The Top Ten Cards of 2010

Mrs. Weyremaster's blog is hosting a special blog hop where you choose your Top Ten Cards of the Year from your blog. It was really interesting to look back on all the cards I made from the past year, and seems especially fitting to post now because my first blogiversary is coming up on January 6th (check back if you can, I will be doing a few giveaways). The past year of blogging has been such a great experience. Not only has it been fun sharing these cards, it has been fun to meet you all too!

So without further ado and in no particular order, here are my Top 10 from 2010. If you'd like to read a little more about any of the cards, click on the title and it will take you to the original post. 

Watermelon Card

Wish Big

Happy Haunting mini shaped card

Tri-fold Thanksgiving card

4th of July card

Book Lovers vintage notecard set

Feel Better Soon card

Fall Thank You notes

Wishing You a Happy Birthday

Thankful for Family

And here is one more card that I also loved from this year! :)

Happy Valentine's Day

Thanks so much for stopping by. Would love to see the Top 10 that you come up with too! If this is the first time you're visiting my blog, welcome and I would love to see you again. Hope you all have a wonderful, sunshine-filled day today! :)

Peppermints Cookies in a Jar

Hi there! Today I thought I'd share with you one of the gifts I gave out this year: peppermint-flavored Oreo cookies in a jar. They were a simple, last minute project and were a lot of fun to put together.

I bought a bag of Oreos with peppermint-flavored icing and unwrapped about two dozen starlite mints, then scattered them inside a large craft jar from Hobby Lobby. The mints helped to add a splash of color.

The jar was filled to the top when I gave it to my mom, but by the time I took this picture someone in my family had already sneaked a few cookies (I suspect my little sis). :)

And here's the tag that coordinates with it. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the white and gold papers have a shimmer. The peppermint is from BB: Christmas and the tag is from PTI Everyday Treats (a wonderful set).

I made them for several friends and family and I love how they turned out.  I will be back later today with a list of Top 10 cards for the year. It's a fun blog hop being hosted by this blog. Hope you have a sunny day!

Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise listed)

Stamps: Everyday Treats, BB: Christmas, 2010 Holiday Tags

Paper: White Shimmer, Gold Shimmer

Ink: Graphite Black, Rocket Red (Brilliance)

Dies: Limitless Layers, Tag Sale 2

Other: Ball craft jar (Hobby Lobby), Gold string (Michaels)

A Gift for a Doctor or Medical Student

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! Here is one of the Christmas gifts I gave my brother this year. He is in med school studying to be a doctor, and I usually try to think of medical-related things to give him. One year I gave him the game Operation and this year I made him a special tin of goodies.

When I saw this label stamp from the Waltzingmouse Rescue Remedies stamp set, I decided I had to make this for my brother for Christmas. 

I stamped the label onto white shimmer cardstock using Brilliance inks (both the paper and ink have a subtle sparkle), and then attached it to the tin with Scor-tape. The cold steel of the tea tin already looks kind of medicinal, like an old fashioned medicine bottle.

Here's the "medicine" inside the tin...

Peppermints! :) I lined the inside of the tin with Christmas parchment paper.

My brother thought it was fun and really liked it. Now I need to start thinking what I'll make for him next year!

I made a lot of gifts, tags and wrapping this year for Christmas. I'll be sharing more with you over the next few days.

Supplies

Stamps: Waltzingmouse Rescue Remedies

Paper: White Shimmer (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Rocket Red, Graphite Black (Brilliance inks)

Other: Tea Tin (Papertrey Ink), Labels 4 nesties

ETA: My grandma was readmitted to the hospital and I promised her I would send lots of prayers. If you have a spare moment, could you send up some prayers for my grandma, that she starts to feel better real soon. Thanks so much.

An Old Fashioned Christmas...

Hi everyone! I'm sure you are all quite busy with Christmas preparations, so I'll keep today's post a bit shorter. I'll be back later with the supply list for you. This card was made for someone who I thought would like a more vintage-type look.

