Gorgonoula's Pad

PaperTrey Princess Challenge-Inspiration

2011-08-21T16:50:00.004-04:00

Hello there all you wonderful PTI Princesses...I hope you are doing well! Sorry for my falling off the grid for the last few months, between kids, our crazy life and training for my very first marathon (I'm doing the NYC ING on November 6, 2011!!) there has been very little time for crafting...plus I have been in a terrible crafting funk...stuck making the same style card, over and over again, to the point where I haven't made anything in months. So please help me: what inspires you? Where do you turn, be it a blog, magazine, crafting website or really anything when you need a kick start for your crafting mojo? Do you keep a notebook or have a system to keep all your inspiration organized in one place? What do you do to prevent, or get out of a creative funk?

I promise, my next time around I will come up with a technique-centered challenge, complete with pictures, because I am sure my current state of crafting inactivity will be gone by then!!

Make it Monday: Embossing

2011-04-10T10:22:00.004-04:00

This week's MIM challenge was to use heat embossing. I decided to make a "Tim Holtz" inspired distressed tag, heat embossing the sentiment on last. I used BB:Text Style for the background and stamped a few floral images from Flower Garden (one of my fav's).

Make it Monday: Distressing Edges

2011-03-09T11:27:00.003-05:00

This week's challenge was brought to us by the uber-talented Lisa Johnson...she reminded us of an often overlooked technique, distressing edges of paper with something as simple as a pair of scissors. I decided that instead of a traditional card, I made a little distressed gift holder which perfectly fits a bar of my homemade oatmeal soap.

Make It Mondays Challenge #4-Creating with Fun Foam

2011-03-04T16:14:00.002-05:00

This week's MIM challenge was to use craft foam in a project. I decided to die cut out a bunch of buttons, which I then stamped with different PTI background stamps and image stamps like the flower bunch from Asian Fusion. I also used Owl Bellies, which worked PERFECTLY for the smaller buttons! The possibilities are endless!

Make it Mondays Challenge #2

2011-02-16T13:24:00.003-05:00

This weeks challenge was to use vellum in a sentiment strip (here). I needed to make invitations for the Teacher Appreciation Luncheon at my daughter's school and decided to incorporate this week's challenge. I started by making the background paper using YOF:Violets, which I stamped in chocolate ink and then highlighted the centers of the flowers with a little yellow Stickles. I printed out the invitation on my printer, cut them out, scored them and attached them to the card base. I also made little felt rose pins for each teacher which I pinned to each invitation. Easy peasy! I hope they like it!

PTI Make it Monday

2011-02-09T14:15:00.003-05:00

This is my second entry into PaperTrey Ink's Make it Monday challenge to use repetitive sentiments. I doubled up and also used a color scheme from PTI's Day 5 Anniversary challenge. I used Lisa Johnson's color choices as seen here . She used Pure Poppy, Spring Rain, Kraft and Vintage Cream CS. It's such a nice summer-y color combo. As you can see, I made a notebook, complete with a pocket to insert another notepad when it needs to be replaced and a ribbon loop to keep a pen handy. Hope you like it!

PaperTrey Ink's January Blog Hop 2011

2011-01-24T19:58:00.000-05:00

New Year's Resolution

With the new year comes a clean slate along with many resolutions. This month's blog hop challenge involves you challenging yourself to use a Papertrey stamp set that has yet to see ink or even one that might be collecting a little dust! Go through your stash and see what little used treasure it might hold. If you are in need of inspiration for your chosen set, feel free to utilize the gallery posted in the side bar of each set's sale page on our website, or go to the Previous Countdown page on Nichole's blog where each set is organized by month of release. 2011 is the year where what's old is new again!

I went down to my crafting cave and found this gorgeous set (Four of a Kind, last year's CHA set), with no ink on it! I also pulled out another crafting supply that had not been used before, purple flock, which I applied to the thistle image. I double stamped the image with 2 different color purples and used 3 different greens to get the multi-colored leaves and stems. I finished the card up with a small banner and a sentiment from Simple Sentiments. I am so glad I finally showed this set some love...think I have a new favorite flower set!

