Triple Texture Card Tutorial

Here is the end result of using two different Cuttlebug A2 folders and a Fiskars texture plate on one piece of 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 paper.


Just a Note stamp (Stampendous)
oval die cuts (Spellbinders)
bow die cut (Bosscut)
Pink Pastel Fluid Chalk Ink (Clearsnap, Colorbox)


The pink ink is sponged around the outside edge of the card and the white oval.

STEP 1 -
Position your folders on either end of your piece of
4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card stock.
When using the Paisley and Dotted Swiss A2 folders
be sure that the printing on the folder is readable (up).
I used the dots of the A2 folder to position the card stock evenly.
Depending on how wide you want your dividing "ribbon", place your second folder. You will have a blank space for a narrow "ribbon" even if the A2 folders are touching each other.





STEP 2 -

The step 2 picture will show you how to feed your A2 folders
into your Cuttlebug machine.

I am sure that you can do this with other die cut machines a well.

Now turn the crank and see the results emerge from the other side
of your machine.

This is so cool. I just love these A2 folders by
Cuttlebug.

They are so easy to use and the end product is impressive.

STEP 3 -
To dry emboss the lines between the two different A2 folder textures,
I used a Fiskars texture plate. It is simply lines as you can see from the picture.

Position the dots on one of the lines of the texture plate and using the top of your bone folder, press into the first line closest to the dots.

I ran my bone folder up and down it several times to get a deep clean impression.


I found that the pointed end of the folder cut the paper rather than embossing.

Here is another card made with the same technique. I chalked the flowers, using the chalk eraser to remove any unwanted chalk.
Then sprayed it with Krylons Workable Fixative to prevent the chalks from rubbing off. (please spray outside, this product requires good venilation)

The white oval and the pink scalloped oveal were cut using Spellbinders Nestabilities. I used Pink Pastel chalk ink to sponge the edge of the white oval and the outer edge of the card.

The Bosscut bow was glued onto the ovals before the ovals were attached to the card. I wanted to be sure that I could position them correctly on the card. You can't clearly see the fine details of this bow die cut, but I am so glad I have it. It is the perfect finishing touch for this card.

The final step was gluing the whole to a card base of white cardstock. Now Charlene knows what I was talking about. LOL

Nancy's Card

My friend and stamping buddy, Nancy Serres, sent me this card. I was wowed by how well all the elements blended to create a very attractive whole. A super design.

Note the rhinstones in the center of three of the snowflakes. Then there are the two types of snowflakes on top of the dry embossed snowflake background.
(Can you tell that Nancy likes snowflakes?? LOL)

The phrase (Hero Arts) is stamped in blue, with the same blue sponged around the edge of the phrase and the background. The final touch is that ribbon that can be seen on the inside of the opened card.

Gabriele's Card

This card was created by my long time pen pal, Gabriele Rebmann of Germany. She has done such a lovely job of combining coordinating elements.

The card base is a metallic silver cardstock.
The phrase on the little vinatge card says,
"Pray accept from me a hearty Christmas greeting and man the season prove to be as happy as its fleeting."

Those little silver Christmas trees on the right side are such a wonderful touch. All around it is a beautiful design.

I will use this card as part of my Christmas decorations this year. Thank you, Gabriele, for such a wonderful gift.

Our Little Elf

Here is MacDuff our Scottish Terrier

on one of our morning walks.

It is very hard to get a good picture of

a black dog, so this one is special.

He is such a rascal.

Always into or up to something.

The frame was done in PSP X.

Butterfly and Flourishes In Green

This is one of my favorite designs.

Every once in a while you have a design that turns out

exactly like the vision in your head.

Since I did it in oranges, I had to try it in other colors too.

Here is the green version. It's yummy!

Christmas, Again!

I have had this background stamp by

Hero Arts for years and never used it.

It was so big and different that it intimidated me.

We can't have that!

So I grabbed backgrounds that I

had ready and began to stamp.

Some of them did not work at all

and other turned out great.

