Monday, June 8, 2026

PHRASES & FRAMES WITH BEAUTIFUL ORDINARY LIFE

This week I am featuring the Phrases and Frames Bundle.  It is difficult for me to pass up a nice sentiment stamp set, but this bundle had the extra bonus of having dies that make beautiful, embossed frames for those sentiments.

With these dies you die cut the frame first and then, without removing the cardstock from die, you run it through the Stampin' Cut & Emboss Machine again using an Impressions Plate to create the embossed pattern on the die cut.   

An Impressions Plate is a silicon mat, and personally, I would call it more of a "pad" than a "plate" because it is soft and flexible.

Since I really wanted to keep the frame as the focal point, I decided to keep the rest of the card simple.  I've had this new Beautiful Ordinary Life Designer Series Paper(DSP) for a few weeks but hadn't even opened it.  WOW!  I LOVE IT!  This is my kind of DSP.  The colors are bright and happy on one side, and the backside is all different black and white designs.  If you haven't checked it out yet, you are going to want to take a closer look.


I used one of the black & white patterns that is various stem foliage designs.  I colored several stems with Lost Lagoon and Pretty Peacock Stampin' Blends and then fussy cut them to decorate my frame.  After everything was assembled, I decided the card needed a bit of shimmer and shine, so I coated the leaves with clear Wink of Stella.  It was just what it needed.


For the inside of the card I colored a strip cut from the same stems design Black & White DSP.

Use this link to download a tutorial with step-by-step directions and all the dimensions.

A list of the products I used is shown below.  Don't forget to take a closer look at the Beautiful Ordinary Life DSP.  There is nothing "ordinary" about it.  I'm glad I finally opened my pack!

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Location: Commerce Township, MI, USA

Thursday, June 4, 2026

FERN & FLORA WITH THE DOUBLE BRAYER BACKGROUND

A little change of pace since Monday's card.  Monday's card had lots of stamping and coloring.  Today's card has minimal stamping - only the greeting.  

I recently saw a technique called the Double Brayered Background.  It was new to me so decided to give it a try for today's card.

What a FUN technique!  I love it!  It gave me a whole new appreciation for the brayer.  Sometimes getting brayered surfaces to turn out the way you want can be a challenge.  But with this technique there is NO STRESS!

I made a short video to show you how it's done.  Take a look and you will see just how quick and easy it is!

As I mentioned in the video, all you need is two ink color buddies, a brayer, and an embossing folder, so the required supplies are also minimal -- always a nice bonus.

My color buddies were Crumb Cake and Pecan Pie, and I used the Forever Plaid embossing folder.

If you decide to try it I suggest that you play with different colors and embossing folders as it will totally change the result.

The die cuts were all made with dies from the Fern & Flora Bundle.  If you own the bundle and had been wondering how to make the little flowers (like I was) I also show you how to assemble all those little die cuts.


You may have previously seen me use what I call a Faux Bow on my projects.  This card uses Linen Thread to create a Faux Bow.  I also took a couple of minutes in the video to show you how I make my Faux Bows.  It is much easier than a regular bow -- at least for me, and I like the "fuller" look of it than a standard bow.  


When I created the background Technique Sheet, I made it a little larger than needed for the card front.  This gave me a "scrap" that I could use to decorate the inside of the card.

Use this link to download a tutorial with all the dimensions and step by step directions.

A list of the products I used is shown below.

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Monday, June 1, 2026

FERN & FLORA

This week I am featuring the Moonlit Flora Suite Collection.  Today's cards uses a couple of the floral stamps that I have not seen used often on other demonstrator posts.  Since it is June (can you believe it?), I decided that it was time for flowers.

I haven't even planted my flowers yet because our temperatures have been dropping so low at night that I didn't want to take a chance.  Maybe this week it will warm up a bit, so I feel safe planting some "real" flowers instead of depending on the "paper" version.

The Soft Sea Foam background on the card front is from the Moonlit Floral Designer Series Paper (DSP).  This designer series paper is gorgeous.  On one side of each design there are dark, moody, jungle-like designs in various shades of green with pops of Golden Glow and Pecan Pie.  The designs also use Basic Black and Secret Sea (everyone's new favorite "black").  But, on the opposite side, there are smaller prints in various colors that are great for simple backgrounds -- backgrounds that stay in the background and don't take over as the focal point.

The "diamonds" on the card front were die cut with square dies from Stylish Shapes dies.

The flowers were stamped and colored with Flirty Flamingo, Fresh Freesia and Soft Sea Foam Stampin' Blends.  Coordinating Fern & Flora dies made quick work of cutting them out.

The bundle also includes some nice greetings and a greeting border stamp with a coordinating die which was also used for this card

I was in the mood to color, so I also stamped a flower on the inside as well as the envelope.

For all the dimensions and assembly instructions you can download a PDF tutorial using this link.

A list of the products I used is shown below.  Click on any image to learn more about that product.

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