Stamping Bella Birthday Girl

The card I have today I actually made quite awhile ago, but didn't want to post until it got sent off to the birthday girl.

This image is so beautiful to color.  I stamped it on watercolor paper so I could use my Zigs for coloring.  I really wanted it to be the whole card, no distractions from adding a sentiment.  So I simply cut it with a stitched rectangle die and added it to a scalloped edge card (Avery Elle Ellements Sweet Scallop die).  This die is the full size of a card (4.25 x 5.5 inches) so I have found it is easiest to use by adding it to the front of a card that has been cut down by one-eighth inch on both the top and the bottom.  That way all you see from the front is the scalloped edges and not the card itself.  I did add Wink of Stella to the balloons.  You can see the shimmer better in this close up pic.

Thanks so much for stopping by.

Purple Onion Pot-a-Flower

Today I have two very bright and cheery cards using a stamp set by Purple Onion called Pot-a-Flower.

For both cards I stamped the flowers, colored with Zigs and fussy cut the images, then layered them on some older Basic Grey patterned paper (Lauderdale Grass Stain).

For my first card I used both sides of the paper inlaying one into the other.  It's hard to see but the inner rectangle was cut using a Zig Zag Stitched Rectangle by My Favorite Things.  I thought that those little triangle cuts mirrored the triangles in the patterned paper.  Unfortunately they are so hard to see I'm the only one who will know they're there.  It's a little detail, but for me the little details matter.

For the second card I used a Simon Says Stamp Thanks Scallop Border Die and layered over a piece of light blue paper so that tiny bits of blue peaked out of the dots.  I had cut the blue piece at 4 by 5.25 inches so that there would be a light blue mat all around.  Unfortunately I glued my pieces down crooked and tried to trim it even  - a little on each side.  What happened was I made it more and more crooked so I just trimmed all the blue off and added a light grey mat.

I also added wink of stella to the flowers on both cards.  I think these flower images would be pretty to color in oranges and browns and layer over some fall print paper.

Thanks for stopping by today.

New Home Congrats

Today I have another simple card - a new home congrats card.

I love using this older Simon Says Stamp Congratulations Circle die (I don't think it's still available)  because there are so many ways to vary it.  The die comes with two parts, one is the house, the other is a circle with the words  "congratulations).  In the past I've used both parts together, but today I used only the house.

Because I inlaid the house and the sentiment this card is flat and would be easy to mail.

Whenever possible I will try to personalize my cards, for example make the house and door the color of the persons "new house".  In this case I didn't know the colors so went with a neutral grey with a pop of red.  The background is the reverse side of paper by BoBunny (Garden Party) which is very neutral but looks like it has dimension.  The sentiment dies are Impression Obsession Congrats Words. 

You can also use just the congratulations circle for many other kinds of cards - someone getting a new job, new baby, new pet, or even graduation.

Thanks for stopping by today.

A Super Simple Congrats Card

The card I have to share today is super simple.  In fact, it's so simple I almost didn't post it.  But I thought not all cards need to be fancy or complex.  I needed a masculine card for my nephew who is going back to grad school after being out of school for a number of years.  And this scrap of patterned paper seemed perfect.

 

 I added two die cut "congrats" on a strip of yellow vellum (so the sentiment wouldn't get lost on the paper) and a couple enamel dots.  That's it - I did say it was super simple! 

Gilding Flakes, Take Two

I have one more card to share using gilding flakes.  Of the three cards I made this one is my favorite, by far!  I just love the way it came out.  It's simple and elegant.  Yet it has so much shine.  It's masculine, but it could be used for anyone.  And it would be perfect as a Christmas thank you.  It's really HOT out, so it's hard to think about Christmas.  But we all know it will be here before we know it.  Enough thinking about Christmas, here's my card.

I started by covering a piece of cardstock with evenly spaced diagonal stripes using scor-tape.  This was easy to do using the grid lines of my work mat as a guide.  It really didn't take long at all.  This was then covered with gilding flakes.  I found the flakes stuck to the tape so well and after burnishing with a piece of a swiffer cloth it was super shiny.  That step is so important.  Until you burnish the gilding it looks ok.  But after the burnishing it looks amazing!  You can see all that shine better in this photo.