I used blue Amuse gingham paper (love gingham!) and red twine with PTI's banner die to add to the vintage look. I almost wanted it to look like an old ad for Christmas candy canes. ;)

I colored the candy canes using colored pencils. I liked the softness of the pencils vs. copics. I think it made the candy canes look a little more vintage-y.

And the inside sentiment, which works nicely for a vintage-inspired card.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful, happy and very sunshine-filled Christmas!

ETA: Supply List (All PTI unless otherwise listed.)

Stamps: Holiday Jar Fillers, Banner Builder, Compliments of the Season (stars, Waltzingmouse)

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Rocket Red (Brilliance)

Paper: Kraft, Rustic Cream, Blue Gingham (Amuse)

Dies: Labels No. 8 (Nesties), Banner Builder

Other: Pure Poppy twine, red rhinestones (Michaels)

Bundle of Fun: Tiny Treats Tags

My good friend Trish came over to do some crafting and we came up with these tags together for her to give to her family for Christmas. I always love when she comes over, not only because she's super fun but also because we have such different crafting styles. She shows me new ways of looking at things. For instance, I normally would not have used this color combo with the penguin, but I love it!

And here's another tag using the adorable reindeer.

It was fun to use up a lot of pretty patterned papers too! I tend to hold onto them and don't use them enough. The label stamps are Waltzingmouse Very Vintage Labels No. 1. The images are from PTI Tiny Treats: Christmas.

And all the tags lined up. 

It was a lot of fun and we hope to craft again soon. Hope you have the sunniest of days. Bundle up and stay warm out there! ;)

Christmas Chocolate Wrappers

Hi there! Hope you are doing well. How are your Christmas projects coming along? Only 10 days left until Christmas! I'm realizing how little time there is until Christmas! Trying not to think about how much I still have left to do!!

Today I'm sharing with you some Christmas chocolate bar treats I wrapped up a few days ago to hand out. (Read through the post and I'll reveal at the end what's inside. :)

I wrapped them in some solid red wrapping paper I bought at Party City. I also picked up several other solid colors. It's handy to buy plain wrapping paper so you can dress it up any way you want and for many occasions too. This red paper would also work for Valentine's Day and birthdays too!

Then I tied some PTI white grosgrain around the bar along with some metallic gold elastic string and attached a small gold bell to each.

I embossed the tree tag onto PTI white shimmer cardstock. The tag is from PTI's 2008 Holiday Tags. It was my very first PTI purchase a couple years ago and it's still one of my very favorites. There are so many bits and pieces that you can use this set for many Christmases!

Then I attached some mini pearls to look like little ornament decorations. I am entering this into the Passion for Papertrey challenge to use pearls in your project. I am also linking this to the Belli Challenge to use Christmas embellishments in your project.

And here's what inside!

They are Croatian chocolate bars in several flavors: hazelnet, caramel, etc. Croatian chocolate is amazing! It is full of soft flavor (often hazelnut), but not too sweet.

And here are the bars that I wrapped, all ready to be given away! Yum!

Thanks for stopping by today. I really appreciate it and hope your Christmas preparations are going well. Have a wonderful and sunny wintery day!

Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise listed.)
Stamps: 2008 Holiday Tags
Ink: Versamark
Paper: White Shimmer
Ribbon: Snow White Grosgrain, gold metallic elastic (Michaels)
Other: Gold Filigree, Metallic Green (Zing! American Crafts), Bells (Joanns), Red wrapping paper (Party City)

Christmas Party Favors and Treats

Christmas is one of my most favorite times of the year. I made these treats last Christmas, but I didn't start my blog until January, so thought I'd share them with you now! :)

I made these small holiday favor boxes for my mom last year for her Christmas party. I assembled some small acrylic boxes, inserted some peppermints, glued a piece of PTI Pure Poppy saddle stitch ribbon (my favorite type of ribbon) and stamped the message from PTI Holiday Treats.

