Crafting with Kraft

I'm back to share a couple of cards I made yesterday. I didn't specifically plan to use kraft on both of these, it just turned out that way.

First up is a thank you card I needed for my boss. She just returned from a Spring Break vacation to Disney World with her kids and brought each of us on her team back a little souvenir can of flavored coffee. This gave me the perfect opportunity to break out my Heart 2 Heart #1 set and die, which I hadn't used yet. Feel free to click on the photo for a closer look.

I also tried a couple of other fun products on this card. First the Tag Sale #6 die. I love that the decorative tag hole reinforcer is a separate piece and you can cut it with a different color or pattern paper. I used a coffee cup stain background stamp (from Inkadinkado) on the kraft cardstock, which I stamped with PTI kraft ink (see the faint rings and splotches?). I then used two different sprays to give the kraft panel some more "oomph." I sprayed some Goosebumps texture spray a few times. Have you heard of it? It's by Tsukineko and it's clear and gives a raised water drop-like effect when dry. I've heard they've come out with a few more kinds of this spray, one of which is a shimmer. Cool! I also tried out my Mister Huey's color mist in Clay. From the name you would think it would be almost a terracotta color, but no, it's more of a dark grayish brown. I figured I'd give it a shot. It turned out really cool and gave the paper the effect of drips of coffee on it!

On to my second card. One of the new items PTI is releasing this month is a set of notched flower dies. I've been intrigued with them, but wasn't sure if I really *needed* them, besides, I've got to maximize my crafting $$ and make sure I'm buying things I'm really going to love and use! So, I decided to see if I could make one of these notched flowers on my own.


I punched a 1.75 inch circle from Raspberry Fizz cardstock and then just went around the circle and cut little notches at somewhat spaced intervals. The end result was so-so. Definitely not uniform notches in even intervals, but it was still sort of charming. I decided to see what else I could come up with to make it into a whimsical flower. I found a scrap of Pure Poppy bitty dot paper and punched a 1.25 inch circle out of it. I roughed up the edges a bit with my finger nail and did the same to the notched flower. I stitched the two layers together with some Martha Stewart red baker's twine and fastened with a Dark Chocolate button. The leaves are cut from Simply Chartreuse cardstock using the larger leaf die from Sending You and then I roughed them up with my fingernail as well. Flower done. Not too bad. The rest of the card just sort of fell together from there. I tucked a couple of pearl head pins behind the flower for some additional interest.

So my final consensus on the notched dies? I still may get them because I don't know if I will have the same amount of patience each time when I go to cut them out myself and the Type A in me gets annoyed when things aren't balanced and evenly cut! LOL! Still, it's nice to know I could execute a reasonable substitute on my own.

All right, I've got a busy day ahead of me between laundry, grocery shopping and baking (Sea Salt Caramel brownies anyone?). Plus, I have to finalize my PTI shopping list for tonight!

Later!


Thanks a Latte card details:
Papertrey Ink: Simply Chartreuse, Raspberry Fizz, Kraft cardstock; Simply Chartreuse Bitty Dot ribbon; Heart 2 Heart #1 stamp set and die; Tag Sale #6 die; Tin Types impression plate; Simply Chartreuse and Kraft inks; Dark Chocolate button
Other stamps: Coffee stain background stamp (Inkadinkado); Thanks a Latte from Coffee Break set (A Muse)
Sprays: Mister Huey's Color Mist in Clay; Goosebumps (Tsukineko)
Other inks: Rose Bud, Rich Cocoa (Tsukineko); Toffee, Chestnut Roan (Color Box)
Other tools: Scalloped Rectangle (Spellbinders); Angled Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers); heart punch (Fiskars)
Other: white pencil (Prismacolor); pink baker's twine (My Mind's Eye)

Warm Thoughts Notched Flower card details:
Papertrey Ink: Kraft, Raspberry Fizz, Simply Chartreuse cardstock; Pure Poppy bitty dot patterned paper; Dark Chocolate button; Sending You stamp set and dies; Background Basics Medallion stamp set; Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Chamomile inks
Other ink: Rose Bud (Tsukineko)
Other tools: 1.75 inch, 1.25 inch circle punches (EK Success), Corner Chomper (We R Memory Keepers)
Embellishments: Red baker's twine (Martha Stewart); pearl head pins (source unknown)