PTI glitter die cut: take two

I did it!

Thankfully my kids don't pay a lot of attention to what I am doing on the computer, so I am hoping dear daughter doesn't see this before next week.

I really wanted to participate in the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday glitter die cut challenge. On my last post you can see the glitter die cuts I used on my dear daughter's party invitations, but in the end didn't use any PTI product, so I needed to create something else to enter the challenge.

Here is her birthday card - ready almost a week early!

The "happy" is from the PTI Wonderful Words die collection and I glittered it using my Xyron and the same extra fine glitter that I used on the invitations.

The birthday sentiment is popped up with foam adhesive, Stickled around the edges and a Pink Paislee butterfly charm is attached (woohoo - using that stash).

On the inside of the card I once again used the PTI Zipper die to hide an iTunes card.

The birthday sentiments are both from PTI Birthday Bash Sentiment and the "open" is from the Movers & Shakers Sentiments set.

I tried the same glitter technique with the butterflies (Martha Stewart punches). It worked just fine,  but in the end I didn't like the glitter colors on the card, so punched a few more butterflies from the Prima paper scraps left over from creating the invitations.

All the other designer paper is from a 6x6 My Mind's Eye Vanity Fair pad and the inks are Memento Rich Cocoa, VersaMagic Turquoise Gem and Color Box Chalk Ink Orchid Pastel.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

PTI glitter die cuts challenge

I am a fan of Papertrey Ink products and was inspired to try their glitter die cuts challenge this week.

I had to make some invitations for my dear daughter's birthday party that is fast approaching and was determined to glitter them up.

I started by pulling out the only Sizzix/Ellison thin cuts alphabet set I still own - Block Party. This set almost always gets pulled out for school presentation boards and occassionally for a scrapbooking project. I think this is the first time I have used it on a card.

I ran some white cardstock strips through my Xyron first and then diecut the number "15" so that the adhesive was on top of the number.

I then glitter the tops of the numbers using a superfine glitter that was picked up at a Scrapbook Expo several years ago - what I didn't purge, I am determined to use!

This really is about as mess free as you can get with glitter!

I had one clear vision when I started - dear daughter's birthday is May 1st, or 5/1, so my plan included at play on "15 on 5/1", but as often happens, things headed off in an entirely different direction.

I used my Spellbinders Labels Sixteen to cut a base for the "15". The paper is just more of the white cardstock stamped with a Glitz Designs musical notes distress stamp & Turquoise Gem VersaMagic chalk ink.

The label is then attached to a base cut with my most used, favorite Spellbinders Nestabilities: Reverse Wonky Rectangle. 

A glitter circle ribbon from Michaels is wound around the die cut and a few decorative pins finish off the front panel (using that stash!).

It's hard to see in this photo, but I outlined the Label in Stardust Stickles. I decided to outline the bigger diecut as well after taking this photo.

The large clear pins I colored with a Copic to match the paper.

I added a few beads to the smaller clear pin - a dab of glue or a glue dot will hold the beads in place.

A quick peak at the inside of the card shows you I used 2 different sizes of the Reverse Wonky Rectangles to cut the information pieces. Everything is inked with the Turquoise Gem. The paper on this page is from Prima - it was very hard to use it, but I am so determined to put my hoarding days behind me!

So guess what? I did glitter a diecut, but I didn't use any Papertrey Ink products, so I can't enter this in the challenge!

Come back in the next couple of days to see the card I am making for dear daughter's birthday - I promise it will have a PTI glittered die cut.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

it's not the lion king

My dear daughter requested a lion king card for a birthday today?!

Hmm, I don't have any lion king stamps, or even lion stamps, and no zoo or animal print papers. I thought about downloading a computer image, but didn't want to violate any copyrights.

What's a mom to do, but ignore her dear daughter and play with the stamps she wants to, especially when the new to me à la mode Birthday Girl from My Favorite Things is sitting on my desk.

I decided to use the MFTWSC sketch at Splitcoast Stampers as the starting point for this card. Here is this week's sketch:

I love this birthday girl!

Isn't she sweet?

I used designer papers from My Mind's Eye (On the Bright Side) and Basic Grey (Wander), along with my oval Nestabilities, a Fiskars border punch and the Loopy Bloom die from MFT.

Copics and a Spica glitter pen round out the supply list.

Here is a close up of the glitter work. I wish I'd completely fussy cut around the image, but was afraid of decapitating the poor thing!

On the inside, the Papertrey Ink Zipper die creates a hiding spot for a gift card. Forever 21, H&M, iTunes and Starbucks are the most popular gift cards in dear daughter's circle right now.

