Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop - String Challenge Take 2

This is my second card for this month's PTI blog hop. I came across a You Tube video by Neen for making twine flowers - you can watch the video here. Neen shows a simple way to create flowers by wrapping string/twine around your hand. I took that same method but used my Bow-Easy instead which allowed me to make flowers of different sizes. As my flowers went down in size I wrapped my string less times - for example the flower on my card was wrapped about 22 times instead of the 42 that Neen used for a larger flower.

 

For my flower I used some household string that I had lying around. These flowers are fun and easy to make. Below are a few samples of different sized flowers, including some black crochet cotton. You can use a variety of items for your flower centers - buttons, beads - I used a wood shape that I coloured with a gold Krylon pen.

 

Supplies:

Stamp - Boutique Borders: Love (PTI)

Paper - DP (Echo Park), Classic Ivory CS (Flourishes)

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Versa Mark, Gold EP, Gold Krylon pen, Copic R59 (to colour heart)

Other - Boutique Borders: Love Die (PTI), household string, wood shapes (CTMH), gold skeleton leaves (Graphic Prod), bow-easy, hot glue gun

Papertrey Ink December Blog Hop - String Challenge

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you are all enjoying some quality family time. I was able to find some time last week to create a couple of cards for Papertrey Ink's December Blog Hop, which is to incorporate string into your project.

For my first card I wrapped a number of different colours of baker's twine around a spiral notebook die cut.

 

Supplies:
Stamps - Stylish Sentiments: Birthday (PTI)
Paper - Neenah Solar White
Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black
Other - Spiral Notebook Die (PTI), assorted baker's twine (MayArts), sequins, rhinestones

Make It Monday #144 - Heat Embossing Vellum

Hello everyone, today I have a card that I created for this week's Make It Monday challenge at Papertrey Ink. The lovely Melissa Phillips has created a great video tutorial that you can watch at the link above. I didn't need anymore Christmas cards for this year so I made a birthday card using PTI's stamp set Wonderful Words: Birthday. The heat embossing went fairly smoothly, however some of the detail of the fine chevron pattern on the stamp 'birthday' was lost with the embossing. For the rest of the sentiment I stamped in Versafine Onyx Black and heat embossed with clear embossing powder. I layered my vellum piece over some pretty striped paper from Teresa Collins.

 

Supplies:

Stamps - Wonderful Words: Birthday (PTI)

Paper - Neenah Solar White CS, Everyday Moments DP (Teresa Collins), vellum

Ink - Versafine Onyx Black, Versamark, blue, white & clear embossing powders (CTMH)

Other - Labels 8 (Spellbinders), sequins, vellum adhesive

 

Make It Monday #143 - Modern Whimsy Style

I have been looking forward all week for an opportunity to play along with this week's Make It Monday - #143 Challenge. Danielle Flanders, the host for this week's MIM, has a beautiful papercrafting style that has been coined 'Modern Whimsy'. It is a style that I have seen a lot of in scrapbooking. I think it's a little more challenging to achieve the same look on a card, but some people manage to do it beautifully. It is a style that I have a difficult time with because I love things to be straight, so I tend to make more structured cards. I want to be freer in my styling but it is a challenge.  Not sure if I would call my card 'light & airy', but it does have lots of layers and detail and I am happy with how it turned out. I used the sketch STS#9 at Seize the Sketch, just flipped it.

 

I created a little pouch out of striped vellum that you can see a little better in the closeup below.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

Stamps - Stylish Sentiments: Birthday (PTI)

Paper - Summer Stories, Everyday Moments (Teresa Collins), Neenah Solar White CS, striped white vellum

Ink - Versa Mark, Outdoor Denim EP, Sky Re-inker (CTMH)

Dies - Spiral Notebook, By the Numbers, Birthday Trio, Framed Out #12 (PTI)

Other - wood shapes (CTMH), star sequins, thread, pinking shears

Timeless Tuesday #248 - Score, Pierce, Colour

Happy Tuesday all! Well, I am sad to say that this is my final week as Guest Designer at Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge. I had a lot of fun with these challenges and working with such a talented group of women. As your hostess for this week I would like you to create a card or project that includes some scoring, some piercing (not piecing!) and a coloured image.

