pine is here.

stamping retreat

I just spent a fabulous weekend with some of my favorite stamping friends at White's Wildwood Retreat in Chippewa Falls, WI. This is the 3rd year that we have held our retreat there and we love it. When you walk in the door it feels like home. There is so much friendship, laughter, and even tears (good tears!) We are so lucky to have this group of friends. We come from all parts of the country and the retreat is our time to be together!

 

Carol (HB) is my partner in crime for planning the retreat. She does the food and whatever else I need. I couldn't have done it without her! This is my last year coordinating the retreat because of other obligations and trying to balance life, but you can bet I will be there next year when my friends Kendra, MY, and Robin take the wheel.

 

One of the best parts of the retreat for me was having the dates coordinate with the release of my first stamp set, Rustic Branches! I had arranged for everyone at the retreat to get a set (as a surprise) and the screaming was just like being on the Oprah show! It was such a special thing to be able to share this night with all of my friends who have been supporting and cheering me on!

We spent the rest of the weekend, stamping, learning new things, and just hanging out and spending time together. There's nothing better! We all learned how to solder this weekend, which I will share more about later on.

Bethie taught us about digital scrapbooking. She has some definite talent and I hope I can remember the cool stuff I learned about making brushes and patterns when I have time to sit down and work on some more digital scrapping.

Ang showed us how to take our photos to the next level in Photoshop to take them from drab to fab! Her tips, tricks, and examples were awesome!

HB, the food was INCREDIBLE! I think I was full the whole time...

The Milwaukee crew from our group organized a stamping olympics for one of the evenings. We had a stamp off, card creation contest, and ribbon bow tying competition! It was a blast!

Here are some of the medalists from the card contest!

It was a fabulous weekend and even though I am still recovering and unpacking, I am smiling about the happy memories that we made. I can't wait until next year!

pinecone table setting

 

Nichole gave us the assignment to create a table setting using the First Fruits set and of course I had to use the pinecone and pine needles for my theme (unfortunately, I don't have much for dishes except my everyday blue stripe plates to set up the place setting on!)

I printed the invitation and menu on Papertrey's new vellum with the Century Gothic font, which coordinates perfectly with the Simple Alphabet font set that I used to personalize the placecards and added a sentiment to the favor with. The pine needles are stamped on the back of the vellum for a softer look and the edges are brushed with white ink.

I decided to use my place card as part of my napkin ring.  The hemp twine adds a rustic touch to the simple card slipped under it.

For a whimsical little favor I dressed up a little pincone into a Thankgiving turkey with a few punched shapes.

Check out all of the other designers who created a place setting at Nichole's blog!

I am anxious to share some of the fun things that happened this past weekend at my stamp retreat. First I need to unpack and catch up on my sleep...

rustic branches envelope book

Remember the Father's Day envelope book that I made here?

I created another book with my Rustic Branches set that I gave to my Grandma for her birthday in July. So yes, she got a sneak peek way early, but that's what Grandma's are for... I have been sharing my excitement with my family and they have been so excited for me and have been supporting me throughout my paper crafting journey. It means so much to me.

The Out on a Limb Sentiments were perfect for this project. For me, the sentiments really tug at my heartstrings and expressed exactly what I wanted to say for this gift.

Here's a look at the book opened up. I found the perfect leaf trim to use at my local scrapbook store and it looks like it was designed for my set!

A peek at the details...

And here are the pullout cards that I put pictures of our whole family on.

Now here's the best news...

I emailed Nichole this project last month to show her and she loved the leaf trim as much as I did. The trim will be available to purchase from Papertrey Ink ($3 for 4 yards) for this release! Yippee!

Can you believe that it's the night of the release party already? I will peek in at the Papertrey forums and say hello in between all of the excitement at my stamp retreat tonight! Then at midnigh EST, Rustic Branches will be available for purchase at Papertrey Ink!

Before that, stop by Nichole's and Debbie's blogs for more sneak peeks for this release!

Thanks so much for a fabulous week of sneak peeks and projects! It has been so much fun!

  

Birthday Wishes Envelope Book

Stamps: Rustic Branches, Out on a Limb Sentiments (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Aqua Mist, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), Mellow Moss, Always Artichoke craft (Stampin’ Up!), black, white pigment

Cardstock: white, kraft, Aqua Mist (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Aqua Mist twill (Papertrey Ink), leaf trim (May Arts), square punch (Marvy), buttons, linen thread, dimensionals, sewing machine/thread, 5 ½” square envelopes (Anchor Paper)

rustic branches branch

Thank you for all of the birthday wishes yesterday! This has really been a whirlwind week, but totally worth it! I am so happy that everyone is enjoying the projects for the countdown... thanks for joining me!

