Double Fold Explosion Card

Here is one of the few cards that will not have an explanation of how it

was made.  I attended the last meeting of an art

group called the Basement Babes in the

home of Jen L. in Lafayette CO this past week.

This was the project.  It is very complicated

and very impressive.

This is the front of the card.

The first unfolding.

The explosion begins with the second unfolding.

Almost full explosion!

Left side of the card.

Right side of the card.

Now you can see why I am not even going to try

to share the instructions.

Shadow Stamping

An old technique that I saw recently on Split Coast

and just had to play with again.

 I believe that the original shadow stamps were from Hero Arts.

I totally missed that, but did find some great ones

at a stamp convention by Yvonne Albrittion.

I did a search for her stamps.  I could not find

her company on Gingerstamp or by doing a google search.

The black flower stamps are by Hero Arts.

I used various Distressed inks for the shadow stamps.

The edges of the top white stamped layer

have been sponge with coordinating inks. 

I don't know the maker of the phrase stamp.

Evergreen Christmas

Using the Yvonne Albritton marbled shadow stamps

and a Hero Arts long needled pine branch

an easy Christmas card can be created.

First the pine bough image was

stamped with the darkest green ink that 

I had.

I used three different colors of green Ranger

Distressed Inks.  For the darker shades the

stamp was inked, the image stamped onto 

scratch paper and then stamped 

over the pine bough.

The finished image was them

layered over two shades of dark

and then light green paper.

The Merry Christmas was computer

generated using PSP X and layered

over dark green card stock.

Flat pieces of paper egg carton were

used under the phrase to create the

3-D effect.

Christmas Card Challenge

Only one more Christmas card for the February

challenge after this one.

I can hear the sighs of relief, LOL.

Green white core paper, a Cuttlebug Christmas tree

embossing folder, gold gift wrap and

a sanding block.

The Merry Christmas greeting is computer

generated, cut with a Spellbinder's oval

and mounted on a gold gift wrap scalloped oval.

That's it, all that is needed for this design.

Another Christmas Card

Here is another Christmas card.  A Christmas

embossing folder by Cuttlebug

 was used on a medium green

white core paper.

This folder is a stripe pattern that has

a stylized holly leaf and berries.

I sanded both sides and decided this one

accented the holly leaf the best.

The Merry Christmas has been created in

Paint Shop Pro X (PSP X), cut with a

Spellbinders oval then mounted on a

gold gift wrap scalloped oval.

For the Christmas card challenge

Splitcoast Stampers has a Christmas card challenge.

You are to make several Christmas cards every month

until December.  The goal is to NOT have to frantically

make Christmas cards in December, but rather

to gradually make cards all through the year.

Here is one of my February cards.

This was just so easy.  I used a blue white core

card stock in a snowflake embossing folder.

After embossing the raised portion is

literally sanded with coarse sand paper,

exposing the white core.

It is then glued to the card base and

an oval Merry Christmas with a dark gray

scallop is attached.

Very very easy and very elegant.

Possible With God

I can not believe it has been a week since my last post.  

Having problems with a sprained ankle and it hurts

to sit with my foot down.  So my computer time has 

been very limited.

Here is a new card design.  I really like how this one turned out.

This is a very simple basic design that depends on

the DP (designer paper) for it's "punch".

The papers are from Paper Studios Mirabella stack.

The die cuts are from Spellbinders.

The scripture can be found in God's Holy Word

at Luke 18:27.

The Lord is my strength Ps 118:14

 I put in two photos of the same card hoping that the slightly

angled view would give you an idea of the 3-D aspect of the design.

The base of the card is plain white card stock.

Over that is a embossing folder textured layer that is

on lavender card stock.  The narrow border is cut 

evenly and to perfection using Perfect Layers rulers.

The phrase was created by myself in Paint Shop Pro

and is from Psalm 118:14 in God's holy scriptures.

It was cut out using one of Spellbinder's Label and

a different Label was used for the layer under it.

The edges of both Labels have been lightly sponged with

a pale lavender ink.
Both Labels have flat pieces of paper egg carton
glued to the backs.  (rather than the expensive pop dots)

The butterfly is two layers.  The lovely shiny lavender

is highlighting foil (available at a beauty supply) that

has been spray glued to card stock.  I have also

tried spreading a white glue with a small squeegee on the card

stock, laying on the foil and smoothing with a brayer.   I do prefer this method.

I found I get a better adhesion.

The second layer of the butterfly is lavender vellum

The flowers are  also lavender vellum that

has been punched and shaped with a

white center attached.

The butterfly and the olive branch leaves are

dies from Cheery Lynn Designs.

Western Valentine

This is my husband's Valentine.

He does not appreciate the frilly detailed cards,

so this is what I came up with.

I had cut a label out from a piece of card stock

and used the left over piece as a stencil.

The two shades of brown and black inks

were sponged on to create the frame for

the horses.  The fine line black heat embossed

image is by Rubber Stamp Avenue.

It was cut out with a Spellbinders oval die

and faux burned with brown and black inks.

When attaching the horses oval to the card

I used flat pieces of  cut up paper egg carton

to create a 3-D effect.

The Valentine greeting is white fine line on

black card stock.  I cut it out as a rectangle

and rounded the edges with the 1/4 inch side

of the corner chomper.

Black "diamonds" on each corner of the  stenciled

portion and a small black glitter paper heart on

the front horses chest are the finishing touches.

Joy of the Lord Neh 8:10

Here is the last card in the series.

Guess what makes it different than the other

two??????

I accidentally did the polished stone

on the wrong side of the paper.

BUT I still like it.

The Hero Arts flower has been heat embossed

using copper powder.  There is copper in

the polished stone.

The edges of the polished stone, 

the flower that is cut in an oval and

the scripture have all been distressed

and faux burned..

The Joy of the LORD

 Nehemiah 8:10 tells us that, "The joy of the LORD

is your strength."

Because this is one of my favorite scriptures

I decided to use an Our Daily Bread stamp 

as the basic template and make my own in PSP X.

If you don't do PSP or Photo Shop you can

definitely get some wonderful scripture stamps

from Our Daily Bread Designs.

The top scripture has been die cut with a

Spellbinders tag die. The one on the 

bottom card is simply cut using a click blade 

and a quilting ruler then layered over dark

purple card stock that was cut to a narrow

border using a Perfect Layers ruler.

The blue card has a background of pale blue 

polished stone (alcohol ink on glossy card stock)

that has the edges sponged in black ink.

The flower images are from Hero Arts and

have been stamped with VersaMark and

heat embossed with fine line black embossing powder.

The lavender and purple card has polished stone

used on the oval and the holes in the lacy scallops.

There background is a lavender card stock 

that has been textured using an embossing folder.

The oval and the scallop borders are from

Spellbinder dies.

I matched the lavender polished stone to the

holes in the scallops by simply cutting plain scallops

in the polished stone (no holes in this one) and

gluing the dark purple lacy scallop over.

Purple Butterfly

Such a yummy card.  I gave it along with 14 others

to a friend for her birthday.  So if you have a 

huge stash of cards, give them as gifts.  

They are unique and everyone uses cards.

Share your art!

This begins card has a white card base.

Next is a textured layered created with a

Cuttlebug embossing folder over lavender card stock.

Two sizes of Spellbinder's Lacy ovals were die cut

and lavender ovals embossed in Cuttlebug's

dotted Swiss embossing folder attached.

Cheery Lynn Design's Victorian Flourish

was cut apart and place on the oval layers.

The butterfly was cut from highlighting foil attached

to card stock using a Cheery Lynn Design.

A darker purple paper is used as an accent

under the foil butterfly.

Baby Card

I have several friends that are in need of baby cards,

so the design journey began.

Four ideas later came the final design.

The DP is from Paper Studio's Mirabella stack.

The front of the white card base has been totally 

covered with maroon card stock.

The DP was cut to 4 x 5.25 inches,

glued to gold gift wrap, then

the gift wrap has been trimmed to a narrow border

with Perfect Layers rulers.

This is then centered and glued onto the card base.

The phrase has been done in PSP X and 

mounted on a Spellbinder's Tag that was cut

from maroon card stock. 

The phrase was punched.

