September 2012 Papertrey Blog Hop

This month's blog hop over at Papertrey is all about felt and fabric:

Here's the challenge they put forth this month:
This month it is all about wrapping it up.  Whether you are preparing early for the holidays or have an upcoming birthday or two, have fun experimenting with fabric & felt packaging ideas.  Use any of our Favor It dies with felt and a little hot glue gun action or stitching.  Use a pretty piece of fabric like you would wrapping paper and make a custom tag to coordinate with it.  Not into sewing or gluing?  Wrap a kitchen towel or cloth napkin around a special bottle of wine and top it off with a hand-stamped gift label.  Or rip a strip of fabric to use in place of ribbon and finish it with a pretty handmade gift card.  There are so many different things to try, you will love experimenting to see what you can come up with! 

I decided to take some dies and make them be the shapes for the packaging:

This one is for my cousin who has the initials KH.  I am going to stuff this with some Hershey's Kisses as part of her birthday present.  I stamped the Pretty Peonies on the white felt using Fresh ink's Steel Blue.  It actually stamps quite a clear image, which I was pleased about.

I took some Smoky Shadow felt to cut a double ended banner and then Autumn Rose for the alpha cuts.  The larger piece is one of the Mat Stack 4 dies (the largest one) folded in half.

I am adding some better shots in daylight as I made these feltie doodads late last night and the above pictures do not show up that well. :-)

 Next I decided to go with a modern graphic feel using a hexagon die:

 A Simply Chartreuse Turning a new leaf die and the 'happy' from Pretty Peonies in Smoky Shadow.

Super simple but I like this colour combination.  For this one, I am planning on stuffing it with tea bags for a tea aficionado friend of mine. :)  I might add a button latch on top but for now I will leave it as is ...

And the brighter shots:

Supplies:

Stamps: PTI Pretty Peonies
Ink: Fresh Steel Blue
Dies: PTI Mat Stack 4 large die, Double Ended Banner, Alpha
Felt: white from stash; PTI Smoky Shadow, Autumn Rose
Adhesive: FabriTac, scortape

Felt: white from stash; PTI Smoky Shadow, Spring Moss
Dies: PTI Turning a new leaf, Pretty Peonies 'happy'; Lifestyle nesting hexagons
Adhesive: Fabritac, scortape

Papertrey's Impression Plates - samples and extra techniques

A friend of mine wanted to buy some of the impression plates offered at Papertrey so I offered to send her some samples.  I used the Curvy Labels punch and cut a whole bunch to impress.  I ran them through my Big Kick with the various IPs.  I even added some cover plates used as IP's as well as Wplus9's chevron IP.  Take a look if you want an idea of what they look like.  Click the images to enlarge:

I have always had really good luck with them just running them through my Big Kick and with my Cuttlebug when I had it.  I bought the embossing pads from PTI's website and they have served me well.  Some people have better success adding shims or misting the paper with alcohol or water but I haven't needed to do that.  I have used Perfect Pearls mist to add some shimmer but I get an excellent impression without adding anything.

I also love to do the letterpress technique where I use ink directly on the IP and then running it through the machine.  Here are some examples I have shared from this post:

Damask IP with Fresh Ink

Mehndi IP with Fresh Ink

Hexagon Cover plate with Fresh Ink

Cane Print with Fresh Ink

And this post:

Giga IP with Distress Ink

Gina K chocolate cardstock, PTI Diamond IP, Colorbox Frost White Ink

Gina K chocolate cardstock, PTI Moroccan motifs IP, Brilliance Pearlescent Orchid (pink)

Gina K sweet mango, PTI Giga Guidelines IP, Distress Ink Spiced Marmalade

Gina K sweet mango, PTI Sunshine IP, Colorbox Frost White Ink

Gina K chocolate cardstock, PTI In Bloom IP, Colorbox Frost White Ink

And the technique shared on a Make it Monday over at PTI about double embossing is really cool - you use an impression plate with a die so that the die leaves a negative area where the card stock is not embossed.  I made a card in this post using that cool trick!

