Love

Thanks to a recent tutorial from Jennifer McGuire featuring cards made from vellum, I decided to give it a try . . .

Vellum is too floppy to stand up on its own, but with the addition of regular cardstock pieces glued to the inside front, inside back, and outside back, it stands up beautifully, and is just as sturdy as regular cardstock.  Check out her blog for her excellent video on “Creative Uses of Vellum”.

I’m also excited about figuring out how to make word die cuts stand out against busy backgrounds when no shadow dies are included.  Basically, it’s just using the familiar technique of cutting the word die in a contrasting color and gluing it offset on the back of the original word.  But my idea is to make two die cuts in the contrasting color and gluing one of them offset on each side of the original word!

 

Yes, two layers are involved and you might think this differentiation would be visible and look clunky.  But it doesn’t – even a close-up look with my magnifying glass doesn’t reveal anything amiss.  I don’t think even a skilled stamper who received a card having this trick would be able to see how it was done.  Experiment with various colors and cardstock thicknesses to see if this would work for you!

 

Cardstock:   Glama #40 Vellum, Scraps Green, Strathmore 

#140 Watercolor

Inks:             Tsukineko Dauber Duos Pale Blue, Raspberry, Canary,

 Royal Blue

Dies:            AlteNew ZeroWaste Leaf Pattern, Memory Box butterflies:

Corden, Powell, Spellbinders Wonderful Wings,

 Papertrey Ink Super Succulents Set: Love   

Doo Dads:    Class Appeals Stickers Silver, Wink of Stella Clear     

Love

Jennifer McGuire came out with an idea for a super-dimensional card that collapses into an A2 size and fits easily into the envelope.  I had to try it out . . .

 

 

It works – and beautifully!  The die set is well designed with plenty of pieces to expand your creativity.  The single stencil contains all of the openings needed to decorate the entire two piece frame.  Best of all, they are laid out to match the die cut exactly, which makes placement for coloring easy. 

 

I am so looking forward to exploring all of the creative opportunities this die and stencil set has to offer!

 

Cardstock:   Strathmore #140 Watercolor, Tim Holtz Silver Sparkle

Inks:             Distress Oxide Pine Needles, Faded Jeans, Dusty

Concord, Bundled Sage, Stormy Sky, Peeled Paint

Dies:            Waffle Flower Poinsettia Frame, Hummingbirds,

 Memory Box Pinpoint Leaf Plate, TEMU Rectangle

 Dotted Effect, DieNamics Stitched Oval Scalloped

 Edge Frame, Darice Nesting Scallop Hearts, 

TKOnline Celebration Set: Love

Stencil:        Waffle Flower Poinsettia Frame

Doo Dads:    TEMU Wobble Springs     

Cheers

While I’m a freak for mushroom images, it appears I haven’t used them in awhile.  So it’s time to put a few of them to work . . .

 

The background was done with a really fun layered stencil set while the three mushrooms in front are die cuts.  In order to prevail over the busy background, I attached the die cuts over a popped up and framed piece of vellum.  It softened

things just enough to give each element its day to shine . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Cinnamon Stick, Strathmore #100 Bristol

 Smooth, Stampin’ Up Vellum

Stamps:       Stacey Stamps Distressed Frame, Art Tour Dotty Snow

Inks:             Distress Antique Linen, Brushed Corduroy, Wild Honey,

 Frayed Burlap, Peeled Paint, Gina K Charcoal Brown

Dies:            TEMU Wood Grain Frame, Simon Says Cheers,

 Bunny Moon Cute Mushrooms            

Stencil:        Recollections Mushrooms

Autumn Greetings

This was my maiden voyage with a new stamp/stencil/die bundle and I had a wonderful time from start to finish!  But after I thought I was done, I realized I wasn’t . . .

 

The problem in this case was a background that was way too starkly white.  I needed to tone it down but I’d already stamped, embossed, and stenciled the leafy layout.  Coloring in between the leaves would have taken forever and brush strokes would have looked bad. Happily, I thought of a solution I’d never tried before. 

 

Thankfully, one of the stencils in this set features all of the leaves laid out exactly as they are arranged on the stamp.  So I turned the stencil over and brayered a light brown ink on the back.  Then I turned it back, aligned it with the leaf images, and pressed down to transfer the ink.  I did a repeat and got exactly the look I was after:  dotted, slightly splotchy, all of it neatly between the leaves, and an artsy mottled background with a lot less glare.  A very handy and time-saving workaround for sure . . . yay for me!

 

Cardstock:   Bazzill Rain Forest, Strathmore #100 Bristol Smooth

Stamps:       Kristina Werner Thankful Leaves

Inks:             Encore Gold, Distress Oxide Antique Linen, Spiced

Marmalade, Peeled Paint, Rusty Hinge, Wild Honey,

Fired Brick, Pine Needles, Dusty Concord,

Villainous Potion

Emb Pwdr:   Ranger Gold

Dies:            Kristina Werner Thankful Leaves           

Stencil:        Kristina Werner Thankful Leaves

Thank You

Due to the ever-lurking time crunch, I pulled this one from my stash . . .

 

I still like it, even though I would do things a little differently today.  And isn’t that how it should be?

 

Cardstock:   Unknown Cocoa, Handmade paper        

Stamps:       All Night Media Fern

Inks:             Vivid Taupe, Green, Aqua, Distress Mowed Lawn,

Peeled Paint

Dies:            Bottone Stitched Ovals, Spellbinders Four Petal Thank

You Floral, Unknown Leafy Sprig

Doo Dads:    Green fibers, Copper Dragonfly charm   

Yum Yum

BLUE RIBBON #9

This year’s recipe card submission was done in a gatefold style which made it very easy to display . . .

Keep scrolling for the recipe . . .

As the recipe inside is for Carrot Mashed Potatoes, I figured some die cut carrots on the front panels should lead the way.

I think the speckled dots are a little overdone, but I didn’t think about adding them until after the card was put together.  So the control of my speckled stamp was a little limited.  I should have thought to add them first . . .

And that’s it for the 2025 NJ State Fair fun . . . now we start planning for next year’s event!

Cardstock:   Bazzill Pear, Cutie, Rain Forest, Strathmore #100

Bristol Smooth        

Stamps:       Stampin’ Up Itty Bitty Backgrounds

Inks:             Superior India Ink Black, Distress Wild Honey

Dies:            Studio Calico Nested Rectangles, TEMU Carrots, 

DieVersions font Noodles            

Stencil:        a Studio Calico Nested Rectangles

Life

BLUE RIBBON #8

The spoked wheel was a mysterious resident in my scrap box and I had no idea how to use it . . .

 

But I had some fun with alcohol inks on Yupo paper one day and the two pieces seemed made for each other.  As with the Art category, the “Other” category invites a departure from the norm.  So that’s what I did.  The butterfly charm started out in brass, but some copper embossing powder led to a quick metamorphosis . . . which is what butterflies do anyway, right?

Cardstock:   Bazzill Cheddar, Raven, Yupo     

Stamps:       Judikins Origami Background

Inks:             Encore Copper, various alcohol inks

Emb Pwdr:   B’Muse True Gold, True Copper

Dies:            DieNamics Horizontal Stitched Strips, Unknown 

Spoked  Wheel, Memory Box Brilliant Circle Border Outline, InLoveArtShop “Life”            

Doo Dads:    Copper Butterfly