Another Painted Box using an ODBD Stamp

Lately I've been having fun using my stamps to stamp on wooden boxes, and then painting them. I love this box, which I've had for years, and was glad to see that the bird and thistle from the Our Daily Bread Designs He Watches Me Set fits perfectly on the top of it. I was so worried about getting the bird centered that I forgot that he should probably be angled a little more diagonally though.

The bird is actually supposed to be a sparrow, but with this dark wintery weather, I decided to make a cheerful little goldfinch instead.

PSX Stamps Lighthouse Boxes

I made this box using one of my old PSX stamps to match the one I made last summer. The one I made last summer is shown below. The two boxes are identical except for the stamps. Last summer I did Portland Head, and I used Pemaquid Point Light on the new one.

I hope I can find boxes this size when I get out to NY to visit the kids for Christmas, because we can no longer get them here. I have a few more Maine Lighthouse stamps that I want to use, and these were the perfect size for them.

I love using stamps as painting patterns, they have so much detail!

Our Friendship Card JRC_086

I made this card for the JustRite Papercraft Challenge #086 - Proud As A Peacock. For this challenge, we were to use peacock colors in our creations.

I decided to use my newest JustRite stamp set Vintage Oval Labels. I stamped them with VersaMark, and embossed them in gold. Then I colored them with Gelly Roll pens in shades of blue, green, violet and yellow. They were stamped onto Core'dinations Pearl paper. I love the metallic and sparkly look of the Gelly Roll pens on this paper.

I shaded the centers of the labels with violet Brilliance Ink, and cut them out with scissors. (There are matching Spellbinders dies for these labels, but I don't have them). Then, I outlined them with a gold pen, and mounted them onto pearlescent violet paper from my stash. I cut out around the label, and outlined that with gold as well.

The papers I used are DCWV Mariposa Stack, Core'dinations Pearl in white, and Gemstones in blue, more of the pearlescent violet paper, and Gold Mirror Card separating each layer from the next.

The white daisies are from Recollections, and the blue ones are some I made by layering various flower parts. The stamens were colored with a gold pen, and I added gold pearls to three of the corners. Both of the labels were mounted dimensionally.

Peacock Tiles

I haven't gotten a card done for a few days because I've been working on making some digital files to put on Etsy. My latest tiles are these peacock ones I made from some of my peacock photos I took last year.

I also did a show over the weekend, but unfortunately, the economy is still bad, and nobody did much. It was fun seeing everyone again though. I used to sell between $500 and $700, last year, I sold a little over $300, and this year it was $126, and the cost of the table had to come out of that. I probably should feel good about it, a lot of the venders didn't get the money for their tables back this year.

There were a lot more people with tables than we've ever had, and a lot of people came, but this year they weren't walking around with shopping bags full of things like they used to.

I had other things besides cards, but almost everything I sold this year were my cards. It was the same way in the gift shop all summer, and in most of the other gift shops in town. People were only buying things they knew they would need, not gifts and Christmas decorations or other things that people cut back on. I hope the economy improves next year.

Lighthouse Christmas ODBDSLC131

I made this card for Our Daily Bread Designs Winter Holiday Challenge.

Since I live on an island, and we have several lighthouses here, I wanted to make a Christmas card with a lighthouse, so I decided to use ODBD's Keep My Lamp Burning Set. This morning, I saw this card by Thea Wildeman and decided to try this fold for the card.

I cut the card with green CS, and made the panels with white. I embossed them with the Cuttlebug Dotted Swiss EF to simulate snow, then mounted them onto the card.

All the stamping was done with Memento Cottage Ivy. I cut around the lighthouse, and made a wreath around the compass with green EP accented with red for a bow and berries, then mounted it dimensionally on the large panel.

The rear sentiment is from the same set, and the front sentiment is from ODBD's Blessed Christmas Set. They were also mounted dimensionally, as was the tree, which was made with a Marianne Creatables die.

I made a poinsettia from another Marianne Creatables die, and used it in one corner, with greenery from the MS Branch Punch.

Last, I added some red pearls and more branches to the corners.

