Hey Friend & A Give-Away

Hey y'all! Sorry to disappear on you for a week! Lots of things going on ... some I can share and some I won't ... but most of my time this past week has either been hanging with family or working on 70 letter shirts for a customer of mine. I should be done tomorrow. I. Hope. :-)

I wanted to share a friend card I made awhile back for a pub call. (I haven't made a new card in like 2 weeks! I have GOT to finish that t-shirt order! LOL) Here she is ...
She's cute, huh? I colored the girls clothes to match the American Crafts paper. A pretty simple layout and a great bow, if I do say so myself. :-) I will have to hunt down the supplies on this one ... but I know its a Unity stamp, American Crafts patterned paper and everything else is PTI.

Now for the giveaway part ... Every girl loves a great bag, right?! Well, I sure do... There is no doubt about it. I "know" someone who is turning 30 in a week or so and wanted to do a little giveaway. So, here's what is up for grabs. I am gonna give away a one of these Mini Zipper Pouches from Thirty-One. You can have your choice of fabric and monogram. And I am going to include a mini Satin Hands Hand Cream from Mary Kay. (If you craft as much as I do, you probably need some of this awesome stuff!) :-)Just 'cuz I am feeling nice, I am going to be picking TWO winners. Here's the details: Leave a comment on this post telling me your best birthday gift ever by Monday, August 16th at 9 PM. Two winners will be drawn at random. Winners will be announced here on the blog on or before Wednesday, August 18th. Winners have until August 20th to claim their prize or another winner will be chosen.

That's all for now ... the sewing machine is calling me! Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Ippity Blog Hop

Happy Monday! Popping in today to share a card I made for this week's Ippity blog hop. A friend of mine recently bought and moved into a new house. So, I needed a card to send along with a little housewarming gift. I decided to use the Devoted set for this project. This stamp set is really cute and I love all the scriptures that are included in it. The overall card concept is pretty simple - and aside from the hills and the house popped up on foam tape its mostly one layer. Hope my friend and her husband enjoy this happy mail!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Enjoy the rest of the blog hop!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Devoted by Ippity (Shop for it from Banu!)
Ink: PTI Spring Moss, Chai, Chamomile; SU! Chocolate Chip; Copics
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Ripe Avocado, Melon Berry

Ippity Blog Hop

Happy Monday! Today I am joining the fun in the Unity Ippity Blog Hop. You can learn more about Ippity Stamps here or just visit my friend Banu and order some. :-)

This card was all about using some scraps. I had a few pieces of this yellow paper left over from another project and they were a perfect fit for a card front. I added a little distressing with some ink and then some peacock crinkled seam binding that I made and vintage-fied the other day. A few buttons that I called it done. :-)Thanks so much for stopping by! :-) Happy hopping!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity Ippity - Because of You
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa, Ranger Distress Ink Antique Linen
Paper: PTI Kraft, Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate; patterned paper by Sassafras
Other: PTI Vintage buttons; twine; crinkled seam binding (my me!)

Perfect Pear

Hi! Sorry for the lack of posting this week. Been busy at work and its been a little crazy trying to get everything done. Today was a bit of a rough day ... with a meltdown to prove it. LOL But hopefully the rest of the week will fly by and I'll be so grateful for the weekend! :-)

I made this card a few weeks ago for a magazine call, but it didn't get picked up. Regardless, I love it and look forward to giving it to a happy couple at some point. Mostly all patterned paper here with a little stamping, cutting and punching.
Stamped the pears on cream paper and colored them with Copics. All the edges of the papers were inked with Chamomile and some stitched down. To make the rings, I punched them with two different sized punches and then added some glitter around the edges with a glitter pen. In hindsight, I'd use satin ribbon, but I didn't have any at the time. Otherwise, love it.

Well I am off to bed! Hope you've all been having a great week! :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip; PTI Chamomile; Copics
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Spring Moss; Patterned Paper: PTI Bitty Box in Spring Moss; BoBunny Kitchen Spice Rosemary
Other: PTI Vintage Cream grosgrain; Sakura glitter pen; circle punches; sewing machine

Unity Friends with Flair

Happy Friday y'all! Popping in today to share a couple of Unity cards for the Friday Friends with Flair blog hop. Both of the cards I am sharing today use stamps from the October 09 Kit of the Month. This was such a cute kit!

