Circle of Friendship

 BLOG CANDY!! see this post for more information!  All you need to do to qualify for a chance to win is to comment on this post!

Before I start my exciting! albeit  tardy post for today I would like to welcome my newest follower, Diana from Creations for a Star blog. She is a talented papercrafter who "enjoys getting inky and throwing scraps on the floor!" - my kind of girl : ) Please visit her pretty blog and be sure to leave her some LOVE!

Today's card is about friendship. And it is in response to Asha Martin's post on her Sunny Summer Crafts blog post of March 20th.  Like Asha I have created my card for a special friend.  I will be sending it to her and I hope, when she receives it, she will put it up on her blog and link it to this post. When she's done that, I'll reveal her name and link this post to her blog. And as Asha said "so the circle of friendship is complete".

You can imagine how blessed I was this past Saturday when this card showed up in MY mail box! all the way for Portugal!  and had some very special treats tucked inside too!

Oh Asha how blessed I am by your friendship!!And I must admit it was not until THIS AFTERNOON! that I finally figured out "the clue" LOL Even though my business partner Diane and I racked our brains - neither of us could figure it out! heeheehee.  The bike!!

My card today is inspired by the challenge blog, One-Layer Simplicity, OLS. I cannot remember the last time I created a strict one layer card.  (It may have been last month but I can't remember it!) LOL

This is the first time I've joined the challenge at OLS. I found this great blog thanks to the playful Darnell Knauss from the djkardkreations blog. See her take on this challenge in this post.

I am finding my 100 cards in 100 days challenge a bit challenging already!  I really must get a few cards made ahead to post so that I'm not scurrying around at 8:00 p.m. to get my daily post up.  Today I had an appointment... and then I dropped a jug of water on my kitchen floor thus transforming today into the day I mop the floor! LOL and then there was something about the dog eating my homework?? jk I don't have a dog.  All I know is I better get ahead or I will need more than a cheering section! but here is card # 2 only 98 more to go!! woo hoo!!

Thank you so much and please be sure to leave a comment for a chance to win my blog candy!!

(((Hugs)))
Patti

Faux Postage technique

 BLOG CANDY!! see this post for more information!  All you need to do to qualify for a chance to win is to comment on this post!

My post today has been a bit delayed because we are getting ready for a new release and SALE at neckStyles™ this week!! which is always a busy and fun time of the month!

Even though I am barely squeaking in under the wire for the deadline on this SOS challenge doesn't mean I have not been thinking about it.  The challenge this week is to use a "faux" technique on your card.  I had to do some research to even know what some of these techniques were.  I became interested in the faux postage technique so I went looking at Split Coast stampers as the gals at SOS suggested.  I found a faux tutorial by Beate Johns.  I have been a big fan of Beate's tutorials since the day I began papercrafting!

As you will see this technique is a bit fussy to prepare but once you get the template done it is actually quite simple.  Beate offers a downloadable template which I downloaded and updated in Photoshop.  I changed some of the postage amounts to different amounts and also added some "Forever"  stamps as well. : )

With my template masked off I chalked the inside of each "postage stamp", green at the bottom and blue at the top.  Then I stamped my little eggs in each opening and colored them with my Prisma colored pencils.  I was having some trouble with my black Memento ink smearing so I decided - especially in lieu of how late it is getting- to NOT use my Gamsol to blend the pencils.

Just for fun I want to point out that I did not cut into the original size of any piece of paper except the white cs base : ) I used scraps!! for all the papers used! How's that to shop my stash!??! : ) LOL

Ok, I'm gonna stop typing and get to posting this my FIRST of !)) cards in my 100 day challenge!!

Please have a look at what the other participants have created for this challenge here on the Shopping our Stash Challenge Blog!

Thank you so much for stopping by to cheer me on!! Oh! and by the way cheering me on does NOT mean you have to say nice things about my cards LOL Feel free to leave a comment to tell me how you REALLY! feel! : )

Happy Monday!

Patti

BLOG CANDY - 100 cards in 100 days!

 Edited to Add the winner of my BLOG CANDY randomly drawn on July 16th is Beth F. of Beth's Beauties blog.  See THIS POST for the whole story! Congrats, Beth. Thank you thank you to everyone who cheered me on in my goal! I appreciate YOU!


I'm not certain of the exact flow of things whether it was my recent craft room OVERHAUL!! or my friend challenging me to use up my stickers or the introduction of a few blog challenges encouraging participants to USE our stuff! but I have decided to challenge myself to make 100 cards in 100 days! : )

I know that is a big goal so I am going to need some help : ) That is where you come in.  Get your pom poms out and get ready to be my cheering section : )  At the end of my 100 day challenge I will randomly draw one name to receive all this! 

