Category: Heat Embossing - Crystal Komara

Felicity Snowflakes

11/2/2022

Hello friends! If there is one thing I love when it comes to cardmaking, it's the alcohol. Ink, that is! ; ) Initially I never thought I would have enjoyed working with alcohol inks as much as I have because, well. . . they're messy. They stain. They are a tad unpredictable in outcome and all that just terrifies me. Yet, somehow I learned to love them and now can't feature them enough on my cards.

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 Yupo (polysynthetic paper) and "ink blew" Ranger Adirondack alcohol ink in the color Stream over the Yupo paper. That's it, just one ink color was all I used! As it moves around and dries, you get puddles of ink that look like other darker and lighter colors, but I assure you, I used just one color. Nice and easy!

Using the Felicity Snowflakes dies, I cut the outer layer from vellum cardstock and the top thinner layer from white cardstock. I adhered the two layers together with liquid adhesive and then I adhered the snowflakes to the card with a small pop dot (which you can actually see through the vellum, it's too hard to hide).

Using the Contempo Christmas Greetings stamp set and coordinating die, I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink on white cardstock and heat embossed it with turquoise embossing powder. I used the coordinating circle die to cut out the sentiment. I adhered the sentiment to the card with Scotch 3M foam adhesive for added dimension.

Now that I think about it, you could make this same card in ANY color! Red or green alcohol ink would be very traditional, but I'm also thinking pinks and purples for a pop of pizazz too!

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

XO, Crystal

Fall Classic Wreath

9/19/2022

Hello crafty readers! Today I am on the Birch Press Design blog sharing some fall themed cards using the Classic Sentimental Wreath stamp set and coordinating dies.

I created all three of these A2 sized cards the exact same way, I simply alternated some of the background papers and ink colors. All of the beautiful plaid background papers are from the Madras Plaid Coral 6" x 6" paper pack from Memory Box Co, a sister-organization of Birch Press Design.

Card details:

The base of each A2 sized card was made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I then cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of the plaid paper and adhered it directly to the card base. I die cut a rectangular piece of white cardstock and stamped my sentiment at the bottom in orange, brown or olive ink. All of the sentiments came from the same Classic Sentimental Wreath stamp set.

I heat embossed the leaves of the wreath with gold embossing powder and then used the coordinating die to cut the wreath out. I adhered the wreath to the card using Scotch 3M adhesive for added dimension. I tied a little bit of gold baker's twine to the corner of each wreath for added texture. Lastly, I added a couple clear rhinestones for sparkle.

I hope you have enjoyed these cards and are inspired to create some of your own using this Classic Sentimental Wreath stamp set, or any of the other wonderful products from Birch Press Design!

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

XO, Crystal

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Watercolor Meets Heat Foil

7/5/2022

Hello crafty readers! I'm excited to be sharing the first two cards I created using the new String Art Frame Hot Foil plate from Birch Press Design. Now, if I'm being completely honest, these are actually the first two cards I have ever made using hot foil!! Heat foiling is very on-trend right now in the craft industry, so I succumbed to the peer pressure and bought the Gemini Foil Press (because it works with my Gemini, Jr. die cutting machine). Heat foiling is a magical process where heat and pressure are applied to a special foil to imprint on paper. Unlike heat embossing where the image is raised when Versamark ink and embossing powder are heated with an embossing gun, in heat foiling, the image is imprinted or pressed into the paper when heat and pressure are applied.

I created two cards that are nearly identical, I simply swapped out the color combination and sentiment to achieve two unique looks. Keep reading for all the details:

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card was made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of purple cardstock from the 6" x 6" Twilight cardstock pack. On a 5" x 3 3/4" sheet of white cardstock, I heat foiled the String Art Frame hot foil plate on my Gemini Foilpress machine with purple Foilpress foil.

On a separate sheet of watercolor cardstock, I stamped the large floral image from the Memory Box (a sister company to BPD) All the Happiness stamp set in Versamark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. I colored the image using Zig Real Color Watercolor Brush markers. Once the image dried, I used the coordinating All the Happiness dies to cut the image out. I adhered the flowers to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I stamped the sentiment in Versamark ink and heat embossed it with gold embossing powder. This sentiment is from the Kind Hearts clear stamp set. I adhered the sentiment to the card also using 3M foam adhesive tape. Lastly, I added a light coat of clear Wink of Stella to the flowers for added sparkle. *Be careful with Wink of Stella on watercolor though, because it will bleed as it is water-on-water based.

For this second card, I used identical products as the first card, I simply swapped out the purple foil for a teal foil and I colored the flowers with teal or turquoise hued Zig Real Color Brush markers.

Alright, so since I admitted this was my first go-round with hot foiling, I'll also admit that I did my initial foiling wrong and ended up heat foiling the plate itself and not the paper. Note to self, read the instructions first! They do exist for a reason!! : ) But, all-in-all I was quite pleased with how my first heat foiled cards turned out and I look forward to experimenting more!

Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

XO, Crystal

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Fruity Mood Board

6/13/2022

Hello crafty friends! Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing a card that was inspired by this month's mood board. First, let's take a look at the mood board for the month of June:

These images scream summer - sherbet punch, popsicles, lemonade, pink sand beaches and flamingoes! I love it! Here is the card that I created that was both inspired by the pink and yellow colors and the tropical summery vibes:

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 2 1/2" piece of black and white gingham paper and adhered this to the bottom of the card. I stamped the sentiment "hello summer" in Memento Tuxedo black ink at the top center of the card. This sentiment and all the fruit are from the Life is Sweet stamp set. On lemon yellow cardstock, peach cardstock, lime cardstock and berry cardstock I stamped the fruit image numerous times in Versamark ink. I heat embossed the images all in white embossing powder. I fussy cut each fruit out and then cut some of the fruits in half. I adhered a base layer of fruit to the card and then added a second layer of fruit that I adhered with 3M foam adhesive to give added dimension. Lastly, I added a couple of randomly placed clear rhinestones for added sparkle.

