Bearded Iris Mother's Day!

Hi there,

We are on our second snow day today, after an accumulation of a foot of heavy snow, with many downed limbs, including on top of a part of the fence. So I took my extra time, from my cancelled regular activities to make my Mum's Mother's Day card. While I was lying in bed yesterday morning not needing to get up I was thinking ... Easter is very early this year, that means so is UK Mother's Day and on checking ... sure enough it is this Sunday!! Yikes! I hope it will get there in time.

I used the new Bearded Iris Set 889 from Sparkle N Sprinkle, stamping the image in Safari Green Hybrid Ink using the Stamp Platform, as I wanted to stamp over it again after coloring it in.

I heat embossed the image with Sparkle and it gave a raised, glittery outline.

I decided to color the image with my new Hybrid Ink Diamonds. These are the new hybrid mini ink pads by Nuvo. There are four sets and I used the Rose Garden Collection which includes Pink Sherbert, Spanish Sangria and Dried Oregano. I dabbed the ink pads onto an acrylic block and used my Nuvo Water Brush to pick up the ink.

I then put the finished colored image back in the Stamp Platform and inked the stamp with Nuvo Clear Mark and heat embossed with Sparkle again.

I then made my base for my easel card. Only cutting the bottom flap with the outline die from the Tonic Loopy Lace Ovals Die. I put a double piece of scrap card at the fold of my easel, so that when I ran the cardstock and die through my Tangerine, the machine's tension would let me know when I had gone far enough. Hope the picture below explains what I did?

A piece of Super Adhesive Sheet was attached to a piece of cardstock and the outline and biggest frame die were run through the Tangerine.

Then only the outline die was run through the Tangerine with a piece of white cardstock layered with Super Adhesive Sheet. The protective backing was removed and then the Loopy Lace Frame was layered to the sticky surface. Gecko Velvet Glitter was applied to the sticky areas of the frame. Then the protective backing was removed from the frame and Margarita was applied to the main piece.

The image was die cut with the Sizzix Dotted Ovals Die and was mounted to the glittery frame with
Mounting Tape.

I stamped the sentiment from the MSE Mother's Day Innies and Outies in the Hybrid Green ink,
using the Stamp Platform again, as it was a detailed image and I wanted to stamp it twice.

The Happy Mother's Day from the same MSE set was stamped in the Safari Green ink on white
cardstock and was die cut with a smaller Dotted Oval die. This was attached to the bottom of the
card base with mounting tape, so it would act as a stop for the easel card.

I added Nuvo Bottle Green Crystal Drops to the sentiment and some to the Iris image.

Hope you've enjoyed my share today? Below you will find a list of products that I used in making this card, which can be purchased over on the Sparkle N Sprinkle website.

Bearded Iris 889

MSE Mother's Day Innies and Outies

Hybrid Inks: Safari Green

Hybrid Inks: Rose Garden Collection:

Pink Sherbert, Spanish Sangria, Dried Oregano

Nuvo Clear Mark

Sparkle (EP107)

Nuvo Water Brush

Nuvo Crystal Drops Bottle Green

Margarita (GM2032), Gecko (GM2045)

Tonic Tangerine

Stamp Platform

Super Adhesive Sheets

Tonic Loopy Lace Ovals Die

Sizzix Dotted Ovals

Mounting Tape

I'd like to play along in the following challenges today:

Crafts Galore Encore Challenge March: Anything Goes
Crafty Girls Creations Challenge 45: Anything Goes
The Creative Crafters First Challenge: Anything Goes

Thanks for stopping by on this sunny, snow-melting day!

Warm hugs,

Shona

MERRY CHRISTMAS NUANCE POINSETTIAS!

Hi there, 

....... and a very Merry Christmas!  I hope you're all finished with chores and are able to sit back and enjoy the Holiday season at this point.  I'm still dashing around but wanted to share my last card for Sparkle N Sprinkle for 2015! Where has this year gone?

First of all I started with a piece of watercolor cardstock and stamped the Poinsettia from Holiday Foliage Set 475 in Versamark.  I then heat embossed the Poinsettia with White Detail  and sprinkled the purple and green  Nuance powders into the "petal" and "leaf" areas.

These powders when spritzed with water shower color all over the place! Just heat set, like I did, if you can't wait for it to dry!

Once dry, I added Lavender Iris to the flower petals with the Sakura Glue Pen. I then cut the poinsettia into four pieces to make the corners for my card.

