LOVE

 Valentine's Day is not far off.  Today I used the Marianne Design LOVE (LR0301) die for the center attraction.  I used red glitter card stock for the die cut.  

This is a 6"x6" card.  On the background I embossed a piece of white cardstock with the Anna Griffin Smitten Embossing Folder.  On top I added the beautiful die cut doily by Marianne Design Anja's Squares (LR0242). The layers were attached using dimensional tape.

To create the flowers, I used the Susan's Garden Cistus dies (659658).  They were die cut using white card stock and the base of each petal colored with a very pale yellow Copic marker.  I used store bought stamens in the center.  Under the flowers, I added the Marianne Design Leaves CR1272, LR0192, LR0245, and LR0117.  For the corners, I added the Cheery Lynn B162 die cut corner. 

To give sparkle to the card, I used the Ivy Hollow ScrapFusion Needle Point glue to add small amounts of glue to the leaves, around the edge of the hearts and the top of the flowers, then sprinkled on Ranger Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy dry glitter.  I know it is hard to see the glitter in the photo.

Have you started on your Valentine cards?

Marianne Design LOVE die 

Marianne Design Anja's Squares Dies

Susan's Garden Cistus (Rock Rose) dies

Have a Magical Holiday

I need to make more Christmas cards and created a bunch of Susan's Garden White Poinsettias to have for future cards.  I used one on this card using the Marianne Design DF3406 embossing folder. I received a couple of sheets of Marianne Design "Tiny's Winterworld" landscape scenes, and used one of the scenes in the center of the embossed design. To get the cut out in the embossed design, I used one of the Heartfelt Creations  1B Cut Mat Create dies.  The scene was cut out and glued behind the opening.  A piece of green card stock was glued on the backside of the embossed piece to show through the die cut areas.

The poinsettia was created using Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies.  Behind the poinsettia I used the Susan's Garden Branch and Stem dies to create the snow covered twigs.  The branches were misted with water then pinched to shape them.  Texture Paste was added for snow then dipped in glitter.  There is also some pine branches and pine cones behind the flower.  On the very bottom of the flower, some pieces of cheese cloth were glued down before layering the other pieces on.  I added some red glitter decorations I found in the Christmas section of the craft store.  The sentiment is from the JustRite Christmas Inner Thoughts stamp set.

Have you started creating your Christmas cards?  I know I have to send a handmade card to everyone -- they would never let me send a store bought card, so it keeps me busy this time of year getting them all completed.

 Hope you have a great weekend.

LOVE

I love to create roses with Susan's Garden Rose Dies.  The roses petals were die cut using white card stock and the center petals were sponged with Milled Lavender Distress Ink. Today I combined these lavender and white roses with a new die from Marianne Design called "Love".   The white frame was die cut using the Spellbinders Captivating Squares.  The purple panel behind the white frame was scored on all four sides, three times, using the Martha Stewart Score Board.  Behind the roses I added the Memory Box Bamboo Shoots and the Poppystamps Massa Leaf.  I used the leaf tool and pad from the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit to draw veins in each leaf.  Drawing in the veins really makes the leaves look realistic.  For the little flowers in the corner and around the roses, I used the Poppystamps Small Hydrangea Blooms die.

Below are links to products used:

Susan's Garden Rose Dies
Marianne Design LOVE
Spellbinders Captivating Squares
Martha Stewart Scoring Board
Memory Box Bamboo Shoots
Poppystamps Massa Leaf Background
Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit
Poppystamps Small Hydrangea Blooms
Milled Lavender Distress Ink

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God Bless You

I love the new Marianne Design Anja's Circle die (LR0327) so much I had to design another card with it today.  Before taking the die cut out of the die, I sponged Spun Sugar Distress Ink over the exposed portion on the front.  This really helped bring out the beautiful design in the die cut.  I placed this white die cut over a pink die cut from the same set.  It was attached with dimensional tape.  Before attaching it I stamped a sentiment in the center (I am not sure where this sentiment came from).  

This is a 6"x6" card.  I cut a lightly smaller square and embossed it with the Crafter's Companion Regency Swirls 8x8 embossing folder.  The pink doily was attached with dimensional tape. 

 The pink flower was created with the Susan's Garden Gerbera Daisy dies.  Under the flower, I added the Marianne Design LR0192, LR0157 and CR1272 leaves.  To decorate the corners, I added the Marianne Design LR0280 die cut corners.

