confetti by lexi

it started with a kiss...

and now it's come to this! welcome to day four of the december papertrey ink countdown, featuring my soon to be released mini set, just a kiss. today i have a pink and green quickie card, using one of the rhyme sentiments. yesterday i used this sentiment on the inside, but it definitely deserves a spot on the outside too! a little gold polka dot washi tape and a dainty heart die cut round out the clean and simple design. you can certainly pull out a variety of stamps with this little sentiment set, but i love letting the words take center stage. i chose to leave the inside blank today for a personalized note of best wishes to the bride and groom, but you could also stamp congratulations or something similar if you prefer to have an inside sentiment. now i need a wedding to go to!! but first, more stamping! be sure to check out nichole's blog - it's group post day, which means lots of links to follow! and lizzie has another look at her set too. have fun and i'll see you back here again tomorrow...

:) lexi

mr. & mrs.

welcome back to day two of the december papertrey ink countdown and another look at my upcoming pieces of confetti stamp set, just a kiss. i knew that for at least one card this week, i wanted to create some sort of ring. after rummaging around the bottomless pit that is my studio, i turned up a bag of little rings. they are most likely from the wedding aisle of michael's or party city and who knows why i originally bought them, but they've come in handy on more than one occasion! i added the diamond to the mrs. side with foam tape. i simply cut the tape to shape (the scotch plaid pattern came in handy for straight cuts and shaping!), and pressed it into glass glitter on one side, using the other side to stick it down. looping the rings together was a bit too bulky so i wove the strip of card stock with the mr. & mrs. sentiment through them. i love how it pulled it all together and fit so perfectly!


when thinking through the different sentiments for this set, i wanted to have good options for the inside of a card as well as the outside. most can be used for either, with each other or with other sentiments you may already own. for the inside here, i've used two of them paired together to complete the wedding sentiment begun with mr. & mrs. on the outside - it started with a kiss and now it's come to this! a fun and memorable way to say congratulations to the newlyweds, don't you think? if you missed my late night post last night, be sure to check it out and then head over to nichole to see what's in the spotlight. maile, heather and lizzie are also sharing today. i have some more stamping to do, but you can bet i'll do the same when i'm done...

see ya' tomorrow!
:) lexi

a late night post...

i couldn't let another day go by without trying to get something posted for the december papertrey ink countdown. it's been hard enough having the stamps sit on my desk since friday without being home long enough to sit down and stamp, but 'tis the season! anyway, i'm so excited once again to have a set being released. just a kiss is all about engagements and weddings and it's a mini - great for gift tags & cards, easy to add to your current collection. i was also excited that nichole sent her man & wife dies along with my set, since they are a perfect match. today i give you a clean and simple quickie - my favorite style even when i do have all the time in the world! to highlight the engagement and shopping aspect of the sentiment, i created a tiny wire hanger for the dress, adding a shimmery waist detail with a glitter pen, and evening out the right edge of the dress where it shapes the bride's hand. to give it a little extra dimension, i adhered it with a glue dot at the top with the hanger, while adding a bit of foam tape near the bottom to have the skirt flow out a bit. i also love how the bottom of the skirt drapes perfectly over the sentiment! a little washi tape in the same color as the panel was the perfect finishing touch. sometimes you want to have a congratulations card for a new bride-to-be immediately, and this design would definitely fit the bill - simple to create, with just the right amount of fun and elegance! as i mentioned in my earlier post, nichole and ashley both shared projects using just a kiss today, and i'm off to create something for tomorrow, so please c'mon back...

:) lexi

just a kiss

hi everyone! i apologize if you've stopped by to see papertrey ink december countdown projects yesterday and today. unfortunately, i did not receive the set in time to create before my daughter's community theatre kids' production of aladdin hit full swing and am struggling to catch up now that it's over. if not for that, i would have stamped all weekend! i'm hoping to have some projects up later today when i get home from teaching and then moving forward for the rest of the countdown. until then, please enjoy the introductions to just a kiss that nichole and ashley have shared today and know that i will take their ball and run with it as soon as i can!

