Hey! Just popping in to let you know I'm blogging over at Paper Crafts Connection today. I have a quick tutorial for creating your own canvas embellishments. Here's a peek at my project...head over to the blog and leave a comment for the chance to win some Canvas Corp goodies!
Thanks for taking a peek! :-) Be back soon...hopefully! It's kind of crazy-sauce over here lately!
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It's time for group post day #2 for the April Papertrey Ink countdown. Today the team is featuring some new additions to the Garden Variety line up. This new addition to the previously release Garden Variety set includes the Garden Variety II stamp set which contains a new seed packet frame image and some additional labels and elements that coordinate with the original set. There is also a new Seed Pack Frame die to coordinate with the new frame image. Also being released this month is a new set to coordinate with the Year of Flowers series called Year of Flowers Titles. It's a simple little set that contains titles for each type of flower in the 12 Year of Flowers collection. These titles fit nicely in the seed packet frame.
So, a little more about today's project. Nichole asked us to find an inspiration piece to jumpstart our projects today. I came across these fun garden markers on Etsy. I loved the rustic feel of the stamped letters and I decided to see what I could come up with using some of the new products being released this moth
Using those beautiful markers as my inspriration, I created a gift ensemble that would be perfect for any flower garden lover. The ensemble includes a card, a seed packet which holds a gift card, and some garden markers.
First, a little about the card. I used the new Seed Packet Frame 2 die and the coordinating image from the new Garden Variety II set. The watering can is from the original set, but the flowers filling the can are new! There is a pot image in the new set that coordinates with this flower bunch as well. I added the "mother" sentiment from the Mother stamp set. I give my mom a gift certificate to her favorite nursery almost every year for Mother's Day, so this will be perfect for her!
I used the Seed Packet die to create a coordinating gift card holder. I cut the Seed Packet from patterned paper and added the new frame over a piece of vellum which I stamped "A gift for you" from the Delightful Dahlia set.
For the garden markers, I took some polymer clay out to play around with. These were fun to make and I felt like a kid playing with Play-doh again! I used the flower names from the new Year of Flowers Titles set to make an impression into the clay before baking it. I also added a few decorative elements from the new Garden Variety II set.
Now, I'm definitely not a clay expert by any stretch of the imagination, and I don't have any fancy tools for working with clay besides a basic tool kit, but I'll show you how I made these. I learned a few things along the way and if I do any more of these, it should go a little more smoothly. :-)
I started by rolling out my clay. It can't be too thick, but it shouldn't be too thin either. I would aim for about 1/8" thick...maybe a little more. So that you don't distort it by moving it from one place to another, you can roll it directly onto the surface you plan to bake it on, or you could do it on parchment paper. After it was rolled out evenly, I took the Happy Day Label die and pressed it into the clay.
I used a needle-ended tool from the clay tool kit to "cut" around my die. I think a paper piercer would also work for this part.
Then I peeled away the excess clay.
I pulled the die away and I was left with my clay label which I then "stamped" with my flower names and added a few decorative elements. When impressing the images into the clay, try to do so with even pressure...enough to get a good impression, but not too much pressure that the image becomes distorted.
After I finished the stamping, I baked the clay according to the instructions on the package. I attached my markers to some small wooden dowels. I put a block of floral foam in the bottom of a metal bucket (from the Target Dollar Spot) and trimmed a circle from patterned paper to fit inside my bucket. I just stuck the ends of the dowels through the paper and into the foam.
Well, that' all for today! Thanks so much for stopping by! Before to check out what the other DT gals have put together using this new line up of Garden Variety products.
