Papertrey Ink August 2011 Blog Hop

It's the 25th of the month, and that means Papertrey Ink Blog Hop time! The challenge this month was to use this picture as inspiration for a project:

The thing that caught my eye in this photo was the lovely flowers in the suitcase. I pulled out PTI's Friendship Jar Fillers set and stamped the daisies image a couple of times on Stamper's Select White cardstock. I colored the daisies using my Copics (RV09, RV17, YG23, YG25, YR04, YR07). And then comes the crazy part - I hand cut them out with my Tim Holtz Tonic scissors. My hands aren't very happy with me, but I like the look. I wanted to let the flowers shine, so I added a white mat to my white card base, tying a bow of 1/4" silk ribbon and Rustic Jute button twine to anchor the flowers on the card. I added a sentiment, and there you have it!

Thanks for stopping by! If you want to keep hopping, head to Nichole Heady's blog!

Make It Monday: Glitter Die Borders

Hey there, just flying by with my creation for this week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink. This week's technique - use your die as a template for adding a glitter border.

I was having a hard time choosing a die to use for this one, and finally decided that the glitter would be great to highlight some clouds. So out came my Clouds dies, and Fly Away dies and stamp set. My next problem was that I didn't have a glue pen that was working well enough to pull things off, so I went on a trek to Michael's and got both a glue pen and some Martha Stewart fine glitter.

Things were going fabulously, I cut my cardstock to size (PTI Spring Rain and Enchanted Evening base) and die cut my airplane, banner and clouds (PTI Stamper's Select White). I stamped my plane with Barn Red Tim Holtz Distress Ink and used a black Sharpie fine point marker to color in the propeller and cockpit details. Barn Red and PTI True Black were used to stamp out the banner. I traced my cloud dies and glittered everything up, then adhered everything to the card base using various thicknesses of pop up foam.

It was fabulous, my card was done, and I went to put away my supplies. And I sliced my left thumb pad open when I tried to rub some glue residue off of the edges. Ouch. But hey, don't all "true" artists suffer for their art? ;)

Thanks for stopping by, and have a great weekend!

Moxie Fab Tuesday Trigger: Luminous Layers

This is my first time playing along with Tuesday Trigger at Moxie Fab world, and I had so much fun!

Here is the trigger photo that was to be the inspiration for my card. I loved the idea of the overlapping layers of "mismatched" patterns that magically work together. And here's my interpretation.

I pulled out my Authentique Paper 6x6 pad from the Splendid line and punched out several 1.75" circles which I crumpled up, cut in half, and inked with Tim Holtz Brushed Corduroy Distress Ink. I attached them to a 5"x4" piece of Papertrey Ink (PTI) Rustic Cream cardstock. I stitched around the edges with my trusty sewing machine and attached the piece to a Rustic Cream card base. I then cut the banner from Rustic Cream using PTI's Double-Ended Banner die and stamped the "thank you" sentiment from PTI's Simple Sentiments stamp set. I added a button from my button jar tied with PTI Rustic Jute Button Twine and inked around the edges with Brushed Corduroy.

I hope you like my card, and thanks for stopping by! And check out Moxie Fab World for yourself, it's a great place to find inspiration!

Make It Monday: Copic Striped Ribbon - Take 2

This weekend the son of one of my cousin's is getting married. They're having a sort of non-traditional on the farm wedding, so I wanted to make a non-traditional card for them. I was also thinking about different ways to use custom Copic striped ribbon for Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday tutorial. And a lightbulb went on in my head: it would be really cool to try to make a rainbow with ribbon. So I did!

I used seam binding ribbon and instead of leaving white space between my stripes, I lined them right up next to each other. The beauty of using seam binding was that the color bled ever so slightly together, just like a real rainbow. I added score tape to the ribbon once it was colored and pleated it while I adhered it to the card piece. I think machine stitched 3 times up and down the rainbow to hold it all in place and add an extra textural element.

The background was stamped using the clouds from Up, Up & Away stamped in Fresh Snow on Spring Rain cardstock. I used selective inking on the sentiment from Up, Up & Away Sentiments so that it fit nicely in the corner of the card. I die cut the largest balloon image, stamped, and colored with Copics. It was adhered with pop dots over the rainbow. I then attached the piece to an Enchanted Evening card base.

