Framed! is the Memory Box Challenge for July.  My personal challenge every July is to get a head start on creating my holiday cards.  For today's post I am combining both challenges to make two sparkly December holiday cards, repurposing dies from both the Spring 2020 and Garden Party Collections to work as holiday images.

materials used:

• spruce green notecards
• Cottage Stripes and Dots PP1004, two green dots papers, cut 5 1/4 X 4
• white cardstock, cut 5 x 3 3/4
• Delicate Pastel Glitter Pad GP1001, two pieces light green
• Bubble Circles 94439
• Magnolia Wreath 94419
• Magnolia Double Arch 94421
• Matinee Rectangle Layers 94438, the two smallest dies
• Joy Airy Script 94325 from 2019 Holiday Collection

Magnolia Wreath card

When I first looked at these dies I thought they would work for a holiday wreath, sort of poinsettia-like.  I cut both the Magnolia Wreath and the Magnolia Double Arch from the light green glitter paper.  Using tiny Glue Dots under each flower, I placed the arch with the largest flower on the left of the card front, added the wreath on top of that and then added the other arch piece on top of the wreath.  

For the sentiment label, I chose the two smallest rectangles from the Matinee Rectangle Layers set.  I cut the larger one from the same light green glitter paper and the smaller one from white cardstock.  I layered them together with Scor-Tape and then added the Joy Airy Script cut from more of the light green glitter paper.  I attached the label with foam dots, tucking it inside the wreath a bit and overlapping the right edge.

On the inside I added a piece of dot paper topped with a white cardstock rectangle and used Glue Dots to attach another one of the Magnolia arches.

Bubbles Circles Joy card

The Bubbles Circles remind me both of the wreaths that my dad makes and the pretty balls that he uses to decorate them.  I cut all three of the Bubble Circles from the light green glitter paper and stacked them on the top-fold card front, snugging them together in the lower left corner.  

For the sentiment label, I chose the two smallest rectangles from the Matinee Rectangle Layers set.  I cut the larger one from the same light green glitter paper and the smaller one from white cardstock.  I layered them together with Scor-Tape and then added the Joy Airy Script cut from more of the light green glitter paper.  I attached the label with foam dots in the upper right corner.  I added a white satin bow in the lower left where the three circles meet.

On the inside I attached a piece of the green dots paper centered with a white cardstock panel.  I used Glue Dots to attach one of the Magnolia Arches in the upper right corner.

Do you work on holiday cards in July as well?  What Memory Box dies and stamps in your stash could be used for them?  Take another look at what you have and how you might repurpose those dies and stamps for holiday greetings.  

Happy Crafting!

 

 

Here are some techniques to add color and sparkle to 3-D embossed images.  Add distressed watercolors - and a lot of glitter - to the Butterfly Gathering design for a summer birthday card.  Hello, Jean Okimoto here with a card that evolved during the process.

Spritz a light mist of water onto the smoother side of Open Studio Watercolor Paper.  Sponge it with overlapping layers of shaded lilac, peacock feathers and cracked pistachio Distress Oxides.  Air-dry it. Cut it with the largest die from the Geodesic Oval Trio.

Spritz the reverse side lightly and pressure-emboss it using the plate(s) required for your machine.  Here's the sequence I used on my Spellbinders Platinum - base platform, embossing folder, two layers of cardstock.  No embossing plate or rubber mat.  Machines differ - please don't force the materials through your machine.

Carefully distress the three butterflies with sandpaper or the tip of a medium-grade sanding block. Use light, short sanding strokes instead of heavy pressure or a circular motion.  Brush the residue off.  Attach the diecut to a white A6 card (4-½" x 6-¼").  Attach the delicate geodesic frame.  Use a skewer to spread Open Studio Dragonfly Glitter Glue within the distressed outlines.  

We usually add accents to the diecut before attaching it to the card - but we all know what happens to the damp glitter glue when we flip the diecut over to add the adhesive, then press it onto the card.  

Cut the turquoise glitter sheet from the 6x6 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pack with Honeycomb Square to create pretty little glitter hexagons.

Stamp the birthday wishes - from the Poppystamps Greeting Basics Clear Stamp Set - with Warm Breeze VersaFine Clair.  Quickly emboss it with detail clear powder.

Trim the greeting with a die from the Rectangle Basics set for nice finished edges.  If the dies don't match the shape of the greeting - cut it with a larger die, then just trim the bottom edge.  Attach it with foam tape.

Hope you know someone celebrating a summer birthday - and try these techniques with our other 3D Embossing Folders too.   

