Sixth Street Sundries

Hola, yet again! (Two posts in one day after 3 weeks of nothing…. I know, I’m annoying.)

This month is the 5th anniversary of my absolute favorite craft supply company, Papertrey Ink. I’ve only been obsessed with PTI since June of last year, and so have never experienced a PTI Anniversary. I’m told that the next 10 days will blow my mind with sneak peeks, contests, and giveaways.

For day 1 of the sneak peeks, the fabulous Nichole Heady had her entire fabulous design team choose their favorite fabulous project/s from 2011 and their top 5 favorite PTI products.  The DT consistently wows me, not just with the countdown posts, but also their more regular daily posts, using more than just PTI supplies. They are so inspiring, so intimidating, so amazing! They all have such different styles, but each and every project that they create is downright fantastic. They definitely challenge me to use my supplies in ways I’d never even dreamed.

The contest participants were to choose one of the DT member’s projects as “inspiration” for our own project. The random winner wins everything that the DT mentioned as their favorite products! (Can you say Holy Lotta Goodies?!!?)

For my inspiration, I chose Erin Lincoln’s addition to the “Top of 2011” projects:

I used another beautiful color combo from my Pinterest board: jade, sea glass, shell, and jet. I translated those colors into PTI’s Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, and Smokey Shadow. This is what I came up with in response:

I know what you’re thinking…. how in the world does that remotely resemble Erin’s darling little card?? Well, I utilized the negative space from a die-cut (Spellbinders Nestablities Label) and placed ribbon behind it, while also placing felt die cuts (Simply Jane silhouette dies) over the top of the ribbon. I’ve never worked with negative space before, and I rather liked it! That technique needs to be filed in my “for further use” section of my brain!

(How do you like my darling little custom stamp that I got on Etsy? Isn’t it just so cute?!)

I have to tell you…. I am absolutely IN LOVE with the images on Mat Stack 5. I’m not sure if any other stamp set in my possession holds a candle to my love of those background-building images. (Maybe Rosie Posie or Lace Bouquet or Doily Details, but it would definitely be a toss-up.) Apologies if you are getting sick of seeing them; I can’t seem to help myself. Those little corners are just so beautiful.

Thanks ever so much for checking out my submission, and good luck to everyone entering the contest for all of those FABULOUS prizes!!! Now that I’ve used most of the day creating these cards and writing blog posts, I’m off to do some laundry and clean up after Milo and Barney. Sigh.

Supplies (all PTI unless otherwise noted):

Mat Stacks 1,2, and 5
Background Basics: Polka Dots I
Inside and Out: Birthday
Simply Jane dies
Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Autumn Rose, Fresh Snow, and True Black Inks
Ocean Tides, Smokey Shadow, Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, and Stamper’s Select White cardstock
Aqua Mist felt
London Fog Memento Dye Ink
Spellbinders Nestabilities dies (Labels 10)
Spellbinders Ribbon Labels dies
Ranger Liquid Pearls in Petal Pink
Lace Ribbon from my stash

It has been way too long since I posted last…. For some reason, I keep finding excuses not to post. I think it’s because my previous posts have been so wordy. I now vow to change my format a bit, in the hopes of posting more often.

Another reason for my lapse between posts is that we got a new puppy a few weeks ago. We decided to name him Barney Wolfgang Stinson, after Barney from the show “How I Met Your Mother.” (My darling husband and I both are somewhat obsessed with that show.) How did we arrive at that name for our sweet little puppy? Well, when we first met him, he was doing that thing that boy puppies do before they’re fixed… you know, that thing that Barney does on the show a lot, with lots of women? 😉 Well, we also started calling him “Barnacle,” because he’s like a barnacle stuck to the hull of a ship… he sticks to us like glue. He’s a darling.

Barney the Barnacle

Isn’t that just the sweetest little face you ever saw??

His big brother, Milo, is being a bit of a brat with his toys. Being the only dog in the house for 7 months, he learned quickly that he was daddy’s favorite, and that he was sole owner of any and all toys. It’s difficult to discipline this face.

Now, on to the non-canine segment of this post.

Papertrey Ink has two different challenges going at the moment: Make It Monday and the PTI 5th Anniversary Release Contest. This is my MIM entry.

For the MIM challenge, we were to create a “banner” out of some cardstock, a la Nichole Heady.

Using Nichole’s inspiration and the “Petal, Carnation, Turquoise, and Bronze” from my “Color Combos” board on my Pinterest (for some reason it won’t let me post the picture), I created this 5×7 card:

And this A2 card:

Obviously, I left out the “bronze” part of that color combo. Oh well. I wanted a springy, cheerful card for my Grandma, who recently was in the hospital. (I also realized after I mailed it out and was editing pictures that I forgot one of the little flower images on the large 5×7 card. It’s quite obvious now…. up in the top left hand corner. Bah humbug. Irritates me so much when I do things like that…)

Supplies:
(All supplies PTI, unless noted otherwise)
Mat Stack 1,2, and 5 stamp sets
Background Basics: Polka Dot Basics I
Autumn Rose, Hawaiian Shores, and Aqua Mist dye inks
Sweet Blush, Aqua Mist, and Stamper’s Select White cardstock
Sweet Blush buttons
Aqua Zing! embossing powder
Versamark ink pad
Sakura Stardust jelly pen

I am loving this color combination…. so fresh and spring-y! Thanks for checking out my creations. If you’d like, become a follower… maybe if I had some followers, I’d be more inclined to post stuff. I make something almost every day, but I feel no drive to post unless it’s for a challenge. Oh well. 🙂

Have a fantastic day!!!

