Namasleigh Christmas Circle Spinner Card with Center Shaker *Video*

Hello and welcome back! My card today is a circle spinner style card with a central shaker. I’ve used the fun, new Namasleigh stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one. 

The outer ring on this 5 1/2” square card will spin around to add an interactive element and of course, the card can be shaken to move the shaker bits in the middle. There are no special dies required for this card other than a few circle dies in different sizes.  I’ve made a video for you to show you how I made this card, but I have to confess, I may have switched up some of the stamps and the Reindeer and a Tree stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs may be involved! Here's a sneak peek at what the card in the video looks like.

If you would like to see how I made this card, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do hope you're having a great day!

A Nutcracker Christmas

Hello and welcome back! I’ve got a Christmas card to share today that was made with a new stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs called “The Nutcracker”. Those dancing mice are just so sweet and the look on the Nutcracker is priceless! 

I started by creating the background.  On yellow cardstock, I used the Captivating Mandala stencil from My Favourite Things and blended on some Distress Oxide ink in Worn Lipstick and Dried Marigold. I added a layer of vellum over top of this as I felt the stencilling was too distracting behind the images and the vellum softened it a little bit.  

I die cut a frame from white cardstock 4 times and glued 3 of these together to add some height. On the last diecut, I added some Tonic Moonstone Glimmer paste for a bit of shine, before gluing it to the other frames. 

I added in a few leaves and poinsettias that came from a Hero Arts “Stocking Bouquet” stamp set and placed these onto the frame. 

I used copic markers (listed below) to colour the little mice and Nutcracker images. I used a gold metallic marker to add in the gold elements on the Nutcracker and the crowns on the mice. I arranged the images onto the background and put the sentiment up on foam tape as well as the mice in pink and green. Those mice are just so cute! 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a fun, creative day! 

Copic markers used: 

Nutcracker - R39, R29, R35, R20, R00, N8, N6, N4, E000, E00, C2, C1, C0

Mice - N2, N1, N0, R20, R00

Yellow dress - Y19, Y08, Y02

Green dress - G00, BG32, BG11

Pink dress - R85, R83, R81

Namasleigh Christmas Card with *Video*

Hello and welcome back! I’ve got a fun Christmas card today that features a brand new Gerda Steiner Designs stamp set called Namasleigh.  I love the idea of the reindeer and Santa getting ready for their big day by doing some yoga together, and even the birds and snowman got in on it!  To fit all these images in (because I had to include all the reindeer), I’ve made a double zig zag card. When the card is folded down, it measures 5” x 4 1/4”. But when it’s opened up, it’s over 16” wide! So there’s lots of room to fit all those images. 

Front of the card when closed with an acetate belly band. 

The inside of the card when opened. 

I’ve made a video for you to see how this card was made.  If you are interested in seeing it, PLEASE CLICK HERE.  Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Squirrels and Gourds Birthday Card

Hello again! I have another interactive card today that uses the Lawn Fawn Swish ‘N Pop pull tab die and I’ve paired it with the new “Gourds” and the “Happy Fall” stamp sets from Gerda Steiner Designs.  The gourds just make me smile and the squirrels are so cute, so I hope you don’t mind me doing a similar card again.  Here’s a look at the card before pulling the pull tab and after pulling it  

I really wanted the squirrel on the log to disappear as if he was scared by the talking gourds and then reappear hanging upside down in the tree, but I just couldn’t figure out how to make that happen.  So instead, the second squirrel appears from the tree. 

I coloured all the images in with copic markers and cut them out. The trunk of the tree is from an Elizabeth Craft die set just called “Tree”. The leaf canopy was made by adding some Pixie Sparkles (in Copper Splash and Red Oxide) from Cosmic Shimmer, to a piece of white cardstock, and lightly spritzing with water to activate the powder. After it was dry, I added a little Distress Oxide ink in Mustard Seed to get a deeper yellow colour. I freestyle cut out the leafy shape. 

The grass was made by ink blending with Distress Oxide inks in Mowed Lawn and Peeled Paint and then I die cut it with a grassy border that is in the same Tree die set used for the tree. For the sky background, I used the Cloud Edger stencil from A Colorful Life Designs and some Colour Cloud ink in Clear Day from Cosmic Shimmer. 

My card is actually a 5 x 7” card, so to use the Swish ‘N Pop die, I had to extend the pull tab by doing some partial die cutting on the pull tab. I also modified the assembly in order to make the hanging squirrel appear from the left. Here’s how that looks:

Basically, I’ve reversed which hole the pull tab is attached to, in order to make it swing up from the left. I’ve added double layers of foam tape along the bottom, and wherever else I could to anchor the grassy border without interfering with the mechanism. Once I had the mechanism in place and adjusted to allow the second squirrel to hang down, I attached the grassy border and then the tree and remaining images. 

