Wednesday, March 30, 2022

Whimsical Spring Flowers Birthday Card

Happy Wednesday crafty friends!  Spring has sprung and I was in the mood for flowers!  I used Honey Bee Stamps Whimsical Spring Flowers Honey Cuts to create my card that's perfect for a very special person's spring birthday!

First I created my card base.  I die cut the Garden Lattice Cover Plate Top and Base from 80# Neenah and adhered them together and then to an A2 card base with Bee Creative glue.

Next, I took a piece of 80# Neenah and inked it up with Detail Blender brushes and Dried Marigold, Saltwater Taffy, and Abandoned Coral Distress Oxide inks.  I spritzed on some water drops, let it dry, then added white paint splatters.  While that was drying, I inked up another card panel with Rustic Wilderness, Mowed Lawn and Bundled Sage Distress Oxides.

I used all of the dies in the Whimsical Spring Flowers set and die cut my flowers and leaves.  There is a great guide of layering ideas for the flowers on Honey Bee's site HERE.  I adhered the flower layers together with Bee Creative glue.  Then I added a bit of shape to the flowers and leaves with the stylus tool from a flower shaping kit.

I played around for a bit with the arrangement of my flowers and leaves.  When I was happy with it, I took a photo to reference while I adhered them in place.  I used foam dots on some of the flowers and Bee Creative glue on the other flowers and the leaves.

Next I stamped the sentiment from the Miss You Big Time set with clear embossing ink.  I added black embossing powder and heat set it.  I die cut the sentiment with the coordinating Honey Cut.  Then I die cut two more from white cardstock and adhered them together.  I added it to the card with foam dots and some glue.

Birthday cards must have sparkle, at least I think so!  Haha!  So I added sparkle to the flowers and around the sentiment with gems from the Hugs and Kisses Gem Sticker set.

Thank you so much for stopping by--I appreciate it so very much!  Have a wonderful, crafty day!

(Affiliate links, no additional cost to you, ever.  Thank you for shopping with my links.)

Tuesday, March 29, 2022

Everyone Needs A Friend Who Is All Ears

Hello crafty friends!  Today I'm sharing an adorable card I made using Rubbernecker Stamps new Bunnies and Flowers set.  I think bunnies are so cute and I really like having this set with sentiments that aren't just for Easter!  Of course, these cuties would be perfect for an Easter card too!

Creating the card base with the scene layers:

  • Using the Slimline Hills die and the Slimline Grass die, cut one grass layer and two hill layers with green cardstock.  I highly recommend getting the slimline dies for your scenes--these work for any size card you want to make!  Trim the pieces to 4-¼" wide.
  • Add some shading to one hill using an ink blender brush and Juniper ink (Color Fuse #11).
  • Die cut some green gingham paper with the Slimline Grass die and trim to 4-¼" wide.
  • Adhere all four layers with liquid glue, staggering them for your scene.  Tip: I only add glue at the bottom and sides to be able to tuck in the die cut images easily.
  • Die cut cloud layers with the Slimline Cloud dies.  Using the Clouds Stencil, ink the clouds with Beachside (Color Fuse #9) and a blender brush.
  • Ink some clouds at the top of an A2 card base (see above photo).
  • Glue the more narrow cloud layer near the top of the card base.
  • Add foam tape to the back of the large cloud layer and, overlapping the first cloud layer, adhere to the card base.
  • Adhere the grass/hill layers with glue.
  • Lightly ink the edges of the adhered layers with Juniper ink using a blender brush.

The images:

  • Stamp the images from the Bunnies and Flower set in black Copic safe ink.  Color the images with Copic markers, or medium of your choice.
  • Die cut the images with the coordinating Bunnies and Flower set dies.
  • Stamp the sentiment from the Bunnies and Flowers set with Versafine Onyx Black ink.  Trim it into a rectangle shape and adhere to a black mat layer.  Add foam squares to the back.
  • Arrange the images by tucking them into the hills and grass layers.  I do this first without any adhesive to be able to move them around until I like the arrangement.
  • I adhered them all with glue except the top of the flower pot where I put a strip of foam tape to compensate for the layers of the hills and grass.
  • To complete the scene, I added a few butterflies from the Small Butterflies Die Cut set that I cut, and then colored, with Copic markers.

