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...

An Armful & Gardening Girlfriends

 Hello Art Impressions Watercolour fans!

If you're not familiar with the Ai Armfuls, you should check them out!  I am using 5904 - So Sweet Armful Set.  It comes with both a bear and an elephant, with matching dies that cut slots so that their arms can hold either a heart or a cupcake.

I decided on a CAS style of card, doing some Distress Oxide ink blending with a circular mask (Spun Sugar, Scattered Straw and Mowed Lawn).   The panel was cut with a 5063 - Rectangle A2 Stitched die, and mounted to the card base with 3D foam adhesive.  The bear was stamped in N55, and his fir was painted in tones of #977, keeping it darker where the shadows would be.  His trousers are a mix of #565/526, and a little #725 was painted in his ears and on his cheeks.  He was cut out with the coordinating die in the set.  I painted #725 onto some scrap watercolour paper, and used the heart die that comes in the set to cut the heart that he's holding.

To fill up a little of the white space in the upper right corner, I stamped two of the butterflies from 5200 - Butterfly Set in #N55, and painted them in with #126/725/993 to match the ink blending.  The bear and butterflies were adhered with 3D foam adhesive, the sentiment is from the Armful set, and is stamped in Versafine Onyx Black, and I added a few sequins from my stash.

My second card featured 5798 - Gardening Girlfriends Set, stamped in #N55 on some Canson XL Watercolour paper.  I wanted to extend the image a little, so I started out by stamping the puppy from 5016 - WC Mini Critter Set, then masked him and stamped a pot from 4869 - WC Small Container Set and the main image using my Misti platform for placement.

I painted two of the pots in shades of #947, and one with a mix of #249/565, keeping the edges darker to indicate their round shapes.  Then I began building my bouquet in the pot on the left - using two blooms from 5475 - Flower Set 6 in #177/603, then the long carnation stem from the set in #126/725.  The tall bloom from 4052 - WC Flower Set 1 was stamped twice with #993.  To fill in the base of the pot, one of the vines from 5126 - WC Foliage Set 4 was stamped in #177 using just the tip.  The flower bunch from 4868 - WC Flower Set 2 was stamped in #177/565 into the aqua pot, and I used my brown Twintone marker to draw in the branches in the largest spot.  *I could've used the WC Branches set for this, but masking the watering can seemed like more work than was necessary when it only took a minute to draw in the branches myself.

The puppy and her hat were painted in tones of #993/947, adding the warm brown where the shadows would be.  Her top was painted with #725/636, her jeans with #565, and the trowel, shoes and watering can were done with #N55.  #126/245 were painted on her gardening gloves for a bright pop of colour.  The small grass from 4051 - Foliage Set 1 was stamped with #126/177, and the colour pulled out to add shading to the ground.  #850 was used for her skin tone, and #565 was painted in a wash for the sky.

The sentiment is from 5817 - Potting Garden Shed Set, stamped in Versafine Onyx Black.  The whole image was die cut with 5061 - Square Double Stitched Dies, and adhered with 3D foam adhesive over a dark grey mat.  The background paper is from the 5892 - Easter S2 Paper pack.

Exclusive Daisy Set

I've been making an effort to colour up images that I'd previously stamped, along with using up patterned paper from my stash, which resulted in this somewhat *bright* creation this afternoon:

This is the Exclusive Daisy Set by Art Impressions that was available at Scrapbook.com for a limited time.  I coloured the image with Copic markers, and have seen so many pink/yellow combos lately, that I wanted to give it a try - which resulted in my vibrant creation.  And since I'm a matchy-matchy person at heart, I pulled out the Farmer's Market papers from Doodlebug to create my card.

I've also been wanting to use some of the interesting die sets from Art Impressions, most of which were created for mini journals, but work really well on cards.  The frame is from 5588 - Journal Oval Frames, and the banner is from 5809 - Decorative Journal Page 2.  The frame was layered twice for a little extra dimension, and the banner (with a sentiment from 5735 - Birthday Sentiments Set) was raised on foam adhesive.

Pink & Main Shaker

I just picked up some new goodies from The Papercrafter's Workshop, and quickly whipped up a shaker card using the A2 Shaker Cover (4.25x5.5"), and Diamond Confetti from Pink & Main.

I'm a patterned paper fan, and this is a great card design to show off those pretty papers that we all hoard in our stash!  I've used some One Canoe Two paper by Jen Hadfield from a few years ago - love this paper.

I cut my paper about 1/8" smaller than the finished card, put it upside down on the shaker cover, and attached the adhesive on 3 sides.  With the top end open, it's like a pocket - so I poured in some of the Diamond Confetti, along with some micro glass beads that I have, then sealed the top edge, enclosing all the confetti in my pocket.  I used some strong adhesive strips to attach it to my card base.

To create my 'present' design, I attached two strips of pink cardstock to look like ribbon on a gift, then glued on two die cut bows.  I stamped my greeting on a little tag, and tied it under the bow.  Done!