The first card has this flower bunch/patch image, which I colored with some Copic markers and added a little bling with a Sakura gelly roll pen (which is kind of hard to see in the photo). I left a sentiment off the front, so I could stamp one on the inside when I decide to mail this off to a friend. Could be great for many different occasions! :)
The second card uses the cutie owl image from the kit. I stamped the image twice, so that I could cut out the eyes and add them on foam tape for a little dimension. Cute, huh?!Sorry to cut this short, but I have a busy day ahead of me so I will catch y'all later this weekend! Thank you so much for stopping by! :)

Supplies Used - Flower Card:
Stamps: Unity Oct 09 KOTM
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; Copic Markers; Sakura glitter pen; PTI Chai, Chamomile
Paper: PTI White; SU! Pink Pirouette; My Minds Eye DP
Other: PTI Spring Moss grosgrain; corner rounder punch; sewing machine

Supplies Used - Owl Card:
Stamps: Unity Oct 09 KOTM
Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa; Copic Markers; PTI Chai, Chamomile
Paper: PTI White, Spring Moss; SU! Pink Pirouette
Other: PTI Spring Moss swiss dots satin ribbon; Swiss Dots embossing folder; foam tape

Another Ippity Blog Hop

Happy Monday people! We have a snow day today - hip hip hooray! LOL Even teachers enjoy an unexpected day off :-)

Today, I am sharing another Ippity card for the Monday blog hop. I actually made this card a few weeks ago and sent it on to a friend who is trusting in the Lord for some things going on right now. He is good. And He helps us in our time of need. I love the verses in the Devoted stamp set and the different fonts/handwriting used to create them.
I stamped the scripture on a left over piece of DP I got from a kit (sorry I don't know the manufacturer). And I stamped the branch image onto textured Bazzill and added a little olive-y green color with a Copic marker. Otherwise, this card was quick to make. I did a lot of distressing with ink and my Heidi Swapp edge distresser tool. I even inked up the twill tape to age it a bit as well.

Well, that is all I've got for you right now. I am off to check out the other Ippity blog hop participants and to work on some projects. Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity Ippity - Devoted (Need/want to get the Devoted stamp set, please visit my stamping friend Banu!)
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip; Copic markers; PTI Chamomile, Chai
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Kraft, Dark Chocolate; Bazzill (yellow); pink designer paper (unknown)
Accessories: Wrights twill tape; Fiskars Apron Lace punch; Heidi Swapp Edge Distresser tool

Ippity Blog Hop

Happy Monday y'all! I am back this week with another Ippity card for the Monday blog hop. :-)This week, I used the 2 Sketches 4 You sketch #44 for my layout. Unfortunately, I didn't get this posted in time for their sketch challenge, but its all good. Check out the sketch here. I used stamps from both Devoted and Because of You, which I got from my buddy Banu.

I started by cutting the card stock down and roughing up the edges a bit. I added the sentiment to the main panel and then stamped a flourish over it with Versamark before heat embossing it. The butterfly was stamped on white and colored to match with Copics along with a little glitter. And that was about it. Very easy peasy!

That's about it for now. Lots to do today before the new semester starts tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity Ippity - Devoted, Because of You; PTI Fancy Flourishes
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip; Versamark; Copic markers
Paper: PTI Lemon Tart, Lemon Berry, Dark Chocolate, White
Accessories: Stampendous glitter; foam tape; Filligree clear embossing powder; PTI Dark Chocolate grosgrain ribbon; Heidi Swapp edge distresser tool

I miss you

Hi everyone! Just popping in to share a quick card I made a few weeks ago with some Unity stamps. I sent this off to a college friend of mine who is now living out-of-state and she is just the funnest person. I miss having her around!I used some Bazzill textured card stock as well as some PTI Dark Chocolate and kraft card stock on this one. I stamped the leaves from one of the Ippity sets (Devoted) and colored the leaves a little with a Putty colored Copic marker. The sentiment is from a Unity KOTM from a few months ago. A little apron lace punching and some ribbon and that was it. Hope she liked receiving it in the mail. I need to do better about sending off cards instead of collecting them on my desk! :-)

Thanks for stopping by ... I will be back tomorrow with another Ippity card for the Monday blog hop. If you're interested in purchasing any Ippity stamps, check out my buddy Banu!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity July 09 KOTM (sentiment), Ippity Devoted (leaves)
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip; Copic marker
Paper: Bazzill; PTI Kraft, Dark Chocolate
Accessories: foam tape; PTI Dark Chocolate grosgrain; Fiskars Apron Lace punch

Another Unity card for you

Hi! Happy Wednesday! Thank goodness we are on the way to the weekend again! :-) I am doing some training to add to my license this week and so far its been a little draining sitting in a chair listening all day. (I guess that should give me some empathy for my students!) Anywho ... I wanted to drop in and share another Unity card with you real quick.

