More Valentines, 2018 version

I love these unique dies from Altenew and couldn’t stop making flowers:

The layering die (this one is Fantasy Floral, but you bet the others are on my wish list!) comes in three pieces, plus the leaves. I just went wild cutting pieces out of various card scraps, then I matched up colors:

 

I even played around with embossing and tone-on-tone:

These two were cut from some painted background pieces. The one on the left has Nuvo Aqua sparkle; the one on the right has about three layers of clear embossing powder.

Here’s a close-up:

And a white-on-white (one with sparkles, of course):

Have a lovely Valentine’s Day!

I (heart) Valentines!

It’s so close to Valentine’s Day! One of my favorite card making holidays.

Here are a few that will be going out this year:

I’ve always loved these three hearts from Hero Arts. I embossed them on black card stock with Wow! Fluorescent Tickled Pink powder. The grey layer is embossed with athe Swirly Bird Cuttlebug folder. Sentiment from Hero Arts.

Below is a fast and easy card, also a Hero Arts image. (May be an old image?)

As you can see, the heart was stamped and heat embossed (two with white, one with black).

And one more, little wilder:

Also pretty fast and easy. I pulled an ink-splattered background from my stash, stamped this terrific Laurel Burch designed cat (from Stampendous!), added the box of candy (Tim Holtz/Stampers Anonymous Crazy Birds Accessories) and put it all together.

Next post will feature a beautiful die cut floral from Altenew.

Thanks for stopping by!

Fabulous Finds Friday: WOW! Pearly Powder!

Wow, I’ve been having fun playing with WOW! new pearl embossing powder, which is especially effective on dark paper.

Check it out:

I used five different colors here, all pearl: red, violet, green, white and blue. (And don’t you love that big background stamp? Also from WOW!) I stamped the background using VersaMark ink, then sprinkled on the various colors to get the mixed effect.

Here’s a closer look that catches the light:

The piece is mounted on a shimmery blue-ish card. “Happy” (from Technique Tuesday) was die cut twice from a silver shimmer scrap and mounted on top. So easy.

Next, I wanted to try the powders on light card stock — a very different look. I wasn’t crazy about my first attempt:

 

It actually looks better in the photo because the background looks darker (not white) and I let the light reflect, but in reality, it was too faint for me. (In my next post, I’ll show how I used it in another way on lighter card stock.) So I added some watercolor just to see what would happen: (Not my best watercoloring efforts! Sheesh.)

Here’s a detailed look with reflecting light:

I punched the XOXO several times (from a Fiskars punch), stacked the pieces and glued them together using ScraPerfect’s Best Glue Ever. Because I stupidly punched the extra XOXOs from white paper, when they were stacked you could see the white edges. To fix that I colored the edges with a black permanent marker. And of course added that necessary touch of shimmer … black Wink of Stella from Kuretake/Zig. I don’t use the black often, but when I need it, well … )

I’ll have some other experiments in my next post. Thanks for stopping by!

More Topiary Frenzy

In my last post, I went crazy using Vertical Greetings, a nifty new topiary set from Stampin’ Up. I was all about the white embossing on blue.

But had to experiments a bit more, using mostly what was left on my desk.

Still playing with the white embossing:

And trying out two-tone embossing:

(embossed with Ranger’s Lime Green and Tea Rose powders.)

A little different, embossed in gold on vellum:

(Using TapeTastic tape to hide some boo-boos. Not my favorite, but hey, that’s what experimenting is all about!)

And my favorite use, tags:

I stamped the topiary and the sentiment in Ranger’s Wendy Vecchi Archival leaf green, then gold embossed a pot, cut it out and added it on top. This was fast and easy, especially since I had pre-embossed and cut a bunch of pots!

Thanks for sticking with me!

 

 

Fabulous Finds Friday: Pretty Topiary Set

I was attracted to this pretty topiary set (Vertical Greetings) from Stampin’ Up! for two reasons: I love the three topiary designs and I  was intrigued by the vertical greetings.

You know how I work … when I get a new set, I go all out, stamping with wild abandon, playing with different papers, inks, powders … figuring out how it all works. This set is no exception. Here’s what happened in my first play session:

Although my first impulse was to emboss the trees in gold, silver and copper, I soon fell in love with the images embossed in white on blue card stock. I combined the card card stock with some dry embossed pieces I had left over from a previous creative frenzy:

(Cuttlebug Swirls embossing folder)

(Lifestyle (now owned by We R Memory Keepers) Crafts Whimsy embossing folder; all the dry embossed pieces were adhered with Plus Extra Strong Glue Tape.)

(Cuttlebug embossing folder; sequins from Lawn Fawn)

And one more:

Pearls are from Eyelet Outlet.

Stay tuned for more!

 

Fabulous Foiling!

Yes, I am obsessed with foil. I didn’t do a lot of foiling when it first became big because I didn’t have the right tools (including access to a laser printer for printing and foiling).

But my discovery of therm-o-web‘s wide selection of foiling capabilities rocked my world! And I’ve been foil crazy since then.

I started my experimenting by using my Fiskars XOXO punch (see here for more on this punch. My first experiment was to use the punch on  ToW’s adhesive foam. (The adhesive was a tad thick for the punch, but I managed to not mangle it too badly. My foiling was not perfectly smooth, but that’s ok!)

