Thinking Inking

Goodnight, Moon. . .

I have no idea how many times I read that classic and quintessential avoiding-bedtime book, Goodnight, Moon by Margaret Wise Brown, to my son when he was younger. I'm guessing that together we could remember most of it verbatim though! This little moon image from Rock-a-Bye by Flourishes reminded me of that book. . .

I chose to keep it simple--mostly because I have a lot of work to finish up in the next week! I used a square Fabriano notecard that I purchased from Cindy Lyles e-Bay store, and I dry-embossed it with my new Spellbinders Labels 1 die. I stamped the image with some Staz-On Timber Brown ink, then watercolored it with the Twinkling H2O's pictured on the left (LuminArte)--that moon needed twinkle!

What took the longest was deciding on the ribbon. This is my fifth ribbon and placement; I tried silk, organdy, taffeta, satin, and finally Sweet Blush grosgrain (PTI). I used a pink safety pin to reinforce the baby theme, and added a tag sentiment from PaperTrey Ink's Mixed Messages set. I tried to capture the shimmer at an angle, but it still doesn't show up very well on the camera. Other than ribbon choice and placement, this was a pretty quick card, simple enough to get a few made for birth announcements.

_________

Today's PaperTrey Ink sneak peeks are at Nichole's, Heather's, Alli's, and Melissa's blogs. Tomorrow's will be at Lisa's blog.

Also, if you are following the Spellbinders die giveaway's, here are the places to be:

July 11: Today's Creations by Holly Craft
July 12: Donya Schroeder by Donya Schroeder

Have a lovely evening!

Coffee with a Friend

I've had this Coffee with a Friend set for a couple of weeks and finally had time to pull it out and play tonight! I love coffee sets, especially elegant, versatile sets like this one.

I started with my Cosmo Cricket Fleuriste 8" x 8" pad and picked patterns for the cup and saucer, then chose a background paper pattern. Since the cup was tall, I decided  to  use my long rectangle dies (both plain and scalloped) to cut both the front layer and the card base.  Next I remembered my new Spellbinders Labels 2 dies and thought that the shape might work with the coffee cup. When I got a tall enough shape for the cup to fit into, my label was too wide. So I just trimmed it on both sides and used it anyway; I still got the cool arc at the top and bottom, even if the sides are missing.

I used some vanilla and gold embossing powders for the steam and handle, respectively. The little green pearls are from Ellen, here.  Ribbon is May Arts ivory silk ribbon.

If you are trying to win dies, the blogs to check for the next couple of days are:

       July 8: Inky Heart by Sally Lynn MacDonald
       July 9: Cookies for Breakfast by Beth Pingry

You still have until Tuesday at midnight to enter for Mish's dies too. Good luck!

Love Blooms Forever and Ever

Tonight I needed a card for a wedding shower. I thought that this would be a good chance to use my lovely new Flourishes Lilac stamp set. I almost watercolored this image, but then the challenge of coloring it with markers and not having it look clean and graphic appealed to me. . . (Maybe I'll try it with watercolors another time.)

The lilac image is stamped in Tuxedo Black Memento ink on PaperTrey Stamper's Select White cardstock, and matted in Plum Pudding, on a Kraft base (also both PTI.)  Ribbon is Plum Pudding satin, and the little tag is from PaperTrey's Favor It Weddings set, stamped on Lavender Moon cardstock.

I used the Copic markers shown below. The leaves really are too muted for lilac leaves; I got a bit carried away with my warm vintage tones. Background stamps are Scratched Grid and Tiled Scallops backgrounders (Cornish Heritage Farms), stamped in Antique Linen Distress ink (Ranger) and Plum Pudding ink (PTI) respectively. The aged copper stick pins are from Joann.com, and the beads are superstore variety.

Finally, I wanted to share a picture that I took yesterday when I looked out and saw a butterfly flitting about my chives. Isn't he a beauty?

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Welcome, Sweet One

I have to admit to having baby cards on the brain these days, and when I saw this Rock-a-Bye set from Flourishes, I knew I needed it! The focal image is stamped in Pearlescent Chocolate Brilliance ink on watercolor paper and watercolored with some Twinkling H2O's (Buttercup, Pink Cloud, Chiffon Pink, Plum Blossom, Iridescent Violet, and a touch of Bougainvillea). I'll add a close-up image below, but it's tough to capture the shimmer that you can easily see in person. Background paper is Prism  Iced Amethyst, and card base is a shimmery white cardstock.

I stamped the "Welcome Sweet One" sentiment on translucent shrink plastic, then cut it out with a Spellbinders circle die. (I usually use a punch on shrink plastic, but my largest circle punch was still a tiny bit too small; the die worked well.) I punched a 1/4" hole for the linen thread, then shrunk the medallion. Afterward, I used a Copic Y17 marker to give the medallion a fain yellow glow around the edge to tie in with the moon theme.

Ribbon is PaperTrey Lavender Moon Satin. I used my Scor-Pal to score a lattice background (tutorial here), and lightly sponged antique Linen distress ink on all edges. It's sweet and simple. Now if I only had some baby-powder scent to spray on it. . .

Thanks for visiting!

_________
Credits
Stamps: Rock-a-Bye (Flourishes)
Cardstock: Iced Amethyst (Prism), Cryogen White/Shimmery White (Arjo Wiggins)
Ink: Chocolate Pearlescent Brilliance (Tsukineko), Antique Linen Distress Ink (Ranger)
Coloring medium: Twinkling H2O's (Luminarte)
Accessories: translucent shrink plastic (Lucky Squirrel), linen thread (Stampin' Up), Lavender Moon Satin (PaperTrey Ink)
Tools: Scor-Pal, sewing machine