Multiple chances to win.

 All you must do to be entered is to “cheer me on” with a comment in my daily posts The more days that you comment - the more chances you will have to win because with each post your name will be entered in the drawing.

The deets:

One comment per post please

International friends are welcome

Winner will be selected in a random drawing

Drawing will be held on July 16, 2014

The fine print:

Shipping is free up to $15.00.  Winner must pay any additional shipping.

Just a note to my faithful sister who comments on my blog... my family is not eligible to win : ( sorry! If  your name comes up in the random generator I promise you will get a very special prize but just not the BLOG CANDY.

Cards made before April 7th will not be included in my count.

I would love it if you would follow me but that is not a requirement.  I would love it if you would share the link to my blog candy on your blog but that is not a requirement either : )

You might consider following me via e-mail.  You will receive updates when I post instead of having to pop in to see if I have posted but that is up to you : ) 

________________________________________________________________________________

 

Look great while you are papercrafting with a neckStyles™ infinity scarf made by me! : ) Your prize includes a $25.00 gift certificate to my Etsy store where we have over 400 scarves to choose from!

Pebbles Inc. Pearlescent Chalks

House Mouse 3” x 4” wood mounted rubber stamp entitled “Flower Raft”

Two rolls of American Crafts Ribbon

Darice embossing folder “”Large Petals”

Maple Leaf “cut and emboss” duo from Cuttlebug

Queen and Company “Just Peachy” Rhinestones

Creative Café  Teal Rhinestones

Sticko dimensional heart stickers by EK Success!

One ounce pack of assorted sequins

Thank you for cheering me on in my goal!! I appreciate you!

Patti
 

A Sticker Challenge and a BIG announcement!

My Friend Theresa said that she was going to challenge herself to use some of her stickers!  I enthusiastically decided to join her! I am something of a sticker-aholic! and the funny thing is I rarely use them on my cards.  That might change in the next 100 days!  Be sure to read to the bottom of this post to learn my BIG announcement!

Check out this cutie patootie!! this card makes me laugh.  It fits an A2 envelope but is cut to a finished size of 3.5 x 5.5" leaving room for the rocket to hang off the side of the card. I didn't want to make these cards for kids specifically because I know of a few...ahem... adults who love Sock Monkey too! (you know who you are!) so I selected sentiments that would be more appropriate for the "big kids".

This sentiment is from The Angel Company.  The red shapes peeking out from under the blue cs are simply one of the red chevron zig zag shapes that was cut to fit underneath the blue cs. 

I used a Chevron Cover plate from PTI on each of my cards in this set.  This one was cut from white, red, yellow and blue cs.  I simply replaced the three shapes with the bold shapes! easy peasy!!

Showing the inside of the card.

 I wanted to think of a sentiment to highlight the monkey sky rocketing toward space : ) so I thought the sentiment up and printed it off on my computer.

Text Block: Birthday die by PTI.  Sequins and red ribbon bow from my stash.

If you look closely you will see that on this card I cut the Chevron cover plate from SU's Pacific Point cs and then glued it to a  "Tempting Turquoise" card base.  I did not fill in the Chevron zig zags on this one for a slightly different look. I wish I would have selected a different color for the birthday sentiment but I was trying to match the sticker series.  It's ok but if I had to do it again I would have done it differently.

This one might be my favorite : ) I am planning to send it to one of my sisters who is a pilot and a skydiver! I think she will giggle when she sees it.  I generated the sentiment on my computer

This is a shot of the inside of the card.  I wanted to show, again how the Chevron zig zag shape works so nicely as an altered feature.  Have I mentioned how much I LOVE the PTI cover plates!??! heeheehee

Here they are all together.  See how nifty stickers can be? This pack of stickers retails for $3.99.  I used all or a portion of 6 pieces of cs.  At SU prices that would be about $1.80 making each of these four cards actually cost about $1.45 each! Can't find great cards like these at Hallmark for those prices! : )

My BIG announcement:

I'm not certain of the exact flow of things whether it was my recent craft room OVERHAUL!! or my friend challenging me to use up my stickers or the introduction of a few blog challenges encouraging participants to USE our stuff! but I have decided to challenge myself : ) to make 100 cards in 100 days! : )

I know that is a big goal so I am going to need some help : ) That is where you come in.  I have purchased a treasure trove of LOOT!! also known as BLOG CANDY!! to give away at the end of my 100 day challenge.  All you must do to be entered in the RANDOM drawing is make a comment to "cheer me on" on my daily post : ) That's it!! The more days that you comment - the more chances you will have because with each post your name will be entered in the drawing.

