Papertrey Ink Blog Hop

It's time for another Papertrey Ink Blog Hop. This month's Blog Hop theme is polka dots. Papertrey has lots of great polka dot items to choose from, including the new patterned paper from this month's release. I showcased that fun paper in my projects tonight.

I haven't made one of these cute, quick totes in a long time. I thought it would be fun to step it up a little from the ones I've made before and to incorporate some polka dots along the way.

I scored and cut the Ocean Tides cardstock to make the tote, then used my Scor-Pal to create a diagonal grid pattern like you might find on a fancy quilted purse. Looks great IRL! I embellished the tote by using one of the small dot stamps from Polka Dot Basics to stamp Ocean Tides at the points where the score lines intersect.

I used some of the new Polka Dot Parade paper to create the panel for the front of the purse. I ran some Ripe Avocado stitched grosgrain ribbon along the sides of the panel for a handle. Using stitched ribbon is so much easier than doing faux stitching on paper as I've done with some of these totes in the past.

I couldn't leave the tote empty, so I created a set of 4 cards to go inside. I used polka dot patterned paper and ribbon along with varied combinations of coordinating solid cardstock to assemble the cards. To speed up the card-making process (and meet the Blog Hop deadline, too), I kept the layout the same for each card. I just changed up the color combinations and sentiments. I went with a variety of sentiments to make this an all-purpose gift for someone, not sure who just yet.

Materials Used:

Polka Dot Basics and Mixed Messages stamp sets, Ocean Tides, Ripe Avocado, and Aqua Mist Palette inks, Ripe Avocado, Ocean Tides, Aqua Mist and White cardstock, Polka Dot Parade patterned paper, Ripe Avocado stitched grosgrain ribbon, Ocean Tides Swiss dot satin ribbon (Papertrey Ink); 1 1/4" and 1 3/8" circle punches, silver brads, dimensionals (Stampin' Up!); 1 1/2" circle punch (EK Success)