PaperFections

Damask Trimmed Tree

I had a chance to play with this beautiful new Tree Trimming Trio stamp set from Papertrey Ink over the long holiday weekend and came up with this card. I created the background paper on their white Guidelines II Grid Sheet with Dawn McVey's Damask Designs set (utterly gorgeous!), using the new pigment Sweet Blush and Spring Moss inks -- they yield such a pretty, soft, suedey color! I used a tiny holly leaf stamp from Borders & Corners {Oval} set with Spring Moss ink, stamped in between the damask patterns. The tree was stamped onto Stamper's Select White cardstock and then die cut with Spellbinders Petite Oval Nestabilities die (largest in the large set). I inked the die with the Spring Moss pigment ink before die cutting, so the die would transfer the ink color around the embossed edge of the die cut. Then I used a Two-Way Glue pen around the oval edge and glittered it. The largest swirl on the tree was also glittered, as was the tree-top star. I love this non-traditional color combo! Sweet Blush buttons & satin ribbon finish off this card -- another for my Christmas stash! I hope you all had a... Read more →

Autumn Abundance

I needed a few "general" cards for my stash ... I never seem to have any on hand when I need them for a quick note, how about you? I was in the mood to color these beautiful Papertrey Ink Autumn Abundance Fall images, since it's STILL raining out ... I think my area has accumulated about 5 inches over the past 2-3 days and it doesn't appear to be letting up until later in the week! The images were colored with Copic markers that Papertrey Ink says matches their cardstock & ink colors ... very helpful when trying to color coordinate your project! You can find their Copic color selections HERE, if you are not already familiar with them. I used Gold Copic Spica glitter pen on the leaves and acorn image -- hopefully you can see that pretty sparkle in the closeup photo above (click on it for a larger view). The focal images are popped up on foam tape ... other than that, I think everything is pretty self explanatory, with all supplies listed below. I hope you have a lovely Fall week ahead! Leaves card supplies: Stamps: Autumn Abundance Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Dark Chocolate &... Read more →

September Calendar

In all the hub-ub of the first of the month, the holiday, and still getting acclimated to school day routines, I totally forgot to share my September calendar! Actually, I thought I had already made it but when I flipped my calendar stand over to the next month, I discovered I had made TWO October calendars and had nothing for September! YOU never do anything like that, do you?!! :D So here's what I came up with: I thought Papertrey's new Autumn Abundance set would work great for this month, and since the sunflowers have been in full bloom around here lately, I thought this beautiful image would be perfect! This image was SO much fun to color! I stamped the vase of sunflowers with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Papertrey's Vintage Cream cardstock and colored with these Copic markers & Spica glitter pens (gold, olive & chocolate): I really hope you can see all the sparkle in the photo -- it really brings these beautiful flowers to life! I printed my calendar (download available from my Download Page) in green and brown, to match the papers and colored stamp image. I used Sally Lynn's Copic Digital Color Chart to... Read more →

WSC95: Groovy Friend

Time for Beate's Weekend Sketch Challenge again. You can find the sketch and Beate's sample on her blog today, and log in your creation there once you're done. You can see more samples of this sketch today by visiting the blogs of these fabulous ladies: Cambria, Charmaine, Jenn, Lori. Here's what I came up with. It seems those 1970's mushrooms are making a comeback -- both in this groovy new mushroom paper from Cosmo Cricket's Earth Love Mini Deck AND Lockhart Stamp Company's Itty Bitty Mushroom stamp. I thought combining the two would be the perfect match! And with these muted 70's colors, I couldn't help but sing "Feelin' Groovy" the whole time I was making this card! <== Go ahead and click on that link and you'll be singing this song the rest of the day, too! I stamped the mushrooms onto an Inchie Arts White Inchie Square and colored them to match the patterned paper, with these Copic markers (darkest brown Copic is E57 and the clear capped Spica glitter pen is chocolate, then orange, gold and melon. YR31 is my custom lighter Copic): The Inchie was layered onto a Nestabilities Labels 3 die cut from Prism Birchtone... Read more →

