Repeating Designs with Papertrey Ink

This week's Make It Monday #296 with Lexi Daly shows us how to use the small filler images included in many stamps sets to create repeat designs.  I love the whole concept because I love clean lines and graphics.  In fact, because of this I chose to use a stamp set that was designed to use on repeat.  I checked and this particular set is no longer available but there are many other sets that can be used to create a repeating or image card. Here are just a few of the sets that have all small images if you like this look.

For my card, I starting by making a card base from True Black Cardstock.  Next I cut a panel of patterned paper that I had from a pad I picked up at Hobby Lobby recently.  The entire pad is Black and White and many of the designs have Gold Foil.  Next I treated a piece of Stamper's Select White Cardstock with my powder tool and stamped several of the little images leaving space in between to cut them out.  I sprinkled on Gold Embossing Powder and heat set the images.  Once that was done, I used a .75" square punch to cut them out.  Because this is a birthday card for my youngest brother I wanted to mat the squares onto black cardstock for that really bold graphic look. I used a 1" punch to cut those out and attached them with tape runner.   I also really like diamonds vs. squares so of course, I had to attach them in that way.  

I die cut the Big Basics: Wish Big from Gold Foiled Cardstock.  I really love Papertrey's Gold Luxe Cardstock with this Patterned Paper but I didn't think to check the color until after I had assembled the card.  Then I started assembling my card.  I cut a second rectangle of paper for the inside of the card.  Whenever I use a dark cardstock, I try to remember to do this but occasionally, I do forget.  I also cut a stitched square to put another "diamond" behind the Sentiment to help it really pop.

I wanted to create another card in this design using dimensional foam tape and I had enough of the small heat embossed design pieces left to do it.  I used the "Happy" from the Tipped Top Dies and the "Birthday" from the Birthday Cheer Dies. I cut two of the MFT Horizontal Strips Dies using the two largest sizes to put the sentiments on this card. Again, it helps the gold to pop off the background.  This time I used a Stamper's Select White to create my top folding card base.

It is always incredibly hard to capture this much gold on a card accurately so I did a close up for you where the lights were not directly on the card and I do think that is slightly better.  I promise -- I did not use yellow! I love this style and design for masculine cards in particular.

Be sure to hop over to Nichole's Blog and check out all the entries in this week's Make It Monday. Thanks for stopping by today.  For those of you who have asked, I am finally finished with my class so I can get back to blogging regularly with all the details that folks seem to really want.

The Fusion Challenge - Navy Patterns

Welcome to a new post for The Fusion Card Challenge. I was inspired by the bold pattern of the Navy & White Pillow on the sofa and also partly by the sketch. If you rotate the sketch 180 degrees, then I'm pretty close.

Navy and Gold always works nicely for a masculine card and I love this patterned paper with the gold foiling. Because I only use a quarter sheet of patterned paper at a time, this pad of paper has already lasted me a long time and I still have lots left.  This particular one came from the 8.5 x 11 Be Bold - Be Bright Collection from The Paper Studio which is Hobby Lobby's in house brand.  All of these papers have gold foil on them and come in a variety of patterns and colors.

To capture the feel of the sketch, I wanted to use some of the things I see in it as well including a horizontal banner, and a vertical design element.  I have two postage frame dies and even though they are two different brands, the smaller Papertrey die (from the Make-It Market Post & Parcel Kit) and the larger Avery Elle die work awesome together. I wanted that gold edge along the outside of my postage stamp so I just tried it and I was pretty excited when they worked together.

The large "Wish Big" sentiment is from Papertrey's Big Basics Die Collection. There are several sentiments each sold individually so you can pick and choose which ones you like and will use. With masculine cards, I like to keep the focal image front and center but I felt the Happy Birthday banner added a nice touch to the Stamper's Select White card base, pulling the whites together.  

This is a super simple card for this challenge and the only thing stamped was the banner that I had done with several others previously.  Everything else is a die cut. I am really happy with this design and plan to use it in the future.  Have a great day and be sure to check out all the entries and Design Team Inspiration at The Fusion Card Challenge Blog.

