Learn how to shade using white colored pencils on a tone on tone design. Today Annie is showing us an absolutely beautiful way on how to shade using white colored pencils on a monochromatic design and we are practically swooning! Who knew that just a touch of white on a tone on tone design could be so impactful! Annie said “There are times when a stamp is so beautiful, that I just want to let the image speak for itself. […]
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Use silhouette stamping with reverse masking to create gorgeous, easy focal elements on your handmade cards! Silhouette stamping with reverse masking isn’t a new thing but we don’t see it done often and it’s a shame. Because just LOOK at this beautiful card! Our Color Fuse Ink is perfect for this technique – we specifically formulated it to blend easily and beautifully and with reverse masking, those qualities are absolutely essential for results like these. Colleen created this for us […]
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See how easy it is to create using our new layered flower stencils! Today’s card, from Lisa, features two fabulous fun techniques in one. First, Lisa used our brand new layered flower stencils to create those dimensional blooms. Second, she created two gorgeous background frame elements using one of our great background dies. How fun is that? We love it when you can make two cards in one – what a fun time saver! Let’s talk about those layered flower […]
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Come see another beautiful card made with the no line watercoloring technique that starts with a stamp! Today, Melinda is back with another absolute stunner of a card. She’s shared her no line watercoloring talents with us before here and here and today’s card is another beautiful example of how this easy technique can make you look like a true watercolor artist. Melinda shared with us “When I saw this release I was ecstatic because the florals are just amazing […]
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Today’s backgrounds use watercolor ink and a spritzer for a gorgeous effect! If you love making custom colored backgrounds use watercolor ink with this super easy technique to create something totally unique and beautiful. You pretty much can’t go wrong with this method and you can use any colors you like to create something dimensional, with lots of beautiful visual movement and such rich variations in shades. One thing that is particularly beautiful about these card backgrounds made with watercolor […]
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Wait until you see all the details in this handmade die cut flip top window card! Our eyeballs popped out like those cartoon characters when we saw this die cut flip top window card that Lisa made for us today! It is LOADED with adorable details and she even added a fun belly band to keep her magnificent window closed. And of course, being a member of our amazingly generous Design Team, Lisa has shared her how-tos with us so […]
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Give someone a case of the smilies with this adorable handmade faux Polaroid card! Did you know that Polaroid cameras are back? They do say everything old is new again and the photos from the new cameras look almost identical to the ones from days gone by. It’s no wonder then that two of our fabulous designers chose to use our new Group of Friends stamp to design their versions of a handmade faux Polaroid card. Let’s get Carol’s instructions […]
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Watch this FREE video tutorial for using simple masking techniques to create gorgeous layered scenes on your handmade cards! Did we mention that our Design Team LOVES our new Butterfly Flowers set? We’ve seen some stunning cards using that set and today’s is right up there! Preeti has used the set in her fabulous video tutorial for us showing the first of several simple masking techniques. Masking is a very easy way to add your images in stamped “layers”. Basically […]
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These creative handmade cards for friends have a cute retro twist that they will love! Who here remembers the old style Polaroid photos? And shaking them to make them “develop faster”? Today’s example of creative handmade cards for friends features that iconic element with an adorable twist. Lisa has used one of our new stamp sets and some clever die cutting to make a card that sets our selfie squad in the Southwest scene, spilling out of a classic Polaroid […]
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Use a simple no line watercolor technique to create absolutely gorgeous “hand painted” cards! Our Design Team – and now our customers – are LOVING this new Butterfly Flowers set and we are so glad! Today, Melinda has combined the main image from it with the no line watercolor technique to create a card that looks hand painted and just stunning. We’ve used this easier-than-it looks technique here on the blog before and we love that every project has its […]
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Check out why using stencils with embossing paste is the perfect way to play up imperfections! We’ve had so much positive feedback on our stencils and we are SO happy you all love them so much! One of the things we keep hearing is that you love using stencils with embossing paste to create beautifully textured backgrounds and elements. Today, Natasha has created this beautiful card for us and she is sharing why NOT making a stenciled embossing paste background […]
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Check out this cute way to create die cut card belly bands to add some WOW to your handmade cards! Belly bands can be a fun way to add some extra detail to a card project. There’s just something about the anticipation of what is inside when someone slides these interactive details off the card. Today, Colleen is sharing her twist on this with how to make die cut card belly bands using another sneak peek item from our release […]
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Use this easy technique for how to make a 3d butterfly card with any butterfly stamp! Allison has been on a roll and today she is going to show you how to make a 3D butterfly card using a new stamp and die set that is part of the new release coming in April, currently scheduled for April 5th. Mark your calendars because this release is LOADED with so many beautiful, fun and whimsical elements! You can, of course use […]
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Learn the easiest way for how to alter a die cut to match a layer for seamless edges! Thanks to our talented Design Team, we learn lots of cool tips and tricks and “professional grade” ways to make our handmade cards level up to little works of art. One of the things that we see them to a lot is make sure that when they use overlapping die cut elements, the edges line up just so. Today, Allison is sharing […]
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See how easy it is to use die cut paper piecing for cards to bring your ideas to life! Something you will see often from our fabulous Design Team is their use of die cut paper piecing for cards of all kinds. We have LOADS of dies where we’ve added amazing details for you to paper piece into your die cut elements which adds so much detail. Today’s card from Jean shows off how to use paper piecing to add […]
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Learn easy tips to layer die cuts to build a scene on your handmade cards. Creating a scene on a card is super easy when you layer die cuts to build it up. For instance on this card, Carol created depth in the sky with layered die cut clouds and then added a ton of perspective to her grassy knoll with some die cut strips of grass. You clearly get a sense of there being a whole scene you can […]
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Get even MORE out of your metal dies by using them to EMBOSS! Today we are showing off a card from Kittie where she used her tips for how to emboss with metal dies to get a whole new look using our Nested Scallop with Half Holes die set. When you use your metal dies as embossing tools, you instantly double the value of your crafting stash. It’s super easy to do once you know the correct sandwich to use for […]
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Add tons of detail to your backgrounds with this easy tip on how to layer die cuts in card making! We recently released some new cover dies to give you tremendous bang for your creative bucks when making your beautiful handmade cards. Today we are sharing a super easy tip on how to layer die cuts in card making to add beautiful shadows and details and our Organic #1 Cover Die is the perfect shape to show this off. This […]
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Learn the two super simple steps to add shading to stamped images for TONS of depth and dimension! When you add shading to stamped images, you immediately add depth and dimension to your projects. There are loads of ways to do this – colored pencils, coloring directly onto your stamps, water coloring, etc.. Today Lisa is showing us a very simple two step process – well, ONE additional step – that takes literally seconds and can completely change the look […]
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What does mixed media mean when you are talking card making? Answer here! Recently we shared a lovely mixed media card and free tutorial video and we did have someone ask “But what does ‘mixed media’ mean?”. Today we are going to answer that question and share another fabulous card using this easy and fun method of creating art. The term “mixed media” simply means “the use of a variety of media in an entertainment or work of art”. In […]
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Grab all your CAS card ideas and get ready to add LOADS of dimension with today’s tips! We all love saving ideas for cards we want to make and today’s FREE video tutorial is sharing amazing tips for how to add dimension to a CAS card with just a few easy steps. We so wish you could see this card in person and we know if you follow along with Preeti, your jaw will DROP when you see how pretty […]
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