{capture the moment}

Clearly Multi-Purpose...

I am a big fan of multi-purpose items.  We put SO much effort & thought into creating beautiful cards and packaging for gifts.  Why not take it a step further and make those items multi-purpose?

Here is a gift bag (white coffee bag) that I embellished with an altered plain clear frame (see previous post).  I found that these frames can be perfectly matted with the Scalloped Square Nestabilities!  I love the way that it turned out!  (the sentiment is from the NEW Piece of Cake stamp set!)  So it's cute and all, but why waste something so adorable on a gift bag that will be thrown away, you ask?  Well, the recipient will be told that the frame detaches and is multi-purpose!

It can be taken off and attached to the front of a scrapbook, commemorating their birthday party (6x6 linen album from SU!)

Or, you can put magnetic tape on the back of the frame before adhering it to the bag, and when the recipient removes it, it can instantly be used as a refrigerator magnet! 

I have several other ideas for the use of these cool frames, but they will have to wait for another day!  The big release is almost here!

Oh, and by the way, the Crop-a-dile goes through the frames easily to create holes.  That of course opens up many other possibilities!

1 (Piece of Cake)

Can you believe that the night is finally here!  Tonight, midnight EST, the two stamp sets that you have been ogling for the past week will be available for purchase at Papertrey Ink!  Yippeee!

Onto the project!  Sometimes I find myself in a rut in regards to card design.  So today I wanted to shake things up a bit and make a transparent card.

I decided to adhere these super cool white sheer mylar blossoms that Papertrey carries, to the cover.  I love how their size creates a fantastic background.  There are 48 blossoms per tin, 24 that are 2-inches in diameter and another 24 that measure 3-inches.  They average out to only 16-cents each, so you don't have to feel guilty about using 5 or 6 per project!  They are very lightweight, making them post office friendly as well.  They are SO fun to play with.  I just know I haven't even scratched the surface yet!

I then attached my cake focal point to the cover.  I love the color combination I came up with today (Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie & Old Olive).  The contrast of the apricot & pumpkin is slightly autumnal, which is perfect for the current season.

For the centers of the flowers on the cake I used a yellow Souffle 3D Opaque Puffy Ink pen. I found that I could sprinkle glitter onto the ink before it dried to add a little sparkle.

I added layers of cardstock to the inside for the card that act as a "mat" for the focal point when the card is closed.  The interior piece was cut 1-inch larger than the cake focal point on the cover to achieve this look.  The fun scroll frame image really helps to bring attention to the sentiment.

I will posting several projects today, along with introducing a fun new product that we will begin carrying tonight.  So be sure to stop by!

Edited to Add:  I attached the sheer blossoms with glue dots.  Super easy.  And YES, you can tint the white ones by rubbing them with Palette ink, like I showed HERE with the clear blossoms.

SUPPLIES:

INK- Apricot Appeal, Pumpkin Pie & Old Olive Classic Ink from SU!, Versamark

STAMPS- Papertrey Ink

CARDSTOCK- Apricot Appeal & Pumpkin Pie from SU!, Stamper's Select White from Papertrey Ink

OTHER- Transparency from Office Depot, Souffle pen from Sakura, Mylar flowers from Maya Road, glue dots (for adhering flowers), white embossing powder from Ranger, Dazzling Diamonds glitter from SU!

2 (Piece of Cake)

I am just darn excited about this cake set.   I haven't had this much fun with a set of stamps in a long time!  It contains 30 images and there are just SO many combinations!  I'm sure once you get them in your hands you with think of even more that I have yet to discover!

To start this project, I stamped the "layers" for my cake slice.  It is important when stamping the cake slice to make sure the right edge is perfectly straight & vertical.  If you do that, rather than make the bottom perfectly horizontal, you will be much happier with the results.

Next, I added the "frosting".  I love the perfect lines it adds in between the layers of the cake.

And finally, a small bunch of flowers.

I decided to add a little interactive twist to my project.  My supplies included my card base (matted with lavender cardstock stamped with the stitched circle from Borders & Corners Circle), my cake focal point, ribbon, a scalloped rectangle (Nestabilities) and a mini card base (2 x 5 inches, scored @ 2.5 inches).

First, I adhered the scalloped rectangle to the mini card base.

Then I added a strip of adhesive across the middle.

This is how I adhered my ribbon in place, allowing an extra tail to the right to be tied later.

I then wrapped the ribbon around tot he back and tied the card closed.

Finally, I adhered the cake focal point in place on the cover.

