In My Prayersby Melissa Rusk

Happy Friday friends! I have had an idea for the fun Stitched Leaves die set for a while now and today I finally got a chance to make it happen. Let's get started!

To create this wreath on my card I started by die cutting the Stitched Leaves three times in a white paper. Then I used two different colors of green ink to color the leaves.

Once all of the leaves were colored I started on the wreath. For my guide I cut out the Pinpoint Circle Frame and glued my leaves to the outside circle. The first layer of bigger leaves were glued down first and then I added in the smaller leaves using some foam tape to build the wreath.

I stamped the sentiment from the Prayers Sentiments stamp set in a dark gray ink and glued it all to my card. To finish it off I added three pearls that I colored with a coordinating blue Copic Marker to match my card base.

Thanks for stopping by the blog today!

Supplies

99760 Pinpoint Circle Frame

99758 Stitched Leaves

CL5208 Prayers Sentiments clear stamp set

Diecut Nesting Blossom Layers with the Plush Camelia by Jean Okimoto

  

Create a layered, ruffled crepe paper blossom with the individual petal dies from the Plush Camelia Set.  These flowers are great for summer cards and parties - and easier than ever!  Hi, Jean Okimoto here, with another way to use the flower and succulent petal die sets from the Memory Box Plush Collection.  It's like a DIY nesting "Flower Basics" set!

Fold a strip of duo-tone crepe paper in half and cut two sets of circles using the  1", 1.5", 2" and 2.5" Circle Basics dies.  

Fold each circle in half along the grainline.  Fold each semi-circle into thirds, creating little triangles with a curved top. Place a petal die on the folded triangle - tape it in place so it cuts just the top 1/3 to 1/4 of the petal, but not all the way down along the folded side edges.  It's like cutting snowflakes, without the little details.  Unfold it and you'll have a 6-petalled flower.  

Repeat the process with the different circle sizes and petals.  Gently stretch the and curl the petals for dimension.  I like to use the edge of  that "green plastic flower-burnishing thing" from Impress to curl my petals.  

Glue the largest layer to a 1" circle of scrap cardboard.  The circle adds a bit of dimension and makes it easier to glue the finished flower to the background.  Attach the other seven layers by pressing the next layer onto a dot of glue on the base and twisting it slightly with your finger to scrunch it up a bit.  

Add green gem stickers to the center.

Cut three leaves from the Stitched Leaves set.

Paint watercolor paper with Worn Lipstick, Broken China and Fossilized Amber Distress Oxides and heat-set the ink.  Cut the paper with the 2-1/4" x 3-1/2" Rectangle Basics die.  

Stamp the greeting - from the Open Studio Watching the World Bloom Clear Stamp Set - with Worn Lipstick.  Heat-set it.

Attach everything to a top-folded A-2 card of white cardstock.  Add gold gem stickers.

Hope you like this "just do it" version of layered blossom dies and enjoy the flowers you can create with these techniques!

If you're in the Seattle area for the 4th of July - join us for another SUMMER BLISS class from 11:00 to 1:00 at Impress.  We're making 6 bright summer-y cards with great designs from Memory Box,  pretty papers from Shizen Design - and there's AC too!

Thanks for stopping by - have a great weekend...

  

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Supplies

 

CL5197 Watching the World Bloom clear stamp set

99758 Stitched Leaves

99427 Plush Camelia

30086 Rectangle Basics Set

30087 Circle Basics Set

Fish Tales…Hooked on You by Jean Okimoto

 

 

"Hooked on you" - from the Fish Tales Clear Stamp Set - makes a great greeting for your favorite kid or sweetie.  Add a bunch of watercolored fish, the Heart Wire and a hook from the Ornament Caps and Hooks set - and your card is ready to go!

Valentine and Christmas dies don't need to wait for their own season - put them to work on a summer card.  Hi, Jean Okimoto here, wondering why I didn't think of this combination earlier.  

Paint watercolor paper with watery layers of Broken China and Cracked Pistachio Distress Oxide inks - or use the refills (dribbled onto acrylic blocks and applied with a waterbrush).  Spritz it with water, then heat-set it.  Cut it with the 4-1/4" Square Basics die.