For all the people who have asked for a pattern for this one, It's been quite busy for me for a few weeks. When I made this card, I was experimenting. When I fold this card, it isn't quite right. I need to make the vertical sides a bit wider so the back of the inside box doesn't show. I need to figure out new measurements. When things slow down a bit, maybe even in a few days, I will try to figure it out and make a diagram for you. :-)

Update: I just went back to Thea's Page, and I see that she has added a diagram for the original card she made. I apparently made my card in the same way as she did hers, only I used inches. It looks like hers will do the same thing as mine, since her sides are also narrower like mine are. Mine is 6x12 inches, with the top and side measurements as 1" each, and the folds in the inserts are 1 1/2" each. It's the extra half inch that makes this card look a little strange when folded.

Anyway, since this is actually her card, it would be nice if you used her diagram even if you use my measurements, and leave her a little love on her blog.

I will still try to figure out measurements so this card won't look strange when folded as soon as I get a chance.

Hanging Ornament Card

I didn't get a chance to make a card today, so I'm uploading an old one I never uploaded before.

This one uses an older JustRite Original Christmas stamp cut with one of the Spellbinders Ornaments dies. I used Dresden paper trim colored with Copics, and a gold pen around the edges. The stamp is embossed with gold EP. The ornament is hanging from a piece of gold thread and swings freely on the card.

The paper is Core'dinations Pearls, K&CO, and gold mirror card. I added gold outline stickers, gold pearls, and a gold bow to finish it. It was another fast and simple card I made a while back.

Wooden Sled Ornament with PSX Santa Stamp

I actually made a card today, but it didn't turn out the way I expected it to. I made one of those star shaped ornament cards with the five squares that you use the origami squash fold on, then glue together, and when you hang it, it's supposed to look like a star. It was all lacy and die cut, stamped and embossed, and it took hours to do, but when you open mine, it looks like a wheel or something. It's round, but flat on the outside edges. Not at all like a star. Part of why it took hours wasn't only because of all the work I put into each piece, but also because I spent hours trying to find one on the internet so I could see what I did wrong. Since I don't know what they are really called, it was difficult to find them. Anyway, when I finally found some, they were made exactly like mine, but the ones on the internet look like stars, not wheels with flat sides. :-(

I guess I will have to do some more research and try to figure it out.

Anyway, every year my mother and I take some of our things to a Christmas benefit show, so when I'm not making cards for it, I'm doing other crafts. The show is this Saturday. One of the things I made is this wooden sled from AC Moore.

I base coated it with white and antique gold paint, then added a few coats of metallic gold and some sparkly white from Martha Stewart. After that, I stamped this santa from an old PSX stamp with versamark, then embossed it with gold EP. I drew a line around the top to frame it with a gold pen, and put a few coats of varnish on it.

It's quite pretty in person, much prettier than the paper wheel I made today!

Christmas Tree Card using Noor! Dies and Creatables

I made this card from the measurements of this card on the Noor! Designs blog.

For the panels on my card, I chose two kinds of ribbon which were the right size for the folds, and cut separate strips of paper the same width as the ribbon, and a little shorter than the card. Then I applied the ribbon to the strips and mounted them onto the card.

Next, I cut out the Noor! dies, and shaded them with metallic gold ink. I mounted them dimensionally onto the card, and cut a red Christmas tree with one of my Marianne Creatables dies. I still haven't found a shade of red paper I really like, and had none to match the red ribbon, so I colored the die cut tree using Copics, and used a gold metallic pen to add the ornaments with.

To decorate the die cuts, I punched some tiny flowers out of gold mirror card. They look more like scalloped circles, which is what I wanted, rather than flowers. Then I added deep red pearls to them, as well as adding some to the die cuts without the punched flowers behind them.

I like the card while it is open, but next time, I will make the folds next to the center narrower, and the outside folds wider. It looks a little strange when folded, as only the center shows, with the rest hidden behind it.

Got a few new things today

Today we went Christmas shopping. I mostly bought for my mother, and she had me pick out some things for her to get for me.

We went to Joann's and AC Moore. I was very disappointed in both stores. AC Moore is getting more and more like Walmart in terms of scrapbooking quality. I miss being able to buy Spellbinders, and they have now discontinued the Cuttlebug stuff as well.

