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Hello friends and happy Fri-YAY! I hope you have fun things planned for the weekend ahead. Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing a bright and colorful rainbow themed card that is actually very simple to make! I love it when a card comes together so easily. I initially thought of making all the leaves varying shades of green and having it be a sympathy card, but I like the fun rainbow colors instead, which could work for a variety of occasions.  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of the same white cardstock for the first mat. I printed off the leaves from the Modern Duets digital stamp set. It is all the exact same leaf, I simply printed it five times at 3 1/2" x 1 1/4". I colored each leaf in a ROYGBIV (minus the indigo) color palette and then I fussy cut each leaf out. Okay, so yes, this was the stinky part of the entire card (particularly if you loathe fussy cutting), but fortunately I don't mind it at all. In fact, I find it quite cathartic! I adhered the leaves to the bottom of the card.  I stamped the sentiment "hello my friend" using the Thankful For You stamp set. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink on a thin strip of black cardstock. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and then I adhered it to the top center of the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the leaves for added sparkle. *Pro Tip - ALWAYS add sparkle! : )   As always, thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative weekend! XO, Crystal
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Hello readers! I hope you are all having a wonderful week so far. Cheers to the weekend coming soon! Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing a card that was inspired by this month's mood board. In case you missed the post on the first of May, here is a look at this month's mood board:  Mood boards (also commonly called “inspiration” boards) are a combination of colors, images, textures and patterns that can offer guidance or direction. If you feel like you don’t know where to begin a project, try looking at a mood board and let the creative juices flow. You might just be surprised by the end result! Here is my card that was inspired by the colors of yellow, gray, black and white:  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of yellow gingham paper as my first layer. I die cut a scalloped oval from white cardstock (the same Neenah as used above) and adhered it to the center of the card. I printed out the boots and flower image from the Extraordinary digital stamp set. I colored the image with Copic markers and then I fussy cut the image out. I adhere the image to the card using 3m foam adhesive for added dimension. I printed out the sentiment "you are simply the best" on a thin strip of white cardstock. I adhered the sentiment also using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the flowers for added sparkle.  Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! For more inspiration, you can follow me on Instagram, Facebook and on my YouTube channel. XO, Crystal Hello readers! Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing another card that was inspired by this month's beautiful mood board. In case you missed it, on the first of every single month, we share a mood board that is designed to inspire YOU to create. Mood boards (also commonly called “inspiration” boards) are a combination of colors, images, textures and patterns that can offer guidance or direction. If you feel like you don’t know where to begin a project, try looking at a mood board and let the creative juices flow. Here is the May mood board:  Here is the card I created using the Truly Inspire digital stamp set:  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. For the first matted layer I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of black cardstock and heat embossed it in black with a woodgrain stamp. I love heat embossing black-on-black for my floral backgrounds. It really allows the colors to pop. I printed out the same two flowers from the Truly Inspire digital stamp set onto the same 80 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I increased the flowers to 3" x 3 1/4". I colored the flowers with Copic markers in the Y family. I used Y000, Y02, Y04 and Y06. I fussy cut eat flower and adhered it to the card using 3M foam adhesive. I printed the sentiment from the Bunch of Love digital stamp set. I used an oval punch to punch out the sentiment and then I adhered it over the flowers also using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the flowers for added sparkle.    I hope you have enjoyed this bright card inspired by this month's mood board palette. We would love to see YOU create using this mood board as inspiration too! Feel free to use similar colors in whatever brand of cardstock you have readily available. We’d love for you to use your Joy Clair Designs stamps if you have them! And if you don’t have any yet CLICK HERE TO START SHOPPING TODAY! Be sure to tag us on social media using the following hashtags so we can see your cards or other papercraft projects: #joyclairdesignsmoodboard #joyclairmoodboard Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, CrystalHello friends and happy Wednesday! I hope your week is off to a good start! My mother is THE single most important woman in my life and I'm honored to call her my very best friend. I hope you are all as lucky as I feel to have a special woman like this in your life - be it a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, niece or even an older mentor you admire.  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. This is my go-to white cardstock for e-v-e-r-yt-h-i-n-g from die cutting, to Copic coloring, ink blending and yes, for printing my digital stamps too! I used a piece of this Neenah paper to die cut the butterfly background. I printed the two roses from the Spring Rose digital stamp set from Joy Clair Designs onto the Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I also printed the butterfly from the Just Butterflies digital stamp set. I colored the rose and butterfly using a lot of colors in the purple family of Copic markers. I fussy cut the butterfly and roses and adhered them to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  I printed the sentiment "Happy Mother's Day" onto white cardstock and used a large oval punch to punch the sentiment out before adhering it to the card also using 3M adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the roses and the butterfly for extra sparkle. You can never have enough sparkle!!   I hope you have enjoyed today's card and that it inspired you to think about the special woman in your life. Mother's Day is coming up on May 8th this year.
