A Thrill of Hope

I'm back today with a pair of cards that are *almost* identical. I had the two "gift/present" die cuts already put together that never got used last year, so I decided to take some time to put them to good use! 

I cut the base and lid of the gifts using a pad of holiday pattern paper using the Perfect Present Die. The bow portion is cut from Antique Gold cardstock from the Cardstock Warehouse. I used liquid glue and foam squares to attach everything. I think I was planning on making a pair of tags last year, but I can't remember for sure.

For both backgrounds, I used a retired stencil from The Greetery. This particular stencil has really precise and delicate pieces, so I used Pixie Spray on the back of the stencil. It can leave sticky residue, but it's easily removed with a quick swipe of an Adhesive Eraser. I definitely needed the eraser for both backgrounds, but it's worth it for the precise lines that are achieved when  using the purple spray on the back of intricate stencils. I trimmed both panels to measure 4 by 5 1/4 inches and rounded the corners on one of the panels.

I layered the stenciled panels onto A2 top-folding card bases using foam squares. I also added the gifts that were ready to go using additional foam squares.

The greenery and foliage is cut mainly using the Into the Blooms: Swag Die but I did pull in a few other pieces I had already made that were laying in my "leftover" pile.

I arranged everything around the gifts using foam squares and liquid glue until I was satisfied with the placement. The sentiment, which is from the Just Sentiments: Heaven and Nature Sing mini stamp set, is heat embossed in gold on Stormy Sea cardstock and then cut using one of the dies included in the Hold That Thought Die.

Now, if the gifts weren't already assembled, I would have threaded the cord for the little tag around the bow, but since they were already glued down, I simply arranged it over the bow as best as I could.

I added glitter and a trio of sparkling clear sequins to finish off the two cards. This was a really fun project to work on and I was thrilled to use those two neglected die cuts. Thanks for fluttering by!

 

Have a Holly {JOLLY} Christmas

 Hello and welcome, friends! I hope you're having a wonderful week! I've been having the best time creating and crafting, getting in the Christmas spirit! I love this time of year and wish I could savor it a bit longer; it seems to go by in a flash!

My card for today is based on a store-bought Christmas card I had saved in my Christmas inspiration folder. The reason why I am particularly drawn to the card is because of its colors, clean design, and I knew it would be loads of fun to put together!  It became a scavenger hunt as I shopped my stash to find just the right elements to bring it to life!

To begin, I used two different alphabet die sets for the letters; Kelly Alpha Uppercase and Heather Uppercase for the pink L. These appear to be discontinued, but they are the ones that worked the best to recreate the look of the inspiration piece. I cut the J from More Mustard (SU!) cardstock, the O and the Y from Forest cardstock from Cardstock Warehouse, the pink L is Lovely Lady from PTI, and the other L is Pure Poppy, also from PTI. I cut all of them twice with the exception of the green ones because that cardstock is incredibly heavy, so it didn't need any reinforcement. I wanted sturdy pieces and the double-thickness did the trick!

Once the letters were all cut, I got to work on each of the tiny elements and details that are included. The holly and berries are from the Curio: Attic Ornaments Die as well as the little bows on the ornament and the tiny gift, and the red "sparkle". I cut the leaves from New Leaf and Pure Poppy cardstock, both from PTI. I didn't have a gift die that was small enough, so I simply cut a tiny box from the same New Leaf cardstock and added the red bow using liquid glue.

The little sparkles and dots are from assorted die sets: the sparkles (besides red) and the dots are from the Build--a-Christmas Tree Die as well as the ornament and ornament topper. The tree and star are from the Winter Globes: Believe Die.  The bow at the top was an add-on (the inspiration piece did not have bow, but a flower that I couldn't replicate) and was cut using the Wrap-it Ribbons Die from Lovely Lady cardstock.

Once I had all of the letters and details ready to go, it was time to assemble the card. I tried the Press n-Seal technique, which has never failed me before, but it didn't work with this card so I just did everything with as much precision as possible using tweezers to help. I cut an oval from vellum using the Love to Layer: Ovals Die and placed everything using tiny bits of foam tape and liquid glue. Once it was all done, I gave it a spritz of Shimmer Spray-Sparkle. I also gave the bows, ornament, star and holly berry a tiny gem for added sparkle.

