the white room challenge.

Is anyone out there a huge fan of HGTV (Home and Garden TV channel), like I am? One of my very favorite shows is called "Design Star". On this show several home decorating designers compete in challenges to see who will win their own show on the network. I love watching this show because the artists always have terrific ideas for decorating, color, and making unique things out of something ordinary. It really inspires me, even in my paper crafting.

One of the challenges I love every season on this show is called "The WHITE ROOM Challenge". Each designer gets their own blank white room to work with and a few basic supplies, like a small sofa and table. I thought it would be fun to take this idea, and use a blank white piece of cardstock to show you how you can transform it into something wonderful!

I started with a piece of white cardstock for each card, and set out to use my Clear Stamps from Pink Paislee's Indigo Bleu line. On the first card, I stamped with the doily image from the stamp set onto white cardstock in a random fashion.
Next, I heat-embossed the images with white embossing powder.

Now comes the fun part....adding color. I used a reinker called Aqua Mist by Papertrey Ink and a little bit of water to paint over the embossed images. I thought it would make it more interesting to do a stripe pattern, so I used a ruler and drew stripes with my paintbrush. Some of the greenish-blue color you see here is just because my paint palette had a bit of yellow paint on it when I was making my card. (I have since cleaned the palette off for the photos.) To get a deeper color, use more reinker and less water. To get a lighter color, use more water with just a tiny drop of reinker. You can go back and add more color as you go, making it as dark as you wish.

Next, I let my paper dry and trimmed it down. It would be pretty on a layout, but today I'm making a card with it. I made a little banner next with a Martha Stewart scalloped circle punch, some Indigo Bleu papers and Indigo Bleu die cuts from the Chat Clouds, stitching them together with my sewing machine.

I tore a little strip of Jacquard paper for the top, and then added the banner. The seam binding was spraying with Mint Chocolate Chip Chalkboard Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. The button is from Pink Paislee's Indigo Bleu - Boutique Flair Wood Buttons. Last, the card base was made out of Indigo Bleu - Calico paper.

It looks complicated, but when you see step-by-step the process, it is really fun and easy to try creating your own backgrounds!

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I have one more card that I used the same technique with. This time I used the little stars in the Indigo Bleu stamp set. Here you can see I have sprinkled the embossing powder over the stamps, but haven't heated the powder up yet to melt it.

I stamped them, embossed them with white powder, and then painted over them with a yellow reinker called Harvest Gold by Papertrey Ink. I added some of the die cuts from the Chat Clouds again and a teal patterned paper from the Spring Jubilee line cut with a Layerz Mat Stack 4 die. A TIP: use a permanent ink like StazOn to stamp over the embossed images, so it doesn't rub off. I used the Super Stars stamp set sentiment.

Just look how it comes to life with color!

I added a Pink Paislee Boutique Flair brad to a regular paper clip from my office supplies. I just put it through the bottom of the paper clip and opened up the prongs on the back of the brad. I clipped off the ends of the prongs, because they were showing a bit. The paper clip is then just slid onto my card!

You could use this technique for any themed card or layout. Hope this has inspired you to run to your scrap area and create something fun today. If you would like to play along, link me up to your project! Visit the Pink Paislee blog all this week for more "white room challenge" projects.

Supplies used:

STAMPS: Indigo Bleu Clear Stamps by Pink Paislee, Super Stars by Papertrey Ink
INK: Aqua Mist and Harvest Gold reinkers by Papertrey Ink, Mint Chocolate Chip Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels
PAPER: white cardstock, Indigo Bleu papers - Jacquard and Calico by Pink Paislee, Spring Jubilee paper - Shindig by Pink Paislee
DIES: Layerz Mat Stack 4 die by Papertrey Ink
OTHER: Indigo Bleu - Chat Clouds (die cuts), Indigo Bleu - Boutique Flair buttons, seam binding, paper clip, corner rounder.

the bold and the beautiful.

I don't know about you, but this week I've been recovering from the fun we had at Stamp-A-Faire! What a great event that was! I wanted to thank you so much for joining us, for your participation and kind words. We had a great time preparing everything for it, and could not have had the event without YOU. Thank you!