This is a perfect challenge for Flourishes beautiful stamp sets. There is nothing I like better than sitting down to colour one of their fabulous images. This week I used one of my new favourite sets 'Bees & Blooms' with a sentiment from another great set 'Picking Wildflowers'.

 

This was a fun and easy card to make and I love how it turned out. After stamping a portion of the main image from the Bees & Blooms stamp set onto a 4 1/4" x 4 1/4" piece of white cardstock, I coloured it with Copic markers. I scored two sets of double lines across the top and stamped the sentiment from Picking Wildflowers in the space. I then stamped the bee image and used a piercing tool to pierce a path from the sentiment to the bee. A thin black cardstock border, some designer paper and three black pearls completed the card.

Be sure to check out what the Design Team has come up with for this week's challenge and leave them some blog love while you are there:

• Allison Cope
• Cheryl Lea
• Deborah Anton
• Jenny Gropp
• Katie Sims
• Connie MacFarlane (Guest Designer) - you are here

Supplies: Bees & Blooms, Picking Wildflowers (Flourishes), designer paper, white and black CS, Memento Tuxedo Black ink, Copics (see below for collections) plus W5 & Copic .1 Black liner, black pearls, piercing tool & embossing stylus

Stamping Feathers

Good Morning all! Hope you had a nice weekend, I think more than a few of us saw snow over the past few days. So, I had the opportunity to try another Mix-Ability challenge over at Split Coast Stampers. This challenge started earlier this year and each week gives participants an opportunity to play with Mixed Media. This is only my second time playing along as I just discovered this site and am sorry I missed the first 41 weeks.

This week's challenge 'A Flock of Feathers' is to use two or more feathers of mixed media types on  your project. I used two, a real feather and a stamped image using a pigment ink.

 

I love how this card turned out, but it feels too clean to me to be mixed media, oh well, what is it they say about baby steps. I didn't have a feather stamp so I inked up some real feathers with white pigment ink and used them to create my stamped images. I like how they turned out and I have a few more ideas on how to use those stamped feathers when I get the chance. 

Supplies:
Stamps - Orchids (Flourishes)
Paper - kraft, lagoon CS (CTMH), Black CS (Bazzill), Classic Ivory CS (Flourishes)
Ink - White pigment (CTMH), Memento Tuxedo Black
Other - twine (May Arts), beads, feather, Striped EF (SU)

Christmas Joy - Inlaid Die Cuts

I am spending the day Saturday at a crop so decided that would be a good opportunity to get my Christmas cards done. Keeping the idea 'Flat for mailing' in my head this is what I came up with. I decided that inlaid die cuts was a good way to achieve this. This was just my prototype but it didn't turn out too badly so it's going in the pile to send out. I'll be doing these in a number of different colours and papers. I am entering this into the Less is More challenge also - which is to use designer paper in a CAS way.

 

 

Got an order from Papertrey Ink yesterday and just had to use some of my new goodies. Love the one liner dies. After die cutting the snowflakes I pressed them into my VersaMark ink pad and then heat embossed them with a mixture of clear EP and glitter.

Supplies:
Dies - One Liners, Fancy Flakes (PTI)
Paper - DP - Frosted, Frosted Grey CS (CTMH), Cream CS
Ink - VersaMark, Clear & glitter EP
Other - Rhinestones

Timeless Tuesday #247 - Snow Scene

Good Morning! The Flourishes Timeless Tuesday Challenge this week is brought to you by our wonderfully talented Deborah Anton. Deborah is asking us to create a winter scene this week. I used Flourishes recently released stamp set 'Snow Scenes' for this fun challenge.

I had a lot of fun creating this scene. It is not something that I have done a lot of with success, so I was pretty happy when this worked out on my first try. I decided to create a one layer card for this challenge so I masked off an area of my card base with post-it notes, 1" from the top and 1 3/4" from the bottom. I punched a 1 1/4" circle for my moon and adhered two more post-its side by side, trimming the top edge with scissors for my hilly landscape which I placed about 2/3 of the way down in my masked space.

