Papertrey Pallenge No. 5

The Papertrey Pals is a cardmaking and Papertrey Ink fan club. We are assigned a fun card "pallenge" and then we post a card. This week Liz M. challenged us to do a one layer card, which happens to be something that I already love to do! I prefer cards that are clean and simple. We were allowed to add one embellishment so I added lemon tart twill ribbon.

Here is my card. I stamped using PTI's brand new set, Year of Flowers: Daffodils.

Papertrey Ink just began a new monthly series of gorgeous flower stamp sets. Each month they will release a new stamp set featuring that month's official flower. So the flower for March is the daffodil. 

I stamped the daffodil flower and sentiment in versamark and then embossed in white. I traced a box around the card using a white gel pen. The cardstock is the new Hawaiian Shores color and the card is tied with a Lemon Tart twill ribbon. I love the new Hawaiian Shores color. It's so gorgeous and vibrant!

And since we're on the topic of flowers, here's another card I made using February's Year of Flower set: Violets. I was inspired by Debbie Olsen's card. I really love the new flower sets stamped and embossed. The intricate detail really pops when it is embossed!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Wishing you a sunny day! :)

New Papertrey Ink Order

My Papertrey Ink order from the March release arrived today! Thought I would share with you what I ordered. :)

I ordered Wonderfully Whimsical and Distressed Stripes stamps, the Rick Rack die, the Beautiful Blooms dies, the Plaid Impression plate, Green Boutique paper, brown and cream felt, and Summer Sunrise & Sweet Blush twill ribbon. I especially love the Wonderfully Whimsical stamps (the tiny houses are adorable) and the Plaid Impression plate. Can't wait to play!

We're heading off now to the local art festival being held this weekend. It's one of the largest in Florida. The weather is beautiful now, in the 70s--it's the prettiest time of year for Florida. Can't wait to check out all the artwork and maybe gain some inspiration for crafting later tonight. Should have more cards to post soon!

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! :)

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! :)

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!

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!

My Very First Card Challenge!

I just love Dawn McVey's blog, so am happy to be participating in my first ever card challenge anywhere by posting this card for her color challenge.

Dawn asked us to use these colors in our card: Lemon Tart, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist (love!) and Vintage Cream. You can find the details here: Color Challenge No. 21.

Here is my card, Sweet Little Baby.

I'm giving this card to a friend of mine who just delivered her first baby a couple days ago! I used Waltzingmouse's Seasons of Love heart stamp for the card. The stamp is supposed to be intended for Christmas or Valentine's day, but I thought it was sweet enough to use it for a newborn baby. The sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Bitty Baby Blessings, which is a super cute baby stamp set.

The patterned paper is from Papertrey Ink's Bitty Dot paper collection. I'm using it for the first time and it is amazing! I'm usually not very big on using patterned papers, but I just love how it adds so much to the card.

Here's a detail of the card.

Since we're already on the topic of babies, have you noticed all the excitement going on over at Nichole Heady's blog? She has just announced a brand new baby stamp set: Baby Button Bits. Take a peek if you haven't yet! It is ADORABLE! :)

Thanks so much for stopping by today! I'd be delighted if you would follow my blog by clicking the link to the right. Also, thanks for all of your really sweet comments about my cards and my new blog. I thank all of you for making it so much fun! You are a great bunch of people.

Wishing you a sunshine-filled day! :)

Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Papertrey Ink
Patterned Paper: 2008 Bitty Dot Paper Collection, Papertrey Ink
Ink: Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate, Papertrey Ink
Buttons: Lemon Tart, Papertrey Ink
Stamps: Seasons of Love,Waltzingmouse Stamps, Bitty Baby Blessings, Papertrey Ink

Simply Sunshine

So I made a final decision about the blog name! I went through several different incarnations trying to decide which one fits best. (You may have even seen one of the other versions when you glanced here last.) After much deliberation and overthinking, I decided upon Simply Sunshine. That seems to best describe the place I live and also my style and attitude towards crafting. I like my cards to be simple and a little bit happy and sunny too! What do you think? :)

So here is the first card I have for you today.

I used PTI’s Garden of Life stamp set for this card (my favorite PTI flower set). If you look closely, there are green gems in the center of the flowers. I just love the card and it took me all of 5 minutes.

I’ve been reading tons of blogs lately and noticed there’s this trend going around where everyone picks one word for the year and that word provides focus for the year’s goals. It is an awesome idea, and of course I couldn’t just pick one. I picked two: Begin and Fast. This card really exemplifies my focus on that goal. Beginning is hard for me but getting it done quickly is even harder!

The sentiment is wonderful too—Friends are the flowers in the garden of life. Too true!

My next card uses PTI’s Heart Prints and Sweet Love. I think hearts leaning towards each other is one of the sweetest images ever. The position reminds me of a couple cuddling together. I want to explore that idea more.

Is that bow a little bit silly? I had a heck of a time with it. Did I mention one of my New Year’s resolutions is to tie a better bow? Seriously. I am really trying though!

How about this?

Is this better? Hmmm...Isn't it interesting how a bow can make the card look completely different?

That is all the cards for today! I am working on some challenges (including Ted's Valentine's Day challenge and Dawn McVey's color challenge) and I will post those within a couple of days. I am also starting a card project which I will tell you about soon.

Just a couple more things.

Someone asked about the kissing technique I used in my previous love cards. I'll post a quick tutorial at the end of the post. Sorry, no tutorial pics though. I’m not quite that sophisticated yet, lol. :)

Also, thanks to Ted for being my first blog follower! I welcome you to click the button to the right and become a follower too. It would make my day!

And thanks for all of the sweet comments you left. I really appreciate it! It is wonderful to hear from all of you. :)

I encourage those who haven’t started a blog yet to try it out! It’s really a lot of fun. A little tip: if you want to jazz up your blog and are just starting out (like me) a couple of great websites to try are www.shabbyblogs.com and www.thecoolestblogontheblock.com. They both have a whole bunch of free banners and backgrounds you can add to your site with simple directions on how to add it.

And now I will leave you with the Kissing Technique Tutorial (which sounds much more sexy than it really is, lol.)

Here is the Kissing Technique Tutorial:

1. Ink up the stamp you want to reverse.

2. Impress it onto any blank solid stamp (in this case I used a blank solid heart from Heart Prints, but you can use any stamp that has a solid surface like that).

3. Stamp the solid stamp on the paper. It works best if you lift it up slowly. The image might be slightly lighter than its regularly stamped counterpart, but it’s usually not too noticeable.

Have some fun with it! :) I really enjoyed that technique and plan to use it a lot more. Also, it didn’t occur to me until after I posted that card that I used the kissing technique to make the fish kiss. In retrospect, I thought that was kind of ironic and sweet. ;)

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

No. 1: Love

I can think of no better way to begin my first post than with the word love...love for my family, friends, and also love for card making, for the friends I've found through card making, and for Papertrey Ink! 


I just recently starting playing with this newly released Papertrey Ink stamp set, Tiny Treats. It is a blast to use! So many fun possibilities with this set. Without further ado, here's my first card, Love is in the Air. 

I'm still new to copics, but have to say they are fun to use. I need to practice though! I stamped the fish and then reverse stamped it by "kissing" it to a blank stamp. I just think these fish are made for each other! Their cute smile makes their smooch so much sweeter.


The next card uses the cats from Tiny Treats, Purr-fect Friend.

I thought that sweet cat needed a best friend, so I reversed the image too. I just love how their tails are curling towards each other. Too cute!


The inside of the cards.

I cut out a hearts nestabilities and framed the outer portion around the white embossed Happy Valentine's Day sentiment.

That's all the cards for today! I have more of these small Tiny Treats valentines to post later as well as some Heart Prints cards. 


Any thoughts you have about the new blog would be greatly appreciated, including constructive feedback. I am still not sure about the blog name, but I like the idea of sunshine, since I live in Florida, the Sunshine State. If you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Thanks so much for stopping by to take a look at my first post! I really appreciate it. Have a sunny day! :)