girl scout leader's day (+ father's day)

Talk about preparations, in the next five days we've got Easter, Earth Day and... Girl Scout Leader's Day!

I haven't had much crafty inspiration lately, but finding the cute T-shirt below got my creative juices flowing again:

(photo credit Girl Scouts San Diego)

The shirt I found is a lighter purple and the lavender print is GLITTER! I made a fun patch into a mini-card for the leader's daughter by cutting a window out of the card front.

The gift wrap came together by scrounging through my stash - don't you love that?  Of course, the sticker hides a rip in the bag :)

I wanted a badge card again, which is a CASE of a CASE I did from Heather Nichols. I searched for her original card but couldn't find it, so here's my original CASE:

The card design is entirely Heather's.  The matching coupons set is mine (coupons were printed and sewed together inside a cover with a booklet wrap):

Upon further inspection I discovered only 2 coupons had been used!  But isn't that what always happens with these kinds of gifts ;)

Now here's the freshened-up Girl Scout version:

The badges have a light border stitching from the Daily Designs.  I hand stamped 'LEADER'S' (in case that wasn't already obvious :) ) then masked off 'Happy Father's Day' to create the font strip. I'm wondering why I didn't use pop dots before?  The extra dimension is just what the card needed. 

So if you know a Girl Scout leader yourself, tell them thanks on April 22nd!  :)

Christy

xo

SUPPLIES: (all PTI except where noted)

STAMPS: Background Basics: Woodgrain, Masculine Motifs, Daily Designs & Joann's brand Studio G Series 3 Alphabet rubber stamps

INK: Dark Chocolate, Fresh Snow & Versamark

CARDSTOCK: Kraft, New Leaf, Plum Pudding, Winter Wisteria

DIES: Woodgrain impression plate

EMBELLISHMENTS: Plum Pudding buttons, Winter Wisteria twill ribbon

TOOLS: Marvy Super Jumbo (blue) circle punch, EK Success 1 3/4" circle punch

ppd 40/41: baby thanks

Okay, I'm going to double dip for challenges, being busy with life and such.  I'm working backwards through the Paper Doll challenges, with # 41 and # 40: twine and background stamps.  Thanks Deena & Jen, both fun ideas!

Just a fun baby boy thank you - made skinny to fit a banner border.  I used Polka Dot Basics I and II on the kraft bits.  Although I've used the Night Night Moon strip as a background stamp, it's a simple strip here.  I kept the twine on the DL, too - button bows in enchanted evening. 

 Coloring those diaper pins is a blast - I love Pine's images!

Do you ever make a card you like and reproduce it?  I'm making eight of these babies :)  That's a lot of Cuttlebug cranking!  Better get to work...

xoxo,

ChrisTea

SUPPLIES

stamps - PTI Night Night Moon, Tag Its #1, Polka Dot Basics I & II, Fillable Frame #5

ink - PTI spring rain, fresh snow, true black

paper - PTI spring rain, blueberry sky, kraft, stamper's select white, Bitty Star Basics 2008

accents - PTI enchanted evening baker's twine, blueberry sky vintage buttons

dies - PTI Limitless Layers 1 3/4" Circle Collection, Banner Borders, Fillable Frames #5

tools - 1 3/4" circle punch, Copics B41/B45/T1/0

ipod - Bird & Diz, Charlie Parker & Dizzy Gillespie

thank you set

I made this simple set of thank you cards for Lee Anne, a fellow PTI Paper Doll friend who recently suffered a great loss.  Sometimes it's hard to know what to say, but a small gesture can let someone know they're in your thoughts and prayers.

I was drawn to the elegance of Beyond Border Basics in bright pastels and vintage cream with colored pearls to add warmth.  The background pattern is Mini Scrapbook Series: Library Ledger stamped in soft stone.

the melon berry card

the summer sunrise card

the simply chartreuse card

 the aqua mist card

I've been spending more time cooking than crafting this week so I'll be posting soon about my new discovery, 'Once a Month Cooking'.  Very addictive for people that love to cook and organize!

 

SUPPLIES 

stamps - PTI Beyond Basic Borders Collection, Mini Scrapbook Series: Library Ledger

ink - PTI melon berry, summer sunrise, ripe avocado, aqua mist, smokey shadow

paper - PTI melon berry, summer sunrise, simply chartreuse, aqua mist, vintage cream

accents - medium pearls

dies - PTI Mat Stack 1

tools - Copic markers (R05, Y38, BG18), Fiskars Paper Edgers scallop scissors

ipod - Cowboy Junkies

mm2 - b'day thanks

Here's one of a set of birthday thank you cards for our 5 year old.  She requested these colors for her party invitations (posted here), and wanted similar balloons on her cake.  The vellum sentiment strip (with defining score lines) is the look for PTI's 2nd Make it Monday challenge (link here). 

 

My heat gun ever-so-slightly warped the vellum (something old & cheap-o from an office supply store).  Still, I love vellum's soft look and will definitely use this technique again!

