Paper, Scissors and Superheroes

Out to Sea Revisited...

Hello May!  I believe spring might finally be here in NW Iowa!  It's about time.  :-)  We've been enjoying some beautiful days, after a long winter and a pretty rough April with lots of ice and storms.  We're still cleaning up the mess around town!  Right now though, I am actually in Utah for our annual Paper Crafts magazine editorial board meeting.  So fun to see everyone and to meet and get to know the new Go-to Gals.  

But here on the blog, the first of the month means Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge time once again.  This month we are featuring Out to Sea.  The nautical theme is to hot right now, so it seems like a perfect time to bring this set back to life.  

I'm always drawn to nautical things...not sure why, as I live thousands of miles away from the ocean.  I bought this scarf the other day...and it totally reminds me of the card I made for this challenge.  Funny thing is, I made the card first, then found the scarf while I was doing some shopping a few days later!  Nautical + neon.  Totally fun.  And I'm totally wearing it while I'm in Utah for ed board.  :-)

So here's my card using Out to Sea.  I used Enchanted Evening, Aqua Mist, and Berry Sorbet Cardstocks.  I trimmed them into 1" strips and stamped some of the elements from Out to Sea in the coordinating ink colors.  

The anchor was heat embossed with gold, then cut out and wrapped with some baker's twine.  The sentiment is from Out to Sea and was stamped onto a Countdown Details diecut.  I also added some star strips to the sides, which were cut using the Super Stars Border die.  It was a super easy card that came together quickly.  I think it would be a fun way to say "hey, hello" this summer.  

I thought I'd share a few other older cards that use bits and pieces from Out to Sea.  

There was my flip-flop card which uses the life preserver...

Then there was this teen guy birthday card that uses the compass...

And more recently, this card which I made a few months back for the release of Bountiful Banners...

Now be sure to hop around to the other Sr Team girls to "sea" what they've created with Out to Sea...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

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.

Friends Til the End...

Hello March!  Hello promise of spring...you're coming soon, right?  Longing for some warm sunshine here...hopefully soon!  Today is the first of the month, which means it's time for the Papertrey Ink Sr Team to bring you some fresh inspiration using an older Papertrey Ink stamp set.  This month we are revisiting Friends Til the End.  

The thing I love most about these revist posts is that I get the chance to pull out an older set and give it a whole new look by combining it with something new.  For today's project I played around with combining the oldie but goodie Friends Til the End with the brand new Mini Blooms floral set.  

I was inspired by this pretty frame by Basic Grey.  I love the fresh colors and of course the gorgeous floral print...

I attempted to mimic the look and feel of the frame by combining the large, bold blooms from Friends Til the End with several of the smaller floral images from Mini Blooms.  

This is attempt #2...I started out trying to cover the entire card front with a floral pattern, but it just ended up feeling busy and messy.  It came together much better when I decided to just cluster the floral pattern to the bottom corner of the card.  I really love the result and the moral of the story is...if you have an idea for a design, don't give up on it right away...sometimes it takes a few tries to get it right.  Refining, as I like to call it.    :-)

I used the same concept to create a quick coordinating tag.  The tag base was cut with the Tag Sale #4 die and I used the same stamp combination as I did on my card.  The smaller flower from Friends Til the End still felt a little large for the tag, so I diecut a portion off of the flower using the Tag Sale die to create an edge that has the same embossed impression as the tag itself....it just gives it a nice finishing touch.  The sentiment was pulled from the Mini Blooms set.  

That's all from me today, I hope you enjoyed this project brought a little spring to your world, even though it might not feel very springy outside!  For more fresh inspiration using the Friends Til the End set, be sure to visit the other Sr Team members to see what they've created...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

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!

All Booked Up...

Happy New Year!  I hope 2013 brings you peace, health and happiness for you and your family.  

It's the first of the month (and the first of the year!) which means it's time for our monthly Papertrey Ink Sr DT challenge.  We are once again pulling out an older set and giving it new life with new project ideas.  This month we are featuring All Booked Up.  I don't know about your family, but we definitely spend more time indoors doing things like reading this time of year.  All Booked Up is the perfect set for creating cards and gifts for this time of year.  

For my project today I created a card and bookmark, complete with a pretty wrapping.  The perfect simple gift to tuck in a card.  I'll show you an easy way to create a clip-style bookmark using pretty much any die in your collection.  

The wrapping for my bookmark is a medium-size glassine bag topped off with a Mat Stack 6 diecut folded in half and stamped with a rose image from The Sweet Life.  

Inside is the bookmark which is held in place by a tabbed card which I created with the Card Base-ics #1 die (trimmed down slightly to fit inside the glassine bag).  The bookmark was created using the Limitless Layers 3 1/2" Oval dies as the base and the clip portion was cut using a Sweet Life die (more about that in a bit).  The tabs on the Card Base-ics die are the perfect size to hold my oval bookmark in place.  Along the bottom of the card I stamped a sentiment from the All Booked Up set.  The "Let me save your spot" sentiment stamped directly on the bookmark is also from All Booked Up.

