The days are flying by, and blogging seems to be at the bottom of the “to do” list; not intentionally, but by the time the day ends there’s not much creative energy left for a blog post. I did get some crafting done over the weekend: a few cards, and another month of Project Life completed. Before I share those, however, I thought I’d share some more cards made with “Stemmed Statements.” I think this might become a go-to set for floral cards. I have two sets of cards to share. The first with pansies and an ombre stamped background with the “Cover-up: Diamonds” background stamp. Both the “Stemmed Statements” and “Cover-up: Diamonds” stamps were in my July Papertrey Ink order. 

I used some of the Altenew mini-cube ink sets to stamp the ombre pattern for the background. The ink pads come in sets of four coordinating, and increasingly darker shades which really speeds up the process of creating an ombre pattern. The pansies and clovers were colored with Copics. I cut the background with a “Stitched Rectangle” die and added a trimmed “Double-ended Banner” with the sentiment.

This card is nearly a duplicate, stamped in a blue palette. I wanted to have a couple cards ready to send when I hear of someone in need of cheering up!

The second set of cards use the geranium image in the set. It’s one of my favorites. Once the geraniums were colored, this card came together quickly, thanks to the patterned paper (also PTI) from the Lovely Lace kit. I didn’t purchase the kit, but a friend recommended getting the paper pack, and I’m glad I did. Once again, a “Stitched Rectangle” die that I adhered to Simon Says Smoke cardstock. Their three gray papers are my favorite grays. The banner die is an old Spellbinder die, stamped with a sentiment from “Stemmed Statements.”

I added three rainstones to the card for a bit of sparkle.

This time some pink geraniums mounted on a Spellbinders Oval die cut from another piece of patterned paper from the “Lovely Lace” pack. I made six score lines down the side of the card for some texture on the Fresh Snow Linen cardstock, and tied a bow from the white silk ribbon Papertrey Ink used to sell. I wish I had stockpiled a couple of spools of it before they discontinued it.

I think this card qualifies for this week’s challenge at Addicted to CAS: Florals so I’ll be linking it up there.

This week’s Color Throw Down Challenge is my favorite color combination: red, black, and white. I have a quick anniversary card to share, and may be back before the challenge ends with another card. One of my favorite paper packs from Papertrey Ink was Black and White All Over. It’s no longer available, and when they had their big paper sale back in February it was sold out before I got my hands on some more of it. 

This giant XO was one of the papers, and I was never quite sure what to do with it. . . until now. I cut it down, used a corner punch on the top corners, and adhered it to a Pure Poppy card, cut a banner for the sentiment which I adhered with foam tape, and added a puffy heart sticker from Bella Blvd. The sticker was a dark pink so I colored over it with a red Copic marker. I made two of these since there are two sets of friends are celebrating their anniversaries. Now I wish I had a couple more pieces of this paper. I’m quite happy with the card, and it went together very quickly.

A quick post to enter a couple of cards in this week’s CASology challenge: Juicy.

One of my go-to kits for quick cards is the Papertrey Ink: Still Life-Summer kit. When I saw this challenge, and needed a couple of thank you notes, once again, it filled the bill.

I scored a pattern onto some white cardstock, added a strip of patterned paper from the kit and four die cuts. A quick, easy, and cheery thank you note.

Recently, I’ve been attracted to bright colors on dark backgrounds, so for the next card, I made essentially the same card but with a black background. The all black was too stark, so I layered it on a Raspberry Fizz card. Bright and cheery, even on dark cardstock.

The cherries reminded me of one of my favorite treats in the summer:  Rainer cherries—expensive, but oh, so sweet.

Hope your day is bright and cheery, too!

It’s CASology’s fifth birthday, and they’re having a party! You can find the blog hop right here. The word for the week is “balloon.”

It was the perfect opportunity to get a birthday card ready for an upcoming birthday, and to use a combination of old, but loved, and brand new products. The “old, but loved” is Papertrey’s Balloon Bash set. This set is a fave for it’s birthday sentiments, but this time I pulled out the three balloons. The Balloon String dies (PTI) are also a favorite. The new product is Papertrey’s “Infinity Frames,” which was just released this month. When I purchased the die, I had lots of ideas, but ended up using them in a totally unexpected way to create a white on white background for the pretty balloons.

The sentiment from “Initial Sentiments: Birthday” (PTI) was embossed in white on black, cut out by hand, and popped up with dimensional tape. I chose the colors of the balloons from this week’s Color Throw Down Challenge. Although I’ve been aware of the challenge for awhile, this is the first time I’ve played along.

