Cherry Blossom Scripture with PTI

It’s that beautiful season of Cherry Blossoms!  I know someone in Japan who is showing pictures of the beauty of the Sakura blossoms right now, and I wish I could see it!  Instead I pulled out some cherry blossom beauty from Paper Trey Ink called:  Into the Blooms:  Cherry Blossoms.  It’s a beautifully detailed die!  

I started with ink blending the layers, and assembling the flowers and leaves on stems which look so beautiful together!  Next I embossed this beautiful Bible verse called Psalm Reflections: December Mini in silver, and then ink blended around the die cut circle in soft pink.  

To coordinate with the cherry blossom theme, I also used PTI’s So Cherry Sweet Stencil for the background of the card.  

Then I surrounded the verse with beautiful blossoms and a few silver enamel accents.  Soft and so pretty! 

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Cherry Blossom Scripture with PTI

Dainty Blue Petals with PTI

Hi there friends!  Today I’m bringing something simple and elegant.  There’s just nothing like simple stems of flowers.  I adore this stencil set from PaperTrey Ink called Wild Blooms.  So, I blended some Distress Ink through the stencil, then added some detailing in with coloured pencils, while keeping the softness of the design.  

Next, to give the panel some more textural interest, I ran it through a double lined card front die both horizontally and vertically to make a grid pattern.  I think it’s just the right touch for that white space, without distracting from the flowers.  

Another pretty sentiment from a retired PTI set and a tiny enamel heart complete it!  Sweet simple and encouraging.  Appreciate you joining me here today!  

 

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Dainty Blue Petals with PTI

Mixed Media Coral Poppies

 

Hello!  I’m back with another poppy design to show you as we move into Remembrance Day tomorrow for Canadians.  Lest we forget the cost of war, the loss of life....it seems especially poignant this season.  So though this isn’t a remembrance card, those poppies are a nod to all the ways we need to remember. 

This design uses all sorts of mediums, but begins with these gorgeous poppies from PaperTrey Ink called Into the Blooms: Poppies.  This time I did a coral version, starting with coral cardstock, adding Distress Ink for shading as well as Prismacolor Pencils for definition in the petals and leaves.  

For the background of this mini-slimline design, I watercoloured some shades of light green and a few soft peachy shades so that it feels like the poppies are in a field of green.   A foiled sentiment from Spellbinders  Mini Everyday Sentiments foiled in Rose Gold.  The dimension with all the layers is really great!  

Thank you for joining me today!  

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Mixed Media Coral Poppies

Cherry Happy Day!

 Whenever I see something with Cherries I’m transported to Summer and all the cherries that grow on our tree.  That red and green combo is such a fresh one for summer, so these adorable So Cherry stencils from Paper Trey Ink stole my heart!  They are so affordable too, always a bonus.  The stencil has two pieces, one with larger cherries, and this one with smaller cherries.  I ink blended the background in pops of traditional red and greens.  

The sweet sentiment comes from Concord & 9th’s A Bit of Paradise Bundle, I embossed the sentiment, then used the dies to frame it up over vellum, and a bit of red and white checkered patterned paper.  

Clean simple and so sweet!  

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Cherry Happy Day!

Flower Mail from PTI

We’ve just returned from a little getaway to the mountains that was full of fun, beautiful creation, hiking, biking and time with friends.  What a great way to get some quick restoration!  Today I’m bringing you a little explosion of love and flowers bursting out of this cute envelope and set from Paper Trey Ink.  It’s called  All You Need Is Love and it has coordinating dies to go with it.  Its such a sweet set that can be used for more than Valentine’s or love settings.  I picked out a cute palette to work with using my Concord & 9th ink pads and stamped and die cut all these cute pieces out.  

The ink colours are Harbor, Blueberry, Midnight, Nectar and Grapefruit, with Tidepool as the greenery.  Great colours together!  I ink blended the background with Distress Oxide Salvaged Patina, and then layered the elements together using Spellbinders, MFT and Pink Fresh Studios Dies.  Even the scalloped edge is a nod to postage with it’s edges.  

Just the sweetest card for someone you care about!  Thanks for joining me today!  

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Flower Mail from PTI

Golden Glow Petal Die Cuts from PTI

Hello and Happy Monday!  I’m popping in with a design from Paper Trey Ink that celebrates their beautiful Into the Blooms: Gerber Daisies dies.  These are such detailed layering dies that are so fun to use!  I cut out several layers of flowers on heavy white cardstock, and ink blended some golden warm shades for the layers, and glued them up.  

Meanwhile, I foiled one of my fancy Spellbinders dies onto whitc cardstock, and embossed this beautiful Psalm from Psalm Reflections:  February Mini Set to continue that golden glow.   I arranged the flowers on a card that’s 5 x 6 1/4, a little larger than I normally work with, but it needed some extra real estate for all those pretty flowers.  Some watered down gold Lunar Paste is splattered across the layers, and over the card base to give a shimmery but weathered look.  Golden-shabby-chic!  

