Happy Easter Box & Coaster

Happy Easter! I made this box (about 5 inches square) from a Dreaming Tree cut file. It went together easily.

The four flaps on this flat top box open to reveal a marble tile coaster I stamped and sponged with Ranger Distress Archival Inks. I had some black shredded paper from Sephora that I saved and it was perfect as cushioning.

I added a tag with a vinyl sentiment cut from a Suzanne Cannon calligraphy file from the Silhouette Design Store.

Thanks for stopping by today. I hope your Easter was enjoyable.

Can't "Shake" The Purple Kick

Made another purple card since my last post. I was in my local stamp store yesterday (Stampers!) and picked up a magazine to send to my sister for Easter. It included a combination embossing folder and die. I've never seen such a thing before and was intrigued. So much so that I had to open it up and test it out before sending to her. It has a matching butterfly die to fit in the aperture and some sentiment stamps as well as some decorative papers.

I decided to make Sis a shaker card with her stuff. :-) I was gifted this gorgeous purple satin metallic cardstock so ran that through my Cuttlebug with the folder. The normal "2 B plates" sandwich was a bit tight so I used the C plate and a few shims instead. The relief is quite pronounced on this folder.

I heat-embossed the butterfly with a sparkly gold embossing powder and edged the sentiment with the same. Here's some more photos to try to convey the embossed cardstock sheen and the glittery goodness.  The card is 5 X 7 inches. Thanks for stopping by!

Administrative Professionals Day

One of the joys of being a crafter is being able to bless my daughter with custom cards for special occasions. As a new manager, she is keenly aware of the importance of thanking those who have been helpful to her in her career. Administrative Professionals Day is the perfect time to acknowledge just such a person. Trouble is, the only thing I was told was this woman is incredibly helpful and likes British royalty and wine. I input "queen" into my Evernote app and found a few stamps in my inventory that, when put together, seemed to fit the bill.

The Quietfire Design Queen of Everything stamp set has a number of lines to go with "Queen of..." and I thought this was best to convey how much this gal is valued.

I have a Stamp-it cube rubber stamp set with four crowns. I liked this crown because I felt I could add some gems to it to glam it up a bit.

A Distress Oxide Ink sponged background was run through my Cuttlebug with Spellbinders Framed Labels One embossing folder, then I sanded the high points with a sanding block. I used a watercolor brush and water to paint rays inside the label. Because Distress Oxide inks react with water, it sort of "bleached" the background to make soft rays.

Inside the card I stamped a coordinating Quietfire Designs stamp (Thanks Cuddlers) that says "Thanks for all you do."

Thank you for visiting today!

Acrylic Block Stamping

This card features a monoprint technique. Basically you smoosh inks all over an acrylic block (normally used to stamp with) and then press cardstock over the inks to lift a print.

I chose to make a sympathy card. The background was created with regular Distress Inks (dye based). I used the same technique on the heart, but used Distress Oxide Inks (pigment), which provided a smoother blend. I like the contrast of the two mediums. The heart was die cut with a My Favorite Things Stitched Heart STAX die.

I stamped the meadow below and again with the heart in place. A stamp positioner makes exact placement possible.

I clear heat embossed the Quietfire Design sentiment after stamping in black Versa Clair ink. Matted on white, then placed on a pale aqua card. Thanks for visiting today!

Vectoria Designs Peter Rabbit

Recently I was in a swap in a Facebook papercrafting group. The challenge was to create a Cute and Cuddly Mini Album or booklet. I recently bought some paper designs from an Etsy shop called Vectoria Designs with a Peter Rabbit theme that seemed perfect. Here's what I sent my partner:

Here's the booklet opened to first page with pocket stuffed with tags and the first page of the well-loved childrens story. I included a pyramid box, also a Vectoria Design PDF.

Here is the book fully opened showing the back, the left panel that folds inside and the front cover at right.

Front Cover with ribbon tied up at fore edge. 

Personalized invitation tag slides up from pocket.

Inside left pocket with assorted tags.

Inside right page with the beginning of that favourite childrens story.

I did a little stamping on the center spread.

Another pocket with some stamped tags.

Some great vintage ephemera from Vectoria Designs.

Back cover. What a handsome fellow!

Seize the Dots and Stripes

Here's my card for the current Seize the Birthday #161 Challenge. My stripes are die cut in the word HOPE, a new purchase from Concord & 9th that came with matching sentiment stamps.

I made the background with Distress Oxide inks on Bristol Smooth paper. I used Peacock Feathers, Dusty Concord and Spun Sugar. Then I splattered with water. The "dots" are black embellishment gems.

Seize the Birthday - Make Us Laugh #160

One of my favourite challenge sites is Seize the Birthday. Any time you want to make a birthday card, you can go check out all the inspiration there, and they always have an Anything Goes theme - with optional "toppings." This time the option is to make a humorous card.

I have a Stampin' Up! stamp set called Birthday Wit that is perfect for this challenge. I bought it for the sentiment I featured on my card front - with a specific recipient in mind. But the set has some other witty sayings that are more generic so this stamp set will be well-used.

This is a monocromatic card. I stamped and embossed the diagonal striped background and the leaves with Rose Gold Embossing Powder by Ranger. I find this colour to be more taupe than rose gold.

Stripes: My Favorite Things; Leaves: Waltzingmouse; Sentiment: SU!

I stamped the sentiment in Ranger's Adirondack Earthtones Mushroom dye ink, which is almost a perfect match to the embossing powder because it is sort of a taupe colour, too. Mounted on navy cardstock. Inside I stamped this:

Thanks for visiting today!