Paper, Scissors and Superheroes

Summer's almost here!

Summer is almost here!  Seems hard to believe, since we had 6" of snow on the ground just two weeks ago,  but next week marks the last week of school for my kids.  I can hardly believe it!  Where did the year go?  I love creating goodies to spoil my kids' teachers.  I try to give a little something handmade every year at Christmas...but I'm ashamed to say I was too busy this year and it didn't get done.  So I'm going to try to make up for it on the last day of school.  I put together some treats to make that last day even sweeter.  Let me show you.

I wanted to stay away from the traditional teacher-y apple type gifts and do something fun and summery.  When I give gifts, I also assume everyone is like me (probably a bad idea), and gets overwhelmed with knick-knacks, so I like to give something they can enjoy, and then not feel bad about not keeping around for years and years.  :-)  This time I went with a flavored drink and some candy, along with a personal note to each. Very simple. The cost of these items was about $1.50 per gift.  All of the stamps/paper/dies/inks are from Papertrey Ink.  There is a complete thumbnail list of supplies at the bottom of this post...just click on the thumbnails to view the products.  

I decorated the bottles using the Wine Bottle Tag die embellished with oranges from the Fruitful set.  I made it interactive as well, using the Zipper Border die.  I stamped the word "orange..." from the Fruitful Sentiments set on the outside of the tag.

The tear-away zipper strip reveals the rest of the sentiment to say "Orange...you glad it's summer?"  The "orange you glad" joke was a favorite of my youngest for a long time!  :-)  I'll show you details on how I did this a little later in the post.  Oh, and a little time-saving tip - the circle that's left when you diecut the Wine Bottle Tag is the perfect size for stamping the larger orange, no need to make another diecut.  The smaller orange was diecut using the circle from the Hello Sunshine die set, but could be done with a 1 1/4" circle punch if you have one of those in your tool box.

For my tote I used the Favor It Box 4 die, which I think looks just like a beach bag when it's all done up!  I tucked some flip flops inside using the Flipping Out stamp set and coordinating dies.  The sunglasses are from A Day at the Beach.  

To create the "towel", I simply rolled a 4" x 5 1/4" piece of Hawaiian Shores Polka Dot paper.  Inside is a personal note to each teacher.  There is also a bag of candy.  I used Peachy-Os...the sugared orange slices would probably have matched my theme better, but I don't think I know of anyone who likes eating those more than the peach o's, at least not at my house.  

I have a few tips for you just in case you'd like to recreate today's project. I love mass producing things...it makes me feel super productive.  I usually start by creating one complete project, then when I have everything looking the way I want it to, I set out to create the rest.

Gathering supplies and diecutting everything is always my first step.  I kind of love the way it all looks together, just waiting to be stamped and assembled.  

Here is a close-up of the Wine Bottle Tags.  After diecutting the tag, I diecut the Zipper Border strip near the bottom edge.

The Wine Bottle Tag is too big to fit crosswise in the diecut machine in order to use the Zipper Border, so just fold the top portion back along the score line.  Position the Zipper Border where you want it, then secure it with a Post-it note.  Post-its are great for diecutting...enough adhesive to hold everything in place, but not too much so that it tears your paper when you remove it.

To create the "you glad it's summer?" insert, I simply printed it onto cardstock using my computer/printer.  The Wine Bottle tag is 2 1/2" wide, so I made sure my sentiment would fit in that area before printing.  I then cut them into strips, making sure the strip was wider than the opening of the zipper cut.    

Then I just positioned the sentiment strip behind the zipper cut area and used my sewing machine to stitch just above and below the diecut area, making sure to catch the sentiment strip in my stitching. You could use thin strips of an adhesive like Scor-Tape too, if you'd rather skip the sewing part, just make sure you don't place any in the "tear away zone".  :-)  I also stamped the "pull here" arrow from the Movers & Shakers set so they would be sure not to miss that the strip is meant to be torn.  