Doesn't this new Marianne Design Anja's Circle make a beautiful background!

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Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas

 

Aren't the new Memory Box die cut sentiments beautiful!  On this card I used the Grand Merry Christmas Script.  Just above it, I die cut just three rows of the Penny Black "Interlocking" background. Clear rhinestones were attached to the center of each "flower" in that die cut design. A piece of red card stock was attached behind the sentiment and the rest of the card attached to a dark green backing.

 A white poinsettia created with Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies was added.  On the petals I added Distress Stickles Clear Rock Dry Glitter.  A Memory Box Beach Sprig was tucked under the poinsettia and a Red Viva Paper pen was used to create the berries.  The Snowflake was die cut from the Marianne Design LR03327 die set. 

Here is a picture of the dies I used.

Here are links to products from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Memory Box Grand Merry Christmas Script 

Memory Box Beach Sprig

Penny Black Interlocking 51-029

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies 

 

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White on White Poinsettia

 I had a request to design an elegant, white on white Christmas card with a poinsettia.  It is no secret that for this task I always want to use my favorite dies by Anja.  For the background, I used the Marianne Design, Anja's Delicate Corner in all four corners of this 6x6" card.  I have the new Marianne Design Anja's Circle die, LR0327;  I used it in the center of the card.

 

This is a picture of the Marianne Design Anja's Circle die cut.  There are four dies. Isn't it gorgeous!

The two larger pieces of the Anja's Circle were attached together and placed in the center of the card.  To add a little more lace to the card, I added four Joy Craft 6002/0135 corners.  They are tucked in at the center at each side.  

In the center of the doilies, I added the poinsettia I created with Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies.  Light green vellum was used for the poinsettia leave; I wanted just a hint of color for the leaves.  White Pearls were added in the center of the poinsettia and also on the die cuts.

What do you think -- did it turn out elegant?


Marianne Design LR0200
Susan's Garden Poinsettia
Pearls

 

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Snow Scene

 

My sweet friend Eva sent me some new dies and I had so much fun creating a winter scene with them. Thank you Eva.  The snowman is the Marianne Design COL1332.  The other die she sent is the Marianne Design Jingle Bells COL1363.  On top of the design paper, I used the Poppy Stamps "Puffy Cloud Border" to create snow.  This die will make some great clouds, but I also thought it worked great for snow!  Glitter was added to the top edges.  The snowman was die cut and assembled, then tucked into the snow.  The tree is the Memory Box Frosted Christmas Tree.  While the die cut was still in the die, I added glue to the part of the tree showing through the front of the die, then took the die cut out; Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter was sprinkled on, for a snowy effect.  The die cut snowflakes from the Jingle Bells die, were die cut using silver glitter card stock.  The poinsettia was created using the Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies; they were die cut using red and green glitter card stock.  The jingle bells were die cut using shiny gold card stock.  They were attached to a gold cord bow and tucked under the poinsettia.

The products available from Ellen Hutson, LLC are linked below.

Poppy Stamps Puffy Cloud Border

Memory Box Frosted Christmas Tree

Susan's Garden Poinsettia Dies

Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter

Silver Glitter Card Stock

Shiny Gold Card Stock

Red and Green Glitter Card Stock

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There is Sunshine in My Soul Today

 I wanted to create a window frame for this pretty Heartfelt Creations Classic Sunflower stamped image.  I used the Marianne Design CR1241oval die to cut the window, then attached the die cut frame from the same set, on the inside of the front of the card , for a decorative window.  One of the Classic Sunshine Paper Collection 6x6 card panels was attached to the front of the card before die cutting the window.  The only other decoration on the front of the card are three blue pearls.

 On the inside of the card I attached another 6x6 card panel from the Classic Sunshine Paper Collection.  On the piece that was die cut out of the front panel, I stamped the sunflower image from the Summer's Day PreCut Set.  It was colored with markers.  To give the card a little dimension, I stamped the same image on white card stock and cut out the butterfly.  It was colored then attached with dimensional tape.  I used a stylus to give the wings dimensional shape.  Glitter was added to the petals of the sunflower.  This piece was centered under the window, on the inside of the card.

If you love the Classic Sunflower Collection, You can purchase the "I Want It All"  Classic Sunflower Collection at a great savings until October 3.

