Hello crafty friends and welcome back from the weekend!  Today I am on the Birch Press Design blog sharing a beautiful Valentine's Day card featuring the latest new release products.  The focal point of this pink ombre card is the ink blended background peeking through the new Kinsley Heart Layering Plate. ​

On a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Bristol smooth cardstock I ink blended Distress Oxide inks in the colors Spun Sugar, Worn Lipstick and Candied Apple. I began with the lightest color (Spun Sugar) at the top of the cardstock and the richest color (Candied Apple) at the bottom. ​

Using 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Crest cardstock, I die cut the top layer (Layer A) from the Kinsley Heart Plate. ​

I placed this intricate heart layer directly over the ombre background adhering it with LineCo ph neutral bookbinding glue (my go-to liquid adhesive). ​

Using the Lingo Thanks stamp set, I stamped the word "love" in Versamark ink on ballet pink cardstock and heat embossed it with white embossing powder. I used the coordinating Lingo Thanks die set to cut it out.  I also stamped the sentiment "you're in my heart" in Versamark ink on fuschia pink cardstock and heat embossed it with white embossing powder as well. I die cut one large white heart to serve as the center focal point of the card. I adhered the sentiments to the lower right corner of the heart using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I adhered a few iridescent sequins with glue dots to the card for added dimension and sparkle. ​

I really like how this card came out and I think I'll recreate it in a few additional colors and send them out as MY Valentine's Day cards this year!  

At the end of 2020, I started a small movement (for lack of better words) on social media proclaiming that the month of January 2021 would be "MANuary" and that I was determined to make and share more masculine themed cards using the hashtag" #manuarycards."  Today I will begin sharing the first of many cards this month designed for the men in our lives from fathers, brothers, husbands and sons, to grandfathers, friends and more!  Today's cards feature the Music Speaks stamp set and coordinating dies from HoneyBee Stamps and would work well for teenagers and adult men who still yearn to be
​ rockstars too!

The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock.  On a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of white cardstock, I stenciled the background using the Tiger Stripes Stencil from Whimsy Stamps in Squeezed Lemonade, Pumpkin Pie and Barn Door Distress Oxide inks.  On a 4" x 3" piece of white cardstock, I stamped the sentiment in Memento Tuxedo Black ink with the word "friendship" in red ink.  I stamped a few music notes in red ink randomly below the sentiment.  I matted a 4 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of black cardstock directly to this white cardstock before adhering both the background.  I die cut a large star from black cardstock and adhered it to the lower right side of the card.  I stamped the drum, sax and trumpet images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored in the images using Copic markers.  I adhered the instruments to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  Lastly, I added some Clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.  

I hope you will enjoy seeing a variety of masculine themed cards over the course of this month!  Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! 

Hello friends and happy Tuesday!  November 1 was a new release day with Whimsy Stamps and for the next three days, I will be sharing one of my favorite new stamp sets and coordinating dies from this latest release!  I will be showing you different ways to use the new Elegant Ornaments stamp set and coordinating die to achieve a variety of unique looks for your handmade cards. 

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post. 

This slimline card measures 8 1/2" by 3 1/2".  Slimline cards are designed to fit inside a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage.  The base of this slimline card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  On an 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock, I ink blended Distress Oxide inks in Mowed Lawn, Barn Door, Picked Raspberry and Twisted Citron.  I think splattered white acrylic paint over the distress inks.  

I used the Slimline Postage Die to create a frame from white cardstock.  I stamped the ornaments from the new Elegant Ornaments stamp set in red, green, pink and lime ink.  Then I heat embossed the ornaments on red cardstock, lime green and pink cardstock in white embossing powder.  I die cut all the ornaments out and adhered them down the left side of the card panel using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  I stamped the sentiment "Christmas" in red ink on a thin strip of white cardstock and adhered it to the lower right side of the card.  Lastly, I heat embossed the sentiment "wishes" with white embossing powder on red cardstock and fussy cut the sentiment out adhering it below the "Christmas" sentiment. 

I hope you have enjoyed today's card and will come back tomorrow to see another way to use this new stamp set.

To see more of the November release from Whimsy Stamps, please click here.  

​Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

Here is the card I designed inspired by this week's challenge colors: 

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post.