Papertrey Ink August Blog Hop

Tonight is Papertrey Ink's blog hop and I couldn't wait to use their beautiful new Fall Elegance stamp set! The season changing to Fall is my most favorite time of the year and the gorgeous colors in the leaves are one of my favorite things of the season ... along with pumpkins! This card has lots of texture, starting with the gold background being die cut from sticky-back canvas. I then colored it directly with Palette ink pads (first in Sunflower, then Raw Sienna for the gold bottom and Papertrey's Ocean Tides for the top). Inking in the two different gold colors gave a lot of depth to the canvas, bringing out the texture. The gold background ended up being a very close match to PTI's Summer Sunrise color. The beautiful flourish pumpkins were inked first with Palette Orangerie, then rocked in Burnt Sienna and stamped directly onto the canvas. The flourish from this stamp set was stamped below the pumpkins in Burnt Sienna. Leaves were punched from different cardstocks (listed below), crumpled and then inked with Chai ink from Papertrey's Tea Dye Duo, then pressed into VersaMark Champagne Dazzle ink pad -- hopefully you can see all the pretty... Read more →

Back-to-School Day & PTI

Hello All -- I sent my kiddos off to school this morning and then promptly downloaded the photos I took and somehow a big chunk of the day was taken over with digi-scrapping! :) Here's just one page I created with Shabby Miss Jen Designs' new School Time album. Over the weekend I got a little organizing done and wanted to share how I've been storing buttons ... specifically Papertrey Ink's beautiful buttons! They come packaged in a little zip lock baggie. Since my other buttons were stored on shelves in jars, I decided to give Making Memories' small storage jars for their Embellishment Center a try and much to my delight, Papertrey's package of buttons fit perfectly into these jars! Ahhh, they're all nice and labeled and within easy reach now! Now I'm off to actually try and USE some of those pretty buttons! Read more →

WSC90: Fan Thanks

Do your hot days of summer need some cooling off? Maybe this fan will help! Laurie is our hostess for Weekend Sketch Challenge #90 today. You can find the sketch and her sample over at her blog this morning. Here's my interpretation: I seem to be keeping things very simple lately, so I minimized on the layers shown on the sketch and added machine stitching to act as one of the layers. Adding to the quick & simple ... instead of using two squares behind the focal image, I used one rectangle and then used twill ribbon to visually cut the layer in half, while adding some texture. Karen Lockhart's Electric Fan (#2088) image was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink, to keep with the brown tones of the kraft cardstock and patterned paper, and colored with these Copic markers: I used Clear Copic Spica Glitter Pen on the air blowing from the fan. Hopefully that will show in this closeup: These talented ladies have samples of this sketch for you today, too: Beate, Cami, Charmaine, Jenn and Lori. I'll be back at 3pm Central today with my Dare To Get Dirty Challenge! A bit of houskeeping: Yes, I got... Read more →

WSC87: Summer Girl's Birthday

Today's Weekend Sketch Challenge is provided by Charmaine. You can find the sketch and her sample on her blog this morning. I needed a young girl's birthday card, so I hope these pinks & greens combined with chocolate will do the trick! I stamped a few of Karen Lockhart's Itty Bitty summer-type images (Baby Bee, Lady Bug, and Escargot) with Adirondack Espresso ink onto patterned paper. I chose this ink due to its very deep brown color. Then I used Martha Stewart's 1" scalloped square punch to punch out the images and adhered them to Inchie Arts White Inchie Squares that I prepped by inking the sides and edges with the same Espresso ink. I used Melon & new Chocolate Spica Glitter Pens to accent the images just a bit. The center striped panel is machine stitched around the edges and popped up on dimensional foam tape. I hope you'll take a look at the samples these ladies created for you with this sketch and then try it for yourself over this long holiday weekend: Cambria, Charmaine, and Lori. I'll be back tomorrow with a new JustRite stamp set preview to share with you, so I hope you'll check back!... Read more →

