letterpress

VIDEO: No-Ink Press Plates with Pinkfresh Studio!

April 24, 2025

Hi friends! I am on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube Channel today with this pretty “blurple” project inspired by the colors of one of my favorite flowers: hydrangeas! You can watch the video HERE on YouTube or below:

Below, I’ve included a quick written rundown of my techniques!

To begin, I used the Pinkfresh Studio 1″ Blending Brushes to blend a superb combination of blue and purple inks in an ombré, creating a soft “blurple” blended background. From light to dark, I blended: Sheer Freesia, Hydrangea, Blue Jay, and Sapphire inks on my plain white A2 panel of cardstock. After I had blended this pretty background, I adhered it with light-tack tape to a panel of thick scrap cardstock, creating a bit of a cushion behind this regular-weight cardstock so that I could use it with the Leafy Lattice Press Plate! Carissa Wiley shared this trick awhile ago, and I have been absolutely obsessed with it since then. After adhering the blended panel to the scrap Bristol cardstock, I used Calico White ink to press the Leafy Lattice Press Plate into my blended background. The extra cushion allows that impression to be nice and crisp in the lighter-weight cardstock, and the white pigment ink creates a subtle pattern and texture.

Once the background had been completed, I turned to the focal point. I have been having fun experimenting with textures on coated cardstocks lately, pairing pearlescent cardstocks with embossing folders, and today I used the Bluebonnet Bliss Press Plate and dies with some stunning periwinkle mirror cardstock that I found in my stash. (I make it my mission to collect interesting “specialty” cardstocks and sometimes have the problem of wanting to hoard them for a long time, so then I forget where I found them!) I impressed the beautifully detailed Bluebonnet Bliss Press Plate into this foil cardstock without inking up the plates, allowing the almost etched impression to be the focal point for my card! I impressed the image twice and then die cut the images out with their coordinating dies.

To accent the background and further enhance the feminine feel of this card, I die cut some Midnight Navy Glitter Cardstock from Pinkfresh Studio using the Fancy Edgers dies, backing the glittery, lacy strip with some pearlescent white cardstock for added shimmer and contrast. I placed the strip on the blended and pressed card front with liquid adhesive, then added the impressed Bluebonnet die cuts with liquid and thin foam adhesives. For the greeting, I stamped the “hugs” from the Basic Sentiments Stamps suite, using Hydrangea and Blue Jay inks to create an ombré sentiment. I popped the sentiment pieces up using thicker foam adhesive squares, then added a white pearlescent bow die cut created using the Wrap Around Elements dies (which are now discontinued– a twine bow would also work here!) to create the look of a hand-tied bouquet. Finally, I added a few Iridescent Dew Drop embellishments to fill in some of the blank areas on the card.

Well, that’s all for my project today! If you haven’t tried using your Press Plates without ink to add gorgeous texture, I hope this project inspires you to try it out. The impressed texture is exquisite and lends such an air of sophistication to your projects. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio “Good Times” Release Blog Hop

April 15, 2025

Hi friends! I am hopping along with my friends at Pinkfresh Studio to share some inspiration using their marvelous new Good Times release! I never tire of the beautiful images that Pinkfresh share with us each month, and this month features gorgeous new floral arrangements, Essentials dies, and some spectacular butterflies-and nearly all of these fabulous images feature both stamps and press plates, which can be used for letterpress and hot foiling! So much bang for your buck, right? I have a pretty-in-purple project to share with you today, so let’s get started with the details!

Every time I reorganize my office, I find something fun that I had forgotten that I’d purchased (whoops!). Today’s idée fixe is press plates paired with pearlescent cardstock, of which I found a whole stash in fun colors, including a lovely lavender and crisp, pearly white! I decided to use these two colors as the palette for my project today, envisioning a springy card with ethereal, fluttering butterflies and graceful blooms.

*I have gathered links to all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience, using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

To begin, I stamped the gorgeous images from the new Beautiful Soul Stamp set twice on gorgeous lavender cardstock using white pigment ink, then again with embossing ink, then sprinkled Iridescent Lavender embossing powder over the top to create a subtle, shimmering shine on my stamped images. I then used the coordinating Beautiful Soul Stencils with Opulence, Wisteria, and Sheer Freesia inks to add some monochromatic color to each of the images, creating a touch of contrast with the individual leaves and flowers while still allowing the lavender haze to be the central visual for my color palette. I die cut the finished images with their coordinating Beautiful Soul Dies.

After I had created the floral images, I used some of that gorgeous pearlescent white cardstock with the new Butterfly Bliss Press Plate and dies. This cardstock is approximately the same weight as typical colored cardstock, so in order to use it with the press plates, I backed it with some inexpensive watercolor paper to create a bit more cushion and allow the plates to impress into the thinner cardstock, creating a crisp image. (Carissa Wiley is the genius that came up with this, and I just love it!) The fine details on the butterflies impress beautifully into the pearlescent cardstock, visible even without the addition of any ink. After impressing the butterfly images, I die cut the butterflies with their coordinating dies. I used this same technique to add some texture to the pearlescent lavender background with the Ornate Trellis Press Plate.

For the greeting, I heat embossed a sentiment from the Beautiful Soul stamp set, stamping first using Opulence ink, then again with embossing ink and adding the same Iridescent Lavender embossing powder over the top to create a marvelous sheen for my greeting. I also die cut a vellum oval using the new Double Stitched Elongated Oval, adhering my sentiment in the center of the oval and arranging the flowers and butterflies around it. The vellum oval provides a soft grounding for my sentiment. Finally, I added a few Iridescent Clear Drops to fill in a few of the blank spots in my arrangement. Such a pretty springtime card!

Well, that’s all for my project today. Now for some fun giveaway information:

Pinkfresh Studio will give away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog and YouTube channel.
Pinkfresh Studio will also give away TEN $50 gift cards along the hop. As usual with blog hops, the winners will be selected from the comments.
Winners will be selected and posted on April 23, 2025, on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page and claim their prize within 2 weeks.

Well, that’s all for me today! You can find the full hop list below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and happy hopping!

VIDEO: Green Monochromatic Botanicals with Pinkfresh Studio!

February 27, 2025

Hi friends! I am up on the Pinkfresh Studio YouTube channel today with a new video featuring a fun letterpress technique using white ink on colored cardstock (yes, letterpress on colored cardstock!) as well as some beautiful monochromatic images that I’ve created using some selective stenciling. You can watch the video below or HERE on YouTube:

https://youtu.be/6ms5uWg7vJA

In case you can’t watch the video, I will give a quick explanation of my process. To start, I used Eucalyptus Ink from Pinkfresh Studio to impress the Butterflies in Bloom Press Plate onto some white letterpress paper. This letterpress suite impresses a gorgeous floral bouquet and some standalone butterflies that you can use to create a charming visual triangle on your card front! I used Sage, Eucalyptus, and Lush Forest ink with the Butterflies in Bloom Stencils. These stencils create a very graphic overall feel when used in their entirety, but for this card, I wanted to add some very subtle color, creating almost “white” blooms surrounded by dense, dramatic green foliage and no other colors accenting the main images, so I made sure to avoid the butterfly stencils and used a light hand with the Sage and Eucalyptus inks on the main flowers. After I had finished stenciling, I used the coordinating one-go die to die cut all of the images with one pass through my die cut machine!

For the background, I die cut a plain notched rectangle from Simon Says Stamp Sage Green cardstock using the Notched Corner Frames die set. Because colored cardstock is not quite thick enough to use with press plates on its own, I used a trick that I learned from the talented Carissa Wiley: use light-tack tape to adhere a piece of thick watercolor or letterpress cardstock behind your colored cardstock, then letterpress as you would normally. For this card, I wanted to keep the area behind the light flowers a consistent sage green, so I used the Dashing Daisies press plate with Calico White ink. The inks from Pinkfresh Studio work beautifully with the press plates; because the Calico White ink has a very soft foam pad, it is important to use a very light hand when adding ink to your plate so that you don’t get ink where you don’t want it. I inked up the plate with the white ink, then ran it through my Better Press system on the green Notched Corner Frame die cut.

For the greeting, I stamped two different images from the Basic Sentiments stamp set onto some more of the Sage cardstock using White Calico ink, then stamped again directly over the top with embossing ink and added some White Satin Pearl embossing powder. The embossing powder adds a lovely shimmer and enhances the white stamped image. I trimmed the “you’re the best” with a trimmer, die cut the large “thanks” with the coordinating die, then began arranging the die cuts on my card front. I adhered everything with different heights of foam adhesive squares to keep things interesting visually, then added a few sparkling Glitter Drops: Leaf on the card front for one last touch of shine!

