tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71279672122140092222024-03-05T01:49:09.433-05:00Encouraging ImpressionsSarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.comBlogger720125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-75469961109649961742019-06-17T19:56:00.000-04:002019-06-17T19:56:00.731-04:00Living Your Word: TRUST: ListenGod keeps surprising me in this Living Your Word of the Year Challenge; I think I am headed one direction, and end up in another. I also found so much to challenge me that had time permitted, I would have had at least a half dozen pages. It was so hard to stop, but I finally realized that the project was not just about making pages, but letting the Word and the various quotes/songs/thoughts I found, seep in and change me.<br />
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The first page became a meditational activity as I wrote <i>listen </i>over and over again, and I found myself listening for God’s voice in a more purposeful way than I have before. I hope that this is something I can cultivate as a habit. Often when I am actively listening for God to speak I am looking to hear something about a specific situation or request. I have heard people recommend that we spend time just quietly listening for God in our morning devotional time. Whether it’s my ADHD brain or just impatience, that has not worked well for me. But trying to keep an attitude of attentiveness to what God might be saying to me … this resonates far more with me. It also seems less like I’m trying to control God, asking him to speak with me at my programmed time, or at my convenience…<br />
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I have become fascinated with Spiritual Direction since my son, who has a Masters degree in Spiritual Formation and Spiritual Direction, sent me a fantastic novel called Sensible Shoes, based on the practices of Spiritual Direction. Anyway, I have been doing a little reading about spiritual direction, finding this quote by Henri Nouwen, which I edited down for my second page.<br />
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Music with lyrics having to do with listening or hearing was constantly going through my mind. I learned the song whose lyrics I placed on the third page, while raised in the Catholic church. I had no idea, until I attended a bat mitzvah a couple of years ago as part of a multicultural counseling class I took for my masters degree, that the tune was originally a Torah song, and this was how I heard it at the Bat Mitzvah. The synagogue had graciously given me a host to explain things, and afterwards, he told me an amazing story about one of the sets of scrolls the synagogue owned. It gave me an amazing understanding of God’s faithfulness and trustworthiness. I wish there were room to include it here!<br />
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<u>Design notes:</u><br />
I expected the first page to be a fairly easy and quick project. Wrong! It took hours. Part of it was my fault for putting some pieces at angles, making placing far too complicated/time consuming. When I laid the text strips across the page, too many white gaps presented, so I had to redo a good bit of it. Secondly, not all washi tape is, well, washi tape! Washi tape is supposed to be made from rice paper, and when it is, a Sharpie will write nicely on it. Unfortunately, I had a lot of “bargain” tape that was impossible and had to be removed. Bargain tape is often also not easily removable, and it tore some of the cardstock when I tried removing it.<br />
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I was really excited about my background idea. I generally only use chalk to fill in a stamped image, using a wooden q-tip. For this, I just slathered the chalk on, then used a tissue to spread and blend. Then I took a large square stamp (a Cover-a-card stamp from Impression Obsession), placed it on my stamping platform, and inked it with versamark ink. This was a subtle but impressive look, as the stamped image made the chalk a bit darker. Then I took small stamp pads and colored sections of the cover-a-cards stamp, then restamped the image. This worked beautifully. I made several other panels, and then made a disastrous decision: I sprayed them all with a fixative so the chalk would not get over all the other pages when I assembled my journal. Unfortunately, it completely obliterated all areas of the image that were versamark only. Sigh.Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-65342094646200000892019-06-01T18:13:00.001-04:002019-06-01T18:13:14.109-04:00Living Your Word: TRUST: Kindness<br />
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When I began this journey of art blogging a word for a year,
I had considered “gentleness”, an element of the fruit of the spirit definitely
lacking in me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Years ago I had looked up
verses on gentleness (ie: “Let your gentleness be evident to all”; Philippians
4:5) and placed them about the house.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
decided that perhaps instead of repeating the same, I would look at kindness, a
related concept, just to change it up a bit. After all, they really are tied
together; if one is not gentle, chances are kindness is lacking as well! When I
felt the Lord calling me to use trust for my word of the year, I decided to use
it for my “K” word. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In my study, I came across this question by a man named Henry
Drummond: “Have you ever noticed how much of Christ’s life was spent in doing
kind things?” I had never looked at Jesus’ life in that way; I primarily
regarded kindness as a character trait to develop. Despite one of our worship
songs having the line “Your kindness leads us to repentance,” I never really thought
about it until someone referred to it in a Bible study.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure enough; Kari Jobe took her lyrics
straight from scripture, in Romans 2:4. “Or do you think lightly of the riches
of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of
God leads you to repentance?” Perhaps because the line appears in a scripture
of rebuke, it never stood out to me when reading it in context. I think this
must happen often; a beautiful gem of scripture is hidden in plain sight … we
are concentrating on the theme of the verse, and therefore miss what is
encapsulated within it. As I prepared my journal pages, I found many verses
with beautiful phrases about God’s kindness. <o:p></o:p></div>
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In reflecting on trust and kindness, where am I seeing a connection?
