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My Favorite Copic Color Combos

  • Pink: warm light to cool shadows
    R11, RV11, RV34
  • Browns
    E31, E55, E57
  • Muted Greens
    YG91, YG93
  • Blue-Violets for Flowers
    BV000-BV02-BV04-BV08
  • Cooler pinks to Dark Red
    R81-R83-R85-R89
  • Pale green to dark green for leaves/plants
    YG11-YG03-YG93-G99 I realize that these are very different in their clarity to gray scale, but I tend to use the lightest green as a base, the next two as midtones, and the darkest sparingly for my deep shadows.
  • Warm Pink to Coral
    R11-R02-R14

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May 15, 2008

Baby is Brewing Tea Bag Shower Favor

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When we divided the Favor It Baby sayings among the PaperTrey team, I chose Baby is Brewing, to be used in conjunction with a coffee or tea shower favor. I racked my brain for a couple of days on this one, toying with several ideas that would have worked. Then I remembered that somewhere in the depths of The Stash (Don't laugh--you have one too!), I had an apron die. . . And I was pretty sure that it was about the right size to hold a tea bag! (All pictures can be enlarged if you would like to see a close-up.)

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To begin, you will need two sheets of the 6" x 6" Bitty Blessings patterned paper, and one sheet of the 12" x 12" patterned paper if you'd like a larger sized dot. (You could also substitute a different pattern from the 6" x 6" pad for contrast, if you don't have the larger dot.) I used the Spellbinders Apron die shown here, as well as the edge of one of the long rectangle dies to get a small scallop, and a tag die shown a few steps farther on. (You could obviously use scalloping scissors for the scallop as well; I just prefer the embossed edge that my dies give me.) Finally, you will need a small piece of cardstock to stiffen up the apron base, as well as a teabag that you will be re-packaging. You're ready to get started!

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Die cut the apron base from both the plain white cardstock and the small dotted patterned paper. (Save the little pockets; you'll need them later.) From the larger dotted paper, cut a third apron, which you will trim down to work as the tea bag holder pocket. Cut and emboss a scalloped border from a scrap of white cardstock using a long rectangle die, if you wish.

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This is what the apron front, attached to the cardstock base, and the front pocket will look like. I simply trimmed a narrow strip from the long rectangle to work as my scalloped trim.

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Next, sew the front of the apron on, and attach the small pockets from your original small-dotted background with foam tape.

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For the tea bag holder, cut a strip of the starred paper to 2-3/8" x 6" long, then score it at 1" and 3-3/4".  On the 1" end, use a corner rounder to round the paper corners, then fold the holder and sew the bottom part shut. (If you don't sew, Scor-Pal makes an amazing tear-able super-sticky tape that comes in a width as narrow as 1/8". It's as narrow as most seams, if you keep it on the very edge.) Insert your tea bag into the holder and fasten it shut. (I used the narrow super sticky tape that I just mentioned.)

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Cut a couple of lengths of Lavender Moon Twill 10"-12" long and thread them through the apron holes for the neck and waist of the apron. If desired, stamp the duck from Bitty Baby Blessings on white shrink plastic with black Staz-On ink, color, and shrink. (I used my Copic markers, BUT I had to be very careful not to touch the Staz-On with the marker to prevent smearing. Colored pencils work on shrink plastic if you scuff it just a tiny bit.) Stamp and die cut the "Baby is Brewing" tag, and tie a length of cotton thread through the tag hole, before attaching the string on the back of the tea bag holder. If you'd like, attach rhinestones or pearls to the scallops.

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You could also use the apron as a baby announcement,tucking an announcement behind the teabag, if you used a different saying. I love the Bitty Blessings Papers--so fresh and fun!

May 14, 2008

You've Got Mail: PaperTrey Ink Mailbox Greetings

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When I first saw Alli's Mailbox Greetings set, I had to smile; in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, it's rare for a Winter to go by in which a snowplow fails to hit the mailbox. Before we moved onto an even more rural stretch of road (dirt road, now), we lived off of a busy (by U.P. standards) road. I think we scored a new mailbox every Winter, and two of them some Winters! I wanted to get one of the Rubbermaid ones that was large enough for packages soon after we were married, but Rick vetoed the idea. "We'll buy the cheapest one. They'll knock it over and replace it with another cheap one, and we'll be fine with it."  He's a wise man. . .   

All of that to say that this row of  catty-wampus (that's a good Southern term) mailboxes is perfect!  I colored them with my Copic markers shown below and added envelopes stamped on Paper Trey colored cardstock in the three mailboxes that were wider open. For the background, I cut two extra "vee'd" flaps to simulate the look of an envelope, then added stitching to accentuate the flaps.