Thanks for visiting...see you again on Thursday -

Supplies

 

EF1005 Butterfly Gathering

94418 Geodesic Oval Trio

99921 Honeycomb Square

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

CL490 Greeting Basics

GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad

WP101 Watercolor Paper

40105 Dragonfly glitter glue

Greetings friends.  On America's birthday, I'm inspired to make a card for not only the day but for July birthdays in general.  Am I the only one that often uses a red/white/blue theme for cards other than the 4th?

For this card, I went to town using the Diagonal Stripe Collage die.  I started with a kraft piece of cardstock and then cut the die three times out of the kraft paper.  I then added a piece of kraft cardstock behind all of the openings so that I had a tone on tone effect with a lot of dimension to it.

Next, I took a piece of white cardstock and cut out the stripes before putting red cardstock behind it.  I layered my red/white stripe piece on top of some blue cardstock, added my sentiment and finished with some red, white and blue starts.  Here is a close up:

Thanks for stopping by today.  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. 

 

 

Supplies

 

94401 Diagonal Stripe Collage

CL5256 Cherry Blossom Wreath clear stamp and die set

Hello and Happy Friday! Michelle here, sharing this card in honor of The 4th of July! How are you going to celebrate our Independence Day this year? I am having a small barbecue with family. Hope for nice weather!

I used the Fractal Diamond Stencil and secured it to white cardstock. Than I secured washi tape a section at a time before inking each color. I used candied apple and blueprint sketch distress oxide inks. 

Than I used Shining Star Set Dies and die cut some star shapes using Delicate Pastel glitter pad. I die cut the Celebrate Cursive Script die using Twinkle Jewel glitter pad.

I assembled the stenciled panel onto a white card base. I adhered all my glitter die cuts on top.

Today's card was fairly easy to make. Hope you give it a try!!!

Enjoy your weekend!!

 

Supplies

 

94393 Celebrate Cursive Script

94321 Shining Star Set

88616 Fractal Diamond Stencil

The Scribble Rose Trio and Background fit perfectly into the new Poppystamps Circle Fold Frame.  Add details and texture with the Poppystamps Scallop Small Curve Border and a few glittered dots  - and your card is ready to go.  Hello, Jean Okimoto here with a mix of Memory Box and Poppystamps designs on a simple summer card.

The Poppystamps Circle Fold Frame cuts and scores the left and right panels for a square card.  Cut two frames from pale yellow-green cardstock.  Crease them on the "circle fold."  Pressure-emboss the folded panels with the Poppystamps Scallop Small Curve Border. Adhere the vertical inside edges of the panels.

Cut the  pale yellow-green cardstock with the 4-¼" Square Basics die.  Attach the tabs of the folded panels to the right and left sides of the square.  

The Circle Fold Frame set includes a die to cut a smaller inside circle.  Use it to cut the pale green Garden Folly 6x6 print.  Attach it in the center of the card.

Cut the detailed Scribble Rose Trio from Easter Grass cardstock.  Cut the solid background from Juicy Pear cardstock.  Layer the diecuts and attach them to the Garden Folly print circle.

Punch ¼" dots of the green glittered cardstock from the 6x6 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pack.

Hope you'll be inspired to enter July's FRAMED! Challenge...for a chance to win some great dies for all of your papercrafting projects.

Big thanks to everyone who purchased my Garden Party Greetings card kits from the Impress online store and from Stamps and Memories in Hawaii - I appreciate it!  My new kit - Very Simply Asian - is ready now.  Make  5 cards reflecting the simple beauty of Japanese design - using a bunch of Memory Box and Poppystamps dies - and no origami!

Thanks for visiting...have a safe and happy long weekend if you're celebrating on the 4th!

 

Supplies

 

94436 Scribble Rose Trio And Background

30088 Square Basics Set

GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad

2348 Circle Fold Frame

2360 Scallop Small Curve Border

Greetings friends. It is time for another challenge.  I hope you will join us this month for the challenge.

Thank you so much to everyone participated in last month's challenge.  The winner of the blog badge was SmilynStef from the Ingenious Inkling blog.  We loved her bright use of colors:

The random winner selected from all the entries to win the prizes was Joyce M from the Cards by the Sea blog.

Please contact me at stampjournal@gmail.com to claim your prize.

