PTI Anniversary

PTI is celebrating their 10th anniversary with a trip down memory lane.  It was a fun trip even if I didn't have much of what was highlighted.  There was much inspiration to be had and maybe a set or two to add to my cart...it was interesting to see how my style (and what I am drawn to) has changed over the years.

From 2007 I was inspired by Lizzie's Stars to make:

I drew inspiration from Amy Rysary's use of color, especially the brown flowers from 2008.

I was pleased to see that I had two of the highlighted sets in 2009.  I chose to work with Damask Designs to make a monogrammed card.

I found inspiration in Michelle's kraft on kraft card for 2010 and broke out one of my old favorite sets, Sign Language.

2011 was the year of Tremendous Treats: Valentine!  One of my all time favorite sets.  It never gets old!!  It's so easy to work with.  

And since it was out and they were sitting there, I make this too.

Ashley inspired me to make some simple, yet adorable, heart tags from 2012.  I have the bags all ready to be filled for an upcoming trip.  

Maile's layers inspired me for 2013.

I found inspiration in Dawn's card from 2014.  My card doesn't seem to look anything like hers, but I guess that's how inspiration works sometimes.

Dawn did it again in 2015.  I really liked her Birthday Tags and thought I could use the idea for a Christmas card.

One of my favorite, though under used sets was highlighted for 2016 - Tulip Time!  It is beautifully done and I am so happy I was pushed to pull it out and work with it.

I really enjoyed being pushed back into my art room with the call to find inspiration.  I hope you have enjoyed looking.

Amanda

Tags and more tags

In response to Papertrey's Assembly Line challenge I made two sets of Christmas tags.  I made the first set

I overlaid a kraft tag onto a white tag having cut the snowman shape from the kraft tag.  Added a little color to him and a little snow to the tag and they were done.  Super easy, super cute!  But then I had the snowman diecuts sitting there so they needed to be used and I can never have too many tags at the holidays.  And so I made these

I used sparkly watercolors to paint the snowmen white which is so pretty on the kraft paper!  And then added a little color for the holidays.  I then popped those on aqua mist tags that I stippled the same white watercolors on for "snow."  A little metallic twine and done.

I hope you are feeling a little more festive now!  I know I am.

Amanda

Sending Love

I am so happy to report that I only need three more holiday cards for the year!  Hopefully I can knock those out in the next week or so and move on to other holiday projects...namely tags.  But for today I am sharing a card for the 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown.  This week's challenge was to dig through their sketch archive and find a sketch to use.  I found several that I liked, but the one I settled on was from January of this year.

With that I broke out my brand new Post and Parcel Kit to make this card.

I stamped the sentiment in red on white cardstock and then covered the whole thing with crystal glitter for snow.  Instead of a circle around the image I added random hearts to tie in with the sentiment, "Sending love from our house to yours."  Super cute for someone we love far away.

Thanks for stopping by and please let me know what you think.

Amanda

Happy Holidays

Today I have a card to share with you inspired by the sketch at MFT and the technique challenge at 52 {Christmas} Card Throwdown (embossing).

A lot of old stamps represented here...as in before I got married and had kids old.  The snowflakes are embossed with white embossing powder and the sentiment is embossed with red embossing powder.  A little silver to add a hint of shine and we're all ready for the holiday.

Thanks for looking!  I hope you like it.

Amanda

Christmas Critters

My crafty space has been a bit empty of late.  I was greatly inspired when I saw the Christmas Critters theme at 52 {Christmas Card Throwdown} and then when I saw the latest sketch at MFT I knew the two were meant to be.  I love it when an idea comes together so perfectly!  Here is my little bit of cuteness for the day.

I love this cute little guy!

Thanks for looking!
Amanda

MFT Camp Create

I have been busy over the last week working hard on to earn all the badges at My Favorite Things Camp Create.  Honestly, I don't have much from this company, though I do have a long wish list and currently waiting for a massive restock so I can fix that!  I found them and then life got busy and never made back - shame on me!  However, I am so glad I found them again in time for the third round of Camp Create (I would have loved to get there in time for the first two, but let's celebrate what we can instead of focusing on what we missed.) because this is a wonderful program to get me moving without a lot of pressure.  So here I can proudly post my participation badge.

Jumping right in, the first badge campers could earn is called Monochromatic Magic.  This is not something I do often and am not particularly good at, but I did it anyway.  

I hunted for the rules, but was never able to find them.  Out of respect for the company I did try to use at least one of their products on each card.  Here I used the Fishtail dies.  This sweet little birthday card can go in the stash to be used for pretty much anyone in a pinch.  And with this card I earned this badge...

Day two of camp brought another fun challenge with the opportunity to earn the Awesome Ombre Badge.  I love Ombre.  It's such a fun way to add color and/or interest.  Here I did a rainbow effect.  

To be honest the glitter clouds were an accident, but I loved the effect it gave by having clouds there without covering anymore of the color.  I love happy accidents!  This beauty earned me the following badge.

The third badge campers could earn was Remarkable Resist.  I love this technique even if I often forget about it for huge chunks of time.  For this one I  made a set of four note cards for a boy in my life.  Perfectly simple.

