Double the Love Card

I have a simple baby card to share with you today! This card is for a friend of mine who's having twin girls. I just went to her baby shower yesterday. We've known each other since we were babies (our parents are friends) and now we both have babies! :)

I made this card using a sketch from the Clean and Simple card classes. This is from the 1st day, but I signed up for the class later so am playing some catch up! So glad I signed up, it has been wonderful and I love all the lessons!!

I diecut out the onesies and heart from MFT's notches dies and then inserted different colored diecut shapes. The sentiment is from PTI's Bitty Baby Blessings. I used the Cuttlebug folder Swiss Dots to add some dimension, but used the reserve side of the embossing, because I liked that it was more subtle. To finish it off I added a pink shell sheer polka dot ribbon from A Muse Studio. The sentiment inside says, "Sometimes it's the smallish things that take up the most room in our hearts."

I love these classes and it is not too late to sign up! The lessons will always be available to read and the gallery and store discounts are still available for another week. Thanks for stopping by. Remember, there is still time to enter my giveaway HERE. Have a sunny day!

New Challenge: Make a Card for Your Mom!

It's my turn to host a Papertrey Pals challenge! The challenge for May is to make a card for your mom and to include something hand colored in your project! :)

For all the details, please see the Papertrey Pals challenge blog. Everyone is free to join in and we would love for you to play along! :) You can link up any mother's card that you have already posted to your blog in May too!

Have a sunny day!

MIM & OLW: Baby Card

This week's One Layer Wednesday challenge is to use an inspiration photo from Pinterest. I decided to make a baby card! If you did not see my post yesterday, I recently found out that I'm expecting my first child. :) Here is the card, "Every Child Begins the World Again".

I think this card speaks to the idea of renewal and the hope that a new baby brings to the world. It also kind of reminds me of the hopeful feeling of spring after a long winter.

I used this photo as inspiration. I just loved the bright colors of the room and the unique design.

I am also entering this into PTI's Make It Monday challenge to use distressed edges in your card. I edged the card with Tea Dye ink and then distressed it with Tim Holtz's paper distresser tool. This is a great tool to make distressing your card much easier! It can also help to ink it before you distress. The wetness of the ink can make it tear a little easier.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Have a very sunny day today! :)

All supplies are Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Merry Little Christmas, Inside and Out: Baby, Love Lives Here
Ink: Versafine Graphite Black (Brilliance), Sunflower Yellow (Brilliance), Tea Dye Duo
Paper: Vintage Cream

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)

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

Featured on CREATE blog

I just found out that the small fall thank you cards I made were featured on the Scrapbook Trends CREATE blog.

The link is here. So thrilled!! Thanks so much to the CREATE blog for posting these! :)

One Layer Wednesday Challenge: Christmas Kindness

This week's One Layer Wednesday challenge is to make a Christmas card. It is a special edition of the OLWC because these cards will be sent to inmates at the North Dakota penitentiary, so they will have Christmas cards to send to their loved ones.

I tried to think of a card that would be warm and soothing for someone to receive. It is really cold in North Dakota, so I wanted to make something with warm colors. So I stamped the Thomas Kinkade winter scene onto PTI's warm Fine Linen CS using Versafine Toffee ink. Then I added the sentiment from PTI's new Big & Bold Holiday wishes (love this new set) in red. 

To finish the card, I spritzed it with PTI's gold mist spray to give it a warm glow and shimmer, almost like a lamp light over the whole scene. 

I will be sending this out to Rhonda tomorrow! If you would like to contribute cards to this Christmas Kindness card drive you can find the details on Susan's blog here. Thanks so much for stopping by today. Hope you have a warm and sunny day!

Supplies (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise listed)
Stamps: Christmas Village (Thomas Kinkade, CHF), Big and Bold Holiday Wishes
Paper: Fine Linen
Ink: Toffee (Versafine), Rocket Red (Brilliance), Rocket Red Gold (Brilliance)
Other: Gold mist

Spooky Haunted House Treat Box

Today's post features some spooky treat boxes that I made to go with the small cards I posted yesterday. It was a lot of fun to do! I diecut a box using the Favor it Box 2 die, and then embossed the top part of it with a Haunted Halloween Cuttlebug folder (available here).