Now for the branch part of Rustic Branches...!

There are so many parts to the set that are my favorite, but I think the branch is my very favorite element. I could use this image on everything and I am sure it will be repeated many times in projects yet to come... 

I stamped the shadow (filled in) branch in Dark Chocolate to create a silhouette look across the bottom of my card project.

The single polka dot is perfect for scattering between the branches...

I added more branches in the Spring Moss color for a little bit of depth. Lighter colors tend to fall behind darker/brighter colors. The Spring Moss branches appear to be behind the Dark Chocolate ones. A simple technique that adds a pop!

I added Spring Moss stitched ribbon ...

And then added the "joy" sentiment on a punched circle and stitched on some buttons to complete the card. So many of the word sentiments included in the set will coordinate with many of the punches that you already have. I used a 3/4" circle punch here.

Right now, Spring Moss and Dark Chocolate is one of my favorite color combinations. It goes great with kraft and has such and earthy feel that is so me.

By turning the branch sideways, you have a perfect place to place a sentiment. And there's that leaf border showing up as a background pattern again. This time with some Dark Chocolate berries added in. 

Today you can get a peek of the anticipated Spooky Sweets II set that Nichole is featuring on her blog. Lisa has more about her set on her blog (congratulations on being Typepad's featured blog for yesterday! woohoo!) and Amy has a beautiful project she made with Lisa's set that you don't want to miss. Make sure you stop by Becky's blog as she has been sharing more about the First Fruits set all week!

Thanks again for stopping by!

Joy Branches Card

Stamps: Rustic Branches (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink), black

Cardstock: white, kraft, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Spring Moss stitched ribbon (Papertrey Ink), ¾” circle punch (EK Success), distresser (Tonic), buttons, linen thread

 

Love You Branch Card

Stamps: Rustic Branches (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), Always Artichoke (Stampin’ Up!), black, white pigment

Cardstock: kraft, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink), Always Artichoke (Stampin’ Up!)

Accessories: Dark Chocolate polka dot ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Mega circle punch (Marvy), brushed silver brads (Creative Impressions), distresser (Tonic), dimensionals, sewing machine/thread

rustic branches leaf border

So, today is my birthday (33!) and I can't think of a better gift than my first stamp set being released this week! I will be celebrating this weekend at a stamping retreat with some of my closest stamping friends and I am so excited to bring my set with and share with them first hand.

Today I wanted to share projects that I created using the leaf border image from the Rustic Branches set...

 

The leaf border is designed to connect end to end to create longer borders for your projects. I have said it many times before, but I have to say it again. I truly love how clear stamps take the guess work out of lining up the images. Just look through and stamp - so easy.

I added the leaf border outline, berry border, and berry border outline to complete my border image.

To finish off my card, I added the sentiment "joy to you" to my image and then added some Pure Poppy grosgrain ribbon with stitched on buttons to the bottom.

This is another simple design - perfect when you want to create a bunch for your holiday card sending.

I think that the leaf border image is one of the most versatile in the set. You already have seen how it works to make a background pattern on my project from the 10th (and it won't be the last time you see me use it for that) and here are a couple more examples of what else you can do with the leaf border:

Here's a scrapbook page where I extended the border into a frame (which gives me more ideas of things I want to "frame" with the leaves)...

And on this sweet little card I used the border as stems for some button flowers. You could use a variety of floral images, punch outs, etc. at the top of the stem!

Today, Nichole and Lisa are sharing more about Lisa's new set, Remember, on their blogs. Make sure to stop over and check them out!

And thank you again for stopping by today!

Joy to you Leaf Border Card

Stamps: Rustic Branches (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink), Always Artichoke craft (Stampin’ Up!), black

Cardstock: white, kraft (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Pure Poppy grosgrain ribbon (Papertrey Ink), buttons, linen thread, dimensionals

Bemidji Bog Walk Scrapbook Page

Stamps: Rustic Branches, Simple Alphabet (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink), black, white pigment

Cardstock: white, kraft, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Super circle punch (Marvy), 1” circle punch (EK Success), sewing machine/thread

 

Love Flower Card

Stamps: Rustic Branches, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Always Artichoke (Stampin’ Up!), black, white pigment

Cardstock: kraft. Lemon Tart (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Lemon Tart stitched ribbon (Papertrey Ink), buttons, linen thread, dimensionals

rustic branches wreath

Thank you so much for all of the wonderful comments about Rustic Branches and for coming back to see more projects with the set!

