Woodblock Wednesday

Here's my card for this month's Woodblock Wednesday on Amy's blog.

I have always loved the combination of text and flowers, and this Hero Arts stamp from 2011 does all the work for me!  I also used another large A2 size Cloud stamp from Hero Arts.  Then I paper-pieced the flowers and leaves - this was almost like making a little paper quilt!

supplies: white cardstock, tiny patterned papers from Doodlebug, 2009 Hero Arts S5215 Clouds, 2011 S5506 Flower Text, Simon Surf ink, VersaFine Black ink, enamel dots, adhesive foam squares

I first stamped the clouds with Surf ink on a white panel, then overstamped the flower text, then stamped it again on scraps of patterned papers and fussy-cut them to paper- piece in the details.  I popped all the flowers up with adhesive squares, and added a tiny stamped "joy" to one of the flower centers, and enamel dots in other areas.

Be sure to visit Amy's blog to see all the other entries for this monthly challenge.

Love Those Pretty Papers!

 I happened upon a new challenge just starting this month, and loved the premise: to use those patterned papers we've all been hoarding!  I am guilty as charged, so I couldn't wait to have a play.

supplies: cream, pink, and black cardstock, Webster's Pages rose paper, pink and green patterns from my collection, Simon Says Stamp sentiment from Beautiful Butterflies and Stitching Butterfly die, Altenew Creative Edges Lace die, Spellbinders label die

Awhile back, I gathered my many 6" square paper pads of printed papers and went through them, picking out the prettiest papers, then sorted them by florals, ginghams, stripes, etc.  The florals is where I found the gorgeous Webster's Paper rose print and the tone-on-tone pink one, and then went looking for a green print that would work with them.  

We're supposed to make the papers the star of the show for this challenge, so I just chose a small sentiment and a butterfly to complete my design.

It feels good to use this lovely paper!  I hope you'll join this challenge, too - it's called Love Those Pretty Papers.

Nichol's Needlework

Here's another new release, this time designed by Nichol Spohr, that she calls Nichol's Needlework.  Here are some cards I made. 

supplies: cream, metallic gold, kraft, red, and green cardstock, Faux Embroidered Spruce dies, Gathering Stitches hoop dies, Nichol's Needlework Sentiment, Adorning the Tree 3D embossing folder

The little bow is not part of this release, but from this month's Skating into the Holidays Small dies of the month; I shortened the tails to make it fit here.  I did cross-stitch for many years before I discovered card making, and often stitched ornaments for our tree each year.

This next card will work for many occasions - it was fun to piece together a rainbow with all the colors!

supplies: various cardstock colors, metallic silver cardstock, Gathering Stitches dies, (retired) April Caboodle Pins & Needles Sentiments die

This set also has extra flowers and tall stems so that you can make a little flower garden, also!

And finally, I have 2 cards featuring the Faux Embroidered Pumpkin die set from this release. I didn't use the embroidery hoop dies on these.

supplies: colored cardstocks,  Faux Embroidered Pumpkin dies, Nichol's Needlework Sentiment, Arch Labels dies

The pumpkin set also includes a large witch's hat,, so my final card features that, the pumpkin, and some dies from last year's Halloween Cupcake!  Could this be The Great Pumpkin?????

supplies: colored cardstock, Faux Embroidered Pumpkin pumpkin and hat dies, Boo-licious Fall Cupcake sign and bat, googly eyes

I found that leafy background in my stash and thought it would make a good pumpkin patch!

Thanks for coming by today - enjoy your weekend!  We're having a little break from all that heat and humidity, so I know I will!

Home for the Holidays

 Home for the Holidays is a Christmas collection released a few days ago,  Today I have 4 cards that I made using some of the new goodies in this collection.

First up is St. Nick.  He's nice and tall, so I made a slimline card that will easily fit into a business envelope.  My card measures 3 1/2" wide by 8 1/2" long.  My sentiment is also new - from Christmas Greetings.

supplies: various colored and gold foil cardstock, St Nick dies, sentiment from Christmas Greetings, ice blue sequins from Christmas Card Kit

St. Nick has a sweet face, complete with rosy cheeks and nose, eyebrows, and a mustache!  The set comes with this pretty snowflake and also with a large star.  I added some ice-blue sequins to the centers of my flakes for some subtle sparkle.  This was lots of fun to put together!

The sentiment set has a fun font and size and a selection of 11 words and matching shadow dies that can be mixed to make the perfect sentiment.

