Thinking Inking

PTI Stamp-a-faire 2017: Seventh Anniversary Tradition WOOL

Good morning! I'm excited to share a couple of pictures from my guest post HERE on Nichole's blog for Papertrey Ink's tenth anniversary celebration, Stamp-a-faire 2017! My chosen anniversary material was wool, mostly because I love the thick, smooth, clean-cutting PTI 100% Wool felt.

I included a ten-minute video on Nichole's blog showing exactly how I used PTI dies to make my wool felt cookies, which were inspired by a picture that I saw on Pinterest from Sweet Emma Jean's Etsy shop. (Sweet Emma Jean sells marvelous felt patterns, including several doll patterns that I don't see on her site right now, but that I bought a while back and need to find time to actually use. . .)

I'm planning on dropping in for a visit at the PTI Stamp-a-faire forum later today after I get home. Maybe I'll "see you" there!

PTI Stamp-a-faire 2017

Just a quick note to let you know that I had the opportunity to participate in Papertrey Ink's Tenth Anniversary Celebration--Stamp-a-faire 2017! My post and video (yes, I ventured into video for the occasion)--go live HERE on Nichole's blog on Sunday, August 27, at 10:00am, Eastern time. I'll also share a picture here after the post there goes live. 

I will stop by the PTI Stamp-a-faire forum Sunday after church. :-) Hope to see you there!

 

Two Hearts Become One

Good morning! Today I have a simple card to share: I needed one for a wedding reception and couldn't make it fit into any of my current assignments, so the time crunch necessitated clean and simple! I stamped my MFT Rose background in Versamark ink onto heavy white cardstock, then heat embossed with detail white embossing powder. Next I used a sponge to ink the white surface of the paper. When it was as dark as I wanted it, I used an MFT Die-namics 15 to cut the stitched perimeter.

My sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Love and Marriage stamp set, cut with an MFT Stitched Fishtail Flags Die-namics, and ribbon is white seam binding. That should have been it. . . but then I thought I'd try to create some cool lettering on an envelope. Three tries later. . .

First I penciled the names and date on a envelope, knowing that I could thicken letters later when I used my Kirarina Wink markers. (Pencil very lightly, because once you go over the pencil with ink, you won't be able to erase the pencil.)

I did my initial inking in an orange tone, thinking it would look best wth the card. It was a little too orange, however, so I filled in the thicker portions of the letters with the pink Kirarina Wink. Maybe I should have stopped here--still undecided on that!

I wondered if the groom would think pink and orange were weird on a card that was address to him too. ;-) So I used my gold Kirarina to go back over the pink and orange letters. . . Still debating on whether I should have stopped at this stage too.

I decided the the white envelope looked really white next to he card, so I grabbed my Copic E02 and Copic Airbrush System, and I airbrushed that background to tie the envelope in better with the card. Hmmmm. . . remember why I started with a simple card--you know, that TIME issue? I'm pretty sure that I spent more time on the envelope than I saved on the card! It was fun though. I'll probably try it again some time. . .

Thanks for stopping by today,

InLinkz.com

Valentine Sachet

Welcome! We finally had our first real snow of the Winter Monday night--an oddity for the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. We're not complaining about the lateness of the snow though--you don't have to shovel rain. ;-)  After I played with the Hot Ribbon that I trimmed my stamp set dividers with, I had an idea for weaving the narrow ribbon and using it with felt.

What do you think? I'm not exactly sure what I'd do with them--maybe use them as linen drawer sachets?  The one on the right was the woven one that I'll step out below. The one on the left took a fraction of the time and gave a similar look. My fifteen year old commented that for the difference in time, he thought the "faux weave" worked just fine. He has plenty of opinions!

I started with unbleached muslin, wool felt (PTI Winter White), a clover iron, and three different shades of Hot Ribbon pinks (Baby Pink, Hot Pink, and Maroon, which is really more of a cooler red than a brownish maroon). I used an older PTI die set (Limitless Layers Heart Stitches Die Collection) to cut my felt hearts, though if you don't have a heart die, there's always the old fold-it-in-half-and-cut method! The stitched hearts made it really simple to blanket-stitch though, so it did come in handy. Here I have the first six lengths of ribbon lined up and tacked at the very end with the Clover mini iron.

