Thinking Inking

Flowers of Our Tomorrows

Welcome! I got home late last night. The next two weeks promise to be CRAZY-busy, leading up to CHA in Chicago in mid-July. I had been playing with more coffee filter flowers and needed  a card to use them on. (Nothing like designing backward, is there?) Lucky for me that I had a stamp set and some papers that were perfect with my pink coffee filter flower! 

The sentiment is from JustRite Papercraft's Seed of Summer set. I used several Spellbinders Paper Arts die template sets: Spiral Blossom Three, Foliage, Labels Eight, and Decorative Labels Eight (which will be released at Summer CHA). The papers are from Carta Bella's Beautiful Moments line (Stripes and Chickadee).

To create the flowers, I cut through two thicknesses of  a white coffee filter, then lightly sprayed them with some  Cherry Blossom Glimmer Mist. I also dabbed then in a bit of the wet overspray from the leaves (Olive Vine Glimmer Mist) to grunge it up just a bit. Sentiment is stamped in PTI's Ripe Avocado ink, and card base is cardstock-weight vellum.

Thant's it for tonight--thanks for stopping by!

Wedding Congratulations

Welcome! I am still in L.A., but I made a wedding card before I left and thought I would share that today. I chose JustRite Papercraft's Thank You Labels Twenty set for my focal image. The label shape is cut with a Spellbinders Labels Twenty die template. I use several other die templates as well: Grommet Tags, Grand Ovals, and Decorative Grand Ovals One (new CHA release). 

The card base is cut with the Grand Ovals die template and hinged at the top with the lacy edge of the Decorative Grand Ovals One extending past the plain edge of the card base. The pearl flourish is from Zva Creative, and the ribbon is dyed with Copic reinkers.  (Yes, I used several mini glue dots to get the ribbon tails to stay where I put them.) That's it for today--thanks for stopping by!

Stamps:  Thank You Labels Twenty (JustRite Papercrafts)

Cardstock: Neenah Natural White

Ink: Spring Rain (PTI), French Blue (Colorbox)

Patterned Paper: Lost and Found Portabello Road (My Mind's Eye)

Tools: Labels Twenty, Grommet Tags, Grand Ovals, Decorative Grand Ovals

Stepped-Out Peony Card

 

I'm on my way to L.A. this morning to teach a couple of Copic Certification classes; I hope to see some of you there! While I had shared just a peek of this peony card on my Spellbinders Summer Spectacular post, I wanted to share the rest of the photos in today's post. My focal image is from the JustRite Papercraft Seeds of Summer stamp set, and I used both the Spellbinders Paper Arts S4-368 Hexagons and the S5-138 Octagon Strips and Accents, both to be released at Summer CHA.

I took a few pictures as I colored the peony image, starting with airbrushing some Copic B32 into the background, using my Hexagon die template as a mask for airbrushing. I kept the ink light and mostly avoided the blossom area; what little light blue ink got onto the blossom, I was able to push out with a Colorless Blender. I did not worry about the light blue ink on the leaves since pale blue would simply cool my greens a bit. (If I had wanted to airbrush a darker background, I would have cut a mask for the flower image.)

Here I have colored the greenery. I used that BV02 to cool some shadows.

Here I have finished the blossom. The Blue-Violet was used to cool shadows in a few places.

After I cut and embossed the Spellbinders Octagon Strips and Accents,  I left the die templates in place while I airbrushed some RV95  to coordinate with the patterned paper that I used. 

The second die template that I used was a Hexagon, with the focal image stamped on the hexagon shape. Papers are from a Six by Six A Beautiful Life pad by My Mind's Eye, and ribbon was dyed  to coordinate with Copic reinkers. I added a touch of glitter at the center of the peony with a glue pen. That's it for today--thank you for visiting, and don't forget the Spellbinders Summer Spectacular!

Day Five: 

Teresa Horner

Latisha Yoast

Donna Salazar

Day Six: 

Linda Duke

Iwona Palamountain

Julianna Hudgins

Sneak Peek: Spellbinders™ Summer Spectacular Day 4

Welcome! Today I’m excited to get to share some summer CHA releases from Spellbinders Paper Arts. My two featured sets are the Hexagon and the Octagon Strips and Accents. I’m sharing a scrapbook page for my first project—love these sweet little sisters, and thought this picture would be perfect to frame with the Octagon Strips and Accents die templates!

