Papertrey Ink May Blog Hop - Congrats to the grad!

 This month at Papertrey Ink, this is our inspiration for the blog hop:

 

I was inspired by the colour scheme and made a clean and simple card for one of my students.  I have a bunch to make and am making them all unique as they love to share and compare them with one another! :)

I just got this piestra tile die and wanted to try it out!  I love the modern feel to this die ... What did I ever do without my die cutting machine?  :)  I held off buying one for the longest time because I kept telling myself that I didn't need it and it wasn't worth the purchase.  Boy, was I wrong! :) 

Just a tip for adhering intricate die cuts like this - you could run it through your Xyron if you have one, but some strategically placed dots of Tombo Mono Multi glue and you can adhere it, no worries.  The thin tip helps make the job super fast and super easy.

I stamped one sentiment in black and then over that the Think Big sentiment.  Pigment inks work really well layered like this and it's fun to layer sentiments and even images over one another.

I made an envelope using my score board - the Martha Stewart one even has a simple way to make envelopes.  I die cut a circle for the front to write my advisee's name on it.

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 110lb white, My Mind's Eye Garden Vignettes (envelope), PTI Spring Moss
Stamps: PTI Mega Mixed Messages, Think Big Favourites
Ink: Memento Tuxedo Black, Fresh Inks Pear
Misc: Memory Box Piestra Tile die, 1 3/4" punch, Tombo Mono Multi glue

Embellish Bicycle Colour Trends Challenge

I saw this great challenge over at the Embellish (online) magazine and thought I'd use it as a jumping off point.  Here's what I came up with:

Although I love bicycle images, it turns out I only have one bicycle image in my stash from Papertrey's Everyday Button Bits.  I thought I'd find a vintage looking digital image online and try an inking technique over top ...  I printed it in a grey tone so it is not so stark against the ink.

I loaded my indestructible craft sheet with Distress Inks in rows of colour, spritzed with Perfect Pearls and Studio Calico shine mist and then smooshed my background stamp into the inky mess.  It gives a sort of watercoloured muted tone to the inks. 

You can't really see the shine in the picture but it's there, promise!

And card #2 ....
For this one I used some more of the ink that I had left over to stamp another background with my Hero Arts Classic Fabric cling stamp:

This is such a simple technique but I am definitely going to try it again.  Since I wanted four colours descending down my card, I just used the edge of my Distress Ink to put colour on my craft mat rather than the whole square.  That way, I was able to squeeze all four colours in. 

Some buttons and a sentiment and that's it!

I had lots of ink left on my craft sheet so stamped another three backgrounds and even spritzed some more to ink up some sticky back canvas I got on clearance!  You will probably see those inky backgrounds in some upcoming posts .... :P

Supplies:

Paper: Staples 110lb white, Gina K asparagus
Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Bits (sentiment), Hero Arts Alphabet pattern cling stamp
Ink: Distress Ink (dusty concord, spiced marmalade, broken china, peeled paint); Jenni Bowlin fountain pen
Misc: craft sheet, Studio Calico shine mist, online free vintage bicycle image

Paper: Staples 110lb white, Gina K asparagus
Stamps: PTI Everyday Button Bits, Hero Arts Classic Fabric cling stamp
Ink: Distress Ink (dusty concord, spiced marmalade, broken china, peeled paint); Jenni Bowlin fountain pen
Misc: craft sheet, Studio Calico shine mist, PTI buttons, rustic jute button twine

Some new colours of Fresh Inks - a product review plus a PFP crazy for circles card

I am an equal opportunist and love both dye and pigment inks.  When I want dye inks, my favourites are Jenni Bowlin's wonderful line. (Check out my post here for a product review about those) Not only are the colour names so cute - spice tin, fountain pen, brown sugar - but they work really well, even with clear stamps.

But I also love pigment inks and am always looking for some great shades to stamp with.  Pigment inks give such vibrant colour with amazing coverage on both clear and rubber stamps.  So after I bought a few Fresh Inks a while back (and did a review on them here), I waited for Impress Rubber Stamps to have another sale.  Once the sale was announced, I got a bunch more to round out my colour collection.  There is a a pdf of all their colours on the Impress website but this is not the stamped shades so I thought it is better to show them all stamped out.  So here we go ...

All my new pretty ones that arrived last week:

And here are all the colours I have so far in their colour families.

The reds and yellows:

 And the greens and blues:

 And the more neutrals:

And here is a card with them in action:

I just love pigment inks on kraft card stock! :)  This card is very simple but I stamped every single colour Fresh ink I have on the panel.  I embossed the sentiment in Merlot embossing powder - a great deep reddish brown shade.  I actually used Versamark but you can emboss with the Fresh inks.  They look great embossed in clear.  Only two stamp sets used - PTI's Modern Wood Mats and Signature Greetings.

