Happy Wedding Day and Other Celebrations with Scrappy Tails Crafts

One of my favorite booths at the Novi MI show was Scrappy Tails Crafts and I took several classes from the owner and designer Sabrina. She just got married so I pulled out some of the new dies I purchased and made her this wedding card. This card features Scrappy Tails Gazebo Wrap Around and Wedding Couple and it stands up for display, but mails flat. 

Many of Sabrina's dies are dimensional which I love! I made this holiday card with Scrappy Tails Birch Tree Pop Up Tunnel die set. But of course we can always choose to make flat cards with their dies too. Sabrina wanted some flat cards for display in her booth, and I was honored she choose this card of mine for her booth:

The front of this card is made of acetate so you see through the Gazebo to the Water Fountain inside. 

Wishing Sabrina and Taylor a beautiful and creative future together!

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

Sending Musical Love With Spellbinders June Stitched Die of the Month

I had so much fun making this card with "Luau Beats" Spellbinders Stitched Die of the Month. I stitched the Hawaiian drum, leaves and guitar in just a few minutes. The embossed background was created with Spellbinders Favorite Song 3D embossing folder. The musical notes and stave is from Bibi Cameron's Musical Notes and Stave Pop-Up Die Set. 

If you love this Spellbinders Stitching Die of the Month and want it right away, you can visit the website here and join the monthly club. You have until the 27^th of the month to sign up to receive this set and then look forward to getting a new stitching die set each month. But if you can’t commit to a monthly club right now, you can check the website after the 10^th of next month to purchase. If not sold out, the monthly kit products are available to buy then. However, the cost is higher and shipping is not free.

 I am a member of the Spellbinders Stitching Die of the Month club, so each month this year I will share cards made with that month’s die set on this blog, on my Instagram and on my Facebook page.

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

 

New Ways to Eclipse Your Cards with Dies...To Die For

My favorite technique of all time is the Eclipse Technique and in my new video here I share many easy ways to achieve the eclipse look. All the dies you see here and in the video are from Dies...To Die For at ShopScrapbook101.com. The slatted shape dies are available here and are my favorite way to create the eclipse look. You will note the unique shapes and the fact you get many varieties in each set for very reasonable prices. The card above is the one I show how to make in the new video in just a few minutes. The scenery card front is from Divinity Designs. The rectangle eclipse set also includes this choice which I made into a shaker card:

There are 3 hearts to choose from in the Hearts Eclipse die set at Dies...to Die For and I created this lovely sympathy card with one as well as the Rosary Die and a sympathy sentiment die. 

The eclipse look can be achieved with any background paper, solid image and even alphabet dies. I am participating in a card drive for our local Honor Flight and I created this card and the next for the veteran heroes:

This card shows a different way to use one of the rectangle eclipse dies. Here is another set of cards make simply with scenery paper from Crealies and more dies from Dies...To Die For:

And here is a fun card I designed with D...TDF's Soccer Net Background, their Soccer Ball and an alphabet set with shadow dies which were eclipsed:

I hope my cards encourage you to give some of the ideas and products a try.

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

May Class Cards Featuring Taylored Expressions Create In Quads

Every other month I teach classes at Harts N Scraps with Jill Lemke's Clear View Transparencies and this month I combined them with stenciled card fronts and elements created with Taylored Expressions Create in Quads stencils. Of course each card featured a fun fold or creative ways to frame the transparencies as well. My students were very happy with the 4 cards they made.

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

More Easy to Make Eclipse Cards

I have been having fun with the new Double Vision Eclipse Technique which is easy to do cutting and raising strips of either patterned paper or embossed cardstock as I did on this card. The pattern flows from one strip to the next with some raised on pop dots. The embossing folder I used is a favorite from Spellbinders and I featured the new Awareness Ribbon also from Spellbinders. 

I cut the strips on this card the same and popped up the same two, but I chose a beautiful 3D butterfly embossing folder also from Spellbinders. I cut out an embossed butterfly and popped it up.

I saw a card from StampinNotes like this one with 1/2 inch strips of a patterned scene paper on the front diagonal cut flap and on the inside. So again the pattern flows through the strips and onto the back too. Here is another view of this striking card:

This lovely scene paper is from Divinity Designs. 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

New Ways to Eclipse with Double Stenciling

Hero Arts has a new release called You've Got a Friend and I got to play with several of the new stencils in that collection. The background stencil is called Check Please and is a perfect addition to anyone's stencil collection with classic checks. I combined it with the new layering stencil set called Bitty Floral and then cut strips raising every other one for a fun new way to eclipse.

I played with other ways to use the stencils on this shaped card cut out with Hero Arts Infinity Butterfly dies. I lightly added teal ink through the Check Please stencil, then moved it over and added some light yellow ink. I chose to overstencil with just two of the stencils in the Bitty Floral stencil and then cut another smaller butterfly out to raise and eclipse. The perfect addition to both of these cards were Spellbinders Color Essentials Gems.

