Fabulous Finds Friday — Spellbinding Dies

I have become obsessed with die cutting lately. And who wouldn’t be with all the cool shapes available? So today’s Fabulous Find is a stack of dies from Spellbinders, which recently won accolades at the Craft and Hobby Association winter show — and for good reason.
(see some of my earlier posts here.)

The new Imperial Gold Collection (they cut, emboss, stencil and deboss) and 3D M-Bossabilities™ Folders (deep, deep embossing)are such fun … but I digress.
Check out this fun card made with Spellbinders’ Exquisite Circles S4-384:

Looks pretty good, even though this was my “practice” card, made while just playing around to see what it would do!

Here’s a close-up:

And a look at the dies:

I’ll be back next week with more delicious dies. And watch for my CHA Hot List article coming soon on the Crafts ‘n things website. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Stamping by the Numbers

In this post I showed you a messy embossed card that I burned by over-zealous heat embossing (grin.)

I had to try again, this time with better success:

Much better!
(Hero Arts Number Pattern CG516; American Crafts’ Zing! embossing powders Neon Green, Grapefruit, Lilac; sentiment: Hero Arts small letters set; paper by Stampin’ Up!; paper clip from Studio Calico.)

Flipin’ for Flipits on Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

I have flipped for the new Flip-it dies from Stephanie Barnard and Sizzix. I’ve been making these like crazy because they are so easy and so flippin’ cute! (So cute, in fact, it should be a Fabulous Finds Friday)

Check it out:

Here’s the front of the card.

OK, it’s cute, but so what? But look how the center swings when you open the card:

And the inside:

Is that fun or what?

Wishing you much love on Valentine’s Day. Thanks for stopping by.

More Valentines

A day away from Valentine’s Day … I’m having fun using several of the new items shown at the Craft & Hobby show.

(Like these new Thinlet dies from Sizzix)

This card was so random. It began because I was playing with some new Thinlet dies from Sizzix… you know how that goes.
So here’s how it happened: I tore open my new package of Sizzix Thinlits dies (658952), grabbed some paper scraps (from the Paper Source) and played. The scraps hung around my desk for a while until the teal cardstock magically appeared next to it. Then I had to play with the new glitter cardstock from American Crafts, and since I needed Valetine cards, I dug out a VERY old Sizzix die (one of the first dies I bought.)
Here’s a close-up of the heart:

The sentiment (Hero Arts) was white embossed, then cut using a Spellbinders Labels die. I edged it in blue, but didn’t like that so added Stampendous! Pearl Lustre Moonstone powder. The arrow (from the same Sizzix set) was dabbed with Tsukineko gold Delicata ink.

One more:

The red heart is from another new American Crafts glitter stock (this one corrugated, yum!); the bottom heart was stamped with an old Hero Arts heart and sprinkled with Judikins Aegean Silver glitter (love the look of that.) The gold heart is from scrap paper. The die cut hearts used that old Sizzix die. Sentiment from Paper Source, cut using a Spellbinders Labels 8 die; ribbon from Creative Imagination.

I’ll have one more Valentine card tomorrow, also featuring a new, unique die. Thanks for stopping by.

*disclaimer — several of these items were provided by the manufacturer.

Hearts and Flowers

Can’t stop making Valentines!

Paper from Bazzill Basics; hearts (embossed with white powder) from Elusive Images; sentiment (stamped in Soft Leaf) by Hero Arts; embellishments are random pieces from my stash. This card actually came together rather quickly.

Have a great week!

Hearts and Flowers

Another little Valentine’s Day card:

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The resist technique is the same I used for a previous post (white emboss text, then using a reverse mask to ink over the text). Bazzill Basics paper; Hero Arts text and sentiment stamps; Fiskars heart punches; ColorBox chalk ink.

Yay! It’s Time for Valentines

Yay! It’s almost Valentine’s Day … close enough to post some V-Day cards. I love making Valentines. I don’t know what it is, but this is my favorite card-making holiday. Here’s what I’ve been working on:

The resist technique is an oldie but goodie, but I was inspired by a video from Jennifer McGuire for Hero Arts. Check it out. Stamps are all from Hero Arts. The numbers background was stamped using

VersaMark

and embossed in white. I used some

Fiskars

heart punches to create a stencil, then inked over with Hero Arts soft inks.

Next is a card using a beautiful and intricate heart die from Hero Arts:

The background was made with a

Cuttlebug

embossing folder.

And a somewhat different take using the same die:

The paper is from BasicGrey and the scallop border punch is from Stampin’ Up!.

We still have a few days left before Valentine’s Day, so stay tuned for more cards.
Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — and a Tip

I am loving all the dies that match stamps! Although I rather enjoy cutting out images (it’s a great mindless activity to do while watching TV or talking on the phone!) it’s kind of cool to be able to just have a die do all the work, especially around scalloped edges.

So here’s my Fab Find today: stamps and dies from Stephanie Barnard.
Plus a little tip at the end!

First, two cards made from the Birthday Cake set:

Paper: BazzillBasics Miss Teagen Sue; Cake inked in Stephanie Barnard Guava; celebrate inked with Hero Arts Wet Cement and edged using Imagine Crafts daubers; Prima flower; KaiserCraft rhinestone; Making Memories trim; Ranger Liquid Pearl silver dots on cake.

And since I had a piece of scrap leftover, I made this one:

Same ingrediants, plus Judikins Aegean Silver embossing powder on heart; Martha Stewart punch.

One more:

Bazzill paper; Stephanie Barnard stamps, inks, dies.

Here’s the trick …. I punched out the strip, but it wasn’t long enough. So I simply pieced it together:

…hiding the “join” under the sentiment.

Thanks for stopping by! Are you ready for some Valentine cards? Coming up!