Cardinal Joy!

Hi there, 

I'm sharing my last 2019 card today !! I just don't know where this year went! Today I am highlighting Dee's Distinctively Cardinal Frame for DRU.

Here is the cardinal frame die cut:

Dee's Distinctively Cardinal Frame

I started with backing a piece of white cardstock with a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet. The die was placed face down on to the adhesive side, so that when I ran it through it only cut the adhesive sheet and not completely through to the cardstock.

I then ran the die cut through with red cardstock and fussy cut the two birds.

I picked off the protective backing from the cardinals and branches and placed the red cardstock cardinals in their appropriate spots. 

I then took Glistening Emeralds flocking and burnished it in to the remaining sticky surface.

The remainder of the protective backing was then peeled off and Sparkling Snow glitter was burnished in as a sparkly background.

I found the perfectly sized frame for my piece - the Cheery Lyn Celtic Square Boutique Stacker Frame. This particular one is not in the store, but there are other stacker frames. The medium sized frame was cut out of green cardstock.

This was layered to red cardstock and then to a white card base before adding the focal piece with foam tape for dimension. I added Nuvo Crystal Drops Ebony Black for the eyes.

The last step was to add the sentiment. I taped a piece of adhesive tape to a scrap of red cardstock. This time I put the "joy" die on the other side so that it would be sticky on the back of the word.

I took of the sticky backing from the die and stuck it on the top of the glittered panel.

It was a bit fiddly getting the adhesive off the back of the dot of the "joy", but I really liked the result. Hope you do too?

Here are the products that I used in my card today:

Dee’s Distinctively Cardinal Frame

Memory Box Sketchblock Joy

Cheery Lyn Celtic Square Boutique Stacker Frame

Glistening Emeralds Flocking

Sparkling Snow Glitter

Nuvo Crystal Drops Ebony Black

Wishing you all a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year!

See you again in 2020!

Shona

Musical Happy Birthday!

Hi there,

An extra post from me this week. We had a special little lady turn 21 last Monday. She has brought us so much joy over the years - it has truly been a wonder to watch her grow from baby to the beautiful lady that she has become. Her passion is music: handbells and singing, for which she is undergoing a five-year program at Westminster Choir College, NJ. We look forward to seeing what the road ahead has in store for this exceptional young woman!

I wanted to have a music theme for her card, so I started with a burgundy background - purple is Gillian's favorite color! Next I found a lovely piece of music DP, which happened to have some color at the edges, which worked in well with the base card. Found this old Hero Arts Bird Collage stamp which I stamped in Ranger's Archival Ink onto white cardstock. Then I went to town with the Art Anthology Paints (Vegas Gold, Pumpkin Spice, Coral and Leaf) and colored in the bird and the flowers and leaves with those and set it aside to dry.

After it was dry (maybe half an hour at most) I die cut the image with Spellbinders Floral Ovals, and left the die in place while I sprayed the Art Anthology Sprays (Timeless, Wild Orchid and Rustic) over the top. The sprays dry very quickly and then I took the Nuvo Fine Tip Glue Pen and added some Sparkling Snow Glitter to the flowers and leaves on the image. I wanted to add some flowers to the card and I happened to have some that had musical notes on them (though I'm not sure where I got them from!). Anyway, I sprayed them with the same three colors. When they were dry I used a paint brush and applied some Brushable Glue to some of the petals and added Cloud Nine.

I tried to find something with music, but couldn't find anything for the card front, so did this on the inside with Versamark, Black Detail embossing powder and the same three sprays carried over from the front. The row of birds and sentiment is from the Bird Song Set 496 from Sparkle N Sprinkle.

The sentiment on the front was a challenge! I wanted to use the Happy Birthday die, but I wanted to have different layers on the card front, so knew it wouldn't be good to just glue it down. So I took the smaller die from the SB Floral Ovals and sprayed the inside before removing the die, then I used the little oval from the Spellbinders Classic Ovals Large and cut out a scrap of Super Adhesive Sheet. This was then attached to the center of the sprayed floral oval. I die cut the Happy Birthday (from the burgundy cardstock) from Sizzix Thinlits Celebrate and positioned it on top of the adhesive and then applied Cloud Nine Velvet Glitter to the remaining sticky surface.