Card 31 is stamped on a Glimmer Mist background,

stamped with black pigment and embossed with

fineline black embossing powder.

It is layered on black, then gold gift wrap

and then a medium reddish brown card stock.

Card 29 is another Glimmer Mist background,

stamped in black pigment, then dark green

embossing powder is applied.

Now it is layered on dark green card stock,

followed by gold gift wrap, then yellow

card stock that has the edges sponged with

dark green dye ink.

Card 30 uses a polished stone background

made from Ranger's alcohol inks.

Talc the polished stone to prevent strays,

stamped with VersaMark and

apply fine line silver embossing powder.

Layer over navy cardstock, then

silver gift wrap and finally plum cardstock.
~Basic Stamping Tip~

Use metallic gift wraps for accent layers.

If you need a heavier metallic,

spray glue an entire sheet of plain white cardstock

and attach gift wrap.

It works great. I have been using gift

wrap on my cards for years.

Metallic papers are very expensive,

this will free up resources for other fun items,

like more rubber. (we can never have enough rubber)

Cari's Card

My daughter moved to Denver this past spring

to follow her dream.

She is now the charge nurse at the

University of Colorado Medical Center

Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic.

While I miss her terribly, I am

thrilled that she has been able to advance

in a profession that she has wanted since she was 5 years old.

I send Cari cards because I love her.

Her dedication to high nursing standards

inspires me to be all that I can be as an artist.

To not settle for just good enough,

but to strive continually for the absolute best.

This card was placed in the mail box this morning

and is on it's way to brighten Cari's day and remind her

that we love her and miss her.

The butterfly (Whispers, Sugarloaf Productions)

is embossed in fineline gold and painted

with Twinkling H2o's.

The fine floral flourish is stamped in black,

while the two bolder flourishes are stamped in

various Distressed Inks (Ranger).

I then swirled the orange, yellow and

mahogany Distressed Inks

around the edges, getting darker towards the outer portion.

The final touch was a "burn" of black sponged on the

the very very outer edge.

More Christams Cards

While I love the DCWV Debbie Mumm

Holiday Mat Stack,

by the time I had done 35 different cards,

most of them using this paper,

I was really really tired of Christmas cards.

So my next post today will be

my "Rebelling Against Christmast Cards" post.

Enjoy!!!

I hope that the cards found here

and on Stampers Quest,

www.stampersquest.com,

in the Christmas Blizzard,

will inspire you.

These designs are not just for Christmas.

Break out of that box, and use them for

Valentine's, Easter or anything that tickles your fancy.

Views from the morning walk

This our farmstead. The picture was take from about

1/4 of a mile away, which is half
way down our driveway.
The cows are grazing on volunteer

wheat from a field that was harvested
in July. They consider if very yummy cow candy.

This local land mark is srtaight west of our home.
It is very dry looking right now, with touches of snow
left over from the last storm.

It is known locally as Twin Mounds

and some maps also show it by that name.

These buttes are to the northwest
of our farmstead.

I love to watch the play of light and dark,
sunrise and sunset on God's marvelous creation.

Below is my husband the "the boys".
Our boys love their morning walk and
get a little cranky if something prevents them
from getting it. It is a wonderful exploration
every single morning. We enjoy watching their
wanderings and discoveries.

One of the cows very obligatingly posed

for her winter portrait.

She was very facinated by the doggies.

The dogs kept very close to us as some cows

are very anti dog. LOL (dogs get chased by cows)

Penguin Trio

Part of my birthday present this year was

a die cut of this really darling penguin by Bosskut.

I would highly recommend this brand of die cuts

to anyone. For me they cut well in any machine that

I have AND they have some wonderful designs.

OH, those penguins are such fun to play with.

Above is the first card with a penguin.

The gift box is also a Bosskut die.

The paper is from DCWV Debbie Mumm Holiday Mat Stack.

Here is another penguin cutie.

The die cut corners are by Quikutz.

The stamp is by Inque Boutique.

And the final penguin.

