Looking through a Christmas Window

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  *singing*  At least it does in every store in town!  Many of us like to get our Christmas cards done early so we here on the blog are giving you ideas on what you can make using paper from Paper Temptress's  Christmas Paper Pack.

I used Red Ruche from the Christmas Paper Pack  for the outside of the house and  I made the window out of the Autumn Hay.  The greenery is the gorgeous Emerald Metallic cardstock.

As you open the card you will see that the window was cut open so that you can see the main image on the inside of the card.

Here’s the image on the inside of the card.  I sponged some yellow around the image to make it more warm and welcoming.

Thank you for stopping by!  I will be taking some time off from the blog for the month of December while my husband has surgery but I'll be back after the first of the year!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday season!

Blast from the Past - Snowflakes Tutorial

Since I'm living in a construction zone right now due to an unfortunate plumbing issue which led to the dishwasher flooding our kitchen and hallway, getting underneath our wood laminate flooring and into our walls... I decided it would be a good idea to post a Blast from the Past post using one of my favorite cards from last year.  What's great is that the Paper Temptress's Christmas paper package is on sale again right now!!!  I love this paper so much that I've ordered more of it throughout the year.  It's gorgeous!  Now onto the post:

I have a special treat for you today!  This is one of the cards I made using the Paper Temptress's Christmas paper package which is on SALE!!  You can really get a lot of cards out of the package!   I tried a new technique for this card which is called Die Cut Inlay.  The paper I used are: Black Onyz Mica/Metallic, Russo Incandescent and Candido Incandescent for the snowflakes.

 

 I found a video by Jennifer McGuire here: Die Inlay It's a fun technique and I think I did pretty well considering this was my first try at it.  I had to work with a LOT of small pieces because I chose snowflakes... which have a lot of small pieces.  hehe!

First, you need to choose your background paper and the inlay paper.  You need to decide where you want the inlay pieces (snowflakes) to be on the background paper.   I placed the snowflake dies on top of the black Onyz background, taped them into place and ran it through my die cutting machine. (pictured below - you can see the black snowflakes top left of the image and the black background cut out just below.)  You then need to cut the same pieces (in my case - the snowflakes) out of the contrasting (inlay) paper also shown below:

 

Be sure to save all the little pieces - you'll need them!  Next you will adhere your background paper to the card and then start filling in the white spaces.  It's just like a puzzle.  You need to be sure to fit the snowflakes and the tiny pieces in where they fit.  You'll need to dot liquid glue to the backs of the pieces.  My favorite glue is Aleene's Quick Dry Tacky Glue found in most craft stores.  The smaller bottle has a fine tip so you can easily manage how much glue comes out.  Try not to get glue on the background paper or on the top of the snowflakes.  I use tweezers to pick up the pieces and place them onto the card.

You can see that parts of a couple of snowflakes hang over the edge.  Carefully cut off the excess for a professional look.  You can see in the photo below how the card is one layer.  I added 1/2 pearls to the snowflakes to give them an elegant look.

I added a sentiment for the finishing touch.  I just LOVE how the Black Onyz shines in the light.

Thank you for stopping by!  This was a fun card to make even if it was kind of time-consuming.  But once I started putting the "puzzle" together, it was fun and went quickly!  If you try this technique of Die Cut Inlay, please let me know!  I'd love to see it!  

The Good Stuff:

Snowflake dies: Lifestyle Crafts - Snowflakes / Spellbinders - Create A Flake One / Sentiment stamp - Stampin Up - Angelic Joy (no longer available) / Spellbinders dies: Fancy Framed Tags Two & Labels Twenty

Blended Bloom

Good morning!  I hope you are enjoying your weekend!  Today I have a card that could be used as a friendship card for someone who is going through a rough time, or is ill or having surgery or even a sympathy card.  

I stamped the flower onto Cryogen White cardstock and colored it with Stampin' Up's new Blendability markers in Calypso Coral.  The leaves were also stamped onto Cryogen White cardstock  and the background was stamped onto Kraft cardstock.

Thank you for stopping by!

Other supplies used: Stampin' Up stamps: Blended Bloom, Wonderfall, Hardwood and Gifts of Kindness

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

Happy Labor day weekend!  To get the weekend started off right I thought I would make a USA flag card for you.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and just had to give it a try!

Here's a different angle.  I popped the stars up so they stand out more and *pop*!

Thank you for stopping by!  We hope you have a wonderful and safe holiday weekend!

