Watercolored Cards

 I'm here with another Papertrey Make-It-Monday Challenge. Melissa Phillips' challenge is to use watercolor to create a card set. Melissa began by blending ink onto the image with a sponge and then adding color with ink and a wet brush.Here are two of set I created.  I first blended ink onto the stamped image with a small stenciling brush. then proceeded to follow Melissa's steps by adding other ink colors with a damp  brush.

Supplies:
Stamps: Make It Market: Still Life (PTI); Gingham and ticking background stamps (CHF)
Ink: Green Parrot, Berry Sorbet, Pure Poppy, Spring Moss, New Leaf, Harvest Gold, Orange Zest, Raspberry Fizz (PTI): Versafine Sepia
Paper: Rustic Cream, Dark Chocolate , Green Parrot(PTI); Canson XL watercolor paper
Other: Tag Sale #  1 die, Still Life dies ,pinking shears border die  (PTI); twine;

Make It Monday #245

Ashley Cannon Newell's tutorial for the current Make It Monday is called color isolation.

I stamped the background with the smaller butterfly and flowers from PTI's  What the Doodle:Butterfly. Then I stamped a die cut with the large butterfly, colored it with Prismacolor pencils, and attached it with dimensional tape.   The sentiment is from Altenew's Label Love.

Papertrey February Blog Hop Challenge

It's the 25th of the month which means its time for PTI' s blog hop challenge!
Check out this beautiful photo with so many wonderful details for our inspiration.

The colors, the fern, and the round shapes were the details I incorporated into my card.

I used one of my favorite PTI sets, Meadow Greens stamps and dies for the focal point. I stamped the ferns in Ripe Avocado onto Spring Moss die cuts. The Queen Anne's Lace was stamped in Soft Stone and Spring Moss onto a Sweet Blush die cut. I stamped the sentiment from Make It Market Mini Kit: Still Life Summer in Smokey Shadow.  Finally, I just had to play some with PTI' s new stencils; I chose the most organic of the three from the  first release, Modern Backgrounds and used Spring Moss and Sweet Blush inks  on Rustic White  to create the background panel which was mounted onto a Rustic White card base.

Thanks for making this one your stops on the hop!

PTI Anniversary Challenges Days 9 and 10

I'm here with a quick post this afternoon to post my projects for Papertrey Ink's anniversary challenges. First, Day 9 challenge was to make a thank you card for the PTI warehouse staff who certainly have my gratitude.

I just need to address the envelope, find a stamp, and head to the mailbox.

Next, the challenge for today, day 10, is an alphabet challenge, with the directions here. I used my last name with these results: M-mix together two stamp sets, U-underline the sentiment, R-round some or all of the corners. I used this challenge to make some notes for my Moments Inked planner  I have wanted some decorated pages to list some of our home improvement plans for this year.

With both major and minor projects planned, it's good to have a list to reference; although, I don't want to think about this list at 10 P.M. tomorrow night :)

It's been a great ten days of challenges, new product introductions, and wonderful creative projects by the design team.

PTI Day 8:Color Pop Fortune Teller

PTI' s anniversary festivities and challenges continue with the latest challenge involving using the folding fortune teller which you can read about here.  I got Winter Wisteria, Pure Poppy, and Orange Zest as the colors to use for this challenge.

This was a fun challenge since I would not normally use these three colors together.

Supplies:
Stamps: Quilted:Summer,Tiny Tags (PTI)
Ink: Pure Poppy, Winter Wisteria (PTI); Tangelo, Tuxedo Black (Memento)
Paper: Stamper's Select White (PTI)
Other: Quilted Summer dies, Tag Sale: Quilted die, Tiny Tags dies, Pure Poppy Baker's Twine (PTI)

PTI Anniversary Challenges

Hi! I'm back to post a couple of more cards for Papertrey Ink's anniversary challenges. First, Day Three's challenge was Grab and Craft with the instructions to gather supplies in 5 minutes and create a project with those supplies. I knew that I wanted to make this Valentine card by Nichole.

So I focused my five minutes of gathering time to grab these supplies: XOXO stamps and dies (fortunately stored in the same storage envelope and in a basket where I had previously placed Valentine stamps and dies); white cardstock; Harvest Gold, Limeade Ice, Berry Sorbet, Blueberry Sky, and Hibiscus Burst inks; ruler; pencil; glue, Misti stamping tool, Cuttlebug, phone ( so I could check Nichole's card that I had pinned and so I could listen to an audio book while I worked).

