Welcome to my crafty blog... a "garden" of colourful cards, quilting, sewing projects, knitting...and what ever else happens along the way!!


Sunday, September 25, 2011

Papertrey Ink September 2011 Blog Hop

This month, Nichole Heady from Papertrey Ink has posted a photo to inspire us for the 
monthly PTI Blog Hop. This photo emphasizes a variety of colours and stripes. 

 

I took a literal approach to create a very graphic 
card with colours from the inspiration photo.


Distressed Stripes was the perfect stamp set to use for this card.
I used 4 colours - Outdoor Denim, Pool Party, Holiday Red and Sunny Yellow.
(You can enlarge the main image to see the mitered corners of the stripes and
I've also included some "How To" photos at the end of this post.)

I made sure to leave a blank space in the middle of the card, on the right hand side, for the sentiment from Star Prints. The front panel was then embossed with the Canvas Impression Plate to create a textured look and finally mounted so the right side was flush with the dark blue card base.

The star was stamped with one of the star designs from Star Prints,  using  Outdoor Denim ink and mounted onto indigo blue card stock and then hand cut into the star shape. The little red star in the center was from my button stash - I trimmed off the small button shank so that it would sit neatly on the card.  


I always like to finish off the inside of my cards. Here I used the same coloured stripes, horizontally, to imitate the outside border of the inspiration photo, and frame the sentiment panel. (I've included some "How-To" photos at the end of this post.) 
Once this panel was completed it was mounted to the indigo blue card base - all the colours really 'pop' against that dark background. I added sentiments from Big Birthday Wishes (main saying + "Happy") and Wreath for All Seasons (Birthday), as this is a birthday card for my son who celebrates his 28th birthday tomorrow!!

Card Details:
Stamps: PTI Distressed Stripes; Star Prints; Big Birthday Wishes; Wreath for All Seasons.
Inks: SU Pool Party;   Close to My Heart: Outdoor Denim, Holiday Red, Sunny Yellow.
Papers: PTI Stamper's Select White; Canson Indigo Blue.
Other Supplies: PTI Canvas Impression Plate; red star button.

How-To Create Mitered Stripes:

I drew pencil lines to help guide my stamping. In order to make the mitered corners, I used Post-It notes to mask the corners of the card front on the diagonal; then repeated the process for the other corner.
The Post-Its have a jumble of different  coloured stripes because I  re-used the masks throughout the process. I used my pencil lines to make sure to get straight and consistent lines vertically and horizontally.

How To create the Inside Striped Panel 
I cut a large rectangle from graph paper to act as a mask, so that I could stamp the stripes around the edges. I used re-positionable glue to keep the paper mask in place during all of the stamping. I 'inked' the stamp at either end and followed the graph lines to get a straight and consistent look on both sides of the center white panel.
  
After completing the short stripes, I added the full length stripes at the top and the bottom of the panel. After removing the mask I stamped a 'frame' in the Outdoor Denim ink using the mitered corner technique described above.


Some Other Inspiration Photos!!
The inspiration photo reminded me so much of the traditional Hudson Bay blanket. These blankets were orginally traded by the Hudson Bay Company for beaver pelts during the 1800's in Canada. We live in a city that was an important site for the North West Fur Trading Company, which eventually merged with HBC. When I was a little girl, my favourite parka was one made with the Hudson Bay blanket, similar to the one shown below.



Thanks for visiting. Enjoy the rest of the Blog Hop!!
Karen C.

23 comments:

Stephanie said...

Karen.........WOW!!! Your mitered strips are just stunning!!! Love the extra inspiration photos you posted, too!!!

Kara said...

This is awesome!! Love that you shared your process with us too!!

Sara Mac said...

Karen your stripes are perfect and so fun! Glad you shared your method of getting these perfectly lined up. I bet a lot of people wished they had Distressed Stripes in their stash for this blog hop.

Marge said...

WOW -- this IS AMAZING -- LOVE it, inside & out!!!

Kay D said...

Fantastic striped backgrounds! Love the tips, too!

Erin (Homemade Cards by Erin) said...

Love the tips, must try that, great card, I'm a literal girl too, so I can appreciate that take on the photo.

Laura Isham said...

Wow, Karen! I love these. Thanks so much for the little tutorial. I HAVE to try it!

Cristina said...

Wow! This is incredible. Love the masking (one of my favorite techniques!) and all of your tips. Plus, you finished it inside, too! Awesome.

Agnieszka said...

This is perfect take on that challenge! Love it!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic take on the challenge! Thanks so much for all the tips!

jen said...

WOW! love the stamped & mitered corner! great tutorial & very fun card!

Leigh Penner said...

This is amazing!! Truly fabulous!

Tracey McNeely said...

Great job and thanks for sharing your tutorial of how you executed this card.

Rebecca said...

beautiful inside and out! And thanks for the how to's on the mitered corners and the inside block - very cool!

Jen Adcock said...

Fantastic! I don't think I could have ever managed to mitre those corners like this. With your how to, I might be in with a chance. Thanks lovely lady for that. What a well put together creation Karen. Brava!

Christina said...

You did some amazing masking and stamping! Such perfectly mitered corners, and I love the way the star breaks up the pattern and draws your eye to the sentiment. Great take on the challenge!

Terri said...

They are both great! Thanks for showing how you did it too.

Danielle said...

Those mitered stripes are amazing! Thanks for including the how-to photos as well!

Brianna said...

Love your card! you have alot of talent!

carol (krillsister) said...

You must have a lot of patience! Those mitered stripes are fantastic. Thanks for sharing the process.

Kristii said...

Wow! What a lot of time and patience you put into your card and it turned out fabulous!!

Lori said...

Your mitered stripes turned out perfectly! Thanks for sharing your tips.

Kristin said...

Gorgeous and your tutorial (thru pics) is awesome!!