a suncatcher? really?

Recently I posted about improvising with the L Letterpress plates. I remarked in the comments that these plates are not like clear polymer stamps; it had seemed to me that some folks had that mistaken impression. In trying to come up with a way to describe the texture of these plates it occurred to me that they're not that dissimilar from those plastic suncatchers that you can find in kids crafts sections of stores. I know, it's almost a sacrilegious notion, so real life printers, I ask your forgiveness and your indulgence. Turn away now. Ha! As if any real life printers would be reading. ;-)

So here's what I did....


Pictured above are my Big Shot, the multipurpose platform open to No Tabs, two clear cutting plates, a plastic suncatcher that cost me 48 cents, and a sheet of fairly thick handmade watercolor paper. The paper was torn from a tablet that I'd found on clearance at Hobby Lobby. The impression that was made by running the suncatcher through is the image at the top left. I hadn't applied any ink. The color that can be seen is some of the black that had transferred from the plastic. It's tough to appreciate, but the debossed image was really quite distinct.


And here's the card that I made using the image. I colored the design with watercolor pencils, tore around it, then mounted it on a layer of Core'dinations card stock that I'd punched using an EK Success border punch and distressed using sand paper.

Now, I'm not saying that these can be used in place of actual letterpress plates. It's just something that I did on a whim. I'd have to say though, that if I come across other fun suncatcher designs, I'd probably pick them up knowing that there's a fun way that I could use them to add a different look to my cards.

oh, those ProvoCraft Asian folders

For a while I was holding out, several months actually, not purchasing any more embossing folders from ProvoCraft. That ended up changing after I was given some of the Asian designs over the holidays.

Here are some of the cards that I've made with them....

This card was made using first the Kimiko folder on some Core'dinations card stock. I turned the folder over and debossed the image then sanded it to remove some of the black and bring out the color underneath, leaving the image nicely outlined. I then ran that through again, this time inside the Bamboo folder. I sanded that again to remove the black. The sentiment was cut out using my Slice.

For this card I again pulled out the Bamboo embossing folder. I then added a few of the lanterns from the Lanterns folder at the top. The stamped image is by Inkadinkado and accented using Spica glitter pens. The sentiment is by Verve.

For this last card I did some double 'bossing. I debossed my white card stock layer using the Plum Blossoms embossing folder and applied the Angel Pink Memento ink DTP. I then embossed that piece using the Kimiko folder and accented the embossing using Memento London Fog ink. I like the way that the kimono took on some of the blossoms. The sentiment is again by Verve. I embellished using Brides flowers that I also embossed using the Plum Blossoms folder.

still more textured impressions cards

Whew! It's been one of those weeks! I've been wanting so badly to make some cards, but most of what I made I didn't really like for one reason or another. Nothing seemed to work. I hate it when my muse deserts me! It came back today though--probably didn't care for the snow and sleet outside. LOL! Snow day here, so lots of uninterrupted time to craft--loved it!

Here are a couple of cards that I made using the Sizzix textured impressions folders....


This first card was made using the A2 embossing folder from one of the Happy Birthday sets. If you look at the design of this folder, it's actually supposed to be an invitation with Who, What, When Where etc embossed on the front. At this point, I can't see needing that sort of thing for my card-making, but I did like the rest of the design. I did a bit of creative altering and now have a nice blank space instead, where I stamped the large Inkadinkado sentiment. I added some Distress Stickle sparkles and some rhinestone bling and voila! A birthday card rather than an invite.


For this card I used the medium size textured impression folder from one of the Thank You sets on Core'dinations card stock which I'd cut using a scalloped rectangle Nestabilities die by Spellbinders. I sanded the embossing and accented it a bit with some Memento dye inks. The patterned card stock is by Die Cuts with a View and the decorative edges and corners were made using the Martha Stewart scallop dot edge punch. I then added some clear rhinestones as accents.

Okay. I'll save some of the other cards that I've made for some other posts. :-)

using lots of my faves

Between the celebrating and the playing around with my Big Shot and Cuttlebug, I haven't posted any cards lately! Here's one that I've been working on intermittently.


The card is made from Core'dinations cardstock that I hadn't realized until very recently is now available at Hobby Lobby! Thankfully I had a 40% off coupon and got a nice big package of it. I creatively Cuttled with the Cuttlebug Floral Screen A2 embossing folder, then sanded the embossing to reveal the lighter color. I embossed around the unembossed area of the card front with a rectangle Nestabilities die, then stamped the Verve image and sentiment on white cardstock that I'd cut and embossed using the crease pad and a single pass through the Big Shot. I used Memento ink for the stamping.


This is a close up view of the flowers. I'd made these using floral wire, clear liquid glue and three colors of Flower Soft. It wasn't until I thought about my materials "list" that I realized how many of my current favorite things I'd used in making this card. Fun! :-)

Had to play!

Got back from a week of vacationing and visiting family yesterday. I was thrilled to see that some of my Cuttlebug preorders had arrived while we were gone. Today I had to pull one of them out so that I could play a bit before tackling laundry, or heading to the grocery store, and that sort of thing. After all, I hadn't crafted all week!

Here are a couple of cards that I made using the new Friends Forever Cut and Emboss combo die and embossing folder.


The first thing that I noticed about this set is that the flowers are debossed, not embossed. Now usually that's not a big deal to me, but I really think that this would have been nicer embossed. I feel like that would have allowed me to do more with it. Yeah, I could flip it over and use the back, but of course that changes the layout--it's a mirror image--and it "feels" off as a card layout.