I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment on a speech strip and adhered it above the gourds. I also stamped the inside sentiment which is from the Gourds stamp set. And then of course, I had to play with the card and watch the second squirrel come out! 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Oh My Gourd Birthday Card

Hello again and thank you for stopping by. I’ve got a fun, interactive card today that features a new stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs called Gourds.  I would like to point out that I made my card say “It’s Your Birthday” on the inside, but it could just as easily have said “It’s Halloween”, as that sentiment is also in the set. Here’s a look at the card:

I started by stamping and copic colouring the adorable gourds and some of the ghosts from the Ghosts stamp set. I love that with both of these sets, there are so many images with different expressions to choose from.  I meant to write down the copic markers that I used but I think I was too excited to colour the images and forgot, so I do apologize. 

I started by stamping the inside sentiment onto my card base, as I usually forget to do this while it’s easy to do.  On the front of the card, I used a piece of cardstock from the Happy Haunting collection from Craft Consortium for the background, but you could just as easily create an ink blended background.  I added a little Nuvo shimmer pen to the moon and stars. The next step was to use the Swish ‘n Pop Pull Tab die set from Lawn Fawn to add the interactive element on this card. I used the die as instructed by Lawn Fawn with the one exception that I modified it to allow me to have two ghosts swing up. To do that, I added a small strip of packaging acetate with double sided tape, to the long die cut arm. Here’s a picture of what that looked like to help make it clearer. 

I played around a little with the placement of this second ghost to be sure he would start by being hidden behind the tree and end up above the gourds. It really just meant I needed to add some bulk to the tree so it would hide the second ghost. The tree is from an Elizabeth Craft Tree die set and I used a cloud die I had to cut out some of the bushy leaves. I also stamped and cut out a few extra ghost faces to have them hiding in the tree. 

To cover the interactive mechanism, I used a border die to cut out a black foreground for the gourds to sit on.  I stamped the sentiment along the bottom and white heat embossed it. Next, I used a double layer of foam tape to pop up this layer onto the card front, and was careful to make sure I didn’t interfere with the movement of the mechanism. Finally, I attached the tree, again making sure the ghosts were hidden in the starting position. I was able to add some double layers of foam tape in the top right hand corner to help support the tree without disrupting the mechanism. Then I glued the gourds in place. Finally, I die cut the pull tab cover from a scrap of the background cardstock and adhered it with glue to the pull tab.  Then all that was left to do was to play with the pull tab and watch the ghosts come out! 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a happy, creative day! 

Little Reindeer Christmas Card

Hello again and welcome! I have a Christmas card to share today, and I do hope it’s not too early for you. It features the sweet “Little Reindeer” from Gerda Steiner Designs and he seems to have got himself a little tangled up in the Christmas lights. 

I coloured the reindeer image with copic markers and then added glossy accents to all the lights and ornaments before setting it aside to dry.  While it was drying, I created the background by die cutting two borders of snowflakes from a Crafters Companion die set called Joyful Snowflakes. Although you can’t see it in the photo, I spritzed these with some Sheer Shimmer craft spray in Sparkle.  I rotated one panel to go across the top of my card front and placed the other along the bottom edge.  I die cut 5 layers of the circular Paper Rose Geo Mandala from red cardstock and glued these together.  I used the same red cardstock for the sentiment, which is from the “Reindeer and a Tree” stamp set, and white heat embossed the sentiment.  Finally, I glued the mandala circle to the front of the card and popped the reindeer up on foam tape inside the circle. The sentiment is also on foam tape.  So another quick and simple card today!  

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Penguin Thank You Card

Hello again, and welcome. I’ve had a busy few weeks here with visitors and an illness in the family, so I needed a quick and simple card.  And today’s card is exactly that. 

I’ve used the very sweet “Penguin with Heart” stamp set for this one and coloured it in with copic markers.  I then die cut a circle (that was the diameter of the inside of the large Paper Rose Geo Mandala die) from an A2 card front.  I embossed this card front with a 3D embossing folder from Creative Expressions called “Hearts on a String”.  I used some Cosmic Shimmer Opal Polish in Pink Thistle to lightly shade the raised areas of the embossing.  This Opal Polish gives the look of pearlescent paper and changes colour depending on whether you use white or black cardstock - lots of fun!

I also die cut the largest of the Geo Mandala dies from Paper Rose, out of white cardstock, and applied the same Opal Polish to it.  I saved the inner circle from the die cut mandala, and added a very light layer of Distress Oxide ink in Shaded Lilac to it.  

I then glued the embossed card front to the card base, and glued the inked circle inside the opening.  I added a few die cut clouds to the circle.  The penguin was popped up on foam tape and trimmed to fit inside the circle opening.  I used a spray adhesive to adhere the outer mandala ring around the circle opening.  Finally, I already had the Taylored Expressions sentiment (from their Simple Strips Background set) stamped and clear heat embossed so just popped it up on foam tape and adhered it to the bottom of the circle.  

That’s it from me, and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Have a Bee-autiful Day

Hello again, and welcome. I’ve got a card today that’s fun for summer. I’ve used the “Happy Bee-Day” stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one and kept it quite simple. 

