Just a Note: More Mini Cards! :)

I sold a few things recently and I like to include a small note when I mail the package out! So I thought I'd share with you some mini notes I made using the PTI Lunchbox Note die (my favorite PTI die at the moment!). I love to make mini cards, I think it's my favorite kind of card. :)

The PTI Postmarks set is a wonderful set, full of so many great little images that you can mix and match! It also works really well with the Button Boutique set.

And the inside of the notecard...

I also decorated the back of the notes using the woman's silhouette stamp (from Postmarks) and the handmade stamp (from Button Boutique). It's a sort of way to "sign" the back of the notecard. :)

And one more thing! Some of the stamps in the PTI Postmarks set work great on the packages themselves. It's a way to decorate the package, but also make sure it arrives safe and sound! :)

Here are all of the notecards together!

And my apologies that I have not updated over the past month. We were having some work done in our home, so it was a little hard to find room to craft. I plan to do many more posts over the coming weeks. Thanks so much for stopping by! :) Have a sunny day!!

Gift Set for my Aunt

Awhile ago I posted a patterned paper calendar I made for my Aunt. The calendar is here. I realized that I never posted on my blog the rest of the set that I made for her. So I thought I would share it with you today. :) 

I made her a coordinating set of goodies for her to keep on her desk.

It included a PTI notebook and RSVP pen with matching paper.

A desk calendar...

And a set of magnets. 

Using a circle punch, I punched out some circles and attached them to epoxy circles. Then I glued these epoxy stickers to strong earth magnets. I needed a way to secure them, so I attached the mini magnets to a long magnet strip and glued that to a bookmark diecut. It kept everything in place so they didn't go sliding around.

Here's the whole set! :)

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

ETA: I was emailed a few questions so thought I'd add some details about how I made some of this! The basic dimensions for the notebook and RSVP pen are on Kim's blog here. I bought the magnets from this ebay seller here and attached them with E-6000 glue. HTH!

Papertrey Ink March Blog Hop: Embroidery Floss

I've been using PTI products for awhile, but this is my first PTI Blog Hop. I'm so happy to be finally playing along! :) And I can't wait to hop through and see all of your projects!

This month's challenge was to use embroidery floss on our projects (the details are here).

I recently got my new PTI order and this project uses the new stamps I got from the new release. I love the new PTI mini envelope die. It would be great if they also released one for a gift card too (PTI are you listening?) :)

So for the Blog Hop project I thought I'd decorate one of the new mini envelopes. I stamped one of the new mini tags to look almost like a thought bubble coming from the bird. I stamped it on the CS then stamped on a tag diecut and raised it on a pop dot, then added some aqua mist colored floss.

I stamped the back of the envelope with the airmail border stamp from Postmarks.

By the way, I also recently got these new goodies in the mail. It's a Sew Easy kit which is great to use for hand stitching with floss on cards. This kit is used for impressing dotted patterns into your paper to act as a guide for your stitching. It's been a lot of fun to try them out!

I used one of the Sew Easy patterns to stitch an airmail border to the inside mini card that I made so it would coordinate.

Here's a closeup of the mini card. I left just enough room to write out a small personalized message. I attached another piece of CS to hide the back of the stitching.

Thanks so much for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the hop. I will be hopping along to see everything that you all make. :) Have a sunny day!

All supplies are PTI unless otherwise listed.

Stamps: Tiny Tags, Label Basics, Postmarks, Tag It #1, Tag It #2
Paper: SS white
Ink: Red Magic, Sea Breeze, Mango Madness (Versamagic)
Other: Mini envelope die, Tiny Tags die, aqua floss, red floss

Mini Thank You notes

Thanks so much for all the well wishes over the past few days. We're very excited! I'm due mid-September and yes, we are going to find out if it's a boy or girl. :)

Today I thought I'd share with you a few mini thank you notes I made recently. I sold a few items in my Etsy shop so wanted to include thank you notes with the orders. I was super excited when I found out that I'd sold a couple of bookmarks. It's kind of a fun to sell something that you handmade yourself! :) But it made me realize that I needed to make some more thank you notes to have on hand.

My shop (like my blog) has sunshine in the title so I wanted to make something bright, happy and sunny. I decided to use the PTI Daily Designs set--the images are so versatile and I love the designs. I held off on ordering this set for the longest time and am so glad I finally ordered it! I used the PTI Lunchbox note die which is the perfect die to make mini thank you cards.

I stamped the tag in Versamagic Mango Madness and the sentiment in a dark blue Ocean Depth.

I also stamped a little hidden sentiment under the flap that the recipient won't see until they open it.

It's kind of fun to add little extra details and "surprises" especially when it's a simple card.