Rainbow Cupcake Kisses

My third card with the December Betterpress Society press plate, 'Cupcake Kisses', is a rainbow one!

I chose four colours of Distress Oxide inks, and blended them right on the plates, then pressed onto a Bisque Cotton Card panel.

I cropped my background to be 4 3/8" square, stitched it down to a black mat, and adhered the cupcake and sentiment with 3D foam adhesive.  The finished card is 5" square.

I also took some photos with it on a plain teal base before I assembled it, but I'm going with the busier rainbow striped background.

You can get a Betterpress Society subscription through the Papercrafter's Workshop!

Easter Bunny Puppets

This is the cutest little puppet set from Art Impressions.  I wanted to make something for our neighbours, who have two little girls... and I thought of the 5869 - Easter Bunny Puppet Set, used as paper dolls.  I went to town, stamping and cutting out (with the matching dies), four bunnies, and enough bits and pieces to create about 8 or 10 different outfits.

I used the four new Basic paper packs from Ai - 6009 - Basic Green PP, 6010 - Basic Pink PP, 6011 - Basic Teal PP and 6012 - Basic Yellow PP, which are the perfect scale for tiny outfits.  I stamped everything in Memento Tuxedo Black ink, and ran them all through my die cutting machine.  

Here's a sample of what they could look like assembled.  I left the bunnies and two baskets fairly plain, incase they want to colour them up.

Love You

A fairly quick valentine for my husband... I used the Block Letter Alphabet dies from Art Impressions, cut from some old Basic Grey papers that are favourites of mine!  Then added a Photoplay Say it With Stamps die, triple stacked with black cardstock for a little dimension, and added a few heart.  Happy Valentine's Day!

Shimmery Cupcakes

My Second card using the December Betterpress Society set, Cupcake Kisses is featuring a few new things.

I pressed the two plates onto Craft Perfect's Pearlescent Card in Blushing Pink without ink.  I was keen to try this out, and it worked beautifully on this cardstock!  I pressed the larger cupcake a second time, then fussy cut it, and adhered it over the double image with 3D foam adhesive.  The sentiment is one of four that come in the set, and was pressed onto a Bisque Cotton Card panel using Betterpress Black ink, and cut with the matching die - then adhered with foam dots.

The background swoosh was pressed onto a Bisque Cotton Card panel using Lisa Horton Crafts Cloud 9 metallic ink in Copper Pot.  This was my other new thing... I've been wanting some metallic inks for a long time, and this pressed beautifully!  This was a single pass through the machine, and it gave such a gorgeous result.

I stitched my panel onto a large rectangle of the Pearlescent Card with my sewing machine, and added a few irridescent Ballet Slipper jewels from Pinkfresh Studio.  You can get a subscription to the Spellbinders Betterpress Society by contacting the Papercrafter's Workshop. 

Sending Love

Pigment Craft Co. is no longer putting out new product, but I was able to purchase a number of their sets last summer, and am slowly working my way through them.  They have such a great vibe!  Today I pulled out the Sending Love stamps and dies, along with the Latte Hearts stencils.

Pigment came out with their own ink line which I've used today as well.

Waffle Valentines

I still love making valentines for my kids, even though they're grown... so I pulled out the Let's Toast and Waffle Lot stamp and die sets by Lawn Fawn for this year's versions.

Let's Toast comes with an add-on set that allows it to be interactive.  There's a little slot in the toaster, and a simple mechanism behind it that creates the pull tab.  I don't own the dies for the waffle set... so I stamped, coloured (with Copics) and fussy cut a whole bunch of the waffles and tiny berries.

The papers are all older Lawn Fawn, and I mounted everything on some kraft paper.  The inside says "You are waffly cute!"

Crazy Birds!

I haven't pulled out my Tim Holtz Crazy Birds set in years... but The Papercrafter's Workshop is giving us prompts to use our supplies that we have, and when I pulled out this stamp set, I found 3 of the birds and a bunch of accessories coloured and fussy cut - ready to go.  One of the prompts was to use 5 different pieces of paper, so I pulled out my Lawn Fawn Really Plaid Rainbow papers (also many years old!) and got to work.

Another new thing is a sketch challenge on the Papercrafter's Inner Circle Facebook group page, so if you'll scroll down, you'll see the sketch that got everything rolling this week.  I used to do sketch challenges quite often, so it was fun to get back to doing something I enjoy, and I've ended up with a couple of cards for my efforts.

You'll find links to the groups on the Papercrafter's Workshop website.

Hello!

This was the first Betterpress plate that I bought and pressed... and I love it!  

I pulled out some Distress Oxide inks and did a little rainbow ink blending, using Kitsch Flamingo, Squeezed Lemonade, Mowed Lawn and Mermaid Lagoon and ran it through my Betterpress, then matted it on blue cardstock.  My white base is a coverplate die from Pinkfresh Studio.

I used Spellbinders' Floral Spray die set to cut out a bunch of flowers & foliage in matching shades, and added it to the bottom of my card.  Happy to have two of these in my stash!