Five for Friday

1. So, I started back to work yesterday. I had a fairly good day. Most of my classes were grade nine, so it was interesting to see what they'd try to get past me. It's funny because they think I'm new... but it's them that are new! LOL!

2. I got some happy mail yesterday: 4 of my cards got requested for publication in the February 2013 issue of Cards and 3 of my cards and 4 layouts got requested for the Create: Stamping issue. Then, I got an email from Susan Opel at Papercrafts Magazine, requesting two of my cards for the March/April 2013 issue! I was quite over the moon (& quite busy, too, packaging everything up to send away!)

3. Speaking of Papercrafts, this was posted on Facebook this week:

I'm not sure when it will be released, but there's my card on the cover!

Here's a close-up of it:

I'd used Papertrey Ink cardstock (pure poppy, rustic cream), stamps (happy day, bb: chevron stripes), buttons, twine and die (happy day).

4. I've been trying to squeeze in some time in my craft room this week, getting ready for my fundraising crop next weekend. I usually put water bottles out at each place, so I borrowed my friend, Mandy's wine bottle tag, thinking that I could dress them up a little and say thank you for coming at the same time. I decided to go with a fall theme, for the latest Papertrey Princess that Lauren posted. Here are the first three that I made:

I also used Papertrey Ink cardstock (classic kraft), patterned paper (dearest jane), stamps (leaf prints, counting my blessings) and dies (counting my blessings).

Here are some close-ups:

For this last one, I selectively inked part of a sentence from Wonderful Words Additions and then I cut apart my "I'm here for you" sentiment from Think Big Favorites #4 for this week's Make it Monday at Papertrey Ink: Cutting Stamps.

5. Well, tomorrow is Sage's birthday party, so I need to work on making a banner for her party and making her a cake shaped like a sewing machine.

Thanks for looking!

A card & a layout

Good morning! I wanted to share a couple of projects today....

The first one is a card that I made for Lee's Papertrey Princess Challenge: to add an embossed panel to your card, and to use mostly white.

I decided to use my new The Sweet Life stamp set. There are three stamps for each rose and each time, I used the same colour of ink.

I used PTI cardstock (stamper's select white), stamps (the sweet life, movers and shakers sentiments) and IP (woodgrain, simple stripes). The ribbon is Offray.

And I also wanted to share a layout that I made using some new Echo Park patterned paper that I picked up at Love is in the Details last week.

I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (rustic white), stamps (fabulous frames) & dies (modern alphabet uppercase, tag sale #5). The patterned paper and decorative brads are all Echo Park.

Here's a close-up of my journaling (please ignore my "oops"!)

And of my title treatment, where I diecut the letters, used the negative and then placed some of that fabulous patterned paper underneath.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday, Jonah!

I can't believe that this boy turned 10 this morning!

10 things that Jonah loves:

1. Dinosaurs
2. Friends
3. Books
4. video games
5. trampolines
6. walls to climb on
7. play structures
8. my family
9. zoos
10. pancakes

Sage gave Jonah a 3D dinosaur book (which hit on #1 & #3 on Jonah's list!) and decorated an envelope to wrap it in. Here's the card she made, too:

And here's the card I made for my favourite 10 year old:

I did this for Elena's Papertrey Princess Challenge to combine one of the first PTI sets that we bought with one of our most recent purchases. I chose to use a sentiment from Fillable Frames #9 (#8, #9 & #10 were my first PTI purchases) with my new Fabulous Frames set. I also used PTI cardstock (rustic cream), an Imaginesce stamp (dinosaur print),pa some SU! baker's twine, some Simple Stories patterned paper and a Crate Paper sticker.

Thanks for looking!

Five for Friday

1. I had my last day of work on Monday and am now off for the summer! :)
The kids will go to school until next Friday, which is kind of nice for me to have a few days off without them. But don't tell them I said that. ;)

2. Jonah and I are off to Winnipeg today for his grade four field trip. We'll be going to the IMAX to see a polar bears show and then to glow-in-the-dark mini-golf. I'm taking my van along, so after the mini-golf, when his classmates return home, he and I will do a little shopping and then go out for supper with my mom.

3. Plans are being made for a trip to the Congo this fall and it looks like I'll be going along again. I'm quite excited to return and see the friends I made last time. It's great to be able to serve as a translator for our team. I'm also looking at hosting another fundraising crop at the end of September, to help finance the trip.

