Category Archives: 2025 Design Team

Embrace New Change Art Journal

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By Helen Gullett

– Hello crafty friends! The new season always brings something new that can surprise us. And new change brings hope, it can be beautiful. Let us embrace it with expectation. Today, we are going to make an art journal together.

Let’s get crafting!

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 30-45 Minutes

Direction:

Step 1
First step we are going to build the base watercolor background.
Spray randomly each color of the FireWorks! Shimmery Craft Spray.

Step 2
While the spray pains are still kinda wet, spray lightly some water using a sprayer bottle.

Let it sit for a few seconds and then dab off some of the water with a clean dry paper tower. This will create more texture to the background.

Dry the page with a craft heat gun. Make sure the surface is completely dry.

Step 3
Cover the page with some anti-static powder and brush it off the page.

Add the stencil on the page and secure it with a washi tape or low-tack tape.

Add the VersaMark Original ink to the page with finger sponge dauber and remove the stencil off the page.

Add some of the Gold Mboss Embossing Powder and heat set it with a craft heat gun.

Step 4
Randomly on the page, stamp the ledger pattern stamp with VersaFine Clair Morning Mist ink using second generation stamping technique.

And then using the stamping technique and ink, stamp the script pattern stamp on the page.

Dry the stamped images with a craft heat gun.

Step 5
Stamp the leaves branch on the page with VersaFine Clair Avocado ink.

Dry the stamped images with a craft heat gun.

Step 6
Put a piece of white cardstock on the stamping tool and stamp the butterfly stamp with VersaFine Clair Pinecone ink.

Do not remove the stamp and paper.

Clean the ink off the stamp with Staz-On All-Purpose Stamp Cleaner.

Step 7
Stamp the same butterfly stamp with VersaMark Original ink.

Add some of the Sparkle Mboss Embossing Powder to the stamped image and heat set it with a craft heat gun.

Step 8
On a piece of white cardstock, gently swipe the VersaFine Clair Pinecone across the cardstock.

Dry the ink with a craft heat gun.

Cut it with one of the Stitched Tag dies.

Step 9
Add the tag to the page with On Point Glue.

Put the butterfly slightly off the page, and then glue the center of the butterfly with some of the On Point Glue. Leave the wings loose.

Cut the extra wing off the page with micro-tips scissors.

Step 10
Stamp the words on a piece of ivory cardstock with VersaMark Original ink.

Add some of the Gold Mboss Ebossing Powder and then heat set it with a craft heat gun.

Cut them with micro-tip scissors.

Draw lines around the word with Memento Marker Rich Cocoa.

Step 11
Add some of the Tear It! Double Sided Tape to 3D fun foam to create your own 3D foam tape.

Add some of the foam tape to each word and add them to the page.

Add some of the foam tape under the wings also to give them a 3D effect.

Step 12
Dab some of the Memento Luxe Wedding Dress ink on the craft mat and spray it with some water.

Pick up the ink with a small round brush, and add some splatters to the page.

Dry the whole page one more time with a craft heat gun.

This mini mixed media art journal page is done. It has a combination of the shimmery background, sparkly butterfly, and shiny gold metallic embossed texture and sentiment.

I hope you like the page and give this tutorial a try. Thanks so much for stopping by our blog today.

Have a wonderful day!

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

Let’s Make a Blackout Technique Card

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By Anna Escalada York

– For teachers, April and May are PACKED!! At this time of the year, it is hard for me to find the time to make elaborate cards, but I want to still be able to sit down and make a card in one sitting. So I turn to techniques that allow me to create something that are quick and easy but also are something to be proud of. This card features one of my go-tos for a quick but pretty card: the blackout technique. 

Skill: Intermediate 
Time: less than 1 hour 

Directions: 

Step 1: 
Use a paper trimmer to cut a piece of watercolor paper to be 5.5” x 4.25” (the size of an A2-sized card). Then spray one side a floral embossing folder with Rose Gold Shimmer Craft Spray and run the watercolor panel through the die cutting machine sandwiched between the two sides of the embossing folder. You will be using the debossed (indented) side of the embossed panel. Allow to dry. 

Step 2: 
Color the flowers with Tangelo Memento Dual Marker. Color the edges of the leaves and the stems with Teal Zeal Memento Dual Marker. Then watercolor over all parts of the leaves and the stems with Teal Zeal Memento Dual Marker mixed with water. Allow the water to dry and repeat the process a few times to help add depth to the centers of the leaves. 

