Happy Easter 2026 | Spellbinders + Simon Hurley

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a more traditional-style Easter card with you featuring products from Spellbinders/Simon Hurley.  Let’s get into it!

The supplies used:

Whimsy Stamps – Slimline ATC Windows Die Set

     Spellbinders / Simon Hurley – Tulip Trio

     Spellbinders – Spring Canopy Glimmer Plates Set

     Pink & Main – Large Sentiment Strip Die Set

     Penny Black – Delicate Garden Stamp Set

     Kuretake – Zig Clean Color Real Brush Markers:

          Olive Green, Mid Green, Pale Green

          Pale Rose, Pink, Almond Pink

          Orange, Bright Yellow, Pale Orange

          Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Pale Yellow

          Peacock Blue, Dull Blue, Haze Blue

          Violet, Lilac, Pale Violet

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Distress Archival Ink, Black Soot

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Tumbled Glass Distress Ink Reinker

     Fabriano Artistico Extra White Watercolor Paper

     Ampersand Hardbord Panel

     Silver Black Velvet ¾” Oval Watercolor Brush

     Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss Pen

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Spatter Brush

     Winsor & Newton – Designers White Gouache

     Spellbinders – Opaque Black Glimmer Foil

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares

     Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

Using the Whimsy Stamps Slimline ATC Windows Die Set, I selected the largest die in the set and die cut a piece of watercolor paper – this panel will serve as the base for the background.  I used painter’s tape to mask off ¼” on all sides of the watercolor panel and adhered it to an Ampersand hardbord to keep the water from warping the panel as I apply a wash of color across it.  Using a ¾” oval watercolor brush, I applied a generous amount of clean water to the watercolor paper.  I placed about three drops of the Tumbled Glass Distress Ink Reinker to my glass mat and picked up the ink with my watercolor brush and painted it onto the wet watercolor paper and let it dry.  Once dry, I applied a spattering of Winsor & Newton white gouache across the panel and also did the same with the Tumbled Glass ink.

Creating the Focal Point(s)

For the tulips, I used the Spellbinders / Simon Hurley Tulip Trio die set.  I die cut the floral layers, stems, and leaves from Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolor paper since that is what I had on hand using the Anna Griffin Empress die cutting machine.  Once that was completed, I used the Kuretake Zig Clean Color Real Brush watercolor markers to paint the layers with these colors:

Greenery:  Olive Green, Mid Green, Pale Green

Pink Tulip:  Pale Rose, Pink, Almond Pink

Orange Tulip:  Orange, Bright Yellow, Pale Orange

Yellow Tulip:  Yellow, Lemon Yellow, Pale Yellow

Blue Tulip:  Peacock Blue, Dull Blue, Haze Blue

Purple Tulip:  Violet, Lilac, Pale Violet

After adding color to all the flowers and greenery, I adhered the bloom and stem layers together with Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue and placed a thin 3D foam square behind each of the flower heads.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I used the Spellbinders Spring Canopy (Glimmer of the Month, February 2025) Glimmer Plates set and foiled the Happy Easter sentiment onto white cardstock using Spellbinders Opaque Black Glimmer Foil.  I die cut the sentiment using one of the dies from Pink & Main’s Large Sentiment Strip Die Set.

Assembling the Card

I positioned each of the tulips where I wanted them to be on the watercolored background/card front and adhered the flower heads only by removing the backing paper from the thin foam squares.  Once the flowers were in place, I positioned the different leaves with each flower and glued them in place with liquid glue and trimmed off the excess that were hanging off the card front.  I found a little honeybee stamp in the Penny Black Delicate Garden stamp set, so I stamped on little bee in Black Soot Distress Archival Ink onto the upper, left side of the card and colored in the yellow parts of its body with the yellow Zig Clean Color Real Brush marker and its wings with the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss pen.  For my last touch, I attached the sentiment to the card front using foam squares and adhered the card panel to a top folding, slimline card base.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really do appreciate.  Until next time, happy crafting!

Happy Easter 2026 | Waffle Flower & Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a postage themed, mixed media, Easter card.  After making this card, I’ve decided that I need to play around with mixed media projects a lot more often.  There seems like lots of steps to this card, but if I wanted to make it again, I’m certain it would go much more quickly than it did to make the first one!  I tend to be very indecisive when it comes to which stamps, papers, inks, and dies I want to use which causes delay, delay, delay…. I hope you enjoy the end result.

