Merry Christmas - Chalkboard Style

To my friends and family here and all around the world, Feliz Navidad! May this season bring you and your family blessings and good health.

This is my annual photo Christmas card. The stamps are all from the Holiday Sayings set from Hero Arts, except for the Lawn Fawn banner stamp.

With all the inspiration on Pinterest regarding chalkboards and when I saw Betsy Veldman's chalkboard-inspired cards here, I knew I had to create our Christmas card with that inspiration. This card is probably one of the most time-consuming cards I've ever tried to mass-produce. It involved embossing, die cutting felt, using a white pencil to color in chalky details, rubbing white pigment ink over everything (my favorite step) to give the chalkboard authenticity, and slicing an opening above the banner to insert the photo. I ran out of steam after creating 60 of these babies. Sorry to all my local friends who will not be receiving one of these cards this year.

Thanks for stopping by! I've got to get downstairs to get dinner prep started. Ho, ho, ho.

Happy 1st Birthday - A Gift Bag and Tag

Hi everyone!


I made this gift bag and tag for my niece who celebrated her 1st birthday party yesterday. The inspiration for the gift bag design was a photo I took with my iPhone and ran through the Instagram app. She is the cutest little thing. I get to babysit her once in a while. She's pretty good when her mom drops her off.


The patterned papers are from the Martha Stewart Valentine's Day collection and the larger paper is an older piece of paper from My Mind's Eye. The stamps and rickrack border die are from Papertrey Ink. I used VersaMark ink (the most versatile ink on the planet) and I embossed the words with white embossing powder. I cut the number "1" with my Silhouette SD. The light blue paper and button are from Stampin' Up. The twine is from The Twinery.

Here's the matching tag I made for the gift bag. The white tag is from the office supply store. I just added scraps of rickrack and patterned paper. The felt butterfly is from and older pack of Making Memories felt shapes.


Thanks for stopping by! 

A Sweet Treats Gift Tag

Here's a gift tag I made using a tag from the office supply store, some Stampin Up scraps of patterned paper, and a Papertrey Ink stamp. I also used the Papertrey Ink metal die for the leaves and some felt finished off with some red buttons.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Teri Anderson Inspired Card

"Meet today's card." Those are the words Teri Anderson uses in her blog posts to introduce her creations. Here's a card totally inspired by an awesome card she made in this blog post. Like Teri, I love baker's twine.

On Saturday I was able to see Teri in person again. She was at the local Scrapbook Expo teaching classes for Technique Tuesday. Teri introduced me to Lisa (Paper Grace Designs). Lisa and I shopped the Expo together. We were both at the CHA Supershow over a year ago and met the same people, but didn't meet each other until Saturday.

I started with a piece of matboard and covered the entire surface (and part of the back) with double-sided tape. I trimmed lengths of baker's twine and attached them to the matboard. I finished off the card with the happy birthday sentiment and some bling. I'm sending this card to my niece.

Here' s a picture of the 3 of us Teri posted on Twitter.

Have a good one! 

Card Ingredients

Stamps: none

Paper: textured paper from my stash, matboard

Ink: none

Tools: Scoring Board (Martha Stewart)

Other: baker's twine (Etsy, Divine Twine, House of Three - Pink Paislee), pearls & bling (Prima), double-sided tape, Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, felt sentiment (Making Memories)

CPS Card Sketch #202

Hi everyone, this week PSA Essentials is a sponsor on the Card Positioning Systems blog. Here's a card I created for CPS Sketch #202.

The card starts with a stamp from the Frenchie stamp set by PSA Essentials. The next major component is the embossed background on the card. That is a Texturz Plate from Stampin' Up. I also die cut some black felt with a Limitless Layers die from Papertrey Ink.

Well, thanks for stopping by! If you have a chance, please participate in the CPS sketch challenge.

Card Ingredients
Stamps: Frenchie (PSA Essentials)
Paper: white, melon berry, summer sunrise (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: black (PSA Essentials)
Tools: Big Shot with Backgrounds 1 Texturz Plate from Stampin' Up, Limitless Layers die (Papertrey Ink), 1.75" circle punch (Stampin' Up)
Other: Basic Black satin ribbon (Stampin' Up), white gel pen (Sakura), felt (Papertrey Ink), gems (Heidi Swapp) 

Happy New Year!

Hi everyone, I want to wish you a very happy new year! Thanks for visiting my little blog over the last 2.5 years. Thanks for your sweet comments and the inspiration you provide to me. I love how blogging has changed my life. I've gotten to know so many of you around the world. I've been lucky to actually meet several of you in real life, which has been a complete thrill.

