Repurposed Box for a Masculine Gift

I tend to keep containers, notepads, and other objects in hopes that I might make something with sometime in the future. In this case, I had a box that came from a grab bag at a craft store. It was a red lacquer-type box with "hello" written in white on the top - not very exciting. The techniques here can be adopted for use in other ways, such as on a cover for a notepad or in multi-media artwork. Creative Medium, by Imagine Crafts, can be used on all types of surfaces - it adheres well and provides enough tooth for easy integration with other mediums. In this case I'm using black gesso as a base. The iridescent and metallic layers look best over black.

Making the Box

1. If the wood finish is shiny or smooth, it's a good idea to sand first. These techniques may be used over paper mâché or even plastic.

2. Watch the video below:

Notes: there are several choices for Creative Medium, different metallics as well as iridescent colors. There are also other choices for Delicata and Brilliance - making for seemingly endless combinations.

Supplies

• Creative Medium: Clear, Iridescent Green, Metallic Bronze
  
• Delicata Ink: Golden Glitz
• Brilliance Ink: Gamma Green
• irRESISTible Pico Embellisher: Bronze
• Sheer Shimmer Spritz: Gold
• Ink Blushers
• Multi-Purpose Squeegee and/or Palette Knives
• Box
• Acrylic Paint Brush
• Gears Stencil (e.g. Dreamweaver)
• Black Gesso (e.g. Liquitex)
• Felt: Black, Red
• Optional: Soap Pen
• Recommended: Craft Mat

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Very Batty Halloween Card

When I saw the new Circle Background die from ECD, I thought of making a moon background with lots of bats flying in front, easy to do thanks to Karen's Bats Stencil. Midnight the Bat is featured wishing you "Spooky Halloween Greetings." (Didn't know bats could talk, did ya?)

Making the Card

1. Cut black cardstock 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches; fold in half to form a 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 card base.

2. Cut a piece of black cardstock (or paper) about 4 1/4 x 5 1/2 (it will be trimmed later). Adhere clear double sided adhesive. This is the base for the background. Using Circle Background die, cut purple spiderweb patterned cardstock. Adhere frame to adhesive (purple side up - not in adhesive). Using Circle Background die, cut yellow spiderweb patterned cardstock. Leave in die - carefully remove frame. Line up purple frame inside die, flip and stick yellow pieces in place. You may have to manually piece some in. Note: if you can't find this exact cardstock, just use purple and yellow plain cardstock. You could keep the yellow frame and purple circle/other pieces for another card.

3. Using the Bats stencil, stencil bats with Black Soot Distress Ink over the background (you will need to do one side then a few more on the other since the stencil isn't quite large enough to cover the whole background in landscape). Once dry, trim excess backing if necessary. Adhere background to card base.

4. Die cut Midnight the Bat: body - Silver Gray Soft Finish Cardstock, shadow - black cardstock, eyes - White Soft Finish Cardstock. Ink edges of bat's body with Black Soot Distress Ink. Add small amount of double sided adhesive to purple side of cardstock (same cardstock as step 2). Die cut bow tie. Peel off liner and dip into Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter; polish with finger. Optional: use Copic V06 to color over glitter. Assemble bat as shown on packaging.

5. Cut White Soft Finish Cardstock 5 1/16 x 2 inches. Cut with stitched edge Speech Bubble (pointing to left). Stencil bats as shown - I used a light layer of both Dusty Concord and Seedless Preserves Distress Inks to get it to match the purple. Either mask Halloween greeting stamp or cut apart the words (carefully!); stamp as shown with VersaFine Onyx Black Ink. Adhere to card as shown with dimensional tape.

6. Adhere bat to card using dimensional tape. Adhere enamel dots as shown.

Supplies

ECD Supplies

• 1262 Circle Background
• 1257 Speech Bubble Edgy Options
• S013 Bats Stencil
• CS020 Halloween Clear Stamps
• 1203 Midnight the Bat
• Soft Finish Cardstock: White, Silver Gray
• Silk Microfine Glitter: 642 Cool Diamond
• Clear Double Sided Adhesive

Other Supplies

• Patterned Cardstock: Recollections Halloween 118665
• Cardstock: Black
• Enamel Dots: Black, Purple, Plum
• Optional: Copic Marker V06
• Distress Ink: Dusty Concord, Seedless Preserves, Black Soot
• VersaFine: Onyx Black
• Dimensional Tape

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Dreamweaver and Fireworks Greeting Card

Use Fireworks sprays by Imagine Crafts and a Dreamweaver stencil to create this beautiful shimmery background. The flowers were also sprayed with Fireworks. Unfortunately the shimmer does't show up in the photo but the card looks gorgeous in person.

