Lace and Christmas Flowers JRC_084

I love this Lace Background Stamp from JustRite, and I decided to make a Christmas card with it. I am entering it into JustRite Friday Challenge #084 - "Flower Power".

I stamped the lace onto red CS using VersaMark, and embossed it in white. Then I mounted it onto gold mirror card, and onto a white card.

I used pearls and three K&Co dimensional sickers in the corners, and a flat K&Co tag in the center. I wanted the center tag to look like a shiny medallion, so I glued thick gold cord around it and used Glossy Accents to fill the inside.

It would have been prettier if I didn't have a couple of small air bubbles in the glossy accents.

Creatables and White Poinsettia Card

I made this card about a month ago, before I closed my shop for the season. It was when I first got this die, and I decided to use it to make a red and white card.

First, I cut a white card with the die, then I alternated red and white die cuts and mounted them onto the card, adding this dimensional K&Co sticker in the middle and red pearls to each corner.

This die makes it very easy to create a beautiful card that looks complicated.

Today when I saw Karen's card, it reminded me that I had never posted this one. Even though her card uses more dies than mine, and has that beautiful layered poinsettia, it's purely coincidence that we both made red and white cards from the same die, with a poinsettia as an ornament. (I like her card better though).

Anyway, since I'm an admirer of Karen's cards, I didn't want to post a similar card without putting a link to her's on my blog.

Green Ribbon Merry Christmas

I may not get the details on this card posted for a while.

Our power is on and off because of the hurricane, but at least I'm hoping I can get this card up before it goes off, probably for a few days.

I'm typing and publishing every few sentences because the internet also keeps going out, so if this post stops somewhere odd, it's because of either the power or the internet, and I'll have to finish it later.

I got this really pretty green ribbon a week or so ago, and thought it would be beautiful on a card. The green on the ribbon is very sheer, so I cut out a strip of matching green paper to put under it.

The paper the ribbon is on, as well as the card are Core'dinations Pearl, in a pale gold color, using gold mirror card as a mat. The gold strips are dresden paper lace, and make the background paper look like there are strips of satin ribbon on either side of the green.

The center motif is a retired JustRite stamp, embossed with gold, and mounted dimensionally with pieces of two of my Noor! dies cut out of more gold mirror card.

Okay, I managed to finish it. I'm gone until the power and internet are really back.

Another Good Friends Card

When I was making the card for the JustRite challenge a few days ago, I stamped and colored the medallion twice. Once with gold embossing powder, and once with white so I could decide which I liked better on that card. I do that frequently while making cards, and then I put the unused stamped piece into a drawer. Today I was going through the drawer, and decided to make a card using this motif, since it's one of my favorite stamps. I also love using this pale gold Core'dinations Pearls CS shaded with pink. Next time, I think I will try shading it with either green or blue, since everyone except Jill is probably getting tired of all my pink cards lately. (Although I actually do have two more pink cards waiting to be posted at some time).

Anyway, this time I cut another Noor! die out of the same Core'dinations pearl CS, as well as a Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight, one of Spellbinders Labels Eight, a mat of the pearl paper, one of gold mirror card, and a card made out of the pearl paper.

Then, I kept layering them and deciding where to shade the paper, where to use a gold stamp pad to stencil the pieces, and where to outline with a gold pen.

When I was satisfied, I put them all together, some dimensionally and some flat against the backgrounds, and added some pink and gold pearls.

I wish the pearlescent sheen of these cards showed up better in the photographs, because it looks really pretty in person.

Angel and Cross Card using Noor! Dies

As I was looking at this Noor! die, I decided it could make a beautiful cross, and the corner die would work well with it.

I cut the die I used for the cross three times out of Core'dinations pearl CS, and cut them with scissors to make a pleasing shape, then cut the corners from the same paper.

I decided to mount them onto this red pearl paper from my stash, and put a K&Co angel in the middle. I then added some K&Co poinsettias to the blank space, and some of their holly to the top corners. Red pearls were added to each corner, and to each point of the cross.