Then using a Q-tip and the tip of my paper piercer I added highlights to the embossed areas using orange and yellow acrylic paint. The highlights really helped to emphasize the embossing and give it more dimension. I then swiped Fresh Snow PTI ink along the edges of the front and back of the box to give it a foggy night feel.

Here's a detail.

To finish the box I swirled bits of pillow stuffing that I got from Michaels around the handle of the box to look like spooky clouds. I smooshed in a little bit of orange acrylic paint to give it more nighttime glow. Then I added some bats from a Martha Stewart punch, to give a 3D sense that the bats are flying out of the painting.

I made a lot of these and each of them was handpainted! It took a little while to finish, but I love how it turned out. Can't wait to hand them out!

I am entering these treat boxes into the Cuttlebug Spot's Challenge, Simon Says Stamps Challenge to make something spooky, and the Cupcake Craft Challenge 114 to make a Sweet Treat for Halloween. If you get a chance, play along with these fun challenges!

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I wish you a very happy and safe Halloween! Have fun! :)

Supplies
Paper: True Black
Ink: Fresh Snow
Paint: Tangerine, Yellow acrylic paint (Folk Art)
Other: Favor It Box 2 Die (PTI), Haunted Halloween embossing folder (Cuttlebug), Bat punch (Martha Stewart), pillow stuffing (Michaels)

Happy Haunting!

So are you getting ready for Halloween? We are going to a Halloween party tomorrow tonight. We're still trying to finalize our costumes. My husband is probably going as a graduate, and I'm still trying to decide between an angel and a cat. It should be fun. We're looking forward to it! What are you dressing up as?

So today I'm posting some small cards I made for family and friends to celebrate Halloween. They will be getting these along with a treat box (which I'm posting tomorrow). I had a lot of fun making these! :) I am also entering this into Caardvarks challenge to decorate a card inside and out. The details are HERE. If you get a chance, play along with this fun challenge!

I stamped PTI's Tiny Treats: Halloween images (love these!) in Versamark and then heat embossed in white and red. I then took a Q-tip and added eerie moonlight accents with an orange acrylic paint. It was fun adding these accents to create a haunted mood. I like how the circle hints at the idea of a full moon.

On the inside I stamped the ghost and added the Boo several times with clear EP. Just a fun touch, to seem almost like the ghost was "waiting" inside the house, ready to say Boo! when you "stepped" inside. :)

I'll be back tomorrow with a treat box I made to accompany this card. I used Favor It Box 2 and a cool Cuttlebug folder. See you tomorrow! Have a spooky, sunny weekend!!!

Supplies (all Papertrey Ink unless otherwise listed.)
Stamps: Tiny Treats: Halloween, Spooky Treats
Paper: True Black
Ink: Versamark
Other: Mat Stack 4 die, Detail White & Clear EP (Stampendous), Rouge EP (American Crafts Zing!), Tangerine acrylic paint (Folk Art)

Just a Note: More Small Thank You Notes

In yesterday's post, I said I would be posting more small thank you cards with a different twist. Today's cards also use the Mat Stack 4 stamp and die but these have a more retro musical look.

By stamping the frame in a shimmery gold/black it gives a more retro, almost record player-like look. The circles in the mat stack kind of look like visual rhythms in a song or music notes. I prefer the mat stack stamped in lighter colors but do like the contrast it provided for this card. I used just a spot of red, with the intention of entering this into Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge here. I masked out the circle and stamped the lines from the PTI "Take Note" stamp set.

I curved the inside sentiment and added a musical note, leaving just enough room to add a short message.