Super simple to do, but it looked great having a couple dozen of these lined up for the guests. And the clear boxes worked well so you could see the colorful, festive peppermints inside. Peppermints make a nice after dinner treat.

I also stamped some address labels using PTI's Holiday Treats set. That stamp set got a lot of use last year! And then I tied it up with Pure Poppy saddle stitch ribbon.

I also made some gingerbread man tins and stamped the cute gingerbread man again from the Holiday Treats set. And not all of the gingerbread cookies fit in the tins, so I just had to eat a few. ;)

This was my first time mass producing cards, so I wanted to keep it simple. Funny, I had bought several Christmas stamp sets and I ended up using a non-Christmas set, Sign Language by PTI.

Thanks for taking a look today! I have another post going up tomorrow with some chocolate wrappers I made this year. Hope you have a wonderful, sunny day! :)

Supplies (All Papertrey Ink unless otherwise listed.)

Stamps: Holiday Treats, Sign Language

Ink: Versamark

Ribbon: Fresh Snow twill

Other: Pure Poppy saddle stitch ribbon, Rustic Jute twine, Clear Top tins, Acrylic boxes (Oriental Trading Co.), Stampendous detail white embossing powder

ETA: I actually posted this a couple of weeks ago. It was set to auto post after the Thanksgiving holiday, but I had a few glitches with it and so had to remove it. I'm just now reposting it. Sorry for the repost for those who may have already seen this. Don't mean to cause any confusion, but still wanted to share these projects!

The Love of Learning...

I love to read. In my house we have a whole wall from ceiling to floor filled with IKEA bookshelves. I've been a big reader my whole life and so have many people in my family including my dad, grandma and uncle. It is so fun to constantly be learning something new and there is nothing better than a good book.

When Papertrey Ink released the All Booked Up stamp set, I was thrilled. To combine my two big loves: reading and crafting seemed like a dream come true.

I made this notecard set as a gift for my uncle. He is so generous and always surprising others with thoughtful books, so I thought he could slip these notecards into the books. I started with this card and then decided to make a series for him.

I am entering these cards into Caardvarks final challenge to make a monochromatic card. So sad to hear that they will no longer be around. I really like their challenges!

I stamped the images with PTI's gorgeous All Booked Up set. The little flourish image and the lines are from the PTI Faux Ribbon stamp set. There are several flourishes in that set that are perfect for corners! I stamped the flourishes first in the corner and then masked off the lines and stamped them between.

Each of the notecards is 4-1/4" x 4". I also inked around the edges with Tea Dye Duo to give it an aged vintage book feel.

And here is the whole series. I'm also planning to make matching bookmarks and bookplates to go with this too!
(ETA: The rest of the book lover's set is in this post: HERE.)

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful and sunshine-filled day!

ETA: Thanks so much to Caardvarks for choosing this notecard set as a winner for their final challenge!


All supplies are Papertrey Ink unless otherwise listed.
Stamps: All Booked Up, Faux Ribbon
Ink: Graphite Black (Brilliance), Tea Dye Duo
Paper: Kraft

Win a Free Waltzingmouse stamp set!

Joan has started a giveaway and is offering a free Waltzingmouse stamp set of your choice. You can find more information about it on her blog here!

If you are not already registered, you must set up a username and password on the WMS forum and then post to this thread by December 5th. This is a great opportunity for those who have been wanting to try out the WMS sets and also for those who already love them too. They are designed beautifully and are made of high quality photopolymer. Go check it out! :)

ETA: This contest has ended. She said that she will offer this again in the future though, so keep checking back to the WMS forum when you get a chance.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi everyone! Hope you're having a nice Thanksgiving! I have two more cards to share with you today that I made for relatives to celebrate Thanksgiving Day.

I stamped the images on a cream tri-fold card, so there would be several layers to the card.

For the second layer of the card, I hung the fall charm with twine so it is floating in the window. 

