Thinking Of You Bouquet

 Happy Wednesday and, while we're at it, Happy September 1st. my Crafty Friends!  Welcome to my little corner of the crafting world.

Remember in my last post how I said I love this time of year?  Well, I do but the reality is setting in and things are already getting hectic.  I've started making some of my holiday gifts, creating a new crochet pattern for the sweetest candy cane pillows, stitching glass beads on felt pine trees which will be car air fresheners/scented ornaments, I have yet to decide on a design for my Christmas cards and I have less than three months to get it all done.  Yes, I celebrate Thanksmas.  My family converges on my home from various states as far away as Pennsylvania.  This way, there is no argument or tug of war with the in-law families about who's going to which house on Christmas.  Thanksmas is mine.

So with all of that going on, I still have to do the normal day to day stuff; clean the house, make dinner, do dishes, laundry and make cards for all of the rest of the celebrations of life.  You know how it is.

For this card I couldn't wait to try out some of my new goodies from the Papertrey Ink sale.  I finally got the Birthday Bouquet set that I've had my eye on FOREVER along with the Skinny Diagonal Frames which I have impressed into the panel.

I first inked up the flowers with Distress Inks using the color scheme from the MFT color challenge.  After much hemming and hawing, I decided to make the leaves and stems grey and I actually love this look.  I'm so traditional, it's tragic so I'm really glad I jumped out of my comfort zone for a change.

I then die cut everything with the coordinating dies and then distress spattered with white and black acrylics.  On the impressed panel, I used the three dot stamp from PTI's Winter Fox collection to surround the bouquet.

After adhering everything else down, I stamped the sentiment and then die cut it with the MFT Stitched Sentiment Banner Die and then finished it all off by adding Star Dust Stickles.

What do you think?  Please let me know in the comments section, and while you're there, let me know if you've started getting ready for the holiday season yet.

Thank you so much for stopping by.  I hope you have the best day!

♥ Laura

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges.  Please click on the links.

Papertrey Ink: The Great Cover-Up - Impress A Die Into The Background

My Favorite Things: Color Challenge

Funkie Junkie: Distressing

Simon Says Stamp Monday: Glimmer and Sparkle

Make It Market - Autumn

Hello My Crafty Friends!  Welcome!  Welcome!  Welcome!

Welcome to my little corner of the crafting world.  I hope you're enjoying every minute of summer as we're coming into the home stretch of August with less than a month until the official flip into Fall.

I LOVE this time of year!  All of my crafty neighbors are switching gears and starting to make holiday cards and I get so excited to see the fall colors and the new lineup of seasonal eye candy all over the internet and social media.

With that being said, I have this Autumn make to show you, inspired by some of my favorite things from Papertrey Ink.  Melissa Phillips of PTI did a live zoom class a few weeks ago featuring this awesome little stamp, die and stencil set called "Make It Market Mini Kit - Color Pop Autumn".

As Melissa was creating some beautiful examples, I jumped on the PTI website and ordered the kit along with their "Shape Up Series - Pumpkin" set that I've had my eye on for a while.  I had this brilliant idea to combine the two and make a card featuring both sets.

I first stenciled and then stamped the gorgeous leaves, stems and berries.  Then I die cut that piece using the Pumpkin Sections die.  I wanted to keep the sections separated, so I used the same die to cut kraft cardstock, using the negative to outline around the cuts and using those extra positive pieces to raise up my stamped sections.

And, of course, I had to add a tag but didn't want it to intrude on the design, so I tucked it behind and used the stem as the pull.

What do you think?  Please let me know in the comments section below and, while you're there, I would love to hear about your favorite time of the year.

I hope you have the best day!

♥ Laura

PS: I would like to enter my card into the challenges listed below, just click on the links.

Papertrey Ink: Color Pop Autumn w/ Melissa Phillips

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday: Add a Sentiment

Double D: Fruits & Vegetables

Happy Little Stampers: Stencil Challenge August

Products I used                                                                                                                                                

Stamps, Dies & Stencils: Papertrey Ink, Magnolia

Inks: Distress Oxides - Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Bundled Sage, Chipped Sapphire, Dusty Concord, Forest Moss, Peeled Paint, Scattered Straw, Seedless Preserves, Stormy Sky, Tea Dye, Vintage Photo

Prismacolor Pencils

Get Well Soon My Friend

 Hello My Crafty Friends!

I made this card for my dear friend who is recuperating nicely after having his leg amputated.  The dear man wowed the doctors and nurses by keeping a positive attitude throughout his ordeal.  I believe it's why he was able to go home so soon afterward.  He's already shooting for a date to get back out on the golf course.

I have, once again, dove into my Papertrey Ink supplies to create this card.  These stamps and dies are so fun to work with and made short work of this card that I created using nothing but white cardstock and inks.

These beautiful roses are made with the PTI Effortless Beauties stamps and dies.  Love these layering stamps!  I cut the oval using the PTI Pierced Feature Frames: Ovals.  The shiplap background was made using dies from The Greetery called Shiplap Builder.

Distress Inks: Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar, Aged Mahogany, Seedless Preserves, Fossilized Amber, Scattered Straw, Gathered Twigs, Tea Die, Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Chipped Sapphire, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Old Paper, Forest Moss and Forest Moss Oxide.

Thank You So Much for stopping by today.  I hope you have a most wonderful week and hope to see you again soon.

♥ Laura

I would like to enter my card into these challenges.  Please click on the links.

Papertrey Ink: The Great Cover-Up (Create A Card Using Just White Cardstock)

Thoughts Of You

Hello My Creative Friends!

I hope what they say is true, that absence makes the heart grow fonder.  I cannot believe this many months have gone by since my last post.  Not that I haven't been making cards, I just haven't posted them.  Sure, I take photos of them most of the time, but taking the time to post them has been beyond my scope for a while.  While editing these photos and just logging into this website, I have felt like a duck out of water.

I hope all of you are good and that you have all gotten through this past year without issue.  My job at UPS pretty much pounded me into the dirt.  We thought that with the lifting of restrictions and everyone able to go back out into the world and shop in physical stores like they did before, we would slow down and go back to normal.  Well, that hasn't happened yet.  Maybe this is the new normal.  I know I'm not out there like I used to be...

So without further ado, I have my latest make that I would like to share.

I have fallen in love with layered stamps and stencils with coordinating dies, especially since it seems I have more and more cards that I need to make.

The majority of my supplies are by Papertrey Ink.  They have this gorgeous collection of bird stamps and dies that are irresistible.  This sweet little one is Feathered Friends Mini 8 which I've paired it up with some of the Effortless Beauties florals.  I stamped the sentiment from the same set onto a Shape Shifters Oval 1.  The teacup is a Merry Mug die that I dry embossed with a Cuttlebug folder.

That really awesome background paper is from Nitwit Designs from their Harmony collection.  Everything is inked with Tim Holtz Distress Inks and Oxides and  I'll put a more detailed list of those below.

Thank You so much for stopping by and taking a look.  Your comments are always very much appreciated.  Have a most wonderful day and a fantastic weekend!

♥ Laura

Distress Inks and Oxides - Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Salty Ocean, Shabby Shutters, Mowed Lawn, Rustic Wilderness, Dried Marigold, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick, Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Frayed Burlap, Hickory Smoke

I would like to enter my card into the following challenges.  Please click on the links.

Papertrey Ink: What Do I Do With This

Before Winter is Gone

Hello My Crafty Friends!  I hope you had a most wonderful holiday season.  By now, I imagine, all of your decorations are down and things are pretty much back to normal.  I must confess, my tree is still up with the lights on but ornaments are put away.  I took my time with it because September thru December is the busiest time at my job.  I work full time, plus some over time during those months and I do not have much time to decorate, or craft for that matter.  So I got all of my decorations up on Christmas Eve and enjoyed them until New Year's Eve.  Then we went to Philadelphia to spend a week with my youngest daughter.  So yes, I was reluctant to take them down.  I should get the tree back into the garage some time tomorrow.  (sigh....)

So now that things have calmed down, I'm happy to say that I'm back at my desk working on projects.  I have a lot of ideas and things I'm chomping at the bit to start.  Here is my first make for this year; a little wintry scene since Arizona doesn't get much snow for me to enjoy.

This little guy is made with a snowman die by Magnolia Sweden from their DooHickey's club vol. 12 (Noel).  He didn't come with a scarf so I did make him one.  The beautiful stamp I used around him is called Snowy Circle, also by Magnolia.

I cut my own large tag from chipboard and layered it with cardstock and corrugated card.  All patterned paper is by Nitwit Designs and I embossed white card for the snowy ground.

I ♥ die cuts!  Most of the dies I used for this project are by Magnolia with the exception of the leaf die, that one is by Sizzix.  I used Versa Mark and Frantage to give those leaves some bling.  The fern, by Magnolia, is from DooHickey's club vol. 7 (The Holidays Are Coming) and that gorgeous snowflake is from DooHickey's club vol. 23 (Joyeux Noel).

For this little tag, I used a die that I thought I would never use.  It's from the 2017 Galaxy collection and it turns out it's super cute.  The little snowflake is part of the So Wrapped Snowflake die set.

Look at that sweet little face...

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a look.  Your comments are always very much appreciated.  Have A Most Wonderful Day!

♥ Laura

I would like to enter the following challenges, please click on the links.

The Official Magnolia Inspirational Challenge  Winter
Simply Magnolia  Anything Goes opt Monochrome
Forever Magnolia  Anything Goes opt Bookmark
My Favorite Things  Color Challenge 
Polkadoodles  Anything Goes
Swedish House Crafts  Winter/Snow
Stamping Sensations  Favorite Stamp
ABC Christmas  A is for Anything Christmas Goes & B is for Bingo
Jingle Belles Rock  Look What Santa Brought Me
Sweet Stampin Christmas  Sparkle
Ally's Angels  Anything Goes

Blue & Brown

Good Morning Crafty Friends, Happy November!

I can remember my mom saying that the older you get, the faster time goes.  She was absolutely right!  I thought that once I became an empty nester, things would slow down...  HA!  I'm much busier now than I was before and there are never enough minutes in a day for me to accomplish everything that I want to.  That being said, I cannot believe that it's less than two months until Christmas.  I planned to have everything done by now but I have accomplished nothing except for starting to write out a list of things to do.  :p

This is my second make as guest designer for TOMIC (The Official Magnolia Inspiration Challenge) this go around, and the theme for the November challenge is Blue & Brown.

This beautiful stamp by Magnolia Sweden is called Old Swedish Church from the 2012 A Christmas Story collection and the Merry Christmas Text is from the 2015 A Lovely Christmas collection.

The snowflakes are die cut from various DooHickey's boxes and coated in puffy paint and the Tilda Tag at the top is my favorite and most used Magnolia DooHickey's die.  The lovely patterned paper collection is Farmhouse by Nitwit Designs.

Distress Inks - Black Soot, Pumice Stone, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain

Thank you for stopping by and taking a look.  I hope you have a most wonderful day!

♥ Laura

Enjoying Some Fall Weather

Good Morning To You, My Crafty Friends!

I hope you're enjoying the awesome fall weather as much as I am.  I always look so forward to when our daytime temperatures drop down out of the 100's and I can actually wear a jacket to take my Bugatti for his walk in the wee hours.

Today I bring you some inspiration using lovely Magnolia products, which you all know how much I love.  I have been invited to be the Guest Designer for The Official Magnolia Inspiration Challenge this month and this is what I came up with for my first make.

This sweet girl is Tilda With Peanut from the 2012 Turning Leaves Collection.  I've had this adorable stamp for a long time but this is the first time I've used her.

All of the flowers are hand made using Magnolia DooHickey's dies listed in order going counter-clockwise; Tilda Tag (2011 Sweet Christmas Dreams, Fall Leaves and Wheat (DooHickey's Box Volume 6 (Harvest), Cornflower (DooHickey's Pop Up Box (Midsummer Nights Dream), Poinsettias (DooHickey's Box Volume 2 (All I Want For Christmas) I cut each one 8 times to make this large flower.

To continue, I've also used Leaves and Cloud (DooHickey's Box Volume 4 (Le Jardin), Medium Flower (DooHickey's Box Volume 5 (Celebration), Stars (DooHickey's Box Volume 7 (The Holidays Are Coming) to make the flower centers, Small Flower (DooHickey's Box Volume 10 (Buzz Buzz) that I cut 8 times for each clover flower, Rocket Salad (2015 Little Italy), Bird House (2019 Magnolia Day).

Distress Inks: Aged Mahogany, Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Peeled Paint, Pumice Stone, Rusty Hinge, Vintage Photo, Walnut Stain, Weathered Wood

Thank You so much for stopping by and taking a look.  Your comments are always very much appreciated.  Have a most wonderful day!

♥ Laura

I would like to enter the following challenges, please click on the links:

Ally's Angels  Anything Goes
Happy Little Stampers Watercolor Challenge  Anything Goes w/opt Botanical
Happy Little Stampers Dies Challenge  Anything Goes with Dies
Magnolia Forever  Anything Goes opt Purple
Polkadoodles  Anything Goes
Simply Magnolia  Anything Goes opt Purple
Swedish House Crafts  Autumn or Spooky
Stamping Sensations  Trees/Leaves/Autumn