Time warp!
That means my order came in 13 days. I live in spitting distance (sort of) to the Papertrey warehouse, so shipping times tend to be pretty fast once an order is processed. Also, perhaps the slow shipping times started right after I placed my order. I don't know.
Why am I making a big deal about this? Well, in the past, Papertrey has been falsely accused of showing me favoritism, and it doesn't. I don't want anyone to think the company is playing favorites just because I misremembered my order date. I don't know Nichole or any of the other ladies at Papertrey and am pretty certain they don't know me or my blog from a hole in the wall. I just like their stuff and live close to the warehouse.
Also, Reader Judy asked what paper I used with the Copics yesterday. Whenever I use Copics/Bics/Sharpies to color, the only cardstock for me is Gina K Pure Luxury white in the heavy weight. It's coated, and the markers will NOT bleed through. Papertrey's white cardstock allows alcohol markers to bleed through, leaving an unsightly mess inside a one-layer card, so while it is my go-to white cardstock for most things, it's not the only one I use. Gina K's paper is slick and wonderful to blend on, by the way.
For more thoughts on products like cardstock and ink, remember there's a Product Talk tab at the top of the blog.
Now, let's move on to the experiment, which arose from a thoroughly disastrous day of stamping. You see, it's a good thing I bought nine packs of Papertrey's white cardstock because I wasted a LOT of it today. Ugh. Mojo's off, for sure. So in the end, I was staring blankly at the mess on my desk and feeling pretty defeated when the idea of an experiment popped into my head.
Along with all that glorious cardstock, my order included the set Life, which is rather old but now new to me. It occurred to me that I should experiment with this rather simple, straightforward solid-image set to see how many different supplies I could use and how many different looks I could get with it. Most stampers who like block stamps probably have a similar set laying around, and if I could come up with at least a week's worth of different looks, well, wouldn't that be cool?
I thought so.
So I started with a VERY simple application of the stamps: stamping them in fun colors on white cardstock. Nothing fancy, just minimalism at its most colorful. It's all I could handle in my mojo-less state.
The colors were inspired by this pin, and the basic layout takes advantage of the strong vertical elements of the set by balancing them with a strongly horizontal sentiment. The bling just makes everything more beautiful.
This will be sent to a friend in April. She's having surgery then and will need some care for many weeks after.
Making a card that far in advance gives me the illusion that I'm on top of things. The reality is, I'll likely forget all about this card, make her another in April, find this one months later, and feel really stupid.
Such is life.
Mercy, grace, peace, and love to you...and I should probably give some to myself as well,
Susan
Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Life, Altenew Sentiments and Quotes
ink: Versamagic turquoise gem; Impress Fresh Ink grass; Memento Luxe Bahama blue and tuxedo black
paper: Papertrey white
accessories: rhinestones and alcohol markers for coloring them!
Lovely card, Susan, as usual. What is a "block set"? You'd think I would have heard of this, but no......
ReplyDeleteI edited it to "solid-image"...realized that came out confusing. Block images as opposed to outline images, but my wording was awkward. Sorry about that.
DeleteThanks! Makes sense, especially after Day 2. LOL
DeleteYour card has inspired me to pull out my Life PTI and play around with it! I love the solid images.
ReplyDeleteI placed a PTI order on January 21st and it still hasn't shipped. Sigh. Granted, my order only contains $1.00 paper from their anniversary sale, but I fail to see how they stay in business when it takes them weeks and weeks to ship products. Frustrating, for sure. Embarrassingly I ordered 28(!!!) packs of patterned paper from their anniversary sale. I may need to clear some shelf space when my order finally arrives! -Erin
Erin, how in the world will you use 28 packs of paper...no, wait. It's not about using. It's about having the right paper available in your stash at the right time. So it's all good!
DeleteAngela's comment was the first I heard of delays in their shipping. I had several other orders come in during the time I was waiting for the Papertrey order, so that helped me lose track of things. Thirteen days seems long in my experience with them. I've never received a ship notice from them, though. How do you know it hasn't shipped?
I will fully admit that this specific PTI order was purely stress-based impulse shopping at its finest. However, I *do* use the Papertrey Ink patterns packs often (at least every other card) so I don't feel terribly guilty about my paper hoarding, er, splurge.
DeleteI found my order and used the order number plus my shipping zip code on the PTI website. I receive the message "your order has not shipped" when I plug both of those numbers into their shipment tracker. I sent an email to PTI customer service yesterday and I'm waiting to hear back.
I worry when my beloved craft companies start skimping on packers, customer service, etc., because it usually signals trouble for the business. Hopefully that is not the case with Papertrey Ink.
Wow. I had no idea you could do that. I always place my orders and pray!
