Lovely Magnolia

Lovely Magnolia from Sparkle N Sprinkle is one of those versatile sets that can be used for almost any occasion.

I've colored the image with Copic markers and used Pan Pastels to color the background.  The flower center is covered with Cerise glitter.

A Sue Wilson Designs die (Indian Ocean Collection - Background) was used to die cut some Super Adhesive Sheets.  The detailing was heat set using Amour embossing powder and then placed on top of the Super Adhesive Sheet.  The remaining adhesive was covered with Neon Flamingo glitter.

The larger black frame was die cut using the Nobel dies-Double Pierced Rectangles Set B, also by Sue Wilson Designs.  The outer frame (die cut using two of the Noble dies) was covered with Sparkle embossing powder and then pop dotted on the mat portion.

The leaves around the frame and image were die cut from white cardstock using the Finishing Touches - Spring Foliage dies by Sue Wilson Designs.  These were then colored using Dylusions Spray Ink (Cut Grass and Dirty Martini).

Stella - Happy Meds

This new stamp stamp set called Stella - Happy Meds from Sparkle N Sprinkle should definitely make you smile.  It's one of the new Bugaboo images that is now available in rubber, only from Sparkle N Sprinkle!

After stamping the image and coloring it with Copic markers, I added Dimensional Glue and Sunny Daze glitter to various letters.  I also outlined other words with a red Multi-liner to make them pop a bit more.  The pink pills and Stella's glasses were covered with Glossy Accents for a real shine.

To create the mat, I used the lacy background technique with Sticker Paper, lace, and Sunny Daze and Blue Haze glitters.  This is such an easy and fun technique and with so many variations, depending on the style of lace and the colors of glitter you use.  For some reason, this one reminds me of a leopard print, even though the colors are different.

For embellishments, I created my own glitter ribbon using 1/2" Tear-ific tape and Blue Haze glitter and added a few Nuvo Crystal Drops (Navy Blue) as accents.  Crystal Drops also accent the corners of my lacy background.  The background matting behind the focal point was dry embossed with a Crafters Companion embossing folder (Hessian) for a bit of texture.

Celebration Blog Hop

This is my second post for the day.  Please scroll down for my first post of the day.  Thanks

We here at Die-Versions have collaborated with two awesome companies:  Joy Clair Stamps and DL.ART  to come up with a fun and festive Celebration Blog Hop. We want to showcase how well our three companies products work together.  Die-Versions makes very intricate and lovely dies; Joy Clair makes high quality clear stamps; and DL.ART makes gorgeous rayon hand dyed crinkle ribbon and also carries bakers twine and other hand crafted seasonal supplies.

The Celebration Blog Hop will take place on Wednesday, May 18th, Thursday, May 19th and Friday, May 20th.  Over the three days all Design Team Members will be sharing with you projects they have made for all the many upcoming Celebrations that come around this time of year, ie....Weddings, Baby Showers, Baby Births, Graduations, Father's Day, and of course Birthdays!  All Design Team Members will be using supplies from all three companies to make their projects so you can see for yourself how lovely these products work together and how dies, stamps and ribbons are the perfect combination!!

There will be prizes for those who comment on all the blogs over the three days and who become followers of all the blogs. Die-Versions is giving away a $50.00 Gift Certificate to the Die-Versions store. Joy Clair is giving away 3 $25.00 Gift Certificates to the Joy Clair store, one each day  and DL.ART is giving away a $10.00 Gift Code to the DL.ART store to one lucky winner!!  The prizes will be announced on all three of the companies  Die-Versions, Joy Clair and DL.ART blogs on Sunday, May 22nd.

DL.ART is running a 3 day Special during the Blog Hop for all of the Design Team Followers ~ 12% off your entire order at DL.ART by using code:  DJDHOPS this code will only be valid on the 3 days of the Celebration Blog Hop.

You should have come here from Donna's blog; if not, then please start at the beginning on the Die-Versions Blog.   The complete list of Designers for the entire Celebration Blog Hop is listed on the Die-Versions Blog.