You can see from this photo that only a portion of the rose has been diecut so that it can be clipped on the page of a book....

...like this.  I used a simple diecutting technique that makes this easy as pie.  

I started with my oval diecut (patterned paper layered over a thin chipboard to make my bookmark extra sturdy), then I partially cut the rose from the center of tho oval.  I positioned my die and my plates as shown in the photo below so that only the portion of the die that's between the plates will cut.  The rest will remain intact.  You could use this method with pretty much any dies to create bookmarks with any theme or style.  I'm thinking kiddy bookmarks for Christmas next year using the TT: Holiday dies would be so cute! (crossing my fingers for dies for the TT: Valentines too!)  ETA:  OOps!  Turns out we already HAVE TT: Valentine dies - it's TT: Holiday that we don't have dies for yet...color me confused.  :-) 

And lastly my card...just a simple card using the book image from All Booked up and one of the sentiments from the set as well, along with a cluster of roses from The Sweet Life.  

The whole gray and pink color scheme of this project was inspired by an old book I found at a thrift store a while back.  

Well, that's all for today's project.  I hope you're having a great day.  I am about ready to wrap up the holiday festivities and get back into a normal routine!  We've had a wonderful holiday week here and I hope you have too.  If you're in the mood for more inspiration to pull out your All Booked Up set today (or maybe break down and purchase one - ha!) you can visit the other DT gals to see what they've created using this set...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

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In the Meadow...

It's officially December!  Bring on the holidays.  :-)  The first of the month means it's Papertrey Ink Sr. Team challenge!  This month the team is once again pulling out an older set to showcase some new ideas for that set.  This month we're focusing on In the Meadow.  This set was released just last year, in October, and it was an instant favorite.  I was happy to have an excuse to pull it out again!

So, you know how that goes when you have a vision for a project?  And then you start and sometimes it flops, but sometimes....sometimes....it all comes together, just like you envisioned?  I had that with the first card I'm sharing with you today.  I had this idea to use the In the Meadow set along with one of the Movers & Shakers Poppers dies to create a pop-up card.  I kept the outside very simple...white cardstock, the tree stamped in Fine Linen, the deer in Classic Kraft and some BB: Chevron in Aqua Mist...

But then, you open the card and...not so simple.  :-)  

It's like a card and a gift all in one.  I have this displayed on the hutch in my dining room right now and it looks so cute.  Now for a little info on how I put this together.  I used one of the dies from the Movers & Shakers Poppers die collection as the base.  I cut one of those from Aqua Mist cardstock that was slightly smaller than an A2 card.  Like Nichole shows in here video HERE.  I stamped the tree from the In the Meadow set several times onto the background using Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores inks.  I also embossed a few snowflakes from the set with white powder.

Then I cut a piece of white cardstock using the Popper die, just large enough to cover the bottom portion of the pop-up insert, creating the "snow" along the ground.  I then set to creating my scene.  I used the In the Meadow (hills) dies to create the snowdrifts.  The rest of the scene was created with the In the Meadow Silhouettes die collection.  There are a total of 5 trees (some full-sized, others trimmed down slightly to create various heights), the 2 deer, and a couple of birds.  I also tucked a bunny way in the background, but I'm not sure you can see him from my photos.  Here is a side view...it's really not as complicated as it might first appear.  

Along the bottom I stamped some deer tracks leading your eye to the sentiment, which was stamped in Pure Poppy over some BB: Chevrons which were stamped with Aqua Mist.

Despite all of the layers, the card folds up nice and flat, much to my surprise...I was thinking I would have an issue with that, but it's actually very mailable!  And I love that it's really a card and a gift all in one -- it makes a cute display piece.

Nichole challenged us to make a second card to share with you today as well.  My second card uses just one of the dear images from the set.  Deer are so trendy right now!  This card could be used for Valentine's day, or if you have a hunter in your family this could be cute for that as well. It would make a cute holiday card as well if you changed the sentiment to "Merry Christmas, deer".  :-)  I have a friend who hates little plays on words like that, so I would have to make sure not to send it to her, though!  ha!   

I stamped the deer several times using Pure Poppy ink and I made sure that two of the deer's antlers were lined up, leaving me the perfect space to stamp a small heart.  The punny sentiment is a combination of stamps from the Glory Be set and some Modern Alphabet diecuts.  I couldn't resist giving one of the e's little antlers.  :-)  The whole sentiment is layered over some more BB: Chevrons.  

Well, that's all for my projects today!  I hope your December is off to a fabulous start and you are able to put aside some of the busyness to enjoy the true meaning of this blessed holiday season!  

