Paper, Scissors and Superheroes

More Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress...

I'm popping in today to share some more of the projects I created using elements of the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress kit.  I've had fun playing around with combining the kit contents with other stamps and dies from outside the kit.  Let me show you a few things I came up with!

Please note that the projects in this post do use supplies not included in the kit.  My hope is to inspire you to break out of the box and combine your kit elements with other things you might have in your collection.  For projects using just the kit contents and your basic stamping tool kit, you can visit this post.  

First is an anniversary card where I played around with adding some watercolor onto the thick 220lb letterpress paper included in the kit.  It is perfect for watercoloring...its thickness helps prevent warping.  I love watercolor effects, but always hate the way it warps my cardstock.  I had virtually no warping when I tried it on the 220lb letterpress papers...yay!  I just used some Berry Sorbet and Summer Sunrise re-inkers with a little water added and just brushed over the letterpress paper after it had been embossed with the Luxe Letterpress Impression Plate.  

I added the sentiments from the Luxe Letterpress stamp set which were stamped onto the coordinating impression insert from the kit.  The roses are from The Sweet Life stamp set and coordinating dies.  I added the thin gold borders around the edges using the narrow gold tape from the kit.

 

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My next card has a totally different feel than anything else I've done with the kit!  I focused on the seal die that's included in the kit.  I love this die...there are lots of things you can do with it besides the envelope seals it was intended for!  Here I used several of them to embellish my card front.  I diecut them from the 110lb letterpress paper and stamped several of them with the circles from the Boy Basics: Simple Circles stamp set.  The circle images fit perfectly inside the embossed ring of the die.

I also punched the centers from a few of them using a 1" circle punch.  The stripe across the center was done with both widths of the gold tape from the kit layered over a strip of Enchanted Evening cardstock.  The sentiment is from the Limitless Layers: Labels stamp set.

 

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My last card for today features a fun technique I did using the super fine gold tape from the kit.  I inked some vellum cardstock and then created stripes with the tape before diecutting a bunch of stars.

I also cut some tiny stars from the gold foil paper in the kit using the Star Gazer dies.  The fun little curly-q's were made by adhering the narrow gold tape to some ordinary copy paper, then trimming into strips.  I wrapped them around a pencil to make them curly.  Probably not very conducive to mailing, but fun if you're hand delivering.  Or it would be fun to do this on a tag on a gift bag or something!  The Impression Plate and Insert used here are of course, from the Luxe Letterpress kit.  The "to the grad" sentiment is from the Congrats All Ways set.

Here's a quick shot of how I did the gold striped stars...this is what my vellum looked like after I diecut the stars from it.  A little tip for inking on vellum - I always seal mine with a quick spray of a clear coat sealer (the kind you would find in the hardward store in a spray paint can).  Once the sealer is dry the ink stays put, otherwise ink on vellum doesn't always work out so well...it tends to stay wet.

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Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you're enjoying the March countdown festivities!

Introducing Putting Down Roots...

It's already time to kick off the March Papertrey Countdown...why is it that just those few days that February is short makes the month seem to just fly by! 

I'm here today to help introduce one of the new sets for March called Putting Down Roots.  It was designed by Lizzie Jones and is filled with lots of great plant images and a handful of sentiments perfect for new homes and new neighbors.  I think the title is just too clever!  There are matching dies as well...a little disclaimer -- my dies did not arrive in time to use on my projects for today, so everything was cut by hand...dies would have made it so much easier, though!

The new Putting Down Roots stamp set and coordinating dies will be available for purchase on March 15th, 2014 at 10pm EST from the Papertrey Ink site.

On to a few projects...

First of all, I just had to share this photo with you!  I wandered over to PInterest to browse for some inspiration for my projects today and I found this photo - who would've thought cacti could be so beautiful?!  We don't have too many of them here in Iowa (ha!) so I kind of forget about the fact that they bloom.  

(image)

So that colorful photo inspired this card...

I stamped the pots in lots of bright colors.  The cacti and plants were stamped with Aqua Mist ink and the edges rolled in Ocean Tides to add a bit of shading.  The cactus spikes are a separate stamp, so I stamped those with Versamark and heat embossed with white powder.The pattern along the bottom is from Autumn Pattern Pieces.

