Thinking Inking

Thinking of You

Tonight I was playing with a some new toys combined with a challenge. The new toys are a Just Rite 2" Square Wood Stamper and Decorative Frame Borders, as well as a Just a Note Center. (I'm sneaking a peek in here, but these will be introduced starting Monday on the Just Rite Blog.) The challenge was the Embellish the Cure Color Challenge with Bling.  (I'm an hour too late to enter the challenge, but it was fun anyway!)

I chose some SEI Black Orchid papers, combined with PaperTrey Ink's Basic Black (mat layer) and Raspberry Fizz grosgrain. The challenge colors were light pink, dark pink, and dark gray. That top pattern is a very dark gray, but still not as dark as the black mat, so I'm okay there. Besides the Raspberry ribbon, I dotted some dark pink rhinestones here and there to fulfill the bling part of the challenge.

I combined a round and a square stamp because I love the new square frames but wanted a sentiment to use inside my square. I used a Spellbinders Classic Square Nestability to cut and emboss my inner sentiment square and edged it with a silver paint pen. The outer square is stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with Filigree (detail) Silver embossing powder, then trimmed by hand.

Don't forget to check the Just Rite blog on Monday to see what else is new for November. Thanks for visiting, and thank you also for all of the birthday wishes yesterday too!

Stepped-Out Giga Guide Lines

Having had several questions on Tuesday's Giga Guide Lines post about stamping with the PaperTrey Ink Guide Lines stamps, I thought I would stamp another background and share it step-by-step. First, I have used Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, and Sweet Blush inks; it is important to note that I used the new formulation of ink (with the spongy ink pad). The initial formulation of inks won't be this bright, most likely. Besides having better ink color saturation, I've noticed that the new formulation of ink has some resist properties too, and I'll show you that after the stamped grid. (Edited to add: If you purchased the first formulation of Sweet Blush, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist, or Spring Rain, you still have until November 7 to return any original pads for a refund. See this PaperTrey Ink forum thread for details.)

I've used the Guide Lines II gridded cardstock here and stamped a medallion image from Giga Guide Lines in the center of every other circle with Aqua Mist ink. Using a gridded acrylic block is the biggest help in getting the pattern straight. I place my stamp on my block very carefully so that the center of the stamp is in the exact center of the block, and is as close as I can come to perfectly horizontally and vertically straight according to the grid on the block as well.  That way I can count on the grid on my block to help me get the image lined up with both the stamped images and the printed grid lines.

 

Here I've added a second medallion shape in Spring Moss ink.  These inks are still fairly wet, so they are darker now than they will be in a few hours.

In this picture, I've added a smaller medallion (the same one as I used in Spring Moss, but smaller, from Guide Lines II), stamped in Sweet Blush ink. Because the Sweet Blush is the new formulation, it has some covering properties; it isn't sheer like it was before, so I can cover part of the Spring Moss without creating muddy color.

After the ink dries throughly, you can see that it is a bit lighter. Here I've added dots of Diamond and Cotton Candy Stickles. (Rhinestones would have been pretty too.) My grid is not stamped perfectly, even with the use of gridded cardstock and  gridded blocks. Still, it's close enough to work. 

Now, for a few miscellaneous Giga Guide Lines backgrounds: this background is stamped on Ripe Avocado cardstock with Spring Moss (first layer), Ripe Avocado (second layer), and Vintage Cream ink (last layer). The poinsettia is from the Peaceful Poinsettia set.

This piece is stamped on Sweet Blush cardstock, with Fresh Snow ink first, Sweet Blush ink second, and Berry Sorbet ink last. Again, the poinsettia is from the Peaceful Poinsettia set.

While these are hard to see on the screen, they are actually my favorites in real life. They are stamped on Berry Sorbet cardstock with a layer of Sweet Blush ink first and a layer of Berry Sorbet ink second.  I had mentioned that the newly formulated inks (the ones with the spongy pads) seemed to resist the first formula of ink. You can see it best here where I stamped the Berry Sorbet Giga Guide Lines after stamping the Sweet Blush images. See how the Berry Sorbet has the ghosted lighter images peeking through? It's much more noticeable as you turn the cardstock to different angles; it reminds me of a holographic effect in which you see one thing an one angle, and a different thing at a different angle. Of course, the differences were too subtle for me to be able to capture well in a photograph, but if you play with the same papers and inks, you'll see what I mean.

