Thanks for Administrative Professional's Day

Hi there! Here's are the cards I made for our secretaries at school last month to show appreciation for all they do daily.

The layouts for the cards were inspired by a card on the cover of the May/June 2013 Paper Crafts magazine.

I got to use up some pretty scalloped washi tape, some pretty paper flowers, and a free Lawn Fawn stamp.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great Mother's Day this weekend!

Easter Centerpiece - PSA Essentials Blog Hop

Welcome to the PSA Essentials Blog Hop! If you are hopping along, you arrived here from Jeanne Streiff's blog. To start from the beginning, go to the PSA Essentials blog.

The Blog Hop Grand Prize: 1 custom stamp, 3 Peel & Stick stamp sets, 2 notecards, 1 alignment tool, 1 black ink, 1 2-color ink, and free shipping to the winner. Value of the package is $150.

How to Enter: If you'd like a chance to win, you can enter here (scroll to the bottom) or go to the PSA Essentials blog.

The inspiration for this centerpiece came about when I had my 6-month dental appointment a few weeks ago. I was reading "All You" magazine and spotted this gorgeous picture inside. I knew I wanted to make something similar.

I have a 3-level cake stand my mom gave me years ago, so I knew exactly what I wanted to design.

Since I want to save these eggs and use them again, I poked holes in the eggs to blow out the contents, rinsed, and dried the eggs.

I tried using Copic markers to color some eggs. I didn't like the results; too many streaks. This yellow egg is an example. I tried stamping directly onto the egg, but it was too hard to get a good impression. I stamped onto white tissue using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I trimmed out the design and used Mod Podge to decoupage the sentiment onto the egg. The stamps I used today come from these sets: Topiary and Little Bunny.

Here's another example of my technique. This time I colored in the bunny using a Copic marker before I decoupaged the design onto the egg.

Most of the eggs where dyed with Paas egg coloring.

Here are some other details on my project. I like the look of the washi tape; that idea also came directly from the magazine.

To get the bunny Peeps to stand up, I trimmed the bottoms so they would be flat.

The guys love Lindt chocolates, so I love the looks of these little Lindt bunnies. My son Kalino gave me input as to where the bunnies should be placed.

Your next stop on the blog hop is over to Julia Aston's blog. Thanks for stopping by!

Enter here:

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It's Your Birthday

I made this card for my friend, Kim, last month. January was a busy birthday month for my friends and family. It's terrible that I can't even find time to post cards on this blog. Well, at least I posted this card on Instagram last month.

The stamps are from Lawn Fawn and Papertrey Ink. The patterned paper is from Amy Tangerine for American Crafts. The baker's twine is from The Twinery.

Thanks for stopping by!

Happy Birthday to You

Hi there! There's something very appealing to the heavy use of black in card design. When I saw this month's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop - Black challenge, I had to participate.

Here's my card. Using my Big Shot, I die cut the Leafy Vine Border Die  several times in different colors of cardstock. I glued them onto black cardstock. I die cut a scalloped circle from black cardstock and then white embossed the birthday sentiment (from the Signature Greetings II stamp set) onto a scallop circle die cut. As a final touch, I added some bling.

Thanks for stopping by.

Happy Birthday, Norma!

I made this birthday card for my friend, Norma, who celebrated her birthday today.

I also made this card for the Papertrey Ink Make It Monday Challenge since it's a chalkboard challenge. I like the look of a Plum Pudding chalkboard, how about you? I used stamps from the Birthday Bash Sentiments set, Holiday Photo Finishers set, and the Little Labels stamp set.

Two cards made for a challenge; I've never done that until now. I was very inspired! If I had more time, I was going to make another chalkboard-inspired card.

A quick note...these last two blog entries were partially done on my iPhone; photography, adding watermarks to the photo using the Phonto app, and the Blogger app.

Have a great day!

Chalkboard Thank You - Papertrey Ink MIM Challenge

Happy New Year, everyone! 

I couldn't resist when I saw Papertey Ink's latest Make It Monday challenge was a chalkboard challenge. I just had to participate. I loved Betsy's tutorial in November; my Christmas card was inspired by her cards.

I embossed the Thank You sentiment with white embossing powder. The flourishes were stamped with white pigment ink. Besides Versamark Ink and white pigment ink, I also used colored pencils on my "chalkboard".

I paper pierced the perimeter of the die cut to give some visual interest to the edges. I added some buttons and some baker's twine and that's it.

Thanks for stopping by!