Let’s Make a “Celebrate 4th of July Card” with Fireworks!

By Anna Escalada York

Today’s card was inspired by 4th of July celebrations, but is meant for a beloved coworker who is retiring after working at my school for over 25 years. She is one of the key people who everyone knew that they could turn to when they needed help and we will sorely miss her, but are so excited for her next adventure.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 1.5 hours

Directions:

Step 1:
Die cut a piece of watercolor paper with the second-largest die in an A2-sized die set. Spray Lilac Posies, Angel Pink and Rhubarb Stalk Fireworks! Craft Spray directly onto a fireworks embossing folder, trying to have the colors mix on the folder. Then add the watercolor paper panel onto the embossing folder and run the whole thing through a die cutting machine. The spray will move inside of the embossing folder when it is pressed through the machine, giving some interesting effects on your embossed panel. Allow the sprays to dry.

Step 2:
Ink blend the edges of the embossed panel with Neptune VersaColor ink. Press the Neptune VersaColor ink pad onto a piece of scrap acetate and spray with water and then splatter the mix onto the panel with a thin paintbrush. Then spray the panel with Copper Shimmer Spritz. Spray more of the Copper Shimmer onto a clean piece of acetate and use the spritz to paint the raised parts of the panel (the tendrils or arms of the fireworks). Allow to dry.

Step 3:
Die cut another piece of watercolor paper with the largest die in the A2-sized die set. Using a sponge dauber, ink blend the edges with more of the Neptune VersaColor ink and then the extreme edges with Medieval Blue VersaFine Clair ink.

Step 4:
Splatter Paris Dusk Fireworks! Craft Spray onto the panel and allow to dry.

Step 5:
Stamp a sentiment on a scrap of watercolor paper with Medieval Blue VersaFine Clair ink and heat emboss with clear embossing powder. Die cut the sentiment with the corresponding die.

Step 6:
Glue the two panels together. Attach the sentiment with foam tape. Then glue sequins on the lower left corner and just above the sentiment. Finally, glue the whole thing onto an A2-sized white cardbase to finish the card.

Art Supplies

Imagine

• Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray- Angel Pink, Lilac Posies, Paris Dusk and Rhubarb Stalk
• Sheer Shimmer Spritzer – Copper
• VersaColor ink – Neptune and Medieval Blue
• Sponge dauber

Other

• Altenew – embossing folder –
• Firework Trio 3D
• Altenew – Foam Tape
• Altenew – Die set – Blossoms of Encouragement
• Altenew – Stamp set – Blossoms of Encouragement
• Catherine Pooler – Sequin mix – Kyoto
• Pink and Main – Die set
• Notched Corners
• A2-sized kraft card base
• Clear Embossing Powder
• Watercolor paper
• Thin paint brush
• Die cutting machine
• Scissors
• Glue

 Let’s Make a Multimedia Thank You Card 

By Anna Escalada York

I used to be intimidated by the idea of multimedia cards, but all they are cards that have different types of products. This card features stamping, watercoloring with sprays and Amplify! Ink, and embossing.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 2 hours

Directions:

Step 1:
Die cut a piece of watercolor paper.

Step 2:
Spray Dandelion Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray onto the center part of an embossing folder and Frost Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray around the edges. Place the die cut watercolor panel in the embossing folder. (The folder had some residual color from a previous project, but it will be covered up later.)

Step 3:
Rub a Sunflower Yellow Brilliance Ink pad over the edges of the embossed watercolor panel.

Step 4:
Stamp the main image onto another piece of watercolor paper with Nocturne VersaFine Clair ink. Heat emboss with clear embossing powder.

Step 5:
Use a variety of sprays and other media to color in the image.

  • The leaves were watercolored with Cottage Ivy Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray.
  • The green stems were colored with Emerald Fabrico Dual Marker.
  • The small branches were colored in with Rich Cocoa Memento Dual Marker.
  • The flowers were watercolored with Angel Pink Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray on the petals. After the petals dried, the center of the flower and the center part of the petals were water colored with Cantaloupe Shimmery Craft Spray. Finally, the outside parts of the petals were colored with Lulu Lavender Memento Dual Marker.
  • Electric Orange Radiant Neon Amplify! pigment ink and Cantaloupe Shimmery Craft Spray were mixed on a piece of scrap acetate and was watercolored onto the tangerines.

Step 6:
Die cut the image with the corresponding die.