PaperTrey Princess Challenge-Go Vertical

2011-01-05T16:18:00.000-05:00

Today's challenge was inspired by Nicole Heady's (of PTI) New Year's Year post about trying to go outside her usual comfort zone this year while stamping. Initially I was going to propose a felt challenge, but decided that I wanted to try something entirely new...I have NEVER made a card with a vertical sentiment. I turned Fillable Frame #11 upright, stamped a sentiment and image from Daily Designs, colored with a little bit of Copics and Stickles and made a loopy ribbon (which on closer inspection looks a little crooked; oh well, it's handmade). So here's my attempt to do something different...something vertical. Can't wait to see what everyone else comes up with!

PaperTrey Ink November Blog Hop

2010-11-22T21:02:00.000-05:00

The challenge for PTI's November Blog Hop Challenge was to make festive holiday tags. Since I don't celebrate the holidays, I adjusted the challenge to fit my own circumstances this winter. For the first time I am participating in a soap swap sponsored by www.brambleberry.com. Basically, you make 12 bars of soap using your choice of Bramble Berry products, send the bars to Bramble Berry and then they send you back a mixed dozen of other swap soaps. It's such a great way to see what other creative soaps people are making. I made my famous Jersey Beach Bar...a coconut scented soap with an exfoliating layer of sand in it. I then printed up my tags, die cut them using PTI's Fillable Frames #9 and stamped a few nautical images from Out to Sea and Day at the Beach on both the front and back of the tag. The paper around the soap is a beautiful stripe from PTI's Men of Life patterned paper pack. I just love the way it all came together and I can't wait to get my box of soap!

An idea for PTI's Friendship Jar stamp set

2010-11-05T08:53:00.000-04:00

I love the whole concept of PTI's Friendship Jar stamp set series. We have always used Mason jars as drinking glasses in my house (they are rather shatter proof) and there is something especially summer-y, drinking a vodka tonic out of a mason jar filled with ice and lime...I digress! Anyway last September a very dear sweet friend of mine (like a sister) was married and it was a fabulous, mostly home made wedding, under a big white

tent in her husband's family's

backyard. She made all of the paper products (ie: the invitations, placecards, signs, tags on the wedding favors, ect.) from PTI CS and the wedding colors were Pure Poppy, Summer Sunrise and lots and lots of polka dots. And on each of the tables we had these great big Mason jars filled with all these beautiful sunflowers that we ordered online from Costco! The wedding was stunning...here are a few pictures from the big day, including one of the bride and groom with 3 of my kiddos, who were all in the wedding.

So when this September rolled around and it was their first anniversary I knew the perfect image for their card-the sunflower and Mason jar combo! But I was thinking and trying to come up with a way to make the jar look more glass-like. I remembered the technique of layering Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel (UTEE) and letting it cool and adding more UTEE to give a nice glossy surface. I colored the image, stamped the jar image around it, then completely covered the jar with a glue pen. I then applied my UTEE and heat set it. Well guess what, it looks just like glass! The pictures don't do it justice, but I was so happy with the results in real life. It really looks like glass. You could do multiple layers, let it cool and crackle the enamel...then rub with a light greenish/blue ink to get the look of the old time Mason jars. The possibilities are endless...For the inside of the card I colored in another sunflower image from the set and punched it out, offset with a small circle punch. I know the pictures are all mixed up, I'm still trying to figure this whole blog thing out ;) Hope you enjoy!

PaperTrey Ink October Blog Hop

2010-10-24T20:09:00.000-04:00

Here's the details:

There is always a lot of focus on Christmas in our industry this time of year, as that is what the majority of the population celebrates. However, this month's blog hop is dedicated to those that celebrate winter holidays other than Christmas. Create a project that celebrates Hanukkah, Kwanzaa or some other winter holiday as we embrace everyone's beliefs in a celebration of diversity through paper crafting.