Making the Card

1. Cut indicated cardstock to sizes below:

Lavender 7x10 inches
Periwinkle 4 3/4 x 6 3/4 inches
Stardream Quartz 5x7 (2 pieces if you want to press leftover ink from the stencil on one)

2. Fold lavender piece in half to form a 5x7 inch card base.

3. Die cut Scripty Hello once each from periwinkle and lavender cardstock, and three times from Stardream quartz cardstock.

4. Watch the video below to create the background papers, color the flowers, and stack the Scripty Hello die cuts. Note: I cut my background down to be even around the stencil outline so I added an extra strip of sprayed cardstock on the right side to make up the difference.

5. Optional: adhere small purple rhinestone to Scripty Hello as shown.

Supplies

• Fireworks: Rhubarb Stalk, Lulu Lavender, Paris Dusk, Danube Blue
• Dreamweaver Stencil: Mosaic Swirls
• Cardstock: Periwinkle, Lavender
• Neenah Stardream Quartz Pearlescent Cardstock
• Petaloo Flowers: Wild Rose (Color Me Crazy)
• Lawn Fawn Die: Scripty Hello
• Optional: Small Purple Rhinestone

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Rose Wedding Tag

Create a beautiful tag that's perfect for weddings and anniversaries by adding shimmery Delicata Inks to Susan Tierney-Cockburn's Garden Notes - Rose 2 and stenciling on a tag base. Shown on optional Card Stand/Easel by ECD.

Making the Card

1. Cut a piece of White Soft Finish Cardstock to 3 1/2 x 7 inches. Use the main tag die from Tags & More 1 - Lace to die cut top of tag. Trim sides flush with die cut; trim tag to 6 inches in length. Die cut lacy top - be sure to keep the inside pieces to use on the bottom of the tag (see photo). Die cut shown reenforcement piece (for over tag hole). Die cut Love.

2. Die cut Garden Notes - Rose 2 pieces from white cardstock (light weight). Cut extra petals for the large rose (I cut 6 extra).

3. Decorate tag and color die cuts as shown in the video below.

4. Assemble rose as shown in the video below, centering it in the middle of the top stenciled decoration.

6. Adhere Love sentiment and decorative pieces as shown.

Options: if you would like a more subtle background, you could do a tone on tone by using White Shimmer Delicata instead of Silvery Shimmer. For more contrast for the sentiment and decorative pieces, just use Silvery Shimmer and Black Shimmer (i.e. skip the White Shimmer).

Supplies

ECD Supplies

• Garden Notes - Rose 2
• Tags & More 1 - Lace
• Stage It Stencil Medallion
• Soft Finish Cardstock: White
• Love Word Die

Other Supplies

• Cardstock: White
• Delicata Inks: White Shimmer, Silvery Shimmer, Black Shimmer
• Ink Blushers
• Post-It Tape (or other masking tape)

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Soft Gel Snowflakes Christmas Card

Created for the Elizabeth Craft Designs DT.

For this card, I made my own stencil so I could use Glossy Soft Gel and glitter for a background that’s both shiny and sparkly.

Making the Card

1. Cut an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of white cardstock in half to create two pieces 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches. Fold one in half for a card base. Cut a sheet of 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of blue cardstock in quarters (i.e. four 4 1/4 by 5 1/2 inch pieces). This will be your snowflake background base.

2. To create your stencil, use the other half of the white card stock; lightly draw lines 1 3/4 inches apart across the short part of the sheet (3 or 4 rows should suffice). Cut with the two smallest Snowflakes Dies in an alternating pattern across the sheet using the lines as guides (keep the snowflakes). Spray back of sheet with Easy Tack or other removable adhesive as per manufacturers instructions. This helps the small edges to stick down when applying the gel medium. (I also sprayed a Matte Finish coating on the front; not sure if this is necessary.)

