Poinsettia Tag for Festive Friday #24

Hi folks. I've been following my dear blog friend, Geri at Paper Wishes, for quiet a while now. She is a spectacularly talented artist and a down right beautiful soul. Her designs always blow me away, and I've been loving the places she visits in Blogdom.

Her designs for Festive Fridays Challenge Blog are some of my favorites, and I decided to give it a try myself, especially since this week's FFC24 inspiration photo is ripe with potential, and features one of my favorite color schemes.

 

My contribution is an eight inch tall tag. This composition is a bit more Rococo than my usual fare, but I kind of like it. Here are the ways I think this card gibes with the photo:

1. Many different colors of white with gold enhancement.

2. Organic twisted "lines" that run through the image.

3. Round white and gold balls.

4. Glitter here and there.

5. Both have a fair amount of depth. (The picture below was taken with side lighting to capture the feeling of depth that really doesn't show too well in the picture above.)

The poinsettia dies from Spellbinders, and the "merry" die from Papertrey are some of my favorites. (By the way, don't you just love the gold paper the word is cut from; it's wall paper from the 1940s backed with heavy stock.)  I really like the ribbon at the top and think it goes, BUT, I sure don't like the bow it makes. Do you have any suggestions for a better topper that won't cover up the tag?

Can't thank you enough for visiting. I'll be visiting your place soon!

Papertrey's November Blog Hop - Paper House

After a long absence, I'm finally posting again. Who can resist making little paper houses, especially at holiday time when bling is a necessity? Papertrey's Blog Hop this November is one I just couldn't sit out. You can find the link for the house template and the blog hop here.

The house is small at only 2 1/2" a side. This was a good challenge, since most of my PTI stamps were just too big.

I finally settled on a fabric-based quilted cottage theme. (This house looks so much cozier in person. For some reason I took terrible pics of this, and had no time, or sun, left for a second shoot.) Eventually, an LED tea-light (that hasn't been purchased yet) will show off the pale pink vellum windows.

Down to the details.

I love how PTI colors work together, and I've always wanted to make a project using the lighter and bluer hues of Christmas - Scarlet Jewel, Autumn Rose, Pinefeather, and Ocean Tides. Kraft ink was used for the "stitched together" sides, using the a stamp from Sew Simple Borders. My double striped stamp made ticking walls. (Don't you just love the homey look of ticking?)

The windows are round so that the half button shutters will cover them neatly. (I stamped the die cut buttons with a small floral print, but I'm not so sure you can easily tell they are buttons now. Would some "Glossy Accents" help define them better, or should I just leave them alone?)

The back of the house shows off the 'gingerbread' lace that lines the roof on all four sides. (Used a bit of Glossy Accents on the cut ends of the trims to keep them from unraveling.) All the windows are topped the the leaves from Believe, with pink gems covering the berries.



Happy Hexagons stamps on die cut pieces from the Hexagon Cover Plate form a warm roof. I wanted some stitching lines to enhance it's 'quiltiness', but didn't have a good  idea how to do that. Do  you have a way that has worked for you? I'd love to know what works.

Now for a second question. I REALLY wanted to glitter my little house, but thought that the glitter would ruin the fabric ambiance. What do you think about a little along the eves and maybe the windows? Roll the whole house around in it?

Saved my favorite for last - the front door. Two sets helped me finish the trimmings. The wreath is from Believe, the banner and trees are from Door To Door. (Don't those trees look like they're made from thread?)  I like buttons in the the corners of the banner, but I've not conquered the technique of button coloring using alcohol markers.

If you have any thoughts concerning my questions, or are just a dear, please leave a comment. I love hearing what fellow crafters think. Thanks for taking the time for the house tour, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Papertrey's Make It Monday #117: Paper Piecing

Something about Nichol's fabulous "Up, Up, and Away" stamp set, always reminds me of July 4th. It was the first set I ever purchased from Papertrey, and has been used more than all the others.

I was going for the feel of a hot summer day, and a more minimized style than I usually do. The card works for me......but something is missing! I've tried out sentiments placed here and there. (By the way, you can do this by stamping on a piece of scrap acetate with non-dye inks, and moving it around the card till you find the right spot.) I didn't find the spot. I tried a long flag from the top of the balloons; looked ridiculous, but even more so with a bird pulling a banner through the sky (think big primordial-bird-size or Godzilla bird)!

Please! If you have any ideas to help make this card work, I would so appreciate them. I love all my comments, but the critiques are the ones that stay with me.

