Today's Favorite

Ever make a card that you just love? For me, it's this one. I made it just after the card I've posted below - after I created that one, I thought of ways to improve it and came up with this.

I started with PTI's Stamper's Select White. Then I pulled out PTI's new Black & White Basics patterned paper and just started pulling out pages with the smaller patterns. I loved the designs but felt they needed something to separate them. Then I thought of small strips of PTI's Pure Poppy - a gorgeous, rich red. (But I do think almost any color would work and give a completely unique look!) I put the whole front together and pasted it as one element on my card base - except for the sentiment.

I played around a lot with the sentiment, with several variations of Happy Birthday (from PTI's Birthday Basics). But for some reason HAPPY HAPPY HAPPY just struck me so I stamped it in Pure Poppy, cut it out and placed on True Black cardstock. It looked too plain so I used yet another piece of Black & White Basics. Six patterns on paper on one card. I've outdone myself!

But honestly I do love this card. I think you could replicate it with so many patterned papers and colors. But let me tell you what may not be a good idea. I finished this card about 3:30 a.m. - then I went into our bedroom, cut on the light and woke Keith up to show it to him. He did not appreciate it quite as much as I did, although he said something nice and rolled over. What a guy!

Paper Crazy

My love of designer paper is well established. Last week - another one of those nights I couldn't sleep - I had an idea about using a family of paper to create a design. This time I used Basic Grey Granola. When I was in Denver two weeks ago, I scored some Granola brads on sale at Archivers so that steered me toward the paper.

I started with a base of PTI's Dark Chocolate, then took six papers from the Granola pad and started laying them out on my desk to find an order that pleased me. I cut each one and tore the bottom edge. At the top, I used a creamy solid paper from the pad, cut it with a scallop punch and stamped it with PTI's Birthday Basics. And voila ... here's the discount Denver brad!

I think this is a good card for a guy - not too frou-frou and the colors are pretty neutral.

Birthdays!

I always like to keep a stash of birthday cards around, yet I often find myself creating a new one for each birthday that rolls around.

I love designer paper. When we were building our house I would go to the wallpaper store and look through books for hours - even after I had already picked out all my wallpaper. I guess I just love patterned paper.

This card is one I created late one night when I couldn't sleep. It started off as an experiment and I just went ahead and rolled with it. I used a piece of Papertrey Spring Moss for the base. I used my Nestabilities to cut the rectangle in the front, then I lined the back with PTI's Polka Dot Parade. I stamped the sentiment (from Birthday Basics) four times. Then I decided I had to do something with the middle 'cause it looked really plain. I cut out two hearts - a large and a small (gotta love those punches!) and used Fresh Snow ink to stamp another sentiment from Birthday Basics on the Raspberry Fizz heart. On the smaller Sweet Blush heart, I stamped a tiny heart with Raspberry Fizz ink.

A piece of Raspberry Fizz satin ribbon placed on a diagonal finished it off.

But then I decided to keep going. I used some scissors to cut a little off the bottom and I lined the bottom of the inside with more Polka Dot Parade. Fancy, huh?

Did you miss me?

It's been a long time since I posted a card. But I have a good excuse - we were living in England from August through December and I just didn't have time to make any cards - or my usual space in which to make them. However, I did take a ton of stamping materials with me. This was not a big deal going over, but as we were packing up to come home, I was afraid I was going to have to part with something. But luckily I didn't - we only had to pay for one overweight bag and they let us bring one extra suitcase and didn't even charge us!

Of course, I regularly scoured the blogs and websites so I'm up on the latest, just a bit rusty!

I have missed stamping and am just now getting back into things. I am hoping to spend some time with Rhonda this week - she always helps me get my stamping mojo back!

Here are a few cards I've done over the last week. I couldn't resist making some Papertrey purchases in December and January - in fact, there were Papertrey packages waiting here the day we returned from London.

The one on the left I made for a friend and I call it My Fizzy Valentine because it uses this yummy new Papertrey paper called Raspberry Fizz. The ribbon, the ink, the paper - solid and designer - are all from the Raspberry Fizz line. It's beautiful. I used Heart Prints for the stamped hearts and I cut them out with a small heart punch.

On the right is My Busy Valentine. This one I did for Keith one night when we were watching TV. My inspiration was the gorgeous new Basic Grey Bittersweet paper. I am a total sucker for anything by Basic Grey and I have a ridiculous stash of their pads. This card started with a base of Papertrey Dark Chocolate. I then added layters of Bittersweet is various shapes. The hearts in the middle are popped up on dots. The sentiments and hearts are all PTI, the Heart Prints set, which is so versatile. I used my Scallop Circle Punch to create the rounded pieces on either side of the hearts strip. And that's a Bittersweet brad on "Be Mine." Love those matching brads!

This is a strange card for me. I would characterize my "style" as clean and simple - or am I too much of an amateur to have a style? LOL! Anyway, this card has a lot of "stuff" on it - and I'm not sure that's a good thing!