Make it Monday #144-Heat Embossing on Vellum (Number 2)

I thought I was finished making Christmas cards, but thought of one more couple that I'd like to make a card for, so I used this week's inspiration from Papertrey Ink. For this card, I heat embossed the text background with gold embossing powder onto the vellum, then mounted that panel onto my cream card base. I used gold powder on the poinsettias, as well as on the sentiment. The flower centers have Stardust Stickles on them, which are really sparkly, in real life. I used a dark red Copic to give some dimension to the flower petals, and some Distress Ink to shade the flowers.

Thanks for looking!

All materials are PTI, unless otherwise indicated.

Stamps: Year of Flowers: Poinsettias, Silent Night, Vintage Life Backgrounds (Heartfelt Creations)

Cardstock: Rustic Cream, Pure Poppy, Vellum

Other: Stardust Stickles (Ranger), Filligree Gold embossing powder, Copic pens, Distress Ink-Peeled Paint (Ranger), Versamark Ink

Make it Monday #144: Heat Embossing on Vellum

Papertrey Ink's challenge this week is to use heat embossing on Vellum. Melissa created a wonderful card as a demo, seen here. I am a traditionalist, but I decided to go "outside the box", and use some non-traditional colours for my card. I used Postmarks: Holiday stamp set (PTI) and embossed three trees using silver, gold and copper embossing powders. For the sentiment, I used a Think Big Favourites (PTI), stamped in Versafine Black ink, and embossed it with clear powder. The snowflakes are from Lawn Fawn, and the copper and pearl embellies are from my stash. The cardstock is Hawaiian Shores, from PTI, which coordinated with the snowflakes really well. I also broke out my PTI shimmer cardstock, in copper, to use a a background mat for my vellum. The shimmer cardstock is gorgeous--I love it!! I heat embossed the sentiment inside, in copper, as well, on white paper.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #141- Using Glitter and Heat Embossing

Papertrey's MIM has challenged us to use Heat and Stick Embossing powder, which I don't have, so I'm hoping that using this holographic powder will suffice! I think it looks similar to using clear embossing powder, followed by glitter. First I stamped the tree with a variety of green inks, then I stamped again using Versamark ink. I sprinkled on the holographic powder, then heat embossed. I used my new-to-me stamp set "In the Meadow", as well as the new One-liners die. The background snowflakes were heat embossed with clear, and Distress Inks used to sponge the sky.

One more card done!

Thanks for looking!

Glitter Houses PTI Blog Hop November

My sister had the great idea of making glitter house Christmas ornaments for our children and grandchildren, so she came over for a visit, and we did them together. It was a lot of fun making up these Melissa Frances kits. I made 8 houses altogether, as you can see in this photo.

PTI's Blog Hop coincided with this project, which was fortunate! I used a little PTI cardstock, and sprinkled all of the houses with Prisma glitter, overtop of the other glitter, for some extra shine.

These two were made with glass glitter, from Melissa Frances (brown chunky glass glitter) and Art Institute (fine," antique-looking" glass glitter). The brown glitter reminds me of a stone cottage! I enjoyed using glass glitter as there is some weight to it, although the fine, traditional glitter worked well, too. I used Aleen's Glitter snow on the roof, fence and trees, as well as a fine dusting of Prisma Glitter over top of pretty much everything! I sprayed a glossy fixative over the whole houses and bases, in hopes of sealing in any glitter in years to come. I put some yellow vellum behind the window and door sashing to make it look like light is coming from inside.

This shows them all lined up on my mantle with the sun shining on them. The glitter really sparkles!

This shows what the snow on the roofs look like, and if you click on the photo, you'll be better able to see the Prisma Glitter sparkling.

The large, green house in the back is for my son and his wife, while the two pink ones are for my 2 granddaughters. The pink glitter on the right is Martha Stewart glitter, while the other two are glass glitter.

And these last 3 are extras, using the template from the Melissa Frances kits and cardstock, to make up a few more. I kept one template behind, for each of the styles of houses, in case I want to make some more next year.

Thanks for looking, and have a great day!

