Christmas cards

As usual for me, it was down to the last minute for making Christmas cards, and those of you receiving them probably got them after Christmas :)



On this card, I decided to try making my own background paper similar to the newest PTI paper, Sweet Symphony. I stamped the Musical Background from Waltzingmouse Stamps onto Distressed Dots (PTI) paper with black ink. The focal image was created with Fillable Frame #10 and a sentiment from Waltzingmouse's The Compliments of the Season.



And the inside also uses Compliments of the Season and the gorgeous scroll from PTI's Vintage Label set.



This card was made using some leftover Christmas patterned paper (Basic Grey and the Girl's Paperie, I think), Vintage Labels 14 set and Compliments of the Season, both from Waltzingmouse Stamps. A bit of sewing and some PTI ribbon.

I didn't have enough time to take pictures of the rest of the cards!

Thanks for stopping by!
Melissa

Merry Christmas

Merry belated Christmas to all! Hope that all of you that celebrate enjoyed a wonderful time with your families.

I want to share what we made and gave out to our neighbors this year. The treat is Ghiradelli brownies that we baked in some throw away pans from the Container Store. I added a ribbon and tag to each.



The tag was stamped and heat embossed with gold embossing powder onto Gold shimmery paper. The "Merry Christmas" comes from Holiday Jar Fillers, and the tag image from Fillable Frames.



On a personal note, my kids and I delivered one of these to our special older neighbor across the street and chatted with him a bit at that time. We got a call two days ago that he had passed away on Christmas night. God bless, Mr Marc and rest in peace with your beloved wife. (I couldn't show these treats without thinking and mentioning him). We will truly miss him!

Melissa

Banner Challenge

It's my turn to host the PTI Princesses group challenge! And it is, banners! Use a stamp set, cut out some triangles or create a home-decor banner. Anyone can play along!

Here is the card I made using Banner Basics.



The sentiment comes from Just the Ticket, with I thought paired well with the banner. The paper is Dotty Biscotti.



Thanks for coming by and I can't wait to see what you'll come up with!
Melissa

"Happy Birthday" (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Banner Basics and Just the Ticket
Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento), Hawaiian Shores and Raspberry Fizz, Walnut Stain (Ranger)
Pape: Kraft, Stamper's Select White, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz and Dotty Biscotti
Other: Banner dies, gems, sponge, pinking shears, foam dots

2011 Calendar

December is full of family birthdays for our family, and my mom is one of them!

********Mom, if you are reading, please click away now!***************

I want to share the gift I made for her, for her birthday. I used PTI's large calendar sheets and stamped the flower for each month from the series, Year of Flowers. I didn't have November, December or January's yet, so I left November and December blank and I will send those to her when I complete them, ready to adhere with some Scor-Tape. I didn't want to leave the first page, January, blank, so I used the flowers from In Bloom.

The cover is very plain, as I thought it wouldn't be looked at much. I stamped the large rectangle from Take Note, the year with Fresh Alphabet and the scrolly motif (which I use on each page) is from Spooky Sweets II.





























This was a big project, but so worth it! I studies Nichole Heady and Debbie Olson's coloring techniques for each flower, to color them as well as I could!

I am taking this to Staples to get bound tomorrow, and once I get it back, I will share how the finished product looks.

Thanks for coming by today!
Melissa

Take Care

Hi everyone!

I made this card a few weeks ago, and never got the chance to share it. It seemed seasonally appropriate at the time :)



My T1 Copic needs a refill (or it's broken, I'm not sure which), so I'm using C2 lately for outlining, which is a bit too dark really.

Thanks for stopping by!
Melissa

"Take Care" (All PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Autumn Abundance, BB: Text
Ink: Rich Cocoa, Versamark, Antique Linen (Ranger), Enchanted Evening
Paper: Blueberry Sky and Vintage Cream
Other: sponge, rectangle Nestabilies for frame, Foam tape

November PTI Blog Hop

Welcome and Happy Thanksgiving to those in the US!



Our theme for this month's PTI blog hop is tags. Here are some I made with the Tag Sale 1 die, the stamp set Peace, Be Still and the coordinating dies (Thanks, Amy!!!)



I used Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz and Vintage Cream. The snowflake was heat embossed with white detail ep.



I wrapped some Raspberry Fizz satin ribbon around this tag and tied the Hawaiian Shores twill ribbon with some silk ribbon on top.