These bunnies are so adorable and I had fun creating the little scene for them!  Thanks so very much for stopping by!  Have a wonderful, crafty week!

Products used in this card:

Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Get Your Bunny Ears On and Have An Egg-stra Special Easter

Hello Honey Bee friends! Easter is three weeks from this next Sunday, and this sweet mouse is all ready! I used one of the mice in the Sweet Spring Mice sets and added bunny ears from the Easter Basket Builder set that was released last year. The new Wooden Crate is filled with Easter eggs from that same set too!

I was super excited to see that the eggs in the Easter Basket Builder set (intended for the basket in that set) fit perfectly in the new Wooden Crate! I stamped it, the bunny ear, the extra eggs, and grass from that set in Intense Black ink. Then I stamped the mouse from the Sweet Spring Mice stamp set in the black ink. I colored them all with my Copic markers and die cut them with the coordinating Easter Basket Builder and Sweet Spring Mice Honey Cuts.

I used a pencil to sketch a line to "tie" the bunny ears onto the mouse. When I had my line how I wanted it, I used a black Micron pen to draw it in. Then I used Bee Creative glue to attach the ears to the mouse.

Next I die cut the Wooden Crate and the Grass Border Honey Cuts from white cardstock. I used some Detail Blender Brushes to add Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxides to the grass strip. Then I sprinkled on some water drops and set it aside to dry. I used another Blender Brush to add Pumice Stone Distress Oxide ink to the wooden crate on the sides and the center. I adhered the two pieces together with foam strips.

Before I adhered anything to my A2 card base, I used the cloud stencil from the Outdoor Scene Builders Stencil set and blended on some Tumbled Glass Distress Oxide over it for the clouds.

After I adhered the grass strip to the card base, I added some foam strips to the back of the crate and adhered it to my card. Then I added some foam dots to the back of the mouse, one of the grass bunches, and one egg to adhere and used glue to adhere the other items.

I stamped the sentiment from the Hoppy Easter set with Intense Black ink and used the coordinating Honey Cuts to cut them out. I added foam strips to the back for dimension.

This little mouse with the bunny ears just makes me smile; and I hope it makes you smile too! Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful, crafty week!

Click the image to check out the supplies I used:

Tuesday, March 22, 2022

Altenew Paint-A-Flower: Zinnia Magellan Rose Outline Stamp Set Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($200 in total prizes)

 Welcome to the blog hop celebrating the release of Altenew's beautiful Paint-A-Flower: Zinnia Magellan Rose Outline Stamp set!

You should have arrived from the blog of Reiko Tsuchida.  If you need to start at the beginning, head on over to the Altenew Card Blog.

There is a monthly subscription for the lovely Paint-A-Flower sets too!  When signed up, you are guaranteed a spot in Altenew's monthly Paint-A-Flower releases and will receive a set each month - at a specially discounted price!  (15.99 --> $12.99)  Click the image for more information!

In addition to the release of this beautiful Paint-A-Flower: Zinnia Magellan Rose, there's a Special Offer happening now:

I love coloring in general, and so enjoyed using my alcohol markers to color this beauty!

First I stamped the Paint-A-Flower Zinnia Magellan Rose with Jet Black ink, which is alcohol marker safe.  Then I used my Copic markers to color the beautiful flower and leaves.  For the flower I used R46, R24, R14, and R02.

Next I used the Halftone Stencil to add some dots to the background.  I was brave and daring and did not mask off the flower--Haha!  I used a coordinating ink with an Ink Blending Tool.  Then I finished up my card by stamping the sentiment from the PAF Zinnia Magellan Rose set in Jet Black ink.  I adhered this to a black layer and then onto an A2 sized card base.

Before you head to the next blog stop, be sure to comment below for your chance to win an awesome prize from Altenew!

Your next stop is the blog of the amazing Natasha Davies.

Giveaway Prizes:

$200 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/28/2022 for a chance to win. 

Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/30/2022.


Blog Hop Order:

Altenew Card Blog

Jenny Colacicco

Hussena Calcuttawala

Nathalie DeSousa

LauraJane

Jaycee Gaspar

Colleen Balija

Virginia Lu

Teresa Litchfield

Terri Koszler

Nenette S. Madero

Reiko Tsuchida - ***Note: Due to strict regulations in Japan, you might not be able to leave a comment on her blog post.

