In Appreciation for the Very Good Friends in our Lives!! BFF

Hello Blogging Buddies

Glad that you joined me today for this warm and cheery best friend card.  You know, when we want to express to our best friends how much they mean to us?  On this card I used paper from Pink Paislee"s Butterfly Garden Collection, the 6x6 paper pad.  This collection is exquisite, soft and ethereal-like with wonderful soft and rich colors in varying botanical themes throughout the collection.  I used the English Tea Party doilies both on the front and inside.  I stamped one of the Birdhouses from Justrite's 31/4" Birdhouse set and the Sentiment is from Just Rite's Friendship Nested Sentiments and Verse set stamped up on a Spellbinders Tags Two.  The leaves and vines cut in gold foil bazill cardstock is from Spellbinder's On the Vine Grand Borderability.  See the inside of the card pictured on the last picture below where I used another sentiment from the JustRite Friendship collection.  Again, I already had this stamp colored and then I selected the appropriate doily color to match the pattern paper I chose. With the tag already stamped ahead of time as well, this card came together very quickly.  I'm beginning to use up some of the tags and embellishments that I already had cut and stamped up ahead of time as I always make more of what I am doing while I have the stamps and dies out...  Its great to have various stuff on hand so that cards can be created quickly when necessary...  Voila!  There you have it, I did have lots of fun putting all my elements together to create this card.  Go on over to my favourite online scrapping source to find these product and much, much more.  Huge preorder specials on right now!

Wow!!  The light is so much better outside in natural sunlight.  Picture taken
on our weathered porch railing with our front yard in the background.

 Here is a little closer view.  See the details of the doily quite well here
Also see the Copic colors I chose to color this stamp with and the
tag that I ink distressed using Ranger Distress ink in Tea Dye 

Finishing the inside of the card with another stamp from the Friendship Nested Sentiments
using Labels Eighteen to stamp on, I ink distressed with Ranger Distress inks in Tea
Dye using the technique where you leave your dye on the diecut after its cut and
embossed and distressed around the edges with the die on so that when
you lift it, the edge remains white to bring contrast and dimension.

I Decorated a Chocolate Box! Check it out....



Hello Blog Hoppers

I'm back with the project of the day!!  Wow, I just love these Cheery Lynn and Marianne Design dies and the Spellbinder Dies too  oh yes! (both sets shown here are available through preorder)..yes, and all my embellies, ... oh and my stamps, um.... yeaaaah!  Life is just wonderful!  The day is beautiful but its painfully warm outside.  I'm comfortable tho, sitting with my air conditioning on and working on more projects.  This time, I'm showing off an altered art project featuring one of my favourite products out on the market today.  This is last season's Prima Marketing Reflections Collection pattern paper which I chose from my stash to cover over a chocolate box.   I just wanted to provide you with options on what to do with all those old boxes you keep throwing under your bed! teeheehee.. Well, they can be used for gifts to keep sentimental items or trinkets.  Just cover them up and go hog wild with your diecuts, flowers and embellies -- Voila!! Orrrrrrrr ... you could fill it back up with your favourite chocolates and eat bon bons dans le sac! That roughly translates.. eating candies in bed!  LOL  Anyways, they are great for gift giving with a set of hand made cards inside for that special person in your life who appreciates the work you put into your projects and gifts.  Again, this project is chock full of "stuff".  I used the Italian Flourish Doily from Cheery Lynn Designs to begin my layers.  I didn't really want to cover it up but it is big and I LOVE the layered look.  The Italian Flourish is the one that resembles a snowflake when it stands alone but paired with other dies, it take on very different look.  I layered a Marianne Design Creatables Doily Round 3.75" size doily on top of the Italian Flourish.  This die is another stunner, the cutouts are elegant and the embossed finish is crisp.  In the top right hand corner I've placed two of the same of another die from Marianne Designs called the Butterfly Creatable and I layered them up for an exquisite filigree look.  Aren't these dies amazing??  You are going to see more and more of my design work being created using both these brands of dies in the future!  Click on any of the links that are highighted and underlined and you will be brought directly to where you can find the products at great preorder prices. 

