Introducing Seeds of Knowledge

Welcome to Day Four of Papertrey Ink's April release countdown. All of the new product will be available Wednesday, April 15, at 10 pm EST in the Papertrey Ink store.

Today, we are introducing a few more teacher-friendly products, Seeds of Knowledge stamp set and dies, and Pencil Blooms dies. Teacher treats are some of my favorite projects to make. I've helped with, or been in charge of, the teacher appreciation committees at my kids' schools ever since my now-8th grader was in kindergarten, and so I'm always on the lookout for cute ideas. Easy to mass-produce and extremely economical are musts too!

Today's gift idea meets all of those criteria. I've used the Pencil Blooms dies to turn an ordinary pencil into a flower stem, and Seeds of Knowledge stamps to add a sentiment. This couldn't be any easier to create. I diecut three flower layers out of Papertrey's felt using the Pencil Blooms dies, slipped them over the eraser end of the pencil, and used a little touch of hot glue to hold them in place. The leafy sprig is part of a larger diecut from the Songbirds die set. It was cut from card stock and adhered with hot glue as well. 

I stamped the word "teacher," from Seeds of Knowledge, onto a Double-Ended Banner die-cut, then wrapped it around the pencil and secured with adhesive. Next, I stamped the "thank you for helping me grow" sentiment, also from Seeds of Knowledge, to a Tiny Tags die-cut, and tied it on with some linen thread. (I stamped the words individually, so that I could ink in multiple colors and so that I could rearrange the sentiment to fit the tag.)

I was searching my stash for a clay pot to use as a base, and came across these extra tiny ones. At first I thought they'd be too small for the tall pencil, but after trying it out, I thought the tiny size with the tall pencil stem looked delightfully whimsical. The pencil is held in place by the drain hole in the bottom of the pot, as well as a little hot glue.

The coordinating card shows off more of the Seeds of Knowledge set. I stamped a cascade of flowers onto a Fresh snow linen panel, then split the panel Maile-style.

The sentiment is stamped onto a Fillable Frames #11 die-cut and adorned with a button and hemp cord. To add a little color to the sentiment, I stamped the highlighted words in coordinating colors, trimmed them out, and adhered them with foam dots. 

In the flower pot above, the pencil isn't really intended to be used - it's all just decorative. But this next ensemble shows a bouquet where the pencils can actually be used, too.

The pencil tops are done exactly the same as in the first project -- with the three flower layers die-cut using the Pencil Blooms dies and the leaves cut with the Songbirds die.

The "vase" is just a pint mason jar wrapped with some floral mesh and hemp twine and adorned with more Pencil Blooms felt die-cuts and a sprig from Songbirds. 

The pencils are loose inside the jar -- easy to access and easy to return, and you'll always know where these pencils are supposed to go.

The coordinating card picks up on the same color scheme. I had fun stamping a background pattern using stamps from Seeds of Knowledge. 

The vertical image/sentiment panel was fun to stamp, too. Some of the individual components are stamped a second time and popped up with dimensional adhesive. Along the bottom, I added a curvy Melon Berry tab accent using just a partial piece of a Mat Stack 4 die-cut.

That's it for me today! Be sure to visit the other design team girls for lots more Seeds of Knowledge and Pencil Blooms inspiration.

Nichole Heady

Ashley Newell

Betsy Veldman

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Laura Bassen

Laurie Willison

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips

Clay Pot Teacher Treat Supplies:

STAMPS: Seeds of Knowledge

INK: Simply Chartreuse, Melon Berry, Terracotta Tile, Ocean Tides

PAPER: Fresh Snow Linen and Simply Chartreuse card stock

OTHER: Aqua Mist felt, Terracotta Tile felt, Limeade Ice felt, 

1 1/2" clay pot, standard No. 2 pencil, kraft shred, hemp cord, white linen thread, hot glue

Every Child Card Supplies:

STAMPS: Seeds of Knowledge

DIES: Fillable Frames #11

INK: Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides, Melon Berry, Terracotta Tile, Simply Chartreuse, and Ripe Avocado

PAPER: Fresh Snow Linen and Ripe Avocado card stock

OTHER: Ocean Tides button, hemp cord, dimensional adhesive

Mason Jar Pencil Bouquet Supplies:

DIES: Pencil Blooms, Songbirds

PAPER: Simply Chartreuse card stock

OTHER: Aqua Mist felt, Terracotta Tile felt, Limeade Ice felt, Ocean Tides felt,

mason jar, floral mesh ribbon, hemp cord, Terracotta Tile button, Limeade Ice and Aqua Mist felt

Watering Can Card Supplies:

STAMPS: Seeds of Knowledge

DIES: Mat Stack 4

INK: Aqua Mist, Ocean Tides, Melon Berry, Terracotta Tile, Simply Chartreuse, and Ripe Avocado

PAPER: Ripe Avocado, Melon Berry, and white card stock

OTHER: enamel dots, dimensional adhesive, corner rounder, Rustic Jute Button Twine

Introducing Pencil Me In

 

Hello, and welcome to Papertrey's March release countdown. Introductions began Friday and yesterday, so if you missed Day One and Day Two, click HERE and HERE.

