PaperTrey Blog Hop – My Crafts are Like a Box of Chocolates

Rugged Sympathy Cards

January 9, 2015 beccreates1

My FIL passed away recently and while we weren’t close, it was hard to see my teenaged son and my husband so sad. So I made them both sympathy cards.

Of course, as with many of us, I struggle to make masculine cards that aren’t super boring. Sure it’s easy to layer a few papers but that’s so blah. I used some ephemera I’d been saving and a cool technique to jazz it up some.

The background is crumpled cardstock which I then smoothed and DTP added some light brown ink. I spritzed it with water to soften the look, let it dry then applied a slightly darker shade orange ink with my fingers to really work it into the paper. It if was closer to the same shade, I might have been able to use a sponge applicator but this seemed to really bring out the texture in the paper. A sponge might have applied ink too evenly. My fingers were only orange for one day :). I wish more of it showed.

I’m entering this in the Simon Monday challenge to make new friends but keep the old. I used an old technique to make the paper look like leather and an old stamp. I used ephemera I’ve been saving for ages and new veneers. I also used Mojo Monday 379 for the sketch. for Mojo Monday Judges: I’m entering both cards. But I can only link up one card for each URL. So I entered the other card by clicking on it then using the URL for hte photo. Sorry but no way to link back to the challenge for that card. HOpe that’s OK.

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamp: Justrite Stamps
Ink: Ranger Archival brown
Paper: cardstock-PTI, DP-Authentique, ephemera envelope
Accessories: Veneers-Studio Calico, grommet-WRMK, twine-repurposed, Copic markers YR 68, BG75, E59

Uncategorized

Pink and Gold Notebook for PTI Blog Hop

January 25, 2014 beccreates1

The theme this week is PINK! Yeah! I’ve been using a bit less pink as I’ve gravitated to more teal, aqua and turquoise. But my love of pink is still strong!

I used my love of gold (for me it’s not a trend, I’ve always preferred gold to silver) and the gold in the photo below to inspire my notebook.

Pretty isn’t it? I especially love the heart garland, I was going to use hearts, now I still wish I had. Anyway… The way it’s made is pretty obvious so I won’t bore you. Just one tip. If you don’t have enough ribbon to go around the notebook and then tie too, cut it, attach the ends near the front and back edges, then disguise the ends in some way. Use buttons, die cuts, chipboard cut outs, or in my case, a glitter strip, which is a premade product, to cover the ends.

Just a couple close-ups of the details I added. I cut these small flags by hand as I don’t have a flag die yet. The glitter in these strips is rock solid, absolutely none flakes off and it’s very thin and flexible. A wonderful product. The lace I used is a score from my local fabric chain store. so delicate and dainty I have to apply it with the tiniest line of glossy accents but it’s worth it.

Another shot of this lovely lace and I promise, this text is much easier to see IRL. Not only do I need better lighting but when I use natural lighting apparently I desperately need to find my lens hood. Ugh. When I bought my lens, I didn’t know what it did and I stashed it in my black hole of a basement. My stomach turns in knots when I think of having to find anything down there. And I really need a nice rose ink that’s darker than this one too.

Enjoy the hop! Hope to see you around here again some time!

Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Take Note-PTI
Ink: Rose shadow-Hero Arts
Paper: kraft CS-PTI, DP-MME Lavender
Accessories: circle dies-PTI, notebook-PTI, lace-FabricLand, glitter tape-Darice, foam tape-Jody Morrow

Uncategorized

Winter Wishes Tags for PTI October Blog Hop

October 25, 2013 beccreates1

Welcome to Paper Trey Ink’s October Blog Hop. This month’s theme was to make a set of at least 5 holiday gift tags. I don’t celebrate any holidays so I just made some fun winter themed tags.

I dyed my own ribbon for this project. The first batch I used some reinkers that ended up splitting into too many purple tones so I redid it with only a greenish navy. That worked perfectly. Then I added some pewter Distress stain to add a metallic sheen which looks pretty IRL but is impossible to photograph and just looks white. Oh well. It’s also impossible to see the glitter I added to the snowflakes with glitter embossing powder.

The die cut is very intricate and dainty and therefore would be hard to adhere except for a new product I used, E6000 adhesive spray. It is messy as there is lots of overspray so use scratch paper or your craft sheet and be sure to hold it in place for at least 1 minute as it isn’t very tacky at first. Other than that learning curve, it’s a great product! It also says to clean out the entire nozzle and straw after every use which is a huge pain but I’ve not done it and so far, so good!