These die cuts were just so perfect with the

DCWV Debbie Mumm paper that features

glittered penguins.

The "paper ribbon" on the left side of the card

has a layer of corrugated white cardstock.

The Christmas phrase stamp is by

Hampton Art Stamps.

Scenic Christmas

Scenic Christmas was inspired by Anne J.,

a stamper in our weekly group,

Wild Women of the West Stampers.

Now truly, the only thing wild about us is our name,

but I just love telling my husband that I am

going to spend the day with the Wild Women.

To recreate this card you will need

dark and light green cardstock, cut to A2 size.

Cut diagonally across each piece.

Now you have enough for two cards!

Arrange as shown in the picture and glue

to an A2 card front.

I glued narrow gold bands over the seams.

Below is a close up of the medallion that was

used in the center of the card.

I used an elongated oval punch (Emaginations) on white cardstock,

then lightly sponged the entire oval light blue,

flicking the edges to make them slightly darker.

A part of scenic stamp that had mountains in it

was used to create the light brown stamped background.

Punch pine trees from dark green.

This particular McGill punch has both trees on one punch.

I really like their product because it punches

easily and cleanly in cardstock.

Now punch out the deer (Martha Stewart)

in medium brown cardstock and lightly sponge

a little dark brown on it to add some texture.

I took a white pen (Inkssentials opaque white, Ranger)

and colored the antlers.

Glue it all together and attach to the card.

You can use pop dots (or whatever you use to create

3-d) and possibly add some sparkles to the trees

with a sparkle or glitter gel pen.

Faux 3-D Snowflake

This "looks" like it is a dry embossed snowflake.

BUT, it's not.

I stamped this Stampendous snowflake in

Blue Iris Fluid Chalk Ink (Colorbox by Clearsnap0

onto light blue cardstock.

Now for the faux part.

Note that all the white is on the upper part

of every piece of the stamped image

Like light shining on it.

I used the Ranger white ink pen and

drew in all those white lines.

You really can not tell that it is NOT

raised until you feel the surface of the card.

This technique takes a little time, but

the stunning results are well worth the effort.

The final touch is to sponge with the dark blue iris

chalk ink around all the edges of the white A2 card base.

Snowflakes In Blue

You will note that these cards are numbered 19 and 20.

There are 18 more cards with full tutorials to be found at

www.stampersquest.com in the Christmas Blizzard section.

Please visit Stampers Quest for many many

exciting and innovative Christmas ideas.

These cards are very very simple to make.

The white background card is stamped

with Brilliance Pearlescent Sky Blue (Tsukineko)

and embossed using Hologram embossing powder.

Using dark blue cardstock, punch a silhouette

snowflake (All Night Media) and carefully

trim evenly around the edge with a deckle scissors.

The blue background card is stamped with

VersaMark (Tsukineko) and embossed

with white sparkle embossing powder.

I was amazed at how fast and easy it

was to complete these cards.

While any snowflake stamp can be used,

this one is by Art Impressions, one of

my favorite companies for rubber.

Sewn Tear Card

This was an interesting card to make.

The green marble looking paper is

the polished stone technique.

That is alcohol inks on glossy paper.

It can also be done with rubbing alcohol and

dye ink re-inkers.

Metallic gold, silver, bonze and copper are available

in Krylon Leafing Pens.

The Ranger Alcohol Inks with the accompanying

blender is by far the easiest product that I have

found to use.

Talc your polished stone before stamping. You will

have to use embossing powder if you have used metallics

in your polished stone as the they "float" over the inks.

When you are done heating the embossing powder

and it has had ample time to cool, lightly buff the paper

with a soft cloth to bring back

the lovely glossy polished stone look.

A fine metallic thread was used to sew the "tear".

When less is more

Sometimes less is more.

This sympathy card uses two stamps

and two embossing powders.

It is a very simple card to make,

but has a definite elegance.

The "With Sympathy" stamp is an unmounted stamp.

I have no clue who is the manufacturerer.

The leafy vine border is by Art Impression.