:) lexi

comfort food in review

today is the day! nichole has revealed full product previews of everything in the november papertrey ink release, including my new pieces of confetti stamp set, comfort food. the new goodies will be available for purchase tonight at 10:00 pm est and the release party has been underway all day. as part of the festivities, the design team members have showcased their full round up of projects created with the new sets on their own blogs, too. of course, i love what they've done with comfort food...

betsy - don't fret, dearie! she read my mind and raised the creativity bar when she stacked those bowls in bright colors!!

cristina - love the spoon background - especially how she used the back of the stamp!!

danielle - a bowl of button ice cream - so cute & clever!

dawn - mmmm...noodle soup, lol! such a cute tag detail, paired with tag sale #7. and i love the colors!

debbie - a gorgeous take on that classic can - i love the blue-green copic glow!

erin - a pint for two! i love her nod to the ice cream cone using the harlequin cover plate over the aida impression plate!

heather - a cozy bowl of soup paired with think big favorites #22 - just what the doctor ordered! and don't forget the one earlier this week using the bowl and spoon with her sentiment signs set - another perfect match!

maile - a heartwarming soup card that really pops!!

melissa - mother's homemade soup is truly delicious!! total vintage love, especially the bowl details from stitched sentiments!

of course we can't forget jessica's fabulous creations earlier this week! and ashley hinted at something to come next week for thanksgiving, so be sure to check back there.

it's so exciting to see what they've done with my little images! i'm amazed by the talent and all the different ideas they put together. plus, it sounds like they had as much fun creating with comfort food as i did. that's a lot of cards up there for five short days - release time is major stamping time and i love it! so, now it's your turn - do you have a favorite?  any that you want to case as soon as you get the stamp set? i can't wait to see what you do too, so be sure to come back and share...

happy shopping!
:) lexi

thinking outside of the set

well, we've made it to day five of the countdown! tomorrow comfort food and the rest of the papertrey ink november line up will be fully unveiled and then, at 10:00 pm est, available to purchase - yay! but first, i have two more cards to share today. my goal was to think outside of the set, to use the images for cards other than the get well/feel better theme for which they were created...

ring, ring! - i feel like i need progresso cans here! paired with a little baker's twine and the two hello sentiments from heart-2-heart #4, the soup can makes a great can phone for a just saying hi card. i know i said i would give the red and white can a break, but it occured to me that if i embossed the image in white on red, i would have an even closer replica of the original - especially when i colored the heart circle with a gold paint pen. i love how it turned out! the yellow panel and yellow washi tape coordinate well with the gold seal and add just the right pop of color to the overall design. hello, hello!

here we go again with the chocolate ice cream! but this time, it's a birthday card and i've added a little mint to the mix. the little balloons from heart-2-heart #2 are the perfect way to dress up the ice cream carton for a party, along with a little bakers' twine to tie them on. i love touches like that! finally, i used both birthday sentiments from the set - today is all about you on the outside, happy birthday on the inside - to complete the sweet birthday treat. quick, easy & cute - gotta love that!

so, you have one more day of hopping around to the design team and other illustrators' blogs. be sure to head on over to nichole to see who's sharing - it's group post day with knit bits & purls! melissa has another look at her sets too. and please stop back by here from time to time. i'll post a release day round up around midday tomorrow and i have other projects ready in the wings. i'll definitely be posting more fun creations with this set.

see you soon!
:) lexi

pass the ice cream please...

it's day four of the papertrey ink november countdown and after all that soup yesterday, it's time for dessert! i keep finding myself gravitating toward brown, pink, and cream with the ice cream pint, so i decided not to fight it...

like the soup can yesterday, i had to open up the ice cream pint today. to do this i stamped the pint on one die cut and cut off the top, adhering that to a blank die cut that i trimmed in a curve to create the open carton. i inked the edge of the curve in pink to match and give definition. i wanted the top to be outlined in brown, so i stamped that on a small scrap and cut it out closely and colored with copics. using two die cuts for the carton provided the perfect opportunity to stick a spoon in it! a little washi tape was the perfect "table" for this late night snack.

