Article for Craft Critique

My tool review is up on Craft Critique today. Go check it and make sure you take a few minutes and visit the site. Lots of cool and interesting articles.

What can I say except that I had so much fun creating these cards. The premise was that I wanted to make cards using the Making Memories Slot Punch Tool Set. I honestly use this tool set often. I also have the little punch that SU! sells and I like the ease of a hand punch, but its generally smaller than the size ribbon that I tend to use.

I thought this first card turned out great. I had also just received the new colors (Lavender Moon and Kraft) from Papertrey ink and was dying to use them. The Kraft is to die for. I was super uber close to ordering some Kraft paper from SU! because I had seen some very cute stuff made with theirs and was very excited that Papertrey was going to carry it. Of course I wanted to focus on the slot punch so I used that to make my slots to weave in my ribbon (Papertrey lavender moon). I really like how it turned out - not too foofy, but lots if ribbon presence :) So the Kraft paper is the card base, then a layer of Lemon Tart, then I used my long rectangle nestabilities to cut out the scallop (lavender moon) and the layer (Stampers Select White) on top. I used Papertrey ink to match my cardstock and used one of my newest favorite Close to my Heart stamp sets (Cottage Floral) for my random stamping. I then pop dotted the little white flowers, colored the centers with a Copic marker, then added some clear stickles to the centers. Then I added my sentiment from another of my newest favorite Close to my Heart stamp sets (May Stamp of the Month - Say it in Style). I embossed this in white embossing powder.

Cardstock: Stampers Select White, Lavender Moon, Lemon Tart, Kraft (PTI), Ink: Lavender Moon, Moss Green, Lemon Tart, Versamark, Stamps: Cottage Floral, Say it in Style, (CTMH), Other: Ribbon, Stickles, Copics, White Daisy ep (CTMH), Flowers from Michaels, Long Rectangle Nesties, MM Slot Punch, Heat Gun
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Here's my next card. Again, using the new release colors from Papertrey. My goal was to make an extra special card for my friend who's birthday is coming up in June. I wanted to put a coffee gift card on one side and a pretty insert on the other side. I decided that I didn't want to put any sentiments on the front, but rather just make it pretty.

Some friends and I got together for a Stamping Bella order and the ONE Bella that I really wanted I forgot to order - can you say DUH!!! Well, luckily a lovely lady named Paula (Scrapbratmother) pm'd me from Splitcoast and was interested in a stamp swap. I stamped some images of the one Hanna stamp that I have and she was able to send me some images of LatteBella. It worked out perfectly and now I know that I NEED that bella!

So back to the card :) Its a standard A2 size except that I made it longer on the bottom so I could fold it up for the two pockets. Again, the purpose was to also showcase how I used the MM punch and I used it all over this card. I really love how the card and my Bella turned out inside and out!

I used my Copics to color my Bella and the flowers and just a little bit of stickles in the center of those flowers. The inside tag I used a new stamp set that again I love called Smell the Coffee from Impression Obsession. I got that set from Carrie who has a great little online store called My Little Stamp Shack. I used versamark to stamp as well as for the edges of the insert and then used black embossing powder. The little tab is SU! label punch and the "enjoy" is Close to my Heart. The Happy Birthday is from the same set that the "enjoy" is from, but the outline stamp is Papertrey. I followed my polka dot theme with both the ribbon and the cardstock (Swiss Dots embossing folder). And of course the slits to hold my gift card is from the MM tool set.

























Cardstock: GP White, Lavender Moon, Kraft (PTI), Ink: Palette Noir, Lavender Moon (PTI), Versamark, Stamps: Lattebella (Stamping Bella), Smell of Coffee (Impression Obsession), Boxes, Bags, Tags (PTI), Say it in Style (CTMH), Other: Ribbon (PTI), Twine, Eylets, Black embossing powder, MM Slot Punch Tool Set, SU! Label Punch, Scallop Punches, Circle Punch, Swiss Dots Embossing Folder, Cuttlebug

And here is my final one. This one is obviously a different style and fits in with the other graduation cards that I've been making for my friend. This card was an example of a really easy way to use the MM slot punch set. The hippo is a Melanie Muenchinger stamp set (Just so Hippy) from Gina K Designs. I used animals from this set and her "Just so Hoppy" set for the grad cards that I've been making. The Grad cap and "GRADUATE" are a stamp set from My Sentiments Exactly that I got a while back and it worked perfectly for this. I used pop dots to attach the cap. I used a Prisma Colored Pencil with Oderless Mineral Spirits (OMS) to color in my hippo.

Cardstock: GP White, Moonstruck, Ocean, Black (CTMH), Ink: Palette Noir, Stamps: Just so Hippy (Gina K), Graduate (MSE), Other: Ribbon (Michaels), Copics, Prisma Colored Pencil, OMS, Blending Stump, MM Slot Punch set

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a great day!