Papertrey Ink's January 2018 Create Along With Us

Hello everyone!  I want to take a few minutes today to share that I am still blogging but because we are moving to another state and I'm having to travel a lot, I don't have time for as many blog posts.  We've been working on this move for nearly a year now and things are starting to come together but I have been gone quite a bit over the holidays and now with the details and decisions of getting our home built. There are just so many details to work out but we're getting there.  I hope you'll stay with me even though I can't share as often until we get settled in our new home which should be sometime between March 1st  and May 1st of this year.

Today's card is for the Papertrey Ink January 2018 Create Along With Us Challenge and I chose one of Laurie Schmidlin's Day 1 Release projects to be inspired by.  There are always so many fantastic projects from all of the design team which makes it very hard to choose sometimes, but I wanted to make a card to send to my best friend who came to visit last weekend.  She is one of the reasons that I am so excited to be moving back to Texas as I had to leave her behind when we moved here eight years ago. We've made the best of it but we definitely plan to spend more time together once we get moved back. She works a full time+ job and doesn't have a lot of free time since she is also a mom to one daughter in high school and a son in his first year of college.


Because I feel so behind in my work right now (I'm really not behind) I wanted to try to make maximum impact at first glance by using this Quoted: True Friends saying for the focal point of my card.  I was also inspired by this card from Laurie that was posted last week for a post she did on using vellum.  Like Laurie, I like to use vellum to soften the look of background papers on my cards.  The color is there for the feel but the pattern becomes so much softer.

For my card, I started with a 4.25 x 5.5 inch panel of Stamper's Select Vellum and my sentiment from the Quoted: True Friends stamp set. This is a $5.00 stamp set which is fantastic. You can arrange some or all of the words however you want it to read and this time I left one group out.  Since we are moving back, I didn't want to use the "difficult to leave" part of the sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment using Versamark Ink and Heat Embossed it with Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I repeated this twice but you have to be super careful doing this on vellum because it is very easy to burn the embossing powder. And because Vellum has a tendency to warp, you'll want to make sure you are stamping in the exact same place.  Three light coats is better than one or two heavier coats.  Once I had it embossed, I die cut it using Mix & Mat: Pretty Brackets without the center insert piece of the die.  The Mix & Mat series is so great because every single part of the die is interchangeable with other pieces from the series although I didn't use it that way today. So far there have been 11 of these die sets.

I cut the vellum so that my saying was a little closer to the right side of the mat because I wanted to use some of the Fancy Foliage Details leaves around the left side to kind of frame it up. I die cut a stitched rectangle from Bitty Big Sweet Blush Patterned Paper to go behind the vellum and used some Metallic Gold Cardstock from Gina K Designs for my background mat and the leaves. Once I attached that to a top folding card base made from Stamper's Select White Cardstock, I added a few sequins from Lucy's Rose Gold Collection to finish it off. Since 95% of the cards I make actually get mailed, I didn't want to use any 3D Foam Tape. 

The supplies I've used are linked below for your convenience (affiliate links may be used).

Cuttlebug Die Cutting Machine Shop at: SSS	GKD Gold Metallic Cardstock Shop at: GKD	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	PTI Mix & Mat: Pretty Brackets Shop at: PTI
PTI Quoted: True Friends Shop at: PTI	PTI Stamper's Select Vellum (#44) Shop at: PTI	PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock Shop at: PTI	PTI Sweet Blush Bitty Big Patterned Paper Shop at: PTI
Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS	SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	SSS Stitched Rectangles Dies Shop at: SSS	Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS
Versamark Ink Shop at: PTI | SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS	WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS	Little Things from Lucy's Rose Gold Sequin Shaker Mix Shop at: SSS