Saturday, December 20, 2014

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #193: Camouflaging Die Cuts #2

For this second card, I used a variety of Tim Holtz Distress Inks and a splatter of gold Perfect Pearls mist. Again, the die cut is from "Wonderful Words: Holidays", and the sentiment from "Wet Paint: Holidays" (Why can't we say "Christmas", instead of "Holidays", I wonder?). Anyway, I finished this one off with a "Painted Poinsettia".
I was really pleased with how this one turned out, and may do more like this for next year!

Papertrey Ink Make It Monday #193: Camouflaging Die Cuts

 I love Laura Bassen's CAS, yet colourful style, so when she presented this week's Make it Monday, for Papertrey Ink, I had to play along...even though I should be doing any number of other things!!! I sponged the background in the following inks: Spring Rain, Blueberry Sky and Winter Wisteria, then spritzed some Perfect Pearls mist over the whole page. I used the "Wonderful Words: Holidays" for the die cut, and a sentiment from "Wet Paint-Holidays". A snowflake from WPlus9 finished it off.
Here is a close up showing the texture with the 4 layers of card stock.
Thanks for looking!


Thursday, November 27, 2014

Make It Monday #190: Stamping a Plaid Background

Ashley put together a wonderful video showing how effortlessly she stamped a plaid background. I like her layout, but thought I should make something a little different, and this is what I came up with. I used Basic Background: Superstripes, and 3 colours of ink: Pure Poppy, Simply Chartruese and Delicata Gold. The focal point is PTI's Year of Flowers: Poinsettias (I had one left over from the MIM a few weeks ago, when we were to use a "gold-dipped" technique). A One-Liners Holiday die finishes it off.
Thanks for looking!


Monday, November 24, 2014

November 2014 Blog Hop Challenge - SNOW!

Blog-hop-logo
My first two cards are shaker cards that I've made for my two granddaughters. I must admit that it's harder than it looks to make these...  However, I persevered and ended up with something satisfactory, and, since my granddaughters are only 8 and 2, I think they'll pass muster. (Although the 8 yr.-old is pretty discerning, artistically!) I finished off the "Sparkle" word with some Stickles, for some extra sparkle!
Papertrey dies: Shaker Shapes: Snowglobe, "Sparkle", "In the Meadow" (boy on sleigh and hills), "Tree Border", "Winter Penguin" (plus stamps),
Other Papertrey products: Patterned paper, Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy, Smokey Shadow and Spring Rain inks.



These next three cards also use PTI's "In the Meadow" stamps and dies to create snowy scenes. There are also glittery snowflakes in the sky, but that's difficult to see in this photo. I heat embossed the silhouette image to give it a bit more definition, and the tree has two colours of inks, using the "rock and roll" technique.



For this next card, I tried my hand at some watercolouring for the background. Last year, Sanketi did a card very much like this, and I tried my best to Case her!

For my last card, I've gone in a different tack, trying something more CAS. I watercoloured a background, then spritzed it with Perfect Pearls mist. When it was dry, I diecut a snowflake out of the center. I diecut a second snowflake out of Stampers Select white card stock, and filled in the diecut hole.  The sentiment is from Keep it Simple: Merry Christmas. The card is finished off with a diecut border, with a stitching line impressed in it, then popped up for dimension.
You made it to the end of this long post! Thanks so much for looking!




Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Make It Monday #188: Stamping Ombre Backgrounds (Post #2)

I'm back again with another stamped, ombre background. This time I used Super Stripes, as the stamps in this set are long enough to stamp on the diagonal. I started in the middle, then did progressive colours on both sides. The focal point is Phrase Play #6, and since the background is like a rainbow, I chose the sentiment from Up, Up and Away:Sentiments, selectively stamping the parts I wanted. I finished it off with an enamel dot, resembling the sun. Not sure I liked that part, but it's done, now...