But I’m definitely not eating worms.

Actually, none of that is true (well, the worm part is)… I’m just flying solo all weekend this weekend. My darling husband decided to go visit his brother to have a “guys weekend” this weekend, so I get to entertain myself (read: attempt to not shop).

I spent last night working on a few challenges and entertaining the dog. (Apparently, he misses his daddy just as much as I miss him.) One of the challenges was posted by Diane of Capadia Designs. I love her blog, which you can find at capadiadesign.com. She posted an inspiration challenge last weekend using this photo:

I thought it would be a good idea to kill two birds with one stone, so I utilized another Make It Monday technique: glitter Scor-Tape from Make It Monday #3. I decided that this year I would send handmade birthday cards to the important people in my life, so I made myself a handy-dandy little “Birthday Binder” with all of their birthdays, listed by month. I have 2 birthdays coming up in February (none in January though!) so I figured I’d get some birthday cards made this weekend.

Now, I don’t have any Scor-Tape (The cost is what stops me from checking out with it in my basket every time. I have no problem spending ridiculous amounts of money on stamps and ink and paper, but I object to spending $12 on tape.) so I used Terrifically Tacky Tape, of which I have a bunch. I’m fairly certain that they are the same thing, but Scor Tape can be torn, while TTT has to be cut. I used lots of PTI supplies to create this card:

For this card, I used a Stamper’s Select White cardstock base from PTI, along with Simply Chartreuse cardstock for the die cut, made with Mat Stack 1 die. I used Mat Stack 1 for the stamping on the frame itself, done initially in VersaMark, and then Aqua Zing! embossing powder, along with white embossing powder for the sentiment.

The background (from left to right) was created with Guide Lines II in PTI Spring Moss, Tim Holtz Distress Ink in Tumbled Glass, and Colorbox Pigment Ink in Ocean. The glitter strip was created using 1/2 inch Terrifically Tacky Tape with some Martha Stewart blue sapphire fine glitter. The final strip of the background was created using a stamp from Background Basics: Botanicals from PTI, stamped again with the Colorbox Ocean ink.

For the inside, I used a sentiment from Inside and Out: Birthday from PTI in Aqua Mist. The two embellishments are from Mendhi Medallions, stamped in Spring Moss and Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass.

That’s it! That’s my card for Capadia’s challenge. And PTI’s MIM challenge. Just cause I’m sneaky like that. 🙂

1. I love my husband more than anyone or anything in the world. We’ve been married for 2.5 years, together for nearly 7 years, and I love him more each day.
2. I have a Bachelor’s and a Master’s in voice performance. I haven’t truly sung for a while, and I desperately wish to get back involved in singing at ISU. I am trying to get a voice studio started out of my house, as well.
3. I love my furry children. (Chandler and Joey=darling kitties; Milo=rotten but adorable beagle) I will unapologetically post pictures of them doing something adorable (sometimes this does mean sleeping adorably) whenever I see fit. 🙂
4. I make jewelry. I buy jewelry. I love to wear jewelry. Basically, if it’s sparkly, I love it. Chris always says that if we’re having an argument, all he has to do is flash my wedding set in front of my face, and I’ll be sufficiently distracted.
5. I love to craft, whether it is with paper, beads, boxes, glass… basically, anything that I can make prettier. If my hands ever stop working, I do not know what I will do.

I love creating baby scrapbooks. I never used to like cutesy stuff, but I’m slowly gaining more and more respect for “cute.” Perhaps it’s because of my own maternal yearnings.

While my interest in the world of anything baby has certainly increased over the last year, I have always loved weddings and anything to do with weddings. Planning, researching, and crafting my own wedding was an amazing experience, and I’d do it again in a heartbeat. I decided this year to take my love of anything and everything romantic and wedding-related and translate it into wedding decor for my Etsy shop. 



For example:

Just looking at these makes me want to get married all over again. Oh, if I had known then what I know now… my wedding would have looked much better and more coordinated. (Or as my BFF says: “matchy-matchy.” She doesn’t subscribe to my love of color- and theme-coordinating everything.) I’ve often wondered what it would take for me to become a wedding planner, because I think that would meld my love of crafting with my love of weddings quite nicely, but I have a feeling that our fairly rural area would not utilize such a service, so I’ve never really pursued it. 
 
Another effect that I’m hoping this blog will have on me (in addition to getting some frustrations off my chest and giving me a place to show my crafty creations) is learning to take more pictures. My wonderful husband bought me a nice Nikon camera for my birthday, and it seems like whenever there is a prime moment for a photo, my camera is out in the car or the battery is dead. So one of my New Year’s resolutions is to take more pictures. Actually, now that I think of it, I may start doing Project 365, which requires one to take at least one photo per day, so as to capture every day life, not just “important” days (birthdays, Christmas, etc.) Now that I think of it, I want to make a record of my New Year’s Resolutions:


1. Take more pictures! At least one picture every day.
2. Play the piano (outside of teaching voice) for at least 1 hour per week.
3. Clean at least one messy area of the house each day, even if that means just doing some laundry. 
4. Put real effort into gathering voice students. Ignore my feelings of shyness, and put real effort into advertising and networking. 
5. Taking a long walk at least 2 times a week with the dog. 


There, I think that should be enough to keep me busy. I also need to make a resolution to not talk so much, but I think that would be broken about 2 minutes after midnight tonight. I’d like to promise that my future posts will not be so wordy, but I’m not sure that that is a promise that I can keep. 🙂

Until next time, 
Emily.