InKollage: Cards

Cards

April 28, 2012

Bloomin' Birthday

Let the Dancing Tulips Die 98295 do a birthday dance with a cheery flower! The Blooming Rosette Die 98121 and decorative center from the Woodrow Rosette Die 98250 show how easily the rosette sets can be mixed and matched into an array of flowers and medallions.

It's fun to combine vintage-y images like Distressed Garden Record G1848 with bright contemporary dots. A quick greeting - Happiest Birthday B1354 - adds the final touch. View all of the great Memory Box stamps, papers and dies here. Clearsnap's Archival Dye Inkpads create quick, fast-drying backgrounds and greetings.

If girlie cards are your specialty, I think you'll like the cards in the GIRL TALK classes at the Bellevue (May 6) and Tukwila (May 13 - Mother's Day) Impress stores. Lots of techniques, diecuts, pretty colors from sweet pastels to cool jewel tones, shimmery Smooch accent inks and glitter!

April 14, 2012

Spring Songbird

A glittered diecut songbird perches on a delicate branch to welcome Spring today in Seattle today! I love how the Poppystamps Nestled Bird 817 works perfectly with the Memory Box Leafy Branch Globe E1850.

The watercolor-y background is simple, quick and always unique. It's a blend of inks from the Colorbox Playground Multi-Color Inkpad, spritzed with water. Create a stash of these backgrounds and have them ready for your next Memory Box moment.

Here are 3 of the cards from the next Beyond the Box class, at the Tukwila Impress on April 29th. We're using our favorite Memory Box stamps, dies and papers and taking them beyond everyday designs with a variety of inking, layering and stamping techniques.

April 2, 2012

Peep!

The months - and holidays - are flying by this year! Here's a colorful Easter card that's quick and easy to make.

Dancing Tulips 98295 are accented with an extra layer of glittered Tulip Petals 98317. And the little chick? He's our favorite Perched Reedbird 98160, diecut from bright yellow felt - then trimmed a bit for spring. Distressed Garden Record G1848 is simply stamped with ColorBox Grasshopper Archival Dye Ink, then diecut with Index Card 98214.

I enjoy re-purposing Memory Box Dies and finding new ways to use them. That's exactly what we'll be doing in this Saturday's Beyond the Box class at the University Village Impress. Join us if you can - you'll be inspired by the great new samples in the store and the fresh spring products Ann has selected just for you. U Village's lovely landscaping and spring plantings will be an added treat!

March 24, 2012

Miracles of Springtime

Celebrate the new season with pretty colors and a bit of glitter. Combine Poppystamps' Grand Egg Die 829, Chrysanthemum Frame G1857 - and blendable ColorBox Lilac, Heliotrope and Pistachio Pigment Inks - to create a delicate garden egg for your spring cards. It's great to have the option of combining coordinating products from Memory Box and Poppystamps.

The intricate Valencia Border Die 98290 and a stamped Miracles of Springtime B1766 banner add the finishing touch. I attached a foam dot to add dimension to the center of the banner, a technique I copied from the Impress Facebook page. I could say I was merely "inspired" by that tip - but honestly, I just copied it.

Next quarter's classes begin soon - Memory Box Design Editor Theresa Laurent and I can't wait to share more ideas with you. Till then, are some designs from the Fresh for Spring class at 1:00 PM on Wednesday March 28 at the Bellevue Impress. It's stampers day there too - Carla and her team another great project to share with you - make it a one-stop day of inspiration and creativity!

March 17, 2012

Luck of the Irish

Celebrate St. Patrick's Day with some easy diecutting - and a splash of bright Emerald Eyes Glitter. I love how the rich tones of the Violet Notecard and Wildbloom background make the Lucky Leaves Die shamrock sparkle even more.

The grassy border is diecut with the new Poppystamps Grassland Border - see the new dies here. It's a must-have for Spring and Easter cards. The Debutante Frame Die created the soft curves along the bottom of the border.

Sunday's Fresh for Spring class at the Tukwila Impress features Dave's great stamps, papers and dies. Join us for some background techniques, glitter and the soft greens, teals and lavenders of spring. You'll love the great seasonal displays and samples too! Here are some of the class designs - we'll make a little Easter Basket and 4 cards:

February 29, 2012

Blossoms on a Branch

Papers and inks in shades of purple, chartreuse and gray - combined with Memory Box's 2012 Viola 6x6, dies and stamps...well, life can't get much better than that in my little color-centric world!

Here's another way to mix and and layer some of the 2012 What's in the Box products. I love how Dave designs complementary products to create cards, layouts and mixed media projects that come together quickly.

Colors match, diecuts are proportional to each other, stamps and printed papers are easy to coordinate. In a few months, seasonal color changes and new 6x6 papers can easily transform this design into cards for summer or early fall. That's the beauty of Memory Box!

Theresa Laurent, Design Editor at Memory Box, and I have sent our Spring class ideas to Impress. I'll post our new schedules as soon as we hear from Carla, who coordinates all of the classes there.

February 21, 2012

Raindrops and Posies

Big Thanks to everyone who took the Fun, Fab Flowers class at Impress on Sunday! Hope you enjoyed it and will soon have a colorful stash of flower tags to add to gifts, plants and bouquets.

