DT Tips: Golden Leaf Placecards...

Today I have a little place card idea for you that you can replicate for your Thanksgiving table decor! These are quick, easy and so pretty and elegant. I've used Papertrey Ink's Enclosed: Leaf dies.

All of the leaves and veins were cut out of White Tag Stock, which is a really thick cardstock by Papertrey Ink, perfect for tags, so they don't bend and are nice and sturdy. Then I glued the veins onto the leaves and painted the entire thing with Liquid Leaf in gold by Plaid. It dries VERY quickly, so make sure you rinse your brush often...or just use a cheap foam brush that you can toss when you are done. The foam brush works great for dabbing the paint into all of the crevices.

To finish off the leaves, I cut the Tremendous Tags from Smokey Shadow cardstock and stamped them with Autumn Pumpkins sentiments and heat embossed them in white embossing powder. You could write your guests' names instead on these if you'd like, then tie them onto the gold leaf stems!

The ribbon I used to tie the little tags onto the leaves is a piece of seam binding from Zipperstop.com in Chalk White. When wet, it crinkles nicely!

The floral pick with the white pumpkin and other white/gold pumpkins in my photos were found at Walmart. Here is another leaf you can make with the Enclosed: Leaf dies with the basic leaf in the background and the grateful outline piece over the top. I adhered the leaf layers, then painted it with the gold gilding like the previous samples.

Thanksgiving is all about food, friends, and family...and what better way to make your guests feel welcome than a wonderful and pretty note to welcome them to the table. You could also frame these and use them for fall decor! I hope you enjoyed this post today! Have a great weekend!

Design Team Tips: Black, White, Gold, and Stormy Sea...

Hello! Lately I've been noticing a trend in black and white backgrounds! I decided to create some stamped backgrounds, combine them with a touch of gold, and add a bit of Stormy Sea cardstock as well. These are so fast to make, and using a black and white combo really takes the guess work out of creating a color palette! Easy peasy!

Both of these cards were stamped with Bold Blossoms stamps in the background. On this card, I used the Enclosed: Leaf die to cut two items: one (outline) from the Luxe Gold Adhesive paper and one solid piece for the background from Stormy Sea cardstock. I placed the gold paper over the top.
The vellum butterfly is cut out of the Sheer Basics Vellum with the Cover Plate: Bitty Butterflies die.  The saying was stamped with Bitty Butterflies.

The Love card also uses the Bold Blossoms stamps in the background of the card with the Framed Love die cut from the Luxe Gold Adhesive paper again, like the first card. The sentiment is stamped again with Bitty Butterflies stamps (link above).

Gold, gray, black and white really makes for an elegant color palette, with not much thinking involved when it comes to choosing colors that go well together. I hope you'll give this color combo a try! Have a great weekend!

SAF 2015: Runway Inspired Challenge...

For the Runway Challenge, the designers each selected a runway outfit to use as inspiration. I chose this one:

Inspired by the aqua background with the peach, red, navy and kraft colors, I made this card...

The Brushed Blooms stamps and dies were used and the Branching Out die. I layered them together and popped up the blooms with some dimensional adhesive.

So Grateful For You card: 
STAMPS: Brushed Blooms, Lovely Layers
INK: Pure Poppy, Melon Berry, Classic Kraft, Enchanted Evening, Dark Chocolate
PAPER: Aqua Mist, white, Enchanted Evening Pattern Pack
DIES: Brushed Blooms, Lovely Layers
OTHER: sequins.
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Visit Nichole's blog to play along in this Runway Inspired Challenge for your chance to win, and you MUST see all of the gorgeous cards made by the team! Truly inspirational! Now it's your turn, can't wait to see what you'll make!

Monthly Moments: November...

Today I'd like to share with you the newest Monthly Moments collection for November, which will be available on Nov. 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. Evidently, I jumped the gun making a "thankful" mini album last time, because this month's kit was perfect for scrapping family, food, and thankfulness! So here is another one, just an album filled with photos from last Thanksgiving.

As I looked through the journal cards, stamps and dies, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with them. Last Thanksgiving, my side of the family and my grandmother came to visit, and it was our first Thanksgiving together in 13 years. We all got together and took some family photos up by Daniel's Park here in Colorado, so I put together a little book of photos to give to my mom when she comes this year. I used the new tag die, Monthly Moments: Journal Card 6 to trim the journal cards and some of the photos. I used the stamp set on some of these also before I started putting it all together. Also incorporated a few other dies by Papertrey Ink, which I'll list in the supplies.

Here is the first inside page, just a kraft tag stamped with the Monthly Moments: November stamps.

