Up & Away Better Press Plate

Hot foiled the new Spellbinders Up & Away Better Press Plate and I wanted to try this with different coloured card stocks and different coloured foils. Here is a photo of this new Better Press Plate:

With this Better Press Plate is a sentiment plate and matching dies for those. The sentiments included with this plate are:

Things are Looking Up

Glad You're Along

Let's See Where This Goes

For my samples I only hot foiled the air balloons plate. I used different foils and I started with black card stock and a matted silver foil:

Used a holographic turquois foil on blue card stock:

Then a silver and then an opaque foil on navy card stock:

These last samples were made using these two multi coloured foils - one is a striped and the other is random circles on the foil:

Here are the samples:

The sample on the left I cut the foil and turned it on the diagonal so the colours did not look like up and down stripes like the sample on the right where I laid the foil on the plate straight. This striped foil is very nice but thinking with such fine lines on this hot air balloon plate you can not see how the foil blends from colour to colour. Here is a photo of a Better Press Plate that has a fuller design and you can easily see the colours this foil has:

On this butterfly card I had also turned the foil on the diagonal so the butterfly would not have up and down stripes. This next hot air balloon sample is the one I used the dotted foil on and you can see all the colours in the foil show all over the design:

And next to the striped foil samples:

Happy to find a plate that works well with the dotted foil. IRL this dotted sample is a good background for a card/project since the colours are all over the design and there are no stripes - up and down or diagonal - to look past. Also Better Press plates foil beautifully no matter what foils or colour card stocks I try..... 

Red, White & Bloom Card

Spellbinders new Red, White & Bloom die set was used for this holiday card for July 4th:

The card stock base is navy card stock from the stash cut and scored at the top. I went through the stash of gingham checked card stock and found this blue checked pattern on the diagonal. I used the Spellbinders Precision Layering A2 B die set to cut the checked card stock for the card front. I put this on the card front using liquid glue. I used a smaller frame die from this die set and cut a piece of white card stock that I  embossed using this embossing folder:

This is the 3D Night Sky Celebration embossing folder. I put a piece of dark card stock in the folder for the photo to show the pattern. With this being a 3D folder I spritzed my white card stock with water first and then embossed it. Once that was done I used Shimmer Mist from my stash and spritzed that over the embossed pattern to add a soft sparkle and shine to the embossed image. When I laid this embossed piece on the checked card front it looked unfinished so I went back to the Precision Layering die set and took two frame dies and put them onto plain white card stock and die cut those and this gave me the white frame I used around my embossed piece:

Put the frame on the embossed piece using liquid glue and then put these onto the card base again using liquid glue. Set this aside to dry. 

I die cut the Red, White & Bloom die set out of scraps in the stash. Navy used for the hat, red mirror card stock used for the red band on the hat. Cut a white hat out as the base and assembled the hat with liquid glue. Cut out the leaves/greenery pieces and the flowers from scraps. Assembled the flowers using liquid glue and I used clear Wink of Stella on the yellow centers of the flowers for some sparkle. Used liquid glue and put the greenery and flowers on the hat. The large blue flower in the center of the hat has a pop dot behind it for dimension.

Die cut the flag and firecracker out of scraps and assembled those and put them behind the hat/flowers piece. Put these onto the card front using liquid glue. Used the Burst of Summer stamp set from Spellbinders for the "Happy 4th of July" sentiment and I stamped that onto scrap white card stock using red ink. Using the matching die I cut that out and put that in the center of the hat using pop dots. Here is a photo of the stamp set that has holiday and summer sentiments:

The July 4th stamp fit perfectly across the hat:

Fun card to assemble and another good use for the card stock scraps. 

Spring Stem Cards

Stash and cash - -  I bought the new "Spring Stem" bundle by Kristina Werner from Concord & 9th and I wanted to make a few cards using this new stamp, die, and stencil bundle. I wanted to make cards using card bases I already had cut and scored and I also wanted to use more of my cover plate dies in the stash. Here is a photo of this Spring Stem bundled set:

The dies:

The nice thing about the packaging sheet the dies are on is there is a die outline on the sheet as well as it is printed with what stamp that shaped die goes with. It also has a one sheet stencil to ink blend colour on your flowers, leaves, and stem pieces. Here is a card I made using this bundled set:

The cover plate for this card I used is the Crossed Stitch Die from Papertrey Ink. I used a card stock base out of a peachy pink and then I cut the cover plate out of white card stock. Put the cover plate piece on the pink card base using liquid glue. I wanted to have a frame around all my flower pieces so I used the PennyBlack Waves frames die set. This is a one piece die set and when you cut it out you get three wavy frames and three wonky frames from one pass in the die cutting machine. Here is the die:

With the die cut frames:

The wavy frame I used is the second largest frame in this set. Here is the yellow card:

I used a yellow card base for this card and the cover plate on this card front is From PinkFresh Studio and it is the Dotted Lattice. The yellow card base and wavy frame are very bright yellow and using the cover plate I did there was not enough contrast between the card front and the frame so I went through the scraps and found a lighter, softer shade of yellow card stock and I cut a piece of that to put behind the lattice cover plate piece. This way the bright  yellow wavy frame shows better on the card front behind the flowers. This next card is actually in purples although the camera shows it as blues:

I used a no-name cover plate from the stash. This cover plate is not an A2 size so it is shorter than the card front so I split the difference at the top and bottom of the card. Here is a photo of the full cover plate:

This last card I used a light turquoise card base and my cover plate on the front of the card is from LDRS and it is their Quilted Plaid die. I cut that out of white card stock and put that on the card base using liquid glue:

Once all card bases had their cover plates on them I worked on the flowers.

Stamped all the flowers onto white card stock and used black ink. Ink blended colours to match my card bases for the flowers. Once those were all stamped, stenciled, and die cut I used pop dots behind them to put them on the card fronts. I put all frames on the card fronts using liquid glue and tucked the stem under the frame on the card fronts. For the sentiments:

I used some of the sentiment stamps in the stamp set and stamped them onto scrap white card stock using black ink. Cut them out using their matching dies in the die set and put them on the card fronts on the lower right corner of the frame piece. Here is a photo of all the cards I made using this bundle:

This bundle goes together well and the stencil is a one piece stencil so you are not dealing with all the layers some stencil sets have. Glad to get more use out of the cover plates in the stash as well as the extra card stock bases in the stash. 

Patriotic Strips Card

Had not bought anything from Jaded Blossoms for a long time as they have been releasing products mainly for their Gnomes line of products until their new "America Strong" release for the 4th of July. This stamp and die set I bought is for the 250th birthday for the USA. Here is a photo of the stamp and die set I bought:

and the die set:

When I ordered these two items I had a different card layout in mind for my 4th of July cards I wanted to make but then I saw a video on YouTube by "On Y Go! Stamping" showing her zig zag card pattern. I watched her video and tried to follow how she made her card but had issues... she says in her video to be careful that the strips stay straight ... well mine were not:

So here is a photo of my card and I will explain what I did to keep my strips straight:

I did follow her pattern for her strips and mine are cut 1/4", 1/2", and cut in between those two and I cut them all to 2 3/4" long. For my card I used a piece of navy card stock from the stash cut and scored at the top. For the card front I used a piece of white card stock 4" x 5 1/4".  I used scraps and a patriotic paper pad "Americana" by Pebbles and I had bought that paper pad long ago from Tuesday Morning. I cut all the strips I would need to cover the white card front piece - I cut 13 of these. I laid them out and put them in the order that I wanted them in and then I turned them over. 

