Sandy’s Craft Bag

I just finished my Thanksgiving cards (I know, a bit late). I’m a bit disappointed because I had planned on adding a background of gold foiled fall leaves but couldn’t because it turns out that the Glimmer system can’t be used with the Cuttlebug.  It doesn’t fit.  That’s also why my cards are running late.  My Glimmer machine didn’t get here until Saturday and then when it didn’t work I had to figure out something else for the background. I ended up using a pierced background die.   They’re still cute aren’t they?  The pumpkin dies are from AliExpress, the background die is Simon Says Stamp Detail Petal plate, and the sentiment is from Aliexpress too.   Thanks for stopping by! 

I needed to make a sympathy card so I pulled out my Altenew Pattern Motif Die Set.  I hadn’t used it yet and I thought it would make a pretty & easy card.  The patterns were cut using lavender and metallic lilac cardstock.  One note - it was difficult to get the cut cardstock out of the dies in one piece.  The lavender tore but you can’t really tell once it was all glued together.  Next time I’ll use waxed paper too and see if it helps.   It was a little tricky to get it all lined up and the little bits where they were supposed to go, but no worse than most layered flower dies.  I glued the 2 layers together and figured out how I wanted it to fit on the A6 dark purple card front.  This motif is larger than an A2 or A6 card, so it hangs over the edge.  I glued it to the card front and, once dry, trimmed the edges.   I white heat embossed the sentiment, added a few clear drops, and it was done.  Didn’t it turn out pretty? I’ll def...

 I finished my Halloween cards this week.  I’ve been neglecting my card making lately because I’m finally working on my honeymoon scrapbook. It’s only been 3 years…lol. This cute stamp & die set is from Simon Says.  I colored the images using Copic markers and used a white belly pen to add the accents.  There are black rhinestones to add a little glimmer.   That’s all for today!  I’ll be entering these in the Simon Says Monday and Wednesday challenges. Thanks for stopping by! 

Recently, I’ve needed a couple of sympathy cards, unfortunately, so my stash is gone.  I made 2 of the same thing to save some time to replenish it.  I started with navy blue cardstock cut to 5.5”x4.25” and blended some Distress Oxide Black Soot around the outside to create a bit of shadow. I wiped the back with a baby wipe and ran them through my Cuttlebug using an Altenew Charming Mandala embossing folder. Next I used a brayer and some Hero Arts Unicorn ink lightly across the top to highlight the design. Afterwards I die cut them with an Altenew Mix and Match frame die.  Using some vellum I also die cut some leaves using Altenew's Flowing Foliage set. I used a sentiment from the Hero Arts Protea Flower set, stamping on some vellum with black archival ink and embossing with clear powder.  I used a white mat on a navy card base and attached the embossed background. Last I attached the vellum leaves and sentiment with a tape runner.  These turned out really well!...

  I decided to go with a theme of stars and to make my first shaker cards for the 4th. I found the small star shaker dies and the Paper Rose Star texture die and thought I could do something with them. This is what I came up with.  They look deceptively simple, but I cut 120 of the stars out which took a looonng time. The little stars inside came from Buttons and Things. Aren’t they cute? They sealed the idea for me.   I’ll be entering this in the  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Simon Says: Something Beginning With ‘S’ , Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says: Clean And Simple , and the DRU Challenge #195 . Thanks for stopping by!

For Father’s Day this year I pretty much copied a card from   Norene Borys for Altenew . It involved some techniques I haven’t used before and I learned a lot. It actually took me 3 tries to get them to turn out good enough to send. Here’s mine: I haven’t done much with masking before, so this was a learning experience. It wasn’t as difficult as I thought it would be.  I’m not much of an artist, so the extra leaves & the watercoloring aren’t as good as I’d like, and I didn’t add any sketching on the bird itself. It’s a cute stamp, and overall I’m happy with how it finally turned out.  I’ll be entering this in the  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Simon Says: It’s Up In The Air , the Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge - Simon Says: Little Critter s, and the Stamping Sensations June Challenge- ****Make it Masculine**** . Thanks for stopping by!

The Simon Says challenges for the week were  Simon Says Stamp Monday Challenge - Simon Says: Add Texture and  Simon Says Stamp Wednesday Challenge -  Simon Says: Layer It Up , so I created another card that I could use on both. I recently got the Sizzix Brushstroke Flowers #1 Thinlits Die Set and decided to use some of my Brushos with them.  I used three 4.5”x6” pieces of watercolor paper and sprinkled one with greens, one with reds & oranges, and the third with oranges and yellows, then spritzed them with water. I let the colors swirl around a bit then let them dry overnight.  The next thing I did was use the dies to cut the leaves from the green, the large flower from the red, and the smaller flower from the orange paper. I colored some of the pieces with Distress Oxides using small sponge blenders and then glued them all together. Using the Altenew Angled Mosaic embossing folder, I embossed a piece of A2 cardstock and trimmed it down 1/4”. I then attache...