Masculine Birthday Card

 Designing masculine cards is always hard for me.  Today I have a birthday card to show you that I designed for my son.  When he has free time, he loves to get out in nature, so thought this card would appeal to him.  The overall card size is 6" x 6".  The two main items I wanted to use for this card are the Impression Obsession Tree Frame Die (IOB DIE 205YY) and the Penny Black Winter Sky Stamp (4204L).

 I started by using VersaMark Ink to stamp this Penny Black design onto a piece of white card stock.  It was embossed with Ranger's Ultra Fine Black Embossing Powder.  Next I used a 1" circle punch to create a stencil to sponge in the moon with Distress Inks.  I used a small sponge dauber and light yellow ink to create moon light down over the stamped image.  (I was trying to create a night scene but in the photo it looks more like a daytime scene!!)

Along the middle of the stamp image, I placed a piece of card stock, that was cut to resemble a snow bank, across the image and sponged on blue ink.  The round circle I punched out was placed over the sponged on "moon", for a mask, so I could sponge Stormy Sky Distress Ink and a Weathered Wood ink around it.  I used a stamp to create falling snow.  The "dots" were stamped using VersaMark Ink and embossed with Ultra Fine White Embossing Powder.  Be sure to use the anti-static pad over your picture so the embossing powder doesn't stick to some of the sponged on blue ink.  Some glitter was added along the top of the snow bank to help make it stand out.

Next I die cut the Impression Obsession Tree Frame.  Post It Notes were placed around the edge of the frame and the tree was sponged with brown Distress Inks.  I used a pencil to draw in some lines to resemble bark.  Next I used the Ivy Hollow ScrapFusion Needle Point bottle of glue to add some dots of glue on the tree branches and added Polar White Flower Soft to make the tree very dimensional.  The Flower Soft was also added along the very bottom of the frame.  Two of the Memory Box Resting Birds (98527) were added to the die cut tree branches.   

To make the card very dimensional, I added dimensional tape along the outside edge of the frame and some dimensional tape under the wider trunk and branches before attaching it over the stamped image.  The stamped image was trimmed to fit perfectly under the die cut frame.  

For the background on the 6x6 inch card, I embossed a piece of Navy Blue card stock with the Die'sire Embossalicious Happy Birthday Embossing Folder (EF6-Happy).  This piece was layered over light gray card stock.  The Dee's Distinctively "Deer 1" die was die cut using dark brown card stock and attached with a double layer of dimensional tape.

Some of these products can be purchased from Ellen Hutson, LLC at this LINK.

Susan's Garden Quince with Marianne Design Dies

 I have been working with the Susan's Garden Quince dies to create both Quince and Cherry Blossoms. This is a great die to have in your flower collection for creating small flowers.  You can see my tutorial for creating these flowers at this LINK. The card I created for you today has a branch of Quince and two different Marianne Design dies.  I thought I would show you how to create the border along the bottom of the card, using three of the Marianne Design Anja's Delicate Corner dies. 

 The Marianne Anja's Delicate Corner is one of  my favorite corner dies.  It always gives the feel of "elegance" to your work.   There are so many different things you can create with it.  To create the border along the bottom of my card today, I started with a 6 inch square and die cut two corners.  I have two Anja's Delicate Corners so could tape them down and cut both at one time.  If you only have one corner, you can tape it down and run it through your machine to die cut then use the embossing pad and run it through one more time, to bring out the embossed design.  For the second corner, you cannot run it all the way through again because it will flatten the first one.  You need to only run it through half way, then back it out.  Do that to both die cut and to embossed the second corner.

To create that third corner, I die cut and embossed just one corner of card stock then cut across the bottom of the embossed design, as shown in the picture above. 

 You could use that second die cut corner without a backing as shown here and center the corner between the two other corners.

 I wanted the aqua color behind the third corner I die cut so I cut a piece of card stock to fit behind the openings and attached it to the back.

A piece of polka dot design paper was added to the top of the card.  I used the Marianne Design Frame and Swirls frame for the Penny Black Sentiment.  The Quince were added across the middle of the card.

 

The Susan's Garden Quince dies can also be used to create Cherry Blossoms.  In this package of dies there is a die cut petal that has two little petals attached; this is the extra piece you add in the center of the completed Quince flower to create a Cherry Blossom.  I am working on a large project that requires a lot of Cherry Blossoms.  Here are the Cherry Blossoms I am working on.

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

Susan's Garden, Quince dies

Marianne Design, Anja's Delicate Corner

Marianne Design, Frame and Swirls 

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Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge

It is time for a new challenge at Joan's Gardens.  Joan is  recovering from knee surgery and has asked that I post the challenge card on my blog and list the challenge requirements.  

This week we want you to create a "Girly" card.  

