Endless possibilities . . .

Today's card features the new Couture Creations embossing folder called Endless. It is a pretty background design featuring lots of different leaves. 

I embossed a piece of white gloss card using the Endless folder. I then blended Alcohol Inks in different colours, trying to use separate colours for each leaf, as much as possible. I die cut this piece using the Spellbinders Grand Large Labels die set and then added a green card mat using the same die set. I then added a mat of ginger card and put a tiny brad in each corner. The final mat was another piece of the green card.

A piece of green seam binding ribbon was added around the middle of the card. This was the point where I had extended the embossing folder pattern, so it disguised the join.

The flowers were die cut using the Heartfelt Creations Sweet Juliet die set. There are two sizes of flower in the set. The largest flower in the centre of the card shows the largest die cut as the base. The second layer is the same die cut, which is folded under and held in place with a tiny brad. The top layer uses the smaller of the two flowers, again with a tiny brad. 

The sprays of leaves were cut using a die from the same set. Before removing the leaves from the die I sponged through the die with Cosmic Shimmer Flake & Glitter Glue, so that I could then add some Cosmic Shimmer Verdigris Gilding Flakes once the die had been removed. 

Happy crafting!

  

Burnished Keys

Today's card uses a stamp and a die from the new Heartfelt Creations Floral Key Collection.

The stamp is a background stamp called Burnished Key and the coordinating die cuts out all of the keys in one go. 

I stamped the background stamp onto a piece of milk card, using the new Wendy Vecchi Archival Ink Pad called Potting Soil. 

I trimmed the card to fit the background and then distressed the edges with a pair of open scissors. I then inked around the distressed edges with the same Potting Soil Ink Pad and curled two of the corners in, as shown.

The top layer was then matted onto a piece of vintage gold card, then a piece of brown card with another mat of milk card and finally a piece of the gold card again.

The messy bow was made using some ivory vintage ribbon and some brown and cream bakers twine, finished off with a metal key from the Creative Expressions Fancy Key Charms pack in the centre of the bow.

To make the little keys hanging from the bunting and to 3D some of the main elements of the background piece, the background stamp was stamped onto a piece of the vintage gold card using the Potting Soil Archival Ink pad. The stamped image was then cut out using the matching die so that all of the keys and locks were cut into separate pieces. The larger ones I placed over the background image using foam pads. The smaller keys were added to the Bakers Twine. 

Happy crafting!

Enchanting Plum Bauble

This card uses one of the prettiest Spellbinders dies, Enchanted Labels Twenty Eight. The Plum card has also been embossed using the Couture Creations Message in a Tree Embossing Folder.

This has been layered onto mats of Vintage Metallic Gold, Coconut White and Plum card.

The bauble is the Creative Expressions Lattice Bauble, stamped onto Coconut White card using a Clear Perfect Medium pad and Cosmic Shimmer Detail Gold Embossing Powder. The co-ordinating Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornaments die set was used to cut out the bauble.

To finish the card, the bauble was coloured using Distress Markers and finished with a few Vintage Plum Pearlescent Plum PVA faux pearls. 

Happy crafting!

Turquoise Baubles with Beads

Another card using the Creative Expressions Stamps to Die for, this time the Ornate Bauble and the matching Mini Ornate Bauble (which comes with the Mini Beaded Bauble).

I stamped the two Ornate Baubles using a Clear Perfect Medium Pad and Cosmic Shimmer Detail White Embossing Powder on Spearmint card. I die cut the baubles using the co-ordinating Spellbinders Heirloom Ornament die set. 

The bow is made from Creative Expressions Teal Silky Crush Ribbon and a square Dazzler.

The apertures were made using the same Spellbinders die set. This piece of Spearmint card was first attached to a piece of double sided adhesive sheet and die cut using the Spellbinders Grand Labels One die set. After cutting the apertures, Micro Beads were attached to give texture to the card.

A piece of Teal card was placed behind the apertures to act as a contrast. 

The sentiment was stamped in the smaller aperture and piece of bakers twine were added to "hang" the baubles. The sentiment comes from the Winter Greetings stamp set from Creative Expressions.

The base of the card is another piece of Teal card and then a piece of Coconut White card on top, which has been embossed using the Creative Expressions Large Embossing Folder Design chosen by Sue Wilson, called Tapestry. I inked over the embossed areas using a Peacock Feathers Distress Ink pad. 

Happy crafting!

Red and Green Christmas

This card was made to feature one of the stamps from the Creative Expressions Stamps to Die For range, called Lattice Bauble, on a Create & Craft show. Julia also had embossing folders and the Spellbinders die featured in the card on her show.

The two embossing folders used were Star Pere Noel (on the green card) and New Year Dove (on the red card), both from Couture Creations.

The embossing was highlighted using the Creative Expressions Vintage Golden Green Gilding Wax.

The faux pearls around the edge of the card were made using Cosmic Shimmer Vintage Golden Green Pearlescent PVA.

To make the bow, I used red Sheer Wrinkled Edge Ribbon and a red Dazzler from Creative Expressions.

I coloured in the stamped bauble using Distress Markers and a Water Brush.

I then die cut the bauble using the co-ordinating Spellbinders 2011 Heirloom Ornaments die set and attached this to the card with foam pads, after shaping it slightly.

The bauble and the sentiment were both stamped using a Clear Perfect Medium pad and Cosmic Shimmer Detail Gold Embossing Powder. The sentiment comes from the Creative Expressions Winter Greetings stamp set.

Happy crafting!

A Wonderful Shoe!

This card uses another of my favourite stamp sets from Creative Expressions, called Sole Creations. It has lots of lovely shoe designs plus a handful of sentiments.

Please ignore the black background (I forget to take a photo before the card was stuck on a black display board!). It is actually a white card base and I have then added some of the Foundations Double Sided A4 papers that Creative Expressions distribute. This one is called Dot & Dash, which has small polka dots on one side and then a colour coordinated striped pattern on the other side. I have also used the Foundations Shades Double Sided A4 papers. These have a lighter shade on one side and a darker shade on the other side but, again, have been designed to coordinate colour-wise with all of the other designs in the range. This removes the difficulty of trying to find papers for a project which "match".

The shoe image I chose was stamped onto Coconut White card and heat embossed using Cosmic Shimmer Detail Black Embossing Powder. The sentiment was stamped in the same way. I then coloured in the image using Cosmic Shimmer Drawing Inks.

The dies I used to cut out the card toppers were from the Spellbinders A2 Fancy Ribbon Threader set.

I used London Tan coloured American Seam Binding to thread through the die cuts and then used this and Chalk White American Seam Binding to tie the bow.

The bow was finished off with a Fancy Pearl Embellishment from Creative Expressions.

Happy crafting!

When is a background not a background?

This card was made using the JustRite Fragrant Garden Background Stamp, but it is so pretty I decided to use it as the focal element of the card.

I stamped the image onto Coconut White card and trimmed the card to the size of the stamped image. I then blended blue and green Distress Inks on each side of the image. I stamped the same image again, this time on Khaki card and cut out the three labels and the flower head. I coloured these four images using Distress Markers or, with the largest label, blending Distress Inks, as shown. The leafy flourish was coloured using a Distress Marker.

This panel was then matted onto a black piece of card, which I had pierced around the edges, using the Creating Expressions Piercing Ruler and a needle tool. 

The final mat was a piece of the Khaki card.

Happy crafting!