PaperTrey Ink 8th Anniversary Inspiration Challenge

Okay, I originally posted this on Sunday, never checked and figured out somehow I never saved it. Ugg!! I hate when that happens. So I will start all over again and hope that this will publish.

PaperTrey Ink is turning eight. I am in awe of the talent of the designers and the owner, Nichole Heady. I have a hefty order a couple times a year when I can get away with it. Their stamp and die designs are always so fresh and each designer is so different that I always have a hard time weeding down my wish list. The minute I get an old design I love, they release new sets. How can a girl keep up? For their anniversary, Nichole is sponsoring all sorts of challenges for the festivities and for this challenge, the prize is your ENTIRE wish list, up to a $300 value. How cool would that be?

The drawings will be on February 15th, my birthday. What a great birthday present this would be if I won!!

This challenge was to use colors  and a sketch to make a card. I chose the inspiration cards below for my card.

To begin with, I cut white card stock into a 5 1/2" by 3 3/4" piece. I then used PTI's "Building Blocks" stamp set and stamped some blocks using Sweet Blush, Aqua Mist and Fine Linen ink.

Originally I wanted the blocks to be straight however no matter how hard I tried, I would mess them up. I finally decided that I would tilt the blocks in a random way so that I wouldn't have to worry about them lining up perfectly.

I then stamped a piece of Sweet Blush card stock with Sweet Blush ink using the "Ombre Builders" stamp set. I adhered it to a Fine Linen card base and then adhered the white card face over it.

Next I then stamped and die cut a circle from PTI's "Tag Its #11" set. I adhered this over a kraft colored, pinked die cut circle and then glued it over the stamped blocks.

I die cut the banner out of Sweet Blush card stock, stamped it with Melon Berry ink and the sentiment with Enchanted Eventing. I adhered it over the circle with foam adhesive.

My last step was to adhere pink, aqua and a melon sequin to the front of the card.

I really like how this came out. I was not sure about the colors at first. I like sketches but color challenges are more difficult for me. I think that it might have been less difficult if I had used flowers but I wanted to make a Valentine so it was a little more challenging.

I want to thank you for stopping by today. Have a great day!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

PaperTrey Ink 8th Anniversary: Maile Belle's Inspiration Card Challenge

 This is going to be a super quick post today. Have you been following the festivities at Nichole Heady's blog? It is PaperTrey Ink's 8th anniversary and there are TONS of challenges going on. You need to check it out!!

Today I sharing a card that was inspired by Maile Belle's. Here is my card:

Here is Maile's card, garnered from her post here:                                              

As you can see, it is not totally the same. I did not have all the stamp sets that Maile used so I had to improvise. I die cut the bottom of the card front using a small scallop die, rather then a large scallop like she did. I did have the heart die she used but had to use a stamp from the "2010 Love Tag" stamp set for my heart.

I did not have her sentiment so used an Avery Elle sentiment, as well as a little image from the "Love Note" set. I then covered the tiny red garnish with glossy accents.

I completed my card with a panel of Poppy red card stock underneath the front of the card and added some red twine.

I love Maile's card and think my CASE did not come out half bad!!

I thank you for stopping by!! Have a wonderful day!!

Supplies:

InLinkz.com

Freshly Made Sketches 172 and AAACards Challenge

Two posts in one day? Yup!! I want to get this in before a deadline tomorrow so decided to post again today.

I created the card below using Freshly Made Sketch 172 and AAA Cards theme challenge: "Love, Love, Love" as my inspiration. I also kind of cheated. I used the design team's Jen Mitchell as an inspiration too. The card she created for this challenge was stunning.

I apologize for the brightness of this card. The pink on that heart is not quite as florescent in real life, though it is bright.

Before I even started this card, I knew I wanted to use the heart die cut from Simon Says Stamp. I also wanted to attempt to make the heart appear "wispy" like the image below that was on AAA Cards blog.

I die cut the heart from white card stock and then dipped it into a watered down pearlescent pink paint, pearlescent white paint and a pink re-inker I had. I actually made four hearts like this, some even had some blue, but this heart was my favorite of the four that I created. You should have seen my hands when this was all done-what a MESS!! 

While the effect was not as "wispy" as I wanted, I think the heart came out pretty good. 

From there, I followed Freshly Made Sketches Sketch 172.

I dry embossed a piece of white card stock and then stamped different colored paint splotches in pink using My Favorite Thing's "Abstract Art" set. (I literally copied the idea of the paint splotches, as well as using the tag the way I did from Jen Mitchell's card.)

I then adhered a piece of patterned paper strip over the top of the card front. I die cut a tag out of white, tied white ribbon and twine at the top and layered the heart, a stamped banner and a gold heart die cut. The last step was to adhere the tag element to the card.

I am going to admit that there is a TON of white space on this card but I really did not want to add another color in with those pinks. It would be too much.

I like how this came out. There are a few things I would do differently, though. I would stamp the paint splotches before I dry embossed. Rookie mistake but I was in a hurry to get this done. 

I thank you for stopping by. Again, have a great night!!

P.S. While I have been writing this post, my dog has been pacing and whining. He is an attention hog and everyone but me is upstairs with the door shut. Zack finally gave up and this is where he is now:

Supplies:

InLinkz.com