Thinking Inking

Christmas Mini Tags, Part 2

Welcome! I told you a few days ago that I had another variation in mind for this little card design, so I thought I'd share that today. I used JustRite's Christmas Mini Tags Clear Stamps for the sentiment on front. (Original post was HERE.) 

I wanted to get more color into that tag part--it needed some pizzazz. So I sponged on PTI Pinfeather ink, leaving my Spellbinders Holly Tags die in place as a stencil.

 I thought that it would be a pain to sponge the holly berries separately, so I sponged everything dark green, knowing that I could add red glitter thickly enough to cover the green beneath the berries. I used my X-Press It Fine Glue Pen to dot glue on top of the green berries, then some Taylored Expressions red glitter on top of the wet glue.

Next, I want to show you a neat little glue pen trick using a
W I D E  glue pen. I had some plaid patterned paper that just happened to have lines close to the same width as my X-Press It Wide Glue Pen, and that gave me an idea. . . I traced over the red/pink lines with my glue pen, then glittered them.

Whoosh, whoosh-- it was that quick! I'm just spreading the glitter over the glue lines in the picture above.

It's a little hard to see here, but, shaken off, this is what the red and pink lines looked like. Now I'm going through my whole stash looking for unused plaids! :-)

I think that between the green stenciling, the red glitter, and the extra help on the patterned papers, this little set worked better than the original. Three more for the stash--yay! Have a fabulous day,

Deck the Halls

Welcome! I have another simple Christmas card to share today, continuing on that easy-to-make, easy-to-mail theme. I purchased three Papertrey Ink stamp sets last month, one of which I've used extensively already. Yesterday I pulled out the Deck the Halls stamp set and its coordinating Deck the Halls die set, along with some older patterned papers from my dwindling stash.

I wanted to dress up the snowflake paper just a bit more, so I pulled out my trusty X-Press It Fine Glue Pen and dotted glue onto those snowflakes before sprinkling them liberally with glitter.

I also added glitter to the top left edges of the pinecones on the wreath, crusting a bit of snow on them.

I used an MFT Die-namics Blueprints 15 die to cut the snowflake card from and a Stitched Fishtail Flag STAX to cut the banner on which the wreath and ribbon sit. I embossed the sentiment on the Fishtail Flag with some off-white embossing powder. Easy, right? I think that this stamp set would shine in non-traditional colors as well--may have to try that later. :-) Thank you for visiting today!

Let's Chill!

Welcome--I hope that you all had a wonderful day yesterday! It was pretty quiet around here with only the three of us here for Thanksgiving dinner. Oh, the leftovers. . . I tried to scale it back, but you might know how that goes. After I finished washing most of the dishes, I came downstairs and colored. (No surprise there!) So today I'm sharing my card from yesterday, using a darling little Power Poppy digital image, Let's Chill. If you haven't ever used a digital image before, this is a perfect one to start with. Why? It's only $1 this weekend! Friday (today, November 27) through Monday, at midnight CST, Power Poppy has 20% off of everything, with this little guy being only $1. You do not need a code; all prices will be lowered for those four days. [You can see the ad at the bottom of this post.]

I colored the little snow dude with my Copic markers, all listed above, after printing him out at the size I wanted him. (I know that I've told you this before, but the article that helped me most with knowing what to do with a digi-stamp was Julie Koerber's "I Bought a Digital Stamp. . . Now What?" )

I showed you both pictures so that you could see it before and after the glitter. I know--some of you are "allergic to" glitter! I love glitter though, and it's a great way to add something relatively flat that enhances a card. To apply glitter, I use my X-Press It Fine Glue Pen. Its ball-point tip lets me apply glue precisely. I'm going to show you a project with my wide glue pen another day, but the fine tip one is probably my most-used glue pen.

Papers are some old ones--yes, I'm still working through my stash. . . They are from a My Mind's Eye Merry 6 x 6 paper pad. I used a mixture of dies, but mostly MFT dies: Die-namics Blueprints 15 for the striped background, Die-namics Vertical Stitched Strips for the Christmas Tree panel, Die-namics Oval STAX Set 2 for the red mat layer, and Die-namics Cross Stitch Oval STAX for the focal image layer. I used a Spellbinders Nested Lacey Pennants for the little sentiment tag, but I extended it by hand-cutting the left end.