The Spellbinder sets I used on this decorated box is Bird Sanctuary and Nested Butterflies Two, both of these are available on the preorder list at OC Scrapbookers.  I glammed the box up with Zva Creative Rhinestone Flourishes in champagne and copper to compliment the colors in the paper, as well as the copper foil I used on the Italian Flourish doily and one of the Marianne Design Butterflies. I used a Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly to punch some in glitter paper to dimension and texture to the result.  I finished it off with some brown kaisercraft pearls and some tea-stained lace.  Oh, and last but now least, the sentiment is a stamp from guess... yes, you're right -- the Just Rite Birdhouses set in 31/4" round interlocking.  There you have it... an altered project and a bit of a rest from the cards.  Let me know what you think!!





10"x 7.5" box covered with Prima's Reflections Collection pattern paper



See the Italian Flourish Doily from Cheery Lynn Designs
On top of the flourish die I put a Marianne Design Creatables Doily Round, 3.75" round

Get a closer look by clicking on the picture, click again to zoom in more. 
See the layered filigree butterflies?  They are Marianne Design's Butterfly Creatable, LR0114

Flutterby Wednesday!!

Stopping by to quickly post this card in order to enter it in the Flutterby Wednesday Challenge Blog #164 just for fun.  I came by the blog when I went surfing for fine challenges to enter some of my work into.  When I read all about this Challenge, this card quickly came to mind. I knew it needed its own post to enter the challenge and because it fit the criteria so exactly.  The main criteria is that it must use "stripes and a butterfly, angel or fairy".  Well this card fits the criteria exactly!  I instantly fell in love with the Butterfly Wednesday Challenge Blog  because of my love for Butterflies, Angels, and Fairies!  I may well become a consistent follower to this Blog and enter challenges again and again!  I encourage you to visit this challenge blog and enter some of your grand designs...



This Card used Bo Bunny Gabrielle paper and the butterfly is from the collection as well
Gabrielle Trinkets.  Lots of other Prima flowers, Zva Creative pearl
flourish and Cheery Lynn Design Doilies
Click onto the picture for a closer view



Posting to enter Design Team Call for Cheery Lynn Designs

Hello My Friends

I'm posting some design work pics here featuring Cheery Lynn Design Doily Dies...  This post serves to enter an example of my work for the Cheery Lynn Design Team call.  I took pictures of the sister card I was talking about on an earlier post, sister cards as you can see on the pics below.  Looking at the middle picture, I do want to point out that I always complete my card designs by finishing the inside the card to compliment the decor on the outside of the card.  Often I compliment my cards further by making matching envelopes of specific sized cards that I'm fond of making.  See the earlier posts on my blog here to find out how I'm talking up the wonders of Cheery Lynn Design products and how I fell in love with them when I found them earlier this Spring.  This design call comes at the most opportune time as I am featuring the dies I recently recieved and talking about the so many more types of dies that are available with so many more in the planning stages.  Wow!  So my friends... I would love to hear from you -- let me know if you think I would be a good design team player on the Cheery Lynn Design team for the coming Fall/Winter!!

Sister Cards using English Tea Party Doily Die
Bo Bunny Gabrielle Collection and a wealth of other products.
Products also include various Spellbinders Dies, various JustRite stamps,
Zva Creative Crystal and Pearl flourishes and assorted Prima flowers, and borders
with ribbon and crystals.  Click on the picture once for a close-up and again to get even closer. 

This picture shows the inside of the card.  Here I used both the English Tea Party
doily and then the French Pastry Doily, finishing it off with a Spellbinders Beaded circles diecut
stamped with a JustRite Butterfly Garden selection.

Showing both cards nicely here.  The card behind the front one here was posted
earlier today and you can see it better by clicking on the heading of my blog at the top
this page to refresh and bring you to past posts where you may see more on the
card in behind and more on the doily dies that I discovered and LOVE so much! 

I'm Back to Post More on these Great Dies!

Hello My Blog Friends

Its a beautiful sunny morning, cooler and the birds are singing loud and proud outside my window.  I'm back with a coffee this morning to work on loading pics of the work I did yesterday and the card I put together using these intricate diecuts. 