Supplies not linked, but available as of April 15th from Papertrey Ink: Garden Variety II stamp set, Year of Flowers Titles stamp set, Seed Packet Frame 2 die
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Welcome to the first group post of the April Papertrey Ink countdown! The team has some fun projects to share with you using a new line up of products called Strawberry Patch! This new line of products includes the Strawberry Patch and Strawberry Patch Sentiments stamp sets, as well as coordinating dies! There are dies to match the strawberries as well as the strawberry tops and some tiny flowers. There is also a coordinating set of dies called Perfect Patches, which I'll show you more of in a bit! Along with all of the strawberry goodies is a new die called Strawberry Basket. It's a super fun die that creates a nearly full sized berry basket once it's all assembled. All of these new products will be available for purchase from the Papertrey Ink website as of 10pm on April 15th.
So let's talk about today's project. I created a bath gift basket using all of these new Strawberry Patch goodies.
The card features the big berry cluster -- that large image is all one piece! It is just an outline, but there are coordinating stamps to stamp the leaves and strawberries, just in case you're not too keen on coloring (raising hand!!!) yay!
The sentiment I used on my card is from the Strawberry Patch Sentiment set. I inked it up with Hibiscus Burst ink, then rolled the bottom edge in Pure Poppy for a gradient look. I embossed my stamped panel with the Picnic Plaid Impression Plate (the perfect companion to the strawberry set, don't you think?!?!). As for that sweet bottom edge, I diecut several patterned papers using the new Perfect Patched die, lined them all up along the bottom edge of my cardstock, then diecut it with the Edgers #4 die.
To fill up my basket, I dressed up some lotions and body splash with patterned papers and berries, which were stamped onto the Perfect Patches diecuts. I also included some felt strawberries, which were done the same way I showed in THIS post.
So let's talk a little about the basket. It was, of course, created with the new Berry Basket die. Now, if assembled normally, this basket would be square. For my particular project today, I decided an oblong basket would be better, so I altered it a bit. I'll show you some details on that in a bit. I also added a fabric liner (step-by-steps later in this post!). The handles are just strips of felt which I attached with some cute flower brads.
So, as promised, here are a few shots of how I trimmed/assembled my basket to make it rectangular instead of square. For one side of the basket I trimmed it down, leaving 5 rows of square openenings (across the top) and just adhered the tab from the back panel to this piece, just like you would if you were creating a full-sized basket.
For the other side, since I will need to trim away the tab that would normally be adhered to that back panel, I left a little excess -- the little pieces that would have formed the 6th row of holes -- to create tabs which I then could adhere to the back panel. Clear as mud? It sounds a bit complicated when I type that all out, but it's really pretty simple. :-)
Now for the fabric liner. I wanted to use two different fabrics -- one that would show through the holes in the basket, and a contrasting fabric that would show in the portion that folds over the top of the basket. So, I took my two fabrics and laid them out, wrong sides together.
I then made a pattern by assembling another basket from scrap paper. You could also do this with your actual basket pieces before you adhere the side edges...I was just experimenting when I did mine and my basket was already assembled before I figured out I needed it for a pattern! :-) I pinned it in place through both of my fabrics.
Then take a ruler and measure 1 1/2" from the end of each basket side -- this extra length is what folds over the top edge of the basket. Cut it out, following the marked lines, and leaving about 1/4" extra around all of the other edges (for the seam allowance). I wasn't very fussy about this at all...I figured it was going to get bunched up inside my basket anyway...so don't sweat it too much!
Once you have the pieces cut, it's time to start sewing. Working with each liner piece seperately and with right sides of fabric together, line up the edges (the edges that you would normally put adhesive on if you were going to assemble it out of paper) and sew a 1/4" seam. Repeat with all four sides on both fabric pieces.
Once all four sides of each liner piece are sewn, this is what you end up with.
Now put one inside of the other, right sides together. Sew along that top edge, leaving an opening so you can turn it. Turn it right side out and then stitch the opening closed. It's now ready to place in your basket!
I hope you enjoyed today's project! Feel free to email me if you don't understand my clear as mud instructions and I'd be happy to help. :-)
Now be sure to hop around to the other DT gals to see what they've created using this new line up of products!
