Twisted Easel Card using Spellbinders Dies

For this card, I used white cardstock, green linen textured cardstock, Anna Griffin paper, and green Queen & Co pearls.

I made the die cuts using Nestabilities and Shapeabilities by Spellbinders in my Grand Caliber. I did the lettering with my Pazzles Inspiration using Jellyroll pens and the pen tool.

I usually try to have some less fancy cards in my shop for the men and for the women who don't like a lot of embellishments, and this is one of those cards.

I made this card from instructions on Valita's site. She has some beautiful things there. I'm not sure whether or not I made them exactly like her instructions, because our internet is too slow to watch uTube, plus my computer has no sound, but she has a pattern on there, so I used that.

This is actually the second card I made like this, the first one was prettier and was yellow, but my neighbor came over while I was finishing it and asked if she could have it. I never got a chance to take a picture of it.

It's done on ordinary white card stock and Anna Griffin pink card stock. The roses in the center are Redoute, and the ones scattered around the card are cut from Anna Griffin paper which was left over from another project. The die cuts are Nestabilities cut out on my Grand Caliber, and the shading on the front of the car and the die cut inside were done with Pebbles. Pebbles are a cream chalk, but I haven't decided whether I really like them or not. I find it is difficult to shade with them. The gold stickers are from a dollar store we used to have. I sure wish they hadn't closed years ago, because it was the best dollar store for crafts I've ever been in. It was called "All for a Dollar". I've been in two of those, and they always had lots of paper, stickers, and really cheap jewelry which I took apart and used the parts for embellishments and other crafts.

After they moved out, another one moved in, but it didn't have anything interesting in it, and it closed after only a couple of months. Now we have Family Dollar, but our's isn't very interesting for crafts, and it hardly ever has anything for a dollar in it!

Spellbinders Grand Caliber Card

 

This is the first shaped card I made with the new Grand Caliber dies. I used ordinary white cardstock for the card and outlined it with my gold Pen Touch pen. I used ordinary green card stock for the next layer, and Anna Griffin paper for the top layer.

The I think the yellow flowered label is also Anna Griffin paper, (I made the card last spring, so it's hard to remember). I cut the top border with a Fiskars border punch, and did the lettering on my Pazzles Inspiration with a Jellyroll pen. The pearls are Queen& Co.

Lantern Christmas Card

I used a Sizzix snowflake embossing folder on this card, gold mirror card, and blue cardstock. I then used one of the motifs from a card I downloaded from Sams Cards in the UK for the center motif. I have bought a few cards from her, and they are very nice. My recipients loved them, and I have sold some in my shop. Susan is very nice and lets you sell the cards you make from her designs, which makes me want to order more from her.

Something which bothers me is, I have seen some of Susan's cards on other people's free download sites. Now, I don't know Susan, but I am under the impression that she is one person who designs beautiful cards and makes them available to us to print (and sell the completed cards), for a reasonable price. I don't expect that she is making a fortune doing this, and obviously she puts a lot of time into each of her designs. I imagine that there are a lot of other people who are getting "ripped off" in the same way. I guess I am asking that if you see "freebies" that you know are from sites like Susan's, please go and purchase from the original artists rather than downloading the pirated designs.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox now. :-)

My new Marianne and Cheery Lynn dies are here!

They are all gorgeous! The Marianne ones are all Creatables. I got a set of Anja Corners, the scalloped spiral rose one, the five piece flower one, both villages, both reindeer and the sleigh. For the Cheery Lynn ones, I got the set of three small butterflies and the three piece wing set for them.

Of course I sat right down and cut each die out of ordinary white card stock the minute I got them so I could see how they look. I'm really happy with all of them, and can't wait to make something nice!

Redoute Roses Waterfall Card

This is my first waterfall card. I used Anna Griffin Paper for the background and pull tab, and Core'dinations gold pearl paper.

Open Passe Partout Daffodils

This card was created using one of Mattie's open passe partout stencils by Marianne Designs. The frame was embossed on a light table, and cut out with a craft knife.

The green paper is a moire paper mounted on card stock with my Xyron. I cut the yellow design from similar yellow moire paper cutting it a little larger than the design in the middle of the stencil and mounted that on the green paper. Then I mounted the 3-D daffodil die cuts using foam tape, and added green rhinestones to the frame.

