Batman birthday boy!

For my son's 6th birthday last year it was ALL Batman! We planned an outdoor playground party (I know- January in TX, but January in TEXAS... it's been 70 degrees before!!)... the week of his party it LITERALLY was 16 degrees!! So, my dh and I got all crafty and created an *indoor* party... Gotham City (that's where Batman lives) here we come!!

Cricut to the rescue!! For the layout I used the Carousel cartridge and PTI's Just the Ticket stamp set. Love that set!!

Enjoy!

Kristin

PTI February Blog Hop: Scallops

Today is Papertrey Ink's February Blog Hop!! Welcome to the world of SCALLOPS ;-)... should be a fun hop!

My entry today is a compliation of lots of fun goodies. I used scallops cut from a cricut cartridge layered over each other and a scallop circle under the butterfly. What's fun is I have been using ideas and inspiration from Nichole and Dawn and Mish: lots of layering, cutting out dies ahead of time in different colors to have on hand when I am ready to craft, and using an inspiration jar. My "inspiration jar" holds my die cuts. All I knew when I started was the base color of my card would be Sweet Blush from PTI and I would use layered scallops along the bottom.

Enjoy!
Kristin

All supplies PTI unless otherwise noted:
Cardstock: Sweet Blush, Pure Poppy
Ink: Pure Poppy, Chai, CTMH Chocolate (last 2 for distressing)
Stamp: Everyday Button Bits
Die: Signature Series: Butterfly, MS4
Pattern Paper: Distressed Dots (PP & FL), Flowers & Frills from TPC, One of a Kind from OA
Other Cuts: Cricut-Scallop Circle (Lacy Labels 2"), Scallop Borders (Plantin 3/4"), Heart (Doodlecharms 1/2"), Flower (Paisley 1 1/4")
Doily: Hobby Lobby
Baker's Twine: Pure Poppy

Full of Joy

I don't have a lot of flower stamp sets, but hopefully this will qualify for the Papertrey Paper Dolls FLOWER challenge! Please join us and link you card as well :-).

I was inspired by an Erin Lincoln card in this post (4th card down). Using Kraft cs as a base and SU dsp and their Poppy Parade cs and ink it really came out so pretty. Signature Series: Flower stamp and die (on a dimensional) finished it out perfectly.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Happy 7th Birthday Wishes

Sorry I was absent for a week! This is the week of my annual business meeting out of state. Glad to be home! I usually set some posts to show up, but I didn't even have time for that this year. For my ds's 7th birthday last month, I made this cute card. The grass and sentiment are from PTI's Mailbox Greetings and Birthday Bash Sentiments. The boy and "word balloon" are from an October Afternoon Fly a Kite stamp set. He is mostly paper pieced. The cardstocks are PTI Fine Linen and Pure Poppy.

Enjoy!

Kristin

Love notes for the kiddos

So PTI introduced the cutest little die last month: Lunchbox note. I think it is darling and have seen some cute things done with it. But, I do not have it on my must have list yet. Since I own the cricut, I have to be very choosy about dies. Well, I have several cricut cartridges and *before Christmas* as I have time I am cataloging my cartridge images and sentiments. I also wanted to know which ones made cards, tags, or 3D items. Big project even if you only have a few carts. Imagine my very pleasant surprise when I ran across the LB Note "image" in a cricut cartridge!! Paisley!! Yahoooo!! So, cutting it at 3 inches it appears to be just about right. I made these 2 *love* notes for the kids for Valentine's today. I paired them with Tiny Treats: Birthday images and Signature Greetings sentiments and TT: Valentine sentiments on the inside. On the inside I used more cricut cuts that matched the TT stamps. LUCKY me!! What a good day.

Happy Valentine's Everyone!

Kristin

Goodbye Teacher

Goodbyes are always sooo very hard. Especially when it is your own child saying goodbye to a wonderful teacher. And this year my 7yo son's first grade teacher had to leave unexpectedly after the Christmas break was over.

Can I brag just a little?? This ENTIRE card was his idea/design and execution. I only told him of the cuttlebug folder with dots for the dolphin. Also, he wanted the "sentiment" to be so large I changed "You Are" to U R because it wouldn't have fit otherwise.

This is all Papertrey product because she was THAT good of a teacher, lol! The cartridge we used was Life's a Beach. (I was so glad we had gone to the beach earlier last year because that is the only reason I owned it... when he said her card *had* to have a dolphin I knew LAB had one... otherwise that would have been a VERY expensive card!!).

Enjoy!

Kristin

Color Challenge... PTI style

Today's challenge over at PTI is a color challenge. I chose Jessica W.'s colors of Soft Stone, Summer Sunrise, Aqua Mist, and Raspberry Fizz. Her cards looked so amazing and different I really thought I could pull it off. Now I am not so sure!! I changed this card at least 3 or 4 times. At least I finally came up with something I could show on my blog :-).

