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Hello crafty friends and readers! Today I am sharing these two cards featuring vivid alcohol ink backgrounds and adorable snowmen over on the Butterfly Reflections, Ink blog. Creating alcohol ink pieces of art to use on cards has such a WOW effect. While I love the look of Distress Oxide inks, I still don't feel entirely comfortable using them, so when I want to create eye-catching backgrounds, Ranger Adirondack Alcohol Inks are my go-to.
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of White Yupo paper on which to create my background. I dropped a couple drops each of Aqua, Pool and Patina inks onto the Yupo paper and blew the ink around with a straw until I achieved a desired look. No, there is no rhyme or reason to my madness when creating with alcohol! Just keep at it until you have a look that YOU are happy with! I let this ink dry before splattering some white acrylic paint over the background to resemble snow. Then I cut two Lawn Fawn Birch Trees from white cardstock. I handcut a snowbank out of white cardstock for the bottom of the card and adhered a layer of Lawn Fawn Chunky Glitter over the top of the snowbank. I stamped the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and die cut them using the coordinating Snow Buddies Honey Cuts dies. I colored in the images with Copic markers and adhered them to the card with foam adhesive to create a little scene. Lastly I die cut the "let it snow" sentiment from the Lawn Fawn Big Scripty Words Lawn Cuts in turquoise cardstock and glitter cardstock, layering the two together for a shadowed effect, before adhering these to the bottom of the card with foam adhesive.
Here is the Snow Buddies stamp set from Honey Bee Stamps that I used to create these cards:
Now for the second card:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of White Yupo paper on which to create my background. I dropped dropped three colored alcohol inks (salmon, raspberry and villainous) on the right side of the paper and "swiped left!" ; ) Haha, did anyone catch that?! I let this ink dry before splattering some white acrylic paint over the background to resemble snow. Then I cut three Lawn Fawn Birch Trees from white cardstock. I handcut a snowbank out of white cardstock for the bottom of the card and adhered a layer of Lawn Fawn Chunky Glitter over the top of the snowbank. I stamped the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and die cut them using the coordinating Snow Buddies Honey Cuts dies. I colored in the images with Copic markers and adhered them to the card to create a little scene. 
I hope you have enjoyed these whimsical snowmen surrounded by an alcohol inked winter wonderland. Thanks for visiting and happy creating!
XO, Crystal
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Hello and happy Tuesday readers! Today I am sharing three cards that were inspired by fellow cardmaker, Ivana Camdzic. I first discovered Ivana through Instagram and was drawn to her beautiful use of pastel colors and her stunning layout photography. I have later come to learn she is a foodie, a traveler and also married to a wonderful man named Mark. So, we have discovered much more in common through our social media friendship than just our shared passion for papercrafting! What I have also realized after creating these cards is that I really like pastel colors and that even though they are considered more non-traditional for holiday cards, they are equally as stunning! I do hope to incorporate many more of these soft colors in the future.
Here are the beautiful cards created by Ivana that inspired my cards:
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Smoky Slate cardstock. Using the Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Nesting Rectangles, I cut a piece of silver star patterned paper (source unknown). I adhered this scalloped patterned paper directly to the card base using a dot tape runner. I die cut the wreath in both Mint Macaron and Pistachio cardstock. I punched little white flowers to adorn the wreath and placed clear rhinestones in the center of the flowers. Lastly, I die cut the sentiment "joy" from silver glimmer cardstock and adhered it to the bottom of the card.
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Crumb Cake cardstock. I die cut a piece of music patterned paper (source unknown) and adhered it to the center of the card. Using the Hello Winter Nice and Neat Dies from Neat And Tangled, I die cut the word in Cherry Cobbler and white cardstock. I adhered the sentiment to the middle of the card using foam adhesive. I stamped the leaves, greenery and berries using the Spruce and Sprigs stamp set and coordinating dies from Papertrey Ink. I adhered the berries, leaves and greenery to the top left and lower right side of the frame to make the sentiment pop.
