Boards & Beams and Home for the Holidays...

Come on... you know you're singing it, aren't you?

I'm humming it as I welcome you to Papertrey Ink's September countdown posts :)
The new products being featured today will be available for purchase on the 15th.

And the new product I'm featuring?

Today's stamps are familiar {the previously released Boards & Beams and Home for the Holidays sets} but they've got a whole new life when the coordinating dies are added in.

A few of the details...
Each die set consists of 6 dies.
The Boards & Beams die set has both houses, tree, double topiary (2 topiaries are cut with one die), and 2 long fence dies (one for the straight fences and one for the rounded fences).

The Home for the Holidays die set is clever, clever... the 2 swag dies, 2 window dies, and wreath die are all designed to cut several images at one time.  For example, the window die used below cut all 5 windows at one time.  Sweet!  This set also includes a die that cuts the snowman, Christmas tree, and 2 lamp posts with wreaths all at once.

I started off my projects today with my take on a traditional Home for the Holidays Christmas card.  I used the new large house and rounded fence dies from Boards & Beams and the Christmas tree die from Home for the Holidays. 

Before I get into all the details on the dies... one note on the sentiment.  That's from the new Gingerbread Lane set.  The sentiment is actually a straight stamp... I just curved it on my block to frame the house a bit.  Easy trick ;)

The fence dies are super handy. I just stamped the larger fence image a few times and filled in the spaces with the smaller image... very simple.

Kinda loving how the dies give you the opportunity to build depth.  I just used one layer of foam tape behind the tree and two layers behind the fence.



For my next adventure in dies, I added a little reverse die cutting...

The key with dies is that there's more than just one way to use 'em :)

And the more ways you use them, the more variety you get out of the stamps you already own... or might now need ;)

For this sweet little Welcome Home card, I die cut the townhouse shape from the patterned paper first.  {Hint... when I'm using patterned paper as a popped up layer, I like to beef it up with a sheet of scrap cardstock behind it.  So the striped paper is acutally adhered to a piece of cardstock, THEN die cut.}  Once the shape was die cut, it was just a matter of placing that layer on the card front and stamping the townhouse image right through the opening.  That gave me the perfect placement right off the bat.

I couldn't resist adding in that depth again so I added the tree image to the upper layer. Between the tree, the wreath, and the buttons I was trying to go for an autumn vibe.  That's actually how I chose the colors for the house... I wanted the fall colors in the leaves to really pop.

{And... ahem... I'd like to note that in real life, that third button there coordinates with the townhouse quite nicely.  In the picture... hmmm... not so much.}

And, of course... I had to try and pull off a bit more of a clean and simple design...

Yup... that's me... never gettin' tired of the vellum, people.  It just ain't gonna happen ;)

For this design, the key elements are a Soft Stone cardstock, a vellum cardstock overlay, and the townhouse die cut using the die from Boards & Beams.



I figured out my layout and used a bit of temporary adhesive to stick the townhouse down on the Soft Stone layer.  Doing it that way made it super simple to repeat the town house images around the die cut.

Once those were all finished, I put the vellum overlay back on the card base, stamped the sentiment, and added the die cut townhouse image.

That vellum... if you've never given it a shot, let me encourage you to once AGAIN ;)

I actually first created this card without the overlay on a white card base and it was just too busy.  The vellum softens the background just enough to let the focal image and sentiment stand out.


Speaking of standing out... I know Nichole, Heather, and Danielle all have brand new projects to check out...
Nichole Heady

Heather Nichols

Danielle Flanders

That's all for me, folks... but not for long...
I'll be back at ya on Thursday.

In the meantime... give me a shout on your thoughts on today's projects :)
I hope you found a little bit of enjoyment in it today. 
{Not gonna lie... I found the Boards and Beams set just a tad bit intimidating.. all those beautiful projects out there with that and the Home for the Holidays set! }


And before I go, just a personal note... I'm up in the middle of the night, blogging... and unable to tear my eyes away from all the 9/11 documentaries.  Anyone else?  Somehow... when the personal stories of that day come on, I'm just unable to turn away. 

So this is me... remembering with you.

{Home for the Holidays} card

Supplies not available now but available 9/15: 

Stamps - Gingerbread Lane
Die - Boards & Beams, Home for the Holidays

Supplies available now:

Stamps - Boards & Beams, Home for the Holidays
CS - White, Vellum
PP - Enchanted Evening
Ink - VersaMark, Tuxedo Black (Memento), Copics
Other - Simply Chartreuse ribbon, Filigree White embossing powder



{Welcome Home} card

Supplies not available now but available 9/15: 

Die - Boards & Beams, Home for the HolidaysSupplies available now:
Stamps - Boards & Beams
CS - White
PP - Fine Linen
Ink - Rich Cocoa (Memento), Dark Chocolate, Copics
Other - vintage buttons, corner rounder

{No Place Like Home} card

Supplies not available now but available 9/15: 

Die - Boards & Beams
Supplies available now:
Stamps - Boards & Beams
CS - Soft Stone, Vellum
Ink - True Black, Going Gray (SU), Copics