Well, that’s all for my project today! If you’ve never tried doing letterpress on colored cardstock, I highly encourage you to give it a try. It’s so simple, and it opens up a whole new world of possibilities! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a marvelous day!

Pinkfresh Studio “Gentle Greetings & Greenery” Release Blog Hop

December 10, 2024

Hi friends! Today, I am hopping along with Pinkfresh Studio to help introduce their newest collection: Gentle Greetings and Greenery! This collection has some truly beautiful new floral designs as well as some versatile and super useful sentiments, along with some fun basic backgrounds that will make your focal points pop. You should have arrived here from Dawn, and your next stop is Enza. You can also start at the beginning at the Pinkfresh Studio Blog.

I am always up for a good ombré color palette, and today’s color palette was inspired by some cards I did for the October Create & Connect Press Plate class. Deep royal purple moving to muted blue to intense teal is such a soothing color palette to my eyes, and I thought it was perfect for the Gentle Greetings theme. I pulled out Paradise, Storm, and Stargazer inks to pair with the new Beautiful Botanicals stamps to create this pair of paradoxical cards: one deeply color saturated and vibrant, and one with lots of crisp white and pops of color!

For my first card, I took advantage of the lovely, symmetrical arrangement on the Beautiful Botanicals stamp set and the coordinating stencils. I wanted to create an ombré effect with the florals, so after stamping the Beautiful Botanicals cling stamp onto white cardstock using Paradise ink, I stamped it again with sticky embossing ink and covered the images with Iridescent Blue embossing powder, adding a ton of shimmer and iridescent shine to these beautifully detailed images! After I had heated the embossing powder, I used the coordinating Beautiful Botanicals Stencils to color the images, inking the flowers from the top down using Paradise, Storm, and Stargazer inks, then using the foliage stencil with only Paradise, adding the details on the last stencil with the same coordinating inks used on each flower. Pairing the gradient ink blending on the flowers with the iridescent shimmer on the embossing creates a magical effect!

After I had finished stenciling, I trimmed down the panel very slightly and matted it on a panel of coordinating deep teal cardstock, leaving a super thin contrasting frame around the edge.

For the greeting, I used the large Thanks sentiment from the new Basic Sentiments Press Plate set. This sentiment set is truly a must-have in my opinion, with its beautiful font and large scale making an excellent impact on your cards! After running the letterpress sentiment through my machine with the Better Press using Paradise ink, I die cut the sentiment with its coordinating die. I centered it over a small, Aqua Glitter Fancy Rectangles Frame, adhering the sentiment to the frame and adding some foam adhesive behind the solid die cut to keep the glittery die cut clean. I finished the card off with a white silk bow and some Iridescent Bubble embellishments!

For my second card, I used the new Basic Sentiments coordinating die as my focal point, allowing the large scale die cuts to be the star of the show with some support from the beautiful new Interlaced Diamonds Press Plate and Coordinating Die and some vibrant ink blending. I began by using Paradise, Storm, and Stargazer inks on the Interlaced Diamonds Press Plate to create a gradient effect, then used blending brushes to blend the same colors over the top lightly before die cutting with the coordinating die. I used the same ink and brushes to blend another panel in an identical pattern, adding some iridescent glitter watercolor splatters after blending for added sparkle and texture! I popped the die cut up with some thin strips of foam adhesive for added texture and dimension, which is key to keeping these monochromatic cards from becoming visually boring.

After I had created my background, I die cut the large scale Hugs from the new Basic Sentiment die set, enhancing it with some sentiment strips from the Basic Sentiment stamp set, which I stamped using white pigment ink and embossed with Iridescent Blue embossing powder on deep teal cardstock. I used the same white pigment ink and iridescent embossing powder combination to stamp and emboss the Beautiful Botanicals stamp set, arranging a few of the die cuts in a swag in the corner of a glittery Fancy Rectangles Frame. I tucked the sentiment pieces within the frame using foam adhesive, finally adding some more iridescent bubble embellishments for added shimmer and shine!

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

To celebrate this release, Pinkfresh Studio is hosting fabulous giveaways! Pinkfresh Studio will be 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. The winners will be selected from the comments.
Winners will be announced on December 18, 2024 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must claim their prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list. Thanks so much for stopping by, and happy hopping!

Pinkfresh Studio “Kindness in Bloom” Release Blog Hop

October 8, 2024

Good morning friends! I am hopping along with Pinkfresh Studio today to share inspiration using some of the gorgeous new goodies from the Kindness In Bloom release! This new release is filled with stunning florals in all forms: stamps, dies, stencils, and press plates, but we also have some marvelous new Essentials dies that are going to be staples in your craft room, as well. I have two projects using some beautiful blue tones, so let’s get started with the details!