Step 7:
Press Angel Pink Memento Dye Ink onto a scrap of watercolor paper. After the ink dries, spray Angel Pink Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray onto the same scrap of watercolor paper and allow it to dry.

Step 8:
Die cut the pink watercolor paper with a thanks sentiment die and a piece of vellum with the sentiment’s shadow die.

Step 9:
Glue the tangerine image onto the embossed watercolor background panel. Then glue the sentiment die cut to the vellum shadow sentiment die cut. Glue the sentiment onto the panel as well.

Step 10:
Glue the panel onto a 6” by 6” square cardbase. Glue sequins on the lower left and upper right parts of the panel to finish the card.

Art Supplies

Imagine

• Amplify! Radiant Neon pigment ink – Electric Orange
• Brilliance Ink – Sunflower Yellow
• Fabrico Dual Marker – Emerald
• Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – Angel Pink, Cottage Ivy, Cantaloupe and Dandelion
• Memento Dual Marker – Lulu Lavender and Rich Cocoa
• Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray – Frost
• VersaFine Clair Ink – Nocturne

Other

AALL & Create – die set – Nature’s Doily
Alex Syberia Designs – die set – Large Thanks die Altenew- die set – Tangerine Grove
Altenew- stamp set – Tangerine Grove
Catherine Pooler – sequin mix – València Sequin Mix Pink & Main – Embossing Folder – Sun Ray
Clear Embossing Powder 6” by 6” cardbase Watercolor paper
Vellum
Die cutting machine Scissors
Glue

Let’s Make a Valentine’s Day Card

By Anna Escalada York

I wanted to use some dies in my stash plus some warm colored inks to make a Valentine’s Day card for my husband.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 1.5 hours

Directions:

Step 1:

Rub a piece of watercolor paper with a Love Letter Memento ink pad. Don’t worry too much about the consistent color across the watercolor paper.

Step 2:

Spray the same watercolor paper with Rose Gold Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray and allow to dry.

Step 3:

Die cut the colored and sprayed watercolor paper.

Step 4:

Use a background or texture stamp to to stamp the center of the die cut with ore Love Letter Memento ink. If desired, rub the small hearts around the edge with more Love Letter Memento ink as well.

Step 5:

Rub a piece of watercolor paper with Rhubarb Stalk Memento ink pad. Again, don’t worry too much about the consistent color across the watercolor paper.

Steps 6 and 7:

Die cut the Rhubarb Stalk colored watercolor paper and use a paintbrush to paint GooseBumps Shimmer Texture Spray on the die cut. Allow the GooseBumps Shimmer Texture Spray to dry (or if you are impatient like me use your heat tool to dry it quickly).

(Not pictured: Die cut two more layers of the sentiment die with scraps of cardstock and glue the three layers together for dimension. Then die cut the shadow of the sentiment with vellum and glue the sentiment onto the shadow.)

Step 8:

Spray enough Angel Pink Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray onto a piece of watercolor paper to totally color the paper and allow to dry.

Step 9:

Die cut the sprayed watercolor paper. Glue the two layers of die cut hearts together.

Step 10:

Tape an outer and inner frames together with tape and use them both together to die cut more watercolor paper.

Step 11:

Ink blend the die cut frame with Rhubarb Stalk Memento Ink using a sponge dauber.

Step 12:

Spray the internal part of the die cut with Rose Gold Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray and allow to dry.

Step 13:

Use Love Letter and Rhubarb Stalk Memento Ink to ink blend through a stencil. Then ink blend around the edges of the die cut with more Rhubarb Stalk Memento Ink.

Step 14 and 15:

Use the same texture stamp used to stamp the red heart, stamp the background (internal part) of the card base with more of the Love Letter Memento Ink multiple times to add some more interest to the background.

Step 16:

Arrange the card and glue it onto a 6” x 6” card base. Start out by gluing the sentiment onto the internal part of the cardpanel (over the die cut heart). Then glue the frame onto the card base and nestle the internal part of the card onto the card. Add sequins on the lower left and upper right parts of the card.

Art Supplies

Imagine

• Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – Angel Pink
• GooseBumps Texture Spray – Shimmer
• Memento Dual Marker – Rhubarb Stalk
• Memento Dye Ink – Love Letter, Rhubarb Stalk
• Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray – Rose Gold
• Sponge daubers

Other

• AALL & Create – die set – Nature’s Doily
• Brutus Monroe – die set – Heart Petals
• Scrappy Tails – rhinestones – white rhinestones
• Stampers Anonymous – woodblock stamp – U3-2603 (typewriter stamp)
• Stencil in my stash
• Watercolor paper
• Scrap cardstock
• Vellum
• Die cutting machine
• Paint brush
• Scissors

Glue

Love-Themed Art Journaling Page

By Helen Gullett

Hello crafty friends! Can you feel the love fill the air? With love in our hearts and minds today, we are going to have fun creating this Love Wins art journaling page together.
Let’s get crafting!