JoAnn's has also discontinued the Spellbinders, and only had a few old ones left. I did manage to get the small oval and circle sets. I was really glad, since I only had the large ones, and those never seemed to be the right size for a lot of the stamps I had, but I am still really disappointed. Now there is no place around that sells Spellbinders. I also was desperately in need of more tape for my ATG, and neither place has that any more. I was almost completely out of Superfine Detail Gold, and neither place carries anything but large kits of embossing powder, and I have no idea what the quality of those is, but I don't want to spend big money on a big kit of colors I don't need, only to find out that the one vial of gold isn't as fine as I need.

I did manage to get a Memento Tuxedo Black stamp pad. I think that is the one that works the best with Copics.

They also had a Fiskers cutting thing on sale, so I got that too, hoping it will work so I can make the center step cards more easily. It doesn't have the scoring tool, and neither place had one of those, but I have the MS scoring board, so it doesn't matter that much. The Fiskers thing is plastic, and my other 12" one was metal, and much sturdier, but that one had a defective part where you slide the blade down, so maybe sturdiness and metal instead of plastic doesn't mean it was better.

With these chain stores discontinuing so many of the good products we use, it makes me wonder if they even want to carry scrapbooking supplies any more. They both have fewer aisles, and so many fewer products now. There are hardly any flowers like the Prima ones left either. None at Joann's, and only a few leftovers at AC Moore. Are Michael's and Hobby Lobby carrying fewer supplies as well? I only get to those places when we are In NY visiting the kids. If they have cut back too, I will be so disappointed.

I suppose it's good for the LSS, but we don't have any of those, so I guess it will be mail order for me from now on. It used to be so much fun to go to the craft stores, now it's difficult even to find enough to use the coupons for.

I did get another three drawer cube thing for storage at AC Moore with my coupon from there, but there was nothing to use the coupon for at Joann's.

I'm trying not to remember what my mother got for me for my birthday and Christmas, but it was mostly paper stacks, a new VersMark pad, (mine is pretty worn out), a set of Brilliance pads, and some ribbon. No new and beautiful Spellbinders dies or embossing folders.

Die Cut Filligree Card

I've always loved the cards made by Elly de Bruin. She is probably the queen of using die cuts. Today on the Noor! blog, they had instructions for making one of her cards. Although my card is nothing like the one on the Noor! site, it did inspire me to try making my own "Elly style" card.

I started by choosing this Spellbinders die for the main panel, and kept layering other dies on top until I found a design I was pleased with. Then I cut everything out using white CS and shaded them all with green. Some layers are dimensional, and some are mounted straight onto the layer below. Then I added some pearls.

The dies are from Spellbinders, Noor!, and Marianne Creatables. The white is actually all the same shade, but the white in the center motif looks brighter because of the camera's flash.

Center Step Card with Noor! Dies and Creatables

This is only the second center step card I've ever made. I know it's pretty easy if you have a Fiskers cutter that works, but unfortunately, the first one I bought was smaller and didn't cut very straight. Everything was a little wider at one end than the other. Then I bought a larger one, and the cutting thing doesn't move smoothly in the track. It has always stuck in places, and doesn't cut evenly because of this. The track has defects in it, and since I've had it for quite a few years, I can't return it. Anyway, way back when I bought those two cutters, I got fed up and purchased a more expensive one from a different company at Staples. This one works well, but it has a wheel, and you can't use it to start and stop precisely in the spot you want it to like you can with the Fiskers ones, so making these cards is kind of a pain.

I made this card as a 5x7 card, with 1 1/2" sides, and a 4" square center.

I took two photos of this because with the phone's flash, it doesn't show the shiny gold, and with just the lamp shining on it and no flash, the colors aren't great.

The die cuts on the sides and in the center are Noor!, and the one behind the tag is a Spellbinders Fancy Tags One. The trim on the bottom is Dresden paper, and the large flower motif is K&Co. The tag is from my stash, and the poinsettias on the sides are Marianne Creatables.

I also added green rhinestones and gold Liquid Pearls.

Another Red and White Christmas

I haven't had much time for making cards this week, so I'm uploading another one I did over two years ago, when I got my first Marianne Designs products, and before I had a blog.

This one was done with a Designables embossing folder, and a bunch of Creatables. I gave the card away long ago, so I don't have a clue what I used for paper.

It may be my own design, or it may be one I cased, I'm not sure. Anyway, if it is one I cased and someone recognizes it, please let me know and I will give credit. I barely remember making it, but I know it is mine, not only because of the folder on my computer it was in, but also because of the background which I cropped out.

