Release day...

Tonight is the night when all of the new releases (stamps, dies and such) are available for purchase at www.papertreyink.com! I have a few new sets to share with you.

Here I've used the new Dress Up Dolls: Winter Fun (snowflakes, snowman, mittens, scarf and snowballs) and the new Fill in the Blank stamp set (thank you background).

The background stitching die is cut with Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical dies. "Warm Winter Wishes" was stamped with an older set, Two Feet Deep. I thought the saying would be cute with the snowman.

Warm Winter Wishes card:

STAMPS: Dress Up Dolls: Winter Fun, Fill In the Blank, Two Feet Deep

INK: Enchanted Evening, Hawaiian Shores, 

PAPER: Hawaiian Shores, white

DIES: Noted A2 Vertical 

OTHER: twine, dimensional adhesive.

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Next is the new What the Doodle: Piece of Cake and Keep It Simple: Birthday III stamps!

I've tucked the little cake inside the Window Cut Tag die.

Happy Birthday card:

STAMPS: What the Doodle: Piece of Cake, Keep It Simple: Birthday III

INK: Pure Poppy, Versamark

PAPER: Lavender Moon, New Leaf pattern pack

DIES: What the Doodle: Piece of Cake, Basic Cut Tag, Window Cut Tag

OTHER: white embossing powder, Copic markers.

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Also, I have some news to share with you all...

With great sadness, and after 6 years with Papertrey Ink, 10 full years of blogging and 1295 posts, I've decided to step down from crafting and all of my design teams. 

As some of you might know, I went through a horrible, unexpected divorce last year. It was the roughest year of my life. Since then, I've hung on to crafting, as it was one of the things I enjoyed the most, and although it was very difficult to craft many days when I had to come up with my monthly projects...it did get me through some very hard times.

Since then, I've been picking up the pieces one day at a time. I bought my home and refinanced it in my name. I paid off my car. I met a wonderful guy who showed me that I'm worthy of being loved as I am. An unexpected opportunity came to me a couple of months ago, working with breast cancer patients. This past weekend, they asked me to become full time, working with these patients, scheduling their surgeries and following them for months as they go through their mastectomies and reconstructions. I love my patients! I feel as though my situation, having changed, is driving me with this desire to help others get through their difficult times! I hope to still have time here and there to make things when the inspiration strikes me, and will continue to post my projects when I'm able. I don't want to give up crafting all together. I hope you will continue to stop by now and then to say hello. I will miss my Papertrey Ink family tremendously! Papertrey Ink has been my life the past 6 years!

Paper crafters are the most kind and amazing people, and I'm so thankful for the friendships I've made over the past 10 years through this hobby.

Visit the amazing design team to see more projects with the November release! Love this group of girls!!

Amy Sheffer
Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Kay Miller
Laurie Willison
Lizzie Jones
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Birthday Wrap Inspiration...

Today we are previewing a new stamp set called For You and some tag dies and Wrap It Up dies! Let's get started! First I have coordinating tag and card set. I die cut the "happy" tag and colored the word with Copic markers in an ombre fashion with red, orange and yellow, then backed it with the pink/red Ombre Stripes paper. It's stamped with For You as well.

Then I have a coordinating card to go with it, with the same design, just a different sentiment from For You, and backed with a Noted: Scalloped Square die cut card base.

Coordinating Happy Birthday Card and Tag:

STAMPS: For You

INK: True Black

PAPER: white

DIES: For You

OTHER: Copic markers, stars from Studio Calico, twine.

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Next up are the new Wrap It Up dies, which include this square and adorable 3 layer bow that I cut from the star patterned Sheer Basics Vellum! I used For You again to stamp the sentiment.

I thought this would be fun for a gift card holder. I was going to add the tiny "to/from tag" in the set, but forgot before I took my photos! Darn it! You'll see more of the balloon stamp I used in tomorrow's post!

Don't you think this would make a cute pocket too for a party favor filled with colorful, fun goodies like these straws? A pocket could be made by just stitching or adhering the sides and bottom.

Something For You Gift Card Holder:

STAMPS: For You, Invitation Basics, Polka Dot Basics III

INK: Lovely Lady, Bright Buttercup, Aqua Mist, True Black, Vintage Jadeite

PAPER: white

DIES: Wrap It Up

OTHER: gold tape, twine.
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Don't forget to shop on November 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink to get all of the new products we have been previewing this week! Stop by each of these blogs to see more: 

Amy Sheffer
Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Kay Miller
Laurie Willison
Lizzie Jones
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Halloween Inspiration...

Welcome back to another group post, this time it is Halloween related...are you ready? I am so excited to see what everyone came up with!

My first card is a bit unexpected as far as the colors go. I was playing around with the stamp sets and the new ink color called Americana, and liked how it looked with Sweet Blush, Classic Kraft, Spring Moss and Dark Chocolate inks. I'm using the new Autumn Expressions stamps and dies and Pumpkin Expressions to create the face. These two stamp sets work so well together!