 

I love matching the flower from Everyday Classics with the flowers in the Raspberry Fizz Mix.  I chose three background papers, and punched a circle from the small stamped flower.  The epoxy dome and foam dimensional make it an adorable balloon.

  
For the party, all we had to do was arrive at the venue with a cake and party favors:

Inside is a cookie from our neighborhood bakery, Hans & Harry's, stapled in a small PTI glasseine bag.

Each kiddo's name stamped on the treat was a fun party hit.

Goofy grin alert!  Here's the Birthday Girl with her basket of favors, excited and waiting for the party to begin!

xoxo,

Christy

 

SUPPLIES:  thank you floral balloons

stamps - PTI Everyday Classics, Everyday Button Bits, Borders and Corners: Oval, Big & Bold Wishes

ink - PTI true black, raspberry fizz

paper - PTI stamper's select white, Raspberry Fizz Mix; marbled vellum

accents - PTI plum pudding and hawaiian shores vintage buttons, epoxy dome stickers

tools - Marvy giga (purple) scalloped oval punch, 5/8" (orange) circle punch, Scor-It mini

polka dot party favors

stamps - PTI Just For You; $1 alphabet set

ink - PTI true black, raspberry fizz, hawaiian shores, plum pudding

paper - PTI stamper's select white, raspberry fizz, hawaiian shores, plum pudding, Dotty Biscotti

accents - Michael's ribbons

dies - PTI Favor It Box 3
tools - EK Success 1 3/4" circle punch, Marvy super jumbo (blue) scalloped circle punch, corner rounder

snowflake thanks

Do you love creating patterned papers?  I do!  For one thing, it's a good way to use a lot of the stamps in a set.  It always feels better to ink up stamps to use, not just collect :)  For inspiration, I used a simple card from Niki Estes (link here) just tweaked a bit.  I think she totally nailed the dove and Fillable Frames #8 combination.

I needed some thank you cards so I stamped a grouped block of sentiments from Inside & Out: Thank You.  I filled in gaps with snowflakes in various sizes and hues of blue.

Blueberry sky and enchanted evening look so rich and gorgeous to me, and they pair nicely with rustic white and smokey shadow edging.

This sentiment from Star Prints is one of my all time favorites.  The dove is glitter embossed so it's shiny and sparkly.

I love this pearlescent electric blue because it's so bright and shimmery in person.  Yay - that's four special cards to thank four special people!

xoxo,
Christy

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Peace Be Still, Inside & Out: Thank You, Fillable Frames #8, Star Prints, Rustic Snowflakes ('Handmade by' image on back of card)
paper - PTI blueberry sky, enchanted evening, rustic cream
ink - PTI spring moss, enchanted evening; Tsukineko Brilliance sky blue ink
accents - PTI blueberry sky saddle stitch ribbon; glitter embossing powder
tools- PTI Peace Be Still die, Fillable Frames #8 die

quilters cards

I've had this fun little card set up my sleeve for awhile.  My mom is big into sewing so this special gift is for her.  I also wanted to recycle the PTI stamp boxes for use with card sets, so now I've got a basic design (don't miss it at the bottom of the post)!

Here's the poppy quilt Birthday card (dark & bright cards get a ripe avocado border)...

the melon quilt Friendship card (softer colors get a spring moss border)...

the aqua quilt Hospitality Thanks card...

the avocado 'On the Mend' card...

and the chocolate Marriage card:

I looooved coloring the spools on the front of the envelope, each outlined with a little T1:

and the inside & outside of all the cards looked so pretty lined up-

I wanted to find a way to box a set so you can tell what colors/patterns are in it, as well as the different occasions.  So I stamped and scored up a little stand that also helped fill the extra space in the CD box.  I also wanted to put some paper tags on the outside so it wouldn't be all plastic-y:

Here's the detail:

And the back:

I had to get a little tricky with my tag because I wanted to use the same stitched circle border as the front, but it didn't fit with the trademark stamp I wanted, so I had to mask off the 'Papertrey Ink' part.

When I delivered it to my mom, it was with strict orders that she use upcoming occasions to actually USE the cards :)  Apparently she sent one to my SIL for her birthday, so good job mom for sending, not hoarding, them!

xoxo,
Christy

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Quilter's Sampler, Daily Designs, Daily Designs Sentiments, Borders & Corners: Circle, Trademarks, Fresh Alphabet, Simple Alphabet, Fruitful Sentiments
paper - PTI Tea Leaves & Bitty Box PP, rustic white, kraft, poppy, melon, avocado, aqua, chocolate, moss
ink - PTI chocolate, poppy, avocado, melon, aqua
accents - PTI rustic jute twine
tools - PTI Copic trios; Scor-tape, Scor-it mini, EK Success 3/4" square punch, 1 3/4" circle punch & 2 scalloped borders punches, Marvy 2" scalloped circle punch

thanks nichole!

Nichole, this blog hop is for you - thanks for everything that you do, from the bottom of my heart!  There's hardly a day that goes by that I don't check in at PTI, or any of the DT's blogs, or the forum.  You are such a big part of my life. You are my crafty idol!

