Wildly Cute!

I've been working on a baby gift for the past couple of months... having fun knitting, and then creating a card to go with it.  I haven't shared my knitting in quite a while, and knitting for a baby is definitely a favourite thing of mine.  I found a wonderful book at my library using Cascade Superwash yarn, and knit up a pair of socks, a hat with ears, and a sweet toy.

The hat and socks aren't for a newborn!  So they look a little large... and I'll admit that the hat ears look a little goofy, but they should be cute on a little guy's head.  I really loved making the little lovey, which is just a square with a teddy head sewn on - something to snuggle with.

And for the card, I reprised a card that I'd made 11 years ago!!  The Wildly Cute stamp set from Art Impressions was retired years ago, but I won't part with it, as it makes such sweet baby cards.  The ancient papers are Babycakes from CTMH.

I coloured with Copic markers on Cryogen paper, fussy cut it, and created by background with a little paper piecing.  The image and sentiment are adhered with foam adhesive for some dimension.

Nothing like making something for a new baby - especially when it's for one of my daughter's best friends.

Holiday Mansion

I pulled out a retired Art Impressions set that I had previously stamped to do a little colouring while I watched a video or two... this is the Holiday Mansion with the Garden Set add-on.

It was stamped on Cryogen cardstock which has a creamy cast to it, so I paired it up with some old Carta Bella papers from my stash, and set about colouring the pieces with my Copic markers.  There are matching dies that cut out the windows, doors and small items as well.

I made my background scene with the patterned papers - I love this look!  And it's a great way to use up patterned paper.  It's a little larger than an A2 size, being 4 5/8" x 6".

Uniquely You Valentine

I needed a valentine, and had an extra panel of the January Betterpress Society plates, 'Uniquely You' pressed on some watercolour paper.  Similar to one of my other cards, I pulled out four colours of Distress Ink and painted in the leaves.

I painted a strip of scrap watercolour paper with Picked Raspberry ink, then die cut a bunch of little hearts from it, and decorated my image.

I trimmed down my panel, mounted it on some black cardstock and also pressed one of the sentiments from the set below the urn.  A few black jewels finished it off.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Pastel Uniquely You

My third project with the January Betterpress Society set, Uniquely You, is a softer pastel version.

I pressed the upper leaf part in Antique Linen Distress Ink, then used the stencils and a combo of four different inks from Pinkfresh Studio to blend the leaves - doing many in two tones.  The urn was pressed in Lisa Horton Crafts Copper Pot metallic ink.  

The set comes with two flower dies, their centers and matching leaves, so I cut a few of them out in peachy toned cardstock and adhered them to the bouquet, and as an accent near the sentiment.  The sentiment from You Are Everything Betterpress set, was pressed with watermark ink and gold embossed.  

I stitched my panel onto a piece of brown cardstock with my sewing machine, then attached the whole thing to my green base with 3D foam adhesive.  

You can get a Betterpress subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

 

Citrus Bloom Wreath

I've had these bits and pieces of the Citrus Bloom set by Pinkfresh Studio, stenciled and die cut - in my stash ready to go for a while.  I was debating on putting them into a wreath shape, and settled on a crescent moon style of wreath instead.

I pulled out my favourite shade of dark blue cardstock, and decided on a square card with a cut out circle center.  The white background was a bit stark, so I pulled out my Slumber ink that I'd used in the stenciling, and inked the center area of my card base.

I arranged the pieces around the edge of the opening, and glued them down with my Bearly Arts glue, then attached it to my card base with 3D foam adhesive.  I'm using the Serenade Sentiments die set from Spellbinders, and cut the words twice, layering them for a little dimension.  They were adhered into the center of the circle.  I splattered a little gold paint to finish it off.

Watercolour & Betterpress

For my second project with the January Betterpress Society plates, "Uniquely You", I pressed them in Betterpress Black ink onto Canson XL watercolour paper.  I was wanting to create a more masculine card, so picked four colours of Distress ink to paint with.

I started by ink blending some Tumbled Glass ink behind where the leaves will sit, then after pressing the images, I used Shabby Shutters, Mermaid Lagoon, Evergreen Bough and Mowed Lawn to randomly paint the leaves.  I spattered Mermaid Lagoon and metallic gold paint over the finished project.

I am always in need of birthday cards, so I used a sentiment from the November, gold embossing it onto regular black cardstock.  I trimmed down my panel by 1/8" on each side, then stitched it to a black card base with my sewing machine.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

PCW March Challenge

The Papercrafter's Workshop has come out with a monthly sketch challenge - which I'm really enjoying playing along with.  For the March sketch, I wanted to see if I could use my Betterpress to come up with something, and I'm pretty happy with the result!

For the three vertical elements, I thought I'd use the Layered Leaf Prints press plates (the August BP Society), which I pressed in two shades of green from Pinkfresh Studio.  Since I was doing a floral card, I thought this sentiment from Uniquely You (the January BP Society) fit the bill - I pressed it in Spellbinders Black Ink.

The die cut bits are all from Spellbinders Floral Spray set - most of which were already in my stash, so I just added a few extra pieces.  These were all to represent the tag, bunny and flowers from the sketch.  I added some champagne iridescent pearls by Pinkfresh Studio, adhered the sentiment with 3D foam adhesive, and stitched the panel to the blue card base with my sewing machine.