Spellbinders May Small Die of the Month

Hello everyone.  I’m back again today to share the May Spellbinders Small Die of the Month.  This month’s Arched A2 & Slimline Card Creator includes five dies and as its name suggests it can be used to create both A2 and slimline size cards.

There are many fabulous samples utilizing the dies as they were intended, but I went simpler and created this. 

I took the largest outside frame die and partial die cut a piece of Bristol paper on one end.  Flipped the die to the other end, lined it up with the notches on the sides and partial die cut that end and done.

Next, on a light pink A2 size panel, spotlight ink blended Kitsch Flamingo, Picked Raspberry and Seedless Preserves distress inks.  Dried the inked panel completely with my heat tool before heat embossing the sentiment from this month’s Clear Stamp of the Month with white embossing powder.  Assembled the card onto a white card base then embellished with a few pearls to finish.

As I was cleaning up, I had a thought and wondered if the inside arch die could be partially die cut as well.  I gave it a try and it worked beautifully!

A pretty circle doily-like piece resulted and I used it to create a clean and simple (CAS) birthday card.

Ink blended with the same distress inks and white heat embossed a different sentiment from the same stamp set made this quick and easy.

There are many club kits to choose from and you can check them all out HERE.  Please note club sign-ups must be done by May 24th in order to receive May kits.  Past kits may be available HERE.  Thank you for visiting.  Have a wonderful day!

Challenge:

Linking the birthday card to AAA Birthday - #25 Happy 2nd Birthday Anything Goes Birthday

Mother’s Day Peony

Hello and happy Mother’s Day to all the moms, grandmas and mother figures.  One of my many favourite flowers is the peony, and after years of it collecting dust in my drawer, I finally pulled out the Peony Duo stamp set by The Ton Stamps to create my mom’s Mother’s Day card.  No surprise blue is my favourite colour... BUT it turns out, it’s my mom’s favourite colour, too!  Bonus! 😂

So the peony and leaves were stamped with VersaMark ink onto hot press watercolor paper and heat embossed with Wow! Silver Pearl embossing powder.  Watercoloured them with Karin PRO Brushmarkers, then fussy cut them out (there are coordinating dies, which I don’t have). 

Next, a piece of Bristol paper was dry embossed with a new 3D embossing folder from Altenew called Rows of Squares.  White heat embossed the sentiment from the same stamp set on black cardstock, then assembled the card onto a white card base.  Added clear shimmer to the peony and a few jewel rhinestones for some sparkle to finish.  

With my dad’s recent passing two weeks ago, I really wish I could be there in person today to spoil my mom.  I may be bias, but my mom’s pretty amazing!  Hope she is enjoying her day.  Thank you for dropping by.  Enjoy your day.

Challenges:

The Flower Challenge - #56 Use Your Favourite Flower 

Global Design Project - #290 Sketch 

Watercooler Wednesday - #315 Marsha’s Challenge All Things Feminine 

Stamping Sensations - May Beautiful Blooms 

Inspired By - #173 Celebrate Her 

Cupcake Inspirations - #518 Mother’s Day 

First Birthday

Hello everyone.  My youngest nephew, Cohen, turns ONE next week!  Wow, time flies!  I decided to stretch a never before used (NBUS) Valentine stamp set from Mana Elephant (ME) called Up With Love to create his card.

Started by stamping the image with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on a scrap of X-Press It cardstock and coloured it with Copic markers (BG49, BG13, BG11, BG10, E25, E33, E31, E30, R30).  Added highlights to the balloon with a white gel pen, then took the matching die and die cut it and a scrap of thick white cardstock to stack them for support.

The same BG markers were then used to ombré colour a scrap of X-Press It cardstock before die cutting the Altenew (ALT) Bold Alphabet letters from it.  The letters were die cut again from a scrap of black cardstock to offset for a drop shadow.  Created a cloud background on a stitched Bristol panel from my stash using a blender brush, gray dye ink and the cloud edge stencil from Honey Bee Stamps (HB) Outdoor Scene Builder.

White heat embossed the sentiment from Birthday Blowout stamp set by Poppy Stamps (PS) and assembled the card to finish.  Thank you for dropping by.  