DeleteHere is a link to the order tracking page on the PTI website:
Deletehttp://www.papertreyink.com/index.php?p=order_track
According to Julie at PTI, orders are shipping 4-6 weeks(!!!!) after the order was placed due to their anniversary sale. Oy vey. It's going to be spring before I receive my supplies!
Your card is very Spring-like and pretty. I only have one PTI stamp set, ordered years ago. I've never tried their paper. I like a lot of PTI stamps that I see you and others use. I just can't order everything I like - LOL!
ReplyDeleteWouldn't it be nice to win the lottery and get everything you want...but then where would you put it all, and would you live long enough to use it. I wouldn't!
Deletehi Susan,
ReplyDeleteabout not forgetting you allready have made a card for someone: make a folder with the 12 months in it, file the card for your friend into the april-spot. If you look in the folder each first of the month it will refresh your memory :)
Well, duh. Thanks, Cecile, for reminding me that I do, indeed, have a system for birthday cards. No reason I can't put this card in there, too. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
DeleteLovely card! I have the next version of that set -- Larger Than Life -- and i haven't used it in a long time. I love the way the wild flowers look clustered on the edge.
ReplyDeleteHello, Susan! Your card is lovely, as usual. My comment pertains to you saying that you wasted a lot of paper getting to today's card. Don't you turn your cardstock over and reuse it if the colors don't show through? I always try, because my budget doesn't allow for throwing away perfectly good cardstock. (My Virgo personality doesn't allow for it, either!)
ReplyDeleteI think I can answer your question, since Susan hasn't been able to yet- not trying to step on any toes, though!
DeleteIf you're set on making a one layer card, you can't just flip it over because the "mistake" side would still be seen.
I tend to put more layers on my card, even though I love the one layer look, so I'd either flip it over or cut the rest of the untouched cardstock off and save it for later.
Hey, Marcia. I hope all is well with you!
DeleteAngela is spot on. I do selectively salvage mistakes. I'll cut off all the unstamped card stock to save for layers and just throw away the stamped portion of mistakes. I don't flip over mistakes because I generally pop panels up on craft foam for multiple layers. If there's color under the edge that overhangs the craft foam, the color will reflect onto the white base and look bad...at least to my obsessive eye. So I'm frugal to a point but can't risk ruining an otherwise great card.
For Angela: Yup, yes, youbetcha, uh huh. In my haste to question Susan, I overlooked the fact that her cards are most often one layer and you can't flip your cardstock in that case. Most of my cards are layered; some are layered white-on-white unintentionally because I messed up somewhere but can still cut the front of the card off and put it on a new white card "backing." I can't remember how many times I threw away the entire card when I could have salvaged at least part of it. Virgo, be gone!
DeleteI wasn't suggesting that PTI showed you favoritism at all. PTI had a big sale that began on Jan. 15th. Most of their paper packs and all buttons were on sale for $1. Ribbon was on sale for .50 and several limited edition sets were re-released for two weeks. I still haven't gotten my order that I placed on Jan 15th. I also haven't gotten the order I placed on the 16th because one re-released limited time item was went out of stock and then came back in on the 16th. By the time the sale ended on January 31st, we were all told it would be 4-6 weeks before most of us got our orders. That's why I was suprised and said you were very fortunate to get your order so quickly. Even thirteen days is great considering my orders were placed before yours and I still don't have them. I wasn't making a big deal out of it. I was glad you got yours so quickly and wished, like I have for weeks now, that I could get mine that quickly because that is definitely not the experience most of us are having right now. I definitely didn't expect to get pointed out in the first paragraph of your next blog post. I guess that teaches me to be very careful what I say because even something that was very innocent can be taken the wrong way.
ReplyDeleteAngela, I didn't think YOU were implying favoritism, and I'm deeply sorry if my words implied that. My comment harkens back to old accusations from years ago. There was quite the kerfuffle and I didn't want people to get the wrong idea. Probably should have just let that sleeping dog lie, but it got pretty ugly before and nipping any new conflict in the bud seemed a good idea. I'm so sorry if you felt singled out. I LOVE when people comment and I can respond directly, and I so appreciated your heads-up on the delays for shipping with PTI. So thank you, and please accept my apology for making you feel bad. I hope your order arrives soon!
DeleteGorgeous, Susan! I love, love, the colors and the images. Your layout, as usual, is perfection!
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure the PTI shipping times are ONLY for the January sale. They're not the fastest in the business on a regular day, but if that were to be their shipping times going forward, I suspect it would be company suicide. Amazon has spoiled us all!
ReplyDeleteI suspect so, too, Heather. Someone told me that they have even delayed any new releases for February so they can get from under the backlog of sale orders. They are trying!
DeleteThx for sharing, always generous and inspiring. If you have a moment, plz tell how you hang tiny bling on your cards.
ReplyDelete