Project Inspiration {Tis the Season for Peace}

Hello friends! I shared this Project Inspiration on the Papertrey Ink Blog last week, but I also wanted to share it here to give some additional tips and tricks I used to create this card. I was inspired by a snow globe I saw that had a plaid base, so that was the springboard for this design. I also have missed some of my favorite previously released products, so it's always fun to pull those out again and put them to use!

I combined two of the Winter Globes dies to bring this card to life: Winter Globes Die and the Winter Globes: Believe Die along with some other stamps and dies!

Here's a quick look at steps 1-6 (there's actually 7, but it messed up the grid) and I will walk you through each step.

Step 1: Use the Fanciful Snowflakes Hot Foil Plate and silver foil on a panel of Ocean Tides cardstock measuring 4” x 5 1/4”.

Step 2: Use a corner rounder punch for all 4 corners and attach to a white card base using foam squares.

Step 3: Cut the base of the snow globe from pattern paper and antique gold. Cut it again twice from Soft Stone cardstock and glue everything together.

Step 4: Cut all of the pieces for the scene from White card stock and color them with blender, brushes and dye ink. Assemble using liquid glue and foam squares. Add some white ink splatter.

Step 5: Cut all foliage and berries using the Into the Blooms: Swag Die from white cardstock. Color them like the other elements and spritz with fossilized amber distress oxide spray. Attach to snow globe with foam squares and liquid glue.

Step 6: Cut the Peace sentiment twice; once from antique gold card stock and once from White. Glue them together and attach to the snow globe using liquid glue. Heat emboss the companion sentiment on a strip of vellum using silver powder. Attach it to the snow globe using strategically placed liquid glue on the back of the embossing.

Step 7: spritz with shimmer spray and add glitter. 

Some other details to note: this particular pattern paper that I used on the globe is a craft smart North Pole Mail pad of paper. The plaid was just a small strip on one of the pieces, so I used washi tape to line up the bottom portion of the globe on the paper.

The rock candy glitter is more like sugar and doesn't have a lot of sparkle, but I love the frosted, snowy look it gives my projects.

This hot foil plate is one of my favorites because it doesn't need a high heat or a long time to heat and it always gives me great results!

I didn't want to wrap the vellum strip around the entire background panel, so I simply added some liquid glue to the back of the vellum behind the embossed portion for an invisible adhesion.

Thanks for fluttering by!

The Greetery {Nordic Christmas Greetings}

 

Hello and welcome, friends! I'm here today sharing a pair of Christmas cards inspired by an ad that kept popping up in my feed! Does that ever happen to you? While most ads might be annoying, I think we’re all pretty used to them by now. Every once in a while, I will get an ad for something that inspires me either from the color scheme, layout, etc. This particular ad kept popping up so I took the hint and ran with the inspiration! Ha ha!

My algorithms seem to know I’m heavily involved in the paper crafting world, which also includes stationery. This particular set of cards was inspired by a Fresh Cut Paper ad for their holiday advent. I love the traditional red and green and the use of berry clusters and pine sprigs so that is what I got to work making. I pulled out any and all dies that I thought might work; first up was the pine sprigs that are cut using the BotaniCuts Pine Bough Die. I cut them from white and then colored them with finger daubers and distress oxide ink in colors pine needles and rustic wilderness. The berry sprigs are cut using the Rosemary and Berry Die and colored the same way but with twisted citron, mowed lawn, and rustic wilderness. For the berries, I simply added some Pure Poppy ink to a scrap of white cardstock and then cut them out using the included berry die. I glued the berries to the sprigs and then added some Ranger Glossy Accents to the berries and set them aside to dry.

My next step was to create the cute birds and tree. I cut the base of the birds from Pure Poppy cardstock with gold cardstock wings using the Nordic Birds Die. I added a bit of Scarlet Jewel ink around the belly of both birds for some contrast and then added the gold wings using foam squares.  The tree was cut using the Nordic Tree Die from Powder Green cardstock and antique gold for the trunk and the star. I added some gold pigment ink lightly to the bottom of each section of the tree and gussied it up with some adhesive pearls.

I used the Ornamental Tag Die to create the cluster of greenery on the tree and at the bottom of the card with the birds. I cut the bows from Pure Poppy and gold and secured them to the middle of each cluster.

I love how Betsy showed how you can use the beautiful Rosemal Reflections Embossing Folder with a standard A2 card. My inspiration ad also used “chopped/cut” corners like this, so it was just perfect! The background of the bird card is Pure Poppy and the background of the tree card is Colorplan Forest cardstock. I ran them though my die cut machine using the sandwich guide recommended for my particular machine. I layered them onto white card bases using liquid glue.

