Easter Wishes For You...

Today's Easter card involved a little experimentation on my part with another of my newer sets of dies. Much like the Opulent Oval dies used in yesterday's card, the Adorning Squares set comes with dies that emboss only and some that cut and emboss, and there are almost countless ways you can combine them.  I wanted to see if I could get a debossed look with some of the dies, and it actually worked the way I had planned...a pleasant surprise, because that's definitely not always the case with my ideas! LOL

Another happy discovery was finding that one of the Parisian Motif dies fit perfectly inside the solid center of the square die combo...it was all a series of fun surprises while die cutting this one...

I was able to get the debossed look I wanted by combining two of the square dies (the two largest in the set) and embossing them (no cutting at all) onto the square of cream cardstock.  Then I cut and embossed the purple cardstock with just the smaller of the two dies used on the cream.  After I glued the purple over the cream, matching the patterns, I ran it though the diecut machine with the circle die to cut out the center.  When I did that, it pressed the purple and cream layers together and gave it the debossed look I was after.

Wrapping floral sprays around shapes is one of my new favorites these days...and this design lent itself well to that...

The pretty cream ribbon flower with a pearl center came pre-made from the craft store...another happy accidental find as I cruised through the sale section one day...

The digi collage is "sunken" beneath the circle die cut into the cream/lavender layer, and the green layer.  It's adhered to the light lavender background layer, then the other two layers are adhered above it - the green layer with foam tape...

Supplies:

Dies:   Spellbinders Adorning Squares, Parisian Motifs, Standard Circles Large, Standard Circles Small;

My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Floral digital image:  The Graphics Fairy        Sentiment stamps:  Papertrey Ink

Paper Flowers:  Wild Orchid Crafts       Martha Stewart Medium Branch Punch       Pearls:  Recollections

Ribbon flower:  local craft store       Handcrafted stick pin

Thanks so much for visiting today.  I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and if you're celebrating the holiday, a blessed Good Friday and Easter Sunday.

Easter Flutter-By...

I'll be sharing Easter cards today and Friday, but even if you don't participate in the celebration of this holiday, the cards could be easily adaptable for any occasion...well, any occasion where flowery cards would be appropriate...LOL

The focal point of today's card is another digital collage...clipped to an oval shape to fit another of the oval dies in the same set as used on last week's pink and purple birthday card...

The frame is popped up from the card front with foam tape. Rather than place the frame over the oval collage as on last week's card, the collage is cut with the decorative oval and sits above the frame on this card...popped up with a double layer of foam tape...

To continue the thick row of pearls from the left side of the card over to the right, I glued the center of the bows in line with the pearls, and placed another small cluster over the bow centers...of course, I had to add one of my fun stick pins...

It's hard to see, even in the close-up, but there's clear coarse glitter on the daisy petals...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  Graphic 45 Fashionista/Vintage Cherries (dots-"b" side);  Prima Divine collection (aqua)

Dies:  Spellbinders Opulent Ovals;  Classic Ovals Large

Digi collage elements:  French label: The Graphics Fairy;   Background paper: KPertiet/Designer Digitals/Inspiring-4;  

 Grid pattern:  KPertiet/Designer Digitals/Ledger Grids 1;   Butterfly floral:  Karenswhimsy.com (Easter pictures-5)

Crocheted lace:  TheFunkieJunkie.com        Pearls:  Recollections        Sentiment stamps:  Hero Arts;  Papertrey Ink

Hug Snug seam binding       Handcrafted stick pin

Thanks for stopping in for a visit today...I hope you're having a wonderful week!

Easter's On Its Way...

I'm making up just a few Easter cards this year, and today I can show you the first.  Rather than use a holiday-specific embellishment or paper, I opted to go for the feeling of Easter...soft pastel colors and, of course, flowers.

I pulled out one of my favorite My Minds Eye 6x6 paper pads with soft Spring colors, and realized, with this card, I have officially used up every sheet in this paper pad with the exception of the saved "scrap" pieces...and I've done it twice. :)  Guess it's time to see if I can still find a new third pad somewhere!

I thought I was being oh-so-very-clever by using one of my shaped rectangular dies and cutting only the front of the card with the shape, leaving the back/inside in the original straight shape...until an online friend posted a similarly shaped card, and when I complimented her on her fine imagination (two great minds and all that), informed me that a large manufacturer already sells pre-cut cards in this shape. OK, fine, so I'm not that clever after all...LOL.