A lovely flowery start to the week!  Thanks for joining me!   

 

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Golden Glow Petal Die Cuts from PTI

Raindrops on Petals from PTI

 

It’s just past May Day, and I've found the prettiest blooms in a spring rain storm! I just love the Wild Blooms Stencil from PTI, and used my Distress Oxide inks with lots of pops of colour for this design.  After stencilling, I added a soft blue green background and splattered the design with water and a Dr. Huey’s Colour Mist, it left the design with the impression of raindrops that I really love.  I’ve just come back from a work trip in Chicago where it was cold and rainy, while here at home it is HOT and dry.  We could use a little Spring rainstorm!  

I’ve added a vellum embossed sentiment because that softness that vellum brings is such a great touch.  This is from PTI’s stamp set All You Need Is Love.  

Such a pretty one!  Thanks for joining me here today!  

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Raindrops on Petals from PTI

Cherry Blossoms from PTI

I think because we have a cherry tree in our backyard, I have such an affinity for all things cherry.  Those blossoms are always just gorgeous in the spring.  So, this new die set from PaperTrey Ink really spoke to me.  It’s called Into the Blooms:  Cherry Blossoms.  It’s so elegant and classy, and you can colour it up, cut it from cardstock, or add variation in colour using ink blending.  

For this design I paired it with the Psalm Reflections:  March Mini stamp set, stamping this beautiful verse from Psalms in Seedless Preserves Distress Oxide Ink, and the coordinating Joy die.  

Each of the blossoms is given colour with ink blending, and layered for a gorgeous multi-dimensional look.  The background is run through a quilted die, and I added a ombre background with Distress Inks as well.  

Spring is SO SLOW in coming to our part of the world.  I can’t wait to see these blossoms in real life!  Thanks for joining me today.  

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Cherry Blossoms from PTI

Simple Cards with Kids

This Spring, our daughter had her first student-teacher placement in a first grade classroom, she had an amazing experience.  Her mentor-teacher found out that I am a card maker and as a result they asked me to be Artist in Residence for the classroom three times over a month.  I was so delighted not only show first graders how to make cards, but also to see my daughter in action with her classroom.  It was such a fun month!  It cracked me up to see them try and figure out who was Mrs. Okken and who was Miss Okken, and at first they couldn’t wrap their heads around their student-teacher actually having a mom just like them!

I thought I’d show you three of the cards I did with the kids.  All of them are very simple because I was teaching 5 and 6 year olds how to stamp, and we had a limited time period to work with each day.  The feeling of awe children get when they create is sheer wonder to watch.  It’s like the first time you or I stamped all over again, just in a little person with such great enthusiasm. I love seeing kids succeed and they’re so easy to love.  

First up is a Spring card they created.  Inspiration for this one came from Nichole Heady’s card HERE (scroll to the bottom it’s a long post). I used Stampin’ Up  and Power Poppy stamps I had on hand to give it the same style.  It included some geometry with the card as everything is stamped in a triangle behind the sentiment circle.  

This next design was an idea I found on Pinterest.  It was used as a cute Spring Art frame with fabric, but I  revamped it to be a card with designer paper strips.  The kids could choose what paper, colours and patterns they used, and the silhouette cut out of the bunny is done with TCP’s Easter Bunny CutUps die.  The sentiment is a cute one from an older Stampin’ Up set as well.  

The last card was what the kids used for their moms on Mother’s Day.  I found a couple of similar ideas on Pinterest and adapted them into a design to work for kids.  The jar is from PTI’s set Friendship Jar.  The hearts inside the jar are stamped from various sets I had on hand that had hearts in them, then all the hearts bursting out the top are cut from patterned paper.  The sentiment is from The Cat’s Pajamas.  

Thanks for popping by today!  Be back tomorrow with something fun from The Cat’s Pajamas!

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Simple Cards with Kids

Pickles?

Sometimes when I’m headed away somewhere and I can take my colouring with me, I’ll stamp up a bunch of things and then get to them whenever I can.  Sometimes I don’t get to them all and then I forget about them!  I found this fun little jar of pickles I had stamped and thought it would be a good week to colour it and put it into a card, especially with it’s GREEN theme and St. Patrick’s Day this week.  

Created with PTI’s Friendship Jar and Friendship Jar Fillers stamp sets, stamped onto Neenah White cardstock (masking the pickes the get them where I wanted), and then coloured with Copics.  I created a little tag out of a stitched rectangle die and popped them up together adding the pickles sentiment in Memento Bamboo Green.  The swirly loops are from The Cat’s Pajamas Icing CutUps Die, and the papers are from MFT.  

Wouldn’t it be cute to give to an expecting mom?  I had my little nephew in mind though when I made it.  He loves pickles.  He’s often chooses them over dessert!  

Here’s the little collection of Copics, super easy!  

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Pickles?

Sunflower Jar

I remember when these sweet little mason jars first came out from PaperTrey Ink, I thought they had such a homey feel.  I love the whole Friendship Jar series so I did one today with an autumn theme.  How cute is a little picket fence in a jar with sunflowers?  I paired it with the Mojo Sketch this week and a rustic feel in the papers.  

