Holiday Cards with Gypsy Soul

Top o' the morning to you all.  Since today is St. Patty's Day, I thought I would make a couple of cards, but the first one is to wish you all a Happy St. Patrick's Day!  And since Easter is next week, I made an Easter card to wish you a Happy Easter!

So let's start with the St. Patrick's Day card.

I cut a piece of green card stock to make a folded 5"x7" card base.  I next cut a piece of green print paper to 4-1/2" x 6".  This leaves some card showing at the top, so I trimmed the print border and added it at the top of the card.

Cut decorative tags and layer onto purple print paper cut slightly smaller.  Adhere to card, as shown.

I chose these GSL chipboard pieces to use for my card.  (TIP:  I like to lay them out and see just how many I might need and how they will look.)  

I used chalk ink pads, direct to chipboard, to color my chipboard pieces.  The shamrocks were colored with two greens and then highlighted with the gold ink pad.  The wishbone charm was colored with the white and bisque chalk ink pad, while the mini bookplate was colored with the wisteria ink pad.  For the horseshoe, I used the silver and black ink pads.  

I adhered the chipboard pieces to my card front, as shown.  Lastly, I tied a bow and attached the wishbone charm to the bow with a vintage safety pin.

Now, for the Easter card, I was going for a more shabby chic look.  I made an A2 (4-1/4" x 5-1/2") size card from purple card stock.  I found this pretty laser cut white paper in my stash and adhered that, along with the purple decorative paper cut to fit in the space.

Once again, I selected my chipboard pieces that I thought would work, and I laid them out to see how I wanted to place them on the card.

I mixed the chalk paints on my craft sheet and applied two or more colors to each piece, withe the exception of the "Happy Easter" piece, which was computer generated onto a piece of purple paper and adhered to the label center.

Each piece was adhered to the card front, as shown.  A pretty lavender bow as tied and adhered at the bottom of the eggs.  One last tiny sentiment from the decorative paper was adhered beneath the eggs for balance.

Gypsy Soul Laser Cuts Products Used:

Miniature Bookplates

4 Leaf Clover Set (coming soon)

Feeling Lucky Shape Set

Feeling Lucky Charm Set

Stackable Labels Shape Set

Decorative Eggs

Other Products Used:
Paper: Olive Green card stock; Graphic 45 Time to Flourish; Secret Garden
Ink: Colorbox Chalk (Lime Pastel, Olive Pastel, Wisteria, Alabaster, Bisque); Brilliance: Platinum Planet, Graphite 

Black, Galaxy Gold
Chalk Paint:  Paper Artsy (Smurf, Hyde Park, Snowflake, Vintage Lace, Rose, Vanilla)

Mini glue dots; foam dots

Seam binding: Green, Lavender

I hope you enjoyed my cards today and are inspired to at least make a few Easter cards before the holiday.  In the meantime, have a wonderful and very holiday.

Thanks for stopping by.

Barbara

leslierahye's Hippity Hoppity Steampunk Spring Blog Hop 2013

Hello everyone, and welcome to leslierahye's blog hop featuring a combination of Spring and steampunk.  I can hardly believe Spring is just around the corner.  Here, in the Mid-South, the trees are already blooming, and the allergies are already kicking up.  But Spring also brings new beginnings and new growth.  So, in honor of Spring, I made this cute little card featuring an Easter Garden full of Easter eggs.  Mr. Chocolate Bunny is keeping careful watch over the eggs, waiting for more baby chocolate bunnies to hatch.

I began with a pre-folded ivory card and covered the front with a piece of Prima paper from the Craftsman collection.

I ran a piece of fun foam through my Gear embossing folder and covered it with black and silver paint.

I cut an egg shape from a piece of scrap paper and traced it onto my painted and embossed foam.

I cut out three egg shapes from the foam and added three different colors of Terri Sproul's mixers to each egg.

To add a bit of dimension to my eggs, I added a couple of foam dots to the center of each egg, and ran a line of glue around the outer edges before applying to my card base.