Challenges:

AAA Birthday - #25 Happy 2nd Birthday Anything Goes Birthday 

The Paper Players - Cards for Boys theme challenge from Joanne 

Seize the Birthday - #213 Anything Birthday Goes optional topping Furry Friends 

Addicted to CAS - #196 Sky 

CAS Christmas May Challenge - Foliage and Berries

Hello there.  It’s that time of the month again and the May challenge at CAS Christmas begins now.  This month’s theme is Foliage and Berries. 

When I purchased Partridge in a Pear Tree digital image (digi) from Power Poppy for the challenge last August HERE, I also bought the Season of Serenity digi with intentions to use it for the CAS  Christmas Birds challenge last October.  Weeeeell, because digis are not on my supply radar, no surprise I forgot all about it.  The image is a bluejay surrounded by foliage and berries.  I coloured the entire image, but was not happy with how the foliage and berries turned out!... go figure! 😆  I almost tossed it and started over, but then realized I could crop it!... a perk of CAS cards. 😉  Here’s my salvaged card. 

Started by re-sizing and printing out the no-line colouring version of the digi onto X-Press It cardstock and no-line coloured it with Copic markers and Polychromos pencils. 

Next, a scrap of X-Press It cardstock was die cut with new Nesting Postage die from Waffle Flower.  Trimmed the image piece to slightly smaller than the postage cutout, then stamped the sentiment from Studio Katia Merry Poinsettia in black.   Popped up the postage piece with three stacked pieces of thick white cardstock onto a blue A2 size panel, and added a few snowflake sequins to finish.

Our guest this month is Robyn (Waterlily Cards by Robyn).  To see the inspirations from her and the rest of the design team, head on over to the challenge blog post HERE.  Hope to see you in the gallery.  Thank you for visiting.  Have a wonderful day.

Challenges:

Merry Little Christmas - #34 May Anything Christmas Goes 

Holly and Ivy Christmas - #93 Anything Christmas Goes 

Alphabet Challenge - B is for Bird 

Spellbinders: Birdhouses Through the Seasons Collection

Hello there.  It’s been a rough week.  My father passed away this past Tuesday.  I have several scheduled posts starting with this one, and will be taking a breather from blogland... so sorry I won’t be visiting your blogs.

So today I am excited to share a couple of cards made with the Spellbinders Birdhouses Through the Seasons Collection designed by Vicky Papaioannou.  There are four birdhouse die sets for each season, a birds die set and a sentiment stamp set in the collection.  All sets are adorable and can be used interchangeably.  I have two of the sets and since Christmas cards are my favourite to make, I started with the Build a Winter Birdhouse.

Here is what is included in the set.

The birdhouse was die cut from white Woodgrain paper by Memory Box.  I used my scoring tool to score it every half inch before die cutting it out. The roof part was die cut three times from blue paper, cut out with scissors then stacked for dimension.  The bells were also die cut from the same blue paper while the mistletoe and berries were die cut from X-Press It cardstock.  All colouring and/or shading were done with Copic markers.  The bird (retired) was stamped with Memento Tuxedo Black ink on X-Press It cardstock, coloured with Copic markers and fussy cut out.

I pictured this as a birdhouse ornament hanging from a Christmas tree, so created the background by ink smooshing Evergreen Bough and Peacock Feathers distress oxide (DOx) inks onto Bristol paper.  Dried it with my heat tool after each colour, then dry embossed it with a pine branch embossing folder.  Stamped the sentiment from My Favorite Things Bitty Holiday Wishes with Salty Ocean DOx on Bristol paper and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder.  Assembled the card onto a white card base and added Crystal Glaze on the berries and highlights with a white gel pen to finish.

Moving onto the opposite end of the season, my next card features the Build a Summer Birdhoude.  I had something else in mind, but it didn’t work out, so I went clean and simple (CAS).

Here is what is included in this set.

On a Bristol panel, masked then ink blended Shaded Lilac, Spun Sugar, Squeezed Lemonade and Salty Ocean distress inks to create the ocean background scene.  

All the die-cut elements on the card were die cut from various scraps of cardstock, trimmed and pieced together as needed.  The sentiment from Poppy Stamps Birthday Blowout was in my stash.  It was white heat embossed on black cardstock.  Popped the panel up with two pieces of thick white card stock for a little dimension to finish.

And here they are again.

A tweet collection, don’t you think?   Fun new products are always being added at Spellbinders and you can check them out HERE.  Thank you for stopping by.

Challenges:

The winter birdhouse card is heading over to the Alphabet Challenge - B is for Birds