Bookmarks

Just a few bookmarks using various methods to make them.

The bookmark above and the one below use stamps from PTI- Take Note, 2nd Anniversary set, and Up Up and Away.



The bookmark below was made using a rosette, my newest addiction (see, I told ya!). They are super fun to make and are a great addition to cards, pages, and even bookmarks it seems.

Thankfully, I still have a few of these jumbo clips, stocked up some time ago. They are hard to find around here now.

I Love Mojo

Using last week's Mojo Monday sketch, MOJO175, I made yet another Valentine's Day card. This one is a touch more elegant than those created previously.

The image and sentiment are PTI's Damask Designs. I have underused this set in a bad way, it's so pretty. It was stamped with Brilliance ink, I love how bold and dark it is; hard to get it that way with dye ink.

The sentiment flag is PTI's Double Ended Banner Die, I stamped the sentiment with Brilliance ink as well. Last thing I added was a double bow using some sheer ribbon I received from my very sweet, good friend Anessa! I neglected to photograph all the goodies she sent, I am soooo bad. I gotta quit doing that! Thanks Anessa, I love everything you sent!

Love Banner

Using the Mon Cheri kit again to make some cool Valentine's Day decor for the house. It has been such a long, cold winter that I really need the reminder that spring will come eventually.

Cody chose all the paper combos, so I can't take credit for the look of it!

The banner was cut using CutUps from The Cat's Pajamas, then I adhered the dp to the scalloped mat. I made 4 rosettes, this time using two strips of 6x6 paper. The letters were cut with my Cricut and once adhered to the circle punches, they were coated with stickles.

Ribbon was woven in each flag, then buttons were added in between with twine. I made the ribbon extra long and then just looped the ends so it'll be easy to take down and have every inch of ribbon available for other projects.

Cody received his Grade Card this week and I am thrilled to report that he is back on the Honor Roll. His last one was so terrible that I have remained a fixture at his school, calling, showing up, etc. so that I can hold his teacher accountable to him and to me. And, this also confirms to him that he is held accountable to his teacher and to me. It's been a battle of sorts, but it looks like we're on the right track. His goal for the next grading period is all As!

Banner Birthday

I am addicted to banners, what a fun way to add some character to cards and projects. This one was made with the MFT Die-Namics; I just cut them apart and adhered them under the twine. I am also still loving the sheet music papers and images. Of course, they're perfect for a birthday card.

The candles are from Sprinkles and Cherries, once stamped and colored, I cut them out and adhered them to the sentiment panel. The sentiment is from Birthday Cheer, isn't that font fun?!

Final January VLV

This is for the final January Viva la Verve challenge. The sketch was awesome, as always.

I still had the papers from PMS' Mon Cheri kit out, so I went ahead and used them. I love these papers, top notch quality!

There is hardly any stamping on this card, only a smidge of the flower from Great Friend. I just stamped it with a very light pink to mimic the tone of the papers. The flower stamens were enhanced with a selection of different gems from Pizzazz Aplenty.

Well, on a personal note, I finally went to get my hair cut on Saturday. I guess it had been since the summer it was last trimmed because I've been trying to grow it out. My hair is really thick, so it needed to be thinned and then shaped. I am often amazed how much hair I have when the waste from the thinning shears hits the floor. I think I could have made a wig with it all. LOL Anyway, she added some long layers toward the bottom so it frames my face in a good way. Plus, she showed me some tricks to add volume and keep my hair outta my face, which is a HUGE pet peeve of mine. Can't stand pushing my hair out of my face. I do need to become more proficient using the flat iron, it takes me a great deal of time to get it styled. I'll post some before and after pics when my blemish clears up....can you believe I still get 'em at my decrepit old age?!

Uplifting

The Oo La La set is one of my faves from Paper Makeup Stamps, so sexy. Plus, it comes with lots of fun quotes and sentiments.

Here, I left it uncolored, looks fabulous this way too, right?! I think the black, kraft, and yellow might be a new favorite color combo for me too; it looks just sophisticated.

Springy Santa Drawers

I came across a tutorial at SCS called Santa Drawers, what a cute name, right?! Well, since Christmas has passed, I thought I might start getting ahead for Easter, jk!!

I used some Martha Stewart papers and ribbon from American Crafts. The fan fold flower is embellished with a pearl brad, and the flag is stamped with a sentiment from Paper Makeup Stamps. It was a freebie during one of the releases. The brads on the drawers are flocked, which gives it some texture.

