Make it Monday #264 - Die Cut Stencil Shapes

This week on Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday, Melissa Phillips showed us how to use die cuts as stencils.  I've done this on occasion previously but a reminder of techniques can always be a good thing.  We have so many little tips and tricks in our arsenals that we sometimes forget some of the classics.

For my card, I die cut a snowflake and used that as my stencil.  Melissa showed how she uses a paper towel to gently sponge on color.  I used a stencil brush with Lavender Moon Ink, moving the stencil around until I had the background pretty full, but still soft.  Lavender Moon Ink and Cardstock, despite the name, is more of a mauve than a lavender.  I hadn't actually realized that until I ordered the card stock for the first time. The stencil brushes give a softness that I don't think could possibly be achieved with a mini ink blending tool.  Melissa is an expert at delicate, vintage and shabby chic projects.  She often incorporates all three of those things into one project. You can find her beautiful projects on her blog here or regularly at the Papertrey Ink Blog.  

Once my stenciling was complete, I set out to create my card.  I wanted to use lavender/pinks and even the softer greens to make this card for a girlfriend. It's just ultra feminine which describes my friend to a "T".  The What The Doodle: Ornament was stamped in Versamark and heat embossed using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder .  I cut it out with the coordinating dies then colored it with Hibiscus Burst Reinker.  I went over the top of the color using a water brush with Interference Red Perfect Pearls which gives it a somewhat deeper color and, depending on the light, a bit of a Sugarplum color. While the ornament finished drying, I stamped the rest of my card front using Holiday Greens Borders which is one of my current favorites.  I love that the border is the entire width of a card so I am not having to stamp a single branch over and over. I do stamp multiple times to get the fullness of an actual Christmas Tree but it is super easy - about three rounds makes it as full as you'd like.  For this card, I inked up the stamp in Versamark first and then also inked it up with Ocean Tides which is a soft green, and then stamped. While the inks were still wet, I sprinkled WOW! Neutral Ultra Shimmer Embossing Powder on the branches and heat set them.  This is what gives the branches their iridescent look.

For the greeting, I used Fancy Pants: Holiday Sentiments with WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder.  There are coordinating dies for these stamps, but I did not purchase them. Except for the ones I put on a banner, I mostly do sentiments directly to the card front like I did here.  Everything is attached to a top folding card base that I made with Lavender Moon Cardstock.

Since there's a video tutorial over at the Papertrey Ink Blog, I'm going to spare you all the details. If you have a question, be sure to send a contact me form and I will get back to you right away! Thanks so much for popping in today.

Simon Wednesday Challenge with CAS on Sunday (Butterflies)

I am very slow to get around to this post.  In fact, the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Animal Magic" will end early tomorrow morning, so I'm barely making it!  I've been in a class at Altenew Academy for the past 6 days and I've been practicing some new techniques.  I still need a lot of practice for some of them and in fact my favorite thing that came out of this class was something I had actually seen Marika (our instructor) do before. This was just the first time I had tried it.  

I combined this technique with a couple of elements so that I could participate in these two challenges.  On the Simon Challenge, they did say Butterflies to Buffaloes if you're wondering what my animal is.  The CAS on Sunday Challenge is "Butterflies". So I combined two of my favorites for this challenge, flowers and butterflies.  

For today's card, I did the same technique that I used on this card but I stamped both of the detail layers and softened them out with water rather than just the one layer of detail. So, I stamped the outline images in Versamark and heat embossed them using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  Then I stamped the 2 detail layers and softened them up using a water brush. This particular card uses Lavender Moon Ink from Papertrey Ink. It actually works better with pinks than it does with purples for my purposes anyway.  But it is a color I love almost as much as my pinks.  I also used Lavender Moon Ink to do the ink blending on my background panel but since I misted it with Tsukineko Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Spritz it is also a bit lighter. For that, I used watercolor paper and then die cut it when dry with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die. 

For the spatter, I used Hibiscus Burst Ink with a very small amount of water and a #4 Round Brush.  All of a sudden I'm really into all kinds of "dot" accents and I can hardly wait for my Pico Embellishers to get here so I can try those out as well.  I ordered black and gold.  I think the black one would have looked great on here but I know I will create another pink card pretty soon, so I will have opportunities to try it.   

The stamped part of the greeting is from Papertrey Ink's Enclosed: Butterfly Mini Stamp Set and the "Perfect" is a die from Waffle Flower Crafts.  The blooms are from my favorite Altenew Set, Beautiful Day and I used the coordinating dies. The butterfly is from Impression Obsession.  I really love the look of this softened ink and I have another project in the works using a few different color combinations.  This bloom always makes me think of Wild Roses.  Everything was attached to an A2 Top Folding Notecard made from Lavender Moon Cardstock.

