Halloween 2024 | Skully

Hi friends!  I love this time of year when I can begin making for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas without feeling like I’m getting too early of a start.  This is my first Halloween project for 2024 and I was inspired by the Spellbinder’s “Skully” Betterpress plates and the nostalgic feel it gives me.  Inspiration is everywhere!  I created my first YouTube video for my channel during the making of this card which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@VeehattInspired .  The card is an easy one to make and I thought it was best to go easy on myself for the first video.

The supplies used were:

  Spellbinders “Skully” Betterpress press plates

  Spellbinders “Make a Wish Arch Labels” die set

  Spellbinders Bisque Cotton Card Panel for Betterpress

  Spellbinders Betterpress Black Ink

  Mijello Mission Gold Watercolors W532, W518, and W553

  Lime Satin Shine cardstock from Your Paper Insider (Box 2)

  Chiyogami Multi 731C pattern paper from Your Paper Insider (Box 3)

  Spellbinders Betterpress Letterpress System

  Simon Says Stamp “Spooky Salutations” Sentiment Strips

  Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Dusty Concord

  Pinkfresh Glittering Mountains Ombre Glitter Drops

  Glue and other adhesives from my stash

I started the project by cutting the 8-1/2” x 11” piece of Lime Satin Shine Cardstock in half to create an A2 top folding card base.

I taped a piece of Bisque cotton card to a small waterboard using a light tack painters tape to help hold the cotton card flat while I apply some watercolor paints.  Using Mijello Mission Gold watercolors (exact numbers listed above), I painted the top third of the cotton panel with the green then used my Ranger Heat It tool to speed dry the paint, the middle section was painted with the orange paint – heat dried it, then lastly painted the bottom third with the purple paint and heat set it.

Using the Spellbinders Betterpress Letterpress System, I attached the watercolored panel to the platen, positioned the Skully press plate to the chase, and inked it up with Betterpress Black ink and ran it through my Spellbinders Platinum 6 die cutting machine.

Next, I die cut the Chiyogami Multi pattern paper and watercolored/Betterpress panel using the Spellbinders “Make a Wish Arch Labels”.  I cut the pattern paper using the second largest die and the watercolor panel using the third largest die from the set.

I used Scrapbook.com double sided adhesive to adhere the pattern paper to the card base then popped up the watercolor panel using Simon Says Stamps’ Big Momma Foam Tape for a little dimension and to help flatten the watercolor cotton panel.

For the sentiment, I selected a cute one from Simon Says Stamp’s “Spooky Salutations” sentiment strips and edged it with a sponge dauber and Tim Holtz/Ranger’s Distress Ink in the color Dusty Concord.

I added a few Pinkfresh Studio Ombre Glitter Drops in the color Glittering Mountains here and there across the card front for a bit of sparkle and adhered them with Tim Holtz/Ranger’s Distress Collage Medium Matte.

I hope you enjoyed the card and found inspiration for some of your own Halloween card making projects!  Until next time… happy making!

July 2024 | Pandamonium Birthday

I’m back with another fun birthday card project using Pink & Main’s “Pandamonium” stamp and die set.  

The Pandamonium stamp set features several pandas in cute and unique positions, so I decided to use VersaFine Clair Nocturne pigment ink to stamp the four I wanted to use onto Paul Rubens hot press watercolor cardstock then used clear heat embossing powder and a heat gun to emboss all the little images.

I watercolored the pandas using a non-traditional color scheme and I based the colors upon the piece of patterned cardstock that I loved from the My Favorite Things “Time to Celebrate” 6x6 paper pad which I will be using as the background paper for my card front.  I selected Tim Holtz/Ranger’s Distress Watercolor Pencils for my watercolor medium and used the colors:  Mustard Seed, Peeled Paint, Lumberjack Plaid, and Tumbled Glass for the panda bodies.

Using the Spellbinders “Precision Layering A2 A” die set, I cut a 4-1/4” x 5-1/2” panel from Cardstock Warehouse’s Sirio Black cardstock and using the next to largest die I cut a panel of patterned cardstock from the My Favorite Things cardstock mentioned above.  For the sentiment balloons, I used the Pretty Pink Posh “Balloon Alphabet” stamp and die set and stamped out the letters I needed using Tim Holtz/Ranger’s Black Soot Archival Ink on white cardstock, then applied a layer of Nuvo Glitter Drops in the colors Dazzling Blue and Sunlit Meadow to fill in the balloons.  I also used the heart balloon shape from the same Pretty Pink Posh die set and cut it out of Altenew’s Tourmaline Glitter Cardstock to put on the inside with one more the of the pandas.

Back to the pandas… I painted a thin coat of Nuvo Aqua Shimmer to all the panda’s bodies and added Ranger Glossy Accents to the whites of their eyes.  After that dried, I glued each of the four pandas to the card front.  I added a piece of black metallic DMC Diamant embroidery thread to the back side of each balloon letter and added Simon Says Stamp’s 3D Foam Adhesive to the backs of the balloons for dimension on the card.  I aligned the sentiment letters the way I wanted them on the card front, then used Glad Press ‘n Seal over the card front to pick up all the balloons, flipped that over and removed the adhesive backing and placed the balloons on the card front. 

My final embellishment was when I added a scattering of Rainbow Splash “Rainbow Gem Stickers” for a touch more blingity bling.

Thanks for stopping by… I appreciate you doing so.  Until next time, happy making!

June 2024 | Best Dad Ever

When you have the best Dad ever, it's easy to come up with ideas for Father's Day cards. This year, I found the perfect stamp set from Papertrey Ink to base my 2024 Father's Day card on. Here's how it went...

Using Papertrey Ink's "Father's Day Sentiments" stamp set, I stamped Best Dad Ever onto Spellbinder's "Brushed White Cardstock" using embossing ink and Ranger's Silver Super Fine Detail embossing powder, then heat set the sentiment. I die cut the sentiment and its matting layer using Spellbinders' "Mirrored Arch Labels" dies. The top folding A2 card base and the matting layer for the sentiment were cut from Spellbinders' "Graphite" cardstock. I die cut a scrap piece of Spellbinders' "Lunar Gray" using the Spellbinders' "Precision Layering A2 A" dies (the second from the largest) for my background mat layer that I'll compose the card front on. I ran the Lunar Gray cardstock through my die cutting machine with Altenew's "Organic Linen" embossing folder before adhering it to my card base.

For the florals I used Spellbinders' "Garden Wreath Add-Ons" die set and I diecut the leaves and stems multiple times from Spellbinders' Brushed White Cardstock until I felt I had as many as I would need. Next, I cut the berries and flower centers a few times from Altenew's Moonstone and Blue Apatite glitter cardstock. I continued diecutting floral elements for the card front from Spellbinders' grey range of cardstocks (and a random blue cardstock that I found in my stash) until I created a variety of colors and textures to choose from for beginning the floral arranging process.

I glued all my flowers and berries together and glued those to my card front and then added my foam adhesive backed sentiment as close to the center of the card as possible.

Since I used a dark color for the card base, I did cut a 4" x 5-1/4" piece of white cardstock for stamping my sentiment and writing in the card.

That wraps up this year's Father's Day celebration card. Thank you so much for stopping by and, until next time, happy crafting!