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Text of the page (random words):
e wanted a religious themed easter card i didn t have much in the way of religious easter image or greeting stamps so i purchased trinity stamps simply sentimental easter stamp set coordinating dies while it s not a completely religious set it does have words phrases that are not necessarily cutesy in font style or context i got the greeting for this card from that set my inspiration came from this card i saw on pinterest while it s not an easter card i liked the cross on a label style background with an element in the middle of the cross so i ran with that i die cut the strips for the cross from dark brown cardstock with one of the barn wood planks dies from honey bee stamps because i needed them to be narrower shorter than the original die cut i first glued the die cuts to another scrap of cardstock then cut them with scissors to the sizes i needed because these dies cut deeply debossed details into the cardstock i had learned that if you want to trim them down at all you have to adhere them to a solid backing piece first so they don t fall apart i used a spellbinders labels four die discontinued for the panel to put the cross on i die cut that from white cardstock inked the edges with blue ink to help it stand out a little i glued the cross pieces in place making sure they were centered parallel to the sides and the top bottom as needed for the single dogwood flower i opened the dogwood branch digi image from fred she said in photoshop i used the eraser tool combined with the marquee tool to erase the rest of the image then sized the flower printed it onto a scrap of strathmore vellum bristol paper i added shading details with my prismacolor colored pencils then fussy cut the flower i glued it where the cross pieces overlap i die cut the elements for the greeting banner from the banners tails set discontinued from impression obsession after inking them lightly with the same blue ink i d used on the label i stamped the greeting with ground espresso distress oxide ink onto the banner i had created my background during juliana michaels stretch your stamps online class several weeks ago it s been sitting on my desk since then i decided it would be perfect for this card since it has kind of a masculine or at least gender neutral look and wouldn t overwhelm the focal panel i trimmed it down to 4x5 1 4 inked the edges and adhered it to a white a2 size card base i adhered my focal panel to that then added my greeting banner over the cross i used a few pieces of scrap heavyweight cardstock behind the main part of the banner to pop it up which also helped offset the slight thickness of the cross underneath it i really love how this card came out i m entering this card in little red wagon s challenge 853 easter projects posted by andrea d la vigne at 4 47 pm 2 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels cas coloring die cutting digital image distressing holiday inking masculine spellbinders stamping friday april 3 2026 have a joyful christmas this week s challenge theme at christmas card throwdown is slimline card i don t normally do slimline cards but i decided to have a go at it for this challenge i went with a portrait slimline card so i cut a piece of 110 lb white cardstock to 8 1 2x7 then scored at 3 1 2 along the shorter side folded that in half to create my card base i cut a piece of strathmore smooth bristol paper to 3 1 4x8 1 4 so i would have a narrow border on all sides of my panel once i put it on my card i stamped 5 of the images from hero arts christmas crystals set discontinued onto my bristol panel making sure to get them perfectly vertical while this card is not exactly what i d call clean simple i do consider it minimalist so having my images lined up just right was important for me i heat embossed the crystals with wow white pearl embossing powder because 2 of the crystals overlapped 2 others i first heat embossed the larger ones let that cool then placed the panel back into my misti i positioned the other crystals stamped them with clear embossing ink heat embossed them i think it actually worked quite well in the end after i had heat embossed all my crystals i used my zig clean color real brush pens to color them i used just one color per crystal to keep things simple i outlined a section with my pen then used a wet paintbrush to spread the color towards the middle of that section i did that one section at a time so the ink would still move freely i have found that if you let the ink sit long enough even on bristol paper it will set won t move as easily for the crystals that overlapped i made sure to use colors that wouldn t create mud i applied the lighter color first yellow pink then painted in the darker color i love how it looks like one crystal is shining through the other where they overlap just as i had planned when i finished adding color to all the crystals i had to figure out a greeting after much