MIM: Rock Star

 

My daughter is a dancer and this year whe was invited to join the competitive dance team at the studio (named Rising Star)

 

 

 

The best thing about this studio and dance company is that it is the complete opposite of Dance Moms. The teachers are all about encouraging and supporting everyone. There is a Big/Little Sister/Brother program where the older company members mentor the younger. My daughter's big sister is one of the sweetest girls I've ever met and I am so thankful she and my daughter were paired together.

This week's Make-It Monday was to use Perfect Pearls. I bought some a long time ago on a whim and haven't actually ever bothered to use it. Craft hoarding, I tell you. I saw this sentiment and immediately thought of the dance big sis. The Star is from a freebie Stampin' Up, and the wire thingamabob was from my hoard, but the rest is PTI.

 

MIM: Fun with Vellum

Make it Monday: getting inspiration from mass-produced cards. I was wandering around the card section at Target- boy, it's been a long time since I've done that! And I came across this card:

 

Notice anything funny? The vellum strip was adhered on backwards. It takes a mirror to read this thing correctly. And this wasn't the only one. Both cards available in this style were backwards. I had to laugh.

 

Here's my take:

 

 

The orginal card is embossed in black glitter, which I don't have, so I mixed some regular glitter with my black embossing powder for all of the black on this.

 

PTI stamps, Pure Poppy, True Black ink, embossing powder, glitter

Paper studio vellum

Georgia Pacific cardstock

 

 

MIM: two birds

Two birds, one stone: I wanted to participate in this week's Make it Monday to create a die cut banner, and I needed to wrap a birthday gift because my kids are invited to a party this weekend.

I found the buckets at Target's dollar bins a while ago and bought a few for stuff like this where the gift is smaller, or in this case, lots of small things.

 

 

I used PTI's star prints because it's one of the few where I have the stamp set AND the die. And it's perftect for a 9 year-old girl. I tietd scraps of some leftover batik fabric in between the stars, added some jewels... and done! I kind of feel like one of the roping rodeo cowboys right after they've finished roping a steer- you know, how they throw their hands in the air to show when they're done?

 

I also wanted to try some ombre-like stamping with the little finger daubers I bought forever ago. This was fun to make and pretty easypeasy!

MIM: fabric die cuts

Whew... it's been a while. I completely overscheduled myself this summer, so not only have I not had any crafting time, but I haven't had any ideas for a while. It was a little worrisome, because I have all this crafting STUFF, and it's seems wasteful not to be able to use it.

Crafting guilt?

School starts for my kids tomorrow but my classes don't start for another ten days, so I took the time to watch this week's Make it Monday. And finally got an idea:

I love batik- it's so beautiful without being overly patterned.  All of these butterflies came from the same strip of fabric. I didn't have any spray adhesive to back my fabric, so I used Heat n Bond, die cut several butterflies, and ironed them together so there is some bulk there. I then ran them through my sewing machine chain style and  it kind of looks like the sewing is antennae. They're kind of flat, so I embossed the background and added jewels to the front. I wish I could've figure out how to get the sentiment on the front. I stamped it inside, instead.

Papertrey Ink die, cardstock, sentiment

SU ink

Martha Stewart jewels

Cuttlebug embossing folder

MIM: Christmas in July

There is a super-fun challenge over at the Papertrey Ink blog: a dice challenge.  After filling out the worksheet, we had to roll the dice to see which combinations to use. Here are mine:

2. Vertical orientation.

Layout #3- but I flipped it upside down

Image stamps:

1. Winter Cheer

2 Holiday Tree

3. Trendy Trees

4. Scattered Showers

5. Mehndi Medallions

6. Star Prints

Sentiment Stamps:

1. Winter Swirls

2. Botannical Silhouettes

3. Beautiful Blessings

4. Handwritten Notes

5. Holiday Spirit Sentiments

6. Holiday Lights (lot of Christmas in this category-eek)

Color Combos: I went to my Pinterest boards for this one since I couldn't think of any by myself:

1. Black, white, grey

2. Pink, orange, turquoise, purple

3. Kraft, green, cream

4. White, light blue, dark brown

5. White, grey, yellow

6. greys & blues

Embellishments

1. buttons

2. ribbons

3. feathers

4. paper flowers

5. sparkles

6. washi tape

And the result is: the most out-of-the box Christmas Card I have ever made. Ever.

MIM: OOOOOOrange

Well, I've finally done it. Finally figured out which order the PTI impression plates go in to work without breaking something. I kind of wish some of these more high-maintenance dies and plates would come with fool-proof instructions.

This week's Make it Monday is stamping on texture. For me, it took finding the right balance of detail to open space. My nephew's 10th birthday is coming up, and I thought that the alphabet impression plate would work- not too babyish, but still kid-like.

Also, I needed a flatty since he lives far, far away from here.

This one is because I had two bases made, I don't really like orange, and it's handy to have an extra birthday card ready to go. And I was having fun playing with my new knowledge :)

MIM: Birthdays, Part I

How many birthday stamps do we all have? I have come to the conclusion that it's like black shoes: I can always use ONE MORE.

