Make It Monday #30 - Colored Pencils

This is my first ever challenge card! I've never been able to the challenges on forums and PTI due to time restraint and not having enough gear (now I have vaguely enough to improvise things!).

I saw this week's Papertrey Ink's Make It Monday challenge using colouring pencils and decided it was time I give it a go!

I have already been thinking of using colouring pencils for a long time now. Since I don't have any Copic markers yet, I was going to improvise with my good old Crayola Colored Pencils for my Tiny Treats sets which have yet to see ink.

However, I've fallen in love with Scattered Showers (as many of you have already figured out)!

I live by "keep it simple" rule and have always loved to keep my cards fairly simple looking. I can never hold too many things on my card - my imaginative capacity can't hold it all in!

I made a die cut using the PTI coasters - I think because of the thickness, it adds a tad more depth to the card. And the coasters have that sort of rustic cream colour to them so it goes really well with the Kraft cardstock.

I've coloured in the umbrella after stamping the outlines with the Scattered Showers set.
    

I also went and did a rough colouring of the background. It was just total random sketching with about 6 or 7 different shades of blue & green. Afterwards, I saw too many sharp pencil marks and didn't like the way it wasn't quite blended in, so got my eraser and went over it very very lightly to blend things (bad erasers are good for this sort of job). It also smudges it a little.
   

I think Jennifer used some baby oil for blending the colours, but I made this before watching the video. So if you haven't any baby oil, you have an alternative. Great thing about erasers is that you can rub off the colouring pencils entirely like I did over the sentiment.

This photo probably shows the texture of the background colouring (and the subtle texture of the coaster) a bit better. And I love my yellow umbrella. I think it reinforces the "sunshine" part of the sentiment <3

Thanks for coming by!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS:

 STAMPS: PTI Scattered Showers

INK: PTI Vintage Touch Tea Dye Duo, SU! Early Espresso

PAPER: PTI Kraft cardstock

OTHER: PTI Coaster, Crayola Colored Pencils (48), Scor-Buddy

LOVE Scattered Showers

Hi all!

I have discovered the joy of ambient lighting. Well, actually I already knew it, but I always stamp late at night (when I have time) and end up doing my photoshoots then, so my camera hasn't liked the poor lighting conditions and took bad photos. Mind you, it's a bad camera anyway. Totally ready for a dSLR any day now!

So I've taken the photos for the cards from previous post and updated it - they look a bit better now and more acceptable to me, so pop on over and see PTI stamp set plastic boxes/cases in action!

Anyway, onto something you probably came to see - more cards!!!

I sure have gone stamp-happy this mid-semester break. I should start to study... that 5th year exam is looming in but I have that "why worry" personality and don't freak out anywhere near as any of my friends so it's not pushing me to do much work. Oh well, rather happy than depressed. I have needed the de-stressing stamping in my life!

I have a few cards to show, but I thought I'd save most them for another day. So when I feel the need for blogging but have no cards to show, I'll have some hidden  older cards to share! Then you won't think I'm being a lazy blogger! lol

So here are today's cards. 

 

I just LOVE PTI Scattered Showers stamp set!!! I had been eyeing it for a long time and I'm so glad I got it. Umbrellas seem a bit random, but they're so darn cute!

And I'm finally making use of A Little Argyle stamp set! But I think if I had some impression plates, they would have gone really well with these cards.

I made them into two sizes. The smaller square one is just so cute. I'd have liked the corners to have been a bit rounder, but my new corner chomper is on its way from America right now (I just hope it didn't get caught up in Hurricane Irene o.o).

And note the difference between the button twine & baker's twine. I used the baker's twine first and then smacked my forehead for forgetting the button twine hiding in my drawer lol. And I tried using my new Vintage Touch Duo inks with the Tim Holtz distressing tool for the added goodness!

And I just love the way I remembered to use my rhinestones! They look so cute on the umbrella! <3

Anyway, that's it for today. Thanks for coming by as always!