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Crumb Cake cardstock. Using the Gina Marie Designs Scalloped Stitched Nesting Rectangles, I cut a piece of Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I adhered this scalloped patterned paper directly to the card base using a dot tape runner. I die cut the wreath in both Blushing Bride and Flirty Flamingo cardstock. I placed pink rhinestones in the center of the wreath. I cut a 4" x 1 1/2" sheet of birch gold foil paper, notched both ends and placed it behind the wreath. I die cut the "believe" sentiment from gold glimmer cardstock and white cardstock. I layered the two on top of each other and adhered the sentiment to the center of the card using foam adhesive.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing a variety of ways to incorporate pastel colors into your holiday cards. Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day!
XO, Crystal
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Hello friends and happy December! Today I am sharing this card on the Butterfly Reflections, Ink blog, but before I get to my card, I wanted to share with you all that I got to visit the Butterfly Reflections, Ink store last weekend when I was nearby traveling for Thanksgiving. Not only did I get to check out the awesome store, but I got to meet Vanessa in person, and on her birthday! I was amazed by the amount of inventory in the store and the space is so well organized and clean. I didn't even get to see nearly everything I wanted and I was there for almost two hours! I can't wait to go back again (without my husband)! If you are ever in the Kingston, New Hampshire (or greater Portsmouth/Manchester area) you must stop by, it's really worth the visit.  Now for today's card. . . I used a stamp set that I purchased when I was at the store last week, although it has been on my list since it was released. This set is called "Cocoa Stand" by Avery Elle. I did also combine it with the "Snow Buddies" stamp set from Honey Bee Stamps to create an even larger scene. Turquoise, red and brown are one of my favorite Christmas color combinations. It's very fresh and modern feeling.  Card details: For the base of this slimline card, I cut a piece of turquoise cardstock measuring 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" long. I cut a 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Bristol Smooth cardstock to ink blend the background. I used Tim Holtz Distress Oxide ink in Peacock Feathers and covered the cardstock with the ink before adhering this distressed background to the card base. I cut a 8 1/4" x 1 1/4" piece of white cardstock and created a snowbank along the bottom edge of the cards to ground all of my images. Along this border, I added Lawn Fawn Chunky Glitter for added sparkle. I stamped all of the images from the Cocoa Stand stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock and colored them with Copic markers. I then used the coordinating Cocoa Stand Elle-ment dies to cut all the images. also stamped all of the images from the Honey Bee Stamps Snow Buddies stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock and colored these images with Copic markers. I also die cut these using the Snow Buddies Honey Cuts dies. Then I began to form a scene just by placing the different images onto the card to where I was happy with the layout. I adhered most of the images to the card with foam adhesive. Lastly, I used a white gel pen and added little dots all over the card to resemble snow.     I hope you have enjoyed today's card. Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, Crystal You might also enjoy:
Hello friends and happy BLACK Friday! Best of luck to you brave souls who dare to venture out on this day because I want no part of it! Those crowds are not for me! Today, you will find me shopping local at the Butterfly Reflections, Ink in New Hampshire for my very first time! Be sure to follow along on Instagram to see all the behind the scenes photos from the store and more. I'm excited because it is also the shop owner, Vanessa's birthday, so I will get to wish her a happy birthday in person. To celebrate, a large group of current and past Design Team members, along with some special guests, will be doing a blog hop on Instagram sharing cards that were inspired by some of Vanessa's favorite things: the color fushia, cute critters (she LOVES Hello Bluebird), coffee and pumpkin spice. Here is the card I created for her:
Card details:
This slimline card ( 8 1/2" x 3 1/2") was made from Berry Burst cardstock. The first matted layer is a 8 1/4" x 3 1/4" piece of Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I die cut the mountains in Blushing Bride cardstock using the Hello Sweetums Mountains of Fun dies. I die cut the trees using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Trees dies. I stamped all of the critters, trees and presents from the Hello Bluebird Frosty Friends stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink and colored them using Copic markers. I added highlights to some of the images with a Uniball White Gel pen. I also added Lawn Fawn ultrafine glitter to the snowbanks and critters' hats. I added many of the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive. I stamped the sentiment at the bottom of the card in Berry Burst ink. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.
