Altered Cigar Box with Compartments

I decided I wanted to make this cigar box with a nautical theme, so I used some JustRite stamps on some pale gold Core'dinations Pearl CS and gold embossing powder. I shaded the edges with gold ink, then cut some gold mirror card with some Spellbinders dies.

When I went to do the inside, it looked too fancy to cover up the design. The label was quite interesting, and it had raised sides which were covered with silk like red cloth.

It's difficult to think of different ways to finish the insides of the boxes, so for this one, I decided to make four compartments out of bass wood, and make red painted covers for each section. Red ribbon was used to attach the compartments and act as hinges.

Each cover has a little knob made from jewelry findings to lift them up. I think this one would work well for a man.

Air Dry Clay and Wilton Molds Shell Card

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, and hope you have the best year ever!

I haven't posted much this month because it's been very busy, both helping my mother out, ice storms, snow storms, power outages, and a trip to New York to see the kids and grandchildren.

I made this card earlier in the month using Wilton Silicone molds made for cakes with my Martha Stewart air dry clay.

The card base is ivory CS, with some golden colored, textured, handmade paper which resembles sand, but has a sheen to it. The shells were shaded with gold ink, and a label was made using the same paper, and some cream colored handmade paper which was stamped with the same gold ink, using a sentiment from JustRite.

Embossed Wreath Card

It was really difficult to get a photo of this card. One shows the detail, and the other shows the shimmer.

I used the Spellbinders 3D M-Bossabilities Rustic Wreath Folder on dark green CS, then used one of those square foam shading things with Delicata Golden Glitz to shade it.

The sentiment was done with the same ink and a JustRite stamp. The gold behind it was done with gold mirror card and a Spelllbinders tag die. I fussy cut the green paper to fit inside it.

The card was matted with gold mirror card, and gold pearls were added as accents. It looks much prettier in person.

I'm sort of depressed this year. Usually we have a big Christmas Craft show, and I count on it to make money for Christmas, but this year they aren't having it, so any Christmas cards I make that I don't send myself will have to wait until next summer before I get a chance to sell them. I've tried both eBay and Etsy, but I always spend more money selling than I actually make. I sure wish we were in a bigger area where there are lots of shows.

Thanksgiving Blessings Card

Last September I made a card from an old JustRite stamp set I had. When one of my best customers saw it, she commissioned me to make two more cards with the other two stamps in the set. This is the second one.

The CS is a generic ivory, and metallic copper and green CS. The DP is some very old Anna Griffin CS.

The sentiment and frames were stamped with VersaMark, and embossed with gold EP, then cut with the matching JustRite dies by Spellbinders. I don't remember what color I used for the shading. All layers were outlined in gold, and some were mounted dimensionally. Green pearls were added as accents.

Embossed Pink Friendship Card

This card uses the Spellbinders 3D M-Bossabilities Folder Framed Labels Eighteen. I thought pink would be a very pretty color for it, and also put a smile on the face of my blog friend Jill. The embossing folder reminds me of wallpaper and wainscotting in a house. Originally I tried to use white CS and use the letterpress technique to make the bottom pink with white on the raised edges, then I was going to go over the white embossing on top, and make it white with pink embossing, but my letterpress techniques don't always work out very well. That went into a scrap drawer until I could see if I could salvage it.

For the second try, I embossed pink CS and used white ink to go over the raised portions. Next, I cut and embossed two sizes of Labels Eighteen, shaded them with white, and used a white Gellyroll pen to outline inside the die. The sentiment is from JustRite, and was stamped and embossed with white ink and EP.

The labels were mounted dimensionally, and the card was accented with pearls and a bow.

Pearlized Iris Card JRC#108

I haven't had a chance to enter a challenge in months. I still don't have a lot of time, but I miss doing challenges, and decided to make one for JustRite Friday Challenge #108 - Sketch.

This week's challenge was a sketch. I think JustRite's Botanical Medallions & Banners Clear Stamps must be my favorite, because I seem to use it over and over.

For this card, I used lots of layers of Core'dinations pearl CS in white and pale gold. I love the heavy weight of this CS, and the shimmer is beautiful. It was stamped with VersaMark, and embossed with gold EP, then cut and embossed with JustRite's Nested Oval Medallion Labels Dies for the frame, and a Spellbinders oval die for the flower layer.

The frame and the flowers were painted with some watercolors I made from Pearl EX micro pearl. The top photo shows the shimmer of the paints and paper, and the bottom photo shows the detail.

Delicata Golden Glitz was used to shade inside the oval to add more contrast to the flower layer, and both layers, plus the pale gold layer underneath were edged with the same ink, then I used a gold Gellyroll pen to trace inside the oval die.

Next I cut four medallions from Spellbinders Fleur De Lis Pendants, which were shaded while still in the die with more Golden Glitz. These were layered over the background paper, and the medallions were mounted dimensionally on top of that.