Exploding Box Album

 

This is the first time I have made an exploding box. I had a very clear picture in my head of how it was going to look, but unfortunately, I made the top last, and I didn't realize that it was going to cover up half of the sides. I had pictured it as having the toile design on top, and being able to see the same design on all four sides.

I didn't get too fancy with the inside panels, I just used the Spellbinders labels one to make plain panels to either add photos or comments inside the box. Since I have the box for sale in my shop, I decided it would be easier for whoever bought it to customize it themselves this way. I also used labels one on the outside.

The box is made of textured linen card stock and toile background paper. I added a rolled rose which I made by using a scalloped circle nestability cut into a spiral. The border around the top is from a Marianne Creatable. I didn't have any ribbon of the right width in a matching color to weave it through the border, so I glued a wider one under the border so it shows through the slots. I then added Queen & Co. pearls.

White and Gold Christmas or Golden Anniversary Card

I like to make cards which can be used for more than one occasion, especially when I make them to sell in my shop. I originally made this one as a Christmas card, but it also would work for a golden wedding anniversary.

This was made with white and gold Core'dinations pearl papers and Marianne Designs Creatables. I've had so much fun with my new Dutch dies and stencils that I placed a second order for them this week! I ordered a couple of Cheery Lynn dies at the same time.

White Christmas

Since I can't get anything uploaded to Picassa, I am linking to my pbase account for my photos. I hope this works.

For some reason, this card looks debossed instead of embossed. I think it must have been the angle of the sun.

I made it entirely out of Core'dinations white pearl paper using Marianne Creatables, and the Cuttlebug Swiss dots embossing folder. Since the card is 6 1/2" square, I had to use the embossing folder four times to emboss the whole background. When you do this, the folder flattens out certain parts of your embossing, but I found that if I used my embossing stylus to push the dots back into place from the back, then carefully lined them up in my folder and only squeezed the parts where the embossing had been flattened with my fingers, you couldn't tell  that it had been flattened. I think I need to get some larger embossing folders for my larger cards.

Trifold Shutter Card 2

This is my second trifold shutter card. I cut it out on my Pazzles Inspiration, and used Spellbinders Nestabilities to cut the die cuts with.

Am I the only one having problems with Google pages lately?

During the last few days, I have had problems with Google pages. When I check my gmail, I get a message saying that the server is taking too long to respond and I have to switch to the html version.

I have had trouble getting any blogs on Blogger to load, and today I can't get any pictures to load in Picassa. It tries to upload, but then I finally get red bars where the pictures should be, saying connection to the server was lost.

I have no problems with any other sites, only the Google ones.

Trifold Shutter Card

This is the first trifold shutter card I ever made. I cut it out on my Pazzles inspiration. I used Anna Griffin paper, Core'dinations linen textured pearl card stock, generic green and white card stock, a Fiskars border punch, and several Spellbinders dies.

Embossing Plus on Vellum

I just did this card today, and the technique worked really well. I decided to try an embossing Plus folder in my Sizzix Big Kick using vellum instead of card stock.The pinks in those little flowers came out looking flourescent in the photo for some reason, but they really aren't. They are the same colors as the rest of the pinks.

First, I cut the vellum a little larger than my EP folder, then ran it through the Big Kick. I mounted it on linen textured pink pearl paper from Core'dinations with pink metallic brads. I find that using an ordinary push pin is a great way to make starter holes for the brads. Then I mounted it all on a white card.

I then cut out another oval in regular white card stock from another EP folder, and mounted that in the center of the vellum oval.

I added two simple flowers made from an EK Success punch with centers made from a flower shaped hand punch, and I raised the petals a bit and put them in the centers of two of the embossed flowers.

I made a rolled rose from one of the circles from the Spellbinders blossom die and mounted it in the center. It's the first time I have tried a rolled rose, and it was really easy. Next time, I will try shading it and curling the petals a little before putting it together.

Finally, I added Queen & Co. pearls in two sizes.

Blue Hydrangea Card

I used a stencil from avec.nl for this card. It is one that you emboss with a light table and cut the openings with a knife. I mounted it on gray granite paper stamped with an old Anna Griffin background stamp, then mounted that on dark blue paper and a white card.

The die cut is from K&Co., the pearls are Queen & Co., and the ribbon is Offray.

Embossing Plus Rose Card

I made this card with a Cuttlebug Embossing Plus Folder and spellbinders dies.

I used white card stock, pink  linen cardstock, and gold mirror card. The gold looks orange because I photographed the card outdoors without thinking about the fact that there was an orange picnic table umbrella over it.

 I added Queen & Co. pearls and gold Dresden flowers, and outlined the circle around the rose with a Jellyroll pen.

Frothy Christmas Card

On this card, I used ordinary red and white card stock, and Core'dinations Pearl. I punched the corners of the pearl sheet with an Anna Griffin corner punch and layered cutouts from  Spellbinders dies with red card stock cut a little larger than the die cuts. I finished it off with Queen & Co. pearls.

I had a really fun day today!

I live on an island in Maine, and we only have one vehicle. The nearest AC Moore and JoAnnes are two hours away, and the nearest Michaels is four, so I hardly ever get to them.

The last few times, I only got to AC Moore, and I was so disappointed. So many things were discontinued, and they only had the same old Spellbinders dies that they have had for the last few years.

Today I got to JoAnnes, and I got some really fun things. I got a bunch of K & Co. die cuts with lots of die cuts in the packages instead of just a few stuck on the backing sheet. It was like getting little grab bags for a reasonable price! I got a Brenda Walton Layered Accents set with butterflies, flowers and birds, A Tim Coffey Layered Accent set with Hydrangeas and irises, and a Brenda Walton set with 51 die cut and vellum pieces in it. I couldn't wait to get home and open the packages to see what was in them!

I also got two new Spellbinders dies that I didn't know about. One was Rose Creations, and the other was Carnation Creations. My biggest reason for wanting to go was to get dies and punches for flower making, so I was really excited to see these! I also got the only three Fiskars flower punches that they had, and an EK Success one which I unfortunately already had. (The EK Success one is also almost identical to a Fiskars one I have). I'm not too upset about that though, since they are really lightweight punches, and I love the flowers they make. I use them a lot, and sometimes punch paper that is too heavy for them, so at least if I break them, I have spares. :-)

I also got some more of the Core'dinations white pearl paper and some pale lavender of the same paper. I love that paper!

Now I can't wait to start making more cards, those layered die cuts will look beautiful with my new Marianne dies and stencils.

Embossing Plus Christmas Card

This card uses Core'dinations Pearl paper, some green paper sold in sheets at our local craft store mounted on card stock with my Xyron Creative Station, gold mirror card, (the mirror card looks black in the photo), Queen & Co. pearls and a die cut.

Okay, the reason the gold looks black is that it wasn't gold I used, it was a very dark green. Oooops! That's the problem with putting older cards you no longer have on your blog. You don't always remember the details.

I cut and embossed the frame with a Cuttlebug Embossing Plus folder in my Sizzix Big Kick, and outlined the poinsettia leaves with a gold Sakura Pen Touch.

Four Christmas Cards

Here is another bad photograph from my phone which was taken last winter. The frame on the one at the top was embossed using an Anna Griffin stencil. I made the blue frame from some printers ornaments and added a die cut Santa.

The border on the card at the top right was cut with my Spellbinders, and has another die cut santa. I think the Santa came from Dover publications in one of their die cut books, but I'm not sure. I made these cards over a year ago.

I made the green diamond shape in the one on the bottom left from more printers ornaments, and cut the scalloped circle behind the die cut with my Spellbinders dies. On these cards, I probably used the dies in my Sizzix Big Kick, since I didn't have my Grand Caliber yet.

I don't remember the details on the card in the bottom right, but I do know that is an Anna Griffin Frame around the die cut.

I have such an obsession with the old Anna Griffin things that I spent a ton of money trying to get as many of her discontinued stamps, stencils, punches, books and paper as I could. Some things I wanted very badly but never got. Her stamps were some of the most elegant of any stamps I've ever seen.

Pansy Card

For this card I used a Core'dinations linen textured pearl paper, Anna Griffin paper, white linen textured paper and a generic plum colored paper. I coated the die cuts with a clear glaze, and added Queen & Co. pearls. The doily thing was cut from a Spellbinders shapability.

Christmas Cards

Here are some more bad photos from my phone that I took last winter. The top two cards were done with my Spellbinders, and the bottom two were done with my Pazzles Inspiration.

The top two were done on paper I mounted to the cards with the Xyron Creative Station. The bottom two were from a project in the Pazzles Craftroom. I did the background with my Pazzles using a Sakura glue pen and embossed the backgrounds with some embossing powder I had, then used the Glue Pen in my Pazzles to do the gold outlines which were then sprinkled with embossing powder and melted. I sort of messed up the poinsettia on the first one, so I used a Dresden Santa on the second instead.

Pretty Ovals

I used Core'dinations pink and white pearl papers and cut them out with my Spellbinders Nestabilities. Then I colored the edges with a gold Pentouch pen, layered them, and added a diecut, which I outlined with some Wright's Trim. Next, I added Queen & Co. pearls and a bow. The card is mounted on a white pearl folded card I cut out using the same die.

Pink Rose Card

I made this card using a Spellbinders Nestability, gold Dresden trim, Queen & Co. pearls, gold outline stickers, and some moire type paper sold in sheets at a local craft store. I applied the paper using my Xyron Creative Station

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More new Toys!

I finally got my order from Ecstasy Crafts. I got a bunch of the Marianne dies, embossing and cutting folders, and embossing stencils. The biggest problem I had was deciding what not to buy because they were all so beautiful!

At least a year ago, probably longer, I remembered seeing the most beautiful cut and embossed lace cards, but I could never find them again, no matter what search words I used. Finally, two weeks ago, I found them. They were here and here. Today I received a bunch of the dies, and hopefully, tomorrow, I can start making beautiful cards like the ones on Corry's and Petra's sites!

Lacy Card

I made this one last spring using my Grand Caliber and Spellbinders dies. The punched edging is done with a Martha Stewart border punch. I colored around the middle section with a PenTouch Pen and added ribbon to the borders. The lace borders are Core'dinations Pearl paper in two colors.

My newest Toy

This is my newest toy and I love it! These are the two dies I have so far, and they make really pretty cards. I used labels one for the easel cards in yesterday's post.

I prefer cutting and embossing all of my spellbinder's dies with this to cutting them on my Big Kick.

I still haven't gotten the hang of this blog site!

If things here still look weird, that is why. My links aren't showing up as links, and I had to go back to the old interface to add text to my pictures.

I hope someday, my blog will look like all of those beautiful ones I see on the internet.

I also hope to eventually add graphics for you to download. I have thousands of old postcards, especially Santa ones, antique books with gorgeous engravings, and beautiful old perfume, candy and food labels. I want to offer those for free, but I would like to figure out how to get advertisers on here first so I can pay the heating bills this winter!

I hope to start posting more frequently, and figure out how to make this blog look the way I want it to.

I also have a new toy. I finally got the Spellbinders Grand Caliber. I've always wanted an easy way to make shaped cards, and now I can do it. I love my new toy!

I have new toys coming in the mail as well. Two weeks ago I sent out an order for a bunch of those Dutch dies and embossing and cutting stencils. Most of them are from Marianne Designs. I love the lacy look they give, and I can't wait to get them!

Easel Cards

This card used a Spellbinders Grand Caliber die, pearl paper by Core'dinations, and pearls by Queen & Co.
I think the frame is from The Graphics Fairy if it wasn't, and anyone recognizes it as being from somewhere else, please leave a comment below, and I will add a link. I added the saying with Photoshop. I found the frame, and it wasn't the Graphics Fairy, but her site is wonderful, so visit it anyway! The frame is from Jinifur, and she has some really beautiful things .

This card also uses the pearl paper by Core'dinations, purple paper, and gold mirror card. The gold outline stickers were some I bought years ago at a dollar store, and the pearls are Queen and Company. I used my Pazzles Inspiration and the pen tool to do the saying with Jellyroll pens.

This card is made with the Grand Caliber by Spellbinders. The green paper came from a metallic stack I bought several years ago, but I don't remember the company name. The pearls are from Queen & Co. and the saying was done with Jellyroll pens in my Pazzles Inspiration. I made the graphic in the middle.