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More Embossing Folders

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On Day 3 of the Extraordinary Embossing Folders, Laura Basson walked us through using an embossing folder that comes with an accompanying die. I recently purchased two of these embossing folders from Simon Says and put the Party Candles to work over the weekend.

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There are lots of possibilities for using this folder, and I’m glad to have something that will work for both kids and adults. I die cut a group of the candles and ink blended them in bright colors for the Just Add Ink Challenge: Choose Two: Balloons, Bright Colors, and Birthday. The sentiment was already die cut from green glitter paper and filed with the Pinwheel Party dies from The Greetery. I backed it with vellum before adding it to the front. The die cut candles were then arranged over the embossed candles from the folder. I have to say the vellum looks much heavier and less transparent than it does in real life.

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The card didn’t need much embellishment but I added some of Honey Bee’s Aurora Borealis gems which catch the light and really sparkle.

The challenge at Just Add Ink is ending tomorrow so I’m making this the second post of the day, so I won’t forget to get it linked up in time.

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Pinkfresh Studio May Challenge

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It’s a puzzle to me why I rarely get a card made for the Pinkfresh Studio Challenge. My collection of Pinkfresh Studio stamps and dies is one of my biggest and most favorite collections. The challenge is always on the to-do list, but rarely do I get it finished in time. Today I am down to the last few hours, but I was happy to put my newest Pinkfresh Studio purchase, Amazing Things, to work. I used just the theme for this card, and not the color palette. 

Pinkfresh

This is actually a Betterpress Plate. Once PFS realized that foiling works beautifully with a Betterpress plate, they discontinued manufacturing hot foil plates. This is the second time I’ve tried it and it works just as they promised. I think PFS’s coloring stencils are the easiest ones to use, and I love how soft and beautiful this floral is. I used just one green ink pad, but applied it more heavily at the base of the leave for some additional dimension. The blues were also used in a light application and then a darker one. I often have a hard time ink blending with a light hand, but it certainly does work well if I slow down and pay attention.

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The sentiment was gold embossed with Papertrey Ink’s Banner Sentiments and die cut with Honey Bee’s Sentiment Banner dies.

This is off to the Pinkfresh Challenge (you can find the graphic here; it would not load for me this morning) and a second entry to Just Us Girls for their Anything Goes with Stencils.

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Poster Prints

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As soon as I saw the new challenge at Just Us Girls I knew just what I wanted to do. This week’s challenge is Anything Goes with Stencils. Last week I received the Create in Quads: Poster Prints stencils from Taylored Expressions. I don’t often purchase from there but I saw a set of sentiments I could use with several “arts and crafts” stamp sets that I own. When I went to the site, I saw these amazing designs and couldn’t resist adding them to my cart.

Quads

Once again the light was a problem this morning, and now it’s gray and raining so the photos are as good as they’re going to be for now. 

I used Simon Says Stamps Pawsitively Saturated inks in Surf, Ocean, Lilac, Orchid, and Amethyst with some Hero Arts Spicy Mustard as an accent. What’s not very visible is a final layer of Gold Lunar Paste. It was the first time I’d ever used it, and for this project it gets mixed reviews. I had to redo two panel because the application wasn’t even enough. It’s not as bright gold as I’d like. Taylored Expressions sells some gold foil layovers for these stencils and next time I order from there I’ll definitely pick up a couple of packs. 

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Of the four patterns, I think this one is my favorite. All the sentiment strips were stamped with Papertrey Ink’s Banner Sentiments and die cut with Honey Bee’s Sentiment Banners dies.

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The lines on the tulips are the gold Lunar Paste.

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I added a few Pinkfresh Studio gold pearls to this card and the next one.

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In real life all the centers of the flowers are gold (applied with Lunar Passte). I laid gold pearls over all the centers but it was just too much, so chose to add them to just five flowers.

The whole concept of creating four cards all at once with one large stencil is unique and would have been quite a time saver if I hadn’t decided to mess around with the Lunar Paste. I’m anxious to try these in a different color combination as well. These are pretty bold and I’m happy with that, but next time I’ll try some softer colors.

In addition to the Just Us Girls Challenge, I’m sending this off to NBUS as this is the first outing for this stencil set.

StencilWeek728  NBUS

 

Celebrate

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It’s been quite awhile since I took one of the Online Card Classes so when a new one,  Extraordinary Embossing Folders was advertised, I decided to enroll. There’s so much going on at our house right now, it’s hard to find the time to watch all the videos. As always, they are long and comprehensive. It’s Day 3, and I have watched Day 1’s videos and managed to create this card.

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The topic was partial embossing which is something that seems so obvious, I’m rather chagrined that I never thought of it myself. I do like it, however, and will use it again. I was also inspired by a challenge that’s relatively new to me: As You See It. Here’s there image for the challenge that calls for 1) an embossing folder, 2) a die cut, 3) white, and 4) one additional color. 

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The embossing folder is Tapestry from Gina K and the die cut sentiment from Pinkfresh Studio. I decided to score a line between the embossing folder and the bottom portion of the card. 

Hopefully, I’ll be back before too long with some more cards from class.

Cheers!

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A quick and CAS birthday card for one of our male friends. It was quick because the foiled background, Spellbinders’ Skinny Stripes Background, was in my stash, and the gold foiled sentiment was one of Pinkfresh Studio’s Foiled Sentiments 3. 

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I trimmed down the foiled background and added a gold border before adding it to the black card base.

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I backed the sentiment with dimensional dots and punched three stars from a very old paper punch, adding them as well with some dimension. If only every birthday card for a guy came together so easily!

I’m sending this off to both of the AAA Challenges: AAA Birthday where CAS is the challenge, and to AAA Cards Challenge where they are celebrating their 10th birthday–quite the accomplishment! It’s also off to Addicted to Stamps and More where Birthday is the theme.

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Color Hues #87

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The new Color Hues Challenge is live. It took me awhile to come up with an idea for this color combo chosen by Jules:

CH #87 Coral and Teal.001

The obvious choice was florals, but I really wanted to stretch myself to come up with a different theme. Thanks to my friend, Kelly Schirmer, who loaned me the necessary die and stamps I got just what I wanted–a very cool typewriter. (The only typewrite die I own is very tiny, and would not have made much of a statement.)

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The fabulous typewriter dies & stamps are from The Greetery, Vintage Type.  I die cut the pieces from two hues of teal, adding some gold accents and embossing.  The florals (which I own) are also from The Greetery, Wildflower Mix. The blooms were die cut from coral cardstock, and the stems and leaves from a dotted vellum purchased years ago from Papertrey Ink. The accompanying stamps from Vintage Type are for the flourishes on the typewriter, and for the letters and numbers on the keyboard.

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I wanted a sentiment with a typewriter font, and found one on display in a printer’s drawer that hangs in my craftroom. It’s a wooden stamp by Hero Arts, and I had to stamp it multiple times on the cute paper die that comes out of the typewriter. It makes me even more appreciative of acrylic stamps and my MISTI. 

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The only embellishment were three hearts die cut in coral with Simon Says Holiday Shapes. Once I added the typewriter to the black card base, I put some dimensional squares behind the paper, and tiny bits of black dimensional adhesive to a few of the flowers.

There is, as always, lots of inspiration for this color combo on the Color Hues blog. Take a look, and then join us. 

 

A Snappy Birthday

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I still have two puppy cards to share, but I’m not sure whether one of my great nephews was a dog lover or not so I pulled out an old favorite from Neat and Tangled–Later Alligator–and came up with this card:

Snappy

Once again I used my Scan-N-Cut to cut the stamped images before coloring them with Copic markers. I used a new-to-me coverplate, Doubled Striped Card Front from Concord & 9th for the background and added some grass from Papertrey Ink’s Into the Meadow dies.

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I don’t think I’ve ever used the cute little bird balloon, but it added just enough extra interest. The sentiment was stamped and then die cut with Honey Bee’s Sentiment Banner dies.

“Animal Antics” is still live at The Paper Players Challenge so this is headed their way as well as to NBUS since the Concord & 9th coverplate finally saw some action.

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Just for You

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I don’t seem to tire of Spellbinder’s Fresh Cut Buttercups. Here’s another very CAS card:

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This time I die cut them from yellow cardstock with a touch of darker yellow ink blending in the center and an orange ink blended center die cut. I mounted them on one of the Ellen Hutson Essential Arches and stamped the sentiment from Altenew in orange in on the bottom.

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The Stitched Octagons Coverplate from Pinkfresh Studio was part of the Create and Connect event in February. I trimmed it down and added it to an orange card base. It needed just a little something so I added three small orange enamel dots along the edge of the arched panel.

This is off to the Double D Challenge: Pretty Florals, Triple B: Blooms, and TicTacToe where I used the diagonal from upper left to lower right: Flowers, Free, Dies. 

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Yappy Birthday!

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I have two birthdays in May for young kids, both of whom are dog fans. Two challenges are looking for animal related (or specifically dogs): Time Out with a great inspiration photo (see below,) and The Paper Players: Animal Antics. I have two new sets of stamps from My Favorite Things that I picked up during one of their sales. This is the first card with one of the stamp sets. I’ll be back in a day or two with a second card with a more feminine touch.

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I stamped the images from the My Favorite Things Hot Dog stamp set and then die cut them with my Scan N Cut. I had a lot of fun coloring them in shades of brown with Copic markers.  The three circles were die cut with Simon Says Stitched Circles-two white and one dark brown. Before adding them to the card, I embossed the front of the card with a Stampin’ Up embossing folder. I purchased it from eBay and I don’t have the name of it anymore. 

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Next, I arranged the pups on the card. The sentiment is from the same stamp set and was white embossed on strip of the same dark brown cardstock. I added three enamel dots to finish it off.  This card is also going to NBUS since this is the dogs’ debut!

Badge TO Challenge 251 Pp688NBUS

 

Color Hues #86

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Julie has a wonderful Spring color combination for our next Color Hues Challenge:

CH #86 Lilac and Lime.001

We live just two blocks from Rochester’s Highland Park designed by Frederick Law Olmstead, and planted with over 700 varieties of lilacs. The annual Lilac Festival begins on May 10th and lasts until May 19th, so this combination was very timely. The Greetery just released fabulous lilac dies, but I don’t own them, so I chose a lovely floral stencil instead. The Curved Floral Banner was part of a Gina K Kit a year or so ago. When I had finished stenciling it, I die cut it with the accompanying die. It also comes with a detailed die cut that creates an border around the whole image, but I decided I much preferred the soft, clean look of just the stencil.

 

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I’ve always known purples were hard to photograph, and this card certainly gave me a run for the money. I spent way more time trying to get accurate colors in the photos than I did making the card. They’re still not perfect. If you have a sheet of Concord & 9th’s Lilac paper, you’ll get the real picture! 

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The scalloped oval is from a pack from Dick Blick’s, and I stamped it with a sentiment from the Gina K’s Sweet Sentiments with Pinkfresh Studio’s “Soft Lilac” ink. I added a few beautiful lilac gems to the oval as the finishing touch.

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Please check out all the lovely cards from the Design Team and our Guest Designer on the Color Hues blog. Then come join us in the gallery!

 

 

 

 

More Buttercups

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I’ve always been a fan of bright colors on a dark background, so that’s where I started with these two cards. Both use Spellbinders Fresh Picked Buttercups. 

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I die cut these buttercups with Concord and 9th’s Buttercup cardstock (a perfect match!) I added some ink blending with the same C&9th ink to the middle of the flower before adding a die cut center from orange cardstock. The leaves were die cut with Paper Source’s Clover cardstock. 

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I die cut a piece of black cardstock with Concord & 9th’s Triangle Background die and added it to a Buttercup card base. The sentiment, gold embossed, is from Pinkfresh Studio’s Basic Banners: Celebrate.

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The flowers here were die cut from white cardstock and ink blended with Spun Sugar Distress Oxide ink. I added yellow enamel dots for the centers this time.

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This time I die cut the black panel with Simon Says Detail Petal Coverplate, and added it to a black card base with dimensional foam. The sentiment is from Pink and Main’s Special Day which is one of my most used sentiment sets. 

I’m sending these off to TicTacToe where I used the diagonal Flowers, Free, Die Cuts and to Triple B – always looking for Birds, Butterflies, and/or Blooms.

Tttc-challenge-board-245-copy copy   Triplebcollage

 

Woodblock Wednesday: April 2024

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Having been away for a week, April has disappeared more quickly than usual, and here we are at the last Wednesday. It’s time for Woodblock Wednesday.

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This month I chose to CASE a card I made in a class over 25 years ago! I replicated the card multiple times for several years, but it’s been a long time and as soon as I saw the stamp I decided to create an updated version.

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The layered lighthouse scene is layered much the way it was on the original card. I changed a very dark purple card base for brighter cardstock, added an embossed background, some yellow for the light in the lighthouse as well as a sentiment on a tag. The original had no sentiment on the front and a tag with a charm hung from the top left side of the card. The wooden stamp is from Paper Parachute, and the embossing folder is from Lifestyle crafts. The embossing of the stars was almost too deep, but die cutting the panel with Gina K’s Master Layourt #1 flattened it just the right amount. The sentiment is from Simon Says’ Your Light set.

