Flower Power Ghost Card

I had seen the video by Tina/Cards and Coffee Time on YouTube showing the new "Free Spirit" ghosts die set from Hero Arts. Her card was very cute and that card totally inspired this card I made:

She used all products from Hero Arts - The die set, the floral stencil set, frame dies, etc but for my card I only had to buy the Free Spirit ghosts die set as I had a floral stencil set I could use for the background as well as many rectangle frame die sets in my stash. For my card I used an aqua card base cut and scored at the top. For my stenciled piece I used a piece of white card stock and I used the PrettyPinkPosh Layered Spring Flowers stencil set from the stash:

I only wanted three colours on my card so for the first layer of this stencil I used a light hand for my turquoise, blue, and purple inks with a blending brush. For the second layer, again using the same inks, I used a heavier application adding the colours to the flowers. With both layers of the flowers done I added the third layer, the center of the flowers, and I used black ink for that. I wanted my flowers and ink colours to be random so I used mini Post-It Notes to mask off my flowers on the stencil:

I ink blended the first layer and then did the second layer so it was not time consuming adding the different inks to the stenciled piece. Here is a photo of the finished stenciled piece:

Trimmed the stencil piece to the size I needed for the card front and used liquid glue to put that onto the turquoise card base. Set this aside. 

For the ghost - as she did in her video - I added ink to the top and bottom of the ghost. I also ink blended the three inks onto scrap white card stock and then I cut out the flowers in the die set. Here is a photo of this Hero Arts die set:

Not shown are more flowers I had die cut for this card as I was not sure which flowers/colours I would be using for my card front. On her card she uses a piece of vellum behind her frame so that you can see her stenciled floral background for her card front. I liked the idea of using vellum and for my wavy frame I used this die set from Penny Black "Waves":

When you die cut this frame set out you not only get the wavy frames it cuts but you also get a funky wavy frame piece behind the frame dies. This photo shows the 6 different frames this die set die cuts if you leave the die set as one piece which I did:

The black, light yellow, and orange pieces are the frames this die set cuts out. The bright yellow, the lime green, and the blue center are the wonky wavy pieces it also cuts out. For my card I used a piece of black card stock and cut out the frames. In the above photo the lime green wonky wavy frame is the same size frame I used for my black frame on my card. I used a smaller frame for my card front that she did as my stenciled flowers are a larger design and I wanted a lot of them to show around the frame:

I used a ruler and measured the height and width of this wonky wavy frame and I cut a rectangle piece of vellum to fit. Used liquid glue to put the vellum behind the frame. With that done I added foam tape behind my ghost and put her onto the vellum frame using liquid glue. For the flowers I used black card stock for their centers and for all the flower centers and eyes for the ghost I used clear Wink of Stella to add some shine to those. Put flowers on the ghost using black pop dots. The sentiment:

Used an old wood mounted holiday stamp from Northwoods and stamped that onto scrap white card stock using black ink. Cut that out with a banner die set in the stash and put that onto the ghost using pop dots. Added some purple gems from the stash for some shine to the card front:

Such a fun card to put together for Halloween. Turquoise, blue, and purples are not my usual holiday card colours but fun to put this card together..... Thanks to Tina for sharing her too cute card and happy I used more stash items so I did not have to buy anything more than the Free Spirit ghosts die set which I know will be getting much more use this Halloween season.... She is too cute not to use her!

Michaels - Maybe not . . .

Had seen videos on YouTube showing new Halloween paper craft items at Michaels stores. New stickers, ephemera, paper pads, washi tapes, etc.  Have lots of Halloween products in the craft stash but I wanted to see some of these items in person. Went to a local store and they did not have any of the washi tapes but they did have a few paper pads. I picked up a Halloween paper pad but that was all..... came home and looked at Michaels.com online store to look at the washi tapes they carry for Halloween. They were selling these washi sets for $15.50 but they had it on sale for $12.40.  Their description also tells you who this product is shipped from. The washi tapes I looked at are from Planner Envy. Wanting to know if Planner Envy offered any other designs off I went to their website before I ordered from Mikes....

