Archives for October 2022

Non-Traditional Holiday Colors with New Honey Bee Stamps Make It Merry!

October 27, 2022

Hi there! I’m back again today with another pair of projects featuring some of the beautiful new products from the Honey Bee Stamps Make It Merry release! While my projects yesterday felt fairly traditional, today’s projects change up the color schemes a bit, with lots of neutrals, metallics, and a pop of muted pink. I love traditional color schemes for holiday cards, but I love unique holiday color palettes just as much. The beautiful new products lend themselves so well to both!

I have two projects today, both of which feature the gorgeous Lovely Layers Winter Greenery to help accent the focal points on the cards. I also used more greetings from the Foil Script: Holiday Hot Foil Plate and Dies. I like to sit down with my foil machine and foil lots of greetings in different shades of foil and on different colors of cardstock so that I have tons of options when I start creating. Let’s get started with the details!

For my first card, I started by creating the finch from the sweet little birds in the Lovely Layers Winter Birds Honey Cuts set. I kept the colors traditional, with creamy and crisp white, grays, and black. It was super simple to put together! I also matched the shades of gray to the warm gray foil that I used for the greeting, foiled using the Foil Script: Holiday Hot Foil Plate and Dies, the Pinkfresh Studio Solid Hot Foil Plate, and some matte pewter foil. I used those two elements as the basis for the rest of my color scheme!

Because I wanted to create a little scene with the fairly large Bird House A2 Card Base Honey Cuts, I cut a 5×7 card front from some plain white cardstock, then masked the edges to create a 1″ white frame around the edge. This 4×6 inch opening created the perfect space for the Nordic Winter Stencil. Using a blending brush, I blended some medium gray ink over the stencil to create the subtle pattern, then removed the stencil and lightly blended around the edge of the opening with the same shade of gray to create a framed area to ground the rest of my images. I find that creating a smaller blended area as a focal point on my card fronts helps to keep the large clean card front from being intimidating when building a scene!

I created a little bird house using similar colors from the Bird House A2 Card Base Honey Cuts, adding a little pop of pale blush pink to the scallops on the roof. I die cut a few elements from the Lovely Layers Winter Greenery, with super dark green pine boughs and some muted melon pink berries. The foliage is the perfect spot to rest my little bird! I adhered the bird house using foam adhesive, then arranged my foliage and berries beneath it, finally nestling my little finch on top and adhering with another layer of foam adhesive to create lots of height and dimension.

I popped up the greeting from the Foil Script: Holiday Hot Foil Plate and Dies and added a heat embossed sentiment strip using a greeting from Bitty Buzzwords: Holiday, both with a double layer of foam tape. Finally, I accented the project with a few sparkling Winter Wonder Gem Stickers! Lots of dimension in this card. Definitely saving this for a super special friend!

My second project uses the same blush pink cardstock that I used in the first project as an accent, but this time it’s the focal point! I had creating some greetings using the Foil Script: Holiday Hot Foil Plate and Dies on this blush pink cardstock using some matte rose gold foil and decided to use that as my starting point for the color scheme for this card.

I die cut the layers from the Lovely Layers: Anemone from the blush cardstock, then used some slightly darker pink ink to lightly blend around the edges and add a bit of extra dimension to the die cuts. I adhered them all together, adding a black and gray center, using liquid adheisve. I also die cut several elements from the Lovely Layers Winter Greenery in a few shades of deep green, as well as some more of the muted melon colored berries, the shade of which coordinated beautifully with the ink on the edge of the anemone.

For the card base, I ran the Winter Gems Cover Plate through my die cut machine with some crisp white cardstock. I love the subtle texture that this cover plate adds to the background; I can’t wait to try this plate with hot foil! I adhered a glittery rose gold frame cut from the Sentiment Frames Honey Cuts die set in the bottom corner of the debossed card front, then arranged my holiday flora in a swag, adhering the components with liquid and dimensional foam adhesive for tons of dimension. I added the foiled blush and gold greeting with a double layer of foam tape, then finished the project with a few iridescent hunter green gems from the Make It Merry Sticker Gem set.

Well, that’s all for these projects. These non-traditional color schemes are some of my favorites, but the images themselves are undeniably holiday! Thanks so much for reading today, and have a marvelous day!

Vintage Christmas Trees with Honeybee Stamps!

