Back to School Freebie Friday

Today's Freebie Friday at the Paper Makeup Stamps blog was designed by yours truly, so head over there and get 'em. I made three (3) circular tags to use for back to school gifts, they were designed to be punched with a 1 3/8 inch circle punch. Of course, they can be resized to suit your needs!

Cody will be going back to school on August 5th after what seems was a very short summer. I have seen these double insulated cups all around and thought they would make a nice teacher gift. Jen Del Muro and Susan Liles were the inspiration for these, thank goodness people with good ideas share! I don't have any of the individual Crystal Light packs in here yet, need to make a grocery store run, but you get the idea.

The tag was made with the Freebie provided and just mounted onto a series of other shapes.

Hop on over to the PMS blog to download the tags, I'd love to see what you do with them, so be sure to link 'em up!

Lil Sweet Pea MTME

It's Thursday! And, Thursday means another sketch challenge, MTMEPPS20, from My Time Made Easy Pretty Patterns sketch team. Whew, that's a mouthful!

This week we were challenged to use our favorite sketch from MTMEPPS1 to MTMEPPS6; I chose MTMEPPS5. I love the skewed panels and it allowed me to use the super cute seed packet frame with the cutie patootie peapod image and sentiment.

I digitally colored the seed packet frame, but left the peapod image as an outline so that I could color it with my copics. The seed packet images are from the Tending the Garden digital set, the large flower on the seed packet die is from the Take Time for Petal Perfection set and the background paper is from GaGa for Gingham (which I am!).

I have to tell ya, this whole digital thing is growing on me. I never thought I'd be one to embrace it, but it's not quite as limiting as actual stamps. Digital stamps can be resized to suit your needs, same with the digital papers. Gotta love it. I still love traditional stamps however, but this opens even more opportunities and offers more versatility.

Be sure to stop by the My Time Made Easy blog and choose your favorite sketch; you'll also be able to get more inspiration from the rest of the design team!

Rainbow Hello

I was finally in a position to play with some new goodies that I've had for a bit, Lil Inker Rainbows & Clouds dies as well as the coordinating stamp set. I went with a pastel palette this time instead of my usual brights, love how soft it looks.

I used an older Clean and Simple layout, FTL70. Sweet and simple.

Watering Can

Another quick and easy card, using minimal supplies and things I already had out on my table. I just loved this set when the samples started coming from the PTI design team and I just cannot do it justice. Guess I just don't have their magic!

Everything is pretty straight forward with this card, I just wanted to point out that the scallop border die is from MFT. I love how simple and easy their dies are to use.

Best Wishes

The Sweet Stop sketch, SSS118, was a good and simple one this week; I needed a quick card. We've had alot of drama over the weekend and I needed to keep my hands busy. So after making a breakfast of homemade sausage patties with homemade baking powder biscuits, it was time to make at least one or two cards for the week ahead.

I used the latest PTI Anniversary set and some papers from My Mind's Eye to make a sweet card to send to Duke's aunt. Hopefully it brightens her day!

Birthday Fishes

My Cricut Expression is for sale, please see this post for details. I am interested in moving on to a Silhouette to use with the SCAL software.

I have been dying to use this Jill Fairy image, well, to color it anyway. She's just precious! I use the digital stamps these days, much easier to store since I am running out of room on my shelves. Plus, you can start using them right away, no waiting for them to be shipped! I love that I can resize the images, this one is smaller than the rubber version.

I went with some calming, serene papers for a change. Fishing has a calming effect for me, probably for alot of people. I used to go fishing when I was growing up, but I don't do it at all now. Not a big fish eater.

The sentiment I used comes with the image, Katie has listened to the needs of her customers and this was a big request. I have to say that I enjoy them too, no more digging through my collection to find something that fits. However, there are other sentiments that would have worked with this image in the PMS store.

Fresh Popped MTME

My Cricut Expression is for sale, please see this post for details.

It's Thursday, so that means it's time for another fun sketch from My Time Made Easy, MTMEPPS19.

I've been itching to use images and papers from the last release, such fun colors and themes. The papers are from the Pop Some Fun digital paper pack; images from About to Pop digital stamp set.

I have lots of birthdays coming up and a gift card to the movie theater is in order.

Be sure to stop by the My Time Made Easy blog to see the sketch and how the other girl's rocked it out!

Celebrate You Gift Card Holder

My Cricut Expression and cartridges are for sale, see this post for details.

I decided to make a gift card holder for my niece Veronica (I call her Priss), her birthday party was last weekend. She was unsure of what she wanted, everyone gave her money or a gift card. Hopefully, she can find what she wants!

This is just a very basic gift card holder, simple and pretty. I went with bright colors since she had a pool party.