Heartfelt Creations Classic Sunflower Collection
Heartfelt Creations Classic Sunflower Paper Collection
Heartfelt Creations Summer's Day PreCut Set
Heartfelt Creations "I Want It All" Classic Sunflower Collection

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Cute Snowman

 Snowmen always make me smile!   This cute snowman is an old stamp I have had for years, by Inkadinkado, but I think he might be my favorite.  I decided to frame him in the Marianne Design CR1261 frame.  For the embossed background, I used the new Marianne Design DF3405 embossing folder.  The embossing folder did not cover the entire portion of the top of the card, so down the left side, I used my Scor-Pal to draw three diagonal lines to fill the empty space.  Three pearls were placed at the top. 

The Marianne Design CR1261 frame is open in the center.  I stamped the snowman on a separate piece of card stock and cut around him to fit under the open frame.  The frame was attached over the stamped image with dimensional tape, then the entire frame attached to the card with  more dimensional tape.  Glitter was added to the edges of the frame and to the snowflakes in the stamped design.

The "Snow Buddies are the Best!" sentiment is from the Stampendous "Build A Snowman" stamp set.  The "Merry Christmas" sentiment is from a Hero Arts Poly Clear Christmas Sentiment stamp set.

 Here is a closeup so you can see the glitter and how the frame is elevated.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  

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Christmas Poinsettia and Pine Cone Tutorial

 

Today I wanted to create a card using two beautiful Marianne Design products for a background for a pretty Susan's Garden poinsettia.  I used the Marianne Design, Anja's Decorative Rectangle (DF3406) embossing folder on the bottom of this 6x6" card.  At the top, I added the Marianne Design, Anja's Border, die cut.

To stay with traditional Christmas colors, I created a red poinsettia using Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies.  These poinsettias always look so realistic.  Under the poinsettia, I added some Tim Holtz  Tattered Pinecones.   The shiny gold "Noel" is part of the Memory Box Grand Joyeux Noel die. I did not have room for the entire die, so for this card I used only the "Noel" die cut letters.

TUTORIAL FOR PINE CONES

 As I stated, I used the Tim Holtz Tattered Pine cone die to create a variety of pine cones. 

This die cut pine cone is similar to the rolled roses spiral die cuts.  You can click on this LINK to see Tim Holtz tutorial.  I picked up some good tips from his instructions, but had a different idea on how to shape the pine cones and will show you my way below.

 I die cut several different colors of card stock to see which color I would like best.  There are different ways you can create different looks by using different colors of card stock, the way you shape them, and different ways to add texture.  I tried several ways to shape each "petal" of the pine cone and found the most realistic look was to shape each petal with the loop tool on the tan shaping pad from Susan's Garden Tool Kit.  I shaped the petals from the backside, pulling the loop tool from the edge all the way to the bottom of the petal.  This gave the petal a nice bowed out shape.  In the picture above, you can see the spiral when all the petals have been shaped. 

 I liked Tim's idea of rolling the pine cone by hot gluing a tooth pick to the end petal, then rolling it.  You want to make sure you are holding the spiral with the petals bent out (not cupped in), when you start rolling.  It looks like you are working on the backside of the spiral, because the shaping has the petals bent back, but you are actually rolling from the top (front) side.

 When you get to the end, add some hot glue on the inside of the petal at the base to hold it all together.  There is a little notch before the last petal that will fit nicely over the toothpick, that will hold it in place.

 You can create different shapes of pine cones, depending on how tight you roll the spiral.  To make a larger pine cone, I glued two spirals together, alternating the petals, then rolled it.  It made a "fatter" pine cone.  You could also glue two spirals together at the ends to make a longer spiral, therefore getting a larger pine cone. 

I didn't use them on my card, but I wanted to see if I could add snow to some of the pine cones.  I used Ranger Texture Paste to dab some paste on the ends of the petals, then I dipped the pine cone into The Distress Clear Rock Candy dry Glitter.  It looks like real snow.  I also used the Adirondack Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber to add some white to the tips of petals. The point dabber has a sponge top and you just swipe it from the tip, inward, to create white tips.   Both took very good. 