Using the grid lines on my Glassboard craft mat I laid all the strips out next to each other - some higher and some lower than others to make the zig zag look. Using Scotch tape I cut small strips of tape to lay across the strips to keep them touching each other and together:

Turned over to show the front:

With all the strips taped together on the back I took a ruler and made a light pencil line across my strips so I cut take this to the trimmer to cut my strips where I wanted for my card front. Once it was cut I used liquid glue to put the strips at the top of my white card front and again used liquid glue for the longer strips piece for the bottom of my white card front. Set the card front aside to dry. 

Using scrap white card stock I stamped one of the stamps from the "America Strong" stamp set using Night blue ink pad from SimonSaysStamp (stash item).  Used the matching die and cut that out. I also cut out another piece to put my sentiment on to make it more sturdy. I used liquid glue to put the two die cut pieces together for the card front. 

I put the white card front strips piece onto the navy card base using liquid glue. Put pop dots behind the die cut sentiment piece and put that on the card front. Pulled out some star shaped gems from the stash and put those on the card front. Fun card to assemble and good use for scraps in the stash as well as a fun layout. Thanks to "On Y Go! Stamping" for sharing her card layout idea and directions!

Cover Plate BOO Treat Bag

Stash or cash - Putting cover plates away and saw the cover plate I had bought last year on sale from Catherine Pooler "Who's There?". Although I used it for the front of a card last Halloween I wanted to use this cover plate again for the front of the BOO Treat Bags for this year. Here is a photo of the cover plate on the card I made for Halloween:

I decided to look through my stash of paper gift bags and I have some black bags so I decided to use them. Here is a photo of one of the bags I made:

First I cut out a piece of black card stock and using holographic silver foil I hot foiled the Spellbinders Better Press Spider web press plate. Once that was done I used the cover plate and cut out that of the spiderweb foiled piece. Cut a piece of lime green card stock to fit behind the cover plate piece. Used liquid glue to put the foiled piece onto the lime green card stock. Cut a piece of white card stock to put this cover plate piece on for the front of the bag. Went through the stash and found a black and white polka dot card stock to cut for the bag front. Once that was cut I cut a piece of lime green card stock to put that onto. Used liquid glue for all the layers on the bag front. Once those were glued onto the bag fronts and drying I decided to make crepe paper fringe for the top and bottom of the bag. I only wanted to use black and white so I cut three pieces of black crepe paper and then three pieces of white crepe paper that were a little longer than the width of the bag. I layered these up starting with white, then black, and so on and the top layer is black. Hot glued these together as I stacked the layers. Once that was done I used my fringe scissors by Martha Stewart and cut the fringe the length of the crepe paper. I used hot glue and put the fringe pieces at the top and the bottom of the bags. Used scissors to trim off the pieces that were over the edges of the bags. Scrunched up the crepe paper with my hands both top and bottom pieces.

For the "boo" I used this die in the stash by Poppy Stamps:

I used lime green and mirror black card stocks for the "Boo Outline" sentiments for my bags. I used liquid glue and foam dots to put the "boo" on the bags and each circle in the letter "boo" fit over the center of the spider web on my hot foiled backgrounds perfectly:

For the white ghosts I used an old Sizzix steel ruled die from the stash "Ghosts 2" and I cut them out of white glittered card stock. Two of the bags I made I used the same black and white striped card stocks so for one bag I have my ghosts facing one way and the other my ghosts face the other way. I did this by cutting the ghosts out with the glittered card stock facing down on the die and cut those out. The next set of ghosts I cut out the glittered card stock was facing up on the die when I cut them out. Here are those two bags:

Used liquid glue and foam tape to add ghosts to bag fronts and then added small lime green gems from the stash for some sparkle. Here is another bag using another striped card stock from the stash:

Fun bags to put together and all with items from the stash. Happy those are done and will put them all in the Halloween bin for use in October. "Who's There?" cover plate is too cute to just use for one card so happy to be able to use it on the bag fronts..... 

