On Your Special Day

Good Sunday morning all!  A cream and black number for today.  I started by inking up the Byzantine mask with a clear Perfect Medium pad and embossing it on to milk coloured card.  The ink was then transferred to the recessed areas in the background.  I heat embossed these with Ivory embossing powder for a tone on tone look.  I matted it with a thin black mat.  For the focal element, I used the Lacy Tier die set and cut it in black to create a frame.  I stamped the Ribbon and Swags stamp from Justrite in black Archival and cut it out with a circle die.  I mounted it on foam above my frame.  I stamped the sentiment in black and cut it out with a small decagon die and inked it with Antique Linen.  I mounted it in the centre.  I tied a messy bow out of chalk seam binding and added it to the corner of the focal element.  I finished the bow with some cream pearl string pieces, a crystal sparkler and two fancy stick pins.  I finished the card by adding a milk coloured mat that I pierced, then a thin black mat and a final milk mat.  The finished dimensions are 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" in size.

Now for the Sunday Comment Game winners!  This week's winners are:
Virgina Davey!!!
Ang!!!
Yvonne Masterman!!!

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

Nothing So Strong

Hello crafters!  I love this technique and use it quite often.  It's triple stamping and if you haven't tried it, hopefully I will inspire you to give it a go.  For today's card, I used the flower from the Stitched Flowers by Justrite.  I selected three different colours of cards for my three panels.  I have used milk card for the smallest one, then taupe card, then chestnut card for the largest back panel.  I secure them into place with a piece of sticky tape between them, then stamped all over with my stamp inked with Black Archival.  You won't be able to get the ink to go across the edges of the card without leaving a small void, but don't worry, it doesn't matter.  After you are finished stamping, carefully take the layers apart and cut black mat layers for each one.  This will cover the gap in the stamping and set each panel off nicely.  Reassemble them adding foam mounting tape between the layers for dimension.   I simply used an Antique Linen distress marker to colour the edges of the flowers, keeping it very simple and in the same neutral colour tones.  I can easily imagine this done on white card and coloured with some pretty vibrant colours too.  For the centre focal element, I stamped the tag from the set in black  and cut it out with the matching die.  I inked it with Antique Linen before removing it from the die.  I stamped it again, added the sentiment, thee cut it out with the smaller die in the set and mounted it on top with foam for dimension.  I stamped a single flower, coloured it and cut it out by hand.  I added a button to the middle with some Bakers Twine and added it to the corner of the top panel.  I finished the card with a double mat of milk card and added a pierced edge to the upper mat.  Finished dimensions are 8" x 8 1/4" in size.

Now for the winner of the Wednesday card giveaway.  This week's winner is:

Carole Zorzo!!!

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

Best Wishes

 Hi guys!  Taupe, aubergine and soft gold, an unusual colour combo but I really like it together.  I stamped my sentiment from the Bold Sentiment stamp set on taupe card in the upper corner.  I used the Calabria to cut an aperture in the centre, then I cut the card on the diagonal.  I embossed the unstamped side using my Basket weave folder.  I put the pieces back together,  and taped them into place from the back, adding a border along the diagonal cut.  Using the Calabria die from the Italian collection, I cut it in soft gold card and reinserted it into the aperture.  I covered a piece of taupe card with a sticky adhesive sheet and then covered it with Diamond Sprinkles.  I glued this in place behind my aperture.  I matted the entire piece with a thin mat of aubergine card.  I cut a bunch of the Faux Quilled Blooms in taupe, milk and aubergine and assembled them, finishing with pearl centres.  I arranged the flowers around the centre of the card.  I finished the floral element with some swirls and coloured twine.  The card was completed with a double mat of taupe card with a pierced inner layer.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 8 1/2" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Squared Rectangles

Hello my crafty friends!  Today's video shows a great technique for changing the look of your rectangular shaped dies, giving you much more versatility and value for your die use.  I hope you can take a few minutes to check it out.
Julia Watts has shows on C &C today at 9am and 3pm  with brand new Taylored Expressions stamps if you are able to tune in.  She always has beautiful samples and interesting demos so the shows will be well worth the watch.

