Friday, December 25, 2009

Merry Christmas to All

May you have a day filled with love, laughter and lots of smiles.
Thank you to everyone who stops by to visit. I appreciate each and every comment, you fill my days with smiles!
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - PTI Holiday Tree, CS - PTI, and Ink - SU Real Red and Buckaroo Blue.

Tuesday, December 22, 2009

Glitter and Glue

I was inspired to use glitter after seeing several cards on Nichole Heady's blog. I love simple and by adding a little bit of sparkle it keeps white on white interesting.I liked the result so much that I turned it into a set.These cards are just a little bit smaller than standard so that the CB embossing goes from edge to edge. Super sticky tape covered with glitter crosses the seam between the embossing and plain paper. A little bit of glue on the trees creates glitter berries. I left out sentiments inside the cards because the recipient is a stamper and also because the sentiments (from Everyday Button Bits) on the front can be used for lots of occasions.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Sets - PTI Holiday Tree and Everyday Button Bits, CS - PTI White, Ink - SU Old Olive, CB Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Super Sticky Tape, Dimensionals, Corner Rounder Punch, and Stampendous Glitter.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Where Has the Time Gone?

A few weeks ago I got together with friends and we made stockings to hold gift cards, using the free stocking template from PTI. I have since made quite a few of these stockings, I think I am up to 20. It seems like everything I do lately is in large quantities.I modified the stocking template just a little to vary the depth of the box. The original template holds quite a bit and since I plan on filling these with a gift card and candy I made mine a little smaller.
If you are looking for something quick to make these then give these a try.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamps: PTI Holiday Tree and Holiday Button Bits, CS: SU and PTI, PP: Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, Cosmo Cricket Holly Jolly, darker cranberry is SU, Ink: SU, PTI buttons and thread, and stash ribbon.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Toothpick Challenge

I found a few extra minutes to play along with Everything But the Kitchen Sink's around the house challenge to use toothpicks. First I had to buy the toothpicks, which took me forever, so I am getting this one in with just a couple hours to spare.
Toothpicks are actually perfect for cards because they are light and I like the bit of dimension that is created for this border.
Well that is it, everything is PTI except the ribbon and toothpicks of course (which I colored with a copic)! I should be organizing for tomorrow night's Daisy meeting - the girls will be scrapbooking :>) We already did card making at the last meeting :>)
Smiles,
Julie

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Jennie is hosting her first sketch challenge on StampTV and I am excited to play along. She did both a card and LO sample, so I am going with a LO. I have lots of pics sitting on my desk that need to go on single page layouts for calendars that I create each year for the grandparents :>). Here is the gang at Halloween...I wish I had a little sound to go with the pics because my sons had the cutest bark and ribbit!
My blog may have been quiet this past week, but I have not been. I am busy working on my Christmas cards - the never ending 80 that I need to make LOL!!! Along with getting ready for my daughter's 6th Birthday.
Hope you are all having fun getting ready for the holidays.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - GKD Spooky Silhoutte, CS - SU, PP - K&Co Whimsy

Monday, November 30, 2009

2 More Challenges Done!

I have 2 more of the Verve Blog Hop Release challenges to share. I just went on the blog to link up my projects and the contest has been extended until tomorrow night, so you still have time to join in.
If you have time to make just one project it should be challenge #4, a pizza box. It is so cute, super easy to make, and uses just one sheet of paper. The Verve blog has a link to the directions, so be sure to check it out, along with the great samples. This will be perfect for a bit of candy and a gift card.The other challenge I finished is #5, a gift card holder. I went with this little boxy purse/bag. I found the directions here. Be sure to check out the link - the template samples have the sides scored with a clasp at the top and definitely look more like a purse. I wanted to fit a little more in mine so I kept the sides straight.I am hoping that maybe I find time to squeeze in another project now that the deadline is extended. Tomorrow I have jury duty and I am leaving my crafting at home. I have plenty of fussy cutting to do, but doubt that I will be allowed to bring my Cutterbee scissors in!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: SU Sweet Slumber PP, SU and PTI CS, Stamp Set - Verve Up, Up and Away, along with PTI buttons.

Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thankful Challenge

My first card meets two challenges. It uses the sketch from the Verve blog party release challenge #2 and also answers the following question...What is the one tool you are most thankful for? The challenge on Fairy Creative Place this week is to use the tool, and only the one tool, for which you are most thankful. I have 2 tools that I am thankful for, my sewing machine and my Cuttlebug. I decided to go with my Cuttlebug because I received it as a gift and it helped reinvigorate my love for paper crafting. I received it for my Birthday last year (thanks again Jen) and at the time I was not buying anything new, I was stuck in a crafting rut. Once I had my Cuttlebug, I started browsing SCS again and then found blogs of a couple wonderfully talented people. The rest is history...the on-line crafting community is so incredibly supportive and I am having so much fun. I hope you are all having fun too!
My second card I made for the purse that I posted earlier today. I really like all the yellow, including yellow clouds.That is it for right now. I am working away at more of the Verve release challenges.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Yes, you should know by now...SU Sweet Slumber PP, and the stamp set - Verve, Up, Up and Away!, plus CB swiss dots and swirls, CS PTI and SU.

Paper Purse

I have the PERFECT organizer to hold the set of Verve cards that I have been making for what probably seems likes forever!With all the color inside, I kept the purse super simple and utilized the preprinted border on the SU Sweet Slumber paper that I used. This is really heavy textured PP that is strong enough to turn into a "box". The closure is embroidery floss.This past summer I joined in the fun with a "UStamp with Dawn and Friends". This is one of the many projects shown that I really liked, but did not get to make during the month. I saved all the tutorials for the projects and now have a great reference library. This purse was designed by Tracey Old and she offers a kit to make the purse on her blog. I modified the directions to make my purse big enough to hold standard cards and envelopes.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: PP - SU Sweet Slumber, stash screw brads, stitching and lots of red tape

Monday, November 23, 2009

Warning: More Verve Follows

I plan on using today's card as the main gift card for the Up, Up, and Away card set (see this post). A card within a card was the StampTV potluck challenge from the week before last.This card was so easy to make and I like that the inside has a surprise. There are directions how to make it located here.
Now I figured I better take a break from Verve before you decide to take a break from me! I recently received a blog award from Jennie - she is just so sweet :>)
This award comes with a quiz (which is why it has taken me awhile to find time to post it!):

1. Where is your cell phone? Purse
2. Your hair? a mess
3. Your mother? too far away
4. Your father? slowly fading
5. Your fave food? Dessert - I love sweets
6. Your dream last night? I rarely remember them
7. Your fave drink? Margarita (not that I have one that often, especially because 1 is enough to make me start giggling)
8. Your dream/goal? Be happy (and find time to make everything project I can think of)
9. What room are you in? Dining Room
10. Your hobby? Papercrafting
11. Your fear? That I will get arthritis
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? In my own crafting room LOL
13. Where you were last night? Home
14. Something that you aren’t? Bored
15. Muffins? Pumpkin - so happy Thanksgiving is this week, I love everything pumpkin and can not wait for my Grandma's pie :>)
16. Wish List Item? Lots of Nesties (seeing as how I own none right now)
17. Where did you grow up? Connecticut
18. Last thing you did? Put boys to bed
19. What are you wearing? work clothes
2 0. Your TV? off
21. Your Pets? 3 fish - Nemo, Dorie and a betta named Peanut
22. Friends? The best (but they could be even better if they started crafting more! - I miss getting together to craft!)
23. Your Life? non-stop
24. Your Mood? sleepy always
25. Missing Someone? Xandra
26. Vehicle? Toyota Sienna - so ironic, I always said I would never drive a mini van unless I had 3 kids. We got the van when it was just my daughter because it is so much better on gas mileage than an SUV...then the twins came along! Love those power sliding doors.
27. Something you are not wearing? jewelery, although I love it, there is just never enough time in the morning
28. Your fave store? Wal Mart - because it is close to my house and I realized recently that when I pick up adheshive or something craft related there that it gets lost in the list of purchases so I do not think of it as spending money on my crafts!
29. Your fave color? Blue - any shade
30. Last time you laughed? about 2 hours ago
31. Last time you cried? earlier today
32. Your best friend? Husband
33. One place that I go to over and over? My sons' bedroom
34. One person who emails regularly? My Sister!
35. Fave place to eat? This great Indian restaurant in town, yum, yum, yum
36. Facebook? I signed up and have even received friend requests, but I have never done anything!
I almost forgot...I am awarding this badge to Jen!
That is it for me today! Off to try to cure the sleepiness.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamps - Verve Up, Up, and Away, PTI Handwritten Notes, PTI Everyday Button Bits, CS - PTI and SU, PP - SU Sweet Slumber.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Verve Joy