Then everything was put together. The image was put on first to the music DP, with foam squares. Then the flowers were attached with brass brads. The little ivy stems (Creative Expressions Craft Dies) were cut from white cardstock and sprayed with the same three sprays. Those were tucked under the flowers as shown and then the sentiment was added at the base with foam squares.

I had fun creating this for my special little girl! How can she be 21 already? Sing On and Ring On, looking forward to the ride, Gillian!

I'd like to join the following challenges:

Scrapy Land: Anything goes #57 (Using dies that Scrapy Land sells)
World Wide Open Design Team Challenge #18: Anything Goes
Seize the Birthday: Anything Goes

CATTELYA FRIENDSHIP

Happy New Year everyone! Hope you've all started out the new year well and that you continue to have a healthy and very happy 2017!

Today, I'd like to share with you a card I made with one of the "TEN" new January Reveal sets from Sparkle N Sprinkle (Cattelya Friendship 818) - hope you were able to get in on the hopping. That would have been a lovely win to start off the new year!

I decided to take a totally different spin with this one. I wanted to work with a Nuance powder background (created with pink, violet and purple hues together with the Mini Mister). I did a couple of sheets of the background paper. Figured while I had the stuff out I should do more that one.  

After drying the background with the heat tool, I cut the corners off one of the pieces using the Poppy Stamps Clara Corner Die.

Then I went ahead and stamped in Versamark and heat embossed with White Detail. OK, so it really don't show up too well, so now what?

So I colored it in with Copics: V15, V09, RV04 and RV05. Then I used the Nuvo Fine Tip Glue Pen and Sparkling Snow to color in the petals of the bouquet.

Then I went over the white embossing with a Signo White pen to cover up any "over coloring"! The next step was to stick it down on top of a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet, Sparkling Snow was applied to the remaining sticky adhesive. 

A purple ribbon (made with my Craft-Dee-Bowz) was added to the top left corner before the card front was layered to the purple. This was then layered to a 6" x 6" piece of glossy white card stock.

Hope you've enjoyed my first post for 2017? Please comment and let me know you stopped by - I'll exchange the favor.

I'd like to join in the following challenges:

Craft-Dee-Bowz: Anything Goes with a homemade ribbon

Crafty Addicts Challenge # 32: Monochromatic

Big warm winter hugs!

Shona

PEACE, LOVE AND JOY!

Hi there, 

Today, I'd like to share with you a Christmas card, using some Want 2 Scrap Chipboard pieces and the new Nuvo Crystal Drops. I have to say - I sure am having fun with these new drops!

I began my project using the line and dots from Sparkle N Sprinkle's Donna's Stylin' Sayings Set 777. I put them both on an acrylic block and applied Versamark.

Starting at the top I stamped the Versamarked images and heat embossed with Sangria Star. Moving down the card front I repeated the process another two times with Tuscan Star and then Moss Star. These are from the Tuscany color set, my favorite! They are very fine powders and are great for detailed work. I decided to use the sparkly versions of them this time, since there was to be a lot of sparkle on this Christmas card! The Want 2 Scrap Words of Love were applied with Versamark and each given two coats of the same three embossing powders. In order to have them stick well to the card front, I covered the lines and dots panel with a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet, cut it to size, removed the protective backing and positioned the words so that they all had different colored backgrounds, directly on top of the adhesive. Sparkling Snow Glitter was applied to the remaining sticky surface.

The Pine Tree embellishment was applied with Versamark and heat embossed twice with Moss. I then added more Versamark and sprinkled on some Magic Speckle and heat embossed from the bottom (as this is an ultra thick powder and would fly off otherwise). This gave my tree a look of being snow-laden. I forgot to take a photo of the tree before he was lit!

Various new Nuvo Crystal and Glitter Drops were applied to the tree as lights! I used the following colors: Golden Sunset, Silver Moondust, Ruby Slippers, White Blizzard,  Sweet Lilac, Sugared Almond, Apple Green, Dandelion Yellow and Red Berry. So much fun! Once the drops were dry, (after an hour) a little white Mon Ami Pull Ribbon bow was tied to the top of the tree for the star.