I placed my heart on top of the ribbon to check for size, and it looked like I had enough width to cover half of the heart. 

Next I trimmed the long tails off and started weaving those short bits into the tacked on ribbon. Remember weaving your potholder looms? Oh my goodness--there's no telling how many ugly potholders I made until I finally ran out of fabric loops!

I used an embossing stylus to push my weft ribbons (the ribbons that cross the original warp ribbons) up tightly against the tacked ends.

And I checked again to see how it was looking--I like!

Fast forwarding, here is my finished woven shape. I haven't tacked anything (with the Clover iron) other than the top so far.

Yes! It fits! Now I can tack/iron the ribbon down to the muslin.

Here I have blanket-stitched around the perimeter of the hearts after ironing the ribbon to  the muslin and lightly stuffing the heart shape with a bit of polyester fiberfill. I'm tacking on a length of ribbon to hang the heart by, just in case I want to attach it to a card to give it away. The only other thing I added was a tiny key charm that I had in my stash, a Whiff of Joy metal charm.

Now, for the five-minute version--seriously fast. I took a small felt heart die cut and simply laid all of the Hot Ribbon  in one direction and tacked them down with the Clover iron.

Next I laid the ribbon down in the opposite direction and ironed it. No weaving, no pushing--easy peasy. I let the ribbon go past the edges so that I could flip the felt heart over and wrap the excess ribbon to the back side and iron it down for a finished edge. (Yes, this Type A personality likes finished edges!) Ironing down those little short bits to the back of the felt was where having the mini iron came in really handy. I could have probably done my stamp dividers project with my regular big iron, but having a mini iron for this project keep me from sporting burned fingertips, no doubt! Again, use the LOW temperature setting with Hot Ribbon.

That's it--felt, Hot Ribbon, and my Clover mini iron. I should probably get started now on some Christmas ornaments for next year. . . but then there would be no pressure. Hmmm. . . not sure I'd know how to handle that! ;-) Have a lovely week, and thanks for visiting!

Watercolored Poinsettias

Welcome! I hope that you are more prepared for Christmas than I am! It's been a little nuts around here lately. . . I finally finished my watercolored cards that I'd started a few days ago. I pulled out a lovely older Papertrey Ink stamp set, Year of Flowers: Poinsettia and embossed the images on nice watercolor paper with detail white embossing powder. Next I chose some of my Distress Inks to use and started experimenting. I had noticed some beautiful poinsettias in the grocery store that morning, noting that the leaf and petal colors were sometimes variegated, with a petal being mostly red, but still green around the edges.

Since red and green are complementary/contrasting colors, I knew that I would end up with neutral mud if I let them mix much, but I thought if I could keep the edges of both colors wet and just barely let them mix, I would probably be okay. That was the challenge anyway!

This was actually my first one--the experiment for the larger panel below.

Sentiments were from Year of Flowers: Poinsettia and Think Big Favorite #9.  I left the accessorizing simple--just gold cord. There wasn't much point in covering up my flowers as long as I spent painting them! :-) Well, that's it for tonight. I have a few more things to finish up before I go to bed. Okay, more than a few. . . Have a fabulous weekend!

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!

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!

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!

Notecards Galore!

Welcome! Just popping in to share some notecards that I made a couple of days ago. If you been stopping here for very long, you might know that I'm not fond of mass production. I don't have a problem with anyone else doing it; I just get bored easily if I have to do it! I needed a couple of thank you notes--preferably easily mailable ones. But when you're making two, you might as well make three, just to have an extra for the stash, right? The funny part was that after getting three started, I remembered that I needed seven more cards to put on gift bags for an upcoming church event. Hmmmm, might as well just keep going. . .

So two turned into three, and three turned into ten. For someone who isn't fond of mass production, that was an an accomplishment! :-) Unfortunately, I almost used up my remaining Echo Park Sweet Girl 6 x 6 paper pad. (Sounds like a good reason to shop for new paper, doesn't it?)