"Here's to strong women. May we know then. May we be them. May we raise them." Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! For more inspiration, you can follow me on my website, Instagram, Facebook and on my YouTube channel. Follow UsBe sure to sign up for Joy Clair Designs newsletters. You will receive notifications of new releases, sales and exclusive offers to subscribers. You can also follow the team’s creations from Joy Clair Designs on Facebook Page, Joy Clair Stamp Projects Facebook Group, Instagram , Twitter, Pinterest and YouTube! Hello crafty readers! Thanks for taking the time to be here as the Design Team shares inspiration ideas, tips and tricks for creating beautiful cards using Birch Press Design products. This is Crystal Komara here with you today sharing an amazingly detailed slimline rainbow card using the Star Flowers, part of the all-NEW Contour Layering dies. Last week I shared another rainbow themed card using the Wispy Blooms Contour Layering dies, so if you missed that post, please click here to be WOW'd!  Card details: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. I always use 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock for my bases. Then I used the Star Flower Contour dies and cut it in every color cardstock. I cut the flowers in two shades of red, orange, yellow, green blue and purple. I adhered the two layers of flowers together and added the round center piece to each flower.   I adhered the star flowers in a ROYGBIV pattern up the length of the card. I also die cut a couple green stems from the Fuddled Leaf Branches Contour Layering Dies and green cardstock. I stamped the sentiment "hello" using the Contempo Greetings stamp set. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink on black cardstock. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and then I used the coordinating Contempo Greetings die to cut the sentiment out. I adhered the sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  Wow! Yes, that was a LOT of die cutting and piecing together flowers but the end result was totally worth it. This card came out beautiful, if I do say so myself! Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, CrystalHello readers! Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing another card that was inspired by this month's beautiful mood board. In case you missed it, on the first of every single month, we share a mood board that is designed to inspire YOU to create. Mood boards (also commonly called “inspiration” boards) are a combination of colors, images, textures and patterns that can offer guidance or direction. If you feel like you don’t know where to begin a project, try looking at a mood board and let the creative juices flow. Here is the April mood board:  Here is the card I created using the Spring Rose digital stamp set from Joy Clair Designs:  Ironically, when I created this alcohol ink background, I didn't initially love the ink colors. When I work with alcohol inks, I typically create a whole bunch of backgrounds at one time (maybe 40-60 pieces) and I save them. Then I can pull from these pieces to create "quick cards." Well, this piece was one that I almost threw away because I just "wasn't feeling it." After coloring the flowers, I searched through the bin of pre-made alcohol ink pieces and wouldn't you know, the one I didn't like was nearly a perfect fit! It's funny how that works out sometimes.  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. The alcohol ink background was created on a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of Yupo paper using purple and pink alcohol inks. I printed out the two flowers from the Spring Rose digital stamp set onto Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I colored the flowers with Copic markers and then fussy cut each flower out. I adhered the two flowers to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I printed the sentiment from the You Are Loved digital stamp set. I used an oval punch to punch out the sentiment before adhering it to the card. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to the flowers for added sparkle.   This month’s mood board is inspired by the fresh, fun and bright colors of spring! For some of us, March does mean the start of spring, while for other geographic locales, they’re not quite there yet! Either way, let these colors start to put a little spring in your crafty step! We would love to see YOU create using this mood board as inspiration too! Feel free to use similar colors in whatever brand of cardstock you have readily available. We’d love for you to use your Joy Clair Designs stamps if you have them! And if you don’t have any yet CLICK HERE TO START SHOPPING TODAY! Be sure to tag us on social media using the following hashtags so we can see your cards or other papercraft projects: #joyclairdesignsmoodboard #joyclairmoodboard Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! For more inspiration, you can follow me on my website, Instagram, Facebook and on my YouTube channel. XO, CrystalHello crafty readers! Today I am on the Birch Press Design blog and I am SOooooo excited to share this card with you! My card features the Wispy Blooms dies, part of the all-NEW Contour Layering products from Birch Press Design. Now, I'm not gonna lie, you're going to take one look at this AH-mazing garden of rainbow delight and be WOW'd! Then, you're gonna take a second look and say "wait, did she really die cut ALL those flowers? Is she craaaaazyyyy?!" Yes and yes! : ) Do I have the patience of a saint? No. Not at all. In fact, I typically shy away from oodles of die cutting (that's all you, Jennifer McGuire!) but once I started and saw where this card was going, it was SO worth it!  Card details: Yeah, so the basic gist of it, just keep die cutting flowers in ALL the colors of the rainbow! Then, when you think you're gonna go insane, start adhering all the layers together! But, wait. . . there's more! You've still got stems to die cut and adhere! Are we having F-U-N yet?!  Step 1: Die cut a TON of flowers using a variety of colored cardstock.  Step 2: Adhere the two flower layers together.  Step 2: Die cut a lot of stems using a minimum of 2 different colored green cardstock.  Step 4: Adhere the stems to the flowers.  Step 5: You can never have enough flowers and stems for a rainbow garden! The base of this slimline card measures 8 1/2" x 3 1/2". I use 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth for all my white cardstock. Slimline cards are designed to fit inside a regular #10 business envelope and require no additional postage. I cut an 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of white cardstock and ran it through a basketweave embossing folder, then I began to adhere all the flowers to the card in a ROYGBIV pattern. Using the Contempo Greetings stamp set I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink on black cardstock. I heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder and then I used the coordinating Contempo Greetings die to die cut it out. Lastly, I adhered the sentiment to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.     