Supplies not linked, but available on April 15th from Papertrey Ink: Strawberry Patch and Strawberry Patch Sentiments stamp sets, Perfect Patches die, Berry Basket die
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Hey there! Welcome to the first day of the April Papertrey Ink countdown! Today I get to show you some projects using two of the new sets being released this month. One set is called Tweet Talk, which is another adorable bird set from Heather Nichols. There are also coordinating dies for many of the birds in the set. The second set is this month's edition of the Think Big Favorites series, featuring jumbo sentiments that originally appeared in one of Heather's Fillable Frames sets. Both of these sets, along with any other products I mention as "new" throughout my post will be available for purchase from the Papertrey Ink website as of 10pm Eastern time on April 15th.
So let's talk about some projects, shall we?
First off is a sweet baby project. I used the adorable birds from the new Tweet Talk set to create a card and matching onesie.
The word "girl" was cut using a new alphabet die coming out this month called Script Alphabet...it's a super fun font and there will be both upper and lower case available!
Here is a shot of the coordinating onesie. I had an epiphany while lying awake in bed the other night...instead of stamping directly onto fabric, why not stamp on iron-on transfer paper? After Googling it, I am obviously not the first to think of this...but if you've been hiding under a rock like I obviously have, then maybe it's new to you too. :-) I am happy to report that it worked great! I am so excited about all of the new possibilities this holds for fabric projects. I've never really been happy with stamping directly onto fabric, but the results with this are so much better! Obviously it won't work with sentiments, as they'll end up being backwards, but images will work just great! And I think it will hold up in the wash much better than ink woould. I've read that you're not supposed to put it in the dryer, but it should go through the washing machine just fine.
For my birdie image here, I stamped him onto some hp iron-on transfer paper using Raspberry Fizz ink. I then colored him with some Copics.
I cut him out (I would have diecut him, but the dies are just the bird bodies, not the legs) leaving a small border around the edge. Then I just ironed him onto my onesie following the instructions included with the transfer paper.
I love how crisp and bright it turned out! The letters on the onesie were also cut using the new Script Alphabet die. I ironed some Heat 'n Bond to the backside of yellow fabric, diecut the letters and then ironed them onto my onesie. I stitched over them with pink thread so ensure for a little extra touch and to ensure that it will hold up in the wash.
Next up is a fun and simple card. I stacked up a bunch of those cutie-pie birds and added the "hello sunshine" sentiment from the new Think Big Favorites #15 set. The "it's your birthday" sentiment is from the Tweet Talk set. (music notes are from Little Bitty Bird Additions)
The sun was cut using the pinked edge circle die from the Limitless Layers 2 1/2" Circle collection, topped off with a whole bunch of Harvest Gold buttons.
Next up is a very simple thank you card. I positioned two birdies to hold the banner from Door to Door Accessories die collection. I added some tail feathers to my birds this time. A couple of different feather options are included in the set.
The cute "thank you" sentiment is also from Think Big Favorites #15.
And last but not least, I thought these birds had just a bit of a folk art feel to them and went that route for my last project. I created a symetrical design by stamping the birds from the set and using the tail feathers as accents as well. The scroll images in the corners are from Sweet Love. The small heart is from the new Heart-2-Heart set coming out this month.
To create the vibrant folk art feel, I used True Black cardstock for my background, then heat embossed the birds with white and their feathers with bright colored Zing powders. I didn't add a sentiment to the front because I felt like it would take away from the symetrical feel. This could work for just about any occasion, so I can add a sentiment to the inside later.
Well, that's it for my sneak peeks today. I hope you enjoy the rest of the countdown festivities this week! You can hop around to the blogs listed below to see more projects and sneek peeks of this month's new stamps and dies...
Nichole
Heather
Melissa
Maile
Dawn
Lexi
Finished size = 4 1/4" x 5 1/2"
Supplies not linked, but available on Apr 15th from Papertrey Ink: Tweet Talk stamp set and coordinating dies, Script Alphabet die
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Happy April Fools'! But I'm not joking when I tell you that the Papertrey Sr Team is posting some new inspiration using the Year of Flowers stamp series. We each selected a set from the series to create a new project with. I selected my favorite...Roses.