As I have read and thought about the verses I found on God’s kindness toward me,
I have felt a deep shifting in my heart in how I perceive his actions toward
me. I have found it hard these last few years to trust that He has good things
for me. I appreciate how C.S. Lewis has phrased it: "We're not doubting
that God will do the best for us; we're wondering how painful the best will
turn out to be." Now I am feeling an almost physical easing of my fears. I
am understanding His heart toward me in a way I have not in many years; He does
not just do what is right, but what is kind.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To me. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-76549174378536133792019-05-19T11:15:00.001-04:002019-05-19T11:15:26.592-04:00Living Your Word: TRUST: Joy<br />
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I have a Pinterest board just for ideas on making journals,
and I discovered <a href="https://valeriesjodin.com/" target="_blank">Valerie
Sjodin's website</a> and was completely entranced! In my master's program
for counseling, I was able to take a class with a Dr. Todd, who specialized in
art therapy, and while the course itself was not about that, we had a weekly
assignment that involved keeping an art journal. I cannot say I enjoyed
that part of the class; I am a word person, not an artist. It's not just about
lack of talent; I don't enjoy it. Still, knowing that I would
probably be obligated to do something like this if I took the class with Dr.
Todd was actually part of my motivation for choosing her class. I believe
strongly in the value of journaling, and in a culture that far values visual
art over the written word, I knew for the sake of future clients in counseling
it would be good to have a personal experience with art journaling. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Back to Valerie's work. Valerie's incorporation of
scripture and Biblical wisdom in her art journaling really excited me, and
inspired me, at least at some level, to want to be more creative with my
stamping, and maybe try to somehow include it with journaling. I thought
about it off and on for months, but my record when it comes to actually
maintaining a journal is fairly non-existent! More importantly, I am a word
person, not an artist, nor do I even desire to be artistic. (I’ll be frank … not
only was I the last kid in elementary school to manage to color inside the
lines, I was once kicked out of an art class for incompetence!) <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I am happy creating wallpaper covered journals
for others to use, and using stamps and dies for any artistic leanings!<o:p></o:p></div>
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While exploring her site again one evening, I realized she
had a facebook group in which members chose a word for a year to art journal
with, then added a second word in every two weeks, based on the letters of the
alphabet, to interact with that word of the year. A challenge is always helpful
to me when I need motivation to create, and perhaps this was it. Because “joy”
is such an important theme to me, one would think that I would choose that for
my word. That was, in fact, my plan when I first heard of this idea. It occurred
to me, however, that I wanted this to really be a something to enhance my walk
with God in a very intentional way.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That
is, I wanted Him to show me what word that He knew I needed to focus on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I thought of several possibilities, and I worried
how I would “know” I had the right word … I can get really stuck in this
concern of being sure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But the next
morning after making this decision, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
woke up and the word “trust” – not a word I had even thought of the night
before - came to me as the right word to use.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>No doubt whatsoever; I knew the Holy Spirit was in it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No more excuses!<o:p></o:p></div>
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I trust God 100%, no room for doubt.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At least, not in my head! But many of my
attitudes about situations, as well as my prayer life, demonstrate a different
level of confidence! As I thought about this surprising word, I realized that
some of the joy that I am failing to reach is a direct result of not fully
trusting God. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I immediately requested to join the group, and
looked up the current letter and word suggestions for this time period. Imagine
my reaction when I saw the list of “joy” “journaling” and “journal”! Lol, guess
I don’t need to look for confirmation that this is what I am meant to do! I am
amazed at His grace!<o:p></o:p></div>
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So, here are my attempts. Since I generally like lots of clean,
open space in my cardmaking, and running items into each other, collage type
work is very challenging and awkward for me.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It takes the word “stretching” to a whole new level! But I thought I should
attempt it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will not completely humiliate
myself to tell you how long these two pages took me to complete (and I had to
abandon the thought of two more using “journaling” as the theme); it’s enough I
am actually sharing them for all to see! But hopefully someday someone who is
equally art-challenged will be encouraged to give this a try! It has been a
great week or so of looking at trust through the lens of joy, and I’m glad I
did it!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I will perhaps, however, give
myself permission to do more word stuff than art stuff for letter K!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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After spending hours looking up quotes/scriptures; I evidently accidently deleted nearly all of it, and then saved it shortly thereafter, losing it all!!! So, the bottom right was meant to have one of these quotes, but I didn't have the heart to try to find it again, and really did not have any more time left, so I just quickly used a joy die to fill the space!<div>