Today we are introducing a fantastic collection of school-themed products called Pencil Me In, designed by Lexi Daly. The super fun Pencil Me In stamp set has a pencil image, solid and patterned images for stamping the pencil barrel, an eraser, the metal eraser grip, and even the sharpened tip components, plus pencil doodles and lots of fun sentiments sized for stamping right on the pencil barrel. Coordinating with the set is the new Pencil Me In paper collection, which is filled with notebook paper, manuscript writing paper, and graph paper. While the papers go perfectly with this stamp set, I think notebook patterns are fabulous go-to papers in general, too. Super excited to have these in my stash now!

In addition, Lexi has created Pencil Papers adhesive labels for covering standard pencils (more on those below) and a set called Pencilgrams, perfect for monogramming and customizing the adhesive labels.

For this first card, I've combined the Pencil Me In stamp set and papers with the Pencilgrams alphabet. First I stamped and die-cut six pencils. At the top of the pencils, I added the Pencilgrams letters to spell out "thanks."

I stamped one of the sentiments onto a Double-Ended Banners die-cut and tied on a doodled smiley face Tiny Tags tag. In the background are some stamped doodled stars. The background panel is one of the Pencil Me In papers. I added the perforated notebook edge at the top using the new Moments Inked: Edged die set.

To go along with the card, I created a felt pencil pouch and customized a mechanical pencil. The pencil pouch was put together using the Pencil Pouch and Pencil Pouch Trim dies designed by Erin Lincoln. This is my maiden voyage with Papertrey's stitching dies, and I'm officially hooked! Boy do those stitching holes make things easy to assemble and so professional looking. 

Cleverly concealed by the button details are some Basic Grey magnets to keep everything nice and closed up.

The Pencil Pouch has two assembly options. The one I used allows you to attach your pencil pouch to a notebook or planner. Two channels on the back side hold an elastic band. I found a hair band to match the colors of my pencil pouch. (I did have to cut it down to fit.)

My kids gave their teachers really cute personalized notebooks for Christmas, so this will be a perfect "add-on" for teacher appreciation week! I had an extra notebook similar to the ones we gave for Christmas, so here you can see how the pouch fits onto the notebook.

The Pencil Papers adhesive labels make the cutest decorative pencils! At one end is a blank space for adding a monogram or stamped icon. The labels are designed to fit a standard wood pencil in length. Easy enough to trim them to fit mechanical pencils and other shorter pencils. (Just be careful with girth -- the mechanical pencil I used has a more slender barrel, similar to a standard pencil girth, but some mechanical pencils are quite a bit more stout, or have a contoured grip. The labels wouldn't work well with those kinds.)

The Pencil Pouch was actually designed to fit the Moments Inked planner, so I thought I'd show you how it looks attached to my planner. I like it quite a lot, and will definitely be making myself a pouch too! As you can see, I placed it so that the band holds together the used sections of the planner and acts as a bookmark to the current weekly spread.

Here's a look at the pouch open. Erin has an awesome video that walks you through the stitching so that the knots are all hidden and the back/inside looks just as good as the outside.

This next little project is so cute! The card itself is just a wee little thing, maybe 2 3/4"-3" square or so. On the front is a rainbow assortment of colored pencils and the "Be Sharp" sentiment. (I should point out that these sentiments are sized for stamping on the pencil barrel, just like where the imprint would go on an actual pencil -- I'm just using them differently for today's cards.)

On the inside, I stamped a sentiment from Dawn McVey's too-cute Lunchbox Love stamp set.

Speaking of Lunchbox Love, I created two pencil treats by combining the Lunchbox Love set and customized pencils. For this first one, I added my son's initials to the Pencil Papers adhesive label using the Pencilgrams set. The pencil holder tabs were die-cut using the new Write Stuff Holders dies. Also making an appearance are the new Moments Inked: Edged dies (to create the perforated notebook edge). The sentiments are from Lunchbox Love, and the doodles are from Pencil Me In. The felt star charm at the top is from Tiny Tags. My little guy reached a pretty ambitious (for him) reading goal recently -- this will be a fun way to acknowledge his hard work!

For this one, the notebook page is pretty much exactly the same, but for the pencil, I used the more neutral grid paper adhesive label and stamped the word "awesome" vertically using Pencilgrams. The hashtag is also from Pencilgrams.

That's it for me today -- such a fun group of products! For more inspiration, visit the rest of the Design Team:

Nichole Heady

Ashley Newell

Betsy Veldman

Danielle Flanders

Dawn McVey

Heather Nichols

Laura Bassen

Laurie Willison

Maile Belles

Melissa Phillips

Thanks for visiting!

Best Wishes

Hey there, just wanted to share a card of mine that was posted on the Taylored Expressions blog last week. I love all the Little Bits dies in the Taylored Expressions store -- so sweet and cute and miniature. These Champagne Flutes were definitely calling out to me. I was also quite taken with the lovely Fancy Banner 1 stamp and die combo and the Sheet Music embossing folder (look at the relief on that dry embossing - so deep and crisp!). Anyway, put them all together and what do you get? A wedding card!

