hot foil

Hot Foil Friday with Simon Says Stamp!

March 24, 2023

Happy Friday, my friends! We are mere hours away from the weekend, thankfully! I always love the weekends, not just because I don’t have to roust my kiddos out of bed before they’re ready, but also because the days just feel a little slower and less chaotic when we aren’t scheduled down to the minute with activities. I know that will change as the kids get older and get involved in more activities, but for now, I’m savoring it. It took me a bit to jump on the hot foil bandwagon, but once I finally got comfortable with it…. I was hooked. I came up with the idea of “Hot Foil Friday” a while ago, thinking I would share hot foil projects with you all on Fridays, and I thought I’d share a hot foil project today using the new Spring Florals Hot Foil Plate from the new Just For You release from Simon Says Stamp!

I began by hot foiling these lovely spring blooms using the Spring Florals Hot Foil Plate and some Aura hot foil from Spellbinders. I love the subtle iridescent rainbow on this hot foil roll. At first glance, it looks like a cool golden metallic foil, but as you shift the card, it takes on a rainbow shine! I used Copic markers to add some pale yellow to these blooms, then cut them out with my sharp scissors.

To create a ground for my buttery yellow blooms, I used my favorite Nested Domed Arches dies to cut a frame and a solid background. I ran the large solid piece through my die cut machine with the Detail Ringlet Cover Plate to add some subtle texture, then layered the exterior frame over the top. The white on white is so classic and creates such a lovely backdrop for my sunny blooms! I popped the arch up on a white card front using some foam adhesive, then nestled my colorful Spring Florals blooms in the corner and popped them up with another layer of foam tape, making a double layer of foam adhesive.

To enhance the simplistic color scheme of this card, I wanted a simple greeting, so I trimmed down one of the Sentiment Strips: Easter greetings, snipping it in half to create two shorter strips instead of one long one. I nestled the sentiment strips amongst the flowers with some more foam tape, then added a vellum butterfly that I created using more Aura foil and the Dancing Butterflies Hot Foil Plate and Dies. The final touch was a few Buttercup Vase gems for one last bit of sparkle.

Welll, that’s all for my project today! Thanks so much for stopping by, and have a wonderful weekend, friends!

Video: No-Line Watercoloring and Faux Hand-lettered Stenciled Sentiment with Pinkfresh Studio!

March 15, 2023

Hi there! I am up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with this pretty-in-purple card. I received a lot of positive feedback about the stenciled/faux watercolored sentiment from THIS post, so I thought I would show you how I created it in this month’s video! You can check it out below:

Or click HERE to see it in HD on YouTube.

In case you can’t watch the video, I will share a few of the tricks that I used to create this project!

One of my favorite things about the Pinkfresh Studio dye inks is that they are dye based, so they work beautifully for watercoloring! I used Soft Lilac ink for both the blended, stenciled sentiment from Circle Florals Stencils, as well as the outline of the You’re the Best stamped images.

To start, I simply blended the Thank You sentiment from Circle Florals Stencils onto some watercolor paper using Soft Lilac ink and one of the new Blending Brushes. Because the ink is dye based, my Daniel Smith watercolors glided over it super smoothly. I began by using my slightly-more-than-damp, clean paintbrush to add clean water directly over the top of the stenciled sentiment, then while the paper was still wet, dropped in some amethyst purple watercolor. The damp watercolor paper allowed the watercolor to bloom beautifully, creating that gorgeous, artistic watercolor look that we love so much! Tip: a paintbrush with a nice, sharp point is crucial for this technique as well as no-line watercoloring. The crisp point allows you to get a smooth, sharp edge on your images, thus allowing the definition of the original image to remain.

I die cut the finished sentiment with the Circle Florals Dies. I love that there are dies for nearly all of the sentiments included in the stamp and stencil sets! The entire suite of products works so beautifully together.

I had also stamped the delicate, simple flowers from You’re the Best, again using Soft Lilac ink on some Fabriano Artistico watercolor paper. (The Fabriano Artistico is a nice, bright white, not too creamy or yellowed, but still with great texture and movement on the watercolor.) I used the same vibrant Carbazole Violet watercolor from Daniel Smith to add beautiful purple color to the flower. The key with no-line coloring is to make sure that the wet sections remain separate so that they don’t bloom into each other and muddy your crisp edges, which will cause your image to lose its definition. I worked in three different layers, adding a base layer of purple, going in for a second layer to deepen shadows and clean up the edges of the petals (tip: long brush strokes are your friend for crisp, smooth edges), then a final layer of the same Carbazole Violet mixed with my favorite Indanthrone Blue on a few of the petals that were tucked behind each other. I made sure to allow the topmost petal to have the lightest, brightest white highlights to show that it was the top petal and closest to my light source. I die cut the finished floral swag with the coordinating dies.

