Music in the Air

I love how this card turned out... I made this card last month but never uploaded it to my blog.  Per request from a friend, I am uploading it now... absolutely love how the glitter changed colors on this card...

I stamped the music background in versamark and embossed and then distressed the edges a little by rolling the corners as well as sponging around the edges.  My sentiment is also embossed.  I then used the Waterscape Glitter from SNS around the edges of my label.  The actual color is more of a semi-transparent white almost clear glitter but when I added it to the brown cardstock it almost turned a golden color.  I was pretty amazed and absolutely loved the look so I added more to the butterflies.  I added some twine and a button to finish this one off.  I hope you like this card as much as  I do... Thank you so much for taking the time to look...  :)

Golden Poinsettias

I made a few different Christmas cards to send out this year but this is by far my favorite one...  I can honestly say that this took me so long to make that my mom and dad were the only ones to receive it...  My mom is big into crafting and she allows me to enable her with all the wonderful products  I find and since I love them, she does too and ends up getting them too...  So she deserved this card and then some...

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I started with shimmer gold cardstock and layered with neenah solar white that I ran though with my snowflake embossing folder.  This was the easy part...  The poinsettias are what took all the time to create...  The 2 smaller poinsettias have 3 layers and the larger one has 4.  I stamped the layers individually and then embossed them.  I used my Spellbinder's poinsettia dies to cut out all the layers.  I then adhered the layers together to create my flowers...  Probably doesn't seem like a lot of work, but the dies had to line up perfectly with the stamped image to look right...  Had quite a few mess ups...  I then stamped and embossed my sentiment and cut out with spellbinders ovals and scallop oval dies.  I added some gold balls and a gold cord to finish off this card...  I love the look of this and I really wish it were easily duplicated because I would have loved to find the time to create more of these to send...  That being said, I like how all of my Christmas cards turned out...  Some of you will see them when they show up in your mailbox and you aren't even expecting one...  ;)  Thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoyed my card today...  I would love to know what you think... 

Triple Fold Tutorial

Tutorials really do take some extra time to put together...  They require so much time and work...  So I hope that you will grab a cup of coffee and a snack and join me here today...  As I said in my previous post, the Sparkle N Sprinkle DT members are creating projects this month incorporating "fun folds."  I want to share with you my favorite fold card and a tutorial to show you how to create this fabulous jaw dropper in your home...  All glitters, embossing powders and adhesives can be purchased at Sparkle N Sprinkle, as well as the 2X2 acrylic blocks that I am using in this tutorial.  You don't have to use the 2X2 size and they have plenty others to choose from...  So I hope you have your drink and snack in hand.... Here we go...  Start with a sheet of cardstock measuring 4" X 12" and score lengthwise at 4" and 8"

 

Then on your center panel find your center point with intersecting lines and draw with a light pencil mark.

 

Place your 2 X 2 sized square die cut side facing you on your center lines as shown and tape in place with removable adhesive.

Fold both left and right sides over your die and run through you die cut machine.  This will cut out both left and right panels at the same time exactly where you need them.

When you have finished running through your die cut machine, reopen both flaps and carefully remove die                                                and erase pencils markings as shown.

As you see in the next photo close up, you die will leave an indentation in your cardstock... Don't worry                               as you will be covering this in a later step and will aid in placement of your block.

Now it is time to start preparing our acrylic block to emboss.  This step is very important.  Remove protective film from 1 side of your acrylic and rub your anti static bag over surface really well.  If you don't do this step you will end up with a lot of "flakes" left on your acrylic and you won't get a clear crisp image.

Next carefully stamp your image on your acrylic block without touching your block.  You don't want to
                                                  leave fingerprints or oil from your fingers.

Apply desired embossing powder and heat set.  I chose to use Sweetheart EP for my sample shown here.

Remove paper backing from other side of acrylic again being careful not to leave finger prints on the new side and gently press entire block into your versamark pad to coat the backside of your block (NOTE:  You want to versamark the OPPOSITE side of your block then you embossed on....)

Using a coffee filter to catch any extra powder, apply stickum powder to your wet versamark and heat set just until melted and quickly sprinkle glitter onto hot wet stickum powder and gently heat set again to "seal" in glitter.  (Use can also use sparkle embossing powder which has a glitter look to it as well but I wanted to get the full sparkle on my block.)

                       This is what your finished block will look like...  Nice and sparkly and shiny....

Now using the same die as in the first couple steps above, die cut a white square to place behind your                                                                                 acrylic block.

Now cut out scallop squares the same size as your square block.  Cut 2 "window" squares as shown on the left and 1 solid square like shown on the right.

Attach acrylic block to white die cut square using "tear"ific tape (you won't see it I promise) and being very careful not to scratch your glitter off the block when you are removing paper backing from tape and then adhere to solid die cut scallop square as shown below. (Your glittered side should be adhered to the white die cut square.)

Attach to your card base centering and covering the indented portion previously created with your die.

Now when you close both left and right flaps closed again you will be able to see the beautifully                                                         created  acrylic block now showing through those openings. 

Decorate as desired to finish off your card.  I have 2 samples shown here for you.  The best part is that these acrylic blocks are so thin that you will be able to mail them as you normally would with no added bulk. 

These are gorgeous eye catching cards that sparkle with the look of glitter but won't give your recipient the surprise of being covered with glitter when they open their card.  This is a fun technique to do and an even more fun card to receive.  I hope you will try one of these cards and  I would love to see what you come up with...  Thank you so much for taking the time to stop by today... I really do appreciate all of the love and support you show...  Please let me know what you think as I value your comments and feedback greatly!!!

Easel Cocktails

I know I haven't posted in a couple weeks but my life has been turned upside down a couple times in the last month and I am desperately trying to get the pieces picked up.  I have made several cards and had time to play but I just don't have the time to sit and blog them...  I do want to share this on with you though because I absolutely love how it turned out...   This month the Sparkle N Sprinkle DT members are focusing on making cards with "fun folds."  I absolutely love fun folds but never stop to take the time to make any.  I usually stick with the typical A2 size and nothing more...  So this is a really cool card and I hope you will love it as much as I do...  This is an easel card and upon first glace it looks like your typical 4 X 4 card....

Well take another look at this beauty when it is popped open and displayed...

Now you can really see how cute and fun this card really is...  Let me show you a side view of this one as well so you get the full idea of this one...

I hope you can see here how the card pops up and then rests on the inside layers of cardstock to keep it open and displayed...  I tried very hard to capture all the details on these drinks but wasn't able to get the full shot.  I added glossy accents to all of my drinks to make the glasses look real and shiny and then I added some glitter to all of the rims to look like either salt or sugar rimmed glasses.  These look so cool in real life.. Here is a close up in hopes of showing a little more of the details...

The images, embossing powder and glitter used on this card can all be found at Sparkle N Sprinkle  Make sure to stop by their store and check out all of the wonderful new goodies they have to offer.  I promise you won't be disappointed...  Thank you so much for stopping by today and I hope you have enjoyed my card...