Due to my religious beliefs, I do not celebrate any of the holidays, but do take the time to reflect on the beauty of the season. Snowy winter days mean spending time inside, making yummy food (Pioneer Woman's donuts-OMG they are fantastic!) and reading lots of great books by the fireplace. So I thought I would make bookmarks to give to my children on our first snow day of the season. I used PTI's Tiny Treats:Christmas as the focal image and sentiment which I heat embossed in black. I used the bookmark and new circles die to cut the paper and felt (Ocean Tides and Blueberry Sky). The tassles were made with Enchanted Evening and New Leaf bakers twine. All supplies are from PaperTrey Ink.

Challenges, challenges...

2010-10-22T20:14:00.000-04:00

The first card is a happy harvest card that I made for a rather thoughtful person on the PTI Forum...I used Ultra Thick Embossing Enamel on the basket which gave it a textured look, which I thought was perfect for the basket image.

The second set of photographs are of a card I made for both Bethie J's 2nd challenge (we could use the cloud dies from Up, Up & Away) and PTI's Princess Cheryl's challenge of creating a card with no sentiment or wording on the front of the card. I used liquid applique on the clouds that I die cut and then sprinkled a little bit of glitter on them while the liquid was still warm. The background paper was made with a Blueberry Sky base which I swirled Fresh Snow ink on a Q-tip to make background clouds.

Thanks to both lovely ladies for great challenges and getting me to ink up a set that I had not had a chance to use!

Bethie J's PTI Stamp Challenge #1

2010-10-10T18:20:00.001-04:00

Bethie over on PTI's Forum came up with a great idea of a weekly challenge using one of the 3 designated PTI stamp sets...each week the stamps change. This week we could use Wreath for all Seasons, Tiny Treats:Halloween or Vintage Picnic. My 6 1/2 year old son (we call him Buddy) and I made hot sauce and used TT:Halloween to make the labels. We also used PTI's Tiny Alphabet to personalize them. The images were stamped on PTI's adhesive paper and then punched out. We also used a bit of Japanese Washi tape to wrap around the bottle. Not only did the bottle look great but the hot sauce tasted really good too!

Hello, hello...

2010-10-01T18:11:00.000-04:00

Hello, hello all...I know it's been a really long time...it's been a super busy summer and I haven't had much time for crafting. But here are some pictures ofwhat we have been doing...lots of time at the beach, did my first triathlon, made lots of hot sauce with Buddy and more time at the beach. I was able to do some crafting...not very much, but here are a few cards. I will post in more detail about the hot sauce...it was a great project for me and my 6 year old hot sauce lovin' son!

Teacher's gift and a new soap!

2010-06-18T17:53:00.000-04:00

This year I wanted to give a "homemade" gift to my children's teachers. Between the 3 children in school, there were 7 very special teachers I wanted to give a gift to, so the gift needed to be something that I could mass produce. I came up with something that was summer-themed and relatively easy to make.

The card is a PTI Kraft CS base and a really cute paper from October Afternoon. The sentiment is one of PTI's Fillable Frames...inside the card I modified an idea I saw on Dawn McVey's blog for a money holder and made mine out of a strip of Ocean Tides die cut with the eyelet die. I then adhered only the edges so that my gift card could slip in...

I also made "Jersey Shore Beach Soap" for each teacher. I got the idea from a fantastic bar of Bobbi Brown's Beach Soap I got as a present last year. My soap has a layer of sand (from beautiful Cape May) embedded in it as an exfoliant and is colored with green mica which makes it look like ocean water. I scented it with a beach-y scent I got from Bath Time in Cape May and packaged it all up using PTI's Just for You set. The pictures show the front and back views of the soap. I thought that the teachers could use the Barnes and Noble gift card for a beach read and the soap was for after a day in the sun. I hope they enjoyed it!

Papertrey Princess Challenge #10...Make it Pop!