Make it Monday, #140: Ink Pad Designs

Ashley has challenged us to use our ink pads to create a background, so I've used several of my ink pads to simulate a sunset scene. I used PTI's "In the Meadow" stamps and dies, then added some Prisma Glitter on the snow and star, and some Stickles  on the tree to glitter it up.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #139, Stamped Square Frames

Dawn, over at Papertrey Ink, has done some lovely cards using the frames from Boutique Borders, so our challenge this week is to create a square frame, using stamps. I've chosen the Boutique Borders:Birthday frame, stamped in dark chocolate ink, as well as PTI's Scentimentals stamps to make this card for my granddaughters. I was a bit disappointed with the "scratch and sniff" powder I made up--perhaps my ginger powder was just old, as there is almost no scent whatsoever. I even mixed in a bit of cinnamon.
I Case'd a card Nichole Heady made, back when this stamp set was introduced. The pine boughs are from Peaceful Pinecones, and the holly dies are from Holly Jolly, all PTI. I used Spellbinders squares behind the focal image, and popped the gingerbread man up on foam tape.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #138 - Inlaid Die Cuts, Post #2

I had a crafting marathon this afternoon, and made 3 Christmas cards! I used my new stamps, "Stained Glass", as well as "In the Meadow", which I just ordered after having it on my wish list for the past year. I think I'll have fun with this set :)

After this photo was taken, I added even more Stickles onto the tree. Now, I'm wishing I'd put something on the bottom of the card to ground the inlaid die cut...Darn. But the good news is, see what I'm learning by watching the PTI design team?!? (You'll have to imagine the light gray Copic shadows that I'm going to put underneath the horse and sleigh...)

 I used PTI's Sunshine impression plate on the next two cards--one side of the impression plate for each card--and Copics to colour the focal image, as well as some gold and clear Zig Wink of Stella pen for some glittering. There is also a little Glossy Accents on the halo of baby Jesus, and on the star above his head.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #138: Inlaid Die Cuts

Betsy's challenge this week is to use inlaid die cuts, which is always great when you have to mail a card. I've used PTI's "Beautiful Butterflies" stamps and dies, as well as "Boutique Borders" to make this card for our great-niece, who is turning 12 next week. I got my inspiration from one of Maile Belle's cards, seen here. One butterfly has some design paper in the negative space, and some rhinestones to embellish it. There is a butterfly stamped on the inside, as well as on the envelope, which you can see peeking out from behind the card.

Thanks for looking!

Papertrey October 2013 Blog Hop Challenge

It's blog hop time, and the focus on this month's blog is "Tags". Fun and useful, too!  Now, I have my first 5 tags made for Christmas :) The first 3 tags are for adults, and the next two are for my granddaughters. Here they all are. I look forward to seeing what everyone else makes, as I'm sure to get lots of inspiration from this blog hop!

And here are the tags, individually. All stamps and materials are PTI, except the the snowman, which is Gina K, but even it has been paper-pieced with PTI Pure Poppy patterned paper. Wish you could see the flocking on his hat.

Make it Monday, #136 - Layered Emboss Resist

For this week's Make it Monday, Nichole demonstrated how to layer stamps with a clear, embossed image, then sponge ink over top (ie. the resist). I wanted to make a card for my brother, who had a serious stroke 7 months ago, and will finally be coming home from rehab next week. Inside will say, "Welcome Home!", along with a personal message. I am so happy and relieved that he is well enough to come home!

I am loving PTI's Meadow Greens--such great ferns!They make wonderful "guy" cards. The sentiment is from Mini-Blooms. The background is done with Hero Arts Canvas background stamp.

Thanks for looking, and for your comments!

Make it Monday, #134 - Repeat + Lift

Nichole Heady, at Papertrey Ink, showed us how to create a background stamp for our coordinating dies by stamping, lifting and repeating the stamp. This gives an interesting shadow effect to the die cut. Since I'm beginning my Christmas card production, I chose the Joy mini stamp to create my card, as well as a sentiment from Peaceful Pinecones, but CASE'd Nicole's layout. I used Spring Moss ink for the top half of the stamp, and Simply Chartreuse Ink for the bottom half, to add some interest. I added the small Holly Jolly leaves to embellish the "o", and then some red rhinestones from my stash for the holly berries.
All materials are PTI.

Thanks for looking!

