confetti by lexi

you're my kind of corny!

i love a random national day and i love candy corn, so of course, i had to make a card for national candy corn day today. i even had the perfect die for the job! with about an hour to spare, this is what i came up with...

i die cut candy corn collage four times, twice in black and twice in white. i popped out only the negative spaces on both black and one white, adhering them together with spray adhesive. then i colored in the orange and yellow spaces on the white one, not overly concerned with bleeding over a bit. the final white with all pieces popped out becomes the top layer and perfect frame. i love the white on white with just a hint of black on the sides.

i thought about making this a simple happy halloween or trick or treat card, but it just wasn't doing it for me, lol. finally, i landed on a punny sentiment by selectively inking "you're my kind of" from everyday affection, replacing the word "weird" with "corny" using pencilgrams (still hanging in online - at $3.50 it's a steal!) for the phrase you're my kind of corny - perfect! i tied on a bow of baker's twine in black and white to balance the other touches of black and voila! clean and graphic, quick and easy - holiday (and candy corn) celebrated...

#sweet!
:) lexi

the one with the friends quotes

i love pop culture. harry potter, 80s movies, and, of course, various tv shows, including many a sitcom. so when i saw a stamp set full of friends quotes on instagram, i had to track it down. the one with all the stamps from the ink road - it even had the perfect name, lol! not only did i live and love watching friends in real time, my girls eventually found it and loved it on netflix. oh the joys of binge-watching and reruns! there are just so many good lines to love from the series. how you doin?, unagi, you're my lobster, smelly cat, oh...my.....god!!! and a good line must be preserved in greeting card form, right? i finally had time to put stamps to ink and paper and decided to start with a set of clean and simple designs focused on the quotes with small image pairings. all but the cow and sushi are included in the set as well. iconic quotes and one-liners plus cute tiny images - could there be anything more fun? enjoy and remember...

i'll be there for you!
:) lexi

3D elements with symmetrical dies

good morning! it's my turn for this week's papertrey ink design team tips post and i thought i'd share a technique for adding fun 3D elements with dies and stamps that are symmetrical or at least close to symmetrical. i love cards and tags with dimension and pop and this step up from foam tape is the perfect way to add a little extra something to your christmas tags.

i decided to use the tree and snowflake circle from the winter fox stamp set. while they aren't perfectly symmetrical, they are both very close and worked well for this technique. you need to cut and stamp three of each. you could use more or less depending on how full you want the 3D element to be, but i found that with the thick cardstock, three was a good number for these small images. you want to be able to fold them nicely and still see the stamped details when they're assembled.

next, each die cut needs to be scored down the middle. to do this i added a little dot adhesive to the back and lined them up on my paper cutter so that my score line is perfectly placed without the small die cuts moving around. it worked like a charm!

next, i folded each die cut on the score line to get ready for assembly. you can see that i stamped the trunk on only one of the trees. after using the other trunks to help line the dies up for scoring, i cut them off so that my tree only had one trunk in the middle for a cleaner look.

with that die cut in the middle, i lined up and attached half a tree to each half of the front one and pressed and folded everything into place securely. i followed the same procedure with the snowflake circle, making sure that the snowflakes were all facing the same direction.

when everything is lined up and pressed into place, you should be left with a flat surface on the back of each on which to adhere them to a tag or card.

i went with tags - i stamped an allover pattern on aqua mist to set the stage for the tree, layering it over an additional tag in tropical teal for writing to the recipient.

the end result is so festive - perfect for a pretty package or maybe around the neck of a bottle of wine to bring to the hosts of a party.

i assembled a similar but smaller layered tag for the snowflake circle in stamper's select white and sweet blush.

on both the snowflake circle and tree elements, i covered the slightly uneven edges with a bit of clear crystal glitter to hide the minor imperfections. i also added glitter to the snowflake images for even more shine on that one. bling is always a good thing!

and there you have it! aren't they fun? i need to poke through my collection a little more to see what else i have that will work for this. a group of coordinating tags will look so good under the tree! if any specific stamp and die combos come to mind right away please share in the comments - i want to 3D all the things!  

thanks for stopping by!
:) lexi

transformation tuesday: merry teapot

good morning! today it's my turn to host transformation tuesday for papertrey ink. we all have cards that don't necessarily turn out the way we had envisioned or a project that we designed to be feminine that could be made masculine with a few tweaks, etc. i always love this chance to revisit an old card... 

today, i decided to rework a tea for two design from my simple to spectacular post last month, specifically the stepped-up version with all of the layers. following the same basic layout, i swapped out the colors and changed up a couple of small details to quickly take it from fall to christmas. 

first, i decided on a two-tone green for the plaid panel, so i die cut one piece with the outer edge die only in new leaf and a second with all three dies in green parakeet, stacking the two together for the new leaf to peek through. this set the stage for a new red polka dot teapot.