Now, is it just me - or do you also get totally sidetracked when you are trying to clean up your desk? I literally have papers, ink pads, dies and stamps every.where.!! But amidst the mess, somehow I was inspired to make this. Just for fun. (And my desk is still a disaster, but...crafting is much more fun than cleaning.)

I used Smokey Shadow cardstock for the base. Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse and Canyon Clay cardstock and inks were used for the hearts. Hearts are made with the Heart-2-Heart #3 stamps and dies. Fresh Snow ink works great for the sentiment on the gray cardstock.

I cut the front of this card shorter than the back, so the hearts would show on the inside, then added a little see-through Filigree die cut border. The sentiment is stamped onto a Photo Finish Strips die and then trimmed to fit my card.

The striped card was inspired by a card I saw at Treat.com. I loved the colors together against the darker background and the white sentiment. I was feeling in a "bright and bold" mood the other night while creating and wanted to try a fun color combo.

These little hearts would make cute balloons too for a birthday card if you moved the strings down to the bottom of the card. They are simply taped to the back of the hearts, and a little staple keeps the strings firmly in place. Now for some odd reason I'm craving some little conversational heart candies!

Bold Thank You card set:

STAMPS: Heart-2-Heart #3
INK: Fresh Snow, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, Canyon Clay, Simply Chartreuse inks
PAPER: Smokey Shadow, Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, Canyon Clay, Simply Chartreuse cardstocks
DIES: Heart-2-Heart #3, Photo Finish Strips, Filigree Border
OTHER: twine, pearls, staples, machine stitching.

9pm EST: Stamper's First Aid

Do you ever feel like one of your cards needs a little "first aid"? Papertrey Ink customers posted a link to a card they felt just needed a "little" something, a diagnosis of sorts, and the team members were to each choose a card they wanted to recreate. I chose Cathy Weber's beautiful card. Cathy receives a $25 gift certificate to Papertrey Ink!

Please don't get me wrong, I didn't choose it because I thought there was anything wrong with it! In fact, I was VERY inspired by it and really wanted to bring out this stamp set again, Fruit Fusion: Cherries. I also loved how she used the Photo Finishers strip with it! What a great combo!

Here is my take on it:

I loved the way Cathy used an Impression Plate in the background on the white cardstock, so I used my Simple Stripes Impression Plate on mine. I felt like the larger scale of the embossed stripes would balance out the card nicely in conjunction with the big cherries. So now I have a larger pattern (stripes), a medium pattern (check) and a small pattern (bitty dots). Combining the three scales of patterns is neat design trick that I've learned over the years.

Since the cherries were already red, and I really wanted them to pop and be the focal point, I needed to add a couple of other colors to the card. I decided to use Fine Linen and Simply Chartreuse patterned papers for the sentiment strip. I cut two strips and replaced the center with green. Last, a Spring Moss card base frames out the card.

Sending a big thank you to Cathy for allowing me to recreate her card!

Sweet On You card:

STAMPS: Fruit Fusion: Cherries
INK: Simply Chartreuse, True Black
PAPER: white, Spring Moss, Finen Linen Pattern Pack, Simply Chartreuse Pattern Pack, Pure Poppy Pattern Pack
DIES: Fruit Fusion
OTHER: button, dimensional adhesive.

8 pm EST: DIY Badge- Homemade Embellishments

Washi tape is very popular right now, and I thought I'd share with my Papertrey Ink friends how to make your own out of patterned paper. "Tape transfer" is not a new technique, as I had seen it long, long ago. Remember the Carol Duvall show? I loved her. She had used packing tape here with photos instead of patterned paper, but I thought this would be great fun using Papertrey Ink's pretty papers! Let me show you how:

Step 1: You will need patterned papers, Scotch tape, a small bowl of water, scissors and a bone folder.

Step 2: Cut papers the width of the tape (3/4").

Step 3: Cover paper strips with Scotch tape. Rub the tape to the paper firmly with a bone folder to make sure it's attached down to the paper securely.

