• Tag Archives Brass & Bliss
  • Flower Garden

     
    Looking forward to spring flowers? It may be a while here, but I have some pretty sketch flowers to brighten the day. It sure to bring a smile to the recipient and it would be perfect as a birthday, get well or just thinking of you.

    A big congrats to Arlene, the newest Featured Stamper FS988! She has a sweet gallery & I chose THIS card to case. I kept the multicolor background but put it inside the center shape instead of around, I kept the colors & spring theme but used flowers outside the shape instead of a bunny inside.

    I had colored these flowers quite a while ago & today was the day I used them. The multicolor inset is also something I made quite awhile ago & the colors fit in w/ my tall skinny flowers. It was made by spritzing the inside of a grid embossing folder w/ shine sprays which have a nice shimmer to them. The paper was placed inside the spritzed folder. closed then rubbed by hand. I found you can also run it thru the Sizzix if you take away all the shims so that it doesn’t really emboss, just presses the folder to the paper. I die cut a white panel first w/ a rounded rectangle then used a swanky oval to cut out the center. I used the next size smaller oval to cut a bright blue layer to border the inside. The smallest ovals were used for the greeting.  The flowers were fussy cut. Parts of the greeting & flowers are popped up to even them out since they’re on different levels in places.

    Here are the Copics I used for the flowers:

    Thanks
    so much for stopping by!


    Supplies:  (click the names below the pictures to take you to the products)

    Stamps: Brass & Bliss: Sketch Flower #1 set
     Paper: Staples 110# white, bright blue
    Ink: Memento tuxedo black
    Accessories:  Brass & Bliss: Rounded Rectangle Stitch, Swanky Oval dies, MISTI, Copic Sketch Markers, Heidi Swapp shine spray, Sizzix Grid embossing folder


  • Big Hug



    I have a special technique to show today. So there are a few more pictures than usual. Sometimes I like to shorten or lengthen a particular die cut to fit  what I’m doing. I used this technique to adjust the length of the cut made with this Victorian Lattice inset die. It’s a handy trick you may find useful!


    For the Inspiration Challenge IC1049 we are visiting Factory Direct & their Pinterest Boards. THIS picture was my inspiration.

    To make my card, I stamped the flowers on part of a background I made ages ago. It was made w/ dye reinkers on semi gloss card. The ink was spritzed on a teflon sheet then the card was applied face down. Here is a before picture showing what it looked like. I used the lighter piece just to the left of the white lattice. I tested different inks on this before I stamped the flowers. Memento did not work. I knew pigment inks would not work since it’s a coated surface. Ancient Page & Archival inks DO work equally well. I just picked the Ancient Page. To make certain it didn’t smear, I also heat set it. As I said, if you don’t have or can’t find Ancient Page, the Archival works equally well.

    For the partial lattice panel, I used an inset die that normally measures 5 3/8″ long. So I made it shorter. Here is how I did that.  I cut the card stock w/ a rectangle stitch die. It measures approximately 4″ x 5.25″. The die would not fit this size, so I measured the repeat of the pattern which is 7/8″, which means I’ll have to shorten the cut by 7/8″, making the total cut length 4.5″ (it normally cuts 5 3/8″ long). I marked the center of my card then used a centering ruler to make a mark 2.25″ on either side of the center mark. I placed one end of the die on the mark of one end. Placed a small top plate over it & cut it about 2/3 of the way. Where the plate doesn’t extend over the die, it won’t cut. 


    This is what it looks like after the first cut.

    Then I turned the cut around, placed the other end on the mark, & made sure it lined up. You can feel when the die “clicks” into the already cut part & see it is in the correct position. Again, I placed the top plate, just over the part I wanted to cut & ran it thru again.

    This is how it looks when finished. Perfect! You can see the shortened cut on the left & a full cut on the right.

    I placed the background behind it & cut it slightly larger than the white lattice topper. The greeting was stamped on the lower right & the stamped & die cut flowers were popped up and added to the left. I cut a small tag out of more of the background & wrapped it around the right side & added a black pearl on top.

    Thanks so
    much for stopping by!

    ( You can go directly to the items by clicking the name under the pictures below.)


    Supplies:

    Stamps: Brass & Bliss:  Fields of Blooms set, Sympathy #2
    Paper:  Staples 110# white, semi gloss white
    Ink: Versaclair nocturne (greeting), Ancient Page coal  (image)
    Accessories:  Brass & Bliss: Fields of Blooms, Stitched Rectangles, Nested Tags, Victorian Lattice Half Panel  dies,   Misti


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  • Grad Circle


    The time for graduations is quickly approaching!To me, graduation cards are some of the easiest to make and easiest to customize to each grad. This is a more masculine version, with the bow tie. But change the colors and papers to match the school colors and you have a personalized card they will surely love.

    A big congrats to Lori, the newest Featured Stamper FS987! She has such a fun gallery with very inspiring cards! I chose THIS card to case. I kept the layout & colors, but I used different dies, papers & didn’t make mine a trifold. I also changed it from a birthday to a grad card.

    I knew I wanted to use the black, white & red for the colors, so I picked the papers out I thought would work. The largest paper was cut w/ a dot dash die & I cut a slightly larger red layer to go behind it. I attached them together w/ temporary tape & used the smallest circle die & cut through both of them. I removed the red layer & used a larger circle to cut around the circle in the printed paper. It was here I decided I wanted more of an impact around the circle, so I used a larger dot mask circle & cut the printed paper around the circle again. I used an even larger dot dash to cut a circle out of darker printed paper & cut the inside out. The 2 circles were layered on top of each other then attached around the red circle. The greeting was stamped on a white circle & attached behind. You could stamp it directly on the card front, but things seem to always go wrong when I do that. I added the red bow tie, the diploma & small mortarboard after the layers were attached to the card.

    Thanks
    so much for stopping by!


    Supplies:  (click the names below the pictures to take you to the products)

    Stamps: Brass & Bliss: Congrats Grad set
     Paper: Staples 110# white, dk red, scraps of black & silver, Brass & Bliss: Floral Monochrome paper pad
    Ink: Versaclair nocturne 
    Accessories:  Brass & Bliss: Grad Cap, Class of w/ Numbers, Dot Stitch Rectangles, Dot Stitch Circles, Circles, Lg Stocking w/ Bow dies, MISTI