I hadn't picked up the gift card yet, so the diecut is just laying in place for this photo.

In other news, dear husband just came in and told me our neighbor killed a rattlesnake in his back yard!! There go my plans for doing some yardwork today - I'm staying inside!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Spring cleaning

Bear with me, this post meanders, but will end up being crafting related I promise.

When my dear husband and I were married in the 90s and first combined households, I gently suggested the following rule to help him weed through an extensive clothing collection: if it was bought in the 70s and hasn't been worn since the 80s, it is time to let it go.

When I had my first baby, a friend who had been there, done that told me to consign as much of my work wardrobe as I could and donate the rest. She wisely pointed out that, even if I did return to work, I would want to buy new things.

Oh, why didn't I listen to her?

Just after baby #2, we made a temporary moved to WA . Thinking it was just for a year, we left the majority of our goods, including my work clothes, in storage. I still couldn't let them go.

Eighteen months later we made the decision to stay in the US, bought a house and pulled everything out of storage. With my visa at that time I couldn't work, even if I wanted to, and my corporate wardrobe was now almost four years old.

I had a nostalgic trip down memory lane going through the boxes, but the reality is that very few of those clothes had a place in my life anymore and the window of opportunity to consign them was lost, so the boxes were dropped of at a local charity.

In the years since then I have become the queen of purging and simplifying our household goods. Twice a year I go through my closet and the kids and weed out the unused, outgrown or worn out clothes (I still try to gently nudge my dear husband to join us, but I think he currently uses 2/3 of our walk-in closet plus half of the guest room closet).

I love to cook, but even my kitchen has been purged of appliances like pasta and bread machines that just didn't get used often enough.

So why do I have a hard time purging any of my craft supplies? As long as I had somewhere to put it, I just keep adding to my stash - new supplies come in and, unless it is used in a project, rarely does anything leave.

I can even pinpoint when my hoarding problem started. I blame 7Gypsies and one of their first French themed paper lines that had a "Grenoble" paper. I went to the University of Grenoble for a year and thought to myself "fantastic, I'll pick that up when I get around to making a scrapbook of my year in Europe."

A couple of months later the paper was no where to be found - limited availablity of product has been a huge contributing factor to the build up of paper & product that I own. I bought so much based on what I might do and the fear the product would not be available in a couple of months when I might want it.

I really am rambling, but my local scrapbook store is having a garage sale this weekend and I have really, really, REALLY made a huge effort to purge the forgotten product. I seriously have enough beach themed paper to last 5 lifetimes, even for someone living in southern California!

In the end, the pressure was on, time was short & I didn't get any photos as I pushed to make kits and package product, but my dining room did look something like this for a couple of weeks (only with a lot more paper stacked up):

It is amazing how good it feels to cleanse and purge.

The scary thing is, when I went to drop off the last box of items to sell, I had to stop myself from buying new paper {grin}.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

it is defective!

Remember when I said the other day I thought my color wheel might be defective? Ha! It is!

Don't ask how or why, because some colors were good, but some were way off and it wasn't in any consistent way. I honestly haven't used or looked at my color wheel for a few years but KNOW it was good when I last had it out.

I did have a little bit of fun crafty time last night & a couple of projects to finish tomorrow.

This little angel kept me from doing anything tonight:

She's not allowed upstairs & I didn't have the heart to leave her alone, so I have a few things to work on in the morning.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

being strong

I love the four quotes in the Vertical Greeting Die-namic set from My Favorite Things and used one this week for the MFTWSC sketch challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.

This is the sketch.

A member of our extended family had a very scary medical episode that resulted in a hospitalization about eight hours from home. I really like the "strong" quote and feel it describes the way many members of the family stepped up and dealt with the situation: with strength and grace.

I  wanted a more masculine feel for the card, so used the fishtail flag die instead of the die that comes with the stamp set.

In other news, I am discovering how hard it is to mix my paints to perfectly match the color wheel. I have no problem creating a tremendous variety of shades of the color I want, but not the exact color!

I still don't have a blue, red or green that are exactly right {sigh}. Could I be comparing my swatches to a defective color wheel?!?

This is what the kitchen island looked like when I walked away from the project this afternoon.

For the record, I think dear daughter took a little too much pleasure watching me struggle with my homework.

Tomorrow is a new day & I have a plan of attack - if you hear screams of frustration midmorning you will know I will be looking for a Plan C.

Thanks for stopping,

Jacquie

catching up

It is so hard to spend time cleaning & organizing when I have cards that need to be made {grin}.