Want to play along in this month's challenge?  The rules are simple - just create a project following the theme, use at least one Memory Box stamp or die on your project and link your entry to this blog post.  You can make a card, a scrapbook page, a home decor item, etc..  To encourage participants with various levels of stamping experience, one entry will be selected at random to win a prize. Enter as many times as you want, but your name will only be entered once into the random prize drawing.   In addition, the design team will select their favorite entry to  be highlighted on the Outside the Box blog and that designer will receive our winner badge to proudly display on their blog. 

You don't have to have a blog in order to participate.   You can upload your project to any online gallery and link it to this post.   In fairness to other players, we reserve the right to remove entries that do not use at least one Memory Box product.  You are also welcome to link your design to other challenges.  Feel free to grab our badge to post on your blog post or side bar.

How do you like to frame the focal points of your cards?  Do you use dies?  Frame stamps?  Create your own frames out of paper or embellishment?    We would love to see your take on the theme.  You can make any themed card you like....just remember to use some sort of frame on your card and use at least one Memory Box item in your project.  Good luck!

Here is some inspiration to help get you started.  Each of the samples uses products from the new Garden Party release:

There are several ways for you to enter the contest:

1.)  Link your finished work below

2.)  Enter on Instagram by tagging your sketch project with the #mbchallenge63 hashtag

You have until the end of the day (EST) on Thursday, July 30th.   Don't forget, you have to use at least one Memory Box item on your entry.  One project will be chosen at random to win the following prize:

 

 

Supplies

 

94408 Geodesic Circles

94394 Best Wishes Banner Script

Hello everyone!  The inspiration for the background of today's card came from this video I watched by Mary Beth Shaw. 

To create the background I took a page from a magazine and placed a stencil underneath it. Next I used a sanding block to lightly sand across the the paper. 

I think dark images work the best and a light hand in sanding is key.  I ripped a few pages before I got the hang of it.  

I glued my image to a piece of cardstock and then trimmed it to fit on my card.  Next I mounted the background on a kraft cardstock mat, then glued it to a white card base.

Using kraft cardstock, I die cut 2 small circles and 1 medium circle from the Geodesic Circle Die set which I glued to my card front.

Next I stamped, watercolored, and die cut my flowers and leaves then glued them to my card. I spattered the card with gold ink and while this was drying, I die cut my word hello from gold metallic cardstock.  

To finish the card I adhered the word hello and added Gold Nuvo Drops to the center of the flowers.

That's it for today!  I hope you have a great week.

 

 

Supplies

 

94408 Geodesic Circles

94105 Big Hello Premiere

88615 Leafy Rows Stencil

CL5258-D Wild Rose Stem clear stamp and die set

It's Sunday night as I write up this post and almost everything that could go wrong in this process has gone wrong.  Ever have one of those days?!  The computer has been acting up and the camera died after three photos.  So I'm just going to have to work with what I have because this goes live at 3:01 AM.

I've spent the month of June making birthday cards to replenish my dwindling supply.  Today's card with the sentiment "best wishes" could be used for a birthday card or for any occasion when you want to send best wishes.  I used watercolor paper, two dies, and two pieces of the same dot/stripe paper on a white notecard.

I started with a piece of Memory Box WATERCOLOR PAPER WP101 and green paints from my Kuretake watercolors.  I wet the paper first with a wide brush and clear water and then dabbed on various shades of green paint with a smaller brush and let the water move the colors to blend them. 

After the painted paper was dry I cut it using the LEAFY TREE FRAME 94420 and the BEST WISHES BANNER SCRIPT 94394.

I cut two pieces of the same double-sided dot/stripe paper 5 1/4 X 4, placing the dots on the front of the notecard and the stripes on the inside.  This paper is from the SPRINGTIME BOUQUET STRIPES AND DOTS PAPER PAD PP1007.  I used very narrow Scor-Tape and a glue pen to add the die cut pieces to the dotted paper on the card front.  I found a sticky-back green gem to dot the i.

I like the way the Leafy Tree Frame embosses the leaves on the tree and lines on the frame, giving it a lovely texture.  Perhaps I could have gotten even more dimension if I had die cut the image while it was still damp.  I find that even lightly misted paper often gives a better impression than really dry paper.

That's it!

I'm really ready for a new challenge, a new theme.  I wonder what July will bring...

Happy Crafting!

 

 

Greetings friends.  When I first saw the Diagonal Stripe Collage die, I knew that I wanted to try paper weaving with it.  When you cut out the die, you are left with this:

It cuts diagonal stripes on your card, but it doesn't separate the bottom of the card from the top.  You could put decorative paper behind the lines, but I decided to weave some paper.

