Wildly Cute!

I've been working on a baby gift for the past couple of months... having fun knitting, and then creating a card to go with it.  I haven't shared my knitting in quite a while, and knitting for a baby is definitely a favourite thing of mine.  I found a wonderful book at my library using Cascade Superwash yarn, and knit up a pair of socks, a hat with ears, and a sweet toy.

The hat and socks aren't for a newborn!  So they look a little large... and I'll admit that the hat ears look a little goofy, but they should be cute on a little guy's head.  I really loved making the little lovey, which is just a square with a teddy head sewn on - something to snuggle with.

And for the card, I reprised a card that I'd made 11 years ago!!  The Wildly Cute stamp set from Art Impressions was retired years ago, but I won't part with it, as it makes such sweet baby cards.  The ancient papers are Babycakes from CTMH.

I coloured with Copic markers on Cryogen paper, fussy cut it, and created by background with a little paper piecing.  The image and sentiment are adhered with foam adhesive for some dimension.

Nothing like making something for a new baby - especially when it's for one of my daughter's best friends.

Holiday Mansion

I pulled out a retired Art Impressions set that I had previously stamped to do a little colouring while I watched a video or two... this is the Holiday Mansion with the Garden Set add-on.

It was stamped on Cryogen cardstock which has a creamy cast to it, so I paired it up with some old Carta Bella papers from my stash, and set about colouring the pieces with my Copic markers.  There are matching dies that cut out the windows, doors and small items as well.

I made my background scene with the patterned papers - I love this look!  And it's a great way to use up patterned paper.  It's a little larger than an A2 size, being 4 5/8" x 6".

Uniquely You Valentine

I needed a valentine, and had an extra panel of the January Betterpress Society plates, 'Uniquely You' pressed on some watercolour paper.  Similar to one of my other cards, I pulled out four colours of Distress Ink and painted in the leaves.

I painted a strip of scrap watercolour paper with Picked Raspberry ink, then die cut a bunch of little hearts from it, and decorated my image.

I trimmed down my panel, mounted it on some black cardstock and also pressed one of the sentiments from the set below the urn.  A few black jewels finished it off.

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

Pastel Uniquely You

My third project with the January Betterpress Society set, Uniquely You, is a softer pastel version.

I pressed the upper leaf part in Antique Linen Distress Ink, then used the stencils and a combo of four different inks from Pinkfresh Studio to blend the leaves - doing many in two tones.  The urn was pressed in Lisa Horton Crafts Copper Pot metallic ink.  

The set comes with two flower dies, their centers and matching leaves, so I cut a few of them out in peachy toned cardstock and adhered them to the bouquet, and as an accent near the sentiment.  The sentiment from You Are Everything Betterpress set, was pressed with watermark ink and gold embossed.  

I stitched my panel onto a piece of brown cardstock with my sewing machine, then attached the whole thing to my green base with 3D foam adhesive.  

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

 

Citrus Bloom Wreath

I've had these bits and pieces of the Citrus Bloom set by Pinkfresh Studio, stenciled and die cut - in my stash ready to go for a while.  I was debating on putting them into a wreath shape, and settled on a crescent moon style of wreath instead.

I pulled out my favourite shade of dark blue cardstock, and decided on a square card with a cut out circle center.  The white background was a bit stark, so I pulled out my Slumber ink that I'd used in the stenciling, and inked the center area of my card base.

I arranged the pieces around the edge of the opening, and glued them down with my Bearly Arts glue, then attached it to my card base with 3D foam adhesive.  I'm using the Serenade Sentiments die set from Spellbinders, and cut the words twice, layering them for a little dimension.  They were adhered into the center of the circle.  I splattered a little gold paint to finish it off.

Watercolour & Betterpress

For my second project with the January Betterpress Society plates, "Uniquely You", I pressed them in Betterpress Black ink onto Canson XL watercolour paper.  I was wanting to create a more masculine card, so picked four colours of Distress ink to paint with.

I started by ink blending some Tumbled Glass ink behind where the leaves will sit, then after pressing the images, I used Shabby Shutters, Mermaid Lagoon, Evergreen Bough and Mowed Lawn to randomly paint the leaves.  I spattered Mermaid Lagoon and metallic gold paint over the finished project.

I am always in need of birthday cards, so I used a sentiment from the November, gold embossing it onto regular black cardstock.  I trimmed down my panel by 1/8" on each side, then stitched it to a black card base with my sewing machine.

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

PCW March Challenge

The Papercrafter's Workshop has come out with a monthly sketch challenge - which I'm really enjoying playing along with.  For the March sketch, I wanted to see if I could use my Betterpress to come up with something, and I'm pretty happy with the result!

