Rainbow Foil and Die Cuts

Jennifer McGuire did a video where she used foil as a background for a die, without actually foiling. I loved the look so I tried it with this Leaf Medallion die from Altenew, rainbow foil from Decofoil and a sentiment die from Stamplorations.

I also used a thin piece of double-sided tape at the bottom and actually foiled it with the same foil. It really sticks well to tape. Here's a close-up. So, if you don't have a laminating machine, you can still use the gorgeous foils out there for your cardmaking. You can check out Jennifer's video here that inspired me.

Happy Friday!

Chark

Ornaments Infinity Dies Card

I've been hooked on die cutting on my Big Shot a lot lately and the Hero Arts Ornaments Infinity Dies are so festive I've been cutting all kinds of ornaments. Today I have a card to share. I used some foil cardstock in gold, and die cut three ornaments. Then I put flat glitter (not chunky) behind them and covered with a piece of packaging acetate. It's not a shaker card per se, but the glitter moves a bit. I wanted it to more or less stay in place and it does.

The two colorful ornaments are made from alcohol inks dripped onto shrinky dink plastic and then die cut. But I didn't shrink them, I just left them full-size and then popped them up with tape. The plastic takes the color nicely. The strings are stickers and gold Stickles. I added a strip of striped gold and kraft paper at the bottom. And that's it!

Happy Friday!
Chark

Happy Birthday in Classic Colors

I made a couple of birthday cards using the same Memory Box Happy Birthday dies and the same background paper and kraft cards. I used the negative and the positive of the die cuts and embossed one of the cards with a We R Memory Keepers geometric embossing folder.

I don't remember where the paper came from, but I believe it was a Christmas pack...I thought the colors were more classic than Christmas...very appropriate for a masculine card. I decided to go with no sparkle or bling, which was difficult for me! But there are some thin gold lines on the paper, so I had to be satisfied with that.

I plugged the center of the a, p and y back into the die for placement and then moved the die to the other card and glued the bits down...it just makes it a little easier to read. 

I love the dimension of these We R Memory Keepers embossing folders...they are so fun to emboss and deboss on different papers...they look yummy on metallic paper.

I've been using my Big Shot a lot lately because I found a great deal on some dies, so you'll be seeing more die cutting projects in the future from me!

And since today is a big day in science..being the solar eclipse and all...I thought I'd better acknowledge it with a couple things. First, Galaxy Donuts...yum! Here's my pin and the link. 

Second, here are some crafty outerspace ideas for cards that can be found here at Lawn Fawn...love how many ways there are to make a sky in this post!

This is a photo taken by Susan Klenk of the eclipse here in Dayton, Ohio. 

Happy Solar Eclipse Monday!
Chark

Distress Oxide Inks for Easter

I've had playing around with the new Distress Oxide Inks and have posts here and here about them. And I used them with oval infinity dies on this a2z Scrapbooking post to make Easter eggs. 

Today I'm using the Hero Arts Floral Border die in white Bristol paper. 

1. I swiped the Oxide inks in Worn Lipstick, Cracked Pistachio and Blueprint Sketch onto a nonstick craft sheet and sprayed with water.

2. I dragged the paper through the ink and made sure it was fully covered with the ink. Then I let it air dry. The inks were a pretty smooth covering on the paper and as it dried, the shading happened on its own.

3. While it dried, I took some regular (not Oxide) Distress Inks in Squeezed Lemonade, Picked Raspberry and Salted Ocean and swiped those on a nonstick sheet and sprayed those with water. Same process, different types of ink. I dragged the paper through the ink and let it dry too.

4. I die cut the dried and Oxide-inked paper. Then I mounted it to the Distress Inks colored paper. I made sure the blues and pinks were placed opposite to each other.

5. I wrote Love You in white Uniball pen, outlined it in blue pencil and made a card with it. I like how the Oxide inks automatically get some marbling/textured look while the Distress inks just merge and meld together. You can see the difference between the background and the die cut parts here.

If you have some last-minute Easter or coloring needs, you can head to the free digi stamps section of Simply Cards and Papercrafts page. It's where I got this cute guy.

Happy Friday and Happy Easter!

Chark

Hero Arts Paper Layering Santa

Originally I was going to title this Santa Die Card but that sounded harsh (no, Santa, don't die), so yes, I used a die to make this card, but officially it's called Paper Layering Santa Face and that sounds so much better! :)

I used this die new this season from Hero Arts...it has an outline die too, so you can cut out a Santa face and I've used that to make tags, but for this card, I just used the die to cut into the card front, not to totally cut it out.

Then I used the script stamp from this new Vintage Christmas Wishes set from Hero Arts for the edges and then inked them with Vintage Photo Distress Ink. I used Prismacolor pencils to color him in.

The Merry die cut is from this set from, yep, Hero Arts!

After adding some washi and ribbon, I used an aqua card base just for fun!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

Gold and Pink

I bought this rose die cut from Pretty Little Studio, where they have lots of vintage die cuts for good prices, along with my favorite printed vellums (or is that velli?) ever,  Then my next purchase was some gold printed paper and stickers, and some new Hello Heather journaling cards...put them all together and you get this card.