Step 4: Place strip in water for 10-20 seconds, or longer if need be. Let it soak in the water until back of paper feels soft enough to rub off.

Step 5: Turn the strip of paper over and peel off the back of paper under the water with your fingers. Try not to scratch it with your fingernail, as the colorful part will be removed also if you scratch it too hard. Use the soft pads of your fingers or thumb to rub off the white part of the paper backing under the water until ALL of the white paper backing is removed.

Now continue doing these steps with several different patterns, and you'll have some really neat transparent washi tape of your own!

Aren't they adorable? I've used Summer Sunshine, Dark Chocolate, Melon Berry, Pure Poppy, Simply Chartreuse and Tutti Fruiti patterned papers. These are still a bit wet, but you'll want to let them dry before adding them to your project. You can trim the ends at an angle to make it look more like tape.

The tape isn't sticky anymore, however I love that you are taking your favorite patterned papers and making them transparent. Did you know that you can do this with photos also? How about wrapping a gift box up with tape made from your favorite photos? FUN! Here is a finished project using my tape strips:

The tapes look really neat overlapping the white cardstock, so I cut them up and used them around the edges of the card. I added a sentiment and cherries from the Fruit Fusion: Cherries stamps and dies.

Give this a try! It's a lot of fun!

Hi Sweetie card:

STAMPS: Fruit Fusion: Cherries
INK: True Black, Simply Chartreuse
PAPER: Kraft and white cardstock, Pure Poppy Pattern Pack, Simply Chartreuse Pattern Pack, Melon Berry Pattern Pack, Summer Sunrise Pattern Pack, Tutti Fruit Pattern Pack
DIES: Fruit Fusion
OTHER: Scotch tape.

6pm EST: Correspondence Badge- Camp Card Set Challenge

Hey, Papertrey Ink fans! I'm back with a little card set to share with you for Stamp-a-Faire. I made some mini cards and housed them in a Nugget Tin. These would surely make a fun gift!

I kept the mini cards very simple, so mass producing would be quick and easy. There are 10 mini cards in here, all different sentiments from the Half & Half stamp set. You need the Half & Half dies also.

I'll show you how!

Step 1: Cut 10 pieces from white cardstock with the pointed die from the Half & Half Die Collection. You can use one of the other Half & Half dies also if you wish!

Step 2: Score them and fold in half.

Step 3: Stamp with the Half & Half stamp set with Sweet Blush ink (the long tag patterns).

Step 4: Add a sentiment with Pure Poppy ink using the Half & Half stamps. I made 2 cards with each sentiment, since there were 5 sentiments in the stamp set.

Step 5: Die cut 10 Aqua Mist felt keys with the Lock & Key Die Collection. Tie around each mini card with Rustic Just Button Twine. If you don't have the key, you could add a button or a little flower instead.

Step 6: Pack them up in the nugget tin with some white envelopes. I used these 4 1/4" x 2 1/2" envelopes.

Step 7: To decorate the top of the nugget tin, I wrapped some Aqua Mist Satin ribbon around and tied it in a bow. Then to make the bow extra fluffy, I tied another bow and used a glue dot to add it over the top of the other bow! I made a little rose with a strip of Pure Poppy felt. I added a strip of red patterned paper from the Pure Poppy Pattern Pack and a strip of Pure Poppy felt.

I really like how everything just peeks through the top of the tin! 

Well, I can't wait to see your version of this little card set. Please link me up to your project, I'd love to see your take on it!

Nugget Tin Card Set:

STAMPS: Half & Half
INK: Sweet Blush, Pure Poppy
PAPER: white cardstock, Pure Poppy Pattern Pack
DIES: Half & Half, Lock & Key
OTHER: Rustic Twine, Pure Poppy felt, Aqua Mist Satin ribbon, 4 1/4" x 2 1/2" envelopes, Nugget Tin.

1pm EST: Craft Conservation Badge- Limited Supply Challenge

Hi there! I hope you are having fun so far with all of the videos, techniques and projects by the team for Papertrey Ink's Stamp-a-Faire event today. This is the "Limited Supply Challenge".

