Day 1 of the September PTI Countdown

Holiday stuff already? You bet! Papertrey Ink wants to give you as much time as we can to create your holiday projects.  That's why the September and October releases are mostly holiday themed stamps and dies. And I've got some fabulous new things from Chapter 3 Designs to add to the mix this year as well.

Today, I'll be showing you three projects using the Stitched Holiday Words Dies. It's a collection of 8 holiday words and a plus sign that can be added to cards and felt stitching projects. And just between you and me...you know how I like to create companion dies to my larger felt die projects? These are those "companion" dies. I'll show you the main event tomorrow. But for now, these little gems work really great on their own on cards. I'd say they exceeded my expectations. Putting these three cards together on day this weekend was a joy and completely effortless.

Here's a collage made out of 7 out of the 9 dies to give you a good idea of what is included. (The word "be" and the plus sign are missing from this card.)  I laid these out on my cutting plate and cut them all at once on Pure Poppy cardstock. I backed some of them with Stamper's Select White Cardstock and the others show the New Leaf cardstock base the front panel is mounted to. I like the interest the two color treatment brings to this card. Itty bitty dies from various collections fill in spaces and give the card some added pizzazz. I can't tell you how much I adore this card. Absolutely love how this turned out.

Next up, we have a bit of a marquee treatment. I cut the words "holly" and "jolly" in the My Mother, My Friend frame die. This was delightfully easy. The open back style of the frame die allowed me to cut the word at the same time I cut the frame. One pass was all it took. Next I cut just the frame out of silver foil paper and then backed the original cut. The effect is very flashy. It shines and catches your eye from various places in the room, much like marquee letters.

The striped pattern on the brackets of the frame was made using Candy Cane Christmas. An easy and simple touch to add some detail. Other than that, the card is really rather simple. This would be an easy one to reproduce. Definitely a 10 minute card.

And lastly, how about some stitching? Throw some floss on a card and it doesn't take much else to create an eye catcher.:) I cut the words "be" and "merry" into a New Leaf cut of Tipped Tops and then stitched them up with red floss.

Just a little tip, I ended up backing the letters after I was done with New Leaf cardstock as well. I didn't want any white peeping through the holes. I tried it and it looked too distracting. This little step gives a very clean look. A large snowflake from Snowflake Medley and a Pure Poppy button are the only other embellishment.

I was thinking this would be a fun one to mass produce as well. Even with the stitching. Cut a bunch at the same time and spend the evening on the couch with your favorite Christmas movie stitching them all up.  Delightful way to pass the time in my book. The rest is very easy and straightforward.

Hope you like what you see. Oh so much more to come. All these products and plenty more will be available at 10 PM EST at www.papertreyink.com. I'll be back with more tomorrow.

More inspiration below:

Nichole Heady
Betsy Veldman
Dawn McVey
Melissa Phillips
Heather Nichols
Lizzie Jones

Supplies

Word Collage Card
Dies: Stitched Holiday Word Dies, Shaker Shapes: Tree Dies, Holly Jolly, Holiday Home, Star Gazer, Love Lives Here
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, New Leaf, Stamper's Select White, Limeade Ice, Pinefeather, Harvest Gold
Baker's Twine

Holly Jolly Marquee
Stamps: Candy Cane Christmas
Dies: Stitched Holiday Word Dies, My Mother, My Friend
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Limeade Ice
Ink: Simply Chartreuse, Scarlet Jewel

Be Merry Snowflake
Stamps: Snowflake Medley
Dies: Stitched Holiday Word Dies, Snowflake Medley, Tipped Tops
Ink: Pure Poppy
Button: Pure Poppy