I used a very easy watercolor technique for my card today. I used a similar technique on THIS card a few months back and I thought it would be very pretty paired with the rose images from this set as well.
I love the way the ink colors blend together and create some interesting shades and textures!
I'm not kidding when I say it's easy...here's what I did.
I stamped my rose and leaves onto watercolor paper using Versamark and then heat embossed the images with white powder. After that I used just two colors of distress inks -- Peeled Paint and Fired Brick to sponge in the rose and leaves. You do not need to be precise at ALL with this step. Just put some color down in the areas you want it...feel free to go outside the lines!
Then just take a spray bottle and spritz it with water. I used quite a bit of water on my project and it was pretty much drenched!
Then, just lay it flat and walk away. Really! Just let it sit...let the colors bleed together and let it dry. You might need to let it set overnight, or you could use your heat gun to speed the process if you're impatient. That's all there is to it. And the fun part is that each and every creation will be unique. The inks will never blend the same way twice. :-)
Now be sure to check out the other DT girls to see their Year of Flowers creations!
Melissa Phillips
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Nichole Heady
Maile Belles
Product not linked: Watercolor paper
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Welcome! Be forewarned! This is a super-long post with lots of info and photos, so sit back and enjoy! :-)
I have a fun project to share today. First, a little back history...my girls and I have been very busy this winter! They both received American Girl dolls for Christmas. Now, even though my girls are girly-girls, they've never really been into playing dolls (much to my dismay!). These have definitely been different though. I must say, they are much cuter than the other twenty or so dolls that never get pulled out of their toy box! And they have really nice hair (my oldest daughter's most-loved feature!). They've really been playing with them a lot. And I think even more than playing with them, we've been having so much fun crafting for them!
My 8 year old has really been wanting to learn how to sew. So that's what we've been doing...sewing clothes for her dolly. She loves picking out the fabrics and planning the outfits and she sits on my lap by the sewing machine and we sew. And we have the best time. And she is really coming along with her sewing skills! Right now she's working on a small quilt for her dolly....she did it completely on her own (with a few step-by-step instructions from me along the way) and it's turning out so cute. I'm so proud of her!
So, on to today's project. I decided to put my Papertrey stash of supplies to work to create a fun dolly-sized tea party set! I had a blast putting this project together and it's been all I can do to keep the little hands away long enough to photograph it! They are just itching to start their tea party!
The entire set includes felt food, teabags, invitations, doily napkins, a banner for decorating their party, and a decorative case to keep it all in. I'll go over each element in detail, showing you how I put it all together, with a complete supply list at the bottom of this post. :-)
First off are these decorated clear top tins. One holds tiny hand-made tea bags and the other holds the felt food. I decorated the tops with diecuts and stamped labels -- the tea label is from Tea for Two and the Sweets label is from Everyday Treats.
Here is a close-up of the "teabags". I cut apart some glassine bags and stitched them into tiny bags, filled them with beads and added a hang-tag which was cut using the Tiny Tags die and stamped with the "friend blend" sentiment from Tea for Two Additions. Obviously if you're making this for a small child you'll want to skip the beads. Fortunately my girls are beyond the putting-everything-in-their-mouth stage.
And then there is the felt food. I used some different dies to cut the felt pieces and just hand-stitched them. The cookies are made using the heart circle and small scallop circle from Love Lives Here die collection and the larger circle used as the base is from Limitless Layers 1 3/4" Circle collection. I didn't get them in the photo here, but I also made some heart-shaped cookies with the Heart Prints dies. The strawberries are made with the Fruit Fusion Berry die and a Seeing Stars die as the topper.
I have a few step-by-step shots to show you how to make the strawberries...
Diecut three berries from red felt and one medium star from green. Trim the tops from the strawberries and discard.
