Happy Birthday!...

Just a quick, clean and simple card for today.

On white cardstock, I stamped the streamers in Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores and Tropical Teal inks, adding a few stars in Harvest Gold and Lemon Tart inks. 

I stamped the sentiment in black ink and placed the panel on a Tropical Teal cardstock card base. Done!

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Hooray
• Paper:  PTI Tropical Teal, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Tropical Teal, Harvest Gold, Lemon Tart; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

True Love...

You can see I'm on a purple kick right now, I haven't used it for a long time and now I seem to pick it up for almost every card! 

This stamp set, Painted Flowers by Altenew gave me a bit of trouble while making this card. I wasn't sure which stamps went together to make the layers, and how to line them up. After looking at a reference sheet I think I figured it out and I'm happy with the way the card turned out. 

On white cardstock I stamped two layers of the flowers in two shades of purple ink and added the outline in black ink. One of the purples is pearlescent so it looks a bit shiny on the card. The leaves are stamped in two shades of green, outlined in black ink.

The sentiment is stamped in black ink with the added purple ink for the years and line under anniversary. I added a pop of red for the heart. The panel is adhered to a Plum Pudding cardstock card base with a bit of the card base showing on the right.

I have to thank my blog friend Susi for introducing me to Altenew and for posting such beautiful  cards using this stamp set on her blog Ink-Creatable Works Of Heart. She is a good enabler! lol

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Inside & Out: Love; Altenew Painted Flowers
• Paper:  PTI Plum Pudding, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy; Brilliance Pearlescent Purple; Versamagic Purple Hydrangea; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Size:  5.0" x 7.0"

With Sympathy...

I'm still using stencils - so much fun to use!

On white cardstock, I stenciled the background with Soft Stone ink. I placed the panel on a Soft Stone card base.

I die-cut the tulips, and using the Misti, stamped them with 3 colors of purple ink - Lulu Lavender, Sweet Plum and Elderberry. I like this color combination! The leaves were stamped in Spring Moss and Simply Chartreuse inks.

The tulips are on foam tape for dimension with crochet thread tied around the stems. The sentiment is stamped in Smokey Shadow ink.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Tulip Time, Botanical Silhouettes
• Paper:  PTI Soft Stone, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Soft Stone, Simply Chartreuse, Spring Moss; Memento Lulu Lavender, Sweet Plum, Elderberry
• Dies:  PTI Tulip Time
• Other:  PTI Modern Backgrounds Stencil; Foam Tape; Crochet Thread
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Papertrey April 2016 Blog Hop Challenge...

When I looked at this month's inspiration picture, nothing came to me. No creative juices flowed, no ideas generated in my brain. I walked away, came back and took a closer look and picked out the obvious things - red, brown, cream, circles, stitched lines. After all, we're supposed to be getting inspiration from the photo, not replicating it!

On a stitched piece of Vintage Cream cardstock, I stamped overlapped circles in Pure Poppy ink, and then stamped a mirror image of them in Kraft ink. The sentiment is stamped in Dark Chocolate ink on a stitched circle, stacked 4 times for just a touch of dimension.

I adhered the panel to a Kraft card base impressed with woodgrain. Since this is more masculine looking, I added jute around the top of the card.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Sketched Shapes, Bubble Talk
• Paper:  PTI Kraft, Vintage Cream
• Ink:  PTI Pure Poppy, Kraft, Dark Chocolate
• Dies:  PTI Woodgrain Impression Plate; Lil Inker Designs Stitched Mats: Rectangles, Circles
• Other: Jute
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Faith Will See You Through...

I'm in love with the new Green Parakeet color from PTI - I thought Spring Moss would always be my favorite green but I think Parakeet is now number one!

I've been seeing so many watercolor cards recently and decided to make one. I wet the watercolor paper with water and applied Green Parakeet ink with just a touch of New Leaf ink to create the background.

Faith is die-cut 3 times in white cardstock and stacked together. I stamped "will see you through" on black cardstock, sprinkled it with white embossing powder and heat set it. It's on fun foam for additional dimension.

