First Try at a SFYTT!

Hello, Hello! I gave this week's, I {Heart} to Stamp's SFYTT a whirl for the first time last night and used the sketch to create a birthday card. Now I know it doesn't look like a birthday card based on the sentiment I chose for the front (I did use a birthday sentiment on the inside though), but this card is kinda doing double duty. I made it for a friend that I have been lucky to re-connect with after many years of not being in touch. She was my grade school best friend and we have been having the best time catching up and getting close again. I had been meaning to make her a card with this sentiment (which I LOVE), and since it is her birthday tomorrow, I put it all together.

I had originally planned on used the PTI Bitty Dots paper, but then as I went along, I decided that none of the colors in the pack really worked. So I basically improvised and used the Melon Berry Bitty Dot ribbon and put a few of pieces together to make the panel as called for in the sketch. I thought it was different and hopefully adds some interest...

We have had summer weather here for the last few days - it is a HEAT WAVE. Not that I am really complaining, but we basically went straight from winter straight to summer! I have a tan to prove it and everything - and that was just from one day out in the sun for the boys' baseball and soccer games. Crazy. Sadly though, as per accuweather.com, the temps are supposed to drop more than 20 degrees to the 60s by Thursday. Again... crazy! But we're enjoying the weather while we can. I must admit, I do love not freezing while getting in and out of the car these last few days.

Hope your week is off to a great start.

Deets:
Stamps: PTI Life and Birthday Basics (on the inside), CS: PTI Summer Sunrise and Stamper Select white; Ink: PTI Summer Sunrise, Melon Berry, Ocean Tides, Spring Moss; Other: PTI Melon Berry and Ocean Tides ribbons

Make A Wish...

Hello Hello! Today flew by quickly and was a little shorter work-wise than usual, as it was Bring your Child to Work Day. I brought my 2 older boys and we all had a blast. My work had a set agenda for a small part of the day, but otherwise they spent the day with me. They were great and I was so glad to have their company today and have my co-workers see how awesome they are. ;)

Tonight I whipped up this card so that it is ready for the mail in the am. I paired an oldie, but very much a goodie, with some of my newest (and almost newest) PTI purchases. I like mixing up the new with the old. I hate to think that (or fall into the habit) that I am only buying sets to use for a very short time before just moving on to the next. I like the PTI Text Boxed set - very versatile, although I must admit, after loving all the samples and buying it, I had a hard time actually using it at first. But then I just kept at it and with this set, simpler really does end up better. At least that is what works for me. All of my stuff ends up being pretty simple anyway, but I like the clean, fresh and simple look anyway.

Hope that you are having a great week. Sooooo glad another Friday is almost here. It is supposed be like summer here on the East Coast - high 80s through the whole weekend. Can't wait. We have lots 'o games this weekend. Each of the boys have a game on Saturday and then practice and tryouts for summer teams on top of that.

Well, I'm off to the next thing... which is the treadmill for me.

Have a great one!

Deets:

Stamps: PTI Text Boxed, Mega Mixed Messages, Spots and Dots (fun set!); CS: PTI Soft Stone, Berry Sorbet and Sweet Blush; Ink: SU Wild Wasabi; Other: PTI Ribbon - New Leaf and Berry Sorbet, New Leaf button, dimensionals

Doggie and Dino Birthdays

Quick post to say hello and check in. These are 2 birthday cards I made - my middle guy had 2 parties in the same weekend a couple of weeks. And believe it or not, it's not that uncommon around here for any of the boys. I think we have 2 this weekend again. My kids are still at the age where everyone mostly has big parties and lots of friends.

Both cards are colored with my lovely prismas and gamsol. I really love using both the prismas and the copics - they both have such different results. I also like how by pairing Wild Wasabi with different colors, it worked just as well for a girl card as it did for the boy birthday card. I had originally bought Wild Wasabi thinking about all the ways I could use it for the boys scrapbook pages and boy cards, but just by pairing it with pink, it worked for a girl card as well. I love pink and green together, but normally don't pair the pink with such a dark green... Now I know! :)

So glad the week is half way through, but I can't believe how quickly it is moving. I have a full load at work, so the days are flying by in a blink of an eye. Which in the whole scheme of things is better than dragging, or worse not being busy at all with a job. Crazy times... So on that note, I better head to bed to be refreshed for a new day tomorrow. :)

Deets: 1st card - Stamp: Elzybells, LAD; CS: PTI Sweet Blush, Stamper's Select White, SU Wild Wasabi; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Wild Wasabi; Basic Grey PP; Other: Basic Grey brads, dimensionals; PTI Sweet Blush Swiss Dots ribbon, Prismas and Gamsol

Dino Birthday: Stamps, CHF Little Guy and Tags sets: CS: SU Wild Wasabi, Stamper's Select White, Basic Grey PP; Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Other: Prismas and Gamsol

Teacher Thanks

Hello, Hello.

I'm winding down from a wonderful L-O-N-G, 5-day weekend with the family. Back to reality to tomorrow for everybody in my house. The kids are back in school after Spring Break and I'm back to work. Today was a very nice bonus - one of those Teacher in Service days, that happened to fall on a Monday after Spring Break, which was preceded by 4 half days for Teacher's Conferences! It feels like it has been a month since my boys have been in school!

