Inside Shadow Box Cards

Recently, I ran across a 2018 tutorial for Inside Shadow Box cards made by Jennifer McGuire.  I just had to give this a try. This card was fairly easy to make and it fits into an envelope for mailing! I used these Hero Arts stamp sets:  Color Layering Waves CM316, Color Layering Sea & Sky CM317 and Seas The Day Seagulls CM276. I was happy to find these stamp sets 40% off JoAnn's!

The first card I made didn't fold quite right at first. However, I was able to press it flat and adjust the crease slightly to make it work. For the water, I played around with different inks, never finding a combo that I thought perfect. But the colors look better if I don't examine them too closely.  I've noted some of the color combinations I used:

* Distress soft sky, SU bashful blue, SU tempting turquoise (or Ranger Caribbean coast)

* SU bliss blue, SU ballet blue, SU tempting turquoise

* Distress tumbled glass, distress broken china, Ranger Caribbean coast

Jennifer used pretty colors that I didn't have, more in the "sea green" family.

Here is the outside of  one of my cards. The "thanks" die cut is from Hero Arts, Thanks Stamp & Cut DC152. Palm tree colored with Tombow marker green #177 and distress vintage photo. Birds stamped in distress hickory smoke. Clouds stamped with distress tumbled glass.

Here are the inside panels which will go behind the oval cut-out. Jennifer gives us the tip to use the back part of the cloud stamps to create the islands in the distance. I stamped mine with distress peeled paint. Then stamped a second time with right side of the cloud stamp using in the same ink to give the islands some dimension. I used blending brushes for the sky with distress tumbled glass ink and for the sand, antique linen ink.

Here you see the finished "inside shadow box". I added the fussy cut chair stamped in SU's groovy guava ink. Attached it with Gina K Connect glue which worked great.

The sand here was made by sponging distress oxide fossilized amber. The boat and birds were stamped with distress hickory smoke.

Here I switched to  stamps from Seas The Day Seagulls CM276, stamping the birds in versafine onyx black and the wood stump with SUs close to cocoa. I used markers to add red to the hat and scarf and wood stump.

I used the oval cut out from the inside part to make some cards with kraft cardstock.

I had a lot of fun with the Inside Shadow Box cards. Thanks to Jennifer McGuire for sharing her creative ideas!

Thank YOU for visiting me! Hope you are well and staying safe from Covid-19!

Generational Stamping on Christmas Card

Inspired by Heather Telford's Tannenbaum Forest Video I made these card layers using Canson 140 lb watercolor paper. A great big thanks to Heather for sharing this very fun and easy tutorial! 

Since I do not have the Penny Black Tannenbaum Trio set, I used an Inkadinkado wood mounted stamp labeled #96683. It has two pine trees. Also used a smaller wood mounted pine tree stamp that was not labeled. As Heather suggests, I inked my stamp with mowed lawn, then added some peeled paint then a little chipped sapphire on the edges.  The inked stamp is spritzed before stamping. Then two more impressions are made with that stamp without adding more ink! The spritzing allows a lighter and then again another lighter image! The lighter trees look farther off in the distance.

I used a distress vintage photo marker to add brown to the trunk of my small tree. Heather used a gathered twig brown distress marker. This is done before the first impression is made. My larger trees did not have tree trunks. 

My stamp is smaller than the Penny Black Tannenbaum Trio, so I just kept at this process till I felt I had enough trees. I followed Heather's instruction to change the color order to peeled paint, then mowed lawn, then chipped sapphire after a couple of rounds of stamping. I think she did that for her  second round of three impressions. Please refer to Heather's video for all the details on her wonderful method of generational stamping!

Heather recommends using Yellow Frog tape. I wish I had that because the blue painters tape ripped my paper when removing it. Before using it, I stuck the tape piece to my hand a few times to try to remove some of the "stickiness".  

I planned my layers to be 4 x 5-1/4 inches. But I made a mistake when cutting. Then I had to trim the rips from the blue tape removal. So I have some odd sized layers.

I used a heat tool to dry the paper before the first strip of tape was removed. Added a circle mask cut from a sticky note. Used a blending brush to add distress faded jeans to the top edge and around the circle and to the edge of the tape to get "snow hills". Once the first hill was "created", removed the tape and reapplied it for more "snow hills".

Below you can see some of my finished cards. I used a dark green card base, 4-1/4 x 5-1/2 inch size.