Enjoy the rest of the hop! Rebecca

RECIPE

Stamps: SU!
Ink: night of navy-SU! Versamark
Paper: white, blue CS-SU!
Accessories: tag die, buttons-PTI, snowflake die-Memory Box, Hug Snug seam binding, silver cord, iridescent ice EP-SU! Distress stain-Ranger, E6000 adhesive spray

Uncategorized

PTI Blog Hop–Rainbow Cake Inspiration

August 25, 2013 beccreates1

Nuts, I was just a hair too late linking this up tonight. I tried at 10:59 but seems Nichole’s blog has been giving me error messages all day. Weird. But I still like the card so I’m going to post it anyway. Obviously not my usual style but still fun.

I think it needs a few rhinestones, whadda you think? I wish I’d been more careful lining it up vertically. I’m off quite a bit, I know, I know… I’m too much of a perfectionist!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE: all PTI except Archival black ink-Ranger

Uncategorized

PTI Blog Hop Pastel Smiles

May 25, 2013 beccreates1

Time for another PTI blop hop! This month the challenge was to pull out our favourite floral set and combine that with a colour palette featured on Nichole’s blog.

I’m afraid this isn’t my favourite floral set but my favourites don’t lend themselves to being stamped in multiple colours which is the second part of the challenge. I love larkspurs but it really works best in one colour and my other favourite is Sweet Life which could be stamped in multiple colours but I often find myself challenged to find three colours that work well to come up with one coordinated final blossom so trying to get them done in multiple colours seemed like too much work! It wasn’t until I started typing this that I thought about Life which would have been great, darn it! Oh well, this turned out really well even if it is CAS which isn’t my forte.

I personally don’t think of these colours as neutrals as referred to on Nichole’s blog, they are lovely pastels! I didn’t end up using the fine linen though. The layered die cut technique is from JJ Bolton’s blog, if I wasn’t typing this at 3;30 am I’d happily link it! She was featured at the CASE Study blog recently which is where I found the link so that might help you find it.

I hope you enjoyed my card! If you’d like to see more of my work, be sure to visit again by subscribing by email, I have to get a new RSS feed thingie since I think mine is the type that is ending soon or bookmark me! Thanks so much for dropping by and have fun visiting some more blogs on the hop!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI
Paper: white CS-PTI
Ink: wisteria, lavender, moss-PTI, pirouette, eggplant-SU!
Accessories: tag die-Spellbinders, rhinestones-Dollarama, eyelet-WRMK, ribbon-Masterstroke ribbon, twine-Queen and Co, foam dots-Jody Morrow, eggplant marker-SU!

Uncategorized

Monogrammed Notecard Set for Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

February 25, 2013 beccreates1

This month’s challenge was to create with monograms. Not something I do a lot of but isn’t that why they call it a ‘challenge’ and not an ‘easy’!? hee hee!

I decided to make myself a pretty set of monogrammed notecards. I never have a decent thing to write a note on to the teacher despite having literally reams worth of GORGEOUS paper! Absolutely disgusting! So I was happy to finally have something nice to write on.

I plan to make a few more like these and a few more with just stamping and the monogram for when I need more space plus they will take less time to make. I may even stamp the monogram instead of die cutting it saving even more time. 4 was plenty for now considering I’ve just finished making 230 wedding favours for my sister’s wedding! Kinda sick of multiples for a while. I’m going to have a tutorial soon with tips on die cutting and stamping huge quantities of items! Stay tuned or check back if you are new to my blog.

Many of you may be new today so you don’t know me. But I am, in the words of Tim Gunn (Project Runway), a “make it work” type of person. So I rarely throw a card in the trash. An element or two maybe but even that is rare. So when a comedy of errors befell these cards, I made them work! First, my stupid cutter’s blade was dull so my papers had whiskers. So I trimmed them off with a scissors. Then I was adding the monograms and using a fine tipped bottle of glue. It virtually never clogs so I just kept adding more and more pressure to get the darn glue out until… you guessed it, a gigantic blob of glue landed on my notecard! Fortunately, it wasn’t the kind that sinks down into the paper so I used an adhesive eraser once it was dry!

