PTI's Laurie's Fabulous Favorites (Favorite Coloring Technique)

I've been visiting family for Easter this week in Northern MN so squeezing this in before the deadline looms early tomorrow morning. My card is an entry for Laurie's Fabulous Favorites for Papertrey Ink. You can also see more details of her beautiful card on her blog post here. Laurie challenged us to try our hand at our favorite coloring technique. 

There are so many different options these days, but I went with ink blending on card stock and the underside of vellum for this sympathy card. Without further ado (so I can get to bed after being up 20 hours), here's my card.

Thank you for stopping by, and I really do appreciate your comments!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted):

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White,True Black and Vellum

Ink: Distress Oxide Inks and VersaFine Onyx Black

Stamps: Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: Life Is Beautiful and MFT Scalloped Frame

Other: Ink Blending Tool, Nuvo Crystal Drops and Perfect Plaid Stencil

PTI Transformation Tuesday with Lizzie Jones

What better way to transform an older card with newer products by entering Papertrey Ink's Transformation Tuesday Challenge. Because I'm in need of a sympathy card and it’s the Fall season, I decided to use leaves instead of butterflies. Mission accomplished. 

Original Card

New Card

Thank you for stopping by, and I really do appreciate your comments!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted):

Cardstock: Kraft and Vintage Cream

Ink: Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides, Terracotta Tile and Hero Art’s Ombré Autumn

Stamps: Leaf Prints and Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: Leaf Prints, Tag Sale #9 and Noted: Scalloped A2

Other: Ink Blending Tool, Paintbrush, Nuvo Crystal Drops Morning Dew and Foam Tape

PTI MIM #329: Creating Stencils from Die Cuts

This week I'm joining Melissa Phillips for her Papertrey Ink Make It Monday where she challenges us to make our own stencil from die-cuts. Once again I'm a bit out of my comfort zone but just had to make the attempt. 

To start with, I die-cut the most inner layer of Mix & Mat: Postal from acetate to save it for future stenciling. Thanks, Melissa, as I will definitely keep this in mind to make those dies even more versatile. A little ink blending and layering of die-cuts and I've got this pretty sympathy card.

Thank you for stopping by, and I really do appreciate your comments!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted):

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Ocean Tides and Holiday Plaid

Ink: Soft Stone, Pale Peony, Autumn Rose, Ocean Tides, Pinefeather and VersaFine Onyx Black

Stamps: Stitching Garden and Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: Cover Plate: Pretty Frame, Mix & Mat: Postal, Mix & Mat: Pretty Brackets and Stitching Garden

Other: Acetate (to make stencil), White Foam, SU Dimensionals and Ink Blending Tool

PTI Create Along With Us Challenge: June 2018

June Release just this past week means it's time to Create Along With The DT. Papertrey Ink calls it a challenge because it really is trying to decide which one to mimic as your inspiration piece. This week I chose the floral wreath project from Melissa Bickford's Day 4 blog post. 

She used the new Botanical Bounty stamps and dies, which I don't own, so I improvised a bit. I varied my colors a bit and created this sympathy card. 

It's a beautiful day here in the Pacific Northwest so I'm sitting on our deck watching the lake activity while I type this blog post.

Thank you for stopping by, and I really do appreciate your comments!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted):

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White

Ink: VersaFine Onyx Black, New Leaf, Green Parakeet, Bright Buttercup, Royal Velvet, Hibiscus Burst and Raspberry Fizz

Stamps: Gran's Garden and Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: Gran's Garden

Other: Rhinestones and SU Dimensionals

PTI MIM #318: Simple Stitched Stems

After a trip to the craft store and some contemplating which floral stamps to use, I completed a card for this week's Make It Monday Challenge for Papertrey Ink. You can see all the details here where Michelle Leone, in her very first Make It Monday video, shows us how to add simple stitching to our cards for something different. A seamstress I'm not but I could tackle this hand stitching just fine. Without further ado, here's my card. 

Thank you for stopping by, and I really do appreciate your comments!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted):

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Scarlet Jewel and New Leaf

Ink: Scarlet Jewel, Aqua Mist and New Leaf

Stamps: Beautiful Blooms II and Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: MFT Stitched Rectangles, Mix & Mat: Postal, Tag Sale: Quilted and Fancy Foliage Details

Other: Green Craft Cord, SU Mat Pack, Needle, SU Dimensionals and Glossy Accents

PTI 10th Anniversary Challenge: Altered Envelope

Lexi, besides being a product designer for Papertrey Ink, she is now also the Planner Ambassador. As guest blogger on Nichole's blog, the challenge was to create a new card with a coordinating altered envelope. I couldn't help but think of a pretty tulip bouquet perfect for a sympathy card. Here's my card and matching envelope just waiting to be mailed Monday. 