For the sentiment, I used Papertrey Ink's Simple Sentiments stamp set. It's an oldie, but definitely a versatile goodie! I used plain cotton crochet thread for my little string and bows, dyed with Copic Reinkers after I finished the first card and decided than I needed a pop of color for the lone embellishment. I machine-stitched a couple of lines on either side of my sentiment after using one of my MFT Die-namics Blueprints 15 dies to create faux stitching around the patterned paper panel perimeter. A bit of sanding and a bit of distress ink, and I was finished--ten cards in an evening, and I'm almost caught up! 

On an unrelated note, next weekend I'll be in the Portland, Oregon/Vancouver, Washington area with Copic Color and Ink Workshops. After almost every trip, I hear from someone who says, "I would have been there if I'd known!" That's why I'm letting you know--hope to see you there!

From the Heart. . .

Welcome! We made it back from our football weekend downstate--fun trip, but let's not talk about the score. . . Some things are just better not discussed. ;-) I've been coloring up a storm, adding to my portfolio for some upcoming Copic Workshop classes in Chantilly, Virginia THIS weekend and Schaumburg, Illinois on September 25-26. Then on October 16-17, I'll be in Portland, Oregon before finishing up in Vancouver in early November.

I had started coloring this Power Poppy Ranunculus digital image several weeks ago, and I finally got back to it this morning and finished the image and a card.

Shown above are the Copic Sketch Markers that I used to color the Power Poppy Ranunculus digital image. (Click for a larger picture.) I printed the image on X-Press It Blending card in a cool pink tone, cropping in on the parts that I wanted to use.

Patterned papers are from Papertrey Ink's Sweet Blush Pattern Pack. The sentiment is from PTI's Vintage Picnic Sentiments stamp set, an oldie, but goodie! My finished card size is 5" x 7"--encouragement ready to go into the mail!

I hope you're having a colorful and creative week,

June Weddings!

Welcome! June always seems to be a big wedding month. This past weekend I needed two wedding cards--one for a lovely wedding that we attended here in Upper Michigan, and one for a wedding that I wish I could have attended in South Carolina. I felt like rolling a few roses, as you can tell!  The front sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Inside and Out: Love stamp set. 

For the roses, I used Spellbinders Bitty Blossoms die templates to cut 80 lb. white cardstock, which I then rolled, using a handy-dandy little Petal Roller tool, before airbrushing the roses with my Copic Airbrush System and Copic RV63 and RV66 (centers). Leaves are cut and embossed (also white cardstock) with a Foliage die template, then airbrushed with Copic G43 and G24. Other dies that I used were Oval Bliss, Pierced Ovals, and Grand Labels Four and Elegant Labels Four (both retired--I think I need to do some die-rearranging! Also, it looks like the PETAL ROLLER TOOL is now out of stock. Imaginesce makes them.]

While I used the same Bitty Blossoms dies for the flowers here, I used Romantic Vines for my leaves. The decorative oval mat is cut and embossed with Spellbinders Elegant Ovals. Patterned papers are Papertrey's Lavender Moon Patterns, and I dyed white seam binding to coordinate with both of my cards. The outer edge of this card front is cut with a 5 x 7 Matting Basics A. Both cards are 5" x 7" and required hand-made envelopes to compensate for the height of the rolled roses.

Well, that's it for my weekend wedding cards--hope you're having a great week!

On Your Special Day

Welcome! I'm spending time with family right now, so this will be a quick post; but I had an anniversary card to share using Papertrey Ink's Half & Half stamp set, a couple of my Spellbinders dies, and some pretty patterned paper from an older Authentique Renew 6 x 6 paper pad.

I stamped the Half & Half sentiment in PTI Ocean Tides ink on Stampers Select White cardstock, then cut and embossed the sentiment panel with a Spellbinders Baby Buntings die template. I wanted a little lacy edge and couldn't find just the right die in my edgers collection, so I used just the edge of my 5 x 7 Detailed Scallops die. I did a tiny bit of hand-trimming on both ends to make the lace edge end just past the striped panel, then stitched a decorative edge with my sewing machine. Buttons are PTI Aqua Mist and Harvest Gold Vintage Buttons. It was a quickie, but I was happy with how it turned out. Hope you're having a great Monday!