Christmas Friends Sneak Peek Day 5

merry MERRY Christmas!

Well, I am so excited that Christmas Friends will be releasing with Papertrey Ink TOMORROW!

Christmas Friends: Retails at $24

I am sure you have seen some fun and versatile projects on the blogs! I am so excited about PTI's incredible release this month! Wow! It's going to be great!

Here are a few last bits of creativity to inspire you with this set.

In honor of the craft that got me into this amazing industry, I made a scrapbooking page using the Christmas Friends stamps. These pages were from Christmas 2007, my son's first Christmas. So, the scrapbookers out there should appreciate this. And all of you who enjoy pictures of super cute babies, then this should make you smile, too!

Here are my two favorite boys! You will notice the starts have made a nice festive and magical trim at the top of the page. I also distressed the 12x12 page with black ink to give it the glowed edge that we often see in photography these days.

I created a lovely background of ornaments. I really like having multiple chains hanging which gives a vertical eye line and makes you imagine so many more ornaments in the background.

I love the sparkly gold chipboard letters to give some holiday sparkle. The PTI scarlet jewel ribbon and ink could not have matched the artsy paper more perfectly.

I like the gold chain hanging to match the stars and then have the popped up ornament and bow. The turtle doves reminded me of the amazing relationship I have with my precious son.

Aside from showing off my son's twinkling eyes, this shows the lovely frame created with gold ink and the awesome stars from Christmas Friends.

Cruise and Crop!

ALSO, one last card to share which was actually designed for the Cruise and Crop New England/Canada cruise in Sept. 2009. If you haven't check out Cruise and Crop yet, the link is up top on the right. There are some great cruises with celebrity names already planned for 2010! Don't miss it!

This card featured my feathered friends the turtle doves with a bright color scheme. The PTI hibiscus burst cardstock and ink matched up beautifully with the PTI Dark Chocolate ink.

MAKING IT YOUR OWN: I love how you can make the ornaments different colors or use glitter or embossing powder to make them pop. You can really give it as personal a touch as your own Christmas tree.

For more fun inspiration for Christmas Friends...

• Check out Nichole Heady's beautiful sneek peak!
• Get fresh ideas from Annabelle O'Malley
• Becky Oehlers has a fabulous spin on these stamps, too!

Nothing But Grace,

Tiffany

Christmas Friends Sneak Peak Day #4

All Year 'Round!

Christmas Friends stamp set releases with Papertrey Ink on Nov. 15 retailing at $24!

For those of you who already have your Christmas projects planned out, then let me share with you some NON-Christmas projects to show the you fun versatility of this stamp set!

As you know from previous sneak peeks, this set focuses on the the blessing of friendship in oue lives. I made this card for a dear friend whom I use to work with back in Florida. I sent it to her office at work so she would feel special and know that I miss seeing her sweet smile in the office. Just some PTI kraft cardstock, buttons your new Christmas Friends stamp set, and some glitter and voila... beautiful!

I loved using the little barn door to make this card a bit more interesting. This gave me the chance to stamp my sweet little friendship birds on the inside. I used the swirl stamp for the branches and hand drew the leaves.

I made this card for my father-in-law when he was in the hospital this fall. I loved the masculine touch with brown and teal . The swirls in the Christmas Friends stamp set have a fabulous movement to them which makes it easy to create background or pattern papers with them. The sentiment is from my first PTI release: Fall Elegance. I use these sentiments for all sorts of cards!

For this card I used a rich brown glitter on the swirls to add depth and to give it a finished look. I like the teal and orange... these colors with the right accents can be used for just about any season! This sentiment is also from the PTI Fall Elegance stamp set.

This was a card celebrating my wonderful brother's birthday! I have two amazing brothers and consider them both to be the dearest of my friends. I wanted this card to be fun, but not so feminine that he would hide it when his girlfriend comes over. :) I love the green hues and the rhinestone for a nice touch. The sentiment is from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages. (If you don't have this set, put it in your cart now! It's a necessity!)

Well, I hope this gave you a few ideas... and I know there are really so many more possibilities out there when you use Christmas Friends. Trust me, you won't get tired of this stamp set!