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 45-60 minutes

Direction:

Step 1
Cut out the Canson watercolor leftover or strips into squares and rectangles.
Add the pieces to the journal page with On Point Glue. Let them dry well for a few minutes.
This will create the tile background to give extra texture to the journal page.
(Optional: you can skip this if you want to have smoother background to your page)

Step 2
Add some of the texture paste around the corners and edges of the journal page using a stencil and palette knife.
Remove the stencil and wash it right away with warm water.
Let the texture paste to dry. You can use a craft heater to speed up the drying time, but be very careful to not heat it up too much, move around your craft heat all over the page. Let the page cool down.

Step 3
This is a fun step!
Start spraying your page with the Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray, one color at the time. You do not need to wait for each color to dry to spray the next one. It is fun to watch how each color blends together.
Use a craft heater to dry the background.
Optional: you can repeat spraying until you get the color blending you like to have.

Step 4
Add some of the Wedding Dress Memento Luxe ink to the page using your finger on the texture paste heart on the background. This will bring out the hearts and muted the bright colors a little bit.
Dry the background with a craft heat gun.

Step 5
Building up the background texture on the journal page by randomly stamping each texture stamp one by one using the Memento Luxe ink pads (Tuxedo Black, Rich Cocoa, Espresso Truffle) and VersaFine Clair Charming Pink ink pad.
Dry the ink after stamping each image on the journal page.

Step 6
Using sponge dauber, add some of the Memento Luxe Rick Cocoa ink around the corner of the page to create the shadow border.
Dry the ink with a craft heat gun.

Step 7
On a piece of white cardstock, stamp the letters for the title or sentiment using VersaFine Clair Charming Pink inkpad. Dry the stamped letters with a craft heat gun.
Cut out each letter with scissors.
Add some of the VersaFine Clair Charming Pink ink around the edges of the letters using a sponge dauber to give some shadows effect to the letters.

Step 8
Add each letter to the journal page with On Point Glue.

Step 9
This is an optional step.
I decided to muted down the Rick Cocoa border by adding some of the Memento Luxe Wedding Dress ink with a blending brush.

Step 10
Add some shimmer sparkle to the page by spraying some of the Sheer Shimmer Sparkle Spritzer.
Dry the whole page once more time with a craft heat gun.
It’s done.

Let unconditional love fill each of your hearts every day so we can show love to others. At the end… Love wins!
Thank you for stopping by our blog today. Have a wonderful day.

Craft Supplies

Imagine Crafts:

Others:

  • Texture Tiles 1 stamp set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Grunge Elements 3 stamp set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Mini Marks 1 stamp set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Shake It Off Caps Alpha stamp set (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Hearts Galore stencil (Creative Worship Stamps)
  • Canson Watercolor Cardstock (leftover or paper strips)
  • White cardstock
  • White Gesso
  • Texture Paste
  • Flat brush
  • Tweezers
  • Blending brush
  • Stamping Blocks
  • Micro-tip scissors
  • Craft heat gun
  • Paper trimmer
  • Die cutting Machine

Walking In A Winter Wonderland Card

By Anna Escalada York

Today’s card is a winter card featuring some of the new VersaFine Clair colors.

Skill: Intermediate
Time: 2 hours

Directions:

Step 1:

Watercolor smoosh a die cut watercolor paper panel with three sprays sprayed onto a piece of acetate packaging: Summer Sky and Paris Dusk Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray as well as Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray.

(I accidentally smudged the upper edge of the panel with some yellow ink during the process, but planned on covering the color in the next few steps.)

After the sprays dried, the upper left corner of the panel was stamped with Very Peri VersaFine Clair Ink using a woodblock rubber stamp. The ink was then heat embossed with clear Mboss powder.

Step 2:

Color small pieces of watercolor paper (or in my case watercolor paper scraps) with a variety of greens: Spruce and Grass Green VersaFine Clair ink and New Sprout Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray. The scrap on the left was sprayed multiple times with the Fireworks! Spray and set aside to dry; the two straps on the right were pressed directly into the two ink pads until the whole scrap was colored with the ink. While there was a small space on the dark green tree (on the lower right in this picture) left uncolored, I knew that it would be covered up in the next few steps.)

