Nativity Inspiration...

Papertrey Ink has a new nativity stamp set and some dies coming out this month, so today we are previewing the new products. My first project is a very easily mass produced tag that you could use on a package or napkin wrap like I have done here. This tag is cut with the new Minute To Make: Holiday Tags die and stamped with Petite Places: Nativity.

A bit of garland is wrapped around the napkin, and I made a sugar coated candy cane (with pipe cleaners and fine glitter). I might use real ones for my dinner table, but these are pretty cute too. :)

O Holy Night tag:

STAMPS: Petite Places: Nativity
INK: True Black, Pure Poppy
PAPER: White cardstock, red plaid - Simple Stories' Summer Fresh

DIES: Minute To Make Holiday Tags

OTHER: pipe cleaners, fine glitter, jingle bell, garland - craft supply, tinsel - Melissa Frances.

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Here is a card with Petite Places: Nativity. I'm not going to lie...I have a hard time knowing what colors to use with the nativity set. So this one is a little unconventional. Papers are from the Nostalgic Notions kit. I can't wait to see what everyone else did with this set.

The steeple is cut from a new die called Petite Ornament: Square. I just used the front of it, not the whole die, backed it with more Nostalgic Notions paper and then added some pieces from Petite Places: Nativity dies.

O Holy Night card:

STAMPS: Petite Places: Nativity
INK: Enchanted Evening, Summer Sunrise

PAPER: White cardstock, Nostalgic Notions paper

DIES: Petite Ornament: Square, Petite Places: Nativity

OTHER: twine, sequin - Pretty Pink Posh, chipboard star- Pink Paislee.

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The next project is a little 3D ornament and a sleeve to tuck it into.

To create the layers on the ornament, I used some new dies called Scene It: Bethlehem, and it's backed with the Scene It: Scalloped Tag Base.

This sleeve is die cut with the Front & Center #1 die and folded in half to create the pocket.

Oh Come Let Us Adore Him ornament and sleeve:

STAMPS: Petite Places: Nativity
INK: Enchanted Evening

PAPER: white, Classic Kraft; Simple Stories - Summer Fresh

DIES: Petite Places: Nativity, Front and Center die

OTHER: Pure Poppy ribbon, chipboard stars - Pink Paislee, gold tape, twine, fine glitter.

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That's it for me for today! The nativity products you see here today will be available Sept. 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. Here are the other design team members' wonderful blogs...stop by and visit them to see more!

Amy Sheffer
Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Erin Lincoln
Heather Nichols
Laurie Willison
Lizzie Jones
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Quick + Easy Holiday Wraps...

We have another group post today for Papertrey Ink today, this time it's all about quick and easy holiday tags, wraps, gift card holders, bags and boxes. All of the new products we share peeks of today will be available for purchase at Papertrey Ink on Sept. 15th at 10pm EST.

First up are the Minute To Make: Holiday Tags 1 stamps and Minute To Make Holiday Tags die. I love these! They are really quick and easy to make a ton of tags in no time!

I've found a couple of cute, inexpensive gift card boxes at Target to match my tags. I think you can get them at Walmart even cheaper (for $1) when the holiday boxes and gift wrappings come out. The tags are super quick and easy.

Joy & Peace Tags:

STAMPS: Minute to Make: Holiday Tags 1

INK: Pure Poppy, Tropical Teal, Simply Chartreuse

PAPER: new tag cardstock

DIES: Minute to Make: Holiday Tags dies

OTHER: seam binding.

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Next up are the new Ribbon Sliders stamps, dies and papers. These are ones I cut out of the patterned paper pack.

This is a gift box from Target that had the dots already printed on it, but I wanted to dress up the top with some stamping with the arrow from Ribbon Sliders and added a preprinted slider that I cut out with the dies.  Quick, right?!

The box had pre-cut holes for the ribbon, which was perfect, but you could make your own by using a paper piercer to punch holes in the sides of a box for the ribbon to tie your ribbon slider on.

A Little Something Gift Box:

STAMPS: Ribbon Sliders

INK: Fresh Snow

PAPER: Ribbon Sliders

DIES: Ribbon Sliders

OTHER: gift box - Target, white embossing powder.

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Next is Christmas Tree Change Up stamps and dies.

Mine is a little bit different. It's not a box. I created a wrap instead and added a cellophane bag in the middle full of mints. The front and back are stapled at the top with the bag stapled right in between, then the twine is added and a star to cover the staple.

 Merry Christmas Treat Wrap:

STAMPS: Christmas Tree Change Up

INK: Simply Chartreuse, Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Sweet Blush

PAPER: white

DIES: Christmas Tree Change Up Box

OTHER: twine, sequins, cellophane bag, mints.

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Last are the new In the Bag stamps and dies. I didn't do a holiday project this time.

The In the Bag stamps and dies make a cute little bag to add to the front of a card to slide a gift card into. (I totally forgot to add a gift card before taking my photos, sorry about that!)

Thanks card:

STAMPS: In the Bag, Vintage Linens

INK: Simply Chartreuse, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Orange Zest, True Black by PTI; Soft Granite by Hero Arts

PAPER: Mood Mix collection from Stamp-a-Faire2015

DIES: In the Bag

OTHER: twine, enamel dot.
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All of the new products you see here today will be available Sept. 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. Here are the other design team members' wonderful blogs...stop by and visit them to see more!

Amy Sheffer
Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Erin Lincoln
Laurie Willison
Lizzie Jones
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Gossamer Blue: December kits...

How was your Thanksgiving? I had a very nice time with my family, my parents and grandma. It felt so good to take a break and just spend good quality time with loved ones! I just finished filming an online class with Craftsy this month, which will be available early January, so I felt a huge weight lifted off my shoulders when that was finished. I'm excited to share more info about the class soon!

Popping in quick to share the amazing December kits that are now available at Gossamer Blue. You must swing by and see the loveliness in these kits! Gorgeous as always!!

Here is a "Hello" card created with the main kit! I loved the mix of papers and the pretty die cuts!

The gold in the die cuts is gorgeous, hard to photograph, but amazing in real life!

Then I've got some holiday tags made with the December "Life Pages Themed Add On" kit by Gossamer Blue, these were all made with the Pink Paislee Merry & Bright line and the cute little chipboard sayings in the kit!

Oh, I just adore how these turned out! This is a beautiful line, not much needed to be done to jazz the tags up. I simply used the preprinted tags and added Ephemera and such over the top, popping up the elements with pop dots for dimension and some twine from my stash.

These will be fun to use to dress up my gifts this year!

Thank you so much for reading and leaving me a note today (and every time you stop by)! My Thanksgiving company is still here but are leaving tomorrow, so I will be back with more projects soon. It was so nice to take a break, but I do miss creating and can't wait to get back into my groove. :) Have a sweet day, crafting friends!
Danielle

Release day: October...

Today is the day we get to show you all of the rest of the new stuff coming out at Papertrey Ink this month! I saw some gorgeous sugary candy canes on Pinterest and knew I had to make some, so I went looking for red and white pipe cleaners. I actually found these that were already twisted with the red and white together at Michaels! I was going to twist them myself with red and white pipe cleaners, but I didn't have to. The hard part was already done for me. So I trimmed them at different lengths, bent the tops, then added glossy accents and sprinkled some fine glitter onto them.

Love how they turned out, so I had to use them on some projects! You might have noticed them yesterday on my cocoa and peppermint jars.

Using the new Stitched Tag die, I made some tags to hold gift cards/money with a candy cane added for fun. I punched a hole in the front of the tag to slide the candy cane through, then stitched the front of the tag to the back. You could use real candy canes if you wanted to. I didn't find any right now, since it's October, so these worked perfectly! I added a die cut and stamped Freshly Fallen snowflake to the front which is tied on with tinsel!

The sentiments were stamped with Painted Poinsettias and a jingle bell tied onto the center of the snowflake. These would make great gift card/money holders.

Holiday Joy tags:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Freshly Fallen, Painted Poinsettias

INK: True Black, Hawaiian Shores

PAPER: Vintage Cream, Aqua Mist

DIES: Stitched Tag die, Freshly Fallen dies

OTHER: Tinsel - Melissa Frances, jingle bells/pipe cleaners/cream floss - craft supply, fine glitter - Doodlebug.

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This card is cut and stamped with the new Painted Poinsettias stamps and dies.

The gold frame was cut out with Phrase Play #8 die, and I just trimmed the joy sentiment out of the frame and left it out. The poinsettias were stamped with Lavender Moon ink, then Pure Poppy ink over the top. The veins were stamped and embossed with gold. The three-step stamps are so neat!

Christmas Cheer card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Painted Poinsettias

INK: True Black, Lavender Moon, Pure Poppy, Versamark

PAPER: gold paper - Luxe Letterpress kit, Vintage Cream, vellum

DIES: Painted Poinsettias dies

OTHER: gold embossing powder, gold sequins.

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These are the new Phrase Play #9 stamps and dies. I just pulled parts of the die out and used them on this card instead of using the frame as it comes.

The background was created by stamping a dot from the Polka Dot Basics III stamp set and then they were embossed with silver embossing powder.

Winter Joy & Peace card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Phrase Play #9, Polka Dot Basics III

INK: True Black

PAPER: White Aqua Mist, Scarlet Jewel Pattern Pack

DIES: Phrase Play #9

OTHER: Sequins- Pretty Pink Posh, fine glitter, silver embossing powder.

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You may have seen sneaks of this tree in my previous photos from the past couple of days. I made a peppermint candy tree and a tag using the new Jolly Holiday stamps and dies and the Snow Globe Sentiments stamps! I've given these out before to bus drivers and such, and everyone loves them!

You'll need a 9" high white styrofoam tree from the craft store. White is important. If you get a green one, it will show through the candies and won't look as good as the white. You'll also need a pack of straight pins with white heads on them like these. (You can find them at Walmart or a craft store in the sewing section.) The peppermints were $1 per bag at Target, and I used 3 small bags! Starting at the bottom, insert a pin into one end of the peppermint candy wrapper, and poke it into the tree. Go all the way around the bottom, making sure each candy touches or slightly overlaps the next one. Then do the next row up alternating the candies in between the ones below (as shown). This way it really fills in the tree.

The tag was cut with the Tag Sale #4 die, then I cut and stamped the Jolly Holiday pieces and the sentiment is from Snow Globe Sentiments. Again I just used a pin to poke through the tree and hold the tag on.

Peppermint Candy Tree and Be Jolly! Tag:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Jolly Holiday, Snow Globe Sentiments

INK: True Black, New Leaf, Pure Poppy

PAPER: White

DIES: Jolly Holiday, Tag Sale #4

OTHER: chalkboard paint, twine, straight pins, peppermint candies, 9" styrofoam tree.

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This one was simple, and I really like how it turned out using the new Merry Kiss-mas stamps and dies. 

The leaves were die cut and embossed in gold. The font is awesome, love it. I added fine glitter around the edges of the card.

Christmas Kiss card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Merry Kiss-mass

INK: Pure Poppy, True Black, Versamark

PAPER: white, Classic Kraft, Pure Poppy Pattern Pack

DIES: Merry Kiss-mass

OTHER: pearl by Melissa Frances.

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Here I used Festival of Lights and Keep It Simple: Hanukkah. 
The pretty stars were stamped with Simply Chartreuse ink, the "Love & Light" in Tropical Teal ink, then I used a Copic marker, BG 10 to color around the stars to add some shading. A little bit of fine glitter was added to the stars. (If I had to do it again, I wouldn't use watercolor paper, because the inks bleed a little bit on the watercolor paper! It would work better on regular cardstock. Would you believe I ran out of white and cream cardstock? Eeek!)

Wishing You Love & Light card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Festival of Lights, Keep It Simple: Hanukkah

INK: Simply Chartreuse, True Black, Tropical Teal

PAPER: watercolor paper, Aqua Mist

DIES: none

OTHER: fine glitter.

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This card was stamped with Birthday Classics: November. I used Leaf Prints dies and the dipped die cut technique again on these die cuts.

November Birthday card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Birthday Classics: November

INK: Dark Chocolate

PAPER: Classic Kraft, Classic Kraft Pattern Pack, Scarlet Jewel Pattern Pack

DIES: Leaf Prints

OTHER: machine stitching, gold embossing powder.

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Visit the the PTI team to see more with these new products! Everything will be available tonight, Oct. 15 at 10pm EST. Thanks for stopping by!

Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Erin Lincoln
Laura Bassen
Lauri Willison
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Countdown to Christmas...

Wait, what? Christmas?
I know, I know. It's hard to think about Christmas right smack in the middle of summer. But, did you see the new line by Basic Grey called Evergreen? It is irresistible and really puts me in the mood to get a head start on all my holiday projects! I was asked to do a guest design post for them this week, and I made a little Countdown to Christmas Calendar. It's a frame I made myself from scratch with wooden pieces from the store, and has a clip to hold the countdown tags, one tag for each day. My kids will have such fun changing these out every day when December arrives!

Swing by to see how I made the frame to hold the countdown numbers and all of the fun tags at the BasicGrey blog. Thank you to Basic Grey for having me this month! I LOVED the Evergreen line so much, and I know you all will too!

happy 25...

Well, hello!
Are you all ready for Christmas?

We decided to stay home this year and just have our first Christmas in our new house together here in Colorado. The girls didn't want to travel...they always love staying home and playing with their new things, and we felt like we needed to give them a sense of normalcy with all of the changes they've been through this year.

Yesterday at the last minute, I decided to make my girls a couple of little money holders. I used a kraft petal card from my stash from Paper Source and traced it onto white cardstock to make my own. Think I'll keep one as a template to make lots more. Dressed it up with some Studio Calico things from their Magical line, a Pink Paislee Snow Village tag and a piece of flair - like the cherry on top!

The flair I used is by A Flair For Buttons on Etsy. LOVE these! My tendency is of course to hoard them, but I must share the cuteness. This way, I have an excuse to get more when I run out! See? I'm always thinking!

Here is one more...a little envelope that I found at Michaels, dressed up with a Pink Paislee Snow Village tag and canvas sticker, "happy" die cut from One Liners: Happy dies and another cute piece of flair.

After I inserted the money and a note, I folded the top over, added some twine and stapled it.

It's feeling really good to be able to create whatever I want and have time off from assignments. I feel like the pressure has been lifted a little bit. Ya know? Happy Holidays to you and yours, enjoy your family time!