On the inside, I added the tree stamp from Daily Designs to accent the little message I'll personalize for each card.

Thanks so much for stopping by today. Hope you have a beautiful, sunshine-filled St. Patrick's day! :)

All are PTI unless otherwise noted.
Stamps: Daily Designs, Mat Stack 4 Collection (sentiments)
Paper: SS white
Ink: Versamagic Mango Madness, Ocean Depth
Other: Lunchbox note die

Heat Embossing and Dry Embossing on Coasters

When I saw that PTI was selling coasters I was super excited. It seemed like it would be so fun to experiment with different coaster designs. It's also great to use for diecutting, but I wanted to see what I could come up with using them as actual coasters!

I ended up using some impression plates to create some gold embossed coaster designs. 

I stamped Versamark ink onto the impression plate then ran the coaster through my Cuttlebug. Then I heat embossed the dry embossed design with gold embossing powder. It created a vibrant and rustic coaster design. These coasters are still resistant to water, since heated embossing powder is waterproof. It has dimension and color but it's still practical.

My favorite design was the Sunshine impression plate. I love this pattern embossed! There were a few spots that didn't emboss, but I liked the rustic look of it. If you wanted to fix it, you could use a Versamark pen to color in the missing spots and then heat emboss again.

The coaster will slightly warp when you heat emboss it, but you can just place a heavy cup on it and it will smooth right out.

I also inked up the Music impression plate with waterproof brown ink and then ran it through my Cuttlebug. I love the rustic look it provides and the music notes are a fun and unusual theme on a dinner table.

Dry embossing and heat embossing the coasters can be a fun and simple way to dress up the table. You can emboss them in whichever colors will match your decor and change them very cheaply for the different seasons.

What things have you made with PTI coasters? Would love to see it! Thanks for stopping by and have a sunny day!!

Supplies (All Papertrey Ink.)

Impression Plates: Woodgrain, Sunshine, Music Sheet

Ink: Versamark

Embossing Powder: PTI Filigree gold

Other: Coasters

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

Welcome to the World!

I'm so sorry I haven't posted lately. I have several posts coming within the next few days so I will be posting more often. I also need to catch up on commenting on all of your blogs too! I just took a little break for awhile after I found out some good news recently. My husband and I are expecting our first child! I am due in September and am very excited. :) It just so happens that I also have a baby card to share with you today too.

A couple friends of mine recently had a baby boy, so I wanted to make a card for them! They were going with a jungle theme and non-traditional colors, so I wanted to make something a little different for a baby card, but still keep it cute and simple.

I just love the sentiment, "Welcome to the World". :) It's from PTI Night, Night Moon, which is such a cute baby set! The frame is from WMS Frame-It and the animals are from PTI Tiny Treats Birthday.

I decided to wrap their present to coordinate with the card too. I bought them a book about getting babies to sleep that I thought they might find useful. :) I wrapped it in brown kraft wrapping paper and tied it with Fine Linen ribbon. I'm so sorry for the slightly blurry picture. I had already given them the gift by the time I uploaded the pics.

I colored the lion lightly with colored pencils to give him some dimension. The stamp is from Mat Stack 4 stamp set and Bitty Baby Blessings.

They liked it and I was very happy to meet their new son too. He is very sweet! :)

Have a wonderful sunny day!

Sitting Next to You...

Hi there!! So how was your Valentine's? :) We stayed at home and baked some homemade enchiladas and danced to old Elvis songs (our first dance at our wedding was an Elvis song). It was a great Valentine's!

One of the things my husband and I love to do is sit on the couch together after dinner and on Saturday and Sunday mornings. That time together is so precious and I treasure it. So when I saw the On My Couch set I knew I would make him a card. :)

The pearls were originally white. I colored them with a light brown copic and the shine of the pearl makes them appear gold. The paper behind the couch is a gold shimmer paper.

And here's the inside decorated. :) I added some score lines above and below the hearts strip.

I also made a coordinating envelope using PTI's Simply Valentine patterned paper and envelope liner die.

Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's! Today has been a gorgeous day here and tonight I'm going to a cake decorating class. Should be fun. Can't wait! Have a sunny day!!

All supplies listed are Papertrey Ink unless otherwise listed.
STAMPS: On My Couch, Chair-ished (sentiment), Sweet Love, BB: Hearts
PAPER: Pure Poppy, SS White, Gold shimmer (Core'dinations Pearls paper line at Joann's), Simply Valentine patterned paper
INK: Red Brick, Midnight Black (Versamagic)
DIES: 2.5" Limitless Layers, Envelope Liner die, Double-ended Banners
OTHER: SS white envelopes, white pearls (from Michaels, colored gold with light brown copic)

Book Lovers Set and new Etsy shop!

