Release day...

Welcome to another release day at Papertrey Ink! All of the new stamps and dies for July are being released tonight at 10pm EST. I have several more cards to share with you using some of the new products. Let's get started!

First, I have a card made with the new Splits: Best Wishes stamps and dies. The leaves reminded me of Christmas holly for some reason, so I stamped them and colored them in with a green Copic marker. I used the new "happy" die from Just A Number dies and "holidays" is stamped with Home For the Holidays. The berries are just punched out with a hole punch, then I combined vellum with the Floral Sketches patterned paper and the Pure Poppy + White pattern paper. A happy little holiday card!

Happy Holidays card:

STAMPS: Splits: Best Wishes, Home for the Holidays

INK: True Black

PAPER: Sheer Basics Vellum, Floral Sketches paper pad, Pure Poppy + White

DIES: Center Style: Feminine, Splits: Best Wishes, Just A Number

OTHER: none.

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Next is a card made with the new Paper Clippings: Done In Love stamps and dies! Love these! The big heart was so easy to cut out and place on my Classic Kraft Bitty Dot paper and then just die cut and stamped a few pieces and added them over the top.

And there is an adorable "-Vincent VanGogh" stamp to add, how cute is that!

Done In Love card:

STAMPS: Paper Clippings: Done In Love

INK: New Leaf, Pure Poppy, Bright Buttercup, True Black

PAPER: white, Classic Kraft pattern pack

DIES: Paper Clippings: Done In Love

OTHER: none.

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Next is Number the Stars stamps and Number the Stars Banner die. I combined these with the previously released Shaker Shapes: Star die and the Sparkle & Shine Words die.

First, I added a layer of aqua ink in the background with my ink blending tool. Then I stamped the new Background Basics: Galaxy stamps (two-step) over the top, along with the Shaker Shapes: Star cut from Luxe Silver cardstock and the "shine" word die from aqua cardstock. A couple of vellum stars were added too.

You Shine card:

STAMPS: Number The Stars, Background Basics: Galaxy

INK: Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, True Black

PAPER: white, Luxe Silver cardstock, What the Doodle: Map Coloring Sheets

DIES: Number The Stars Banner, Shaker Shapes: Star, Sparkle & Shine Words

OTHER: vellum, sequins, twine.

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Next is Dress Up Dolls: Rainy Day stamps and dies. I added the little flowers from Tiny Town: Sweet Shoppe to the boots and popped them up for dimension.

The umbrella was colored in with Copics.

When Life Gives You Puddles card:

STAMPS: Dress Up Dolls: Rainy Day

INK: Tropical Teal

PAPER: Chicken Scratch Gingham

DIES: Dress Up Dolls: Rainy Day, Tag Sale: Quilted, Tiny Town: Sweet Shoppe (flowers)

OTHER: Copic Markers, enamel dot, seam binding.

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Last is a gorgeous new set by Dawn McVey called Just a Number! I used the Cover Plate: Scallops underneath with Lovely Lady cardstock and the Shaker Shapes: Circle dies for layering.

The flowers are from Forget Me Not.

Happy Birthday Scallop card:

STAMPS: Just A Number, Forget Me Not

INK: Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz, Pure Poppy, New Leaf

PAPER: Lovely Lady, Harvest Gold pattern pack

DIES: Just A Number, Forget Me Not, Shaker Shapes: Circle

OTHER: seam binding

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Don't forget to shop tonight at 10pm EST at PapertreyInk.com to get all of the new products we have been previewing this week! Stop by each of these blogs to see more: 

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

What inspires your cardmaking?

Today on Scrapbook Expo's Weekly Scrapper blog, I share what inspired these cards! It's probably something you'll never guess...:)

To create the background, I used an older stamp set from Papertrey Ink called Grid Lines Two for the grid and floral design. Then I added a layered butterfly cut with Color Pop Butterflies dies and used the With All My Heart stamps for the tag and sentiment (on a Tiny Tag die).

Stop over to the Weekly Scrapper blog to read more. What are you creating today?

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: Bridal Challenge...

Welcome to the Stamp-a-Faire event by Papertrey Ink! Our first challenge for you today is to make an all white wedding card. Be sure to link your project at Nichole's blog for your chance to win!

This background was die cut with the Cover Plate: Peony die. I went over the lines very loosely with Glossy Accents and then added some fine glitter. The sentiment is stamped with The Best is Yet To Be.

Love card: 
STAMPS: The Best is Yet To Be
INK: True Black
PAPER: white
DIES: Cover Plate: Peony
OTHER: fine glitter. 
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Visit Nichole Heady's blog to check out what the other designers have done with the all white bridal challenge and submit an all white card for your chance to win!

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!

Elle's Studio: April...

Do you love to work with die cuts? If so, you should check out the Elle's Studio kits sometime. They have a new kit for April available today, and the little pieces are so cute. I love to layer these on cards. Here on this card I used two of the die cuts from the April kit. One is the "hello triangle card", and the other is the "thinking of you" die cut.

Behind the Hello card, I used an Elle's Studio paper from their new Cienna line called Flowers. I also cut a few of the little flowers out to add to the front of my card as well.

Next I used the "Happy Note" die cut and the striped card from the April kit and layered them together. I put the striped die cut behind and just let a bit of it peek out from the top for color.

The sentiment on the front is from Elle's Studio - Shine Cutouts. And I added a Studio Calico flag, enamel dot and twine. The background paper is the Adorable paper from the Cienna line. Those little flags were actually from the kit I used in my Craftsy class. You can get them HERE.

These are the adorable cut files and printables for April.
I really need to get my Silhouette going again, so I can try these out!...

Elle's Studio also has grab bags available, too. This only happens twice a year so this is your chance to stock up and SAVE! There are three different types of bags to choose from: Scrapbook, Stamp, and Journaling Tags. These grab bags are available while supplies last, but they probably won't last long, so make sure you grab them now! 

Here are the links to shop the April deals at Elle's Studio: 

April kit, April printable, April cut file, Scrapbook grab bag, Stamp grab bag, Journaling tag grab bag. 

Stop by to see all of the design team's work this month in the gallery for more inspiration!

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!

Release Day: February...

Today is release day when all of the new products for the month will be available (10pm EST) at Papertrey Ink. I have a few more new sets to show you. What fun it's been with the 8th Anniversary festivities, hasn't it?

First up is the new Etched Easter Eggs, and I made some little gift tags for Easter with the stamps and dies.

The tags are cut with the new Enclosed: Basic Folded Tag, then I stamped the vines with Lovely Laurels. I tucked some Etched Easter Eggs dies into the stamped leaf sprigs.

Sequins are from the Lovely Laurels mini kit. Love these! Pink twine finishes off the tags. The eggs are actually backed with acetate cut with the Egg die, so they kind of shine and resemble stained glass, even though it's hard to see in the photos.

Easter Tag Set:
(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)
STAMPS: Etched Easter Eggs, Lovely Laurels
INK: Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, New Leaf, True Black
PAPER: White
DIES: Etched Easter Eggs dies, Egg Die, Enclosed: Basic Folded Tag die
OTHER: Twine, sequins from Lovely Laurels mini kit.
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Next up, an Easter card with Easter Alleluias!

Love the big fonts in Easter Alleluias! I used Lovely Laurels again in the background and just inked up half of it at a time, so I could stamp the leaf sprigs going "out" instead of in towards each other, then tucked a "He is risen" sentiment inside. Added some stamped flowers and sequins from Lovely Laurels. Then I wanted a paper to add to the top that had all the colors in it that I used on my card to tie them all together, so I decided to make my own with Background Basics: Super Stripes.

Alleluia! card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Easter Alleluias, Lovely Laurels, Background Basics: Super Stripes

INK: Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, True Black, Raspberry Fizz, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold

PAPER: White

DIES: Lovely Laurels

OTHER: sequins - Lovely Laurels mini kit.

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Here are Blue Skies stamps and dies.

The rays are cut with Cover Plate: Blue Skies Rays die and stamped with the stamp set with Summer Sunrise ink.  Then I die cut and stamped the cupcakes. A fun little birthday card!

Sunny With a Chance of Sprinkles card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Blue Skies

INK: Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Pure Poppy

PAPER: Raspberry Fizz Pattern Pack, Harvest Gold and White cardstock

DIES: Blue Skies, Cover Plate: Blue Skies Rays

OTHER: pearl by Melissa Frances, corner rounder, Martha Stewart scalloped circle punch.

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Here is Monthly Moments: Year Round Mini stamp set (February stamp). I also used the Birthday Classics: September set to add "happy" and "birthday".

The flowers are cut and stamped with Bitty Bouquets. Paper is from the new Luxe Silver Foil papers. I really like the purples and silver together!

 Happy February Birthday card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: Year Round Mini, Bitty Bouquets, Birthday Classics: September

INK: Plum Pudding, New Leaf, Lavender Moon

PAPER: Lavender Moon cardstock, Luxe Silver Foil papers

DIES: Bitty Bouquets, 2" circle punch - Fiskars

OTHER: pearls by Melissa Frances.

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This is Keep It Simple: Mother stamp set that I stamped and embossed onto Sheer Basics Vellum. 

These pretty papers are the new Luxe Gold Foil papers (A2size), all I did was add a few things in the center, a 2" punched circle from Sweet Blush cardstock, a vellum circle cut with Limitless Layers 2 1/2" Circle die, a Swoosh die cut from Luxe Gold Cardstock and a flower cut with Bitty Bouquets.

With Love on Mother's Day card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Keep It Simple: Mother, Bitty Bouquets

INK: Pure Poppy, Spring Moss

PAPER: Sweet Blush, Sheer Basics Vellum, Luxe Gold Cardstock, Luxe Gold Foil papers (background)

DIES: Bitty Bouquets, 2" circle punch, Limitless Layers 2 1/2" Circle, Swoosh

OTHER: pearl by Melissa Frances, white embossing powder.

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Here is one more with Quilted: Spring stamps and dies. 

Isn't it pretty? A quilt lovers dream and a great set for getting to add lots of different colors. 

 Love Is the Tie Quilted card:

(All supplies by Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted.)

STAMPS: Monthly Moments: Year Round Mini

INK: Lavender Moon, Scarlet Jewel, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, True Black

PAPER: white

DIES: Quilted: Spring dies

OTHER: twine, clear sequins - Pretty Pink Posh.

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Everything will be available on Feb. 15 at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. 

Want to see more ideas with the new products? Visit the PTI team:

Amy Sheffer

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