Hello Gorgeous | Spellbinders & Pinkfresh Studio

Hi friends!  Spring brings a fresh burst of life, color, and energy. It's the perfect season to create projects that capture the essence of renewal and joy. This spring-themed tag featuring flowers and bees combines natural beauty with a touch of whimsy, making it a delightful way to brighten someone’s day. Let's get started!

The supplies used:

     Spellbinders – Daffodil/Narcissus & Antique Vase with Honey Bee

     Pinkfresh Studio – Go For It Stamp/Die/Stencil Set

     Altenew – Textured Blocks Embossing Folder

     Sizzix – Framed Tags Die Set

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz - #8 Distress Tags

     Paper Rose – All Occasion Sentiment Sheets

     Craft Consortium – Ink Drops – Candy 12x12 Paper Pad

     Elizabeth Craft Designs – Reminiscence The Book 8 Patterned Cardstock Pad

     Copic Markers – W2, W0, Y26, N6

     Simon Says Stamp – Ink Pads:  Ballerina, Guava, Watermelon,

          Orchid, Amethyst, Field, Fairway

     Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz – Gathered Twigs Distress Ink Pad

Altenew - Mini Blending Brushes

     Scrapbook.com – Foam Ink Blending Tool

     Altenew - Double-Sided Adhesive Sheets

     Scrapbook Adhesives – Thin 3D Foam Squares

     Spellbinders – Glaze & Glue Resin Adhesive

     Open Studio – Clear Droplets Embellishments

     My Sweet Petunia - MISTI Original Stamping Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

Creating the Background Panel

To create the background, I used one of the Ranger Ink/Tim Holtz #8 Distress Tags, peeled off the hole reinforcer that comes with the tag, and covered it with a layer of the Altenew Double-Sided Adhesive Sheets.  I pulled a scripty text piece of patterned paper from the Elizabeth Craft Designs Reminiscence “The Book 8” patterned cardstock pad and removed the backing paper from the adhesive sheet adhered to the tag and carefully adhered the patterned cardstock to the tag.  Using a paper trimmer, I removed all the excess patterned cardstock until I was left with only the tag’s shape.  I used a foam blending tool and Gathered Twigs Distress Ink to add some distressed edging and interest to the tag’s background.

Creating the Focal Point

Using a piece of patterned cardstock from the Craft Consortium Candy Ink Drops paper pad, I die cut it with the vase die from the Spellbinders Daffodil/Narcissus and Antique Vase with Honey Bee die set and die cut two of the bee die cuts from white cardstock.  I placed the vase die cut into the lower right quadrant of Altenew’s Textured Block embossing folder and ran it though my Anna Griffin Empress machine.  I used Copic markers W2 and W0 to add some shading to the vase for depth.  For the bees, I colored their wings with W0, lightly drew lines with the W2 markers and placed a blanket coat of Y26 over the bee bodies and colored dark grey lines on the body segments using N6.  Lastly, I applied a layer of Spellbinders Glaze over the bees.

For the florals, I used the Pinkfresh Studio Go For It stamp/die/stencil set and stamped the floral image onto a piece of white cardstock.  Next, I used the coordinating stencils and blended ink to the flowers and leaves using these ink pads:

     Pink Flowers:  Simon Says Stamp Ballerina, Guava, and Watermelon

     Purple Flowers:  Simon Says Stamp Ballerina, Orchid, and Amethyst

     Leaves:  Simon Says Stamp Field and Fairway

The florals were die cut using the coordinating dies from the Go For It set.

Creating the Sentiment

For the sentiment, I chose to go with a the “HELLO GORGEOUS” greeting from Paper Rose’s All Occasion Sentiment Sheets.  I used a black marker to go around the edges of the sentiment just to make it look as if it was printed on black cardstock.

Assembling the Card

I die cut the hole reinforcer for the top of the tag using Sizzix’s Framed Tags die set and a scrap of the patterned paper I used for the vase from the Craft Consortium Candy Ink Drops paper pad.  I used whatever ink was left on the Gathered Twigs foam blending tool to distress the edges of the hole reinforcer die cut for a more cohesive look.  I positioned the florals where I wanted them in the vase and glued them into position.  I added Scrapbook Adhesives’s Thin 3D Foam Squares to the back side of the florals and the vase and adhered them to the tag front and used scissors to trim off the portion of the vase that extended beyond the bottom of the tag.  I used the Altenew ¼” Black Instant Dimension Foam Tape to adhere the sentiment on the lower portion of the tag.  Lastly, I added glue to the back side of the bee die cuts and adhered them to the background and added a sprinkling of Open Studio Clear Droplets to the flowers.

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

Easter 2025 | Sending Easter Blessings

Hi friends!  I thought I’d make today’s Easter card using inspiration from the cutest layered stencil set out of the Spellbinders Deluxe Caboodle subscription from February 2025.  It creates the perfect background for a simple, but beautiful, Easter celebration card.   

