April Papertrey Ink Countdown - Day 2

Hello, Friends, and welcome to Day 2 of the April Papertrey Ink countdown! Today I am sharing more of 7th Inning Stretch as well as introducing the On The Links Die Collection. On The Links released in March of last year and almost immediately I was wishing I had dies to coordinate with my stamps. So good news for anyone that was in the same boat - they've arrived!

My first card today is a Father's Day card that incorporates the golf cart and pin flag dies. I've hand cut several of those little carts, but no more! The new die collection made this card a breeze. I die cut and stamped my cart and then fussy cut the wheels and adhered them over the Aqua Mist image.

Then I stamped my putting green scene and sentiment onto a piece of white cardstock before matting it with a layer of Lemon Tart striped paper that I cut on the diagonal. I mounted the focal panel to an Aqua Mist base that had been embellished with a bit of Lemon Tart Saddle Stitched ribbon and a bit of baker's twine. I am of the opinion that one little bow every once in a while isn't going to hurt anybody, so, yes, this Father's Day card has a bow on it.

The golf cart and flag were mounted with a bit of foam tape and a tiny pearl was added as a golf ball embellishment.

Today's second card is of the birthday variety. I recently made a similar card for my papa-in-law's birthday, but I kept it under wraps until now so I could share it with all of you.

I started by die cutting several tees from Fine Linen cardstock and heat embossed each one with the tee image from On The Links.

Next I die cut rolling hills from Spring Moss and Ripe Avocado patterned papers. I stamped and embossed my sentiment before adhering those to an Aqua Mist card base.

I stamped my clouds with a glue pad and sprinkled on a bit of white flocking to make them nice and fluffy. Next, I tucked my tees randomly along the hills and adhered them into place. I finished the card by adding die cut letters to the tops of the tees to spell out the word "happy."

Now I have a couple of 7th Inning Stretch cards to share. One of the first things I knew I wanted to do when I got my hands on these stamps was to create a varsity jacket using the stamps and the Shape Up Series: Sweater die. It turned out just the way I'd imagined it.

I started by cutting my sweater die from Pure Poppy and Fine Linen cardstocks. I trimmed the sleeve from the Fine Linen cut and adhered it to the Pure Poppy layer. Then I trimmed the sleeve and waist band so they would come in a little just like a varsity jacket. I created the striped trim using Faux Ribbon and cut the collar to look more like the real thing. I added lapels and a T-shirt behind the jacket opening.

Next I stamped and embossed the sentiment and added the numbers to the front of the jacket. Then I added the shiny white buttons with small circle punches and a coating of glossy accents. The whole jacket piece was then adhered to a card base that I had been cut with the Sweater die.

The front of the card had so much personality that leaving the inside blank seemed like a shame, so I stamped the baseball bat in Fine Linen and the birthday sentiment in Dark Chocolate. The great thing about this card is that the colors and number can be completely customized. You could use the recipient's age, jersey number, year of birth, or year of graduation to make it even more personalized. So many possibilities!

My fourth and final project today features the baseball mitt image from 7th Inning Stretch. The mitt and the small ball image in the set coordinate perfectly!

I began by stamping my baseball onto Pure Poppy cardstock and heat embossing it with white powder (that way the stitching is red while the ball is white). I punched that out with a 1/2" punch and set it aside for a moment. Next, I stamped the mitt image and cut it out. The baseball was adhered into the palm of the mitt and a 1/2" epoxy dome was added to give a little extra dimension.

Next I stamped the tag from Fillable Frames #9 and hand cut that as well (the coordinating die has a hole through which you would string the tag, but I didn't want that hole in this instance, so hand cutting worked just fine). I stamped my sentiment and mounted that and the mitt to a panel of striped New Leaf patterned paper (chosen to resemble the stripes mowed into the grass at a ball diamond).

The patterned paper had been layered with a piece of cardstock for stability and the whole piece had been textured with the Linen & Canvas impression plate. A bit of Pure Poppy saddle stitched ribbon and a rustic jute bow were also added to embellish the panel. Everything was then mounted to a Kraft base using foam tape.

That's all for me today. I hope you'll join me again tomorrow with more projects showcasing my new sets for April. See you then!

Father's Day Golf Cart Card (A2 size)
Stamps: On The Links - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Lemon Tart Pattern Pack (available April 15th) - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Aqua Mist, Spring Moss - Papertrey Ink; Charcoal - Palette
Other: On The Links Die Collection (available April 15th), Lemon Tart saddle stitched ribbon - Papertrey Ink; Teal baker's twine - Divine Twine; self-adhesive pearl - Mark Richards; Foam Tape - Scotch

Birthday Tees Card (4Bar size)
Stamps: On The Links, Up, Up, and Away, Birthdays By The Numbers - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Fine Linen, Pure Poppy, Orange Zest, Harvest Gold, Simply Chartreuse, Enchanted Evening, Spring Moss Pattern Pack, Ripe Avocado Pattern Pack
Ink: VersaMark, Essential Glue Pad - Tsukineko
Other: On The Links Die Collection (available April 15th), In The Meadow Die Collection - Papertrey Ink; White Fun Flock - Stampendous, White detail embossing powder - Filigree, Foam Tape - Scotch

Varsity Jacket Card (A2 size)
Stamps: 7th Inning Stretch (available April 15th), Faux Ribbon - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Pure Poppy, Fine Linen, Spring Rain - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Pure Poppy, Fine Linen, Dark Chocolate - Papertrey Ink; VersaMark - Tsukineko
Other: Shape Up: Sweater Die Collection, Number Time Trio Die Collection - Papertrey Ink; White detail embossing powder - Filigree; Glossy Accents - Ranger; White Fun Flock - Stampendous; Foam Tape - Scotch

Striped Mitt Card (A2 size)
Stamps: 7th Inning Stretch (available April 15th), Fillable Frames #9 - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Classic Kraft, New Leaf Pattern Pack - Papertrey Ink
Ink: Dark Chocolate, Classic Kraft, Pure Poppy, Fresh Snow - Papertrey Ink
Other: Pure Poppy Saddle Stitched Ribbon, Rustic Jute Twine, Linen & Canvas Impression Plate - Papertrey Ink; White detail embossing powder - Filigree; Foam Tape - Scotch; Clear Bubble Caps - Epiphany Crafts