Birthday Style...

Welcome to another group post today for Papertrey Ink! We are introducing a few new things today, the new Get a Handle On It dies, To You From Me stamp set, and the Birthday Style stamp set.

I made a little felt gift bag with Papertrey Ink felt and the Get a Handle On It dies. It was quick and easy, and I can see myself making all kinds of things with handles, these are really cute. Perfect inexpensive gift wrap for party favors, gift cards or small gifts.

Here's how!
First, I cut a strip of Smokey Shadow felt by Papertrey Ink 10" x 5" and trimmed the ends with pinking shears. Then I folded it in half and stitched up the two sides with my sewing machine, leaving the top open.

Next, I cut a handle with the new Get a Handle On It dies and two coordinating papers. (The stripe is the back of the floral.) Put all of that patterned paper in your stash to work for you! :)

I scored and folded the handle and wrapped it around the felt bag. Don't forget to add your gift inside before added the handle on top. (But yes, you can reopen it later, don't worry.)

The strip of paper was pulled through the center and folded over.

I punched a hole through everything (the bag too) with my Crop-a-dile.

Then I chose a pretty brad...
...and added it to the center in the punched hole. The brad will keep it closed, so the items inside won't fall out. You can take the brad out to reopen the bag.

Now that it's secured closed, and I wanted to add a sentiment to the bag. I used Bountiful Banners stamps and dies to create a little Sweet Blush pink banner. The sentiment and leaves are stamped with the new To You From Me stamp set. (Finished felt bag is 5 x 5".)

Then I wanted to make a card to go with it...

I used the new Birthday Style stamp set and dies. If you make the card less than 5 x 5", it will fit inside the bag with the gift!

To coordinate the card with the gift bag, I used another piece of the stripe, along with some patterned papers by Papertrey Ink (Sweet Blush Pattern Pack and Ripe Avocado Pattern Pack) cut with the Birthday Style dies, Sweet Blush ribbon, a Crate Paper brad and a sentiment from Birthday Style.  All layered on Soft Stone cardstock. LOVE Soft Stone lately! Gray is my new favorite neutral. I have a few rooms in my house painted gray now and just love it.

Hope you enjoyed the how-to. I'll be back tomorrow with all of my release projects for the month. These products I've featured today will be available at www.papertreyink.com on March 15th.

Go see what the other girls made too!

Betsy Veldman
Cristina Kowalczyk

Dawn McVey

Erin Lincoln
Heather Nichols

Jessica Witty  

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

With Love gift bag:
STAMPS: To You From Me, Bountiful Banners
INK: Sweet Blush, New Leaf, True Black
PAPER: Pretty Party by Crate Paper
DIES: Get a Handle On It, Bountiful Banners
OTHER: Smokey Shadow felt, Pretty Party brad by Crate Paper.

Birthday Wishes card:
STAMPS: Birthday Style
INK: True Black
PAPER: Soft Stone cardstock, Sweet Blush Pattern Pack, Ripe Avocado Pattern Pack
DIES: Birthday Style dies
OTHER: Sweet Blush ribbon, Pretty Party brad by Crate Paper.

Boutique Bargains at Papertrey Ink...

Burlap, linen, canvas....think of all the possibilities with texture!

Starting this month, Papertrey Ink is now going to be stocking a few "boutique bargains" in their shop. These items won't be stocked permanently like their stamps and dies. They will change every now and then. Here are a few of the new Boutique Bargains this month: burlap rolls and bags, linen and canvas bags, resin blossoms and cork sheets!These cute little bags can be stamped on, stitched on, embossed, adorned with a tag, etc. So many things you could do to make them unique!

I used one of the linen bags as a card holder and dressed it up with a little flower made from burlap. I cut a strip of burlap about an inch wide and about 18 inches long, then rolled it to create a flower (or is it a nest?). I used some of the little resin flowers in the center and attached it to the bag with hot glue. Perfect for a spring or summer gift!

Twine was added underneath the flower (or nest!) in a messy fashion. I think it really adds to the handmade or "boutique" feel of the bag. Also added a button which is stitched right onto the bag with rustic twine and an embroidery floss needle.

The bags have 2 little straps on the sides, so I used a piece of Vintage Cream Satin Ribbon and looped it through the 2 ends, pulled it together in the center and tied it in a bow.

Inside I tucked a card and some candies. Let me show you the card...

I used a doily from my stash, folded over the top and bottom and cut a piece of kraft cardstock to fit inside. I stamped "thank you" with the Think Big Favorites #2 Mini Stamp Set in True Black ink.

Here you can see how the little card slides out, and a message can be written on the back. I trimmed the ends with a punch.

I cut a little flower from felt with the Lovely Layers dies.

Visit Nichole Heady's blog for more information on the Boutique Bargains!

Gingerbread Lane...

Welcome to Day 2 of the Papertrey Ink countdown for September! We begin showing previews of new products on the 10th of each month and continue until the 15th when everything is released for the month! If you'd like to see peeks from Day 1, see Nichole's blog for all of the links. There are some great Christmas goodies coming out this month! On the first card, I used the new Gingerbread Lane stamps and dies, and the Loop De Loop border die!

I used the Card Base-ics #1 die to cut the background with Dark Chocolate Patterned Paper, then I just stamped a few of the gingerbread boys and girls with Classic Kraft ink and hearts from the set with Sweet Blush ink.

I added a little 3x3" envelope behind the sentiment for a gift card, which slides in and out.