Planner Envy had the same washi tape set as Mikes, and others, and their price was $8.75 for the same set of Halloween washi tape I wanted and I looked at their Fall washi tape sets and those were also $8.75. I picked out a Halloween set and a Fall set and ordered those:

They are packaged in a clear box and lay flat so they ship well. Here is a side view of the patterns:

Happy to have found Planner Envy. They have lots of washi tape sets - 2 pages worth - on their site and they have new Christmas and Winter sets as well as Halloween, Fall, Easter, Valentine's Day, etc.. Good quality product too.... and they are also having a sale at   plannerenvy.com.  Lots of stickers as well if you need those for your planners/junk journals or other projects you are working on. 

Scrapbook.com also featured new products and I picked up a pack of a set of 2 plates for my new Sizzix  machine. These plates are sparkly red and happy to have them:

It was time for new plates in this craft room and happy to find them in red - 

A little jazzing up for my die cutting machine.... Hoping they last as long as my older plates that are years old.....

Merry & Bright Christmas Card

Stash stuffs used for this card for Christmas:

Hard to get a great photo when using mirrored card stocks but this is the card I made for Christmas using stash stuff. To begin with I used the Simon Says Stamp "Twinkly Lights" die set:

I die cut the strands out using a dark green card stock in the stash. Then I used the two bulb dies in the set and cut out mirrored card stocks in different colours for the bulbs:

Used liquid glue to add the bulbs to the strands:

Set those aside. For the card base I used the same dark green card stock that I used for the green strands and I cut and scored that at the top, landscape style. For the white card front I cut a piece of white card stock 4 1/4 x 5 1/2.   I used an older Taylored Expressions embossing folder:

and embossed this. With that embossed I looked through the rectangle dies in the stash and decided to use the Essential Rectangles die set from Essentials by Ellen (Ellen Hutson):

I used the same mirrored gold card stock for the frame that I used for the gold bulbs and cut out the largest die frame in this die set. Used liquid glue to put the frame on the embossed piece and set that aside to dry. Once that was dried I used scissors to cut around the frame for the card front. Put this embossed rectangle on the card base using liquid glue. Added a couple of the strands of lights over the embossed piece for the card front and let this dry. Once dried I used scissors to trim off any strand pieces hanging over the edges of the card front.

For the "merry & bright" I used the die set from Simon Says Stamp - "Merry & Bright" and this die set also has small star dies as well as a couple of snowflake dies:

I used the mirrored gold card stock and cut the words out. Also cut them out again using white card stock and layered these words together using liquid glue. For the shadow piece behind the "merry.." I wanted to be able to see the bulbs under it so I used a light weight piece of vellum and cut that out. Put the word dies onto the vellum shadow piece using liquid glue. Added glue behind the letters on the shadow vellum piece and put this onto the card front

Here is a different angle to show the shine on this card:

This next photo shows the embossing on the white card front under the words and strands of lights:

Happy to be able to use more of the stash products to make a fun card. With using the mirrored card stocks for the bulbs and the greeting coloured gems were not needed for the card front. A fun holiday card finished and ready for the holiday ahead...

Halloween Bookmark Tags

Went through the stash and pulled out the Scrappy Boy Stamps Bookmark & Toppers die set for my Halloween tags. I wanted an oversize tag and these bookmark dies were the size I needed. Here is a photo of the die set:

Here is a photo of the three tags I have made:

This bookmark tag die set has the bottom bookmark base die piece, a layering die piece for the front of the bookmark as well as a few selections for the toppers for the bookmark. I wanted my tags to be sturdy so I used 110# weight black card stock for the base of the bookmark and then cut a second base piece and glued those to the black bottom base pieces using liquid glue. Went through my Halloween die sets, letter die sets, and hot foil sentiment sets for my tags. I also used various holiday card stocks from the stash for the front of my tags. I wanted layers and layers on these tags so I used lots of different items. First tag:

For this tag I used black card stock for the base as well as for the front of the tag. For the layering die I used a green spider card stock and used liquid glue to put that on the tag base. At the top and bottom of the tag I cut a piece of black and white spider web card stock and cut that in half and used liquid glue to put that on the tag front. Picked out the topper die I wanted to use and cut that out using a striped card stock. Used liquid glue to add that to the tag front. Using silver glittered spider webs on black tulle from the DollarTree I cut out one of the larger spider webs using scissors and glued that to the tag front. 

