Guest post for Bella Blvd...

Good morning and happy Monday! Before I am off to Taylor's high school today to help pack all of the band and choir uniforms for their upcoming Disney trip this week, I wanted to share a few projects I made for a guest post over at Bella Blvd!

Stop over to see full supply lists and read more about these, but on this first card, I created a background with Papertrey Ink's Cover Plate: Stitched die and die cut some of the papers with Circle Scribbles dies and Doodlie-Do dies for the leaves. Don't you love the font in the "hello"? That is from Bella Blvd's Color Chaos line, which I really liked and used a lot of for today's projects!

Simple and clean, yet very layered and colorful!

Next, another Color Chaos paper that I just added a few details over the top- chipboard, a few hearts in patterned paper and vellum and a seam binding ribbon. Seriously easy!

On the next card, I absolutely loved the paper from Color Chaos that had the color splashes all over it! I cut out a Cover Plate: Hearts die to add over the top. I love how the color is bursting through, yet it still has clean look with some white space to allow the eye to rest.

Some of the Color Chaos stickers and chipboard finish it off!

Here I added some chipboard sentiments from Bella Blvd's Ciao Chipboard collection, then cut a Big Hugs die to add over the top.
Adds a little bit of fun dimension.

My last card was inspired by all of the sticker borders and chipboard borders in the Bella Blvd collections. I created a background with them here as my base.

The saying was cut from one of the papers with a Mat Stack 5 die.

Last a layout with all of the pretty papers. It's been awhile since I've made a layout.

Trimming out these Life Is Beautiful butterflies from the lovely papers gave me a starting point to work with some great pattern and color! I decided to watercolor the background in sort of a rainbow effect with pinks, oranges and yellows. Then I added the butterflies in coordinating colors across the top to anchor the photo and journaling, which is about my relationship with my 15 year old right now...getting a little bumpy as any teen/mom relationship, but I know things will come full circle again one day, and I have to allow her to fly right now! It's so hard to let them go though, isn't it? I always write notes to my girls about my current feelings. I hope one day, these will have great meaning to them. Until then, it's a creative outlet for me... and a therapeutic one at that!

Hope you will stop over to check out Bella Blvd's collections, they are colorful and lots of fun to work with! Thank you to Bella Blvd for having me as a guest this month!

Release day...

I have a few more cards to share with you using some new products coming out tonight, April 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. First up, is the new Graceful Greetings stamp set!

On these, I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink, then poured different colors of embossing powder on and heat embossed them to melt the powder. Then I stamped the flowers from Graceful Greetings. 
The papers are from last month's Chicken Scratch Gingham paper pad. These little cards make me so happy! I love all of the colors.

Graceful Greetings card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Graceful Greetings

INK: Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Sweet Blush

PAPER: white cardstock, Chicken Scratch Gingham

DIES: none

OTHER: Zing! embossing powders, twine

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Next is Petite Places: School stamps and dies and Keep It Simple: Teacher stamps.

The background is from the Black & White All Over paper pad (dot). The scallop is cut with the Scene It: Doily Tag Base.

Thank You, Teacher card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Petite Places: School, Keep It Simple: Teacher

INK: Pure Poppy, True Black, Tropical Teal

PAPER: Chicken Scratch Gingham

DIES: Petite Places: School, Scene It: Doily Tag Base, Shaker Shapes: Pencil (loop)

OTHER: Copic Markers, button from Wee Folk mini kit, ribbon-craft supply.

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Next is Enclosed: Apple and Tucked In: Thank You.

Again I used the Black & White All Over paper pad and added some stamping to the background with Quilted: Spring stamp set. I had stamped this background previously and didn't end up using it, so I found it and pulled it out. I think it works nicely with the reds and greens of the apple! When you are feeling uninspired, try stamping a few backgrounds. Then maybe later on you'll be inspired to use them for something!

Thanks card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Enclosed: Apple, Tucked In: Thank You, Quilted: Spring

INK: New Leaf, Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Pinefeather

PAPER: Pure Poppy Pattern Pack, Sweet Blush and Spring Moss cardstock, Black & White All Over Paper Pad

DIES: Enclosed: Apple

OTHER: sequins, twine.

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Last is Flower Favorites stamps and dies and Lunchbox Love stamps.

Again a Black & White All Over paper is used in the background (frame), then I watercolored a piece to adhere in the center. 

