Sunday, October 29, 2023
Painting with Stencils
Tuesday, October 24, 2023
It is All About Mushrooms
Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Mushroom seems to be on trend in the crafting world. Do you agree? To join this trend, I created this card with a mushroom background.
I am using the Blank Page Muse Cute Mushrooms stencil. I masked the stem of the mushroom so I can blend a red ink to the cap of the mushroom. I used two shades of red inks, Tim Holtz Distress Oxide? I blended the light colored red ink first, then blended the darker shade to the base of the mushroom cap to add some depth to the base of the mushroom cap.
Once done, I removed the mask from the stencil. I cleaned the stencil, then reposition it over the panel. I masked the cap of the mushrooms this time. I blended Tim Holtz Distress Oxide in Antique Linen on the stem.
When blending ink on a large panel like this, make sure you mask the areas that does not need inking. Even if you don't think you need it. Why do I know? I just made a boo-boo on this panel, putting red ink on a part of the panel. You should have seen me cringe when I realized what I did.
To fix my boo-boo, I cut a frame on red cardstock using a Pinkfresh Studio die. I adhered this in a way that it covers the boo-boo. I trimmed off the excess. Now, comes a different problem. The frame has decorative holes. Since I offset the panel to one side, the other side is bare behind the holes. To fix it, I adhered the part of the panel with the boo-boo on the back of this. Whew! I am glad that I did not have to pitch this ink blended panel.
Saturday, October 21, 2023
Halloween Banner
Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Today's project features a digital paper from Blank Page Muse, Creepy Cute Halloween Digital Papers. The digital papers and ephemera included in this digital set are Halloween themed but some of the images in this set can be used all year long.
I am using the tag from the set. After I downloaded the ephemera sheet, I cropped the tag that I am using to remove the rest of the ephemera included in the sheet. I am a thrifty crafter so I try to max out the number of tags I can fit in an 8.5" x 11" light weight cardstock. After resizing the tag, I was able to fit 8 tags in a sheet. I trimmed each tag. Since the paper I used for printing is light weight, I adhered a black cardstock to the back of each tag. I placed something heavy on top of these tags while it dries so it will dry flat.
Once the tags are dry, I die cut each tag using a tag die from The Stamp Market. I added a hole reinforcer which I die cut from the excess digital paper. The reinforcer die came from the tag die set. I adhered the hole reinforcer to the top of the tag.
For the letters, I die cut an orange cardstock using the Spellbinders Stitched Alphabet dies. I spelled out 'Happy Halloween.' I stitched black DMC embroidery floss on the stitching holes of each letter.
To put the tag together, I added foam adhesive to the back of each letter. Before adhering the letter to the tag, I added a looped metallic floss in between the letter and the tag. I reinforced some of the foam tape with glue if they are not adhering too well to the tag.
I added halloween icon sequins for some embellishment.
Sunday, October 15, 2023
Stitching on Embossing
Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Today's card is part of the Kat Scrappiness Thankful 4 U Inspiration IG Hop. I added the link to the hop at the bottom of the post. I hope you can join us.
If you have been following me, you know that one of my joys in crafting is being able to stitch on my project. Today's card has stitching on it. I'll get to this later on the post.
I stamped the images from the Kat Scrappiness Thanksgiving Gnome stamp set on white cardstock. I colored the images using Prismacolor pencils. I die cut the images with the coordinating die.
For the focal point of the card, I am using the KS Thank You Word with Shadow Craft die. Instead of die cutting the detailed sentiment, I embossed this on a yellow KS Autumn Glitter paper. To emboss it, you need add a silicone mat to your die cutting machine sandwich, laying it underneath the paper to prevent the die from cutting the paper. I highly recommend lightly misting the paper with water to prevent the paper from cracking. Also, only do one pass of the embossing sandwich thru the die cutting machine. Running the paper back and forth through the die cut machine made my paper crack.
The nice thing about the KS Glitter paper is that it only has the look of glitter without the glitter. This makes sewing on it easy. Not to forget that there is less mess because of the faux glitter.
I adhered a scrap piece of cardstock to the back of the embossed glittered paper. This prevents tearing of the glitter paper as I poke holes on it. The embossed impression guided me on where to poke stitching holes. Poke holes on corners and adjust the spaces of the holes from these corners. The stitching holes does not need to be perfectly spaced from each other. Another tip is do not poke holes close to each other even if these holes are on different sides of the letter. Poke the hole a bit higher than the other. This prevents the holes from connecting because of a tear. If you cannot add a stitching hole to a part of the image, it is okay. The floss will cover this up.
I am using a DMC Variegated embroidery floss for stitching which works really well on projects like this since you never know in what part of the sentiment the floss will change color.
I die cut this stitched glitter panel using the shadow die. I die cut the shadow die on a scrap piece of cardstock first then used used the negative piece of the die cut in positioning the die over the stitched glittered panel. I used the scrap shadow die cut to add dimension to the embroidered die cut.
Another Card with Stitching on Embossing
Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I got hooked to this technique of stitching on embossing after my first card using this technique. I only have tried this technique on sentiment dies, embossing it on paper, then stitching on the lines. But who knows? Maybe it can work with other dies too.
My first card using this technique will go live later here in the blog but you can see it now through the Kat Scrappiness Thankful 4 U IG Inspiration Hop.