again, like with the soup yesterday, i wanted multiple ice cream cartons in a row. three pints of chocolate ice cream definitely sounds like a cure to me! i stamped the three on a panel of white, using copics to color in all the white details with two shades of pink and a light caramel. this is such a yummy color scheme!

and finally, i put ice cream in the bowl - even though we tend to eat it right out of the carton! i created the bowl using two die cuts just like the open ice cream carton above, and filled it with two circles of pink card stock inked on the edges with pink ink, plus the spoon. i also accomplished what i thought about doing with the soup can yesterday - a background panel of repeating pints. the soft pink on cream is just the right touch behind the bowl. you know that they're there and important to the message of the card, but they're not in your face. with all that creamy softness i thought the white sentiment panel needed a little softening too, so i added a vellum overlay, which also framed the strip without obscuring the background too much. are you hungry for ice cream now?!

before you head off to the freezer, be sure to click on over to nichole, where she has the lineup of links for a group post of gorgeous "stitched" projects. melissa is sharing more with her sets, too. and don't forget to come back tomorrow for another fun serving of comfort food!

:) lexi

 

the classic soup can

hello and welcome to the papertrey ink november countdown day three! when you think of soup, it's hard not to think of the classic red and white can. so today, i have three clean and simple get well designs based on just that...


for the first card, i wanted to manipulate the soup can to make it look open. so when i inked it the first time on a die cut piece, i was very careful at the top to omit the inner circle of the lid. i used the pointed end of my ink pad, but the same can also be accomplished with a water based marker. then, i stamped it again on a small scrap just to get the lid, cutting that out closely, and assembling the two pieces together as shown. using a few of the sentiments, along with the bowl, steam, and spoon, plus the dotted line from faux ribbon, i created a collage around the can. this was a case of not knowing exactly where i wanted to end up, but totally loving the result!

unlike the first card, i pictured the next two in my head almost immediately. on this one, i wanted the cans to mimic how you see them on the shelves of the grocery store - in neat rows on top of each other. i still want to play with the idea of creating a full background on a card, but as you might know if you stop by here much, i'm a big fan of white space. plus i wanted these three cards to coordinate well with one another. so i decided to go with two simple rows, matted on black, with the feel better sentiment stamped above and to the right.

last, but definitely not least, i just had to create a pyramid of cans! this was another immediate vision, possibly from past experience in the grocery store or maybe a long lost commercial? i have to admit to fussy cutting these soup cans, as they ended up being a little off grid for my first attempt at the previous card - i didn't want to waste all those great cans! once i built my pyramid, i decided to bend the get well soon sentiment on my block to follow the curve of the top can. then i used a ruler and fine liner to draw the lines for added interest and balance, layering the finished panel onto a smokey shadow card base. don't you want to roll a ball at it?!

i hope you've enjoyed my classic takes on the soup can as much as i enjoyed creating them. now i need to challenge myself to move on from red for a bit! as always, be sure to click on over to nichole to see what else is in the spotlight today - plus maile, heather, melissa, and erin! and jessica, who is showcasing comfort food!! have fun and i'll see you tomorrow...

:) lexi

i scream, you scream...

welcome to day two of the papertrey ink november countdown and a second look at my new pieces of confetti stamp set. today's card showcases another iconic comfort food - a pint of ice cream. sure, soup's great when you're under the weather, but sometimes ice cream is the cure for what ails - two scoops, if not the whole pint! once again, i'm loving the dies - i've never minded fussy cutting, but the crisp and consistent edge of the die cuts is a nice plus. i had fun layering other die cuts to create the final layout, with a definite ice cream color scheme - i must be craving a little neopolitan! be sure to stop by nichole's blog to see more peeks - including a closer look at comfort food! heather, melissa, and erin all have countdown posts up too. and don't forget to come back tomorrow for yet another tasty sampling...

