Thinking Inking

Another Sympathy Card. . .

Two sympathy cards in one week--that's two too many, isn't it? I needed a card today for a dear friend who lost his wife unexpectedly. They had many good years as a team. 

I thought I should keep it clean and simple. Stamps used were PTI's Embroidered Blooms and Heart-2-Heart #10, stamped in Simply Chartreuse and Ripe Avocado inks. I used a Spellbinders Grommet Tags die template to cut the tag and to mask for stamping more leaves and airbrushing some Copic YG93 in the open area. I used the A-2 Bracket Borders One die template set to cut the shaped bottom of the card. Well, that's it for tonight's card. I hope you have a blessed Easter weekend!

Hope Your Day is Fabulous

Welcome! Today I have a masculine birthday card to share. It seems like I rarely have one of these available when I need one, so while I still had Heather's Boutique Borders: Birthday mini stamp set and its coordinating die out on my desk, I thought I'd make a card for the stash. I am not the best at aligning stamped images on a die-cut after cutting it, but I found this one to be relatively simple to align--got to love that! Ink colors are Scarlet Jewel and True Black, to coordinate with my patterned paper, which is Carta Bella's Well-Traveled 6" x 6" pad. I cut the burgundy banner strip by hand since the die that I planned to use was a little too short to cover the card front length. Ribbon is PTI's Scarlet Jewel Stain, and buttons are Cream PTI Vintage Buttons. Cardstock is Scarlet Jewel and Rustic Cream. Okay, that's it for my simple guy birthday card--thanks for visiting!

Casting Your Cares Upon Him

Welcome! Today I needed a sympathy card to send to a dear friend. I had already stamped several of these JustRite Grand Damask backgrounds on kraft to make a set of notecards; so I used one of the backgrounds as a jumping off point, pairing it with a frame from Winged Vintage Labels Two and Three and a sentiment from Cast All Your Cares. 

I used JustRite's Vintage Labels Two and Vintage Labels Three dies to cut the dark gray frame around the sentiment. To get that kraft color on the frame image, I stamped with PTI's Vintage Cream ink, and then airbrushed over it with a CopicE33 marker and airbrush system to tone down the intensity of the cream ink. The doily-like shape behind the frame is cut with Spellbinders™ Gold Circles One die templates. I dyed seam binding with Copic 100 and W10 reinkers, along with just a squirt of colorless blender to fade the inks a bit. to get that kraft color on the frame image stamped on dark gray cardstock, I stamped in PTI's Vintage Cream ink, and then airbrushed with a CopicE33 marker and airbrush system to tone down the intensity of the cream ink. That's it for the details on today's card--thank you for visiting!

A Happy Hello

Welcome! I have a sunny little card to share today; we're wishing for Spring around here. . . I started with a Papertrey Ink's Polka Dot Parade #2 mini stamp set, pairing it with Carta Bella's True Friends 6" x 6" paper pad. I found this lined notebook pattern in the paper pad and thought that it would be perfect with the flowers on Polka Dot Parade 2. 

I used a sentiment from Heart-2-Heart #12 for the inside of my card. 

To make my spiral edge notebook paper, I used a border die from the Spellbinders™ On The Edge set. I used the heart border from the same set to decorate the left side of the pink patterned paper. I used a banner die template from the Nested Lacey Pennants set for my "sending you a happy" sentiment, stamped in PTI's Ocean Tides ink. I dyed white seam binding with my Copic reinkers and scrunched it while it was wet. Okay, that's it for today's card. Any other details that you might want are probably below. Thanks for visiting!

The Scoop

Patterned paper: Carta Bella True Friends 6" x 6" paper pad

Spellbinders die template sets: On the Edge, Nested Lacey Pendants

Inks: PTI Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides, New Leaf, Harvest Gold; Colorbox Rouge Chalk Ink

Cardstock: Rustic White, Lemon Tart

Accessories: Dyed Seam Binding, (Copic R83, 0), glue, Prisma Glitter, X-Press It Foam Tape

Tools: Spellbinders Grand Calibur, Brother sewing machine

Spring Hills Thank You

Welcome! I had a chance to play a little more with some of the March Papertrey Ink release sets and wanted to share a thank you card with you today. Today's card uses an image from the Spring Hills stamp set as the focal image, and a Background Basics: Wrought Iron image as the background. The sentiment is from PTI's Bountiful Banners stamp set. Cardstock colors are Hawaiian Shores and Stampers Select White, and ink colors are Memento Tuxedo Black, Hawaiian Shores, and New Leaf.