The ghost is cut out of white glittered card stock and I backed that with a black ghost for his eyes and to make him more sturdy. This ghost die is an old steel ruled die from Sizzix.  Set the ghost aside. For the "BOO" circle letters I used a die set from Frantic Stamper (who is closing its' doors this week):

"Typewriter Keys Alphabet" die set. You can cut this apart if you want but I left it in one piece and when I die cut it I get a full alphabet of letters and I keep the ones I do not use then in a little box for another project:

For this tag I used three different colours of typewriter keys I die cut and spelled out "BOO" I put those on the right side of the tag using liquid glue. At the bottom of the tag I used a pumpkin I punched out using an old Marvy face punch and a M Stewart solid pumpkin punch. I used a piece of orange washi tape and tore a piece of that and put it on the tag bottom. Put the pumpkin over the washi tape using liquid glue. Added a small date tag "Oct 31" to the top corner of the bottom of the tag piece. Used an old dollar punch from Michaels and punched out black glittered card stock bugs for my tag. Put the ghost on the front of the tag using pop dots. Tied ribbons from the stash to the top of the tag. Added small orange gems from the stash all over the tag. At the top of the tag on the tag topper I added a piece of torn "caution" washi tape and glued a bug near that. 

This next tag:

For this tag I used the Hero Arts Spooky Season Betterpress sentiment plates for my sentiment:

Used holographic silver foil to hot foil this:

Did all the layers as the first tag and this tag I added an orange rick rack strip that I die cut using the Rick Rack Strip die set from Catherine Pooler Designs:

I used a Halloween sentiment washi tape and put that across the tag topper "Happy Halloween". For the witch hat I used a punch from the stash and black card stock and punched out two hats and layered them using liquid glue to make them sturdy. Went through the bow dies in the stash and used a poofy bow die and cut the hat stash and bow from orange glittered card stock. Used the same spider tulle and orange gems from the stash. Again punched out more black bugs for the tag front and hat....

The third tag:

This tag is on a black card stock tag base and the front tag piece I used a dark gray card stock and glued that to the black tag base. For the layering piece I used a piece of orange card stock that has black spiders all over it. Used a cream and black spider webs card stock for the top and bottom of the tag. Used the word "spooky" I die cut from the Typewriter Keys Alphabet die set. I cut that out of white and backed those with a black card stock circle I punched out using a 3/4" circle punch. Glued the together and then sponged the edges using black ink and a dauber. 

Again under the pumpkin at the bottom I used a small piece of torn washi tape. The smaller ghost is white glittered card stock and I put him on the tag front using pop dots. Added orange gems and bugs to the tag front. On the tag topper piece on the top I used a Halloween sentiment washi tape and tore a piece of that for the tag topper "Trick or Treat". For all tags I tied trims and ribbons at the tag top. 

I really like all the die pieces in this bookmark die set so lots of different looks you can make using just the one die set. Here is a photo showing some of the typewriter words I made using scraps for other projects:

Lots of options with this die set as well. As well as a good use for scraps of card stocks.... Fun to work on a Halloween project using items from the stash and nothing new was bought and brought in for... Also more use of the holiday card stock stash.....

Patchwork Frame Card

For this card I used the 12 patch cover plate die from Tessler Crafts that I had bought at a stamp show long ago:

Recently placed an order for a 6x6 paper pad from Craftystampco.com which is her new "Lovely As A Rose" card stock:

I had shopped her booth at the stamp show in Fredericksburg, VA and bought her Sunflower 6x6 card stock and made two cards right away:

and

Her card stock is really nice - she sells it in packs of double sided card stocks and each pack comes with a clear envelope to store it in. In fact I now store all my 6x6 in those envelopes:

Anyways -- her card stock is not shiny like many 6x6 card stocks are and it is a very nice weight and double sided and easy to work with. When she came out with the Rose print I ordered right away. Here is the card I made:

My card stock base is a light pink card stock, cut and scored at the top. First I cut out the patchwork frame from white card stock. Then I cut it out again using two prints from the 6x6 Rose collection. I used liquid glue to put the white frame onto a piece of white card stock for the card front. Used liquid glue and added all my patchwork squares. With that done I put this on the pink card stock base using liquid glue. (The extra cut out pieces can be used for a second card as well).

