Papertrey Ink June 2017 Blog Hop Challenge

Today is the June 2017 Papertrey Ink Blog Hop where all the Papertrey customers get to share our creations with everyone. Nichole selected the image on the left for us to be our inspiration this month. The particular thing she liked about this is the perfectly executed ombre in these two vases. I used them directly as my inspiration by creating an Ombre Background using my Reinkers as watercolors.  I was a bit surprised about the turn out of this background panel as I haven't tried actually painting one before. I normally do a bit of ink blending with a lot of shimmer mist to get the color moving.  Because I was going for a linear look, I had to use an actual paintbrush this time.

I started by wetting the watercolor paper on both the front and the back.  This keeps your water color paper from moving around and helps to decrease how much warping there is since the back and front dry at the same time.  It's a cool trick I learned from Lydia Evans.

For some reason, I didn't look at the inspiration photo before I started working on my card this morning. Rather than pink and teal ombre, mine is a soft pink (Sweet Blush) panel from the top to the center of the panel. And then a brownish grey (Soft Stone) from the bottom to the center with the lightest shades of each color meeting in the middle.  I didn't know if this was going to work out or not, but I wanted to try it and the image on the right is the background panel attached to the card base before the bouquet was added.  It turned out exactly as I had pictured it.  I also splattered Gold Watercolor Paint for added texture and some shine.  Once everything was dry, I die cut the panel with an MFT Blueprint 15 Stitched Rectangle Die.  I am happy that I finally have a stitched rectangle in all 3 of the sizes that I like to use. My WPLUS9 Gift Card Layers Die has a full 4.25 x 5.5 in Stitched Rectangle, MFT Blueprint 15 has 4.125 x 5.375 Stitched Rectangle and Simon Says Stamp has the 4 x 5.25 size.  For me, I'm going to use use one of those 3 with pretty much every card I create.  Each of these sets comes with several sizes of dies that will also be used from time to time.  But these three are my go to dies for cutting out my background panels because at least 75% of the time, my background panel is done on Watercolor Paper rather than card stock.

My rinse water had a touch of pink in it so I mixed that with the Soft Stone and felt it gave the grey color a warmer look.  I like it and it was exactly what I had in mind.  The next part for me was figuring out which stamp set to use with this card.  I started with Brushed Blooms but ended up liking the way Fresh Bouquet looked with the background panel.  For me, the difference is that Fresh Bouquet comes with an outline stamp that I can heat emboss which helps the bouquet to stand out from the background and define it more.

Using my MISTI tool with a die cut negative (which acts like a place holder), I stamped the largest bloom in Sweet Blush and the bigger blooms in Pale Peony. I used Soft Stone to stamp all of the leaves and Berry Sorbet for the berries.  I used Thin 3D Foam Squares to attach the bouquet to the card base. I stamped a greeting from Botanical Blocks onto the banner from Tag Sale Quilted Dies using Versamark with Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

There's sure to be lots of fantastic projects for the blog hop this month and I enjoy seeing everyone's take on the inspiration.  Be sure to stop over at the Papertrey Ink Blog to see all of the linked up projects.

Harlequin Style

I sat down to make my first Valentine's Day Card today and I was so happy with the technique I used that I immediately had to do it again.  I've never sent too many Valentines but I definitely want to send some to those grandkids and to some of my girlfriends this year.

Papertrey Ink has several dies that they call Cover Plates.  Once the die is cut, it measures exactly 4.25 x 5.5 inches which is the standard A2 size.  These can make quick work of making a card.  A lot of the time, I use inexpensive card blanks from Hobby Lobby which I don't mind if I'm not having to stamp on it, but they measure 4 x 5.5 so if I want to use a Cover Plate, then I have to use my more expensive card stock for the note card.  Since I use the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle on 85% of my cards, that normally fits.  When it doesn't, I just pull out a sheet of my good white card stock and carry on.  I have a few varieties right now; Bazzill Marshmallow, Stampin' Up Whisper White, and my newest addition is from Papertrey Ink and is called Stamper's Select.  It is a very nice 110# paper that has an ultra smooth surface that takes ink very well. At .15 cents a sheet, it is hard to beat.  I keep true A2/Invitation Sized Envelopes in Ivory and White for when I use this nicer and slightly larger card size since the others don't fit.