2010-06-10T16:16:00.000-04:00

Hello fellow Princesses! Hope this blog post finds you and your families all healthy and happy!

My challenge for this week is to show me how you use foam dimensionals (Pop-Dots, 3Ds). It can either be a card or scrapbook page, but make it *Pop*...I always seem to get in a rut and pop up the sentiment, but with this card I decided to do things a little different. I stamped my floral images onto a kraft CS base and then stamped the images again onto extra kraft CS. I colored the flowers with my Copics, cut them out and then adhered them with foam dimensionals. The dimensionals made this fairly simple card into something a little more special. Can't wait to see what you all come up with!

Color Throwdown, PTI Princess Challenge #8 and a scrapbook page...

2010-05-31T18:17:00.000-04:00

Color Challenge #94 from www.colorthrowdown.blogspot.com

I saw this challenge posted on I {Heart} Papers blog and wanted to play along.

Next is my card for Melissa's Papertrey Princess Challenge #8...we were to come up with something inspired by the following picture. The base is PTI Kraft CS stamped with SU's Chocolate Chip ink. The patterned paper is from PTI's Turning a New Leaf, mounted on Spring Moss. The center sentiment is from Daily Designs, mounted on Ripe Avocado.

Lastly...here's a scrapbook page that I finally photographed. The patterned paper is from BoBunny, the ribbon is PTI's Terracotta Tile. It's hard to tell, but I stitched and inked around the edge of the paper.

Papertrey May Blog Hop Challenge

2010-05-25T06:45:00.000-04:00

This month's challenge for Papertrey Ink's Blog Hop was to come up with projects using their gorgeous new felt. With 2 little girls and hundreds of hair clips I thought I would give making my own clips a try. The felt cuts so easy with the new dies and with coordinating ribbons, was easy to come up with lots of combinations. My favorite is the "cloud" clip. I sewed little seed beads to give the clip some dimension. It would be a great clip to wear on a cloudy, rainy day! I also really like the way the black gingham clip came out. It's amazing how little time they all took. I just made all the little embellishments at

one time and then hot glued them onto a ribbon covered hair clip. I can't wait for more felt colors to be released...I was a bit limited by the few colors available. But here's to hoping for next release!

The last picture is of my goofy little models...trying to get them to hold still is near impossible!

A Card and Soap!

2010-05-22T16:22:00.000-04:00

This card was actually made by my six year old son last week while recovering from getting whacked in the face with a softball...we had to keep all physical activity to a minimum-like that is at all possible-so we took out some PTI goodies and he put this little gem together. He then wrote a sweet note to all the members of our local congregation who had been showering him with sweets and balloons.

Speaking of showering, after seeing a post on Lisa Johnson's blog, (http://www.poppypaperie.typepad.com), about the ease of soap-making, I decided to give it a try. These are really simple melt-and-pour soaps, using supplies from my local Micheal's store (clear and olive oil soap, fragrances, molds and lavender buds). I did put in an order to www.brambleberry.com which is scheduled to arrive on Monday...definitely check out their website and the Soap Queen's blog. Lots of video tutorials there...these soaps were the easiest things ever to make...I think they have the potential to make fantastic hostess gifts. Just wrap them all pretty using Lisa's new PTI set, Just for You.

Happily Ever Challenged #6-Eat Your Heart Out

2010-05-11T20:59:00.000-04:00

Thanks to Ted on his blog www.happilyevercrafter.com for this great challenge. Based on the last digit of my birth year (1973), I needed to come up with a card that had a blue base (I used Enchanted Evening base and Spring Rain as the 2nd paper), heat embossing (the coral stamp is from Amuse), glitter (which I sprinkled on the coral and applied to the little fish) and incorporate an animal (the fish, but of course as I am typing this I noticed the nautical theme for #4...hope the fish counts as an animal!). I made the little hook with some wire, which was I inspired to do after seeing what Little Miss "T" did with wire on her guy cards. Hope you like it and thanks Ted for such a great challenge. I loved it!!

