Spellbinders November Small Die of the Month

Today I'm sharing a couple cards created using this month's Spellbinders Small Die of the Month.  The 'Die of the Month' is a bit of a misnomer, because you actually get multiple dies.  This month the kit consists of 13 dies, and for $12.50 that's a pretty good deal.

For this first card I cut each of the greenery die pieces four times and then arranged them in to a pattern on my panel.

The sentiment pieces were each cut three times and adhered together.  Then I pressed my Versamark ink pad onto each and clear embossed three times.  

Unfortunately, my Versamark pad was somewhat comtaminated because I managed to spill some white embossing powder on it, so there are some little white flecks in the embossing.  Turns out, for this I think it worked out, it kind of reminds me of little snowflakes in my sentiment, but I'm going to have to clean that pad off thoroughly.

I also added some Nuvo drop embellishments on the greenery for some extra shine and texture.

For this next card I cut the deer die from kraft cardstock and added some accents with colored pencils.  I also colored a couple areas of kraft cardstock with colored pencils in to create a very light/subtle ombre effect and cut the sentiment from those areas.

I also cut a slight slope from a scrap piece of cardstock to use as a mask and added some soft inking to the background.

The deer and sentiment were adhered to the panel, and for a pop of color I cut the bow from some wine colored cardstock, softening it a bit with some white colored pencil, and adhered that on top.

That's all for me today.  Hope your week is going well!

The Vintage Pearl Review, Pretty Packaging, and Discount Code

Hey all, I have a bit of a different post to share today.  Several weeks ago I was contacted by a company called The Vintage Pearl, a small business based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to see if I would be interested in receiving a piece of jewelry from them and sharing a review on my blog.

I don't usually do posts like this, but I happily agreed because I'm actually a big fan of and a past customer of The Vintage Pearl.

Ironically, and somewhat sadly, I didn't actually own any pieces from them.  Although I love jewelry, I never actually buy any for myself (the perils of being overly practical), I've only ordered gifts for others (which incidentally have always been very well received).

It was really hard to pick a piece because there were so many that were on my wishlist.  What I really love about The Vintage Pearl is the meaning behind their pieces.  Many can be personalized/engraved to add names, initials, or words/phrases.  Others are more symbolic - you can select say the number of rings/links that are meaningful to your situation or family.

Ultimately, for my first piece, I opted to go with the Mother of Pearl Infinity Necklace, an engraved necklace with the names of everyone in our family.  I love having all our names there, and the girls love seeing them too.  I also really love the versatility of this piece in particular.  It's large, but not too large, and it easily transitions from work to everyday.  Against my better judgement, I even took a picture of myself in both casual and and work attire to show you how well it works for both. 

 

It really was a touch choice though.  My runners up were the Family Links necklace and The Tie That Binds necklace.

 

II get the chance to order something for myself again (or if I am dropping a hint for the hubby or someone else), Family Links is what I'd order next.

I did order a couple additional necklaces - I had been planning to order from them before Christmas.  Ellie mentioned a couple months ago that she wanted a cross necklace, and The Vintage Pearl has a small necklace called the Tiny Cross Necklace that you can get in either silver or gold finish that is the perfect size.  Andrew said we should just go ahead and get one for both the girls, so these came in the mail the other day too.

Finally, I did want to let you know that The Vintage Pearl also sells personalized Christmas ornaments which make great gifts as well.  These are a few of my favorites (you can click on the photo to go directly to the store link):

  

  

Since my blog is mostly a craft blog, I thought I would create a couple little boxes to package the girls' necklaces in.

I used my Gift Card Box and Gift Card Box Additions dies.  The boxes were cut from Kraft cardstock and I used the large rectangle and the detailed rectangle with diagonal accent cuts from two different patterned papers to decorate the top of the box.  The cream patterned paper was adhered directly to the top of the box and then I tied a piece of Lawn Fawn Lawn Trimmings twine around the colored piece before adhering it to the top of the box with foam tape.

The diamond image from the Thanks So Much stamp set was stamped on some cream cardstock along with a sentiment from the Holiday Sentiments set, and then the diamond was die cut.  That piece was also adhered with foam tape to finish off the box.

The necklaces come on printed square cardstock pieces.  I trimmed the top down so it fits neatly in the box and added some tissue paper.  This is what it looks like when you open it up.

I do have a discount code to share with you guys if you're interested in ordering.  You can use Miriam15 to get 15% off any order from The Vintage Pearl for the next 30 days.  Also, a couple key dates to keep in mind.  The custom order Christmas cutoff date (for if you want something personalized) is December 10th.  The cutoff date for ready made pieces is December 16th. 

