PTI Make it Monday #241: Ombre Stenciled Backgrounds

Based on Betsy's beautiful card and technique, we were challenged to create a project with an ombre stenciled background.



My card is not even close to as beautiful as Betsy's, but it is cute for my first attempt at stenciling and ombre on a card.  The poodle was designed to match my little Valarie, who the birthday girl this card is intended for, puppy-sat for me.

Supplies
Ink - Serenade Pink Shades, Ranger Distress Vintage Photo, Momento Black
Stencil - Plaid
Stamps - Stampin' Up Yappy Day, PTI Everyday Button Bits
Buttons - PTI Spring Mix

PTI Make It Monday #239: Customizing Patterned Paper

Surprisingly enough, this card actually turned out really good.  My ideas always seem to look better in my head than they do on paper.

I started with some old Creative Memories paper and stamped butterflies which were then embossed with clear sparkle powder.

The stamped focal image came out looking watercolorish.  I just colored it in with markers so I'm not sure why it stamped this way, but I like it.

Sorry about the pale photo, it looked fine on the camera.

Supplies
Paper - Creative Memories, scrap of white cardstock
Stamps - Fancy Pants Designs Bella Brush, PTI Round and Round, PTI Everyday Button Bits
Color - Colorbox Heliotrope ink, assorted markers
Other - clear sparkle embossing powder, ribbon from my stash

PTI - Heavy Metal Challenge

This challenge was to use only metallic and neutrals.  I really like metallics with bright colors so this was a big challenge.  I had some vellum printed with gold roses that I wanted to use and just went from there.

I think I needed a bit more gold under the focal point and around the rose vellum, but my Mom will love it anyway.

Supplies
Cardstock - Recollections Cream Shimmer
Rose Vellum - unknown
Stamps - PTI Round and Round, Stampendous
Color - Colorbox gold and gold embossing powder

PTI - Spring Into Action Challenge

This challenge was to use a stamp set that had never seen ink.  Unfortunately I have lots of those.  One of my new goals is to use all my stamps and get rid of the ones I am not crazy about. Now I have one less set to explore.

 

I adored Vintage Picnic as soon as it debuted, but the image was so small I wasn't sure how to use it.  After looking at some PTI cards, I decided on layering.
The next time I make a card like this I will move the sentiment further down and use either vintage or bright colors, but not both.

Supplies
Patterned Paper - scraps from my stash
Cardstock - Recollections white
Edging - Martha Stewart punch
Stamps - PTI Vintage Picnic
Color - Memento Tuxedo Black and Stampin' Up ink, assorted Copic and other markers
Bakers Twine - Hobby Lobby
little star was punched out of a blue scrap

PTI - Blue Ombre Challenge

Although I love the ombre effect, I am not very good at creating it.  For this challenge, I decided to go with ribbon and buttons.  The '1' is for my great-nephew (now I really feel old!) who will be one in August and is the only boy in the family.

If I could do it over, I think I would have mounted the buttons on a cardstock 'one' so they didn't blend in quite so well.  You also need a heavy cardstock for the base since the front gets very heavy. 
I may try this again in other colors since I have way more ribbon than any one person can use.

Supplies
Ribbon - American Crafts and other miscellaneous from my stash
Patterned Paper (the dark blue floral) - PTI In Bloom pad
Buttons - PTI Ocean Tides and Aqua Mist, others from my stash

PTI - Handmade Tag with Matching Gift Bag

This gift tag challenge had me at a loss for quite a while.  I suddenly realized that I could make a Christmas tag even in February (I am a bit too literal sometimes :).  After going through my gift bag stash, I chose a red and white snowflake bag and created a tag to match.

It is a bit busy for my taste and if I had more time I would probably redo the striped backing, but it certainly matches the bag.

Supplies
Bag - Hallmark
Tag:
  Stripes - Hero Arts Stripes and Dots stamp with a red marker
  Snowflakes - PTI Winter Swirls with Brilliance Moonlight White Ink and Ranger Bridal embossing powder
  Bakers Twine - Hobby Lobby

PTI Color Recipe and Sketch Recipe Challenge

This Challenge was to select one of the provided Color Recipes and one of the provided Sketch recipes to create a card.  I had these little tags that were the backing for some Prima stamps.  They went very well with the colors below . . .



and with this sketch.



