Pixi Dust Designs Holiday Release

 Hi everyone! Are you ready to get inspired to start your Christmas crafting? I'm sharing some very fun projects all made with the fabulous new release from Pixi Dust Designs. 

***I'll list and link all the dies I used right below each photo. Click on the text highlighted in blue to open each product's page*** 

These two cuties were created with the new Tumbler dies, Santa Tumbler Add-on, and Reindeer Tumbler Add-on. They are about 6 inches tall when fully assembled. 

I have turned the tumblers into 3-D ornaments by using a die from the Box Mechanisms set. Below is the side view. I doubled up the card stock layers on the front and back tumbler base panel to make them extra sturdy. I added an eyelet to reinforce where I punched a hole to tie some bakers twine. You can fill the little box with candy, money, or jewelry and give as a gift. 

Next up are some little tag boxes that I've decorated with the same Santa and Reindeer elements from the tumbler sets. 

To make the little box, I used the new Holiday Tag Box dies. The box measures 2.5 inches wide by 2.75 inches tall and just over 1/2 inch deep. These would be a great attached to a package with some candy or a note inside. 

Check out this video over on my Instagram account so you can see these much better. Photos really don't do them justice since they are 3-D. 

I will be posting more Pixi Dust Design projects soon. There's so many adorable new holiday die sets in the new release and I can't wait to share what I have made with them. Thanks for stopping by today! 

Hello Bluebird Birthday Mice Card

Hi everyone! I have birthday card to share today featuring images from the super cute Birthday Mice stamp set that was released in July with the Celebration Time collection. And just a heads up, Hello Bluebird also has a new fall and Halloween release that’s available now on their website for pre-order.

To create this card, I have used the Birthday Mice stamp set for all the mice images and the stamped sentiment on the front. To create the fun border around my scene, I have used the Ripple Frame dies. The die cut hooray and shadow layer is included in the Eat Cake Words die set.

I used Taylored Expressions Buttercream card stock for the A2 size card base. The frame and background of this card is pattern paper from a Simple Stories 6x8 paper pad - Say Cheese Classic Pooh Baby.  I love the color palette and tried to match my Copic coloring to the paper colors the best I could.  The mice are colored with the warm grey Copics.  

I wanted to add a little something to the inside of this card so I included an another mice image and a sentiment from the Inside Birthday Greeting stamp set. This set is a great one to have with a variety of greetings perfect for the inside of birthday cards. 

Just as soon as I receive the new Fall collection from HB, I will be posting card inspiration here and on my Instagram. Thanks for stopping by today!

Waffle Flower Sweet Ghosts Halloween Card

I have a restock alert for you all today! The Sweet Ghosts die set has just been restocked over at Waffle Flower. This set includes some of my favorite ghost dies. I've have used them many times and I'm sharing the most recent card I've made featuring these cute little ghosts.  And just FYI.... the September Waffle Flower Release does include some brand new Halloween products.  Click here to see the Fall Favorites Release. 

There's a lot going with this card design, so I kept the color palette minimal. I've used shades of peach, black, and white only. The card base is A2 size to which I added black & grey postal stripes created with the Postage Collage Coloring Stencil set. 

To create the peach background, I started with a panel of Spellbinders Bellini card stock trimmed to fit inside the striped edges. I used Catherine Pooler Coral Cabana ink to stamp the text background. Sadly this Halloween text print is an old MFT background stamp and is no longer available. 

The die cut ghosts, bats, and jack-o-lantern are from the Sweet Ghosts die set. The Boo word is a stand alone die set which includes the shadow layer. 

I pulled out a stamp from Taylored Expressions for the "hey, ghoulfriend" sentiment. It's included in Halloween Simple Strips stamp set.  The little star die cuts are also from TE - Stars Little Bits die set. 

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope to be sharing lots more seasonal makes in the coming weeks including more halloween, fall, and Christmas. So keep an eye out for them!