Carol Hintermeier >> that's me

Natasha Davies

SathyaKala Sankaran

Amy Hill

Bridget Casey

Katrina Howe

Linda Westfall

Nandini Karmarkar

Daniel Diaz

Keren Baker

Preeti Chandran

Wednesday, March 16, 2022

Lucky To Know You Card with Lots of Distress Oxide Ink Blending

Hello Honey Bee friends! In keeping with Honey Bee Stamps' "green theme" for this week, I have an adorable card with the Sweet Spring Mice stamps and coordinating Honey Cuts with the Secret Garden A2 Cover Plate. This adorable mouse is peaking through the "secret garden" where he (or she) has found a lucky four leaf clover and a rainbow!

Before I get to my card details, have you checked out the Green Week sale going on over in Honey Bee's shop? Click the image to see all of the lovely green related products that will be automatically discounted by 15% in your cart!

Now, on to my card and the details!

I began by creating my card base by die cutting the rainbows from the Rainbow Wishes Honey Cuts from white cardstock. I colored them using the Rainbow Wishes stencils and Distress Oxides. I used Detail Blender brushes to add these Oxides: Kitsch Flamingo, Saltwater Taffy, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, Salvaged Patina, and Milled Lavender. I adhered the rainbow pieces onto a double-sided adhesive sheet, trimmed away the excess, and set them aside.

I blended some Mowed Lawn, Twisted Citron, and Rustic Wilderness Distress Oxide inks at the bottom of an A2 card using the Grassy Hill Borders stencil set. Next I blended on Tumbled Glass Oxide above the hill for a sky background. Then I adhered the rainbow pieces and trimmed off the excess from the side of the card. Before I added the Secret Garden die cut, I swiped a clear glitter pen over the rainbow for some subtle sparkle!

I inked up an A2 card with Rustic Wilderness, Mowed Lawn, and Twisted Citron Oxides in an ombré pattern and die cut it with the Secret Garden A2 Cover Plate die. Next I die cut two more from white card stock. I adhered all the layers together with Bee Creative glue. I placed narrow foam strips on the back to pop it up on the card. 

I stamped the mouse from the Sweet Spring Mice set with No Line Coloring Ink. I used these Copic markers to color him: C3, C2, C1, C0, and C00. The clover is colored with RV55, G24, and G21. (Yes, RV55! Use it to deepen the shadows of G24.) I used a black Micron pen to fill in his eyes, nose, mouth, and whiskers. Next I used the coordinating Honey Cut to cut it out.

I stamped the sentiment Lucky from the Brie Mine set with Intense Black ink and cut it out with the coordinating die. I used a stamp from the Blessed Buzzword set to complete my sentiment.  I used foam strips to adhere both sentiments to my card.

I do love my sparkles, so I added a bit more to the card with some green gems from the Hugs & Kisses Gem Sticker set!

I do adore the mice in this sweet set!  Thank you much for stopping by and I hope the rest of your week is fabulous!

Thank you should you choose to use my affiliate links (always no additional cost to you!) 💗

Tuesday, March 15, 2022

Mini Slimline Friendship Card with New Rose Background Stamp | Rubbernecker Stamps

Hello friends!  Today I'm sharing a card I made using Rubbernecker Stamps' new Bird/Rose Background stamp set.  This set has two beautiful stamps in it sized perfectly for your mini slimline cards!  I had fun creating my heat embossed/resist card layer--read on!

First I created my card base and layers:

  • Create the mini slime card by scoring a 6" x 6-¼" piece of white cardstock at 3".  Crease with a bone folder.
  • Using my MISTI, I put the Rose Background Strip stamp on the door.  Then I inked up the stamp with inks from the Color Fuse #5 set.  I used a sponge dauber to soften the edges of each ink color in order to blend them more smoothly.  I repeated the colors as needed to create the ombré effect.  Keep the stamp and cardstock in the MISTI!!
  • Next I used my anti-static bag over the piece and then stamped the image again with Versamark clear embossing ink.  I added White Satin Pearl embossing powder and heat set it. 

