Monday, June 30, 2014

Celebrating the new Celebra'tions line!

Hi everyone!  You may have seen the announcement last week about the new Celebra'tions line by Richard Garay from Spellbinders?!?   This is a new collection of perfectly coordinated stamps, dies, inks, paper, embossing folders and accessories. This line was inspired by Richard's love for celebrations- big and small and I think there's something for everyone here.
Be still my heart!

The initial release has 12 amazing colors of coordinating ink and cardstock!  Here is a picture I took of my cardstock and ink swatches I made.  My ink swatch doesn't include the black ink called Berry Black.  The inks are a dye ink with a cloth pad and are super juicy with great coverage.
For my card I used the stamp and die set called, Just Because.  This set has 3 flower sizes, flower centers and 4 sentiments and comes with 6 coordinating dies.  I stamped them with the Cotton Candy and Captivating Coral inks and the leaves were in Luscious Lime.  Fun huh?!?
Here's the stamp set and matching dies:
 I also want to mention the linen thread.  It comes in 4 great colors (natural, pink, turqouise and green) and they don't have those little fly away hairs!
Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I'm super excited about this collection, so stay tuned for more projects using them! Thanks for stopping by and have a great day.  Here is a close up picture.
Card Deets:  
Spellbinders Supplies:  

Just Because Stamp and die set (SCSD-008)Celebrations Print double sided pattern paper (SCP-016); Ink in Captivating Coral (SCI-012), Berry Black (SCI-001), Luscious Lime (SCI-004) and Cotton Candy (SCI-013); Linen Thread (SCT-001)
Other Supplies: Stardust Stickles 
Adhesive: Tombow USA Mono Multi liquid glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Squares

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Saturday, June 28, 2014

Spellbinders Featured Designer

Hi everyone!  Today I am being featured on the Spellbinders' blog as their Featured Designer for June!  I am so excited and honored!  I've been with Spellbinders for over 3 years now and each day is as fun as the next.  They are an amazing, innovative and generous company and I am thrilled to be designing for them.

AND there is a fun giveaway for you all too!  Spellbinders will be giving away all the dies I used on my card to one lucky person.
Knowing about the giveaway, I made a card using my 2 FAVORITE things, circles and roses!!
To make the chevron cardstock strips I used my Zig Zag Edger die from Classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities set.  I made my first cut, then worked my way down the cardstock lining up the die JUST at the edge of the cut.  This way I made all my strips the same size without doing measuring.
To make the circle rings, I start out by cutting the larger circle first.  (p.s. notice my brand new clean cutting mat?  How pretty is that!?!) I wanted my circle rings 1/4" thick, so I used both the Circles LG and Circles SM die sets.  On the right, my second cut is with the nesting size smaller from the other set. If I used only one set, the ring formed would be 1/2" which is also nice.
To make the rose, I cut 2 of each size petals from my favorite flower set, Rose Creations.  I like to make my flowers combining pattern paper and cardstock, so I cut 2 of each size of both kinds.
There are many ways to shape rose petals, I do mine in 2 easy steps.  First step is to cup the petals upward, I use my pen cap against my piercing foam.  The second step is to fold the ends downward, I use the edge of my scoring tool.
Next I adhere the 2 petals of the same together.  I lay them all out and fiddle around to see how I want my rose to look.
 The dies come with a small hole in the center of the blooms which makes assembly easy.  I used a silver jumbo brad and alternated my patterns and had enough left over for another complete rose, which I put in my "extras" tin.
 For the chance to win all the dies I used on my card head over to the Spellbinders blog and click on the contest link.

The dies being given away are:

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Here is a close up of the die cutting details.
Card Deets:  
Spellbinder dies: E8-004
Classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities®, S4-114 Standard Circles LG and S4-116 Standard Circles SM Nestabilities®, S5-050 Rose Creations Shapeabilities®
Stamps: JustRite Papercrafts, Buntings and Banners for sentiment 
Paper: Bazzill Paper Basics, Marshmallow, Icy Mint, Whirlypop and Candy Pearls Card Shoppe cardstock; MME "Necessities" Blue 6x6 pad 
Ink: Tsukineko Versafine Onyx Black 
Embellishments: May Arts Burlap String; Jumbo brad; clear rhinestones; Stardust stickles 
Adhesive: Tombow USA Mono Multi liquid glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Squares
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Monday, June 23, 2014

1 embossing folder, 2 looks

Hi everyone!  I have a couple of note cards that use either side of the same M-Bossibilities folder.  That's what's unique to Spellbinders' folders, they are double sided!  Yep, you just flip them inside out and there is another pattern.  When I first tried these, I was convinced they would snap apart and tear at the seam, but they don't -honest!!  lol!

My cards use the Simplicity folder which is one of the smaller folders that measures 4.25" x 5.5" and as the name states, has a simple pattern on both the A and B sides.
I lightly inked the folder before embossing my white cardstock.  I could have actually gotten FOUR different looks by inking the other side of the pattern, but alas I had a hair appointment today so I only had time to make two.

My cards measure 5"x3.5" and first up is a card using the "A" side.  I used a mint color ink and embellished with some of my neglected wood veneer stars.  The ink is kind of hard to see in the photo, but it is recessed in the little diamond pattern.
 Next is my card using the B side.  This time I inked it with a pale aqua ink and for this one, I dug deep in my stash and used a couple of stick pins that I seriously haven't used in probably 2 years!  Feels good to use some of these up.  My sentiment "hello" is the leftover piece from yesterday's card where I only used the "friend" portion of the die.  They were doubled up 4 layers deep, giving it some dimension.  Still on the fense about that look, my first card uses only 1 layer and I think I like that better.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Card Deets:  
Spellbinder dies: IN-037 Celebration Two and S2-082 Sentiments One Shapeabilities®, S4-114 Standard Circles LG and S4-116 Standard Circles SM Nestabilities®, ES-001 Simplicity M-bossibilities® 
Paper: Bazzill Paper Basics, Marshmallow, Black Licorice, Robin's Eggs and Fresh Mints Card Shoppe cardstock 
Ink: Amuse Studios, Bermuda; Avery Elle, Mint To Be 
Embellishments: May Arts Baker's Twine in Seafoam and Celery; MME stick pins; Studio Calico wood veneer stars 
Adhesive: Tombow USA Mono Multi liquid glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Squares 
NOTE: You can also find Spellbinders Die Templates at the The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. 

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Sunday, June 22, 2014

Butterfly friend

Hi everyone!  I have a bright summer card to share today.  I haven't had a chance to use the butterfly set, Flutters and I thought it would to perfectly with the happy fun colors of the new Basic Grey Highline paper!!  This was my FAVORITE paper that I saw at CHA in January and couldn't wait for it to be released.
To give the butterfly some sparkle I added a thin layer of stickles on it and as it dried, it helped curl the wings at the tips.
The sentiment die is from the newly released In'spire Line of dies called Celebration Two.  There are 3 everyday phrases in this set and I can see it will be my new go-to set for greetings!
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
Card Deets: 
Spellbinder dies: IN-037 Celebration Two and S2-073 Flutters Shapeabilities®, S4-116 Standard Circles SM Nestabilities®

Paper: Bazzill Paper Basics, Butter Mints, Black Licorice and Lollipop Card Shoppe cardstock

Embellishments - Cartwright's Sequins 4, 5 and 6mm satin sequins; The Twinery baker's twine in Pink Sorbet
Adhesive - Tombow USA Mono Multi liquid glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Squares 
NOTE: You can also find Spellbinders Die Templates at the The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. 
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Saturday, June 21, 2014

Create-a-Flower: Gerber Daisy tutorial

Hi everyone!  I have a fun summer Thank You card to share today.  Most of you are familiar with the new series of dies from Spellbinders called Create-a-Flower which make amazing realistic flowers!!  They are also in the Die D-Lite category, so they have a lower price.  Win-win!  You can see the Create a Rose flower I made on this post.  My card today uses the lovely Gerber Daisy.  And I have to say, this is a pretty easy flower to assemble. The accent flowers are made from my oldie but goodie die set, Bitty Blossoms.
Here are some step out photos showing how I made the flower.
This picture shows cuts for a 1 layer flower.  Note: After seeing it assembled, I wanted the flower a bit fuller, so I made 2 of each petal size.  Essentially made all these cuts again.
 To assemble the petal layers, just poke the petal end into the pre-cut slit on the base.  To secure my petals, I added a dot of glue to each.
 Here is what it looks like from the underneath side.
 Here you can see how each petal layer looks assembled, the top two are already doubled up.  The lower ones are what they look like as a single layer.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Here's a close up picture of the flower details, you can see I added some stickles to some of the petals.
Card Deets: 
Spellbinder dies: S3-206 Create A Gerber Daisy and S5-086 Bitty Blossoms Shapeabilities®, S4-310 Labels Eighteen Nestabilities®, EG-002 Dainty Dots M-bossibilities Folder
Stamps: Fun Stampers Journey, Greet and Shout stamp set 
Paper: Bazzill Paper Basics, Marshmallow, Cotton Candy, Lollipop, Marshmallow Chick, Sour Grape and Easter Grass Card Shoppe cardstock; 
Ink: Tsukineko, Versafine Onyx Black
Embellishments - Stamp Simply Ribbon Store: Kaisercraft yellow rhinestones and Pink/white baker's twine; Sentiment label is sticker from Little Bee
Adhesive - Tombow USA Mono Multi liquid glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Squares 
NOTE: You can also find Spellbinders Die Templates at the The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. 
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Tuesday, June 17, 2014

