Introducing My Mother, My Friend and Day 1 of Boutique Accessories Collection

Hello Papertrey Fans! It's officially  Day 1 of the Countdown for February. We've already had five days of fun with announcements and new product reveals. Now it's time get down to what you are really waiting for--the previews of February stamp sets. And maybe some handy little dies from me. Can't wait for you to see. Let's get going. 

I'm first featuring Melissa Bickmore's "My Mother, My Friend" stamp set and dies today. It's a nifty and pretty set to have around for the mothers and friends in your life. It's got you covered for Mother's Day and beyond this year. Great new dies too. 

My first card plays a lot with the frames and labels. There are two open aperture dies, one fitting inside the other, for this lovely frame. Both coordinate to stamps in the set. The smaller frame in particular has various labels that can be swapped in and out--here are two examples with "My Dear Friend" and "Mother". I stamped the large label in Raspberry Fizz on Wild Hibiscus cardstock. I topped them with patterned paper or cardstock in various colors. The bloom and vine are both dies and stamps from the set. I particularily like the sentiment in gray at the bottom--a nice thing to tell somebody near to you. 

My second card plays with the frames again, but in a slightly different way. The smaller frame is cut from the card front and the sentiment label placed on the inside of the card. I used both frame dies (remember, open aperture  to create this open frame with Spring Rain Gingham on the front of the card. Blooms and vines create a lovely scene below. 

And lastly, fun with the long vine die and stamp. It's just the slightest bit wavy  which helps to make it look rather organic and free form in nature. I used several cut in Aqua Mist and stamped in Hawaiian Shores to frame the word "Mother" (oooh...new dies maybe?) and a line of descriptive words that describe motherly types that is included in the stamp set. Used the new-to-us ZING! embossing powder in Mustard to make a nice match to Summer Sunrise. Rather spot on. I like how it pops against the Smokey Shadow background. 

Next up, I'm happy to finally share with you the "Boutique Accessory Card" and "Clever Barrette Cover" dies that I have coming out this month! Nichole's created a sweet $5 stamp set called "Boutique Accessories" to use along with them. For those of you with girls in your life, you might want to pay particular attention. This is an easy, thoughtful, and creative way to make them something special. 

I, myself, have a little girl and this idea was completely inspired by her. I'm always making her little hair accessories to match her outfits. I wanted an easy way to make decorated, covered snap barrettes. A die was the perfect solution. As you can see, the Clever Barrette Cover consists of three dies. Holes are included for stitching. No forcing a needle through felt (ever had that problem?) or have uneven stitching on your finished project. The guess work is done for you. Just die cut out of felt and thread a needle. You stitch the front and the back together with your choice of embroidery floss and slip a snap barrette (these are rather universal, you can find them at the grocery store, the dollar store, big box stores, or the pharmacy) through the slit in the back. Decorate the top at will. With PTI's collection of flower dies and buttons, you have limitless options when it comes to "decorating" the little girl in your life. 

There is an option middle cut that can be stitched between the front and back felt layers for a pinked border around the edge. Super cute in contrasting felt and gives you even more options. My blue set of barrettes use it today, the pink barrettes do not. 

Here's a photo of the front and back of an assembled barrette with a plain snap barrette in the middle. Once you stitch up the clever barrette cover together, it is very easy to slip the barrette in the back and take them back out again if you so wish. 

I'll be showing you lots more barrettes over the next few days. And we're going beyond felt a little bit. I'm downright giddy to have this die in my collection. Seriously, my motives for creating this are entirely selfish. I certainly hope you like it, but I'm just thrilled I have it for myself! So stinkin' cute. 

Now, of course, you need a sweet way to package up these little beauties to make them extra special. That's where the "Boutique Accessory Card" comes into play. This die comes in two pieces. There is the main card (shown here in Raspberry Fizz) and the shorter curved die with slits and holes (Limeade Ice Gingham in the above example). It is actually wider than the card so when you attach two scored flaps to the back of the card cut, it bows out to accommodate the bulk of the barrettes. Just slip your barrettes through the slits and give as a gift. 

Nichole designed a fun little set to go along with this die. You can see there on top it says "Just a Little Something". It's a $5 set that has three labels to be used for giving gifts on this card. Helps it look even more "boutique-y". 

Here's another set for you to enjoy in Aqua Mist and Vintage Cream Felt. These barrettes use the optional middle piece that gives the barrettes a pinked border. And instead of flower and leaf dies, I pulled some of the large buttons from my collection in Ocean Tides and Winter Wisteria and stacked them. They are stitched together and then hot glued onto the assembled barrette. The bowed part of the "Boutique Accessory Card" was cut out of Aqua Mist and stamped in BB: Houndstooth using Winter Wisteria ink. The main part of the card is in Winter Wisteria. I stamped a label from "Boutique Accessories" with Versamark and heat embossed with white embossing powder. 

And just to show you what's holding the barrettes in place, I took a photo of one off the card. There are double slits to slip the barrette through. Snap (flex) it closed and it stays in place on its own. 

I plan on showing you a few other lovely little baubles the "Boutique Accessory Card" can hold this week. Got a few videos planned as well to show you how the barrettes work and how to assemble the packaging in a "deluxe" fashion. Hope you are as excited as I am about this little venture. 

All new products are available on February 15th at www.papertreyink.com. I'll be back tomorrow morning with more. 

Be sure to cruise around and see what other sneak peaks of the February Release you can find. Today the following blogs will have some goodies: 

Maile Belles
Nichole Heady
Jessica Witty
Dawn McVey
Heather Nichols
Betsy Veldman
Melissa Bickford

Supplies

Mother
Stamps: My Mother, My Friend
Cardstock: Smokey Shadow, Aqua Mist, Summer Sunrise, Simply 
Chartreuse, Stamper's Select White
Ink: Hawaiian Shores, Orange Zest, Summer Sunrise
Dies: My Mother, My Friend Collection, Heart-2-Heart #9, Headline Alphabet
Summer Sunrise Vintage Button
Rustic Button Twine
Zing! Embossing Powder in Mustard

My Dear Friend
Stamps: My Mother, My Friend, Butterfly Dreams, Super Stripes
Cardstock: Spring Rain, Stamper's Select White, Simply Chartreuse
Patterned Paper: Spring Rain Gingham
Ink: Enchanted Evening, Blueberry Sky, Simply Chartreuse

Believing in Me
Stamps: My Mother, My Friend
Cardstock: Hibiscus Burst, Raspberry Fizz, Limeade Ice, Spring  Rain, Simply Chartreuse
Patterned Paper: Simply Chartreuse, Summer Sunrise Simple Stripe
Dies: My Mother, My Friend Collection, Butterfly Dreams, Block Alphabet
Ink: Hibiscus Burst, Blueberry Sky, Summer Sunrise, Simply Chartreuse

Rasberry Fizz Barrettes
Stamps: Boutique Accessories
Dies: Boutique Accessory ard Die, Clever Barrette Covers, Heart-2-Heart #9, Floral Fusion #9, Beautiful Blooms 1
White and Cream Vintage Button Collection
Felt: Raspberry Fizz, Simply Chartreuse, Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist

Blue Barrettes
Stamps: Boutique Accessories, BB: Houdstooth
Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Winter Wisteria
Ink: Winter Wisteria
Dies: Clever Barrette Covers, Boutique Accessory Card Die
Felt: Vintage Cream and Aqua Mist
Buttons: Ocean Tides, Winter Wisteria
White Embossing Powder