witticisms

January Release in Review!

2012-01-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

All righty, folks... this is it.
The big one.
All the marbles.
Every darned last Papertrey Ink January release project for your viewing pleasure :)

{New products available at www.papertryink.com tonight at 10pm EST.}

Let's jump on in!
First up... Celebrations...

Love the large scale words in this set. It's a bit reminiscent of Dawn's Say It With Style set in that way, so if you loved that set, this one will be right up your alley, too.

I heat embossed the words with clear powder on strips of Berry Sorbet, Aqua Mist, and New Leaf cardstocks and added the longer sentiment with a touch of Harvest Gold. This was my attempt at a new-to-me color combo.

Poor Berry Sorbet... she must sit in my paper drawer thinking she's Raspberry Fizz's younger, less popular sister because for some reason, I almost always go for Raspberry over Berry. No idea why... I just do.

BUT.
I believe Berry Sorbet finally grew out of the awkward teenager phase with this one :)
{She's all grown up and sophisticated with that vellum Quatrefoil cover plate embossing behind her.}
Worked her way off of the B team and up to Varsity.
{Paired her up with the popular girls... Aqua and Leaf.}
I think I've finally cured her self-esteem issues.
{She finally got asked to the prom... making it to the Release in Review and all.}

It's a win-win.

Next up... Happily Ever After.

Good grief... if only I'd had the paper-crafting know-how way back when I got hitched. And Pinterest... seriously, brides today have no idea how good they have it, do they? {For the record, we pre-Pinterest brides were lugging around 15lbs of Brides magazines for all of our inspiration. Not the same, folks... not the same.} I woulda flipping paper-crafted the world with save the dates and invitations and thank you's and what-nots.

Oh, wait.

I'm also the same person who broke her 7 year streak of handmade Christmas cards this year.

{I blame it on the darned Christmas play taking up every living breathing moment of my December. Plus the annual Christmas Party of 30 plus people at my rather unkept house. Plus the Christmas shopping that all had to be done in advance. Plus the ill-fated road trip to Colorado.}

So... yeah... maybe the handmade wedding extravaganza wouldn't have actually happened.
But I like to dream.

And my dreams currently feature a super cute save the date card such as this.
Bells & Boughs + Happily Ever After = A Match Made in Heaven :)

{Anyone else out there ever think that Maile Belle's Bells & Boughs set should have been spelled Belles & Boughs to go with Maile's name? Seriously. Think it every darned time I pick that set up. Hopefully now that I've unleashed it on the universe it will live with you instead of me. You're welcome}

A few felt hearts from the Tiny Tags dies take the bells from holiday to wedding day. I added the flower at the top for an extra bridal-y touch :)

Moving on to Tag-its #12...

I went for a rustic elegance kind of feel on this one. The heart image from Tag-its fits nicely inside the largest Heart Prints punch.

I added a bit of Copic coloring to the heart to tie the color scheme together and then added a punch of lemony-lime color with the patterened paper just to keep it fresh.

I think the Vinyard embossing plate really adds an extra umph to this one. Lots of detail for hardly any work. Gotta love that.

Moving in a slightly more vintage direction, here's Lace Bouquet and Think Big Favorites #12...

I'm going to be so sad to see the Think Big Favorites series end after this month... I just find those larger sentiments to be so super easy to plan a card around.

I started this one with a piece of Picadilly patterned paper from Basic Grey. I thought Lace Bouquet would add to the vintage feel of the paper so I overstamped that in Spring Moss. The color here looks a little muddy to me... it's definitely "mossier" in real life :)

For a fun twist on a regular card, I used the new Front & Center #2 die for the top layer. When the sides are stitched (or otherwise adhered), the handle opening of the die-cut makes the perfect spot to hold a gift card!

I shaked, rattled, and rolled this card and yet me tell ya... that gift card is secure. I originally thought I would add some stitching lines along the sides of the gift card but I just didn't need to.

Have you tried the new Front & Center dies yet? I am loving how seriously versatile they are.

And finally... the last Flower Fusion set in the year-long series... #12.

I decided to fancy this one up by using the coordinating die to create a folded fabric flower. It was super, super simple to do. I just used the thin linen I had on hand to cut four flowers out. I just cut them like cardstock and it worked perfectly.

Here you can see the die, the die-cut flower, and the folded flower section that I used to make up the final embellishment.

To get the quartered flower, just fold the flower in half and secure with a glue dot like so...

Then fold it onto itself again and secure with another glue dot.

Stick four of them together and voila...

Pretty, right? A little Spring Moss felt cut with the Pinking Shears border die and the flower is planted :) The Tag Sale #3 die-cuts make for fun mats for the flower and sentiment.

I have a few friends who have started working out with me at 5:15am every morning {kickboxing... good times} and I had one of them in mind when I made this one. Love the sentiment :)

Soooo... thoughts??
I thought this release had a super fun feel to it.

I'm sure the rest of the design team has cooked up a truckload of super fun projects, too, so be sure to stop by...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

This is the newly mature and probably slightly over-confident Berry Sorbet and myself... signing off :)

{Happy Happy Happy} card

Supplies available at 10am (EST) on January 15: Celebrations set

{Wedding Bells} card

Supplies available at 10am (EST) on January 15: Happily Ever After set

{Hello Heart} card

Supplies available at 10am (EST) on January 15: Tag-its #12

{Vintage Birthday} card

Supplies available at 10am (EST) on January 15: Lace Bouquet, Think Big Favorites #12, Front & Center #2 die
Other supplies: Picadilly paper (Basic Grey); For the Record paper (Echo Park)

{You Can Do It!} card

Supplies available at 10am (EST) on January 15: Flower Fusion #12 set & die

Simply Jane

2012-01-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Hey, there, friends!

It's another day in January's Papertrey Ink countdown and the design team is back with another group post! Good times, good times :)

And today's featured set?
Simply Jane. A set dedicated to all things Jane Austen.
{Sigh... even the name is pretty, right?}

In the spirit of Jane, I knew I wanted to go bookish :) I decided to go with something super simple, but also practical. This little set is just one step up from a card, but still easy and do-able. The perfect thank you or birthday card for a friend since it also includes a little bonus gift. Love that.

Let's start with the card first. I knew that I wanted to package the card and bookmark together, so I had that in mind when choosing sizes for the cardlet and bookmark.

I started off by covering the card with some vintage bookprint. I knew that I wanted to use the pretty frame and friends images and I thought the bookprint background would give the cameo look a more updated feel.

I started by heat embossing the frame in white and embossed the figures in gold right inside the frame. The figures are actually a bit longer than the frame, so I used a little masking trick to make the image fit inside the frame.

The new Limitless Layer Ovals die set has a plain oval that fits perfectly right inside the Simply Jane frame. Just use that die to die cut an oval from scrap cardstock, then use the negative of the die cut as a mask for the frame {place the oval opening right over the frame and overlap it at the bottom just a tad}. I like to use a bit of removable adhesive on one side of the negative just to keep things steady. Then stamp the figure image in the frame using VersaMark and remove the mask. Heat emboss and you're done :)

The sentiment at the bottom was a little tricky... I didn't want to add in another color so I was set on using a white background. I didn't want it to fade into the cream bookpage, though, so I added one of the little extra images from Simply Jane on the sides. I love the extra detail!

I have to say... the vintage buttons (from my own garage sale button stash) add so much to the overall feel of the card. They totally seem like something you would find on Jane Austen era style dresses... makes me so happy to get the vintage/modern feeling going. I added an adhesive pearl to the gold button for an extra deail.

The second part of our little gift is the bookmark. The sizing on this one was super simple since I knew I wanted to use one of the Half & Half dies for the bookmark itself. It's the perfect stand-in if you don't have the bookmark die. In order to make a sturdy base, I used the Half & Half die to do three die-cuts... a Raspberry Fizz backing, a thin chipboard base, then the bookprint topper. {I ran the chipboard back and forth through my Big Shot a few times without removing it and had no problems cutting it.} I adhered them all together to make a bookmark that can handle some handling :)

I kept it in the same style as the card... I love doing it that way since that the recipient gets to see it often as opposed to the card which they might put away for safekeeping. I turned the frame and did the same masking trick to add the couple in the center.

I couldn't resist adding a few more buttons, too :) I made a little spot on the bookmark for some dangles by folding adhering black circle over the top edge, then punching through all the layers with a Cropodile tool.

A stand of silk ribbon looped through the hole makes the base for the buttons. I never know what to do with the buttons that have the shanks on the back. It seems like such a shame to cut the shanks off so I was happy to have a way to use them here. I just slid a few onto the ribbon then tied a few knots at the end to keep them on... simple.

Pretty, right? Makes me want to just pick that book up and get lost in it :)

Now that we've had a look at the pieces, let's look back at the packaging. I knew I wanted to create a pocketed something for them and this brown paper craft bag (from Emma's Paperie) fit the bill. {My original idea was to use an envelope and create both items so that they could be mailed flat. When I realized I didn't have any kraft envelopes on hand, I switched to the bag. However... I still think simply dividing an enevelope with a row of stitching would be brilliant as well.}

To do the stitching, I just slipped the items into the top of the bag and marked lines for the bottom, side, and middle stitches. I made sure to leave room for the pretty buttons to show at the top. I ask you... why waste all that vintage prettyness on the inside of the bag?! I say get your money's worth and let them show :)

I also left the pretty top of the bag as an extra detail {as oposed to slipping the items into the bag and cutting off the top edge. Again... why waste the prettiness?}. A few more Simply Jane images on the front finished things off nicely. I didn't worry too much about the left side as I knew the pretty dangles would be covering most of that side.

I have to say... I don't always go for sweet, but man... I think this one is just sweet as sweet can be.
And I know that my fellow Jane Austen-ite friend is going to love it.
And think of me every time she opens her book of choice.
Sorta sneaky of me, right?

What do you think?? Like it?

Seriously... I cannot wait to see what the other girls have up their sleeves for this one! Check 'em out...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

And, yup... I'll be back tomorrow with another big ol' January relase post.
Until then...

{Simply Jane} card & bookmark set supplies

Supplies available at http://www.papertreyink.com/ at 10pm (EST) on January 15: Simply Jane

Other supplies:

InLinkz.com

Mat Stack 5 Collection

2012-01-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas!

What?
You mean not everyone celebrated Christmas just last night with their family like I did??
Yup. Not kidding.
A mere few hours ago.

That's the way we roll :)
Or at least the way we roll after a Christmas trip to see the other side of the family over in snowy Colorado plus a few weeks recovery at home.

{And I mean real recovery. One of my angelic children got all out sick beyond sick in the car on the way back in the middle of Nowhere, Kansas. Cleaning car seats and kiddos on the side of a snowy highway with nary a restaurant or gas station restroom to be found is one parenting hurdle I had hoped never to endure.}

Sooooo... happy holidays!
And for your gift, I'm bringing you a Papertrey Ink post full of new January release goodies :)
{All of today's goodies will be available at papertreyink.com at 10pm EST on January 15.}

By the way... if you're visiting from the Clean and Simple Card Class... welcome! I hope these projects (and the ones to come later this week) fit your craving for CAS :)

Today the design team is focusing on the new Mat Stack 5 Collection set. Ummm... have to say... it's pretty darned cute.

Don't you think?

I used the new Layerz Mat Stack 5 die for the white panel. I knew I wanted to combine sentiments from Mat Stack 5 Collection and the new Script Sentiments set so the Layerz die was perfect for the extra space that I needed. It's the perfect size to work with on an A2 card.

Love the new Script Sentiments, by the way! Isn't that "just because" so pretty?? I thought it was perfect with the Mat Stack sentiment, too.

This set comes with a few different types of stamps... two mat size images and lots of building pieces that you can use separately or together to fill in your mat. Here I've collaged a few of the images together.

Sometimes I feel a little nervous when combining images so I knew to stick to my proverbial design guns and keep it as simple as possible. I only used 3 stamps... the raspberry flower and aqua mist flourishes are actually one stamp. The new ink pads made it super simple to just ink up each section without masking.

I added the Summer Sunrise flower and flourish in Spring Moss to fill things out.

One of the other building images made for a perfect corner stamp, so I added a few details to the rest of the card with that. Some aqua mist buttons tie everything together. I'm so happy with the way it turned out... I love cheery cards :)

I also wanted to make something featuring one of the large mat images...

I love how well the mat images work for layering! I stamped this one in Fresh Snow on Smokey Shadow cardstock and used that as a base for the Happy Day label. The sentiment from Mat Stack 5 Collection nestles in there perfectly.

And that little touch of Filigree Border cut from silver glitter cardstock... love. Seriously. Thinkin I could use those little filigreelets on everything.

Also loving all the detail on the new Lace Die cover plate :) I used it just like an impression plate and sandwiched it with the embossing mats in my Big Shot {Flip one of the tabs up on the base plate up. From the bottom of the sandwich up that would be the base plate, Big Shot plate, cover plate facing up, cardstock, tan and brown embossing mats - I use the mats from my Cuttlebug, Big Shot plate.}

For an extra shot of color up at the top I just ran a yellow Copic across one side of some silk ribbon to create some half and half ribbon :) Love the playful touch it adds. A little extra silver glitter paper at the top adds some shine.

