Ink Up: September 2015

For a chance to win a gift certificate to the Paper Sweeties' boutique, play along with us in this month's Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge.

Thanks for visiting! I hope you've enjoyed all the Paper Sweeties September New Release projects!

I'm entering this card in the following challenges:
Viva la Verve September 2015 Week 1 Sketch Challenge (I flipped the sketch upside down)
Simon Says Stamp Monday: Love This Technique (paper piecing)
Simon Says Wednesday: Stamptember Use a Stamp Challenge
Pile It On Challenge #86: Birthday
Tuesday Throwdown #262: For a Child

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Paper Sweeties September Release Party!

Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Today is Paper Sweeties' Release Party, and the newest stamps and dies that we've been featuring for three days are in the shop right now! Don't you just love that sweet little mason jar image?

If you saw my post from yesterday, you know that it was not an entire project. I have Part 2, today, which finishes out the bookmark set, and I also created a cute holder for them.

After making the bookmarks, I knew I'd need a place to keep them together when I wasn't using them, and I found the perfect way to store and display them in an easel stand design from the Silhouette store. After making the stand, I heat embossed the Mason Jar image on watercolor paper, die cut it with the matching die, watercolored it, then created a rub-on of the "Fruit of the Spirit" text (in Word) for the jar label. I went over the label with a Spica pen which gives the letters just a little bit of sparkle. Now, I can just pull a "fruit" right out of the jar when I need to mark my place in a book! But, I still haven't shown you the rest of the bookmarks...

I made these the same way I made the earlier bookmarks, with heat embossing and watercolors. For the text on these, I used a Paper Sweeties die cut and stamp (Love), an old alpha stamp set from the dollar bin (Self-control), an IO alpha die (Goodness), and a retired Sizzix alpha die set (Faithful). I like every one of the bookmarks in the set, but my favorite is "Self-control." I was super pleased with how the watercoloring turned out on the apples, and it's the only one that I paired specific text with specific fruit. Do you get it??? If Adam and Eve had used more self-control when they were looking at that yummy fruit, well.... ;~) (I know the fruit may not have been apples, but it's what most people think of when they think of that fateful day, so I went with it.)

If you'd like to see any of these better, you can click on these, individually, for a larger photo.

And, here's what the easel holder looks like when it's empty.

I thought you might like to see the entire set all together, too. (If you zoom in on this photo, don't look too close. I had a seriously hard time editing the photo, and it is nowhere near perfect.)

I hope you enjoyed seeing this project. Now, to see more new release goodies, visit my Paper Sweeties Teamies' blogs. You will LOVE what they have for you today!

Angel Johns
Cheryl Lea

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Emily Frasier
Jill Norwood

Simon Says Wednesday: Stamptember

And, don't forget, for a chance to win a gift certificate to the Paper Sweeties' boutique, play along with us in this month's Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge.

Thanks for stopping by. I'll have one more project for this new release tomorrow. Hope to see you then!

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Simon Says Stamp Monday: Love this Technique (heat embossing & watercolor)

613 Avenue Create Challenge #141: Anything Goes

Pink & Main Challenge #1: Anything Goes

Paper Issues: How 'bout Them Apples With Paper Issues-Round #1

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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Paper Sweeties September Release Countdown!

Monday, September 14, 2015

As promised, I've got a fun project to share with you today, featuring another Paper Sweeties New Release stamp set. Homegrown is a set of four fruit stamps, which pairs nicely with the Mason Jar stamps and dies I used yesterday, and with their distinct lines and large open areas, they are perfect for simple watercoloring, which I've been enjoying lately!

Since the Homegrown set is all about fruit, I had fruit on the brain, so to speak, and was reminded of Galatians 5:22-23 and the Fruit of the Spirit:

"But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control." Gal. 5:22-23 NLT

Now, I wasn't up for making an individual card for each of the nine attributes, but I really wanted to make a set of something. Then, I noticed the huge stack of books in my family room that I'm trying to read through, and immediately started die cutting bookmarks out of heavy watercolor paper. I can use them to keep my place in books, and to remind me to keep these attributes in my life.

On each bookmark, I heat embossed the fruit images with gold embossing powder, then got out my Koi watercolors and Color Bursts to add lots of color. For the text, I used Fancy Monograms (Patience), die cut (Joy), Silhouette cut (Kindness), hand lettering with a Spica pen (Gentleness), and hand lettering with a Versamark pen and gold embossing (Peace). I tried to make each bookmark unique with the word and image placement and fonts, and I am very pleased with how they turned out. I added Paper Sweeties Seam Binding, in various colors, to the top of each bookmark, and tied each one with a Licorice twine bow. I've included photos of each of the bookmarks individually, below. (The color looks a little different in the group versus the individual pics. The group photo is closer to how the colors look in person.)

I wish you could see the beautiful gold embossing on the images. It's just so darn hard to get that in photos! Tomorrow, I'll share more bookmarks, as well as decorative storage for them--Fruit of the Spirit, Part II. ;~)

There's always yummy goodness to be had when you visit the Paper Sweeties Design Team! You don't want to miss even one!

Angel Johns
Cheryl Lea - That's Me!

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Emily Frasier
Jill Norwood

Simon Says Stamp Monday: Stamp and Punch/Die Cut

Tomorrow is Paper Sweeties' Release Party, when all the newest stamps and dies will be released! And, for a chance to win a gift certificate to the Paper Sweeties' boutique, play along with us in this month's Paper Sweeties Inspiration Challenge.

I'm entering this project in the following challenges:

Simon Says Wednesday: Stamptember

613 Avenue Create Challenge #141: Anything Goes

TCP Tuesday #298: Anything Goes

~Hugs,

Supplies Used:

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To have Ink Up delivered to your inbox,

subscribe in the box at the top right of the page.

Paper Sweeties September Release Sneak Peeks!

Sunday, September 13, 2015

Ready for a peek at one of Paper Sweeties upcoming New Release stamp and die sets? I used the brand new Mason Jar stamp and matching Mason Jar Sweet Cuts die sets on this card.

I heat embossed the jar, with clear embossing powder, onto watercolor paper, did some loose watercoloring using Koi watercolors and Color Burst powder, and die cut it with the Mason Jar die. Then, I put the colored image between two pieces of copy paper and ironed it to remove the embossing. The Mason Jar set comes with lots of sentiment stamps, and I chose the simple "Sweet" sentiment to make this an any occasion card, and surrounded the label area with yellow gel Pearl Pen dots. Besides the jar die, this Sweet Cuts set also comes with a cute little fishtail flag die, which I used to cut the flags under the button. After zigzagging around the edge of the main layer, I added a few Paper Sweeties' sequins in Cookie Dough, Robin Egg, and Peppermint, filling the centers with Diamond Stickles.

More inspiration is just a click away on each of my teamies' blogs!

Angel Johns
Cheryl Lea - That's Me!

Debbie Marcinkiewicz – Paper Sweeties
Emily Frasier
Jill Norwood