You're A Star...

I'm back to using my favorite color trio again (I did give it a break for a little while lol). This is a cute little stamp set I got for free with my Fun Stampers Journey purchase. 

On white cardstock I stamped the stars in Hawaiian Shores, Green Parakeet and Harvest Gold inks. The sentiment is stamped in black ink.

I placed the panel on a Hawaiian Shores cardstock card base flush against the left and top. A few sequins and the card was done!

Card Details:

• Stamps:  Fun Stampers Journey Star Marquee
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select, Hawaiian Shores
• Ink:  PTI Hawaiian Shores, Green Parakeet, Harvest Gold; Versafine Onyx Black
• Other:  Pretty Pink Posh Sequins
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

With Deepest Sympathy...

I made this card a while ago when I first received the Spring Woods stamp set. Another nice stamp featuring birds.

On white cardstock I lightly rubbed Aqua Mist to create the sky background. I stamped the branches in Kraft ink, the flowers in Lovely Lady ink and the leaves in Spring Moss ink.

I die-cut the bird in white cardstock and stamped it in Ocean Tides, Kraft and Dark Chocolate inks, placing it on foam tape for dimension. The sentiment is stamped in Kraft ink.

The panel is adhered to an Ocean Tides cardstock card base with the edge showing on the right.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Spring Woods
• Paper:  PTI Ocean Tides, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides, Dark Chocolate, Kraft, Lovely Lady, Hibiscus Burst, Spring Moss
• Dies:  PTI Spring Woods
• Other:  Foam Tape
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Wishing You The Coolest Birthday Yet...

Time to relax after a very busy SAF weekend and the Blog Hop yesterday! It's been a couple of fast and fun-filled days, that's for sure!

It's still very hot here, in fact, should be around 100 degrees today. I'm so tired of this hot weather and can't wait for cooler days. Here's a quick card I made to help beat the heat! lol

On white cardstock I stamped the popsicles and drips in Berry Sorbet, Limeade Ice and Summer Sunrise inks, adding the sticks in Kraft ink. The sentiment is stamped in black and Berry Sorbet inks.

I rounded the bottom corners and added glitter to the popsicles to make them look "icy".

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Summer Sweetness
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Berry Sorbet, Limeade Ice, Summer Sunrise, Kraft; Versafine Onyx Black
• Tools:  Corner Rounder
• Other:  Glitter
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Papertrey July 2016 Blog Hop Challenge...

I really like this month's photo - it has a nice selection of colors, shapes and flowers to use as inspiration! When I look at it, I see Berry Sorbet, Aqua Mist and Soft Stone colors, the Quatrefoil rug, flowers and leaves on the pillow. This was an easy one for me to get ideas!

On white cardstock, using a make-up brush and Soft Stone ink, I lightly brushed the ink on the negative from the Quatrefoil Cover Plate.

The flowers are die-cut from the new Some Like It Hot set and stamped with Pale Peony and Berry Sorbet inks, with the centers stamped in Lemon Tart and black inks. The leaves are from Lovely Layers, stamped in Aqua Mist and Tropical Teal inks. (It looks like leaves to me on the pillow.) I placed a few of the flowers on foam tape for dimension.

Wonderful is die-cut in Berry Sorbet cardstock three times, stacked and glued together. I added the additional sentiments stamped in black ink. To finish the card, I added glitter to the flowers and white crochet twine tied around the card top.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Some Like It Hot, It's The Thought, Mistletoe & Holly, Birthday Classics: February
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select, Berry Sorbet
• Ink:  PTI Soft Stone, Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet, Lemon Tart, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal; Versafine Onyx Black
• Dies:  PTI Some Like It Hot, Lovely Layers, It's The Thought, Cover Plate: Quatrefoil
• Other:  Foam Tape; Glitter; Crochet Twine
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp-A-Faire: Farewell...

I can't believe SAF is over already and it's time for the final challenge - to "show off" what we made during SAF. I'm happy to say over 2 days I participated in all 9 challenges this year! I did learn from last year and paced myself a little better to give my back a break! What I need to do for next year is to focus on being more prepared (I said this last year too lol). Yep, that's right, I'm planning for SAF 2017!

Once again, I have to thank PTI, Nichole, the fabulous Design Team (Amy, Ashley, Betsy, Danielle, Dawn, Erin, Heather, Kay, Laurie, Lexi, Lizzie, Maile and Melissa) for another successful SAF. I can't even begin to imagine the amount of time and work it takes to put SAF together, but please know we all appreciate everything you do to make this happen!! It's a weekend I look forward to every year!