I hope that this was helpful to some of you who are ready to break out your Giga Guide Lines set. Thanks for visiting!

Quilted Christmas Note

 

Tonight I have a little quilt card to share with you, but tomorrow I'm planning to post step-by-step pictures for the Guidelines background from yesterday's post. I had several people ask about it, so I thought I'd stamp another and take pictures as I went. It's very simple when you use PaperTrey's Guidelines 2 paper, along with a gridded acrylic block.

Back to tonight's card: as you probably know, I'm most in my element with slightly rustic papers, stamps, embellishments; so I loved Heather's Rustic Snowflakes paper for the October PaperTrey Ink release!  

I cut 1-1/2" squares of patterned paper and attached them to a 5-1/8" square piece of Aqua Mist cardstock. Next I zig-zag-stitched the center and finally the outside border. The card base is 5-1/4" square to fit the PaperTrey large square envelopes. Buttons are PTI Vintage Aqua Mist Buttons. 

 

The tag sentiment is from Dawn's Signature Christmas set, inked in Pure Poppy ink and die cut and embossed with a Spellbinders Tags Trio die. I used a Chamomile Vintage Ink cube to distress my cardstock edges a bit and make them fit the slightly shabby paper, and added a few dots of Diamond Stickles on the snowflakes for a bit of glitz.  This was a fun card--just my speed! 

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On an unrelated note, I had an e-mail today from Kathy at Pass It On, who said that she was giving away cards at least twice a week on her blog; the purpose of her card giveaway is for people to pass the cards on to others who could use a word of encouragement. I'm guessing that most of you make your own cards, but if you have a friend who admires hand-crafted cards but doesn't ever get around to making them, you might want to share Kathy's blog with that friend.

Thank you for visiting!

Giga Guidelines Play

 

Today I have a couple of PaperTrey Ink Giga Guide Lines cards to share with you. I stamped the backgrounds in Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, and Aqua Mist inks on Guidelines II Grid Sheets. I added small dots of Diamond and Cotton Candy Stickles to the centers of some of the medallions and matted my stamped images with Aqua Mist and Sweet Blush cardstock.

Sentiments, also from Giga Guidelines, are stamped in Aqua Mist ink, and on the birthday card, Sweet Blush ink as well. I used an EKSuccess punch to cut the swag at the bottom of the sentiment panel. (The exact name of the punch is an Embossed Curve Slim Edger Border Punch, in case you are searching for one.) Buttons are PaperTrey Ink Vintage Buttons in Sweet Blush and Aqua Mist.

 

Here's hoping that tomorrow will be less busy than today, and I'll get some work/play time in!

Nutmeg Fall Shadowbox card posted on the CLASSroom Blog today

I have a stepped out tutorial on this little shadowbox card posted on the CLASSroom blog today.  It's relatively simple, the only time-consuming part being trimming around the tree, but even that isn't bad. I love this Kim Hughes image with my Cosmo Cricket Nutmeg papers!

Thanks for visiting.

Autumn Blessings: Apple Basket

I finally finished canning the last of our apples this week, saving out only enough to make a pie for company Saturday night. You know I can't can all of those apples and not get a blog post out of them, so. . . how about an apple basket card tonight? 

I started with the apple basket image from the Just Rite Autumn Blessings set, which fits the 2-1/4" x 3-1/16" oval stamper. I stamped it in Memento Rich Cocoa ink and colored it with the Copic markers pictured below. Since I used so many markers, I labeled them in categories. 

 

After coloring the apples in yellows and reds, I chose papers from a Cosmo Cricket Early Girl Mini Deck--perfect with these colors.  The next thing I tried was something I don't usually do, making ruffles, which is Cath Edvalson's Moxie Fab challenge for this week--fun challenge! The natural twill is 1-1/2" wide, gathered with a double row of stitching close to the top. (In this short a distance, you could probably get by with a single row of stitches, but the point of a double row is that the gather is usually flatter, AND you don't lose the whole piece if you break a thread while pulling. (Don't ask me how I know about that. . .) To get a nice full ruffle, you will want two to three times the length that you intend to cover. Mine is closer to twice the length of the card front because I knew I had a piece to layer on top of it and didn't want it to be super-full under my image.