Here are the Copic colors I used for coloring: 
Here is the Frosty Friends stamp set by Hello Bluebird (available through Butterfly Reflections, Ink) that I used to create today's card:
Be sure to follow along on Instagram to see what everyone else created for Vanessa's birthday!
Thanks for visiting and I hope you have a wonderfully creative weekend! XO, Crystal
Forget about a white Christmas, I'm dreaming of a purple Christmas! It's only a few shades away from blue anyway, so it's really not that much of a stretch. Sure, it's anything but traditional, but it's fresh and fun and kind of whimsical. By using a slimline card (8 1/2" x 3 1/2") there is enough space to feature all of the images from the Santa's Wonderland stamp set on this winter scene.
Card details:
The base of this slimline card is made from Gorgeous Grape cardstock. The first layer is cut from the Lawn Fawn Watercolor Wishes paper. Using the Stitched Slopey Joes border dies from Heffy Doodle, I cut two layers of snow from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I lined one of the snowbanks with Lawn Fawn Chunky Glitter. I die cut the trees in the background from Lawn Fawn Stitched Trees Border Lawn Cuts in white cardstock. I cut the tree "leaves" from miscellaneous scrap paper in purple stripes and in white glimmer paper (center tree). I stamped all of the images in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on white cardstock and cut them using the coordinating Santa's Wonderland Nice & Neat dies. I colored the images with Copic markers and added highlights to the colored images using a white gel pen. I added the images to the card using 3m foam adhesive for dimension. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the images for added sparkle.
Here is the Santa's Wonderland stamp set from Neat & Tangled that I used to create today's card:
What do you think? Have I sold you on a purple Christmas yet?!
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, Crystal
Hello friends and happy Monday! Welcome back from the weekend! My weekend didn't quite go as planned because I've been plagued with some sort of stomach bug for the better part of the last week. It's hasn't been terrible, but enough so that it leaves me feeling less than my stellar self. I did, however, do a TON of cleaning and re-organizing in my craft room and that felt great! Yes, that also means, I've got over three shoeboxes of stamp sets and dies that will be looking for new homes, so the next time you're at stamp camp, you can do a little discount shopping! This works out well - you get "new" stamps and I get rid of "old" stamps to buy more NEW stamps. See, it's recycling at it's finest! : ) I have been seeing gnomes e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e this holiday season and I, for one, am here for it! For today's card I borrowed this Gnome for the Holidays stamp set by FSJ/Spellbinders from my friend Nikki the other weekend at our craft retreat, but this set was too cute, that I had to purchase it for myself too!  Card details: The base of this A2 sized card is made from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. Using the Lawn Fawn Stitched Hillside Backdrop, I cut the frame also from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I placed a sheet of Bermuda Bay cardstock (retired) behind the frame and heat embossed snowflakes in white embossing powder directly on the blue cardstock. I also added a few white birch trees to the landscape that I cut using the Lawn Fawn Birch Trees Lawn Cuts. I stamped the images from the FSJ Gnome for the Holiday stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock. I colored the images using Copic markers and added highlights with a Uni-Ball White Gel pen. I adhered the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the gnomes and trees for added sparkle.  Here is the Gnome for the Holidays stamp set by Spellbinders that I used to create this card:     Thank you for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, CrystalYou might also enjoy:
Hello and happy Friday! I hope you have fun things planned for the weekend ahead! I'm looking forward to another weekend of designing cards for some upcoming classes. Today I am sharing a card that I created using two stamp sets from RG Avenue. One is a brand new release called Wonder Trees and the other is an older stamp set called Birthday Girl. I added a fun twist to the Birthday Girl stamp set because I colored her with more traditional holiday colors, so this birthday girl is actually going Christmas shopping!