Unfortunately, I don't have very much 12x12 cardstock so I used patterned paper for the box itself. I would recommend a quality cardstock simply because I think it would be a tighter fit, more snug. But, in a pinch, thicker patterned paper can be used with success.

Spring-y Happy Day!

With some spring colors and patterns, I was able to brighten up a dreary day filled with cold and snow.

The patterned papers are from Martha Stewart, love them. The sentiment from Little Moments was added in the bottom right corner.

I took the opportunity to use SU's Owl Punch as well. My mother loves owls, so this card will go directly to her. She's been having some health problems, so I hope this succeeds in brightening her day.

Thinking of Mojo

I was so happy to play along in another Mojo Monday sketch, MOJO173. I used the same papers as yesterday, making this a wonderful gift/ card combo. The sentiment is from Kind Words, die cut with the Vintage Oval die, both from Verve.

I am hooked on these rosettes, so you'll probably see tons of them. LOL In fact, I have a banner project for Valentine's Day that features 4 of them, larger of course.

Floral Santa Drawers

I love 3-D projects and wish I made more time for them. They are always well received, especially when full of the recipient's favorite candy or treat.

This was made with some Sassafrass Lass papers and Coredinations cardstock. I don't care for the cardstock much, don't really know why except that it's textured. I definitely need to get a stockpile of good 12x12 cardstock going for projects such as these.

Be My Valentine VLV

Using several stamp sets from PTI, the 3rd Viva la Verve January sketch installment, and somewhat non-traditional colors, I created a sweet Valentine's Day card for my special someone.
I am really loving background stamps these days, expecially this sheet music. I stamped it with Brilliance Graphite Black ink and it stamped amazingly black. Love that! The notepaper die was stamped with the order form found in the It's Official set. Then a cluster of hearts was adhered and a sentiment flag attached.

Mon Cheri Note Cards

I pulled out the January kit from Paper Makeup Stamps, Mon Cheri, to make a set of three love note cards with clear envies. The cards were made with papers and embellies from the kit. Once the gray cardstock was stamped with a sentiment (I used three different ones from the kit), I used a punch to cut out the middle to expose the sheet music.

To package them, I used the tutorial on SCS for a Mini Pizza Box. I made mine a smidge smaller, about 3.5" square, to accomodate the size of my contents. I used nesties to cut the scallops and coordinating layers; and then embellished with die cut flowers and gems. For the closure, I wrapped some gray grosgrain ribbon around the box and tied it in a bow. I love the ribbon from this kit, the grosgrain was my favorite.

I am giving this to a friend to use for her Valentines, let's hope she loves it!

The Mon Cheri kit is still available in limited quantities, be sure to grab yours. There's still time to use it to make Valentines or send love notes throughout the year.

Today is my birthday, another year older and hopefully wiser as well. I celebrated with my fellas yesterday and will likely have a small celebration tonight when I get home from work. Duke and Cody took me to TGI Friday's, we enjoyed ourselves wayyyy too much.

To celebrate this momentus occasion with all of you, I'll be posting blog candy soon! So stay tuned.

Many Blessings VLV

Last week's Viva la Verve sketch was a great one, a few layers and some fun elements. The branch from Merry Wishes was decorated with some gems from Pizzazz Aplenty and the sentiment is from Many Blessings. I punched the image panel with SU Label Punch and then matted minimally with SU Wide Oval Punch.

I stamped the grid background using Perfectly Pretty Grid from Market Street Stamps. They are relatively new company and I just found them recently. They have some fun stamps and I was able to snag a few during their last sale. Great stamps! Oh, and you can see some fun news for me here. I am super excited to be their Guest Designer in February!

I also used the Apron Border die from The Cat's Pajamas, again snagged during their recent sale.

Hello

I loved the sketch from the Mojo Monday challenge, MOJO172 that I had to use it again. Of course, since it was a contest week I was entered twice, that didn't hurt things either. LOL

My other MOJO172 card was given a shout-out, you can see it in the slide show on their blog. Yippee!

I decided to combine the sketch with last week's Curtain Call Challenge, Act 63, the colors were intriguing. I used WPlus 9's Funky Foliage, Love Birds, and Design Basics: Backgrounds I, I appreciate it when sets can be interchanged.

Mojo Birthday Wishes

Using last week's Mojo Monday sketch, MOJO172, I created a birthday card. I am calling this one masculine, even with the accordion flower....work with me here! LOL

The sentiment is from WPlus9's The Birds and The Bees. If you haven't tried their stamps, you simply must. I have several sets and, of course, don't use them near enough, but I do love them. They stamp just wonderfully and the sets are gloriously concepted.