My grandma turns 90 next week, and I'm supposed to make a card that we (all 40+ of us) can sign. I don't do big. All of my crafy stuff is more the scale of normal sized cards. So I thought that I have a bunch of coasters I have never used, so I made a mini album. I figure if I make enough pages, there will be enough room for everyone to sign. And I have enough birthday stamps that I think I can make that many.

Here are the first few, done in the MIM challenge for this week: stamping on patterned paper.

I'm going to bind them together with a ring in the upper left corner. I'm not sure I've ever seen a birthday card like this before!

Except for the buttons, I think everything I used is PTI.

MIM: Tulle

Gotta make this quick.... I really should be cooking dinner, but it's so stinkin' hot I'd rather be here in the AC exerting no heat-inducing energy.

Make it Monday this week is about stepped up embellies. I was walking around Hobby Lobby with my kids on a glue dot run when I found one of those free idea books about making stuff with tulle, and voila! I had an idea.

Tulle is surprisingly easy to die cut. My flower punch died on me today, so I used a Sizzix die and it works through several layers of the tulle. I sewed them together with a star button you can't see in my iffy pic, glued on a gem and it's done! I also used my PTI flourishes dies to balance everything out, stamped my sentiment and I like my black and white creation!

MIM: It's Elementary

Our library has an enormous Thank You that a local elementary school made for the librarians. The kids drew a tree and used crumpled tissue paper for the flowers and leaves. I've been admiring it for a while and decided to do something similar today. This week's Make it Monday is about masking the sentiment.

Besides the Santa Claus tissue paper, the only color I had handy was white, which actually was nice because I colored it with Copics to make my own colors. I cut it into squares, crumpled it up and glued it to the tree. Easypeasy. Thanks, kids.

Papertrey Ink sentiment, rustic cream cardstock

SU, Ranger, Palette inks

Copics

tissue paper

Unity Stamp Co tree

MIM: Puffy Heart

In Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer, he talks about how insight tends to come in a flash rather than after hard work. After watching this weeks Make it Monday, it was one of those nice moments where I knew exactly what I wanted my card to look like:

I got an email where the sender sent me a puffy heart and I've kept it because it meant so much. And this was a pretty cool way to make a super easy puff.

By the way, Walmart has fun foam with adhesive backs that makes this even superdooper easypeasy!

Papertrey Ink cardstock and letter dies

Spellbinders heart dies

Zig pen

Batik fabric scrap from my attempts to learn how to quilt- cardmaking is much easier, BTW

Talk about a ten minute card!

Make it Monday: Hello

Hellllloooooo!!!

School's out and I am loving that, for the moment, I can drive somewhere because I want to and not because I have to. Today I CHOSE to drive to Hobby Lobby and bought a Corner Chomper because the store brand corner rounders I have keep breaking. It was lovely. It just takes twice as long because I have my kiddos with me.

I spent the long weekend doing chores and dodging raindrops. I love those raindrops, we haven't seen nearly enough of them this spring. I helped a friend move, I shampooed my carpets (ugh) and mowed the jungle that was my lawn. And now I get to play. Wooohooooo!

This week's MIM was to make a pocket card, a new thing for me. I used PTI kraft with Fresh Snow, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist and Color Box Ocean inks. I wanted to heat emboss a similar Aqua Mist color, but I couldn't find one. The stamp set is PTI Dot Spot with a Unity Hello. The ribbon and buttons are from my stash. Pretty easy peasy and I love the color combination. I wish pigment inks showed up a bit brighter, though.

MIM: A Punny Birthday

I'm getting a head start on next month's birthdays. Also, I ordered some new Copics in an attempt to learn how to color all over again.

This week's Make It Monday was about choosing patterned papers. I had all three of mine chosen (orange circles, grassy flowers, and a blue stripe) and put together the triangles before I realized that the third pattern would barely show. Feeling slightly lazy, I decided to go with it instead of trimming the square.

Papertrey Ink banner die, rustic white cardstock, True Black ink

Bella Blvd. pp

Unity Stamp Co stamps

Copics

Twinery twine

Memento Blue Sky (for the edges)

Spellbinders Circle die 

Seasons

Around here, people say that there are two seasons: winter and construction. It seems like that at my house, May is Thank You and Birthday season.

My little guy is almost done with preschool and I wanted to give all the teachers a special thank you because both of my kids have had such a good start to school with them.

This week's Make it Monday is to make felt flowers with border dies. I used my zigzag die for the first time ever- it's about time, huh? I did have to trim the bottom before rolling so it would sit flat, or else my rolling skills need work.

I also inked the edges because I found some African daisies yesterday with a really cool purple center and purple edges. Bought the daisies, wish I had a die I could make a paper version. In the meantime, rose-ish things will do.

Papertrey Ink cardstock, dies, sentiment

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

Cosmo Cricket dp

SU ink

100

This is my 100th blog post and I'm surprised.

I'm surprised I had this much to say. I had a roommate once with a theory that everyone has a quota of words. Some have a lot, and then there are those of us with very few.

I'm frankly surprised at the number of views. Never thought that would happen. I mostly started this so I could learn some new technology and get to make cards at the same time.

Anyway...

