40th Birthday Card

A quick post to showcase a 40th birthday card I have made for a friend.  As I have used embroidery thread (floss) on the card this qualifies for PTI's blog hop for March.

I also made a coordinating bottle tag.

Recipe
Cardstock/Paper: SU Certainly Celery, PTI Sweet Blush
Stamps: SU It's Beautiful jumbo wheel (discontinued), SU Just Believe, PTI Big Birthday Wishes
Ink: SU Old Olive, SU White Craft
Tools/Accessories: Self-adhesive Gems from stash, White floss, SU stampin dimensionals, PTI By the Numbers die collection, White filigree embossing powder

Note: the oval used for the greeting has in fact been created using the leftovers from the By the Numbers die!  Aren't crafters a thrifty bunch!?

Amitiés! A la prochaine!

Nicole

Birthday Flowers

Just showcasing a recent card and matching gift bag that I made for a friend at work (she has received these so I know it is safe to share them here as she does read my blog).

This is a close up of the card - I used a masking technique with a post-it note for the background flower image.  I have used SU Crumb Cake ink on SU Crumb Cake Cardstock for a tone on tone effect.  I got the idea for the flower from Debbie Olson's blog - she used the die with felt to make a poinsettia brooch (I did try this but my version was a bit naff so went with a paper version and used it as an embellishment)

I made a co-ordinated  mini gift bag as well for the necklace I bought her.  This time I used SU's Old Olive ink for the background flower image as I wanted it to stand out more as I only stamped the image once (which I accented with Stickles Patina - I LOVE STICKLES and own nearly all of the colours).

Recipe
Cardstock/Paper: SU Crumb Cake, SU Very Vanilla, PTI 2009 Bitty Dot Basics Patterned Paper,
Stamps: PTI Text Style II, PTI Backgound Basics: Botanicals, WMS Frame It
Ink: SU Crumb Cake, SU Old Olive, Momento Tuxedo Black
Tools & Accessories: PTI Signature Series Flower Die, PTI Favour It #3 Die, PTI Simply Chartreuse Swiss Dot Satin Ribbon, PTI Vintage Button Ripe Avocado, The Ribbon Girl Button Twine Jute Natural, Stickles Patina, SU Stampin Dimensionals

That's it - a quick post for me (makes a change!)

A la prochaine! Amitiés

Nicole

Which Version Do You Prefer?

Hi there!  Thought I would get interactive today and wondered if you could let me know which of these three versions of a similar card do you prefer?

I started off with this one (let's call this version 1 - original huh?!):

I really loved the simplicity of this but wondered whether it would be better to add a sentiment, so added this SU modern label and ended up with this revised card (let's call this version 2):

However, wasn't sure I really liked it - think I preferred the original version, but I really wanted to have a sentiment.  So decided to come up with a variation and this is what I ended up with (version 3):

Recipes
Stamps: PTI CHA Set 2010 Four of a Kind, PTI Anniversary Set Round and Round
Cardstock/Paper: PTI Aqua Mist, PTI Hawaiian Shores
Ink: PTI Simply Chartreuse, Versamark
Tools/Accessories: PTI Hawaiian Shores grosgrain ribbon, Stickles patina, SU modern label punch, SU stampin dimensionals, White filigree embossing powder, clear embossing powder

So how did I do the last card?  Well I stamped the large leaf image from the stamp set using PTI Simply Chartreuse ink onto PTI Aqua Mist cardstock.  Then using the single matching leaf image I stamped this (again using the same ink) where the fourth flower should have been.  Next I stamped the 3 flower images with Versamark and then heat embossed them with white Filigree embossing powder, adding Patina Stickles to accent the flower centres.  Using a scrap of PTI Hawaiian Shores cardstock I made a strip of card to cover the join of the stamped leaf images.  Onto this strip I then stamped my greeting in Versamark and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Finally I added the knotted ribbon round the card.  Et voilà!

By the way I know the colours look slightly different on the last version, but they are the same (despite my best efforts to adjust in Picassa) - just shows what a difference it makes when a photo is taken on a different day (despite being taken in the same place about the same time of day and with (seemingly) similar light conditions!).

No doubt those of you who are PTI aficionados will have spotted that I used PTI’s exclusive CHA Four of a Kind stamp set (only available to those who attended CHA in Chicago this July). Unfortunately I was not one of those lucky people (sigh) – but I did manage to acquire this set from someone who had been and had got at least 2 (and probably more!) and was kind enough to share one of her extra sets!

So which version do you prefer?  Let me know in the comments section!  I thought I liked the last version best but now I'm not so sure (whoever came up with the phrase "I used to be indecisive but now I'm not so sure" must have been thinking of me!).

A la prochaine! Amitiés.

Nicole

PTI Challenge – “Paint” by Number Sketch

Well this is a series of firsts!

• This is the first official post on my blog (although I’ve had the blog for a while I've been a bit nervous about posting - LOL!)
• This is the first time I have taken part in a PTI challenge (although I've only ever taken part in two other challenges previously)
• This is the first time I've followed a sketch, and finally
• I don't think I've ever used as many colours on one card (I'm really into monochromatic cards at the moment)!

So it’s official – I am WAY out of my comfort zone!

When I first saw Nichole’s entry for the PTI challenge on her blog and looked at the colour palette for my name I was pleased as I thought it was a lovely combination (“N-S” palette: kraft, smokey shadow, scarlet jewel, sweet blush & vintage cream) and thank goodness it wasn’t the colour palette for “H-M”! Then I re-read the instructions and discovered that you had to use your online user name and not your actual name – Agggh! Yes, as you can clearly see from my blog header I fell into the “H-M” category after all: white, ripe avocado, raspberry fizz, orange zest and terracotta tile.

Well it took me a while but I got there in the end (but boy I am going to be tired at work today as it was a bit of a late one as I finished work late last night and then went straight on to a very belated New Year dinner (it was postponed from the original date due to the snow in case you were wondering!) before I even had a chance to start on the card.

Anyway, on to the important bit - the card!

Card Recipe
Stamps: PTI Background Basics: Petal Power, PTI Turning a New Leaf, PTI Signature Greetings
Cardstock: PTI Ripe Avocado, PTI Raspberry Fizz, SU Whisper White, SU Only Orange, SU Ruby Red
Ink: PTI Ripe Avocado, Versamark
Accessories/Tools: SU Scallop Border Edge Punch, SU Scallop Circle Punch, Green Pearl Papermania Brad from Stash, Clear Embossing Powder, Heat Gun

You will notice that I did not have some of the PTI colours so had to go for some substitutes from my stash. I made the flower by merging two ideas from different blogs (one being Dawn McVey’s, the other I can’t remember or find - sorry! - EDITED to add Julie's blog). I used the SU scallop circle punch twice on PTI raspberry fizz cardstock and then scrunched them up so much that eventually the edges of the cardstock started to separate and I was then able to peel each one into two. As a result I ended up with 4 layers. I then cut into the scallops of two of the layers and then used these as the “inner” layers of the flower and curled up the “petals”. To hold it all together I used a green pearl Papermania brad from my stash. Voilà!

Enjoy!

A la prochaine! Amitiés!

Nicole