I started out by sponging pink ink around my moon and then used a light blue ink over the rest. I then built up the colour of the sky using two darker blue inks, always working from the outside edges inward.

I removed the mask from the moon and keeping the other masks in place stamped the top portion of the fir tree stamp on the right twice. On the left I stamped just the very top branches of the larger tree along the horizon in second generation black (after inking your stamp, stamp off once on scrap paper).

I then moved the mask down just a bit and over (to offset the hills) sponged with some grey ink along the top edge and added some shadow below the fir trees. Moved the mask again, sponged grey again and stamped the closer firs on the right making them a little larger than the first set of firs so that they would appear closer. I then moved the mask a final time, sponging grey along the edge, shadows for the firs and stamped the tree on the left. After removing the hill mask I added shadows for the trees and inked a bit above the bottom straight mask to define the lower edge. I then removed the top and bottom straight masks and added hints of snow to the trees and firs with a white gel pen.

A sentiment and three small grey pearls completed my card.

Be sure to check out what the Design Team has come up with for this week's challenge and leave them some blog love while you are there:

• Allison Cope
• Cheryl Lea
• Deborah Anton
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims
• Connie MacFarlane (Guest Designer) - you are here

Supplies: Snow Scenes stamp set (Flourishes), white cardstock, various inks, grey pearls, post-it notes, sponges

Snow Flake Fun - Mixability Challenge #42

I came across the Mix-Ability challenge blog at SplitCoastStampers recently and have been anxious to play along. This challenge was set up to encourage crafters to work with mixed media, which I have been intrigued by for a while. So here is my first time playing at this challenge, you can check out the instructions for this week's challenge Heavy Metal here.

I had a lot of fun with this. After adding the black paint and rubbing off, I used a soft mauve, light green and then blue acrylic paint, but it is difficult to see the colours here. I then sponged some white paint onto the snowflake and small circles.

Supplies:
Stamps - Say It With Style - Waltzing Mouse
Paper - White, Black CS (Bazzill), chipboard snowflake and circles (CTMH), thin cardboard
Ink - Versafine Black Onyx, acrylic paints
Other - silver cord, Classic Square Lg & Sm (Spellbinders), foil wrap

40th Anniversary Greetings

I am excited to play along with the 'Less is More' challenge this week, which is to use Designer Paper in a CAS way. As soon as I saw this challenge I thought of inlaid die cuts. I used the fabulous sketch CTS#54 at CAS(E) this Sketch challenge blog this week.

I needed a 40th Anniversary card and am quite pleased with how this turned out.

Supplies:
Paper - Summer Stories (Teresa Collins), Neena Solar White
Dies - Labels 18 (Spellbinders), By The Numbers (PTI)
Other - Bow clip (CTMH), embossing stylus, score board (Martha Stewart

Grab a Cup Challenge

Just a quick post today. I loved the inspiration photo at Flourishes Grab a Cup Challenge for this month's release. I didn't have any images that evoked the warm and cozy feel, but I loved the colours so went with those. The blues are a little off in the photos (no sun today)

 

It's hard to see but I added some touches of gold to the image with a Krylon gold leaf pen to tie in with the gold embossed sentiment.

 

Supplies:

Stamps - Autumn Blossoms, Winter Blossoms (Flourishes)

Paper - Classic Ivory CS (Flourishes), Brown CS (Bazzill), designer paper - Teresa Collins

Ink - Memento Tuxedo Black, Krylon Gold Leaf, Versa Mark, gold EP, Copics - B91,95,97,99, BG72,75,78,E31,35,37,40,41,42,43,44,49

Other - Perfectly Pieced Hourglass (Flourishes), Decorative Labels Eight, Argyle EF (Darice)

Timeless Tuesday #246 - Pick a Sketch

Happy Tuesday everyone! This week's Timeless Tuesday Challenge at Flourishes is to create a card using one of the two sketches pictured below.

I find sketches a great way to jump start your creativity. For this challenge I went with the sketch on the right and stayed pretty true to the layout.

