Make It Monday: Cover Plate Stencils and Embossing Paste

Happy Weekend!  I just returned from a ski vacation in Colorado.  Perfect ski weather last week and we managed to escape Denver Friday night before the big snow storm hit yesterday.

Yesterday afternoon I was able to spend some time in my craft room making thank you notes for my boyfriend's family who hosted us during the week.  I took the opportunity to incorporate this week's Make It Monday challenge into the first card I made.

I've had embossing paste in my craft stash long before embossing paste became trendy.  Had I used it before?  No.  But I found a jar of gold embossing paste on my shelf and thought it would look nice on Hawaiian Shores with the Mighty Bloom impression plate.  My boyfriend's sister had some art work she'd painted herself in her dining room and one of the prints reminded me of the Mighty Bloom impression plate.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

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Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Blue Ombre

Boy I'm glad the Papertrey anniversary festivities occur just once a year.  I've been staying up way too late this entire week trying to keep up with all the challenges.  It's been awhile since I've sat down to create just for the fun of it and I've enjoyed it tremendously.  I just wish my full time job didn't take up so much of my time!

Today's challenge was all about creating a blue ombre card.  Since blue is my favorite color, this was right up my alley.  I broke out my Mighty Bloom cover plate and die cut a stencil out of it, then used the distress ink blender tool to apply four different blue inks to the flower petals of the stencil:  Aqua Mist, Hawaiian Shores, Ocean Tides and Tropical Teal.

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Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Metallics & Neutrals

It's Hump Day!  I'm back with two cards I made for Papertrey's metallics and neutrals challenge today.  I've been enjoying the gold trend in crafting.  I'm not normally drawn to gold, I much prefer silver tones for jewelry and home decor, but when crafting I've found I prefer gold to silver.  I guess I like the warmth it gives; silver has a much cooler appearance (good for snowflakes!).

Here's my first card. I die cut the Circle cover plate from gold foil card stock and adhered it to a True Black card.  A fun sentiment from We Go Together stamped on a Limitless Layers Circle die cut and finished off with a couple of gold sparkle heart enamel dots.

My second card features a gold foil heart from which I die cut the Wet Paint love word.  Some gold foil heart washi tape adds a nice accent to the bottom of the panel.

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Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Ink Up Never Used Stamp Set

I chose to work with the Hands of Time stamp set and clock hand dies for the "ink up a stamp set you've never used" challenge.  This is a birthday card for someone very special.  I even broke out some of my special Studio Calico matte gemstones for this project.  Might as well stop hoarding them!

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Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Build a Bouquet

I'm back with a card for Papertrey's anniversary "Build a Bouquet" challenge.  I combined the Larger Than Life and Sweet Life stamps and dies to create a Valentine bouquet for my mom.

I'm not sure why the photo is appearing so distorted.  Click on it for a better view of the card.

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Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Bagged and Tagged

Papertrey Ink's third challenge during the anniversary festivities is to create a coordinating bag and tag ensemble.  The timing was perfect because I just completed this package for a dear friend. I love the Whisker Graphics patterned bags.  They make packaging up a simple gift so easy and they look so festive.  I'm usually drawn to the bright colors and playful pattern ones.  Adding a handmade tag embellishment finishes off the package nicely.

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Celebrating PTI's 8th Anniversary: Inspired by Maile Belles

Papertrey Ink's second anniversary challenge is to create a card inspired by designer Maile Belles.  I've been intrigued with her panel cut outs and decided to try that technique paired up with a few of her stamps sets, Beautiful Butterflies and Watercolor Wonder.  My favorite thing about this card is the color combination.  It makes me think of a warm, summer day...wishful thinking as it's a soggy, gray, winter day here in the Pacific Northwest.

A few shiny stickers and a dusting of clear Wink of Stella pen on the butterfly are the finishing touches to this birthday card.

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