The background was made using Magenta‘s Nuance, a water-soluble powdered coloring agent (similar to Brusho, Ken Oliver’s Color Burst, Cosmo Cricket’s Pixie Paints, etc.) The butterflies were cut from a wonderful new Donna Salazar/Spellbinders die, Cascading Butterflies, then stamped and inked with Ranger Distress Inks (Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral, Peacock Feathers, Shabby Shutters). A light mist of Ranger Perfect Pearls gives them a subtle sheen (hard to see here.)

My favorite so far is therm-o-web’s self-adhesive toner sheets. For this card, I first die cut the Stampin’ Up Rose Garden from the toner sheet, then foiled it (using ToW’s iCraft® foils and a Royal Sovereign laminator.) I cut the leaves off and foiled them separately.

(sentiment by Kaisercraft, gold embossed. Black panel cut using a Spellbinders’ Cele’bration pierced rectangle die)

Never one to toss out a scrap, I used the leftover sheet (the negative left after foiling the rose die) to create this:

(Sentiment by Technique Tuesday).

I’m obsessed, so there are more foiled projects to come! Thanks for stopping by.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Here are a few more Valentines … enjoy! I hope your day is was sweet!

I’m so crazy about Tim Holtz’s Crazy Birds (Stampers Anonymous) and the accessories pack. I’m also crazy about my new *Kuretake Gansai Tambi watercolors (I have six, but now I want more!). What better time to combine these two products?

I started this card by playing around with these delicious watercolors. I used Deep Pink and a touch of Carmine Red to create the background on watercolor paper. The colors are so rich I found myself diluting them with more water to get softer shades.

While the background was drying I stamped the sassy bird on Tim Holtz Watercolor Card stock (smooth side) in VersaFine and painted her with the watercolors. The hat was stamped separately and painted with Distress Ink Fossilized Amber; the rose and the ribbon on the box with more red. (The rose, the ribbon, and the details on the bird were later highlighted with Kuretake’s Wink of Stella Pink and Dark Pink. Oh, how I Wink of Stella!)

I cut the watercolor paper to fit on a tan card, edged it with VersaMark and Judikins’ Egyptian Gold powder (love the sparkle!), and affixed it to the card front. For my last step, I die cut Technique Tuesday’s  adorable *Heart Strings from gold paper scraps and glued them on top. How sweet is this card? Oh yeah … and I stamped the sentiment using *Stampin’ Up’s! Bloomin’ Love set. (You’ll see the coordinating die set used in my earlier Valentine cards here.) The sentiment is perfect for my “gal-entine” cards that went to my BFFs.)

Here’s another version using the same materials (and the other die in the Technique Tuesday Heart Strings set. See how I got some extra hearts?)

One more quick card using the Heart Strings in a different way:

The adorable bird (Love Bird by Cath Edvalson) is also from Technique Tuesday. The sequins are from Lawn Fawn. The sentiment from *Stampin’ Up! Bloomin’ Love. 

 

*These products were generously donated by the companies. See this note.

(This post was written on Feb. 13, but then I lost it all!!! Aaargh. )

Technique Tuesday’s Lovely Camellia

In my last post, I teased a picture of a new stamp from Technique Tuesday’s Greenhouse Designs — the beautiful camellia.

I admit, I went a little camellia crazy… because the flower is so much fun to color and easy to cut out if you want it just as an element.

Here’s my first, very simple, set:

As you can see, I had a great time experimenting with different coloring techniques. I stamped the flower on plain white card stock in VersaMark embossing ink and used black powder to heat emboss. Then I just colored myself silly, experimenting with just about every coloring agent in my desk.

I used a lot of Faber-Castell PITT Artist Big Brushes, scribbling various colors on my plastic palette, then using my water brush to paint in the petals. I also used my VERY old set of LuminArte Sparkling H2Os** (Sunburst, Yellow Rose, Lemongrass and Moss Green for the yellows; Chiffon Pink, Cherry Sorbet and English Lavender for the pinks/purples.) I love the subtle shimmer. (**I’m not sure who is making these anymore, but you can still find them by checking on the internet. These are a water-based, mica-filled dry paint that is activated with water. So yummy.)

When the flowers were dry, I cut them out (the perfect thing to do while watching TV!).

To make the card base, I ran the front of my folded card stock through this beautiful embossing folder from Stampin’ UP/Sizzix, called Softly Falling. (I can’t wait to use this folder as snow on my holiday cards!) I rounded the card corners using a heavy-duty corner rounder.

Then it was just a matter of adhering the flowers to the card base, using foam tape. On some, I added the lovely Wink of Stella clear to get a little sparkle.

I plan to make several sets to give as gifts. (The sentiment is from Technique Tuesday’s new Random Thoughts stamp set, cut with the coordinating Little Labels dies.)

Here’s a close up, showing off the Wink of Stella glimmer:

More camellias to come!

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.

Happy Hannukah!

I’m a day late, but happy Hannukah to those who celebrate this fun Festival of Lights!

This card was so fast and easy to make!
White cardstock was run through a Cuttlebug swirls embossing folder. The Star of David (American Art Stamp) was embossed using Judikins Aegean Silver (one of my favorite silvers), cut out and popped up using foam squares. The little banner was a leftover scrap from another project.

Happy Hannukah!