Now for a bit about my projects.  I created three different projects for today's Blog Hop: a graduation layout, a baby card, and a Father's Day card. 

 My graduation layout showcases the following products from each of the companies: 

   Die-Versions: Graduation Set; Graduation Cameos, We Did It!

   Joy Clair: Oh Baby (congratulations sentiment); Hugs and Smiles (swirl flowers, smile sentiment); Raise Your Glass (Cheers! sentiment)

   DLART: Baby Bundle crinkle ribbon (blue)

I started out with white cardstock and I heat embossed the various stamps using VersaMark ink and Pumpkin and Sapphire embossing powders.  Once these were cool, I spritzed on Dylusions Ink Sprays (calypso teal, squeezed orange).  

I also heat embossed the negative portions of the Cap (from the Graduation set) with Black embossing powder for a shine look and added Pumpkin embossing powder to the end of the tassel.  I also cut the diploma twice so that I could add back the negative pieces.  I altered the diploma die slightly by cutting of the ribbon that is part of the die cut and added my own bow using the Baby Blue crinkle ribbon.  Another piece of the crinkle ribbon was added to my journaling tag, which is tucked behind one of the photos.

The boy cameos were added to the top right and left corners of the layout and I created a bottom border by die cutting the We Did It! die three times and adhering it to the bottom.  You can also see some of the stamped images peeking behind the die cuts.

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I created a shaker card for my second project and used the following products from each of the companies:
  Die-Versions: Baby Boy Bootie
  Joy Clair: Oh Baby! (footprints); Hugs and Smiles (sentiment)
  DLART: Baby Bundle crinkle ribbon (blue)

After creating the shaker card, I heat embossed my sentiment and the baby footprints using Black embossing powder.  The Baby Boy Bootie was colored with Copic markers as I love bright, primary colors for babies (and in general :-).).  It reminds me of some little sneakers someone had given us when our son was a baby.  I also took advantage of the openings on the shoe to thread my ribbon through it to create shoelaces.

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For my final project, I created a quick Father's Day card and I used the following products from each of the companies:

  Die-Versions: Stitched Nesting Stars
  Joy Clair: Dad's Day
  DLART: Baby Bundle crinkle ribbon (Sweet Dreams - white)

This is a pretty quick card to make.  I stamped the popsicles across a piece of white cardstock and colored them all the same with Copic markers.  Pan Pastels were used to quickly color the background.  I stamped the image again with the sentiment added to the center, fussy cut it out, and colored it with Copics.  The entire piece was then heat embossed with Clear embossing powder.

I die cut the star using the largest and next to largest dies in the set to create a frame.  The frame was colored with Copic markers and the insert was heat embossed with Firefly embossing powder.  Then I adhered the focal image between the outer star frame and the insert.  This was then pop dotted above the line of popsicles.


I added a bit of Sweet Dreams crinkle ribbon behind the stamped images and adhered to a piece digi paper from Echo Park (Beach Party).

I hope you have enjoyed the Celebration Blog Hop!! Be sure to leave comments on on all the blogs for a chance at winning one of the many prizes!

Thanks for stopping by!!

Your next stop on the blog hop is Penny's blog.  If you should get lost along the way please go back to the Die-Versions Blog and the whole list for each day will be listed there.

Thanks

Today's quick and easy card features four recently released Die-Versions dies: Bird, Curly Words "thanks", Curly Words "friends" (I cut off the "s" at the end of the word), and Curly Fries font (the letters that spell out "my"). The Curly Fries font was specifically designed to coordinate with the new Curly Words.

The background was created with Color Bursts (Lemon Yellow, Alizarin Crimson) and a small piece of canvas paper.  After allowing the paper to dry, the various dies were adhered to the background and framed with a basic shape.  A few seed beads and sequins were added and the two curly words were embellished with a Spectrum Noir Sparkle marker (clear).  It's really hard to capture the sparkle these markers give to an image, but in person you can easily see it. 

