Blue and Gold Filigree Card

Excuse how crooked this photo is. We might be the first to see the sun rise in the US way down on the east coast of Maine, but we are also the first to see it set. I put this under a lamp and practically stood on my head to take the photo. It also made the gold on the filigree look green, when it is the same color gold as the shading in the dies.

I used my metal filigrees again to emboss this card, and used an assortment of Noor!, Creatables and Spellbinders dies to make the design. The blue and white papers were shaded with gold and Broken China inks. I don't have the distress ink pad, just the bottle with the sponge dauber in it, so I used a Fantastix to do the Broken China shading. It isn't as smooth as it would have been if I'd had an ink pad.

All the square layers were outlined with a gold pen, and I used another gold pen to add little gold dots to the scallops on the Creatable circle. Then I added blue and white Liquid Pearls.

Marvelous Squares Challenge

Quite a few people told me they want to CASE my Marvelous Squares card, so I thought it would be fun to link our cards here, so we can all see each others cards.

There won't be a drawing or anything, it's just a way for all of us to share our creations with the Marvelous Squares. If everyone has fun and wants to try making cards with a different die set, we can do that another time!

I just signed up for inlinkz, but have to figure out how to do it. I'll add the link tool as soon as I figure it out. In the meantime, I'll put links to the cards I've made with only Marvelous Squares, including the one where I cut out a bunch of combinations from the die set so you can see what they look like before cutting them out.

Purple Marvelous Squares Card

Card Made from Marvelous Squares

Playing with Spellbinders Marvelous Squares

Marvelous Squares Card with Rhinestones Added

For this first challenge, we should try to make cards using nothing but the Marvelous Squares die set. Stamps and embossing folders are okay, and sentiment tags are okay, but try not to use any other dies for the focal point of your design. Later, we can try combining the Marvelous Squares with other dies. Also, please add a link to this challenge on your page so everyone who wants will be able to participate.

I hope this will be fun for everyone!

Purple Marvelous Squares Card

I took out a bunch of die cuts from the Spellbinders Marvelous Squares die set that I had cut out a while ago, and decided to play with them. I decided to do this one in purple.

The shading on the die cuts and bottom layer is done using Brilliance Purple, and is actually closer in color to the background CS than it appears in the photograph. It is darker than it appears, and is definitely purple, not pink.

To accent the die cuts, I added purple rhinestones and white and light purple Liquid Pearls.

Blue and Silver Filigree Card

This morning I was planning on doing a card using lots of embossing. Before I started the card, I decided to sort through a very old box of craft supplies that I hadn't looked at for years. One of the things I found in the box were some very pretty metal filigree corners.

I decided to try running them through my Grand Calibur just to see how it would work. I cut a piece of CS to five inches square, and taped one filigree to each corner. It came out quite pretty, so I decided to make a die cut card rather than one with lots of embossing.

All the card stock is either white CS or textured light blue CS, with a card made of textured white CS. I shaded parts of all of them with Brilliance Platinum ink except for one layer, on which I used Brilliance Silver. I wish the sheen of the Brilliance ink showed up better in the photograph. I used an assortment of dies from Noor! Designs, Marianne Creatables, and Spellbinders. Some layers are mounted flat, and some are dimensional.

Last, I added Blue and white Liquid Pearls.

Chinese Birds and Flowers Card

Probably everyone is getting tired of my coloring cards, but it's so much fun. I probably should do something besides circles, because the only Spellbinders I have that are big enough for these are the Grand Squares.

The coloring is done with Copics, and each layer is outlined with gold. The circle and outside square were outlined with my Krylon pen which doesn't work very well. Actually, I have two brand new ones, and neither work, and neither do the two PenTouch pens. I guess they must have been old when I bought them. Anyway, I used a gold Gelyroll pen for the rest of the outlines because it worked better.

Each square layer is also lightly shaded with metallic gold while still in the die to give a little more contrast to each layer, then I used Liquid Pearls for each corner.

Chinese Flowers Card

This is another one made from my digital stamps. The background is painted with my Pearl Ex Paints, and looks smoother in real life. The rest is colored with Copics.

The design is matted with gold mirror card and more of gold and teal the paper I bought years ago at a paper mill. The center is one of the Spellbinders Persian Dies, and I added a few teal colored pearls.

We are on our third weekend in a row of big snowstorms, only this week, so far, the power hasn't gone off like it did the last two weekends, so I got two cards made today. Now I need to get the lunch dishes done, and start dinner!

