Thinking Inking

Happy Birthday Lilacs

Still on my vintage kick--may as well make a week of it, right? Today I chose a Lockhart image, Lilacs in Pitcher, as well as some Prima Cavalier Collection papers that had come in a goodie box. These two were a perfect match! I loved the soft, muted lavenders and greens in the paper, and I chose my Copic markers accordingly (shown below). The image was stamped in Memento London Fog ink.

After distressing my focal image, I added some FlowerSoft in both Violet and the Lilac from the Soft Colors kit. (I'm still debating whether I liked it better before or after the addition of the Flower Soft--I like Flower Soft, but all of the time I spent coloring the blooms is covered up now.)

Birthday sentiment is from PaperTrey Ink's Around and About Sentiments, and Button is one of PaperTrey's New Leaf Vintage buttons. Cardstock is also PaperTrey Ink--Plum Pudding and Vintage cream. That trim at the bottom of the focal image is some Prima Bella Lace--isn't it pretty? Finally, I sanded, scuffed, and sewed my way to a finished card.

Several of you have asked about mailing bulky cards recently. I've mentioned this before, but I thought I would say it here again: (1) I hand-deliver the very bulkiest of cards. (2) I use padded mailers for cards like this. Does it cost extra? Yes, but considering how much I've spent on this hobby over the past nine years, getting my card there safely doesn't cost THAT much more. I usually recycle padded envelopes when they come my way. Sometimes I even pack the bow loops with quilt batting if I'm mailing a card in to be photographed. . . (Please don't tell me if there is a diagnosis code for people like me!) Hope that answers some questions for you. Have a lovely day!

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I just saw on the CLASSroom blog that Ellen is having a 15% off sale on May 1-3--Spring Fling Celebration. That would include the stamp above, as well as the Prima trim. For you Karen Lockhart fans, there is also a new Lockhart Release that will be available then. Just sayin' . . . ;-D

Butterfly Hello

Today I have a little 4-1/4" square butterfly card to share with you. If you had asked me what my least favorite color was a year ago, I would have said without hesitation, "Orange. " So I'm not quite sure why I like orange (or a color akin to it) and gray so much in the Cosmo Cricket Everafter line, but I do!

I combined the Everafter papers (Something Blue, Something New, and Something True) with some Spellbinders Nested Butterflies dies, and completed the card with PaperTrey Ink's Melon Berry buttons and Mixed Messages stamp set. Inks were Adirondack Slate ink and Antique Linen Distress ink.

I did a bit of stitching around the layer edges, as well as some sanding to add depth to the layers. Other Spellbinders dies used were a Double Ended Tags die (trimmed), and a Long Scalloped Rectangle Nestability. Ribbon is Cosmo Cricket Everafter Ribbon and 1/4"  Silk, colored with a W4 Copic Marker. 

Have a lovely day!

Life is Beautiful (CPS 113) and Z-Fold Spring Card

I spent Sunday with my family, but I still had a couple of things posted elsewhere online that I can share with you. First was my Card Positioning Systems card for the week. This week's CPS 113 Sponsor was Cornish Heritage Farms; we were all blessed with Julia Stainton's new stamps from the Rummage Bin Line, Ornamental Block and Ornamental Beauty. It was love at first ink--swirls and flourishes and beautiful words--what's not to like?

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Product Details
Stamps: Ornamental Block, Ornamental Beauty by Cornish Heritage Farms
Ink: Pink Grapefruit Versamagic; Rich Cocoa Memento; Vintage Photo Distress Ink
Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Sweet Blush, and Dark Chocolate (PaperTrey Ink)
Tools: Copic Markers in R20, R22, W1, o, and YR31; Spica Glitter pens in Melon, Mint (new*), and Blossom (also new*); sewing machine, paper piercing tool
Accessories: Creative Impressions Ivory Silk ribbon; Making Memories Antique Copper Mini Brads; foam tape

*new Spica colors that should be available soon

Also, I had a z-fold card with instructions posted on the CLASSroom blog; I'm including it in this post since it used Cornish Heritage Farm Stamps too, the Kim Hughes Spring Trees set and the Mona Lisa Birthday Centers set for the sentiment inside.  (If you don't know how to make a z-fold card, it's pretty simple--check it out!) Thank you for visiting.

Vintage Thinking of You

Edited to add: Hi, PaperTrey Blog Hoppers! I am so sorry not to be playing tonight. We were gone all day, and my son is sick tonight. That means no sneaking downstairs to stamp. . .  Have fun!

