SAF 2015: Threads Challenge...

Welcome to another challenge for the Stamp-a-Faire event today, this one is the Threads Challenge! I was assigned to work on a few projects using twine, so I came up with a "Ten Trendy Twine Techniques" video!

If you know me, you'll know I have a love for twine and seem to add it to almost every project! It gives that little touch of softness, color and dimension to a card that I just adore. In my video, you'll see ten twine techniques that I use quite often on my greeting cards...as well as some brand new twine techniques as well. Twine is inexpensive and so easy to add to your projects in so many different ways! CLICK HERE to watch the twine video, then create a project for your chance to win!

Official Customer Challenge:

Choose one of the ten twine techniques shown in this video and use it on a card, tag or project.

1. Wrap twine around a card where two patterns meet to create a border.

2. Add a piece of twine to a section of a card with staples.

3. Wrap twine around an embellishment before attaching to a card.

4. Create a twine nest or branches with jute twine.

5. Use twine as balloon strings.

6. Stitch with twine.

7. Bundle twine behind a focal point.

8. Tie twine onto a tag.

9. Create faux crocheted flowers with twine.

10. Create luggage tag tied buttons with twine.

Twine Techniques video supplies: 
STAMPS: Button Up, Cutting Garden, Background Basics: Herringbone
INK: True Black
PAPER: Spring Moss, white
DIES: Circle punch,Vintage Linens die, Button Up dies, 
Cover Plate: Stitched die, Tremendous Tags dies
OTHER: Twine (Colored twine, Rustic Cream Twine, Rustic Jute twine)

SAF 2015: Patterns Challenge...

Welcome to the Patterns Challenge! Each of the Papertrey Ink designers have contributed a basic card design based on a card that we created in the past. Then we'll show you two more cards based on that pattern! Here is mine. The sketch is based on the first card in THIS blog post.

My first card is made with the Nostalgic Notions kit.

The pre-printed patterned papers were used from the kit. The pretty yellow scallop mimics the one in the pattern, then the flowers were stamped with the Nostalgic Notions stamps. I made a little bouquet and added twine for the stems.

The sentiment fit better in the lower corner on this particular card instead of the upper corner like in the sketch!

Hoping Your Day is Lovely card: 
STAMPS: Nostalgic Notions
INK: True Black, Pure Poppy, Sweet Blush, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal
PAPER: Nostalgic Notions
DIES: Nostalgic Notions
OTHER:  twine, sequins.
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My second card is vertical instead of horizontal.

Again, I used the Nostalgic Notions kit papers, stamps, dies and notions. I cut the blue paper with the scallop die in the kit, added one of the paper doilies from the kit, die cut a heart and instead of creating a bouquet, I used it in the place of the bouquet in the sketch. The fabric trim, button and sentiment stamp were all in the kit as well.

Thank You Kindly card: 
STAMPS: Nostalgic Notions
INK: True Black, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Pure Poppy, Sweet Blush
PAPER: Nostalgic Notions
DIES: Nostalgic Notions
OTHER:  twine, button and doily from kit.
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Visit Nichole Heady's blog to check out what the other designers have done with the patterns challenge and be sure to play along for your chance to win!

Creative Cardmaker: Using fabric swatches...

I have a new post up all about adding fabric swatches to your greeting cards over at the Scrapbook Expo Weekly Scrapper blog, hope you'll swing by and check it out...

I’m always on the lookout for something fun and different to use on my projects, so when I saw these little swatches, they stole my heart and were very inexpensive. I bought several different bundles of these 2.5″ x 2.5″ squares by Moda (Marmalade, Happy-Go-Lucky, and Aspen Frost). The designs were modern, cute, tactile and colorful… just what I love! I had to figure out a way to use them on my cards. 

I've used a white-on-white technique in the background to add some texture, but allow the fabric swatch and sentiment to be the focal point with the Cover Plate: Circles die and the words are cut from Wet Paint Cuts and Wet Paint Cuts III dies.

Stop by the Weekly Scrapper for the full tutorial!

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!

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 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!

Virginia's View challenge...

Happy Tuesday! Do you all know Virginia Lu? She is an extremely talented paper crafter...if you've never seen her work, you must check out her blog and say hello! Every month she hosts a new challenge at her challenge blog: Virginia's View Challenge. This month she is hosting a Layers and Dimension challenge! Right up my alley! This goes perfectly with what my Craftsy class was all about, Layers and Dimension, so I was honored to make a couple of cards for her blog today.

On the first card, I have used a Maggie Holmes floral embossing folder to dry emboss the white cardstock in the background. I love the subtle texture it adds! I love dimension, but don't like overshadowing the focal point of the card, so a great way to add dimension and interest to your card background is with dry embossing. The two flowers were die cut and stamped with Papertrey Ink's Quilted: Spring stamp and coordinating die set. The "Hello" is cut with the Noted die by Papertrey Ink with Aqua Mist cardstock. 

Also, did you notice the dots on the hello? I added texture to that also with a Swiss Dot embossing folder by Cuttlebug. Dry embossing is so addicting, and you can emboss almost anything...even wood veneer like I mentioned in my Layers and Dimension class with Craftsy. Although this card is full of texture and dimension, it's very flat for mailing, and since the embossing is done on white cardstock, the design isn't overwhelming to the pretty layered, colorful focal point. The embossing adds to the design, but doesn't overpower it.

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Next, I created a watercolored stripe effect by cutting out a striped die cut to use as a stencil. To do this, I used the Cover Plate: Stripes Diagonal die by Papertrey Ink cut out of cardstock and placed it onto my card. Using it as a stencil, I misted over the open stripes on watercolor paper, then smoothed them out a bit with a wet paintbrush. When dry, I added a vellum panel to the center. I am just so addicted to adding vellum panels over the backgrounds to soften the whole look! You can see a bit of the stripes peeking out the sides. I've machine stitched the vellum at the top, then added a few more details. 

Vellum is another chapter that I included in my Craftsy class. There are so many things you can do with it to add dimension to your cards! Over the top of the vellum, I've added a Circle Scribbles die and another Quilted: Spring die cut that I've stamped. For a sentiment, I've cut a Big Hugs die and stamped a sentiment with Mat Stack 5 Collection. Small groupings like this on a card allow the design to have some "white space" around it and help keep the items on the card from feeling like they are floating away. This keeps the card feeling cohesive. If I were to scatter everything around the card, it wouldn't feel as clean and cohesive. The eye would have a hard time focusing on what's important on the card. Grouping everything together creates one focal point. Also, you can see that I have large, medium and small items on my card for varying scale.

Hope you enjoyed these tips on layering and adding dimension! Click the links above for 1/2 off my Craftsy class today, and stop over to Virginia's View challenge to enter a card in her layers and dimension challenge. You have until May 18th to enter, then two winners will be selected to win a $25 gift card to Simon Says Stamp. Have fun!!

Cards for a friend...

The past couple days I've been making cards just for fun...and have been having so much fun. :) Here are a few that I've made for a friend of mine back home!

The white "Hello" card was dry embossed with a Maggie Holmes embossing folder, then I added a Swoosh die cut and some die cuts made with the Quilted: Spring stamps and dies.

You might be wondering how I made the teal striped card? I'll show you how:

Step 1. Die cut two pieces of Tropical Teal cardstock from the Cover Plate: Stripes Diagonal.

Step 2. Trim the top 3 stripes out of one of the pieces. Remove them. (Keep the entire outer frame, just trim out the top 3 stripes.) Layer the second die cut underneath horizontally and trim the excess.

Step 3. Adhere the two pieces together. Add Bitty Dot patterned paper behind.

Really fun way to get a different look with the cover plates! I think it would be pretty in black and white also.

One of the other cards I made was a replicate of one done by Nichole Heady that you can see HERE. I couldn't wait to try this Hugs card! Isn't it stunning? I love all of Nichole's ideas and had to make a couple of these for my card stash!

For ink colors, I ended up using Pure Poppy, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, Lavender Moon and Sweet Blush inks by Papertrey Ink with the Big Hugs stamp set. 

It's about time I've used my Pinterest boards and actually make some things I have pinned. :) Can't wait to put a bundle of these together for her!