Nichole Heady is the creative goddess behind the brilliant trio that is Papertrey Ink.  Briefly, I discovered paper crafting for my Japanese Gardens wedding in Oct. '05 (I made the invitations, program, fan menu, origami crane placecards, entry giftbox, exit giftbox, wish tree tags, table numbers, and sparkler/matches holders).  After that I took time off crafting to have a baby, buy a house, get a dog - all that good stuff.  When I decided to explore stamping two years ago, I stumbled on Heather Nichol's blog, discovered PTI, and fell down the rabbit hole :)

This is my Thank You card inspired by Nichole, bright sunshine in my life:

I finally got a cuttlebug and can use PTI dies and impression plates, I made a card that would let me get creative.  I was thinking 'Golden Harvest' while I designed it.

 

It was tricky with no harvest gold ink, but I stamped in lemon tart and kissed the edges with summer sunrise.  I love it!  The embossing is gold, the front of the card is linen textured and the diecut mat is canvas textured, so it's very luscious in person.

Here's to you, Nichole - we love you!!!

Christy

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Leaf Prints, Daily Designs, Round & Round, Damask Designs (sentiment)
paper - PTI harvest gold, rustic cream
ink - PTI lemon tart, summer sunrise; VersaMark, Distress Ink in antique linen, VersaMagic in straw
accents - PTI harvest gold twill ribbon, harvest gold vintage button; gold embossing powder
dies - PTI mat stack 4, leaf prints, linen and canvas impression plate
tools - Scor-it mini, cuttlebug, 1 3/4" circle punch

button cherries

Welcome PTI blog hoppers!

Tomorrow's my last day of teaching before a 3-week spring break!  (I must say, I LOVE year-round schedule.)  So, hours after my last class we'll be on the road for an up-the-coast trip, San Diego to Seattle.  I haven't had much time to craft, but inspiration came from the blogs this Sunday morning!

I made a set of thank you's - inspired by Mish's cherry card post (here) and a CPS sketch (here).  I love that this sketch made me think to try new ways of cropping papers, which now I'll try again!  First I made this card:

But I really wanted to use some chartreuse ink so I made this one, stamping the sentiment in hibiscus:

At that point, I had to have a trio, so naturally there would have to be hibiscus - back to scarlet jewel ink for the sentiment:

Inside  is a strip of coordinating paper with a thank you sentiment from Big & Bold Wishes, along with a little cherry stamp.  The card front sentiment is from the Basic Grey gamma series.  I discovered you don't need the die to cut this label - just trim the frame and use a ticket-corner punch.  I also fell in LOVE with the rustic white PTI CS - that is THE best new neutral for me!

Enjoy your night, cherry bombs!

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Everyday Button Bits, Fillable Frames #1, Big & Bold Wishes (not pictured, inside card), Paper Tray (not pictured, back of card); Basic Grey gamma series
paper - PTI kraft, new leaf, aqua mist, hibiscus, rustic white; Basic Grey lemonade series
ink - PTI chartreause, aqua mist, hibiscus, scarlet jewel; linen Distress Ink
accents - PTI vintage scarlet jewel buttons, cream twine

tools - Glue dots, adhesive

party thanks

These cute little teapot thank you cards were the perfect end to our Alice-inspired 'tea' party birthday (see previous post, here).  I just had to bust out the Cricut again.  They coordinate with the teacup invitations (here).  I white embossed the image onto PTI cardstock.  The swirly vellum is Michaels circa 2004 (leftovers from wedding invites.  I wrote on the insides in most of them with white in.  

 I have 3 Cricut cartridges but everything I cut is from A Child's Year - for this party there were red roses with green leaves, purple & green Mad Hatter's hats, and a banner in pink, mint, blue and purple.  

We decorated the back patio with crepe paper, balloons - half of them polka dot with big white spots, and mixy-matchy dinnerware, all in the same fun colors.  We hung a few strands of white star lights and put out some pretty tulips.

The HIT for the four-year old crowd were the cake pops.  Bakerella of course (here).  These were definitely red velvet yummi-ness.  They stand in a foam rectangle covered in a sheer ribbon.  I used sewing pins to push in a few buttons I've had lying around from making an Alice costume years ago.   

(HOW does Bakerella make the pops look so perfect???  I tried two batches - one with melted white choc. chips and another with Wilton candy melts - both times it was very gloppy).  

Here's a little gift set for Caitlyn from us - CASEd from Nichole (here).  I LOOOVE this beauty she made! (Nice how I didn't take the time to iron the recycled ribbon ;)


Alas, for more photos.  Before I knew it, the day was simply,

going...

 going...

GONE! 


CAKE POPS HINT: after you've coated the cake pops for use in the display you'll have 40-something cake pops left in a typical batch. TOO many to coat (at least, for me).  Instead I chilled the cake pops, then melted white chocolate chip, put the chocolate in a baggie, cut off the tip, and drizzled them on the cake balls.  I did the same with dark chocolate chips.  Deeelicious, easy and yummy for the adults too.

xoxo,
cch