Release Day: December...

The Papertrey Ink team is back to show you some more new stamps and dies being released this month! They'll all be released tonight at 10 pm EST. First up is the Drips & Dribbles stamp set. I used the coffee rings as O's for my XO cards!

I stamped the O's where I wanted them first with Raspberry Fizz ink, then I used a paintbrush with Raspberry Fizz reinker and some water and painted on matching X's. I also used Love You to Pieces: Additions stamps and Keep It Simple: Valentine stamps. You could stamp this XO pattern onto white wrapping paper and wrap gifts with it, how cute would that be. Maybe tape a candy onto the back of these XO cards for little school Valentines!

 XOXO Valentines card:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Drips & Dribbles, Keep It Simple: Valentine
INK: Raspberry Fizz, True Black; Soft Granite - Hero Arts
PAPER: white
DIES: none

OTHER: twine.

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Here is Phrase Play #11. I made a baby shower invitation with Keep It Simple: You're Invited stamped in the background.

After I die cut the Phrase Play #11 front piece, I painted it with Sweet Blush ink, Raspberry Fizz ink, and Pure Poppy ink.

 Hip Hip Hooray! card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Phrase Play #11, Keep It Simple: You're Invited
INK: Pure Poppy, Sweet Blush, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, True Black
PAPER: white
DIES: Phrase Play #11

OTHER: gold star - Studio Calico.

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Next is Birthday Classics: January and the new Cover Plate: In the Woods.

The cover plate was cut in white, but left together instead of taken apart. I glued it down to my card base, so all of the pieces would stay on and added fine glitter to all of the little vines for a wintery effect! 

May Your Winter Be Warm card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Birthday Classics: December
INK: True Black
PAPER: white
DIES: Cover Plate: In The Woods

OTHER: chipboard polka dot star - Pink Paislee, gold star - Studio Calico, 
sequins - Pretty Pink Posh, fine glitter.

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Aren't these little houses cute? This is the new Tinsel & Tags House Additions stamp set, made to coordinate with the Tinsel & Tags kits from Papertrey Ink. The die for this house was in the Tinsel & Tags Trimmings kit. Here I just used the stamps with Sweet Blush, Classic Kraft and Scarlet Jewel inks.

I added an American Crafts DIY Shop tag that I stamped "home" on and some fine glitter on top of the houses.

Home Is Where the Heart Is card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Tinsel & Tags House Additions
INK: Sweet Blush, Classic Kraft, Scarlet Jewel
PAPER: White
DIES: none

OTHER: American Crafts DIY Shop tag, embossing powder, fine glitter.

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This card is made with Love Notes. Can't wait to give this to my mom and dad for their 44th anniversary in a few days! They are definitely an inspiration to my brother and I.

On this card, I used the same watercolor pencil technique you saw in my video a couple of days ago. This time I used orange, yellow and green pencils, and I put more water on my flowers to allow them to spread out a bit. You'll want to let them dry before you think you need to add more water, because they do spread out as they dry and will look different in about 15 minutes! Don't add too much right away. I added polkadots with my yellow pencil, then colored in the center of the card with yellow, let it dry, and after it was dry, stamped the sentiment with Love Notes.

Your Love Is An Inspiration card:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Love Notes
INK: True Black; Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: Watercolor paper, Summer Sunrise cardstock
DIES: none

OTHER: watercolor pencils in orange, yellow and green.

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The next two cards were made with Block Party. Some backgrounds and patterns were created with the blocks.

The colorful strip was popped up with pop dots for dimension.

Thanks for Building Me Up card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Block Party
INK: Pure Poppy, Raspberry Fizz, Summer Sunrise, New Leaf, Tropical Teal, 
Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush
PAPER: Aqua Mist and White cardstock
DIES: none

OTHER: none.

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Another one made with Block Party, using the scallop block as a party banner.

Added a little hanging tag with a sentiment from the same set.

Happy Birthday to a Really Great Kid card:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Block Party
INK: Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist, New Leaf, Raspberry Fizz, Orange Zest by PTI; 
Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: white cardstock
DIES: none

OTHER: twine, staple.

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Next is a Valentine card made with Little Human. I die cut the pieces, stamped them and added them to one of Betsy's Love You to Pieces papers. 

This one cracks me up, because Kati used to say this when she was little, "My heart is BEEPING!" Oh, I miss those times when my kids were little and the cute things they used to say!

My Heart Beeps Only For You card:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Little Human
INK: Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening; Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: Love You to Pieces: Airplane, white cardstock
DIES: Little Human

OTHER: washi tape.

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On this next card with the heart flowers, I used the new Hello There stamps along with Type Strips II (you). I punched 2" circles, then die cut the hearts out of the centers with Hello There dies.

A couple of the hearts were backed with patterned papers, and the largest one is stamped. The Hello There stamps were used to stamp "love" repeatedly onto the circles as well.

 Love You card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Hello There, Type Strips II

INK: True Black, Aqua Mist; Soft Granite by Hero Arts

PAPER: White cardstock, Tropical Teal Pattern Pack, Pure Poppy Pattern Pack

DIES: Hello There, 2" circle punch

OTHER: sequins by Pretty Pink Posh.

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Last up is Give Me A Hand. I cut a slit in between the fingers and thumb to hold a heart.

The flowers were stamped with Love You to Pieces: Fox, the heart is cut from the Hello There dies, and the sentiment is stamped with Love Notes (love) and Big Hugs (sending).

Sending Love card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Give Me A Hand, Love You to Pieces: Fox (flowers), Big Hugs (sending), 

Love Notes (love)

INK: True Black, Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, New Leaf, Sweet Blush

PAPER: White, Aqua Mist

DIES: Give Me a Hand, Hello There

OTHER: pearl - Melissa Frances, twine - The Twinery.

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Phew, I think that's all of them! Everything will be available tonight at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. Visit the the PTI team to see more with these new products, and thanks for stopping by!

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Dawn McVey

Erin Lincoln

Laura Bassen

Lauri Willison

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips

Nichole Heady

A berry sweet party.

I'm gearing up for Kati's birthday this weekend and thought I'd pop in to show you the invitations I've made. We are doing a "strawberry theme" this year, as you might have seen in a previous post of mine here. :) Kati can hardly wait for the party! I just hope the weather holds out for us and doesn't rain. 13 seven year olds might get a little rowdy inside the house!

To make the invitation background, I used LilyBee paper (polkadot) and some Crate paper I believe (woodgrain) with the Card Base-ics #2 die. I stamped the lines with a stamp from By Invitation. The polka dots stamped in the background are Polka Dot Basics II. "Berry sweet" is from Strawberry Patch Sentiments and "party" is from Happy Day. The strawberry is made with the Strawberry Patch stamps and dies.

I couldn't help but to stamp the envelopes too.

Since Kati is not big on cake, we are doing an ice cream bar with several toppings from them to choose from, but I am making mini cupcakes (with strawberry frosting) to top off our ice cream for those who do like cake! I will try and update with more pictures after the party. Thanks for reading today,

birthday invitations...

Today I've been working on a little something for my daughter Kati's 6th birthday next week - some butterfly birthday invitations.

Awhile back when I made these lollipop bouquets, Kati decided she wanted a butterfly party for her 6th birthday, and she wants to make that craft with her friends at the party. We are actually going to have it at the park, but hopefully we can fit in a craft. I think I'm going to have things stamped out ahead of time and the lollipop bouquet bases already made and all they will have to do is assemble the bouquet - stick the lollipops in the middle of the stamped images and insert into the foam! (See link above for directions for that craft). I will probably change the colors of the lollipop bouquet stamping to match our invitations and party decor.

Anyway...let me tell you a little about my invitations! I started with Papertrey Ink's medium Glassine Bags. I used the sentiment from Blooming Button Bits and stamped it in black StazOn ink across the bag. The bags are somewhat slippery, so I thought StazOn would work the best. It did. But for the flower stems, I didn't really want black. I wanted to add some green, so I used Ripe Avocado ink with the stems from "Blooming Button Bits". It didn't come out perfectly, but that's ok. I used my heat gun to dry the green ink quickly, so I could move on to the next step. I stamped all of the sentiments and stems first to all of the invites.

Next, I made the insert for the inside, by printing out the party details onto white paper, then stamping a yellow butterfly over the top from Happy Trails.

The finished inserts were put inside the bags...
I punched a bunch of butterflies from vintage book paper and some October Afternoon - Detours paper from my stash...

...then attached the butterflies to the outside of each bag.

Then I added ALL of the buttons. This part is the most painful and took the longest! I threaded all of the buttons with white embroidery thread and attached them with a glue dot. To finish my invitations, I folded over the edge of the bags and stapled them closed with a staple and some pretty seam binding. To color the seam binding pink, I sprayed it with Vintage Pink Glimmer Mist by Tattered Angels. I ran out of Vintage Pink, so I ended up spraying the rest of them with Viva Pink. Let them dry or heat them with a heat gun before attaching to your bag.

My older daughter asked me, "Why are you making them so fancy? You KNOW people will just throw them away!" Yes, I do believe she's right, but I do what I do because I enjoy it....and I hope they will put a smile on someone's face. :)