These are the Copic markers that I used to color the image. 

I used a glue pen on the sheep so that I could adhere Prisma glitter to them--it's pretty subtle, so I'm not sure that you can see it in the picture. Ribbon is plain white twill tape that I've had on hand for a long time, and button is a PTI Hawaiian Shores Vintage button. I used a Spellbinders 5" x 7" Matting Basics B to cut and emboss the focal image; I thought its shape framed the focal image and sentiment perfectly, but kept the look clean and simple. That's it for today's card--now if I can just get it in the mail! Thank you for visiting.

Felt Barrettes

Welcome! I finally finished the packaging for  a little felt barrette set that I had stitched while I was in South Carolina a few weeks ago. I *love* Erin's Clever Barrette Cover dies! They make it so simple to cover the little metal hair clips and make them look fabulous. For the wool felt, I used Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, and Limeade Ice.  I used some DMC embroidery floss to stitch the covers onto the metal clips and to add French knots in the flower centers. To cut the flowers, I used the Beautiful Blooms II, #1 dies, and for the leaves, the Lovely Layers dies. 

To stamp the background on the Boutique Accessory Card, I used the Embroidered Blooms stamp set, in Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, and Limeade Ice inks. Its topper is stamped  with the Boutique Accessories Mini Stamp set in Hawaiian Shores ink on Rustic White cardstock, then trimmed closely and mounted to a Raspberry Fizz background. (I pulled the clips off of the packaging so that you could see the base.) What do you think? Can you see a little blond girl wearing these? I can! Thanks for visiting today.

Happily Ever After

Welcome! Today I'm participating in a JustRite Papercraft and Faber-Castell Mixed Media blog hop. We traded materials and really enjoyed some out-of-the-box play! I parked my markers for this one, in lieu of some Faber-Castell Metallic Gelatos colors and quite a bit of water-spritzing. ;-)

Be sure to visit each blog on the list at the bottom of this post for an opportunity to win the prize packages shown below--one from the JustRite blog, and one from the Faber-Castell blog.

On to my card: I started with JustRite's French Rose Background Stamp, Kraft cardstock, and the three Faber-Castell Metallic Gelatos shown below. 

In consistency, Gelatos remind me of a really creamy lipstick, but they are water-soluble so that you can apply them to the rubber and then spritz and stamp with them. You can use them in other ways as well--like scribbling them directly to a surface, or even using them like you would watercolor crayons. They are usable on multiple surfaces as well as in multiple ways--pretty fun and versatile! 

I tried stamping with just the water-misted Gelatos the first time, and because I was using a darker cardstock (Kraft), the image was a little less legible than I would have liked. (Chalk it up to my control issues. . .) So I re-stamped in a brown pigment ink and then applied the Gelatos OVER that layer. I wanted a little more of the Gelatos color than applying it from the stamp gave me, however, so I used my dampened finger to apply more of the creamy Gelatos directly to the cardstock.

For the butterfly, I applied the Gelatos directly to the rubber of the stamp, misted it with water, and stamped on a shimmery cream cardstock. They showed up well on the lighter colored cardstock, by the way. The rest of my supply list is at the bottom of the post, along with some product links. Again, I hope you have time to check out the links below and then also enter to win the prize packages at the  JustRite blog and the Faber-Castell blog. Thanks for visiting today!