Oh, and another important thing that many people have asked me - they do not stain clear stamps like fluid chalk inks but just tint them slightly.  I have found that the blue stamp cleaner works really well to get off the darker shades but the lighter colours come off really easily with baby wipes. 

And another one with a very similar style but only a few colours:

Modern Wood Mats again with a new Memory Box die - all one piece so easy to adhere with some of my favourite liquid glue - Tombo Mono Multi glue.  What would I do without you, dear Tombo? :)  A really narrow nozzle makes adhering delicate die cuts a breeze!

I was inspired with the circles by A Passion for Papertrey's challenge - Super Circles. So I am submitting the first card for this challenge ... Thanks, ladies, for your nudge to get a little circular!  I love circles and my Modern Wood Mats' circles had been sorely neglected. 

Edited to add: I have been named one of three top Passionistas over at a Passion for Papertrey!  Here's what they said:

We loved Cara's use of multi-coloured circles on her card - what a fabulous use of the Modern Wood Mats set don't you think?! Wouldn't this card brighten your day if it landed on your doorstep?!

 

Thanks, ladies! :)

Love those greys! and Make it Monday - Faux Chevron die cuts

So, do any of you have an obsession with something in your crafting arsenal?  For some, it's bling, for others it's inks ... some people love a multitude of flower stamps, animals or bicycles.  I love background sets, anything grid/text/ledger etc.  I also love alphabet sets so I can make my own sentiments and I must say, I have quite the stash of floral images.  :)

I also love all shades of grey ....  I continue to search for that elusive mid shade of cardstock but have quite my share of grey inks.  I decided to stamp them out side by side (rather than my usual way of indexing my inks by company).  Check out the comparison of them to see their tones:

With slightly different lighting:

Gotta be upfront here - I rarely get to take pictures during daylight hours since I'm not usually home so the lighting is not the best - my apologies!  I think I need to make some sort of lightbox but for the time being, this is what I've got ...  At any rate, it is quite interesting to see the greys all together as Jenni Bowlin's weather vane looks almost greyish blue here.  Really, it doesn't have that much of a blue tint on its own but with these more neutral greys, you can see the undertones.


I made a card the other day for this week's  Make it Monday over at Papertrey using patterned paper scraps to create a background:

I really want some chevron dies (hint hint to the Papertrey designers) but until then, I have to improvise.  So I stamped my Chevron stamp strips on the back of various scraps of patterned papers from Basic Grey and then made a background with them.  I just cut along the lines to achieve some faux chevron strips.  I lined up the bottom edge with the bottom of the back panel of the card so that it is flush and will stand up.

I love the combination of greys with pale pink so I die cut Sweet Blush card stock with the Alpha dies from PTI and mounted them with foam adhesive. 

A closeup at a slight angle ... I love these papers ....  Basic Grey has some of the most beautiful patterned paper around, I must say!  And the nice thing is the 6x6 pads they sell are scaled down versions of the 12x12 so the patterns are perfect for card makers.

Oh, and you can't tell very easily from this picture, but I inked the whole panel of one with Versamark and clear embossed it for a little something extra.

Dawn McVey has inspired me to use more of my scraps.  Thanks, Dawn! :)
Here is her video:



Supplies:
Chevron hi
Paper: Basic Grey 6x6 patterned paper (Ambrosia and Cappella), PTI Smokey Shadow and Sweet Blush
Stamps: PTI Chevron Strips (for creating the chevron pattern)
Misc: PTI Alpha dies, foam dots

Papertrey Make it Monday #65 - Background Patterns from Patterned Paper Scraps - shaped card

This week's Make it Monday from Papertrey Ink is a great way to use up your patterned paper scraps. The fabulous Dawn McVey made a great video talking about proportion and pattern ... great stuff!!

I keep my pp scraps in with each of the pads so they're easy to find and often make use of them.  I even keep slivers of scraps as they can be useful for grounding other background patterns.  I dove into my Basic Grey patterned papers and came up with this card:

It's a shaped card cut with Mega Mat Stack 4 and then used my two sizes of Mat Stack 4 dies for the focal point with a Beautiful Blooms flower in the centre.  The background is impressed with my new Chevron Impression plate from Wplus9.  I waited and waited for PTI to come out with one but became impatient so I am using, gasp, a product from another company! ;-) 

Even the BB die cuts used up some patterned scraps!  So altogether I used 7 patterns.  Since they are quite monochromatic I think it ends up not being too overwhelming ... that's what I'm hoping for at least! :)

This is for a friend going through a tough time so I send a card at least a few times a month so she knows she's in my thoughts.   Hopefully she likes it ... she enjoys this sort of a colour scheme rather than bright ...