It wasn't intentional, but this card kind of came out with a wedding-y vibe. Perfect timing as I just got a save the date card in the mail... for two of our former youth group kids.
Yeah.
Seriously.
Feeling my age over here ;)

Don't forget to check out the other Mat Stack 5 goodness that rest of the design team is bringing you today...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

That's all, folks!
Back tomorrow with more new goodies.
And... Merry Christmas :)

{Just Because} card supplies

Supplies available at 10am (EST) on January 15: Mat Stack 5 Collection, Script Sentiments, Layerz Mat Stack 5 die

Supplies available now:

{All the Best} card supplies

Supplies available at 10am (EST) on January 15: Mat Stack 5 Collection, Lace Die cover plate

Supplies available now:

Santa Box

2011-12-20T09:55:00.000-06:00

Just thought I'd pop in with a little holiday project from the depths of my crafting files today!

I had a special present to give last year and thought I would do a little special packaging for it. I was trying to make it in the style of the recipient so I was reaching a bit outside of my typical look, lol! Lots of embellishments :)

I love the little Santa sticker! That is an oldie from Emma's Paperie. She carries some things from a company called B.Shackman... super beautiful, vintage-y stuff. I added some vintage lace, glass glitter, tinsel, and a simple stamped tag to along with Santa.

If only I could get to the point of wrapping presents this year :)
It's on the to-do list.
Can anyone relate??

{Santa} gift box
Stamps - Tiny Tags (PTI), Juliette (SEI)
Ink - Fresh Snow & Chamomile (PTI), Sahara Sand (SU)
Paper - Vintage Cream (PTI)
Sticker - B.Shackman
Other - ribbon (October Afternoon), lace (Webster's), glass glitter (Twinklets), vintage tinsel

December Release in Review!

2011-12-15T06:00:00.000-06:00

Well, folks...
here it is...
the post with one meeeeelion pictures in it :)

I'll be sharing the last of my December release projects.
Excited, aren't ya?

So let's jump right in!
Starting with Tag-its #11...

I always love it when such little stamps can have such big impact :) I started with that cute little open heart and then gave it a big ol' base by embossing the Parisian Lace die on the card base. {I love how when it's embossed on white it totally emulates a doily but without the layer.}

ETA: I've had lots and lots of emails coming my way asking how to do this little magic embossing trick :) So here it is! Basically, you will use this die, or ANY die, exactly as you would use a PTI Impression Plate. I use a Big Shot and this is the way that works best for me. Starting from the bottom up:

Big Shot multi-purpose platform opened to Tab 1
cutting plate
die, face up
cardstock
tan & chocolate embossing mats
cutting plate

If you are using a Cuttlebug, start by using the die with the same sandwich you would use for an Impression Plate and you should get the embossed result from your die.

Let me know if that helps!

I used a bit of the brand new Aqua Mist felt to add another heart in the middle... that anchors the little Tag-its sentiment while the open heart anchors the bigger Think Big Favorites #11 sentiment.

It's likely that I'll be stealing this layout for use on some more projects :)

Next up... Tremendous Treats: Valentine...

kind of a fun one :)

I really wanted to combine this set with the original smaller version so I thought I would play off of the large/small images by coming up with something with some quality of perspective. So boats it is!

The smaller Tiny Treats boats appear to be further away in the background while the larger Tremendous Treat boat is much closer, and therefore larger, in the foreground.

And lookie... I made one of the small boats face the opposite direction...

I wanted to add a bit of variety in the boats so I decided to mirror one of them.

It's super simple. Really all you need is a solid stamp large enough to stamp the image you want to mirror (in this case, the boat) onto. When looking through my stamp drawer, the first one I came across that would work was the large bloom in the Christmas Poinsettia set.

Ink up the image you want to mirror, then stamp it directly on the solid stamp...

When you lift it up, the inked image should be left on the solid stamp and ready for you to stamp on your project.

Magic, right?

A few tips. First off... this isn't a project for dawdling :) Be quick about it and huff on the image to refresh it if needed.

Also, you may want to experiment with the ink you use. I used Memento ink for this project since I knew I'd be coloring the images with Copics.

As for putting together the rest of the card, I used the large scallop border die as well as some scallop scissors to create the waves. I wanted the waves to get smaller to keep with the perspective.

The real key to this card is foam tape.
Lots and lots of foam tape...

And now, for another magic trick, I will transform the label from the new Happy Everything set into an acorn...

Ta-da!

I'm here all night, folks.
Mostly cause I live here :)

Seriously, I saw that label and could not get the image of an acorn out of my mind. So, I went directly to my dies and pillaged and plundered them until I came across a suitable acorn shape to go with the label.

And lo and behold... I found the *perfect* acorn die.
It generally goes by the name "Love Birds" but personally, that birdcage shape will now always be an acorn to me :) I used the new Canyon Clay cardstock and man... LOVE. It's the perfect pumpkin-y color I've been dreaming of. {Now, if all I have to do is get Nicole to come out with a deep, summery yellow and my color dreams are complete.} I added a little houndstooth for fun.

And the stem and leaves from Flower Fusion #11 just pushed the whole acorn theme over the top :)
I trimmed the stem off and stuck the leaves right on top.

So, to recap, starting from the top of the acorn I used three dies...
1. the Flower Fusion stem die for the leaves
2. the Happy Everything label die for the acorn top (I trimmed it off just below the dotted line and then
trimmed the curve down at the sides just a bit) and
3. the large Love Birds die for the body of the acorn.

A few buttons and a Flower Fusion #11 sentiment to finish it all off.
The quirkiness of it totally makes me happy :)

And now, for a very girly project...

I'm not gonna lie. I kind of like the fact that my only daughter shares a birthday with my older son. It means that I have to find a theme that will work for both... and that means we don't have to go all out girly.

But I know my day is coming.
It will be pink.
It will be princess-y.

So I'm breakin' myself in gently with this one.

Obviously, a fancy princess party calls for a fancy invitiation, so I used a copy weight shimmer paper that I had in my stash. I stamped the images from the new Little Princess set in Black Memento ink... it turns a shimmery gray on the paper. Some simple Copic action turned the castle into the Kingdom of Pink.

I borrowed the lines from the Gratitude Journal set and the little filigree border from Love & Marriage. The lines are there so that the Royal Mother can fill them in with a few party details :)

And, since the invite would, theoretically, be going to a beautiful bevy of other little princesses, I thought it would be appropriate to wrap it up scroll-style and wrap it with a pretty bauble fit for a princess (i.e. costume jewelry that Mrs.Claus may or may not have poached from Noelle's Christmas stocking stash).

I'm thinking that any little princess would love to be handed an invitation like this, right??

Next up... Lock & Key...

I wanted to go in a more masculine direction with this, so I stuck with a simple design in neutrals plus a few pops of red. The keys are all attached in a single die, so I just lined it up on the white layer and did a single pass in the Big Shot to get all the keys cut.

Pretty sweet how it looks like I painstakingly lined all the those keys up, right?

I cut the single key out of Smokey Shadow then stamped it with True Black. Some baker's twine and a little felt heart finish it off.

Totally love the look of a negative die cut :)

So much so that I used it on this card, too...

Get it?

Seriously, sometimes I make these things and when I'm all done I go... um... what if no one gets it??

I die cut the snowman on the front of a white card then added a layer of Aqua Mist cardstock to the inside and a layer of clear cardstock to the back of the card front. That way, the Aqua Mist shows through but you still have the clear cardstock layer to attach the missing snowman's scarf to.

I love this little one. It's perfect to send off to a friend in the great snowy tundra of Denver :)

So there you have it. My last PTI release projects for the year! Time to finish up the Christmas shopping and have a little Christmas present wrapathon.

And, oh yeah, get started on those 140 Christmas cards. Feeling a wee bit nervous about that one.

In the meantime, though, there are lots of other projects to be seen today. And I mean LOTS. So check 'em all out...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

{XOXO} card
Available 12/15, 10pm EST - Tag-its #11, Think Big Favorites #11; Aqua Mist felt

{You Float My Boat} card
Available 12/15, 10pm EST - Tremendous Treats: Valentine

{Hello, Friend} card
Available 12/15, 10pm EST -Flower Fusion #11, Happy Everything stamps & die; Canyon Clay cardstock

{Princess Party} invite
Available 12/15, 10pm EST - Little Princess, Lock & Key
Other - copy weight shimmer paper (unknown)

{Key to My Heart} card
Available 12/15, 10pm EST -Lock & Key stamps & die

{Missing You} card
Available 12/15, 10pm EST -Made of Snow Mini stamps & die

Love & Marriage

2011-12-14T06:00:00.000-06:00

Hello, again!

Back with more Papertrey Ink countdown goodies :)

We're bringing you a set by Nichole today... a set dedicated to all things lovely.
As in... love :)

Here's my take on the new Love & Marriage...

This idea started with a simple idea of combining Love & Marriage with the Heart Prints dies. I had this image in my mind of embossing the large heart, then overlapping another embossed heart so that they were combined.

I liked the idea, but I couldn't get the execution to work.
{Tell me I'm not the only one who has that problem sometimes!}

But... that idea inspired this one :)

I used the same dies (the large heart die coordinates with the large heart image in this set, by the way, I just didn't use that image here) to cut three large hearts - one each from White, Raspberry Fizz, and Pure Poppy. Here's what I started with, along with the die...

I started by ovelarpping the red heart onto the white heart...

Right where the white and red hearts overlap is the section we want to fill with Raspberry Fizz, so I just took the already cut Raspberry Fizz heart, added a tiny bit of removable adhesive to the front, then line up the heart like so...

One more run through the Big Shot and I had the perfectly perfect shape to put in the center section.

Now, obviously... you could just use one heart to trace the appropriate Raspberry Fizz section to cut out and add to the embellishment. I was pretty set on using the die, though, since I wanted the new section to have those pretty smooth edges just like the first two hearts.

I love how it really emphasizes the idea of two hearts as one :)
Although I was envisioning this card as an anniversary card, the same idea could be used for lots of love occasions.

I am so totally into the sentiments in this set... the fonts are just beautiful, right?
Therefore, I had to use more than one :)

I choose a few (or 5) that would emphasize the anniversary theme and left out the ones that were more wedding-ish. They fit together easily.

I added the red accents to keep the color going and the eye moving throughout the bottom of the card. Seriously, I could use that tiny felt heart die cut on so. many. things.
And I do :)
{It's from the butterfly die in the Love Lives Here die collection. You're welcome :) }

And now... here's your chance to check out what the rest of the team has come up with for Love & Marriage. Can't wait to see their lovely projects myself!

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

{You & Me} card

Supplies not available at this time, but available beginning 12/15:

Love & Marriage stamp set

White Cardstock (PTI)	Soft Stone Cardstock	Pure Poppy Ink	VersaMark ink	Filigree White embossing powder	Pure Poppy felt
Heart Prints die collection	Love Lives Here Die Collection (PTI)

InLinkz.com

Rosie Posie

2011-12-13T06:00:00.000-06:00

Happy Tuesday, all!

It's a fun day for the Papertrey Ink team. We're coming at you with our first group post for December's release... yay!

And tonight's assignment?

Rosie Posie.

{I know... even the darned name of the set is cute. That's a good sign :) }

But not just Rosie Posie...

Rosie Posie plus inspiration.

ANY inspiration we want.

You mean my assignment is to hang out on pinterest with the sole idea of looking for things I like?

Yeah, I know.

Sweet :)

So... first up...

Anthropologie... did you guess?

In.

Love.

Love the pattern.

Love the color.

LOVE the texture.

And, gee... don't you just love the $158 price tag for a beautiful but impractical bread container?

Riiiiight :)

Obviously, I will adore it from afar.

And by that, I mean Pinterest :)

And here's what the beautiful and unattainable inspiration piece inspired...

I have to say... once I got going, I had to resist the urge to add a pop of color.
Instinct, I tell ya.
BUT.
I didn't do it.
And I'm so glad.

Rosie Posie has a set of 3 coordinating dies, so I started by die cutting several of the stem/leaf image and a few of the flowers (all using Vintage Cream cardstock). All the images were stamped with VersaMark and then heat embossed with clear powder. I wanted the images to have that shiny glaze that the inspiration piece has.

I started with a white card base, but I put a vellum overlay on top to give that translucent feel. I also wanted to play around with the placement of all the elements, so I trimmed the large stem and leaves apart, leaving 2 large leafs from each die cut. That gave me lots of versatility in making everything fit together.

It was fun to puzzle piece it all :)

I added the sentiment on Kraft to echo that pretty lid but I switched it to the bottom to ground everything. A little silk ribbon helps add some softness.

Sweet, right?

Next up... a photo I saw a few weeks ago and hid away for such a time as this :)
I love this girl.
I love what she's wearing.
To be specific, I mean every single item.

I mean... if I had to leave one thing off... I'd say the shoes.
Because I'm a shorty and I need some sandles with some height, folks.

But other than that, I kid you not when I say I have some serious thrifting plans for this outfit. I already have the shirt and skirt figured out from my closet, but I need to work on the sweater {lost my bright yellow Tardigan - that would be a Target cardigan - somewhere :( }, clutch, and tie.

Yes, I will wear a tie.
Do not be surprised when you see me in the outfit look-alike at CHA, my friends.

But back to the point :)

As much as I've drooled over this picture, I had to reasses my card plans.
You know what? I just had to pull it back to my natural instinct.
I kept trying to do too much... too much color on top of too much color.