I adjusted the sketch a bit and came up with this festive card.

 

 

Supplies

Cardstock - Bazzill Kraft

Ribbons - assorted from my stash

Button - PTI Raspberry Fizz

Tags - Big tag from Prima stamp packaging, little tags from my stash

Stamps - PTI Blooming Button Bits and PTI Everyday Button Bits

Ink - Stampin' Up

PTI - Maile Style Challenge

Paper Trey Ink is hosting lots of challenges for their 8th anniversary.  This challenge is to make a card inspired by the creations of Maile Belles. 

Since I used a design of hers, it is not surprising that I really like how this turned out.

Supplies
Balloon Paper - Recollections Part Time pack
Embossing Folder - Cuttlebug
Pink Cardstock - PTI Raspberry Fizz
Stamp - PTI Everyday Button Bits
Embossing - Brilliance Moonlight White ink pad with Ranger Bridal powder

Less Stress

I am taking the 7-day Say Goodbye to Survival Mode challenge.  I have only completed day one - which is to say no.  Actually the person I have to say no to the most is myself.  I want to do it all and in my mind and even on paper it seems so easy.  Reality is very different.  I have to keep telling myself "only one thing at a time".

The book is now out and sounds wonderful.

Go here to take your own 7-day challenge and preview the book.


wishing you less stress,

Cynthia

Sending A Smile

I decided to try the 10 Minute Craft Dash today.



Since it is allowed and I love sketches, I am adding Clean & Simple Sketch #256

 

I thought I was doing good on time, but when I was done the time was over 17 minutes :(  Ten minutes goes faster than I would have imagined.  At least I like my card.

 

It will be used as an Any Hero card for Operation Write Home.

 

 

 

Supplies:  Patterned Paper - My Mind's Eye, Sentiment - PaperTrey Ink, Buttons - PaperTrey Ink, Cardstock & eyelets are from my stash



Hexagon Mom

I tried my hand at Seize the Sketch #3 which features hexagons

Originally I also wanted to use the Tuesday Trigger inspiration photo too, but life intervened and I did not get the cards finished in time.

 

I want ahead and used the ombre colors in purple anyway.

 

My first attempt is actually my favorite.

 

For card #2, I rotated the hexagons.  For some reason these hexagons were harder to place.

 

Card #3 has the hexagons tilted, as in the sketch.  I like them better straight but still like; the card.  I also tried a different background paper.

 

You may notice that they all say MOM.  I have a mother, a step-mother, and a mother-in-law.  Now I am already for Mother's Day 2014.

 

 

 

Supplies:  Patterned paper - 12 different purple prints, Cardstock - Bazzill Dotted Swiss Salt, Making Memories Pearl Swirl I Do & purple scraps,  Cutting - Silhouette for hexagons and letters, Fibers - assorted from my stash



 

Office Supply Father's Day

The challenge on the Shopping Our Stash blog was to use office supplies.  I thought using colored file folder labels would be fun and I found some paperclips I didn't even know I had.

 

 

I like everything but the ledger paper border.  The idea is good, but it needs something more.  Maybe if I mounted it on cardstock or put the file folder labels on the diagonal, hmmm. . .

 

I used sketch #255 from Clean&Simple stamping.

 

 

Products:  file folder labels, columnar pad paper, staples, paperclip, post-it note, stamp from Embossing Arts (1993)

 



 

Chalkboard Get Well

I think I was influenced by all the school things around lately to make a card that looks like an old fashioned child's chalkboard.

 

 Chicken soup for a sick friend.  I used watercolor pencils, which work just like colored pencils when no water is added, to give the bowl a bit of color and shade the title.