Red and White Lea'bilities Holly Card

I didn't get a chance to make a card today, so I am posting one I made a while back and never put on my blog.

This is similar to one I made about a month ago which was in two shades of green.

This card was made with a holly die set by Leane Creatief BV. The flowers in the corners were made with small punches, and the poinsettia is made with dies from Marianne Creatables.

I accented the card with silver Stickles, but the silver glitter didn't photograph very well, which is why I didn't put this on my blog when I first made it.

I cut the Lea'bility die using wax paper since it is a very fine die. I would expect it would be difficult to remove it without tearing it otherwise.

Gold Poinsettia and Ribbon Card ODBDSLC130

I made this card for Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge ODBDSLC130 Gold or Silver.

For this card, I used Core'dinations Pearl CS and Gold Mirror Card. The Poinsettia is from ODBD's Blessed Christmas Set, and cut with their matching Poinsettia Custom Die. It is stamped using Versamark, and embossed with gold EP.

I had a roll of this Christmas Ribbon, which had a very sheer pale gold center with sparkly gold snowflakes, and gold borders. I decided to cut a piece of the gold mirror card a little wider than the ribbon and mount it onto that. In person, it looks like the gold under the ribbon is brushed gold, with gold mirror borders. If the sun comes out tomorrow, I'll try to get a photograph of it without a flash so you can see the effect. In this photograph, you can see the shine through the ribbon because of the way I photographed it. (I tried photographing it again, but it didn't come out great. Also, you can seewhere I ran my ATG to hold the ribbon down in the photo, but in person, you can't see it through the ribbon).

The poinsettia is mounted dimensionally onto the ribbon. The background paper was embossed using a Spellbinders M-Bossibility on just the edges, leaving a small strip between it and the gold paper, then I drew a gold line along the embossed edge with a pen, and mounted a saying, a bow, and some pearls.

Another Glittery Christmas Card

For this card, I used some of the ribbon and another color of the glittery gift wrap I bought yesterday. I took lots of photos of this card, trying to get one that really shows what the card looks like, but it was really difficult to photograph all that glitter. The aqua glitter paper is lighter and prettier than it looks here. It is a bit lighter than the ribbon.

Besides the glittery paper, I used silver mirror card and Core'dination white pearl CS. The ornament was stamped using VersaMark and silver tinsel EP. The stamp is from JustRite's Noel Christmas Ornaments set.

Instead of using the matching Spellbinders die for the ornament, I cut around it with scissors because I didn't want a border. The central motif is mounted dimensionally.

I added silver outline stickers from my stash in the corners, and white pearls and aqua rhinestones.

Christmas Card with Glittery Paper and Noor! Dies

I couldn't wait to try the glittery gift wrap I mentioned in my last post on my blog.

I started by choosing a K&Co tag which would match one of the colors of paper I bought. This tag had touches of glitter, and in person, the blue on the tag is the same shade of blue as the paper.

For the other papers, I used a pale gold Core'dinations Pearl paper, which matched the ivory color in the tag, and a mat of gold mirror card.

The tag is dimensionally mounted onto a die cut from one of my Noor! dies. That die cut is mounted dimensionally onto the background paper and surrounded by corners made from another Noor! die. I added a few blue rhinestones as a finishing touch.

In this photograph, the amount of sparkle makes it look like the glitter is sparse and it looks like you can see the background through the paper, but you really can't. The glitter covers the paper completely, with no background paper showing.

Inexpensive Glittery Paper

You know those sheets of glittery CS that sell for $2.00 per sheet? I'm hoping this will work as a substitute!

I was at Walmart today, and I saw this gift wrap in the Christmas section. It was in quite a few colors, but I only bought these three because they are the colors I can see myself using the most.

When I got home and opened it, it did shed some glitter. Not much, but a little. I'm hoping that it won't need to be sprayed to keep the glitter on, but so far, I don't think it will. It is gift wrap weight, so it will need to be mounted onto CS using either the Xyron, or spray mount, but that's no big deal, I do that with my mulberry and other light weight papers. I keep those rolled until I need to use them, then I just cut white CS to size, run the CS through the Xyron, and mount the thinner paper as I need it.