This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2".  Slimline cards are designed to fit into a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage.  The base of this card is made from 80 lb. Neenah White Solar Smooth cardstock.  On a 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock, I ink blended Distress Oxide inks in the colors Squeezed Lemonade, Carved Pumpkin and Picked Raspberry.  I then ink splattered Picked Raspberry and Black Soot distress oxide inks over the entire background.  Using the Slimline Frames dies, I die cut the frame from black cardstock and adhered it to the center of the card.  I die cut the large "BOO" letters from black cardstock and orange cardstock. I layered the orange letter underneath the black letter offset just a bit.  I adhered each letter to the center of each square frame.  

I stamped the images from the Bootiful Night stamp set in Memento Black ink and colored the images with Copic markers (in the challenge colors).  I die cut the images using the coordinating Bootiful Night dies and adhered the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  Lastly, using the Feline Batty die set, I die cut four bats out of black cardstock and adhered them randomly on the card.  

It's the time of year when I begin bouncing around a bit with my card themes.  Last week I shared some Halloween cards, yesterday was a winter themed card and today it's all about fall.  So basically, ya never know what you're gonna get!  Personally, I like it that way.  If every day was the same, it would be a pretty boring world we live in.  Variety IS the spice of life (or so they say). . .

Today's slimline card features a Distress Oxide ink background in an ombre pattern with leaves from the new Leaf Layers stamp set by Whimsy Stamps.  To see another way I used this same stamp set, please click here.  

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post.

This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2".  Slimline cards are designed to fit into a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage.  To create the background, I cut a 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock.  This is the cardstock I use to do all of my ink-blending on.  I ink blended Distress Oxide inks in Scattered Straw, Squeezed Lemonade, Carved Pumpkin and Barn Door.  I then ink splattered the Barn Door ink over the entire card.  Once this background was dry, I adhered it to the card base using a Tombow dot runner.  I die cut the frame from white cardstock and also splattered it with Barn Door Distress Oxide ink.  I adhered the postage frame to the center of the card.  I stamped the leaves in yellow, orange and red ink and fussy cut EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM!  Yikes, there was no corresponding die set for this stamp!  I adhered the leaves to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  Lastly, I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink on black cardstock and heat embossed it with white embossing powder.  I notched the left side of the sentiment and adhered it to the top 1/3 of the card.  

I am really enjoying creating backgrounds using Distress Oxide inks.  They really make quite a statement.  Initially, I was hesitant to use these inks because I thought they were too "messy."  But now I think the mess is totally worth it!

Stamptember is a month long collaboration between Simon Says Stamp and various stamp companies teaming up together to design and offer fun, exclusive products.  It's like a new release day EVERY DAY for the entire month of September!  Many of these stamp sets sell out overnight and once they are gone, they can often be hard to find. 

Today I am happy to be joining the Stamptember celebration representing Whimsy Stamps and their special collaboration with Simon Says Stamp.  They have designed an exclusive Stamptember set called "Happy Pugmas."  Now you all know that I'm a cat lover, but I have to admit, these Christmas pugs are super cute and festive for all the dog loving friends I have.  

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post.

This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2".  Slimline cards are designed to fit inside a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage.  The base of this slimline card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  On a 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock, I ink blended Distress Oxide inks in the colors in Spun Sugar, Barn Door and Twisted Citron.  After ink blending the three inks, I then splattered the Barn Door Ink over the entire piece of cardstock.  Using the Slimline Postage die, I die cut the frame from pink cardstock.  I stamped the pugs in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock and colored them using Copic markers.  I fussy cut the pugs out and adhered them to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  I stamped the sentiments in red ink on white cardstock and die cut them using the Speech Bubbles dies.  I adhered the sentiments to the card with 3M foam adhesive.  Lastly I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.  

I hope you have enjoyed this fun card featuring the new "Happy Pugmas" Stamptember collaboration with Whimsy Stamps!  Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

Halloween is my favorite cardmaking holiday, so I'm all about spooky colors, bat stencils and cute kitties hiding in pumpkins!

