Where have I been?!?

Recently I went a little crazy... OK, crazier than usual... and placed my first order with Papertrey Ink. I am now the proud owner of 13 of their stamp sets. I told you I went crazy! But where have I been that I am just now getting into Papertrey Ink? Their stamps are fabulous and I had such a blast yesterday playing with their Vintage Picnic, Vintage Picnic Sentiments and Guide Lines. I need to practice a bit to get used to lining them up right and I need to get used to wearing this brace on my hand but, all in all, I am just tickled with this card.


First I tried the Wrinkle Free Distress Technique on Curious Iridescent Cryogen White 89# Cover. It is the same as SU's Shimmery White. My first 3 attempts were way too dark. Sherry Cheever I am not! I used Worn Lipstick, Dusty Concord and Shabby Shutters Distress Ink and finally put a strip of the Shappy Shutters along the center of my non-stick sheet with just a square of the Worn Lipstick and Dusty Concord on each side of the strip. I then switched to SU's Regal Rose, Certainly Celery and Lavender Lace to stamp the background design with Guide Lines. I could stamp with that set all day! The combinations are endless.

I stamped the picnic basket and flowers with Memento Tuxedo Black Ink onto another piece of the same cardstock and colored with my Prismacolor markers - Violet Mist, Parma Violet, Avacado, Light Olive, Pink and Magenta. Cut the basket out with a Spellbinders circle die, cut and embossed a Certainly Celery frame using the same circle die and an inverted scallop circle inside and mounted it all to a Rose Red piece cut with a Spellbinders Labels 3 die.

Next came the Certainly Celery strip edged with a Martha Stewart Border Punch, mounted to a wider strip of Rose Red, wrapped with ribbon and tied in a bow. This was mounted to the left side of my background and then the basket piece was centered in the remaining area and the sentiment stamped underneath in black.