Embellished Elegance

It's to believe that we've arrived at the first Group Post of the March 2014 Papertrey Ink countdown. Time is flying around here. Hope you are as excited as we are for the 15th to roll around. Likely for different reasons, however. We can breath a sigh of relief and toast to another month under our belts and you can finally place your order for the things that have caught your eye this time around. Then it's super exciting for us to see you start using the new stuff on your blog posts, Pinterest, and the message board. You inspire us too...always puts a smile on my face to see the new stuff in your creative hands.

Today we are featuring Nichole's Embellished Elegance. I don't know how she keeps doing it with these must-have floral sets. Her creative well is deep in this arena. Every month it seems that she is putting a new, must-have spin on it. With Embellished Elegance, you'll see a lot to love. It's definitely a one-and-done stamp set, meaning you don't need much else to make a spectacular project. The large "happy" that is included and the floral sprays are like creative pixie dust...things just magically come together when you are using them. Let me show you how it worked for me.

First up, I have a relatively simple card using Embellished Elegance. My jumping off point was the large "happy" stamp and die cut. It fit beautifully on an angle on an A2 card front, with the leaf sprays at either end hanging over the edge. It's a winning look. With that in mind, I cut it out with the new dies in Harvest Gold cardstock and stamped in Summer Sunrise ink. The two step leaves are in Raspberry Fizz.

The "birthday" is included in the set as well. That was stamped at an angle as well. And while we were going full tilt in that direction, I stamped the new Polka Dot Basics III at the same slant.

For the top, I used the inlaid die cut technique to cut the Smokey Shadow bit. It's stamped with one of the leaf sprays in True Black and filled in with little bits and pieces included in the set.

For my next trick, we went a little more subtle. Our assignment this time around was to create an easy and a more layered card. This one is the latter because of a mistake. I stamped the leaves first in Ripe Avocado before I heat embossed the word "happy" in white. I got some embossing powder on the leaves. Good thing I could cover it up with the coordinating die cuts:). SAVED.

I stamped a bunch of the flowers from Embellished Elegance to complete the circular shape of a wreath on my card front, making sure to frame the word "happy". Colored ink on Classic Kraft is a sweet, vintage look.

I just want to mention that the word "happy" is in a lot of the PTI products. We've got the Happy One Liners, Everyday Happiness, Year Around Happiness, and just about anything with birthday related. What's so nice about Embellished Elegance is that you can take the fancy schmancy "happy" stamp and use it in conjunction with your other sets, like I did here with Everyday Happiness and In Stitches dies. More fun to mix and match and you get added value from your supplies.

And how about a project using the last of the this season's Seasonal Stitches dies? We've got a birdie! This time, I put the stitching die to work on paper and used it to accent my card. You've got some options for assembly here as well, like Seasonal Stitches: Eggs and Butterflies. You can in the feet and choose to create the wing in a contrasting color. Or not, depends on what strikes your fancy for the day. There is also another wing detail where you can add a stitched swirl if you want to, but I'm saving that for a project tomorrow.

All the new products being featured on my blog and the rest of the PTI circle are available on March 15th at 10 PM EST at www.papertreyink.com to purchase if you are interested.

OK. That's it for me. One group post left to go and I believe we've seen every stamp set being released this month. That leaves tomorrow to be a bit of a mystery, doesn't it? :) I might have a thing or two to do with all that. You aren't going to want to miss it. I'm so excited to share with you that I can hardly stand it. If only you could be a fly on the wall at my house this week. Felt here, embroidery floss there, needle counting because I don't want to leave any within baby's reach, no scissors to be found because I have some how misplaced four sets. Oh gosh...probably should be a bit less worried about the needles and find the scissors when it comes to the baby. The kid is a maniac, there's no telling what trouble he'll get in. Need to get on that ASAP. I thought third kids were supposed to be easy?

See you tomorrow. :)

Nichole Heady

Dawn McVey

Melissa Phillips

Heather Nichols

Betsy Veldman

Laurie Willison

Laura Bassen

Danielle Flanders
Lizzy Jones
Melissa Bickford

Supplies

Bold Happy Birthday Card
Cardstock: Smokey Shadow, Harvest Gold, Raspberry Fizz
Ink: True Black, Summer Sunrise, Raspberry Fizz
Stamps: Embellished Elegance, Polka Dot Basics III
Gems

Kraft Happy Birthday Card
Cardstock: Classic Kraft, Hibiscus Burst
Ink: Ripe Avocado, Winter Wisteria, Summer Sunrise, Dark Chocolate, Hibiscus Burst
Dies: Embellished Elegance, In Stitches
Patterned Paper: Ripe Avocado Bitty Dot
White Embossing Powder 

Birdie Card
Cardstock: Harvest Gold, Aqua Mist, Melon Berry, Stamper's Select White, Berry Sorbet, Hawaiian Shores
Stamps: Life's Music, Bitty Background Blocks II, Life's Music, Tweet Talk
Patterned Paper: Soft Stone Bitty Dot and Melon Berry Simple Stripe
Dies: Seasonal Stitches: Birds, Sweet Speech, Journaling Card II, Bitty Button Stackers
Ink: Hawaiian Shores