Show Us Your Prickley Pear

The folks at Prickley Pear are gearing up for some fun new events on the company blog.  Our design team is gearing up and getting ready to show off a bunch of fun new ideas, challenges, and inspiration.  But first, we want to see how YOU use your Prickley Pear stamps.  Leave us a link to your blog or gallery in the comment section of this post and each week, we will highlight a few of the items we find.  At the end of the month, we will randomly choose a winner from the highlights to win some rubbery goodness.  So, leave us your link and get creative with your stamps, you never know when the PPRS fairy will stop by your blog.

Time to Celebrate

Hey guys, I'm back with a card I made just for the fun of it.  I colored several  a la mode girls while I was watching a movie with the hubby and this one was just calling to me, lol.  I believe the sketch is a Mojo Monday one, but I can't remember now...  The patterned paper is from Cosmo Cricket.

Thanks for stopping by~!

Happy Birthday Gabby

We celebrated my friend Gabby's birthday last weekend and this was the card I gave her with her gift.  Since the colors were so strong, I tried to keep the layout simple.  I took inspiration from several PTI designers in making this card.  First I stamped some Hawaiian Shores cardstock with images from Delightful Doilies in white ink and Versamark, I rounded the top corners and sponged the edges with more white ink.  Then, I die cut the number from Smokey Shadow cardstock and embossed them with my Seeing Spots embossing folder.  I stamped the sentiment from Big Birthday Wishes onto vellum and embossed two lines on the vellum before attaching it to the card.  To attach it, I hid the adhesive under the sentiment.  A few strategically placed gemstones finished off the card.

Thanks for stopping by!

Playing Catch Up

Hi guys, I've got another card that I made a while ago and didn't get a chance to post here.

I made this card using MFT's weekly sketch, I believe this one is sketch #9.  I started out with Simply Chartreuse and Kraft cardstock and layered it with some beautiful medallion patterned paper from SEI that I've been hoarding for quite a while. :)  I embossed a strip of Ripe Avocado with my Seeing Spots embossing folder and added a Kraft Open Scallop border strip.  To layer my image, I used a Tag Sale 4 die cut.  I wanted to make my sentiment pop up in the middle, so I layered two of Jody's AMAZING dimensionals.  Some green twine and a few buttons finished off my card.  Oops, I almost forgot, the image is from My Favorite Things.  I colored her with copics, of course.

Thanks for stopping by!!

Birchbox Rocks

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog reading to rave about how AWESOME Birchbox is!!  What is Birchbox, you say?  Well, let me tell you about it.  Birchbox is a monthly subscription that sends you 4-5 deluxe high end beauty samples based on your personalized profile.  I was first introduced to this wonderful service when I read Hannah Craner's blog post, here.  I immediately went to their website and signed up.  Yes, I am that easily convinced, lol.  I love their attention to detail!  Everything is nicely wrapped up in pink tissue and tucked into the cute little box above.  That box is then wrapped up in a hot pink box and shipped to you every month.

Wanna see what I got in this month's box?

I recieved an 8oz (EIGHT!!) sample of bath salts, a full size organic lip balm (which I already tried and LOVE!!), a sample of Cargo's Lash Activator mascara, two packets of intense foot cream, and a sample of an Italian toothpaste.  Not bad, huh.  The lip balm alone is worth $12, not to mention all the other goodies.  It's a super economic way to try out great stuff without the commitment.   

Birchbox day will now be known as Happy Day in my household.  Lol.  Even if you don't subscribe, check out their website for lots of great tips and how-to's.

We now return to our regular blog posts.  Have a nice day!! :)

Viva La Verve!

I made this card a few weeks ago and then forgot all about it!  It took forever to make, so you would think that I would be eager to post it here, lol.  It features several different elements so let's see if I can remember them all.  I started out using some Graphic 45 paper for the background, then I added the Ripe Avocado accent strip stamped with a flourish from Fancy Flourishes.  I added a crystal swirl that I colored with a copic marker for a more muted feel.  I took some white satin ribbon, sprayed it with my Glimmer Mist, crumpled it up and let it dry before adding it to the card.  Then, I die cut a Tag Sale 4 die out of Dark Chocolate cardstock and sponged the edges with white ink, layered it with the medium Delightful Doilies die cut stamped with one of the images from the Delightful Doilies stamp set, then I layered that with a Dark Chocolate scalloped circle stamped with same image but with white ink instead.  On top of all those layers, I added a designer grommet that I aged a bit with some metallic acrylic paint.  To make my butterfly, I die cut several layers of book print, crumpled them up, then lightly coated them with a few coats of Tattered Angels Glam and let them dry.  I die cut another butterfly out of Ripe Avocado cardstock, brushed it with brown metallic aryclic paint and then wiped some of it off with a moist paper towel while still wet.  This gave it a wonderful distressed look!  I layered them all together and added a crystal strip to the middle.

