Paper Smooches Friend

Hello my paper crafting friends. I had the pleasure of working with my friend Laurie in the Paper Smooches stamps booth at CHA last month, and met some of the sweetest and most talented women. The owner and designer, Kim Hughes, started Paper Smooches a year ago, and has a fabulous array of the cutest and most charming whimsical, and geometric images. Since I worked in her booth for a short time, she's generously blessed me with a few of these sets, and I'll be sharing some projects, over time, that I made with them.




I fell in love with the this little tree set called Gently Seasoned (How cute a name is that!!!), the first time I saw it in their booth. I love the variety of leaves, and the charming bare tree. So many possibilities!!

I've also really been enjoying the clean lines of graphic art lately, so I thought I'd start by making a card with the leaf trio branch, and color them three coordinating colors. Now, for me, CAS cards take waaaaaaaay longer to make than Shabby Chic cards with tons of details!! So this collection took some time for me to get it the way I wanted. *sigh*

I included a trio of scored lines along the bottom of the card, and attached a tiny rhinestone to the center of the leaves. (If you click on the photo, the scored lines are much more visible.)



Now, I thought I was done. But then I thought, I had to share the sweet little tree too. Especially since being inspired by the blooming of our fruit trees right now. There are pink blossoms everywhere around here right now. They're so sweet and beautiful. Thus, the inspiration for this little tree using the Gently Seasoned set, as well as the little green oval of grass from the Vogue Abode set. I LOVE mixing and matching images from different sets, and Kim's work beautifully together. The "too kind" sentiment is from the Chit Chat set, and the "let's chat" sentiment is from Vogue Abode.



Now, I mentioned that I love the current graphic design style. But I'm also very vintage at heart. So I made a sweet little lacy box to hold all these cards along with some return address labels and stamps. I used the Labels 11 Grand die (Spellbinders) as my base, and added a couple of 2 1/4" squares to the sides for some stability. All the panels were embossed with a Sizzix Embossing folder. The medallion in the center was made with an Ironwork Accents die (Spellbinders), as well as some SU! Oval and Circle Punches. Lastly, I added some lace and Satin Ribbon (SU!), as well as a PTI button.

That about sums this project up. I hope you'll take the time to check out Paper Smooches. They have a variety of images that will appeal to any taste.

Happy Stamping my friends!!

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Stamps: Gently Seasoned, Vogue Abode, Chit Chat (Paper Smooches)
Paper: PTI
Ink: Onyx Black (Versafine), Tuxedo Black (Memento), French Roast, Sage and Amethyst (a muse)
Accessories: Labels 11 Grand, Long Rectangles and Ironwork Accents dies (Spellbinders), Circle and Oval Punches (SU!), Copics (B93, BV11, YG93), Postage Stamp Border Punch (Fiskars), Rhinestones (Pizzaz Aplenty), Satin Ribbon (SU!), Button (PTI), Embossing Folder (Sizzix), Scor-Buddy