Let me tell you the tale of my annual Christmas card that became this Happy New Year card instead. I struggled with the design this year and ran behind schedule. I stamped several "Merry Christmas" and "Feliz Navidad" cards, but then had to switch to making them "Happy New Year" cards instead, since they would not be sent out before Christmas. Several items were pre-determined: I was using this Simply Chartreuse and Plum Pudding paper from Papertrey Ink and the patterned paper from them as well. I also had some patterned paper from Stampin' Up. I loved this swirl background stamp from Hero Arts that I bought when I was in Seattle last month. I wanted to use baker's twine. I wanted the cards to be relatively flat, so they wouldn't cost extra postage. Normally, I'll make about 4 different designs for the card. This year, I had many more variations of the design! Come on, Anthonette, make up your mind!!!

Here's a photo collage of the variations of the design in making the 50 cards.

Next year, I'm going to order a pre-made photo card and then just embellish it slightly. I totally LOVED this card that Kim Hughes ordered from Snapfish and then embellished with baker's twine, buttons, and some cardstock leaves.

Have a good one!

Felicidades En Tu Baby Shower

This is my second card today showing the new Baby Shower set from Dulces Ideas Clear Stamps and a preview of other sets releasing this week (Ya Nacio' and Decoracion). See the details on my previous blog entry.

This card is clean and simple; my favorite style. I used the small images to create a masculine background with VersaMark ink. The baby bottle has a tiny bit of paper piecing. I actually sewed the buttons onto the felt and then wrapped the linen thead around each button.

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingrdients

Stamps: Baby Shower, Ya Nacio', Decoracion (Dulces Ideas Clear Stamps)

Paper: kraft, Very Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie designer series paper (all SU!)

Ink: Memento Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko), VersaMark (Tsukineko)

Tools: Big Shot with Fillable Frames Die #4 (Papertrey Ink)

Other: Ocean Tides felt (Papertrey Ink), Lemon Tart buttons (Papertrey Ink), Linen Thread (SU!), foam tape (3M)

Let Your Dreams Take Flight - Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Hi everyone! Time sure flies fast. Time again for the Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop. This month our challenge was to use felt. I had to use the Raspberry Fizz felt from PTI. Great stuff! This card design was based on a cute card in a previous Stampin' Up catalog.

I stamped the butterfly in Brilliance ink on vellum and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.

The felt was cut with a die from Papertrey Ink. The beads and wire were added to the vellum for the butterfly's body.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a good one!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Butterfly Dreams (Papertrey Ink)

Paper: Certainly Celery (SU!), vellum (CA Paper Goods)

Ink: Brilliance White (Tsukineko), Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko)

Tools: Big Shot with Fillable Frames #3 (Papertrey Ink), embossing gun, Crop-a-Dile, paper piercer

Other: rhinestone brads (Making Memories), wire (Making Memories), beads (from my stash), clear embossing powder, Glue Dots

I Love You Mom

It's the start of another weekend. I hope you are all doing well. Tomorrow will be busy with school-related stuff and my in-laws visiting. My husband and son are also looking forward to seeing Iron Man 2.

Here's my second attempt at making a Mother's Day card for my mom. I like this card a lot.

I love the Raspberry Fizz felt from Papertrey Ink! It die cuts really well. I like the new Fillable Frame #3 die. I also used the banner stamp from Look Up by Practicing Creativity. "Mom" was stamped with some very old Hero Arts alphabet stamps. The chipboard is velvet-covered from Anna Griffin; very soft. I love that heart stamp from Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Card Ingredients

Stamps: Teeny Tiny Wishes, I {Heart} Hearts (SU!), Alphabet stamps (Hero Arts)

Paper: Crushed Curry - textured (SU!), white (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Melon Mambo & Crushed Curry (SU!), Memento Tuxedo Black

Tools: Big Shot with Fillable Frame #3 die, Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)

Other: Raspberry Fizz Felt (Papertrey Ink), Chipboard (Anna Griffin), foam tape (3M), Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue

Follow Your Dreams

Hi everyone! This is my first Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. This month's challenge was to use tissue. I die cut the paper that came with my order 6 times using a Stampin' Up die. I stamped all the layers with Dawn's new woodgrain background stamp. I'm running late for this blog hop, so I better post this quick.

Thanks for looking!

Card Ingredients (all Papertrey Ink except where noted)

Stamps: Background Basics: Woodgrain, Fillable Frame #3, Remember

Paper: Raspberry Fizz, white, basic black (SU!)

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black (Tsukineko), Raspberry Fizz

Tools: Big Shot with Butterfly Die (SU!), Corner Rounder (We R Memory Keepers), Border punch (SU!), Modern Label Punch (SU!)

Other: Raspberry Fizz felt, button (Making Memories), Sharpie