I had previously hot foiled the Geo Arch hot foil plate onto some beautiful lavender cardstock using purple foil (tone-on-tone hot foil is basically my most favorite thing ever besides coloring), but it was an A2 panel and I wanted to create a mini-slimline card front (3.5″x6″). I trimmed it down to 3″x4.25″ so that it would fit nicely in the center of a mini-slimline card front, then matted with an ever-so-slightly larger piece of dark purple cardstock, which I mounted on my mini-slimline card front. I also die cut a small white Art Deco Frame. I wanted to have at least 3 elements of white on my card front: the card base, the white outline on the floral and sentiment die cuts, and now the white frame. I adhered all of the die cuts using foam adhesive for lots of dimension, then added a few Glacier gems for one last touch of shine!

Well, that’s all for my project today. We are working on the March release from Pinkfresh Studio, and it’s so beautiful! I am especially excited to have another design coming out this month… it’s one of my favorites! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio March Challenge-Layers!

March 8, 2023

Hi friends! March has begun, so we are introducing a new challenge over at Pinkfresh Studio. This month, our theme is Layers. This theme was pretty darn easy for me, as I layer layer layer on pretty much all of my cards…Creating a flat card is so difficult for me! I love foam tape and I cannot lie. I used a variety of older products, including my Magnolia stamp set, which is great fun for watercoloring. Let’s get started with the details!

I began by heat embossing all of the images from one of my favorite sets that I’ve illustrated for Pinkfresh Studio: Magnolia! I used white embossing powder to emboss the one-and-done stamp. (I love that you only have to stamp once to stamp all of the images included in this set! So quick and easy.) When I want to create a softer look, I reach for the lighter embossing powders, like white or white satin pearl. It helps to give the softness of no-line coloring, but with the ease of having those raised ridges to make your watercoloring a little simpler. I heat embossed the images on the smoother side of some Arches cold press watercolor paper, then used my Daniel Smith watercolors to add some soft painting in shades that coordinated with the color scheme for this month’s challenge. I made sure to add some pale turquoise watercolor around the edges of my images so that the die cuts would have that finished, polished look on the eventual card front. I used the coordinating one-and-done die to cut out my watercolored magnolia flowers.

Because this month’s challenge was layers, I turned to my dies to see what dies I could layer beneath the pretty pink blooms to create subtle layers without overwhelming the card. I always like to have some subtle texture behind my flowers to help add interest, and I usually achieve this with either tone-on-tone cover plate die cuts or adding stitched texture with a cover plate, so I thought why not combine the two techniques? I wanted to use the Simply Hexagons Cover Plate Die, so to coordinate with the hexagon shapes in the cover plate, I also pulled out the Hexagon Tiles Cover Plate die, which adds a beautiful stitched pattern to your solid cardstock. I used a favorite shade of icy pastel blue cardstock for both die cuts, creating a tone-on-tone background for my pretty pink blooms.

To create a ground for my floral bouquet, I die cut a small Essentials: Ornate Banner die from some vellum. The die cut shape itself provides a bit of a ground around which my floral bouquet can shape itself, while the semi-transparent vellum does not had any extra bulk. I arranged my die cut and watercolored flowers around the corner of the vellum, adhering them to the vellum die cut with liquid adhesive and then hiding my foam tape behind the solid die cuts. I also added a few iridescent white leaves cut using the Curvy Leaves dies (another layer!), tucking them in amongst the floral bouquet. For the greeting, I used one of my previously-hot foiled Brushed Sentiments greetings, foiled using the “leftovers” and the Solid Hot Foil Plate. I popped that up with a double layer of foam tape to help the greeting stand out even more, then added a few sparkling Blush Glitter Drops for one last layer and bit of sparkle!

Well, that’s all for my project today. The Pinkfresh Studio March 2023 Challenge runs through March 28, 2023, and there is a $50 shopping spree up for grabs! Simply create your own project (or projectS!) with lots of layers, and link them up to the challenge before 3/28 to be eligible to win. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Altenew March 2023 Stamp/Die/Stencil & More Release Blog Hop #1 + Giveaway ($300 in Total Prizes!)

March 2, 2023

Hi there! Today, Altenew is hopping along to celebrate the release of their new March 2023 Collection! You can find the full hop list at the bottom of the post, but you can also start at the beginning at the Altenew Blog. I have two projects featuring some gorgeous cherry blossom inspiration today, so let’s get started with all of the details!

Both of my projects feature lots of beautiful texture, lots of gorgeous rose gold metallic accents, and lots and lots of pink. It’s my favorite, and I cannot get enough. I took my cues for my cards today from the new Stunning Sakura stamps, allowing bright pops of pink to be the star of my projects.

My first project features the fabulous new Everyday Sentiments Hot Foil Plate. These circular sentiments reminded me of the wax seals that are so popular right now, so after hot foiling the Hello sentiment using some Rose Gold Hot Foil, I die cut it with one of the Fine Rings: Circles dies, I began work on a bundle of flowers to “tie” with my “wax seal.”

I used the Itty Bitty Flowers dies with the Rose Petal Gradient Cardstock set, die cutting the branches from some crisp white cardstock. I wanted those bright pink blooms to really pop from the background, so keeping the branches white helps to keep the focus on the pink flowers. I adhered all of the flower components together using liquid adhesive, then adhered them to the white branches.

