pine is here.

vintage ornaments revisited

Happy December everyone! Once again, the month has flown by and it's time already for the Papertrey Ink senior design team challenge.

Today we are revisiting Vintage Ornaments and Vintage Ornaments Additions. This set debuted in October of 2009 and I know that Dawn used her own collection of vintage ornaments as inspiration for designing this set.

The set has a definite retro/vintage look and feel. One thing that is fun to do is to take a color combination that was typical of the time and use that in your project. This combination of green (New Leaf) and red (Pure Poppy) definitely fits the retro/vintage vibe for sure. I used a fringey silver pipe cleaner that I had found at a craft store to add some tinsel bling along with the added rhinestones on the ornaments.

The shape of the Tag Sale #5 die was perfect to combine with this particular ornament shape. I tied some New Leaf bakers twine to "hang" the ornament from the top of the tag.

Several tags make up the background for the card and I hung lots of vintage ornaments across the front of the card.

See what the rest of the Papertrey Ink senior design team created with the Vintage Ornaments and Vintage Ornaments Additions sets: Nichole, Betsy, Dawn, Maile, and Lisa will all have projects to share on their blogs today.

Supplies:

all supplies from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted

Vintage Sparkle Card and Tag

stamps: Vintage Ornaments, Vintage Ornaments Additions

ink: True Black, Fresh Snow

cardstock: kraft, Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Holiday Flourishes & Swirls

other: New Leaf bakers twine, Vintage Ornaments dies, Double Ended Banners die, Tag Sale #5, Picnic Plaid impression plate, Giga Guidelines 1 impression plate, Moroccan Motifs impression plate, clear rhinestones (Kaisercraft), tiny attacher (Ranger), silver tinsel pipe cleaner (craft store)

And finally here is a past project that I created using the Vintage Ornaments and Additions sets...

I used the ornament decoration images to create the background designs on the cards stamped with a silver ink. These ornaments are also "hanging" from the top of the focal point piece.

It won't be long before it's time for the December release sneak peeks! See you soon!

more birthdays by the numbers and tag-its #10

I am almost done catching up with my Papertrey Ink November release projects. Today I have some more cards to share using my Birthdays by the Numbers and Tag-its #10 sets.

I am loving this color combination of Sweet Blush, Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado, kraft, and a touch of Scarlett Jewel. The cupcake is sitting inside the round frame from Tag-its #10 and for the sentiment, I combined the "birthday" from Tag-its #10 and the "wishes" from Birthday by the Numbers.

The kraft paper piece is stamped with Mega Mehndi Medallion, tied with a bit of Sweet Blush stitched ribbon, and finished off with a sweet little tag using Tiny Tags II. I am thinking that this card layout switched our with several color combinations, would fill my basket of much needed birthday cards. For a more masculine version, I could swap out the flower tag with a more basic shape or star tag.

Hana has lots of friends that will be having 9th birthday parties in the next several months and so I am all set for the next one that comes up! This card uses a By the Numbers die on the circle frame from the By the Numbers set. I added a strip of Bitty Dot patterned paper in Raspberry Fizz that I die cut the one edge with the Pinking Shears border die.

I stamped the cupcake bottom in Fresh Snow ink and then added the color to the polka dots with a Copic marker.

Here's a sweet simple birthday card I made with my Tag-its #10 set. I stamped my own balloon patterned paper with a little selective inking.

One of my favorite images from Tag-its #10 is the little "happy" pennant border. I colored in the pennants with a Copic marker and then used a glue pen to add some glitter.

Here is one last card set made with the By the Numbers set. For one card, I used the cupcake as the focal point on the card, but for the other I stamped a whole background paper piece with the cupcakes. I personalized the one card with the recipients age and the set includes numbers so you can customize your card agewise however you want!

I have one more post to share with you after this with the remainder of my November release projects and I will share that with you after the senior design team challenge post tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by!

Supplies:

all supplies are from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted

Sweet Birthday Wishes Card

stamps: Birthdays by the Numbers, Mega Mehndi Medallion, Tiny Tags II, Tag-its #10

ink: True Black, Fresh Snow, Sweet Blush, Spring Moss, Ripe Avocado

cardstock: white, kraft

other: Sweet Blush stitched ribbon, Scarlett Jewel button, Rustic Jute button twine, Tiny Tags die, trinket pin (Making Memories)

9th Birthday Wish Card

stamps: Birthdays by the Numbers, Tag-its #10

ink: True Black, Fresh Snow, Raspberry Fizz, Dark Chocolate

cardstock: kraft, white, Raspberry Fizz, Bitty Dot Basics

other: Raspberry Fizz stitched ribbon, By the Numbers die, Pinking Shears border die, Copic marker, clear rhinestone (Kaisercraft), 1 3/4" circle punch (EK Success)

Happy Birthday Balloons Card

stamps: Tag-its #10

ink: True Black, Fresh Snow, Summer Sunrise, Ocean Tides, Pure Poppy

cardstock: white, kraft, Pure Poppy

other: Ocean Tides grosgrain ribbon, Double Ended Banners die, Copic Markers, crystal glitter (Martha Stewart), 1 3/4" circle punch (EK Success), tiny attacher (Ranger)

Cupcake Wishes Cards

stamps: Birthdays by the Numbers

ink: True Black, Dark Chocolate, Ocean Tides, Summer Sunrise

cardstock: kraft, white, Ocean Tides

other: Ocean Tides stitched ribbon, Dark Chocolate polka dot ribbon, 1 3/4" circle punch (EK Success)

door to door

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday with your family and loved ones. I am still catching up on my Papertrey Ink November release projects and today I am sharing a card created with the new Door to Door set. The whole design team shared projects with this set as a group post during the countdown week.

I chose to do a baby theme for my project and "decorated" my front step to welcome a baby boy. I have a new baby niece or nephew expected in January and it was fun to start getting in the baby card and project mode. I decorated the banner in the set in blue with the "it's a boy" sentiment and added some buttons in the Blueberry Sky color. I used a Copic marker to custom color the ribbon that I have on the flower urns at the bottom of the steps - one of my very favorite features of Copics!

A peek inside the door reveals a sweet baby in a blue buggy - so fun! The images for the buggy and baby are from the Bitty Baby Blessings set.

Here's what I did for the inside of the card. The "welcome to the world" sentiment is from the Night Night Moon set - I used the "special delivery" sentiment from the same set on the front of the card.

If you haven't already, make sure to stop at the blogs of all of the design team members to see their projects made with the Door to Door set: Nichole, Ashley, Betsy, Dawn, Lisa, Melissa, Maile, Erin, Danielle, and Jessica.

See you again soon and thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies:

all supplies from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted

Welcome Baby Boy Card

stamps: Door to Door, Bitty Baby Blessings, Night Night Moon

ink: True Black, Dark Chocolate

cardstock: white, kraft, Blueberry Sky

other: Door to Door and Accessories dies, Heart Prints dies, Copic Markers, Blueberry Sky buttons, Rustic Jute button twine, cream ribbon (Stampin' Up!), label punch (EK Success), tiny attacher (Ranger)

 

holiday clay ornaments

I know that many of you are just as addicted to Pinterest as I am. I have endless ideas and inspiration pinned so that I can go back and make it all someday. Here's one project that I put into action - type "clay ornaments" into the search on Pinterest and so many examples pop up. I pulled out some oven bake clay, stamps, and some shimmer paint and took the afternoon to make up some ornaments perfect for hanging on the tree or attaching to gifts for the season...

Some of the supplies that you are going to need for this project include: oven bake clay (I used Sculpey, but there are other brands out there. You might even consider using an air dry clay as well), a round cookie cutter, stamps, a small rolling pin (I used a marker for this), a straw, some shimmer paint & brush (optional.)

The first thing that you need to do is work or condition the clay. Sculpey is pretty firm and so expect this to take just a bit. You want the clay to be pliable and smooth.

Then roll the clay out evenly. This is where I used a marker from my girls craft supplies as my rolling pin. Turn the clay over periodically as you roll it out.

Use the cookie cutter to cut out your shape for the ornament.

Next, stamp your desired images into the clay. I used acrylic stamps and one thing I found was that to keep the clay from sticking to the stamp, dampen the surface of the stamp just a bit with a damp cloth. Remember that if you mess up, you can just roll your clay out again and redo it!

One package of Sculpey clay, which costs about $2.49, gave me about 3 ornaments that are about 2 1/2" in diameter.

I used the straw to add a hole to the top of the ornament.

Next, bake the ornaments in the oven on a cookie sheet lined with foil. Follow the instructions for baking temperature and time for the particular clay that you choose to use.

After the ornaments were baked and cooled, I painted them with a shimmer paint. You could experiment here with a pigment powder or glitter too. You also might consider using a spray finish of some sort over the top to seal everything up.

I added some ribbon and a button to finish my ornaments.