Step 3: 
Gently run the Rose Bud Memento ink pad across the card. Because the flowers are indented, they will mostly not be colored with the ink, but the flat parts of the card will be. I liked that some of the areas were not colored with the ink but additional passes of the ink pad can give consistent, universal coverage. 

Spray Copper Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray onto a piece of acetate and watercolor smoosh the panel to add a little more sparkle. Lightly brush more of the copper spray on the leaves and allow the whole thing to dry. 

Step 4: 
Stamp the sentiment with Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. Then die cut the sentiment with the corresponding die. Use the die cut to die cut two additional layers of scrap cardstock and glue them behind the sentiment die cut for dimension. 

Glue the sentiment onto the embossed card panel. 

Trim the edges of the embossed card panel and distress the edges with a pair of scissors. Trim a piece of black cardstock a little bit bigger than the pink embossed panel and glue the two layers together. Glue pink and orange sequins on the upper right and lower left corners of the card panel. To finish the card, glue the whole card panel onto a white A2-sized card base. 

Art Supplies 

Imagine 

Memento Dual Markers – Tangelo and Teal Zeal 
Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray – Copper and Rose Gold 
VersaFine Clair Ink – Nocturne 

Other 

Altenew – die set – Magnificent Magnolias 
Altenew – stamp set – Magnificent Magnolias 
Catherine Pooler – sequin mix – Miami 
Simon Says Stamp – embossing folder – Magnificent Mums 
Clear Embossing Powder 
Heat tool 
Glue 
Watercolor paper 
Black watercolor paper 

Let’s Make a Mother’s Day Card

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By Helen Gullett

– Hello crafty friends! The special day to celebrate our mothers is here. We can celebrate them and show them love in many ways. But today, we are going to make a clean-and-simple handmade card for someone who has been a mother in our life.

Let’s get crafting!

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 15-20 Minutes

Direction:

Step 1
Cut out a piece of watercolor cardstock into 4×6 inch and put it on the stamping tool.
Stamp the mason jar bouquet image with VersaFine Onyx Black ink.

Step 2
Scribble some of the Memento Marker Summer Sky on the craft mat.
Pick up ink with a wet waterbrush and start painting the water in the jar.
Dry the paint in between to build up the layer of colors and shadow.

I used a waterbrush that can easily squish some water out to the brush, but you also can use any small round watercolor brush and clean water.
Always have a piece of clean paper towel nearby to dab off too much water.

Step 3
Scribble some of the Memento Marker Bamboo Leaves on the craft mat.
Pick up ink with a wet waterbrush and start painting the water in the jar.
Dry the paint in between to build up the layer of colors and shadow.

Step 4
Scribble some of the Memento Marker Rose Bud on the craft mat.
Pick up ink with a wet waterbrush and start painting the water in the jar.
Dry the paint in between to build up the layer of colors and shadow.

Step 5
Scribble some of the Memento Marker Cantaloupe on the craft mat.
Pick up ink with a wet waterbrush and start painting the water in the jar.
Dry the paint in between to build up the layer of colors and shadow.

Step 6
Scribble some of the Memento Marker Paris Dusk on the craft mat.
Pick up ink with a wet waterbrush and start painting the water in the jar.
Dry the paint in between to build up the layer of colors and shadow.

Step 7
Scribble some of the Memento Marker Grape Jelly on the craft mat.
Pick up ink with a wet waterbrush and start painting the water in the jar.
Dry the paint in between to build up the layer of colors and shadow.

Step 8
Dry the whole watercolored image well with a craft heat gun.
Fussy cut the image using the micro-tip scissors.

Step 9
Cut out a piece of white cardstock with one of the Stitched Tag dies.
Stamp the sentiment on the tag with VersaFine Clair Nocturne ink.
Dry the stamped sentiment with a craft heat gun.

Step 10
Add some of the VersaFine Clair Arctic ink on the front card base with finger sponge dauber.
Dry the ink with a craft heat gun.

Step 11
Put some of the Tear It! Double-sided Tape on the back of the mason jar and add it to the tag.
Tie up some of the white twine on the tag.

Step 12
Add the mason jar bouquet tag to the card with some of the On Point Glue.

Step 13
Embellish the card with some of the pearl gems.

This clean-and-simple Mother’s Day card may look simple yet it has layers but it is not bulky so it is perfect to be sent out to someone who has been a mother to you on this special time.

