Thinking Inking

Potato Optional.

Good Monday morning to you! I hope you had a great weekend. We said reluctant goodbyes to our house-guests Sunday morning, so it's very quiet here today.  I have a PaperTrey Ink card to share with you today using Lisa Johnson's On My Couch set, as well as the Polka Dot Basics 2 set. I've also used a Spellbinders Labels Four die and my Copic Airbrush System. I took some stepped out pictures for those of you who are playing with the Copic Airbrush.  Patterned papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Early Bird line (Sunrise and Farmer's Market). This card is 4-1/4" square.

I stamped the rug in Ocean Tides ink and cut and embossed the labels 8 shape, leaving it in place after embossing to use as a mask. To determine die placement, I set my trimmed couch, stamped in True Black and Pure Poppy, on the rug, also leaving enough room for a sentiment beneath the couch. I airbrushed the pale yellow with a Y35 marker, using a strip of Eclipse Tape to mask off the floor area.

Next, I used the same Eclipse Tape to mask the already airbrushed wall so that I could airbrush the floor with a Copic BG 13 marker. Easy!

After removing my masking strips, the wall looked a bit pale. I went back in with a Copic Y38 marker and deepened the yellow on the wall, and them used a PTI Chamomile Distress cube to distress the cardstock edges a bit. While the die was still in place, I stamped the dotted "wallpaper" using the Polka Dots 2 set and some Summer Sunshine ink.

The PaperTrey Vintage Buttons in Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, and I think, an oddly dark one from Berry Sorbet, were perfect with my Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers! I used a Spellbinders Fancy Scalloped Pierceability die to nest each button in, and some PaperTrey Pure Poppy twill combined with a bit of machine-stitching to finish it all off.

Have a wonderful day!

Inspiration Piece Card posted on the CLASSroom Today

Good morning! I have a card posted on the CLASSroom blog today, complete with its inspiration piece, a picture of a girl's bedding ensemble from the Land of Nod. It's a stepped out card with product links, if you're interested.

Also, this card is for little Kate, about whom Jennifer McGuire posted and for whom she is hostessing a card drive. Do you happen to have an extra card or cards that need a good home? You could donate them to bless Kate and her family! Thank you for visiting.

Mmmmm--Fresh Raspberry Muffins!

We went to a beautiful little orchard today, Pleasant View in Niagara, Wisconsin, where we picked raspberries that were almost as large as strawberries. Of course, I had to make muffins! I used this muffin recipe from Recipezaar, substituting raspberries for blueberries and adding a bit of lime zest  to the batter. (I was out of lemons.) I topped them with a glaze of butter, powdered sugar, a squeeze of lime juice, and some vanilla and orange extracts. Yummmmy!

For tonight's stamp project, I created a little gift box for a large muffin using Lauren's Get a Handle on It template, printed on Kraft cardstock and dressed up a bit with some Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers (Farmer's Market and Cherry Pie).

For a tag on the front of the box, I chose PaperTrey Ink's Fruitful stamp set. I stamped the greenery in Ripe Avocado ink and the Raspberries in a combination of Raspberry Fizz and Scarlet Jewel. The color was a bit pinker than my background paper, so I tweaked the raspberry color with a Copic R24 pen. I also airbrushed a background with a Copic Airbrush System and BG 32 marker, masked with Eclipse paper on the berry and a Spellbinders Classic Circle Die on the perimeter of the image. 

Ribbon is PaperTrey's Aqua Mist Grosgrain, tinted with a bit of Chamomile Vintage Ink. The Get a Handle on It template was the perfect size for a large muffin--wish you could have a taste!

Star Butterfly Meets Earth Love

I've had this Star Butterfly stamp by Karen Lockhart sitting on my desk for a couple of weeks, and I've finally caught up enough on deadlines to play with it. Since the days are getting cooler here, I pulled out my Earth Love papers (Relive and Remember) with their late summer and early fall colors to use with the butterfly. 

I used the Copic colors pictures below, as well as the new Mint and Peach Spica Glitter pens on the butterfly, which was stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa ink.