I will write out the details clearly when I post the BLOG CANDY pictures.  I am hoping to post on Sunday or Monday please stop by again.  You might consider following me via e-mail.  You will receive updates when I post instead of having to pop in to see if I have posted but that is up to you : )

Just a note to my faithful sister who comments on my blog... my family is not eligible to win : ( sorry! If I happen to randomly select your name I promise you will get a very special prize but just not the BLOG CANDY.  International friends are welcome! but I can only commit to paying $15.00 of the shipping cost.  If it runs more I am gonna need a little bit of help. I hope you'll understand. Only one comment per post please.

So that's it!! Get your pom poms out and get ready to be my cheering section : )

Good for you! for making it all the way to the bottom of this post! whew : )

Have a wonderful Saturday!!

Patti

12 x 12 Pet Theme Shaker layout

Before I begin my post please join me in welcoming my newest follower, Darnell of djkardkreations blog. She is a talented cardmaker but that's not all! She is friendly and funny and a make you laugh out loud! writer.  Please visit her blog and tell her Patti sent you : )

I created this scrapbook layout for my friend, Barb's store.  I actually created two  - one for dogs and one for cats.  There is a shaker card inset in the lower half of the page. 

Let me re-build it from the bottom up so that you can get a better perspective of what you are seeing : )   The bottom layer is a 12 x 12" piece of tan card stock. In the center is a 6 x 11" piece of aqua cs taped flat on top of the tan cs. On the bottom portion of the aqua cs is a piece of clear acetate printed with words about cats in a soft gray color.  I separated the acetate from the aqua cs by running foam tape all around four sides creating a box.  Before I taped the acetate down I enclosed some flowers that I had punched out from paper scraps from this layout.

This shows a different angle when the flowers are scattered around in the shaker box.

I placed a long floral border down the left side and a thinner strip of cs on the bottom and right side of the aqua cs to concealed the foam tape. 

The top of the shaker box is actually concealed underneath the photo frames : ) Neat huh?

The "tickets" are just  1 x 2" strip of paper with the corners punched out with my SU ticket punch.  The sentiment banner "Best Friends" is only a piece of the acetate cut out and layered on top of aqua cs.

The photo color is really off! I had photographed this layout using the wrong setting on my camera and they were too far off to be able to adequately fix them in Photoshop.  I'd already given the kits to Barb before I realized my error so I was unable to re-shoot the picture.  But! I wanted to share the layout so I hope you will overlook the icky brownish green coloring.

It is snowing out right now and they are "promising" up to 18" in this two day storm! But I refuse to be bothered with it!! I know spring is coming! We've even heard reports that the black bear are beginning to wake up and move around (poor dears it is going to be hard finding food around here for a while! : )

Have a wonderful Friday!! and thank you so much fro stopping by!

Patti

Elegant cards on a budget

 As card makers we have a special talent that non-card makers really enjoy!  Groups of cards like this make very special gifts.  The value is high and the cost can be LOW! All of these were created for under $7.00. All the cards are A2 size cards unless otherwise noted in the captions.

6 x 6" card. EF on the right is Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug. EF on the left is a 12" Butterfly by Darice. Shapes cut with Spellbinders dies.

Inside embossed with same 12" Darice EF

I did a breakdown of the cost related to my group of cards.  I have broken it down so that you can see the related cost for each card element. I've given you some very close estimates - possibly not exact but this way you can estimate from your own resources what these same cards would cost you.

Two 12 x 12" pieces of solid white cs @ .05 each.
Six 8.5 x 11" pieces solid white cs @ .30 each
One 8.5 x 11" piece of SU Almost Amethyst cs @ .30
One fourth of  8.5 x 11" piece of SU Pink Pirouette cs @ approximately .08
48" Double Face Satin Ribbon - White @ .25 per yard
One  Miss Elizabeth's clear sticker sheet (which had 42 stickers on it) $2.99
Thirty One mini pearls @ .03 each
Two Pink rhinestones @.03
"Itty bits" not included in the cost estimation include three sequins, a bit of silver thread, and a small piece of batten burg lace ribbon. I did not include the cost of the envies in this breakdown.

This whole collection of cards were created by me for only $6.59 Isn't that amazing!! : )  I LOVE IT!!

In case you fall asleep by the time you reach the bottom of this post heehee please note that ALL floral and butterfly images are from the Miss Elizabeth's clear sticker sheet.

EF on the front and inside by Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug.   Oval EF on top  is from SU Designer Frames.