This background was SO beautiful I didn't want to cover it up.  I added a thanks diecut (Papertrey Ink) on top and several layers of mats (Simon Says Stamp Stitched Rectangles and Avery Elle Sweet Scallops Die).  I think the gold and very dark green (Simon Says Stamp Midnight Green) look beautiful with the gilded background, but you could easily use red and silver or even a dark blue or purple.

The Cosmic Shimmer Persian Dawn Gilding Flakes are so versatile and fun.  Because they are so multi colored they pair well with just about anything. And I can't believe I am saying this, but the mess is definitely worth it for all that amazing shine.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Gilding Flakes, A Beautiful Mess!

Gilding flakes have been around for awhile but seem to have become very popular again.  I have never tried them before - until now.  A couple of card making friends and I get together about once a month to make cards and try out each others new supplies.  Last weekend we tried gilding flakes.  The end result was really nice, but they do make a MESS!  They go EVERYWHERE.  We tried the tips and tricks that Jennifer McGuire suggested in her recent video to help contain the mess.  These are very important and did help.  But they are still messy.  They seem lighter than air and just floated around everywhere.  I did enjoy trying them out - but only because it wasn't at my house.  I do like the shiny result which is unlike embossing or metallic paper and you can stamp with them, use them with double sided adhesive tape, or many other things.  Just be ready to see little bits of shiny metallic flakes all over.  Thanks so much Jan for buying them - the Cosmic Shimmer Persian Dawn color choice was perfect.  It is a combination of golds, silvers, reds a bit of greens, just beautiful.  But more importantly thank you for letting us play with these at YOUR house!

So, do you want to see some cards?

For my first card we stamped a solid tree with versamark, added Ranger Sticky Embossing Powder, heat set and then added the gilding flakes.

I diecut a window )My Favorite Things Peek a Boo Window die) from some Simon Says Stamp Kona Coffee cardstock - this is a really nice dark brown cardstock with bits of texture - it almost looks like handmade paper.  I also diecut the window from the front of my card so I could layer them together.  And I added a tiny thanks (Impression Obsession Thanks So Much on a Line die) from a strip of cardstock that was also gilded.

The card opens to show the paper on which the tree was stamped.

For my second card I did something very different. I had stamped several solid oak leaves and acorns with versamark, but forgot to use my powder bag.  I ended up with small bits of the gilding stuck all over.  I still wanted to use the piece, so I scraped off the extra bits and then covered it with vellum (using stick it double sided sheets).  It gave this really cool effect where you can see all the different colors from the gilding flakes but not the shine.

I used a very shiny metallic orange-copper cardstock for the hello and a double stitched rectangle.  You can see the shine better in this photo.

 

I added some metallic copper thread (Coats), another layer of vellum (Bazzill), and a piece of patterned paper (Simple Stores Hello Fall).

I really liked the way this card came out.

I made one more card.  Thanks for visiting today and come back tomorrow to see my last and favorite gilding flakes card.

One More Sunflower

I have one more sunflower card to share today.  Are you tired of seeing sunflower cards yet?

I really love to see how many different ways I can use the same stamp.  Because this stamp is fairly large it's a little more challenging to come up with different ways to use it.

A couple weeks ago I shared a card where the sunflower was stamped on different solid color papers and then paper pieced.  Also a card where the sunflower was colored with Zigs and layered over a bold patterned paper.

Today I stamped the sunflower in black on light kraft colored cardstock.

I added a thin black mat and a strip of vellum.  I usually like to use Bazzill vellum because it is a heavier quality vellum and is very white.  That is usually a good thing. But in this case when I put it next to the kraft cardstock it looked too harsh, so I used cheap vellum from Michaels - yes a bit more "yellowed" looking but worked well here.  I also added several coats of Wink of Stella to the sunflower.  So shimmery - but hard to photograph.  You can see a little better in this close up picture.

I used a really pretty Cornflower Simon Says Stamp cardstock for both a stitched rectangle and the card itself.

I do love the way this card came out, but hopefully it is the last sunflower card for awhile.  Thanks for visiting!