NEW from Papertrey Ink! Introducing Make It Market Kit Co...

The NEW! Luxe Letterpress Kit designed by Betsy Veldman exclusively for Papertrey Ink is full of specialty items that will instantly give you a boutique feel as soon as you open your box! This kit not only features a new innovative impression plate and die system, but also contains high quality letterpress papers and golden embellishments to give all of your projects a luxurious, timeless beauty.  The best part about this kit is that over half the value is invested in exclusive TOOLS which can be used again and again, even after you have used all of the expendable items!  

Here is a quick look at the contents of this amazing kit:

• Luxe Letterpress Stamp Set 
• Luxe Letterpress Impression Plate
• Luxe Letterpress Impression Accessory Plates (3)
• Luxe Letterpress Frame Die
• Luxe Letterpress Envelope Seal Die
• 1 Printable Envelope Seal Labels Download
• 12  (8.5"x11") sheets of Lettra 110# letterpress stock
• 8 (4.25"x5.5") pieces of Lettra 220# letterpress stock
• 3 (8.5"x11") sheets Gold Foil Label sheets
• 1 Gold Doily
• 3 White Feathers
• 1 roll Super Fine Gold Metallic Tape 
• 1 roll Gold Metallic Tape 
• 1 mini bag Gold Sequin Mix 
• Gold Baker's Twine 
• Colorbox Cat Eye Metallic Ink Pad 

The total retail cost of this kit is $85. There will be a limited number of these exclusive kits available and once they sell out, they will never be available again. The Luxe Letterpress Kit will be available for sale beginning on March 1st at 10pm EST, only at Papertrey Ink. Read all the details on Nichole's blog or contact Customer Service with any questions.

Here are a few things I've made with the kit!

When I opened my box, I had to try the impression plates right away. I used the center ones to create the center for the gold doily card and impressed the design onto the letterpress paper, then trimmed it to fit inside my folded doily. (Folded the edges of the doily, inserted the center letterpress paper that I embossed, and tied around the whole thing with the twine from the kit. I added it to a card base.) I also used the larger impression plate on an envelope! Really love how it looks and can't wait to do this to all my envelopes. Not sure why I never thought of this before.

Here is what the center of the doily card looks like. I used the gold ink pad in the kit to stamp the sentiment.

This is the impression plate and insert I used from the kit on the card above! There are actually 3 different impression plate inserts and also a plain one that cuts, so you can die cut the center out of a card, even if you aren't using the large impression plate with it. So awesome and soooo many possibilities! By the way, the letterpress paper in the kit is AMAZING. So thick, it impresses so beautifully. Really makes a professional looking card.

Here's another look at the envelope. (Envelopes are not in the kit, but I couldn't resist trying this plate on envelopes too!)

______

On the next card, I used the gold foil tapes, large and small to create these stripes on my card. I used the center die to die cut a hole in the front of the card and backed it with Sweet Blush cardstock. I stamped the center frame with the kit stamps, then I added a little bag of sequins in the middle from the kit. The bag is the one that the skinny gold foil tape came in!

Last, I used the seal die with the free download in the kit to cut these adorable seals!! They are simply attached to twine from the kit and stapled onto the card front. It's hard to capture in photos, but the twine has a beautiful gold running through it.

Speaking of seals, look at all of these seals you get to make, and it's a free download, so you can keep on making them whenever you need one with this amazing seal die! On the gold star one, I cut the seal shape from the gold paper in the kit, then popped the star out with a circle punch and placed it in the center for a layered seal. Or you could emboss on the gold seal! The foil paper would work well for that.

______

My last card is embossed and stamped with a feather added to the front. Simple, but so elegant for a wedding.

Had a hard time photographing today, but the impression is really, really nice and deep on my card. Here is the plate I used in the center, and stamped it with the kit stamps. Placed it over the top of the card.

Here is a little better view of the nice impression in this really great quality letterpress paper!

Don't forget to grab a Luxe kit on March 1st before they are gone! 
Visit the Make It Market team to see more with this kit: Betsy Veldman, Dawn McVey, Heather Nichols, Melissa Phillips, Nichole Heady.

Inspired by watercolors...

Hey, everyone! After my last post (Design Team Tips) and working with watercolors, I was very inspired to play around with them some more. Of course, Pinterest helps too with inspiration. I started a new "watercolor" board on Pinterest and just can't get enough of the watercolor look! And ended up making this....

To dress up the envelope, I used the Envelope Liner die by Papertrey Ink and die cut it out of watercolor paper. Then just painted lines on it with my watercolors. The watercolor paper I bought is called Artists Loft from Michael's, and I think it was only about $3 for 24 sheets on sale. It's much thicker than cardstock, making it great to work with when working with water. It doesn't warp like cardstock would. When dry, I tucked the painted envelope liner inside the envelope and adhered it. Love how this quick technique customizes the envelope to match the card!

Now onto the card. I was inspired by this image I saw on Pinterest. I started by penciling out my image onto watercolor paper. Excuse the photos, as I was taking them with my phone as I went.

Step 1: I drew my image in with pencil onto watercolor paper. (If you aren't a sketcher, you can always use stamps...stamp an image and paint them in with this same technique!) When happy with my penciled image, I start painting. I always start painting with a lot of water and a little bit of color. You can add deeper color as you go, but start off light at first for the base. Here I've used red for the flowers (when mixed with water, has a pink tint). I mixed blue and green to get this shade of teal for the banner.

Step 2: I've painted in the flowers and leaves very lightly. I've also taken a really light yellow and shaded around the entire image.

Step 3: I've added some darker shades of watercolor (using less water) over the top to add more dimension.

Last, a "Thank you" was stamped with Papertrey Ink's Think Big Favorites #2 after the card was dry.

I'd love to see what you are making with watercolors, please leave me a note if you do make something "watercolor" inspired!

Thank You Watercolor card and envelope:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Think Big Favorites #2

INK: True Black, watercolors

PAPER: Artist's Loft by Michael's Stores (watercolor paper pad), envelope by Papertrey Ink, white cardstock

DIES: Envelope Liner die

OTHER: none.

Design team tips...

For today's "Design Team Tips", I wanted to revisit the new Monthly Moments stamps and dies by Papertrey Ink to show you how you can use these products to create your own BACKGROUNDS. Whether it's a background on a layout, a card, or a pocket page, you can use these stamps to create a fun look! I was a scrapbooker before I became a card maker, so many of my card techniques and ideas come from scrapbooking. ANYTHING you can do on a layout, you can do on a card and vice versa. Use scrapbook layouts for inspiration if you are a card maker. Or use cards as inspiration if you are a scrapbooker! (Remember, it's just paper! Techniques can be used on any sort of project, big or small!)

Watercolors are so trendy right now. They are everywhere. If you read my "feather" post, you'll remember the technique I used, painting the feather stamp directly with reinkers. Why not try it on a larger page? So, I pulled out my watercolors, watercolor paper (Artist's Loft from Michaels) and the Monthly Moments stamp sets...and just played around with different combinations of stamping and watercoloring.

Ready? Let me show you how to get this look!
First, you'll grab some watercolor paper, watercolors, a paintbrush, little cup of water and the Monthly Moments: February stamps. I'm using the heart image from this set. Grab some red on your paintbrush with a tiny bit of water.

Paint the heart stamp. (There's no right or wrong way to do this! Each time you'll get a different look, and that's what is so fun.)

Stamp it two or three times without getting more paint. It will be a loose watercolor effect, not perfect. Don't worry! That's part of the charm.

Now using your Pure Poppy stamping ink, add a red heart at the top.

Continue with oranges, yellows, and greens, flowing them down your layout or card with the watercolors. Add in some stamped ones with Papertrey Ink stamp pads to add contrast and definition.

Inks I used to add some stamped hearts in were Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Limeade Ice and New Leaf by Papertrey Ink.

The finished look...
a card made with this technique, so you could see that this process can work on cards as well.

Always Remember This Day card:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February
INK: Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Limeade Ice
PAPER: watercolor paper, Lemon Tart cardstock
DIES: none
OTHER: watercolors, paintbrush, water.
______

Here's the finished layout using this same technique (the one I started at the beginning of the post). Sometimes I love making layouts with journaling only that either tell the highlights of the month, or sometimes I'll just write a letter about how I feel. After watercoloring and stamping all the hearts, I added the lines by stamping the Monthly Moments: Library card stamps and journaled about the highlights of our month so far (swimming lessons, bought grandma and grandpa tickets to come visit us for a month this spring, my husband turned 37, Valentine's Day happenings, Taylor's 14 year check up, and Kati's 8th annual cardiology appointment.) Often times I feel like I don't have enough photos to document everything, but I love to write it down, so we remember!

The February die cuts were just stapled to the layout.

Heart This layout:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February, Monthly Moments: Library card
INK: Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Limeade Ice, Enchanted Evening, Hawaiian Shores, Lavender Moon inks by Papertrey Ink, Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: watercolor paper, Summer Sunrise/Melon Berry/and Harvest Gold Pattern Pack paper
DIES: Monthly Moments: February die
OTHER: watercolors, paintbrush, water, enamel dots by MME.
______

On the last layout, I used sort of the same technique, but I first stamped the frames with Papertrey Ink's inks with the Monthly Moments: Slide Frame stamps as a background onto watercolor paper, then painted over the top of the frames with watercolors to blend the ink a bit. I also painted inside each frame with a coordinating color. Love how each frame looks like a little window! I messed up on the red one a little bit, so that one received a photograph over the top! No biggie! I didn't stamp the frames perfectly, because I wanted it to look more artsy and random. (Sorry- my camera is doing this fish eye thing, and I'm not sure why. The frames are actually square on my page, I promise.)

All these cute little sayings are from the Monthly Moments: Slide Frame stamp set. I used the Monthly Moments: February die to die cut the title. Papertrey Ink colors used on the frames were Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Lavender Moon, Hawaiian Shores and New Leaf. I chose these mostly because they would match my watercolors the best. The Hawaiian Shores was a little tricky, I had to blend blue and green watercolors a bit to get the right shade, but the others were right on!

The flowers were stamped onto vellum with the Bold Bouquet stamp set. "This" hearts were stamped with Monthly Moments: February stamps and cut out.

Here you can see the neat watercoloring effect up close. Start off with a darker color in the upper corner (to match the frame) and work with more water as you go down to lighten it. I love this!

Hope I've inspired you to get inky and painty...and to make something just for fun! Nourish that creative side of you! Wishing you a super-awesome-creative day!
Danielle

February Framed layout:

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: February stamps, Monthly Moments: Slide Frame stamps, Special Delivery Sentiments stamps (slanted lines), Bold Bouquet stamps
INK: Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, New Leaf, Raspberry Fizz, Ripe Avocado, Lavender Moon, Sweet Blush, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist inks, Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: watercolor paper, Smokey Shadow Pattern Pack, vellum
DIES: Monthly Moments: February die
OTHER: watercolors, paintbrush, water, enamel dots by MME.

______

Bold Bouquet Anniversary Set...

Papertrey Ink is excited to offer this year's gorgeous new anniversary stamp set! Receive this limited edition Bold Bouquet stamp set with the redemption of 24 Customer Rewards Points between February 15th, 2014 10:00pm EST and February 15th, 2015 9:59pm EST. This is a limited edition set and will only be available for twelve months. If you have any questions about Customer Rewards and how you can start earning them today, check out the website HERE.

I had such a wonderful time building this stamped image with the Bold Bouquet. It came together so easily!

After stamping the images and trimming them out, I decided to hang them upside down on my card like a drying flower bouquet. The washi tape holds it on, and it's layered over a doily from the craft store.

 Thank You Kindly and Hey, Beautiful cards:

STAMPS: Bold Bouquet Anniversary Set

INK: Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise, Soft Stone, Simply Chartreuse, New Leaf by Papertrey Ink, Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: white, Summer Sunrise cardstock (card base)
DIES: none

OTHER: twine by The Twinery, washi tape- unknown, doily - craft supply.

______

Visit Nichole Heady's blog for more information!

Papertrey Ink's new releases for February...

Today we are sharing the last few new stamp sets coming out this evening for February at Papertrey Ink! The new sets I used on this card are Leave It Be, A Little Inspiration, Monthly Moments: Slide Frame, and Monthly Moments: Library card, as well as Four Square and The Sweet Life.

On the Leave It Be leaves, I used Blush Zing embossing powder onto Classic Kraft cardstock. I really like the mix of the modern design in the Four Square frame and the black mixed with the soft colors of the felt and leaves. Eclectic, maybe you could call it?

Love You No Matter What card:

STAMPS:  Leave It Be, A Little Inspiration, Monthly Moments: Slide Frame, Four Square, The Sweet Life, Monthly Moments: Library card
INK: True Black, New Leaf, Ripe Avocado by PTI, Versamark, Soft Granite by Hero Arts
PAPER: white cardstock, vellum
DIES: Monthly Moments: Slide Frame, The Sweet Life, Leave It Be
OTHER: enamel dots by MME, Melon Berry felt by PTI.

______

This one is made with Be Happy stamp set! Of course, I had to use happy colors to go with the Be Happy stamps. I stamped the background with the flowers and leaves and then added a layer of vellum in the center for a light, airy feel behind the butterflies.

I stitched the vellum and butterflies right onto the stamped pattern on the card front before adding it to the card base. This way I didn't have to use any adhesive on the vellum and have the adhesive show through.

Someone Who Mean So Much card:
STAMPS: Be Happy 
INK: New Leaf, Spring Moss, Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise
PAPER: White, Lemon Tart, vellum
DIES: Be Happy dies
OTHER: machine sewing, resin by Melissa Frances, sequins by Pretty Pink Posh.

______

Last is more of a bold card stamped with Sweet Speech.

The Cover Plate: Stripes Horizontal die was used in the background with Soft Stone cardstock and is backed with Enchanted Evening cardstock.

Hello card:
STAMPS: Sweet Speech
INK: Raspberry Fizz, Hawaiian Shores, Summer Sunrise
PAPER: Soft Stone, Rustic White, Enchanted Evening
DIES: Cover Plate: Horizontal, Sweet Speech
OTHER: seam binding by Zipperstop.

_____

I have one more thing to share with you. It's a little sneak of a new CARD KIT by Papertrey Ink!!! Yes, a card kit! And you are not going to believe who is behind the design of this...Ms. Betsy Veldman herself, card maker extraordinaire! I love her style and am so happy to see her designing the stamps, dies and every little piece of these kits! I will have more to show you of this kit on 2/28, the last day of the month. You are not going to BELIEVE all the goodies in the kit! Everything single thing you see here to make this card was in the kit....and so much more. Click HERE to read more.

Don't forget to order tonight at 10pm EST to grab all of the new products for February at Papertrey Ink! For more inspiration, visit the rest of the PTI team:

Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Cristina Kowalczyk
Dawn McVey
Erin Lincoln
Heather Nichols
Laura Bassen
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Introducing Special Delivery...

Beep, beep! We've got a special delivery for you.

Whether it's a flower truck delivering flowers for a special occasion, an ice cream truck for a summer or birthday card, or a school bus...this little truck from Special Delivery can be customized so many different ways! I chose the flower delivery truck to work with (I know, big surprise, right?)...

The oval is from the new Limitless Layers: Labels, and I die cut and stamped the Special Delivery truck as a focal point inside the oval. The ribbon stamp is from Ribbons & Bows. A super quick (almost) one-layer card.

Flowers Just For You card:

STAMPS: Special Delivery, Limitless Layers: Labels, Ribbons & Bows

INK: Fine Linen, Aqua Mist, Enchanted Evening, Classic Kraft, Simply Chartreuse

PAPER: white, Aqua Mist

DIES: none

OTHER: corner rounder, pearl by Melissa Frances, seam binding by Zipperstop.

______

The second one is more detailed using the Special Delivery truck as a border. I used the Garden Grace stamps and die, and the Congrats All Ways stamp set. I love mixing sentiments from different sets, need to remember to do this more often.

See the dot from the truck design? I used it on the top border of my card as well. Another thing I did was instead of use the flowers from Special Delivery on the truck, I used a couple of flowers from Garden Grace, so the flowers from the truck would match the big bouquet of flowers on my card.

Congrats card:

STAMPS: Special Delivery, Garden Grace, Congrats All Ways
INK: Sweet Blush, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, New Leaf, Ripe Avocado, Classic Kraft, True Black
PAPER: Rustic White
DIES: Garden Grace
OTHER:  Sweet Blush button, Button Twine by Papertrey Ink, seam binding by Zipperstop, corner rounder.
______

The rest of the Papertrey Ink girls have more to show you with Special Delivery, hop on over to see more!

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Cristina Kowalczyk

Dawn McVey

Erin Lincoln

Heather Nichols

Laura Bassen
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

Introducing Building Blocks...

The Papertrey Ink team is previewing a new stamp set today called Building Blocks. This and the coordinating dies will be available on Feb. 15th at 10 pm EST. Here is an image that inspired my work today...an ombre stair step!

(Source)

Step 1: On my first card, I began by cutting three of these A2 sized cover plates with a new die called Cover Plate: Stripes Diagonal. I want to use all three colors on my card.

Step 2: I placed the outer piece of the Tropical Teal one on a piece of Aqua Mist cardstock, and taped it down with washi tape, so it wouldn't move around. I'm just using this as a template to place the stripes back in, and will be removing it when I'm done adhering all the stripes.

Step 3: Starting at the top, I adhered the stripes back into the pattern with Scor-Tape. I used the three top stripes from the first cut (Tropical Teal cardstock - new!), three of the second cut in the center (Hawaiian Shores cardstock) and three from the third cut shown above on the bottom (Aqua Mist cardstock), just placing them back in the die cut, adhering them to the Aqua Mist paper. You'll end up with an ombre striped effect. Remove the template. Die cut the Sketched Stars from vellum. Place stars and stamp sentiment.

Here is the finished card!

You're Amazing card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Building Blocks
INK: True Black, Hawaiian Shores
PAPER: Tropical Teal, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist
DIES: Cover Plate: Stripes Diagonal, Sketched Stars
OTHER: vellum, gold stars by Studio Calico, pearls by Melissa Frances.

______

On my second card, I used the Building Blocks sentiment with a Garden Grace floral piece and the Cover Plate: Stripes Diagonal die.

Really love the mix of the Aqua Mist, Enchanted Evening and Simply Chartreuse.

Something to Be Thankful For card:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Building Blocks, Garden Grace
INK: Enchanted Evening, Aqua Mist, Simply Chartreuse
PAPER: Aqua Mist, white
DIES: Cover Plate: Stripes Diagonal die, Garden Grace die
OTHER: sequins by Pretty Pink Posh.

______

Last, I put the Building Blocks dies to work. I stamped them with the Building Blocks stamps in Pure Poppy, Raspbery Fizz, Sweet Blush, Summer Sunrise and Harvest Gold inks.

Step 1: I drew a pencil line on my card and adhered the blocks along the bottom pencil line, spacing them out as evenly as I could.

Step 2: I cut two pieces of white cardstock about 2" each. I placed them over the top and the bottom to cover up the edges of the stamped Building Blocks pieces. I added vellum heart borders with the Heart Border die. 

Here is the finished card! The sentiment is stamped with Building Blocks as well. I used the new Phrase Play #1 die cut to create the "you" in Classic Kraft cardstock.

Smile You Gave Me card:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Building Blocks
INK: Pure Poppy, Raspbery Fizz, Sweet Blush, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Hawaiian Shores
PAPER: white, Classic Kraft, vellum
DIES: Building Blocks, Phrase Play #1, Heart Border die
OTHER: pearl by Melissa Frances.

______

I have the opportunity to provide you with your fourth "building block" for the card you can create today for Papertrey Ink's latest challenge.  Each Design Team member has a basic "building block" options for card making to share with you. The intent is for you to visit each blog and collect all of the building blocks necessary to create a beautiful card. 

Each team member, including myself, has six numbered selections for a specific category. Roll a die or use a random number generator to select which item number you will need to work with from their list. If you do not have the supplies for the item you end up with, feel free to roll again. Collect nine item selections total, one from each team member, and get to work creating your masterpiece! Visit the rest of the PTI team to see more with these products and gather your other Building Blocks for the challenge!

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Cristina Kowalczyk

Dawn McVey

Erin Lincoln

Heather Nichols

Laura Bassen

Melissa Phillips

Nichole Heady