yum!
:) lexi

mmmm, soup!

the countdown to the papertrey ink november 2012 release is officially underway and i'm so excited to show off a new pieces of confetti stamp set waiting in the wings. introducing comfort food! what's more comforting than soup? it's the iconic feel better food, perfect for those get well wishes and gifts that often dominate winter. just what the doctor ordered! for my first card, i decided to create a color blocked design using the soup can, bowl, and spoon, along with the steam and a sentiment. color blocking lends itself well to playing with fun colors, mine loosely based on andy warhol's soup can art. the result is bright and cheerful and will surely make someone smile. and the coordinating dies made it easy to assemble - so excited about that! i'll be back with another comfort creation tomorrow, so don't forget to stop by. until then, be sure to check out peeks from nichole, plus even more from betsy, danielle, cristina, heather, melissa, and erin.

enjoy!
:) lexi

sneak peekin'

hi! sorry to have disappeared for so long. i've been creating away non-stop and have so much to share, but being busy also means less time for blogging. nichole posted this little peek today to kick off the countdown to the november 2012 papertrey ink release and i just had to pop it up over here, too - my second pieces of confetti offering! i have the set in hand and am likely stamping as you read. i can't wait to show it off! so, be sure to come back for the countdown, beginning november 10th, when you can see it in action...

yum!
:) lexi

dior baby

as promised, here's another challenge-inspired baby. no geeky girl here though - she's pure fashionista! a pretty floral medallion look from christian dior fall 2012 is the current inspiration piece on the runway inspired challenge blog. after creating little mr. big bang baby, i guess i had baby face on the brain, so this pretty little beauty was born and it's nothing but the best for her! the flower in the set was the perfect starting point for the floral medallion. i stamped it in the center of the blanket flap, which gave me plenty of room to doodle around it and color in the key points. i didn't have the exact colors in the picture, but i got pretty close and i think it looks very similar to the inspiration, which is exactly what i was going for. i'm loving these challenges - can't wait to see what's next!!

thanks for stopping by...
:) lexi

big bang baby

i've had this design floating around in my head for a few days now, and i finally made time to put the stamps to paper! it's in response to the spectacular spectacles challenge over at moxie fab world. i thought it would be fun and different to add specs & a tie to my sweet little baby face! google nerd baby or geek baby and you'll see some cuties in big glasses and a variety of smart onesies, all of which inspired this design. i drew the glasses to "fit" the face, and made the tie out of (you guessed it!) washi tape. and how about the bottle tucked into the blanket, pocket protector style! i wanted a few extra nerdy details, so i created a custom background with some of the small baby images and phrases, along with a few bigger science motifs - an oval frame was a happy find and do you know how 1+1=3? this card would be perfect with an educational baby gift, especially for new babies with big bang type parents...

nerd is the word!
:) lexi

p.s. be sure to come back later for a new challenge-inspired girl baby, too!

showers, flowers, and rainbows

april showers bring may flowers! that's the current theme of the cas-ual fridays challenge that ends tonight. rain also brings rainbows, so i combined the two ideas and this is what happened. a clean and simple rainbow of flowers, happy and bright. i was absolutely not going to use washi tape again, but somehow it ended up on the card anyway. and it's exactly how it should be! the brown woven pattern acts as a grounding element, and the color patterns add just the right amount of interest on the matching card stock squares. as the card came together it reminded me of a few old favorites - same sentiment, ipods rock, candyland, and even the more recent bottle lineup. it's the perfect blend of elements from each of those designs - tone on tone pattern, squares, color popped on white, and of course a rainbow. obviously, i love a good rainbow card!