LINK LIST for the Blog Hop

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson (here)
Heidi Blankenship 
Sharon Harnist
Michele Kovack
Jen Matott
Darsie Bruno
Kellie Fortin 
Marisa Job
Kathy Jones
Margie Higuchi
Kazan Clark
Barb Schram
Colleen McGinty
Mou Saha
Faber-Castell Design Memory Craft

Supply List

Stamps: Live, Love, Laugh Vintage Labels 2, Butterfly Dreams, French Rose Background Stamp

Faber Castell Products: Metallic Gelatos Colors

Ink: Brilliance Coffee Bean, PTI Vintage Cream, Colorbox Rouge Chalk, PTI Chai Distress Ink

Cardstock: PTI Kraft and Aqua Mist; Shimmery cream cardstock (Arjo Wiggons Curious Iridescents)

Accessories: White Prismacolor Pencil, white seed beads

Tools: Spellbinders Gold Labels Four, JRP Vintage Labels Two dies

 

Birds & Blooms

Welcome! Today the each of the Papertrey girls is posting a project with this year's anniversary set, Birds & Blooms. This stamp set is a limited edition, not-for-sale set that will be available for purchase with 24 Rewards Points. For more about that, be sure to see both the entire set and the explanation HERE on Nichole's blog.  

For my Birds & Blooms card, I used Vintage Cream, Scarlet Jewel, and Autumn Rose cardstock. Inks are Ocean Tides, Scarlet Jewel, Fine Linen, Autumn Rose, and Autumn Rose stamped off once for a lighter shade. I used several of the Birds & Blooms coordinating dies as well: for cutting the wreath, the individual blossoms, and the  bird. The little word banner is hand-trimmed, and the tag on which everything else rests is Papertrey's Tag Sale #6 die. I used the Herringbone Impression Plate on the Autumn Rose cardstock for subtle texture. I used my Chamomile Distress ink cube to age the edges of the cardstock, and the button is a PTI Cream Vintage button.. In the center of the Tag Sale #6 shape, I used my Copic Airbrush System and a Copic BG23 marker to airbrush a spot of sky behind the wreath. That's it for my card; be sure to see the rest of the projects too, and thanks for visiting today!

Nichole Heady

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Cristina Kowalczyk

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Debbie Olson (here)

Erin Lincoln

Heather Nichols

Jessica Witty

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips 

Papertrey Ink March 2013 Release in Review

Welcome! I haven't been AWOL on blogging for no reason; I've been playing with some new Papertrey Ink March release sets for the past few days. Today I have several cards to share with you from PTI's March 2013 release,  which will be available tonight at 10pm, EST, at Papertrey Ink. 

I included a complete supply list for each card below. The first two are florals, but just keep scrolling if florals are not your cup of tea. ;-)

Birthday Posies

Stamps: Boutique Borders: Birthday; Rosie Posie; Rosie Posie Step 2; and Background Basics: Twinkle
Cardstock: Melon Berry Raspberry Fizz, Vintage Cream
Ink: Limeade Ice, Simply Chartreuse, and Chamomile Distress Ink Cube (PTI); Rouge and Tangerine Colorbox Chalk Ink (because I was stamping on a colored card stock, and chalk inks cover a bit more on colored card stock)
Tools: Boutique Borders: Birthday die, Rosie Posie dies (all PTI); sewing machine
Accessories: Raspberry Fizz Grosgrain, Melon Berry Vintage Button

Birthday Wish Bouquet

Stamps: Wonderful Words: Birthday, Rosie Posie, Rosie Posie Step Two
Cardstock: Hibiscus Burts, Simply Charteuse, Vintage Cream
Ink: Simply Chartreuse, Limeade ice, Chamomile Distress Ink (all PTI); Rouge and Lipstick Colorbox Chalk Ink
Patterned Paper: Sidewalks 8 x 8" pad by October Afternoon
Tools: Tag Sale #3 die, Rosie Posie dies, Perfect Layers ruler (to get the Hibiscus Burst mat on the Tag Sale #3 die cut), sanding block, sewing machine
Accessories: Cream Vintage Button, seam binding dyed with Copic re-inkers, Prisma Glitter, glue pen, foam tape

Hello, Foxy!

Stamps: Hello Foxy
Cardstock: Terracotta Tile, Vintage Cream
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, PTI Chamomile Distress Cube, PTI Orange Zest
Patterned Paper: Simple Stories Fabulous 6 x 6" pad
Tools: Spiral Notebook Page die, Tiny Tags die, Hello Foxy die, Copic Markers, Copic Airbrush System, glue pan, foam tape, sewing machine
Accessories: Prisma Glitter, Rustic Twine

These are the Copic markers that I used on the Hello Foxy image; I also used some colorless blender on a scrap of terrycloth towel to create the fox's texture.

