Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2016

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's tenth year was 2016.

I chose to use Tulip Time for my card for 2016. It was such fun to pull it out and use it again!

  I stamped the tulip blooms in Harvest Gold, Beautiful Buttercup and Summer Sunrise. I used Harvest Gold and one of the Papertrey stencils to add a background. The sentiment is also from Tulip Time. I love how cheerful this card came out! Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2015

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's ninth year was 2015.

I chose to use Graceful Greetings for my card for 2015. It is such a classic set of sentiments! I love the font they used!

I used some Vintage Linens patterned paper and stamped the birthday greeting from Graceful Greetings in Pure Poppy and then stamped it again slightly offset with Berry Sorbet. Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2014

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's eighth year was 2014.

I chose to use Doodlie Doo for my card for 2014. I love to color these figures!

I like to diecut these figures and take them with me to color on trips! Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2013

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's seventh year was 2013.

I chose to use Watercolor Wonder for my card for 2013. I love this set and all the possibilities!

  I used rainbow colors to make my card. The sentiment is from W Plus 9.  Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2012

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's sixth year was 2012.

I chose to use Beautiful Butterflies my card for 2012. This is such a classic set, with so many possibilities!

I stamped the butterflies in various shades of Papertrey purple, then added swirls from Fancy Flourishes for trail lines. I love the font of the sentiments in this set! Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2011

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's fifth year was 2011.

I chose to use Harvest Berries for my card for 2011. I just LOVE this sentiment - it is so encouraging!

I stamped The Ginkgo leaves around the outside of the Green Parakeet card and added pearl drops using Viva Paper Pen - opal. The sentiment in the middle is stamped in Versafine black Onxy.  Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2010

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's fourth year was 2010.

I chose to use Love Lives Here for my card for 2010. I can't tell you how many times I have reached for this set to make a card! I love everything Melissa Phillips creates!!

I die cut two of the little houses and stamped them. They are mounted with foam tape. I used three of the little hearts in-between the houses. I might just use this card as a "We've Moved" card this fall! Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2009

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's third year was 2009. Her challenge each day is to create a card using a stamp set from that year, or use one of the cards on her blog as an inspiration if you do not have a set from that particular year. I have SO MANY Papertrey stamps - I don't think I will have a problem not having a set from every year!!

I chose to use On My Couch for my card for 2009. I just love paper piecing the furniture in this set!

One of my quilting girlfriends is sick, and I used this set to make her a get well card. I was even able to put her initial on the little mug and a title on one of the books "Quilt". How fun!  Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2008

 Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's second year was 2008. Her challenge each day is to create a card using a stamp set from that year, or use one of the cards on her blog as an inspiration if you do not have a set from that particular year. I have SO MANY Papertrey stamps - I don't think I will have a problem not having a set from every year!!

I chose to use Bitty Baby Blessings for my card for 2008. This is such a wonderful set to make baby cards with - I still pull it out for new baby cards!

I stamped the onesie and colored it with copics. I used the colorless blender to add polka dots. Patterned paper along the bottom is a Sweet Blush pattern. Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Ink 10th Anniversary: Celebrating 2007

Hello! I am so excited to be able to participate in some of Papertrey's anniversary challenges this month! Nicole Heady has been highlighting each year Papertrey has been in business on her blog. Papertrey's first year was 2007. Her challenge each day is to create a card using a stamp set from that year, or use one of the cards on her blog as an inspiration if you do not have a set from that particular year. I have SO MANY Papertrey stamps - I don't think I will have a problem not having a set from every year!!

I chose to use Beautiful Blooms for my card for 2007. It was such fun to pull it out and use it again!

I stamped one of the floral outline images repeatedly on watercolor cardstock and colored them with my Zig markers. I added some leaves to fill in spots and then a sentiment from the set. I love how cheerful this card came out! Hope you get a chance to play along with these challenges also! Have a great day!

Papertrey Make it Monday #272: Masked Heart Wreaths

Hello! Thanks for stopping by! Melissa Phillips shared a great tutorial over on Nicole Heady's blog here about using a mask to create a heart shaped wreath. I just loved this idea and couldn't wait to try it out. My heart shaped wreath was made using a mask created with the Limitless :ayers Hearts. I chose to work with the scalloped edge one. The stamps I used to stamp over the mask to create the wreath were flowers and leaves from Bitty Bouquets, and swirly shapes from Embellishments. I cut the bottom edge with a scalloped edge die to mimic the scallops in the heart. The sentiments are also from these two sets.

