Thank You Nichole Heady!

Nichole and company at Papertreyink.com have a hard job.  Yes, they run a successful business but you can not please all the customers all the time.  As the face of Papertrey, Nichole often bears the brunt of an unhappy customer and she does it with grace, style and manners.  While we, her fans and her company's fans appreciate all she has done and the outstanding customer service she provides, it has to be difficult when she gets verbally attacked. 

We (the forum fans) want to let you know, Nichole, how much we appreciate all the time, effort and heart you put into your company.  We CARE about you.  We revel in your creativity and stand in awe of your time management skills.  We don't know how you do it and are so very thankful that you do it anyway.

Here is a card I made for Nichole to thank her for providing me the exact stamps I want every month, the exact accessories I want every month and the inspiration to actually make something when I order it every month.  Thank you for all you do.

Patty (pattylt)

All product by PTI except Glimmer Mist spray by Tattered Angels.
Thank you to Maile Belles for the wonderful GlimmerMist technique.  I love it!

August Papertreyink Blog Hop

Welcome everyone!  I'm so glad you are visiting my blog.  Can I just say that a paperbag was an unusually hard challenge for me?  ME!  The one who loves to alter everything!  With Halloween just around the corner, I finally decided I had to turn my bag into a haunted house.  Well, haunted(ish).  Once I got going, it turned into what I wanted pretty easily.  Nothing complex here.  Embossed the bat and embossed the broom.  I've had this color of Zing embossing powder for ages (used on the broom).  It is called Leaf.  Hmmph, not any leaf color I've ever seen but it looks great against black.  Does anyone else have issues with Zing ep being kind of on the chunky side?  I love PTI soooo much better and maybe I'm spoiled?

So, do you see the new pattern paper?  See the stamp set "Been Boo'd?  See the stamp set Home Made?  See my great scissor work on the bat?  See how I curved the window and door stamps to look "spooky"?  I'd ask if you can see that bow but it is mondo sized so I know you aren't missing it.  I'd love to know what you think!

I've got new neighbors.

I was very sad to see our next door neighbors move away.  I'm happy they are building a new home in a great little town down the road a bit but sad they couldn't stay next door to me.  They briefly tried to sell their home but the price they could get right now is just too low for a family that was only in the home for 5 years.  Rather than barely breaking even, they decided to rent and hopefully wait out the market.  It can be scary picking renters but I think a surgeon, his stay at home wife and 3 darling girls from 3 to 7 is a pretty safe bet!

We met them yesterday.  They came over and introduced themselves!  That's supposed to be my job!  THEY're the newbies.  I guess it gave me extra incentive to write a thankyou (they brought cookies) and give them some treats, too.

Here it is.  It's filled with Thumbprint Cookies with different jams in the thumbprint and a matching card.  I gave it to the Surgeon... Wife was bathing the kiddos and I didn't want to intrude.  Just gave it to him and told him to enjoy.  They are sooooo nice and we are so very lucky.  I've had awful neighbors before.  It's enough to make you move and we did.  We've been very happy ever since... and we still are.

PTI template Home Made and matching stamp set... in spring rain and rustic cream.  Just lovely...

Hiatus is over...

Sorry I've been gone so long.  I did go through a brief no-mojo phase but I have created quite a few cards lately.  Yes, I have been extremely busy at work and I am still working overtime quite frequently but the fact is... I just didn't feel like blogging anything.  I guess you could say I lost my blog mojo.

I made a card I just had to post.  With not a button in sight it would be extremely easy to put through the mail and I played with some easy techniques that prove a little can go a long way.  I even fixed a smudge!  Originally, the sun was a single layer raised on pop dots.  Then I had to go and stick my inky dirty finger right in the middle of it. I tried adding more ink but since the smudge was almost black, it didn't hide a thing.  I decided to make a double sun instead to cover it up.  See how creative we can be when we don't want to ditch a great card and are too lazy to remake the thing!

I embossed the clouds and the balloons with white EP.  I colored with Copics on the balloons. I wasn't sure how the colors would perform since I stamped them on Orange Zest... I love how they came out.  I tied a sweet tiny bow on the largest balloon with PTI silk ribbon... I just love that stuff and need to order more.  The entire card is PTI except for the Copics and the Spellbinders dies for the sun.  I even threw in a little Dottie Biscotti strip at the bottom.  Sweeeeeet!  Hope you enjoy this card.  I am quite pleased with myself today.

Good night for now.  I may blog again tomorrow, I may disappear for another couple of months.  I don't plan on it but it may happen!