Citrus Tree Studio April Kit!!

Cindy, at Citrus Tree is offering two kits this month! Cool, right? The kit that I worked with is called "Butterfly Skies". Sweet!! Love the "Flutter" MM 8x8 pp pad...the chipboard buttons & stickers. So cute...and after completing 4 los and a card, I still have product left over. The kit also features Primas, MM puffy letter stickers & smooch spray. :) :)

~seventeen~

For this lo, I cut up the prima packaging because I felt the words were the perfect "journaling" for this photo of me taken when I was 17 years old.

~1962~

More hand stitching on this lo...this is a photo of my mother & I. The background is a kit envelope that I opened up. :)

I machine stitched on this card...and right over the chip buttons. :)

The envelope got spritzed with the smooch. I created a mask using a cs butterfly.

One more lo w/an old photo. This is my oldest son Thomas, niece Katy and nephew Jimmy.

Jimmy just turned 26 yo, and Thomas & Katy are both 23 yo. Too funny, right??

~Spring~
I hope you've enjoyed my creations from the "Butterfly Skies" CTS April kit!

The kit is on sale now! :) :)

~patti

My Sketch World April 1 card challenge

Lucy Chesna, at MSW, is an awesome sketch artist. Here's her sketch for April 1. Click for the entire view.

This is my first card as a DT member at MSW. I love this cheerful card made with gcd studios pp. The MM flower epoxy and Ki Memories ribbon are from my stash, and the stamp is by Stampabilities. I machine stitched and pop dotted the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by.

Join us for some fun at MSW!

~patti

Shabby Chic ~

My Sketch World is having a contest this month to create a "shabby chic" lo. You use Lucy Chesna's sketch and upload to the MSW gallery & forum. The winner will receive a twenty dollar gift certificate to Citrus Tree Studio. How cool, right?

Since I bought a scanner, I can now scan old photos...and honestly, I am loving it. For this lo, I used a photo of my mother on her wedding day - October 30, 1954. Since my parents were married in the fall, I went with a Prima pp that had fall colors. My mom's favorite color is green - so I thought this pp was perfect.


REMEMBERING ~

The big chip parenthesis is by gcd studios, as is the butterfly. I used Tim Holtz crackle paint on the butterfly and then sprayed it w/glimmer mist. My friend Julie Ann had the cream colored crepe paper in her stash and she let me borrow some to layer under the parenthesis. I then used my scalloped edge scissors on the crepe paper. {I love how that turned out.}

The other chip pieces, flowers & pearl bling are by Prima.

The buttons are vintage.

Looking forward to showing this lo to my mom. Thanks for lookin'.

Hope you're having a nice week-end!

~patti

Challenge reveal day at Citrus Tree!

On the tenth of each month, the designers at CTS post their challenges. I love to see the other designer's challenges and projects. Plus, there are prizes!! Each month, Cindy at CTS gives away great prizes - random drawings too. :)


My March challenge is to use glitter. Glam it up and make it sparkle!!

I used doodlebug glitter on my Riff Raf chipboard bicycle and AC thickers -both in March kit stuff at CTS. I find that using glossy accents by Ranger works best for me. You can get the glue precisely where you want it without gobs of it coming out...and it dries very quickly. To eliminate shedding glitter, I add a light coat of glossy accents to the top as well.

-california-

This lo is about our trip planning to California. I've never been to CA and it's been a dream of mine to visit Yosemite (for as long as I can remember). Tom and I love to visit national parks and Yosemite will be our 14th NP to see. Our air is booked and we are psyched! :)

Hope you'll join us for some fun challenges between now and April 10th at Citrus Tree. Our crop is this coming week-end too!!! Talk about awesome...fun challenges and the prizes are out of this world!! Check. It. Out.

~patti

"Spring Celebration" @Citrus Tree Studio!

How perfect is that kit title? "Spring Celebration". Who doesn't celebrate the arrival of warmer weather, birds, daffodils, baseball and people who actually smile at you in the grocery store? Spring in upstate New York is an all-around feel good, tolerate and just clean up the mud in the foyer because it's not snow, time. :) :) :)

Citrus Tree Studio has this adorable kit on sale now. It's filled with pink, brown, teal. American Crafts, Ocotober Afternoon, jenni bowlin...sounds awesome, right? It is! The first thing I did with this kit was drool over this Letterbox pp by American Crafts. I love this coral pink! The stamp is AL with some star dust stickles. Butterfly punch is Martha Stewart (This lady has had to have made a fortune off of this punch alone!! It is the cutest punch ever!)

some glittered, layered butterflies...