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-87539409399311990222019-05-13T13:24:00.002-04:002020-04-10T10:43:13.426-04:00PTI Challenge: Win it WednesdayThe challenge for this week's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-may-8-15/" target="_blank">Win it Wednesday </a>is to make a favorite tag. Well, I didn't need to think on this one. As I love quilt dies, and make paper quilts by the dozen, I love to turn them into tags. I have been working on making cards and now tags that just need text to be completed, so that I am ready at any time to turn them into cards or tags for whatever event needed. I might turn them into birthday cards, sympathy cards, etc. With the quilt tags, I enjoy stamping a scripture on the back to just give a fun little encouragement to a friend/relative. So, this tag is blank at the moment. When I went to match cardstock to this quilt, I only held it up to ivory cardstock because I had a stray piece in front of me; I had planned to match one of the colors. But to my surprise, the "cute" tag became a more "elegant" tag with the ivory. Really surprising! I'm trying to schedule my crafting time, and I'm a few minutes over, but I did not glue on the flower because it looks a bit shabby now that I have this ivory backing. I think I'll have to stamp one of PTI's coordinating flowers and affix it instead! :-)<br />
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-64999288821005298592019-05-07T12:46:00.004-04:002019-05-07T12:46:47.119-04:00PTI challenge: Favorite LayoutThis week's W<a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-april-24-may-1/" target="_blank">in it Wednesday challenge</a> is to make a card with a favorite layout. I don't think I have a favorite layout, but as I like to feature the text, especially, as with this card, when it is scripture. I had a difficult time getting this card to photograph well. The blue is darker and more elegant than you see here. It comes from a metallic line oddly named "curious cosmic." The texture feels smooth and silken, and looks incredibly elegant. When I add pattern with versamark, the elegance increases even more. The name does seem more fitting when one uses an embossing folder, somehow this alters the appearance to a very metallic look. <br />
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The text is from the <i>A Cheerful Heart</i> set, and the butterfly from the <i>What the Doodle: Butterfly </i>set.<br />
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-77854210084049658122019-04-30T10:50:00.000-04:002019-04-30T10:50:04.325-04:00PTI Challenge: Shaped CardThis week's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-april-24-may-1/" target="_blank">Win it Wednesday challenge</a> is to make a shaped card. I have a cricut, and so I played with a few premade cards before deciding to create a card myself. I wanted to make a violin card, and this is what I came up with. I designed the card via a violin image on cricut, and the text is from papertrey ink's Bold and Beautiful set.<br />
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-16040156717751918692019-04-20T19:08:00.002-04:002019-04-20T19:08:36.826-04:00PTI Challenge: Favorite Coloring StyleThis week's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-april-17-24/" target="_blank">Win it Wednesday challenge</a> is favorite way to color images. My favorite way to color images is not to! But, I can occasionally step out of my comfort zone and do some coloring. Generally, I choose images that do not need shading effects, in which case markers will be a choice.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWyuX5SJBDUSUD8kFveKd98TPiigQ9a1rG-Y7kucBGdWM7MyE_MMpmaAsBZiPHYI8Er0oEy50JJqMiuRHIxmkZqL7-UIF0xgDuG7xfTCjJblnwYkybWHD0P4AS5TMZLOMDfaIr7s_kNo/s1600/PTI+color+paisley+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1247" data-original-width="1600" height="249" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzWyuX5SJBDUSUD8kFveKd98TPiigQ9a1rG-Y7kucBGdWM7MyE_MMpmaAsBZiPHYI8Er0oEy50JJqMiuRHIxmkZqL7-UIF0xgDuG7xfTCjJblnwYkybWHD0P4AS5TMZLOMDfaIr7s_kNo/s320/PTI+color+paisley+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-59559613715593127302019-04-15T16:34:00.002-04:002019-04-15T16:35:26.076-04:00Favorite Style ChallengeThis week's<a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-april-10-17/" target="_blank"> PTI challenge </a>is to make a card with our favorite style. Call it lack of talent if you like, I am not an amazing card maker! But really, although I often make cards a little less simple than this, I do not love cards that are covered in images, dies and embellishments, unless it is a wordless card. For me, I want the text to stand out, and I just think a simpler card looks cleaner.<br />
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I prefer making cards for women, because they are more "fun" as I can do a bit more than on this card, which is meant for a male. My husband is actually more likely, aside from birthdays, to send a card to someone than I am, so I like to have a bunch for him to choose from. I like this idea very much, but I should not have cut the angles on the outer strips as I did, I should have had them the same direction, I think. But, I have more of the denim washi tape left, so I will make more this style.<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-82122926717717418852019-04-08T13:39:00.001-04:002019-04-08T13:39:24.418-04:00Inspired By ...This week's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2019/04/win-it-wednesday-april-3-10/" target="_blank">Win-it-Wednesday challenge</a> is to make a card based on one's favorite source for inspiration. Pinterest is definitely my main source, but it's closely followed by PTI's own blog ... partly because I own a fair amount of their stamps, and also because their design team focuses on cards that the average stamper (like me!) can have reasonable expectation of recreating in our own way. Many stamp companies, which I think is a mistake, fill their design team with designers who have the time, talent, and finances to create "super cards;" cards that most of us will not have the time or ability to put together, and we don't have a fortune to spend on a pound of die cut images, bling, and expensive coloring/embossing tools. I was literally asked to be on a design team once (I had not applied) because I created simpler cards! (I won't deny a tiny part of me was embarrassed to be firmly placed in the "average" category, lol)!<br />
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Anyway, for this challenge, I planned to go to my pinterest account for inspiration, but the next morning I looked at <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2019/04/throwback-thursday-boho-rounds/" target="_blank">Laurie's Throwback Thursday card</a>, and changed my mind. I loved how she embossed the silver and gold onto brown card stock!<br />