My kids are excited to bring these fun treats to their teachers...but I'm making them wait until the last day of school.  I had fun pulling elements from various sets to create these summery teacher gifts, but if you'd like to create something more traditional, Papertrey Ink has you covered in that area as well.  Here are links to some Papertrey sets that would be perfect for creating teacher gifts (just click on the thumbnails):

InLinkz.com

Thanks for stopping by today!  Below is the supply list for today's project.  Feel free to contact me with any questions.  Have a great weekend!

Avery Elle Mother/Daughter project...

Hello there.  Sorry it's been so quiet around here!  I needed to step away from the blog for a bit to focus on some other things, but I'm happy to say it should be a bit busier around here for the next week or two.  

Today I have something kind of fun to share with you.  Jamie from Avery Elle knows I have a daughter that loves to craft, so she asked if we would be her guests on the Avery Elle blog this week in honor of Mother's day.  She offered to let us select an Avery Elle stamp set or two of our choice and each create a project using them.  Of course we couldn't pass that up!  

When I asked my daughter if she thought that sounded like fun, she said sure...but only if she could make something out of fabric instead of paper.  Ack!  I know right?  I'll win her over to the paper dark side yet, but as of now, she is 9 going on 19...and totally into fabric and fashion and sewing all kinds of cute things for her American Girl doll.  I've been working at teaching her to sew for the past year and a half and I'm amazed at how much she can do herself.  Most of the time we do it together though...I do most of the pinning and pressing and she does the actual sewing.  We have lots of fun together...usually with some really loud, obnoxious kid bop musing blaring in the background.  :-)  Whatever makes her happy and gets her in here to spend time with me.  

So I'm here to show off what we created together using Avery Elle's Funky Monkey set....

We worked together to make some jammies for McKenna, complete with an iron-on created from that adorable monkey image in the set.  I gave her a lesson on masking (for the headphones) and she thought that was pretty cool...see...I'm working on getting her over here to the paper crafting world.  She used the Hero Arts Neon inks for her monkey.  For more details on creating a fabric iron-on using stamps, see THIS post.  And keeping with the jungle theme, we stitched up some neon green leopard print jammie pants to go with it.  

My daughter loves to give the doll clothes she makes as birthday gifts to her friends, so this is a fun way to coordinate the gift and the card!  Here is my contribution to our co-op project - a card using the Funky Monkey set.  These little monkeys are just the cutest thing and the funny thing is, one of our younger daughter's many nick-names is Funky Monkey...just like the name of this stamp set.  

I hung a couple of the monkeys from some branches (also from the Funky Monkey set) and gave them each a little party hat.  The streamers in the background as well as the sentiment are from the Avery Elle Celebrate set.  

Do you love to craft with your kids too?  It's such a fun way to spend time together.  Thanks for having us on the Avery Elle blog today, Jamie...it was a great excuse to spend some time crafting together! 

Papertrey Ink April 2013 Release...

Well, today is the big day!  All of the April Papertrey goodies we've been sneak peeking over the last week will go up in the store tonight at 10pm EST.  Happy shopping!  

I'm here to share the remainder of my April projects with you.  

First is a card using the new Polka Dot Parade #3.  This set has a cute little retro t.v. image that I wanted to put to use.  I started thinking about retro things, which led me to looking around at retro signs like these...

(image credit)

And that inspired me to create this card with my own version of a retro tv billboard...

This is not one of those frugal stamp and cardstock only cards...sorry.  :-)  I had fun piling up a bunch of different dies and stamp sets.  In the background are some clouds from Up, Up and Away.  The background of the sign is from Ad Sense, the arrow is from Get to the Point, the letters are Headline Alpha dies, and the "you color my world" (with color masked out and replaced with diecuts) is from Happy Trails.  Sitting on top of it all is the tv from Polka Dot Parade #3, complete with a colored screen reminiscent of the "this is only a test" screen.  The abstract city scape along the bottom edge was just something I cut free-hand.  

Supplies not linked, but available on April 15th, 2013 from Papertrey Ink:  Polka Dot Parade stamp set and coordinating dies

Up next is a much simpler card using the new Handy Hardware set.  I used the saw image from the set and embossed the blade with silver embossing powder, which I pressed against a piece of scrap paper while it was still warm to add a little distressing.  I layered it over some woodgrain patterned paper in which I cut a slit to make it appear as if the saw is cutting. 

