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Monday, January 30, 2012

Frosted Designs Tuesday Card Sketch #11


The fabulously talented Jenny Evans designed another super card sketch for the Tuesday Card Challenge at Frosted Designs.  You have almost two weeks to link up your take on her sketch!
Jenny Evans' Card Sketch
As you can see, I turned the card so that it would open at the top.  This necessitated turning parts of the sketch a bit. The Cranberry colored cardstock is mounted on a black card base.  This allows the negative space of some of the die-cuts to act as debossed areas. The edges of the card front are distressed to bring out the white core of the cardstock.

Silhouette Cameo Used For All Die Cut Shapes
All papers, ink, stamps are from CTMH.  The Silhouette shapes were purchased from the Silhouette store.  They have an amazing selection of designs!  I colored the hat pin with alcohol ink and added beads purchased from Michael's.

2nd Generation Stamping on Inside Card Panel
It is sometimes nice to have a design on the inside of cards, so I stamped a couple of images from the Love Life set.  Also from the set, the "Love" sentiment on the front of the card was stamped using a mask.  The sentiment actually reads: "Live. Laugh. Love." I didn't want the punctuation to show, so I masked before and after the word.


Have a Happy Day!
Beverly

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Notecard Gift Set All Wrapped Up


This pillow box will accommodate six standard cards and envelopes. The cards pictured are the ones that I have been sharing throughout the week. It takes one 12 x 12 sheet of cardstock to create the box.  The contrasting Pear colored strip is about 2 1/2" wide x 12" to form the belly band.  I used the Cricut to cut the box shape, however there are free templates online if you'd like to cut yours free hand.  Here is a link to two different sized pillow boxes: http://rubberstamping.about.com/od/templates/ss/Pillow-Box-Template.htm. I believe you would need to resize them and use a large format printer or cut and paste to make a large enough template for a card set of this size.

Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge Pillow Box
The pillow box is cut at 9 3/4" using the Font Layer key with the Shift Key for Shape11. After the Cricut cut the shape for the box, I random stamped the cardstock with Pear ink using the CTMH flower stamp from the Just For You set.  I also random stamped the Pear belly band.


Here are the cards spilling out of the box.  The center blossom on the belly band was cut from the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge using Flower3.  I sponge inked the top one after stamping it.  Then I stamped part of the sentiment onto the center and used a little bit of Stardust Glitz Glitter Gel (CTMH) to give the flower a little sparkle.


A white bow tops off the gift. I hope my mom will like it. :-)

Thank you for stopping by today!
Beverly

Friday, January 27, 2012

Flexible Stamping - Card 6 of Notecard Set

Random Stamped Background with White Pigment Ink
The last technique for the notecard set that I have been sharing all week is something that I call "Flexible Stamping".  It may have another name, but I am not aware of one.  It is a very simple technique with an acrylic stamp arranged onto the block in a shape that fits the stamper's needs.  Here is a picture of what I am trying to describe:

Click on picture to make it larger

Please leave me a comment if you have any questions about this technique.  I am not sure that the picture was very helpful!

Three Layer Flower: Diecut Base, Fussy Cut Heat Embossed Petals, and Embossed Center
All of the stamping on this card was done with White Pigment ink and Black or Pear Dye ink. The background of the card base was heat set after random stamping.  The petals were heat embossed with white powder on the white ink. Dye ink doesn't need to be heat set.
Curved Stem Created From Border Stamp Gently Manipulated on Block 
Tomorrow, I will post the instructions for making a cute gift box for all of the cards to be presented to the recipient.

Thank you for visiting today!
Beverly

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Fussy and Die Cutting - Card 5 of Notecard Set

Martha Stewart Doily Lace Edge Punch
 Die cuts and punches can bump up simple stamping techniques into extraordinary cards with very little effort. I love how you can take a simple, plain piece of cardstock and punch a pretty design out of it and have something really cool to show for it!  How awesome is that?
I used the edge punch to cut the card base and two strips of card stock (Pear and Black) along one side.  These were layered so that the focal flower could be offset with the sentiment on a black decorative base.

Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge Die Cut Flower and Label Shapes

All papers and inks are from CTMH.  The leaf and petals were fussy cut.  The center of the flower was cut using a 1" circle punch. The flower shape (Flower3) and label (Rctngle7) were cut using the Cricut.  The stamp set is CTMH's Just For You. 