Supply List:

• S4-368 Hexagon (Spellbinders™ Paper Arts) MSRP $24.99
• S5-138 Octagon Strips and Accents (Spellbinders™ Paper Arts) MSRP $29.99
• Grand Calibur® Die Cutting Machine (Spellbinders™ Paper Arts)
• Patterned Papers: Paper Girl (Girl’s Paperie)
• Cardstock: Natural White (Neenah)
• Accessories: pink rhinestones (Zva Creative); white seam binding dyed with Copic YG11 Various inks; white cotton crochet thread (to tie tag); foam tape
• Tools: sanding block, sewing machine, inkjet printer for sentiment

After cropping an 8" x 10" photo to 8" x 8", I pulled some papers from my stash that would give me coordinating colors but contrasting values, knowing that I wanted to layer a lighter trim over a darker background. Because the Octagon Strips and Accents die templates are two-piece die templates, it is simple to cut a background layer (green dotted layer), and an overlay layer (small pink flowered layer). Generally these layers will simply stack on top of one another; however, I stacked them with the green layer being slightly outside my top layer to create a mat effect. From the picture about, you can see that I have cut and folded the small strips, and backed my top layer with foam tape.

After running a zigzag stitch around my 12" x 12" patterned paper, I attached my photograph and then pieced together the four corner sets and four straight sets from Octagon Strips and Accents to create the square. See the green border? Again, that is because I offset the layers to get a mat effect.

I printed a sentiment with my inkjet printer and cut and embossed it with a Hexagon die temple, then matted it with the next larger sized Hexagon after sanding and lightly distressing the layers.  The small accent pieces are part of the Octagon Strips and Accents set. HELPFUL HINT: Before you try to cut patterned paper or cardstock with very intricate die templates, cut a sheet of wax paper.  This helps to lubricate the die so that it is not so difficult to get small pieces out of the die template.

The small tag above is cut with the Octagon Strips and Accents set; it was such a pretty shape that I just had to work it in somewhere!  I dyed white seam binding with a Copic reinker to coordinate with the patterned papers and the greenery in the photograph.

I wanted to briefly share a second project on which I used both the Hexagon and the Octagon Strips and Accents die templates to mask for airbrushing. A little later this week I will share a stepped out post for this card too, but I wanted to show you that you can mask with these die templates as well as lace ribbon through them for an entirely different look that on the scrapbook page above.

Here are the full sets of my featured Spellbinders die templates:

the S4-368 Hexagons

and

the S5-138 Octagon Strips and Accents

 .............................................................

The Sneak Peek: Spellbinders™ Summer Spectacular! Begins on June 21^st and will end on June 28^th, 2012. It consists of 24 individual prizes and one grand prize drawing.  Enter the Sneak Peek: Spellbinders™ Summer Spectacular! by visiting the participating blogs each day.

At the end of each blog post, click on the "Enter HERE" to open the entry form. You may only enter once from each blog each day.

Spellbinders™ will randomly draw one winner from each participating blog to receive that blog’s newly revealed dies. The Grand Prize Winner will be randomly drawn from the pool of entrants who sent entry forms from each and every participating blog during the 48 hours each blog was open. For the full list of official rules please click RULES.

 .............................................................

This contest is now CLOSED.

 ***Enter the contest by clicking HERE***

 .............................................................

I would love for some of you readers to win the fabulous prizes associated with the Spellbinders Blog Frenzy, but the only way that you can win is to participate. GO ENTER AT THE LINK ABOVE, okay? :-} While you are blog-hopping today, be sure to visit these blogs and enter there as well. Good luck!

Michelle Woerner

Samantha Walker

Questions? ContestQuestions@spellbinders.us  No entries will be accepted at this email address.

P.S. Did you miss any of the previous days' Summer Spectacular posts? Here they are!

 

June 21

                Becca Feeken

                Kazan Clark

                Julie Overby

June 22

                Cindy Echtinaw

                Beate Johns

                Sherry Cheever

June 23

                Judy Hayes

                Deb Seyer

                Nina Bracket

 

 

Celebrating You!

Do you ever make cards ahead of time and then lose them before you can send them? I hope I'm not the only one who has ever done that! I know that I made a yellow birthday card for my little niece, but I have no idea where I put it. This afternoon I made another birthday card for her, making sure to put plenty of yellow in it! (And this time I hope to get it mailed before I misplace it. . .)

All supplies are listed below. Thanks for stopping by!