I have so enjoyed Marika's class this past week.  I feel like the small details I put into my cards may not be visible on first glance, but probably will be on the second glance. It's okay if they aren't because I enjoy the entire process and people do love to get a handmade card.  For me, that is what it's all about.

Thanks so much for stopping by to check out my project.  Have a fantastic week everyone!

A Trio of Challenges

I am entering today's card into a few challenges this week; Stampin' Royalty #332 "Flowers" Challenge, CAS June 2016 Mix Up Challenge for Stamping, Diecuts and my choice which in this case is Heat Embossing and Sponging, and Inspired By All The Little Things where I was inspired by the color scheme in the inspiration photo.  

I often make cards from the extra pieces I have laying around and this is one of those cards.  I used Altenew Beautiful Day and Altenew Peony Bouquet Stamps with the coordinating dies for my flowers on this card. The Stamper's Select Vellum was sponged with Lovely Lady and Amethyst Allure Inks, then stamped and die cut.  The leaves were stamped on vellum and diecut without added color. 

For my card base, I used Lavender Moon Cardstock from Papertrey Ink (which is really more pink than purple) and my background panel is Stamper's Select White Cardstock.  I cut a frame using Spellbinders Labels 42 and Labels 42 Decorative Elements. The Sentiment is from Papertrey Ink's "Scripted" Dies.   

I really love pink and purple but I actually work at not using it for everything. Because of this I think I enjoy it a lot more when I do get to create using those colors.  This card is pretty straight forward stamping and heat embossing without any special techniques.  One of the things I love about it is how easy it would be to duplicate.  I think you can truly spend as much or as little time as you want when creating a card.  I never go into it having a specific design in mind, I only play around with the various elements until I get a look that I like. Sometimes that happens right away and at other times it doesn't.  I guess that's what makes it an art form.  

I hope you enjoyed my card today.  I have a few projects to work on and I will be back with a new project soon.  Enjoy your weekend! 

April 2016 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

Today is the Monthly Blog Hop for Papertrey Ink and I spent a considerable amount of time figuring out my project for today.  Nichole always has the most interesting inspiration photos for us to launch our projects from and this month is no exception!

Inspiration Photo

Astronomy Chart

The image on the left is our inspiration photo. It made my head spin with all the different possibilities I can see in it. Do you see pulley's and gears, clock faces, medallions, kaleidoscopes, astronomy charts or something else entirely? It could be the center of the universe, the center of an eye or probably a hundred other things.  There's no wrong or right answer it's all about perspective.

For me, as soon as I saw the inspiration image, I thought of Mehndi Medallions and Hands of Time.  Ultimately, I couldn't choose between them so I incorporated both into this card along with the Mehndi Medallions Mini Stamp Set.

For this card I started by doing ink blending using Ranger Mini Ink Blending Tools on a 4.25 x 5.5 inch piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper with Lavender Moon, Hibiscus Burst and Plum Pudding.  Once I had the color applied, I misted it with Tsukineko Sheer Shimmer Spritz which has quite a bit of moisture in it and helps the inks to blend and move on the watercolor paper, giving a softer blended line where the color changes not to mention that gorgeous sparkle. Twinkling Paper is my trademark afterall. *Ü*

Once the ink blended panel was completely dry, I used both clock faces from Hands of Time Stamp Set and some of the smaller medallions from the Mehndi Medallions Set.  I stamped with Versamark and heat set using Ranger Gold Tinsel Embossing Powder.  This embossing powder has gold glitter in it so no matter what you are using it on, it looks rich and regal.

I also misted a piece of Lavender Moon Cardstock for the mat to the watercolor panel. Funny thing about the Lavender Moon Cardstock --  It's more pink than purple.  Both of these were die cut with the largest of the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies.  To get the smaller frame, I carefully realign the paper into the die and cut again making it just slightly smaller than the original frame but bigger than the next size die.

I cut the "Awesome" word from a Waffle Flower Die using gold foil poster board which is all I ever use anymore because it is so cost effective.  I talked about this in a previous post here.

Like many before me, Heat Embossing was my "aha" moment in Stamping and Card Making and I try to incorporate that as often as possible into my cards.  You can find embossing powder in a vast array of colors but I use Gold most often.  I like both Gold and Gold Sparkle Embossing Powders followed by Platinum and Platinum Sparkle.

I'll be adding this image over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog for their theme of "Show Us Your Metal" and their Wednesday Challenge Blog for "Make It Girly".

Thanks for joining me on the Papertrey Ink Monthly Blog Hop.  I love reading your comments if you'd like to leave one and I hope you'll come back soon to see another project.