{little girl me}

This is one of my favorite childhood photos. I remember this dress! I was 4 1/2 years old...the outfit was a red jumper w/white and red polka dot 3/4 length sleeve blouse. I had fun with the journaling on this lo, and thought I was all original by using the chipboard pieces to frame my journaling. Yeah, right. Original for about a day. haha! These little frames are perfect for framing journaling & layering titles.
I used more butterflies, mounted on the kit's AL buttons. The pearl centers, from my stash, are by Prima.

{everybody's pal}

These pics were taken on my last birthday. I wanted to pose with somebody. LOL! I made the flowers using the kit's October Afternoon pp and pop dotted the AL buttons. (These flowers are wicked easy to make. Just cut out a circle using your scalloped edge scissors or punch and then cut into the circle w/scalloped edge scissors making a circle inside. Then roll it up. The base of the circle will anchor the flower to your lo.)

So, that's what I have to share for now.

Hope you're enjoying your week-end. Yesterday, it was sunnin' out all day long! ;)

Looks like it's going to be another nice day today.

thanks for stoppin' by,

~patti

it's march first!!!!

Spring is right around the corner!!

I made some cards for a springtime card swap that I'm participating in at Citrus Tree Studio. Love the Lizzy pp by AC that has a hint of pink, so one can go w/pink and/or orange as an accent color. I am loving these jenni bowlin butterflies w/bling too. Other stuff is from my long standing stash. :)

I stamped & embossed the BG chip piece on this card.

Have had these jenni bowlin chip buttons for a while now. I think this one looks so cute stamped w/the happy spring AL stamp.
Wicked fun stuff going to be happening at Citrus Tree this month! We're having a crop in two weeks!

Plus, on March 5th, the new kit will become available for purchase. This kit is darling!!

You will love the spring time feel of it! The mood of the kit is so fresh.

Here's a peek:

(AC glitter letters are actually from last month's kit...but wait'll you see what letters come in the March kit! You'll love 'em!) I am loving my MS butterfly punch. I want to use it on every lo and card. Somebody stop me. ;)

What is so fun about the kits at Citrus Tree is that you can use items from each kit from month to month. Cindy is a master at combining product(s). I don't know if she does it on purpose (LOL!) but I love to use product from past kits, combining with the new. So fun!

Looks like it's going to be a beautiful day in upstate NY.....March is coming in like a lamb. I won't think about how it will end then. haha! Hope the sun shines on you today.

~patti

Blue Moon challenge #1.

Blue Moon Scrapbooking is having their very first challenge! Use a vintage photo and a doilie.

Easy & fun!!

This challenge prompted me to go get some copies made of some old photos that I had. When I wasn't satisfied with the results (this is a one horse town...only one choice for photo restoration), I came home and had a gripe session to the hubs and anybody else who would listen. ;)

After that, I thought...Patti, why don't you learn how to scan and fix photos yourself?

So, yesterday I went to Staples and bought PSE8, a scanner, and while I was there, I got more ink for my printer. I am ready. I am set.

The scanner part is wicked easy! I have found an on-line tutorial for the PSE. It takes 2 hours. I plan to complete the tutorial today.

My mom is so happy that I now have a scanner. She is busy sorting through lots of old photos and has a pile for me to scan. (how cute is that?)

My lo is a photo of my mother, taken when she was 8 months old.
(I love that her name & age are hand written on the back of the original photo in my grandma's handwriting.)

~please click for a nice, big view~

I used a Basic Gray doilie...and yes, I had to use the entire doilie. I backed it with a piece of brown bazzill and inked it with Tim Holtz vintage photo (perfect, right?) ink. More BG, and a bit of g*c*d pp, a prima, cut out bird from a MM tag, vintage beaded button from my son's girlfriend (she is always giving me cute found things to use), HS sticker hand stitched w/dmc, cotton trim (RAK from my friend Kayla), 7 Gypsies circle die, TH grunge letters painted with TH Distress crackle paint, TH grunge butterfly w/glitter and Queen & Co. pearls, and finally a tiny metal rattle charm that I've had in my stash forever.


I'm excited to show this lay-out to my mom and want to thank everyone at Blue Moon for the fun challenge!

~patti