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!

Calligraphy and watercolor go hand-in-hand...

Calligraphy is so hot in stationery these days, so I'm extremely happy that it's making its way into card making as well! Here I've used the Calligraphy Classics stamp set, along with some watercoloring/painting of my own.

To make these, I started off stamping the sentiment in a lighter pink color, then used a wet paintbrush to paint over it. When dry, I stamped the sentiments again over the top in Pure Poppy. The leaves were painted by myself with a teal watercolor paint and a tiny bit of gray and black mixed in. Before I did the leaves, I actually stamped 2 flowers with the Paper Clippings: Thinking of You stamp set.

Swing by the Scrapbook Expo blog to read the tutorial!

Hope you are having a great day!

Release Day...

Today is release day, and that means all of the new products we have been previewing this week for Papertrey Ink will be available for purchase tonight at 10pm EST. What do you have your eye on this month? I have two more things to share with you. First is a card made with the Splits: Thank You stamps. I stamped it in the center and colored it in with Copics.

Celebrate and the rest of the sentiment was added from Colorful Words. Then I added some Stitches & Swirls in the corners and a few navy blue flowers from Graceful Greetings.

Celebrate In a Big Way card:

STAMPS: Splits: Thank You

INK: Aqua Mist, True Black, Enchanted Evening

PAPER: white

DIES: Color Pop Butterflies

OTHER: Copic markers.

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Second is a little tag that you could use on a scrapbook layout! I used the Sweet Dreams stamps and dies and the Sweet Dreams Pajama Patches.

The background is a Tag Sale: Quilted die. The kraft piece was cut with Limitless Layers 2 1/4" Square Die Collection and stamped with Background Basics: Super Chevron. The pj's are stamped with Background Basics: Striped Sweater.

Kisses and Cuddles Tag:

STAMPS: Sweet Dreams, Background Basics: Striped Sweater, Background Basics: Super Chevron

INK: Scarlet Jewel, white, Sweet Blush, Dark Chocolate

PAPER: white, Classic Kraft, Dark Chocolate Pattern Pack

DIES: Sweet Dreams, Sweet Dreams Pajama Patches, Tag Sale: Quilted, Limitless Layers 2 1/4" Square

OTHER: enamel dots, seam binding, Copic markers, Sweet Blush felt and floss.

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These new products will be available for purchase on May 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink! Stop by each of the design team blogs to see more projects with these sets!

Amy Sheffer

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

Lizzie Jones

Melissa Phillips

Nichole Heady

NEW! Make It Market Mini Kit: Sunshine & Rainbows...

Today we are back to show you some projects made with a super cute and FUN new mini kit from Papertrey Ink called Sunshine & Rainbows! This mini kit will be available on May 15th at 10pm EST!

So on the first card, I used the stencils to create a sunshine background with Bright Buttercup ink, colored the heart in the center of the stencil red with a Copic Marker, then I added a Big Basics: Sending Sunshine die cut and a stamp from Colorful Words.

On the second card, I added some ink blending in the background with Aqua Mist, then die cut the clouds, heart, swing, bird and music notes with the dies in the mini kit. So stinkin' adorable, don't you think? That swing! Gasp! So cute.

These new products will be available for purchase on May 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink! Stop by each of the design team blogs to see more projects with these sets!

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

Nichole Heady

Summer Inspirations...

Today we are previewing lots of new summer-themed stamps and dies coming out at Papertrey Ink on May 15th at 10pm EST! First up, I've used Dress Up Dolls: Summer Fun. The little watermelon from the set was stamped multiple times on the tag, then I colored them in with Copic markers.

The navy gingham paper was added, a strip of red stripe washi tape, and an "enjoy" die cut and cherries from the Make It Market: Still Life Summer.

Enjoy card:
STAMPS: Dress Up Dolls: Summer Fun (watermelong), You've Been Framed: Oval
INK: Green Parakeet, Stormy Sea
PAPER: white, Enchanted Evening Gingham, Aqua Mist
DIES: Tag Sale #4, Make It Market kit: Still Life: Summer, Edgers #4 die collection
OTHER: dot paper from Elle's Studio Little Moments line, sequins, washi tape, twine, Copics.
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Next is a set called Keep Swimming, and the waves were die cut and stamped with What the Doodle: Waves.

I used the Enchanted Evening ink refill inker to paint the background (mixed with water), then die cut the waves and stamped them. I colored them in with Copics. The whale was cut from vellum and stamped and heat embossed.

Make Waves:
STAMPS: Keep Swimming, What the Doodle: Waves
INK: Enchanted Evening
PAPER: white
DIES: Keep Swimming, What the Doodle: Waves
OTHER: Enchanted Evening ink refill, vellum, white embossing powder, Copic markers.
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The last one was really simple. I stamped the seashells first with Simple Seashells in Fine Linen and Classic Kraft inks, then ink blended the background with Aqua Mist, Fine Linen and Classic Kraft at the bottom to add color.  The sand was stamped with Sand Swatch. Then the die cut sentiment called Big Basics: Birthday was added over the top.

Three sequins finish it off.

Birthday Wishes card:
STAMPS: Sand Swatch, Simple Seashells
INK: Fine Linen, Classic Kraft, Aqua Mist
PAPER: white
DIES: Big Basics: Birthday 
OTHER: ink blender.
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These new products will be available for purchase on May 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink! Stop by each of the design team blogs to see more projects with these sets!

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

Introducing Floral Sketches & Calligraphy Classics...

Today we are previewing two new stamp sets by Papertrey Ink, Floral Sketches and Calligraphy Classics! These will be available for purchase on 5/15 at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. On my first set of tags, the color scheme was inspired by this pin.

The Floral Sketches stamp set was used for the flowers, and the sentiments are from Calligraphy Classics. I love, love the big font - great for a beautiful focal point for tags and cards! See the branches? Those are actually veins for the larger leaf in the floral set. They reminded me of the branches from the inspiration piece.

The tags are cut out with the Tag Sale: Quilted die.

About the stamping: the flowers are dipped in Lovely Lady ink, then the edges dipped in Pure Poppy, then I stamped the second step of the flower (outline) in Scarlet Jewel. The tiny flowers are stamped in Fine Linen and Classic Kraft (outline) inks. The leaves are Enchanted Evening with white embossed veins and the branches are stamped in Stormy Sea.

Calligraphy Tags:
STAMPS: Floral Sketches, Calligraphy Classics
INK: Lovely Lady, Pure Poppy, Scarlet Jewel, Enchanted Evening, Aqua Mist, Fine Linen, Stormy Sea, Classic Kraft
PAPER: white
DIES: Tag Sale: Quilted
OTHER: twine, sequins.
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The next card and tag use just the Floral Sketches stamp set. The gingham paper is from the Chicken Scratch Gingham paper pack. Sentiment is from Floral Sketches also! There are many pretty sentiments in this set!

Just a Little Note For You card and tag:
STAMPS: Floral Sketches
INK: Lovely Lady, Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Enchanted Evening, Summer Sunrise, Stormy Sea, True Black
PAPER: white, Chicken Scratch Gingham
DIES: Tag Sale: Quilted
OTHER: corner rounder, twine.
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These new products will be available for purchase on May 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink! Stop by each of the design team blogs to see more projects with these sets!

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

Layered die cuts...

Recently, I was sent this gorgeous new line by Elle's Studio called Little Moments! Elle's Studio is holding a new class in May, which will be a sketch class, and I was asked to make 2 cards with it. When I was finished, I couldn't put the line away! So colorful and fun, as ALL of Elle's products are! So I had to make one more thing, and used it as my post on the Scrapbook Expo blog yesterday on "layering die cuts".

The fun thing about Elle's products is that they are so easy to layer: they're very colorful, and the packages include lots of shapes and patterns in the Bits and Pieces, labels, journaling cards and even papers that you can trim labels from!

The card you see behind the "Hello Happiness" is one of the cards I made for the upcoming Elle's Studio sketch class, along with another one that isn't shown. Be on the look out for that class! Swing over to the Scrapbook Expo blog to see the tutorial on this, and for a few tips on layering die cuts! Have a great day!

Introducing Paper Clippings: Thinking of You...

Today is day one of the Papertrey Ink countdown for May! I get to introduce a new stamp set and die set called Paper Clippings: Thinking of You, which will be available for purchase on May 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink.

Let me show you some samples I made with these new products...

First up, is a card using both the stamps and dies from Paper Clippings: Thinking of You.

The dies are all cut from white cardstock, then I used the leaf stamp on the wreath frame to fill in the leaves. I used a Copic marker to color the aqua part of the wreath, and stamped "thinking of you" over the die with the stamps. The flowers are stamped on separate dies and popped up for dimension. I used a light gray Copic marker to add shading under the sentiment.

Thinking of You Wreath card:

STAMPS: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You

INK: Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Pure Poppy, Stormy Sea, New Leaf

PAPER: white

DIES: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You

OTHER: Copic markers, sequins.

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Next, I trimmed just the "you" part out of the Paper Clippings die and die cut and stamped some flowers to go with this new frame called Garden Garland.

The background was stamped with Background Basics: Super Gingham in Sweet Blush ink, then the garland colored a little bit with a light gray Copic marker. Then the flowers were added over the top.

From Me To You card:

STAMPS: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You, Background Basics: Super Gingham, Super Swoosh

INK: Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, Melon Berry, Berry Sorbet, True Black

PAPER: white

DIES: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You, Garden Garland

OTHER: Copic markers, sequins.

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On the next card, I heat embossed the sentiment stamp in white on True Black cardstock and added some shading with a dark Copic marker. The frame is cut with the Embroidered Frames: Dots die and the edge of the frame popped up with pop dots (after it was stamped).

The border die is the Simple Circles Border cut from Sheer Basics Vellum, and a little flower and leaves added over the top from Paper Clippings.

 Thinking of You card:

STAMPS: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You

INK: Raspberry Fizz, New Leaf, Green Parakeet

PAPER: Sheer Basics: Vellum, True Black cardstock, white

DIES: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You

OTHER: Copic markers, sequins.

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Last, I just used the flower stamp and leaves on a background from Paper Clippings, then added the Inspired: Praise die cut and stamps over the top.

The bottom saying is from a new stamp set called Walk By Faith. I love the font! What do you think?

Praise Him card:

STAMPS: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You, Walk By Faith

INK: Bright Buttercup, Stormy Sea, True Black

PAPER: white

DIES: Paper Clippings: Thinking of You, Inspired: Praise

OTHER: enamel dot.

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Visit Nichole Heady's blog to see more new products and ideas coming out this month!

4x4" Mini Cards...

Happy Tuesday! It's my turn up at the Scrapbook Expo blog again today, and I really love my job over there, because I get to create whatever I want. Fun! I couldn't help but to play with my Don't Forget to Write kit by Papertrey Ink again! I just love these products!! It looks like the kits are still available, if you want to grab one here!

So I made some little 4x4" note cards. I'm not sure I'll be able to give these away. Ha. Aren't they pretty? I tell ya, it's so easy to create with such beautiful products. Makes my job super easy! I wanted to try the square on the diagonal this time and create a diamond shape. I trimmed the card bases with the scalloped card die, then cut and stamped the frames and flowers. Next, I stamped "birthday cheer" in Pure Poppy ink.

The red looks pretty with the aqua watercolor striped paper in the kit. I did some ink blending with a sponge tool to get the gradient effect on the "sending" die cut.

Then of course, I wanted to make another one in different colors, so I made "Just a Note" with Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal and New Leaf inks with Summer Sunrise ink blended onto the sentiment die cut.

Stop over to the Weekly Scrapper blog at Scrapbook Expo later today to see the full tutorial! Have a happy day!

City Scene revisited...

It's the first of the month (yay for May!), and that means we are bringing you some fresh inspiration with an older Papertrey Ink set.  Today we are working with the City Scene stamps!

I've used the Tag Sale #4 die, one of my very favorite tag shapes, an added some buildings from City Scene. I've mixed in City Scene Christmas Sentiments stamps also and the Christmas Cheer dies over the top!

On each of the tags, I've sprinkled on some Faux Snow!

These are so quick to make and would be a cute set to give away to someone, or to use on gift bags or boxes.

Visit Betsy, Dawn, Heather and Melissa to see more fun ideas with these sets! I can't wait to see what they've made! Thanks for swinging by today, have a happy and creative day!