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

summer vacation

Five days after I finished teaching, we were on the road again from Southern CA  to Oregon and Washington.  In the morning, Caitlyn had her last gymnastics class, and we journeyed to the Compton's high desert home for a few days stay with Grandma & Grandpa.  From there we drove north to our favorite overnight stop at the Gaia Eco-Hotel in Anderson, CA (just S. of Redding - see post here).  I love to stay in eco-luxury for, like, $80.  Awesome.

Here's Caitlyn doing a dance for joy after 1,200 miles in the car!!!  We arrive in Netarts, OR - on the coast just west of Tillamook (cheese lovers unite!) 

We hit the road for the trails about as quick as we can.  Later our friend's, Jen & Josh (newly relocated from Arizona) take a long walk in the lovely, gray-zy weather.

What we call 'rock beach' is one of our favorite hangout spots.  We go at lowtide to hunt for sealife and agates.

 I say a hike's not a real hike unless there's an element of danger in there somewhere.  Here's Caitlyn jumping over the "rushing river" to the sea so we can hike down the beach.

We found these amazing barnacles and green and pink sponges.

Caitlyn got her first hand at scrambling as we climbed out amongst the rocks & tidepools.

After a few days of relaxation on the homefront at Netarts Bay, we drove up to Washington state and took the ferry to the San Juan Islands.  Caitlyn did a good job at the wheel.

Once on Orcas island, we drove to Moran State Park, where we camped for 3 nights and 4 days.

We didn't see the family staying in the tent in the background at the site near ours, until late at night.  They were a couple from Seattle, Ian & Christina, with a 5-yr old Caitlyn (1/2 yr. older than ours).  They invited us over for Smores, and we made plans to hike around Cascade Lake, since it was there last day there.

The hike was green and gorgeous - the weather was sunny and perfect.

The girls were intrepid young explorers.

The lake was beautiful, but we didn't want the fun to end too soon, so we kept on the trail.

 

After a quick map check we decided to take the hike up to Cascade Falls.

 

 

Lovely!  And not far from a good place to stop for a lunchie trail snack.

 

Sunny fields of foxgloves and thistles on the way back.  Tallest foxgloves I've ever seen!

It was a good day with a new friend - they were both great hikers!

The next day we drove to Mt. Constitution to visit the tower.  Impressive looking!

Our last full day at camp, Caitlyn made one more friend - Mila from NY.  We had a relaxing visit to the lake for a swim and some reading.  There was a gorgeous bald eagle flying and roosting!  It makes sense that we forgot the camera :)  

There were also a few incidents with a midnight camp robber - oh deer!  Before you know it, we were back on the ferry heading to the Oregon coast again.

This time Grandma & Grandpa were staying at Netarts, so we had a few days stay together.

Just a few family shots when we went out to dinner in Oceanside at Roseanna's.

(Someone got a full haircut and shave for the vacation!  Made the trip much cooler)

We had a few days to get our gear in order, and then we were off for another 3 nights and 4 days of backpacking in Oregon at Mt. Hood National Forest up to Buck Lake.

The arrival was wonderful - we were carrying all the camp gear and 4 days worth of food!

But we resisted the temptation to set up camp right near the trail, and took off around the lake.

 It was worth it for this GI-normous, secluded spot on the far side with the best view, a 'private' beach and warm, morning sun.

The water is cool, crystal clear, and turquoise blue.  I was so sweaty and could not resist the urge to take a quickie dip :)

The next day we took a hike around the lake - the trail got really tedious and very scrambly, so it was definitely a hike in my book.  

 I couldn't believe I was seeing fall colors on the trees on that side of the lake!

It's always hard to say goodbye, but we had to be back in Portland for the weekend to visit with my brother and his family.  We were consoled with a yummy visit for ales and meat sandwiches at Rogue Brewery.

On this vacation I read Ender's Game, Red Mars, two John Constantine/HellBlazer graphic novels, a Martha Stewart Living magazine, and 2 papercrafting magazines.  The adults listened to Brisinger (Eragon series), unabridged on CD, and the whole family enjoyed listening to tapes of The Adventures of Squirrel Nutkin, and good ol' down-home Uncle Remus stories.

pti blog hop - office

Yippee!  I'm really excited about today's project!  I've always been obsessed with office supplies and organizing - I'm a teacher and a Capricorn, so it's a double-whammy.

One thing I Really love is a rainbow of 'things'.  My class periods are organized by rainbow color, I use a rainbow of dry-erase pens on my white board, I have a rainbow of categorized hanging file folders, and, of course, my craft room is FULL of supplies displayed in rainbow order.

The moment I saw Dawn's Color Couture download - with the little file folder cards, I knew I would have to make the entire PTI rainbow.  And I did.

 I needed little files to hold all my colored, punched shapes - this is what I do with my small paper scraps.  I printed the download, enlarged the image by 108%, then trimmed about an inch off the bottom and taped the templates in order to fit into the egg box.

And because it's for MOI, I was free to decorate however I wished!  I see a little of my whimsy-gothy came out :) But I love it.

All right - I'm looking forward to tonight's inspiration!!! 
xoxo,
ChrisTea™

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Damask Designs, Recipe Label, Big & Bold Wishes
paper - every PTI CS except rustic cream and harvest gold
ink - PTI true black, pure poppy
accents - PTI black twill & swiss dot ribbon; pure poppy twine; white and black vintage buttons; black rhinestones
template - PTI July Color Couture Download
tools - Scor-It Mini; Cricut 'A Child's Year' cartridge
other - PTI egg box

graduation card

Oh boy, another post of cards past.  I made this card in May and sent it in July (hate when that happens).  It's a CASEd card from Debbie Olsen on p. 126 of PaperCrafts 'Go-To Sketches' - with a masculine spin & I "PTI-ified" it.  I've never put buttons on a guy card, but it does look real classy.

It's perfectly timed with the 8th grade graduating class from the school I teach at - this Tuesday!  What a wonderful class they are...  I've never seen a group of kids this amazing and they will be dearly missed :)

SUPPLIES:

stamps - PTI Background Basics: Retro, Fresh Alphabet, Around & About Sentiments
paper - PTI white, enchanted evening, true black; PTI PP Black & White Basics
ink - PTI enchanted evening, true black
accents - PTI vintage black buttons

tools - Marvy circle punch

birthday season tags

Whew - this post has been molding in my saved folder for far too long.  Summer's here, but I'm still teaching for 9 more work days.  Just gotta hang in there!

Summer's one of those birthday season times of year.  To simplify the card making, I had three large manila tags sitting in my paper drawer, and voila!  I used Dawn McVey's Dotty Biscotti papers to inspire the color theme (which only ended up as a patch on the back) - C. picked the pink, orange and green.  Of course, I only photographed the first of the set. *bummed*  I never seem to get to b'day gifts in time.

The same swiss cheese border is on all three, and but the scalloped scissors used to cut the pink trim I substituted for dragon back with the boys' orange and green tags.  I stamped the koi from PTI's Masculine Motifs - in Tsukineko Pearl Orchid ink for a shiny, girly effect.  The sentiment is PTI Birthday Basics, letters are from a $1 alphabet set, and swirls are from the Basic Grey gamma series.  Cardstock is PTI Raspberry Fizz, along with the other ink.

The other two boy tags were a purple & green owl tag, and a red & orange robot tag.  Very fun stuff!  I think I love making tags - instant gratification!