Lovely as a...Friend

I've been working on a couple of cards for a blog contest on MoxieWorld.com. She runs contests pretty often, and they are fun to try when I have a free moment. The current one running was to create a card that somehow incorporates a tree. This is one of the cards that I made. I picked Father Knows Best as my prize for "winning" PTI's GSS from a couple of months ago. I had always liked the set, but somehow it would always get bumped in my cart when it came time to order. I used the tree from that set, along with a sentiment put together from the Friends Til the End set. I colored in the leaves with copics to give it a little extra. I liked the way it came out and will save it to send to friend, for no reason other than just because! :)

(Can you tell that I've been using all the handy dandy tricks I learned on the sideoats and scribbles blog to edit my pics? LOL)

Deets: Father Knows Best, Friends Til the End; CS: PTI Kraft, Spring Moss and Melon Berry; Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa and PTI Melon Berry; Other: Bitty Dots ribbon (Melon Berry), Spring Moss button and Copics

Inspired to Relax

This month's blog hop theme was summer-inspired! We are supposed to pick something summer related and use that as a springboard. Given that it has rained all but 5 days in the month of June (a FB friend mentioned this tid-bit in his status update yesterday as it rained AGAIN!), I decided to look for summer inspiration in a magazine... where is is always sunny!

This pic called to me as soon as I say it and it definitely screamed lazy days of summer to me. How relaxing and inviting this chair looks!! I would love to curl up with a good book and kick my flip flops over the side too. :)

But since I can't, I made the card instead - LOL ... I used the colors, drink, pillow, sunglasses and flip flops and built my card around those things. I tilted the green label to mimic the pillow laying on the lounge chair. I think this makes for a fun summery way to say congrats to a friend. Thanks for checking out my try at the blog hop. Can't wait to see how everyone else was inspired by summer!

Deets:

Stamps: PTI Day at the Beach; Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; CS: PTI New Leaf, Lemon Tart and Kraft; Other: Scarlet Jewel twill, white thread, dimensionals and Kaiser Rhinestones

Something very NEW for me...

I LOVE to take pics. I take them all the time of the kiddos... I try very hard to capture every moment in my family's lives. BUT, that does not mean I do it very well. So I've decided to try to get better at it (and hopefully get better pics of my cards in the process too).

This started when I stumbled upon this this really neat blog - sideoats and scribbles. It's a really neat blog... one that I'm still exploring, but the reason I stumbled up it was that I had seen Lisa's blog highlighted on someone else's blog because of the photography toots she (I think) started recently. Although she is also an amazing (and published) papercrafter too! :)

I tried the sharpening challenge this week, and in the process incorporated the white balance lesson as well. It's definitely a very beginner try at this, but I have learned so much already. I've had Adobe on my laptop, but think that before tonight had used only the automatic fixes for the pics. So let's give it a whirl with Scribbles Challenge #3.

So here is the original pic. This is one of the thank you gift card holders I made for my kiddos' teachers (I made a bunch of these, as my kids have lots of teachers to thank since they are in school and afterschool all day).

And here is my new and (hopefully) improved picture. Can you tell a difference?

I started by doing the levels adjustment, which was difficult since there was no white on my card (plus it was my first time!), so I focused on the top of the white cabinet that the card was sitting on. Then I started on the actual challenge by sharpening the images using the 2 filters. Lisa, your directions are really clear... but I definitely need practice though, as I wasn't sure how much to adjust without it getting too distorted and grainy. I had to try it a couple times, because I couldn't tell how the card was going to looking to look until I pressed "ok" to make the dialog box disappear. Maybe I should've sharpened more... not too sure yet. But I do like how the rock and roll technique I used for the limes really came through much clearer on the second pic. :)

So that ends today's experiment- LOL. I will definitely be following along Lisa's blog for both her creativity and photography tips and lessons going forward. And practicing lots too. I guess these techniques also go for photographs too, right?? (hmmm... question for another day/experiment - now it's time for bed!)

Deets:

Stamps: SU Tart and Tangy, PTI Day at the Beach; CS: Lemon Tart, Spring Moss; Ink: SU Kiwi Kiss and Always Artichoke (rock and roll technique); Other: Spring Moss grosgrain.

