Elizabeth Crafts Star Ornament Several Ways

I couldn't resist the new Elizabeth Craft Designs Joyous Ornament Stars 2 and had some fun playing with it to make cards and ornaments. The star is pretty flat or raised on a card front. The foiled sentiments on these cards are from Pinkfresh Studios. Here is another card I made without taking the pieces out of the gold upper star which I raised:

And here are a few ornaments I made in different colors for friends' trees:

Simon Hurley's Ranger Astro Paste Perfect Backgrounds for Die Cuts!

I love die cuts such as this Glorious Peacock from Spellbinders but often wonder what to do with them once they are die cut. I think it is boring just to plop them on a card base and call them a finished card. I solved that problem after playing with my new Simon Hurley Ranger Astro glitter pastes and she is indeed glorious in the center of this glittery circle. I created the background by adding Slippery When Wet gold and Tropical Tango teal Astro Pastes through a stencil from A Colorful Life Designs called Striped Spiral. This is just one of many cards I share in my new video here which features the new Astro Paste glitter pastes from Simon Hurley and Ranger. 

This is the card I show how to make in the new video here. I love fall colors and fall leaves and I added red and gold Astro Pastes through a fun fall stencil from CartaBella. I also added the leftover mixed paste to a piece of black cardstock so there was no waste and when it was dry, I die cut a maple leaf. The foiled and die cut leaves were created with a set from Spellbinders called Autumn Leaves. Here is a picture of another similar card made with the same stencils, dies and layout but with black and gold cardstock:

The card bases are 5 1/2" square with 1 1/2 inches cut off of both sides leaving the 2 1/2 inch center to open up. The stenciled leaves stripes are 5 1/2" tall and 1 1/4, 2 1/4 and 1 1/4 inches wide. Both cards have foiled and die cut leaves from Spellbinders as the focal point. 

I had a set of Concord & 9th sunglasses and stamps sitting here and I knew I wanted to make some cards with it before summer was over, but didn't know what kind of background I wanted. Problem solved with Simon's Astro Paste and stencils like this one from Alex Syberia Designs. Here is another card I made with heart sunglasses and stamps and a sun stencil from Gina K Designs:

Wow- right? So pretty and Simon says these pastes should not dry out like other glitter pastes I have used because of the formula used by Ranger which is similar to his other pastes. 

I am loving how all these cards turned out and hope they inspire you to give some of the ideas and products a try!

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!