Tiny fabric flowers were added to each corner, and liquid Pearls and a bow were added as accents.

3D Christmas Pop Up Scene

This card was kind of an experiment. I decided I wanted to do a 3D scene with Marianne Creatables on hills of snow. The top photo shows the card open.

This picture shows the card closed. I wanted the inside to show when the card was closed, so I made the bottom half smaller. It isn't as pretty as I wanted it to be, but it's kind of neat anyway.

It was kind of difficult figuring how to do it so it would pop up right. Each layer is one quarter of an inch in front of the one behind it, and was done with strips of CS scored and folded into little open boxes between each layer.

All the paper is Core'dinations Pearl, in white and gold. The die cuts were colored with a Viva Decor Inka Gold Metallic Rub, and the Sentiments were embossed with gold EP and shaded with the gold ink. The sentiment panels were cut with Spellbinders. The inside sentiments are from JustRite, and the one on the front is from Our Daily Bread Designs.

Shell Beauty Embossed Card

I made this card with my new Spellbinders 3D M-bossibility folder Shell Beauty. The shading isn't as messy in person as it looks in the photos.

For this one, I didn't want to cover up too much of the gorgeous embossing on this folder, so I kept the embellishments to a minimum.

I began by using an ink blending tool to shade the embossing and give it more dimension. The ink is Delicata Golden Glitz. Next, I ran the ink pad around the edges of the panel to add a hint of a darker border. The card it is mounted on is an ordinary white CS card, but I also shaded the border of that with the same ink because it looked better mounted onto a shaded card than a plain white one. The shading is much smoother in person. I think the shimmery ink didn't work very well with the camera.

Both sentiments are from different stamp sets by JustRite, and were cut and embossed with Spellbinders dies, and shaded to match the card, then mounted dimensionally. I really wanted the card to say "Best Wishes", but the only sentiment I have that fits this die and would work with this card is "Happy Birthday". I think I need to look for some simple sentiments that are this size, because I use the die a lot.

I also wanted to use this ribbon, but it is too stiff to look good as a small bow. The ends don't like to lie gracefully, so I cut them shorter, and added the ends underneath the bow. I kind of like the effect, they make it look a little more interesting this way. Then I added a few pearls to finish it up.

Autumn Leaves Card

A few weeks ago, I was going through some of my older stamp sets and decided to make a few fall and Thanksgiving cards with this older JustRite set.

The layers were stamped onto ivory CS with brown and embossed with clear EP, then I cut them with the matching Justrite dies by Spellbinders, colored them using Gellyroll pens and mounted them dimensionally.

For matting, I used a dark brown with a slight metallic finish, and copper. The DP is from Graphic 45's Botanica Bella collection. This was the only time I have ever seen Graphic 45 products in a store, and it was the only design they had. It was in a Hobby Lobby in Webster, NY. I have been sorry every time I have been there since, that they didn't have any more Graphic 45 products, because I love them, and never get around to mailing away for them.

For embellishments, I added a few gold pearls and some fall flowers which were in a silk flower bouquet I bought at a dollar store.

Moose in the Trees Christmas Card

I love red and white Christmas cards, so here is another one I did a month or so ago.

I've had this moose punch from Punch a Bunch for over a year and never used it. I was going through my punches a while back and saw it, and decided it might be fun to use it on a Christmas card with the trees stamp I had.

I like larger cards, so I decided to pair it up with some very old JustRite frames and sentiments stamps on a 5x7 card. I wish I had gotten a chance to get more of the frames and sentiments sets before they were discontinued, because I love them. There was a beautiful set with baroque frames that I particularly liked, but by the time I ordered them, the only ones left were Christmas and Thanksgiving, so I got those. The frames work so well with so many sentiments, and JustRite had a custom die, which made it easy to layer them. Anyway, I'm so glad I got the two sets that I managed to get!

The red CS is more of the art paper, and is really a nice quality, and the white is my favorite Core'dinations Pearl, so it's heavy and frosty looking. Everything was stamped and embossed with white ink and white EP, and some of the lines around the frames were done with a white Gellyroll pen. The moose and the frames and sentiment were mounted dimensionally, and I added some pearls to the corners.

When I embossed the white, I didn't brush off any of the loose bits of EP, so it looks like a few flakes of snow are just starting to fall.

My Stampendous Frantage stuff actually came today. I couldn't believe the two day delivery really happened! I can't wait to use it, but yesterday I started working on a set of stamped and painted coasters. I'm doing 12 of them, and they are coming out nice. I'd rather be playng with my Frantage stuff, but I need the coasters in my shop more than I need more cards!

Encrusted Jewel Technique Ocean Tryptic Card

Whenever I make these ocean tryptic cards, they are very popular in my shop. This time, I decided to try the encrusted jewel technique using mostly some of the Frantage products from Stampendous.

