Tag Archives: Greeting Farm

Teacher Anya Graduation Card

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teacheranyapocketI made this little pocket card for my niece’s high school graduation so I could give her a check with a little style.  I used the Greeting Farm Teacher Anya stamp.

I colored Anya with Copic Markers and added a little texture to her sweater vest by lightly dotting the colorless blender over it. 

She is cut out with a Nestibilities circle die.  I masked her and left the die in place – then applied scattered straw distress inkto the background with a duster brush.  She is matted with a scalloped circle Nestibilities die.

teacheranyapocketinsideI cut the Prism Classic Red base cardstock 5 1/2″ wide and 9 1/2″ long – then scored at 2″ from one side to make the pocket inside.  I punched the flap edge with the Fiskars Apron Lace border punch.

The patterned paper is the Cosmo Cricket Early Bird collection.  I love this paper set – I wish I could redo my kitchen with it!  I can’t wait till they come out with the smaller paper pads.  The smaller patterns are great for cards. 

Once side of the paper is used on the top flap and the other side on the pocket that shows at the bottom.  Then I just added a ivory piece to write on (the sentiment is from the Rock the Farm stamp set).

Well, we are planning a little family time and we are “supposed” to “unplug” for a couple weeks – so there *probably* won’t be any blog posts for a while.  (unless I sneak down here in the dead of night…. I’m feeling withdrawal symptoms already!)

Also – I will not be shipping any orders from the Paper Garden Projects Store until August 17 .

(I did however negotiate the ability to check the store E-mail, arguing that it is necessary, business related computer time and therefore does not count towards the “unplug” goal…. ha!  (can Splitcoast be part of my business related computer time…?)  Ugghhh… wish me luck…. who knows what kind of addictive behavior I will develop when not allowed to surf!

Have a wonderful couple of week everyone!

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Playing with Impressibilities – Post 2

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impress1I tried a couple more techniques with my Impressibility dies.  Both involve getting inky!

First, I tried the “Letter Press Technique”. 

I first saw this on the Spellbinders blog, but since have seen it other places as well. 

 

 

letterpress1Basically, you just coat your Impressibility die with ink before you do the embossing.  The “debossed” (pressed in) part of the paper ends up coated with ink. 

I have had the best success with opaque pigment or chalk ink.  I like to use Versamagic or Colorbox Chalk ink. 

letterpress2In the sample card, I used Versamagic Cloud White on Prism Nautical Blue Medium paper.  While its not completely opaque, I was very happy with the ink effect.

I have done this with Spellbinder dies before.  I like to ink the Tag and Ribbon Slide dies before I cut and emboss – so I can get a colored frame.  I do like the opaque inks best for this because the thicker inks give more even coverage.

letterpresssentFor the sentiment here, I used the Labels 4 die and inked it before cutting and embossing.  I used Memento (Danube Blue) ink because it was the best color match, but I don’t think the ink coverage is as even as with the Versamagic inks. 

I’ve tried a technique like this with the Cuttlebug folders – but I think these Impressibilities are much easier for this technique.  They ink up very easily and I got good ink transfer.

One thing though – if your inked die is bigger than the paper, the ink will transfer to your tan mat.  You can also get ink outlines when you cut inked tags.  My tan mat is stained but it does not bother me.  Just letting you know in case it would bother you.

forestsquirelThe other ink technique I tried is kind of the opposite.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

inkedsteep1I embossed the Impressibility Die- this is the Paisley Die after is was embossed on Prism Island Mist Medium cardstock.

I spritzed the paper very lightly with water before I embossed.  I think it makes a deeper, sharper impression.

 

 

 

 

 

inkedstep2 Then I applied Versafine Vintage Sepia over the top, first by pressing the pad over and then touching up with a duster brush to get more ink into the tiny corners.  This was quicker and easier than it sounds.

If you wanted a more subtle effect, you could just use the brush to ink lightly.  Or choose an ink color only a little darker than the base cardstock.

I also want to play with some of the Brilliance metallic inks – bet that would look great.  Or what if you used Versamark and them embossed the background?  Or maybe the glue pad and glitter – huh? huh?   Oh… the possibilities!  Still more experiments to do!

By the way, the image on the card is from the Greeting Farm Forest Friends set.  Those squirrels are cute!

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Playing with Impressibilities

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beehiveI had some time to play with my Impressibility dies this weekend and thought I’d share some of the things I learned.

The dies are cleanly cut metal and are in a square frame. 

I decided to clip my dies out of their square frames to make them a little more flexible (I did not want to have the square frame around the edge when I embossed a whole card front).  

I just used cheap every day scissors (not my good Cutterbee’s!) to clip the design from the frame by cutting throught the metal connectors close to the design. 

This makes the die a little more delicate (especially the paisley pattern), but I did not have a problem embossing.  I store the dies in their folders to keep them flat.  From what I have read, you can cut the dies in pieces and use just parts of the die to emboss, but I have not been brave enough to try that yet.

embossedbgOne tip – try spritzing the cardstock very lightly with water before you emboss.  I found I got sharper embossing when I did. 

Here is the background in the card sample above (this is the Butterfly Impressibility).  The die is embedded in the paper and leaves behind a pretty crisp impression (but it pulls off easily).

I embossed with the Wizard Machine (but other die cut machines can be used).  The sandwich I used is:

  1. white plate
  2. Impressibility die
  3. Prism paper (lightly spritzed with water)
  4. Tan embossing mat
  5. 2 sheets of cardstock (for a shim – my Wizard is old and overworked so you may not need a shim)
  6. top white plate

For my sample, I used the Impression Obsession stamp Bee Hive and used the Sentiments I Add On to create the “Hi Honey”. 

embossedmarkersIts stamped in Memento Rich Cocoa and colored with Copics.  Here are the marker colors.  I added a little clear Copic glitter pen to the bee’s wings, but it does not show up in the photo

 

 

sandedbgI also used the dies on the Core’dinations color core cardstock and lightly sanded the raised areas.  The process is the same (I still lightly spritzed the cardstock).

I don’t know why, but I always get a little kick out of sanding that stuff .  Easily amused I guess LOL! 

 

forestowlHere is the finished card (with the cute little owl from The Greeting Farm Forest Friends set.

I had a lot of fun playing with the Impressibility dies.   I have another post for you tomorrow with 2 ink techniques using them.

 The kids are off school tomorrow (election day and the schools are polling places).   Somehow I ended up with the worlds largest playdate planned over here.  I think 9 girls will be here (I hope the neighbors are prepared for all the high pitched screeching – man some of those girls can yell.  I have my ear  plugs anyway).  I’m REALLY hoping for good weather.

 Here are the card details – in case anyone needs them.

Bee Hive Card:

Owl Card:

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