Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary - Day 3 Challenge

Welcome to Day 3 of 10th Anniversary Celebrations for Papertrey Ink.  Lexi Daily was today's guest blogger.  Our challenge for this 3rd day of festivities is to create a new card and while we have our supplies out, to make an altered envelope to go with it AND get it in the mail. I've been meaning to start adding something to the envelope the way Jennifer McGuire does so this is a great challenge for me. I wish I had some nice fancy handwriting for my envelope but my handwriting isn't too terrible so I'll keep it how it is.  It's actually gotten a bit better in the last year since I send out cards all the time and get more practice.  It was getting pretty atrocious there for a while so the practice has been good.  Everyone, without exception, loves a handwritten note inside of a card.

If you visit my blog very often, then you know I am on a kick right now of making these gorgeous backgrounds for my cards.  I'm creating them by doing some ink blending on my background panel, then adding the score lines with some shimmer mist and then accenting the intersecting points with Liquid Pearls. This particular card was ink blended with Aqua Mist then shimmer misted with Tattered Angels Iridescent Gold Glimmer Mist.  I added the drops of pearls once it was die cut and set it aside to dry while I stamped the tulips from Papertrey Ink's Tulip Time.

I start by cutting several of the Tulip Time Dies Cuts from Stamper's Select White Cardstock. Then I use the negative of the die cut in my MISTI so that I can pretty much get perfect alignment.  I've stamped enough of the tulips by this point in time to have a good visual for how the stamps should line up. I think I sent about a dozen cards out last weekend featuring this stamp set so I've had a great deal of practice lately.  For this card, I stamped the leaves using Vintage Jadeite and New Leaf inks.  For the blooms, I started with Brilliance Pearlescent Jade Pigment Ink for the base layer of the bloom, then Hawaiian Shores for the second layer and Tropical Teal for the final layer.  Using the MISTI means that I can double (or even triple) stamp a color for a deeper tone of that color.  I always like the look of double stamping for the 2nd layer.  The final layer is such a deep color usually that it only needs the single stamp.

I also wanted to stamp one of the tulips on my envelope so I selected the middle sized single bloom for that and used all the same ink colors.  For the address, I used Limitless Layers - 2½ inch Ovals to cut the "label" from Hawaiian Shores Cardstock and the interior oval is cut from Stamper's Select White. It will take considerable effort on my part to get an address in that space (lol); the older I get the bigger my handwriting gets.  The greeting on the card is part of the Tulip Time Set and I heat embossed it with Antique Gold Embossing Powder. The butterfly is from Impression Obsession and was cut from gold foiled cardstock.  I prefer the foiled cardstock over the mirrored cardstock because it is so much easier to photograph and is more subtle.

Thanks so much for stopping by today to check out my project for the challenge. I hope you'll come again.  I'll be back soon with another project for you.  Happy Tuesday everyone!

Always Playing With Paper #81

We have such a great inspiration image today over at The Challenge #81 and it's so colorful that I wanted to play along. I find the Red blooms in the turquoise jars to be beautiful and the touches of gold in the photo add instant elegance and is one of the reasons I like to use gold in my projects.

I started by stamping the Poppy image from Botanical Blocks III Stamp Set in Versamark onto Canson Bristol Watercolor Paper and heat setting it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I watercolored the poppy using Pure Poppy Reinker for the bloom, Deep Green Zig Marker for the foliage, and Light Blue Zig Marker for the sky.  I also used a Black Zig Marker for the center of the poppy.  I had watercolored a few other things yesterday morning so I set each aside as I completed them, returning back to them after they were dry. That was actually a very efficient way to work rather than doing all parts of each card one at a time. Once my image was completely dry, I gave the watercolor paper an all over spritz of Shimmer Spray and then went back over the petals on the bloom with my Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen.

Next I trimmed out the piece of watercolor paper and matted it in gold foiled cardstock then attached that to a top folding card base that had been cut using the Noted: A2 Scalloped Card Base using Simon Says Stamp Audrey Blue Cardstock.

I added a sentiment from the Caring Hearts Stamp Set using Versamark directly on the card base and heat set it using Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

This is such a striking color combination and not one I would have thought to try on my own. That is part of what makes challenges so great! Happy Sunday everyone! I hope you are getting to enjoy some of this same gorgeous fall weather we're having here in Oklahoma.

The Yellow Rose of Texas

I wanted to send a card to someone who lost their husband recently.  I sent a card at the time, but I wanted her to know we are still thinking of her and that we know what a significant loss that is in her life. I always love the look of white on white cards and today was no exception.

I stamped the rose from the Clearly Besotted Merci Beaucoup Stamp Set and the Hero Arts Acts of Kindness Stamp Set in Versamark for the greeting.  I was told that yellow is a favorite color and since she lives in Texas, I thought of The Yellow Rose of Texas for this card using WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder.  I have to say that I love that embossing powder.  I also have the WOW! Platinum Sparkle Embossing Powder and both are just beautiful. 

