Derby Wreath

Ok, so I'm going to take a little departure from my normal posts because I wanted to share a wreath I made recently for my front door!  You see, I'm from the great state of Kentucky, and not only that, I get to live in the city of Louisville, which if you didnt' know, is the home of THE Kentucky Derby! 

I absolutely adore all things derby.  This is one of my favorite times of the year.  There just seems to be an electricity in the air around town for the two weeks leading up to the derby.  There is constant buzz about the derby festival events (Thunder Over Louisville, the mini marathon, the chow wagons, the balloon glows and race, the bed races, the great steamboat race, and I could go on and on), and about who is lucky enough to be going to the Oaks and Derby...oh, and what they are wearing!!  The dresses, shoes, suits, ties, and the HATS!  Oh, the hats! 

Really, there are fewer things that make a woman look more glamorous than a great derby hat!  Seeing all the ladies and gents in their finery makes me feel like a little girl playing fantasy dress up. 

So, you may be wondering...do I get to go to the Derby?  Well, the answer is no...and I'm good with that.  You see, we have a great big party at our house every year where everyone brings a dish and sits around betting on the races and playing lots of fun party games.  I throw lots of parties throughout the year, but the Derby party is by far my favorite!  It's no pressure...just FUN!

Part of the fun of the party, for me, is the decorations.  I decorate just about every surface I can find!  I collect all sorts of derby related items at yard sales and other out of the way places and turn them into party decorations.  This year, I decided I needed a new wreath for my front door, so I went to town gathering things from my craft room to put together something fabulous, and here's what I came up with!

I love it!  It incorporates some of my favorite crafting materials...burlap, felt, ribbon...and feathers! The horse and horseshoes were in my stash of decorations and I think they add just the right amount of kitchy derby flair!

Thanks so much for visiting and reading, and happy derby!!

Kate

PTI April Blog Hop Take 2

Hi again!  This is my second project for today's PTI Blog Hop, "Tilted".  This one was inspired by some patterned paper I knew I had in my stash.  I was pulling from memory, and this is what I came up with:

So, the "tilt" part is obviously in the background, and I thought it was super appropriate for a teacher card.  I'm loving how it turned out!  So now that you've seen the card, here's a look at the paper that inspired the card (which I pulled out after the whole thing was said and done).

I'm surprised at how close I was on the colors!  I used the Farm and Barn background stamp to "color in" the rulers, however I had to tape off each one since the F&B stamp was wider than the It's Official ruler stamp.  Here's another shot of the card:

I'm loving things on a tilt now, so watch out!!  I'm sure there will be more to come in the future!

Kate

 

INGREDIENTS:

Paper: PTI White, Black and Kraft

Stamps: PTI Think Big Favorites #, It's Official, Background Basics Farm & Barn

Ink: VersaMark, PTI Smokey Shadow, Classic Kraft, Pure Poppy, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, New Leaf, and Hawaiian Shores

Other: Zing White Embossing powder

PTI April Blog Hop

Hi there!  Today's projects were inspired by the PTI April Blog Hop challenge, which was to incorporate a little "tilt" into your project.  Well, here's the first card I came up with:

Cute right?  I'm absolutely LOVING the washi tape set I purchased at Archiver's last week (they were having a major sale)!  Here it is pictured with the card:

So, initially this card was super easy to pull together...that was until I tried to apply the glitter to the sentiment!  (And I just HAD to add the glitter!  Don't you agree??)  I tried stamping the sentiment in VersaMark and then adding the glitter on top...but that just led to the glitter falling right off.  So I tried it again with a refreshed VersaMark pad, and ended up with the same result.  So, I decided to break out my Martha Stewart fine tip glue pen and traced the sentiment left behind by the VersaMark.  Success!!  Lesson learned!
Here's one more look:

Thanks for visiting!

Kate

INGREDIENTS:

Paper: PTI White

Stamps: PTI Think Big Favorites #12

Ink: VersaMark

Other: My Mind's Eye Green & Navy Decorative Tape Set, Martha Stewart Ballpoint-Tip Glue Pen, gold glitter from my stash, and gold sequins from my stash

PTI MIM #110 - Take 2

For my second take on the PTI MIM challenge this week, I just gathered a bunch of stamps I really loved and made them work together.  I'm actually loving the finished product!

Thanks for visiting!

Kate

INGREDIENTS:

Paper: PTI's White and Harvest Gold

Stamps: PTI's Background Basics: Herringbone, Background Basics: Hounds tooth, Pretty Peonies, Butterfly Dreams and one other I don't know the name of, sorry!

Ink: PTI's Plum Pudding, Berry Sorbet, Smokey Shadow and Harvest Gold

Other: Rhinestones from my stash

PTI Make it Monday #110 - Take 1

Hi there!  Well, this has been quite a week!  We have been on Spring Break all week and I have been super busy with the boys!  We have done lots of little things together, but those little things have been enough to wear me out.  I just love those guys!

Early in the week I watched the new MIM video from PTI.  It's all about Collage Elements.  I found the tutorial and card from Dawn McVey to be really inspiring and I couldn't wait to try the technique myself.  But first, I had to clean off my craft table which was quite a chore I tell you!  So, here's my first take on the challenge:

I figured this was a good chance to get a head start on teacher thank yous...it will be the end of the year before you know it!  I can't tell you how much I enjoyed playing with all of my stamps and coming up with a combo that worked well together.  I liked it so much I made three more cards!  Tune in to see!

Kate

INGREDIENTS:

Paper: PTI's White, Pure Poppy, True Black, Kraft

Stamps: PTI's It's Official, Polka Dot Basics II, Tag-Its #6 and one more I don't know the name of, sorry!

Ink: PTI's Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Classic Kraft, Harvest Gold, Smokey Shadow, Fresh Snow and Versamark

Dies: PTI's Limitless Circles 1.75"

Other: Zing white embossing powder