This weeks Make it Monday is to use scraps to make a new and interesting background.

I used Echo Park dep for my background with a PTI cardstock base and sentiment. Some of the squares are popped up with foam dots, as is the panel, making for a very thick card. Easypeasy.

Thanks for visiting!

Make it Monday and New Toys

Going for a little abstract here...

I finally got around to playing with my order from last month's release and I love these colors. The only PTI official ink I have out of that combo is the Ocean Tides, though, so the rest is a little hit-or-miss. The result is a fairly mailable, easypeasy birthday card. I'm collecting them for a Mother's day gift for my mom.

Papertrey Ink cardstock, dp, stamps, dies

Ink: Palette, Memento, PTI

One of those low-quantity word days...

hi

hi.

I've been reading a book called Imagine: How Creativity Works by Jonah Lehrer. It's really made me think not just about cardmaking, but about how I approach other things in life as well, like school work and what I'm actually teaching my kids. Super book.

Also, I've been thinking about style. I have no idea what mine is, but after today's Make it Monday attempts (note:plural), I've come to the conclusion that graphic it is not. Although it was a practice in failing.Stinkin' glitter.  Lehrer says that the most creative people have learned how to fail early so they can fix it. For the longest time, I've been trying to get stuff right the first time, thinking that was the most efficient way.

The challenge this week was to use die cuts and glitter. The glitter goes against my neat-freakish tendencies and it was one of the hardsest things I've done lately NOT to add more. I'm still not convinced :)

Papertrey Ink cardstock, adhesive sheets and letter dies
Stampin' Up blue cardstock
MFT speech bubble dies
Doodlebug Designs glitter
foam dots

I'm So Happy That I Am a....

I love irises.

Along with daisies, they're my favorite flower.

This week's Make It Monday is all about making flowers from leaf dies. The only leaf dies (PTI Leaf Prints) I have don't easily lend themselves to daisies, but I thought they made fine irises.

I cut out a bunch of b's and d's out of watercolor paper, painted them with a combination of gelatos and re-inkers, and rolled them while they were still wet so they dried in a nice cone-like shape. I glued them together, and Wahoo! I have an iris!

PTI cardstock, dep, ink, stamps

Faber Castell Gelatos

Ribbon Boutique ribbon

MIM: Generational Stamping

We've been having a hard time with plates lately. My favorite blue plates have been breaking like crazy. The white plates that I bought to replace them get super duper hot in the microwave while the food on them stays cold. Grrr.

I figure if I have to keep buying plates, I'm going to get colors that I like. No more matchy-matchy! Plus, I heard a sneaky rumor that Corel plates are hard to break, so when I saw these at Target, I bought a couple. All in the name of science, of course.

Red is my current favorite color, and the Pure Poppy ink from Papertrey Ink is the only one I've found that is vivid enough for me. I took a couple of pencils and tried this week's Make It Monday Generational stamping technique to get this:

Papertrey Ink cardstock, ink, and sentiment

My kids' pencil erasers

Stampin' Up and Memento inks

Paper studio pearls

Zig pen

Make it Monday with Tequila

I have margaritas on the brain. My friend generously offered to take my kids on Friday so my hubby and I can have a date and I think I might have a tasty beverage to go along with dinner. Ahhh... hot food and I don't have to cut up anyone else's, either! It's the little things, right?

This week's Make it Monday involves making a graduated background. I just received a whole slew of Unity Itty Bitties, and this one fits nicely with the limited number of Copics that I own.

 I thought that the background gradient would look cool as the drink (no pun intended....wait-I fully intend that pun) so I stamped the glass on PTI clear cardstock, added Stickles around the rim to look like salt, and heat-embossed some sparkle over the letters. It's a sparkly kind of day. The colored lime hides my foam dot.  Here's an attempt at a side view:

PTI cardstock (black, white, clear), True Black ink

Paper Studio yellow cardstock

Copics: G14, YG09, G12, Y13

Unity Stamp Co Stamps

Stickles

Sparkle embossing powder that isn't labeled and I can't remember where I found it.

Thanks for looking!

Instantaneous Postal Delivery

I wish.

Last month's PTI reveal included dies for making slider and spinner cards, which I really, really wanted. Plus, there were a couple of Unity itty bitties that would be really cute as movement cards. The itty bitties were delivered a couple of weeks ahead of the dies because apparently thousands of other people ordered the dies, too. I'm not exactly patient when it comes to mail deliveries- they're kind of like Christmas every time I get one. I'm pretty sure the only way I would be happy about mail delivery is if they delivered instantaneously. Although, that might kill the anticipation, huh?

Anyway....

I found this tutorial on SCS on how to make a spinner without a stinkin' die. I didn't have all of the tools they suggested, so I made do:

The big sheep is mounted on buttons, so she can do somersaults if you want her to. My grandma's 90th birthday is this summer, and since she and my grandpa owned a sheep ranch for a long time, I think this will make an excellent birthday card.

PTI cardstock: Dark Chocolate, Fine Linen, Rustic Cream; twine, ink

Buttons from stash

Sizzix embossing folder

Watercolor pencils

One heck of a lot of foam dots

Happy Friday!