WSC78: Sit Back & Relax

Here's my sample for the Weekend Sketch Challenge #78 <== You can find the sketch by clicking on that link. I told you I love the look of buttons on projects . . . and here's a BIG one, to prove it! :) I had to slightly alter my own sketch a little, but the basics are the same. The Lockhart Slippers (#4001) were stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Papertrey Ink 2008 Bitty Dot Basics paper and cut out. I used BG13 Copic marker to color in the soles of the shoes and this made the white dots in the paper totally disappear ... an easy peasy paper piecing job! The slippers are popped up on a base of Papertrey Vintage Cream cardstock, cut with Spellbinders Labels Four die and Copic airbrushed lightly with the same BG13 marker. The Lockhart sentiment was added with more Tuxedo Black ink. Prima flowers, Papertrey Ink Aqua Mist button and Vintage Cream satin ribbon accent the corner. The background papers are also Papertrey Ink (Bitty Dot Basics & Green Tea Leaves -- love these patterns!). I hope you all have a lovely weekend and find time to play along with my sketch,... Read more →

WSC71: Urban Butterfly Thanks

Here's my sample for my Weekend Sketch Challenge #71 shown in the post below. I thought this BasicGrey Urban Prairie paper was perfect for spring and butterflies would be a great accent, so I chose this pretty patterned Chintz Butterfly from Lockhart Stamp Company. The butterfly was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink onto Neenah Classic Solar White cardstock and colored with my custom lighter YR31 Copic marker and these Copic Spica glitter pens: pink, turquoise, melon and new baby blue (available in April). I cut the white card base a little narrower and added the Scallop Diamond punch from EK Success to the left side. Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's Paper Tray set. The tiny butterflies are Martha Stewart's Classic Butterfly and Flame Dew Drops accent the focal piece. Did you see the new release from Taylored Expressions yesterday? She has more than cupcakes now! There is a darling new set called Branching Out and Branching Out Coordinates, from a fun new line called Whimsical Wishes, proceeds from which help contribute to a wonderful charitable cause. You can see all of the new sets, along with details about a 3-day blog bash weekend celebrating the first yearof Taylored Expressions'... Read more →

Pink Chocolate Olive Kisses!

Yes, another strange title, I know! This card is a combination of today's color challenge over at SplitcoastStampers.com (pink, chocolate and olive/kiwi) and this week's kissing challenge at Gina K's Stamp TV. It had been ages since I'd done this technique, so I thought I'd give it a try again! The solid Kim Hughes Silhouette Blooms II stamp was inked with Stampin' Up's Regal Rose ink pad on the flower portion and then kissed with the dandelion head from Gina K's Make A Wish stamp set that was inked with SU's Pink Passion ink. This gives a subtle texture and color variation to the flowers: The birthday sentiment is also from this Kim Hughes set. The edges of the focal image were sponged with Antique Linen Distress ink and pierced. Martha Stewart's Doily Lace punch was used on the BasicGrey Infuse patterned paper. Supplies: Papertrey Ink Dark Chocolate cardstock & satin ribbon Neenah Classic Natural White cardstock, BasicGrey Infuse patterned paper, Kim Hughes Silhouette Blooms II stamp set, Tim Holtz Edge Distresser, paper piercing tool, Ranger Distress Ink, Memento Rich Cocoa ink & Martha Stewart Doily Lace punch available from Ellen Hutson LLC Gina K Designs Make A Wish stamp... Read more →