Stamp the fish on the smoother side of watercolor paper with Onyx Black VersaFine and emboss them with detail clear powder.  Paint them in solid colors first using Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Faded Jeans and Fossilized Amber.  Add colorful accents by painting a few sections of each fish with a contrasting color.  The special inks will blend and create great new shades.  Diecut the fish.

Cut Heart Wire from watercolor paper, and again from turquoise cardstock.  Layer the two diecuts - slightly offset - to add dimension and a bit of a subtle shadow.  

Determine the placement of each fish and carefully trim parts of the hearts that won't be covered by the fish.  

Stamp and emboss the greeting on a scrap of light aqua watercolored paper.  Cut it with the 3/4" Square Basics Die.  Paint a scrap of watercolor paper pale green and cut it with the 1" Square Basics die.

Cut a hook from silver mirror cardstock using the Ornament Caps and Hooks die.  

 

Insert the hook through the circle of the Heart Wire - then attach both pieces to the background.  Tape the top of the hook behind the background.  Attach the fishes, counter-clockwise - use foam dots for the 2nd, 3rd, and 5th fishes.  Add the greeting.

Attach it to a top-folded 5-1/2" square card of textured white cardstock.  Add turquoise gem stickers.

There are so many ways to use the Fish Tales Stamp Set and the Fish Tales Die Set.  Combining them with Valentine and Christmas dies just gives us another option. Search through your Memory Box stash for inspiration - you'll be amazed at how many ways you can mix and match the great designs.

If you're loving the Distress Oxides as much as I am you'll be happy to know that Impress has already ordered the 12 new colors that will be released soon.  The Impress collection of Memory Box, Open Studio, Poppystamps - and Distress Oxides - is perfect for summer papercrafting!  

Thanks for stopping by - see you again this evening.

 

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The 2015 Holiday Collection - Alpine Snowflake Ornament

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Holiday 2015 Collection - The Snowflake Collage

Supplies

32203 Fish Tales die set

CL5203 Fish Tales clear stamp set

99213 Ornament Caps and Hooks

30088 Square Basics Set

99634 Heart Wire

Ocean Card by Donna Sledzik

Good morning everyone!  

Today I have a card for you which features a couple of new ocean themed stamp sets.

To create this card I stamped several different sea creatures onto watercolor paper.  I used Zig clean color real brush markers to color the stamped images. This would make a cute card for a childs birthday and they could color in the images themselves.  

I stamped the sentiment onto a Licorice strip of cardstock and embossed it with white embossing powder.  Using foam adhesive, I adhered the stamped strip to card front which I then glued to a Licorice card layer.   To finish the card, I glued the card front to a White card base.

I find it so relaxing to color and this is a fun card to stamp and color!

Have a great week!

Supplies

CL5198 Seal of Approval clear stamp set

CL5200 Whale Hello There clear stamp set

Flowering Celestina Tree by Jenny Griffiths

Hello and Happy Tuesday!  

Having a good week?  Hope so!  Today I am featuring the wonderful Celestina Tree die.  This one caught my eye when I first saw the new release.  It's perfect for almost any occasion---birthday, wedding, new baby, thank you, sorry, sympanthy, congrats...you get the idea.   Today it comes to you as a Thank You card.

 This is clearly an intricate die and I can tell you it cuts beautifully---I cut it several times for this card...once from ivory paper and again in pale yellow, green and lavender.  I simply cut apart the colored flowers and adhered them randomly to the main layer.  I didn't get crazy and paper piece all the flowers as many are pretty small, so just the 7 larger ones did the trick.  

A strip of washi tape next to the folded edge helps fill out the space.  I also trimmed the card down to 41/4" x 5".  (letting you in on a little secret...I trimmed the card to this size because I accidently got my inky fingerprints at the top and had to cut that part off.  I call those "happy accidents" when you fix your mistake and save the card, liking it even more!)

To finish the card I added my favorite Mini Butterflies and lavender gemstones to add some sparkle and whimsy.  So, this card is ready to send off and I have more to make up to replenish my card stash.  

Thanks for stopping by today!

Supplies

99407 Mini Butterflies

99763 Perky Thank You

99749 Celestina Tree

Birthday Fishesby Isha Gupta

Hello and Welcome! Hope you all have a wonderful Monday! I have a summer theme card for you today as it's really hot these past two weeks and that just makes me think of water and of-coarse out GORGEOUS fishes from the "Fish Tales" stamp set.

