Merry Christmas, Greetery and Papertrey

Today's card blends products from The Greetery and Papertrey Ink.  The Ribbon Frame die from The Greetery is such a fun die.  I love that it can be the focal point, or jus draw your focus in to the center of the card.  

There's a coordinating stencil, which I used, that adds depth/dimension to the die.  I also added some greens using The Greetery's Rosemary & Berry dies.

The Mega Merry Christmas die is from Papertrey was die cut  once from white cardstock and once using Champagne Matte cardstock.  These were adhered together for a bit of dimension and then adhered to the card.  I thought the retro look of the font went perfectly with the ribbons.

Forgot to mention that I did add a bit of soft inking to the edges of my natural panel before I adhered all the pieces. 

Hope all your holiday preparations are on track!

PTI, Stained Glass Windows

 *This post contains affiliate links to Simon Says Stamp.

The parade of Christmas cards goes on today as I share a couple cards created with Papertrey Ink's Stained Glass Windows dies.  This set actually has three stained glass window dies, but I'm featuring just one today.

These dies are prime candidates for an inlaid look which is what I did with my first card.  The die was cut a whole bunch of times.  I think I had four shades of yellow, four blue, three teal, and of course it was also die cut from black for the frame/webbing.  I traced the die on some black cardstock, cutting inside of those lines a bit to create a base for my inlay.  I like to use a base that is the same colors as my webbing because if there's any gap when you inlay, you can't really see it as opposed to if you used white you might see some peeking through.

The base piece was covered with adhesive, the frame laid on top, and then I inlaid all the pieces.  The finished product was adhered directly to my white panel, and I added a sentiment from Simon Says Stamp's Peaceful Trees set (it fit just perfectly!) to finish it off.

All that inlay took a fair bit of time, so I was looking for something a little simpler on the next card.  This time I traced the die on a pice of white cardstock, and before cutting it up, inked it with some orange inks (apologies, but this was created during a marathon crafty weekend and I have no idea what inks were used, but I'm guessing at least Pucker).

I then cut out the arched shape, and adhered the light yellow die cut from my first card for some dimension before adhering the final frame piece which was cut from Gold Matte cardstock.  For this one I also added a Champagne Matte cardstock mat behind the white panel, and the same sentiment as the first card.

Safe travels for all who are on the road and in the air today!

Papertrey Ink, World Stencils

 

A quick card share today using the World Map stencil from Papertrey Ink.  This is actually a set of two stencils, one for a vertical and one for a horizontal card orientation.  I placed the the horizontal stencil over my white cardstock and very softly inked the top with Worn Lipstick and the bottom with Tumbled Glass Distress Ink.

I then added some gold splatter.  I used the Champagne Gold color from my Starry Colors watercolor set, so a very light, subtle gold.

Once that was dry, the sentiment, from The Greetery's Scripted Holiday Sentiments set, was stamped with Hickory Smoke Distress Oxide and then clear embossed.

The completed panel was popped up over a soft gray card base.

Loving how quickly I can create with stencils these days!

The Greetery Autumn Stencilscape

The Greetery makes some really beautiful and unique products, and I was smitten with this Autumn Stencilscape set when it came out last year.  It was on sale during their birthday celebration, and I just couldn't pass it up.

The set includes eight stencils, and as the name suggests, it has an Autumn theme to it, but I wanted to make mine a little more springy, so I went with some lighter brighter colors.  I apologize as I did not keep track of all the colors i used, but they were Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated inks.

The stencils really do all the work for you.  There's an open space for the sentiment, and I dived into my stash, choosing a sentiment from one of my all time favorite Papertrey Ink sentiment sets, Choose Joy.  I thought the sentiment was pretty perfect for the scene.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Last of the Daily Marker 10 Day Coloring Challenge Cards

 

Today I'm sharing cards created using the last of my colored images from Kathy Racoosin's 10 Day Coloring Challenge.  

The first card features this a nice big sentiment from Paper Smooches Well Wishes set.  It was very simply colored, and I kept the finish simple too.  I used an older MFT die to create a scalloped mat for the colored panel and added a soft gray mat over the card base.

This next card features the Floral Fantasy cling stamp from MFT.

I love the dramatic/vintage look of the image and colored it with a more unexpected color using my Blue Green Copic family.  The leaves/stems were colored with Neutral Grays.