I then was able to assemble my finished card.

When the mini card is untied & opened, the recipient gets the surprise of finding a "secret" message!

Did you notice the velvet flowers on my card front?  I use them all the time.  They are one of my all-time FAVORITE embellishments.  The texture they add is just SO luxurious!  I get questions all the time about what exactly the colors in the velvet flower collection tins we carry.  I decided the best way to communicate them to you was through a comparison with Stampin' Up! colors.

These are the FIRE Velvet Blossoms.  They coordinate with (from left to right)

Rose Red

Yoyo Yellow (a tad bit more golden, but VERY close)

Pumpkin Pie ( a smidge more orange, but again, VERY close)

Real Red

These are the WATER Velvet Blossoms.  Again, from left to right...

Purely Pomegranate

Handsome Hunter

Brilliant Blue

There is also a deep red that is a mix of a burgandy cranberry color, which doesn't match any of the current SU! colors specifically, but gorgeous all the same.

And last but not least, the AIR Velvet Blossoms.  From left to right...

Chocolate Chip (a little bit richer than the cardstock, but VERY close)

Pretty in Pink

Whisper White

There is also a blue color that doesn't coordinate with any current SU! colors.  It is somewhat like a Ballet Blue but a little bit brighter.

These flowers are a PERFECT compliment to the Piece of Cake set!  We have recently received a large shipment of ALL of these Velvet Blossoms and we are ready to ship!  Trust me, if you're anything like me, you need all three sets!

SUPPLIES:

INK- Purple Hydrangea Versamagic & White Craft from SU!

STAMPS- Papertrey Ink

CARDSTOCK- Prism, Kraft from SU!

OTHER- seed beads, ribbon from Hobby Lobby, Air Velvet Flowers, Rectangle Nestabilities Dies

4

Thanks for all your well wishes for my first television appearance.  It went well.  I will be sure to do another post about that subject soon!

Here is today's little sneak peek of one of the NEW stamp sets to be release on October 15th from Papertrey Ink!  This project was inspired by the Eat Cake digital kit available through the Paper Crafts Magazine website.  I love the cake theme because it can be used for a variety of occasions, such as birthday, wedding or anniversary.

First, here is the three-tiered cake.  Notice the scalloped edge to each layer.  (Have I ever mentioned that I LOVE scallops?!?!?)

One of the super clever design elements for this cake is this floral image (if I do say so myself!) .  It allows you to easily add floral embellishments to all three tiers perfectly, every time!

Remember when doing this type of technique that it is best to start with your lightest color (the cake) and then work to your darkest color (the flowers).

If you look real close at the floral accents, you will notice that they all have open centers.  I don't know about you, but whenever I see a flower image I want to add something FUN to the middle!  These particular flowers are begging for it!  Whether you add mini rhinestones (as I did here), Stickles, brads, pearls, beads, liquid applique or anything else you dream up, the added detail will be just the perfect finishing touch!

The sentiments in this set are VERY innovative and I just LOVE them!  Almost all of them come in two pieces.  Here is an example of one.  You might see this part of the image and think that this sentiment makes no sense.  The truth is that it is only part of the overall result.

The "How" and "it is" are perfectly spaced to allow room for "sweet" to be inserted.  You may be wondering why this is so significant.  I have found that when designing a card, there have been many times when I needed to be able to integrate two key ink colors into my sentiment to achieve visual balance.  I would always end up using markers to ink the different area of the stamp, which ended up being messy and unreliable, not to mention difficult to do when mass-producing cards.  Since the sentiments are separate in this set, the look is quick & easy, allowing you to expand your design capabilities with hardly any extra effort.  I hope that this is a design element you will find inspiring and useful!

And here is my final project! I love it's simplicity.  I love how by just changing the sentiment, this exact card be used for an anniversary or wedding.  Notice the one rounded corner as well.  If you are familiar with my work, you would have noticed that this is something that I do often.  A single rounded corner can really help break up any redundancy that you may have with straight edges within your design.  In this particular case, it helps to draw the eye down to the sentiment as well.  Another reason why I like this design element is because it can be the solution to any "just needs a little something" dilemma because it has no style or color boundaries.  It can be added to virtually any project without being "too much".

Be sure to stop by tomorrow for another sneak peek!

SUPPLIES:

INK- Toile Pink & Boudoir Blush Palette Ink

STAMPS- Papertrey Ink

CARDSTOCK- Prism

OTHER- Ribbon from American Crafts, Rectangle Nestabilties Dies