Ally's Alley

Bethie's Challenge #2

2010-10-17T14:46:00.005-05:00

Well, the stars must have been aligned just right, as I finally got a chance to do some stamping at the exact same time that the mojo hit! Yippee! I even had some help from my little sidekick, and although he's now a purple, glittery 2-year old, he was pretty well behaved, lol! Bethie's new challenge at PTI goes as follows:

It is time for BethieJ's Challenge #2!

Here is the list for this week:
Stamp Sets
1. Up, Up, and Away
2. Peaceful Poinsettia
3. Tree Trimming Trio

Die Cut:
Clouds

The challenge is to create a card using any or all of these stamp sets or die cuts from PTI. The only other rule is to have fun!

I just love this idea! I have so many sets that I haven't used in forever (some, never!) and to have a resource like this from so many different, talented stampers will be awesome! Enough jabber, here is the card I created.

It's so hard to tell in the picture, but the clouds are glittered and look so pretty IRL! I can't believe this is only the second time I've used this set, there are so many cute images inside. Thanks for looking and I can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

Supplies:
Cardstock: PTI Stampers Select White, Kraft, Spring Moss
Patterned Paper: Basic Grey Urban Prairie
Ink: PTI Smokey Shadow, Spring Moss, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores
Stamps: PTI Up, Up and Away
Other: PTI Linen & Canvas Impression Plate, Raspberry Fizz Button, Cream Twine, Up, Up & Away Dies, Cloud Dies, Machine Sewing, Martha Stewart Fine Glitter

Summer CHA 2010

2010-08-26T16:03:00.007-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting some pictures from our recent family trip to Chicago. We had so much fun together (aside from the wicked heat & humidity that did a number on my arthritis!) and I just love spending time with my guys and sharing new things with the littles'. Of course we had to attend the summer CHA show and all of us actually had a good time. Noah had a blast doing make and takes in the kids' area and Eli loved the bouncer before his nap took over. Mike is such a good sport and made sure I had enough time to see everything I wanted to, he's definately a keeper!

Here's some of the goodies I came home with.
My PTI Purchases

Other goodies bought along the trip....

When we were getting ready to leave the convention, we walked past a big bulletin board at the front of the hall and noticed pictures of different products with peoples names posted underneath. One of the organizers happened to be coming out of the office so I asked her what it was all about and she said it was the days doorprizes. Well after quickly scanning the board thinking that there was no chance I'd be up there, HELLO, there was my name under the EK Success prize. Yippee! I freaked out and had did under all the stuff I had purchased that day to find my ID to claim my prize. Talk about being totally blown away!
The Prize Bag

All the goodies inside....

All in all, it was an amazing day and I'm so glad I was able to attend. (Even getting lost for almost two hours before the show kind of faded once we walked in the doors, lol!) Being able to see the PTI booth and meet the girls in person was pretty amazing! My hands were pretty sore that day so Noah sat down at the Make and Take and told Mish he was making the card for his mommy because her hands were too sore, awwwww! I'm just sorry I wasn't able to meet up with some of the girls from the forum, but hopefully I'll get a chance another day. :)

Blog Hop Time

2010-08-25T21:02:00.006-05:00

I can't believe it's been so long since I posted! Sometimes life just seems to fly by so quickly. I had a chance today to finally get some time working on a few new goodies. This month's challenge at PTI was to use a regular brown paper bag in your creation. Mine definitely isn't the most original, but it sure was nice actually making something for a change! Hope you all have fun hopping!

Supplies:
Cardstock: PTI Stampers Rustic Cream, Kraft, Dark Chocolate
Ink: PTI Dark Chocolate, Scarlet Jewel, Orange Zest
Stamps: PTI For the Graduate, Autumn Tags
Other: PTI Woodgrain Impression Plate, Mat Stack 1 Die, Dark Chocolate Ribbon, Buttons & Twine

Paper Trey Ink Blog Hop

2009-05-25T17:22:00.005-05:00

I finally got a chance to participate in my first blog hop! Yay! Well, in the past 45 minutes I've made Eli supper, the rest of us supper, a card, taken pics, tried to edit them (unsuccessfully, lol) and upload and blog, whew!!! Oh well, at least I managed a post for today! Hope everyone has fun at the hop tonight!!