1. Talc the whole card to avoid strays of embossing powder.

2. Stamp the leafy vine border across the bottom and the right

side, apply green embossing powder

and cook it with the heat gun.

3. Stamp the sympathy phrase, apply gold embossing powder

and cook it with the heat gun.

This is a plain white card base.

To get the scanner to show the whole card I had to put

it on a colored background paper, so this explains

the goldy brown border.

Never knew I would be doing a blog when I scanned this. LOL

I scan or take pictures of all my cards and

when I get nine new ones I print them all

up on one sheet of inexpensive photo paper

as wallet sized pictures. This is big

enough for me to see exactly what I have done.

I no longer live in that fantasy land where

"I'll remember how I did that".

It has also helped me see how my stamping

has changed over the last 5 years.

Flourish Background

This card began on a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inch piece

of white card stock.

The background flourishes have been stamped

with VersaMark and embossed

with clear embossing powder.

The next step was to lightly sponge several shades

of blue dye ink all over the whole thing until

the flourishes are a little easier to see.

Now lightly talc to avoid strays.

Flick paper to get off excess talc.

With a dark pigment ink, stamp a border

flouish and the a phrase.

I used dark blue embossing powder with this design.

The design is now ready to glue to your card base.

Basic Stamping Tip:

Talc is easiest to find in the baby section

of your local discount store.

Look for the cheapest brand they have.

The ingredients should say something like: talc, fragrance.

I keep mine in a little votive candle cup

and spread it with part of an old washcloth.

Use whatever is handy and is small enough to

leave in the votive cup.

I talc everything I use embossing powder on

EXCEPT the dark cardstocks.

Vintage photo card

It all began with an old vintage photo from the internet.

The couple looked so romantic.

I wanted to create a romantic vintage card to use

for weddings.

The card base is from DCWV's 12x12 Old World Stack

cut to 8.5x11 then cut in half to become an A2 card base.

(A2 = 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 inches)

The edges of the card are heavily distressed with

brown ink.

The image is printed on tracing paper.

I used temporary double sided tape to adhere

the tracing paper to a piece of light weight card stock

and ran it through the printer. If you try this make sure

that the leading edge of your papers are taped as

close as possible to the edge.

I did a little distressing of the tracing paper printed photo,

then mounted it on gold gift wrap, followed by dark

brown paper that was then cut with

a decorative scissors.

On medium tan cardstock a

piercing template was carefully positioned

at each corner to frame the picture.

It was carefully cut out and distressed.

The last touch was the button with the shank cut off.

If you use a lot of buttons with shanks in your crafting,

there are special shank cutting plyers that

can give you a very close smooth cut.

Vintage Christmas

Have you every gotten a card all done,

only to have the last thing you stamp be

a BIG mistake.

Well, here is my mistake.

The Noel in red embossing powder is dreadful.

I didn't toss it, but looked for a way to salvage the card.

Here is the fix!

The Noel by Artistic Impressions was stamped and embossed

in fine line black on another piece of

Vintage Flourishes paper that I had made.

Then it was torn out, the edges were distressed and

"burned" with Ranger's Distressed Inks.

This was layered on a piece of bronze

mirror paper that has the corners rounded.

I toned down mirror paper

by sponging some brown ink on the whole

and just a touch of black lightly around the outside edge.

The inks refused to dry on the mirror card stock

so I hit it with Krylon's Workable Fixatif,

then glued it to the card base

over the ugly and very out of place red Noel.

Magic!!! another mess up saved.

Basic Stamping Tip -

Krylon Workable Fixatif is wonderful to prevent

smearing of certain color treatments, such as

chalks, mica powders, PearlEx, etc.

Simply apply the color treatment to

your project, lightly spray with the Fixatif,

let dry and THEN it is possible to add more

layers of color treatment if desired.

This allows one to add layer after layer

of color for more depth and shading.

It also prevents accidental smearing of your

artistic endeavours by the recipient.

Spray Box

I have noticed when using all my wonderful spray mists

that the fine mist "travels". (a LOT)

Here is a simple inexpensive solution.