So,  I want to talk a little about the way that I worked with the dies yesterday. -- I used the Grand Calibur so that I could get more on the large base plate and I loaded them up with the Metal Shims that I purchased along with the first dies I ordered.  Each time I loaded the machine, I cut cardstock or paper to fit the dies and taped them down using Scotch Magic Removeable Tape.  I then cut them the same way I cut all my cherished dies.  Now as I mentioned previously, a couple of times I had to put a die through the second time, I think mainly because I had too much on the base plate (always try to get the best bang for my buck) LOL.  I was working on a couple of Marianne Creatable dies as well that I ordered in the same order for the Cheery Lynn dies.  I wanted to try them out too and I'm here to tell you they are of equally excellent quality and easy to work with.  Once I ran them through the die cutting maching, I picked up each one up in turn and over a garbage bag I tapped lightly on the backs of the dies and loosened the diecut while tapping off most of the loose paper that was cut.  The die comes off with the tapping and most of the paper comes right off the die!  I love that there is very little time spent picking paper out of these dies as we find ourselves doing with some of our other cherished name brand dies.

There is always some cuts where the paper doesn't come out with the tapping technique, but with cutting as many as I did yesterday, I'll just put them away and check them well before I use them on any projects to make sure all the pieces that are supposed to be out are punched out.  Here are pictures of some of the work I did with the dies:



English Tea Party



 I cut this one in Brown Charlie petallic cardstock and tapped most of the pieces out in the garbage bag.  This one cut exceptionally well and did not require alot of tapping or piercing.  Click on the picture for a closer view.

French Pastry Doily



This die is a bit smaller than the English Tea Party but no less dynamic.  With the smaller size it is great for layering as you will see on pictures further down and on the first project I'm posting further on.

Italian Flourish Doily Die

This is the one that resembles a snowflake when it is by itself.  The cuts are amazing and the embossed edges that are left are stunning when you see it and can touch it.  I just love the filigree look to it and I had lots of fun cutting these and experimenting with various cardstocks, foils and textured paper.



 





Layered English Tea with French Pastry
Ha, thats making me hungry!!



English Tea Party with Italian Flouish
Cut the larger one in blue foil and the Italian
Flourish in a winter pattern paper


Now, I want to put up the pictures of the first card I did yesterday.  And while I'm posting this morning I'm putting together a sister card something like this one and its coming along nicely.  I will post it a little later on... The first card here is a little busier than I usually do but I do like busy as all my followers know.  I like an explosion of color and texture on the palette, a plethora of wonders to see and if you look closer there may be more to discover... I really like that and, its my style I guess you could call it, my signature.  So here goes ...

Using Bo Bunny's Gabrielle Collection

Inside: English Tea Pary Doily and
Sentiment from Justrite's Butterfly Garden
31/4" round Ribbed Stamp set

 
Click on the pictures themselves to see a closer view of the images, and click again for an even closer view.  On this card I used a Zva Creative Pearl Flourish (most of the time the flourish doesn't fit the way it is presented in the package but you can cut these flourishes up and use pieces on your card front to suit your creativity) That is way I did here.  As for the doilies, I layered up first an English Tea Party doily and then on top of that I put a French pastry doily cut in the Gabrielle paper -- do you see why these dies are essential to your crafting and scrapbooking needs?  You can simply cut doilies to your heart's content in the matching pattern paper collections that you are working with at the time.  The sky is the limit with these babies as it is with our other name brand dies.  On top of the layered doilies I put a Prima Poetic Whispers Creme flower as the center piece.  Wow, these flowers are amazing!!  Intricate, elegant and exquisite -- feminine and well..Old World!  What can I say, its why I was so attracted to them.  Around the bottom left hand side I laid out a flourish of 3D mini rosebuds from Prima, called Fairytale in Teal and then I placed some tea stain rosebuds to round it off.  On the top right side, I put a metal butterfly embellishment from the Gabrielle Collection - Trinkets.  My sentiment is from Just Rite's Everyday Tiny Sentiments set stamped on a Spellbinders Ribbon Banners S4-324 - with my essential collections that I have going on, I can create anything!!  .. and I have so much fun trying. 

So, to celebrate the intro of these new dies, OC Scrapbookers has an awesome pre-order event going on!  Hop on over and take a look!  There's a whole lot going on over at OC Scrappers this whole next week with much more to come...  Don't forget the preorder special on Copic Markers going on today too - not much time left on that preorder special.
So my friends... let me know what you think.. I do want to do some altered art and a layout here too..  Stay tuned for the sister card and much, much more!!

Drum Roll Please!!! Say Hello to the Doily Die!

