Thursday, August 11, 2011

Autumn Acorns & Background Basics: Houndstooth Day Three

Hello! And welcome to Day 3 of the Papertrey Ink Countdown. Today, Nichole and I are going into a bit more detail about my two newest stamp sets and coordinating dies... Autumn Acorns, Autumn Acorns Die Collection & Background Basics: Houndstooth (all available beginning August 15th at Papertrey Ink!). So, be sure to visit Nichole's blog too for all of the details and an assortment of her amazing projects.

Now, let me get started! First up, Autumn Acorns...
You can't go wrong with coordinating dies! A set of fun shaped dies, one for the acorns and another for the leaves. No fussy cutting needed, yay! And think of all the possibilities!

Onto some samples...
Here's an invitation trio. My vision behind this trio is to give you an idea of some of the possibilities available to you when using both the stamp set and the dies together.The Kissing Technique is a fun way to dress up those stamped acorn bottoms, like I've done here using Background Basics: Houndstooth.Paper piecing is fun! Just die cut two acorns from the desired cardstock or pattern paper, trim off the top and piece together.Felt acorns add a fun texture to any project or card.

Lots of die action on the card above. I started by die cutting the leaves from Rustic Cream cardstock, stamped in Terracotta Tile and attached with dimensional adhesive to a Rustic Cream cardstock block. Then rounded all the corners of the cardstock block.

Next, I die cut the acorns from felt (Dark Chocolate, Simply Chartreuse, Harvest Gold & Fine Linen) and then trimmed and attached the tops. Added a bit of Baker's Twine stitching to each and then attached into place. Stamped the cardstock block with "Celebrate Today" (a sentiment perfect for many occasions such as birthday, wedding & etc), wrapped with more Baker's Twine and attached to a Fine Linen card base.

Next up, Background Basics: Houndstooth...As I mentioned previously, Background Basic: Houndstooth includes two background building strips, one in a large pattern and another in a small pattern. For this card, I stamped die cut buttons using both the small and large patterns, in Dark Chocolate.I paired the houndstooth patterned buttons with an autumn circle, from 2009 Autumn Tags, stamped in Summer Sunrise. Attached the circle on top of a die cut frame (created by die cutting the Fillable Frames #7 die from the soon to be release Layerz Mat Stack #1) which was adhered to a kraft card base. Then embellished with the hand stamped houndstooth and Dark Chocolate buttons.

Now onto the stamp details...As mentioned before, by Nichole and myself, Background Basics: Houndstooth has been designed with an added feature to make background building easier. When finalizing this set months ago, Nichole had expressed to me that when using Background Basics: Gingham it occurred to her that it would be so much easier to line-up if the bases went out farther around the edges of the pattern. So, when creating the final files, I made sure to add an extra wide base to the images, an approximately 1/4" extension all the way around. Check out the extra wide base in the photo above.The added base width give you an unobstructed view through the stamp itself, allowing you to clearly see exactly were your are placing your next image. Making lining up your backgrounds a breeze! Check it out above.Here's a close up of the extra wide base in action!

Well, that's it from me today. I hope you've enjoyed this detailed look into my new goodies for the month of August. Remember Autumn Acorns, Autumn Acorns Die Collection and Background Basics: Houndstooth will all be available for purchase starting August 15th, at Papertrey Ink. I honestly can't wait to see these sets in your hands and in action! But in the mean time, please let me know what you think so far. I'd love to hear!!!

Now, for even more sneak peek goodness, be sure to visit Nichole Heady , Dawn McVey, Heather Nichols, Melissa Bickford & Lisa Johnson.

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Maile


You're Invited Trio:


Celebrate Today:


With Thanks:


19 comments:

  1. YES!!!! A wider base! That is GENIUS!

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  2. I'm falling for your Autumn Acorns & BB: Houndstooth and adore your creations. Am looking forward to a background that's easier to align ~ sounds like you've addressed that here. WTG!

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  3. These are so gorgeous, Maile! I even love the way the shapes are gathered on the dies, ha ha! Beautiful shapes and wonderful cards showing all the possibilities!!!
    Hugs, Wendy

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  4. The acorns are definitely my fav set of this release. Love the satisfying shape of both acorns and leaves. And aren't they just gorgeous in felt. Love those dies - imagine a small felt wreath

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  5. Love your projects! I can't wait to try the houndstooth stamps with the larger edge as lining up background stamps is not my favorite thing...it looks a lot easier with the wider base around the edges.... Love the acorns - so versatile and adorable!

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  6. Houndstooth with the circles on your brown card, great idea!

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  7. Maile, thank you, thank you, thank you for making this stamp easier to line up. I have almost completely given up using my PTI background stamps because I'm just no good at lining them up. You've give me hope with the houndstooth bg! Of course I adore the acorns and leaves and can't wait to use them along with the dies. My favorite release by far!!

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  8. Loving everything you've created for this release! The houndstooth is fantastic, and I'm excited to try out the new, wider stamp base for lining it up.

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  9. I can almost smell crisp Autumn mornings - ;o)
    Brilliant idea to make a wider base!!!

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  10. gorgeous. i always have problems lining up b'grd stamps so hope this will make it easier on me. i have acorns dancing in my head

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  11. Oh Maile, I am in love with those acorns!!!!! Genius, by the way, to stitch the bakers twine on the acorn tops...

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  12. these two sets are to die for! (pardon the pun) I love your cards, how could I not, when you made them from some of my favorite images: acorns and houndstooth!! Thanks for all the inspiration, and I'm going to have fun with these!!!

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  13. Maile! These are so cute!! Now we need squirrels. LOL

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  14. These are so pretty. I LOVE that the BB:Houndstooth stamp is made so that we can build on it to make it larger and it lines up! Can't ask for more than that. All of the cards are marvelous. TFS. Juanita in Ohio

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  15. Love your projects and new products this month. Fabulous idea on widening the base for background stamps. You ladies are genius! ;-)

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  16. Sharon (from the forum)August 12, 2011 at 11:41 AM

    I'm so happy to be able to comment now! I just love the style of everything you create! It's so clean, uncluttered, and elegant. Always so inspirational to me!

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  17. Spectacular job on these new sets, Maile! I adore all of your cards. The felt acorns roll my rock! :) The houndstooth buttons are fab, too. Can't wait! :)

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  18. Ahh, love that the backgrounds line up easier! And the fact that they're houndstooth makes me like them even more!

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