Tomorrow, in honor of the snow that has been forcast for Colorado Springs, we will be looking at a precious Christmas scrapbooking page and another great Christmas card.

Just one more day till the PTI November release! What fun!

Expecting Great Things,

Tiffany

Christmas Friends Sneak Peek Day #3

Have a holly jolly Christmas with Papertrey Ink!

Hello everyone!

First I simply loved hearing your feedback on the Christmas movies! I am voting for a Christmas movie marathon! How many days might we be able to watch Christmas movies without repeating them? Ha! All you need is some hot cocoa, Christmas cookies, and the endless movies! We would be set!

Christmas Friends will be on sale at Papertrey Ink on Nov. 15!!

Retail: $24

Here is a bold and elegant card to get you in the Christmas spirit!

This card features the brilliant PTI Pure Poppy cardstock and ink.

DEPTH: I love having the ornaments popped up. One feature I didn't utilize but I think would be lovely would be to use a darker background, pop up the ornaments and have the bows and string in silver, gold, or white. That would really pop. I already have a project ready for tomorrow, but if my son takes a nice nap maybe I can whip something up to show you!

STARS: Also note the stars are stamped in Pure poppy and have a nice subtle way of framing the card around the edge.

SPARKLE:

If you know me and my stamping style, then you know I pretty much think a card is naked without glitter or a little sparkle! These light green rhinestones couldn't have matched more perfectly with the ink and color scheme. So I used four small gems and one large one to draw attention to the bow. There was also a bit of clear shimmering glitter on the swirls and ornaments to add a little "Christmas Magic". :)

RIBBON: I chose to allow the ribbon to act as a sentiment on the front. But don't forget this other great sentiment to go on the inside of the card.

JOY WILL COME: Since this card is all about JOY... I thought I would share one of my recent favorite songs. As I was making this card, I found myself almost unknowingly singing this song over and over again as my little creative sound track.

Desperation Band released a new CD this fall and on the album is the totally raw and honest and hopeful song called "Joy will Come". I fell in love with this song right as my husband and I moved 2000 miles away from home to a new city. Even though, I felt confident we were supposed to make this move, it was still a hard transition for me. I found myself lonely and crying in the night. This song reminded me that Joy WILL come in the morning. :) I have begun to feel more and more at home here in Colorado Springs and I am grateful for the new adventures ahead!

Here is a link to the story behind the song.
Here's another great video from another song on the CD if you want to get pumped up!

You can purchase the song at Desperation Band's website or on itunes. :) I hope it blesses you as much as it has blessed me! Don't forget Joy will come!

Tomorrow I can't wait to share a boat load of NON- Christmas cards created with the Christmas Friends stamp set and you can also look forward to an adorable scrapbook page utilizing this stamp set, too!

With Great Joy!
Tiffany

Christmas Friends Sneak Peek Day #2

Hello Everyone!

Here are some more ideas for ways to use the new stamp set called Christmas Friends released by Papertrey Ink. You can purchase this set for $24 beginning Nov. 15 on the Papertrey website.

You will love all the unique images!

One of my favorites is the Christmas star. I think I use it on all of my projects! It is not a traditional five point star which makes it much more interesting and compelling to look at. There are two sizes which make it fun to create the starry night look for a background or to integrate with other stamps in the set.

This paper was BoBunny and had the sweetest wording in a very trendy font style. I thought the paper was more of the sentiment that sets the tone with thoughts like: "I believe in Santa", "tis the season", and "jingle bells".

COLORS:

I love the combo of a warm color (PTI's scarlet jewel cardstock) mixed with a cool wintry green.

HOLIDAY STAMPING TIPS:

When I designed this stamp set, I dimmed the lights and played my favorite piano Christmas music. It was so soothing and inspiring. Whenever I am working on Christmas related projects, I love to use it as an excuse to play a Christmas movie or CD. :) Hot cocoa is always fun, too! Just keep it a safe difference from your projects! Christmas is without question my favorite season of the year, so I have an extensive Christmas movie collection. I am always adding to it each year.

What's YOUR favorite Christmas movie?

