......they are NOW edible!! I thought this was sooo clever and I'm flattered my artwork was reproduced into a yummy cake! The baker even replicated the red stitching line on to the bottom of the cake! I bet it was just delish! Congrats Amanda!
The focal image is from PTI's-3rd Anniversary set and the script is from Text Style II. This may be the first card that I actually left off the sentiment. I felt after I designed the card and the placement of my image, there was no room for a sentiment. The flower petals were from my loose bag and I cut them in 4 pieces and used E6000 to ahere them on the backside of my design. 
Love these colors together! I had a request last week for some sympathy cards, so I will have a few more to share this week. At the time I didn't know what style my friend was interested in, so I made up several samples. This by far, was my favorite! The deep purple and bright green really POP against the kraft cs. I stamped the kraft cs with my PTI-woodgrain bg. For my focal image I used with sympathy and 3rd anniversary set (the polka dots) and damask designs. You can see a subtle shimmer on the purple dew drop ink. It adds a little pizazz without being over the top. The flowers I used were just some plain hydrangea petals that I purchased in a loose bag....so many I will have a stash for years...lol!
Brought out my vintage sheet music and stamped her up with some Petal Power in sage green. I only stamped Petal Power on the folds in the paper...helps greatly with spacing your stamped image just right! On the backside of my focal image I cut my polka dot ribbon in 2 inch strips, folded over and adhered with E6000 glue. Image is popped up with 3-D foam tape. I made a simple tag for my bird image to "nest" on top and finished up with a few adhesive rhinestones.
I started with PTI's-A Little Argyle for my patterned cs and my focal point is withMasculine Motifs. It's tough to see in the pic below, but I also used Woodgrain backgrounds in a very light aqua with my dew drop ink for the sky, then added the trees, and deer right on top. You don't have to worry about masking with the deer as long you stamp in a dark shade of ink, it will blend right in with the trees. I love that this set is distressed on all the images which gives a nice rugged look to your stamping.
Just as I was saying I wasn't going to do thick and over embellished cards...I crossed the line! I couldn't help myself! Once I stamped the sailboat I had pictured in my mind that it should have some eyelets around the red border. To ensure I had equal spacing between my eyelets, I used a round plastic canvas (you can see a wonderful tutorial HERE by Jody Morrow) circle. Easy as pie! Before sewing on my ocean waves, I ran my cs through a cuttlebug folder.
I'm off to do a few new projects to share. This is the only one I have left, I'd better get busy for Friday's post:)
Tried "A Little Argyle" on some kraft cs. My Cloud White(Dew Drop) stamps very crisp and vibrant on this cs. Once you put down your first layer of diamonds (solid shape), you will then want to do you polka dot strip (red), this will allow you to line up the dotted line (black) perfectly...which I was having trouble with the first time around! Lesson learned!
I mixed a few different stamps set here: PTI-2nd Anniversary set (flower and bird wings, which I turned into the green leaves), A Little Argyle, and Background Basics: Woodgrain.
It's raining here today in Eastern, NC so I'm heading off to make my "to-do" list and hoping to squeeze in a little crafting today!
For my first card I used PTI's Women of Life set. I probably haven't inked this set since buying it, and I thought it would be a nice coordinating set with my sentiment, With Sympathy and Polka Dot Basics. For a little shimmer, I decided to use my Dew Drop inks. I love these inks because the shimmer is oh so subtle and considering the content of my card, I don't my glitter SCREAMING! 
I don't know if I'm too crazy about this color combo, but I'm going to blame it on the photographer...she really needs a class or two on lighting! To add a little shimmer to my center flower, I first stamped with yellow ink then lightly when over the image with my Copic Spica Glitter Pen.
Out of all the cards, this has to be my favorite! Love the layout, colors, and simplicity! I'm really trying to simplify my cards these days and ease up on the embellishments and thickness. You can still create something just as nice and beautiful and not have to wonder if it will take extra postage via snail mail. 
I will be back on Monday with a brand new post on my "A Little Argyle" project I worked on this week! Also hoping to whip up some Father's Day Designs as well. Have a GREAT weekend!
I hand stamped the invite with my PTI's stamps: Text Style bg and Polka Dot Basics. I printed her name on the pc and cut it out with my nesty dies.
Graduation info was printed on the backside of the invite...I left off the personal info. here for safety reasons:).
Blue and choco. combo with PTI's Damask Design and Polka Dot Basics. 
Another fun color combo of SU! turquoise and black. PTI's Polka Dot Basics and In Bloom. Graduation info. would be printed on the inside. 
I'm off to finish up an order of notebooks and the design is based off the first invite I posted. I'm excited to see how it turns out because it will be my chance to finally break open PTI's, A Little Argyle set!
Love these color combos for Mom's notebook. All stamps are PTI and cs is SU! I added a little vintage strip of sheet music along with some dyed flowers. The brown flower had a slight golden tint to it, so I rubbed my Jumbo Java Dew Drop over it for a more deep brown. I tied the 4 flower layers together with a double-button and DMC floss. 
