PTI MIM #208: Ombre Stamping

Do I dare say ombre is quite fashionable these days? I've seen it in clothing, hair coloring, nail polishing and of course, card-making. Color starts darker and gradually lightens as shown by Laurie in her striking butterfly card in this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday video here. I think Laurie and Laura Bassen have been practicing blending colors a whole lot more than I have, and it shows in my card below. I need more ink colors that blend besides the aqua/teal palette so I can branch out a bit. The inspiration from this challenge will definitely help me find my favorites. On with my card.

My MISTI was a godsend in helping me line up this stamp from Lovely Layers. Each one was heat embossed using VersaMark ink and white embossing powder before I started blending my colors. This was my first attempt using a Mini Ink Blending Tool, and I plan to practice when time permits. A white Gelly Roll pen was used to add dots to my "thanks" swoosh die-cut. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Tropical Teal and Bitty Dot Hawaiian Shores

Ink: VersaMark, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores and Tropical Teal

Stamps: Lovely Layers

Dies: Swoosh

Other: White Embossing Powder, Mini Ink Blending Tool, SU Dimensionals, Rhinestone Stickers (Michael's) and White Gelly Roll Pen

PTI MIM #207: Double Partial Die Cutting

Hope everyone had a fabulous Easter and praying Spring finally arrives as it's been a long winter for lots of people! I've been busy Spring cleaning and sorting through my craft room getting rid of stuff I've been hoarding and know I won't use. It's been stashed too long already…if you know what I mean.

The very talented and funny, Laura, showed us how to step things up a notch using her technique of "double partial" die-cutting. My first two attempts using Soft Stone card stockdid not work, but the third time (using GP white) was a charm after moving my cutting plate further away from my pencil line. Here's her fabulous video for this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday so you can see how easy she makes it look. Here's my card:

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Georgia Pacific White, Tropical Teal and Harvest Gold

Ink: New Leaf and Harvest Gold

Stamps: Lovely Layers and Keep It Simple: Thinking of You 

Dies: Lovely Layers, Mat Stack #6 and Sketched Shapes

Other: Button, Twine, Foam Tape, Glue Dot, Simple Stories Paper Pad and SU Spritzer with SU Taken with Teal Marker

Papertrey March Blog Hop Challenge

This month's challenge here is related to the coming of Spring and the colors shown in this beautiful inspiration photo:

 photo credit: Country Living

Starting with a Stamper's Select White card base, I added a layer of Aqua Mist stamped with VersaMark and a design from Turning A New Leaf. My watercolored piece using the "smooshing" technique was attached with foam tape to the Grand Madison Window die cut from Hawaiian Shores. Using Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist and New Leaf, I stamped two floral bouquets on white die cuts from Bitty Bouquets. Before stamping the sentiment, I added a Harvest Gold & Vellum layered butterfly with a clear rhinestone in the center. Can't really see in this photo, but I did add little dots on the flowers using Wink of Stella. Fortunately, this sympathy card isn't needed right now, but my stash was down to nothing. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold and Vellum

Ink: Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf and VersaMark

Stamps: Bitty Bouquets, Boutique Borders: Sympathy and Turning A New Leaf

Dies: Bitty Bouquets, Poppystamps Grand Madison Window and Sizzix Embosslits Beautiful Wings

Other: Watercolor Paper, Acetate for "smooshing", Rhinestone, Wink of Stella Glitter Brush, Glue Dots and Foam Tape (all from my stash)

PTI MIM #205: Confetti Cluster Stamping

Awe, Lizzie Jones, in her very first Make It Monday Video for Papertrey Ink here, shows us her fun technique of Confetti Cluster Stamping. The idea is to use tiny accessory images from a variety of stamp sets clustered together. I traced the balloon die from Birthday Style three times and filled them in with small stamps from several different sets using seven different ink colors. The balloon was die-cut three times from a piece of Soft Stone card stock and adhered with foam tape to my white card base. A Bountiful Banner die-cut was layered beneath my Berry Sorbet "Celebrate" where the balloon strings joined. I know I'll try this technique again. Thanks, Lizzie!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White, Soft Stone, New Leaf and Berry Sorbet