I started with sponging some inks onto a piece of white cardstock. I then cut the center using the Coral Collage die. I then sponged some more ink to it to make it a bit darker. I then stamped and embossed the sentiment.  Then I sprayed shimmer mist and flicked a little water to it. Let it dry.

I then adhered this center negative piece to the cardbase.

Then I stamped some fishes onto watercolor paper and colored one using Zig clean color real brush marker. I then stamped the corals using the same inks, which I used for sponging the background. This gives a subtle effect. Then I adhered this piece to the cardbase using 3D foam. Finally I adhered the fishes and to finish added some dew drops and sequins. 

Here is a close-up to see the shimmer.

Hope you enjoyed today's simple creation. Thanks for stopping by!!

Supplies

CL5203 Fish Tales clear stamp set

32203 Fish Tales die set

99714 Coral Collage

Sketch Form Butterflies Along the Cubic Border by Jean Okimoto

 

Send a summer thank you with a trio of Sketch Form Butterfly diecuts. Re-purpose a favorite stamp and take advantage of the versatile Butterfly Ensemble and Morning Garden Butterfly die sets...again!  Hello, Jean Okimoto here - with an easy watercolored design for a summer greeting.  

Press the dye inks from a Melon Melody Kaleidacolor multi-color inkpad onto a large acrylic stamp block.  Spritz the smoother side of a 6"square of watercolor paper with water and paint it with watery, overlapping layers of  the orange, yellow and green inks.  Heat-set the inks.  Press the paper with a dry iron on the cotton setting.

Stamp Sketch Form Butterfly with Onyx Black VersaFine and emboss it with detail clear powder. Here's a quick tip -  pre-heat the back of the stamped paper for a few seconds - then quickly finish embossing the design from the right side.  This minimizes over-heating and scorching the stamped image and keeps it nice and glossy.

Cut three butterflies with two of the Butterfly Ensemble dies.  Cut black cardstock butterflies and attach them (offset)  behind the watercolored designs to add dimension and a subtle drop-shadow look along some areas.

Cut three butterfly centers from gold mirror cardstock using the dies from the Morning Garden Butterflies set.  

Cut the front of a top-folded green A-2 card with Cubic Border.  Stamp the greeting from the new Thank You Sentiments clear stamp set with Onyx Black.  

Attach the butterflies and add gold gem stickers.  

I love thinking of ways to get the most from my huge stash of Memory Box and Open Studio designs - and sharing these ideas with you.  The rustic, hand-drawn look of the Sketch Form Butterfly makes it one of my favorite stamps - hope you like it too.

Thanks for stopping by...

 

Related articles

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New Possibilities - The Reverse Butterfly Collage

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Bubble Burst and Butterflies by Jean Okimoto - Outside The Box

Holiday 2015 Collection - The Snowflake Collage

The 2015 Holiday Collection - Alpine Snowflake Ornament

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Supplies

CL5210 Thank You Sentiments clear stamp set

30085 Morning Garden Butterflies

30071 Butterfly Ensemble

99769 Cubic Border

Butterfly Spectacle for a Special Friend by Jean Okimoto

 

Special friends deserve special cards - and Butterfly Spectacle makes it easy to create a quick card to celebrate a great friendship.  Coordinating diecuts from Butterfly Ensemble and Morning Garden Butterflies add the finishing touches.

Hi, Happy Summer...Jean Okimoto here with a quick weekend card.  I've gathered a few favorite go-to supplies for today's design.  Dies from Square Basics cut the watercolored background and trim around Butterfly Spectacle.  A die from Rectangle Basics cuts the greeting block.  The butterfly die sets create great options for layering, stenciling and inlaid designs in addition to basic diecutting.  

 

Lightly spritz watercolor paper with water.  Paint it with diluted Kaleidacolor Dye Ink Refills to create a soft, watery background in shades to match some vellum from your stash.  Set it aside to dry.

Cut Butterfly Spectacle from white cardstock.  Trim around it with the 3-3/4" Square Basics die.  Cut the watercolor paper with the same die.  

Here's a tip - trim a sliver (about 1/16") from the edges of the watercolor paper.  This provides a little wiggle room when adhering the layers and keeps any colored edges from peeking out along the side.  

Cut orange, turquoise and pink vellum butterflies with dies from the Butterfly Ensemble set.  Cut the butterfly centers from gold mirror cardstock with the dies from the Morning Garden Butterflies set.  Attach the vellum butterflies - slightly offset - behind the Butterfly Spectacle.  

Stamp the greeting - from the Open Studio Spring Lilacs set - on white cardstock with Brilliance Pearlescent Jade.  Trim it with a Rectangle Basics die.

Attach everything to A-6 (4-5/8" x 6-1/4") card of textured white cardstock - use foam dots for the right side of the greeting.   Add tiny gold gem stickers.

 

Butterfly cards are great for any celebration  - or everyday greeting.  Gather your favorite colors, Memory Box and Open Studio dies and some sparkly accents and create a stash of summer-y cards and be ready for any occasion!

Special thanks to everyone from last weekend's Summer Bliss class at Impress!  Memory Box and Poppystamps designs, butterflies, flowers, pretty papers from Shizen  Design, Distress Oxides...what's not to like about those great supplies?  Thanks to Shari and Erin too, for filling our shopping baskets with everything to make more cards.

Thanks for stopping by - keep cool and have a great day!

 

 

 

Related articles

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New Possibilities - The Reverse Butterfly Collage

Holiday 2015 Collection - The Snowflake Collage

Bubble Burst and Butterflies by Jean Okimoto - Outside The Box

Butterfly Spectacle for a Special Friend by Jean Okimoto

Supplies

99735 Butterfly Spectacle

30085 Morning Garden Butterflies

30071 Butterfly Ensemble

CL5199 Spring Lilacs clear stamp set

Happiest of Birthdays! by Sherry Hester

Happy Friday, everyone!

Today’s card is a new version of an older post using Adelaide Stem and Airin Bird Background dies. The layout is close to the same, but I changed the color scheme and the background.

I created a stencil using the Zimmer Oval Background, and on a piece of white card stock cut to 3.25” x 4.5”, I randomly sponged Dusty Concord Distress Ink through the openings, leaving some areas very light and others a little darker. I splattered the same color ink onto the background.

I cut the Airin Bird from a light blue card stock, and shaded the top and right sides with Faded Jeans, added a dot for the eye, and colored in the beak with an orange colored pencil. I cut two of the Adelaide Stem from white card stock, sponged Peeled Paint onto the stems and lightly sponged Dusty Concord on the flower portions. Purple glitter added some sparkle to the flowers.

I arranged one of the stems behind the bird and adhered them to its back. Before adding the bird to the background, I strung a length of white twine with some lavender beads, then wrapped it around the piece three times. The bird was adhered with foam tape, and I inserted its tail in between two strands of the twine. Once that was in place, I snipped off one of the flowers from the second Adelaide Stem and glued it down to the left of the bird. I added foam tape to the assembled piece and adhered it to a white A2 card base. The sentiment is from the Watching the World Bloom clear stamp set.

Thanks as always for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend!

Supplies

99460 Zimmer Oval Background

CL5197 Watching the World Bloom clear stamp set

You're my Anchor by Penny Ward

Hello Memory Box friends.  Ok...I will admit this card is beyond simple. But what an impact!!!! Talk about a 10 minute card. 

With Summer in the air and July just around the corner, how fun to create a lovey card for someone special with Red, White and Blue!

 

Here are the steps:

 

Start with a White card base. Trim White cardstock 4.25 x 11 inches, then fold in half.

 

 

Add a small strip of Red & White striped paper along the left side, color the right edge of card base with a Copic/Spectrum Noir marker (I used DR5 to match my stripes)

 

On a piece of White cardstock measuring 3 1/2 x 5.50 inches, stamp the sentiment from the Seal of Approval set in the bottom right corner using VersaFine Majestic Blue ink.

Adhere this panel to card front.

 

 

Die cut the anchor from the Seal of Approval set, color with same medium and coat with Glossy Accents. After it is dry, adhere anchor to card front with foam adhesive.

Take Navy Blue twine, make a loop and tuck under anchor, make a few loops and adhere to card front as shown.

 

It took longer to write this up than to make the card.....hehehe

 

Happy Crafting,

 

Supplies

CL5198 Seal of Approval clear stamp set

32198 Seal of Approval die set