Supply List

Stamps: Heart-2-Heart #2 (Papertrey Ink)
Cardstock: Rustic White, Summer Sunshine (Papertrey Ink)
Ink: Hawaiian Shore, Summer Sunshine, Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy (Papertrey Ink)
Patterned Paper: So Happy Together 6" x 6" pad (Echo Park)
Accessories: cream colored crochet thread, Summer Sunrise Grosgrain, Berry Sorbet Vintage Button, foam tape
Tools: Spiral Notebook Page die, Heart-2-Heart #2 die, sewing machine, Copic Airbrush System and BG23 marker (to airbrush blue-green sky behind the balloons)

a big congrats 2 you

I finally finished my last graduation card tonight, so I thought I would share that. My card needed to be masculine and high school appropriate.  For the focal image I chose a Papertrey Ink set from a couple of months ago, Framed Out #2, along with its coordinating Framed Out #2 die. I also used a die from the Half and Half die collection for the plaid strip. 

Papers are from Basic Grey's 6" x 6" Oliver pad--great guy colors! I used Papertrey's Ripe Avocado and Ocean Tides inks, distressing edges with the Chamomile Distress Cube. Button is an Ocean Tides Vintage Button tied with a length of cream Rustic Twine. That's it for tonight; thank you for stopping by!

You're a Blessing to Me

Welcome! I had a card all ready to post today and found out that its main component was out of stock--wahhhh! So, I dug into some sweet new MFT stamps that had arrived on my doorstep last week! This little Mouse in the House Blessed Mouse was perfect for a card that I wanted to make. Isn't it a sweet image?

These are the Copic markers that I used to color the MFT Blessed Mouse image. That R83 was used only on the shadow areas of the mouse's shirt to cool down the shadows and mute them a bit. 

On the inside, I used the "You are a Blessing to Me" sentiment, paired with a little paper-pieced butterfly.

I colored a second front ear and flower basket and then popped them up on foam tape for a bit of added dimension. Ribbon is dyed with a Copic R22 Various Ink, and patterned papers are from a 6" x 6" Crate Paper Pretty Party pad. That's it for today--thank you for stopping by!

June 2012 PTI Release in Review

Welcome! It's Papertrey Ink June Release time, so I have several projects to share with you today. Since most of the sets used in this post are from the June release, they will be available tonight at 10pm, EST, at Papertrey Ink. All of the new products used in this post can be seen HERE. I have listed all supplies under each project.

 

Oh, my goodness. . . I had FUN with Happy Hexagons! The stamps are slightly larger than the cut shapes, so it is easy to stamp and cover the entire hexagon; you don't have to spend time trying to align it just right--very helpful if you are alignment-challenged. ;-) We Go Together is cheerful and sweet as well. 

Awesome You

Stamps: Happy Hexagons, We Go Together
Cardstock: Spring Rain, Stampers Select White. Pure Poppy
Ink: Spring Rain, Blueberry Sky, Pure Poppy, Harvest Gold
Tools: Happy Hexagons die, Limitless Layers 2-1/2" circle die collection
Accessories: Spring Rain Satin Ribbon, white vintage button, white cotton string

 

Do you have a friend or relative in the military? Military Stars and its companion sentiment set, Military Hero, is well-thought-out and useful.

We Support You 

Stamps: Military Stars, Background Basics: Text Style II
Cardstock: Rustic White, Kraft
Ink: Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening, Fine Linen, Kraft, Chamomile Distress Ink
Patterned Paper: Enchanted Evening Collection
Accessories: Enchanted Evening Vintage Buttons, Cotton Crochet thread, foam tape, 3/4" natural twill tape (tea dyed)
Tools: Fiskars Star Punch, Circle die

 

How about a tiny birthday set? I loved the little banners in Heart-2-Heart #5. I thought I would stick with possible boy colors for this card since I've been on such a pink kick lately.

Celebrate You!

Stamps: Heart-2-Heart #5
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Aqua Mist
Ink: Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shore, New Leaf
Patterned Paper: PTI Green Boutique
Accessories: Rustic Twine, foam tape
Tools: Mat Stack 4 dies (all three sizes), sanding block

 

Lovely Layers is elegant. I paired it with some Guidelines 1 cardstock from my stash to make it simple to stamp a repeating pattern for the background, then used its coordinating dies to create just one focal image from the same background shapes.

