Monday, March 31, 2014

Happy Last Day Of March!

Welcome to our last post of the current Design Team!  A big thank you to our team for the wonderful inspiration they have been with the Prickley Pear images and dies!  How fun is it each week as we watch the design team put their own spin on the images...so inspiring!  Thank you for your beautiful work that graces our catalog, our advertising and our show booth! 





Designer: Tracie Clary using EE0182 April Showers



Designer: Heidi Erickson using GG0187 Black Capped Chickadees and CC0067 Many Thanks




Thursday, March 27, 2014

Audrey's Flourished Owls!

Hi everyone, it's Audrey again! I hope you all like cute, because today I have a card to share with you that is both fun and playful, and just downright cute, to boot! It features a couple of adorable Prickley Pear red rubber owl images that I think you will love. So I hope you enjoy! AudreyPettit PPRS BestFriendCard 
Aren't they SO stinkin' cute? This is the Flourished Owl and Small Flourished Owl red rubber images, and they make quite the pair. For my card, I stamped the owls onto white cardstock using dark brown ink, colored them with Copic markers, and fussy cut the images before perching them into their little window opening.
 AudreyPettit PPRS BestFriendCard2 
Love the pretty shape to the window opening. That was made with Prickley Pear's Scalloped Circle die, die cut slightly off-center on my panel of woodgrain patterned paper. By adhering the panel to the card base with foam adhesive, you create a small pocket of space between layers in which to tuck the owls.
 AudreyPettit PPRS BestFriendCard3 
The sentiment is from the Spring Scalloped Circles Clear Stamp Set, and is truly a perfect match for those sweet friends. I stamped the image onto cream cardstock this time, then hand-cut little notches from the sides. Inked the edges and attached the sentiment onto a thin strip of recycled cardboard. Looks like an old funky, junk wooden sign, doesn't it? Just what you'd expect to find out in the woods with a pair of owls! Thanks so much for stopping by!

I've had an amazing time guest designing this past month, and am so excited to say I'll be back for one more month of guest designer posts. Hope to see you all back here next week, and in the mean time, you can stop by and say hi on my blog!

Thursday, March 20, 2014

Audrey's Dandelion Bunch...a sure sign of Spring!


AudreyPettit PPRS JustaNoteCard 
Hi everyone, it's Audrey, here with another guest designer project to share with you today. This time, I've got a little note-card in neutrals for you that features one of my most favorite Prickley Pear red rubber images, Dandelion Bunch.  

I am absolutely smitten with the natural "wildflower" look to this Dandelion Bunch image. I think it would look fabulous stamped in either very dark or very light shadow ink to create a silhouette effect, but for my card, I used a variety of colorful inks to create a subtle watercolor look that is so popular these days. This technique is super easy, and always a bit of a surprise, too, for no two inkings ever turn out quite the same. Simply apply the ink directly to the stamp, starting with the lightest color and working your way up to the darkest. For my image, I used two colors of green on the stems and leaves, and two colors of yellow/orange on the dandelion heads. Once your stamp is inked, lightly spritz it with water before stamping your image onto water color paper.


AudreyPettit PPRS JustaNoteCard2 
To give my image a bit more depth, I inked the edges lightly and added a paper pierced border, before popping the panel onto my card base using foam adhesive. Twine wrapped around the top of the panel holds a simple sentiment tag I made from scrap water color paper and the beautiful script Just a Note red rubber image. Final step was adding a kraft paper butterfly die cut using the Mini Butterflies die set.


AudreyPettit PPRS JustaNoteCard3


Thanks so much for stopping by! I'll be back next week with another fun project, and in the mean time, feel free to come visit me on my blog!

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Tracie's Easter Treat Bag Tutorial!

Easter will be here before you know it so I decided to make up some cute little Easter treat bags for my nieces and nephews. 
 To make these cute little bags you need to cut a piece of designer paper 5" x 6". On the 6" side you will score at 1", 2 3/4", 3 3/4", and 5 1/2".


On the 5" side  Score it at 1" and 4".

Fold on all your score lines.  Cut out the pieces as indicated below.  The side with the 2 flaps is the top.  The other end is the bottom.

 Flip your piece over paper over so the outside of the box shows.  Adhere score tape to the 1/2" side and to the bottom piece.  I find this is the only one you need to put tape on to have your box stick together.
Once you have the box put together, pinch the tops together and I rounded the corners to give it a little extra.  I then punches a hole in the center of the top panel. Decorate the front of your bag any way you want.  I used the Prickley Pear Oval from the Flourish Nesting set which fit perfectly on the front of the box.  I also used Prickley Pear Nibbles Stamp  and Prickley Pear Baby Duck and colored them with my copic markers.  I then cut them out and pop dotted them on to the oval.  The sentiment is Prickley Pear Happy Easter.  These boxes hold 3 of the Hershey's Nugget perfectly.  After filling the box with your chocolates, just put a piece of ribbon through and you have a cute little easter box. 