Sunny Studio Sweet As Can Bee Cards

Hello Everyone! I'm sharing a couple of bee theme cards made using the absolutely adorable Sweet As Can Bee stamp set from Sunny Studio. I've also done a little creative fussy cutting to make a custom bee hive. I'll explain how to do this in detail below. 

This first card includes lots of images and a sentiment from the Sweet As Can Bee stamp set as well as my custom made bee hive. 

Making a your own card stock bee hive is very easy to do. Start with creating a template by folding a small sheet of copy paper in half. Next draw the bee hive shape on the folded paper like you see in the photo below. If you'd like to make the same size as mine, use the measurements in the photo. Next cut the shape out and unfold the paper. Now you have a template for a perfectly symmetrical hive which you can trace onto card stock and fussy cut out. I cut mine out of pale yellow card stock. I then added shading and splatters to give the hive some definition and interest. Lastly I used a 3/4" circle punch to create the opening and backed it with a dark brown card stock. 

After my bee hive was complete, I stamped the sentiment and then adhered it with foam tape to a panel vellum cut slightly smaller than A2 size. I embellished this panel with lots of Copic colored flowers and bees. Once I had the placement of everything just right, I adhered my little bee hive scene onto a pink A2 size card front. The pink card front was splattered beforehand with gold and pink watercolor to give it a speckled look. 

For the second card, I have created another playful scene with the bees and flowers, only this time I used the Frilly Frames Hexagon Dies to create a background that perfectly pairs with the Sweet As Can Bee stamp set. 

The Hexagon Frame has been die cut from light yellow card stock and then backed with a creamy ivory card stock. I then layered this frame over top a bright pink panel slightly smaller than my A2 size card base. 

I wanted the sentiment to take center stage on the card with the bees and flowers surrounding it. I used a combination of word stamps from Sweet As Can Bee and the Sydney Alphabet Dies to create this fun sentiment.  I then added the flowers and bees to create a carefree style composition. 

I hope I have given you a bit of new inspiration for making whimsical bee theme cards. Thanks so much for joining me today! Copics used to color the images are listed below.

bright pink - RV10, RV13, RV14; medium pink - R83, R85; bright green - YG11, YG13, YG17; medium green - YG61, YG63; bright yellow- Y11, Y13, Y17; mustard yellow - YR32, Y2; black- N2, N4, N6; cool shading on white flowers -C1, C3; light blue shading on bee wings - B00

Anna Griffin 3D Hydrangeas - 2 ways to add gold detail

I think it's safe to say that Hydrangeas are quickly becoming my favorite flowers, both real and paper versions. I recently purchased the Hydrangea 3D dies from Anna Griffin. This die set will create lush, dimensional hydrangeas blooms. I have made three cards showcasing these pretty flowers to which I have added gold detail to accentuate the petals. 

There are two ways to apply the gold accents - hot foiling and inking up the dies with metallic gold ink before die cutting. The ink method is much like letter press. I have found that Delicata metallic gold pigment ink works very well for this technique.

For the pale pink hydrangeas on the card below, I have used the inking method. I lightly pounced the gold ink pad directly onto the dies before sending them through my Empress die cutting machine.  

The inking method is a bit more subtle but much quicker to do than hot foiling. It's a great way to make the details of the die cut hydrangea blooms stand out. When you're done, the pigment ink will wipe off the dies easily with a little rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. 

The next two cards have gold foil petal details. Since the Hydrangeas are 3D dies, you can run them through the Empress Gild with hot foil. This method creates a really stunning effect!

For this card, I have used the Luxury Hydrangea Blue Matte Foil card stock for the flower. I simply ran it through my Empress Gild to add the gold hot foil.

My last card shows how the gold foiling looks on plain pink card stock. It's equally as stunning.

I really can't decide if I like the pink or blue hydrangeas better. Both are so pretty! 

Either way, this Hydrangea die set will be getting lots of use this summer.