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

Wednesday Weekly Card Giveaway

 Hello bloggers!  I did say that I would be posting some older cards and I thought this one was nice enough for the card giveaway today.  I started by selecting some mid grey card and I taped the Large Polka Dot Mask over it.  I used the clear Texture paste and spread it through the mask on to the card.  Once I was satisfied it was all nicely covered, I peeled away the mask and decided to add some bling to it by drizzling it with Iced Snow.   Since the paste was wet, it stuck quite nicely.   I set it aside to dry for several hours before assembling my card.  In the meantime, I set to work on my focal element.  I stamped the Vintage Labels Seven Rose by Justrite on to white card with a clear perfect medium pad.  I heat embossed the stamped image with silver shine embossing powder.  I cut it out with the Vintage Labels seven die and inked it lightly with Tattered Rose before removing it.  I stamped it on more time and embossed it again, but this time, I cut out by hand the centre rose circle.  I used Distress markers to colour it and I added it with foam for dimension to the other die cut to create the focal point of my card.  Using Gold Elements Four, I cut out one large and two smaller frames out of white card.  Once my background was dried, I used the silver seam binding to weave through the frames to create a buckle card effect.  I taped the ribbon ends to the back of my background.   I tied a messy bow and added it to the side with glue dots.  I added a vintage silver button to my bow and two stick pins.  I mounted my rose  die cut in the centre.  I finished the card with some matting and layering with pale pink and white mats and some of my usual piercing too.  Finished dimensions are 7" x 7" in size.  Please leave me a comment if you would like to be in the drawing to win this one.  I will announce the winner on Saturday's blog post as usual.  All for now, Sue x

Gilded Lace Panel

Hi bloggers!  Today's card is the reason that I wanted a longer border in the California Collection.  You can easily offset the pattern with a 9" long border and still make a large card if desired.  I love this style card as it is just so easy and really gives a wow for the recipient too.  I hope you can take a few minutes to enjoy the video.

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

Fabulous Day

 Good morning all!  I thought I would show off one of the pretty matching stamps for the Spanish Collection with today's card.  On aqua card, I stamped the Floral Cartouche stamp using a black archival ink pad.  I cut it out with the outer cutting edge of the Valencia die.  I coloured the stamped image with Distress markers and highlighted areas with a soft lead white pencil.  To create the background I used the Quilted Flower embossing folder with a piece of coconut white card.  I wrapped some zircon green seam binding around opposite corners and taped the ends to the back.  I used mounting foam on my stamped die cut and added it the centre of the card.  I stamped a sentiment and then cut it out with the Fancy Framed Tags One set.  I inked it through the die with some Tumbled Glass and Dusty Concord distress inks and mounted it in the middle of the card.  I tied a messy bow with the zircon seam binding and added some Bakers Twine before finishing it with a white crystal sparkler in the centre.  I made two fancy stick pins to adorn the bow.  The rest of the card was completed with some matting and layering with both aqua and white card and a pierced mat layer.  Finished dimensions are 6 1/2" x 9" in size.  All for now, Sue x

Sunshine Of Life

Good Sunday morning all!  I have been having a look back through some files and found some cards that were never posted so I thought I would sprinkle them in over the next few weeks (hope you don't mind seeing some older ones!)  This is definitely classed as one of those cards where the dies do absolutely all the work for you.  I like these kind though, so you can just have a play with the dies and see what you come up with!  First I embossed the background using the Wild Holly embossing folder from Couture Creations.  I extended the pattern to create a slightly larger background.  Using the Becca Feeken's Filigree Bracket Label and Tag die, I cut four of the tiny die to use as corners and glued them into place, adding a pearl to each of them.  Next I used the Lacey Tiers die and cut four out of silver card.  I arranged them on the card so they were all offset a bit to give a star sort of shape.  Next I went back to the Bracket set and cut two of the tags out of coconut white card and crisscrossed them and taped them together, adding a piece of mounting foam and placing them in the centre of my focal element.  I used the small die again and cut four more, but this time in silver and added them around a sentiment that I stamped and cut out with a square die and inked it with Brushed Pewter distress stain before removing it.    I added a silver square mat to it as well.  I finished the card with a combination of silver and white mats with my usual paper piercing on one of the white mat layers.  Finished dimensions are 7 1/2" x 7 1/2" in size.

Now it's time for the winners of the Weekly Comment Game to be announced.  This week's winners are:
Sandra Biggs!!!
Mabex!!!
Diane G!!!

For the extra qualifying post of Wed. May 14th, the winners are:
Alice G!!!
CraftySusan!!!
Dawn Louise!!!

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