They are absolutely to DIE for!! These awesome dies are simply amazing and let me try to do them justice as I describe them and show them to you here on this post and consecutive posts to come all this week... Pls. watch the videos that I have loaded up for you below to see how they are cut and so that you can begin to become comfortable with them.

You know, I wasn't completely sure that I liked doilies when they began to appear on cards and layouts last Christmas. I liked them on some of the work I saw but didn't care for them on other projects. I think it was that they were for the most part first, manufactered using flimsy/thin paper, and second there seemed an absence of vibrancy in color and texture for me coming mostly in white with some silver ones (didn't wow me). Then I discovered the Doily Dies made by Cheery Lynn and ordered a few to try --- Well... you can bet that I am now a collector of Cheery Lynn Dies in all of their formats. Over time I will collect them and Deb, over at OC Scrapbookers  is going to carry the designs beginning with an AWESOME preorder starting today. Okay... where do I begin?? I'm so excited to show you these dies. Lets try to get this video loaded so you can view them and see how to cut them as he demonstates.

Keep in mind, and let me clarify that some of the videos talk about fussing with cutting the dies by running them through your die cutting machine over and over, turning them around. This is an older video and well, if you are knowledgable and used to the die cutting machine that you use, you know that you only need to play with the shims enough to get a clean run through the first time. A little playing at the beginning to get the right fit of shim(s) may be needed but then you will get the hang of it for the particular die cutting machine you are currenty using. I've had a Cuttlebug for diecutting and embossing for years now but recently I acquired first a Vagabond (electric) diecutting machine for major projects (that means manufacturing for me) such as when I have orders for multiple cards like christmas cards or invitations for events. Then, I discovered the beauty of the Grand Calibur with its 81/2"x11" base plate size and how I can cut multiple dies in one run through which of course is perfect for my fondness of layering diecuts on projects.  So now, I use (almost exclusively) the Grand Calibur for many of my diecutting needs. I still love my Cuttlebug and will not part with it as I use it for workshops, (if interested, OC Scrapbookers has the best price on the Grand Calibur in Canada, check it out)  but I just love being able to do several diecuts at once on the Grand Calibur. The GC totally sold me on these doily dies because with only one run through, for cutting and embossing with the recommended metal shim, these exquisitely intricate dies cut like butter and every piercing and raised embossed image comes out crisp showing the deep complexity of each die. The thicker the paper you use, the more stunning and deeply etched is the finished result!! I am going to show you the diecuts by themselves to illustrate their beauty and then I'll show you them on a finished project.


French Pastry Doily Die

 



Here are the three Cheery Lynn Dies that I ordered to try out.  You will find my projects this week feature these 3 doily dies in my art in various ways.  I had fun today just cutting and cutting and getting used to them.  From time to time I put a die through more than once and mostly because I was loading too much on at once.




Italian Flourish Doily Die



English Tea Party Die





I had fun too cutting them out with various cardstock including glitter cardstock and various colors of foil cardstock, seeking that dimension and texture that I was looking for.  See how this one looks somewhat like a snowflake..  Well, you can imagine what I will want to do with that one come Winter...  I will post my own pictures of the various cuts I made today and then I'll top it off by posting a project to show another wonderful group of products!!

Stay tuned for the next post featuring my own pics and a project I did today with the doilies.  I'll be adding more on what I am doing with these beauties so that you can take advantage of my learning.  Feel free to email me and ask any questions  or comment on what you think so far.  I am interested in what you think...  So, go on over to OC Scrapbookers to see the preorder special price that Deb has put on in to celebrate the Cheery Lynn products.  Look for more very soon, maybe even later on tonight or early tomorrow morning...  later friends! 

Some of the Pre-order Spellbinder Nesties I got my little hands on....