 

I used the new Sketched Shapes to stamp the triangle border.  The sentiment was heat embossed with white powder.  Just a quick and easy card that would be perfect for a masculine birthday!

Supplies not linked, but available on April 15th, 2013 from Papertrey Ink:  Handy Hardware stamp set and coordinating dies, Sketched Shapes stamp set

Next is a Father's Day card using Dawn's latest installment of Boutique Borders.  For some reason this one reminded me of the label you might find on the back of an expensive tie, so I went with that as my inspiration for this card.

The elements on this card were easy to create, but still give the illusion of a suit, tie, and fancy cuff.  The tie was cut from some of the new Sapphire Shimmer cardstock.  I stamped the solid strip image from Sketched Shapes onto it using Enchanted Evening ink.  It looks just like a silk tie!  I wondered if the ink would dry on the slick shimmer surface, but I hit it with my heat gun and let it set for a bit and I'm happy to report that it did indeed dry.  

Supplies not linked, but available on April 15th, 2013 from Papertrey Ink:  Boutique Borders: Father stamp set and coordinating die, Sapphire Shimmer Cardstock

 

Next is a boy-ish birthday card using 7th Inning Stretch.  I stamped the bats at an angle across the center of the card, then added strips of cardstock and some patterned paper to the corners. 

The Pure Poppy cardstock strips were stamped with the small chevron image from Sketched Shapes.  The small stars are from the Star Gazer Die collection. 

Supplies not linked, but available on April 15th, 2013 from Papertrey Ink:  7th Inning Stretch stamp set and coordinating dies, Sketched Shapes stamp set, Star Gazer dies

 

Last, but not least is a project using this month's Wonderful Words: Memories set.  I decided to get a jump on journaling our upcoming summer vacation by creating a travel journal/album.  I used a Fancy Pants Brag Book as the base for this project. 

I stamped the map image from World Map onto iron on transfer paper, then ironed it onto some canvas fabric.  I added ink shading, then adhered it to the front of the album.  I added the diecut "memories" using the new Wonderful Words: Memories die.  I also stamped "captured", which is from the coordinating stamp set.  I stamped the year using Library Ledger Year Additions.  I also added some images from the Postmarks set.  I brushed over everything with some Decoupage glue to make it sturdy enough to take along on our trip.

Supplies not linked, but available on April 15th, 2013 from Papertrey Ink:  Wonderful Words: Memories stamp set and coordinating dies

 

That's all for my projects for this month! If you'd like to see more, be sure to hop around to the other DT girls that are sharing the rest of their projects today as well...

• Cristina Kowalozyk
• Ashley Cannon Newell
• Jess Witty
• Erin Lincoln
• Maile Belles
• Nichole Heady
• Dawn McVey
• Debbie Olson
• Heather Nichols
• Melissa Phillilps

 

Tea for Two & Additions Revisited...

It is, once again, the first of the month and that means it's time for a Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge.  Every month the design team revisits an older Papertrey Ink stamp set.  This month we are showcasing some fresh inspiration using Tea for Two and Tea for Two Additions.  

Tea is hot right now (pardon the pun!)...maybe it has something to do with our recent facination with all things British.  Anyone else slightly obsessed with the Downton Abbey series like me?  We just started watching and watched all three seasons within about three weeks time.  Now for the long wait until September for the start of season four....  

I had fun browsing Pinterest for some inspiration - just do a search for "tea" and you'll find lots of inspiring images.  I happend across a print with the saying "you are my cup of tea" and it inspired my card for today.

I diecut several teacups from white cardstock and stamped them in cheery colors - Pure Poppy, Harvest Gold, Blueberry Sky and Ocean Tides.  The little flower cluster on the second cup was made using a tiny flower and leaf from the Mini Blooms set.  I diecut the letters from patterned papers using the Modern Alphabet Upper dies.  The "are my" sentiment is from All Star Team.  I added a half square of patterned paper under the teacup and added a snipet of one of the Doily Details dies.