This one uses an image from a past kit-of-the-month. I forgot to take a picture of the inside where I had an "enjoy" sentiment but its in there. A really basic layout here, but some distressing with ink, Copic coloring and some KaiserCraft rhinestones.
Well that's about it for now ... have to do a few things for the continuation of my course tomorrow. Hope you are having a wonderful evening and thanks for all the comments on my Ippity cards! :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity
Ink: SU! Dark Chocolate; PTI Chamomile & Chai; Copic markers
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream; SU! Pink Pirouette
Other: PTI Scarlet Jewel ribbon; KaiserCraft rhinestones; Sakura glitter pen

Unity Ippity Blog Hop

Happy Monday y'all! I am enjoying my extra day off hanging out with my husband. I hope you are all having a great day whether you are working or not! :-)

Today, I am participating in the Unity Ippity Blog Hop. You can check out all the info and participants here. I decided to make some quick cards in preparation for Valentine's Day next month. I used the heart from Devoted and the sentiment from Because of You. Both of these cards are super quick and easy to make ... a key when mass producing/making multiples.

First up, a pink card base with a rectangle of homemade patterned paper.
Card #2 - my fav of the two - same papers, just a little stitching and punching along the bottom. It is hard to tell in the photos above, but I did spritz the patterned paper I made with Glimmer Mist and also used a glitter pen on the sentiment of card #2. This photo shows it a little better.Well, that is it for now folks! Thanks for stopping by to check out my Ippity cards! :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity Ippity - Because of You & Devoted
Ink: PTI Hibiscus Burst
Paper: PTI White, Hibiscus Burst; SU! Pink Pirouette
Other: PTI Hibiscus Burst grosgrain; Wright's seam binding (white ribbon); Apron Lace punch; Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist in Pearl; Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen

Baby Thank Yous

Happy Saturday y'all! I am definitely excited for the long weekend. I made it through exams and in total, 94% of my 88 kids scored proficient on their state exam and one of the three courses was at 100%! My new school is realllly score-oriented and since two of the three courses I taught this semester were ones I had never taught before this was great news - all my hard work was worth it! Unfortunately, the pressure is on for next semester since the scores for one of the courses I will be teaching next semester (another one that will be new-to-me) weren't great with the current teacher, so they are expecting me to make the difference!

Anyway, thanks for letting me share my professional victory! On to some crafy stuff. It seems like everyone I know is having a boy! One of my friends is expecting her first child in April and she often gets general assortments of cards from me so I wanted to send her some baby thank you notes. I don't have a good baby set yet, so I made do with an assortment of stamps.

First, I started my making my own paper using some Unity stamps from a kit of the month. The sock monkey is too cute and I added the "it's a boy" intermittently between the monkeys. Then I colored parts of the monkey with some Copics. Here's how it turned out ...

After making the paper, I cut some card bases, some 3-3/4" kraft mats and trimmed my paper to 3-1/2" squares. I stamped the bottom portion of the card bases with some polka dots and added a sentiment from PTI's Giga Guidelines. Here's how it came out...And here's the quick-to-make-and-assemble set of 6 ready for packaging.Hopefully, my friend will like them and enjoy thanking friends and family with these. I plan to make a few other different sets too in the coming weeks and will share them as I do.

Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Supplies Used (all PTI unless noted):
Stamps: Unity (monkey & its a boy): PTI Polka Dot Basics II, Giga Guidelines (thank you sentiment)
Ink: Chamomile, Chai, New Leaf; SU! Chocolate Chip
Paper: Vintage Cream, Kraft

Thanks a Bunch Card Kit

Hi and happy Wednesday! I am looking forward to getting to the weekend! My students are taking exams, which means my week is a little easier planning-wise. However, I did get some news about how things will be next semester that was a little disappointing, but I am going to do my best to build a bridge and get over it so to speak. :-) So, I left work and came home to play in my mess, I mean, craft room!

