Honoured with a Liebster blog award

A dear and talented friend, Gayatri, recently awarded me a Liebster award and I feel so very honoured.  She has mad talent and is such a sweetheart to boot!

So what is this Liebster blog award all about?
'Liebster' is German for 'dearest'.  The award is a 'share-the-love' arrangement, given to inspirational bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Here's the to-do list of any Liebster award recipient:
Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
Reveal your five blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog
Copy and paste the award on your blog (see above)
Hope that those you award forward it to their favourite bloggers

So here are my choices ... not easy when there are so many talented crafters out there:
Sarah Jay: Criminal Grace
Danielle: neat&tangled
joykanani: live.love.embrace
Laura Fadora: Doublestick Heaven
Stephinka: the handmade card journey

These lovely ladies all have amazing talent and inspire me.   Their styles are all gorgeous and I love being inspired by them.

Thank you so much, Gayatri! :)

Papertrey Ink Anniversary - Interactive Card challenge #1

Well, I was quite inspired by today's post on the new dies introduced this month for interactive cards.  Today's blog hop challenge was to create our own interactive cards.  I decided to use some sturdy acetate to create my pop up feature so that it disappears into the background and the elements added are the ones that 'pop'.
Please disregard the bad pictures ... I am a night crafter so do not have good light to photograph my cards with ... plus I'm not the best photographer in general so that doesn't help much!  I kept the front simple - just a background design with a bunch of the Stitches and Swirls set and then a felt die cut of Maile's gorgeous vines.

Then for the inside, I cut a spiral out of sturdy acetate and mounted it with  glue dots.  I was going to use my MFT rolled rose die as my spiral (the large one) but could not for the life of me find my Big Shot plates! I just rearranged my craft zone to accommodate the moving in of my new sofa - you can see a speck of it as the card is photographed on it!  So anyhow, I have my Big Shot but am not sure where I stashed the plates ... sigh ...

You can barely see the acetate in the photo but that's the whole point - so that it blends in.  I added die cuts of the alpha blocks and a silhouette I stamped and cut out from the Iconic Images set. Tip - Glossy Accents is an excellent adhesive that dries clear and was the perfect adhesive for the die cuts onto the acetate.  I could've used glue dots but didn't want to add too much bulk.  I added some more Stitches and Swirls to the background of the inside but it's not really visible ... again, bad photography skills! : (

So, what interactive cards have you made lately?  Share your ideas with me and other readers; we'd love to hear.

Supplies:
Paper: PTI Hawaiian Shores, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, Enchanted Evening
Stamps: PTI Stitches and Swirls, Iconic Images
Ink: Colorbox Frost White
Misc:  glue dots, acetate, white felt, PTI Vines die, Glossy Accents

Papertrey Anniversary - Hearts Challenge

Well, another day of festivities!  Today our task was to incorporate hearts into our project.  So here's my heart filled card.  I decided to use the heart border die from PTI that is so cute.  I am not really into hearts in general but I originally bought it because I loved what Dawn McVey did with layers of the die cuts that looked like a flounce or scaled pattern.

I made this card for a dear friend and used some clear cardstock as the base that I layered the chocolate brown cardstock on and then the heart border die cuts over top.  I used my Lawn Fawn X's and O's from an alpha set with my fave Jenni Bowlin brown ink.  Super simple!  A tip for making cards with a clear cardstock base - use glue dots to fully adhere the paper to the acetate.  It will create a perfect and sturdy base.  Also, you can layer and mat using die cuts to hide the adhesive on the back.  I often use the Mat Stack, and Layerz Mat Stack dies to get a professional finish.  Here I needed more surface area for my front so I made a more traditional rectangular card with a standard sized 4 1/4 x 5 1/2" base.

I adhered the die cuts onto the brown cardstock using some Tombo Mono Multi glue - this stuff rocks for smaller paper pieces and even super skinny bits like alpha die cuts.  I then ran the whole thing through with the Linen Impression plate.  A little texture added very simply ...  and those borders will never fall off especially now that they've been through my Big Kick machine! :P

Happy annniversary, Papertrey!  Thanks for all the chances to win!