This is another inexpensive, quick, mailable card!
Thank you for stopping by today!
Beverly

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Tone On Tone Stamping - Card 4 of Notecard Set

Random Stamping for Card Base
Here is another variation of a simple card that I made for the notecard gift set that I am giving to my mother.  She still writes letters and I think she will enjoy using this set of clean, mailable cards.

White Heat Embossing Outlines the Petals
The focal flower has two areas that are stamped tone on tone.  The white on white was heat embossed for that nice shiny outline effect. (Click on picture for a better view.)  The center of the blossom is Pear ink on Pear cardstock. 

Have a wonderful day!  Thanks for visiting!
Beverly

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Stamp Kissing, Two Toned Stamping and Embedded Embossing - Card 3 of Notecard Set

Cheerful Clean and Simple Card
 Techniques Galore Today!  When creating flat cards you sometimes get to use some old friends in your tool kit, so to speak.  I love the look that each of these techniques add to this card.  The center flower was made using embedded embossing.  Yesterday's post was about that technique, please visit here to read more about it.
Two Toned Stamping on Petals from CTMH Just For You set
 The petals were easy to make using two different colors of dye ink.  This can easily be done with stamp pads or markers.  After the components were stamped and inked they were embossed with the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder.  All stamps, papers and ink are from CTMH.  I used Pear, White Daisy and Black.  The border and background stamps are retired. The flower, petals, leaves and sentiment are from the new Just For You set.

Stamp Kissing Technique to Create Leaves
Here is a short video on how to do stamp kissing two different ways:

Monday, January 23, 2012

Embedded Embossing - Card 2 of Notecard Set

This black card is very striking in its simplicity.  I added a white panel to the inside for easy note writing. Embedded embossing is a fun technique when you want some texture and depth without bulk. The card is flat for easy mailing. Yesterday, I posted the first card of the set of notecards that I made using different embossing techniques.  Click here to see that post. Today's technique is all about embossing with an embossing folder.
Art Philosophy Cricut Diecuts layered and embossed using Cuttlebug
 This card is stamped with the new CTMH Just For You stamp set using regular dye inks in black and Pear. The cardstock colors are black, Pear and White Daisy.  After the layers were stamped, they were adhered together and run through the Cuttlebug with the Kassies Brocade folder to create a thick one-piece flower. I pulled the petals apart a little bit because I mainly wanted to have the center part embedded.

Clean and Simple card

This is another quick and inexpensive card to make.  Stay tuned for the cute gift box and the rest of the cards in the set!

Thank you for visiting today!
Beverly

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Debossing and Traditional Embossing - Card 1 of Notecard Set

CTMH Pear, Black and White Daisy
 It must appear that I don't like patterned paper because I make so many cards without it!  I truly do LOVE patterned paper, but I have been on a plain cardstock binge lately.  All the cards that I am posting this week are only made with three colors of plain cardstock: black, white and green.  Please don't think this will be boring!  I hope you like the techniques that I have used to jazz up the cards. :-)

Cuttlebug Swiss Dots Embossing Folder - Debossed Side for Flower Center
The pear colored center panel was made by randomly using a standard hole punch.  This gave the paper a debossed effect.  To mimic that feel, I used the debossed side of the 1 inch center for the black and white flower.  The black base of the flower was stamped with white pigment ink along with the individual petals. Then the flower was embossed with white powder and heated the traditional way.  This is a fast, inexpensive and easy mailable card to make. I used the Cricut Art Philosophy cartridge to cut the flower shape, but it can easily be cut with scissors.
The deckled edge was made using a Fiskars rotary blade.  All supplies are from CTMH.  The stamp set is called Just For You and will be released on February 1, 2012.

Thank you for stopping by today!
Beverly

Saturday, January 21, 2012

More Embossed Flowers - CTMH Just For You


I love how this card turned out!  It all started because I wanted to make a video to show how to use embossing in different ways to create some fun and cool effects for card making and scrapbooking.  The very bold colors of these flowers are what "makes" this card, in my opinion.

Petals are stamped with White Daisy Pigment Ink and Embossed with  White Powder
There are different kinds of embossing techniques.  The first flower on the card was made by stamping the black base flower with pigment ink and heat setting it.  The white base flower and the center were stamped with regular black dye ink. The petals were stamped with white pigment ink and sprinkled with white embossing powder.  After heating the petals, I cut them out and popped them up with a 3-d Zot. The petals are slightly curled under so that they would stay "popped".

Embedded Embossing with Flower 3 shape cut with Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge 
Embedded embossing is so much fun to do.  The paper pieces are smashed together to create a fairly flat embellishment.  I put a little adhesive in between the four layers of black and white die cut flowers.  This flower was placed into the Sizzix Hearts embossing folder and run through the Cuttlebug to create the fun flower.  I used the debossed side of the Swiss Dots Cuttlebug folder for the center of the flower. Click on the picture to see more of the detail in the embossing.