Would you like to see more projects with Let's Chill? Please check the Power Poppy Blog for a full list of the people who have created a project with Let's Chill. Thanks!

{{{Mini}}} Christmas Sentiments

Psssst! Be sure to check out the sale information
at the bottom of this post--
it's a really GOOD deal!

Welcome! I know that it's Thanksgiving Eve. . . but can you handle another Christmas card? When I looked at the JustRite Christmas Mini Tags Clear Stamps, I knew that I could combine them with a frame-type die cut to make them be a focal image for a card front. When I dug through my frame dies and ran across Spellbinders Holly Tags, I knew I'd found my sentiment base!

For the inside of the card, I used JustRite Festive Grand Sentiments clear stamps, stamped in PTI Pinfeather ink. I used my X-Press It Fine Glue Pen to dot glue on top of the green berries, then added some red glitter to the berries. That was much easier than masking the berries off and stamping them in red!

I used the X-Press It Fine Glue Pen to add clear glitter to the holly leaves and berries on the sentiment mat layer, and metallic gold pen to edge the sentiment panel. Patterned papers are from Crate Paper's Bundled Up 6 x 6 pad. I'm going to be playing with the Christmas Mini Tags Clear Stamp set a little bit more because I want to experiment on that sentiment label a bit--maybe I'll have that ready by Friday. I still need to go make pumpkin pie tonight. I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you're celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend. I hope the rest of you have a great Thursday too. :-}

P.S. Woot, woot!!! Check out the deal below: 40% off of almost everything in the JustRite Papercraft store. Have you been waffling on buying a stamp set that you really liked? This is the time and the deal that might push you off of that fence! (Yes, I've already placed an order. . . I have some of those Kuretake brush pens coming to my house!)

O Holy Night

Welcome! I have been working on Christmas cards for a few days. While I'm not fond of mass-producing, I knew that I really needed to just get some cards churned out, and my new Papertrey Ink O Holy Night stamp set was a great set to do this with! I kept them pretty simple, and I tried to keep them thin enough to mail easily, though the first few might not make the 1/4" slot test because of having two layers of foam tape. 

Oh, yes, my counter was quite the mess! I had pulled out most of my old Christmas patterned paper pads, as well as some Bo Bunny 12 x 12 Christmas papers from last year, and I started cutting card fronts and a coordinating strip for a banner. Instead of stitching the edges on a sewing machine, I used my MFT Die-namics Blueprints 15 (for its 4-1/8" x 5-3/8" stitched rectangle), and my Die-namics Blueprints 13 (for its 4" x 5-1/4" stitched rectangle). I also used a Dynamics Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax for the banner on which I attached the sentiment panel, cut with a Spellbinders Labels set (both large and small).

The outside sentiments were mostly embossed, while the inside sentiments were mostly stamped with plain dye inks. I didn't have a dark green or red embossing powder or even a pigment ink in those colors, so I had to do a bit of finagling to get the green and red embossed inks. I stamped first in my Versamark pad, and then next onto the deep green or red ink pad, and I embossed with clear embossing powder immediately, before the ink could dry. The embossing wasn't as lofty on those as it was on the cards that had metallic embossing powder, but you can definitely feel it and see the shine. (You need to clean your stamp between each impression to keep from ruining your Versamark pad if you try this. So far I haven't noticed damage to my dye ink pads when I do this, but I do often re-ink them when I am finished.)

Next I looked for simple ways to accessorize each card, sometimes involving rhinestones for stars, little glass droplets, or metallic twine, but mostly involving a detail glue pen and fine glitter. (Yes, yes I have found glitter on my face a few times in the last week!) On the cards above, I've glittered the holly berries, the angel wings, and the stars (front to back). I love my X-Press It Fine Glue Pen for getting glue into really small areas. It's perfect for controlling where you want the glue to go--and you know how I like control! ;-)

Here is most of the stack--I think I finished nineteen cards using basically the same elements, but in different colors and with different little decorative touches. For the insides I used a strip of coordinating patterned paper at the bottom, along with the sentiment "May Blessings Be Yours This Christmas and Always" from the PTI O Holy Night stamp set. Now for the bigger challenge--getting to the Post Office. . .