On the Relive paper, I stitched along the rolling hills and let one of the hills serve as my frame for the butterfly image.  On the Remember paper, I dotted each flower center with glue and glitter to give them some dimension. I'm loving the Earth Love papers!  Buttons are all PaperTrey Ink Vintage Buttons: Aqua Mist, New leaf, Lemon Tart, and Melon Berry. Twine is also PaperTrey's Natural Jute.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

P.S. My apologies to any of you who got a Feedblitz notice early and found no post. I was still editing my pictures when my post went up, for some reason--probably simple user error. . . ;-D

Happy Bird-Day: CPS 130

This week's CPS 130 sponsor was Jillibean Soup. I adored their Kraft Talk Soup paper! I stamped the sentiment with the How Tweet stamp set; although it has some really cute birds in it, I couldn't resist simply cutting the owls out of one of the patterned paper sheets and using them as a focal image.

I added dots of Ranger Glossy Accents to the eyes to give them a glossy, raised look. Printed twill tape (Bean Stalks) was also from Jillibean Soup. Wooden buttons are from PaperTrey Ink. 

I hope you get a chance to play along with this week's CPS sketch--it's a cute one!

Fall Blessings Card

I'm back to blogging at home now--$225 poorer, but with a new transmitter unit on my dish. Here's hoping that I won't lose internet every time it rains now!

To share today I have a PaperTrey Ink Fall Elegance card, all pumpkin-y and harvest-y. Most of you probably know how to mask and stamp, but in case you don't, I'm including some photos and brief explanation below.

Before I forget the other details, papers are In Bloom and 2008 Bitty Box Basics. Cardstock is Ripe Avocado and Vintage Cream, all PTI. Ink is PTI's Summer Sun and SU's Pumpkin Pie for the pumpkins, and PTI Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado for the greenery. The stems have just a bit of Dark Chocolate ink added as well. The label is a new Spellbinders Ribbon Tag Trio 2--so elegant!

First I stamped two of the tall pumpkins and one short pumpkin on some Eclipse paper and cut them out. When you are cutting masks, trim right on the edge of the ink. If you leave a little white line on the outside the way you typically do when trimming an image, you will have an uninked white sliver left when you finish stamping.  The three masked pumpkins are in the middle. I stamped the two tall pumpkins first, and then added the masks before stamping the center pumpkin. Finally, I stamped the two outer pumpkins. 

Next, I used some Ripe Avocado ink to stamp the main greenery. While the center pumpkins are still masked, I did not mask the outer pumpkins.  I thought I would let the vines and greenery cover [arts of the outer pumpkins.

In this picture, I have removed the mask from the center pumpkin only, and stamped some more vines, this time in Spring Moss ink.

Now you didn't really think that I would get through an entire card without using some Copic markers somewhere, did you? ;-}  After stamping the stems, I used T1, YG91, and the clear blender, 0, to add some shadows and depth under the pumpkins and on the sides of the background pumpkins.  [I went back after finishing the card and added one more pumpkin popped up with foam tape simply because it seemed so flat to me with no ribbon--you know, the need to fiddle. . . I also added some orange rhinestones and scalloped the bottom edge with a Spellbinders Fancy Scalloped Pierceability die.

Thank you for visiting!

Thankful for You

Tonight I have a simple PaperTrey Ink Fall Elegance card to share with you. My satellite internet has been out for the last 24 hours, and since I’m sitting in a parking lot to blog, I’ll keep it short and sweet!

Using Enchanted Evening ink on Vintage Cream cardstock, I stamped my patterned background and shabbied up the edges a bit with the Chamomile Vintage ink cube.  For the “I am thankful for You” sentiment, I cut and embossed with a Spellbinders Classic Oval die; I matted the image using Enchanted Evening cardstock cut and embossed with one of the new Ribbon Tag Trio 2 dies.  The Fall Elegance stamps make creating a lovely patterned background simple!

