Thinking Inking

Gift Card and Chocolate

Last week I found some Wilton candy molds that looked like they would be perfect with one of Lauren Meader's Timeless Templates, Lollipop Along. These little snowflakes out of white chocolate turned out pretty cute, even though they were a bit large to stand up straight in the template box. I ended up adding a mini glue dot to the end of each stick, then inserting them from the center out, sticking them to the bottom of the box to hold them upright. The coarse sugar crystals on the fronts are attached with a tiny bit of corn syrup that I rubbed on the face of the snowflake. Papers are from PaperTrey Ink's Holiday Vintage Prints Collection.

The card is a cash/gift certificate holder, cut at 4-1/4" x 11", and scored at 4-1/4" and 8-1/2" on the long side, leaving a 2-1/2" flap that I folded in, notched with a circle punch, and glued on the edges to form a pocket.  I used the same Holiday Vintage Prints papers to coordinate with the Lollipop Along piece, in addition to the 2008 Holiday Tags Collection--a wonderfully useful little stamp set!

Well, I need to get two more gift cards made and finish up some simple Christmas cards to hand out tomorrow night. Thank you for visiting!

O Holy Night: Polished Stone with Copic Refills

Saturday night I was playing with my Copic refills using a polished stone technique.  What do you think--a starry sky? That was my goal. I detailed my process on this post in the CLASSroom if you aren't already familiar with the oldie-but-goodie polished stone technique. If you are starting to need some Copic marker refills, this is one more great justification use for them. :-D

Have a lovely day!
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Product Details

Stamps: Christmas Expressions by Cornish Heritage Farms
Cardstock: white glossy cardstock, metallic gold cardstock (both the PaperTrey lighter gold and the Stampin' Up darker gold)
Ink: Versamark (for embossing) and  Copic Refills (for the polished stone background) BV02, BV04, BV08, and B29
Accessories: gold ribbon from PaperTrey Ink; gold brads from StarLitStudio

Merry and Bright Noel: CPS94

Today I have a CPS Sketch 94 card to share with you. I really enjoy the challenge of sketches because they break the routine. Some sketch cards come more easily than others: it took some thinking for me to figure out something that I wanted to use this week's sketch on! I ended up turning the sketch on end, and then bumping my focal image up a bit so that it didn't appear dead-center.

For stamps, I used one of Melissa Bickford's PaperTrey Ink creations, Merry and Bright Additions. The patterned paper is from the Holiday Vintage Prints collection. I used a Spellbinders Long Rectangle Nestability to cut and emboss the white panel for my tree, stamping only its base on the panel and layering on foam tape the tree parts (stamped in Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado).  I covered the little bullets between the letters in "N O E L" with my go-to bling, A Muse Micro Dot Twinkle Stickers. (How would I ever work without these?)

I cut the rick-rack with a Plantin Schoolbook cartridge and a Cricut, and then mashed it into a glue pad and added crystal glitter to it; you can't see the glitter effect very well in the picture, but it definitely adds a festive look.

We would love to have you play with the  CPS Sketch 94 this week if you get a chance! Thanks for visiting.

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Product Details

Stamps: Merry and Bright Additions by PaperTrey Ink
Paper: Holiday Vintage Prints Collection by Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Stamper's Select White by PaperTrey Ink
Ink: Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, and Pure Poppy by PaperTrey Ink
Accessories: Micro Dot Twinkle Stickers by A Muse, Stampendous fine glitter, glue pad, foam tape
Tools: Long Rectangle Nestabilities by Spellbinders Paper Arts

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P.S. Someone had e-mailed me a week or so ago and asked to be added to my Crafty Blogs to Browse page.  I cannot find the e-mail. If you were that person, would you mind leaving me a comment here or e-mailing me again?  Thanks!

Peace Doves, PTI Style

I have one more Christmas card made with the PaperTrey Men of Life patterned papers to show you; pretty soon Christmas will have come and gone, and then I'll have to use them as they were intended! Seriously, I've loved the color scheme of these papers; they work beautifully for a fresh twist on Christmas colors.

I stamped the doves from the 2008 Holiday Tags Collection in Pure Poppy ink on Stampers Select White cardstock. The Spring Rain and Pure Poppy mats were cut with Spellbinders Plain and Classic Scalloped Circle dies. I added dots of Stardust Stickles to the intersecting dots on the stamped image, as well as red twinkle-sticker rhinestones on the scallops. Ribbon is Pure Poppy Satin.

Have you finished your Christmas cards yet? I have quite a few done, but I need to find them all and get started addressing them! I'm often one of those people who is still mailing cards on December 23 or 24. . . I hope that you are not like that! Thank you for visiting.

A Little Christmas Tree

I have another card for the stash, this one stamped with the 2008 Holiday Tags set (PaperTrey Ink.) This set is getting as much seasonal use on my cards as my all-time favorite little sentiment set, Mixed Messages! I used the Men of Life Background papers, making sure that the anchor on the polka dot paper was hidden behind my stamped image.

