Make It Market Kit: Luxe Letterpress
February 28, 2014
It's time for the full reveal of the first ever Make It Market kit from Papertrey ink! I have a ton of projects and information the share with you, but before I begin, here are the complete details on the Luxe Letterpress kit...
The NEW! Luxe Letterpress Kit designed exclusively for Papertrey Ink is full of specialty items that will instantly give you a boutique feel as soon as you open your box! This kit not only features a new innovative impression plate and die system, but also conatins high quality letterpress papers and golden embellishments to give all of your projects a luxurious, timeless beauty. The best part about this kit is that over half the value is invested in exclusive tools which can be used again and again, even after you have used all of the expendable items!
Here is a quick look at the contents of this amazing kit:
- Luxe Letterpress Stamp Set
- Luxe Letterpress Impression Plate
- Luxe Letterpress Impression Accessory Plates
- Luxe Letterpress Frame Die
- Luxe Letterpress Envelope Seal Die
- 1- Printable Envelope Seal Labels Download
- 12- (8.5"x11") sheets of Lettra 110# letterpress stock
- 8- (4.25"x5.5") pieces of Lettra 220# letterpress stock
- 3- (8.5"x11") sheets Gold Foil Label sheets
- 1- Gold Doily
- 3- White Feathers
- 1- roll Super Fine Gold Metallic Tape
- 1- roll Gold Metallic Tape
- 1- mini bag Gold Sequin Mix
- Gold Baker's Twine
- Colorbox Cat Eye Metallic Ink Pad
The total retail cost of this kit is $85. There will be a limited number of these exclusive kits available and once they sell out, they will never be available again! The Luxe Letterpress Kit will be available for sale beginning on March 1st at 10pm EST, only at Papertrey Ink. Read all the details on Nichole's blog or contact Customer Service with any questions.
Here are some detailed shots of the kit contents. These are the Impression Plates and inserts that come with the kit. The inserts nest inside the large plate and each one coordinates with a sentiment from the stamp set that's also included in the kit.
**NOTE: One VERY important note about the impression inserts - they nest inside the full-sized plate, but will need to be secured with a bit of painter's tape or washi tape before running them through your machine. The rubber embossing mat tends to pull the insert out of place and could cause them to overlap each other and potentially bend your plates. A bit of tape fixes that! A note about this will be included with your kit as a reminder as well.
For more info on the Impression Plates and how they work, I put together a video for you HERE. (please excuse the poor video quality...technology and I went a few rounds today and I'm pretty sure I lost!))
Here is the stamp set that is included in the kit. The stamps and Impression Plates work together to create a design that mimics the look of beautiful letterpress, without all of the inky mess. The embossing and stamping are done separately, but when combined, they give the look of custom letterpress.
Each of the main, large sentiments in the stamp set coordinates with one of the Impression Inserts. Here's a visual of what they look like assembled - the gray portion is the embossing, the black would be the stamping. They are symetrical and can be used with the full-sized impression plate to create horizontal or vertical cards.
One of the other main elements in the kit that I'm really excited about are the letterpress papers. These are so luxurious. Letterpress paper is much softer than the cardstock we typically work with, so it takes the Impression Plates really well and gives a nice, deep impression. We've included two thicknesses in the kit. The 110lb is great for cards - you will receive 12 -8 1/2" x 11" sheets. This is the kind of stuff I tend to want to hoard (who's with me??), so the way I've been using it is a single panel embossed with the Impression Plate adhered to a regular cardstock base. That gives me enough for 48 beautifully impressed card fronts! But you could definitely use it to create your entire card as well. The heavy 220lb letterpress paper is super thick and great for single layer postcard type cards. It impresses beuautifully as well, just use caution in your diecutting machine and maybe back off on your sandwich a bit. I usually use the tan and vanilla embossing mats, but with the 220lb, I removed the vanilla mat. Here is a closeup of these beautiful papers, the top two sheets are the thick 220lb, while the bottom two are the 110lb...
Besides the Impression Plates and Inserts, there are two other dies as well. There is a frame die that coordinates with the Impression Inserts...
And a seal die that will be great for making envelope seals as well as embellishments. This die cuts an outer wavy edge and embosses a center ring. There are tons of things that can be done with the inside circle of this die! Tip: A 1" circle punch will fit perfectly inside the embossed ring.
Speaking of the seal die -- with the kit, you will receive a download with printable images that coordinate with the seal. They can be printed on the gold foil adhesive paper that's included in the kit (it's inkjet compatible) to create beautiful envelope seals. I also had sucess printing them onto the letterpress papers to create embellishments. The printable is designed so that you can nest your die inside a black guideline to ensure perfect placement when diecutting.
There are also two different gold tapes in the kit - one is a 1/4" and the other is an ultra-fine tape. Both are great gor making borders and all sorts of other things - combine the two widths to create multiple borders, stripes, etc!
And there is a sprinkling of other embellishments as well - a gold doily, twine, some feathers, and a bag of sequins...
Before I share my projects with you, I wanted to share a link to my Pinterest board, Luxe Letterpress, that contains all of the images that inspired this kit. There are some great images for you to use as a jumping-off point for your projects as well. My plan is to share an inspiration board for each of the Make It Market kits we release.
So, after all of that, I'm dying to share some projects with you! First is a card that I shared in my sneak peek of the kit during the February release. It's a birthday shaker card. I used the frame die to cut a window in the front of my card, then impressed it with the coordinating impression plate.
The Happy Birthday sentiment insert was impressed onto some letterpress paper and layered behind the window which was covered with clear cardstock. I enclosed some sequins from the kit between the layers. I made a banner using the twine, some sequins and the gold tape. I juse wrapped the tape around the twine as well as some cardstock strips and notched the ends to make the banner pieces. The coordinating envelope is embellished with some gold tape and an envelope seal diecut from the gold paper.
