Monday, March 18, 2024

Easy and Elegant BetterPress Letterpress Anyone Can Do PLUS A GIVEAWAY!


What is easier than hot foiling and stamping (even with a MISTI!) and results in gorgeous letter pressed images and sentiments? The Spellbinders BetterPress Letterpress System, and in my newest video here I share many cards I made in just minutes but look like they were made with a professional letterpress. I just received my BetterPress and many of the new BetterPress plates from Spellbinders, but this system is fool-proof and you would think I had been using it for years! 

GIVEAWAY ALERT - Watch the video to find out out how you can win TWO BetterPress Plates valued at $33 and several of the cards I share in the video. You need a USA mailing address and to comment on the video per instructions before 3/31/24 at midnight CDT. Comments here are appreciated but do not qualify for the giveaway. 


This is one of the cards I show how to make in the new video. It features the gorgeous Peony Background Press Plate from Yana Smakula's new collection at Spellbinders and the elegant Copperplate Congratulations Press Plate from Paul Antonio. I pressed the s Copperplate sentiment onto vellum before layering over the bright Peony Background I inked with Distress Oxide ink. I also added some punched flowers and gems to highlight that gorgeous sentiment. Here is another card I made with two colors of the Peony Background and some sentiments from the A Little Message Sentiments Press Plate Set also from Spellbinders.




I also show in the new video how quick and easy it is to press an elegant Happy Birthday onto a stenciled background. It really is easier than stamping or hot foiling in my opinion. The whole set of Copperplate Sentiments from Paul Antonio are beautiful and here are a couple more cards I made with them:



My nephew is getting married this year and I volunteered to make the wedding thank you notes. I think the Thank You Betterpress plate would be perfect and I did one with a stenciled background and one on iridescent mirror card. 


On this card I combined the Copperplate Hello with the Mirror Arch Blooms Press Plates and inked with different colors of BetterPress inks. I had so much fun creating easy elegant cards with all the new Betterpress plates in the March release and you can see many more and how to win two by watching the new video here. 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

The Pier Scenery Cards Guest DT For Blue Knight Rubber Stamps


I have the great honor of being a guest designer this month for Blue Knight Rubber Stamps and this week we are all featuring the new The Pier stamp set. The stamp includes great wood texture and the background scene and all I did was stamp it, cut it out and add some birds (from the Seagull and Pier stamp set) and a ink blended sunset.  The sentiment strips on both cards are from a beautiful stamp set called Did You Know. 


I repeated those steps on this card and simply added the images to a lovely scenery patterned paper also from Blue Knight Rubber Stamps.

Be sure to check back each Thursday this month as I continue to share cards made with the gorgeous new stamps from Blue Knight Rubber Stamps.

Wednesday, March 13, 2024

What's Popping Up and New from Karen Burniston?


I have made many pop up animals with the amazing Ball Pop-ups and Add On Animal dies from Karen Burniston, and in this release she has added Set 6 that makes adorable bunnies and chicks! This is a card for one of my grandsons, and here is a pix of the front of the card which features the new Easter Borders and layered Happy Easter die sets:


I also made the chick for my other grandson and here is where he will find that:


My kids and grandkids are coming here for Easter to celebrate that and another special day, so Grandma is planning an Easter egg and basket hunt. The best place to see all the fun pop up action and details of these projects is in my newest video here, but here is a mini video of them too:


(If you are a subscriber and reading this in your email, the mini videos do not show up with my subscription service, so just click on the title and go to the actual blogpost itself.)


This card features 3 more of the new die sets in this release including the Lorna Label Pop Up that makes it so easy to create a pop up scene like this one:

 
I used the new Beach Elements and Tiny Accessories 4 die set as well as older animal sets from Karen Burniston on this fun card. 



Monday, March 11, 2024

Never Know What is Going to Pop Up From Karen Burniston!


