Thinking Inking

Celebrate with Style

Time certainly flies--unless you are 10 years old and anxiously awaiting a Lego box that you ordered with your own money! Four year ago today, I was just leaving South Korea where I had gone to see my sister get married. So, you know what kind of card I'm posting today, don't you? They are visiting, so I didn't have to worry about keeping the card flat enough to mail easily. 

For today's card I used three Papertrey ink stamp sets: Damask Designs, Mat Stack 2 Collection, and Big and Bold Wishes. You can see only the edge of the damask behind the oval, but it's there. I left the Fancy Tags die template in place while I airbrushed some Copic BG72 in the background. White seam binding was dyed first with a Copic BG72 and then dripped with some E42 to warm up the tone and make it coordinate with the paper. I love my Copic reinkers!

I used three Spellbinders die templates as well: Labels Fourteen, Fancy Tags, and Petite Ovals Large. To get a mat on the Labels Fourteen, I used scissors to cut on the embossed line of the patterned paper. Papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 Mini Deck, and cardstock is Papertrey's Ocean Tides and Vintage Cream with a generous application of Chamomile Distress Ink on the edges. Taupe Pearls are from Zva Creative (PEW-03CA-106).

On the inside, the sentiment is one of the small ones from the Big and Bold Wishes set, paired with a frame from the Mat Stack 2 Collection. I stamped the words first and them masked them with a narrow strip of Eclipse Tape to stamp the frame image since the words wouldn't have fit within the frame.

May you have a Blessed New Year; I truly appreciate your having taken the time to visit!

You Take the Cake

Welcome! Yesterday I needed a birthday card for a family friend who turned 81. . . Whoa. . . That's a lot of history! I started with Papertrey Ink's Make a Wish set and paired it with some Pink Paislee Cupid Collection paper from my stash.

I stamped the birthday cake twice--Versamagic Key Lime and Sea Breeze on the first image (one of each end of the stamp), and Versamagic Pink Grapefruit on the second piece. I trimmed both images, then cut the center from the Pink Persimmon layer and glued it to the Key Lime/Sea Breeze layer. 

For the patterned green trim I used a Spellbinders Classic Scalloped Borderabilities Petite. I wanted to mat it with Berry Sorbet cardstock and figured that the simplest way would be to cut both pieces with the same die, and then cut the mat layer down the center and align it where I wanted to on the edges--worked like a charm! 

I used a Copic Y21 to color the candle flames, going outside the lines to get a warm candle glow and softening that glow with a Colorless Blender. Next I added some Prisma Gitter with a glue pen to the flames centers. Ribbon is Papertrey Berry Sorbet Satin.

How about an appropriate inside sentiment? Papertrey Ink's Make a Wish Additions had it covered! That's it--one card closer to a new year. Thanks for stopping by!

Zva Blog Hop Winners Announced and Sympathy Card

Welcome! First, congratulations to the FIVE November Zva Blog Hop winners, whose names will be found on the following blogs:

Angelica Franssen: http://angelicascrappenings.blogspot.com/
Tanya Tahir: www.sweetaboutme-tanya.blogspot.com
Debbie Olson: http://debbiedesigns.typepad.com/muse_and_amuse/ Yes, that's here!
Windy Robinson: http://windyrobinson.blogspot.com/
Gail Lindner: http://www.gaillindner.typepad.com/

One winner from each of the five blogs will receive a Zva prize package worth $30.00. Congrats, winners! For this blog, the random number generator picked number 22, ElizabethB.

22

ElizabethB said...

The colors are happy and the different layers mixed with the white pearls and swirls makes the card very frosty feeling. In a good way.:)

ReplyDecember 27, 2010 at 10:14 AM

I have e-mailed you, Elizabeth! Now, on to my card for today.

Sympathy Card

I've needed to make several sympathy cards in the last week. It seems especially hard for families to lose loved ones around Christmas. 

For the focal image I chose a simple sentiment from JustRite Stampers Sympathy Nested Sentiments and Verse (20% off right now too, I just noticed). I also used a new JustRite/Spellbinders Custom die set, Nested Sentiment Dies. Papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Circa 1934 Mini Deck, and ribbon is some white seam binding that I dyed with a #100 Black Copic Various Ink. Black rhinestone flourish is from Zva Creative.

That's it for today--thank for stopping by!

Zva Creative December DT Blog Hop

Zva Creative and the Design Team welcome you to join us this month for a blog hop that we feel is always extra special!

There is now an added twist to our blog hops; as you know, Zva offers so many beautiful color groupings for pearls, flowers and crystals.  We want to make sure that they shine brightly for you, so each designer was asked to share a creation using a specific color or color combination on their blog hop project.  

The Blog Hop begins at Kim Hughes' blog. She will have the complete list of all blogs that are participating in case there is a glitch along the way. If you would like to play along, just follow along the blog path.  I am linking to one of the Zva designers and that designer is linking to the next and so on. Be prepared to be inspired along the way. Hidden on FIVE of the blogs is a Zva Creative prize package! Winners will be randomly chosen after the hop is over, so it's important to leave a comment on as many blogs as you can along the way.