I stamped the images with copic friendly ink onto some Neenah Solar Crest cardstock and then coloured them in with copic markers. I wanted the bee to hold the poppy, so I used a baby wipe to carefully remove the ink from the sign he was holding, before stamping the image. After colouring, I fussy cut the images out and also cut the lower part of the bees’ hand so he could hold the poppy  

Next, I used a honeycomb stencil and some Distress Oxide ink in Wild Honey to create the background as well as the sentiment strip.  My stencil is an older one, I think from Faber Castell, and had two sizes of honeycomb.  I went over some of the stencilling with Moda Scrap gelly paste, as well as over the bees’ wings. This just added some shine to the card, but any clear paste would likely work. The sentiment is from the same stamp set and I just stamped and clear embossed it onto the strip I had created. 

To assemble the card, I mounted the sentiment and bee on foam tape. I also put foam tape behind some of the flowers to add dimension. I glued the poppy onto the bee and then arranged everything onto the card front. So it really was a quick and simple card, but I do love how happy that bee is!  

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Moose Birthday Card

Hello again and thank you for stopping by! I’ve got a simple, one layer, masculine birthday card to share with you today. 

I love this Moose Love stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs.  The expression on that moose is just priceless! 

I started this card by stamping the moose in a copic friendly ink in roughly the center of my card.  I flicked the grasses on with copic markers (listed below), and just tried to leave a few areas around the moose’s legs to fill in later. I used quite a few shades of yellow-green to add some variation to the grass.  Next, I coloured in the moose and lightly flicked some lighter brown shades down into the grass to help give the image that he was standing in the grass.  I then added some more flicks up around his legs in the grassy colours to finish colouring him in.  I added a few red dots around the grass to look like wildflowers, and used a copic multiliner pen to draw in the fly.  After masking off the moose, I stencilled in the cloudy sky using the Cloud Edger stencil from A Colorful Life Designs. Finally, I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment which is in the Moose Love stamp set, before adhering my card front to a card base.  This was a super quick and simple card to make and I think it’s great for a masculine card, so bonus!!

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do hope you’re having a great day! 

Copic markers used:

Moose: E79, E59, E57, E53, E51, E33, R20, R00

Grasses: YG97, YG95, YG63, YG00, R29, R24

Thanks a Melon Slimline Card

Hello again!  I’ve got a watermelon filled card today which just felt right on this hot summer day.  I’ve used the Melon Friends stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs which has to be one of the cutest sets out there.

I stamped the images onto some Neenah Solar White cardstock and then used copic markers to colour them in.   I’ve listed the markers I used down below.  I ended up stamping about three of the dinosaurs and two of the bears.  I used circle dies in different sizes to cut areas out of the images, and just tried to offset where the images were in the circles.  To create the white frames, I used low tack tape to tape together the same circle die used to cut out the image, and a die that was a size smaller.  I cut two of each of these frames, and glued them together before gluing them to the circle image.  I saved the centers of the frames to colour in with copic markers and then added some of these between the circle images.  I diecut the frame from red cardstock using the Trinity Stamps Wonky Stitched Wilderness die set and made it three layers thick.  To assemble the card, I attached the red frame first, then spaced out the images and finally added in the coloured circles and the sentiment.  I popped up the two larger circles on foam tape to allow everything to fit on my card.  Finally, I glued the remaining images to the inside of the card along with the inside sentiment.  

Thank you so much for joining me and I hope you are having a great day!

Copic markers used:

Dinosaur - YG17, YG03, YG01, YG21, YG0000

Bear - R20, E34, E53, E51

Watermelon - R29, R35, YG67, YG01, YG0000

Front Pop Up Box Card *VIDEO*

Hello everyone, I’m back with a fun floral card and video. I recently saw a florists’ stand outside the shop that was covered with little pots of flowers and I wanted to recreate it into a card. So although my card isn’t covered with pots of flowers, there is one big box of flowers that folds down to allow the card to be put into an envelope. And the best thing is that you don’t need any special interactive dies for this one! I have used the Creative Expressions Beautiful Blossoms die set for the flowers, but you could also stamp flowers and cut them out using any set in your stash.

I’ve made a quick video for you showing how I made this card.  If you would like to see the video, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Unicorn Birthday Greetings

Hello again! I hope everyone is having a great summer and the weather is good where you are. I’m finding it hard to be indoors at the moment as we are in the middle of a record breaking heat wave and it’s so nice to be outside. So the card I’m sharing today was really quite a quick and easy one but with lots of attitude because of these super fun Moody Unicorns from Gerda Steiner Designs. 

My card is a 3 3/4” x 8 1/2” slimline card.  I die cut three 2 3/4” circles from white cardstock as well as a frame for them, which I stacked two layers high. I used the Paper Rose Layering Rainbow stencil to add the rainbow, clouds and sun inside the circles, using Distress Oxide inks in Blueprint Sketch, Mermaid Lagoon, Cracked Pistachio, Squeezed Lemonade, Spiced Marmalade and Picked Raspberry. Tonic Moonstone Glimmer paste added that extra sparkle to some of the elements. I also die cut some extra ink blended clouds to add around the circles. 

