Hybrid Happiness

Dear Reader,

In the past few months I have been investing in a lot of digital kits and products.  There is so much out there to buy that it can be overwhelming in every way (overwhelming for the budget for sure).  I have used these products on my halloween party invitations and increasingly in cards and ATCs.  I simply love the endless possibilities and customization that using digital designs lend physical projects.  In fact I am taking a new hybrid class with Jessica Sprague and Heidi Swapp (of House of 3) called Mouse, Paper, Scissors which should prove to be awesome and will undoubtedly improve my skills (we all can see that this is needed!).

During my blogging hiatus I made a few simple birthday hybrid cards that I thought I would share with you.

Card No. 1

Digital supplies used: all digital supplies from the Every Day's an Adventure collaboration kit between Leora Sanford and Aja Abney.  If you like it you should buy it now as it may be retired as of March 15th (and it is 50% off right now at Little Dreamer Designs). 
Physical supplies: happy birthday stamp; Neenah Paper Welsh Blue cardstock; chipped sapphire, Tim Holtz's Distress Ink by Ranger Industries; twine; shipping tag; Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels; Corner Chomper by We R Memory Keepers; dimensional adhesive
Card No. 2

Digital supplies used: yellow paper from Winter Garden kit collaboration between Michelle Coleman and Wish Bliss Studio; grey and red paper by Paislee Press from Nostalgia kit collaboration between Paislee Press and creashens; red paper by Queen of Quirk from the Soar High kit at the sadly defunct Songbird Avenue; circle label by Paislee Press from At Home kit
Physical supplies: happy birthday stamp, Georgia-Pacific white cardstock; fired brick, Tim Holtz's Distress Ink by Ranger Industries; scallop border punch by Martha Stewart; dimensional adhesive
Card No. 3

Digital supplies used: Card template is Pixels 2 Paper ~ Volume 2 by Paper Crush Studio; all other digital elements by Kasia Designs from Handle With Care kit
Physical supplies: happy birthday stamp; Georgia-Pacific white cardstock; red cardstock; dimensional adhesive

Card No. 4

Digital supplies used: Card template is Pixels 2 Paper ~ Volume 2 by Paper Crush Studio; red damask paper by Amy Wolff from Soar High kit at Songbird Avenue by white and red damask paper from So Grateful kit collaboration by Sugarplum Paperie and Sahlin Studio; butterflies by Amy Wolff from Soar High kit at Songbird Avenue; label by Designs by Morjike from Beauty Fall kit
Physical supplies: Happy Birthday stamp; Georgia-Pacific white cardstock and Neenah Paper Recycled 100 Natural White cardstock; fired brick, Tim Holtz's Distress Ink by Ranger Industries; Stickles by Ranger Industries

Card No. 5

Digital supplies all from Beauty Fall kit and Beauty Fall Add-On kit by Designs by Morjike. 
Physical supplies: Happy Birthday stamp; Georgia-Pacific white cardstock; Neenah Paper Recycled 100 Natural White cardstock; emboidery floss by DMC; basic gray ink by Stampin' Up!

Thanks for stopping by the Hall!

Happy creating,
Shay.

Flashback: Mother's Day

Dear Reader,

I hope this past Valentine's Day brought you a lot of time spent with your loved ones and perhaps some chocolate or other sweet goodies.  I enjoyed dark chocolate covered strawberries...some with real gold dust.  I really should have taken a picture of them because they were beauties...rather I relished the taste of them and forgot about all else.

Today we are going to do a little step back in time as this post is about the card I made my mom for Mother's Day last year.  One thing I have realized is I need to get a stamp set which has sentiments regarding Mother's Day.  Being someone who doesn't use sentiments as much as others I have a lot of voids in my stamp collection where sentiments should be (we all have to have priorities if we are ever to wade through all the products we want).

Back to the card...my mom loves blue.  Anyone who knows her knows this or should because it is a very defining part of who she is.  I can't describe the depth of her love for blue.  I know there are green families out there in which everyone has a deep and abiding love for green, but most of my family are advocates of blue to the point that my dad is thrilled that the night lighting of the electronics in his new car is blue (and the car is blue to ease your mind).  This feeling my dad has for blue (and neither really like green) helps cement my belief that my parents were destined to be together.  After blue, pink is my mom's favorite color...in fact her sewing room is pink with accents in black and white.  With this in mind I kept with a blue, pink and white color scheme.  As I mentioned she has a sewing room and therefore whenever I see sewing related images I know they are going to be perfect for my mom.  When I saw these Hero Arts stamps I knew they were just right for my mom.

This is a fussy (busy) card, but my mom can be even more fussy than I am so it really suits her.  I chose to highlight the dresses (and introduce the pink onto the main image) by stamping them onto pink cardstock and adding them to the neutral main image.  Since I couldn't find a ribbon I wanted to use with the card I went with navy tulle that my friend very generously bought me a while back and I am happy with the result.  I hope you enjoy looking at the card.

Card Pose No. 2

Thanks for calling at the Hall!