Thursday, March 13, 2014

Audrey's Guest Designer Post #2!

Hi everyone, it’s Audrey, back today with another fun guest designer project for Prickley Pear Rubber Stamps. This time, a cute spring-inspired card featuring the adorable Scalloped Circle & Oval 4- Floral clear stamp set.
AudreyPettit PPRS LittleThingsCardIt has been a really long winter for so many of us this year, and I’m sure I’m not the only one with a touch of spring fever. This stamp set is perfect for satisfying those spring cravings. Those little ducks definitely put me in the mood for longer days, plenty of sunshine, and lots of fun Easter projects, too.
AudreyPettit PPRS LittleThingsCard2
I created my little tag with Prickley Pear’s Flourish Oval Nesting Die. I die cut the tag once from watercolor paper and a second time from patterned paper, trimming off just the bottom portion and layering it onto the stamped layer. Then a bit of lace trim across the middle and decorative stitching and inking around the edges. The sentiment, from the same set, was trimmed into a banner and added to the center.
AudreyPettit PPRS LittleThingsCard3Adhered the tag with pop dots to my card base, pieced from BasicGrey’s Herbs & Honey and Fresh Cut 6×6 paper pads. I used a large transparency frame from the Herbs & Honey collection just below the tag. Love how the smooth texture plays against all the stitching.
After the beautiful weather we had earlier this week, spring cannot come soon enough! Wish we could just go and flip the switch on Mother Nature….sorry, Momma, but we’ve had enough winter. It’s time for lights out! ;)

Monday, March 10, 2014

Happy March 10th!

Welcome To Prickley Pear Design Team Monday!  The weather in my part of the world has warmed up a bit...the sun is shining and the snow melting! Yipee!     

Take a peek at the spring-inspired cards we have for you today!  Let us know what you think...we are still picking a random commenter occasionally to send some red rubber to!  Maybe this week it will be YOU!   Good Luck!



Inside of card
 



Designer: Tracie Clary using FF0057 Bonnie, DD0196 Happy Easter




Thursday, March 6, 2014

Guest Designer: Meet Audrey Pettit!


AudreyPettit PPRS CoffeeLoversSet
Hi everyone, it's Audrey, and I'm so excited to be back guest designing for Prickley Pear this spring. Over the next few weeks, I'll be sharing lots of fun projects with you featuring some of my favorite Prickley Pear rubber stamps, starting today with this little gift set that's perfect for all the coffee-lovers in your life.

This fun set includes a card and a matching pillow box, and was made with a super adorable red rubber image from Prickley Pear called Coffee Stain. I really love the artsy, random look to this stamp. These truly look like real little coffee cup rings, don't they? So perfect for creating your own custom background paper and so easy to do, too. And what a great match for that fun journaling card I've been dying to use.
AudreyPettit PPRS CoffeeLoversSet2
To create my own custom background paper, I randomly stamped the Coffee Stain image repeatedly onto kraft cardstock. I stuck with dark brown ink to mimic the real look of coffee cup rings. Then I simply cut down my panel and layered it onto a white card base. Machine stitching around the card adds a decorative touch. I adhered the coffee sentiment card onto some scalloped-edged paper, tying it with baker's twine before adding it to my card base using foam dots for dimension. Last touch is a fun chipboard bottle cap embellishment that perfectly matches my theme.

AudreyPettit PPRS CoffeeLoversSet3
The matching gift box is just as easy. After die cutting my box shape from kraft cardstock, the Coffee Stain image was once again randomly stamped in dark brown ink over the entire surface. Then just fill the box with goodies and tie it closed with baker's twine. I added a white cardstock belly band to match the card and added a few die cut embellishments for a fun hang tag. Super simple and super fun!
AudreyPettit PPRS CoffeeLoversSet4 
 
Thanks so much for stopping by today! I hope you enjoyed my little coffee-lover's gift set. I'll be back next week with another fun Prickley Pear Rubber Stamp project. Hope to see you all then! And in the mean time, you can visit me on my blog. Bye everyone!

Monday, March 3, 2014

March 3 Inspiration

Welcome To Prickley Pear Design Team Monday!  Thank you for all of your Design Team submissions, so much talent to choose from!  The team has been chosen and we will soon be introducing you! 

We would welcome your Prickley Pear work anytime on our FaceBook page!  Show us what you can do with our images!  You never know when we will pick a random post and send you a few more Prickley Pear goodies for your collections! 

We have a fun mix of cards to share with you today...spring is on our minds!  Enjoy!





Designer: Jessica Pascarella using HH0156 Bailey