Elegant Lace Flower

Good morning crafters!  It's video day for you today.  Sit back, relax and enjoy today's card in tutorial style.  Don't forget, you can always see the list of products used by merely clicking on the Joanna Sheen button below!

Finished dimensions are 7 1/2" x 8" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Wednesday Weekly Card Giveaway

Hello bloggers!  I have found this little gem for the card giveaway today.  I thought it was clean and pretty and one of you might like it as an addition to your abode.  Leave a comment today to be included in the giveaway drawing.  Winner to be announced on Saturday's post.  I started with a piece of coconut white card and stamped the Filigree Leaves background stamp on it using the Flake and Glitter glue.  I stamped it twice across the background then set it aside until the glue turned clear (I cleaned my stamp well in the meantime).  I covered the background with Diamond Sprinkles for a blingey tone on tone look.  Next up, I cut a Lattice frame out of white card and added foam mount to the back in strategic places to raise it for dimension.  I stamped the Vintage Birthday stamp on white card and white heat embossed it.  I cut it out with the matching Vintage Labels Four die and inked it with Peacock Feather distress ink while still in the die.  I stamped the sentiment the same way and inked it as well.  I layered it atop the larger piece to make my focal element.  I decided to add a small floral element to the card, so I went back to the Filigree Leaves background, inked it up with Flake and Glitter glue once again, but this time I stamped it on Aqua card.  I covered it with the Sea Green Polished silk glitter when the glue turned clear.  I used the Posey Flower die set from Heartfelt Creations to cut out the pieces to the flower from the background.  It gives a lovely random swirly pattern to the flower this way.  I assembled the flower and added a pearl to the centre and seated it on a messy bow tied from white seam binding.  I added a small bow of pastel Bakers Twine as a contrast.  I finished the card with a double white pierced mat and some flatback pearls in the corners.  Finished dimensions are 6 3/4" x 8" in size.  It needs a good home, so let me know if you would like a chance to be the parents! All for now, Sue x

Black & White Celebration Card

Good morning bloggers!  Here is the first video for the week.  I do hope that you can take some time out of your busy schedules to give it a watch.  Let me know what you think!

 Finished dimensions are 7 3/4" x 8 1/2" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Enjoy Your Day

 Morning my friends!  I have a confession to make.  Sometimes I have a small embellishment that I want to use and I design the entire card around it.  This time it was the ribbon.  I had been looking at this blue satin edged ribbon sitting on my craft table for a few days and was really wanting to use it!  So this card was the result.  It matched very nicely with our new Periwinkle blue card (which I also love) so that was it, decision made!  The whole time I was planning this card, I was going to make it mostly white with a bit of blue and black.  I changed my mind and decided to step outside my comfort zone a bit and omit the white.  I have to admit, I was happy with  the way it came out, but I really had to struggle to capture the colour in the pics.  These are the second set of photos that were taken, as the card just looked purplish in the first set.  I think I would have had a hard time convincing you that it was, indeed, periwinkle blue!
 I used the Lace Vintage stamps by Justrite and stamped the background with a clear perfect medium pad to get just a watermark effect.  Once stamped, I used the Interlocking Circles folder to add texture over the stamping to the background.  I matted it with a thin black mat.  Next I stamped the pieces for my centre buckle effect.  Again, I used the same stamp, but this time I embossed it with black powder.  I cut out three of these using the Vintage Labels Three by Justrite, using two dies from the set to cut frames into these.  I arranged the three frames and wove the blue satin edged ribbon through them creating my buckle.  I carefully added mounting foam to the back and attached them down the centre of the card.  I stamped my sentiment and decorative surround using a black Archival ink on to the blue card and cut it out with the Vintage Labels four die.  I attached it in the centre with mounting foam and added some flatback black pearls as accents.  I tied a double bow and added it at the top of the card using glue dots.  I added a fancy black button from my craft stash to the centre of the bow as an embellishment.  Finally finishing my card with a double blue pierced mat and some black pearls in the corners.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8 1/2" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Get Well Soon

Good Sunday morning!  I hope that everyone is staying warm and toasty this morning as I hear it has been a bit chilly (understatement!) lately!  I've got not quite two weeks before I experience it myself firsthand!  Today's card uses some of my personal favourite die sets, including the older set that was on yesterday's card (see I do use older dies quite often!)  I started by picking out some decorative paper from my stash.  It has a soft tone on tone pattern which is something I adore in papers.  You can see the pattern in the close up pics below.  I decided to go bold with it and mix it with a deep navy blue.  I cut two of the Scallop Borders Two out of the French Navy cardstock and taped them so they were peeking out the sides of the decorative paper.  I used some navy silky crush ribbon and wrapped it down the centre of the card and taped the ends to the back.  I tied a double bow and used glue dots to attach it the the bottom centre.  I couldn't find any embellishment that I liked to match so I created my own by wrapping some of the decorative paper around a rounded glass embellishment.  I glued it to the centre of my bow as an accent.  Next I cut a Vintage Labels Four die from Justrite using the navy cardstock.  I stamped it with the lacy stamp from the Vintage Birthday set from Justrite.  I used a clear Perfect Medium pad for a watermark look.  I stamped it again on taupe card, then stamped my sentiment over it in Cobalt Archival ink.  I cut them out and stacked them with mounting foam.  To add just a touch of extra to my focal element, I cut a Fancy Tag two die in taupe and cut it in half.  I mounted each end around the blue die cut, bringing the swirly bits around the front so it looks like it is holding the die.  I added a double mat in taupe, but only pierced down the sides of the card.  The finished dimensions are 6  3/4" x 8 1//4" in size.

