First Ever PTI Blog Hop!

Hello!  This is my first ever PTI blog hop!  And I think my first blog hop in general!  I hope I am doing this right!  I am quite nervous!  I hope I am posting this at the right time! This month's hop is all about Design Team Appreciation Day! To go through the PTI gallery or design team blogs and find something inspirational to you!  At first I thought this would be easy.  I mean there is A LOT of inspiration one can achieve by the design team.  But than I had a hard time since I wanted to play with my newer set, Blooming Buttons Bits. It was also hard to pick someone to be inspired by, everyone is so amazing. I thought it would be great to appreciate Maile Belles since she is newer to the PTI design team.  She is so amazing!  I wasn't surprised at all when I read that she had joined, she truly fits!  I was inspired by her card on her blog here  Isn't it such a beauitful card?  And here is my take:

            

                                       

                                        

                                       

I am currently on a button spree and I will not appologize for it!  It's just too much fun and I am really enjoying it!  I stamped the three stems from Blooming Button Bits with pigment ink and clear embossed on top.  I used the smallest buttons I could find for the circular border and glued them on with my glossy accents.  I also attached the top piece with foam squares!  This card is so spring which is perfect since I am dreaming of spring with how cold the weather has turned here!

Products USed:  Blooming Button Bits, PTI Vintage Buttons, PTI Aqua Mist Ink, SU Chocolate Chip Ink, Bazzill cardstock, Mauvy Punch.

It's thursday already!  And the end of february is looming!  I don't know about you but I have a busy weekend ahead of me, but luckily it's a busy weekend full of spending time with family and friends!  Tonight I am hoping to finish my canvassing for the Heart and Stroke, I only have until sunday!  Last night I slipped and fell on a neighbors driveway!  Thankfully I wasn't hurt!  They had such a huge pile of ice and there was no way to avoid it! Next time I am just skipping the house if there is too much ice!  Well there you have it!  I hope I have done this right!  Happy weekend!

Manly Birthday Cards

Happy Monday!  The start of another week!  I hope you had a great weekend!  We celebrated Chad's father's 60th!  His mom had a party for him, she set up games all over her basement and had a system where everyone played each game and recieved points.  It was a lot of fun! And there was a lot of good food!  With Chad's dad's birthday I had to make a manly birthday card.  I know a lot of us don't enjoy making manly ones but I don't mind.  I just find it sometimes hard to get inspired to make them, I actually give out a lot of manly cards (guy's like to get cards too!)   I had picked up the new issue of papercrafts magazine so I found inspiration there for my first card:

And than after making the first card I had an idea and made a second:

I thought that the scallop border punch by EK Sucess made some great hills for the trees!  What I also did for the trees was to stamp the middle tree first lower and than the last trees afterwards higher (worked best with the scallops)  How I did that was by covering the two small trees with scotch tape and stamping the whole stamp into the pad, and than taking the tape off and stamping it on the paper.  Than cleaning the stamp with a baby wipe and this time putting the tape on the middle tree.   And once again stamping the whole stamp into the pad and peeling off the tape and stamping the two smaller trees where I wanted them. I hope this makes sense, I often do this if I don't want to stamp the whole stamp.   I really liked the idea of stamping the words with different colored inks and with the script being last it worked by just carefully stamping the brown first only the "birthdays are the" and stamping "best" after carefully in the green, super easy!

Products used:  PTI Everyday Button Bits, Blooming Button Bits, PTI buttons, mom's buttons, Kaserkraft PP, Bazill cardstock, SU Chocolate Chip Ink, Colorbox Moss Green, floss!

I am so happy to share that on thursday night I took Ariel to Disney On Ice, Princesses!  For some reason I had completely missed that it was coming and than saw on facebook a lot of people were going.  I shared with my hubby how much I wanted to take Ariel and how I knew she would love it!  On thursday afternoon Chad was in the area near the arena where the show was so he went there and got some great tickets!  We had 3rd row!  It was such a great show!  I am so happy that it all worked out and that Ariel had such an amazing time!