The focal image on this tag was cut with the Limitless Layers die and then I used the snowflake die to create a cut-out portion. The smallest snowflake was stamped on the background with Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores inks.

Thanks for stopping by!
Melissa

"Joyeux Noel" tags (ALL PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Peace, Be Still
Ink: Versamark, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz, Antique Linen and Walnut Stain (Ranger)
Paper: Vintage Cream, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores
Dies: Limitless Layers, Tag Sale 1, Peace Be Still
Other: Silk ribbon, Raspberry Fizz Satin, Hawaiian Shores Twill, Rustic Cream Twine, Foam Tape, White Detail Embossing Powder (Filigree), Heat Tool, sponge, Hawaiian Shores detail

Desktop Calendar

Today I'm sharing a desktop calendar I created using PTI's CD cases, the Calendar die, the stamp set Calendar Basics, along with other sets.



Each month is a different color cardstock, with the image heat embossed with white detail embossing powder (Filigree).



I tried to choose colors that reflected the mood of each month.







It ended up being a close squeeze with all that thick cardstock, so I made a strip of cardstock with the label for the spine of the CD case. It was tricky to get a strip that small to cut straight, but I'm happy with how it turned out.

Have a great day!
Melissa

"2011 Calendar" (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Calendar Basics, Year of Flower sets, Snowflake Serenade, In Bloom and First Fruits
Paper: Various PTI cardstocks, Mini calendar pages
Ink: Versamark, various PTI inks, and Dark Chocolate
Other: White Detail EP (Filigree), Calendar page die, CD case, heat tool

Warm Wishes Mitten

Happy Friday!

I want to share some mitten gift card holder/ornaments that I made, and I think they are so cute!



I found a mitten template online, printed and cut it out. I then cut two pieces of felt and pinned the template onto the felt as a pattern and cut. Then I machine stitched the two pieces together and embellished!



The tag was cut with a Spellbinder die, and I stamped a tiny snowflake and sentiment. I punched a hole with my Crop-a-dile and strung the ribbon with tag and bell through it.

Here are some more colors:



Cream and Blueberry Sky



Raspberry Fizz



And Ocean Tides.

These mittens can fit a gift card, with room enough for a candy cane or other treat.

I have them listed in my Etsy shop for anyone interested.

Thanks for looking!
Melissa

Tags

Happy Thursday!



Here are some gift tags that I made recently as part of my offerings for last night's craft fair. I love those little images!! I packaged them up by tying some shimmery gold ribbon around the set.

Thanks for looking!
Melissa

Stamps: Fillable Frame 9, Tiny Treats: Christmas
Ink: Pure Poppy, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper: Stamoer's Select White
Other: Copic markers

Glitter cards

I'd been meaning to try the glitter to scor-tape technique for a long time now, and I finally sat down to do it the other night. I used Martha Stewart glitter, and couldn't help but pull out the one that matches Hawaiian Shores!



This first card has some non-traditional colors for a holiday card, and is very clean and simple.



My second card reminds me of a gift! Same idea with the strips of scor-tape and glitter.

Hope you have a great day!
Melissa

"peace love joy" (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Holiday Button Bits
Ink: Simply Chartreuse
Paper: Vintage Cream and Hawaiian Shores
Other: Scor-tape, glitter (Martha Stewart)

"merry and bright"
Stamps: Holiday Button Bits
Ink: Pure Poppy
Paper: Vintage Cream and Hawaiian Shores
Other: Scor-tape, Glitter (Martha Stewar), double-sided satin ribbon (Paper Source)

Holly Jolly Christmas

How is your Monday? I'm excited (and nervous) to be leading my first card "class" tonight!

I made these card recently after realizing how cute this stamp would love with the Distressed Dots paper.


Thanks for coming by!
Melissa

"Holly Jolly Christmas" (All PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Holiday Button Bits
Ink: Ripe Avocado, Magenta (Colorbox), Walnut Stain (Ranger)
Paper: Dark Chocolate, Rustic White and Distressed Dots
Other: Apron Lace border punch (Fiskars), Scarlet Jewel buttons, Rustic cream twine, sewing machine, sponge

Warm Winter Wishes

I'm back! I'm trying to use each stamp in the Holiday Jar Filler, not just those gorgeous snowflakes that I reach for all the time! So here's my cocoa card.