Elegant Santa Card

I made this card a while back. This Santa die cut fit perfectly in the Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles die. I cut and embossed the dies on Core'dinations Pearl, and tried them on various background papers. I liked this sparkly light blue, so I matted it with metallic gold and mounted it on a card made with more of the pearl paper. Then I used two shades of blue, I can't remember which ones they were, to shade them while they were still in the die. I shaded them unevenly because I thought it would add more interest than if they were evenly shaded. I wanted it to look like Santa was in a cold snowy atmosphere. Then I ran a gold pen inside the dies and added gold pearls.

I was trying to find something small to decorate the corners of the background paper with, and decided to cut these tiny flowers from Dresden paper.

Sparkly Christmas with Ribbon and Noor! Die

I made this card a few days ago. In person, it's very sparkly.

I started with the sparkly pine cone ribbon, and decided to use it on this sparkly paper from my stash. It is matted with gold mirror card.

Then I added this Noor! die, which I shaded with a metallic gold stamp pad while it was still in the die. After that, I added a sparkly gold bow I made and this sparkly Anna Griffin dimensional label which I've had for a few years.

Last, I added the pearls to the corners.

Lacy Poinsettia Card ODBDSLC127

I made this card for Our Daily Bread Designs ODBDSLC127 LEAF- Create your own letter Recipe Challenge. This week's challenge is to use three letters in the word "LEAF" and create a card or project beginning with those letters.

On my card L=Leaves, Layers, and Lacy, E=Embossing and Easel Card, A=Adhesive Pearls, and F=Flower and Fancy Fold.

The white paper is Core'dinations Pearl, the green is a generic pearlized paper, and I used gold mirror card for the mat. All stamping is VersaMark, embossed with Super Fine Detail Gold EP, and the coloring is done with Copics.

The poinsettia is from ODBD's Blessed Christmas Set and cut with their Custom Poinsettia Die. The Merry Christmas is from their Worship the Lord Set.

I also used Spellbinders Labels Eight, Decorative Labels Eight, and Fancy Tags Two, as well as some half pearls.

The poinsettia and tag are mounted dimensionally.

Good Friends and Roses Card JRC#084

I made this card for JustRite's Friday Challenge #084 - "Flower Power". This card is completely done using pale gold Core'dinations Pearl CS, and gold mirror card to mat the background layer. All the pink is done by shading with Brilliance pink on a sponge dauber after stamping with VersaMark and embossing with white and gold embossing powder. The background paper and motifs were outlined with a gold pen.

The background was stamped with JustRite's Lace Background Stamp. The Lace motif was stamped using Lace Medallion Labels, and cut with JustRite's custom Nested Medallion Labels Dies. The beautiful motif in the center is from Spring Rose Medallions - Cling , and cut with JustRite's custom Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies.

All coloring was done with Copics. I used roses and rose buds plus a bow to finish the card.

Oh yeah Jill, this one's pink too!

December 25th

This card uses two more of my Noor! dies, and two Spellbinders dies. The Noor! dies were shaded with Memento New Sprout to match the green in this K&Co DP. I love that DP and am so glad I bought so many of the 5x7 stacks so I have several sheets of it. I will be very sad when I use it up. It reminds me of wallpaper, and seems to give a warm and homey touch to Christmas cards. The DP was outlined with a gold pen.

I wanted to use two coordinating lacy dies for this one. On the top die cut, I layered two spellbinders die cuts accented with a gold pen, with a K&Co tag on top. On the bottom, I added another dimensional K&Co tag. I didn't use any other dies over this one because I didn't want to cover up this elegant die.

As a finishing touch, I just added a bow.

Roses and Daisies Card using Noor! Creatables and Spellbinders

I love mixing and matching dies, and love showing how you can use so many from different companies on one project. This card uses Three Creatables dies from two different sets, one Noor! die, and five Spellbinders dies from two different sets.

I made it in pink, because pink cards always make me think of one of my most loyal blog friends, and that makes me happy. Hi Jill!

Anyway, for this card, I used pink and white Core'dinations Pearls papers for everything but the rose and daisies. I die cut a card from the white pearl using the largest square Creatables die, then cut another white one to layer over the card base, so the design would be full sized at the top. Then I cut the next size smaller scalloped square from the same set in pink, and layered it over the white one.