It's Sunday, you know what that means (besides getting to sleep in!)...winners!

Two lots today.  The first set of Comment Game Winners is:
Carole Z!!!
Kym's Crafty Cards!!!
Liz Wagner!!!

From the extra qualifying post of Wed. Nov. 27th, the winners are:
Karen G. Ratcliffe!!!
Jean Z!!!
Erica!!!

Congratulations!  Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com to confirm your address and claim your prize!  All for now, Sue x

Best Wishes

 Hello my crafty friends!  Sometimes it is just hard to resist doing a really quick card to get the creative juices revved up a bit.  This is one of those.  There really isn't too much in the way of a description that you need, but I used the larger die in the Filigree corner set by Becca Feeken for this card.  I cut it four times and overlapped them at the edges to create a pretty panel design.  I glued them into place against a bright blue card for a crisp contrast.  I stamped my sentiment on coconut white card and cut it out with the Fancy Tags two die (it is from an older set, but it is one of my favourite tag shapes).  I inked through the die with Weathered wood to create a frame for my sentiment, then mounted it in the centre of the card using foam pieces.  I finished the card with a double white pierced mat layer and some flatback pearls in the corners.  Nothing hard or tricky about this one (I hope you aren't disappointed!)  Finished dimensions are 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" in size.

And since you have read to the bottom of the post, you are probably looking to see if your name was drawn for the card giveaway! LOL

The winner this week is:
Hot Potato!!!
Please email me at americansue1@gmail.com to confirm your address and claim your card.  All for now, Sue x

Christmas Double Day

Hi crafters!  Welcome to another double day Christmas post.    This first card is a personal favourite of mine, I have to confess.  I just love the simplicity of this design, remember I told you that it is a "go to" layout for me.  It always help jump start my creative juices.   I started with the white background and stamped snowflakes all over it using a clear perfect medium pad.  I heat embossed them with white powder for a tone on tone look (which can be seen in the close ups below).    I matted it with silver card then went to work on my focal element.  I used the snowflake background and stamped it on white card using a clear perfect medium pad.  I love this background as it has been drawn in negative.  The actual space around the snowflakes is what you are stamping, leaving the snowflakes to show up in whatever colour card you pick.  I heat embossed it with Silver Shine embossing powder.  I covered the entire piece with a sticky self adhesive sheet, then peeled the backing paper off and covered it with Iced Snow.  I trimmed it to size and backed it with a thin white mat.  I mounted it with foam atop my white background.  I stamped the sentiment and cut it into a strip and backed it with a matching silver mat.  I attached it across the card and added a silver messy bow, tulle and a crystal sparkler to complete my focal element.  I finished the card with double white pierced mat layers for a simple but elegant Christmas card.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8 1/4" in size.

For card number 2, I have done some baubles in stained glass style.  I have to admit that I only had a few Christmas colours of glitter on hand when I made these so I decided on just red and white.  You could easily make them more interesting with the addition of another colour to the mix.  I stamped the baubles on acetate using a black archival ink pad. Acetate is slippery and not the easiest thing to stamp on, but if you use an anti- static pad over it before stamping, it does help.    I let it dry overnight (as my acetate was not heat resistant so I couldn't emboss them!)  From the back side of the acetate, again I used an anti-static pad over the area then I used Cosmic Shimmer dries clear glue to fill in the areas that I wanted to use the red polished silk glitter.  I sprinkled it on then tapped off the excess.  I did the same with the white glitter areas then set them aside to dry overnight.  Once dry, I cut them out by hand (I didn't want to risk using the die on them), but I cut a white mat for each one using the dies and glued them together.  The white backing helps to pop out the colour of the glitter used.    I created an embossed background with a glitter edge for my card.  I place double sided sticky tape all the way around the edge of the card, then sprinkled Diamond Sprinkles over it.  Then,  using the Tapestry embossing folder, I embossed the piece.   I arranged the baubles in a cluster and made them look as if they were suspended by pearl swirls.  Using the thin red ribbon, I plaited a strip to create a side border for my card (directions for this are in the tutorial section at the top of the blog under Ribbon Wreath).  I used the wider version of the ribbon to tie a double bow and added it with glue dots.  I finished the bow with a pearl embellishment.  I matted the card with a thin red mat before finishing with my double white pierced mat layers.  You could easily add a small sentiment tag if you like, I decided to leave it simple this time.  Finished dimensions are 7 1/2" x 8 3/4" in size.  All for now, Sue x