My family has quite a few musicians in it...my aunt was a professional violinist, my grandma plays the piano and used to teach and my uncle plays drums...so it is nice to have a few music "notes" on hand! :)

That's all for today! Have a sunny Sunday! :)

All supplies are Papertrey Ink (PTI) unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Take Note, Tiny Treats: Halloween, Just A Note (musical notes, Wplus9), Thanks (sentiment, American Crafts)
Paper: Stampers Select White
Ink: Brilliance inks (Lightning Black, Rocket Red)
Other: Mat Stack 4 die

P.S. Just a reminder, my url has changed to www.craftinginsunshine.com. I redirected it through blogger so all links to the previous url (www.monicacrafts.blogspot.com) still work. Just wanted to let you know in case you wanted to update!

It's beginning to look a lot like...Fall!

So in Florida, we don't have autumn (or winter either for that matter), so if we want to experience the missing seasons, we have to get a little creative! I love fall leaves, but the closest I can get to them is by stamping them. So that's exactly what I did for this card project! :)

I got a beautiful CHF Oak Leaves backgrounder stamp in the mail recently and I immediately thought it would look lovely stamped in gold on white paper. Then I saw Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge this week, which challenged us to add something metal to our cards (you can find the details: HERE) and this project came together!

Here's my entry. It is a set of metallic leaf notecards to give as a gift.

I stamped the leaves with Versamark ink onto Papertrey Ink's white shimmer cardstock. (And I'm going to totally enable you and say that if you haven't yet tried it--you must! So beautiful.) Then I sprinkled embossing powder onto each and heat set it.

Another interesting thing, I used a different EP brand for each card. Here are some closeups so you can see the shimmer of the cardstock and compare the embossing powders for yourself. (Click on the images to see them enlarged.)

Here's the gold (using PTI Filigree gold EP). See the CS shimmer? :) And check out the amazing detail. You can see all the veins of the leaf! The PTI Filigree powder gave the most detailed and clear lines.

And the copper (using Zing! EP). The lines were much "puffier" and thicker and not as detailed.

And the silver (using Stampendous detail EP). The lines were very precise, but there were a lot more excess stray bits that stuck to the paper and in between the veins of the leaf.

Isn't the detail in these leaves amazing? I had a lot of fun stamping them. Now they are sitting on a shelf in my living room, shimmering in the afternoon sunlight. Nevermind that it's 89 degrees outside--if I turn down the A/C just enough, it's beginning to feel like fall around here! :)

That's all for today! Enjoy your beautiful, sunny autumn day wherever you might be! :)

Supplies
Stamps: Oak Leaf Backgrounder (Cornish Heritage Farms)
Paper: White Shimmer Paper (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Versamark
Other: Embossing Powers- Gold (Filigree-available at PTI), Silver (Stampendous, detail), Copper (Zing, American Crafts)

Watermelons!

So today’s post is all about watermelons. Yummy, juicy watermelons. Nothing says summer quite like them.

One of my favorite summer memories from childhood was slicing open a huge watermelon out by the pool and spitting the seeds into the grass. I have no idea why it's so fun, but it is!

So here’s today’s card, You’re So Sweet.

I made it for Ingrid’s challenge to make a summer card. I am also entering it into a Passion for Papertrey’s challenge, since they are also featuring summer cards right now. Summer is definitely in full swing! I also found out that Sarah Martina is hosting a "fruity" card challenge, so I'm entering it there as well. Be sure to play along with these fun challenges! :)

The veins of the watermelon are from a Halloween spiderweb Cuttlebug folder. Then I swiped on some fresh snow to give it a little juiciness. The watermelon rind is a branches cuttlebug folder swiped with Simply Chartreuse to emphasize the stripes.

And here is the back of the "watermelon". :)

Since we’re on the topic of watermelons, here’s some fun things I found while looking for inspiration for the challenge!

How about some watermelon shoes?

 

Or maybe a watermelon sweater?

Or how about a watermelon car?

And yes, the inside is pink. ;)

Who knew there were so many watermelon products out there!

That’s all for today! 