Stitch the three strawberries together along the edges to form a dimensional berry. Leave the top open like this so you can fill with a bit of stuffing. Then use a little hot glue to adhere to star to the top of the strawberry. You can thread some green embroidery floss through the top first to form the stem, if you wish.
You'll notice this is a pretty fancy shmancy tea party...we even have doilies under our cookies. These were cut with the Parisian Lace die. I cut them from cardstock so they would be nice and sturdy for little hands. The ones you buy in the store are flimsy, but cut from Papertrey's Stamper's Select cardstock they should make it through several tea parties. :-) To hold them all together neatly, I used a CD envelope. I fancied it up a bit with some patterned paper. I used the largest die from the Delightful Doily die collection to cut the window in my patterned paper, which fits pefectly over the window in the CD envelope. The label was made with the Photo Finish Strips.
And of course if you're going to have a tea party, you'll want to invite your friends, right? I created these sweet little invites with the Tiny Envelope die and the frame from Simply Jane.
Inside is a small card with a diecut teacup from Tea for Two Additions. My girls now think their dollies need mailboxes..will it ever end? Gosh, I hope not. :-)
And what else...oh yes. Decorations. A real tea party always has some sort of pretty party decor, right? I used the Banner Builder dies to create a bunting from patterned paper. I stitched all of the banner pieces together by running them through my sewing machine, one right after the next, without cutting off the thread in between.
A re-purposed baker's twine spool proved to be the perfect thing to wrap it around to keep it tidy. I stamped the top of the spool with a cute image from the Daily Designs set and the "vintage style" sentiment is from Button Boutique.
And then of course, we needed something to put our treasures in. I just happened to have this tin case in my stash...I've had it for a few years and always hoped to find a use for it. I was so excited to find that everything for our tea party fit perfectly inside (except the dishes...they go in our play cupboard). The tin was originally galvanized metal, but I sprayed it white and covered it with some patterned papers.
What fun! I have a few more notes and tips about today's project...
All of the patterned papers I used are from Kaisercraft's new Fine & Sunny collection which looks like is scheduled to start shipping in mid March. Pretty much everything else is from Papertrey Ink and is linked in the thumbnails at the bottom of this post.
A little tip...if you'd like your dolly to be able to hold the cookies and such, just simply stitch a small rubber band to the back side so you can slip it around her hand like this...
The cute little dress on our Emily doll was stitched using a pattern from KottonCandy27 on Etsy (so cute and easy!)
As for the tea set, it's just a plastic set that I found at our Dollar General store, but I think it's so cute!
Thanks for stopping by and having tea with us today! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me! Have a great weekend. :-)
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Well, we made it through our extra long February *grin* and it's now March! Spring is on its way! Hooray!
The first of the month means it's time for another Papertrey Ink Sr. Team challenge. This month Nichole challenged us to revisit the Garden Variety stamp set and coordinating products. She also challenged us to base our project today on an image from Pinterest or a product from a magazine, etc. I stumbled across these adorable Jelly Belly seed packets and instantly knew I wanted to try to create something similar using Papertrey stamps and dies!
Here's what I came up with. I combined the Garden Variety stamp set with a few of the Fruit Fusion sets to create my own Jelly Bean Seed Packets. I think they would make adorable Easter treats or favors for a spring or summer get together. All supplies are linked at the bottom of this post.
I used one of the angled labels from Label Basics to frame my sentiment, which is from the Garden Variety set. A little baker's twine bow, and that's all...cute and simple!
Here are a few step-by-step shots of how I diecut and assembled the seed packets. (Sorry for my wonky photos today...obviously I had my camera settings all wrong.)
I started by diecutting the Seed Packet from patterned papers.
I then used the largest Angled Label die to cut a window from the front of the packet.
I then cut a piece of clear cardstock large enough to cover the window. I put Scor-tape on all of the edges and adhered it to the backside of the window opening.
Then I diecut the Seed Packet frame, stamped it with the frame image from Garden Variety and adhered it to the front side of the Seed Packet.