Thinking of you

Hi everyone!  I have a sympathy/thinking of you card to share.  These are always so hard to make.  I like to keep mine simple and without a lot of flashy colors.  
I used the Classic Ric Rac diamond insert die to create that open pattern at the bottom.  I made one cut, then alternated where the diamonds were and made my second and then the third.  Below you can see how I did it.  I trimmed it up and before I adhered it to my card base, I put a piece of glitter tape on the card base where the second row would be.  p.s. this was hard to do and it involved lots of work with my ruler.  I think next time I will figure out a way to glue the tape to the top piece and not the bottom!  lol!
The beautiful poppy bloom was die cut and embossed from gold cardstock and then I added some red pearl accents.  Very understated.
Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Here is a close up picture of the die cut details.
Card Deets: 
Spellbinder dies:
S3-206 Asters and Poppies Shapeabilities®, E8-004 Classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities® 
Stamps: JustRite Papercrafts, Large Elegant Sentiments
Paper: Bazzill Paper Basics, Butter Mints and Marshmallow Card Shoppe cardstock; Gold cardstock
Ink: Tsukineko, Versafine Onyx Black
Embellishments - Stamp Simply Ribbon Store: Kaisercraft Red pearls; American Crafts glitter tape in Gold Brown Sugar; May Arts 1/4" mini chevron ribbon
Adhesive - Tombow USA Mono Multi liquid glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Squares 

NOTE: You can also find Spellbinders Die Templates and gold cardstock at the The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store. 

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Friday, June 13, 2014

Summery Just Because card

Hi everyone!!  Long time no blog.  I have been super busy with end of the school year stuff and getting my garden in order.  Not too mention allergies have been kicking my behind and wiped out my energy!  Anyway, I have a fun card to share today.  This was inspired by a card I found on Pinterest.  Seriously, what did we do before Pinterest?  I love that site, not only for endless crafty inspiration, but for recipes and so much more!  But I digress...
My card uses some of my favorite cheery summer pattern paper from My Mind's Eye and matching enamel dots (I just love matchy-matchy).  I used the Blooms 3 D-Lite die for my flowers and the leaves are vellum cut from the Sprigs set (which I had left over from this card). For the chevron pattern, I used the Classic Ric Rac edger die and made 2 die cuts into my cardstock, separated them a tiny bit and adhered them over some pattern paper with foam squares.  Pretty cool, huh?!

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Here is a close up picture of the flower details, I just love the emboss and DEbossing details with the Blooms 3 dies.
Card Deets: 
Spellbinder dies: S2-046 Blooms 3 and S4-430 Sprigs Shapeabilities®, E8-004 Classic Ric Rac Edgeabilities® 
Paper: Bazzill Paper Basics, Butter Mints, Sour Lemon and Robin's Egg Card Shoppe cardstock; Vellum cardstock
Ink: Tsukineko, Versafine Onyx Black
Embellishments - Stamp Simply Ribbon Store: My Mind's Eye Record It "Here is Happy" 6s6 paper pad and enamel dots
Adhesive - Tombow USA Mono Multi liquid glue; Scrapbook Adhesives by 3L Foam Squares 
NOTE: You can also find Spellbinders Die Templates and vellum cardstock at the The Stamp Simply Ribbon Store.
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Sunday, June 1, 2014

Spring cleaning sale

Hi everyone!  I am cleaning out my craft room, doing a little spring cleaning!  I have TONS of Gina K stamp sets and Spellbinders die sets listed for sale in the Splitcoast Stampers posting in the Buy/Sell forum.
Everything is HUGELY discounted and priced to find a new home!

I am including fun freebies with every purchase!  I have lots of extra goodies to share like flowers, sequins, buttons, ribbons, chipboard, etc!

Here is the direct link to the post:

If you are not familiar with SCS, just shoot me an email (cardsbymichelle@hotmail.com) and I will send you a list of what I have and pricing.  PayPal only, shipping not included in pricing.  First come first served.

I will also be doing a blog-a-versary giveaway soon.  I just passed my 1000th blog post and am coming up on my 6th year blogaversary!  Woohoo!  Stay tuned for details.
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