Once I had everything glued and in place, I realized it was off-center! Eeek! I decided to balance it out by adding a trio of sparkling clear sequins. I really didn't want to do that, but it was the only way to fix it without ruining the entire thing! The original card was very white and CAS, but I chose to bring my own style to the project and layered it on a piece of floral holiday paper. I simply turned the oval over and strategically added foam squares where they were directly underneath and attached it to the floral paper and card base. 

I love how it this card came out and now I can get it out of my head! ha ha! Thanks for fluttering by!

May the Holiday Spirit Find a Home in Your Heart

Hello friends! It's December, it snowed the other day, and things are starting to feel festive! I mentioned in my last post that I was going to see The Nutcracker....it was absolutely magical and the perfect start to the Christmas season! I'm ready to feel all the holiday feelings that are so warm and wonderful!

My card for today evokes these same sentiments, so let's get started!

To begin, I cut the leaf background twice using the Cover Plate: Lush Foliage Die and then glued them together with liquid glue. Once that was done, I added New Leaf and Garden Green (SU!) ink over the top using blender brushes. My original idea was to layer this over plaid pattern paper, but instead, I created a stenciled panel. In the end, it's hard to see the stenciling, so if I did it over again, I'm not sure if I would do that again! ha ha!

I used the Holly Berries Stencil Collection on an A2 panel of Vellum White paper from Cardstock Warehouse (it is a very lightweight blush paper). I used the same colors as I did on the Cover Plate with the addition of Scarlet Jewel ink for the berries. I glued the leaf portion over the top using liquid glue and then spritzed it with Shimmer Spray-Sparkle.

I cut a bunch of holly and berries using the Into the Blooms: Swag Die from white cardstock and colored them with the same ink as the background to keep everything cohesive. I added the berries here and there using liquid glue. In the end, I felt it need some added detail, so I grabbed a few leftover berries I had from THIS project. At this point, I didn't have any additional ideas as to the direction of this card, so I toyed around with a few ideas, but in the end settled on adding the heart. 

I die cut the heart twice using the Elegant Heart Die and glued them together. The heart was competing with the background, so I adhered it to a strip of vellum using foam squares and then added liquid glue to back of the vellum where the heart would hide it, and adhered it to the background.

I decided to search through my sentiments to find something that was Christmas-y and talked about a heart....BINGO!  I used the Winter Globes Sentiments Mini Stamp Set with gold embossing powder and then cut it using one of the dies included in the Hold That Thought Die. I love the gold on the Scarlet Jewel cardstock! I placed it in the center of the heart and then added a BOW. You all know I have a weakness for using tiny houses and since the sentiment was practically begging me to use one, I added it to the bottom.

I had one leftover in the storage sleeve for the Bring Home the Holidays Die and then I cut a heart from Pale Peony ink using the Larger Than Life: Home Die. I gave it a coating of Glossy Accents. I added some glitter to the berries, leaves, and bow and attached the entire background panel to a top-folding A2 card base using liquid glue. My next project needs to be to add inside greetings to ALL of my Christmas cards! I know I should do it when I create them, but unfortunately I don't! ha ha! Thanks for fluttering by!

 

Warm Holiday Wishes

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I'm headed to The Nutcracker this afternoon with my mom, sister, daughter, and her boyfriend so I thought it would be fitting to share this card with you today! To begin, I cut a 5 by 7 piece of Weathervane cardstock and embossed it using the beautiful Merry Moments 3D Embossing Folder. When I bought this particular folder a few months ago, I didn't realize it was 5 by 7, but it works well with the amount of flowers I chose to use and the tall nutcracker. I added some Stormy Sea and black ink around the edges and over the raised embossed portions to give it some added depth.

I cut quite a few poinsettias in varying sizes using the Into the Blooms: Poinsettia Die from white cardstock and then colored them with ink and blender brushes. I layered and glued them using both liquid glue and foam squares. I inked up the four leaves from the same die set and set those aside.

I die cut all of the pieces that I would need for the nutcracker using the Lovely Layers-Nutcracker Die. 

The pictures are washing the poor guy out a bit, but his skin is a peachy color and his hair and beard are cream. This is the first time I have used or assembled this nutcracker, so I learned that the base layer should be the color you want his hair and pants. I initially thought it would be the color of his face, so I went with peach, so now this dapper fellow is wearing peach pants! ha ha! He DID have peach hair, but I decided to cut the top portion again to give him the cream hair and just glued it to the base.