And they are now ready for hanging from the tree or attaching to a gift for the holidays! A project like this is one that is easy enough to do with your friends and family, so make sure you add a crafting night into your schedule to enjoy crafting with friends and family!

Supplies:

Stamped Clay Christmas Ornaments

stamps: Peace be Still, Snowfall (Papertrey Ink)

other: Pure Poppy grosgrain ribbon, Scarlett Jewel button, Rustic Jute button twine, white Sculpey clay (Polyform Products), frost white shimmer paint (Tsukineko), cookie cutter (my kitchen)

more winter penguin cards

Hi everyone, I have a few more cards to share with you today that I created with my new set Winter Penguin and my new patterned paper Holiday Flourishes & Swirls from the Papertrey Ink November release.

Both of these cards measure 4 1/4" square and are easy to mail in a regular A2 size envelope. I first stamped a background with the snowflakes in Chai ink on Rustic Cream cardstock. I distressed the edges with Chamomile and Chai ink. If you haven't already seen it, Betsy Veldman's Make it Monday video for this week features stamping sentiments to achieve the same kind of background look.

I stamped the penguins onto my stamped background in True Black ink and colored their beaks and feet with Copic markers. On the card with the "jingle all the way" sentiment, I added some little rusty jingles bells on a Rustic Jute button twine string for the penguin to hold. On the card with the "winter wishes" sentiment I have the penguins holding hands and wearing their cute little striped hats.

This month, my patterned paper collection has a holiday theme combining images from Peace be Still and Fancy Flourishes. The colors that coordinate with this collection are Fine Linen, Ripe Avocado, and Scarlett Jewel. The paper collection retails for $8.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Supplies:

all supplies from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted

Penguin Jingle and Winter Friends Cards

stamps: Winter Penguin

ink: True Black, Vintage Cream, Ripe Avocado, Scarlett Jewel, Tea Dye Duo

cardstock: Rustic Cream, Ripe Avcado, Holiday Flourishes and Swirls

other: Rustic Jute button twine, Double Ended Banners die, Copic markers, rusty juingle bells (craft store), tiny attacher (Ranger)

stitches & swirls

One of the Papertrey Ink November release group post projects was using the new Stitches & Swirls set. The design team has shared so many of the different ways using this lovely set from focal images to different stamping techniques.

The great thing about a set like this is that it translates into something that can be bold and up front as well as soft and in the background. I used the set as a background for my card project. My card has a holiday theme, but Stitches and Swirls will work for so many occasions.

I stamped the stitches and swirls in Chai ink onto Rustic Cream cardstock and then inked the edges with the Chamomile ink - both the Chai and Chamomile inks are from the Tea Dye Duo set. I layered the Quatrefoil die that I trimmed in half on the bottom half of the card (I used spray adhesive to attach it) and love the look of the stamped background layered underneath.

I used a Mat Stack die to add my sentiment to the card and added some Stiches and Swirls in Vintage Cream ink - I reverse look from the card background. I added a bit of Winterberry to the card front using my new Winterberry dies that debuted this month.

The Winterberry die collection includes dies for the branch, tree, and sprig images in the set. It retails for $6.

You can see all of the projects that the rest of the design team created by checking out their blog posts for this project: Nichole, Betsy, Ashley, Danielle, Dawn, Erin, Jessica, Lisa, Maile, and Melissa.

Supplies:

all supplies from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted

Winterberry Stitches Card

stamps: Stiches & Swirls, Winterberry

ink: True Black, Vintage Cream, Ripe Avocado, Tea Dye Duo

cardstock: kraft, Rustic Cream

other: Pure Poppy satin ribbon, Winterberry die, Mat Stack 1 die, Quatrefoil die, red rhinestones (Kaisercraft)

a thank you & winter penguin tags

Hello everyone, I want to thank you all for all of the prayers, thoughts, and sympathies sent my family's way during this past week. My grandpa died peacefully, surrounded by family - me included. He will be missed SO much. The past week with family was spent remembering, laughing, crying, and feeling ever so blessed that he was a part of our family and lives.

Here is my Grandpa and Grandma with my girls a few Christmases ago. He was a man of few words, but was always there for all of us. His family was his life and all of us knew it. I want to thank Nichole and Papertrey Ink as a whole for letting me have this time to say goodbye and be with family.

I have projects to share with you for the Papertrey Ink November release that got put aside while I was out of town and I will share those with you in the coming days. 

One project that I do every year, and for various holidays, are tags for my girls, nephews, and some family friends. I keep the tags from every year and have been putting them in our scrapbooks afterwards.