The white lacy one is one of my new Noor! dies, then the round pink one is from a different Creatables set.

I made the leaves using the Spellbinders Foliage die, cutting them twice, then used a rose I had already made using the Spellbinders Rose Creations die. The rose is made with the four smallest dies from that set. I cut the largest of the four twice to make two alternating rows of the largest petals, and the three smallest ones once each.

I made the rose a few weeks ago using ordinary white CS and a pink Brilliance stamp pad for shading. The daisies are from two sizes of daisy petals from two different punches layered with Liquid Pearls in the centers. I made those months ago.

I sort of wish the rose was closer in color to the pink paper, but I don't have a matching pearlescent stamp pad for that. This is the closest pink I have.

Christmas Cactus Card using Noor! Dies and Spellbinders

Gosh, this photo looks much brighter on my blog than it does in real life. The red and green are not quite so bright in person, and look much better together than they do on here.

Anyway, I made this card using one of the Noor! dies I got yesterday. I used a metallic Gold stamp pad to color the embossing while it was still in the die.

I used this K&Co tag mounted onto two sizes of Spellbinders scalloped circles which I outlined with a gold pen. The circles and tag are mounted dimensionally.

I outlined the red background paper with a gold pen, and added red pearls to the corners.

Creatables Gold and White Square Card

Today I received four Noor! dies, and one Creatables set. They were all so beautiful it was difficult to decide which one to use first! The first thing I did was to cut and emboss each one of them out of Core'dinations Pearl paper. Then, I decided to use the square Marianne one.

I decided to make it cream and light gold, so I cut two more of the die shapes out of Core'dinations pale gold pearl CS, and another of the centers out of the white pearl. I layered them together, and decided to use a gold metallic stamp pad and my sponge daubers to highlight the embossing on one of the diecuts, and shade the center of it, as well as to run it around the outside edge of the outside die cut to define the edges.

Then I used the outside die to cut a card out of the white pearl, and mounted everything on that.

I had originally planned on using the center medallion by alternating two of the motifs and shaping them into a flower, but it didn't work for me, so I layered two sizes of daisies instead, and colored the stamen metallic gold with a gold pen. The daisies are actually off white, and quite close in color to the pale gold. The two medallions show behind it and look like a little doily under the flower.

Marianne Creatables and Star Collection Card

This card uses a Mariane Creatables die, and a Star Collection stencil. The base is made from the stencil. I embossed it on a light table using the PD0015 stencil, and only embossed up to the line below the point. Then I flipped the stencil vertically and embossed the same half again on the opposite end. After folding in half on the line, it made a stand for the card.

Then I cut out the Marianne Creatables circle for the top. I matted everything with light blue, and cut the flourishes behind the flower with the same blue. I added a blue flower I made from Prima flower parts, and decided to shade the raised parts of the stand with a matching blue Pebbles cream chalk.

I had originally pricked the embroidery design with a needle and was going to embroider it, but in person the prickings look nice, (they are so fine that they don't show up in the photo), and I decided it probably looks better pricked than it would embroidered on this card.

Last, I added Liquid Pearls. This card stands up by opening the bottom part, but the Liquid Pearls were still wet when I photographed it, and I didn't want to mess it up if I moved it around too much, so I photographed it lying down flat.

Spellbinders and Noor! Snowflake Card

I am still waiting for my Noor! dies to get here, but I wanted to use the one I already have, so I made this card. This die came from Kamya, and got here really fast, it only took two days, but they only had one of the Noor! dies I wanted. (They did have a lot of the Star Collection stencils I wanted though).

I wanted to make a snowflake looking card, so I played with the Spellbinders Persian Accents and matching Motifs dies, and this is what I came up with. I used Pebbles Cream Chalks to color them while still in the dies. They were cut from Core'dinations Pearl CS.

I mounted them onto a sparkly light blue CS, and matted that with gold mirror card. The card itself is made from more of the Core'dinations Pearl.

The corners are the Noor! die I got last week. I love these corners, they are small enough to fit onto a lot of cards, and work really well with circular designs.

