These United States & State Abbreviations - Day 2

Welcome back, friends! It's Day 2 of the July Papertrey Ink new release countdown and I'm back with a couple of additional projects featuring These United States, the coordinating die collection, and the coordinating mini, State Abbreviations. Thank you all so much for sharing your excitement over the These United States Collection!

There was one question from yesterday that I wanted to answer in today's post so everyone might see it. The Primitive Country Bug asked "Are they all scaled the same so you can create an actual "map" of the U.S.?" The answer to that is no. If the states were all scaled the same and you wanted to make sure that a smaller state, like Rhode Island, was significant enough to be used by itself on a project you'd end up with states like California being enormous. Likewise, if you scaled California to be a reasonable size for a card you'd end up with a tiny speck of paper for Rhode Island. Make sense? So I decided to scale the states differently so they could all be used independently of one another. I hope that's not too much of a disappointment for any of you. I assure you the scaling decision was very carefully considered.

Alrighty, how about we get on to some projects, eh?

I wanted to showcase the large US die today. It can be used with several of the image stamps in These United States to illustrate things like moves or road trips, but today it's on more of a "missing you" sort of card.

I began by layering a piece of Spring Rain Striped Paper with a piece of Spring Rain cardstock for a little stability. Then I die cut the US shape out of the center. I placed the die cut panel over a white card base and stamped the Pure Poppy heart in the general vicinity of Texas. Next, I adhered the US panel to the card front with foam tape. I continued by die cutting a banner from Enchanted Evening cardstock and heat embossed my sentiment using white detail powder. I stitched on a white button with baker's twine and then adhered that piece to the die cut panel. As a finishing touch, I coated the heart with Glossy Accents for a little shine.

On the back of the card I stamped the "handmade in" sentiment from These United States in Enchanted Evening ink. I followed up with the Texas abbreviation from State Abbreviations. The $5 mini State Abbreviations is perfect for labeling the state dies, locations on the US die shape, or finishing phrases in These United States.

My next project is a home decor piece. I've mentioned before that I'm not much of a scrapbooker, but I still enjoy documenting memories of our special trips and events. These framed pieces are the perfect solution for someone like me.

I began by stamping a 5"x7" piece of Aqua Mist cardstock with the smallest dots in Polka Dot Basics III. Next, I printed a photo from our anniversary trip to Alaska last fall. Then, I die cut an Instant Photo 1 Die shape and stamped it with the calendar image from Big Ticket Basics. I followed up with small accent images denoting the date of the photo and then adhered the frame to the photo with foam tape.

I continued by die cutting the Big Ticket Basics Die shape from Smokey Shadow cardstock and the state of Alaska from Hawaiian Shores cardstock. I heat embossed the decorative image from Big Ticket Additions onto the ticket border with clear powder and the sentiment with white powder (I am of the opinion that Virginia doesn't have the exclusive on lovers, by the way).

I adhered that to the Aqua Mist base and embellished by adding the Alaska shape with foam tape. I finished up by mounting the photo piece atop the ticket border with foam tape. Now we have a nice little framed reminder of our trip to keep on display. Yay!

Thank you all so much for stopping by today! I hope you'll check back tomorrow for more These United States and Text Block: Thankful projects. In the meantime, Nichole, Betsy, Dawn, Heather, Maile, and Melissa Bickford all have more inspiration for you. See you soon!

Recipes:
Wish You Were Here Card
Stamps: These United States (available July 15th), State Abbreviations (available July 15th) - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Spring Rain Striped Paper, Spring Rain, Enchanted Evening - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: Pure Poppy, Enchanted Evening - Papertrey Ink; VersaMark - Tsukineko
Other: United States Die (available July 15th), First Place Die Collection, White Vintage Button - Papertrey Ink; Foam Tape - Scotch; Cherry Baker's Twine - Divine Twine; Glossy Accents - Ranger; White Detail Embossing Powder - Filigree

Alaska Is For Lovers Frame
Stamps: These United States (available July 15th), Big Ticket Additions (available July 15th), Big Ticket Basics, Polka Dot Basics III - Papertrey Ink
Cardstock: Aqua Mist, Smokey Shadow, Hawaiian Shores - Papertrey Ink; white
Ink: True Black, Hawaiian Shores - Papertrey Ink; VersaMark - Tsukineko
Other: Alaska Die (available July 15th), Instant Photo 1 Die, Big Ticket Basics Die - Papertrey Ink; White Detail Embossing Powder, Clear Detail Embossing Powder - Filigree; Foam Tape - Scotch