Papertrey Ink September 2018 Blog Hop

Since our move at the end of May, I haven't been able to participate in very many Blog Hops but I'm determined to get back on schedule!  Each month Papertrey Ink holds a blog hop with an inspirational image to guide us.

This beautiful fall table with its vibrant colors was definitely my inspiration as I was choosing what colors to work with.  I'm not a fan of pumpkin unless it the pumpkin pie that I make which has a layer of pecans with brown sugar and butter in the bottom of the crust.  It's a delicious little surprise hidden at the bottom of the pie.  As long as you like pecans, this will be a little taste of heaven.  We've been so far from our kids for the last 8.5 years that we rarely get to celebrate Thanksgiving with them.  This year, I for sure want to bring that tradition back.  Heck, I can't even remember the last time I made pie crust and I have a fantastic recipe.

I have been using the Gina K Designs Wreath Builder Templates to make lots of cards.  I happened to catch her video on YouTube here where she showed how to make wreath cards with the A2 Format and since I already had the templates, I have been going to town with this technique.  Keep an eye on my blog as I will be sharing more cards using the templates in my other post today.

I hadn't realized that most of the stamps I used for this card are from Papertrey Ink's "Paper Clippings: Thankful For You" which has been discontinued.  I happen to really love the set, so I'm happy to be able to use it.  I also used the acorns from "Give Thanks" for this card and I have done an entire card using this set.  I used one maple leaf from the WPLUS9 Autumn Leaves stamp set because it bent in the opposite direction from the one is the "Paper Clippings: Thankful For You Stamp Set".  I would encourage you to look through all of your stamp sets to see what you have that will work for this type of card if you are interested.

I created the depth of color in the maple leaves by stamping in a solid color first and then adding a second color with a fingertip sponge dauber.  It really made the leaves on this card pop!  I used Orange Zest with a bit of Pure Poppy sponged on, and Berry Sorbet with Pure Poppy sponged on as well.  The Acorns were stamped in Classic Kraft and then sponged with a bit of Dark Chocolate at the base of them.

The Wheat Stalks were Stamped in Fine Linen and the details were stamped in Versamark and heat set with Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  For the sentiment, I die cut an oval from Stamper's Select Vellum and then used the negative as my placeholder for the greeting which came from the "Give Thanks" Stamp Set.

To adhere the sentiment to the card front, I put tiny dots of Multi Medium Matte behind the letters, adhered it to my panel and set a glass block on top of it.  I have this block just for this purpose.  It's heavy, so it's great for flattening watercolor panels as well.

Thank you so much for stopping by today to see my project.  The supplies I used are linked below for your convenience (Affiliate Links are used).

Gina K Designs Wreath Builder Templates Shop at: SSS | GKD	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Mini MISTI Stamping Tool Shop at: SSS | ALT | GKD	PTI - Limitless Layers 2¼ Ovals Shop at: PTI
PTI Give Thanks Stamp Set Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Berry Sorbet Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Classic Kraft Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Dark Chocolate Ink Shop at: PTI
PTI Perfect Match Fine Linen Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Olive Twist Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Orange Zest Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Pure Poppy Ink Shop at: PTI
PTI Perfect Match Summer Sunrise Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Pure Poppy Cardstock Shop at: PTI	PTI Stamper's Select Vellum (#44) Shop at: PTI	PTI Stamper's Select White Cardstock Shop at: PTI
Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS	Scor-Pal Scoring Board Shop at: SSS	SSS Antique Gold Embossing Powder Shop at: SSS	SSS Stitched Rectangles Dies Shop at: SSS
Teflon Bone Folder Shop at: SSS	Tim Holtz Tonic Paper Trimmer Shop at: SSS	Versamark Ink Shop at: SSS	Wagner Heat Tool Shop at: SSS
WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Designer Dies Shop at: SSS

Day 3 of the Official We Love Dawn Blog Hop

It's Day 3 of our We Love Dawn Blog Hop!  It is my intention, although I'm not making any promises, to have at least one card each day of the week long hop. Today's card features a favorite stamp set created by Dawn called Give Thanks.  As a Kansas girl myself, the simple wheat stalks and the sentiment really speak to me. Dawn lives in Johnson County Kansas and I grew up there. I moved to Northeast Kansas not long before my 16th Birthday.  I lived in a very small town in an area that is predominantly farming related.  Although my Brother-In-Law farms, he doesn't plant wheat.  However, you can still see lots of it in Kansas, and particularly in Western Kansas. When I was a senior in High School, several of the guys in my class had been on Wheat Harvest and that was my introduction into that. My husband's twin brother even delayed college for a semester because he was away for wheat harvest somewhere in Western Kansas. Since Kansas is the largest producer of Wheat in the world, it's a symbol that represents home to me (and I'm sure it does to Dawn as well) so I have loved this set since it came out a year or two ago.