The card base was spritzed with Dylusions Ink Spray (Lemon Zest) to coordinate with the watercolors.

If you'd like to save 15% on your next Die-Versions purchase, add the code anne15 when you're getting ready to check out.  This code is good anytime for all everyday priced dies.  Hve fun looking at all those fabulous dies.

Southwestern Bear

Southwestern Bear is one of the new southwestern themed dies from Die-Versions.  I used traditional colors and design.  Luckily I had an old (and I mean at least 15 years old) stencil that had southwestern designs on it.  I gave one of the patterns a more modern twist by using embossing paste in the design.  While the embossing paste was still wet, I sprinkled Nuance dye based powders all over and then let it air dry.  Once it was dry, I spritzed the entire are with Dylusions Ink Spray (Pure Sunshine).  The great thing about embossing paste is that it acts as a resist, so the ink wiped off with no problem at all.

For the Bear, I also used Nuance powders, but on glossy paper.  I also added back in the negative pieces to the main die cut.  I used that same stencil to cut out patterns for the various layers.

Even though I created a card, I could see this as a wall hanging or create a series of these in various colors and framed individually and placed in a grouping.

Birthday Wishes {Scrapy Land #29}

It's the first Wednesday of the month and that means it's time for a new challenge from Scrapy Land Challenge Blog.  The theme is Anything Goes using any brand of low profile/steel ruled die that Scrapy Land sells.  The winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to go shopping at the Scrapy Land store.

The dies I used to create today's card are:
Die-Versions: Birthday Cut-Out
Sue Wilson Designs: Delicate Fronds, Delicate Daisy Complete Petals, Delicate Daisy Open Petals

 To start out, I created a background using a version of Joseph's Coat technique that I read about from a Technique Junkie's newsletter.   Instead of using a brayer to add your colors, you choose a stencil and add your inks.  I used Distress Inks and a blending tool.

Stencil before adding VersaMark

Colors added, plus the VersaMark

After cleaning the stencil, VersaMark was applied over the openings and heat set with Clear embossing powder.  Then I applied Black spritzed Dylusions Ink Spray over the entire area and wiped away the excess ink from the embossed areas.

Completed background

Once the background was complete, I cut it into three panels and die cut my "Birthday".  A strip of white cardstock heat embossed with Sparkle embossing powder was added behind the letters.




Sparkle embossing powder was also added to some of the die cut flower petals before assembling.

Now it's your turn.  You'll have until Nov 15th to upload your project.  Be sure to visit the rest of this very talented team to see what they have created for you.  If you are interested in being a Guest Designer for Scrapy Land, check out the Scrapy Land Challenge Blog to see how easy it is to apply.

Dashing Through the Snow

It's never too early to start on Christmas cards and a perfect way to do that is to use the new Die-Stamp sets from Die-Versions.  The Winter Wonderland die set and coordinating stamp set were used in today's card.

To start out, the sled and snowman were die cut from white card stock, stamped with the coordinating image, and colored with Copic markers.  I also added Stickles (Star Dust) to the snowman body and the snow flakes kicked up from the sled.  Next I die cut two circles from more white cardstock.  On the first one, I spritzed it with Dylusions Ink Spray (Calypso Teal) and the second one I cut up to create snow banks.  After adhering the snow banks to the first circle, I covered the whole thing with more Star Dust Stickles and then adhered the snow man and the sled.

The front panel was dry embossed using a Crafters Companion embossing folder (Christmas Merriment); Distress Inks (Tumbled Glass, Broken China) gives the raised portions a touch of color.  Once this step was completed, I used a slightly smaller circle and die cut the center (be sure to save this piece for a later project) and layered the embossed front on top of the snowy scene.  The sentiment was stamped onto a piece of cardstock with Distress Ink (Broken China) that's the same as the card base and adhered below the focal point and then immediately covered with Ranger Clear embossing powder and heat set.  Then I stamped the small snowflake randomly along the rest of the strip.