Wow!  This project shows you several products and tools on one project that came together in a about an hour's time.  The design popped into my head after I had looked at a previously stamped the image colored up with Copics in which I added a previously cut Spellbinder's Butterfly Circle diecut.  When I noticed the matching colors to the the pattern paper I had in my stash I concluded that this was an excellent match.  The pattern paper is from My Mind's Eye called the Bohemia Collection which features colors of purple, lilac, teal, and purplish/browns.  The colors are amazing and compliment the stamp I colored with Copic Alchohol markers.  I like busy projects sometimes and this one is full of details and layers.  For this post, I am very excited to bring you some of my new Spellbinders that are part of the pre-orders you can see up on Debs webstore home page.  Butterfly Circles and Nested Butterflies Two are two of the Spellbinder Sets featured on this card as well as Monarch Butterflies punched from the Martha Stewart punch line.  Behind the Spellbinders Butterfly Circles I cut a 5"x5" square with another selection from the Martha Stewart line - Butterfly Punch Around the Page punches.  I cut some Spellbinders Butterfly Nested Two dies and layered them up on an embossed image from the set.  I just embossed the same die in purple cardstock that I used to cut the butterfly in cream velvet paper -- once embossed I fussy cut it out and layered it up under the cream velvet so you can see the hint of purple under the cutout.   This technique just embosses and shows the all the lines as embossed but now cut out!  Amazing effect on some intricate dies and works well for layering under the cutout diecut.  I cut the smallest of the three dies in cream velvet and layered it on top for dimension, adding some bling for texture and sparkle.  In the center, I stamped one of the four stamp selections from the Just Rite's 31/4" round Butterfly Garden ribbed set.  This is a birthday card for some lucky recipient and will be a delight to give away.  Inside the card you will notice the beautiful embossed cardstock liner.  I embossed the Teal cardstock inside the card with one of the new    Cuttlebug 5"x7" folders called Kassie's Brocade. Layered on the card too are some Prima flowers that are simply devine!! Stay tuned to see some of the flowers that I will be making myself very shortly... and come on back tomorow to get in on the best product ever!!  Hope you like this card and I hope you let me know your thoughts.  I love to hear what you think and maybe what you want to see me do in future..   as I say, more very soon - stay tuned for a very awesome preorder coming up....................  Click on the link above to visit the best webstore with the best customer service in Ontario Canada!!!

A Card About Change - Just Rite Stamps and Spellbinders

Hello My Wonderful Blogging Friends

Happy Sunday.. this summer has been just beautiful so far.  It has been a little warm lately, but it is summer and I am thankful for each season and what it brings us.  Here in Northeastern Ontario Canada, we enjoy each season and its distinct and variable weather.  Love, love, love it!!
For today, I wanted to clean up on what I have left of the projects that I had in the queue so I can begin again working with some of various sets in my Spellbinder collection and with my Just Rite stamp collection!  For this card I chose a pattern paper collection from the Bo Bunny named Gabrielle with its rich shades of teal, coral, cream and regal chocolate brown.  Then I chose a stamp from Just Rite's ribbed collections - the 31/4" round Butterfly Garden set JB-09915. This stamp set is amazing and fits in with the season we're in right now and all of the wonderful butterflies we are seeing in the scrapbooking and stamping world right now.  I colored the stamp up subtlety with Copic markers, trying to infuse the blue-green that is part of the pattern paper into the stamp colors.  I cut the stamped image out with Spellbinders Standard Circle Nestabilities large and in behind it I chose to use another die-cut from one of the newer Spellbinders sets, the Eyelet Circles Nestabilities, cutting it in a creamy/golden yellow bazzill cardstock.   This is another of the 6"x9" cards I often make so I chose to put a sentiment on the bottom too, focusing on best wishes for the card recipient with changes as indicated on the butterfly image.  The sentiment on the tag is from Just Rite's Vistorian Nested Frames and Sentiments -  JB 09-205.  The tag is one of the three tags from Spellbinders Tags Two.  I used a Martha Stewart Wildflowers Border punch to  cut a border from one of the patterns from the collection in order to add dimension to the separation of chocolate embossed cardstock on top and another pattern paper choice on the bottom.  Often, it takes time to choose how to layer and add dimension to the projects... but that is so much a part of the fun of doing it for me.  I love to design!  So my friends... next I will be coming up with some new stuff!  Our friendly neighborhood web-store will be working with me to introduce what I call a dynamite product!!  Go on over and visit right now to see what has been put up and what is going up for pre-order from CHA!  So much and then some!!  As for my input, remember my promise on doilies? -- I can't wait to feature these lovely beauts!! I can hardly wait to bring them to you and Deb will have input too ... stay tuned!!!

An Eclectic Group of Products used on this card!

Happy Summer Days...