The cold, rainy weather was the inspiration for today's card featuring the new Viola 6x6 Set and three dies - Orchard Tree Frame 98300, Debutante Frame 98297 and Petite Umbrella 98296. I used the Memory Box Metal Adapter Plate (without additional tape or cardstock shims!) to diecut this classic, timeless tree, then layered it over the Debutante Frame background.

The Petite Umbrella has two curvey slashes to add dimension to the diecut. Inking just along the slashes defines the shape even more - and attaching it with foam dots really makes it pop off the background. Little details like this make Memory Box Dies unique and very special.

See the entire What's in the Box Collection of new stamps, papers and dies here.

Have fun making this card - it's quick, easy and perfect to send to or from Seattle!

Posted at 10:34 PM in Cards, Dies, Jean Okimoto, Memory Box Dies, Purple, Spring, Viola Collection | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

February 18, 2012

First Bloom of Spring

Water-coloring, color-pencilling or other skill-required coloring techniques are a bit beyond my reach. Luckily, Dave, Theresa and the other Design Teamers are great at that! Here's another version of my favorite quick, easy and always unpredictable spritzy background technique.

Vintage Dreams G1838, Dogwood Branch F1848, Distressed Garden Record G1848 and Wishing You Combo B1853 are the stamps featured here. The delicate accent is cut with the Valencia Border Die 98290. View the 2012 What's in the Box Collection here.

Several people have asked about Cuttlebugging with our intricate, detailed dies. I've removed my painters tape spot-shims from the dies and use the Memory Box Metal Adapter Plate instead - without any paper or cardstock shims either. Remember to place the Adapter Plate, die and cardstock behind the printed instructions on the A, B, and C plates - not flush w/ the edge that enters the machine. This allows the stack (others call it a sandwich, but that makes me hungry!) to feed into the machine easily, without using excessive force.

Just finished a huge stack of diecutting - prepping for tomorrow's Fun Fab Flowers class at the Tukwila Impress. We're making 7 tags with big poufy, loopy, scrunchy or layered flowers on them - perfect for any occasion.

February 9, 2012

Note from the Garden

Hope you're enjoying our What's in the Box Design Team blitz this week. Visit the Outside the Box Blog and add your comments to each designer's post again tomorrow to enter our contest to win great new Memory Box products. Upload your Memory Box projects to the Memory Box Flickr page too - for another chance to win the new items. Details are on the OTB blog sidebar.

I love greens, purples, and grays...and combining them with our newest dies, stamps and notecards. Shown here are Distressed Garden Record G 1848, just a note to say hello B1852, Fuchsia Sprig Die 98303 and Valencia Border Die 98290. The new Metal Adapter Plate was used too - and created these great results with the detailed dies. I didn't even need my painters tape spot-shims!

We're moving quickly from Valentine classes into spring now - here are some projects from this weekend's classes at Impress. It's Fun, Fab Flowers at Bellevue Square (425 453.2748) on Saturday - big poufy, loopy, scrunchy, fringe-y, layered flowers on 6 colorful tags for any occasion.

Then it's Memory Box 2012 on Sunday at the University Village Impress (206 526.5818) - 5 cards featuring Dave's latest, greatest stamps, dies and papers.

Posted at 11:48 PM in Cards, Dies, Flowers, Spring, Techniques, What's in the Box? 2012 | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

February 3, 2012

Lovebirds in Red

It seems like an odd combination - but I love using gray and brown together, especially with a bright pop of metallic red. Here's an idea featuring four dies - Grand Heart 98254, LaRue Heart 98255, Pastry Labels 98107 and Poppystamps Nestled Bird 817.

The Grand Heart and LaRue Heart are cut from prints in the Pixie 6x6 Set. The label is cut from Kraft Cardstock, stamped with Love and Hearts B1423 (hearts are attached to the side of the stamp) in Cranberry ColorBox Pigment Ink and embossed with detail clear powder.

Attach Scor-Tape to scrap red cardstock and diecut Nestled Bird twice - once with the lined tape on the top, and again with the lined tape on the backside. Burnish Clearsnap Cherry Pie Designer Foils onto the adhesive on the right bird - red-foil side up. (Impress sells Designer Foils.) Brush Clearsnap Ruby Slippers onto the adhesive on the left bird.

Layer the heart over strips of Vanilla Bean Distressed Dots and Gingham Cardstock. Attach everything to a Mars Shimmer A2 Card. Attach the greeting strip with antique copper mini-brads. Coordinate the card with a matching Mars Shimmer A2 Envelope.

Stamps, dies and papers from the beautiful 2012 What's in the Box? release will be featured in the Memory Box 2012 classes at the Belleuve (Saturday) and Tukwila (Sunday) Impress stores this weekend. Dave and Monica and their entire team have created their best-ever collection. I know I say this about every release - but you really need to stop by the Impress stores to see what everyone's been talking about. Really.

We're having a Design Team Blitz next week - on the Outside the Box Blog - showcasing the new products in great designs for every occasion. There'll be contests and prizes too - with designer posts several times a day...join us!

Posted at 03:37 PM in Cards, Dies, Love and Kindness Collection, Permalink, Poppystamps , Techniques, Valentines, Love and Romance | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)