Sunflowers

Sunflower from Sparkle N Sprinkle is another new reveal this month.  The technique I used for this card is the Coloring on Glitter technique.

I stared out by stamping the image with Memento ink (Rich Cocoa) and then covering the stamped image with a Super Adhesive Sheet.  Then I die cut the image with a Spellbinders Beaded Circles die. Using an Exacto knife, I then cut through the beaded edges protective sheet (without cutting all the way through).  After exposing the adhesive, Sunset glitter was applied to the outside ring of beads and Cloud Nine Velvet glitter was applied over the center of the die.

Next I added color to the flower using Distress Markers.  Adhesive backed pearls were placed along the outside ring.  Burlap ribbon and a heat embossed sentiment (using Distress Ink and Clear embossing powder) are final touches to the card.

Crystal Medallion Spinner (and tutorial)

When I first saw the new Crystal Medallion rubber stamp set from Sparkle N Sprinkle, it reminded me of a kaleidoscope.  That thought process led me to create this Penny Spinner card.  (You can find the technique here).  This is a very photo intensive post, so grab a drink, sit back, and I hope you enjoy (and maybe learn a new technique along the way).

I stared off by stamping the image and coloring it with Copic markers.  I picked my colors by random and just started coloring various sections.  Next, I covered it with Super Adhesive Sheet and fussy cut out both layers.  Once it was fussy cut, I peeled off the backing from the Super Adhesive Sheet and covered the entire area with Cloud Nine velvet glitter.  This gave each individual color of my kaleidoscope lots of shimmer.

Following the directions in the tutorial, I stamped my sentiment into the punched area using VersaMark and heat setting with Gold Coast embossing powder.  The top panel was liberally spritzed with Dylusions Ink Spray (London Blue) and pop dotted above the panel cut to the same size as the top panel.  (This white cardstock panel is where you stamp your sentiment.)


To create the corner piece, I started out with white cardstock.  I adhered a Dreamweavers metal stencil to the cardstock and applied embossing paste over it.  While the embossing paste was still wet, I covered it with Gold Coast embossing powder.  I set this aside to dry completely (over night) before I heat set the embossing powder with a heat gun.  Once it was dry and the embossing powder was heat set, I spritzed this with more London Blue.  The cool thing about this embossing paste/embossing powder combo is that it acts like a resist.  So, once I was happy with the coverage on my spritzing, I took a paper towel and wiped off the excess ink from the raised image.  Since I wanted it at an angle, I fussy cut out the design and adhered it to my focal panel with my Crystal Medallion spinner.

Since embossing paste and stencils are making a comeback at the moment, I thought I'd create a tutorial for this embossing paste/embossing powder technique.

To get started, you'll need to gather the following supplies: embossing paste, spatula (or a used hotel key card), brass or plastic stencil, cardstock, removable tape, embossing powder, and a container of warm, soapy water.  Once you begin, you'll need to work relatively fast, so have everything ready ahead of time.




You want to start off by taping down your cardstock to your craft mat.  Lay the brass stencil on top in the position you'd like it.   Then I like to tape off all four edges so everything is secure.  You don't want the stencil to shift while applying the embossing paste.

Take the back of the spatula, or anything that you can easily spread the embossing paste with, and apply over the stencil.   It's like icing a cake.  I start off with a thick layer of paste, and then as I'm smoothing it out, I'm also taking off the excess.  Just place any excess back into the jar so you can use it next time.  Even though it looks like you're using a lot of paste, most of it goes back into the jar.

You can have the paste as thick or thin as you'd like.  The thicker it is, the longer it will take to dry.  Once you're happy with it and all the openings are covered with embossing paste, carefully begin peeling off the tape in the reverse order that you put them on.  This helps to keep you from jarring the stencil and ruining the design.  Use the last piece  of tape like a hinge and gently swing the stencil up off the cardstock and then peel away from your cutting mat.   (Be sure to scrap off the stencil and place the excess embossing paste back into the jar too.)

