Acrylic & Stencils on Art Journal

 

Hello! I am on the Blank Page Muse blog with this art journal page. I used the Summer Wildflowers Postoids Collage Art Rubber Stamp and Sunflower and Dragonflies reusable plastic art Stencil. 

I used acrylic markers for the coloring. Acrylic markers are opaque which allows you to add color on top of another color without altering the original color. Blending may be challenging with acrylic markers.

I masked the postage edges using an artist tape. To lessen the stickiness of the tape, I repeatedly adhered the tape to my forearm and removed it. You can also do this trick on your clothing, your shirt or your shorts/pants.

To create this into a postage, I stamped the cost of a first class mail on the top left corner of the die cut. Can you believe how much it costs to mail a first class mail these days? 

I did not do a good job stamping the letter c. I colored the blank areas with a black gel pen to fix this. 

The sentiment stamp I used came as a one liner sentiment. I wanted to create it into a two liner sentiment to make it fit on the right corner of the postage die cut. I masked one of the words and inked the unmasked word. 

After I removed the tape, I stamped the inked sentiment to the bottom right corner of the postage die cut. 

I cleaned the stamp and repeated the same masking-inking technique on the other word.

I stamped the inked sentiment on top of the other word to complete the two line sentiment.

This is how the art journal page looks like from the front. 

I hope you like today's art journal page. Please visit the BPM blog for more details on this project and for more inspiration. Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

Blank Page Muse is having a FLASH SALE! 10 HOT red rubber stamps are featured for sale with an amazing 50% discount. What a deal, right? 

But if there is nothing on the sale category that interests you, BPM is generously offering a 15% discount to their online store to YOU, my blog readers. Just use the code BPMMaria when you check out.

Only 1 code per transaction please. Enjoy!

Graduation Cards with Gift Card Pocket Ideas

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. I was tasked with a major project of creating 13 graduation cards. Aside from the graduation theme, the request was for the graduation cards to have a pocket for a gift card. If you follow my blog, you already have a preview of two of the graduation cards. I added these two cards on this post.

The card on the right is a pocket card with a belly band for accent. I am so happy to be able to add some stitching to this card since my fingers have been itching to stitch. The one on the right is a gift card box. I used the We R Memory Keepers Shadow Box Punch Board to create this. The features of these cards can be more appreciated on the short videos below.

Belly Band Grad Card with Stitching

Shadow Box Grad Card

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These graduation cap cards are fun to create. I designed the graduation caps how the caps are jazzed up these days. The tassel is made of rolled up, fringed crepe paper. The card on the left stands up for display as shown on the photo below.

The features of these cards are better shown in the short videos below. 

Stand up Grad Cap Card

Folded Grad Cap Card

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The card on the left features a wobbly Cricut cut graduation cap. The one on the right is an oversized tag to which I added a gift card pocket. I also added two elements that I love, stitching and rosette.  Below are videos showcasing these two cards.

Wobbly Grad Cap Card

Oversized Grad Pocket Tag 

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I created a slimcard sized graduation card with the gift card pocket on the front which can be seen through the front panel year window. 

See Through Gift Card Pocket Grad Card

So as not to waste the number drop outs of the previous two cards, I used these numbers to create the above cards. The gift card pocket was a simple pocket which I forgot to take a photo of.

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Let's not forget the first two cards of this graduation collection which I created for Stick It Down. This a two-for-one card. The card on the left is a shaker card and the card on the right has 3D stars. Details of this card can be seen on this post: 2-for-1 Graduation Cards.

And for the star of these graduation cards collection, the card made especially for the son of the person who commissioned me to do this graduation project. (Thank you for allowing me to share this card.)

I used the Karen Burniston Photo Collage Pop-Up Craft Dies. This die set may look intimidating at the start but after putting the elements together, it is actually fun. Opening and closing the card is like ASMR. I added a bit of twist on this pop-up card by substituting some of the pop-ups with letter/number dies. I personalized the card to the graduate's faves and his future college. 

This card does not have a gift card pocket. I added stitched rectangles for the sender to write a message on.

Below is a video showing the ASMR moment of the card. 

If you got this far on this post, thank you so much. I apologize for a very long post but I hope you enjoyed the short videos showcasing the grad cards I made.

Have a blessed, brilliant and created day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this project at

Simon Says: Masculine #10

Bookmarks on a Card Sketch

 

Hello! Welcome back to my blog. It is time for a new challenge @ Stick It Down Scrapbook and Card Making Challenge on FB. Joining is very easy. Create a new project following this month's sketch. Upload your project to the SID FB June folder. There are 3 sketches to choose from, a single scrapbook layout, a double page scrapbook layout and/or a card. Choose one or choose all!

I got busy last month with a huge project that I had to set aside my paper stitching. I am so happy that I was able to add stitching to this month's card sketch. The pattern is from Just CrossStitch Magazine, Volume 44, Number 2, Summer 2026 edition. The name of the pattern is Tapestry of Twelve which is a large pattern. I did spotlight stitching on parts of the pattern.

The die I used to add the hole impressions on the cardstock is from Altenew. It created a faux 14-count Aida cloth on paper. I used an 80 lb light gray cardsotck on my project. I used 2 strands from the 6-ply DMC embroiderry floss. 

After I stitched the patterns on the cardstock, I used a craft knife to carefully trim off the excess leaving a thin border around the patterns.

I adhered this stitched panels to a darker gray cardstock using a double adhesive tape. I trimmed off the excess using the stitched panels as a guide. Now, there are two bookmarks created. 

I made this into an A6 card (4.5" x 6.25") to accomodate the length of the bookmarks. I trimmed a gray cardstock at 4.5" x 6.25" for the front panel. I added details to this panel with the use of The Greetery Aida Cloth Texture Plate to tie up with the stitching theme of the bookmarks. Since the plate is smaller than this front panel, I added the impressions on a staged fashion. I partially impressed the die cut on the top half of the front panel with the die laid horizontally to it. Afterwhich, I moved the front panel so that the die will be positioned on the area where there is no impression. I matched a portion of the impressed area with the die before running it through the die cut machine. I felt it lock in place that's why I know that the position will be just right.

For the sentiment on the sketch, I used a vellum to hold the stamped and die cut sentiment. At the same time, this vellum band will keep the bookmarks in place. The sentiment stamp and die is from Pinkfresh Studio. I stamped this on a dark gray cardsotck using a green dye ink. I stamped the sentiment again with Versamark ink so I can emboss it with clear powder. I love it that the sentiment was intricately die cut especially the space on the center of the words. I die cut an extra piece to layer it on the back of the stamped die cut sentiment for a bit of dimension. The vellum band was secured with a piece of tape on the back.

To keep the bookmarks from slipping down, I created vellum photo corners using scrap strips of vellum. I want to give a shout out to Aunt Annie's Crafts for this technique. I folded the vellum strip at a 45 degree angle to form a corner.  I slipped this to the corners of the bookmark. I applied a dot of glue to the back of these vellum corners, where the slit is. I slipped the bookmarks through the vellum band and pressed the photo corners to the front panel to adhere it. I placed something heavy over the photo corners, magnets in particular, while the glue is drying. 

Below is a video showing how the bookmarks stayed in place on the front panel, what it looks like when it is removed, and how to put it back. 

I hope you like today's card and my take on the sketch. I hope you join this month's challenge. We can't wait to see your projects.

Have a blessed, brilliant and creative day!

Maria Giselle B.

I shared this card at

Simon Says: Anything Goes #150

Stitching FB Challenge~Monochrome

June 2026 FB Challenge~Sunshine