Papertrey Pair

I tried to upload this a bunch of times last night, but Blogger wouldn't add my pictures, so here goes again . . .

Last year, I spent my entire income tax refund (and more) on new windows and doors for my house, which, while necessary and effective in keeping my house warmer, was no fun for me. This year, even though I still have more windows to replace, I decided I'd spend at least a little bit of the money on me. So, my new Papertrey Ink acrylic stamp sets, courtesy of my tax refund, arrived in the mail today. Papertrey Ink provided fantastic service--I ordered on Sunday, my order shipped on Monday, and was at my (new) front door on Wednesday! I got the Green Thumb set and the new Faux Ribbon set. The ribbon set has so many possibilities . . .

One of my co-workers asked me if I had a thank you card she could use, so I figured this was a good opportunity to try out my new stuff. I used the Faux Ribbon set to make a ribbon stripe across the bottom third of the white cardstock. I started with the wide, solid ribbon image, stamped in Real Red, then added the stitched image in the center of the solid ribbon and the scalloped image on the edges in black. After waiting for the ink to dry (that Real Red ink takes forEVER on SU!'s Whisper White cardstock), I heat embossed "thank you" from SU!'s Wonderful Words set above the ribbon images. I need some more practice with lining up the images so that they are straight and that there are no spaces or gaps in the images.

The second card is for this week's SCS sketch challenge. I used the Green Thumb set and chalk inks to create the image panel. The chalk inks work really well with the acrylic stamps. I still have to work on putting the right amount of pressure on the stamps--I think I'm pressing too hard and some of my images are not as crisp as they should be, especially the sentiments. I stamped the watering can on a piece of scrap paper and cut it out, then put it over the image on the panel with dimensionals. I added sparkly Stickles to the centers of the flowers for additional dimension and texture. The three panels underneath the image are embossed with the Cuttlebug Bloom Dots embossing folder.

Materials Used--Thank You Card:
From Stampin' Up!: Wonderful Words stamp set; Real Red and Basic Black classic inks; Real Red, Basic Black, and Whisper White cardstock; black embossing powder; Versamark

Other: Faux Ribbon stamp set (Papertrey Ink)

Materials Used--Flower Card:

From Stampin' Up!: Cameo Coral, Summer Sun, Certainly Celery, and Whisper White cardstock; stampin' dimensionals

Other: Green Thumb stamp set (Papertrey Ink); Colorbox Chalk inks; Bloom Dots A2 embossing folder (Cuttlebug); Fruit Punch and Copper Stickles (Ranger)