Country Home With A Little Halloween Magic

Hello Friends!

Since it’s too hot to do much outside today, I’ve spend my day playing in my craft room.  I still have lots of products from the holiday mini catalog that I’ve yet to explore and so today seemed a good day to bring out some of those new toys and “break them in”!

I’ve been wanting to use the Halloween Magic Dies for a non-Halloween card since I got them.  There are two nesting labels included in those dies that are quite elegant-appearing and so I opted to use them today to create a layered opening for a gate-fold card.  All of the die-cuts featured on this card are from the Halloween Magic Dies with exception of the small, Cajun Craze flowers (Small Bloom punch), and the center sentiment label which is also a punch (Timeless Label).  So, let’s do a little Country Home with some Halloween Magic!

I love a little bling, so out came the Wink of Stella to glitter up the Crushed Curry Flowers, Champagne Rhinestones for the flower centers, and Gold Embossing Powder to make the sentiment shine!

LET’S GET INKY!

Materials:

Stamp sets used:

  • Country Home

Metal Dies:

  • Halloween Magic

Paper:

  • Very Vanilla (8 1/2″ x 5 1/2″) – score and fold at 2 1/8″ and 6 3/8″.
  • Very Vanilla – small scrap for sentiment to be punched out with Timeless Label Punch.
  • So Saffron (5 3/8″ x 4 1/8″)
  • Crushed Curry – scraps for 4 flower outline cuts using Halloween Magic Dies.
  • Cajun Craze – scraps for 10 Small Bloom punched flowers.
  • Mossy Meadow – scraps for 10 leaf clusters cut using Halloween Magic Dies.
  • Plaid Tidings DSP – 4″ x 2″ to crop with smaller label die from Halloween Magic Dies.

Ink:

  • Versamark

Accessories:

  • Small Bloom Punch
  • Timeless Label Punch
  • Wink of Stella marker
  • Champagne Rhinestones
  • Stampin’ Dimensionals
  • Gold Embossing Powder
  • Heat tool

PUTTING IT TOGETHER:

  1. Score and Fold the Very Vanilla card base as noted above.
  2. Lay the smaller of the two labels in Halloween Magic Dies in the center of the front, making sure the center of the gatefold is running down the center of the die.  Use some craft tape to hold the die in place on ONE side.
  3. Open the gatefold with the die still taped to one side, and run through Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.
  4. Close the gatefolds and keeping the die lined up with the side you just cut, tape the die to the opposite side (uncut side).
  5. Open the gatefold and run through Cut & Emboss Machine again.
  6. When closed now, your opening should line up perfectly on both sides.
  7. Tape the larger label die from Halloween Magic Dies to the center of the So Saffron panel and run through Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine.  Save the center label you just cropped out for the inside of the card.
  8. Run the cropped So Saffron panel (with the hole in it) through the Stampin’ Cut & Emboss Machine in the Tasteful Texture 3D Embossing Folder.
  9. Cut that embossed panel in half lengthwise at 2 1/16″
  10. Use a metallic gold paint pen (I like the Uchida DecoColor Premium paint pens – available on Amazon) to highlight the openings on both the Very Vanilla and So Saffron edges.
  11. Adhere the So Saffron panels to the Very Vanilla gate-fold fronts.
  12. Crop out 4 of the outline flowers using Halloween Magic Dies from Crushed Curry CS.  Use a Wink of Stella marker to add glitter to them.
  13. Crop out 10 outline leaf clusters using Halloween Magic Dies from Mossy Meadow CS.
  14. Use the Small Bloom Punch to punch out 10 flowers in Cajun Craze and slightly curl petals for dimension.
  15. Arrange the flowers and leaves around the So Saffron “frame” and adhere.
  16. Use the So Saffron label made in step 9 on the inside, centering it under the window made by the gatefold.
  17. Crop a piece of Plaid Tidings DSP with the smaller label die from Halloween Magic Dies.
  18. To get that center in your gatefold window, close the gatefolds and after applying some adhesive, lay it in the middle of your gatefold.  It’s the same size as the opening, so it fits perfectly.
  19. Stamp the sentiment from Country Home on Very Vanilla, in Versamark and sprinkle with gold embossing powder, tapping off the extra.  Set it with heat tool.
  20. Use the Timeless Label Punch to punch out the sentiment.  Apply sentiment label using dimensionals to the center of the Plaid Tidings Label.
  21. Apply Champagne Rhinestones to the center of the flowers.

DONE!

I’m looking forward to cooler weather again; fall will be a welcome change!  My last several projects seem to reflect this by the colors I’ve chosen to use!  Come on cooler temps!!!!

Until next time, my friends,

I HOPE YOU GET INKY!

Janet

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Falling Leaves and Galloping Steeds

Hello Friends!

Dean and I went for a horseback ride yesterday morning and I noticed that our maple trees are already losing their leaves.  Though the calendar doesn’t say so just yet, I think it’s beginning to look a lot like FALL!