Papertrey Princess Challenges #7&8

2010-05-06T17:48:00.000-04:00

Hello ladies...this post has been a while in the making. I've had the cards done for some time, but getting some time to post them on my blog has been near impossible. Better late then never (coming from someone who sent out her birth announcements when the baby was 6 months old!).

The first challenge was from Bethie...with spring in the air we were to use a new technique, new idea, new color combo. I came up with a card using 3 different sets: "Through the Trees", "Fruitful" and "Signature Greetings"...on the front is a peach tree, hence the sentiment inside.

Next was Diane's challenge to make a card using a B&W color scheme with one additional color to pop. I love the way Raspberry Fizz looks with B&W. I also got to use my BB dies, which I absolutely LOVE. I can't wait to play with them some more!

Once again ladies, thanks for the great challenges! This has been fun!

Papertrey Princess Challenge #5 & 6...catch up!

2010-04-16T09:14:00.000-04:00

Hello all...sorry this has taken so stinkin' long to post. Life has been conspiring against me lately and I have had very, very little time to get crafty. Between sick kids, passing all the illnesses around like a hot potato, school, you name it...lots going on. But I digress...this is a post that represents 2 great challenges, Cheryl gave us the challenge to CASE someone's blog (which was INCREDIBLY difficult to do, more on that later) and Valerie had us thinking out of the color box and create something with neutral tones (love it!).

Ok, as far as the CASEing assignment...I was assigned to Melissa's blog. my biggest issue was what to choose to copy. Seriously, I could not make up my mind. I finally decided on

this card:then I de

cided that I would apply the technique used in this card and apply Valerie's challenge...to my suprise, while lookin

g through Melissa's blog, she did the same thing. So I think I might have taken CASEing (or stalking) to a new level! I made the background paper using PTI's In Bloom stamp and PTI Chai ink. All the CS is PTI, as is the ribbon (and button) which was distressed with Chai ink also.

So PTI Princesses thanks for your patience with me...I have been so inspired by everyone's creativity and pushing outside my own comfort level to come up with something to add in response to all the great challenges! Thanks for taking a look!

Papertrey Princess Challenge #4 Score It!

2010-03-15T11:20:00.000-04:00

Papertrey Princess Challenge #4- Score It!

For Pam's challenge we were to use scoring as a background or focal image for our project. I decided to use scoring to make my image *pop* off the card (almost literally). I cut a piece of Kraft CS into a 5 1/4"x 5 1/4" square and then scored equal triangle to make the flaps of the card. It's a little difficult to tell from my pictures but I also scored 1/2" from the top of the triangles, on which I mounted my leaves and flower. (As a side point, the next time I make this type of card I will adhere velcro under the focal image and to the opposing leaf or background image to make opening and closing the card a little easier. I used a pop-dot this time and it was too sticky). With the extra score line the card could close flat and be put into an envelope, but when it's laying out it pops up a bit and gives it a little 3D effect. The total measurement for the card is 3 3/4" square, so it will fit into a 4" square envelope. Thanks for taking a peek!

2 Challenges at once! Poppy Seed Challenge#1 and Papertrey Princess Challenge #3

2010-03-02T13:53:00.000-05:00

My post today shows a few different projects that were for both Lisa Johnson's first Poppy Seed challenge and the Papertrey Princess Challenge #3. Most of the supplies are from PTI, but the mermaid is from Bombshell Stamps, which has some really fantastic stamps. Think 50's pin-up girl/sailor tattoo art. Pretty unique. We've got a whole mermaid thing here at our house (gorgonoula means "little mermaid" in Greek), so I just loved to color this stamp. The quilt card has a cute little heart gem on it from Amuse, and the crystals in the center of the violet are from PTI. Enjoy and thanks for all of your feedback.

