More Christmas in August

Last Saturday I ordered some new items from Papertrey Ink. I have heard so much about their products and I decided that I wanted to try them out (even though I have a studio full of paper - it is truly an addiction!). I got a shipping notice on Monday and the box arrived Wednesday so I was very happy with the service.



One of the things that really appeals to me is the way that all of the products coordinate and the "quick pick" system that allows you to order everything in a certain color collection. I decided to try the "Scarlet Jewel" collection. Here is a LINK to the page for the quick pick color collections.

For $34, I got 5 yards each of six kinds of ribbon (grosgrain, satin, swiss dot, twill, stitched and bitty dot), 24 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 cardstock, a hybrid inkpad and a package of buttons. I ordered a few more things to reach the $55 order size that qualifies for free shipping (OK - more than a few more things - I couldn't resist!).



I am not really a stamper but I do seem to be collecting stamps lately. I found this stamp at a secondhand shop. It is made in Canada by Magenta. I looked online and couldn't find the name but I really like the design.



Here is the stamping side - the lines are sharp and clear. I opened up my new Scarlet Jewel inkpad and inked it up!



I stamped on plain ivory cardstock, trimmed around the stamped image and layered the image on an A2 card made with the Scarlet Jewel cardstock. This stamp would be a great one to color but I really like it in this simple outline look. The ink matches the cardstock so well.



Next I tried another large stamp - this one I found on clearance at Michael's a year or so ago. It is an Anna Griffin stamp by All Night Media.



Here is the top of the stamp so you can see the image more clearly.



It was very hard to get a good photo of the stamped image - the effect is lovely with the matching ink on the cardstock - very subtle and elegant. I will be adding to this card - maybe a border ... I am thinking it over ... but I wanted you to see the effect of the ink on the matching color cardstock.



I had heard that with large stamps it is a good idea to stamp on a cushion of some sort - like a mousepad. I didn't have an old one handy but I grabbed this piece of styrofoam from a shipping box. It seemed to have enough "give" and firmness to help produce a clean image.



The main reason I chose the Scarlet Jewel collection was that I thought it would work well with these K & Company papers from last Christmas. This line is called "Christmas Cheer." I am on a quest to start using some of the paper I have "collected" and I needed some solids to work with all of the beautiful patterns.



Here are the pieces for my simple card. I found the coordinating embellishments on clearance after Christmas last year.



I used the satin ribbon and placed it at the line to cover the row of red shapes on this patterned paper cut to 4 x 5.25 inches.



The only problem I have with double-sided paper is that I often like both sides and then I have trouble using it because I have to make a choice! I taped the ribbon to the "back" side.



It is hard to see in the photo, but I inked the edges of this paper with gold ink to tie in with the embellishment with the glittery edges.



Here is the simple card - it is so easy when all of your colors and patterns coordinate. The Papertrey cardstock makes a great card base. It is very heavy and has a lovely smooth feel. I also ordered the sampler pack of perfect match colors and I think I will be ordering several more quick pick color collections to use for card making.

I will show you the stamps I ordered another day - there are so many great choices that it was hard to pick just one!

Brown Bag ATCs

The theme for my Cricut Message Board ATC group this month was "brown paper bag" with this stipulation, "entire ATC must be utilizing brown paper in some way shape or form..."

This was a theme that gave me a hard time - I kept thinking of things like making tiny brown bags and putting something inside of each but I wasn't ready to commit to making 14 tiny bags(!) So I thought about it for a while and realized that "brown paper bag" was making me think of "plain brown wrapper." When I was younger (back in the day when TV ads for personal hygiene products and drugs for "performance problems" were unheard of), some products were advertised as items that would be sent through the mail in a "plain brown wrapper" - presumably to spare the purchaser from any embarrassment.

I recently bought a rubber stamp that I thought looked a bit like lingerie lace so I decided that I would use this for my ATCs. I imagined that racy black lingerie might have been something sent in a "plain brown wrapper."



I cut up an actual brown bag from the grocery store for the cards. For the fronts, I cut the pieces at ATC size (2.5 x 3.5 inches) and then, using my stamp positioner (shown in the photo above), I stamped the pieces of brown paper with Versamark ink and heat embossed the design with glossy black embossing powder. By using the stamp positioner I was able to stamp each ATC with the same portion of the stamp to make them as identical as possible.



Above you can see all 14 ATCs. I added a red gem to my "naughty" lace for a bit of sparkle.



For the backs of the ATCS, I printed the usual information in dark brown. I cut pieces of the brown paper bag at 8.5 x 11 inches and just ran it through my computer printer - it printed perfectly. There were nine backs on each page and I trimmed them to the proper size after printing.



Above is a closer view of the ATC backs. Since the paper bags are thick but still rather flexible, I adhered the fronts and backs to pieces of brown cardstock cut to ATC size to make them sturdier.

This was an interesting theme and fun to do once I finally had an idea. The other ATCs are in the mail on their way to me and I am looking forward to seeing all the interpretations of this theme. I did have a sneak peek at them on KER's blog (Karen is our organizer). If you would like to see all of the ATCs for this theme, here is a LINK to part one and a LINK to part two (she did two posts to allow for larger photos with fewer ATCs in each photo for a better view).

I really like the way the embossing worked on the brown bags and I think I will try this again for some cards.


Just a note about the Design Studio classes - we are having our second two Getting Started sessions this Wednesday and Thursday and will be adding some new classes soon. I was away last weekend and will have family visiting next weekend, but we will try to fit in a class or two next week. JenC and I appreciate all of the feedback and support and we have lots of exciting plans for additional topics...