They are actually straight on this card, but the mirror card curls a bit, so I frequently have to flatten my cards that use it on. I took the photo before I flattened the card.

Reindeer Card JRC#083

I made this card, then realized that it qualifies for JustRite Friday Challenge #083 - "Three's Company", so I'm entering it there.

I was going through my K&Co stacks, and saw this paper, which matches one of their Christmas tags, and decided it would make a pretty non traditional Christmas card. I matted the tag onto a gold and a blue sheet of Anna Griffin paper which coordinated well with the K&Co paper. They were cut and embossed with Spellbinders Labels Eighteen.

Next, I stamped a sentiment from JustRite's Noel Christmas Ornaments onto ivory CS using Distress ink, and shaded the tag with that, after cutting and embossing it with the same die set. The sentiment was matted with the same blue paper as I used to mat the tag.

The front of the card was also matted with that blue paper before being mounted onto an ivory card.

Everything was outlined with a gold pen, and I added pearls to the corners.

Marianne Designs Vellum Candlabra Card

I made this card using one of the Marianne Designs Star Collection Stencils I got from Kamya this week.

The candlabra was embossed on vellum using a small stylus, then I used a white pencil to lighten the embossing. The medium green pearl card was cut with two sizes of Spellbinders Grand Labels One. The smaller one was placed on the diagonal inside the larger one to cut a window for the vellum, then the vellum was attached to the back.

Next, I cut a larger piece of dark green CS for a mat for the lighter green, and to back the vellum so the embossing showed up better. The layers were mounted onto a larger sheet of Core'dinations white pearl CS, then I did a bunch of outlining and accented the candlabra with a gold pen. My outlining could have been neater. It was kind of hard to work today because it was only 46 degrees here today, and we only have a couple of small electric heaters in the shop, and I was freezing. I suppose we will have to close soon.

Anyway, next, I made a back for the card by cutting another sheet of the white pearl CS with the same size die as the card. I folded the top inch or so of this die cut, and lined up the bottoms, and attached the top folded part to the back of the card. I had to devise a way of attaching the back because the card is over 7" square.

Last, I cut some Marianne Creatables poinsettias and corner decorations out of the white pearl CS and some gold mirror card to embellish the corners. Then I added a bow.

Lea'bilities Holly Card

For a few months I have been wanting some NOOR! Design dies. Finally, this week, I sent for a few. One of the places which were listed as carrying them was Kamya. I went to their site, but found only one that I wanted, and it's only a tiny corner die, so I'm waiting to use it. While there, I decided to order a couple of the Star Collection stencils by Marianne Designs that I have been wanting, a Cheery Lynn die, and an interesting holly die by Leane Creatief BV. Now that I have tried this die, I know I need the Holly Border one that matches it!

More of the NOOR! dies I wanted should be here sometime soon. I ordered those and a new Marianne Creatables die from Ecstacy on the same day.

Anyway, since this is a very fine die, I used wax paper when I cut it, and I had no problems removing it. Without wax paper, I expect it would tear.

The die set consists of the two holly borders, plus three small fancy squares. I altered the direction of each die, using every other one as a diamond shape, rather than using them all as squares when I put them on the paper. This gave me a few larger spaces in each corner to add an embellishment.

I used a mossy pearl paper and a lighter green linen textured paper from my stash for this card.

The four little flowers in each corner were made from small punches. They were shaped and the layers were alternated. The center flower is made from two sizes of the Marianne Creatables small poinsettias. Those were also shaped.

To finish, I added gold Liquid Pearls to the centers of the flowers and at various points on the design.

It was supposed to be a Christmas card, but with these colors, and since the flowers don't look like poinsettias, it could be used for any occasion.

Now I need the holly border that goes with it. I think the holly leaves can be cut from the border and used in the corners of this die to change the look.

I'm really happy with this die set!

I'm also making another card like this in red with white, which is almost finished, and want to do one in blue with white. Now that I think of it, pink with white would be pretty, and so would a lot of other combinations. It seems to be a very versatile set!

Wishing you Joy Card

This card is made with JustRite's Noel Christmas Ornaments set.

