Personalize a summer birthday design with a Big Butterfly Wing in the recipient's favorite colors.  Add a quick greeting from the Poppystamps Birthday  Blowout Clear Stamps Set - then top it off with glitter and gem stickers.  Hello, Jean Okimoto here with a classic,  favorite butterfly die set from my Memory Box stash.

Cut white cardstock with the 3-¾" x 5" Rectangle Basics die.  Cut it with Big Butterfly Wing.  

Cut watercolor paper with the 3-½" x 4-¾" Rectangle Basics die.  Paint it - in an area larger than the butterfly diecut - with diluted Kaleidacolor dye ink.  Air-dry the inks, then spritz it lightly with water.  Heat-set it.  Splatter it with some of the dye inks and heat-set it again.

Attach the butterfly outline over the watercolor paper.  Insert and attach the detailed diecut.  

Cut the center/antennae section from turquoise glittered cardstock.  

Stamp the greetings - from the Poppystamps Birthday Blowout Clear Stamps Set - on light turquoise cardstock with Purple Delight VersaFine Clair.

Attach everything to a 5-½" square lavender card.  Add turquoise gem stickers.  

Big thanks to everyone from last weekend's BUTTERFLY WISHES and SUMMER DESIGNS FROM BIRCH PRESS + POPPYSTAMPS classes at Impress!  I appreciate how so many of you took both classes.   Thanks too - Jenny for  bringing snacks and munchies for everyone again.  Thanks to Thalia - for lending me your brand-new Floating Butterfly because senior moments made me forget my diecuts at home.  Thank you also to Erin and Lynne for helping everyone fill their shopping baskets.

Happy 32nd Birthday to Impress!  Celebrate this great event and enjoy a 25% shopping discount on Saturday July 20th.  Bring your wishlist of Memory Box, Poppystamps and Birch Press Designs products and take advantage of this special savings.  Online shoppers - happy 32 is the code for this special sale.

Thanks for visiting - see you again tomorrow!

Supplies

 

99943 Big Butterfly Wing craft die

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

CL470 Birthday Blowout clear stamp set

Hi everyone.  I have two cards to share today using the Rose Bouquet stamp set from the April release.  At the retreat I attended in May, Linda showed us how combining two basic techniques can give gorgeous results.  

All it involves is ink blending and heat embossing!  How simple is that?!  I started by ink blending Distress Oxide (DOx) inks on Bristol paper. Used Faded Jeans, Stormy Sky and Iced Spruce on one and Wilted Violet, Picked Raspberry and Spun Sugar on the other.  Let the panels dry completely.  This is very important before proceeding to the next step.  To speed up the process, I used my heat tool. 

Once completely dry, I placed both panels into my MISTI, stamped the bouquet with VersaMark then heat embossed with white embossing powder.  

Love doing this with large stamps... stamp once and get two!  The blue panel was trimmed down and the sentiments from the same set was black heat embossed.

Black splatters were added before matting it to a black panel leaving a 1/8”  border.

For the other card, the sentiments from Big and Little Words were white heat embossed on black and trimmed down into strips.  

Left the panel A2 sized,

Applied clear shimmer to the flowers on both to finish.  And that does it for today. Thank you for stopping by.  Have a wonderful day.   

Supplies

 

CL5241 Rose Bouquet clear stamp set

CL5242 Big and Little Words lear stamp set

 

Happy Monday! Today I have a bright and fun birthday card to get the week started.

For this card I started with the Little Hibiscus Blossom die and cut it in white. Then I used my Zig Clean Color Brush pens to color the flower. I love the bright color that came from mixing pink and purple pens.

On my card background I first stamped my sentiment from my favorite stamp set right now, Big and Little Words. I masked over the stamped area with some washi tape. Then I added four more strips of washi tape in two other sizes to make more stripes. I used a blending brush and some teal ink to make my striped background.

Once it was dry I glued everything together. Some clear dew drop gems finish it off.

Have a fabulous week everyone!

 

Supplies

 

94263 Little Hibiscus Blossom craft die

CL5242 Big and Little Words lear stamp set

Greetings friends.  I hope you are having a wonderful weekend.  One of the nice things about a large stamped image is that you have a lot of versatility.  You can color the whole stamp for a colorful background or you can spotlight one part of the image with color for a dramatic effect.  The advantage of the spotlight is that it is also a lot quicker!

For today's card, I started by embossing the entire Rose Bouquet image as a background using white embossing powder on white cardstock.  It is a subtle effect, but it adds a shiny and elegant background for the the central rose.