Flower, Petals and Sentiment from CTMH Just For You Stamp Set
The last flower is a combination of the two different types of embossing techniques.  The petals were stamped and embossed with white pigment ink and powder. The center of the flower was embossed using the Swiss Dots folder.  The components were popped off the base flower with Zots 3-d glue dots.

Card is 8 1/2" x 4"

The faux stitching is achieved with a white gel pen.  After stamping the sentiment onto White Daisy cardstock, I punched it out with a SU! punch and used foam tape to raise it off the card.   All inks and stamps are from Close to My Heart.  The black and white cardstock are also CTMH.  The green textured cardstock is from SU!

To see another example of embossed components to make a fun flower, please go here to yesterday's post

I hope to have the video done in the next couple of days.  There were some technical difficulties that I have yet to overcome for its successful completion!

Have an awesome day!
Beverly

Friday, January 20, 2012

Embossed Petals on Embossed Background

CTMH Just For You Stamp Set
 Texture adds so much interest to cards and scrapbook pages.  One of my favorite ways to add that texture is through the use of embossing folders.  On this card I used two different embossing folders:  Sizzix Heart to Heart and the Curlique Textured Impressions Embossing Folders. One was used for all of the flower components and the other for the background paper.

3-D Flower
 The outside flower diecut is an AP Cricut Shape.  The 1 inch circle center of the flower can also be cut with that cartridge or a punch. However, these shapes are easy enough to cut by hand if you don't have the cartridge.  All papers used in the card are from CTMH: Blush and White Daisy card stock and a retired B & T paper for the stem.  The ink colors are also CTMH: Blush, Sweet Leaf,  and Holiday Red.

Art Philosophy Cricut Cartridge Flower 3 and Rectangle 7
The embossed background (blush cardstock) is mounted onto a standard sized card base.  The sentiment is from the CTMH Workshop On The Go Elemental kit's stamp set.

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Design Team Call!

Frosted Designs has posted the following for new design team members:
We are looking for papercrafters of all kinds! If you can make scrapbook layouts, cards, altered art items, home decor items or like mixed media.... we want you!! One of the best things about Frosted Designs (in my opinion) is that we celebrate all kinds of crafters! We are not just a scrapbooking blog or a card blog. We want to let everyone share their skills and with 3 challenges going on all the time, there is something for everyone! We would like to fill some positions on all three of our teams. Let me tell you more about each one....

Fabulous Friday Teams: We have two teams of ladies that make up our Fabulous Friday teams. The focus of this team is to use up supplies you already have laying around the house that may have been neglected and forgotten about. For this team, you should be willing to do any of the following: scrapbook layouts, cards, altered art, home decor and mixed media items!
Sketch Along Tuesday Layout Team: This team makes scrapbook layouts that are inspired by the sketches we give them.
Sketch Along Tuesday Card Team: This team makes cards that are inspired by the sketches we give them.
No matter which team you prefer, the requirments for all of our designers remain the same....
1. Be willing to commit to a six month term. Your term would start the beginning of March and go until the end of August.
2. Create a project every other week for your assigned team.
3. Share a step by step tutorial 2 times during your 6 month term. (This can be with photos or video)
4. You will be required to comment on some of the projects that are entered into our challenge each week.
5. Keep an active blog that is updated frequently.
6. Post our challenge and your project on your blog on reveal day and link back to the Frosted Designs blog.
Please visit the Frosted Designs site to find out how to apply and join the team!

Monday, January 16, 2012

Frosted Designs Tuesday Card Sketch #10


Vintage looking card with lace, pearls and patterned paper

 Jenny Evans has designed another wonderful card sketch for Frosted Designs!  I love the versatility of the sketch.  It can become a clean and simple card or a layered vintage-y type card, like the one above.  Please join the Tuesday Card Sketch Challenge by linking your card on the Frosted Designs site.

Card Sketch by Jenny Evans for Frosted Designs
The other fun thing about this card is that it is made with the new CTMH Stella paper pack which is being released on February 1, 2012.  I especially like the paper that looks like sewing pattern paper.  I stamped the sentiment on that paper in Cocoa ink and it really looks like it was part of the paper's design.

