New Home

My stepson has just bought his first house, so heartfelt congratulations are definitely in order . . .

I use this adorable little house on nearly every housewarming card I sent out.  I think it perfectly captures the delightfully cozy feeling every new homeowner hopes to achieve.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Bon Bon, Capri, Strathmore #100 Bristol Smooth         

Stamps:       Stampin’ Up House

Inks:             ColorBox Frost White, Black, Gina K Whisper

Colorants:    Inktense Hooker’s Green, Burnt Orange, Saddle Brown

Waterclrs:    Zig Real Brush Light Blue, Mustard

Emb Pwdr:   Judikins Detail Black, Hero White

Dies:            Impression Obsession All-in-One Frames: Squares, 

Karen Burniston Border Blends: Party    

BOO!

I took one look at this pair of crow dies and knew immediately that I would have them standing guard on a gatefold card . . .

 . . . both stately and spooky and lots of fun to put together!  Most gatefold cards stand up on their own, but the crows have so much cardstock removed that they were a little on the wobbly side.  So I attached another black card base to the back of the gatefold card. Perfect solution . . .

 

Cardstock:   Bazzill Raven, Designer paper Purple Harlequin

Dies:            TEMU Halloween Crow, QuicKutz Bats            

Love

Here’s another collapsible bridge card in a different color scheme . . .

 

Both of the flowers in the middle are attached to wobble springs and these collapse nicely for mailing.  

Cardstock:   Strathmore #140 Watercolor        

Inks:             Distress Oxide Villainous Potion, Bundled Sage,

 Peeled Paint, Abandoned Coral, Carved Pumpkin

Dies:            Waffle Flower Poinsettia Frame, Memory Box Pinpoint

Leaf Plate, TEMU Rectangle Dotted Effect, DieNamics 

Stitched Oval Scalloped Edge Frame,  TKOnline 

Celebration Set: Love, Punch Bunch Flower Centers

Stencil:        Waffle Flower Poinsettia Frame

Doo Dads:    TEMU  Wobble Springs, Gelly Roll Clear Star   

Smile

Another fun idea with vellum that I borrowed from Jennifer McGuire . . .

 

 . . . after brayering the mesh background on the vellum panel, I heat embossed the white flower.  Then I turned the vellum over and colored from the back!  That kept the front looking neat and tidy.  When coloring vellum from the back, you need to use darker inks than you would normally because the vellum tones down the color quite a bit.  Experiment with a vellum scrap to make sure you’re getting the depth of color you want.

 

Liquid glues make vellum pucker so I always use double-sided tape.  Here’s a fun thing I discovered:  it’s virtually impossible to find a tape or glue that doesn’t show through vellum, but I found that if I cover the entire background with 4” wide double-sided tape, it doesn’t show through at all!

 

Cardstock:   Bazzill Admiral, Glama #40 Heavy Vellum        

Stamps:       Fiskars brayer Mesh, Impress Cherry Blossom Branch

Inks:             Distress Lost Shadow, ColorBox Frost White

Colorants:    Zig Clean Color: Peacock Blue, Deep Green

Emb Pwdr:   Hero White

Dies:            TEMU Stitched Rectangular Frame, AlteNew Vertical

Greetings: Smile     

Doo Dads:    Waffle Flower Enamel Dots White

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     

Get Well Soon

BLUE RIBBON #7

Green is a peaceful color and I thought it would be just right for the Get Well theme . . .

The wide, stitched frame helps balance the small size of the water colored background, plus the large scripted sentiment ties all of the proportions together.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Rain Forest, Lima, Strathmore #100 Bristol

Smooth        

Inks:             Distress Peeled Paint, Black Soot

Colorants:    Stamp Zia Olive Spray

Dies:            Papertrey Ink Pierced Feature Frames, Paper

Smooches Get Well Phrase, Tattered Lace “Soon”             

Doo Dads:    Waffle Flower Enamel Dots White

SOAR

BLUE RIBBON #6

The Art category is a signal to go wild, and I certainly did with this year’s layout . . .

I painted a  twig silver and sewed it with silver thread to a bubbled Tyvek background made from an old mailing pouch.  One side got painted with three colors of Lumiere pearled paint and was then blasted with my heat gun.  The splotchy, bubbled result was just right for this year’s artsy category . . .

Cardstock:   Neenah Emperor, Tyvek Mailing Pouch  

Inks:             Lumiere Pearl Turquoise, Pearl Violet, Pearl White

Dies:            Scrapbook.com Slim Nested Rounded Rectangles, 

InLoveArtShop English Letters               

Doo Dads:    Silver painted twig  

Sweet Beginnings

BLUE RIBBON #5

I love using a mattress ticking image for wallpaper – it gives a timeless classic look that goes with almost any design. . .

I decided that this year’s baby card submission would be for a girl – next year I’ll do one for a boy . . .

Cardstock:   Strathmore #100 Bristol Smooth  

Stamps:       Hero Large Canvas Stripes, Designer Woodgrain, 

Cloud 9 Stamp Baby: “. . . Sweet Beginnings”

Inks:             Distress Victorian Velvet, Brushed Corduroy, Gina K 

Charcoal Brown, Pilot Marker Silver

Dies:            Qianziqianse Baby Carriage Stroller, DieNamics 

Stitched Mini Scalloped Rectangle, Glitz Cartoon

Clothes Hanger (just the rattle)            

Journey, Memories, Love

BLUE RIBBON #4

I’m a sucker for leaves and love to use them on any card theme I can . . .

This design combines a die cut leaf and a stamped one.  I like the contrast . . .

Cardstock:   Bazzill Raven, White, Strathmore #140 Watercolor 

Stamps:       Judikins Four Leaves, Making Memories Magnetic

Stamps: “Journey, Memories, Love”

Inks:             ColorBox Black

Emb Pwdr:   Judikins Detail Black

Dies:            Spellbinders Long Classic Scalloped Rectangles Large,

Classic Scalloped Rectangles Short, Maya Road 

Geometric Leaf               

Doo Dads:    White Blossom Jewel Stickers Black      

Love

BLUE RIBBON #3

This one was outside my wheelhouse but I’m quite happy with the results . . .

The thatched background had been residing in my scrap box for a long time – all it needed was a little purple glitter and some love . . .

 Cardstock:   Orion Silver  

Stamps:       KaiserCraft Marble

Inks:             Encore Silver

Emb Pwdr:   Stampa Mania Silver Dollar

Dies:            Stampin’ Up Lattice Rectangles, Papertrey Ink Mega

Gracious Vases, Penny Black Bamboo Foliage, Avery

Elle Peace, Love, Joy set: “Love”        

Stencil:        Tim Holtz Thatched

Doo Dads:    Faber Castell Texture Luxe Embossing Paste Silver   

Noel

BLUE RIBBON #2

I found these colorful scraps and decided to use them for a Christmas themed card, even though the color scheme isn’t exactly traditional . . .

 

Keep scrolling for a look inside the little folder . . .

Cardstock:   Strathmore #140 Watercolor, Wausau #100 Haute Red, 

Scraps Burgundy, Orange 

Stamps:       Tim Holtz Mini Handwritten Holidays: “Noel”

Inks:             Distress Aged Mahogany, Gelly Roll Clear Star

Colorants:    Gelatos Blood Orange

Emb Pwdr:   Vippies Transcendence

Dies:            Memory Box Poinsettia Ribbon, Spellbinders Layered

Poinsettia, La La Land Pretty Poinsettia (flower center), 

Arich Rounded Corners Stitched Rectangles, Lil Inker 

Stitched Mats Rectangles, Marianne Holly Branches, 

Ellentina Nesting Tag #4     

Stencil:        Tim Holtz Mini Leafy

Doo Dads:    Golden Light Molding Paste         

Happy Birthday

 BLUE RIBBON #1, plus a Show Special Ribbon!

Our annual North NJ State Fair has come and gone and now I get to share with you my submissions and how I did in the ribbon department!  I went for some rather unusual and non-traditional looks and wondered what the judges would think.  Evidently, they liked the break in style – I submitted nine entries, was gifted with nine blue ribbons and was even graced with a Show Special (best in its category) which means they awarded me a gigantic pink ribbon.  HUZZAH!

Most of my nine submissions began with a deep dive into my scrap boxes.  I collected two or three pieces I thought would work well together and these laid the groundwork for the final designs.  It was a great way to get focused and saved me a lot of time in trying to think up stuff.  So let’s get started:

This card began with a rather staid design . . .

Hopefully, the addition of the large gold crystal and the red flowers perked things up a bit.

Cardstock:   Bazzill Rain Forest, Cheddar, Handmade paper,

Scraps Red   

Stamps:       Impress Row of Flowers

Inks:             VersaMark

Emb Pwdr:   B’Muse Midsomer Green Metallic

Dies:            TEMU Vertical Words: Happy Birthday, Cheery Lynn 

Tiny Flower Kit       

Doo Dads:    Green ribbon, Yellow crystal

Welcome Home

My baby brother Gordy had a dreadful stroke three months ago.  After countless hours of PT, numerous tests of all kinds, and many steps backwards as well as forwards, he is finally coming home . . .

 

This second pic shows a view of the back where the message goes.  I put mine into a top-folded panel to add a little more interactive fun to the card.

 

I used one of Jennifer McGuire’s Bridge Card ideas for his card.  She has several videos on this super-fun technique and I highly recommend watching them.

 

Gordy lives in Washington, a state saturated with gorgeous evergreen trees, so I put an entire row of them on the card front.  The card stands up so very nicely for display yet it easily collapses to fit inside an A2 envelope.  Bridge cards have scores of design possibilities and I plan to try as many as I can!

 

Cardstock:   Neenah #110 Solar White, Bazzill Rain Forest, Scraps

Green, Black, Marcos Jute

Stamps:       CC Rubber Stamps Fibers

Inks:             Distress Peeled Paint, Mowed Lawn, Tea Dye,

Spun Sugar, Weathered Wood, Zig Clean Color Lemon

Yellow, Haze Blue, Oatmeal, VersaColor Chateau Gray

Waterclrs:    Zig Clean Color Lemon Yellow, Haze Blue,                                                                 Oatmeal, Tombow 055, Inktense Saddle Brown

Dies:            Impression Obsession Town Builder, TEMU Christmas

Trees, Tree Design, DieNamics Stitched Snow Drifts            

Stencil:        Printworks Clouds