3. Using removable tape, tape the very edges (1/8 inch max) of one of the blue pieces of cardstock to a craft sheet or large scarp paper. Line up the stencil over the blue cardstock as desired and gently press down all edges. Use a palette knife to apply gel medium evenly over the stenciled snowflakes.

4. While still wet, lightly sprinkle Silk Microfine Glitter over the snowflake areas. I used a combination of Silver and Cool Diamond  For a subtle look, use very little. Carefully peel off stencil. Let dry naturally.

5. Erase lines on white snowflake die cuts. Glue 4 or 5 matching layers together to form thick snowflakes (cut more if necessary); make two of each snowflake.

6. Die cut 6 Merry Christmas words from black cardstock; line up and glue 5 copies of each together to form thick stacks. On scrap paper, run some temporary adhesive across it and stick the last copy of words to it. Tap an embossing ink pad over the words to completely cover them. Add silver embossing powder and heat as usual. Repeat for a thicker coat. Peel the words off. If the edges are sharp or jagged, hold with tweezers and re-heat to get the embossing powder to dome nicely. Adhere to top of stacks.

7. Die cut two white banners (from 915 Lorna Label PopUp set by Karen Burniston).

8. Once the gel has dried completely on the blue cardstock snowflakes, cut 1/8 inch off each side (final size 4 x 5 1/4 inches).

9. Adhere Merry Christmas, one word per banner (see image for lining up near ends). Temporarily place them on blue background as shown; mark edge with pencil and trim to fit. Adhere with dimensional tape as shown.

10. Adhere snowflakes to background as shown, trimming excess. Use dimensional tape to adhere to white card base.

Once dry, I was able to use the stencil again on the other sheets of blue cardstock.

Supplies

Elizabeth Craft Designs

• 757 Snowflakes Dies
• 641 Cool Diamond Silk Microfine Glitter
• 603 Silver Silk Microfine Glitter
• 745 Merry Christmas Die
• 915 Lorna Label PopUp (Banner) Karen Burniston Dies

Other Supplies

• Cardstock: White, Blue, Black
• Easy Tack or Other Removable Adhesive (Spray Recommended)
• Golden Soft Gel (Gloss)
• Palette Knife
• Removable Tape (Painter’s Tape, Washi Tape, Post-It Tape)
• Silver Embossing Powder
• Embossing Ink Pad
• Heat Tool
• Dimensional Tape

Stenciled Flowers Birthday Card

I love Distress Ink. It is a great ink to blend and shade. I thought I would make a card with lots of colorful flowers using the ink and stencils made with flower dies. I didn't want to be too picky with the masking, which can take up a lot of time; I wanted to keep the flowers moving along both in time (i.e. shorter time to make the card) and in presentation. I'll probably use this technique again when I have a larger chunk of time to allow for a more planned arrangement, so some flowers will be purposely in front and others in back.

Making the Card

1. Cut card base from white cardstock, 4 1/4 inches by 11 inches and fold in half.

2. Mask beyond the fold (back of card) with Post-It Tape or other masking material.

3. Create flower masks: cut various masks using the flower dies listed in the Supplies list from Post-It Tape or other masking material. Keep both the positive masks (the flowers) and the negative masks (the outlines of the flowers).

4. Starting from the left and moving right across the card as shown: mask an area with a negative mask, use the blending tool and ink to fill in the mask working from the outside to the inside of the flower. Remove mask to reveal flower. To create the 2nd layer, use another negative mask, offset it from the first, choose a coordinating color and ink it. Hint: use paper or more masking material to cover the rest of the card to prevent mishaps.

5. Put the matching positive masks over the already inked layers and repeat the process until the flowers go all the way across the card.

6. Adhere enamel dots to the flower centers.

7. Cut Happy Birthday sentiment out of red cardstock. Cut a banner out of pink vellum. Adhere enamel dots and sentiment to banner as shown. Adhere to card using dimensional tape hidden behind dots and letters.

Also posted on the Elizabeth Craft Designs Blog (along with another photo).

Supplies

Elizabeth Craft Designs

728 Bunch of Flowers 1 Dies
729 Bunch of Flowers 2 Dies
701 Flower Set 1 Dies
725 Flower Set 3 Dies
717 Happy Birthday Die

Other Supplies

White Cardstock, Red Cardstock
Post-It Tape or other masking material
Pink Vellum
Distress Ink, various bright colors
Ink Blending Tool and Foam
Enamel Dots
Dimensional Tape