Stamp-a-faire & Iconic Images

Happy Stamp-a-faire!

It's Papertrey Ink's big ol' weekend o' fun in Cincinatti and if you're at home - like me :) - no worries... we're bringing the fun to you, too!

Papertrey's offering a brand spankin' new, limited edition stamp set available to ALL customers who place online orders of $100 or more between 9am EST, Saturday, July 23rd and 11:59pm EST, Sunday, July 24th.  (Nichole's got all the details right here on her blog.)

Sweet, right?

And this set... I think you're gonna love it :)
It's so sweet.
Especially the little birdie...

The bird and branch are one image so I just did a little creative inking to give the birdie a little blue belly.  I used one of the Tea Dye Duo inks - Chai - to ink up most of the bird, then gently inked his belly with my Aqua Mist ink pad, making sure that the two inks overlapped just a bit. 

I barely inked the branch with Dark Chocolate.  That gave it a bit of a softer look which allows the sentiment to stay strong in comparison.

I used an Edgers die on the bottom of the panel and added some Martha Stewart glitter to keep the elegant look going.  Love how the glitter goes with the Chai ink :)

I wanted to add one more elegant touch so I added a satin ribbon.  To allow the ribbon a bit more breathing room on the card I punched a little half circle at the edge of the panel (I used my slit punch from Stampin' Up for that).  Little details like that make me so happy :)


And, just for fun, and because I haven't done it yet (ha!) I thought I'd go ahead and post some of my projects from this month's release, too.

There is little that I love more in paper crafting than a quick and easy no-layer card.
They're just so darned do-able :)

The sentiments from Flower Fusion #6 and Think Big Favorites #6 seemed like a natural pair this month...

I love the solid mum in Flower Fusion #6... the stamped images layer on top of each other just beautifully.  The yellow rhinestones really bring everything to life.

Next up is a little pretty something using the new Congrats All Ways set.

I paired it with Friendship Jar (which contains the original jar image) and the new Friendship Jar Summer Fillers (which has the new straw and strawberry images) to create a relaxing card that captures what should be the feeling of retirement :)

I added my newly beloved watercolors to the class image... watercolors just seemed like the right choice when trying to convey the feeling of liquid.  The little strawberry is hanging out on the edge of the glass, mostly because I have a 7 year old who thinks any drink is super fancy if I hang a piece of fruit on the side :)

Love how the smaller sentiments snuggle up to the bigger congrats images in this set.



And the last project for today... a little Sweet As Can Be come to life.

I'm not gonna lie.

I love this little sweetie :)

It just makes me smile.

I used the Tag Sale #3 die as my starting point, then embellished off of that.  The ice cream image made for a cute little scalloped border just underneath (see it stamped in Fresh Snow on the Raspberry Fizz cardstock?), and I backed the whole thing with a layer of kraft stamped with a Polka Dot Basics II image.

As far as the cutie pie ice cream cone, that part is actually pretty darned easy. 

First off, I impressed a piece of kraft with the Cane Print plate to give it that fun, waffle cone texture.  I went over super lightly with some Fresh Snow ink just to highlight the texture.  Roll it into a little cone shape and secure with some ScorTape. 

Next up, cut a circle from Vintage Cream felt. I ended up trying out a few jar lids, etc, to find the right diameter.  Do a very simple running stitch around the outside of the circle, 1/4 inch or so from the edge.  Lay a cotton ball in the middle then pull on the two ends of the thread to start closing up the circle with the cotton ball inside, but don't tighten it all the way.   You're going to slip the felt ice cream over the waffle cone so you need to make sure you leave room for that.  Tie the two ends of the thread together once you test it out to see if everything fits.

I used a thin line of ScorTape at the top of the cone to hold it all together.

Then I added some sprinkles and a cherry to the ice cream using felt glue, mica flakes, a red pony bead (donated to the crafting cause by Eli), and a bit of button twine.  I used the same felt glue on the back side of the ice cream to stick it to the tag. 

Sweet, right?

Whew!  That's it for today! 
What do you think?

I hope that if you're not able to be at Stamp-a-faire that you're getting in some crafty time at home today!




{Thinking of You} card
Stamps - Iconic Images
Ink - Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Chai
CS - White
PP - Damask Designs
Ribbon - satin Vintage Cream
Other - Martha Stewart glitter in Smokey Quartz

{Thanks For All You Do} card
Stamps - Flower Fusion #6, Think Big Favorites #6

CS - White
Ink - Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate, Aqua Mist, Pumpkin Pie (SU)
Impression Plate - Linen
Other - rhinestones

{Congrats All Ways} card
Stamps - Congrats All Ways, Friendship Jar: Summer Fillers, Friendship Jar
CS - White, Simply Chartreuse

Ink - True Black, Smokey Shadow, watercolors
Die - Scalloped border
Other - Buttons, silk thread

{Sweet As Can Be} tag
Stamps - Sweet As Can Be, Polka Dot Basics II

CS - Kraft, White, Aqua Mist, Raspberry Fizz
Ink - Fresh Snow, Raspberry Fizz, Dark Chocolate
Impression Plate - Cane Print
Die - Tag Sale #3
Other - Raspberry Fizz ribbon, Vintage Cream felt, button twine, mica flakes (Melissa Frances), pony bead, grommet, felt glue (Beacon)