Seize the Birthday

I've been absent from posting on my blog for several days, but have definitely been getting inky for some future projects (you will see two of them tomorrow)! I needed a birthday card for an elderly man in church who has been such a great friend and car enthusiast with my husband. While the Seize the Birthday challenge wants us to create for kids, I'm thinking this truck could very easily work for them as well. 

This truck die set was released in October by Spellbinders and is so easy and fun to assemble! I also bought an accessory die set that has lots more sentiments and that makes it so easy to apply to almost any occasion!

STAMPS: Just Sentiments: Easter (Ink to Paper).
PAPER: Spring 6x6" pad by Echo Park.

Thanks for stopping by...and my hope is that you are all staying well! This Covid-19 virus has turned everyone's world upside down and it feels very surreal! Our DIL was laid off her job yesterday, so that's a stressor that hits very close to home.  We don't live in fear because we know God is in control and this is His plan for us.
This photo was posted on FB by a fellow stamping friend and I wanted to share it here with you!
                                                                     ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #586

It's time for another Color Throwdown Challenge and Lisa is hosting this week. She's chosen pink, purple and white for our colors and you can see I added a neutral gray to the combo. 

I started by color blending with Little Piggy and Silver Lining dye inks by WPlus9 and used a Tim Holtz "Bubble" stencil. The butterfly was color blended with those colors plus Blossomberry. My go-to blending brushes are the Taylored Expressions set.

What doesn't show up in the photo is the subtle sparkle from a Wink of Stella clear brush marker over the entire butterfly. It adds some pizzazz without being overbearing!

STAMPS: Forever In Our Hearts (PinkFresh Studio).
PAPER: Smoky Slate (SU); White (Papertrey Ink).
DIES: Forever In Our Hearts (PinkFresh Studio); Stitched Rectangle STAX Die-Namics (My Favorite Things).

For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, check out their projects HERE. We'd love to see you in the gallery!
                                           Happy stamping!     ~Wanda

Fusion Card Challenge

There's a great new Fusion Card Challenge with a fun sketch and a great photo to inspire us! I used both the sketch and the cake and color theme. I used distress oxide inks to stamp the images prior to die cutting. I had initially wanted to use patterned papers for the sketch and was quickly reminded how difficult it is to match up blues! Plan B was to use white on white, so my leftover pile came to the rescue with this large dotted embossed paper.

Once again, I went with a favorite stamp set from Ink to Paper called Cake Creations. It reminded me of our wedding cake which had real flowers decorating a white cake.

The sentiment die cut is from the Sweet Celebration set from Ink to Paper and the sentiment itself is from their Just Sentiments: To and From Essentials set.

INK: Tumbled Glass, Broken China, Stormy Sky, Blueprint Sketch, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn distress oxide inks by Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black.

For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, please head over to the Fusion Challenge blog HERE. Hope to see you in the gallery!                                 Happy stamping!  ~Wanda

Color Throwdown #585

It's hump day again and that means a new Color Throwdown Challenge is happening! Jodi has some great colors (which I messed up and used white instead of cream but am calling it 'close' and going with it)! I wanted to play with the Botanicuts: Lily dies from The Greetery again and just love how they pop when you get them all assembled!

I added color with blending brushes and distress inks then added highlights to the lilies by lightly swiping a darker coral Prismacolor pencil over the petals.

STAMPS: Just Sentiments: Easter (Ink to Paper).
INK: Abandoned Coral, Mustard Seed, Evergreen Bough, Shabby Shutters, Peeled Paint, Peacock Feathers distress inks by Ranger; Memento Tuxedo Black.
PAPER: Tropical Teal, White (Papertrey Ink).
DIES: Botanicuts: Lily, Botanicuts: Palm, Nordic Frames - all by The Greetery.

For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, check out their projects HERE. We'd love to see you in the gallery!
                                           Happy stamping!     ~Wanda

ITP March Release Day #4

This is day #4 for introductions to the March Ink to Paper release which means tomorrow is the big day - March 15th - when you'll be able to order these new products! There is a great new graduation set called Hats Off + there is a coordinating Inside Greetings: Graduation stamp set as well. Also, there's a Beautiful Bouquet: Teacher stamp set and we're highlighting an awesome die set called Love to Layer: Notched Dies.

I knew I wanted to create a patterned paper background with the Hats Off set and went with three PTI colors - Hawaiian Shores, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse - and highlighted with black. To add some texture and visual interest, I tore a strip of vellum and layered it over another strip of torn Harvest Gold paper.