All other supplies from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit from Papertrey Ink, available March 1st at 10pm EST
|
|
Up next is a bright and cheery card using the "So Happy For You" sentiment. I used some spray mists to mist the impressed background. I also trimmed a narrow strip of the gold paper and snipped it into random shapes to create confetti. The gold paper is adhesive-backed, so I could just peel away the backing and adhere it to the card. Notice the fun envelope? I punched some 3/4" circles from the gold paper and adhered them inside the flap of the envelope. A little tip: if you get little bumps and ripples in the gold paper from working with it, just smooth over it with a bone folder once all of the circles are adhered and they'll smooth right out.
And I can't forget to mention the feather...I just brushed a bit of Raspberry Fizz and Orange Zest inks over the tip. I used both widths of the gold tape in the bottom right corner for a little embellishment.
All other supplies from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit from Papertrey Ink, available March 1st at 10pm EST
  |
Next I have a few birthday cards. The first one is bright and colorful again. I just love the pinks and aquas with the gold...one of my favorite combinations. Here I created stripes by using the two different gold tapes on strips of cardstock. I also pulled out some Aqua Mist cardstock and used the Impression Plate to impress it.
I used the envelope seal as an accent on my card front this time. I diecut it from letterpress paper, then punched one of the star images (from the Seal Printable) with a 1" circle punch and layered it over the top. A little stamped star image from the Luxe Letterpress stamp set layered over that finishes it off. I'm also having fun using elements of the kit to embellish envelopes to coordinate with my cards.
All other supplies from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit from Papertrey Ink, available March 1st at 10pm EST
|
|
And I have another birthday card, this one is a little softer. This time I actually used the gold foil paper with one of the impression inserts. I adhered it to a piece of plain cardstock before diecutting and embossing it so it would be a little more stable. Then I heat embossed the sentiment using some Zing powder. It worked really well, just be sure to brush over it with an embossing buddy (I use a fabric pouch filled with cornstarch) or the powder will likely stick where you don't want it to.
The banner behind the sentiment was made from Sweet Blush cardstock and I added several rows of the gold tape. Oh, and I should mention the feather - I actually stamped on it! I used the star from the stamp set, stamped it using Versamark and heat embossed with gold powder. I brushed the tip of the feather with Versamark as well so I could coat that with gold powder too. I wrapped the ends of the feathers with some gold tape too. Tip: Use an embossing buddy on the feather too - it will help with powder sticking where you don't want it to.
All other supplies from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit from Papertrey Ink, available March 1st at 10pm EST
|
|
Next is an elegant graduation card. I always struggle with graduation cards, do you too? I always feel like I can't quite make something worthy of the occasion! The elements in this kit are perfect for creating elegant cards for the grad.
I used the seal die and some gold tape to create a ribbon medallion embellishment. The center of the medallion was stamped with the graduation hat from the Tag-its #4 stamp set. Notice also how I shifted the Impression Plate up slightly so it's directly in the center of the card this time. It's just a matter of shifing the Impression Plate up on your paper panel before running it through your machine. I filled in the blank, unembossed space along the bottom with a strip of Ocean Tides cardstock. You could create a ton of these in a rather short amount of time...which is good because it always seems like if I need one graduation card, I need several. :-)
All other supplies from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit from Papertrey Ink, available March 1st at 10pm EST
|
|
Are you still with me? I had so much fun creating, I just couldn't quit. I have a couple of wedding projects to share yet! First up is a post-card style gift card holder which I created using the 220lb letterpress paper. Again, I used the gold foil with the insert die and impression plate and heat embossed the senitment.
The back side of the card features a panel of Berry Sorbet cardstock which I impressed with the Luxe Letterpress Impression Plate. Then I took frame diecut and stitched it to the panel, just along the edges, and it's the perfect size to hold a gift card. I stamped the sentiments from the Luxe Letterpress stamp set. I used the seal die to embellish the gift card holder as well as the envelope. For the gift card embellishment I impressed the "&" using the Bride and Groom Impression Insert plate, then just punched it out with a 3/4" circle punch and backed it with a 1" circle of aqua mist and layered them both over the seal diecut.
All other supplies from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit from Papertrey Ink, available March 1st at 10pm EST
|
|
And LASTLY, I have a wedding ensemble including a card and gift bag.
I used the gold ink pad from the kit and Sweet Blush ink to stamp the sentiment. I used some circle punches to punch circles from Sweet Blush cardstock and the gold foil paper from the kit.
To embellish the feathers I used the gold doily from the kit, trimmed two scallops, and wrapped one around each feather. I also wrapped the ends with the 1/4" gold tape and added some sequins.
Here is a little close-up of the coordinating gift bag. I trimmed a portion of the gold doily and adhered it to the top of my embossed panel. I added a bit of ribbon for the handle.
All other supplies from the Make It Market: Luxe Letterpress Kit from Papertrey Ink, available March 1st at 10pm EST
|
|
Thank you so much for letting my share my excitement about this kit! I've created a ton of projects and I still feel like I have so much left to use. I love that so much of the kit is made up of things that I can use over and over again. With that in mind, I'll be back next week when I plan to share some projects using the kit contents combined with some regularly released Papertrey stamps and dies. Since the items like the dies and impression plates won't be used up after the rest of the contents of the kit are gone, I want to inspire you to combine them with other things you might already have. Have a request to see the Luxe Letterpress stamps and dies used with a particular Papertrey product? Leave me a comment and I'll see what I can do! :-)
For now, you can hop around to the other Make It Market girls to see what they've created with the kit!