Thanks for checking out my blog! I really appreciate you stopping by. It is so *sweet* of you! ;)

Have a wonderful, sunshine-filled summer day! :)

ETA: Thanks so much to Ingrid for choosing this card for her summer challenge! Thanks also to A Passion for Papertrey for featuring this card as one of the Top 3 Passionistas cards!

All supplies are Papertrey Ink unless noted.

STAMPS: Cupcake Collection (sentiment)

INK: Dark Chocolate, Berry Sorbet, Simply Chartreuse, Fresh Snow, Tea Dye Duo

PAPER: Simply Chartresue, Berry Sorbet, Rustic White

OTHER: 1/8” white silk ribbon, rustic twine, cream fabric (Michaels), Cuttlebug folders-Halloween spiderweb and branches, Dark Chocolate buttons, pearls (Michaels)

You're a Grand Old Flag...

I hope you all are having a wonderful 4th of July! I just wanted to pop on here real quick to show you a card I made for Susan's One Layer Wednesday challenge on the Simplicity blog. The challenge this week was to create a patriotic card using just one layer of paper and ink. So I thought it might be fun to stamp an abstract flag design! I am also entering this into Ted's Old Glory challenge, which challenged us to use the colors red, white and blue.

The stripes are from the fun stamp set by Practicing Creativity, called You're Dandy. The other stamps are from We R Memory Keepers, Old Glory collection. I masked around the circle and around the sentiment and then added red gemstones to give it some 4th of July sparkle. You can find my other 4th of July posts HERE and HERE. I just love the bold shapes and colors of this holiday!

Have a fun and safe 4th of July with your family and friends! And thanks so much for stopping by the blog today. Have a wonderful, sunshine-filled 4th of July! :)

Supplies used.
STAMPS: Freedom from the Old Glory collection (We R Memory Keepers), You're Dandy (Practicing Creativity)
INK: Rocket Red (Brilliance), Mediterranean Blue (Brilliance)
PAPER: Stampers Select White (Papertrey Ink)
OTHER: Red gemstones (Michael's)

One Layer Wednesday: Overlapping

This week's One Layer Wednesday challenge on the Simplicity blog was to create a one layer card overlapping an image with a sentiment. Here is the card I made for the challenge, There's No One Like You.

Just received my first Hero Arts order from Stampin' Treasures, and had fun playing with some of my new goodies. 

I love that in real life no two butterflies or clouds look alike, so I especially like this sentiment for the card. It might make a nice winter card to use the same sentiment with a snowflake, since they are also unique. 

The butterfly is stamped from the Antique Engravings set using the rock 'n roll technique with Memento Tangelo and Lady Bug inks. I thought it might be interesting to do some extra overlapping for the challenge, so I then masked the butterfly and stamped the cloud stamp in Memento Summer Sky ink. Finally, I stamped the sentiment from the Happiness Messages set directly onto the butterfly with Memento Rich Cocoa ink. I didn't take a picture of it, but the clouds are stamped and continued on the back of the card too.

I did several versions of this card. Here is a simpler version without the clouds.

And here is a more masculine, natural version with a PTI woodgrain background and rustic cream paper. The woodgrain and edges are sponged with PTI Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo.

That's all for today! Be sure to check out the Simplicity blog and play along. It's a lot of fun!

Have a wonderful, sunshine-filled day! :)

One Layer Wednesday with Ribbon

Here is my entry for Simplicity's weekly challenge. We could only use a single folded card, ink and one piece of ribbon. What a fun challenge!

I used the Lawn Fawn stamps I received recently. I just adore her new stamp line. The images are so adorable, fun and happy!

To emphasize the phone ringing, I stamped the image once in yellow ink and then stamped again right on top with a contrasting ink for each of the images.

I created a double-sided ribbon by scor-taping a piece of satin Lemon Tart ribbon to a satin Summer Sunrise ribbon to add some dimension in the color. Then I wound the ribbon on the side to mirror the cord on the phone headset.

I still feel like the ribbon needs something. Any suggestions?

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