Posts

Joy + Holiday Magic - Clear Cardstock Ornament Tags | Delicate Series

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I love, love, love the idea of clear tags! You never have to worry about matching wrapping paper, because everything goes with these. I sometimes find, if I make my gift toppings too early, my style changes, or I find just-the-perfect wrapping paper, that throws off the whole wrapping thing. Which is why these tags are such a fave. They work with everything form simple kraft, to elegant, sparkly designs. And the recipient can even use them as ornaments, long after the gift-giving has passed. To make these sweet tags, I used an oval die, but you could use any shaped die you have, along with some sentiment stamps, versamark ink and embossing powder. ____________________________________________________________________ TIP: HEAT-EMBOSSING ON ACETATE Using heat-resistant acetate helps to ensure your clear tags don't buckle or melt while you emboss!  It's also especially important to use your non-static pouch before stamping, as without this step, acetate can gather a lot of static ...

Joy to the World - Papertrey Ink | CAS Geometric Design

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Hello Friends! I couldn't resist. Back again today with another CAS Challenge: Geometric Design! Who would have thought I'd have so much fun with clean and simple cards! Over the last few days, we've been covered in a thick fog, and a blanket of the most magical, enchanting hoar frost. Each day the layers build up and today I see out my window the most beautiful white trees and crystals hanging off our twinkly lights. It really does look like a winter wonderland! Which is a perfect inspiration for my card today! For today's card, I wanted to create a focal point, and then use a geometric, repeating design to add a little more interest. I started this card by adding a super glittery, sparkly wood snowflake to the center. I used Gold embossing powder , mixed with Silver Halo glitter  (it is no longer available on SB.com, but you can find it here ). It creates this ultra-vintage-y sparkle that is simply irresistible! Atop that, I layered a white-embossed snowflake, decke...

Merry Hugs - Papertrey Ink | CAS Multi-Colored Textured Background

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Hello Friends! Happy Sunday-Funday! Happy to be popping in with my latest CAS Challenge card! I'm so pleased with this one, even though I think it's bordering a little on the not so clean and simple lines...What do you think? It's a big challenge for me, so this is definitely still CAS compared to my other cards. CAS kicked up a notch? Is that even a thing? But what I love the most, is that even with a little texture, it's still a very mail-able card. And have you seen the ultra thin pop-up adhesives?? They would make this card even thinner. I can't remember the manufacturer, but if you know what I'm talking about, please share it in the comments! To start today's card, I used a cardstock base, but quickly decided I wanted a more ethereal look to this card, and die-cut an ever-so-slightly larger scalloped base out of vellum to lay over-top. The technique I've used today, is a quick and easy way to make your stencils really work some mileage for you! Usin...

Sending a Little Holiday Sparkle - Papertrey Ink | Elongated Tags | Christmas Cookie Recipes

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One of our favorite Holiday traditions is finding new cookie recipes to make and share with friends. Usually, hubby and I each pick 4 recipes, and spend the weekend baking, tasting, and decorating packages to deliver some *happy*! This year, however, we've had to be mindful of just how much I can take on, so we decided to pick just a few recipes that are quick and easy, to keep our little tradition alive. I'm sharing recipe links below, and a few notes on the tweaks. But the real star of today's post is actually the packaging! It was so easy and fun to pull together! And since I don't have the energy I once did, making all the packaging from scratch seemed like quite the feat. Instead, we found several packaging options, and decided to just focus on making the tags. We found these adorable treat boxes at a local craft store, and we've also picked out a few larger boxes at our local Michael's. ____________________________________________________________________ T...

Holiday Wishes - Altenew + Papertrey Ink | No-Mess Glittering | Delicate Series

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As many of you. we've started receiving some Holiday happy mail and I couldn't be more thrilled to open my mailbox every morning. Can we please have Christmas mail surprises all year long?! In light of the increased mail action, I thought it would be fun to do a Delicate Series project that is a teensy bit related to this and will hopefully be helpful in your holiday crafting! First I need to ask...Does anyone else get a little squirm-ish when a card sheds glitter everywhere?! I loooove things that sparkle and shine, but if it makes your house look like Santa's workshop, and you're picking itty bitty twinkles off everything from your cat, to your hubby's work clothes (lol), you gut-wrenchingly know that card just might be going back into the envelope! Since I don't think that any card deserves such a harsh punishment, I'm sharing my favorite way to avoid this situation! (To be honest, that would never, ever happen around here. It just might reside on a high ...

Sending a Little Joy - Altenew | Stretch Your Dies

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Hello Friends! I mentioned I'd be back with the beautiful Altenew alphas. This time around with a sparkly, glittery take, that features a negative inlay and a fabulous way to stretch these fantastic dies! To start my card, I used the pretty Caps Bold alpha dies to create a negative cut-out of my focal point.  I've been loving the word 'joy' and I've chosen it as my go-to for this Season's cards. You'll see a few more cards with it yet to come. ______________________________________________________________________ TIP: FAUX INLAY LETTERING To accentuate the negative die-cuts, and create the look of inlay lettering, rather than actually embossing each letter, you can use a cardstock base covered with a sticky double-sided adhesive sheet . For a two-tone look, use a piece of cardstock to cover the lower portion of the now-sticky paper, as you apply the embossing powder.  Then simply add a mixture of gold, pink, white and glittered embossing powders to create ...

Holiday Joy - Altenew + Papertrey Ink | Stretch Your Dies

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As much happiness as colorful holiday cards bring me, there is just something about this color combo. The connection to Christmas is as instant as hearing Christmas carols on the radio, or smelling gingerbread!  So today, I have two little shares using this traditional palette and a few tips on how to stretch your dies! ____________________________________________________________________ TIP: STITCHED DIES First up,  I have a snowflake tag, cut with PTI's Stitched Snowflake die . I love that the holes are already pre-cut! I usually add a little bit of string or thin wire (if using as an ornament) and it's all set to go! This makes your "stitched" dies double as a pretty fine base for tags or ornaments! ____________________________________________________________________ To decorate my tag, I used a vellum oval, embossing tiny 'snow' with Altenew's Floral Frame stamp .   I then added a die-cut sentiment and banner (both from my stash, but similar here and ...