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.