I applied liquid applique onto the marshmallows and heated it with my heat tool, but I'm not super impressed with the results...kind blobby! The paper is from Distressed Dots and I used the small scallop border die to cut my mat cardstock.

Hope you have a great day!
Melissa

"Warm Winter Wishes" (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: Friendship Jar, Holiday Jar Fillers, Holiday Button Bits
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Walnut Stain (Ranger)
Paper: Dark Chocolate, Rustic White and Distressed Dots
Other: sewing machine, foam tape, sponge, small scallop border die, liquid applique and heat tool

Free photo cards from Shutterfly!

Ok, I'm back again with a quick post!

I wanted to share an amazing deal I came across recently for bloggers. Shutterfly is giving bloggers 50 free holiday cards just by blogging about their amazing products and sharing the love!

I would like to show you some of my favorite photo cards. I prefer folded cards so I have lots of room to write a note inside...



I love that I can include two photos, one of each of my children and I love the font on this one!



This one has a great sentiment!



I love the elegant background on this one!

Check out all the photo holiday cards here . They also have some really cool calendars (and it looks like they are on sale!), view those here .

And of course, Shutterfly has some amazing photo books!! I make them regulary as gifts for my mother-in-law, and I did a Year in Review photo book for 2009, last December, which my kids love to page through.

The most special photo book I've made, with Shutterfly, was a book for my grandmother in England for her 90th birthday. I included photos of all her family and used a format from a digital scrapbooking company to make it beautiful!

You can view all the possibilities for photo books here .


Bloggers can get 50 free holiday cards from Shutterfly: Check it out here .

Have fun browsing!
Melissa

Peace

This month is flying by!! I can't believe I haven't posted yet in November. I've been making a ton of things for a craft fair this week, so I plan to post some of what I've been up to!



This card was made using Background Basics: Tin Types as the background, Holiday Jar Fillers and the original Friendship Jar set.



As you can see, I cut the jar label with felt, fun!

Thanks for coming by!
Melissa


"Peace" (all PTI unless noted)
Stamps: BB: Tin Types, Friendship Jars, Holiday Jar Fillers, 2009 Holiday Tags
Ink: Blue (Colorbox), Rich Cocoa (Memento), Copic markers
Paper: Kraft, Blueberry Sky and Vintage Cream
Other: Simply Chartreuse felt, silk ribbon, pinking shears, foam tape, glitter (Martha Stewart)

October PTI Blog Hop

It's Blog Hop time again!

Here is this month's challenge: "There is always a lot of focus on Christmas in our industry this time of year, as that is what the majority of the population celebrates. However, this month's blog hop is dedicated to those that celebrate winter holidays other than Christmas. Create a project that celebrates Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or some other winter holiday as we embrace everyone's beliefs in a celebration of diversity through paper crafting."

I decided to create a Hanukkah card, and it will be very handy to have one ready to send to a friend at the beginning of December!




I used the candle and flame from It's a Celebration to create a menorah of sorts. I embossed the candle in white, and the flame in gold. I then cut out the focal image withe the Mat Stack 4 die. Tbe background, stamped in gold ink, is from Background Basics: Tin Type.



The sentiments for the inside come from Inside and Out: Holidays. I didn't have a Happy Hanukkah sentiment, but I felt that this saying worked well.

Thanks for looking!
Melissa

Candy Cane Favor Box

Happy Saturday!

I'm recovering from a super busy week that included several halloween parties! I may have one more halloween card to share tomorrow, but today I thought I'd show a simple and cute favor box I made recently.



It uses the Favor It Box 2 die, and the little candy cane image from Tiny Treats: Christmas. I colored the red portion of each candy cane, and some grey for shadows.

Have a great weekend!
Melissa

Stamps: Tiny Treats: Halloween
Ink: Tuxedo Black (Memento), Copic Markers
Paper: Stamper's Select White
Other: Favor It Box 2 die

Happy Holidays

I made this box very quickly as I wanted to try out some new goodies!



I used Favor It 2 Box, Tiny Treats: Christmas, Mat Stack 1 and the new color, Blueberry Sky.



Here's a close up of the front focal image. I colored the penguin with Copic markers, and the ribbon is 1/4 " silk ribbon. The pink ink and cardstock is Hibiscus Burst.

Thanks for looking!
Melissa