Here’s hoping that my internet can be repaired tomorrow. ;-)

A Tale of Three Letters: CPS129

Before I talk about cards, I just wanted to thank so many of you who left the sweetest comments yesterday on the Moxie Fab Blog; I was truly overwhelmed, and I deeply appreciate your kind words--you blessed me!

I really enjoyed this week's CPS sketch 129; as soon as I saw it, I started thinking about three-letter words and monograms. Since I couldn't decide which direction to go, I tried both. First, a Christmas card: for this card I chose some Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly Breezy Freezy paper, a JustRite Brayton font and rectangular stamper, some vintage buttons, and a length of PaperTrey Ink Ocean Tides Grosgrain.

I inked the letters in Versamagic Oasis Green and Tea Leaves inks and stamped them on PaperTrey Vintage Cream paper. After trimming the letters and matting them with SU's Sage Shadow cardstock, I added white Liquid Applique where snow might stay after a snowfall, and then added some Rock Candy Distress Stickles on top of the letters and the snowflake centers in the patterned paper.

For my second CPS129 card, I used Just Rite's Special Occasions font and the same inks (Versamagic Oasis Green and Tea Leaves) to stamp the monogram initials, and a Spellbinders Labels Eight die to cut and emboss them. Paper is some K & Company Wild Raspberry.  I used a new Spellbinders Fleur de Lis Borderabities die to cut the decorative strip from PaperTrey's Aqua Mist ink and laced Aqua Mist Satin through the openings in the Fleur strip.

There's still some time to play with this week's CPS sketch if you get a chance! Thank you for visiting.

Christmas Sign Language and a Sweet Surprise

Today I have another PaperTrey Ink Sign Language card to share with you, this one incorporating the whole sign post rather than just the square images. I stamped the signpost  in Smokey Shadow ink on Vintage Cream cardstock, and the snowflake in the new Aqua Mist ink, which works much better with the new formulation. Its frame is stamped in Ocean Tides ink. I cut and embossed the signpost image with a Spellbinders Classic Rectangle die, distressing the edges with the Chamomile Distress cube. Ribbon in PTI's Aqua Mist, and button is a Sweet Blush Vintage Button.  The torn cardstock in front of the signpost, the snow, is PTI's Shimmery White. I die cut it separately from the main rectangle since the die would not have cut through three layers at once.

Paper background is Playday and Silly Chilly from the Cosmo Cricket Jolly By Golly line. To create the rolling hills, I simple used pinking shears on the seam between the light pink and dark pink lines and layered three of these seamed areas together. Even though it isn't white or ivory, it still visually reads as snow because of the printed snowflakes and rolling hills. If I had used a white or cream down there, I would have lost the contrast with the focal image. I'm loving the non-traditional Christmas colors this year.

Finally, the "surprise" part of my post is simply a redirection to a giveaway on the Moxie Fab Blog. Thanks so much, Cath, and thanks also to Copic and Cosmo Cricket for some fabulous products!

Chrysanthemum Thank You

It's been a busy week here. I'm helping with the 3-5 year old class in our summer VBS at church this week. We've had at least eighteen little munchkins the last couple of nights from 6 to 8:30--long night for young ones, and even longer for us older codgers. . . Whew! 

Thankfully, I had a card ready, or I wouldn't have had a post for tonight.  This is a simple card made with PaperTrey Ink's new Autumn Abundance set, paired with In Bloom papers and Scarlet Jewel grosgrain.  I stamped the image in Memento Tuxedo black ink on Stampers Select White cardstock, and colored it with the Copic markers pictured below--almost all available in PaperTrey trio sets. I love this image--it's perfect to color!

I used a Spellbinders Labels Three die cut, matted with a Classic Circle die cut. The tag is a Double Ended Tags die cut, cut to the length that I needed it after I stamped the sentiment. Coloring hint on the tiny petals: Don't worry about getting some lighter and some darker initially. Just go back in and touch a petal here and there with your clear blender and it will fade lighter in a few seconds. Don't overdo it--a touch is usually enough. It will fade more after you lift your clear blender.