• Use pastel colors
• Use some type of lace (can be real or die cut)
• Use at least one bow
• Include flowers 
• Use at least one product from Joan's Gardens

For my "Girly" card I used a new new Sizzix die.  I think this Brenda Walton "Princess Dress" is so cute and it is very easy to use.  You place a folded piece of card stock or design paper up to the fold line on the shoulder and run through your machine to create the card.  I used a piece of one sided design paper so I did also cut a piece of solid pink card stock for the inside of the card.  You can cut both pieces at same time; just make sure the folds are in tightly.  The two pieces were attached with Glue N' Seal.    This die has some accessories you can use to dress it up.  I used the die cut bow on my dress.  In the center of the bow I added a small rose.   Along the bottom I added a piece of the Cheery Lynn "Anastasia Border". Around the neckline I used a little piece of the cut off edge of the Anastasia Border to make it look like a collar. I used Diamond Stickles to run a sparkly line along the bottom edge of the shirt, and around the neckline and a little on the lace on the bottom of the skirt.  Kaiser Craft pearls were added.   

I decided to dress my card up by adding a parasol.  I die cut the Marianne Design "umbrella" and backed it with a piece of ivory card stock.  Between the die cut and the backing, I added a piece of heavy gauge wire to make the handle of the umbrella strong enough to stand up.  It was attached to the inside of the dress with a glue dot.     

On the inside of the card I added a sentiment by Penny Black.

This is a picture of the dress before I decided to dress it up with pearls and the parasol.  I added diamond Stickles around the edges of the ivory bow.  On the top card I added a green bow to match the color of the parasol.  

There are a lot of fun things you can do with  this cute dress die.  Also this Sizzix die includes a deckle edge die cut card which I posted last Monday.

Sizzix Brenda Walton "Princess Dress & Deckled Card" die (65835)

Marianne Design "Umbrella" (LR0263)

Cheery Lynn "Anastasia Border"

Penny Black "Dreams Come True" stamp

Stickles

Kaiser Craft pearls

Glue N' Seal

919085

Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge

 

It is time for a new challenge at Joan's Gardens  We are thinking flowers this week.  The challenge is to create some kind of container filled with flowers.  Go over to Joan's Gardens for all the challenge information and to see what the prize is this week.

For my card I used the new Nellie Snellen  "Retro Swirls 1" embossing folder for the embossed background.  The bottom piece is from the Echo Park "Dots & Strips" design paper pad.  The little "Rick Rack" border is from the Cheery Lynn  "Expandable Tiny Borders die set. In the upper corners I added the "French Lilly Corner".   The basket is the Cheery Lynn "Spring Basket 1" and was colored with Distress Inks.  

For the mixture of flowers I used the Memory Box "Prim Poppy" and "Fancy Blossoms" die. Stamens from the Cheery Lynn BAF "Embellishments #1" set were added to the center of the yellow flowers. The tall leaf is the Poppy Stamps "Meadow Leaf" and the Cheery Lynn "Flourish Leaf Strip"  and "Build A Flower #2" were used for additional leaves in the basket.  The sentiment and flourish by it are from the Penny Black "Gratitude" stamp set.  The pretty butterfly is the Memory Box "Kaleidoscope and Moonlight Butterflies" layered. 

We are looking forward to seeing your beautiful container of flowers in our challenge this week.  

Nellie Snellen Retro Swirls 1 embossing folder
Echo Park Dots & Stripes Design Paper Pad
Memory Box "Fancy Blossoms" 98312
Memory Box "Prim Poppy" 98310
Poppy Stamps "Meadow Leaf" 806
Memory Box "Kaleidoscope Butterfly" 98261
Memory Box "Moon Light Butterfly" 98260
Cherry Lynn Expandable Tiny Borders B215
Cheery Lynn Flourish Leaf Strip   B178

Cherry Lynn Expandable Tiny Borders B215
Cheery Lynn Flourish Leaf Strip   B178
Cheery Lynn Spring Basket 1   DL214

Cheery Lynn BAF "Embellishment 1" B181A
Penny Black "Gratitude" stamps   30-105

Enjoy Life

I'm so anxious to see the birds arrive, which will be a sure sign Spring is on the way.   I decided to use the cute new die from Impression Obsession with the little birds on a tree branch.  The number of this die is 058-N.   To frame the scene, I used two new sets of Spellbinders dies.  The large one in the back is the "5x7 Enchanted Labels 28" die.  On top of it I layered the A2-Filigree Delight die.  In this set you also get the oval insert and I sponged that with Distress Inks.  The back of the Filigree Delight die was lined with a Navy blue card stock to match the bottom mat on the card.  I die cut two of the corners from the Filigree Delight set and glued them to the sides of the Filigree frame.  This frame was attached with dimensional tape.  The oval was also attached with dimensional tape.  The little sentiment is from the Penny Black "Enjoy Life" clear stamp set.

