We Are Better Together | Honey Bee Stamps

 Hi friends!  My card today is part of an Instagram hop to celebrate Honey Bee Stamps Autumn Splendor release.  There are several new stencils in this release and today I've used the Art Deco Patterns Stencil set (3 included).  What I really love about this stencil set is that it coordinates with the new Stacking Art Deco Labels Honey Cuts!

I love inking up stencils and then using texture paste to enhance the inking!  I sprayed the back of the stencil with Pixie Spray and placed it onto some 80# Neenah card stock.  Then  I added Squeezed Lemonade, Fossilized Amber, and Carved Pumpkin Distress inks with a blender brush.  I left the stencil in place and wiped the ink off with a dry towel.  Then I spread some white Glitz Glitter Gel through the stencil for some fun sparkle!  (Be sure to clean up right away!)

When the stenciled piece was dry, I die cut it with the 2nd largest Sweet Stacks: Rectangles die.  I used Bee Creative glue to adhere it to an A2 card base.

Next I used the 3rd largest Stacking Art Deco Labels Honey Cuts and cut out some 80# Neenah.  Then I added Mowed Lawn and Tumbled Glass Distress ink for the background.   I added foam tape to the back and adhered it to the card front.

Next I stamped the cute images and sentiment from the Better Together stamp set with Intense Black ink.  After I colored them with my Copic markers, I used the coordinating Honey Cuts to cut them out.  I added foam tape to the rabbit, mouse, and sentiment and adhered them to the card.  I adhered the other images with Bee Creative glue.

For some finishing touches, I used a white gel pen to add details to several images.

From the stenciling to coloring the adorable images, this was so fun to create!  I hope you'll pop over to my Instagram and join the hop.  There will be two $25 gift cards to the Honey Bee shop given away to two of the commenters!  Plus you'll get to see lots more amazing inspirational cards from the team!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Products I used for today's card:

Altenew Plentiful Patterns Stand-alone Dies/Stencils Collection Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($300 in total prizes)

 Hello crafty friends!  I'm so honored to be joining the blog hop to celebrate Altenew's Plentiful Patterns Stand-alone Dies/Stencils release!

You should have arrived from the awesome blog of Anna Mahtani.  If you need to start at the beginning, head on over to the Altenew Card Blog!

There are so many gorgeous stand-alone dies and stencils in this release!  Here is just a sample of what you will find over in the Altenew shop:

Okay, now on to my card!  I absolutely love the Bountiful Butterflies collection (5% savings with the bundle)!  There are so many possibilities in the colors and where to feature it, as I did here, with the Itty Bitty Flowers die set!

I began by die cutting the Grid Cover die from some 80# Neenah and adhering it to a top-folding A2 card base.  I just love the white-on-white backgrounds!

Then I die cut the Itty Bitty Flowers dies with three shades of purple card stock for the flowers and some green card stock for the stem.  When you see all of the little pieces, you may feel totally lost as to how to assemble them.  However, I followed the included layering guide (see the next photo), and I didn't find it difficult at all!  I adhered the flower pieces with glue and added them to the stem.

Next I pulled out the awesome Bountiful Butterflies stencil set.  Something to note:  I found it much easier to die cut the butterflies first with the coordinating Bountiful Butterflies dies.  Keep them in the negative space, add some tape to the back, and then stencil.  I tried to die cut my first butterfly after I stenciled it and found that I had not placed the stencil correctly!  I used three of the Shades of Purple inks and some Puffy Heart ink to color my butterfly.  Then I used the stencil to add some clear glitter paste to the butterfly.  I love how sparkly it is!

When the butterfly was dry, I added foam tape to the back of it and the Itty Bitty Flowers stem and adhered them to the card.  I also popped up the sentiment that I stamped using the Birthday Builder stamp set.  I added some pink enamel dots from the Cherry Blossom Enamel Dot set.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Be sure to leave a comment for your chance to win before heading to the next stop.

Your next stop, after commenting, is the blog of awesome Keren Baker!

Giveaway Prizes

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $25 gift certificate to 8 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 08/30/2021 for a chance to win. 

Altenew will draw 10 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 09/02/2021.

Blog Hop Order:

Altenew Blog

Vicky Papaioannou

Laurie Willison

Kelly Griglione

Dana Joy

Jaycee Gaspar

LauraJane

Emily Midgett

Michelle Short

Virginia Lu

Joy Baldwin

Nathalie DeSousa

Therese Calvird

Jenny Colacicco

Tenia Nelson

Sandhya Iyer

Maryam Perez

Seeka

Reiko Tsuchida

Verity Biddlecombe

Terri Koszler

Daniel Diaz

Amanda Baldwin

Erin Thompson

Natasha Davies

Tina Smith

Anna Mahtani

Carol Hintermeier <<< that's me!

