Distress Inks

Vintage Roses for Mother’s Day

| ullycatdesigns

The sweet pinks and reds of old-fashion rose bushes always remind me of their scent. This Mother’s Day card is a loving way to say how much mothers are appreciated.

I used Honeybee Stamps’ layering Bold Backgrounds Vintage Roses dies for the front of the card. The roses are cut from three different shades of pink cardstock and inked with a bright red ink. The leaves were cut in an apple green and inked with a medium green ink. There layering guide which you have to download from the Honeybee Stamps website shows how the the three sizes of roses are assembled. The sentiment banner is a strip of apple green cardstock 4 1/2-inched wide by 1/2-inches tall with fishtails ends cut free-hand and inked to match the leaves. The gold foiled sentiment strip “Appreciate You” is from Spellbinders that I had batched foiled previously.

The inside “Happy Mother’s Day” sentiment is cut from the apple green cardstock using a die by Papertrey Ink. The back of the card is covered with a striped sheet of printed paper from This Calls for Confetti.

I went stash diving to find a old-fashioned looking rose for the back of the envelope and ended up using a stamp set from Pinkfresh Studios called Pretty Paisley. The roses were stamped in melon red ink while the tiny sentiment “It’s the little things that make life big” was stamped in a green pear ink.

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Thank you for experiencing this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile.

Please like and leave comments 😊

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Materials Used:

Dies

  • Honey Bee Stamps -Layering Dies – Bold Backgrounds Vintage Rose
  • Papertry Ink – Waffer Thin Metal Dies – Happy Mother’s Day

Stamps

  • Pinkfresh Studios – Clear Stamps – Pretty Paisley

Papers

  • This Calls For Confetti – 6×6 Single-Sided Papers – Painted Patterns
  • Three Shades of Pink and Apple Green Cardstock
  • Tonic Studios – Craft Perfect – A6 Cardbase and Envelope – Bright White

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Ink Pad – Melon Mambo and Pear Pizzazz
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Fossilized Amber, Lumberjack Plaid and Rustic Wilderness
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Black

Hot Foiling

  • Spellbinders – Glimmer Hot Foil Plates and Banner Dies – Mini Everyday Sentiments
  • Spellbinders – Glimmer Hot Foil Roll – Matte Gold


Adhesives

  • Neutral PH Adhesive by LINECO
  • Fine-Tip Glue Bottle
  • Tape Runner – 1/2-inch wide

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Craft Mat
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Stamping Blocks used as paperweights
  • Spellbinders’ Glimmer Hot Foil System
  • Scissors

Warm and Cozy Hearth

| ullycatdesigns

This is the second card in the Fireplace Christmas Card series.

My inspiration for this cozy fireplace scene comes from the Graphic 45 paper collection Let’s Get Cozy and the Elizabeth Craft Designs Cozy Fireplace and Let’s Bake die sets.

Cardbase: A purchase A7 (5×7 inches) cardbase was covered with decorative papers on the two outside panels with leftover scraps used inside.

Fireplace: To create the stone fireplace, I cut two chimney pieces and two mantel pieces from the smooth side of the Bazzill cardstock and one mantel piece from the textured side of the same cardstock to get a textured firebox arch, mantel shelf and hearth stone. (The mantel shelf and hearthstone were fussy cut from the die-cut.) The individual stones (cut twice) and stones around the firebox were cut from the textured side of the gray cardstock. The top piece of the chimney was also cut from the textured cardstock. Glue individual stones to one fireplace piece then attach the stones around the opening. With black ink color the firebox piece if sooty.

Glue the two chimneys together. Glue the three chimney top strips together and then attach it to the chimney top. Center the chimney piece behind the fireplace piece with firebox. Using clear tape across the back of the fireplace piece without the stones attached, add the sooty firebox and with an inky blending brush add soot to the surrounding area of the firebox. Assemble the burning logs and glue onto firebox.

Add foam squares to the front of the fireplace with chimney, backsides of mantel shelf and hearthstone pieces. Attach the fireplace with stones onto base, then attach mantel shelf and hearthstone. Glue to front of cardbase.

Decorations: The Cozy Fireplace set comes with stockings, candles, and greenery. From the Let’s Bake set the table was cut from woodgrain embossed paper and ink blended with black ink. The Christmas pudding and its holly decoration comes from the same set with the cake stand cut down to a platter. The tiny NOEL plaque from an old Hunkdory set sits on the mantel shelf and was cut from gray cardstock, inked with red ink and a piece of red paper glued to the back. The candle flames were colored with markers. All decorations were popped-up on foam squares except the candles, greenery and picture which were glued in place.

Sentiments: There is a whole sheet in the Graphic 45 Let’s Get Cozy collection of borders with sentiments like “Winter is better together,” “Let’s get cozy,” “It’s cold outside,” “Warm Winter Wishes,” “Sweater weather,” “Stay cozy” and “Hello winter.” Some of the thin word borders were used on the card front to set the tone of the card. Others are used to cover the card back. A tiny NOEL plaque from an old Hunkdory set, sits on the mantel shelf. Stamped in blue on a crosshatch label inside the card, is the main sentiment of “Wishing you Peace and Joy.”

Envelope: A leftover decorative border scrap was glued to the envelope’s back flap as a subtle hint to what is inside.