I laid out all my stamps along the left edge of the paper to arrange them. When the hand touched my acrylic block, the pencil too came for a ride even though I had moved it out of the way, just not far enough. I guess I inked the hand on the edge of the pad and didn’t ink the pencil so once I checked how it looked the first time, something I do when stamping multiples, especially with a stamp I’ve not used before, I went ahead and stamped the rest. I guess I hit the ink pad differently the other times because the pencil partially stamped and not in the colour or place I wanted it to. grrr… After saying bad things under my breath I tried stamping over. Nope, the lines were so thin, I couldn’t see them through my block and yes, it is clean! The solid end lined up.

So, is this worth trashing, especially when it’s the last step? IMHO, nope! Seriously, its a note to the teacher. Does she care if the pencil isn’t lined up? Nope! So think about that the next time something is headed for the round file! Does it matter that much? If it is headed to CHA, then yes, save the flubbed one for grandma and redo it but otherwise, take a deep breath and move on! I have to work very hard to not obsess and take myself too seriously! My kids need me and I can’t spend all day in my craft room redoing things and it isn’t healthy. So make it work ladies!

I hope you are enjoying the hop! If you like what you’ve seen or you don’t want to forget to come back for my assembly line die cutting and stamping tutorial or to see my wedding favours, be sure to subscribe by RSS or email subscription. They are both on my left sidebar. If you read this far, you are amazing and I thank you for visiting. Have a great day!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Button Boutique, Take Note-PTI
Ink: Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Kraft, Chocolate
Paper: DP-PTI, ivory-cheap stuff
Accessories: chevron die-PTI, alpha die-Quickutz

Uncategorized

10 Minute Craft Dash–Hearts n Washi

February 11, 2013 beccreates1

Make a card in under 10 minutes? WOW! But I had to try it. I went with a very easy layout and minimal stamping.

I adhered my white CS to my grid mat first so I could easily line everything up without measuring. I started with the thanks and worked out each way from there. I started with the Thanks up too high so when I got to the bottom, I created a row of hearts. I had already planned on incorporating them but not this way. Even with a 10 minute card, plans can change in a second, LITERALLY!

I’m entering this in the Simon Says Stamp challenge to use hearts.

Need Proof? It was a close one!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: PTI Thanks all Ways
Ink: Memento black
Paper: white, raspberry, hibiscus CS-PTI
Accessories: Heat die-PTI, dotted, striped washi-Queen and Co, other washi WRMK??, Copics

Uncategorized

Papertrey Ink December Inspiration Blog Hop–Ivory Roses

December 26, 2012 beccreates1

This month’s inspiration was to use white on white. A touch of colour or neutrals were permitted. I decided to go with ivory on ivory since the music paper I used as a base for my flower wasn’t was vintage and not white any more.

This was a very hard card to photograph. The top, further away and at a deeper angle to my lights turned out OK, but the bottom faded away to almost nothing. Ugh. On top of the ivory, I added a bit of yellow shading to the music rose, green to the leaves and flourishes and pink to the small roses. All flowers are handmade.

I used a Cuttlebug folder for the embossing around the card to add dimension. Then I added more dimension with the picot circle die cut, flourishes foam dotted so they aren’t just popped up but are flat at one end, one layer foam dotted one third of the way down and double layered 2/3 of the way down so the end sticks up quite nicely.

When you can’t use colour for contrast, you have to look for other ways to get dimension. This card is over 1 and a half inches thick; maybe closer to 2”. It won’t even fit into a card box to be delivered. It will require hand delivery for sure! The sentiment says “Sending our Thoughts and Prayers”.

I am also going to enter this into the Shabby Tea Room Challenge to add a new card or your favourite of 2012. I have several favourites from 2012 but why not enter a new one?

I hope you enjoy the rest of the hop. If you liked my project I hope you will visit again and subscribe, the sign up thingies are on my sidebar. Thanks!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: JustRite-Sentiment, PTI-flourishes
Ink: Scattered straw, spun sugar Distress, moss-PTI, pink pirouette-SU!
Paper: ivory CS-PTI, vintage music paper
Accessories: circle, tag die-Spellbinders, flourish dies-PTI, large rose dies-Spellbinders, mini rose dies-Cheery Lynn, pearls-Dollarama, foam dots-Jody Morrow, Hug Snug seam binding ribbon

Uncategorized

Papertrey Ink November Blog Hop–Life is Good Congratulations Card

November 24, 2012 beccreates1

This month’s theme is to use some sort of cover art as inspiration for your card or paper crafting project. Funny, when I told my hubby about it, he assumed it meant music album cover art! He used to be a semi-pro/paid hobbyist musician so of course that’s where his mind went first. But I reminded him this was all about girls and paper crafting. Cover art to us is books and catalogues! Of course, you could think of it as any cover art you like!