I started out with a brown card base and a piece of woodgrain designer paper which I ran through a striped embossing folder to add a little more dimension (see photo below). I used one of my all time favourite Flourishes stamp set, Hydrangea, for my focal image. I stamped the image onto white cardstock with Memento Tuxedo Black ink, coloured it with Copics and fussy cut it out. I popped it with 3D foam onto two cardstock squares that I cut with Spellbinders square dies, inking the the top square before removing it from the die. I added a little interest to the top left side of the brown square die cut by using the outer edge of the Perfectly Pierced Victorian Oval on diagonally striped paper. I added a narrow strip of the diagonally striped paper to my fish tail banner and used the same paper for my sentiment. A button, some hemp and randomly placed little pearls completed the card.

The sentiments for the outside and inside of this card are from the stamp set Anemones.

Be sure to check out what the Design Team has come up with for this week's challenge and leave them some blog love while you are there:

• Allison Cope
• Cheryl Lea
• Deborah Anton
• Jenny Gropp
• Judy Rozema
• Katie Sims
• Connie MacFarlane (Guest Designer) - you are here

Supplies:  Hydrangea, Anemones stamp sets (Flourishes), Designer paper, White, Brown & Off White CS, Memento Tuxedo Black Ink, Brown ink, Copics (see Collections below) plus G99, & E41, Perfectly Pierced Victorian Oval Die (Flourishes), Classic Squares Lg & Sm (Spellbinders), pearls, hemp & button

One Layer Butterfly Thank You

I created this card for this week's challenge at Less Is More - create a one layer thank you card, easy enough right?

Well, apparently I am having one of those days. This should have been a relatively quick card to make. The beautiful Swallowtail stamp from SU does all the work for you (I can't believe I have had this stamp since March and this is the first time it has seen ink). This is my third attempt at this card, the first two having to be trashed because of the final step of drawing a simple black line around my card.

 

 I stamped the image with Versafine Onyx Black ink onto my card base and then heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. I created a mask to go around the butterfly by stamping the image in the middle of a piece of copy paper, cutting out the butterfly and then applying two way glue to the back around the edge of the cut out. Once the glue was dry I placed it over the image and sponged away. You can't really see it in the photo but I did add purple ink to the crescent shaped spaces at the bottom left. I heat embossed the sentiment as well.

Here is a pic showing some of the pretty shine on the image:

Supplies:
Stamps - Swallowtail (SU), Botanical Silhouettes (PTI)
Ink - Versafine Onyx Black (Tsukineko), clear EP, Gypsy, Pear, Lagoon, Pacifica inks (CTMH), Copic .1 multiliner
Paper - Neena Solar White
Other - sequins

Stamped Square Frames / Black With a Splash of Colour Take 2

This is the second card that I am entering into Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge and the Less is More Challenge. You can see my first card here .

 

 

Again I used the Boutique Borders: Birthday stamp set to create my frame, however on this card I embossed with black embossing powder. I inlaid the square die cuts as I did on the other card but stamped my sentiment towards the top right corner of the inner square rather than in the middle. I applied a fun technique to the chipboard heart. See closeups and how-to below.

 

While cleaning out a drawer in my craft room the other day I came across a sheet of paper on which I had written down some instructions to add interesting texture to chipboard. I have no idea where I got this, if you recognize it let me know. Simply apply a layer of clear Scotch brand glue to the entire surface of your chipboard shape, drop a few drops of Alcohol ink onto the glue and heat with a heat gun, simple as that. There was a small white spot on the side of the heart when I was done so I dropped a little more ink onto the spot to cover and wiped off the rest. I liked how that looked so added a little more ink to the rest of the heart and wiped off the excess as well.

Supplies:
Stamps - Boutique Borders, Botanical Silhouettes (PTI)
Paper - Black CS, chipboard heart
Ink - Versa Mark, Black EP, Raisin Alcohol ink (Adirondack), Scotch clear glue
Other - Classic Square Dies Lg & Sm (Spellbinders), black rhinestones, black hemp (CMTH)