I used a gold paint pen to edge both the round and Labels 1 die-cuts (both Spellbinders). Ribbon is PaperTrey's Spring Rain, buttons are Foof-a-La, and rhinestones are A Muse Microdot Twinkle Stickers. Ink colors are Pure Poppy and Spring Rain.

I'm going to try to keep posting consistently over the next few weeks, but just as an FYI, we're working on finishing a craft space in our basement. Getting to all of my tools and supplies when they are not in the usual place is sometimes a challenge! If you have any links to fabulous crafting spaces that incorporate great organizational ideas, I would *love* to see them! My favorite so far has to be Nichole's, posted here. There are several great stamping spaces posted on Splitcoaststampers in this gallery, and Two Peas has quite a few scrapbooking rooms in their gallery as well.

Have a lovely day!

Edited to add: Some of you wonderful readers have provided great links for studio organization!  Here are the ones that I've been sent so far:

Crafty Storage Blog: A great compilation of creative areas and storage options

Jennifer McGuire's Scraproom: Beautiful and functional

IKEA US: Whoa. . . I could spend a fortune here, but  the nearest one to us is almost 300 miles away. Waaaahhhh! If you live next door to one, don't even tell me, because I'd probably be a little bit jealous! ;-)

Stacey on 2 Peas: Wow!  So beautiful!

Ashley Newell's Nestability Storage: pretty and functional

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I'll add more as I get them, when my satellite internet goes back to normal. . . Yep, I exceeded the Fair Access Policy Threshold again tonight looking at all of those pretty crafting rooms, so I'm at low speed until 12:32 AM CST on Saturday. . .  On the bright side, I get a lot of stamping done when I can't do much online.

Thanks for visiting!

Celebrating the {Snow} Season

Tonight I thought I'd share a card made with one of my absolute favorite pieces of chipboard--isn't this snowman the cutest?  When I saw the chipboard snowmen in the Cosmo Cricket Buck Naked Ornaments package, it was love at first sight. I was afraid that he would be too big for a card though. I dressed him with the Ornament Fashions and sanded him a bit, then decided that he must go on a card. (I might have to keep him though!)

I chose some Frosty and Mitten, Mitten papers for his background, cutting curvy snow layers in the Frosty paper at the bottom. I also used a Crop-a-Dile to punch a hole in the top of his hat so that he could easily adorn a Christmas tree; he can be removed from the card front or left on it. I sprayed him with a sealer so that he wouldn't get fingerprints, knowing that he'll probably get some love on a tree.

For the tag, I used a sentiment from the 2008 Holiday Tags Collection by PaperTrey Ink, stamped in Ripe Avocado ink and die cut with a Spellbinders Double Ended Tags die. (I trimmed the end past the words and rounded the corners with my scissors.) Card base size is 4-1/4" x 5-1/2". I keep forgetting to post this though a couple of you have asked for sizes. How about if I make sure that I tell you if anything is not a standard A-2-sized base?

I'm really having fun with chipboard; of course, having patterned paper already die cut to fit it makes the whole process pretty quick and painless! I usually use a coat of Mod Podge or Royal Coat Decoupage Medium to adhere the paper to the chipboard base. I've tried using a Xyron a couple of times, and while I love Xyron for some applications, I found that it gave me no wiggle room for repositioning papers if they were slightly crooked--that's the benefit of using a liquid adhesive. I could have used chipboard eyes as well, but I decided upon some black Dew Drops because I liked the sheen that the Dew Drops gave.

We don't have a lot of snow yet, but it's bound to come; have a warm and cozy day!

Edited to Add: Someone e-mailed me a good question about getting patterned paper to fit chipboard.  First, just to clarify, the Cosmo Cricket chipboard that I used has die-cut papers that already fit it--rather like dressing a paper doll. I linked to both products above in the body of the post.

To answer the question though, I generally lay the chipboard down on the back side of the patterned paper, trace closely around the edge with a pencil, and cut out the paper ever-so-slightly inside my pencil edge to make up for the extra width added by the pencil line being on the outside. I then adhere it to the chipboard and let it dry completely. Next I usually sand the edges a bit, and that pretty much fixes any imperfections that are left.

One very helpful tool is the Basic Grey detail sanding kit that has the tiny rounded files which allow you to sand in tight curved and inside corners. Hope this helps someone!

Merry Kissmoose: Posted on the CLASSroom

Hello, friends!  It seems like it's been a while since I posted. I was the Thanksgiving cook for my husband's family, and since then we've been trying to finish clearing out my unfinished basement work room so that Rick can begin putting up some drywall for me. (Yay! No more exposed wall studs, cement blocks, or extension cords, I'm hoping!) Tonight I wanted to tell you how very much I appreciated your Thanksgiving wishes--you've been a blessing to me, and I am grateful!