As you can see I used part of the sketch to create some of my own picket fencing using my Silhouette machine on the horizontal layer.  

The sentiment on the jar tag is embossed in white and I also stamped a background sunflower on the little yellow circle sentiment to tie it in.  I feel like it’s nice and warm and cheerful, the perfect tone to set on a card! 

Hope it’s sunny inside and out in your neck of the woods today :)

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Sunflower Jar

Spring Wishes

Well, the temperatures have dropped here once again below the “Shiver-Me-Timbers” range so I thought it would be fun to jump in on the PTI Hop this month with the theme of Spring, I haven’t hopped with them for so long!   Aren’t we all longing for Spring to come already?  

I loved the butterfly invitation in the graphic above and thought maybe I could try and re-create something along those lines with this design.  I used a few PTI sets - Friends till the End, and Mat Stack 3 Collection for this design, colouring up the flowers with Copics, fussy cutting them out and then using ink for the frame matted on a Mat Stack 5 Die and then stamping background in various colour inks.  It’s a pretty palette don’t you think?  

A few little sweet details, including the glittery strip along the side and some pretty clear sequins for some added interest.  

Copics in case you’re interested are B60, B63, B66 and YG21, YG23.  

Enjoy your day!

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Spring Wishes

Bubblegum Son

For Valentine’s I had some cards on hand for my kids, but none quite “manly enough” for our older son, so I pulled this one together for him.  He is the son that LOVES candy.  He is constantly taking the gum from my purse, sneaking things out of the snack cupboard, and if I find an empty wrapper anywhere, I know it’s him.  He is 14 and constantly hungry...and not an ounce of fat on him, but he does loves to sneak treats.  So, right away I thought of these sets from PTI, Friendship Jar and Friendship Jar Fillers.  This would be what I would find, an open jar...with a bunch of gumballs missing :)  

When I went searching for some fun paper to match the gumballs I found this great pack from Echo Park - All About A Boy.  When I saw that sentiment strip I knew it was perfect for what I wanted to say to him.  

Cracks me up when I look at it - I’ve been playing Bejeweled on my little iPad and the colours totally remind me of the game!  

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Bubblegum Son

m for monkey

Today was a special day, we celebrated one of our former student’s baby boy with a Baby Shower.  Three of the girls and I put it together and it was so fun to be able to shower his mama and him with wonderful things.  I’ve been working very hard all week on little bits and details to make the party fun.  I’ll just show you the card tonight and then later this week some of the other things I did.  

The little guy’s name starts with M and they have nicknamed him monkey :)  I used PTI’s set Tiny Treats for the monkey, and Flourishes S’More Fun for the banners.  You’ll see a banner theme in what I did for the party later this week too.  I layered the monkey on the die cut letter and paired it all with Lori Whitlock All About a Boy designer paper.  We had a orange and blue sort of theme.  

The sketch is this last week’s Mojo Monday one.  

Just some simple enamel dots as accent and Flourishes Tailor Made Classic Bookplate Die for the sentiment tab.  

And here is the adorable Mister Monkey himself.  SO precious.  His Daddy took this picture not me, I just didn’t want to leave it unwatermarked.  

I’ll be back later this week with more from the Baby Shower!  Thanks for stopping by!

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m for monkey

Tops of 2013 Part Two

Happy New Year Friends! Here is round two of my favourite creations of 2013 - before we start a brand new year of creativity in 2014!  Thanks for stopping by to share them with me!

JULY

Sweet Garden Fairies

I just cannot pass up a yummy piece of chocolate Birthday cake! 

A fun CardMaker Hop with Maggie Holmes products from Crate Paper.  

AUGUST

Autumn Blessings abound in this pretty little scene from Marcella Hawley at Flourishes.  

Framed artwork I created for my sister-in-law’s apple themed kitchen. 

Some masculine pointillism with this gorgeous set Mountain View

SEPTEMBER

A special tag I was commissioned to create for a brand new baby boy!

Sow some Sweet Seeds of Friendship

Crisp Night Sky 

OCTOBER

Cozy with The Cat’s Pajamas

My World Card Making Day creation about My Corner of the World

Some pretty embossed Winter Berries

NOVEMBER

My own version of a Snow Buddies Snow Globe

Lots of dimenion in this So Distressed creation

In Flanders Field, in honour of Remembrance Day in Canada

DECEMBER

Soaring with There She Goes

Be Strong, I love the sentiments in this gorgeous set combined with lots of inky watercoloring

And this  most recent card is one of my favourites of the year Country Birthday…I spent a lot of time on that Prismacolouring and really loved how it turned out.  For me, that’s what it’s all about, creating something that expresses me and is something I’m proud of, and being able to give a little piece of myself to someone special.  

Wishing each of you friends the most hopeful New Year yet.  May it be a year of growth, satisfaction and purpose! 

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Tops of 2013 Part Two