I'm very happy with the end result, the rainbow ribbon turned out even better than I had imagined. I hope the happy couple enjoys it and wish them a lifetime of happiness.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies: Cardstock - Papertrey Ink Stampers Select White, Enchanted Evening, Spring Rain; Stamps - Papertrey Ink Up, Up & Away and Up, Up & Away Sentiments; Die - Papertrey Ink; Ink - Papertrey ink True Black, Fresh Snow; Markers - Copic; Ribbon - Tim Holtz; Thread - Coats & Clark

Make It Monday: Copic Colored Ribbon - Take 1

With my hubby and kids off to South Dakota and nobody needing me to help them go potty or play games or snuggle, I had the evening yesterday to get a little crafty. What better way to spend my time than making a couple of special cards for special people?

This week's Make It Monday at Papertrey Ink challenges you to customize ribbon using Copic markers. It just so happens that I have ribbon (lots of ribbon) and I have Copics (plenty of Copics), so I went to work.


I was very happy to find that this sentiment from Think Big Favorites #6 fits perfectly on the Mat Stack #5 die. Together they make a perfect focal point, embellished with the sweet flower stamp from Tag It's #5.

I made this card for Janelle, a fellow member of the PTI message board forum. Janelle was recently found to have a malignant brain tumor, and I wanted to send her a note to tell her she is in my thoughts and prayers. If you're the praying type, it would be great if you could lift her up as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies: Cardstock - Papertrey Ink Rustic White; Patterned Paper - Authentique; Stamps- Papertrey Ink Think Big Favorites # 6, Tag It's #5; Die- Papertry Ink Mat Stack #5; Markers- Copic; Ink - Papertrey Ink True Black, Ripe Avocado, Jenni Bowlin Chewing Gum; Ribbon- Offray

Family Altered Art Project with Authentique

There's more to papercrafting than just scrapbooking and card making, and it's nice to step outside of the box once in a while and create an extra special work of (he)art.

I've had these wooden birdhouse pieces in my stash for a while that I picked up at my local Jo-Ann's store, and this week I was struck with an idea for how to use them.
This 6x6 paper pad from Authentique has some great patterns in it, and I knew that it had just what I needed for my project. I also pulled out some "Diction" stickers and embellishments and went to work.
First, I measured each of the birdhouses to determine what size to cut my paper. I cut four pieces at two different lengths for the sides and front/back of the houses.
To get the angle right for the front and back pieces, I lined up a paper strip on the back of the birdhouse and with my thumbnail made a crease where the roof meets the house and trimmed the angles with my paper trimmer. I did this with both longer pieces for the front and the back.
To get the holes in the right place on the front of the birdhouse I put my paper in place and using a stylus I rubbed the outline of the circles. I then snipped them open with a scissor.
To give the corners and holes on the front of the houses a more finished look, I inked the paper pieces and the birdhouse itself with ColorBox fluid chalk ink in my favorite brown, Chestnut Roan.


Once my pieces were inked, I was ready to put it all together. My favorite adhesive for projects like this is matte multi-medium from Claudine Hellmuth Studio (Ranger). It doesn't saturate the paper but creates a nice, firm bond.
I repeated these steps for all three houses, and here's the result. They're pretty cool on their own, but where's the fun in creating something if you can't also embellish it?
I took another sheet from the 6x6 paper pad in a complementary color scheme and cut several rolled roses using dies from My Favorite Things (MFT). Using an additional paper from the 6x6 pad, I also cut leaves for the flowers using MFT dies.
After assembling the flowers, I added Kaisercraft pearls to the centers. I then arranged the flowers on the birdhouses and added leaves using 3M dimensional foam adhesive.
I added some word sticker sentiments, button twine from Papertrey Ink (PTI), and a hand stamped robin (image from PTI Iconic Images stamp set stamped on the yellow woodgrain paper from Authentique) to complete my project.
The robin's nest was made using PTI button twine I just wound and tied together. I adhered it in the hole using a glue dot and added three more pearls for eggs.
Here's a close up view of the flowers. After rolling each flower, I adhered the rose with a glue dot and then scrunched and folded the petals with my fingers to open them up and make them look a bit more realistic.
And there you have it. 3 wooden birdhouses, one line of paper, 4 hours of work, and a sprinkling of embellishments and I have a sweet display for my mantle.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoyed my project from start to finish!

Supplies:
Patterned paper, word stickers: Authentique Paper
Stamped Image: Papertrey Ink
Twine: Papertrey Ink
Dies: My Favorite Things
Ink: ColorBox
Adhesive: Ranger (multi-medium), 3M (foam adhesive), Glue Dots
Pearls: Kaisercraft
Wood Birdhouses: Jo-Ann Fabrics and Crafts