The design should have crisp,  defined edges and look something like the photo above.  As soon as you've taken the stencil off, drop it into your container of water so that the embossing paste does not dry onto the stencil.  (It's extremely hard to clean once it's dried on.)

While the embossing paste is still wet, cover it with your embossing powder.  (You can go ahead and shake off the excess embossing powder and put it back into your container.)  The next step is the hardest - you have to set it aside and let it dry completely before moving onto the next step!

While it's starting to dry, you can clean your stencil and spatula.  I just take it to a sink and clean it with soap and a soft rag.  Since it was already in the container of water, the paste stayed moist and clean up is easy-breezy.

Once the embossing paste is dry (anywhere from several hours to over night, depending on how thick a layer you put down), take your heat gun and heat set the embossing powder.  It shimmers and shines and the embossing powder doesn't rub off.   As I mentioned earlier, this works as a great resist too.

Hope this tutorial helps spark some creative juices and encourages you to try it too.

I'm also entering this in the Dreamweavers challenge.

Altered Composition Book

For today's project, I've altered a composition notebook using some of the new release dies by Die-Versions.  If you haven't checked out the music themed release, you're definitely going to want to.

I had so much fun playing with embossing paste and embossing powder (you can see that Die-Versions card and info how I did it here) that I wanted to do it again.  This time, I used a plastic stencil from The Crafters Workshop (Aboriginal) and Martha Stewart embossing powders (which has lots of glitter in them).  After it was completely dry, I spritzed the entire thing with Dylusions Ink Spray (Squeezed Orange).  The embossing paste/embossing powder acted like a resist and I was able to remove all the ink from the raised areas.

The frame around the Elegant Piano is heat embossed with Ranger embossing powder (turquoise) and I added one of the notes from the Harmony Wee Petites to the frame.  The large Flourish Note was the perfect compliment to the piano.

I adhered this to music paper and added washi tape to the edges, some of which are colored with Distress Stains (Broken China).  The font used for the title is from last month's release and is the Gatsby font by Die-Versions.

Musical Kids

Die-Versions new release this month is all about music and I've incorporated four of the new dies into this card, plus a few handmade flowers that remind me of carnations.  The new releases are the Music Stand, Musical Boy, Musical Girl, and Harmony Wee Petites (music notes).

I started out by creating my background using a technique which combines embossing powder and embossing paste.  (You can see a video of it here by Jennifer McGuire.)  I placed the Dreamweaver metal stencil down onto white cardstock and applied the embossing paste.  After carefully removing the stencil, I covered it with Lagoon Blue embossing powder from Sparkle N Sprinkle and let it completely dry.

Once it was dry (I waited a couple hours), I heat set the embossing powder.  This gave it a really nice, but subtle, shimmer.  I didn't like the white background, so I spritzed the entire thing with Dylusions Ink Spray (Dirty Martini).  The raised embossing paste/embossing powder design acted like a resist and I was able to take a paper towel and remove all the ink from that portion, leaving a nice variegated background.

I wanted the boy and girl in silhouette and decided they were playing a duet together.  The little girl is pop dotted beside the boy to give the illusion she's standing right beside him, reading the sheet music from the music stand.

After adhering everything together, I felt it needed a little something more.  I remembered seeing these flowers several years ago and decided to make a few.  It's so easy too.... just die cut or punch a bunch of scalloped circles, all the same size.  Then lightly spritz them with water or a spritz (I added Smooch Spritz Vanilla Shimmer) to soften the fibers of the paper.  This allows you to crumple them up in a ball easier.  Once they are dry, punch a hole in the center and begin threading the layers through a brad.  Unfurl the layers as you go.  You can add as many or as few layers as you want to determine the size of the flower.  As I mentioned, these remind me of the carnations I taught people how to make out of gum paste or fondant for cakes.

You're definitely going to want to check out this new release as well as what the rest of the DV Dynamos have come up with.  I think you're going to be pretty impressed.

I'm entering this in the Dreamweaver's challenge: February Flutters.