I trimmed the panel down and added a simple dark gray mat.  The sentiment which I managed to kind of mangle when stamping (the one time I don't use the MISTI.....) is from Papertrey Ink's Choose Joy set.

This last card is my favorite, featuring Janes Doodles Read All About It set and a journaling card from Felicity Jane.

The images were fussy cut.  That book on the right actually is actually part of the stack on the left.  I just cut it off of the stack to help balance the card a bit.  The books were adhered directly to the journaling card, and the little boy was popped up with foam tape.

I added a large fishtail banner using an old MFT die set as well as a patterned paper mat.

And that's the last of my Coloring Challenge images!  I have all sorts of new things that have arrived recently, so I'm hoping to be able to dig into those happy mail packages this weekend!

PTI Sending Joy

We've officially reached the time of year where I start to panic because my Christmas card stash is not where it needs to be.  This means that I'll be sharing a lot of Christmas cards in the near future, and that whenever possible, I'll be trying to make multiples.

Today's cards feature Papertrey Ink's Sending Joy set.  Incidentally, this is currently on sale at PTI.  The set is perfect for quick, easy, one layer cards.  

I started by creating a 'master card' using kraft cardstock.  The gingham borders were stamped at the top and bottom of my kraft panel with Altenew Ruby Red ink and a stamp platform.  I knew I was going to make multiples, so I left the stamp in place.

Using a second stamp platform, I placed the small evergreen sprig, estimating where I wanted it to be based on the size of the joy sentiment.  This was stamped with Altenew Evergreen ink.  I then rotated the panel 180 degrees and stamped the small sprig again.

This step was repeated for both the large sprig and the trio of berries (also stamped with Ruby Red ink), so I got a mirror image of the cluster on both sides of my card.

Once that was done, I stamped the joy with Versafine and embossed it using Ranger Frosted Crystal Antiquities embossing powder.  

I really liked how the panel turned out, but wanted a bit of variation, so I pulled a couple of really subtle prints, and used the same layout to create two more cards.

For the second card, the gingham strip was stamped with Altenew Evening Gray ink, the rest of the inks remained the same.  I used that initial/master panel to place my elements when stamping the central portion of the card.  This saves you a bit of time and you don't have to be super precise, you can see that for this card my sprig ends don't touch as they did in the initial card.

This last card uses another print, a little bit busier, but still pretty subtle.  I went back to the Ruby Red for the gingham because I thought that would stand out better against the busier print.

These were super quick and easy to create and you can definitely mass produce them if you have all your panels ready to go at once.  They are nice and flat for mailing too!

PTI/Ink to Paper WCMD Color Challenge

The Papertrey Ink/Ink to Paper World Cardmaking Day Color challenge caught my eye because I thought it was perfect for a Christmas card.  It's October, so I'm starting to think I really need to pick up the pace with the Christmas cards and this was good motivation for getting one done.

I pulled out some older PTI products including the Warmest Wishes stamps and dies (these have been retired), and the Mix and Mat Snowflakes dies.

I used the outer and inner dies from the Mix and Mat set to create the snowflake panel.  To the back of that, I added a piece of medium blue cardstock that was inked around the edges with Faded Jeans and then Chipped Sapphire Distress Ink.  

I used a darker blue for the card base, but wanted a bit of texture on it, so I stamped the snowflakes from the Warmest Wishes set along the edges using Versamark.

The mountains and bear/sweater were stamped and die cut and colored with Copics.  For the mountains and the bear, I just added a line of coloring along all the stamped lines using either N0, N1, or N3.  For example, I used N0 for the mountain tops, N1, for the mountains themselves, and N3 for the areas where the mountains overlapped.  For the bear's sweater I used RV34, RV66, and RV69 as well as those same neutral grays.

The mountains were adhered directly to the card base and I popped the bear and sentiment up with foam tape.

Papertrey Ink Text & Texture Leaves

 

Fall is my favorite season, and with the cooler weather, I was in the mood to make some fall cards.  I pulled out the Text & Texture Leaves set from Papertrey Ink (FYI, last I checked it was on sale for $8.80 which is a steal!), pulled a bunch of papers/cardstock and inks out and went to town.

I love all the different possible combinations you can get with this set.  I made a whole bunch of different backgrounds in one sitting, and then later went back to them to create cards.  The cards are on the simpler side because I love the backgrounds so much I didn't want to cover them up too much.  

