Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Birthday Card | Ellen Hutson - Everyday Doodles & Concord & 9th - Stuck on You


Hi!

Sharing a festive CAS birthday card featuring a combination of Essentials By Ellen and Concord & 9th Stamp Sets! The color palette is from the current AAA Birthday Card Challenge and I immediately thought of a bright birthday cactus with these "comic-book-like" colored candies!


I stamped the long landscape block (Julie Ebersole's Winterscape Stamp Set) at the bottom of an A-2 top-folding card base with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink. The cactus, balloon and party hat images were stamped, die cut and assembled together. Once I determined placement, I stamped the grass, triangles and sentiment using the MISTI. I popped the cactus/balloon grouping off of the card front with some foam tape to give it some dimension and finished the card with a few shiny green stars. These products really work well together and I can't wait to pop this in the mail!


This card is entered in the following challenges:





Thanks so much for stopping by!
Rachelle

Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Wine Bottle Shaker Gift Tag | MFT Stamps - Cheers Die-Namics


Cheers to You!

Today's post is a special shaker gift tag designed to hang around a wine bottle. With the holiday season fast approaching, I needed a few tags ready to pair with my hostess gifts! This was pretty easy to put together (after I created the tag in the Cricut Design Space!) I used a simple copyright-free wine glass silhouette SVG I found on the internet as my starting point and created a few extra layers in order to convert it into the pieces needed to assemble the shaker. The basic shapes used for this tag are shown below and here are the # of die cuts needed for each color:

3 - Yellow Ringed Base - Glued together and Colored with Distress Oxides/Metallic Watercolors
1 - Rose Wine Base - Blended with Distress Oxide Inks and spattered with metallic watercolors
1 - Green Shaker Base 
4 - Black Glass Outline - Only the top die cut was blended with Distress Oxide Inks and spattered with metallic watercolors


If you have an electronic die cutting machine, here is a B&W version that you can copy/save as a JPG and then upload to create this shaker tag:


The smaller wine base die was glued into the correct place on the green base and I adhered a piece of acetate behind the the opening of the top black die cut with Scor-tape. I glued the remaining three black die cuts together and adhered them behind the acetate. This gave me a good stability for the shaker and enough depth for the filler pieces. I used really narrow pieces of double-thick foam tape around the back of the acetate and down the stem of the glass. I ran my anti-static powder tool around the foam tape just at the top to keep my filler from sticking to its adhesive residue. Then I added my shaker bits onto the wine base area and carefully placed the acetate piece on top, pressing down firmly so that the entire unit was adhered together. I scored the yellow ringed base along the line shown above and glued the shaker to it. Depending on the weight of your card stock, you may not need quite as many die layers but I like to overcompensate a bit just to make sure the final shaker isn't too flimsy.


Using MFT's "Cheers" die, I cut multiples from both the white and black card stock - the die cuts were glued/stacked together with the black stack slightly offset from the white in order to give it a shadow effect and adhered to the front of the tag. There is plenty of room on the back to write your sentiment or just a simple "To:/From:" would also work! I really like the way this tag looks on the bottle itself! 

I am entering this project into the challenge over at the current Cut It Up! Challenge Blog #184 - Tags, Bags or Boxes.

Additional Challenges:







Thanks so much for stopping by!
Rachelle

Saturday, October 12, 2019

Halloween Card | MFT Stamps - Happy Hauntings


Happy Halloween!

It will be here before we know it and all of my neighbors have started to decorate outside with giant spider webs covering their front porches, zombies crawling out of the lawns and scary ghosts floating from trees! It's AWESOME! Today I am sharing a card featuring MFT's now retired "Happy Haunting" Stamp Set (you can still purchase it on the Frantic Stamper site) and here is the simple sketch that I worked from:


I began by creating a Distress Oxide Ink background with the following colors: Carved Pumpkin, Twisted Citron, Wilted Violet and Blueprint Sketch. I spattered the blended panel with diluted inks, metallic watercolors and opaque white ink to create the night sky. I cut 2"-wide vertical strips from the panel and set them aside. The images were all stamped onto white cardstock, colored and die cut. I glued additional blank die cuts behind the witch, moon and smallest cloud to give the scene some dimension.

The Halloween fence was cut with an old Martha Stewart paper punch and I lightly blended some Squeezed Lemonade Distress Ink across the top of the fence to indicate moonshine - the same thing was done on the clouds. A piece of black cardstock was prepped with an anti-static powder tool, the sentiment was stamped with VersaMark ink and heat embossed with white powder. The sentiment was die cut and glued onto a small strip of MFT's striped pattern paper.

The blended background strip was adhered along the right side of the card front and all of the remaining pieces were glued into place on top. I used some foam tape to pop the moon off of the card front, which added nice dimension and allowed me to slip the small cloud just underneath the sleepy moon! I added a few matte gold stars to finish off the card.


Challenge Submissions:











Thanks you so much for all of your comments and I really appreciate you stopping by!

Rachelle

Sunday, October 6, 2019

Birthday Card | Pinkfresh Studio - A Place To Start Challenge Blog - "Create Your Own Challenge"


Hey There!