Mother's Day Card
Supplies:
Stamps: Make Your Own (CG175) and Roses from Two Birds (CG152), Hero Arts
Inks: Chipped Sapphire, Stormy Sky and Spun Sugar (inside), Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger Industries
Cardstock: Night of Navy, Stampin' Up!, White, Georgia Pacific; Earthstone, Neenah Papers; Pink, scrap pile
Button: From Spring Mix, Paperrtrey Ink
Punches: Martha Stewart
Other: Navy Tulle; Pink Emboidery Floss, DMC

Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday No. 1

Hello there, dear reader.  It is amazing how one little blog post about a simple card can take ages to complete.  Am I especially slow or do others experience the black hole that is blogging?  Hours pass in which I photograph, edit, wait for my camera battery to recharge, reshot, write, edit, add links, upload pictures, hunt for the names of this stamp set, that tool, etc.  It is a production and I am not even a good blogger.  I have *so* much respect and admiration for high class bloggers like Ali Edwards.  How does she do it?

Okay, now that I have digressed let us get on to the main point of this post: Papertrey Ink.  The 4th anniversary celebration continues and I am so happy that I can participate.  Today marked the first Make It Monday. To learn all about it visit Nichole Heady's blog: here.

The card wasn't hard to make, but the photographing of it has been a real chore.  The lighting is horrible and my studio is a complete mess so I can barely find anywhere to place the care without clutter or something else in the way.  This studio really needs a complete overhaul, but that is another story or rather saga.  Please don't laugh too hard at the photos.

I really enjoyed the challenge of a Go-To Sentiment card (using the same sentiment from several stamp sets over and over) and challenged myself even further by making a clean, mostly monochromatic card.  I was inspired by the very clever and talented Maile Belles, but in no way did I pull off what she can do with such grace and panache. I used a large amount of stamp sets (11 I think) for this and I really like how this challenge utilized so many stamp sets in a fun and unique way.  I also decided I wanted the main "thank you" to be spelled out with my Trajan alphabet set.  Luckily "thank you" has no repeat letters which makes it a breeze to spell out.

And more beautiful shots of the card.  Every model needs to be seen in different poses.

Hope you enjoyed the card.  Thanks for stopping by the Hall!

Thank You Go-To Sentiments Card
All Papertrey Ink products unless otherwise mentioned
Stamps: Fillable Frames #1; Borders and Corners-Squares; Out on a Limb Sentiments; Giga Guide Lines; Year of the Flowers: Violet; Mat Stack 1 Collection; Mat Stack 2 Collection; Everyday Classics; Round & Round; Simply Stationary; and Trajan Monogram Edition
Ink: Dusty Concord and Pumice Stone, Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger Industries
Cardstock: Earthstone, Neenah Papers
Die: Banner Borders
Other: Emboidery Floss, DMC; Dimenstional adhesive, Stampin' Up!; Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, We R Memory Keepers

Papertrey Ink Anniversary Celebration Begins

February is one of my favorite months because of many reasons including that it is the birthday month of Papertrey Ink.  Today marks the official kickoff of the 4th birthday celebration--please go to Nichole Heady's blog to find out more as you won't want to miss a thing.  The design team who are some of the most creative and imaginative stampers around each chose their favorite card in 2010 and we, the fans and customers of Papertrey Ink, were likewise challenged to choose our favorite card of 2010 using Papertrey Ink stamps and products. 

Due to my love of Papertrey Ink's background stamps and because it was the last card I made for my dad's dad as he died a few days after I sent the card these cards are sentimental favorites.  You can find the original post here.

Happy birthday, Papertrey Ink!  I hope we can all celebrate many more years of your continued brilliance and success!

Thanks for stopping by the Hall!

Time Warp: May Hero Arts Club

February 3, 2011 note: I found this post sitting within my draft posts.  It merely needed a picture added to be complete.  So I am posting it now.

From summer 2010:

I have been sucked into some sort of strange time warp.  Before I knew it several weeks had passed since I posted on this blog.  Whilst away I did make a couple offerings for May's Hero Arts Club challenge.  We were supposed to use the upper left hand image of this set to make something (one lady made wonderful labels using the frame for the delicious food she and her friend provided for the meeting..I wish I had thought to take a picture of it because the table was lovely!):

I decided to go with cards (huge surprise).  I began with my March 2009 Scarlet Lime kit for color inspiration and the idea of using the shape of the frame as a mask much like I did with the Daisy from April's Hero Arts Club Challenge.  This time I used some of my Glimmer Mist instead of ink to color the card base.  I also wanted to use the Friends cling set to fit into those masked frames (and they fit nearly perfectly).  At first I thought my colors would primarily be green and blue with a punch of orange and I colored in the frame with orange accordingly, but after my sister's rather unfavorable reaction to the colors I decided the orange frame must be the beginning of another card entirely.  This often happens to me as if even my creativity gets distracted and must work on more than one thing.  So I remained with green, blue and touches of a sandy grey (for the mask card and did another card with black and white and punches of orange and green that I decided would work for my aunt's graduation from medical school.