I haven't had the chance lately to talk about the differences in embossing powders so since I was doing quite a bit of heat embossing for the granddaughters to watercolor today, I pulled out a powder that I haven't used lately.  It was complete and total frustration as it takes forever to melt and I won't be purchasing any of that brand in the future.  I don't think it is very nice to "bash" a specific product in such a public forum (a blog), but I can say that I will talk about the products I do like and why. That is just my personal policy regarding any of the products I talk about here.

Besides the WOW! Metallic Gold Sparkle Embossing Powder, the Simon Says Stamp Gold Metallic Ultra Fine Embossing Powder is a favorite, even over Ranger Embossing Powder.  It melts quickly and easily and is very fine for great detail in your heat embossing while being less expensive than some of the other brands. When the embossing powder doesn't melt quickly, it tends to really warp your paper during the heat setting phase.  I won't throw this embossing powder away, but it will go to the back of my drawer for use only when I don't have a preferred brand which I hope never happens.  Honestly, I thought maybe I hadn't remembered correctly at the time, but I did.  It took about ten times longer to heat set that particular powder.  Also the Simon Says Brand is twice as much powder for less or equal money so that is a win-win to me.  

I used Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Mustard Seed and Mowed Lawn for the leaves.  I looked at using a few different markers or Clean Color Real Brush Pens, but I liked the warmer undertones of this yellow. Once I had watercolored the rose, I cut the panel using the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle die.  I made a 110# Top Folding Card Base from Stamper's Select White from Paper Trey Ink. I am just trying this card stock for the very first time but I love the heavy weight and the smoothness of this card stock.  I also think it is a good value for the quantity, quality and smoothness at $6.00 for 40 sheets.  I've used Stampin' Up's Whisper White but the heavy weight is quite a bit pricier for fewer sheets.  I would definitely try this card stock in other colors as well.  As always, I added some sheer shimmer spritz to the panel once it was cut before adhering it to the card base using Tombo Mono Adhesive.  The final Touch was Wink of Stella Clear Shimmer Pen.

I'll be back soon with another project as I have a couple to finish up for another project that I was working on before Christmas.

Christmas Cheer

Every time I see this image, the thing that pops into my head is "The best way to spread Christmas Cheer is singing loudly for all to hear!"  These sweet little birdies just look like they are singing!

I used this Stampendous Winter Birds Stamp for yesterday's card, so I'll just tell you the supplies I used to create it without going in to too many technical details. For the branches I used Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Pine Needles and a Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Green so I could get the super fine lines in my coloring of the branches.  For the Birds I used another combination of Distress Marker in Pumice Stone and Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Black.  For the winter gear I used Zig Clean Color Real Brush Pen in Persian Blue along with Tim Holtz Distress Marker in Wilted Violet. I also used a tiny bit of Zig Clean Color in Light Pink for the cheeks.

After I had finished water coloring the image, I put Wink of Stella Clear Pen on the snowy parts then let that dry for a few minutes.  Next I added the Glossy Accents to all the snow and to the pom-poms on the birds' winter gear.  While that was still wet, I put a pinch of Elizabeth Craft Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter on top then set it aside to dry overnight.  I love the extra bit of dimension this adds to the card and it sparkles and shines like real fresh snow does.  It's hard to tell it's there in the photo, but if you try it you'll see that it does.

I created a card base with a piece of leftover Green Shimmer Card Stock so I also cut a white panel to go on the inside of the card for my message.  This was a quick blog post but if you have any questions, just put them in the comments below and I'll send you a reply.

Thanks for stopping by today.  I'll be entering this card over on the Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge Blog and I hope to see some of you over there.

Birthday Greetings

I worked on a few card things today in my studio including trying to get my design together for my best friend, Gloria's, birthday which is coming up in about 8 days.  Even though we live 260 miles apart now, we do our best to stay connected

That's harder than it might seem in this day and age of social media, but she is pretty much my only friend, acquaintance or relative other than my in-laws who does not have a Facebook, Instagram or other kind of account.  She does have e-mail but she doesn't check it very often; and I have to remind her to check her actual snail mail box so she can get the cards I make and send to her.  At the time we became friends, I worked outside the home but she didn't.  Now our roles are reversed and she is the busied, harried working mom trying to juggle her kids activities and work a more than full time job.  The expectation from her employer is to work at least 45 hours a week and it is often 50 or more.  I know, because I worked for the same company before she went to work there.  

Gloria likes to make cards, too, and that is what we do when she comes for the weekend a couple of times a year.  Therefore, my goal is always to make something for her in a style or manner that she wouldn't think to do, so that it is different from anything she would make for herself.   This year I wanted to do something special since I started making cards this year.  For my birthday in June, she sent me a card that played a song, really loudly!  I had to take the battery out before I could read it because it was so loud.  Ha!  Shhhhh--don't tell her.  

The design I came up with is really simple.  I wanted to have something she could take with her to her office or her bathroom mirror or anywhere she might have a notion to as a reminder of our sisterhood.  I always say, "Whether we're near or far apart, we will always be sisters of the heart." So I wanted her to see that heart and have it remind her that I'm always there in spirit.  I'm planning to put a note in the card about how to remove the heart and take off the removable adhesive on the back side.