This next card is not a stamped, ombre background, but a watercoloured "rainbow", instead. It is a "get well" card for our great-niece, who wasn't feeling well. The daisy die is from SSS, and the sentiment is again, from Up, Up and Away (PTI). I hope you can see the sun's rays, from the Sunshine Impression plate, on the yellow, background paper.
Thanks for looking!


Monday, November 10, 2014

Make It Monday #188: Stamping Ombre Backgrounds

Laura Bassen had a wonderful example of Ombre Backgrounds on Nichole's Blog this morning. I love hers, and would love to copy it, but chose instead to try something a little different, and Christmas-y. I used the small triangle image in PTI's Ombre Background Builders and many different, green PTI inks to make the gradation from light to dark, stamping each colour twice, reversing the triangles each time. I then die cut the Text Block:Christmas from Pure Poppy cardstock and glued it over my background. A few trees cut from the evergreen border die adds some interest, as does the Wink of Stella pen over the sentiment. This whole panel was popped up on the white card base. I'd like to give this a try with other colours, when I have more time.
Thanks for looking!

Sunday, November 9, 2014

Make It Monday #187: Partial Die Cuts for Christmas

here is my last minute addition to this week's Make It Monday, over at Nichole Heady's Blog. I used PTI's Fancy Flakes, one of their new Bookmark dies, in Spring Rain paper, and Tag Sale #8, in vellum. I stamped the sentiment (Wet Paint Holiday) in Versamark ink, and heat embossed it with Ranger's  Liquid Platinum powder. Some silver ribbon and silver thread finish it off. I haven't decided, yet, whether this will be a bookmark, or tag, or maybe a two-in-one tag/bookmark :)
Thanks for looking!

Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Make It Monday #186: Partial Die Stamping #2

While I had the stencil and texture pastes out, I went ahead and did 4 more, using Tim Holtz texture paste, and some Holographic embossing powder on top of that. For the Partially Stamped die cut, I used a small pine bough, from Bells and Boughs. I stamped the boughs in Simply Chartreuse ink on Spring Moss paper before diecutting. The sparkle of the embossing powder (heat embossed after the paste had dried) shows up really well in real life, and does not rub off! Bonus, for when these are mailed :) For these cards, I mounted them all on a Simply Chartreuse card base, and rounded one corner.


I hope you can see some of the sparkle here...

And a close up of the die cut, partially stamped with the pine bough.

And here are the 4, together. Thanks for looking!




Make It Monday #186: Partial Die Stamping

It was Laurie's turn to challenge us, at Papertrey Ink. Her challenge can be found here. I was looking for a way to put a sentiment on my Christmas cards, and thought this would be fun. I used Wet Paint Holidays to die cut out the sentiments from Spring Moss card stock, which had first been stamped with the small snowflake from Winter Hills, with Simply Chartruese ink. The remainder of the sentiments were heat embossed with white embossing powder. A strip of Simply Chartreuse paper up the side adds some interest, and some balance of colours. The Pure Poppy card fronts are all  mounted on to some Stamper's Select white card bases.


I used some iridescent texture paste, and a Tim Holtz stencil to create the focal image, so that I could mass produce a few cards. Here's a close up of the wonderful iridescence!

Thanks for looking, and your comments make my day!

Saturday, October 25, 2014

October 2014 Blog Hop

 PTI-Oct-Blog-Hop-Color-5

Well, I only have one Christmas card that qualifies for this month's PTI blog hop challenge, so here it is. I used most of the above colours, with the exception of the bright green (New Leaf) and Blueberry Sky. I'm just not a fan of bright green, and gravitate towards the yellow greens, and just didn't want to add in any more blues. Anyhow, I used Soft Stone to make stripes for the background, and silver glitter paper for the Fancy Flakes snowflake. The sentiment and die are from Wonderful Words: Holiday, and some Wink of Stella adds some glitz to the diecut. the sentiment is heat embossed with Liquid Platinum embossing powder.
Thanks for looking!

And just for fun, I am throwing in these two other cards, since I had need to make a birthday card  as well as a sympathy card. They fit the colour scheme above, but aren't Christmas related. The butterflies are from WPlus9, and both cards are a CASE of ones that Dawn W. has made. The sentiments are from PTI's Keep it Simple series. I do love watercolouring!