After that it was just a matter of assembling the Seed Packet, embellishing it, and filling it up with yummy jelly beans!
Thanks for stopping by today. Be sure to hop around to the other Sr Team members to see what they've created using the Garden Variety stamp set!
Danielle Flanders (filling in for Maile this month!)
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Melissa Phillips
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Hey there! Happy Wednesday all! It's my turn for the Groovin' with the Go-to Gals post over on the Paper Crafts Connection blog today. I'm talking all about a trend I've been noticing in some of the newly released product....weathered wood. Hop on over to the Paper Crafts Connection blog where I share some product picks and inspiring photos of this trend. There might also be a *ahem* giveaway. :-)
Here is the card I created that incorporates this weathered wood trend, as well as a quick how-to to get this look.
It's pretty easy...just a little acrylic paint (two colors) along with a wood grain impression plate. (or another embossing texture/tool of your choice) You could really achieve lots of different looks with this depending on the paint colors as well as the cardstock base color that you choose. I'm looking forward to playing around with this idea a little more.
So here's how I got the look....I started with a piece of kraft cardstock. I used a foam brush to brush on some blue paint. I left some of the kraft cardstock showing through in areas.
I let the blue dry completely, then brushed over it with white acrylic. I let that dry as well. I'm impatient by nature, so my heat gun helped speed things up a bit. :-)
I then ran my painted cardstock through my Vagabond with Papertrey's Woodgrain Impression Plate. After that I took my refill bottle of Copic Colorless Blender and squirt a little onto a paper towel and rubbed over the painted/embossed cardstock. It worked great to remove areas of the paint. You can expose the layers of paint and cardstock below depending on how much you rub over it with the Colorless Blender solution. You can remove as much or as little as you like, depending on the look you're going for.
Sanding will give a a similar result, although I sometimes struggle with sanding...it usually does more harm to my cardstock by tearing/pilling it before I achieve my desired effect. The blending solution left my cardstock untouched and only worked at eating away the paint. The paint did get a bit gummy as I was rubbing over it, but once it dries completely, it's perfect!
Kind of a fun discovery! I added some stamped florals over the top with red ink for a little extra somthing.
Thanks for stopping by...don't forget to hop over to the Paper Crafts Connection blog!
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Welcome to the second group post of the February Papertrey Ink countdown! The 5th anniversary festivities are nearing an end...only a few more days!
Today the team is focusing on a new line of products being released in just a few days called Movers & Shakers. The product line consists of two stamp sets: Movers & Shakers Sentiments and Simply You, along with a collection of dies intended to create interactive cards. So. much. fun. Eeek!
My post is quite long today, so bear with me! There's lots of fun stuff to see! I chose to feature one of the new dies from the Movers & Shakers: Zipper collection. There are two dies in the set, both cut a rectangular panel, but one with the zipper along with short edge and one with the zipper along the longer side. For my projects today I'm using the die that cuts the zipper along the short edge.
My first project uses this die along with the new Simply You stamp set to create a boxed set of notecards.
There's a twist though! Inside the box there is a pocket (created with the Library Pocket die) which is filled with sentiment strips stamped from the new Simply You set. Each one finishes the sentence "You..." and conveys a different sentiment.
These sentiment strips can be inserted into a little pocket that was created by stitching above and below the "zipper" portion of the diecut. This allows you to customize the notecards for different occasions as you need them...or this set would be perfect for gift-giving as well!
Once the sentiment strip has been inserted into the pocket, the card is ready to be given away. The recipient of the card can then follow the instructions on the little arrow by the zipper tab and pull it away to reveal the sentiment.
After the zipper strip has been torn away, the stitching holds the edges firmly enough that the strip stays put and won't slip out, even though there's no adhesive on the strip (it would be too difficult to slip it into the pocket it you tried to put adhesive on it). I hope this all makes sense...it's a fun concept but a little hard to put into words and pictures, so I hope it's making sense! :-)
And here is the box, all closed up. Creating the box is very easy...I posted a tutorial HERE a while back...it's my favorite way of packaging card sets.