The top portion is stamped with Stitched Sentiments. I love those leafy twigs. Then I added two rows of washi tape. The one with the pink, brown and green sort of inspired my card colors.

Happy Fall card (pink):

STAMPS: Autumn Pumpkins, Pumpkin Expressions

INK: Sweet Blush, Americana, Classic Kraft, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate

PAPER: Soft Stone, white

DIES: Autumn Pumpkins, Enclosed: Leaf

OTHER: washi tape, seam binding.

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Next, I embossed a white background with the Cover Plate: In the Woods and stamped another (more traditional) pumpkin with the same two stamp sets.

They look kind of cute as a pair...:)

Happy Fall card (orange):

STAMPS: Autumn Pumpkins, Pumpkin Expressions

INK: Summer Sunrise, Cocoa Bean, Saffron Spice, Spring Moss

PAPER: white

DIES: Cover Plate: In the Woods

OTHER: seam binding.

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Next, a "Trick Or Treat" card made with the new Shaped Saying: Halloween die. I stamped the moon with Tiny Triangles to add color and pattern.

The "Boo to you" is from Spooky Smiles.

Trick or Treat card:

STAMPS: Spooky Smiles, Tiny Triangles

INK: Bright Buttercup, Summer Sunrise, True Black, Stormy Sea

PAPER: Stormy Sea cardstock, Bright Buttercup + White Basics Patterned Paper Collection, gray polkadot - other

DIES: Shaped Sayings: Halloween

OTHER: 

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One last project, a 3D Halloween house jar topper made with Tiny Town: Spookville dies and Tiny Town: Spooky Yard dies (tree and fence). I also added a larger ghost and Trick-or-Treat sentiment from the new Dress Up Dolls: Halloween stamps and dies.

The jar is a short, wide jar, about 4" wide by 3.5" tall. I tried to find candy corn to fill it, but couldn't find any! What's up with that? Candy corn is only a Halloween thing? I was sure I could find some, but no luck. Reese cups fill my jar...

The yellow chevron paper is from the Mod Mix paper pad and an Aqua Mist ribbon is tied around the jar. The Tiny Town: Spookville dies coordinate with the Tiny Town: Basics house that was previously released. With the Spookville additions, you can add a chimney, the spooky porch, pumpkins, bats, spiderwebs, etc.

The spooky house die is a pretty cute idea, huh? That Betsy. She's so clever. I wish I would have added the pumpkins to the front porch for more color, but oh well. Maybe next time.

Haunted House Jar Topper:

STAMPS: Dress Up Dolls: Halloween

INK: True Black

PAPER: Summer Sunrise pattern pack

DIES: Tiny Town: Spookville, Tiny Town: Spooky Yard, Dress Up Dolls: Halloween

OTHER: 

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That's it for me today. I'll see you again tomorrow with more! Have a great day and don't forget to visit these other talented ladies to see more Halloween inspiration:

Amy Sheffer
Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Kay Miller
Laurie Willison
Lizzie Jones
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Scored backgrounds...

Recently I was inspired by a gorgeous card by Laurie Willison, which you can see HERE, where she stamped and ink blended her background and then added some amazing dimension with score lines. I wanted to give this neat technique a try!

Inspired by the ink blending on Laurie's card, I used The Sweet Life stamp set to create the flowers and leaves, then brushed some Sweet Blush ink over the top of the flowers with an ink blending tool.

Stop by Scrapbook Expo's blog to read more about this process and see more how-to photos! Thank you to Laurie for letting me use her beautiful card for inspiration!

Meadow Greens revisited...

Today the senior Papertrey Ink design team is doing a little blog hop to show you some fresh new ideas for using an older stamp set called Meadow Greens, which you can find HERE! I have two cards that I've used my Zing! Embossing Powders with to create a soft look to the flowers. I've used Powder and Blush.

On the first card, I used a background paper from the Beautiful Brushstrokes paper, an older paper set by PTI. I used the Meadow Greens dies to cut the flower and the stem and stamped and embossed with the Blush Zing! powder. The gray piece was cut from the Noted: Scalloped Square dies. The border is die cut with the Filigree Border die.

The next card also uses a background paper from the older Beautiful Brushstrokes paper pad. I used the Powder Zing! on this one with a little different color scheme from what I normally work with - yellow, blue and brown!

Another Filigree Border die was used here and a sentiment from Meadow Greens stamps again.

The seam binding is the pretty ribbon I often use and is from zipperstop.com. I get it wet with my fingers to scrunch it up, and it dries just how you leave it.

Hope you enjoyed these ideas! Visit Betsy, Dawn, Heather and Melissa for more Meadow Greens projects!

Introducing "It's The Thought"...