This card will be linked up with

• Use It Tuesday - Trends
• Paper Crafts Gallery Challenge - Chalkboard

Products:  Stamps - Stampin'Up & My Sentiments Exactly, Wood paper - Paper Pizazz, Cardstock - scraps of black, Ink - Fabrico white, Color - assorted watercolor pencils

 

VCM - Final Challenge

 

 

The final challenge was to use the negative of a punch or die.  They saved a hard one for the end when are brains are all mushy.

 

I made a card similar to this before with the packaging from some chili mix.

 

 

 

 

This card uses the Silhouette to cut the shapes out.  Bonus, I have the positive shapes for another card.  Gotta love two for one.  The sentiment was cut apart from three different sentiments. Silly me, I thought that would be easier than stamping all the letters.

 

 

 

Products:  Cardstock - Bazzil, Sentiment - PTI, Handmade paper - from my very old stash, Dies - Silhouette

VCMP #8 - Un-BEE-lievable Challenge

 

 

Can you bee-lieve this challenge?  We have to make a bee themed card with a bee themed sentiment.  I actually made this card previously for OWH, but never posted it.  It fit so perfectly with the category and I am bee-hind on the challenges.



Products:  Almost everything is from Stampin' Up, but is quite old.

VCMP #7 - Fall Any Sketch

Challenge #7 is to make a Fall card using any sketch.  I chose OWH sketch #4.

Products:  Patterned paper - PTI, BoBunny & unknown stack; Letter stickers - BasicGrey; Ribbon - unknown

VCMP #6 - Tic-Tac-Toe for Kids

Challenge #6 is to make a kids card using the tic-tac-toe board below.

 

When I first saw this I decided that the two I did not want to do were Punny Sentiments, since I have very few, and Kid-Friendly Embellishments.  I didn't know what this meant - embellishments that were safe for kids or embellishments that kids would like?   I chose a stamp set with robots - so things with wheels was my starting point.  After that I was all over the board.  I ended up with going straight down the middle with an addition for wheels on the right.  I suppose brads could be considered kid-friendly so I ended up doing the two I didn't want - oh well :)

 

  

 

 

 

Products:  Stamps - The Craft Lounge, Patterned paper - Creative Imaginations, Foil - a yogurt container, Colors - Sakura Gelly Roll & misc. other pens, Brads - unknown

 



VCMP - Sketch 188

 

 

 

The sketch challenge is to make a card using this brand new sketch, number 188.  New OWH sketches come out every Sunday, so this was incorporated into the challenge.








I wanted a really neat embellishment so I chose that first, then the stripes, then the papers.

This is one of my favorite cards so far.  Old fashioned patriotic.



Products:  Cardstock - Stampin' Up, Patterned paper - unknown, Ribbon - from my stash, Embellishment - K & Company
 

VCMP #5 - Masking Tape Block Stamping

I had never heard of this technique before and was leery of trying it.  I finally decided to use a golden yellow background so it would look like farm fields in the fall with a chicken coop and chickens stamped on top.

First problem - I put the tape on the wrong way so it was vertically oriented instead of horizontal.  Second problem - the color came out too orange/bronze, shimmery, and drippy to look much like a field.  Third problem - the stamps covered up too much of the background.

I decided to go for a Fall card with a simple design.

Once it was done, I tried the technique again using four colors of mists and got two impressions out of it.  This is actually quite fun.

 

This one I embossed using copper powder.

 

Products:  Background colors - Tattered Angels mists, Ink - Kaliedacolor & Colorbox, Embossing - clear & copper powders, Stamps - PTI sentiment, Colorbok branch

VCMP #4 - Sketch 29 & Love

This is OWH,s sketch #29 that we were challenged to use in making a love card.




I turned the sketch sideways and used my Pick-up set, which I really like.

The hubcaps & bumper are colored with a silver glitter pen.  I used Diamond Glaze on the hearts and the windows. The shading came out better than I expected.  I guess I am learning something from Sandy after all.

Now that I look at it again, I should have layered the image onto red cardstock.  Oh well, you create and learn.


Products:  Stamp - Stampin' Up, Embellishment - JoAnn's, Patterned paper - BoBunny double dots, unknown red stripes, Color - assorted Tombow, Copic & other markers