Leafy Yellow Flowers Card

I'm really having fun making my own digital stamps and coloring them. This one was colored entirely with Copics. It's not my favorite card because it doesn't have enough dimension, but it was fun coloring it.

The dies used were Spellbinders Grand Labels One, and Decorative Labels One. Since the card is six inches square, the Decorative Labels One wasn't big enough to really show behind the image, so I cut it onto quarters and spread them out so they would show up.

All the other dies were accented with a metallic gold pen, and the outside one was shaded with Memento Bamboo Leaves. The pearl in the center was actually gold, but I wanted an orange accent, so I colored it with a coral Copic, then added some Liquid Pearls to the corners.

Another Dud Card

I am posting this messed up card anyway to show the Pearl Ex paints I made. Some of them are duo colors I made by mixing more than one color. I also used some Twinkling H2Os and some Lumieri.

I started this card at noon time yesterday. At six pm last night, I got the image mounted onto green Core'dinations paper. I was very late starting dinner, but my husband was busy too and said he didn't care if we ate late. Feeling guilty anyway, I was trying to hurry. That's when everything started going wrong. I used two brand new gold pens. One was Krylon, the other was an extra fine Pentouch. I think the gold metallic pens we buy in this area must be old ones, because it seems like every time I buy a new one around here, they don't work very well. When I buy them in New York, they work.

Any way, they go from very dry, to blobbing. I ran the fine one inside the die on the darker green layer, and got a big blob in one corner. Then I ran the Krylon one around the outside and it was dry and messed up and I had to keep trying to make it work. Since the border between the two gold lines was messy, I painted dark green H2Os between them to hide it.

The other messy thing was when I was finished and added a few Liquid Pearls. I didn't like the arrangement, and kept adding more. They got messier and messier. I should have stopped working on this card as soon as I finished cutting it out, and waited until I had more time. Then it might have come out nicer.

I started this card with a digital stamp I made from this Phoenix. (I'll add a link to the book later, we are going off the island today). Then I colored it using a mix of Pearl Ex, Twinkling H2Os and Lumieri paint. The darkest green at the top of the wings and the smaller touches of orange on the flower are Lumieri, the medium green is the H2Os, and the rest are Pearl Ex. The Pearl Ex ones are the most Pearlescent, and the ones with the greatest color shift, and the Lumieri ones are the ones I like least on this card. I'm also not very happy with the white shades.

After painting it, I was trying to figure out a good shape. I came up with this. Since the CS was a bit warped after painting, I ran it through the Xyron, hoping that it would flatten when I mounted it. It flattened perfectly, so that was one thing I did right.

Then I decided this was the best Spellbinders Grand shape I had for the card. The outside edges reminded me of clouds, which tied in with the Chinese theme of the card.

The smaller layer is Core'dinations, and the card is cut from ordinary white CS, and painted with Pearl Ex Duo Green Yellow inside the die to match the card better.

Anyway, it's a dud, but it was an interesting idea, and I may try something similar later.

Art Nouveau Flowers Card

I made another digital stamp from printers ornaments. This was also colored with Copics, and the outlines which look like bright yellow in the photo are actually from an extra fine metallic gold PenTouch pen. They really aren't bright yellow.

After coloring the design, I fussy cut around the outside and used pale yellow Pebbles Cream Chalk to shade the white CS on the design. Next, I layered it onto a Spellbinders Decorative Labels One layer made from white CS. The rest of the layers are Grand Labels One. Two are cut from yellow CS, and the background layer is white CS shaded with Memento Bamboo Leaves. I tried shading the yellow layers with Distress Antique Linen, but my reinker didn't work, even though I followed the instructions exactly, and I ended up shading it with a metallic gold ink pad used very lightly.

All the layers were outlined with the gold pen, and everything was mounted onto a card I cut using Grand Labels One. (I always do a regular die cut from one layer and then layer it over the die cut card so it won't be flat where the fold is).

The flower in the center was made by using two white daisy Prima flower parts. I colored them with a lavender Copic marker, then went over them with Interference Violet Pearl Ex paint, and added stamens to it after layering the two together. The pearls on the corners are Liquid Pearls.