The golden-yellow flower trim came from a new favorite Etsy seller...I topped it with mini paper roses, punched branches, diecut leaves, and a few little pearls scattered here and there...

Each of the scalloped patterned paper layers are popped off the card base with foam tape for a little bit of dimension...

Instead of using pearl flourishes, I used the small pearl sprays from the craft store...then added a pearl stick pin woven through the small sentiment tag...

And finally, a side view with a peek to the inside...

Supplies:

Patterned papers:  My Minds Eye Miss Caroline/Fiddlesticks collection

Dies:  Spellbinders Grand Scalloped Rectangles;  My Favorite Things Royal Leaves

Punches:  Fiskars Threading Water;  Martha Stewart Medium Branch

Gold rose trim:  Suhafuha on Etsy      Mini paper roses:  Wild Orchid Crafts

Loose pearls:  Recollections      Pearl stems:  local craft store

Sentiment stamp:  Papertrey Ink      Handcrafted stick pin

Thanks for visiting today...I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

A Photo-Heavy Happy Leap Day!

A friend asked if I would make some Easter cards using some of the clipart I'd gathered up lately...two of each image. Now how could I say "no?"  Flowers, and springtime colors...no need to ask twice!

I did customize the mini collages at her request to remove the text/labels, so you may see some of these same images appear later on but in different configurations. :)  And even though I was making two cards with each image, I felt I had to make some slight changes to each one, so the recipients would know they were special enough for a one-of-a-kind greeting.

On all of the cards, the folds are at the top.

First up - the corals. On the first card, I reduced the size of the clipart to fit inside the Tattered Angels chipboard frame.:

On the landscape version, I kept the clipart at ATC size (2-1/2" x 3-1/2") and placed the chipboard frame at one end just to highlight the flowers and birds nest.

One thing I should note-when I have an A2 card with elements that might go over the edge of the card itself (as with the doily on this card), I use A6 envelopes (4-3/4" x 6-11/16") to mail the card to accomodate the oversized embellishment(s), rather than the usual A2 sized envelopes.

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Graphic45 Once Upon a Springtime/Spellbound (coral floral);

BasicGrey Wander collection (aqua solid)

Clipart: Robin's eggs nest: The Graphics Fairy ; Tulips: Dover Publications;

Dotted paper:  Free Vintage Digi Stamps 

Chipboard frames: Tattered Angels      German glass glitter: GlitterandKitsch on Etsy

Border punches: Martha Stewart Swirling Lace (bottom edges); Fiskars Threading Water (aqua strips)

Laces: local craft stores      Doily: Wilton      Hug Snug seam binding

Pearl & crystal flourishes: Prima      Pearl cluster: Recollections

Next up is the teal and violet set...I love the strong colors in this set...

On this set, the only changes I made to the landscape version were to change the size of the image, and accent with a pink bow instead of green:

Supplies:

Patterned papers: DCWV Latte Stack (solid lavender); Graphic45 Botanicabella/Secret Garden (green print);

Pink Paislee Vintage Vogue collection (light pink print)

Clipart: Small violet bunch: Dover Publications; Vase, Flowers, & Easter eggs: The Graphics Fairy

Paper doily: MFT Decorative Doily Duo     Edge punch: Martha Stewart Double Arches

Scalloped lace: LittleRedCottage on Etsy      Crocheted lace for "flower": local craft store

Pearls and flourishes: Prima      Hug Snug seam binding

And last but certainly not least, the pink set...lots of doily edging on this first card:

There was less room for layers of doily-edged papers on the landscape orientation card, but it still works. And the flower and bow accents are changed to green instead of pink...

Supplies:

Patterned papers: Echo Park Victoria Gardens collection (pink damask); BasicGrey Curio collection (green lace print);

BasicGrey Out Of Print collection (bright pink solid)

Clipart: Floral basket, egg & flowers: Bumble Buttons; Butterfly: Dover Publications

Laces: local craft stores      Edge punch: Martha Stewart Eyelet Lace      Pearls& flourishes: Prima

Fabric flowers: Frogfeathers on Etsy      Hug Snug seam binding

There isn't too much going on in the Korner so far this week...I've been a little under the weather.  But I hope to be back this weekend with some new projects to share.

Happy Leap Day, thanks for stopping by, and have a wonderful week!