I do have a funny story to share about Ariel.  I had been babysitting my friends two kids, I do it once in a while.  Ariel and J (who is a boy but I won't share his full name) were playing in her room with the door closed, which is fine they are both 4 and they do it because they don't want the littler kids to bother them, Carter would be right there sitting on the bed with them otherwise!  I went to check on them.  J is sitting on the foot of the bed reading a book with Ariel's tag, totally absorbed in it.  Ariel was laying in her bed covered with her blanket.  I see the doctor stuff out, so I move the blanket to discover, well I am sure you know what I discovered!  I asked her why and she said because J said so, he actually had his checkup the week before!  I told them both that they aren't supposed to do that and had quite the laugh!  Kids really can be kids sometimes and there innocence is so sweet!

Well I have been writing this tonight on and off as I watched the Ice Dancing!  And I am so thrilled that Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir did so amazingly and won gold!  Another gold for Canada!  The first in Ice Dancing ever!  And what a great pair, so young with 20 and 22!  Yay!  I really enjoyed watching the Ice Dancing!

Vanessa's Blog Candy!

Hi there!  I wanted to share that Vanessa  has some awesome blog candy!  Check it out:

Go to her blog here to enter!  What amazing candy!  And Vanessa has an amazing blog!  Love her!

A long post with a cute card

Hello!  Happy Winter to you!  Hope all is well with everyone!  Life has been a lot of fun over here lately!  I haven't been crafting as much this week with well all my watching of the Olympics!  I am a Canadian so it's extra exciting!  We won our first gold on home soil, and than our second!  It can get a bit addicting to watch, but it's only for two weeks!  I love the stories behind the players and it's fun to watch the coverage since the announcers have such interesting things to say about each athlete!  And I am not usually a sports sort of girl, I go with my hubby to different sporting events to chat with the "girls" who come!

I did however make one card so far this week:

It's simular to my last card from my last post.  I again clear embossed on some stripey pp (I HEART stripey PP!)  and than colored in with some brown markers, this time I used two different colors of brown.  I actually did the embossing last week but than wanted to try sewing on the ruffle ribbon.  I don't have a sewing machine which is just sad considering my mom is a proffesional taylor!  I had my mom sew on the ruffle ribbon which sounds so much easier than it was!  She didn't seem to understand what I meant and it took her a few tries to get it!  In the end she said oh how many more should we do?  You should make a lot more cards like this!  So funny!  I told her I would like to do it and she reminded me that I can't even sew straight. Another thing to add to my list to learn from my mother.  This easter I am going to try to learn a few of the Croation danties, my mom is an amazing baker and bakes Croation baking, I really should learn this!  I can almost make perogies but they are quite time consuming!  Back to the card!  I mounted the card onto the base with foam squares, and I decided to go with a pink base to make the card have a spring feel, the paper is from a fall line but this is my favorite color combo!  Pink, orange and brown is my favorite!

Products used:  Bo Bunny PP, Hero Arts CG105, CL 272, clear embossing powder, SU scalloped punch, Bazill cardstock, ribbon, PTI button, SU chocolate chip ink.

I have a funny story to share, this morning I was giving my children a bath.  I had finished washing and dressing Carter and I sent him to play while I washed Ariel.  She asked me for a warm towel (one time I used a just out of the dryer towel and know she knows!)  And the dryer is across the hall from the bathroom so I went to quickly put it in.  I come back to find my son fully dressed sitting in the tub!  I guess someone was not ready to get out!  So funny!   My daughter was even funnier with her comments of "How did he get in here?" and "Carter is a big boy now, he can get into the tub himself!"  Life is so interesting with children, I love being a mom!

I also read this book.  It was pretty good but sad too!  I was asked if I am a speed reader.  Hmmm sorta?  I guess I do read fast, especailly if I am really enjoying a book but I enjoy reading.  I am a busy person who needs to unwind before bed, I find reading helps me to do that.  Not studying by reading books that teach (unless it's a craft magazine or book!) but fiction.  And if I need to unwind in the afternoon while Carter is sleeping and Ariel is having quiet time I will read.  I do try to craft during naps but sometimes I need to physically rest! 