Challenge complete and husband's valentine card made--I'm feeling good.  No last minute valentine card making for me this year, so I can focus on baking red velvet cupcakes this weekend.

While I was able to grab my supplies in  five  minutes, it took M U C H longer to stamp those hearts, but the real marathon was with the next card for Day 5 Sampler Challenge:create a card with nine  1 1/2 inch squares, each altered in a different way and mounted on a 5 1/2 inch square card base.

I cut the squares with the pinked square die from  the Button Card Die Collection and stamped each with a different design from Bitty Blocks I and II in Harvest Gold, Lovely Lady, Sweet Blush, Mint Julep, and  Memento's Summer Sky. Note : the upper left square is a Lovely Lady and Mint Julep plaid made with the striped bitty block stamp. I used two Make-It-Market kits for the embellishments: Wee Folk and Nostalgic Notions.

 Mounting those squares with even margins and borders tested my patience--and brought to mind the cliche "Third time's a charm." In fact, by the time I had cut, stamped, and mounted those squares for the third time, I was thinking I didn't need or want any more stamps or dies. Of course, by the next morning when I saw the PTI's latest stamps and dies and the fantastic projects by the design team,  I wanted everything :)  The hardest challenge  during this anniversary release will be choosing which new products to buy on the 15th.

PTI Dress Up Challenge

The second challenge in PTI's anniversary celebration is to create a project inspired by a piece of clothing in your closet or from an online clothing retailer. I chose a dress from Anthropologie as my inspiration and created a thank you card.

I die cut the rose blossoms from The Sweet Life from Sweet Blush cardstock and stamped with Lavender Moon and Autumn Rose inks. The leaves were die cut from Spring Moss cardstock and stamped with Soft Stone and Ripe Avocado inks. I layered the die cuts on an embossed piece of card stock; the embossing was inspired by the tiny stitched tucks on the dress's bodice. I used Rose embossing powder to heat emboss the sentiment from Inside Out:Thank You on  a die cut from Tag Sale: Quilted.

Papertrey Anniversary Challenge 1

It's February, so it's time for Papertrey Ink's anniversary festivities!
The first day's challenge was to choose a color recipe offered by the design team. I chose this recipe from Melissa Phillips.

I used Embellished Elegance and Keep It Simple :Valentine as well as hearts from Make It Market :   Shakers and Sprinkles and Love Lives Here. I die cut the "happy" sentiment four times and layered the die cuts for added dimension.

Now I have a card ready to mail to my sweet sister-in-law.

Make It Monday #238 Valentine Ombre Stamping

In this week's Make It Monday video, Melissa Phillips used gelatos to create an ombre Valentine card. I have several coloring mediums including a few gelatos and even though I've had the gelatos for awhile, I have never used them. So Monday afternoon, I die cut some butterflies from Love Lives Here and broke out the gelato. Yes, I said gelato. Using water to dilute and layering color, I was able to create an ombre effect with that one red gelato.

 Six days later those butterflies finally landed on a card. I used Lovely Lady ink for the Fancy Flourish, first stamping it off for a softer color. I die cut the sentiment several times and layered it for dimension. Last,  I added clear Wink of Stella to the sentiment and hearts.

PTI January Blog Hop

One of my goals for 2016 is to participate in more of PTI's monthly blog hops and weekly Make-It Mondays. I was rethinking this goal, however, when January's blog hop inspiration with its modern design and  bold colors presented a challenge for me.

To incorporate the repetition of shapes of the inspiration photo, I turned to PTI's Hexagon Cover Plate die as a starting point.

I cut Smokey Shadow cardstock with the coverplate die and filled in with Blueberry Sky, Spring Rain, and Aqua Mist. The diagonal strip is Summer Sunrise cardstock cut with Lil Inkers On the Diagonal die. Then I impressed it with PTI's woodgrain impression plate and applied Terracotta Tile ink with a blending sponge. The sentiment is cut in Smokey Shadow from  the Uncorked Words die set.

This bold graphic design is not my usual style, so my feelings about it are mixed.

Thanks for making this stop on the hop.

MIM #237 Matchbook Valentine

I'm blowing the dust off the blog to post this little Valentine matchbook for this week's Make-It-Monday. You can watch Lexi's video here.

After cutting watercolor paper for the matchbook, I did some messy splatters with Koi watercolor. I also painted an ombre strip and a more random section on a second piece of watercolor paper. After that dried, I cut a strip to cover the staples at at the bottom of the matchbook, and then using PTI's XOXO dies, I cut the ombre sentiment and the heart. A few iridescent sequins finish this sweet little valentine sized to hold a Ghiradelli chocolate.