Paper used on this card:  Jupiter Red, Citrine and Deep Blue Crepe (Ruche).
Punches from Stampin' Up!

Fabulous Florets

Good morning!  I hope you are having a wonderful week!  Today I am filling in for Holley on the Paper Temptress Blog who was gracious enough to post for me last week.  

My card today features a wonderful stamp set from Stampin Up called Fabulous Florets.  I first stamped the flower images with Versamark onto Heavenly White cardstock.  After heat-setting and letting it cool, I water colored the flower petals  with dark pink ink which ended up looking quite red in the darker areas.  I made sure that I water colored around the outside of those images so that the white outline would show up.  I colored the centers of the flowers with copics #YR20 and added a little YR02 to add a little depth to the center. 

 

I stamped the mason jar with memento ink onto Cryogen White and then stamped the stems and leaves in green.  In retrospect I should have stamped the foliage first and then masked it for the mason jar.   I colored the water with copics: BG0000 & BG000.  I wanted more leaves anyway so I stamped more onto some scrap Cryogen White and then cut them out and glued them onto the sides of the mason jar.    The flowers are popped up with pop dots and I left the tips of the leaves loose and folded them upward to add movement to the card.

The red paper is Jupiter Red from the Mica/Metallic line.  I hope you can see the shininess of it. 

Thank you for stopping by and I'll see you back here in a couple of days when it's my turn to post a new card for you!  Have a great day!

Banner and Flowers

Happy Saturday!!!  I hope you are having a great weekend!  I'm so happy that I found the time to do some crafting and made this card for my Design Team post over at the Paper Temptress Blog.

My card today uses quite a few fun papers from the Paper Temptress Store.    My card base is Desert Storm Kraft which I stamped with the wood grain stamp by Stampin' Up.  

The banner was stamped in Versamark and embossed with white embossing powder onto the following paper: Sapphire (text weight), Spring Larch (text weight) and Azalea (text weight).  The heart is also out of Azalea and the butterfly is punched from Rose Petal Vellum.  

 I stamped the large flowers onto Heavenly White and colored them with copics.   One of the small flowers I stamped onto Amethyst (text weight) and the other one is on Sapphire (text weight).   The leaves are punched out of Spring Larch (text weight) .  I really like the text weight Glimmer paper because you can easily use punches on them and they are easy to shape.

After I shaped the flowers I glued them onto the background and put 1/2 pearl stickers in the centers.

Thank you for coming by!  I hope you have a wonderful weekend.  Don't forget to check out all the sales at the Paper Temptress store! 

Stampin' Up Stamps used:  Banner Blast, Beautiful Bunch, Hardwood, Flower Shop

Pearls from Want 2 Scrap

Happy 4th of July Weekend!

I made this card awhile back but I  thought it would be a great one to post this weekend.  I hope that all my American friends have a great 4th of July weekend!

I first stamped the flag image onto Heavenly White cardstock . I then water-colored the flag.   After it dried I masked it and then sponged the background.  I stamped the children's parade with Versamark and then embossed with detail black embossing powder.  For the flag decorations below that I also stamped and water-colored them, cut them out and adhered them to the card.  The red and blue background cardstock are from the Patriotic Variety Package.

I hope you are enjoying a wonderful weekend no matter where in the world you live.   Thank you for stopping by! 

Don't forget to shop the AMAZING SALE going on in the store right now!  30% off of EVERYTHING and some paper lines are 60% off!!  The sale ends when the weekend is over so shop now!  Paper Temptress

Stamps: from Flourishe's

FABULOUS SALE at Paper Temptress! 30% - 60% off!

WOW! WOW! WOW! Now that's what I'm talking about! This is such an amazing sale by Patricia Dunbar who is the Paper Temptress! I absolutely love all of the specialty cardstock she carries in her store. Now is the perfect time to try some of the best cardstock around with everything, and I mean EVERYTHING on sale 30% - 60% off!  I'm going to stock up on some of my favorites now too!  Happy crafting!  

Here's the link to the store: Paper Temptress

And here's the link to the blog: Paper Temptress's Community

Here's some of the gorgeous paper that I LOVE:

  

These are just some of the amazing specialty papers that are carried in the "Paper Temptress" store.  Shop now!  

Butterflies Everywhere! *mini tutorial included

I am making a butterfly mobile for a precious special needs little girl.  She loves bright colors and butterflies so I've been making them like crazy!  These are a fair amount of work so it's taking me more time than I originally wanted to take but I'm sure she will love it when I finally get finished with it.

