Papertrey Ink December 2018 Blog Hop

It's time for the Monthly Papertrey Ink Blog Hop and I am excited that I have time to participate this month!  It's been a busy year and I haven't gotten to participate every month as I did before our move so I'm excited to get to participate for the last one this year.

The image on the left is our inspiration photo.  I really wanted to do some embroidery, but I haven't been unable to unpack those boxes yet and I'm not certain that I kept any fabric that would have been suitable.  So I did the next best thing and tried to replicate the feeling using stamps.

I immediately thought of the branches in the Stitched Sentiments Stamp Set for this card.  While they are not in the shape of a heart, I could bend and curve them enough to make it seem like they are which is what I did.  I tested out my design on some plain printer paper beforehand to make sure that it looked right.  My heart is squattier than the one in the image, but it's not supposed to be a replica, just the inspiration.  I stamped that in New Leaf Ink.  Then I added in some roses with Lovely Lady Ink using one of the stamps from Grand Finale Stamp Set and a few dots from Nuvo Gloss Drops in Carnation Pink to add some interest and texture to an otherwise clean and simple card.

I added a sentiment from "Penned Elegance" using Versamark with Antique Gold Embossing Powder.

No long boring details for you today.  Just a quick and easy card that took me less than a half hour to make.  Thanks for stopping by today.  I have to go back into the city today for some medical stuff, but I'll link up my project at the Papertrey Blog as soon as I can!

Altenew Educator & A Tribute Post for Melissa Dawn Lane

Today's card has special significance for me.  I found out on Friday that Melissa Dawn Lane of Honey Bee Lane (not to be confused with Honey Bee Stamps) passed away unexpectedly on October 2nd, leaving her husband and four children to cope with the enormous loss.  Melissa was a part of the Stamplorations Design Team as well as being on other Challenge design teams in the industry.  She was kind and encouraging to everyone in the industry and outside of that as well.  Melissa loved Butterflies and often featured them in the cards she made.  Stamplorations has a tribute page here for Melissa where you can submit a project in her honor between now and October 31st.  The page will remain as a tribute to her, but the linky and the mailing address will be removed. 

I was a fan of Melissa's work because she frequently joined in the challenges at the Simon Says Stamp Blog where I join in as often as possible.  Her style was pretty clean and simple.  Melissa was also an avid photographer and you can see a lot of her photography on her Instagram accounts here:  https://www.instagram.com/honeybeelanecards/ and here for a peek into her home life: https://www.instagram.com/mainepromisedlandfarm/.

My post today is also for the Altenew Educator Certification Program, "Color Your Day" class.  For a few months, I have had these butterflies sitting on my desk in my "to use" group.  I can think of no better occasion than to make a beautiful card for Melissa's family.  I hope the butterflies that Melissa so loved will make them smile.

I stamped several of the butterflies from the SSS Beautiful Day Stamp Set in Versamark on a sheet of 5 x 7 Fabriano Artistico Extra White Hot Pressed Watercolor Paper and heat set them with Simon Says Stamp Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I'm pretty sure this Fabriano paper is going to become a favorite for watercolor even though I didn't do any traditional watercoloring on it.  I chose to use an analogous color scheme but in this class, we learned about using a color wheel for Analogous, Complimentary and even Triad color schemes.  I have another family in color schemes that I call Duochrome.  "Duotone" is a type of photographic image that was very popular in the days before color film was so easily accessible by photographers of all levels. It includes black and white and sepia toned prints.  In cardmaking, I like to use this technique with a metallic and 1 additional color.  I have an example of this technique coming up on the 25th of this month.

I used Daniel Smith Watercolors but I wanted a very pigmented color so there's not much water mixed in with it.  For the Purple color, I mixed Quinacridone Purple with Quinacridone Pink.  For the turquoise color, I mixed Ultramarine Turquoise with Phthalo Blue.  I used two shades for the Leaves, Deep Sap Green and the same color mixed with a bit of Aureolin for the lighter green shade.

Since my husband is only home on the weekends, I spend a lot of my weekend time with him and once I finished coloring in the butterflies, I let the images dry overnight and then hit them with a bit of shimmer mist this morning.

I had a background that I had made during the AECP "Irresistible Inking Techniques" class that I wanted to use for the background so I die cut that panel and made a card base from Aqua Mist Cardstock.  I used a brayer with a watered down solution of ink to make the background.  I've linked that blog post for you. I like that it's a nice soft color with a very subtle texture.  For Easy Mailing, I kept the card fairly flat but I did use some thin foam tape under the butterflies to make them pop a little bit and added a bit of bling.