In the end, because the inspriation colors we re so bright, I went back to my good ol' white card base and whew... immediately I felt so much better :)

I am loving how all of the flowers in Rosie Posie work together! I think the large cabbage rose is officially my favorite PTI flower ever :) I die cut all of the pieces then stamped and embossed in clear. If it's not already clear {haha!}, I consider clear and white embossing powders the wonder drugs of any simple card.
Buy them.
Use them on everything.
Love them.
Buy another.

I added a strip of silver glitter paper at the bottom of the card to pull in that silver clutch. The little sentiment is from Lisa's new Happy Everything set and yup... that's embossed in clear, too :)

The Rosie Posie goodness continues on... just check out what the rest of team was inspired to do with this one...

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Go on, now... mosey on over to check 'em all out :)
But first... any thoughts on today's projects?
As always, I'd love to know what you think!

Happy Tuesday!

{Thanks So Much} card

Supplies not available now, but available on 12/15:

Rosie Posie stamp set, Rosie Posie Die Collection

White Cardstock (PTI)	Vintage Cream Cardstock	Kraft Cardstock (PTI)	Vellum Cardstock	VersaMark ink	Filigree Clear Embossing Powder
Filigree White embossing powder	Silk Ribbon - 1/4"

{Happy Day} card

Supplies not available now, but available on 12/15:

Rosie Posie stamp set, Happy Everything stamp set, Rosie Posie Die Collection

Other Supplies: Silver Glitter Cardstock (Best Creation); yellow cardstock (unknown)

White Cardstock

Vintage Cream Cardstock

Raspberry Fizz Cardstock

Sweet Blush Cardstock

VersaMark ink

Filigree Clear Embossing Powder

Tree Tops - Papertrey Ink Countdown!

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-06:00

It's Monday, folks.
I know, I know.

But at least it's a Monday filled with Papertrey Ink countdown goodness, right?

And my part of the countdown kicks off today with a new set from Melissa Bickford called Tree Tops...

It's a sweet, sweet set filled with a tree trunk image and interchangeable toppers for the tree... obviously, I had to go for the one that looked like little snowflakes first.

I started by stamping the trunk with Dark Chocolate and then embossed the snowflakes in white around the trunk. The ink on the trunk was still a bit damp, so some of the embossing powder settled down on it... I love how it makes for a bit of a snow-blown effect on the tree :)

It seemed that the snowy tree needed a few snowy friends, so I pulled out a super old and well-loved snowman punch and glittered a few of the punches right up. They nestled down in the snow drift die cuts while the tree sits behind.

This card has a bit of a surprise...

The main kraft panel is actually a gift enclosure envelope. I just trimmed the flap off, stamped and decorated the front, then adhered it down on the glittered cardstock layer. The ribbon is threaded between the snowdrift layers and around the binside of the card so it that prevents the gift card from falling out.

Super easy to do since the gift card pocket is basically already made for you :)

One of the other tree topper images is a more modern take on the tree... open circles in various sizes.

LOVE it.
And totally gave in to the instinct to just fill every darned circle with a rhinestone.
Seriously. Just do it. Release any instinct you might have to hoard all of those tiny beauties until the end of time and just go ahead and use them on this card :)

A little over the top?
Why, yes, it is.

That's what makes it one-of-a-kind, right? :)

I used the new Layerz Mat Stack 4 die to create a special spot for the tree, then embossed that cardstock panel with the Woodgrain plate, then stamped the sentiment.

If you don't want the impression pattern to show through your sentiment, just make sure you stamp before doing the impressing. I think it can be a cool effect when it does show through, though, so that's what I went for here.

And since I was kind of crushing on the open circle topper so much, I just had to... HAD to... use it with this little guy...

I could not help myself.
The image of little fish here swimming along... his little bubbles floating up around him... it was just too much.
It had to be done.

So I pulled out my ever-trusty clear cardstock and made a plan. I started with a base card and added a few sandy layers at the bottom with the In the Meadow dies. (Yup, used em as snow up above and sand down here.)

Fishy came from the new Tremendous Treats: Valentine set and was stamped with Memento ink then colored with Copics.

I went ahead and put the clear cardstock layer over the card and stamped the tree topper/bubbles with Staz On ink in white. I'm telling you, it was totally meant to be because the bubbles nestled together *perfectly.*

Just a note... be careful when you're stamping on the clear cardstock. It's super simple, you just need to press the stamp down carefully. Keep a baby wipe or damp paper towel on hand and if you feel like you need to make another attempt, just firmly rub the ink off super fast.

Voice of experience here :)

I added a tiny dot of Diamond Glaze (clear, liquid adhesive/embellishment) to the smallest bubbles and let it dry completely. I love, love, love that part! It gives the bubbles such realistic dimension.

I pulled the sentiment from the original Tiny Treats and added it right over the bubbles.

So there you have it... just a few ideas with the new Tree Tops set.
Thoughts?? I hope you like them!

You can stop by and see what Lisa Johnson and Melissa Bickford are up to today, too :)
Back tomorrow with more...

Peace Love Joy card
Supplies not available now, but available on the 15th: Tree Tops stamp set

Winterberry stamp set	Kraft Cardstock (PTI)	White Cardstock (PTI)	Holiday Flourishes & Swirls	Gift Enclosure Envelope (Kraft)
True Black Ink (PTI)	VersaMark ink	In the Meadow Snowdrift Die	Raspberry Fizz ribbon	Filigree White embossing powder
Prisma Glitter

One-of-a-Kind Friend card
Supplies not available now, but available on the 15th: Tree Tops stamp set, Tree Tops die, Layerz Mat Stack 4 die

Friends 'til the End stamps (PTI)

Kraft Cardstock (PTI)

White Cardstock (PTI)

Woodgrain Impression Plate (PTI)

Harvest Gold Twill Tape (PTI)

Rhinestones (PTI)

You're a Great Catch card
Supplies not available now, but available on the 15th: Tree Tops stamp set, Tree Tops die

Tiny Treats: Valentine	White Cardstock (PTI)	Aqua Mist CS	Kraft Cardstock (PTI)	Clear Cardstock
True Black Ink (PTI)	London Fog Ink - Memento	StazOn Opaque Ink - Cotton White	Copics - Aqua Mist Collection	Copics - Summer Sunrise Collection
Diamond Glaze	In the Meadow Snowdrift Die

InLinkz.com

Uncommon Friend

2011-12-05T12:00:00.000-06:00

Hey, there, everyone!

I wanted to share this little one with you today... it's one of my projects for Emma's Paperie from the last few weeks...

All of us used the sketch available on the Emma's Paperie blog. I went for a scrappy/stampy mix. I'm a sucker for a good newsprint, so I started with that.

I wanted to give it a bit of a funky twist, so I added a little die-cut negative over the sticker. I just die-cut the butterfly, then used a circle punch to punch the circle right through the butterfly. Super simple but it makes it feel a bit more modern than simply applying the die-cut.

A little sticker/stamp combo at the bottom makes the sentiment. Yes, I meant to stamp "friend" so that it went off the page... I just like the flow of it :)

I am deep in the midst of making release projects, performing in a local Christmas play, decorating the house, prepping for our annual Christmas party, and {hopefully} starting Christmas cards... a little behind on that one :)

Feeling the Christmas deadlines... anyone else??

In Bloom stamps	White Cardstock (PTI)	True Black Ink (PTI)	PP - Two of Us (MME)
Out of Print Element Stickers (Basic Grey)	Uncommon Diction Stickers (Authentique)	Striped Cotton Ribbon - Natural (May Arts)	Love Lives Here Die Collection (PTI)

Happy Thanksgiving card

2011-11-24T00:00:00.000-06:00

Hello, all!

Are you taking a break from cooking and eating??

Right now, I'm either cooking, eating, starting up the Witty Family Christmas Card Sweatshop, or making my shopping plan of attack for tomorrow :)

But, in honor or today... I thought I'd pop in and leave you with this little sweetie of a Thanksgiving card.

Enjoy!

Stamps - Autumn Acorns (PTI)
CS - Kraft (PTI)
Ink - Dark Chocolate (PTI)
PP - Portrait Bridesmaid Pattern Paper by Crate Paper, Portrait Bouquet Pattern Paper (Crate Paper)
Stickers - Portrait Border Stickers by Crate Paper, Portrait Phrase Stickers (Crate Paper), Emma's
Shoppe Phrase Stickers (Crate Paper)
Other - Button Twine (PTI)

Thankful Blessings...

2011-11-23T11:39:00.000-06:00

Hey, there!

Here's a little card that works for both Thanksgiving and Christmas...

It was published in Paper Crafts Card Creations earlier this year but I thought I'd save it for the season. It's a fun little project because I was able to use one of those rather large stickers that comes on a 12x12 sheet of stickers. I love those sheets for the number of elements on them, but sometimes they can be a bit awkwardly sized for cardmaking.

I stuck the sticker on my card front, leaving a bit of the sticker hanging over the top edge of the card. (I trimmed the overhanging part right off.) Then I just cut the card front along the spine right up to the sticker and all the way around it. That left the card with a little sticker shaped card frontlet - perfect for sticking a litle money underneath :) I stamped the inside of the card with Papertrey's Text Style background and the outside and inside of the sticker with a few sentiments from Technique Tuesday. I have a old Making Memories interchangable tool that makes the slots to hold the bill and added the magnets to hold the flap shut.

I think it looks pretty with the ribbon sticking out from underneath.
Kind of a fun layout for a change of pace, right?

Anyone else going to brave the grocery store today?
I, of course, put that off until today so wish me luck and survival skills!

{Blessings} card
Stamps - Text Style (PTI); Technique Tuesday
CS - Kraft (PTI)
Ink - Fresh Snow, Dark Chocolate (PTI)
Ribbon - Ripe Avocado (PTI)
Sticker - Jovial (Basic Grey)

November Release Projects

2011-11-14T22:30:00.000-06:00

Hello, there, everyone!

We're starting up something new tonight and bringing you a bonus post from the Papertrey Ink design team. This way you can check out all of the projects we've created for each month's release right away.

Soooo... here goes :)

Starting out with one of my favorites this time around... a combination of Flower Fusion #10, Glory Be, and Background Basics: Circles...

The black, white, and gray combo is broken up by the new Circle background (love using that set with white ink!) and the whole thing is set off by the bright pop of color from the flower and the felt. The little frame for the heart was made from a Love Lives Here die cut - I die cut it and then used a circle punch on it to get the heart within the circle. It serves as the "dot" on top of the "i."

Totally loving the new Alpha Block die :) I have a few other cards in mind with that one, so more to come there. I could have die cut another letter from the new Alpha Block die for the "i," but I had already used the Flower Stem die with some black felt so I just went ahead and cut the stem part off to make the "i" instead.

A little Glory Be sentiment grounds everything at the bottom. I love how happy this one turned out :)

Speaking of happy...

Could that little banner from Tag-it's be any cuter? I just kept connecting them for a little party look. I masked one tiny spot where they overlap... super easy.

Some simple Copic coloring brightens everything up.

I added it again right under the sentiment... just couldn't help myself :)

And I couldn't let it go even when I moved on to Winter Penguin...

It's just the right length for little penguin there!

The wrap is actually a Tag Sale #1 die. I just scored it and folded it around the rock candy treat. I used the hole that's at the top and a standard hole punch to make a second hole in the back, then tied the ribbon through to hold everything together. Very simple and a nice way to get a different use out of those handy tag sale dies.

I used the Winter Penguin die for penguin guy and his hat, then set him on top of a little snowy (glittery) background.

I traded the happy banner for a happy cupcake on this one...

Kind of sweet, right?

The stamps are from the new Birthday By the Numbers set. In my mind, a cupcake is nothing but a delivery method for the icing, so I stamped the icing in a pretty pink and topped it off with a big ol' "frosting" flower.

Can you guess what I made the cupcake liner out of?
I'll give you a hint... it was something I had on hand.

Hey, gotta put those Starbucks sleeves to use somehow, right?
I just stamped the liner image on the front of the liner, then cut it out and flipped it over to under my cupcake. A little glitter on the edge fancies it up.

And for the final trick on this card, I put the new Quatrefoil Cover Plate die to use as an impression plate instead.

I layered the vellum with the embossing mats to get the embossed image. I have a big Shot and had to play around just a bit with the right combination of the bottom layer with a few thin cardstock shims. I love the look of it, though... you can really get two uses out of it instead of one.

A little clear cardstock overlay adds to the depth and gave me a spot to add the gold embossed sentiment.

My project using November's Willow set has a bit of embossing as well...

I love how the trunk and the leaves are two separate images. I'm always on the lookout for a different way to pair things up with images like that and I thought that the new Mega Mehndi Medallion set was just the right size.

I embossed the medallion on a piece of patterend paper. I knew I wanted to pair it with this sentiment, so I wanted it to look unique and special.

Bonus in that the Mega Mehndi image also fits nicely on top of the Mehndi Impression Plate.

And, finally... a tiny project using Tiny Tags II.
It starts with cake pops.

I made some cake pops this week to send off to a baby shower and had a few left over. A bit of paper and some tiny tags to dress them up turns them right into some quick mini thank you gifts.

Seriously... don't you think that the wrapping really makes a simple gift something more than it started as?
I have a theory that every gift is better in a glassine bag :)

Therefore, I wrapped each one in a glassine bag, then wrapped a simple strip of patterned paper around it. I punched a hole in the center and tied my ribbon around to hold everything together.

