January SFYTT and Color Cue Challenge 11

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a good weekend. Friday and Saturday we were spoiled with 60 degree temperatures. This morning it is snowing and we are in the deep freeze again. That is what it is like living in Colorado. At least we had a few nice days though. I hope it is warmer where you are.
Today I want to share a card I made for Jen Del Muro's Sketch For You To Try. She has changed things up this year to make it a monthly sketch challenge instead of a weekly one and will be giving away a big prize at the end of the year for people that do them all. I am going to challenge myself to do all 12 sketches and use my PTI year of the flowers sets with them each month too. Since I bought all 12 of them last year I am hoping this will be a good way to make myself use them. Here is the sketch

This is what I came up with

I started by stamping then coloring 2 of the small Carnation's which are January's flower with Copic sketch markers RV10,R83,R85 and the colorless blender. When I was done coloring both of them I cut out just the middle piece on the second one and added it to the first one to give it some dimension. I cut the leaves by hand then crumpled them to give them some texture and added them to the flower. The Sentiment is from the Faux Ribbon set. The pink background paper is from the PTI Pretty Pastels Paper Pack. The Vintage Cream piece was embossed with the Tim Holtz embossing folder. Scalloped lace and machine stitching with black thread finishes it off. I am also entering this card in the Color Cue Challenge 11 too

That's it for now. I hope your week is great one and I will be back soon with more to share.

January Papertrey Bloghop and Cupcake Tuesday

It is time for another Papertrey Bloghop.

This month we were to challenge ourselves to use a Papertrey stamp set that has yet to see ink or even one that might be collecting a little dust!
Unfortunately I have a lot of sets that have never seen ink so this challenge was perfect for me. It is also time for my monthly cupcake post too so I decided to combine them both. This is what I came up with.

The set I chose to finally use is Background Basics Botanical's. I have had this set for awhile now so I am happy that I finally got a chance to use it.
The cupcake card was made using this SVG file. The base was cut from Sweet Blush Cardstock. The top was embossed with the Sizzix dots embossing folder. The cupcake liner was cutout of Lemon Tart Cardstock then I stamped the images from the Botanicals set with Versamark ink and embossed it with white embossing powder. The sentiment is from this digi set and was printed on Vintage Cream Cardstock then cut out with a circle Nestabilities Die then matted on Lavender Moon scalloped circle. The number 1 was cut with SCAL using the Century font. A piece of white baby pom pom ribbon from this Etsy shop was added to look like piping. A Lavender Moon Satin Ribbon and a Lemon Tart button finish it off.

I also made a matching cupcake wrapper using this SVG file I stamped and embossed the same image from the Botanicals set on the wrapper to match the card.
The cupcakes are Banana Chocolate Chip with Cream Cheese Frosting. I added some chocolate syrup and a fresh banana for decoration. Both Rich and Emilia love them!

That's all for now. You can see the list of the other participants on Nicole's blog. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with now and hope to get some inspiration that will help me use some of my other uninked sets too. As always thanks for stopping by.

Sending Sunshine

Happy Thursday everyone! It is hard to believe it is almost the weekend again. Thanks for all the sweet comments you left in the last post about my heart box. It is on it's way to a good home. I have relisted it in my shop as a made to order item now if anyone else is interested in buying one. I hope all of you that requested the files will be sure to share what you make with them. I would love to see what you come up with. For those of you that don't have a Cricut would you be interested in buying the template pre-cut? I have been thinking about selling them that way but wanted to see what kind of interest there was first.

Today I want to share with you a card I made for a fellow blogger/stamper Katie Renz who is currently battling Stomach Cancer. You can read more about what she is going through here. Jennifer Ellefson in the Papertrey forum organized a card drive called Operation Sunshine to send Katie cards. It broke my heart after I read her story so I decided to join in. This is the card I made for her and is on the way.

I decided to go with a sun card to represent the sunshine and I also used bright happy colors in the hope they will brighten her day too.
I got the template for the sun here then made it into an svg file and cut it out with my Cricut. I used Cosmo Cricket Delovely cardstock for the base that I have been hoarding for awhile now. This was the perfect change to start using it. The flower image is from the PTI You Additions stamp set. It was to big to fit on the card as is so I stamped it, scanned it and resized it then printed it out and colored it with my Copics. To finish it off I punched some turquoise circles then added them to the back of the main image to create a scallop mat. The back of the card looks like this.

Katie is documenting her journey on her blog now so I know what she is going through is very hard. She sounds like a fighter though so hopefully she can beat this. In the meantime I hope these cards I send her will put a smile on her face and bring her some happiness for awhile.
That's all for now. My Papertrey new release order is suppose to arrive today which is a welcome surprise since it took forever to get my order last month. I will be back soon with more things to share Until then I hope you have a great day and as always thanks for stopping by.

Winner and A Simple Heart Box

Happy Monday! First off thanks for all the sweet comments you left on the last post about my Be Mine box. The winner of the free template drawn through Random.org is #27 Deb Please contact Leigh Ann with the template of your choice.
Today I want to share with you something I am very proud of. I have been wanting a heart box SVG file for awhile now and was not able to find anything like it so with Rich's help I was able to design and successfully create my first SVG template. Introducing The Simple Heart Box.