For the Limited Supply challenge, we were to use the following products on a project.

STAMPS: Natural Beauties

PAPER: Stamper's Select White, Hawaiian Shores,
Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse

RIBBON: Hawaiian Shores Bitty Dot

BUTTONS: Simply Chartreuse

(+ any inks and dies)

For inks, I used Papertrey Ink's Harvest Gold, True Black, Soft Stone and Lavender Moon. Dies I used include Papertrey Ink's Fabulous Frames, Turning a New Leaf, Heart Border die, and Wonderful Words. (Note: I didn't have any Bitty Dot ribbon on hand, so I left it out.)

I began the layout with the "Smiles" stamp from the Natural Beauties set! I thought of making a layout of some of the funny things that Kati has said to me lately. She always makes me smile with her silliness. I stamped the "Smiles" saying twice, once in True Black and again in Soft Stone to create a shadow effect. I framed out a favorite photo of us, added more frames and some stamped flowers to balance out the page. Notice the visual triangle made with the green leaves and the Simply Chartreuse button, which brings your eye around the page.

The large leaves really draw your eye to the center and the photo. I created a layered flower with some of the different stamps and cut them out myself.

The Natural Beauties stamp set will be available for free on Stamp-a-faire day (July 21st, 2012) to all customers who make a qualifying purchase of $100 or more between 7am EST and 11:30pm EST, limit one per customer.

I can't wait to see what the other team members have made with these same supplies. Oh, and stop back later, as I have more blog posts to share with you today. :)

Stamp-a-Faire 2012.

The festivities have begun at Papertrey Ink this morning, and this year the event is online, so everyone can participate. And... it's free! We have a ton of videos, techniques and tutorials to share with you all day long for this fun event. See Nichole's blog for all the details. Join us!

Using journal cards to create pockets.

I have been totally in love with these Lily Bee Designs journaling cards since the day I received them and just can't stop using them on projects. I love the patterns and pretty designs on each one. They come in each line - Handmade, Victoria Park, Double Dutch and Buttercup - and I sure hope they continue making these in their new lines too.

On the cover, I used some various pieces from all the lines "Bag of Bits" and stitched them together to create a little hanging banner, which dresses up the front cover just a "bit"! (No pun intended- ha.)

To create the pages, I cut pieces of vellum for the pages 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" (single sheets, not folded) and then stitched the journaling cards onto the bottoms as pockets to hold photos of our recent trip to Maine.

You can tuck photos into the pockets or simply add the photo over the top of the journaling cards and journal next to the photo like I did on this page. I decorated the page with the Victoria Park Cardstock Sticker banners. Quick, easy, and adds a bit of color pop!

What is so fun about the journaling cards is that they mix and match so effortlessly when put together, even though they are from all of the different Lily Bee lines! I used one to make the pocket here and another one to tuck inside behind the photo.

I really love the numbered journaling cards from the Handmade line! Perfect for an age, a special date, a number of people in the photo, etc. So many uses for them.

Don't forget that pockets can be used to hold memorabilia also, tickets, stubs, letters, etc!

This album only took me about an hour to finish. (It actually took me longer to take all of these pictures and blog it!) My fastest one yet, but I hope to add many more pages to it! Would you believe that I took 750 photos in Maine. It's very hard to widdle it down to my favorites!! You can punch photos and add them in between the pages too, instead of making a pocket for every photo.

Vellum is so pretty for a mini album, because of the transparency - you can see all of the pretty colors from the other pages peeking through- enticing you to want to see more. Thanks so much for visiting. Stop over to the Lily Bee blog to see more ideas with Lily Bee products!

Smile Mini Album supplies:
STAMPS: Victoria Park Clear Stamps by Lily Bee Designs
INK: white paint
PAPER: Buttercup Bag of Bits, Double Dutch Bag of Bits, Victoria Park Index Journal Cards, Victoria Park Mixed Card Stickers, Victoria Park Bag of Bits by Lily Bee Designs
DIES: corner rounder
OTHER: Twinery twine, ring, vellum, white paint, machine stitching, white button, Papertrey Ink True Black ribbon, pearl.