After stamping out the unicorn images, I coloured them in with copic markers (RV04, Y38, Y08, YG01, BG02, B66, V05, C2, C1, C0, N6, N4, R20, R00). I also stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiments and then either die cut them out or fussy cut them. I love how sassy these unicorns are, and I’ve used those sentiments on lots of other cards. 

Finally, I glued the circles to my card base, popped the unicorns and sentiments up on foam tape and added them along with the few extra clouds I had die cut. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I do hope you’re having a great day! 

It's Christmas?? *VIDEO*

Hi again!  Christmas in June anyone??  I've got a Christmas card to share with you and a video showing how I made it.  I've created a Northern Lights sky background to go along with the beautiful Creative Expressions PaperCuts Edger die called "It's Christmas"

I love that this die has the image and the sentiment on it.  It's definitely an easy die to use for quick Christmas cards!

If you would like to watch the video for tips on how to make this card, PLEASE CLICK HERE.  I've got a list of supplies used in the YouTube description below the video, with links.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a great day!

Interactive Birthday Frogs *Video*

Hi and welcome back. I'm really excited to share a new inexpensive, interactive die that I've just added to my collection.  It's the Lawn Fawn Swish 'N Pop Pull Tab die and I love how it adds such a fun interactive element to cards. Paired up with all the cute stamps from Gerda Steiner Designs, I see a lot of fun cards in my future 😁 !   I've made a frog themed card for today and here's a look at it.

You can see that when you pull the tab, the frog with the confetti leaps up from behind the frog on the lily pad.  How much fun is that!! Plus, it's really easy to make.  

I've made a video for you on how to create this card, so if you would like more details, PLEASE CLICK HERE.  There's also a second card that I share in the video, again made with Gerda Steiner Designs stamps, so check it out.  

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you're having a great day!

Creative Expressions Floral Birthday Card

 

Hello and welcome!  I've got a slimline floral card to share today that was made primarily with the Beautiful Blossoms die set (CED1535) from Creative Expressions.  I absolutely love this set as it's so incredibly versatile with 21 dies in the set.  I actually have to make myself put this set away as there are just so many possibilities of how to use it!

For this card (which measures 3 3/4" x 8 1/2"), I started by using one of the Noble Cut Corner Rectangle dies (CED5530) to cut an opening on my card front.  I did some extended die cutting to get the long rectangle shape. 

Next, I ink blended a background (making sure it was large enough to fit behind the rectangle opening and that there was enough left over to cut the sentiment from).  I used Distress Oxide inks in Peacock Feathers, Cracked Pistachio and Mermaid Lagoon.  To create the subtle background design, I put a piece of post-it note paper on cardstock and diecut one of the leafy dies from this.  Then I used just the post-it note diecut as a mask and gently inked over this on my ink blended background using the same Distress Oxide inks. 

I diecut several of the leaves and flowers from the Beautiful Blossoms set out of white cardstock, and then used alcohol markers to colour them in. The dies give a lovely deep impression on these florals, and to accent that, I lightly applied some Cosmic Shimmer Copper Pearl Opal Polish over the surface of the flowers using the sponge applicator that comes with the polish. It's hard to see in the photo, but in real life, there is a pretty shine.  I did the same to the bees which are from the Floral Panels - Peony set (CED2053).

Next, I stamped the "birthday" sentiment (from the Festive Collection - Happy CEDSD003), onto the card front with Distress Oxide Peacock Feathers in my stamp positioner.  I actually stamped it 2-3 times and then clear heat embossed it.  I diecut the Happy sentiment 3 more times from white cardstock, stacked these behind the ink blended diecut, and glued this above the birthday sentiment.  Next, I positioned the ink blended piece behind the rectangle diecut opening and adhered it with double sided tape to the card base.  After removing the foam backing paper, I attached the card front to the base.  Finally, I finished the card by using glue to adhere all the little floral pieces as well as the bees.

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you are having a happy, creative day!

Penguin Baby Card

Hi there! I have a cute little penguin card to share today. I have to confess, I really struggle to make clean and simple cards.  But I wanted this card to be sweetly simple, so I reined myself in when making this one. I had thoughts of adding glimmer paste, sequins, maybe an action wobbler etc, but I kept to my original idea of a CAS card. And I’m so glad I did because I actually love how this card turned out and how the penguin is the focus of the card.  Plus, it was a super fast and easy card to make! I used the Penguin with a Heart stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one.

I started by ink blending some Distress Oxide inks in Worn Lipstick and Kitsch Flamingo through a heart stencil (I used the “Love Splash” stencil from A Colorful Life Designs) in the lower right corner of my card front. I coloured the penguin with copic markers (N6, N4, R39, R29, R35, Y19, C1, and C0), and then cut him out and popped him up on foam tape for some dimension.  Although I made this card into a baby card, it could so easily be a thank you card, birthday card, or sending hugs just by changing the sentiment. This particular sentiment is from Taylored Expressions Simple Strips Background stamp set. 