I adhered the poinsettias and leaves using foam squares and then secured the nutcracker in the middle using a double-stack of foam squares. I added some white acrylic paint splatter and then got to work on the sentiment.

For the sentiment, I chose an older one from Honey Bee Stamps that I bought a few years ago and haven't used yet called Home For the Holidays. I heat embossed it with gold powder and then cut it using the coordinating Home for the Holidays Honey Cuts. I secured it to the card front using foam squares. Each of the flower centers got a gem and then I also added a trio of sparkling clear sequins. It was looking just a bit bare, so I turned to my leftovers pile and found some bits of foliage that I tucked here and there. I gave it a spritz of shimmer spray and called it done! 

Thanks for fluttering by!

 

Project Inspiration {Tis the Season for Peace}

Hello friends! I shared this Project Inspiration on the Papertrey Ink Blog last week, but I also wanted to share it here to give some additional tips and tricks I used to create this card. I was inspired by a snow globe I saw that had a plaid base, so that was the springboard for this design. I also have missed some of my favorite previously released products, so it's always fun to pull those out again and put them to use!

I combined two of the Winter Globes dies to bring this card to life: Winter Globes Die and the Winter Globes: Believe Die along with some other stamps and dies!

Here's a quick look at steps 1-6 (there's actually 7, but it messed up the grid) and I will walk you through each step.

Step 1: Use the Fanciful Snowflakes Hot Foil Plate and silver foil on a panel of Ocean Tides cardstock measuring 4” x 5 1/4”.

Step 2: Use a corner rounder punch for all 4 corners and attach to a white card base using foam squares.

Step 3: Cut the base of the snow globe from pattern paper and antique gold. Cut it again twice from Soft Stone cardstock and glue everything together.

Step 4: Cut all of the pieces for the scene from White card stock and color them with blender, brushes and dye ink. Assemble using liquid glue and foam squares. Add some white ink splatter.

Step 5: Cut all foliage and berries using the Into the Blooms: Swag Die from white cardstock. Color them like the other elements and spritz with fossilized amber distress oxide spray. Attach to snow globe with foam squares and liquid glue.

Step 6: Cut the Peace sentiment twice; once from antique gold card stock and once from White. Glue them together and attach to the snow globe using liquid glue. Heat emboss the companion sentiment on a strip of vellum using silver powder. Attach it to the snow globe using strategically placed liquid glue on the back of the embossing.

Step 7: spritz with shimmer spray and add glitter. 

Some other details to note: this particular pattern paper that I used on the globe is a craft smart North Pole Mail pad of paper. The plaid was just a small strip on one of the pieces, so I used washi tape to line up the bottom portion of the globe on the paper.

The rock candy glitter is more like sugar and doesn't have a lot of sparkle, but I love the frosted, snowy look it gives my projects.

This hot foil plate is one of my favorites because it doesn't need a high heat or a long time to heat and it always gives me great results!

I didn't want to wrap the vellum strip around the entire background panel, so I simply added some liquid glue to the back of the vellum behind the embossed portion for an invisible adhesion.

Thanks for fluttering by!

Let Us Give Thanks For All Our Blessings {Happy Thanksgiving}

Happy Thanksgiving, friends! I hope you all have a wonderful day surrounded by those you love! I have a card to share with you today featuring a potpourri of different collections from The Greetery. I didn't use the Hint of Autumn release nearly enough, so that came into play, and I never did put the Christmas Market collection away, and of course the Christmas Gallerie collection has just stolen my heart!

Last week Betsy gave us all a tip: get some wood cardstock and do some embossing! Yes, Ma'am! I got straight to work recreating the same embossing combination she used, but I used some Cherry Wood Veneer  cardstock, but the type she used is on its way to my home!

I was awe-struck by the beautiful results of the cards and projects she shared with the wood paper and embossing. This particular veneer cardstock has a tendency to bow, so I glued it to panels of Kraft cardstock before I did the die cutting and embossing. This helped SO MUCH and helped keep the paper flat.

To begin, I cut a capsule frame using the Capsule Basics Die with the new Capsule Basics Stencil as my guide to get perfect results! I am so glad The Greetery is offering this collection fo stencils because it's going to help me out tremendously when I use anything that goes along with the capsule shaped stamps and dies. Once it was cut, I used the Rosemal Reflections Embossing Folder to give it the beautiful detail. I used a blender brush and  Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide Ink to brush over the raised areas.