One last note, I realized I may be the world's worst bow maker (if possible it is worse than my photography).  I think I spent almost the same amount of time tieing the bow on the card as all the rest of the card...may be the reason I don't use ribbon as much as many other people.  This is probably explained by the fact that the only way I was able to learn to tie a bow when I was little was the the double loop system and it is only in the last couple of years that I have been able to tie a bow in the more common way.  I also learned how to jump rope by flipping the rope behind me then jumping rather than in front of me as it was the only way that I could physically do it at the time.  Go figure.

Here are the results:

Thanks for calling at the Hall!


Happy Birthday Card
Supplies:
Stamps: Three Floral Frames (CL384), Friends (CG106), Starburst (F5318) and Happy Birthday, Hero Arts
Inks: Pumice Stone, Shabby Shutters and Tumbled Glass (I think, but it could be Broken China), Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger Industries
Mist/Spray: Green Meadows, Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist
Cardstock: Sand, Neenah Papers
Patterned Paper: Beach Caribe and Cantando (from Canta Collection), GCD Studios
Other: Crop-A-Dile Corner Chomper, We R Memory Keepers; Ribbon, Offray; Colored Pencils

For You Card
Supplies:
Stamps: Three Floral Frames (CL384), For You from Dolls (CL289), Hero Arts
Inks: Shabby Shutters and Peeled Paint, Tim Holtz Distress Inks by Ranger Industries
Patterned Paper: Beach Caribe and Cantando (from Canta Collection), GCD Studios
Other: Colored Pencils

Catching Up (or its been too, too long)

Since this is the first anniversary of my blog I thought it would be about time I returned to the blogging world!  A lot has happened in the time I have been gone (in order of occurrence, not necessarily importance):

1. We added this little cutie to our family.  Due to an emergency call from a colleague on Wednesday, September 22, 2010, we took in two stray dogs temporarily.  We found a home for the older, sweet boy which we called Buddy and has since been named Ty by his family.  The 2 month old puppy--a black lab mix--we tried to place in the same home with Ty as they were so cute together (Ty looked after the puppy), but that didn't work out and the longer she stayed with us the more we fell in love.  She isn't going anywhere.   We named her Wednesday (the day we took her in and also since it was around Halloween she was named after the wonderfully woeful Wednesday Addams although our Wednesday is actually a very happy girl).
2. My mom was diagnosed with lymphoma.  My mom went into the hospital on Thursday, October 21, 2010 with dangerously low platelet levels and we are so grateful her doctor noticed this because she could have died within a week without transfusions and proper treatment.  Currently she is going through chemotherapy and is sporting different hair and hats nearly every day.  We also found out her head is quite lovely.  With this hurdle and both of my grandparents dying this summer it kind of threw us all.
3. We had our 4th Annual Halloween party. We ate sinfully delicious food with wonderful friends.
4. My sister and I went to Disney World the weekend of November 12th -November 16th.  We went to all four (4) of the main Disney parks in that time and came home exhausted, but happy.  I have never loved Disney more...sometimes amusement parks are *better* as an adult.  We also had the opportunity to visit with my uncle and meet his lady love.  We all went to brunch at the House of Blues for their Gospel Brunch.  My uncle and his lady love danced on stage...so sweet.  Good times.
5. My Dad's Birthday.  Prime rib dinner for my dad.  My mom made him a cute dog card for his birthday and I helped (shake n' bake commercials always runs in my mind because funnily enough I did help my mom make shake n'bake chicken when I was little).
5. Thanksgiving.  The week after we returned from Orlando was Thanksgiving.  We decided to simplify.  We had two types of turkey breasts (one our favorite southwestern turkey breast and the other a new boudin sausage stuffed-turkey breast which was pretty darn delicious).
6. Hanukkah.  What with my mom's health and all we decided to skip our holiday party this year and have a *very* laid back holiday season.  This year's Hanukkah was so early and we were not that prepared for it that we even skipped a couple nights.  We decided to have a catch up at Christmas.
7. Making changes at work.  We moved around offices at work for the first time in over 10 years.  We all like the "new" conference room.
8. Christmas Eve and Christmas.  We all went out to eat at the Egg and I for breakfast on Christmas Eve.  I have decided I quite enjoy late morning breakfast out.  My sister then made dinner as we did some work.  We had lacquered prime rib (my dad's favorite and a must during the holidays for him) *and* really delicious applewood smoked ham.  We also had roasted vegetables and a mushroom-rice casserole.  It sounds like we are devoted carnivores, but you would be surprised to know that for several months my sister was a vegan and we all ate a lot of vegan and vegetarian meals during those months.  For Christmas we had our brunch.
9. New Year's Eve and New Year's.  Low key, but delicious foods including Hoppin' John Soup and a Blackeye Pea Chili (yum!) and homemade Cheese Beer Bread.  We ate lots of blackeye peas for good luck and kale for prosperity.

So now you are pretty much caught up.  I will be returning to this blog with pictures of some cards, ATCs and the like (and some dog pictures) and I am also tweeting under @verdigris1700. 

Thanks for stopping by the Hall and come back soon!