H is for Happy Birthday cards

I am playing along with the Alphabet Soup challenge in the Papercrafter's Inner Circle group on Facebook.  This is H is for Happy Birthday.

I am using a pressed image of the Floral H and Sentiment Betterpress plates, pressed on watercolour paper, and painted in with shimmery metallic paints.  Happy to have another card that uses up some old papers.

Quick cards

This is definitely my most used product of the year so far!  This is the Thought You Knew press plate from Spellbinders.  Everyone that sees this sentiment smiles... sisters, brother-in-laws, friends... lots of uses for this!  Even my adult children will probably be getting one of these at some point.

I love that since the sentiment is the star of the show, that anything goes for the rest of the card.  It's been a great way to use up older paper pads.

Gate Fold Radiant Blooms

 I made a Gate Fold card using the February Betterpress Society plate, Radiant Blooms.

I pressed the plate on a piece of light aqua cardstock using Betterpress Black ink.

I used one of the coordinating stencils along with 4 shades of aqua ink from Pinkfresh Studio, to create and ombre ink blended effect.

My Floral Spray and Hemstitched Ovals dies were used to create a cluster to glue to the front of my card.  I cut the pressed panel in half, and glued it to a piece of dark teal cardstock that had been scored twice so that it opened in the middle.

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

Golden Bloom SocieTea cards

Spellbinders does a craft-along event once a month, called the Betterpress SocieTea!  I played along with Erin, switching things up a little with what I had on hand.

I glimmered the February Betterpress Society press plate, Radiant Blooms in Rose Gold foil, on some melon coloured cardstock.  I used the Arched Expressions dies to cut out an arch shape from my panel, and then cut a larger one out of some mango cardstock.

I used my Fresh Picked Buttercups dies for the florals, and popped up a pressed sentiment from the You Are Everything sentiments.  I few gold pearls picked up the glimmer from the foil.

I had the lovely foiled, arch frame leftover, so wanted to make a companion card.  I added the mango cardstock behind the opening, used the same flowers, and decided to use a sympathy sentiment.  You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Radiant Blooms

My first project with the February Betterpress Society plate, Radiant Blooms was hot foiled onto some pale peach cardstock.

As a bonus this month, we received a roll of rose gold foil, so that's what I used on my panel.  I pulled out the scalloped frame dies from Pinkfresh Studio, cut it out of some metallic rose gold cardstock, and layered it on a second frame for some dimension before adhering it to my base.

I used the flowers from my Fresh Picked Buttercups die set, and cut the flowers out of peach cardstock that was a shade darker.   I added a sentiment from the You Are Everything press plate set, that was pressed with Lisa Horton's Copper Pot metallic ink.

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

Arched Pierce and Press Die

 I have a mix of old and new products on today's card, all from Spellbinders.  This is the new Arched Pierce and Press die, paired with the older Floral Stems dies from Simon Hurley.

I die cut the flowers from watercolour paper, and used a combo of inks/paints to add some colour.  I adhered them on top of one of the three arches that come in the set, splattered on some gold paint, and then added a hot foiled sentiment from the It's Your Day Sentitment set.

More Lotus Field cards

 I made two more cards using the Lotus Field press plate/stencil bundle from Hero Arts.

This amazing shimmery pink card was pressed using Lisa Horton metallic ink in Lovestruck.  It gives amazing coverage.

I actually Googled photos of lotus flowers, and there are quite an array of beautiful colours!  It inspired me to experiment a bit with the stencils, and go bold with my inks.

For my tan background card, I pressed the plate with Betterpress Tawny Brown ink.  This was the first press that I ever did with the plate, so the coverage is not perfect (press plates need seasoning, just like stamps do), but I actually love the mottled look that it gives.

Even the image itself is not great, I rolled it through my die cut machine twice (which isn't recommended!), and the plate shifted a little.  I finished it up, and loved how it looked anyway.

Both sentiments were glimmered, the bottom one being a reverse glimmer image.  You can find the Lotus Field bundle at The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Lotus Field

What a beautiful press plate this is from Hero Arts!  This is the Lotus Field plate and coordinating stencils.

It is an all-over background plate, so you need a lot of ink coverage.  I used Distress Oxide inks to do both a solid Peacock Feathers background, as well as a three colour ombre ink blend.

The coordinating stencils allow you to ink blend the petals as well, but there is also a detail layer.  Quick and easy to complete an entire panel.

For the ombre background, I used Twisted Citron, Mowed Lawn and Peacock Feathers.

I did minimal colouring of the flowers on this one - just a little soft yellow behind the centers.

The sentiments were all done with gold foiling on Spellbinders black cardstock.  You can find the set at The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Baggage Cards

I pulled out my favourite baggage dies today to put together a couple of cards.  These are from the We All Have Baggage collection from Sheri Ballantyne for Spellbinders.

This is the Retro Suitcase and Sentiments die, which is the sweetest little piece of luggage!  It's so cleverly designed, and is such fun to assemble.  

This is the first time that I've used the little sticker/decal images that come with the set.  Such great details!

And here is the fun Designer Purse die:

The sentiment is from the Keep Calm Sentiment set by Hero Arts (part of the same Spellbinders collection).

You can find the whole collection at The Papercrafter's Workshop!  And if you're on the internet this Thursday at 8:30pm, Meghann Andrew will be creating with it on the SCT Youtube channel.

Buon Appetito!

I absolutely adore the Buon Appetito collection from Spellbinders, and when my niece received it as a gift, she graciously allowed me to die cut a bunch of the bits (before she'd even used it...).  They have been sitting in my craft room for weeks, and I finally had time to assemble the MANY tiny pieces, and got them made up into cards.

 

I wanted to keep things fairly simple, so went with a primary colour scheme for the most part, and looked through my stash of papers to find some 'tablecloth' looking prints.  An old pack of Graphic 45 paper to the rescue.

The cutlery is an old Your Next Stamp die set, and the square and oval dies are from The Greetery, but otherwise all products used were from Spellbinders.

The sentiment set that is in the collection is amazing!  Hilarious and punny to go with such cute images.

As always, the sets are so well thought out - right down to the little piece that goes under the rosy cheeks.

Shower Invitation

This is just version number one for a shower invitation I'm creating for a girlfriend... I will post the final product when I start mass producing in a few weeks.

Forget-Me-Nots are meaningful to the bride & her Mom, so I got as close as I could with Spellbinders Fresh Picked Buttercups.

I used an Altenew piercing plate for the base, with a little ink blending to warm it up.  I cut and stacked two frames using the Essential Arches dies, with a little blush ink in the corner, then layered my floral sprig overtop.  I cut the Celebrate from metallic gold cardstock, layered twice, and added a few gold pearls.

We are tweaking the colours a little to match the bridal party colours, which should be lovely!

Craft Your Stash!

I am playing along with a couple of challenges today (haven't done that in a while!).  The Craft Your Stash challenge is a just for fun group on Facebook - that asks you to use something from your stash that you've never used.  I am also playing along with the Alphabet Soup challenge on the Papercrafter's Inner Circle group, with E is for Embossing Folder!

 

I have had this Carta Bella embossing folder for many years... and once I decided on using one for my card, I dug it out and pressed it with some soft green cardstock.  I pulled out the 5835 Mini Paper Pack from Art Impressions to die cut the Happy Birthday (Lawn Fawn), and matted it with the same green over a gingham oval.  

I wanted a simple colour palette, so I added a larger pale yellow oval, and used the Floral Spray dies from Spellbinders to cut the flowers and leaves.  I darkened the smaller flowers with some Scattered Straw ink, and added a few champagne pearls as their centers.