Just be sure to have the order of your sandwich perfect, otherwise you will cut into the impression plate! :)

Cuttlebug Sandwich for double embossing:

A plate

B plate

Impression plate facing up

Die cutting side facing up

Paper facing down

Embossing mats - vanilla and tan

B plate

Which are your favourite impression plates?  Do you like the more subtle debossing they give rather than embossing folders?  What techniques have you tried so far?

August 2012 Papertrey Blog Hop

This month, Papertrey shared these photos as inspiration for the blog hop:


{PHOTO CREDITS: scarf, flower, button holes, baby hat & shoes, need for tweed, suit}

{PHOTO CREDITS: elephant, wallets, wreath, flowers, socks, jacket}

I took the fibres and textures as inspiration and grabbed some cardstock, stamps and an embossing folder.  I tend to just make a whole bunch of different cards with what I have while my craft area is a disaster :-) so here are my creations:

Thought I would make a card for my little nephew and so I spelled out his name.  I used a herringbone embossing folder and then cut out the letters from my Alpha Blocks dies.  I painstakingly added in the circles for the 'a' and 'e' with teeny tiny foam dots that I cut.

 I stamped a hounstooth background on the dark chocolate cardstock Harvest Berries die cut with some PTI Vintage Cream ink but it was too stark so I wiped some away to make it a bit more subtle.  The kraft embossed panel is mounted on Rustic Cream cardstock.  Love those flecks!

I made an early birthday card for my father - why not, right?  [Vater = father in German, if you're wondering what on earth I stamped!! :) ]  I heat embossed the houndstooth background with some Zing Brown Sugar embossing powder(which, incidentally is a spot on match for Fine Linen cardstock from PTI.) and die cut an angled label, layering it with a smaller chocolate angled label die cut. 

I used one of my Fillable Frames sentiments with some Vintage Cream card stock and used some foam dots to mount the layers over some button jute twine.Hard to see the texture the heat embossing but I promise it's there!

I stamped an envelope and used some scraps to make an (Angled Label) tag to go with his gift when he gets his present in the fall:

 The next card uses lots of houndstooth as well:

 This one is for my friend who is going through a tough time.  I used the houndstooth stamp on the felt flower die cut as well as the background and stamped the sentiment on the ribbon that I found in my stash.

Love the texture of felt die cuts!!  And the felt cuts so cleanly so there is no ripping or frayed edges ....

Ok, next one .. This one is super simple and I think I need to move the dress form up a bit, now that I'm looking at it on camera.  I grabbed these sticky canvas pieces from Michael's when they were on sale a while back and have had some fun doing inky techniques and embossing on them.  This time I went with straight stamping, though.

It stamps beautifully and even though I didn't use the sticky part of it as I wanted to pop it up, it is a great material.  It cuts cleanly, just like felt.

A few foam dots for dimension and some selective inking in different colours and that's it!.

Happy hopping!

Welcome, baby!

I am in charge of the "Sunshine Fund" at work where we celebrate life's ups and downs.  Two of my colleagues have given birth over the summer and I am sending off a card to each plus a gift card so they can choose something for their sweet peas!  I broke out some new supplies to make these ...

Love the three step flowers and two step leaves in the new PTI set, Sweet Life.  I added a little texture on both with the Simple Stripes impression plate.

 And isn't Dawn McVey's handwriting gorgeous?

All Fresh inks from Impress - can't wait for my new inks to arrive!  I ordered some during the last sale but my order was held up due to a Memory Box die being back ordered ...   These inks really do have amazing coverage.

Supplies:
Little Sweet Pea
Paper: PTI Aqua Mist cardstock, Staples 110lb white
Stamps: PTI Fabulous Frames, Signature Greetings II
Ink: Fresh Merlot, Steel Blue
Misc: PTI Simple Stripes impression plate, white lace ribbon from stash, foam dots, corner rounder

Rock-a-bye, baby 
Paper: Staples 110lb white
Stamps: PTI Sweet Life, Signature Greetings II
Ink: Fresh Harvest, Merlot, Sicilian Blue, Steel Blue, Navy, Pear, Tuscan Olive
Misc: PTI Simple Stripes impression plate, white lace ribbon from stash, foam dots, corner rounder

With Sympathy

Sympathy cards are definitely the hardest ones to make ... you are upset that you have lost someone and not really in the right frame of mind to craft ... But they still need to be made and so it was with a heavy heart that I stamped this one.

