Papertrey Ink February Blog Hop

This month at Papertrey Ink, there was this beautiful and fun photo to be inspired by for the monthly blog hop!

Since Betsy's amazing new set "Brushed Birds" had just arrived, I could not wait to use it, and decided to incorporate those adorable birds into my hop card!  Of course I was inspired by that amazing pink confetti cake!

I stamped the birds in pinks with a bit of yellow, and used a sentiment from Ways to Say: Birthday.

I stamped a musical background and added some musical notes in pink, because I am sure those birds are singing the birthday song!  They are perched on a vellum string cut with the "Balloon Strings" die.

Made confetti by gluing the cut outs from the Mix and Mat: Berry Boughs Die "snowy" piece. Some are coated in Stickles.  A few sequins for sparkle, and also some confetti stamped with the "Good Times" and "Polka Dot Basics" sets.

Those birds!  I want to use them on everything!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Bluebirds Sketch

Playing along with this week's lovely color combination at Color Throwdown and an adorable sketch by Kim Singdahlsen at Freshly Made Sketches!

I was so excited to get my new "Brushed Birds" set from Papertrey Ink this week!  It was perfect for both of these challenges, and I loved the color combination of light blue, white, and kraft with them!

Used PTI's Woodgrain Impression Plate and a heart die from the Shakers and Sprinkles Kit to cut the heart.  Added a branch cut with a Memory Box die, and a sentiment on vellum from PTI's "Love Lives Here."  It says "Home is where the heart is."  :)

The snowflake panel is made using a technique of Jennifer McGuire's called "Reverse Die Impressions" shown HERE.  It is SO easy after watching the video and the results are beautiful and impressive.  Love this video!   I used PTI's "Silver White Winters" snowflake dies for my card.

I think you will be seeing a lot of these birds, they are so cute and fun to stamp!  I was waiting all week for the set to arrive, just like a kid at Christmas :)!

Create Along...

I decided to participate in "Create Along With Us" with Papertrey Ink after seeing Laurie Schmidlin's inspiring balloon card for the new release seen HERE.

Um, there's a reason that Laurie is Laurie, lol!  She makes it look so easy!  I struggled with this card for too long, and finally had to just call it a birthday card and move on :).  Something went a little wrong with the placement of the balloons and the sentiment (and the size of the card), but here it is...

I blended again with Gelatos and dry paper towel at the top, then stamped and die cut balloons from the Birthday Style set, and strings from Shaker Shapes: Balloons die and the Balloon Strings dies. On my first 3 attempts, I used a Mix and Mat die to frame the center, but then forgot to add it on this one, eek!

Sentiments are from "Ways to Say It: Birthday" and "Think Big Favorites #1." The sentiment seemed to be floating away with the balloons, so I stamped the confetti image "Good Times" from along the bottom to ground it, then embossed it with Diamond embossing powder.

My girls always need birthday cards, so I am sure they will pick this one sooner or later ;)!

Reverse Confetti's January SFYTT

Another versatile and fun Sketch for You to Try at Reverse Confetti for this month!

Seeing that circle, I just had to use the wreath from the "Falling For You" set again!

This time I paired the wreath with a sentiment from Whole Lotta Happy which has sentiments for every occasion!  A friend at work just had a baby girl on December 24th, and I thought this would be perfect.

Stamped the wreath in Memento Bamboo Leaves, then colored with Copics.  Added die cut pieces stamped in black, also colored with Copics.  The sentiment is stamped on vellum with Versamark, then heat embossed in white.

For the horizontal center panel of the sketch, I chose a different aqua dot pattern and placed a rectangle behind the "new baby" portion of the sentiment to highlight it a bit.  Love these sets SO much!

PTI's Make It Monday: Stencil Embossed Backgrounds

This week's Make It Monday for Papertrey Ink is by Melissa Phillips.  She challenged us to create a heat embossed background using a stencil!  SO fun!

 I needed a little color in my life, so I paired a Woodgrain Stencil background with Dawn McVey's Gran's Garden stamp set!

I clear embossed the stencil with Versamark ink on white paper.  Then used one of Melissa's other MIM techniques, I got out Gelatos, and smudged a background on PTI's Linen Cardstock using a dry paper towel.  I also embossed that piece with PTI's Woodgrain Impression plate. Love how the colors blend so softly!

Added some details on the stamped and die cut flowers with some Liquid Pearls and Glossy Accents.  A few small clear sequins to help catch the shine on the background :).

The sentiment is from Beautiful Berries: Spring.  Celebrating some color and a bit of warmth in the midst of negative temperatures and 10-12 inches of the white stuff that fell pretty quickly overnight on Friday!  My poor girls are going stir crazy on this 3-day weekend, but I sure have been getting a lot of stamping time.  Thanks so much for stopping by!