A little baker's twine and a few flowers dress up my tiny tags.

And that's super embellish-y to me.
I kinda love them, though, so I guess a little voyage out into Embellishment Land does me good, sometimes :)

So, there you have it!
Everything I've got for the November release.

And, now, for all the November projects the rest of the design team has, head on over...

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Thanks for stopping by!
Any thoughts on your favorites from this release?

{i just love you} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #10, Glory Be, Background Basics: Circles
Cardstock - Smokey Shadow, White
Ink - True Black, Fresh Snow, Summer Sun (SU)
Dies - Block Alphabet, Flower Fusion #10, Flower Fusion Stem, Love Lives Here
Other - Pure Poppy felt, True Black ribbon

{Happy Winter} candy wrap
Stamps - Winter Penguin
Cardstock - Soft Stone, White
Ink - Smokey Shadow, Aqua Mist, True Black, Fresh Snow
Dies - Winter Penguin, Tag Sale #1
Other - Rasberry Fizz ribbon, Silk Ribbon, Aqua Mist buttons, Summer Sunrise buttons, Prisma glitter

{Happy Birthday Banners} card
Stamps - Tag-its #10
Cardstock - White, Aqua Mist
Ink - True Black, Copics
Die - Double-ended Banner

{Happy Birthday Cupcake} card
Stamps - Birthdays By the Numbers
Ink - Versamark, Pretty in Pink (SU)
Cardstock - White, Clear, Vellum
Die - Mat Stack 5
Cover Plate - Quatrefoil die
Other - Cream ribbon, Filigree Gold embossing powder

{Never Forgotten} card
Stamps - Willow, Mega Mehndi Medallion
Ink - Spring Moss, Versamark
Cardstock - Soft Stone
PP - Mix & Match (Basic Grey)
Die - Love Lives Here
Other - Filigree White embossing powder, Autumn Rose

{Vintage} pop wraps
Stamps - Tiny Tags II
Inks - Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Tea Dye Duo, Pumpkin Pie (SU)
Cardstock - White
PP - Prairie Grass, Eat at Joe's, Farm Fresh Eggs (Basic Grey)
Die - Tiny Tags
Other - Small glassine bags, baker's twine; Aqua Mist, Orange Zest, & Ripe Avocado ribbon

Stitches & Swirls

2011-11-13T22:59:00.000-06:00

Hello, again!

Back for Papertrey Ink's second design team countdown post... yay!

The set we're focusing on today is super sweet and right in line with what I think of as "classic" Papertrey...
Stitches & Swirls.

And then I went and did something all NOT classic.
Or, at least, it's all new to me :)

Do you like it? I hope so.

I'm always trying to stretch my resources... figure out new ways to use what I already have and that sort of thing. In terms of crafting supplies, other than my Papertrey items, I don't tend to accumulate much.

I know... kinda weird for a paper crafter, right?
:)

I just really like to stretch myself by figuring out something new to do with something old.

In this case, the old would be just basic stamps although, yes, the design is new :)

Instead of going for my standard stamped card, I started off with a small, gallery wrapped canvas.
Just a simple one that you can pick up at your local craft store will do.

I stamped a few of the Stitches & Swirls images right on top.

Looks pretty awesome... right?

Um... no.
Important (and freeing) to note that we're going to be painting over everything later, so guess what?
No perfect stamping required!

Did you hear me??
This is a NO PERFECTION project :)

Basically, we're just looking to use the stamped image as an outline.

I found it easiest to forgo the acrylic block when stamping and just press the image onto the canvas with my fingers. Because the canvas is, obviously, fabric and it has both places of being backed by the frame and places without a backing, it's hard to get all of the areas stamped down when using a block.

For the next step, we're going to add some sort of 3D liquid.

After a little trial of the 4 types of liquid glue that I own (Scotch Quick Dry, Beacon Felt Glue, and Beacon Gem Tac) as well as trying some fabric puffy paint, I found I got the best results with the Glossy Accents.

Basically, you just want to go over your stamped image with the glue or paint. I tried it on scratch paper and determined that the other options tended to flatten out and run together a bit more than the Glossy Accents. Use whatever you have... remember? This is a NO PERFECTION project :)

The only note I'd make is that if you're wondering why I didn't just stamp the image and heat emboss it with some ultra thick powder... I can tell you that it really does not give the same result. You can see that when stamping on a canvas, the stamped images likely won't be clear, causing the embossing to be messy. Also, liquid glue offeres a lot more depth to the project.

I did notice on my practice sheet that the smaller flowers (the round flowers) were a bit more tricky, so I just eliminated those. I took a few other liberties here and there with adding loops, taking away details, etc. You can also see that I tried to use thicker lines of glue where I had a bit more space to work with and scaled back to thinner lines for smaller images and spaces.

At the bottom I added some simple letters to spell out my daugher's current nickname :)

I set my little Lulu project aside for a few hours to let everything dry. Because I used a dye based ink to stamp my images, at this point I was able to rub off the extra images with a damp paper towel. My canvas happened to be primed first with gesso, so the excess ink came off with just a swipe of the towl.

Finally, I spray painted the whole shebang.

I know... it's still white :)
But the glue dries clear, not white, plus you can see all of the ink underneath the glue, so spray paint is the secret weapon in this project.

I started with a white primer for plastic (since the letters I used were plastic). Basically, I already had it, so I went ahead and used it. This project is going to be hung up in Noelle's room, so it will only be handled rarely. Because of that, I would have felt fine using regular spray paint on it, but like I said, I already had the primer, so I used it. After a light coat of that, it got a light coat of glossy white spray paint.

I love how the white really allows the texture and the raised images to take center stage.
Plus, it has the vintage meets modern feel that I love for Noelle's {future} room.
That is one of those projects that has grand plans, but no start date.
Soon and very soon, though :)

So, there you have it... a non-classic take on what I think might become a PTI classic :)

The technique itself can be applied to lots of different images. I was saving this idea for some countdown images that I knew I could use in Lulu's room, so I am loving the results! What do you think?

I'm sure the other design team gals have come up with some stunners... can't wait to check out what everyone else saw in Stitches & Swirls!

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Thanks for stopping by!
Later!

{Lulu} canvas
Stamps - Stitches & Swirls
Ink - Smokey Shadow
Other - Glossy Accents, wrapped canvas, spray paint primer for plastic, glossy white spray paint

Door to Door

2011-11-12T22:59:00.000-06:00

It's about that time...

time for Papertrey Ink's November release!
Woohoo!

The design team is coming at you today with one of this month's new sets...
Door to Door.

Such a sweet set... two doors and lots of elements to frame them and accessorize them. I fell right in love with the wondow surround and the leaded glass inserts... totally the makings of stained glass.

I sort of have a thing for stained glass.
As in, I have randomly stopped in churches just to check out the stained glass from the inside.
True story.

Fortunately for me (and you!), this stained glass is about the easiest you'll ever see :)

First off, I embossed the door surround in white on Soft Stone cardstock...

A craft knife plus a ruler was all it took to remove the panels where we want the "glass" to show through. The key here is to start very gently with the knife and make several passes over each line to cut all the way through the cardstock.

I stamped the surround again... this time with permanent ink on a piece of clear cardstock. I waited a few seconds for the ink to dry, then flipped the image over and did a little basic coloring on the back side with some Copics. This left the "lead" in the stained glass on the top side of the "glass" with the color underneath... just a simple way to add some dimension.

Then I adhered the clear cardstock surround behind the Soft Stone surround. Because of the holes, I was able to line it right up. Trimming the whole thing out was super easy due to all the straight lines. A little foam adhesive behind the cardstock gives some nice depth behind the windows...

Seriously, this is the easiest coloring you'll ever do with your Copics :)

I especially love how there is no need to smooth out the color on the windows... the natural differences in shade are so reminiscent of real glass to me.

For those of you who have Copics, but are a little intimidated, use this technique.
No shading... no perfection required :)

The Door to Door set includes a sweet little banner image with lots of sentiments to choose from. A little welcome home banner and some numbers at the bottom of the door make for a cozy little congratulatory card for friends with a new home. Door to Door pairs really perfectly with the Love Lives Here set... I used one of the sentiments from that set to finish the front off.

And a few sentiments from Congrats All Ways finishes the inside off...

For more all new, super spectacular projects featuring Door to Door, just head on over to the rest of the design team...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Those girls just never cease to amaze me.

And, if you're interested in one more super easy Copic technique, well, look no further...

Noelle has completed her first Copic masterpiece.
At 2 years old.
On my Versamark pad.

I would stick with the clear cardstock if I was you :)
Just sayin.

I would love to hear your thoughts... on Noelle's project or mine :)

{Love Lives Here} card
Stamps - Door to Door, Love Lives Here, Congrats All Ways, Simple Alpha
Cardstock - Soft Stone, White, Clear
Ink - True Black, Smokey Shadow, Versamark, Staz On Black
Copics - R29, BG11, YR15, T4
Die - Door to Door
Impression Plate - Canvas
Other - Aqua Mist ribbon, Vintage Cream felt, Filigree White embossing powder

Pretty Princess Tag

2011-11-03T11:23:00.001-05:00

Hey, there!

I thought I'd post my last little tag from my Emma's Paperie project for you today...

For some reason, I don't tend to do a lot of girly girl projects. I think I just tend to gravitate toward more playful, saturated colors. But I thought the princess and ballet stickers would be sweet with the metal heart and that led to the the addition of the doily stamps, and that led to the pink ribbon, and so on.

Sort of a girly girl snowball effect :)

Noelle was invited to a birthday party for the first time this week, so I have just the gift to use it on.
And since I have a class that day, I'm sure Brian will enjoy his first girly birthday party experience :)

Stay tuned for some super themed posts coming up!

We did another themed year of crafted and thrifted Halloween costumes and the pictures are calling me to edit them along with a slew of very crafty birthday party details. I'll give you a hint on the theme... they were both Super :)

{Pretty Princess} tag
Stamps - Delightful Doilies (PTI)
Ink - Fresh Snow (PTI)
Cardstock - Kraft (PTI)
Die - Tag Sale #5 (PTI)
Embellishments - Jubilee Frabic Brads by The Girl's Paperie

Stickers - Sweetness Metal Badges by Pink Paislee , Emma's Shoppe Phrase Stickers by Crate Paper , Uncommon Diction Stickers by Authentique , Portrait Phrase Stickers by Crate Paper
Ribbon - Fuchsia Solid Wrinkled 1.5" Ribbon by May Arts

Happy Wedding Tag

2011-10-27T12:51:00.001-05:00

Hello, all!

Just popping in to show you the second in the little tag series I made for Emma's Paperie this week.

This one is to tie around a wedding gift...

I used the same tag die (Papertrey's Tag Sale #5). I love this one because it's sort of the ultimate tag basic to me.

I'm not an super embellish-y type of crafter, but I do tend to like the trims that Webster's Pages carries... I like the homespun touch of the lace mixed with the pearls and the vintage flower image in a modern button style. Kind of a reference to "something old."

I kept things simple with just a small stamped sentiment from Papertrey right on top of the sticker.

I like to make little items like this that a bride (or a new mom, etc.) can save for as a keepsake in her wedding book.

In totally unrelated news... is anyone else in the throes of Halloween costume madness?? I have never searched so hard for a single article of clothing in my life.

There must be a Bermuda Triangle out there filled with all the boys size 7 denim overalls in it :/

Took me 3 days of searching, but the final piece in what I what I never knew was the holy grail of Halloween costumes for little boys is complete.

Any guesses?

{Happy Wedding} tag
Stamps - Tag-its #5
Cardstock - Kraft (PTI)

Ink - Smokey Shadow (PTI)
Die - Tag Sale #5 (PTI)
Jubilee Frabic Brads by The Girl's Paperie

Sweetness Metal Badges by Pink Paislee
Black Stripes 5/8" Organic Cotton Ribbon by May Arts
Portrait Border Stickers by Crate Paper

Special Gift Tags

2011-10-24T13:33:00.003-05:00

It's Monday :)
More like, it's Monday : /

At least, that's how it feels to me!
To cheer myself up, I thought I'd share a few fun little tag projects.

The first is bright and cheerful... just what this Monday ordered...

This one was posted today on the Emma's Paperie blog. (I'll share the other two later this week.)
It's sort of a hybrid between a stampy and a scrappy project.

Clustering items can sometimes be difficult for someone who likes to keep things pretty simple (ahem... that would be me) so I decided that tags would be the perfect canvas to practice on... nice and small :)

I started by die-cutting my tag with PTI's new Tag Sale die and then stamped the bottom part with the Houndstooth background. (Still love that set and could probably use it on everything.) Then I piled on a sticker label, a metal badge, a flower brad, rhinestone, and a stamped sentiment (from PTI's Little Labels set). I thought this one came out with a fun twist on girly, vintage, and modern all thrown together...

I used the same Tag Sale die on one of my October release projects for Papertrey Ink but I trimmed the top part of the tag down.

I wanted to make a little card holder to go in the flowers... you know, like those little sticks that hold the note card when you get a bouquet of flowers. I stuck my little tag die-cut to an envelope (first I pinned the ribbon on) and then added a popsicle stick to the bottom by cutting a small slit in the bottom (or side, in this case) and sticking the stick inside with a bit of double sided tape.