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I am in SUCH a vintage mood lately! I thought I would play along with two challenges today--the Hero Arts Distress Challenge, and Sharon Johnson's Let's Pipe Up challenge.

I started with a Hero arts stamp--part of the HA challenge--the CL130 Frames and Messages set, stamped in Adirondack Pebble and Mushroom inks, and distressed with some Antique Linen Distress ink. Next I added a sweet piece of vintage artwork from the Cosmo Cricket Everafter Elements, attaching it with a vintage copper stick pin and pearl. (I colored the pearl yellow with a  Copic Y32 marker to coordinate with the other embellishments.) Paper is Cosmo Cricket Something Old and Something Borrowed from the Everlasting line. Ribbon is Creative Impressions 1" Seashell Silk, and lace is  Prima White Lace 4. (Too bad not much of it shows, because it's a pretty lace!) A bit of sewing and distress-inking finished it off.

I'll come back later tonight and close down the giveaway post below. Have a great weekend!

Have Faith

We have a winner: #138, Jennifer Scull!  Jennifer, I'm e-mailing you for your address. Thank you all for playing! Comments are now closed on this post.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

138	

Timestamp: 2009-04-26 03:15:17 UTC

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Would you believe that I still had some scraps left from the digital Summer Posies paper? They were so soft and pretty that I didn't want to waste them. Tonight I paired them with the newly-released Just Rite Stampers Tiny Words set to make an encouragement card for a lady who can't get out much these days.

I stamped the image in Rich Cocoa Memento ink and die-cut it with my Spellbinders Nestabilities, then airbrushed it with a YG13 Copic marker while it was still in the die.  Pink cardstock is PaperTrey Ink Sweet Blush, and green cardstock is SU's Kiwi Kiss. Buttons and ribbon are both PaperTrey as well--Sweet Blush.  The rhinestones are Micro Dot Twinkle Stickers. I used a Martha Stewart Embossing Scalloping punch for the right side of the floral strip, and then sanded edges before sewing a couple of seams.

The butterfly is colored with R30 and R32 Copic markers, then enhanced with a pink Spica Glitter pen. I used the Melon Spica around the perimeter of the image as well as on the body of the little butterfly. I'm almost out of these printed paper scraps--really! (I might get one or two more cards if I stretch it.)

Now if you've read this far, I have a giveaway; I'm trying to be very careful how much stuff I move back into my almost-finished studio! (Yes, I'll post pictures soon. We have four more cabinet doors to finish.) I ran across a couple of extra Just Rite items as I was putting things away. One is a newly-released Favorite Occasions set that fits a 1-5/8" round stamper. And just in case you don't have a 1-5/8" round wooden stamper, I also have a Pink Sonnet Stamper (retired, but brand new) that the Favorite Occasions set will work with.

I'll do the Random Number Generator to choose a recipient; please leave only one comment per person. I will close this post at 10pm, CST on Saturday night, April 25.  Hmmmm--why don't you tell me which stamp you like best in the Favorite Occasions set? It is pictured below:

Also, if you haven't already seen these posts, I think you'd love them: Sharon Harnist's darling School Days countdown calendar, Sharon Johnson's elegant Stamp Simply coffee post, and Kellie Fortin's Elegant Wedding Box post. Thanks for visiting!

P.S. I keep getting questions on bow-tying. Honestly, it's not me; it's the bow-tying pegs on that  Crafter's Companion tool. I can tie a bow, but when I tie a bow, one tail is invariably on top of a loop. Any time you see both tails behind the loops on this blog, I either (a) fiddled with it for half an hour, or (b) used pegs to tie the bow. I am not associated with this product--just giving credit where it is due.

A Warm Cup of Tea. . .

"A warm cup of tea can diminish all the troubles that may be" according to the inside sentiment on this card. I chose PaperTrey Ink's Tea for Two set, combined with Green Tea Leaves paper, and Vintage Cream and Aqua Mist cardstock. I used a Spellbinders Plain Classic Oval Nestability and Labels Four die to mat my focal image. The teapot is stamped in Ocean Tides ink with its leaves colored in the new (hopefully available soon!) Spica Mint green. (If you have Copic markers, it's a G82, Spring Dim Green--not especially minty, but perfect for a pale green.)

For the bottom border I used a Spellbinders Pinking Pierceability; it reminded me a hemstitched handkerchief. I often use my border die simply to cut, without embossing or piercing; but on this card, I liked the piercing. Ribbon and buttons are both PaperTrey Ink--Vintage Cream Satin Ribbon, and Vintage Aqua Mist and New Leaf buttons. That's about it--homespun simplicity.

