Hi There!

Hello my friends. Please forgive me for not bringing you a card yet, things have been a bit crazy around here. My mom, my sister and I have have been planning and preparing a good bye party for my brother, this Saturday. He will be leaving us very soon to join the Navy. We are very excited for and proud of him. I will definitely be keeping him in prayer as he makes this new journey.

I do hope to have time to share another creation with you guys soon. I just wanted to pop in and say I haven't forgotten about you guys and that I have considered your requests about a tutorial on how to create those French Knots. I have never done a tutorial before (but I am excited about trying something new) and I do hope to put something together for you soon.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a blessed day!

Maile

For A Special Friend

Happy hump day to you my friends! Today I am taking a very special friend out to lunch for her birthday and this is the card I made for her... I stamped four square panels with a flower and leaf image from In Bloom, detailed the flower centers with french knots. Punched the bottom edge of the purple panel with the Fiskers Upper Crest Border Punch, stamped the sentiment and wrapped it with white floss. Stamped white tiny polka dots, from Polka Dot Basics II, on the card base.

I hope she likes it, I know she likes purple and my cards with the square panels are her favorite. Something I like to do when giving cards out is to write out the message on a piece of white computer paper then lightly tack it into place on the inside. That way the message can be easily removed and the receiver can reuse the card.

Hope you all have a wonderful Wednesday! Thanks so very much for visiting me to day!

Maile

Friend: (All PTI unless noted)

• Stamps: In Bloom, Polka Dot Basics II & Beautiful Blooms (Sentiment)
• Ink: Ripe Avocado, SU Perfectly Plum & SU Craft White
• Cardstock: Kraft, White & SU Perfectly Plum
• Accessories: DMC Floss, Upper Crest Border Punch

Pink, Green, Blue & Chocolate CAS34

Hello my friends and happy Tuesday to you all.

This weeks CAS Challenge is a color challenge... to use pink, green, blue & chocolate (optional). Here is what I came up with...
I went with my With Sympathy stamp set, I haven't used this one in a while. Stamped the vine image in moss and incorporated the other colors for the challenge through the flowers. The tiny flower image was stamped directly onto the white cardstock. The larger flowers were stamped then cut out and attached with dimensional adhesive.

The sentiment was stamped onto a pink strip, punched holes on either side, strung the floss through, wrapped it around the card and tied it off into a bow.
Finished off the card with some Liquid Pearls in the center of the flowers.

It sure is a nice day in my neighbor hood today, the temperature has finally gone down (it's a cool 68 deg). They say its supposed to get cooler as the week progresses, yeah it finally feels like fall is actually here!

Glad you stopped by today! I do hope you enjoyed your visit.

Maile


The Earth Laughs In Flowers: (All PTI unless noted)

• Stamps: With Sympathy & Green Thumb (Sentiment)
• Ink: Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain & Sweet Blush
• Cardstock: Spring Moss & White
• Accessories: Liquid Pearls (Ranger), DMC Embroidery Floss, Fiskers 1/8" Hole Punch

Stitched Trio

Hello my friends! I hope you all had a great weekend!

My cards for today were inspired by the Loonie Stampers Challenge #59. This week Dee chose the challenge, to create a single layer card...This sure was a fun challenge, I couldn't stop at just one card. Playing again with embroidery floss, I stitched French Knots onto images from Beyond Basic Borders. Here is a shot of each card...

Well, that's all from me today. I hope you all have a great start to your week! Thanks for stopping by today.

Maile

Supplies for all three cards: (All PTI unless noted)

• Stamps: Beyond Basic Borders
• Ink: Ripe Avocado & Dark Chocolate
• Cardstock: Kraft
• Accessories: DMC Embroidery Floss & Corner Rounder

These cards measure 4 1/4" X 2 3/4".

PTI September Blog Hop

This is my second post today, so please scroll down to see the first.
Its time again for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. This months challenge is to Go Green: to reuse, repurpose and recycle our packaging from our Papertrey Packages. Here is what I came up with...

I chose to reuse three different packaging materials to create my flower... the corrugated cardboard, the kraft colored packaging paper and the cream colored packaging paper. I cut all three using my Blossom Nestabilities, stamped the cream paper with red polka dots, and tied them all together with a button and a twine knot.

Can't wait to see what everyone else created! Thanks for hopping by, I hope you enjoyed!

Maile

Just Because: (All PTI unless noted)

• Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II, Fancy Flourishes & Damask Design
• Ink: Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate & Pure Poppy
• Cardstock: White, Kraft, Bazzill Red, PTI Packaging
• Accessories: Dark Choc Button, Twine, Aqua Mist Twill Ribbon, Corner Rounder, Blossom Nestabilities

Thining Of You

Hello my friends! Sorry to have left you hanging yesterday. I had an extremely busy day and before I knew it, it was over.

So onto the card...I stamped my favorite tiny polka dots from Polka Dot Basic II and a vine from Beyond Basic Borders, in Ocean Tides ink, onto my 5" X 5" kraft card base. Straight stitched twine across an Upper Crest border and a torn edge. Here are a few tips I found helpful when stitching with hemp twine... It helps to use the thinnest twine you have or can find (like jewelry twine). Pierce your holes but make them a little larger so the twine will fit through (it help to rotate the piercing tool when inserted into the hole). Then thread the twine by hand, it's usually stiff enough to do so, but make sure to keep the end clean (cut off the end if it becomes frayed). So if you give this a try I hope you find this info helpful.

Next I layered on the flower, which was created using my Blossom Nestabilites, then rounded the corners.

I'm sure you all are ready for the weekend, got any big plans? We have two more birthday parties to go to, this has been a very busy birthday month for us but its been fun. My hubby is home today so I better get going and spend some quality time with him and our little man. Hope you have a fun weekend! Thanks for stopping by!

Maile

Thinking Of You: (All PTI unless noted)

• Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II & Beyond Basic Borders
• Ink: Ocean Tides & Dark Chocolate
• Cardstock: Kraft, White, Aqua Mist & Bazzill Red
• Pattern Paper: Red w/White Polka Dots from Doodle Bug
• Accessories: Blossom Nestabilities, White Vintage Button, Hemp Twine from JoAnn's, Fiskers Upper Crest Border Punch & Corner Rounder

Heart Prints

Hello my friends! I know Valentine's Day is a long ways away, but when I made this card last week I made today's card as well (since my Heart Prints stamp set was already out). When creating today's card I was inspired to play around with the sentiments and make some hand stamped pattern paper. The "Be Mine" and the small heart are separate images. So to make things go faster, I adhered them next to each other, on my acrylic block, and then stamped away.

The large heart was die cut from kraft cardstock and then crinkled, the small heart was stamped in berry sorbet. Wrapped the patterned paper with berry and brown floss and tied it off with a brown button.
Thanks for stopping by today! Hope you have a wonderful day!

Maile


Be Mine (All PTI unless noted)

• Stamps: Heart Prints
• Ink: Berry Sorbet
• Cardstock: Kraft, Dark Chocolate & White
• Accessories: Dark Choc Vintage Button, DMC Floss, Cuttlebug Heart Dies, Edge Distressing Tool.

Card Measures 5" X 5"