Easy Ombre Card

As noted in my last post, I’ve been playing with Hero Art’s new Ombre ink pads, which I love. These tri-colored pads are great for adding interest to one-layer cards, giving a quick burst of color with little effort.

Here’s another one:

This was so quick and easy it’s almost embarrassing.

First I took a piece of Post-it® tape, tore the edges, and created a mask:

I then brayered over the card front using Hero Arts’ Ombre Pink to Red and Butter to Orange.

Here’s what I got when I pulled off the mask:

Cool, eh?

Then I simply stamped the bicycle and the sentiment in VersaMark black. I made several blank ones to be used later when I need more specific cards. (Both stamps from Ken Oliver Crafts.)

Thanks for coming back!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Double Whammy!

I have two Fabulous Finds today, and they complement each other like stamps and ink. The inks made it easy to create some quick cards.

First, I am in love with the images from Altenew stamps — they are so fresh and different. (I’ll soon be showing off some more of theirs stamps, including a nifty vintage rose stamp that makes me swoon.)

The second great find won’t really be a surprise to anyone who follows Hero Arts, but this is the first chance I’ve had to play with the new Ombre ink pads.

Let’s start with this adorable Halftone Hello set from Altenew. I wanted to make some fast and easy one layer cards, and pairing the hello stamps and the ombre inks was a natural fit. (I really love the half-tone hello.)

OK, I admit it, it was a little TOO flat and boring, even with rounded corners. So I added some Doodlebug Sprinkles to give it a little zing.

Much better.

But …. could layering improve it? Always!

So, two simple and fast cards. The inks I used were Hero Arts ombre pink to red, butter to orange, mint to green and grey to black (I used VersaFine black for the first card because I wanted the Hello to stand out.)

Thanks for stopping by! Stay tuned for more Altenew news.

You Saw the Beginning … with Avery Elle

In my last post, I showed my first experiments using Avery Elle’s nifty Custom Panels die set, which has so many possibilities!

Here are more finished cards:

To finish this top-folding card I stamped and embossed (in white) two flowers and a butterfly (both from Stampendous!). One flower was stamped on vellum, the other flower and the butterfly were stamped on a patterned paper from Bazzill Basics. They were adhered with Tombow Power Adhesive Tags, which I like because they are clear and not too thick. I stamped Celebrate! in the lower right hand corner using black ink. A little Ranger Diamond Stickles was the finishing touch.

This one was fun to build. The thank you sentiment is from Technique Tuesday’s Smile Borders (A fun set that I will soon be using with a pull-tab die!), stamped in Marvy #12 grey ink (an oldie but still one of my faves). The flowers were punched using Tonic Studios flower punches on scrap cardstock and the leaves are from a new Tim Holtz/Sizzix punch. I just punched and layered, adding tiny Candy Fix and Stix 2 foam squares for dimension. I added some Ranger gold Liquid Pearls to some of the flowers, which I regret (although it looks a bit better in person than in the photo.)

Here’s the last of that batch! Whew! And a very simple card, indeed. Using a Spellbinders Rose Creations die, I cut the three smallest petal shapes, plus the leaves, from the Core’dinations Gemstones paper, held them together with a brad from Eyelet Outlet, and attached to the card using Pop Up Glue Dots.

Bear with me … just two more cards

First, I gold embossed on scrap paper, then cut three pieces using the pie shaped die. I stacked the pieces on the left side of the card. Ad a sentiment (Hero Arts) and bam! Done!
The chevrons are from Lawn Fawn backdrops, the text from Hero Arts Old Letter stamp. I believe the sentiment is also Hero Arts.

Last one:

First, I die cut a piece from white scrap paper using the Avery Elle curved die, then dry embossed it with a Cuttlebug pattern. (Tip: Die cut first so you don’t flatten out the dry embossed portion when you run the piece through the die cutting machine.) The balloon animal and sentiments are alsofrom Avery Elle. The balloon animal was stamped in a denim blue, fussy cut, and popped up with foam squares. The embellishment pieces were die cut with that same Avery Elle die and glued randomly.

That’s a lot of dies in one package! Check it out.

Fabulous Finds Friday — Avery Elle

I have a cool new die set, called Custom Panels, from Avery Elle.
I love the versatility of this set!

There are so many possibilities! (I won’t bore you with the details, which are on the Avery Elle site. Also, check out this terrific video by the set designer, JJ Bolton.)

Now, let’s play. The first thing I do when I get a new die (or stamp!) is to use it, IMMEDIATELY. (They don’t call me the impatient crafter for nothing!). With dies, I have to cut something … STAT! I usually start by cutting whatever scrap paper I have hangin’ around. I like to get a feel for what these dies can do.

So that’s what I did here. I hesitated about posting this photo, but in the interest of honesty, I have to show the good, the bad and the ugly.

Anyway, here are my two early experiments.

I started by cutting the curved shape in various ways, then piecing them together. The scallopy-looking card was made using the little pie-shaped pieces. Just gettin’ a feel for the dies ….

I played around more with the pie-shaped piece … :

… first cutting four times into my card front. Ugh — despite the little cross-shaped alignment piece, I did NOT get these straight!
So I tried again, this time cutting the pieces and gluing them on top of my card front:

(the banner die is also from the set)

Next I went crazy with printed, patterned vellum (from a long-ago Hot Off The Press pack). Check out the random shapes:

After admiring the shapes, I turned them into cards:

The medallion is from Spellbinders’ Shapeabilities S5-114. I haven’t used this for a long time and had forgotten how pretty it is. I used the small and medium medallion, cutting them from Core’dinations Black Magic Core Basics paper. This die works best with two-sided paper. The die has little flaps you fold back, showing the underside. So clever! The smaller top piece was attached using Therm O Web 3D foam Squares, topped with a Hero Arts flower gemstone. The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday “say it happy.” To keep the flap down on the card, I used a bit of double sided Copic X-Press It Tape, which worked quite well with the vellum.

Come back tomorrow for the rest of the finished cards!

Thanks for stopping by.