The mother and child image is a stamp from

Second Star on the Right.  It was stamped

with Ranger Archival black ink on white card stock.

It was cut into an oval using the remains of an oval die cut

as a template.  This allows one to place the open space over

the image and perfectly position.  I gently drew around the

inside of the oval and then cut the image out.

The Spellbinder Lacy Oval was made into a frame by

placing the Lacy Oval and Spellbinder's widest

nesting oval together on the card stock.

They are taped to the paper after the plain inner 

oval die cut is perfectly placed.

The tape is left on after cutting to keep the

dies in place for the embossing mat.

To create the thin pale pink accent oval on the frame

use two nesting oval dies from the same nesting ovals

that were used to cut the inside of the frame.

Since the pale pink oval is so narrow you will have to cut

the larger and then position the smaller over

the larger oval die cut.

I tape the small oval in place to cut.  Since this

is such a narrow piece even the slightest slippage

will be glaringly obvious.

After several failed attempts to simply glue the

narrow oval ring to the frame I gave up and taped

it in place with the usual low tack masking tape.

Then carefully lifted the oval up and place dots of 

glue with my trusty toothpick.

Now small piece of paper egg carton were

glued all around the back side of the frame

The frame is then attached to the image and then

placed on the card.

Dragoflies and Butterfly

 Let me begin at the bottom and work my way up, just

like you would do when constructing the design.

We have a white A2 (4.25 x 5.50 inch) card base.

Next is the textured layer that is done with an embossing

folder, cut to 4 x 5.25 inches, attached to 

the pale green card stock and trimmed to a

very narrow border using a Perfect Layers ruler.

Now die cut two of Spellbinders beaded ovals in white,

then cut two pale green ovals from Spellbinders nesting ovals.

The green ovals have been textured in Cuttlebug's dotted Swiss

embossing folder and attached to the beaded ovals.

Cheery Lynn Designs Victorian Flourish was used

to cut the lovely  flourishes that are over the

pale green dotted swiss ovals.  

The ovals have been raised off the card base with

layers of paper egg carton.  One has one layer and

the other two layers.

The butterfly and dragonflies are from dies by

Cheery Lynn Designs.

A green iridescent  and blue iridescent gift wraps was glued

to card stock to make the bugs.

I just love all kinds of gift wrap for my designs.

It is inexpensive and they make such shiny pretty papers.

For card projects a little goes a long way.  I am still

using gift wrap that I bought 15 years ago!

Christmas is the best time to buy, that is when

the shiny bling-bling stuff really shows up.

You can bend the wings on the insects to give them the appearance 

of being ready to fly off the card.  On several of them I have

attached very narrow pieces of paper egg carton

to raise them off the card a bit.

Tips, Tricks and Techniques

FAUX BURN
The edges of the three rectangles on this card have a burned appearance.

This is an easy effect to achieve.  It does take a little

time and practice.

What you will need - 

dark brown ink

black ink

sponges

thread cutter 

Begin by sponging in from the outer edge with

your sponge loaded with dark brown ink.

I will sponge in lightly a fair distance and then

re-sponge again, but not as far in. 

The second sponging makes it a little darker.

This adds more depth.

Now for the "burn".

Rough up all the edges with the thread cutter.

You can use any edge that will slightly tear or

rough the edges.

With the black ink, flick the very edges 

with your sponge.  You may have to do it more than once

to get the burned look.

It takes some practice, but soon you will be an addicted

sponger, just like me.  This technique is wonderful

for vintage and masculine designs.

I have been known to use two, three or even four shades 

of brown ink to get just the right look.  

The lighter shades are farther in, using darker and 

darker ink as you progress towards the outer edge.

Hebrews 6:10

I asked Pastor Dan and his wife, Connie, if they

had a scripture that they would like to see on some

cards that I made them.  This is the scripture that they chose.

The two strips of green
DP (designer paper) are layered over dark green

card stock and then brushed gold gift wrap.

The narrow borders have been cut with Perfect Layers rulers.

The gold "tatting" is also from a gold gift wrap.

The gift wrap is attached to cards stock

before cutting.  This makes it look like those 

expensive stickers.  (which I am far to cheap to buy)

The die cut is from Cheery Lynn Designs.

