Summer Card Camp '11: Week 1

At nearly the last minute, I decided to sign up for Summer Card Class '11 with Jennifer McGuire and Kristina Werner. I'm always so inspired by Jennifer's cards so I was pretty sure I would enjoy the class.


And here is the card I put together. I used Twinkling H2O's (again - I'm in love with them!) to create the background in the colors of the week. Then I used a new favorite Papertrey Ink stamp set, Happy Trails, to add the sentiment, bird, and trail. I finished it off with some button twine from PTI.

Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink June Blog Hop

It's already that time of the month again, time for the Papertry Ink Blog Hop! I managed to get some time all to myself in my craft room to create something special for this month's festivities.

Well, almost alone. Pixie decided that he needed to supervise, and to make sure that just the right amount of black fur was shed on my work surface to make me crazy wiping it off my white cardstock every few seconds.

This month's challenge was to draw inspiration for a project from this photo (photo credit HERE):


I took my inspiration from the beautiful horizontal striping of the walls and the dragonfly wall hook to create this card using the new June release set "Happy Trails" from PTI.

I broke out my Twinkling H2O's for the first time to create the background, working with them as watercolors and brushing them horizontally across a 4"x5.25" piece of Stamper's Select White cardstock. I also took a scrap of the same cardstock and brushed with the H2O's to match the area I would stamp the dragonfly on and die cut the dragonfly from it.

I stamped the dragonfly on the die cut first and placed it on the background piece, marking the top and bottom of the body so that I knew just where to stamp it again on the background. I adhered the die cut with a glue line and fluffed up the wings. I stamped the trail using Jenni Bowlin Stick Candy ink, and then lined up the sentiment where I wanted it and stamped using Memento Tuxedo Black ink. I added some PTI satin ribbon and accented with a Tim Holtz pin and some random beads from my stash. Finally, I mounted the background to a Stampers Select White card base using foam tape to give a little extra depth.

Here's a detail shot where you can see the shimmer of the Glimmering H2O's.

Thanks for stopping by, and have fun hopping! (You can get back to Nichole's blog HERE)

Make It Monday - Reverse Masking

This week's Make It Monday challenge from Papertrey Ink is to use reverse masking on a stamping project. And it just so happens that I received my June release order on Monday, which included Dawn McVey's super fun new set, It's a Jungle Out There. When I ordered it, I had this technique in mind for use with the zebra so the timing couldn't have been more perfect.

I took the coordinating die and cut it from a piece of scrap paper. I then took the die cut reverse image and used repositionable adhesive to make a mask with it and applied the mask to Kraft cardstock. I used post-its to cover the holes for the giraffe and cheetah. I used my trusty Tim Holtz ink applicator tool and foam to apply Fresh White ink. After removing the mask, I stamped with the zebra stripes image. I used the zebra pattern impression plate on a 4x5.25 piece of Simply Chartreuse cardstock which I wrapped with button twine and then adhered to a True Black card base. I did a pen outline around the kraft piece and added the "Hey There, wild thing" sentiments and some Glitz frosting jewels. I then attached that to the card with my Tim Holtz tiny attacher. I also sponged on some True Black ink on the Simply Chartreuse background to pop the embossed pattern a bit. I'm really happy with how it turned out!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm Certified! (or maybe certifiable?)

On May 26th, I had the good fortune to attend a Copic certification class in Eden Prairie, MN taught by the fabulous Debbie Olson and Lori Craig. I've been dabbling in copic coloring for a little over a year now and have taught a couple of basic copic coloring classes, but this was a great opportunity to learn more in depth information and also to ask questions of the "experts".

Here's an example of the coloring skills we tried out in the class. The flowers here were colored using the feathering technique for blending, taking two tones and meeting them in the middle. We also had a chance to work with the airbrush system and try coloring on different types of paper including glossy and vellum, all of which was new to me.

Here's a picture of me with the fabulous Debbie Olson, who is sweet as pie!

And here I am with Lori Craig, equally sweet as pie! Special thanks to Lori for helping me with my "hair" coloring!

And here I am at the end of class - I'm certified! (or some may say certifiable)

The key to getting good results from Copics is to PRACTICE. So I've been doing just that in spare moments here and there. And with the added knowledge I received from taking the class, I am enjoying the process much more because I'm seeing good results.

This image is from Pure Innocence for MFT. I especially like how the shading turned out on her pants, and the rosy cheeks turned out pretty good as well.

I am totally in love with these stamps from Belles 'n Whistles. I scoured the internet to find the sleeping Eden image in stock and I'm so enjoying coloring in this little cutie.

And here is little Eden with her teddy bear.

There you have it, a peek at what has been consuming my spare crafty moments. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got some more coloring to do...

Papertrey Ink April 2011 Blog Hop or The One Where I'm In Love With Boy Basics: Frog Hop

It's the 25th of the month again, and that means it's time for another PTI Blog Hop!