Another super quick page, stamped with the stamps again. I cut a cork heart from the Tremendous Tags dies.  I didn't add journaling to my book yet...wasn't sure if I wanted to write in it from my perspective, since I wanted to give it away to my mom.

Pic of my mom and dad... cut with the same tag die as above, trimmed from 4x6" photos.

This "Give Thanks" paper from the Journal Card Collection was so cute, had to use it. It's larger than some of the others I used (others were cut in half), but I think adding different sizes into the book makes it more interesting. I added washi tape, a felt heart cut with Tremendous Tags dies, little paper clip and a pearl.

Even though the pictures didn't exactly match the papers (with the pink in our scarves), I decided to use them in color anyway. I don't think anyone will mind when they look at these 10 years from now! It's fun to see them in color rather than black and white, don't you agree? Too often I see black and white pics being used. This is my mom and dad in the middle, my brother and his family on the left, and me and my family on the right.

The leaves were cut with Leave It Be with some burlap, cut the "November" with the Monthly Moments: November die and added some stamping and washi tape. The washi tapes are fabric ones from Michaels..so in love with them!

Picture of my mother and her mother... it was vest and scarf season. :)

Here is a picture of me, my hubby and 2 girls. Funny to see this now, as my girls have slimmed down a lot since last Thanksgiving!  I cut a Wonderful Words: Together die and stapled it onto the pic, added more washi tape and another cork heart.

"Gobble, gobble" stamped tag for journaling...

Photo of my girls...

Little bit of layering of journaling cards and tags, and another felt piece cut with Tremendous Tags.

There are more pics, but I will spare you! :) Anyway, you get the gist of the cute journal cards and stamps, I hope. I'll be back tomorrow with more projects!

Thankful, Family Traditions Mini Album:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Monthly Moments: November
INK: Dark Chocolate, Classic Kraft inks
PAPER: Monthly Moments: November Journal Card Collection, Dark Chocolate and Canyon Clay cardstock, Dark Chocolate Pattern Pack
DIES: Monthly Moments: November, Monthly Moments: Journal Card 6 die, Rustic Wreath, Tremendous Tags, Wonderful Words: Together, Phrase Play #7, 
Polkadot Parade #6 (mini leaves on front cover)

OTHER: twine, seam binding, pearls, paper clips, 
Canyon Clay felt, kraft tags, washi tapes, cork, burlap, machine stitching.

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Visit the the PTI team to see more with these new products:

Ashley Cannon Newell
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Erin Lincoln
Laura Bassen
Lauri Willison
Maile Belles
Melissa Phillips
Nichole Heady

mum's the word and basket of blessings....

Working on catching up with my August projects, and I have a couple of new things to share with you today. The first one is made with Mum's The Word stamp set and dies, and the Envelope Liner die.

First, I cut out the mums and leaves and stamped them in Scarlet Jewel, Canyon Clay and Melon Berry with Ripe Avocado leaves. Then I attached them to a Classic Kraft piece of cardstock and stamped the stems in Classic Kraft.

I added a tiny bit of red by adding a few Mighty Oak leaves. I love the extra color it adds. Then I stamped the Mum's the Word sentiment in Dark Chocolate. The sentiment is recessed and the rest of the card is popped up for dimension. I used the Envelope Liner die to match the envie to my card! Love how it looks! This works with any A2 sized envelope.

The finished card front is set onto a Soft Stone cardstock base.

My second card is made with Basket of Blessings. I stamped the basket onto white cardstock and then filled it in with all of the little stamps to fill in the flowers. For inks, I used Pure Poppy (red), Harvest Gold (yellow), Spring Moss (light green), Ripe Avocado (dark green) and Canyon Clay (orange).

The large text stamp is done with Classic Kraft ink and then I used Dark Chocolate ink for the "Grateful" over the top. Love the layered look of the text!

The button at the top was handmade by me with PaperClay (tutorial here) and stamped with Background Basics: Woodgrain. I just adore these two stamp sets! I'll be back with more soon, thanks so much for swinging by.

All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.

Happy Fall card and envelope:
STAMPS: Mum's The Word
INK: Scarlet Jewel, Melon Berry, Canyon Clay, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate, Classic Kraft inks
PAPER: Classic Kraft, Soft Stone, and white cardstock
DIES: Mum's The Word dies, Envelope Liner die
OTHER: Twine by Papertrey Ink, pearls by Melissa Frances.

Grateful card:
STAMPS: Basket of Blessings
INK:  Canyon Clay, Pure Poppy, Ripe Avocado, Spring Moss, Dark Chocolate, Classic Kraft, Harvest Gold inks
PAPER: White cardstock
DIES: none
OTHER: Twine by Papertrey Ink, handmade PaperClay button.