Ladybug notebook for a friends birthday. Simple and elegant layout. The "F" is chipboard that I smothered in Fruit Punch Stickles and adhered with foam dots. For the matte below the monogram, I used SU! cs, nesty dies, and PTI-text style bg. Lastly, I added some shimmer pink ribbon to "tie" it all together.
Not my favorite type of card to make, although sometimes very necessary. I made this card a few weeks ago for a special young lady who donated much of her time to Relay for Life here in Onslow County. She fought hard and long...nearly 7 years before passing away on April 22. She leaves behind a young daughter, who like her Mom, is very much involved in Relay and will carry on her Mother's torch.
The layout is simple and elegant so to add just a subtle "punch" in color, I used my shimmer Dew Drop inks...hard to tell, but there is a a slight sparkle in the pic...looks much more vibrate in person. The music sheet in the bg is from a vintage (I mean REALLY vintage!) sheet book I picked up at a resale shop. The music pages are thin due to age, but I was happy to find the entire sheet book in tact and it also had the original owners name and date handwritten in 1958! I can't wait to use more of it!
This Marine Corps paper is from a small 6x6 notepad from K&CO. I've had this paper for years, and years, and...you know how it goes! I decided to use 2 sheets, 1 for my main image, and the 2nd I cut a few images out to sew like a quilt. 
I used quite a few of my PTI stamps on the bottom half...polka dot basics, star prints(BG), text style (BG), in bloom, and trajan alphabet. I stamped the flower from In Bloom with a deep blue Dew Drop ink and clear embossing powder. The leaves are stamped in Versamark and clear embossing powder.
Coordinating card!
Vintage notebook with my Graphic 45 papers!
I decided to follow the same "quilting" look as the Marine notebook. Once the rectangles were stitched, I added vintage brass brads...really gave the notebook a cozy look.
May Arts scrunchy ribbon separates the bottom half here. I used a simple monogram on the bottom since it would have been "too tight" of a squeeze for a full name.
Simple coordinating card! After I put this card together, I thought it would be neat to make a pocket on the front and include some flower seeds. I didn't add the pocket on this one, but I want to try it out on future cards:).
We started in the backyard with moving 14 Leland Cypress trees from the very back of our property and moved them forward to our chain link at the back. This will give us much needed privacy from the property directly behind us as well as hide the chain link a bit more.
As you walk out my back door and onto the deck, you will see the other 14 shrub trees (some over 10 ft. tall!) to the right. These shrubs are a mixture of Thuja Green Giants and Spartan Juniper Shrubs.
I love the fullness of these shrubs! It makes our deck feel very cozy in the evenings.
The back of our property. As you can see in the pic below, our property goes pretty far back but we did not fence in the whole acre as we have "wetlands" here in NC and you are not allowed to install a fence within the "wetlands" area. We've installed a small portion of sand and sod and hope to turn this back area into a sort of retreat...it would be perfect for a large veggie garden.
This is my garden in progress! As of yesterday I pulled the black weed sheeting up and have dug out the grass. I have 3 crepe myrtles planted and plan for my little veggie garden to go in the middle this year.
Now in my front yard. I laid the bricks and shrubs last year, but added some Lantana's and Salvia this week.
The brick work curves around the right side of my home. More Lantana and Saliva, along with Red Verbena in the hanging baskets. Don't mind my fence...it was hit and miss with the stain...eeek!
My pictures got a bit out of order on these last few, but this view is on the left side of the house. I doubled up on my hanging baskets here (not really crazy about it!) so I had room for my Verbena on the other side. I have a Crepe Myrtle (Dynamite Red) on each side of the fence and I'm super excited to see these bloom this year. Last year all I had were leaves and more LEAVES!
Front of the side-loader garage. I planted these purple Salvia last year and they came back 3 times the size. You can see they are taking over and hiding the Japanese Boxwood's behind them. In between the Salvia are Yellow Gerber Daisies. You can see a few poking thru, but they too are overwhelmed by the Salvia. 
When we moved in to our house 2 years ago, it did not have a mailbox. We have been just fine with the "mailbox on a post" design, but I really had been wanting a brick mailbox, which are standard back home (Oklahoma). I saved up from all the custom orders I've been working on and this is our new beauty! It reminds me so much of home and my parents have a similar design with the planters.
Finally, the center island in my front yard. The brick was laid almost 2 years ago and I wanted to extend the design outward. It reminds me of a helicopter propeller! I installed a metal edging (much less time consuming than the brick!) on both sides and planted Soft Touch Holly and Knockout Roses. Both of these plants will grow pretty large and that excites me because I love full and bushy gardens. 
If you've made it to the end of my post, I fully expect you do go out and plant something fun today! You don't have to spend ooodles of money to have something nice in your yard. All these projects were done in stages and when certain plants were on sale.