The Blog Hop starts today, December 27, and runs through midnight US Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday, December 28. The five winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 29, on each of the five winning blogs. The full list will be found on Kim Hughes‘s blog as well. We will do our best to notify each winner, but it's best if you can pop in to all of the blogs once again on Wednesday--you never know what kind of inspirational creation that you may find there! All you need to do is leave a comment on this Zva Blog Hop post. You do not need to leave a comment on each and every designer's blog post to qualify. The more times you leave a comment along the blog hop path though, the more chances you will have to be one of the lucky winners.

Does anyone else need to make some Christmas thank you cards? I printed some digital paper for this card, using Shabby Miss Jenn's Frosty Winter collection. I had recently replaced my blog header with one of her Frosty Winter Blog Pack pieces, and I really liked the cheerful colors of this collection. I used two different packages of Zva Creative pearls on my card front: one flourish and the four large pearls in the scallop (PE-02CB-141, similar to this one, and PE -02CB-107, similar to this one). 

Stamp sets that I used were Papertrey Ink's Inside and Out Thank You and Rustic Snowflakes sets. I used a glue pen and added a bit of glitter on top of the snowflakes--snowflakes need sparkle! The scallop is cut with a Spellbinders Big Scalloped Borderabilities Petite, and the focal image is stamped on a Petite Ovals Large and matted with a Labels Fourteen die template.

So, are you ready to continue the hop? Remember, the blog hop begins at Kim Hughes' blog; and from here, your next stop is Gail Lindner's blog.

Thank you SO MUCH for joining us!

Quick Pix. . .

Welcome!  I hope that you are having a special time with family and friends still--we are! I had my camera out a couple of days ago to take some snow pictures and thought I'd post them tonight. Monday morning I will be back to a regular card post.

This is out back of our house. (Yes, we live in the boonies of Upper Michigan--we and the deer.)

The little sparrows seem to love this crabapple tree. It's right outside my kitchen sink window.

This is the woodpile that keeps us cozy. Rick says that it warms you twice--once when you chop the wood and once when it burns. . .

Icicles--so pretty! As you can see, the skies are blue. I don't mind the cold when the skies are blue. If we have several gray days on end with no blue skies, I just might start wishing for a warmer climate. 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

Merry and Bright Layout

Where has time gone this week? I had so many more "meant to do" things than I actually accomplished! I thought I would take a few minutes to share an 8" x 8" scrapbook page that I made for a Cosmo Cricket blog challenge involving Christmas traditions. Originally I had wanted to create a project using a picture of Grandpa reading the Christmas story from Luke 2. I didn't have any good pictures though, which reminds me to take both my regular camera and a video camera with me tonight. . . 

So, I ended up using pictures of wooden ornaments that Rick and I had made together. I find a pattern, he cuts and sands, and I paint.  These are all several years old, so I have no idea where the patterns came from. 

Papers are from Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather line, and stamps are Papertrey Ink's Trees with Trimmings set. Vintage buttons are all PTI as well--Pure Poppy, Fine Linen, Cream, and Aqua Mist. 

I used a Spellbinders Labels Eight die template for the title, and rhinestones are from Zva Creative (CRW-03CA-107).

Thank you for visting, and I hope that you are blessed to enjoy family and friends this Christmas season!

Merry and Bright Sugar Cookie Bags

Last weekend was a big cooking weekend at our house. It seems like I bake from about November 15 through January 1, and I still rarely have enough to put together a pretty party platter. Most of it is either eaten or given away right away--still fresh. So, by the time you see this post, the cookies will be long gone, one way or another!

Lots of frosted sugar cookies--mmmmm! (Frosting recipe is here.) I told my guys that all but the three largest Christmas tree cookies were fair game, but they needed to save those for me to bag as gifts. You would think I had asked my ten-year-old for the world. . .

So, for the three large frosted trees, I used Papertrey's Medium Glassine Bags and made a simple tie-on tag to decorate each bag.  The tree and sentiment stamps are from Tiny Treats: Christmas, and the dies are Limitless Layers 1-3/4" Circles and Mat Stack 1. Patterned paper is from Papertrey's Christmas Prints collection.  I tied the tags on with Pure Poppy Baker's Twine and used a glue pen to draw a ground line in before sprinkling the image with Prisma Glitter.

Thanks for stopping by!

Joy Banner Card

Welcome! I have a sweet little banner card to share today. I started with my Papertrey Ink Banner Builder Collection and some Pure Poppy cardstock, along with Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather Mini Deck papers and Papertrey's Fresh Alphabet. I stamped the letters in Pure Poppy ink on Vintage Cream cardstock and then cut them out with a 3/4" circle punch. 

