Christmas 2023 | ‘Tis the Season

Hi there!

Today I’m sharing the steps I used to create this adorable card with the Stamping Bella stamp labeled “Tiny Townie Garden Girl Holly”.

• Stamp the Holly image onto a piece of white cardstock using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink.

• Color the image with Caran d’Ache, Luminance colored pencils and added Nuvo Glitter Gloss to the holly leaves and Ranger’s Glossy Accents to the berries.

• Watercolor a 9” x 4” piece of watercolor cardstock using Masha’s Watercolors (Peach and Shadow Green Dark) – Masha has a shop on Etsy if you are interested in the exact same paints I used. Splatter the panel using Kuretake Brilliant Gold Mica Ink.

• Cut the watercolor panel and a piece of black cardstock using Whimsy Stamps “Slimline Cornered Rectangle” dies.

• Add Simon Says Stamp’s Big Momma Foam Tape strips to adhere the watercolor panel to the black panel.

• Emboss the watercolored panel with the sentiment from Ranger’s “Letter It – Christmas” stamp set using Simon Says Stamp’s Ultra Fine embossing powder in black and heat set.

• Adhere the Holly image to the watercolor card panel using Simon Says Stamp 3D Foam Squares and all the card front panels to a slimline card base that was created using the same Whimsy Stamps “Slimline Cornered Rectangle” die set.

• Add embellishment gemstones cascading down front of card front.

Until next time… Happy Making!

Thanksgiving 2023 | Turkey Day!

For my first Thanksgiving project of 2023, I’m using an adorable stamp set from Sunny Studio called “Turkey Day”. I love every stamp in this set, and I’ll show you what I created.

This card started with cutting a beautiful piece of patterned paper I selected from the Honey Bee Stamps “Halloween Harvest” paper pad to measure 4” x 5-1/4” and a black piece of cardstock to measure 4-1/4” x 5-1/2”.

I stamped the images I planned to use from the Turkey Day stamp set onto a piece of white cardstock using Simon Says Stamp’s Intense Black Ink. I colored all the images using Faber-Castell Polychromos colored pencils and cut them out using my Brother Scan N Cut machine. After that, I cut out two fence panels from brown cardstock using La La Land Crafts’ “Picket Fence” die and then blended Altenew Mangrove Root Crisp Dye Ink to the tops of the pickets to add a bit of depth to them.

Next, I used Lawn Fawn’s “Grassy Border” die to cut a strip of green cardstock to use as my grass. I blended Altenew’s Forest Glade and Green Opal Crisp Dye Inks onto the grass to make it look a tad more realistic.

I glued the picket fence to the card front and glued the grass along the bottom on top of the picket fence. To add the sky elements, I mixed a small amount of Ranger’s Opaque Matte Texture Paste with a dab of the Tim Holtz/Ranger Distress Snowfall Grit Paste. I positioned the Lawn Fawn “Nighttime Sky” stencil on the patterned paper and used a palette knife to distribute the paste mixture across two of the clouds for my card’s sky and carefully removed the stencil and cleaned it and the palette knife so nothing would dry on them.

Using Simon Says Stamp 3D Foam Squares, I adhered the colored turkeys and pumpkin to the card front. For the sentiment strip, I used a scrap of white cardstock from my stash and colored a space large enough for my sentiment strip with Copic alcohol markers (YR02 and E13) so it would complement the card front. I let the alcohol ink dry then stamped the “Happy Thanksgiving” sentiment onto the panel and used the largest die from Memory Box’s “Banner Sentiment Trio” die set to cut it out.

I adhered the decorated card front to the previously cut piece of black cardstock and adhered that to a top folding, landscape oriented, A2 card base. Lastly, I glued a scattering of sequins from This Calls for Confetti called “The Autumn Leaves”.

Until next time… Happy Making!

Halloween 2023 | Fang-tastic Halloween

I came across the cutest Sweet November Stamps Halloween stamp set while browsing the Simon Says Stamp website during Stamptember this year and I’m thrilled to share the card I’ve made using it with you.

I selected a 4” x 5-1/4” piece of My Favorite Things “Boysenberry” cardstock and used Tim Holtz/Ranger’s Villainous Potion Distress Ink to darken the edges. Next, I misted the non-inked side with water using my Distress Sprayer, inserted it into the Simon Says Stamp “Tangled Web” embossing folder and ran it through my Spellbinders die cutting machine. I set it aside to dry and moved on to the next step.

I used VersaMark embossing ink and stamped two of spider stamps from the Sweet November Stamps “Spider Salutations” stamp set onto a white piece of scrap cardstock, applied Simon Says Stamp Ultra Fine Black Embossing Powder to the images and heat set them with the embossing tool. I used a YG01 Copic marker to color the eyes and cut the images out using my Brother Scan N Cut machine. Using Altenew’s Ultraviolet Crisp Dye Ink, I brushed ink over the white areas of the spiders (being careful not to get any on the eyes) and applied “Night Sky” Nuvo Glitter Drops over each of the spider’s bodies to make them sparkly.

Now back to the purple panel – I used a Hero Arts Unicorn pigment ink pad and lightly pulled it across the raised/embossed web lines that were created by the embossing folder to give them some dimension. Next, I glued the purple panel to the center of an A2-size card front. For the frame, I used a piece of Distress Black Two-Tone Woodgrain cardstock and used the largest die from Rubbernecker Stamps’ “Nested Scallop with Holes” die set. I applied strips of black foam tape to the edges of the frame and applied it to the center of the card front.

For the sentiment, I used Simon Says Stamp’s “Spooky Salutations” Sentiment Strips, cut out the one I liked and colored the sentiment strip with the YG01 Copic marker so that it matched my spider’s eyes. I applied black 3D Foam Squares to the back sides of my spiders and sentiment strip, as well as added a piece of DMC black metallic floss to the upper spider and adhered everything to the card front. My final touch was adding some Trinity Stamps “Cave Crystals” sequins across the card and that wrapped it up.

I hope you enjoyed this spidery Halloween card - I appreciate you stopping by! Until next time… Happy Making!