Friends Holiday card:
STAMPS: Gingerbread Lane by PTI
INK: Classic Kraft, Sweet Blush, True Black by PTI
PAPER: White cardstock, 3x3 Kraft envelope, Dark Chocolate Pattern Pack by PTI
DIES: Loop De Loop, Card Base-ics #1, Gingerbread Lane dies by PTI
OTHER: Scrap Pantry Twine on Etsy, Pure Poppy button by PTI, 3x3 kraft envelope by PTI, floral pin, pearls by Melissa Frances.
-------------

Next, I filled a Clearly Creative Card Box with handmade cards, decorated with Gingerbread Lane stamps and dies and the Loop De Loop die once again.

The little house die is sweet as can be, and the Loop De Loop die works great as smoke for the chimney!  The felt snowflake is cut with the new Snowflake Medley dies.

Before adhering the finished piece to the top, I tied some twine around the box. (The other ends of the box are the opening ends, so you can still get the cards in and out.)

And I love this sweet sentiment...

Happy Holidays Gift Box:
STAMPS: Gingerbread Lane
INK: Classic Kraft, Pure Poppy, Hawaiian Shores, Sweet Blush, True Black
PAPER: Lily Bee Designs (plaid); Pure Poppy, white, Aqua Mist cardstock
DIES: Loop De Loop, Gingerbread Lane, Snowflake Medley
OTHER: Clearly Creative Card Box by PTI, Scrap Pantry Twine, Melissa Frances pearl, white felt.
-------------

Last is a treat bag made out of a glassine bag. I used the banner die from Fabulous Frames and stamped a Gingerbread Lane greeting onto Spring Moss cardstock with Ripe Avocado ink. 

To tuck the little banner under the gingerbread girl's arm, I just snipped up into her arm a bit with scissors and slid the banner under her arm.

Sweet Season's Greetings glassine bag:
STAMPS: Gingerbread Lane
INK: Ripe Avocado, Pure Poppy, Classic Kraft
PAPER: Pure Poppy Pattern Pack, white and Spring Moss cardstock
DIES: Gingerbread Lane, Fabulous Frames (banner)
OTHER: glassine bag by PTI, doily, button, twine, pearl, clothespin, twine.
-------------

Are you in the mood to begin creating for Christmas? For more sneak peeks, visit Nichole Heady, Heather Nichols, and Jessica Witty.

Welcome to another Papertrey Ink group post! We are featuring a brand new stamp set called Sweet Spring, which will be available on the 15th. I made a little treat pocket and coordinating card, then I thought of some little boxes as place holders that would be fun for an Easter dinner table...or even as little party favors.

First, I made the treat pocket with the Front and Center die. I cut one from Lavender Moon cardstock and folded the bottom up, then machine stitched the sides. The little flowers, frame and sentiment are stamped with the new Sweet Spring stamps! I used Raspberry Fizz patterned paper to make the tiny flowers, just stamped over the polkadots on the paper and cut them out. The eggs are stamped with the NEW Scrambled Eggs stamp set and die cut with the Egg die.

Next is a card stamped with the flowers again, but I used a dark purple cardstock and Raspberry Fizz and Aqua Mist patterned papers for the flowers. The background is stamped with the buttterfly and swirls from the Sweet Spring set.

Last, I thought of some little boxes to fill with candies for treat favors or place holders at Easter dinner. For each box, I cut 2 strips of patterned paper 6" x 1/2". I placed them together in the center, glued the bottoms and folded up the sides, making sure the bottoms were 1 1/2" square.

You can make these boxes any size you want, just make sure you cut them the same width that you want the bottom of the box to be. So if you want 4x4" bottoms to your boxes, you'll cut your strips 4" wide.

I trimmed the tops with scalloped scissors on all four sides...

To keep these treat boxes really simple, I just taped the sides together on the inside corners of the boxes with Scotch tape, then covered the tape on the inside with some shredded cardstock. I tied ribbon around them to hold them together tighter. Add jellybeans or any fun candies.

Sweet Spring Ensemble:

Stamps: Sweet Spring, Scrambled Eggs

Ink: Autumn Rose, True Black, Spring Rain, Simply Chartreuse, Lavender Moon

Paper: Lavender Moon cardstock, Raspberry Fizz and Aqua Mist patterned paper, yellow cardstock

Dies: Egg die, Front and Center die

Other: PTI ribbon.

----------

Visit the other girls to see what they've made with Sweet Spring and Scrambled Eggs!

Ashley Cannon Newell

Betsy Veldman  

Dawn McVey  

Erin Lincoln  

Heather Nichols  

Jessica Witty  

Lisa Johnson  

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

text-style...

Just for fun today, I thought I would share some projects with you made with text paper! Whether it's vintage book paper or paper that is current, but made to look vintage...I am loving it!

Text paper makes a great backdrop for colorful accents, like the Tranquility Trilogy banner I made here. Also great for stamping on, like the sentiment, which is from Think Big Favorites #4.

-------------

I've used text paper again here again for another backdrop for a colorful accent.
I cut two of these gift bags Favor It Box #1, one from cardstock and one from vintage book paper, then layered them.

These cute lollipops were found at Dollar Tree, love that they have clear wrappers, so you can see all of the fun colors! The little tag is stamped with Sweet As Can Be. The chipboard lolly is from Crate Paper.

 --------------

These are Echo Park papers, Dots & Stripes - but one of them, the text paper, is actually a Christmas paper from the Season's Greetings line. I used a 2" square punch to cut out squares that had toys, dolls and vintage images on them that weren't alltogether Christmas-ey, and used them on a page about how I love to make baby quilts for friends.

I added some stickers and a star stamp from the Simple Circles stamp set by Papertrey Ink. Stars seem to go with anything, don't they!

Of course, I had to add stitching to give the layout a "quilted" feel. Hope you enjoyed these ideas and ways you can use TEXT paper on your next project!