Sunday Stamps Challenge #145

Hello everyone!  When I saw the inspiration image over at the Sunday Stamps Challenge this week, I really wanted to participate as I love the color palette.  Since I am in full on Valentine mode right now, I wanted to try to incorporate these colors into a masculine card. It seems like all guys like orange, my husband included.  When I met him, he actually had an orange corvette but that was more than 30 years ago.    

For my card, I started with a card base made from Smokey Shadow Cardstock.  For the striped paper, I used a sheet from the My Mind's Eye Fancy That Paper Collection. This collection is no longer available at Simon Says Stamp but I happened to find 3 of the 6 x 6 Pads when I was in Dallas at Christmas. I really wanted a more orange color on the one stripe, so I ink blended with Berry Sorbet and Melon Berry Inks to make it more orange.  I masked off the other stripes with Post-It Tape so I wouldn't accidentally get the ink on the greys which probably would have made them look brown and muddy.  While that dried, I did ink blending on a piece of Canson XL Watercolor Paper with the same inks, spritzed it with Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist and set it aside to dry for a few minutes as well.

Since my designer paper has gold foil on it, I chose that as my neutral and cut a heart from Gold Foiled Cardstock using Little B Hearts Cutting Dies.  One of the hearts is the cutting die and the other puts the cross stitched edge on the heart. Then I cut the smaller heart to go on top of the gold heart.

The Sentiment is the Big Basics: Love You Die from Papertrey Ink and I cut it from Smoky Shadow Cardstock.  The bitty heart is from the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die and I always seem to have a few of these laying around.  This is a very Clean and Simple (CAS) card with bold graphics - just the way my hubby likes them.

Be sure to stop over at the Sunday Stamps Challenge Blog to see all the entries and the Design Team's Inspiration.

Inspired By All The Little Things #38

Inspired By All the Little Things is starting the new year with a beautiful challenge inspiration photo. Isn't this just the most elegant setting?  It uses Pink and Mauve with Metallic Gold so you know that I love this look. Roses are always a classic look although I didn't use them today. You all might get sick of seeing me use this set!

I love the color of the drapes on the chairs so that was my starting point for today's card. I also love the sheer elegance of the entire image. I've been playing for the last few days with a gorgeous new stamp and die from Papertrey Ink called Fresh Bouquet with the Fresh Bouquet Die.  I am so enamored with this set.  As a girl who loves to heat emboss, this set is right up my ally.  The entire outline can be stamped with Versamark and heat embossed all at once (no masking required) and then you can stamp the individual layers in the various colors. You could also stamp the outline in the color of your choosing (such as Black), it's just that I really love gold heat embossing! That is what I did here using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder on Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  Next I stamped the floral layers with Papertrey Ink Lavender Moon, Altenew Puffy Heart and Purple Wine Inks. I used Altenew's Forest Glades for the greenery.  I'm still trying to familiarize myself with the Altenew Inks and the colors vs. the names. I have the stuff to make a swatch book, I just haven't done it yet.  I'm thinking that might need to happen sooner rather than later.

I cut the card base from Lavender Moon Cardstock using the Noted: Scalloped A2 Vertical Dies. While the name would make you think this is a shade of lavender, it actually works better with most blue based pinks like Lovely Lady, Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, etc. Autumn Rose looks particularly nice!  I haven't mentioned it for a while but Papertrey Cardstocks are heavyweight, 110# super smooth cardstock. The quality simply can't be beat and the price is also fantastic. Colored cardstock is $5.00 for 24 sheets.  Stamper's Select White Cardstock is $6.00 for 40 sheets.

I wanted to make several of these cards to send to some of my girlfriends.  I don't live near any of my long time girlfriends and it is often hard to stay connected with so many miles and activities between us.  Everyone is busy with their own families and we just kind of drift away from each other. Sending cards is a great way to stay connected to them and remind them that I'm only a phone call away.

On this particular card (although I made several) I used foam tape on the white background panel and the floral bouquet. I adhered the sentiment and the little hearts directly to the background panel using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.

If you get a chance, be sure to stop by the Inspired By All the Little Things Blog to check out all of the Design Team's Projects. Thank you so much for stopping by my blog today. If you'd like to leave a comment, I really enjoy reading them. Have a great weekend, everyone! 