To add a little more "Spring" to the card, I decided to add a yellow rose that was created with the Spellbinders "Spiral Blossom One" die.  It was die cut using yellow card stock and sponged lightly with orange Distress Ink.  The leaves and baby's breath are from Cheery Lynn.

Spellbinders "5x7 Enchanted Labels 28" S6-003

Spellbinders A2- Filigree  Delight S5-117

Impression Obsession "Birds on a Branch" (058-N)

Penny Black "Enjoy Life" clear stamp set (30-032)

Spellbinders "Spiral Blossom One" S4351

Cherry Lynn "Build A Flower Embellishments #2" B188

Cheery Lynn "Rose Leaf Strip" B241

Cheery Lynn "Flourish Leaf Strip" B178

891461

Spring is Here

Are you ready for Spring?   We still have lots of snow and it keeps snowing, so I don't think we will have an early Spring, but I decided to create my own Spring by creating a card with Spring flowers. 

This card was so much fun to create I didn't want to stop.  Have you ever done that?   I used the Heartfelt Creations "Vintage Floral" dies to create these flowers.  The two smallest flower dies from this set were used. I die cut them using white card stock then sponged the edges of the petals, on front and back, with "Squeezed Lemonade" Distress Ink.  First each flower was shaped using the tools from the Flower Tool Kit to soften the fibers, then Crafter's Pick Glue was brushed on the top side of each flower, then using the large white tool in the Flower Tool kit, I wrapped all the petals up around the large ball end to form this shape.  You do get glue on the tool, but it wipes off easily with a baby wipe. I needed the glue to be pretty tacky when I started shaping them, so I added glue to a bunch of flowers at once, let it sit a couple of minutes, then started shaping.  This helped the petals to adhere to each other to stay in the closed position.   I die cut the stamen, from the Cheery Lynn Build A Flower #2 embellishments, that has many "legs" with a dot on the end, for the stamen in these flowers.  I cut off only 4 or 5 of the "legs" and glued them down in the center of each flower.

After making all the flowers, I had to decide what to do with them.  I thought a basket of flowers would be cute, so used the Cheery Lynn "Spring Basket 1" for both the basket and the "Bunny".  I used a variety of Distress Inks to color the basket.   

The fence is the Poppy Stamps "Picket Fence" die.  This is a perfect fence to use for Easter and Spring cards. The grass is the Cheery Lynn "Grass Border".   Behind the Bunny, I wanted something that resembled some type of bush so used one of the Marianne "Leafy embellishments- cutting the stem end off and tucking it behind the bunny.

The basket was attached over the fence then I used glue dots to stick all the yellow flowers down in an arrangement.   These are pretty small flowers, so for leaves I die cut the Marianne Design "Forest Branch" and cut the leaves off to glue around the flowers; they are the perfect size.   The bunny was added with dimensional tape.  A small Kaiser Craft pearl was added for the eye and a small pom pom glued to the tail.  

The corners are from Joy! Crafts and the sentiment is from a Penny Black stamp set called "Garden Friends". 

I hope you like this card.  It was definitely a lot of fun to create. 

Poppy Stamps "Picket Fence" 827

Heartfelt Creations "Vintage Floral" dies

Marianne Design "Forest Branch" LR0150

Marianne Design "Leafy Embellishments" LR0192

Joy! Crafts "Corners" 0135

Cheery Lynn "Spring Basket 1" DL214

Cheery Lynn "Grass Border" B126

Cheery Lynn "Build A Flower #2 Embellishments"

Penny Black "Garden Friends" stamp set 30-021

Dimensional Tape

Distress Inks 

Kaiser Craft Pearls

Crafter's Pick Glue

877558

Wishing You A Wonderful Christmas

I have been helping my daughter with a craft project she is sending to one of her friends, but  I managed to squeeze in time for a new card today.  I wanted to use this beautiful Penny Black sentiment stamp for the front of my card.  The pretty poinsettia was created with the Poppy Stamps "Blooming Poinsettia" die.  Before shaping and putting the flower together, I stamped each piece with a retired Heartfelt Creations "Silent Night" background stamp, using Encore Metallic Silver ink.  I love the words stamped on the petals.  Behind the poinsettia I added a few Cheery Lynn "Holly Leaves" and one of the Impression Obsession "Pine Branches".  Below the embossed frame is the Spellbinders "Parisian Accents" border.  Along the top of the card is the Memory Box "Frosty Border".  Red Kaiser Craft pearls were added to complete the front of the card.

On the inside of this card I wanted to have a 3-D scene.  The background was covered with design paper from the "Authentique Wonder" paper pad.  The "Town Scape" was die cut using Tim Holtz  die.  Along the bottom I used the Cheery Lynn "Border Carnivale" border.  The pop up die I used is the Tim Holtz Sizzix "Zig Zag 3-D Pop-Up" die.  On the pop up tabs I added the Marianne Design "Sleigh" and "Reindeer".  I added a small Kaiser Craft red pearl to "Rudolph".   Behind the sleigh are three Marianne Design "Trees".  Polar White Flower Soft was added to create a snowy scene.  

