Blue and Yellow Quilted:Spring

Wow!!  It's been a month since I've updated my blog!! 

I've found it very difficult to get back into a regular routine 

after our west coast vacation. 

I have been crafting, but not posting to my blog ... 

so I have lots to share!!

Quilted:Spring stamps and dies are my new favourites!! 

They've been on my desk for several weeks now and 

I keep reaching for them for a variety of occasions! 

I've always liked blue and yellow together 

and used this combination to make a birthday card, 

 a small note card and a sympathy card.

Birthday Card

This card has several layers:

Stamper's Select White Card base

Stamper's Select White Front panel:  

 - cut with the Stitched Rectangles die;

 - sentiment (Keep It Simple: Birthdays); 

 - impressed with Aida Cloth Impression Plate; 

 - stitched with blue embroidery floss.

Quilt Block die 

The quilt was cut 3 times to create a multi-coloured look:

     1. White card stock was stamped with Blueberry Sky and Lemon Tart
     2. Blueberry Sky inserts - impressed with Aida Cloth Impression Plate 
     3. Lemon Tart Patterned Paper - frame was applied to the block.

 Flower Accent:

 Quick Stitch: Sewing Staples Kit dies 
- Harvest Gold felt stitched with blue embroidery floss

 Bitty Button Stacks 
 - coloured felt circle with a blue copic marker; 
stitched with yellow embroidery floss

Inside

The sentiments

(Movers & Shakers, and Purls of Wisdom) and a 
floral stamp (Sewing Staples) were added to the inside of the card. 

Quilt Block Note Card

The circle portion of the quilt block was leftover from the birthday card, 
so I used it to create a portion of the design for this card:

The circle was stamped (Polka Dot Basics & Blueberry Sky ink), then 
glued to a 3" square Blueberry Sky panel. This was then impressed 
with the Linen Impression Plate before adding the patterned paper inserts.

 Flower Accent

Bitty Button Stacks die cuts - card stock & patterned paper

Sewing Staples die - Six leaves die cut from green card stock

.

A 3 1/2" square card base was stamped with Autumn Pattern Pieces and Blueberry Sky ink. I thought that the pattern was too strong and competed with the quilt block, so I cut a vellum square and attached it to the card front.
You can see the original stamped background on the strip to the right of the card and how it is softened by adding the vellum.

This technique was highlighted in Papertrey Ink's 

Make It Monday #210 by Lizzie Jones.

Sympathy Card

Unfortunately a friend recently lost her husband.  

She lives in Alberta, so I wanted to send her a card and 

note to let her know that I'm thinking of her family. 

 I had been making several of the quilt blocks for cards 

and thought this would work for a sympathy card.

I kept this fairly simple.

All of the quilt block images were stamped directly onto a 

white card base with Blueberry Sky and Harvest Gold inks. 

The sentiment (Botanical Silhouettes) was stamped with 

Blueberry Sky ink, then card front was impressed 

with the Canvas Impression Plate. The frame 
(Bo Bunny Double Dot)  was attached to the front.

The flower was created by cutting several Bitty Button Stacks  

from blue and yellow papers, layering and stitching them 
together before adding them to the center of the quilt block.

Inside

The sentiment and small quilt block image  

(Quilter`s Sampler) were added to the inside of the card.

Card Supplies (PTI unless noted) 

 Birthday Card

Stamps - Quilted: Spring, Keep It Simple: Birthday, Movers & Shakers, 
                Purls of Wisdom, Quick Stitch: Sewing Staples

Inks - Lemon Tart, Blueberry Sky, Harvest Gold

Paper - Stamper's Select White, Blueberry Sky, Lemon Tart Patterned Paper

Dies - Quilted: Spring, Quick Stitch: Sewing Staples die collection, Stitched Rectangles.
          Aida Cloth Impression Plate, Bitty Button Stacks

Other - Harvest Gold felt, blue and gold embroidery floss; blue and yellow copic markers

Quilt Block Note Card

Stamps - Polka Dot Basics, Autumn Pattern Pieces

Inks -  Blueberry Sky

Paper - Stamper's Select White, Blueberry Sky, Vellum; Bo Bunny:Soft Shades Double Dots.
Teresa Collins: everyday moments 6 x 6 designer card stock; green card stock

Dies - Linen Impression Plate, Quilted: Spring, Bitty Button Stacks 2,   
          Quick Stitch: Sewing Staples die (leaves); Nestabilities: Large Classic Squares; 

Sympathy Card

Stamps - Quilted: Spring, Botanical Silhouettes, Quilter`s Sampler

Inks - Harvest Gold, Blueberry Sky, Memento Tuxedo Black

Paper - Stamper's Select White, Blueberry Sky, Bo Bunny:Soft Shades Double Dots.

Dies - Quilted: Spring, Bitty Button Stacks; Canvas Impression Plate

Other - Harvest Gold, yellow embroidery floss; copic markers

Thanks for visiting today.

Karen C.

Papertrey Ink May 2012 Blog Hop Challenge

Here's another wonderful photo for this month's Papertrey Ink Blog Hop Challenge:

As soon as I saw this photo I knew I wanted to use:

+ a splash of green.

+ something 'polka dotty'

+ my newest Garden Variety II stamp and die set 

+ black and white gingham ribbon from my stash  

So ... combining all of these features, I designed two cards  ... 

 GARDEN VARIETY SYMPATHY

It's always so hard to create sympathy cards when you really need them and I rarely make them, so I thought this challenge would be a good opportunity to design one. 