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from Rich Cherry cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of red plaid cardstock and adhered it directly to the card base. Using the Gina Marie Scalloped Stitched Nesting dies, I die cut a sheet of Neenah White Solar Smooth cardstock in the medium rectangle. I splattered Sweet Blue sugar drops on the white cardstock. The Birthday Girl and Wonder Trees stamp sets I used were both digital, so I printed out the images from my laptop and colored them with my Copic alcohol ink markers. I ran the images through my Scan & Cut machine to die cut them. I adhered the birthday girl with one of the trees to the card using foam adhesive. I colored in the sentiment and added it to the bottom of the card also with foam adhesive. Lastly, I added a coat of Dazzling Pat to the image for lots of extra sparkle.
Here are the two digital stamp sets from RG Avenue that I used to create this card:
Here are the Copic markers I used to color this card:
Thank you for visiting! I hope you have a wonderfully warm and creative weekend!
XO, Crystal
Hello and happy Wednesday! Today I am sharing this shaker card over on the Butterfly Reflections, Ink blog. This card really brings me back to my childhood and the very cold and snowy winters we had growing up in northern Maine. While all of my brothers wanted to have snowball fights (usually filled with ice, might I add)! I wanted to make pretty snow angels. I only wish I had all of these adorable woodland creatures to play with back then!
Card details:
The base of this A2 sized card is made from red cardstock. I cut a 5 1/4" x 4" piece of white cardstock and stamped the outline of the snow angels in a dark brown ink. I placed this directly on the red card base. Next, I created the frame from a dark brown cardstock using two rectangle dies. I adhered a piece of Hero Arts clear acetate to the back of the frame. I lined the frame with foam adhesive so that it would allow plenty of space for the glitter to shake around inside.
I placed approximately two tablespoons of Avery Elle Coarse Glitter directly onto the white cardstock and adhered the shaker frame on top. I stamped the bunny, fox and bear from the Snow Angels stamp set on white cardstock and colored the images using my Copic markers. I die cut the animals with the coordinating Snow Angels Creative Cuts from Mama Elephant and then I adhered the animals to the outside of the shaker frame using more foam adhesive. 
I stamped the sentiment "snow much love" in Versamark ink on red cardstock and heat embossed it with Lawn Fawn white embossing powder. I notched both ends before adhering the sentiment strip on the outside of the shaker frame. Lastly, I added a coat of clear Wink of Stella to the animals to give them added sparkle.
Shaker cards are probably one of my favorite cards to make and the glitter inside this one really looks like fluffy snow! Thanks for visiting and remember to shop the AMAZING clearance sale going on right now at Butterfly Reflections, Ink!
XO, Crystal
Hello and happy Friday! Toasty greetings is right! It's freakin' cold out there today and I'm pretty sure we're going to see snow any moment now here in Mass! I hope you have fun things planned for what's looking to be a very chilly weekend ahead. My mom and dear friend Donna arrived on Wednesday night from Maine and California, respectively, and we are heading to a craft retreat in Connecticut with a few other friends for the long weekend. Be sure to follow along on my Instastories for some behind-the-scenes fun!
Today I am sharing two cards that I threw together in very little time because, 1) I had already pre-made the alcohol ink backgrounds, and, 2) I had done all the coloring on a previous retreat! I mention this because coloring is exactly what I'm going to be doing on this craft weekend as well. Yes, for three whole days, I will do nothing but color (and eat and sleep, of course)! I choose to do this because coloring takes up a LOT of time, something that I can never find enough of when I am at home. It also means I don't have to pack a lot of bags for the weekend. I can fit everything I need into one bag versus the multiple bags I used to bring filled with stamps, inks, paper and all the other things.