Craft room storage items/tips/etc

Lots of thrift store items in my craft room. Buying items from a thrift store saves a lot of monies instead of buying an item for storage or use for a craft item. I use clear glasses from a thrift store to store my glues in:

These small glasses sell for a quarter or 50 cents and I brought them home and in the dishwasher they went for use in the craft room. Also bought a small glass bowl there to hold my wet baby wipe while I am working on projects to clean off my mat or hands or glue tips:

This glass bowl not only keeps the baby wipe off card stock or maybe lost on the craft table but the bowl helps to keep it from drying out so fast.  Also bought a square glass container to hold scissors next to the craft table:

Bought a plastic Wilton cake decorating turntable to keep my grip mat on for when I stencil items. I really like that it spins and you can easily stencil items on it:

Pampered Chef made a kitchen utensil tool caddy for your kitchen countertops but I bought mine used and it holds a lot of the tools/items I reach for a lot when making things and I keep it on a Copco turntable for easy use:

Mason jars with lids from the thrift store hold clothespins, binder/bulldog clips, paperclips, etc and being clear glass you can easily see what is inside and dust free with the lid. Also a thrift store find is a heavy metal napkin holder and it holds my Big Shot extra plates, my metal plate, shims, and extra plates for my Glimmer Hot Foil machine:

From Restore I bought a used kitchen cart. I keep my Brother Scan n Cut machine, the Cinch, my laminating machine, my large Big Shot machine on it. To keep these machines dust free in between uses I bought the microfiber towels from the auto section at the Dollar Tree:

I used my label maker and labeled the front of the cart where the machines are. Also - tape dispensers. In this photo you can see my Mint tape, Spellbinders Yellow tape, and other tape I use when die cutting items out:

These tapes are on a heavy duty metal turntable I picked up in the kitchen section of IKEA and this sits on the craft table.  Other nearby storage is the three drawer Iris unit I picked up last year at the 301 Endless Yard Sale for $2.00. It holds many items I use for most projects I make:

Also I had bought the plastic turntables from the Dollar Tree when they first came out to hold ink refills or distress sprays etc. The problem was there are 4 of those and one counter by my ink pads where they all are.  So I bought two two tiered Copco turntables in the kitchen department at a store and now I store four Dollar Tree turntables on the space that two could take up freeing up lots of counter space for my by my inks:

Other items I use is a lint roller:

Altho I keep my Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil machine in a bin with a lid to keep it dust free I always run the lint roller over my hot foil platform before I turn the machine on to pick up any dust particles. I also use the lint roller to clean off my steel ruled dies if I should cut out any glittered card stock, felt, or any other material that could "shed" and stick to the fabric finish on these dies. 

Another item I reach for often is the telescoping magnetic tool from AutoZone. I had originally bought this to pick up the solid plates and full cover plates for the hot foil machine. Spellbinders includes a small magnetic tool with the hot foiling machines to pick up your hot plates off your machine when you are done but that tool is small and can not always pick up the larger/heavier plates. Online stores sell a larger magnetic tool to pick up these plates but by far AutoZone is cheaper:

I have also used this tool to pick up a die that fell on the floor or maybe under something or while I am cutting new dies apart and it goes flying..... so a great tool to have... Also I have a wallpaper seam roller in the craft room. Last project I used it for was Halloween cards and the backgrounds:

Both cards I made the background by inking the high side of the Darice Crackle embossing folder with black ink. Placed a piece of white card stock inside the folder and closed it. Ran the wallpaper seam roller over the closed folder and this transferred the ink to the card stock for my backgrounds:

Also a bead threader - tip from MayMayMadeIt - to put ribbons in the tag hole at the top of a tag or to run ribbons/trims through small areas on a project:

So lots of items to use in the craft room to save monies on rather than to buy something that was made to be a glue holder, a crafting tool caddy, scissor holder, etc.. Lots of kitchen items in this craft room but they work and esp from a thrift store or Restore or a garage/yard sale, etc.. Also use a metal cookie cooling rack from the thrift store to put my handmade flowers on after I add glue and glitter to them so they can dry flat. Also put items on there to dry if I use Stickles or Nuvo drops so the items can be flat and not get stuck under anything on the craft work table......