I loved the results! So I decided to try out this technique with another shape. I used one of the butterflies in Beautiful Butterflies to cut out the mask, and then several of the smallest butterflies in the set, as well as flourishes from Embellishments to stamp around the mask. The sentiment is from Embellishments also. I really love this one too!

Such a fun and easy technique! Thanks for sharing it Melissa! And thanks for stopping by my blog!

Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge #4: Winter

Hello! I found a few minutes to make some tags to enter the Concord and 9th "Where creativity meets C9" challenge. The challenge this month is "winter".

My first tag uses the large tree from the "Christmas Cottage" stamp set, along with a sentiment from the same set. I used two different green dye inks to stamp the tree, then used a water brush to watercolor over it. The tree looks so wintery with the snow on it - I thought it could be used all winter instead of just Christmas!

My second tag also uses tress from that same "Christmas Cottage set", but this time I used the smaller trees as a border on the bottom of the tag. I stamped the trees in green inks and watercolored around the trees and the sentiment. The sentiment is from the "Holy Night" set.

My last tag uses the Mary figurine from "Holy Night", which I watercolored using Zig markers. I also watercolored blues in the background as a starry night backdrop for her. The sentiment is from "Holy Night" also.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek at my tags! I think I will put these on a couple of the special gifts under the tree!

Papertrey October 2016 Blog Hop

Hello! Nicole challenged us with a beautiful autumn picture for the Blog Hop this month. You can read about it on her blog.

 

I am just popping in to participate in the Hop this month. I loved the colors of the pumpkins and the musical paper.

I used this month's Inspired: Hope die and stamp set,  some musical patterned paper I had, as well as the Turning a New Leaf set and dies. I cut the leaves from Ocean Tides and stamped them with Olive Twist - such a pretty combination! The twine tied to the tag represents the twigs in the inspiration picture. Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are having fun hopping around! 

Second Concord and 9th 3D card

Hello! Here is another card for the Concord and 9th "Where Creativity Meets C9" challenge. It uses the Christmas Cottage stamps and dies. The trees and house are stamped and then watercolored. I created the background with colored pencils and a water brush.  I added "snow" to the trees and the ground using a sparkly white paint. In real life it really shines!

I am entering this in the Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge since it celebrates Christmas. The challenge this month is Celebrations. Thanks for stopping by!

Concord and 9th 3D Chrismas card

Hello! I had fun playing with my new Concord and 9th Christmas stamps today! I just love these stamps and the dies that make 3D cards! So innovative! I decided to cut my card panels out of watercolor card stock so I could watercolor them. I used watercolor pencils and then blended with a water brush. I loved making the starry backgrounds!

 This is made with the Holy Night stamps and dies. There are no stamps for the figures, so I did the best I could to watercolor them.

I am entering these in the Where Creativity Meets C9 Challenge since it celebrates Christmas. The challenge this month is Celebrations. Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Create Along With Us: September 2016

Hello! I have been so inspired (and overwhelmed) by all the gorgeousness going on in Papertrey land this month! It was hard to narrow down this challenge to just one card to case. You can read all about the challenge here on Nicole's blog. I ultimately chose to case this card by Dawn McVey. I just love the way she used the bookmark die in a different way.

Here is my rendition of it. I used the O Holy Night stamp set, the Bookmark 3 die, and Petite Places: Nativity. The background was stamped with a beautiful flourish in the Silent Night set (an oldie).

I just love how this turned out and will be using this design again! Thanks Dawn!

Celebrate with Concord and 9th

Hello! I have recently discovered Concord and 9th - a relatively new stamp company. Their stamp sets and dies prove to be innovative and unique. I love the way they think out their designs so well to be used in many different ways. In their September release, they came out with dies and stamps to make 3 dimensional cards with Christmas themes! Both of those bundles are on the way to me, and I will be blogging about them soon. Love this design - just one more example of their innovative designs.

During the month of September, Concord and 9th is having a Celebration challenge as part of Creativity meets C9. You can read about it here http://www.wherecreativitymeetsc9.com/ch1/ 


Here is one of my cards for this challenge: It is a celebration of fall. I made a shaker card using the Layering Leaves dies. I cut the leaves from the card base, then inserted different colored ones back in. I backed the base with clear cardstock and made a shaker out of it. I filled it with little gold beads. It's hard to see the sparkle in this picture, but it really shakes and sparkles great! I just love how this turned out! 