A Grateful Heart

Stamps: Lovely Layers
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Simply Chartreuse, Spring Moss, Guidelines 1 cardstock
Ink: Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse
Tools: Lovely Layers dies, foam tape

 

I kept my Hello Sunshine card clean and simple, using a ROYGBIV rainbow of colors for the sun's rays. It's not my typical card, but it's cheery for sure! ;-) For the sun I had coated the harvest gold cardstock in glitter. My glitter had a little bit of  iridescent color in it, so it didn't look quite right. I simply airbrushed over the glittery surface with a Copic YR35 to solve that little problem

Sending You Sunshine

Stamps: Hello Sunshine
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Summer Sunrise
Ink: Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Summer Sunshine, New Leaf, Blueberry Sky, Royal Velvet, Plum Pudding
Accessories: Prisma Glitter, glue, foam tape, cotton String, Harvest Gold Vintage Button
Tools: Sunrise Impression Plate 

I've been determined to experiment more with color schemes, so I've been taking notes any time I see a color scheme that I don't usually use and jotting it down on a Desktop File: Inspiration card. This was one of them.  (LOVE that Desktop File: Inspiration set too!)

Wishing You Well

Stamps: Background Basics: Rainbows, Framed Out #5,Background Basics:  Text Style
Cardstock: Stampers Select White
Ink: Berry Sorbet, Ocean Tide, Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy 
Accessories: Berry Sorbet Satin, white cotton crochet thread, foam tape
Tools: Framed Out #5 die, sewing machine 

That's it for my June 2012 Papertrey Ink release projects! Again, the new stamp sets used here will be available tonight at 10pm, EST, at Papertrey Ink.Would you like to see more June release projects? Then be sure to see these blogs, and have a great day!

Nichole Heady

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Debbie Olson (here)

Erin Lincoln

Heather Nichols

Jessica Witty

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips

Michelle Wooderson

Graduation Cards: Celebrate

Today I finished three simple graduation cards for the remaining guys on our grads list, only to realize afterward that I still need one more. . . At least I'm three closer than I was before! To create the Celebrate label I used Papertrey Ink's Celebrations Stamp Set and coordinating Celebrations Frame die, along with Smokey Shadow ink, Soft Stone ink, and Chamomile Distress Ink.For backgrounds I chose some dark gray and cream patterned papers from Carta Bella's new Beautiful Moments line (Damask and Chickadee). Papertrey's Smokey Shadow Grosgrain and a button on one card finished the accessorizing--no bows or pink needed here. ;-)

That's it for today; I will have several Papertrey June release cards to share soon though! Thanks for stopping by. 

Grow with Love: Seeds of Summer

Welcome!  My peony bush is blooming now--love those blooms! (The ants, not so much. . .) Today I chose a peony stamp as my focal image from JustRite's new Seeds of Summer set. I took a few pictures as I worked.

These are the Copic markers that I used on my peony bloom, though I went back and added a little more BV01 in some shadow areas a little later.

Here are the Copic markers that I used in the greenery. The Blue-Violets were used in shadow areas, and the YG93 was used to mute some lighter parts of shadow areas.

For the background, I started by stamping the seed packet in Kraft ink, then cutting and embossing with a Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles die template. I left the die in place  to use as an airbrushing mask. I used YR23 and Bo1 to airbrush the background, keeping the yellow on the sunny side of my peonies and the blue on the shadow side.

This is the entire Seeds of Summer set--I've got to try those petunias next!

The pink background is stamped with JustRite's Heart Scroll background stamp on Papertrey Ink Sweet Blush cardstock with  Colorbox Rouge chalk ink. A bit of stitching and distress ink, and I was finished. I will include a complete supply list at the bottom of the post. Would you like to see some beautiful project with Seeds of Summer?  Then be sure to see the blogs below! Thank you for visiting today.

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson (HERE)
Sharon Harnist 
Marisa Job
Eva Dobilas
Sheri Holt 
Linda Duke
Michele Kovack 
Angela Barkhouse

Supply List

Stamps: Seeds of Summer, Heart Scroll Background Stamp

Cardstock: X-Press It Blending Card (Copic); Rustic White and Sweet Blush (Papertrey Ink)

Ink: Rouge Chalk Ink (Clearsnap); Memento Tuxedo Black ink (Tsukineko); Kraft Ink, Raspberry Fizz Ink, and Chamomile Distress Cube (Papertrey Ink)

Accessories: foam tape, white seam binding, Zva Creative taupe self-adhesive pearls, white cotton crochet thread, 

Tools: Romantic Rectangles, Labels and Tags (Spellbinders Paper Arts); sewing machine, Grand Calibur die cutting machine

P.S. Edited to add: JustRite needs to make room for their CHA Summer Releases. Use this coupon code and get an additional 20% off the remaining JustRite Original Stamps in their warehouse sale: JRDTJUNESALE  (use all caps  no spaces).You can see all the items that are on sale here.  This Coupon Code Expires on June 30th. Thanks!