Supplies not linked, but available on March 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Putting Down Roots stamp set

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The next card has a totally different look.  This set also made me think of something tranquil like a spa, so I went for a more soothing color scheme here.

The pots were stamped with Fresh Snow ink and the plants were done with Ocean Tides.  I added the little half-round window from the Home Made set.  A sentiment from the Putting Down Roots set was stamped onto a Double Ended Banner diecut and layered over a strip of Ocean Tides cardstock stamped with BB: Woodgrain.

 

Supplies not linked, but available on March 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Putting Down Roots stamp set

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Next I have a super simple one layer card.  I stamped the pots in bright colors (Berry Sorbet, Raspberry Fizz, and New Leaf) and the plants again with Aqua Mist and Ocean Tides.  

The sentiment is from a new sentiment set being released this month that you'll hear more about soon...I love it!  I added a couple rows of the super fine gold tape from the Luxe Letterpress kit along the bottom edge for a border.  

 

Supplies not linked, but available on March 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Putting Down Roots stamp set

Aqua Mist Ink Ocean Tides Ink Berry Sorbet Ink New Leaf Ink Raspberry Fizz Ink True Black Ink Stamper's Select White Berry Sorbet Cardstock

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My last card is another bright and colorful take on this fun cactus from the set.  I used the Alpha Blocks die to create a window and backed it with the sun/hill scene from On the Farm.  I made a window sill for my window by just trimming the ends of a strip of cardstock at an angle.  

The cactus (I put two of them into the pot to create a larger cactus) was stamped with New Leaf ink and I heat embossed the prickles with some pink Zing! powder.  I heat embossed the "happy housewarming" sentiment with white embossing powder.

 

Supplies not linked, but available on March 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Putting Down Roots stamp set

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Cover Plate Impressions...

Some of my favorite Papertrey products are their Cover Plate dies.  I just love how they can turn a piece of cardstock into a work of art with one quick pass through my diecutting machine.  Besides cutting with these dies, you can also use them to impress…it’s like having a die and impression plate all rolled into one.  I’ve done this many times and I always seem to get questions about it, so I decided to put together a post for you today all about using your Cover Plates as Impression Plates.  I’ll also show you some ideas for mixing in different techniques to incorporate color and pattern into your impressed design.  

Using the Cover Plate die to create an impression is super easy to do.  I get asket most often what sandwich is needed to do this.  If you're familiar with the Impression Plates, also sold by Papertrey, the sandwich is the same.  The trick is including the embossing mats so that the die will impress instead of cut.  

I use a Big Shot along with the Multi-Purpose platform and my sandwich is this (would be the same for the Vagabond w/ a multi-purpose platform):

1. Multi-purpose platform with all of the shims flipped out
2. Cutting plate
3. Cover Plate die (cutting side up)
4. Cardstock
5. Embossing mats (tan and vanilla)
6. Cutting plate

I asked the other DT gals for input on the machines they use and it looks like with the Cuttlebug your sandwich would be:

1. A plate
2. B plate
3. Cover plate die (cutting side up)
4. Cardstock
5. Embossing mats (tan and vanilla)
6. B plate

Your sandwich may vary, depending on which machine you are using and the "tightness" of your machine, but basically it's the same sandwich you would use with any of the Impression Plates.  Just remember to never force a sandwich...back out and adjust if it feels too tight.

So now that we have that down, there are lots of things that can be done with the design once it's impressed into the cardstock.  You can leave it as is, just as a nice textured background, or you can add in some different techniques to add color and pattern. Here are a few ideas...

For my first card, I used the Cover Plate: Hexagon and rubbed some ink over the impressed design using my ink blending tool.  It's a great way to bring out the texture.

After I was finished inking I pulled out the Happy Hexagons stamp set that coordinates and stamped a few of the hexagons.  The sentiment is from Inside & Out: Love and was heat embossed with gold embossing powder.

 

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For my next card I used the Cover Plate: Triangles die.  After I impressed the design I used the die to cut a mask out of plain copy paper.  I placed the mask over my impressed panel and used a small foam-tip brush to ink some color onto a few of the triangles.

