Papertrey Ink January Blog Hop!

Woohoo, it's been a couple of months since I got my act together to participate in the PTI Blog Hop! The challenge this month is:

 "Pick your favorite project from 2011 and share it with all of us! To take it a step further, you are also challenged to create a second card that is inspired bythe favorite project you select." 

I really liked this challenge, although I can't really say that I could ever pick one favorite project! I have many projects from 2011 that I am proud of and love for different reasons. :) But I picked a card that inspired me, so I'll just say that this is one of my favorites! My inspiration card is this Christmas card:

I like the layout of it, although it's a larger than standard A2 card size. I've been wanting to do a "card set" lately, so I thought this would be a good opportunity. So I used the card above to inspire my design, and picked a color palette of Orange Zest, Spring Moss, Hawaiian Shores and Raspberry Fizz, and set about creating my cards assembly line style. Here is what I came up with:

Here you can see each of the 4 card fronts. I used Harvest Berries on the upper part and Text Style 2 under the Quatrafoil die cut. I varied the sentiment panel (Mat Stack 1 and Mat Stack 4) and also the finishing treatment of ribbon & bow or twine & button. The sentiments are from Little Labels.

I decided as long as I was going all out, why not stamp the envelopes to coordinate also?

Last of all, a long time ago I ordered PTI's Clearlly Creative Card Boxes, and had not even opened the package! Since I had such a complete set, I figured I would decorate a box for it too. I used my brand new (just arrived yesterday) Mat Stack 5 Collection and Oval Limitless Layers dies! I added the simple band to the box and stamped it with Harvest Berries, as well as the white oval.

This was a lot of fun! Thanks for the challenge, PTI, and thanks for looking! :)

Dare to Dream

This card came about mostly because I sat down with a goal of using Harvest Berries. It's one of those sets (ok, there are probably several others, lol) that I loved when I saw it, I bought it because I had to have it, and I love so many projects that I see with it. But, it just doesn't get used as much as it should! I also wanted to try my new Raspberry Fizz ink and paper, so here it what I ended up with:

I used Aqua Mist paper and stamped Harvest Berries with Hawaiian Shore and then stamped Text Style 2 with Versamark. I added some berries with Raspberry Fizz. For the sentiment focal point, I stamped Harvest Berries again with Aqua Mist, but stamped off first so that it would just be a very subtle silhouette background. The sentiment, from Daydreamer, is then stamped on top with Raspberry Fizz. I used Limitedless Layers circle and scalloped circle dies, and cut and stamped a little stem from Harvest Berries again to stick up from under the focal point. And I did my best to tie a bow with Hawaiian Shores ribbon, but that is definitely NOT my strong suit! LOL!

Some inking, some stitching, and some foam adhesive for a little bit "pop", plus the 3 little gemstones colored with Copics to match, and voila!

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday: Ghost Masking

Having the day off means that I already got to try out the new Make It Monday challenge for this week: Ghost Masking! When I saw Betsy Veldman's sample card, I couldn't wait to watch the video and see how she got that cool effect. Now, when I sat down to try it myself and thought about what stamps I was in the mood to play with, I decided to do a little bit of a variation on the technique - sort of a riff on Betsy's method, if you will. :) So here is my card:

I used the Mat Stack 1 Collection for the frame. However, since this isn't a full bleed stamp, rather than die-cut for the mask, I used my trusty craft knife to carefully cut, after stamping on vellum, right around the thicker line. Then I stamped Year of Flowers: Sweet Peas, with the inside mask in place. I switched to the outside "negative space" mask and stamped again, stamping off first as in Betsy's video. Now, since this isn't a solid stamp like Betsy used, I got out my Copics and set to work. :) In keeping with the "ghosting" technique, I colored the flowers outside the frame with darker Copics from the Raspberry Fizz range, and greens for the leaves. I used lighter Copics for the flowers and leaves inside the frame, and then got out some very light blues (B0000 and B00) to fill in the white space inside the frame - I like the "glass like" effect that it adds.

