March PTI Blog Hop

It's been ages since I entered PTI's blog hop so I was so happy to remember some wonderful stamps that would work great for this month's hop. It's still cold here but we have lots of green emerging and our daffodils are up and blooming. I love SPRING!! And I loved getting some of my old (and still favorite) stamps out to play today!

Supplies:

Nest is from Birds of a Feather (retired)

Flowers are from Vintage Picnic

Sentiment from Spring Hills

Embossing Folder--Branches, Cuttlebug

Dies--Mix and Match (Pretty Brackets), Journal Card (both PTI)

Paper--White, Spring Moss, Spring Rain (all PTI)

Prismacolor Pencils

Wishing you all a blessed spring,

Sharron

CAS(E) this Sketch #156

One of my sweet 12 Kits buddies, Michele at I Card Everyone submitted her very first CTS sketch (above) and I wanted to give it a try! Isn't this a wonderful sketch! Thanks for inspiring me, Michele!! The stamps I used are from PTI's Life and the inks are Altenew's Green Fields set. The sentiment is PTI Winter Woods.

There's still time for you to join in--click HERE to enter and take a look at all the other inspiration!

Thanks so much for dropping by1

Have a wonderful week,

Sharron

A Couple of Challenge Cards to Post Before the Year Ends

I've had these two cards done for a while but just didn't get them posted. The first was a Christmas card for a special friend and the second was my hubby's birthday card for a couple of days after Christmas.

I knew the instant I saw the Fusion Challenge inspiration that I would use my PTI Winter Woods set. Nichole designed a trio of birds in Charley Harper style. And I absolutely love them! The only problem now is wishing Nichole would design more birds in the same style! The background is embossed with a Sizzix snowflake folder, the oval is Lil' Inkers Stitched Ovals, sentiment is a PTI die cut and the patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket. Greenery is from WPlus9's Merry & Bright and the birch trees are Avery Elle. I tried several reds for the cardinal and found the best is Avery Elle's Strawberry, a gift from a very sweet friend. I wanted the bird's head to be black with the wing/tail stamp to be a dark gray so I cut my stamp apart to stamp. 

The Freshly Made Sketches Challenge led me to this design. Guess what, a snowflake! Mine is a Memory Box Bianca Snowflake, cut from glittery paper. The embossing is a Lifestyle Snowflake pattern. I made my own sentiment which is computer generated. The cup (done in green-hubby's favorite color) is from a Christmas present set, MFT's Birdie Brown Merry Christmouse.

 And below is the inside. Stamp from the same set.

A Little Side Note:

I helped at our botanical gardens before Christmas making greenery arrangements to sell at the holiday Illuminations. There were a lot of assorted decorations to use for accents but when we started to run low I decided to make some using stamps. I used all kinds of stamps but this particular one is from MFT Birdie Brown's Santa's Elves. I bought the smallest plastic ornaments from Michaels and PTI's Tag Sale #4 fit perfectly. I just had to cut off the top tag part so we could use the more sturdy plastic one. I added artificiaI snow purchased at a local nursery. If you are ever looking for winter decorations for your home, fresh greenery works better than anything else as it will last for ages by just adding a little water to the oasis. I bought this one to bring home. It was made 3 weeks ago and is still fresh as new!

Have a safe evening if you are going to be out and about, and a very blessed New Year!!

See you next year,

Sharron

CAS(E) This Sketch #138

This is my second post for the day. Please scroll down for the 12 Kits of Occasions August reveal.

SKETCH  #138

It has been forever since I last did a card for this challenge! I haven't been doing challenges at all lately so I'm hoping to break my bad habit!! When I saw Heather Nichols (Pine Is Here) from PTI post a batik technique, I knew it would be great with this sketch. I was going to use white for the base but switched to Hawaiian Teal for a rich contrast. I cut out the rectangle and placed the finished watercolor paper behind. The embossed leaves are from Turning a New Leaf (PTI) and the zebra (my take on the sketch challenge stripes) and sentiments are from another PTI set, It's a Jungle Out There.

Of course, I had to made a mask for the zebra so he wouldn't have green stripes but wished I had some masking fluid as that would probably have worked better!

Hope you enjoy! Try this technique if you can. It's very cool!

Thanks for letting me share,

Sharron

MIM: Doodling with Stamps

Sadly I've haven't participated in a Make It Monday at PTI for ages! But with some encouragement from  a sweet 12 Kits buddy, I wanted to give it a try. This week's challenge is "Doodling with Stamps" with a video by Ashley Newell. I played around with samples first using Garden of Life, a set that I've had almost as long as I've been stamping and I still love it. Don't know if I did a good job arranging the flowers but I'm anxious to do this technique again. It's really easy and fun! The Wet Paint sentiments seem perfect with the whimsical hand-drawn doodling.

Thanks a bunch for letting me share,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Garden of Life, Wet Paint III (PTI)

Cardstock: Soft Stone (PTI); White (Recollections)

Ink: Fresh Peach (Hero Arts); Cantaloupe (Memento) Onyx Black (Versafine); Sharpie Extra Fine-Black

Additional: Enamel Dots (My Mind's Eye)

CAS-ology #133: LOVE and Another CASEing Maile Card

This card is for sending a little love to my 10-year old niece on her birthday. There is a birthday sentiment inside. Hopefully monsters are allowed in a challenge about love as I'm entering it into this week's CAS-ology challenge. I paper pieced my little monster using images from SSS Monster Hugs. The speech bubble is a PTI die and the sentiment is from Avery Elle's Airmail. That border is from a set of dies called Sunshine Layers from WPlus9. I am soooo in love with these new dies! The difference it makes to add this border on a card is amazing so I will be using these dies a lot! There are many others included that are just as fabulous.

The paper I used for the monster is the same background paper that I used for my card below. I posted another version on Tuesday that I entered in one of the PTI challenges. This is a get well card and I am really happy with the pink and orange combo so I wanted to share. A couple of people mentioned this background paper. I wish I had but I didn't make it! It's from a pad of Provo Craft paper that I bought years ago at Michael's. There are lots of fun graphic and watercolor designs that are right in fashion today. Hoarding can be good thing!!

Are you getting ready for a fun weekend? Hope you have a great one!

Sharron

PTI 8th Anniversary Challenges

Here's my second card entry for PTI's Anniversary challenges. This is for Challenge #4--to create a bouquet using more than one stamp set. I only used two and again got inspiration from a card on Maile's blog. That's always a fantastic place to get inspiration!! You can find her card here where she did a remix design using Mini Blooms. I chose Bigger Blooms for my smaller flowers and a large flower and accent swirls from an older set, Flower Garden.

Hope you enjoying all the PTI festivities! Don't miss out on today's contest!

Thanks for letting me share another card,

Sharron

PTI 8th Anniversary Challenges #2 & #5

Exciting activities going on over at PTI--wonderful new products, challenges and lots of inspirational projects by Nichole and the design team! There's always quite a party when they celebrate an anniversary! Be sure to visit Nichole's blog every day!! My card today is first to select a card on Maile Belles blog to use for inspiration and create my own version. And today's challenge is to use a stamp set that has never seen ink. This is for both!

See Maile's blog HERE to learn about creating cards with cutout panels. It's an easy technique that gives a great look. I used my still sealed up Spring Hills set and a patterned paper from My Mind Eye's Quilting Bee.

Hope to have another card tomorrow!

Sharron

Merry Monday #142: Christmas Houses

My Wonderfully Whimsical stamp set hasn't seen ink for the longest time! It's always been a favorite of mine so I was glad to use it for this week's Merry Monday challenge. The snowman is from another PTI set, Tinsel and Tags (no longer available) and the sentiment is from Love Lives Here: Holiday. I so wish I could capture the shine and sparkle with my camera. The gold trimmed trees and touches of Wink of Stella look so pretty IRL!

I'm so excited to play at Merry Monday and start my Christmas card collection early this year. Thanks again for letting me share!

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Wonderfully Whimsical, Tinsel and Tags, Love Lives Here: Holiday (all PTI)

Cardstock: White (Recollections); Cupid's Bow (WPlus9)

Dies: Landscape Trio (Mama Elephant); Stitched Rectangles (Lil' Inker)

Additional: Embossing Folder-Argyle (Cuttlebug); Clear Wink of Stella; Pilot Gold Marker; Copics

CASEing Michele!

I've found a new blog and it's filled with inspiration!! Tracey, In My Creative Opinion, who is one of the 12 Kits members, mentioned the blog in a post so I went to visit. I instantly fell in love with all the fabulous creations and yesterday took the time to explore further. Michele Ferguson, I Card Everyone, has a wonderful CAS style and I found so much inspiration. In the card below she used a PTI set, that I have but had never even opened. for a stunning white and silver design. Below is a photo of her card.

And below is the CASE I did. Unfortunately I have a terrible time photographing metallics! It is much lighter and sparkly IRL. I used Memory Box's Contempo Circles die and patterned paper from S.E.I. The sentiment and bird are from PTI's Trendy Trees. The landscape is embossed with silver.

I'm so looking forward to making many visits Michelle's blog as I am now a follower! I am also entering this in Darnell's 3rd NBUS Challenge and in Virginia's View Challenge #11, Clean Slate.

Don't faint but I just posted two days in a row! Thanks for coming by again,

Sharron

Congrats, Kara

One of my favorite places to visit for inspiration is Kara's (KandRDesigns) Friday Inspiration File. And she is celebrating her 200th week of posts with a challenge. Click here to find out the details. You can select any pin in any of the files for inspiration and create a project. I needed a masculine sympathy card and had been really struggling finding something special when I came across this card by Jill Foster in Kara's file.

I used a tree stamp from PTI's Through the Trees and embossed it with gold embossing powder on some watercolor paper. Sorry the glittery gold doesn't show up well. Koi watercolors were used for the subtle background. The sentiment is from Altenew's Ori Kami and is one of my favorites for sympathy cards. The layer of green cardstock is WPlus9's Green Acres.

I enjoyed my review of Kara's files so much, even though I didn't make a dent in visiting all the wonderful inspiration projects. I have started a list of some I want to CASE. This will really help me get back into the stamping routine that I have been missing so much in 2014! Thanks, Kara!!

Thanks for letting me share,

Sharron

A Very Merry Christmas to All!!

Just wanted to share a few of my Christmas projects and to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I am so glad I ordered PTI's Tinsel and Tags set this year. It has been so much fun! I made a dozen globes  to use on Christmas gifts and still have a few more that are stamped and ready to put together. All are the same except I used two different sentiments.

I had requested this My Favorite Things Jingle All the Way set a while back from a favorite Kansas City stamping store. I had several other tags that I had been working on but when it arrived in the mail, I instantly fell in love with these adorable little Santas. I know it's not very practical to do tags that require a lot of coloring but I couldn't help myself. I've made a LOT of these! The 'a gift for you' sentiment came from Tinsel and Tags.

Except for hubby's gift and also his birthday present (BD is the 27th!), I think I'm actually ready for the holidays. The baking is even done!!

If you are celebrating Christmas, Hanakkah, or Kwanza this month, may December bring you peace. Wishing everyone a wonderful season,

Sharron

The 12 Kits of Occasions: June 'Here Comes the Bride'

Welcome to another addition of the 12 Kits of Occasions monthly reveals. This month our fabulous and talented hostess is Marybeth, Marybeth's Time for Paper. It's June, the month of brides and weddings and Marybeth's kit included a fantastic selection of papers, die cuts, stamped images and embellishments that are perfect for anything wedding or anniversary related. The soft colors are just luscious! Thank you, Marybeth, for providing such an awesome kit. I loved how easy everything seemed to go together. 

I needed an anniversary card for a 50th wedding anniversary so I was lucky that Marybeth's kit had arrived at the first of the month. Since this was for someone who loves to quilt I wanted to add something quilt related. I found these blocks in a PTI set that I have had for ages and embossed them in gold. The sentiment from PTI's Beautiful Butterflies is done on vellum and also in gold. Marybeth included the cut out hearts that were left after cutting out this gorgeous heart that was so perfect for the front of the card. I double coated one with gold embossing powder to make it appear more like metal and added it at the bottom.

This wonderful quote below could have been a card all by itself but I chose to use it on the inside and added another small double coated gold heart.

This next card uses more hearts that were colored with Copics and covered with Clear Wink of Stella. It may be hard to see but more Wink of Stella was added to the glasses to create even more bubbles.

Love these Mama Elephant stamps and dies!

I once again double coated a die cut with gold embossing powder. Loving the look!

The negative of the die cut used above makes a great shaker card. And isn't this sweet bird couple adorable!

A list of the supplies that Marybeth included in her kit can be found here. 

Additional supplies used that were not included in her kit: PTI Vellum Paper, Recollections Matte & Foil Papers, PTI Beautiful Butterflies and Quilt Sampler Additions stamps, Penny Black sentiment, Spellbinders Classic Edges Two, Sizzix Sugar Embossing Folder, Mama Elephant Confetti dies, Lil' Inker Anytime Tags Stitched Rectangles dies, Heidi Swapp sequins, Gold Embossing Powder (Ranger), Copics

We also are excited have a guest designer this month. You may remember Lindsey, Occasional Stamping. She won last month's guest designer spot. Well, Marybeth had already invited her to join us for June. And she did such an amazing job last month that I'm sure you will be anxious to visit her blog again. I know I am!! 

Be sure to check all the 12 Kits members blogs too. Links can be found on the 12 Kits blog here. There's always so much to see! So happy that you stopped by......

Have a great week and enjoy the hop,

Sharron

The 12 Kits of Occasions: March, featuring Spring & Easter

I feel awful that I haven't posted one thing since the last 12 Kits post. So I'm especially happy to replace my snowman cards with cards that reflect Spring. I'm sure there are many people who have had all the snow they can stand for one year!

This month our hostess is Kelly, from Gingham Girl, and she sent us this fabulous kit! (See photo below) It was chock full of bunnies and birds, a wonderful variety of flowers, Easter eggs and lots of embellishments. Way too much to list everything but one of my very favorites was the paper! It was swoon-worthy! I was tempted to hoard everything but was good and cut into some of the awesome patterns for my cards below!! You can find a list of all the supplies at The 12 Kits of Occasions blog. Be sure to click on the link to also find pictures submitted by all our members plus a special guest that Kelly invited. Karen from Crrafty Mama's Kitchen is this month's guest designer. Be sure to visit her blog to see the great ways she has used Kelly's kit. Links to all the other 12 Kits members can be found on the 12 Kits blog also.

A big thank you to Kelly for a fantastic kit and treating us to so many fantastic supplies. Loved it, Kelly! And a shout out also to Kara for taking the great photo below.

PHOTO BY KARA

Kelly also included one of my favorite ever Waltzingmouse images--the cute bunny on my first card. Since I have the Lil' Buddies set, I stamped another bunny on the polka dot paper and was able to do a little paper piecing.

I'm also entering this card in the Fusion Card Challenge. I thought the sketch was a great design for using the large egg die cut.

Wish you could see this Easter card IRL. The eggs and butterfly were brushed with clear Wink of Stella and the heart is all shiny with Glossy Accents. Some things just aren't very photogenic!

Hope you enjoy the hop! Thank you so much for stopping by,

Sharron

Happy Birthday Papertrey!!

No one has parties quite like PTI and this week they have been celebrating turning "7"!! There are always lots of contests and today's is to create a project featuring a word. Actually this card is for my niece who is turning "8" so I added a digital image from Sassy Cheryl Digital Stamps. The rest of my supplies are PTI products, except the enamel dots.

I try to match cards with gifts I am sending and this card matches the hair ribbon clip that goes with a top I bought her.

I made the 'Happy' with eight layers of cardstock--Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush and a Dark Chocolate center!

Visit Nichole's blog to find the details about today's contest and see samples of some of the awesome new products being released on the 15th!

Have a great day,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Oversized Birthday Cake Surprise (Sassy Cheryl's Stamps); Stylish Sentiment-Birthdays (PTI)

Dies: Pretty Peonies (PTI)

Cardstock: SS White, Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush, Dark Chocolate (PTI)

Ink: Rich Cocoa (Memento), Copics

Additional: Enamel Dots (MME); Glossy Accents; Icicle Stickles 

At Last: A Card---Actually Two!

After a couple of weeks of being totally unable to create ANYTHING, I was getting really frustrated!! I also needed a card for our neighbor's birthday. So I thought perhaps CASEing would help. There was this fantastic card  that Cathy, The Empty Nest Crafter, had recently made for a Fusion Challenge. She just recently was selected for their Design Team. YAY!! I know she will be fantastic on the their team and I was anxious to try out a challenge. I loved her layout so kept with the basic design. For the sun I used an PTI impression plate then used the same Lil' Inker die but chose to create a flower and added a butterfly element for the center. Thank you so much, Cathy, for giving me a boost. My neighbor loved her card!

So after getting inspired by Cathy, I was ready to make a second card. I was drawn to the flowers in the Fusion inspiration picture--the white with large black centers--and the woodgrain background. For the flowers I used a dogwood die and Cuttlebug's Branches embossing folder added a little different look. I only had an outline flower die so I cut it out of Smoky Shadow, glued it to white cardstock and then fussy cut. The yellow rolled rose is felt.

I am adding this to the WPlus9 challenge #25 also. The colors work perfectly for both challenges!

My Version of Cathy's Card

Thanks so much for letting me share,

Sharron

Supplies

Stamps: Fresh Cut Florals, Country Charm (WPlus9)

Cardstock: White (Neenah); Sahara Sand (Stampin' Up): Smoky Shadow, Soft Stone (PTI)

Inks: Onyx Black (Versafine); Slate (Amuse)

Dies: Branch with Leaves (Sizzix); Dogwood Blossom Outline (Memory Box); Sentiment Strips (MFT); Under the Mistletoe (WPlus9)

Additional: Felt (PTI); Embossing Folder-Branches (Cuttlebug); Black Pearl (Queen and Co.); Gold Dewdrops; Gold Paper (12 Kits)