October 26, 2022

Hi there! I had the opportunity to play with some of the new Make It Merry goodies from my friends at Honeybee Stamps, and I have been on a Christmas Crafting Binge! (Official title!) Like most people, my grandmother had one of those beautiful vintage ceramic trees that came out at Christmas… white ceramic with beautiful colored lights. It wasn’t truly Christmas until Grammy got that tree out. Seeing the absolutely marvelous new Grandma’s Christmas Tree Dies, 3D Embossing Folder, and Layering Stencils took me right back to my Grammy’s basement, playing endless games of dress up and Trivial Pursuit with my cousins, waiting for the marvelous Christmas Eve meal and Christmas presents that awaited us upstairs! I created a pair of cards using these new goodies, so let’s get started with the details.

The Grandma’s Christmas Tree Dies, 3D Embossing Folder, and Layering Stencils work seamlessly together to create these beautifully textured die cuts. I found it easies to die cut the trees first, then run them through my die cut machine with the embossing folder to create that incredibly detailed dimension that you see in the projects above!

My first project is a shaped card. I began by folding a piece of minty green cardstock into an A2 sized panel, then used the solid tree die from the Grandma’s Christmas Tree Dies to cut a shaped card base, making sure to keep the fold of the card within the die cut itself. I also die cut a full size, separate tree die cut and ran it through my die cut machine with the 3D Embossing Folder. The top of the tree card is slightly shorter than the full tree, but the full size die cut will cover that up easily!

Using blending brushes, I blended two shades of coordinating green ink around the edges of the embossed tree die cut, blending the lighter ink further in towards the center of the die cut and keeping the darker just around the outside of the die cut to add some shadows. I also used the Coordinating Layering Stencils to add some shadows beneath each row of branches with the lighter shade of green ink. The amount of dimension that you can achieve with these stencils and the embossing folder is simply sublime. I adhered the finished die cut to the shaped card base.

For the greeting, I sat down with my Spellbinders Glimmer machine and hot foiled a ton of sentiments using the new Holiday Hot Foil Plate and Dies using several shades of metallic hot foil. For this project, I selected a matte champagne greeting on some white cardstock, then blended some of the light minty green ink over the top to create a custom colored sentiment die cut. The foil resists the ink, similar to embossing powder, so the champagne foil pops out from the minty green background so nicely!

After I had blended my greeting, I popped it up on the embossed and blended tree card front. I used several of the gems from the Make It Merry Gems set. I have discovered that the Honeybee Die Release Tool is perfect for removing the gems from their release paper and placing them on the card front. The gems also give you a little wiggle room for placement, because you can carefully remove them from the card front with the die release tool and place them elsewhere as long as you don’t immediately press them down! I am in love with this shaped card. It stands up so nicely and would look perfect on a mantel decorated for Christmas. It would be darling as a tag or ornament, as well!

My second card is reminiscent of my Grammy’s ceramic tree. My husband is a darling and searched high and low for a ceramic shop that would recreate my Grammy’s tree for my birthday a few years ago, so I have one that is almost identical to my Grammy’s tree in my craft room all year long. I was definitely using it as inspiration for this card! I began by die cutting the Grandma’s Christmas Tree die with the little slits for the lights (I love that you have the option for the plain tree die cut or the slits to add the lights/ornaments!) from some crisp white cardstock, then embossing it with the 3D Embossing Folder. I also die cut the lights and star for the top from some more white cardstock.

Using the lights on my tree for color inspiration, I colored the lights using my OLO markers. Because the little light bulbs are so tiny, a dark and light marker were plenty to give me some dimension on the bulbs. I added them to the tree using some tiny dots of liquid adhesive. I also added some glittery white “snow” around the edges of each row of branches. I love the festive, vintage feel this adds to the tree!

For the card base, I die cut the top layer of the Winter Prism cover plate set from some more white cardstock, then adhered it to an A2 panel of glittery white cardstock. I found this cardstock in my stash, but it’s completely white glitter-no iridescent shine at all, which coordinates perfectly with the glitter on the tree! I added a greeting heat embossed with silver embossing powder using the Inside: Holiday Sentiments and Coordinating Dies. I adhered the tree with some dimensional foam adhesive, then added the greeting with a double layer of foam tape to add extra height and drama. Those colorful lights pop so perfectly from that crisp white background!

Well, that’s all for these projects! I have a few more to share with you later this week… I was on a roll and couldn’t stop playing with the new Make It Merry goodies. If you love Christmas stamps and dies as much as I do, you will not want to miss these gorgeous new products. They’re spectacular! Thanks so much for reading today, and have a marvelous day!