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<img alt="Enjoy Your Day by Laurie Schmidlin" height="303" src="https://justgivemestamps.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83548bc0253ef0240a477c03a200d-650wi" width="320" /><br />
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Oh, wait ... my screen was still on night mode! It's not a brown card, it's a black card! But, even after turning off the nightshade and looking at the card, lovely in black, I decided I really wanted to pattern the card after what I first saw!<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-53855962451635191052019-03-31T19:29:00.001-04:002019-03-31T19:29:12.423-04:00Amazing Papers!I love, love, love unique papers and cardstock! There are amazing textures, colors, patterns, etc out there! I used to order from one company that had an astounding variety of unique papers and cardstocks, and I was crushed when they went out of business! They reinvented themselves eventually, but just don't have the variety they once did. This week, PTI's Win it Wednesday had a challenge to, well, use a challenge from the past! I chose<a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/01/make-it-monday-311-using-different-types-of-papers/" target="_blank"> this one</a>, using two or more unique papers. The background teal is sort of a grass or gauze-like material, somewhat translucent, and fun to work with. The funky paper on the front is sort of like tissue paper, perhaps a bit thicker, with a crumpled look, and painted with various colors. The Peace die comes from the One Liners set.<br />
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-24700020975666788542019-03-26T21:01:00.000-04:002019-03-26T21:01:36.336-04:00Every Good and Perfect GiftPaperTrey Ink's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-mar-20-27/" target="_blank">Win it Wednesday Challenge</a> this week is to use one's favorite PTI ink combination. I love PTI's New Leaf green ... it's probably my favorite green of any I own. I purchased PTI's Royal Velvet, which, although listed with other purple shades, appeared to be a dark blue on my laptop monitor, and I thought it would look fabulous with the New Leaf (I love green and blue together). But on a whim, I had tried the two together, and I loved the look!<br />
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I meant to add paisley die cuts from the What the doodle Paisley set, but as I placed the text on the card, it looked so elegant and perfect just as it was, I ended up choosing instead a single die cut, from the Inspired: Praise set. Unfortunately, I have a new laptop without a decent photo editing, so this does not demonstrate the elegant wow factor it would with a better program.<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-9350126502891011432019-03-19T09:10:00.000-04:002019-03-19T09:10:09.819-04:00Papertrey Ink: Win it WednesdayThis week's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2019/03/win-it-wednesday-march-13-20/" target="_blank">Win it Wednesday challenge</a> has been to use a favorite sentiment image as the focal point of the card. Since text stamps, particularly scripture themed stamps are mostly what I am purchasing anymore, this was an easy challenge for me. PTI created some fabulous faith themed sets, <a href="https://www.papertreyink.com/index.php?p=catalog&mode=search&search_str=inspired" target="_blank">Inspired</a>, and my favorite sets were a series of sets featuring a single word accompanied by verses containing that word. This particular pairing I have used more than once.<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-15669203558032772052019-03-12T12:58:00.002-04:002019-03-12T12:58:50.380-04:00Papertrey Ink Packaging challengeFor Win it Wednesday, <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-mar-6-13/" target="_blank">PTI's challenge this week</a> is to use our favorite packaging with PTI. Well, my favorite way to give gifts is with gift bags or decorative boxes. I'm not going to use my favorite method of packaging, which would be with a quilt (PTI has several quilt dies that I love and use constantly), because I used a quilt in last week's challenge. My second favorite go-to is to use PTI's paisleys. My only problem is that I did not have time to create or find a nice box, so I "borrowed" one from a set of small boxes I use to display my craft creations at a local shop. So, I couldn't actually glue anything down, but I am planning at this point to remove everything in the next few months, so I hope I can then permanently glue down my paisleys onto this box! (And then do I coat the paisleys with mod podge? Hmm....)<br />
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The picture makes the brown edge of the box look like a stripe; that's my lack of photography skills, it is not nearly that pronounced. Underneath the center paisley is a scrap of wallpaper that looks very elegant and compliments the box nicely.<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-48318408798621193742019-02-26T15:54:00.000-05:002020-04-10T10:43:59.138-04:00PTI Stand-Alone Die challengePTI has replaced their Make-it-Monday challenge with a "Win it Wednesday" Challenge. <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/lauries-fabulous-favorites-challenge-week-of-february-20-27/" target="_blank">This week's challenge</a> is to use a die that stands alone. I assume they mean that it is the primary element of the card. I love, love, love making quilts from dies, and the retired one I used for this challenge is my favorite. I used the peace die from the "One Liners" set.<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-29602238002978994402019-02-03T22:10:00.002-05:002019-02-03T22:10:49.005-05:00PTI Make it Monday ... Negative Die Cut BackgroundsPapertrey ink's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2019/01/make-it-monday-349-negative-die-cut-backgrounds/" target="_blank">challenge this Monda</a>y was to make inverse die cut projects. I used a recently ordered "Mix and Matt" Plaid die that I really am happy to have.<div>
