PTI Color Challenge- 4

I have one last card for the Papertrey Release color challenges. I submitted it long ago, but forgot to share it with you! This was Nichole's color combo, which was definitely a stretch for me, but that's why I chose to work with it. In a really sick way, I enjoy a color challenge that scares me, lol.


I kept things really clean and simple since these colors were so bold. I popped up the birdcage to allow the ribbon to run behind it, and to compete with the crazy dimension of the wrinkled ribbon (a new favorite ribbon treatment!). I added a strip of jewels to the bottom of the cage for some bling. The celebrate sentiment is from Mat Stack 2 Collection.

I'm off to Reno this weekend to go visit a dear friend, as well as attend an Elton John concert! So stinkin' excited! Elton John! It's President's Weekend here in the US, so we have a three-day weekend, and I'm taking full advantage of it, because there are no more breaks until Spring Break in April. Gotta squeeze my travelling in where I can.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Love Birds, Mat Stack 2 Collection (PTI)
Paper- Vintage Cream, Kraft, Melon Berry
Ink- Close to Cocoa, Melon Berry
Accessories- ribbon, jewels, scallop edge punch, dimensionals, tea dye stains

Babies and Birthdays

I have no card to share with you today as I was playing hooky from the studio all weekend. Saturday, I made the rush hour drive down to Laguna Beach to help surprise my 90 year-old grandmother for her birthday. My grandfather organized the whole event, and miracle of miracles, she had no idea that we were all coming to celebrate with her! It was a wonderful evening full of food, family, and life-long memories.

As an added bonus, I finally got to hold me new little first cousin once removed, Nolan. Isn't he a cutie?!

I spent the night with my grandparents (which I haven't done in ages!) since we were having a little baby shower for my college roommate. My best friend Heather, as well as my roommate Amy were all coming down for the event. We met at this adorable little cafe built inside an old church. It was the perfect atmosphere for our celebration! We chowed down on some amazing food (french toast stuffed with raspberry preserves and ham! Oiy!), and enjoyed some quality roommate time.

It was a blast watching Janice open her gifts from the three of us girls. Would you believe that all three of us got her something with the words, "I love my aunt" on it? LOL. Some serious favorite aunt competition!

Oh, and I ventured into the land of creating diaper cakes. I was so pleasantly surprised to find them really simple to make! And what a great decorative punch they made on our breakfast table!

After the delightful breakfast baby shower, we bid adieu to Janice, picked up Heather's husband, and went to Disneyland for the day.

Yeah, crazy weekend. Crazy fun. And exhausting. And wonderful. I am so blessed to have the most incredible friends.

Thanks for stopping by!

PTI Color Challenge- 3

It's me again. I'm back with yet another card for the PTI color challenge. This color combo comes straight from Melissa Phillips. Such a gorgeous combo... And it naturally made me think of leaves and flowers. I think that darn Hibiscus Burst is determined to grow on me with all of these color challenges. I do have to admit that I don't mind it so much on this card. Perhaps because it's the flower color, and it's nicely balanced out by some greens (which are complimentary colors).

Blooming Button Bits got dusted off for this card. A few buttons, pink jewels, a sneaky sentiment off of the side, ribbon color with my copics. Did I mention I don't like HB... I don't own any ribbon or buttons in this color... So where did the buttons come from? Sweet Blush and (don't tell) Raspberry Fizz. Sneaky, sneaky.

I'm benchmarking kids today, which I have to sickly admit I always enjoy. I have a sub, which allows me to sit and read one on one with each of my kiddos. This middle of the year benchmark is my favorite... Growth is SO visible. It's also relaxing to sit and read all day instead of teach, hehe.

Here's hoping your day has a few moments to relax. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Blooming Button Bits, Mega Mixed Messages
Paper- Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Whisper White, Bitty Dots dp
Ink- Old Olive, Spring Moss
Accessories- ribbon, copics, jewels, buttons, medium scallop die (PTI)

PTI Color Challenge- 2

Good evening! I'm back with my second card for the color challenge issued over on Nichole's blog to help celebrate Papertrey's anniversary. This combo was a little tricky, but I wanted to try it out. I'm not sure this is my most favorite card I have ever created, but I got tired of fiddling with it. I think it's the dp in the background... It may be just a tad too busy. Am I being overly critical?! lol

Well, and there's Hibiscus Burst on here, with most definitely is not my favorite color. I usually avoid it all all costs! It's just so... bright! It's the same reason I never like SU's Melon Mambo. (Wow, I'm a whiner tonight!).