I love creating pop-up cards using the Sizzix pop-up dies.  People are always thrilled to see the "unexpected" pop-up design.

Front of card:

Memory Box "Frosty Border" (98171)

Penny Black "A Wonderful Christmas" (4116H)

Poppy Stamps "Blooming Poinsettia (861)

Encore Metallic Silver Pad

Cheery Lynn "Holly Leaves" (B183)

Impression Obsession "Pine Branch" (DIE021-N)

Spellbinders "Parisian Accents" dies (S5-034)

Kaiser Craft Pearls

Inside:

Tim Holtz Sizzix "Zig Zag 3-D Pop-up" die

Tim Holtz "Town Scape" die

Cherry Lynn "Border Carnivale" (DL129)

Marianne Design "Tree" (LR0176)

Marianne Design "Sleigh" (LR0178)

Marianne Design "Reindeer" (LR0179)

Authentique "Wonder" Design Pad

Flower Soft - Polar White

819879

Let the Heavens Rejoice

Today I played with some new products I want to tell you about.  I used Ranger's "Emboss It Dabber-Clear", "Sticky Embossing Powder", and "Platinum" Stickles Dry Fine Glitter, on the poinsettia.  The photo does not do justice to this beautiful Platinum glitter on the poinsettia. I watched Tim Holtz work with these products at CHA and have been anxious to "play" with them. 

Here is a picture of these products used on the poinsettia.  The die cut poinsettia petals are from the new Poppy Stamps "Blooming Poinsettia".  This die also comes with the stamen and the leaf.  I love the "Emboss It Dabber".  It has the same type of ink as you have in the VersaMark pad but you are able to dab it in smaller, specific areas.  I covered each of the petals with this ink, then poured on the "Sticky" embossing powder.  I have used other sticky embossing powders, but find the Ranger sticky powder works better than what I had in the past. (I did work in small trays for the Embossing Powder and the glitter, so I could pour them back in the jars.) Use your heat gun to make the embossing powder sticky.  Once the sticky powder was "shiny", I placed the flower in a different tray and poured on the Platinum Stickles Dry Fine Glitter.  If all the area did not hold the glitter, you can heat it up again to melt the sticky embossing powder and place it back down in the glitter - press it down with your fingers.  Once it was completely covered with glitter, I heat set it again and pressed down on the glitter to make sure it as sticking well.  I did this to all three layers of the poinsettia.  To shape the flower, I found it was best to shape it with your fingers rather than placing it on the shaping mat, because the glitter will come off on the mat.  Once the petals were slightly bent, I pressed down in the center on the black mat to help make them "cup" up.  I used the white "Crafters Pick" glue to stick them together.  It worked great because this glue is thick and will stick even though you are gluing over glitter.  

The pretty embossed background was done with another one of the new Nellie  Snellen embossing folders ,  "Oval Frame".  The sentiment I used is a Penny Black stamp called "Rejoice".  Under the sentiment I used a little stamp from the JustRite "Spring Rose Medalliions" stamp set.  I love all the JustRite stamp sets because they have such a great variety of items in each set.  Most of them include medallions, sentiments plus little embellishments like the one under the sentiment on this card.   The sentiment and little flourish were stamped using VersaFine Onyx Black Ink and Ranger's Detail Clear Embossing Powder.   The holly was die cut using the Marianne Design "Holly Sprig".  Additional Platinum Stickles Dry Fine Glitter was added to the berries in the holy die cut.  

Nellie Snellen "Oval Frame" (HSF004)

Poppy Stamps "Blooming Poinsettia" (861)

Marianne Design "Holly Sprig" (LR0244)

JustRite "Spring Rose Medallions" stamp set (CL-03685)

Penny Black "Rejoice" (3732E)

Ranger "Emboss It Dabber - Clear"

Ranger "Sticky Embossing Powder"

Ranger "Platinum Stickles Dry Fine Glitter"

Crafters Pick" glue

VersaFine  Onyx Black Ink Pad

Ranger's Detail Clear Embossing Powder

785376

With Sympathy

Cheery Lynn just came out with four beautiful new die cut sentiments and today I want to show you one I haven't used yet.  This "With Sympathy" die cut is very delicate. Here is a little hint:  when I die cut these delicate sentiments, most of the time they stay in the card stock instead of popping out or staying in the die.  When this happens, I place it on the black mat I use to shape flowers and gently push around the sentiment and it will pop up and away from the card stock.   I brushed on a thin coat of "Glue N' Seal" to adhere it to the design paper.  The design paper is from the Pink Paislee "Butterfly Garden 6x6" pad.

The flower was created using the Cheery Lynn Build A Flower #2 dies.  The stamens are from the Build A Flower #2 Embellishments set.  The flower was created by using yellow vellum for the petals.  I sponged the edges with Wild Honey Distress Ink.  The petals were then spritzed with some water and shaped around the barrel of the white tool from the Flower Tool Kit.  Place the petal around the tool and pinch from side to side to create the wrinkles in each petal.  When you create your flowers from the Build A Flower #2 set, you can mix the style of petals on that plate as long as you keep them approximately the same size especially when you are giving extra shape to the petals as I did here.  It makes it easy to place a piece of card stock/vellum over that section of the die and just die cut all nine petals.  I have even used a variety of these petals when creating roses.  As you know, every petal in a flower is not identical.  I die cut two of the stamens with the little circles on the ends  out of yellow card stock;  then on each little circle used a marker to add  a darker color to help make them stand out.

The flower was placed on the Memory Box "Quinn Flourish".  Marianne leaves and greenery were placed under it.  The pretty butterfly is from the Penny Black "Social Butterfly" stamp set.  This set has four sizes of beautiful butterflies, a dragonfly, a butterfly corner, and a sentiment.  It was stamped on white card stock using "Forest Moss" Distress Ink, cut out then sponged with Tea Dye Distress Ink, then attached with dimensional tape.

Memory Box Quinn Flourish (98267)

Pink Paislee Butterfly Garden Paper Pad

Penny Black "Social Butterfly" stamp stet (30-116)

Marianne Design leaves (LR0227)

Marianne Design leaves (LR0229)

Cheery Lynn "With Sympathy" sentiment (B212)

741352

Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge

Are you ready for a new challenge at Joan's Garden. Joan and I decided it might be fun to have you create a "patriotic" card since the 4th of July is just around the corner; therefore, the color theme this week is "Red, White & Blue".  Please go over to Joan's Gardens to see all the rules for this challenge.   

The striped design paper is from the BoBunny "Liberty" Collection paper pad.  I knew I wanted to create some red, white and blue flowers and ended up doing something different than originally planned.  I used the Cheery Lynn "Stacker Flower #2" die for the flowers.  I was going to stack three together to create my flowers but decided to change to a "daisy" looking flower;  the picture below has more flowers than I needed.

I wanted to show you how I created this flower, but did not take another picture, so will explain it to you from this picture.  You can see the Cheery Lynn Stacker Flower die under the end of the flower shaping tool in this picture.   To let you know what I was thinking when I started, I wanted to make the petals "frilly" thinking they would resemble pretty fireworks.  You can see how I cut four times up each petal.  For my card, I folded the flower in half to create the daisy type flower.  These flowers looked really pretty with three layers stacked together, but they were too large to add one of each color.  I even liked them with one flower made with the three colors.  I added a little "Star Dust" Stickles to the center of the flowers.

I used my favorite flower stems/leaves for these flowers.  They are from the Heartfelt Creations "Simple Filler Stems PreCut Set".  I stamped four stems and cut off the leaves from one to add additional leaves.  I had those large gold, flat backed, embellishments in my stash that I added for the center of the flowers.  The fence is the Marianne Design Creatable Fence.  I die cut two of them and sponged each, before taking them out of the die, with gray ink to give them shadows.  The cute little girl is one of the new Marianne Design "Little Sweethearts" stamps.  The lady bug is the smallest lady bug from the Heartfelt Creations "Simple Filler Stems" stamp set.  

The sentiment used is from a new sentiment stamp set by Penny Black called "Gratitude".  You should be sure and check out this great set at Joan's Gardens.  It even includes some really pretty butterflies.  The sentiment was stamped using VersaFine Ink then die cut using one of the Spellbinders "Fancy Tags".  It was attached with dimensional dots.  Did you notice the little heart above the little girl?  That is a piece that fell out of the "Fancy Tag" and landed there.  I liked it there so just glued it down.  I forgot to mention that the grass was cut with the MFT grass die.  

I hope you find this a fun challenge and will join us

Marianne Design Fence Creatable (LR0206)

Marianne Design "Little Sweethearts" (TC0823)

Spellbinders Fancy Tags

Penny Black "Gratitude" stamp set

Cheery Lynn "Stacker Flower #2" (SF-2)

Heartfelt Creations "Simple Filler Stems PreCut Set" (HCPC 3319)

BoBunny "Liberty Collection" paper pad

Stickles "Star Dust"

Daisy

Today I was putting away some of the dies I have been using this week and noticed the Memory Box "Tilth Floral" die and thought I could make a pretty flower using the "discards" from it.  I always like to show you additional things you can do with your dies so they get a lot of use.  