Thank you for visiting!

Good Coffee--Good Friends

Saturday night I needed a card for a special friend. I chose some Pink Paislee Spring Fling Collection papers from my stash, as well as one of the new Just Rite releases, A Little Caffeine. I liked that little china cup and wanted it as my focal point. I tried paper-piecing the cup first, but it seemed a bit busy that way. In the end, I colored it with the Copic markers shown below and enhanced with the Spica Glitter pens. (The one on the end is a new brown Spica glitter pen--coming soon.)

I used Spellbinders Plain Circle Nestabilities for cutting and embossing my focal image, and an EK Success Fleur-de-lis edger punch on the polka dotted layer to tie in a bit with the decoration on the rim of the china cup and saucer. Next I added some A Muse Micro Dot Twinkle Stickers to the outer border around the coffee cup. Ribbon is PaperTrey Dark Chocolate satin.

For the envelope, I tried a new toy that I'd been sent--putting it through its paces. It was a Crafter's Companion Ultimate Scoring System. I don't know that I'm ready to pack up my other scoring tools yet, being attached to what several products do best for me; but so far I've been very impressed with two functions of the Crafter's Companion--the envelope maker and the bow-tying pegs. Both of these could be better shown than verbalized, but I'll just mention quickly that what I liked about the bow-tying pegs is that both tails of the bow come out behind the bow loops. Most of the time when I tie a bow, unless I fiddle with it for half an hour, one tail comes out under a bow loop, and the opposite one come out on top of the bow loop. When I used their peg method, the bow was pretty much perfect every time, requiring little tweaking to lay nicely. Of course, a separate bow meant that I needed to attach it with a mini glue dot, but I keep those handy anyway for attaching buttons.

Whew--I'm babbling!  I hope you have a lovely day, and I appreciate your visit.

Thanks So Much

Last night I needed a thank you note. I wanted to use the scraps of the digital Summer Posies papers (Shabby Miss Jenn) that I had printed out to make a PaperTrey project last week--they were too pretty to waste!  I thought I would keep it simple and use my Hero Arts CL130 Frames and Messages set.

I inked the frame in Key Lime and Tea Leaves Versamagic inks, and the sentiment in Red Magic Versamagic ink.  I used a Spellbinders  Fancy Scalloped Pierceability Die for the scalloped edge, and my sewing machine to add some framing-stitching.  A bit of sanding, scraping, matting, sponging with distress ink (Antique Linen), and "Stickling" finished the card for me, along with a red button and a snippet of  PaperTrey Ink New Leaf grosgrain. I used a Crafter's Companion envelope template to make a coordinating envelope since I had one scrap that was large enough. ( I may turn into an envelope junkie after playing with this template for half an hour. . .)

Have a beautiful day!

Bundle of Joy: CPS 112

This week's CPS112 sketch gave me a couple of different ideas; here is the first one, and I might have another ready for you a bit later in the week.  I tweaked the sketch a bit in that Tami had four elements across the diagonal band.  They veritably shouted "buttons" to me; and when I found this little Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Elements piece, I knew  that I needed more than four buttons. Oops. . . (The pink background is Girl Friday Thursday paper.)

Buttons are mostly PaperTrey ink vintage buttons, Sweet Blush and Aqua Mist. The orange ones are from my stash. Stitched Aqua Mist grosgrain is also PaperTrey Ink, as well as the sentiment on the tag from Mixed Messages.

We would love to see your take on CPS sketch this week! Thank you for visiting.

Sweet Peas Hello

Last night my stamping mojo was utterly depleted; the fifteenth of the month tends to do that!  But today is a new day, and I felt like stamping something old fashioned and sweet--like Karen Lockhart's Sweet Peas image. I stamped the image in Memento London Fog ink because I wanted a softer line--not a hard black line. 

I almost used watercolors and watercolor paper, but my Copic markers won out in the end (shown above). The last marker, the one without a number, is my custom marker blend that is half 0 and half YR31. On the three Spica glitter pens on the end, one is Melon, and the other two are new and *coming soon* colors--Blossom, a pale pink, and Mint, a pale green--perfect when the current pinks and green are a bit darker than you need! [My camera has a hard time focusing on glittering objects, but I wanted to show you this picture because of the Spica shimmer.]