This one was stamped with Rouge and Velvet (I used all Altenew inks) on orange cardstock.  The Rouge came out a bit light after it had dried, so I went back and added a second layer of Rouge.

Most of my stamped panels I trimmed right down to the edge of the design, but for this one I left a bit of a border.  I stitched the panel to my card base, and added a sentiment from the Papertrey's Phrase Play 7 die.  The 'For You' was also from the Text & Texture set and was stamped on a Skinny Stripes die from Neat & Tangled.  I added a bit of stitching to the banner after I adhered it for some extra interest and texture.

Next, up, a card created using the exact same ink combination (Rouge and Velvet) on a really subtle piece of patterned paper.  

For this one, I just stamped the sentiment (from Paper Smooches Inhale Exhale set) with Versafine Smokey Grey ink.  Then I heat embossed it using Ranger Frosted Crystal Antiquities embossing powder.  It gives it a bit of texture and a more matte look.

A natural white mat finished things off.

For this card, I started with a piece of kraft and used Coral Berry and Grapevine for my two layers.  

For the sentiment piece, I used skinny tag die, partially cut it, then turned it around and finished die cutting so that I had a piece with the tag hole on both ends.  I threaded some twine through the piece twice and secured it to the back of my panel.  

This was then popped up over a cardstock mat, and I added the 'thanks' from last year's Spellbinders October Large Die of the Month.

Next up a pair of cards I created using two of my panels. They were both stamped on white cardstock.  The first one used Orange Cream and Firebrick and the second Autumn Blaze and Cosmic Berry.

I lined the two panels up making sure that they were aligned, and then I cut each into quadrants.  These were then mixed up diagonally and adhered to two pieces of scrap paper.

I added a mat to each and popped the sentiment up over the panel.  The So Very Thankful is from Concord and 9th's Lace Leaf set, and the other is from Neat & Tangled's Maple Thanks set.

This next card is a similar idea, utilizing two panels.  The first was stamped on another very subtle patterned paper using Butternut and Autumn Blaze, and the second used Coral Berry and Grapevine on a piece of yellow cardstock.

I trimmed down the yellow piece so it was centered on the patterned paper panel with enough of a border that you could tell the design continues.

After adding an extremely thin mat to each, they were adhered together.

The sentiment is from Jane's Doodles You Got This sentiment set and was embossed with Hero Arts Princess Gold.  That portion of the panel is darker, but I added just a bit of inking with a a brush to make sure it stood out a bit more.

This next card is the one where the pattern is covered up the most, and potentially my least favorite for that reason.

This time I stamped the pattern on a piece of Primitive Cream cardstock using Sicilian Amber and Grapevine.  

This sentiment, from Neat & Tangled is one of my favorites for Thanksgiving, and I stamped and embossed it on a piece of vellum.  I then cut a piece of cream cardstock just smaller than the vellum and adhered it to my stamped background.  The vellum was tacked down with a bit of adhesive under the larger letters and then stitched to the panel.

I think this last card has my favorite stamped panel.  For this one I started with Razzleberry and Cosmic Berry on kraft, but the contrast wasn't deep enough for me, so I went back over the second layer with Ultraviolet.  Don't you love the combination?

I finished it off with one of my Skinny Strips and a sentiment from Birch Leaf set for Neat & Tangled.

Phew!  That's a lot of cards, but so much fun making and experimenting with the inks and papers.  Hope that you are enjoying fall crafting as much as I am!

The Greetery Print Shop

I picked up the Print Shop stamp/stencil set and dies from The Greetery during their birthday sale.  I'd been eyeing these goodies for a while, and just couldn't pass them up any longer.

There are definitely a bunch of different steps involved in creating this floral background, but it's not onerous, and it's so much fun.  I loved seeing the background come to life!

I started by picking out three sets of color pairs for the main stenciled flowers, and then I created three different backgrounds assembly line style, pulling out additional colors as needed (all inks used are Altenew). 

For this first card, the large flowers were stenciled using Misty Morning and Nimbus.

The leaves were stamped in Moss, and the small yellow flowers were stenciled with Butternut.  The purple flowers are Grape Agate, and I used Evergreen for the foliage accents.  The accents on the dark blue of the flower are Dark Night, and I used Jet Black for the centers of the flowers.

To finish off the card, I trimmed the panel down slightly, and stamped a sentiment from Papertrey's Choose Joy set onto a banner die from MFT which was popped up over a slightly larger yellow banner.