This is the Memory Box "Tilth Floral" die, the die cut from it, and on the far right is one of the pieces from the diecut.  Doesn't that look like a daisy petal!  I sponged some of the ends of these pieces with Distress Ink "Squeezed Lemonade" then lightly sponged on a little "Dried Marigold" Distress Ink for shading.  I then used the largest flower base from the Cheery Lynn "Build A Flower #1" to glue on the petals.  I cut off 3 of the points because I only wanted a "half" flower.  The petals were glued to the other 5 points then 4 more petals were glued on in between the first layer.  To create the center of the flowe,r I used the smallest die from the Spellbinders "Big Scalloped Ovals Sm" dies.  It was cut in half using a pair of "Deckle" edge scissors.  I didn't want that bottom edge perfectly straight so that is why I used these scissors.

This is a 5.5" x 6" card.  I used the Penny Black "Blush" (daisy) stamp for the stem and leaves.  Two shades of green Distress Markers were used to color right on the rubber then it was lightly misted with water before stamping on the card stock.  I didn't want just a plain background so I embossed this piece with the "Swiss Dots" embossing folder.  I placed it in the folder so that the dots would emboss the full length (which would be sideways on this card), then placed the folder back on the unembossed area and ran it through the machine again.  This way I had complete coverage.  

To ground the flower, I used three layers of the MFT "Fresh Cut Grass" border, alternating the blades of grass.  The little butterfly was die cut using the new Heartfelt Creations "Butterfly" die.  It was sponged prior to taking it out of the die. In the center of the butterfly, I used one of the Memory Box Butterfly "bodies"; the bottom portion of that body was cut off so the size fit my small butterfly.   The "Dragonfly" was die cut using the Memory Box "Willow Dragonfly".  The pretty corners are the Cherry Lynn "Corner".  I think this is such a pretty corner.  To finish the card, I added some diamond "Stickles" to the butterfly, dragonfly, and the flower.  Antique Photo Stickles was added to the center of the flower.

I know many of you have purchased the Memory Box "Tilth Floral" die.  I hope this gives you an additional idea for using it.  If you haven't purchased this die yet and would like to add it to your collection, you can purchase it from Joans Gardens.

Today I received another box of "goodies" from Joan and one of the new items are the Marianne Design "houses".  Joan has these posted on her blog so you can go over and see them now.  I am very excited to start work on designing a card with one of these houses for my next post.  They look like so much fun to work with.   

Memory Box "Tilth Floral" die (98320)

Penny Black "Blush" (daisy) stamp (2666K)

MFT "Fresh Cut Grass"

Cheery Lynn "Corner" (B 166)

Heartfelt Creations Spellbinders "Garden Romance" butterfly (HCD723)

Memory Box "Willow Dragonfly" (98319)

Spellbinders "Big Scalloped Ovals Sm"

Distress Inks 

Distress Markers

Swiss Dots Embossing Folder

Stickles "Diamond" and "Antique Photo"

Memory Box "Kaleidosope Butterfly" for body of butterfly)

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Friends Make Everyday Special

As a rule I am trying to teach you new techniques and today I was in the mood to learning something new myself.  I have this book  called "A Compendium of Curiosities" by Tim Holtz.  I think you all know I love working with Tim Holtz products.  I am anxiously awaiting the new Distress Markers but until then, I started going through this book and found something neat I wanted to try.  It is on page 46 and is called Distress Stickles.  I did not know there is a big difference between regular Stickles and Distress Stickles, did you?   With Distress Stickles you add a "blob" over the surface then use your finger to create a thin layer over the area you want the glitter.  You can work with as many colors as you want.  What I love about this is that you can use your heat gun to dry the Distress Stickles.  You know you can't do that with regular Stickles.  I only have one color of Distress Stickles which is "Vintage Photo" but I plan to order a lot of other colors now that I understand how to use it.  I can especially see lots of different colored sparklie butterflies! 

In case you are wondering, I used the "Distress Stickles" on the butterflies. The Memory Box "Moonlight Butterfly" (98260) and "Kaleidoscope Butterfly" (998261) were perfect for this project.  I die cut the "Moonlight Butterfly" using white card stock then used the Tim Holtz Blending Tool and added "Mustard Seed" and "Spiced Marmalade" to it.  This is the solid butterfly on the bottom of the layered butterfly.  Next I added the "Vintage Photo" Distress Stickles and rubbed it in with my finger, then dried it with the heat gun.  What is really neat is that my colors were brighter than I wanted, so I used the blending tool and "Tea Dye" Distress Ink to tone it down.  I just rubbed the inked pad over the whole butterfly.  In the photo, the butterflies look a lot darker than in real life.  The pretty yellow and orange really show up well and the glittery Distress Stickles puts on a beautiful shine.  I then glued on the "Kaleidoscope Butterfly" which was die cut using black card stock.  

The pretty border along the left side of this card was created using the Marianne Design "Anji Edge"  I placed a piece of green card stock under the left side of the card and snipped off the Anji Edge from the piece of card stock and created a green border between the two pieces.  Before attaching the green card stock, I ran it through the Dotted Swiss embossing folder for texture.  

I love the stamped image.  It is the Penny Black "Flower Amongst Flowers" stamp.  This is a solid stamp, so I used markers to color right on the stamp, then misted it with a fine mist before stamping.  The colors blend together well plus you must moisten the stamp to be sure the ink is wet before stamping.  In the center of the flowers I added "Bronze" Stickles. The corner I used is one of the Marianne corners (LR0143).  The front of the card was shaded using the Blending Tool and "Tea  Dye" Distress Ink.  The sentiment is from the new JustRite "Your Special Day Medallion Labels" stamp set.  To finish the card, the butterflies were glued on.

 If you love to work with Tim Holtz Products, I know you will love having the "A Compendium of Curiosities" Instructional book by Tim Holtz.  It has step by step pictures and instructions for each product.  

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Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge

It is time for a new challenge at Joan's Garden.  This week the challenge is to create a 4.25" x 5.5" birthday card using pink, green and a touch of purple.  It also requires you use distressing and piercing.  All the challenge rules will be listed on Joan's blog tomorrow. 

For my card I used a new stamp.  It is the Penny Black "Garden Poems" stamp.  I colored it using Distress Inks Spun Sugar; Shabby Shutters; Peeled Paint; and Vintage Photo.  The yellow was sponged on using yellow chalk from the "Pebbles, Inc" Pearlescent, Jewel Tones, chalk pad.  It gives it a nice little sparkle.  The Fence (LR0205) and Grass (LR0204) die are new dies from Marianne Designs. The butterfly is one of the Cheery Lynn "Mini Butterflies" (DL112).  To Distress the edges of the top panel I used the "Zutter Distrezz-it-All" tool.  This tool makes it very quick and easy to distress the edges of your card stock.  A Tim Holtz Piercing Tool was used to to pierce the holes around the design.  The sentiment at the top of the card is from the "Die-namics Polka Dot Greetings" stamp set.  This is a new line of products Joan will soon be posting on her blog. The only thing on this card that is dimensional is the butterfly, and that can be pressed down so it easily mails in a regular A-2 envelope.

I hope you will join us this week in our challenge.   We look forward to seeing your beautiful cards.

Joan's Weekly Challenge

It is time to start a new round of challenges at Joan's Garden.  Joan and I loved seeing all your beautiful cards last year and hope you will join us again this year. 

Here is what you need to do for Joan's Gardens Weekly Challenge #1:

• Make a card and/or tag using some kind of hearts
• Use any kind of embellishments 
• Use, pink or red with white
• Do some kind of embossing

You will have until next Thursday (January 12) morning 6:00 AM EST to link your project.  

My card is 5"x7".  The background was embossed with the Cuttlebug "Love Language" embossing folder.  Last month Joan posted a lot of new Cheery Lynn dies that include a lot of heart shapes.  I used the "Sweetheart Frame" (FRM127) and on the inside of the frame I added a white piece behind it that was red embossed with the Penny Black "Love is the Message" (4023K) stamp.  A Spellbinders Rose was added to the left side.  Under the rose I added pieces of the Cheery Lynn "Lace Rose and Flourishes" (B135) die cut.  On the inside of this card I attached the beautiful Cheery Lynn "Garden of Love" (B141) die.  You can see this in the photo below.  This is a very intricate die but it pops right out of the die. Isn't it beautiful! 

EDIT:   SOMEONE EMAILED AND ASKED ME TO INCLUDE A LARGER PICTURE OF THE INSIDE OF THIS CARD - HERE IT IS.  ISN'T THAT A GORGEOUS DIE!

I hope you will join us in our first challenge of the new year.

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Feminine Window Card

Yesterday I showed you how I designed a masculine card using one of the new window dies you can now order from Joan's Gardens, and today I have used the same die to create a feminine card with the same window.  This is a 5.5" square card.  I started off by placing the front of the card, along with another piece of card stock the same size, down on the cutting mat of the die cut machine.  They were taped so they would not move.  Next I taped the Joy Stamps "Grand Madison Window" (815) down on the left side and ran it through my Grand Calibur.  The reason I added an extra piece of card stock is because I wanted to emboss the front panel and did not want that embossing to show through on the inside of the card.  This also lined the two windows up perfectly.  The embossing folder I used was the Cuttlebug "Victoria" embossing folder.  One of the die cut windows was placed in the "hole" of the embossed panel and taped in place, on the back side, so it would stay there.  The second die cut window was attached over it with dimensional tape to give the window some dimension.  