I actually made this card before the holidays. My middle guy is in kindergarten, and I know I have mentioned this before, but I just {heart} his teacher. She is so sweet and my guy is loving her class. He's learning in leaps and bounds.

Every year, his elementary school's PTA sponsors a very fun mom's night out that includes silent auction. All proceeds go to his school, so how could you go wrong. So the silent auction includes teacher stuff - most of the teacher's donate an outing doing something with them (some do pizza dinners, ice cream runs, trip to the mall for a Build-a Bear etc.). My middle guy's teacher auctioned off a trip to Barnes and Noble and lunch with her and a friend of the winner's choice. I won the auction and they recently did the Barnes and Noble outing. My middle guy and his friend had a blast, and his teacher even bought them each books. Such a NICE gesture and fun time for the boys. I was really appreciative and this was the thank you card that I sent her. Gotta love our teachers!

Have a great nite! See ya.

Deets:

Stamps: CHF - Daisy Jar and Making the Grade (sentiment); Inks: Memento Rich Cocoa; Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White, Lemon Tart, BG PP; Other: PTI Lemon Tart twill, dimensionals and copics (can I even begin to tell you how excited I am that PTI is going to start carrying copics this month AND on top of that - putting together sets of 3s to match PTI colors?! Sooooo excited!)

Happy Easter Wishes!

It is the closing minutes of a wonderful Easter today, and I wanted to check in to share a card that I made for the holiday. I used the most recent PTI sketch challenge for the card - I think it's the first time I tried one of their sketches. Or if it isn't the first, then it's the first one in a very LONG while. I'm still playing with PTI's Beyond Basic Borders. I'm having fun putting the different elements together to see what combo I can come up with each time. This time the focus was more on color. I put together a combo that reminded me of spring... (which I wish would finally be here to stay, but that's a different topic!) and tied it all together with the ribbon and button.

We had a wonderful Easter day. We all slept in a little bit and headed over to 11:30am Mass (we usually go to the 10am Mass, because it is the Children's Mass) and then spent the afternoon at my FIL, which has become our annual Easter tradition. After lunch, we have our annual egg hunt, which the kids talk about for days before Easter.

Hope that you had a great day and weekend too. :)

Deets: Stamps: PTI Beyond Basic Borders, Mega Mixed Messages; CS: PTI Stamper Select White, Melon Berry, Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise; Ink: Melon Berry, Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise, SU Wild Wasabi (VERY close match to New Leaf ink); Other: PTI New Leaf Bitty Dot, Aqua Mist grosgrain ribbons, Melon Berry button

Coral Thanks

Where did the week go?? It seems like just yesterday I was posting with my first Raspberry Suite Challenge, and then before I know it, here I am again, checking in with the next installment. This one took me a bit to figure out how to put the colors together, but I'm glad that I tried it. It is a fun color combo - so thank you very much, Dawn. :) I will definitely put this in the memory banks to use again.

I used this challenge to also finally use Beyond Basic Borders, a PTI set that I bought late last month (post-release rush), but hadn't gotten a chance to try until now. Fun set, and pretty easy to make a card too. I will be using this one lots, I think. I had specifically bought it to go with the Journaling set that came out for my scrapbooks, but that whole effort is temporarily on hold until my new crafting area is set back up. It won't be too much longer, as we are in the final stages of the work (although I feel like I have been saying that, but really, I think this is it!). So excited about that. My scrapbooks have been so neglected.

So here's my card, which again, came together pretty quick once I figured out how I wanted the color combo to come to life on my card....

I'm off to bed now...late night, even for me! But it seems like there is always one more thing that I want to get done before calling it a day. Am I the only one who thinks this way. You should see all the things that I still didn't get to on my list today, even though I am still up at this hour. Never ends (but in a good way, really!)...

Have a great week - check in again with another card soon! :)

Deets: Stamps - PTI Beyond Basic Borders; CS: PTI Kraft, Berry Sorbet, Vanilla; Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, SU Real Red, Vanilla; Other: PTI Sweet Blush grosgrain.

My 1st Try at a Raspberry Suite Color Challenge...

Hello, hello :) I finally got a chance to try Dawn's color challenge after missing out on the opportunity to work on her first one. I just LOVED the colors this week! I wanted to make a card for a friend who I found out recently had surgery. She has a daughter in my youngest son's class, so I tucked it into his folder so that it will make its way into her folder in the morning. Hopefully it will brighten up my friend's day tomorrow. Card is easy peasy, but I thought it turned out well. Just a little bit of embellishment - so glad to finally get a chance to use the kaiser rhinestones I bought from eP a few weeks ago. I was determined to dig them out from underneath the drop cloths once I saw the color combo for this challenge. I have been working with limited supplies, although I must admit that my "little" stash has been growing with all of my recent PTI purchases and trips down to the basement to get "just one more thing" I needed for a card! I might need a hand moving everything back downstairs from the guest room where I have been storing my crafting things, at the rate I am going!

I have actually made a ton of cards in the last couple weeks that are just waiting to be uploaded. I have to get on that. Hopefully it will be easier for me to stamp and post what I make again when I can set up my new crafting area... just a few more weekends - I can't wait!!

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI - Life (LOVE this set and can definitely see myself using it a ton!); CS: PTI Stamper's Select; Ink: SU Taken with Teal, PTI Spring Moss, Memento Rich Cocoa; Other: PTI Spring Moss Twill, Kaiser Rhinestones