Supplies:
Paper: Clear cardstock, PTI chocolate, raspberry fizz, Staples 110lb cream
Stamps: LF alpha
Ink: Jenni Bowlin brown
Misc: Tombo, PTI Linen Impression plate,  glue dots, PTI Heart Borders die, Tombo Mono Multi glue

Papertrey Anniversary - Pinterest Challenge: Turqoise Bicycle

I am loving the turquoise bicycle I pinned on Pinterest and it gave me an idea to use my Everyday Button Bits set from PTI.  Here's the inspiration:

I took a piece of turquoise card stock and stamped it with a sentiment and bicycle image from the set before running it through with the Linen Impression plate to add some texture.  I took two buttons and used some rustic jute twine and glue dots.

I find glue dots work best to adhere things like buttons, especially when they have twine!  They will stay stuck and there will be no problem with them potentially falling off.  They are there to stay!

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 110lb white, PTI Hawaiian Shores
Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Bits
Ink: Jenni Bowlin spiced tin (navy)
Misc: PTI buttons, rustic jute twine, glue dots

Papertrey Anniversary - Pinterest Challenge: Chevron

So the chevron trend is here to stay and I found some gorgeous Amy Butler paper that I had in my stash.  I used it to create a card using this image as inspiration for the pattern and colour scheme:

I took a vintage cream card base and cut out a Photo Finishers die cut in vintage cream as well. I layered a mat of the patterned paper, stamped the sentiment in Jenni Bowlin weather vane grey ink with the Thank You stamp set PTI sent out.  Thanks to the kind crafter that sent me their extra! <3

I mounted the die cut with foam dots for some dimension and even used the Linen Impression plate to add some texture to the patterned paper.

Supplies:
Paper: Amy Butler patterned paper, PTI vintage cream
Stamps: PTI Thank you set
Ink: Jenni Bowlin weather vane (grey)
Misc: PTI Linen Impression plate, Photo Finishers die,  foam dots

Papertrey Anniversary - Pinterest Challenge: Hooray for Alyssa!

One of my friends and his wife just had a baby girl and so I made a card to send off to London to welcome the little one.  I found this picture and was in love with the hot pink of the headband.  So here's what I made using lots of texture:

I used some impression plates and the Alpha dies with the Wonderful Words sentiment.  Here's a closeup of the sentiment:

Supplies:

Paper: PTI Enchanted Evening, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst, Staples 110 lb white
Stamps: PTI Wonderful Words
Ink: Jenni Bowlin spiced tin (navy)
Misc: PTI Impression plates - polka dot and sunshine plates, corner rounder punch

Papertrey Anniversary - Pinterest Challenge: Blue + green + grey

Well, another day and another challenge!  I took my inspiration from this pin of some fabric in shades of blue, green and grey - love this combo!  It's some gorgeous Amy Butler fabric:

I knew I had the perfect products to use with these colours ... So, I decided to try out some Distress Stains from Tim Holtz with my clear stamps.  They are on sale now at Two Peas and I was so excited to pick some of these up!

I found I got the best coverage if I inked the stamps with Versamark and then dabbed the stain on.  I like the uneven pale watercolour like image that I got.  Unfortunately it was hard to capture a good picture of it with the lighting ... or lack of it!  I tried my best ...

 This is darker but perhaps easier to see the stamping ...

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 90lb grey
Stamps: PTI Rosie Posie, Text Style, Happy Day (sentiment)
Ink: Distress Stains Broken China and Crushed Olive, Jenni Bowlin weather vane (grey)

Papertrey Anniversary Colour Combo - Rosie Posie

My next card is a very calming colour combination from Heather Nichols and I really like this group of colours.

I used the Mega Mat Stack 4 die to cut two card bases in vintage cream ink and then scored one about 1/2" down and attached the two with snail adhesive.  This creates a full card base rather than not die cutting the very top.  Simple but so effective!

 

I then die cut a layer of the mat stack in kraft and then one in spring moss and stamped the Rosie Posie leaves in Fresh pigment ink.  With a lighter and darker blue (navy and steel blue Fresh inks), I stamped the flower die cut using the rock and roll technique.  Oh, and by the way, do NOT use this technique on your pigment inks unless you are willing to clean up the ink pad a bit after using them.  Of course, I did go light to dark so the cleaning wasn't so bad but still ... :-P  I was a little alarmed at first ...

