Raspberry Suite Color Challenge #19

Hi folks! I am back again, today with a card share!! It has been so long since I have been able to play in any kind of challenge, and I so love them! This weekend though I had a few minutes to play with some awesome colors from Dawn McVey, inspired by her Pioneer Woman t-shirt. Love the colors, love P-Dub, so I had to play along. Here are the colors:

There are lots of them, but I wanted to make a fun spin on a holiday card. I also got to break out a few new Papertrey Ink goodies that just arrived-including the Turning a New Leaf stamp set ( I am already in love!). Here's my card:

I used the small branch in the leaf set and stamped repeatedly to make a semi-wreath, then cut it out and accented with flowers from PTI's Peaceful Poinsettia set. Also stuck on some gems, clear that I colored with a Bic marker to sort of match Lavender Moon. Lots of cutting on this one, but I am pleased with the result.

Thanks for looking!

Supplies used
Cardstock: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, Lavender Moon, and Vintage Cream (on pink flower)
Stamps: PTI Background Basics Polka Dot Basics II, Turning a New Leaf, Peaceful Poinsettia, and Signature Christmas
Ink: PTI Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, Lavender Moon, and Raspberry Fizz; Versamark; Colorbox Chesnut Roan
Other: PTI satin ribbon in Aqua Mist, PTI cream button twine, Kaiser Craft and Hero Arts gems, Bic marker, Paper Source envelope in Pool
Tools: Fiskars scallop sentiment border punch, Marvy corner rounder, hole punch, pop dots

Ranunculus

Just a simple share for you today.

I have loved Ranunculus flowers forever. I see them in magazines artfully arranged with their lush petals piling out of cute containers. I coveted them when planning my wedding but opted for locally grown buds. I have one picture, torn from a magazine, that looks at me everyday from my bulletin board. I love them.

Nevertheless, I have never actually seen them in real life. That is, I hadn't, until yesterday. I went to the store to pick up some things for dinner and I opted for Fresh Market, which isn't my normal choice because it is pricey, but on occasion I go and make some good finds (particularly in the produce department). I always check out their fabulous flower dept and keep walking but yesterday I noticed, tucked into the corner, were bunches and bunches in all colors of these delightful flowers. Alongside them were another of my constant favorites, hypericum berries. As a little treat for the past rough weeks I've had, I scooped up some bunches and when I got home, set immediately to arranging the petite blooms in a small vase. The fading sun was streaming in the back door right onto the kitchen counter where I was arranging them, and it struck them in such a way that I had to grab the camera and take some snaps:




There was just something about fresh flowers, finally seeing these in real life, and the setting sun that just made my day. It is sometimes the simple things that make life so sweet.

Hope you're having a great weekend...look for the sweet things.
:)

And the award goes to...

Me. For being possibly the worst blogger ever. I know, I know. I have missing for quite some time now, but rest assured, missing IN ACTION, definitiely applies here. This is a busy busy time for work and school for me, as always as the last third of the semester approaches. This year the last day is Dec 2--less than one MONTH away!! And that includes three days off for Thanksgiving. Yikes! This frenzy is not going to end any time soon...

The real reason I am posting today, and another reason I haven't had anything crafty to post here lately, is that my work has gone wholesale!! For the past few weeks I have been working like crazy in my (few) spare moments to complete my very first wholesale order!

I already have some holiday items in place (and more things coming) in a little shop called The Lemon Tree, in downtown Wake Forest, NC. It is a new shop, soon-to-be cafe as well, and in fact, it just opened on Tuesday. They specialize in handmade local products and on top of that, are part of a downtown revitalization project, and I am always a fan of keeping history alive and kicking. They are having a grand opening party today, so all you in the NC triangle area should stop by and check out this shop. Their website is here: http://www.thelemontreewf.com/index.html and you can become a fan on facebook, too: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wake-Forest-NC/The-Lemon-Tree/158271496198

Thanks to Stacey for working with me. I am excited for them and this oportunity for me. Hopefully soon I will have some new goodies posted in my Etsy shop and get back to our regular scheduled programming...is there even such a thing around here?

Have a great Thursday!

Reading Materials...

Today I am going to share the last of my September birthday projects with you. This gift set was what I decided to give one of my good friends. She is tough to buy for, but is an avid reader, so I thought, why not hand-make some things she can use for her reading hobby. I made the entire set coordinating, because that's what I like to do (and it makes it much easier and quicker to put things together when you use one color scheme and several basic design elements), using Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird collection, another one that I have been hoarding. And I will apologize in advance for the picture quality; I took them quickly in my studio as I was getting ready to run out the door (more on why below), so they are not the best, but I REALLY wanted to share this little project, so here goes...