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Even with a closer look, it’s hard to see that I added a bit of metallic gold to each of the circles in the border as well as the centers of the stars in the sky.  The little tag for the sentiment is from Papertrey Ink’s Tag Creations: Modern Gift. In addition to the dimensional tape added to the layers in the scene, I added a layer of dimension behind the embossed panel. This was a really fun project!

I’m just in time to add this to the Can You Handle the Pressure Challenge where using an embossing folder is a requirement. The card is also going to the Simon Says Wednesday Challenge: Anything Goes.

Buttercups #1

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Before we left on vacation, I die cut quite a few buttercups from Spellbinders Fresh Cut Buttercups. I’ve been entranced by the series of Fresh Cut flowers Spellbinders has introduced, and the designs that cover the card completely have been very eye-catching. But I wondered if I could create several versions of a CAS card. This is the first of several you’ll see. Ultimately, I’ll try one of the more elaborate designs as well, but as usual, I ran out of time.

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I added just a bit of ink blending to the flowers with some Spun Sugar Distress Oxide.  For some visual interest and texture the Basket Weave Cover Plate from Gina K was added to the pink cardbase. After attaching the blossoms to the stem and leaves I added them to the cardbase, with a tag from a very old Papertrey Ink set, Tiny Tags with a sentiment from Be Still, by Honey Bee.

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I”m sending this off to Colorful Options: Pastels, The Card Concept: Spring Flowers with a lovely inspiration photo, The Flower Challenge: Add Layers, and to NBUS since this is the Buttercups debut.


Colorful Options April 2024 Blog     TCC206 April 2024 
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Color Hues #85

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It’s mid-April and time for a new Color Hues Challenge. Hannelie has chosen Yellow and Pink for this challenge. 

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I was determined to create something a bit out of my comfort zone. The first card I created was just OK. I’ll send the card, but I wanted to try something else for the challenge. As I was looking through my dies I came upon a Memory Box die set (dated 2015) that I’ve had for many years, but never used. The images in Rain or Shine, are small so it took me awhile to figure out how to use them. The old familiar saying “April showers bring May flowers” was going through my head as I looked at the dies. The rain and the umbrellas were right there, but I needed to find the sentiment as well as some flowers. 

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By lining up the “rain” image and repeating it I got a square of rain drops. The two cute umbrellas paper-pieced with old AMuse papers fit right on there. Luckily I had two of the (also very old) Papertrey Ink sets from the Monthly Moments sets that gave me most of my sentiment.

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I layered the umbrellas with two pieces of heavy cardstock and the handles with two of the handle die cuts for a bit of dimension.

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Finding the word “bring” turned out to be the most time-consuming part of the card. I could have used the computer, but I wanted the message to be on one layer. My collection of Christmas stamps turned out to be the best option. I found a couple different ones, but this one from Waffle Flowers Oversized Joy fit perfectly. I found the little flowers in The Greetery’s BotaniCut Strawberries set, and I popped them up with teeny pieces of dimensional foam.

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We’re hoping for lots of May flowers here, but the bulk of them won’t be planted until Memorial Day so there’s still lots of time for April showers. Personally, I’m hoping for lots of April sunshine!!! When this post goes live, we’ll be in South Carolina so we’re more likely to be enjoying sunshine than we would be in Rochester.

I hope this color combo inspires you to create a card for our gallery at Color Hues. Be sure to check out the Design Teams clever and beautiful cards!

This is going to the NBUS blog. This might be one of the oldest unused die sets in my collection! It’s also going to Juat Us Girls where the Word Week Challenge is Rain. How lucky am I as this challenge closes at 9:00 tonight!

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Be Happy

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There is a pile of partially-finished projects on my desk, but I did complete one made specifically for a few challenges: Seize the Birthday-Spring Florals, Stencil Fun-Spring/Flowers, and Colorful Options-Pastels. The challenges offered me an opportunity to use a NBUS stencil by Papertrey Ink and a new set of sentiments by Honey Bee.

BeHappy

I tend to be very heavy-handed when ink blending, but tried my hardest to keep this one soft and subtle. I love the Wild Blooms stencil and the sentiment set, Be Still, is filled with lovely greetings in both print and script. I opted for the dies as well, and they work perfectly.

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I struggled to find an appropriate pink ink for the sentiment and although I have several to choose from they were all either too light (even with multiple stampings) or not quite the right hue. I’m still not thrilled with this one. I added some Pinkfresh Studio light pink jewels and called it done.

03-28-SpringFloralSTENCILS-001 black blue Colorful Options Website Badge NBUS