After all of the papers had dried, I die cut the three small pieces of watercolor paper with three different tree dies.

Step 3:

Color three more scraps of watercolor paper with Pear Tart Memento Double Marker and Emerald Fabrico Dual Marker. After the markers had dried, these three scraps were die cut with three more tree die cuts.

Step 4:

The layers of the dies were glued together. Then Sparkle Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray was sprayed onto more acetate packaging and used to paint sparkle onto the trees.

Step 5:

Ink blend the edges of the panel with Neptune VersaColor Ink until it reaches the saturation of color desired. Heat emboss with more of the clear Mboss powder.

Step 6:

Glue the three die cut trees onto the panel. Splatter with gold watercolor.

Step 7:

Stamp the sentiment on a piece of watercolor paper with Spruce VersaFine Clair Ink and heat emboss with clear Mboss powder. Trim the paper with a paper trimmer. Distress the edges with a pair of scissors. Then press the edges of the sentiment strip into the Grass Green VersaFine Clair Ink pad. After the ink dried, paint the edges with more of the gold watercolor. Set aside to dry.

Step 8:

Spray New Sprout Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray directly onto an embossing folder. Place a die cut watercolor panel into the embossing folder and run it through a die cutting machine. Set the panel aside to dry.

Step 9:

Distress the edges of the panel with scissors. Run the edges of the panel through the Spruce VersaFine Clair ink pad to add ink directly to the edges. Then ink blend the edges with more of the Spruce VersaFine Clair Ink pad using a sponge dauber.

Step 10:

Watercolor the embossed panel with more of the gold watercolor and allow to dry.

Step 11:

Add a strip of black and white polka dotted washi tape onto the green panel. (The washi tape I used is very wide, so I ripped it into a thinner strip before attaching it to the card panel.)

Glue the smaller (blue) panel onto the larger, green panel at an angle. Glue star sequins onto the blue panel. Finally, glue the whole thing onto an A2-sized white card base.

Art Supplies

Imagine

• Fabrico Dual Marker – Emerald
• Fireworks! Shimmery Craft Spray – New Sprout, Paris Dusk, Summer Sky
Mboss – Clear
• Memento Dual Marker – Pear Tart
• Sheer Shimmer Craft Spray – Sparkle
• VersaColor Ink – Neptune
• VersaFine Clair ink – Grass Green, Spruce Versa, Very Peri Sponge
• Sponge Dauber

Other
• Altenew – die set – Tree Mix
• Gina Marie Designs – die set – Big and Little Chain Rectangles
• Gina Marie Designs – die set – Pleated Lace Rectangles
• Hero Arts – woodblock stamp – Stunning Snowflakes (retired)
• Kat Scrappiness – sequins – Winter Wonderland mix
• Kuretake – watercolors – Starry Colors
• Sizzix – embossing folder – Jeweled Snowflakes (664489)
• Stampers Anonymous – stamp set – Cozy Christmas
• Watercolor paper
• Die cutting machine Paint brush
• Paper trimmer
• Scissors
• Glue

Love Ya! Textural, Inky Card

By Alison Heikkila

Hello! Alison Heikkila here. Today we’re making a love-themed card, but not really a romantic card. This can totally be used for your spouse or partner, but I intended it to be more for your bestie, a sibling, etc. The colors and textures of this card are really impactful…even more so in person.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Time to Complete: 15-20 Minutes

*Some affiliate links are used in this post. That means that if you shop through these links, I may receive a small compensation, at no cost to you.

Here is the YouTube video. If it doesn’t play properly, please click HERE.

Supplies:
Imagine:
Berry Blaze Kaleidacolor Inks
Monarch VersaFine Clair Ink
Lilac Posies Fireworks! Spray
Angel Pink Memento Ink

Other:
Sizzix: Confetti Hearts 3D Embossing Folder (discontinued)
Simon Says Stamp & CZ Design: Love Ya Die Set
Strathmore: Smooth Bristol Cardstock
Canson: Mixed Media Paper
Accent Opaque: 100lb. White Cardstock
Bearly Arts Glue

This card is pretty quick to make, and the splatters and imperfections of the inks make the card really interesting and unique. You can change up the colors, embossing folder, and the sentiment to suit your needs! Thanks so much for stopping by. Have an inspiring day!