Ruscus

 I used the remaining portion of ink blended watercolour paper with another die from The Greetery - Ruscus (it's a type of foliage!).

This time I adhered it to a black cardstock panel, then mounted it with foam adhesive over some matte gold cardstock on a white base.

I added some irridescent pearls and a gold foiled sentiment.

Eucalyptus

 I felt like doing a little ink blending, so pulled out five Distress Oxide inks and tried blending on watercolour paper - worked beautifully.

I pulled out the Eucalyptus die from The Greetery and cut it from my panel - you may see the negative used on something, it's very pretty.

Before die cutting, I spattered my panel with water, and both Villainous Potion and White ink - which gave a really great effect.  I mounted it on a white panel cut with The Greetery's Nordic Frames die that was popped up with foam adhesive.  The sentiment is in brushed gold, and is by Studio Light.

New Home Cards

When I bought the Market Place dies from The Greetery last fall, they were with Christmas cards in mind.  I've since used them a few times as 'New Home' cards, and really love them for that!  Here are two more, done in the Mini paperpack from Art Impressions.

The sentiments are gold heat embossed, from the Perfect Sentiments set by Pinkfresh Studio.

I made shaped card bases by running my folded white cardstock through my die cut machine, using the outline shaped die, keeping the left edge intact.

New Home cards

 I already had the idea to use these dies to make some 'New Home' cards, but when I saw the recent launch by The Greetery, I was inspired by the colours Betsy used!

This is the Market Place Minis die set, that came out last fall, and I used to make some European looking Christmas cards.

These are the cutest little row houses.  Yes, they're a little fiddly to cut and assemble - but I've learned to cut multiples, then mix & match the pieces to make it go faster.

The end result is so worth it!

The sentiments are from Perfect Sentiments by Pinkfresh Studio.  Stay tuned, I have a few larger ones in the works.

Happy Bee Day

It's been a week of last minute card requests!  (I love making specific cards for people...)  I have been teaching my girlfriend's daughter to sew, and she had created a couple of bee-themed projects for her sister, so I offered to make a bee-themed card to go with the gift.

I knew that I had this large Bee die from The Greetery, and realized that I had the honeycomb stencil too.

The sentiment I needed was a no-brainer, and since I needed to create it fairly quickly, I took 'happy' and 'birthday' word dies, and trimmed off  'birth', then pulled out the small font die, and already had the yellow letters cut and ready!  Voila!

One of the best things about my card, is that I used products from six different companies to bring it all together.  The Greetery (Bee), Pinkfresh Studio (White circle), Spellbinders (Word dies), Art Impressions (Small font), Lawn Fawn (stencil) and Tim Holtz (Inks).

Fleur Impressions

And more stamped images from my craft room!  These are the Fleur Impressions and Oopsie Daisy flower stamps from The Greetery, arranged in the cute Just Mason Around jar.

I again pulled out the Knit Wits stencil, and used it with some ink blending of Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick Distress Oxide inks.  Sentiment is Perfect Sentiments from Pinkfresh Studio, gold embossed.

Budding Beauties Autumn

Current mission is using up some of those bits & pieces that I had previously stamped, that are sitting in my craft room.  I have more than a few :-)  All but the sentiment (Spellbinders) are from The Greetery.

I began with some ink blending with Tattered Rose and Worn Lipstick Distress Oxides.  I used the Knit Wits stencil to add a little texture overtop, using the same inks.  Just Mason Around is a fun multi-step stamp set that creates the mason jar, and all of the florals are from the Budding Beauties Autumn stamp set.

I added spatters of gold paint to my card, then stacked the You Are Everything Betterpress sentiment over a mat of glitter cardstock.  A few gold pearls finished it off.

Petite Criss Cross

I recently acquired the Petite Criss Cross press plate from Spellbinders.  *I love anything sewing themed for cardmaking, and thought this would be a great background to coordinate with products that I already have.

I foiled the plate onto some pale peach cardstock with some copper foil, then added the smaller frame from Hoopla Oval by The Greetery.  I inked and spattered the frame a little to make it look more like a wooden embroidery hoop before gluing it down.  The floral bits are all from the Embroidered Blooms die set (also The Greetery) that I had cut out previously for a project - always happy to use up a few leftovers.

The hardware for the hoop was cut from some rose gold metallic cardstock, as was a halo mat for the sentiment.  The sentiment is from the You Are Everything Sentiments press plate, pressed in Copper Pot ink.

A Quick Valentine

I needed to put together a last minute valentine for an elderly relative that I was visiting today, so I dove into my stash to see what I had on hand.  I pulled out a couple of papers from Lawn Fawn's Let's Polka in the Meadow pack, and cut one into a large heart.

The flowers are all from Fleur Impressions by The Greetery, that I already had stamped and ready to use in my craft room, so I was able to decorate my card quickly, and finished it off with a gold 'love' die cut.

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.