I used his initials and then ink blended over them with four different sets of distress colors to give four different versions of the same card.  Here is a close up of one of them.

The stars along the top added to the sparkle you can't see in the blue paper.  This little set earned me this badge.

Campers were challenged to try Divine Dry Embossing to earn another badge on day four.  This one was new to me.  I had seen the technique before, but had never taken the time to try it.  What a wonderful time to change that!  And I must say, I see the appeal.  There are many things you could do with this and I am excited to try my hand at it again in the future.  Here is what I made.

I love how this technique gives the clouds some depth without making the card bulky.  The MFT rainbow die is how I found this company.  It is still a favorite around here, helping me earn this badge.

The last badge campers could earn was the Stunning Shadow Stamping Badge.  This one worried my a little.  It wasn't something I was drawn to or would normally attempt, but I am not about to let a challenge stop me from being a good camper so here you are...

This festive gem earned me my last badge.

But wait, you can't have a summer camp without a campfire!  Well, you can, but it isn't nearly as much fun.  So before we were sent home there was a farewell campfire with its very own challenge...Single Layer Savvy.  I stuck with the Christmas theme from the last card and created a super soft angelic piece of art.

These cuties helped me earn this badge.

Camp Create was so much fun!  I hope I can participate in even more rounds next year!  I hope you enjoyed my creations.  

Amanda

Papertrey Ink's SAF 2016!

After many months of no time for craftiness I made time for the SAF festivities over at PTI.  This year's theme, the Masters, was outstanding if you love art!  I really enjoyed participating this year and trying some of these new techniques and giving myself the chance (forcing myself) to practice some older ones.

This year I am just going to post all my entries here in this one post with not so great photos because I have an appointment with a new baby who will be along any minute this A.M. and new baby pics trump cards, sorry.

For the Friday night pick your masterpiece entry I selected a card I made several years ago that makes me smile.  It't one I have never been able to part with (I have very few of those).

PTI product used:  Sentiment from Handwritten Notes

The color challenge to get the juices flowing Saturday morning was full of inspirational pieces, and I do mean full.  I used two of them to make two Christmas cards.  You will note I seem to have a little Christmas on the brain this week.  The two I used are:

And here are my tags:

PTI products used:  All products from PTI except stickles.

Next the challenge was to create a night sky inspired by Starry Night.  Oh my!  I loved this one even if it didn't love me!  Five tries before I had something I liked enough to use.

PTI products used:  Spring Rain and Black Cardstock, star sequins

Moving along we were next challenged to Gild something in Gold.  I didn't have the specific product they were using but I found something in my stash I could work with and sitting here now I can think of a few other products I could have pulled out that may find their way to the work area soon.  I made another Christmas tag here.  

I love the gold and red!  I love the gold and kraft!  I may be making a few more tags (we need a lot!!) with this idea.
PTI products used:  Kraft Cardstock, all stamps

Which brings us to the Floral Impressionism challenge.  I found this one difficult as I do not have  ton of flowers that would work in my stash.  However, as usual the anniversary set from a few years back, Botanical Silhouettes, came to the rescue.

PTI products used:  Botanical Silhouettes, Don't Forget to Write Kit, Inks, Summer Sunrise cardstock

Then there were several amazing pieces to inspire us!  I fell in love with this one.

Fell in love enough to decide we should study the artist in our next round of art history.  It's so magical!  I went back to the Starry Night technique to get the right background for my card here. 

PTI products used:  Tree die cut, Sentiment, Hibiscus Burst and Black Cardstock

Then there was the messiest challenge of all...Drips and Splatters!  Messy!!  And yet, I made eight cards once I was done playing.  And truthfully, I am thinking this must also be added to art because while it is messy it is so much fun and there isn't really a way to mess it up.  Here are the two sets of cards I made - one with acrylics (Thank you) and one with watercolors.

PTI products used:  Blueberry Sky, Raspberry Fizz, Berry Sorbet, and Vintage Jadeite cardstock, Tag dies, Handwritten Notes, Bold and Beautiful Sentiments, Thank you sentiments

Next we were to use pointillism to color.  This one was hard for me.  I just couldn't find any stamps to make it work so I used die cuts instead and in the end I kind of fell in love with it.

PTI products used:  Ornament dies, Sentiment, Vintage Ornaments Additions, Cardstock and paper

Nearing the end it was time to watercolor.  Clearly I do not have enough floral stamps, but I pulled out the flowers from the Don't Forget to Write Kit to make this one.  

 I love how the colors bled in the flowers!  Though I'm not so sure I love the A in the stencil font.

PTI products used:  Don't Forget to Write Kit, Winter Wisteria, Blueberry Sky, and Rustic Cream cardstock, Tin Types Stamps

And last but not least Colorblocking.  I love the feel of this card and the slightly messy, free hand feel of it.

PTI products used:  Doodlie Do Stamp Set, sentiment, White and Black Cardstock

Thanks for stopping by!  Let me know what you like!

Now off to see if baby is here!

Amanda