Hi everyone! It’s Jessica here. Today I want to share an Easter card with a soft and romantic color palette. This color scheme turned out so well, and I think it would be perfect for a birthday or Valentine’s card! If you are interested in the colors I used, just keep reading!
Step 1: Die cut the largest two shapes from Spellbinder’s Nestabilities Floral Oval die set. For the largest oval, I used Stampin’ Up!’s Bubble Bath cardstock. For the second largest oval, I used vellum.
Step 2: For some added dimension, ink blend VersaFine Clair Baby Pink ink around the edges of the largest die cut. I recently bought the photopolymer sticky mat from Altenew and it’s a great tool for ink blending. It grips the die cut (or stencil) firmly so you don’t have to worry about anything shifting during ink blending.
Step 3: Stamp the focal image with VersaFine Clair Baby Pink ink. This is an old wooden stamp from K-Kingdom that I got back in the days before I discovered photopolymer stamps. The dainty floral frame with the lacey details is what inspired the theme for this card. The VersaFine Clair ink is also great for showcasing the fine, wood-grain details on the rabbit.
The stamped image looks a bit dark when freshly stamped. It will turn into a softer, pastel pink that you see in the cover photo.
Step 4: I decided to add some shadows behind the vellum die cut layer with VersaFine Clair Hawthorn Rose. Baby Pink and Hawthorn Rose compliment each other so well. I think they might be my favorite new color combo!
Step 5: Apply a generous coat of Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray onto the ink blended die cut. I wish the camera could capture the shimmery effects of this spray; it is mesmerizing and the sparkle never dulls!
Step 6: For the card base, I chose Stampin’ Up!’s Fresh Freesia cardstock and embossed it with Distressed Tile embossing folder. It adds the perfect touch to this shabby-chic look.
Step 7: Finally, stamp the sentiment with VersaFine Clair Hawthorn Rose ink and fussy cut the sentiment. I fussy cut the rabbit image as well since there were no coordinating dies for wooden stamps.
Step 8: After some quick assembling with Tear-It Tape and foam tape, the card is completed! I love how this card turned out, and I hope you enjoyed it, too. Thanks for stopping by!
Hello crafty friends! Creating backgrounds is always fun, especially when you like something different for your cards. One of my favorite backgrounds is bokeh. There are a couple ways to create bokeh backgrounds but today we are going to do some stamping with any sizes of circle stamps you have in stash.
Let’s get crafting!
Skill: Intermediate Time: 15-20 minutes
Direction:
Step 1 Cut out a piece of 8.5 inch x 11 inch white cardstock into 4 panels of 4.25 inch x 5.5 inch.
Add each color of VersaColor inks (Cardinal and Canary) to the cardstock with sponge daubers.
Blend in the colors as you add it to the cardstock to create the third shade.
Dry the inks with a craft heat gun.
Step 2 Stamp the circles starting with the largest size and then smaller size with a Memento Luxe Wedding Dress ink pad. Repeat the stamping until you like the look of your bokeh background. Make sure some circles overlap each other to create the shadow effect.
When stamping, you might notice the lines on the edges of circles, use a small blending brush or sponge dauber to blend in the white ink around to smoothen the lines.
Dry again the whole background panel with a craft heat gun.
Step 3 Cut the background panel with one of the rectangle dies.
Add the background panel to the card base (A2 size card) with On Point Glue. Add a couple of acrylic blocks on top of it to hold it down while the glue is drying.
Step 4 Cut out 2-3 white cardstocks with the sentiment panel.
Stack the cutouts together with On Point Glue to create a chipboard sentiment panel (thicker die cut).
Step 5 Dab the VersaMark ink all over the sentiment panel, make sure it covers the whole panel.
Add some of the MBoss Sparkle embossing powder (retired) on it and heat it up with a craft heat gun. You will have a sparkly sentiment chipboard!
Add the sentiment on the card with the On Point Glue. Add some acrylic blocks (or anything heavy) on the sentiment to hold it down while the glue is drying.
Isn’t it a fun card making technique to do? You can create with any color inks, or you can even do colorful bokeh and not only white. Give it a try and have fun!
Hello Everyone, it’s Ceal, here. Today I am sharing how to create a background using our Fireworks spray using a Gel Press plate.
Skill Level: Beginner to Advanced Time: 45 minutes to an hour
Directions: Gather your supplies. You will need some Fireworks! sprays, some shimmer spray (I used gold), a stencil, a Gel Press plate, a rubber brayer, some copy paper or cardstock (I used copy paper) A word die or any other die ad some VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.
Step 1: Spray Fireworks! spray directly on the Gel Press plate.
