Spellbinders Guest Post feat. Amaryllis Christmas by Yana Smakula

Hello, crafty friends! I'm on the Spellbinders Blog with three cards featuring the Amaryllis Christmas by Yana Smakula, one of many awesome releases now available in the Spellbinders store!

If you missed my post featuring another card using products from this collection, you can find all the details HERE or by clicking on the image below.

Affiliated product links are listed below at no extra cost to you. Details on how I made each card and more photos are on the Spellbinders Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Concord & 9th | October 2024 Guest Designer | Cottage Charm Stencil Pack

Today is my last guest post for Concord & 9th's October Release and I'm featuring the Cottage Charm Stencil Pack. This pack of four layering stencils is truly charming and you can get very different looks just by switching up the colour palette or even going with a monochromatic look. Aside from using ink pads, you can try embossing pastes to add dimension, texture and shine!

My colour palette for this card is the simplest of all my guest designer cards but it allows the stencilled pattern to shine. The colours I used are Tidepool, Juniper, Blueberry, Eggplant and Matte Gold Foil Paper.

After stencilling, I set the panel aside and cut two strips from Juniper and Eggplant cardstock. I die cut the sentiment from the Short & Sweet Dies using Blueberry cardstock with a Matte Gold Foil shadow, adhering both layers to a Tidepool base.

After attaching all the pieces to the card base and popping up the sentiment with foam tape, I added tiny Gold Enamel Dots to the stencilled panel which finishes the card nicely. The gold elements are reflected in the shadow of the sentiment.

I hope you enjoyed today's project. If you missed my previous posts, you can find those here:

Day 1: Afternoon Tea Bundle

Day 2: Feathered Friends Bundle

Day 3: On Display Bundle

Day 4: True Story Bundle

I'm so grateful to Concord & 9th for having me as their guest designer this month! If you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below. Thank you for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders Guest Post feat. Happy Hour Collection

Hello, crafty friends! I'm on the Spellbinders Blog with three cards featuring different ways to use the Happy Hour Collection, one of many awesome releases now available in the Spellbinders store!

Affiliated product links are listed below at no extra cost to you. Details on how I made each card and more photos are on the Spellbinders Blog. Thanks so much for stopping by!

Supplies: 

Lunar New Year Challenge + Giveaways | September 2024

The Lunar New Year Challenge is back and we've partnered up with your favourite craft companies all year long so that means there are giveaways every month! This month, we're giving away ONE $25 gift certificate to Simon Says Stamp, ONE $25 gift certificate to Lawn Fawn, ONE $25 gift certificate to RAM Stamps, and ONE $25 gift certificate to Waffle Flower. That's a total of $100 in giveaways in September!

My first card for this month features some new favourites from our September sponsor, Waffle Flower. These include the Overlapping Christmas Words Stencil Trio, Overlapping Christmas Words Matching Die and Overlapping Christmas Additions Stamp Set.

I've only used two of the sentiments from this incredible bundle so you can imagine all the possibilities with the other holiday words in this set. Since we're talking about Lunar New Year and Chinese New Year cards here, of course I'm using a repeating Happy New Year sentiment!

I chose a delightful colour palette that was inspired by a Mid-Autumn Festival illustration by the artist littleWhale. All of the ink colours used to stencil the letters and stamp the scripted 'happy' are from Concord & 9th: Poppy, Nectar, Harbor and Midnight.

To allow the die cut phrases to stand out, I chose a Midnight base panel, which I added texture to using Spellbinders' Starshine Background.

After glueing the Midnight base panel to the card base, I arranged the sentiments on an angle, using a T-square ruler to make sure they were all lined up nicely. Once I was happy with the layout, I used foam strips to give them a bit of dimension. To finish, I die cut stars from Gold Glitter paper and added those to the card.

The rules are simple. You must create a new Lunar New Year, Chinese New Year or a 2024 Dragon Birthday card and add the link to your post in the link-up party. For September, we're also inviting you to create Mid-Autumn Festival cards. Please see THIS post for more inspiration! Multiple entries are allowed. Backlinking to an older project is strictly prohibited.

Our September Lunar New Year Challenge will run from 12:00am EST on September 1, 2024 through 12:00pm EST on September 30, 2024. We would love to see you using products from our four generous sponsors! The four lucky winners will be randomly selected from all eligible entries and announced at the start of the October Challenge. 

(save and share with your project)

Visit the September Link-Up Party post HERE to see all of the design team projects and be inspired to create your own! When sharing your challenge entries on social media, feel free to save this badge and post it along with your project. Please tag us @lunarnewyearchallenge on Instagram and use the hashtag #lunarnewyearchallenge so everyone can find and be inspired by all your amazing projects.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I'll see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Waffle Flower | Stencilled Butterflies Mini Slimline + NEW Grip Mat Review

My awesome friends at Waffle Flower sent me their *NEW* Grip Mat - Big Mini Bundle to review and I love them so much! I already own and love the grip mats that fit inside both original and mini MISTIs so I was more than excited to try the two newest sizes - the 7.5x11" Grip Mat and 4x4" Grip Mat - which are now the largest and smallest sizes available.

Waffle Flower also sent me a few products to play with, perfect for pairing the 1+ Shader Brushes I already have and love. Featured here are the Butterfly Shaker Die and coordinating Butterfly & Daisy Stencil.

After die cutting the butterflies from Snowdrift and Sweet Potato Pie cardstock, plus antennae from Silver Glitter cardstock, I used Buttercream, Mandarin Spice and Ballet Slipper to ink blend the small butterflies on the die cut.

