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

Spellbinders Small Die Club January "Sentimental Ampersand"

Spellbinders Small Die Club for January is this cool "Sentimental Ampersand". It includes the ampersand and the separate swirl layerind die, the flowers and leaves, and the sentiments. The sentiments are: Happy Birthday, Many More, You Are Above, Over the Rest, You Are My Favorite, My Everything and the outline for the sentiments.. 20 dies in total, not so small.

 I diecut all the pieces and then pressed them into an embossing ink pad, sprinkled clear embossing powder on them and then heated them. I wanted them to be thick and glossing in bright colors against the white embossed panel. 

The white panel is Spellbinders 3D Embossing Folder Club for January. Unfortunately, it's sold out. I signed up for the club and know that I can quit at anytime.

This Small Die Club is available for a few more days, so if you're interested, only until Jan 27th unless it sells out before that!

Spellbinders offers several clubs, see them here.

Click on any of the images to go to the Spellbinders site. If you make a purchase, I earn a small commission (at no cost to you) that helps me share more product. 

Thank you for looking! I'm also on Instagram @susanbcards where I post several times a week. 

Spellbinders 3D of the Month Club

 

Up until this point I haven't joined a subscription because I didn't know that I'd like every month's offering. I saw this new Spellbinders 3D folder for January, then read you can stop your subscription at any time. So I decided to sign up because, well, isn't it beautiful? I love that the center is the perfect spot for a sentiment. Take it from me, it look just as beautiful in plain white. 

This folder is 5 3/4" x 8 3/4" I cut down the image to fit on a 5x61/2" card. You can also cut it to fit on a standard size card, I'll post another project soon with that size. I used it with my Sizzix Big Shot machine, no problem. #2 on the adapter, instead of a bottom plate I used an embossing pad with the top plate. Great impression.

The "Happy Birthday" is from the Spellbinders "Simply Perfect Mix & Match Sentiments". I cut it from gold cardstock and 2 more times from scrap cardstock to stack it.

I painted the flowers in Distress Ink, Spun Sugar first, next, Picked Raspberry. I always start with the lightest color, then use a darker shade closer to the center. Later, I wanted to emphasize the dark areas so I used a Copic marker in R81 and RV02. The leaves are in Twisted Citron and Mowed Lawn. The blue flowers are painted with Shaded Lilac and the darker area is Copic B23. I used watered down Tea Dye for the background. I was going to leave the center white but accidently got a bit of ink on it, so I used a dark navy watercolor to paint the center. Not my favorite part of the card but it hides the mistake.

Once I added the gold sentiment, it diverted the attention from my least favorite part and actually helped the sentiment standout.

Unfortunately, this month's 3D embossing folder is sold out but you can see the details here, maybe sign up for next month's subscription? Take a look at the Large die of the month for January, I should have gotten that too, it's so beautiful, but it's sold out too! Remember, you can cancel at any time.

Click on the images below, they have links to the Spellbinders site. An affiliate link, if you purchase, I get a small commission, with NO additional cost to you. Thank you if you do use it, it helps me share more.

                Spellbinders 3D Embossing Folder of the Month

            Spellbinders Simply Perfect Mix & Match Sentiments

You can also check out the other clubs available, I'll post soon using the Small Die of the Month, which is still available. The Large Die is sold out, I wish I had purchased that one! There's several clubs, all great, check out the site here to see them.

The Small Die of the Month (still available, as of today).

Large Die of the Month (sold out)

Thanks for looking today! I post several times a week on Instagram @Susanbcards

Altenew Ambridge Bouquet

 

For today's card I used the Ambridge Bouquet 3D embossing folder by Altenew. What a gorgeous image this creates! 

I wanted to highlight all the crevices, so I took Tea Dye Distress Ink and rubbed it over the top of the embossing folder. Altenew prints the name of the folder on the front of the folder, which is so helpful. This is the side I inked, the raised areas of the flowers. So when I ran it throught my Big Shot, the ink is pressed into the paper. Tea Dye is a light pinkish brown color (exactly what you'd expect tea dye to look like). 

I pressed some Spun Sugar Distress Ink onto my glass mat and dipped a wet paintbrush into the ink and painted the areas of the petals where the Tea Dye ink was. This gives a hint of pink onto the flowers at the base but the tip of the petals are kept white. This is a very easy way to color, just start at the base of each petal and pull the ink toward the top.

When I was done, I fussy cut the bouquet out (in one piece). I carefully lined it back up into the embossing folder and reran it through my Big Shot to press the edges (where I fussy cut) back down. The water from painting flattens the paper a bit, so this helps reshape the image. This isn't really necessary but I think it's a nice step. 

For the base, I just cut a piece of cream cardstock to 5 3/4" square, stamped some leaves from an old Altenew set called Wallpaper Art in Shabby Shutters Distress Oxide Ink. I placed a few Pinkfresh gems on the panel and popped the flowers up with fun foam.

Here's what I used (with clickable links):

The Altenew Ambridge Bouquet Embossing folder is also available at Scrapbookcom

That's it for today. Thanks for looking. I have an affiliate link with Altenew and Scrapbookcom, if you click on it, it'll take you to their store. Any purchases made will give me a small commission with no additional cost to you. I greatly appreciate if you decide to do that.

Thanks! 

Susan

@susanbcards on Instagram where I post several times a week.

Brutus Monroe DT Project January 2023 Sprinkled With Love

Happy New Year! Thank you for visiting my blog. Today I'm sharing my first DT project for Brutus Monroe, "Sprinkled With Love".

I stamped the donuts and icing from Sprinkled With Love in brown ink, colored the donuts in with Copic markers then fussy cut them all out. (There are dies, but I didn't receive them in time.) The background is Teal Candy Coat applied on the Sweet Sprinkles stencil (part of the stencil of the month club) with a palette knife. Candy Coat is a paste that looks like glitter after it dries, see the photo below for an up close pic. The sentiment Sprinkled with Love is included in the stamp set. I stamped it in Peacock Feathers Distress ink.

I popped up the 2 heart shaped donuts with fun foam and the white tray (it's an old MFT die). For a bit of shine on the donuts I applied Glossy Accents.

Here's a closeup of the Candy Coat. Isn't it pretty?? This is all available at the Brutus Monroe store, here's the link:

Thank you for visiting today! Any Brutus Monroe products purchased using my links generate a small commission to me, at no additional cost to you. These commissions help me to provide content on my blog and Instagram. 

I post several times a week on Instagram @susanbcards

You can also find me on Facebook and Pinterest.

Susan

Spellbinders Bold Blooms!

I finally got the Spellbinders' Bold Blooms! I have a drawer full of scrap cardstock. This die set is perfect for using up the scraps. Look at all the colors I used. I really like how the dies cut and emboss at the same time, adding dimension.

The only diecut I popped up with foam is the large blue flower near the bottom. The sentiment is from an old stamp set by Hero Arts, I stamped and gold embossed it.

The best news? Spellbinders has a huge sale going on, this die is on sale, and quite a few dies are now 50% off! Check it out:

Bold Blooms

Parcel & Post (mailbox)

Cathe Holden Collection (bowl)

Holiday Blooms

Click on this banner to go to the entire sale:

Parcel and Post

Cathe Holden die and paper

Holiday Blooms