I needed a few thank you cards so I made this little card. So cute but simple and to the point.
I liked it so much and thought it would be an easy card to make - even for a beginner so I made a kit to try out in my Etsy shop. Here's the kit contents all together with a finished card. Maybe someone will enjoy playing with these goodies. :-)
Well, I have to run and whip up some dinner for the mister. Have a great evening y'all and thanks for stopping by! :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip; Copics
Paper: PTI White, Raspberry Fizz
Accessories: PTI Raspberry Fizz button, twine

Finally ... a card!

Hey everyone! Happy holiday week :-) Last night after getting home from work, I got my Thanksgiving break started off with some stamping. I haven't made anything in weeks because I have been too busy either lesson planning or working on sorority letter shirts for my side business, but I took a well-deserved break last night and got some new cards cranked out! Yippee!

This card is a 3.5 x 5 card - my new favorite size. :-) And this image is just too fun ... its from Unity's November KOTM and I think its adorable. It's kind of valentine-ish but I think its fun to send to a friend anytime.
I colored the type writer with some gray Copics and I roughed up the card stock frame with an edge distresser and some ink. Love how it turned out. It is hard to see in the photo, but the type writer is popped up on foam tape.

Thanks for stopping by! I am off to clean up my paper crafting mess and get to some cooking for tomorrow's feast with the family. If I have time, I will be back tonight for the monthly PTI blog hop ... although my project for last month is the perfect fit for this month's theme! :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity Nov 09 KOTM
Ink: SU! Chocolate Chip, Copic Markers; PTI Chai & Chamomile
Paper: PTI White; SU! Pink Pirouette
Other: PTI Hibiscus Burst grosgrain, foam tape, edge distresser tool

Friends Knock Your Socks Off

Happy Friday y'all! I look forward to Fridays starting on Sunday nights! :-) I have a new job this year that has been keeping me way busy than I am used to and it has definitely been tough.

Last week shared my feelings about it with some of my college girlfriends at our monthly Bible study prayer time and although this week was not without its challenges, it was definitely a better week than I've had in awhile ... and I am pretty sure having my girls praying for me made a difference! So, tonight I made a few of these uber cute cards with the new Unity KOTM to send to my prayer warriors.
I stamped some polka dots (of course) in Orange Zest onto Pink Pirouette paper and distressed all the edges. I stamped that cutie monkey on Vintage Cream and colored his hat, face, feet and hands with Copic markers. Other than some distressing it was quick and easy to assemble a small set of these. Love the color combination and the layout ... thinking about whipping some sets up for Christmas gifts in different color combinations.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity October KOTM; PTI Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: PTI Orange Zest; SU! Chocolate Chip; Copic markers
Paper: SU! Pink Pirouette; PTI Vintage Cream, Orange Zest
Accessories: PTI Orange Zest grosgrain

Hello!

Hiya! Sorry its been so long since I last posted ... my real job has been getting in the way of my free time! I am starting to see light at the end of the tunnel, though - which is great because I would rather be crafting! :-)

A sweet friend of mine is turning 30 and we went out to dinner to surprise her last night. Lots of fun and she was totally surprised! I made her a few birthday gifts, one of which was a set of these note cards. I used some pretty paper from the K&Co Madeline stack. I love this paper and have used it on several other projects. I roughed up all the edges and added some Chamomile ink to the edges and ribbon to make it more vintage-y looking. The stamps are from a Unity KOTM. Just some sweet cards for her to use for any occasion. I hope she enjoys them!

Hope you are all enjoying the weekend so far - I had a great time fabric hunting today ... will write more about this in a later post and share some great finds :-) I also enjoyed a little football to wind down as well :-)

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity KOTM
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Chamomile
Paper: K&Co Madeline paper pad; PTI Vintage Cream
Other: edge distresser tool; cream grosgrain from craft store

SPCC #13

Hi! I got a lot of cards done yesterday - finally! So I have a few challenge cards to post before the time frame ends ... so look for more posts today! :-)

This card is for the Scrapmaster's Paradise Color Challenge #13. I decided to use a few of my August KOTM Unity stamps for this one and color it to go with the colors - yellow, rose, olive, and black. Here's what I came up with:
Love the gingham - will have to get more of that! :-) Thanks for stopping by - hope you are all enjoying the holiday weekend!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity August KOTM; PTI Polka Dot Basics II
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; PTI Ripe Avocado; Copic markers
Paper: PTI White, Ripe Avocado; SU! Regal Rose
Accessories: Offray gingham ribbon; corner rounder punch

Birthday Cupcakes

Happy Monday! I hope all of your weeks are getting off to a great start! I know that a platter full of cupcakes would definitely make for a better start to the week for most people! LOL :-)

This little card is headed to a birthday girl! I make and send at least 2 cards a month to SCS birthday girls by way of the RAK Birthday Committee. It's fun and gets me to send some of the cards I make. I hope the recipients enjoy receiving them.

(click photo to enlarge)

This card was made with an image from the Unity August Kit of the Month. I think its super cute. I colored the cupcakes with pink and green Copic markers and added some sparkle to the cupcakes and ribbon with a Sakura glitter pen. The sentiment is from PTI's Cupcake Collection set. I don't know about you, but now that school is back in session I am really enjoying some clean and simple layouts lately and this one could be easily adapted to lots of different themes.

Well, that's all for now folks! Thanks for stopping by! :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity August 09 KOTM; PTI Cupcake Collection
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; PTI Raspberry Fizz; Copics; Sakura Stardust Gelly Roll pen
Paper: PTI White, Raspberry Fizz
Accessories: PTI Raspberry Fizz twill
Other: Fiskars Upper Crest border punch

Follow Your Heart

Happy Friday friends! :-) I finally got a chance to play with a few of the August 09 Unity KOTM images. I had the heart stamped a few days ago and finally worked it, the tag, and the paper scraps together in this card. It's almost impossible to see, but I softened the Spring Moss paper by stamping a text background in Chamomile ink, which I also used to distress all the edges of the patterned papers and the tag. The layout is similar to this card from a few days ago. Well that is all for now! I hope you've all had a great week - as always, thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity August 09 KOTM; PTI Scattered Showers Additions, Text Style
Ink: Palette Noir; PTI Aqua Mist & Chamomile; Copic markers; Sakura glitter pen
Paper: PTI Lavender Moon, White card stock, Bitty Box paper (Spring Moss), Bitty Dot paper (Lavender Moon)
Accessories: twine; MS adhesive pearls (colored w/ Copic marker YG91); foam tape; sewing machine

Birdie Birthday

Monday, Monday ... this is my last week of "freedom" so I met this Monday not too happily! LOL Anyway ... I did a few more mass produced birthday cards. I am totally digging this layout - simple, clean and easy peasy! I don't think I am going to give up on it anytime soon :-)

For this card, I stamped the bird from the Unity July 09 KOTM and colored it with Copic markers. The edges of the image panel are sponged with PTI Chamomile ink. The sentiment is from PTI Vintage Picnic. I love that typerwriter and cursive paired together in these sentiments.Off to catch up on some things around the house ... Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity July 09 KOTM; PTI Vintage Picnic
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black; Copic markers; PTI - Chamomile
Paper: PTI - SSW, Summer Sunrise
Accessories: PTI Berry Sorbet grosgrain

Happy Birthday

Hi all! Back from the Rodanthe, NC (in the Outer Banks) and back in my craft room! :-) I need to send out some birthday RAKs, so I got to work mass producing the card below using some tips from Mish. She is the queen of mass producing cards and this is great when you have a lot of cards to make. Choose a simple design, cut and stamp all your parts and assemble in assembly line fashion. This is also great if you are working on a project over the course of several crafting sessions. Cut all at one session. Stamp at another. Color at the next. Assemble last! :-) This card uses an image from the July 09 Unity Kit of the Month. I stamped it in Memento Tuxedo Black and colored with Copic markers. The image panels are edged in Papertrey Chamomile ink. I added a sentiment from PTI's Vintage Picnic and some stitched ribbon. These came together so quickly - I think I did like 10 in an hour and a half. :-)

I am working on editing some photos that my hubs took of Cape Hatteras this week. He likes to try and get artsy shots - he'll sit on the deck, camera ready on the ledge, just waiting for the perfect sunset moment. The one below was taken on the sound side of the island. He came inside and was like let's go. We drove over to the otherside of the block (our rental house was located between the ocean and the sound maybe a mile wide) and ran down this little pier. We only got one shot because it was kind of marshy in the particular spot we walked out to and the skeeters immediately attacked us. One photo and we ran back to the car! :-)
Thanks for stopping by! I will have some lighthouse photos tomorrow as well as a couple more cards I made with my limited supplies at the beach :-)

Supplies Used:
Stamps: Unity July 09 KOTM; PTI Vintage Picnic
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Copic markers, PTI Chamomile
Paper: PTI white; SU! Certainly Celery
Other: PTI Hibiscus Burst grosgrain, sewing machine