Gift Card Holder

Good morning blog friends! I received a gift card over the holidays for one of the chain restaurants (can't remember which one right now) and it came in such a nifty little holder I quickly took it apart to try and replicate it. The cut out window on the sleeve was an apple I think, so I changed that on mine, but here's what I came up with...

 Pretty cute, huh? It's amazing what you can come up with if you pay attention to the packaging to the hundreds of items we buy every day! If you find something you like, take it apart and use it as a template to trace onto your own pretty papers. 


I used Born to Shop for this holder, because after all it is for a shopping card. 

This one is basically an outer sleeve with a die cut window, pretty papers and a bow, and an inside matchbook type card with a pocket inside for a gift card. Very simple. I added a little sentiment to the inside from Set 10- A5 Verses.

I really like the way this came out, it's going to be my future packaging for all gift cards from now on. I just hope I saved the original one.... eep! 


Thanks for stopping by, have a great day!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley- 'Born to Shop' & 'Set 10- A5 Verses'
Ink: Perfect Match
Paper: Papertrey Ink
Tools & Accessories: Copics, Scor Pal, Seam binding, McGill circle punch, EK Success edge punch, Spellbinders Labels 1

Hey Chickie!

Good morning everyone! I am so happy I bought myself a Silhouette Cameo, I was so unhappy with my Gazelle that I totally left it neglected. I have a feeling the Gazelle is for much more advanced users than myself. I needed something to work with a minimum of fuss right out of the box, and the Cameo fits the bill! Now if I have a vision for a card I want to create, I plug in my laptop, a couple of clicks of my mouse and voila! I have a gorgeously cut border to grace the front of my card. This egg border is from the silhouette store. Isn't it just beautiful?!

I dug into my classic stamps stash and came out with this adorable Forever Friends bear just in time for Easter. I was worried about coloring it entirely in Copics, because there was so much open space in this large image, which would require lots and LOTS of blending! I basically just used one or two of the lighter Copics and shaded it with colored pencils instead. 

I did some cross stitching with embroidery thread around the border of the card, added a strip of grass and some tiny little flowers to finish it up. I thought the sentiment from Papertrey Ink's Friendship Jar Spring fillers was perfect for this card, and stamped it on a tiny tag to tie around the bow. 


What do you think? Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps: Forever Friends easter clear stamp set, sentiment from PTI
Ink: Memento, Impress
Papers: Memory Box, Prima, Bella's bestest paper
Tools & Accessories: PTI ribbon, baker's twine, Martha Stewart tag punch, McGill flowers punch, MFT grass border die, Copics, colored pencils, Viva Decor pearl pen, embroidery floss, Spica pen, Silhouette Cameo

Birthday Balloons

Hello everyone! We're expecting temperatures in the 60's today, that makes me very happy! A sneak peek of spring, I hope. 

I have this sweet birthday card to share with you all today, featuring the adorable Mice are Nice line of stamps from Lili of the Valley. This one is called Birthday Balloons. 

Lots of colorful papers from Basic Grey's Indie Bloom collection. The balloons were cut on my Cameo, colored and I applied a thick coat of Crystal Lacquer to make them nice and shiny. I tied some baker's twine to them before adhering them in a cluster. 

Hopefully it will brighten someone's day, thanks for stopping by and I hope you will enjoy some spring like weather in your neck of the woods too!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Birthday Balloons' and 'Sentiments for Her'
Ink: Perfect Match, Versamark
Paper: Basic Grey, Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: Copics, striped twill ribbon, McGill circle punch, Nestabilities, SU Scallop edge punch, baker's twine, Cameo, Spica pens, white embossing powder, sewing machine

Some bunny loves you....

Good morning blog friends! Sometimes I struggle with ways to make my cards new and fresh, I find myself getting into a rut with the same layout over and over again. So, I frequently browse sketch blogs for new inspiration. I use Mojo Monday a lot, some of my favorite sketches come from there, and I recently started seeing The Deconstructed Sketch all over the place. So I checked it out. VERY nice sketches, right up my alley. So I picked a favorite and in no time at all I have a card that is outside my box. Here's the sketch I chose: No. 34.

I used another Tiddly Inks digital stamp, Wryn with her little bunny ears. She's colored with Copics and some colored pencils too.