September PTI Blog Hop - Wreaths

Papertrey Ink's September Blog Hop is all about wreaths. And, since I'm trying to get some Christmas cards done, this was a perfect chance! I used the die from "Birds and Blooms" as a base for the wreath, and then cut out some extra branches, which I cut apart and glued on. I also die cut one of the birds and some red flowers from the same set.  Then I die cut quite a few holly leaves from dark green cardstock, and decorated the wreath with some red rhinestones. The sentiment is from "Think Big Favourites #20, stamped in Dark Chocolate ink, and the star background stamp is from Waltzingmouse Stamps, stamped in Fine Linen ink. The bow is from "Bells and Boughs".

All materials are PTI, unless otherwise stated.

Thanks so much for looking--have a great day!

September AEI♥U Challenge

Avery Elle's challenge for this month is to create a project based on this photo. 
The challenge can be found here.

                                                     

And here is what I've come up with. 

The background has been sponged with Distress Ink: Evergreen Bough, then spritzed with Perfect Pearls mist, because the inspiration photo has some faint spots in it, too. The flower shape and colours are inspired by the cable cars, and the arrow is inspired by the line holding the cars up, and it also helps to ground the sentiment. The flower "stem" is the pole. Hope you like my interpretation of the photo!

   

Thanks so much for looking! Any comments are always appreciated.

Ingredients: 

Stamps: Oh Happy Day, Texture Tiles, Handwritten Notes

Dies: Rounded Diamonds

Cardstock: PTI (yellow) Staples (white) Michaels (Black)

Ink: Versafine Red and Black, Evergreen Bough (Distress)

Other: pearl from stash, red Copic to colour in arrow

Make it Monday, #132 - Layered Border Die Cuts

This week's Make it Monday is all about using several border die cuts to create a card. I've used PTI's Filigree Border to make my first Christmas card this year. The die cuts are overlapped on each other (and therefore layered, as per the challenge) then covered with a strip of glitter. The sentiment is from "Happiest of Holidays", also PTI.

Thanks for looking!

PTI Make it Monday, #131-Striped Embossing

I just KNOW I'm going to have to explain this card, since it is a bit unusual. I will be giving it to my pastor and his wife next week, at a surprise party, as they are celebrating 20 years here in this church, 40 years married, and they will both turn 60 within the next month. So you can see it's a big year for them!
The silver and white embossing powders really give it some shine, in real life, as do the "Moonshine" sequins. The sentiment is also embossed, with clear powder over Versafine Black ink. I tried my best to show the shine in these photos, without losing the detail of the striped embossing powders. The first photo better shows the shine, the second one shows the striped powders.

Stamps: Headline Alphabet (PTI), Ribbons and Bows (PTI), background text stamp (Heartfelt Creations)

Card stock: PTI 

Embossing Powders: clear, silver and white embossing powders 

Other: Half and Half die (PTI), sequins, silver ribbon from my stash

Waltzingmouse Fanatics Challenge-#1

Waltzingmouse Stamps have a lot of fans, one of them being this website, Waltzingmouse Fanatics. Since I recently "acquired" some WMS stamp sets, I was pleased to be able to enter this challenge, their first one!
We were to use this sketch for inspiration.





And here is my take on this sketch.

I used WMS "Woodgrain" for the texture on the "seas", and the ship and sentiment are from the recently released "Ocean Bound". I added some clouds and twine to finish it off. 

Thanks for looking!

Make It Monday, #131 Striped Embossing

Betsy Veldman, from Papertrey Ink, has challenged us to create a project with striped embossing. I needed to make a retirement card for a male friend of mine, so I thought embossed leaves would make a good masculine card. I used the leaves from "Meadow Greens", and the sentiment is from "Bigger Blooms" (both PTI). I used 3 metallic embossing powders: Gold, Copper and Merlot, to simulate fall colours. (Even though it still feels like summer here, today!) Because I photographed this card in the sun, it's hard to see that I've used rustic cream cardstock--a little too overexposed, unfortunately.

And here is a close up of the metallic leaves. The metallic powders really glow!

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

ETA: I am also entering this in the Moxie Fab World- All That Glitters is Gold challenge, 

and the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge "Embossing"

Make it Monday, #130 - Using Heat 'N Bond

This week, Erin showed us how to use Heat 'N Bond to bond fabric, then die cut shapes out of the fabric. My Heat 'N Bond only had stickiness on one side, so I bonded some scrap fabrics to it, which made it a little stiffer and easier to use. I then used Beautiful Blooms dies to cut out 3 flowers, and adhered them using glue dots. A button and some twine finished it off. 