Thanks for visiting!

Neat & Tangled November Release - Bonus Day, Recap and Winners

Hey everyone!  It's Release Day at Neat & Tangled, and everything is now available for purchase in the store, but we have a fun surprise for you!  Today is a 'bonus' day.  We have some extra goodies that we're popping into this release - some stitching dies that were designed by our friends at Benzie.

There are two sets of dies - the Ugly Sweater dies and the Snowflake dies.  Clearly, I'm showing off the snowflakes.  There are four dies in the set, and I'm using two of them for my snowflakes.  I really like the contrast of the pointy star with the smaller detailed piece in the center.

These are so quick and easy to make.  I used out N&T sequins as well as some seed beads to accent the prongs of the center piece, but you could certainly just go with stitching also.

The purple star was made using Benzie's Vineyard and Smoke felt, while the green snowflake features their Rainstorm and Blue Spruce felt.

These are double sided.  I did each one up the same way - stitching the detailed piece to the pointed piece with embroidery floss (three strands) and adding a sequin/seed bead at each of the points. 

Then I placed them back to back and stitched them together using those small holes between each of the prongs in the center of the star.  I also added the center sequin/seed bead at this point.  To secure the pieces a little better, I kind of threaded the floss between the stitches behind where the prongs are so that they were adhered a little closer to the edges.

The actual tips of the star aren't adhered/stitched together, but I like the clean look of it, and because the pieces are felt they kind of stick together naturally anyway. 

For the hanger, I just cut a length of embroidery floss, threaded it through one of the points of the snowflake, and knotted it just above the tip of the snowflake and then at the ends to create a loop.

These are really quite easy to use and would be a great kids craft for older elementary/middle grades.

Here's a look back at the rest of my projects for this release:

And I have some winners to announce!

Shona Chambers wins the Triangle Box
@beccay217 from IG wins the Holiday Sentiments set
@raggiodiluc3 wins the Fa La La cover plate
Debra Rumpza wins the Fa La La stencil

Congrats winners!  Please shoot me your mailing details and I"ll get these sent out.

And if there's something you must have from the release, head on over to the store.  Have a great weekend!

Neat & Tangled November Release and Giveaways - Day 4

It's the last day of release reveals!  All the new goodies will be available tomorrow morning at 8 AM EST.  Today we're showing off a couple new minis.  I'm highlighting the Falling Stars set from Danielle.

This is a small, but mighty set.  Danielle has several more in this series, but this one really might be my favorite.  I love what an impact it creates and I used it two ways today, where the stars are falling from the inside of the card, and then one where they are falling from the outside edges toward the center of the card.

First up, inside out.  I penciled in a line at the center of my white panel, then I repeatedly stamped the stars with the more dense stars towards the center of the card using Versafine and gold embossed.  This was repeated on the other half of the card.

I added a simple sentiment, also embossed in gold, from last month's Nativity Play set, as well as a mat of simple foiled patterned paper for both the panel with the stars as well as the sentiment strip.

Next up I reversed the design, this time stamping the end of the stamp with more dense stars along the top and bottom borders of my panel.  

To create some drama on the card, I added inking to my panel from the outside corners in to create a bit of a glow in the center of the card.

To finish off the card, I used two of the circle dies from the Build A Tag die set.  The larger one was inked with Versamark and gold embossed to match the stars, and the second was cut from dark blue cardstock and I added an embossed sentiment from the new Holiday Sentiments set.

That's all for me today!  Be sure to head over to the Neat & Tangled blog to see the other mini set we're featuring today and enter to win both sets.

Leave a comment here too.  I'm going to be picking some winners for some of my new release products from posts this week, and announcing them tomorrow when the new release goes live!  Good luck!

Neat & Tangled November Release and Giveaways - Day 3

Welcome back for Day 3 of the Neat & Tangled November release!

Today we're showing off Elena's new set, So Cool.

You saw a few of the images from the set on my stenciled card yesterday, and today I'm showing off the little ice fishing kid.

I've really been into one layer(ish) cards lately.  I say ish because while I'd like to just make one layer cards right off the bat, I'm not that good.  First of all I hate masking, and second of all my stamping tends to be a little suspect and I know if I tried to do everything in one layer I'd mess up a hundred times before I got it right.

However, I can stamp and color and die cut an image and then move it around on my card front until I'm happy with it's position....much easier than masking/trying to get it right the first time!