So, the base is Soft Stone cs with a mat in AM. I used tone on tone color ink (AM) at the bottom with Text Style II to give the mat some character. I die cut the SG: Flower out of RF felt and the Spiral Notebook die from Soft stone. I used Versamark ink and the Embellishments stamp set on the SN page. I edged the AM mat and the SN page in Summer Sun ink. Then, I stamped the sent in Summer Sun. Finally, I cut my own banner in Summer Sunrise cs and put it behind the SN page. Still lacking something... I sewed an AM button onto the flower using SSunrise floss and put 3 rhinestones at the top for balance.

Hope you like it!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Make It Monday Week 1 #1

What a FUN challenge! PTI is now issuing weekly "Make It Monday" challenges via a video on Nichole's blog and You Tube. It is open all week long and there is a prize at the end. This was the first challenge. We were to select similar type sentiments from a variety of sets and group them together. I've looked over a variety of cards (especially now with ANOTHER snow/ice day here in DFW today), and even though there have been several birthday cards... including Nichole's, I'm always needing masculine cards.

So, I pulled out my birthday sentiments... and I have finally accumulated *enough* (lol). Even though these came from only a few sets, there was a lot of variety. To help the black stand out on the Smokey Shadow I embossed the background sentiments. Then, I used soft stone and Matstack 1 and Enchanted Evening ink to soften that but keep it *manly*. Finally, it needed something extra, so I added a blingy rhinestone for the *I* in birthday on the MS the "to you" in Smokey Shadow ink and the EE ribbon behind the mat.

I might have to try this again in a few other color combos!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Beach Bum

I always make matching layouts for my son and daughter when it is some type of family event: Christmas, Easter, and vacations. This beach trip was no different except I used a different sketch. You can see/read about my daughter's layout here. Paper and many embellies are StoryTellers. The rest is PTI.

Enjoy!

Kristin

PTI Tag Card #2

Here's my 2nd submission for the Anniversary happenings over at PTI (scroll down for my 1st tag card). This tag was created by Heather Nichols. I loved that the colors matched CTMH Boom-di-ada paper and that I was able to use my favorite sketch!! I added some embossed lines to the cardstock strip on the bottom. The PTI Scarlet Jewel scallop circle is *way* too dark from the photography (sorry!) but it matches the paper beautifully!

Enjoy!

Kristin

PTI Tag Card #1

This is my first submission for the 2nd day of festivities over at PTI. I created this card with the tag from Beth Silaika. I used CTMH Boom-di-Ada paper, and then PTI Matstack 3 Die and Stamp Collection. I love that I decided to emboss the banner and sentiment at the bottom. Since this can be used for either an anniversary card or a wedding card, it adds the *richness* to the card that those types of celebrations deserve.

Happy Anniversary PTI!!

Enjoy!
Kristin

PTI Customer Pick 2010

This weekend marks the beginning of Papertrey Ink's anniversary bash! I am so excited to show off my favorite card of 2010! And, fitting for the occasion, this was the anniversary card I made for my wonderful husband this past June. Here is the original blog post. Here and here are some other anniversary cards I made for him (with REALLY sappy write ups!!) if you are interested. But be kind, one of those was in the days when I scanned my cards instead of photographing them!

Anyway, this card is made with Scarlet Jewel base and Shimmer White mat. I embossed the Shimmer cs (my fave thing to do with it besides stamp on it!), then matted a smaller piece for stamping the sentiment. I punched out holes to run sheer white ribbon through and the card was done.

It took me awhile to figure out his perfect card, but it came together perfectly. For PTI's anniversary pick... it was an easy choice. Happy Anniversary PTI!!

Enjoy!

Kristin

Full of Hope

I made this card around the time a dear friend's son was having surgery. Not just his first surgery, but he has had surgery multiple times. He still has at least one more to go. Either way we rely on God, but I wanted to remind her He is a God of hope. When the surgeon was done... for the first time he came out with a beaming smile. YAY!!! But, even if things hadn't gone *our way* He would have walked that path with us as well.

Anyway, this card is when I get an itch to have a card look like Mish or Melissa P. They never turn out quite that way, but it is sometimes fun for a CAS cardmaker to embellish a little.

Enjoy!
Kristin

October Afternoon paper
All other supplies PTI:
Fall Elegance stamps
Embellishment stamps & dies
Vintage Cream felt
Smokey Shadow ink
(inside) Everyday blessing stamps
Aqua Mist cs (mat)
Rustic Cream cs (card base)

Take Three distressed

I am really loving this paper and distressed look. In fact, even with all the pink my very "manly man" dh said even a guy could receive this card!! What?? Have you been married to me too long :-)?

Enjoy!

Kristin

The Paper Studio pp
CTMH Chocolate ink
All other supplies PTI:
Baker's Twine
Rustic Cream cs
Sweet Blush cs
Take Three: Winter
Healing Touch
Sweet Blush button (distressed)

Manly Man

For my FIL's birthday... a TRUE GRIT, Western watching, manly kind of man (who still hugs all four of his sons- and the youngest are 40 year old twins!), I needed a manly card... I used some VERY OLD HL paper, PTI cs, and a cricut cut and title. A little bit of twine and distressing and that was it. I did good... he liked it :-)

Enjoy!
Kristin