I'm keeping this post short. It's off to dinner for me, and then back to stamping to try and get a few more cards in before the deadline in the wee hours of the morning.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Giga Guide Lines
Paper- Vintage Cream, Scarlet Jewel, Hibiscus Burst, Distressed Dots dp, Razzleberry Fizz dp
Ink- Crushed Curry
Accessories- ribbon, scallop edge punch, jewels, Mat Stack 1 die

Sweet Sunday Sketch #103

Good evening (night!). I'm sneaking in tonight with a late post so that I can play along with Papertrey's release challenges. Nichole issued a color challenge to us all tonight and we only have one day to complete it! Eek! I'm hoping to have some more time tomorrow afternoon/evening to make a few more cards for the challenge, but I'm pretty proud of myself for finishing one tonight before bed. :)
This color combo was from Maile Belles. So soft and gorgeous, isn't it? It immediately made me think of a baby card (what doesn't these days?!), and that's what it ended up being. Four out of the five college roommates are getting together this weekend to have a baby shower for J (one of the four). I've been needing a card to go along with my gift and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to whip one up. Karen's Sweet Sunday Sketch also worked wonderfully with this card. I'm so glad to have that big circle with a rectangle on top! Phew! lol

I stuck with some twine in lieu of ribbon, and stamped the horizontal panel with some Crushed Curry and Text Style. I love the subtle effect that the yellow created! The buttons are also Harvest Gold (isn't that swirly one amazing?!).

Thanks all from me! It's off to bed. Thanks for stopping by.

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Itty Bitty Blessings
Paper- Kraft, Fine Linen, Pretty Pastels dp, Distressed Dots
Ink- Plum Pudding, Crushed Curry
Accessories- twine, buttons, nestabilities, dimensionals

Viva la Verve!

In case you missed it... THE PACKERS WON THE SUPERBOWL!!!!! Yay!

Ah, this week's Viva la Verve sketch spoke to me the moment I saw it. I know what colors, dp, and stamps I wanted to use. Love it when that happens! I stuck with a brown and aqua color scheme, some brown stitching, scrunched ribbon, and buttons.

I really wanted some aqua jewels to put next to the sentiment, but I seemed to only have the colors of the rainbow on hand. So, when in doubt, color a clear jewel with a copic marker! I love this little trick... It's a guaranteed winner every time I need to match a color.

I'm still recovering from the Superbowl yesterday. Wasn't that a great game?! Even if you weren't voting for a specific team, you have to admit that it was a great game... Tense until literally the last minute. My little buzz off of the Packers' win is still with me. :) I couldn't wait to go to school today and brag to my little Viking's fan that Green Bay won the Superbowl. He may be a six-year-old, but this is serious business! Lol


I leave you with a photo of myself, my cousin D, and my little cousin Micah (isn't he adorable?!) on Superbowl Sunday. I apologize for the blurriness... The picture is off of my phone.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Accent Notes
Paper- Dark Chocolate, Very Vanilla, October Afternoon dp
Ink- Chocolate Chip
Accessories- ribbon, buttons, tea dye stains, dimensionals, nestabilities, jewels, copic marker, sewing machine

Mojo Monday

Good afternoon! It's an absolutely gorgeous day here in So Cal. Wish you were here! We're dancing right around 70 degrees for what could be the last time for a while. We're actually expecting a tiny bit of rain tomorrow and then will dwell in the 60s for a while (which I'm sure sounds GREAT to a whole lot of you, lol).

It was so nice out today that the roomie and I decided to have a little car washing party. My car was absolutely covered in tree pollen from the trees around my school and it was driving me crazy. Have I mentioned that I am quite allergic to tree pollen? It's been a lovely few weeks....


Other than running a few errands this morning, it's been a lazy day around the house, with lots of stamping time. And more stamping time equals more time to play with new dp! I pulled out my new October Afternoon Seaside dp to go with this week's Mojo Monday sketch. When I saw that little bow embellishment on the top of the circle I immediately knew I wanted to nix it, lol. I know, I know... I usually love bows! Something might seriously be wrong with me. But this was one of those moments when I had something else in mind, like a little balloon. :)

I stamped the balloons from Birthday Bash onto some dp and popped up the smaller of the two. Some fun ribbon treatment, a few light green jewels, and a lacy nestie and this card was coming together nicely! It might even pass for a masculine card.... And I can't remember the last time I made one of those!