Anyway, it's a seasonal item, and it's so pretty, I expect a lot of people will be buying it to wrap their gifts, so it may not be in the store for long. I hope it works well, because it is a lot cheaper than the stuff in the craft stores!

Also, they had some pretty nice Christmas ribbon, so of course I got some of that too!!!

Gold PSX Church Card

I decided to make a simpler card today. I wish all the pearlescence showed in this photograph, because in person, it's very pretty.

All of the paper is Core'dinations pearl in white and two shades of gold, with some gold mirror card for matting. I did the embossing with gold EP, and added gold outline stickers and gold pearls. I only used a few simple embellishments because the pearls and metallics don't really need anything else in person.

I love these old PSX stamps, and am glad I got so many back when they were still in business.

White Filigree Blessings Card

I had so much fun playing with my corners dies from the November Amazing Paper Grace Kit, by Becca Feeken yesterday, that I had to play with them again today.

This card was done with multiple layers of Core'dinations Pearl paper. For the filigree layers, and I made a layer with the die facing inwards, and then another layer facing outwards.

The medallion is stamped onto blue pearl paper with JustRite's Vintage Rose Medallions using VersaMark and White EP, and cut with JustRite's custom Nested Medallion Labels Dies.

I finished it off with this blue and gold double bow and some pearls.

Filigree Noel Card JRC_085

Yesterday I got my first Amazing Paper Grace Kit, by Becca Feeken. I love these filigree corner dies from Spellbinders and JustRite that I got with it, and had to make a card with them.

I am entering this card into JustRite Friday Challenge #085 - Happy Holidays.

All the white paper is Core'dinations Pearl, the blue paper is a pearlized blue from my stash, and the rhinestones and snowflakes are also from my stash. As in the previous card I posted, the snowflakes and rhinestones are much lighter in person than in the photographs.

The center medallion is from JustRite's Noel Christmas Ornaments, and cut with JustRite's custom Nested Medallion Labels Dies. I did the stamping with VersaMark, and embossed it with gold.

The die cuts are layered and mounted dimensionally, and I traced around the blue one with a gold pen.

Lace and Snowflakes Card ODBDSLC129

I made this card for the Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge ODBDSLC129 Winter White.

For this card, I used six layers from two different Marianne Creatables dies, cut from Core'dinations Pearl CS. I mounted the layers onto a card cut from one of the same dies.

The Rejoice and the church on the inside are from Our Daily Bread Designs beautiful Worship the Lord set. These were stamped using VersaMark and embossed with gold EP. The church on the inside was cut with another of the same dies and mounted at the top of the inside.

I tried this with silver, but my silver is very old, and it didn't show up well enough, so I did the stamping again with gold. The old EPs just didn't work as well as the new ones, and mine stamped very flat and unevenly.

I added Diamond Stickles, but they didn't add enough contrast to the card, so I added these crystal snowflakes from my stash. On my card, they are much lighter than they appear in the photograph, and match the card much better.

Now that I have seen this card on my blog, I will probably add Merry Christmas from the same set to the bottom half of the inside.

Ornament Fancy Fold Card JRC_085

I made this card for JustRite Friday Challenge #085 - Happy Holidays. For this challenge we were to use two or more dies.

I decided to use three different JustRite stamps for this. Deck the Halls - Cling, Christmas Miracle Ornaments, and Noel Christmas Ornaments, and cut them with their matching dies: 2012 Heirloom Ornaments, 2011 Heirloom Ornaments, and 2010 Heirloom Ornaments, as well as JustRite Custom Nested Medallion Labels Dies.

After making the card and cutting, embossing and coloring everything, I found out that on this particular card, the smaller ornaments were a bit too large for the card because I had added so many, so I trimmed the white border from all except the Large ornament in the center page, and the star shaped writing space.

The papers are from my stash, and all the ornaments are mounted dimensionally. The writing space is mounted directly onto the card. The three center ornaments have a gold cord attached to a gold Stickles "nail".

Everything is embossed with gold, and colored with Copics. I also did shading with Distress Antique Linen. The gold outline stickers are from my stash, and I added more dots of gold Stickles.

Rose Border Card

I thought I would put a non Christmas card up today. (And it's a pink one Jill) :-)

A few months ago, I found out that our AC Moore wasn't going to sell Spellbinders any more. They still had a few, but nothing that I really wanted. Since I had a 40% off coupon, and I hate going to a craft store and not buying at least one Spellbinders die, I bought this Grand Rose Border even though I wasn't sure I wanted it.

