Saturday, February 27, 2010

Valentine's Day Card Swap

We had a Valentine's Day card swap at the Papertrey Ink Forum, and I sent a card and a few other things to Diane, who is so sweet and a forum regular. She is also a fellow member of the Papertrey Pals, which is a Papertrey Ink fan club and card making group.

Here is the Valentine's card I made, I Love You Rain or Shine. I used the PTI stamp set, Scattered Showers for the card. That set has the sweetest sentiments and is so fun to stamp with! Definitely recommend it. I stamped the outlined umbrellas on PTI patterned paper and trimmed them out. Then I added Red Poppy, Raspberry Fizz and Hibiscus Burst PTI colors behind the image.


I also sent a package of Papertrey Ink samplers. I decorated a paper mache box with PTI Valentine's patterned paper and filled it with a sampling of PTI cardstock, many of the ribbons and a boxful of PTI buttons.



Here are the cardstock and ribbons. Don't you just love the rainbow of colors all lined up?



And here is the heart shaped box of PTI buttons. I tried to include a variety of sizes in each of the colors.



Diane emailed me and said that she liked what I sent to her. :)

Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you all a sunshine-filled day! :)

Friday, February 19, 2010

Baby Makes Three

I went back to Michael's and bought one more heart punch so I could make today's card. This card is the last in the series of CAS cards that I made using punches.

It is called, Baby Makes Three.





The father, mother and baby hearts united make one heart...one love...one family.

Feel free to scroll to the next post if you haven't seen the other CAS cards yet.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a sunny day! :)

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Punch Happy!

Before I begin with the other cards, I thought I’d start today’s post with a warm up since it is so darn cold everywhere right now!



Feeling warmer? :) :) Summer Sunrise is such a warming color, isn’t it? I wish all of you readers with cold weather a snuggie and a hot cup of coffee! I have to say though that it is pretty darn cold here in Florida too…55 is the high temp for tomorrow, which is unusually cold for us.

I stopped in at Michael’s the other day to pick up something small and as often happens, something else jumped out at me. I noticed the punches were all 40 percent off so picked up a few. 

All I have to say is, why did no one ever tell me how awesome punches are? I already know about using punches for tags and punching out stamped images, but I had no idea the potential they have all on their own as a focal point. That is, until I started playing around with them. What fun! I am officially *punch* happy. 

The cards I have today are small (2.75x2.75) and super simple. I already have some ideas how I might take the punch designs even further.

Here is today’s first card: Happy Birthday.


The cute cupcake punch is from EK Success. It's a great cupcake to use for a focal point on a birthday card. I love the simplicity of the white. It pops and provides an abstract silhouette against the red. Another option for later, could also be to punch the cupcake from patterned paper.

Here's another card, Many Blessings. 


I started to realize how fun it can be to begin a card with the sentiment first, and then find a supporting image to match. Usually it seems that we begin with the image and then find the sentiment. Why not mix things up and make a card that is sentiment-focused?

The next card, Sending My Love, uses nested punches. 


I bought several of the same image in different sizes so I could layer the punches inside one another. By punching images out of other punched images, the possibilities are endless! It is very simple and fun to get creative with this.

Here is another card using nested punches.


The nested stars are cascading out from one another, which gives them movement and energy. The yellow background twinkles in the negative space within the stars' centers.

 The next card uses nested punches, but takes it a step further by layering the punches.


By adding the yellow layered punch in the middle, it makes the whole card shine and pop a bit more. It could be fun to take the layering even farther and create a whole background of layered and nested punches!

And here's the last card, Believe.


This could work as a Christmas tag to attach to a gift. It also uses the same concept of layering the images within the other images and the yellow makes the star twinkle a bit.

Here are all of the cards together! :) It can be fun mixing it up a little every now and then by using punches as a focal point and pairing it with vivid sentiments. Sometimes it's nice to get very basic and to really think about the message and feeling you're getting across.



Thanks for stopping by! I will have more posts this week, which will include challenge cards. So I would love for you to check back soon.

I would be honored if you’d follow my blog by clicking on the Google link to the right. Thanks for your comments. They make me smile! :) Wishing you a sunny (and warm) day!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Love makes all the difference.

Hope you all had truly wonderful Valentine’s Day! Did you do something special? We kept it pretty simple and made sure to just spend more time together. I woke up to a card, small box of chocolates and a sweet, smiling husband. :)

Today I’m posting a couple of cards I received recently. I’ve got much more to post in the next few days to catch up on some challenges and also to share with you some cards I’ve made.

Here’s the first card I received. One of my closest friends, Trish, mailed this beautiful Valentine’s card to me and my husband. She totally surprised us! It was so thoughtful of her.



Trish and I were roommates in college. She's a lot of fun and we’ve both been there for each other through a lot. We had been making cards together, but she just recently moved away and so she mailed me this card. Thanks so much, Trish!! :)

Also, I got this really sweet card from Peggysue for the Papertrey Ink Forum Valentine’s Day swap.



Thanks so much Peggysue for sending this. She also included some clear rhinestones for me to use. Very thoughtful!

In honor of Valentine's Day, here’s a short description about love. You may have seen this before. I hope this is a reminder of what love really means.

“Love is patient. Love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking. It is not easily angered; it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails.” I Corinthians 13:4-8

It really does seem that when there is love behind something—whether it be a genuine smile, a kind gesture or a thoughtful card from a friend—love is what makes it so special and real. Love makes all the difference.

Thanks for stopping by! Wishing you a sunny and love-filled day!
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