Then I experimented using Michael Strong's cloisonné Christmas tree, adding the distress mowed lawn, peeled paint and chipped sapphire, spritzing  and stamping. I only did the one impression with that stamp. Then I switched to the Inkadinkado two tree stamp used above and continued with Heather's generational stamping technique.

Heather's generational stamping technique was very fun and easy! I hope you give it a try!

Happy Stamping! Peace and all good!

Bird Talk Birthday

Made two birthday cards with my old Tim Holtz stamp and die set, Bird Talk 2.

Background layers are from my stash. Just added some stenciling and sponging. Used distress twisted citron for the zig zag and dots. Sponged the edges with distress abandoned coral.

Stamped bird, hat and balloon with distress abandoned coral, fossilized amber and festive berries inks. Used coloring pencils to add more color. 

Sentiment is stamped in Versafine onyx black ink. Used a Faber-Castell PITT pen to add  "sister" and the string to the balloon.

Used fossilized amber for the stenciling and used mermaid lagoon for the sponged edges. The bird is stamped in mermaid lagoon and coloring pencils were used afterward.

Sentiment stamp is from Verses Rubber Stamps.

Thanks so much for visiting!

Embossing Folder Stamping Technique

These "embossing folder stamping technique" cards were inspired by Bev Gerard's cards here. I was glad to finally try this technique of adding images behind a dry embossed image. I substituted my Park Lane Birch Trees embossing folder since don't have the Stampin' Up! Woodland folder. 

I wanted to mention that I used SU's close to cocoa ink for the car in the card above. This was the second card I made. The car in the card below was stamped in distress brushed corduroy. The distress ink seems to blotch up when using a clear stamp. Stamping on the plastic embossing folder probably accentuates that blotchy-ness. I prefer the look of the car stamped in the SU ink. But I don't think the blotchy-ness will not be noticed by the recipient.

Getting back to the steps I used to stamp the embossing folder...

First I inked the top side of the embossing folder with the tumbled glass distress inkpad. I swiped and dabbed from the top of the folder to about  2/3's of the way down. I used a piece of scrap paper to cover the part I didn't want inked. 

For this technique , the top of the embossing folder is the part that gets inked. Usually there is printing on the outside, but the Park Lane folder did not have printing on the top. One way to check to be sure you are inking the correct side is to check that you are inking and stamping on the flat areas between the trees which are facing up. The trees are recessed! They will not "get" the ink you are applying.

I inked the bottom one third of the embossing folder with distress scattered straw.

Then I inked my car next using distress brushed corduroy in this card (Used SU close to cocoa in the first card). 

Then I inked the tree from SU's Lovely as a tree set, with distress pine needles and stamped several images on the embossing folder.

Then I placed my cardstock carefully into the stamped embossing folder and closed it and ran it through my Cuttlebug.

I used a light brown/tan Tombow marker, #992, to all the little lines on the birch trees. 

I sponged the edges of each panel afterward with distress broken china and scattered straw. Then I went around again with distress hickory smoke.

The happy birthday stamp and die is Hero Arts' DC184 Ribbon Messages, Stamp & Cut.

Used my Zig Denim marker to write the birthday years in each.

Now I will show you my mistakes: 

In the first image above, I spritzed the embossing folder with water after inking and before adding my paper. Did not turn our well as you can see.

In the second image, I tried using multiple inkpads but the colors were too squared off. Maybe if this was a geometric embossing folder instead of a nature scene? 

Thank you for visiting! Hope you have a great week!

Restful Tree Cards

I had a lot of fun making cards with the Penny Black Restful stamp. It's quite large, extending over my 4 x 5-1/4 inch layer of paper. The Misti platform worked great on this. I used Versafine onyx black ink to stamp the tree.  After the ink was thoroughly dry, I sponged it with distress and Stampin' Up inks:  scattered straw in the sky behind the tree and fossilized amber on the ground. I sponged a little blue jeans ink along the horizon and then used Stampin' Up brilliant blue for the rest of the sky.

Below are some variations.

Sponged with distress scattered straw for the ground.

Sponged distress spun sugar ink behind the tree. And intentionally made "swirl lines" while sponging the SU brilliant blue of the sky. The ground is sponged with fossilized amber ink.

I used some Sure-Line touch up paint pads to sponge this one. They are about 1-3/4 inches wide by 2 inches long. I really like the smooth result. The ground here is sponged with distress crushed olive and fossilized amber is used behind the tree and along the horizon.  

Below are photos of these Sure-Line pads. 

Thanks for visiting! Keep yourself safe from Covid!