PTI March blog hop

Good morning! Time for the blog hop at Papertrey Ink, where customers are invited to create projects using PTI products, usually based on an inspiration photo. This time one of the photos looked like this

and I took my inspiration from the colors and from the floral images. I didn't stamp a group of flowers, but a single flower. I really liked how the inspiration photo used gray for the leaves in its design, so I made gray leaves, first time ever I believe.

If you notice, this card has no sentiment and when I look at it I see it as sort of 3/4 finished. I had to go out of town and had a million and one things I had to get finished before I traveled and of course this card was the millionth and one, final thing on the list. I was literally fussing with it before leaving for the airport and it just didn't get quite finished. But I like playing along, so I tossed it in my bag to take a photo of it on the road. Actually I was dreaming by some miracle I would find a craft store and buy a sticker or die or something to finish it off...but that didn't happen. So here is my take on the inspiration photo, or the beginning of where my thoughts were going. Thanks for looking and Happy hopping!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink Anniversary set Pretty Peonies; Ink: Ranger Distress inks to watercolor flower and background, Versamark; Paper: watercolor, Neenah solar white, PTI Hawaiian Shores; Other: PTI button, white embossing powder, sequins. 

Mustard Seed Faith Challenge Blog Launch

Good morning! We are thrilled to announce the launch of a new faith-based challenge blog, Mustard Seed Faith Challenges. A wonderful group of ladies has joined me to spread the good news of the gospel through our creative talents, primarily through papercrafting. You can see a list of the design team members on the side bar. This first Sunday the challenge is to use the color yellow or a golden yellow somewhere in the project, to go along with the image of a mustard seed or mustard plant and flower.

We would like to invite you to play along, and you can find more details about the challenge blog and our goals and purpose if you click the link on my sidebar. Our main purpose is to "make Jesus famous," to steal a line from one of my favorite local churches. Our challenges will run for two weeks, so plenty of time to join in!

I made a watercolor wash background using Ranger distress reinkers, also using them to paint my floral image. I made at least five backgrounds before I had one that I was satisfied with, so just a word of encouragement to keep on experimenting when you're stamping. This was my first time using embossing paste with a stencil too! So cool that when you have that white paste you also can use reinkers to make it any tint you like! Thanks for looking and we hope you can play along.

Stamps: Tim Holtz, Ink: black and a variety of Ranger Distress reinkers; Paper: Neenah solar white, watercolor paper and Papertrey Ink Smoky Shadow; Die: Papertrey Ink (Hello), My Favorite Things stitched rectangles; Other: Embossing paste, Tim Holtz stencil, glossy accents. 

PTI Tenth Anniversary ... flowers

Hello again! As Papertrey Ink celebrates its tenth anniversary, customers are invited to join in a few stamping challenges. One of them is to use a favorite floral set. I have to admit, this isn't necessarily a favorite, but I'm longing for Spring and for tulips to pop out of the ground...probably because in the past day we've gotten 8-9 inches of snow so far...and still falling! This is an old set, but full of tulips! I was inspired by one of Betsy's cards today to pull out my blue inks. Thanks for looking!

Stamps: Papertrey Ink "Wishing You," Illustrated Faith "Bloom." Paper: PTI soft stone, white linen, white cardstock, Aqua. Ink: Amethyst Allure, Spring Rain, Simply Chartreuse, Limeade Ice, Summer Sunrise, Bright Buttercup, black. My Favorite Things Square stitched frame dies, silver gel pen, clear gel pen, sequins, Ranger distress markers (to highlight the tulips)

PTI Tenth Anniversary ... patterns

Hello! Been a while since I've had a chance to stamp! Papertrey is celebrating its tenth anniversary and has a few challenges for its customers. One of them involves using elemental shapes to create a pattern or row on your card. I mainly have circles and squares. I tried arranging the butterflies in rows first, but it just looked like a science project gone wrong, something in the dusty corner of the natural history museum. Thanks for looking! Happy stamping! (Also for some reason my camera doesn't like the upper right corner blue squares...they are not as far off from the other colors as it seems.)

Stamps: Papertrey "Wishing You," (sentiment) and cannot remember company for grasses on the side. Ink: white and black. Cardstock: aqua mist, two other blue scraps, soft stone, Neenah solar white.  Other: embossing powder, glitter, 3/4 cirle punch.