I will post another day when I actually have the mobile done but for now, enjoy these butterflies!

I used black Onyz for the outline of the butterflies.  I explain that process below.  As you can see in these photos, I shaped the butterflies so that they would be 3-dimensional.  Once they're hanging from the mobile they should look like they are flying.

I ran the butterfly dies through my Big Shot using the Onyz paper  and all the little pieces came out as you can see on the right side of the photo.  I used Heavenly White paper for the background of the butterfly and colored it using copics.  I placed the black outline on top of the white paper and colored in the individual sections.  I then took the black outline off and expanded the coloring a bit so that if I didn't glue the outline exactly where I originally had it, it would still look ok.

When gluing the black outline on top of the colored butterfly cut-out, it's important to shape the card as you glue the together.  If you wait until the glue dries then the paper won't bend right.  The Onyz paper  is a nice, thick and sturdy paper.  When you glue it to the other paper it holds that shape nicely.  I colored both sides of the white butterfly paper so that it is colorful from any angle.  So... I cut out another black outline and glued it to the back.  The front of this butterfly is below.

  

Here is another butterfly using pink, blue and purple copics.  The thick outline of this set made it much easier to glue than the thin outline above - but I like the look of both.

This is the back of this butterfly with it face-down.  You can see how I colored this side and added the 2nd black outline.  You can also see that it's shaped and not flat.

Here it is right-side up.

This is one of my favorite butterflies.  I enjoyed coloring different colors in the outer circle cut-outs on the wings.

Below are the smallest and largest butterflies.  The smallest one is about 1 1/2" wide and the large one is about 3 1/2" wide.  They would be a bit wider if they weren't bent and shaped.  The orange area of the large butterfly has two shades of orange.  I thought it made a dramatic effect if I feathered the darker color on top of the light.

I plan to put pearls or other "bling" onto the butterfly bodies after I get them hanging on the mobile.  I'll be sure to glue them on good so they don't fall off!

Thank you for stopping by!  I hope you have a wonderful & creative weekend!

The butterfly dies that I used are Spellbinders and Memory Box dies.

The Paper Temptress is tempting us with an awesome sale!

Summer is here….YEAH!

Sooooo I think the best way to celebrate summer’s arrival is to help you add BEAUTIFUL cardstock to your stash at great prices! PaperTemptress’sLustre Paperline on sale for 25% …..

Silver Lustre Package

Laser Lustre Glossy Package

Along with the Lustre, the textured Brown Bag/Kraft paperline is 30% and the very pretty Iridescentpaperline is on sale for 30% off!

Colored Brown Bag Package

Floral Garden with tutorial

I thought it would be fun to do a 'Blast from the Past' that uses several of the yummy paper that are on sale at PaperTemptress.com.  The gorgeous Lustre Paperline is on sale for 25% off  and the Hambly Studio is on sale at a 50% discount!  Be sure to check out the rest of PaperTemptress's monthly specials on the new Sales page.

I first started off with a teal cardstock and dark brown cardstock from the Basis pack and a Hambly overlay.  There are a LOT of Hambly overlays and Screenprints available at the store,in fact,Patricia has cut them down to 6×6 sheets and is selling them in sets. They are on sale too!

I used a floral die from Stampin up to make a window for the overlay to show through.  I then layered them and adhered them to the front of a card.

Next I took these beautiful purple and pink vellum ,white Smoothie Silver Lustre and Emerald Mica.

I took my Martha Stewart punches and just started having fun punching them out.  (the punches I used are pictured at the end of this post.)  I then took my flower making kit (by Punch Bunch) and took out the embossing tool (with the round metal ball at the end.)    

On a floral moulding mat I first turned the flower upside down and embossed the petals by gently rolling the ball in a circular motion.  Once all the petals are shaped in upward cups I turned the flower rightside up and gently embossed the center of the flower.  Below you can see two white flowers that are embossed and the one at the bottom still needs the center embossed.

  

Here’s a look at the flowers close up.  I dabbed liquid pearls in the centers.  The large flower in the center was stamped with versa mark ink and heat embossed with detail white embossing powder.

 

And the top corner:

I added some “shininess”to the overlay by putting some Viva Pearl Pen (Magic Transparent Blue).  It was really hard to photograph because the overlay reflects the light so much but I think the photo below captures it the best.

Here’s the card with the Martha Stewart punches I used.  

Here's some of the other supplies I used for this card.

Thank you for coming by!   I hope you are enjoying the warmer weather and have a great weekend!