How are we all doing this fine and hot, hot day?  I am staying cool here in the house laying low and out of the hot and humid weather.  My summer visitors are all gone now and I am just settling and resting from the hustle and bustle - I haven't really stopped since school was out at the end of June.  Now I'm going to have some me time and get to work on some fun stuff.  I am posting another card tonight and on this card I used a few unrelated products. This stamp is another one that I borrowed from a friend as I found it very interesting and thought it would be different to use.  It's a Lablanche Silicone Stamp (Deb can get them in).  I inked the stamp up with Momento Black ink - which is the best ink to use when coloring the stamped image with Copic alcohol markers.  I was intrigued with the crispness of the image as I wanted to practice coloring with Copics and knew that this image would test my coloring abilities.  I layered up the stamped image with a randomly torn piece of pattern script paper, well distressed with Ranger Antique Linen Distress ink.  The flower on the top part of the card is one given to me by my friend who was working on a Glimmer Mist technique flower..  She Glimmer Misted some paper with layers of various colors of Glimmer Mist letting the paper dry between layers.  Once the paper was glimmered up and dry she punched several flowers out of the paper and then layered them up.  She scrunched them up and distressed them with Ranger Distress inks.  She offered me one and I chose this color to go on this card.  It is quite shimmery and shows up better in person.  The sentiment is a stamp from JustRite's 31/4" round Butterfly Garden Collection.  The Spellbinders are Labels Nineteen, Labels Six, and on each end of the Label Six I put an Accent #1 from the Tulips Pendants set to make it look dimensional and ornate.  Last but not least, the butterfly on the bottom left corner is a butterfly stamp I had in my stash.  I stamped it on vellum twice and cut it out, colored it on the backside with pastel colored copic markers, and layered it up. I traced the edge with a glue pen and stuck some gliter on it for a sparkly effect!  So there you have it!  These products and so much more can be found at my favourite webstore OC Scrapbookers n More...click on link above the go to the store and see what preorders she is loading on the site.  No time like the present to get ready for the fall cropping season!!  Can't wait!!

Grand Nestie Card

Hello Blogging Friends...

I'm posting another card tonight that I made a couple of months ago featuring a Grand Nestie that I used as the card base.  The shape of this Grand Nestability Labels Four is classic and it can be easily made using the Grand Calibur (email Deb for a great price on this machine and dies) and the largest of the dies in the nested set!  I placed the die strategically onto the folded cardstock so that the top side of the card will utilize the fold in the cardstock.  The Grand Nestabilities are amazing and can be used for cards, for journalling tags on layouts or wonderful layering shapes for matting underneath pictures on layouts.  So many wonderful uses... love, love, love them.   On the inside of the card, I cut the next size down from the largest die and ink distressed it and now it is ready for a stamped or printed verse.  This is a friendship card and the stamped sentiment is a Waltzingmouse stamp - not available in Canada :(   but the grand nesties are available at my favourite LSS ( click on link above and email Deb for more information) I also used Spellbinders Fleurs De Lis pendant, some Prima flowers and Prima Flourish bling and pearls.  Inside is an open slate and can be dressed up and personalized for that special friend who needs cheering up.  Stay tuned for more projects... 

What to do with your Cricut Boxes

Hello Everyone
I am back to show you an altered project that I made this Spring using several tools like the Cricut Cutting system and Spellbinders Cutting system using several spellbinders that came out earlier this year.  First of all let me say,  for all of you who have put your Cricut Cartridges into a better storage system for carrying around from crop to crop in either a Gypsy and/or physically into a stack-able storage system like I did, you have all of those nifty boxes with magnetic lids left over.  I have over 60 cartridges and so now that I've emptied and stored my carts and booklets in the storage system I have that many of those nifty boxes.  I knew they would come in handy for altering into colorful and varied card containers so I kept them and maybe I can make some Christmas Gifts with them.  For this first one I chose an older floral pattern paper from K and Company that I had for years which has several patterns all in the same color family.  I covered the box and decorated it  Zva Creative pearls and several flowers that are cut from the Creative Memories Cricut Cartridge called Reminisce Accents.  This cartridge is simply amazing and comes equipped with features that allow you to layer your designs 3 times for extra depth and dimension.   Wow!!  I have tried out various images from this cartridge and varied the cuts for layouts and cards -- I love this cartridge and find it very versatile for several themes.
The cards are 3"x3" in size and I've made the matching envelopes for each one, 12 cards in total in a 3"x3" size just fit snuggly into this box.  On the cards, I have added various stamped sentiments and all are in the Thank You theme.  I added a few new Spellbinders sets like Standard Circles large, Lacey Circles, Floral Doily Motifs and Fleurs De Lis Doily Accents.  The insides are decorated with thank you sentiments stamped on a background as well.  The cards took a lot of cutting but with the Grand Calibur (email Deb at OC Scrapbookers to find out her fantastic price on the Calibur) and its large size bed for cutting multiple Spellbinders, it was a cinch!!  Visit the store link above to take a look at the great products and email Deb to be put on her Newsletter contact list so you can find out about her wonderful pre-order sales and the crops coming up beginning in September.  Stay tuned for more of these projects as I have several in the queue...  Doily die-cuts coming very shortly with more Just Rite Stamps colored up with Copic Markers.!! Wow!!!!