And that's not all...I have another project for you! Nichole challenged each of use to use our assigned die along with an existing set to create a second project. I chose to combine the Movers & Shakers: Zipper die along with the Tiny Treats: Valentine set. Today is Valentine's Day...how could I resist sharing a Valentine's project?
For this project, I used the zipper die to create little notebooks. The die itself makes up the front and back covers as well as the pages.
The zipper portion hides a secret message on the front cover. For the rest of the notebook pages, it acts as the perforation so the pages can be torn out of the notebook.
Here's a peek at the secret message hidden on the cover of each...
My daughter and I worked together to make 25 of these for her class Valentine treats! We used a Silly Band to attach a pencil. The backside was stamped with the "to, from" message from the Tiny Treats set and a heart from Simple Valentine...
I realize it's too late for you to use this concept for Valentine treats, but you could use this same idea with any of the Tiny Treats sets. They would make adorable birthday favors, Christmas treats, etc. Here are a few construction tips if you'd like to try your hand at making something similar...
I used regular copy paper to diecut the notebook pages. Each notebook has 24 pages. I was able to cut through a stack of 6 sheets at a time, so four passes through my Vagabond was all it took for each notebook. The back cover is cut from plain white cardstock, the front cover front patterned paper. I also diecut 2" strips to use as the topper of the cover. This allows you to create the hidden message under the zipper. Just make sure when you adhere this topper to the front cover that you aren't putting adhesive on the zipper part...put it above and below, but not directly on the zipper or the recipient won't be able to unzip it! :-)
For the binding, I just punched a row of holes across the top through all layers (cover + 24 pages + back cover) using my Crop-a-dile and then stitched through the holes with twine, stitching all the way across and then back again, tying the ends together into a bow.
What do you think? Fun, huh? I've got lots of other ideas for this die, not to mention the others in the collection! I can't wait to play with them more! But for now, be sure to swing by the other DT gals to see what they've created with the Movers & Shakers collection!! :-)
Supplies not linked, but available on February 15th at 10pm EST from Papertrey Ink: Movers & Shakers Sentiment stamp set, Simply You stamp set, Beautiful Butterflies stamp set, Movers & Shakers: Zipper die collection, Fine Linen ink
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I hope you've all been having a great time with the Papertrey Ink 5th Anniversary celebration! I'm just amazed at all of the awesome prizes they are giving away! It's so fun to see what everyone's been doing with the challenges. I hope you've had a chance to play along! Today is the 10th, which means the actual countdown is beginning. There is also a sketch challenge on Nichole's blog today. She is providing 5 sketches for you to play along with for a chance to win another amazing prize package which you can read about on Nichole's blog today.
So, since today is the start of the actual countdown, let's get on to some new products, shall we? Today I get to help introduce two new sets. The first is called Frilly Flowers and was designed by Tiffany Pastor. It's a jumbo-sized floral set that's done up in Tiffany's classic grunge style. There are so many different layering possibilites, especially when you add in the coordinating die collection. I had so much fun playing with this set and I know I'll reach for it often.
The second set I'm featuring tonight is the next installment of the Think Big Favorites collection. I love these sets and am so glad they are continuing with it this year! I reach for the sentiments in these sets all. the. time. Love them. This month's set features 3 birthday sentiments from the original 2010 Birthday Tags set.
So how about some projects? First up is a bright and cheery thank you card. I played around with layering some Frilly Flower diecuts over some of the stamped images for lots of dimension. I added in some Pure Poppy felt and also a rolled ribbon rose created from Pure Poppy grosgrain ribbon. I also pulled out my Cover Plate: Quatrefoil die to experiment with a technique that's been floating around my head for awhile!
I used the Mat Stack 4 and Mat Stack 4 Layerz dies to create a framed cut-out on the Quatrefoil die. It's really pretty simple and I'll show you in a few step-by-step photos.