I used the Capsule Borders 1 Hot Foil with champagne foil and then cut them using the Capsule Basics Die. I adhered them to the background using foam squares; I made sure to add them to the flat, unembossed portions so that it wouldn’t be wonky.

I had fun adding in all of the premade greenery and foliage using both liquid glue and foam squares. I added some Tim Holtz Rock Candy glitter to the greenery on the bird card for holiday sparkle! I had so much fun creating the pair and now my ads should return to normal since I’ve gotten it out of my system! Haha! Thanks for fluttering by!

You're Amazing, Teacher!

I just can't stop with the back-to-school themed projects! You could definitely switch out the sentiment on this one and make it an any occasion card, really! The inspiration for this card was the flag, silly as that sounds! I passed a school and saw the flag waving in the wind and I thought, oh, I should do a schoolhouse inspired card! While it didn't end up like that, it was definitely the starting point! ha ha! I had so much fun creating the clock on my last card I thought it would be fun to make a clock for my school card with the flag, but as you can see, there is no clock in sight! The clock just didn't work so I had to pivot, but I'm so glad I did because I really like how this card turned out....soft and summery, with a hint of autumn!

I won't bore you with the details of how I switched gears a thousand times, so let's just dive into how I created it! To begin, I used the cute flag dies included in the Patriot Die to create Old Glory on the cute pole. I cut everything from white cardstock and then used blender brushes and dye ink to color the pieces. The pole is cut from silver cardstock and then I glued everything together with liquid glue. I set that aside to dry and got to work on the the flowers. I used the Into the Blooms: Coneflower Die. I didn't participate in the release when these were introduced, so this was the first time I used them and I am hooked! The bee was left over from another project so I added it to the flower using liquid glue.

I had the notebook and pencil leftover from the previous school-themed projects I've shared over the last week or so. When I was making the acorns for one of the cards, I also made this cluster of white flowers so it was fun to use it on this card.

Fort he sentiment, I die cut the main portion in gold using the Teacher Wafer Dies and then the shadow from vellum. I glued them together and let them dry. The "You're amazing" portion is heat embossed in gold on a strip of Kraft cardstock. I dug through my mini sentiment sets until I found something that would accent the teacher word nicely. This one is from the Just Sentiments: Everyday Mini Stamp Set. It's not one I use very often, but I really should because it has some of those sentiments that can be used for just about anything!

For the background, I used the Cascading Stars Hot Foil Plate with Spellbinders Champagne Foil. I love the champagne foil more than gold because it's not quite so yellow. I had fun adding the elements to the background. The sentiment is strategically attached with liquid glue applied ONLY to the areas where they touch something else.

I added some black ink splatter and then trimmed it down to fit inside the frame. I wanted the card to have additional dimension, so I added the entire framed background to a top-folding A2 card base using foam squares. I think I'm going to save this to be used for teacher appreciation next May, but I had so much fun creating it while getting in to the back-t0-school frame of mind! Thanks for fluttering by!

 

You are Timeless

Hello and welcome, sweet friends! I'm thrilled to be here today sharing this soft, floral card! If you stopped by the other day, you would have seen the butterfly sympathy cards I made for The Greetery. I had one lone butterfly left and she just seemed so lonely sitting there by herself. I decided to put her to good use on today's card! 

The background was created exactly like my HOME card I posted the other day. I fell in love with that background and I'm now convinced no other background will ever compare! ha ha! I cut an A2 panel of white cardstock and then used the Show Your Stripes Stencil Collection. I used Pixie Spray because the stencil has a tendency of moving while stenciling and I wanted the lines to be crisp. I used the stencil on the front side and then flipped it around to the other side to create the diagonal plaid. Once I have used the Pixie Spray, I find that it leaves a residue on the cardstock, but if I rub an adhesive remover eraser over the top, it cleans it right up!

Once that was done, I die cut the frame piece using the Reflections: John 1 Die and added it over the stenciled panel using foam squares. I used quite a few because I wanted it to be nice and sturdy without any drooping areas.

I adore this clock; I used the Clock Hot Foil Plate using Champagne foil on Sweet Blush cardstock. I used a Spellbinders Nesting Circle Die to cut it out. I added it to the center of the background panel using foam squares.

 I loved the bow and the flowers look from the HOME card I posted last week so I decided to recreate it, but with die cut flowers rather than stamped ones. I like both looks for different reasons! The flowers are all from the Into the Blooms: Wild Wood Die and are cut from white cardstock and then colored with blender brushes and dye ink. I arranged them around the clock using foam squares and liquid glue.

The sentiment was stamped using the It's Time Stamp Set using black ink. The finishing touch is the beautiful butterfly just begging for her time to shine! (pun intended?) ha ha! The entire panel is added to a top-folding A2 card base using liquid glue! I had so much fun creating this card! Thanks for fluttering by!