Butterfly and Flowers Card

This image was scanned from a book of victorian printers ornaments. I made two digital stamps from it. One with both the butterfly and flower, and one with just the butterfly, and printed them both out. The flowers and leaves were colored with Copics. The butterflies' wings were painted with yellow Pearl Ex paint I made, and the body with Twinkling H2Os. I really wanted a deep blue, almost black for the body, but never successfully made one. This was the deepest color I had that was either blue or green. The top butterfly has it's wings lifted up, and both butterflies have a pretty pearl sheen against the flatter colors of the flowers.

The flowers and butterflies were fussy cut with an X-Acto knife and scissors, and mounted dimensionally onto Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles, which was shaded with Brilliance Sky Blue.

Everything was matted with green, pink and gold mirror card, and mounted onto a white card. The pearls are Liquid Pearls.

Morning Glories and Filigree Card

I wanted to try something different today, so I made a digital stamp. This one is colored with Copics, and matted with gold mirror card. The corners are by Spellbinders, and they were from Becca Feeken's November Kit Club.

The matted design and corners were mounted onto a square of blue pearlescent card from my stash, and this was also matted with the gold mirror card. Then I added some blue half pearls.

For my loyal readers, the ones who comment all the time, I have a little gift for you to show my appreciation. If you like this digital stamp, email me at kathi17a at gmail dot com. Put stamp in the subject line, and tell me who you are! :-) I'd rather give something to everyone who visits me and leaves comments than do blog candy.

Fancy Fold Card

It's one of those days when I didn't get a card done. I was trying all day to make something I actually liked with my Carnation Creations Die set. I finally found this page a few minutes ago, and may try this one. She's got a bunch more flower tutorials on her site. I haven't looked at them yet, but the carnation is really pretty! Probably part of the reason I didn't get anything good made was because every time I sat down, the phone would ring. It was driving me crazy today!

Anyway, I am uploading a card I made years ago, but never uploaded. I made it so long ago, I don't even remember what these cards are called! At the time I made this one, I only had about two or three Spellbinders dies, so I used this Pendant Die to give the illusion of a doily. I don't remember what the image on it was, but it might have been an Anna Griffin one from a card kit I had.

Maybe I will do better tomorrow!

Facebook, and why I won't use it

I was just at another card making site. The site is relatively new, and looks like it would be fun to join. On this site, like on so many other card making sites, they want you to use Facebook.

I used to use FB, until I found out people I didn't know were seeing my private photos of my grandchildren. My grandchildren live in a large city, and I worry about their safety. I also worry about the safety of my daughter-in-law, who works in a mall and frequently has to close the store, and leave, all alone, after dark, and walk to her car. (There have been times when she has been scared because some strange people are sometimes out there). People I didn't know were seeing photos of her too.

I found out later , that at the time, every time anyone played those games, or checked their horoscopes, or any of the other things that used to pop up, they released my information to all of their friends, even though mine was private.

Sometimes people tell me that things have changed on there, but I don't trust FB, and I'll tell you why.

I am on a focus group for a company which offers a product that millions of people use to keep themselves secure. Being on the focus group means that I can't tell you the name of the company. I'm really not supposed to give this many details, but I'm going to because it bothers me so much.

A few months ago, one of the discussions was that FB wanted this company to send everyone who had an FB account's exact locations of their vehicles as status updates on FB. Do you have any idea how much this would affect people's safety, the safety of their children, and the safety of their homes from burglars???

Think about it. If FB would want companies to do that, can you really trust them?

Bluebird and Embossing Card ODBDSLC141

This morning I decided to play with embossing folders, and thought I'd make a card for Our Daily Bread Designs Challenge ODBDSLC141. This weeks challenge is to use animals, which can include birds on your creations.

Since it started snowing yesterday here, and we have blizzard warnings out until 4 PM tomorrow, after having two days of snow and a blizzard last weekend, I am wishing for spring. I decided that using the bird from He Watches Me, might make me feel more cheerful. I used the custom Sparrow die to cut the bird, and colored him with Copics.

I mounted him dimensionally onto a 4" square, which I embossed using a Cuttlebug Swiss Dots EF. This was matted with a square of white card which I had edged with the same Copic B24 that I used to color his wings. Those layers were mounted dimensionally onto a 5 1/4" square I had embossed using a Spellbinders M-Bossibility EF. The paper was wider than the embossing folder, but it was easy to enlarge it by just moving the paper over one pattern repeat and embossing again. That layer was matted with another piece of white CS which I had edged with the same blue, and a plain white layer.

