Sizzix Circle Flip-its & The Stamps of Life Best Wishes Card

I wanted to use the new Best Wishes Die Set which Stephanie Barnard sent me recently, which fits perfectly with Sizzix Circle #4 Flip-its die.

 Some of the lovely new products by Stephanie Barnard for Sizzix and The Stamps of Life.

I used floral paper from We R Memory Keepers 'Chalkboard' 6x6 pad, flowers from Karen Burniston's Flower Pot Pop Stand die set, and leaves from My Favorite Things Wild Greenery die set.

I used a punch for the flower stamens, and some Bubble Gum Nuvo Crystal Drops in the flowers centres.

I used the Best Wishes die twice, snipped out the words from the glitter card die cut, and layered it on top.

Some of products used:


   

Sizzix Scallop Oval Flip-its Tropical 'Paradise Crush' Cards

I got back yesterday from a last minute trip with my kids to the Norfolk coast. The weather was gorgeous and it felt summery for the first time this year! 

I got back home to a couple of new craft products which I'd bought online - the Sizzix Scallop Oval Flip-its Card die set and First Edition's 'Paradise Crush' 12x12 pad. My summery mood continued with these cards!

 Me enjoying the lovely beach at Wells-next-the-Sea, on Thursday.

For all my cards, I used the layer dies and ovals which come with the Sizzix Scallop Oval Flip-its set.

To my first card I added a butterfly from Sizzix by Craft Asylum, a stamp from Purple Onion Designs - Stephanie Ackerman's 'Homegrown Sentiments' set (stamped in black Staz-On ink, because the paper is pearlised), and Concord and 9th's 'Wonderful Words' Lovely die.

Look at the cute glitter flamingo paper!

I used an oval die from The Stamps of Life on the back of the central panel, with the scalloped oval die from the Flip-its set, to make a frame.

Here are the papers by First Edition which I used for all the cards. (I bought mine on eBay, though I think they are widely available in the UK, but I'm not so sure about the US or elsewhere.)

For my second card I used a Reverse Confetti 'Hello' die, flowers cut with Stampin' Up punches, and flower dies that come with the Flip-its set. I used an old stamen punch, and Nuvo Crystal drops for the flower centres.

For the last card, I used the Happy die from the Echo Park 'Happy Easter' word dies, and the birthday from the 'Brushstroke Birthday Greetings' by My Favorite Things Dienamics (which I cut twice from white card stock and doubled up.)

The leaves are also from My Favorite Things - the Wild Greenery die set.

Links to some of the products used:


   

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks with Sizzix Circle & Star Flip-Its Cards

 You might have worked out by now that Sizzix Flip-its cards are a real favourite of mine! They are always so quick to make, and I love the dies which create the perfect layer shapes.

My Tim Holtz Distress Oxide inks arrived yesterday, and I wanted to make some splatter effect patterned paper, to decorate a couple of Flip-its cards.

I used Worn Lipstick, Fossilized Amber, Spiced Marmalade, Fired Brisk and Wilted Violet inks, which I dabbed onto a non-stick sheet, sprayed with water, then splattered onto card stock with a paintbrush. I made sure each colour dried before adding the next colour.

For my first card, I used My Favorite Things 'Jungle Friends' die set for the elephants, and a heart from the Accordion Oval die set.

Look at that cute tail shadow!!

For my second card, I used my new Star Flip-its, which I love, along with Broken China, Cracked Pistachio, Faded Jeans and Peeled Paint inks.

For both of my cards, I made the splatter panels as described above (ink dabbed on non-stick sheet, water added, paintbrush splatted), and also made some solid-ish coloured panels from which to do smaller die cuts, by splooshing the card stock around in the ink.

Look at that yummy, chalky (yet non-transerable) colour!!

For the sentiment I stamped with VersaMark ink a stamp from Paper Smooch's 'Sentiment Sampler' onto navy card stock, and white heat embossed it.

Here's another card I made a while ago using the same die set, Stampin' Up papers and Reverse Confetti's 'Whole Lotta Happy' stamp set, white heat embossed.

Links for some of products used:


   

Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Ink Butterfly Pivot Card

Yesterday my Tim Holtz Distress Oxide Inks finally arrived!

I had a quick play around with them - practiced smooshing and splatting, before getting on with this card idea I had in mind. I wanted to create all my own patterned card stock, for a card using Karen Burniston's Butterfly Pivot Card die set.

 I started by creating the patterned card stock in the colours I wanted to use - blues/turquoises for the base card, yellowy/oranges for the large butterflies, pinks/reds for the smaller butterfly layers, and a blacky colour for some butterfly bodies (which I didn't end up using).

I got the effect I wanted by rubbing the ink pads onto non-stick sheeting, spraying the ink with water, then 'smooshing' my white card stock in it. I dried it with a heat tool, and sprayed a bit more water on, while it dried. I repeated this a couple of times, and dried the card stock again. 

Then I put more ink on the non-stick sheet, sprayed it with water again, picked up some of the ink with a paint brush, and splattered on ink spots.

(I mainly used the Distress Oxide inks for all of this, but did add some bright pink Distress Ink to the yellowy sheet, some bright red Distress Ink to the redy/pink sheet, and black Distress Ink to the black sheet, at the 'paintbrush splat' stage.)

Before sticking all the butterflies onto the card base, I used some Minc foiling.

I've decanted some Heidi Swapp Minc Toner Mist into a Ranger Ink Mini Mister bottle, because I think it gives a better spray pattern.

I sprayed my butterflies with the Toner Mist, and the bottom right-hand corner of the card, let it completely dry, then ran them through my Minc machine, with different colour foils.

I used Mint foil on the card base, Rose Gold foil on the large butterfly layers, and Light Pink foil on the small butterflies.

It's a bit hard to photograph the overall effect, but the combination of Oxide Inks, and highly reflective coloured foils is just gorgeous! I had to keep just opening and closing the finished card, admiring all the colour and shine! I showed all the kids too, and they were very polite, but clearly were not as impressed as I was!!

I adhered another piece of cardstock to fill in the gap at the back of the card left by the pivoting butterflies, and also added butterfly bodies to the larger butterflies, cut with Memory Box's 'Darla Butterfly'.

Finally, I added a simple Reverse Confetti 'Hello' die cut.

So, I had immense fun getting inky with the new Distress Oxide inks! They are lovely to work with, I like how they can be layered up, and they come in beautiful colours.

Products used: