Challenges, challenges...

The first card is a happy harvest card that I made for a rather thoughtful person on the PTI Forum...I used Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on the basket which gave it a textured look, which I thought was perfect for the basket image.

The second set of photographs are of a card I made for both Bethie J's 2nd challenge (we could use the cloud dies from Up, Up & Away) and PTI's Princess Cheryl's challenge of creating a card with no sentiment or wording on the front of the card. I used liquid applique on the clouds that I die cut and then sprinkled a little bit of glitter on them while the liquid was still warm. The background paper was made with a Blueberry Sky base which I swirled Fresh Snow ink on a Q-tip to make background clouds.

Thanks to both lovely ladies for great challenges and getting me to ink up a set that I had not had a chance to use!

Bethie J's PTI Stamp Challenge #1

Bethie over on PTI's Forum came up with a great idea of a weekly challenge using one of the 3 designated PTI stamp sets...each week the stamps change. This week we could use Wreath for all Seasons, Tiny Treats:Halloween or Vintage Picnic. My 6 1/2 year old son (we call him Buddy) and I made hot sauce and used TT:Halloween to make the labels. We also used PTI's Tiny Alphabet to personalize them. The images were stamped on PTI's adhesive paper and then punched out. We also used a bit of Japanese Washi tape to wrap around the bottle. Not only did the bottle look great but the hot sauce tasted really good too!

Hello, hello...

Hello, hello all...I know it's been a really long time...it's been a super busy summer and I haven't had much time for crafting. But here are some pictures ofwhat we have been doing...lots of time at the beach, did my first triathlon, made lots of hot sauce with Buddy and more time at the beach. I was able to do some crafting...not very much, but here are a few cards. I will post in more detail about the hot sauce...it was a great project for me and my 6 year old hot sauce lovin' son!

Teacher's gift and a new soap!

This year I wanted to give a "homemade" gift to my children's teachers. Between the 3 children in school, there were 7 very special teachers I wanted to give a gift to, so the gift needed to be something that I could mass produce. I came up with something that was summer-themed and relatively easy to make.

The card is a PTI Kraft CS base and a really cute paper from October Afternoon. The sentiment is one of PTI's Fillable Frames...inside the card I modified an idea I saw on Dawn McVey's blog for a money holder and made mine out of a strip of Ocean Tides die cut with the eyelet die. I then adhered only the edges so that my gift card could slip in...

I also made "Jersey Shore Beach Soap" for each teacher. I got the idea from a fantastic bar of Bobbi Brown's Beach Soap I got as a present last year. My soap has a layer of sand (from beautiful Cape May) embedded in it as an exfoliant and is colored with green mica which makes it look like ocean water. I scented it with a beach-y scent I got from Bath Time in Cape May and packaged it all up using PTI's Just for You set. The pictures show the front and back views of the soap. I thought that the teachers could use the Barnes and Noble gift card for a beach read and the soap was for after a day in the sun. I hope they enjoyed it!

Papertrey Princess Challenge #10...Make it Pop!

Hello fellow Princesses! Hope this blog post finds you and your families all healthy and happy!

My challenge for this week is to show me how you use foam dimensionals (Pop-Dots, 3Ds). It can either be a card or scrapbook page, but make it *Pop*...I always seem to get in a rut and pop up the sentiment, but with this card I decided to do things a little different. I stamped my floral images onto a kraft CS base and then stamped the images again onto extra kraft CS. I colored the flowers with my Copics, cut them out and then adhered them with foam dimensionals. The dimensionals made this fairly simple card into something a little more special. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Color Throwdown, PTI Princess Challenge #8 and a scrapbook page...

Color Challenge #94 from www.colorthrowdown.blogspot.com

I saw this challenge posted on I {Heart} Papers blog and wanted to play along.

Next is my card for Melissa's Papertrey Princess Challenge #8...we were to come up with something inspired by the following picture. The base is PTI Kraft CS stamped with SU's Chocolate Chip ink. The patterned paper is from PTI's Turning a New Leaf, mounted on Spring Moss. The center sentiment is from Daily Designs, mounted on Ripe Avocado.

Lastly...here's a scrapbook page that I finally photographed. The patterned paper is from BoBunny, the ribbon is PTI's Terracotta Tile. It's hard to tell, but I stitched and inked around the edge of the paper.

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

This month's challenge for Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop was to come up with projects using their gorgeous new felt. With 2 little girls and hundreds of hair clips I thought I would give making my own clips a try. The felt cuts so easy with the new dies and with coordinating ribbons, was easy to come up with lots of combinations. My favorite is the "cloud" clip. I sewed little seed beads to give the clip some dimension. It would be a great clip to wear on a cloudy, rainy day! I also really like the way the black gingham clip came out. It's amazing how little time they all took. I just made all the little embellishments at

one time and then hot glued them onto a ribbon covered hair clip. I can't wait for more felt colors to be released...I was a bit limited by the few colors available. But here's to hoping for next release!

The last picture is of my goofy little models...trying to get them to hold still is near impossible!