Thank you for visiting today!

This and That: JustRite November Release

Welcome! Today I'm focusing on baby cards using stamps from the JustRite Papercraft November Release; I'll be sharing a couple more November Release cards another day. Shown above is a card using the new JustRite Arriving Soon Clear Stamps. I love the sentiments in this set, especially! For years I had a mural painted on my son's bedroom wall with a scene from the children's classic Guess How Much I Love You. This set has sentiments reminiscent of Guess How Much I Love You, as well as several other traditional baby sentiments, all of which could be use not just for cards, but also for scrapbook pages or mini albums.

I've had a few requests recently for pictures of the inside of cards. I won't always show them, because--well, sometimes they are still blank! But I'll try to remember to share them when they are shareable. 

I knew that I needed some twinkle in my stars, and that gave me a chance to try out my new X-Press It Fine Glue Pen. It has a ball point for very precise application, and it worked perfectly for the tiny areas that I wanted to stay within. I added microfine glitter to the outer edge of the moon here and the insides of the stars both here and on my card front. It's subtle, but it helps!

My spaceship window is coated with a dollop of Glossy Accents. I used a mixture of dies: The plain circle from Spellbinders Classic Circle Small dies, and the tiny scalloped edge is a Tonic Nested Scalloped Circle die. This set has a TON of different sizes, so it's quite useful. Papers are from Echo Park's Baby Mine 6 x 6 paper pad. 

How about this sweet image? On this card I used JustRite We Are Having a Baby Clear Stamps.

The inside of this one is pretty simple; besides the sentiment, I added a strip of coordinating patterned paper to tie the inside in to the outside of the card. (You know which ones I'm talking about--those little strips of scrap paper that are piling up right beside your paper cutter!)

Shown above are the Copic markers that I used to color my little sleeping bear cub image. Again on this card I used my X-Press It Fine Glue Pen to get the glitter into the bow around the cub's neck as well as the ribbon around the gift. That fine point was perfect for the tiny space inside the bow.

I used several dies on my card: Tonic Scalloped Circle Layering Die Set, Spellbinders Classic Circles Small, Spellbinders Classic Ovals Small, and MFT Die-namics Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax. Patterned paper are from Crate Paper's Little Boy Blue 6 x 6 paper pad, and buttons are PaperTrey Blueberry Sky Vintage Buttons.

Several of the JustRite ladies are sharing their favorite project from the November release today, so I hope you get a chance to go visit them! Thanks for stopping by today.

JustRite Inspiration
Debbie Olson
Marisa Job
Kathy Jones
Kristi Schurr
Darsie Bruno
Sheri Holt
Eva Dobilas
Angela Barkhouse
Heidi Blankenship (posting on Saturday)
Michele Kovack (posting on Saturday)

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree. . .

Welcome! This morning I have a Christmas card to share using a lovely new Power Poppy digital stamp set, Partridge in a Pear Tree.

There are a couple of sentiments, as well as an image version without the writing on the teapot, for added versatility.

Here is my card inside--one of the sentiments from the digital set, as well as the same image from the card front, printed lightly.

I used a LOT of Copic markers to color this image. Pull up a chair, and I'll list them all! I used the R22/R24/R29 combo for the little tree ornaments, the YG00/YG21/YG03/YG17 combo for the leaves on the tree, the Y21/Y35/YG63/G82/Y28 combo for the pears, the B41 for the sky, and the warm and cool grays for most of the partridge. I used the YR12/R24 for the bird's bill and the YR01/YR12 for the birds head. The E21/E23/E44/E47 Copics were used for the branches, and the warm grays for the teapot. I think that's about it. . . Yes, QUITE the list!