I layered the smallest of the Charming Tags dies over a couple of

Beautiful Bouquet: Tag die cuts and accented with some leafy sprigs and the graduation cap.

 Here is a fun inside to this card using a sentiment from the Inside Greetings: Graduation set and the Go-To Gift Card Slider die. I folded two $20 bills and kept the numbers visible so it would also be fitting for the year 2020!

My next card is clean and simple and would be easy to mass produce for multiple teachers in your life! It features the Beautiful Bouquet: Teacher set and the smallest of the Love to Layer: Notched Dies as well as the Beautiful Bouquet: Tag.

I love using stencils and thought it would make a fun background to use the Modern Background stencil from Papertrey Ink. I colored the apples with Zig clean color brush markers then added Glossy Accents for a little shine.

STAMPS: Beautiful Bouqet: Teacher.
INK: Versamark, Green Parakeet.
PAPER: White, Green Parakeet.
DIES: Love to Layer: Notched Dies; Beautiful Bouquet Tag.
OTHER: Zig markers; Brown twine; Modern Background Stencil (PTI), Glossy Accents.

Be sure to check out what the rest of the design team has created by

heading over to the Ink to Paper blog!
                                                  
                                              Happy stamping!    ~Wanda

ITP March Release Day #3

I hope you've been following the posts for the past couple of days of the new Ink to Paper spring release that will be live on Sunday, March 15th! Today is day #3 and we are featuring A Mother's Love stamps and dies, Charming Tags dies, Go-To Gift Card Holder: Flower Pot and Beautiful Bouquet: Mother stamps.

This flower pot die is the perfect fit with the Beautiful Bouquet florals! I wanted to give it a woven basket look so I stenciled with Ink to Paper's diamond stencil using a medium brown ink over kraft card stock. I also sponged the edges. 

STAMPS: Beautiful Bouquet, Beautiful Bouquet: Mother (Ink to Paper).
INK: Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Tumbled Glass, Twisted Citron, New Leaf, Crushed Olive, Bundled Sage distress oxide inks (Ranger); Versamark.
PAPER: Kraft, Amethyst Allure, White (Ink to Paper).
DIES: Go-To Gift Card Holder: Flower Pot, Beautiful Bouquet Tag, Beautiful Bouquet (Ink to Paper).
OTHER: Diamonds stencil (Ink to Paper), Jute twine.

My next project uses the beautiful wreath options in A Mother's Love along with the Charming Tag dies.

I love the Bitty Big patterned paper series and chose to use the Soft Stone color for the base. I cut and layered the 'mom' die 3 times and used a contrasting color offset from the top color to add a little more dimension. Isn't that tiny cross-stitch stamp a sweet detail?!

 

STAMPS: A Mother's Love, Beautiful Bouquet: Mother (Ink to Paper).
INK: Bright Buttercup, Prairie Grass, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse (Ink to Paper); Peach, Coral (Reverse Confetti).
PAPER: Bitty Big: Soft Stone, Simply Chartreuse, Soft Stone, White (Ink to Paper).
DIES: Charming Tag Dies, A Mother's Love (Ink to Paper). 
OTHER: Natural linen thread; Wood veneer hearts. 

Don't miss the beautiful creations by the rest of the design team! You can check it all out HERE.
 
Be sure to come back to see the last day of introductions tomorrow!                                     Happy stamping!    ~Wanda

 

ITP March Release Day #2

 It's day #2 for more introductions of the March Ink to Paper release that will be going live on Sunday the 15th! Spring is definitely in the air with this release! Today, we are revealing Garden of Blessings stamps and dies, Beautiful Bouquet Background die and Beautiful Bouquet Outline die, Hers stamps and Just Sentiments: Mother's Day.

Aren't these flowers in the Garden of Blessings set just the cutest?!  I love the little dot details that are part of the leaf stamps!

Again, I added a smidgen of a darker second color when I stamped the flowers and then added a few highlights with a white gel pen. 
 
STAMPS: Garden of Blessings.
INK: Memento Tuxedo Black; Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Spiced Marmalade, Ripe Persimmon, Mustard Seed, Fossilized Amber, Worn Lipstick, Picked Raspberry, Squeezed Lemonade distress oxide inks (Ranger).
PAPER: Fine Linen, White, True Black (Papertrey Ink/Ink to Paper).
DIES: Garden of Blessings, Pierced Feature Frames (Ink to Paper).
OTHER: White gel pen.

Next, I'm featuring the Beautiful Bouquet Outline die that works great over a unique background.

I had fun stamping the distress oxide ink colors onto water color

paper using an acrylic block (1 1/2" x 4 1/4"). After inking the block, I spritzed it twice with water before applying to the paper. I gold embossed the sentiment on heavy weight vellum and adhered it to the card with very light spraying of Elmer's adhesive. The Hers stamp set will cover ALL the females in your life and will make it so easy to individualize your sentiments!

STAMPS: Hers, Just Sentiments: Mother's Day.

INK: Mustard Seed, Spiced Marmalade, Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, Peacock Feathers distress oxide inks (Ranger); Versamark.

PAPER: Water color (Ranger); Vellum; True Black, White (Ink to Paper).

DIES: Beautiful Bouquet: Outline die; Love to Layer: Notched dies (Ink to Paper).

OTHER: Gold embossing powder.

For more inspiration from the rest of the design team, be sure to head on over to the Ink to Paper blog and check it out! I'll be back again tomorrow with more new release introductions.

                                                                           ~Wanda 

ITP March Release Day #1

Hello everyone! It's a big day for me with my first featured post on the Ink to Paper blog as a member of the design team! I'm thrilled to have been asked to join their team after guesting for several months. Hang in here for a rather lengthy post as it's March release week and this is Day #1 of introductions!

My first card features the Beautiful Bouquet stamps and dies and it

is quite a large collection! You know I love flowers and there's no better way to get this spring party going than to get inky with lots of florals! I used two ink colors when I stamped most of the images to give a little variegated effect. I noticed with distress oxide inks that they tend to fade out more quickly and the color change isn't as noticeable. 

I wanted more definition with the petals, so used a white gel pen to trace over the fine lines. I love using embossed vellum sentiments when I don't want to cover up many images on the card front.

STAMPS: Beautiful Bouquet (Ink to Paper).
INK: Pure Poppy, Green Parakeet, New Leaf, Bright Buttercup, Spring Moss, Simply Chartreuse, Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise (Papertrey Ink).
PAPER: White, True Black (PTI), Vellum, Patterned stripes (MFT).
DIES: Beautiful Bouquet (Ink to Paper).
OTHER: Gold embossing powder, Enamel dots.

I focused on a smaller bouquet option (from the same set) for my second card and am highlighting a wonderful new set of dies called Love to Layer: Notched Dies. I used all three sizes and popped up a couple of layers with foam tape to add more dimension. 

You'll hear more about the sentiment set and "mom" die on a later

date, but thought this Beautiful Bouquet Tag Die was perfect for this design! I cut out and layered the "mom" die three times to give more dimension. The background was fun to create by smooshing distress oxide inks onto an acrylic block then "picking up" the ink by tapping watercolor card stock over the block then splattering with a darker color after it was dry.

STAMPS: Beautiful Bouquet, Just Sentiments: Mother's Day (Ink to Paper).
INK: Milled Lavender, Shaded Lilac, Wilted Violet, Dusty Concord distress oxide inks (Ranger); Bright Buttercup, Summer Sunrise, Green Parakeet, New Leaf (Papertrey Ink).
PAPER: White, Amethyst Allure, Green Parakeet (Papertrey Ink); Water color CS (Ranger).
DIES: Beautiful Bouquet, Love to Layer: Notched Dies, Beautiful Bouquet Tag Die, "MOM" die from A Mother's Love (Ink to Paper).
OTHER: Twine, Black Enamel Accents. 

While I used the Beautiful Bouquet Tag die on the card above, it's such a quick and easy tag to decorate for a last minute gift you might need! Here are a trio of tags using the new Beautiful Bouquet Sentiment stamps along with the tag.

I'm a fan of these tiny gift bags I found online! They are perfect to insert a gift card or even some money or a small piece of chocolate.

STAMPS: Beautiful Bouquet: Sentiment Stamps, Beautiful Bouquet (Ink to Paper).
DIES: Beautiful Bouquet Tag Die, Beautiful Bouquet (Ink to Paper). 

Hopefully you will be inspired by these projects! To see what the rest of the design team has created, be sure to stop by the Ink to Paper blog HERE to check them out! 
                                                           Happy stamping!  Wanda