The scripture is computer generated in PSP X.

It was cut out with a Spellbinders Label die.

This was layer over a dark green oval and 

a gold gift wrap scalloped oval, both 

by Spellbinders.

Adding flowers to a design

These three design are basically the same. The variance
is the in color and placement of the flowers
and the Spellbinders Labels used.
The peach and pink flowers were punched from
card stock, while the lavender flowers are from vellum

The card base is covered with a textured piece the exact
size of the card. I used an embossing folder to achieve this texture.
The centers of the flower on the textured pieces
have been accented with various glitter glues.

The scripture was computer generated in PSP X.
The scripture is raised over the lower label layer
with the flat pieces from a paper egg carton.

The flowers were shaped using a large stylus.
I rubbed each flower gently until it cupped around the stylus.
Then the flower was turned over and I again used
the stylus to press in the center.
A tiny sun punch was used for the center on two of the
cards. Again, just rub gently with a smaller stylus until
the paper cups around the stylus, then attach to the flower.

The peach flowers have a pearl product by Stickles in the
center of them. I am not wild about this method. The stuff
goes flat and just sits there and looks pearlie, not at all like
a flower center. ; )

Cougar

PSX made this stamp at least 15 years ago.
It is so elegant and detailed. AND
since we have these critters in our hill pasture
I have a special respect for them.
The cougar is also the reason that we
seldom hike in our pasture without a pistol.
It just isn't safe and we humans are easy prey.
We jump up and down and make lots of noise,
but are basically very slow and an easy kill for a cougar.
No idea how good we taste. ; )

The cougar has been stamped on cream card stock
with Stampendous black pigment ink
and embossed with fineline black embossing powder.
The edges were inked with Rangers Archival coffee ink.
A thread cutter was used to rough up the edges,
followed by an inking of black Archival ink
for a faux burn effect.

Under the cougar image is a medium brown
card stock that has been die cut with a
Spellbinders Label.
This is attached to the card base.
The dark green pine branches are a Cheery Lynn Design die.
Pine cones are punched from an
Emaginations punch out of dark brown card stock.
They were then tightly scrunched up and
partially unrolled. I only smoothed them out
enough to be able to see the pine cone shape.
There is a lot of texture on those little pine cones.

The card base is an ivory and light tan parchment.
It has been sponged with dark brown and black ink.
By sponging the card base and the oval of the image
the look of the card is more "pulled together".

Under God's Feet # 2

I will begin with the card base. It is
craft paper card stock. The edges have
been sponged with Ranger Archival black ink.

The texture layer is an embossing folder.
This was layered over black card stock and
a narrow border was cut using Perfect Layers rulers.

Over this layer is a band of DP from Paper Studio's
Everyday Kraft stack. Again it has been mounted
on black card stock and trimmed to a narrow border
using the Perfect Layers rulers.

The phrase has been created in PSP X. It is one
of my very favorites.
It was cut out with a Spellbinders die and
mounted on black card stock, then cut
to a narrow border with those Perfect Layer rulers.

The flourish is a single Bosskut die that is
wrapped around the phrase.

The final touch is three black rhinestones
in the upper right corner.

Isaiah 41:10

Here is a relatively simple design that showcases scripture.
The scripture was designed using PSP X.
Fonts used are CAC Champagne and ST Honeymoon.

After adjusting the size of my scripture in Word
it was printed in 2 column format.
A Spellbinders die was used to cut it out.
The edges of the die and the card base
were sponged with Ranger Archival coffee and black inks.
A very thin edging of black creates the faux burned look.

The pine branch stamp is from Hero Arts.
First I inked it with a dark green Distressed ink.
Stamp once on scrap paper and THEN
stamp on the card to give a shadow appearance.

The pine branches were cut using a Cheery Lynn Designs die.
The pine cones are the fun part. Just punching them
out and leaving them flat was very ordinary and boring.
So I tried scrunching the punched pine cone.
I really scrunched it into a tiny ball.
Then only partial smoothed it out.
That gave the little pine cones a lot of texture.
At least they look a little more real now.