Winter Whiteboards

Hi everyone! I'm excited to be showing you another Papertrey countdown post! The BIG release is September 15th at midnight EST. Be sure to check out Nichole's BLOG for more release information!

Today I'll be showing you ideas using the Merry & Bright stamp set designed by Melissa Bickford. Melissa has designed a wonderful Christmas tree set with different sizes and sections that gives you the ability to mix and match the patterns and colors. The paper piecing capabilities for this set are endless. So let's see some samples and then I'll show you some tips for paper piecing!

When I last visited Archiver's in Overland Park, Kansas, I was waiting for Jordan in the hallway near the restroom. The employees had made this fun whiteboard using a 12" x 12" photo frame, decorative papers and die cuts. All the design elements go under the glass and then you write on the outside glass just as you would a white board. They clean up great, much better than an actual white board. The idea was fabulous so I'd like to show you my versions of what I'm calling Winter Whiteboards.

Here are my samples all shown together. The larger frame is a 12 x 12 frame that I found at Michael's. It was $20 but was on sale for 30% off. The smaller frame measures 5" x 7" and I purchased mine at Wal Mart for $2.50.
Here's my 12" x 12" Winter Whiteboard. I used a full sheet of 12" x 12" green card stock for the background, similar to Stampin' Up's Old Olive color. The patterned paper is a 12" x 12" sheet of PTI Everyday Blessings paper. If you don't have the 12" x 12" papers, you could easily piece together smaller sections from the 8" x 8" pads that are available now. I backed my paper with a pinking edged decorative paper from Making Memories, available at Archiver's. The textured vinyl stickers are Daiquiri Thickers by American Crafts. Hot cocoa anyone?
And below is a close up of some wonderful trees from the Merry & Bright stamp set. I paper pieced all three trees by stamping the images onto patterned paper and cutting them out. I'll show you how to do that in a little bit. I finished off the frame with a horizontal strip of Papertrey Dark ChocolateTopnotch Twill and then overlayed that with Papertrey's Leaf Ribbon. The little *Holiday Greetings* stamp is also from the Merry & Bright stamp set. And here's my smaller Winter Whiteboard below. I used the same techniques as my larger Winter Whiteboard but switched it up with some glittered chipboard letters and some PTI ribbon loops at the top of my frame. I thought these smaller versions would be perfect for the girls' room to write holiday messages. These smaller Winter Whiteboards will make fabulous gifts for Christmas. There's probably about $5 bucks worth of supplies so they're economical also...saves you $$ for GAS! LOL!! I always think a handmade gift at Christmas time is a wonderful gesture. Perfect for friends, family, teachers, coaches, maybe a doctor's office or secretary, at your desk, a librarian.....and change it up for the seasons too!
And for my last project, I made a matching card, sized 4.25' x5.5". I paper pieced the trees and used leftover supplies from the Winter Whiteboards for embellishments. I added some stitched buttons for a finishing touch.

And here's some of that awesome Ranger Glossy Accents that I like so much. If you add this to your paper pieced projects, it makes the elements look like epoxy stickers. Fun!
Okay, onto the paper piecing tips. Paper piecing is showing up everywhere. There's something about a hand cut element that just pops off a project. Here's how you do it.

Stamp your images onto the paper of choice. I'm using PTI Everyday Blessings patterned paper for these examples. Below is a good photo showing you the stamps in the Merry & Bright stamp set. Some of the trees have separate elements like the one on the left and some are solid trees like the smaller one on the right.

Next, stamp smaller elements onto the trees, like the polka dots I used on the left side. If you are going to be placing your paper pieced items onto like colors of cardstock, a good tip is to shade the stamped image a little bit darker. I'm using a BG10 Copic Sketch Marker for my sample. By adding elements to the stamped images before you cut, you're able to work on a larger surface area and not lose little pieces.
Then start cutting. I use very sharp, very fine tip scissors. My favorite little pair of scissors right now are my Color Bee precision tip scissors from EK Success. For stamped images with straight edges, you simply cut around the images. I like to leave a tiny amount of space between my cut line and the stamped images. Some like to cut right up to the stamped image line though, it's your preference.
Here's the tricky part of paper piecing...cutting INTO small areas. My best tip that I can offer is to cut INTO the spaces with tip of your scissors. Each cut is a single cut with the end tip of the scissors. Keep your scissors parallel with each straight line to get nice, crisp lines that follow the lines of your stamped image. You want your paper pieced embellishment to look like it's a purchased *sticker* of sorts.......not like you're cutting out hearts for the first time in Kindergarten class. Ragged edges do not look nice on your finished projects. :)
Here are three samples below that I did. The first sample has three separate tree sections, stamped on one style of patterned paper. The middle example has three separate tree sections, however I stamped each section onto different styles of patterned paper. And notice the tree top. I was able to tilt the tip to make a funky little tree. That's the great thing about acrylic stamps, they are flexible and you can do fun stuff! For the third example, I stamped my tree sections onto white card stock and cut them out. This gives a more soft, subtle effect. For all of the tree bases, I used a rectangle tree trunk stamp from the Merry & Bright set. One more tip I have to offer is to pop up your paper piecing with pop dots. The raised areas create a fun focal point on your projects and really make your images stand out.

I know you will LOVE the Merry and Bright set this holiday season. The possibilities of designs are endless and I know you'll have fun mixing and matching the patterns.