For the three vertical elements, I thought I'd use the Layered Leaf Prints press plates (the August BP Society), which I pressed in two shades of green from Pinkfresh Studio.  Since I was doing a floral card, I thought this sentiment from Uniquely You (the January BP Society) fit the bill - I pressed it in Spellbinders Black Ink.

The die cut bits are all from Spellbinders Floral Spray set - most of which were already in my stash, so I just added a few extra pieces.  These were all to represent the tag, bunny and flowers from the sketch.  I added some champagne iridescent pearls by Pinkfresh Studio, adhered the sentiment with 3D foam adhesive, and stitched the panel to the blue card base with my sewing machine.

Uniquely You

The January Betterpress Society plate set from Spellbinders is called "Uniquely You".  I wanted something glam, so pressed the plates using Lisa Horton Crafts metallic ink: Silver Shine, on a Porcelain Cotton Card panel.

The set includes dies for two sizes of flowers, their centers and leaves - so I cut several sets of the flowers out in vellum.  Wanting just a hint of colour on the flowers, I tried colouring on the back side of the vellum, but it didn't give the effect I wanted - so I ended up using just plain vellum flowers, and colouring some white pearls with my R81 Copic marker which gave them just a blush of pink.

One of the sentiments from the set was pressed with Betterpress Black ink, and my panel was adhered with 3D foam adhesive over some Spellbinders Treasured Silver brushed cardstock.  You have to look closely to see those vellum flowers!

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

Sealed Florals

Last Sunday I taught a Betterpress class at the Papercrafter's Workshop Craft Around event.  What a great day!  There were five craft stations, wonderful instructors and of course the amazing PCW staff (thanks Sheri & Darlene!).

We used the Sealed Florals and Sealed Cord & Faux Seal Sentiments plates from Spellbinders, pressed on watercolour paper.

Crafters used Distress inks to paint a 'messy' watercolour - intentionally going outside the lines, and then tied a 'messy' bow with gold metallic thread.

Everyone was happy with their projects - if you want to join the next Craft Around, visit the Papercrafter's Workshop website, and sign up for their emails.  

Espresso Martinis

And now for the Martini Trifecta... these are the Espresso Martini version of the Olive Martinis die set from Spellbinders.

A few are just with regular cardstock, but for most of these, I used the Pearlescent Cardstock from Craft Perfect by Tonic Studios - it's a lovely subtle glimmer!  As a result of the shimmer, I kept the design fairly simple, adding just a bow or a few sequins to my cards.

Patterned papers are from an older October Afternoon pack, and the taupe dot is a Simple Stories Colour Vibe paper.

The sentiments are from the Cheers Sentiments Betterpress plate set from Spellbinders.  What a seriously fun week putting all my martini cards together (scroll down to see the tropical versions I created earlier this week).  Thanks again to Sheri at The Papercrafter's Workshop for bringing this in for me!

Lemon Lime Martinis

Is that even a thing?  'Lemontini' sounds like a legitimate drink name... so we'll go with that.  This is the lemon/lime version of the last card I posted, I've done the same layout in slightly different colours, and created a beachside backdrop for my glass to sit on.

This time I've used Squeezed Lemonade, Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn Distress Oxide inks for my drink colours, and on my die cuts.  The glass is cut from Majestic Gold Pearlescent Cardstock from Tonic studios, for some subtle glimmer.

Once again, I've used the Cheers Betterpress Sentiments and Olive Martinis dies from Spellbinders, the Dried Citrus die from The Greetery, and the flowers and foliage are the Fall Vault Wreath dies from Sizzix & Tim Holtz.

Loving these!

Tropical Martini

Very excited to be posting these today!  The Olive Martini die set from Spellbinders debuted last fall, and even though I loved it, it wasn't until I saw the holiday cards everyone was making, that I knew I wanted to have it.  The Papercrafter's Workshop was amazing to special order it in for me, and I just got my hands on it a couple of days ago.  My daughter is currently on a tropical vacation, which inspired me to make something fun.

I did some Distress Oxide ink blending on the drink, and a few of the bits and pieces using Wild Honey, Worn Lipstick and Picked Raspberry, with some Mowed Lawn on a bit of the foliage.  I die cut a ton of pieces from the Fall Wreath Vault die set from Tim Holtz/Sizzix, and several of the Dried Citrus dies from The Greetery.

I used some metallic gold cardstock to cut out the glass, and used the Starshine Background plate die on my background for some subtle texture.  Then it was assembly time!

The sentiment is from the Cheers Sentiments - a Betterpress plate set from Spellbinders.  Stay tuned for some Espresso Martini cards coming soon...