The card front was attached to an orange, then purple layer before the white card base. The Christmas tree was then attached to the card with Dimensional Foam to finish.

Hope you like my sparkly creation? Leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by!

I'd like to also take the opportunity to enter this card in the following challenges:

ABC Christmas Challenge: I for Ink (Versamark)

Fab 'n' Funky Challenges: Bright Christmas

Crafty Gals Corner Challenge #69: Anything Goes

Weekly Christmas Card Challenges #21: Anything Goes

Till next time,

Shona

GELATOS CHICKEN RUN

Hi there, 

Today I decided to step out of my comfort zone and try something new. I have recently been playing around a bit with Gelatos, so decided to have a go at making a little canvas creation.

First I took a blank 5" x 7" canvas and scribbled Yellow, Orange and Red Gelatos over it. I took a baby wipe and using a circular motion I blended the gelatos into one another to create a "sunset" hue.

I dried this with my heat tool, before proceeding.  Then I took a stencil (TCW Mini Meadow) and stencil brush and began to create a meadow with grass, stems, butterflies and flowers, using different colors of Gelatos:

I kept going until I had an entire meadow. Then it was time to add my chickens, from the Chicken Run Set 761, using Versamark and Black Detail embossing powder:

So now it needed some dimensional elements and I did want to include a sentiment from the set, which was stamped on white cardstock in Versamark and heat embossed with Black Detail. The chickens stamped out like they were made of burlap, because of the canvas backing, so I decided to make a burlap frame to be in-keeping with the chickens:

I cut a piece of burlap ribbon in half and attached it around the sentiment using 1/2" Tear-ific Tape, this was then colored with Yellow and Red Gelatos and dabbed with the wipe again to tie it in with the background.

I repeated the Gelatos and wipe technique with three Prima flowers, whose centers were made by "blinging" a brad with Tequila Sunrise embossing powder after applying Versamark to the brad. Then a Sakura Glue pen was used to add Sparkling Snow glitter to the petals to give them some sparkle.

The frame and the flowers were attached to the canvas with dimensional foam. I added dots to the butterflies and flowers with a white Signo pen, for some highlights.

... and I added some gold Prills with Dimensional Glue at the chickens feet for seed.

I think I might be doing some more of these. Kind of liked having a play date in my craft room today! Hope I've inspired you to get those Gelatos out and start playing!

Enjoy your day!

Shona

CHRISTMAS DOVE!

Hi there, and thanks for dropping by today! Today I'm sharing another card using the Sparkle N Sprinkle Super Adhesive Sheets, two die cuts and some glitter.

To begin with, I stuck a piece of Super Adhesive Sheet on to a piece of white cardstock.  I then took the Sizzix Delicate Wings die and placed it face down on top of the second adhesive backing. Then the Merry Christmas Elizabeth Craft Design Die was placed face down along side the Dove, but it wasn't going to fit lengthwise, so I put a folded piece of cardstock between the two words and then ran it through my embossing machine.

I then protected the Merry from being cut (by putting the folded cardstock under that) before running "Christmas" through the machine.

I know you can see a slight indentation of the letters after the Merry and in front of Christmas, but the glitter will cover that.

Next, I took out (using an Exacto knife) the protective backing of little inserts of the Dove and the Merry Christmas:

Velvet Glitter Golden Wheat was then burnished into the sticky areas:

Then I removed the Dove's body and Cobalt Glaze was applied.

Lastly, I removed the rest of the adhesive backing, and applied Sparkling Snow Glitter to the background. This piece was cut to 3 3/4" x 5 and was then layered to a piece of blue cardstock that coordinated with the Cobalt Glaze. This was then layered to a glossy white card base. A piece of gold ribbon was tied in a knot at the top of the card and I used a little 1/8" Tear-ific Tape to hold down the ends.

... and that finishes my share for today. Hope I've inspired you to get out your dies and try something new with them.

Hope to see you back on Sunday for the SNS November Reveal, when we will be show casing our newest sets, and some more of the new Chunky embossing powders.

Till then,

Hugs,

Shona