The Challenge

This month's blog hop is dedicated to all the boys and men in our lives! Now's your chance to create Father's Day projects, boy birthday cards and more to build up your stash! Focus on masculine color schemes, fresh pattern combinations, understated embellishments and unique uses of images you may already have in your stash!

I sat down at my craft desk last night and just started playing, and I had so much fun cutting out little frogs and rocket ships. I pulled out some bits of paper that I had used to test out some embossing plates, some scraps from my scrap files, and even my iRock tool, and here's what I came up with.

Supplies: Stamps - Boy Basics: Frog Hop, Scattered Showers Additions; Cartstock - Dark Chocolate, Spring Rain, Simply Chartreuse, Spring Moss, Rustic White, Stamper's Select White; Patterned Paper - Scenic Route Paper Co.; Ink - Archival Ink Jet Black and Versamark; PTI Impression Plates Woodgrain and Bookprint; PTI Dies Frog Hop, Tiny Tags, Limitless Layers 2 1/2"; PTI Rustic Jute Twine; iRock tool and iRock and Hot Rocks from Imaginisce; Black Sharpie; Zig journaling pen.

I love the iRock Hot Rocks as eyes on this little hopper! Also, the Bookprint Impression Plate added some really nice texture to the frog in an unexpected way. And I couldn't resist fussy cutting out some flies to add to the card - see how little hopper is keeping his eyes on his lunch?! And imagine my delight when I discovered the little "hip hop hooray" sentiment fit perfectly on the little die cut tag from Tiny Tags. I used the Woodgrain Impression Plate on the background, it kind of reminded me of a log floating down river. The blue circle felt a little naked, so I stamped it with the raindrops from Scattered Showers Additions and Versamark. To finish my card off, I had to use that fly one more time and so added him and the larger sentiment from Frog Hop to the inside of the card.

I am completely and hopelessly in love with Boy Basics: Frog Hop. I guess this is not surprising, considering I collect frogs. But still, I could just stamp that little hopper all day long, and that lily pad too. *sigh*

And, I didn't think to take pictures, but I came up with another use for my die cut frogs and rockets. I took popsicle sticks and glued the shapes to the ends, making fun little paper puppets for Madeline. We had fun making our frogs hop around and blasting off with our rocket. Yup, I've definitely gotten my money's worth out of those little sets!

Thanks for hopping by, and enjoy the rest of the blog hop! You can find more information on Nichole Heady's blog HERE.

Make It Mondays - Die Cut Masking

Cardstock: Rustic White and Simply Chartreuse; Ink: Dark Chocolate and Ripe Avocado; All other supplies as listed below.

It's Monday, and that means Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink. Today, the challenge is to create a card using masks, but not just any masks - the masks for this project should be created using one of PTI's dies.

As soon as I saw the MIM video, I knew what I wanted to do - create a mask where I could combine both the positive and negative cuts together to create the base of my card.

I cut a piece of Masking Magic that I've had in my stash since the late 90's and cut a 5.5" x 4.25" rectangle. I placed the Fillable Frames #4 die in the lower right hand corner, tacking it in place with repositionable adhesive, and ran it through the Cuttlebug. I then took a 5.25" x 4" piece of rustic white cardstock and adhered the larger rectangle mask to it, lining up the bottom right corner. The overlap on the top and left side held my project to the table while I did my stamping with Background Basics: Text Style and inking with a bit of sponge. After stamping and inking the FF cutout section, I removed the mask and then adhered the FF cut to the cardstock, covering up the area I had just stamped. Next, I stamped my "background" using Background Basics: Woodgrain. I dressed it up with a banner cut using the Double Ended Banner die and stamped with Ribbon Tails. The sentiment is from Fillable Frames #2. I popped the banner ribbon with foam adhesive and added buttons from the Autumn Mix and rustic cream twine.

Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Ink March Blog Hop

It's that time of the month again, time for the Papertrey Ink March Blog Hop.


The Challenge: "For the March Blog Hop we are challenging you to use embroidery floss in a fun and inventive way on your project. This could include stitching, wrapping it around and tying it like ribbon, braiding, accenting tags, embroidered patterns or anything else you can dream up! We look forward to seeing your creations!"


It just so happened that we needed a birthday card for my mother-in-law, and I thought this challenge was a perfect opportunity to make something special for her. I used floss to stitch a frame around my patterened paper and to attach buttons to the button card. If you look closely, you'll see that I've tied a special heart shaped button with contrasting floss to help it stand out. I also used a little twine, just to add to the vintage feel of the card. I'm pretty happy with the end result! Thanks for hopping by, and if you want to check out all of the wonderful cards people created, check out the InLinkz via Nichole Heady's blog.

All Supplies from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted:

Button Boutique and Ribbon Tails stamp sets; Kraft and Rustic White cardstock; Bitty Dot Basics green dot patterned paper and LilyBee Designs green floral paper; Enchanted Evening, Tim Holtz Distress Brushed Corduroy and Old Paper, and Archival Ink Jet Black ink pads; Button Twine and DMC floss; Double Ended Banners, Button Card Collection, and Parisian Lace Doily dies; Tim Holtz sanding grip.