Make It Monday 174

Today's challenge was to create a diamond shaped background.  I don't use background stamping and don't have any of those types of stamps, but I saw al glance of a straight line from "No Strings Attached" and decided to give it a try-- I just eye-balled the design, but it turned out really well!  The border jumped in there and the rest just fell together.

Paper:  PTI vintage cream, hibiscus Burst

Stamps:  PTI "No Strings Attached", "Garden Grace"

Die:  PTI Stitched Rectangles

embroidery Floss: Michaels

PTI July Blog Hop

The focus of this month's Blog Hop Challenge was an embroidered look, and one of the items was a cute little  handkerchielf envelope.  I remembered the new Stitched Rectangle dies I just got and thought it would be a great way to include real embroidery floss.  I just took the die and used one corner of it to make the envelope flap.  The little flowers reminded me of a sampler and the "button" comes for the Button stacks die.

Paper:  PTI Vintage Cream Cardstock; New Leaf

Ink  PTI New Leaf, Hibiscus Burst, Orange Zest, 

Dies: PTI Button Stacks, Stitched Rectangles

Beatriz

Beatriz' word was "Delicious" -  I looked for paper that was very colorful and sumptuous-looking for her card.  It signifies the delicousness of Life when you jump in and revel in all it has to offer.

And a bunch of brightly colored sparkles.  Mmmmmmmmm.

Roger

I happened to have this wonderful nautical paper in my stash, and it's just right for Roger, a skilled skipper who loves to sail and will be inspiring many as he moves forward with his career - in addition to helping kids who could use a North Star to guide them into the future.

Sparkle-y Karen

It was Karen who started the sparkle trend.  Sunshine yellow for her warmth; lot of cute flowers for her fun-loving presence --and pastel sequins and sparkles for her loving heart.

A card for BB

Powerful is the word for BB.  She has a beautiful heart and the gift of being a marvelous writer. 

I chose golden tones and strong colors to denote that sense of power that is available to her  in this life --in this body!

York's card

York is a natural story-teller and is full of energy!  When I saw this paper, I knew it was a perfect expression of York - and a bunch of stars because he will be inspiring a lot of people in the future

Howard - this way to the party!

Howard's card represents BOLDNESS!  Crossing over the bridge to create a life with more fun, more zest and new adventures, 

Marcy

Marcy's word was "Faith".  She also has a powerful team of invisible helpers.  Blue seems to reflect those qualities -  and the sparkles are for a good dose of fun and playfulness!

JoAnne

JoAnne's word is "Exquisite" - what's more exquisite than a rose?  And there's the element of scent.

I heat embossed the outline of the rose and watercolored it.  And more sparkles!

Bonni

Bonni has a whimsical side to her personality and she is totally herself, so I chose these graphics. And Pink sparkles, of course!

Make It Monday Watercolor

Today's Make It Monday challenge was to use watercolor technique over a sketchy outline to create a true watercolor effect.  Perfect opportunity to experiment with this linen canvas made for watercolor mediums (manufactured by Fredrix).  I got the idea to look for something like this when I took a watercolor for card-making class last spring.  It's so cool to play with the linen texture, and this stuff will stand up to watercolor beautifully!  

Paper:  PTI Vintage Cream and New Leaf cardstock

Linen Canvas: Fredrix

Stamps: PTI Botanical Blocks II and Banner Sentiments

Color Medium: watercolor

Cute little Bow

Shaker Cards are so cute to begin with.  I thought the addition of the little black bow set this one off

beautifully.  Black is not a go-to color for me, but i really like the contrast of the polka dots with the hot pink background and the sparkle-y sequins!

Yes, today is my catch-up day for posting some of my better card-making experiments.  This design is so simple and so happy.  I love the colors of the "yarn" wrapped as a background, and the "happy" die-cut  from PTI that I turned into a shaker with translucent sequins sets it off so perfectly.  I need to make another one, just to enjoy for myself.

This card was designed  for our AFS student from Austria, who was headed back to Austria a few weeks ago. She loves our American flag and this BoBunny paper was perfect for that. And the sentiment  was just right.  I think that one of the greatest gifts you can give a teenager is the experience of living in another country.  Their world view is forever larger, they learn to be more self-reliant and appreciate how wonderful it is to connect with others, regardless of cultual differences.  

A smile can change the world!

OK so the photo of this card is not fancied up with proper lighting and backgroung because it was so perfect that it whizzed out the door and to the post office before I had the chance to do things properly.  My friend Jerri is out on the West Coast for the summer with her family.  Jerri LOVES to knit.  I missed sending her a birthday card and so I found this cute little knitter (one of my MFT 

stamps.) Sometimes a card is just divinely inspired.  I know these are her favorite colors; the paper looks like the stockinette stitch! --and the added touch of stitching on the card with embroidery floss was perfect for someone who loves hand made things.   And the sentiment on the inside:  "Life is too short to buy cheap yarn"  - Jerrie's favorite knitting store is in the LA area and tres chic.