I started by diecuting the Quatrefoil die out of some bright yellow patterned paper. I then placed my Mat Stack 4 die over the center and ran it through my machine again.
Then using the same paper, I diecut a Mat Stack 4 Layerz. (you could use different paper for a contrasting frame which would also be cool!) I then took that Layerz diecut and ran it through my machine again, this time with the regular Mat Stack 4 die placed directly in the center.
This creates a very narrow frame. You could also try combining it with the Mega Mat Stack die for a thicker border, but that might not leave you much of the Quatrefoil die showing...I might have to play around with that and see what happens!
I then adhered that frame over my Quatrefoil diecut from which I had cut the Mat Stack out of the center of in the first photo. I would have a photo of this step, but this was the point in my day when my little helper arrived and announced she was going to stamp...and all projects in progress had to be quickly rescued before they were rendered useless...and in that process I forgot to take a photo. Sorry. :-) But you get the idea, right?
Ok, next card. :-) This one is based on one of the sketches that Nichole is using for the sketch challenge on her blog today.
For the flowers on this card, I experimented with diecutting and stamping on wood paper. So fun! Wood was definitely one of the trends I noticed with the new CHA releases this month. Creative Imaginations manufactures a thin wood "paper" that can be easily diecut. There are two thicknesses - I used the THIN in birch. You can find these papers in HERE, HERE, or HERE. It is very thin (good for your diecut machine!) so I also cut the flowers from a lightweight chipboard and adhered the two together.
I also took a brown Copic marker and ran it along the edges of the flowers to give that sort of "burned" look that purchased wood embellishments can have. I love this look and feel and will need to do that again! The Happy Birthday sentiment along the bottoms is from the new Think Big Favorites #13.
My next card is also based on one of Nichole's sketches for today's challenge....this fun one!
For this next card, I used just the dies cut from patterned paper to create the focal flower. I'll show you a fun little technique in a bit using the largest die from the collection to create the looped center similar to the Loopsy Daisy die. This big fluffy flower is made from just two diecuts! Kinda cool, huh?
I added some Frilly Flower stamped images behind my dimensional flower and a little BB: Chevron love along the bottom edge too. Can you tell from today's post that I'm digging the chevron trend?
Ok, so step-by-steps on the flower. I started with these two diecuts from the Frilly Flower die collection, and also a 1" punched circle.
I started by adhering that yellow circle to the center of the largest die.
Then I took a scissors and snipped between each of the longer petals, right up to the edge of the center circle.
I then put a dab of glue in the center and folded those longer petals up and into the center, securing them with the glue.
I went all the way around the flower until all of the long petals were looped up and then topped it off with a button.
I then took that second diecut flower and adhered it to the backside so the petals showed through the gaps where I trimmed away the long petals. I bent the petals up a bit for added dimension. Fun and easy! The finished flower is nice and big too...about 2 3/4" in diameter.
And lastly tonight, a bright and colorful birthday card using all three of the Think Big Favorites #13 sentiments to create a colorful background. The small Happy Birthday sentiment is from the original Birthday Tags set, from which these sentiments were super-sized. I love that if you have both sets you can have a completely coordinated look.
The pretty Aqua Mist and Raspberry Fizz papers are from the new single color patterned paper packs that are beginning to be released this month. This will be a continuing collection with these being the first two colors released. I love this idea and can't wait to have more of them. What I really love is that they don't have white or cream in the pattern, so they can easily be paired with anything! (the yellow chevron is from a My Mind's Eye pad).
That's all from me today...thanks so much for stopping by! I hope you'll have a chance to play along with today's sketch challenge. You can also check out more new product peeks on the DT members that are posting today...Heather, Lisa, Maile, Melissa, Tiffany, Lizzie and Jessica
Finished size = 5 1/2" x 4 1/4"
Supplies not linked but available on February 15th from Papertrey Ink: Frilly Flowers stamp set and die collection.
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