PTI's February 2014 Blog Hop

Oh, the colors of Spring are so refreshing, especially after all the rain we've had in Western Washington. It seems like a lot to me, but meterologists say we are still below average. At least we're not dealing with drought, bitter cold, abundance of snow, tornadoes, hurricanes or earthquakes. As I type this, the sun is starting to peak through the clouds, and our perennials are showing signs of growth. Spring is in the air! That brings me to the reason for today's post. Papertrey Ink's February 2014 Blog Hop is today, and the challenge is all about Sweet Spring.

Since I needed a card for my grandniece's 14th birthday, I thought I'd go with some soft and subtle colors and a bit of bling. Four of the 14 candles are popped up using mounting tape, and all the flames were highlighted with glitter. Sometime along the way, I was inspired by a couple of cards done by Maile but can't find either one right now. Sure am looking forward to her return in March to see what she's got up her sleeve. For now, here's my card. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Soft Stone and Winter Wisteria

Ink: Simply Chartreuse, Hawaiian Shores, Winter Wisteria and SU Groovy Guava

Stamps: Birthday Style and Trendy Tree Tops

Dies: Birthday Style

Other: Foam Mounting Tape, white glitter glue and colored sequins (from my stash)

PTI Make It Monday #152: Layering Die & Pigment Inks

Heather Nichols shared via video for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday Challenge how to layer die and pigment inks for a different look. Since I only have one pigment ink in my stash, I incorporated that as my background using a stamp from Turning A New Leaf on Kraft cardstock. Three different sizes of mums from Mum's The Word were stamped using Harvest Gold, SU's Pumpkin Pie, with the largest mum die-cut in Kraft and stamped with VersaMark and heat embossed using Zing! Metallic Teal powder. I did the same technique with the sentiment from Boutique Borders: Birthday only using Vellum. After cutting flag ends on the banner, I adhered it to the mum die-cut and raised that up using foam mounting tape. To finish it off, I added tiny rhinestones on the leaves and the orange flower centers just for a little bling.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Kraft and Vellum

Ink: White pigment ink (Joann's), Harvest Gold and SU Pumpkin Pie

Stamps: Turning A New Leaf, Mum's The Word and Boutique Borders: Birthday

Dies: Mum's The Word

Other: Zing! Metallic Teal Embossing Powder, and clear rhinestones (both from my stash)

PTI's 7th Anniversary ~ Day 10 (Special Delivery)

Today was the final challenge for Papertrey Ink's 7th Anniversary, and you can see it here. What a ride it's been! Nichole wasn't kidding when she said to use the last ounce of creative energy to create a card and a coordinating envelope. I opted to keep it simple since I'm just finishing now, and it's almost my bedtime. One-layer cards are very challenging for me, but I managed to be successful on this one. I actually like the results, and it's very self-explanatory.

Edited to Add: Also entering this in Simon Says Monday Challenge We Love Stamps. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White

Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse and SU Night of Navy

Stamps: Mum's The Word and Boutique Borders: Birthday

Dies: None

Other: Clear rhinestones from my stash (colored with Aqua Sharpie)

PTI's 7th Anniversary ~ Day 9 (Building Blocks)

Anyone else wearing down like I am? Between all these fun challenges and watching the Olympics (plus the everyday mundane chores), I am running out of steam. This blog hasn't seen so many posts on a regular basis. How does the Design Team do it so frequently?

Speaking of the Design Team, let's get started with today's challenge here. Each team member has a basic list of six "building block" options that are numbered. Our instructions were to roll a die nine times to see which item numbers we were to use in creating a card. If we didn't have a certain item, we could roll again. I did that for Melissa's fiber selection because I don't have any embroidery floss. Since my PTI inks and cardstocks are limited, I had to make substitutions or I'd still be rolling again and again. Let me just say that I wasn't feeling too lucky when I rolled this combination: 1) Pure Poppy, 4) Sweet Blush, 5) Spring Moss, 3) Stamper's Select White, 6) Dawn's Sketch, 6) Congratulations, 4) Inlaid Diecuts, 6) Felt and 2) Baker's Twine.

A Stamper's Select White card base was covered with a layer of SU Certainly Celery, from which I die cut Boutique Borders: Congrats and inlaid it over a piece of pink & white baker's twine tied in a bow. The border was stamped using VersaMark and "Congrats" using SU Real Red. Tipped Tops Dies were used to cut two-layered stars from SU Pretty in Pink card stock and white glittered felt. Here's my card:

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, SU Certainly Celery and SU Pretty in Pink

Ink: VersaMark and SU Real Red

Stamps: Boutique Borders: Congrats

Dies: Boutique Borders: Congrats and Tipped Tops

Other: White glittered felt (Joann's), Twinery Twine and foam mounting tape 

PTI 7th Anniversary ~ Day 1 (Color & Sketch Challenge)

This challenge was actually announced on the first day of Papertrey Ink's 7th Anniversary, but we have until 7 am EST on February 15 to post our creations. They've kept us so busy with each day's challenge I didn't get to try any of the recipes provided until now.  Our task was to select any one Color Recipe Card and one Sketch Recipe Card from the seven options shown for our project. There's no limit to how many combinations we use or cards we make. Since I have three cards to share and a long post, let's get started. 

Pictured are the Color and Sketch Recipes I used for this fun birthday card.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, SU Regal Rose for Hibiscus Burst, Aqua Mist and SU Real Red for Pure Poppy

Ink: VersaMark

Stamps: Beautiful Butterflies

Dies: Mat Stack #2 and Edgers #3

Other: SU Melon Mambo Embossing Powder, SU Dimensionals, Twinery Twine and SU Clear Rhinestones

My second card is a sympathy card, which I hope I don't have to use anytime soon but prefer having at least one ready and available when needed. 

Edited to Add: Also entering this in Simon Says Get Krafty Challenge for today. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: SU Always Artichoke for Ripe Avocado, Simply Chartreuse for New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, Classic Kraft and Vintage Cream

Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse (full & stamped off) and SU Soft Sky

Stamps: Mum's The Word and Boutique Borders: Sympathy

Dies: None

Other: Corner Chomper, Twinery Twine and SU Dimensionals

My third and final card for today is a special birthday card for my husband's aunt, when she turns 90 later this month. It's hard to see in the photo but the patterned paper has tiny, pink hearts so I felt the punched hearts and rhinestones finished it off nicely. Here are the recipes I used:

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Harvest Gold for Summer Sunrise, Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz and Bravo Burgundy for Scarlet Jewel

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black

Stamps: Big Birthday Wishes

Dies: By The Numbers and Nesties Scallop Circles

Other: Heart Punch (really old), Pink Heart Rhinestones (Studio G) and SU Dimensionals

PTI 7th Anniverary ~ Day 7 (Stripes)

In honor of Papertrey Ink's 7th Anniversary, today's challenge on Nichole's blog is to incorporate stripes in our projects. Think she wants us to realize how much easier it would be with the new Cover Plates introduced today. They look really cool and easy to use for vertical, horizontal or diagonal stripes. For my three cards below, colored stripes were adhered to a piece of white cardstock almost the width of my cards before cutting down the heighth.

"Happy Birthday" from Botanical Silhouettes is stamped in Memento Tuxedo Black ink twice, once on the white card base and again on the stripes.

For this one, I used a Rustic Cream card base, scoring two lines on the top and one on the bottom. HAPPY is from Tipped Tops Dies and cut from SU Basic Gray card stock. Since I never confessed to be perfect, I will admit the word "birthday" from Pretty Peonies stamped on SU Really Rust and punched using SU's Word Window punch covers up an error. Lesson Learned: It's not easy stamping a small sentiment over paper seams. Both sentiments were popped up using foam mounting tape.

The two narrow strips were adhered to a Harvest Gold card base. Birthday Wishes stamped with SU Really Rust ink and a Tipped Tops Dies star cut from Hawaiian Shores finish this series.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse, SU Really Rust, Rustic Cream, SU Basic Gray

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, SU Basic Gray and SU Really Rust

Stamps: Botanical Silhouettes, Pretty Peonies and Think Big Favorites #7

Dies: Tipped Tops Dies

Other: SU Word Window Punch and Foam Mounting Tape

PTI 7th Anniversary ~ Day 6 (Word Images)

Today's challenge here was to create a project using a large word as the focal point using word dies, word  stamps, alphabet dies or alphabet stamps. Since I still need several birthday cards for this month, that's what I made using Wonderful Words: Birthday and designed around that die.  Here it is, and I have to admit I kind of like it. Hope my friend does too!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Kraft, SU Bravo Burgundy, SU Pretty in Pink and SU Rose Red

Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black and VersaMark

Stamps: Half & Half and Fancy Flourishes

Dies: Wonderful Words: Birthday and Half & Half

Other: Black enamel dots (Michaels)

PTI 7th Anniversary ~ Day 5 (Birthday Card Challenge)

Happy Birthday to Papertrey Ink for seven amazing years in business! Today's challenge here is to create a birthday card to be mailed to PTI's warehouse staff to brighten their days while working hard to keep us happy. Because I liked this card so much, I decided to recreate it using a different color combination and sentiment. Since I know this has been a pretty harsh winter in Ohio, I'm hoping to send Spring their way.

I rarely stamp the inside of my cards (mainly because I'm always in a hurry to either mail it or get creating my next card), but this is for a special occasion for extra-special people. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Rustic Cream

Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse and Harvest Gold

Stamps: Boutique Borders: Birthday, Lovely Layers, Birthday Style, Big Birthday Wishes and Studio Calico's Napa Valley Numbers

Dies: Lovely Layers

Other: Harvest Gold button, Hemp Cord (from stash) and foam mounting tape (3M)

PTI 2014 Anniversary ~ Day 4 (ATC Trading Cards)

Day 4 anniversary festivities at Papertrey Ink are all about Monthly Moments and included the challenge of creating 3x4" trading cards that could be used in scrapbooking or card making. Sure wish I had a TV in my stamping room so I could multitask while watching the Sochi Olympics. Otherwise, I'm not much for television and would rather be stamping. Here are my two ATC cards, which are pretty simple but fun.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: White, Aqua Mist and SU Purely Pomegranate

Ink: Hawaiian Shores and SU Purely Pomegranate

Stamps: Boutique Borders: Valentine and Trendy Tree Tops

Other: 1-3/8" circle punch, scallop circle punch and scallop edge punch (EK Success)

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: White and SU Bravo Burgundy

Ink: SU Regal Rose and SU Bravo Burgundy

Stamps: Polka Dot Basics II

Other: Heart Punch (EK Success) as negative die-cut and Pinking Shears (sewing cabinet)

PTI's 7th Anniversary ~ Day 3 (Timer Challenge)

Our challenge today in celebration of Papertrey Ink's 7th Anniversary is to gather 7 supplies (including ink, paper and stamps) in 7 minutes and create a quick card in 17 minutes or less. WOW, that is moving quickly for this gal who typically creates without a sketch, design or colors in mind. After making seven cards late last night, it was a push to get crafting again today so three is my limit. I'm multitasking now as I type this while watching the Opening Ceremony of the Winter Olympics ~ Go USA!

Have seen several cards in blogland using paint chips and most recently, my online friend Joyce posted one on her blog. I've been saving several different color schemes for quite sometime so decided to use one tonight thinking it would be a time-saver.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

1. Stamper's Select White card stock
2. Paint chip from Home Depot
3. Boutique Borders: Congrats stamp set
4. Boutique Borders: Birthday stamp set
5. Linen/Canvas Impression Plate
6. SU Rose Red ink
7. Rhinestones - 3 (from my stash)

 Finished in 14 minutes, 58 seconds.


Thought I'd make another birthday card because February is a birthday-filled month for me with seven relatives and friends celebrating from the 9th through the 28th (all females but one). I so wanted to put sequins or buttons down the front to make it look like a dress but had to stick to my goal of 7 items.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

1. Raspberry Fizz card stock
2. Basic Black card stock (Joann's)
3. Stamper's Select White card stock
4. Pretty Peonies die
5. Wonderful Words: Birthday die
6. White doily (stash)
7. Black/white Twinery Twine

Finished in 12 minutes, 4 seconds. 

Since I ran out of steam last night, Erin's printable was the only one I didn't get to complete. Once all the others were used, I could see that my Mat Stack #4 die would work perfectly to capture the entire print. Because I don't have the larger mat stacks for layering, I created by own by die-cutting two from black card stock and cutting one in half vertically and the other horizontally. This was time-consuming as was the fussy cutting of the two little hearts I added to fill the corner and give it some more dimension.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

1. Erin Lincoln's printable
2. Basic Black card stock (Joann's)
3. SU Real Red card stock
4. White card stock (Georgia Pacific) ~ feeds just fine through my printer
5. Mat Stack #4
6. Boutique Borders: Valentine
7. SU Real Red ink

Finished with 4 seconds to spare: 16 minutes, 56 seconds

PTI MIM #151: Drop Shadow Die Cuts

Betsy Veldman showed us how to double cut our dies and offset the layers to create some depth for PTI's Make It Monday here.

Since I needed another teen birthday card for another young man, I chose the "happy" die from Pretty Peonies, the numbers from By The Numbers dies and the "th" using Block Alphabet dies. My card base of SU's basic gray was stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink and PTI's Polka Dot Basics II and corners rounded. A Basic Black layer was then covered with Soft Stone embossed with the Woodgrain Impression Plate. For "Happy" and "th" I used the same two colors but alternated them: Aqua Mist and Ocean Tides and stamped the design on the bottom layers using Ocean Tides ink. The "13" was die cut using SU Bravo Burgundy and Soft Stone with a design from Half & Half stamped in Bravo Burgundy on the bottom layer and popped up using SU dimensionals. For the finishing touch I punched three small stars from Basic Black and added Glossy Accents to make them shine.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Soft Stone, Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist, White, Black, SU Basic Gray & SU Bravo Burgundy

Ink: Ocean Tides, Memento Tuxedo Black and SU Bravo Burgundy

Stamps: Pretty Peonies and Half & Half

Dies: By The Numbers, Block Alphabet and Pretty Peonies

Other: Corner Rounder, small star punch, Glossy Accents and SU dimensionals

PTI's 7th Anniversary ~ Day 2

Tonight I have seven cards to share using free printables from Nichole Heady's blog today. These designers are just awesome, and here's what they gave us to work with creating our own cards.

Let's start with the first card I made tonight, which was using Heather's printable. White card base is covered with Raspberry Fizz, a Tipped Tops die of black before adhering the printable and adding black sequins for a little bling. 

My second card was created using Lizzie's circular design die cut using Limitless Layers: 1-3/4" Circles. My second layer of white card raised up using SU dimensionals created a window-type effect for my image. The printable was adhered to a Mat Stack #3 die cut together from Ocean Tides and SU's Groovy Guava, which was embossed with Swiss Dots embossing folder. 

Betsy's design inspired me to make this card, and since I only have the 2-1/4"oval dies, I had to fussy cut this oval before adding a little orange rhinestone in the center of the flower. Some orange sequins finished it off. 

My next card was made using Dawn's bright floral oval, which I could die-cut. My second oval was die-cut from Hawaiian Shores card stock. The hexagon cover plate of Raspberry Fizz over black was wrapped with white crochet thread and several loops behind the image. 

Tiffany's "Keep Being You" flourish was just a tad too big for my die shapes so managed to place it behind a Fabulous Frames red die-cut, that I raised up using SU dimensionals. My background is SU Basic Gray cardstock, VersaMark ink and Basic Backgrounds: Super Stripes. Added a little bling with red glitter glue before finishing it off with a black button, red/white twine and a sentiment from Think Big Favorites #11. 

My sixth card was using Lexi's big diamonds with her "you rock" sentiment, cut out, rounded corners and edged them with red ink before adhering it to a Not Quite Navy Boutique Borders: Congrats die cut. A red strip of cardstock is tucked between these two layers and raised up using SU dimensionals. My background is Spring Rain cardstock run through my Big Shot using a Zig Zag embossing folder. A few rhinestones finish it off. 

My final card before I call it a night was using Melissa's colorful image of flowers, a border and sentiment all wrapped in one. My base is SU Night of Navy cardstock embossed with PTI's Canvas Impression Plate. Two sizes of die cuts using Mat Stack #6 are beneath the image, one in Hawaiian Shores and the other using SU Regal Rose. This one was finished using a yellow button & twine to match. I can barely keep my eyes open so that's it for this post. This was fun ~ just wish I would have had time to start earlier in the day. 

Any questions regarding supplies, just ask. I'm too lazy to list all of them. 

PTI MIM #150: Window Screen Cards

Life just doesn't go the way we plan sometimes, and this week was one of those. Couldn't seem to squeeze in any block of time in my stamping room until last night and right now. Have to hurry and post this though as we're off to a Super Bowl Party ~ Go SEAHAWKS!

Melissa showed us how to create window screen cards using a cover plate here. Since my only cover plate is PTI's hexagon, I had to go with that. Here it is:

My Kraft card base was stamped using Turning A New Leaf and Kraft ink. Then I stacked two Simply Chartreuse Fabulous Frames together with the hexagon cover plate from Vintage Cream and acetate before adding mounting tape to raise it up. Finished it off with a heart from the heart border and rhinestone.

Edited to Add: Congratulations to the Seattle Seahawks ~ 2014 Super Bowl Champions!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Vintage Cream, Kraft and Simply Chartreuse

Ink: Kraft and SU Chocolate Chip

Stamps: Birthday Style and Turning A New Leaf

Dies: Fabulous Frames, Heart Border and Hexagon Cover Plate

Other: Green rhinestone, acetate & mounting tape (stash)