Papertrey supplies: "Pinefeather cardstock" and "dye ink", "Up, Up and Away" and "Garden Variety" stamps sets and "Fresh Snow Pigment Ink"

Thanks for taking the time to visit and jot me a line.

Papertrey's April 2013 Blog Hop Challenge - Tilted

This month Papertrey's challenge is to use a tilted image in our card design. 

I wanted to do a Valentine with a sewing theme. The look of white on Papertrey's kraft card stock is one of my favorites, and worked perfectly to show off the embossed stitching and lace.

 A no-brainer was to use the Papertrey's fabulous 'Button Boutique' set and button dies. The heart shaped buttons and all the patterns on the buttons are from Papertrey's 'Heart Prints' set, and all buttons are die cut from their paper coasters. (I love the coaster's thickness. It allows a hefty cardboard shape to be cut, and it even plumps up a bit after being crushed by the machine. At $1 for  twenty-five coasters , they're a big bang for the buck.)

'Pure Poppy' ink was an ideal match to accompany my recolored Queen of Hearts image from the internet. (This picture was taken on one of those crummy, dark, rainy days. I make sure to do that, so I can claim how much prettier it is on a sunny day.) ;>

Non-Papertrey items used include:  Darcie's large background lace stamp, Limited Edition's 'Ribbon Lace Strips' (white ric-rac), Hero Art's white embossing powder, and Crafty Secrets 'Antique Trims' stamps (lacy border).

Thanks for visiting!

 

Sequins On my Mind & Cards - Papertrey March Blog Hop

Come on Spring! We have had enough snow in the Boston area to last us till next winter. It's time for thoughts of flowers and sequins, and that's just in time for Papertrey's Blog Hop this month.

According to the gals at Papertrey, using sequins is the latest trend. I have always had a mild sequin addiction, fueled by the fabulous finds, online, at Cartwright Sequins, Beads, and Buttons. Her motto really should be, "If you can't find it here, it doesn't exist!".

I made a very simple (possibly painfully simple?) card using the fabulous Papertrey anniversary set 'Birds and Blooms'. I've yet to purchase the dies, but they are next on the list.

I stamped the wreath image loosely with 'Spring Moss' topped by a layer of 'Simply Chartreuse', and then stamped over that with some of the individual sprigs in 'Avocado'. I love the true-color punch of  Papertrey's dye inks. My small sequin flowers and hearts were glued on with 'Liquid Pearls'. (If I'm neat enough, the Liquid Pearls come up through the holes and form the flower centers.)

 

I decided to use a sentiment from the wonderful 'Mini Blooms' set.  I don't know where the font for that set originated, but it seems to go with just about any image. A little sheer bow, and voila....or maybe not. I tried making the card narrower, and putting a pink gingham strip of paper down each side, but it still doesn't seem right to me. I even considered using one of the great birds perched on top of the 'T', but what color ink would I use? If you have any insights, please leave me a comment. (I'd even love a comment if you are as baffled as I am.) One brain is always better than none, or something like that.

Other  supplies include Ranger's 'Liquid Pearls' in Cantaloupe, Versa Mark's 'Water Mark' ink pad, Ranger's 'Fine Gold Embossing Powder', and Papertrey's 'Vintage Cream Cardstock'. The fun pink frame, at the top of the post, is from the maven-of-all-images-vintage, 'The Graphic's Fairy". You can find the frame in black here.

If you enjoy sequins on Easter projects, you might also enjoy my posts here and here. Thanks for taking the time to stop by, and happy spring!

Papertrey March Blog Hop - Easter Egg Balloon with Bunnies

Who is this cute bunny and what is he waiting to do?

If you want to find out, grab a cup of coffee or tea. This is a bit longer than my usual post. (More pictures; not more text. Whew!)

He's the new die cut bunny (with extra details) from 'Papertrey Ink', and he will be riding in an Easter egg hot-air-balloon with this friend!

 

Papertrey's February release was a blast, and when Easter goodies came in the mail, they just begged to be put to use - immediately! The biggest thrill was the Shaker-like basket die. The basket is a breeze to make, and Nichole Heady has designed the die to make two different sizes.

I've always loved the vintage Easter postcards, with decorated eggs playing the part of a hot air balloon. With dies for a basket, bunny, clouds, and butterflies (all from Papertrey), and a 4&3/4" Styrofoam egg, I decided to whip up a ride for the darling rabbits.

I started by covering the large egg in blue felt.

The felt was trimmed to the circumference of the egg, divided into four equal sections, and pined around the center and pinned together at the 'poles'.

The excess felt was cut away,

and the seams sewn together with a whip stitch. (You can even just pin the seams in place if you cover them with ribbon afterwards.)