 I used a double sticker for almost every little butterfly you see on these cards.  Simply done - just apply your first butterfly where you would like it and add a tiny dab of secure glue to the top of the body.  Next remove the stickiness from the second sticker using an embossing buddy or powder.  Then line up the second butterfly over the first on top of the glue.  I sort of bend up the wings to give dimension as you can see in the picture above. 

EF is by Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug.  Flower was created using two stickers separated by foam tape. Stickles Glitter Glue applied to the top of the bouquet.

EF on the left "Script" by Cuttlebug, EF on the right is by Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug. Circle and scallop shapes by Spellbinders dies. Sentiment from The Angel Company.

Embossing folders on white are so elegant! You can use almost any embossing folder to achieve this same elegant look!  Always add something interesting on the inside of your card too!

A2 size card finished size 3.5 x 5.5". Top EF is Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug, bottom EF is "Stripes" by SU. Circle and scallop shapes cut with Spellbinders dies.  Sentiment from CTMH B1244 "Solo T". Batten Burg ribbon from my stash.

Within the same gift assortment try changing the card size and orientation. 

This is a 2.5 x 3.5" gift card. EF Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug. Sentiment from The Angel Company.

This is a 2.5 x 3.5" gift card. EF Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug. Flourish die cut from "Parisian Accents" by Spellbinders.  Sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes by Stampin Up.

Inside of the above 2.5 x 3.5" gift card. Flourish cut from "Parisisn Accents" by Spellbinders

For a #6 Envelope - card dimensions are 3.5 x 6".  Overlay cut from a 5 x 7" Anna Griffin die called "Flower Bramble" for Cuttlebug. Sentiment is from the Sticker set.  I used a Marvy punch for the corners and strung a silver thread around it.

For an added value consider adding multiple style appropriate sentiments in your gift pack.  If you do remember to place some double sided tape on the back of each sentiment so that the recipient can easily select the sentiment they would like to use - remove the tape backing and attach it to their card : )

6 x 6" card. Left EF "Woodgrain" bu SU, right EF Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug.  Shapes cut with Spellbinders dies. Sentiment from Teeny Tiny Wishes set by Stampin Up.

Long post : ) Perhaps you can tell I've been doing bookkeeping and looking for ways to save money! LOL I hope you've enjoyed seeing ways to create beautiful gifts from the beautiful cards YOU make!

Top EF "Designer Frames" by SU. Bottom EF Anna Griffin for Cuttlebug.

Enjoy your day friends! Thank you so much for stopping by.

Patti

Oldest Tree Stamp

This is my second late night post (so please scroll down if you don't want to miss my first post from earlier today).  I have been enjoying a relaxing evening just kind of fiddling around with some challenges that I've been wanting to join.

When I came across the blog Shopping Our Stash I knew they were talking to me! As a matter of a fact I've been thinking a lot about challenging myself to a "shop my stash" challenge! so I'm sure I will be hanging out with these gals a lot in the future : )

This weeks challenge is to create a project using your oldest tree stamp.  I was surprised to see that I'm not much of a tree hugger.  I only have a couple of tree stamps - and this one had never even been inked up!

I'm excited to see Spring which only my faith in Jesus assures me we will see eventually LOL (There is another big snow storm headed our way I hear). So I colored my tree with the hope of spring! heehee

That's it for today : ) I guess I will sign off for the night and hope to see you again tomorrow.

BIG (((Hugs)))
Patti

Supplies:

All papers by SU
Tree image by Inkadinkado
thinking of is a masked version from the Teeny Tiny Wishes set by SU
Spring is from PTI's Birthday Classics: April Stamp Set
 Prisma colored pencils
Ribbon scraps from my stash

I've got a riddle for you...

Chevron cover plate, zipper die and Sentiment by Papertrey Ink (LOVE this company!) Solid cs and patterned paper by SU. Stamped Chipboard arrow from Close To My Heart Artbooking bundle.

 Those words have been music to my ears! My little grand son always had a riddle or a joke to share! Some of the jokes he told were ones he made up - and they were pretty funny too!. He is in his second year of college now and I can't remember the last time he said... "I've got a riddle for you.  Maybe in August for his birthday I will create a card using this stamp set and zipper die from Papertrey Ink to remind him of those fun filled days at Grandma's house.

This silly card was just me playing along with the "Wanna Sketch" challenge at Dahlhouse Designs blog.

Please come and join the fun! there are some amazing cardmakers playing along with this challenge!

Hope your Sunday was filled with sunshine! We have been enjoying our THAW! woo hoo!! so this is a late late post. 

Thank you for looking












OH did you think I was going to forget to give you the punchline!?! heehee got ya! here it is:

Happy EVERY day to you!

(((Hugs)))
Patti