I have a few little tricks that you might find helpful when using the wreath and wreath berry images from the Rustic Branches set...

Before you remove the wreath berries from the image sheet, you might want to mark the top of each of the stamps with a permanent ink marker. This will help you remember which way to stamp the berries onto the wreath and help you line everything up. The berries are not symmetrical - nor were they meant to be because of the rustic feel of the set that I was going for. You also might find that stamping the outline image first and then then the shadow (filled in) image over the top will help with lining up your coordinating image.

The wreath images both have a bend in the branch (indicated by the arrows in the above picture) and that's what to look for to line them right up. My stamps are looking a little stained in the picture and be aware that if you are new to clear acrylic stamps that this is completely normal after you start using your stamps. Some inks will stain your stamps worse than others. It actually adds a benefit of making the images easier to see when you are stamping. It also means your stamps are much loved, which is as it should be!

For this project I am using earth tones to create a fall wreath.

I added the wreath outline, berry wreath, berry wreath outline, and "thankful" sentiment to complete my image.

The berry border works great to make a coordinating polka dot background pattern. Just line it up and stamp like you would the Polka Dot Basics set.

Here is the completed fall card. Simple and perfect for sending a thankful greeting...

I used the same techniques, but changed the color palette to create a wreath card suitable for the holidays. How easy is that?

Nichole is sharing a project that she made with Rustic Branches today - don't miss it! Lisa also has more sneak peeks with her new poppy set to share on her blog too!

Fall Thankful Wreath Card

Stamps: Rustic Branches (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), Really Rust craft (Stampin’ Up!), black, white pigment

Cardstock: kraft, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: Dark Chocolate satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink), dimensionals

 

Peace Wreath Card

Stamps: Rustic Branches (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Always Artichoke, Bravo Burgundy craft (Stampin’ Up!), black, white pigment

Cardstock: kraft (Papertrey Ink), Always Artichoke (Stampin’ Up!)

Accessories: Spring Moss twill ribbon (Papertrey Ink), buttons, linen thread, dimensionals

rustic branches

I am so thrilled to share projects from my first stamp set, Rustic Branches, with all of you this week! This was the first stamp set that I created for Papertrey Ink and you can't imagine how excited I was when I learned it was accepted!

Rustic Branches is a set designed based off of reoccurring doodles that have appeared in my sketchbooks through out the years. I am inspired by nature, folk arts, quilting, primitives, children's book illustrations, etc. when I am  designing and I think you can (and will) see that coming through in my designs.

The wreath is one of the focal images of the set and I included simple sentiments, like the word "peace" that I used here. I hope you will find Rustic Branches versatile to use in your projects throughout the year. Just a change of color will adapt the set to any season or occasion.

I embossed the wreath with clear embossing powder and then sponged a combination of Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink) and Always Artichoke (SU!) ink over it. The ink resists where the clear embossing is on the cardstock.

The wreath fits perfectly into the Super Circle punch by Marvy!

There are berry stamps included with the set to use on the wreath that I will share more about with you later. For this project, I used buttons as my berries.

The Mega Scallop Circle punch works just right for matting the circle.

This leaf border is another image included with the set. By stamping repeatedly in alternating directions, it creates a wonderful background pattern.

Here is the finished card and a little sneak peek at the color being released this month, Pure Poppy.

Thanks so much for stopping by! This week is going to be filled with lots of sharing and inspiration.

If you haven't already, make sure you stop by Lauren and Nichole's blogs for a sneak peek of the First Fruits set. Also stop by Lisa's blog as she is sharing projects and information about her set being released this month, Remember.

Peace Button Wreath Card

Stamps: Rustic Branches (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink), Versamark (Tsukineko), Always Artichoke craft (Stampin’ Up!), white pigment

Cardstock: white, kraft, Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink), Always Artichoke (Stampin’ Up!)

