PTI's Make It Monday Challenge

Hi everyone!  I have a card to post for this week's PTI Make it Monday Challenge.  The challenge is to use your sentiment stamps as a subtle part of your background.  When I saw Betsy Veldman's example creation, I was floored, but also inspired and thought that this might be an easy challenge...wrong! 

I wanted to create a Christmas card that was "Christmasey" but not toooo literal.  So, I decided to pick sentiment stamps from my new Star Prints set for the background - "You're My Shining Star" but I left off the You're.  The tree is from the In the Meadow set which I stamped in Versa Mark ink and then heat embossed in white.  The star on the top of the tree is from Tag-Its #6 and is "haloed" by a stamp from Dot Spot. 

The focal sentiment is also from the In the Meadow set (which in hindsight should have been stamped in black).  I hand cut the hills.  I really wanted this card to pop, so I went with a striking color scheme of black, white, gray and ripe avacado (what the tree was stamped on). 

Can't wait for next week's challenge!  Thanks so much for visiting!

Kate

3 Birthday Parties!!

Hi friends!  Well, this weekend was a busy one!  My husband had a training class on Saturday, so I took the kids up to church to join in the yearly thorough cleaning for two hours.  I then dragged them through the craft fair that was also going on at church.  I then took them to McD's as a reward for being so good.  We then headed to WalMart to shop for gifts for the THREE birthday parties we had been invited to!  The first party was that afternoon, and it was for our cousin Landon's 5th birthday.  Sunday, we attended mass and then my husband and I split up to take the kiddos to the two remaining parties for two different school friends.  Finally, Sunday evening I was able to sneak away for a little while with my girlfriends for a much needed night out!

For each of the birthday parties, I created a card which I used to decorate each child's gift bag.  Today, I'm sharing the card and bag I created for Landon.  I TOTALLY copied this card from the one that Dawn McVey did for the last Papertrey release.  While they are not EXACTLY the same, they are pretty darn close!  Thanks for the idea/inspiration Dawn!  Sometimes a girl just needs a little help!

I just love the colors on this card (Kraft, White, Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores, and some green I had on hand)!!  I used one of the Background Basics: Retro stamps for the background, the Tag-its #10 for the circle and the balloons in the background, the Recollections Alpha Toon stamp set for the #5, and the Hero Arts Birthday Messages set for the Happy Birthday sentiment.  I used one of PTI's limitless layers dies for the background circle, and the new alphabet die for the "to you". 

To dress up the plain kraft giftbag, I attached the card to the bag with a binder clip and added some ribbon in coordinating colors.  I also cut out the letters of Landon's name using the alphabet die and just adhered it right onto the bag.  This is such an easy way to dress up a plain bag!

The party was lots of fun, and the kids had a great time hanging out with their cousins!  Tomorrow I'll post another one of the gift bags from the birthday marathon weekend!

As always, thanks for visiting!

Kate

Stamps for Sale!!

Hi everyone!!  Today's post is something I've never done before...I'm selling off some of my stamp collection.  When I first got into the world of stamping, I was introduced to The Angel Company, which I'm sad to say is no longer in business.  After being introduced to this unique company, I purchased quite a few of their sets, but I find that I am no longer using them!!  They all stamp perfectly...I just don't need them, and I want to make room for NEW stuff!  So, I thought that maybe some of my "old" stuff could become some of YOUR "new" stuff! 

All of my TAC stamps are stored in CD cases, and I have taken pictures of them either individually or in groups.  What you see in the picture is what you get for the price indicated below the pic.  The prices all include shipping within the US.  (International buyers will need to pay actual shipping prices.)  Many of these stamps are no longer in their original "sets", I have sort of made my own "sets", and I don't know the "official" names of any of the sets I have, so I've given them my own names too.  If you are interested in something, you may email me at meyer_kate@hotmail.com .  If you would like multiple sets or would like to make me an offer, I am negotiable!

Also...so sorry for the photo quality here...for some reason I just couldn't keep a steady hand tonight!

Thanks so much for looking!