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Interactive Slimline Card *Video*

Hi there.  I’ve got an interactive slimline card to share with you that I originally had intended to use in the Heffy Doodle/Gerda Steiner Designs blog hop that happened yesterday. But I had a creative burst and made a second card which I liked better for the blog hop, so I’m sharing this first one with you today. 

 

I’ve used the Deeply stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs and paired it with the You Go, Gull stamp set from Heffy Doodle.  I love how these stamps work so well together! I have a video for you if you want to see how I made this card and the bonus is, you don’t need any interactive dies for it! 

So to watch the video, PLEASE CLICK HERE 

Thank you for joining me and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Heffy Doodle and Gerda Steiner Designs Collaboration Blog Hop

 

Welcome to the Heffy Doodle and Gerda Steiner Designs Collaboration Blog Hop!
Design Team members from both companies are sharing inspiration using products from both companies!

Front of the card when closed

Opened card

Side view of opened card

I have to say I had loads of fun creating this card! These stamp sets are just perfect together.  I’ve used the Big Bite stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs, and the You Go, Gull stamp set from Heffy Doodle.  This is a theatre fold style card which gave me lots of room for these stamps.  I’ve made a video for you, and I think it’s the easiest way to explain how these cards are made. It may look a little complicated, but once you’ve tried it, you’ll see, it’s really not that hard.  

 

To watch the video, PLEASE CLICK HERE.

 

Here are the dimensions of cardstock required:

Front - 2 pieces (110# cardstock) 4 1/4” x 5 1/2”

Back - 1 piece (110# cardstock) 4 1/4” x 5 1/2”

Curtains - 2 pieces (80# cardstock) 4 1/8” x 5 1/2”  80# cardstock makes the curtains easier to open and close

Stage - 1 piece (110# cardstock)  1” x 5”

Sleeves - 2 pieces (any cardstock) 1/2” x 5 1/2”

To be entered to win the giveaway, all you need to do is comment at each stop along the Blog Hop!
Gerda Steiner Designs will be giving away $35 and Heffy Doodle will be giving away £25 to their respective stores!  Be sure to comment before 11:59 PM on May 21st to be entered to win!

Each company will post their random winner on May 22nd at 10AM EST!  Make sure to check the Heffy Doodle Blog and Gerda Steiner Designs Blog to see if you’re a winner!

You should have come from Jenn Bena and the next stop is Leica Palma

Blog Hop Lineup:

Heffy Doodle Blog
Cassie Trask

Cathy Chapdelaine

Jenn Bena

Karen McKibbin

Leica Palma’s

Noga Shefer

Carrie Rhoades

Jeannie Lieu

Gerda Steiner Designs Blog

You Grow Girl

Hi and welcome! I have a really quick and easy card today made with the brand new stamp set “Grow Happiness”  from Gerda Steiner Designs. This set is full of plants and one little kitten that managed to sneak into a flower pot, as well as some sweet sentiments. 

I copic coloured all my images - I may have had every shade of green I own, out to play! I die cut a window from white cardstock, but if you don’t own any window dies, you could just draw in a window or a simple room scene.  I pencilled in the area where the window would be, and then masked off the area outside this. I ink blended a cloudy sky with a cloud stencil, removed the masking tape and then glued my die cut into place over the ink blended area.  Then I arranged all my potted plants and the kitten around the window. Finally, I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment. I love how all the sentiments in this stamp set are so uplifting and positive. Definitely something we can all use these days. 

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you have a very happy, creative day! 

One in a Melon

Hi and happy Wednesday everyone. I want to share a card today made with a brand new stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs called Melon Friends. This is such a cute stamp set as you can see from the little critters on my card and it will be available in the Gerda Steiner Designs shop tomorrow! 

To make this card, I drew a rough watermelon (just an oval with a round end), and when I had it looking the way I wanted it, I went over my pencil lines with a copic marker. After colouring it in with copic markers, I fussy cut it out right against the coloured line.  I stamped and copic coloured almost all the images in the stamp set and cut them out.

Next, I diecut a lattice background frame from white and black cardstock.  I paper pieced the black pieces into the small oval shapes, gluing them in place. Any cover die would work here or just leave the card as it is - the die is hardly noticeable.  I then glued the lattice frame down to my card base.  I had made a mask of the little bear image, and I placed this where I wanted it to go on the watermelon.  I was hoping it would look like he was inside the watermelon to match the sentiment, but I was also conscious that inside the card, his body would have to be able to fit towards the bottom of the card.   Now here’s the scary part - I fussy cut out the bear image through all the layers of cardstock.  If you have the dies, this would be much easier! I started in the middle of the bear’s head and cut out to the edge. It got a little dicey around the ears, but I was fairly happy in the end.  I went around the cut edge with the same red copic marker I had used for the watermelon to give it a smoother look.  Now the easier way to have done this, would be to stamp, colour and cut out a second bear head and then just glue that to the front of the card.  But that’s hindsight at work ...! :)

I spread glue across the back of my coloured bear image, held him up to the inside of the card, and once I had his head lined up with the opening in the watermelon, I pressed him down to the inside of the card so he was positioned correctly.  I added the watermelon border just underneath him on the inside of the card.  On the front of the card, I attached the dinosaur with foam tape and glued the rinds just under the bear.  The sentiment is stamped and embossed in black, and popped up on foam tape. 

