pti's august blog hop

Hello! I'm so happy to have a new post to share! I took a little break from blogging this summer... Many thanks to those who continued to check in on me here even though I didn't have anything new to share!


Enough about that -- on to the card details! For the autumn theme for this blog hop, I chose to focus on autumnal colors.

I created the flower stems by curving a Faux Ribbon component into a gentle arc before sticking it onto the acrylic block and stamping. The flower stems and leaves are stamped on kraft and then cut out so they could be threaded through the slot on the die cut tag. The stems were threaded through the slotted end of the tag first, then the ribbon was attached.


After laying everything out on the kraft card base, I decided it looked too plain so I pulled out my canvas background stamp and used versamark ink to give it some subtle texture.


supplies used:
...............
stamps: canvas background (SU!); faux ribbon for the stems, everyday button bits for the leaves, first fruits for the sentiment (PTI)
ink: chocolate chip (SU!); versamark
paper: very vanilla, kraft, chocolate chip, more mustard, really rust (SU!); scarlet jewel (PTI)
other: 3/4" dia. circle punch, 1" dia. circle punch, 1-1/4" dia. circle punch (SU!); ribbon, rhinestones (Michaels); upper crest border punch (Fiskars); ribbon tag die (Spellbinders)

let's get crafty!

I love creating cards and I thought it would be fun to have some of my gal pals over for a crafting night. These are the four cards I designed for them to make:


I was really nervous about this get-together because I hadn't ever taught anyone else how to make my cards and I wanted it to be an enjoyable experience for everyone. I think the evening was a success because they all said they'd be interested in doing it again! Phew!

A few tips for the cards...

birthday card: Since the scalloped square is virtually the same size as the largest SU! square punch, I used my paper cutter to cut a larger square to mat it.

thank you card: I cut the pink, chocolate and patterned red papers to be slightly wider than the card front. Once the pieces were adhered together and to the card, I flipped over the card and CAREFULLY trimmed the excess off with scissors.

one of a kind card: The Really Rust strip is textured using the Cutter Bee piercing tool. Maybe I just don't know the tricks for this tool, but I have yet to have it make clean, uniform holes through the paper. Sometimes it punches through, and other times it just indents the paper. For this card, I like the backside of the "pierced" paper, so I turned it over and adhered it so the back was facing up. (I was inspired by this card on SCS for my creation.)

everything card: To use the Stamp-a-ma-jig on small pieces of cardstock, I suggest using some removable adhesive on the back of the pieces to temporarily stick them to your work surface. Then line up the image and stamp away! (I was inspired by this card on SCS for my creation.)


supplies used (SU! unless noted otherwise):
...............

birthday card
stamps: pocket silhouettes
ink: versamark, so saffron, certainly celery
paper: white (Hammermill), so saffron, certainly celery
other: certainly celery twill ribbon, chocolate chip rub-on sentiment, clear embossing powder, 1-3/8” square punch, scallop square punch, scallop edge punch

thank you card
stamps: say it with scallops
ink: real red, chocolate chip marker
paper: white (Hammermill), pink pirouette, chocolate chip, real red DSP
other: scalloped square punch

one of a kind card
stamps: one of a kind
ink: chocolate chip marker, really rust marker
paper: river rock, really rust, sage shadow, chocolate chip
other: word window punch, texturz plates, 1-3/8" diacircle punch, silver brads (Making Memories), 1-7/8” dia metal edge tag (Avery), piercing tool (Cutter Bee)

everything card
stamps: always, mistletoe standard wheel
ink: chocolate chip, old olive
paper: white (Hammermill), groovy guava, wild wasabi
other: small corner rounder (EK Success), eyelets (Making Memories)

little notes of thanks

During one of Michaels' sales on their punches, I picked up this envelope punch on clearance. At first I was disappointed at how small the folded up envelope was, but then I realized that I just needed to make smaller cards! These thank you notes are 3.25" square.

supplies used
...............
stamps: thank you kindly (SU!)
paper: sage shadow, whisper white (SU!); pink (DMD Industries scrap pack)
ink: chocolate chip (SU!)
other: envelope punch (Marvy Uchida); scallop edge punch (SU!); crimper (Fiskars)

quick thanks

I needed a quick thank you card to send to a thoughtful relative, so I took a card from my stash with a modern design printed on it and added a quick sentiment. The double ended tags from Spellbinders really dress up cards so quickly! I matched my eyelets that affix the sentiment tag to the eyelet that already existed on the card.

supplies used
...............
stamps: thank you kindly (SU!)
paper: whisper white (SU!); printed card (Gartner)
ink: chocolate chip (SU!)
other: silver eyelets (Michaels); double ended tag die (Spellbinders)