August Masculine Class Cards

I am continuing to have great fun teaching classes every month at Harts n Scraps in Rothschild WI. Today I am sharing my masculine cards that I taught in two sessions this month. The first two cards show the woodgrain technique I taught in two different ways. The tree die is from Tim Holtz and the tree scenery stamp is from Blue Knight Rubber Stamps. 

This fun card features dies from Tim Holtz and a 3D embossing folder used differently than expected. The card below features Composition Notebook stamps and dies from Ralph Tyndall and Hero Arts. 

Hot Tip For Perfect Placement When Hot Foiling

Have you ever struggled with getting a hot foil/press plate to stay in the exact right place on a cardbase when hot foiling? In my newest video, I am sharing a great tip for how to do that easily and also share many lovely hot foiled cards. The picture above shows the card I made in my video and the magic solution to the problem of perfect placement of smaller press plates - Press 'n Seal! 

I learned this tip from Tammy Massey from a reel on Facebook and created the card above with several different Autumn Leaves press plates from Spellbinders. 

I have a new set of lovely Spellbinders sentiment press plates called New Beginnings Timeless Sentiments and they do not have matching dies. I like to place them directly on the card front but it is very difficult to get them to stay perfectly straight. But now I know to use Press 'n Seal to hold them in place and these are perfect! I used them on both of these cards, and the lovely leafy wreath is a Spellbinders set called Mirrored Arch Nested Sprigs. 

These hot foil sentiment plates are easy to get straight and in the center of the floral frame using Press n Seal as shown in my new video here. This pretty Spellbinders Press Plate is called Mirrored Arch Blooms and I foiled it with a rainbow foil. 

These tags were made with a lovely Copperplate Gift Tag Press Plate and Die set from Spellbinders and the "to" and "from" plates are very tiny. To keep them straight and in the right place on the tags while hot foiling is almost impossible unless we use Press 'n Seal as I show how to do in the video. 

Have a Flamazing First Day of School!

My grandson who lives in Illinois starts school next Monday and I wanted a fun card for his first day of school. I had some Flamingo stamps and dies from Riley and Co. and a new perfect sentiment stamp from Technique Junkies so I combined them on this fun Triple Floating Diamond Card I learned how to make from Lisa's Stamp Studio. Here is another view of the card:

The two flamingos are mounted with Action Wobbles so they jiggle and wiggle. Here is a look at the back of the fun fold card where we signed it and enclosed a back to school treat:

Press Plates with Ink or Foil - Unlimited Design Options!

Press Plates from many different companies can be used several ways as I show in this card I made for my newest video here. Most of my cards in the new video feature a gorgeous press plate from Hero Arts called Snowy Night. The subtle embossed sides of this card were simply made by running silver mirror card through my Spellbinders Press Plate system without any ink. The front snowy scene was pressed with Lisa Horton's Regal Grey Shimmer Interference ink so it changes from purple to silver/grey depending on the angle it is held and the paper used. Here is a look at this book binding z fold card open: 

This is the version of the book binding z fold I made in the video. I show how to use the Solid Hot Foil Plate from Pinkfresh Studios to not waste any of the gorgeous foil after running it through the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil System once. A second time or second generation foiling gives us the look as shown in the strips on the side. Here is a look from the top showing this unique fun fold I show how to make in the new video: 

I share a template for a 5 x 5 1/2 size that will fit into a 5 x 7 envelope so that it can be mailed for just one stamp as well as a larger square size and this smaller size below which I learned from Frenchie:

This card was made with the 2nd generation foiling of Altenew's Gilded Marble press plate and a rainbow hot foil. No wasted foil and gorgeous marbling after using the Pinkfresh Studio's Solid Hot Foil plate! Here are a couple more cards I made with the positive and negative looks of the snowy scene:

The Copperplate Warm Wishes with lovely calligraphy that I used on several of my cards is a press plate from Spellbinders, and I share a very helpful tip in the video on how to get perfect placement on cardstock with smaller press plates so be sure to check that out as well as all the ways to get so many looks from press plates.

Same Press Plate Hot Foiled for Two Different Seasons

I love products that can be used in many different ways and stretch our crafty dollars! Of course all Spellbinders Press Plates can be pressed with or without ink in our BetterPress systems and hot foiled in our Glimmer or Hot Foil Systems. And these two cards show the same press plate can be foiled for two different seasons using different colors:

I just purchased Spellbinders Sprinkled Confetti Press Plate and foiled it with white foil for a snowy background on this Christmas card. But here it is for fall with just some different colors:

I love the Autumn Leaves Press Plate from Spellbinders and their matching dies, and these gold leaves were made with the 2nd generation foiling of some gold Speckled Aura foiled leaves made with my solid hot foiling plate from Pinkfresh Studios. The confetti background and sentiment were also hot foiled with gold foil and I love how this card turned out! 

Since the plate is supposed to be confetti I think the next one I make will be with rainbow foil. Many ways to use the same BetterPress/Hot Foil plate- love it!