I have a card posted on the CLASSroom blog here today, and I will have another post on my blog around 11pm tonight (Sunday) as well. Isn't that moose the cutest?  He's from the Kim Hughes Christmas Critters set, and I had a great time coloring him with my Copic markers. I'm thinking that he might need some mistletoe to go with that holly. . .

Thank you for visiting!

Warm, Wooly Mittens: CPS Sketch 92

How about a fun little card and a simple technique today? When I was at the Copic certification class this past July, Marianne demonstrated a couple of textural applications for Copic blender fluid, one of which fit perfectly with the stamps I chose for this week's CPS 92 Sketch.

I chose PaperTrey's Pure Poppy and Vintage Ivory cardstock, paired with Stampin' Up's Always Artichoke cardstock for the base and card layers, and then stamped backgrounds using Polka Dot, Scratched Grid, and Leaves Backgrounders (Cornish Heritage Farms), as a backdrop for my focal image.

For the focal image I paired CHF's Winter Vintage Signage set with Karen Lockhart's Itty Bitty Mittens. Now, for the fun part: the mittens that I had colored with my Copic markers, pictured here along with a refill of clear blender fluid, looked just too smooth for mittens. They needed some nubby texture.

Enter the paper towels--some name brand ones with the puffy, quilt-y surface.  I saturated a bit of paper towel with clear blender fluid, and then laid it down on and lightly tapped it on the colored mittens, lifting it within a a very few seconds.  The clear blender fluid pushes ink out of the areas that it comes into contact with and consequently fades them. (I often use a clear blender to lift out a highlight after I'm finished shading something.)

After cutting and embossing the focal image with a Spellbinders Classic Oval die, I cut out the mittens and mounted them on foam tape to add a bit of dimension.  I was pleased with the texture that the clear blender fluid and paper towel added. If you are experimenting with Copic markers, go find some interesting textures--burlap, gauze, terrycloth--anything absorbent and interestingly textured.  Try it! It's simple and really adds something to the right image. Please note: subtractive texture works best on medium to dark marker values; it needs contrast in order to show up. Also, if you are interested in learning more Copic techniques, you would find Marianne's blog extremely helpful, as she explains the ins  and outs of Copic marker techniques.

Thanks for visiting, and have a lovely day!

Christmas Poinsettia

I have a Christmas card for you today; when I saw this little Poinsettia Christmas set, I added it to my order of Verve Plain Janes. I liked the poinsettia, but I loved the sentiment and knew that it would fit beautifully into one of my Spellbinders Double Ended Tag dies. (It was close, but it did fit.)

I stamped the poinsettia on Natural White cardstock, then colored it with Copic markers. (Sorry about this, but I don't have the marker colors for you today; I colored the flower, took a picture, and put my markers away a few days ago, but then I had a program crash and lost a few pictures.) Next I  chose some papers from Cosmo Cricket's Oh Joy Collection, Yuletide and Mitten, Mitten, as background papers. I used a new Spellbinders border die, the Deckle Border, for that vanilla strip. I sanded it a bit to emphasize the embossing, and then sewed it onto the background layer.  On top of that, I  sewed a little green strip from the back of the Yuletide paper to add a dash of color. The sentiment is stamped in SU's retired Cranberry Crisp ink and die cut with a Spellbinders Double Ended tag die. To fill in the brad holes, I chose a couple of the Kandi Corp hot fix crystals. A bit of Antique Linen Distress ink on edges finished the card off--one more for the stash!

Thank you for visiting.

Studded Wreath: CPS Sketch 91

This week's CPS 91 Sponsor is Kandi Corp--the hot-fix tools people. I've used their Brass-It-Up hot fix pieces here, but they also carry some beautiful hot-fix rhinestones as well as several lines of stamps.

I stamped the  Itty Bitty Wreath (Lockhart) in Rich Cocoa Memento ink, and then colored it with these Copic markers: 0, R24, R27, R29, G82, G85, and YG95.  I colored the berries with a Red Gelly Roll Glaze pen. Next, I cut and embossed the image with a Spellbinders Plain Nestability circle die. For the scalloped edge, I used a punch instead of a die (SU Scalloped circle punch). Why?  I wanted to use the brass studs, and I needed larger and fewer scallops to put then into.

Background is Cornish Heritage Farms' Leaves and Canvas Backgrounders, inked in SU's retired Cranberry Crisp ink and stamped on PaperTrey Ink's Pure Poppy cardstock. The little band of ribbon is SU's Kraft taffeta. Finished size is 3-1/4" x 6-1/2", folded, fitting into the long tag envelopes that SU carries.

This was an easy sketch, and it would work well for small focal images, whether round or square. We'd love to have you play along with the CPS Sketches!  I'll be back late tonight with a fun little packaged food gift ensemble, PaperTrey style. Thanks for visiting!