  • Trim the stamped background piece, leaving about a 1/8" border.
  • Place removable tape along the edges of the white border and place on some scrap paper.
  • Now for the emboss resist!  In a reverse order, using the darkest ink over the lighter  inked roses, add the inks, in an ombré pattern, over the piece.

  • Carefully remove the tape for the beautiful reveal!  (apologies that I forgot to photograph that)
  • Cut a piece of white cardstock to 2-½" x 5-¾" and ink up the edges with Fuchsia ink for a perfectly coordinating mat layer.  Adhere the embossed image to the layer, add foam tape to the back and pop it up onto the card base.
  • Die cut the Hello three times from white cardstock.  Adhere the layers together with glue.
  • Die cut the Hello shadow from black cardstock and then adhere the white Hello layers to it.
  • Die cut the Flower Pot from white cardstock with the Large Garden Pots die.  Color the edges with Copic markers for some shading.  I used C3, C1, and C00.
  • Die cut the Canterbury Bells and Stems from white cardstock.  Color the stems with Copic markers (YG17, YG25).  I love that this is all one die to cut ALL the pieces you need!
  • Using a flower shaping tool, slightly shape the flowers and then adhere to the stems with liquid glue.
  • Glue the flower stems to the back of the flower pot.
  • Die cut one Flower #6 and color with Copic Markers (YG67, YG17, YG25).  Snip it into three pieces and glue in back of the flowers.
  • Add some foam tape to the back of the flower pot and adhere it to the card.
  • Add a few foam squares to the bottom back of the Hello.  Adhere to the card.

Heat embossing over a stamped image and then inking for the emboss resist gives the stamped image such a different look!  I really enjoy this technique too!  Thank you so much for stopping by today!

These are links to the products for my card:

Wednesday, March 9, 2022

Lovely Layers: Tulips Card & Hot Foiling on Ribbon!!

Today I'm sharing my card using the beautiful Lovely Layers: Tulips Honey Cuts by Honey Bee Stamps; and I added a bow that has foiling on it!!  I finally jumped on the hot foiling train and really love it!!  I had been wondering if the Small Card Hot Foil Plates would work on materials other than card stock, and much to my delight, they do! I tried out a few different types of ribbon and found I got the best results on the smooth satin type ribbon. I have some photos below to go along with my tutorial for the process.

First I die cut the Lovely Layers: Tulips from some coral, yellow, and green card stock. I added some shading to the pieces with Distress Oxide ink and a Detail Blender Brush. I used Mustard Seed, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn, and Rustic Wilderness. I used a coral ink from my stash for the shading of the coral card stock pieces. I used pieces of foam strips between all of the layers for extra dimension. If you need help with the layers, check out this layering guide:

Before I adhered the leaves and stems to the assembled flowers, I spritzed a bit of white ink spray onto the flowers and set them aside to dry. I die cut some beautiful paper from the Modern Spring paper pad with the largest Sweet Stacks: Rectangles and adhered it to an A2 card base. Then I added a frame I die cut from white card stock where I taped together the two largest A2 Double Stitched Frames dies. I used Bee Creative glue to adhere the frame, tulips, stems and leaves.

As I mentioned above, I used the Small Card Hot Foil plates to experiment foiling on various types of ribbon. I wanted to foil on the bias tape type ribbon as that's what I have most of. The looser weave of that ribbon just didn't produce a very smooth foiling though. The tight weave of this satin ribbon is what has worked best for me. I didn't want to have to guess where to do my foiling, and then tie the bow, so I tied the bow first. These next photos show how I foiled it.

First, with the bow right side up, I laid down the foil (shiny side up) and then placed the sentiments from the Small Card Hot Foil Plates set face down onto the foil. I used small pieces of removable tape to hold it all in place.

You need the tape, because now you will turn it over so the plates are touching the heating plate of your machine. (If the ribbon is on the bottom, the plates will not get hot enough--ask me how I know!! LOL!) Following the directions for your machine, let the plates heat for the required amount of time. Leave the tied portion of the bow off the edge as you see below.

When the heating is finished, add the shims required for your machine, and run it through your die cutting machine with the tie bow hanging out. Like this:

I was SO thrilled that this worked! I think it adds such a unique touch to a project!

