Papertrey November Blog Hop Challenge

So this is my first time ever in participating in a blog hop of any kind, especially for PTI so it makes me a little nervous.  Hahaha.  Usually I'm just a commenter.  I love to look at other people's blogs--such amazing ideas and projects.

These might look familiar.  I made something similar HERE.  I kind of tweaked it a little since the first one I made was a tight squeeze for the tags I made.

The tags fit better this time because I left more space above.

It also helps that this matchbook cover doesn't fold flat.

I started with a 3.5 x 8.5 inch cardstock.

I scalloped one edge and then scored it a 3/4 inch, 4.5 inches and 4.75 inches.

I used the pocket die to hold the labels and taped that about 1/2 inch above the score line closest to the scalloped edge.  I added thin tape below the scallop edge and folded that over for the cover to slip into.  You may have to trim the cover just a bit for the cover to slip in nicely and not push the tape down too much--if that makes sense. 

I love the Tiny Treats series.  The images are so cute!  I used the Xmas one for these tags.  I used the Fillable Frames die #9 and the stamp set.

Snowflakes!  Five tags fit nicely in the pocket.  You could make this matchbook longer and add more pockets to add more tags.  This is a nice stocking stuffer size.

I love this one because it's pink!  The paper obviously isn't a PTI product but I wanted to try a nontraditional Xmas color.

Everything here is from PTI except for the red and green baker's twine, the pink candy paper, one tiny rhinestone in the snowflake that's on the cover and the scallop punch I used.  I also used my copics and white gel pen.

Thanks so much for reading and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Papertrey November Blog Hop Challenge

Hi!  It's been a while since I participated in one of PTI's blog hop challenges.  But I had to play along this month.  Not only did I place an order on release night but I also got my goodies in about a week!  So I had some time to play around with my new stamps and dies.  Hehe.  Below is the inspiration photo.

I love the Christmas theme and the colors too so I went with that.

When I saw the newly released penguin stamp and die, I had to get them.  So cute!!  I thought this penguin would make a cute spinner card too.  Similar to the froggy one I made HERE.  I also used PTI's In the Meadow dies.  I used the die itself and my hobby blade to cut along the curved edge to create the little cut out for the penguin to slide.  I did that twice leaving a quarter inch space between them.

I layered the penguin with PTI's coasters.

I added a tiny bell to his hat.

He slides down.  The jingle all the way sentiment is from Tiny Treats Xmas.  Just traced the space with a pencil and curved the stamp to fit the curves of the opening.

He can spin all around.

I added lots of glitter.

I also got the new alphabet die!  These are so cute!  I layered the red jingle with PTI's coasters too.  I colored the edges of the coasters with my red Copic so it wouldn't look white.  I added some green bells so, you know, it would read jingle bells. 

I was happy with this card but then I realized the hop wasn't until Friday.  I don't know why but I thought it was on Thursday.  Anyway, I thought since I had a whole extra day, why not make something else too?

So I made a tag.  Well, I wanted it to look like a snow globe.  I used PTI's Tag Sale #4 die and added the little piece (Spellbinders Reverse Wonky Rectangles) below it for the base.  The front has clear cardstock.

There is flower soft in it to look like snow.  So if you shake it, it looks like it's snowing on the penguins.  It's similar to making a shaker card. 

So a spinner card and a snow globe tag.

Also will be entering these into Simon Says Stamp Challenge--Tag You're It! and Young Crafters Unite Challenge #4--Use dies.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  Can't wait to see if there are any good sales on crafty stuff.  Thanks for reading!

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

Hi!  Thought I'd participate in PTI's blog hop.  

The challenge: 

With the new year comes a clean slate along with many resolutions.  This month's blog hop challenge involves you challenging yourself to use a Papertrey stamp set that has yet to see ink or even one that might be collecting a little dust!

The stamp set I really wanted to use was PTI's Tiny Treats Valentine.  This is the first time I got to use this set since buying it after last Valentine's Day.  I love that the Tiny Treats set is so easy to use and perfect for kids and kids' crafts.  So my kids and I made a bunch of Valentine's goodies.

We made lollipop flowers for the teachers and my daughter's class.  This was inspired by Betsy Veldman's post found HERE.  Instead of die cutting a lot of paper flowers we used leftover foam flowers we had in our crafting box.  My daughter has 29 kids (we made 2 lollipop flowers/child) in her class so we wanted to do something simple but cute and fun.

The teachers' flowers have tags (tag sale #3) on them stamped with the images from the TT Valentine's set. 

