Butterfly Dreams

Happy March! March already? Crazy, right?  March, in my mind, is Spring.  (it's probably easier for me to think that since i live in california) So I thought I'd bring out some Spring butterflies.  I'm gonna be honest here and let you in on something.  When Nichole was doing previews of the February sets over at Papertrey, I saw butterflies and thought, well, there goes some more money that's safe.  I'm not really into butterflies.  Then I saw the whole set.  Wow.  It is truly beautiful and suddenly it became a must have. (i know, when do i not say that about their stamps?)  Anyway, I learned a very valuable lesson that day.  Don't make up your mind when you don't know everything that's involved.  Hmmm. Actually, I probably should've learned that when I was about 8 and saw what I thought (in my 8 year old mind) was a very unattractive woman and later found out it was a guy.  K, totally veered off topic there, but you see what I'm trying to say. I will no longer declare money safe until...oh, who am I kidding? No money is safe around me!

Stamps: Butterfly Dreams (PTI), Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Versafine Onyx Black, Raspberry Fizz & Orange Zest (PTI), Paper: PTI white, Accessories: rhinestones, Butterfly die (PTI) & Copics - BG000, BG01, BG05, RV19, YR68

Buttons, Buttons...

I can be a little slow sometimes. I know this is not my first time telling you guys this.  This stamp set came out quite a while ago, some time last year, and I just didn't get it. I mean, I got the idea but it just seemed like way too much work to me.  You gotta stamp something and then you gotta figure out exactly where to put the buttons  & which buttons to use.  Round buttons, square buttons, flower buttons, heart buttons.  I guess it's just a challenge for indecisive people like myself. You would laugh if you could sit here & watch me try to make a decision about things like this. I try to nail down which colors to use and then I have to find just the right buttons.  This is important stuff!  Then I realized, it's supposed to be fun.  Oh, yeah.  Plus, I'm the same exact way with my Copics and I wouldn't trade those for anything!  Not to mention, I already had a pretty good button collection (that I was hoarding & not using!) thanks to Nichole.  May as well get something that will inspire me to use them...and the new buttons I added to this order to use with my new button set. Don't you love how I justify these things?

Stamps: Everyday Button Bits (PTI), Ink: Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss (PTI), Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: PTI white, Pink Pirouette (SU!), Accessories: Vintage Buttons (PTI)

Mmm Mmm Good!

Hey there! I actually got some cards made. Yay me! I made a bunch of cards, but this is the only original one I made. I needed some back-up cards for those extra busy times (ummm, that would pretty much be my every day!), so I made a bunch of different versions of my older cards.  Was pretty easy to look at pictures of cards I'd made and copy them. Such a time saver. Of course, if I would just make more than one of my cards as I'm making them, I wouldn't need to go back for a bunch of do-overs.  Although, sometimes, one is enough.  I only made one of this card because of the coloring.  And it's not like it takes tons of time to do the actual coloring, it's the decision making that goes into the coloring.  Hmmm. Brown mouse, gray mouse? Orange flowers, purple flowers?  This is what holds me up.  No, it's not the reason for the big gaps in between my posts.  That would be laziness and busy-uh, ness.  But if I wanted another copy of this card, I know I could whip one up with no problem since I've colored it once already and have a picture of the Copics I used.  Now I'm thinkin', huh?

Digi Image: Sooo Good (Phindy's Place), Paper: black & white (PTI), Accessories: corner round punch, Copics~

The Guy Card

I know, I know. How terrible of me to just leave you here with nothing new to look at for over a week! Part of it is because I just love that last card so much that I wanted it sitting on the top of my blog. I can't wait for whatever stamp set Becky has up her sleeve to come out, cuz I'm just sure it will have the same feeling as that image. Love it! The other part is I'm just plain ol' lazy. I actually made this card before my wonderful house card, I just haven't gotten around to posting it until now. I needed another dreaded "man card", so I thought I'd sorta copy the card I made Shawn for his birthday. Only I wasn't in the mood to hand trim those rectangles & try to get them the exact same shape again. Dang OCD!  Sorta close just won't do!  But then there are things that drive me crazy about this final product (I won't bore you with my anal retentiveness) that I just had to leave & deal with cuz I was on a birthday deadline (sounds like a nice, official excuse, right?).  Anyway, I'm hoping to get some actual cards made this weekend so I have something to show you on a more frequent basis. Ha!  And if I can't think of anything wonderfully witty to say to go along with the cards, I'll just throw pretty pictures up to mesmerize you and maybe you won't notice!

Stamps: Limitless Labels, Polka Dot Basics II, Faux Ribbon, Simply Stationery & Birthday Basics (PTI), Ink: Versamark & Versafine Onyx Black, Paper: white, Ocean Tides (PTI), Certainly Celery & Baja Breeze (SU!), Accessories: square punch, 0.1 black pen (Sakura), handy dandy ruler

Happy Birthday Papertrey

Hiya!  So, as you all know, I loooooves me some Papertrey. And this month is their 3rd Birthday/Anniversary, whatever you wanna call it.  There's this big celebration going on over there and normally I just sit back & watch.  I'm really not one for challenges.  I'll take a contest where all you have to do is comment, but I just say nah to the challenges.  Not sure why, I just see "challenge" and it's like, ugh, nevermind. It's probably cuz I'm lazy.  But this time...I saw this image on Becky's blog and fell in love with it.  It was my favorite image of all the stamp designers and I was so excited to use it, I ended up making a card with it.  Then I thought, I may as well throw it out there.  So out there it is. And it makes me happy - the sun, the balloon, even the yellow and ya'll know I'm not the biggest fan of yellow.

I feel like I should explain what happened here. Becky has this image on her blog. So, I printed it out and went to work. I colored and cut out the clouds, sun and balloon so I could have that 3D effect Krista loves so much. Then, after I finally nailed down colors for the house and got that colored, I had to figure out a sentiment. I didn't want to add anything separate under the image, cuz it's a pretty good size, so I thought I'd add to the image.  I just so happen to have a loooong sentiment (courtesy of Papertrey!) that I could mold to the shape of the "grass".  So I did. Ha! Take that, rubber stamps!  Sponged the sky and the grass, popped the cut outs on there and there you have it.  I feel like I accomplished so much.  Did a challenge, made a card, used yellow...yes, it has been quite the day. And I did all that with a head cold. Man, when the girl is hot, she is smokin'!  And possibly delirious from Robitussin.  Who knows?

See my lovely cut outs?  Oooh, Aaah...

Stamps: Around & About Sentiments (PTI), Image: Birthday Balloon ({Studio 64}), Ink: Versafine Onyx Black, Soft Sky & Green Galore (SU!), Paper: White & Lemon Tart (PTI), Accessories: Copics~