Love You | Tim Holtz Idea-ology & Spellbinders

Hi friends!  Today’s project is a quick anniversary card that’s so easy to make using products from Tim Holtz’s Ranger and Idea-ology lines as well as a couple products from Spellbinders.  Let’s see how this goes!  

The supplies used were:

Spellbinders “Brushed Black” Cardstock

Spellbinders “Precision Layering A2 A” Dies

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Paper Dolls

Spellbinders “Tiled Hearts” Embossing Folder

Spellbinders “Sneaking a Kiss” Die Set

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Metallic Colors Kraft-Stock (Pink)

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology 8 x 8 Paper, “Limited Release from the Vault - Wallflower”

Tim Holtz / Ranger Distress Crayons – Picked Raspberry, Spun Sugar

Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Paper Dolls

Q-Tips (for adding color to the paper dolls)

Paper Sanding Block

Scrapbook.com 1” Foam Adhesive Roll, 1mm

Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

I started the card by die cutting the Spellbinders Brushed Black cardstock and a piece of the metallic pink Kraft-Stock from Tim Holtz / Idea-ology using the Spellbinders “Precision Layering A2 A” dies – the black was cut using the largest die in the set and the pink metallic was cut using the second to largest die.  I then embossed the metallic pink Kraft-Stock panel using the Spellbinders “Tiled Hearts” embossing folder.  After embossing the metallic pink panel, I used a fine grit paper sanding block and scuffed up the edges of the panel and lightly sanded the surface of the panel to dull the finish and allow the paper’s core to be revealed… essentially, I distressed the panel a bit.  The last panel was diecut using the same Spellbinders A2 layering dies, but this time I used the third largest die and diecut a piece of the Tim Holtz / Idea-ology “Limited Release from the Vault – Wallflower” papers that I felt matched my theme the best.

Now for my focal point.  From the Tim Holtz / Idea-ology Paper Dolls pack, I selected a couple who appeared to be from a wedding photo and began to selectively colorize some of the paper doll’s features using my Tim Holtz / Ranger Distress Crayons.  I colored the bride’s flowers and groom’s boutonniere and pocket square using Picked Raspberry and used Spun Sugar for both of their cheeks.  Lastly, I added strips of 1mm foam tape to the back side of the bridal couple.

I added 1mm foam tape to the reverse side of my pink embossed panel and adhered it to the center of the brushed black cardstock panel.  I also added the same foam adhesive to the back side of the patterned paper and adhered it to the metallic pink panel.

For my sentiment and embellishments, I chose to use the Spellbinders “Sneaking a Kiss” die set from their December 2023 release and diecut the “love you” and string of hearts dies from the same metallic pink cardstock as the embossed panel.

I glued the love, you, and heart loop die cuts to the card front using my married couple as a guide on placement.  Then I used the negatives from the string of heart die cuts – which left me with three little pink hearts – to utilize as my only embellishments for the card front which I glued in place after adhering the lovely married couple onto the card.  And that’s a wrap!

I hope you enjoyed this quirky little anniversary card that was so much fun to make and possibly found inspiration for some of your own card making projects.   

Until next time… happy making!

Happy Birthday Bellany! | Birthday 2025

It's soon-to-be our baby girl Bella's 7th birthday and to help show her how much we love her and how much she means to us, I created a cute mermaid themed card. I'll be using two main products - the mermaid stamp from Trinity Stamps and the birthday coverplate from Simon Says Stamp. Let's get started!

I started the card project by stamping out the mermaid character from the Trinity Stamps "Mermazing" stamp set onto Copic Xpress-It white cardstock using Lawn Fawn's Jet Black ink pad. I allowed the ink to fully dry before coloring since I chose to add color using Copic markers. For coloring the mermaid, these are the marker colors I chose:

Skin: E04, E11, E33

Tail, Shell in Hair, Swim Top: BG49, BG57, BG23

Hair: E29, E37, E33

After the mermaid was colored, I added shimmer to the turquoise parts with the Nuvo Aqua Shimmer Glitter Gloss pen, white highlights using a Sakura white 08 Gelly Roll pen, and colored her eyes using a Sakura Black Glaze pen. You can choose to omit these steps if you wanted to, but I thought it added a little livliness to the mermaid. Once the shimmer and white highlights were dry, I fussy cut the image, then used a black marker to color the cut edges of the mermaid.

Next, I cut a piece of Tonic Mermaid Shimmer Ombre Glitter Cardstock to measure 4-1/4" x 5-1/2" which will serve as the background for my card front. I also cut a piece of white cardstock to measure 4-1/2" x 5-3/4" and ink blended three Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks from one end of the panel to the next using these colors: Peacock Feathers, Crackling Campfire, and Antique Linen. It will be okay that the Crackling Campfire and Peacock Feathers won't necessarily want to blend together - it won't be noticeable in the end. After I ink blended the panel, I allowed the ink to dry back about 50% of the way and took my Antique Linen Oxide ink pad and smeared ink onto my glass mat (to avoid color contamination) and blended the Antique Linen lightly across the entire surface of the panel with my foam blender. This step will help tone down the Crackling Campfire and Peacock Feathers to help it to be more cohesive with the Tonic Mermaid Shimmer Ombre Glitter Cardstock background panel. Once the ink blended panel completely dried, I used the Simon Says Stamp "Happy" cover die and die cut the ink blended panel ensuring the "Y" in Happy was on the same end as the Peacock Feathers inked end of the cardstock panel.

Before beginning the next step, I lined my Tim Holtz Splat Box with a sheet of non-stick parchment paper. Then I discarded the negative pieces of the die cut panel and placed all the outline pieces (including the little inner outline pieces from the A and Ps) onto the parchment paper in the Splat Box. I want these outline pieces to have an element of shine to them, so I thoroughly misted all the outlines with Ranger's Distress Resist Spray, carefully removed them from the Splat Box and placed them onto a clean piece of parchment paper and set them aside to dry.

While the cover die outline was drying, I decided to use a Sakura 10 white Gelly Roll pen and add white highlights here and there on the actual letters that spelled out HAPPY that will be placed back onto the outline of the cover die - again, you can skip this step if you want to.

I die cut a second Happy cover die panel from Brutus Monroe's white "Not Your Mama's 130lb Cardstock" to add some dimension to the ink blended/Resist Spray coated outline and I also stamped the BIRTHDAY! sentiment from the same Simon Says Stamp "Happy" stamp set that coordinates with the cover die onto a scrap piece of the Brutus Monroe"Not Your Mama's 130lb Cardstock" using Gina K Designs "Blue Lagoon" ink and simply trimmed it to size using a paper trimmer.

I added glue to the reverse side of the ink blended cover die panel and adhered it to the 130lb cardstock version and adhered those to the glitter cardstock panel. After that, I glued all the individual letters and the centers of the A and Ps onto the card front in their appropriate locations and placed my Misti on top so that everything would adhere nicely.

I strategically placed thin foam squares to the back of the little mermaid and the birthday sentiment and placed them into the lower right corner of the card front. Lastly, I glued a scattering of five Simon Says Stamp "Opal Gems" around the mermaid and sentiment and adhered the completed card front onto a side folding A2, Concord & 9th "Oceanside" card base.

This was a quick and fun card to make, I hope it'll inspire you to create some mermaid fun for the little one in your life. Thank you for stopping by and happy making!

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!