In early December I posted a set of book notecards I made for my uncle for a Christmas present. The original post is here. I was happy to find out that Caardvarks chose that notecard set as a winner for their final challenge. :)

I ended up making my uncle a book lovers set, which included notecards, bookmarks, book plates, pen, gift bag and tin. It was a lot of fun to make the set and he really liked it. So today I thought I would show you the rest of the book lovers set. I'm also very excited to be announcing today that I'm opening a new Etsy shop! (I'll provide a little bit more info about that at the end of the post.)

I made a set of 4 magnetic bookmarks, each using a 1-1/2" x 8" piece of PTI Kraft paper scored at 4". I rounded off the tops to coordinate with the notecards and to give it a finished edge. By stamping the sentiment at the very top, the sentiment peeks out from the top of the book when it's closed.

I attached adhesive magnets to the inside of the bookmark to secure it to the page, so it won't slide around.

A tip about alignment: glue down one magnet, then snap the second magnet onto the first magnet, remove the adhesive backing from the back of the second magnet, then press the paper down onto the second magnet. The magnets will be perfectly aligned on the bookmark this way.

Here are the other bookmarks.

I stamped the sentiments from the PTI All Booked Up set and then masked the lines from the PTI Journaling Lines set and the PTI Text Style set.

I bought some mini kraft bags from Michaels to store the bookmarks inside. I stamped the outside of the bag with another image from the Booked Up set. I thought that image was appropriate since there is a bookmark sticking out of the book. ;)

I also made a set of 4 bookplates using the same circle images from the notecards, then stamped "From the library of" so he can personalize his books. Then I tied them together with twine.

For the gift bag, I made an extra book plate and attached it to the outside. I used the "From the library of" sentiment again and then put my uncle's name. It just seemed more fitting than putting "To/From". :)

Inside the gift bag, I included a RSVP pen with PTI kraft paper rolled up inside, a set of notecards and envelopes in a cello bag and then packaged up the book plates and bookmarks inside a tin. Here's the whole tin set.

I still plan to make coordinating mini magnets and notepad and more and will try to post those at a later date.

I made a few extras when I was making them for my uncle and I will be adding them to my new Etsy shop. My new etsy shop is HERE. It has been a goal of mine for awhile to open one so I'm very excited that it is now a reality! Hope you'll stop by and take a peek. I will be adding new things often too!

By the way, I'm including this special note with any book-related orders from my Etsy shop:

It says: "Thanks for checking out my Etsy shop!" ;)

Thanks for reading through this post! Hope you have a great, sunny day!

All supplies are Papertrey Ink unless otherwise listed.

Stamps: All Booked Up, Faux Ribbon, Text Style, Journaling Lines

Ink: Graphite Black (Brilliance), Tea Dye Duo

Paper: Kraft

Other: magnets (Michaels), clear top tins, pens, gift bag (Michaels), mini kraft bags (Michaels)

Simple Floral Notecards

It's been fun to do all the giveaways the past month! Now I thought I would show you some projects I've been working on. Today's project is a floral notecard set I made.

The flowers are stamped with PTI Year of Flowers Morning Glories stamp set and the sentiment is from Fillable Frames 10 stamp set. I love stamping the YOF flowers by themselves. The images are already detailed and then I used bold, happy colored cardstock to brighten and color the flowers.

That's all for today! I will have another post tomorrow, along with an announcement! :) See you tomorrow!

Final PTI Giveaway #5: WINNERS ANNOUNCED!!!!

Thanks so much to everyone for playing along with all of these giveaways. It's been so fun this past month celebrating the blogiversary and I've loved reading all of the wonderful comments! Also, hello to the new blog followers, so glad to have you here and I hope to see you again soon!

Now it's time to announce the winners again. Yay!! The winners of the final giveaway from Giveaway #5 are...

The winner of the Giveaway #1 package with PTI papers, etc. is...

MELISSA LADD!!!!

Congrats, Melissa!!!!!! You can check out her gorgeous blog here.

The winner of the Giveaway #2 package with PTI Impression plate, etc. is...

CATHY WEBER!!!!

Congrats, Cathy!!!!!! You can check out her lovely blog here.

And the winner of the Giveaway #3 PTI 2010 Anniversary stamp set is...

JEN ADCOCK!!!!

Congrats, Jen!!!!!! You can check out her really cool blog here.

Woohoo, congrats ladies! Please email me your mailing address and I will mail you the goodies! My email is under "contact info" on my sidebar.

Thanks again for playing along with these giveaways and I will have more giveaways in the future! Have a great sunny day!!