In pondering how fast time goes by, The Steve Miller Band popped into my head as I was riding, and I started singing “Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ into the future; I want to fly like an eagle to the sea…” About that time, Jake, my horse, must’ve been listening carefully to the lyrics (or he doesn’t like my singing), as he picked up the pace and suddenly I was feeling that “wind of heaven which blows between a horses ears”!   I reined him back, which he did readily, and then he blew as if to say… FINE, just no more singing!  This reminded me of my son, Adam, when my kids were young.  My daughters liked to sing in the car, and Adam would ask them to stop.  They rarely did upon his request, and finally Adam would be begging me, “Mom, pleeeease make them STOP!”  I guess Jake was either 1) giving me my wish to “fly like an eagle”, or 2) was saying in his own way “pleeease stop singing!”  Either way, I stopped singing and we settled back into a nice easy walk!

Oh how I love my horses!  The following just about sums it up for me and my boys (horses)!

But I digress…

I was speaking of seeing the maple leaves already falling, and that’s what prompted today’s card!   I had just one more Madrone bark leaf leftover from my card a few days ago and wanted to incorporate that.

I had wanted to use bark for the larger leaf also, but I didn’t get glycerin applied to my flattened bark soon enough and the bark was quite brittle, so I started the process described in my last post all over again, this time applying glycerin to the bark as soon as it came out of the water.  It should be ready for working with by tomorrow!

A couple quick notes before we get down to the inky business:

Stampin’ Up updated the Clearance Rack a couple days ago, so be sure to check out the deals there!  I noticed there’s quite a bit of cardstock and embellishments, as well as designer series paper deeply discounted so check it out!

Also, if you’ve been kicking around the idea of joining my team, now is a GREAT time to do so!  Through the month of September, if you sign up to be a demonstrator, you’ll receive not only the regular starter kit ($125 worth of products for $99 – plus all the business supplies and FREE shipping), but you will also receive the “Get & Go Starter Kit” which includes enough cardstock pieces to make 16 cards, a pack of Rhinestone Basic Jewels, the So Much Love stamp set, and the Queen Anne’s Lace stamp set.  This is enough to easily get you set up for your first event if you choose to do so! Though, as I’ve mentioned before, many join simply to be “hobby” demonstrators (getting the discount and being able to pre-order ahead of the public).  That’s what I did initially, and I can promise you I will never push you to do more than you want to do!  So, if you’re interested or have questions, please just click on the “Contact” tab above and I’ll get back to you promptly!

Let’s get INKY!

Materials:

Stamp sets used:

  • Winter Woods (trees)
  • Gather Together (leaf)
  • Life Is Beautiful (sentiment)

Paper:

  • Very Vanilla cardstock
  • In Good Taste DSP (frame)
  • Gilded Autumn (inside)
  • Bumblebee cardstock (large leaf)
  • Early Espresso (bottom border)

Metal Dies:

  • Layered Squares
  • Gathered Leaves
  • Many Mates

Ink:

  • Soft Suede
  • Early Espresso

Accessories:

  • Preserved Madrone bark
  • Embroidered Ribbon
  • Gold thread from Forever Greenery Ribbon Combo

Putting It Together:

    1. Fold the Very Vanilla cardbase in half and stamp the trees from Winter Woods across the front using Soft Suede ink.
    2. Cut the window in the left side of the front using Layering Squares dies.
    3. Using the same size square die that you used to cut the window in the front, and the next larger scalloped square, cut the frame for the window from the In Good Taste DSP.
    4.  Adhere that frame around the window in the front.
    5. Stamp the sentiment at the top of the panel, beside the front window, in Early Espresso ink.
    6. Cut a piece of Embroidered Ribbon long enough to just slightly overlap the ends when wrapped around the front panel through the window.
    7. Adhere ends of ribbon on the front side of the card using Mini Glue Dots.  I adhered the ends on the front side of the card so the inside would have a neat & clean look, and I could hide the ends on the front with embellishments.
    8. Cut a piece of the Gold Thread from the Forever Greenery Ribbon Combo and tie in a bow.
    9. Adhere that and a die-cut leaf over the ends of the ribbon.
    10. Using the metal die from the Many Mates die set, cut the border embellishment from Early Espresso cardstock.
    11. On the inside, adhere a 5 1/4″ x 4″ piece of Gilded Autumn DSP.
    12. Stamp the large leaf image from Gather Together stamp set in Early Espresso ink, onto Bumblebee cardstock.  Crop the image out with the associated die from Gathered Leaves Dies.
    13. Adhere the leaf to the inside of the card, aligning with the window in the front of the card.

 

I chose not to stamp a sentiment on the inside of the card so that I can write a personalized, handwritten note.

DONE!

Until next time, I hope you get a little INKY today!

Janet

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