For a trendy look I also used the Cover Plate: Triangles die to cut some gold foil from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress kit and adhered those to a few of the impressed triangles.  Super easy since it's adhesive backed.  I trimmed a few of the triangle tips to create a mini banner for my sentiment block as well (also from the Luxe Letterpress kit).

Since I'm hoarding the gold foil (I love this stuff!) I didn't cut the whole Cover Plate - I just trimmed a strip of the gold foil wide enough to cut one strip of triangles.  A little goes a long way!

Here's a quick shot of how I did the inking.  Like I said, the mask was cut from plain copy paper -- thinner paper is better when you're creating a mask like this.

 

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My last card uses a masking technique as well, but this time I did some stamping instead of just inking. I used the Cover Plate: Center Stage die and the Irresistibly Ikat stamp set.

It's fun to see what sort of pattern appears with the masking...when I got done and removed the mask, I thought the ikat almost looked like leopard print!  The sentiment here is from the Limitless Layers: Labels set.

Here are a few shots of how I did the stamping/masking.  Again, I cut a mask from copy paper using the Cover Plate: Center Stage die.  I used some washi tape to tape it down to my work table with the impressed panel underneath, making sure the impressed design and the diecut design of the mask were lined up.  The I just stamped the Ikat pattern until the entire panel was covered.

I removed the mask and I had a super fun one-layer pattern.

 

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Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Boxed Stationery Set...

I have another project to share using the contents of the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress kit.  I've been wanting to create an elegant set of boxed stationery using the kit and I finally had the chance to sit down and do that the other night.  I think I've mentioned it before, but I love to give my grandma handmade stationery for her birthday and Christmas.  She's always writing little notes and I know she enjoys having pretty cards to do that with. Her birthday is a ways off, but I'm going to set this aside for her.  I think it fits her style perfectly.

Just a quick disclaimer -- this project combines a few dies and stamps from outside the kit -- a complete supply list can be found at the end of this post.  For lots of projects using just the kit contents and your basic stamping tool kit (cardstocks, inks, etc.), be sure to see this post!

Here is a look at the whole set.  There are 6 monogrammed note cards, embellished envelopes, a packet of seals, and a box to store it all.  Her name is Violet, so I monogrammed everything with a "v" and of course couldn't resist doing it in purple.  I thought about doing her last initial, but I think the first initial feels more personal. 

The cards are quite simple, just a panel of the 110lb letterpress paper impressed with the Luxe Letterpress Impression Plate (without an insert).  I adhered the panel to a Winter Wisteria card base -- using the letterpress paper for a front panel only is a great way to stretch the letterpress paper.  I'm going to be so sad when mine is gone!!  I diecut the seal from the letterpress paper as well and layered a diecut "v" cut from the gold foil paper from the kit using the Bookprint Lower dies.  I layered an In Stitches diecut banner underneath, cut from Winter Wisteria cardstock.  The tiny flowers and leaves were stamped with the Stitched Sentiments set. 

 

The envelope seals were diecut from the gold foil adhesive sheets as well.  I topped off the centers with a 1" circle punched from the letterpress paper and a monogram as well.  I put them all in a small glassine envelope tied with the gold twine from the kit.

 

I had fun embellishing the envelopes as well.  I drew a light pencil line as a guide, then stamped the same tiny leaves and flowers.  After the stamping was finished I covered my pencil line with the tiny gold tape from the kit.

 

Of course I had to create a box to put everything in!  I made the box from kraft cardstock.  The wrap was made by impressing a panel of the letterpress paper with the Luxe Letterpress Impression plate  and attaching it to a strip of Winter Wisteria striped paper.  I folded it around the box so that the label portion of the impression would wrap around the edge for something a little unexpected.  I topped it off with a monogrammed seal and diecut banner.  The "for you" was stamped using the Luxe Letterpress sentiment stamp set included in the kit.

 

Thanks for stopping by today - I'll be back soon with more projects using the Luxe Letterpress kit...I've got a ton of projects to share with you, I just need to find time to blog them!  :-)

 

Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit Stitched Sentiments In Stitches Die Collection Bookprint Alphabet Dies Lower Simply Chartreuse Ink Winter Wisteria Ink Winter Wisteria Cardstock Kraft Cardstock Winter Wisteria Pattern Pack Small Glassine Bag 1" Circle Punch

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