You can't tell from the photo, but I colored the metal charm with an orange copic marker. It added a beautiful copper sheen to the pewter charm. If you didn't know it already, you can dye so many things with your copic markers, including metal, acrylic, pearls, gemstones, etc. It can add a nice subtle touch to do this!

For the final layer of the card, I stamped the large wheat image from PTI First Fruits. You can see hints of the wheat through the other layers. The sentiment, from Gobble, Gobble, fits perfectly inside.

And this is a second version of the same card with a few more accents and details and the final of the three fall charms.

I'm thankful for my family, but I'm also thankful for all of you who take the time to stop by here. I appreciate it so much and am grateful to have you all as readers and followers.

Have a wonderful and sunny Thanksgiving Day. May you have a special day with your family and find many blessed reasons to be grateful today!

Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise listed.)

Stamps: First Fruits; Gobble, Gobble, Frame-It (Waltzingmouse)

Ink: Potters Clay, Rich Cocoa (Memento), Tea Dye Duo, Toffee (Versafine)

Paper: K & Company Tri-fold cream cards

Other: Rustic Jute twine, Fall charms (Karen Foster), Fine Linen buttons, Dark Chocolate satin ribbon, Terracotta Tile satin ribbon

Thankful for Family...

Today's card is a Thanksgiving card that I made for my grandparents. I want them to know how thankful we are for them and how much we love and appreciate them.

I love the sentiments in the PTI First Fruits set. They are so unique and heartfelt for Thanksgiving cards. The frame image is a WMS stamp and the acorn charm is part of a set of 3 (you'll see the other two charms in tomorrow's post.)

And here's the inside sentiment, which is from Gobble, Gobble. I actually bought that set for it's little images and sentiments, not for the turkey, although he is super cute. It's got a lot of versatile Thanksgiving stamps.

That's all for today! Have a wonderful and sunny Thanksgiving day with your family and friends. :)

Supplies (All PTI unless otherwise listed.)
Stamps: First Fruits; Gobble, Gobble, Frame-It (Waltzingmouse)
Ink: Potters Clay, Rich Cocoa (Memento), Tea Dye Duo
Paper: Rustic Cream, Autumn Abundance
Other: Rustic Jute twine, acorn charm (Karen Foster)

A Sweet Surprise...

My husband surprised me with these today for our two year anniversary, which we're celebrating this weekend.

Tomorrow we're going on a lunch cruise on the same riverboat we got married on.

Hope you're having a nice weekend!

Thank You Bookmarks

Thanks so much for all the kind thoughts and prayers for my grandma. She seems to be doing better each day and we are hoping that she might even be doing well enough by next week to leave the hospital to spend Thanksgiving at the house. She's looking forward to seeing a lot of family next week and I think that is helping to lift her spirits.

Today I have some thank you bookmarks to share with you.

I made a whole bunch of these bookmarks to slip into a few books as a thank you. These also make a great thank you if you want to send something other than a card to someone.

I didn't want to stamp the thank you on there permanently, so I stamped it onto a trimmed Post-It note. That way the recipient can remove the thank you and then use the bookmark. It's a way to say thank you if you aren't able to make a card to go along with it.

I stamped the book image from PTI School Time and the Thank You from American Crafts stamp set.

I made some Fall bookmarks using Terracotta Tile and Harvest Gold.

Here's a closeup of the stamped image and the PTI Book Print Impression Plate embossing. I think that Book Print IP is one of my favorites! It really adds a lot to the bookmark.

And I made some more neutral, natural looking ones too and added twine to add to the rustic, woodsy feel. These would be great to give to a guy as a thank you.

That's all for today. I appreciate so much you stopping by. Have a great, sunny weekend! :)

Supplies (All Papertrey ink unless otherwise listed.)
Stamps: All Booked Up, School Time, Thank You (American Crafts)
Ink: Fresh Snow, Terracotta Tile, Simply Chartreuse
Paper: Terracotta Tile, Harvest Gold, Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Rustic Cream, SS white
Other: Bookmark die, Book Print Impression Plate, Rustic Jute twine, 1/8" white silk ribbon