I used some Scor Tape to hold the ruffle down firmly, and I wrapped its edges around the back of the card, leaving some fullness on the sides.

I used a Spellbinders Classic Oval die to cut out my focal image, and a Labels Five die to mat the focal image. Buttons are PaperTrey Ink Vintage Buttons.

And like a proud Mama, I have to share one picture with the four varieties of canned apples: from left to right, we have cranberry applesauce, apple pie filling, cinnamon spice applesauce (hiding behind my card), and plain applesauce. Here is a link to the applesauce recipe that I used as a base recipe. (I wasn't entirely pleased with the apple pie filling recipe, so I  don't think I'll share it. For the cranberry applesauce, I just cooked a recipe of whole cranberry sauce and beat it smooth in my blender before adding it to the hot applesauce and canning according to the Ball site.)

That's it for today. Have a great weekend!

Sweetest Holiday Wishes

Isn't this gingerbread man stamp from Holiday Button Bits sweet? I remember my Papa Vickery reading the story of The Gingerbread Man to me many times when I was a little girl--"Run, run, run, as fast as you can! You can't catch me: I'm the gingerbread man!" How I laughed as he outran all of his pursuers, but I got really nervous when he climbed on the back of that old fox to cross the river.

Obviously, this image was another nostalgic one. I thought I'd stamp him on unbleached muslin cloth rather than paper, and pair him with kraft cardstock and red polka dots (Polka Dot Basics II). You can't see it very well here, but the muslin is padded with a thin layer of quilt batting to make him soft and touchable.  A drop of oil of cinnamon on the button threads could make him smell just as nostalgic as he looks. (I'd put it on the button threads to keep from getting an oily spot on either the cardstock or cloth.)

Here's what I did: first I stamped the gingerbread man on a scrap of unbleached muslin using Gingerbread Versamagic ink, with a bit of Jumbo Java Versamagic added to his extremities where he would be most likely to brown a bit more. I then used a PaperTrey Chamomile Distress cube to age the edges of the cloth. I stitched around the image three times with a random pattern--basically square, but a bit wavy. That is because I am planning to fray the edges, and I wanted a natural place for the fraying to end. The sentiment is stamped in PaperTrey Pure Poppy ink.

 

Here I have frayed the edges right up to the stitching. I also iron him to heat set the image and make sure the ink was absolutely dry. It still wouldn't withstand washing, but it certainly wouldn't budge under normal conditions.

 

Here I have sewn his buttons on; he's ready for padding.

Next, I flipped the image over, added a layer of 1/8" ScorTape on the outer edges just inside the frayed part, and cut a very thin layer of quilt batting that would fit just inside the tape perimeter.

 

Here I have placed him on a sheet of Pure Poppy cardstock after taking the liner off of the ScorTape. I had planned to leave a bit of the Pure Poppy mat layer showing, but it didn't look quite like I wanted it to. I ended up using my paper trimmer (a Tonic) to trim both red mat and frayed threads. He's not quite as random looking along the edges as I had first envisioned, but he looks better this way than he did before the haircut. ;-)#

 

This is a different view of my finished card front; you can see the padding better in natural sunlight than in my light tent. It took a little longer than a normal card, but when you consider that it could have a string attached and double as a tree ornament, it's perhaps worth the time.

Thank you for visiting!

Note Play

I have a couple of semi-related pieces tonight, both using Michelle's Take Note stamp set from the October PaperTrey Ink release, as well as Cosmo Cricket's new Nutmeg line.  

For the covered notepad, I used Nichole's single-notepad template  with the curved inside flap, as well as Take Note and First Fruits. As soon as I saw the acorn paper, I knew that I had to use First Fruits--being able to stamp my own Aqua Mist and Ocean Tides acorns was just the thing! (Acorn paper and wood grain print are both from the Nutmeg Mini Deck.) Buttons are PTI's Aqua Mist Vintage Buttons. Inside I used a Vintage Cream Notepad; I love having cream to use with my vintage papers rather than only white.

