Thinking Inking

Last Minute Gift Idea Blog Hop

Welcome to a stop on the JustRite Last Minute Gift Idea Blog Hop! I've been baking and frosting sugar cookies to be ready for this hop, and so far my husband and son are the only lucky recipients. I haven't heard any complaints yet. ;-)

I started with a couple of different JustRite sets, the Something Sweet set for my gift card, and the Christmas Treasures Borders and Centers set for the top of my cookie can. I knew that I wanted to use the cookies image from Something Sweet, and thinking that traditional Christmas colors would work well with it, I chose some Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly papers, Sweater Weather and Smitten Mitten. I also used some Jolly by Golly Ready Set Chipboard.

I love this little cookie image! I stamped it twice, once in Memento Black, and once in PaperTrey Ink's Pure Poppy. I colored the cookies stamped in black with Copic markers (E50 and E53 for the cookie base, R22 and R29 for the red frosting, YG41  and W2 for the green frosting, and W2 and W00 for the shadows). I used white Liquid Appliqué to accent the frosting on both cookies. The sentiment image and it's red border are both cut with Spellbinders dies, Plain Circle Nestability and Classic Scalloped Circle Nestability.

For the clear paint can,  I stamped the sentiment image for the lid in Pure Poppy Ink and trimmed it by hand, matting it with a Pure Poppy scalloped layer. 

The cookies are Paula's Snowflake Cookies from last year's Food Network Twelve Days of Cookies. I used her edible paint icing recipe at the bottom of the cookie recipe for this batch, but I used a plain butter cream frosting for my second batch. (The hard, royal-type icing is prettier, but my husband really prefers buttercream frosting.) Take your pick!

Don't forget to stop by and see many more last minute gift ideas; thanks for visiting!

JustRite Blog 
Angela Barkhouse 
Barb Schram 
Becca Feeken  
Heidi Blankenship 
Kathy Jones 
Kellie Fortin 
Lauren Meader 
Lisa Somerville 
Michele Kovack 
Michelle Wooderson 
Sharon Harnist 
Sharon Johnson
Terre Fry

The Sweetest Season: Cocoa Gift Card

Tonight I have a little cocoa packet gift box card for you. (I've shared this template before on this post.) I started with the 2-3/8" wood stamper and a couple of borders and centers from the JustRite Stampers Something Sweet Borders and Centers set, paired with some Cosmo Cricket Merry Berry paper from the Jolly by Golly collection. Download DOlson_CocoaPackTempl

I stamped the center and border for the front of the card in both PaperTrey Ink's Ocean Tides ink and Pure Poppy ink. On the Ocean Tides layer, I used two Spellbinders Plain Circle Nestabilities to trim a holly ring. Next I used a red gel pen to dot on the berries, and I used some Chamomile Distress ink to age the edges of that ring.

For the outer scalloped layer, stamped in red, I cut with a Classic Scalloped circle die and then embossed with both that scalloped die and a plain circle die , leaving the dies in place while I airbrushed with a BG72 Copic marker and Copic airbrush system as shown above and below.

On the inside, I did not cut out a window as I did on the template; you can do it either way that works for you.

 

I left the ribbon and medallion on the front unattached so that it could be slid off to get the cocoa packet out of the box, and then put back on to look nice again.

 

Finished closed size of this card is 3-1/4" x 6-1/2" x 1/2" thick. If you need a small gift, this is a pretty simple little gift card--enjoy!

Peppermint Wreath Card posted on the CLASSroom Blog

Good morning!  I have a Lockhart Candy Wreath card posted here on the CLASSroom blog today, complete with instructions and a full product list. Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly Mini Deck papers were a perfect fit for this Lockhart Candy Wreath image.

As a reminder, Ellen Hutson, LLC still has a sale going on through Monday, November 30. I saw a number of items from 10% to 40% off here. 

Have a lovely day!

Happy Thanksgiving

I managed to get one last Thanksgiving card made, this one using PaperTrey's Autumn Abundance set, paired with Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg Mini Deck papers and colored with the Copic markers shown in each step below. I took pictures as I colored, complete with a mistake and how it was fixed--not that any of us ever make mistakes coloring. . .

 

First I colored the acorns. Because it is such a small area, I filled the base in entirely with E19, then pushed aside a highlight with E53.

 

Next I added the orange leaves with PaperTrey's Orange Zest collection. (I missed a leaf base, but I caught it later.)  

 

Some Melon Berry collection leaves came to join the Orange Zest leaves.

 

My green leaves came next, and with them an area that I didn't like; the YG95 marker got a little too dark on the cardstock that I was working on, and it ended up a bit splotchy and shiny from too many pigment particles on the surface of the paper. I went back at the end and fixed that--see that a couple of steps down. 

 

Here I've added the vase and shadows.

 

Here is where I fixed that dark green: I used the clear blender (Copic 0) to pull up/push away as much of the YG95 as I could, and then I went back in with some YG01 to give it a warmer, yellower tone that fit better with my patterned paper. 

I used the Chamomile Distress Cube to age the edges of the cream cardstock and matted my Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg papers with PaperTrey's Scarlet Jewel cardstock.

Thank you for visiting!
   

Enjoy the Ride

 

I suppose you could call this a biker card, right? It's been quite the weekend, and while I haven't gotten much accomplished in my studio this weekend, I did have a couple of little cards that I could pull out to share. 

This one uses PaperTrey Ink's Everyday Button Bits, as well as papers from the Cosmo Cricket The Boyfriend Mini Deck. Cardstock is PTI's Vintage Cream. Ink is PTI's Pure Poppy, Ocean Tides, and Chamomile Vintage Distress Cube.  Buttons are Ocean Tides Vintage Buttons,  and twill is some 3/4" twill that I've had in my stash for so long that I can't remember where it came from. 