I pulled out some background papers, and then reluctantly put them away, opting instead to make a totally stamp-y card tonight. I used two Cornish Heritage Farms Scrapblocks, Tulle Damask for the Berry Sorbet layer, and Julia's fabulous new Ornamental Borders for the Spring Moss layer. The little "hello" tag is from PaperTreyInk's Mega Mixed Messages set, stamped in Berry Sorbet ink. Ribbon is some ivory wide silk ribbon that I dyed with a Copic RV11 Various ink refill. Dying ribbon with Copic ink takes about 30 seconds--maybe 60 seconds if you wait for it to dry! I am fast becoming addicted to adding those sweet little Tim Holtz mini pins instead of my usual string when attaching a tag. (I found mine at Blue Moon Scrapbooking, and I think Ellen is carrying them now too.) Finally, I inked the edges of my focal image (cut and embossed with a Spellbinders Labels die) with a gold metallic ink and sponged all of my cardstock edges with either Antique Linen or Vintage Photo Distress ink.

Thank you for visiting!

All Things Grow with Love

Now, for some Paper Gossip (don't worry--only the nicest kind!): You know this Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Collection that I love so much? Well, you might want to check out the Cosmo Cricket blog today, because

Girl Friday is getting a new sibling--Early Bird! 

I had a sneak peek last night,  and I'm going to have a hard time waiting until May 1 to play with it. Just looking at this paper makes me happy!

Also, some of you have asked me for more information on soldering, or for more coloring videos. I have a soldering post up on the In Touch blog today, and I had a Copics and cherry-coloring post up on the CLASSroom blog on Monday (better resolution than the last few). If you don't already receive Ellen's In Touch newsletter, you may want to consider signing up for it since it contains coupon codes every month.

If you are looking for my new April PaperTrey Release pieces, check the post below this one. Thanks for visiting!

Card Product Details:
Stamps: Wishing You, Garden of Life
Paper: Sunday and Monday (Cosmo Cricket Girl Friday Collection)
Cardstock: Vintage Cream (PaperTrey Ink); Kiwi Kiss (Stampin' Up)
Inks: Summer Sunrise (PTI); Tea Leaves, Pink Grapefruit Versamagic, and Versamark (Tsukineko)
Accessories: Vintage Spring Moss buttons (PaperTrey Ink), Berry Sorbet Stitched Grosgrain Ribbon (PaperTrey Ink), white embossing powder (I should have used detail white EP)
Tools: Copic Airbrush System and Copic marker BG01 to airbrush the background**; sanding block; piercing tool, corner rounders (Carl and Marvy)

**I airbrushed without masking, and them just popped extra blooms up on foam tape.

Tea, Umbrellas, and Backgrounds: PTI Release Time

I'm excited to finally be able to share more of this month's PaperTrey Ink release with you. One of my favorite projects was made with the Tea for Two set. When Nichole challenged us to incorporate tea or teabags into our project, I was initially stumped. Then I saw that the small glassine bags were a great size for tea bags. Hmmm. . .

So I created a matchbook-style card that holds four glassine bags with a teabag and a sentiment clipped to each bag.  (Pure Poppy cardstock base is 3-1/2" x 11", scored at 3/4", 5-5/8", and 6-1/2".)

Aren't these papers pretty? They are digital papers from the Summer Posies collection by Shabby Miss Jenn Designs.  I can almost picture myself at my grandmother's kitchen table when I look at these papers, and that made them perfect for Nichole's tea set.   

To answer any basic questions that you might have on using digital papers, I usually print mine on either matte photo paper or plain cardstock. The ones here are printed on plain cardstock using my cheap inkjet printer, a Canon iP2600--seriously, it's cheaper to buy the printer than the ink. Go figure. I treated them just like regular papers then, distressing by rubbing the edges with scissors, sanding, and inking.

In a completely different style, I love Dawn's Scattered Showers set too! Here I paired it with Candice's Honey Bees set and Lisa's Spots and Dots Backgrounds for a clean, fresh Spring card. Cardstock colors are Stamper's Select White, Spring Rain and Hibiscus Burst--fun, fun! (Did you see the amazing things that Leese did with her Spots and Dots this week--wow!)

My next card uses the umbrella in a more traditional way, paired with Heather's Journaling Lines set for the background. I don't do a lot of scrapbooking, and when I do, it's usually digital scrapping. But those Journaling Lines surely come in handy for some quick lined backgrounds! I used a Spellbinders Round Nestability die to cut, emboss and mask my circle, and then airbrushed a background with my Copic Airbrush system and Copic Marker B41, I think it was. . .

This had to be one of my all-time favorite PaperTrey Ink Releases. Be sure to check out the gallery for tons of great ideas. (By the way, all of my stamping details are posted in my PTI gallery; I'll try to leave a link later. HughesNet is not cooperating and letting me into my gallery just now.) Thank you for visiting!