I used Little Moments for the sentiment and Springtime Solids on the opening strip at the bottom. It's held shut with a BG magnet closure.

Happy Blooming Birthday

I have a Cricut Expression and some cartridges for sale, please see this post.


This week's FTL148 sketch lent itself to a perfectly great birthday card. I had just enough of the Blooming With Elegance paper left to punch a few circles. The sentiment is from the Birthday Cheer set, which is one of my favorite birthday sets ever. The vine is from Swirlie Buds, a sweet and simple set (it's on sale!).

Ok, this rounds out the birthday gift ensemble for Barb. I'm sure you're ready for me to move on from the same papers!

Happy Birthday Gift Basket

I have my Cricut Expression and cartridges for sale, please see this post if interested.

This is the complete basket of goodies we gave to my friend, Barb, for her birthday. You've seen bits and pieces of it, but I didn't show the coffees, creamers, biscotti, and to go cup. I was able to sneak in a small shopping cart to hold the biscotti and creamers; thank goodness the basket was big enough.

The usual suspects are here, same colors and papers used on the Carry Clutch and Purse-onality gift card holder. I used a few stamp sets for the accents: Grab a Cup, Take Time, and Pretty Pattern Pieces.

I wrapped it with a large cellophane bag and tied it with curly ribbon.

Cricut Expression for Sale

I am selling my Cricut Expression, about 1 year old. I have 4 full-size cartridges: Accent Essentials, Winter Woodland, From my Kitchen, and Joys of the Season; there are also 2 Cricut Lite cartridges: Home Accents and Home Decor. Most of the carts have never been used. I will include a package of 2 new cricut mats as well.

The links above are randomly selected so that you know what is on each cartridge.

The price for all is $200.00, I don't want to split the grouping up. Please email me tinahale38 at yahoo dot com if you are interested. I just don't use it with the cartridges and am more interested in purchasing a Silhouette.

Happy Birthday Carry Clutch

I thought this Carry Clutch from latest release at My Time Made Easy was just brilliant. Lauren is amazing at concepting and coordinating; making it easy for us to be rockstars!

I used the new Blooming With Elegance papers with the tag from the Be Dazzled cut file and the sentiment on the card Bee-Loved digital stamp set. I would totally buy this in a store!

This gift card holder was made with the Purse-onality cut file, it held a Starbucks gift card for my friend, Barb, for her birthday. As you can see, I used the same papers as the Carry Clutch, I just accented with yellow here.

I'll be showing the entire ensemble together on Monday! Well, all the other goodies she got anyway and how I got it all wrapped up for gift giving.

Bold Red Bloom

Another fantastic My Time Made Easy Pretty Patterns sketch this week, super easy and interesting. I went for a graphic look using punches of color against the starkness of the black and white. I just love this tulip from the Bold Botanicals digital stamp set. Once it was printed, I just colored it with copic markers.

The papers are from the Flutters and Flowers digital paper set; love the patterns in this collection. And, the fact that they coordinate beautifully with one another, well that's the best!

Head on over to the My Time Made Easy blog to see the sketch for yourself and to be WOW'd by the rest of the sketch team. We all had fun with this one!

This one is going to my niece, it's her birthday today! Happy Birthday Veronica!! She's headed to high school soon, her school colors will be red and black....could this have worked out any more perfectly?!

Card Set with MTME

Ok, so I am totally in love with this new paper from My Time Made Easy, Blooming With Elegance. The colors are so vibrant and the patterns, well, they are amazing.

I used the Embellished Blossoms png to make a series of card fronts for a card set gift. I had one of the graphics guys at work help me since I wasn't sure how to lay it out so they'd all be the same size, etc. In the end, I made a set of eight: 4 Thinking of You, 2 Happy Birthday, and 2 Hello, My Friend; these are all general purpose cards and the recipient will use them up.

All the sentiments are from the Bee-Loved digital stamp set and eash was colored to match. Love that I can do that!

Hopefully, she will love them!

Pretty Red Petals

I wanted to use this new set from PTI called Daydreamer. The flowers are so elegant. Using last week's sketch from the Sweet Stop, SSS115, I was able to get this card together lickety split.

The weekend was really nice. Cody spent Saturday and Saturday night with his brother since his nephews were in town for the week. I was able to secure some tickets (ask our awesome reps and vendors) for fun stuff for them (thank goodness I work in the tourism industry). They had a lovely time and even went to see Super 8 at the theater. Cody loved it!

Duke spent the weekend in the garden making sure everything was weeded and secured. He had to cut lots of bamboo so that the beans and tomatoes were staked and can grow properly. We lost several of our plants (zucchini and cucumbers) due to the heavy rains for days on end and then the scorching sun in the days following. But, we still have alot growing and we're so hopeful that everything else makes it. I am excited for the first harvest and know it'll taste just fantastic!

