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(Started posting on September 25, 2014)

HAPPY Birthday Animals

HAPPY Birthday Animals

(inside: A birthday wish is sent your way, hoping you’ll have a wonderful day.)

It’s the beginning of February, so it’s time for birthday cards for my triplets! I was told (by one) that he prefers “cute kid cards” and not “gray adult ones” so cute (and not gray!) it is!

This is Keith’s card.

Happy birthday, Keith!

This is Kelly’s card:

Happy birthday, Kelly!

The next two cards are for Kevin and his fiancée, Lansing. This is Kevin’s card. The bird was designed to look like their pet cockatiel, Babka.

Happy birthday, Kevin!

And this one is for Lansing. The bird on this one was designed to look like their other cockatiel, Hokio.

Happy birthday, Lansing!

If you care to see the products used, keep reading…

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Wishing You Joy

Wishing You Joy

(Inside: Sending love & prayers for a blessed Christmas and a joyous new year)

This card features the cardinal from the “Layered Cardinal Stencil & Die Set” from Creek Bank Creations and some pretty patterned paper.

Gina K Designs Faded Brick, Cranberry Tart, Charcoal Brown, and Black inks were used along with pieces from sheet 3 from the “Christmas Memories 2 Card Kit” pack from Photo Play. The inside sentiment is from the “Christmas Blessings” set by Our Daily Bread. The greeting on the front is actually part of the pattern on the patterned paper.

Thanks for checking out my card post!

BetterPressed Merry Christmas

BetterPressed Merry Christmas

(Inside: Warmest thoughts and best wishes for a wonderful holiday season)

This simple card features the BetterPress “Chic Merry Christmas” press plate from Spellbinders and some 3mm crystals from Stamplistic. The stamped image is pressed into the cotton paper (instead of just sitting on top).

Versa Fine Clair “Rain Forest” ink was stamped/pressed onto watercolor paper, and red cardstock from the Recollections “Essentials” cardstock paper pack was embossed with SU Subtle embossing folder. Both were layered on a Recollections White Dove card base. The inside sentiment is from the “Joyful Wishes” set from Penny Black.

This also could have been foiled with the Glimmer Hot Foil System, and I may try that at some point.

I am still trying to decide if the BetterPress System from Spellbinders is worth the investment (for me). I LOVED this image, but I’d probably love it as much if it were a plain stamp. There are not that many BetterPress plates on the market at the moment. And while the BetterPress plates CAN be foiled with the Glimmer Hot Foil System, Spellbinders DOES NOT recommend using hot foil plates in the BetterPress System which makes the BetterPress System a bit limiting. Hmmm…

Thanks for checking out my card project!

Folk Floral Stem (with two kinds of foiling)

Folk Floral Stem (with two kinds of foiling)

(Inside: happy happy birthday to you)

The floral image on this card was made with the Folk Floral Stem hot foil plate and coordinating layering stencils by Pinkfresh Studio. Gold Glimmer Hot Foil was used along with Gina K Designs Peach Bellini, Tomato Soup, Moonlit Fog, and Fresh Asparagus inks. The foil for the image was applied using the Spellbinders Glimmer Hot Foil system and a die cutting machine.

I wanted a foiled, delicate script greeting that would fit on a 1/4 inch strip (and didn’t have an appropriate plate), so I decided to type my greeting on the computer instead. I used the “Yukikato” font (11 pt) for this card. In order to foil that, a different method was required. First, it needed to be printed with toner (and not ink), so I used a laser printer. This was then foiled with icraft gold decofoil and a minc foiling machine.

Metallic Gold card stock was used for the mats, and the inside sentiment stamp was called “Happy Happy Birthday” by dandelion designs.

For anyone new to foiling, each system uses a different type of foil and application tool and a different technique for applying it. The method using a hot foil plate pushes the foiled image into the surface a bit while the toner/minc method is flatter, but both methods give very similar looking results as far as shine. Here is some introductory information on using either the Glimmer Hot Foil System or the minc. And there are tons more videos out there showing other tips and variations for each.

It’s SO hard to photograph a foiled card as it’s hard to get the light to hit it just right! Here’s a photo of the card with less direct light hitting it…

While not used on this project, there is also a coordinating stamp set and a coordinating die.

Thanks for checking out my card project!

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