We've got a great challenge for you this month over on A Place To Start's Blog - Create Your Own! Head on over to the APTS Blog to see the great inspiration the design team has created!
Here are the challenge instructions: 


I chose the following items from each column in order to fit the challenge:
#1 - Image  |  #2 - Die  |  #3 - Embossing Powder  |  #4 - Sequins  |  #5 - Faux Stitching

Using the MISTI, I lightly sponged Blueprint Sketch, Chipped Sapphire and Black Soot Distress Oxide Inks onto the large round universe background stamp from Pinkfresh Studio's Constellation Set on the upper middle area of a 4.25" x 5.5" panel of white card stock. I spritzed the panel with clear shimmer mist and blotted it with a paper towel. I die cut the large Constellation Sketch Star Die from shiny matte silver card stock and glued/stacked 2 additional die cuts behind it to add dimension. I stamped the sentiment using black pigment ink on the card front and heat embossed it with clear powder.

The silver star die cut was glued into place and I added a handful of itty bitty silver star sequins to the sky. I trimmed 1/4" from the bottom of the card front and backed the entire panel with craft foam. A line of faux stitching was embossed onto a 1/2" strip of the same matte silver card stock using MFT's "Basic Stitch Line Die-Namics" and glued to the bottom of an A-2 top-folding card base. The front panel was then adhered into place on top of the stitching. I stamped the sentiment/stars on the inside of the card and added a silver constellation die cut to complete the card.


Additional challenge submissions:




Thanks so much for stopping by and I really appreciate all of your comments!
Rachelle

Thursday, October 3, 2019

Thank You Card | Guest Designer Spot - CAS(E) this sketch! #CTS342



Hello! 

I am so excited to share this card with you today as the Guest Designer over on the CAS(E) this Sketch Blog! I flipped Donna Mikasa's sketch upside down and went with a fall-inspired thank you  card, featuring wheat die cuts from Concord & 9th and a background texture from MFT. Head over to the CTS blog to see what the talented design team has created for this challenging sketch #CTS342!


The background was created using MFT's now-retired "Make Your Mark" Stamp; the ombre texture started with Gathered Twigs Distress Ink at the top and then blended into Brushed Corduroy and Antique Linen at the bottom. The card stock was sprayed generously with clear pearl & gold shimmer mists and flecked with diluted inks/gold watercolor. I really like how this background fades into the white card stock at the bottom. I cut this panel down to 4.25" x 5.5" and adhered it to the front of an A-2 top-folding card base.

The Lawn Fawn banner was stamped onto plaid pattern paper, shaded with Rusty Hinge Ink and fussy cut. I used a black marker to finish the stamped edges of the banner and made small slit along the middle line so that I could slip my wheat stalks in behind the sentiment area. I stamped the sentiment in the middle of the banner and set it aside.


Using Concord & 9th's "Layering Leaves" Wheat Die, I cut multiple stalks from different colors of card stock (including matte gold shimmer paper.) I carefully glued 2-3 stalks together to give me the stiffness/strength I needed to maneuver them into position. I like this die because it is so delicate but as a single layer, it can be too thin to work with - so I usually glue/stack a couple together and I'm good to go! I added a bit of color to some of the stalks by just swiping Distress Oxide Inks across the surface and once dry, I began to create the simple bouquet. When I had the stalks positioned through the banner, I took a quick photo, lightly taped the die cuts in place on the front with purple craft tape, and removed the wheat bouquet. I added just a bit of foam tape to the outside curved edges on the back of the banner and adhered it into place on the card front. By adding the foam tape on the banner edges, this gave me a great dimensional "pocket", making it easy to glue the stalks back into place (using my photo as a guide!) I added a minimal amount of Ranger Multi-Matte Adhesive to each of the wheat stalks and left most of the tops unsecured so that I could bend them outward to add dimension.

I took just a little design liberty with the sketch and am so happy with the result!


Thanks so much for joining me today! 

Additional challenges:






Thanks for all of your comments!
Rachelle

Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Sympathy Card | Hero Arts Fancy Tree Die



Hello...

Sympathy cards are never easy for me to make - especially when both parents of a long-time friend pass away within three days of each other. They had been married for nearly 68 years and I'm sure that she died of a broken heart without him. It seems nearly impossible to find sufficient words to express your heartfelt condolences to someone who has just lost both parents.

I began by blending a background panel of Distress Oxide Inks - Squeezed Lemonade, Tattered Rose, Shaded Lilac and Blueprint Sketch. Additional inks were smooshed onto my craft mat one at a time and spritzed with water. I tapped the white card stock onto the wet ink several times until I got the coverage I wanted, let it dry for a moment and moved onto the next color. 


I divided the panel into the green leaf foliage and brown trunk areas to match my die - Hero Arts' Fancy Tree Die. Once I finished with the smooshing technique, I swiped the ink pads directly onto the paper to intensify the color in certain areas.


I duplicated this process one more time with slightly lighter colors because I knew that I wanted to layer one die cut on top to create some depth on the trees. Once I determined the tree placement, I cut the ink-blended panel down to 4.25" x 5.5", adhered it to the front of an A-2 top-folding card base and glued the first set of trees in place. The card front was prepped with an anti-static powder tool, the sentiment was stamped with VersaMark Ink and heat embossed with a matte gold powder. This sentiment is from a Michaels' scrapbook line circa 2017.


Tiny strips of foam tape were added to the back of the second tree die cut and it was adhered just slightly offset of the one below to give the scene depth. I spattered the entire card front with pearl shimmer mist/gold watercolor and the card was finished with a few sequins.


Challenges:







Thanks so much for joining me today.
Rachelle