First up is the card I made her. I went with a little different size than I normally do, tall and skinny (and like her in that regard, in fact...):

The flap on the front pulls up to reveal a birthday sentiment:

Then, a few coordinating bookmarks, because voracious readers can never have too many:

The third element is a set of bookplates--which leads me to why I was late taking the pictures. I got this idea for bookplates just before Papertrey Ink released their new Vintage Labels stamp set, and once they did, I knew I had to wait until my order arrived, because it was too too perfect for these, and I ended up cutting it close--I printed the text and dotted line from my computer onto PTI's adhesive sheets, then stamped and cut them out by hand. Here they are!
The final element is a journal for her to keep track of books read. I kept this tall and skinny too, and easy, because rather than cut pages and somehow get lines on them, I used sheets from my Making Memories Slice ledger paper pad (an 8 x 8), just trimmed in half. Final size is 4 x 8 inches.

There are a lot of supplies used in these projects, so I am not listing them all, but if you have questions, just ask. Thanks for stopping by!

Three for Four

Today I have just a quick post to share the third (and final) money holder/notebook combo that I did for September birthdays this year. And yes, I realize that it is now almost midway through October and that I am a lame blogger...but that's part of my charm! :)

This one is for my nephew Nate, who turned 6 this year. Like most little boys, he is very into trucks (and cars and planes and boats...), and since little boys don't care too much about cards, I thought an interactive one that was like a toy in itself was the way to go. I used a truck stamp from a Sandy Lion boy set to make my spinner, and papers from October Afternoon's Road Map collection (stripe) and My Mind's Eye Round & Round collection (signs), which worked perfectly for this project.

Here's the card:

And the inside:

This is the notebook. I tried my hand at stamping a plaid pattern, a technique that I saw Dawn McVey do, but try as I might, I cannot seem to get my lines lined up as straight and evenly as she can! :) The car stamp is from the same Sandy Lion set, but note, the paper color got a bit distorted when I heat embossed it...weird, but I decided to just leave it. It was for a 6 year old, after all.

These letter stickers I *think* came from Michael's in a set of their own brand--love the colors!

That's it for now. I am off to work on a custom Etsy order and some Christmas items. Thanks for stopping by and happy weekend!

Birthday Projects-episode 2

Okay, so I am finally getting to part 2 (of 4) of my birthday project series (see part 1 here). I have been beyond busy with work and school and we are finally coming up here on a mini break (fall vacation days on Monday and Tuesday). Jimmy and I are headed tomorrow morning to this antique fair in Charlotte on the way to Asheboro to visit the zoo, provided that the cold I've acquired this week isn't worse by morning (I know, I should be in bed right now). But it seems that Fridays, my days off, are the only days for blogging lately...

Anyway, let's get to the project! I thought I'd show a girlie one today. This was for my niece Alexis who turned 10. She is into girlie stuff and pink and purple and so I thought I would go glittery and fun for her. I used Cosmo Cricket's Girl Friday line, which I have been hoarding. I love love this line and one thing I like to do when I finally bring myself to use collections that I love so much is make gift sets like this to really get some good use out of them. Give it try!

Here is the card, using PTI's Button Bits set--adorable!!:

And the inside:

And her note/sketch book, featuring my favorite Hero Arts butterfly stamp all glittered up:
That's all I've got for today. Soon I'll have the other two birthday installments, and a blog award, so check back! Happy weekend!!

Birthday Projects-episode 1

As I explained previously, this month is a crazy time for birthdays in my social circle. Seven, that's right, SEVEN, in one month. I have been busy lately working on various projects for friends and relatives and can now share them! I am going to start off with the kids: my younger sister, nephew, and niece.

This year, perhaps because I am lame, perhaps because I have been running around like a crazy chicken for too long, I decided to go the easy way and give them all the same gift, with variations. I was recently reminded of these drawing books that I remember from when I was a kid:

And, always one to try and foster the arts in young minds, I decided they would be a fabulous gift. So each kid got one of these books, a pack of brand new markers, a handmade (of course) card, and a coordinating handmade note/sketchbook personalized for each of them. (They also each got $25, too. Come on, I'm not that lame...)

The first project I will share is for the earliest birthday, my sister Hannah, who turned 13. She is most definitely not your typical tween. Any favorite outfit of hers requires camouflage. She hates pink and anything that might look like it could possibly belong to a girl. So, making her something is always tricky, but I think I succeeded! Here are the goods:

The card. The inside has a pocket and reads "just sending birthday wishes".
This airplane took some serious hot glue, but was well worth it for the cool factor! :)This book is a basic Canson sketchbook from the craft store (about $2 each, I think). I removed the cover and added a new one. They are a nice size for small notes/drawings: 3.5" x 5".

I used the new Cosmo Cricket line, The Boyfriend, which I love love! Other supplies listed below. One day here soon I'll be back with another card/notebook set. Until then...

Card:
cardstock, ink, twine, green bitty box patterned paper: Papertrey Ink
patterned paper: Cosmo Cricket
stamp (hey!): Hero Arts
other: white gel pen, hot glue

Notebook:
cardstock, ink, stamps (letters, grid, text): Papertrey Ink
patterned paper, journaling spot, arrow sticker: Cosmo Cricket
Other: white gel pen, embroidery floss