I also created a quick wrap using Tea for Two and Additions.  I recycled my idea from a few weeks ago of adding the Get a Handle On It die to the Essential Pillow Box die.  I thought it would make for a cute way to present a few flavored tea bags or even a gift card.  

For more inspiration using the Tea for Two sets, hop around to the other DT gals to see what they've created!

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

Thanks for stopping by today, I hope your April is off to a great start.

Birthday Style...

It's group post day number two for the March Papertrey Ink Countdown!  Today the team is featuring all sorts of birthday cards and wraps.  Let me tell you a bit about the stamp sets and dies we're featuring today.  

The Birthday Style stamp set, is a cute birthday set designed by Maile.  It has cute streamer images, balloons, candles and more.  There are also coordinating dies.

The To You From Me stamp set was designed by Nichole and it's filled with to/from sentiments in several different fonts, along with some fun frames and other elements as well.  

Get a Handle On It dies - a set of two dies that will allow you to diecut handles to add to almost anything you can dream up.  There is also a coordinating "banner" strip to use as an accent.  

All of these new products will be available for purchase from the Papertrey Ink website as of 10pm EST on March 15th, 2013.  

So let me share a few projects with you using these new products.  I created a gift ensemble consisting of a gift card holder, a treat box, and a coordinating card.

First off, I added the Get a Handle On it dies to an Essential Pillow Box die to dress it up a little.  I love the pillow box die, but adding the handles makes it an even bigger presentation.  

The die does not inhibit the sides of the pillow box, so it's still fully functional.  It almost resembles a little purse!

The front is embellished with flowers, the chevron label and leaf images, all from the new To You From Me set.  The cute bow is from Birthday Style, and it has a coordinating die as well, which makes it super easy to add to your projects.  There is not a die to coordinate with the small flower from the To You From Me set, but I used the flower die from Flipping Out - it's a litle larger as you can see, but I thought it made for a really cute look that way.  The "with love" sentiment stamped on the banner/tag is from To You From Me as well.  

Next up is a treat box that I created using the Get a Handle On It dies attached to a Clearly Creative Card box.  You could also do something like this with the clear boxes that the stamps come in!

You could fill the clear box with just about anything - candy, treats, soaps, or it would even be a really cute way to package a set of handmade cards or stationery.  

I stamped the "birthday wishes" sentiment from the new Birthday Style set onto a Fillable Frames #2 label.  I surrounded it with the leaf image from the To You From Me set and embellished it again with the same flowers I used on the pillow box above.  The strip of patterned paper was cut using the other die from the Get a Handle On It die set.  

And lastly, just a simple card that uses many of the same elements as my two other projects.  This time I did add in some of the fun banners from Birthday Style.  There are dies to cut the different banners as well, which I love!  I cut one from metallic gold cardstock and another from Berry Sorbet.  I put a cluster of flowers and a bow in the upper right corner.  

I again used the Birthday Wishes sentiment stamped on a Fillable Frames #2 label.  For an added touch I put a Loop-de-Loop border diecut behind the sentiment.  A strip of patterned paper along the bottom finishes it all off.  

I hope you enjoyed today's peek and these new products have your mind spinning with ideas!  I think the Get a Handle On It dies have so many possibilities and I can't wait to see what other uses everyone dreams up!

For more inspiration be sure to click around to the other DT girls to see what they've created using these new products...

• Ashley Cannon Newell
• Danielle Flanders
• Jess Witty
• Maile Belles
• Nichole Heady
• Dawn McVey
• Melissa Phillips
• Cristina Kowalozyk

Supplies not linked, but available on March 15th from Papertrey Ink:  To You From Me stamp set, Birthday Style stamp set and coordinating dies, Get a Handle On It dies

 

Bracelet Tutorial...

I've had several requests for a tutorial for the bracelet I posted the other day...

So I made another today and took photos of the process so I could put together a tutorial for you.  Here's the bracelet I made today...

Same concept, just different fabrics and papers for the beads.

