Autumn Wishes | Stampers Anonymous & Spellbinders

Hi crafty friends!  Today I am sharing a colorful Thanksgiving card that I made using the inky background technique and Thankful Silhouettes stamps from Stampers Anonymous and Tim Holtz, as well as a pumpkin stamp set released in 2024 from Spellbinders.  The large wordy stamp in Thankful Silhouettes is everything a crafter needs for a great Thanksgiving background created – especially since I made two cards utilizing the same background technique this week. 

The supplies used:

Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz – Thankful Silhouettes Stamp Set

     Spellbinders – Windy Fall Leaves Press Plates and Die Set

     Spellbinders – Autumn Wishes Stamp and Die Set

     Spellbinders – Precision Layering A2 A Die Set

     Scrapbook.com – Heavy Weight Mixed Media Paper Pad (White)

     Spellbinders – Timber Color Essentials Cardstock

     Copic Alcohol Markers – E33, E37, E29, YG93, YG95, YG97, YG93,

          BG93, BG96, BG99, E13, E15, E39, R37, R39, RV99, E97, E08,

          E19, E40, E41, E42, E43, R22, R05, R08, R37, YG23, YG03,

          YG95, YG97, YR21, Y15, Y13

     Lawn Fawn – Jet Black Premium Ink Pad

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Archival Ink, Ground Espresso

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Spray Stain – Crackling Campfire,

          Vintage Photo, Squeezed Lemonade, Bundled Sage

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Spritz – Crackling Campfire, Squeezed Lemonade

     Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz – Grime “THS130” Layering Stencil

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Opaque Texture Paste

     Ranger/Tim Holtz – Distress Palette Knife

Ranger - Glossy Accents

     Simon Says Stamp – Big Momma Foam Tape

     Ranger Heat It Craft Tool

     Anna Griffin Empress Die Cutting Machine

     Spellbinders BetterPress Letterpress System

Creating the Card Front Background

I cut a piece of white, Heavy Weight Mixed Media Paper from Scrapbook.com to measure 5-1/2” x 6” and used blue painter’s tape to adhere it to a hardboard.  Since I will be using Distress Spray Stain on the panel, I placed the large wordy stamp from Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz called “Thankful Silhouettes” onto an acrylic block and stamped the image using Ranger/Distress Ground Espresso Archival Ink. 

Once the stamping was completed, I used the Stampers Anonymous/Tim Holtz “Grime/THS130” stencil and Ranger/Tim Holtz Distress Opaque Texture Paste and partially pasted portions of the background panel in three locations on each background to add interest.  I cleaned up my stencil and palette knife and set the two backgrounds aside to allow the paste to fully dry.

Once the texture paste was dry, I began spritzing Ranger Distress Spray Stains in the colors Crackling Campfire, Bundled Sage, Squeezed Lemonade, and Vintage Photo.  I alternated between these four colors and small amounts of water until I got the look I was trying to achieve.  I dried the panel with my Ranger Heat It Craft Tool and, once relatively dry, I sprayed a bit of Distress Spritz in the Crackling Campfire and Squeezed Lemonade colors to give the background a bit of shimmer.  When everything was completely dry, I removed the inky panel from the hardboard and die cut it using the third largest die from the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 A die set.  I also die cut a piece of Spellbinders Timber cardstock using the largest die from the Precision Layering A2 A die set for a matting layer.  I adhered the Timber cardstock to the front of a white A2 size card base and added Simon Says Stamp Big Momma Foam Tape to the inky panel and adhered it onto the matting layer.

Creating the Focal Point

For the focal point, I used Spellbinders’ Clear Stamp and Die of the Month from September 2024 called “Autumn Wishes” and I stamped it onto white cardstock using Lawn Fawn Jet Black ink.  I decided to color the image using Copic alcohol markers and these are my color combinations:

     Pumpkins Stems:  E33, E37, E29

     Green Leaves 1:  YG93, YG95, YG97

     Green Leaves 2:  YG93, BG93, BG96, BG99

     Orange/Brown Leaves:  E13, E15, E39, E29

     Pods:  R37, R39, RV99

     Orange Pumpkin:  E97, E08, E19

     Warm Grey Pumpkin:  E40, E41, E42, E43

     Apple:  R22, R05, R08, R37 and YG23, YG03, YG95

     Apple Leaves:  YG97, BG96

     Gingko:  YR21, Y15, Y13

Building the Sentiment

Utilizing the Spellbinders “Autumn Wishes” stamp/die set, I selected the Autumn Wishes sentiment.  I stamped the sentiment onto a piece of white cardstock using Lawn Fawn’s Jet Black ink and die cut it out using the coordinating die that came with the set.  I also die cut a plain white cardstock two more times to stack behind the sentiment for dimension.  I glued all the sentiment layers together and set them aside to dry.

Finishing the Design

To complete the card, I added glue to the back side of my focal point image and adhered it and the sentiment onto the card front background.  There are three little circles that the illustrator drew on the apple in the Copic colored image that I decided to add Ranger Glossy Accents to for a dewy appearance.  Lastly, I added a few Pinkfresh Studio Metallic Matte Gold embellishments and adhered the card front to an A2 size card base.  With that friends… we’ve wrapped up today’s card.

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

Halloween 2024 | Skully

Hi friends!  I love this time of year when I can begin making for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas without feeling like I’m getting too early of a start.  This is my first Halloween project for 2024 and I was inspired by the Spellbinder’s “Skully” Betterpress plates and the nostalgic feel it gives me.  Inspiration is everywhere!  I created my first YouTube video for my channel during the making of this card which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@VeehattInspired .  The card is an easy one to make and I thought it was best to go easy on myself for the first video.

The supplies used were:

  Spellbinders “Skully” Betterpress press plates

  Spellbinders “Make a Wish Arch Labels” die set

  Spellbinders Bisque Cotton Card Panel for Betterpress

  Spellbinders Betterpress Black Ink

  Mijello Mission Gold Watercolors W532, W518, and W553

  Lime Satin Shine cardstock from Your Paper Insider (Box 2)

  Chiyogami Multi 731C pattern paper from Your Paper Insider (Box 3)

  Spellbinders Betterpress Letterpress System

  Simon Says Stamp “Spooky Salutations” Sentiment Strips

  Ranger / Tim Holtz Distress Ink – Dusty Concord

  Pinkfresh Glittering Mountains Ombre Glitter Drops

  Glue and other adhesives from my stash

I started the project by cutting the 8-1/2” x 11” piece of Lime Satin Shine Cardstock in half to create an A2 top folding card base.

I taped a piece of Bisque cotton card to a small waterboard using a light tack painters tape to help hold the cotton card flat while I apply some watercolor paints.  Using Mijello Mission Gold watercolors (exact numbers listed above), I painted the top third of the cotton panel with the green then used my Ranger Heat It tool to speed dry the paint, the middle section was painted with the orange paint – heat dried it, then lastly painted the bottom third with the purple paint and heat set it.

Using the Spellbinders Betterpress Letterpress System, I attached the watercolored panel to the platen, positioned the Skully press plate to the chase, and inked it up with Betterpress Black ink and ran it through my Spellbinders Platinum 6 die cutting machine.

Next, I die cut the Chiyogami Multi pattern paper and watercolored/Betterpress panel using the Spellbinders “Make a Wish Arch Labels”.  I cut the pattern paper using the second largest die and the watercolor panel using the third largest die from the set.

I used Scrapbook.com double sided adhesive to adhere the pattern paper to the card base then popped up the watercolor panel using Simon Says Stamps’ Big Momma Foam Tape for a little dimension and to help flatten the watercolor cotton panel.

For the sentiment, I selected a cute one from Simon Says Stamp’s “Spooky Salutations” sentiment strips and edged it with a sponge dauber and Tim Holtz/Ranger’s Distress Ink in the color Dusty Concord.

I added a few Pinkfresh Studio Ombre Glitter Drops in the color Glittering Mountains here and there across the card front for a bit of sparkle and adhered them with Tim Holtz/Ranger’s Distress Collage Medium Matte.

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

June 2024 | Make a Wish

Birthday cards are so much fun to make. You can make them without a recipient in mind and still have an amazing useable card... or you can cater the card specifically toward your favorite nephew - lol.

I started this card with a piece of Paul Rubens hot press watercolor paper taped to a hardboard to help prevent warping, Sarah Renae Clark's Color Cube card #203 and Simon Says Stamp's Pawsitively Saturated Inks in the colors Zest, Sweets, and Sangria. I used a #16 round watercolor brush to thoroughly saturate my watercolor paper and, using that same brush, added the three ink colors to the paper by adding them in large water-laden inky drops to the top of the watercolor cardstock while I held the hardboard vertically so that the inks would literrally run down the cardstock in a freeform, striped fashion. Once I was satisfied with the amount of color I added, I used the Tim Holtz/Ranger Heat Tool to dry the cardstock then I removed it from the hardboard.

Next, I pulled out the Spellbinders BetterPress system and Pinkfresh Studio's "Make a Wish" press plate. I inked up the press plate with Spellbinder's Betterpress Black ink and taped my watercolor panel to the BetterPress's clear plate then ran the system through my Spellbinder's Platinum 6 die cutting machine.

For the matting layers, I used Your Paper Insider cardstocks in the colors Favini Black Gloss, Canary Yellow, and Dark Red from their subscription packs. I used alternating dies from two Spellbinders die sets to cut the matting layers - Precision Layering A2 A and Precision Layering A2 B (these two die sets are AMAZING and must haves in my creative stash). I glued the matting layers to the watercolored panel and set it aside while I created the other elements for the card front.

I selected the Gerda Steiner Designs stamp set called "Birthday Bear" for the bear's arm holding a balloon. I stamped the image onto white cardstock using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black Ink and colored it with Copic markers: arm - C9, C6, C4 and balloon - YR16, Y17, Y02. After that, I used my Brother Scan N Cut to cut out the image. I placed foam adhesive squares to the back and adhered it to my card front.

I used the Heffy Doodle "Happy Birthday - Shadow" die set for my sentiment. I cut the words three times and the shadow once from Your Paper Insider's Pale Pink Shimmer Vellum (shadow) and a black sort of rubbery cardstock (words). I used Distress Collage Medium in a fine point bottle and adhered all the sentiment layers together and then adhered it to the shadow and card front.

My final touches were adding Ranger Glossy Accents to the balloon in the bear's hand and staggered a few Pinkfresh Twilight Ombre Glitter Drops across the card front.

Thank you so much for stopping by... I hope you enjoyed the card :)