I popped up the flower die cut on foam dots and called it a day.  I left this one sentiment free for a change ... always a good idea to have some blank cards with no sentiment.  

Supplies:

Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Kraft, Spring Moss, Aqua Mist

Stamps: PTI Rosie Posie 

Ink: Fresh steel blue, navy, tuscan olive

Misc: PTI Mat Stack Mega, Layerz, regular dies; Rosie Posie flower die, foam dots

Papertrey Anniversary Colour Combo - From the bottom of my heart

Well, another colour combo and this one is quite fun.  Dawn McVey is well known for her brightly coloured, fully saturated combos and this one is no exception:

I made a fun and simple card for this group of colours:

I took a white card base and added a layer of raspberry fizz and then ripe avocado debossed with this cover plate.  I then die cut the berry sorbet with the Happy Days die and stamped it with some new Fresh pigment ink in a pale green for the subtle frame.

I popped it up with  foam dots after stamping the sentiment from the Embellishments set in fountain pen black Jenni Bowlin ink.  All done!

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 110lb white, PTI raspberry fizz, ripe avocado, berry sorbet
Stamps: PTI Happy Days, Embellishments (sentiment)
Ink:  Jenni Bowlin fountain pen, Fresh pale green
Misc: PTI coverplate, Happy Days die, foam dots

Papertrey Anniversary Colour Combo - hello

Ok, so for my second colour combo I chose colours I usually wouldn't put together or use.  Here is the colour combo from Melissa Phililps:

I took some autumn rose felt and cut out a flower with Beautiful Blooms, used the new Rosie Posie dies to cut leaves and then added a raspberry fizz button with cream jute twine.  I cut out the letters in raspberry fizz and hibiscus burst (thank goodness I have the paper sampler pack!).

I mounted all of this onto a vintage cream card base that I stamped with the Newspaper Basics background set in Jenni Bowlin malted milk ink.  Subtle but fun!  The most time consuming part of this card was cutting the foam dots into little slivers that would hide behind the alpha die cuts!

I quite like the hot pink and green combo!

Supplies:
Paper: PTI Vintage Cream, Raspberry Fizz, Hibiscus Burst
Stamps: PTI BB: Newspaper
Ink: Jenni Bowlin malted milk
Misc: PTI dies: Rosie Posie (leaves), Alpha, Beautiful Blooms, Raspberry Fizz button, Cream jute button twine, foam dots

Papertrey Anniversary Colour Combo - miss you

I am loving being stretched by this challenge - using colour combinations that are faves of the PTI designers.  I have the sample pack from PTI so have most of the colours and some of the felts in the new colours.  For this one, I chose Lisa Johnson's colour combination:

Well, now that I've linked the colour combo, I realize I forgot spring moss!  I actually had a button ready to put in the centre of the doily but forgot to pop it on!  The light is HORRIBLE as I am writing this post at 9:38 so no new pic but trust me, it's there!

I took a kraft card base, then stamped the Wonderful Words' (selective inking)  sentiments on red poppy before debossing with the Cane Print impression plate.  Two aqua mist die cuts from Delightful Doilies and some stamping with Jenni Bowlin fountain pen black and chili powder inks.  A foam dot to adhere the little die cut for some dimension and all done! :)  (Plus that pesky spring moss button, of course!)

Supplies:
Paper: PTI Kraft, Red Poppy, Aqua Mist
Stamps: PTI Wonderful Words, Delightful Doilies
Ink: Jenni Bowlin fountain pen, chili powder
Misc: PTI Spring Moss button, Cane Print Impression Plate, foam dots

Papertrey Anniversary Day 2 blog hop

Well, day 2 festivities are continuing over at Papertrey and there were some freebie digital images to download and use.  I decided to keep it simple and use Maile Belles' image with her Background Basics circles set. This set has a much wider base so it is super simple to line up and see.  Love that! I used speckled egg and weather vane inks from Jenni Bowlin.  Just can't get enough of her inks!  These are two of the new colours - a turquoise and grey.  Yum!

