Ode to Maile ~ PTI Blog Hop

Hello and welcome to my humble yet passionate blog :)  This is my first ever PTI blog hop post so I am a little nervous and excited! I like meeting new friends with the same love for paper and hope you will leave a constructive comment for me. This months challenge was to recreate a project made by one of the several wonderful and talented PTI design team members.  I chose Maile Belles.  I've been following her blog since I started my blog this past summer. At the time she only had 28 followers and she wasn't apart of any design team. She's come a long way in such a short time.  Congrats Maile!!!  I have always admired her graceful style, her french knots and I have been awed by what she can do with a stamp! Just call her the Grace Kelly of stamping.

During the  PTI anniversary celebrations and February's stamp unveiling she showed off a really cute crafty kit with a matching card to give to a friend. I really loved the concept, mainly because I would love to be given such a gift and love things to be 'matchy'. I decided to recreate it as a gift for my six year old daughter.  She loves to do crafty things so I thought wouldn't it be great for her to have her own little kit to make Valentines cards next year?  It's got everything I think I little girl would want; beads, buttons, felt, flowers, stamps, ribbon, and paper! (Pictured at the top)

The challenging part of this project, I found, was not to mimic Maile's style too closely and to put in my own touches. I think I did that using one of my favourite bright colours (Red) and adding some pattern paper to my card.  Maile doesn't use a lot of designer paper, mainly because she's so good at stamping her own designs.  But me, I like to collect all kinds of paper.  If I'm inspired by it, I buy it!  I have boxes of it and would feel guilty if I didn't use it.

Some hand stitching was added to the top of the border punched edge for another personal touch. I also took the time to decorate the inside, incorporating the polkadots and taking the opportunity to tell my lovely little girl how much I love her.  For a closer look just click on the pictures. I hope that I've done justice to Maile's inspiration and made her proud :)

Thanks so much for popping by and helping me to share my passion 4 paper!  Be sure to check out the rest of the PTI design team.  They all have their own unique style and I'm so thankful to have been introduced to them this past September!  I also have a list of inspiring blogs on my sidebar.  Happy crafting!

Paper:  Real Red, Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Sending Love dsp
Ink: Choclate Chip, Real Red
Accessories:  Making memories paper flowers, Pure Poppy buttons (PTI), Pink cord buttons, linen thread, pink cotton floss, red rhinestones, scallop trim border punch, ticket corner punch, large corner rounder punch.
Stamps (All PTI):  Mixed messages (LOVE), Everyday button bits (All things grow), Signature Greetings, Polka dot basics.

Tristan + Isolde Cinema Saturday

Another one of my favourite movies that deserved to be watched and interpreted through my craft.  This movie did a great job of torturing my heart.  When two people are just so perfect for each other but fate decides it's not meant to be.  It's a movie that does a really good job of prooving the age old adage that "Life isn't fair!"  Surprisingly it wasn't the romance that tugged at my heart strings as much as the betrayal.  Tristan and Isolde's betrayal of king and country as well as destiny's betrayal to such young and loving hearts.

Anyhow here's my card.  It's nothing overly fancy since I wanted to stick with the muted and dark colours in the movie.  The added challenge was to create a gatefold card or trifold card.  I took a lot of time making this one using the Daisy D hinges.  I wanted to make sure the hardware was covered properly however with the many layers it doesn't quite close all the way :{ The heart at the front is embossed with gold and there's a layer of gold fiber paper on the inside to make it a bit more regal.  

The quote reads: "Sometimes fate betrays our hearts by opening the door to a less favourable path.  But our hearts can defy fate by rising to the occasion."  Written by me  simply because I had no other verse or poetry that came to mind.  It all started with the line in the trailer: "When fate betrays your heart..."  The theme takes on very much what we saw in A Knight's Tale:  If we put enough heart into it we can change our fate.  No, Tristan and Isolde could not change their circumstances (they would never be together in life) but they both chose to rise to the occasion and not be remembered as the couple that divided a nation.  Tristan chose to do what was right and fight alongside King Marke (actor was also in A Knight's Tale) rather than  running away with Isolde.  And Isolde came back even knowing very well that Tristan chose his country over her.  Besides the fact that two women alone in Britannia's wilderness would probably not survive, why do you think she came back?

Okay, that's my overly drawn out description and I hope it makes sense.  I like making cards that give me something more to think about than layout and colours combos.  If you read this in it's entirety, then thank you for sticking it out :)  See you this afternoon with my first PTI blog hop entry. Ciao

Paper: Kraft, Chocolate Chip, Gold fiber, Very Vanilla, SU! dp (Holiday Harmony?)