Cheer Up Buttercup card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Flower Favorites, Lunchbox Love

INK: Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Aqua Mist, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Smokey Shadow Pattern Pack

PAPER: Black & White All Over

DIES: Flower Favorites

OTHER: sequins, watercolors.

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All of the new things you see here will be available on April 15th at 10pm EST. Thanks for stopping by and please visit the other gals to see what they've made with the same products: 

Nichole Heady

Amy Sheffer

Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Laura Bassen
Lauri Willison
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips

Introducing NEW! Make It Market kit: Wee Folk...

Welcome back to another group post for Papertrey Ink. Today we are previewing the new mini Make It Market Kit called Wee Folk by Betsy Veldman! This mini kit comes with pre-printed patterned papers, dies, a stamp set and few extras.

On the first two cards, I simply cut out the pre-printed animals with the dies in the kit and popped them up on pre-printed papers. Added a strip of pattern at the top and twine from the kit.
The pins were from my stash. I poked them through the twine, then cut off the sharp tip with wire cutters.

These two cards were super quick and easy! Betsy's done all the hard work already by creating these adorable papers and icons. I just wanted to add a tiny bit of dimension by popping up the deer.

Little One card set:

STAMPS: Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk 

INK: none

PAPER: Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk

DIES: Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk 

OTHER: twine - Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk, pins - My Mind's Eye, pearls - Melissa Frances.

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Last, a card that required a little more effect, but totally worth it in my opinion! I love how it turned out. I cut out a Mat Stack 5 piece from Classic Kraft cardstock, then used the stamps and dies to create a little scene on the front.

The background was made with the Bookprint Alphabet Die. I left the die letters wired in tact on the metal die sheet (didn't cut them apart yet), so I was able to place the whole alphabet die over two layers of cardstock and run it through my Cuttlebug, which created an embossed look, instead of die cutting the alphas out. It almost looks like a little book plate for a book, doesn't it? I think it would make a cute notebook cover also! On the inside I stamped "sweet baby" from the kit stamps.

Welcome Sweet Baby card:
STAMPS: Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk
INK: Versamark for embossing, Dark Chocolate
PAPER: Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk
DIES: Make It Market Mini Kit: Wee Folk
OTHER: embossing powder, pearl - Melissa Frances.
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Well, I hope you enjoyed these ideas. The Wee Folk mini kit will be available at Papertrey Ink on April 15th at 10pm EST. Now head on over to the other DT blogs to see what they've made also!

Nichole Heady
Amy Sheffer
Ashley Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather  Nichols
Laura Bassen
Laurie Willison
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips

Introducing Seeds of Knowledge...

The Papertrey Ink team is back with a group post to preview a few more new things coming out on April 15th! Today we are showing sneaks of the new Seeds of Knowledge stamp set, the new Pencil Blooms dies, Pint Size Wrap dies and Pint Size containers.
First, I have a pencil bloom bouquet to share with you. I really wanted to go a different direction than the typical apple red for a teacher gift. I found THIS pic on Pinterest that inspired me to do something different!

Here's my pencil bouquet! I'll tell you how I put it together...

To start, I remembered that I had this gold paint... it's called Liquid Gilding by Martha Stewart, so I painted all my #2 pencils gold. It dries almost immediately! And covers so well, I love it! I think it's oil based though, so use an old paintbrush if you try this, because it's hard to clean out the brush afterward.

Much better than the #2 yellow! (My girls saw these and both want one to take to school. lol)

Next, I used a Tag Sale #4 die to cut a black tag and stamped it with Seeds of Knowledge. I embossed the white portions with white embossing powder (sentiment). The blue flower was embossed with Powder colored Zing. Then to get the green flowers, I didn't have the right color of embossing powder. So I actually heat embossed them in white, then took a Copic marker and colored right over the top of the white embossing powder to make them green! I used YG63.

Here you can see the cute Pencil Blooms dies cut with the Sheer Basics Vellum and layered onto the pencils. I used the new Enclosed: Apple die to make the leaves. The large tag is taped onto a cute straw from Target. Adds just a bit more pattern.

This is a better shot of the gold pencils. I used the Pint Size Die to cut the white wrap for the inside. It slipped right in and fit nicely into the jar. It's stamped with the new Graceful Greetings stamp set (thanks and flowers). The mini tag is an American Crafts DIY Shop tag that I stamped with Seeds of Knowledge and embossed. Everything is tucked into a Kerr jar.