First cover the crafting area where you are going to be

spraying with newspaper.

I suggest that you cover your whole table and maybe

even part of the floor.

A large sturdy box is laid on it's side and

I even laid newspaper in it as I want to use

my box over and over.

Now lay your craft sheet or plastic over the newspaper

inside the box. The box with sides extended seems to contain the

spreading of the spray mists over large areas.

I didn't see any spray mist on my floor.

(and I even mopped it to be sure)

TaDah!!! you have a spray box.

Why the Craft Sheet or Plastic?

These will not absorb the spray mist, allowing

you to fully utiltize every possible drop of your product.

I use half or quarter sheets of card stock to

"smoosh" or wipe up the left over spray mist.

My friend Nancy S. had a wonderful idea.

She started using glossy cardstock.

It doesn't absorb nearly as much as the regular

cardstock, you have the glossy sheen

when you get done and your product goes much further.

Nancy and I had so much fun creating lovely colorful

backgrounds for our stamping projects.

Ten Minute card

Quick and easy. Yet it has a distinctive style.

On a piece of white card stock,

shadow stamp randomly in a light color.

Now stamp over that in a dark colored ink

with your phrase stamp. In this case

it is a stamp that I love to use by Stampendous.

Now tear around your phrase that is stamped over

the shadow stamps. You can see that

I didn't tear too close to the stamping,

this makes it easier to position the brads.

I used the same ink that I stamped the phrase with to sponge

the edges of the tear.

The strip of paper under the phrase is

actually PearlEx and glue technique.

(very glitzy, fun and messy)

The phrase is attached to the PearlEx and glue

strip wtih brads. A round paper clip

was attached to the upper left corner of the

phrase as well. Glue all of this to

a light coordinating paper. Trim to desired size

and then attach that to a darker card base.

Using a little bit of everything

This card was a lot of fun to make.

My materials came from everywhere.

You can see that the "thirds" basic design

is very effective and pleasing to the eye.

The card base is covered with scrapbook paper.

A Fiskars corner scissors was used to round the edges.

The "ribbon" is a Fiskar border punched text weight paper,

under cardstock, with real ribbon as the final layer.

A Spellbinder geometric circle die was used for

the metallic silver circle frame. Vellum was

talced, then stamped with Hero Arts phrase

and embossed with fine line black embossing powder.

THEN position the silver circle frame over the

vellum and glue in place. Trim excess vellum

and attached to card.

The next step - the silk flowers and leaves were placed,

with "jewels" glued to the center of the flowers.

BASIC DESIGN RULE - always use an odd number

This is evident in this card;

the paper ribbon is place 2/3 of the way down the card,

there are three flowers and five leaves

and the silver frame is 1/3 of the way from the left edge.

MacDuff meets a nasty critter

Late last night, when my husband Joe let the dogs out for their last "job" of the day, MacDuff met his first porcupine. YES!!!! he did get a nose full of quills. Luckily he is a cautious dog and none of them were terribly deep. There were only about a dozen and we pulled them immediately before they had a chance or work in further. Needless to say, MacDuff was not a happy doggie last night. He seems to be perfectly fine this morning.

The neighbors cows were mooing all night long. They had weaned the calves. The cows are now calling for their young. They will stay at the place where they saw them last for several days, leaving occasionally for grass and water. Then life goes on for both cow and calf, just in different pastures.

Wild, Wild West 2

Stamps by Queen's Dresser Drawer.

I love them, I love them, I love them.

The horseshoes are a Sizzix die cut. (love them too!)

The background is western gift wrap.

The easiest way to apply gift wrap to the whole

front of a card - one straight edge, line that up

with the top of the card,

turn card over and used remaining three

edges a guides, using a scissors to trim.

The images are stamped with VeraMark,

embossed with fineline black embossing powder

and trimmed to the desired size.

The edges are then distressed (a lot) and

sponged with black dye ink to give that burned look.

The paper rickrack was made with my Creat-A-Cut

paper cutter.