Ink: Versa Mark, Always Artichoke, Chocolate Chip (sponged on the lattice die)

Accessories:  Daisy d's hinges, Lattice die, gold embossing powder

Stamps:  Keys to my Heart (Practicing Creativity)

February Viva La Verve #4

Ok the last one for February.  I really had a difficult time with this one.  I knew which paper I wanted to use right away and I had what I thought was a fabulous idea in my head but it just didn't quite translate the way I wanted to.  Which is the reason why I have two cards.  I wasn't really crazy about my first card (the one at the bottom). 

I was inspired by this picture that Amber provided on the Verve forum.  The boho flowers are very similar to those in the SU! Raspberry Tart dsp.  And finally I had a new Verve stamp set play with.  My new Hundred Hearts set arrived in the mail yesterday!  The top card has a couple of little details.  There's a heart stamped in Pink Pirouette behind the sentiment and there's some hand stitching just above the border punch.  I know that the white oval probably could have used a layer underneath except the only tool I have to create nice ovals is my Fiskars shape cutter and the next size up was way too big.  I tried a faux border with ink but it just didn't look right.  Now that I think about it I could have tried hand stitching a border.  Oh well!  It's done!

Now my first try I did a paper piecing of a boho flower.  A template I've had in my binder for a couple of years from Scrapbooks Etc.  It's alright, but it just didn't work out the way I hoped it would.  I think it's actually that pink panel at the top. Maybe I should have used my swiss dot ef?  I think it was a good idea it just didn't come out the way I wanted.  It was worth a try ;)

Thanks for taking a peak at my attempts.  I'll be back tomorrow with my Cinema Saturday card and hopefully tonight I'll get my project done for my first ever PTI Blog Hop which takes place tomorrow night. Hope you have all had a wonderful time with these Verve Sketches and if you haven't tried them you really should...it's a lot of fun.  Have a fabulous day and happy  crafting.

True Friend

Paper: Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Raspberry Tart dp (SU!), Whisper White

Ink: Pink Pirouette, Rose Red

Accessories: Bling, Old Olive ribbon, Scallop trim border punch (SU!),  cotton floss, Fiskars shape cutter

Stamps:  Hundred Hearts (Verve)

So Sweet

Paper: Rose Red, Pink Pirouette, Kiwi Kiss, Raspberry Tart dp, Whisper White, PTI white

Ink:  Rose Red, Old Olive (sponged)

Accessories: Scrapbook Etc. Paper pattern, scallop circle punch, rose red ribbon, 1 1/4" circle punch, Fiskars shape cutter, bling

Stamps: Delightful and Delicious (Verve)

Embellished Birthday

Good Morning!  Here's my attempt at the current Embellish Magazine challenge to use green, blue, pink, and brown plus a birthday theme.  I must admit that the bright colours frighten me (plus I don't have much of those colours on hand) so I decided to use muted tones of those colours.   I used the FTL Sketch 76 with a little bit of my own twist.  The squares are made using the SU! scallop square punch and cutting of one scallop on two sides.  The coloured squares are adhered with dimensionals and the Close to Cocoa square is not.  Glitter was added to the stamped cupcake and balloons just to give this simple sketch a little bit more power.  What do you think?  Is it still too simple?  If I find time this week I may try the same thing but with brighter colours and a white background.

I thought I'd also share with you how one little  touch like rounded corners can make.  While taking the picture I seemed to me like the card was missing something.  So I took my large corner rounder punch to the bottom corners of my card.  It's amazing how one small detail can make such a big difference.

Paper: SU! Kraft, Groovy Guava, Baja Breeze, Kiwi Kiss, Close to Cocoa, Scenic Route dp (polka dot star)

Ink:  Chocolate Chip

Accessories: Square Scallop punch, Chocolate chip ribbon, Large Star punch, corner rounder punch, glitter, white button

Stamps:  Birthday Best, Birthday Bliss (SU!)

February Viva La Verve #3

I actually managed to get 2 cards done from this challenge.  The layout was a little bit tricky and I wanted to play around with the SEI Bridgeport paper. Do you ever do that?  Cut multiple pieces of the same pattern paper and then change the accent colours to see what different kinds of looks you'll get?  I'm very visual.  I need to try it before I know it will work.  Unfortunately, I don't that gift that some people have where they can visualize it in their heads.

This Orchid dinning room caught my eye.  I really liked the wall colour and that bit of pink in the flowers on the table was a nice touch.  I interpreted that pink using scraps of berry sorbet ribbon in the card on the right side.  I'm not crazy about the ribbon treatment but it was worth a try. I added a bit of green just for some contrast and when I was done I figured it would make an excellent Easter card.  The card didn't come out exactly how I was hoping so I was looking forward to trying again.  