Step 2: Lay stencil over the Gel Press plate and roll the brayer over it to distribute and then spray again with Fireworks! spray.
Step 3: Lay the copy paper (I used Hammermil 60lb) on top and rub your hand over the entire piece several times until you see the medium come through the paper.
Step 4: Die cut several pieces of the word die. I cut three out of whit and one out of gold to tie in with the gold shimmer on the background. I glued the altogether offsetting the gold one on the bottom.
Step 5: Glue the background on a card base and add the word die to the front. Stamp the coordinating message directly on the background.
• Classic Crest Solar White card base -Neenah • Gold Foil cardstock – Simon Says Stamp • Gel plate – Gel Press • Heart Stencil – A Colorful Life Designs • Love die – Hero Arts • Stamped sentiment – hero Arts
We’re thrilled to introduce our 2025 Artist-in-Residence Design Team! This exceptional group of designers is sure to inspire you with their remarkable creativity and talent.
Clockwise: LV Handcrafted, Anna Escalada York, Ceil Pritchett, Katy Ingram, Helen Gullett, Tracy Fear, Jessica Lin
Hi! I’m Linh – or LV Handcrafted on social media. I live in Seattle, WA with my husband and our two dogs. I’ve been crafting since I was in high school but took a long break as I started my career. Now (many years later) I am my own boss working as a business consultant, so I can balance my time and do more of what I love – papercrafting! There’s always so much to learn in papercrafting, and I find great joy in adding my own twist and sharing what I’ve learned. I love Imagine products. There’s such a wide range of media supplies. It’s so fun to experiment, have a bit of a play and create something exciting. I’m honored to be a part of this amazing team.
Hi! I am Helen. I am a stay-at-home wife and a mom of 2 daughters. I grew up in Indonesia and now live in Ohio with my family. I am working at home part time as a translator. I love paper crafting, Bible Journaling, working on mixed media and DIY projects. I love coffee, tea, and dark chocolate.
Hello crafty friends! My name is Jessica Lin. You may have recognized me or seen some of my previous projects, and I am so excited to be back on Imagine’s design team! I am a crafty gal in my late twenties, but my passion for cardmaking started a long time ago when I was 9. I was introduced to wooden stamps and I haven’t stopped stamping since. Some of my other hobbies include sewing, washi tape collaging, and I hope one day I’ll learn how to crochet, too.
I grew up in Taiwan and speak Mandarin as my mother tongue, so my YouTube channel is mostly filmed in Chinese. This year, I decided to create a bilingual Instagram account. If you are inspired by bold, vibrant colors and enjoy detailed projects with lots of layers, come have a visit! I look forward to meeting and crafting with all of you!
I am Ceal Pritchett and I reside in the mountains of western North Carolina with my husband and our little fur baby Shih Tzu. I have been a crafter in some form since childhood. I fell in love with cardmaking around 15 years ago. I am a clean and simple cardmaker who sometimes dabbles in other things like art journals, bible journaling, and painting.
Anna Escalada York grew up on a farm outside of Phoenix, Arizona and moved to Portland, Oregon to go to college, where she met her husband. They have two children (one in high school and the other in middle school), a cat and two guinea pigs. She is also a proud teacher at her local high school for almost 20 years in SE Portland, Oregon (go Lightning)! Her other hobbies are reading, riding her bike, nerding out to Star Wars, and reading.
Anna has been crafting (almost exclusively card making) since 2004, but stepped away for a while when it was too hard to juggle the demands of being a mom of little children and working full time. She returned to her craft room in 2019 and started blogging consistently in 2020. One of her recent crafty achievements has been creating 700 cards in 2021. Her favorite craft supplies include heat embossing, using splatter, and coloring with markers. Her favorite style is sparkle!
Hi! My name is Tracy Fear, known on social media as Not Afraid of Color, and my friends call me T! I am a Pacific Northwest native living in north Alabama for the past 15+ years. I am retired and live with my retired husband, our 3 dogs, and 8 cats last I counted.
I am a lifelong crafter with skills with stained glass, sewing, quilting, crochet, sculpture, beaded jewelry, macrame, crochet, woodworking, and many others. Most recently I have honed my attentions to paper crafts, specifically making cards.
Hello Crafty Friends! My name is Katy Ingram. I am a wife and mama to 1 son and 4 kitties. I live in southeastern North Carolina off the coast of Topsail Island and I LOVE making handmade cards. I started my card making journey back in 2016 and in 2019 I started my youtube channel and blog Eastwicks Paper and Ink. I wanted an outlet to share and hopefully inspire your creativity with my card making as well as some tips and tricks along the way. I am so excited to be joining the Imagine Crafts Guest Artist Team. I look forward to meeting and crafting with you!
Imagine Blog 