Winterberry, A Completely Different Look

Today's card uses PTI's Winterberry set similarly to yesterday's card but yields a completely different look and feel. Three layers of card stock, strong focal point, same sentiment, same basic layout, BUT the color combo and image completely change it into a more obviously Christmas-y card.

I noticed the ragged edge of the SU real red mat when I edited the photo. Hmmm. A thumbnail run down that edge will take care of the raggedness, so it's an easy fix.

Have a lovely weekend, everyone! I hope to get tha tutorial on punches finished this weekend.

Blessings!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Winterberry
ink: Memento cottage ivy, SU real red
paper: PTI white, SU real red
accessories: Memento New Sprout marker, red rhinestones

Winterberry ROCKS!!!!

My new favorite Christmas/winter set is the PTI set Winterberry. Ohmygosh is it easy to work with to create CAS cards. Here's my first card to share with you from this set...three whole layers! Can you believe it?!?!

The color combo is SU marina mist and sahara sand, which I can't remember using together but which make such a peaceful pairing! I did lengthen the card to 6.25" by a shorter 4" to fit the stamped panel better. That sometimes happens when you stamp on a random scrap of white card stock and then want to fit it onto a base after the fact. This card will fit into a standard A4 envelope, so now worries there.

Several people have asked about my promised tutorial on lengthening punched shapes like the folder tab punch. I haven't forgotten, but I've also had next to no time in my craft room lately. All the cards you're seeing came out of a massive stamp marathon when my husband was overseas a few weeks ago. I promise to get that tutorial out as quickly as I can, though.

Have yourselves a merry little Thursday!

Taunting You Once Again with Discontinued Hero Arts Stamps

Apparently, my post yesterday sparked a bidding war on eBay for the discontinued Hero Arts set. Or at least that's what reader Phyllis thinks may have happened. Anyway, this card uses another stamp from that same set...which is called Horizontal Graphics, for anyone else who's interested.

Good luck to those of you searching for it! It's pretty awesome.

Anyway, here's the card.

The centers of the flowers are dotted with Smooch. As you can see if you have microscopic vision, I put a white dot (gel pen) in the center of the purple flower by the sentiment. I don't like it and will put a purple dot of Smooch on it in the morning. It just looks weird to me now.

Anyway (again), I'm off to bed because I'm tired, which explains the awkward repetitition of anyway in this post.

Supplies
stamps: PTI Tree Tops, Limitless Labels; Hero Arts Horizontal Graphics
ink: Versacolor
paper: PTI
accessories: Smooch, white gel pen

Swish!

Since Duke lost early in the tournament (and it was ALL MY FAULT*), I'm ignoring the swishing going on in b-ball, but here's a swish from an old, discontinued (so sad) Hero Arts shadow set.

Swish, indeed.

The tree is from PTI's Tree Tops, and the stars seemed appropriate for a birthday card (sentiment from Limitless Labels, I think). Also, I dug out my star-shaped blings and made a triangle of them. Angles love curves, apparently.

And yes, the photo is a tad over-exposed, but I cut the stamped panel out along the swish on bottom and rounded both top corners. Then, the panel was popped on dimensionals.

If you're looking for a challenge, try using a curvy shape as grass and cutting your panel as I have done. It's fun!


*I graduated from Duke in December 1987, and every time I watch my team play basketball, they lose. On March 16, I turned my television on and by pure bad luck, Duke was playing Lehigh.  I swear I didn't even know they were supposed to be playing!!!! I wanted to watch The Big Bang Theory. But there it was...Duke ahead by two. As soon as I realized what I was watching, I changed the channel. But it was too late. Once again, I killed Coach K's dream. *insert swear word here*

Happy Easter

Playing around with my Tree Tops stamp set from Papertrey and came up with an Easter card.

LOVE the solid circles you can use to fill in the open-circled tree top. I used hot pink for the outline circles and filled in with light pink because the pink trees in Ohio right now are scrumptious looking and the very image of Easter that I most love...living trees with beautiful pastel blooms full of hope and promise for fruit and life!

The ground was made with an old Hero Arts circle border stamp, and the sentiment is from PTI's Sign Language.

Then, of course, I blinged it. Happy sigh.

For some Christians, the old rugged cross best represents Easter, but on Easter morning at my hometown church, the wooden cross is completely frosted with living flowers to make this point: that the bare wood of torturous death was transformed into our salvation and eternal life.

He arose, and He's inviting us to follow!

If that doesn't necessitate bling, I don't know what does.

Variations

Thank you for your recommendations for stamps. So many stamps, so little time!

And now for a post, slightly delayed due to exhaustion.

It's sort of amazing how different a simple layout can be when you change the image, color, and card stock.

First up, a love card for my dear husband. Kraft, dark red, and brown really scream DUDE, don't they, even with Victorian-looking keys?

Next up, a smaller image means more white space, but the natural, flecked card stock and rust color of the lock preserve the masculinity of the card, which is for a college graduate moving directly on to graduate school. He'll care more about the check in the card that the card itself, I'm sure!

Finally, make the base white, change the image to a feminine silhouette, and brighten the color of it a bit, and you have a different feel altogether.

Note that the sentiments are all in Memento dark brown, yet on the different papers, they look so, well, different. All three cards use earth-toned shades (burgundy, rust, apricot), but again, the change in paper highlights each differently. I love how the apricot pops off the white!

Rounding the corners differently also changes the feel. The last card is soft and pretty, while the middle card is firm and decisive (that rounded lock made me want to round the corners, though I resisted!). The first card I shall not analyze too deeply since it's intended for my husband and I have a dirty English major mind.

And with that thought, I take my leave. My dear husband, by the way, just returned from overseas. This weekend will be family time, full of baseball practice, swim lessons, movies, dog walks, and steak. I hope your own weekend is full of family, friends, and fun!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Ink (Lock and Key, Simply Jane)
ink: Memento
paper: Papertrey
accessories: Corner Chomper

More Keys...And A Not-So-Random Secret

Well, today I'm going to share a secret with you.

Yesterday's card, the one with the pink and orange keys...several of y'all commented and emailed me that it was "random."

Here's the secret.

There is nothing, not one tiny thing, random about that card. I spent about twenty minutes laying out the keys and deciding what colors to put where before I stamped a thing.

Yeah. I'm obsessive. And proud of it.

So, here's a card that is much more random. To create the key panel, I started with an oversized scrap and stamped a key in the middle. Then I worked out from there, using my gridded acrylic block to keep everything parallel or at right angles. Then, I trimmed the panel down using my clear quilting ruler and a craft knife.

The Lock and Key set from Papertrey Ink is amazingly easy to work with. What set or stamp have you bought recently that was easy for you? I'm interested in buying a few new things. I received a pleasant surprise when I did my taxes today, and mama needs some new stamps!

Supplies
stamps: Papertrey Ink
ink: Memento
paper: PTI white
accessories: dimensionals