 

For Mom

Hello and welcome, friends! I hope you've all had a great week! It's been busy around here, but I wanted to pop in for some last minute Mother's Day inspiration! I used some products from the latest Papertrey Ink release along with some older favorites for this Mother's Day card.

To begin, I die cut all of the pieces for the flowers and leaves using the Into the Blooms: Anemones Die. Everything is cut from white cardstock with the exception of the flower centers (those are cut from gold). I used Harvest Gold ink for the flowers and Ripe Avocado, Stormy Sea, and Spring Moss ink for the leaves.

I gave all of the flowers and foliage a spritz of Shimmer Spray and set them aside to dry. For the background, I used the Fall Harvest Hot Foil Plate with gold foil on Lilac Grace cardstock. I used a corner rounder punch on the corners for a professional look.

I heat embossed the sentiments, which are from the Larger Than Life: Mom mini stamp set, using gold powder on a strip of velum. I let that cool while I worked on the next steps.

I used the Reflections: Numbers 6 Die for the anchor point for the flowers and foliage. I added it to the background using foam squares and then arranged everything until I was satisfied with the arrangement.

I wrapped the vellum strip around the card front and secured it to the back of the background panel using Scotch tape.

The entire panel is glued to a top-folding A2 card base using liquid glue. I used pearls for the berry sprig and a few on the left side for balance. I also added the gems to the flower centers. This design would work well for quite a few different occasions: wedding, birthday, thinking of you, etc.

 I hope you have a wonderful weekend! Thanks for fluttering by!

 

Project Inspiration {Hello Fall}

It's my turn for the Papertrey Ink Project Inspiration Feature! I will share step-by-step photos on how I created this muted autumn card using some of my favorites, both older and new!

To begin, I used the darling Argyle Stencil Collection on a 4 by 5 1/4 inch panel of white cardstock. I adhered it to a top-folding Fine Linen A2 cardbase using liquid glue.

I used the Weathered Wood Background on a piece of Fine Linen cardstock using antique linen distress oxide ink. I cut it using the Love to Layer: Lovely Brackets die and then stamped the sentiment that is included in the Just Sentiments: Happy Fall stamp set

I added the truck, that was cut using the Patriot die using foam squares. 

I tucked all kinds of autumn goodies that are die cut using the new Bountiful Cornucopia die.

The finishing touch is some details to the corners using the Corner Decor stamp set.

I really like how soft and subtle this card turned out! Fall usually takes a little while to get intense, so this is perfect for saying hello!

I gave it a spritz of shimmer spray and added some glitter here and there.

I didn't take a picture, but I've been using the sentiments from the Inside Greetings: Fall Mini stamp set.

Thanks for fluttering by!

 

The Greetery {A Note to Say...Hello!}

 

Hello and welcome friends!  I'm popping in with something fitting for the upcoming spring season. As I was preparing my Easter dinner and dessert, I chose to serve strawberry shortcake and those beautiful berries inspired today’s project. When the To Pie For Die came out, it was autumn pie season so I was thrilled to pull it out for the spring season and make something fresh and fruity!

To begin, I die cut the strawberries using the BotaniCuts Strawberries Die  from white cardstock. I used finger daubers and Distress Oxide inks to add the color to both the greenery, berries, and flowers. I added some extra detail using colored pencils to the individual leaves, the berry tops, and the little strawberry blossoms. Once that was done, I set them aside and got to work on the pie.

As I mentioned earlier, I used the To Pie For Die; I die cut the crust portion from Fine Linen cardstock and the “filling” portion from white cardstock. I used the extra bits of lattice strips to weave though crust for an authentic lattice pie crust. I used some brown ink to add to the edges of the crust for that “golden brown” look and over the top of the intersecting lattice portions for realism. The “filling” was colored using the darkest ink I used on the berries. I glued the entire thing together to complete the pie and set it aside.

The background was created using the Square Dance Stencil. I used the same color ink for all of the steps for a subtle tone-on-tone look, but used different pressure for each of the steps.  I added some ink splatter in a darker ink for some contrast and interest. I added it to a top-folding A2 card base using liquid glue and then got to work with the arrangement of the card. I didn’t have a “set” idea for the sentiment so I had fun looking through options, but finally settled on the Scripty Hello Die and the accent sentiment from the Scripted Sentiments Stamp Set.

I used the swirly portion from the Frosted Frames Die and left the loops intact because I like how it “grounded” the frame a bit more. I added it to the stenciled background panel using liquid glue. I added the pie with foam squares pretty much in the middle of the card, added the berry cluster using additional foam squares. The sentiments are also added using mini foam squares. I added a few berries and leaves to the bottom with some additional blossoms for added interest. This is one of those cards that just makes me happy and I sure hope that it makes the recipient happy, too! Thanks for fluttering by!