Alternate views of our lollipop flowers.  These were so easy to make since the foam flowers already came with a small hole in the center for the lollipop stick and even my 2 year old helped to make some.

These are little goody bags for my son's kindergarten class. 

After I stamped the circles and cut them out my son colored in all the images and wrote his friends' names.  He really enjoys making small treats for his friends.  Inside the bag you might notice is a small heart.  They are actually crayons.  We've been making heart shaped crayons for Valentine's ever since I saw an article in a magazine about them.  I found directions online HERE as well.

This is such a fun activity for the kids!  They love to peel the paper off the crayons and break them apart.  It's also a good use for all those broken crayons we get at the end of the school year.  So I save them in a container just for this project.  I do put a label behind the heart saying it's a crayon and not candy, just in case.  ETA: My heart pan is silicone so it's flexible and easy to push the hearts out.  And I found that the crayons melt more evenly if they are the same brand.  The ones we get for free at the restaurants don't melt at the same rate as say the Crayolas.

I wanted to make little Valentine cards too with the stamp set.  When I saw the lunch box die, I knew they would make cute little Valentine cards or even for other occasions for little kids.  I used the limitless layers circle collection.

On the inside I taped some stickers.  I just cut a sheet of stickers to fit.  Next year, I might just make these for all my kids' classmates. 

I also made cards for my kids. Sometimes we refer to our kids only by their first initial.  It's a family tradition on my hubby's side.  So there is an Aunty H and an Aunty M, and so forth. 

Tiny Treats Valentine set has a favorite image for each of my kids.  So we all had fun using this set!

Thank you for reading and making it down to the end of this post!  Have a great day!

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

Hi!  It's time again for PTI's blog hop!  With their new weekly Make It Monday Challenges and the blog hop, I've been making so many more PTI projects than before.  Now my PTI stamps and dies don't feel as neglected.  The February Challenge is below.

This month we decided to dedicate the Blog Hop to scallops!  We want to see your best use of scallops, of any sort, on a project!  This can include scalloped borders, offset-scallops, stamped scallops,  scalloped mats, scalloped frames, layered scallops, scalloped tags or anything else you can dream up! You can use dies, patterned scissors or even circle punches in a row to achieve your special look. We are looking forward to seeing all of your amazing creations!

I think I may have a lot of pictures to share so I hope you can make it to the end of this post! 

The first thing that came to mind was to make some flowers using scallops.  I used PTI's large scallop border die to cut some red felt and I sewed some thread through.

I pulled the thread to form a flower!

I overlapped the last and first petal and pulled it tight and sewed the flower closed.

I made a pair of these.  I used the smallest die from Beautiful Blooms II die set and sewed a button on too.

I also made a larger one.  I made a larger flower in the back of this one but didn't pull the thread as tight.

This is how the back looked. 

Kind of had some holes in it so I added some stuffing.

Then I hot glued on some felt circles to keep everything together.

I hot glued the red flowers on to plain metal pins.  Metal and hot glue is very HOT as I've learned.  Even when you're pressing away from the glue area.  The heat just spreads.  Anyway, I glued the yellow one to an elastic band.

So after I made these flowers I wanted to try smaller sized scallops but I don't own any small scalloped border dies so I used Spellbinders scalloped circle dies.

I placed them on my Big Shot and cut some felt. 

I ended up using only the 2 smallest scalloped circles to make the red flower above.  I used the same technique of sewing through and pulling the thread tight.

I made them in different colors.  I really wanted to make one in raspberry fizz but I ran out!  I'm waiting for my next PTI order.  I like these flowers cause they are small but also because it seems safer for younger toddlers.  No buttons or anything.

Hot glued some felt circles on the backs.

You can make so many different kinds of flowers using different color combos. 

I wanted to package up the smallest flowers as a baby gift.  So I used PTI's clear case and cut it to the size I wanted.  I saved the top to insert it back into the bottom so I could close it again.

Made holes in a piece of clear plastic.  I used the smallest Spellbinders circle die but it didn't cut all the way through so I used my blade to cut it through.  Hopefully it's not too messy looking.  I saved a space for where I want to put the raspberry fizz flower.

Wrapped it all up PTI-style.  I'm giving the other flowers to my daughter.  I hope they stay glued on!

Oh yeah, this is the last flower I made.  Not a bad looking rose.  I used the second to largest scalloped circle and just wound it up and added some hot glue.  Super easy!

Thanks for reading this long post!  Have a great weekend!