For more inspiration, be sure to stop by the other Sr. Team members to see what new projects they've created using In the Meadow...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

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Mazel Tov Revisited...

Hey there!  November has arrived!  Holy hannah...I have no idea where this year has gone.  Seriously.  Are you with me on that?  

It's the first of the month again and that means Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge time again.  This month we are revisiting another older set and this time around we have a treat for the Jewish friends in our midst.  We are all creating projects with the previously released Mazel Tov and Additions sets.  

My first project is centered around Hanukkah.  I busted out my Favor It #5 die, and came up with a template to go along with it to create some dreidel treat boxes.  You can download a pdf of the additional template HERE and I'll show you step by step how to put it together with the Favor It die to create these fun treat boxes.  

So...the Favor It #5 die creates the triangular bottom of the dreidel (which is the tricky part) and the template I created to go with it creates the boxy top of the dreidel.  Here I've cut each one from Spring Rain cardstock.  If you want to do any stamping on the background, now's the time, before you start assembling the pieces.  

So then I assembled the Favor It box, leaving the flat portion (bottom) of the triangle open.

Then I took the boxy template and used a bit of liquid adhesive to attach the small 1/2" flap to the Favor It box on the side opposite the flap that I left open in the previous step.

After the boxy top portion was attached, I have a contraption that looked like this.  Now I added adhesive to the areas I have pointed out with the red arrows in the photo below.  These flaps (and the pyramid "bottom") game me areas to which I could adhere the boxy portion.  I just wrapped the sides of the box/cube around and secured them with the adhesive.  

After I had the boxy portion wrapped around and adhered to the flaps, it looked like this.  I did trim off the part of the Favor It box lid/bottom that is supposed to tuck inside the box...the little flap portion, otherwise it would have extended up above my boxy portion if I had left it there. Confusing, I know...but if you make these it will make sense (I hope...)

So then, I needed to create the top/spinner for my dreidel.  I took a 2" x 4" strip of Blueberry Sky stripe paper and rolled it up.  

I used an exacto knife to cut an "x" in the center of my box top (marked with an "x" on the template).  I put a bit of liquid glue on the rolled up strip and inserted it through the "x".  It would have probably looks a bit neater done with a circle punch, but I didn't have anything that would reach that far...so this just had to do.  

And that's all there is to it.  I topped them off with the Menorah image from the Mazel Tov set embossed in silver on some White Shimmer Cardstock, diecut with the Limitless Layers 1 3/4" circle dies with Night Sky Shimmer cardstock behind it.  Fill them with goodies and they would make fun treats for the kids, or table favors.  (please forgive my crummy photos today....it was sooo dark and dreary outside!)

And lastly before I leave, a more everyday occasion type of project using the Mazel Tov set.  I created a gift card holder that would be perfect for a young girl's Bat Mitvah.  I used the Essential Pillowbox die cut from Raspberry Fizz and added some gold embossing onto Gold Shimmer cardstock.  

A gift card tucks perfectly inside, which I wrapped with a sentiment strip cut from Gold Shimmer and embossed in gold using the Bat Mitzvah sentiment from the set.

That's all from me today, thanks for stopping by!  You can check out the other DT gals' projects using Mazel Tov...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

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Boards & Beams Revisited...

October 1st = Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge time once again!  A usual, the team is revisiting a couple of older sets -- Boards & Beams and Home for the Holidays this time around.  Papertrey just released coordinating dies for both of these sets last month, so that means all the more design options.  Boards & Beams is a classic, timeless set...I just love the style of the house images...so classic.  Home for the Holidays is a companion set containing tons of little bits and bobs to decorate your houses for the holidays.  The coordinating dies make this set SO much easier to use! 

So Nichole challenged us to put these sets to use to create two projects for you today...one holiday and one more suited for everyday use.  So first up, my holiday project.  I stamped the narrower house across the front of my card in Classic Kraft ink.  I diecut the third house to create a window which I backed with Pure Poppy cardstock and stamped the house image onto that with Pure Poppy ink.  This created the perfect spot to stamp my sentiment.  

This sentiment is actually from the Love Lives Here Holiday set...which I think is an awesome companion set to this as well...so many of the sentiments go perfectly with the home theme.  The narrowness of this particular sentiment makes it fit perfectly in that diecut house-shaped window.  I added some holiday decor to my houses using the Home for the Holidays set and dies.  

So now for my more "everyday" project.  I created a little favor box using the same template I provided for my gingerbread houses from this post.  You can download the template HERE.  It fits perfectly with the larger house from the Boards & Beams set.  Sweet.  Gotta love that!  

I added a Tiny Tag stamped with a sentiment from Autumn Acorns because I thought these would make adorable Thanksgiving table favors.  I added a fall colored tree from the Boards & Beams set as well.  Two sections of the stamped/diecut fence fit perfectly along the side of the box.  You could change up the colors and the sentiment to make this work for a favor for pretty much any season.  