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-89865386714890153812019-01-06T17:23:00.001-05:002019-01-06T17:26:24.941-05:00PTI Challenge: A la CarteI haven't made a card in months, as I had been concentrating on making journals for a craft fair. After it was over, I could not orient myself to card making, so I didn't even do Christmas cards. It finally occurred to me that I needed a challenge, and so I headed over to Paper Trey Ink to see if that would help me. For this month, they gave an <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/12/make-it-monday-308-2017-a-la-carte-2/" target="_blank">A la Carte </a>option, a choice of all the make-it Monday challenges they had offered this year! Wow, a bit overwhelming! But, as soon as I came to Stephanie Gold's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bNvo8__7Nw&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">challenge to use different types of paper</a>, I got the inspiration I needed. I have some amazing papers from probably ten years ago that I have never used ... because I knew they could never be replaced! Anyone else relate to doing that? I used a grass paper and a parchment paper from this assortment. As I use a lot of wallpaper to cover journals with, I incorporated that as well.<br />
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I usually photograph in daylight on my craft counter, but it's night and the challenge ends in an hour, so I decided to try setting it up a little more "artistically", lol, and place it on the pile of papers I chose from! I wasn't enthusiastic about doing this, but I think if I had taken the time to play with it a bit, I might have decided to continue this way ... :-)<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-55033907869216560652018-10-13T17:34:00.001-04:002018-10-13T17:34:54.529-04:00PTI Challenge: Patterned FramesPapertrey Ink is one of my favorite companies, and they really know how to combine business savvy and customer appreciation. So while they generously allow other company products to be used in their challenges, I really try to use solely their products. This is a real challenge as I primarily own text, rather than design, stamps/dies. I do not own any of the marvelous borders they make that are the focus of this week's challenge, <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/10/make-it-monday-339/" target="_blank">PATTERNED FRAMES</a>. I do, however, own an impression plate, <a href="https://www.papertreyink.com/pti-dies/papertrey-ink-cover-plate-hexagon-die/" target="_blank">Happy Hexagons</a>. I have an old cutting system that includes ovals, so I cut out an oval from the impression plate, and hopefully that satisfies the challenge! I used the large Thanks die that PTI carries, as I am always needing thank you cards. <br />
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-33135282781911914672018-09-22T11:56:00.000-04:002018-09-03T15:28:34.865-04:00Operation Christmas Child Journal Workshop<div style="text-align: center;">
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<b>Purpose: </b>To enjoy wonderful fellowship while creating keepsake journals for the oldest Operation Christmas Child group, ages 10-14.</div>
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<b>Location: </b>Wellsville Full Gospel Church<br />
2221 Hanover Hill Rd<br />
Wellsville, NY<br />
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<b>Date: </b>Saturday, September 22<br />
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<b>Time: </b>9:00 - 4:00<br />
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<b>*Cost:</b> We are requesting a donation of $7 for the workshop, $10 for personal journal<br />
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<b>Schedule:</b><br />
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9:00 Arrival time, grab a cup of coffee, get to know where things are, start looking through wallpaper books<br />
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9:30 Walk-through for making a journal<br />
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9:30 - 3:00 Begin with making journal covers, then decorate pre-made covers, and assemble journals.<br />
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3:00 - 3:30 Help each other finish up, clean up sanctuary.<br />
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<b>Lunch</b>: Bring your own lunch & beverage, though coffee will be provided. We may or may not take a formal break together for lunch ... we'll see what everyone wants to do when we're together!<br />
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<b>Children who attend are not likely to be able to make the journal covers ... it's a precision job both with cutting the wallpaper/chipboard and adhering the wallpaper to the chipboard. Children may still have fun choosing the wallpaper, and in the afternoon, helping you with cover decorations, so I don't want to say children cannot be there ... and I love the idea of getting them interested at a young age! ;-) </b><br />
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<b>Signing Up: </b>Please e-mail me or leave a comment if you are able to come; we'll need an approximate number for purchasing supplies. You can also sign up, or share this info, via the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/230523187808853/?active_tab=about" target="_blank">Facebook page</a>.<br />
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<b>*Cost:</b> We are requesting a donation of $7 for the workshop, $10 if you would like to make your own personal journal as well. Making journals is fun but expensive ... the cardstock, chipboard, coils, replacement blades and cutting bars for cutting cardstock, and the adhesives that go into making these really adds up. I can't give a precise cost of journals, but I would guess close to $2, and that does not count colored/printed cardstocks, decorating elements for the covers, etc. Donations of supplies, or money for supplies, would be most welcome. I loathe the idea of asking volunteers doing the work to make a specific donation, so if you just can't afford this amount, give what you can and come anyway!<br />
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In the past, we have just focused on the decorated wallpaper journals, with blank pages. These in themselves are a lovely gift, and people in our church have enjoyed making them for several years. The first part of the workshop will be focused on making the covers for these. The second part will be decorating covers that Lisa Parlett and I have assembled beforehand. We will provide things for the covers, but if you have anything you would like to decorate with, or donate for the group, that would be great!<br />
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I would love to see some original artwork made for covers ... the items above are made from die cutting machines or my Cricut; I lack the ability for original artwork and have not found the time to do anything with stamping. I'd love to see covers decorated that way! We will have vinyl or transparency film to serve as cover protectors where needed.<br />