I used the new Faith & Hope set to add the sentiment to the outside and on the little tag card for the inside. To give a little more space for writing, I die cut the tag as a card... the cardstock is folded on the left hand side, then lined up just on the inside of the edge of the die so that that side doesn't get cut. That leaves you with a cute tag-looking card :)

I stamped and embossed the branch image on the tag as well, but it's white on white so it's a bit difficult to see here. Click on the picture to enlarge it to see a bit more of the detail if you like...

More tags and October PTI release projects to come later this week :)

Anyone else have a case of the Mondays?

{Just a Note} tag
Stamps - Little Labels, Houndstooth (PTI)
Cardstock - Kraft (PTI)
Ink - Dark Chocolate, White (PTI)
Die - Tag Sale #5 (PTI)
Embelishments - Jubilee Frabic Brads by The Girl's Paperie

Sweetness Metal Badges by Pink Paislee
Dear Lizzy Enchanted Plastic Rose Brads by American Crafts
Fuchsia Solid Wrinkled 1.5" Ribbon by May Arts
Portrait Phrase Stickers by Crate Paper

{Face to the Sun} gift card & envelope

Stamps - Faith & Hope
Cardstock - White, Harvest Gold, gift enclosure envelope
Ink - Dark Chocolate, Versamark
Die - Tag Sale #5
Other - Harvest Gold ribbon, Filigree white embossing powder, Maya Road pin

Watercoloring at Ella Publishing

2011-10-21T10:51:00.001-05:00

Hey, there!

Fun day for me... I'm guest blogging over at the Daily Trumpet of the fabulous Ella Publishing! Thanks to the sweet Ella girls for inviting me!

My post over at Ella today focuses on one of my favorite simple techniques... watercoloring. You know I love it. Here's one of the card's from that post...

Simple, right?

I used the same technique on one of my Papertrey Ink projects this month...

Obviously, I did not use this technique on the outside of the card :)

I did use a neat trick for the outside, though. I cut the patterened paper (Sweet Threads from Basic Grey... such a sweet line) with the new Front & Center die. It's a large die that's meant to be used as a gift bag cover - cut 2 and then adhere them to the front and back of a small gift bag. However, because of it's size, it's nearly perfect to die cut an entire card!

The die has a bit of an angle on the edges, so I folded my die cut in half and then trimmed down the edges right and left edges a bit so that they were straight instead of angled. This card is slightly larger than 3 1/2 x 5, so it would fit well in a standard A2 envelope. If you trimmed it down a bit more, it would fit in a 3 1/2 x 5 envelope as well.

This die has a cut out for the handle, so I backed it with a panel of clear cardstock and stamped my sentiment in the middle with StazOn ink. The Flaming Red Staz On has a bright pink effect on clear cardstock, which I love!

And now... to the watercolored accent!

I added a cardstock panel to the inside of the card, then stamped my images up in the corner. A little watercolor wash over the top adds depth and dimension and gives my simple flower a very full look!

For all the details on the how-to as well as another brand-new watercolored card, check out my post at the Daily Trumpet!

Thanks for stopping by today!

{Old Friend} card Stamps - Watercolor Garden (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock - White (Papertrey Ink)
Ink - Dark Peony & Warm Violet (Colorbox), Ripe Avocado & Dark Chocolate (Papertrey Ink)

{Birthday Fusion} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #9
Cardstock - Rustic Cream, Clear
Ink - Flaming Red (Stazon), Dark Peony (ColorBox)
PP - A-Line Dress (Basic Grey, Sweet Threads collection)
Die - Front & Center #1
Ribbon - Aqua Mist

2011 Holiday Tags

2011-10-13T22:59:00.000-05:00

Remember yesterday when I divulged a few of my winter vices?
{Tardigan, anyone?}
Today I bring you the sweetest one.

Marshmallows.
As in, the one dessert I can ~~burn~~ cook myself in front of a roaring fire.
It's like all my favorite things rolled up into one...

Light? Check.
Heat? Check.
Dessert? Check.

I kid you not when the temperature dips down to, oh, about 70 degrees round these parts, that's my cue to start up the fire every evening.

The things I do to survive winter :)

But this year's marshmallow roasting will be much more enjoyable thanks to these little guys.

Marshmallows on a stick may not be a new idea, but when I came across these telescoping marshmallow sticks I couldn't help myself. And where did I get these sweet little inventions? Say it with me... Target. The Dollar Spot, no less, and yes... my store still had a boatload of them this week. Each one was a $1 investment toward not having to wear an oven mitt while roasting my marshmallows anymore. Total steal, in my opinion :)

Such a steal, in fact, that I determined they would make sweet (and super affordable) gifts for my 7 year old to give to some of his friends during the holidays. Except I thought his fellow 7 year olds would find the sticks that much cooler if they came with a sweet friend on top, not to mention a cutie pie name tag.

2011 Holiday Tags to the rescue...

Papertrey Ink is debuting 2011 Holiday Tags on October 15 so the design team and I are bringing you our own little takes on the images. I actually do make a slew of tags at Christmas time... I'd say maybe 60-75 tags total. So when I put these together I kept them very true to something that I could actually get put together during the busyness of the holidays.

The little snowmen are so fun and whimsical that I wanted to keep the tags colorful to add to the fun feel. I stamped the Let it Snow tag several times in each color, then used a simple circle punch to quickly punch out all of the images. I cut the little sentiment flag out of half of the colors and then layered them onto different colored tags to mix things up.

I layered each image onto kraft tags I cut out with the new Tag Sale #5 die. The set includes a few to/from sentiments so I added that to the tag as well... I know Eli will want to fill that part out himself as well as add a little drawing to the back of the tag.

Now... are you ready for the sweet little snowmen themselves??

You know I'm always on the lookout for sweet treats I can make with the kiddos and let me tell you... this one fits the bill to a T. This treat will work just as perfectly on a sucker stick, so no worries if you can't find the roasting sticks. Simply slide 3 regular sized marshamllows onto the stick (not the mini size), then dip the entire thing in white almond bark. I like to use the kind from the grocery baking aisle, but you can also use the candy melts from your local craft store.

I melted the almond bark in a glass measuring cup, dipped the marshmallow in, then used a spatula to pull some of the bark up and drip it over the rest of the marshmallow pop. Tap, tap, tap the stick to drain some of the excess off, then set it in to a jar to dry standing up. At this point, I quickly added a little nose formed from a bit of an Orange Tootsie Roll (tip... snag a few of those from your kid's Halloween bucket).

I thought the snowmen would like a little scarf to keep them warm, so I wrapped a little gingham ribbon around each one and added a tiny glue dot right where the ribbon overlaps itself.

Sweet, right?

Ah, but the 2011 Holiday Tags is no one trick pony... I love using these tag sets on cards. They really make for a quick and easy project...

For this card, I stamped the tree trio image in Pure Poppy on Raspberry Fizz... one of my favorite color on color combinations. So bright and fun. {Sidenote... I used my brand-spankin-new Pure Poppy ink pad here... woohoo! Love it!} I thought I'd play off the trees in the image and so I added a white panel that I embossed with the Woodgrain impression plate. A hole punch to the side made the perfect home for my tree trio image to live in.

I couldn't put away the Bells & Boughs set from last month's release, so I added a Simply Chartreuse bow to the edge. Totally loving how the colors pop against each other...

I finished off the greeting with a sentiment from the new Wonderful Words: Holiday set. It has lots of little phrases that coordinate really well with loads of other holiday sets. A few rhinestone accents tie everything together.

Perhaps a competitor for the 2011 Witty Family Christmas card...?
What do you think?

For more 2011 Holiday Tag fun, be sure to check out the rest of the Papertrey Ink team...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

I know you're going to love what they have for you!
Thanks for stopping by, folks!

{Happy Holidays} card
Stamps - 2011 Holiday Tags, Bells & Boughs
Cardstock - White, Simply Chartreuse, Raspberry Fizz
Ink - Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, VersaMark
Die - Bells & Boughs
Impression Plate - Woodgrain
Other - Rhinestones, circle punch

{Let it Snow-man} tags
Stamps - 2011 Holiday Tags
Cardstock - Kraft, White
Ink - Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Dark Chocolate; Pumpkin Pie & Bliss Blue (SU)
Die - Tag Sale #5
Ribbon - Spring Rain gingham, Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Orange Zest

In the Meadow...

2011-10-12T22:59:00.000-05:00

Hey, there!

It's October.
And it's official.
I cannot pretend that it is still summer.

(sigh)

Such is life.

I have to do a few things to trick myself into getting excited about a season which will eventually bring me gray, cold days.

Gray + cold = my Krytonite

So I do things like buy my favorite article of fall/winter clothing... the cardigan. Usually from Target. And then to cheer myself up I refer to them as Tardigans :)

I plan silly Halloween outfits for our family and scour the local thrift shops looking for the parts and pieces. Last year all of us were Peter Pan, Captain Hook, Wendy, Tinkerbell, and Tick Tock the alligator. This year is in the works. You'll have to wait on the reveal.

I work on Christmasy cards and projects.

And that brings us to today :)
Papertrey Ink's October release is coming up on the 15th and the PTI designers are all banding together today to bring you some wintery inspiration!

In the Meadow... what a sweet winter set. It's filled to the brim with lots of solid images and coordinating sentiments. I put a few of the coordinating dies and stamps to work in this little piece...

I was really drawn to the "snowflakes sparkle and tree tops glisten" sentiment. It brought to mind sparkly, full trees... and seeing them all in white like from the ski lift I ride on every year (you know... during the 4 days a year when I appreciate the cold and snow).

I wanted to bring that tree to life, so I went with a 3D tree. I started by using the coordinating In the Meadow tree die to die-cut a stack of tissue paper. I used about 10 sheets and cut them all at once.

In order to add the sparkle to my tree, I cut a few extra trees and full-on glitterfied them :) A little coating of spray adesive does the trick with fragile tissue paper. Each one got a little dip in a pile of glitter and came out looking quite sparkly and happy.

I slipped the super sparkly trees into my stack of plain trees, lined them all up again, and then stitched a simple line straight down the middle of the tree. That keeps everything together and lets you fan out all the different layers...

The stack of layers found a new home in a pretty frame with a white mat. I covered the backing portion of the frame with a simple linen panel (put that spray adhesive to use again there) and used Scortape to stick the tree right on. The sentiment has it's own little spot on a Photo Finishers die cut.

But the best part?

The little red birdie living on one of the upper branches. I took the super simple route and just die cut him out of glittery cardstock for an instant pop of color and cuteness :)

And that's one Christmas pick-me-up-project down :)

For a little more Christmas inspiration, just head on over to see these gals...

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Each one is bringing you more of In the Meadow.

And I can tell you this... it's the perfect set for crafting it out to a steady stream of Christmas carols while sipping on a pumpkin spice latte. It was my weekend recipe for perfectly Christmasy crafting time :)

Any other perfectly Christmasy crafting time tips to get me in the winter crafting mood??

{Tree Tops Glisten} frame
Stamps - In the Meadow
Ink - VersaMark
Dies - In the Meadow Silhouettes, Photo Finish Strips collection
Paper - tissue paper, glitter paper (Best Creations)
Other - gold Filigree detail embossing powder

Post Release Wrap-Up

2011-09-15T13:06:00.002-05:00

Well, hello, folks.

It's time to wrap up Papertrey's September release with a big ol' bow.
Like this one :)

Does anyone else think Maile should have named this set "BELLES and Bows?"
Seriously, I think that every time I see it.

{So punny this morning, aren't I?}

If you're on the fence with this set, there's one thing you should know.

It is THE easiest set to use. Truly.
Something about the size of all of the elements and how they work together just works.
I'm super happy with it every time I use it.

To give the bells the hanging effect, I marked the placement of the bells and then punched a hole in the card front right behind where the bells would hang. Then I slipped the ribbon through and tied the bow at the top of the card.

A word of advice on this one... get the dies. You know me - I love a no-layer card much, much more than the next girl and I'll be using these stamps on plenty of no-layer cards - but they are really fantastic when popped up and used as embellishments.

I also used the Holly Jolly die at the top.
Yup. Used that one tons this month, too. I added a little text with a stamp from Christmas Blessings... super simple.

Next up... Winter Cheer...

This one comes with a fun little swirl stamp that matches up with a few of the curved sentiments.

You can snuggle it in right below the sentiment, but I also thought it made a fun snow drift effect. I just stamped it directly on the card then covered it with a simple post-it note mask when I stamped the tree.

The tree is one image, so I just stamped the trunk first, then came back a second time with the tree and star. I was going for a brighter green effect, so I inked the tree first in Lemon Tart, then inked it right away with New Leaf.

My favorite is the little "snowstorm" that's happening. This set comes three small circle stamps so that you can add ornaments to the tree. I stamped them with VersaMark diagonally across the card, then embossed them with clear powder for a shiny snowflake effect. I think it adds a lot to a simple card.

Speaking of simple...

here's a simple one made with Holiday Lights.

I wanted to go for an unlighted/lighted effect so I stamped the string once on the card, then in the same spot again with the mat stack layer on top.

One little trick here... after I stamped the lights on the card I layed a clear piece of plastic (I used one of the clear plastic backing sheets that PTI stamps come on; you could also use clear cardstock, etc) on top of the card. Then I put my mat stack layer in place. This made it super easy to just line my stamp right up with the image on the card and stamp it down perfectly in place on the mat stack layer.