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

No Time for Pop Up Cards or Paper Piecing? No Problem

One of my favorite booths at the Novi MegaMeet this last weekend was Scrappy Tails and they are known for their amazing Pop Up Cards with layers of paper piecing details. I know that we don't always have time enough to make that type of card. My two cards today were made in very little time because I decided to make them without the pop up feature and create the images as silhouettes. You can see samples of how to use the Gazebo Wrap Around Pop Up with all of the gorgeous layers here on the website. But my card shows a lovely way to make a shaped card and I created it in just minutes. Here is a look at the inside of this card:

Another Scrappy Tails die I couldn't resist was the Birch Tree Pop Up Tunnel and when I have more time I will definitely do the pop up with all the paper piecing. But I made this simple 5 x 7 card with silhouettes again and a pop of red in the cardinals and sentiment:

Cardmaking Joy and Hugs, Karen 

Waffle Flower Dad and Mom's Cards

I loved the new sets and stencils released at Waffle Flower last month and bought several sets at our local paper crafting store, Harts N Scraps where I teach classes. I featured Waffle Flower in last month's classes that I taught. Father's Day is next month and the new Postage Collage Dad Silhouettes are perfect for that. But I think it could be used for birthdays and other special days for Dad or Grandpa. The backgrounds on this card were created with the Postage Collage Wavy Lines Stencil. 

I used the new Mom Silhouettes stamps from Waffle Flower and a blue mono-chromatic stenciling and inking for this card. 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

Sending Sunshine and Love with Spellbinders May Stitched Die of the Month

Sending love and sunshine with this bright cheerful card is easy and fun after stitching the May Spellbinders Stitched Die of the Month. I usually use metallic thread when I stitch on cards, but this month I used variegated shades of yellow floss to stitch the rays of this cute sun. I added googly eyes and a sentiment pennant from Spellbinders Gingerbread Plane and Banners die set. 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

Pink and Main Class Cards

I love dies that easily create pop up or interactive cards and I recently took two classes from Pink and Main that included several fun dies and a great cupcake embossing folder. This card was made with many pieces from the Celebrate Pop Up Card die set we received as part of the Birthday Bash event. I really liked the embossed candles and  the bow from that set and used them on several of the cards I made. This card lays flat to mail and then stands for display.

One of the cards taught in the class used this sketch and I changed it out to use many of the decorative dies from the set. 

In the SCT Cardmaking Delivered classes I took last month, we received Pink and Main's Pull and Surprise die set. I combined it with some rainbow paper we received in this kit as well as the candles. This card opens like this and then closes to mail like this:

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

April Class Cards with Spellbinders and Waffle Flower

This month at Harts N Scraps, my students had great fun making cards with some favorite products from Spellbinders and Waffle Flower. They could choose to make an Old Fashioned or Bloody Mary with a drink die and embossing folder from Spellbinders. Then they made a multi-colored tunnel with the Rainbow Slice Tunnel die from Spellbinders and a crackle embossing folder also from Spellbinders. 

Then the students made two cards with favorite dies, stamps and stencils from Waffle Flower. 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen 

New Toner Card Fronts and Foils from Deco Foil and Therm O Web

Did you know Deco Foil recently released a bunch of new spring Toner Card Fronts and fresh new colors of foil? I had so much fun playing with them along with new dies and a brand new fun fold. 

The new floral Toner Card Fronts are called Fresh Florals and Hoppy Spring and I feature them along with the new pink Love Potion and Royal Carriage foils on this fun fold card. The focal point is a new die from Poppy Stamps called Nordic Cozy Tea Cup. This card folds flat to mail in an A2 envelope and then opens to look like this:

I also created another card with this fun fold and a new Toner Card Front called Birthday Wish:

And here are a couple more cards I created with the new toner card fronts and foils:

If you like super easy ways to add the sparkle of foil to your cards, I urge you to check out the new products here at Therm O Web. 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen

Rooting For You with Spellbinders Stitching Die of the Month

Every month I get to play with Spellbinders Stitching Die of the Month, and April's is perfect for spring and encouragement. The carrots, radishes and onions can be stitched or not - both ways have great texture. There are 22 dies in this set so it is a great bargain whether you like to sew or not. Details on Spellbinders Dies of the Month clubs can be found here, but if now it is not a good time to join, you can always check the website next month after the 10th and if it was not sold out, the dies are available for purchase on their own. 

I created a bridge z-fold with extra areas to plant in the middle. The background sky was made with Spellbinders Head in the Clouds embossing folder and some blue ink. Here is a view of this card closed and ready to mail:

Cardmaking Joy and Hugs, Karen 

More SCT Crop and Create Cards from the Weekend

In addition to all the dies, stamps, stencils, paper etc. in the huge box we receive for Scrapbook and Cards Today Crop and Create Cardmaking Delivered, we also receive this amazing bound book with all the written instructions and pictures we can refer back to anytime. The two cards shown were made with Gentle Giant dies and stamps from Hero Arts.

Gina K Designs taught us how to make 3 beautiful sympathy cards with her stamps, stencils and dies. Here are the other two I made:

I love rub ons and interactive cards and this was a favorite taught by Scrapbook.com. The birds, branch and sentiment all slide up and down with the hidden message. I also made these two cards in her class:

Spellbinders kit included these unique dies and positive stamped messages as well as the fun bubbly embossing folder. Here are a couple more cards I made in class:

Above are the cards I made in the Pretty Pink Posh class. And below are the interactive cards we made in the Pink and Main class:

Brutus Monroe gave us his washi strips and washi maps and the clouds and raindrops seemed perfect for this new die and stamp set from Spellbinders. 

Cardmaking Joy & Hugs, Karen