Heather in Florida

A couple of posts ago, I shared a thank you note for my dad for flying me to see my grandmother as my birthday present. While we were there, my grandmother was the perfect hostess, so I wanted to thank her for her hospitality.

She lives in a very nice senior community, and they have a beautiful clubhouse where they are served their meals, like it's a restaurant. We ate there a couple of nights, and she took us to the cafe at Southern Season, which was a real treat. And she showed us the sights in her town.

So this thank you is for her. It was somewhat inspired by a bunch of posts over at Dawn McVey's blog. She found some Martha Stewart die cut tags that were really cute. Had I not seen them on her blog, I'd have never known they existed, and I went last weekend and got some at Michaels. I just think they're so cool! I could probably make something like them with my Cricut (my poor, unused Cricut), but they were $3 (on sale) for a pack of 12, and $3 is cheap enough for me to not want to spend the time, lol.

Supplies (all Papertrey Ink, unless otherwise noted): Round and Round exclusive stamp set; cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Hibiscus Burst, Smokey Shadow; Martha Stewart tag; Smokey Shadow and Hibiscus Burst ink; Versamark; silver embossing powder; Mat Stack 2 steel die; grey tulle from COD Warehouse; Scor-Pal

Back in April, my oldest son turned 8. We hosted a great laser tag party for him and his friends. Of course he received gifts, and gifts always mean thank you notes. But I have such a hard time with male cards, much more so with male child cards. They're past the cutesy, but not to the adult male stuff either. Waltzingmouse to the rescue! The owner, Claire, created a couple of GREAT sets for boys: Free Spirit Boy and Free Spirit Sentiments. I had just received my Papertrey Ink order as well, and thought A Little Argyle in boy colors would be a nice background element. So this is what I came up with. I also used Waltzingmouse's Off Beat Backgrounds for the "hills" for the skater dude and PTI For the Graduate to frame him.

Supplies: stamps: Waltzingmouse Free Spirit Boy, Free Spirit Sentiments, Off Beat Backgrounds and Papertrey Ink A Little Argyle and For The Graduate; cardstock: PTI Stamper's Select White and Kraft; ink: PTI Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening, Vintage Cream and Colorbox Chalk Wheat; PTI Mat Stack 1 steel die

Wow, it's been a really long time since I posted. Things got super busy again. I wasn't crafting as much. When I did craft, I didn't get pictures... I'm hoping with school out, maybe life won't be so hectic, but who knows.

Anyway, I took pictures of a few cards I made last weekend -- love three-day weekends -- so I'll spread them out over the next several days. I need to make a couple of cards this weekend, and I still have the photo tent set up, so hopefully I'll get pics before I have to send them off.


I made two of today's card. One was for my brother-in-law, who gave me a generous birthday gift that I'm still spending (can't wait to get the exclusive Nesties dies from Scrapyland!). The other is for my dad, who also gave me a generous birthday gift. He flew me to visit my grandmother. He came in as well, and when my sister found out about it, she decided to fly in, too! So it was a nice little mini-family reunion, and it was so much fun.

Supplies (all Papertrey Ink, unless otherwise noted): Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate, Terracotta cardstock; Masculine Motifs stamp set; Rustic Cream twine; Dark Chocolate buttons; wood grain impression plate; EK Success corner rounder; Dark Chocolate, Ripe Avocado, Vintage Tea Dye Duo ink; Versamark

Here's the last (for a while) of the thank yous using the Hero Arts background stamp. I've been seeing a lot of window cards lately, so I wanted to try one. It was fun, so I'll have to do that again! I also have been enjoying clear embossing for a tone-on-tone look, so that's here as well.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Kraft, Stamper's Select White, Black, and Plum Pudding Papertrey Ink cardstock; Versamark; Lavender Moon ink from Papertrey Ink; Birds & Branches stamp from Hero Arts/Archivers; Floral Fusion (sentiment) from Papertrey Ink; K & Co rhinestones; Nestabilities

I said it was a variation on a theme. ;-) Still with the Hero Arts/Archivers background stamp. I've said before that it's near impossible for me to make two cards exactly the same. Sometimes I'll do it for thank you notes, because usually they are being written in response to an event and there are many to write. In this case, I was playing and there weren't so many to make, so they're all different.

This one isn't so different from the previous one, but I thought the flower/button addition was cute.

Thanks for visiting!

Supplies: unknown green burlap; Kraft and Vintage Cream Papertrey Ink cardstock; Birds & Branches and Butterflies & Lace Hero Arts/Archivers stamps; Wheat and Pumpkin Spice Versamagic chalk ink; White Papertrey Ink pigment ink; Prima flowers; Papertrey Ink button; generic twine; Recollections pearls; Nestabilities

Here's another thank you card done with the Hero Arts/Archivers background stamp. I've had this green burlap in my stash for quite a while. It was a 12x12 sheet, and looking around for ideas, I came across it and decided to stamp on it. So I did. :-)

Thanks for looking!

Supplies: unknown green burlap; Vintage Cream and Kraft Papertrey Ink cardstock; Birds & Branches and Butterflies & Lace stamps from Hero Arts; Beyond Basic Borders (sentiment) from Papertrey Ink; Want2Scrap.com pearls; Wheat Versamagic chalk ink; Lettuce dye ink from Adirondack; Chamomile Tea Dye Duo and White pigment ink from Papertrey Ink; Nestabilities circle die; pinking shears

This is the first of a series of cards that use the same stamp. When I was in Kansas City, I got to go to Archivers -- my first time stepping foot in the store. I've heard so much about it, but they don't have them where I live. That's probably a good thing for my wallet, lol! So anyway, I am a sucker for stamps (big surprise), and they have a line of Hero Arts stamps that are exclusive to Archivers. So I couldn't pass them up. :-) And since I was there for a birthday celebration (just prior to my real birthday), I had several thank you notes to make and write.

I also wanted to try my hand at the embossing resist technique I've seen so much lately. I'm not 100% pleased with the results, but it was fun to try, and I love this stamp.

Thanks, as always, for stopping by! I'll reveal the other variations over the next few days.

Supplies: Papertrey Ink Kraft, True Black, and Pure Poppy cardstock; Papertrey Ink Beyond Basic Borders (sentiment) and Text Style (you can't see it in the photo, but it's on the white); Hero Arts Birds & Branches; Papertrey Ink white and Pure Poppy inks; Versamark; clear embossing powder; Opalite ink; K&Company rhinestones; Fiskars border punch; Michaels black ribbon

This is my thank you card this year. It took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do, and I'm not 100% satisfied with it, but I thought it came out cute. I got to use my new Storybook cartridge. :-) And a Close to My Heart stamp set I purchased at the beginning of December.

Anyhoo...thanks for looking!

Supplies: Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream and Dark Chocolate cardstocks; Making Memories Cosmopolitan Workweek Stripe Pink patterned paper; Hero Arts Art Flowers; Want2Scrap.com pearl; brown rickrack from Michaels; Papertrey Ink Vintage Cream hybrid ink and White Pearls Stamp N Stuff embossing powder; Scor-Pal and Scor-Bug.

I created these notes to write thank yous to the people who gave my son birthday gifts this year. Once I finally figured out how everything would come together, they were quick to make.

Supplies: Papertrey Ink Kraft and Pure Poppy cardstock; DCVW DP from The Grade School Stack; Quickutz Retro Diamonds A2 embossing folder; Spellbinders Labels 3 die cut; Papertrey Ink Around and About Sentiments (star border) and Star Prints stamp sets; Versamark and Versamagic inks; EK Success corner rounder.

Continuing the wedding theme from the previous post, my friend also asked me to make thank you notes for her to give to her attendants. She mentioned that I was going to do this to her fiancee, and he asked if I could make his thank you notes for his groomsmen, and I agreed. I tried to keep them somewhat tied to the invitation. The wedding colors are technically pink and black, but I thought white and silver fit in as well. And it gave me more to work with, lol!

For the bridesmaids cards, I used a scrap of the pink patterned paper left over from the invitations. I also used some Canson Effects paper for the silver, and punched it with the Fiskars Apron Lace punch. I used the new Papertrey Ink Vintage Labels set, which coordinate with the Nestabilities Labels One set. I also "borrowed" Nichole Heady's idea of masking off the center, and stamped it with Background Basics Text Style using Versamark and clear embossed it. Then I used Papertrey's Beautiful Blooms set to stamp the flower and its center. The flower center is silver embossed. The Gratitude sentiment, from a Hot Off the Press Expressions set, is also silver embossed. The greenery behind the flower is a Sizzlet. Lastly, the background was stamped in Silver from the Papertrey Ink Fancy Flourishes set and the edges were swiped with silver ink.

For the groomsmen, I used PTI's Tags for Spring for the leaf background stamp and the sentiment. It's layered on a teensy bit of pink and then on silver. To tie the two thank you's together, I used Fancy Flourishes on the black panel in Versamark. The pinstripe paper is aptly named Simple Pinstripe from Simply Luxe and was punched with a Martha Stewart punch. The damask and silver are from GCD studios' Cosette Collection -- the silver is the back of the print.

Thanks for looking!

Well, my mom always taught me it was polite to send thank you notes. Of course, she never required hand-made thank you notes, but these days, people kind of expect that from me. :-)

So, it was my son's 7th birthday celebration last weekend, and as with many seven-year-olds, he got lots of stuff. I made these thank you notes for him to give to his friends and to send out to family. Now, I just have to get him to write them. :-)

Supplies:
Stamps: Sentiment from Papertrey Ink Beyond Basic Borders; star from Sandylion Boy stamps
Paper: Various Papertrey Ink cardstocks (Perfect Match 2008 colors, Kraft, Vintage Cream); DCVW Nana's Kids striped paper
Inks: Memento, Versamagic, Cats Eye Chalk
Tools: Cuttlebug; Spellbinders labels die; Fiskars crimper; EK Success corner rounder
Etc: generic square antique silver brads

This is another Thank You card using Papertrey stamps. They just released Guidelines Two on Saturday night, and I only got Guidelines within the past month. So before I committed to Guidelines Two (which looks really cool and will probably be mine eventually), I figured I should play with Guidelines. And it's a good thing, because I'm not so sure I'm good with it, lol! I think I just need practice. This one turned out alright, but I'm going to see if I can salvage the other one I tried. I should lay off the caffeine first. Ha!

So anyway, this will be another Thank You card for my family. I used Guidelines and a sentiment from Damask Designs for this one. I also got to use one of the brand-spanking-new border punches from Fiskars. While my mom was in town last weekend, we went to Joann, and she was kind enough to buy me some goodies. This was one of them! I was so excited to see the new ones there. So I'm pretty sure my mom will be getting one of these, since she helped create it in a way. :-)

Supplies: lavender cardstock base, The Paper Company; black cardstock, Bazzill; grey strip (stamped on), Making Memories Scrapbook Basics black & white mat set; black Memento dye ink; lavender Colorbox chalk ink; lavender satin edge organza ribbon from COD Wholesale (they often have GREAT sales on this stuff); Fiskars scallop border punch; Scor-Pal (for the grid above)

I received my Papertrey order from February's release a couple of weeks ago, but didn't have time to play until this weekend. And since my birthday was at the end of last month, what better thing to make than a Thank You card, to thank my family for their thoughtful gifts?

I would also like to take this moment to say that Papertrey cardstock is really heavy. And I'm not saying that like it's a bad thing, lol! I've been so used to working with the paper from Michaels that is sold in packs, which is fairly lightweight. After feeling the weight of this paper from my February order, I ordered the pack of all of their 2008 colors during the March release party on Saturday night, and other than layering here or there, I may never go back to the other stuff, lol! I have some Bazzill, too, and it has a nice weight, but I'd been to my LSS and touched Bazzill...I knew it was thick. I was very happy that the PTI paper has a nice weight as well. I'm digging their ink, too. The cardstock on this card was part of the Friends Till The End kit, which included ink, and it's very nice I must say!

I made two of these. Not sure who will get what, yet. I've always been good about writing thank you notes, so even if I make too many, they'll eventually get used. I have another one to show in a couple of days. I don't make many square cards because just about all of mine get mailed, and they're usually heavier/thicker due to embellishments. I don't want to get hit with the weight surcharge AND a square surcharge. I made sure this one would fit in a regular A2 sized envelope, so it'll just be the weight surcharge.

Supplies: grey Bazzill card blank; Raspberry Fizz cardstock, Papertrey Ink; black cardstock, Bazzill; white cardstock, The Paper Company; green patterened paper, Me & My Big Ideas; green Colorbox chalk ink; Raspberry Fizz hybrid ink, Papertrey; black twill ribbon, Michaels; silver ribbon (through button), Michaels; button from my stash; EK Success corner rounder.

I had a bit of fun this weekend, but haven't made time until today to take the pics.

The first one is for a challenge in one of my Yahoo groups. The deal is you make a card and submit it. A random number generator decides who wins of the entries, and the winner gets all of the submissions! Kinda cool! I figure if I win, I'll donate them to the Cards for Kids. But I never win anything, lol! The card blank is from Joann. The stamp is from Michaels, as is the ribbon. The stamp was stamped with Cats Eye chalk ink in Lipstick Red. The DP is generic from my stash. I pierced the card and drew faux stitching with my Ranger Inksentials Opaque White pen. The center of the stamp is clear embossed, and I cut the stamped image and the scallop behind it with my Nestabilities.

The next two were completely random. I think this is the first time I've made a card with no particular purpose in mind. I had specific supplies that I wanted to use, so I just picked an occasion and went with it.

The first one is a generic thank you note. The DP is from a Making Memories 6x6 stack called Fresh Anthology - Sydney. The stamp is from the Inkadinkadoo Blossoms set from Costco, and it's stamped with Cats Eye chalk ink in Blue Iris. The yellow cardstock and dark blue cardstock are from my scrap stash. The yellow button is unknown, but the blue heart button is from Jesse James Dress It Up. The ribbon through the yellow button and the gold ribbon on the card were from a Tonal Adornments pack of fibers from EK Success. It was given to me by a fellow Yahoo group member, and I wanted to make good use of it. And the gold adhesive rhinestones were from Michaels.

The last card is a birthday card, but it wasn't made for anyone in particular. I have a couple of guy birthdays coming up, so this might end up being used for one of those. The stripe DP is from Making Memories Fresh Anthology - Eliza. The orange is from a Bazzill Basics Winter pack. The border punch is from Fiskars. The candles are from the Inkadinkadoo Seasons set from Costco, and it's stamped with Versamark chalk ink in Spanish Olive. The words on the strip are from the Inkadinkadoo Occasions set from Costco and are also stamped in Spanish Olive. The ribbon is from Michaels.

I'm hoping to post a video tutorial for creating aperture cards with Inkscape later tonight. We'll see if my setup works with me or against me (like last night, lol). Stay tuned! (EDITED: CamStudio wins. I lose. I can't figure out how to get a good video that a normal person would be able to actually see, so I'm giving up for the week. I may try again this weekend, but it will likely be a different topic. I will figure this out...it's just a matter of time. But for now, CamStudio has beaten me.)

These are my thank you notes for Christmas 2008.

Santa brought me the Fiskars Threading Water punch and the flower stamp set -- it's a Studio G $1 set from Michaels. The sentiment is, I believe, a See D's stamp from the set "Say It Again". The DP is from a Marcella set. The beige cardstock is from a Michaels "starter set" of 12 x 12 cardstock. Ribbon is generic ribbon from Michaels.

I'm still getting used to my brand-spanking-new portable photo studio that my mom got me for Christmas. The colors are a little "off" in this one, but so much better than without. If anyone's interested in what I'm talking about, you can see one at Ritz Camera.