I'm Lost Without You

I finally got my hands on the Going Global Stamp Set! Once I got a good look at the various stamps, I envisioned a star-studded night sky artfully created with the use of printed vellum, Wink of Stella, and rhinestones.

Time to bling it up!

I started by cutting a Night of Navy standard card base as well as a strip that was about 1 x 5 1/2" in length. Also cut was a strip of Silver Foil 1 x 5 1/2" and a piece of vellum from the Botanical Gardens Designer Vellum Stack cut to just short of 4 1/4 x 5 1/2".

The now retired Adorning Accents Edgelits were used to trim the strips of card stock and foil. (To view another card that uses these, see Sale-a-Bration Freebie Sneak Peek.)

Using my MISTI, I stamped the sentiment on the die cut card stock using Versamark and heat embossed it using the Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder. I stamped the Big Dipper onto the vellum and also embossed it.

I adhered the vellum to the card base by putting little dots of Multi Medium Matte beneath the printed stars (where it wouldn't be seen) as well as along the base of the vellum. I adhered the die cut pieces of card stock and foil along the bottom of the card using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

Rhinestones were adhered to the stars in the Big Dipper. In addition, I used the Fine Tip Glue Pen to put little drops of glue on several of the vellum stars and then poured Dazzling Diamonds Glitter over top, knocking off the excess. One last bit of glitz–I added Wink of Stella to some of the stars that didn't receive any of the Dazzling Diamonds.

For the inside of the card I cut a matte from Whisper White. I used Night of Navy ink on my MISTI to stamp a portion of the compass stamp in the bottom right corner after stamping off twice. I finished the matte by inking the edges with a sponge dauber. It was adhered using Fast Fuse Adhesive.

Nice and blingy, huh? Remember, when in doubt, add glitter! And rhinestones. And Wink of Stella!

True to the title and card sentiment, I'm lost without you . . . my readers.

Your comments mean so much to me and encourage me to try new ideas and techniques to share with you! Thank you for taking the time to connect with me by leaving a comment below.

May Your Season Sparkle

Writers have been known to remark that when they write, their characters often take over, seeming to develop a mind of their own and change the plot as they see fit.

In creating art, it seems that this can also be true; what you sit down to create may not always be what you end up with because the tools and media you use react in ways that may not be what you intended.

Tonight I sat down to craft a card with my beloved Woodland Embossing Folder. (Have you heard? Stampin' Up is bringing it out of retirement and putting it into the new annual catalog due out in May! How great is that??)

On Pinterest I have seen many different backgrounds used with the folder but I hadn't seen red. I thought that using Real Red would be very festive and I could pair it with a nice green and a coordinating ribbon and have cheery Christmas card.

I started by inking up the inside of the folder (the side with the Sizzix on top) using a brayer and Real Red ink. I then placed my Thick Whisper White card stock on the uninked side of the folder, closed it, and ran it through the Big Shot.

When I opened the folder, I was not as pleased as I thought I would be. I needed the red to be stronger. Because the embossed paper seemed to be still clinging to the other side of the folder, I re-inked the folder, closed it, and smoothed all over it with my hands to press the ink into the paper.

It still didn't look as I had imagined it would.

I used my Basic Black Stampin' Write marker to touch up the birch trees but that still wasn't the answer.
I thought that by playing around with matte colors and the card base color, I could make it look better. Black seemed to be right for a thin matte layer but red for the card base didn't seem to look great. Mossy Meadow was too dark and Garden Green didn't look quite right either. I decided against Old Olive because it was too light.

I still couldn't get it looking quite right.

With nothing to lose, I turned to a crafting girl's best friend–glitter!

I employed a technique that Jenny Day demonstrated in this video. I covered the entire embossed panel with Versamark ink and then sprinkled Heat & Stick powder all over it. I heated it just until it was completely wet looking and then sprinkled Dazzling Diamonds Glitter over the whole thing. I heated it once again to seal in the glitter.

Now, it was looking better! See, almost anything can be improved with glitter!