Here's a look at my nine "masterpieces" (you can read about each individual card in the posts below) and my annual little message to the PTI family:

Stamp-A-Faire: Colorblocking...

Wasn't colorblocking popular in the 80s? I'll admit when I first saw this technique I wasn't crazy about it, only because I'm not really a fan of colorblocking. But making this card turned out to be a lot of fun and something I'll use it again in the future. Our challenge - "create a project featuring some kind of color blocking".

Using a nestability, I die-cut each of the blocks in Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Hawaiian Shores and Pure Poppy cardstock and placed them on a piece of True Black cardstock. The coffee cups are die-cut in white cardstock and stamped with colors that coordinate with the cardstock (thank goodness for the Misti!)

I placed the panel on a white cardstock card base and stamped the sentiment. This was a quick and easy card to make!

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Heart-2-Heart #1, Shapes By Design
• Paper:  PTI Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Hawaiian Shores, Pure Poppy, White Stampers Select, True Black
• Ink:  PTI Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart, Hawaiian Shores, Pure Poppy; Versafine Onyx Black
• Dies:  PTI Heart-2-Heart #1; Standard Rectangle Nestabilities
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp-A-Faire: Watercolor Like A Master...

This is another video I was anxious to see because Kay Miller does beautiful watercoloring! I can never seem to master this technique, but watching the video sure helped. We were asked to "create a project that features watercoloring". I try to use different stamp sets than the DT uses, but this card was so pretty I just had to try it myself. I did use different color inks!

On watercolor paper, I stamped the mums in Tropical Teal and Aqua Mist inks, putting both inks on the stamp at the same time. The leaves are stamped in Spring Moss ink. I added a few little loose leaves in Tropical Teal ink. After the panel was stamped, I took a paintbrush with water and softened all the edges and spreading the ink. It didn't look that great until it started to dry. I flicked on splatters with Tropical Teal and Spring Moss inks.

I placed the "artwork" on a Tropical Teal cardstock card base, rounding the right hand corner. The sentiment is stamped in black ink on Aqua Mist cardstock and on fun foam for dimension. I think this is my favorite card I made for SAF!

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Mum's The Word, Beautiful Butterflies
• Paper:  PTI Tropical Teal, Aqua Mist; Tim Holtz Watercolor
• Ink:  PTI Tropical Teal, Aqua Mist, Spring Moss; Versafine Onyx Black
• Tools:  Corner Rounder
• Other:  Fun Foam
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp-A-Faire: Pointillism...

To be honest, I never saw this technique done before so was delighted to see Heather's video. Our challenge is to "create a project using some form of pointillism". I don't know what made me think to use this Christmas set, maybe my brain saw pointillism and thought of poinsettias? lol

I stamped the flower in Versamark ink on white cardstock, sprinkled it with clear embossing powder and heat set it. Next came the fun, filling in the flower with dots. I tried to use a pencil, but apparently old, dried up erasers don't like ink. Then I found an older stamp set, Over Under Easy that had 3 polka dots in it that worked perfectly. I stamped the flower in Berry Sorbet and Pure Poppy inks with Harvest Gold and Summer Sunrise inks in the center.

I fussy cut the flower and placed it on foam tape onto a stitched rectangle cut from Fresh Snow Linen cardstock. The sentiment is stamped in Pure Poppy ink and the panel is adhered to a scalloped Pure Poppy cardstock card base.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Year of Flowers: Poinsettias, Over Under Easy
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select, Fresh Snow Linen, Pure Poppy
• Ink:  PTI Pure Poppy, Berry Sorbet; Versamark
• Dies:  PTI Noted: Scalloped A2 Die Collection
• Tools:  Heat Tool
• Other:  Zing Embossing Powder; Foam Tape
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp-A-Faire: Mastering Drips & Splatters

This challenge, to "use drips and splatters to create your own background for a project" sure was fun to do! It was nice to see a variety of different ways to add splatters/drips to a project. And I'm glad Lizzie suggested wearing gloves if we used yarn because it was a bit messy!

I found a piece of yarn and dipped it in Lemon Tart reinker, mixed with a bit of water. I randomly dropped the inky yarn on watercolor paper in several spots. Next, I flicked on splatters of Hawaiian Shores, Green Parakeet, Aqua Mist and Pure Poppy inks.

I placed the panel on a Hawaiian Shores cardstock card base. For the sentiment, I cut a piece of Hawaiian Shores cardstock, stamped it in black ink and adhered it to the card on fun foam. Fun, fun, fun!!!

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Keep It Simple: Birthday
• Paper:  PTI Hawaiian Shores; Tim Holtz Watercolor
• Ink:  PTI Lemon Tart, Hawaiian Shores, Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy, Green Parakeet; Versafine Onyx Black
• Other:  Yarn; Fun Foam
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp-A-Faire: Masterpiece Inspirations...

Nichole posted several artwork pieces that we could select from for this challenge, which is to "use one of the inspiration pieces that the team selected as a jumping point for your own piece of art". The one that spoke to me was Melissa Phillips' choice because it had a pineapple in it, and I've been wanting to use the pineapple from the new Some Like It Hot stamp set. Here's the inspiration photo:

I die-cut two pineapples in white cardstock and stamped them with Harvest Gold and Summer Sunrise inks, and the leaves in Green Parakeet and New Leaf inks. I just love the detail on the pineapple! I die-cut several leaves and stamped them in the same green inks.

I placed a piece of Ombre Stripes paper on a white cardstock card base and stamped the sentiment in black ink. I arranged the pineapples and leaves on the panel (the left pineapple is die-cut 3 times and stacked for dimension). For a bit of color, I added three little flowers stamped in Pale Peony and Berry Sorbet inks. A little glitter on the pineapples leaves finished the card.

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Some Like It Hot, Topiary Trio
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select, Ombre Stripes
• Ink:  PTI Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Green Parakeet, New Leaf, Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet; Versafine Onyx Black
• Dies:  PTI Some Like It Hot
• Others:  Glitter
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp-A-Faire: Floral Impressionism

Onto the next challenge - this one is "use your paper crafting supplies to create an impressionistic look". I struggled with this challenge - first I don't have a lot of stamps with layers and second, I don't really know how to create a romantic looking card. So I did my best with this one. After playing around with several stamp sets and ink colors I was able to complete a card.

I used Friendly Flowers and die-cut two large flowers in watercolor paper and stamped them with Pale Peony ink. Next I added that dotted layer, stamping it with Versamark, sprinkling it with white embossing powder and heat setting it. I repeated the embossing one more time. With a waterbrush, I applied Berry Sorbet ink to the flower centers. 

The leaves are also die-cut and stamped on watercolor paper and embossed as above. I didn't add any additional ink color to them. I stamped the flowers centers with black ink.

On a piece of white cardstock I stenciled the background using Pale Peony ink. I arranged the flowers and leaves, placing one flower on foam tape for dimension. I stamped the sentiment in black ink and adhered the panel to a Pale Peony cardstock card base. I don't think this looks impressionistic or romantic..... lol

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Friendly Flowers, It's The Thought, Rosie Posie Step 2
• Paper:  PTI White Stampers Select, Pale Peony; Tim Holtz Watercolor
• Ink:  PTI Pale Peony, Berry Sorbet, Green Parakeet; Versamark; Versafine Onyx Black
• Dies:  PTI Friendly Flowers, Friendly Flower Extras
• Tools:  Heat Tool
• Other:  PTI Modern Background Stencil; Zing Embossing Powder; Foam Tape
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"

Stamp-A-Faire: Gilded In Gold...

The next challenge is to "create a project featuring an element that you have gilded with gold". I didn't have any gold leaf so decided to use gold embossing powder. 

I placed my stencil over white cardstock and rubbed Versamark ink on it. Next, I sprinkled it with gold embossing powder and heat seat it. I placed that panel on a Pure Poppy cardstock card base, leaving the edge showing on the right.

On a stitched rectangle, I stamped the sentiment in Pure Poppy ink. The rectangle is on fun foam for a bit of dimension.

Nothing better than making a Christmas card when it's 98 degrees out!  lol (This card looks better in person - I can't get good lighting today.)

Card Details:

• Stamps:  PTI Seasons Greetings
• Paper:  PTI Pure Poppy, White Stampers Select
• Ink:  PTI Pure Poppy; Versamark
• Dies:  Lil Inker Designs Stitched Mats: Rectangles
• Other:  PTI Modern Backgrounds Stencils; Zing Embossing Powder; Fun Foam
• Size:  4.25" x 5.5"