The "hello friend" sentiment is from Little Labels... and I can't begin to say how terrifying it was to stamp it, lol! After spending an hour or two with the Copic coloring, it was very scary to know that if I messed up that sentiment, the whole thing was basically garbage - but it came out ok! :)

I rounded the corners and embossed with the Canvas impression plate, then cut the Raspberry Fizz panel and embossed it with the Sunshine impression plate. Added the ribbon and button, and popped up both panels with dimensional adhesive on a white base.

I'm very happy with how this turned out - thanks Betsy for teaching a lovely new technique! And thanks to you for stopping by and peeking at my blog!

Make it Monday: Background from Border Dies

This week's Make it Monday challenge is to use border dies to create a background. I decided to pull out my XL Rickrack die and create a multi-colored background by layering the die-cuts like "stripes".

My color palette is Canyon Clay, Summer Sunrise, Spring Moss and Spring Rain. I cut several pieces in each color and then adhered them to a white base, but making sure that the rickrack extended on both the top and bottom. Then I trimmed the edges of the whole panel, stamped it with Polka Dot Basics 2 in Versamark, wrapped a Summer Sunrise ribbon around it and adhered it to my kraft card base. The focal point uses Mat Stack 4 (also stamped in Versamark), a Doily Details die and a Limitless Layer circle, stamped with the border from Tag Its #10. The Happy Birthday sentiment is from Little Labels, and I finished things off with a twine-tied Tiny Tag. The Mat Stack is popped up on foam adhesive, and the doily is popped up on the Mat Stack.

Thanks for looking!

Happy Birthday to my sweet boy!

Eleven years ago today, I got the best promotion ever - to the position of "Mommy"! Ryan has been under the weather since last week with the bad cough & cold that has worked it's way through our house, so we had to reschedule his birthday sleepover that he was looking forward to on Saturday, but I reminded him how nice it will be to have another birthday celebration to look forward to! :)

Here is his birthday card, using Enjoy the Ride. I "borrowed" an idea from a brilliant card by Erin Lincoln to add that cute little doggie driver from Tiny Treats: Valentines! I definitely plan to use that again. I colored the card and dog with Copics, and used a Mat Stack 4 and MS4 Layerz in Lemon Tart and Spring Rain, and then put them on a Canyon Clay panel that was impressed with the By The Numbers plate. The car is popped up with foam adhesive.

The bottom part of the front panel is stamped with BB: Circles. I added the Tiny Tag, twine and button, and the sentiment, also from Enjoy the Ride, on a banner. After I took these photos, I added some diamond glaze to the headlights - a subtle but nice effect.

And here is the birthday boy this morning! He's feeling lousy still, but managed to humor me with a smile for the picture. The lighting was terrible though and the flash didn't help, lol.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday: Catch Up Time!

What a great idea... for the first Make it Monday challenge of the new year, Nichole Heady linked up all 46 MIM challenges that she has posted over the past year, so that you can choose any challenges that you might have missed the first time around. So is it lame that I picked the very last challenge, #46: Folded Tag from Any Die? LOL... I tried to complete #46 the week it was posted, even started it, but the week got away from me and I never finished it. Since Ryan's 11th birthday is next week, I decided to make a fun little folded tag for a birthday gift.

I used Mat Stack 5 as the die to create the folded tag in white, and then cut it again in Aqua Mist for the base of my tag. I cut Mat Stack 2 Layerz in Canyon Clay, and a Limitless Layer in Hawaiian Shores. I stamped with BB: Circles, and used Modern Basics to add a little pizazz to the tips of the MS2. I really wanted to use one of the images in the cute new Tremendous Treats: Valentine, but I masked off the little heart since it is a birthday tag... and let's face it, I'm pushing the boundaries of allowable cuteness for an 11 year old, as it is! ;) LOL! I colored the sweet little dino with Copics and added the "celebrate" from Tag-Its 4 and finished off the front with a button and bakers twine.

On the inside, I wanted to mimic the cute "dino-mite" sentiment from the original Tiny Treats: Valentine, so I used a carefully masked-up sentiment from Make a Wish for the "hope your birthday is", and spelled out "dino-mite" with Fresh Alphabet.

I hope my big boy likes it! Thanks for looking! :)