Masculine cards can be tricky, but when I saw Hero Arts Ramen Stamp and Die Bundle, I knew it would be the perfect set for my son-in-law’s birthday. He is a real foodie and I love the fun sentiment included!
How to Make an Ink Smoosh Background
I started by making my “Ink Smoosh” background. I dabbed Fawn, Papaya, Fog, Paradise and Pool Party inks in separate pools on my craft mat and spritzed with water. I then dipped a piece of watercolor paper in the puddle and let it dry. I did this four times.
Next, I stamped my images and then colored in with Artist Alcohol Markers. Die cutting was next. I also used my Rounded Rectangles Infinity dies to trim my background, mat and card base. The final step was to assemble my card.
I am so excited about today’s share, Spellbinder’s Stitched Floral Card Front. I used the February Stitching Club Kit, which is beautiful, and I think the finished card is so very special. This card is going to one of my closest friends for her upcoming birthday.
The kit has 5 dies and I started by cutting all my pieces. The flower center is pink, the flower is papaya, the background is waterfall and the overlay is blue. There is a lot of stitching this month, so I die cut all the elements twice and then glued them together for a sturdy substantial panel. This die cutting didn’t take long, but I think the extra effort was worth it. I recently purchased a Platinum 6 die cutting machine, and I have to say, I pull it out instead of my Gemini Junior. I wish I had bought one earlier.
Spellbinders has a nice selection of stitching accessories in their shop that you can find HERE.
When I started stitching, I took two strands of floss, separated them one at a time, brought them together and then stroked and lengthened them until they seemed tame and ready to use. I used DMC Aqua 598, Orange 741 and Pink 818.
When I move from one area to the next, I run the floss through the just finished stitched area to keep the thread secure. This gives a nice look on the finished project.
Don’t stitch with threads that are too long or they are likely to knot.
When I was done, I added a bit of Bearly Glue to the ends so that they would stay in place.
A Few Notes About Spellbinders Club Kits
Clubs Preview on the 1st of each month.
Club members can cancel, upgrade or change clubs from the 1st-5th of each month. Popular Clubs frequently sell out during this period so club members get first dibs on everything.
NEW for 2024: Club Members get EARLY access to new releases on the 6th!
On the 6th, Clubs become available to non-members.
On the 27th, Club registration closes for the current month.
If a club did not sell out, you can buy under “Shop Past Clubs”. Past kits are available on the 10th of the FOLLOWING month.
Hello and welcome! Karen Brown here and I have a very fun project to share with you today featuring this delightful Vintage Birdcage die. I love color and texture and I used lots of both on this card.
I buffed the embossed script with a microfiber cloth so the embossing was ink free.
I die cut the birdcage 3 times. Twice from Deluxe Smooth Cardstock and once from White Glitter Cardstock. This white is my absolute favorite glitter cardstock. It is hard to photograph but is so beautiful in person. I also cut 2 birds and 4 hearts from glitter cardstock.
Can you have too many dog stamps? I think not! I am loving Spellbinders + Simon Hurley’s new Big Hugs stamp and die bundle. These cute critters – Pug dog, Panda bear and Zebra – are sure to be favorites in my family. I love this set so much I went a little crazy making cards!
Pug Dog Masculine Birthday Cards
My first card is for my husband and I wanted to make a quick little scene. I stamped and Copic colored my Pug (complete with a festive party hat), embossed a brick wall, ink blended a background and heat embossed a cute sentiment.
I like to keep Get Well cards on hand and this card is sure to make the recipient smile. This card came together very quickly. I stamped and Copic colored my Pug and added a blue mat for interest. Just two Copic markers!
Tutorial + 18 Tips and Tricks for Making Wax Seals:
With a Sharpie marker, I put a dot on my seal so it was easy to keep track of where the top of the design is.
I read that it helps reduce soot if you trim your tea candle wick, so I did this.
I put 4 beads in the warming spoon and it took 2 minutes to melt.
I poured the wax and found it is easy to make a circle pattern, but I do like seals that aren’t perfectly round.
Don’t press the seal into the wax, just gently position and allow gravity to work.
After experimenting, I found that if I wanted a thicker, more button like seal you should pour the wax and then wait 15-30 seconds before gently dropping the seal into the wax. The card with the pink seal was done this way.
If you like a thinner seal with a higher rim then place the seal immediately after pouring.
I found if I used just my thumb and pinky or middle finger that I was better able to center the seal more precisely.
I left the seal in the wax anywhere from 15 to 90 seconds. The time didn’t seem to matter and no wax was ever left on the seal itself.
I also found it helps to move your pours around on the silicone mat so you don’t get warm spots on your work surface.
I also let my seal cool in between pours.
If you don’t like a seal, you can remelt it.
You can mix colors for a lovely marbled look. I really love the blue and green combination that I made which is shown in the upper left of the first photo. I also love blue and gold together and you can see two with that combination in the upper right corner on the blue card.
You can add flakes, glitter or pearls to the melted wax.
I used a paper towel to clean the spoon when changing wax colors.
I used a Decocolor marker on some of my seals (see the card with the green seal). I have Gold but wish I had bought silver too. Just lightly go over the raised ridges.