More Pinkfresh Studio October Release Inspiration!

October 25, 2022

Hi there! If you haven’t checked out the new Pinkfresh Studio October Washi Tape Release, you’re missing out! While I love the ease of creating with the washi tape, I am always up for some watercoloring, and I tried to emulate the loose, flowy style that I so admire from other artists when creating with the Indigo Roses Stamps and Coordinating Dies. Let’s get started with the details!

Crafty tip-I recently reorganized my Daniel Smith watercolors. I have, ahem, an abundance of Daniel Smith paints, and I had them in one large tin (large like the size of my laptop… eek), but I found that extremely challenging to work with due to the overwhelming amount of choices. I decided to organize them by color family into smaller tins, and I have found this very helpful in jumpstarting my creativity! I only tell you this because, in my opinion, it’s never a bad idea to reorganize your supplies if you feel like your creativity is being stifled by your current system of organization. Move things around, change them up, make your space work for you! Something that works wonderfully for someone else might not work perfectly for you, so don’t be afraid to switch things up. I will say that having a labelmaker has been extremely helpful after a particularly intense reorganization session, haha!

I began by heat embossing the beautiful images from the Indigo Roses Stamp set onto some Arches Cold Press Watercolor Paper using Altenew’s Rose Gold embossing powder. This powder is a bit bolder than some other shades of rose gold, and it was a lovely, dramatic shade to pair with my watercoloring. I then used my Daniel Smith paints to add some beautiful, loose watercolor to these whimsical floral images. I made sure to use lots of water and allow the paint to bloom, creating a loose, super artsy look. I did try to keep the color more concentrated in the center of the flower, adding some Rose of Ultramarine to create extra drama. I die cut the finished flowers using the Coordinating Dies.

For the card base, I cut down two A2 card fronts from some Lawn Fawn Speckled Eggshell cardstock. This creamy cardstock has just enough texture to add some interest, and this warm white shade works perfectly with the warm white of the Arches watercolor paper. In my head, I saw these roses climbing up a trellis in an English garden, so I die cut the Pinkfresh Studio Simply Diamonds die from the second panel of Speckled Eggshell cardstock and popped it up on the full A2 panel for a tone-on-tone die cut background.

I arranged the flowers in a cluster on my “trellis”, then popped them up using a double layer of foam tape for tons of height and dimension. I added a greeting, heat embossed in the same rose gold embossing powder, then trimmed it out with my scissors into three pieces to create a custom greeting. I popped that up with some more foam adhesive, then finally added a few Blossom glitter drops to add a bit more pink and a bit more sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today! I hope you’ll check out the new washi tape product suites over on the Pinkfresh Studio website. They are absolutely stunning, and with so many options, make crafting a breeze and a joy. We are also having an Instagram Hop over on Instagram, where you can leave comments to win even more prizes. The hop starts @pinkfreshstudio, and you can simply click the different users to see tons of different inspiration. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio October Washi Tape Release Blog Hop + Giveaway!

October 24, 2022

Hi there! Pinkfresh Studio’s October Release is now available, and it’s full of absolutely stunning new washi tape designs! I absolutely adore the versatility of the Pinkfresh Washi Tape product suites, because you can do as much or as little work as you want with each of the different components… the possibilities are endless! Don’t feel like watercoloring? Use the stencils to add lots of vibrant color to your stamped images! Don’t feel like stamping at all? Use the washi tape! And the best part is… one die set coordinates with all of the products, so die cutting is super quick and simple with one pass through your die cut machine! I have a slimline card with some wildflowers exploding out from behind the greeting, so let’s get started with the details!

Today’s project features the stunning new Chrysanthemum Washi Tape and Coordinating Dies. The beautiful watercoloring in the Chrysanthemum Washi Tape is a beautiful, loose style, one that I have not been able to achieve in my own watercoloring, so being able to have such lovely images at my finger tips is such fun! I first adhered a couple of the full image sets onto some white cardstock, using an old gift card to make sure that it was adhered snugly and that there were no air bubbles, then used the Coordinating Dies to die cut all of the images lickety split.

