Brutus Monroe Magical Shattered Glass Decofoil Transfer Sheets

The irridescent shine on this is amazing, I hope you can see it here or on the attached video.

I used the Brutus Monroe Sanctuary Stencil with Distress Oxides in Cracked Pistachio, Peacock Feathers, Chipped Sapphire, Wilted Violet and Villianous Potion. For me Distress Oxides have a creamy texture that make blending easier.

You could stop here and have a beautiful card but I recently saw Christopher Alan's (Brutus Monroe) Facebook Live where he showed this technique. It's rare that I drop everything and buy a product but the Magical Shattered Glass Transfer Foil is gorgeous!  You need the Brutus Monroe Finishing Glaze to make it stick. You can also use the Finishing Glaze alone and it will leave a shiny surface.

I used a palette knife to apply it, leave a thin coat. You must dry this completely. I let it dry overnight on the counter. After it's completely dry, I put one sheet of the Foil Transfer on top, put it between a folded sheet of copy paper and ran it through a laminator. I think you can also use the Heidi Swap Minc, but I don't have one of those. Peel off the sheet and voila!

 The irridescent shine on this is so amazing, I hope you can see the video.

Here are some clickable links to the products I used. The DecoFoils Transfer Sheets come in a variety of colors, so check them out, no point in just making one. LOL

I appreciate you using my links, I get a small commission with no additional cost to you!

The Brutus Monroe on line store:

(This sells out often but is restocked)

Finishing Glaze leaves a shine or used with a laminator will make the Foil Transfer sheets stick

This mat is so good for ink blending! Keeps the paper in place.

Palette knives to apply the Finishing Glaze

Christopher's Sentiment Dies (these are large)

My favorite blending inks, creamy! 

Altenew Red Crowned Crane

The Altenew Red Crowned Crane dieset is one of those sets I think can be easily overlooked, what a mistake that would be. This card is so special, it looks like framed wall art. In fact, my mother had a silk screen panel with a similar feel, which is what I based this card on. In reality, I went to my sister's house and looked at it and realized it wasn't cranes at all. Not sure what I was remembering. LOL.

Anyway, it's pretty easy to put these birds together, you don't really even need different colors of cardstock for each layer, I think it's more about the dimension each layer creates. 

The cranes were cut from different scraps of metallic cardstock, one glittery layer and the rest shades of gold. I keep all my scraps in  hanging folders in my desk, arranged by color so I can easily use them. Handy for diecutting and less wasteful. 

There is a guide included with the dieset, it shows which dies go to 1 of 2 cranes. I took a sharpie and marked on the back which goes with which. 

The background panel is matte silver cardstock I bought at Michaels. I cut a piece to A2 size (4.25x5.5") and lined it up in an 3D embossing folder called "Ribbon Waves". Every 3D embossing folder should be used with metallic cardstock at least once, IMO. Simple elegance.

I cut a small circle using metallic paper and the Sizzix framelits die, but any small circle die will do.

Thats it! Pretty easy and no inks or paints!

Here is a link to the Altenew store, I'm an affiliate which means I get a very small commission if you purchase anything, I pay for the product myself, so you know I really like it.

This is the Sizzix circle set I purchased from Scrapbook.com 

 

Thanks for looking! I'm on Instagram @Susanbcards

Spellbinders Small Die Club-March 2023

I just love this Spellbinders Small Die of the Month for March! Here's what is included in the set:

For the card on the right, everything (except the sentiment) is cut 2x to fit an A2 card.

For the card on the left, I didn't use the lace piece, just the butterflies and flowers. For the white background I used the 3D embossing folder for February which sold out at the time but is now available to purchase without joining the club! It is a favorite of mine, I used it quite a bit, you can see those cards on my Instagram account @Susanbcards if you're interested. The 3D club folder has sold out every month this year. If you haven't joined and are interested, Spellbinder's opens the current month's offerings on the 6th of the month, you can join and quit at any time. Find the details here.

I saw CZdesigns YT video where she used this kit and I really liked the ink blending she did, so I did something similar, and I changed some of the colors. Hers has a much softer look, I went for brights and black.

Here's how I blended the colors, I used 2 colors of yellow combined. I made the stripes thin so I could fit all 3 shades on each butterfly wing. I diecut and popped all the wings with foam.

I used the leftovers to cut the flowers, the green stems and leaves are just colored cardstock. I'm always happy to use up scraps!

That's it, pretty easy.

These are available at the Spellbinders site, click on the image to take you to that page or here for the Spellbinders store.

These are the Distress Oxide Ink colors available at Scrapbook.com

Click on any of these photos to take you to the store.