The ornament was stamped onto Core'dinations Pearl CS using VersaMark and embossed with Super Fine Detail Gold. Then it was cut with the matching Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments.

The light green shading is done with Memento Cottage Ivy. I used a sponge dauber for the label part of the ornament, and a bullet point Fantastix for the smaller parts of the ornament. The darker green is Copic, and there is actually a golden yellow Copic used in the narrow outlines, but it doesn't show in the photograph.

After coloring the ornament, I tried it on different papers and decided on this K&Co one, then tried to find something to fill in the blank space on the paper. I decided on this old Wright's trim, and glued it to the DP and the gold mirror card under it, then applied the ornament dimensionally onto the card. (I used the cottage Ivy around the white card as well).

After applying the ornament, the card needed something, so I added the gold outline stickers and a bow, but I didn't really like it. I wish I hadn't added the trim. Trying to salvage it, I added some pearls. It still needed something, because the stickers looked flat and uninteresting, so I colored the holly leaves with the same dark green Copic I used on the ornament. It looked a little better, but I still wish I hadn't added the trim.

Help designer Darsie Bruno recover from a fire in her home

I have just learned that designer Darsie Bruno's home was destroyed by fire.

You probably have seen some of her beautiful cards on many sites, since she was on a number of design teams, including JustRite and Spellbinders.

For more details on the fire, and how you can help Darsie and her son, go to JustRite's page here.

Thank you.

Peace on Earth Card

I love these Spellbinders Decorative Labels Eight, and decided to cut them out with Core'dinations Gold Pearl CS. Then I had to find some paper it looked nice on.

The best paper was this Anna Griffin pine cone paper, so I made a Christmas card. I cut the pinecone paper to fit using Spellbinders Labels Eight for the largest and smallest rectangles, but since the Labels Eight don't have a size for the second largest, I traced the inside of the Decorative Labels die and cut it out with scissors to fit.

Then I used a 5x7 card, and cut another gold sheet for a mat, and another pine cone sheet to mount everything onto.

I added the K&Co sticker to the center, and added some branches made with a McGill punch. The McGill punch is almost identical to the MS branch punch, but it is quite a bit larger, and looked better for this particular card. I like having the choice of both sizes. Then I added roses and pearls to finish the card.

Ocean Tryptic Card JRC_083

Here is my second card for the JustRite Friday Challenge #083 - "Three's Company".

This one was pretty easy for me. I had done a similar card a few months ago, only that one had corners that folded down. The woman who bought it wanted me to make another card like that that didn't have corners that fold down so she could put it on her dresser and use it like a tryptic.

This fits the JustRite challenge because it uses six different patterned papers, plus two JustRite stamps.

All DP and embellishments on this card are K&Co.

This is the front. I used JustRite's Sea Shell Bay Labels Twenty Two for the stamp. All stamps on this card were done with VersaFine Onyx Black, and embossed with clear EP. The stamp looks very fine and detailed in person, but my camera's flash made it look funny in the photo. Both this stamp and the next one were also shaded with VersaMagic Aegean Blue and accented/outlined with a gold pen. On this stamp, I also colored some of the details with Copics.

Everything on the card is mounted dimensionally. I added four shells I cut out with scissors to the corners of the front. The label was cut with the matching Spellbinders Labels Twenty Two.

When you open up the front cover you see these two pages with dimensional K&Co stickers decorating them.

This is the card fully open. There are quite a few dimensional stickers here, and another label made with JustRite's At the Beach Oval Medallions.

This is the back of the card. The fish isn't a sticker, it's part of the paper design. I didn't want to put anything dimensional on the back of the card.

Gold Lace Christmas

Here is another Christmas card using JustRite Stamps. It's been a long time since I did a gold and white Christmas card, so I decided not to color this one.

For this one, I used JustRite's Christmas Miracle Ornaments, mounted dimensionally on their Lace Background Stamp.

All the white paper and the card were made with Core'dinations Pearl. Everything was stamped using VersaMark, and embossed with Super Fine Detail Gold. The "Joy to All" was stamped separately, cut out with a tiny Spellbinders oval and mounted dimensionally onto the ornament. I was planning on getting the Spellbinders Ornament Die that goes with this ornament, but I wanted the fancy die that goes with Labels Eight more, so I got that instead. I cut this ornament out by hand with scissors.