Of course, while I had the papers and stamps out on my desk, I had to make a card too. I found this image on the Nutmeg Elements sheet and loved its sweet vintage style. I wanted to use a Take Notes sentiment with it, but I was having a hard time finding a layout that worked with the size of the sentiment and the size of the element. 

Finally I remembered my stash of shrink plastic--how long has it been since that was all the rage? Anyway, I stamped the Just a Note sentiment onto some translucent shrink plastic with Timber Brown Staz-On ink, then cut a tag by hand and shrunk it. (I used a 1/4" hole punch for the hole; don't forget that holes shrink too.) Ribbon is Ocean Tides Grosgrain, and buttons are Spring Moss and Ocean Tides Vintage Buttons. Papers, other than the focal image, are both from the Nutmeg Mini Deck.

I love it when my favorite products work well together--or should I say "play nicely"? Thanks for visiting!

Joyeux Noel

How about another fairly simple-to-mass-produce card tonight? This is one of my favorite little images from the 2009 Holiday Tags set. I think that the tag sets sometimes get overlooked; when you consider how many different styles are in one tag set, you have a lot of design possibilities. 

I inked the pine cone in Versamagic Gingerbread and the branch in Versamagic Tea Leaves. The sentiment is inked in PTI's Pure Poppy. I die cut the image with a Spellbinders Classic Circle Nestability and left it in the die while I airbrushed a background with a Y23 Copic marker. 

Papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Oh Joy collection (Yuletide and Mitten Mitten). Cardstock is PTI's Scarlet Jewel and Vintage cream. I did some sanding and stitching, but you could leave the stitching off to save time if you were making a lot of these. Vintage buttons are PaperTrey's Pure Poppy (one of the darker buttons from the bag) and New Leaf--my current favorite color of green buttons.  I used a Coluzzle circle template to cut the large patterned partial circle. String through the buttons is Rustic Twine. That's it--easy!

Pink and Silver Vintage Ornament

Do you remember silver tinsel trees? If so, you either enjoy antique shopping, or you might be around my age! When I was young, my Grandmother Holliday put up a 4' silver metallic tinsel tree almost every year for Christmas. After my little trip down memory lane, pairing Dawn's Vintage Ornaments with pink and silver seemed like just the thing.  

I stamped the ornament in Sweet Blush ink on Stamper's Select White cardstock, and the top drip part with a Palette Glue pad, sprinkled with Prisma Glitter. The glitter wasn't quite as thick as I wanted it, so after trimming closely around the ornament, I added a couple of layers of Diamond Stickles.

Background stamps are Giga Guidelines at the top, and Background Basics: Text Style II at the bottom. Both are stamped in PTI's Fresh Snow ink. The swag at the bottom is made with an EKSuccess punch (Embossed Curve Slim Edger Border Punch, to be exact). The sentiment is embossed with Filigree Detail Silver embossing powder. Cardstock colors are Sweet Blush and Silver Shimmer, and buttons are PTI's Sweet Blush Vintage Buttons. I used needle-nosed pliers to bend a hook out of some silver wire that I had on hand, but you could probably find hooks for miniature ornaments in craft stores.

I love Vintage Ornaments!

   

Button Santa Spinner

Today I have a cute little Holiday Button Bits card to share with you, a Santa Spinner card. Remember when spinner cards were all the rage a couple of years ago? As soon as I saw this little Santa and the gingerbread man from PaperTrey Ink's Holiday Button Bits, I could just picture them as spinner cards!

There are several ways to make a spinner card; Cambria Turnbow did an excellent tutorial for SplitCoastStampers, using a small circle punch and connecting the two holes with two long cuts. That's the best option if you don't have a Stampin' Up Word Window punch, probably. If you do have an SU Word Window punch, check out my Gingerbread Boy stepped-out tutorial below this post; I took pictures as I made the gingerbread boy.

Santa is colored in the Copic markers shown above (most of which are available as PTI Trios), and then dressed in a Pure Poppy Vintage button. I poured all of my Pure Poppy buttons out on my countertop to find one that was just the right size for Santa--that's the fun part! 

Patterned papers are from a package of the Merry Days of Christmasby My Mind's Eye, and cardstock is Spring Moss and Kraft from PaperTrey Ink.

