Sunday, July 31, 2011

Operation Write Home: Hey There...


Hi everyone!  Today's card is yet another I made at the PTI Stamp-A-Faire for the Operation Write Home project.  This was a really quick one I threw together at the very end as time was running out.  As with the other cards I have posted for this project, I made a total of 4 of this card (three for OWH and one for me to post here).  For this card I used some oval Nestabilities from Spellbinders, I used PTI Edger Die #1 on the bottom of the card, and PTI's Big Bold Wishes stamp set for the sentiment.  All of the paper is PTI (spring moss, crafter's white, and true black).  I finished it off with some ribbon from my stash.  I hope the soldiers enjoy this one!


As always, thanks for visiting!

Kate

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Operation Write Home: I Often Think of You


Hi everyone!  Today's card was another I made for the Operation Write Home project during the PTI Stamp-A-Faire.  This one features the PTI Background Basics: Retro set and the new PTI Half and Half set.  The I love the sentiments on the Half and Half set and it also comes with the great "strip" design which stamps the background design as well as the cute little edge at the bottom.  You can also purchase a matching die set which cuts the decorative edge, but I decided to just cut it out by hand.  The ribbon was from my stash (sorry I don't know the brand).    I hope that some soldier finds this to be an appropriate card to send home! 



As always, thanks for visiting!

Kate

Friday, July 29, 2011

Brand New Look!

Hey everyone!  How do you like the brand new look of my blog??  I'm super excited to have this great new background and header!!  I downloaded both for free from leelou-blogs.com.  Check them out!

Kate

Operation Write Home - Dude You Rock!


Hi everyone!  So, while I was at the Stamp-A-Faire last weekend, we had some time to create on our own.  We were also asked to contribute cards to Operation Write Home, so I decided to use my time to create some cards for this worth organization. 

The first card, featured above, was stamped with PTI's Dot Spot set.  I stamped in VersaMark and then used some light blue embossing powder and the heat gun.  The sentiment on this card is from PTI's Signature Greetings set.  I figured this would be a great card for a female soldier to send home to her favorite guy! 

Thanks so much for visiting!  I will be posting more of my "makes" from that day in the next few days, so stay tuned...

Kate

Thursday, July 28, 2011

PTI Stamp-A-Faire!!

Hi everyone!  As promised in my last post, here is a "snapshot" of what we did at the PTI Stamp-A-Faire this past weekend.  There were 10 make-n-take stations, 5 in the morning and 5 in the afternoon.  Each station was "manned" by one of the PTI designers (and sometimes even by Nichole herself :)!)  They had eveything cut for us, and all of the supplies laid out.  We got to do all of the stamping and assembly according to the designers' original.  It was really fun and helped me to think about stamping in a whole new light.  I should note that none of the paper used in these cards was patterned.  Anything that looks like a patterned background paper was hand-stamped!  It's amazing how much you can do with a simple set of stamps!!  Be on the lookout for these layouts and concepts in my future designs!  I hope you enjoy!!

Kate

Monday, July 25, 2011

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge


Hi everyone!  I am just so excited about today's post!  Some of you may know that this weekend I was lucky enough to attend the Papertrey Ink Stamp-Affair and it was...AMAZING!  My friend Betsy and I travelled to Cincinatti for the day and had such an awesome time meeting all of the Papertrey folks, getting to make 10 gorgeous cards, and receiving some really beautiful new products!  I will be posting more about this trip later in the week, so stay tuned!

If you haven't visited the papertreyink.com website, I highly encourage you to do so.  Their products are not only beautiful, but they are also some of the highest quality products I have ever used.  Their cardstock is thicker than any I have found in my local stores and the colors are gorgeous.  In addition to their beautiful stamps and dies, they also sell buttons, ribbons, felt (and soon to come ink) to match all of their gorgeous cardstock colors.  I have a feeling that I will be spending way too much money on this site!  There is also a companion blog site, http://nicholeheady.typepad.com/ that you should check out. 

It is on the PTI blog that I came across the Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge which asked participants to create a card using PTI products inspired by the following photo:

July Blog Hop Inspiration

The colors in this photo are so amazing I just had to participate, so here's what I came up with:


For this card, I decided to mimick the woodwork of the bench in the photo with some PTI Crafter's Select White cardstock (the background paper is PTI's Spring Rain cardstock).  To do this, I created a 5.5 inch rectangle on my brand new Gypsy and then welded four double squares inside.  I really like the effect this created.  The green stamps across the middle are from the new PTI Iconic Images stampset that was free to all Stamp-Affair participants.  The marquee was cut from the Storybook cart using PTI's Orange Zest cardstock and Select White cardstock.  The sentiment stamp is also from the new Iconic Images set. 

Thanks so much for visiting!  I hope you stop by again soon!

Kate


Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Lawn Mower Thanks




Hi everyone!  I made this thank you card for two of my little neighbor boys who cut our grass while we were on vacation.  The clouds are from April Showers, the grass is from Plantin Schoolbook, and the thanks is from Walk in my Garden.  The lawn mower is not a Cricut cut (it's a free svg file I found on the internet and cut with SCAL), however I believe there is one on the Chore Chart cart that is pretty cute.  I hand cut the money pocket on the inside by cutting a rectangle 1/2 in longer, and 1/4 inch taller, than what I wanted the final pocket to be.  I then folded both sides and the bottom under 1/4 inch.  After folding the three sides under, I cut a half circle using a circle punch for decoration, and then used my tape runner along the folded sides to adhere the pocket to the card.  Hope you like it!





Thanks for visiting!

Kate

Monday, July 11, 2011

Thank You Gift Bag



Hi everyone!  We're finally home from our 3 week vacation to my parents beach house.  We had a wonderful time, but I must say that I am thrilled to be home!  While I was away, I was busy ordering some new crafty things (a few new cartridges from cricutmachine.com during some of their recent fantastic sales, several Papertrey Ink stamp sets from ebay, and a cuttlebug folder from ebay), and I couldn't wait to get home to start playing!  Luckily, I had a very good reason to get crafty right away. 



My wonderful 10 year old next door neighbor, Meagan, was kind enough to water my flowers/plants while I was away, and she did a wonderful job!  She recently got her ears pierced, so I bought her some precious little earings at my favorite little silver shop at the beach.  I made the bag in the pictures to give to her as well.  The bag serves as both card and gift bag.  The bag was cut using Plantin Schoolbook (pg 80) and I snipped off the handles on the top and replaced them with ribbon.  The "tag" is also from Plantin Schoolbook (I used the caption bubble on pg 75 and cut off the little "comma" at the bottom) and I used my new "Library Ledger" PTI stamp to create the lines.  Plantin Schoolbook was used again for the circle in the background, and finally, my new April Showers cart was used for the watering can.  I really love how this turned out!  I hope she likes it!!



Thanks for visiting!

Kate