PTI July 2014 Blog Hop #1

The inspiration photo above left us wide open for ideas. For my first card, I focussed on the gingham envelope, the doily and the red flowers, and came up with this. I used "Sweet Life" and "Mega Gracious Vases". For the background, I used 3 different colours of Distress Inks, swiped across white cardstock, with a few water droplets for some texture. I liked how the background turned out!

Thanks for looking and have a great day! Comments are always welcome.

Make it Monday #173: No Outline Watercolour, No. 3

I couldn't resist! I made another watercolour card this afternoon. I find watercolouring very therapeutic, and besides--it's pouring rain today!
I used the morning glories from PTI's "Year of Flowers: Collection". (I SO wish I had a stamp that said, "His mercies are new every morning", but alas, I don't, so I used a sentiment from "Faith and Hope", instead.) It was probably a mistake choosing such a small, detailed stamp, but once I started, I didn't want to give up. Because the stamp is fairly small, I made the whole card a little smaller, with a card base of 3 3/4" x 5".
Stamps and paper are PTI, and I used watercolour paints to paint the flowers. There are tiny dots of Liquid Pearls as the center of the flowers.

 Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #173: No Outline Watercolour, No. 2

I actually started this card the other day, but finished today, knowing that it would fit in with the current challenge at Papertrey Ink. I used my new stamps from the "Beautiful Brushstrokes" kit, and my PTI re-inkers to colour it. The leaves were done with Gelatos (my first effort), but I'm not sure I like the effect... I diecut some leaves and put them on top, and coloured them with Gelatos as well as inks. A little better, but the outline is still too visible. I thought Gelatos were supposed to dissolve in water!? (Maybe I need to gesso the paper first?) I think I'll stick to watercolour paint, and inks!

PTI products used are the stamps, leaf and flower dies (Beautiful Brushstrokes), and cardstock.

Thanks for looking, and I always appreciate your comments!

Make it Monday #173:No Outline Watercolour

Heather showed us how to do a "no outline" watercoloured card today, but I guess I had the wrong type of stamp. If I had "no" outlines, then the whole shape of the sweet peas would have been lost. So I ended up painting in the lines! Sure hope that still fits in with the challenge...

All materials are PTI, unless otherwise noted.

Stamps: Year of Flowers: Sweet Peas

Paper: Spring Moss, Lavender (GKD)

Other: Stitched Rectangle die (L'il Inkers), Watercolour paints

Make it Monday #172: Rainbow Medallions

Well, I haven't posted in awhile, but felt like getting crafty today. Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday's challenge is to use a stamp that isn't normally used for medallions. I used a variety of inks (very similar to Dawn's selection of inks) to form a medallion, and used "Fancy Flourishes" to build my medallion. I covered the "mess" in the center with a "Limitless Layers" circle, stamped with the rarely used "Tag-It's #3". It's nice to use some of the older stamps and dies! The panel was matted with black, then put onto a Limeade Ice card base.
Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #170: Masking with Die Cuts

Papertrey's Make it Monday was all about die-cutting masks in order to stamp "behind" other stamps. I've used PTI's "Year of Flowers: Violets" and watercoloured the violet. I masked the flower to stamp the top leaf, then masked the flower and the top leaf, so that I could stamp the second leaf. I used a bit of Perfect Pearls mist to add some shimmer to the edges of the flower petals, as the petals have this shimmer in real life, and 3 jewel embellishments for the flower center. For cardstock, I used Royal Velvet for the mat, and Soft Stone cardstock for the sentiment and card base. The sentiment is stamped with Royal Velvet Ink.
Thanks for looking!

June 2014 Blog Hop Challenge

I used the following colour recipe for my card, but omitted the orange zest. (I'm just not an "orange" person...). I needed a sympathy card, unfortunately, so thought this colour combination would make a pretty flower card for the recipient. I did a wash of Aqua Mist ink around the leaves and flowers with a waterbrush, and like how this gave a softer feel to the flowers.

I used PTI's "Cutting Garden" for both the flowers and sentiment. PTI paper is Berry Sorbet, Summer Sunrise, and Rustic White for the front panel. PTI inks are: Berry Sorbet, Hisbiscus Burst, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartruese, Aqua Mist and Smokey Shadow. A few dots of Perfect Pearls finishes it off.

Make it Monday #169-Vellum Overlays #2

I used a vellum strip for the sentiment, and freehand-watercoloured the trees. Card stock is PTI's Autumn Rose and sentiment is from Mini Blooms.

This one uses Scarlet Jewel as the card base.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #169-Vellum Overlays #1

Papertrey Ink's Make it Monday was all about vellum overlays. Danielle said we could just use a sentiment strip, so that's what I've done here. A friend of mine is getting married next month, so I've made this card for her, and her husband. Their colours are purple and gold, so I incorporated them into this card. I used  Embellished Elegance stamps/dies, and did the date from an older PTI stamp set.

Thanks for looking!

Make it Monday #167: DIY Notebooks

Erin Lincoln, for PTI's Make it Monday, showed us how to make a notebook. I immediately thought of my 8 yr. old granddaughter, and of how much she would love to have a little notebook, so I made this one for her. I was having difficulty getting the papers to stick properly--they seem to fall out too easily--so next time I will use a lighter weight paper for the notes inside, instead of PTI's heavy cardstock. It did help to bang (!) the top edge on the table to "set" the papers against the sticky tape, but I'm not sure how long they will stay in...

All materials are PTI (and there were at least 4 different stamp sets), except for the alphabet, which is by Lawn Fawn.

Thanks for looking!