My next card features the new Candy Canes & Holly dies and new Emerald Cut Labels dies, along with what may be my new favorite Christmas sentiments, Sending Joy Sentiments press plates; isn't the font pretty?  

supplies: red, white, and green cardstock, Candy Canes & Holly dies, Emerald Cut Labels, Sending Joy Sentiments press plate, Red glimmer foil, Holly Flourish embossing folder, small adhesive foam squares

I die-cut the largest Emerald Label die and glued it to my card front, then manually trimmed away the 4 corners to make this a shaped card.  I also added a subtle embossed holly background in the background, before popping my candy canes and sentiment above the card surface.

My third card shows you a beautiful new Christmas floral set of dies, Poinsettia Spray, done in pinks, white, and a bright green instead of traditional Christmas colors.  I added a bit of silver foil in the centers of the flowers, and placed the spray onto a big postage stamp, adding another of those beautiful script sentiments.

supplies: colored and silver foil cardstock, Poinsettia Spray dies, Sending Joy Sentiments, Bright Pink glimmer foil, Postage Edge Rectangle dies

And finally, I mixed the Winter Rose Background with a smaller Emerald Cut Label, and used another new BetterPress sentiment set called Mistletoe Greetings.  The background and the sentiment are foiled in red.  Then I inked another panel and used the matching stencils to color it, and used a smaller label to cut out the center, which I lifted above the foiled panel with foam, adding the red frame..

supplies: white and red cardstock, Winter Roses Background press plate and matching Stencil Bundle, Red glimmer foil, BetterPress Black ink, reds, greens, and beige inks, Emerald Label die, Mistletoe Greetings press plate and die

I hope you'll find something here that inspires you for your Christmas cards this year!  Thanks for stopping by today.

Copperplate Holiday Sentiments

 Here's another newly released collection of BetterPress plates, this time sentiments for the holidays.  I chose 2 of them and foiled them both. 

supplies: cream and matte gold foil cardstock, Merry Christmas press plate, champagne glimmer foil, Poinsettia Bells and Border 3D embossing folder

The font is so elegant that all it needs is a bit of glitz and a subtle embossed background.

Next I switched to white and brought in one of those foiled Winter Rose panels that I made a little earlier.

supplies: white and matte gold foil cardstock, Joy to the World press plate, champagne glimmer foil, Winter Rose press plate

This Copperplate Holiday Sentiments collection has 6 other sentiments, all in this lovely classy font.  There's something for everyone!

Handmade Holidays, part 2: Winter Rose Background and Delivering Joy Sleigh

There were several other items released in the Handmade Holidays Christmas kit release, and today I have several cards that I made with two of them. 

First up is a gorgeous BetterPress plate called Winter Rose Background.  You can get it alone, or as a bundle with some matching stencils.  My first card uses the plate as it was intended, with the BetterPress machine and black ink, and the stencils. 

supplies: white and orchid pink cardstock, Layered Winter Rose BetterPress plate and Stencil Bundle, Betterpress Black ink, Cherry Blossom, Green Meadows, and tattered rose inks, sentiment from clear stamp set in the Handmade Holidays Christmas Card kit

My next 2 cards use the plate in the glimmer machine with glimmer foils.  First I foiled it in silver.

supplies: white and silver foil cardstock, Winter Rose BetterPress plate, silver glimmer foil, sentiment from Christmas Greetings, silver pearls

I think this is gorgeous, just as it is!  The sky's the limit with the colors of foil you can use with it done this way!  I tried gold and red foil, too, on white cardstock, and you'll see those somewhere down the line......

Next I foiled it with Teal glimmer foil and used my stencils again, with red and teal inks.

supplies: white, dark teal, and a red foil cardstock (tiny strip), Winter Rose Background BetterPress plate and Stencil Bundle, Teal glimmer foil, Crimson, Velvet,and Sweet Dreams inks, sentiment from last year's Snowflake Wishes die/stamp set

And one more picture of this card, tilted to show you the teal glimmer foil. 

As you can see with my first card, this design doesn't scream Christmas, so I think it could be used all year because of those beautiful roses!  

Finally, here's my final card for today, using the new Delivering Joy Sleigh dies from this release.

supplies: silver foil cardstock, reds, greens, white, and pink cardstock from kit, patterned papers from Handmade Holidays paper pad, Delivering Joy Sleigh dies, gemstones from kit, sentiment from new Mistletoe Greetings BetterPress plate/die set

Thanks for visiting me today - I hope I've inspired you to start working on your Christmas cards!

Handmade Holidays Christmas Card Kit

The Spellbinders Christmas Card Kit this year is gorgeous, full of beautiful florals!  I had such fun mixing and matching all the wonderful ephemera and patterned papers!  Here are 6 cards I made with it.