I added the light bulbs with Versamark so that I could add some light with chalk pastels.
A few rhinestones brightened things up a bit, too :)

I also thought it would be fun to add a little matching layer to the inside to finish things out.

Up next is Christmas Labels...

This card is fairly simple, but if you're looking to mass produce, it would be easy to simplify it even more. You could skip the embossing and even the ribbon, or trade the ribbon for baker's twine for an even more cost-effective card. I also love using rhinestones on mass-produced cards... lots of bang for your buck.

The "Holly Jolly" sentiment comes as a single stamp in a straight line, but it's easy to split the words just by inking one and then the other. That left me room to add those cutie pie holly leaves again :) This time I used the polka dot label image that's included in Christmas Labels to add some interest to the leaves.

Now for a fun little Christmas wrapping idea...

I paired the new edition of Tag-its (#8) with a felt Damask Snowflake and a Parisian Lace doily for a simple and beautiful wrapped gift.

I love using the Parisian Lace doily with tissue paper, so I went ahead and die cut the circle for the Tag-its snowflake image from tissue as well. I kept everything simple and used one of the sentiments on a little Tiny Tag die cut and wrapped it all up with a bit of button twine.

I will admit... I am that girl that has a wrapping paper "theme" every year where all the papers coordinate in terms of color and design. Some years I wrap everything in the same solid color paper and just add on fun embellishments... this would be perfect for that idea.

And last on this Christmas list... Candy Cane Christmas...
done-up in non-Christmas fashion :)

The peppermint image reminded me of those fun whirly pop lollipops, so I just went with it :)

I stuck them onto some sucker sticks and wrapped them up with some clear plastic. I actually used a corner of the bags that my Copic trios came in but any kind of thin plastic packaging would work. Since I cut them down the bags were open both on the bottom and right sides, but I just kept that in mind when tying the bags closed and I coudn't tell once they were finished.

A Wonderful Words die cut and sentiment from Wonderful Words additions made for just the right sentiment.

I love making the most of my holiday stamps by figuring out how to un-holiday them :)

And there goes the September release!
I hope you have lots of new favorites :)

Noelle and I are recovering from one heck of a stomach bug this week, so we'll be participating in some R&R this weekend. Oh, wait... that would be after hosting and doing everything up for a sweet friend's baby shower... um... tomorrow.

Sooooo... yeah... I think I might have a few projects to work on for that :)

{Christmas Bells} card
Stamps - Bells & Boughs, Christmas Blessings (PTI)

Cardstock - White (PTI)
Ink - True Black, VersaMark, Summer Sun (SU)
Die - Bells & Boughs collection, Holly Jolly collection (PTI)
Other - Hawaiian Shores ribbon, rhinestones (PTI)

{Winter Wonderland} card
Stamps - Winter Cheer (PTI)

Cardstock - White (PTI)
Ink - Aqua Mist, Tea Dye Duo, New Leaf, Lemon Tart, VersaMark (PTI)
Other - Clear embossing powder (PTI)

{It's Christmas Time} card
Stamps - Holiday Lights (PTI)

Cardstock - White, New Leaf (PTI)
Ink - True Black, VersaMark (PTI)
Die - Mat Stack 4 (PTI)
Other - Pastel chalks (Stampin' Up), rhinestones (PTI)

{Holly Jolly Holiday} card
Stamps - Christmas Labels (PTI)

Cardstock - Kraft, White, Simply Chartreuse (PTI)
Ink - Pure Poppy, VersaMark (PTI)
Die - Holly Jolly (PTI)
Impression Plate - Polka Dot Basics II (PTI)
Other - Rhinestones, Pure Poppy ribbon (PTI)

{Warm Wrapping} gift wrap
Stamps - Tag-its #8 (PTI)

Ink - Fresh Snow, Tea Dye Duo - Chai (PTI)
Dies - Damask Snowflakes, Parisian Lace, Limitless Layers Circle (1 3/4"), Tiny Tags (PTI)
Other - Vintage Button (PTI), Pure Poppy felt (PTI), Button Twine (PTI), white tissue paper

{Sweet Lollipops} card
Stamps - Candy Cane Christmas, Wonderful Words Additions (PTI)

Cardstock - White, Kraft (PTI)
Ink - Aqua Mist, VersaMark (PTI), Summer Sun (SU), Positively Pink (SU)
Die - Wonderful Words (PTI)
Other - Silk ribbon (PTI), White Filigree embossing powder(PTI), sucker sticks, plastic bags

Holiday Photo Finishers

2011-09-13T22:59:00.000-05:00

Hello, again!

It's time for one more Papertrey Ink countdown post!

Today the team is featuring a set sure to impress those of you who like to stick a little family photo in with your holiday card every year.

That'd be me :)

I have some good reasons for it, too.
It is the ONE picture that I am guaranteed to be in every year :)
It is the ONE picture that I plan a day around... making sure everyone is well napped, well fed, well happy-ed.
It is the ONE picture that I arrange to have someone else take (that lucky person being my dad) and even get a photographer's assistant thrown in to boot (lucky you, Mom).

All other family photos during the year are taken on the fly.
Meaning who knows if everyone is happy.

Or even looking at the camera.

Christmas is my one shot.
{Get it?}

So, our yearly Christmas card gets designed with the idea that the picture will be incorporated or included somehow.

And the new Holiday Photo Finishers set takes care of that for me :)

Adhering the photo to the front of the card, then stamping directly on it is one super quick and easy way to go. To stamp directly on this photo I used a matte finish picture and StazOn Metallic ink. Regular gold or silver pigment ink will NOT dry on photos, so make sure you use a permanent ink if you go this route.

This set has a variety of image sizes... some long and narrow, some smaller and shaped... so there's lots of options to find something that works with your photo.

This is such a quick and easy way to create a custom and handmade photo card look... especially if your technology-challenged like me :)

How about some different options for the same card?

This one uses one of the dies that go along with this set. The dies are shaped and embossed... love that extra detail.

This die actually has a different image other to go along with it than the one I've used, but I wanted to try a little picture in picture look here and I thought this shape would give a cool effect.

I had all of those "100 prints for 1 cent each!" deals that the photo places seem to put out during the fall in mind when picturing this card. I just die cut one of my pictures, then stamped it, and adhered it right to the photo using foam tape.

Kind of a cool and different look with just one extra die-cutting step.

The last idea for this card is a little more elegant...

I used the straight sided die with some vellum to go with a simple and elegant card. The vellum is adhered with vellum tape, so the strip will pull off cleanly from the photo if anyone were to frame it, etc.

The translucency of the vellum is just right for using it on a photo card.

And, before I go... a non-photo card idea...

I went with the same die cut photo strip idea but paired it with some simple Damask Snowflake die cuts.

A little shimmery white cardstock goes a long way with the snowflakes... using it adds an extra layer of detail without doing any extra work. My kind of mass production right there :)

A little glitter right in the embossed edges of the die cut adds some easy color and sparkle.

That's it for me today but never fear... the rest of the team is ready and waiting with more Holiday Photo Finishers ideas...

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Thanks for stopping by today!
Let me know what you think!

{Holiday Photo} cards
Stamps - Holiday Photo Finishers
Cardstock - Vellum, Orange Zest
Ink - StazOn Metallic Gold
Dies - Photo Finish Strips collection

{Warm Winter Wishes} card
Stamps - Holiday Photo Finishers
Cardstock - Soft Stone, Vellum, Shimmer
Ink - True Black
Dies - Photo Finish Strips collection, Damask Snowflakes collection
Other - Brownstone glitter (Martha Stewart)

Love Lives Here for the Holidays

2011-09-11T22:59:00.000-05:00

Hello, all!

It's almost September 15 so you know what that means... it's Papertrey Ink countdown time!

(ETA... this post is finally up! For all of you using Blogger's new interface, here's a tip... make sure you hit "publish" instead of just "save" if you want your post to actually go up as scheduled :) Seriously. Oops.)

Today marks the first of two group posts by the PTI design team and today we're featuring a brand new holiday set that I know you're going to love :)

I'm still mouring the loss of summer but here I am... jumping into Christmas already!

This set is so, so sweet. Nichole Heady worked with concepts from Melissa Phillips to create this follow-up set to the original Love Lives Here. This one is just as beautiful as the first... keeping that lovely, homespun feel with a holiday twist.

This set came along at the perfect time for me... and that would be just after we completed making our annual Christmas jam.

All 50 jars.

Yup...

50.

We take one day every summer and raid the big ol' Farmer's Market in Dallas for just the right fruit. This year's choice... pluots. We bring it {and our sticky, fruit-filled children} home and spend the rest of the day cooking and jarring our homemade jam.

By the end of the day, one of our biggest Christmas tasks is done :) We give the jam along with a homemade card {of course} to our church small group, volunteers, teachers, friends, co-workers, etc. I also keep a few on hand to take as holiday party hostess gifts, thank you's, etc.

Even Brian gets totally behind this tradition... it saves a lot of stress in the winter to get things accomplished in the summer. Plus, it gives me more time in the winter to focus on the Witty Family Christmas Card Sweatshop :)

I like the jars to coordinate with the cards that I give, so I started this set out with the card. Love Lives Here: Holiday has two Christmas tree images and dies... one tree with all three sections connected together and one tree that has three separate sections. I choose to work with the single tree as I wanted to emboss the entire image with green powder.

My goal was to keep it simple, but elegant, so I added the pretty scalloped edge by using the new Edgers #4 die. I love how it echoes the scalloped edge on the tree :)

I used a foam brush to add some liquid glue to the edge and then dipped it in some super chunky glass glitter.

The sentiment fit right underneath the tree and I added the super sweet Holly Jolly die cut at the end to a) emphasize the "heart" and b) add a bit of asymmetry. The Holly Jolly die actually punches a grouping of three berries, but I just used the original Love Lives Here dies to cut a tiny felt heart instead.

I used the same Love Lives Here dies to add another felt heart to my jar label. The new Christmas Label fit my jam jars really well. It's a nice, long size and is a perfect fit for so many of PTI's sentiments. I thought the rounded edges would tie in well with the Edgers die I used on the card.

To finish everything off, I added a bit of button twine to the lid, then embellished it with the larger Holly Jolly die cuts. I used my ScorPal and bone folder to add a straight line down each leaf, then folded the sides toward each other a bit... that and the felt berries add just enough detail to those little leaves.

I love the boutique packaging look that label and the holly leaves give...

...it just makes me happy :)

And to see more projects that'll put a smile on your face, check out what the rest of the design team has for you today...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

So... thoughts?
This is the ONE ahead-of-time task I get accomplished during the year. Do you have any ahead-of-time traditions at your house? I'd love to hear about them!
Back in just a few days with another Christmas time post for you...

{Christmas in the Heart} card and gift
Stamps - Love Lives Here: Holiday
Cardstock - White, Kraft, Simply Chartreuse
Ink - True Black, VersaMark
Dies - Love Lives Here: Holiday die collection, Holly Jolly, Edgers, #4, Christmas Label
Embellishments - Pure Poppy felt, Button Twine, Zing Embossing Powder in Leaf (American Crafts), chunky glitter

Flower Fusion

2011-09-10T23:26:00.002-05:00

Hello, there!

It's Papertrey Ink countdown time... yay!
It's my lucky job to bring you Flower Fusion #8, so without further adieu...

This set packs a punch for only 5 bucks. I'm pretty taken with the shape of the flowers in this set... I love the way the images can work together (one on top of another) or separately (as I've shown here).

I've also found that this set works particularly well with some of PTI's other stem images. This set of stems is from Botanical Silhouettes... I think the dainty stems seem like a perfect match for these flowers.

The sentiment fits really well right at the bottom of the Mat Stack 3 die.

I like how this one takes Flower Fusion in a bit more elegant direction.

Up next is a bit of a departure for the Flower Fusion series...

Flower Fusion goes butterfly :)

I just could not escape the thought that this flower image might resemble a butterfly in flight.

To really play off of that idea, I embossed it with bright yellow powder on true black cardstock. (The Flower Fusion die was super handy for this one.) I also added a little stick pin and button body to really complete the look. A sentiment and flight trail from Happy Trails brings everything together.

Attaching a stick pin can be a bit tricky, so here's a little tip in picture form...

Just wrap the pin with scor-tape. That gives you a little tape flag which makes it super easy to stick on to the back of the butterfly.

One other sweet thing about this set is that it's sorta like having at least 3 flower images instead of 2...

See? I just stamped the solid image three times to make a larger image.

My watercolors made an appearance on this one. I stamped the flower "petals" with Scarlet Jewel ink, then went over the stamped images with a waterbrush to fill them out a bit and add some depth... totally digging how that technique works with this set :)

For the sentiment on this one, I went a little out of the box and used a happy holidays sentiment from the new Stylish Sentiments: Holiday set. I inked up just the "happy" part, left the "holidays" part uninked and stamped away.

That's it for me today but I'll be back tomorrow with the rest of the design team for another fun post!
Later, friends!