I used MFT Die-namics Blueprints 13 for the card front and the sentiment panel inside as well as the banner panel for the focal image. I used the same banner die for both the mat layer and the focal image layer, but I then trimmed about 1/16" off of both sides of the focal image layer, then trimmed the top a bit more than that, to make it fit onto the red mat layer. Hey, it works! ;-) The only jingle bells that I had were rusty ones or silver ones, neither of which would work with my card. So I rolled the rusty one on my oldest Versamark pad, and then I dipped it into gold embossing powder and heat embossed it--presto, a gold bell!

Several other designers have made projects using the Power Poppy Partridge in a Pear Tree stamp set; you can check the Power Poppy Blog for a full list of posts, but the ones that I know have a card ready for today are:

Cheryl Scrivens and Broni Holcombe. Enjoy!

Wishing You a Harvest of Blessing

Welcome! Is it still looking like Fall where you live? Our leaves are almost all gone, so it's starting to look more like early Winter than Fall here. I've had this little Fall card made for quite a while, but I was waiting to post it until the MFT Harvest Mouse stamp set was back in stock; I didn't want anyone annoyed at me if they couldn't get it! Today I saw that it was back in stock, so I'm posting quickly before they run out. :-) This little guy is a real cutie, isn't he? 

Shown above are the Copic Sketch Markers that I used to color the Harvest Mouse image.

I used a Die-namics Cross Stitched Circles Stax die to cut the focal image panel, Die-namics Blueprints 13 for the card front, and Die-namics Stitched Fishtail Flag Stax for the little banner that the focal image panel sits on. (To be a little clearer on that part, I used the Fishtail Flag die to cut the Kraft panel AND the darker chevron panel, then trimmed 1/16" off of both sides of the Chevron panel to make it nest perfectly. Is that TMI?) Patterned papers are from MFT's Fresh Squeezed Chevron 6 x 6 paper pack. 

Well, that's it for today. Have a great week!

Mum Thank You

Welcome! I got back late last night from a quick trip to Vancouver, BC, to color along with my Canadian friends at a Copic Workshop. I had a couple of cards made before I left and had intended to get blog posts written in my spare time--so much for good intentions and spare time! 

I needed a thank you note for a sweet friend who had helped me out a couple of weeks ago--one of those quiet, behind-the-scenes helpers. It's a simple card, really: the part that took me longest was cutting out the mum, and there's a die for that. In fact, I'm pretty sure I have it. . . somewhere. . . ;-)

The mum is from Papertrey Ink's Mum's the Word stamp set, stamped in Sweet Blush and Simple Chartreuse inks, and the sentiment is from PTI's Inside and Out: Thank You stamp set. Papers are the scraps from my Echo Park Sweet Girl 6 x 6 paper pad. Yes, yes I am using Every. Last. One. Of. Them. I colored a cotton string with my Copic R35 marker--easy! a little bit of stitching and an inside sentiment, and I was finished. 

Hope you're having a fabulous week!

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Welcome! How about a baby card today? I have a friend who is expecting twins in the next few weeks. . . Wow--makes me tired just to THINK about it! Anyway, I needed a card for her baby shower this past weekend and started digging through my stamp sets to find a likely candidate. I ran across an MFT Beautiful Baby stamp set that fit the bill for a sentiment. Next I went through my die sets and found a darling safety pin in the Die-namics Oh Baby set. I thought I'd use a card challenge for a layout, MFTWSC252. 

Paper is from Crate Paper's Flea Market 6 x 6 pad. (It's an older one--I'm still working on using up my stash instead of collecting new shelf fillers!) I die-cut the little safety pins from cardstock, then mashed them into a Versamark pad and heat embossed them with Ranger Liquid Platinum embossing powder. It's such a pretty metallic color--not too shiny, and kind of warm-toned--just like you'd expect an old safety pin to be. Other dies that I used included Die-namics Blueprints 15 for the perimeter of the large pink sheet, Die-namics Horizontal Stitched Strips, Die-namics Cross Stitch Circle STAX for the sentiment panel. I dyed a length of cotton string with Copic reinkers/Various Inks to coordinate and add little zip of color. That's it--easy-peasy! Now I just had to figure out what else I can use little safety pins on. . . ;-)

Thanks for visiting,