Since the Up, Up, and Away set is sitting out I reached for it to combine a few challenges. This card is based off the sketch from Everything But the Kitchen Sink - the blog's first sketch challenge. The sketch has a large circle in the center, so hopefully my rectangle with 2 circle shaped buttons qualifies. Regardless, I like the idea of the grid, but could not make a circle work in the center.
Splitting up the background qualifies for this week's StampTV Friday potluck challenge. The requirement was to use PP or create PP and split it up as a background and then only use a sentiment. Finally, the 3rd challenge this card qualifies for is Creative Clear Stamp's weekly challenge to make a non-standard sized card.
Hopefully seeing this stamp set again and again and again will make you realize that it is so easy to use!
Smiles,
Julie
Details - Stamp Sets Verve Up, Up and Away, sentiment - PTI Everyday Button Bits, CS - SU, Ink - SU.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Warning: I am on a Verve Kick Again

Last month I joined in the Verve release challenges and made cards using Up, Up, and Away with the same color pallette (here, here and here). Someone on SCS left a comment that I was making the perfect gift set, so I decided to do just that. I needed to keep to a standard size, so some of the cards that I made last month can not go in the gift set. No worries though, because I found plenty of sketches to keep me busy!
First up is Jen's SFYTT: Then we have Card Patterns:And finally this week's MOJO Monday Sketch.
Warning, this is not the last time you will be seeing cards using this set and paper...I need at least 2 more:>). Plus, I will be sharing the perfect way to store these cards that is beyond cute!
Side note: I kept the layers to a minimum and even eliminated dimensionals on all these cards. These are all part of a gift set and I need to keep them at the normal postage weight. I recently sent a Halloween card to my parents that I thought was within the normal limit, hmmmm, I was wrong! My mom had to reimburse her postman 39 cents!!!! Hopefully she thought it was worth it LOL!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamps - Verve Up, Up and Away, CS SU and PTI, PP SU Sweet Slumber, CB embossing folder, and SU Ink.

Monday, November 16, 2009

Ready, Set, It's a Wrap

Today I am sharing "purses" that I made for a friend. She will be using these as gift boxes for jewelry she makes. Most I kept simple, but I had to at least change it up on a couple :>)
For this first one, I decided to go with purple, because it is my friend's favorite color and Plum Crazy is also the latest challenge from Cath on Moxie Fab World.
The flowers are layered circles that I distressed, with french knots made out of embroidery floss in the center. My embroidery floss was a little brighter than I wanted, so after all the flowers were put together, I used a blender pen with an ink pad and colored my knots and also created shading at the flower center. (This was so much easier than trying to ink up my floss before I made the knots - that was a little messy!) I dressed up the sides by adding stripes to form a plaid PP.

Next is a raspberry quilt - I tried out the Raspberry Fizz Mix PP sample squares from PTI and cut each into .75" squares.Here are a couple with patterned paper...This candy paper comes across as a tweedy fabric to me :>)And finally another with the Baroque Motif stamp set from SU which was at the start of my idea to make purses back on this post.I can not tell you enough how easy these go together. So fast and yet so cute! Head over to PTI to check out all the fun templates, including Ready, Set, Wrap. I will have more templates for you this week, so stay tuned.
Smiles,
Julie

Details:
Plum Purse - Stamp Sets - SU Best Blossoms and Perfect Plaids, CS - SU Elegant Eggplant and Old Olive, Ink - SU Old Olive and Eggplant Envy, circle punches, blender pen and embroidery floss.
Raspberry Purse - CS - PTI Raspberry and White and PP - PTI Raspberry Fizz.
Light Blue Purse - CS SU and PP Basic Grey Urban Prairie.
Green -
CS SU Artichoke and PP Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses.
Red Purse - CS SU - Real Red and PTI White, Stamp Set - SU Baroque Motif.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Sketch Girl 9

It's time to play along with Sketch Girl. Sketch #9 is up today and it is another great sketch from Leigh Ann. I went the CAS route and decided to make a Birthday card. I stayed pretty true to the sketch. It took me awhile before I pulled out my CB for the polka dot stripes. I first tried stamping rose red polka dots on rose red paper, but it was too much. Then I tried stamping directly on the ivory, but still did not like it. Finally the CB. The funny thing is, I realized when I went to take a pic of this card, that I have the rose red polka dots stamped on the back...ooops, I meant to grab a new card base :>)!
Now, go check out what the rest of the Sketch Girls came up with this time around and be sure to play along!
Annie
Alyssa
Bonnie
Chris
Eve
Harriet
Jennie
Jessica
Katie
Randee
Sara
Tiffany

