Hey, friends! I'm back for more Papertrey July Countdown fun and I've got lots to share with you today!
All of the new products you're getting peeks at this week will be available for purchase at Papertrey Ink beginning on July 15 at 10pm EST.
(Affiliates Disclaimer: Just so you know, I sometimes use affiliate links here on my blog, which means that I participate in several affiliate programs, in which I may receive a small commission when you click one of these links and purchase a product at the corresponding product site (usually within a certain amount of time). There are no additional costs for you as a result of these links, but by shopping through these links, you are not only supporting me and the work I do here in the Raspberry Suite studio, but you're also helping me to continue to bring you beautiful content and inspiration here at my blog, for free! Please know that I share products with you that I use and enjoy and I make every effort to represent those to you honestly. Thanks so much, friends, for your support! I appreciate you!)
So let's talk about this first card, shall we? I am a stamper through and through, but I have to say that I LOVE the fact that this FUN and very detailed card was made with the sentiment being the only thing I stamped here! I love what the addition of dies in paper crafting has done for us in terms of design options....there are a zillion design options now!! And gosh, Papertrey was really at the forefront of making dies that coordinate with every set, a reality! I remember having conversations behind the scenes back when we were first starting to introduce dies and dreaming about the day when we'd have dies to coordinate with allllll the stamps! And heck, now we're designing dies that are so amazing and versatile, that we sometimes don't even need the stamps! How far we've come just in the 10 years or so that I've been with Papertrey!
Anyway, that was a bit of a sidetrack, but this card just got me to thinking about it all. Love. So, part of what I'm helping to introduce to you today, is my newest Ombre Sentiments set, Thinking of You. This is, of course, a follow up to the Ombre Sentiments: Birthday and Ombre Sentiments: Christmas stamp sets that so many of you have already been using and enjoying for awhile now. The great thing about these stamps is that they create the look of ombre for you, even if you're only using a single color of ink. But if you want to kick it up a notch, you can use multiple ink colors to create actual ombre and the design of the stamps just enhances that look for you!
I'm also helping to introduce a new set of dies designed by Lizzie Jones, called Pierced Feature Frames. Now, let me interject that Lizzie and I didn't coordinate on the design of these and my Scallop Stackers dies, but they're nearly a perfect fit when used together!!! GAH! I love when that happens! Maybe Lizzie and I are just way more in tune now that we've roomed together for a couple weeks! Hahaha!!
Trivia tidbit: Did you know that after I had my transplant and had to live in Washington, D.C. for 4-1/2 months earlier this year, Lizzie is one of the dear friends who came and stayed with me in D.C. for a couple weeks while my hubby had to come home for work? In fact, poor Lizzie spent 11 of those days with me in the HOSPITAL. Literally. Like, she slept in the hospital with me every night -- most of those, in a super uncomfortable recliner. Lizzie is a friend of the best sort. Anyhoo.....another side track, but trivia tidbits are fun sometimes, yes? :)
Ok, so back to the card.....I started with a tropical teal card base and to that, I added a couple of scallop layers. The first is a solid scallop layer of honey nut bitty dot paper, topped with an open scallop kraft layer. On top of that, is some raspberry fizz card stock on which, I added a pierced feature frames terracotta tile layer. Next came a cocoa bean tag sale #12 die cut topped with a scalloped circle that I cut out with one of the window works dies, on which, I stamped a sentiment from Ombre Sentiments: Thinking of You!
I love this color combo and doubly-love how Lizzie's frames work with my scallops! {insert heart eyes emoji!!}
{Thought of You Today supplies -- click on thumbnails}
Ok, so I'm hopeful that I can give you a few design tips with this next card and the one you just saw before it. If you'll notice, they're basically the same card! The first one, as I mentioned before, has only the sentiment for stamping on the whole card. However, say you like that layout but are wanting to add more stamping. Here's a way you can do that.....and for those of you who like to enter contests with your cards or just like to make cards and need inspiration from cards you see online but don't want to outright COPY a design, you can do things like this. I took the first card and by changing the way I used those large scallop layers (two layers and patterned paper on one of them on the first card) compared to a single dark layer on the second, and by how I changed the tag and by changing up the colors and by adding some floral elements, it really creates the look of an entirely different card.
I used another of the Pierced Feature Frames dies to cut out the white layer and I used another scalloped circle from the Window Works dies, as well as another sentiment from Ombre Sentiments: Thinking of You. But this time on the Tag Sale #12 die cut, I cut it from aqua mist card stock and added some ink blending with the Stencil Basics: Quatrefoil stencil.
I also tucked in a couple of flowers from The Sweet Life as well as some leaves from Vintage Linens. Overall, this card is a lot more soft and feminine while the first is a bit more modern in nature, but both are really the same basic layout.
I think sometimes as card makers, we tend to think we need to reinvent the wheel with every single card and I don't think that's always necessarily the case. I mean, if a layout works for you, by all means, make more than one. But if you're like me and you might get bored if they were all the EXACT same OR you just don't want to send people the same card, then change up the details to make the layout work for more than one card at a time. By changing a few of the details out, you could easily make this a masculine card or even a card for a kiddo.
Hope that helps you in your approach, when you sit down to make a few cards next time!
Also, I know I keep saying it but Lizzie's Pierced Feature Frames are a match made in Heaven for my Scallop Stackers! Talk about a quick way to make a big impact!
{You're in my Thoughts supplies}
Just to prove that point, take this next card for example. All it really is, is one of the Pierced Feature Frames paired with one of the Scallop Stackers die cuts! I cut my scallop layer from watercolor card stock and added some watercolor with Zig markers and a water brush. That's something you could cut out a stack of and some night sitting in front of the tv, just watercolor them up and set them aside to dry. Then, when you're ready to make some cards, pop on a sentiment, stack them on a card base and you're done!
These dies do a lot of the work for you!
The sentiment is an other from Ombre Sentiments: Thinking of You. I used my misti to stamp it with Ranger archival ink. Because I was stamping on watercolor card stock, I wanted the black to look really sharp, so I needed to be able to stamp it over and over several times. The misti makes that a breeze and this ink works really well when stamping over watercolor. (I linked it for you below.)
{Just Wanted You to Know supplies}
Ok, one more for today. Again, some of the same elements....same sentiment set, same frame dies, same scallop dies. But this time, by just using the scallop "holes" die directly on the card base, I was able to achieve a very different look, just by tucking some patterned paper on the inside of the card. And to dress that up even a bit more, I went ahead and die cut that bitty dot layer with the scallop stacker outline die, so the paper on the inside of the card is scalloped. Cute little detail that I'm guessing the recipient will appreciate.
I used a few more Vintage Linens flowers and leaves here....the flowers were heat embossed with gold embossing powder on watercolor card stock and then watercolored with my Zigs and water brush.
I used an ink blending tool to blend the ink on the sentiment before popping that little white layer inside the opening of the chocolate layer. Of course, both of those pieces were cut out with the Pierced Feature Frames dies.
What do you think? Are these kinds of tips and such helpful to you or are you thinking, "Duh! We already know that!"??? Haha. For real, I'd love your feedback. There's no use in me taking time to tell you stuff you're not interested in having to read, so if this sort of stuff is helpful to you, please let me know!
Be sure to check out the Papertrey Blog for lots more inspiration today and uh.....you might want to come back tomorrow! It's sort of a long post. Don't say I didn't warn you! I couldn't seem to stop with the cards for tomorrow!
Hope you'll stop back by! See you then!
Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Pinterest for all the latest updates.
{Sending Love supplies}