So sure, this card a LOT of die cutting and piecework, but the end result is gorgeous and I would do it all over again! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, CrystalHello crafty friends and happy April! This is Joy Clair Design Team member Crystal Komara here with you today sharing a card that I created inspired by this month's beautiful mood board colors. First, let's take a look at the April mood board:  Swoooooon! This month's magical dreamy board is made up of all my favorite things - from the pinks, purples and fuchsia colors to the tulips, marble, macarons and YES to whatever is in that pretty looking pink drink! I envision lots more creations this month inspired by this color palette, but here is the first card I created:  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of black cardstock. I stamped a plaid printed background stamp on this black cardstock with Versamark ink. Then I heat embossed it with black embossing powder. I LOVE a black-on-black background and they especially make for powerful backgrounds against brighter floral images. I die cut a large scalloped oval from white cardstock and adhered this to the center of the card.  I printed the lilies from the Refresh the Soul digital stamp. I enlarged the lilies to 5" x 2 3/4". I colored the lilies with Copic markers and then I fussy cut the images out by hand. I adhered the lily on the right directly to the card. I adhered the second lily slightly on top of the first lily, but used 3M foam adhesive to make this flower pop. I also printed the sentiment "happy birthday" on the Neenah White cardstock and then punched it out using a scalloped oval punch. I adhered the sentiment to the bottom right of the card using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a couple pink rhinestones to the card for extra sparkle.    I hope you love this beautiful color palette as much as I do! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! For more inspiration, you can follow me on my website, Instagram, Facebook and on my YouTube channel. XO, CrystalHello Joy Clair Designs friends! This is Design Team member Crystal Komara here with you today ready to celebrate spring. Okay, so it's only March and we are just two days into spring, and it's 45 degrees outside, BUT, the daffodils sprouting up in my yard (through the snow) are that promise that spring IS coming. . . eventually. . .  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. Using a lattice frame die, I cut the first layer also from white cardstock. I printed out the daffodils from the You Are Loved digital stamp set (part of the Springish Fiesta collection) onto this same Neenah cardstock. I printed both daffodils at 4" x 2 3/4". I colored the daffodils using Copic markers and then fussy cut the flowers by hand. I adhered the flowers to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.  I also printed the sentiment "know that you are loved" from the same You Are Loved digital stamp set. I punched out the sentiment with an oval punch and adhered it to the top left of the card using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of Clear Wink of Stella to the flowers for added sparkle.  I hope that wherever you live spring is on its way soon too! Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! For more inspiration, you can follow me on my website, Instagram, Facebook and on my YouTube channel. XO, CrystalIt’s the first day of spring! To celebrate we’re sending YOU flowers from our latest release at Birch Press Design! Join us in celebrating by following along on our Instahop! Hop along to each participating member’s account, follow each person, and prepare to be inspired! Make sure to leave a comment tagging a friend to let us know that you stopped by and to be entered into the @birchpressdesign GIVEAWAY! Continue reading to the end of this post for further details. Here is the card I created for the hop featuring the new Rose Bunch Contour Layers:  Card details:The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Pinpoint Radial Plate, I die cut the first layer from black cardstock. Using the Rose Bunch Contour Layering die, I die cut the three layers from three different colored yellow cardstock using the Sunny Orange 6 x 6" paper pad. Below I'll show more details photos from how I die cut the layers:
 I'll be completely honest that while lining up the layers was easy enough, it did take a good amount of time and a fair amount of patience. Admittedly, patience in intricate things is NOT my strong suit, so it was a learning curve for me. *I also found that a fine-tip liquid glue held the layers together well, although my tip for the future would be to use adhesive lined cardstock for easier assembly.  Using the Dainty Rose and Leaves Contour die, I die cut the leaves only using the Lush Green 6 x 6" paper pack. I adhered the leaves behind the roses. I adhered the roses to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. Lastly, I stamped the sentiment "thinking of you" in yellow ink on a piece of white cardstock. The sentiment is from the Contempo Greetings stamp set and it also has a coordinating die. I adhered the sentiment using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.   Guidelines:
Comments close on Tuesday, March 22, 11:59 pm EST. One comment per team member’s post, please. We will be giving away one of each of the newly released layered floral dies - one prize on each stop of the hop! The TEN winners AND THE FRIENDS THEY TAGGED will be announced on the Birch Press Design Instagram account on Wednesday, March 23, 2022. (Note: Giveaway is not sponsored, endorsed, administered by, or associated with Instagram.) CLICK HERE TO START THE HOP! |
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I, Crystal Komara, am solely responsible for this blog and all of its content, including, but not limited to designs, concepts, text, images and photographs. This website is for your personal enjoyment, inspiration and to help stimulate your own creativity.
If you use one of my posts, images, classes or designs please be sure to give credit where it is due. Thank you! 2019 © Disclosure:Whether gifted, or from my own supply, all of my recommendations are based on items that I use and truly love, and I think you will too. |
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