I had bought a few of the kits at JoAnns a while back, and had wasted most of what I had trying to emboss on wooden ware from some tutorials they had. Unfortunately, with slow internet, and no sound on my computer, I really messed them up by not really knowing what they were doing on the youtube videos.

Anyway, I decided to try again on this card just by trying to do what I thought would work. I chose a bunch of their chunky aged enamels, chunky glass glitter and mica flakes, in colors which matched the colors of oxidized copper and brass after it has been on the bottom of the ocean.

I ran my VersaMark pad over parts of the bottom, and sprinkled a bunch of the stuff onto the bottom of the card, and heated it from underneath until everything melted together, adding more mica flakes anywhere it looked like I needed them while it was still melted. It looks kind of neat!

I didn't add any to the inside of the card because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to do as good a job again though.

The DP and stickers are from K&Co, the stamps are from JustRite, and the dies are from JustRite and Spellbinders.

We will probably be closing our shop for the season in a couple of weeks, I hope to be back visiting you all soon.

Seahorse Card

I'm sorry I've been gone for so long, but it's been really busy this summer. Besides keeping our shop open, I've been helping my mother get straightened out, and trying to get her house so she will be comfortable in the winter, now that she's going to be here year round. I don't have any new supplies, since the economy here is much worse than it was last year, but I have been making cards with all the nice things I already have.

I've had these K&Co seahorses for a couple of years now, and have never used them because we don't have seahorses here in Maine. I started this card by stamping this sentiment panel from JustRite, embossing it with gold EP, and coloring it with Brilliance inks.

After that, I cut and embossed it with a Spellbinders die. Next, I cut two larger sizes in the same shape, and colored them with more of the Brilliance ink, so they would match the colors in the stamp. Those were mounted onto layers cut with Grand Labels One, which were also shaded with the Brilliance ink.

The colors in these seahorses matched the colors in my card perfectly, and went very well with the sentiment, so I added those, and two K&Co shell stickers, which I added two shades of Stickles to, to make them match the glitter on the seahorses. All the layers were outlined in gold.

I hope to be able to start visiting you all soon, but it will still be very busy for another month or so. I miss you all!

Flowery Happy Birthday

Today I decided to use one of my old Anna Griffin background stamps and color it with my Copics. The design was stamped with VersaMark, and embossed with gold EP. I stamped onto Core'dinations pearl CS so the Copics would shimmer. The sentiment is from JustRite, and was cut with Spellbinders.

The card was matted with Green CS and a pearlescent pink CS, then I edged each layer with a gold Gellyroll pen. The sentiment was also accented with the gold pen and mounted dimensionally onto the card.

Now I need two refills for my Copics. I ran out of R81, and YG63, which are two colors I use all the time. I almost didn't get the whole stamping colored. I guess it's time to get the refills and a few new colors!

Butterfly Bush Birthday Card

I have a lot of hand made paper I have collected over the years. A few weeks ago, I was going through it, and decided to use this piece to make a card. The paper has grasses and flower petals in it. The grasses are rather delicate looking, and I wanted to use a stamp that also looked fairly delicate, so I chose this one from Our Daily Bread Designs. I stamped it twice, then cut out one of the stampings with the matching ODBD die. I didn't color it because I wanted to keep the outline look, and also wanted the card to be only yellow and green. The butterflies were fussy cut from the second stamping, and were applied over the first butterflies with their wings raised.

Last, I used a JustRite stamp to add happy birthday, and cut it with Spellbinders Labels Ten. The butterfly bush was mounted dimensionally using glue dots, and the sentiment was mounted using dimensional tape, and green half pearls were added. It's not one of my favorite cards, but it's different from my usual style.

Gold and Butterflies Congratulations Card

When we went to JoAnn's last weekend, I wasn't surprised that there were only a few old Spellbinders, but I was very surprised that they actually had two new Sizzix dies. They haven't had any new Sizzix in ages. Both were Hampton Arts Stamps in a kit with matching Sizzix dies. I got the set with dogwood and butterflies, and I love them! The butterflies on this card are from the set.

Everything was die cut from Core'dinatins white and gold pearl papers, and a piece of the handmade gold embossed paper I got a few weeks ago. I also used Spellbinders Labels One, Grand Labels One, Decorative Lavels One, and Labels Ten.

The sentiment layer is from JustRite, and all stamping was done with VersaMark, and embossed with Gold EP. All shading is done with Delicata Gold, and I used Liquid Pearls as accents.

Blue Butterfly Card

A few months ago, I made a pink butterfly card using some paper I had stamped and embossed in gold using an old Anna Griffin background stamp I had. I really liked that card, and decided to make a blue one just like it.

