Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop Challenge

I took a little time from the busy-ness of the holidays to deviate from Christmas colors and styles and create a card for the PTI December blog hop. With Valentine's Day not far ahead, the inspiration piece was this pretty embroidered heart:

I've been wanting to try the floating die cut technique that Jennifer McGuire featured recently, and this seemed like a good place to give it a whirl. I cut out a lot of die cuts from the Stitching Garden set, arranged them more or less to cover a heart shape, covered them with Press 'n' Seal, and die cut the heart. Then it was a matter of adding foam tape to the backsides and adhering it all in one piece to a card before peeling off the Press 'n' Seal. The result wasn't obviously a heart to me, so I penned a white line around it using the outside of the heart die. This might not have been the best test of this technique, but I definitely plan to try it again on a border.

My favorite part, however, was not this cool technique but using the teensy weensy rosebud stamps included in the set to create a background. I haven't added a sentiment yet because it could be a Valentine, a baby card, a wedding card or even a birthday. I'll add one as needed.

Thanks for a very fun inspiration!

Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop Challenge

I had a busy week and pretty much forgot about participating in the Papertrey Blog Hop, but realized I still had a few more hours to enter. The inspiration was this:

The red and white stripes caught my eye, and I remembered that I had a Bold Borders: Diagonal die. The project started out pretty well, with white stripes on Poppy cardstock.

It went downhill from there. I cut the Say It Simply: You & Yours sentiment from sticky-back paper, and applied gold Perfect Pearls. That turned out uneven and lighter than I had in mind, so I decided to heat emboss over it in gold. One product over the other gave it a rather odd texture. Charging ahead, I glued that down before I remembered I'd used sticky-back paper and should have peeled it off and stuck it down. Now I'm hoping it doesn't separate by itself.

Is that all? Oh, no. I added die cuts from Sending Joy and thought the holly leaves needed a few berries with Nuvo drops. I managed to smear one a little before it was dry, so decided to touch up the pink spots with white pen, and add a gold thread bow. The strands wouldn't loop, so I cut one side apart for a poof -- which poofed right over the ampersand in the sentiment.

Some days there's just no fixing all the mistakes and I doubt that I'll send this to anyone, but at first glance it came out OK and I'm submitting it.

Make It Monday, Masking and Sponging

There is a fun project this week at Papertrey Ink, layering die cuts and sponging a design layer by layer. The best tip was to mask with scraps of material such as Cricut vinyl which has an adhesive backing. I actually have some Cricut stencil vinyl, which was perfect. Best of all, I saved the shapes as I peeled them off and stored them with the stamp/die set for future use. Bonus!

My first attempt used the Palm Prints set, Wet Paint sentiment, and the very fun new Skinny Mini Banners which I can see I'm going to be using a lot.

I had so much fun, I ended up making another card. The finished product was kind of dark, so I used the Pinked A2 Vertical die to cut it down and also create a card base. Sentiment is Say It Simply: Lovely Birthday.

Card Transformation

One of the fun posts on the Papertrey Ink blog is the weekly Transformation Tuesday feature, where one of the design team showcases a previously-made card that they revised. I participated this week with a card using the Warm Regards stamp and die sets. My original card turned out nice, but the embossed sentiment didn't stand out unless the light hit it just right:

I updated the card with a vellum circle embossed with the same sentiment, and a strip of lighter cardstock behind it. Now it's worthy of sending!

Papertrey Ink September Blog Hop Challenge

This month's  PTI September blog hop challenge features this warm and cozy fall table setting:

My take on the inspiration piece used the Simply Gourd-eous stamps and dies for the pumpkin and gourds (love this set!). Palm Prints offered some leaves, and Mix & Mat: Plaid created the background. Sentiment was cut in burgundy from Words to Live By: Kindness. 

I love Fall!

Create Along With Us

Every month as they release new products, Papertrey Ink has a "Create Along With Us" event, where they invite their customers to create a card inspired by one of the projects presented that month by the design team. I am always wowed by the work of these creative ladies and save quite a few to my Pinterest account. This month one of my saved ideas was this card by Lizzie Jones -- I like its simple repeat stamping, and the pointed cut.

I used the same To the Point die to cut kraft paper stamped in gold with Festive Berries, and added a big Big Basic Birthday Wishes die cut. Kraft color Bitty Big plaid serves as the base. Love that stuff!

PaperTrey Ink February Blog Hop Challenge

This month's inspiration piece is a pretty Spring picture. Bunnies, grass, a metal stand, pastels...

I was at a crop this weekend and didn't have my entire arsenal of products with me, but I did have the Garden Variety stamp and die set, which made a very nice embossed copper watering can filled with grass and spring flowers, as well as one of my new Brushed Birds (love these little guys), set on a Mix & Mat: Confetti mat, and a sentiment from Cutaway Tags: Spring on a Banner Style die. Whew! I sure made good use of some of my PTI goodies this weekend!

And I got home in time to unload my car (no small task), and post this entry to the blog hop.

PTI Anniversary Challenge #2

Papertrey Ink is celebrating its 11th anniversary to coincide with its February release, and as they do every year, there are lots of challenges. This one is to use at least one Papertrey product, and transform a project already done into something else.

I chose to transform a card I made recently as part of a Make It Monday challenge using reinkers and baby wipes.

I wanted to try a different idea from the same technique video, rolling up the baby wipe to make rosebuds. Can't say mine exactly look like rosebuds, but with a few leaves, you can use your imagination. :-) I used the same Mix & Mat: Herringbone, and a different saying, Quoted: Right Moment, stamped in black and clear heat embossed for a little shine. This time I used a trellis embossing folder instead of arrows, and the effect I was going for was more feminine instead of rather masculine.

This was another fun challenge!

PaperTrey January Blog Hop Challenge

I enjoy participating in the monthly PTI blog hop when I can. This month's inspiration piece had a party theme.

Pretty, but it didn't suggest any ideas to me. I need birthday cards this month, so I forged ahead, playing with and discarding one idea after another. Pastels, sprinkles, cake, white. I just couldn't get happy with anything. Eventually I cut a Mix & Mat: Flourishes from vellum, white heat embossed a cake on it, colored it from the back with my Real Brush markers, stamped a sentiment from Boutique Borders, and then let it sit a couple days while I contemplated what to do next. How to adhere it? How to add a bit more color? It wasn't until I was sorting some scraps that I discovered a piece of Bitty Big dots that I had cut a stitched rectangle from. And guess what! I could cut around the edges and turn it into a frame that was the perfect size. Problem solved. Glue under the frame, and the dots complement the sprinkles theme and add some color.

Sometimes a project (or any problem!) just has to sit for a few days until the answer reveals itself!

PTI Create Along With Us

PaperTrey Ink hosts a monthly Create Along With Us challenge on the reveal day of each new release. The idea is to use one of their sample projects as inspiration for one of your own. Michelle Leone made this pretty card using the latest Quoted stamp, and some bitty big paper.




I made my own version, using a prior Quoted stamp, and some Aqua Mist Bitty Big paper. I like the design so much, I'm sure I will be doing something similar with the entire Quoted series as well as other stamps that will fill the center.