I used the new Wicker Texture 3D Embossing Folder with a panel of white cardstock to create this crazy-textured background. I love how the incredibly crisp embossing is still relatively subtle because of the simple, repeating pattern. I arranged my cherry blossom die cut on the card front, adhering it with some foam adhesive, then added the hot foiled “wax seal” over the bundle with a double layer of foam tape for extra height. For even more texture, I added a baby pink seam binding bow and some sparkling pink gems. This card is simple, but all of the different textural elements really help to make it interesting, I think!

My second card uses the beautiful Stunning Sakura stamps and dies with some shocking pink watercolor to keep things bright and bold! I began by heat embossing the Stunning Sakura bouquet all over an A2 panel of watercolor paper using Altenew’s Rose Gold Embossing Powder. I then used the new Fine Watercolor Brushes with my favorite Artists’ 24 Pan Watercolors to watercolor the blooms in a beautiful hot pink, keeping the foliage in the same color family by mixing in a touch of black to the bright pink (aptly named “Cherry Blossom”) to create a jewel-toned maroon. I die cut all of the finished watercolored blooms from my A2 panel, and because I had placed hanging off the edges of the panel, I knew precisely where to place them on the clean card front!

For the greeting, I hot foiled one of the greetings from the new Vertical Greetings hot foil + die bundle, again using Rose Gold Hot Foil from Altenew. I also die cut the Simply Friend die from some coordinating rose gold glitter cardstock. I adhered it to some heavyweight vellum with liquid adhesive, then used my sharp scissors to cut around the edge to create a shadow. This vellum shadow allows the greeting to stand out a bit from the busy background, where it might get lost amongst the coordinating rose gold embossing powder and bright pink blooms.

I adhered all of the watercolored cherry blossom die cuts to a panel of white linen cardstock from my stash using Instant Dimension Foam Tape. The warmth of the linen cardstock coordinates beautifully with the warmth of the creamy watercolor paper. I hate it when the whites don’t match! I adhered the hot foiled and glittery die cut greeting pieces directly over the top of the popped up flowers using a double layer of foam tape to help them stand out even more. I added a few iridescent pink gems for some sparkle and added texture.

Well, that’s all for my projects today! Now for some fun giveaway information:

$300 in total prizes! To celebrate this release, Altenew is giving away a *$100 gift certificate to 1 lucky winner and a $20 gift certificate to 10 winners! Please leave a comment on the Altenew Card Blog and/or each designer’s blog post on the blog hop list below by 03/07/2023 for a chance to win. Altenew will draw 11 random winners from the comments left on each stop of this blog hop and announce the winners on the Altenew Winners Page on 03/09/2023.
**The winner of the $100 gift certificate will be chosen from comments left on the Altenew blog.**

Here’s the full hop list:

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

More Inspiration from the Pinkfresh Studio February 2023 Release!

February 28, 2023

Hi there! Pinkfresh Studio released their newest collection of products yesterday, celebrating with a blog hop, and today we’re continuing the celebration with an Instagram hop! You can check out all of the details on how you can participate (i.e.-enter to win prizes!!) in the Instagram hop over on the Pinkfresh Studio Instagram page, as well as my own; I’m @eamidgett. I thought I’d share the details of my project over here on my blog, so that you can check out the new goodies that I used if you were interested!

I began by stamping the gorgeous new Arch Florals stamp. I love the Arch Florals and the new Circle Florals that I used for my card yesterday… the flowers in these companion sets are so delicate and lovely! I stamped the Arch Florals stamp using no-line coloring ink on some crisp white cardstock, then colored the images in a cool color palette of lavender and aqua using my OLO markers. (You can use code emily to receive 10% off your order!) I die cut the images with the coordinating dies (I love that you stamp all of the images with one stamp and die cut the images with one pass through your die cut machine!) and set them aside. I also heat embossed a greeting from Arch Florals with some sparkling platinum embossing powder, then die cut it with the coordinating die-so nice to have those sentiment dies included with the image dies.

To coordinate with the graceful floral swag, I used my Glimmer machine to hot foil some of the new Nested Arches Hot Foil Plates, making sure to use the negative leftover foils with the Pinkfresh Studio Solid Hot Foil Plate as well! I hot foiled the large arch on the card using the leftover Metallic Satin Pewter foil with the solid plate, then used the coordinating Nested Arches dies to cut the arch shape out. I arranged the florals around the edge of the foiled arch, adhering them with both liquid and foam adhesive. I also nestled a few solid white glitter leaves amongst the colored florals, which I die cut using the Leafy Branch die and trimmed up to fill out the floral bouquets.

I wanted a simple, subtly textured background for my foiled floral arch die cuts, so I die cut the Elongated Lattice Cover Plate die from some crisp white cardstock and layered it on a white A2 card front. I added the foiled floral arch with some foam adhesive. Lots of dimension and height on this card front! I contemplated adding a few gems, but I thought there were so many different textures and elements of shine with the foil and glittery die cuts and sentiment that it didn’t need anything further.

Well, that’s all for my project today! If you haven’t checked out the new February 2023 Release from Pinkfresh Studio, I hope you will take a peek…. so many wonderful useful new products. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and don’t forget to hop over to Instagram to enter to win more prizes from the Instagram Hop! Happy hopping!

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