Tuesday, October 21, 2014

Make It Monday #185: Faux Stained Glass

Well, I tried... Several times. And this is where my adventure with stamping on acetate will probably end. I messed up with Stayzon ink, and another hybrid ink didn't work, so I ended up stamping with a black pigment ink, then embossing with clear. So it looks gray. I coloured with Copics, made it into a shaker card, using many layers of cardstock (I should have taken a photo of what was left of the skinny frame, using adhesive sheet...)  My hat is off to those of you who have produced such wonderful "Faux Stained Glass"!  Betsy--you made this look so easy!!!!

Stamp sets: "Stained Glass" and "Silent Night". Gold "Delicata" ink for the background swirls. I used some Prisma glitter inside the shaker portion, as well as some star sequins.

Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Make It Monday #184: Gold Dipped Die-cuts


Over at Papertrey Ink this week, Danielle has a wonderful challenge, which is to emboss diecuts to look like they've been dipped in gold. I immediately thought of my PTI set, "Year of Flowers - Poinsettia". I have definitely gotten my money's worth from this set! I still love it (although a new, multi-step poinsettia stamp set is about to be released, and I think I must have it, too!!)



I added some depth to the flowers with Copic markers, gold embossed the "Merry", and used my Wet Paint Holiday die for "Christmas". I layered it with 3 white die cuts underneath, to give it a raised look. I cut out a panel to add some patterened paper underneath, added some Silhouette gold foil paper to the edges, then attached a few green pearls to finish it off.

All stamps, dies and paper are PTI, with the exception of the textured green paper for the sentiment, which was in my stash. Thanks for looking!


Thursday, October 9, 2014

Simon Says... Use Watercolors

I was glad to see this week's challenge from Simon Says Stamp, seen here, as I've really been enjoying watercolouring, lately. It does take a lot of time, however, so I can't do ALL my cards this way. So many cards to make, so little time!

This one uses a bird stamp from Hero Arts, which I watercoloured, while the sentiment is from Clearly Besotted. The feather stamps/dies are PTI.

 This PTI poinsettia was watercoloured with deep roses and greens to resemble the pink poinsettias you can buy. The sentiment is also PTI.

 I used some new stamps for this card, from Art Impressions, along with some Distress Markers. The sentiment is from PTI.

This lilac stamp is from PTI, as is the sentiment and the patterned paper.

I had to try out my WPlus9 butterfly with my watercolour paints, using Dawn W's video as a guide. It was fun, and I actually made 4 different cards, using the same colour scheme (which I love!), but different sentiments, which are from PTI.

Thanks for looking!

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

Make it Monday #183:Dry Embossing over Heat Embossing

Dawn McVey, over at Papertrey Ink, demonstrated a technique that adds lots of texture to one-layer cards. And since I mail most of my cards, I wanted to play along. I actually used two layers this time, as I wanted to add some twine. I used metallic embossing powders (gold and copper) as well as a Zing green for all the leaves (Leaf Prints). I used Basket of Blessings for the sentiment, and then dry embossed, using a PTI Impression plate. (I can't remember the name, and I can't find it on their website, either! Sorry! But it's a plate with a lot of little leaves, which I thought went with the leaf theme.) ETAdd: The impression plate is "Vineyard", by PTI. Thanks, Nancy!
All stamps are PTI, as is the cardstock. Thanks for looking!

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Make It Monday #181: Paper Casting

Danielle had a unique and new-to-me technique this week--Paper Casting! It was kind of fun, but I think I'll need some practice...especially to get even near the great results that Nancy Penir had! Lol. Loved how all of hers turned out. Anyway, I made a couple of tags with my Stained Glass and Peaceful Pinecones stamps/dies.

And maybe I'll use these others to make more tags, or cards :)
Thanks for looking!