I have been a fan of Karen Burniston and her pop up dies for years and in my newest video here I share many cards made with the newest release. My favorite of the new dies are the Tea and Coffee Pop-Up and Borders die sets, and here is one of the cards I made with them:


The teapots and cups are from the new Tea and Coffee Borders set and the Hugs border die is from Penny Black. Look at what pops up when the card is opened:


The steam and tea bag move on an arm as the card is opened! Here is the coffee cup version I made in the video to show you step by step how easy these are to make:



The coffee cup sentiment die is from Tutti Designs and the large Thinking of You die is from Papertrey Ink. Of course the best way to see the details and movement on these cards is to watch the full video, but here is a mini video showing these two cards:


(If you are a subscriber and reading this in your email, the mini videos do not show up with my subscription service, so just click on the title and go to the actual blogpost itself.)

Thursday, March 7, 2024

Blue Knight Rubber Stamps Silhouette Dancing Girls


I have the great honor of being a guest designer this month for Blue Knight Rubber Stamps and this week we are all featuring the new Silhouette Dancing Girls stamp set. The girls are so sweet  in different sizes and I created a stenciled color block background to stamp them on for my first card. 


I started this card with the Dictionary Page background stamp from Blue Knight Rubber Stamps and then stamped the dancing girls with embossing ink before adding translucent Distress Embossing Glaze Powders in three colors. The sentiment strips are from a beautiful stamp set called Did You Know. 

Be sure to check back each Thursday this month as I continue to share cards made with the gorgeous new stamps from Blue Knight Rubber Stamps.

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

More Toner Foiled Beauty Without Expensive Hot Foil Dies or Machines


Here is another version of the fun fold with new Deco Foil colors that I demo how to make in my newest video here. As I show, Deco Foil has many new colors of foil in their Color Harmony collections and Gina  K Designs has new White Poly-Glaze Sheets to capture all that gorgeous foil without any waste. Here is another card I shared with Deco Foil's Toner Card Fronts, new foil and White poly-Glaze for the 2nd run through my MINC:


But what if you don't want black or white for the 2nd color? There is now another choice - multi-colored toner sheets from Pink & Main. Look at the flowers in this card- the second foiling with the left over foil are pink and blue, not white or black because I used a Color Art Toner Sheet from Pink & Main.


Pink & Main has many other toner foil products too, and on these masculine cards I used their Big Happy Foilable panels and new colored foils from Deco Foil:


After watching, I hope I have reminded you how fun toner foil can be as an alternative to hot foiling!

Monday, March 4, 2024

Toner Foil Beauty- No Specialty Dies Needed!


Did you put away any toner foil you had when the hot foil craze hit? I think you will be amazed as I was at all the new inexpensive and innovative toner foil products available now that I share in my newest video here. I start out  by showing the TEN new foil collections from Deco Foil called Color Harmony. Each package has 4 different colors and patterns of transfer foil with 5 sheets of each color! So each package could make 40 card fronts and I show how easy that is by demoing the techniques and steps taken to make this tri-fold card:


I also feature many new Toner Card Fronts from Therm O Web like this one from Unity, and how not to waste any of the gorgeous foil by running it through the laminator or MINC a second time. Here is an example of that using the black toner sheets that have been available for years:



Both of these cards feature the beautiful new Coral Watercolor Deco Foil and a lovely Wild Garden Toner Card Front from Unity and Deco Foil, and took only seconds to make. But what if we didn't want the flowers to be black? As I show in the new video, Gina K Designs has come out with White Poly-Glaze Sheets that can be used instead of the black toner sheets to grab the rest of the foil and here is another look at the card I demoed that with in the video:


I also share the template and how to make this pretty tri-fold card with the new Ocean Hearts Deco Foil.  Here is another pair of cards with that same gorgeous foil and another Deco Foil Toner Card Front called Lavish Lace:



Aren't those just beautiful? And soooo easy to make! In the new video here, I share many more cards and toner foil products and how easy and inexpensive these cards are to make without any specialty dies or hot foiling machines. I hope you will watch and then give some of the techniques and products a try!