So, I tried a different approach. I ran Core'dinations cardstock through the folder instead. I used my sanding block to change the color of the non-debossed areas. Then I decided to try to add more "pop" to the flowers, and I ended up adding bling, Stickles, and Liquid Pearls. I finished by adding one of the die cut phrases from this set and embellishing with a small bow.

This next card was actually made with the first piece of paper that I'd put through inside the new embossing folder. I usually like the look of embossing on patterned paper, but the debossing seemed lost. This is patterned paper by Inque Boutique, by the way.


I ended up trying to bring out that debossed image a bit more, again. This time I used some EZ Tintz by FiberScraps. I applied it directly to my folder, gave it a very light misting of water, and closed the paper inside the folder to transfer some of the ink. It wasn't quite the look I'd been going for, but it was enough to add a little visual interest to the debossing. Again I added a phrase from the die that came with this set, and I distressed it with some Memento ink. I added the fibers for a bit more embellishment.

a tale of two cranes

As I was making these two cards yesterday, I couldn't help but think how typical they were of my card-making experience. I had a good idea of what I'd wanted to try. I thought I had a good idea of where I'd go with that idea. HA!

This first card is the one that I struggled over. I'd used my Spellbinders dies to emboss a frame and a crane image without cutting them out. That was the technique that I was trying. I'd had the "brilliant" LOL! idea of using Core'dinations cardstock so that I could distress the crane and make it pop. I distressed the edges, too. That had all gone according to plan.

It was at this point that I started flailing. I'd die cut some of the bamboo pieces from the Asian edgeabilities die set. I couldn't get them to work with these images the way I wanted them to. Then the solid colored cardstock layer behind it didn't seem right. Neither did the first patterned paper that I chose after that, or the next. It wasn't until after I flipped the last patterned paper that I realized that I liked the back of it better than the front! Thank goodness for double-sided paper.


The card came together after that. The sentiment is by Cloud 9 and stamped with white craft ink.

This next card, on the other hand, was one of those that came together spontaneously. This was actually scrap cardstock that I'd first used to test what I'd wanted to do with the crane die. I saw patterned paper and coordinating cardstock that worked with that blue image, and after using some Inkadinkado stamps and Memento dye inks, this is what came of that.

So, two cards and two very different ways of getting to my endpoints. Typical. :-)

Two cards from before the hiatus

I made these two cards a couple of weeks ago, but didn't find the time to photograph them and upload them until today.


This one was made using the Sizzix XL scalloped card die in my Big Shot. The main flower image and the sentiment are both by Cornish Heritage Farms. The background flower images are by Tim Holtz. I used Core'dinations cardstock cut with a Nestabilities scalloped rectangle die and embossed with the Cuttlebug A2 script embossing folder for the main image layer. I also used the Martha Stewart Lace Doily border punch to embellish.

This next card was a lot of fun to make. I'd found a huge package of chipboard on clearance at Joann's not too long ago. I'd never really used chipboard much. I like the look, but I'm not patient enough to paint it and let it dry, and I'm not enthralled by the notion of covering it with patterned paper and having to do all of that cutting and gluing. Well, the layer with my Inque Boutique sentiment is chipboard and so is the star. They were regular old chipboard color, but I inked them up with Adirondack pigment inks and they looked great! Love the way that pigment ink covers! The colors are so vibrant, too. I embellished the stamping with some accents using my Inkssentials opaque white pen and a black Pigma micron pen, and voila! It was an easy card with some fun added dimension. Can't wait to do more. :-)

Core'dinations & DIY embossing folders

I'm still intrigued by the notion of making embossing folders. I'd had it in mind to make one using butterflies, but hadn't gotten around to trying it until today. I pulled out my scrap chipboard, some heavy weight transparency and my Spellbinders butterfly dies. I seem to have quite a few of those dies. I constructed my folder in the same way that I've described before for DIY embossing, but instead of repeating one image several times--that had actually been my original plan--I decided to make it really easy on myself and use all of my butterfly dies at once. So, I made the cuts for this folder all in one pass. Gotta love quick and easy!

The next problem--what to make with this new folder. I'd tested it on text weight paper. I always do that first. Then I'd put folded paper through it. Finally I ran it through with cardstock inside. I figure that by then I've gradually made room for my cardstock to be embossed between those two sides of my chipboard 'sandwich'. Sometimes it's a tight fit starting out.

Now Pearl, if you're reading, this is your fault, you enabler! LOL! Pearl had mentioned the new Core'dinations cardstock a while back, saying that it would probably look really cool with some of the embossing I'd been playing with. I'd been resisting, but I finally did order some to try. No time like the present to try it!


I made this card very simple because I wanted the focus to be on the embossing. All of the die cut shapes that I used were by Spellbinders. I also used Black Magic Core'dinations cardstock and distressed the embossing with a sanding block. I like it! It's a neat effect! The sentiment is by Studio G.

I used more Core'dinations cardstock on this next card, but in a slightly different way.


I distressed the cardstock first by crumpling it then sanding it. I flattened it out a bit and then put it through my Big Shot inside the Perfectly Paisley Cuttlebug embossing folder. I then accented the embossing with the Adirondack Snow Cap pigment ink. The cardstock with the sentiment is the reverse side of the Black Magic, so it matches the distressed color exactly, which is fun. Since that part of the card didn't show up well, here's a close up.


There's a flower vine image stamped in the background with Versamark ink. The sentiment itself is stamped with Memento dye ink. Both stamps are by Hero Arts. The embellishments are Robin's Nest Dew Drops, and yes, this particular set is opaque, and there are white ones which look very much like the half pearls that people often look for only a bit more translucent. Just thought I'd mention that. Turnabout enabling is fair play, eh? :-)