A few weeks after I got it, I tried embossing it, and using a Brilliance ink pad to color it while it was still in the die. I mounted it on a piece of 5x7 Core'dinations pink pearl card. I didn't really know what I wanted to do with it, so I Stamped this ODBD Eternity saying onto Core'dinations white pearl and cut it out with the matching ODBD Elegant Ovals die. The sentiment was stamped with Brilliance pink and embossed with clear EP, but I couldn't get a good photo of the pink, so you can't read it in the photo. It's easy to read on the actual card.

I added the die cuts to the card and outlined everything with a gold pen. Then I stuck some Spellbinders corners to the card front and stuck some roses and pearls in them, and added a narrow gold ribbon and bow to the side. Then I mounted the whole thing to a card made from more of the white pearl CS.

I don't like the card at all, but at least I used the die.

Tis the Season Card JRC_085

I made this card because I wanted to try this ribbon I bought a couple of weeks ago, then I realized that it fits JustRite Friday Challenge #085 - Happy Holidays.

For this card, I started with a 5x7 white card, then cut a piece of gold mirror card for a mat, and another piece of white CS for the background paper.

I hadn't used this white mulberry paper with the gold threads running through it for a long time, so I ran the background paper through my Xyron and put it on top of the mulberry paper to adhere it.

Then I applied the ribbon and mounted it all on the card. I cut two borders from Spellbinders Ironwork Accents and cut them to size, placing one on each side of the ribbon.

I stamped Tis the Season of Love from JustRite's Christmas Miracle Ornaments using VersaMark, and embossed it with Superfine Detail Gold, onto a motif from the same die set, and layered it dimensionally onto a motif from the Ironwork Motifs set. These were both cut from Core'dinations white pearl CS.

Then I cut another motif from the Ironwork Accents set from gold mirror card and mounted them onto that. The whole thing was then mounted dimensionally onto the ribbon.

Last, I added a gold bow I made.

Holly and Pine Cone Card

This is another very simple card to make, but I like it because it is so warm and traditional looking. It's just a piece of K&Co CS and an old Anna Griffin tag. I matted them both with gold mirror card, and mounted them onto a white card. Then I added a couple of dimensional K&Co stickers to the corners of the tag, and a few pearls.

Red Ribbon Christmas

I made this card before I made the one with the green ribbon I posted the other day, and in person, this one is much prettier, and much more rich looking. When I looked at the photographs on my computer though, the green one looked much nicer, so I posted it first.

I bought this red ribbon at the same time as the green one. It is narrower and the red isn't sheer, but they are very similar.

For this one, I mounted it onto some more of this sparkly gold DP from my stash. I used a Spellbinders die to cut the two borders on either side of the ribbon, mounted the DP onto gold mirror card, and then onto a white card, then added gold holly stickers and red half pearls to each corner.

The motif in the center is another dimensional Anna Griffin sticker I've had for several years. It was a really quick and easy card!

Cardinal Card with Noor! Dies and Spellbinders

For this card, I used a Noor! die for the center, and another one for the corners. First, I cut the Noor! dies out in white CS, then laid the die cuts out in my Spellbinders Grand Labels One, and found that they would fit in the largest one.

I cut the red CS and the gold mirror card out with the Spellbinders die, and trimmed around the red so it would fit inside the gold one. Then I mounted them onto white CS and cut that out larger.

Since it's difficult to find CS larger than 12x12, I cut two more of the largest Labels One, and trimmed the top 1/2" off of one, and scored the second one the same distance from the top. Then I adhered the folded section behind the cut section, and attached that to the back of the card front to create a folding card.

I cut a piece of gold mirror card with one of the Spellbinders circles, and mounted a K&Co tag to that, then used the die to trace another circle on the tag with a gold pen. This was mounted dimensionally onto the card.

The card looked kind of plain, so I added gold outline stickers between each corner, and red rhinestones to the corners and center of the bow on the tag. It still looked plain, so I cut individual little flowers from Dresden paper lace, and used a red Sharpie to add red centers to each flower. Those were glued to the corner die cuts and the centers of the outline stickers. Then I added Glossy Accents to the bow and red berries in the tag to give it more dimension.