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day!

Rain Beads Shaker Card *Video*

 Hi and welcome!  I’ve got a rain beads shaker card to share with you today and a video showing how I made it. This is such a fun card to play with that I can’t believe it took me this long to get around to making one! 

I’ve got a short video of how I made this card if you would to see how it was created. To watch the video, PLEASE CLICK HERE.  I used a new Paper Panda die from Creative Expressions called The Cat’s Pause to create this card.  I thought the die was just perfect for a rainy themed card. 

Thanks again for joining me and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Chicken Scratch Friendship Card

Hello and welcome, I have a friendship card to share with you today. I think we are all in need of more personal connections these days and sometimes a hand made card can bring a lot of joy to those we love.  I’ve used the Chicken Scratch stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one because those chickens have definitely got some attitude! 

I used copic markers to colour in my images.  I added some greys and browns to the pig to make it look like he was playing in the mud.  The copic markers I used are listed down below.

For the background, I masked off the sky and ink blended the ground with a mix of Distress Ink in Tea Dye and Vintage Photo.  I used a copic marker to add brown spots in a random pattern, and also to make a mud puddle for the pig to play in.  Then I masked off the ground before ink blending the sky.  I used the Cloud Edger stencil from A Colorful Life and Clear Day ink from Cosmic Shimmer for the sky.  The fence and grassy borders were cut from Lawn Fawn dies.  The barn was embossed with the Honey Bee Barnwood Planks dies before ink blending it and assembling it. 

Before adding the animals to the scene, I stamped and clear heat embossed the sentiment which is from the Chicken Scratch stamp set and is just perfect for a friendship card, especially these days.   I think those little animals would lift anyone’s spirits! Thanks for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Copic Markers:

Chickens - R24, Y17, E23, E35, E13, E11, C2, E40

Rooster - BG78, BG18, BG49, R24, Y17, E35, E13, E11, E40

Pig - R22, R20, R43, N4, N2, E35

Easter Shadow Box Card

Hello again!  I’ve got a shadow box style card to share with you today that features one of the new Paper Panda dies from Creative Expressions.  I think these bunnies are trying to hide the eggs for an Easter egg hunt! :)

Start with an 8 x 8” piece of watercolour cardstock and create a soft meadow scene with watercolour paints.  Cut one Paper Panda Shooting Star diecut from regular cardstock and paint the left and right trees to add to the scene. Save the rabbit from this diecut also. 

Trim the panel down to 6 1/4” x 4 1/4”, saving the bottom pieces to use as the inside steps.  With the panel in landscape orientation, crease it at 3/4” ,1 1/2”, 4 3/4” and 5 1/2”.  Fold the first crease from the left hand edge, back towards the back of the watercolour. The second crease folds in the opposite direction, in towards the watercolour. Repeat this on the right hand side. 

From the watercolour scraps, cut two pieces 1 1/4” tall by 3 3/4” long. The tops of these can be cut into hilly shapes or grass.  Crease these at the 1/4” mark from both of the long ends. These will become the steps in the shadow box. Fold the creased ends under so the tabs are along the back of the watercoloured side. Cut hilly shapes out of the top edge to add interest. 

Trim down the painted trees and glue them to the background ( I changed my mind and added in the second tree later).  Place double sided tape along all the tabs on the step pieces. Starting with the step that will be closest to the back, remove the backing tape on the left tab and position the step along the second crease line from the left. See photo. 

Next, position the frontmost step tab so that it aligns with the the edge of the first tab.

Once the left side tabs are in place, flatten out the right tabs on both steps and remove the backing paper on the adhesive strips. Keeping the tabs and left hand side of the background flat, fold up the right side edge of the background to attach to the exposed adhesive strips. You should now have both steps  aligned and a shadow box base. 

Make 2 or 3 egg shaped templates and cut eggs from cardstock, or patterned paper.  I added some Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Sparkle Paste to some of the eggs to give them sparkle and shine.  I also used copic markers to add in some details.  Glue the eggs to the background along the bottom edge and to each of the steps.  Add in a few extra diecut rabbits from the Paper Panda die. 

Diecut the Shooting Star die twice from white cardstock and glue these together to give a little more strength to the diecut.  Place glue on the back of the outermost branches on the left side and adhere the diecut to the left edge of the card base so it will be centered over the middle section.  Place glue on the back of the outermost branches on the right.  While folding down the left side of the card towards the center, flatten out the right side and adhere the diecut to the right edge. This will ensure its position is correct to allow the card to be folded down for mailing. 

Stamp and heat emboss the “Just for You” sentiment from the Creative Expressions Sweet Wishes CEC813 stamp set. Ink blend around the edges to coordinate with the background, and glue it to the right side of the card. 