The blue paper for the card was made by taking some white moire paper I bought a few years ago at an art supply store, and painting over it with some watercolors I made from two shades of PearlEx. I ran out of sheets of Gold Mirror card, and only have scraps left. The mirror card is really hard to find, and the new owners of the craft store where I bought it are terrible about ordering, so I used some gold gift wrap I bought years ago at a paper mill outlet store for the matting. The butterflies were cut from my scraps of mirror card using Cheery Lynn Exotic Butterflies, then I used those Angel wing things to cut some blue paper for behind the wings. I still hate those angel wing things, and wish they were whole dies instead of half dies though. Usually I have to run them twice through the Grand Calibur to get a whole butterfly. This time, I used lighter weight paper, and folded them, but the bodies came out thinner than the bodies on the filigree butterflies and didn't quite fit. Anyway, after gluing the butterfly layers together, I used a sparkly Gelyroll pen to color the blue in the wings a little bit deeper shade of blue than the background.

The label is from Spellbinders, and is cut and embossed from more scraps of mirror card, then I gold embossed a JustRite stamp on blue paper for the sentiment. This was stamped with VersaMark, and the whole label was mounted dimensionally.

I'm really sorry I haven't been around to visit much lately, it's still pretty busy here.

Gold and White Special Day Card

I thought I had enough nautical cards made up, so I decided to use some new paper I had to make a white and gold card. I finished this one, and started another non-nautical card. Then some women came into the shop and bought all my nautical cards, so it looks like I will have to make more nautical ones when I finish the one I started after I finished this one. I'd rather make flowery cards than nautical ones.

When we went to Rockland a few weeks ago, I stopped at a place in Camden, Maine which sells artist supplies. They had some really interesting paper there, and I got a few packs of assorted handmade papers. The gold and white paper on this card was in one of the packs.

I used white Core'dinations Pearl CS and gold mirror card for the layers, then used JustRite stamps, VersaMark and gold EP for the design. The stamped design was die cut with matching JustRite Spellbinders dies, and painted with watercolors I made from Pearl White PearlEx, and is very pearly and sparkling in person.

When I was holding the die cuts over the card to decide where to put them, it looked kind of plain, so I decided to add a piece of ribbon, then mount the die cuts dimensionally over that.

PSX Marshall Point Light Easel Card

Here is another nautical card from and old Marshall Point Light stamp by PSX. If you've ever seen the movie Forest Gump, this is the lighthouse from the movie. It is located in Port Clyde, Maine, near Rockland.

I stamped this onto K&Co DP using brown ink, then embossed it with clear EP. The sentiment is from JustRite. I used my Ranger nibs to color it with white and various shades of brown. It was matted with generic CS in shades of brown and mounted onto an antique metallic copper colored card, and K&Co dimensional stickers were added.

Finished Mini Album to go with Cigar Box

I finished the mini album which goes with the cigar box I posted a few days ago. The cigar box will have to wait though, I had to start the other two jewelry boxes because they were commissioned.

The front of the album is done with a copper colored pearlized CS from Core'dinations. The lighthouse is from JustRite, and is stamped using VersaMark onto a pale gold Core'dinations Pearl CS, and embossed in gold. All die cuts were done with Spellbinders. The tags at the top and bottom are for labeling with whatever the recipient wants.

I only photographed a few of the pages, but they are alternating pages made with DP from K&Co, white CS, which I distressed with Antique Linen and Tea Dye, and made journaling lines with a gold Gellyroll pen, and white CS distressed with Antique Linen and lightly stamped with gold ink. There are four different stamps used for the various pages, Portland Head Light from PSX, a fish shack and boat from PSX, a clipper ship from Stampendous, and Bass Harbor Head from an unknown company.

The stamped pages can be used either for journaling, photos, or memorabilia, and the DP pages can either be left as is, or photos or memorabilia added.

This album is quite small, 4x7, to fit into the cigar box, so the recipient may want to use it more for a journal than an album.

Altered Cigar Box and Mini Album

For a few days I have been working on this altered cigar box and mini album. The top photos show the outside of the box. The stamps are from JustRite and Our Daily Bread Designs, and were done on a pale gold Core'dinations Pearls CS. They were stamped with VersaMark, and embossed with gold EP.

The stamps, which were cut with Spellbinders Labels Eight, were all framed with gold mirror card cut and embossed with Decorative Labels Eight, and shaded with Distress Tea Dye. Anchors were punched with a MS Punch.

I haven't done the inside yet, but it will have a compartments for a pen and other memorabilia. On top of the lower compartments will be a tray, which will hold the album.



This photo shows the front of the album. It was done using a copper metallic CS from Coredinations, which was the closest matching paper color I had. The cover isn't finished yet, but it was done using the same technique as the box, and uses a JustRite stamp.

I'll post more pictures when I have more done on it.