The sentiment is from a Forever Friends clear Easter stamp set I got a while back, can't remember where I got it from though. It was perfect for this card, don't you think?


Hope you like it, thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Digital image from Tiddly Inks, sentiment from Forever Friends clear Easter set
Ink: Memento
Paper: Digital Papers from Raspberry Road Designs (printed on Hammermill color copy paper), SU and Bazzill
Tools & Accessories: Copics, Stickles, grosgrain ribbon, SU scallop punch, PTI banner die, baker's twine, Tonic corner punch, embroidery floss

World's Best Sister

Good morning all, I hope you had a relaxing weekend and got lots of stamping done. I actually cranked out three of them in between laundry, vacuuming and watching some movies. My idea of a perfect weekend! lol.

Here's a bright, colorful card using Stamping Bella's Uptown Girls. I don't know what it is about these gals, I just think they're adorable. 

I couldn't resist adding some of those gorgeous mulberry paper roses from Wild Orchid Crafts, I think I'm the last person on the planet that finally got some. They sure are pretty!

I am in love with this color combo, Papertrey Ink's Aqua Mist and Hibiscus Burst. Yum Yum! I even added a little purse charm to the bow, since the Uptown Girls are such fashionistas. I'm sure they carry some tres chic handbags!


Well, I'm off to watch The Walking Dead in a few minutes, me and Jimmy never miss an episode. I'm not usually into zombie shows, but this show is really, really good!


Thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Stamping Bella, Lili of the Valley circle sentiment
Ink: Memento, Perfect Match, A|Muse Studios
Paper: PTI, Hammermill
Tools & Accessories: Martha Stewart edge punch, Nestabilities, Stickles, Copics, WOC roses, Marianne Creatables flourish dies, PTI ribbon, purse charm from Whimsey Stamps

Sunny Days

Happy Friday! It's been pretty quiet around here in blog land, where is everybody? 

Here's a sunny little card to brighten up the winter doldrums, we all need a bit of that, right? Only 18 more days till the first day of spring!

This card is headed over to the Lili of the Valley headquarters for display in their new shop. Oh how I wish I could fly over there and visit! All that rubber...

Well I'm off to one more day of work, some food shopping afterwards, and then maybe a nap on the couch when I get home. How does that sound? The only part I'm looking forward to is the nap, ha ha! 
Thanks for visiting!


Stamps: Lili of the Valley 'Potting Shed' and 'Sentiments for Her'
Ink: SU
Paper: Basic Grey, Memory Box, SU
Tools & Accessories: PTI Beautiful Blooms die/Buttons, Spellbinders Labels, Cheery Lynn doily die, taffeta ribbon, McGill circle punch, Copics, Spica pens, baker's twine

Pretty Peony Wedding Card

Good morning! Can you believe it's March already?! Where is the time going? Before we know it, spring will be here. Then summer, and we will be moving. Yes, after a little more than 5 years in Pennsylvania we will finally be heading down to North Carolina. This was supposed to happen quite some time ago, but this happened, then that happened and it kept getting postponed. Well Jimmy finally got the official word, and he will be transferring with the company we work for down to Greensboro. We're not planning to live in Greensboro, we'll actually live temporarily in Winston-Salem, but hope to find a house somewhere in between. I'm glad we're finally moving, and I can be closer to my brothers and parents, but I am dreading the moving process.

OK, enough drama, let's take a peek at what I've been up to...

I was so happy with Papertrey Ink's Anniversary set this year, I love Nicole Heady's floral designs and this one hit it out of the park! Peonies are one of my favorite flowers, I had a fabulous peony border a long time ago and hopefully will have one again in our new home! I have all kinds of plans for a garden, I miss it so much. Impossible here unless they are in containers and out of the deer's reach.

I colored the peony with Copics, cut out and popped up some of the petals for dimension. I added some butterflies, also from a new PTI set. This is my first butterfly stamp set, I can't believe I never got one before now! I stamped them on two layers, one on white cardstock, and again on vellum.


Well, that's all for today, thanks for stopping by!


Stamps: Papertrey Ink
Ink: Memento, Amuse, Versamagic, Perfect Match
Paper: Kaisercraft, Core'dinations
Tools & Accessories: PTI Mat Stack 4/butterfly dies, Stickles, Copics, crushed silk ribbon, Souffle pen, Copper leaf pen