To me, the funnest (that's probably not a word, is it?) part of making these is choosing the fabrics and papers.  Everything gets sort of "mashed" up, so you really don't need to be concerned with patterns - it's really more about colors.  It's funny how the fabrics take on a whole different look once torn and braided.  Same thing with the papers used to make the beads.  I thought I'd show you the fabrics and papers I used in each of the bracelets I made.  The fabrics are just regular cotton prints, same as you would use for quilting or sewing. 

For the original bracelet I posted the other day I used papers from both of the Beautiful Beads paper packs along with the fabrics shown in this photo...

Here's a shot of my supplies for today's bracelet.  I used the Basic Grey Mint Julep 6x6 pad (in stores soon!) and the fabrics shown in this photo.  You can use any papers you'd like with the Beautiful Beads die - the Beautiful Beads paper is lighter weight, so if you use other patterned papers for your beads they will turn out a bit bigger (which is perfectly fine!).  I love being able to make them out of other papers  -- it means I can create a totally coordinated project...from the bracelet all the way down to the packaging.  

And lastly, I made this one the other night...no paper beads, just fabric and regular beads.  

Here's a better shot of the fabrics...

 

Below you will find the step-by-step instructions.  Oh, and I should include a disclaimer.  I am not a jewelry maker. I really have no knowledge of the correct techniques or methods for constructing jewelry (aka: I have no idea what I'm doing).  This is how I made mine...you might be more familiar with proper jewelry construction, and might have a better method.  Feel free to use whatever works best for you.  :-)  

Supplies:

• 3 Different fabrics of your choice
• Beads of your choice (I used a combination of glass, metal, and paper beads made with the Papertrey Ink Beatiful Beads die).  My glass and metal beads were just something I picked up from Walmart
• Swivel Clip and "D" Ring set (I used a 1.3" size purchased HERE on Etsy)
• Beading Wire (also purchased at Walmart)
• Sewing Machine

A little about the clasp I used in my bracelet -- I used this swivel clip and D ring - I originally bought these for the straps of some cute little wristlets I made for Christmas gifts.  They're not really intended for jewelry making, but since I live an hour away from a craft store, this was the only thing I had on hand that would work.  Necessity is the mother of invention, right?  :-) The one drawback is that it's not adjustable.  Not a problem if you're making these for yourself.  More of a problem if you're making them for gifts.  You could consider adding a bit of chain to the D ring end so that the wearer would have a little adjustability -- just make sure the chain links are large enough that the clip swivel clip will fit through them.   Someday I might try someting like this for a more polished look.   

So step-by-step, this is how I created my bracelet.  

1.  Tear edge of fabric to straighten.  Snip appx 1/2" from edge and tear strip.  Repeat until you have three strips of each of the three fabrics.  

2.  Stack strips and machine stitch across top (this will get trimmed off later, it just makes braiding easier).

3.  Braid strips.  Braid rather tightly and try to get the braid as even as possible.  Use a clilpboard to secure while braiding.

4.  Continue until all three fabrics are braided.  They should each be a minimum of 9-10" long.  I used some small binder clips to hold the braids in place until I was ready to work with them.

5.  When the braiding is finished, machine stitch across the braid (make sure it's nice and neat and tight over the area you are stitching)

6.  Trim off excess close to stitching.

7.  Repeat steps 5 & 6 with the other end of the braids.  You will be left with three tidy braids to work with.

8.  Get out the swivel clip and D ring.  

9.  Thread all three braids through the loop of the swivel clip.  Line them up neatly, folding the ends over neatly back onto themselves.

10.  Hold them in place and stitch through all three braids without stopping to cut threads between each braid...just sew over the whole works, but becareful not to hit the metal ring with your sewing machine.  Trim away any excess close to the stitching.  (The way I have bracelet shown in photo is what I will refer to as "wrong" side)

11.  Lay the bracelet out wrong side up and straighten braids.  Thread other ends of braids through the D ring.  Check the length - I found that having the braid portion about 6 1/2" long worked well for my wrist, but that may vary for you depending on the size of your wrist and the clasp you are using.  Fold the braids over the ring and line up neatly, making sure all the braids are the same length.