I spent some more time yesterday getting caught up on the MFTWSC sketch that I missed last week.

This is sketch 66:

And my take on it:

And the inside:

Obviously, it is a birthday card and will be dropped in the mail this week for one of my dear sisters (who is not panicking about the mounting numbers on the birthday cake, but does have a great sense of humor).

The papers are all from Crate Paper's Story Teller 6x6 designer paper pad and the stamp set is a new Who's That Girl from My Favorite Things. A few nesties and a border die round out the supply list.

I have a big project due this week - creating my own color wheel! If only I could cut pieces from my cardstock collection, I'd be done in five minutes.  


Our wheel must be created using a specific set of paints colors, which means we are even creating the primary colors! I spent 2 hours trying to master blue, violet and red violet on Friday, so this is not as easy as it sounds. 


I've already taken over the dining room with my reorganizing project - so it looks like paint swatches will have to be spread through the kitchen. It is a very good thing dear husband is away for a few days - thankfully the kids never mind when I tell them to eat in front of the TV!

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

Happy Easter . . . and no, I'm not a week late

Marrying into a Greek family means marrying into the Orthodox Church and traditions, the biggest of which is Orthodox Easter. The Orthodox Easter & Western Easter can fall on the same day, but they can also be as much as five weeks apart - this year we are only a week behind.

Some years we have celebrated Easter with a big lamb roast - not just a leg of lamb, but a WHOLE lamb turning on a spit in the backyard. You know if you are doing the whole lamb you will fill the house with friends and family and throw in a little souvlaki, tzatziki, pita, spanakopita, tiropita, feta, Greek potatoes, Greek salad, etc., for good measure.

This year dear husband is off on a business trip that will put him close to extended family and a traditional dinner, leaving the kids and I to fend for ourselves. Because I wasn't planning a big Easter dinner, I almost forgot to put together Easter baskets for the kids (and I still remember the year my mom didn't make up baskets because she thought we were too old - we set her straight).

One advantage of having teens in the house is I have plenty of time in the early morning to put the finishing touches on their baskets and make a couple of cards.

I've been itching to use the Papertrey Ink Zipper Dies and had a couple of gift cards in the baskets so that was my starting point for the cards.

Once you see this die in action, I think you will be hooked too!

To keep things fast & simple, both cards are made with the MME Miss Caroline Dolled Up 6x6 designer paper pad. I selected cardstock and cut the die pieces first, and then stamped the Papertrey Ink Mega Mixed Messages Easter sentiment on the front.

I used a small piece of removable tape to hold the gift card in place - I didn't want it shifting when I flipped the diecut piece over and onto the card base. As you can see I ran 1/8" Scor-Tape around the perimeter of the diecut piece.

Dear daughter gets an iTunes gift card - it is a little easier to see in this photo how I ran the Scor-Tape.

 To make sure you have a good seal, burnish the edges with a bone folder.

A couple of punched butterflies completed the inside of this card. Dear son's I left clean and simple.

Oops, I almost forgot to show off the fronts of the cards.

One for dear daughter:

One for dear son:

 I am loving the fishtail banner look right now & just freeformed these using both sides of the designer paper I already had cut.

The "celebrate" stamp is from the Technique Tuesday Ali Edwards Kids Are Cool stamp set.

Still not sure how the die works? This is what it looks like after the gift card is removed. Dear daughter pulled on the "zipper" to reveal her gift card!

My kids may be teens, but they still love a wind-up bubble gum pooping chicken - I mean, really, who doesn't?

Hope you are having a great weekend. Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

happy Friday the thirteenth!

Once again I have taken over the dining room with a "little" project. Hopefully I will finish it before the end of the weekend & let you know what I've been doing.

This morning I just have time for a quick Happy Friday the Thirteenth - this is what greeted me when I came downstairs.

Turned out he was completely harmless . . . hope there is nothing scary lurking around your house!

thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie

chase your dreams

I did carve out some time today to work on a card for the My Favorite Things Wednesday Stamp Challenge at Splitcoast Stampers.

This is the current sketch:

                      

And my card:

All the designer papers are from the Simple Stories Year.O.Graphy 6x6 paper pad. This card may or may not be used for a nephew's graduation later in the spring, so I wanted to keep a bit more of a masculine feel and went with the circle & star combination instead of a more feminine doily-type diecut circle that is in the orginal sketch.

I liked the way the card looked without any additional sentiment, so left off the small rectangle element on the right side of the sketch - this also let me show off more of the star.

The quote and die cut are from the My Favorite Things Vertical Greetings & Stamp Set.

Thanks for stopping by,

Jacquie