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Other elements would be great as well, such as buttons, ribbons, store bought dimensional stickers, etc. Lisa and I are hoping some of you will come with decorating elements to share or place on your own creations! Those who sew could make fabric covered panels with batting in between. Felt applique is another possibility. Have other ideas? Place them in the comment section!<br />
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We also will be insert special pages, primarily made in advance. Please see <a href="https://encouragingimpressions.blogspot.com/2018/07/operation-christmas-child-journals.html" target="_blank"><b>this post</b></a> for details! If you, or someone you know who loves crafts, lives too far away to participate, pages could be mailed to us to insert in the journals! Additionally, A2 card fronts are the perfect size for the covers ... if you have card fronts (without texts; most of these children will not know English), we can paste these on the front.<br />
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This workshop to me is about making truly special journals, so please use cutters and precise measurements for making quarter pages, don't just estimate. Definitely don't race through decorating pages so we can make hundreds of journals, and risk having a lot of messy work! Frankly, we could save money and buy cheap dollar store journals (which would still be a blessing!) instead. These we want to be something special. So take your time to enjoy the process, praying for the children who will enjoy the journals you are making.<br />
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<b><i>If you are doing a personal journal as well: </i></b>As far as priority, the stamped/decorated pages will be used exclusively for OCC, though you are more than welcome to prepare decorated pages for yourself in advance, or of course, decorate at home. If you want to make one for a young child, I will have a wallpaper book or two that focuses on young children's designs for you to pick from if you desire.Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-26466779835225067982018-09-02T20:18:00.001-04:002018-09-02T20:18:30.925-04:00Papertrey Ink: Make it Monday: Glitter InlaysPapertrey ink puts up a challenge every Monday, presenting a new technique each week. This week's challenge, <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/08/make-it-monday-334-glitter-inlays/" target="_blank">glitter inlays</a>, drew my interest immediately. As a rule, I loathe glitter, and only own some because it was given to me. But I loved the look and the technique. Simply put, one affixes a die cut to sticker paper and dumps glittr on it, to fill up the gaps. Check it out!<br />
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I am busy making cover elements for a<a href="https://encouragingimpressions.blogspot.com/2018/08/operation-christmas-child-journal.html" target="_blank"> journal making workshop</a> I and a friend of mine are doing at our church in a few weeks (I'd love to receive long distance contributions for anyone who loves to make and give away thir artwork!). I went a little crazy with <a href="https://www.papertreyink.com/pti-dies/papertrey-ink-cover-plate-hexagon-die/" target="_blank">Papertrey's Hexagon Die</a> a few weeks ago, using alcohol inks and mica cardstock. A few years ago, I made all my Christmas cards with it, forming quilt patterns. So when I saw this week's challenge, I knew what die I would use! Actually, I selected a premade cut from my alcohol inking I mentioned. I also used repositional adhesive paper in case I wanted to replace any of the hexagons. I will use this for a journal; as you see, the A2 size of the die works perfectly! I will make sure the sealer worked before actually affixing it to a journal cover, and I will probably create one in pink. <br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-31728169797890857712018-07-14T14:59:00.000-04:002018-08-31T11:55:27.278-04:00Operation Christmas Child Journals: Styles and Inner PagesHere are the details and some examples of the pages we are including in our journals, in addition to plain white cardstock or paper pages. I have a constant battle between keeping things simple and allowing for fun and variety.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">SIZE:</span></b></div>
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4.25 x 5.5 This is simply an 8.5 x 11 size piece of cardstock quartered. Cardstock should be thin; thicker cardstock means fewer pages! IMPORTANT: When you are cutting cardstock, cuts need to be as precise as possible. On your first cut, compare the two sides: are they equal, or is one side slightly<br />
longer than the other? Make any adjustment needed, then do the same when halving those pieces. Not all cardstocks are exactly 8.5 x 11, so the more precise we each are with our measuring, the less ragged the edges will appear in the assembled books. :-)<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">ORIENTATION:</span></b></div>
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<b>Boys:</b> Landscape. While there are always plenty of exceptions that we know of, generally speaking, we can expect a boy to be more interested in drawing than in journaling his deepest thoughts and feelings! So, for the boys we will be doing a landscape orientation, and plain white cardstock. I would love to have some donations of cardstock that is meant for drawing/sketching ... I am not an artist, so I have not looked into pricing for this. Feel free to put great deals of where and what to get in the comment sections! Because we are focusing on drawing, we'll want to make sure that those who choose to include boy journals in their boxes will be purchasing art/drawing tools for those journals.<br />
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<b>Girls:</b> Portrait orientation<br />
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By having different orientations for gender, it will also be easier to sort.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>STYLES:</b></span></div>
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For the girls, we will have a couple of styles. One style will include stamped images to color in on every or every other page (opinions welcome!). As with the boys' journals, those choosing this style will need to purchase pens/pencils/markers to include in box. The second style will be to include very light printed patterned cardstock, plain cardstock with stamped images that are complete in themselves, and other creative ideas to provide decorative pages. No need to add coloring implements to the shoe boxes, but of course pen/pencils to write with! IMPORTANT: When decorating pages, you'll want to keep in mind a 3/8 of an inch margin for punching the sides.<br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">WHAT TO AVOID</span></b></div>