Thanks for stopping by, and don't forget to check the gingerbread boy post below  or Cami's SCS tutorial if you would like to make a spinner card. Just be warned: making the image spin is highly addictive. . .
 

Gingerbread Man Spinner Card Tutorial

 

If you have never tipped a spinner card from side to side while grinning from ear to ear, you're missing out! I had made the PaperTrey Ink Holiday Button Bits Santa spinner card posted above this one before the last release, but I quickly realized that I didn't have enough pictures to explain the process. With this one, I have plenty of pictures.

I started with some patterned paper cut to 4" x 5-1/4", and a darker strip (for contrast with my stamped gingerbread man) that was about 2" x 5-1/4".  Adding a second layer of patterned paper helps to reinforce the spinning track. If you are using a cardstock front, you probably wouldn't need an extra layer unless you want it only for looks. (Papers are from The Merry Days of Christmas by My Mind's Eye.)

Next, using my Stampin' Up Word Window Punch, I pushed the punch up as far as it would go onto the bottom of the gingerbread house paper and punched as closely to the sides as I wanted to go before punching out the center portion too. Pushing it as far as it will go onto the paper or cardstock insures that you can get all three punched areas aligned. (If you don't have a Word Window punch, you can also use a small circle punch at the same height on either end, and cut lines between the circles, as Cami Turnbow shows here.)

This is what the paper looks like after you punch three times across it--once on either end, and a small snip in the center. If the punch was aligned properly, there will be no ragged edges.

 

After punching through my base layer, I added my contrasting strip of paper and punched through it as well. (I punch them singly because punches tend to get stuck when punching double layers. It's easy enough to attach the second layer, turn it over to the back side, and punch in exactly the same place since you will again be pushing the punch up as far on the paper as you can.) I added some stitching for interest, knowing that I wouldn't be having my typical huge bow on this card. . . Bows tend to get in the way of spinning action. ;-} That smaller dark red scrap of paper will go underneath the card front so that the spinner track isn't overly obvious.

For the spinning mechanism you will need two pennies and some kind of round dimensional adhesive that will hold the two pennies together. I used some old SU Dimensionals that I had in a drawer. I also found some Pop Dots in the drawer that would have worked if they had been the regular size rather than the micro dots.  You could even cut a double layer of foam tape into a circle, about 1/4" in diameter. Dimensional glue dots do NOT work because they are sticky on the sides as well--not a good thing when you want the mechanism to spin freely.

Here is my gingerbread man (stamped in Gingerbread and Jumbo Java Versamagic inks and distressed with a Chamomile Vintage Distress Cube. Attached with Rustic Twine are his Pure Poppy Vintage Buttons. You can see my spinner mechanism in the background--two pennies sandwiched with a double-dimensional (two layers), and with some Scotch-3M foam tape on top of the penny to attach my gingerbread man. 

 

To get the spinner mechanism in place, simply push it into one track, and then push out the opposite track until you can gently get it on the other side of the penny mechanism in place.  By the way, before you put the mechanism on would be the best time to add a sentiment to this layer if you want one there. . . Trust me, it's a bit trickier after you have all of the foam tape in place!

Here he is, attached to  his penny. Try to get the center of the image in the center of the penny, or you may notice an awkward wobble as the image spins.

This is how I tape the back. I use a doubled piece of Scotch foam tape. (You might get by with a single thickness, but if your pennies won't move freely, the spinner won't spin properly. As much work as it is, I'd rather add that extra layer of tape and know that it will spin well.) I put two long, narrow strips of doubled tape on both the top and bottom of the track to add extra support. The rest of the foam tape is on there merely to attach my card front to my mat layer. 

 

My card base is PTI's Rustic White cardstock folded to 4-1/4" x 5-1/2", and my mat layer is Kraft, 4-1/8" x 5-3/8". Before I attach the card front to the mat layer, I attach that deep red strip onto the mat layer where the spinning window will be. That way I don't have a piece of kraft cardstock showing and shouting for attention there. This card is probably almost 1/2" thick by the time the layers are all attached, so it would require special handling to mail. (I would suggest a padded mailer.)

If you could watch my son's face when he sees a spinner card lying on my desk, you'd know why it's worth it to make these occasionally! Thanks for visiting.