 Last year I purchased different colored poinsettias so I could create realistic poinsettias using Susan's Garden dies.  In the past, I have been lucky to keep all the petals on a poinsettia through the end of the year.  Look what has happened this year!  All three of my poinsettias have taken off, and even still have the colored flowers on them with a ton of new growth.  It will be interesting to see if I get new flowers on these plants for Christmas!

You can purchase the following products from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Marianne Design Anja's Border 

Susan's Garden Poinsettia dies

Sizzix, Tim Holtz Tattered Pinecone

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

Ranger Texture Paste

Distress Stickles Clear Rock Candy Dry Glitter

Adirondack Snow Cap Acrylic Paint Dabber

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Beautiful Roses

 Today's card made me happy; I love how it turned out.  I used some of my favorite products; Heartfelt Creations flowers, Marianne Design dies, and Graphic 45 Design Paper.

 Here is a picture of the products I used.  I have had the Graphic 45 Botanical Tea 8x8 inch  Paper Pad and 6x6 inch Patterns and Solid paper pad for a while now and don't believe I have used it.  I love the papers in these pads so much,  maybe I was afraid to use it up!  I am so happy I did.  I love the large pink rose in the design paper so turned to my Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms stamps and die to create flowers.  When I create flowers, I always create a lot while I am doing it and in this picture you can see I even created a few different style flowers with the Arianna Blooms, which I will use later.

Have you used the Heartfelt Creations Arianna Blooms stamps and die to create flowers?    It is so quick and easy and you can create so many different types of flowers.   I stamped the flowers (which are all on one stamp) using Pink Pastel Color Box Chalk ink on Bazzill iced pink card stock.  The matching die for this stamp is so easy to use.  You can just line  it up over the stamped image, and you get five die cut flowers. I use a magnetic plate so didn't even need to tape the die down.  For the largest flower, I used 3 of the largest petals, 3 of the next size down, and just one of the 3rd size down for the center.  For the medium flower, I did the same thing using the three smallest petals.  For the buds, I used the next to the smallest petals and just folded them up into a bud.

I used the Marianne Design Anja's Delicate Corners for the base piece of the design.  Next I die cut the frame and center circle from the Marianne Design Petra's Circle and Crown (LR0317) to frame a piece of the Graphic 45 Design paper that I wanted to use.  The design paper was die cut using the circle die that comes in the Petra's Circle set and attached it to the card stock circle. I sponged blue ink around the edges. The frame was attached with dimensional tape to the card.  The circle was attached with two sided adhesive so the frame is up higher.  It was dropped into place, so it was perfectly centered, after the frame was attached.

 The bird, butterflies, leaves and stamp squares were cut out from the design paper.

 The polka dot and solid blue design paper were used from the Graphic 45 6x6" Patterns & Solid Botanical Tea paper pad.  A piece of sticky back ribbon was placed across the middle of the card (under the frame).  To complete the card, I used a lot of pearls in the design.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a great weekend.

Marianne Design Anja's Delicate Corner die

Graphic 45 8x8" Botanical Tea Design Paper Pad

Graphic 45 6x6" Patterns & Solid Botanical Tea Design Paper Pad

Heartfelt Creations Arriana Blooms PreCut Set

Heartfelt Creations Arriana Blooms Die

Kaiser Craft white pearls

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Stair Step Card

Today I have a stair step card created with peach/pink flowers. Last year I created roses with the Spellbinders "Spiral Blossom One" die and the smaller roses and rose buds with the My Favorite Things "Mini Royal Rolled Rose" dies.  I liked the rose arrangement so much I created two panels and never used the second one, so decided I would use it on a card for a friend who sends me beautiful cards.

 The large moss green doily, behind the roses, was die cut from the Marianne Design "Petras Large Ovals" die set. Right behind the roses is the Memory Box "Calypso Flourish", or you could use the similar Memory Box "Quinn Flourish".  The butterflies were cut out from one of the Webster's Pages design papers. 

Thank you for stopping by.  Hope you are having a great weekend.

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Roses for You

I received a beautiful new Marianne Design Embossing Folder from a friend and thought some Susan's Garden roses would be a perfect bouquet for this pretty embossed background.

The Marianne Design Embossing Folder is DF3405.  At the bottom of the embossed background, I used one of the dies from the Marianne Design, Anja's Flowers, die set.  