{Just Dandy} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #8, Botanical Silhouettes
Cardstock - Simply Chartreuse, Linen Vellum Cardstock
Ink - VersaMark, Dark Chocolate
Die - Mat Stack 3
Ribbon - Orange Zest
Other - Zing Embossing Powder in Mustard (American Crafts), Rhinestones

{Take Flight} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #8, Happy Trails
Cardstock - White, True Black
Ink - True Black, VersaMark
Dies - Flower Fusion #7, Clouds

{Happy Happy Happy} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #8, Daydreamer
Cardstock - White, Summer Sunrise
Ink - Scarlet Jewel, True Black, Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz
Other - Vintage buttons, watercolors, waterbrush

Attitude of Gratitude

2011-08-13T22:59:00.232-05:00

It appears the sky has fallen down.
Because, you see... it seems that I have made an altered project :)

A rolodex-turned-family-gratitude-journal to be exact.

It's still countdown week at Papertrey Ink and today's group post features a brand new set from Dawn McVey... Gratitude Journal.

I put it to good use rescuing this thift store outcast. Have to say, I was totally surprised to only find one rolodex at my local thrift... maybe all the other crafters had already snatched them up :)

I invested a whole $1.49 in this beauty.

I considered taking a before picture, but I figured you guys could all put those creative imaginations to work and remember the uninspiring black plastic base with weird semi-clear grayish lid that is the "vintage" rolodex.

Can you picture it?

1 coat of Rustoleum's Plastic Primer spray paint in white and 1 coat of Krylon's Satin Catalina Mist spray paint later and voila...

vintage rolodex gets a whole new look.

There are two parts to the rolodex... the outer case and the insert which sits inside and holds all of the cards. I started by adding a few details to the outer case...

Since I'm picturing this project being handled daily, I wanted to keep the case simple, but pretty. I added a title strip that is embossed with one of the Gratitude Journal sentiments and stamped with a new Background Basics: Houndstooth image.

When embossing a sentiment over a background, you'll get a much more clean image if you emboss first. That way you won't have to worry about the embossing powder sticking to the background image as well.

Since this gratitude journal will be a place for everyone in our family to record what we're grateful for, I thought it would be fun to start the first tab off with a family picture...

For this picture (and all of the picture dividers), I adhered the picture to a cardstock panel, then used one of the existing dividers as a stencil for tracing and cutting the picture into a divider shape.

Next I needed to figure out how to create the holes at the bottom. There is an actual rolodex punch available at office supply stores, etc, to punch the two rolodex holes at the bottom, but because I didn't picture myself using that tool outside of this project, I just did my best with a small rectangular hand punch and an exacto knife :) It's not perfect but it definitely works.

I used StazOn ink to stamp two of the Gratitude Journal sentiments directly on the picture. I thought adding the year was a fun touch as well.

I considered the family picture as the "cover" and the next tab as the sort of "title page" in this journal...

I really love how the tab, buttons, and houndstooth are working together here... elegant, but still fun.

Next up... the "chapters" in this little journal.

I knew I wanted to have a divinder and section of cards for each family member, so I used the Gratitude Journal numbers to create a tab for each person...

Brian's tab is #1 (that would be Brian; he's on the right :), then mine, then each of the kiddos. I also choose a a favorite picture of each person for each tab, just to make it more fun.

(The above and below pictures were actually outtakes from our fiasco-of-a-Christmas-card-photo-shoot from last year. My mom and dad always help out by taking the pics for us and this day from last year was one of those holy cow every single darned thing went wrong in the family photo. So much so that we ended up doing a re-shoot. The outtakes turned out well, though!)

I added a little sentiment to each tab just for some added detail...

and, of course... more Houndstooth.
I can't stop with the Houndstooth.

It is an issue nearing therapy levels.
For the love of all that is crafty, add Background Basics: Houndstooth in with Gratitude Journal this month.
Take it from me.
And then join me in therapy.

Each card is stamped and ready to go.

Do yourself a favor and just line the date stamp and sentiment stamp up on one block. Then you can ink and stamp all of your cards in no time :)

I've already got a spot in the kitchen picked out for our new journal.

My soon-to-be 2nd grader and pre-schooler will be sitting back down at the table next week to start school up again and I'm considering making this part of our morning routine. It won't be long before Noelle is old enough to add her own. (Right now, I'm sure she would say that is very grateful for "hookies.")

But I'm torn because I also think it would make a nice dinnertime activity, too. Sort of a chance for everyone to share their day with the family and pick out one thing that they can focus on being thankful for. What a sweet way to teach them to look for the Lord and all that He's doing even in their young little lives. I really love the thought of this time growing into a daily memory for everyone :)

I figure that once we fill this one up I'll just find another abandoned rolodex castoff in need of a makeover and start a new one :)

Well, folks... that's it for me! But, not to worry... I knew the rest of the team have some super sweet Gratitude Journal projects just ready and waiting for you...

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Thanks for joining me today!
I hope you enjoyed it even if it's a little outside of my norm :)

{Family Gratitude Journal} Rolodex
Stamps - Gratitude Journal, Background Basics: Houndstooth, Mini Scrapbook Series: Library Ledger
Cardstock - White, Kraft, Orange Zest, Aqua Mist
Ink - True Black, Fresh Snow, VersaMark, Pumpkin Pie (SU), StazOn Black
Die - Gratitude Journal collection
Ribbon - Orange Zest, button twine
Other - Vintage buttons; Filigree White embossing powder; rolodex & cards

Flower Fusion & Think Big Favorites

2011-08-12T22:59:00.004-05:00

Hello, again!

Coming back at'cha today with a bonus little Papertrey Ink countdown post.
This time featuring the next two stamp sets in the Flower Fusion and Think Big Favorites series... #7 for each!

I'm thinking the stars must be aligned considering I tend to use these sets together most months.
What can I say?
It just always seems to work :)

And without further adieu...

tacos, anyone?

Ha... yeah... I couldn't help thinking of them like that when I made them :)

I used the Flower Fusion #7 die to cut flowers from felt (Scarlet Jewel is on the outside, then Raspberry Fizz, Royal Velvet, & Orange Zest is on each of the flowers).

The die comes as a solid circle without petal cuts but a few little snips on the flowers gives you a brand new look. Love the option that gives you of with or without petals.

I stacked the two flowers with a little felt glue in between (I use Beacon's Felt Glue), then added a little glue to the center of the top flower. Fold it up taco style, hold it together for a few seconds, and your little flower taco is good to go.

Prettiest little tacos I ever did see :)

I lined them all up right along the top of one of the Think Big Favorites #7 sentiments.

I love pairing these two sets together with the bigger Think Big sentiment tagged with a smaller Flower Fusion sentiment. This month is no exception. These two seem to work especially well together.

Scarlet Jewel and Raspberry Fizz was a new color combination for me and man... I'm really loving it!
Kind of a fun fall color scheme.

And now for more Flower Fusion #7 goodness...

Flower Fusion #7 has lots of flower images packed into a $5 set... 2 large and 2 small. One of each size is a solid image and the other is an outline image.

I used the large and small outline flowers as the embellishments here. I stamped right onto the larger felt flower with Dark Chocolate ink. The little flowers are stuck to the tops of buttons for an extra detail.

A Modern Wood Mats image makes a simple and effective grounding image for the flower and the sentiment.

I was really into green with this release! I love how much life it brought to this card.

And today's final project... a Think Big Favorites #7 and Harvest Berries combo.
I threw in a little Fall Prints & Patterns patterned paper for good measure :)

I just love the size of the Think Big Favorites line. Depending on the sentiment, they can take up a nice amount of real estate on a project. That can make for a super quick project, which you know I love.

The ginkgo stems seemed to be just the right shape to really frame and draw the eye up and across the sentiment... that was a happy discovery.

I really wanted to make those leaves pop with some bright green color, so I die cut them in white, stamped them in New Leaf, then went right over the stamped image with some watercolor pencils... a darker green towards the base of the leaves and a brighter yellow tinged green at the tips.

A little brush over each flower with a water brush gave it a super simple watercolor effect for nearly zero effort :) I will definitely be using that trick again.

I loved how the leaves really popped off of that pumkin-y orange patterend paper so I decided to go the same route with the sentiment. A little white embossing powder did the trick :)

That's it from me today... what did you think?

I'll be right back here tomorrow with another fun countdown post!
Happy weekend!

{Wishing You Well} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #7, Think Big Favorites #7
CS - White, Soft Stone, Raspberry Fizz
Ink - http://www.papertreyink.com/pm_ink.html
Dies - Flower Fusion #7
Impression Plate - Canvas/Linen
Felt - Scarlet Jewel, Raspberry Fizz, Royal Velvet, Orange Zest
Ribbon - Scarlet Jewel satin

{Thinking of You!} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #7, Modern Wood Mats
CS - Kraft
Ink - Dark Chocolate, Tea Dye Duo
Other - Vintage buttons (New Leaf); Button twine

{Birthday Wishes}
Stamps - Think Big Favorites #7, Harvest Berries
CS - Kraft
PP - Fall Prints & Patterns
Ink - New Leaf, VersaMark
Die - Harvest Berries
Other - Filigree White embossing powder; watercolor pencils

Halloween Treats & Sweets

2011-08-10T22:59:00.265-05:00

Hello, there!

It's Papertrey Ink countdown time and you know what that means... group posts!

We're counting down the days until August's release and today the design team is bringing you loads of Halloween inspiration with this month's new Halloween Treats & Sweets set.

I was super excited to bust out some more homemade baked goodies for this one...

and I also added in a semi-homemade treat, too.

Lots of sweets options here at the ol' blog :)
Because, let's face it... sometimes you've got the time to go all homemade and sometimes you don't.

The beauty of this project is that the Halloween Treats & Sweets stamps do all the decorating for you!
Seriously.

The idea is that the sugar cookies (in the bigger bag) and the dipped Oreos suckers (on the right) are just plain cookies but the bags they're wrapped in provide the Halloween faces. So no tricky drawing with icing, etc! All you need to do is stamp to cute-ify these cookies!

For the sugar cookies, I went super, super simple with solid royal icing. I went with gray for the cat, spider, and bat cookies, white for the skeleton cookies, and orange for the pumpkin cookies. The packaging allows the cookies to show through a bit so the the color and shape end up forming the base for the little critter faces.

The process was very similar to my first cookie project. The basic steps of baking, outlining, and filling are the same so check it out.

I used the same cookie recipe (from Bee In Our Bonnet) and went with simple circles to serve as the "faces" for all of the little Halloween critters.

I switched the icing to Sweet Sugarbelle's version this time around. The consistency of the icing worked out better for me with this recipe. Sweet Sugarbelle also has a great tutorial on the actual icing process as well.

{I love, love, LOVE her tips for preparing the icing and using a spray bottle to thin down the icing from outlining consistency down to flooding consistency. I'll be using that tip until the day I die and give up crafting and cookies for the dessert bar in heaven.}

I definitely wanted to keep the cookies simple. They're meant to be given as Halloween treats, and, let's be real here, I know they wouldn't last long :) But just because they're simple doesn't mean they can't be all glittery, right?

So, I added a little pearl dust to each one.

Perhaps I was drawn to it because it's essentially Pearl Ex for cookies :)
No Versamark needed, though, haha! Just let your cookies dry completely and brush the powder on.

In the picture below, you can see the difference between the pearly gray cookie and the non-pearly gray cookie.

I baked the cookies one night, then whipped up the icing and got them all covered the next morning. Truly, it was pretty easy so don't be scared. I baked and iced 2 dozen with pretty minimal effort.

If you're not into homemade cookies, you could always go with the Lofthouse brand iced sugar cookies that are always out for the holidays.
Now for the fun part :)

I stamped Papertrey's medium glassine bags with each of the little critter faces then slipped the cookies inside. I flipped the top of the bag down on the front side just for a little extra detail.

That left the perfect little spot for a stamped sentiment and some stitching to close everything up...

Really digging the mix of fonts on the sentiments in this set.

And the Treats & Sweets dies... good grief they are stinkin' cute! I think the extra details totally make the critters.

Love the little spider legs here....

We'll come back to those cutie pie critters in a second. For the moment, let's consider the semi-home made chocolate dipped Oreo treats.

Blech. Sounds terrible, right? ;)

Riiiiiight.

Here's what I used....

Note the Double Stuf Oreos.
{As in Oreos with twice the yummy deadly goodness inside.}

Gluttony is not the only reason for this dessert choice.
Oh, no.
It's actual common sense.
I swear.

The extra thick layer actually makes it super easy to put the sucker stick in without breaking the cookie apart.

See?
Sweet logic.

Once you're cookies are all ready, it's time to dip 'em.

To get the colors I needed, I used two different methods. I already had the almond bark (available in the baking aisle of the grocery store) so I used that for white. I figured I could just purchase orange and gray candy melts at a craft store but I figured out pretty quick that gray is apparently not a popular candy melt color and, therefore, not actually made.

Oops.

They do, however, make candy coloring, so I used a bit of that in the almond bark to come up with gray.
It was super simple. (Important to note... you must use coloring labeled for "candy" use; not plain colors made for icing. The regular colors will react with the candy melts or almond bark and cause the texture to seize up.)

To cover the oreos, just heat a bit of the almond bark or candy melts in the microwave. The goal is to get it hot but not too hot :) Hot enough to spread over the cookies, but not so hot that you melt the oreo stuffing. Do yourself a favor and stick the oreos on a stick in the freezer for a few minutes first.

I used a spatula to draw the liquid over the oreo, making sure to catch the stick with the almond bark. Then I just dragged the backside of the cookie across the edge of the cup and tap, tap, tapped the stick on the edge until everything looked smooth and pretty on the front.

To let them dry, I just stuck them in a weighted bowl like so...

