Birthday Card 2024 | Big Happy Birthday!

I fell in love with this My Favorite Things die called "Big Happy Birthday" and knew this was going to be the focal point for a birthday card for a dear friend who is celebrating her big day this month.

For the background, I started by cutting a piece of Altenew masking paper that measured 4-1/2" x 5-3/4". I brought out the 8" x 8" Waffle Flower grip map and placed it onto my work surface, peeled off one side of the backer to the masking paper, and put it in the center of my Grip Mat.

I selected four different colors of cardstock (Your Paper Insider's pink glitter from box #6 and a few Spellbinder cardstocks - Pink Sand, Dahlia, and Lilac Blossom) and cut those into strips with Scrapbook.com's "Slim Strips" dies.

I began placing the cardstock strips onto the masking paper and did my best to try to avoid any gaps between the strips. Once the strips of cardstock covered the entire panel of masking paper, I burnished the cardstock strips to the masking paper using a teflon bone folder to ensure good adhesion. I then glued the panel to a lightweight piece of white cardstock to give the panel some additional stability. I used the second largest die from Waffle Flower's "A2 Layers Dies" to cut the panel down to size for my card front.

Next, I used the "Big Happy Birthday" die from My Favorite Things to die cut the card front panel and popped out the letters and their counters (don't lose those counters!). I also cut this die three more times from a piece of white Neenah cardstock to glue behind the individual letters for dimension. Then I glued the card front with the letters popped out to the front of a white, top folding, A2 card base.

I temporarily placed one of the white die cut letters into all the corresponding locations on the card front so that I could have the perfect location to glue all the counters from the striped cardstock letters to the card base. I glued all the letters together (the striped top ones stacked atop the white letters that I die cut for the dimension) and then adhered them to the card's front panel in their appropriate locations.

I thought the card needed just a little something else, so I started digging through my embellishments stash and found one I really liked for this card. The sequins I chose is from This Calls for Confetti and its called "Bring on the Bokeh - Pink"... perfect!

That's a wrap for today's card project. I hope you enjoyed the card and possibly even found some inspiration for your next card project. Until next time... Happy Making!

Christmas 2023 | Tiny Gift Bag

Hi there!

Today I’m sharing the steps I followed to create the cutest tiny gift bag using My Favorite Things’ (MFT) “Gift Bag” die set and some products from Tim Holtz and Spellbinders.

• Using the MFT “Gift Bag” dies, I die cut the gift bag from the Tim Holtz/Idea-ology Christmas 2023 Backdrops paper and I chose the piece that looks like old school candy sticks – you cut this piece twice.

• For the bag’s handles, I used the same die set as above and only used the handle die and Simon Says Stamp’s Luxe Glitter Cardstock in gold to cut the cardstock four times for a front and back side of each handle.

• I glued the two sides of the gift bag and the handles together Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium and set it aside to dry.

• Using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Thinlets “Big Tidings”, I cut the holly leaves and berry from some green cardstock from my stash and a scrap of Simon Says Stamp’s Rich Red Matte Metallic Cardstock, then glued those to the upper right corner of my little gift bag.

• Using Tim Holtz/Sizzix Thinlets “Chilly & Freezy – December 2022”, I cut the left facing snowman and its scarf and hat from random cardstock from the scraps bin and glued the pieces together to complete the snowman and used the Distress Collage Medium to adhere him to the right side of the gift bag. I glued a little white pearl embellishment to the end of the snowman's hat for added dimension.

• I crazily decided I wanted to create custom tissue paper so I grabbed a small piece of wrapping tissue paper and added small green and red dots in random places about the tissue using Cranberry and Green Stickles… don’t laugh.

• For the little gift tag, I used the Spellbinders “Christmas Magic” hot foil plates – I chose the “Not a Pony” plate – and hot foiled the sentiment onto a small piece of Simon Says Stamp “School House” red cardstock and die cut the tag using Spellbinders’ “Assorted Tags” cutting dies.  I adhered the tag to one of gift bag’s handles.  So cute!

• I wrapped the gift I was placing inside the bag with some of the hand-decorated tissue and cut two rectangles to pop out the front and back sides of the bag.

That wraps up another Christmas project for 2023 and it couldn’t be more cute!  Thanks so much for stopping by.  I appreciate you doing so!

Happy Making!

We're Moving! | Honey Bee Stamps

Hi there!

Today I’m sharing the steps I followed to mass-produce our "we're moving" notification cards I created that I’ll be sending out to our friends and family.  All the dies used to create this card front were from a Honey Bee Stamps die set called “Lovely Layers: Front Porch”.

• Using die P1, use extra pressure (to capture the die’s embossing) to cut this layer from grey cardstock.  I lightly dragged the Altenew Crisp Dye Ink “Silver Lake” across the raised areas of the die cut to add dimension.

• Using dies P2, P4, P5, and P6, use extra pressure (to capture the die’s embossing) to cut this layer from a dark brown cardstock.  After cutting, I used a Waffle Flower Shader 1 brush to apply Simon Says Stamp’s Charcoal Pawsitively Saturated Ink to the edges of the die cuts.

• I cut die P3 from the same grey cardstock as I did for P1.  Then I glued die cuts P1 through P6 together with Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium.  Before moving on to the doorway dies I did decide to use the Charcoal ink pad and edge the roofing just for a little interest.

• For die D1, I used some lighter weight white cardstock since it will be more of a base layer for the door elements.  Then I blended some Simon Says Stamp “Sunbeam” ink into the window areas that will show through a couple of the following die cuts.

• I had to cut die D2 twice, once from Spellbinder’s “Phone Booth” red cardstock since I wanted a red door.  Then I cut D2 again and added die L2 out of Gina K. Designs “Onyx Black” cardstock to create the frame for the windows and lamps.  Half of the lamp die had to be cut one more time to get a white background for the light panes to be yellow (Simon Says Stamp “Sunbeam” ink.  Then I ink blended the door edges with Simon Says Stamp’s “Cherry” ink prior to gluing all the D2 pieces together.

• Die D3 was cut from Bristol Smooth, white cardstock since I wanted a heftier look for the pieces that separate the side windows from the door.  I glued all the door pieces to the door base with Distress Collage Medium.  And glued to both sides of the door.

• To make the decorative shrubs, I cut die T1 from dark brown cardstock, die T2 from Spellbinder’s “Fern” cardstock and accented it with a Copic G28 marker, and the planter base die was cut from a lighter shade of brown cardstock that I just had in my stash and ink blended the edges with Simon Says Stamp’s “Mocha” ink.  Then I glued all the shrub pieces together and glued them to both sides of the door.

• For the card front background, I ink blended directly onto the card base itself (A2 side folding).  I used the My Favorite Things “Mini Cloud Edges” stencil and Altenew Polar Bear ink to blend the cloud design for the sky.  Then I used Lawn Fawn’s “Slimline Hillside Stencil” and Altenew’s “Grass Field” ink to blend the grass line.

• Lastly, I glued the completed front porch die cuts to the card base and that completes the card!

Thank you for checking out my blog… until next time, happy making!