The supplies used:

Waffle Flower – Postage Collage A6 Die

     Stampers Anonymous – Mr. Rabbit Stamp Set

     Stampers Anonymous – Bunny Hop Stamp/Stencil Set

     Sizzix / Tim Holtz – Vault Hippity Hop Die Set

     Hero Arts – Sparkle Weave Stencil

     Spellbinders – Tuscan Cardstock

     Spellbinders – Timber Cardstock

     MFT – Grapesicle Cardstock (dyed with ink to be Fairy and Plum Cardstock)

     Simon Says Stamp – Allspice, Cozy, Plum, & Fairy Ink

     Altenew – Obsidian Black Pigment Ink

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Vintage Photo & Black Soot Distress Ink

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Distress Translucent Texture Paste

     Altenew – Carbon Black Artists’ Gouache

     Kuretake Starry Colors Metallic Watercolor Paint – Gold No. 903

     WOW! – Clear Gloss Super Fine Embossing Powder

     Taylored Expressions – Anti-Static Powder Tool

     Altenew – Mini Blending Brush

     WOW! – Dual Speed Heat Embossing Tool

     Scor-Tape Double Sided Adhesive

     Altenew – 1” x 1/16” Instant Dimension Foam Tape

     Bearly Art Precision Craft Glue

     Tonic / Tim Holtz – Mini Guillotine Trimmer

     MISTI Stamp Positioning Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

First, I used the die from Waffle Flower’s Postage Collage A6 Die and placed it onto a piece of Spellbinders Tuscan cardstock and loosely traced around the outside of it using a pencil.  This will give me an idea of where things will fall on the postage collage layout once I die cut it.  I proceeded with adding a layering of stamping.  Using Simon Says Stamp Allspice ink, I stamped the rabbit from Stampers Anonymous’ Mr. Rabbit stamp set in the lower left corner.  Next, I decided the stamp the larger Easter Egg Dyes text stamp from the same set onto the upper right corner using Simon Says Stamp Plum ink.  I stamped the smaller Egg Dyes text stamp in a vertical direction on the lower right corner of the panel using Simon Says Stamp’s Fairy ink.  I inked up the polka dot pattern stamp from the set and free-hand stamped it in random locations using Simon Says Stamp Cozy ink and did the same with the plaid patterned stamp.  Once the stamping was completed, I used the Waffle Flower Postage Collage A6 Die and die cut the stamped panel. 

I placed the inked panel on a sticky mat to hold it in place, then I positioned the Hero Arts Sparkle Weave Stencil over the cardstock panel and added Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Translucent Texture Paste in random locations across the stencil and panel.  Once the paste dried, I used an Altenew Mini Blending Brush and Ranger/Tim Holtz Vintage Photo Distress Ink to ink the edges of the card background panel. 

I used the Waffle Flower Postage Collage A6 Die to cut a second die cut from the Tuscan cardstock and I glued it behind the first want for substance.  Once glued, I used Altenew Carbon Black Gouache and Kuretake Starry Colors watercolor paint No. 903 and spatter both onto the background panel and set aside to dry.

Creating the Focal Point

For the focal point, I simply chose to die cut one of the rabbits from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz die set called Vault Hippity Hop.  I die cut the rabbit two times from Spellbinders Timber cardstock, glued them together, and used Ranger/Tim Holtz Black Soot ink to blacken the edges of the rabbit.  After the edging, I spattered the die cut with Kuretake Starry Colors No. 903 gold watercolor paint so it would blend in with the card’s background panel.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I used the “Happy Easter” stamp from the Stampers Anonymous Bunny Hop Stamp/Stencil set.  I placed a piece of Fairy ink colored card stock that I made by dragging the Simon Says Stamp Fairy ink pad across a small piece of cardstock and placed it into my MISTI tool.  I applied a generous amount of anti-static powder to the cardstock and stamped the sentiment using Altenew’s Obsidian Black ink pad.  Once stamped, I applied WOW!’s Clear Gloss Super Fine embossing powder to the sentiment and melted the powder with the heat tool.  I used the Tonic/Tim Holtz Mini Trimmer and cut the sentiment to size then cut a couple additional layers from the same Fairy ink cardstock to glue behind it for dimension.  To finish the sentiment, I used a foam ink blending tool and edged a little bit of the Vintage Photo to give it a some-what grungier appearance.

Assembling the Card

I wanted to add the card’s background to a piece of the Simons Says Stamp plum ink, alas I did not have that color (or anything close to it) so I had to get creative and make my own by dragging the Plum ink pad across an entire piece of 5” x 7” cardstock because if I didn’t ink the entire panel I would be able to see the un-inked areas through the postage collage holes – thank heavens for reinkers!  Once the inked dried on the new plum cardstock panel, I die cut it with the largest die from Waffle Flower’s A6 Lacy Layers Die set.  I adhered the Plum panel to a side-folding, A6 card base using strips of Scor-Tape.  I added strips of Altenew Instant Dimension Foam Tape to the back of the decorative, postage collage panel and removed the backing to adhere it to the Plum cardstock panel.  I added liquid glue to the back side of the sentiment and placed it on the lower right of the card, then positioned the rabbit die cut over the top of it.  I didn’t want to add even more dimension to the rabbit/card, so I cut the rabbit’s left leg (as seen in the photo) and glued the top half of the rabbit directly to the card background (minus the trimmed portion of its leg), then trimmed the end of his left foot and glued it under the sentiment as if it were literally placed behind the sentiment.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today’s blog post, I really do appreciate.  Until next time, happy crafting!

Lots of Love | Penny Black & Pinkfresh Studio

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a Valentine’s Day card featuring products from Penny Black.  I love how approachable their products are when it comes to creating greeting cards.

The supplies used:

Penny Black – Passion Stamp

     Penny Black – Background Basics Stencil Set

     Waffle Flower – A6 Piercing Layers Die Set

     Pinkfresh Studio – Whimsical Blooms Stamp Set

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks

     Simon Says Stamp – Aster Pawsitively Saturated Ink

     Schmincke Watercolor Paint – Volcano Red, Shire Green, Forest Green, Tundra Pink,  

         Volcano Orange

     Winsor & Newton – Permanent White Designers Gouache

     Kuretake Starry Colors Metallic Watercolor Paint – Gold No. 901

     Gina K. Designs – Barely There Amalgam Ink

     Fabriano Artistico Extra White Watercolor Paper

     Ranger Ink / Tim Holtz – Splatter Brush

     Scor-Tape Double-Sided Adhesive

     MISTI Stamp Positioning Tool     

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

I started by stamping the Penny Black red rubber Passion stamp onto a 6” x 7” piece of Fabriano Artistico Extra White watercolor paper using Gina K. Designs’ Barely There Amalgam Ink.  I used the MISTI tool for this so I could add enough layers of the Barely There ink so that it was dark enough for me to see to be able to watercolor over it.  I like to use the Barely There ink since it doesn’t really influence the watercolor paints and doesn’t change the intended color.  I used Schmincke Watercolor Paint in the colors:  Volcano Red, Shire Green, Forest Green, Tundra Pink, and Volcano Orange. 

Once the watercolors had dried, I used the largest die from the Waffle Flower A6 Piercing Layers Die Set to die cut the panel with the assistance of my Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine.  Using the Penny Black Background Basics Stencil Set – the one with the 4” x 5-1/2” aperture – and used low-tack tape to temporarily adhere it to the top of the watercolor panel, aligning it so that I was framing the aperture in the center of the upper portion of the card.  I used a large blending tool to lightly ink blend a combination of Ranger/Tim Holtz Tumbled Glass and Shabby Shutters Distress Inks over the upper two-thirds of the watercolor panel.  Once completed, I moved the stencil to the lower end of the card to attempt to capture the same amount of the aperture as I did for the top, this time ink blending Ranger/Tim Holtz Shabby Shutters Distress Ink.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, chose to use the Pinkfresh Studio stamp set called Whimsical Blooms.  It includes a stamp that says, “Lots of Love” and I felt that was appropriate for this card.  I placed the watercolor panel in my MISTI tool and stamped the sentiment in the upper left corner using Simon Says Stamp’s Aster ink pad.  I wanted to use the purple toned ink to tie into the little floral hearts that are the purplish color.

Assembling the Card

Since I wanted to add some spatter, I added the photopolymer sentiment stamp over the stamped sentiment to protect it from spatter.  Using Winsor & Newton White Gouache, I applied a generous amount of white spatter using my Ranger/Tim Holtz Splatter Brush and repeated this process using Kuretake Starry Colors Metallic Watercolor in the color No. 901.  After the spatter dried, I added Scor-Tape to the back side of the watercolor panel and adhered it to a side-folding, A6 card base.

Thank you for stopping by and checking out today's blog post, I really do appreciate it. Until next time... happy crafting!