Papertrey Princess Challenge #2

2010-02-18T09:53:00.000-05:00

The second Papertrey Princess Challenge was to make something 3d. This was a great challenge for me because I have been wanting to play around with PTI's templates and never had the time or reason to. I did something very, very basic with PTI's Fold 'n Go template. I printed it on Pure Poppy CS, used a strip of PTI's B&W patterned CS as a accent band, stamped a sentiment from Mega Mixed Messages and adhered it with some pop-dots. The ribbon is PTI's new white silk. I love that you can use it to thread one of their buttons. I put everything together and then inked the edges with chamomile ink. As a first attempt, it was all pretty easy. Thanks for pushing me to do something I wouldn't have done otherwise!

Scrapbook Page Challenge-Warm Thoughts

2010-02-01T07:05:00.000-05:00

A few weeks back I had suggested on PTI's Forum that we do a bi-weekly scrapbook challenge. I am so far behind, I thought that this would be a great way to try to get caught up...good thing I am only like-5 years and 3 kids behind! But back to the challenge...something warm. Warm thoughts, pictures, anything you wanted. Here's what I came up with! It's a quick and simple page using some scraps that I stamped with PTI's Polka Dot Basics. Other then the 12x12 sheet, all the CS is PTI. I love Pure Poppy! I used my Cricut to cut out the title. I know it probably isn't a traditional color scheme for a summer page, but thought it matched the colors in the picture so well...can't wait to see what everyone else created!

Papertrey Princess Challenge #1

2010-01-26T10:47:00.001-05:00

I loved the color combo posted by Anya for the first PTI Princess challenge I am participating in. I thought I would mix it up a bit, but still using some sewing elements through out the project. This is the first time I sewed on paper, as you can tell by my crooked lines! While I really like making handcrafted notepads for gifts, it seems like a lot of time an

d effort only to be lost, once the pad runs out of paper. So I decided to sew a panel into the back of the cover, which the pad can be slipped into and replaced with once all the paper is used. I mixed stamps from Daily Design and Take a Note to complete the project. Hope you like it!

PTI January Blog Hop

2010-01-25T16:36:00.001-05:00

January Blog Hop

The challenge for this month's blog hop (which is my first) was to create "total package" card. I love PTI's Big and Bold Wishes set and thought this was a good way to use it both inside and outside the card. Both were heat embossed with black embossing powder. For the envelope I used the scroll image from the set. I also heat embossed a mixture of red and glitter embossing powder for the scrolls and attached 2 small vintage buttons to the centers of the images.

Where the Wild Things Are

2010-01-18T08:01:00.000-05:00

This is a card inspired by my daughter's favorite book Where the Wild Things Are. The stamp is from My Cute Stamps (Eek! It's A Monster!). They have some great images to use with Copics! The base is PTI enchanted evening.

January PTI GSS Submission

2010-01-16T18:03:00.000-05:00

This is the project I submitted for PTI's January Guest Star Stamper. It is a very easy project and makes wonderful use of your scraps. I basically stamped a sentiment with Mega Mixed Messages, then centered a vintage labels border around it and cut it out with the appropriate Spellbinders Labels one die. I then adhered it to a 3 inch x 1 inch rectangle of paper that was stamped with a Backgrounds Basic (Polka Dots are my favorite) and was scored at the 1" mark. Next I glued 2 magnets, making sure that the poles were correct and not opposing, to the back of the label and the end of the 3" piece of paper, being sure that the magnets lined up so that they could connect together through the page that they were holding. I used Zip Dry to glue the magnets, which I got at my local A.C. Moore. I initially tried using the roll of self-adhesive magnet, but it wasn't strong enough to hold through a sheet of paper. You could do the same project with an image mounted onto a punched out shape, such as a rectangle or circle...I made one using the large owl from PTI's Wise Owl set, adhered to a large punched out circle. It came out pretty cute!

First Post!

2010-01-14T07:03:00.000-05:00

Yikes! I did it. Finally started a blog and it was super easy. Now, to make the commitment to sustain it...