Starting Afresh

Today I sat down and got out some previously unused items for the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge "Start Afresh". The idea is to take something out of the package that hasn't been used before and see what you can make. For me, this meant I had time to play with a few things that I haven't had a chance to before now.  A few months back I got several sets of the Altenew Cube Inks that come in Color Families. While I have used most of the colors at least once I hadn't done any layered stamping to see how well the colors go together.

For the stamping I did today, I used the three lightest shades of the families Rose Petal, Glacier Caves and Cool Summer Nights.  I have 8 different sets of these cubes encompassing nearly every color group except yellows and greys. I have those colors in other brands of ink, but today was only about trying out the families of Altenew Inks. The containers I use for Distress Ink Cubes and Altenew Ink Cubes hold 32 colors each, so I'd have to add another container in order to expand either of those sets. This 5 drawer chest is on my wish list. I'm really good with the inks I have right now.  I have some larger style pads but I love the ink cubes for using with my MISTI tool as I have a tendency to drop the larger size pads.  They are also great to use for techniques and the Altenew Inks share many of the same characteristics as Distress Inks.  They blend well and easily, they are great to use for watercolor techniques, and they are easily distressed by adding water via spray or droplets.  I don't personally care for too much of that look but I like to keep my options open to include everything.

I want to spend just a few minutes talking about the Altenew Ink Cubes. These are, like many others out there, 1 x 1 inch raised felt ink pads.  The biggest and most important difference for me is how incredibly well the Altenew Inks keep their lids on. They "snap" on tighter one way vs. the other, so if I don't feel I got that snap, I rotate it 90 degrees and do it again.  I have never had an Altenew Ink Cube lid pop off (so far).  Even Distress Inks lose their lids from time to time and if you don't notice right away, it can dry out your pad.  I keep reinkers for my most used Distress Inks (Pinks and Purples) and also for all of my Papertrey Ink Cubes. Altenew's Reinkers come in individual colors or in the sets of four colors from the coordinating sets that can be bought together.  It's a pretty significant investment of funds so I haven't done that yet but when I do, I'm pretty sure I will start with the Rose Petals family of colors given my love for pink.  I really love how clear and transparent the Altenew Inks are as well.  For me, different inks accomplish different things so you have to know what you are looking for.  Simon Says Stamp Inks for example, are highly pigmented and give you deep rich color. Distress Inks require multiple layer stamping to get the deeper tones.

It's a little bit hard to figure out or narrow down your choices if you are just getting started with making cards. I chose the inks I wanted to try by asking lots of questions from some of my favorite designers.  I also try to stick to one or two lines of inks.  WPLUS9, Simon Says Stamp and Hero Arts Inks are all manufactured by the same company and have the same properties so it probably isn't necessary to buy all three lines.  There are so many inks to choose from out there but a good place to start is by watching Jennifer McGuire's Ink Comparison Video here.

I also pulled out a December release stamp set called Fresh Bouquet along with the Fresh Bouquet Coordinating Die from Papertrey Ink.  This may seem like a simple set but it is not to be underestimated. One of the great things about this stamp set is that it contains an outline image for the floral grouping and then individual layers for the various parts of the bouquet. If you're like me and love heat embossing, this set is genius.  It was designed by Nichole Heady and I hope she'll be doing more of this style in the future.  I love to watercolor but I don't always have the time to do it.  This stamp set gives me the best of both worlds!

The bouquet on this card was created using the Rose Petals Inks in Rose Quartz and Puffy Heart and the berries were done in Lavender Fields which is part of the Shades of Purple Family with the leaves stamped in Forest Glades.

This bouquet was stamped in the Cool Summer Nights family using the Sea Glass, Ocean Waves and Dusk inks.  Forest glades was again used for the greenery.  For these florals, I die cut the bouquet first, then heat embossed the outline image using Versamark with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  The sentiments are from Papertrey Ink's Big Basics Die Collection.  All of the sentiments in this collection are large and impactful but you can pick and choose which ones work for you.  The little hearts are from the Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die.  The card base is made from Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue Cardstock with the Noted: A2 Scalloped Notecard Die.

Thank you so much for coming by today.  I hope you enjoyed my observations on Altenew Inks and I'd love to see what you make.  Your kind and encouraging comments are very much appreciated and I hope you'll take time to leave me one. Happy Friday everyone!