I trimmed the edges of the bow into a fishtail shape and adhered it with a glue dot. There are so many sentiments in the Small Card Hot Foil Plates set that provide lots of different options, depending on the width of your ribbon.

Oh, one last thing. In the photos you may have noticed that, yep, I foiled my plates! Evidently, just about everyone does that at some point, but good news: it does not affect the plates at all! You can remove the foil, but I just went ahead and used them and there's no difference in the results!

Foiling on ribbon? Yes, please!! This was lots of fun and has my wheels turning wondering what else can be foiled? I hope you’ve enjoyed my process and have found some inspiration too! Thank you so much for stopping by!

If you choose to use my affiliate links for shopping, thank you! 💗 (always at no extra cost to you)

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Tuesday, March 8, 2022

Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide Ink Blending & Rubbernecker Stamps New Spring Release

 Today we are celebrating Rubbernecker Stamps' awesome new spring release!  There are lots of fun new stamp and die sets in several different styles--check them out here!

I made this card using one of the new release stamps called Bird/Rose Background Strip set.  There are actually two stamps in this set and I'll be sharing another card with the rose stamp soon!

First I inked up a panel of white card stock with the NEW, and beautiful, Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide ink.  I just received my order of the Oxides and Distress inks and sprays and just had to use these on a card!  Be sure the ink is dry before the next step!

Next I used an anti-static powder pouch before stamping the Rose Background Strip stamp with Versamark ink.  I sprinkled on some gold embossing powder and heat set it.  I trimmed the piece to 2-¼" x 5-¼".  I adhered a strip of gold mirror card stock to the right edge and added foam tape to the back.

For the card base, I just sprayed a few squirts of Saltwater Taffy Distress Oxide spray across the panel.  When it was dry, I adhered the heat embossed piece to the card base.

I used the You Script w/Shadow die for my sentiment.  The You is die cut four times and the layers are adhered together with glue before adhering it to the gold mirror shadow layer.  I used a sentiment from the Sweetest Sunrise set and partially stamped the "you make my day" (with Versamark) by covering the "you" with tape while inking.  I heat embossed it with gold embossing powder.  To finish up, I carefully added a few gold spatters to the card around the sentiment area.

Thank you so much for stopping by today!


Monday, March 7, 2022

Altenew Craft-A-Flower Sunburst Azalea Release Blog Hop + Giveaway ($200 in total prizes)

 Welcome to the blog hop for the release of Altenew's beautiful new Craft-A-Flower Sunburst Azalea layering die set!

You should have arrived here from the blog of Nandini Karmarkar.  If you need to start at the beginning, head over to the Altenew Card Blog so you don't miss any of the beautiful inspiration for this beautiful new Craft-A-Flower!

Don't forget that you can subscribe to Altenew's Monthly Subscription Plan for each new Craft-A-Flower set that is released.  You will be guaranteed a spot in the monthly releases and will receive a set each month - at a specially discounted price! ($35.99 reduced to $29.99).

Check out my card details below!

First I created my card base by die cutting the Grid Cover die twice from 80# Neenah.  I added some Stick-It double-sided adhesive to one of the pieces before die cutting it to make adhering the two layers together easier.  Next I adhered the die cut to my top folding card base.

I die cut the beautiful Craft-A-Flower: Sunburst Azalea flower layers from white card stock, and some pink card stock from the Cherry Blossom Gradient Cardstock set.  Following the included layering guide, I adhered the layers together.  I did use a few Copic markers on the stamen pieces so they would stand out a bit more.  Then I die cut the leaves from some Green Meadows Gradient Cardstock and used some green Copics to add shading.

I stamped the sentiment from the Birthday Builder stamp set in black ink and trimmed them into strips.  I added foam tape to the back of the sentiments and two of the flowers.  After deciding on my arrangement, I adhered the flowers and sentiment and added glue to the leaves to adhere.

I decided I wanted a bit of sparkle (which I wish showed in the photos) and swiped a clear glitter pen on the white layers of the flowers.

Thank you so much for stopping by!  Be sure to leave a comment here for more chances to win an awesome prize!

The next stop in the hop is the lovely and talented Bridget Casey!

Giveaway Prizes

$200 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a $50 gift certificate to 2 lucky winners and a $20 gift certificate to 5 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/13/2022 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 7 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/15/2022.