Those layers were mounted dimensionally onto a 6" square of yellow Core'dinations Gemstones CS which I had applied to a white card. Each layer except the yellow layer was edged with a gold Krylon pen. The card is embellished with gold and blue half pearls and a blue bow.

Green Ribbon and Friends Card JRC_090

This card is for the JustRite Friday Challenge #090 - Sketch.

To follow the sketch, I used some green velvet ribbon with gold edges, some lace, and some off white ribbon with gold edges. All were in my stash. The medallion is from the Spring Rose Medallions set, and the sentiment is from the Elegant Frames Set. The medallion was cut and embossed with the custom Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies, and the sentiment was cut from two different Spellbinders tag dies.

The stamping was done with VersaMark on Core'dinations white pearl cs and embossed with gold EP. Both pieces were outlined with a gold pen, and both were matted with green pearescent cs. The medallion was colored with Copics. The background paper was matted with gold mirror card, and white Liquid Pearls were added to the top corner.

The elements are moved a bit from the sketch because they looked better this way than they did when I tried to arrange them exactly as they were in the sketch.

The ribbon looks black in this photo because it is so dark today. The green is actually a mossy green a little darker than the background paper. It's going to be dark here for the next few days. Snow is starting tomorrow, and turning into a blizzard for Sunday, just like last weekend. Hurry Up Spring!!! We still have a car buried under last week's snow. The snow is up to the car windows, and over the hood.

Aquarium Card

I was going through some very old tutorial folders on my computer, trying to figure out something new to make when I came across this tutorial by House of Stirfry. I saved it several years ago, and never tried it. When I saw it again this morning, I decided it would work with some K&Co stacks and die cuts I had.

I was going to make it like the folded tunnel card she did, but on my computer, I am seeing a bunch of question marks instead of numbers for the measurements, so rather than spending hours trying to figure it out, I made mine differently. It's sort of like a regular tunnel card, where you have accordion folded sides, but rather than making tunnels, I added two squares of acetate into the accordions so my fish would swim. There are four layers to this card, the background layer, two acetate layers, and the front of the card. The front was cut with Spellbinders Grand Labels One, and has dimensional die cuts on it.

The die cuts were larger than I wanted for the inside, so I cut smaller images from the paper in the stack and added them to all three inside layers. The only inside image which was a die cut is another plant which was printed onto acetate. I put that plant onto the bottom layer of acetate so some fish would be behind it.

The card is 6x6, and if you want to make one like it, the accordion folds are from sheets of CS which are 4x6 and scored lengthwise at every half inch. This makes enough folds for two layers of acetate inside.

Now I want to try the folded tunnel card like hers if I can figure out the measurements!

Pink Butterflies Card

A few months ago, I was using an old Anna Griffin background stamp to make embossed gold backgrounds. Today I decided to use this one to make a card.

I matted the embossed piece with gold mirror card and mounted it onto some interesting moire paper I bought a few years ago at an art supply store. The background paper was run through my Xyron and mounted onto white CS first, then matted with more of the gold card and it was all mounted onto a 5x7 card.

The butterflies are Cheery Lynn. The filigree part was cut from gold mirror card, and the other part was cut from Core'dinations pearl. As usual, when using heavy paper like this, you have to use the die on one side of the paper, then carefully line it up on the back side to cut the other side, since Cheery Lynn only makes the background cutting dies as half a die for some strange reason. (It's a big pet peeve of mine, so I always mention it in the hopes that they will make whole dies instead). I love using this very heavy Core'dinations paper, and I love Cheery Lynn Dies, but it is too heavy to work with what they call their Angel Wings. After cutting all the butterfly pieces, I glued them together and colored them with Gelyroll pens.

The Happy Birthday is from JustRite, and was cut with a Spellbinders tag die and embossed with gold EP. The pearls are Liquid Pearls.

This card couldn't be any pinker, so as usual, when I make a pink card, I'm reminded of my loyal internet friend Jill!

Daffodil Gate Fold Card

I felt like coloring today, but wanted to color something new, so I dug out some of my dover books. I saw this design in the Art Nouveau Stained Glass Pattern Book, and decided to turn it into a gate fold card. It's not as pretty as I had hoped it would be. I traced the design, then transferred it onto some white Core'dinations Pearl Cardstock, then went over the transfer with a gold Gelyroll pen, and colored it with Copics. At first, I only colored the flowers and leaves, but it looked kind of boring, so I colored in the background with a pale purple.

