Friday, November 21, 2025

Color Inspired 18th Birthday Card


Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I have been commissioned to create a birthday card for a debutante. When I am tasked with creating a card, I usually ask about the recipient to customize the card. The only info I got is the party has a garden theme. I turned to the internet, specifically blog challenges, for inspiration. The Pinkfresh Studio Monthly Challenge was a great help in putting this card together. 

I stamped the floral cluster stamp from the PFS Best Thing stamp set on white cardstock. This stamp piece does not only have the floral cluster. It also has the bird. I only inked the cluster using a brown dye ink. I used the stencil to blend ink to the cluster. The colors I used are from the color palette in the monthly challenge. I die cut the cluster using the coordinating die. I created 6 pieces of this cluster.

For the card panel, I cut a blue cardstock at 4 1/4" x 5 1/2". Using the same cardstock, I trimmed a 3" x 4" panel. I die cut a design on this panel using a die from the PFS Classic Tags with Fillable Elements die set (retired). I backed this with a metallic green vellum.


I die cut the numbers on the same blue cardstock. I die cut multiples so I can adhere the number on top of each other for some dimension. I pounced Versamark ink on the top layer of the numbers. I poured iridescent blue embossing powder on the sticky ink then heat set it until the powder melted.

The sentiment is from the PFS My Favorite Things To Say stamp set. I did some masking to come up with the 'you' sentiment. I inked the words with the blue ink and Versamark ink and stamped the words on white cardstock. I used the same embossing powder I used on the numbers. Since the font of the word 'celebrate' is thin, not a lot of powder stuck to it. I fussy cut the word 'celebrate' leaving a small white border around it. I die cut the word 'you' into a strip. 


I positioned the floral clusters on each corner of the cardstock panel. Once I am happy with the placement, I lifted these pieces off the panel using a Glad Press 'N Seal. I adhered the vellum panel, then adhered the floral clusters, making sure the vellum panel is showing through the center opening created by the clusters. The clusters will have some overhang on the sides which I later on snipped off. 

I adhered the numbers, then the sentiment. I added blue sequins to the panel.


I hope you like today's card. Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!


I shared this project at






Sunday, November 16, 2025

Repeated Stamping to Create a Background~A Blank Page Muse Post


Hello! I am at the Blank Page Muse Blog with this card. This month's theme is Friendship/Kindness/Gratitude. The stamp I used is the BPM Kindness Changes Everything stamp set.


Please visit the BPM blog for more details. 

Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this card at




 

Saturday, November 8, 2025

Thankful Art Journal Page~Friendship-Kindness-Gratitude, A Blank Page Muse Post

 

Hello! I am at the Blank Page Muse Blog with an art journal page. This month's theme is about Friendship-Kindness-Gratitude. 

The BPM products that I used are:
Please visit the blog page for more details. 

Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this page at




Friday, November 7, 2025

A Crow For Christmas Card


Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I won a give away at @valleyoakpaper IG page. The prize I got was a Spellbinders 13 Days of Craftoween which I received the week of Halloween. Lots of good Halloween die images to create in this package. Since I rarely create Halloween cards, I challenged myself to use something from the package and make it Christmas themed. I chose the crow die set for this challenge.

I did a web research if it is possible to feature the crow on a Christmas card. Surprisingly, I can. I die cut the layers of the crow. The die set sleeve was helpful in making me plan the colors of the crow layers. I changed the colors of the beak, wing, hat trim, bow, monocle and claws. 
 


I die cut the beak and wing on dark gray cardstock. I blended black ink to the right side of these die cuts.

I die cut the hat trim and bow on red pearl cardstock.

I die cut the monocle on gold mirror cardstock. I punched a circle on a transparency. This circle is large enough to fit the monocle. 

I die cut the claws on mustard cardstock.

I outlined the brow of the crow and added a dot to the eye using a white gel pen.

I added the leaves which I trimmed from a wreath die cut. This was die cut on green glitter paper. I added a red gem to the center of the leaves.


The tree is a Tim Holtz tree ephemera. I added green glitter gel to the tips of the tree and a bit on the center. My glitter gel dried up after not using it for almost a year. I spritz water to it until the gel loosened enough to spread it. I used a micro tip applicator to apply the glitter gel to the tree. I set this aside to allow the glue to dry.

The frame is also from same Tim Holtz ephemera pack. I lightly blended ink to the outer edges of the frame.

I die cut a brown cardstock using a Lawn Fawn banner die. I spelled out the message using a Lawn Fawn Milo's ABC stamp set. It took a while to put the message together since some of the letter stamps will fall on its side or move. I used the negative cut of the banner to position the letters. Thankfully, none of the letters fell off after I inked the letters while it was attached to the acrylic block. I stamped the letters using red dye ink. It would have been better if I was able to emboss it but I did not want to push it since putting the letters together took a lot of effort.


I die cut a gray patterned paper using a stitched die. I adhered the ephemera to the panel. I adhered the bird to the banner, and adhered this to the panel with foam tape.

What do you think? Will the crow pass for a Christmas creature? 

Thank you for visiting my blog. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this card at



Saturday, November 1, 2025

Sketch Inspired Christmas Card




Hello! Welcome back to my blog. We have new sketch challenges at Stick It Down Scrapbook and Card Making Challenge in FB. It is easy to join having three options to choose from.

I used scraps from a 6x6 Lawn Fawn patterned paper pad for the arrow pennants. I trimmed the paper in 3/4" width with varying lengths. I used a We R Makers Corner Punch Chomper to created the arrow on one end. 

For the sentiment banner, I trimmed a green cardstock at 4 1/4" x 1". I made pencil marks on the center point of each of the short side and 1/4" from the corners. I cut off the corners to create the arrow edge using these marks as a guide. 

For the sentiment, I die cut a My Favorite Things sentiment die on a red patterned paper. I cut two more of it on red cardstock. I adhered the cardstock sentiment die cuts on the back of the patterned paper sentiment die cut to create dimension. I temporarily set this on the arrow banner so I can position the sentiment stamp for heat embossing. 

I pre-treated the stamping area with an anti-static powder before stamping the sentiment with Versamark ink. The stamp sentiment is from Lawn Fawn. I lightly pressed the sentiment stamp to the paper to prevent creating heavy and uneven impressions which can happen with acrylic stamps.

I poured white embossing powder to the sticky ink, then heat embossed it. I adhered the sentiment die cuts on top of this stamped sentiment. I drew a line border on the inside of the arrow banner using a white gel pen.

I adhered the arrow flags to the back of the arrow banner. I trimmed off any excess on the top. 


For the background panel, I embossed a 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" white cardstock with a Simon Says Stamp 3D embossing folder.  I adhered the sentiment banner with the pennant to this.

I embellished the pennants with snowflake die cuts and sequins.

I adhered this to an A2 note card

Comparisons with my card and the sketch:
  • I added arrow cuts to the sentiment strip so it will have the same cut edge as the pennants.
  • I have a two lined sentiment compared to the one lined sentiment on the sketch. 
  • The sketch's pennant has spaced and different lengths of pennants. My card also has varying lengths of pennants but I made the pennants longer and touching each other, some of which are slightly overlapping.
  • I did not add a matte as on the sketch. I actually forgot about the matte. At this stage, I think I can still add a matte by carefully trimming the edges of the panel with the use of a craft knife. It will still be different from the sketch since I will let the banner and pennant extend to the matte. But I like the clean white space of the background so I just kept this panel as is. 
I hope you like today's card. Please visit Stick It Down's social media sites for more sketch inspiration:


Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this card at