I used Raspberry Fizz, Bright Buttercup, and New Leaf inks to stamp the balloons before die cutting them. They seem to be a perfect match!

Another morning of steady rain here. It was a good day to stay inside and craft, so I’ll have more to share very soon.

I’ve been so busy recently, that I didn’t even realize it was the 25th of July until I got on the computer this morning. Luckily, I had time before I set off on errands and to the refugee center to volunteer, to make a card since I loved the inspiration post. Now that I’m finally home, I can get it linked up to the July Papertrey Blog Hop Challenge. 

Soft blues and white, clean and simple design. I really like the lovely leaves, so started with the leaf diecut from Songbirds in two colors: Aqua Mist and Ocean Tides. I wasn’t sure where I wanted to go with them so I cut quite a few. Once I laid two of them on a white card, I knew I wanted to try the new Mix and Mat: Postal as a background. I must say I’m a fan of the new Mix and Mat die cut sets.

Just two of the leaf clusters was all I needed. I backed the open part of the Mix and Mat die with a soft blue vellum that’s been in my stash forever. The sentiment is a die from Still Life Summer Mini-Market kit. I sponged some ink on the bottom of it to create an ombre effect to set it off. 

Since this card is totally die cuts, no stamping at all, I’m also entering it into the current Less is More Challenge: Anything But Stamping.

I’m trying to get all the cards I need for the month of July completed, and I started with three challenges for an anniversary card for my niece and her husband. The first is Addicted to CAS: White on White,

and the second is The Card Concept with this beautiful photo inspiration.

And third, the Time Out Challenge for Celebrations.

When I saw the challenges, I immediately had an idea for using another new Papertrey Ink product:  the “Mix and Mat-Pretty Brackets” dies. I used two of the dies on this card, taping them together before running them through the die cutting machine on the front of the card. 

I layered another piece of linen cardstock behind the open die cut but only attached to the edges of the card so there’s a bit of dimension. I added a small red heart since the inside sentiment is “Happy Anniversary.” Here’s a closer look:

It’s a great match for The Card Concept and Celebrations at Time Out, and looking at the Design Team’s submission at Addicted to CAS, it appears one little pop of color also works for that challenge. The Card Concept asks you to choose a style, and although there is a bit of layering here, I’d label this one “Clean and Simple.” I love when a card comes out exactly as you envisioned it. It doesn’t happen often enough. I’ll be relying on this design for another wedding in September.

As promised, I’m back again with another card for the CASology Fly challenge. And it’s another feather card, this time a very quick and easy one created with one of the patterned papers from the “What the Doodle Feather” set by Papertrey Ink. The feather was already printed on the paper, and just needed to be colored with Copic markers. I die cut the sentiment from Raspberry Fizz with one of the “Scripted” sentiments also by Papertrey Ink. All it took then, was to mount it to a True Black card.

The sentiment was die cut and layered three times to add a little dimension to the card.

You can check out the other entries to the challenge right here.

This week’s challenge at CASology is “FLY,” and I have a card to share that fits right in the challenge.

I’m not sure why I fell in love with this Papertrey Ink set when it was released over three years ago, but I did. I typically go for sets that have multiple images for different kinds of cards, or florals.  “Feather Finery” is nearly all feathers but I loved the feathers and the overlay that can be applied to the top. It also has a set of beautiful sentiments although I didn’t use them here. I have to admit, however, that I don’t often think of this set when I need to create a card.

 I double stamped the feather with Ocean Tides, first with full ink, then slightly offset without reinking. Then I embossed the dotted layer with Platinum Embossing Powder. The sentiment is die cut from silver Paper Source cardstock with Wplus9’s “Hand Lettered Thanks.” I love the font of this die cut. The stamped sentiment comes from the same set. After adhering the white panel on an Ocean Tides card, I added a few clear sequins for embellishment.

I have another idea for this challenge that’s pretty quick and easy, so hope to be back in another day or two with another “feather” card.

A quick post to join in with Papertrey Ink’s June Blog Hop. Here’s the inspiration photo:

When I first saw it, I immediately thought of an older Papertrey Ink set called “Gracious Vases.” Then life got really busy, and I couldn’t get to my desk to create a blog hop card until late this afternoon. I stamped my favorite flower and then two vases from the set on watercolor paper, and watercolored them. Then I used a new My Favorite Things die cut for the frame and mounted the image behind the frame. I stamped the sentiment from Papertrey’s “Round & Round” and mounted it all on a Tropical Teal card.

Off to check out the other cards created with this inspiration piece.