My blog has been quiet the past week, but I have been crafting away. I am focusing on Christmas items so this card was a welcome break. I promise to share more this week!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: CS - SU Very Vanilla, Ink - SU Rose Red, Groovy Guava, & Rose Romance, Stamps - PTI Holiday Tree and Handwritten Notes, plus the swiss dots CB folder.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Mojo Monday 111

Here is another card with, you guessed it, Ocean Tides. If you can not read the sentiment, click on the picture to make it larger. The goblins have stayed around since Halloween and for whatever reason this picture looks good only in certain sizes LOL!!I am thinking about doing my Christmas cards with Ocean Tides CS, which is why I have been reaching for it so much lately!
This card is based on the Mojo Monday 111 sketch. Super simple, the snowflake PP fits with the sentiment.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: CS PTI Ocean Tides and SU Very Vanilla, PP Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly, Stamp Verve Christmas in the Air, and stash brads.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Soft and Floral and Feminine

Soft and floral is the Friday potluck challenge on Stamp TV. My color choices are soft and muted, plus the stamp is 100% feminine - GKD Retro Boutique. All the PP on this card is Cosmo Cricket Early Bird, which I love, love, love! It took me awhile to find one on-line store that had all the pads that I wanted. I plan on convincing my LSS that they need to carry Cosmo 6" pads!
The layout for this card is based on Jen's latest SFYTT. I tweaked it just a bit :>)
That is it for me tonight! I am so tired I am not even staying up for Project Runway!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp - GKD Retro Boutique, PP Cosmo Cricket Early Bird, CS SU Ivory and PTI, PTI Button, Prima Flowers, and SU Ink Brocade Blue and Close to Cocoa for distressing.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Button Tree

Today's card keeps is clean and simple - buttons are ok on a CAS, right? I need to feed my button addiction after all.

I took the color challenge from StampTV - burgundy, olive green and cream and combined it with the CCS challenge to use buttons. The only stamp on this card is the polka dot strip, which meets the Papertake Weekly Challenge: Spots and Stripes!

Quick and easy!

The countdown to Christmas has officially begun for me - it is November 1st! I have calendars to make and gift card sets to start. I hope to put my crafting supplies to good use and make as many gifts as possible!

So happy crafting and gift making!

Smiles,
Julie

Details: Stamp - GKD Ribbon Stripe, Buttons - PTI, PP - Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, CS SU.

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Spooky Halloween

It's Halloween, so of course you know what type of card I need to share...This card was for a StampTV challenge from a couple weeks ago called words, words, words. We were only allowed to use a sentiment stamp. My response was thank goodness for PP, PP, PP!






I realize that my card is leaving the page...I think goblins are fooling around with today's post! Oh well!!
My 2 year old sons point to everything Halloween related and say it's spooky! So have a spooky Halloween...boo!
Smiles,
Julie

Details: CS SU, Stamp GKD Spooky Silhouette, bat punch Martha Stewart.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Pink Snowy Hills

I have seen quite a few cards with hills in colors other than green and wanted to give it a try. My little snowman is nestled amongst pink hills :>)
I am once again combining challenges, this card is for the StampTV potluck Friday challenge to use snow on a card and I am using the CPS sketch of the week. How does everyone feel about combining challenges? I know there is at least one site out there that encourages it... I have seen that many blogs state it is okay, so I am going for it! I love challenges and combining challenges can make it more challenging.
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamps PTI Tree, PP Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, and CS SU.

Sketch Girl 8

The month has flown by and it is time for another great sketch from Sketch Girl. Here is my take on the sketch and this time around I went with a Christmas card. I love this stamp set from PTI that created the sentiment and "trees" aka leaves on this card, Holiday Tree. I need to play some more and decide what I am going to do for my mass produced assembly line Christmas cards.
Sketch #8 has lots of layers - I may have altered the sketch a bit, but the basic layout is there :>)Why don't you check out all the other Sketch Girls creations for inspiration and play along?!?!

