WOOPEEEEEEE!!!!

Ah, the wonder of the summer holiday. I finally had time to stamp!! Not that I don't have a thousand other things I could be doing...but I decided to MAKE stamping a priority. This card was created using the sketch challenge for Julee's birthday, check out her blog at Poetic Artistry, she's really quite an artist!!

I posted some troubles I've had with the PaperTrey Text Boxed stamp set, and after reading some responses, I decided to email the customer service department and ask for some assistance. I got a FANTASTIC email from Ms. Nichole herself listing all the techniques she has employed, different inks and papers, and what her advice is. Talk about phenomenal customer service!!! I was so excited to see the response, and her insightful ideas led me to play around with the set today and finally got some images to stamp completely. All in all, I was successful, so I'm soooooo thankful Nichole emailed me and gave me her ideas.

ETA: Julee asked me if I could share what Nichole said about working with this stamp set. The overall emphasis of her email was to play with the set! She said that she has noticed her favorite image out of the set is working so much better now than it did in the past. She also said to try different things, such as different inks (she said she has success with any of the darker pigmented SU inks, Palette inks and also Versamagic inks...she said that any ink that is light in color has a better chance of not showing up because of the water content in it). She also said that she finds the craft ink pads, such as Whisper White, work well. As for cardstock, she said she has had success with vellum and the PaperTrey white cardstock...and she recommended putting fun foam sheets under the cardstock while stamping. :-) I haven't tried that yet, but it could be a nice alternative!!

This is the condensed version of what she emailed me...what a fantastic email I received!! I have such a high opinion of PaperTrey and how they handle customer service. I recommend their products to EVERYONE!!!!

So the sketch is cute, and gave me some great ideas for using new stuff. I really wanted to use one of my new PaperTrey sets (part of the 5-set Borders & Corners sets). I ordered twice from PaperTrey, and ironically my first order hasn't arrived yet, but I got the second order on Monday. So unfortunately the first order had the punches...so I had to make due with other stuff. My second order had the Circle stamp set and the Tag Maker, so I got to play with that a bit.

Here's my take on Julee's sketch:

I used all Stampin' Up and PaperTrey materials, except the tag which is Making Memories. I actually have not yet made an order from the new Stampin' Up catalog, which was released July 1st. My husband had promised me an order from our car tax refund...and that has just taken FOREVER to be put back into his account!! So August 1st is when I'll order new paper and stuff. But this does have the Blue Bayou paper and ink, plus the Soft Sky DS paper. The white cardstock is the PaperTrey cardstock, which is quickly becoming a favorite of mine. It's just so thick, which makes it wonderful for stamping on. The background image on the first layer is with the Spot On wheel from SU, then the rest of the images are all PaperTrey. "Happy For You" are from the Paper Trey set, then the remaining images are from Text Boxed. I really had fun doing this card, and I have to say it's probably the longest I've taken on one card in quite awhile! I probably spent an hour...I would adhere something, then change my mind and adhere again, then add another layer, then screw up an image and start again...it was an interesting process. But I really enjoyed it, and now I can't wait to get the rest of my PaperTrey goodies and then order from SU on the 1st.

And, how about this!!!! I have NO brads or eyelets on this card!!!!! Brads are a staple of my crafting diet. In fact, one of my Stampin' Up downlines teases me everytime I create a project, because it uses at least 2 brads. She now just KNOWS it will have brads whenever I do something. Well, Andraea, how about THAT!!!! NO BRADS!!! :-)

Stampin' Supplies:

Stamps: Text Boxed, Paper Trey, and Borders & Corners-Circle, all by PaperTreyInk

Ink: Blue Bayou, Not Quite Navy by Stampin' Up

Paper: Blue Bayou, Soft Sky DS Paper by Stampin' Up; White by PaperTreyInk

Accessories: Ribbon by May Arts, Tag and Tag Maker by Making Memories, Cutter Kit by Stampin' Up

Now that I'm off for 6 whole weeks for our summer holiday, I hope to be posting and creating more often. I hope everyone else is enjoying their July!! :-)