Cut a strip of white cardstock 3 1/2” x 8 1/2”.  Crease it at 4 1/4” and fold in half. Attach this to the back of the card for a place to write a message. 

Thank you for joining me and I hope you have a happy, creative day!

Dragonfly Delight Birthday Card

Hi everyone, I’ve got a birthday card to share with you today. I’m so happy with myself because I used some patterned papers for it.  Now, I know most of you are probably great at using patterned paper, but I’m ashamed to say I normally hoard my pretty papers and have a really hard time cutting them up.  So I was thrilled to make this card!

I used the new Creative Expressions Dandelion Dreams paper pad by Jamie Rodgers.  I started by cutting 1” strips of paper from most of the papers in the pack.  I think I felt better about cutting into them as it was only 1” and it’s an 8 x 8” pack so lots of paper left over!  I applied a double sided sheet of adhesive to my card front and used a bone folder to press it down.  I chose to do a herringbone pattern, but any pattern would work for this technique.  After removing the adhesive backing, I started laying down the strips of paper, leaving a small border between all sides of the strips.  The strips extended over the edges of the card front, so once all the strips had been placed, I used scissors to trim the edges even.  Next, I added some Cosmic Shimmer Golden Jewels gilding flakes to the card front, and gently rubbed it into the cracks between the paper strips where the adhesive was exposed.  So much pretty shine! I love how that gold just adds so much to the patterned papers.  I trimmed the card front down to 4” x 5.25” so I could have a slight white frame.  

Next, I stamped the dragonfly from the Creative Expressions Designer Boutique stamp set called Dragonfly Delight.  This is such a gorgeous stamp set! I left the stamp in my stamp positioner so I could re-stamp it after copic colouring the image.  Once I had the image coloured, I re-stamped it with Versamark ink and gold heat embossed it.  I also stamped and gold heat embossed it onto heat resistant acetate.  After cutting both of these out, I carefully creased the wings up on the acetate dragonfly.  I used some Cosmic Shimmer clear glue to attach the body of the acetate dragonfly to the copic coloured one.  

I used a sentiment from the Moments in Time stamp set from Creative Expressions by Jamie Rodgers, and stamped it in Picked Raspberry Distress Oxide ink and clear heat embossed it.  Finally, I glued the dragonfly to the card front and added a few clear jewels.  

Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you have a happy, creative day!

Hoppiness Bunnies

Hi and welcome! It’s starting to feel like an early spring here in my part of Canada and since it’s almost Easter, I couldn’t resist making a card with cute bunnies and Easter eggs. And of course, it needed to have a little surprise factor so I’ve made it a Z fold card. 

I started with a piece of cardstock that measured 4 1/4 x 11” long. I created a mask of hills which I first drew on some computer paper and then traced onto contact paper for masking. I made it so when the card is closed, it looks like one hill in the background. After masking off the sky, I ink blended the hills with Distress Oxide inks in Twisted Citron, Crushed Olive, Mowed Lawn and Rustic Wilderness.  Then I masked off the hills and used a stencil to create a cloudy sky with Cosmic Shimmer Clear Day Colour Cloud ink.  After the ink was dry, I creased this background at 2 3/4” and 5 1/2”.  The card folds over like a regular card at the 5 1/2” mark (a valley fold), but then folds back on itself at the 2 3/4” mark (a mountain fold) so the ink blended side is to the front. 

Next, I die cut grass from green cardstock (three layers for each half of the card).  On the left side, if you crease the grass layers at the 2 3/4” mark, it will help prevent the paper from tearing when the card is folded.  I diecut the tree using coloured cardstock, with a die from MFT Stamps.

I used Copic markers to colour all the images from the “Hoppiness” stamp set from Gerda Steiner Designs but couldn’t fit one of the bunnies on in the end. I also stamped and coloured two fence sections and two butterflies.

The eggs were made from some scrap pieces of Nuvo Shimmer Powder painted cardstock, and I added some Cosmic Shimmer Ultra Sparkle Paste in Gold and Frosty to a few of them before cutting them out.  I created my own egg shaped templates for the eggs. 

To assemble the card, I placed a small piece of masking tape where the left front of the card folded over to on the right side.  The hidden area of the card is to the left of this mark and over to the first fold on the left. Next, I stamped and heat embossed the sentiment with clear embossing powder on the right side so it would be visible when the card is closed.  To begin assembling, I first glued the tree on the left side.  Next, I glued the fence sections on either side of the card.  Then I started layering the grass rows, and added in eggs and bunnies until I was satisfied with the arrangement.  I kept all the eggs and bunnies in the hidden area, with the exception of the one bunny on the left front. I used glue to attach all the images as I didn’t want any excess bulk from foam tape.  The bunny on the left front is the only one I attached with foam tape.    

Finally, in order to have somewhere to write a message, I attached another A2 card base to the back of the card. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you have a happy, creative day! 