thanks for stopping by...
:) lexi

absolutely fabulous

a new challenge. more washi tape. another quick card. while surfing over spring break, i stumbled onto the runway inspired challenge blog, with fashion inspiration pics straight from the runway. fashion plus stamping? count me in! i love creating cards from an inspiration piece - pulling colors, repeating patterns, getting a similar overall look. the current runway inspired challenge is from the nanette lepore fall 2012 show and, as soon as i saw it, i knew i had to make time to play. i originally thought i was going to create a chevron card because of the shirt, but then i spied the right colors and patterns in my washi tape stash and they won me over. i particularly love that you can see the card stock through the tapes. the gray and silver patterns are similar to the stitching in the chevrons and, of course, the gold is for the skirt. the polka dots actually needed a little help living up to the skirt, which i found in a bit of shiny gold thread. wrapped around the washi, it's the perfect touch of shimmer and shine! finally, the sentiment from pti's mixed messages practically jumped onto the card, in black to mirror the shoes. the result is just what i wanted. trendy, feminine, cool - absolutely fabulous!

:) lexi

hello washi tape

wednesday seems to have become "take time to stamp" day, thanks to the cas-ual fridays blog. the challenge this week is a clean and simple sketch and i took the opportunity to play with my growing collection of washi tape. love the stuff! this set of three from lotta jansdotter provided my color scheme (coincidentally, these are also the colors of my throw pillows!) and the perfect backdrop to the simple overlapping squares of the sketch. while i like to interpret sketches pretty closely, i also wanted the squares of this one to have some added interest. enter modern basics from pti and my corner rounder. like last week, this card came together really quickly from start to finish. clean and simple, quick and easy - my kind of card!

:) lexi

you're the only fish

so i had to take a couple of days off to try to catch up after all that stamping and posting - catching up seems to be a never ending job.  and even though i have several invites to share, i just couldn't stay away from my stamps!  first, i saw a poster on pinterest last night that i immediately pinned to my stamp it board, thinking of the little fish in baby face.  and then tonight, i ended up at the cas-ual fridays blog, where this week's challenge is about opposite colors.  and well, that + this =  orange & blue fish! 

i rummaged through my stamp sets for the right words, turning up mostly empty handed, except for you're from papertrey ink's piece of cake.  that led me to turn to a couple of alphabets, trajan monogram and alpha blocks, both also from pti.  i wanted a few of the words to be small, but i don't have a small alphabet.  i briefly considered handwriting them, but i didn't want to have to match inks and i really wanted it to be all stamped.  and then i remembered an old provocraft rotating alphabet stamp, like an office date stamp but with letters, which ended up being perfect - yay!  the alphabets were slightly larger than what i was originally picturing, which meant that the little fish might get lost, so i decided to put it on a key tag.  it added the balance i was looking for, but there was a hole and i didn't want to add ribbon.  after a little more playing around, i added another hole to the first to make bubbles.  i think it was the perfect solution all the way around!  even with the few speed bumps, this card came together really quickly - i love it when something inspires me like this!  thank you pinterest & thank you cas-ual fridays...

and thank you for stopping by!
:) lexi

baby face in review

today is the day!  nichole has revealed full product previews of all of the sets and accessories in the april papertrey ink release including my first pieces of confetti stamp set, baby face.  along with everything else, the set will available for purchase tonight at 10:00 pm est and the release party has been underway all day.  as part of the festivities, the design team members have showcased their full round up of projects created with the new sets on their own blogs, too.  of course, i love what they've done with baby face...

ashley - baby's all buttoned up & the flower makes for a quick and polished background!

betsy - oh, baby!  twins & felt blankies + the new script alpha dies = love.

danielle - what's better for sweet baby dreams than a moon and stars?

dawn - the mobile is a perfect match for the baby sentiment from her own tagged sentiments set!

heather - baby has an actual fabric blankie and matching rick-rack & i love how she used the heart.

jessica - sweet & simple!  another felt blankie technique, complete with a cute little pin.

lisa - a little paper piecing, a lot of cute!  a great use of the star for another sweet background.

maile - a pinterest inspired masterpiece!  i'll be giving this one a try for sure.

melissa - baby face gets the lilybean treatment in pretty pastels & i'm still loving the alpha dies!