For my card, I had found some really pretty watercolor paper at Hobby Lobby with all this gold embossing on many of the sheets that looks like paint splatter and I thought of it right away when I pulled out this stamp set to make a card.  The thing is, while I liked the basic design and style of the paper, I didn't feel like the colors were intense enough for a "Dawn Card", so I did something that I like to pull out and use once in a while; I pulled out some of my color sprays.  I like to make my own using shimmer mist or glimmer mist of some kind and reinkers and I now have the rainbow spectrum.  I use a ton of Shimmer Mist and every time I empty a bottle, I set it aside because they have great nozzles and spray a very fine mist. So while I had Coral and Pink sprays that were already made, I needed to make a yellow color spray. I don't like all colors of yellow, but I do have a lot of affection for a warm kind of Tuscan yellow.  I made this using Summer Sunrise Reinker from Papertrey.  I didn't change the location of the three colors on the paper at all, I just intensified each color with a color spray that was more saturated and vibrant. A tip for you here: be sure to spray a few times on a scrap piece of paper to get the solution up into the nozzle so that it sprays correctly.  Those first few burst on a spray that hasn't been used recently will be pretty unpredictable in how they come out of the nozzle. And you'll need to let the paper dry thoroughly before you die cut it or heat emboss it.

Once that was dry, I die cut the heart shape using some Little B Stitched Heart Dies.  I cut one from the watercolor paper and one from heavy white cardstock. Once I had the cardstock cut, I laid the heart die cut into the white negative and put some post it tape on the back to keep it from moving.  That way I could line it up in the MISTI.  I stamped in Versamark and heat embossed using Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  With all the gold on the watercolor paper, I felt like the sentiment kind of got lost so I used a technique that Jennifer McGuire posted in a YouTube Video yesterday; triple or quadruple heat embossing.  This worked so well that I wish I had known about it before, but I will definitely use it again.  The secret to doing this and having it come out well, is stamping lightly each time. I used my powder tool, stamped it again, heat set that layer, put it back in my MISTI and did it again. Use your powder tool between each layer.  The heart and wheat stems on this card were done three times.  I also found that when I had embossed the wheat stalks three times, it made it very easy to get the die lined up for cutting. I stamped and cut those from the negative pieces of the heart to keep that same texture in the paper.

I cut a stitched rectangle from Gold Foiled Cardstock, and a slightly smaller one from more of the watercolor paper for the background panel and adhered those to a Melon Berry top folding card base.  I die cut a piece of fun foam in the heart shape one size down from the other to give it stability from behind. I arranged the wheat stalks and the acorns to the left of the sentiment and adhered them with Ranger Multi Medium Matte and finished off with some sparkle cognac sequins that I got a few years back from Cartwright's Sequins.

I hope you've been enjoying all the cards along the hop.  I'm ready to go check out the newly added ones that have been created.  Thanks again to Nichole for hosting the Link-Up at the Papertrey Ink Blog this week.

I forgot to say that I am linking this card up at the Double D Challenges who has a theme this time around of "Feeling Fallish". 

Papertrey Ink October 2016 Blog Hop

Welcome to the Papertrey Ink October 2016 Blog Hop!  Nichole always has such a way of finding inspirational images for us and this month is no exception.  It's also a great way to celebrate the arrival of Fall.

Today also happens to be the 20th anniversary of mine and hubby's Catholic Church Wedding.  We have been married for 32+ years, but we didn't have a Catholic Church wedding until 1996.  It was a big deal at the time and I even had a real wedding dress although I skipped the train and the veil.  It was wonderful and lots of our family and a few close friends were there with us.  We even had a small cake and punch reception at our home afterward and one of my Sisters-In-Law had a small wedding cake made complete with a Robbie & Rachel Topper (Cherished Teddies).

I love fall weather.  Give me days filled with sunshine and 70 degrees and I am a very happy girl. I don't need a coat or jacket but a cup of hot tea, hot chocolate or a Mocha Latte tastes really good!  It's my practice session for the coming Winter season.

All of the different colors and textures in our inspiration image are so warm and cozy feeling and that was the main thing I wanted to portray with my design.  I started my card by doing ink blending on a piece of Canson #140 Watercolor Paper in Orange Zest and Pure Poppy.  By using the watercolor paper, it allows me to be able to spritz the paper generously and really blend those two colors out.  I used Tattered Angels Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist and set it aside to dry while I made a top folding card base from Dark Chocolate Cardstock.  That particular shimmer mist is no longer made but I am planning to try this one by Tsukineko once mine is all gone.  I still have a couple of bottles of Iridescent Gold left.