Wild, Wild West

Since I live on a ranch in western Nebraska

it is no big surprise that I have a special place

in my heart for western stamps and of course

western style cards.

The stamp on this card is by Sutter Enterprises. She

has some fantastic cowboy and cattle stamps.

A lot of the western cards that I make

are on a parchment cardbase. It just goes well

with the theme. The mottled looking

third layer from the top is actually wallpaper.

Wallpaper is a great resource for card makers.

Best Buds

Our boys, Diesel a standard Pomeranian

and MacDuff a Scottish Terrier, were intently

watching "dad" working in the yard.

I simply could not resist and took this very adorable

picture, which of course I had to make into

a card to send to our friends and family.

Scrapbook paper covers the card base.

The letters are die cut from a Cuttlebug alphabet

and the black dots are a large hand punch.

Morning Walk

MacDuff, one of the morning "walkers".

My husband and I usually take short walk in the mornings. Short = 1.5 miles.

This morning we walked an electric fence that needed to be checked.

Deer have a habit of knocking them down during the night, until they

get used to where the new fence is.

Electric fence is one wire with temporary light weight metal posts that is put up to allow cattle access to fields that they would not normally graze. In this case it is wheat stubble that has volunteer wheat growing in the stubble. This is extremely yummy cow candy. They and their calves get very fat and sleek from this type of feed.

It was a cold still morning of 28. The dogs just loved the walk. Since it was not the usual walk, there were lots of new smells and adventures. Be assured that every weed and dirt clod in the first 100 yards is well marked now. LOL

We have been noticing this year that there are not nearly as many hawks and eagles in evidence. We know it is from the ten year drought. There is just not enough prey available for them, so they have moved on.

Yesterday we heard the geese honkng their way south. My husband has seen a large group of Sandhills Cranes foraging in one of the neighbors harvested corn fields. We are still hearing a few bull elk bugle in the evenings and early morning. Ahhh, I love this land and the life we have.

Sunrises and Sunsets

The area where I live has some absolutely stunning

sunrises and sunsets.

I have taken pictures and when I print those pictures,

they don't look real.

Below are my very pathetic attempts

at catching the beauty of what God created for our pleasure.

Both cards started with plain white cardstock.

The colors were sponged in.

Then the entire card front was dusted with talc, image inked with

VersaMark and fineline black embossing powder applied.

Paper Quilting Tutorial

This quilting is done with scraps from

polished stone projects.

1. Glue polished stone scraps to cardstock.

2. Cut black frame using Spellbinders geometric die.

3. Glue frame to polished stone scrap paper quilting.

4. Using a straight edge and layering ruler,

cut around outside of frame.

5. Glue to black paper and cut with deckle

decorative scissors.

6. Stamp phrase on card.

7. Glue on paper quilited layers.

Fall Is In The Air

It's a bit nippy in the mornings now.

Time for all those fall chores AND fall cards.

While I am not a Halloween fan, I do

love fall with all its' soft subtle colors,

the change of the season

and a slower pace after the insanity of summer.

These cards are a combination of paper and stamps.

Most of the cards are in the "thirds" format.

1/3 color or pattern on the top or bottom

and 2/3 coordinating color or pattern on what remains.

A band of something is used to cover the seam.

Something is layers of paper, ribbon, etc - just

about anything that you can get to stick to

paper that will cover the seam between the 1/3 and 2/3.

This format of "thirds" can be applied in the landscape

or portrait positioning of the card.

The colored band on the above card

was made with Distressed Inks.

The edges are sponged in dark brown,

the band was then talced to avoid strays,

stamped with VersaMark, embossed

with fineline copper.

The papers are Debbie Mumm's

Harvest and Holiday 6.5x5 stack.

Made for Joann's by DCWV.

The colors and glitter are just so yummy.

The whole right side of the above card

is a background made with Distressed Inks.

AND there is a variation of the "thirds" format.

If you look closely you will see the

skeleton leaves embossed in gold on the

bottom 2/3 of the above card.