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!

Happy Anniversary Easel Card PSX Stamp

I was going through my older stamps, and realized I hadn't used this Happy Anniversary stamp from PSX in years.

I decided to do an easel card, and I wanted it to be warm and romantic looking, so I chose this paper from K&Co, and used VersaMagic Perfect Plumaria to do the stamping and shading.

The tags were made with two Spellbinders dies. I shaded the scalloped one, and used a blending stump to outline the inside of the top one with the Plumaria ink. Then I ran the stamp pad around the outside edges. The blending stump didn't make as sharp an outline as I would have liked, so I went over it with a matching Gelly Roll pen.

The tags are mounted dimensionally on their rectangular backgrounds, and those are mounted dimensionally onto the card.

For the foliage, I used the McGill punch because I wanted the branches to be a little larger than the MS ones. It's nice to have both punches because they are virtually identical except for the size. Sometimes I use both on one project, and at other times I only use one.

The roses are a little brighter than I would have liked, but not as bright as in this photo. They are a deeper red in real life, and the ribbon exactly matches the red paper I used for matting, even though it looks purple in this photo.

I finished the card by adding deep red pearls.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

Flower and Butterfly Scalloped Card

I am still making mostly Christmas cards because I need them for my shop, but in case you are tired of seeing only Christmas cards from me, I thought I would show you a flowery one I made from another of those K&Co card and envelope kits.

This one was very flowery, and I wasn't sure what to add to it. I started by stamping a sentiment from Our Daily Bread Designs Simple Things Set using Brilliance Sky Blue on Core'dinations Pearl CS. Then, I cut it out with ODBD's Elegant Ovals Custom Die, as well as cutting a larger oval at the same time. Then I ran a blue Gellyroll pen inside the die, and a gold line on the outside edge of each oval, as well as on the outside edges of the scallops on the card. I wanted the oval color to match the card better, so I used Distress antique linen to the ovals. It looks blue in this photo, but in person it looks like antique linen.

The larger oval is mounted flat on the card, and the smaller one is mounted dimensionally on top of that.

The card needed something, so I added a few K&Co dimensional flower and butterfly stickers from my stash. It's a bit busier than I usually make my cards, but it looks pretty in person.

Merry Christmas Tree Card

I love these tags from K&Co. They are really supposed to be tags to put on gifts, but they are so pretty I prefer using them on cards. All the DP and tags are from K&CO

I chose the christmas tree as a starting point for this card, and mounted it onto a piece of gold dp, and cut it out with Spellbinders Labels One. Then, using the same die set, I made a frame with a piece of green DP to put around it. The tree tag is mounted dimensionally onto the gold DP.

I mounted the whole thing dimensionally onto the background paper, then mounted the Merry Christmas tag dimensionally below that.

The background paper is matted with green, gold mirror card, and deep red CS and mounted onto an ivory card. To dress the card up, I added a small gold bow and some green half pearls.

Whale Birthday Card

My mother had a birthday a few days ago, and she likes nautical cards. She also likes the simple ones without a lot of bling, so I made this one for her a few days before her birthday.

It uses ivory CS, antique copper metallic CS, and a whale from a sheet of K&Co CS. I antiqued the edges of the K&Co CS, and added a JustRite birthday banner to it so it framed the whale's spout. Lastly, I added Bisque Liquid Pearls, and colored over them with a brown Copic. It made them sort of resemble rusty studs.

It was a very quick and easy card.

Lighthouse Double Easel Card

This card uses JustRite's Oceanside Oval Medallion for most of the elements, and JustRite's Sea Shell Bay Labels Twenty Two for the little shells which hold the card open.

The shading on the labels is Aegean Blue, and the distressing around the card is Distress Antique Linen. The coloring on the rope, border and wave is done with Copics. The paper is K&Co.

I stamped the lighthouse three times, and cut them all out with JustRite's Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies, then I cut just the lighthouse out of one of the stampings, inside the red border, and traced that around the saying and cut the saying so it would be the exact same size and shape as the inside of the red border on the extra stampings. Then I mounted both the lighthouse and the saying dimensionally inside the borders on the extra stamped images. I hope that was clear as mud!

It was originally going to be a double twisted easel card, but I messed that up, and made it a double easel card instead. I made it so the two easels were different heights to make it look more interesting.