The only thing that's not PLS is the pink notecard I had. The striped paper strip at the bottom is gold and white and I looovvee it so much!

Just to let you know, PLS is having a Design Team call right now and if you love their stuff like I do, you might want to try out--I'm thinking about it, but they are awesome over there and it's a little intimidating :)

Not sure if you've ever checked out Scrapbook and Cards Today mag, but it's a print and online mag with lots of inspiration and giveaways on the blog. I'm off to check out the free digi issue soon...here's a link if you want to take a peek too. I have a new Kindle Fire so now I can also get more mags out of the library to peruse. I still prefer the paper copies, but this is at least cheaper! :)

Happy Monday!
Chark

Watercoloring Like Mad

I spent the better part of the day on Monday just playing with watercoloring (with Tombow markers, I love their vibrancy). And I actually made a few into cards too. My daughter needed some thank you cards for her graduation gifts, so I took out the Heidi Swapp thank you die I got on sale and put it to work.

I snipped it apart here and added star sequins.

For this one, I die cut from one watercolor panel and attached it to another. I added Diamond Stickles to the words.  

For these, I used the die cut and the negative space to make two cards. Don't you love how bright the Tombow markers are? I colored on the card itself and then added water.

This last one is just cut from a rainbow (ROYGBIV) piece of watercolor. It looks trickier than it was.

And that's all I have for today, but aren't you impressed I actually made cards and didn't just color or paint? I am! Next I ought to use my digi stamps that I color to make actual projects...wish me luck on that!

Happy Wednesday!

Chark

Snow Anyone?

Plenty of snow in my yard and driveway—free to anyone who hauls it away! I know, it's January, in Ohio, stop complaining, right? It's really the bitter cold that's the problem...I'd rather do anything than errands right now. I know! I'll do a blog post!

Here's a card I made for a friend for New Year's. I'd like to be more organized and get my Christmas cards out before Christmas, but since that rarely happens, I have to send New Year's cards. I used my all-time favorite Hero Arts Triangle Die.

It covers the card front and is so versatile for masculine and feminine cards, plus I've used it to emboss and for stenciling too—just search my blog for "triangle die" and see how many times I've used this baby. It even got me published in Papercrafts magazine!

I used triangles from past die cutting to fill in some spots and found black, pink, aqua and silver pieces to insert. Then I added a little banner with silver mini alphabet letters. 

 

Inside, I used banners from and drew in the numbers and string with a sharpie. I'd like to do more with the inside of my cards this year. That's as close to a resolution as I'll make on New Year's. Now it's time to delay those frigid errands some more with cleaning out the craft closet. I mean, c'mon, it needs it! Please don't make me go outside! Cleaning is always good, right?! I knew you'd understand.

Have a Happy Wednesday!
Chark
p.s. if you want your own Triangle Die, go to the a2z Scrapbooking Supplies link here and use CHARK15 on your order to receive 15% off any $25 or more purchase!

Hello, Friday!

Here's another card I created using the Hello Die from Papertrey Ink, along with their matching Hello Stamps and a Hero Arts stencil called Arrows. It's a great stencil for a lot of different styles. I like it in clear embossing powder on black cardstock for masculine cards. I thought this one might be a good "missing you" card.

I used gold paper and regular white and black cardstock for the layers and then stamped the hello in Versamark and embossed in gold embossing powder. Then I die cut with the matching die and added heart epoxy stickers from Doodlebug Design. The stamp is textured, which makes the word very cool-looking imo.

Hope you're having a great day and checking out the Black Friday sale over at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies! There's a cyber deal of 20% your order of $25 or more. Woot! 

And there's a fun Scavenger Hunt for this weekend too! Check out the post at a2z and enter to win! If I weren't on the Design Team, you know I'd be there entering for the $25 gift certificate! 

Happy Friday,

Chark

It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood

It's gorgeous and sunny and will get close to 60 degrees today, so I'm enjoying it all I can. I hear there's cold coming so today might have to be my garden clean-up day. In the meantime, I'm drinking tea and thinking about putting away my crafty stuff I had out over the weekend. 

Here's one of the cards I made this weekend, with this Hero Arts Butterfly Fancy Die. I used a felt applicator and Ranger alcohol inks on photo paper. Then I trimmed it to fit the die-cut butterfly. I attached the body to the inked paper with a glue strip and didn't adhere the wings. I like the bit of movement it gives to the butterfly. I used a white gel pen to add some dots to the wings.

The background is patterned paper with a piece of watercolor paper mounted on top. I used the Hero Arts Border Stencil that you can purchase here at a2z Scrapbooking Supplies. I used white embossing powder that is here in the store too. Then I used scribbled with Tombow markers on an acrylic block and used them as watercolor paints. Once dry, I used the Lawn Fawn stitched rectangle die.

The last addition is the Hello die cut from Papertrey Ink. I used silver foil paper (check Jo Ann Fabric) for the die. And that's it!

Happy Sunny Monday!
Chark
p.s. The blog title comes from Mr. Rogers. I loved Mr. Rogers' show as a kid...he always seemed so calm and trustworthy. I still love him as an adult and parent and admire him and his wisdom.