12.  Stitch across all three braids, just like in step 10.  Trim excess close to stitching.

13.  Now get out your beading wire.

14.  This is probably the trickiest part of the bracelet, and difficult to show in a photo, but hopefully you'll get the jist of it.  Insert the end of the beading wire between the first two braids, threading it between the line of stitching and the ring of the clip and then back up through the ring of the swivel clip.  Tie a double knot to secure, leaving a 1 1/2" -2"tail.  Edited to add:  a wonderfully helpful blog reader shared that the beading wire is not meant to be tied -- seeeeee....I told you I have no idea what I'm doing!!  :-)  She suggested using a crimp bead/tube and pliars instead as the knotted wire may not wear well.  You will need two strands of beading wire, one between each braid.  You could try tying the beading wire to the ring of the clip BEFORE stitching the braids to the clip - whatever you feel would be easier.  If you do it before, just make sure the wire is positioned between the braids when you stitch through the braids.  

15.  Add your beads making sure to catch the "tail" of the wire in your beading for at least an inch or so - this hides the tail and feels more secure than trimming it close to the knot.  You can trim the tail of the wire so it will hide inside a bead.  I used a mix of glass, metal and paper beads.  If you want to see a tutorial for creating the paper beads, visit Nichole's blog HERE.  

16.  Once your beaded strand is the same length as the braided strands, thread the end of the wire between the braids and knot it around the D ring.  Thread the tail back through an inch or two of the beading and trim excess.  Repeat this process for the second strand of beads.  

and that's it!  Just fasten the clasp and your bracelet is finished.  Here's a close-up of the back of the finished bracelet.

But it's really not complete without some pretty packaging, right?  I once again used the new Boutique Accessories stamp set and Boutique Accessories Card die to create a coordinating card to put it on.  Both the new stamp set and die are now up for purchase in the Papertrey Ink store and are linked in my supply list below.

And one more close-up...

I hope you enjoyed the tutorial...let me know if you have any questions!  

Other supplies not linked:  beading wire, glass and metal beads, fabric

 

 

Boutique Accessories...

Welcome to group post day #2 for the Papertrey Ink February countdown.  Today the team is featuring a fun little bundle of new products geared around creating and packaging your own handmade accessories.  The grouping of products consists of stamps and a few different die sets...

Clever Barrette Covers dies -- these dies will allow you to create adorable custom hair accessories.  Be sure to visit Erin's blog to see all the adorable things she's created this week using the dies.  

Boutique Accessory Card dies -- a set of two dies that will create a card/holder for your custom barrettes (or lots of other things!)

Boutique Accessories stamp set - Nichole designed a small coordinating $5 stamp set that will be perfect for embellishing your Accessory Cards.  

For more info on these new products, be sure to visit Nichole's blog.  These new goodies will be availabe for purchase from the Papertrey Ink site as of 10pm EST on February 15, 2013.  

My project today uses the Boutique Accessory Card die and the coordinating stamp set to create a pretty way to gift a handmade bracelet.  Jewelry making has always fascinated me, but I always think I really don't need another hobby!  But when Nichole introduced these products to us, I knew right away it was the perfect excuse to try my hand at making a handmade bracelet.  

I've been seeing braided fabric bracelets on Etsy and Pinterest for a while and I've just been itching to give it a try.  I added my own little twist by combining braided fabric along with some paper beads I created using the Papertrey Beautiful Beads product line.  I also tossed in some glass beads and a few silver beads as well for an eclectic look.  I was able to create a pretty coordinating card to hold it using the new Boutique Accessory Card die and coordinating stamp set.  I think it makes for a really fun gift!

Like I mentioned above, the Accessory Card die is a set of two dies -- the card portion and then another portion that sort of wraps around the card.  This "wrap" has slits in it that are meant to hold the barrettes, but I wrapped it around the backside of the card to hold my bracelet in place.  I just undid the clasp and threaded it through the slits before refastening it.  

And of course, no gift is really complete without a handmade card, right?  I put the same group of products to work in creating a coordinating card.  The "for you" was diecut using the new Headline Alpha dies - I love the skinny shape of these letters!  