I experimented using Posca Pens too. They work, but I did like the result of the Decocolor markers better. The navy wax seal was highlighted with a silver Posca.
I can’t seem to get enough of the fun florals in this month’s Premium Kit! (If you would like to see my first card featuring these dies, click HERE. ) I love the fresh look of these blooming dies and I so enjoyed creating and working on the layout for this card.
This Valentine Wreath die is SO beautiful! It has the simple yet elegant look of Letter Press and I thought it would be quite striking with a fresh bright blue and clean white color palette. I stamped the wreath with Indigo Core Ink and then die cut the wreath, an extra floral cluster (which I added to the bottom of the wreath) and the sentiment. I cut down an A2 Top Folding Card Base to 4 1/4 x 4 1/4″ and adhered my die cuts with foam adhesive squares.
Hero Arts will give away a $50 gift card, drawn from the comments left across the hop. Enter by Sunday, January 14th at 11:59pm PT, and the winner will be announced on the Hero Arts blog the following week.
I enjoy looking back through my projects, and as we end the year, I wanted to write a post about my most popular Spellbinders cards. I loved so many of my creations, but these are the crowd favorites for 2023.
Fan Favorite 2023 Card
By far, my most popular card on Instagram, Pinterest and my blog was this pink Be Bold Blooms Hello card. I wrote a blog post on how to use this kit three ways, and all the cards were well received. You can read my original post HERE.
My most popular Christmas card in 2023 was my Simon Hurley teal Snow Globe. I call it a CAS Die Cut Card….limited color palette but high visual impact. You can read my original post HERE.
Shaped dies can really change the look of your cards and projects so I loved Spellbinders Stylish Ovals Collection. You can see 4 cards I created with this collection HERE.
This giant die cut bow kit was one of my favorite releases this year! So versatile…..perfect for the holidays, birthdays, showers, graduation etc. You can read my original post HERE.
I love versatile supplies in my craft room and Spellbinders just released a lovely All Occasion Bow etched die kit that is perfect for so many occasions. The bow is part of the beautiful Merry & Bright Collection but I will also be using it on Birthday, Wedding/Shower and Graduation cards.
My Card Process:
My first step is usually color selection. I have a Christmas paper sampler pack (see note below) that I thought would work beautifully for this project so I chose aqua, teal, pinks and greens from this pad.
I divided the All Occasion Bow dies into two piles. The bottom layers were all cut from teal and the top “highlight” die cuts were from aqua. Once I organized my dies between bottom (teal) and “highlights”, I didn’t need to think about which color paper to use and the die-cutting went very quickly.
I assembled my bow with foam adhessive squares, and then decided I wanted to anchor the bow with a focal point label. Spellbinders/Simon Hurley have a beautiful Playful Poinsettia Embossing Folder that I embossed and then die cut using a retired Ornamental Labels Die. This nesting die set has an interesting shape and I love the subtle interest this step adds to my card. I glued this die cut and embossed label (using craft foam and Bearly Glue) to a white A2 Top Folding Card Base.
Now that the basics were done, I wanted to embellish my bow with floral elements and a tag sentiment. I used Spellbinders Petite Blooms and Sentiments, which is also from the Merry & Bright Collection. I especially love the “For You” etched tag die! I like to die cut lots of elements and then I sit down and play around with different layouts. I added some enamel dots for flower centers. For the bow, I wanted to add pops of color but the bow is so beautiful I didn’t want to cover too much either. Its always a balance, isn’t it?
Hello papercrafters, I am back with some lovely seasonal die-cut cards for Fall! I chose some traditional autumn colors and then added beautiful pops of blue. Spellbinders just released this fun collection called Autumn Serenade and I used the Autumn Sealed Sprigs dies along with the coordinating Chipboard Stickers and pre-printed Die Cut Shapes for my cards. I found the stickers and shapes to be real time savers when assembling my cards.
I just got back from a trip to Colorado, and I found the changing folliage was so inspirational for these projects.
Using Pre-Printed Stickers and Die Cut Shapes for Quicker DIY Cards
For my first card I used the Sprigs die kit and then added a sentiment plus heart die-cuts to finish my card. This Die Cut Shapes Kit includes 138 pre-printed pieces with lots of sentiments, botanicals, pumpkins, butterflies etc.
For card #2 I used this showy Chipboard Hello Banner Sticker to complete my fall bouquet. The Chipboard set includes 27 chipboard stickers pre-printed with a variety of sentiments, gold embellishments, butterflies, birds, pumpkins, leaves and flowers. I love this little package and will be using it on future projects.
This Sealed Sprigs Collection reminds me of one of my 2022 Favorite Die Sets called Floral Reflections and you can see that Blog Post HERE.
My Process:
I started by selecting colors for my two cards. I used colored paper from two different sampler packs (listed below).
Next, I die cut my leaves and botanicals. I played around with layouts and then used the Press and Seal Method to keep my arrangement in place as I flipped it over and added foam adhessive squares to the back.
I knew I wanted a banner across the “crossed stems” on each card. The HELLO is a lovely chipboard sticker and the “Thinking of You” is a preprinted die cut. The gold accents add a nice bit of shine to the cards.
kennyscards.com 