I would love to hear! It's hard to decide between... Home Alone, The Grinch, TheMuppet Christmas Carol, Santa Clause, oh gee.... the list just goes on! Just this past week I gave myself a Birthday present and ordered the Jim Henson muppet movie: The Christmas Toy on DVD. Anyone remember that one? We had it recorded on VHS from when it was on TV when I was a kid, but it there wasn't enough tape to finish the movie, so I really don't remember the ending very well. I am looking forward to reliving the and sharing the childhood memories of this movie with my son this year!

Have a fabulous day! Keep dreaming...

Tiffany

Christmas Friends Release!

Papertrey Ink *Christmas Friends* Sneak Peek Day 1!

Well, I can't tell you how excited I am to reveal this Christmas stamp set. It was the first stamp set I ever designed! It features a very elegant and versatile look. This card has some warm colors and features many of the different images.

Christmas Friends highlights the beauty of friendship. You will find two turtle doves and sentiments that surround the theme of appreciating your friends. I know sometimes I want to send cards from my family to a friend, not just family, and I don't want the friend to feel like they are incomplete because they are single, or don't have children living in the home.

I love the colors on this card. The tree was hand drawn and cut out with this fun green paisley paper. I love the warm hues that have a funky Christmas syle. The oranges and navy blues were we fun combo with the rusty reds and spring greens. The patterned paper used for the tree stand was the inspirational piece for this color scheme.

Christmas Friends will release on Nov. 15 at Papertrey Ink for only $24!

---- Come and see more exciting projects coming up that will totally make you fall in love with this set! You will even see a bunch of NON-Christmas projects that will show you how this set is a favorite Go-To set for the whole year!

See you tomorrow!

I love my mom!

I have a great mom! Her birthday was in October and I sent a little love package. I had given her gift earlier when visiting, but it's always nice to receive something fun in the mail on your birthday. I thought these colors had a hint of fall hues but not too overt.

Of course, this card features my recent Papertrey Ink stamp set called "Fall Elegance". I love these sentiments for thank you cards or just to say I care. This card also features my favorite cardstock and ink color of the season: PTI's "Scarlet Jewel". I also love the frame and orange flower cut out with my SLICE. I love love love my slice! These shapes were from the "Noteworthy" cartridge. I have already made a Christmas wish list with my favorite new slice cartridges!

Other fun stuff about this card... of course I glittered up the flowers which I believe you can see in the first picture. And the ribbon is a Basic Grey Ribbon. PTI buttons are on the bottom right corner, too.

Happy Birthday, Mom! I love you so much! Of course, I am sure she was happy to get the card, but probably even more thrilled to get a fistful of pictures featuring her favorite grandson and a colorful handmade masterpiece that was "Noah's Original Creation".

Have a happy day everyone!

A New Home

Hi Everyone!

So sorry that I have been MIA for two months. Just days after my August release of Fall Elegance, my family and I moved to Colorado. We are in Monument, just outside of Colorado Springs. What a change it has been! I have been a Florida girl my whole life, so it has been quite an adjustment from the change in weather, navigating new roads, now staying home with my son, making new friends... just a whole lot of change. The first month was the hardest, then every week after that got better and better. I love being home with Noah, my two year old, and every day I am feeling more and more at home here.

The past few days we have had a whirlwind of snow! Luke got to stay home for two snow days and we got well over two feet of snow at our house! Geesh! For two days it felt like we were living in a snow globe! Snow was falling non-stop! The sky has finally cleared and now it is a beautiful winter wonderland. And it is still October, folks! Well, I thought I would add some pictures of my family in our new surroundings.

This is my son, Noah and I up in the mountains last week when my parents came to visit.

This is Noah standing next to my very first snow man! Am I a Florida girl, or what? I had NEVER made a snow man before! I felt that it was only appropriate for my snow man to wear a Florida Gator hat. :)

This is Noah and my mom enjoying the best part of a cold snowy day... Hot Cocoa!

One fabulous thing about snow days is the opportunity to get creative in the craft room! So, tomorrow I will be sharing some of my recent projects over the past few days.

Nothing but Grace,

Tiffany