Thanks Pencil Bouquet:
STAMPS: Seeds of Knowledge, Graceful Greetings
INK: Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, True Black
PAPER: Sheer Basics Vellum, white and True Black cardstock
DIES: Pencil Blooms, Pint Size Wrap 
OTHER: DIY Shop tag by American Crafts, Papertrey Ink twine, #2 pencils, Kerr jar (5" high), gold
paint - Liquid Gilding by Martha Stewart, Zing embossing powders, straw from Target, Copic Markers.
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Next are some coordinating tags that you could use on a card or just as a gift tag on a package.

They are cut with a Tag Sale #4 die, then stamped and embossed with white embossing powder. All of the images were then colored with Copics like I explained above! The line under the teacher tag is a Seeds of Knowledge die cut. You can add white ink over the top for the "chalkboard effect" with your finger or a blending tool, or you can leave it plain like the teacher tag for more contrast.

Embossed and Colored Gift Tags:
STAMPS: Seeds of Knowledge, Graceful Greetings
INK: Versamark ink for embossing
PAPER: True Black, white; Soft Granite by Hero Arts
DIES: Seeds of Knowledge, Tag Sale #4
OTHER: twine - The Twinery, Copic Markers.
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Visit the rest of the team to see more with these products.
Everything will be available for purchase on April 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink!

Nichole Heady
Amy Sheffer
Ashley Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather  Nichols
Laura Bassen
Laurie Willison
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips

Introducing Pencil Me In...

Today is a fun group post with the Papertrey Ink team, and we are all introducing some cute new products that are great for personalizing gifts for your little book worms or your favorite teachers.

First up is a quick card. I used the new Pencil Me In stamp set and Pencil Me In Patterned Paper Collection on the card. The edge of the card was cut with the new Moments Inked: Edged die. The pencil on the card was die cut with the Pencil Me In dies.

Also above you can see some customized pencils I made. The cute patterned papers I used, Pencil Papers Patterned Paper Collection, are adhesive-backed and have a little open label where you can stamp a name or icon on the front. I used the Pencilgrams stamp set to stamp my daughter's name (Kati) on all of the labels before wrapping them around my pencils. What's fun is there are other icons in the stamp set, one of them being a heart, and Kati always signs her name with a heart at the top of her "i". So I had to replicate that on her pencils! She'll love it!

Write Stuff card and Customized Pencils:
STAMPS: Pencil Me In, Pencilgrams
INK: Aqua Mist, Orange Zest, Classic Kraft, True Black, Hibiscus Burst, Pure Poppy
PAPER: Pencil Me In papers, Hawaiian Shores
DIES: Pencil Me In
OTHER: Copic Markers.
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Last is a felt pouch made with the new Pencil Pouch dies and Papertrey Ink felt = Lavender Moon and Summer Sunrise. My pencil pouch was made to fit over the cover of my PTI planner. Actually I would consider it more of a "pen" pouch, with it's shorter length. Pens fit perfectly. It has magnets stitched in under the circles to hold it closed.

Erin has a terrific video that you must bookmark if you are going to make one of these. She explains it so well, and I followed her instructions exactly. A couple of tips for you to keep in mind while you are making one of these: one is to mark your magnets that you'll be using (if you are using magnets to hold it closed like I did on mine) with a + and - so you'll know which side up when placing them in the spots where they get sewn in. I found some tiny magnets at Michaels by ProMAG. They are 1/4" and strong enough to stick to each other through the two layers of felt. (Couldn't find the Basic Grey ones locally that she used.)

And second, the magnets WILL stick to your needle, so stitching them in can be a challenge! My needle constantly wanted to stick to the magnet! My tip here is to stitch the circles on at least half way and then insert the magnet and stitch the rest of the circle. It's a little bit easier than having your needle pulled by the magnet the whole time you are trying to stitch the circles on. (Watch Erin's video - she will explain the directions much better.) :)

This pouch was made with an elastic band that wraps around my planner cover and holds it on, just like Erin did in her video. (My rectangles on the back are orange to match the circles in the front, sorry I forgot to get pics of the back of it.) I love it! So much fun. It's a happy little pouch.