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Ptimailbox2do For my second Mailbox Greetings card, I masked off and stamped only two of the mailboxes and created a window, using my Spellbinders Plain and Scalloped Petite Circle dies.  The patterned paper on front is from the Memory Box Beach Collection--fun and summery! Twill is PTI's Lemon Zest. The tag is one of my new tag sets, double ended tags, and the button is an Autumn Leaves Foo-Fa-La button.  I now have three bags of these buttons in different color assortments, and they are my current second favorite embellishment, second only to ribbon, of course! The Copic markers were the same as above except for the greens, which I toned down a bit: YG91 and YG93, and the grays, which were cool grays (C's) rather than warm grays (W's).  Thanks for the U.P mailboxes, Alli!

Check out the PaperTrey Ink Gallery for plenty of samples using this set!

Bitty Baby Blessings Gift Set and Card: PaperTrey Ink

For this PaperTrey release, I will be posting samples in three different posts. one for each main set, so that my posts aren't so long.  Thanks!

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Our local Crisis Pregnancy Center is currently collecting disposable diapers and baby toiletry donations to help out those who need help. My son (much to his chagrin) and I went shopping this week to look for a dual-duty gift--something that I could decorate and he could donate. (An eight year old boy cannot possibly fathom why it takes half an hour of looking at every onesie, bib, and pair of socks in WalMart to decide that not a single one will work and that the baby bath pack has potential instead. . .)

Ptibitbabycrd_do1 I stamped images from the Bitty Baby Blessings set and cut them with my Spellbinders circle and classic rectangle dies to fit on the three bottles, then cut a tag for the inside belly band using the Petite Oval. Patterned papers are from the Bitty Baby Collection as well. I used Sweet Blush, Lavender Moon, and Lemon Zest twill, as well as Lavender Moon Satin ribbon. I think that these are my favorite PTI papers yet--beautiful for either a boy or  a girl. On the card--check it out--no ribbon! (Bet you didn't think I could do it, right?) The patterned paper strip worked as my ribbon, so I'm not truly ribbonless.

Don't forget to check out the PaperTrey Ink Gallery for plenty of samples using this set!

Don't Worry--Bee Happy!: PaperTrey Ink Honey Bees

Ptibees1ddoIt will come as no surprise to you that I love flowers! Candice's Honey Bees set was great fun to work with this week. Do you see the bee on this card? I stamped him on white shrink plastic, then shrunk him and added Stickles to him.

Ptibees1ddodtl_2Most of the flowers are raised on foam tape as well. (Yes, I know that I sometimes get carried away. . .)  I added the smallest size of the A Muse twinkle stickers to the flower centers.  A bee that shimmery needs some bedazzled flowers to feast upon, right?

Ptibees2ddoFor my second Honey Bees card, I stuck with a more traditional honeybee theme. Cardstock is black, Lemon Zest, Summer Sunshine, and Stamper's Select White, and ink is Lemon Zest, Summer Sunshine, and Black Brilliance. I restamped the large bee in a glue pad, then added some black flocking to him; he's pretty convincing in person! I colored him in with a yellow marker and applied Diamond Stickles when it dried. Bee and mat are cut with a Spellbinders Petite Plain and Scalloped circle die set.

Ptibees2ddodtlThis is certainly a fun set for the honey lovers among us!  Thanks, Candice--hope you are enjoying that honeymoon!

May 13, 2008

Quilted Bitty Blessings: PaperTrey Sneek Peek

You've been patient with me this week; I really have been stamping—not loafing! Tonight I get to share my PaperTrey sneak peek. This has been a wonderful set of papers and images to play with in part because of the baby theme this month. I have a sister and several friends who are expecting, and I've had so much fun thinking through baby presents and cards!

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As I looked through the beautiful patterned papers in the Bitty Baby Collection, I immediately envisioned a patterned baby quilt.

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I found a shadowbox frame with a 5” x 7” mat opening that would allow me to have a bit of dimensionality, and I cut twelve 1-1/2” squares of patterned paper and arranged them on a 5” x7” Summer Sunrise base. I left about 1/8” between each piece of paper to let the background paper show through, and lightly tacked my pieces down with adhesive.

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Pti_5_08_step3_4 Next I sewed them down with a simple straight stitch. (I tried a zig-zag stitch first, and it left my edges a bit frayed--one quilt messed up, and one lesson learned!) For the blanket borders I used Summer Sunrise grosgrain on the top and bottom, sewing with a zig-zag stitch there to simulate a blanket binding.


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Pti_5_08_step5_2 For the side binding, I chose PTI's new Lavender Moon grosgrain to pull out a bit of the lavender in the patterned papers. Yellow is obviously my predominant color, but the complementary lavender adds a nice punch without competing too much with the yellows.

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I finished off the piece by adding a double ended tag stamped with a sentiment from PaperTrey's Bitty Baby Blessings set, tied on with Lavender Moon satin. I added a few mismatched buttons just because I love the charm of buttons.  I think that the recipient will be pleased with this simple gift!