To frame the mini slimline, I cut the largest of the Mini Slimline Nesting Rectangle Frames from both Alabaster and Ballet Slipper cardstock. After cutting small corners from Juniper and Silver Glitter cardstock, I assembled the background and popped on the butterflies. To finish, I added a sentiment from the Print & Script Take Care Die, stacked two layers in Juniper, and glued it in place.

The 7.5x11" Grip Mat is a great size for the 9x12" Media Mat (was Stencil Mat) and the 4x4" Grip Mat is the perfect compact size to leave on your craft desk for stencilling small die cuts. I hope you'll check out all of these products in the Waffle Flower Shop.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope to see you again soon!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | Let's Celebrate Collection - Part 2

Hello, crafty friends! I'm back with two more cards using Yana Smakula's Let's Celebrate Collection collection for Spellbinders. If you haven't already had the pleasure of creating with some of these beautiful products, you'll definitely want to check them out! Once again, I've used the same colour palette to create two very different cards for this post. For more inspiration, please visit my first post using this collection HERE.

I love this summery palette, which reminded me of watermelon. It's just an overall fresh and playful colour combination and I really enjoyed creating with it. The colours I pulled are Lipstick Red, Sweet Blush, Mint Julep and Fern and I used Mirror Silver cardstock and Matte Silver Hot Foil as my accents.

Obviously, my first card using Peony Celebration took a lot longer than my second card. The die cut peony is so stunning but there are a lot of pieces, especially since I layered the outline with Mint Julep and Mirror Silver cardstock.

I die cut the insert pieces for the flowers from Lipstick Red and Sweet Blush. I love that there's a base die, which I cut from vellum for subtlety.

I glued the Mint Julep outline down first, then glued all the red and pink pieces before trimming off the leaves from the Mirror Silver outline and glueing that down to finish.

I used Matte Silver Hot Foil to heat foil the fun birthday sentiment from Let's Celebrate Sentiments. As I mentioned before, I absolutely love using letterpress dies with hot foil.

This second card was so easy to create with Floral Celebration Press Plate and Stencil Bundle on a Porcelain BetterPress A2 Cotton Card Panel. You can also buy the Floral Celebration Press Plate on its own if you really enjoy colouring with your own mediums!

There are six layering stencils in total and it's quite obvious which colours were used. The inks that I felt coordinated perfectly with the coloured cardstock and metallic silver elements include Rouge, Samba, Cotton Candy,Wintergreen, Cilantro and Oyster.

To finish, I used Red Hot Foil on Snowdrift cardstock for the sentiment from Let's Celebrate Sentiments.

I die cut a Mirror Silver shadow for the sentiment and added a few silver pearls to embellish the card and make it more festive.

When I create two or more cards at once, I always like to have a contrast between the two cards, usually one dark and one light. These two are so different, which makes it hard to choose a favourite. If you had to choose one, which would it be? For me, definitely the green one with Peony Celebration, mostly because of the hilarious sentiment from Let's Celebrate Sentiments.

I hope you enjoyed today's projects! Be sure to check out the Buzz-Worthy Club Deals and save up to 25% off on Select Past Clubs now through June 8, 2024. 

I appreciate you stopping by and, if you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: 

Spellbinders | May 2024 Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month - Tropical Bloom + BONUS Tropical Bloom Stencil

Today, I'm sharing two cards featuring the May 2024 Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month from Spellbinders. Both cards feature the "Tropical Bloom" Glimmer Hot Foil Kit and the second card also features the BONUS coordinating "Tropical Bloom Stencil", only available with The Deluxe Caboodle Value Club. Club Kits close on the 27th of each month so get them while you can!

Ever since I made THIS card featuring the Daffodil Spray, I've wanted to make another card in this style and it was time! This fresh colour palette was inspired by Lauren Wager.

The cardstock I pulled are Hero Arts Pumpkin, Spellbinders Glacier and Barely Peach, and Concord & 9th Clover. After cutting up various slices of each other and taping them together at the back, I was ready to heat foil.

I used Matte Gold Hot Foil to heat foil the large "Tropical Bloom" directly onto the panel. It's not perfectly foiled on the Clover section but it'll do.

The "Tropical Bloom" Glimmer Hot Foil Kit comes with two sentiments with coordinating dies. I heat foiled this particular sentiment with White Hot Foil on Clover cardstock and die cut it a second time from Mirror Gold cardstock.

After popping up the sentiment with foam strips, I added a few coordinating Tangerine Glitter Dots. What do you think of this design? How does it compare to my previous card featuring the Daffodil Spray?

My second card also features the "Tropical Bloom" Glimmer Hot Foil Kit but I also used the BONUS coordinating "Tropical Bloom Stencil", which is only available with The Deluxe Caboodle Value Club.

This time, I used Pewter Hot Foil to heat foil the "Tropical Bloom" twice on white cardstock. I love this shade of foil as an alternative to black because it's not quite so dark and has a lot of shine. It's just so beautiful to look at in person.

The BONUS coordinating "Tropical Bloom Stencil" comes with two layering stencils and I used the following inks to add colour to the flower: Concord & 9th Nectar, Catherine Pooler Mandarin Spice and Tranquil, and Concord & 7th Clover.

The sentiment banners are all from the Cheers to You Sentiments Press Plate & Die Set but I heat foiled them here, also using Pewter Hot Foil. I love that you can use BetterPress plates as hot foil dies, too! To finish, I added a few Nectar Enamel Dots.

Here's a list of monthly club kits I share, as well as some of the value kits offered by Spellbinders:

Stitching Die of the Month

Glimmer Hot Foil Kit of the Month

The Deluxe Caboodle Value Club

I appreciate you stopping by and, if you're inspired, please shop my affiliate links below. Spellbinders would love to know that you were inspired by me. Thanks so much for your continued support!

Supplies: