Neat & Tangled Birthday - Hooray Die Inlaid Two Ways

Hey everyone!  Hope that you were able to stop by the Neat & Tangled blog to see the whole birthday mini-release yesterday.

Today I'm showcasing the other product that I have in this release - the Hooray die.

This first card is really quick and easy and would be great for making a quick card set.

The die was cut from watercolor cardstock (I was actually going to watercolor, but I liked the look of it in the cream, so decided to try that another time).  Then I took a blue cardstock mat and die cut again, removing the actual die cut in order to use the negative cut.

I took a panel of woodgrain cardstock cut just smaller than the blue and added adhesive to the outside.  The blue panel was then adhered on top.



I added adhesive using a glue pen into the detailed spaces where the leaves and flowers are and inlaid the white frame piece.  Note: before I inlaid the piece, I added a bit of adhesive to the sentiment portion of the die cut.

For the next card I reversed the inlay.



The wreath piece was cut from MFT Smooth White cardstock, and it was colored with Copics.  Then I cut another wreath from the white cardstock, but used just the inside pieces which were inlaid onto a scrap circle of cardstock.

The entire piece was then popped up over some patterned paper.



OK, head on over to the Neat & Tangled blog to take part in the blog hop (this isn't an official stop).  And, if you just have to have this right now, you're in luck.  The entire mini-release is available in the Neat & Tangled store right now!

Thanks so much for stopping by, have a great day!

Neat & Tangled Birthday - Doily Tag

Hey everyone!  We're celebrating Neat & Tangled's fourth birthday this week.  There is a weeklong hop going on over at the Neat & Tangled blog, and there's also a mini birthday release.  The good news is that you don't have to wait.  All the release products are available right now in the shop!  How's that for instant gratification?

I've got two dies in the release, and I'm sharing a couple projects using one of them, Doily Tag, today.

First up, a tag.  This was a fun one.  I pulled out all my old embellishments and just played.  I pulled a couple papers from an older Crate paper 6x6 pad (Confetti) including the bit that has the 'together' sentiment on it.

For some sparkle/shine I used some gold thread to stitch some sequins on, and added the secondary sentiment created by my old label maker and attached with the Tim Holtz Tiny Attacher.



The chipboard frame is attached with foam tape and then I added that cluster of embellishments in the bottom corner.  The rosette is vintage American Crafts.  It originally had a button in the center which I replaced with an equally vintage MME brad, and the other two brads are from MME too.

I also wanted to show how well this die works on a card.



I kept this very clean and simple.  The die is another item in the birthday release.  I cut it three times and layered them together for dimension.  The little banner is from BasicGrey as is the patterned paper.

This was so quick and easy to put together, but it's got such a great impact.



I'll be showing off my second die tomorrow, but be sure to head over to the Neat & Tangled blog to get in on the hop (this isn't an official stop) as Danielle has two big giveaways to celebrate.

Sneak Peek and Craftsy Sale

Hey everyone!

Still working hard on things here, but I did want to give you a little sneak peek of something I designed for Neat & Tangled's birthday mini-release.  It's not the greatest shot, I just took it really quick with the iPad today, but you get the gist.

We're celebrating all next week with a blog hop with lots of special guests.  You don't want to miss it!


Also, Craftsy's new sale is live.  It's 50% off all new classes, and mine counts, so woohoo!

A couple other classes that are newer classes that are also on sale that I'd recommend are:





 

If you're interested in purchasing a class, and would like to use my affiliate link (I get a small commission from each purchase), this is it:  http://www.craftsy.com/ext/MiriamPrantner_holiday

Have a great weekend!

Be You Tiful

I'm busy at work on some more stamp/die designs as well as some new goodies that are releasing soon (did you see the announcement on the Neat & Tangled blog?), so lots of stuff being made, but nothing hot off the presses that I can share just yet, so I thought I would share one of the bonus example cards I created for my Craftsy class in the combining die cuts section.

I love the look of inlay, and I love that it can take many different looks from very bold to subtle even to soft in this card.

For the focal oval piece, I first cut a panel of watercolor cardstock, then used the Paper Smooches spray to cut and inlay a design within the panel, and then die cut the whole piece with the oval piece.

I wanted to call out the background dies a little more, so I added some very soft loose/messy watercoloring.



The sentiment die is from Ellen Hutson, and I cut several layers to give it some dimension.

Hope your week is going well, I can't believe we are already in AUGUST!

Affliate Links Below:

Paper Smooches Wise Dies, Adorable Array

Essentials by Ellen Designer Dies, Be-YOU-Tiful by Julie Ebersole

My Favorite Things Die-namics, STAX Oval Set 1

Kuretake Gansai Tambi, 36 Color Set

Canson XL Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12

Scotch Double-Sided Foam Mounting Tape

Tombow Mono Multi Liquid Glue, 0.88 oz.