Visit the Taylored Expressions blog for card details and and more photos!

Enjoy today!

Reverse Confetti April Release Blog Hop

It's New Release Blog Hop time at Reverse Confetti! All of the new product we've been featuring the past few days are NOW AVAILABLE in the Reverse Confetti store!

If you've already started today's hop, then you should have arrived here from Amy Tsuruta's blog. If not, head over to the Reverse Confetti blog to begin! When you're finished here, you'll be heading to Leigh Penner's blog next.

Reverse Confetti doesn't usually have an April release (it's an every-other-month company), so what a treat this mid-release release has been! 

For today's card, I combined the LEAPING LIONS stamp set, LEAPING LIONS Confetti Cuts dies, FANCY WORD COORDINATES stamps and FANCY WORDS Confetti Cuts dies to create a sweet little baby card.

The lion pair is stamped, colored with Copics, and die-cut. Are these just the cutest lions? Oh my -- I can't get enough of them! The green hills are hand-cut and the white background circle is sponged with some sunny yellow. The papers are a mish-mash of scraps from some older Studio Calico monthly kit pads (which are collections of various manufacturers).

STAMPS: LEAPING LIONS, FANCY WORD COORDINATES

CONFETTI CUTS DIES: LEAPING LIONS, FANCY WORDS

INK: Memento Tuxedo Black

PAPER: Simon Says Stamp slate gray card stock, Neenah white card stock

OTHER: Copic markers, linen thread, circle Nestabilities, distressing tool, foam tape

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Your next stop on today's hop is Leigh Penner. I can't wait to see what she has to share today!

Thanks so much for visiting! 

Countdown to Confetti: Fancy Words

Welcome to Day 3 of Reverse Confetti's new release countdown! Today we're featuring two new coordinating products: FANCY WORDS dies and FANCY WORD COORDINATES stamps. 

Visit the Reverse Confetti blog for a full list of peeks. Leave comments on each blog for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate. Then, head over to the Reverse Confetti Facebook page and leave a comment there for a chance to win another $15 gift certificate. Good luck!

I absolutely LOVE word dies, and being able to combine them with all sorts of stamped sentiment pieces is just perfect! For today, I've created three relatively quick cards using FANCY WORDS Confetti Cuts, FANCY WORD COORDINATES stamps, and the gorgeous new PINA COLADA QUICK CARD PANELS.

For this first card, I just couldn't resist pairing up the "thanks a bunch" sentiment combo with the bunch of pineapples on one of the PINA COLADA QUICK CARD PANELS. Behind the sentiment is a layered chevron die-cut with the TRIPLE CHEVIES Confetti Cuts dies. I added some clear Wink of Stella to the sentiment for some shine.

My second card features what might be my favorite of the PINA COLADA QUICK CARD PANELS -- the black and white striped background with some white brushstrokes on top. 

I added some geotags (from the DOCUMENTED Confetti Cuts die set) and some wood veneer hearts to go along with the FANCY WORDS/FANCY WORD COORDINATES miss you sentiment. 

I can't wait to pop this one into the mail!

Last up is a card featuring another one of the PINA COLADA QUICK CARD PANELS (another favorite -- don't you just love all those triangles?!). 

For this design, I die-cut a black scallop-top banner using the new LAYERED BANNER DUO Confetti Cuts dies and placed it in the top center of the Quick Card Panel. Next I added some looped metallic embroidery thread and topped it with a HELLO Confetti Cuts and a FANCY WORD COORDINATES sentiment strip. I sponged the HELLO die-cut with some turquoise ink to give it an ombre effect. I also scored two lines at the top of the black banner piece and folded them for some quick dimension.

THANKS A BUNCH:

STAMPS: FANCY WORD COORDINATES

CONFETTI CUTS DIES: FANCY WORDS, TRIPLE CHEVIES 

INK: Papertrey Hawaiian Shores

PAPER: Pina Colada Quick Card Panels, Papertrey Hawaiian Shores, Soft Stone and Simply Chartreuse card stock

OTHER: turquoise twine

MISS YOU A LOT:

STAMPS: FANCY WORD COORDINATES

CONFETTI CUTS DIES: FANCY WORDS, DOCUMENTED

INK: Versafine Onyx Black

PAPER: Pina Colada Quick Card Panels, Papertrey Hawaiian Shores, Simply Chartreuse, Pure Poppy, Harvest Gold, and True Black card stock

OTHER: wood veneer hearts

HELLO:

STAMPS: FANCY WORD COORDINATES

CONFETTI CUTS DIES: FANCY WORDS, HELLO, LAYERED BANNER DUO

INK: Papertrey Ink Hawaiian Shores, Versafine Onyx Black

PAPER: Pina Colada Quick Card Panels, black and white card stock

OTHER: silver metallic embroidery thread, clear sequins

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Remember to leave comments on the Confetti Crew blogs and on Facebook for chances to win two $15 Reverse Confetti gift certificates. Links are all on the Reverse Confetti blog.

Thanks for stopping by today! See you again tomorrow for our New Release Blog Hop!