What I Do Instead of Laundry

Just a little post to say Happy Anniversary to my best friend and husband, Glen. I love you. 1993...such an interesting hair year. 2009 with the whole fam on vacation in Salt Lake City. Yup, they are all ours, and look how happy they all are!

I just got back this afternoon from being on vacation for two weeks. Phew. Glad to be home. So here is a card I made last year. I combined the boot from Green Thumb with the leaves from Out On a Limb. I pounced red ink on top of the yellow ink for the leaves, and yes, I did cut out a few of those itty-bitties to put on the boot. Enjoy the hop!

I thought if I said "GSS Entries" again, you wouldn't look...This really is a set of monogrammed cards I made for my sister, I promise. (But I entered this one, too.) So hard to get the tag to cooperate, because it hangs freely. Thank you to Ashley Newell for the inspiration to move the tag from the middle to the side. I'm getting crazy, I tell you. Notice the sparkle on the tag. Seriously, you need to purchase a $1.29 Sakura Stardust pen. Red matches Berry Sorbet, and the clear one goes with everything. Run to Mikes now. Paper: PTI Berry Sorbet, Sweet Blush Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet Stamps: PTI First Fruits, B&C Monogram Edition, Trajan Alphabet Other: Berry Sorbet satin ribbon, SU silver cord, hole punch

Still happy with that do-it-yourself damask pattern. I was also getting crazy with the ribbon.

Here are some of my entries for PTI's Guest Star Stamper contest. I do not own PTI's Damask set, but I thought I'd create my own pattern using the leaves from First Fruits. I loved it so much I just couldn't stop. Forgive me.

...And here are the boy cards for Grandma. Again, one-layer, simple and cute. Card #1: Paper: SU Sahara Sand Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, Real Red, Versamark Stamps: PTI Everyday Classics, Piece of Cake Other: Filigree embossing powder Card #2: Paper: SU Sahara Sand Ink: SU Real Red, Not Quite Navy Stamps: PTI Everyday Classics, Flower Garden (bracket stamp), Birthday Basics

I made my mother-in-law a set of birthday cards to send to her grandchildren throughout the year. I hope it makes her life easier, since by the end of this year, she will have 25! 10 girls, 14 boys, and one as-yet undetermined. All under the age of 14. She is such a great grandma, and she is always so thoughtful with their birthday gifts. I don't quite know how she does it. She's wonderful! I thought I would make her cards that were pretty, but one-layer, so they would be easy to mail and wouldn't compete with any gift she might add. Here are the two girl designs, both on Sweet Blush cardstock. The first one has a little sparkle, thanks to a handy-dandy Sakura Stardust pen. Card #1: Paper: PTI Sweet Blush Ink: PTI Berry Sorbet, SU Certainly Celery, Real Red Stamps: PTI Everyday Blessings, Flower Garden Card #2: Same as above, with Sakura Stardust clear and red pens, and PTI Women of Life and Flower Garden stamps

Time for another blog group challenge...this time Pam asked us to use owls and make sure the card was mailable, meaning not too sticky-outy for one first class stamp. Well, I don't have any owl stamps or images (I might just get flashbacks to all that macrame and groovy jewelry in my parents' house growing up), so I improvised. She said we could. I just got this new stamp set--Everyday Button Bits (thank you, Rose!), and I just love it. Nevermind the fact that I have yet to purchase PTI's buttons...But again, I improvised and used circle punches. The branch is from PTI's Take a Bough (one of my first purchases), and those little sparkly eyes and "i" are flat stickers--yahoo! I love SU Ballet Blue with Gable Green, and I added just a touch of PTI Berry Sorbet. Oh, I'm going to have so much fun with this set! P a p e r : S U B a l l e t B l u e , G a b l e G r e e n , P T I W h i t e Ink: SU Chocolate Chip, Gable Green Stamps: PTI Everyday But...

I was looking through my stash and realized I hadn't posted this card before. This was one of two different cards from a class I taught last fall at a church craft day. It was a lot of fun teaching my friends how to use PTI stamps--most of them hadn't used clear stamps before. This card is so quick and easy, but the red and black really stand out. I punched a square window in the Pure Poppy cardstock, then stamped away. I love that little trail. Paper: PTI White, Pure Poppy Ink: Versafine Onyx, SU Real Red Stamps: PTI Little Lady Other: (purple) Marvy square punch--2 1/4"?