Copics, a Just Rite Stamp and more Spellbinder die cuts!!

Hello Again Bloggin' Friends...
I'm back to feature a card with a few of my favorite products -- Spellbinder Dies, Just Rite Stamps and Copic Alcohol markers!  The embellishments are also a favorite with me; pearls, pearls and more pearls!!  So let me start with the paper, this is a collection that I love and used on the grad card below.  A Kaiser Craft pattern paper collection in shades of brown and blue.  The shade of blue in this paper is simply amazing - somewhere between a blue and a green, in the teal blue color family.  I stamped up this Just Rite stamp from the JB09840 Birdhouses Set, in their ribbed 31/4" round style and I stamped it in Momento Black ink on Copic Xpress It cardstock.  This combination of cardstock and ink is the best combination to get the best results when coloring with Copic markers.  Momento ink is the best ink to stamp any image that you plan to color up with alcohol markers as it will not bleed once dry.  I know that several of you got in on the Copic pre-order sale and now have your Copics in hand so I will be posting a series of Just Rite images colored up with my new combinations of markers that I ordered, just to show you all some of what you can do with these amazing combinations of products!  The work that can be achieved is fantastic and I am eagerly seeking to achieve some wonderful designs and looking forward to the process of getting there.  

I used multiple Spellbinder dies to layer up the stamped image and to stamp the sentiment.  I cut the stamped image with Spellbinders Standard Circles. Under the stamped and colored image I used Spellbinders Standard  Scallop Circle.  Further, under the scallop circle I placed a die cut from Spellbinders Eyelet Circles set which just set it off on a whimsical note.  I matched the color of the flowers to the card stock as best I could and then set it on top of a paper border with Kaiser Craft pearls.  The sentiment I featured on one of the three choices you can find in Spellbinders Tags 2 and under it I placed a selection from Spellbinders Long Classic Scallop Rectangles.  I inked distressed the tag with Twilight Blue ink from Close To My Heart and then used a brown pearl sequence from Zva Creative.  Click up on the link above for the best place to shop for all the products you see on this card and more...   I hope you like this card... stay tuned, much more to come!!

A Kraftin Kimmy stamp colored with Copics - Oh and look at the Die-Cuts!

Hello Blogging Friends!
What do you think of this awesome stamp?  I love Kraftin Kimmie stamps!  I don't own any but I was stamping and coloring with my friend earlier this year (Hi Jenn) and she has a lovely collection of Kraftin Kimmie stamps.  I borrowed this one and stamped it and colored it up for my nephew and his wife who are expecting their first child, a baby girl in November.  YIPPEE!!  On this card I used multiple spellbinder dies to enhance the stamp and sentiment.  The first one I want to showcase is one of the newest additions to my Spellbinder Collection and its called "Butterfly Circles".  It's not available in stores yet but ooo la la... its simply amazing and Deb has them on order --- email her for an approximate arrival date or to pre-order them with her.  You will notice my love of butterflies lately and this die set fit right in with all the butterfly dies and stamps that I am currently collecting right now.  Click on any of the pictures to get a closer look at all of the products I am using on this card.  As you can see, this die has small butterfly cut-outs that border the outer circle of the die.  The cut-outs that result when cutting the may be used on the same project somewhere or saved for a future project (just food for thought).  To frame the stamp I used Spellbinders Labels 20 and if you click on the close-up you will see that I did a special cut around the bottom of her dress.  This technique is called Cutting with Spellbinders Out of the Box Technique.  I just love the look of this and I will show you all how to do it at Deb's Crops coming up this fall!  I am working on some new Spellbinder Technique demos for the upcoming crops and will continue working with Spellbinders, Just Rite Stamps and Copics.  For the sentiment, "Expecting a Package" I stamped on selection from Spellbinders Ribbon Banners and beneath that I used a tag die from Spellbinders Fancy Tags 2.  On her belly is the smallest die from another Spellbinder set not yet released called Nested Butterflies Two;  there are (3) in the set and they have a deeply and ornately embossed pattern on them.  They are just stunning to cut either in plain colored cardstock, pattern paper, or vellum which can be spritzed with Glimmer Mists!  Again, oooo la la - I just love these Spellbinder sets.  To ask about how to get them and to discuss more about when they are available, click my link above to email Deb at OC Scrapbookers.  More lovliness coming tomorrow!!!  Stay tuned...

