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Happy Easter

This beautiful card features an image, sentiment and die from Taylored Expressions Cottontail Wishes Stamp and Die Combo, which cleverly includes five other, non-seasonal greetings (Miss You, Happy Everything, Hello There, Celebrating You and Welcome Little One) so that you can use it all through the year, for everything from birthdays to babies to “just because” cards! The sweet bunny was stamped on Northwoods Watercolor Paper (not available online, but there’s plenty in stock!) and watercolored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens (we’ve got 101 colors!). The sentiment was stamped separately and diecut with Penny Black Ribbon Stackers.

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Flowers in February

We won’t be seeing flowers in our gardens for a bit yet, alas, but we can see them in our craft rooms right now! Thanks to Taylored Expressions Sketchbook Florals Stamps and Dies.

These cards were made by stamping the Sketchbook Florals on Northwoods Watercolor Paper, then colored using Tombow Dual Brush Pens and a waterbrush to get the soft, ethereal look of a watercolor painting.

The Sketchbook Florals set has useful sentiments in typewriter + script fonts, which work beautifully on their own; but also pair well with Taylored Expressions Field Notes Stamp Set, which contains the dotted grid and interlocking diamonds. Other items featured here include Taylored Expressions’ Gingham Check Background and Rough Draft graph, as well as Penny Black’s super-useful Antique Frame nested die set.

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Amazing Paper Glaze

Golden Rose Paper Glaze; Dare 2B Artzy Get Well Stamp Set and Layer Die; Stencil from Newton’s Nook;

Picket Fence Studios’ Paper Glaze comes in sixteen vibrant, shimmery colors: Leaf Green, Succulent Green, Fern Green, Jade Vine, Ocean Poppy, Cornflower Blue, Agapanthus Purple, Boysenberry Violet, Peony Pink, Marigold Orange, Golden Rose, Daffodil Yellow, Brown Dahlia, Artemisia Silver, Black Pansy and Snowdrop White.

Brown Dahlia Paper Glaze; A New Leaf Stencil from Taylored Expressions; Wendy Vecchi Bravo Stamp, Die and Stencil Set

Paper Glaze is a smooth, creamy medium used to create texture and shimmer. Use on your paper projects by pushing through a stencil, dabbing onto die-cuts and/or a stamped image, or watering down to use as watercolor or wash.

Fern Green Paper Glaze; sentiment from D2BA Get Well Stamp Set; Altenew Woven Stencil; flower is an old Penny Black Stamp

Best used with 100 lb. or thicker cardstock. Fast drying medium. Drying time varies with climate and thickness of application. Paper Glaze is a permanent product. Do not use with Life Changing Blender Brushes. Be sure to clean tools, surfaces, and stencils quickly after use.

Paper Glaze colors: Daffodil Yellow for the petals; Leaf Green mixed with Marigold for the brown centers; Leaf Green leaves; Glazes spread selectively through LDRS’ Sunflower Stencil with a palette knife onto My Colors Kraft Cardstock

Techniques to try with Paper Glaze: Mixing colors to create unique shades; Adding ink before applying glaze to change hues; Dropping alcohol ink on top of dried Paper Glaze; Blending dye ink or watercolor over dried Paper Glaze; Adding to glitter cardstock.

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Holiday Card Swap Reveal

The annual Paper Anthology Christmas Card Swap is always a lot of fun, as well as an amazing source of inspiration. Still working on your own cards? Here are some awesome ideas to spur you on! Cards are in displayed in alphabetical order because there’s no way anyone could choose a “favorite”! ♥ (PS: Want to participate in next year’s swap? Subscribe to the newsletter so you’ll see the sign up –and all other special events– the minute they’re announced!)

Betty’s Card featuring Tim Holtz’s Snarky Cat Christmas

Duke’s Card
Elisabeth’s Card featuring Penny Black Artful Evergreens, Christmas Feeling and Vintage Postcard
Gail’s Card featuring Taylored Expressions’ Frosty Background Cling and Clear Combo and Winter Wishes Sentiments
June’s Card
Linda S’s Card featuring Spellbinders Cinch and Go Poinsettias
Sam’s Card
Wendy’s Card
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Customer Spotlight: Michelle DeSaro

We absolutely *LOVE* seeing what our friends are making, and during the Paper Anthology 9th Anniversary Celebration we were treated to a huge helping of incredible eye candy! (Visit the PA FaceBook Page and scroll back a bit to see for yourself!) Michelle DeSaro made some especially inspiring cards; including this amazing cross-stitched Christmas! (Because YES, she really did stamp, diecut and hand stitch that entire jaw-dropping A2-sized Taylored Expressions Buffalo Plaid background!)