Accessories: Dark Chocolate twill, Pure Poppy satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink), Mega scallop circle punch, super circle punch (Marvy), clear embossing powder, heat embossing tool, buttons, linen thread, dimensionals

my stamp set sneak peek

So there it is! The first sneak peek to my first stamp set release with Papertrey Ink! Starting Sunday and then everyday of the�official countdown to the 15th release date,�I will share projects and more information about the set with you all. Thanks so much for sharing all of your support and excitement with me since this all began. And a HUGE thank you to Nichole, Julie, Jane, and everyone at Papertrey Ink for giving me the chance to live out the dream of a lifetime...

halloween treats

This month's senior design team challenge was to create a Halloween treat package! As much as I love all the candy that's passed around, I like to find something for my girls on the non-candy theme (one of the biggest reasons being that Tacy doesn't really eat her candy so then guess who does!) With back-to-school stuff out now, you can pick up all sorts of fun school supplies for great prices to give out for fun alternative treats. Just wrap it up in a Halloweeny way and you will be all set!

This is what I started with:

You will have to adapt your measurements if you choose a smaller box of markers or crayons. The marker box that I chose is 5 1/2" inches high and I wrapped the front and sides with the 11" length. Center the front of the box on your piece and use a bone folder or other scoring tool to help with folding the cardstock to wrap the cardstock around your box. The back is finished off with a 5 1/2" x 6 1/4" piece. The green piece of cardstock on the top tab of the box measures 1 1/8" x 6 1/4".

Check out the other sweet Halloween treats created by the other members of the Papertrey senior design team:

Nichole

Lisa

Debbie

Lauren

Amy

Pumpkin Marker Box Treat

stamps: Spooky Sweets, Polka Dot Basics (Papertrey Ink)

ink: Spring Moss, Black Noir (Papertrey Ink), Pumpkin Pie (Stampin' Up!)

cardstock: white, Spring Moss (Papertrey Ink), Pumpkin Pie, Basic Black (Stampin' Up!)

accessories: Spring Moss grosgrain ribbon (Papertrey Ink), black polka dot ribbon (May Arts), circle punch (Marvy), silver eyelet, dimensionals

horseback riding for Tacy

If you are newer to reading my blog, you might not know about my oldest daughter Tacy. She has a low tone form of cerebral palsy and is also diagnosed with autism. A big part of my life is organizing and participating in her therapy, doctor appointments, and other services that she receives. It's amazing what sort of things we have been able to have Tacy involved in and without all that she has received, she would not be where she is today.

One of our favoritesis therapeutic horseback riding. This year, I became trained to be a side walker for disabled riders and have gotten to work right with Tacy. Tacy's PCA, Kristi, was also trained and is side walking with Tacy as well. We are lucky enough to be able to ride the summer andfall session this year. The riding benefits Tacy so much strength wise that I want to get her in the program as many times as I can during the year.

(she looks a little cranky in this picture, but it was about 90 degrees out last night when she rode... also, Tacy really just wants to GO when she's riding - enough with all this stopping business to take my picture...)

The only horse experience that I have ever had was just once or twice riding growing up and then watching Tacy ride the past several years so it's been great to learn so much more. Tacy rides a horse named Martin, who is a pretty laid back guy. It's exactly what Tacy needs because her main goal is balance. The walk of a horse mimics the walking movement of a person. Tacy's walking gait is unlike people with normal tone. It takes more work, she doesn't always use the same muscles, and she also has to wear braces to give her the support and strength that she needs. Riding Martin helps her work and strengthen the muscles that don't get worked with her adapted form of walking. We sometimes have her ride backwards on the horse because it helps her work on some more upper body strengthening and balance.

Last night, Tacy had a hard time with her balance and so our main focus was just riding and staying centered on the horse. We also try to work on holding the reins, learning how to verbally tell the horse to go and stop (this is the first year that Tacy is able to make a "kiss" sound to tell Martin to go), learning how to steer, playing games with the other riders (there are up to 4 riders in the ring at a time), and doing other therapy exercises while on the horse.

It was also hot out last night and so we had to stop for a drink of water.

Chad and Hana keep busy while watching Tacy ride. Hana took this picture of Chad holding a "letter" that Tacy delivered to him (one of the games they get to play.)

Hana did a dramatic dance with the letters... She wants to learn to ride as well, so I am looking into some regular programs for her to start in a couple years.

We are waiting for our turn to bring Martin into the barn at the end. It was hot, we are all hot, but we love it and we will be back next week!