I hope you like this card and give this tutorial a try. Thanks so much for stopping by our blog today. Have a wonderful day!

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

 Creative Inking with Sheer Shimmer 

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By Jessica Lin

Skill: Beginner
Time: 30 minutes

– Hi everyone! It’s Jessica here. Today I would like to share a card with a black and gold color combo. My card creations are typically full of bright colors; so I decided to change it up a bit by using a simpler color palette. Since there are only two colors on this card, I wanted to add various shimmer and glitter textures to create dimension. Let’s take a look!

Step 1:
Trim Stardream Metallic 5 x 7 Onyx cardstock to 3 ¾’’ x 5’’. Paint golden stripes on the card panel with Sheer Shimmer Gold. One trick to avoid the gold shimmer from pooling on the edges is to swipe your paintbrush onto the craft mat. Another alternative is starting with a bigger piece of cardstock, then trimming the panel down to size.

Step 2:
Dry the cardstock panel with a heat gun, and repeat steps 1-2 until you achieve bold, gold stripes. The Stardream Metallic Onyx cardstock has a subtle shimmer as well – it adds an elegant touch to the card base.

Step 3:
Die cut roses and leaves with DCS Gold Glitter Heavyweight 12 x 12 cardstock. I find this glitter cardstock very easy to cut through. Some of the glitter cardstock I’ve used before uses adhesives to bind to the glitter, which takes a little more time to peel the die cut pieces off each other. This glitter cardstock, on the other hand, separates very easily after it’s been cut through.

Step 4:
Next, adhere the die cuts to the strips background panel. I used On-Point Glue since the fine-tip nozzle is perfect for applying small amounts of glue. Then, use an acrylic block to press down on the die cut so that it completely adheres to the background.

Step 5:
Finally, stamp the sentiment with Brilliance Galaxy Gold ink pad. This gold ink pad matches the Sheer Shimmer Gold so well! I added some black enamel dots to complete the card. I love the classic black and gold color combo, and I hope this card inspires you to try different kinds of gold shimmer on your project.

Imagine Supplies:

Other Supplies:

  • Stampin’ Up! – Dies – Rose Garden
  • CutCardStock – Cardstock – DCS Gold Glitter Heavyweight 12 x 12
  • CutCardStock – Cardstock – Stardream Metallic 5 x 7 Onyx

Floral Mother’s Day Card

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By Anna Escalada York

– I wanted to make a card that represents both my mom and myself. My mom’s favorite color is yellow, and I am all about the grunge and sparkle! Now I just need to be out of my craft room long enough for my kids to have to sneak in and make me a card….

Skill: Intermediate 
Time: 1.5 hours 

Directions: 

Step 1: 
Place a small piece of watercolor paper on some acetate and then spray both with Cottage Ivy Fireworks! Spray. Use a heat tool to dry the spray on the watercolor paper and then flip it over to watercolor smoosh the remaining Cottage Ivy Fireworks! Spray on the acetate and then dry the spray on the watercolor paper again. Repeat the watercolor smooshing once more and dry. Then die cut the watercolor paper with the stem die cut and set aside (not pictured). 

Step 2: 
Stamp the flower’s petals, leaves and center stamps with Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. While only one set of petals is pictured here, 12 petals (3 sets of all 4 petals) and both of the leaves and the center were all stamped in the same way 

Step 3: 
Mix Electric Yellow Amplify! with a small amount of water to dilute the Amplify! Ink. Then use to paint the petals. Use a heat tool to dry and add texture. Die cut all of the petals. 

Step 4: 
Stamp the faux stitching texture stamp onto the stem die cut with Nocturne VersaFine Clair Ink. 

Step 5: 
Watercolor smoosh the stamped center of the flower with the leftover mix of water and Electric Yellow Amplify! Ink. Dry with a heat tool. Then spray the center with Rose Gold Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray and set aside to dry. Then die cut the center with the corresponding die. 

Step 6: 
Glue collage paper onto a panel of kraft cardstock. After the glue dried, press the Champagne Delicata ink pad onto the collage paper to add sparkle and obscure some of the collage paper’s print. 

Step 7: 
After die cutting the collaged panel, spray part of the panel with Cottage Ivy Fireworks! spray. Set aside to dry. 

Off camera, die cut a piece of gold metallic cardstock with the next size up panel die. 