4. Sage and I were looking through the February issue of Scrapbook Trends together the other day and came across a layout where the two sisters in the photo had formed a heart with their hands. So we decided to try it...







Kind of fun. :)

I'm looking forward to scrapbooking these photos. I know, you're shocked. ;)

5. I mentioned in my post yesterday that my friend, Susan, came over the other day to make cards with me and brought her Happy Hydrangea stamp set along. Well, she also brought her Harvest Berries stamp set, too, which she left at my house for me to use (I love having PTI-loving friends who are good about sharing!) I decided to use this set to make another card for this week's this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: bordered sentiments.

Ren-Yi posted a Papertrey Princess challenge to only use cardstock and stamps to create a card, so I decided to tackle that challenge as well.

Here's what I created:



I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (rustic white, aqua mist) & stamps (distressed stripes, harvest berries, think big favourites #12, modern wood mats).

Thanks for looking!

Some happy summer cards

I decided to make some cards for a few of my co-workers, to let them know how much I enjoyed working with them this past year and to wish them a happy summer. I borrowed my friend, Marlo's, PTI Flipping Out stamp set, to go with the dies I have.



I used PTI cardstock (hawaiian shores, rustic white, fine linen, lemon tart), stamps (flipping out, BB: Farm & Barn) & dies (flipping out, limitless ovals 3.5"). I also used Fancy Pants patterned paper.



For this card, I used PTI cardstock (hawaiian shores, rustic white, raspberry fizz, summer sunrise), stamps (flipping out, BB: Farm & Barn) & dies (flipping out).



I used PTI cardstock (fine linen, aqua mist), stamps (flipping out, BB: Farm & Barn) & dies (flipping out). The patterned paper is My Mind's Eye.
 


I used PTI cardstock (rustic white, aqua mist, new leaf), & dies (flipping out, block alphabet dies). The patterned paper and alphabet stickers are October Afternoon.

And one last card, which I made using the positive letters from the previous card, and Sue's latest Papertrey Princess challenge to use washi tape on a project. I don't have any washi tape, so I cut a strip of patterned paper and tore the edge to ressemble washi tape, as per Sue's suggestion on her blog post.



I used PTI cardstock (fine linen, aqua mist, lemon tart), stamps (think big favourites #12, BB: Farm & Barn) & dies (flipping out, block alphabet dies). The patterned paper are Studio Calico & October Afternoon.

Thanks for looking!

Happy they have each other

I wanted to make a layout using this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: pocket cards. So, I decided to make a pocket card that would house my journaling....

I used PTI cardstock (aqua mist, rustic white)) stamps (wonderful words) & dies (mat stack #5, layerz mat stack #5, pretty peonies). The ribbon is Bo Bunny (I think!) and the brads and patterned paper are My Mind's Eye. I'm also submitting this project for Sue's Papertrey Princess challenge to use something that you've had a long time. For me, it's this ribbon.

Here's the journaling:

And here's how I adhered it to my layout:

The patterned paper on the rest of the layout is My Mind's Eye. I used a bunch of dimensional adhesive to adhere my elements to my layout.

Thanks for looking!

A Papertrey Princess Challenge

It's my turn to post a challenge for the Papertrey Princesses, so here's my challenge... The PTI design team is so amazing! Choose one of their projects and use it as inspiration for a card.

I was inspired by the last card in Maile Belles' latest post on her blog to create this card:

I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (stamper's select white), stamps (beautiful butterflies, TBF#3) & dies (beautiful butterflies). The patterned paper is Crate Paper, which I covered in Martha Stewart glitter for this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: Glitter Diecuts.

Here's a close-up of the glittered diecut:

So, Princesses, I can't wait to see what you create!

Thanks for looking!

Five for Friday

1. It has been absolutely beautiful here this week! Our snow is melted and today, it's 16 degrees Celsius! Lovely! I went for my first bike ride of the season on Wednesday (ah, bliss!) and we're going to go for another one this afternoon.

2. I got a happy email today requesting one of my cards for publication in the Sept/Oct. issue of Papercrafts magazine!

3. This week was reportcard/parent teacher conferences which went well.

4. Tomorrow, Austin & I are going to be attending a black belt development day with our taekwondo club, which should be interesting. It's Austin's first one.

5. I wanted to share a card that I made for Leah's Papertrey Princess challenge to use the negative of a diecut on a project. I also used this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: Coloured Kissing.