I started playing with matte and card base colors again only to realize that my tree background was no longer red–it had taken on a rosy hue due to the covering of glitter!

Instead of Real Red card stock, I needed Rose Red for my card base; I used black for the matte. Before adhering the panel to the black matte, I used a sponge dauber with some Basic Black Archival to ink up the sides.

I wrapped some Silver Sequin Trim around the bottom of the panel, securing it at the back with tape. The sentiment, from the Sparkly Seasons Stamp Set seemed appropriate so I stamped it in Basic Black Archival on Whisper White and then punched it out using the Large Oval Punch.

I used the Scalloped Oval Punch on the Rose Red card stock and then layered the sentiment on it with Dimensionals. The label was then adhered to the card front over the sequin trim.

The finishing touch for the card was to add some rhinestones to frame the sentiment and provide a little added sparkle!

Though I set out to create one card, I ended up with a different version of the card but one I may not have created except by trying out an idea!

Have you tried out an card making idea only to end up with something else? Drop me a comment below about it!

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90th Birthday Bash

On Saturday, we had a 90th Birthday Party for my mother, Joyce. Besides our immediate family, also attending the party was my mother's cousin, also named Joyce, who was also born on the same day!

Though at times my mother was quite confused, she seemed to enjoy herself and the party. I was in charge of food for the event, though my brother had been in touch with people regarding what we could use at my mother's nursing home.

When we got there, of course, things weren't exactly as we had anticipated and I ended up running around like a chicken with her head cut off! Suffice it to say, the food was later than we had planned it to be! Grrrr! Luckily, my brother snapped lots of pictures because I didn't have the chance to do so. I'll be getting some of those from him in time.

The card I designed for my mother was cased from the card in this video by Becca Feeken. Because we had decided to use the colors of purple, silver, and white for the theme of my mother's party, I altered the colors in the card accordingly.

I used Elegant Eggplant to create a gate fold card base, 5 x 6" in size. I cut the decorative panels from Silver Foil and embossed them using the Leafy Vine Embossing Folder from Taylored Expressions. Almost any type of embossing folder produces amazing results when you use foil paper but this turned out especially nice! The panels were adhered to the "gates" using Fuse Fast Adhesive.

Using the Banners Framelits dies, I cut the largest banner from Whisper White Thick card stock and a smaller one from Vellum card stock. On the vellum banner, using Versamark, I stamped the sentiment using both the Project Life Day to Day and the Four You stamp sets. I heat embossed using Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder. I also used a Versamark pen around the edge of the banner and heat embossed that with silver.

I used the Bow Builder Punch to punch out the bow pieces and also heat embossed the edges using the Silver Stampin' Emboss Powder. For the tails and the centre of the bow, I used Silver Foil paper.

A trick I used for the centre piece for the bow was to punch out a foil piece using the Word Window punch and trim it down a bit. I have always found the centre of the bow piece just a little small to work with but the Word Window punch worked great for a centre piece!

I adhered the vellum banner to the white one using glue dots which I then hid by mounting the bow on top. The banners were adhered to one side of the gate fold using Dimensionals. I placed Dimensionals on the opposite side as well so that the popped up banner would look equal but I did not remove the paper piece from the Dimensionals.

I cut a matte of Whisper White for the inside of the card and use the "swoosh" stamp from Everything Eleanor to stamp the edges in both Perfect Plum and Elegant Eggplant. I used sponge daubers to ink the edges in the corresponding inks.

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For my mother's cousin, Joyce, I created a card using one of my favorite patterned papers from the now retired, Fresh Prints Designer stack.

I cut two balloons using the Balloon Framelits Dies, one from Coastal Cabana and one from Real Red to match the designer paper. After establishing the placement I wanted, I used the framelits again to cut an opening in the designer paper for a "shaker" balloon.

Using my Fuse Tool and a page protector, I created a balloon filled with sequins that coordinated with the designer paper. I taped the shaker piece to the back of the designer paper and then adhered the panel to a piece of Baked Brown Sugar card stock. This was first inked with Bermuda Bay ink and then mounted on a Real Red matte that had been inked with a fine line of Basic Black Archival ink. This was then mounted onto a Coastal Cabana card base using Dimensionals.

Using a Two-Way Glue Pen, I ran a fine line around each balloon die cut and then added Dazzling Diamonds glitter. I then tied a piece of thick Coastal Cabana twine to each die cut and used a glue dot to attach a third piece to the "shaker" balloon.

I used "Celebrate" from the Expressions Natural Elements and used a paint dauber to paint it Real Red. I covered it with Versamark, half at a time, and heat embossed it with Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder to make it shiny. The strings from the balloon were tied to the "C" and the sentiment was adhered to the card front using the Fine Tip Glue Pen.

On a Whisper White matte I stamped the balloon from the Celebrate Today stamp set using Coastal Cabana and my MISTI. MISTI definitely came in handy because I had to re-stamp a few times to get the balloon to be completely stamped. I stamped the string in Smoky Slate.

I then stamped in Versamark, using the project Life Day to Day set, and heat embossed in silver. I inked the edges of the matte with Real Red and adhered the matte inside the card.

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Two totally different birthday cards but I loved creating each of them. Hope you have enjoyed reading about my process!

Wonderland: My Go-To Stamp

Even though you may have purchased several stamps from the Holiday Catalog, do you find yourself constantly reaching for the same stamp again and again? I do!

Lately, my favourite stamp is Wonderland. I just love this stamp! Is it just a coincidence that wonderful and Wonderland have the letters W-O-N-D-E-R in common? It's obvious that it is not only me that thinks this stamp is wonderful—just look at the many cards using it on Pinterest! It's a stamp that can be stamped in any color, on any card stock, be stamped off and be embossed in any way you cam dream of to use it. In short, it's magical!

Today, I knew I wanted to showcase these trees in white against the richness of Cherry Cobbler.
Rather than simply heat emboss the trees in white, I decided to create a custom embossing powder mix by combining equal parts of White Stampin' Emboss Powder and Dazzling Diamonds Glitter.

After stamping the trees with Versamark on Cherry Cobbler card stock, I heat embossed using my new concoction. I was so pleased with the result! I loved the rich contrast between the white and the Cherry Cobbler, and the added sparkle from the Dazzling Diamonds was sweet!

I decided to push the contrast even more by framing the trees with a die cut window frame in a piece of Whisper White Thick card stock. I used one of the Window Frame Collection Framelits to cut an opening in the matte. I used one size larger framelits to cut the trees.

I inked the edges of the matte with Cherry Cobbler and then taped the trees behind the white matte. I taped a length of the Cherry Cobbler linen ribbon around the bottom of the matte and then tied a short lie ever of the ribbon in a knot in the middle of the ribbon. I then adhered the matte to a card base of Whisper White Thick card stock.

For the sentiment, I used Noel from the Happy Scenes stamp set. I stamped it in Cherry Cobbler on a strip of Vellum card stock and heat embossed it using Clear Stampin' Emboss Powder. I used the Triple Banner Punch to flag both ends.

To complete the card, I used glue dots to fasten the sentiment across the window and then covered the glue dots with Cherry Cobbler Candy Dots.

For another Wonderland card, be sure to check out Color Burst Christmas and Wonderful Wonderland. Watch for more Wonderland cards from me in the near future! What have you created with Wonderland? Leave me a link in the comments below!

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Color Burst Christmas and Wonderful Wonderland

Wow! We had a crazy, jam-packed stamping class on Friday night! Sixteen ladies in attendance and stamping–it got a little warm in the room with so many bodies present but we persevered to create some spectacular cards!

I had been wanting to give my group the chance to try working with the Color Bursts and I knew that our last class before Christmas would be busy with our tag exchange so I went ahead with my plan on Friday.

As this was their first chance to play with the Color Bursts, I decided to keep things simple.

I demonstrated how to achieve both smooth and more distressed looking effects using just two colors of Color Bursts. I had hoped that they would be able to experiment and make two background panels but because they were having so much fun playing, most only got to make one.

After their Color Burst background panel was completed and dry, they trimmed up the panels to make a 4 x 5.25" matte and inked the edges. It was then adhered to a Thick Whisper White card base.

They had previously chosen a color of card stock that would coordinate with the Color Bursts they were using. From this card stock they used the Festive Flower Punch to punch small petals (8), double petals (2) and the 3/4" Circle Punch to punch a circle to use for a poinsettia embellishment. They also punched three small petals and two centres from either gold or silver Glimmer Paper.

They folded each petal in half lengthwise to give it some dimension and then inked the edges of each using either Basic Black Archival or Early Espresso ink. They used glue guns to assemble the poinsettias and then adhered them to their Color Burst panels using Dimensionals.

They stamped a sentiment from the Happy Scenes stamp set on a strip of Whisper White and inked the edges with either Basic Black Archival or Early Espresso. One end was flagged and then the sentiment was adhered to the card front. A few sequins were added for some extra sparkle!

It's here that I would love to have posted pictures of the lovely cards they made but once again I forgot to take photos! If I get the ladies to send pictures of their cards, I will edit this post to include them and let you know!

The second card that we made was cased entirely from the lovely card designed by LeeAnn Greff. LeeAnn has a video tutorial on her blog that shows how to construct this card.

We started by brayering the lovely sky using both Island Indigo and Rich Razzleberry inks. We then used Basic Black Archival ink to stamp two clumps of trees using the Wonderland stamp set. A strip of Whisper White as stamped with the sentiment from the same stamp set. The strip was then ripped to simulate the edge of a snowbank and then adhered to the bottom of the inked background.

The completed panel was mounted on a Whisper White matte which in turn was mounted on a Rich Razzleberry card base using Dimensionals.

A white gel pen was used to create stars and add snow to the tree branches. Once dry, a Two-Way Glue Pen was used over these spots and Dazzling Diamonds added. The glue pen and Dazzling Diamonds were also added to the edge of the snowbank.

A Whisper White matte was stamped with the trees for the inside of the card.

Such a lovely result and fun techniques used to create the card. Thank you LeeAnn for designing this wonderful card!

I hope you will get a chance to try the Color Bursts, creating a Poinsettia and brayering to create the beautiful Wonderland card!

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Painted Blooms Valentine

It was a strangely quiet day at Walmart today, as our Credit/Debit machines went down about 1:30! They still weren't working properly when we closed at 6:00. Apparently this was a Canada-wide problem and some other stores in the area were also having intermittent problems. Pretty hard for a lot of people when most people don't carry cash anymore!

A quick little card for you tonight!

I cut a square card base from Wild Wasabi and used Fuse Fast to adhere a matte of one of the papers from the Painted Blooms Designer Paper—a lovely pack of paper!

I adhered a strip of the White Jute Ribbon and topped it with a strip of Mossy Meadow Satin Ribbon. I trimmed the ribbon at each card edge.

I cut a smaller square matte from Pacific Point card stock and embossed it using the Happy Hearts embossing folder. The edges were inked with Mossy Meadow. I adhered it to the card front using Dimensionals.

Using Pacific Point, I stamped the sentiment from Crazy About You on Whisper White and then die cut it using a shape from the Word Bubbles Framelits. I inked the edges in both Wild Wasabi and Mossy Meadow and adhere it to the top right of the matte using Dimensionals.

I utilized the Hearts Collection Framelits to cut one heart from the Painted Blooms paper and three from Pacific Point. I glued these together with the designer paper on top.

I used Versamark, Heat & Stick Powder and Dazzling Diamonds to create a glittery heart. I wound Wild Wasabi Twine around one side of the heart and tied a bow. Dimensionals were used to adhere the heart to the card front.

I die cut the word, "you" from Pacific Point card stock two times, using the Hello You Thinlits. I glued these together and then heat embossed the word with clear embossing powder a few times to get it really glossy.

Finally, I adhered the word to the heart using Glossy Accents.

I'm pretty happy with the way the card turned out even if it is a blue Valentine!