The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  Using the Frames & Flags dies, I cut the scalloped frame from black cardstock.  I cut a 5" x 3 3/" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock to ink blend the distress oxide inks on to create that background.  I first ink blended Wilted Violet Distress Oxide ink onto the paper and then I laid the Flying Bats stencil on top.  I then ink blended Seedless Preserve Distress Oxide ink and Twisted Citron Distress Oxide ink bats over the background color. I die cut the grass using the Land Borders die and Granny Apple Green cardstock.  I stamped the cat and pumpkin image from the Newton's Boo-tiful Night stamp set in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock and colored it using Copic markers.  I die cut the image using the coordinating Newton's Boo-tiful Night dies.  I adhered the image to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  I cut a thin strip of black cardstock and notched the right end before adhering it to the left side of the card (to fit the sketch image) and I stamped "Happy Halloween" in Memento Black ink on a thin strip of white cardstock to adhere directly below the black strip.  Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the image for added sparkle. 

Hello and happy Friday!  I am sooooo ready for the weekend, it's been one of those weeks and the weekend can't come fast enough!  It's another exciting new release day today at Whimsy Stamps and it's all about Halloween!  I know I've mentioned it before, but I LOVE Halloween!  It is one of my favorite holidays to make cards for, so you'll be seeing lots of spooky inspiration over the next month or two. 
Today I'm sharing three cards created using the new "Boo" dies combined with Distress Oxide ink backgrounds for an extra spooky sky effect.    

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post.

All three of these A2 sized card are made from a base of Neenah White Solar Smooth cardstock.  I cut the window frame using the Arched Window die.  This frame was cut from black glitter cardstock.  I created a cloud template using the Grass and Cloud Edge die set and acetate sheets.  I ink blended distress oxide inks in Carved Pumpkin, Twisted Citron and Seedless Preserves to create each sky.  I blocked off a small white circle with masking tape for the moon.  I die cut each of the ghosts from white cardstock and put a small piece of black cardstock behind their eyes and mouth for a shadow effect.  I die cut the word "boo" from orange, green and purple glitter cardstock and made my own shadow frame from black cardstock.  All ghosts images and the word "boo" were adhered to the card with 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  

Are you starting to think about making your Halloween cards yet?  I promise, getting a good head start now will make you panic much less on October 27th!

​Have a great weekend!

Here is the slimline card I created inspired by the sketch:

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post.

This slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2."  Slimline cards are designed to fit into a regular #10 business sized envelope and require no additional postage.  Newton's Nook is now selling Slimline Envelopes in a variety of colors designed to fit your slimline cards!  The base of this card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  I created a frame also from white cardstock using the Slimline Portholes Die.  I ink blended the background in Squeezed Lemonade Distress Oxide ink.  I layered the Sunscape Stencil over the yellow sky (to the left) and ink blended Honey Oxide ink to create a sun scene.  I die cut the waves from Bermuda Bay cardstock and blue glitter paper using the Shark Bites Die set.  Using the Shark Bites stamp set, I stamped three of the sharks in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock.  I colored the sharks using Copic markers and then I die cut them using the coordinating Shark Bites dies.  I stamped the waves and schools of fish in Bermuda Bay ink on the die cut wave paper.  I adhered the three sharks to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  Lastly, I stamped the sentiment in the upper right corner using Memento Tuxedo black ink.  

Today I'm taking a break from the slimline cards and sharing two sweet A2 size cards featuring the beautiful  "Soul Sisters" stamp set from the July new product release at Whimsy Stamps.  Initially I didn't think I would like this stamp set as much as I do, but when I combined it with the Arched Window Die (also from Whimsy Stamps) and a stenciled Distress Oxide ink background, these really came out quite eye catching!

*A full list of supplies is located at the end of this post.

Please note, both of these cards were made the same way, simply using different color combinations.  The base of these two A2 sized cards were created from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock.  I placed a 4 1/4" x 1 1/2 piece of Early Espresso cardstock as the floor or window seat of the card.  I cut the Arched Window die from white cardstock.  I cut a piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock the same size as the Arched Window to stencil on.  First, I ink blended Broken China Distress Oxide ink onto the cardstock.  Then I laid the Star Galaxy Stencil on top and added more Distress Oxide ink in Chipped Sapphire.  I put the ink blended background behind the white Arched Frame and adhered both to the center of the card.  I stamped the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock and colored them using Copic markers.  I used my Brother Scan and Cut 2 Electronic Cutting machine to cut the images out (in lieu of fussy cutting them).  I adhered the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive.  Lastly, I stamped the sentiments in Memento Tuxedo black ink on strips of white cardstock and adhered them to the tops and bottoms of each card.  

I hope you have enjoyed these dreamy cards. Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!