: dark chocolate & aqua mist buttons, dark chocolate classic grosgrain ribbon, super jumbo scalloped circle punch, corner chomper, sewing machine

Baby Efalent :)

Hi there!  Happy Saturday!

I have a little baby elephant card to share with you today, however when my sister was little, she would have called this a baby EFALENT!  Cute, huh?  Took quite awhile for her to figure out that she was saying it wrong, but I don't think we had the heart to correct her too often on that one....it was just too sweet!  Hee.

 

I used one of the new Click Simple templates -- Rock-a-bye Baby -- to create this card.  I stamped a pattern from Background Basics: Petal Power all over the front of the elephant.  For the ear, I heat embossed the word 'Baby' from Mega Mixed Messages in rows over the whole ear, using clear embossing powder.  I finished the card off with a spring moss button for the eye.

This may seem like a lot of cutting to cut that little guy out, but soon, Papertrey will be offering these Click Simple templates in svg format so we'll be able to cut these out with our digital cutters, such as the Cricut Expression.  Won't that be handy?  :)  

Hope you're having a great weekend so far.  My honey is off running up and down a basketball court and likely blowing his whistle now and then, but as soon as he gets home, he's all mine.  We have a hot dinner date planned.  ;)  And tomorrow, we'll go to church in the morning, probably have brunch after that and then head to the big family birthday party for my baby nephew and niece and my mom.  Should be a fun time!

Much love,

 

{Baby Elephant supplies}
Paper: hibiscus burst, rustic cream
Stamps: Background Basics: Petal Power, Mega Mixed Messages
Ink: hibiscus burst, versamark
Other: clear embossing powder, spring moss button, click simple rock-a-bye baby template

Sending Birthday Wishes

 

Hello Lovelies!! 

I'm very happy to be able to share a card with you today that can be seen in the newest Stamp It! Cards Magazine!  This card was actually part of the "Stamp It! 3 Ways" feature where 3 designers are all given the challenge of using the same stamp set so you get to see several different cards you can create using the same set.  It wasn't tough duty at all, to create a happy little card using Papertrey's Everyday Button Bits!!  These images and sentiments are soooo easy to work with, I tell ya!

Stamp It! Cards is a new special issue from Paper Crafts Magazine and my copy just showed up on my doorstep last night.  I have to tell you that if you're looking for some inspiration, this magazine is not to be missed!!!  I was BLOWN. A. WAY. by how much creative goodness is packed into this issue, plus if you're a Papertrey Ink fan, this is the issue for you!  This issue is positively loaded with cards using Papertrey's products!!  LOOOOVE!  Run out and get yourself a copy or order it online here -- you won't be sorry you did!!  :) 

 

I stamped the leaves image in ripe avocado ink and added berry sorbet and melon berry buttons to serve as the flowers.  I love using this image with just a couple of button colors.  I think it really makes the colors pop and helps the overall appearance of the card to be more cohesive.  I also added a strip of melon berry In Bloom patterned paper, and a teensy bit of melon berry topnotch twill ribbon stitched at the top.  Along the bottom, I added a large sweeping scalloped border in berry sorbet and stamped my sentiment in berry sorbet ink.  The frame around the image and the dotted paper are both aqua mist card stock, the bottom strip having some Polka Dot Basics II stamped on it.  I just love how cheery this card is!

I hope that you're having a fantastic day!  I'm wishing you a happy Friday and a simply wonderful weekend, Dearies!!  Do something crafty!  :)

Much love,
 

{Sending Birthday Wishes supplies}
Paper: kraft, vintage cream, rustic cream, berry sorbet, aqua mist, melon berry In Bloom
Stamps: Everyday Button Bits, Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: ripe avocado, berry sorbet, aqua mist
Other: melon berry topnotch twill, melon berry & berry sorbet buttons, rustic jute button twine, corner chomper, Fiskars apron lace punch, EK Success embossed curve punch, sewing machine/thread

Little Baby Bee

Well, as you can see by today's card, I was on quite the baby card-making kick when this new Baby Button Bits stamp set came out.  :)  It's seriously so easy to get your baby card stash stocked up with these adorable images and sentiments that are just perfect!  Take today's card for instance....there's nothin' to it, but wouldn't this be so cute to give at a baby shower or tucked into a baby gift when you go visit a newborn at the hospital?

 

I stamped the little bee image on the cream card stock and again on some summer sunrise bitty dot basics, so I could cut out the wings and adhere them to the cream card stock panel.  Then, I added the button on top of the wings.  The sentiment was stamped in raspberry fizz ink to back up the punch of pink from the ribbon.  I also used my Fiskars apron lace punch along the bottom edge of the cream card stock and my corner chomper on the top two corners.  Easy peasy, but it packs a cute punch!

All righty, Bart's reffing which means I need to be getting some work done while he's gone.  Can't wait for the weekend so we can spend a teensy bit more time together than we're getting to during this week!  

OH!!  It's also my mama's birthday today!  Happy Birthday, MOM!!  Love you tons!

Thanks for stopping by, guys!

{Little Baby Bee supplies}
Paper: summer sunrise, rustic cream, bitty dot basics
Stamps: Baby Button Bits
Ink: dark chocolate, raspberry fizz
Other: raspberry fizz classic grosgrain ribbon, summer sunrise button, corner chomper, Fiskars apron lace punch

Thank You

Hello there.....wishing you a happy Wednesday!  Hopefully your day is going well.  I have a simple card to share with you today, again using the fabulous trees from the new Through the Trees stamp set.  Goodness but these trees are pretty and their large scale makes it so easy to create a beautiful card in minutes.  The sentiment on this card is also one from Through the Trees.  So, so pretty.

I scalloped the bottom edge of the raspberry fizz card stock with my Fiskars apron lace punch and tied a simple knot with raspberry fizz luxe satin ribbon.  The satin just adds another bit of elegance to things, don't you think?

 

Again, I glittered these trees up so in real life, they sparkle like crazy.  I just love that!  

I'm working away again on the big to-do list.  Lots more to get done this week.  How's your week going?  Are you doing well?

Until next time,

{Thank You supplies}
Paper: kraft, rustic cream, raspberry fizz
Stamps: Through the Trees
Ink: dark chocolate, raspberry fizz
Other: raspberry fizz luxe satin ribbon, Prisma glitter, Fiskars apron lace punch