I cut the Harlequin Cover Plate from a larger scrap of card stock that I keep nearby for just such an occasion.  I wouldn't want to use a flimsy card stock for this, but the kind I normally use is 80# and fine for this.  Using a bit of temporary adhesive, I laid the die cut over a piece of Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper and treated it like it was a stencil.  Using a Mini Ink Blending Tool, I started lightly adding color in the beginning and then added in more color in a somewhat random pattern. The first time I peeked under the stencil to make sure it was working correctly, I loved how it looked with the Ombre in many of the openings and full color in others but the outlines staying nice and white.  I stopped inking up that panel and went to get another so that I could try to ink it up the same "random" way.  By doing this, I could pop several of the diamonds up on foam adhesive for a super cool 3D look. I love how it turned out.  While you could never get two inked exactly the same, they were similar enough to take the pieces from one and attach it to the other.  Anywhere there is a heavy shadow around the diamonds, that has been popped up on dimensional adhesive.

I glued four of the "Love" die cuts, one on top of the other and a fun foam heart behind the heart cutout so it would pop out slightly from the rest of the word.  A few gold glitter hearts cut from Simon Says Stamp Mini Hearts Die, a little Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen and a thick coat of Glossy Accents over the top of the heart finishes off this card.

This turned out to be a really great way to stretch my dies even farther. The "Love" die came from Papertrey Ink as did the Harlequin Cover Plate.  I find their dies to be excellent quality and a good value for the price.  I don't have very many, but I am super happy with all of the ones I do have. The ink I used is SU! Melon Mambo which I think must be one of my favorites as I reach for it over and over again.  Pink and Purple are definitely my two favorite colors although I love many colors. Here's a close up of the layers:

I hope you like this card as much as I did.  With the bold graphics, I'm trying to figure out what color I could do for my husband's Valentine Card this year.  I've got a couple of ideas so when I make it, I'll be back to share it with you. Thanks for stopping by today and if you'd care to leave a comment, I really appreciate them!

The Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge this week is "Stencil It" and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge is "Ombre".  I'll be entering this card in both categories. *Ü*

White Coral Bells

I found a die recently at Ellen Hutson on clearance and the instant I saw it, I knew I had to have it.  There's a lullaby in my family that goes something like this:  

White coral bells

Upon a slender stalk

Lily of the Valley

Decks my garden walk

Oh don't you wish

That you might hear them ring

That can happen only

When the Fairies sing

My daughter and now my grandsons have had this lullaby sung to them from their earliest memories.

I found the painted image on the Internet and in my mind, that is pretty much the color scheme I always see.  I had finished inking my background before I ever went looking for a picture and finding this one just solidified the colors in my mind.    

The Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge for this week is Ombre which is a French word meaning color with a shaded tonal value such as light to dark or dark to light.  I happen to love Ombre although I don't think I do it in a very traditional way since I usually choose to use two colors. 

For this card, I used a Mini Ink Blending Tool with Wild Wasabi and Baja Breeze Ink Pads working from the outside in to keep it really smooth.  I cut the Lily from white card stock so that I could do selective ink blending on it. I simply covered the flowers with my finger to color the leaves.  I was being too lazy to cut a mask when my finger was right there, *Ü.* Lily of the Valley usually come with a big cluster of leaves so I also cut a couple of the Memory Box Slender Leaves (retired) out of the dark green scraps from yesterday's project.  Once I had the background panel inked up I stamped the greeting with Versamark and heat set it using WOW! Metallic Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder. 

To assemble the card, I cut the background panel with the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle and began arranging my few elements how I wanted them on that panel.  Once I had everything placed how I wanted it, I lifted each one carefully to put some dots of Ranger Multi Medium Matte on the back and repositioned them. With only 4 small elements it didn't take too long. I adhered that panel to a white top folding note card using Tombow Mono Permanent Adhesive.  

This card is for my daughter and she will be pretty tickled when she gets it. In the meantime, I hear my watercolors calling my name!  Have a fantastic day and thanks for stopping by.  It means the world to me.