Supplies:
Paper:  PTI Kraft, Gina K chocolate; Basic Grey Manila and Kraft Basics 6x6 pads
Stamps: Mat Stack 4 (sentiments broken up in two parts and selectively inked)
Ink: Jenni Bowlin Brown Sugar, PTI Vintage Tea Dye duo (inked up edges of flower)
Misc: PTI dies (Mat Stack 4, Mega Mat Stack 4, Layerz Mat Stack 4; Beautiful Blooms); Wplus9 Chevron IP; foam dots, PTI button and button twine

Passion for Papertrey - whatever the weather challenge

Over on A Passion for Papertrey, they have a challenge this week called Whatever the Weather.  I love their blog and try to join their challenges when I can.  They all have great style and I really enjoy their mad card skills!  Plus, I was inspired by the gorgeous weather today - really glorious sunshine.  After going for a walk with a friend along the seawall, I grabbed some of my supplies and got started.  I put on a movie I had recorded in the background (Jennifer Lopez's Back up Plan) and happily stamped away.

Here's my first one, which was actually the last card I made.  Not much stamping at all but the colours are sunny!

I split the Beautiful Butterflies set with someone for the sentiments only.  Gasp, I know!  I just decided I didn't need a whole set of butterflies even though they are truly beautiful. :)  I have a butterfly scene from Tim Holtz and also the gorgeous butterfly from PTI's Happy Trails.  So only the sentiments came home with me.  Oh, and I got this gorgeous patterned paper from the talented Aga in a prize pack she sent me a while back. 

It's Cosmo Cricket's DeLovely and all the patterns and colours are bright, and well ... lovely!  Thanks, Aga, as it has inspired me to make some more bright and fun cards. :)

I used PTI's Limitless Layers to cut the circle and mat behind.  As you can see, there is the sentiment Like a Rainbow, you color my world stamped in Fresh navy ink as I felt black would be too harsh.  I still have a tough time with the American spelling since to my Canadian eyes, it looks like it's not spelled right but what are you gonna do?  I would actually selectively ink and try and add the 'u' but I was going for a quick fun card after all the that masking I did in this next pic...

So here it is, card number two:
Obviously my masking (and sponging) skills need some work but it is a bit more blended in person ... really! :)  Don't believe me, huh?  Well, I decided that even though it's no masterpiece I would post it.  Even if it's shameful ... <----- insert embarrassed emoticon here ...

I originally stamped over each sponged section while masked with a variety of stamps (BB Retro, Text Style, Turning a New Leaf, Polka Dots, In Bloom) but since I used Jenni Bowlin's Malted Millk, it didn't show up enough for my liking.  I like subtle well enough but it was beyond subtle.  So I used my new Market Street Stamps background honeycomb stamp over top in Distress Ink Marmalade.

I just love this sentiment from Modern Wood Mats - it's such a sweet one, isn't it?  Oh, in this closeup you can see the Malted Milk ink peeking through a bit but it just wasn't enough.  I used the Sunshine impression plate inked up for a letterpress technique with the DI's Marmalade as well.

This one is a more literal scene of sun and clouds.

The rays are Faux Ribbon with a Modern Wood Mats sun and I used an inked up Mehndi Medallions impression plate for the letterpress technique on the clouds.

If you look closely, you can see Text Style used as a background on the front panel.  Oh, and Studio Calico grid pattern background stamp was stamped on the card front and just peeks through from behind.

Okay, last one based on this challenge:

I grabbed a piece of Lemon Tart cardstock and used the Sunshine Impression plate on it after stamping the sentiment on the selectively inked Think Big hello and a spelled out Outline Alphabet's sunshine.  When using the impression plates, I have learned that it is always better to stamp first then impress.  I have done it the other way around when I change my plan and it will sometimes work quite well but the best impression of the stamped image is on smooth cardstock.

I stamped the Outline Alphabet stamps in Jenni Bowlin Chicken Feed and the hello in Distress InkMarmalade and you will notice that there is basically no difference.  I thought it might be a nice subtle ombre sort of gradation but nope! :)
-----------------------------
My last one is not for the challenge but had my yellow ink out and thought I would get a start on my graduation cards.  I have eleven advisees graduating this year and always make personalized cards for my students for holidays, end of year and graduation.  This year since they are graduating and (most) have been my advisees for five years, it is extra special.  Our school colours are yellow, grey and blue so I went with yellow and blue for my colour scheme.

I bought a little mini graduation set called Hats Off from Ditto at Michael's for a couple of dollars.  So the hats are from this set and I simply repeated the pattern.