I hope your Saturday is giving you a chance to relax a bit. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Birthday Bash
Paper- Spring Moss, Tangerine Tango, Very Vanilla, October Afternoon Seaside dp, Haiku dp
Ink- Night of Navy
Accessories- ribbon, nestabilities, dimensionals, jewels

Fall to Layout

Good morning! It's a staff development today, so I'm kid-free, but still at work. I'm hoping the training sessions I get to attend are wonderful, inspirational, and full of tools I can take right back to my classroom on Monday! Those kinds of days are the BEST!


While I'm sitting and listening, here is a little card to share with you. I was so excited to play along with Maureen's Wild and Wacky Color Challenge from a few days ago. For once, the colors were a breeze to play with. I love the mix of mellow tones, and a little gray thrown in for good measure. I also used last week's Fall to Layout sketch for a little inspiration help with the layout. That big back panel and the multitude of colors gave me the chance to pull out my lately-neglected Giga Guide Lines stamp set. I didn't have any Smokey Shadow ribbon on hand, so I cheated and colored some seam binding ribbon with a copic marker. I stamped the Cranberry Crisp onto the Lavender Moon cardstock, added a whole lot of scarlet jewel and plum pudding colored rhinestones for a little pop of bling. And since this is a Maureen challenge, I had to throw a button in there as well for the "buttons and bling!" ;)

Thanks for another fun one and some GREAT colors, Maureen! And Happy Friday to everyone!

Supplies-
Stamps- PTI: Giga Guide Lines
Paper- Plum Pudding, Lavender Moon, Smokey Shadow, Whisper White, Scarlet Jewel
Ink- Cranberry Crisp, Plum Pudding
Accessories- jewels, copics, button, seam binding ribbon, nestabilities, dimensionals, medium scallop die (PTI)

Another Baby Shower!

Good evening! Yup, it's another baby-themed card for yet another baby shower. Thank goodness I only had to whip up five of these little beauties... That's what allowed for the coloring with my copics. I have to say, mass producing is not my most favorite thing. It's so much work! But I do love the look of all those cards line up... There's a beautiful symmetry to them. Five cards was definitely a much for handle-able amount.


These invitations are for my old college roomie. We're throwing her a mini shower over breakfast in a few weeks at a really cute cafe built into an old church. It's going to be just us roomies (four out of five of us) and J's parents. Nice, small, intimate, and special. J is having a little girl, but made sure to pick out some bedding that is not solely pink. She's a pink and green and brown kind of gal. :)

I studied her bedding choice and ended up creating this. The leaves, flowers, and bird are colored to mimic the bedding (called Love Birds). I love how it turned out! I must admit that this is a very obviously cased card from this card Dawn McVey created a little over a month ago. I needed a nice, long image panel to accommodate the branch, and her layout was perfect!

I stitched around the green panel with brown thread, popped up the heavily tea dye stained image panel, and snuck a little doily and some ribbon underneath. A few little pink jewels highlight the flowers and add some sparkle. I also wanted to keep this card relatively flat since it has to be mailed.

It's a staff development day for us tomorrow at work... I'm kid-free!! It felt great to get out a little early today as if it were Friday. If only I could sleep in tomorrow as well, lol. I guess beggars can't be choosers.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Taylored Expressions: Branching Out, Branching Out Coordinates, PTI: Round & Round
Paper- Sweet Blush, Vintage Cream, Pretty Pastels dp
Accessories- ribbon, button, doily, tea dye stains, copics, jewels, dimensionals, corner rounder punch, sewing machine

Viva la Verve!

Phew! I have officially finished my first whole month of Viva la Verve in I can't remember how long. Last year was just crazy. I made a very loose, very unofficial resolution to try and do more Viva la Verve challenges this year. I love playing along each month and getting to know all the amazing ladies that participate on the splitcoast forum. :)

I so loved the sketch for this week and immediately knew I wanted to use this gorgeous frame from Accent Notes. I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa, colored it with a light green copic marker and added a few brown jewels. The sentiment circles are popped up from the frame for some dimension. Some seam binding ribbon and pins finished off the horizontal panel.... And I snuck some scallops under there, too. And if you didn't noticed, there is a ton of tea dye staining on this card. I may be addicted. Maybe.
Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies-
Stamps- Verve: Accent Notes, Circular Sayings
Paper- Whisper White, Dark Chocolate, Turning a New Leaf dp
Accessories- seam binding ribbon, pins, medium scallop die (PTI), Taylor's Tiny Twinkles, jewels, tea dye stains, dimensionals, circle punches