Thank you for reading and your wonderful comments I appreciate all of you!

Ribbon Flowers

Hi!  I had a great day today.  My friend asked me to watch her little girl while she took her baby for a checkup and she brought me back a London Fog (Earl Grey Latte) so yummyand chocolate cupcakes!  She hung out for a bit which was nice.  Tonight hubby and I ran some errands at the mall it's fun for the kids as they have a fun playarea for them. I got my kids their  Easter outfits as they were on sale!  May as well, there so cute matching with yellow and blue!  It's not often you can match a boy and girl, and that they don't mind!  Can't wait to do Easter pics!  But will wait closer to easter!  Can't wait to make Easter treats for Ariel's class!
I saw how to do ribbon flowers a while ago and than stored it in my head.  I often learn all sorts of things and than keep them in my head and never do them!  (Like those flowers by Dawn McVey that I made a bunch the first time she showed on her blog before christmas I think!  But never put on a card!)  I have several other ideas that I will have to work on in the next bit!  So anyways I saw the Embellish challenge which was turquoise, pink and brown with ribbon. Colors that I like!  I think a week went by before it dawned on me I should make a card with the ribbon flowers!  Which also means that this card can go for the current challenge for Hero Arts flowers and St Patricks day! Here is the colors to work with:

And here is my card:

I think this card is quite romantic with the colors and the flowers and the buttons.  The buttons are actually from my mom, one day I visited her at her work and saw this big tin of buttons, I got so excited!  I took a bit and than later my mom gave me a whole bag!  These were in the bag, so pleased as there are so many colors that I dind't have in it plus I like how they are different.  Aren't the ribbon flowers cute?  I also paper pierced around the whole card, I used to paper pierce all the time but than stopped, I am liking it again!

I also have this card to share that I made around Christmastime. 

During the HA blog hop I saw a card by Tami Hartley that inspired me to clear emboss on pp, I than colored in the flowers with a marker and cleaned up the mess with a baby wipe, it just wipes off easy!  Fun card to  make!  It fits with the current challenge so I may as well submit it!

Tommorow is friday!  Looking forward as I am getting together with yet another friend to craft!  I look forward to raiding her stash!

Valentine Treats

Hi! I can’t believe how fast February is flying by! Today I have some Valentine Treats to share that I made for Ariel’s preschool class! It’s sad to me that she is growing up and will be in kindergarten already next year. I am happy for her as I know she loves preschool and was so ready for it and has fun but where have the years gone? I do have to admit that it’s exciting to be able to make treats for her class! Here is the lollypop Valentines I made:

Here is the inside:

Aren't these so cute? I had an idea of Valentine suckers to make for Ariel's class and than last week I went over to my friends place who is a SU demo and she showed me these she had made for one of her groups.  It was different and simular to my idea and she had an extra bag of suckers so I went with her idea!  It saved me money as I didn't have to go out and get some new stamps and paper (I had the paper!)  Plus my wonderful friend helped me make them!  I stamped the heart and than used a circle punch to punch out the middle and glued that down to the inside.  Than I put acetate and stamped that with the Happy Valentines Day with black Staz On!  Isn't it cute?  We wrote the kids names and Ariel's on the back.  Ariel also gave them out at her music class and on sunday we have a birthday party for two of her friends and the kids will be handing out Valentines so I have to make some more!

I also made something for the teachers:

Never leave anything to the last day which is what I did with these! I quickly whipped these up at well 10:30! Although one of the teacher's told me personally today that she really liked it (oh and loved the snowman card set I gave her for Christmas)  I also asked her if she would like some handmade thank you cards for Easter and she said she would love it!  I think most teachers would appreciate blank thank you cards!  And the night before since I was signed up for baking I made these cupcakes:

You can't tell in the picture but the paper wrappes have hearts on them!  I also put some larger conversation hearts on them!  I made cherry chip cupcakes since kids really like that flavor!  I bought another mix to make some for me as well they are yummy and I have some icing left! 