If you click on any of these links, I receive a small commission, at no additional cost to you. This helps me pay for products to continue posting on Instagram and here on my blog.

Thank you so much for looking, I read all the comments and appreciate it!

Susan

Stampendous Spring Collection at Spellbinders

I rarely make a set of cards but the Stampendous Spring Collection available at Spellbinders really motivated me to go outside my comfort zone. I tend to be more of a die or embossing folder user, I love creating my own backgrounds. So when Spellbinders asked me if I'd like to create some cards using these products, well, I'm always up for a challenge.

It was so easy to create these cards, after I finished the first one and knew what I had in mind, I think the other cards took no more than 30 min each and most of that was coloring and fussy cutting the images. The images were very easy to cut out, which I appreciated.

The backgrounds are beautiful thick patterened paper, I cut to fit a 5x6.5" card. I wanted to make larger cards so I could frame the stamped images and still see the pretty paper. I used copic markers to match the backgrounds.

I used Spellbinders A2 Matting Basics to make the frames. I taped 2 rectangles together and diecut cardstock to make a frame.

That's it, easy! I have affiliate links to the Spellbinders store, click on the images to see the products I used. Or click here to see the entire March release, some great products on my wishlist! I really appreciate those that use my links, the commission is very small, at no additional cost to you. 

Thanks for looking! 

Susan

Peony Sunshine embossing folder by Altenew

 

Peony Sunshine at Altenew or Scrapbook.com

On May 15, 2022 I posted a yellow and pink version of this card on Instagram. I received so many questions that I made a video. If you want to see that video, it's on 5/17/22 here on my blog. It's also on my Instagram @Susanbcards on 5/16/22.

These are the 2 colors of Distress Oxide inks I used, Peacock Feathers and Wilted Violet. I rubbed these onto my Gelli Plate, smoothed out the ink using a brayer, pressed the top of my embossing folder into the ink and then ran it through my Big Shot. You can also just rub the ink pads directly onto the folder, this will be a much darker, less subdued look. Up to you.

After it was done, it was a bit darker than I wanted, so here's a change I made. I cut a piece of vellum (slightly wider across, so I could attach it to the panel on the back) and embossed it with the same peony folder. I lined it up to the inked panel, folded the extra bit onto the back of the panel and adhered it. This gives the inked panel a more dreamy soft look.

Thanks so much. And thank you if you decide to use my affiliate links to the store! I receive a very small commission at no additional cost to you. 

Susan

Altenew's Craft-A-Flower: Orchids

Spring! I can't complain because where I live we've had little snow or sub zero temperatures, different from past winters. But still, the first days of spring are so happy. Luckily, orchids can thrive indoors, well maybe not at my house, except for in cards.

This is Altenew's Craft-A-Flower, Orchids. It quickly sold out after the release, so I signed up for notification when it was back in stock on the Altenew site. I was a bit reluctant to buy it when I saw the number of pieces, but I have to tell you it's not difficult. This photo shows why:

All the pieces for this flower are together on one die. There are 6 different flowers included in the set, choose which to use, There is a guide included that shows the layering order but after doing it once they are all similar to construct. The piece with the largest number of petals is the first layer, (here it's 3 petals) then the next piece of petals (here it's 2 petals). Then comes the stamen, then the 2 small pieces (the dot and the piece that looks like a heart). 

I used Distress inks in 3 shades of pink to color the petals, the darkest shades used for the first layer of 3 petals, then going a bit lighter for the 2 petals, then the darkest for the stamen and the accents dots. I used the thin blending brush to quickly ink them up, so simple. The brush I bought on Amazon.

Here's what the layering guide looks like, but really you won't need it after using it once.

I glued the pieces together, used one of the stem diecuts (quickly inked in green, leaving the bud white at the tip). I glued the entire piece onto this Diamond Stars 3D embossed panel. I used a bit of fun foam to give it dimension.

I buy fun foam at Michael's for $1. It's a large piece, not sure of the dimensions but I cut pieces to put under the card panels to give it a little dimension. I also cut tiny pieces to put under diecuts or sentiments. I put a few here under the flowers. I use regular glue and/or tape runner to attach it to the diecuts and panels. It's so much cheaper than foam tape. Sometimes I use layers of scrap cardstock instead. Either way I think popping up a few things makes a great difference in my cards.

Here is a link to the Altenew Store. If you click on it and make a purchase, I get a very small commission at no additional cost to you. It lets me know that people find it useful for me to post tutorials as I get a lot of requests for info. Thank you for looking and following me on Instagram @Susanbcards

 

I'm entering this card in the Time Out Challenge for March called "Elegant".

 

Thank you for looking! You can follow me on Instagram @Susanbcards