Ombre Friendship Grows

My second project with the November Betterpress Society plate, Friendship Grows is done in an ombre style.

I pressed the plate in Betterpress Black ink onto a Pebble Cotton Card panel, and decided to use it horizontally.

Using four colours of Distress Oxide ink (Blueprint Sketch, Shaded Lilac, Kitsch Flamingo and Picked Raspberry), I mentally divided the panel into four sections, and used each of the five stencils, inking them from left to right - so I used all 4 inks on each stencil.

I die cut the Best Wishes twice from black cardstock, layering them, then added an additional layer cut in metallic silver cardstock that was slightly offset to show the black.  I added a few silver discs for some added sparkle.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

B is for Betterpress

I am playing along with the Alphabet Soup challenge on the Papercrafter's Inner Circle Facebook group.  Each month there will be 2 or 3 letters that you can feature in a project.  For January, I am doing B is for Blue, Best Wishes and Betterpress!

This is the Every Occasion Floral B and Sentiment press plate that came out a couple of years ago.  I have pressed it in Betterpress Black ink on watercolour paper, then used Distress Ink to paint in the florals.  I added some shimmery gold paint to the tiny leaves.

I die cut my image with Art Impressions Stitched Square die, and attached it to my base with 3D foam adhesive.  Before attaching, I had added both a dark blue and a shimmery ivory square mat, and wrapped some gold metallic thread around the entire card.

The finished card is 5 1/2" square.

More Valentines for Vets

Just under the wire, I got 5 more Valentines for Veterans made before I popped all 32 off in the mail.  They don't have to be elaborate, but I do try to make them nice with a few pretty details.

Honey Jar

 I pulled out a few older products from The Greetery this weekend to put together six (!!) honey cards.

I wanted a warm honeycomb background, so I pulled out Lawn Fawn's Honeycomb stencil, and used some yellow and blush tones of Distress Oxide ink to add interest to two of the corners, and blended some ink around the outside of my frame, before die cutting it with the rectangle die.  A little gold paint was spattered on the backgrounds.

The bees, honey jar and dipper are all from the Honey Jar stamp/die sets, and the flowers are the Honeysuckle Stems set.  All are multi layered images using 3-4 colours on each.

For the blooms, I did a blush and a blue version, and did some cards as a mix of the two.  I added some Wink of Stella to the bee's wings and on the honey dipper for a little extra glimmer.  The bees and honey jar are attached with 3D foam adhesive.

Friendship Grows Halo Card

My first project with the November Betterpress Society plate, Friendship Grows, was a Halo card.

I pressed the plate with Betterpress Tawny Brown ink, then used the coordinating stencils to colour it in with several Pinkfresh Studio inks.

The set comes with two edge dies to cut out either side, so I cut just the right edge of the image, and trimmed off about 3/4" on the left.  I cut coordinating yellow and pink cardstock with the edge die, and layered them under the right ege, leaving about a 1/8" halo of each colour.  Everything was glued onto a strip of green cardstock that served as the background.

I pressed one of the sentiments included in the set with the same Tawny Brown ink, and adhered it to the card with foam adhesive.  A few gold pearls finished it off.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Valentines for Veterans

This is the fourth year that I've been participating in the Canadian Valentines for Veterans program run by the Federal Government.  The military accepts generic Valentines, and sends them out to Veterans in homes and hospitals across the country.  If you are interested in participating, Google it, and you'll find a webpage with all the details and an address to send them to.  *Read the fine print, there are a few no-no's like glitter or 3D embellishments - and they would like them to be signed with an encouraging or thankful comment.  They also encourage you to take cards directly to local care homes if you can - so check out who accepts them in your neighbourhood.  For my American friends, I know there are similar programs in the US that you can look into.

Happy to have assembled 27 of these this week!  Will try to fit in a few more, but want to get them off in the mail in the next few days.

Friendship Grows in Rainbow

Spellbinders has a new monthly challenge, and January is 'January Glam' - and I just happen to have a brand new Glimmer Hot Foil machine!  So far I've had really good results, as this is only my second foiled image.

I am using the rainbow foil that came with the kit, and wanted a large plate that would show off the entire rainbow, so this is the November Betterpress Society plate, Friendship Grows.

After foiling, I used the included dies to cut out both edges, then adhered it to my card base with 3D foam adhesive.  The sentiment is from the It's Your Day Sentiment Strips press plate, pressed on the wonderful Brushed Gold Treasured Cardstock.  A few gold pearls finished it off.  As always, it's hard to photograph metallics - but I think you can get an idea of how pretty this is in real life.