I wanted to use a pretty new stamp Joan sent me called "Words Like Flowers" (4181K) by Penny Black to show through the die cut window.  It is such a pretty stamp.  I stamped the Penny Black image on  a larger piece of card stock than my card.  The reason I did that was so I could place the stamped design under the window and place it just the way I wanted it to show through the window.  It was trimmed down then to fit inside the card.  The flowers and leaves on the stamped image were colored using Copic markers.  Here is a picture of the inside of the card.

Now back to the front of the card -  I wanted to try and duplicate the flowers in the stamped image.  I used the new Cheery Lynn "Miniature Rose" (B152); "Medium Rose" (B154); and "Large Rose" (B155) dies for the flowers.  I don't know if you have all three of these dies but they are so perfect for creating different size flowers.  You can use just a few layers or up to 6 layers that are cut from just one die.  You also get the leaves that go under the flower in these dies.  They are super easy to put together to create an open type flower like I created here, or you can create beautiful roses with them too.  To duplicate the stamens in the die cut flowers like the ones in the stamped image, I used the small "Sparkle" punch, also available from Joan's Gardens.  The beautiful leaves were die cut using the Poppy Stamps "Meadow Leaf" (806) and "Gentle Leaf (807) dies.  These dies cut really are easy to use because they all just pop right out of the die.  

I know these window dies are really popular right now and I hope I have given you a few ideas to help you create your cards.  Using dies to create your cards is such a fun way to add texture and give your cards that "wow" factor. I really love using them by themselves or in combination with stamped images.

As I have said before, you can get all the products I use from Joan's Gardens.  Shipping will begin again on January 2nd but Joan is still taking orders over this holiday break.  By the way, don't forget to mark your calendars for the big sale next Wednesday at Joan's Gardens.  You can go to her blog to read all the details.

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Gold Poinsettia

 

Do you ever have a day when you have an idea in your head but it just doesn't work on out paper.  Well that was the kind of day I had with this card.  I wasn't sure I should post it, but in case I don't get another one made today, thought I'd go ahead and post it.

I started off by double embossing the background.  The left side is embossed with the Sizzix "Winter Botanicals (657261) and the right side embossed using only a small portion of the Sizzix "Winter Words" (65738) embossing folder.  I really like these two embossing folders used side by side.   I had a piece of gold colored vellum and thought it would make a beautiful poinsettia.  I used VersaMark ink to stamp the Penny Black "Christmas Pride" poinsettia and embossed it with Iridescent Ice embossing powder.  This embossing powder has glitter in it.  The poinsettia was stamped three times and cut out so I could layer it.  I usually like to spritz vellum flowers to give them some dimension, but this particular vellum really wanted to curl up tight and I don't feel like I got a very well shaped flower. First time that has happened to me -- the vellum didn't come from Joan's Gardens, maybe that is why it didn't work as well, hee hee. For fillers behind the flower I used Cheery Lynn "Pine Branches" (B146) and Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish" (B148); also pieces from the Sizzix "Festive Greenery" die.  The center of the flower has some small beads added.  To complete the card I added a silk bow. 

All the products in "bold" can be purchased from Joan's Gardens.

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Christmas Pop Up Thank You Card

Today I wanted to create another card with the Poppystamps "Small Madison Window" (816).  I think there are going to be so many fun things to do with this die. My card is 5.5" x 6".  I used two pieces of design paper from the KaiserCraft "December 25th paper pad.  The background for the window was cut from a piece of white card stock, with the next to largest, Spellbinders "Label Twenty-Two" and I used the same die to cut a piece of design paper from the Kaiser Craft paper pad to layer on top of it.  Next I traced around the outside that same Spellbinders die, using white card stock, to create a mat for the die cut label.  I traced around the die again for a second mat.  Both mats were cut out with scissors.  The window die was also die cut using white card stock.  All the white pieces were sponged with Distress Inks. 

I used the Penny Black "Enjoy Life" stamp set which includes these cute little birds.  The holly is die cut using the Cheery Lynn "Holly Flourish" (B148).  This is such a great die to use with your Christmas cards because the holly is small and fits really well around either flowers or other images.  I die cut the flourish several times and cut it apart to fit in and around the birds.  The corners are from Spellbinders "Lace Doily Accents".  The berries were added with some really old red "Crystal Lacquer".  

Now I need to tell you what I did with the second Label Twenty-Two I cut out with scissors.  I used it for the inside of  this window image. 

As I told you, this is a thank you card.  I used that second image to die cut the  Memory Box "Pop Up Thanks".  This is a small pop up and works really great on the inside of the card.  This picture shows the top lifted up so you can see the "Pop Up Thanks".  A small piece of the Cheery Lynn Holly Flourish was added.  You can see I also used Distress Ink to sponge around the edges of the inside of the card. 

As you know, you can purchase all the products I use from Joan's Gardens.   I hope you enjoyed seeing another way to use this Poppystamps Small Madison Window Die and the Memory Box Pop Up Thanks..

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