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It is important to be culturally sensitve, which to some extent is impossible due to the sheer number of countries the shoeboxes go to! But, here are some guidelines:<br />
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Do not include any military/weapon images. Avoid American symbols such as flags, secular holiday symbols, Disney images. Very few children will speak or read English; please do not use word stamps. In general, if you are not sure, just ask yourself if a child in Vietnam, Niger, or wherever, would appreciate the symbol you are concerned about.<br />
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Remember, please, that these are going to older children, so while I included a few "cute" images in my sample of images to be colored, I focused on less childish images.<br />
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Please do not use stickers; we're looking for a more "personal" touch for these journals. Obviously you are more than welcome to add stickers to your OCC box.<br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>NOTES:</b></span></div>
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I encourage making multiple pages with the same image (no need to make same number of each design). Notice I have almost exclusively small designs ... I think it's great to have a few larger, but with limited number of pages, I'd like there to be plenty of room for writing. When you are ready to send me pages, please have them in piles where each pile has one each of a unique design. This way, rather than having to sort ourselves, we will just lay each pile onto another set of unique images.<br />
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Here are a few samples for journals that will not require coloring tools. Any stamped image colored in would be great, or silhouette images on colored paper, etc. Here are a few samples:<br />
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On the samples above, the top two were made by with two sizes of a labels die set. After diecutting paper, I used temporary glue to affix them to the cardstock panels. After stamping, I removed the paper. The one on the right was made by sponging several inks, then stamping a tiny rosebud stamp all over the area. The one on the left is made with a 6x6 stamp. Why the panel below made with the same stamp? I should have placed it directly underneath the page, but hopefully you can see that the page is teal on white, the panel below is teal on teal. If you want to make fully stamped pages that can be written on, and easily read, you will want to do tone on tone. Othewise, as you see above, the contrast is too great and will make for difficulty reading. So, unless you are using a very light color on white, try to stick with the tone on tone.<br />
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If, like me, you have lots of stamped/colored elements that you do not have a particular use for, you can glue these on to pages, as long as the cardstock is not to thick, which could cause bumps when writing on the previous pages, so please primarily use paper if attaching something to a page. Likewise, if applying washi tape, please use very thin tapes only.<br />
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What about stickers? Please use them very sparingly, same with washi tape. I want us to avoid making the books thicker or bumpier than they need to be for one thing, but more than that, I feel that it takes away from the "handmade" keepsake look of the book.<br />
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Other ideas:<br />
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The bottom left is a strip of paper cut with decorative edged scissors. Again, use paper ,not cardstock so that no unnecessary thickness is added. The right hand side is washi tape, please only use the very thin tape.<br />
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These are all items from my stash of unused elements. The two cardstock pieces are made from very thin cardstock, but even so, I would not put more than one in any journal. The feather is a little bit on the large size, but I included it just to show the idea of using mulberry paper ... it has such a unique look!<br />
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PUTTING THE JOURNALS TOGETHER<br />
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Whether we do every page decorated, or every <i>other</i>, etc, will depend on how many covers we end up with in proportion to pages that we have. I am also not going to be picky about how people put together the journals in terms of ratio of plain cardstock to designed. What I will be picky about is quality. Let's not use torn, stained, or dented cardstock, but create keepsakes to be treasured forever! :-)<br />
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At the workshop, we will focus entirely on making and/or decorating covers, so pages need to be complete by the workshop date (Saturday, September 22).<br />
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<b>IN SUMMARY</b></div>
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I am looking for:<br />
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Cardstock with stamped images for the recipient to color<br />
Cardstock creatively decorated with original artwork, stamped images that are complete in themselves, (paper) die cuts, panels, etc.<br />
Cardstock specifically meant for artwork, cut into quarters<br />
Light colored or patterned cardstock, cut into quarters<br />
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IMPORTANT: Please use a cutter, not free hand cutting, for quartering the cardstock, and measure carefully (panels should be 5.5 x 4.25).<br />
