Tonic Studios Mandala Love Bug Valentine

Today I am sharing a sneak peak at my love bug card that posted to Blog Tonic USA last night. Do you know what "mandala" means? And what a ladybird is? How about a great new way to add a touch of color to your cards? For the answer to all those questions and more, please visit the USA Tonic blog here.

Sun Paper Luna Card

Last fall I made a series of cards featuring the moon (or luna) as a Christmas gift for my daughter. Now that she has opened her present, I can blog them here. This one was made with Tedco Sun Art Paper. I described the process in this blog post. I created the background with Tonic Studio's Luna die, many punched stars and the sun art paper. After it was dry, I attached it to a white square card base. I raised a few of the punched stars with pop dots and glued on the beautiful sentiment cut with a die cut from Tonic Studios.

Big Hugs Snowman Surprise

I am loving how this card turned out and will be sharing it with the classes I teach in my home soon. Why you ask? Just wait until you see the inside. The snowflake belly band was created with a Martha Stewart punch and the "Big Hugs" was made with a brand new die by Neat and Tangled and orange dotted dp. Slide off the belly band and this is what pops up:

I was totally inspired by a tutorial here by MayMay to try a pop up snowman using the popular twist and pop mechanism that has been shown so much lately on Pinterest and blogs. I recently purchased a new mitten die from Impression Obsession and it was smaller than the one MayMay used, so I cut down the sides of the pop up apparatus to accommodate them. The buttons were created with a die from Tonic Studios and "love" is a new die from Impression Obsession. I punched the eyes, hand cut the carrot nose and used a pennant die from My Creative Time on the scarf. Here is a close up of the pop up mechanism: 

I used the directions from Jen Evers video here to make the pop up mechanism but cut down the side panels to accomodate the size of the mittens. 

I am entering this card in the New Something challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. The mitten and love dies are brand new and the pop up snowman idea is also new to me.

Valentines/Love Cards 4 Kids Challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids

It’s Saturday and time for another fun challenge at Send a Smile 4 Kids! This time our challenge is: Valentines/Love Cards 4 Kids. Create and link any love or Valentine's card appropriate for a child and you could win one of our great prizes.

We have two very generous sponsors for this challenge: Bugaboo is giving their winner 4 digis of their choice! And the winner from Stampendous receives a $20 gift certificate! TEAM S.A.S will also be choosing their favorite cards for our top three and the winners will receive a blog badge and an opportunity to be a guest design team member on a future challenge.

I am featuring a super cute digital from Bugaboo called Heart Cats that I fussy cut out of a patterned light brown paper. The background was created with Magenta Nuance watercolor powders and gold embossing powder on tissue paper using a technique I am calling Metallic Tissue Paper. If you would like to know how to do it, I posted a tutorial here on my blog.

I added a "love" sentiment die cut with an Impression Obsession die and layered it all on a purple card base.

I am entering this card in the New Something challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the Start Afresh challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. The love die and the digital stamp from Bugaboo are brand new to me.

Metallic Tissue Paper Butterfly Love with Tutorial

I have been having so much fun with a new technique I learned how to do recently and promised a tutorial so you could easily try it if you want. I made this one with some brand new dies from Tonic Studios called Layering Butterflies and my favorite sentiment from the Miniature Moments line also at Tonic Studios. I die cut two butterflies and applied the fun new Strawberry Coulis Jewel Drops to the top vellum layer. Here is a close-up look at the butterfly and the awesome golden texture created with tissue paper, Brusho Coloured Crystals and embossing powder: 

How is this background created? It is not hard, but does take some patience especially to let the tissue paper dry which takes a minimum of two hours and often more. Here are the steps: 

Choose several colors of watercolor powders, sprinkle them on white tissue paper on a craft sheet or something that can handle water soaking, and spritz with water. I tried several brands of water color powders and found the brighter colors such as the Brusho Coloured Crystals worked best for the color to show after applying gold embossing powders. Move the tissue paper on the craft mat somewhere it can dry thoroughly. 

After the tissue paper dried thoroughly it will look like this. For this card, I chose Rose Red, Violet and Crimson Red Brusho Crystal Colours. Wrinkle the tissue paper up several times and apply to a piece of cardstock covered with two sided tape (I chose Sookang). You could also try spray adhesive if that is what you have. You want the wrinkles to be pronounced. Trim the tissue paper to fit the cardstock.

The next step is to apply Versamark on top of all the wrinkles. On my first attempt, I rubbed it all over thinking the color would show through but I ended up with golden wrinkled card front. Pretty but not what I was going for. Rub the Versamark lightly on top of the wrinkles in the tissue paper. Then apply embossing powder- again with a very light touch trying to aim for wrinkles. For this card I used Nuvo's Gold Enchantment Glitter Embossing Powder so it is very sparkly IRL. I have also tried regular detail gold embossing powder and silver and will share cards with them soon.

Heat set the embossing powder and the textured golden metallic tissue paper background is done. I find when I have a glorious background like this, if I add some lovely dies on top, the finished product is a card I can send with love and pride. 

I am entering this card in the New Something challenge at Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge and the Start Afresh challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge. The layering butterflies are fresh out of their packaging and this is the first I have used them. The technique is also new to me and this is the second card I have posted with it.

Metallic Tissue Paper Good Wishes Card

I am having a blast with a new technique I learned about on the Bister, Brusho and Color Burst Facebook group I belong to. Linda L. DesGroseilliers had posted a picture of a similar background, but does not have a blog to link to. She shared how to take tissue paper and get this look back in September, but I didn't have time to play with it until now. It is not hard- except waiting for the water and Brusho pieces to dry- that takes at least two hours- sometimes more. I will do a tutorial on it, but basically I sprinkled on several colors of Brusho Crystal Colors on a piece of white tissue paper, then wet it with water. I had to do this on a craft sheet or something like that as it cannot be moved off it while it is drying. When completely dry, I crumbled it up several times as we want many wrinkles and attached it to an A2 piece of cardstock covered with Sookang two sided tape. I lightly applied Versamark trying to hit only the wrinkles and then heat embossed with gold embossing powder. I learned from my first few attempts not to put the Versamark all over and also to apply the embossing powder lightly as well so the beautiful Brusho color comes through. Other water color powders can be used as well, but I liked the brighter ones like Brusho over the lighter ones like Magenta or Lindy's Magicals. Here is a closeup of the beautiful gold and color and another angle of the lovely texture on the card:

The "good wishes" die is by Impression Obsession. I am entering this card in the Anything Goes challenges at Dies R Us and Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge. I am also entering in the Start Afresh challenge at Simon Says Stamp Monday. The technique is brand new to me and the "sending good wishes" die came right out the it's packaging never used before.

My Favorite Cards 2016 Part Three

I have gone back through all the cards I blogged in 2016 and picked three per month to share with you. If you want to see details on any of the cards, simply click the date below the card to go directly to the blog post. Thanks for all your kind comments and encouragement in 2016, and I hope to see you all back here in 2017. Happy New Year!

September 11, 2016

September 14, 2016

September 26. 2016 Two Views

October 11, 2016

October 26, 2016

October 31, 2016 Two Views

November 14, 2016

November 28, 2016

November 29, 2016

December 4, 2016

December 14, 2016

December 18, 2016