I impressed the circle with the Text Style impression plate after stamping the sentiment from Mega Mixed Messages.

In hindsight, I should've completely dried the Vintage Cream inked sentiment with my heat gun, inked up my Text Style impression plate with Versamark to dry emboss, and then heat emboss in clear but oh well!

This will be a good one for one of the boys in my advisee group.  They all compare their cards so I like to make them as different as possible.

Supplies:

Like a Rainbow
Paper: Staples 110lb white, Cosmo Cricket DeLovely
Stamps: PTI Beautiful Butterflies (sentiment)
Ink: Fresh navy
Misc: PTI Limitless Layers circles, foam dots






 
 The World is Brighter
Paper: Gina K pure luxury sweet mango, Staples 110lb white
Stamps: Market Street honeycomb background, Modern Wood Mats (sentiment)
Ink: Jenni Bowlin weather vane (sentiment), lemon drop; Distress Ink marmalade
Misc: foam dots
PTI Sunshine impression plate, Eclipse masking paper, Ranger foam blending tools

Hello, Sunshine
Paper:
Stamps:
Ink: Jenni Bowlin chicken feed,Distress Ink marmalade
Misc: PTI Sunshine impression plate

The Sun and Cloud
Paper: Staples 110lb white, PTI Enchanted Evening
Stamps: PTI Text Style, Modern Wood Mats (circle), Faux Ribbon (rays), Studio Calico grid pattern background stamp (background of card base)
Ink: Jenni Bowlin lemon drop, chicken feed, malted milk; PTI Vintage Cream
Misc: foam dots, PTI Mehndi Medallion impression plate

Congrats to the Grad
Paper: PTI Enchanted Evening, Staples 110lb white
Stamps: Ditto Hats Off, PTI Mega Mixed Messages
Ink: Jenni Bowlin lemon drop, PTI Vintage Cream
Misc: 1 3/4" punch, foam dots, PTI Text Style impression plate

Papertrey Make it Monday #64 - Colour Inspiration of brights

Bright colours like these are not my usual - I love this combination, I just don't usually reach for these colours.  But I decided this was my chance to give it a go.  I pulled some coloured cardstock I had from the cs sampler at PTI (the old 2009 one since the new one was just recently available.  I also grabbed all the inks I could that would match these colours.

My first card was almost one layer but not quite.  I stamped using a variety of Fresh and Versamagic chalk inks.  The flowers on either end are stamped off Fresh navy ink. 

I popped up the sentiment die cut with PTI's angled labels with some foam dots. 

 

Also, the vase was stamped onto Raspberry Fizz card stock and well coated with Rock Candy stickles.  Love the bling it adds ... hard to capture on camera but it's there, promise! 

 

I fussy cut it and popped it up with foam dots with the inked side flipped over.  

Ok, see the yellow flowers?  I stamped them in Versamagic Thatched Straw ink. I wanted to add a little more oomph, so used some Liquid Pearls in daffodil.  I actually bought this Liquid Pearls wanna be bottle at the dollar store - score, right?!  So I made little dots for each of the flower bits but it ended up looking all globby since some of the flower parts are larger than others.  I thought I had completely ruined the card when I remembered that I have painted with Liquid Pearls before.  So I took my aqua pen (you could use a paintbrush instead) and removed most of the dots and then painted it within the lines of the stamped flowers.  Much better and no card had to go in the garbage.  And in person, the pearlescence is a nice addition!!

Okay, next one but this one is super subtle:

This one was WAY harder to capture on camera.  Chalk and pigment inks don't show up as well on film when stamped on kraft unless they are darker colours.

I stamped Raspberry Fizz die cuts with the red, navy and grey inks and popped them up with foam dots.  The top one is popped up even more.

Hard to see but the sentiment looks gorgeous in person with the Slate Fresh ink stamped on Kraft cardstock.

Supplies:
Gracious Mother
Paper: Staples 110lb white, PTI Raspberry Fizz
Stamps: PTI Gracious Vases, Rosie Posie (hexagons), Pretty Peonies (sentiments selectively inked)
Ink: Fresh navy, slate, red currant, provincial grey; Versamagic thatched straw
Misc: PTI Angled labels die, Stickles rock candy, Dollar Store daffodil liquid pearls, aqua pen, foam dots

Rosie Posie Anniversary
Paper: PTI Raspberry Fizz, Kraft
Stamps: PTI Rosie Posie, BB Circles, Beautiful Butterflies (sentiments)
Ink: Fresh navy, slate, red currant, provincial grey; Versamagic thatched straw
Misc: PTI Rosie Posie dies, corner rounder, foam dots