The roses were created with the Susan's Garden Rose dies.  The roses were die cut using ivory card stock and colored with Susan's Garden Pan Pastels.  Rather than creating fully bloomed roses, I created large rose buds.  Behind the roses I added two Marianne Design LR0192,  Creatable leaves,  die cuts.

To complete the card, pearls and a silk bow were added.

The following products can be purchased from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

Marianne Design, Anja's Flowers

Susan's Garden Rose Dies

Susan's Garden Pan Pastels

Hero Arts Accent Pearls, Medium

In the Garden of Life

 I have been on vacation and it was nice to get back to creating again.  Today I have a birthday card I designed for my friend Pat.  She loves birds so I designed this card using the Impression Obsession "Bird on Branch" die.  The small birds are the Marianne Design Birds (LR0206) dies (which is an older die set).  The birds and leaves were colored using the new Susan's Garden Pan Pastels. The doily used is the new Marianne Design (LR0317) die.  The Sentiment is from the "Garden Phrase Set" by Rubbernecker.  The flowers were created with the Susan's Garden Mini Daisy dies.  The flowers were shaped using the Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit.  In the center I added some Yellow Flower Soft.

Have a nice weekend.

Links to products from Ellen Hutson, LLC:

 

Impression Obsession "Bird On Branch" DIE161-N 

Susan's Garden Pan Pastels

Susan's Garden Mini Daisy Dies

Susan's Garden Flower Tool Kit

Flower Soft

Craft Hoarders Anonymous Guest Designer

 

I was very honored to be asked by Gloria Stengel to be a guest designer for the Craft Hoarders Anonymous Challenge this month.  This week the #9 Challenge is "Fold It".  Here is the information for this challenge. 

Use some sort of "fun fold" on your project. You can make a fun fold card, a pop-up card, an explosion box, or other type of project that makes use of folded cardstock or paper. You can share some folding techniques that are perfect for scrapbook layouts or mixed media pieces. Create a mini album with a folded binding. Fold some ribbon to make pleats. De-hoard those supplies and show us your folds....paper folds that is!

sponsors: WorldWin Papers and StencilGirl

For  this challenge I created a 6"x6" Explosion Box. This is a larger explosion box from any others I have seen or made. I created a larger box so I could enclose a a "chest" in the center, with four drawers.   Below I have a tutorial to show you how I created it.

I used a 12"x12" piece of card stock for the bottom of this explosion box. Using my Scor-Pal, I scored at 3" from the edge of the card stock, on all four sides.   Crease each score line well with a bone folder. The corner squares were cut off as shown. If you haven't made an explosion box before, the sides fall down when you remove the lid from the box.  These measurements will create a 6"x6" explosion box. 

To create the lid for the box, use another 12"x12" piece of card stock.  Score all sides at 3". 

 Cut up to the score line on two sides of this piece, as shown above, then on the "flap" (3"x3") piece cut off a narrow piece forming a "V" shape.  This will help create a smooth edge when you attach the end pieces to the long piece to create a lid.Do this again on the opposite side.

This picture shows you were to add tape to the end pieces so it holds securely.  You need to add tape to folded ends on both sides.

 With the end pieces inside the lid, match end pieces to score lines and press firmly, to create your lid.  You now have all the pieces ready to decorate your explosion box.

This is the Craft Hoarder Anonymous challenge, so I have dug out items, including design paper I have been hoarding to decorate the sides and the top of the box.  On the top I have added a Marianne Design Petra's Ornaments (LR0279) doily to the lower left side.  On top I created a hydrangea using Susan's Garden Hydrangea dies.  The small flowers were created using the Memory Box "Norland Flower dies".  The butterflies were cut out of Graphic 45 Design paper.

 On the front side of the lid, I added a Marianne  Design, Anja's Vintage Frame.  On the other three sides,  I added the Spellbinder Flourish Trim,S2-005.

 

To create the little "chest" for the center of the Explosion Box, I created four little match boxes (2.25" x 3"), attached them together with ScorTape then enclosed them with a long strip to go completely around the boxes.  The chest was covered with more of the same design paper used on the explosion box then decorated with two hydrangeas created with Susan's Garden dies.  The inside panels were decorated with Marianne Design Anja's Vintage Frame, Memory Box Norland Flowers and Graphic 45 butterflies cut from the Design Paper. 

Close up pictures of the small box inside the Explosion Box.  Susan's Garden Hydrangea flowers decorate the top of this box.