Almost Valentine's Day

Getting ready for Valentine's Day - lots of cards to make. 

 

 

Decided to include some pop ups.  They are fun to make, but take twice as long.

 

 

Finally Getting Real!

Finally broke down and bought a card display.  I was selling out of a cardboard box at work and it was functional but not very chic.

 

This looks like a place to buy cards now!

 

Had a co-worker stop in my office just because he saw the card display.  Marketing actually works - yeah!

Embossed Foil Cards

 

Getting a real good feel for this technique of embossing foil.  Above is a special order card made for a friend's mother.  The background was printed from clipart, then I applied tacky glue to the pattern.  Glued aluminum foil over the piece and rubbed the foil until the pattern emerged.

 

Sharpie markers are very useful for the color availability.  Lots of effects are emerging with application of the markers and judicious removal with alcohol.

 

This batch of cards I've focused on the foil backgrounds. 

 

All the card bases were created with my Pazzles Inspiration Creative Cutter.

Print and Cut Butterfly Cards

Everyone seems to love BUTTERFLIES!  So I made a bunch of birthday cards to start the new year.

 

Being able to do print and cut with my Pazzles Inspiration is just amazing. 

Embossing on Foil

I've been looking for something new to do for a while and finally found it!  It's embossing on foil - yes, plain old aluminum foil.

This technique can be used in so many ways - I've just started my explorations!

I started with patterned paper, since I'm not really artistic, just crafty.  I applied a hefty amount of heavy tacky glue to the pattern parts I wanted and let it dry overnight.

Then I glued down the foil, plain old aluminum foil.  Using cotton swabs, I rubbed all over the design to bring up the raised glue underneath.  Then I applied either shoe polish (the brown designs above) or sharpie marker.  Rubbing again with cotton swabs removed most of the polish or marker, but left just enough for contrast. 

 

All the other card elements - card base, lettered tags, ladybugs, etc - were made with my Pazzles Inspiration. 

 

Keep an eye on this site to see what emerges in the future!  I'm just starting with this technique and can't wait to try new things with it.  I like what I've achieved so far, but I envision so many possibilities