For the inside sentiment, I chose one from the "Wings of Hope" set that Tasnim and I collaborated on for Altenew.  It's a quote from Washington Irving and one I found myself recalling often after my brother's murder in 2014.  The year 2014 was a terrible year of loss for me personally.  There were several deaths of close friend's family members, a family member of my own, and I know that Melissa's family will have moments where they will struggle to hold back the tears.  I want to let them know that it's okay to cry.  It happens less often as the years pass, but sometimes there are still things that will bring them bubbling to the surface.

I hope you all were privileged enough to know Melissa through her paper crafting and card making.  Melissa, you will be missed!  I'm not including a link supply list for this post as I feel it would be in very poor taste, but I've named the products I used and you can find them easily if you'd like to.

I am sending lots of love and hugs to Melissa's family and friends at this tough time in their lives.  If you'd like to send a card to Melissa's family, you can send them to Shery Russ of Stamplorations at the address linked at the Stamplorations Blog before October 31st.  After that time, the address will be removed. 

Please add a butterfly stamp or die to the envelope so Shery will know it's for Melissa's family and she will send them on.

Color Throwdown #482

Hello!  I am popping in here with a quick post today for the Color Throwdown Challenge #482.  The featured colors this week are Pink, Kraft and Grey.  I was able to pull a card together very quickly for this with several items that were already stamped and laying on my desk.

I had previously stamped the sentiment from Altenew's Wings of Hope Stamp Set.  Since I helped design this set, I know all the sentiments by heart.

I started with the panel of Bristol Paper that had been embossed with Antique Gold Embossing Powder.  I die cut that panel with the largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle Die.  I die cut the next panel from Papertrey's Soft Stone Cardstock which is a soft grey color for the mat and created a top folding horizontal card base from Papertrey's Classic Kraft Cardstock.

I had already stamped the tulips with Sweet Blush, Pale Peony and Berry Sorbet as well as the little butterfly in Sweet Blush.  All I need to do was arrange the flowers above the quote, add a few Nuvo Crystal Drops in Bubblegum Blush and this card was finished.  I did let the Nuvo Drops dry overnight.

We had a death in our family recently and although I sent a card, I plan to send this one as well.  It was a pretty big shock in some ways because this person had cancer but was recently given the all clear from his doctor -- just a few days before he died so it was unexpected at this time.  Anyhow, I didn't want to send the same card but I do want to let the family know we're thinking of them.

Altenew Wings of Hope Stamp Set Shop at: ALT	Kokuyo Long Dot Runner Adhesive Shop at: SSS	Nuvo Crystal Drops Bubblegum Blush Shop at: SSS	PTI Classic Kraft Cardstock Shop at: PTI
PTI Perfect Match Berry Sorbet Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Pale Peony Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Perfect Match Sweet Blush Ink Shop at: PTI	PTI Soft Stone Cardstock Shop at: PTI
PTI Tulip Time Dies Shop at: PTI	PTI Tulip Time Stamp Set Shop at: PTI	Ranger Multi Medium Matte Shop at: SSS

Sending Hugs & Prayers

When I had to sit down this morning and put a couple of sympathy cards together quickly, I was really happy that I had some extra background panels from yesterday's "experiments".   Honestly, this is the first time that I have made a sympathy card.  I try to keep a few on hand from the store because it is something you will need sooner or later.  But as the father of one of my best friends passed away, I wanted something that I had made to send to her and another one for her mom.  I didn't photograph the latter, but this card was super fast to pull together.

I cut the background panel that I had created yesterday with the Hero Arts Leafy Vines and SU! Garden Green Ink using my largest Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangle.  Next I stamped my sentiment on a scrap piece of the watercolor card stock because I knew it would match the white in the background panel.  I used WOW! Rich Pale Gold Embossing Powder to heat emboss this sentiment from Hero Arts & Simon Says Stamp Exclusive Prayers Stamp and Die Cut Set.  I cut the ribbon strip to about the size I wanted it and used a SU! punch that I have to cut the banner ends.  You lose about an inch when you use that punch so I cut that end first. Then I laid that strip into the stitched rectangle die, lining up the stitching lines and cut the other end of the banner so it would line up with my card base.  I just used a bit of masking tape to hold it in place while I cut it.  I mounted the background panel on an ivory top folding card base.

This was super easy to do and made for a nice, classic looking card keeping with my overall style of classic and elegant.  Thanks for stopping by today on my super quick post. Enjoy your Sunday!