I couldn’t think of any books or catalogues I thought were particularly inspirational, I buy mostly online, so few catalogues, so I asked my mom. She actually bought a book once because she thought the cover was so beautiful. I agreed!

I’m sure you can see how I was inspired by it! There is a bit of technique needed to get this look. First, stamp the palm trees, trunks and colour them in. Then using an embossing ink pen, colour the trees and clear emboss them. This protects their colour from the next steps and adds some shine to an otherwise flat background. (You could cut masks if you wish but it can be hard with 4 stamps to line up, 2 tree tops and 2 trunks)Tear a scrap of paper to use as a mask – I use copy paper and add temporary adhesive. I specifically use this because you not only need a mask but also need the opposite piece later. If you use a sticky note, the remaining piece won’t be large enough to use later. Use half of your torn paper to mask off the top of the paper and sponge the bottom using a ground colour. I used frayed burlap. Now take the opposite torn paper, line it up so no white background shows and sponge in your sky. I used apricot, lemon tart, aqua mist and broken china. Work your colour in slowly so you avoid lines. You can always add more. Be especially careful when using any ink other than Distress inks as they don’t sponge as smoothly.

I added some opaque white to the highlights of my car. Cars are so shiny that it is very hard to accurately portray the finish but I did my best with the white highlights. I am not entirely happy with the left side of the body of the car. I may rework it with some more shading and some blue-violet too. I just realized too that there isn’t any shading under the car. As it is up on foam dots, it does make its own shadow somewhat but I may add a bit more under the tires. I may also add some glossy accents to the bumper for shine. I’ve STILL got a cold so things that might normally seem obvious take more brain power when my head is full of {{redacted for politeness}}.

I hope you liked my card, want to see more of my work? Feel free to sign up using subscription thingies on my sidebar; I have both email and RSS. Have fun on the rest of the hop!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: car, congrats-PTI, trees, life sentiment-Verve
Ink: Archival black-Ranger, Memento black, lemon tart, aqua mist-PTI, apricot, artichoke, old olive-SU!, broken china Distress
Paper: coloured, clear CS-PTI, white CS-X-Press It
Accessories: foam dots-Jody Morrow, embossing ink pen, clear EP-SU!, Copics, opaque white-Copic

Uncategorized

Papertrey July Blog Hop Challenge–Pretty Posies

July 24, 2012 beccreates1

I had such fun slowing down to make this card. I was so rushed during the Saturday’s Stamp-a-Faire though it was very fun. I took my time and just when I thought I was done, I added something else and I am THRILLED with it!

The challenge was to use the colours shown below in the inspiration photo. I only had the green and coral colours so I had to hunt to find this yellow paper that fortunately had both yellows in it! YEAH! I tried to use the rule of threes on this but I don’t have three yellows. I debated adding a yellow button somewhere but decided against it because I couldn’t becide where to put it. Maybe in the white space to the left of the sentiments? Hmm… I’d love to hear your thoughts on the issue!

I did make a small mistake; I am fairly new to PTI card stock. I grabbed a scrap of green for the leaves and the panel under the lace. When I put away the rest of the scrap and one other, I realized they were different, the one I used was darker. Ooops! I had used Ripe Avocado instead of chartreuse. Bummer! Too late to change it now.

I also used this month’s SFYTT on this card but I basically cut off the bottom so it would be a landscape design instead of portrait. Interesting how some sketches are thrown off my altering them but others are still awesome!

If you enjoyed this card, I hope you will visit again. I have subscription thingies on my sidebar. Have fun on the rest of the blog hop!

Enjoy, Rebecca

RECIPE
Stamps: Out on a Limb Sentiments
Ink: chocolate chip, coral-SU!, Antique Linen Distress ink, Cloud White ColorBox ink
Paper: DP-My Minds’s Eye, kraft, melon berry, rustic white, berry sorbet, ripe avocado CS-PTI, doilies-Wilton
Accessories: Rose Creations, oval dies-Spellbinders, card edger die-PTI, lace-Fabricland, white flowers-stash, rhinestones-TE tiny twinkles, pearls-Recollections, Hug Snug Seam Binding Ribbon, mini scalloped edge punch-EK Success, foam dots-Jody Morrow