That's all folks--have a lovely day!

JustRite Christmas In August Blog Hop

 Ack!  Can it possibly be almost time to make some Christmas cards?  We papercrafters have to work ahead on the big projects!  Today is the JustRite Stampers August Blog Hop. I chose the cardinal image from the Christmas Treasures set (shown below) and the 3-1/4" round stamper to make my card, pairing it with some Cosmo Cricket Jolly by Golly paper (Merry Berry), and some PaperTrey Shimmery Gold cardstock and Stampin' Up Sage Shadow cardstock.

I stamped the cardinal and birdhouse image on Natural White cardstock (a pale cream) using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I then colored the image with the Copic markers pictured below.

Next, I die cut the focal image with a Spellbinders Classic Circle die and left it in the die while I airbrushed a two-toned background using Copic markers BG02 and Y23. I discovered too late that my picture of this process wasn't focused perfectly, but I'm including it anyway so that you can see what I did. I added some white Liquid Applique to the roof of the birdhouse after the airbrushing step.

I stamped the image a second time on Shimmery Gold cardstock with Versamark ink and heat embossed with Filigree Gold Detail Embossing Powder.  I used a gold paint pen to outline the image and mounted the marker-colored image on top of the gold text ring before mounting both pieces on my previously prepared card front.

Ribbon on the card front is PaperTrey's Sheer Gold and Pure Poppy Satin. You can't see it well, but the edge of the music cardstock is scalloped with a Spellbinders Fancy Scalloped Pierceability die.

This is a huge blog hop, as you can see from the list below. So if you are looking for some great Christmas card ideas, follow the hop!

JustRite Blog

Becca Feeken
Sankari Wegman
Sharon Johnson
Kazan Clark
Sharon Harnist
Laura Davis
Michelle Woerner
Taylor Van Bruggen
Jenn Balcer
Michelle Wooderson
Lori Craig
Lauren Meader
Beate Johns
Barb Schram
Kimberly Crawford
Michele Kovack
Jami Bova
Kellie Fortin
Jennifer Buck
Heidi Blankenship
Angela Barkhouse
Lisa Somerville
Gerrie Johnnic
Kathy Jones
Debbie Seyer
Kim Sonksen
Terre Fry
Sheryl Dickinson
Bonnie Sharp
Mary Pfaff
Holly Simoni
Angela Robledo

Christmas Sign Language and Canvas Bird cards

Good morning!  I have a couple of things to share with you today: first, a little Christmas card made with Melissa Bickford's Sign Language set. It's a small card, 3-1/2" x 5", sized to fit the new PaperTrey Ink A-1 envelope.  I used Cosmo Cricket's Jolly By Golly Play Day paper for the background, and them stamped and punched with a 3/4" square punch four squares from Sign Language to serve as the focal image. 

I used a length of PaperTrey's Vintage Cream Satin to add some pizazz, and I sewed around the border.  The deep pink is Raspberry Fizz, the light pink is Sweet Blush (the new formulation), and the pale green is a mixture of Aqua Mist and Spring Moss--stamped in Aqua Mist first and then in Spring Moss, new formulations.  (I didn't have just the right shade without mixing.) This little card will stay on my mental back burner for the last minute when I still need to make a few more Christmas cards--it's that simple!

Next, I have a canvas bird card posted, along with step-by-step instructions, on the CLASSroom blog today. Along with the Nested Bird dies and Sticky-Back Canvas, I used some Cosmo Cricket Early Bird papers (Farmer's Market and Cherry Pie). Ribbon, buttons, and tag sentiment are from my PaperTrey stash (Mega Mixed Messages). If you are looking for the new 6" x 6" Cosmo Cricket pads, Ellen has them coming this week. :-)  Oh, yes--I almost forgot to tell you: Ellen Hutson, LLC  has a sale going on through Monday, and the promo code to type in at checkout for a 15% discount on everything in stock is the word thrifty.

Thanks for visiting, and have a lovely Sunday!