Chocolate Dragonfly Birthday

That title sounds like an exotic delicacy, doesn't it?!! Well, this chocolate dragonfly isn't edible but she sure is pretty accented in coral, isn't she? This sweet Dragonfly stamp is Karen Lockhart's creation. She was stamped with Memento Rich Cocoa ink onto Gina K's Pure Luxury white cardstock and colored with these Copic markers: E25, R20, R22, YR21, W2 and accented with Copic's new Chocolate Atyou Spica glitter pen. She was cut out with Spellbinders Pinking Circle Nestabilities die. The background was Copic airbrushed with YR21 Sketch marker. If you click on the photo below for a larger view, you might be able to see that pretty sparkly chocolate glitter: The color scheme (apricot, coral & chocolate) came from the "For The Love of Chocolate" Virtual Stamp Night challenge over at SplitcoastStampers.com tonight (Friday). The challenges begin again at noon on Saturday and continue until 11pm. So come on over and join in the fun -- you could even have the chance to win a prize! I used CPS#103 for the layout of this 5.25" square card. Papertrey Ink's Dark Chocolate cardstock is the base and I just happened to find the challenge color combo in this new mat pad... Read more →

Blog Jam Giveaway!

About a month ago, after seeing how easy my friend, Jessica Witty, made making homemade jam look, I had to give it a try for the first time! My aunt that used to live in California with an abundance of pineapples, used to make the BEST pineapple jam and I always remember her having fresh batches of it for us whenever we visited. Since I hadn't had it in a very long time, I figured it was about time I try making my own! I followed a recipe I found at the Sure Jell website. I thought we might give the jam as gifts around Thanksgiving so, of course, I wanted some pretty packaging . . . my JustRite Small Letter Set was perfect to create the wording on my custom label, using the Harmony Classic Circle Stamper II. After stamping the border of words, I used Papertrey Ink's First Fruits stamp set to stamp a pineapple in the center (this stamp is actually supposed to be used as an acorn but I modified it!). Spellbinders Classic and Scalloped Circle Nestabilities dies were used to cut and mat the label. For the jar tops, I used JustRite's Baking Set Ensemble... Read more →

Divine Design: May Flourished Magnolia

May magnolias -- I love them! And they currently ARE starting to bloom in Texas . . . I'll try to get a photo and post a little later today. Since they are just about my favorite flowering tree, imagine my pleasure when I first saw this beautiful set from Flourishes! The set is actually called "Lilac" but also includes this branch, leaf and two different magnolia blooms, so you can build your magnolias as you see fit. I ran out of time to post my Divine Design last week, so here it is! <=You can click on that link to learn more about this challenge and here to view the gallery of other participants' projects. (To see my other months of Divine Designs this year, you can either click on the "Divine Design" text in the footer of this post or under the Categories list on my right sidebar.) After "building" my magnolia blooms by stamping them with Tsukineko's Memento Rich Cocoa ink (and Adirondack Lettuce dye ink for the leaves) onto Poison Ivory shimmer cardstock (it's looking a bit washed out in the photo above, but the background is actually a lovely ivory), I colored them with these... Read more →

DDA Inspiration Challenge

I'm back with another challenge amongst fellow SplitcoastStampers Design Team current and alumni members (affectionately named the Dirty Dozen). This month's challenge was an inspiration challenge, using this photo as our inspiration. Beautiful, soothing room and colors, I thought! The rest of the inspiration guidelines were: Challenge Focus: Inspiration photo from BH&G 100 Decorating Ideas Under $100 magazine. Required Element: Make an Inspiration Journal for yourself or as a gift. It can be any size from tiny to huge. Restricted Element: No markers (SU, Copic, or any other brand), no watercolor crayons. . . . did you see that last restriction? NO COPIC MARKERS? That challenge leader, Ms. Jami, is out to get me, I tell ya! Last month I couldn't participate because we were on Spring Break, but the restriction was no die cuts and this month it's no Copics? But I survived, LOL! (Copic also makes glitter PENS)!! :D Here's the color palette I chose to work with: And here's my sketch journal I finally got around to covering for this challenge: Supplies: Stamps: Lockhart Butterflies, Cornish Heritage Farms Paisley backgrounder, Papertrey Ink Simple Alphabet Paper: Prism Sugar Cream, Suede Brown Medium, Nautical Blue Light Ink:... Read more →