Next, I die cut the focal rose and leaves from some 140lb watercolor paper and colored them with watercolor pencils and a Dove blender pen.  The leaves are glued to the card and the rose is popped up with a little foam tape.

The words on the card also come from the Rose Bouquet stamp set.  They were simply stamped on white cardstock strips with black ink and then added to the card.  As a final step, I added a few rhinestones for extra sparkle.

Here is a close up of the embossing and the coloring:

Thanks for stopping by today!

 

 

Supplies

 

CL5241-D Rose Bouquet clear stamp and die set

Here's another fun summer card with a striped background and a watercolor crayons technique.

Let's look at how I created the striped background.  

• I started with watercolor paper and the Texture Line Up Memory Box stencil 88551--an old one no longer available, but you might try the SIMPLE CHEVRON STENCIL 88572 for a zig-zag stripe if you don't have this one stashed away.  
• I used washi tape to secure the stencil to scrap paper and got out my watercolor crayons.

• Using the stencil as a guide, I scribbled blues and greens onto the paper. 

• I chose a wide flat waterbrush and painted over the scribbles, leaving the stencil in place.  
• I then carefully removed the stencil to see the stripes I'd made.

• Once this was dry I trimmed it to 4.5X3.25.
• I used a corner rounder to round the edges which I then inked direct-to-paper with Archival Leaf Green ink.
• I chose a light green notecard for the card base.

• I added a layer of Bluebird Distressed Dots paper to the front of the notecard after rounding the corners.
• I rounded all of the corners of the notecard as well.
• I used Scor-Tape to attach the watercolor panel to the top-folded card.  I like to use Scor-Tape with watercolor paper because it holds it really flat.

• I die cut the DAISY SILHOUETTE 94249 and the SCRIBBLE LEAFY BRANCH BACKGROUND 94275 from more of the watercolor paper.
• I scribbled on watercolor crayons in blues and greens and a little yellow on the flower centers.
• I used the same waterbrush to paint over the scribbling.

• I die cut the SCRIBBLE LEAFY BRANCH OUTLINE 94274 from green cardstock and applied it with a glue pen on top of the Leafy Branch Background.
  

• I used a glue pen to make the bouquet on the notecard, adding a foam dot behind the center of the larger flower and putting pearl gems in the flower centers.

So there's another idea and a technique you might try for this month's stripes challenge.  I'd forgotten how much fun it is to scribble with crayons, and I love the look of these watercolor crayons once the water is added.

And don't forget that Memory Box has some great stencils!  Check them out here.

Happy Crafting!  And Happy Summer!

Hi everyone!

Today I have a fun and simple summer card for you featuring both new and old products.  

To make this card, I started with a white cardbase and spattered it with blue ink.  

Then, I  cut the seal using the Sweet Seal die and the Wave Ribbon Collage background die from white cardstock.  I used the negative part of the wave background and glued those to a piece of white cardstock.  I ended up cutting another wave background because I needed a few more waves for my piece.

Once the pieces where glued to my paper, I trimmed it to a 2 3/4 " square.  

Next I sponged the background with Distress Oxide Inks and spattered it with white ink.

I sponged the seal with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink.  I glued a piece of black cardstock on the back side of the seal so that the eyes and nose would stand out.

I also sponged a 3" square of white cardstock with Hickory Smoke Distress Ink and adhered it at an angle to my card front. 

Next I glued my wave panel to the card front and adhered the seal using foam tape.  

I white heat embossed the sentiment on a strip of black cardstock, then glued it to the card front.

To finish the card, I used some glass baubles for embellishment.  

Thanks so much for stopping by today!

CL5240 Oceanside Typewriter Sentiments clear stamp set

94005 Wave Ribbon Collage craft die

99906 Sweet Seal craft die

Bold, bright Scribble Posies Outline and Scribble Posies Background stack nicely above delicate Fine Cut Leaves on a simple summer thank you card.  Hi there, Jean Okimoto here with a quick and easy design today.  I love the look of stacked flowers and discovered that the Scribble Posies sets are great for improvising.

Cut Scribble Posies Outline and Scribble Posies Background from bright pink textured cardstock.  Cut the Outline centers again from dark gray cardstock.  Cut a scrap of chartreuse cardstock to fill the center circle.  Stack and attach the posie layers.

Cut Wave Ribbon Collage from dark gray cardstock.  Snip off one of the  long lines - you'll be using it as a flower stem.  Use the other "stems" for more Scribble Posies cards.

Cut two of the smallest leaf from the Fine Cut Leaves set from dark gray cardstock.

Cut natural cardstock with the 3-½" x 4-¾" Wrapped Stitch Rectangles die.  Stamp the greetings - from the Bold Friendly Greetings Clear Stamp Set - with Verdant VersaFine Clair.

Attach the diecuts to a top-folded A-2 card of textured natural cardstock.  Add green gem stickers.

Looking forward to seeing everyone at Impress on Saturday.    Two classes this weekend - BUTTERFLY WISHES in the morning and  SUMMER COLLECTION FROM BIRCH PRESS AND POPPYSTAMPS in the afternoon.  We're using some of the latest Birch Press and Poppystamps dies and stamps - you'll love them!

Thanks for visiting...

 

Supplies

 

94268 Scribble Posies Outline craft die

94269 Scribble Posies Background craft die

99909 Fine Cut Leaves craft die

94005 Wave Ribbon Collage craft die

30094 Wrapped Stitch Rectangles

CL5236 Bold Friendly Greetings

Hello there.  I am sharing a clean and simple (CAS) thank you card inspired by this month’s Stripes challenge, the beautiful Rose Flower Frame die and a lovely aqua smooshed background piece I had in my stash.

Started by die cutting the Rose Flower Frame from a rectangle piece of Bristol paper.  

Taped the smaller pieces that form the rectangle frame area from behind and removed the other pieces.  Placed a stripe stencil on top and blended Smoky Slate dye ink through the stencil with a blending brush.  

I didn’t worry about blending ink on the frame or flower outline because it was covered up with a silver foil die-cut.

Inlaid the frame back into the Bristol panel.  Attached the aqua background piece behind it.  Stamped the sentiment from Watching the World Bloom with Archival black ink, then mounted the panel onto a white card base to finish.

I loved how easy it all came together, so I went through my stash for other background pieces to use and made these to send to crafty friends at the retreat I went to in May.

Have you played in our Stripes challenge yet?  You have till July 30 EST to enter.  Thank you for stopping in.  Enjoy your day.

 

 

Supplies

 

94247 Rose Flower Frame craft die

CL5197 Watching the World Bloom clear stamp set

Happy Tuesday friends! Today I have a bright and cheery card to share using some washi tape in a fun way. Let's get started!

I created my watercolor background with some thin washi tape and some watercolor paper. I placed the tape all over to create different size shapes until I liked how it was looking. Then I used my Zig Clean Color Real Brush pen in a teal color and placed some color in one part of each shape. I used my water brush to fill in the rest of each section with color. Once it was dry I removed all of the washi tape and my background was ready to go.

I then die cut the Scribble Posies Background die in watercolor paper and used some of the same brush markers and my water brush to color them in. 

Once the flowers were dry I added them to the card. For a final touch I used a black Glaze pen to make dots in the center of the flowers. The Glaze pen adds a little shine and dimension to the centers of the flowers and is a fun accent.

Thanks for stopping by the blog, have a wonderful day!

 

Supplies

 

94269 Scribble Posies Background craft die

Here's a simple card that uses the DAISY SILHOUETTE 94249 and some coordinating pretty papers.  A perfect summer card!

Start by die cutting the Daisy Silhouette from watercolor paper.  Leave the flowers in the background and paint them.  I used a waterbrush and a variety of Distress inks.

Next choose some coordinating papers and a notecard to go with the colors of the flowers you painted.

Whichever paper you choose for the larger background, cut it 4 x 5.25 and adhere it to the card front.  Cut a narrower strip from a second paper 2 x 5.25 and adhere that on top of the first paper.  Once the flowers are dry, remove them from the background and glue them to the narrow paper piece.

That's it!  Easy peasy!  I had a group of five of us make this card last week.  They all chose different colors for their flowers, so matching papers and notecard colors was a lot of fun.  Similar but different!  I thought then that a set of four or more would make a lovely gift along with decorated envelopes, stamps, and a pen.  

So, thinking about envelopes led me to this:

The box made by the STARFLOWER FLOWER FRAME 94246 is perfect for a name and address!  I found that my glue pen secured this nicely to the envelope.

In my challenge to use more of the paper I have collected and stashed over many years, I also papered the inside of the card using a bold plaid on the left and a pale print on the right so I can add a stamped sentiment and a written message.  I also made a liner for the envelope.

I hope you are enjoying your summer and still finding some time to make summer cards with these great new products from Memory Box.  Happy crafting!