Love You Always

Happy Friday, friends! It's my day to tackle Reverse Confetti's February Sketch For You To Try. It's a fun sketch, with lots of possibilities, so if you haven't yet given it a go, I encourage you to do so! Challenge link-up and all the sketch details are posted HERE. A $20 Reverse Confetti gift certificate goes to one lucky winner!

Here's the February sketch:

I started today's card with a white Woodgrain Confetti Cuts panel and the Heart 12 x 12 Collection Kit by Simple Stories. The letters that spell out "LOVE" are stickers in the kit, as are the small solid hearts, flowers, and stars.

Behind the top of the Woodgrain panel, I attached a skinny tag (die-cut with In the Bag dies) and a partial Swirlies die-cut.

In the middle is an outline heart that I die-cut with the Stamped Note Confetti Cuts dies. It is accented with stickers from the Simple Stories kit.

And at the bottom is a stamped sentiment, white embossed on vellum, from the Lovey Word Coordinates stamp set.

Stamps: Lovey Word Coordinates

Dies: Swirlies, Woodgrain, Stamped Note, In the Bag

Ink: Versamark, white pigment

Paper: white and sand card stock; Simple Stories Heart 12x12 Collection Kit; linen vellum

Other: white linen thread, sequins, clear embossing powder

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Thanks so much for stopping by! Be sure to visit Laurie Schmidlin today as well, to see what she did with this same sketch!

Thank You For Being A Friend

Hello, hello, and Happy Wednesday! Please join me today on the Reverse Confetti blog for this week's Wednesday in the Works. Hint, hint, I'm calling this week "Wednesday in the [What If Nothing] Works." Yep, I'll be talking about a common ailment: no mojo. And one thing you can try!

Have a great day!

You Color My World

I'm up on the My Favorite Things blog again today. Thank you, MFT, for having me as your guest!

Mid-February is an ideal time to fall in love all over again with florals, and the new Large Desert Bouquet from My Favorite Things is a perfect way to coax spring out of hiding. Today, I've played with some ink blending, stamping, and splattering to create some lush background greenery for my bright blooms. First I stamped the leaves randomly in two corner clusters, then sponged on some light blue and turquoise inks, fading to white toward the top. Last, I splattered with green, teal, and white. I used Gansai Tambi watercolors and a paintbrush for the splatter. Because they are thicker paints, the splatter spots hold their color well, especially for the darker colors. You can mix your own colors and control the intensity depending on how much water you add, too.

Next I stamped and die-cut a flower assortment in some pretty, bright colors and arranged them over the corner leaf clusters. Along the bottom is a petite scalloped border and some black and white baker's twine.

The sentiment is white embossed on vellum and stitched into place. 

Have a great weekend, friends! 

Faith Can Move Mountains

I have a few more projects to share today using Reverse Confetti's awesome February release. 

First up is a card that features a background that I stamped using the layered flowers in Garden Bunch along with a sentiment from The Lord's Strength.

I framed the sentiment with an Envie Wrap Confetti Cuts die-cut and accented with enamel hearts, Caribbean Solid Twine, and a strip of diagonal stripe paper.

Stamps: Garden Bunch, The Lord's Strength

Dies: Envie Wrap

Ink: Papertrey Mint Julep, Aqua Mist, Tropical Teal, Smokey Shadow, VersaMark

Paper: white card stock, dark gray card stock; patterned paper scraps; vellum card stock

Other: Caribbean Solid Twine, white embossing powder, enamel hearts, warm gray Copic markers, clear Wink of Stella

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And next is a quick pillow box featuring A Friend Like You stamps and one of the Edgers dies. I wrapped the box first in one of the patterned papers from Basic Grey's Typeset collection (the floral). 

Next I cut a narrower piece of the contrasting orange polka dot (also from Typeset) and used one of the Edgers dies on each end. I wrapped that around the box and tied off with some Caribbean Solid Twine and a darling miniature tag from the Floral Wrap Confetti Cuts die set.

The sentiment is a combination of the "hello" die-cut from Fancy Words and a stamped sentiment from A Friend Like You.

Stamps: A Friend Like You

Dies: Edgers, Floral Wrap, Fancy Words

Ink: Papertrey Ink Enchanted Evening

Paper: White and Enchanted Evening card stock; Basic Grey Typeset collection

Other: Frosted Pillow Box, Caribbean Solid Twine

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Thanks for visiting!

So Lucky You're My Friend

I'm super excited to be guest designing for My Favorite Things! You'll find me on the MFT blog today and tomorrow. 

I've got a couple of goodies whipped up using their fabulous February release. For today, I have a sweet and simple friendship card using the Stitched Rainbow Die-namics along with the Lucky stamps and Lucky Die-namics dies. I love making cards with rainbows! I find with all of that color, it makes sense to keep the rest of the card simple, so rainbows can be an especially good option for quick cards and multiples.