Happy Summer

I followed Natasha's lead on the FTL147 sketch last week; I thought the multi-colored circles were genius. I found this Echo Park paper strip and chose my colors from there. Each circle was stamped in VersaMark using PTI's Bitty Background Blocks, they were a perfect fit and added something without being too much. After all there is alotta pattern in the patterned paper!

I added the sentiment in black and then a cute little flower to the top left circle.

God is my Salvation

Today is a review day! Paper Makeup Stamps had an amazing release on July 7th and we're taking a moment to show you some more inspiration.

Here, I've used one of the ornate frames from Framed and a quote from Be Still.; both are digital stamps. I've nearly run out of room for more rubber, so I've opted to go digital. I'm still learning, but am finding that I like it alot more than I thought I would.

Both the frame and sentiment were resized to accommodate my layout, I love that I can do that now. SCORE!

Head on over to the PMS blog to see more samples using the new release. The team really rocked it out this month....they always do!

'09 Swim Champ

I love this pic of the boy, he's so cute. I love his freckles, he gets them when he spends time in the sun and they are scattered perfectly across the bridge of his nose and under his eyes. Those giant blue eyes!

In 2009, he learned to swim on his own; a huge accomplishment for him. Now, he's a swimming fool; he'd go swimming everyday if we'd take him. He and Duke have a "swimming hole" somewhat close to home that he goes to during the week; but some weekends we head to the grandparents to use their pool. We always hope the cousins are there.

PMS July Release Blog Hop

It's Release Day! We celebrate each release with a Blog Hop! You'll definitely want to start at the PMS Blog so you can hop in order. You'll collect letters to the code that will allow you to save 15% on the new releases. If you've started from the beginning, you should have arrived here from Anita's blog. Her project using Jill was pretty, wasn't it?!

I've created a Welcome Back to School card set for Cody's 5th grade teacher. He goes back to school on August 4th (just 3 days before his birthday) and he's pretty excited!

I used sentiments from the Build a Sentiment- Child Additions set; punching each out and then matting with circle punches. I made 3 simple 3x3 cards and inserted some clear envies to stuff them in. Each has an encouraging sentiment perfect for rewarding a student.

The pizza box was embellished with a pinwheel in black and white. Our school colors are red and white, but I love the punch that the black adds.

The letter I have for you today is: W

Now, you can hop on over to see Jackie, she's using the new Frames set. You're gonna love it.

And, don't forget that we are partying down in the Paper Makeup Stamps Forum from 9:00 pm EST into the night. Just kidding! We usually chat for a few hours...and give some prizes away!

Gratitude For My Time Made Easy

This week's My Time Made Easy Pretty Patterns sketch, MTMEPPS17, is a super cool one. I never would have come up with this layout on my own and I just love it!

I used some My Time Made Easy digital papers- School Ruled (Trace It ABC), School Plaid Collection 1 (Fallen Leaf). The sentiment is from the Bold Botanicals digital set; I am in love with this font.

You definitely want to head on over to the My Time Made Easy blog to see the sketch for yourself and to gain even more inspiration from the rest of the Design Team. Awesome!

Bloom Blossom Become

I was entirely inspired by this card from Debbie Olson, she's a genius! The elements are basically the same, but I did use different colors and a few different images. I was really enamored with the Garden Variety set, mostly for the seed packet frame image, it's really pretty.

The picket fence is an SVG file that I cut on my Cricut Expression. It's a really lovely design and I was thankful that I could use it as a substitute for the PTI die. I don't know about you, but I love when I can find something close so I don't have to buy everything to duplicate or CASE a design. Gotta use what I've got.

This one will probably be going to Duke's aunt, she loves getting my cards in the mail. She's called before when it had been too long between deliveries. LOL Anyway, she's been very ill and if I can do anything to cheer her up, I am all about it.

PMS July Sneak Peeks, Day 3

Here we are at day 3 already! My most favorite peek day is here at last, we are focusing on the fairies today!

Ok, so this fairy is named Tina......I know! I am a lucky girl, Katie named this cutie after me and I am thrilled to be immortalized in rubber! Ha! Thanks a million Katie!!!! If only I were this young and pretty....*sigh*.

I went with bright colors as they are my favorite. And, this Echo Park paper seemed just the ticket. Once I colored her, I drew in the sidewalk. See that sentiment? Well, it comes with the image; super cool, right?! Katie listens to her customers; you've been requesting images with matching sentiments and she's answered the call.

Be sure you head on over to the PMS blog to see the other fairies and to enter to win a $10.00 gift certificate.

Thursday is our release blog hop. And, don't forget about the Release Party. It'll be held in the Paper Makeup Stamps Forum on July 7th at 9:00 pm EST.