Happy Hello - Hero Arts

Happy Friday! Days like today make me wish the kids were at home. It's such gorgeous weather outside, it'd be a perfect day to go over to the beach, or even to Disney for a few hours. The weekends are too busy for my tastes these days, full of ballet lessons, laundry & grocery shopping. I'm just itching for a few relaxing days without any chores to do or any place to go. I bet you feel that way too sometimes.

I'm finally making some progress clearing off my dining room craft table, and I made this very quick card today. The Hello stamp came from the $1 section at Michaels, and the wood-grained flower is from Hero Arts. I think it took five minutes? Maybe six if you count the time it took to fold the brown cardstock.

No recipe today, I've decided to not do that anymore because I think it's basically a waste of time. I'll usually mention the stamp company, and the rest should be obvious, right? :)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Blog Hop Hop Hop

 Ribbit! This is a spring-themed card that I made using Pond Life from Papertrey (again!).  It's a case of a card that Michelle Zindorf created, and I got a lot of practice with brayering and sponging.

Recipe:
Stamps: Papertrey Ink Pond Life
Ink: Distress Ink China Blue and Tea Dye, PTI Berry Blossom, Palette Landscape Green
Accessories: Martha Stewart Doily Edge Punch

Bon Temps Rouler!

Happy Fat Tuesday! Today is Mardi Gras, in case you didn't know. I lived in New Orleans several years ago, and I still love to mark the day. We'll have jambalaya and king cake for dinner tonight, and my front door is decorated with purple, gold and green beads (caught during Gasparilla, of course). Do you know what the colors of Mardi Gras in New Orleans stand for? They were established by the Krewe of Rex, one of the earliest Krewe's in New Orleans celebration. Purple is for justice, gold for power, and green for faith.

Although it would have been fitting, I didn't create a card for today. My craft area has been taken over by my file cabinet reorganization project and I just haven't been able to craft in a while. I've got some new Hero Arts and Basic Grey goodies though, so it's just a matter of time.

I've been recently inspired by all the beautiful ephemera that is associated with Mardi Gras. In the early 19th & 20th centuries, invitations to balls were extravagantly decorated and often imported from France. I've shared a few examples below. Bon vivant!

Dawn's Color Challenge

Happy Valentine's Day!

Today's card was inspired by this color combination done by Dawn McVey. This is the last of the challenges over at Papertrey Ink, and tonight is the release party and the end of the Papertrey Anniversary Celebration.

I chose yellow & black, colors I don't use very often. But I liked the way it came out! It's classy in a very retro sort-of-way, IMO.

Recipe:
Stamps: Scallop Tile Background (Cornish Heritage Farm), Frame & Sentiment (Unknown)
Paper: Bazzill
Accessories: Black ribbon, white embossing powder, dimensional dots

Papertrey Friend Card Challenges

Yesterday we had a day off from challenges, and Nichole announced the release of buttons

on her blog. I don't use a lot of buttons because they're usually so spendy, but these are very economical. I can see adding a pack or two of these to my next order. :)

Today's challenge was to make a card for your best friend. Since we've moved so many times in the past few years I don't have a "best" friend - but many good, close friends that have been along with me for the various stages in my life. My friend Jenny and I became very close in law school, because we're both very crafty and managed to survive those three years without getting sucked into the high school-like drama (yes, really - law school isn't much better than high school, sigh).

She's also a scientist and loves frogs, so I frequently seek out frog-themed stamps. Oddly enough, I've been using Pond Life all week, so I brought it out again in order to use the frog.

I hope she likes it!

Aimee

Recipe:
Stamp: Pond Life (Papertrey)
Paper: Cardstock (Papertrey), Heather Bailey Patterned Paper
Ink: Berry Blossoms (Papertrey)
Accessories: Nestabilities, Crystal Brads

Papertrey Sketch Puzzle Challenge

Like a fool I uploaded my PTI Card Challenge today without a related post. Sorry about that! I guess it's fairly self-explanatory. Not terribly exciting, but it was quick. I had my Pond Life set still in the mess craft area, so I just used it again along with scraps of the Cosmo Cricket paper.

Papertrey Over the Rainbow Color Challenge

This is my entry for PTI's Rainbow Color Challenge. I was channeling Eric Carle's Very Hungry Caterpillar when I made this card. I used the Pond Life set and my Pure Poppy and Summer Sunrise Inks. I had to substitute Old Olive (Stampin' Up!) and Baja Breeze (Stampin' Up!) for the ripe avocado and ocean tides colors.

This was fun because it was just one stamp and inks, very colorful!

Thanks everyone for visiting!

Aimee

Papertrey Bag Challenge

Today is Day 5 of Papertrey Ink's Anniversary previews and challenges. And the best news is that PTI is going to be in Orlando for the CHA consumer show. Y'all KNOW how much I dig CHA and I'm super excited to meet my very favorite bloggers, Nichole, Michelle and Debbie (seriously, I'm in debt because of those three). I've already made my hotel reservations for Orlando, oh yea!

Today's contest involves creating or altering a bag. I really wanted to use fabric, I love making totes, but all my sewing supplies are still in Indiana (bwah!). Instead, I used paper and accessories to create a fully constructed bag using the same sewing techniques that I use in my totes. I have seams, lining and "lace" trim.

I'm going to keep this and give it to my Mom for mother's day. I also made a little brag book using the Top Note die (Stampin' Up!). Cosmo Cricket paper was layered on top of some Tim Holtz grungeboard (which cuts like buttah in the Big Shot). I simply hole punched the corner of the brag book, added some ribbon, and voila! It fit perfectly inside my little purse.
Enjoy!
Aimee

Recipe:
Stamps: Polka Dot Basics, Pond Life (PTI)
Paper: Sweet Blush (PTI), Vintage Cream (PTI), Cosmo Cricket (patterned paper)
Accessories: Nestabilities, Hole Punch, Berry Sorbet Ink (PTI), Versamark, Crystal Brad (Making Memories), Ribbon, White Embossing Powder, Martha Stewart Doily Edge Punch

Have you seen Webster's Pages?

Me either, until now. I saw a few sneaky peekys during the CHA extravanganza, but didn't spend any time at their site. Lucky for me, I picked a good day to visit because they are having a contest. Share the love with your friends, and get a chance to win the collection. Well, this is me - sharing the love. Just take one look at the super-pretty blog and you'll get the idea. The Web site is even prettier. I hope my LSS ordered this stuff - I'm all over it. :)

Check out the blog and find out how to win!

The picture to the left is just one example of their products. The pic provided by Websters was humongo, so I unfortunately had to take it down and replace it with a smaller file. But please take a second to mosey on over there and take a look at the full line.