I used the Copic markers shown above; the ones to the left of the Spica Glitter pens were the ones with which I colored the image, and the two to the right of the glitter pens were the ones with which I airbrushed after cutting, embossing, and masking with a Spellbinders Classic Rectangle die. 

This was a fun little card to make. Thanks for visiting, and I hope that today you have some time to "enjoy the ride!"

Home for the Holidays

I've enjoyed playing with some of my new PaperTrey Ink November release sets over the past couple of days and thought I'd share a Christmas card that uses several different stamp sets. The sentiment is from Alli's Communiqué Curves set. Of course, with a sentiment like that, I wanted to work in the new Home Made set, using it for the window image (stamped in Dark Chocolate, Summer Sunrise, and New Leaf). That little greenery bough across the bottom of the window came from last year's Home for the Holidays set, stamped in Rich Cocoa Memento ink and colored with Copic markers.

Patterned paper in the background is Wrapping Paper from Cosmo Cricket's Oh Joy Collection. Ribbon is PaperTrey's New Leaf Satin ribbon, and the wreath in the center of the "O" is from HOme for the Holidays. This card is about 3-1/2" x 5", fitting one of PaperTrey's A-1 envelopes. This was a fun little card to make!

Good Friends: Hip To Be Square JustRite Blog Hop

If it's "hip to be square," just where is my square? Relax--my card base is square! Besides the new square frames, we could also use Christmas stamps for the JustRite Hip To Be Square Blog Hop. Since I'm always adding to the stash, I chose a stamp from the Old Fashioned Christmas set, along with the 3-1/4" round wooden stamper. 

I used the Copic markers shown on the left to color the snowmen image, stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa ink on Natural White cardstock. (Click on the image to enlarge, if you need to see the marker caps better.) I also added some Star Dust Stickles for shimmery snow here and there. Pink patterned paper is Play Day from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly Collection, and the snow pattern is from the Jolly by Golly Mini Deck. Spellbinders dies that I used were the Plain Circle and the Petite Scalloped Circle Nestabilities.

There is a lot of inspiration in this list--enjoy!

Start off at the JustRite Blog, and then:

Barb Schram   
Heidi Blankenship
Kathy Jones
Kellie Fortin
Angela Barkhouse
Lauren Meader
Lisa Somerville
Michele Kovack
Michelle Wooderson
Sharon Harnist
Sharon Johnson

Have a HOOT on your Birthday

Woohoo!  I got an Embellish challenge  card finished on time this month! This challenge involved using coral, brown, and green, combined with an owl image. I really liked the printable graphic that Ashley provided, but I wanted  a different twist on it; I cut him out of felt pieces and glued him together. The branch was an afterthought--we can't have levitating owls now, can we?

Papers are from the Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg Mini Deck. The backdrop sheet is also Nutmeg, but a 12" x 12" pattern. Buttons, sentiment, and ink (Melon Berry) are all PaperTrey Ink. The inside sentiment says, "Have a hOOt on your birthday," from Alli Miles' Wise Owl set.

This was a fun little challenge! (If you are entering, I think you still have until Thursday.) Thanks for visiting!

A Gift for You

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

386	

Timestamp: 2009-11-10 06:01:34 UTC

Number 386 is our winner of the Holiday Button Bits set here, but you still have a chance to win at the Moxie Fab Blog!

They are all so wonderful....especially the bow in the shape of a cross. Definitely my favorite.

Posted by: Carolyn | November 08, 2009 at 10:38 AM

Carolyn, I have e-mailed you to get your address. Thanks for playing, everyone!
 ___________

I'm still trying to finish up a couple of projects before I leave for Oregon, but I have a sweet little card to share with you today, as well as a gift for someone out there. First, the card: I'm still on a mission to use every one of those Holiday Button Bits images! I hadn't used the gift bow yet, so it was time to play with that one. 

For patterned papers, I chose some Cosmo Cricket Oh Joy papers (Yuletide and Mitten Mitten).  I loved the vintage look of these papers, and I liked using one strong print (to draw attention to the gift) paired with two plainer prints.

The sentiment is heat embossed in Filigree Detail White embossing powder. Button is a Pure Poppy Vintage Button. 

Now about that giveaway, I ordered an extra Holiday Button Bits set for one of you!  All you have to do to enter is leave me a comment saying which image in the Holiday Button Bits set you like the most--easy peasy. Comments will stay open until 11:59pm CST on Monday night, or as soon as I can get an internet connection to close them. I will choose a winner with the random number generator and will post the winner at the top of this post as soon as I can. Since I'm traveling, it *may be* as late as Wednesday evening when I return, but I'll do it sooner if I possibly can.

On another front, things are happening with Copic! What that means for you is some great giveaways in the next few days, starting on the November 11. Be watching Marianne's blog in case she gives out any information early, if you'd like. Thanks for visiting, and good luck with the Holiday Button Bits set!

Deck the Halls

 

Deck the halls--with boughs of holly, that is! I'm working my way through using each image in the PTI Holiday Button Bits set, and it was finally holly's turn. I love this image with these Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly paper (Merry Berry). 

I stamped the image twice in Ocean Depths ink, and cut and embossed one of the images with a Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestability.  I trimmed around the leaves of the second image and mounted them with foam tape. Buttons are PaperTrey Ink Vintage Pure Poppy buttons, and ribbon is Ocean Depths grosgrain. The sentiment is stamped in Pure Poppy ink and cut with a Ribbon Tags Trio die. Finished size of this card is 5-1/8", and it will easily fit the PTI large square envelopes.

 

The PTI senior team has some fabulous photo cards posted today, and special guest Annabelle O'Malley has joined in the challenge too. Don't miss those, and have a great day!