Now for the fun part, decorating. I chose to pin on the clouds and butterflies.

The butterflies were a bit plain so I added sequins. (Cartwright Sequins is bling heaven. If you can't find your sequins there, you probably can't find them.) Thick black button thread forms the antennas.

Now on to the basket; the small version of Papertrey's new 'favor die' basket. All the parts were cut from felt, and a heavy weight paper basket bottom, made stitching the sides to the base much easier. A strip of felt (on the inside where the brads are inserted) added reinforcement and structural support for that side.

Next, the passengers. Papertrey's new bunny die, slays me, but it needed a front as well as the cute back. The eyes are just leftovers from die cutting felt, the nose is a little brad, and the arms (drum roll please) are from a large snowman die. (If your bunny's going to ride, it needs to be able to hang on, right?)  Attach the tail to the back side, eyes and nose to the front and button hole stitch them together.

The arms are actually attached to the inside of the basket with the toes hanging over. When you sew the bunny body to the basket, it will hide the sewn on arms.

This side has a scared bunny holding on with both paws. A length of bakers twine is sewn on to the two long sides of the basket (and topped with four small Mokuba ribbon flowers),

and hung over two small buttons pinned to the balloon sides.

Now to fly it and enjoy an Easter ride.

Bye for now, and thanks for going along for the ride.

Please leave a comment if you liked this post, so I know if I should do more.

Papertrey Ink Supplies: Shape Up Series: Snowman Die Collection, Polka Dot Parade #1 Die, Favor It Box 9 Die Collection, Beautiful Butterflies Die Collection, Heart-2-Heart #6 Die Collection (clouds), Lovely Layers Die Collection, Felt - Harvest Gold

Other supplies: Rayon/wool felt, small brads, Mokuba ribbon flowers, turquoise baker's twine, white trim, sequin pins, Plasteel 'Dylite' large egg, and all sequins from Cartwright Sequins

Papertrey's MIM #103 - Die Cuts Within Die Cuts - Take 2

This is take #2 for Papertrey's latest 'Make It Monday'. Betsy Veldman challenged us to make die cuts within die cuts. For my first attempt here, I made a three panel card, and had so much fun,I decided to try it again, but this time I made the folds accordion style.

I again used Papertrey's 'Limitless Layers: 2 1/4" Hearts Dies' with the next size smaller die from 'Heart Prints'. The white embossed 'Valentine' is from Papertrey's holiday sentiment set (with one of my all time favorite fonts) 'Happy Day'.

I finished off the inside using Papertrey's 'Fancy Flourishes' stamp set, and the sentiment from their fabulous bonus set 'Natural Beauties'.  I'm not so sure the inside works, because of the sentiment being so close to the bottom. Do you have any suggestions of a better layout, while still allowing the flourish to show through the die cuts?

Thanks for stopping by and leaving suggestions, and good luck with all the contests for Papertrey's 6th Anniversary.

Papertrey's MIM #103 - Die Cuts Within Die Cuts

Hi folks. If you've landed here, chances are you are participating in Papertrey's 6th Anniversary or their 'Make It Monday #103'. The wonderful Betsy Veldman has a video showing how to make cards with die cuts used inside other die cuts, supposedly a fad at the moment, and what I think is just plain fun. You can find the post and video here.    

I chose to do successive die cuts through the layers of the card as well. My first card (to the right) is a two fold card, with the middle panel forming the back of the card. It has a bit of difficulty standing up when it's closed, so this shot is of it slightly open. (The heart at the head of the post is the closed version.)


The new Limitless Layers: 2 1/4" Hearts Die Collection is a scaled down version of the earlier Heart Prints Die Collection, which makes them ideal for layering together. Each fold of the card gets progressively smaller.

 Here I've opened them up so you can see what they look like. On the very back of the card I put a pink and white gingham heart just because I loved the look of it. I will be hand writing the sentiment "I love you to the bottom of my heart, Valentine".

I used papers from various sources, and of course Papertrey's Limitless Layers: 2 1/4" Hearts Die Collection and Heart Prints Die Collection.

Thanks for visiting and taking the time to leave a comment. I read and savor each one. Good luck, too, if you've entered one of Papertrey's contests.

Papertrey's 'It's A Wrap' Challange

Over at Papertrey Ink, they are having their 6th Anniversary party and monthly release, which means they are giving folks lots of opportunities to win terrific prizes; one prize is worth $300 in merchandise. (I didn't get to enter that one, but good luck if you did.)

Papertrey is launching a new section of their on-line store, Boutique Bargains, which will feature ever-changing embellishments and surfaces (i.e. fabric bags and resin flowers) on which to create with their products. To challenge us to start thinking about creating wraps or gift packaging, we were to find an inspirational picture, and make our 'wrap' item using at least one of their items.

I chose this Pinterest picture of strawberries on black. Recently, Papertrey's January Blog Hop featured compositions on dark backgrounds. As a lover of tole painting (doing and looking), bright colors on a black field float my boat. For a long time I have needed to replace an old eyeglasses case that fell apart. By taking apart the case, and tracing around the outside, I was able to make a copy that would accept the hard insert from the original.

The picture above shows die cut felt pieces from the Strawberry Patch Die Collection, case pieces cut from black felt, and Clover's felting needle and felting surface (top left). The strawberry layout (roughly taken from the stamp set "Strawberry Patch"), has had the leaves and berries embroidered with black details and then felted to the front piece.

 NOTE

The back of the felt (image on right) has some of the fibers from the pieces showing through. (If you aren't familiar with needle felting, it involves interlocking felt fibers using tiny hooked needles (think crochet hook), pouncing up and down through both layers of felt.)

Then I embroidered the stems and tendrils, and added the blossoms on top of the berries and in the middle of the top flap.

Here's the finished project. I made a 5/8" strip of black felt, and buttonhole stitched it, from the top of one side of the front, to the top on the other side. I cut the strip even with the top front, and then attached the back.

Papertrey items used: Strawberry Patch Die Set, Strawberry Patch Stamp Set (for composition), Pure Poppy 100% wool felt (sigh).

Thanks for taking the time to look and leave a comment. Have fun and good luck on winning one of the fabulous gifts from Papertrey. There's no such thing as 'too much Papertrey'!

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge, or I'm In A Black Mood ....... and Loving It

January's PTI Blog Hop was so much fun, I just couldn't help but play..and play..and play. One of my favorite things about Papertrey's stamping line, is the incredible color palette of their inks and papers. Nothing makes colors pop better (in my estimation) than their appearance on a black background.

Tole painting was my passion for ten years, and it was that black stage for colors to dance on, that made it so compelling. This card was inspired by those simple, symmetrical folk patterns, that have been gracing objects for about two hundred years. (Betsy Veldman often showcases her color savvy with folk art designs. You can see two of my favorites here and here.)

Photographing black, well, is a trick I've yet to learn, so the clarity of my colors are a bit muted. (If anyone has any pointers by the way, I'm all ears.)

I used Papertrey's black card stock, with some of their other colors for the design, and mounted that on to a PTI white cardstock card. (The card is a bit heavy with all the layers of paper, so it was very nice to have a sturdy base.)  By die cutting all the shapes, it was possible to flip the second die cut over to make the symmetry. Only the two orange flowers were done with a print. A few extra snips of the die cuts, helped me spread the foliage around to get a balanced look. The design has some nice depth without being too bulky for the mail.

Thanks for taking the time to visit and leaving a comment. I treasure them all.

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge, or "Where's the 'u'?"

 Back again with more black cards having a Valentine theme, just in time for PTI's January Blog Hop. Papertrey's heavy cardstock, in very saturated black, is an irresistible surface on which to put a plethora of bright or deeply hued colors. I chose to do my three cards with die cuts, because they offered the greatest contrast with the backgrounds.

I made a beeline for Terri's post when I saw the thumbnail of what she had done with PTI's 'Get to the Point' arrow dies You can see her inspiring post here. Once I saw her card, it was imperitive to make my own using all the arrow shapes on one card.

 I used PTI's 'pure poppy' and 'raspberry fizz' cardstock, with a variety of scraps (including paint chips), to fill out my color palette.  The 'u' is from PTI's Block Alphabet Dies. To give it some depth, I embossed half the arrows and mounted the top layer on foam tape. (A black marker on the sides of that tape, helped conceal the bright white foam.)
  
In addition to using the black background and arrow dies, I wanted to make a clever Valentine.
Here is where I fell down. :(
I presented this card to my husband (like a five year old, proudly showing their mother a picture drawn in school). Upon opening the card, he pronounced, "I don't get it. Where's the 'u'?". So much for the emphatic 'u' on the face of my card. (By the way, the 'i' is made from the 'l' in the same font as the 'u', which allowed me to match the size to the 'Heart 2 Heart' die, and use a very small heart for the dot .)

Did you get the message "You, I Love"? Thanks for taking the time to visit.

See you at the blog hop, and have a lovely day.