*I have linked all of the products used at the bottom of the post for your convenience using affiliate links. Thank you for shopping with my links! I truly appreciate your support for my work!*

For both of my projects today, I used the new Print Shop Modern Botanicals stamp, die, and stencil product suite (there is also a coordinating Press Plate, but I focused on the stamp set today so that I could do some heat embossing!). To start, I stamped the beautiful Print Shop Modern Botanicals cling stamp twice onto some pale aqua cardstock from my stash using white pigment ink, which I then covered with Iridescent Blue embossing powder to create a shimmery, iridescent, almost tone-on-tone embossed outline. I embossed two of these floral panels in this way: one to use as a background and one to die cut to use as accents for another card!

Before die cutting one of the panels, I used the coordinating stencils with Waterfall, Turquoise, and Paradise inks to add some beautiful monochromatic details to the floral images. After I had finished blending, I used the fabulous one-pass die to die cut all of the flowers in one fell swoop. So convenient!

For my first card, I created a beautifully textured background by pressing the floral bouquet into some more of the lovely pale aqua cardstock. To achieve the textured letterpress look on colored cardstock, I tried a technique that I saw the incredibly talented Carissa Wiley demonstrate. I placed a piece of letterpress paper behind my A2 panel of colored cardstock and used some light washi tape to temporarily adhere the two pieces together. I then used my Better Press system to impress the beautiful bouquet from the new Always Smiling product suite into the corners of my panel. The thick cotton letter press cardstock allows the cushion for the Press Plate to impress the images into the regular colored cardstock! Isn’t that ingenious? Carissa is amazingly clever! After removing the washi tape and letterpress panel, I used a blending brush to blend Turquoise ink around the edges of the panel, enhancing the beautifully detailed letter press images.

To further enhance my card front, I die cut the largest frame from the new Dotted Fancy Frames Essentials die set, placing it in the center of an A2 sized panel of Pinkfresh Studio Aqua Glitter Cardstock. I reserved the die cut frame itself for the next project and instead used foam adhesive to pop up the negative space around the edges of my textured background panel, creating a tone-on-tone glittery shaped frame. I tucked a vellum Dotted Fancy Frame die cut on the bottom right corner of the card and arranged my stenciled Print Shop Modern Botanicals die cuts around a greeting from the Always Smiling Press Plate set, which I foiled onto some more aqua cardstock using Spellbinders’s Skybright foil and die cut with the coordinating die. Finally, I embellished my bouquet with some shiny foil “twine” cut using the older Wrap Around Elements dies and added a few coordinating Aqua Glitter Drops for added sparkle!

My second card is a bit simpler, using some of the leftovers from my first project to create this dainty, monochromatic card. I embellished the full A2 embossed and stenciled Print Shop Modern Botanicals background panel with the leftover Aqua Glitter Dotted Fancy Frames Essentials die cut, adhering it around the edges of the background with some liquid adhesive. I think it is such a pretty addition to the subtle floral background! I also used the smallest die from the Dotted Fancy Frames Essentials die set to cut a piece of vellum, upon which I would build my focal point.

For my focal point, I hot foiled my greeting from the new Blooming Arch Press Plate set, which I created by first hot foiling the sentiment Press Plate, then hot foiling the leftover foil panel using Pinkfresh Studio’s Solid Hot Foil Plate and cutting with the coordinating die. (It looks black in the photo because hot foiled images are so difficult to photograph accurately, but I promise the sentiment is a coordinating pale aqua!) I popped up the sentiment in the center of the vellum piece using foam adhesive, then arranged some leftover Print Shop Modern Botanicals die cuts behind the sentiment. I flipped over the vellum piece and added some thin foam square adhesive behind the solid die cuts in order to keep my vellum piece clean. Finally, I added a few more Aqua Glitter Drops for added sparkle!

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

Pinkfresh Studio will be giving away the full release on the Pinkfresh blog & YouTube channel. They will be giving away a total of TEN $25 gift cards along the hop. The winners will be selected from the comments, so the more comments you leave along the hop, the more chances you have to win!.
Winners will be selected and announced on October 16, 2024 on our GIVEAWAY PAGE. Winners must check that page & claim their prize within 2 weeks.

Here’s the full hop list in case you get lost:

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