playing around and hemming hawing i decided to use the joyful and merry stamp set coordinating die set by kristina werner for concord 9th first i die cut the joyful from a scrap of bristol paper i taped the word back into the negative space for support used my yellow green brush pens to create a gradient of color over the word once the ink had dried i removed the word from the negative ran it through my xyron machine to apply adhesive to the back even after the ink dries liquid glue can reactivate it so i definitely wanted to stick to dry adhesive for this card for the supporting greeting strips i heat embossed the words onto another bristol scrap die cut them with a sentiment strips die from pretty pink posh and colored each strip with my purple brush pen i lightly tacked down the joyful die cut to my panel just to hold it in place while i worked i positioned the upper greeting strip marked the edge of the f on the strip where it crossed i cut that contour with my scissors adhered the strip with double sided tape tucking the cut end under the f there was a little hanging off the left side of the panel so i just cut that off with my scissors i repeated the process with the other greeting strip curving the left end along the descender of the y for the hangers on the crystals i poked a small hole at the top of each one i threaded a length of fine silver thread through each hole wrapped it around the top of the panel taped both ends on the back i decided to double mat my panel with silver foil midnight navy cardstocks both from recollections i first adhered my panel to the silver and used one of my perfect paper layers rulers discontinued with a craft knife to cut around the panel this allowed me to get a perfect 1 16 mat i cut my navy panel to 3 1 2x8 1 2 and adhered it directly to my card base i added the matted panel that finished this card i had considered adding glossy accents or clear embossing powder over the crystals for extra shine but i was afraid it might ruin the shading highlights i had worked so hard to get by making the ink on each crystal a solid muddle of color so i decided to quite while i was still ahead i m also entering my card in the following challenges simon says stamp s monday challenge emboss it the paper funday challenge 86 anything goes i am playing the optional die cuts and or punches twist creative knockouts challenge 568 embossing delight posted by andrea d la vigne at 4 05 pm 10 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels challenge coloring die cutting embossing hero arts holiday stamping monday march 23 2026 happy birthday the current challenge at seize the birthday is as always anything goes as long as it s a birthday card but the optional topping this time is using green as the main color i must admit it was a bit of a struggle for me for some unknown reason but i pulled out some of my green distress inks went to town i think i came up with a pretty cool birthday card if i do say so myself i believe i just did say so for the postage stamps i pulled out an older set first class from the essentials by ellen line discontinued even though i have had this set since before ellen hutson closed their online store maybe a few years ago i have never used it i came across it again in my bin of unused products decided i finally had to do something with it so i pulled out several of the stamps heat embossed them with ranger silver super fine detail embossing powder onto a large scrap of canson xl watercolor paper i used painter s tape to mask off the outer part of each stamp ink blended the inside portions like i said i used some of my green distress inks for most of the stamps in keeping with the challenge topping but also pulled in shaded lilac salvaged patina for accent colors on the 2 stamps with flowers after i had ink blended i used a wet paintbrush to paint over the blossoms with clean water then picked up the water ink with a dry cloth this bleached the color slightly for a subtle two tone effect i learned this technique in juliana michaels recent stretch your stamps class finally i cut my postage stamps out with scissors leaving a 1 16 border around each i used the largest of the scallop rectangles die set from pink main for the mat i cut it from mint green cardstock ink blended from the bottom to about 2 3 of the way up with cracked pistachio distress ink to give a subtle ombre look then i positioned my stamp images onto the panel this was actually probably the most time consuming part just trying to make everything fit and look like a balanced composition i finally got an arrangement i liked there was a large ish gap under the top floral postage stamp though so i decided to cut some small banners from patterned paper scraps to come out from under that stamp to fill the space once i had those tacked down to the back of that stamp i glued all my postage stamps to the mat panel with liquid glue in hindsight i wish i had glued the purple stamp sideways just to echo the top left