For the flower - Franticstamper.com is an online store that is closing its' doors this July 31st as Fran (the owner) is retiring. (All products in her store are now 20% off). With my last order she had enclosed a flower with center die set for free and I used that flower die for the crepe paper flower I made. Here is a photo of that die:

For the sample I had die cut the flower out of scrap pink card stock to show the shape. I took pink crepe paper from my stash and layered 6 pieces and die cut them all at once using the flower die. Crumpled them up in my hand and used a dot of liquid glue in the center to layer these. Added a pink gem from the stash for the center. For the leaves I used an EK Success punch from the stash and punched out two leaf pieces. Sponged the edges of those. Put the flower onto the card front using a large glue dot and tucked the leaves under the flower and put them on the card front using liquid glue.

The sentiment "you're the sweetest" is a hot foil sentiment from the Pinkfresh "Celebrating You" hot foil plate:

I hot foiled that onto white card stock using matte gold foil. This set has matching dies so I cut this out for the card front. I put the sentiment on the card front using liquid glue. Added pink gems from the stash for some sparkle:

Always like making patchwork cards as the card stocks make each one different. In the past I have used this patchwork die vertically and either way it adds to the card front depending on your prints and solids you use. Happy I shopped the "craftystampco" booth at the stamp show as I had never heard of her before this trip so happy to find her!

Spellbinders Essential Arch Card #2

Went through the stash for this card..... a few years back I bought the Tim Holtz Harvey Colorize die set on clearance for $4.49.  When I went through the Christmas dies this year I knew I wanted to use this die set and make a card using Harvey. This die set has 19 pieces to it but it is very easy to assemble your guard/nutcracker/soldier or whatever you make with it. Here is a photo of the die set packaging:

Many of the die pieces will tell you a colour to use or a layering number:

Before I started to die cut this set out I printed out a piece chart showing colours to use and which dies are for what. I keep this in the sleeve with the magnet sheet with the dies and the packaging from the die set:

Once again this is a good die set for using card stock scraps. Once I decided what I wanted to make for my card I did all the die cutting of my soldier. Did all the die cutting then sponged pieces and then assembled him using liquid glue. Wanted to use the arch die set again and for this card I used card stock from the stash and I used a larger arch die from the die set and cut out my arched card stock base, cut and scored at the top, using kraft card stock from the stash:

For the card front I used two arch dies and I looked for a holiday print in the stash:

Bought this "Dear Santa" by memory-place collection as a partial pad from the Recycle Creative Reuse store in Greenville, SC one trip long ago. I really liked this printed card stock and wanted to use it on my card front for Harvey:

Although I liked this print I did not like the blue buttons on the print so when I cut out my arched die card stock front I paid attention where these blue buttons would be on my card front. I die cut out a piece of the printed card stock for the card front as well as a red printed card stock scrap as a frame around my card front piece:

Used liquid glue and put the red frame on the printed arch:

Again using liquid glue I put these onto the arched kraft card stock base. For my sentiment I used a hot foil plate by Pinkfresh "Perfect Sentiments Holiday" and hot foiled that onto white card stock using shiny gold foil. Using thin foam tape I put Harvey on the left card front, covering up the blue button, and put the hot foiled sentiment to the right of him. Here is the card:

Harvey has built in dimension from the layers of this uniform and many pieces emboss when die cut so it is very easy to put these pieces together:

I added red gems from the stash for some sparkle on the card front. With this card being the arch shape I also used an arch die and cut out a stamped image for the inside of the card:

Happy to be able to get Harvey on a holiday card at last. Really like the arch dies as a card base, both scored at the top, and the side as a change from the rectangle cards I usually make... Plus using all stash items is always a good thing....