Keren Baker

Linda Westfall

Nenette S. Madero

Joylita Dsouza

Keeway Tsao

Fun With Sweet Stacks Dies & Scattered Leaves Stencils | Honey Bee Stamps

Hello crafty friends!  Today I have two cards that use several of the new items from Honey Bee Stamps Autumn Splendor release! I used the new Scattered Leaves stencil set and was able to create two cards from the one inked and textured piece!  

First I created my stenciled panel.  I inked three different Distress Oxide inks through the bottom background Scattered Leaves stencil.  I used Fossilized Amber, Fired Brick, and Mowed Lawn.  Then I positioned the detailed stencil of the set and spread some clear glossy texture paste through it.  I set it aside to dry and clean up the stencils and my tools.

This is an A2 card that I first die cut the gold layer with the largest of the Sweet Stacks: Rectangles (click the product links below for more details).  I love all of the Sweet Stacks!  Then I used the next largest die to die cut some white card stock.  I dry embossed it with the background Scattered Leaves Stencil by running it through my die cutting machine with a rubber embossing mat.  Then I smooshed a bit of my Distress Oxide inks onto my craft mat, spritzed water into them, and added spatters with a paint brush.  I adhered the card layers to my A2 card base with Bee Creative glue.

Next I used the awesome new Sweet Stacks: Circles.  When the stenciled piece was dry, I die cut three circles, keeping the dies as close together along one side as much as possible.  I wanted to reserve as much of the stenciled panel as I could for my next card.  Then I die cut some scrap card stock that I knew up the the Distress Oxides mentioned above.

Next I stamped the sentiments from the Praying Big Time stamp set with Intense Black Ink.  I die cut the large sentiment with the coordinating Honey Cut and die cut it three more times from white card stock.  I adhered the layers together with Bee Creative glue and added foam tape to the back of both sentiments to adhere them to the card.

For this next card I created a fun-sized mini slimline card with a coordinating envelope!

I created my card base by scoring a 6" x 6" white card stock piece at 3".  Then I used the Sweet Stacks: Mini Slimline Honey Cuts to die cut the bottom two layers.  Next I used the next two smaller Sweet Stacks: Mini Slimline to die cut the stenciled piece and some vellum.  I adhered all the layers, except the vellum, to the card base.

I stamped the sentiment from the Thinking of You Big Time stamp set onto white card stock with Fired Brick Distress Oxide.  I left the stamps and paper in my MIST, and then stamped them again, over the first stamping.  I sprinkled on some clear embossing powder and heat set them.  I used the coordinating Honey Cut to to cut the stamped "big hugs" and also three more times from white card stock.  I adhered all the layers together with Bee Creative glue.  After I trimmed the other sentiment with my paper trimmer, I added a thin foam strip to the back.

Next I inked up some scrap white card stock with Fired Brick, Mowed Lawn and Fossilized Amber Oxides and die cut a few flower pieces with the so cute Itty Bitty Fall Flowers Honey Cuts.  I adhered these the the sentiment to the vellum with Bee Creative glue.  Now I could add small pieces of foam tape to the back of the vellum so it won't show through and added it to my card.

I finished up by creating my coordinating envelope with the fabulous Mini Slimline Envelope Honey Cuts!  This die set makes the perfect envelope for all of your mini slimline cards!  It has two flap options--one with rounded corners and another with notched corners.  I die cut the pieces from Neenah Desert Storm card stock.   Then I used the detailed Scattered Leaves stencil to ink some Ground Espresso Oxide just around the edges.

Thank you, if you're still reading, for hanging through my somewhat long post!  I always so appreciate you stopping by!  Have a great and crafty rest of your week!

Three Beautiful Floral Cards | Rubbernecker Stamps

 Hello crafty friends!  Today I'm sharing three floral cards that I made for Rubbernecker Stamps' sneak peeks of their beautiful Floral Frenzy release.  You may have missed seeing these and this gives me a chance to share how I made these cards.

These first two cards are made with two different stamp sets, but the technique I used is the same for both.

This first card features the gorgeous Summer Bouquet Set with the Bold Rose two-part stencil set.

First I sprayed the back of both stencils with Pixie Spray.  This ensures the stencil won't shift around and the tackiness will last through several uses!  I placed the leafy stencil on a 4-¼" x 5-½" piece of white card stock.  Then I used some sponge daubers to ink up the stencil with green inks from the Color Fuse set #11.  Next I removed the leafy stencil and positioned the flower stencil over the card panel.  I used another sponge dauber and added some pretty inks from Color Fuse set #4.  When I was finished, I adhered the panel to a top folding A2 card base.