Whew, that was quite a mouthful!  I hope it makes sense. :)

Hey Chickie

Happy Saturday, ya'll!!  I'm back today with a little somethin' from Prickley Pear.  Their latest release has some great images for Spring and Easter. 

This little candy bar wrapper came together so quickly!  I stamped some yellow paper with the large and small nest flowers from this set.  Then I went back and filled in the gaps with the tiny nest from this set.  I stamped my chickies on some more yellow cardstock and shaded them in with my copics.  To keep the wrapper closed I added some velcro dots to the inside of the flap.  And that's it, easy peasy!

These little wrappers can be easily made assembly line style and you'll have them done in no time. :)  Thanks for stopping by!!

Resurrection Joy

Whew, where has the time gone?  It feels like forever since I've blogged and even longer since I've played in my scrap room.  I finally got a card done by taking a few minutes here and there and I have to admit, it's taken me a while to get my creative mojo flowing lately.  Well, hopefully that's behind me and I can get down to papercrafting again.  So, ready to see my card?

I made this card using some new Prickley Pear stamps that came in the mail last week.  To begin with, I attempted to make a subtle background on harvest gold card stock with versamark ink, but it ended up being too subtle :\  I decided to use some more of my Webster's Pages stash since it coordinated so well with my yellow and blue color scheme.  The oval frame and the sentiment are from Prickley Pear's new stamp release.  I framed the sentiment and frame with more harvest gold cardstock and matted it onto an enchanted evening Mat Stack 4 die cut.  A crystal flourish and a pearl swirl finish out the card.

Quick tip: To make sure your patterned paper completely spans your card, cut your piece wider than your card.  Attach it to your card front, flip it over and trim the excess with a sharp craft knife.

One more picture before I go:

This silly one is lounging here with me while I attempt to get my room back in order.  At least he's taking a nap instead of trying to root through my trashcan. :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Wishing You

Good morning!  I'm so thankful for this three day weekend, I sure could use it.  I was feeling under the weather since earlier last week and this weekend has really helped.  Last night I was the first time since early in the week that I was able to sit down and create something, so I pulled out the final VLV sketch and got to work.

This turned out so different from how I envisioned it, but I'm pretty pleased with it.  I started off with hot fudge and ripe avocado cardstock for the base and used Pink Paislee patterned paper, ripping and distressing the green one so the cream paper peeked through.  Then I went to town with my glimmer mists, adding them to both the paper and the stripped ribbon.  For the middle square I used sheet music from an old hymnal.  I crumpled up and tattered the edges then heavily distressed it with tea dye ink.  Another ticket from ideaology was stapled to the egde.  I layered a crystal flourish and added a bookplate from ideaology with the sweet sentiment from PTI's Signature Series: Butterfly stamp set.  I finished it off with some green crinkly ribbon and a vintage key.

Happy President's Day!!

Little Star

I really enjoy participating with the weekly Viva La Verve sketches!!  I decided to go with a baby boy theme for this card so I could use one of my favorite Pain Janes.  I stamped a very subtle musical background on aqua mist using white canvas ink.  The musical background stamp is from Papertrey Ink.  I used my new circle scallop die from Prickley Pear to mat my sentiment on.  I finished off the card with a few crystal swirls and some distressed tickets.  Despite the sewing, this card came together quite quickly.

Thanks for stopping by!

A Happy Birthday VLV

Hi all, I'm back today with another Viva La Verve card.  I created this card to add to my stash for the next boy birthday we need to attend.  I always seem to have a distinct shortage of masculine cards. 

The blue Bo Bunny paper was punched on both edges with my MS star border punch and matted onto PTI aqua mist cardstock.  The two panels are from Imaginisce's Birthday Bash line.  My star was die cut, sponged, stamped and then I added three chocolate pearls from Pizazz Aplenty.  Three more chocolate pearls on the right hand side finish it off. 

What type of cards do you find yourself running short on?

Happy {Belated} Valentine's Day

Hi!  I meant to post this yesterday and completely forgot!  I made this card using Prickley Pear's new released Valentine's Day stamps.  I stamped the heart onto PTI's berry sorbet cardstock using white Palette ink.  To soften the edges a bit, I swiped them with more white palette ink.  The designer paper is from My Mind's Eye Lost & Found collection. 

Thanks for stopping by!

Stamps/Supplies for Sale

I have added an additional page to my blog listing the items I have for sale.  Feel free to take a looksie!  Thanks.

Live, Laugh, Love, Dream

I made another card using the first VLV sketch for this month.  This time, I went for a more feminine but still an all occasion card.  The paper for this card is from Graphic 45.  The die cut and stamps are from Papertrey Ink's Embellishments line, it's one of my favorite stamp sets due to it's versatility.

Thanks for stopping by!

Rawr

I made another dinosaur card, this time for my little cousin who's been in love with dinosaurs since he was a year old.  The dinosaur was paper pieced with blue polka dot paper, die cut and matted on hawaiian shores cardstock.  I embossed the kraft panel with a cuttlebug folder for added texture.

Thanks for stopping by!