I can't believe it's countdown time again! The Papertrey Ink team will be previewing several new products that will be released this month on the 15th, so today I get to share with you a new stamp set called It's The Thought! I've also used a paper pack that was released last month that I just received, the Floral Sketches patterned paper collection, available HERE! I love these papers! They make quick and easy cards by simply adding a quick sentiment to them!

I've got three cards for you today.

The first was made with the darker gray floral paper and a sentiment from It's the Thought. A piece of vellum was embossed with white embossing powder, then I trimmed the edges with my scissors and machine stitched it onto my card front before adding it to a card base. The gray patterned paper has white flecks in it...very pretty. I did trim down the sides and added it to another lighter gray paper in the paper pad.

On the next card, I added a light gray paper behind this floral, then heat embossed the sentiment from It's The Thought right onto the preprinted patterned paper.

Aren't the grays so pretty with these colors?

The twine adds a little "separation" between the two papers...and a little bit of contrast to the card.

On the last card, I used the "I think of you often" sentiment from It's the Thought and again heat embossed it onto vellum. It's machine stitched on the left, and adhered with a touch of glossy accents underneath the sequins to hold it down on the right side.

"It's the Thought" will be available on July 15th at 10pm EST at Papertreyink.com.

Visit Nichole Heady's blog to see more links to view new projects made with the July releases! I'll be back tomorrow. Have a great day!

Vellum frames...

It's Tuesday, and that means I'm up again over at Scrapbook Expo's Weekly Scrapper blog! I have a couple of cards created with vellum frames that I made from a 12" x 12" preprinted vellum paper. Please stop by to read more about these HERE!

I've used a couple of Papertrey Ink dies to trim out the centers of the vellum, one is the Fabulous Frames die and one circle die. This creates a pretty focal point for a sentiment or a flower, anything you want to highlight on your card as a focal point!

If you like these cards and would like to learn more about the techniques I typically use to achieve layering and embellishing, you can access my online Craftsy course for half-price right now!

Cards With Dimension: Lovely Layers, Textures and Embellishments

Craftsy courses are online, self-paced, and you can rewind and watch again, ask questions, post pics of your projects, get feedback from instructors and so much more. In the class, I share over 70 cards with you and SO many ideas. Hope you will check it out, and stop over to the SBE blog to read more about these two cards.

Have a great day!

Danielle

Make It Monday video tutorial: shading with Copics...

Recently, I purchased a few more Copic Markers to add to my stash and have been having fun with using them in different ways! Today is my day for a Make It Monday video over at Papertrey Ink, so I've made this card with shadowing under the die cut. I'd love if you would stop over to watch the video at Nichole's blog, give it a try, and let me know what you think of this technique!

I've used a Pure Poppy die cut, trimmed from the Framed Friends die by Papertrey Ink, then a light pink R20 Copic marker for the shading under the word. In the video, I will show you other samples of cards I've made recently with the same technique. Word dies work excellent for this, but you can shadow under other die cuts as well!

I've used Tulip Time and Wonderful Words: Friends stamps also.

Swing by Nichole's blog to watch the full Make It Monday video on how to recreate this card! Have a fabulous day, and don't forget to play along in the shadowing challenge for your chance to win a Papertrey Ink gift card!

So Glad We're Friends:

(All Supplies by Papertrey Ink Unless Otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Wonderful Words: Friends, Tulip Time

INK: Melon Berry, Sweet Blush, Pure Poppy, Bright Buttercup, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado

DIES: Framed Friends, Tulip Time

PAPER: Stamper Select White, Pure Poppy cardstock

OTHER: sequins by Pretty Pink Posh.

Quilted...

I love the quilted look and am a quilter myself, so I thought it would be fun to bring this look to a card again for today's Scrapbook Expo cardmaking post! I grabbed the Quilted: Summer stamps and dies to make my card. It came together so quickly, just love this set!

First, I die cut the frame and stamped all of the fun triangles! I left some of them white to make it look like a pinwheel. You could also take the frame off and just use the pinwheel, with a stamped stem using the stripe in the stamp set! I die cut a flower and stamped it also.

Then I attached these pieces to a white card base, added the flower over the top. The larger pinwheel pieces are popped up with dimensional adhesive.

The Scripted stamps were used for a sentiment at the bottom.

Hop over to the Scrapbook Expo post to read more about this card. Happy "almost" summer!

Recessed panel focal point...

I'm up again over at the Scrapbook Expo blog with another cardmaking post! I had fun just watercoloring the other day and playing around with a floral design of my own. I decided I really wanted a simple design to accent the painting, so I turned it into a recessed panel and raised the top and bottom panels. This really added some white space, and allowed the watercoloring to be the focal point!

Here you can see from the side view, the raised panels...
I am loving painting and can't wait to do more of it!!

The sentiment is Friendly Flowers by Papertrey Ink.
Swing by the Scrapbook Expo blog to read more about my process! Have a great day!