Ink: Berry Sorbet, Summer Sunrise, Hawaiian Shores, New Leaf, Tropical Teal, Royal Velvet and Winter Wisteria

Stamps: Framed Out #6, Framed Out #12, Make It Market Mini Kit: Lovely Laurels, Harvest Berries and 2012 Birthday Tags

Dies: Birthday Style, Bountiful Banners and Uncorked

Other: Foam Tape and Xyron

PTI MIM #204: Watercolor Smooshing

Let's get this straight right from the start. Betsy showed us her secret way of "smooshing" watercolors…not "smooching" like some people thought and/or typed because of auto-correct. Everyone needs laughter in their life, and that was achieved. The last Papertrey Ink Make It Monday challenge was to use ink and water to create gorgeous backgrounds using the "smooshing" technique. It's fun and only a little messy ~ at least for stampers like me who don't like to get inky fingers. Here's my "smooshed" birthday card. It's a win-win because it's also masculine ~ yay!

It's pretty self-explanatory, but here's a few details. I "smooshed" my Spring Rain and Ocean Tides background on watercolor paper. After it dried, I stamped the trees and adhered the red birds using Glue Dots. Die-cut the heart border out of Pure Poppy and layered Ocean Tides to ground the trees and place my sentiment. The Birthday Swoosh was easily adhered by using my Xyron. And that's it!

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Kraft, Ocean Tides, Spring Rain and Pure Poppy

Ink: Ocean Tides, Spring Rain and Versafine Onyx Black

Stamps: Swoosh and Through The Trees

Dies: Swoosh, In The Meadow and Heart Border

Other: Watercolor Paper, Acetate, Glue Dots, Xyron and SU Dimensionals

PTI MIM #203: Doodling with Stamps

Joyce, this one's for you. (big smiley face) Hope you're not confused all weekend even though we do need to "Spring" ahead for Daylight Savings. It's only Friday afternoon, my card is done, and I'm posting it already. Ashley showed us how to use the doodling process with our stamps for this week's Papertrey Ink Make It Monday. Sounds easy because who didn't doodle just for fun when chatting on the fun, paying attention in class, or any time we had paper and pen in hand. Well, it wasn't quite that easy…for me anyway. Ashley made it look really easy on her masterpiece. My card was inspired by Mailes birthday trio here. I think I'll make more of these but without my doodling.

My doodling was done using a Fine point Sharpie after stamping the butterflies in Harvest Gold and stamping the layers on the largest butterfly. My MISTI sure came in handy layering that butterfly.  Finishing the card with sentiments from Swoosh, I used my new VersaFine black ink for clean, crisp results. 

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Stamper's Select White

Ink: Harvest Gold and VersaFine Black Onyx

Stamps: Beautiful Butterflies, Beautiful Butterflies Layers and Swoosh

Dies: None

Other: MISTI and Fine Point Black Sharpie

PTI MIM #202: Anchoring with Border & Banner Dies

Here we are the 1st of March, and it's been sunny and beautiful in Washington State. However, I have empathy for those struggling with the extreme cold and snowstorms that Mother Nature has shared across the US.  And, it's Sunday, and I've been in my stamp room struggling with the challenge by Melissa Phillips, the queen of layering. She made it look so easy in her video here on Nichole Heady's blog. Maybe I tried to incorporate too many colors, but I spent hours off and on creating this card. If I said I wasn't challenged, I'd be fibbing. Anyway, here's my creation.

Edited to Add: Also entering this card in Simon Says Wednesday Challenge Anything Goes.

Supplies: (all PTI unless noted)

Cardstock: Soft Stone, Stamper's Select White, Simply Chartreuse, Vellum, SU Summer Sun and SU Bravo Burgundy

Ink: Berry Sorbet, Scarlet Jewel, Summer Sunrise and Simply Chartreuse

Stamps: Lovely Layers and Swoosh

Dies: Lovely Layers, Swoosh, Fabulous Frames, Bountiful Banners and Half & Half

Other: MISTI, SU DSP (retired), MME Enamel Dots Lost & Found Christmas, Glue Dots and Xyron