Then I cut around the design, and tried to find something that would fit in the opening.I finally decided on this stamp from JustRite, and stamped it with VersaMark, embossed it with gold EP, and colored the bird with Copics.

Last, I used Spellbinders Romantic Rectangles to cut it out, and shaded it with Brilliance Lavender.

Blue Butterfly and Rose Card

Yesterday and today I was playing with all my butterfly stamps and dies. This is one of the butterflies I made. It is from Cheery Lynn. I cut the filigree part of the die from gold mirror card, and the other part from Core'dinations Pearl CS. Next, I mounted the filigree part over the other part and colored the butterfly with sparkly gelyroll pens. The green in the butterfly isn't really this bright, but that's how it came out in the photograph.

The card is designed around the butterfly, so I chose a blue pearlescent paper which was the same color as the blue in the butterfly. I also knew I wanted a doily, so I chose my current favorite one from Noor!, and cut it out with the pearl CS, and used the blue Gelyroll pen to color the embossing.

I almost always use the same Marianne Creatables for the center of this die because it fits so perfectly, and I like the edge of it, so I cut the next layer in blue, then used a Spellbinders one in white. The corner dies are also from Noor!.

The rose is made from Spellbinders Rose Creations. It uses Core'dinations Pearl in white, and was shaded with VersaMagic Aegean Blue. The foliage is also from Spellbinders. It's from the Spellbinders Foliage set. I cut the side leaves off the stem and spread them out to surround the flower. They were colored with a green Gelyroll which actually matched the pearl green paper, except they were shinier, but they reflected blue in the photograph, no matter how many times I photographed them.

Next, I mounted the butterfly. It was supposed to be in the lower left hand corner, but I forgot to check which way the card was when I glued him on. Ooops! Luckily, the card didn't have a design where it really mattered. The fold was going to be on the side, but now it's on the top, and he's in the bottom right hand corner.

The card was mounted onto more gold mirror card, and a Core'dinations white Pearl card, then white and blue Liquid Pearls were added.

In order to use the Cheery Lynn background for the butterfly with heavy paper like the pearl CS, you have to cut it once, then flip it over and carefully align the die with the already cut part and cut it from the other side, because for some reason, Cheery Lynn only makes half a die for those. Since I cut out a bunch of them yesterday, it was kind of a pain, but the butterflies are beautiful. I love the look with the gold filigree over them!

New 6x6 Album

I saw the instructions for this album on the Graphic 45 website, and even though I haven't got any of their papers, I wanted to try this album using papers I had.

My album doesn't have as much stuff on it, because I'm not wild about lots of stuff on my albums. I really prefer them simpler. For mine, I used some papers from a stack I got at Hobby Lobby in December.

The top photo shows the album completely open.

This photo is the front of the album. There is a place for a photograph or piece of memorabilia and a label.

The album is a trifold, and this is what you see when you open the first flap to the left. Each page has a pocket at the bottom, with a 4x4 tag inserted. When you remove the tag, there is a place for a photo on the actual page behind the tag, a photo on the tag, and on the back of the tag there is a journaling spot. I've got a photo of a page with the tag removed and the back of the tag further down the page. There is also a label on each page.

This photo shows the next page open to the right, and the front of the next section of the album.

When you open both sides of the next section, this is what you see. Each side of this section has a flap which opens. The center of this section is the next section, which is a gatefold. The horizontal photo spot on the gatefold isn't crooked, the door was open a little when I took these photos, and it makes it look crooked. I didn't notice it until I uploaded it and started writing this.

This is the same section with the outside flaps open. Each flap has a place for a wallet sized photo and a tag on both sides.

This is the gatefold open. The gatefold has horizontal pieces which have space for more photos on each side of them. In the center is another page with a pocket and tag.

This is how each page looks with the tag removed. The back of the tag with the journaling space is above. Each tag has an identical jounaling spot on the back.

This is the back of the album. In the Photo, I have shown the spines of the album on each side of the back.

Embossed Flower Card

I decided to do a card with an embossed background. I wanted lace at the bottom, so I decided to use this Spellbinders die which I had never used before. After I got everything glued down and was ready to decorate it, I wished I had used real lace at the bottom, but it was too late. The die I had used was a bit plain for the embossing, where real lace probably would have matched it better. The EF is from Darice.

I used this Spellbinders die to make a frame, then cut a blue rectangle for the center and shaded it with VersaMagic Aegean Blue. The frame was mounted dimensionally onto the card, then I added a K&Co dimensional sticker.

Last, I added ribbon and a bow and some half pearls to the card, and Liquid Pearls to the lace.

Another Card using Chiyogami Paper

I love this paper I bought a few years ago, and decided to make another card using it. (The first card I made with it was over a year ago). I decided to make it reminiscent of a screen, so I cut the square into three strips. I also had some opalescent origami paper, and never had used it on a card before, so I matted each strip with that.

The panels are mounted onto some Hana Fubuki paper, which was outlined with a Krylon pen and mounted onto a card. The only embellishments I added were two Recollections daisies, and four little flowers I made.

Embossed Shell Card

I seem to be in a less is more mood this week, because here is another less is more card. I started with this Anna Griffin brass stencil, and embossed it onto off white paper on my light table. Then I decided it might be pretty to do the borders with a gold metallic pen. After I did that, the shells disappeared, so I decided to do the little solid parts of the spiral shell, and the two solid parts of the top shell. That made the rest of the shells disappear! That is when I decided just to outline the rest. I didn't want to do the whole thing with a solid color because the border is so light. Anyway, I like how it came out.

Next, I matted the embossed and stenciled layer with gold mirror card, a wide border of some Anna Griffin paper and another layer of mirror card, then mounted it onto an off white card. Last, I added gold outline stickers and Liquid Pearls.

Parchment Craft Card

Years ago I used to do parchment craft. I had very few tools, just a bunch of embossing styluses. Yesterday I tried it again for the first time in about 20 years. The design for this card came from the book Parchment Craft by Janet Wilson.

When I used to do it, I was able to get regular parchment paper, but now all I can get is vellum, so that is what I used. The dark parts in the butterflies and flowers are actually the same gold as on the borders, but for some reason it showed up dark in the photo. I started with a very simple design because it's been so many years since I've done this.

The card also doesn't look as blank as this in person. Instead, it looks classy. :-) I purposely didn't add any embellishments because in person I like the effect of just the layers of matting and borders.

Butterfly Peek-a-Boo Card

I made this card using this tutorial. I'm glad the card stock I used was really heavy, because I didn't know that when you make this card, for it to work, the back is actually only attached on the outside edge. If I hadn't used such heavy CS, it probably would have been floppy.

The top photo shows the card closed, but when it is open, as in the bottom photo, the image in the window changes. It actually is quite interesting.

The DP is from the Mariposa Stack by DCWV, and the green paper is some pearlized green from my stash. The card was stamped using Memento Bamboo Leaves and embossed with clear EP. All dies are from Spellbinders, and the stamp set is from Becca's November Kit Club by Becca Feeken. The stamps are made by JustRite.

Blue Hydrangea Card

I finally got around to making a triple time card. It's one of those cards I've been wanting to do for a long time, but never did until today. I had this beautiful background stamp from Anna Griffin, and was thinking it was 4"x5", but I should have measured it. It is a bit less than that. It also didn't stamp very darkly on the bottom layer. The layers looked pretty anyway, so I made the card. The stamping was done with VersaMagic Aegean Blue, and the matting was white CS, shaded with the same ink and a sponge dauber so it would match exactly.

The sentiment is from one of my JustRite sets, and cut with two sizes of Spellbinders ovals. Both layers were shaded with the same ink, and all layers of the card and sentiment panel were mounted dimensionally. The hydrangeas are Prima, and are actually the same shade as the ink, but they look brighter in the photograph.

The white card under the layers was covered with a pearlized blue linen textured CS from my stash. I made this a little wider than the matting around the layers because I wanted the card to be at least 5x6. (Most of my rectangular cars are 5x7).

Another Roses Card

This was another experiment. I wanted to add a lacy edge with the inside paper peaking out. I wish I had made the border on the right, where you can see the inside paper narrower, but it was trial and error.

I used a piece of DP that had a white background from my stash. It was folded so the pattern was on the inside. Then I measured what I thought would be a good border, and cut the front side to that amount. The edge was punched with an MS border punch.

Next, I cut another piece of matching DP and mounted it on the white side of the first piece, leaving the white lace edge uncovered. It looked sort of unfinished, so I mounted ribbon up against the edge.