Birds and Blooms...

Birds & Blooms is a limited edition stamp set from Papertrey Ink. Today the team is sharing a few projects made with this beautiful set.

I decided to keep mine pretty simple this time and let the pretty stamps speak for themselves. I stamped the branch in Ripe Avocado ink with little Sweet Blush hearts on the stems. The sentiment was masked off partially (I use washi tape and just tape over the parts I don't want to stamp!), so I could stamp the grateful in red first and then the smaller words in black! Love how the two-toned sentiment looks, and LOVE that font!!

I finished the design off with a pretty resin bloom by Papertrey Ink. And I couldn't resist creating an envelope to go with it, which was made similar to the card, but with a little piece of washi tape on top.

This stamp set will be available for only one year (February 15th, 2013 through February 15th, 2014). It is exclusive for purchase with 24 Rewards Points only, and cannot be purchased with cash. It's available for a year, so you have plenty of time to save up your points and earn this set! Have questions about the Papertrey Ink rewards point system? You can check out the Rewards detail page HERE. 

attitude of gratitude...

Hello! The Papertrey Ink team is back again to share with you a new stamp set called Gratitude Journal designed by Dawn McVey. Perfect for this time of year, to reflect on all that we're grateful for! I wanted to make a little mini book that I can add pages on to, and I really wanted to try an unusual color scheme - something other than the traditional "fall" look. I chose to use Pink Paislee's Nantucket line of papers!

Here you can see I've used some new Pink Paislee wooden alphas and stamped "life is beautiful" across them with the Gratitude stamps. One of my favorite things Pink Paislee came out with this month is these beautiful Vintage Vogue Spool Buttons, so I couldn't wait to try them on a project (the black wooden circle). I added a tab to the front that is cut from one of the patterned papers and stamped with, "gratitude, a journal".

The tabs were cut with a new set of dies called Journal Tabs, then I stamped on them and stitched the bottoms of the tabs for an extra detail.
Page 1: I used a sheet of vellum for journaling and layered it over a large photo of my daughter Taylor. I had a lot to say, so I decided this would be a good way to fit a lot of journaling without blocking the photo all together.

Page 2: My girls are getting so close now that they are getting older. They are 11 (almost 12) and 6 years old. I love how well they play together sometimes, and this photo really captures that! I'm grateful for all of the little happy moments we have together.

On this page, I stamped the "Give Thanks" twice - once in a lighter brown and once in a darker brown, then layered them on top of each other. The doilies are just purchased from the craft store in the baking supply section.

Page 3: Here I stamped onto the envelope and sprinkled white paint over the top. There is a little note (journaling) tucked into the envelope. Watching my girls dancing in the rain makes me so happy!

More of the Vintage Vogue wooden spools and a Papertrey Ink button and twine! I stamped "treasure" 3 times, stitched and then shabbied it up with paint. LOVE the chevron paper that Pink Paislee came out with! I could use it on everything!

The last page is one of my favorites, because I really love the mix of patterns and colors here, sort of an eclectic feel. I used a vintage book paper for my journaling and folded it up 3 ways, then punched a hole and tucked it into my book. The brown polkadot paper is a paper by October Afternoon, floral button is Crate Paper and sticker/twine/other papers are Pink Paislee. Ribbon is Papertrey Ink.

One of my favorite things when creating mini albums is making little "fun finds" inside, little surprises like this folded page of vintage book paper that I journaled inside.

Love repeating a stamp on a background. I left the bottom open for journaling. I think I'm going to add more open pages that are ready for journaling, so I can add MANY more pages to my book this month! There is so much to be grateful for!

When finished, I tied the book together with embroidery floss, an inexpensive way to bind your own books.

 Gratitude Journal:

STAMPS: Gratitude Journal, Simple Circles
(star on front cover) by Papertrey Ink

INK: True Black/ Dark Chocolate by PTI, light brown by Ranger,
pink is Chewing Gum by Jenni Bowlin

PAPER: Nantucket line by Pink Paislee, (brown polkadot) October Afternoon

DIES: Journal Tabs by Papertrey Ink

OTHER: ribbon/twine/buttons by Papertrey Ink,white floss, doilies, Vintage Vogue wooden spools by Pink Paislee, white flower by Pebbles, envelope by Maya Road, seam binding.

Thank you for visiting! Please visit the other ladies to see what they have made with the Gratitude Journal stamps and dies!

Betsy Veldman  

Dawn McVey  

Erin Lincoln  

Heather Nichols  

Jessica Witty  

Lisa Johnson  

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips
Michelle Wooderson
Nichole Heady