Baby Gift all wrapped up

Happy Sunday!  We are having a snowstorm over here!  Quite a bit and snow and it is still snowing!  Today there is a baby shower for my good friend Jen who just had her first baby, a girl!  I am not 100% sure if I will be able to go as it is out of town about a half hour drive and the weather isn't the greatest.  But I really want to go!  I don't want to miss this!  This is the gift and how I wrapped it:

I have always wanted to try and stamp my own paper for gifts and a few weeks ago I saw this paper on sale so I picked it up!  I had wanted to do a bag but Michael's didn't have any in stock.  I stamped the paper first (didn't measure right and stamped so much more than needed) with brown, white and the dark pink ink with the Sassafras stamp set. (Oh I found the white ink pad my son lost for me, it was with my paper not dried out or anything either!) I wanted to use full image stamps.  I tried wrapping some ribbon around but it just didn't look that good, it cut off the images and such. I like it but am unsure.  What do you think?  It doesn't look all cheap with the kraft paper does it?

I made the card/tag after.  I popped the giraffe with foam squares and stamped the Kraft paper with HA's cling dots and used the sentiment "so happy for you" sideways (love how it looks!)  I used that sentiment since I did give her a more traditional baby card when I visited her in the hospital (hmm I don't think I shared that one yet!)  and I think the sentiment is fitting.  I am also going to enter this card/tag into Lucy's Polka Dot challenge as I used polka dots not only on the kraft but in the ribbon too!  Lucy is so amazing!  So talented and so kind!  I really wanted to take part in her challenge, and have yet another idea too!

Well I better go and decide if I will brave the weather!

Products used:  HA Cling Dots, HA sentiment, SU scalloped punch, Bazill carstock, Colorbox pigment brown and white ink, Memento RoseBud ink, michael's ribbon.

krafty goodness

Hello!  Hope your week has been fab!  In my last post I recieved so many wonderful comments!  I am so thankful for that!  It's always so exciting to read them!  And when I get a new follower I totally do a happy dance!  I have had a good week that went quite quickly. I have been working on Valentine treats for Ariel's classmates.  I will update with that when I am finished!  Tonight I went to a special speaker at my church Dr Robert Brooks!  He was so good!  He talked about raising a resilient child!  He told us questions to ask our children, one was to ask them how they would describe us, and to ask ourselves how we would like to be descibed by them.  He also talked about empathy and how children who are raised to be empathetic will actually be the most successful in life.  I like that, empathy is something that we should all strive for.  I also learnt that children love to be asked for help so I am going to work on that more with my children.  Every child hates chores but a child does love to help.  I signed up for his monthly emails so I am looking forward to that!

Today I have three cards to share.  They are more simple cards as I needed them quickly.  This is one I gave to a cousin of my hubby's for her wedding shower:

I made this at my friend's place that I went to two weeks ago with her stuff.  I love that bird punch from SU!  It's so fun!  My question is should the bird have an eye?  The card felt too simple so I added the buttons on the side and I think it made it just perfect! I really like this! 

Here is a card I made for my nephews birthday:

I can't beleive that I am actually sharing this card with you!  Oh well!  I wanted to use this stamp set by Sassafras that I don't think I have ever used!  I hand cut out the speech bubble! 

And sadly I needed a sympathy card for Ariel's music teacher (yes she has been playing piano since she was 2 and I do realize how that sounds!)

 

The last two pictures aren't the greatest as I took them quickly while running out the door!  The colors on this last one are absolutely horrible!  I used a dark purple, brown, light pink and not a grassy green and not a yellowy green it's hard to describe! I don't know if it's just me but making sympathy cards are not easy!  I am pleased that I did pick up this stamp a while ago it's nice and big and takes up a lot of room! I just diecut  some flowers arranged them and there you go!  In a card like this it's what you write inside that counts.

I also read another book that my friend lent me:

It was pretty good.  I really like Jodi Picoult.  Although I am not a fan of reading books that take place in prison.  Maybe never again!


Well until next time!  Hope everyone has an amazing weekend!