Happy 46th, Jim~

I noticed a couple blogging friends' cards this week entered in 

Laurie's Fabulous Favorites | Vellum. I made a card for my 46th

wedding anniversary in August which fits this theme and forgot 

to post it on my blog until now. 

I am the luckiest woman to have Jim as my partner for 46 years! 

He is kind, loving, tender-hearted, generous, and hard-working.

He enjoys ethnic foods, pastries and new restaurants. And lastly, 

he's an avid bird watcher who always has his binoculars nearby. 

His birding hobby with its world-wide trips permits me to invest 

in card crafting~if you get my drift.

 PTI: Choose Joy (heart), Frame It Out: Many Blessings die, Scripted stamp/die

PTI Weathervane card stock and vellum

Cards from the Sea

My cards today were prompted by the August Twofer Card Challenge: Nautical. At first I thought it meant boats, lighthouses and the beach but later realized it included sea life. I have a couple PTI sets teeming with turtles, fish, sea horses and reef flora found on the ocean floor. In my stack of hoarded papers I found an ombre piece which looks like expert ink blending and perfect for a CAS ocean background. 

Card #1 

PTI Salt Air: Fauna and Sentiments, Reef Builder dies

Top folding A2 white card base

pattern paper has DI Antique Linen blended sandy bottom

Card #2

PTI Salt Air: Fauna and Sentiments, Shape Shifters: Circle 1 die

The Greetery: Sentiment Suite Basics die

Spellbinders: Circles Nestabilities

As long as the sea creatures and reef dies were 

out I made a third card similar to the first.

Card #3

PTI Salt Air: Fauna and Sentiments, Reef Builder dies, Pierced Feature Frames die

Side folding A2 aqua mist card base

Linking first two cards - Twofer Card Challenge: Nautical,

All three cards - SS Monday/SS Wednesday - both Midsummer Blues. 

           

 

See you around the blogs and instagram

vikkispapertrailetc

Happy Birthday

Yesterday I shared three cards made with my recent PTI purchase of Grand Botanicals dies. Today I have a birthday card using the large bloom die cuts as the feature with leaves (PTI Songbirds) and striped pattern paper cut framing it. An older wood stamp from Impress provided the wispy birthday greeting.  The bloom shimmers with a clear Wink of Stella covering and yellows stickles for the center. I finished the envelope with a stenciled "hello" from PTI's Envelope Envy and included a sticker from Just Add Sunshine with the card.

Linking this to Seize the Birthday #171 Flowers, 

SSS Monday: Bright and Cheerful,

SSS Wednesday: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by and maybe I'll see you on Instagram too.

vikkispapertrailetc

Mostly Die Cut Cards

After waiting a year for the Grand Botanicals dies to be restocked, I was thrilled to order them in late May. I cut the dozen dies from a variety of plain and patterned papers. The largest floral image and two leaves are the focus of two cards made from die cuts with no additional stamping. 

 PTI dies: Envelope Envy (hello), Grand Botanicals,
Noted: Scalloped A2,  Shape Shifters: Oval 1

PTI dies: Grand Botanicals, Scripted

The third card in the set features a smaller GB floral cut from three different colors. They look like paint splats on top of a panel found in my "maybe" bin which had been stamped with several Watercolor Wonder stamps. 

 PTI dies: Grand Botanicals Tipped Tops

PTI stamps: Scripted, Watercolor Wonder

Entering these in SSS Wednesday

See you on Instagram too

vikkispapertrailetc

Thinking of You Today

Now that my friend has received her card, I'm sharing it 

for the soon-to-be-over challenge at The Card Concept.

A couple of my new BotaniCuts Succulents from Betsy Veldman's new company, The Greetery, were cut from light green card stock and tinted with Distress Inks. They adorn a corner on a PTI Scallop Stackers: Medium die cut stamped with Concord & 9th's Marbled Turnabout. The stamp was inked with the same Distress Inks but stamped off once to soften them. A Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You stamp and ink-blended die cut was added in the opposite corner.  The panel was added to a mint green A2 card. 

Thanks for visiting my blog today.

vikkispapertrailetc

Cactus Celebration

In late April I was excited to order several items from a new crafting company, The Greetery. Betsy Veldman's first release with BotaniCuts Succulent dies, the Terrarium Small die plus the Sentiment Suite: Thinking of You stamps and coordinating dies caught my eye. Her video instruction on the company's blog for coloring and assembling the sections of the cacti is terrific!  Watercolor paper and Distress Oxide inks were used to make several succulents in both sizes. When it came to making the small terrarium, I used a previously stamped panel of Concord & 9th's Marbled Turnabout for my top layer and backed it with a solid kraft die cut.  The terrarium with one small cacti was adhered to a stitched rectangle stamped with the PTI Cover Up: Grid stamp. A phrase from PTI Stylish Sentiments: Birthday was stamped on a green flag from The Greetery's Sentiment Suite die set. The envelope liner was made with the PTI Envelope Envy kit (retired). 

This clean and layered birthday card inspired by 
The Greetery and the photo on The Card Concept 
was mailed to Roger, an Arizona friend.

Linking to SSSW Challenge: Anything Goes, Seize the Birthday, and The Card Concept

vikkispapertrailetc

May Birthday cards

Please pardon my tulip cards from mid-May birthdays getting posted now in late June. My insomnia is affecting my blog post writing! It seems that I am on a hamster wheel with early hours at the gym, home to freshen up the house and me, tending my roses, card crafting and noon meal prep for our main meal of the day. Then, because I awoke before 5 a.m.,  a 30-60 minute afternoon nap before more hobby time with evening news, baseball or reading to finish the day.  I have little energy to find card challenges, write and edit a blog post and thus card photos pile up in my computer photos. 

Card #1

                                   Card #2

 Card #3

PTI Card Supplies:

Tulip Time stamp/dies; 

Sentiments from Infinity Frames, Keep It Simple: Thinking of You, and Ruby Rose

Dies: Cover Plate: Stripes Horizontal, Tag Sale: Quilted, Scallop Stackers: Large

Linked to Seize the Birthday: Cover the Card

Addicted to Stamps and More: Anything Goes