Thank you for reading this blog post. I hope this inspires you and makes you smile. Please like and leave comments 😊

Other Fireplace Cards by designer/brand

Materials Used:

Dies

Stamps

  • Catherine Pooler – Clear Photopolymer Stamps – Holiday Glimmer – CPS1172

Papers

  • Graphic 45 – 8×8 Double-Sided Paper Pack – Let’s Get Cozy
  • Fun Stampers Journey – 8.5×11 Cardstock – Pumpkin Bread – CS-0098
  • Bazzill – 8.5×11 Textured Cardstock – Tiara -18-1002
  • American Crafts – 12×12 Cardstock – Embossed Wood Grain – Dark Kraft
  • Green, Red, Orange, Yellow, Brown, White and Black Cardstock Scraps
  • Park Lane PaperieA7 Cardbase and Envelope – White

Ink

  • Stampin’ Up – Classic Stampin’ Pad – Misty Moonlight
  • Ranger – Tim Holtz – Distress Ink- Black Soot and Fired Brick
  • Sharpie – Permanent Marker – Ultra Fine Tip – Orange, Red and Yellow
  • Nuvo – Aqua Shimmer – Glitter Gloss

Adhesives

Tools

  • Die Cutting Machine
  • We R Memories – QuickStick
  • Stamping Platform
  • LDRS – Stampendable Stamping Tool
  • Stamping Cloth
  • Sponge Dauber
  • Blending Brush
  • Craft Mat
  • Scissors

Nativity Ornament

| ullycatdesigns

Sometimes an ornament can be a fun Christmas card.  A traditional nativity scene makes for a special greeting and gift.

Memory Box dies and Distress Inks make for a quick make with brown kraft cardstock and white card stock scraps. While you can purchase a bundle of the Memory Box dies from Craftstash, I purchased my dies from several stores and skipped using the House Frame base die.

Cutting Pieces:

Cut from brown kraft cardstock:

  • 3 of the Nativity house frame
  • 2 of K-shaped crossbars
  • 2 sets of palm trees
  • 1 of the house frame background
  • 1 strip 3/8 inch x 2 3/8 inches

Cut from green paper:

  • 2 sets of palm leaves

Cut from white cardstock:

  • 2 of human figures

Cut from gold glitter cardstock:

  • 1 of star

Cut a 9-inch piece of linen twine

Creating Sturdy Pieces:

Glue the palm trees together to form a study pair of trees with green leaves on the front and back of trees.

Glue one of the K-shaped crossbars to the back side of a house frame. Cut the tab off another of the house frames. Glue the trimmed frame to the back of the first frame sandwiching the crossbar between the two frames.

Glue the two human figures together.

Creating Middle Frame:

Trim 1/8 inch of the remaining house frame’s tab.

Glue human figures onto strip positioning them to fit inside the frame opening.

Inking House Pieces:

Using Walnut Stain Distress Ink, cover the front and middle frames. 

Ink just the roof of the House background.

Inking with Lighter Brown:

Ink the palm tree trunks with Vintage Photo ink. Lightly tap some brown on the green leaves.

Ink around the sides, floor and eaves of house background.

Using washi tape or low tack tape mask the human figures off and ink the white ground to blend into the brown strip.

Inking with Yellow Ink:

Using Fossilized Amber Distress Ink, Blend the center of the house background into the darker edges.

Mask off all but the halo, baby’s head and straw and solidly color it yellow.

Inking with Green Ink:

Mask the hands and face. Using Mowed Lawn Distress Ink, color the male figure.

Inking with Blue Ink:

Mask the hands of female figure and manger/crib. Ink with Mermaid Lagoon ink.

Painting Flesh:

Tap a small amount of Abandoned Coral or other flesh toned ink on to a craft mat. Using a waterbrush pick-up some ink and experiment on scrap paper to get the desired flesh tone before painting the human figures.

Inking Manger/Crib:

Using both brown inks, color the crib to be darker than the ground.

Inked Details:

Using a fine-tipped brown pen, draw in man’s beard and add woodgrain to crib.

Golden Sparkle Detail:

Color the halo and baby’s head with a gold gel pen.

Attaching Figures to Middle Frame:

Add glue to back of middle frame and glue brown strip with human figures to house frame.

Attaching Middle Frame to House Background:

Fold back 1/8-inch tab on middle frame and glue to folded tab of house background. (A fine-tipped glue bottle makes this so much easier.)

Attaching Front Frame to House Background:

Fold back front house frame tab. Place glue on inside of tab and adhere to the bottom of house background tab.

Adding Twine Hanger:

Thread twine through all three holes in top of the roofs.

Knotting Twine:

Fold out the house frames flat to create slack in the twine before double knotting the twine at the roof pinicale.

Finishing Hanger:

Loop twine ends into a solid knot and trim ends to be even.

Glue star tips to house frame and twine.

Mailing Ornament:

The ornament fits into an A2 envelope. (I plan to seal mine into small plastic bags to go through the mail safely. You could also seal the entire piece with a spray acrylic sealer to stop the inks from running with if exposed to moisture.)

Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this blog post, please like it and follow the blog. 😊

Dies

Inks

  • Ranger – Tim Holtz’s Distress Ink – Mowed Lawn, Mermaid Lagoon, Walnut Stain, Vintage Photo, Fossilized Amber, Abandoned Coral
  • Brown fine-tipped pen
  • Gold gel pen

Papers

  • Brown Kraft cardstock
  • White cardstock scrap
  • Recollections – 8.5 x 11 glitter card stock – Cashmere Glitter
  • A2 envelope

Additional Supplies: