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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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

Hi everyone! I hope you've all had a splendid Thanksgiving, enjoyed with family and friends, and all the turkey you can eat! Even though North of the border, our Thanksgiving tradition falls a lot earlier, we still partake in one of the biggest shopping days of the year, so I've compiled below a little list (it was hard , but I narrowed it down to ONLY 4 shoppes) of my favorite BFS happening through the weekend!  And I'm sure, just like me, after all the shopping frenzy, you might need some peace and quiet in your life, and what better than some alone time with Copics and this Beautiful Bouquet floral stamp!  I also thought it would be fun to start a new card series on the blog: Delicate.  I've been straying a little from this style. So this is my way of getting back to it and sharing a few soft + feminine cards with you all.  To start this card, I first stamped the beautiful floral and embossed it in silver. I knew I would eventually add silver glittered accents, s...

Happy Tuesday! It has been a rather chilly few days, and while I won't be enjoying the freeze outside, I certainly intend to do so inside. And what better way than by being surrounded by my favorite stamps, papers and inks?  Today I'm super excited to share this paper pieced card! Paper piecing is one of my absolutely favorite techniques, but I seldom do it. True - it's a bit tedious, but the result is so, SO fun! And it has the ability to completely transforms the look of stamps you already have. Which is the reason it's a feature in today's Stretch Your Stamps series! To start this card, I used various snowflake stamps to create a colorful background. I used colors of Scarlet Jewel, Smokey Shadow, Classic Kraft, Saffron Spice, Pale Peony, Terracotta Tile and Ocean Tides .  For all the winter attire, I used a TCM stamp that is no longer available, but I loooove this one !! In order to add all the little parts in various colors and patterns, I stamped and heat embo...

Helloooo Friends! I've got a  winter-wonderland-of-a-card to share with you all! I was inspired by the beautiful flakes outside and wanted to create something just as soft and delicate. I've also been itching to use this little deer cutie and I'm so happy to finally share him with you :) To start this card, I adhered some aqua and white polka dot paper onto a card base.  I then used various snowflake stamps to stamp my background with Versamark ink , and white embossing powder to emboss all the flakes. A background stamp like this one would work wonders here! After embossing, I added iridescent rhinestones and Nuvo drops to create a twinkling effect. I used white cardstock to back the vellum. I found that the snowflakes were competing with the aqua background a little too much for my liking. I then added a frame of greenery and adhered these layers onto my card base. Lastly, I stamped and die cut this sweet little deer, using Altenew's Modern Deer stamp and die set.  *...

Hi Friends! Today I'm sharing a Holiday card I created with some non-holiday stamps. I wanted to make a snowflake card but I was missing a large, beautiful flake in my stamp collection.  So, I decided to make my own! Using some simple pencil sketch guides, and the handy  Misti stamp tool , it was pretty quick and easy to pull this together! I used the beautiful Pinkfresh Studio Pretty Paisley stamp set. I loved the insert paisley motif, and thought it would work perfectly for building my snowflake. If you have any stamp designs on hand that are linear in nature, they would work perfectly for this! Intricate borders, dotted borders, fancy motifs...The possibilities are endless! STEP 1 - TEMPLATE I first decided to cut a square piece of cardstock, measuring across two paisley motifs back-to-back to determine the length and width of the square. I then used a light pencil line to draw two lines, creating quadrants on my square, to act as a guide. STEP 2 - STAMP + EMBOSS I stamped...

Hi Friends!  I'm sharing a card today that I just love because of the unusual colors, given the theme of the card. With the holidays fast approaching (especially Thanksgiving here in Canada), I've got holiday cards on my mind. But this time around, I wanted to incorporate a bit of a different palette - one that I wouldn't typically use this time of year. I found that with a few little tweaks, it actually works pretty well. Whaddya think? To start this card, I used a white card base. The first tip about taking brighter hues into the fall season, is to actually season your whites! Yes, you read that right!  Instead of leaving whites as they are, I add just a smidge of tan, brown, or grey ink to the edges, and it instantly gives the card not only an aged look, but a much more fall-appropriate look. Don't you think? Next up, when using greens, I love using warmer hues as they really emulate the golden harvest sun on those last few remaining green leaves. And then I build my...

Well, it's been a minute! How have you all been? Have you had any wonderful holidays or special events over the last few weeks? Things have been hectic around here, to say the least. And this summer has been kicking our butt quite a bit in the health department. It's made it so very difficult to stay on top of the blog, among other things.  But, I made a pile of cards some weeks back, and even pre-written a few posts, so I'll be sharing some goodies over the next little bit, and hopefully by then everything will return back to normal. For today, I have a duo to share just in time for Aletenew's Inspiration Challenge . I found the colors to be so beautiful, but also very challenging to work with. I resisted the urge all along to add a dash of warmer hues. Prior to this challenge, I did not realize how much I rely on warmer tones! Do any of you have a go-to that is particularly hard to work around in your cardmaking? My top three are: layers, use of white, and recently di...

Hello Friends!! What a special day - there is so much to share with you all.  Firstly, I want to welcome you all to Pinkfresh Studio's blog hop ! It is such a privilege to be hopping on board with the talented Pinkfresh team this month as we unveil the gorgeous, new July release! I know you will love all the projects the talented team has created. Here's a wee peek of what I've been working on. But before we get to that, first things first! I want to share how you can get the most out of this fab hop. Aside from gorgeous inspiration, each blog on the hop will be giving away $25! All you need to do is leave a comment below, and then hop along to all the names on the list, and leave comments there as well for even more chances to win. Also, be sure to leave a little note on the Pinkfresh Blog, too, for a chance to win the entire July release! The winners will be posted on Sunday, July 15th on the GIVEAWAY PAGE  Please check this page within two weeks to claim your prize! Last...