PS - Steph, I have kept my promise and have updated! ;)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS

STAMPS: PTI Scattered Showers, A Little Argyle
INK: Versamark, PTI Vintage Touch Tea Duo
PAPER: PTI Kraft, Spring Moss, Rustic Cream & Simply Chartreuse
OTHER: PTI Mat Stack #4 die, Scattered Showers die, corner rounder, button twine, baker's twine, KaiserCraft rhinestones (Split Pea)

Making the Most of PTI Stamp Sets: Birthday Cards

[UPDATE 29-08-2011: Re-photographed cards with some natural ambient lighting! What a difference it makes! I will never ever take photos again with my room light ever again.]

Hi everyone!

It's been one stressful week for me! I've had assessments one after another that have depleted my energy. Luckily, I now have one week break to recuperate!

I decided that I'd use the weekend to go stamp-happy properly (I'm still busy with lots of other things though!), and hence I have finally updated my blog!

I've been trying to make a few cards and finally produced something to my liking. I think after this post, you might start to get a feel for the sort of style I go for ;)

As always, I made more than one since I liked it so much lol

And apologies for poor photo qualities (yes, they are bad qualities to me! - I'm a bit of a perfectionist). My camera (which I don't like to begin with - I'll be after a dSLR next year when I get my Trainee Intern grant!) is having a bad day with low batteries and is taking bad photos.

Anyway, here they are! 

I call these "window" cards. It's sort of similar to the Make It Monday that Jennifer did a while back with apertures.

Using Spellbinders Nestabilities Small Circles, I made two holes - one through the white base cardstock and a larger hole over the coloured overlay cardstock. And I've put Cupcake Collection stamped die cuts on the inside of the card to show through that window. 

I've also used "make a wish" sentiment from the Cupcake Collection set and heat embossed it clear above the ribbon.

 

And I decided to make the most of our stamp sets! You might be able to tell that there's a clear window over the holes that I've made. Want to know where I got the material from? It's the clear plastic box that PTI stamps come in! I've got them all sitting in my room from my recent Stamp-A-Faire order, and they are just brilliant for this. They're thick and sturdy so make a really nice window. 

I'm going to chop out the large planes from each box and store them as "sheets." So now you can save these up rather than throwing them all out! No need to use your precious PTI Clearly Creative Cardstock for making windows any more! :D

 

And here's the inside of the card with that cupcake sitting in the middle. There's also a bit of glitter on it, but my bad camera hasn't really picked it up :( 

I've also put a sentiment from Big Birthday Wishes set that just went perfectly with that "make a wish" sentiment on the outside! The sentiment's hidden from the window when the card's closed so the receiver might get a wee surprise opening it up!

 Hope everyone enjoyed the post! I'm using a lot of double-sided tapes and ribbons now. I've decided that you make better cards if you stop being cheap about what you use. I think I need to go out and get more ribbons. And I think I might get an ATG in the near future... but it's $60 here (and only one store in NZ sells it!). Eeek.

I'm hoping to post a few more over the week before I enter the crunch-mode!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS

STAMPS: PTI Cupcake Collection & Big Birthday Wishes

INK: SU! Melon Mambo & Baja Breeze

PAPER: PTI Stamper's Select White, Raspberry Fizz & Hawaiian Shores

OTHER: PTI Cupcake Collection dies, Spellbinders Nestabilities Small Circles, Celebrate! Satin Ribbons, PTI stamp set box

Thank You & Thinking of You Cards

My Papertrey Ink Stamp-A-Faire order finally arrived on Friday after a month of waiting!!!

Our recent snowstorms had backlogged all our parcels so my family ended up with 4 big boxes arriving altogether from the US, NZ & Korea! It also meant that I not only had stamps to play with, but also got my cardstock order arrive along with it! So I was busy ripping through the packages on Friday night.

I'm about to switch over to storing my stamps on acetate sheets in Tim Holtz stamp storage folders so I only opened up my stamps but didn't mount them into the CD cases. I've already ordered the pockets and acetate which will probably arrive in the next couple of days. I wasn't going to switch over, but everyone on PTI forums had been raving on how great the system was and I decided that it's better to switch early than late when I only have a handful of stamp sets that are already mounted in CD cases (only like 10).