My new set Winter Penguin, along with the coordinating dies, was perfect for this year's tags. The new Block Alphabet die set was perfect timing this month to add the names to the tags with Pure Poppy cardstock.

I used my new Peace Be Still impression plate on the Aqua Mist cardstock in the background that I swiped with some Fresh Snow ink to make the snowflakes pop just a bit more. The finished tag size is 2 3/4" x 4 1/4" - I cut the corners at an angle to acheive the tag shape.

I love how simple embellishments, like the pom-pom on the hat and the red rhinestones on the snowflakes add that perfect detail.

You can see past Christmas tags I have made: 2010, 2009, 2008 & 2007.

I will share more projects again soon!

Supplies:

all supplies from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted

Winter Penguin 2011 Christmas Tags

stamps: Winter Penguin

ink: True Black, Fresh Snow

cardstock: white, Aqua Mist, Pure Poppy

other: Pure Poppy twill ribbon, Peace Be Still impression plate, Winter Penguin dies, Block Alphabet dies, Copic markers, red rhinestones (Kaisercraft), white pom-pom (Darice)

countdown posts delayed

Hi everyone, my countdown posts will be delayed for several days. My grandfather passed away this afternoon and I have been with family and will be out of town until after the funeral. Thank you for your understanding. -Heather

introducing winter penguin, tag-its #10, & birthdays by the numbers

Welcome to day 1 of the Papertrey Ink November release countdown! I have lots of things to share with you this month starting off with my three new stamp sets: Winter Penguin, Tag-its #10, and Birthdays by the Numbers.

Winter Penguin is a sweet little wintery set. The penguin is so whimsical and cute and there are several wintery sentiments and snowflakes to go with him. Winter Penguin retails for $5.

Birthdays by the Numbers is a great basic set to celebrate birthdays for anyone in your life. There's a cupcake, candle, and numbers to customize your project perfectly. This set retails for $15.

Tag-its #10 has a birthday theme as well and coordinates with the Birthdays by the Numbers set. This set retails for $5.

All of the new stamp sets and products that I am sharing today will be available to purchase on November 15th at Papertrey Ink.

Today the penguin came in from the cold to celebrate birthdays! The little elements in the Tag-its #10 set are perfect accessories for the penguin. On one card the penguins are holding up the little "happy" banner and on the other the penguin has a birthday balloon.

The Banner Builders pennant die was perfect for creating a birthday banner border on the bottom of each card with my sewing machine. I added a bit of glitter to the "happy" banner and the balloon with a glue pen.

I balanced the penguin on the top of the cupcake image from Birthdays by the Numbers for this card for something fun. the cupcake pieces are divided, so you can stamp the cupcake in multiple colors easily.

There are more sneak peeks to see today: Nichole and Betsy will be featuring the new sets Background Basics: Circles and Tiny Tags II. Nichole and Erin will feature the new Mega Mehndi Medallion set. Dawn, Beth, Melissa, and Maile all things to share on their blogs too.

It's just the beginnning of the countdown and so there will be lots more to share in the next few days! See you tomorrow!

Supplies:

all supplies from Papertrey Ink unless otherwise noted

Birthday Penguin Pennant Cards

stamps: Winter Penguin, Tag-its #10

ink: True Black, Pure Poppy

cardstock: white, kraft, Pure Poppy, Bitty Dot Basics

other: Banner Builder die, Copic markers, Crystal glitter (Martha Stewart)

Penguin Cupcake Birthday Card

stamps: Winter Penguin, Birthdays by the Numbers

ink: True Black, Pure Poppy, Dark Chocolate

cardstock: white, kraft, Pure Poppy, Beautiful Blooms

other: Pure Poppy twill ribbon, Rustic Jute button twine, Copic markers, glitter button (American Crafts), Crystal glitter (Martha Stewart)

a few previews and a video too

I have a few stamp set sneak peeks and a Make it Monday (a few days late here!) video to share with you today...

First up is this sweet little penguin set. I have been having so much fun stamping this little guy - he became the image I used for my 2011 Christmas tags!

This month's Tag-it set has a definite birthday theme. If you are like me, your birthday card stash is running low. I have some fun ideas to inspire you to stock it back up!

This set will also play a big part in building up your birthday card and tag stash too!

It was also my turn for the Make it Monday video and I featured the Reverse Applique technique using Papertrey Ink dies...

 

Here are the still photos of the project I shared in the video...

You can do your own project using the Reverse Applique technique and enter the contest over at Nichole's blog. You can find more information on the contest at her blog as well.

See you very soon for some sneak peek projects with my new sets and other products too!