The little envelope was made from a paper bag
I wanted an old looking envelope so I used a paper bag to punch out the shape.  It needed a little doodad to seal it and the small butterfly punch was the perfect size. All of the paper edges were ink distressed using Cocoa ink.
CTMH Stella Paper Pack - Patterned Paper Pocket.
To keep with the vintage vibe I sewed the center piece around three sides to give it more of an appearance of a pocket with a bit of trim along the top.  Everything was topped off with buttons and pearls.

Thank you so much for stopping by today! Have a great day!
Beverly

Supplies:
Paper: Card stock base for 5 1/2" x 4 1/4" card, Close To My Heart Stella Paper Packet, CTMH Elemental, brown paper bag
Ink: CTMH Cocoa
Stamps: CTMH Just For You
Embellishments: CTMH Bitty and Regular Opaques Pearl Adhesive Gems, CTMH buttons and ribbon (retired), thread and lace
Tools: Fiskars Threading Water Edge Punch, CTMH Corner Rounder, Uchida Clever Lever Envelope Punch, Marvy butterfly punch, sewing machine

Saturday, January 14, 2012

You Warm My Heart

CTMH A Sip Stamp Set A1109
 This is another fast and easy card.  It is for my dd1, who is away at college.  The background is made from the Hearts Sizzix embossing folder. It is packaged with another of their Textured Impressions folders called Curlique.  I ran a 6 1/4" x 4 1/4" piece of CTMH Cranberry cardstock through the Cuttlebug and then used a sanding block to uncover the white core of the cardstock.  The bottom of the cardstock was purposely not embossed because I knew that I wanted to stamp the sentiment there.  I sanded around the edge of the Cranberry cardstock to bring out more of the core.  Using white core cardstock with dry embossing is one of my favorite techniques!

Edge Distressing  on Focal Image and Matting
The ink for the cup and heart is Cranberry.  I used a Cranberry brad to form the center of the baker's twine bow.  The steam and sentiment are stamped with black ink.  The little heart image comes from the CTMH Love Life set.  The card base is black cardstock.  This can be written on with a white gel pen or a light colored insert can be adhered inside the card.

Thank you for visiting with me today!
Beverly

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Small Treats With Cricut Art Philosophy Cartridge

Stamped Cardstock Forms Base and Shapes of Treat Packet
Yesterday's post showed a card that I made for my dh for an upcoming 'date night'.  In the last picture from that post there was a little glimpse of what I made to go with the card and here it is.  Well, I actually made two because they are so quick, easy and fun to make! 

Little Reminder Stamp Set for the Calendar - Holds Fold Closed

The big swirl stamp from the CTMH Love Life set was stamped and embossed with white on black card stock.  It was also used with Holiday Red ink on white and Blush colored cardstock to decorate the hearts shown below.  They were cut using the AP Cricut cartridge.

Matchbook Fold Held in Place with Hearts
On the inside of the folded matchbook-type card is a French Fry box cut at 5" using the AP cartridge.  The box was also stamped using the same large swirl stamp.  It is adhered with the short side to the back of the matchbox card base.

Ghirardelli Chocolate Fits Perfectly
A little message was added to the inside and voila, it's done!  The extra one will probably make its way to dd2.  She loves to have scheduled movie and date nights with us, also.

Base card is 8" x 2 1/4" wide
Have a great day!
Beverly

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Date Night Card - Cheap! 'Cause No Patterned Paper


When you have kids (or needy pets) sometimes it is hard to get an evening out of the house as a couple.  My dh and I have become accustomed to being home-bodies and are ok with it.  Really.  Like many couples, we try to schedule time together at home.  For us, it is usually to watch a movie that one of us wants to see.  One with no singing Princesses involved.


To celebrate this upcoming event I did what I do... I made a card.

CTMH Rock The Block Stamp Set
 I used three of the stamps from this set.  The bottom border, FUN, and the circle -  which could be used as the center of the flower stamps.  These were stamped on a 12" x 5 1/2" piece of White Daisy cardstock.
The little circle was stamped only twice on the cardstock with Blush ink.  The rest was done with Holiday Red.
The back of the card looks pretty, too!
 The card measures about 5" square.  With the extra piece cut off the end of the 12" long piece, I layered it near the bottom of a 3" square piece of black cardstock.  Whoa, I just realized this is the first card I have made in years that doesn't have any embellishments on it! I may have to fact check that!

FUN Popped With 3-D Foam Tape
 Stay tuned for the little treat pictured under the card below.  It involves chocolate.


Thank you for stopping by today!  Also, thank you so much for all of the kind and encouraging comments that you have left for me.  I really appreciate each and every one of them!
Hugs,
Beverly