I die-cut the Stitched Rainbow from watercolor paper and did some loose watercoloring in rainbow colors. I love the whimsical look of the watercoloring. I offset the assembled rainbow on a white card stock panel, popped up some cloud die-cuts from the Lucky Die-namics set, then trimmed off the overhang before layering onto a white, top-fold card base.

I love the sentiments in Lucky and am having serious font envy. As in, I totally want my handwriting to look JUST like that! Isn't it just so fun and charming?! I stamped the friendship sentiment in black ink onto the white card panel for a nice, crisp look.

With clean and simple cards, often the appeal is in the small details. Here, I've added a few wood veneer stars around the sentiment. The machine-stitched borders are another subtle detail that packs a whole lot of punch.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Papertrey February Release in Review

[If you're looking for my Moments Inked Newsletter post, 
Year of Gratitude, 
please scroll down or click HERE.]

Papertrey's big February anniversary release is nearly here. All of the products will be available in the Papertrey Ink store tonight at 10 pm EST!

I have a number of additional projects to share today -- enjoy!

First up is Betsy's What the Doodle: Butterfly. I heat embossed in white, then sponged in yellow, green and turquoise inks. The background was done with one of the new Modern Backgrounds stencils.

Behind the butterfly is a vellum Branching Out die-cut.

Stamps: What the Doodle: Butterfly

Dies: What the Doodle: Butterfly; Branching Out

Ink: Lemon Tart, Limeade Ice, Hawaiian Shores, Ripe Avocado

Paper: watercolor paper, white card stock, vellum card stock

Other: Modern Backgrounds Stencil Collection, white embossing powder, white thread, ink blending tool and foam, foam adhesive, sewing machine

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I love Heather's Be stamps and dies! I put a bunch of those motivational words together in a  list and made a bookmark.

And I did the same thing on a card to match. No photo, but on the inside there is one final "Be Yourself." I had my middle school-age daughter and all of her friends in mind when I made this. Such a tough age! The reminder to be yourself and that you already are all of those other things really strikes a chord!

I'm really enjoying the new Modern Backgrounds stencils. Here I've used one to add interest to the background.

CARD:

Stamps: Be

Ink: Tropical Teal, Hawaiian Shores, Bright Buttercup, Summer Sunrise, Blueberry Sky, Vintage Jadeite, Stormy Sea, Enchanted Evening

Paper: Stamper's Select white card stock, Vintage Jadeite + White Paper Basics Collection; Bright Buttercup card stock

Other: Enchanted Evening baker's twine, Modern Backgrounds Stencil Collection, sewing machine, foam adhesive

BOOMARK:

Stamps: Be

Dies: Be; Basic Bookmark #3

Ink: Tropical Teal, Hawaiian Shores, Bright Buttercup, Summer Sunrise, Blueberry Sky, Vintage Jadeite, Enchanted Evening

Paper: Stamper's Select white card stock

Other: white linen thread

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Raise your hand if you love Dawn's Peonies on Parade collection! Here I've used one of the Peonies on Parade watercoloring pages and colored with Zig markers. I added some gold splatter and gold sequins in the background.

The sentiment is from the previously released Super Swoosh die set and Swoosh stamp set. A touch of vellum helps the sentiment stand out.

Stamps: Swoosh

Dies: Swoosh

Ink: True Black

Paper: Peonies on Parade watercolor pages, Rustic White card stock, luxe gold adhesive sheets, vellum card stock

Other: Zig Clean Color Brush Markers, gold sequins, True Black baker's twine

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This one also uses Peonies on Parade, as well as Betsy's Inspired: Savior stamps and dies. I wanted to try something a little different here. I heat embossed the peonies on Soft Stone Stripe paper and left them uncolored for more of a background effect. I love the look but it seems criminal to minimize those beautify peonies in any way!

Again the sentiment is from Inspired: Savior. It's in three pieces: "our" is on a Keep It Simple Frames tag die-cut, "Savior" is die-cut from Smokey Shadow card stock, and "can move mountains" is stamped in Soft Stone ink onto a Tag Sale: Quilted die-cut.

Stamps: Painted Petals

Dies: Painted Petals; Cover Plate: Pretty Frame

Ink: Harvest Gold, Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate, True Black, Lovely Lady, Hibiscus Burst, Simply Chartreuse, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz

Paper: white card stock

Other: Studio Calico Mister Huey's color mist, Copic multiliner

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I used the Nichole's Spring Woods stamps and dies, along with Erin's Cover Plate: Pretty Frame to make a sweet thank-you card. I love these branches and the multi-step birds!

The background is lightly sponged and misted.

The sentiment was embossed in white and resisted the sponging around it. I love the subtle look of this.

Stamps: Spring Woods

Dies: Spring Woods, Cover Plate: Pretty Frame

Ink: Aqua Mist, Sweet Blush, Mint Julep, Classic Kraft, Fine Linen, Smokey Shadow, VersaMark

Paper: white card stock

Other: ink blending tool and foam, foam adhesive, Rainstones

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Next up: Maile's Splits: Just A Note. I heat embossed the image in white onto a watercolor panel I had in my stash - it fit perfectly! I kept it simple with just a strip of black and white stripe paper and a trio of sequins. 