PTI Stamp-a-faire Part 3

OK, here are the rest of my Stamp-a-Faire projects for your perusal.

This first card was for the Masterpiece Inspiration challenge.  I chose the Mondrian piece that inspired Laurie's project.  I really like Mondrian and this was a fun one to put together.  I thought that Just for You stamp from my Botanical Blooms set was the perfect sentiment to fit within the 'art' itself.  Looking at this card though, I'm kind of wishing I had a Tonic style trimmer....



Next was Melissa Phillips Impressionism Challenge.  This one was just OK for me.  I really love these blooms, but I think that her technique lends itself to stamps that have thicker more brushstroke type lines as opposed to lots of thin outlines.



I think the leaves are the most effective part of the card, more in line with the technique where as the peonies are a little too detailed.  Of course I also did a pretty horrendous job lining up the second stamping, so there is that.



Finally, my take on Amy Sheffer's Starry Night theme.  I almost didn't do this one as I have done a lot of galaxy themes, but it was a different twist on prepping the sky using ink blending rather than water colors.  Really I always enjoy creating a night sky/galaxy background, so I went ahead and did one for this challenge too.

I have to say I really enjoyed this year's Stamp-a-Faire.  It was the first one I was really able to fully engage in (in large part due to a marathon nap that Carina took on Saturday, go Carina!).  I enjoyed the techniques and that they were very accessible.  I'm looking forward to next year!

PTI Stamp-a-faire Part 2

Hey everyone, sharing a few more projects from my Stamp-a-faire binge over the weekend.

This first card is my second favorite completed for the challenges.  It was for the watercoloring challenge that Kay Miller hosted.  I don't tend to have a ton of solid floral stamps, and none from PTI, so I ended up using a WPlus9 set instead.  The other issue I had was that the inks I used (Altenew) just didn't react that well with the water.  As a result I ended up supplementing a bit with watercolors, and then I went a little splatter happy on the whole thing, but I do like the overall result.  The sentiment is from the Choose Joy set (told you you would see that again).



Next up the Gilded in Gold challenge that Danielle Flanders hosted.  She used a product from Plaid called Liquid Leaf.  I don't have any of that, and given the fact that it's been a gazillion degrees outside wasn't about to get in the car to go get some, so I rooted around in the house a bit and discovered a Gold Izink reinker.  The Izink inks are pigment, and it worked perfectly!



I brushed some on the bottom of a tag and kept the color scheme very elegant and CAS using stamps from the Quilled Elegance set as well as a sentiment from Fancy That stamp set.  I added a bit of coloring using a Gold Wink of Stella brush pen as well.  This was so easy I ended up creating a little set.



Finally, my least favorite card from the creative session.  I debated whether or not to blog it, but I figured why not.  This was for the Drips and Splatters challenge hosted by Lizzie Jones and the technique just didn't work for me.  The yarn just wasn't holding the color, I think next time I would try it with acrylic paint and see if that works better.  It was kind of a fail, but I trimmed down the panel and tried to make a modern/graphic design with it.  For the sentiment I combined two sentiments from the Wonderful Words Additions set.

OK, that's all for me today.  I have a few remaining projects that I'll share with you tomorrow, so come back and check it out!

Dry Embossed Succulent Journailing Card Die Two Ways

Hey everyone!  I'm over on the Neat & Tangled blog today with two cards featuring the Succulent Journaling Tag Die.

Rather than cut the die, I used it to for dry embossing.

This first card was hard to photograph, but I kept it very clean and simple.  You can see the embossing better in this close up shot.  I added a few mats to complete the look.



For the second card, I used a combination of watercoloring and Copic coloring to accentuate the embossing.  I started by watercoloring the different sections and then used Copics to add depth and texture.

Here's a close up.  I love the different looks you can achieve using this die, and you don't even need to actually die cut it!  The sentiments for both cards came from the Succulent Journaling Card stamp set.



Thanks so much for stopping by, hope your week is going off to a great start!

*Affiliate Links Below

Neat & Tangled Dies, Succulent Journaling Card

Neat & Tangled Clear Stamps, Succulent Journaling Card

VersaMark Ink Pad

Ranger Super Fine Embossing Powder, Gold

VersaFine Ink Pad, Onyx Black

Canson XL Watercolor Paper Pad 9x12

Kuretake Gansai Tambi, 36 Color Set

COPIC Sketch Marker G40, Dim Green

COPIC Sketch Marker G43, Pistachio

COPIC Sketch Marker G17, Forest Green