Delivering Wishes

 My first project with the June Betterpress Society plate, Delivering Wishes, was to try ink smooshing!

I pressed the plate on regular white cardstock with Betterpress black ink, then picked my colour combos of four coordinating inks.

I put some ink on my work surface, spritzed with water, then picked it up with a piece of acetate, and smooshed it onto my image, intentionally adding the ink on top of the shapes.

I cut the image out with the stitched rectangle from the Postage Rectangle and Tag dies from Spellbinders, and cut a larger shaped piece out of coordinating cardstock to mount it on.

The sentiments from the set were pressed on the same colours of cardstock.

After cutting them out with the coordinating dies, I cut two more out of black cardstock and stacked them all together so the sentiments would have more height.  I added a few iridescent sequins.

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

Brighten Foliage Ink Removal

 I tried doing an ink removal technique with the May Betterpress Society plate, Brighten Foliage.

I began by ink blending three colours of Distress Oxide ink onto my cotton card panel, keeping the center area the lightest.

I used the plate with my Glimmer Hot Foil machine to add the leaf design in gold foil.

The foiling was gorgeous!  I used a wet paintbrush to 'paint' each leaf, essentially activating the oxidation process, by lightening the ink several shades.  I patted it with some papertowel to soak up any excess water.  While I liked the effect, next time I would skip this step, and just leave the pretty foiled leaves as is.

I die cut the word Beautiful (Pinkfresh Studio) in both pink and metallic gold, and stacked them together before attaching them to the center of my panel.  You can get a Betterpress Society subscription from The Papercrafter's Workshop.

Monochromatic Blues

My second project with the May Betterpress Society plate, Brighten Foliage is done in monochromatic shades of blue.

I had just recently purchase the new colours of Concord & 9th ink/cardstock, so I chose the Bluebell cardstock as my base, and pressed the leafy frame in Bluebell ink.  *The C9 cardstock is fairly thick, so I got some really great texture from the press!  Before I removed the frame plate, I placed the Hello plate on top of it to determine placement - then counted the grid squares on my Betterpress chase so that when I removed the frame plate, I counted and knew exactly where to place the Hello plate.

Hello was inked up in Capri ink.  I wanted a little more contrast around the edges of my panel, so used both shades of ink to blend softly around the outside.  I used both colours of cardstock to die cut a bunch of small flowers that I adhered around the hello, and added some silver gems to the centers.

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

Brighten Foliage

Yes... I do think this is an odd name for a Betterpress plate??  The May Betterpress Society plate is called 'Brighten Foliage'.  Not really sure what it means... but it is lovely!

My first project with the plate was a simple one.  I pressed it in Betterpress Black ink on a Porcelain Cotton Card panel, so it has wonderful texture!  I used an Art Impressions font set to cut out Happy from some Concord & 9th cardstock, then glued them together, overlapping slightly.  I wrapped some metallic gold thread around my panel several times, then added a gold foiled sentiment and some gold pearls.

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

Newsprint Lilies

 This paper is so ancient, I can't even tell you when I bought it!  Happy to be using it to create another card using the April Betterpress Society plate, Cascading Lilies.

It's a very thin paper, so I pressed it with Betterpress Black ink, and an extra shim - worked beautifully.  I cut the entire image out with a stitched rectangle die, then added some Dried Marigold and Bundled Sage ink to the image with blending brushes - just to make it stand out a little.

Finally, I added a hot foiled sentiment from the You Are Everything plate set, attached with 3D foam adhesive, plus a few gold pearls.

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

Lilies on patterned paper

My second project with the April Betterpress Society plate, Cascading Lilies was done on patterned paper.  I found several pieces of patterned paper in my stash that were 'calm' enough to support a pressed image overtop of the print.  This was an old paper from Graphic 45.

I wanted to keep it tone-on-tone, so used Betterpress Tawny Brown ink, and did a little ink blending over the flowers and foliage with Vintage Photo Distress Oxide ink.

I used Spellbinders Hemstitched Rectangle dies to cut out my image, then layered it over a cream pearlescent cardstock with some 3D foam adhesive.  I used the same cardstock to press the sentiment, which I cut out with the coordinating die.

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

Cascading Lilies

The April Betterpress Society plate, Cascading Lilies, is SO pretty!  Lots of possibilities with this one.  I decided to create a tri-fold card with it.

I decided to hot foil the plate in gold, along with a couple of the sentiments, then used the coordinating dies to cut them all out.  I was even able to successfully do the reverse foil of the image!

I added a little ink to the flower centers to match the gingham background.

The gingham paper was attached to the card front, and the tab that I cut with the foiled image was adhered behind the card back:

I hid the sentiment and a couple of vellum vines under the lilies, so they show up after the first flap has been opened.

I added an organdy ribbon to the back of the card, and tied it closed, then placed a few gold pearls on the gingham.

The inside has a companion sentiment.

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

Mosaic Christmas card

This was one of those lying-awake-in-bed ideas... I wanted to try pressing the March Betterpress Society plate, Teardrop Mosaic without ink.  Metallic cardstock works really well for this, so I pulled out some Emerald Prism Studio metallic cardstock and gave it a try.

                             

After I pressed it onto my cardstock... (check it out below!) I somehow decided that I should try to make it into a Christmas card?

I pulled out my Holiday Blooms die set from Spellbinders, and found a bunch of pieces already cut in cream cardstock.  So I added a few contrasting black pieces, and some metallic gold (for even more glimmer...).  This was an unusual colour combo for me, but I felt like the metallic tones already adding enough excitement to the card without going crazy with colour.  

The sentiment was also pressed without ink - and was from the Christmas Whimsy press plate from last fall.

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

Warm painted background

This card is the warm version of the blue watercolour card I posted recently.  I painted them at the same time, doing the same wet-on-wet technique to move the colour around.  I painted both the card base, and a large scrap strip that I used to cut out the bits and pieces.

I hot foiled the grid plate from the March Betterpress Society set, Teardrop Mosaic onto my background using Rose Gold foil - and it's stunning!  The Floral Spray die set from Spellbinders was used to cut the flowers and foliage from my painted scraps.  I had a little metallic rose gold cardstock, so cut the small leaves and flower centers from it for a little shimmer.

After creating my floral grouping, I used the You Are Everything Sentiments plate to press my sentiment in Lisa Horton Copper Pot metallic ink on watercolour paper, and added it with some foam adhesive.

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