Step 8: 
Spray some more of the Cottage Ivy Fireworks! spray onto another piece of acetate and then watercolor the leaves with the green color. After the spray dried, die cut with the corresponding dies from the die set. 

Step 9: 
Stamp the sentiment on a scrap of watercolor paper with Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink. Then heat emboss with embossing powder. 

Step 10: 
Assemble the card. Glue the stem onto the collage panel. Glue the leaves onto the panel. Glue the petals behind the center of the flower. (If desired, use some scraps or other small pieces of cardstock to glue behind the petals to help them stay together.) Then glue the flower petals and the center of the card onto the collaged panel. Then paint the edges of the panel with more of the Cottage Ivy Fireworks! spray. Then glue the sentiment on the lower left part of the panel. Add clear gems onto the panel. 

After all of the glue has dried, glue the panel onto the gold metallic panel to add a matte layer. To finish the card, the whole thing was glued onto an A2-sized white card base. 

Art Supplies 

Imagine 
• Amplify! Pigment Ink – Electric Yellow 
• Delicata Ink – Champagne 
• Fireworks! Spray – Cottage Ivy 
• Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray – Rose Gold 
• VersaFine Clair Ink – Nocturne 

Other 
• Idea-ology and Tim Holtz – collage paper – Archives 
• Scrappy Crafts – embellishment mix – Amethyst 
• Simon Says Stamp – die set – Love You Mama 
• Simon Says Stamp – die set – Squovals 
• Simon Says Stamp – stamp set – Love You Mama 
• Spellbinders – stamp and die cutting set – Sculpted Scripted Floral 
• Clear Embossing Powder 
• Gold metallic cardstock 
• Kraft cardstock 
• Heat tool 
• Glue 
• Watercolor paper 

 Soft Spring Watercoloring with VersaMagic Inks

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By Jessica Lin

Skill: Beginner
Time: 1 hour

Hi everyone! It’s Jessica here. Have you ever tried using a stamp positioner to “break up” stamp images? The wooden stamp I am using today has three teddy bear designs connected together, but I was inspired to create a different sketch. Let’s get creative!

Step 1:
Stamp the teddy bear designs separately on Strathmore 100% Cotton Watercolor 5×7 cardstock, inking only one square each time with VersaFine Clair Sand Dune ink.

Watercolor cardstock usually have a more textured surface, so using a stamp positioning tool would really help with re-stamping and getting a clear image. I used the We R Precision Press today since the base rods are tall enough to secure the wooden stamp in place. After stamping, I heat embossed the images with clear Mboss powder.

Step 2:
Color the images with your choice of coloring medium. I am watercoloring with VersaMagic ink pads today. The colors I used are Wheat (for the bear), Aquatic Splash (for the sky background), and Tea Leaves, Pink Grapefruit, Thatched Straw (for the leaves, flowers, and butterflies).

Step 3:
Once the images are dry, fussy cut along the edges. After that, I swiped VersaFine Clair Sand Dune ink pad around the borders of each square so that the white core of the watercolor cardstock is not shown.

Step 4:
I wanted to decorate the teddy bear frames with some florals, and the images from Stampin’ Up’s Sweet Strawberry stamp set are perfect. They are stamped and watercolored using the same supplies in steps 1 and 2. One of the floral images was even cut in half to fit around the sketch I had in mind.

Step 5:
The Chalkboard Prints 6×6 card stock pad has some beautiful geometric patterns. I trimmed the mint green chevron patterned paper to 3’’ x 5 ½’’ as the background of the card.

Step 6:
Finally, I adhered all of the watercolor elements to the mint green chevron patterned paper with foam tape, and mounted the entire panel onto a Mint Macaron cardbase. I also stamped a tiny “hi there!” sentiment from Flora & Fauna’s Under the Sea stamp set. I hope you enjoyed today’s tutorial on how to create different card sketches from a large framed image stamp.

Craft Supplies

Imagine Supplies:

Other Supplies:

  • K Kingdom – Wooden Stamp – KT-4294
  • Stampin’ Up! – Stamps – Sweet Strawberry
  • Floral & Fauna – Stamps – Under the Sea (sentiment)
  • CutCardStock – Cardstock – Strathmore 100% Cotton Watercolor 5×7 cardstock
  • CutCardStock – Cardstock – Chalkboard Prints 6×6 pad
  • Stampin’ Up – Cardstock – Mint Macaron