Find Beauty

Stamps: Spring Hills
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Hawaiian Shores, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black
Patterned Paper: True Friends 6 x 6" pad by Carta Bella
Tools: sewing machine, sanding block, Liquid Appliqué, foam tape, Copic Markers, Copic Airbrush System
Accessories: Rustic Twine, Aqua Mist Vintage Button

Balloon Wishes

 Stamps: Birthday Style, Background Basics: Birthday Fun
Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Hawaiian Shore
Ink: Hawaiian Shore, Blueberry Sky, Spring Rain, True Black
Tools: Birthday Style dies, foam tape
Accessories: White cotton string

If you would like to see some gorgeous projects with the Papertrey Ink March 2013 release sets, be sure to browse the following blogs! As a reminder, since the sets used in this post are from the March release, they will be available tonight at 10pm, EST, at Papertrey Ink.

Nichole Heady

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Cristina Kowalczyk

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Debbie Olson (here)

Erin Lincoln

Heather Nichols

Jessica Witty

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips

Birthday Wishes

Welcome! Today I have another floral birthday card to share. For the focal image I used JustRite's new Grateful Hearts Vintage Labels Two, along with its coordinating Vintage Labels Two die. For the background I used the Grand Damask Background Stamp, stamped in Rouge Chalkbox Chalk ink on PTI's Melon Berry cardstock. 

These are the Copic markers that I used to color the image. (Click on picture to see a larger version.)

In addition to the Vintage Labels Two die, I used three more Spellbinders™ die sets as well: Labels Four, Gold Labels Four, and Charmed I'm Sure for the little tag sentiment.I dyed some oatmeal colored seam binding with my Copic R22, R24, and 0 Various Inks (reinkers), then scrunched it while it was still wet. That's about it for today--thanks for visiting!

A Posy for You

Welcome! Today I have a layered floral card to share. I was still away from home when the March JustRite release came out, but since I've been home, I've had a chance to play for a little bit--a very little bit--as in, I just finished unpacking luggage today! I think we brought too much *stuff* back. The oddest was definitely the case of Cajun boiled peanuts that my son loves, and that aren't available in the U.P. of Michigan for some reason. ;-) I bet that made a TSA agent scratch his head!

Today's card is made with a couple of JustRite sets, including the new Floral Vintage Labels Two, as well as an older release, Embroidered Background Stamp. I stamped the large flower twice in Memento Desert Sand ink because I wanted a lineless look when I finished coloring the image. Stamping it twice was so that I could have two layers on the flower, though with some judicious craft knife cutting and edge-curling, it looks like more than two layers.

These are the Copic Sketch markers that I used for greenery, though I came back later and added a bit of BV00 to the shadow areas to cool them off. That G20 was for warming up/yellowing some leaf tips.

These were the rest of the Copic markers that I used, as well as both layers of the flower, still flat.

And this is what the flower looked like after some craft knife cutting and edge-curling. It will still compact back down enough to mail, but it would need to be fussed with after it is received to look this full again. How about that card base die cut--isn't that a pretty shape? It's cut with a Spellbinders™ Enchanted Labels Twenty-Eight die template, stamped, then folded in half so that the folded size is about 3-1/4" x 4-5/8". I mounted the flower on a Standard Circles Large die cut, and then a Decorative Labels Twenty-Two die cut under that. The little tag is cut with Back to Basics Tags. My pink tulle is 4: wide, folded in half. Okay, I guess that's it for today. I hope you have a great weekend, and thanks for visiting!

Love You, Little Monster!

Welcome! Today I have a boy-card to share with you. This cute little focal image and its sentiment is from a Paper Smooches stamp set called Falling for You. 

I used a really limited palette of Copic Markers here. The B01 was for airbrushing the background, in conjunction with a Spellbinders Standard Circles Large die template that I used as a mask. I also masked the monster with some Judikins Eclipse paper.

Other tools that I used included a Spellbinders Pinking Circles Large, Grand Circles, Charmed I'm Sure, and Graduated Dots M-Bossabilities™. I rubbed a Versamagic Tea Leaves ink pad across the graduated dots to deepen the pattern. I used some twine to tie the sentiment on and mounted pieces with foam tape. That's it for my boy monster card! Thanks for visiting. :-}