I then coloured the digital image with Derkwent Inktense coloured pencils - they have amazing vivid colours and are so fun to use!  I used an aqua brush pen that I picked up from M's with a coupon ... those coupons really are invaluable!  Some foam dots on the circle and my simple card is done.

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 110lb white
Stamps: PTI Background Basics, digital image from PTI
Ink: Jenni Bowlin speckled egg and weathered vane
Misc: foam dots, Derkwent Inktense coloured pencils

Papertrey Anniversary blog hop - Happy Valentine's Day

Well, Valentine's cards must be made so with a mask from post its, I stamped one of the gorgeous flowers from Papertrey's Rosie Posie set. Very simple to do and effective with white ink (Colorbox Frost white).

I used the Happy Day sentiment in Jenni Bowlin chocolate brown overtop.  I adhered it down to a chocolate card base and added a strip of the heart border.  I then ran the whole front through with the Linen impression plate.

This card as well as the others I posted today are all entered into the anniversary blog hop for Papertrey.  What a fabulous celebration! ;)

This card is inspired by the talented Erin Lincoln.  She manages to make all sorts of fabulous creations and has done some beautiful masking.  Thanks for all the cool techniques and fun ideas I have learned, Erin! :) 

Supplies:
Paper: Gina K chocolate, Staples 110lb cream, PTI raspberry fixzz
Stamps: PTI Rosie Posie, Happy Day
Ink: Jenni Bowlin brown, Colorbox Frost White
Misc: PTI Linen impression plate, heart border die

Papertrey Anniversary blog hop - LoVe

Well, Valentine's is around the corner so I thought I better get a move on with my Valentine's cards.  The Papertrey anniversary blog hop is the perfect chance to do this!

 

I used the 'love' sentiment from PTI's Mega Mixed Messages in Jenni Bowlin fountain pen ink stamped over and over again on the white card base.  Then I worked on the Raspberry Fizz layer.  I took a large post it and cut a heart.  I used both parts of the mask to stamp - one to do the white hexagons (Colorbox Frost white) and the other to repeatedly stamp the live.laugh.love sentiment from Mat Stack 5 in Jenni Bowlin chili powder red.  Then I stamped the 'love' sentiment in fountain black ink again.  I mounted the raspberry layer on foam dots onto the white cardstock after running it through the Linen impression plate.  All done!  Happy Anniversary, Papertrey! :)

This card is inspired by the amazing Dawn McVey who always manages to use gorgeous colour combinations and often her favourite shade of Raspberry Fizz!  This was the first time I had ever used it and got it out of my sampler pack of PTI cardstock.  I am continually amazed by what she is able to accomplish when she starts creating - always such fun cool cards!

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 110lb white, PTI Raspberry Fizz
Stamps: PTI Rosie Posie, Mat Stack 5, Mega Mixed Messages
Ink: Jenni Bowlin fountain black, chili powder
Misc: PTI Linen impression plate, foam dots

Papertrey Anniversary blog hop - hexagonal fun!

 So I am loving the new Rosie Posie set of stamps from Papertrey.  They are gorgeous flowers but three background building hexagon stamps.  What fun!  I used a Jenni Bowlin paint dauber in speckled egg turquoise and stamped a repeating pattern of hexagons on a dark chocolate cardstock.  I then used another fave - my woodgrain impression plate, also from PTI to impress the layer.

I added an Enchanted Evening die cut of the Happy Day set with an anniversary sentiment ... I swiped it with some Frost White Colorbox ink and then sprayed it heavily with Tattered Angels glimmer mist.  All done with a few foam dots to pop up the label and then the whole thing mounted on a white card base.

This card is inspired by the phenomenal Nichole Heady who manages to make all her stamping look effortless and so professional.  Although this will never be me, I have learned from her on creating backgrounds and tried out a simple hexagonal background on this card.

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 110lb white, Gina K chocolate, PTI Enchanted Evening
Stamps: PTI Rosie Posie, Happy Day
Ink:  Jenni Bowlin paint dauber, Colorbox Frost White
Misc: Tattered Angels glimmer mist, PTI woodgrain impression plate, foam dots