There are lots of possibilities for things to make with this template but this was a vision I had in my head for awhile now and am very happy with how it turned out.
I started buy cutting out the sides of the template using paper from this digi pack that I printed on both sides of the cardstock. The bottom and top pieces were cut out of PTI Vintage Cream Cardstock. The roses were cut from PTI Sweet Blush, Hibiscus, and Raspberry Fizz cardstock using this SVG file then I rolled them by hand all 30 of them. When I was done with that I arranged them on the top of box then hot glued them down. A piece of baby pom trim from this Etsy shop was added to the edge of the lid with scoretape. A piece of Rose Water seam binding from this Etsy shop was tied around the top right hand corner in a double bow then I added the same tag I used in my last post with some twine and finished it off with a vintage cream button. This is what the inside looks like with the top off.

It is a good size box measuring approximately 51/8 x 41/2. The great thing about SVG files though is that you can resize them to any size you want.
If you would be interested in trying this template send me an email and I would be happy to share it with you. The only thing I ask is you don't try to sell the template, you are free to sell things you make with it though.
This box will be going up for sale in my Etsy shop soon if anyone is interested in buying it. The Etsy Greetings Team I am a member of is also having a special promotion this week called Love is Handmade. Over 50 members will be offering specials in their shop. You can see a list of all the participants here. I will be offering 10% off orders of $10.00 or more in my shop Jan 17-21. Use the coupon code LOVEISHANDMADE2011 when you check out to receive the discount.
That's is for now. I hope the rest of your week is a great one. I will be back soon with more to share.

Perfect Presentation January Bloghop

Happy Friday Everyone! It is hard to believe it is the middle of January already. I hope it is warmer where you are. We ended up getting a pretty big snow storm last Sunday and have been in the deep freeze since then. It is suppose to warm up this weekend though so hopefully we will see the side streets again soon.
Today the Perfect Presentation design team is sharing what we made with a new template created by the fabulous Leigh Ann Baird just in time for Valentines day. It is called the Be Mine Box.

I started with the SVG file and made the base out of Raspberry Fizz cardstock. After that I attached some patterned paper from last years PTI Simple Valentine Paper Pack. Next I added a doily from this cut file. When I was done with that I punched a heart then added some Martha Stewart iridescent pink glitter. Finally I stamped the sentiment from the Heart Prints stamp set and attached it to the heart at an angle.
This box is a great size and will hold lots of different things. I chose to fill mine with these Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

This is how I packaged them up

The tag was made with this SVG file that I resized. The sentiment is from the Fillable Frames #11 set. The tiny hearts are from the Love Lives Here Set.

If you leave a comment on this post you will be entered to win a free template of your choice. You have until midnight Sunday. Also be sure to visit the other design team members to see what they made with this template and for more chances to win too.
Leigh Ann
Chris
Kerri
Julie
Alyssa
Beth
Susan

That's it for now. I will be back Monday with the winner and hopefully more to share then too. As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great weekend.

Peep Challenge Gratitude

I hope your week is going well. Winter has found it's way here. We finally got snow about a week ago and it has been very cold since. I hope it is warmer where you are.
Today I wanted to share a card I made for the 1st Peeps Challenge of the year hosted by Rhonda. It revolves around gratitude and thankfulness. We were to make a card to thank someone and then make sure we SEND IT!!
The challenge is going on all month so if you would like to play along too we would love to have you join us.
This is what I came up with

I got the inspiration for this card from Melissa Phillips. She made one like it last year but I put my own spin on it.
I started with a piece of floral digi paper that I got from this Etsy shop. Next I added a piece of Lavender Moon Cardstock to the bottom half of the card that I embossed with the Linen Impression Plate. After that I stamped the sentiment from the PTI Morning Glories Set on Vintage Cream cardstock then distressed it with Chai ink. When I was done with that I attached it to the bottom of the card and machine stitched it. The flower was made with Vintage cream felt and Beautiful Blooms #2 Dies. The leaves were made with the Delightful Dahlia dies and Simply Chartreuse felt. A Plum Pudding Button, some purple ribbon from my stash and a Vintage Cream scalloped piece at the bottom finish it off.
This card is going to a special friend as a small token of my appreciation for the all the extra things she does for me. I hope she likes it.
That's all for now I will be back with more Valentines things to share with you soon. Until then I hope you have a great night and as always thanks for stopping by.

Happy New Year and A Little Box Of Love

Happy New Year! I hope it has started out well for all of you. Once again thanks for all the comments about my favorite templates I made last year. They really mean a lot to me! Today I went back to look at the resolutions I made last year and discovered most of them didn't happen but some of them were out of my control so this year I have decided I am not going to make any and just see what transpires. I have decided not to do a video every month anymore. I have been doing them for 2 years now and have started running out of techniques that have not been done before. I will continue to make videos when I have something new to share though. Emilia and I also plan on continuing our cupcake posts, we have decided that we are not going to limit ourselves to just the recipes in the book though.
Today I am sharing my first Valentines project of the year with you. I started it last week for a challenge on Papercraft Planet but did not get it done in time. I finally finished it the other day though so now I can share it with you.

I started with Lauren Meader's Free Cutesy Cover template which I cut out of Kraft Cardstock. Next I added the mat pieces using a sheet of digi paper from this paper pack. After that I sewed them on with my sewing machine. When I was done with that I cut the doily using this SVG file then I cut a felt heart using the Nestabilities heart dies and added a small circle. Finally I added another small heart from the Love Lives Here Die and a tiny pearl. To finish it off I added a piece of Raspberry Fizz Satin ribbon that I tied in a bow. I also added a piece of Velcro on the inside flap to keep it closed. These little boxes would be great to hold gift cards, jewelery, or even candy. A small box of conversation hearts fits perfectly.
That's it for now. I hope to be back soon with more to share. Until then thanks for stopping by and I hope your first week of 2011 is a great one!