The butterfly is from the new Color Pop Butterflies kit - it's from the pattern paper included in the set. I really like this pink and green combo! The panel is adhered to a Green Parakeet card base.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Inspired: Faith
• Paper:  PTI Green Parakeet, True Black, White Stampers Select, Color Pop Butterflies; Tim Holtz Watercolor
• Ink:  PTI Green Parakeet, New Leaf; Versamark
• Dies:  PTI Color Pop Butterflies, Inspired: Faith, Building Blocks
• Tools:  Heat Tool
• Other:  Zing Embossing Powder; Fun Foam
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Hello...

I'm still loving the "color isolation" technique from PTI's Make It Monday #245: Color Isolation. It's so quick to do and I just really like the neutral background with the pop of color.

For this card, I pulled out Feather Finery and stamped feathers in grey ink on white cardstock. The color pop feather is stamped in a purple chalk ink. I keep forgetting I have a lot of chalk ink! I added "hello" as the sentiment, but I think you could make this any type of card - birthday or sympathy would be nice too.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Feather Finery, Bitty Bouquets
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select
• Ink:  Amuse Seattle; Colorbox Wisteria; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Faux Brush Lettering (MIM #246)...

Amy Sheffer is the host for this week's technique, Make It Monday #246: Faux Brush Lettering, where she shows us how to create the look of watercolored brush lettering on sentiments.

I don't have a lot of large sentiments, so picked "sending" from Wet Paint III. On white cardstock, I stamped the word in Aqua Mist ink and using a very fine brush, applied Tropical Teal ink to the bottom of the word to create the brushed look. I stamped "big hugs" in black ink.

Next, I used my new Color Pop Butterflies stencils to create my design, and will admit, I followed the layout from one of the patterned pieces included in the set. The butterflies are stenciled in Aqua Mist and Tropical Teal inks with black centers, the flowers in Berry Sorbet and Pure Poppy inks and the leaves in Spring Moss and Simply Chartreuse inks.

The panel is adhered to a Tropical Teal cardstock card base leaving a bit of the card base showing at the bottom. A few clear sequins completed the card.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Color Pop Butterflies, Wet Paint III
• Paper:  PTI Tropical Teal, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Other:  Pretty Pink Posh Sequins
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

It's Your Birthday...

I'm finally getting around to using the Petite Places: City Station stamp and die set...I only bought it last May! lol I didn't think it was almost a year ago that I bought this set!

On white cardstock, I stamped the gas station, pumps and sign in Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening and black inks. I added the road in black ink and a few clouds in the sky, stamped in Spring Rain ink. Both sentiments are stamped in Pure Poppy ink.

The little trucks were die-cut in white cardstock and stamped in coordinating inks, using the Misti so they came out perfect. Those trucks are tiny to stamp on! I placed the trucks on foam tape for dimension and adhered the panel to a Pure Poppy cardstock card base. Cute card for a little boy.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Petite Places: City Station, Good Times, Heart-2-Heart #6, Special Delivery
• Paper:  PTI Pure Poppy, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Pure Poppy, Spring Rain, Enchanted Evening; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Dies:  PTI Petite Places: City Station
• Other:  Foam Tape
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Celebrate...

I'm typing this and can't believe that April is halfway over already! Here's another quick card using pattern paper for the background.

I placed a layer of pattern paper over a white cardstock card base. The balloons were die-cut in Spring Moss and Summer Sunrise cardstock, which coordinates with the pattern paper. Celebrate is die-cut three times in Spring Moss and stacked together.

I added balloon strings in white and a couple of clear sequins to finish the card. No stamps on this card! 

Card Details:

• Paper:  PTI Spring Moss, Summer Sunrise, White Stampers Select, Bitty Baby Blessings
• Dies:  PTI Balloon Bash, Uncorked Words, Shaker Shapes: Balloon
• Other:  Pretty Pink Posh Sequins
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Birthday Wishes...

One can never have enough bird stamps, right? 

For this card, I started with a piece of white cardstock and rubbed Aqua Mist ink on it to create a nice, soft background. Next, with the applicator, I flicked on Mr. Huey's Silver Mist. I've had this mist for a long time so it was overdue to use it! 

I die-cut the branch and bird in white cardstock. The branch is stamped in Pinefeather and Dark Chocolate inks and the bird stamped in Stormy Sea and Smokey Shadow inks. I placed the bird on foam tape for dimension. The sentiment is also stamped in Smokey Shadow ink. I added a few snowflakes in Soft Stone ink on the background.

I placed the panel on a Stormy Sea cardstock card base and tied fun fur around the top. I also added a little bit of glitter to the branch. This is a card I made for a January birthday.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Winter Woods, Snowflake Serenade
• Paper:  PTI Stormy Sea, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Aqua Mist, Pinefeather, Dark Chocolate, Smokey Shadow, Soft Stone
• Dies:  PTI Winter Woods
• Other:  Mr. Huey's Silver Mist; Glitter; Foam Tape; Fun Fur
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Praying For You...

I'm still enjoying this Color Pop Florals set....and now PTI has a butterfly set coming out this month! I'm excited about that!

On white cardstock, I selected just a few of the flowers and leaves to stencil, using Lemon Tart and Harvest Gold inks on the larger flowers and Berry Sorbet and Pure Poppy inks on the smaller flowers. The leaves are stenciled in Spring Moss and Simply Chartreuse inks.

I stamped the sentiment in Smokey Shadow ink and rounded the right bottom corner. Quick and easy!

ETA:  Per Susi's suggestion, I've entered this card in the One-Layer Simplicity Challenge: OLS26. For this challenge, you can make anything as long as it's one layer of cardstock. 

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Color Pop Florals Mini Kit, Keep It Simple: Praying For You
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Harvest Gold, Lemon Tart, Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Smokey Shadow
• Tools:  Corner Rounder
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5" 

Get Well Soon...

This card follows the technique from last week's Make It Monday #245: Color Isolation - using a bit of color on a neutral background. (I was originally going to post this card for the challenge but saw someone else already used this stamp set.) I'm going to be using "color isolation" a lot in the future since it's easy and really makes a striking card!

On white cardstock I randomly stamped the teacups in grey ink. The teacup is die-cut in white cardstock and stamped with Raspberry Fizz ink. I stacked 4 teacups together to give the card  dimension. 

The sentiment is stamped in black ink and the panel adhered to a Raspberry Fizz cardstock card base. Just a clean and simple card, but the pop of color really brings a bit of life to the card.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Tea For Two, Tea For Two Additions
• Paper:  PTI Raspberry Fizz, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Raspberry Fizz; Amuse Seattle; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Dies:  PTI Tea For Two
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Best Is Yet To Come...

Every once in a while it's good to make a quick card and use some pattern paper. Plus I'm trying to use stamps that haven't seen ink for a long time. Over Under Easy is one of them. 

I placed the music pattern paper on top of white cardstock, leaving a little bit of white showing on the left side. Can you tell I like this style because I seem to be doing it all the time now! Don't worry, I'll tire of it soon! lol 

On white cardstock, I stamped the sentiment in Dark Chocolate ink (the music notes are brown), adding a design on the top and bottom in Raspberry Fizz ink. I placed the sentiment on fun foam for dimension and rounded the bottom corners of the card to match the rounded corners of the sentiment panel.

That's it...quick and simple!

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Over Under Easy
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select, Sweet Symphony
• Ink:  PTI Dark Chocolate, Raspberry Fizz
• Tools:  Corner Rounder
• Other:  Fun Foam
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Celebrate!...

This is the second stamp in the "Splits" series and one that can be used for any type of fun occasion.

I die-cut the Split in white cardstock and stamped the image in black ink. Next, I rubbed Aqua Mist and Hawaiian Shores inks on it and stamped Celebrate in black ink. I die-cut the image two more times in white cardstock and stacked it together for dimension.

On a white cardstock panel, I scored 3 one-half inch lines at the bottom. This technique was fresh in my mind from last week's Make It Monday and helped fill in the openness at the bottom. I placed the panel on an Aqua Mist cardstock card base.

After I placed the Split on the panel, I thought it looked a little lonely. I had some leftover Bitty Bouquets from another project and stuck one through the ribbon loop. Makes it a bit more festive looking! My last step was adding a gem to the center of the ribbon bow.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Splits: Celebrate, Bitty Bouquets
• Paper:  PTI Aqua Mist, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Berry Sorbet, Spring Moss, Harvest Gold; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Dies:  PTI Splits: Celebrate, Bitty Bouquets
• Tools: Score Board
• Other:  Gem
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Color Isolation (MIM #245)...

Make It Monday: #245 Color Isolation is this week's challenge hosted by Ashley Cannon Newell. Ashley shows us how just a little color on a neutral background can add a bit of brilliance to your project. I chose grey for my neutral and red for my "pop" of color. Ashley used the same stamps for both her neutral background and color - did it have to be the same stamps? Well, if so, I decided to do mine a little differently. lol

Starting with a piece of white cardstock, I stamped the background in grey ink, using the branches, leaves and flowers from Spring Woods. The sentiment is stamped in black ink.

The bird is die-cut in white cardstock and stamped with Pure Poppy and black inks. Thank you Misti for helping me make my bird perfect! lol I placed the bird on fun foam for dimension and adhered the panel to a Smokey Shadow cardstock card base.

To finish the card, I rounded the corners and used a Clear Star gelly roll pen to add just a touch of sparkle to the flower centers. Because I left some of the card base showing on the left side, I added Stone twine. 

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Spring Woods, Winter Woods, Year of Flowers: Gladiolus
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select, Smokey Shadow
• Ink:  PTI Pure Poppy; Amuse Seattle; Memento Tuxedo Black
• Dies:  PTI Winter Woods
• Tools:  Corner Rounder
• Other:  Twine; Clear Star Gelly Roll Pen; Fun Foam
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

A Friend Is One...

This is another stamp set - Choose Joy - I haven't used yet. I wasn't going to buy it, but of course I kept seeing so many wonderful cards made with it and it ended up in my cart. 

I stamped the Hardwood in Soft Stone ink on Soft Stone cardstock. Using the Misti really helped make sure I had full coverage when using this large stamp! The wreath is stamped in Dark Chocolate ink with the sprigs in Spring Moss and Simply Chartreuse inks. I added a few little flowers in Berry Sorbet ink.

The larger flowers are die-cut in white cardstock and stamped with Berry Sorbet and Pure Poppy inks, with centers in Dark Chocolate ink. I placed them on foam tape for a little dimension.

The sentiment is stamped in Dark Chocolate ink. I thought this sentiment was perfect for this card because it looks like the wreath could be hanging on a fence. The panel is adhered to a Berry Sorbet cardstock card base.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Twig Wreath, Choose Joy; Stampin' Up Hardwood
• Paper:  PTI Berry Sorbet, Soft Stone
• Ink:  PTI Soft Stone, Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse
• Dies:  PTI Twig Wreath
• Other:  Foam Tape
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Sending Birthday Hugs & Wishes...

I bought cake plate dies from PTI last year and haven't used them yet. I know now that I have the Just Desserts stamp set they'll come in handy. I made this card a while ago and am just getting around to posting it.

The cake plate is die-cut in Sweet Blush cardstock and pink pattern paper. I placed it on white cardstock, embossed with stripes (I don't know the name of the embossing folder, a friend sent it to me). The cupcake was a sticker I found in my stash.

I stamped the sentiment in black ink and placed the panel on a Sweet Blush cardstock card base, tied with Blossom twine with a few added sequins. I'm not so sure the cupcake goes with my color selection, but it does have pink sprinkles on it! lol

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Stylish Sentiments: Birthday
• Paper:  PTI Sweet Blush, Pink Patterns; White
• Ink:  Memento Tuxedo Black
• Dies:  PTI Cake Plates
• Tools:  Striped Embossing Folder
• Other:  Twine; Studio 18 Embellishment; Pretty Pink Posh Sequins
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Celebrating With You On Your Birthday...

I can't believe it's April 1st! Where did March go???

When I saw PTI's Just Desserts last month, I knew it was going into my cart! Such a fun cake. On Fresh Snow Linen cardstock, I stamped the cake in Fine Linen ink and the icing in Dark Chocolate ink. I added the candles in Lovely Lady ink and the sentiment in Pure Poppy ink.

I stamped the strawberries in Pure Poppy and New Leaf inks and fussy cut them. They're adhered to the cake with a bit of foam tape. I stamped a couple of banners at the top in Lovely Lady and Lemon Tart inks. I added glitter to the strawberries and placed the panel on a Pure Poppy cardstock card base.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Just Desserts, Hooray
• Paper:  PTI Pure Poppy, Fresh Snow Linen
• Ink:  PTI Fine Linen, Dark Chocolate, Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Lovely Lady, Lemon Tart
• Other:  Foam Tape; Glitter
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"