My second cousin in Europe just lost her husband in a motorcycle accident on his way home from work ... He was only in his early 40s and such a vibrant sweet guy to everyone he met.  Needless to say it has come as a big shock to our family.  I am sending this to her so that she knows I am thinking of her.

I used the gorgeous Natural Beauties set from Papertrey and stamped in Jenni Bowlin malted milk, brown sugar and weather vane.  I stamped the Think Big Favourites sentiment in brown sugar as well and impressed it with the woodgrain impression plate.  I edged the panel with some Chai vintage touch ink from the tea dye duo and mounted it on Aqua Mist.  I made an envelope with some lightweight kraft paper and my trusty scoring board.  I stamped the angled label in Frost White ink from Colorbox - it is such a great white!

I will mail it off tomorrow to my cousin and lend her any support I can during this difficult time ...

Supplies

Paper: PTI Aqua Mist, Staples 110lb white, lightweight kraft paper from stash for the envelope
Stamps: PTI Natural Beauties, Angled Labels, Think Big Favourites
Ink: Jenni Bowlin malted milk, brown sugar, weather vane; PTI chai vintage tea dye; Colorbox Frost White
Misc: PTI Woodgrain impression plate, MS scoring board
 

In love with Natural Beauties

I just love this new floral set from Papertrey ... it came with the Stamp-A-Faire orders in July  It has two layer stamps which are such fun!  They really add a lot of dimension to one layer cards.

I used lots of different Fresh inks which give such great coverage .... I just stamped and stamped filling all the empty spots with different images.

Supplies
Paper: Staples 110lb white
Stamps: PTI Natural Beauties, Mega Mixed Messages (sentiment)
Inks: Fresh pool, navy, fresh lilac, chocolate, pear, tuscan olive, steel blue; Memento Tuxedo Black

Let's go for a ride!

I have wanted a good bicycle set for a while and finally picked this up - Joy Ride by Hero Arts.  It has a nice selection of bicycles and two sentiments.  I busted out my Jenni Bowlin inks and stamped the various images in all sorts of colours.

I added a chocolate strip of cardstock and a sentiment at the bottom with a little tiny bike repeated in the background.

Some corner chomping and that's it.  Easily mailable is always useful!

Supplies:
Paper: Staples 110lb white, Gina K chocolate
Stamps: Hero Arts Joy Ride
Ink: Jenni Bowlin cough syrup, chicken feed, lemon drops, stick candy, seed packet, speckled egg, malted milk, fountain pen
Misc: Tombo Mono Multi glue, corner rounder

Papertrey's Make it Monday #77 - Watercolouring with ink pads

Papertrey is back with another Make it Monday video for inspiration.  I love this technique and have done it before ... I pulled out an old favourite set of mine - one of the first I purchased, actually!

I heat embossed the black ink (stamped in  Versamark first and then Memento Tuxedo Black) before using ink pads with an aqua brush to colour in the flowers and the leaves.  I altered the colours and went with imperfection ... :)

I used a sentiment from Movers and Shakers on the front and on the inside reading I am reminded how wonderful you are.  The flower is up on  foam dots and the leaves are glued with  Tombo Mono Multi glue and then curled up a bit for dimension.

Have you tried this technique before? How do you like it?

Supplies:
Paper: Kraft, Smokey Shadow; Staples 110lb white
Stamps: PTI In Bloom, Movers and Shakers; Studio Calico Houndstooth cling stamp
Ink: Distress Inks Peeled China, Bundled Sage, Weathered Wood, Peeled Paint: PTI Vintage Cream;  Versamark, Memento Tuxedo Black
Misc: foam dots, Tombo Mono Multi glue

Welcome to cards by cara!

Wonderful to have you here visiting my blog.  I love making cards and enjoy giving them to friends and family.  I also sell them to anyone who is looking for the handmade custom touch.  In my posts, you will see a variety of cards that I have made.  If you would like to order any, just send an email to cardsbycara AT hotmail DOT com

Happy browsing and have a wonderful day!