Strips of Lovely Letterpress Options

I love the Spellbinders BetterPress System because I find it almost foolproof and now so many more companies are coming out with press plates so there are so many gorgeous ones to choose from! In my new video here, I share cards made with press plates from Altenew, Pinkfresh Studios and others. 

I played with all my new press plates one day and came up with lots of lovely backgrounds, but I decided to cut them into strips and make some unique cards with them. Here is the Lattice Easel Card I show step by step how to make in the video:

The wood planks were created with an Altenew Wood Press Plate and the gorgeous leafy vines were created with a set of press plates, stencils and dies from Pinkfresh Studios called Joyful Day.  I added blues and greens through the layered stencils and then added Deco Foil's Transfer Gel Duo through the last layer. When dry, I attached Gina K Designs Glittering Green foil with my mini MINC. The letterpress sentiments were created with the same Joyful Day press plates and matching dies. Here are some pictures of the Lattice Easel template that you could pin, but of course to see how to make this card step by step it is best to watch the video here.

Another of my favorite new press plates is also from  Altenew and is called Gilded Marble. I pressed black ink into 4 different colors of cardstock, cut them into strips and created this version of a Fractured Card. The background was created with a coverplate die from Pinkfresh Studios called Stitched Diamonds. 

I created this birthday rainbow card with strips of cardstock and a press plate from Pinkfresh Studios that was a free gift with my last order. I used three different press plates on this card:

I had been wanting to try a Twisted Ribbon card so I made one with strips created with Yana Smakula's gorgeous Peony Background BetterPress plate and the Pinkfresh Studios Joyful Day press plate with gold ink. The floral bucket image is a Letterpress Impressions Stamp from Couture Creations and the vellum circle was cut with a die from Gina Marie Designs. 

I had great fun making cards with strips of letter pressed beauty and hope my cards inspire you to give some of the ideas and products a try!

Do you speak French or have loved ones that do? This Giveaway is for you!

I have 9 dies from Crealies most recent release that are French words with a shadow. My grandson was studying French and loved his French teacher and I thought I would make him some cards to give to him. But the school dropped the French program in favor of Spanish - which of course is spoken much more in parts of our country.

So I am giving away 9 sets of sentiment stamps valued at around $50 to someone who speaks French or has a loved one who does and who lives in the USA. (Sorry I can only afford to mail to an address in this country.)  The winner will also receive my French happy holidays card that I shared yesterday in my video and on my blog.

I made a reel that shows all the sets but for some reason even the shortest video is too big for Blogger now. You can see it on my Instagram or my business Facebook page (links also on the side of my blog) and can leave a comment there for two more chances to win.

In your comment there or here on this blogpost, tell me if you speak French or if not, which loved one does and also where you live. (USA residents only). The contest runs from 8/6/24 - 8/19/24 midnight CDT. The winner will be drawn randomly from all qualifying comments and you can comment up to 3 times- once on this blogpost, on the specific Instagram post and on the Facebook post with the reel at Karen's Kreative Kards. I will respond to your comment if you are the winner so be sure to watch for that. If I don't hear from you within a week, I will draw another winner.

Good luck!

Crealies Layered Sentiment Dies So Many Ways

As a cardmaker, I almost always add sentiments to all the cards I make. I love sentiment dies with shadows and in the newest release at Crealies there were dozens of new sentiment dies released in four different languages! I played with some fun folds and a new technique to find lots of ways to feature all these new Texto Positivo dies for my new video here.

 

Here is the card I made in the video step by step. As I show, the texture on the front flap is created by wrinkling parchment paper and adding to cardstock with white glue emphasizing the wrinkles deliberately. I added Annelies’ favorite slogan “miles of smiles” and some smiley faces created with Crealies charm and face dies. I also added more layered sentiments to the inside of the card:

 

Above is a smaller version of the front flap card with more of the textured wrinkled background and French wishes for happy holidays.

I played with some 4 and 8 piece puzzle slider cards because the many folds offer plenty of places to add the new sentiments. I did not teach how to do the folds in the video, but did share templates you could grab if you watch the video. The first card is a 4 piece puzzle card with some adorable Crealies animals:

 

And here are two versions of the 8 piece puzzle cards with lots of the new Texto Positivo layered sentiments:

Did you notice how the scenery flows from each piece of the puzzle? They are not at all hard to do once you see the cards and the template.

I am happy to share that Crealies dies shown can be purchased either on the Crealies website here OR in the United States at the Frantic Stamper website here.

Leaves and More Leaves on Many Cards

Leaves are beautiful whether green as they are now and brilliant reds, oranges and yellow as they are so briefly in the fall. I just had a play with some new press plates, embossing folders and dies and am sharing the finished cards here. I am loving my Spellbinders press plates because they can be pressed with ink in the Betterpress System or foiled in the Glimmer System so there are many ways to use the same products. I just got the Spellbinders Autumn Leaves Press Plates with matching dies and made these cards with it. 

I had a play with Simon Hurley's glitter Astro Pastes and tried it on an embossed mirror card and then added some sponged embossed leaves cut and embossed with a set from Stampin' up. All of the rest of these leaves cards were made with that SU hybrid embossing folder that also cuts: