Life has been absolutely crazy. My office/craft room remodel has been happening which means my supplies have been inaccessible since November!!! But it didn't keep me from ordering MORE STUFF!! I received PTI's "A Big Thank You" with my latest order. I made a few Christmas thank you cards. See what you think.

I used the leaves from the Holly Jolly collection die for a little accent.

 Love this snowflake.

Okey Dokey Friends!!! I am obviously loving the new Front and Center die from PTI. It such a wonderful size and EASY to use. My inspiration for this bag is from Michele Wooderson's In the Meadow post here. I'm celebrating a friend's 50th birthday today so whipped this little number up.

I always struggle a little with how to attach the Wonderful Word dies. This time a just sewed across the bottom of the "p".

I glittered my little clothespin. A needed touch.

How many of you have pinterest boards??? and how many of us spend waaaaayyy to much time getting inspiration?? I decided that I needed to DO some of the things that I had pinned. We made these Southwest Chicken Wraps for dinner last night. The vote is in and it is a keeper recipe.

My new goodies from Papertrey Ink arrived today! I couldn't wait to try the Front and Center die. I also broke open the new Pure Poppy ink.

The tag is also the new Tag Sale #5. I was so glad that I had a white lunch bag already in my craft goodies.

Have a great evening!! I'm watching the Texas Rangers in the World Series. It isn't looking to good. :(

I love the look that stamping on a modge podge surface gives. Try it!! Lots of shine. So I'm on journal THREE. This is for Stephanie - long name means you use an initial. Another coaster pocket was essential. The dies from Love Lives Here were perfect for this cover.

The large sentiment on the cover is from Verve's Words of Wisdom set. 

I'm playing along with the Mojo Monday sketch which I rotated for my card. I picked up some new My Mind's Eye Lost & Found paper pad at my LSS.

I stamped the pumpkins in brown ink and then used my Copic Marker C-3 to go over the lines to create more definition. It really does make a difference. The leaves are paper pieced for more layers.

I like creating a pattern behind my sentiment in circles. PTI's Mega Guideline stamps are perfect for this application. Just stamp off once.

What do you think about my orange border piece?? It was a happy "find." It was the scrap between my rickrack die and medium scallop border die embossed with a woodgrain impression plate. I used my Tattered Angels Glam Glitter paint on the twine so it would hold its shape.

Don't we ALL need the reminder to "Just Start?" For Sarah's journal I thought this was the perfect sentiment to attach to my coaster pocket. 

Did you notice the touch of green on the kraft tag? It is from the PTI Banner Builder collection. The verses are Verve Plain Janes. LOVE these stamps.

 

The 1st October Verve sketch is up and everyone can play along. I turned it around for my card. I found this lovely paper at my LSS. The line is Glitz Design. The soft yellow and distressed blue flower paper were almost too wonderful to cut apart.

I am hooked on making my own chipboard embellishments after PTI's last Make it Monday. I had to create more. I used the new holly jolly die collection to create some leaves for my 1st card. The sentiment is from Verve's Autumn Splendor set.

The next card has a butterfly die chipboard embellishment. My new go-to stamp set is Verve's Words of Wisdom. The sentiments have been perfect for so many items that I have make over the last few weeks.


Hopefully this next picture gives you a closer look at the details. Click to make it larger.


Hope your week is going well. I started working my Christmas set-up job today. I've already decorated several trees. Thanks for stopping by friends!! R

When the school supplies arrive in the stores I always stock up on the composition notebooks. I had decorated one for myself and taken it with me to the High School Youth Group at church where I'm helping with freshmen and sophomore girls. They were ALL over it! So I decided to make one for each of them.

First up is Courtney's. I colored the spine with a Copic Marker to match the paper. I die cut a PTI coaster to create a front pocket for tags. Modge Podge gave the covers a nice shine.

I also put a library pocket inside the front cover. I love the spiral notebook PTI die.

We ALL love to receive a note in the mail and it is especially nice when you are not feeling well.  I selected some bright, happy paper to send a get well note.

PTI's Make it Monday is focusing on thick chipboard accents. I was surprised at how easy this was to do!! I'm in the process of making journals for some high school girls that I'm working with. This technique was the perfect addition.

I chose to use one of the detailed doilies die. Oh. My. Gosh. LOVE the outcome!

Then I used the buttoned up dies!!

Hope you have a great start to your week!! R

Happy Fall ya'll--can you believe it is here already???? I won't even begin to tell you how many days to Christmas cuz I don't think I can handle it. We have actually had a little rain and some cooler weather. 

Enjoy your weekend friends!!

I love this new BoBunny - Close to Home paper line. I used it for some other cards recently here. The PTI Dahlia stamp and die are the perfect choice. Simple and clean. 

Hope you are having a wonderful week!!

I LOVE Grey! I mixed it with soft blue and it makes me smile. I made a happy discovery. The Verve Classy Label die is a perfect complement to the PTI Half and Half die. The curve matches perfectly.

How about a great die idea? I recently purchased a magnetic knife holder at IKEA for $8.99. This is a great tool. Right now it is just sitting on my desk. The magnet is SO strong that I can sweep over the top of my desk and all those little dies that got buried just hop onto the strip. I had several projects going on at once and obviously had not taken the time to put the dies away. Perfect containment solution.

Thanks for visiting today!

I'm playing along with Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday #31 - Creating Backgrounds with Non-background stamps. This is not something I've spent much time doing but I had fun playing with some different stamps to see what I could come up with.

Can you guess what stamps I used?? I used Bundle of Love and the explanation point from Wonderful Words. I kept the focus on the background by using a sentiment from Simple Sentiments on a banner die cut.

Don't you love the loopy flowers from the new Make A Statement set? The quotes are from a new set called Words of Wisdom.

I added a butterfly atenna to the loopy flowers to change it up. Did you spot the Hounds-tooth background. LOVE it!!

PTI's spiral notebook page is the perfect spot for sentiments.

 

The August PTI Blog Hop is underway! Nicole Heady chose a beautiful inspiration photo. I LOVED the lid of the little suitcase and ran with it.

Wouldn't you like to pack up this sweet suitcase and go read for awhile?

I recently found a quatrefoil svg for my Cricut that I used for a background. I have lots of plans for this beauty. Can't wait to try it as a stencil or with vinyl. If you want this free svg, here is the link - Quatrefoil svg.

The flower stamp is from Iconic Images. The sentiment is from Half & Half. I'm still waiting on the dies. I thought I had ordered them on release but alas I was mistaken so now I'm stalking the store.

Happy Hopping Everyone!

What about for a child???

This is my favorite card that I made using PTI's Make It Monday #26: Decreasing Apertures challenge. I went UP and DOWN!

The star prints/dies and the limitless layers were the perfect choices for this fun card.

Hope everyone had a great weekend. Monday is coming!!

I'm playing along with PTI Make It Monday #26: Decreasing Apertures. This was a lot of fun.

Another HOT day in Texas! We reached a 110 degrees yesterday. We are still in the midst of remodeling but I managed to play along with Verve's 1st August sketch challenge. 

Can I just tell you I'm happy with this card. I tried a couple of new techniques for me, mixed the colors up a little, and had fun. 

I love 'friend" embossed behind the ship and then rubbed with spring rain ink.

Today Bob and I celebrate 23 years of marriage!!! We have been greatly blessed!! What do you think about my wedding hat??? My parents are also in this photo. If you have seen previous posts you will know that they celebrated 50 years on July 15th.

The next pictures are from our cruise vacation. If you ever get the chance to zip line in a rain forest DO IT!!!

The "free" rappelling was out of my comfort zone but INCREDIBLE!!! You just walked off that platform you see over Bob.