My Lemon totally photographed green, yuck! I'll try to fix it later once the little ones' are in bed. TFL!!

Supplies:
Cardstock: PTI Stampers Select White, Lemon Tart, Kraft
Ink: PTI Lemon Tart, Smokey Shadow, Fresh Snow
Stamps: PTI Fancy Flourishes, Star Prints, Polka Dot Basics
Other: PTI Melon Berry Vintage Button, Melon Berry Satin Ribbon, PTI Rustic Cream Button Twine, Diamond Stickles, Pebbles Inc. Lemon Shimmer Chalk

Vellum Woes

2009-05-13T19:39:00.003-05:00

Another quickie for tonight. After losing or throwing away so many pieces of scrap paper, I told myself that whenever I cut into some patterned paper I would use it all up in one sitting. So far, so good.

This is just a little, fill the stash card, but I think it's cute. Let me say though, that I went through so many tries stamping on the vellum! What the heck am I doing wrong? I stamped with versamark which I thought was good for pretty much any medium. After so many smudged attempts I finally gave up and just went with this, lol.

After loving all the cute little flowers on Niki's cards lately, I hit Michael's yesterday for some yarn to whip some up. We'll see how it goes, it's been forever since I crocheted!! Now to find a good pattern to follow online. Pardon my photos today, it's been pouring rain all day. Hopefully we'll be done with all this wet before the long weekend!

PTI Designing Women Challenge

2009-05-13T19:06:00.003-05:00

Finally managed to find a few minutes to create something for our first challenge. Peggy's challenge was to create a card using at least one animal and two different designer papers. For the life of me I could not find an animal stamp?!? Instead I found these cute little digital stamps online and couldn't resist. I really love how whimsical the designs are.

I finally got a chance to try my new copics and although it looks like my son did it, lol, I loved colouring him in! Definitely need more practice but boy it's fun! My two patterned papers are Basic Grey, Urban Prairie. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Little Steps

2009-05-01T23:03:00.006-05:00

So, here goes! I've finally set up a little spot on the web to keep track of all my crafty creations. I sure hope I'm able to maintain this, not only for the fact of posting things, but just because if I'm posting I must be creating! And lately, it sure feels that there is precious little time to do much of that at all! I've always loved all things crafty but I've especially spent most creative energy in the last few years on scrapbooking, both paper and digi. Since out littlest man was born last July, time has just been really scarce. A few months ago I figured I would start card making as it would still give me the "paper fix" I need in a shorter time. Ha! I think it must be the perfectionist in me, but it takes me forever to create anything! I want to try and create and post at least one new project each week. Keep your fingers crossed!!

I have a few things I've done in the last couple of weeks (told you I was slow, lol!) This first one is a little set of mini cards with matching envelopes I made for one of Noah's teachers. I packaged them up in Lauren's Captured Card Case template. Love how easy these templates are, even for me!

This next one was actually a quick one I put together the day I received my Life set from PTI. I just love the flowers in this set, so whimsical. I added some glitter to the edges and it's so pretty IRL.

This last one is another little set of cards just for me, lol. I just love the happy colours, so bright & cheerful and not the type of colours I usually go for. Not that I'm not a bright & cheerful person, :), but I generally favor more of the earthy tones.

That's all for me for now. PTI is having a great contest challenge this weekend and I so hope I get time to play. See ya later!

ps
Pardon my photography skills, lol! I just got a new DSLR (Happy early Mom's Day!) and I'm still learning how to use it. Like Katy said, I think I've taken more pics in the last week than I have in the past year!!