I decided I wanted a sentiment on the front, and liked this Spellbinders tag. The only sentiment I had that fit in it when it was mounted vertically was this one from JustRite. It was stamped using Brilliance Sky Blue, but was too light to read, so I embossed it with Gold EP, and it was better. Next, I shaded it with the Brilliance ink, colored the roses with Copics, and went around the outside with the Krylon pen.

I knew I wanted flourishes around the tag. I really wanted those Cheery Lynn ones, but those are some of the dies which have always been out of stock whenever I've placed an order from a place which carries them and wanted to add them. The only flourishes I have are the ones in the Spellbinders Twisted Metal Tags and Accents set, so I used those, and shaded them with Memento Bamboo Leaves. The tag was added dimensionally over the flourishes, and I added some pearls and a bow.

I cut another wider Spellbinders tag for the inside as a writing space, and shaded that with the Brilliance ink as well.

PSX Lupine and Vellum Card

I haven't used vellum in a long time, so I decided to use this PSX Lupine stamp. This card didn't come out at all the way I had planned. I stamped the Lupine onto vellum with VersaMark and embossed it with white EP, then colored the Lupine on the back side of the vellum with Copics. Actually the Lupine didn't have large enough petals to shade well and have it show up on the front. The vellum was supposed to be mounted onto light pink paper, but the Copics didn't show up well on that at all. The only thing that worked was white CS.

Next, I mounted the vellum onto the white CS using tiny deep pink brads, and used a Krylon pen to go around the edges. That was matted onto Core'dinations gemstones, dimensionally mounted onto Anna Griffin DP, then more Gemstones, and then a white card. All the layers were outlined with the Krylon pen. This card isn't as bright as it looks in the photo, and is really a little pinker rather than being as peachy as this.

I added some gold pearls as accents, then I tried a ton of bows, but none looked good any where on it, so I added some gold outline stickers to the corners. After that, this little bow didn't look quite so silly as it did without the corners.

After I had used the gold pen around the vellum, I had noticed that the vellum lifted up a bit at the bottom. I was hoping it would settle back down, but it didn't. Since I couldn't take the brads off after it was mounted onto the paper below, I decided to try a little bit of Glossy accents to take the little pucker out. They show a little bit, but not too bad. I also didn't notice that when I pushed it down into the glossy accents, I pushed the bottom of the dimensional layer down as well. I just went over and slid my fingernail under it, and it's back up and the whole bottom is level now, but not in the photo. Maybe I will rephotograph it tomorrow if it gets light enough. (We are going to get snow, so I hope it isn't really dark tomorrow).

Anyway, I guess the card is okay, but it isn't what I expected.

I was thinking of you when I made it Jill! :-)

Blue and Gold Special Day Card JRC_089

I almost didn't do a card today. I think my mojo went to Florida where it's warm. Then I found this paper stashed away. I bought it at a paper mill, years ago, and forgot about it. It's in a roll like gift wrap, and is embossed gold metallic with turquoise.

I still didn't know what I was going to make, so I decided to mount it on to a 5x7 card and mat it with a matching turqoise paper. I was really careful when I cut it, but when I mounted it, it was a tiny bit crooked on the left, so I took some matching turquoise ribbon, mounted it onto a strip of gold mirror card, and covered it up. :-) Then I glued a strip of gold Dresden Paper on that.

I was trying to figure out what else to do with it, and I remembered that another of my favorite JustRite stamps, Botanical Medallions & Banners, had a border which was similar to the design in the paper. It also had those banner stamps, so it would fit a 5x7 card nicely. It's one of the reasons it's one of my favorites, plus, it had custom dies to match, and coordinates with my other JustRite sets!

I stamped the frame, sentiment and banner onto Core'dinations Pearl CS with VersaMark and embossed it with gold EP. Then I cut the pieces out using JustRite's Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies and their Vintage Label & Banner Dies.

They were colored with some of the Pearl Ex watercolors I made last week. The color was made using a tiny scoop of Gum Arabic, two scoops of Turquoise, and two scoops of Duo Green Yellow. I painted it darker on the frame, and did a shaded wash on the banner and inside the frame. (The shaded wash inside the frame actually looks smooth in person, but in the photo, it doesn't). It matched the other turquoise perfectly. Then I went around the outside of the die cuts with a Krylon pen, mounted them dimensionally, and added a few Liquid Pearls.

I decided to enter this one into JustRite Friday Challenge #089 - Anything Goes.