On to the center of the card! I made the background with watercolor paper  sprinkling the same two Nuance Powders and spritzing with water. I die cut the Cheery Lynn Designs Merry Christmas Die from green cardstock and applied Versamark to the entire piece, which was then heat embossed with Clear Detail embossing powder. I stuck a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet over the Nuance background, removed the protective backing and centered the die cut on the top.  Sparkle embossing powder was then sprinkled over the entire piece, sticking to the sticky surface and was then heat embossed, which resulted in this sparkly look.

I layered the "image" onto a piece of purple cardstock (which had a fun textured side and then a purple/red side) and added the four corners of the Poinsettia. The sheer green ribbon bow was added at this point before being layered on to the white card base.

Merry Christmas Hugs,

Shona

Let's take a Sleigh Ride!

Hi there,

A quick post from me today - mainly because I'm still feverishly getting my cards made and secondly because I didn't photo document this one as I was making it (as it was bits and pieces of other cards that ended up together)!

I had received a free package of an embossing folder (with border strip), a British Robin stamp and a couple of sayings, with a magazine last month and had used the folder on this piece of purplish textured cardstock.

I had some scraps of watercolor paper where I had been playing with my purple and green Nuance powders, which I had also heat embossed with Sparkle. I used the anti static bag over the piece before stamping the couple sleigh riding in Versamark and heat embossing with black detail. It was then cut and embossed with Spellbinders Classic Oval die.

The sentiment was also from the freebie package and I stamped in black StazOn before coloring the poinsettias with pencils to match my scrap piece of "Nuances Poinsettia" left over from a project that I will share next week. The sentiment was die cut and embossed with Spellbinders Mega Ovals and I added some Lavender Iris to the purple petals using a Sakura Glue Pen.

A little green sheer ribbon bow was tucked behind the sentiment and then it was all attached with dimensional foam. This was layered on to a white card base to finish the card.

That was it! Not bad for a bunch of bits and pieces, right?

OK, that's all for now - back to the drawing board or should I say craft room!

Hugs,

Shona

EMBOSSED BEACH SCENE FRAME

Hi there, 

I know it is already officially fall, but I have another beach themed project that I just have to share with you. Instead of a card today, I decided to frame a cute photo that I took on the beach last summer in California, as we headed for Hawaii.

I started with a plain clip photo frame and took it apart. I taped a piece of 3.5" x 5" card to the center of the piece of glass with temporary tape. My photo would be inserted into the free space once I was done with my embossing.  I turned the frame over so that the piece of card was underneath and I placed the photo in the center of the frame (in the same spot as the piece of card). Using a die based ink marker, I drew little lines where the white of the crest of the waves started and ended, the different grades in the sand and the sand bar at the top of the photo. These were to be my guides for my "painting".

I removed the photo and set it aside as a guide to my "painting".  I started with where the white was going off the photo, with the waves and along where the beach meets the ocean. Turning the frame over, I drew the lines out with a Versamarker Pen to the edge of the frame along the left and right sides of the frame. White Detail powder was then applied. 

I then covered the bottom edge of the frame with a Versamark pad along the lines and below to create the sand. Hit the Beach was applied to this portion. I then heat set these two colors, before proceeding with the other powders.

Cappuccino Star was then applied to the next tier of the sand with the Versamarker Pen. This was also then heat embossed. The two blues, Poolside and By the Lake were last in line to be applied. The photo below shows the embossed (back) side of the frame. The piece of card was discarded at this point.

The shells and the sentiment are all from the same set 560: Ocean Treasures. I stamped the shells on watercolor cardstock with Timber StazOn and used a waterbrush and watercolor crayons to color them in. 

When they were dry they were fussy cut and applied with Versamark and heat embossed with Sparkle EP.

The photo was next -  I used some Brushable Glue and Sparkling Snow Glitter on the waves in the photo and then the Sakura Glue pen was used to add a little shine to the sand with Celestial glitter being applied.

Once everything was dry it was just a case of putting it all together. The photo was slipped into it's spot and I put a piece of 5" x 7" light blue cardstock behind the photo and frame. The sentiment was stamped in Versamark onto glossy white cardstock and was heat embossed with Bronze Rose. 

It was then cut out with Spellbinders Framed Tags One and before removing the die, was daubed with a little Memento Lulu Lavender ink. I ran a piece of organdy ribbon through the hole and attached the sentiment with dimensional foam before attaching the ribbon to back of frame. This was then clipped on to the frame base. The shells were attached with dimensional foam and tape, having been shaped before placement.

.... and that completed my project. I hope this has inspired you to look at using your embossing powders in a different way than usual.

Hugs,

Shona