All materials are PTI, unless otherwise indicated. Thanks for looking, and for commenting :)

Paper: Hawaiian Shores, Rustic White

Stamps: Mat Stack 6, Mini Blooms

Inks: Brilliance (Memento), Versafine Onyx Black, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz

Other: Burlap impression plate, Mat Stack 6 dies, Beautiful Blooms dies, button and twine, fabric from stash

Waltzingmouse "Bedtime Story"

                              
Waltzingmouse Stamps is hosting several challenges here: http://waltzingmouse.blogspot.co.uk/

The last one, "Bedtime Story" has a sketch to follow. Here is my take on it. I've used the WMS "Little Lanterns" for the image, and "Light of the World" for the sentiment, which was stamped on a Spellbinders die cut. The wallpaper has been dry embossed with a striped impression plate, and then cut with an edger die for some added interest. Some ribbon and pearls finish it off.

Thanks for looking!

Waltzingmouse Pajama Party Aug. 2013

Waltzingmouse stamps is hosting their 2nd challenge contest, here:
                                                                 

Challenge 1: Tie a Knot In It

For this challenge I used several WMS sets. "Tying the Knot", "Ocean Bound", and "Woodgrain Background". I used the corner knots to make a border in kraft ink, then stamped the ship in blue ink. Some Copics were used to give the indication of water. I die cut a circle and a background out of kraft card stock, and stamped the sentiment with the same blue ink. The blue background cardstock was stamped with the woodgrain stamp, in Versamark ink, to give some texture. Some knotted twine finishes off the card.
I am also linking these cards up to Simon Says Stamp Challenge:Anything Goes

Challenge 2: Get Naughty

I used several stamp sets for this card, too: "Ocean Bound", "Safe Harbour Sentiments" and "Tying the Knot".  I cut a tag to stamp the sentiment on, and used the rectangle rope border from "Ocean Bound", then coloured in the lantern with a light yellow Copic pen. I used a woodgrain impression plate on the white panel behind the tag, heat embossed some white powder for the rope border, and added some blue and white baker's twine to finish it off the card.

Challenge 3: Colour Inspiration

For this card, I CASE'd a beautiful watercolour card by Julia Aston, seen here. 

I used some different colours, in keeping with the colour challenge, but used the same image and sentiment. (Note: I used the colours, but not the photo itself as my inspiration.) My apologies for the blurry photo!

Challenge 4: Golden Oldies

I don't have any "old" stamps, as I just placed my first order with WMS last month! So "Fine Feathers" was my first WMS  stamp set. I love the feathers as well as the sentiments in this set! I heat embossed the feathers onto vellum with white embossing powder, and then embossed the sentiment. (I seem to be on a blue and white theme for this Pajama Party!)

Thanks for looking, and I always appreciate any comments!

I am also linking these cards up to Simon Says Stamp Challenge:Anything Goes

Papertrey's August 2013 Blog Hop

This month, on Papertrey's Blog Hop Challenge, we were to choose a sketch, with an accompanying colour scheme. I chose the following:

                                                

My granddaughter is starting Grade 2 next week, and I wanted to make her a card to let her know that I will be thinking of her. As I was cutting out all the heart borders, I was wishing PTI had a border die that was all apples. Wouldn't that have been cool? And it would fit with the back to school theme even better! (Or maybe they do and I just don't know it...) However, all the hearts will hopefully show her how much her grandma loves her :) I will be out of town visiting my son and his family this weekend, so hopefully I can figure out how to upload this on my iPad on the 25th!

All supplies and materials are PTI. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Back to School

Other: Heart Border die, Back to School dies, and PTI design paper and inks, Versafine Black Onyx.

August AEI♥U Challenge

The August Challenge for Avery Elle has the following sketch:

                                               

I used the flowers and sentiment from Avery Elle's "Oh Happy Day" stamp set, and the border is from their "Texture Tiles: Be Cool" stamp set. I splattered some ink onto the background for fun :)

Thanks for looking!

Moxie Fab World:The Trendy Triangles Challenge

I'm entering this card in the Moxie Fab World: The Trendy Triangles Challenge. I used Papertrey's "Sketched Shapes" stamp set overlapping the large triangles on the left, and the medium triangles on the right of the banner. Some small triangles underline the sentiment, also from PTI.

Thanks for looking!