Thanksgiving 2024 | Thankful For You

Hi friends!  For today’s card I am joining the Spellbinders Lilac Lovelies Contest where participants are asked to create a lilac-colored project using Spellbinders products.  I’ve been wanting to make a card using the cute Spellbinders “Happy Turkey Day” die set ever since I received it and this contest gave me the perfect – not-so-traditional – chance for another fun Thanksgiving card.

The supplies used were:

  Spellbinders Cardstock - Plum, Royal Amethyst, Lilac Blossom, and Purple Mist

  Spellbinders “Happy Turkey Day” Die Set

  Uniball Signo Broad Silver Metallic Pen

  Spellbinders “Make A Wish Arch Labels” Die Set

  Spellbinders “Essential Arches” Die Set

  Spellbinders Treasured Cardstock – Silver Assorted

  Spellbinders / Simon Hurley – “Plaster” 3D Embossing Folder

  Spellbinders “Sentiment Labels” Die Set

  Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Villainous Potion

  Spellbinders Mini Blending Brush Set

  Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress “Sterling” Foundry Wax

  Spellbinders “Silver” Glimmer Foil

  Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue in Spellbinders Precision Tip Bottle

  Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares

  Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Silver Glitter Gloss

  Ranger Heat It Craft Tool

  Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System

I started the project by cutting all my turkey layers from Spellbinders cardstocks – the colors I used were Plum, Royal Amethyst, Lilac Blossom, and Purple Mist.  I assembled the turkey using liquid glue to adhere the individual pieces, then I used the Copic marker 100 (Black) to color the turkey’s eye and Copic marker RV93 (Smoky Purple) to color the blush oval for his cheek.  I placed a very small piece of redline tape on the back side of the turkey’s head to allow me to adhere the eye and cheek die cuts back into place and thin foam squares to adhere the main turkey body to the tail feathers for extra dimension.  Using a Uniball Signo silver metallic pen, I colored the metal buckle on the turkey’s hat and applied Nuvo Aqua Shimmer to the snood that hangs over the turkey’s beak.

Using the largest die from the Spellbinders “Essential Arches” die set, I cut a panel from the Silver Glitter Metallic cardstock that is part of Spellbinders’ Treasured Silver Assorted cardstock pack and trimmed about 0.25” off the bottom and using the third largest die from this set, I die cut a white cardstock panel to serve as a matting layer from which I also had to trim approximately 0.25” off the bottom.  Then using the Spellbinders “Make a Wish Arch Labels” die set, I used the largest die placed all the way past the edge of the fold of an A2, side folding card panel and cut it to be a shaped card to serve as my card base.  Next, I used a Spellbinders Mini Blending Brush to apply Tim Holtz Distress “Villainous Potion” Ink to the bottom/scalloped edge of my card base.  Once the ink had dried, I used a small paint brush and a little bit of Tim Holtz Distress “Sterling” Foundry Wax and painted it onto the tips of the bottom scalloped edge and heat set it with my Heat It Tool.

I added texture to the white cardstock matting layer by running it through my die cutting machine using the Spellbinders / Simon Hurley “Plaster” 3D embossing folder.  I attached the glitter cardstock layer directly onto the card base using thin foam strips.  Using liquid glue, I attached the white matting layer onto the glitter cardstock layer.

For the sentiment, I used the Spellbinders “Windy Fall Leaves” Betterpress die set and foiled the three sentiments from that die set onto Spellbinders “Royal Amethyst” cardstock using Spellbinders Silver Glimmer Foil.  I die cut the sentiment strip using the Spellbinders “Sentiment Labels” die set, adhered it to the card front using thin foam squares and embellished the ends of the label with two silver/glass AB pearls.

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

Spring 2024 | Happy Easter

The inspiration for this card came from a YouTube video by Jennifer McGuire that I watched several weeks ago during which she used a technique that I just had to borrow to make an Easter card this year. If you're a fan of Jennifer like I am, you may just recognize the technique!

I started this Easter card by ink blending onto a piece of Strathmore Mixed Media paper using the Simon Says Stamp "Layered Flowers" stencil set and Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Inks in the colors: Guava, Cherry, Aspen, and Field. After the ink blending was completed, I die cut the stenciled panel to using the largest die from My Favorite Things' "Wonky Stitched Rectangle Stax" dies. I also cut a piece of Spellbinders' "Fern" green cardstock that was in my scrap bin to 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" to serve as the mat for my stenciled panel.

Using the Simon Says Stamp's "Fancy Happy Easter" die set, I used the shadow die to cut a hole in the center of both the fern green cardstock and my stenciled card front. After die cutting, I adhered the two cardstock panel together with liquid adhesive making sure to line up the die cut holes. I cut a Happy Easter toner sheet from the Simon Says Stamp "Fancy Happy Easter" Foil Transfer Cards and used my Minc machine to foil the sentiment with Deco Foil's "Pink Melon" hot foil. I die cut the sentiment using the shadow die I used to cut the card front panel so when it came to assembling the card all the layers would line up.

For my card base, I took a full sheet of Spellbinders' "Fern" cardstock and cut it in half to make a top folding, 5-1/2" x 4-1/4" card. (I must note here... I would have had to do this next step if I had planned this card properly! I decided to make the card base out of Fern cardstock at the last minute versus white which made me have to use the sentiment shadow die to cut yet another hole, this time in the front side of the card base.). Using the shadow die from above - again - I lined up the card front panels to the card base and used the Fancy Happy Easter shadow die to cut a hole in the front side of the card base. I then adhered the card front to the card base using liquid glue and placed to heavy blocks on top until the glue dried. After the glue dried, I placed the foiled sentiment into the hole made into the card front to ensure the alignment would be perfect when the card is closed and flipped the open card face down onto my glass mat and applied adhesive onto the back of the sentiment and then folded the back side of the card onto the front to adhere the foiled sentiment to the inside of the card.

My final touch for the card was to add pink gems to all the random pink dots scattered throughout the background and also to the flower centers.

I hope you enjoyed the card and possibly found some inspiration for a card you are making.

Until next time... Happy Making!

Birthday Nasturtiums

For this nasturtiums themed birthday card, I used Spellbinders' "Nasturtium and Galvanized Wash Bucket" die set and some Distress Inks to create a one-of-a-kind bucket of goodness. The flower and leaf shaping was done by the help of watching Susan Tierney Cockburn's Youtube video - she's an excellent instructor - and this is the link to her video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGyk1JEABjI

First, I used Ranger's Distress Inks in the colors Squeezed Lemonade and Kitsch Flamingo to ink smoosh to separate pieces of watercolor cardstock. I put Squeezed Lemonade ink on my mixed media mat, misted it with a bit of water, swirled it around with my finger tips, then dipped the watercolor cardstock into the ink several times, dried the panel, and continued until I had the look I desired. After that, I did the same thing with the Kitsch Flamingo ink and watercolor cardstock. When both panels were inked and dried, I used the petal dies from the die set and proceeded to cut as many pieces as I could of both the petal dies from the inky panels.

For the leaves, I cut nine sets from a piece of My Favorite Things' "Limelight" cardstock, then ink blended Distress Inks (Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn, and Rustic Wilderness) across the die cuts until I had what appeared to be a decent leaf blend. After the Distress Ink dried, I used a Moonlight Gellyroll pen #427 to draw the veins on the leaves then followed Susan's instructions in the video listed above to form the leaves.

For the flower petals, I decided to ink the backs of each petal die cut with the coordinating color of Distress Ink to add color so they wouldn't be white when/if the backs are seen. After that, I used Diarylide Yellow Shade PanPastel and a foam applicator to apply shading to the centers of all the petals - both the pinks and yellows. I continued following the instructions in Susan's Youtube tutorial on the shaping and assembly of the flowers and stamin die cuts. I cut about 20 or so of the flower stamens and once they were assembled (following Susan's instruction video), I dipped them all in glue and then dipped the tops into Woodland Scenics "Yellow Paper Flower Pollen" that I purchased from Spellbinders and set those aside to dry.

I cut the planting container out of a scrap of grey cardstock and applied a generous coating of embossing ink across the entire die cut using the Distress Embossing Dabber. Next, I applied a sporadic layer of Ranger Ink's Antiquities Verdigris embossing powder and Potting Soil embossing powder until the entire die cut was coated. I let the excess fall onto a flattened coffee filter, then melted the embossing powder on the die cut with the heat gun. While the melted embossing powder was still hot, I dabbed portions of the die cut back into the powder on the coffee filter and melted the added embossing powder - I repeated this process until I was happy with the results.

To create my card front panel / background, I used a 5" x 5" piece of dark blue cardstock from my stash and 3D embossed it using Altenew's "Wicker Texture" 3D embossing folder. I put foam adhesive behind the plant container die cut and adhered it to the embossed panel and then began gluing the flowers and leaves on and around the opening of the container onto the card front. After the flowers were adhered, I began adding glue to the flower centers and glued the stamens in place.

My card base was created using a piece of Cardstock Warehouse "Stardream Gold" cardstock cut to 5-1/4" x 10-1/2" that I scored at the 5-1/4" mark. I put Simon Says Stamp's Big Momma foam tape on the back of the embossed panel and adhered it to the card base. My sentiment was created using a scrap piece of brown cardstock and using Spellbinders' "You Are Everything Sentiments" Betterpress plate along with a piece of gold foil that I ran through my Glimmer Foil System. After I die cut the sentiments, I selected the one I wanted to use and adhered it to the card front using thin foam squares.

I hope you enjoyed my Through the Arbor Garden themed card using Susan Tierney-Cockburn's die release.

Until next time... thank you and Happy Making!