Stamps: Splits: Just A Note

Ink: VersaMark; Twisted Citron, Tumbled Glass, Peacock Feathers Distress Ink

Paper: watercolor paper; Black and White All Over Paper Collection, Limeade Ice card stock

Other: white and clear embossing powder, True Black baker's twine, black sequins

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Last for today is Lizzie's Simply Spring Borders. Oh my goodness, the cuteness and the charm! I love these bunnies to pieces!! I gave them a little scene to play in using the Cover Plate: Blue Skies and Cover Plate: Blue Skies Rays.

Along the bottom, the bunnies were stamped twice - once on the card (really for placement purposes), then again on separate card stock, die-cut, and popped up over the first bunnies. I ever-so-lightly colored the bunnies with a very light gray Copic.

Before stamping the bunnies, I sponged on an Aqua Mist sky, stamped the grass and some tiny pink flowers, and added the line of machine stitching. 

Stamps: Simply Spring Borders

Dies: Simply Spring Borders, Cover Plate: Blue Skies; Cover Plate Blue Skies Rays; Scene It: Skyscapes

Ink: Aqua Mist, Spring Moss, Sweet Blush, True Black

Paper: Stamper's Select White, Aqua Mist, and Lemon Tart card stock

Other: ink blending tool and foam, light gray Copic marker, foam adhesive, sewing machine

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That's it for today! For one more round of February release inspiration, visit the Papertrey team:

Nichole Heady

Ashley Newell

Betsy Veldman

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Kay Miller

Laurie Willison

Lizzie Jones

Melissa Phillips

Thanks for stopping by!

Moments Inked Planner: Year of Gratitude

Papertrey's big February Anniversary release is tonight at 10 pm EST! If you're looking for my Release in Review post, click HERE.

This post is for the Papertrey Ink Moments Inked Newsletter. I'm excited to share with you how I've created a simple Year of Gratitude journal within my planner.

In January, I created a daily gratitude section in my Moments Inked planner using the notes pages at the end of the month. It was going to be a temporary place for gratitude journaling -- only until the daily pages made their return. But I fell in love with having all of my gratitude journaling in one place, so instead of recording gratitude on the new daily pages (available tonight!), I've expanded my gratitude section to cover the whole year. (I've also repurposed the gratitude section of the daily page -- more on that HERE.)

Here's a look at my gratitude journaling section:

For a section divider, I cut a full page out of a plastic office supply store file folder using one of the Binder Page dies. On the front, I've printed out one of my favorite gratitude quotes and adhered it to the divider. 

(I found the printable HERE and just re-colored it in Photoshop.)

I have grand ideas of hand lettering this quote and decorating with stamps, and I'll be sure to share here if/when I do that!

On the pages, I've used a simple bullet-journal approach made colorful with stamps and ink. Each day is stamped with the day of the week stamp from Monthly Moments: Tabbed. Then I just used a ruler and fine-point Sharpie for the vertical line, wrote in the date, and wrote in the 1, 2, and 3.

For the pages, I'm using the new Lined Paper Packs. I'm so crazy excited for these refills and for the graphed paper refills, both available tonight. They're on the same weight linen paper as the rest of the planner, and they have that signature rainbow stripe along the bottom, which match the rest of the planner's notes pages perfectly!

At the beginning of each month, I'll do a little decorating and embellishing. The stamps are all from Heather's new Be stamp set.

I didn't do much in January because it was only going to be temporary. I do like this simpler, cleaner look, though! The month image is from Monthly Moments: Year Round Minis.

Because these pages will accumulate over the year, I made a page marker using the Binder: Listed die to help me quickly find my place. At the top, I stamped "thankful" from Monthly Moments: Tabbed.

And before I go, just because I always enjoy seeing other people's planner spreads, I'll share a few of my recent ones.  I showed bits on Saturday's post introducing the new products this month, but here are the full pages and the Bible verse lettering.

 Last year, I was definitely minimalist, and rarely decorated until I started the Bible verse lettering. This year, so far, I'm adding a lot more stamping, stickers, washi tape, etc.

The flowers (again) are from Heather's Be, coming out tonight. I also used a lot of the new Everyday Symbols. Also appearing are images from the Clipsters Make It Market Mini Kit.

The verse of the week is hand-lettered and decorated with Be and Clipsters.

Most of the decorating was done with the new Paper Clippings: Happy Day stamps. I used a few of the Everyday Symbols, too -- love them! (More on those HERE.)

The Heart stamp is from Phrases & Praises. The vine and flowers are from the new Paper Clippings: Happy Day stamp set. The rest is hand-lettered with a black fine-point Sharpie.

The decorating is definitely on an "as time permits" basis. The current week? The one that started yesterday ...

... is completely blank. HA! (I've been busy with the anniversary release!)

That's it for me! So glad you stopped by. Happy Monday!