Tuesday, September 23, 2014

September 2014 Blog Hop Challenge- #3

Well, I had the urge to create, so made a third card for this blog hop. I used Beautiful Brushstrokes stamp set and dies, and a card of Danielle's for inspiration to make my card, but used the colours suggested in this blog hop.
Color-recipe-2

Thanks for looking!

Monday, September 22, 2014

September 2014 Blog Hop Challenge #2

Color-recipe-3



For this card, I watercoloured Botanical Blocks peony, using PTI inks. It was a lot harder to blend the colors, and gives a different look from watercolour paints. But at least I know I used the right colours! The background is watered down  "Enchanted Evening" ink, which I added to the above Color Recipe. I used Ranger's "Liquid Platinum" embossing powder to stamp the flower as well as the sentiment, which is from "Banner Sentiments".
Thanks for looking!


September 2014 Blog Hop Challenge


It's that time again--the PTI Bloghop for September. This month's inspiration photo did just that. What wonderful colours! I actually combined both of the following colour "recipes", and did not really use the sketches. I was really pleased with how this watercoloured poinsettia turned out. (I like it a lot better than the background, which went through 3 different re-makes before settling on the Darice embossing folder.) See full card below.
Color-recipe-2
Color-recipe-3

I used PTI's "Year of Flowers-Poinsettias" and stamped it in Versamark, then heat embossed using Ranger's "Liquid Platinum" embossing powder. Then I watercoloured it using my watercolour paints, mixing the colours the close as I could to make Autumn Rose and Avocado green. The sentiment is from "Silent Night", and  heat embossed with white powder. I used the new Raindrops to fill in the center of the flower. Cardstock is Soft Stone and Autumn Rose.

Thanks for looking!

Monday, September 1, 2014

Make it Monday #178: Back to School Easel Card

Papertrey Ink's Erin Lincoln has challenged us this week to make an easel card, in honour of school starting this week. However, here in BC, the teachers' strike had delayed the start of school. But it will start at some point, right? So I made this card for my granddaughter, and will send it off to her once the strike is over. This card looks quite a bit like Erin's, so it's defiinitely a "Case", but her card was inspiring :)
PTI products used:
Stamps: Back to School, Teacher Tickets, Antique Alphabet
Inks: Fresh Snow, Pure Poppy, Limeade Ice, Simply Chartreuse
Dies: Back to School, Stargazer Additions (stars)

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Make it Monday #176, Post 3

Well, I just had to try out my "Translucent" Embossing Paste! Love it! I envision all sorts of uses...like hearts on red paper, etc.

Anyways, I like the look of clear embossing powder on black paper, so went with black for my first try. Love how it turned out, but when it was done, I wondered what I could do with it. So I grabbed "Sweet Life" and  a "One Liners Die", and came up with this. Pardon the awful lighting--it's pouring rain! All materials are PTI, except the embossing paste.
 


Monday, August 11, 2014

Make it Monday #176, Post 2

I had some Aqua Mist-tinted embossing paste left over, so I quickly grabbed another piece of cardstock and did up another embossed background using the Diagonal Coverplate die/stencil. When it was dry, I used my new PTI Brushstrokes stamps to make the flowers and tag. Love the iridescence of this paste!

Thanks for looking :)

Make it Monday #176: Using Embossing Paste and Stencils

Laura Bassen put together her first video here, (congrats, Laura!) and we were invited to use our dies to make our own stencils. I used PTI's Diagonal cover plate to cut a stencil out of acetate, then mixed up some irridescent embossing paste, mixed with a little Aqua Mist reinker. I tried for an ombre effect, going from darker paste, to lighter, but it ended up all looking the same. I guess I went over it too many times, trying to make the coverage even. Live and learn :)
This card is for my 8 yr. old great-niece, so I thought she'd like the 3-D butterflies from Life is Beautiful. I added some rhinestones under the holes on the wings, and some Wink of Stella glitter to the butterfly's vellum layer, as well as to the die-cut "happy". I then put a layer of Glossy Accents onto the diecut.
Thanks for looking!