Another color challenge - snail mail

Whew, it's been a little while since I last posted. The last couple of weeks of school coincided with a busy run at work, hence not too much creating until last night. Here is my try at Dawn's latest color challenge. Loved the colors - I don't use coral-ly colors much, but I loved how the combo came together. :) I also love how PTI has matching copics and are starting to create more coloring sets. I like the look of cards created solid stamps, but I also really love to color and the result of those kinds of cards. It gives PTI even that much more versatility to all kinds of stampers and well as diversity so that all their cards don't necessarily have the same type of look.

This is my first time inking up this fun new PTI set, and I actually have a couple of ideas swirling around, so I am going to have to give them a whirl the next time I sit down at my craft desk. Hope your week is less soggy than ours. I think there is a rain cloud just parked long-term over NJ...

Deets: Stamps - PTI Vintage Picnic; Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; CS - PTI Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, Cream & Bitty Dots, SU Chocolate Chip; Other: PTI buttons!!, SU Ribbon, dimensionals

So Very...

Hello, hello (and good morning!) Quick card and quick post for today. I like how this card turned and LOVE that it was pretty quick in the making, once I figured out my layout and used up some scraps. It's not based on a sketch or anything - I just picked up a bunch of the aforementioned scraps that I had and went from there. This was the first time my set of Star Prints saw any ink and I must say that I love all the different patterns each of the stars have. Very versatile set with many uses. I also like the font - so very different from any other set I have, so it really stands out.

Anyway, it's raining here AGAIN today. The color theme for the week here - grey, grey and more grey. Where is the summer weather from the weekend? I am crossing my fingers that summer gets here by the weekend.

I Wanna...Soak Up the Sun!

Hello, hello! My week is off to a great start (maybe a spillover from the beautiful weather we had all weekend long?) and to top it off, I was able to find time to make a second card this week. Two in two days - not a usual occurrence for me, but I'll happily take it. I am still multi-taking and making another EOY teacher card using this week's SFYTT. This time I paired the sentiment, "You deserve it" with another of the phrases that come with this fun set. I think it still gets the message across to my boys' teachers. ;) I got creative and put a few colors together that I don't think I've used before (at least not that I can remember). I think it has a summery feel and I have to say that I really like Rich Avocado. I don't have that color (ie. inks, ribbons etc) other than the sheets that came in the sampler pack - I think that the color must have came out during a crafting dry spell. But I think that I will have to invest in the ribbon on a future PTI order. I was originally thinking it had a wintery or even autumny feel, but I think that it works well on a summery card too.

Hope that you're having a great Monday night. :)

Deets:

Stamps: PTI - A Day at the Beach; Inks: PTI - Berry Sorbet, Versamark Dazzle, SU-Always Artichoke; CS: PTI - Summer Sunrise, Rich Avocado, Berry Sorbet, Soft Stone; Other: PTI Berry Sorbet twill, dimensionals

RSCC #8 - You Deserve it! :)

Couldn't let the weekend pass without trying Dawn's latest color challenge. I think the deadline is tonight, so I might even be on time - bonus! :) Anyway, I decided to use the colors and make a thank you card to give to one of the boys' teachers. The end of the school is coming up quickly (how did that happen?), and I need to get on our thank yous. I thought that this pair of sentiments is perfect for any teacher at the end of the school year....

We had a fun weekend - the weather was amazing - it felt like summer both days (then again it IS summer - LOL). It was great all the same.

Can't believe another work week is set to start. No travelling this week, except for a lunch in the city, and I got a couple of big deadlines (and successfully I might add!) behind me last week, so hopefully there will be a moment to create during the week. Even though I'd love to been bit more consistent in my crafting, I am thankful for the time I have (makes me enjoy it more, kwim?), and even more so for having a career that keeps me as busy as it does. NO complaints here. It's a hobby afterall. ;)

Have a great week. Hope to check in soon.

Deets:
Stamps: PTI - A Day at the Beach; CS: PTI Cream and Kraft: Ink: SU Pink Passion, Cream, Memento Rich Cocoa, Adirondack Latte (serves as a great Kraft colored ink!); Other: Targe $1 ribbon, dimensionals