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The Bitty Baby Blessings stamps and paper, as well as Favor It Baby, Mailbox Greetings, and Honey Bees stamp sets, and Lavender Moon and KRAFT (newsflash) cardstock will all magically appear on the PaperTrey Ink site at midnight, EST--about 24 hours from now. . . Happy Shopping!

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Credits

Stamps: Bitty Baby Blessings (PTI)
Papers: Bitty Baby Collection, 6" x 6" size (PTI)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Summer Sunrise (PTI)

Ink: Versamagic Perfect Plumeria
Tools: Spellbinders Double Ended Tags die

May 11, 2008

Floral Encouragement Card

Debbiedesigns_fabflower3 Tonight I made an encouragement card using Stampin' Up's Fabulous Flowers set and Ginger Blossom patterned paper, Verve Visual's Heartfelt Phrases, and PaperTrey's Everyday Blessings (all linked below). I created a different fold that I thought I'd share with you.

I had started with what is now the inside of the card as the card front, and it evolved from there.  When I started to mount the card front to the card base, it occurred to me that a rounded flap might be nice--hmmm. . . So I used my largest circle Coluzzle to cut the inside circle as well as the front flap's base (a smaller diameter)  and my largest Spellbinders Nestability plain and scalloped circles to cut the front flap Guava and River Rock piece. (Card base is 4-1/4" x 11", scored at -1/2" and trimmed on one half with the circle Coluzzle and a straight-edged paper trimmer.)

Debbiedesigns_fabflower3b I think that you'll be able to see what I did from seeing both pictures, but if not, perhaps I can get a step-by step tutorial written in a week or so if you'd like one.

I'm working on eight projects for this coming week, all to share around the 14th or 15th; so there is plenty to come this week! Taylor and Heather, in addition to Nichole, have posted some gorgeous sneak peeks of the next paperTrey release. Lisa has one going up today as well. Thanks for visiting!

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Credits

Stamps: Fabulous Florals (SU), Everyday Blessings (PaperTrey Ink), Heartfelt Florals (Verve Visual)
Papers: Ginger Blossom (SU)
Cardstock: Very Vanilla, Groovy Guava
Ink: Groovy Guava and River Rock (SU); and Versafine Sepia
Marker: SU's Chocolate Chip (to ink the tag sentiment and make it a two-liner
Tools: Spellbinders Nestability Plain and Scalloped Classic Circles, and Tags Trio

May 10, 2008

Best Dad Frame

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I had a nice surprise in the mailbox today--my June/July PaperCrafts came! I don't usually post published projects on my blog after the fact, but I'm allowed to post one, and I'm pushing a deadline. Without more babbling, here is my little Father's Day project from page 57. Enjoy!

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Credits

Stamps: Family by Impression-Obsession
Paper: Halfway Cafe by Cosmo Cricket
Ink: Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger), and Coffee Bean (Brilliance)
Accessories: We R Memory Keepers, Robin's Nest, Stampin' Up
Tools:  Brackets die (by Spellbinders)

May 08, 2008

The Greatest is Love: JustRite Sentiments

Justritemonogram4do I needed to make an anniversary card tonight and thought I'd try something different; I used my C-45 Small Letters set along with my Special Occasions font Just Rite stamper to stamp "Now abide faith, hope, and love, but the greatest is Love." This was the first time I've used the tiny letters to create my own ring of type; I think I'll stamp off several more copies before I put those little letters back in their case too!

Background papers are from a K&Company Classic K pad that I picked up last time we were in the big city at a JoAnn's, and I had received some lovely Bazzill buttons in a goodie box last week that just happened to coordinate with the paper perfectly. Lace is Wrights Flat Cluny Edge lace on a little spool.  I zig-zag-stitched it down, as well as outlining the rest of the card in stitches too.

Justritemonogram4dostamp Here's what the back of the stamp looked like after I set up my little ring of type; I left it inky so that you could see it better.  The letters are tiny, but they are quite simple to align correctly since they fit into a track.  It's pretty much foolproof. Just stamp on scrap paper first to make sure that you are pleased with your wordspacing. (If you were mass-producing, you would probably want to set this up on one of the self-inking stampers; I used the wooden block because I knew I wanted to stamp just a few of them in a specialty ink.)

Justritemonogram4dodtlMy head is starting to churn with possibilities for these little type rings, now that I've played with one; in fact, I think I have another idea to try. Have a wonderful day!

Edited to Add: I just followed a comment back and found this elegant graduation card by Sharon Johnson (NoTimetoStamp). I know what I'm using for graduation cards this year! ;-)

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Credits

Stamps:  Special Occasions Set and Small Letters set by Just Rite Stampers
Ink: Versamagic Red brick; Antique Linen Distress pad
Cardstock: Prism Natural; SU Cranberry Crisp (retired)
Papers: Classic K pad by K&Company
Accessories: Pearls by Joy Crafts; button my Bazzill; lace by Wrights
Tools: Spellbinders Plain and Petite Scalloped circle dies; sewing machine