Kate

Fancy Bet - $5

Random Christmas $4

Seasons - $4

Medallions - $4

Potted Plants - $5

Flourishes - $4

Fancy Flourishes - $4

Grunge Alphabet - $5

Christmas and New Years - $3

Birthday - $3

Butterflies and Random Flowers - $4

Fairy and Stars - $3

Christmas Threes - $5

Circle Bet - $4

Christmas Stretch - $3

Random - $4

Tiny Birthday - $4

Sprouts - $5

Tags - $5

Challenge Monday!!

Hi friends!  Today was absolutely gorgeous here in Kentucky!!  Probably one of the most beautiful fall days I have ever experienced!! 

I wanted to participate in a couple of challenges this week.  First is the Papertrey Ink Make it Monday Challenge which asked us to try a technique Heather Nichols calls Reverse Applique.  Basically, this means that you die cut an image and then stitch the remaining negative space to your card.  I do not own very many PTI dies, so I had to come up with a different twist on this challenge.  I used one of the Holiday Photo Finishers dies and stitched the remainder of the paper (not the actual die cut piece) to my card.

The second challenge is the Celebrating Relationships Challenge in the Moxie Fab World.  So, I used PTI's Holiday Photo Finishers stamp set and one of the Half & Half sentiment stamps which celebrates friendship. 

I threaded the ribbon through the card front, which makes it look like it disappears behind the sentiment. 

I decided to stitch (with my machine) in black on the white paper because I really wanted the stitching to stand out.  I have to say that this was quite a tedious job, because I basically had to hand crank my machine in order to place the stitches exactly where I wanted them.  I think the extra effort really paid off though! 

As always thanks for visiting!!

Kate

P.S.  I also submitted this card for the Cuttlebug Spot challenge since I used the Cuttlebug to do the die cutting!

Simple Sympathy Take 2

Hi friends!  I needed to make another sympathy card for my friend's sister, and so I decided to use the same design as the one I just posted, but I changed up the colors to meet the requirements of the current Passion for Papertrey challenge.  The latest challenge asks followers to use the colors green, brown and peach in a design incorporating PTI products.  So...I used PTI's craft, white and mellon berry cardstock and stamped the Iconic Images images in chocolate brown, "peach" and green.  I then added adhesive green rhinestones to the pitcher.  Thanks so much for visiting!

Kate

Simple Sympathy Card

Hi everyone.  Today's post features a card I made recently for a friend who just lost her dad to a long battle with cancer. 

I wanted to keep it pretty simple, so I just used a few PTI stamps and dies.   The craft, white and aqua mist carstock are all PTI.  The white strip was cut using one of the PTI Half & Half dies, and was stamped with the pitcher and flower images from PTI's Iconic Images stamp set.  The aqua mist strip of paper was hand cut and stamped with a sentiment from the Iconic Images set as well. 

I felt like the pitcher needed just a little something else, so I added a few Recollections adhesive rhinestones.  I also used my corner chomper to round the two corners of the card as well as the corners of the aqua strip. 

Simple, quick, but quite lovely I think.  Hope she enjoys it.

As always, thanks for visiting!

Kate

Criss-Cross Birthday Card for Chris

Hey everyone!  Tonight I have a card that was inspired by one I saw on Faith Abigail's blog recently...it's called a criss-cross card, and I made this one for my brother Chris...fitting, don'cha think?  The full card measures 5"x7", and has a pull out card that measures 4.75"x6".  I used papers from a DCWV stack I picked up recently at JoAnn's, called the Celebration Stack.  I just LOVE the paper in this stack!!  So stinkin' fun! 

I could go into tons of directions on how to make this card (which really was very simple actually), but if you want to see a video tutorial of a similar card, you can visit Faith Abigail's blog.

I will add that I hand made the rosette that is at the bottom of the card.  I took a 1.5"x12" strip of paper, scored it every 1/4", folded it accordian style, glued the two ends together, adhered the rosette to a plain circle backing, and added an adhesive glitter dot to the front.  Super simple!

Thanks so much for visiting!!

Kate