FEBRUARY 2015 BLOG HOP CHALLENGE

It's time for the monthly Papertrey Blog hop! 

And we have the following photo for inspiration.

I had need of a card of congratulations for my niece, who just passed her last exam to become an RN! I am so proud of her, as this is her 2nd degree, and she is also a wife and mother to two small boys. She has worked very hard the past few years! For her card, I used the Quatrefoil coverplate over a background painted on a sheet of watercolour paper, using a variety of Distress inks. The sentiment and flowers are from Beautiful Brushstrokes, and layered over a vellum diecut from the Winebottle tag. A few flower sequins add some "Pizzazz". The inside says, "Congratulations You did it!"

Thanks for looking!

PTI Anniversary - Metallics

For this card, I used blue as my neutral and gold shimmer paper for the "Life is Beautiful" butterfly base. I cut the top layer out of vellum and glued some gold confetti and sequins to add some extra details to the butterfly's body. A couple of strips of gold, adhesive-backed paper adds some interest to the layout. I heat embossed the sentiment, from "A Cheerful Heart", in gold, as well.

This photo shows the vellum layer "fluffed up" a little.

PTI Anniversary - Blue Ombre

For this card, I used a technique used during a Make it Monday challenge (Camouflaged Die Cuts) late last year, but using a "birthday" die, instead of a Christmas one.
Today's challenge is all about ombre, so I sponged on 3 Distress inks: Tumbled Glass, Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire, then sprinkled a little water, then some white paint droplets. All stamps and dies are from "Wonderful Words: Birthday".

PTI Anniversary- Challenge #5 Spring Into Action

This challenge is all about "springing into action", and "using our stamps for the first time"!
For the longest time, I wanted this stamp set, but it sat in my "wishlist" for months for months. I finally bought it a couple of months ago, but was too busy with Christmas and family Feb. birthdays to use it. So here it is, "Hands of Time", for the first time! (Pun intended. Wink.)

The small sentiment is from "Movers and Shakers: Sentiments", which I thought went well with the larger sentiment from "Hands of Time".  I heat embossed the large clock image in white, then wet the whole sheet. I picked up a variety of blue Distress Inks and dropped them on, letting them bleed into each other. After heat setting it, I dropped some water droplets on to "bleach" some spots, but that didn't work very well. I guess it's because I used cardstock, rather than watercolour paper. So then I picked up some of the ink on my paintbrush and flicked the brush over top, to give some texture and interest. A few black enamel dots finished it off. I like how this turned out, but now I'm asking myself just why I didn't order the dies that go with this stamp set!

Make It Monday #200: Layering Cover Plate Die Cuts

Masculine Valentine's cards are always a little more challenging for me, so I thought I'd use this week's Make it Monday to see if I could come up with a card for my husband.

Here is my card using two Cover Plates: Diagonal Stripes (black paper) and Happy Hearts--I think is the name--(white paper), over top a Pure Poppy card base. The tag is cut from Double Ended Banners, and the sentiment is from the Happy Hearts stamp set, heat embossed with white Filigree powder. (all PTI). I trimmed the white layer down slightly so that a black border could be seen all round. The heart embellishment was diecut from white paper, covered with several types of glitter pen till I got a silver, metallic look, then a coat of Glossy Accents was applied on top.
Thanks for looking!

January 2015 Blog Hop Challenge

Well, it's time again for the Papertrey Ink Blog Hop, and I've chosen to use "Love You to Pieces:Fox". I've made this card for my youngest granddaughter, Rosie. I hope she likes the "girly" fox I've made her! It actually coordinates with one I made for my eldest granddaughter, which I made for the Make it Monday this week. (See previous post, if you're interested.)

Here is the outside of the card. It uses dies from LL:Hearts, and stamps and dies from the "Love You to Pieces:Fox", and "Additions", both on the outside and the inside. I also used an "Edgers" die to make the scalloped edge, which handily tucks under the fox to keep this tri-fold card closed :)

Here is what it looks like on the inside. The dotted paper is actually a pocket which will hold the 3 pieces of the fox, as well as the instruction sheet. Rosie is only 3, so I'm sure her big sister will help her put it together ;)  I also used a sentiment from the Keep It Simple: Valentine, and all paper is from PTI. The fox is a double layer of card stock, so I hope it stands up to little hands! I tried a coaster, but found it tore quite easily.

Thanks for looking! 

Make It Monday #198: Three Panel Cards

This week at Papertrey Ink, Ashley showed us her lovely, 3-paneled invitation, found here. I need Valentine's cards for my granddaughters, so spent the afternoon making one for my eldest granddaughter, Amber. I wanted to use "Little Foxy", so thought this format would be great.

I stamped sentiments from the Additions set, as well as the main stamp set, and made a pocket on the middle panel that holds the instructions for putting the pieces of the fox together, as well as the fox pieces.  Now, I need to make another one of these for my youngest granddaughter! 

All materials are PTI, except the alphabet stamp for Amber's name, (Lawn Fawn) and the sequins on the front (Pretty Pink Posh).

Thanks for looking!

Make It Monday #196: Colorful Card Corners

Well, it's nice to be back! I've missed about a month of MIM's, and I've missed making cards!! I've been working on a quilt for my daughter-in-law, for her upcoming birthday, so I haven't had any time to get inky.
Anyway, I have a gazillion birthdays, and a couple of anniversaries to make cards for, so now that the quilt is almost finished, I took time out to make one card. Since Danielle introduced the topic of "colourful card corners", I've had this stamp set, "Mimi Blooms", in mind. The sentiment is from "Embellished Elegance", and the background is B.Basics: Postmarks", all of which are PTI.
I used Distress markers to colour in the blooms, then spritzed before stamping. I added some blue watercolours over the background, and a few tiny, iridescent flower sequins for some pizzazz.
Thanks for looking!

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!