Pencil Pouch:
STAMPS: none
INK: none
PAPER: none
DIES: Pencil Pouch dies
OTHER: Papertrey Ink felt, floss, magnets.
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Be sure to visit the rest of the Papertrey Ink team to see more with these new products!

Nichole Heady
Amy Sheffer

Ashley Newell

Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather  Nichols
Laura Bassen
Laurie Willison
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips

Elle's Studio: April...

Do you love to work with die cuts? If so, you should check out the Elle's Studio kits sometime. They have a new kit for April available today, and the little pieces are so cute. I love to layer these on cards. Here on this card I used two of the die cuts from the April kit. One is the "hello triangle card", and the other is the "thinking of you" die cut.

Behind the Hello card, I used an Elle's Studio paper from their new Cienna line called Flowers. I also cut a few of the little flowers out to add to the front of my card as well.

Next I used the "Happy Note" die cut and the striped card from the April kit and layered them together. I put the striped die cut behind and just let a bit of it peek out from the top for color.

The sentiment on the front is from Elle's Studio - Shine Cutouts. And I added a Studio Calico flag, enamel dot and twine. The background paper is the Adorable paper from the Cienna line. Those little flags were actually from the kit I used in my Craftsy class. You can get them HERE.

These are the adorable cut files and printables for April.
I really need to get my Silhouette going again, so I can try these out!...

Elle's Studio also has grab bags available, too. This only happens twice a year so this is your chance to stock up and SAVE! There are three different types of bags to choose from: Scrapbook, Stamp, and Journaling Tags. These grab bags are available while supplies last, but they probably won't last long, so make sure you grab them now! 

Here are the links to shop the April deals at Elle's Studio: 

April kit, April printable, April cut file, Scrapbook grab bag, Stamp grab bag, Journaling tag grab bag. 

Stop by to see all of the design team's work this month in the gallery for more inspiration!

Introducing Super Swoosh dies and Black & White All Over papers...

Maile Belles is back this month with some FUN new products coming out at Papertrey Ink! She has super sized the Swoosh dies and called them Super Swoosh! They are new and improved with a larger size and longer tails, which would be perfect for layouts, as they stretch over 8" long! And she's developed this super cool Black &White All Over Paper Pad, which is perfectly sized for A2 sized cards. You can add your own pops of colors to these papers with stamps, paints, markers, pencils or whatever else you can dream up! So versatile!

Here I used two of the background papers from the Black & White All Over paper pad. I tucked a stripe paper behind the big XO paper. To add just a tiny bit of color to the front, I added a flower from Quilted: Spring stamps and dies. I cut the "with love" Super Swoosh die out of Luxe Gold Adhesive Paper.

I really like how the gold plays off the black!

Next I used two more of the papers from Black & White All Over paper pad - the tiny dots and the frames. I watercolored a couple of papers with the Loew Watercolor paints from Papertrey Ink. I love the bright colors in this set! My other watercolor set doesn't have the hot pinks and some of the other colors I really like. These are very vibrant. The watercolor papers were cut to fit inside the frame.

After the watercolor paint was dry, I used the Super Swoosh "hello" die to cut out the teal paper. I removed the teal hello that I cut out and instead added a gold one to tuck into the negative cut. At the top, underneath the watercolor paper, I added the tiny dot paper. "Just thinking of you" was stamped with Mat Stack 2 stamp set with Tropical Teal ink.

Then of course I had to make another one with hot pink and the "thanks" Super Swoosh die. "You've been so thoughtful" is stamped with Mat Stack 5 stamps. I can see using ALL five of the Super Swoosh dies to make a cute matching card set.

Last is a birthday card with the Super Swoosh "birthday" die and the balloon paper from the Black & White All Over Paper Pad. To add color, I simply painted the balloons with watercolors again, trying not to use too much water. The paper did warp a bit, but with a lot of adhesive, you can stick it down pretty good to the card base to get rid of the bumps. Or you can color the paper with Copic markers, colored pencils, etc. instead of watercolors. (I am Copic "challenged" and don't have many colors, so I opted for the paints this time!)

Some enamel dots finish the card and even a little bit more color. The "birthday" is the balloon tail, in case you were wondering. My 9 year old didn't get it. She asked "Why is it sideways, mom?!" :)

These new dies and papers will be available April 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink! Visit Nichole's blog to see more sneak peeks today!