And closer looks at each card:

supplies: white card base, Floral Die Cuts, ephemera, and adhesive foam squares from Handmade Holidays card kit

supplies: card base, red card and gold foil cardstock, floral design paper from the Handmade Holidays paper pad, ephemera sentiment panel, adhesive foam squares, all from the Handmade Holidays Card Kit

supplies: card base, dark green cardstock, 2 design papers from the Handmade Holidays paper pad, bird ephemera and Floral Die Cut, gold foiled chipboard embellishment sentiment, all from the Handmade Holidays Christmas Card Kit, Hexi-Gems dies

supplies: card base, red cardstock, pink dotty design paper from the Handmade Holidays paper pad, large Floral Die Cut, puffy sticker sentiment, peach gemstones, all from the Handmade Holidays Card Kit, large scalloped die

supplies: white card base, 3 patterned papers from Handmade Holidays paper pad, puffy stickers sentiment, ephemera sentiment, all from the Handmade Holidays Card Kit

supplies: white card base, red cardstock, 2 patterned papers from the Handmade Holidays paper pad, ephemera trees, sleigh, and sentiment, puffy sticker gold foiled snowflakes, all from the Handmade Holidays Card Kit

You can buy extras of the paper pad, floral die cuts, cardstock pack, and the holiday gemstones, if you like, but honestly I think all you'll need is the basic Card Kit.  If you've never had one of these before, they even give you 2 sizes of card bases and envelopes, adhesive squares, and double-sided tape, plus a clear stamp set, which I hope to show you soon.  

Spellbinders July Club Kits!

 The Spellbinders Club Kits are available now for new subscribers, and the theme is Christmas in July!!

The Stencil of the Month is Sprigs and Bow, a group of 5 stencils with a mask for the bow.  Here's my card.

supplies: white cardstock, Sprigs and Bow stencils, Altenew Fuschia and Magenta, Teal Cave and Galactic Stream inks, blending brushes, sentiment from Christmas Magic Sentiments

I added a tag with one of the sentiments from this month's Clear Stamp of the Month: Christmas Magic Sentiments - I like the font on this!  After I'd done all my stencilling, I secured the stencil with the bow details back to my panel, and ran it through my Platinum 6 machine to emboss it to give it some dimension.

Next up is the adorable Large Dies of the Month: Snowcapped Holidays.  I paired these dies with the 3D folder, Pine Cones and Berries, and another of the sentiments from the Stamps and Dies of the Month, Christmas Magic Sentiments.  This card is 5 X 7.  The birdhouse would fit onto an A2 card, but it would be a tight squeeze to get the branch on that size too, at the same time.

supplies: white, pale aqua, greens, kraft, brown, reds, yellow, grey, and black cardstock, Snowcapped Holidays dies, Pine Cones & Berries 3D embossing folder, sentiments from Christmas Magic Sentiments, gold embossing powder

I like that the birdhouse die also cuts a woodgrain texture!

Since I covered up most of the embossing folder, I made another card with it, and used another sentiment from the stamp and die set.

supplies: white and red cardstock, Pine Cones & Berries 3D embossing folder, markers to color, sentiment from Christmas Magic Sentiments  and matching die

Here is the Die of the Month kit: Skating into the Holidays.  When I saw these ice skates, I decided to recreate the skates I had; they were pale blue trimmed in white fur!  I backed them with the Embossing folder of the month: Hexi Snowflakes.  I'm back to A2 size again for this one.

supplies: white, blues, pinks, greens, cream, and silver foil cardstock, Skating into the Holidays dies, Hexi Snowflake embossing folder

It amazes me how the designer of these dies get so much detail into them!  The laces and bow on the skates add so much to them!  I decided to not use a sentiment on the front of this card.

My next cards are very simply compared to all the bits and pieces of the ones above!  July's Glimmer Kit is called Joyful Holly, and one of the Caboodle items is a stencil to color in the holly.

supplies: cream and gold foil cardstock, Joyful Holly glimmer plates, gold glimmer foil, Joyful Holiday stencil, Sweet Leaf and Coral Berry mini ink cubes, blending brushes, Hemstitched Rectangle die

And finally, the Stitching Dies of the Month, Stitched All Wrapped Up.  I love "brown paper packages", so I used kraft as my background.

supplies: kraft, Schoolhouse Red and Lipstick Red cardstock, All Wrapped Up Stitching dies,  Diamant Gold metallic thread,  Joyful Christmas Sentiments glimmer plate and matching die, red glimmer foil

This design doesn't need much of a sentiment, so I used a reversed foiled one that I had in my stash from last year.

You can look HERE for information on Spellbinders Clubs.  Each is available for new subscribers only from the 6th until the 27th of each month.  If you click on my links under each card, you can see the specifics of each product.  You can subscribe to each of our 10 kits separately, (and you can "unjoin" a subscription at any time without any penalty), or you can get them all, plus TWO free bonus items this month, and save 60% by choosing the Deluxe Caboodle!