Positivi’tea’ Friendship Card

Hi there! I’ve got a friendship/thinking of you card today to share with you. I’ve combined the two latest stamp sets (Hello Sunshine and Positivi-tea) from Gerda Steiner Designs for this one. They are both just such fun, cheerful stamp sets and I felt like they would go well together. 

I started by stamping and copic colouring the images. I’ve listed the markers I used down below. The main sentiment was combined from the two stamp sets, and I just masked off the parts of the sentiments that I didn’t want to use. I love how all the messages in these two sets are just so uplifting. I also used the happy face stamp (from the Hello Sunshine set) and white embossing powder to decorate the teapot.  

For the background, I used the Bohemian Plate die from Simon Says Stamp to make that lovely pinpoint detail. I then die cut it with the A2 Thin Frames die, also from Simon Says Stamp, to create the thin rectangular frame. I also used this die to cut another rectangle from some teal pearlescent cardstock.

I glued the background pieces to an A2 card base, and then filled in the rectangle with the teal rectangle. I popped the mouse up on foam tape and then glued my sentiment and images in place.  

Thank you for stopping by and I hope you’re having a great day! 

Copic markers used:

Bear - E35, E34, E53, E51, sign - YR16, Y38, YR21

Mouse - C2, C1, C0, R00

Tea set - BG18, BG57, B52

Tea bag - E25, E31, E53

Puffin Splash Cards

Hi and welcome! I have some news I’ve been bursting to share and can now finally let it out.  I have joined the Creative Expressions design team and so will be sharing some of their gorgeous stamps, dies and Cosmic Shimmer products with you. Hopefully, you’ll enjoy them as much as I do.  

My cards today use their new Paper Cuts Edger die called Puffin Splash. These dies are quite amazing because you can keep them as simple as you want (as in my second card), or really glam them up to create a more personalized card (like my first card). 

For this first card, I created a watercolour background using Cosmic Shimmer watercolour paints and watercolour cardstock. I made sure to splatter it when wet with some of the same paints, and also misted it with water when it was dry, to get the look of water splashes.  I also lightly spritzed it with Cosmic Shimmer Airless Mister in Pearlescent to give it a little sparkle. I placed double sided adhesive around all the back edges of my watercolour background, and then cut a piece of scrap acetate (from a stamp set package), that was about a 1/4” larger than my background on all four sides. On my work surface, I layered the acetate first, them my card background face down, and centered it on the acetate. Then I removed the adhesive backing along one side edge and wrapped the extra acetate up to attach to it. I was careful to not pull the acetate too tightly as the shaker needs a little room for the filling to move around. I repeated this with the two sides and the bottom edge. 

At this point, you have a pouch that can be filled from the top. I wanted to use some of the die cuts to fill my shaker, so I ran it through my machine a couple of times with white cardstock. I made sure that one of these die cuts had an extra 1/2” border on the left of the puffin, so I could use it for the front of my card. Since the die creates fish that are in several pieces, I glued them to acetate before cutting them out. To fill the shaker, I added in these die cut pieces with some dollar store seed beads and glitter, and then removed the adhesive backing on the top edge and folded over the acetate at the top. I’m not sure what it is about shaker cards, but at this point you just have to stop and shake that shaker and watch everything move around inside! 

For the puffin die cut, I used copic markers to colour in the puffin pieces, and a little Cosmic Shimmer Gilding Polish to give a little shine. I used some regular Scotch tape on the back of my puffin so I could reinsert the pieces, but you could also just add these in with glue later. I creased the card just to the left of the puffin to give me about a 1/2” border which I folded under with a bone folder. Next, I used glue on the back of my puffin die cut and adhered it to the shaker card front, making sure the folded edge went to the back of the watercolour card. I feel this just gives a cleaner look to the card but you could definitely leave this step out and just cut the puffin die cut flush with the edge of the card. Next, I glued my card front to an A2 sized card base. 

For the sentiment, I used the Sending Wishes sentiment from Creative Expressions “A Perfect Day” stamp set (this set is full of great sentiments!).  Since I love a little fun on my cards, I changed the “W” to an “F” to make “Fishes”, and then crossed this one out and stamped “Wishes”. I attached this sentiment to a matching piece of water coloured cardstock, and adhered it to the front of my card. I’m telling you, that shaker is so much fun! They work so much better when they’re full sized like this one. 

For my second and definitely simpler card, I again made a watercoloured background using the same Cosmic Shimmer products as in my first card. I kept this card quite simple and just die cut the puffin out of white cardstock, making sure I removed and saved all the die cut pieces. I again left a 1/2” border to the left of the puffin that I creased and folded under.  I used glue to attach the puffin diecut to the watercolour card front and also adhered the left folded edge behind the watercolour card front. I attached this to an A2 card base. Then I glued the die cut pieces to the front of the card to add some interest. The sentiment is the same “Sending Wishes” as in the first card, and I have adhered it to a strip of watercolour cardstock. 

So there you have it - one card that has a little more bling added to it and the second, a much easier card. But both of them have that adorable puffin and could be used for so many different occasions. Thank you so much for stopping by and I hope you’ll come back again.