What makes this card different from my KS card is that on this card, I repeatedly embossed the sentiment die on the whole panel of the cardstock which was cut at 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". The repeated embossing and passing of the cardstock panel through the die cutting machine flattened the embossing But the embossed lines remained intact. The die I am using is the Lawn Fawn Sripty Thanks die.
I adhered a light weight paper to the back of the embossed panel to minimize any ripping that might happen during poking and stitching. I stitched the words using a DMC Variegated embroidery floss. Once the stitching is done, I flicked white paint to the panel.
I colored the main sentiment with a green watercolor and a green mica paint. I did not put a lot of water ot the brush since I am not using a watercolor paper. I created a sub-sentiment strip using an emerald colored cardstock. The word stamp is from the LF Love Letters stamp set. I heat embossed this on the emerald cardstock using white embossing powder. I trimmed this to make it into a strip.
Friday, October 13, 2023
Weaved Christmas Tree Platform Pop-up Card (WCMD Card #3)
Thursday, October 12, 2023
Ink Blended Stamped Background (WCMD Card #2)
Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I am so inspired by Doodlebug's World Card Making Day Challenges that I created a second card. For this card, I was inspired by their mood board which I attached at the end of this post. The theme of the mood board is Halloween but what caught my attention is the colors on the mood board. I am using a Doodlebug stamp set called Cute and Crafty.
On a Strathmore Bristol paper cut at 4 1/2" x 6", I blended Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks following the colors on the mood board. I made pencil marks on one side to give me an idea of how much space I need for each color. I blended the inks to this panel. I set this aside to dry before I stamped the images. You can also speed the drying process with the use of a heat tool.
Using the Misti Stamping Tool and a sticky mat, I positioned the ink blended panel on the center of the sticky mat. I arranged the stamps to this panel, then picked the stamps with the door of the Misti. I treated the inked panel with an anti-static powder. I inked the images with Versamark ink, then stamped the images to the inked panel. I poured white embossing powder to the inked images, then heat set it. I repeated the process until I filled up the panel with embossed images.
The stamp set includes small stamps which I used to fill the open spaces of the inked panel.
I flicked some shimmer liquid to the panel. Oxide inks react with water. Without drying the water droplets, I patted this with a dry paper towel.
I die cut the blended panel using a stitched rectangle die to make this into a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" panel.
The sentiment is from the stamp set. I heat embossed this on black cardstock using white embossing powder. I die cut this into a sentiment strip. For the main sentiment, I die cut the letters on black cardstock. I die cut this twice, then adhered it on top of each other for some dimension. I used a T-ruler as a guide in adhering the letters straight. The letter dies I used are from Lawn Fawn.
I adhered another strip of black cardstock on the back of the sentiment strip for dimension. I adhered this to the top of the letter die cuts.
I lightly inked the edges of the blended panel with Tim Holtz Black Soot ink.
I added shimmer to the letters using a clear shimmer pen.
I hope you like today's card. Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!
Maria Giselle B.
I am sharing this creation at
A Doodlebug WCMD Card
Sunday, October 8, 2023
Guardian Gnome of the Pumpkins
Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I created this card to welcome fall. I don't know about you but it has finally gotten cold in our area. I am also today's blog author at Blank Page Muse featuring this same card.
Thursday, October 5, 2023
Using Patterned Paper on Die Cut
Hello! Welcome back to my blog. Today's card was created as part of my Altenew Level 3 journey. On this card, I am showcasing what I have learned from the 3D Floral Focus by Therese Calvird, specifically the class on using Design Paper & Washi Tape. I did not use washi tape. I only used patterned papers except for the die cut backing in which I used cardstock. I used the same technique to a previous card I created. Please check it out if you are interested, Die Cut on Patterned Paper.
The patterned papers that I used are from the Simple Stories Autumn Splendor paper pad. Using a paper line on a project takes off the guess work on mixing and matching patterned papers since these papers complement each other.
Patterned papers are usually light weight. I wanted to make the die cuts sturdy so I adhered a light weight cardstock on the back of the patterned paper that I used. I die cut the flower and leaves from the Altenew Craft a Flower Daisy Layering die set. I inked the edges of the die cuts with color coordinating dye inks. This does not only add definition to each layer but it also hides the color of the cardstock that I adhered on the back of the die cut. I also used a glitter marker to add shimmer to the flower center.
Most of the work on this card was on the stitched frame. I trimmed the wooden patterned paper large enough to fit the die cut flower and leaves. I added the poking holes to this panel using an Altenew String Art Rectangles die. I did partial die cutting since the panel is smaller than the the largest rectangle die in the set.
Using a craft knife, I cut a window on this frame. Stitching the embroidery floss this frame proved to be a challenge. Because of the criss-cross design of the string art, the floss cannot be threaded too tight or too loose. Despite the cardstock backing, the frame curls if the tension of the floss is too tight. In hindsight, I would have cut a larger panel and backed it with a heavy weight cardstock instead of the lightweight cardstock. I will trim off the edges to make this into a frame once I am done with the stitching.
I trimmed the same wooden patterned paper at 5 1/2" x 4 1/4". I trimmed a scrap cardstock a little bit smaller than the stitched frame. I adhered strips of patterned paper to this cardstock panel. I used a lighter colored patterned paper from the paper pad. I swiped a baby wipe to this panel before embossing it with the Altenew Wicker Texture 3D embossing folder. This makes the paper resilient to the embossing, thus, prevent cracking. You can also lightly spray this instead of using a baby wipe. I blended a light brown ink to this panel to emphasize the raised areas of the embossed panel.