Joy Tree

Happy 4th of July to all my American friends!  But in reality, you're going to be seeing a whole lot of Christmas here this month, and I'm starting today!  

This is a Spellbinders stencil and die set from last July that I didn't snag until this May, I think, on one of Spellbinders' fantastic sales.  I got a similar one last July and had such fun creating with it that I had to have this one, too.  The stencil set is currently half off on Spellbinders' current sale!

supplies: white and hot pink cardstock, Spellbinders Layered Joy Tree stencils, distress inks in kitsch flamingo, picked raspberry, twisted citron, mowed lawn, evergreen bough, pine needles, vintage photo, salvaged patina, and mustard seed, blending brushes,  Capri Blue gems, adhesive foam squares

After constructing my card with a thin pink mat, I lifted the sentiment and added some teensy blue gems over the small blue dots that were in the design.

This was so much fun to create, and I think this may be a contender for this year's Christmas cards - fairly flat and easy to mail!  

Thanks for stopping by!

The Little Things

 Hello friends!  It's July!  One of my favorite things about summer is that we get to enjoy black cherries - and I can't get enough of them!  I remembered this layering stamp set from Sunny Studios and decided to make a card to commemorate the goodness!

supplies: white cardstock, red and green gingham dp from Doodlebug Gingham/Linen paper pad, Sunny Studio Berry Bliss stamps, Hero Arts Pale Tomato and Red Royal, Altenew Firefly and Grass Field inks, Sunny Studio Fancy Frames Circle die, sentiment from Simon Says Stamp (retired) Beautiful Ride

The cherries are made up of 3 different stamps for the cherries and 2 for the leaves and stems.  And I love mixing them with these happy gingham patterns!  I enjoyed making them almost as much as I do eating them!!

Hope your day is going well - thanks for stopping by!

A Birthday Card

Our oldest Grand turned 15 this year - here's the card I made for him.  It's getting more and more difficult the older they get!

supplies: white, black, and black glitter cardstock, Doodlebug striped DP, Spellbinders Candles for Every Birthday embossing folder, Stitched Numbers dies, Simon Groovy Happy Birthday dies

I started by embossing the birthday candles folder onto brightly striped design paper, then just added my sentiment and the glitzy numbers, which are actually stitching dies, but work well on their own, too.

Do you have any hints for birthday designs for teens?  

Thanks for your visit - enjoy your day! 

Altenew June Inspiration Challenge

 I'm sneaking in at the last hour with my entry for this month's Altenew Inspiration Challenge.  Those colors were my Mom's favorites, so how could I not play?

supplies: white cardstock, Altenew Beautiful Day flowers and leaves, Rose Petal, Green Meadows, kitsch flamingo and Picked raspberry inks, orange enamel dots, Four Petal Floral 3D embossing folder, Hexi Gems glimmer plate sentiment, Pink glimmer hot foil  adhesive foam squares

The Beautiful Day multi-step stamping set was among my first from Atenew; I love the big abundant flower it makes.  I thought the embossing behind it mimics it pretty well, too, so I could reinforce the  inspiration picture, which had lots of flowers in these colors.  And that orange is a nice addition to them - I used enamel dots for that color.

It just now occurred to me that maybe the reason I love embossed backgrounds is that it's like the quilting on a quilt - wonderful added texture!

Woodblock Wednesday

 Here's my entry for this month's Woodblock Wednesday at Amy's blog, heavily inspired by April's winner there, Dawn Turley.  She used one of the stamps in this set and built her card around it.  What I really liked was that she fussy-cut out the inner square around the flower.  I never in a million years would have thought of that idea on my own!  

supplies: white and Audrey Blue cardstock, Hero Arts PEEKING POSIES set from 2006, Tammy Tutterow (retired) sentiment from Maker's Movement Sweet Petite Sentiments, adhesive foam squares

The original idea was to make a grid card, using 3 of these flowers with a sentiment in the 4th quadrant, but because the blocks are not quite square, when I turned them to stamp, the squares did not line up nicely as I'd planned.  I didn't let that deter me, however, and just went with the flow. After cutting out the inner squares, I popped the panel above a slightly larger piece of aqua cardstock, then onto my A2 card base that had been chopped at the bottom to accommodate these sizes.

Thank you so much, Dawn, for this fun idea - I enjoyed making my card, and putting these oldies to use once again!  

Since woodblock stamps are how most of us began stamping, I think it's genius that Amy gives us a forum for bringing back these beauties!    I hope you'll play along, too - you can find more information HERE.