stamp but i didn t think of that until after the glue had dried so it is what it is i don t hate it but i just think it would have looked even better after the glue had dried on all of my stamps i added my scalloped panel to a green cardstock mat that i d adhered to a white landscape a2 card base i m sending this card to kristina werner for the march mail call video next month where the theme is ink blending i m also entering my card in the following challenges 613 avenue create anything goes not playing the optional twist the paper funday challenge 85 anything goes not playing the optional twist inkspirational challenge 363 visual prompt used multiple shades of green botanical touches repeating shapes posted by andrea d la vigne at 2 58 pm 6 comments email this blogthis share to x share to facebook share to pinterest labels birthday challenge die cutting embossing inking stamping saturday march 14 2026 happy easter the sketch for try a sketch on tuesday s challenge 690 inspired the design for my card i basically followed the sketch to the letter though i did substitute a leafy cluster for the smaller background hexagon i began with the cross panel after i die cut the mat using an elizabeth craft designs stitched indented rectangle die discontinued i die cut the panel from canson xl mixed media paper with a hero arts rounded rectangle infinity die to fit inside the mat i determined the proportions of both parts of the cross cut 2 pieces of yellow frog tape to those measurements i lightly penciled the position for the tape pieces to center them on the panel adhered them on those marks i made sure to burnish them well to the paper as i did not want them to lift up let ink underneath spoiler alert that happened one of the palettes from sarah renae clark s color cube system old system version palette 342 inspired my ink color choices for the ink blending around the cross i took a cue from this image i found on pinterest i used a small ink blending brush to go around the whole cross with tumbled glass distress ink to give me a base color then i added in bits of peeled paint stormy sky broken china distress inks after i had what i felt was a good balance of colors i peeled off the tape masks unfortunately ink had leaked under the tape in a few small spots but that was nothing that a white gel pen couldn t cover up shhhh i adhered the main panel to the navy mat set that aside for the image hexagon i used deep red s lily blossom this is a stamp that i have had for a loooong time i don t use it that often but it seemed perfect for this card i stamped it onto strathmore vellum bristol paper with altenew s vanilla cream ink then die cut it with a we r makers nesting hexagon die discontinued i wanted a soft color but not quite as pale as for no line coloring i used my prismacolor colored pencils to color the leaves add shading to the flower petals to help it stand out a bit i inked around the edges of the hexagon with stormy sky distress ink i pulled out another oldie but goodie stamp stampabilities happy easter 2016 discontinued for the greeting i heat embossed it on another scrap of mixed media paper inked over it with tumbled glass distress ink i blended on some stormy sky to the bottom for an ombre effect after i did that i realized i may have made a bit of an error in judgment when i fussy cut as i was here i like to outline the greeting or image lightly in pencil first to give myself a guideline to cut on i picked up this tip from kristina werner but i was afraid that when i went to erase any errant pencil marks i might have i might erase the ink as well after thinking about it for a moment i decided to see if my frixion heat erasable pen would work so i tried it on a section of the paper that i knew i would cut away it worked like a charm all i had to do was hit it with my heat gun the ink disappeared without leaving a trace whew so i outlined the greeting with my pen leaving a little extra room around the greeting than i normally would then cut just inside those lines even cutting inside the lines i did have a few pen marks in the end i didn t cut off so i just erased them with a shot of hot air i die cut the leaves from mixed media paper with the smaller die from simon says stamp s etched laurel leaves set i wanted a soft green that kind of matched the leaf color i d achieved in the lily image it turned out cracked pistachio distress ink was a good match so i added some of that to my non stick craft mat spritzed with a bit of water ink smooshed the die cut leaves i dried that with my heat gun repeated a couple more times for the depth of color i wanted finally it was time to assemble the card i found a piece of patterned paper in my collection that had a very faint as in almost imperceptible yellow check pattern i cut that to the full 5x7 card size adhered that to my white card base i adhered the matted cross panel next i decided where exactly i wanted the hexagon used that to help me position the leaf cluster which i ta...