Feel Better Soon...

This is my first attempt at a shabby card! I found it really hard to make, but it was a good challenge. I really appreciate and am in awe even more of those who make shabby cards on a regular basis.

I'm going to make this post short and sweet today, and I'll be back later with a supply list for you. The stamps are PTI Autumn Abundance and Waltzingmouse Labels 3.

Here's a detail of the coloring. I wanted the coloring to be shabby too so I colored it with colored pencils and added highlights with copic.

I made this card for my Grandma, who is in the hospital right now. I'm going to be spending the next few days with her. I stamped the sunflowers image because those are the type of flowers I usually send to her. There is something very cheerful and uplifting about sunflowers.

Thanks for stopping by today!

Edited To Add Supply List (All supplies are PTI unless otherwise listed.)
Stamps: Autumn Abundance, Very Vintage Labels No. 3 (Waltzingmouse)
Paper: Kraft, Rustic Cream, Fly A Kite patterned paper (October Afternoon)
Ink: Enchanted Evening, Pearlescent Rust (Brilliance), Tea Dye Duo
Other: Labels No. 3 (Spellbinders), Terracotta Tile button, Fine Linen button, New Leaf bitty dot satin ribbon, colored pencils (Colerase), copic markers, cream twine, cream lace (My Favorite Things)

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! :)

The First Handmade Calendar of the Season

Today's post features the calendars I'll be making for Christmas this year. Papertrey Ink released a great Calendar die and stamp set which makes assembling these a snap. I knew I wasn't going to be able to hand stamp dozens and dozens of calendar pages, so I opted to diecut patterned paper. If you find some cool patterns this works really well!

Here's a calendar I made for my Aunt. Her birthday is in late November, so I'm giving her this calendar a little earlier for her birthday. I used my favorite Papertrey Ink Patterned Paper: Black and White Basics. Interesting because I've never been a big fan of black, but in crafting I think it's one of my most favorite colors. It also happens to be my Aunt's favorite color so I thought this would be perfect for her. I'm making more of these for Christmas gifts in different PTI PP designs too.

I didn't make a cover because the spine already has the 2011 calendar label and I think that works and you get the idea. Besides I didn't want to hide that pretty paper! The spine was stamped on adhesive paper trimmed to fit (1/4" x 4-3/4").

I stamped the months in red and the holiday circle images in a pale light blue. Here's a closeup.

And here are a few of the other months just to give you an idea. You can click on them to see them bigger if you would like. So here you go. :)

February...

June...

September...

November...

December...

I think the idea is to find some nice coordinating PP, vary the background slightly each month to keep it interesting, stamp the months in a contrasting bold color and the holidays in a lighter color.

Thanks for taking a look. Hope those with snow keep warm, and that you all have a wonderful, sunny day today!

ETA: You can see the entire gift set I made for my Aunt HERE.

A Simple Way to Dress Up Paper Napkins

The holidays are fast approaching and it is always fun to come up with new, quick ways to dress up your holiday party supplies.

Today's project uses embossing folders to dress up plain paper napkins. I am entering this project into the Papertrey Pal's embossing challenge that I am hosting. The details are here. Anyone can play along so feel free to join in! I'm also entering this into the Cuttlebug Spot's challenge to decorate items for the dinner table. Join in with that one also if you get a chance!

I thought of this when I was trying to come up with ways to dress up some party favors for my mom's pirate party. I made a stack of these embossed napkins to coordinate with her wine charms for the party.

And then I realized these could be used for other occasions too. So I tried out many different Cuttlebug and Quickutz embossing folders. It's cool how this simple touch can add a lot, and it's fun experimenting with the different folders to see how they look on the napkins!

You can also cut the napkins to whatever size you need too so long as you don't cut on the folds. Then just place the top of the napkin, where the fold is, into the embossing folder and run it through your diecutting machine. You may need to adjust the sandwich so that the embossing is not too deep.

Here are a few examples.

Christmas script napkins...

Elegant brocade napkins (using a 5x7 Cuttlebug embossing folder. The extra length is nice for the longer napkins.)

A closeup...

You can also make 4th of July napkins...

And birthday napkins too.

Now with a stack of plain napkins, you can be set for any occasion.

Just a few tips: these work best with plain dinner napkins. I found some at Big Lots, 20 per pack for $1. They might have them at the dollar store too. I would also suggest rinsing the Cuttlebug folder with soap and water first. For a softer and more subtle impression in the napkin it works well to use the following sandwich: A plate, then embossing folder with napkin, then an extra napkin outside the folder as cushion, and then the C plate. Have fun!

Thanks for taking a look today. Hope you have a sunny day! :)

The Reason Why I Started Papercrafting...

Happy Sunday everyone! Hope you're having a nice weekend. Just wanted to pop on here with a picture my sister sent me of my nephew and niece with their Halloween treats I made for them! :) The very first card I ever made was for Alexa's first birthday (she's 2-1/2 now) and I love to send them cards and treats whenever I can.

It's funny, you can kind of see their personalities in this photo. They are both outgoing kids, but Jackson is the polite and good natured one and Alexa is the sassy, not a shy bone in her body, go get 'em kind of girl! I love them so much!!

Have a great, sunny weekend! :)

Ahoy, Matey! Pirate Treats ahead...

Ahoy, mateys! Today we are going on a little pirate adventure. Keep your eye out and you just might spot some pirate gold, arrr!

So my mother decided to throw a pirate party for some of her friends. She needed some treats to hand out to the fellow pirates, so I gathered up all of my best "rope" and "wood" and scraped together some paper and ink and went to work!

My mom is going with an old world ship kind of theme for the party, so I decided to use natural, rustic-looking materials and textures--things that look like they could have been on a real pirate ship.

I inked up the Kraft paper to create a background with Fresh Snow and Tea Dye Inks. There's also a spot of yellow in the background to hint at a sunset. Next I stamped the pirate ship and sentiment with CHF's Shiver Me Timbers stamp set. And then I added the cheesecloth background and smushed it around to blend with the water and the sky. 

And here's a closeup of the "wood", which is paper impressed with PTI's woodgrain impression plate and swiped with Versamark to make it look weathered.

Inking up the impression is one of my favorite techniques to do with dry embossing. It just makes it  pop a little more. Almost the whole favor box fits across the IP, so you can do the whole box in one pass.

And here is what's waiting inside for all the pirate-y guests! 

Shiver me timbers...it's gold!! (But even better than gold...it's chocolate, yum!)

I also dug into my pirate treasure chest and pulled out some worn coins to use as wine charms. 

  

Ok, well actually I made some wine charms by melting white wax onto non-stick parchment paper and impressing an image into them. Then I melted metallic powders into the charms, creating 15 charms of different colors and tied them to the wine glasses with twine.

And here are all the 15 boxes together ready to be sent.

  

I am entering these boxes and wine charms into A Passion for Papertrey's challenge to make anything but a card. They have great PTI challenges over there so be sure to check them out! :)

Thanks so much for coming along on this adventure. Until next time...ay, ay, matey!!!

Supplies (All Papertrey Ink unless otherwise listed.)

Stamps: Shiver Me Timbers (CHF), Cheesecloth Backgrounder (CHF)

Paper: Dark Chocolate, Kraft

Ink: Sunflower Yellow / Pearlescent Rust / Pearlescent Chocoloate (Brilliance), Versamark, Tea Dye Duo,  Fresh Snow

Other: Favor It Box 1, Woodgrain Impression Plate, Rustic Jute Twine, Gold Chocolate Coins (Palmer), Metallic Powders

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)

How to Make a Small Shaped Card

I had some questions about how to make a small card, so just thought I'd post some quick instructions if you would like to make some using Papertrey Ink's Mat Stack 4 die (found HERE).

First, cut a 3-1/2" x 6" piece of paper (you should be able to get three from one 8-1/2" x 11" sheet of paper). Then score and fold in half so that it measures 3" x 3-1/2". Then place the sheet of paper on the die with the fold slightly overlapping the end of the die. Make sure part of the cutting line is exposed. Like this.

It may help to attach some removable adhesive to the inside of the card so it stays in place. Then run it through your die cutting machine and you will have a small shaped card!

Just to show you an example of the finished product, here's a different version of the small Halloween card I posted yesterday.

I stamped and heat embossed the card and then added yellow acrylic paint to the windows.

Then I added yellow acrylic accents to the moon inside too!

Thanks for stopping by. I have another post up with some treats that I made for Halloween too! Have a sunny day!

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!

Small Thank You Notes for Fall

Hi everyone, hope you're having a nice weekend! Just wanted to post a few fall thank you notes I made recently. I made these for some PTI forum members who I split a stamp set with. :)

I stamped the mat with a Halloween treats set. It can be fun to think outside the box and find new ways to use your holiday supplies. I was inspired by Melissa's post to make a diecut card. These type of cards are the perfect size to slip into a package you're sending out to someone to let them know they are appreciated. Since it is one layer, it is also super flat and easy to mail. I made a few extras too in different colors (not pictured) to have on hand just in case.

Here's a closeup pic (click on the picture to see more detail.)

I stamped the fall leaves with Brilliance inks, which have a beautiful glittery sheen to them. I prefer the mat stack stamped in lighter shades. It's such a bold frame, that a lighter color softens it a bit I think!

Tomorrow I'm posting a completely different take on Thank You notes using this same die. And I've got a few more posts coming within the next few days.

That's all for today. Thanks for taking a look! I have a date with my hubby tonite so need to go get ready! Have a sunny weekend! :)

ETA: Thanks so much to the Create (CARDS) blog for featuring these notecards! Details and directions on how to make a small shaped card are here.

Supplies (all PTI unless listed otherwise).
Stamps: Through the Trees, Tiny Treats: Halloween
Paper: Rustic Cream
Ink: Aqua Mist, Brilliance inks (Coffee Bean, Sunflower Yellow, Pearlescent Rust)
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!