Purse Gift Card Holder

Hi Everyone! It's Teachers Appreciation Week at my daughter's school this week so I've been busy creating the stuff she needs to bring in. I'm quite pleased to say I actually finished way before deadline, so I'm sharing this quick and easy gift card holder that's made to look like a coin purse.

Silhouette is having a 50% off  entire design store so I took this opportunity to purchase this svg file. It's so easy, and the whole point is to do something quick but a little bit special for the teachers.

I used old retired leftover scraps of CTMH Lollydoodle paper to create these. I didn't go overboard and just simply decorated it with a flower and a glitter flower embellishment from Recollections.

And this is what the inside looks like. Please excuse my dirty mat. :)
I made a little square box so I can write a quick thank you note to the teachers.

Hope they like it!

Have a blessed weekend everyone!

Picture My Life Cards

I am a big fan of Picture My Life. I've been using it to create quick albums, especially those where I have hundreds of pictures for an event. But after attending Close to My Heart's 2014 Convention though, I saw how PML can also be used to make quick cards, My Crush books

So here's my take on creating cards using PML. And this is also probably my last hoorah for Spring/Summer Catalog as we'll be launching the new one come August 1st.

First up is a card from Avonlea Picture My Life kit. I used Cocoa cardstock as the base, then layered it with a 4x6 PML card, then layered it again with 3x4 card which I punched at the top to make it look like a tag. I used Slate Diagonal Striped Ribbon as the tie.  No stamping on this one!

Z1942 Avonlea Picture My Life

Next I used a card from Skylark PML kit. All the other materials are scraps I have from Skylark WOTG. I also used the stamp set from the kit. This has been a favorite of many but I must confess I think I used this the least.

G1072 Skylark WOTG

Z1947 Skylark Picture My Life

Below I used Balloon Ride paper as base, then layered it with Balloon Ride PML. I love Balloon Ride, from the paper pack to the PML designs, it's so shabby chic!! I used this month's Stamp of the Month Circus Alphabet to stamp the word "smile" and embellished with the durable triangle studs.

S1407 Circus Alphabet

Z1948 Balloon Ride Picture My Life

And last but not the least, a Chantilly PML. The paper and cardstock are from the Lollydoodle WOTG kit I have and I stamp the pair of owls from the Owl set. The "giggle, sing, dance" are from the Chantilly PML too, I just cut one of those and used it to add dimension to my card. I wanted to create a light, fun themed card for a change. 

B1450 Owls

Z1949 Chantilly Picture My Life

Friendship Blessings

I'm terribly missing a good friend of mine. She was a co-worker of mine who retired last year and moved to another state. Lately we haven't been in touch, so I thought I'd make a card for her to give her a nudge and say hi.

I used some scraps I have from my Lollydoodle Cardmaking WOTG, and retired stamp D1191 Friendship Blessings. I used Chocolate, Cocoa, Lagoon inks to stamp the flowers and sentiment, and to accessorize, I used Teal shimmer trim. I love CTMH's shimmer trim. I am not a big glitter fan so these shimmer tapes are just the right ones for me, not too blingy, yet the sparkle is still there.

Hello There!

I've missed Lollydoodle and thought I'd create a card again using its super cute papers. While the most popular pairing is an Owl, I thought I'd use a butterfly instead. I just bought this really cute Sizzix butterfly dies from The Stamps of Life yesterday during their store opening. It's brand new product that's not even on the website yet so I can't put a link yet.
Admittedly I'm having a creative block, sad to say. I thought with the long weekend I'd be on a creative roll, but of course life doesn't work that way. Instead I'm suffering some sort of a block and I can't seem to come up with anything pretty. This will have to do for now.
Everything is from the Lollydoodle Cardmaking WOTG pack, except for the brown butterfly background, which is just some scrap paper. Sentiment was stamped using Lagoon ink, and satin ribbon is from scraps.

Hello There!

Today I got inspired to do a cheerful Spring themed card using the Lollydoodle paper line. I found out a friend of mine was diagnosed with the big C and felt really sad. Instead of creating a get well soon sad reminder kind of card (which I originally thought of), I went with something cheerful instead.

This is a 5"x7" card since putting the owl on a branch with the bunch of flowers at the bottom needed a bit more room so I made it a bigger card base. I used 2 layers for this card, both from the same B&T paper which I just layered back and forth to create a decorative frame for my picture. I stamped all my pieces first starting from the bottom up. Flowers first, then tree bark, then owl. I did the sentiment at the very last and used a Sizzix die (can't remember which set it's part of) to cut it. After stamping I used Pear Ink to work my way up so it'll have a grassy look. I was careful not to rub in too much or make too big of a circular pattern so it wouldn't affect my flowers too much. I used Sky Ink for the sky, and made the out edges of the sky seem a bit darker. As I worked my way in I tapped on the ink pad only once, just so I get a very light clear day looking type of clear blue sky. After that I started coloring the flowers and shrubs. I used a mix of Spectrum Noir markers and just plain colored them. Since the images are too small shading probably wouldn't matter much in this case. But then again what do I know I'm not really an alcohol marker expert yet. I did color the tree branch with a little more brown just to give it more color 'up there'. And on the sentiment tag, I did a couple of passes of color on the background of the card stock using Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tattered Rose. Just very lightly, so it doesn't strike as plan, and then I inked the edges of the tag a bit heavily. I used Sorbet Ink to stamp the sentiment.

For this card I used:

A Flowering Bunch (S1306)

Owls (B1450)

Lollydoodle WOTG Cardmaking Kit (G1080)

Love You

Today I finally gave in and tried the Lollydoodle paper pack. My stash arrived earlier this week and I've been looking at it but didn't feel like opening it. It was too pretty to look at I just wanted to keep and preserve it! The Lollydoodle has such an amazing design, so unique and fun and "spring-y" if you know what I mean. Though I am lucky to live in California (as long as I don't think about the taxes) and not go through the polar vortex, I think I also want for Spring to arrive. And what better way to represent that than to take out and use these Lollydoodle papers! Anyway, this is going to be quick as this was meant to be a quick on the go card. However I must admit I was stumped in making the ribbon. I know I know, it looks so simple yet with just my no-so-deft fingers, it did take awhile to get to the right size without wasting too much ends, and pinning it down on the paper. So, regular brown ribbon to go with the regular scrap brown paper I had left, stamped both sentiments using Cocoa Ink and attached little flowery brands on my "love you" sentiment to add dimension other than the ribbon. Since the background paper is a bit loud, I chose to minimize and not add any more dimensional elements to it. I used 2 stamp images. The 2x2 sized YOU ARE THE stamp is from Lollydoodle WOTG Cardmaking Kit and the "Love You' sentiment is from Affection stamp set. All supplies available at my store so I hope you'll like it and pop in to shop!

Here's the stamp set I used to stamp the "love you" sentiment. Isn't it cute? I can think of a million other ways to use this!

Affection (C1441)

Here's the kit I used for this card.

Lollydoodle WOTG Cardmaking Kit (G1080)