and of course erin showcased her gorgeous creations earlier this week...

wow, wow, wow!  so much fun to see my images in action by so much talent!  i haven't stamped this much in a long time myself, and just had to take a quick shot of all of my cards together.  they added up quickly!  do you have a favorite?  any that you want to case as soon as you get the stamp set?  i can't wait to see what you come up with, too...

happy shopping!
:) lexi

more sweet baby face

hi there!  here we are at day five of the countdown to the papertrey ink april release and i'm still having fun with baby face.  i have three more clean and simple cards to share today, so let's get to it...

i just love these bottles!  after making the bright rainbow card with them the other day, i really wanted to do one in more traditional baby pastels.  don't they make a sweet mobile?  add a little bling and scallops and we have another perfect card for someone who doesn't know if they're having a boy or girl!

now, this one, on the other hand, is definitely for the boys!  you can hang the fish a few different ways from the mobile.  i decided to hang them this way - like they're hooked! - with a fishing enthusiast in mind.  if you hang them sideways, it could be like they're swimming, and they can face each other too, like in the kissing fish card the other day.  i really wanted a simple mostly monochromatic look and i think i got it just right!  a snippet of ribbon with bubbles and just a little bit of an accent color plus a tiny baby pin were both happy hoarder's finds!

and last, but definitely not least, is a sweet baby girl.  i thought it would be nice to have a white blanket for a change, with just a bit of color on the edge.  very much like a blanket i wrapped my girls in!  i stamped the face only on the pink layer, then stamped both the face and line image of the blanket on a white scrap, colored them with copics, and cut them out closely.  after layering the face over the one on pink (because i wanted the little curl!), i added the blanket below, followed by the banner, stamped with sweet baby dreams.  a little bling on the blanket, a pink baby bottle, and a scalloped edge were the final details that pulled it all together.  i think this is my favorite today!

be sure to head over to nicole's blog, where she is showing off garden variety II and more, including links to each of the design team members' garden goodies.  melissa and maile have more to share too.  and then, set your sights on tomorrow...!!

:) lexi

flashback friday :: baby face beginnings

it's day four of the papertrey ink countdown to the april release!!!  but it's also flashback friday, so i thought i'd start by sharing some pics of baby face's printed beginnings.  the first recorded project i have is the baby girl birth announcement above right, with a touch of embroidery thread for the hair ribbon (which would totally work with the new boy stamp, if you want the 3d option!), but i think she came to life for a mommy note pad some time before that.  over the years, the simple face has been a go to image for everything baby - from announcements and shower invites to note cards and labels.  i'm so excited that she (and he) are now in stamp form for others to enjoy.

for my first project today, i thought i'd continue on the clean and simple path and create a few 3 x 3 gift cards that are reminiscent of the early printed projects i found - the face, framed simply with the promininent baby color.  i threw in one with a trio of bottles for the unknown gender option - i love that bottle!  these would be perfect for stamping on your way out the door to pick up a quickie baby gift, or tucked into the ribbon of your package.  easy peasy, but super cute, too!

while baby face began as just a face, i was so excited when i came up with the blanket swaddling for the body.  it's such a fun new element to play with, especially in stamp form.  erin showcased the line image for paper piecing the other day, so i thought i'd share the solid image with another fun idea for adding a little detail.  after stamping the solid blanket, i masked off the top fold, and stamped the hearts and stars.  then, using a coordinating copic, i colored them in and added the contrasting stripes.  you can also color the line image if you prefer, but if you're going for a monochromatic look like i've done, it's nice to start with the solid base.  i finished off the card by adding oh, baby!, inking up baby! a second time to play off the twin idea.  the dots on the side were stamped in grey also, and then colored on top with a clear glitter pen - nice and shimmery in person, but so hard to catch on screen.  i can't wait to see what you create when you get the stamps - just a few more days now...

'til then, check out nicole's blog for today's peeks along with maile, heather, melissa, and dawn!

happy friday,
:) lexi