Introducing: Birthday Balloons & Birthday Strings

Welcome to Day 4 of Papertrey Ink's January release countdown. Today's featured products are: Birthday Balloons stamps and die, Birthday Strings, Birthday Balloons Stencils, and Never Enough.

All of the new products will be available at 10 pm ET January 15 in the Papertrey Ink store.

I have a few projects so share featuring the Birthday Balloons stamp collection.

Birthday-themed products are always a favorite. So festive and cheerful, and probably the type of card I need most often. The new Birthday Balloons set is perfect for whipping up this quick, clean-and-simple card.

I started by die-cutting three balloons, then stamped two of them with the balloon "filler" images. For the third balloon, the Raspberry Fizz one, I added some subtle sentiment stamping.

I had fun doing my balloon strings in three different ways. The typewriter font "let's party" and "good times," along with the curvy Raspberry Fizz traditional string are part of the Balloon Strings stamp set. "Celebrate" comes from the Birthday Strings set. (The full sentiment is "time to celebrate." I selectively stamped just the word "celebrate," and used a black pen to extend the string.)

Supplies:

STAMPS: Birthday Balloons, Balloon Strings

INK: Tropical Teal, Raspberry Fizz, Limeade Ice, True Black, Fresh Snow

PAPER: Stamper’s Select White, Tropical Teal, Raspberry Fizz, Limeade Ice

DIES: Birthday Balloons

OTHER: True Black baker’s twine

I just love all the colorful balloons on this one! I used one of the Birthday Balloons Stencils to do those, repositioning the stencil to create all the overlapping balloons. I did not do any masking and just let the ink overlap, creating the realistic look of slightly see-through balloons. I also really love the different balloon filler images in the Birthday Balloons stamp set: diagonal stripes, stars, and circles.

I stamped some of the adorable typewriter sentiments on a balloon die-cut and popped it up for some extra focus.

The bottom is filled with Soft Stone strings from the Birthday Balloons set and a crisp True Black Birthday Strings sentiment. Sequins and colorful stamped stars add to the whole festive feel!

Supplies:

STAMPS: Birthday Balloons, Balloon Strings

INK: Pale Peony, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise, Harvest Gold, Green Parakeet, 

Hawaiian Shores, True Black, Soft Stone

PAPER: Stamper’s Select White

DIES: Round Off Edgers

OTHER: clear sequins, Birthday Balloons stencils

And last up is a card that shows some fun things you can do combining the Birthday Balloons Stencils and Birthday Balloons stamps. On a Tropical Teal card base, I stenciled the balloons, creating depth by shading with Tropical Teal and Fresh Snow.

With the stencil still in place, I added the balloon filler images on some and tiny sentiment stamping on others. This technique of filling a stenciled shape with stamping is one of my favorites! So easy, yet eye-catching! I drew attention to one balloon by die-cutting it, popping it up, and added a stamped string.

Last is a stamped Birthday Balloons sentiment on a white banner for some pop. I went back and added just a few white gel pen accents to brighten the background, too.

Supplies:

STAMPS: Birthday Balloons

INK: Fresh Snow, Tropical Teal, True Black

PAPER: Stamper’s Select White and Tropical Teal

DIES: Birthday Balloons, Tag Sale: Quilted

OTHER: Birthday Balloons stencils

For lots more birthday inspiration, visit the Papertrey Ink blog.

Thanks so much for visiting today!

Papertrey Ink Traveler's Journal: Layout Sketches

It's Traveler's Journal day over on the Papertrey Ink blog! This month's feature is all about using sketches for page layouts. 

This month, Heather Nichols has put together a whole selection of sketches specifically designed for Papertrey's traveler's journals. As primarily a vertical A2 cardmaker, I sometimes find square pages and horizontal spreads challenging, so I really appreciate having these sketches as a starting point!

For my first spread, I used this sketch:

I recently did a little photo shoot with my daughter and Westley, the horse she is hoping to lease this year. I knew this photo would be perfect for this particular sketch. Such a simple spread that lets the photo really stand out!

The left-hand journaling was done with a vintage typewriter. The polka-dot patterned paper is from the Soft Stone Bitty Big paper collection.

For the title, I used a wavy banner diecut (from Songbirds) to anchor the Headline Alphabet letter die-cuts. 

The next spread uses this sketch:

The 4-photo layout here was perfect for some of the additional photos. 

On the left, I placed the photos onto a Smokey Shadow layer for contrast, then used a label die-cut from Traveler's Journal: Accessories for some info about Westley. 

I used the right half of the spread for Westley's show name: Always As You Wish. The stamped words were done with Wet Paint, and I cut the word "wish" out of a Big Basics: Wish Big die-cut. 

I'm tickled to death with Westley's name and show name, and couldn't resist a Princess Bride quote on the banner. (Except I got it wrong -- I think it should be "My Westley will always come for me." An easy fix, though!) 

Stamps: Wet Paint

Ink: Smokey Shadow

Paper: Soft Stone, Kraft, and Smokey Shadow card stock; 

Soft Stone Bitty Big patterned paper

Dies: Headline Alphabet, Songbirds, Big Basics: Wish Big, 

Traveler’s Journal: Accessories, Traveler’s Journal: Outer Cover

Other: black enamel dots, jute string, vintage typewriter

For more Traveler's Journal inspiration, be sure to visit today's post on the Papertrey Ink blog.

Thanks for visiting!

Reverse Confetti January Release Hop

Hello and welcome to Reverse Confetti's January release hop. Five stamp sets, six Confetti Cuts die sets, and a super cute new paper pad are now available in the Reverse Confetti store! 

To celebrate the release and to kick off the new year, the Confetti Crew and friends are blog hopping today. So glad you've joined us!

I have put together a warm floral number using the Something Wonderful stamp set and coordinating Something Wonderful Confetti Cuts. I started by stamping three floral clusters, then added some light aqua sponging around the images as well as a crisp black sentiment. 

Next, I used the die to add some dry embossing around the images. Yana Smakula did this a while back, and I just loved the look! Last touch was to add a few aqua sequins and mount the panel to a Stone card base.

Here's the hop order -- enjoy!

Jen del Muro
Amy Kolling
Melissa Phillips
Nichol Spohr
Tricia Barber
Debby Hughes
Yana Smakula
Lisa Henke
Amy Rohl
Laurie Schmidlin
Heather Hoffman
Amy Tsuruta
Amy Sheffer <-- you are here
Lydia Fiedler
Kathy Schweinfurth
Audrey Tokach
Samantha Mann
Deanne Kuntz
Wanda Cullen
Jeanne Jachna
Wanda Guess
Jessica Frost Ballas
Susan Liles
Jennifer McGuire

Thanks so much for visiting!