What I learned with the different products is that I *much* preferred the almond bark to the candy melts for this project. It seemed to melt better, cover better, dry better, and taste better. In the future, I'll just purchase the candy colors and use almond bark instead the candy melts.

And now... for the fun part again...

A little gaggle of Halloween critters :)

I used Papertrey's small glassine bags for this one. Just stamp the little face on the bag and punch a hole in the bottom for the stick to go through. {Put a piece of cardstock behind the bag when you punch... totally helps you to get a clean punch.}

Slip the cookie in and stitch across the top.

I added a little sentiment flag to each made with the double ended banner dies...

And the little tiny dies for the bat wings, spider legs, and cat ears... love 'em. The stamp set has stamps to add the details to the die cuts... so, so cute :)

And good grief, I think this is the cutest little skeleton face I've ever seen...

Only made cuter when there's two of them...

Or two little pumpkin faces...

Or bats with wings...

Or spiders with legs :)

And, of course... the little kitty cat.

I couldn't decide whether to do a scary black cat (gray) or a sweet dressed-up-for-Halloween kitty (white), so, of course, I did both...

And... of course, I stuck everything in the freezer to save for Halloween.

Or not :)

In reality, making these little treats coincided with the Great Potty Training Escapades o' 2011 in the Witty household. And when I promised Noelle a special treat for progress of any sort (I was reaching desperation mode here) she immediately said "Hookies? Hookies?"

As in, "cookies! cookies!"

So trust me... these cookies are already being used as treats & sweets in this house :)

To see all the Halloween cuteness that the rest of the team came up with, check 'em out right here...
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Happy haunting!

{Halloween Treats & Sweets Cookies & Dipped Oreo Pops}

Stamps - Halloween Treats & Sweets

Ink - True Black

Cardstock - True Black, Smokey Shadow

Dies - Mega Halloween Treats & Sweets, Mini Halloween Treats & Sweets, Double-Ended Banners

Stamp-a-faire & Iconic Images

2011-07-23T08:00:00.226-05:00

Happy Stamp-a-faire!

It's Papertrey Ink's big ol' weekend o' fun in Cincinatti and if you're at home - like me :) - no worries... we're bringing the fun to you, too!

Papertrey's offering a brand spankin' new, limited edition stamp set available to ALL customers who place online orders of $100 or more between 9am EST, Saturday, July 23rd and 11:59pm EST, Sunday, July 24th. (Nichole's got all the details right here on her blog.)

Sweet, right?

And this set... I think you're gonna love it :)
It's so sweet.
Especially the little birdie...

The bird and branch are one image so I just did a little creative inking to give the birdie a little blue belly. I used one of the Tea Dye Duo inks - Chai - to ink up most of the bird, then gently inked his belly with my Aqua Mist ink pad, making sure that the two inks overlapped just a bit.

I barely inked the branch with Dark Chocolate. That gave it a bit of a softer look which allows the sentiment to stay strong in comparison.

I used an Edgers die on the bottom of the panel and added some Martha Stewart glitter to keep the elegant look going. Love how the glitter goes with the Chai ink :)

I wanted to add one more elegant touch so I added a satin ribbon. To allow the ribbon a bit more breathing room on the card I punched a little half circle at the edge of the panel (I used my slit punch from Stampin' Up for that). Little details like that make me so happy :)

And, just for fun, and because I haven't done it yet (ha!) I thought I'd go ahead and post some of my projects from this month's release, too.

There is little that I love more in paper crafting than a quick and easy no-layer card.
They're just so darned do-able :)

The sentiments from Flower Fusion #6 and Think Big Favorites #6 seemed like a natural pair this month...

I love the solid mum in Flower Fusion #6... the stamped images layer on top of each other just beautifully. The yellow rhinestones really bring everything to life.

Next up is a little pretty something using the new Congrats All Ways set.

I paired it with Friendship Jar (which contains the original jar image) and the new Friendship Jar Summer Fillers (which has the new straw and strawberry images) to create a relaxing card that captures what should be the feeling of retirement :)

I added my newly beloved watercolors to the class image... watercolors just seemed like the right choice when trying to convey the feeling of liquid. The little strawberry is hanging out on the edge of the glass, mostly because I have a 7 year old who thinks any drink is super fancy if I hang a piece of fruit on the side :)

Love how the smaller sentiments snuggle up to the bigger congrats images in this set.

And the last project for today... a little Sweet As Can Be come to life.

I'm not gonna lie.

I love this little sweetie :)

It just makes me smile.

I used the Tag Sale #3 die as my starting point, then embellished off of that. The ice cream image made for a cute little scalloped border just underneath (see it stamped in Fresh Snow on the Raspberry Fizz cardstock?), and I backed the whole thing with a layer of kraft stamped with a Polka Dot Basics II image.

As far as the cutie pie ice cream cone, that part is actually pretty darned easy.

First off, I impressed a piece of kraft with the Cane Print plate to give it that fun, waffle cone texture. I went over super lightly with some Fresh Snow ink just to highlight the texture. Roll it into a little cone shape and secure with some ScorTape.

Next up, cut a circle from Vintage Cream felt. I ended up trying out a few jar lids, etc, to find the right diameter. Do a very simple running stitch around the outside of the circle, 1/4 inch or so from the edge. Lay a cotton ball in the middle then pull on the two ends of the thread to start closing up the circle with the cotton ball inside, but don't tighten it all the way. You're going to slip the felt ice cream over the waffle cone so you need to make sure you leave room for that. Tie the two ends of the thread together once you test it out to see if everything fits.

I used a thin line of ScorTape at the top of the cone to hold it all together.

Then I added some sprinkles and a cherry to the ice cream using felt glue, mica flakes, a red pony bead (donated to the crafting cause by Eli), and a bit of button twine. I used the same felt glue on the back side of the ice cream to stick it to the tag.

Sweet, right?

Whew! That's it for today!
What do you think?

I hope that if you're not able to be at Stamp-a-faire that you're getting in some crafty time at home today!

{Thinking of You} card
Stamps - Iconic Images
Ink - Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Chai
CS - White
PP - Damask Designs
Ribbon - satin Vintage Cream
Other - Martha Stewart glitter in Smokey Quartz

{Thanks For All You Do} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #6, Think Big Favorites #6

CS - White
Ink - Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Pumpkin Pie (SU)
Impression Plate - Linen
Other - rhinestones

{Congrats All Ways} card
Stamps - Congrats All Ways, Friendship Jar: Summer Fillers, Friendship Jar
CS - White, Simply Chartreuse

Ink - True Black, Smokey Shadow, watercolors
Die - Scalloped border
Other - Buttons, silk thread

{Sweet As Can Be} tag
Stamps - Sweet As Can Be, Polka Dot Basics II

CS - Kraft, White, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz
Ink - Fresh Snow, Raspberry Fizz, Dark Chocolate
Impression Plate - Cane Print
Die - Tag Sale #3
Other - Raspberry Fizz ribbon, Vintage Cream felt, button twine, mica flakes (Melissa Frances), pony bead, grommet, felt glue (Beacon)

Tranquility Trilogy

2011-07-13T22:59:00.001-05:00

Happy Thursday, everyone!

It's the last day of Papertrey Ink's July countdown... are you making your list and checking it twice?

Papertrey's design team is coming back at you today with our second group post. This time we're highlighting a brand new set called Tranquility Trilogy.

{I love that name... the alliteration gets me every time.}

For today's project, I went with something I knew would make my little ones happy.
They are obsessed with straws.

Are your kids obsessed with straws... or is it just mine?

It doesn't matter what the drink is... I could probably set some freshly squeezed spinach juice in front of them and as long as I popped a straw in it, they'd be good to go.

Plus, their cousins are coming to visit this week and let me tell you, that is a BIG deal.
I see lots of swimming, lunches on the patio, and a general party feeling in our future :)

So I thought some fun little straw flags would be a fun little lunch addition.

They were super, super simple to make.

I used the Tranquility Trilogy die to bust out all of my colored flags. I chose a different color for each kiddo... the little girls can't read their names, but I figured they'd be able to tell their own by the color.

The Tranquility Trilogy set comes with 6 triangle images; 5 of them are filled with pretty images and one triangle is open. I stamped and heat embossed the open triangle on all of my die-cut images... it makes a sweet little frame for the names to go in.

A few ribbons adhered around the straws with Scortape make a little base for the flags.

Wouldn't these be so super cute for a birthday party?
I'd just leave a few pens in a pretty glass at the drink table and let folks write their names on them.
Same idea as wine glass tags, just more casual :)

Noelle came out side while I was photographing and decided to try hers out...

she seemed to like it :)

One more Tranquility Trilogy project for today... this one is definitely on the clean, graphic, and modern side.

I had this idea of overlapping triangles and I just had to make it happen :)
I kept working with the open triangle and this time embossed the image on some Soft Stone die-cuts.

I arranged the triangles in a simple pattern on a cardstock panel, making sure to leave a little bit of space between each one.

The space served as a guide for the stitching. I started stitching along the open spaces and just continued the

stitching right on over the die-cuts. It ends up making a pattern of overlapping triangles...

I just love that :)
One of the sentiments from the new Congrats All Ways fit perfectly with the sophisticated look I was going for. I added it to a strip of vellum to keep from covering up the pattern too much.

I mean, come on... you can't spend the time on the pattern and then cover it all up, right?

If you're in the mood for more brand-new inspiration, just check out the rest of the design team!
Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

Only one more day until the big reveal!
What are you loving so far from this month's release?

I'd love to hear your thoughts so far!

{Fun Flags}
Stamps - Tranquility Trilogy
CS - Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Breeze, New Leaf, Hibiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise
Ink - Versamark
Other - Ribbon, Filigree White Embossing Powder, straws

{So Proud of You}
Stamps - Tranquility Trilogy, Congrats All Ways
CS - Soft Stone, White, Vellum, Smokey Shadow
Ink - Versamark, Smokey Shadow
Other - Rhinestones

Half & Half

2011-07-12T23:00:00.003-05:00

Hello, all!
{Hey, look... I'm back after a little summer bloggy break :) }

Welcome to Papertrey Ink's July countdown to release night!

All of Papertrey's design team members are bringing you some special projects highlighting one of this month's new sets... Half & Half! Good times, good times.

First up from me is a card/gift. I work with lots of high school students and the latest group is headed off to college this year. I've been teaching this group of girls since they were in, oh, the fourth grade.

Here.
I'll add it up for you.
That's NINE years.
Yikes.

Needless to say, I'm going to miss them. And I also don't want them to forget me :)
And I figure the best way to do that is with mail.
Sneaky, right?

So, I had them in mind when I came up with this...

It's a little card to send some encouraging words in...

with a detachable bookmark to remind them of what's important.
I love cards that have a little bonus to them!

The bookmark is super simple to make with the Half & Half dies. My bookmark needed to be a bit shorter than the die to fit on my card, so I started by folding my cardstock to just a little longer length than I needed.

I sent it through my die-cut machine with it folded and it came out just right...

I stamped both sides with the dotted image from the Half & Half set then added a Half & Half sentiment to the front as well. My thought is that the bookmark will be used in a bible, so I added an encouraging scripture from Beautiful Blessings on the back.

To make sure the bookmark does it's job, I used an adhesive magnet {Basic Grey} on the inside. Those little suckers are perfect for bookmarks - self-adhesive, flat, and strong. I just slipped the bookmark in place on the card and the magnets hold it in place there, too.

Sidenote... love the brackets in this set :) I know I'll be using those for highlighting sentiments and images that need a little extra emphasis.

Next up... a card/gift for a totally different occasion... a wedding.
My students better not be needing this card any time soon :)

Those Half & Half dies... they are pretty darned handy. First they transformed themselves into bookmarks, now super-long panels.

To make the panel that wraps around the card front, I trimmed a long piece of cardstock and sent it through with the die all the way at one end. For the next pass, just flip the die around to the other end of the cardstock and line it up with what's already been cut.

The Half & Half dies don't have a cut line at the top, so the panel comes out connected all in one piece.
Sweet, huh?

I had a plan for that extra long panel...

It's concealing the wedding gift.
And just in case you were wondering...
yes... when this card is given away, I swear I will exchange the $1 for a gift worthy amount :)

The new Little Labels set makes an appearance on the money tag.

I used a little notch tool on the card front for the slits and then proceeded to bling it all out.
$$$ {or in this case, just $} + bling = fun detail

And if that isn't enough Half & Half love for you, not to fear, my friends...
cause there's more right here...

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Erin Lincoln
Maile Belles
Lisa Johnson
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillilps
Michelle Wooderson
Danielle Flanders

I hope you like my little card presents!
Let me know what you think!

Back tomorrow with more of the July countdown!

{Hope Sunshine} card & bookmark
Stamps - Half & Half, Dot Spot, Beautiful Blessings
Cardstock - Kraft, Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse
Ink - Versamark, Fresh Snow, True Black
Embossing Powder - Powder Zing (American Crafts)
Die - Half & Half
Other - Button twine, Aqua Mist ribbon, rhinestones

{Joy & Happiness} money holder
Stamps - Half & Half, Little Labels
Ink - Gold (Encore), Sweet Blush, Tea Dye Duo
Cardstock - Rustic Cream
Die - Half & Half
Embossing Plate - Damask Designs
Other - Button twine, rhinestones, pearls, glitter brads (Making Memories)