This stunning autumnal card has it all: beautiful coloring, just the right amount of inking, and fabulous composition. (Just look at those Sunny Studios Pretty Pumpkins perfectly placed in the “V” of the pennant!)

How lovely is the soft hand-drawn effect attained with Art Impressions’ Watercolor Clay Pot Set? And then the card is finished with elegant details like the punched and rounded corners.

You really need to look at this lovely Christmas card to see how many elements have been cleverly layered: a two-color wreath with sentiment stamped on top; layered onto a doily, with a velvet bow; all of which perfectly match the softly patterned paper and coordinating cardstock, with inked and faux stitched edges.

The mice from Lawn Fawn’s A Creature Was Stirring set are always adorable, but Michelle has made them even cuter by coloring them perfectly and then added plenty of diecut accessories to surround the window on this super-sweet shaker card.

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NEW Stampers Anonymous (and more!)

Behold the Tim Holtz Christmas Door, featuring EIGHT new Stampers Anonymous holiday sets! New arrivals include Snarky Cat Christmas, Holiday Scenes, Vintage Holidays and lots more, plus we have some lovely new TH holiday stencils. To make it easier to find all of the above quickly, there’s now a New In Store category, right up top in the online shop, so you can find the “latest and greatest” with just one click. Meanwhile, the Tiles for Miles Class in a Kit has been restocked (in a limited quantity), as has the super-popular Taylored Expressions Tool Tray, just in case you missed either of those the first time. Thanksgiving is next week, so Paper Anthology’s Kenvil store will be closed on Thursday; but open Black Friday 5-9pm and 10-5 on Small Business Saturday. (PS: there might be one or two in-store specials on Friday and Saturday… just sayin’…)

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Driving Home for the Holidays

Leave it to Lawn Fawn: not only did they make an adorable set called Car Critters, which features bears who drive; they also configured it to work with the Reveal Wheel system courtesy of a windshield-shaped Reveal Wheel Add-On Die. And then… they made a Christmas Add-On Stamp Set with super-cute reindeer at the wheel!

Lauren used the MISTI to position and stamp all of the images on one layer of card stock. First the car, then the deer, then the antlers. Each element was given a “basecoat” of its lightest color with Tombow Dual Brush Pens, and shading added with colored pencils. There are, of course, coordinating Christmas Car Critter Dies, but in this case the image was fussycut right at the outlines.

Lauren used older dies, punches and patterned paper to make a landscape, but there are lots of options for making a scene, like Dare 2B Artzy’s Curve Slimline Border Dies which has several styles of hills, plus clouds and more; Sunny Studios’ Comic Strip Everyday Die Set, Taylored Expressions’ Grassy Hills or Hero Arts’ Winter Pines. Or pair up with other Lawn Fawn sets, such as All the Clouds, Snow Globe Scenes, Meadow Backdrop. Alternatively, you could choose the low-maintenance option of landscape-inspired pattered paper like Dare 2B Artzy’s Snow Much Fun or Ciao Bella’s Northern Lights.

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Yeti or Not

Taylored Expressions’ Mythical Grumplings are not yet the official mascot of 2020, but maybe they should be? Somewhat improbable, distinctly irritable, and it’s hard not to be just a tiny bit worried about what they might be planning next. On the other hand LOOK. HOW. CUTE! This card by Lauren Bergold is stamped in Ranger Archival Ink, colored with Tombow Dual Brush Pens and shaded with Polychromos Pencils from Faber-Castell.

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Sharing some cards

Last week, Paper Anthology held out first virtual crop:  Creation Staycation.  It was a week long event, with tons of challenges, trivia and Prizes.  I’m excited to say, it was a huge success, with over 300 challenge entries!  We had such a blast looking through everyone’s gorgeous creation! I thought I would share a few of my cards from the challenges:

This card was for the Monochrome Madness challenge.  Of course, I chose GREEN.  All dies used are from Dress My Crafts:


 

This card was for the Distress background challenge.  Lots of inky goodness with Ranger Distress inks and a fun flower die set from Taylored Expressions:

 

This card was for the one layer (CAS) challenge.  I used the Taylored Expressions square stencils for the background.  The beautiful flower image is from Penny Black .  All inks used, for blending and watercoloring are mini ink cubes from Taylored Expressions:

 

Thanks for stopping by!!!

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So Thankful

Sharing a card from the anniversary party make and take that’s just perfect for the current challenge at Shopping our stash – something related to Thanksgiving, being grateful or a thank you somewhere on the project.  The image and sentiment is from Taylored Expressions – colored in with Polychromos pencils.  The gingham background stamp is from Studio 490, stamped with fern green archival ink.  The letters are die cut using my old school Quick Kutz squeeze (I LOVE this tool) and stamped with a woodgrain background stamp from Stampers Anonymous.

 

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

~elisabeth