I followed the same steps for the outer frame, but used the Shortbread Shapes: Snowflake Die and Shortbread Shapes: Snowflake Embossing Folder. Once the two frames were cut, embossed, and colored with ink, I DID add just a touch of vintage photo distress ink to the edges. 

I cut the Filigree Border from Antique Gold cardstock as well as all of the other gold details; like the Hang it Up Die details and the stem of the Pumpkin. The sentiments are stamped in gold pigment ink and all are from the Thankful and Blessed Stamp Set. 

You can see some of the beautiful embossed details in this photo....I am so happy I have such beautiful products to create with!

The leaves were created by first stenciling the base of each leaf using the Autumn Herbarium Stamp + Stencil. Once that was done, I used the Autumn Herbarium Die to cut the leaves out. I opted not to do any of the stamped details, but rather kept everything light and airy. I placed them one by one into the Autumn Herbarium Embossing Folder picking and choosing which pieces I wanted to use.I tucked them behind the pumpkin here and there until I was satisfied with the arrangement. I spritzed it with shimmer spray-sparkle and added some Rocky Candy glitter to the leaves and pumpkins. I covered up the main portion of the sentiment with a sticky note and then added some vintage photo distress ink splatter for additional interest and detail.   The final addition is an antique gold bow placed at the bottom of the pumpkin using the Regency Bow No. 1 Die.  I created a card base placing the shortbread die on the fold of the die and added the entire panel using liquid glue.

Happy Thanksgiving and thank for fluttering by!

The Greetery {Nordic Christmas Greetings}

 

Hello and welcome, friends! I'm here today sharing a pair of Christmas cards inspired by an ad that kept popping up in my feed! Does that ever happen to you? While most ads might be annoying, I think we’re all pretty used to them by now. Every once in a while, I will get an ad for something that inspires me either from the color scheme, layout, etc. This particular ad kept popping up so I took the hint and ran with the inspiration! Ha ha!

My algorithms seem to know I’m heavily involved in the paper crafting world, which also includes stationery. This particular set of cards was inspired by a Fresh Cut Paper ad for their holiday advent. I love the traditional red and green and the use of berry clusters and pine sprigs so that is what I got to work making. I pulled out any and all dies that I thought might work; first up was the pine sprigs that are cut using the BotaniCuts Pine Bough Die. I cut them from white and then colored them with finger daubers and distress oxide ink in colors pine needles and rustic wilderness. The berry sprigs are cut using the Rosemary and Berry Die and colored the same way but with twisted citron, mowed lawn, and rustic wilderness. For the berries, I simply added some Pure Poppy ink to a scrap of white cardstock and then cut them out using the included berry die. I glued the berries to the sprigs and then added some Ranger Glossy Accents to the berries and set them aside to dry.

My next step was to create the cute birds and tree. I cut the base of the birds from Pure Poppy cardstock with gold cardstock wings using the Nordic Birds Die. I added a bit of Scarlet Jewel ink around the belly of both birds for some contrast and then added the gold wings using foam squares.  The tree was cut using the Nordic Tree Die from Powder Green cardstock and antique gold for the trunk and the star. I added some gold pigment ink lightly to the bottom of each section of the tree and gussied it up with some adhesive pearls.

I used the Ornamental Tag Die to create the cluster of greenery on the tree and at the bottom of the card with the birds. I cut the bows from Pure Poppy and gold and secured them to the middle of each cluster.

I love how Betsy showed how you can use the beautiful Rosemal Reflections Embossing Folder with a standard A2 card. My inspiration ad also used “chopped/cut” corners like this, so it was just perfect! The background of the bird card is Pure Poppy and the background of the tree card is Colorplan Forest cardstock. I ran them though my die cut machine using the sandwich guide recommended for my particular machine. I layered them onto white card bases using liquid glue.

I used the Capsule Borders 1 Hot Foil with champagne foil and then cut them using the Capsule Basics Die. I adhered them to the background using foam squares; I made sure to add them to the flat, unembossed portions so that it wouldn’t be wonky.

I had fun adding in all of the premade greenery and foliage using both liquid glue and foam squares. I added some Tim Holtz Rock Candy glitter to the greenery on the bird card for holiday sparkle! I had so much fun creating the pair and now my ads should return to normal since I’ve gotten it out of my system! Haha! Thanks for fluttering by!