I love the old hymnal in the inspiration image and I tried to incorporate Sheet Music or Music Notes in some way to my background, but then it just competed with the beautiful plaid paper so ultimately I removed it.  I have a sheet music embossing folder, some sheet music patterned paper and even some sheet music background stamps.  I actually tried all three but I love the plaid paper and it just gave cleaner design lines for my project.

I cut the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die out of my Gold Foiled Plaid Paper.  I love this paper and I used a leftover piece for this card but I only have 3 sheets of this left and I've had it for at least 10 years which means I can't get more.  Sigh.... I had to use it for this card though because it popped right into my head as soon as I saw the Inspiration Image.

Once my watercolor paper was completely dry, I cut it using my Little B Hearts Dies.  The outside die cuts while the inside die just leaves the criss-cross impression all the way around. I have other heart dies but these are the ones I reach for over and over again.  There are six different sizes included in the set including one that is quite a bit larger than this and could be used on a 5 x 7 card.

After treating my die cut heart with my powder tool, I stamped the sentiment from Give Thanks in Versamark and heat set it with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I also stamped the Acorns from the same set and heat embossed them as well.  To help define the edges of those elements, I went around the heart with Pure Poppy and Dark Chocolate for the Acorns. Additionally I stamped and heat embossed the wheat from the Paper Clippings: So Thankful For You Stamp Set in gold embossing powder on some of the scraps left from the ink blending.  The wheat always makes me think of home which always make me feel warm and cozy!

I was born in Missouri, but I was raised in Kansas and my husband was born in Kansas and grew up there. Winter Wheat accounts for 70 to 80 percent of total production in the U.S., with the largest amounts produced in Kansas (10.8 million tons) and North Dakota (9.8 million tons). To me, the image of wheat is synonymous with Kansas and in Western Kansas in particular, there are miles and miles of interstate highways that run along side the wheat fields. No matter what time of year it is, it's a sight that always evokes a feeling of being home. My husband's family has been farming in Kansas for over 100 years and his brother still farms there, so we feel very connected to the land there.

When assembling my card, I die cut another heart from Fun Foam just one size down to put behind the front one so it would be nice and stable for mailing. When you use foam tape, the paper can get bent up between the pieces so I like to use the fun foam for something this large.  I attached the acorns with a couple of foam squares.

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge for this week is "Autumn", so I'll be entering this card over on their Challenge Blog as well.  Be sure to stop over at both places and check out all the fabulous entries!

Sunday Stamps #137 - Part Two

So while I was playing with the papers and inks from the Sunday Stamps Challenge #137 today, I decided to go ahead, while I had everything out try my other idea for this challenge. I actually like this card as much as the first one I made.  I used all the same color of inks and papers (Kraft, Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain, Rustic White) along with Simon Says Stamp Gold Embossing Powder. I wanted to see the difference between the Antique Gold and Gold since I haven't used the plain gold for a while. The Antique Gold is just a little bit warmer than the Gold embossing powder in the Simon Says Stamp brand.   I think this color combination will be a bit unexpected for this time of year and I like that. I also feel like I could have used Smoky Shadow Cardstock for my base but I already had the Dark Chocolate on my desk so for once I decided to go with the flow.

I have some Thanksgiving cards to send out and I'm really happy with this particular design, especially since hubby and I are from Kansas. I was born in Missouri, but I was raised in Kansas. Winter Wheat accounts for 70 to 80 percent of total production in the U.S., with the largest amounts produced in Kansas (10.8 million tons) and North Dakota (9.8 million tons).  To me, the image of wheat is synonymous with Kansas and in Western Kansas in particular, there are miles and miles of interstate highways that run along side the wheat fields.  No matter what time of year it is, it's a sight that always evokes a feeling of being home.  My husband's family has been farming in Kansas for over 100 years and his brother still farms there, so we feel pretty connected to the land there.  I know his family will enjoy these cards.

Since I already did another post today for this challenge, I am going to keep this one short, but I hope you enjoy this "Take Two" version of my card.

Sunday Stamps # 137

Woodland Warmth color tones are the inspiration for the Sunday Stamps Bi-Weekly Challenge this time around. There is something so warm and comforting about the rustic tones in the inspiration image and this always makes me think of cool autumn nights and Mocha Latte (Cafe Mocha), a perfect combination in my humble opinion.  It's especially good if you ask for Extra Whip. I don't hang out at Starbucks too often but if I am there (which seems to be about once a year) I will splurge for a Mocha Latte and a Venti or Trenta at that. Now you know why I don't hang out at Starbucks very often. *Ü* Can you imagine the calories in one of those every single day or even once a week?

For today's card, I started with a card base made from Dark Chocolate Cardstock. For the wood grain background, I misted a panel of Rustic White Cardstock just once with plain water and ran it through my Cuttlebug with a SU! Wood Grain Embossing Folder.  Once it was embossed, I went over it with Kraft Ink and then sprayed it with some Iridescent Gold Shimmer Spritz and set it aside to dry.  I cut the little Stitched Heart Die from Spring Rain Cardstock and sat and did the Spirelli while I was waiting for the other papers to dry. I used DMC Gold Embroidery Thread for this which comes on a spool rather than in a bundle. Since the holes are already pierced in the paper for you, the needle doesn't need to be sharp. I have one with a really big eye that I use and it's a lot easier on fingers than an actualy needle.  I think they must be needles for Crewel Embroidery.  One of my grandmothers used to do that.

Once I had the Spirelli done, I die cut and stamped all my elements and assembled the card.  The sentiment is from the Give Thanks Stamp Set by Papertrey Ink and was stamped on a Kraft Cardstock oval from the My Favorite Things Stitched Oval Stax and heat embossed in Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I really would have liked to try stamping the sentiment on a die cut heart, but I didn't have one that was large enough to accommodate both the Spirelli and the Greeting so I'll do that without the Spirelli another time.

I used a layer of fun foam behind the oval and at the top portion of the heart but otherwise this is a very clean and simple card.  As I often do, I put a plain white stitched rectangle panel on the inside of the card for a place to write a message.

Thank you so much for stopping by today and if you'd like to leave a kind or encouraging comment, I really treasure each and every one of them.  Have a great weekend everyone!

Papertrey Ink September 2016 Create Along With Us

Hello everyone!  It's time for the Papertrey Ink Create Along With Us Challenge for September 2016.  As always, we can use anything created by the Design Team during release week as our inspiration and there was plenty to choose from. Truly, the Papertrey Ink Design Team (we call them the Dream Team) is just the best.  Each has their own style but I continue to be amazed by all of them.

I chose a card by Kay Miller (who I confess is one of my favorite designers) this month as my inspriation for this challenge.  I had recently made a card that used Dark Chocolate Ink with Scarlet Jewel Ink and I loved the combination so when I saw Kay's card, it was a no brainer. Obviously, no one outside of the Design Team has the new stamps or dies yet, but I was only drawing my inspiration from her color choices at this time.  You can bet I will be trying to recreate a similar look once I get the Holiday Greens Stamps and Dies.

I started by die cutting the branches from Peaceful Pinecones Dies out of Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I just cut a few of each and then stamped them with the Peaceful Pinecones Stamp Set using selective inking for the green and brown branches.  Since I'm using ink cubes rather than pads, this was pretty easy to do.  I inked up the branch base using a corner of the Dark Chocolate Ink Pad and the same way for the pine needles part of the pine branch using Pine Feather Ink.  I know I'm going to be using Pine Feather a lot with the upcoming holiday season and I made sure I will have plenty of that color by ordering a reinker.

For my card, I wanted to use a sentiment from the Give Thanks Stamp Set so I also used a couple of stamps from there just to add a bit of the Scarlet Jewel to my arrangement.  I would have like to used Spruce and Sprigs Stamp Set for the berries, but I don't have that so I made do with what I could find that was an elongated shape. I think it worked out pretty well and I can't wait to get my Holiday Greens Stamps and Dies from this month's release. You can see the full release and details on Nichole Heady's Blog.

I made my arrangment on top of the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles die cut panel and then picked it up with my piece of Press 'N Seal to keep it in tact while I did a bit of ink blending on the background.  There's just a hint of Pale Peony there and in hindsight, I could have done a bit more to make a larger area, but it's okay.  This is a design that I will use again. The acorns on the top are also from the Give Thanks Stamp Set and I added them to the top of the arrangement with Thin 3D Foam Squares.  The Give Thanks Coordinating Dies makes it super easy.  I wanted to keep the card fairly flat for mailing purposes so I didn't use much foam adhesive.  The greeting is heat embossed using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I also cut another stitched rectangle for the inside of the card.  This creates such a nice, finished look on the Scarlet Jewel Cardstock base.

Be sure to stop by Nichole Heady's blog to take a look at all of the release inspired projects.  What a talented group we are!  It's been a hectic week for me and I haven't gotten as many projects done as I would have liked but I appreciate you stopping by and even more so when you take time to comment.  I'll see you all again soon but not until next week.  We're heading out to a car show tomorrow so I won't be near my studio all weekend.  Have a great weekend everyone!