Nichole suggested two colours (Simply Chartruese or New Leaf) as the option for green in the inspiration photo. I don't have either of these colours in ink, but I have a card stock sampler with both colours. I was able to colour the leaves from the Garden Variety II stamp with a Tombow marker and then stamp onto the white card stock. It didn't give a solid clear transfer, but the colour was a closer match to Simply Chartreuse than any other green inks in my collection. (SC ink is on my next shopping list!!)

From there I decided to add the small floral image using Spring Moss - it sort of reminds me of my sister-in-law's hydrangea bush - the white flowers have a light green tint.

I also added some light green rhinestones onto the floral images for a bit of contrast. The flower pot was stamped with Smokey Shadow and then the image panel was mounted onto a Simply Chartreuse Tag Sale #4 die cut. The black gingham ribbon was attached to the top of the tag.

The upper portion of the white card base was embossed with Swiss Dots embossing folder. A white strip of card stock was stamped with the polka dot block from Bitty Background Blocks and layered over several Heart Border die cuts in black and Simply Chartreuse, to create a small scalloped edge.

The sentiment, (Through the Trees) was heat embossed with black embossing powder below the focal point. Since I did not emboss this section with the polka dot, it was easy to add the sentiment.

Card Details: (PTI unless noted)

Stamps -  Garden Variety II, Through the Trees, Bitty Background Blocks

Inks - Versamark; Smokey Shadow, Spring Moss

Papers - Stamper's Select White, Black, Simply Chartreuse

Dies - Limitless Layers 2 1/2" Circles, Tag Sale #4, Heart Border Die

Other - Tombow #126 marker; green rhinestones; Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing folder; Texture Trios Black Gingham Ribbon; Stampendous Detail Black Embossing Powder.

GARDEN VARIETY VIOLETS

The violet image from Year of  Flowers Collection was coloured, cut and sitting on my desk for the longest time. Even though the inspiration photo doesn't contain any purples or lavenders, I knew that it would look very dramatic with black, white and New Leaf Green. Since I had a lot of the  supplies out for the first card I went ahead and created a second card for the challenge:

 Here's how I incorporated some of the features from the inspiration photo:

Gingham: I used the gingham block from Bitty Background Blocks to stamp the Picket Fence die cut. The horizontal strips were stamped diagonally so that they would stand out against the pickets in the background. Little black rhinestone pearls were added to the slats at each end.

Green: I used New Leaf as the background mat for the focal point and then repeated the colour in the seed packet heading and flower title, as well as the single green butterfly. The green also is center stage in the leaves of the violets.

Black/White: The Seed Packet Frame #2 was die cut and then stamped with the coordinating stamp from Garden Variety II onto white card stock. This was mounted onto a black mat using foam dimensionals.  

The sentiment (Garden Variety) was stamped in the bottom corner in black ink.

The price image was stamped in black and then added to the bow on the picket fence.

Textures: The Vineyard Impression Plate was used to create texture on the card front; the Linen IP was used on the seed packet frame, as well as the two mats (black and green) to create dimension.

Other Details: The flower was coloured, cut and then popped in the opening using foam dimensionals. Winter Wisteria card stock was used to cut 2 butterflies and they joined the green one in the top corner. To finish the look, a small lavender bow was added to the picket fence.

Card Details: (PTI unless noted)

Stamps -  Garden Variety, GV II, Year of Flowers Collection, Year of Flowers Titles, Bitty Background Blocks II,

Inks - Memento Tuxedo Black, Close To My Heart: Clover Meadow

Papers - Stamper's Select White, Black, Winter Wisteria, New Leaf.

Dies - Seed Packet Frame #2, Picket Fence Die, Linen IP, Vineyard IP; SSU Beautiful Wings Embosslit

Other - Copic markers; black rhinestone pearls; Offray Ribbon; Sakura Yellow Gelly Roll pen; foam dimensionals  

Thanks for stopping along the way .... enjoy the rest of the Blog Hop!!

Karen C.

Botanical Silhouettes Sympathy Card

I always have difficulty making a simple, clean, one layer card but the new Papertrey Ink's 2010 Anniversary set makes that just a little bit easier.

Several weeks ago, the PTI Make it Monday video challenged us to make a sympathy card using some colourful papers and/or images. I actually started this card for the challenge, but didn't finish it until this week. It seemed like something was 'missing' so I just set it aside. Even though it's too late for the challenge, here's my sympathy card! (Inspiration from  Nichole Heady's blog.)

Firstly, the stems were stamped with Sweet Leaf ink, then little 'splotches' from Grunge Me were added, and finally the poppies. I didn't like the colour of the ink I had used (too pinky) so I took a red Marvy LePlume marker and 'touched' them up a little to give them a stronger colour.

Gold metallic gel pen dots were added to the centers.  The sentiment and little bird were embossed with gold embossing powder. I also added little metallic adhesives to the top left corner to 'fill in' this space.

I just received the Sunshine Impression plate in my last order and
I decided to try it on this card - not sure if I like it for this card! 

Hmmm.... what do you think?

Thanks for visiting.

Karen C. 

Card Details:

Stamps: Botanical Silhouettes, Grunge Me (bird & 'splotches)

Inks: Close to My Heart Buttercup, Sweet Leaf, Hollyhock; Versamark

Paper: PTI Stamper's Select White

Other Supplies: PTI Sunshine Impression Plate; Gold Metallic Gel Roller; Gold Detail Embossing Powder; Mark Richards Gold Metal Adhesives; Marvy Le Plume markers