For this next card, I used Butternut and Pumpkin Pie for the large flowers.

The greens were stamped with Olive, and the stenciled flowers were done in Crimson.  The small flower clusters were stamped with Frosty Pink, and I used Moss for the greenery accents.  For the accents on the large flowers, I used Sicilian Amber and Jet Black.  I felt like the light pink flowers needed a bit of pop to help them stand out, so I used my YR12 Copic marker to add little centers to each of them.

After trimming down the panel, I added the sentiment using the Skinny Upper Alpha Dies from The Stamp Market.  Each of the letters was cut three times from black cardstock, adhered in a stack and then directly to my panel.  

I cut two Skinny Strips Dies banners, one from white and one from light yellow cardstock.  The sentiment was stamped on the white one (I masked off the 'you' at the beginning of the sentiment), and then adhered slightly offset to the yellow one.  These were then popped up over the YOU.

This last card I was a little on the fence about.  The flowers were created using Frosty Pink and Coral Berry.

The greens were stamped in Forest Garden, and I used Misty Morning for the small stenciled flowers.  The small floral cluster was stamped with Butternut, and the greenery accents were done with Evergreen.  The accents on the large flowers were stamped with Crimson and Sicilian Amber.  Just as in the last card, I added some emphasis to the small floral cluster using a Copic marker (Y18).

To finish this one, I first cut three layers of the Scalloped Frame die from The Stamp Market.  Those were layered together and adhered to my panel.  Then I added a die cut sentiment (from the same die set), which was cut in gold mirrorboard cardstock.

I felt like the card still needed a little something, so I stamped a few of the elements, the Print Shop set includes standalone stamps so you can create the individual elements in the background.  I stamped a couple of the large flowers and one of the flower clusters and die cut them.  These were then popped up over the frame to add dimension.

This one I can't quite decide if I like, or if I need to tweak the design some.  Would love to know which is your favorite.

I'm looking forward to doing some more stamping with the individual elements - I love that those are included, it really expands the possibilities for this set!

The Greetery Harvest Home

I took advantage of the recent birthday sale at The Greetery, so while I wait for my new goodies to arrive, I thought I would pull out the Harvest Home set I purchased from them a while back, but shamefully hadn't had a chance to use yet.

I started by stamping the two leaf halves using Altenew Bamboo and Olive ink.  Then I realized that the leaf half dies were solid.  No biggie, I die cut the halves from a piece of white scrap cardstock, and then used those to line up the dies over the stamped leaves.

Since I had two white leaf halves from the masks I created, I figured I would go ahead and use those to make a second card.  I used a blending brush and Forest Glades ink to add color to the leaves, and then used two Copics (YG63, and YG67) to color the the accent strips on the leaves.

Then I stamped and die cut the house and barn using Ruby Red and Grapevine ink.  On the house, I used Pure Graphite for the roof, and on the barn, I wanted a lighter color since the roof would be in direct sunlight, so I used second generation Dark Chocolate ink stamping.  I also added a bit of shading with Copics to the roof.

Then it was time to assemble the cards.  For this first one, I used the stamped leaf halves and adhered them to the whole leaf that's included in the die set.  I added a couple of stamped fences on the top half of the leaf, and then tucked the barn behind the bottom leaf.  I added a bit of twine to the leaf stem, and then popped the entire leaf up over some patterned paper that was matted with a Scalloped panel from Neat & Tangled.

The sentiment is from Neat & Tangled's So Many Sentiments set and was stamped on one of Neat & Tangled's skinny strips and the popped up over the leaf.

For this next card, I adhered the leaf directly to a piece of very neutral patterned paper.

Just like the last card, I added the fences and then tucked the house in.  The sentiment is from Papertrey's Choose Joy stamp set.  I added a blue patterned paper mat to finish things off.

I just think this leaf design is so clever and I'm looking forward to using it some more, especially for fall cards!

*Affiliate Links below 

Bamboo, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

Olive, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

Pure Graphite, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

Dark Chocolate, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

Ruby Red, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

Grapevine, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

Forest Glades, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

Jet Black, Altenew Crisp Dye Ink Pad

YG63 - Pea Green, COPIC Sketch Marker

YG67 - Moss, COPIC Sketch Marker

Skinny Strips, Neat & Tangled Dies

Scotch Foam Mounting Tape