The background is stamped in Aqua Mist ink with stamps from the Holiday Tree set. I also stamped a few extra snowflakes with my glue pad and dusted the panel with Prisma Glitter. Ribbon is some 1/8" white silk that I dyed with my Copic BG11 and E41 Various Inks.

Are you ready for Christmas? I'm not, but my ten-year old is!

Cookie Gift Pail

Mmmmm--there's been a lot of cooking at my house for the past few days. Yours too? I enjoy giving food gifts, and I'd found a new biscotti recipe (Double Chocolate Chunk) that was just begging to be tried. So I thought I'd take a few pictures and share it with you too.

I started with a sentiment from JustRite's Christmas Nested Sentiments set stamped in Pure Poppy ink on Vintage Cream cardstock, and I cut and embossed it with a Spellbinders Labels Five die template, and matted it with a Labels Fourteen die template. For the lid top, I used a Small Standard Circle die template, and for the trim on the bottom of the can I used a Jumbo Scalloped Borderabilities Petite. Papers are all from Cosmo Cricket's Mitten Weather Collection (Deck the Hollies and Jack Frost). 

As for the biscotti, I added extra chocolate of both the white and semi sweet varieties, and I added some dried cranberries too. I guess that white chocolate on top is a little thick. . . but we're not talking about yogurt and granola here anyway, are we? These were a little less crunchy than biscotti that I'd tried before, but it didn't hurt them a bit. They were soft enough to be eaten without being dipped into coffee, but they were good dipped too. Mmmmmmmmm. . .

My Home: Wherever You Are

My Home. . . is wherever you are. I {{{adore}}} the heartfelt sentiments in the Love Lives Here stamp set! Here I've paired a Love Lives Here sentiment with a Mat Stack 2 Collection filigree and some Cosmo Cricket Togetherness papers to cover a Kaisercraft wooden birdhouse.

Vintage Buttons are Berry Sorbet, Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides, and Lemon Tart. The little chipboard birds are from Cosmo Cricket's 12" x 12" Togetherness chipboard.

I used Royal Coat Decoupage Medium to adhere the paper to the wooden form, and then I also sprayed a coat of a UVF protectant (Creative Imaginations Super Seal) on the finished piece to protect it from fading. I tea-dyed the twill bow that is attached to the gable. That's it--my new wall-hanging! Thanks for stopping by today.

Papertrey Ink December Release--the rest. . .

Welcome! I thought I'd post more of my December Papertrey Ink release pieces tonight; all ingredient lists are here in my December PTI gallery, so I won't post all of the details again here.  First up is Melissa Bickford's Make a Wish and Make a Wish Additions set--perfect for a birthday party card! I also used Heather's Fillable Frames #11 set on this card.

Dawn McVey's Love Birds set is darling as well. I found some cut paper to go with her birds--Cosmo Cricket Togetherness Mini Deck--and I airbrushed some Copic BG13 and YR23 on the focal image too. This set has coordinating dies as well, which makes quick work of cutting out the bird cage if you want to do that.

Here is a detail from Heather's Little Bitty Bird set and its coordinating bird dies. Please note that this set has been delayed while an error is corrected, but keep looking for it--it's classic Heather, and worth waiting for!

Finally, I have a simple Christmas card made with Nichole's Year Of Flowers: Poinsettias set. (I know--I still need to COLOR this image!!) But it made such a pretty image simple heat embossed in gold. As time gets shorter to get the cards out, I think I'm heading this direction more often.

What was your favorite new set this month, including the 2010 Love Tags, Love Lives Here, Background Basics: Sheet Music, and Mat Stack 2 Collection?

Thanks for stopping by!

Love Tags

Welcome!  Today I have another Papertrey Ink group post for you, this one using the new Love Tags 2010 set (to be released on December 15). It seemed odd this past week to be working on Valentines pieces when I still have Christmas cards to finish!  But it was fun too--Spring will come eventually. 

I covered my Papertrey Ink Tea Tin in Simple Valentine patterned paper. It wasn't quite long enough to wrap completely around, so I cut one extra 1/2" wide heart strip to place over the gap, attaching paper with 1/2" Scor-Tape.

Both the tree tag image and the new Mat Stack 2 image on which it is mounted are stamped in Hibiscus Burst ink. I filled the tree hearts with Cotton Candy Stickles and used a grass stamp from the Love Lives Here set at the base of the tree.

How about a non-Valentines application? I used my chosen Love Tag heart tree image paired with Mat Stack Three and a sentiment from the Night Night Moon set to make a baby girl card. Patterned paper is from last month's Happy Spots collection. I used a Copic BG13 marker to airbrush a hint of sky toward the top of the tree image before adding Cotton Candy Stickles to the hearts. Grass is from the Love Lives Here set.

Each Papertrey designer used a different tag, so you'll want to check them all out to get a good picture of the possibilities of the Love Tags 2010 set!. Thanks for visiting!

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Erin Lincoln
Heather Nichols
Jessica Witty
Lisa Johnson
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips
Michelle Wooderson
Niki Estes