I used PTI cardstock (fine linen, stamper's select white, sweet blush), stamps (beautiful butterflies, turning a new leaf, pretty peonies) & dies (beautiful butterflies, mat stack #5).

Thanks for looking!
Enjoy your weekend!

A couple of challenges

Happy Leap Day!

I had a prof in University who got married today, 20 years ago. So, I guess today he's celebrating his 5th annivesary. ;) (He'd actually told us that was why they picked the date.... so he'd only have to buy her a gift every four years! LOL!)

Anyway, today I want to share a card that I made using this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink: creating large frames with smaller frame stamps, as well as the latest Papertrey Princess challenge posted by Diane, who challenged us to create a card with a Hawaiian feel.

This is for Sage's teacher, Mme Schofield, who came out of retirement to fill in since the starting of the school year, while Mme. Vigier was on her mat leave. Now Mme. Vigier is back and I wanted to let Mme. Schofield know how much we appreciated her and how much Sage enjoyed having her for her teacher.

To create my larger frame, I used Fillable Frames #8, which I stamped twice.

I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (canyon clay, rustic white), stamps (Fillable Frames #8, Happy Day, Think Big Favourites #3), buttons & dies (Happy Day.) The patterned paper is Crate Paper.

Thanks for looking!

Day 10 Contest -- attempt #2

Here is the second card that I made for Day 10 for the Anniversary Celebrations at Papertrey Ink, where the challenge was to make an interactive card, in honour of their new interactive dies. I also made this card for Steph's Papertrey Princess challenge to make a card using white & one other colour. I picked pink (& added a little bit of black for the sentiments-- I hope that's okay!)

I used PTI cardstock (stamper's select white, raspberry fizz), twine, stamps (half & half, botanical silhouettes) & dies (half & half, bloom builders #3). The patterned paper is Echo Park.

For the interactive element on my card, I sewed the half & half diecut over an extra stamped sentiment and picture on the patterned paper as a little surprise:

Thanks for looking!

Better Late Than Never

I'm a little late in posting my project for the latest Papertrey Princess challenge posted by Anna: which was to create a border using non-border dies.

I decided to use this great technique on a layout:

I used Papertrey Ink cardstock (vintage cream, sweet blush), stamps (wonderful words additions, Think Big Favourites #4, Happy Trails, Fancy Flourishes) and dies (wonderful words, heart prints). The patterned paper is Authentique.

Thanks for looking!

Homemade patterned paper

Elena issued a really fun Papertrey Princess challenge this week: she challenged us to make our own patterned paper. I decided to use my PTI Delightful Doilies stamp set, along with my BB: Text Style I on some Rustic Cream cardstock to make mine. Then I used it to make a layout and two cards.

First, the layout:

I'd bought the top My Mind's Eye patterned paper because I loved it, but didn't have any coordinating paper to use with it. So, when I created my own patterned paper, I pulled my colours from it, so they would go together.

 I used PTI cardstock (rustic cream, kraft), stamps (modern wood mats) & dies (half & half, alphabet block). The twine & brad are both My Mind's Eye.

Here are a few close-ups:

And the journaling:

And here's one of the cards I made:

In addition to the other supplies I've already mentioned, I used the Happy Day stamp set and die and a smokey shadow button.

And here's the other card:

I used some stamps from Botanical Silhouettes and Wonderful Words to create my sentiment, as well as a Love Lives Here die.

Thanks for looking!

A mini- album

Ever since I got some papers from the Generations line by Simple Stories and some 8x6 photos printed through a special at Black's (50 6x8 photo for $5), I've had an idea to make a mini-album using some favourite family photos.

However, for me, mini-albums are always something I can push off until another day, so I was really thankful for Lee's Papertrey Princess challnge to make a mini-album. It was just the motivation I needed to get it done.

I loved the vertical journaling card elements that were 4x6 inches. So I cut apart some of my boxes that my Papertrey Ink stamps came in and sewed one to a card, stitching them together with my sewing machine. These made great pages to separate some of my photos.

For the album, I used Simple Stories patterned paper & letter stickers, Papertrey Ink cardstock (rustic cream), stamps (love & marriage) and dies (mega mat stack #4, heart border, fillagree border) & twine. The key is My Mind's Eye.

To bind it together, I took it to our local print shop where they coil bound it for me for $4.































Thanks for looking!