We'd love for YOU to try our mood board and be inspired to create! 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, Crystal

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Sending Sunflower Love

6/6/2022

Hello crafty friends! Today I am on the Joy Clair Design blog sharing this beautiful card. I know you've been seeing a lot of cards in honor, support and solidarity with Ukraine, and I'm here to share another variation featuring the blue and yellow colors we've all come to recognize from the Ukrainian national flag. I have also used the beautiful sunflower image from Joy Clair Designs called Thankful for You. If you would like to see more cards like this, simply follow the #cardsforukraine hashtag on social media and you will be amazed by the outpouring of love for an entire country shown in the form of handmade cards.

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using a lattice die, I cut the background from white cardstock. I stamped the sunflower from the Thankful for You stamp set twice in Versamark ink on watercolor paper and heat embossed the image with gold embossing powder. I colored in the sunflowers using Zig Clean Color Real Brush markers. I fussy cut the sunflowers and adhered them to the card using foam adhesive for added dimension. I stamped the word "sending" in navy ink on a strip of thin white cardstock. I used a two-layer die to cut the word "love." I cut the bottom shadow portion from navy cardstock and the top thinner outline portion from white cardstock. Using a fine-tip glue, I adhered the two layers together and then used foam adhesive to adhere both layers to the card.

To the people of Ukraine, know that the world stands with you in support of unity, of love and of peace.
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.

Truly Inspired May Mood Board

5/6/2022

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, Crystal

Mood Board Lilies

4/6/2022

Hello 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, Crystal

On Your Special Day

1/13/2022

Hello friends! Today I'm sharing this pretty in pink card using the beautiful floral bouquet from the On Your Special Day digital stamp set from Joy Clair Designs.

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 for the first layer. I stamped a burlap background stamp in Versamark ink on the black cardstock and then heat embossed it with black embossing powder for a black-on-black or tone-on-tone look. I LOVE creating black backgrounds like this, especially for bright floral images, it really makes them POP!

I printed out the bouquet twice from the On Your Special Day digital stamp set. I colored the image with Copic markers and then spent a lot of time fussy cutting! I adhered the flowers to the front of the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. I printed out the sentiment on white cardstock and adhered it over the flowers. I added a couple clear drops that resemble water drops. Lastly, I added a layer of clear Wink of Stella to the flowers for added sparkle.

I hope you have enjoyed today's card! Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

XO, Crystal

Sympathy To You

1/6/2022

Hello readers! Today I am on the Joy Clair Designs blog sharing some sympathy card ideas using the beautiful floral prism from the To You digital stamp set. Ugh, I have to begin by saying I've used up far too many sympathy cards from my supply last year and it pains me to even think of needing to make more. But. . . here we are. I find sympathy cards rather challenging to make and try to keep them simple and elegant. One of my favorite ways to create elegance for any card is by black-on-black heat embossing.

All of these three cards were created using the same layout and colors, I simply changed the color of the flower in the prism to have a slight variation.

Card details:

The base of this A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using a piece of black cardstock, I die cut a scalloped rectangle frame and then stamped a leaf image in Versamark ink. You could really use any sort of large stamp for this background. I heat embossed the image with black embossing powder for a black-on-black or tone-on-tone look. I printed out the large prism from the To You digital stamp set and enlarged it to 5" x 3". I fussy cut the prism and colored the flower using Copic markers. I adhered the prism to the card using 3M foam adhesive. I then stamped the sentiment "with sympathy" in Memento Tuxedo black ink on white cardstock and fussy cut around the sentiment. I adhered the sentiment to the prism with a Tombow adhesive runner.

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, Crystal

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Rich Love

5/19/2021

I have a really funny story to share with you about today's card. I had this card sitting on my craft desk waiting to be photographed and my husband walks into the room and says, "Who's Rich?" I look at him all confused. "Who is Rich?" he asks again. Blank stare. Clearly, I am not following. So, he proceeds to hold up this card to which I respond, "No, rich beyond measure." It's a figure of speech. Now he's the one who looks confused. Then he questioned why "Rich" was in capitalized bold font and not feeling the need to explain my card, I had to kick him out of my craft room because he was beginning to stress me out!

Card details:

This A2 sized card is made from 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using a piece of Black Taffy cardstock, I heat embossed the Leafy Wall background stamp from 88 and Clear with black embossing powder. I adhered this embossed background directly to the card base. Using the Rich Love digital stamp set from 88 and Clear, I printed the images onto the same 80 lb. Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and colored the images with Copic markers. I used my Brother Scan and Cut 2 e-cutting machine to cut the images, in lieu of fussy cutting.

I adhered the cut images to the card using 3M foam adhesive for added dimension. The sentiments were already printed in black toner ink from the digital file, so I simply cut them to size to fit in the top upper righthand corner of the card. Lastly, I added some clear Wink of Stella to the flowers for added sparkle.

You can really see in the below photo how that black heat embossed background shines in the light:

Here is the Rich Love stamp set by 88 and Clear that I used to create today's card:

The Rich Love stamp set is part of the the monthly Card Club Subscription with 88 and Clear.

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Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!

XO, Crystal

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