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.

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.

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!

Wow, What a Challenge!

Wow, talk about a personal challenge! Using 10 embellishments on one card? Yowza! I had to do it. The challenge is from Moxie Fab World and did I mention it required me to use 10  — count ’em 10! — embellishments?

Why was this such a challenge? Because I tend to hoard things, saving them them for the “perfect” project. So I broke into my stash of flower embellies and found these cute pressed flowers from Petals & Possibilities that I got a few years ago and never used. (Shame on me!) (Sorry, I couldn’t find a viable web site for the company.) Since I’m into Valentine mode, these heart shaped beauties were the perfect fit.

Take a look:

Here’s the scoop: paper from Bazzill Basics Miss Teagen Sue collection; bird stamp with matching die from Prickley Pear, stamped with Hero Arts Cup O’ Joe, then highlighted with pearlescent chalk from Pebbles;  twill ribbon from Making Memories; baker’s twine from Close to My Heart; pressed flowers from Petals & Possibilities; pearls from Hero Arts.

The Moxie Fab Blog is offering several challenges from Paper Crafts’ new publication, “75 Creative Card Challenges.”

Do check them out! As for me … I’m going to dig out some of my stash and use it with wild abandon!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Tools and more!

I have a few cool things to share today…

How many times have you cut yourself on a craft knife left exposed on your desk or in a drawer? Uh huh. Been there, cut that.

Enter the retractable knife from EK Success.

First, I love that it clicks open and closed. But to make it even better, you don’t have to touch the blade to load or remove it.  Just click the button on the top of the knife to expose the blade and stick it onto a new blade to load it from the nifty case; click again and point into the OTHER end of the case to unscrew the old blade safely. Genius.

I haven’t yet worked much with this tool, the Kellycraft Get-It-Straight Laser Square… but I am intrigued. The L-shaped tool shoots out a little laser light to help keep you on the straight and narrow:

It makes it easy to see a straight line so you can easily line up images, or make sure your sentiment is straight. The light shines through an acryclic block for stamping purposes. Put a cutting mat under it and you can line up a metal-edged ruler and cut away without drawing any lines.

One more find: I love the Miss Teagen Sue collection from Bazzill Basics Paper. I used one of the mini prints on this card:

(bird image with matching die from Prickley Pear Stamps, stamped in Cup O’ Joe Hero Arts ink, bird highlighted with Ranger Gloss Accents; ribbon by Making Memories; baker’s twine from Close To My Heart.)

Thanks for stopping by!

Boo Two

Yowzahs! I made a quick Halloween card today!

The image, from Close To My Heart, was white embossed on white glossy paper. Then I swooshed on Distress Inks peeled paint, marmalade and a touch of lavender. (My lavendar pad is nearly dry, so you can barely see the lavender tint.) I layered it on a piece of black. The sentiment is from the same stamp set. I stamped it on a left over scrap of the inked glossy paper using VersaMark. I knew as soon as I stamped it that the image had slipped. I decided to emboss it anyway… and I kind of liked the double image for the Halloween sentiment! I edged the sides with some black dye ink, then added Ranger Stickles Gunmetal to the bottom. The polka dot paper is from Bazzill Basics Miss Teagen Sue collection; the spidery punch is from Martha Stewart.

Thanks for stopping by!

Using Journaling Cards

I don’t often enter challenges, but this Journaling Cards Challenge in the Moxie Fab World sparked something in me. The challenge was to use scrapbook journaling cards to create something else. I have quite a few of these cards and since I rarely scrapbook, I didn’t really have much use for them. But then I was inspired by the Moxie!

These large cards from Bazzill Basics made me immediately think of a mini book! So I took the eight horizontal ones from the School Days set, added some plain cardstock cut to size, and used my Cinch machine (We R Memory Keepers) to bind them into a book!

(The apple was stamped and embossed in red. I think that’s an old Hero Arts image, but I’m not sure. Everything else is from Bazzill)

Check out one of the inside pages:

Then I cut apart this journaling card ….

To create this card:

(paper is still from Bazzill, Miss Teagen Sue Collection; woman with shades is AB10G from American Art Stamp, embossed in copper powder from EK Success. You can’t see it, but there is a touch of Stickles Diamond in various spots)

You know I can’t stop when I’m on a roll. Here’s something cute from Basic Grey’s Aspen Frost collection:

The papers are from Basic Grey, the ornaments from Heartfelt Creations and embossed in red and teal; sentiment from Hero Arts, die cut using a Lifestyle Crafts die and edged in Ranger Distress Ink Bundled Sage. The tiny pieces of sparkly red thread on the ornaments is from Kreinik.

Really… last one….

Journaling card from Bazzill Basics; “age” sentiment stamped using a small Hero Arts clear alphabet set; blue border is a scrap left over from Die Cuts With a View paper. Edges were distressed and colored with blue pigment ink.

Thanks for coming by!

Fabulous Finds Friday — Random Treats

Well, I’m a little late for Friday … but here are some random treats:

Is it ever too early for Halloween? Not on Friday the 13th! Check out these new All Hallows papers from Bazzill Basics:

Let’s chase the spooky with a swee. Check out these sweet cards from Basic Grey that show off BG’s new summer line being introduced as we speak at the Craft & Hobby Association Show in Chicago:

Ooooh, so pretty!

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Friday Fun — Swap Afoot from Bazzill Basics

Oh, I want to play! Here’s a fun interactive project for cardmakers from Bazzill Basics. A ginormous swap using BB papers and a special starter kit.

Here’s the skinny:

1. Send $5 to cover postage and handling and receive:

• 5 sheets of 8.5×11 Bazzill Card Shoppe cardstock for card makers (cut in half to make a total of ten A2 cards).
• 24-sheets of 6×6 patterned paper in a variety of half-scale designs.

2. Use the goodies to make ten cards for Bazzill’s Wayfarer Card Swap, going on now. Mail in your creations and get ten other cards from swappers.  For more info and to register to play, visit: http://swaps.bazzillbasics.com/ Offer available through July 15, 2012. Patterns and colors may vary. Allow 2 to 3 weeks for shipping.

3.  Mail to: Card Swap Starter Kit, Bazzill Basics Paper, 7001 W. Erie St., Ste. 2, Chandler, AZ 85226.  U.S. addresses only.

Not convinced yet? Check out this pretty card from Tricia Berry:

Oh, why did I wait so long to send in my $5? I want my papers NOW!!!!

Stay tuned for some Fabulous Fun Finds … is it too early to start prepping for Halloween?

Fabulous Finds Friday — Bazzill App Giveaway!

How exciting! My first blog candy to give out! And it’s pretty cool…..

If you have an iPhone and you love Bazzill Basics paper, this is a deal made for you. This cool new app helps you mix and match Bazzill papers anywhere.

Even if you don’t have Bazzill paper to match, you can get excellent color guidance … like a digital color wheel on your phone!

And… drumroll…. I have an app for some lucky blog reader! Just leave a comment by Tuesday and my random selector will pull a name, to be announced Wednesday. 

Here is a card made using Bazzill Basics paper: (Don’t you just love the embossed yellow paper?)

(stamps: Old Dutch text used in flower is Stampers Anonymous; the others are all Hero Arts. The white daisy ribbon is from Making Memories.)

Here is another:

(butterfly, celebrate from Inkadinkado; the cardstock and trim are Bazzill borders. The gold branch is cut using a Sizzix die and the pearls are Hero Arts)

Thanks for stopping by — and don’t forget to comment to win the app!

More info: www.bazzillbasics.com