Market Place Tags

In prepping my end of the year post, I realized that I hadn't posted the Christmas tags that I created to gift with the tri-fold cards that I made using the Market Place suite of products from The Greetery.  

Yes, I managed to get 18 of these little guys made!  I used the tri-fold card as my inspiration, sticking to a limited colour palette, and cut multiple pieces out at a time - it looks a little more daunting than it actually was.  Once you embrace the chaos of doing a project with a ton of tiny pieces, it goes pretty quickly.

This is the Market Place Mini die set, along with the Holiday Festoons set - that provided all of the wreaths, bows and swag details.  I made them into tags by backing them with a solid cream building, then glued another one to it like a hinge, so you can open up the house and write your Christmas greeting.  I punched holes through the top and threaded some jute twine through.

The finishing touch was to spatter some gold paint to go with the touches of gold on each tag.  Labour of love, and SO worth it!  Everyone raved about these.

Winter Sprig Christmas cards

I had stamped all of the greenery for today's five cards last year!  So all I had was a pile of pretty die cuts waiting to be used.  It feels great to pull them out and put together some cards.

 

All of the greenery is from the Winter Sprig set from Pigment Craft Co., stamped in shades of Distress Oxide ink, and cut with the coordinating dies.  The bows are from the Fit To Be Tied die set by The Greetery.  I arranged everything in a swag, and put them on a Postage Rectangle die from Spellbinders that was attached to the base with some foam adhesive.  For the first three, I used the Candy Cane stripe stencils from Pigment Craft Co. to add a little background interest.

For all of the cards, I used Foilable sentiments from Pink & Main that were run through my Minc machine with silver and gold foil - a nice little bit of sparkle.

Gingerbread tags

These were my second effort at using the Mini Market Place dies from The Greetery.  I once again made them into tags, this time with a gingerbread theme, inspired by Wanda Guess.

These were easier than my last batch of tags, as all the bases were cut from kraft cardstock, and all the bits were cut from white - quicker die cutting, and easy assembly.

The wreaths and bows are from the Market Place Holiday Festoons die set.  Once everything was assembled, I spattered some white paint, then added a white backing to make them into tags.

2025 Coffee Lover's Blog Hop

So glad that I stumbled upon the post about the 2025 Coffee Lover's Blog Hop!  I haven't missed one yet since Amy started them many years ago.  Since she stated that 'Hot Cider' was something that could be included, I wanted to use the new 'Cocoa Cozy Cider Additions' sentiment set from The Greetery:

I paired it up with the Warm & Wonderful stamps and dies from a few years ago, that creates the wonderful glass mug of cider, and the added greenery bits.  I used Distress Oxide inks, inking the Cider in ombre style with Speckled Egg/Antique Linen and Rusty Hinge.

Around the edges, I used Vintage Photo and the Frosty Flakes stencil (also The Greetery), just enough to add the suggestion of snowflakes, and add a little rustic feel to the card.  Most of the glass & foliage were popped up with 3D foam adhesive, and a few black jewels add a bit of sparkle.

Thanks as always to Amy for putting together a wonderful event!

Market Place Suite

I've put together some cards following Betsy Veldman's design using her new release from The Greetery.  These are the 3 Market Place die sets, that create the sweetest European Market style of buildings.  They work great on their own, but Betsy did a wonderful tri-fold card that I tried to recreate.

SOOO many little pieces!  I don't mind working with fussy die cut bits, and found it easiest if I kept to a fairly limited palette, which allowed me to cut multiple pieces at one time.

It definitely took a little planning, but I am really happy with the end result - and plan to make a bunch of coordinating tags in the near future.

In addition to the three different building designs, there is a set called Market Place Holiday Festoons - all the little wreaths, bows and a few garlands.  There is also a the Market Place Holiday Sentiments stamp set that gives all those wonderful little business signs - such an amazing detail.

After my houses were put together, I cut two hinge pieces that are scored down the middle, that were glued between them to create the tri-fold.  I also cut each house out of cream cardstock and adhered it to the back of each one, which not only gave a clean finish to the back, but provided the 'filler' for the windows from the front side.

I was able to put three of these together, to give to some special people in my life.  Not sure if they're quite done, I may add a little gold or white spatter, or possibly a little glitter.

Market Place Mini

I am so excited to be playing with these!  This is the newest release from The Greetery - a full set of European style buildings, called "Market Place".  This is the Market Place Mini set of dies:

For my first effort, I chose some muted cardstock colours, trying out each building in each of the colourways, so they're all just slightly different.

There is a companion die set called Market Place Holiday Festoons, which includes all of the little wreaths, bows and the Merry Christmas swag - of which I die cut a bunch!

Betsy at The Greetery does an amazing job designing her products - all the details are just perfect, and they're all easy to assemble.

After gluing all of the buildings together, I spattered them with some gold paint, then attached them to a rectangle die cut (also The Greetery!).

So happy to have three more Christmas cards in my stash.  I'm just getting started with the Market Place collection... stay tuned.