I wanted to create a fun textured background for one of the greetings included in the stamp set (for which there are also coordinating dies!), so I die cut one of the Nested Hexagons from some bright white cardstock, then ran the die cut hexagon through my die cut machine once again with the Floral Tiles Cover Plate die. This adds some subtle texture to the background of my sentiment die cut very quickly and easily! I also die cut a white frame using the same size and slightly smaller Nested Hexagons dies, which I popped up using foam adhesive to add extra dimension and texture. I heat embossed a greeting from the Chrysanthemum Stamp Set onto some white cardstock, then cut it with the coordinating die. I popped it up in the center of my textured hexagon die cut using some more foam adhesive.

To assemble the card, I used some slightly thinner foam adhesive (I’ll link the specific adhesive below) to pop up the die cut frame in the center of a slimline card base, then arranged my die cut washi tape chrysanthemum flowers so that they were popping out from behind the framed greeting. I adhered them using some more of the thinner foam tape and liquid adhesive. The thinner foam tape for the frame provided just enough height that I could easily slip the die cuts beneath for a quick arrangement. The final touch was to add a few Butterscotch Glitter Drops to coordinate with my metallic embossing powder on the greeting!

Well, that’s all for my project today!

To celebrate this release, Pinkfresh Studio is giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. They will also be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards along the hop. As per usual with blog hops – the winners will be picked from the comments. The winners will be announced on November 1, 2022 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must claim their prize within 2 weeks.

You can see the full hop list below:

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

Holiday Hot Foil with Hero Arts!

October 20, 2022

So, hot foiling is basically my new favorite thing. I can’t get enough. It’s so clean, so classy, so luxurious… and my favorites over at Hero Arts have come out with some stunning new holiday hot foil plates to kick your holiday cards up a notch! I created several projects, including some hot foil projects, for the Winter 2022 Catalog, and I thought I’d share the details here!

This first card uses the absolutely gorgeous new Wishing Tree Hot Foil Plate. I cannot seem to get enough of the look of hot foil on brightly colored cardstock, and I adore the somewhat tone-on-tone effect of emerald green on dark teal, so I paired Viridian Glimmer Hot Foil from Spellbinders with the gorgeousness that is Adriatic cardstock from Hero Arts. I hot foiled the main tree image, then used the die from the Wishing Tree Stamp and Die Bundle to cut the hot foiled tree. It cannot be overstated how handy it is to have so many products that coordinate so seamlessly! I also used Silver Hero Pearls to add a few little silvery accents on the tree.

While my pearls were drying, I used Blending Brushes to blend Deep Ocean ink around the edge of an A2 Adriatic card base. I love the effect this has on the finished product; it looks like the tree is glowing!

I heat embossed a greeting from Holiday Sparkles using some Silver Sparkle embossing powder on another strip of Adriatic cardstock. I trimmed it out using some sharp scissors to create a custom sentiment strip, then popped both the sentiment strip and the hot foiled Christmas tree up on the blended card base using foam tape. Monochromatic, shiny, sparkly holiday goodness!

My second card uses the new Stacked Happy Holiday Foil & Cut foil plate and coordinating die. I hot foiled the large blocked sentiment from Stacked Happy Holiday Foil & Cut on some Deluxe White Cardstock using some red hot foil made extra special with some shimmering stars! This foil is so festive-perfect for holiday cards!

The variety of star shapes in the Holiday Sparkles stamp set coordinated beautifully with the subtle stars in the hot foiled stacked sentiment, so used Pale Tomato, Crimson, and Granite inks to stamp a custom patterned background on my white A2 card base! I started with the largest image, stamping in random spots, rotating the paper and the stamp to make the pattern look more spontaneous and random. After I stamped the largest image, I used the second largest star to fill in a few of the empty spaces in a different color, working my way down the images from largest to smallest, always rotating the stamp and the paper to keep things from looking to planned and uniform.

I trimmed off the top portion of the foiled image, so that the stacked “holidays” was the main focal point of the card. To accent the foiled die cut and add some more color coordination, I added three thin strips of cardstock to the stamped card front: Granite, Cherry, and some sparkling silver glitter paper. I popped up the foiled greeting die cut directly over the top of the cardstock strips using foam adhesive, then added a greeting from the Holiday Words Fancy Die set, cut twice from white cardstock scraps and once from some more silver glitter cardstock, then stacked together using Precision Glue. This extra bit of dimension helps the sentiment pop up from the foiled greeting, and the combination of sparkling, shiny textures makes this card super festive!

Well, that’s all for my projects today! I was just thinking to myself that I’ve been crafting with holiday products since early summer… and I am so glad that I still have another couple of months left to keep using my holiday products! I just can’t get enough. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!