I had lots of fun creating this project...my daughter is already dreaming up all the people we can make bracelets for.  :-)  I hope you enjoyed your visit today!  Be sure to hop around to the other team members to check out what they've created with this new Boutique Accessories line up!

Supplies not linked, but available on February 15th from Papertrey Ink:  Boutique Accessories stamp set, Boutique Accessory card die, Headline Alphabet dies

 

Spring Fling...

Welcome to the annual Papertrey Ink Scavenger Hunt!  Hop to each DT blog and look for bunny graphics in the photo at the top of each post.  There might be one, there might be none, there might be more than one.  Visit Nichole's blog for all of the details on how to play along and comment to win.  

Today is the first group post of the countdown/anniversary celebration.  The team today is featuring a collection of fun and springy new products...

Polka Dot Parade by Melissa Bickford is a new series.  The first installment features a cute dotted bunny, some spring/easter sentiments and a coordinating bunny die.  

Mini Blooms by Maile is an awesome floral set filled with large clusters of mini blooms as well as individual blooms...all done in a small scale, perfect for embellishing sentiments and more.  There are coordinating dies for several of the small individual flowers.  

Favor it #9 die collection -- This is a super fun set of dies that will allow you to create two different sized baskets, perfect for small gifts.

All of these new products will be available from purchase from the Papertrey Ink website as of 10pm EST time on February 15th.  You can read more details about each product on Nichole's blog.  

Nichole challenged the team to find some inspiration from Pinterest or another sourse and create some projects based on that inspiration using the new products I mentioned above...'

I sort of have a weakness for soft, pastel-y Easter trees.  I've never actually put one up in my house (yet), but they are so pretty to look at...

(image credit)

I adore this fresh, colorful card and the little flowers clustered around the sentiment totally reminded me of Maile's new Mini Blooms set and I knew I wanted to try to re-create this look using her stamps.  

(image credit)

So, on to the projects.  Up first is a cute little Easter basket which was created with the new Favor it #9 die collection.    I used the larger basket for my project today.  I diecut it from Sweet Blush cardstock and stamped on it with BB: Super Stripes.  I chose to hold the basket pieces together with brads, but you could use buttons or any other fasterner of your choice.  

My basket is filled with felt ornaments (for the Easter tree I might actually put up one of these years!) which were diecut from Papertrey felt using the bunny die from the new Polka Dot Parade set (more on that in a bit).  The eggs were cut with the Egg die, which was released last year.  I also tucked a stamped tag in the basket which was stamped using flowers from the new Mini Blooms set, inspired by the pretty card above.  The sentiment is from Polka Dot Parade #1.  The tiny flower and leaf dies from the Mini Blooms set were perfect for embellishing my bunnies and eggs.  

 

Next up is a funny little card using Polka Dot Parade #1.  I used a scallop scissors to munch away on the bunnies until just his tie and tail were left. :-)

The flowers along the top are from Mini Blooms and the "Happy Easter" sentiment is from Polka Dot Parade #1. 

Thanks for stopping by to check out my projects today.  Don't forget to hop around to the other DT girls to check out their springy projects and hunt for bunnies!

• Ashley Cannon Newell
• Danielle Flanders
• Jess Witty
• Maile Belles
• Nichole Heady
• Dawn McVey
• Melissa Phillips
• Cristina Kowalozyk

 

Boutique Bargains at Papertrey Ink...

Hello again!  

It's another fun Papertrey Ink Anniversary day.  Today Nichole is announcing a brand new section of the store - Boutique Bargains!  This section of the store will contain a fun assortment of goodies and will change frequently with all sorts of fun things Nichole finds to stock it with.  

The first batch of products includes a nice selection of cloth bags in various styles and sizes.  Nichole challenged us to embellish one of the bags to feature on her blog today.  I chose to play around with this small muslin draw-string bag.  It's the perfect way to wrap up a small gift...and the Papertrey stamps and dies make it easy to coordinate the bag with a matching tag and even a card.  

Now, I could have stamped directly onto the bag, but that makes me a little nervous.  I just know I'd mess it up!  So here's my little secret for getting beautiful, crisp, clear images on fabric -- iron-on transfer paper like this HP paper.  I diecut the large flower cluster from Fancy Folkart out of transfer paper, then stamped my images just like usual.  I then used my iron to transfer the design to my bag.  Super simple!  A cute little coordinating tag finishes it off.  It's one of those wraps that you really could whip up at the last minute...which is what I always seem to be doing.  :-)

Edited to add:  I've had quite a few questions about this process, so let me see if I can clarify just a bit.  Everything was stamped onto the transfer paper BEFORE ironing it onto the fabric...just as if it was normal cardstock or paper.  All of the color on the flowers was added by stamping the bits and pieces from the Fancy Folk Art set, using my regular Papertrey inks.  I didn't do anything after I ironed the image onto the bag -- no coloring, etc.  That being said, you CAN color on the transfer paper with Copics before ironing it onto the fabric - I've used that method as well and it works too!  I'll definitely try to incorporate this into a future Make-it-Monday...sounds fun to me!  :-)

Just one more note about the transfer paper - keep in mind that your image is reversed after ironing it on to your project, so it won't work for sentiments, but it's great for images!  

Be sure to check out Nichole's blog for the rest of the details on the Boutique Bargains announcement.  There's also a new contest up again today, so head on over, check out the details and play along!  The weekend is officially here!  

Tremendous Treats: Valentine...

Happy February!  It's the first of the month and that means it's time for the Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge.  We are revisiting an older set once again.  This time each Sr Team member created a Valentine treat using the Tremendous Treats: Valentine set.  I just love this set - there are so many different themed treat ideas using the images from this set.  

My treat today was inspired by these these cute pencils worms I saw from Oriental Trading a while back...

I thought it would be fun to do something similar, but instead of worms, I created an airplane pulling a banner.  The little airplane image from TT: Valentines is the perfect size.    

I picked up a few packs of Valentine pencils at the dollar store  - 8 in a pack for $1.00.  One sheet of patterned paper will create 8 pencil wraps...that makes for a pretty inexpensive school treat.  They're quick to put together too.  And simple enough that the kiddos can help too.  Let me show you some step-by-steps.  

I started with an 8 1/2" x 11" sheet of patterned paper.  The paper I used here is the Raspberry Fizz Bitty Dot from the Pattern Pack.  I used my Martha Stewart scoring board to score at every inch along the 11" side.  

I then cut my paper into eight 1" x 11" strips (toss the extra 1/2" strip you'll have left).  I trimmed one end into a point, and the other I notched into a "v".   Now would be a good time to stamp your sentiment onto your strip.  I used the "be my valentine" sentiment from the TT: Valentine set.  You could also include a "to:/from" stamp for your child to write classmate's names if you wish.  (I'm so bad at remembering to take pictures along the way sometimes...I forgot to take one of the strips stamped with the sentiment, but you get the idea, right?  :-) )

Then I fan-folded the strips along my scored lines.  I punched a hole through all layers (you can split it up and do just a few layers at a time if it's too thick for your punch).  You'll want a hole that's large enough for your pencil to go through.  Mine wasn't quite large enough so I did punch an extra bit away by punching right next to the first hole -- it makes for a hole that's not perfectly round, but once your pencil is pushed through you'll never notice...so don't sweat it!  

Lastly, I set an eyelet in the pointed end of the strip.  Then I pushed my pencil through the holes.  

The airplanes were diecut from white cardstock, colored with Copics and attached to the end of the pencil with a bit of foam tape.  I punched a hole in the tail of each plane and knotted twine through the plane and the eyelet of the banner.  I also added some small clouds, which were diecut from Aqua Mist cardstock using the Heart-2-Heart #6 dies.  

Overall, a pretty quick, easy, and inexpensive project that would make for fun school Valentine treats!  

Want more ideas for kiddie treats?  Be sure to visit the other girls to see what they've whipped up using Tremendous Treats: Valentine set.  

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

Thanks so much for stopping by!