Card details:
The base of these A2 sized cards was made from either Gorgeous Grape or Call Me Clover cardstock. I lined the base of the card with pre-made alcohol ink backgrounds (more below). Using the Heffy Doodle Slopey Joe Landscape dies, I die cut two snowbanks from Neenah Solar White Smooth cardstock. I lined the edges of the snowbank with Lawn Fawn Chunky Glitter. I stamped the sentiment in the lower right corner of each card in either Gorgeous Grape ink or Call Me Clover ink. I die cut the trees using the Lawn Fawn Birch Tree Lawn Cuts and adhered them over the alcohol ink background and tucked them behind the snowbanks. I stamped all of the images from the MFT "Toasty Greetings" stamp set in Memento Tuxedo Black ink on Neenah Solar White smooth cardstock and die cut them using the coordinating dies. I colored each image with Copic markers and added highlights to the images using a Uniball white gel pen. I adhered all of the images to the card using 3M foam adhesive.
Because I am not currently creating video content and tutorials on my website, I highly recommend checking out this Easy Alcohol Ink Background Tutorial by Jennifer McGuire. She has created a very simple introduction to working with alcohol inks to create some basic backgrounds. This was the first video I watched after purchasing my alcohol inks and then I just spent time playing around with them! The great thing is there is no right or wrong when it comes to art. You just have fun (and usually make a mess) with it! *My only tip would be that you don't need to spend your money purchasing polysynthetic Yupo Paper at nearly $1.00 per sheet. You can use the reverse side of any high quality photo paper (like this one by Kirkland) and achieve the same results!
Here is the "Toasty Greetings" stamp set from My Favorite Things that I used to create today's cards:
There is a lot going on with both of these cards between the alcohol ink backgrounds and the coloring, but when you break it up, it seems less overwhelming. Some simple advice that I can offer, from my own experience, is to dedicate some time for each part of crafting. Pick a day and color. Pick another day and create alcohol ink backgrounds. Pick yet another day for die cutting all the pieces. Make extras of each and set them aside. Then when you want to put a card together, half of the work is already done!
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderful weekend! XO, Crystal
Hi friends! Today I am sharing this winter treat project on the Butterfly Reflections, Ink website. Next weekend, four girlfriends, my mom, and I are going on our annual craft retreat in Connecticut. I'm looking forward to a long three-day weekend of crafting, chatting and chillaxing! This weekend might be particularly chilly too because our local news is already starting to report the first snow for Friday! It looks like I picked the perfect treat to make for everyone. It's kind of a tradition for each of us to make small gifts for the other ladies when we go on one of these retreats. This year I chose to put hot cocoa packets into these Lawn Fawn goodie bags! I wanted to also attach a candy cane, but surprisingly enough I couldn't find any in my local CVS or craft store and Amazon wanted $18 for a dozen! That's just plain crazy!
Project details:
I chose three colors that are one of my favorite winter combos - Red, turquoise and kraft. I think these colors are very fun, fresh and festive. I cut the bags using the Lawn Fawn Goodie Bag die. *Note, each bag does take a full sheet of 8 1/2" x 11" paper, so it does consume a fair amount of paper. I assembled the bag using Lawn Fawn 1/4" tear tape.
To decorate each goodie bag, I used the Holiday Skates stamp set from Avery Elle. I stamped two skates, one candy cane and two branches for each bag. I stamped the skates and candy cane in Memento Tuxedo black ink and colored them with Copic markers. I stamped the branches in both kraft ink and turquoise ink and used the coordinatingHoliday Skates die Elle-ments to cut them out.
I stamped the sentiment "your friendship warms my heart" in Versamark ink on red, kraft or turquoise cardstock and heat embossed it with Lawn Fawn white embossing powder. The sentiment is from the Concord & 9th Winter Wear stamp set. I die cut each sentiment out using the Lawn Fawn Fancy Folded Banners Lawn Cuts. I adhered the skates to the front of the goodie bag using foam adhesive and tied a little bow in red ribbon at the top. I adhered the ribbon with glue dots. Lastly, I put a packet of hot cocoa and some tissue paper in the bag and adhered the sentiment to the top of the bag.
These goodie bags were quick and easy to make and I think my friends will really enjoy sipping their cocoa when we are all gathered together in the living room next weekend catching up on the last year's worth of life events.
Thanks for visiting and have a wonderfully creative day! XO, Crystal |
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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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