Before we get to the weaving, I want to talk about the process of cutting out the die.  I wanted a top folding card, so when I ran the die through the machine, I had to run it through like this:

This is not the ideal way to run a long die through a machine.  Ideally, you want to run it the other direction (horizontally) so that the roller slowly moves across the die as you cut.  I had to run the die through the machine though because of the layout of my card.  Another hint...  tape the die down to your plate so that it doesn't shift as you cut. 

Next, I chose some left over strips from the new Garden Folly paper pack:

The advantage of using a paper pack is that you know all of the papers will coordinate and work well together.  The papers are all 65lb, which is perfect for weaving.  It is thin enough to weave in and out of the openings without creasing or tearing.  Heavier cardstock is really hard to weave.  You could measure the strips, but I just randomly cut pieces of various sizes.

Once I wove all of my strips, I glued down the pieces at the edges and then used my paper trimmer to cut everything nice and even:

To be honest, I kind of liked the card "as is" because it really focused on the weaving.  I also like that the weaving on the outside of the card matches the weaving on the inside of the card.

I did go ahead and pop up a peony flower and added a sentiment to finish the card:

To color the peony, I used Copic markers (YR21, YR23, YR24, G82, YG95) and added the sentiment in Blue Spruce ink from Impression Obsession.

How would you have finished the card?  Would you have left the weaving alone?  Just added a sentiment?  Add a flower and sentiment?  I'm curious.

 

 

Supplies

 

94401 Diagonal Stripe Collage

PP1005 Garden Folly 6x6 pack

CL5255 Peony Garden Corner clear stamp and die set

There are so many ways to combine the great dies, papers and stamps in our 2020 collections.  Take advantage of the coordinating colors and themes to create quick cards for any occasion.  

Hi, Jean Okimoto here with two cards using the same papers, dies, stamps and colors to streamline the process and save time.  The tools and supplies are ready - make some cards for your stash, or for gifts.  

 

Cut the Gloriosa Butterfly Duo Backgrounds from Juicy Pear cardstock.  Cut the Gloriosa Butterfly Duo Outlines  and center/antennae sections from the lime green glitter cardstock in the Twinkling Jewel 6x6 Glitter Pack.  Cut the tiny butterflies - from the Butterfly Meadow die set - from the green glittered cardstock too.

Cut the leafy green Garden Folly 6x6 print with the big little Geodesic Oval dies

Score, cut and fold an A6 (4-½" x 6-¼") card and a top-folded A2 card of Easter Grass cardstock.  

Stamp the greetings - from the Poppystamps Greeting Basics Clear Stamp Set - on light green cardstock with Shady Lane VersaFine Clair.  Quickly heat-emboss it with detail clear powder.  Trim the greetings with the Rectangle Basics dies.

Assemble the cards - use foam dots for the greetings and butterfly wings.

Take a few extra minutes to make duplicate or similar cards with the tools and supplies you're working with.  Save some time now, have handcrafted cards ready when you need them... and have a great weekend!

 

Thanks for visiting...

 

Supplies

 

94418 Geodesic Oval Trio

94387 Gloriosa Butterfly Duo Background

94383 Gloriosa Butterfly Duo Outlines

PP1005 Garden Folly 6x6 pack

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

CL490 Greeting Basics

94238 Butterfly Meadow

GP1003 Twinkling Jewel Glitter Pad

Greetings friends.  Today I want to share a card that I made with some Yupo paper and alcohol ink.  For this project, you can use any alcohol ink that you like.  Ranger makes a ton of colors, but I often use Copic marker refills.  I like the refills because I can use them for alcohol ink projects as well as refill my markers.

Yupo paper is a synthetic paper that is really slick and the ink moves well across the surface.  You can also use glossy paper, but the results aren't quite as good. 

Here are the colors I used for the project:

I added a drop of ink onto the paper and then used my airbrush to splatter the color:

Don't worry if you don't have an airbrush.  You can use a simple straw and blow the ink around the paper.  The only trick is that you need to work quickly because the ink will dry fast.  Add more colors and then repeat the process until you get the look that you want:

Bonus project- you can spritz your alcohol ink with Copic blending solution or regular alcohol that you buy at the drug store.  The alcohol with give you little "bleached" dots:

Which look do you prefer?  The regular alcohol ink splotches or the ones that were sprayed with alcohol to get a bleach look?

I found the abstract background to be a great way to highlight whatever sentiment I wanted.  Have a great weekend!

 

Supplies

 

94393 Celebrate Cursive Script