a double layer "be merry" die cut stands out nicely against the plaid and a sprig of holly finishes off the christmas teapot perfectly. the overall result is so festive and fun! not to mention quick, since i had the layout ready and waiting to be transformed.

using one card to jump-start another is a great way to build up your card stash or get over a creative block. if you love a layout or certain look, go for it and make it again in all the colors for all the seasons. you know how the saying goes: if a card fits, make one in every color - or something like that, lol!

happy stamping!
:) lexi

throwback thursday: tricky trio dies

i love creating for halloween so I was very excited to play with tricky trio dies for this week's papertrey ink throwback thursday. it's the perfect sentiment to add to any Halloween stamp set or image, so I pulled out scared silly and put them to work together.

i decided to go with my favorite halloween color scheme of green, purple, and black in the form of green parakeet, plum pudding, and a mix of true black, smokey shadow, and soft stone for my blacks and neutrals. The shape of the long line trick or treat die reminded me of a seesaw so i chose that one and let it guide my layout, adhering it on an angle between a cutaway in the soft stone panel and balancing a scared silly monster on the middle.

i selectively inked "li'l monster" under the die to relate the sentiment to the image. and with a trick or treat phrase as part of my focal point, i thought it would be fun to give my monster a trick or treat bag - with a coordinating eyeball, of course! not only is he cute, but he moves too - i couldn't resist another wobbly monster and i think the recipient who ends up with this will agree. a card that moves is the best! well that's all for today. it's a quickie tricky from me, but if you haven't already, be sure to check out a couple more throwback treats by dawn and michelle, both linked on the papertrey ink blog...

happy stamping!
:) lexi

candy-colored christmas in october

Good morning! Welcome to this month’s color installment! Today I thought we’d have a little Christmas in October feature. I craft a lot for the holidays, often in the traditional red and green or shades of green with a small pop of red. But my favorite Christmas colors are what I like to call candy-colored Christmas. Or merry and bright, heavy on the bright!

Red and green play a part – it doesn’t seem Christmas enough without a small touch of one or the other – but I like to bring in pink, light blue, and lighter shades of green as well. Since the overall look is a bit lighter and brighter, grays are my go-to neutral for sentiments and other elements. Within this larger color palette, I can mix and match the colors to create smaller pairings for cards and projects that will coordinate nicely.

First up, I paired Pure Poppy with Limeade Ice and a small touch of Pale Peony. A lighter green with a strong red is a playful take on the traditional red and green. Rather than repeating one of these colors on the sprinkles, I opted for pink.

The specific shade of pink here coordinates with both colors nicely – similar in lightness to the green, and basically a lighter shade of the red, it’s the perfect third color from my candy-colored palette.

Next, I’ve added Hawaiian Shores to the fairly traditional red and green combo of Pure Poppy and New Leaf. I could’ve stuck with red and green here, but I’m partial to an offbeat element whenever possible and the Hawaiian Shores offers that.

It gives the card the slight modern edge I was going for, and a little pop of extra color! As you know, color makes me happy, especially bright color!

And speaking of bright color, for my last and brightest card, I’ve combined Hawaiian Shores, Pale Peony and New Leaf, with a small pop of Pure Poppy added to all three.

I’ve always loved the look of candy-colored Christmas trees and create them with different tree stamps whenever I  can. I think it reminds me of pastel tinsel trees or the tree lot Charlie Brown goes to. And the look is perfect with any phrase that has “bright” in it.

So there you have it – a clean and simple, candy-colored Christmas! I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, one of the best things about stamping is that you can stamp in any color that floats your boat – creative license is everything! Do you have a favorite Christmas palette beyond the basics? Please share in the comments so I can try it, too!

Have a colorful day!
:) lexi

 

Supplies:
Merry Mug card
STAMPS: Merry Mug
INK: Limeade Ice, Pure Poppy, Pale Peony, Weathervane
PAPER: Stamper’s Select White
DIES: Merry Mug, Shape Shifters: Square 1
OTHER: MISTI, foam tape, 2-way glue, sequins

Be Merry card
STAMPS: Glorious Globes: September
INK: Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Hawaiian Shores
PAPER: Stamper’s Select White, Soft Stone
DIES: Glorious Globes: September, Mix & Mat: Confetti, Bold Borders: Yuletide
OTHER: MISTI, 2-way glue

Calm and Bright card
STAMPS: Winter Fox, Corner Adorner: September
INK: Hawaiian Shores, Pale Peony, New Leaf, Pure Poppy, Weathervane
PAPER: Stamper’s Select White
DIES: Winter Fox, Mix & Mat: Confetti, Double-Ended Banners
OTHER: MISTI, foam tape, mini star sequins