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Dazzling Diamonds Meets Wonderful Watercolor

Well, I couldn't help myself–I had to create another card using the Butterfly Basics and coordinating Thinlits! I wonder if there is a 12 step program yet for those of us obsessed with this set?!

I had actually planned to work on a Valentine project tonight but then I caught sight of one of the watercolor background pieces I had created some time ago and decided that I knew just what to do with it!

But before I get carried away, back in my blog post, Gold, Grunge, Glitz and Two Charlenes, I promised that I would show you the two Bokeh cards that my upline, Charlene had created. At long last, here they are:

 Didn't she do a wonderful job? Which one do you like the best? I'm leaning to the second one though the first one are more my colors.

Now, back to tonight's card.

As I mentioned, I chose to use a watercolor background I had created previously. I used the same technique as in this post: Bokeh Technique and Sneak Peek From Occasions 2015 Catalog though I did not add the bokeh to this one. This is what it looked like when I was finished:

To help me keep track of what colors I used, I snapped a photo showing the Ink Refills.

Tonight, I decided to use the same odd-sized card base as in my post, A Happy Thing. The card base measures 4 7/8 x 5 7/8" with the Whisper White matte being 4 1/4 x 5 1/4." For this card I inserted another matte between the white and the watercolor layer–the Cajun Craze matte was 4 1/8 x 5 1/8." I liked the proportions of the mattes, with the card base showing a larger amount than usual. All layers were adhered to each other using Fuse Fast adhesive.

Before adhering a piece of the new Whisper White Jute Ribbon around the watercolor layer using Fuse Fast adhesive, I inked the edges using both Cajun Craze and then Early Espresso inks.

I stamped the smaller butterfly from Butterfly Basics using Tangerine Tango. I die cut both it and the larger butterfly, with the larger one being cut from Melon Mambo.

For the smaller butterfly, I inked it with Versamark ink and then heat embossed it with Clear Embossing Powder. I did this twice to give it a good gloss.

For the larger butterfly, I inked it with Versamark and then applied Heat & Stick powder. I heated this until it melted and then quickly added Dazzling Diamonds glitter on top and heated it again to seal it. Dazzling Diamonds is my new love! Don't you just love the beautiful shimmer it produced?

For both butterflies, I embossed only half the body at a time to make it easier to emboss.

I bent the wings of both butterflies up a bit and then used Clear Effects adhesive to adhere first the larger butterfly to the Jute Ribbon and then the smaller butterfly on top of the larger. I chose Clear Effects because I knew it would hold both items securely.

I used the Note Tag punch to cut a tag from Whisper White. I used the honeycomb stamp from the set to stamp with Crushed Curry. I stamped several times without re-inking to produce a textured, slightly distressed look.

I inked the edges and lightly dusted the tag with a sponge dauber for each of Melon Mambo, Crushed Curry and Tangerine Tango inks.

I then filled my larger Aqua Painter with Rubbing Alcohol and several drops of Melon Mambo Ink Refill. I wanted to add some small ink droplets to the tag.

I practiced on scrap paper first to make sure I had the right color and technique. I found that I had to add more and more drops to the alcohol to get the right color. I probably still could have added more to give the tag more dimension but I didn't this time round!

To get the small droplets, I squeezed the Aqua Painter several times to load the brush with ink and then tapped the brush on my extended index finger. To get a few larger droplets, I squeezed again but this time held the Aqua Painter straight out in front of me and sort of jerked it toward the tag, stopping quickly and letting the drops keep going! I was quite pleased with the results I achieved!

I then used Black Stazon Ink to stamp the sentiment on the tag. I adhered the tag at the top with a glue dot and a Dimensional at the bottom to give it a little lift. I added one of the now retired Frosted Finishes ornaments for a little added bling and to anchor the tag to the card.

Lastly, I added some rhinestones to the smaller butterfly and called the card done!

I'm liking this one! What do you think? If you would like to read about other butterfly cards not mentioned in the above post, try these posts:

• Butterfly Obsession
• Color Inspiration and Abundant Butterflies

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