So that's what I did here.  Once my colored images were done, I played around with placement and once I was happy with where the ice fishing was going to happen, I put down a strip of post-it tape to create a ground line and then stamped the little ice fishing hole, added a teeny bit of coloring to that and the water droplets, and adhered my other pieces in place.

The sentiment is from my Scandinavian Prints Christmas set, but I thought it went perfectly with the image.

Alright, time to head over to the Neat & Tangled blog to see everyone else's projects and to enter to win a set for yourself.  Don't forget to leave a comment here also as I'll be picking some winners for my new release goodies on Friday.

Neat & Tangled November Release and Giveaways - Day 2

Ready for Day 2 of the Neat & Tangled November release?

I think I said this yesterday, but I'm really excited about today's product highlights which include my new cover/stencil design, Fa La La.

First up the stencil because I've been dreaming of using some paste with this stencil since I first designed it.  I love how crisply the letters look with this, it creates such a great impart for the background - not too bold that it detracts from anything else going on, but I think it really elevates things.

The images I used for this card are from Elena's new Stay Cool set that you'll see tomorrow, and I added a sentiment from the Santa's Wonderland set which was embossed onto one of the little flags from the Scalloped die set.

Of course I had to use the cover plate too, and with the Fa and the La and the La, it only made sense to pull out last year's Fa La Llama set.

I kept things very CAS, leaving all the die cuts in place for a white on white background.  I did cut an extra Fa La La and colored it to match the llama, adhering those letters over top of the inlaid ones.

This die is so fun, and wait until you see what everyone created with it!  Head over to the N&T blog to check it out as well as Elena's new die which is so much fun you are going to need it, especially if you have little ones!  Danielle is giving away a set of today's highlighted products to a lucky commenter too!

Leave a comment here also because at the end of the week I'll be picking some winners for some of my new release products.  Be sure to head to my IG (@mprantner) for extra chances.  See you back here tomorrow for Day 3!

Neat & Tangled November Release and Giveaways - Day 1

I can't believe that it's November, AND it's the last Neat & Tangled release of the year!

The November release is always one of my favorites, and this year is no exception.  I've got several items in the release that I'm excited to share including today's featured products: Triangle Box and Christmas Sentiments.

The triangle box die creates a little container that is 2 7/8" wide, 2 1/2" tall, and 1 1/4" deep, so it's a nice size and can fit a decent amount of candy/trinkets.  The size works well for an advent calendar, table settings, etc.  In addition to the box itself there are a bunch of coordination shapes/strips that can be used to decorate the box. 

I thought it would be fun to create a simple ornament using the box.  I cut the box from some patterned paper and then using a hole punch, punched a hole in the top of two of the sides where the come together at a point.  You definitely want to do this before you assemble the box.  You also want to fold the tab that you use to adhere the box together down so you punch through that as well.

Once that was done I just assembled the box.  I don't tend to do a lot of dimensional crafting/packaging because it gets a little fussy for my taste, so when I design boxes I want them to come together quickly an easily - one cut = one box.  That's how this one works.  You basically cut it, add adhesive to three tabs, and that's it.

To hang the ornament, I just added a bit of gold/neutral twine through the holes, tied a knot, and then another knot where the ends came together.  It would really cute to create an advent tree covered with these ornaments, but for mine i just used the largest coordinating triangle that comes with the box and cut out one of Ellie's photos. 

The other product we're showcasing today is a new sentiment set called Holiday Sentiments which was designed to work with the Gift Card Box suite of products we released back in August of this year, but many of the sentiments work well with the new Triangle Box too.  This is just a quick and easy box die cut from Grout Gray cardstock with a sentiment from the new set embossed in gold.

I used one of the rectangular coordinating dies from the Triangle Box set to cut panels decorate the sides of the box and added a bit of twine as well.

Finally, I just wanted to show you how fun this shape can be for decorating/stacking.  I die cut the box from some very, very, very old patterned papers and assembled them.  No embellishments or anything, but these can be stacked and arranged in lots of different ways if you're looking for something a little more different/modern in terms of holiday decor. 

OK, that's all for me today.  Be sure to stop by the Neat & Tangled blog.  The team created some really fun projects today that you definitely want to see.  And, Danielle is giving away a set of products to a commenter on the blog. 

I am also hosting some giveaways this week.  I'll pick some winners from the blog and Instagram to win some of my new products, so leave a comment here, and then head over to IG (@mprantner) to increase your chances!