The outside of the ornament and the "Joy to All" were outlined with a gold pen. The ornament was mounted dimensionally onto the lace background, and the background was matted with Gold mirror card. Then I added gold pearls to the corners, and white pearls to the ornament.

Creatables Diorama Card

I made this card from a tutorial by Angie Crockett on the Our Daily Bread Designs Blog. At first, I was going to use a few of my ODBD stamps, but the ones I chose didn't really match up with the size.

Anyway, after trying to plan around stamps, I decided it would be easier just to use some plain paper and a DP for the outside with some Marianne Creatables inside on my first card like this.

I chose a generic dark blue CS, a piece of very old Hot Off the Press paper to cover the front and sides, and Core'dinations Pearl for all the die cuts.

I placed the Creatables villages on the back wall, the sleigh and reindeer on the second layer, and the tree and poinsettia on the front of the card. The frame was cut with a Spellbinders die.

This diorama is two inches deep, with the second layer one inch from both the back and front, so there is a lot of depth to the card. It actually was quite easy to make once I decided what I wanted to go into it.

Gold and Green Ornament Card JRC#083

I haven't entered anything into the JustRite Friday Challenge for a long time, and since I just got all these new stamps from them, I thought this would be a good time to enter again.

This time the challenge is "Three's Company", and we are to use three or more coordinating papers in our creations. This was difficult for me, since I normally don't use too many different colors or patterns of papers on the same card.

As I was going through my stash of Anna Griffin papers, I found some more of these green and gold pine cone papers, and decided to see which other ones would match. I finally settled on a holly paper which matched the green in the pine cone paper.

I stamped the "Merry Christmas" and an ornament from JustRite's Noel Christmas Ornaments set using VersaMark and Super Fine Detail gold embossing powder, then cut the ornament out with the matching Spellbinders 2010 Heirloom Ornaments. For the sentiment, I used Spellbinders Fancy Tags One to cut and emboss the tag, and outlined it with a gold pen to make it match the ornament better. These were stamped on a pearl green CS from my stash.

I cut plain ivory CS to form a 5x7 easel card, and used my Xyron to mount the holly paper onto it, then I matted the pine cone papers with gold mirror card and mounted them onto the holly paper. The ornament and tag are mounted dimensionally onto that.

The card looked kind of dark and plain, so I added some gold outline stickers from my stash, a gold bow I made, and some gold half pearls.

Christmas Album

I decided to make a Christmas album. I've been working on it for a few days, and finally finished it today. Some of these photos are really blurry. I upgraded my phone, but the camera on this one doesn't seem to be as good as my old one.

This album contains mostly K&Co paper, but a few sheets were from my stash. The album is 6x9, so it will hold 4x6 and some 5x7 photos. It is bound with my Cinch.

The first photo is the front of the album.

This photo is the first page. It has a place for photos, and also has tags. The photo below shows the page with the tags removed, and the front side of the tags.

This page has a flip up to hold two 4x6 photos, with tags behind it. I forgot to take a picture of it flipped up. The photo below is the front of the tags.

This is another page with a place for a photo, and also a little 12 page book sewn with ribbon. The book is 5x5, and contains plain ivory CS. It is suitable for remembrances such as theater tickets, writing in, or wallet sized photos.

The two photos below show the book. The tag on the front is for labeling the book.

This is another page with room for a photo, as well as a separate little book with space for four 4x6 photos. The photo below shows the booklet open.

This page also has a flip up and will hold three photos. I forgot to photograph this one open.

This photo and the one below it show how this page flips open to hold three photos.

This photo and the one below show how this page also has room for three photos.

This photo and the one below it shows a gatefold which opens to hold another photo.

Here is another page with room for a photo. It also contains another ribbon sewn book designed for 4x6 photos. The four photos below show the inside pages and the back cover.

This photo and the one below show the inside back cover. It also has a flip up for photos.

This is the back cover. I hope you liked it, and that inspires you to make your own Christmas album!