The papers are from My Mind's Eye, perfect patterns for a masculine card. Finally, I just scattered some punched stars on the card for a little more visual interest.

Man, oh man, the snow hit us hard again. I moved south to rid myself of the dires of winter, but it has caught up with me. I wouldn't mind it so much except that my driveway is sloped to a grade that makes getting out a bit of a hassle. I hope we can find the time and money to fix it come spring. I hate having to miss work and being paralyzed by the weather.

January Release Review

This sweet fairy is Cosette and she was released on January 7th. She looks like she stepped out of a painting. I am totally in love with coffee and tea images and well, if there's a fairy, that's an added bonus. So, needless to say, she's one of my faves this month. And, since we're still experiencing winter, she's just perfect.

I had to tone down the light blues to match my papers a little more, I did this by adding some layers of warm gray. Then, I gave some sparkle to her wings and some texture to her hat and coat with Fun Flock.

Head on over to the PMS blog to see the remainder of the team's review cards. They really do know how to rock it out!

So Sweet of You

Sprinkles and Cherries is a super fun set from Paper Makeup Stamps that I recently acquired. The cupcake is crazy cute and a larger scale perfect for a birthdays and thank you cards and even scrapbook pages. Here I used some sweet confectionary colors and embellishments.

I thought the Rolled Flower Die-Namics were perfect in the bottom corner, they look so great on sweets and cupcakes, right?! I just added some Shimmerz to "sugar" them up.

The sentiment from So Sweet is a great way to say thanks to a sweet person you know.

PMS January Blog Hop

It's Release Day! As always, we celebrate each new release with a Blog Hop. If you started at the beginning, you should have arrived here from Christ Snow's blog, didn't you love her Moody Girl?!

If you didn't start at the beginning, please click here to see everything from the start and to collect your letters to the code that will allow you to save 15% on the new releases!

I am using Sending You Love, perfect for Valentine's Day. Of course, it's versatile enough to be used throughout the year anytime you wanted to send a little love to someone!

This is one of my favorite images from the set, what a sweet li'l mailbox. Plus, I am a sucker for hearts.

My letter for you is:

Don't forget to join us for the Release Party tonight at 9:00 pm EST; you'll find us in the Paper Makeup Stamps Forum. See you there!

Now, hop on over to see my good friend Lisa Kind and her card using our newest kit.

January Kit Peeks

Today we are peeking the January kit, Mon Cheri, and what a beauty it is.

The papers are from Echo Park and are of such fabulous quality, perfect for this sweet fairy too; she's appropriately named Cheri. I added some stickles to her wings once I completed coloring her.

The accordion flower was made with some black cardstock (not in the kit) and I punched a heart from the french script paper. I stamped the sentiment on the flag strip and adhered it to the accordion flower with a button threaded with twine.

Here is a photo of what is included in the kit:

Isn't it glorious?! I can't wait to use the stick pins! You can head over to the PMS blog to see a listing off all the products in the kits and see even more inspiration using this kit from the Senior Designers.

Remember, our Release Party is held on the 7th in the Paper Makeup Stamps Forum. The festivites start at 9:00 EST. Please join us for the fun!

PMS January Sneak Peeks, Day 4

Have you seen all the January Release peeks so far? Aren't they amazing!

Today, we are featuring two additions to the Moody Girls line; Moody for France and Moody for Reading.

I used Moody for Reading, she's so much fun to color. I used colors found in the papers as inspiration for the image. I love aqua and moss together and thought a little touch of black would make them pop even more! I double matted every layer for a little more dimension, then added an assortment of flatback gems to her hat.

The card layout is the January SFYTT.

Better head on over to the PMS blog to see some samples from the other Makeup Artists and to see how you will be able to win some FREE rubber!

As always, our Release Party is held on the 7th in the Paper Makeup Stamps Forum. The fun begins at 9:00 EST. I do hope you can join us!

A True Friend

I received some new PTI goodies {Thanks Santa!}. Of course, once I got them I was stumped on how to use them....so it goes! Does that happen to you? You see a set of stamps you just can't live without, you have a ton of ideas for them and then when they arrive, you draw a blank! What the heck is up with that?

Anywho, I just went with a simple layout using basic colors and patterns. I stamped just a strip of Background Basics: Sheet Music onto the Mat Stack 4 die and then added the sentiment in red. The sentiment is from Fillable Frames #11.

I used the Sheet Music Impression Plate on the yellow strip for a little more texture since the rest of the card was so plain.

**There are more peeks of the January Release from Paper Makeup Stamps today on the PMS blog.**