Fusion 4th Anniversary Challenge

The Fusion Challenge Blog is celebrating their 4th Anniversary!  They have a lovely challenge photo and sketch for the occasion:

I chose to use the sketch and the inspiration photo, with the sweet Concord & 9th stamp set "Let's Chat"...

I stamped a woodgrain background with a Stampin' Up "Barnwood" background and also embossed PTI's White Linen cardstock with the Woodgrain Impression Plate.

I stamped the cup, the cocoa inside (and cut it out), and heat embossed the marshmallows with white powder, then cut all of the pieces out, layering them with dimensionals.  Made a little "saucer" using a circle Nestabilities die, and added some white embossed leaves from the set for decoration.   The sentiment is on vellum and comes from the Waltzingmouse Stamps' Sewing Box set.

Love the Fusion Challenge, and I'll raise my cocoa mug to the DT for four more years of fun :)!

Time Out Challenge: Thankful

This week at the Time Out Challenge blog, the word is "thankful"!  What a great way to start the New Year, and a perfect theme for a Valentine's Day card, too!

Here is my thankful Valentine...

I stamped "Thankful" with Lawn Fawn's "Milo Alphabet" then used a "for you" sentiment from a Waltzingmouse Stamps set.  I used the teeny heart in the Milo's Alphabet with it, too.

I cut a window and a frame using Simon Says Stamps "Stitched Rectangle" dies, and splattered the black cardstock with different shades of acrylic paint mixed with water. Added some mini banners using My Mind's Eye "Love Me" paper cut with a die from Mama Elephant, mini hearts cut with PTI's Love Lives Here dies, and beautiful flowers from Reverse Confetti's "Garden Bunch."

Thankful for everyone that leaves such sweet comments every time they stop by!  :)

Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge: New!

This week for Simon Says Stamps' Wednesday Challenge, we are to use something "new" for the New Year, and at CASolgy, the cue card is "Encourage."

I just got the adorable Concord & 9th set "Let's Chat" this week, and chose it to make a "feel better" card...

First, I stamped the saucer and the cup, then added the leafy decorations.  I stamped the "filled" circle in the set in latte ink, cut it out, pasted it into the cup, and added some coloring to the all of the images with Copics.  Stamped the heart swirl in Versamark on top and embossed with white powder.

Added some mini red hearts shined up with Glossy Accents, and some "steamy" hearts with a Heidi Swapp stencil and white texture paste.  Some hearts went awry at the top, so covered those over with some linen washi :).  This set is so versatile and FUN!

Make it Monday Review: Faux Stained Glass

For this week's Make it Monday at Papertrey Ink, we were to revisit a technique from 2017 that we may have missed.  I chose #307, Laurie Schmidlin's Faux Stained Glass technique, using Copic markers, the Hexagon Cover Plate die, and vellum.

I used the stamp set "In the Meadow" to make a snowy winter scene.

Die cute the pieces and stamped a sentiment on vellum, then heat embossed it with white powder.  Splattered some snow on the tree using white acrylic paint.

What I learned...I think I would be better off with lighter colors!   I also should have only added 1 layer of coloring, because I tended to try to fix the streaks by adding more color, which seemed to make it worse! 

Such a fun technique!  Will definitely try this one again :)!  Thanks, Laurie!

Top 10 Favorites of 2017!

I had fun looking back at my blog for my favorite cards that I made from the year.
So here they are with a countdown from 10...

#10

Papertrey Ink's Petite Pots and Headline Alphabet 

#9

Papertrey Ink's Enclosed: Apple, Petite Places: School, and Headline Alphabet, Impression Obsession's Cover-A-Card Screen background

#8

Papertrey Ink's Still Life Summer, Plaid Builder, Ways to Say: Birthday

#7

Papertrey Ink's Tulip Time

#6

Magic Slider Card with Papertrey Ink's Believe set

#5

Papertrey Ink's Rustic Wreath, Holiday Folk Mini Kit, Bitty Background Squares, Winter Village

#4

Papertrey Ink's Shaker and Sprinkles Kit, Sparkle & Shine 

#3

Reverse Confetti's Fall for You 

#2

Betsy Veldman's Fan Brush Watercolor Tree tutorial and Winter Village sentiment

and #1 from way back in January, 2017!

WPlus9 Studio's Freehand Florals, Concord & 9th's Sophisticated Script, 

Cornish Heritage Farm's Perfect Plaid Backgrounder

So there you have it!  Makes me want to stamp all over again :)!  

Here's to a very stampy 2018!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!