School's Out Forever!! Two Grad Cards...

Hello Everyone!!  Do I have some projects just waiting to be posted here.. I've been busy creating and designing but not enough posting and I don't want to forget about my blogging friends.  I've been using some wonderful tools and I've been creating some wonderful stuff'that I'm real excited to share with you.  First though I would like to show you these two examples of Graduation Cards that I created; one for a friend who wanted a special card for her daughter and the other ( this blue number) for my niece who has worked so hard for years through university!!  I am creating another one for a special neice who just graduated from highschool this year too (wink, wink) in the mail soon, I didn't forget you hon...  All my family knows that a card from Auntie Kath is special because my time is so spread out on many different responsibilities.  I do not want to miss one special family member though.  Let me point out that both cards (click on pictures to enlarge) use a Just Rite stamp here that I just love - the sentiment suits the occasion.  From the JustRite Originals -- the Lg. Ovals My Rainbow Borders and Centers set released at the end of February this year.  This set consists of four sentiments outlined in an oval shape with four separate border designs. It can be used over and over  and fits into several themes for multiple card designs.  On the top card posted I used Kaiser Craft matching pattern paper in a blue and brown color palette.  I layered the stamp with a Spellbinder beaded ovals die in brown Charlie petallics heavy cardstock the embossed spellbinder dies are amazing in heavy petallics or foil paper for special events or occasions.  Notice, when you look closely, I used a store bought doily underneath the sentiment and label which I distressed for effect. Let me say here, stay tuned for more on doilies.. I will be featuring DOILY DIES very shortly--- I can hardly contain myself... What can I say.. I love doilies now that I can cut my own.....  okay, on with these projects, I also used a Martha Stewart Monarch Butterfly Border punch for the border between the two paper pattern selections on the front of the card.  I colored the border of the stamp with a matching Copic marker and ink distressed with Ranger's Antique Linen distress ink. The small butterfly on the top of the Sentiment is the smallest of the three dies in the new Spellbinders Fancy Nested Butterfly set that is not even available in stores yet, (more projects with those dies coming soon)

The second card shown here is in a pink and brown color palette that is from Bo Bunny's Gabrielle collection.   This fairy tale collection features butterflies and magic with a botanical undercurrent.  I love, love, love this paper collection!  I used the Just Rite Sentiment on this card too but this time I put it inside the card. Along with the sentiment inside the card, I cut Spellbinder butterflies from two sets; the older Butterfly set and Butterflies Two which layered one on top of another.  Back to the front of the card, I used multi Spellbinder sets... The first and most largest of the layers is the Grand Nesties Four which I detail-matted in a solid brown color to compliment the top pattern paper layer.  The next label I used is Labels Eighteen cutting it in pattern paper choice that is one of the lighter colors.  I then cut  another layer, Labels twenty and stamped the Sentiment from a Just Rite sentiment set, detail-matting it as well in the solid brown cardstock for consistancy.  I layered Spellbinders Butterflies again and the Dragonfly from Fanciful Flight on this card to symbolize wonderful changes and good luck.  I also used some accents from a new Spellbinders Motif set for a fancy flair on each side of the labelled sentiment.  I think I covered most of what's on these two cards....  more projects are coming soon.  You can find these products and more at my favourite place (link above) if you like what you see and stay tuned to my blog for some other great inspiration just around the corner....