Next I die cut some 80# Neenah with the largest Nested Oval Scallop die.  I placed it into my MISTI and used some removable tape to make sure it stayed in place! Then I centered the first layer of the Summer Bouquet stamp over it.  This is the fun part!  I used sponge daubers to ink on the green ink from Color Fuse set #11.  I would stamp and repeat until I was happy with the look.  These next photos shows what it looked like after the first time I stamped the green layer, and then the finished piece.

When I finished stamping the flower stamps (Color Fuse sets #4 and #9) I stamped the sentiment from the set in black ink.  I popped the oval up with some foam tape and adhered it to the card front.

The second card uses the very same inking technique with the sponge daubers.  I used the beautiful Country Blooms set for this card.

Before I began adding the ink, I die cut a panel with the second largest Nested Rectangle Scallop die.  I used Color Fuse set #'s 9 and 10.  Here's a few photos showing my progress: (click any photo to see it up close.)

When I finished stamping the flowers, I stamped the sentiment from the set in black ink.  I added foam tape to the back of the panel and adhered it to a top folding card base.

My final card features the sweet Wondrous Wishes set along with some masking and stenciling!

First I used the largest of the Nested Rectangle Small Stitch die set and cut a piece of coordinating purple card stock.  I adhered the purple card stock to a top folding card base and set it aside.  Next I grabbed some black ink, stamped three of the flower's base layer stamp onto some masking paper, and fussy cut the masks.  Then I planned on where to place my flowers from the Wondrous Wishes set on my white card stock.  Next I stamped it with the purple inks in Color Fuse set #6.  I placed my masks over the flowers and stamped the stems with green ink from Color Fuse set #10.

Next I sprayed the back of the Sun Burst stencil with Pixie Spray and placed it on the white die cut card.  I used an ink blending brush and inked on some yellow inks from Color Fuse set #1.  Here are my progress photos:

I die cut the panel with the second largest Nested Rectangle Small Stitch die.  Then I stamped the sentiment in black ink and adhered the piece to my card base with liquid glue.  To add a bit of bling, I added Apple Green Nuvo drops to the flower centers and a sprinkling of Dandelion Yellow Nuvo drops around the flowers and on the sunshine.

If you're still hanging in and reading this, thank you!  I sure hope I've provided some inspiration and that you've enjoyed my card making process!  Have a wonderful, crafty day!

Rubbernecker products used for these cards:

You Are Pawsome! | Honey Bee Stamps

 Hello friends!  Today I'm sharing a cute puppy card using Honey Bee Stamps Puppy Dog Tails stamps and Honey Cuts!  I've loaded the adorable pups into a wheelbarrow that's in the Sandie and Sis set.

I began by stamping my images with Intense Black Ink (my favorite for Copic coloring!) and colored them all with my markers.  Here are the Copic colors I used for the main images:

• Dog 1 (left to right): C7, C5, C3, C1, C0; for all dogs' ears/cheeks I used R20 and R30
• Dog 2:  E55, E53, E51
• Dog 3:  E59, E57, E55, E53, E51, E34
• Dog 4:  C9, C7, C5, E18, E15, E13
• Wheelbarrow:  B39, B37, B34, N9, N7, N5, N4, N2, N0

When I finished coloring everything, I die cut them using the coordinating Puppy Dog Tails and Sandie and Sis Honey Cuts.  Next I stamped the sentiments from Friends FURever stamp set in Intense Black ink and die cut them with the coordinating Honey Cuts.

Next I worked on my background for the images.  I placed the largest circle stencil from the Circle Spotlight Stencils & Masks set on an A2 white cardstock panel.  Then I positioned the hill stencil from the Grassy Hill Borders stencil set under the circle stencil.   (Check out the following photo to see the stencil positions.)  Then I used a couple Background Blender Brushes to ink on Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide for the sky and Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide for the hill.  I added some water spatters to the green hill, let it dry, and then removed the hill stencil.  I then added white spatters with some diluted white gauche.

I used a circle die from my stash that coordinates with the size of the stenciled background to cut it out.  I used one size smaller circle die to due cut a piece of a foam sheet that I added to the back of the circle.  I added it to a card base that I created with some black cardstock and a piece of patterned paper from the Back To Basics 6 x 6 paper pad.

Next I adhered my cute little images to the card front with Bee Creative glue.  I did need to trim off the bottom of the dog on the left for him to fit into the wheelbarrow.  I popped up the sentiments with some foam squares and added them to the card.

I used a black gel pen to trace over the dogs' eyes and noses to help them stand out a bit more.  A few touches here and there with a white gel pen finished up the card.

I had lots of fun creating my card with these adorable pups!  Now, if you are totally a cat person, check out the adorable Smitten Kittens set (link is below)!  A wheelbarrow full of kitties would be so cute too!  I hope you've enjoyed my card today.  Thank you so much for stopping by today!

Lovely Layers: Coneflower Birthday Card

 Hello friends!  Today my card features the oh, so popular Honey Bee Stamps Lovely Layers: Coneflower die set.  I decided to kind of transition the look of my card into autumn with some warm Distress Ink colors.

To begin, I had lots of inky fun with several of the yellow Distress Ink colors.  I smooshed the ink pads onto my craft mat, spritzed a bit of water onto the ink with my Distress Sprayer.  I like this sprayer because you can either mist the water or get larger drops, depending on how fast you squeeze the trigger.  Then I took watercolor paper and smooshed it into the ink.  The key to getting the layers is to be sure to use your heat tool and dry the layer before smooshing again.  I went for darker inks for the bottom layers of the flower.

Some of the Distress Ink colors I used are Mustard Seed, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey, Crackling Campfire, and Squeezed Lemonade.  For the leaves I used Mowed Lawn, Peeled Paint Distress Ink and Twisted Citron Distress Spray.  After the panels were totally dry, I used the Lovely Layers: Coneflower dies to cut the parts of the flower and leaves.  (see photo above)  Next I used Bee Creative glue to adhere the flower layers together.  (Tip: For the petal layers, just add glue to the center so you can give the petals a little fluffing by using your fingers to curl the tips a bit.)

Then I used the Buffalo Plaid background stamp, inked it up with some beige ink and stamped it onto some Neenah Desert Storm card stock.  I added white spatters by diluting a dab of white gouache water using my paint brush.  When it was dry, I trimmed it to 4" x 5-1/4" and glued it to an A2 card base with Bee Creative glue.

For the sentiment I die cut the bottom layer of the Happy Honey Cuts from some of the lighter colored ink smooshed panel.  The middle layer is Neenah Desert Storm and the top layer is 80# Neenah Solar Crest card stock.  Then I used the "birthday" stamp I found in the Enjoy stamp set and stamped it onto Neenah Desert Storm with Bee Creative Intense Black ink.  I used my paper trimmer to cut it to a rectangle shape.

I used Bee Creative Glue to adhere the layered sentiment, leaves and flower.  I added a couple of small foam squares to the remaining sentiment strip and added it to my card.

I hope you enjoyed my version of this fabulous die set and have been inspired today!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

Best Wishes Card Featuring the New Fresh Breeze Stamp Set | Rubbernecker Stamps

 Hello friends!  Today my card is featuring one of the beautiful new Rubbernecker Stamps floral stamp sets!  This one is called Fresh Breeze, and it is a gorgeous set with solid stamp images and additional layering stamps that add so much dimension!

First created the background piece:

• I "conditioned" the Fresh Breeze stamps by rubbing a white eraser over them until the shine was gone.  This really helps to minimize any beading up of the ink!
• Stamp the base layer using two of the flower stamps from the Fresh Breeze set and the stems randomly over the A2 sized white card stock.  I used the lightest shade of ink from the Color Fuse ink Set #s 5, 6, and 9.  I stamped all of the stems with Clover ink from set #10.  I have these and all products linked at the end of my post.
• Here's a peek at it all in progress:

• I used an acrylic stamp block for this to make it quick and easy.  I was sure to let some of the flowers hang off of the card stock edge to create more of a natural background look.
• I adhered the piece to a top-folding card base.

• Next I stamped all of the layers for each of the two flowers creating three flowers and stems.  I switched to my MISTI for stamping the layers in case I decided to stamp the layer more than once.  I used the same Color Fuse sets as above, but for the three layers, I used shades 1, 2, and 4.  (Don't you love how the ink cubes are labeled 1 through 4?!!  I used Basil from ink set #10 for the stems.  Then I fussy cut them out.
• I had a piece of sparkly vellum leftover from another project.  It was a piece that I had sprayed with Therm O Web Iridescent Glitter Dust.  It creates such a pretty, yet subtle sparkle!  I die cut the vellum with the next to largest Nested Oval Small Stitch die.
• Next I adhered the flowers to the vellum oval with liquid glue.
• Then I stamped the sentiment from the Fresh Breeze stamp set in black ink.  I trimmed it to a rectangle shape and adhered it to the oval.
• I added foam tape to the back of the oval, but only behind the flowers and sentiment.  Don't want that to show through!  I adhered the piece to the card.

I love how this turned out!  It was really fun creating the background too!  Thank you so much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful, crafty week!