For such a simple card, this was quite the learning experience.  I haven't done a whole lot of embossing and hadn't really tried to until August of this year.  I initially tried to use some Cherry Cobbler Card Stock and no matter how much Powder Tool I used, I was getting bits of Gold Powder scattered all over the card stock and I wasn't getting the smoothness I wanted.  So I opted to try it out on this Garnet Shimmer Paper and that was a winner.  I'm learning that the smoothness of the paper has a lot to do with your results.

I stamped 2 - 4.25 x 5.5 pieces of the Garnet Shimmer Paper using an older Stampin' Up set called "Baroque Motifs" with Versamark and heat set the Ranger Fine Detail Gold Embossing Powder.   I really don't use the rest of this set, but I love that one particular stamp a whole bunch.  Then I cut one of the panels using the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Dies in the largest one.  I used my Memory Box Stitched Hearts Dies to cut the other embossed panel in the largest heart.  Next I put an eyelet through a hole near the top of the heart so that I could feed a narrow ribbon through it to make it hang like an ornament.

I cannot even count the number of eyelets I have.  I bought several packages years ago at the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, Texas.  I lived in Dallas then so it was not too far of a drive and I went with one of my scrappy friends and we met up with other scrappy friends there.  What fun that was; it makes me smile just thinking about it!  But most of the eyelets I have can be set using a ball point pen.  I happen to have a Silent Setter so I did use that since it also puts the correct size hole first.  But these eyelets are easy to set.  I had the ribbon (trust me when I tell you that I have ribbon) and since it was so narrow I knew it would fit through.  I cut the Penny Black Happy Birthday die in gold metallic paper and made sure to place it on the removable heart.  Then I tucked the ribbon behind my front panel and adhered that to my card base.  I used a narrow strip of Removable Adhesive to hold the heart in place in alignment with the background panel.  There's nothing fancy here, but she will love it.

The Garnet Shimmer Paper I have came from Create for Less several years ago. Sometimes Hobby Lobby will have some Shimmer Vellum in a nearly identical color called Lava.  

I may have another project later as I will be continuing participation in the Share Handmade Kindness Campaign that you can read about on Jennifer McGuire's blog (link on the right hand side).  If you stop by, please leave a comment for me; I love reading them!  

Share Handmade Kindness

I'm participating in a month long event that was developed by and started yesterday over at the Jennifer McGuire, Ink blog.  I've mentioned before that she is my absolute favorite paper crafter to follow.  There are several bloggers that I like and follow, but Jennifer's style more closely matches my own and I also relate to her because, like me, she doesn't come from an art background.  Also like me, she started when she was making scrapbooks for her family.

The challenge is to make something (anything) by hand with love.  It could be dinner, dessert, cookies, taking photos, creating a scrapbook page or a card or just a handwritten note.  People just love to get "real" mail and for some of us, the joy is in creating those things.  I know I groan every time I see how much junk is in the mailbox and what a delight it is anytime I get something besides a bill or junk.

I have someone special that I want to reach out to for this challenge.  This person makes an impact on so many lives but she has no idea just how much!  I'm sending a card that I made to say thanks and to try and tell her how much she has impacted my life in a positive way.

I made this card with the same technique that I used to make the Audrey Blue Ornament Card. Using a piece of chipboard that came in a package of paper, I cut the heart out for my mask this time.  First I used a Mini Ink Blending Tool and Simon Says Stamp Thistle Ink to color in the heart.  I stamped the flourish in the heart and heat embossed it using WOW! White Pearl Embossing Powder. Since my ink was already down, it gave the flourish a tone on tone look.  I applied Versamark using a Mini Sponge Dauber all over the heart, then I used Interference Red Perfect Pearls over that.  A very light misting of water helps to set the Perfect Pearls. As you blend in the Perfect Pearls, the color looks different depending on what light is shining on it.  The Interference Red gets a beautiful kind of rose colored shimmer in the right light and I like that it changes as the light does. I wanted to make the heart seem like an ornament, so I used the ornament topper die from another set.  I wasn't sure it would work, but it was perfect.  I ran the rose colored ribbon through that ornament topper to make it look like it was hanging.

I used the Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles in the largest size to cut the background panel and then the next largest for the card front panel and tucked the ribbon behind the background panel with a couple of glue dots.  Then I cut and added my sentiment.  This is my favorite "thanks" die from Mama Elephant cut from the same Bazzill Marshmallow as the front panel for a perfect match.  I cut all the little hearts in some Creative Memories Thistle colored paper that I had also added the Interference Red Perfect Pearls to using the Simon Says Stamp Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars die and the Simon Says Stamp Large Holiday Shapes Hearts and Stars die.  Those two die sets give you 8 different sizes of each shape and are something I use frequently.   Once I had everything assembled I added the hearts to my card front using Ranger Multi Medium Matte.  For my final touch I gave all of the hearts a coat of Ranger Glossy Accents to give the hearts a little dimension, then set it aside to dry for a couple of hours.

I hope some of you who are reading this will go check out Jennifer McGuire Ink (link on the right hand side) and join in the Share Handmade Kindness Challenge.