Introducing What the Doodle: Feather and Keep It Simple: Encouragement...

Today marks the beginning of the March reveal for the new products coming out at Papertrey Ink! I get to show you a couple of fun things today, the new What the Doodle: Feather stamps and dies, and the Keep It Simple: Encouragement stamps.

On the first one, I stamped and heat embossed the feathers around the edges of the card, then painted them in with watercolors (just on regular cardstock).

"Hang in there" is from Keep It Simple: Encouragement stamps and "friend is from the feather set.

Hang In There card:

STAMPS: What the Doodle: Feather

INK: Versamark, New Leaf, Enchanted Evening

PAPER: white, Summer Sunrise

DIES: none

OTHER: watercolor paints, white embossing powder, clear sequins.

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Next is a card set. I first stamped and heat embossed the two feathers, then colored them in with Copic Markers.

Then I added some ink blending in the background with Aqua Mist ink, and a sentiment in Tropical Teal from What the Doodle: Feather over the top.

If you like to color, this is a great set! I loved working with it!

Hello Friend card set:

STAMPS: What the Doodle: Feather

INK: Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal

PAPER: white

DIES: none

OTHER: white embossing powder, Copic Markers, clear sequins.

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On the last card, I used the What the Doodle: Feather die cuts to trim some feathers from Papertrey Ink's Sheer Basics Vellum. Then I dipped the ends in gold embossing powder and heat embossed them. I trimmed a few little cuts into the feathers to give them a bit more definition.

The white splatters are made with white watercolor paint and water mixed together, and I just sprinkled them over the top with my paintbrush.

Hello card:

STAMPS: What the Doodle: Feather

INK: Versamark

PAPER: Smokey Shadow, Sheer Basics Vellum

DIES: What the Doodle: Feather

OTHER: white embossing powder, gold embossing powder, twine.

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There are also some beautiful feather papers coming out as well, but I didn't receive them in time to use them for my post. Everything you see here that is new will be available on March 15th at 10pm EST at Papertrey Ink. Visit Nichole, Betsy and Melissa to see more fun new things coming soon!

Cards With Dimension: Embellishments...

Happy Tuesday, and thank you for stopping in today! When I first began to create cards, I was more of a scrapbooker and hadn’t really dabbled in stamping all that much. This meant that I started to see my scrapbooking products in a whole new light…on cards! My style was very layered, and I loved to use embellishments! Embellishments were my absolute favorite thing. They added that touch of detail to my cards, a slight bit of dimension and extra interest that I didn’t feel a flat card could offer as well as an embellished card. My style is still very layered, and I love to use embellishments, but I like my cards to be clean looking as well, with a bit of white space.

Embellishments I love to use include, but aren’t limited to, chipboard elements, tags, rub-ons, sequins, ribbons, brads, rainstones, enamel dots, twine, etc.

For today’s card, I found a Heidi Swapp Washi Tape booklet in my stash that I hadn’t used yet, a Crate Paper tag and rub-ons, some Heidi Swapp chipboard pieces, enamel dots, and twine. I chose some of my favorite washi tapes from the booklet and attached them to a piece of white cardstock, then trimmed it down and rounded the corners. I added a “love you” rub-on to the tag. I stamped “Friend” on the card in Stormy Seas ink by Papertrey Ink from the Bitty Bouquets stamp set and “just thinking of you” with the Mat Stack 2 Collection stamps. I used a little hole punch to punch little notches for the twine. This way the twine will stay put while wrapped around the front piece.

When mixing embellishments, here are some tips: look for colors that complement each other (mix at least three for more interest!) and use different sizes of items – something small, something medium, and something larger in scale. Here the washi tapes add pattern and scale. The tag is the large item, the patterns are medium, and the enamel dots and text are small. It gives the eye so much detail to see! The black twine adds contrast to the lighter colors, which also keeps it interesting. Different shapes are good as well; see how the roundness of the enamel dots give the card softness from all of the hard edges?

Balancing the colors around the card in a triangle will also help you achieve success with embellishments. I have the aqua color spread around the card with the dots and washi tape. And I also have a triangle of black by using twine, tape, and sentiments in black.

If you are interested in learning more about my style of card making, I have an online class that I recently filmed here in Denver with Craftsy.com called Cards With Dimension: Lovely Layers, Textures and Embellishments. I have seven video chapters on adding dimension to cards, and working with embellishments is just one of the chapters, with three lessons in each chapter! Since March is National Craft Month, they are hosting a fun promotion for the next two weeks. Everyone who is new to purchasing a Craftsy class right now will be entered to win a $1,000 to donate to your favorite crafty charity. If you’ve been thinking of trying an online card class, now is a great time to give it a try! AND…as a special blog reader, I get to offer you 50% off! Click the link above!

If you'd like to try one of the other paper craft classes at a discount, you can view them HERE. Have a crafty, creative day!

Danielle

Revisited: Fancy Folk Art...

Each month on the 1st, the Papertrey Ink team revisits an older stamp set to give you fresh ideas of what you can do with it! Today we are using the Fancy Folk Art stamps and dies. I have one card three ways for you today:

1. a one-layer card (simple),
2. a card using the dies and an extra technique for the sentiment (intermediate),
3. and one with extra dimension, ink blending in the background, and splitting the sentiment (advanced). 

You can use these same tips with any stamp and die set, however, to step up your cards!

1. First is the one-layer stamped card or "simple" version! 
Everything is stamped directly onto the card base with Fancy Folk Art.

The leaves are stamped in Stormy Seas ink and the flowers with Pure Poppy, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal and Bright Buttercup inks, then the sentiment over the top.

Nothing wrong with this one, but let's see how we can "step it up"!

2. Next is the "intermediate" version! 
I added a couple more steps in my process to add extra dimension. The big floral piece is die cut and stamped first, so I could raise it up off the card with pop dots. Then I placed the die cut directly onto the card and actually stamped the sentiment right over the top (before raising it up!). It did stamp through the holes of the die cut onto the card base. The die cut was then adhered with pop dots to help it stand off the card, and I also stamped and cut out another banner to place over the top.

Can you see the dimension of the die cut that is standing up off the "intermediate" card? I love dimension!

Now should we "step it up" a bit more? :)

3. Last is the "advanced" version: 
I will call the last version of this card "advanced", just because it has a few more steps to creating it, but I really think the extra steps give it a bit more "WOW" factor and detail to look at! What do you think? Which version do you prefer?

The floral is die cut and stamped, but before adding it to the card with pop dots, I did some ink blending in the background with a sponge and Aqua Mist ink. I really love how the soft aqua brings out the teal and red! It also brings out the white banner and white edges around the die cut, which really makes it pop. When placing the die cut on the card, I adhered it on an angle. This way I didn't cover up the two tulip shapes. The slight tilt of the floral piece makes a huge difference!

The sentiment stamp was cut apart! (YES, I cut the stamp!) I wanted to stamp only the "many thanks" separately in Aqua Mist under the die cut. You could also mask off the banner if you'd like. I don't mind cutting my stamps apart, because they can be put back together very nicely on the acrylic block. I stamped the banner in black and cut it out and added it over the top of the floral piece. I've also added the clear sequins as another detail that adds sparkle and catches the eye, without taking the attention away from the pretty floral.

I hope you enjoyed these tips for adding more detail and color and "stepping up" your card designs!

Visit Betsy, Dawn, Heather, and Melissa for more Fancy Folk Art ideas!