Anyway, I've been swamped with tests and assessments lately and have had no time to play. I've got another couple next week and really need to get on with my studies, but I decided that I needed a day off to chill down a bit.

So here is what I came up with using my brand spanking new stamp sets from PTI <3

In the month I had been waiting for the order to arrive, I've made countless number of sketches of cards I wanted to make. I had to tweak this design a little, but I'm very pleased with the way it turned out ;)

So here they are:

It's a little subtle on the photo, but I used PTI Edgers #1 die at the bottom of the cards. I'm in love with the die and YOF: Carnations set <333

A close up view (just for the kicks). It's not that obvious but I foam mounted the Mat Stack #4 die cut. Do you like how I offset it off the side a bit? I think I spent a good 15 minutes trying to figure out what the best position of it would be!

And this is the inside of the pink card. This one was made for someone specific. It's a secret who it is, but some of you may be able to make a pretty good guess at it ;)

Like I said, I was so pleased the way they turned out, I think I'll make a few more later and keep them in my stash and maybe even sell some ;)

Thanks for coming by!

SUPPLIES & TOOLS

STAMPS: PTI Year of Flowers: Carnations, Heartfelt Basics & Iconic Images
 INK: SU! Melon Mambo & Not Quite Navy
 PAPER: PTI Stamper's Select White, Sweet Blush & Aqua Mist
 OTHER: PTI Edgers #1 die, Mat Stack #4 die, cream satin ribbon



PS - I am meant to be studying pharmacology... but I can't keep my hands off my stamping goodies! So I went and made another one in green. I'm getting pretty efficient at making this style. I should make a pack of 6 or 12 and sell them ;)

SUPPLIES & TOOLS

STAMPS: PTI Year of Flowers: Carnations, Big Birthday Wishes
 INK: SU! Old Olive
 PAPER: PTI Stamper's Select White, Spring Moss
 OTHER: PTI Edgers #1 die, Mat Stack #4 die, cream satin ribbon
 

Unofficial Kia Ora (Welcome)!

Hi everyone!

This is my unofficial welcome to my blog post. You may ask why is it unofficial, but it's really because this blog is not yet open to public lol

It's just been sitting here waiting for me to 'upgrade' with my good old Photoshopping and design skills, which just won't happen any time soon with my big 5th year exams looming in. However, if someone happens to hack in through my settings and view this blog, then all the merrier!

The official opening of the blog will happen later, but I have already made a post purely for my fun.

I have had blogs before, but they have all gone down the drains eventually. I am hoping that this blog will survive past the 6 month mark.

Thanks for visiting!

Die Storage with Memorex File-n-Store

Okay, technically, this blog isn't even officially open, but I got so excited about my new die storage that I just had to write something for future reference.

Last week I saw one of the older posts on Papertrey Ink forum by Kimberly about organising dies using Memorex File-n-Store box (it's a CD storage box). The moment I saw the post, I had to go get one myself! The boxes are just so cute and nice to look at.

So anyway, I did some web searching, and surprisingly there actually weren't that many in New Zealand. Luckily Warehouse Stationery had them in stock online. I was tempted to order online, but waited. I was down at one of their local stores getting a ream of printing paper, and did a quick check down the CD/DVD aisle and VOILA! they were sitting there! And even better, in red!

 

I am very excited having one of these around now. I only have about 4 PTI dies at the moment, but there's a lot more coming in my Stamp-A-Faire order, which has been in transit to NZ forever!

So here it is all opened up! Isn't it just lovely?

The box comes with 40 double-sided CD pockets. I might go buy some more pockets later ;)

And here's what I'd done with the die. The suggestion that Kimberly had was to put the die on one side of the pocket, and use the other side of the same pocket to store your die cuts! How brilliant is that idea? So that's exactly what I've planned to do.

I haven't gotten around to labelling the pockets. You might be able to see that there is a strip at the top for filing purposes. I'll get that done when I get my order, and I'll go put them all in alphabetical order! :D

Anyway, doubt anyone will be able to see this until I open this blog in a few month's time. But thanks for visiting anyway! lol