Thanks for stopping by, and I really do appreciate your comments!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White

Ink: New Leaf, Sweet Blush, Lovely Lady and Scarlet Jewel

Stamps: Tulip Time and Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: None

PTI Create Along With Us Challenge: August 2016

What a fabulous August release at Papertrey Ink! You can see all the details and inspiration on Nichole's blog. This month we are challenged to select one of the design team member's card or project as our inspiration. Oh, how does one decide when there are so many awesome ones? I took the liberty to rotate one of Danielle's Thanksgiving Inspiration cards and turn it into a sympathy card. Here's her beauty below!

This is what I came up with for my sympathy card based on Danielle's inspiration. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Pure Poppy and Lovely Lady

Ink: Smokey Shadow and VersaMark

Stamps: Boutique Borders: Congrats

Dies: Cover Plate: Pretty Frame

Other: Colorbok Carnival Paper Pad, Ink Blending Tool, Paintbrush, Black Watercolor, White Embossing Powder and Black Rhinestones

July Mix-It Up Challenge With Sympathy

After perusing this blog post and seeing a challenge mixing Essentials by Ellen with Neat and Tangled, I decided to play along. My focus was a sympathy card and I need it now. Anyone else ever in that situation? Seems I can't get ahead on those for some sad reason. Thought I'd mix it up a bit by adding some ink blending, and tiny black dots to pull it altogether with the black sentiment and banner.

The blooms and leaves are from Essentials by Ellen Bold Blooms stamps and Bold Blossom dies. My black banner and colored dots are all from Neat and Tangled Party Dots. "With Sympathy" is from PTI's Keep It Simple: Sympathy stamp set adhered using foam tape. The bright buttercup bloom is also popped up for added dimension. PTI's New Leaf card stock adds another layer to the focal image.

Thanks for stopping by, and I really do appreciate your comments! 

Supplies: 

Cardstock: PTI Stamper's Select White and New Leaf

Ink: PTI Bright Buttercup, Berry Sorbet, Winter Wisteria, New Leaf and VersaFine Onyx Black

Stamps: Essentials by Ellen Bold Blooms and Neat and Tangled Party Dots

Dies: Essentials by Ellen Bold Blossoms

Other: Ink Blending Tool, Foam Tape and Fine Black Sharpie

Papertrey January Blog Hop Challenge

Seems like it was just the 1st day of 2016, and here we are at the 25th of January already. Nichole challenged us here to create a project using this colorful inspiration photo.

photo source: Rex Ray

I love the colors but the design was a bit intimidating. Just had to try the challenge though. Being in desperate need of sympathy cards, I went with the card below. The colors might be a bit bold for comfort, but I think the layered butterfly helps soften it some. At least I'm convinced.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Rustic Cream

Ink: Tropical Teal and Orange Zest

Stamps: Brushed Off and Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: Life Is Beautiful

Other: Clear Vellum, Micro Glue Dots and Orange Enamel Dot (stash)

PTI Create Along With Us Challenge: January 2016

This challenge allows us to select something the PTI Design Team created that inspired us and create our own version. There were so many beautiful projects it was difficult to pick just one. Since I'm in need of a sympathy card, I used that to help narrow down my options. My selected card is this one created by Betsy Veldman. Isn't she amazing? Not only did it put me out of my comfort zone with all the blending and watercoloring, but I don't have the supplies Betsy used so I had to get creative with what I own. She obviously practiced a whole lot more than I have. Don't you just love her colors and details? I do!

My sympathy card came together using two sizes of Stitched Rectangles by MFT to get my border. The three butterflies were die-cut from Life Is Beautiful. All of these were cut from watercolor paper and colored using blending tools and the same ink colors as Betsy…only less (Hawaiian Shores, Tropical Teal, Enchanted Evening and Black). That explains why my card looks so different and also why I'm not on any Design Team. Here's my reveal:

Think I should have left off the watercoloring underneath the butterflies, but it's too late now for me to fix that. I'll just go with it and hope the recipient appreciates my not-so-perfect-artsy card. Oh, and I must confess I actually cut the sentiment in two from Keep It Simple: Sympathy and stamped it in Enchanted Evening. My sparkling clear sequins are from Pretty Pink Posh. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White

Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Tropical Teal, Enchanted Evening and Black (Jo-Ann)

Stamps: Keep It Simple: Sympathy

Dies: Life Is Beautiful and MFT Stitched Rectangles

Other: Canson Mixed Media Paper, Watcolors, Paintbrush, Blending Tools, PPP Sparkling Clear Sequins and SU Dimensionals (all from my stash)

ColourQ #306

This is my first time participating in a ColourQ challenge, and I just love the color combination. It definitely took me out of my comfort zone, but that's a good thing. Check this out.

After attending five memorial services last month, my stash of sympathy cards was depleted. Since they can be challenging to create (especially when needed in a hurry), I thought I'd try this color palette to jumpstart my mojo. Here's my card. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Aqua Mist and SU Purely Pomegranate

Ink: Winter Wisteria, VersaFine Onyx Black and VersaMark

Stamps: Keep It Simple: Sympathy, Harvest Berries and Background Basics: Super Stripes

Dies: Sizzix Embosslits Beautiful Wings

Other: Glitter Glue, Glue Dot and SU Dimensionals