As always, thanks so much for stopping by today!  I hope your week is off to a fabulous start.  Be sure to stop by the other DT gals to see what they've created using the Boards & Beams and Home for the Holidays sets...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

InLinkz.com

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Wreath for All Seasons Revisited...

(image credit)

(image credit)

Hello September.  How I love your warm days and cool nights.  Your nod to fall....a season of settling in.  A time to get back into the routine and rhythm of life, to put away the swimsuits and exchange them for backpacks and school books.  The time to think about exchanging our diet of cold cereal and sandwiches for warm soups and roasts that cook all day.  (Yes...I'm sorting of just dreaming here and longing for fall..when in reality we hit 105 degrees yesterday!)

Welcome to the Papertrey Ink September Sr Team challenge!  On the first of each month, the Sr Team members from Papertrey Ink are challenged to create projects using a previously released stamp set.  This month Nichole challenged us to revisit the Wreath for All Seasons set by creating two projects...one for fall and one for the season of our choice.  

 

First off, my autumn card.  I was inspired by the rustic wood in the first photo above and decided to try to recreate it using some Ocean Tides cardstock and my Woodgrain impression plate.  After running the cardstock through my machine, I cut it up into strips and layered them to create the lapped siding look.   I also brushed them with a little paint, a little Fresh Snow Ink and a little Classic Kraft ink...just kind of had fun being messy.

I'm also very much into using my dies to emboss lately.  For the wreath focal point, I diecut some Fine Linen cardstock using the scallop circle from LL: 2 1/2" Circle collection, then embossed it using one of the Doily Details dies.  I used the same technique for the sentiment, using two dies from the Angled Labels die set.  The twig wreath was stamped with Dark Chocolate ink and the berries were stamped with Terracotta Tile ink.  I embellished it with some small leaves cut with the Autumn Acorn die set and lots of pearls and twine.  I used the pearls linked below, but the felt a little bright, so I did touch them with a light brown Copic marker.  

For my second card, I chose to do a winter theme.  I used many of the same elements, just in a slightly different way.  I kept my background more simple, just using the Woodgrain Impression plate.  The base of the wreath was done in the same way as above, but this time I embossed the wreath with white embossing powder.  

I was inspired by the cream felt wreath in the photo and the start of my post and I kept the embellishments very neutral.  I added a diecut felt bow, which was cut using the Bells & Boughs die collection.  I added lots of shades of cream/white pearls, some gems, and the sequins are from my stash...just something I picked up a long time ago (Walmart, I think).  The whole effect is soft, sparkly and very wintery.  I added a few snowflakes from the Winter Cheer stamp set.  

Be sure to hop around to the other Sr Team members to see what they've created using the Wreath for All Seasons set...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

P.S.  The winner of the Simon Says die giveaway from THIS post was Shannon!  Shannon, I have sent you an email.  :-)

 Finished size = 4 1/4 x 5 1/2

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  Finished size = 4 1/4 x 5 1/2

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Leaf Prints Revisited...

Happy August!  Can you believe it?  Somehow, I can...maybe it's been our string of 100+ degree days and endless dry spell, but I'm ready for summer to come to a close and to start enjoying the coolness of fall and all that goes along with it.

It's the first of the month, which means it's Papertrey Ink Sr Team challenge time again.  Nichole challenged us once again, to revisit an older stamp set...this time Leaf Prints.  The Leaf Prints set and coordinating dies is one of those classic, never-go-out-of-style sets.  I find myself reaching for it every year around this time as my mind turns to fall themed projects.  

Today I created a card and a candle wrap, perfect for a hostess gift.  Fall is a time of gathering and I often find myself in need of a little thank you gift and card.

First, let's talk about the candle wrap.  I used the Leaf Prints dies and stamps with clay to create some embellishments to dress up the candle.  I used the same method I used back in THIS post.  It's a super fun way to make your own embellishments.  And here's a little spoiler for you...watch for this to be coming up as a Make-it Monday topic...if you want to play along, you might want to pick up a pack of clay the next time you're at the craft store.  :-)  shhhhhh......  Besides the clay embellishments, I added some pretty patterned papers and a strip of the new Fancy Pants corrugated paper for even more texture.

I am loving the non-traditional color scheme...I don't always do so well with the typical oranges and browns that first come to mind for fall projects.  I wanted to go a little different route.  For the leaves on my card, I rolled the stamps in gold and blue inks.

 

The sentiment is from the Home Made set and I added a diecut leaf, which was cut from vellum cardstock.  A few strips of patterned papers and a bit more of the corrugated paper finish it off.

Thanks for stopping by today!  I hope you're having a fabulous start to the month of August! Be sure to stop by the other team members to see what they've created with the Leaf Prints stamp set and dies...

Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles 

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