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Note: I've been asked about lined paper. First, it's extremely expensive to have printed. But more importantly, we do not know what countries these books are going to, and many countries have more pictoral written communication, so lined journals would be inappropriate.<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-60647468514965426332018-05-18T21:20:00.001-04:002018-05-18T21:20:12.090-04:00PTI: Create Along With UsEach month as part of PTI's new release of products, they have a challenge to make a card inspired by a card created by one of the design team members. I chose <a href="http://dawnmcvey.typepad.com/these_are_a_few_of_my_fav/2018/05/introducing-cover-up-hexagons-and-forest-floor-summer.html" target="_blank">this card by Dawn McVey</a>. (I had issues trying to post the card here, sorry!)<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUAwUk-ZJ5oG-RfDwmW-ESLptj2w9FZ_0SGZT7lh9YsZt859ke2pBrfULjze3OZrvF1gLgCdpBXifGthSioPF1zbupFhyphenhyphenZgyOWSWDPe704OjiZG-JNnmAmW97BmnA2R2pdk_zCXPv2ik/s1600/PTI+thx+ip.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1276" data-original-width="1600" height="255" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFUAwUk-ZJ5oG-RfDwmW-ESLptj2w9FZ_0SGZT7lh9YsZt859ke2pBrfULjze3OZrvF1gLgCdpBXifGthSioPF1zbupFhyphenhyphenZgyOWSWDPe704OjiZG-JNnmAmW97BmnA2R2pdk_zCXPv2ik/s320/PTI+thx+ip.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I had wanted the thanks die by itself, but it did not "fit" with the hexagon frame segment. Filling in a few spots gave it the visual help that it needed. Now I just need to reposition the outermost flower and I will be satisfied! Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-64652420466320097902018-05-10T12:59:00.000-04:002018-05-10T13:00:26.886-04:00PTI Challenge: THROWBACK: MASKING SENTIMENTSToday's <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/05/make-it-monday-throwback-masking-sentiments/" target="_blank">PTI challenge</a> should not have been complicated, but somehow it was. First, I am trying really hard to use up elements I have saved from project extras, and had a couple of die cuts I knew exactly how I would use to complete the card. Of course, I could not find them. Ah, well.<br />
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The challenge was to mask a text image, and stamp around it. I've done lots of masking in the past, and generally it has been masking images for overlap purposes, so I have deliberately undercut images for the mask, so there would be no white spaces. I realized too late that masking to make an image pop means one should leave some white space for the image to truly stand out. So, as I have done in the past when I have not been satisfied with the result, I just temporarily glued the panel to a card, and will restamp the text onto a panel and place over the current text. :-) It was my first time using the floral stamp set from <a href="https://www.papertreyink.com/stamps/quilted-spring-stamp-set/" target="_blank">Quilted: Spring</a>, and I really like it. There are die cuts for the different elements of the image as well. The scripture comes from the "<a href="http://the%20scripture%20comes%20from%20the%20%22a%20cheerful%20heart%22%20set./" target="_blank">A Cheerful Heart</a>" set.<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-86012908200647371882018-05-02T16:47:00.003-04:002018-05-02T16:47:32.393-04:00PTI Challenge: INK BLENDING ON COLORED CARDSTOCKI enjoyed <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/04/make-it-monday-321-ink-blending-on-colored-cardstock/" target="_blank">this week's challenge</a>, although I'd have liked to have had time to try again. I am trying to be disciplined and use something in my stash every time I make a card ... I have tons and tons of cut stamped and/or die cut items that just collect. I'm sure most stampers reading this post will relate! I have a ton of PTI's paisleys all stamped and cut as I went kind of crazy with them awhile ago, so while I focused on white, I only had silver/gold/copper embossed paisleys already made, so I used a silver embossed one where I would have done white had a made one for the challenge. The scripture comes from the <a href="https://www.papertreyink.com/stamps/a-cheerful-heart-stamp-set/" target="_blank">Cheerful Heart </a>set.<div>
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-31680496694468709892018-04-28T15:51:00.000-04:002018-04-28T15:51:56.180-04:00PTI Challenge: SPOT COLOR WORD DIECUTSThe "look" of this idea for <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/04/papertrey-ink-make-it-monday-320-spot-color-word-diecuts/" target="_blank">PTI's "Make it Monday" challenge</a> is not a favorite, though I see a lot of designs that combine black and white outline designs with dashes of color. I make wallpaper-covered journals, and even wallpaper has this motif. But, I really enjoy challenges! I was definitely not happy with my results, and in fact, as I do upon occasion when I dislike a final product, I use temporary bond adhesive so that I can take it apart and try something different! I altered this from the original slightly, when I felt the text did not "pop" the way I wanted to: I made a second die cut, attached it, then mounted the colored die cut on top. This helped somewhat, but I still was not satisfied. So, I took one of the markers I had used and did a little outline to help the 3D effect. I then temporarily attached to a card so that I could have something for the challenge, and later I think I'll either re-highlight it in a darker pink or perhaps even black. The paisley stamps I used also come with dies, so I probably will stamp the medium and small paisleys onto coordinating colored cardstocks, then die cut them to attach at the blank corners ... that is, if the highlighting turns out! :-)<br />
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Here's the panel before I raised and highlighted it:<br />
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And here's the temporarily finished card:<br />
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<br />Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7127967212214009222.post-7415911611386666522018-04-21T15:35:00.000-04:002018-04-21T15:35:31.674-04:00PTI Challenge: GrafittiI haven't posted anything in forever, though I have continued to make cards and journals. Blogging just hasn't happened. Papertrey Ink hosts a weekly challenge, "Make it Monday," and this week's challenge was <a href="https://blog.papertreyink.com/2018/04/make-it-monday-319-graffiti-word-art/" target="_blank">Graffiti Word Art</a>. I didn't quite manage it perfectly, but enjoyed the challenge. I do have to wonder, though, if the paint splatter is quite in keeping with the message of "Be still"! The scripture set is from the "<a href="https://www.papertreyink.com/stamps/inspired-god-mini-stamp-set/" target="_blank">Inspired:God</a>" set of stamps and coordinating die.<div>
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Sarosahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05473357390599651168noreply@blogger.com3