Thanks for stopping by! Now go out and check out Concord and 9th here: http://concordand9th.com/

Papertrey Make-it-Monday #260 - From Black and White to Color

Hello! I had fun making a card for Papertrey's Make-it-Monday this week! When isn't it fun to color??? Danielle Flanders made us a video this week showing us how to divide up a card front image and color only parts of it. She went from black and white to color, I went from color  to black and white, back to color, back to black and white. It was a little confusing, but fun. I have always loved coloring Doodlie Doo, and this time was no exception.You have to look at it pretty closely to figure out what's going on!

I used the rectangular dies in the A2 set from Betsy's "Noted" Make-it-Market kit to cut the sections out. Thanks for stopping by!

Papertrey Make It Monday #259 - Ombre Cluster Stamping

Hello! I made a quick card for this week's Make-it-Monday over on Nicole's blog. Dawn showed us how to stamp a cluster of images in various ombre shades of a color. I like this technique and decided to give it a try.
I used Beautiful Butterflies (a classic!) to make a sympathy card. Blue butterflies always remind me of Hospice, which usually mean you will be needing a sympathy card fairly soon. :( We are going though that with my father-in-law right now. Hospice is a wonderful organization! So caring and supportive - very special people!
Anyway, here is my card for this week's challenge:

A simple card. I did distress the edges - does anyone else do that anymore??? Thanks for stopping by!

Garden Gate Penny Rug

Hello! I purchased the Garden Gate Make-it-Market kit, designed by Betsy Veldman for Papertrey Ink, a month or so ago, and the gate die in the kit was screaming to me to cut it out of felt. I thought about it for a while, and decided to make a penny rug using the gate and some of the flowers in the kit. This was a project that developed as I went, not a whole lot of pre-planning here.

I started by cutting out the gate from Papertrey's Vintage Cream felt. It cut beautifully!! I laid the gate on a piece of felted wool in my stash (and yes, I have a HUGE stash of wool!). I decided to cut out an 8" circle of wool for the center of the penny rug. I attached the gate with small dots of glue (Roxanne Baste it), and then blanket stitched the edges with Ecru floss (2 strands). The inside lattice was stitched with a whipstitch.

Next came the wisteria. I used the wisteria die cuts from the kit as my inspiration, and stitched the vine to the top of the gate using a stem stitch for the vine, french knots for the flowers, and striaght stitches for the leaves. I used varigated Weeks Dye Works floss to achieve the variety in color.

I then proceeded to figure out how to replicate the hollyhocks. I ended up using two of the smallest dies in the Mini Blooms die set to cut the blooms and leaves out of Papertrey Hibiscus Burst, Autumn Rose, Lemon Tart, and Spring Moss felt. I attached them with french knots, embellished the leaves and flower centers with small straight stitches. I filled in around the blossoms with green french knots to represent the greenery.

The final element I wanted to incorporate into the rug was the bleeding hearts. I LOVE bleeding hearts (the flowers, not the people!). The gate scene was already pretty full - I didn't want to cover up the gate too much, so I decided to put "bleeding" hearts on the pennies surrounding the rug. I used a heart from the Heart-to-Heart series for the larger light pink heart (Sweet Blush felt), and a smaller heart from Flipping Out (Autumn Rose felt). These were attached to 10 pennies with a whip stitch.  Then I added the stamens with straight stitches and french knots in a light yellow floss (DMC).

Then I assembled the penny rug by first backing the center with another piece of 8" round felted wool with a blanket stitch. This hides all the ugly stitching on the back.
Next, I backed each penny with another penny with a blanket stitch. This hides the stitching (of the bleeding hearts ones), and adds some weight to match the weight of the center.
Next step was to attach the pennies to the center circle. This was a bit tricky, even though I have made several penny rugs before. I basted each penny to the center with white thread on the front of the rug. Then, I flipped the rug over and whipstitched the pennys to the center, and to each other with black pearl cotton floss. The reason the stitch from the back, is to hide the whipsitching.

The front was complete! One thing that is important to me in quilting is to label the back of each quilt I make with details about the inspiration, what was going on at the time, my name and the date the quilt was made, etc. 100 years from now, when I am gone, my grandkids will hopefully be able to read those labels and learn a little more about why and when that quilt was made.
Saying all that, I decided to label the back of this little penny rug. I wanted to give Betsy Veldman and Papertrey credit for their designs, and have a scripture verse to represent my faith. I chose to use Psalm 100:4-5, since it referred to gates, and it spoke of the goodness of God.

"Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. " Psalm 100:4-5 

 I used a feather stitch to attach the label to the back of the rug.

 I actually stamped the wisteria on the label using stamps in the kit.

 Credit to Betsy and Papertrey.

Now it is complete! Hope you enjoyed this explanation of how it was made! I think it is one of my favorite things I have ever made! Thanks for sticking with me through this long post!