Welcome to PTI blog hop! A quick post because I'm late for dinner. Here's my inspiration photo and a couple of cards. How could I not choose 4th of July for my summer inspiration with all of the fabulous new stamps from PTI?

I will come back later and edit to add supply lists. Thanks for stopping by, I can't wait to see all of your blogs!

ETA Supplies: Stamps- Let Freedom Ring, Star Prints, All Star Team. Cardstock- Kraft, Guidelines 2 paper, Pure Poppy, White, SU Buckaroo Blue, and Bitty Box paper. Ink: Fresh Snow, Pure Poppy, SU Buckaroo Blue. Accessories: Filigree white ep, scallop edge punch, PTI vintage buttons and twine, ribbon (stash), circle punches.

ETA again: Forgot to say that my inspiration photo is from CountryLiving.com. They had wonderful inspiration photos and ideas!

Dad's Day #3

Well Father's Day is upon us so I want to share the card I made for my DH. I hope it's not too "girly" but it is a card from our daughter to him, so I designed it as a card a little girl would give her Daddy. She's only 2 so I will probably let her scribble on another stamped image and make a second card but I wanted to make one also. I must admit I really love the way it turned out. I love the Magnolia images, except I'm not wild about the wings on some of the Tildas so I colored them brown and hopefully it blends in with her hair.
I started with a base of PTI Ripe Avocado and added some Plum Pudding bitty dot paper. I love these two colors together. Next, I stamped some stripes from Let Freedom Ring onto Vintage Cream cardstock for a subtle background. The box image was stamped on Kraft cardstock and colored with copic markers. Finally, Tilda was stamped onto a piece of white cardstock, colored with Copic markers and then cut out and layered onto the box. Some of the lilacs were also cut out and layered on for more dimension. For finishing touches I added some vintage looking trim, some lovely PTI buttons and ribbon and a cute sentiment from SU! Family Phrases set. The little gift I got my DH is backordered :( but today when I went to pick up my new iphone (jumping up and down happy) I bought DH an ipod Nano that he's been wanting. Shhhhh.... I know he'll be psyched on Father's Day.

I hope you all have a great weekend. I hope to get to play with my new Vintage Picnic set this weekend if I'm not too tired from working in the garden.

Supplies: Stamps: Magnolia, PTI Let Freedom Ring, Su! Family Phrases, Stampington (crate). Cardstock: PTI Ripe Avocado, Vintage Cream, Plum Pudding Bitty dots. Ink: Palette Noir, Ranger Old Paper, Tea Dye, SU! Chocolate Chip. Accessories: PTI ribbon, buttons and vintage twine, trim (stash) and Copic markers.

Dad's Day Part 2

It all started innocently enough when I asked my DH to give me an idea for a Father's Day card for his Stepfather. Then he said, either something do with Italy (he's Italian and my in-laws visit Italy often) or something to do with metal because he's a materials engineer. Say what????? Oh boy, now I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do!! After a couple of failed attempts to draw (not my strong suit) the Tuscan countryside and use watercolors (also not my best medium), I chucked that in the trash and ended up with this card, that I hope (vaguely) resembles a scene from the Amalfi Coast of Italy.

I have to thank Michelle Zindorf for her wonderful inspiration and tips on building scenes. I still need lots of practice with how to tear my paper to mask off areas and use my brayer but I'm getting better. One day I hope to attend one of her brayer workshops.

About the card. The arch, the vine and the stone path (hard to see) are from Art Impressions. They have amazing stamps for scene building and some really funny stamps called Golden Oldies and much more. The small flower is from the PTI set Honey Bees. The rock cliff on the right was really hard for me. I had a moment of panic when I realized that I have absolutely no grey inks. How on earth will I create a cliff without grey ink? The closest I could get was to use Pebble and Mushroom inks from Adirondack. Not my first choice but the arch was already done and I didn't hate it so I didn't want to throw away the project. When it was done I wanted to add a button, a ribbon or some kind of sentiment or embellishment. My DH said "leave it alone it's perfect". So, I mustered all of my willpower and put down my embellishments. I think he was right, anything else would have detracted from the scene. Inside I stamped one of the great sentiments from PTI's set "Mother". The sentiments in that set are very versatile and can be used for lots of people besides Mothers.

Tomorrow I will post the card that I made my DH from our daughter Isabella. Hope you stop by to see!

Supplies: Stamps: Art Impressions, Papertrey Ink; Cardstock: PTI Kraft, Classic White and Ocean Tides. Ink: Palette Noir, SU! (Soft Sky, Baja Breeze, Night of Navy), Adirondack (Pebble, Mushroom, Aqua), PTI (Hibiscus Burst), Memories (Sand). Accessories: tan Marvy Marker and Aqua pen, White gel pen. I think that's it! :)

Preparing for Dad's Day

Thanks for stopping by. Over the next few days I will share cards I made for Father's Day this year. They all have a very different look about them. The card I'm sharing today is for my Dad. It's "all male", which suits my Dad perfectly. I started with Buckaroo Blue cs by SU! for my base and then added a background layer on Kraft cardstock. I created the background by first stamping the strip of stars from Let Freedom Ring in Antique Linen. Then I stamped the plaid using stamps from Let Freedom Ring and Faux Ribbon. I distressed all of the edges with ink to grunge it up a bit. For my focal panel I used PTI's new set Star Prints and the swirl from Let Freedom Ring. They work perfectly together. I love the way you can mix and match words in the Star Prints set. Instead of Dad there are other words you can use to complete this sentiment. To top it all off I used some lovely felt ribbon from SU! paired with a vintage button and twine from PTI. It's not an intricate card (I like to do lots of coloring) but I like it. My DH thought it was so/so until I told him I stamped the background. He thought it was plaid dp that I bought. Then he was impressed! :)

Now I just have to get this in the mail and think about what I might send along with it. My Dad is impossible to shop for. Do you have that same problem? I should buy him a tie just for laughs. He's retired but you know we bought him gobs of ties when we were kids. :)

Have a great one! Stop back by later this week to see the cards I made for my DH and my father-in-law.

Supplies: Stamps: PTI Let Freedom Ring, Star Prints, Faux Ribbon. Ink: Antique Linen, Faded Jeans, Walnut Stain and Brushed Corduroy (Ranger), Chocolate Chip (SU!), Fresh Snow (PTI). Cardstock: SU! Buckaroo Blue; PTI Vintage Cream and Kraft. Accessories: SU! felt ribbon, PTI vintage button and twine.