The second time around, I decided to forget about the green dots and replace it with grey.  I added in the the green through some satin ribbon from my stash. There's also a pin added to the bow.  If you want to make the end of the pin a little less prickly just cover the end with some Crystal effects. It's amazing how different cards can turn out just by changing a couple of colours. I really like how this card turned out even though it represents the dinning room less than my first card. It did come from the same inspiration :)

So today I'll be busy changing sheets and doing laundry, and hopefully I'll have time to work on our taxes before heading out for our Anniversary Dinner tonight.  I might be back later with another card to share for the current Embellish challenge.  

Also, thank you so much for all of your sweet comments.  Don't hold back if you see something that can make my projects even better.  I find I'm learning something new all the time and I'm still feeling out my style.

Happy Easter

Paper:  SEI dp (Bridgeport), Rich Razzleberry,  SU! dp (cottage wall), Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

Ink: Close to cocoa

Accessories:  Berry Sorbet ribbon (PTI), Bling (BG)

Stamps: Well scripted (SU!)

Wonderful Mother

Paper:  SEI dp (Bridgeprt), Going Grey, Kiwi Kiss, Whisper White

Ink: Rich Razzleberry

Accessories:  Ribbon, Bling (BG), Flower Pin

Stamps: Well Scripted (SU!)

February Viva La Verve #2

Another Viva la Verve Challenge here.  Julee I apologize that I didn't use a verve stamp for this one but I only have one set to inspire me.

I was immediately drawn to this dining room with the yellow, wood, cream and green fern accents.  Would you consider it contemporary country?  I really like that table!  This room has a really homey feel.  Actually I could see myself decorating this way.  So there you go!  Now you know a little more about my style.

I knew I wanted to focus on that mellow yellow but I was stumped after that.  I finally settled on chocolate and vanilla and came across my stash of Cosmo Cricket Earth Love paper.  Now I was on a roll.   Add in a little bit of ribbon and buttons and tada.  You've got a chic country card:)  I don't usually do a lot of yellow.  I'm so scared of overdoing it!   I could have added some stitching I guess? and can you think of a better way that I could have displayed my sentiment panel?  It just doesn't seem very finished the way I've done it here.  I still like it though and I'm sure some friend of mine will like the thought.

Hope you like it and have a Marvelous Monday!  Happy day, Happy crafting!

Paper:  Lemon Tart (PTI), Chocolate Chip, Very Vanilla, Kraft, More Mustard, Cosmo Cricket dp (Earth Love)

Ink: Chocolate Chip, Versamark

Accessories: Certainly Celery ribbon, So Saffron ribbon, Chocolate Chip ribbon, corner rounder punch, perfect  polka dots ef, BG buttons

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (PTI)

February Viva La Verve #1

Hello Everyone.  This  is my first try at the Viva la Verve challenges and I found them to be exactly that which is the point isn't it?  We were meant to be inspired by one of the three pictures of dinning rooms given and then apply it to the given sketch.  

I really liked the sketch and I was inspired by the summer beach cottage feel of this breakfast room. (At least that's what I pictured)  I liked the soothing blue and could picture myself getting up early one summer morning, stealing a cup of coffee before the kids got up, and enjoying the view of the sun coming up while listening to the surf.

So in the end I chose blue as my focal point.  It's not the turquoise in the picture but something out of my scrap box.  I used my Verve Delightful and Delicious set as that is all I have right now.  The sentiment that I chose was so that I could send it to a friend who lives quite a ways from me and appreciates her early morning coffee just like I do.  

Normally I try not to follow a sketch to the letter but this time around I thought it would be nice to use up some of the pewter photo corners I've had for ages.  Do you ever do that?  You buy something thinking you'll use it and you just don't?  Or better yet you buy a package of embellishment for a couple little doodads that you really wanted but are left with a bunch of stuff you don't have a lot of use for?

To start off with I positioned the coffee/tea cups on a clear block to make a back ground stamp and used Bashful Blue ink for most of it and highlighted the bottom right cup by stamping it with Chocolate chip.  I rose the middle of the sentiment panel with a couple of dimensionals and added a couple of orange rhinestones on either side to make it more cohesive with the photo.

Are you craving something warm to drink yet?  If you are, then I've done my job :)  Hope you have a wonderful day.

Paper:  Soft Suede dsp, Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Whisper White
Ink: Bashful Blue, Chocolate Chip, Close to Cocoa
Accessories: Dimensionals, pewter photo corners, rhinestones
Stamp: Delightful and Delicious (Verve), Everyday Button bits (PTI)