Annie
Alyssa
Bonnie
Chris
Eve
Harriet
Jennie
Jessica
Katie
Randee
Sara
Tiffany

Side note: I was going to make a Halloween card, but it just did not come to me. This means that there is someone out there I owe a card to...you know who you are, or at least you will when your housemates get a card and you do not!! I promise to make it up to you!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: PP - Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, CS - SU, Stamp - PTI Holiday Tree, Ribbon - SU.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Floral Color Challenge Combo

Today I took the latest Raspberry Suite color challenge and combined it with the Just Us Girls challenge to make a 3-dimensional flower.Just Us Girls has a tutorial to make a beautiful flower out of tissue paper, but since I do not own any nesties (I know, shocking), I decided to go with a layered circle flower.
Here are the Raspberry Suite colors, love 'em!Smiles,
Julie
Details: CS - SU Vanilla and Kraft, PTI - Raspberry Fizz, Stamps - PTI Holiday Tree (I used the small snow flake to make the polka dots on the kraft) and GKD Ribbon Stripes, button PTI.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Ruffle Those Feathers!

Normally the saying goes "don't ruffle my feathers", but I decided to just that on my fave digi stamp of late, Owl, from Little Paper Shop. Cath over at the Moxie Fab World blog put up a challenge last week to use ruffles on a project and I knew right away I wanted a ruffled belly for my owl!One of the benefits of a digi stamp is that you can make it any size you want and I made this one into the actual card itself. I took the owl image and made it as big as my PP, 6", in MS Paint. I printed him out 2 times, one time on the PP and again on white CS. I glued the PP to scrap CS to give it more weight and then cut out the image outline and belly. The ruffles were machine sewn onto a scrap piece of paper and I used super sticky tape to adhere to the PP owl's open belly area. I cut out the nose, eyes, and feet from the printed piece of white CS and colored with a brown copic. I then folded a piece of white CS in 1/2 and lined up the owl so that the fold was about an inch from the top of his head. I traced the rest of his body onto the CS and cut it out to create the card base. I used more sticky tape to attach the PP owl to the base.
Was this a little work, yes, but was it fun, yes!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp - LPS Digi Owl, CS - PTI White, PP - Basic Grey Eskimo Kisses, marker - brown Copic, and ribbon - Michael's.

Friday, October 23, 2009

Verve Kinda Day Part III

This is the final installment for my Verve day. I admit, I did not do anything but make cards this morning, shhhh don't tell my DH! This one has another buttony bow for Joanne's challenge found here.Well, that is it for me for tonight. Enjoy your weekend!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - Verve Up, Up and Away, PP - SU Slumber Party, CS and Ink - SU and PTI, SU spiral clip, and PTI twine and buttons.

A Verve Kinda Day Part II

Hi there,
Here is another card for the Verve sketch challenges same papers and stamp set as my previous post (of course) :>). This time around, I pulled in a challenge from Joanne B. who is celebrating her Birthday with blog candy over at "just a little something". Joanne's challenge is to use one of her favorite things, a buttony bow.Making this card made me realize that I need to buy more ribbon. I do not use it a lot on my cards because it create lots of bulk, but it is oh so pretty (esp. the stuff I was eyeing from PTI!). Speaking of PTI...I got in my order this week from their latest release - YUMMY!! Needless to say there were some buttons in there and I bought their white paper for the first time - so nice and heavy, I think it will be perfect for embossing (SU's white is great for layering, but has not worked as well as I would have liked for embossing).
I will be back with another Verve card with a "buttony bow" in a bit!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - Verve Up, Up and Away, PP - SU Slumber Party, CS and Ink - SU and PTI, and PTI twine and buttons.

A Verve Kinda Day

Today was all about Verve for me. I had the morning free and a list of Verve release sketch challenges. I love Verve stamps, but only have one set, so I put it to work! Up, Up, and Away is the perfect set because it can even be used on "guy" cards.
Each card has a slightly different style and technique, but the colors and papers are all the same. Once I started I kept rolling and now plan to put a group of these together as a gift set.This one is in the style of Verve's guest designer this month, Jessie Rone, lots of layers and her signature - a spiral clip!!
I will be back to share more Verve - I finished all 5 sketches!
Smiles,
Julie
Details: Stamp Set - Verve Up, Up and Away, PP - SU Slumber Party, CS and Ink - SU and PTI, SU spiral clip, and PTI twine and buttons.