The supplies used were:

Spellbinders “Nature’s Canvas” Stencil Set

Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks (Cracked Pistachio, Twisted Citron,

    Squeezed Lemonade, Saltwater Taffy, Weathered Wood)

Nuvo Glitter Drops – Silver Moondust

Ranger/Simon Hurley Solar Spray “Beluga”

Scrapbook.com White Heavy Weight Mixed Media Paper Pad

Memory Box “Azure Dragonflies” Die Set

Black Cardstock from my Stash

Tonic Studios Pearlized Vellum

Lisa Horton “Ripe Mango Shimmer” Interference Ink

Spellbinders “Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag” Die Set

My Favorite Things “Sour Apple” Cardstock

Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Collage Medium in Fine Tip Bottle

Scrapbook.como 1” Foam Adhesive Roll, 1mm

Windsor & Newton Designers Gouache “Lamp Black”

Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink – Black Soot

Spellbinders “Luxe Damask” BetterPress Plates & Die Set

Spellbinders BetterPress System

Scrapbook Adhesives Thin 3D Foam Squares

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

I started the card by placing a piece of 4-1/4” x 5-1/2” white cardstock on my sticky mat and using the Spellbinders Nature’s Canvas stencils, I started with the first stencil labeled “1” and applied my ink colors through each stencil in this order:

            1 – Distress Oxide – Twisted Citron

            2 – Distress Oxide – Cracked Pistachio

            3 – Distress Oxide – Squeezed Lemonade

            4 – Distress Oxide – Saltwater Taffy

            5 – Distress Oxide – Weathered Wood

After I inked the last stencil using Weathered Wood, I wiped the stencil clean with some a few sprays of rubbing alcohol to clean it then placed the stencil back onto the inked cardstock panel and lined it up appropriately then sprayed a few spritzes of Ranger/Simon Hurley Solar Spray in the color Beluga to give the flower centers a bit of shimmer.  After the Solar Spray dried, I applied a thin layer of Silver Moondust Nuvo Glitter Drops to the centers of the larger flowers and set that aside to dry.  Once dry, I came back with a small paint brush and some Windsor & Newton Lamp Black gouache that I watered down and lightly splattered the inky card front panel and set it aside once again to dry.

For the dragonfly, I used the Memory Box Azure Dragonflies die set and cut the body piece from a piece of black cardstock from my scrap tray and cut the wings from a piece of Tonic Studios pearlized vellum.  I inked the head die cut using Lisa Horton’s Ripe Mango Shimmer Interference Ink to give it a luminous sheen.  Once the ink dried, I glued the dragonfly diecuts together and placed reverse tweezers of the center of the wings to hold them in place until the glue dried.

Using the Spellbinders Perfect Touch Rectangles and Tag die set, I cut the inked card front panel from the second to largest die and cut a piece of My Favorite Things’ Sour Apple cardstock using the largest die from this set.  I placed three strips of Scrapbook.com’s 1” wide/1mm foam tape to the backside of the inked card front and adhered it to the Sour Apple color cardstock and adhered these two pieces to an A2 size, side folding, white card base.

For the sentiment, I chose to use the Easter Blessings press plate from the Spellbinders Luxe Damask press plate and die set.  I used the BetterPress system and went ahead and inked up all the sentiments in this set - so I would have extras – using Black Soot Distress Archival Ink and ran it through my Platinum 6 die cutting machine then die cut the sentiments using the coordinating dies that came with the set.  I adhered the “Sending Easter Blessing” sentiment to the card front using thin foam squares and used glue to adhere the dragonfly to the upper right side of the card.  And with that step, this card was completed!

I hope you enjoyed the card and found inspiration for some of your own cardmaking projects.   Until next time… happy making!

Spring 2024 | Breath of Spring

Today I’m sharing the steps I followed to create this lovely Springtime tag that I display in my studio to celebrate the arrival of the season.

I used Ranger/Tim Holtz #8 Distress Tags and applied Ranger/Tim Holtz Salvaged Patina Distress Oxide Spray to make the tag base and background coloring.  I set it aside to dry before moving forward.

For the stamping, I used Hero Arts’ “Breath of Spring Heroscape”.  I started with the lighter colored grass and used the Simon Says Stamp’s Pawsitively Saturated Ink in the color Fairway.  For the second/darker colored grass, I used Simon Says Stamp Pawsitively Saturated Ink in the color Pine.  For the flower layers, I used Tim Holtz’s Mustard Seed Distress Oxide ink, and the centers were stamped using Walnut Stain Distress Oxide ink.  For the cloud stamping layer, I decided to use StazOn Cotton White since I was going to be battling the oxide from the Savaged Patina background.  Before all the StazOn had time to dry, I thought it might be fun to add a sprinkling of Stampendous! White Puff 3D Embossing Powder to the clouds for a little texture.

There was one more stamp I wanted to use from this Hero Arts stamp set and it was the silhouette of three dragonflies.  I stamped them onto my tag using Tim Holtz Distress Archival Ink in Black Soot.

The finishing touches were completed by adding a couple words from the Tim Holtz Idea-ology “Big Chat” sticker book, I used a clear Sakura Glaze pen on the dragonflies and added a little dot of bronze Sakura Metallic Gelly Roll to all the centers of the flowers.  The only other additional was to add a new hole reinforcer to the top of the tag since I had to remove the original one to allow me to stamp the clouds.  To do this, I used the hole reinforcer die from the Sizzix/Tim Holtz “Framed Tags” die set and I cut it from Altenew’s “Sparkling Water” glitter cardstock from the Shimmering Shore collection.  I did have to use a hole punch to make the existing hole a little bit larger so that it would be a seamless finish once I glued the new hole reinforcer to the tag front.

That wraps up this fun tag project and it couldn’t be cuter!  Thanks so much for stopping by… I appreciate you doing so!

Happy Making!