I next die cut my chocolate Easter bunny from the brown Kraft-Core card stock and ran it through my riveted metal embossing folder.  I did the same for the bunny's bow using pink Kraft-Core card stock, and ran that through the diamond plate embossing folder.  

I sanded the embossed (raised) portions of the images and added a bit of Spun Sugar distress ink to the bow, attaching with a glue dot.  I adhered the bunny to the card front, as shown.

I cut out the words "Easter" and "Garden" from the Kraft-Core Seasonal card stock, sanded the raised portions, and added a bit of brown distress ink.  The picture above shows a close-up and side view of the card.  Can you see the dimension?

Supplies used:

5-1/2" x 6-1/2" Ivory card
Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Riveted Metal embossing folder
Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Diamond Plate embossing folder
Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Gears embossing folder
Sizzix Tim Holtz Alterations Easter Elements Bigz die
Terri Sproul's Mixers (Shimmer Citrine)(Shimmer Aquamarine)(Shimmer Purple)
Lil' Davis acrylic paint - Black Metallic Shades
Ranger Adirondack Silver Paint Dabber
Kraft-Core Nostalgic Collection card stock (Brown, Pink)
Kraft-Core Seasonal Collection card stock (Easter, Garden)
Prima Craftsman Collection card stock (Architect)
Distress Ink (Spun Sugar)(Vintage Photo)
Kraft foam

I am so glad you decided to stop by today, and I hope you are enjoying the hop.  Below is a link to each of the participating designers, so please be sure to stop by each blog and leave a lovely comment.

Have a wonderful week and a very blessed Easter!

Barbara

Easter Greetings Center Stepper Card

Epiphany Crafts

Happy Easter TRN fans!  I hope you are enjoying your week and the prospect of Spring.  And with Spring comes new beginnings.  The colors of Spring are so vibrant, with new growth everywhere.  The Robin's Nest crackle glitter card stocks are just perfect for this time of year.  And best of all, along with the matching neon dew drops, they are a whopping 20% off this month.

If you have an electronic die cutting machine, you can easily cut out this center stepper card.  However, they are just as easy to make without the use of a machine.  Simply follow my template and you have your base.

Cut, score, and fold purple crackle card stock as shown. (See template below).

I cut my bunnies and baby duck images from white velour paper using my Silhouette machine.

I also cut the cracked eggs  and rectangle layers using my Silhouette.

After inking all of the paper edges with coordinating inks, I began assembling the pieces.   I added my blue glitter crackle cs pieces to each corresponding section of the base.

Next, I colored my ducks with distress stains.

Add some orange color to the duck's feet and around the edges for shading.  I used a water brush to spread the color a bit.

I used a distress marker to mark my bunnies noses and ears, as shown.

Before adhering the cracked egg, place the larger duck on the front of your card.

Use your fingers to gently mold the bottom and top of the cracked egg, attached a couple of foam dots in the center, and apply a line of white glue along the outer edge.

Attach the cracked egg pieces over the duck, as shown.  You want to make it appear that he is emerging from the egg.

Carry the theme to the inside of your card by attaching the remaining die cut pieces to the inside, as shown.  Stamp your sentiment to the right using Versamark ink and white embossing powder.

 I had a few bits and pieces left over, and I still wanted to show you how fun the Epiphany Crafts punches and bubbles are.  So, I decided to make an Easter tag.  It would really personalize your Easter basket gift for that someone special.

 Die cut two label shapes and one egg shape from blue and purple crackle glitter papers.  Reverse and layer the papers, as shown.

 Using the Epiphany star punch, insert your paper into the punch, aligning the part of the design you want to appear inside the bubble.

 Insert the star bubble inside the opening, close the lid, and punch out your beautiful new star embellishment.

Epiphany Crafts punches are wonderful tools to have, and as you can see in the picture below, they make your embellishments very professional looking.  

 Add some cute little mini neon dew drops, not only to the egg, but also to the tops of the star bubbles, for added dimension and fun.

side view of tag

 Robin's Nest Products Used:

Blue Glitter Crackle CS
Purple Glitter Crackle CS
Pink Glitter Crackle CS
Orange Glitter Crackle CS

Neon Dew Drops

Other Products Used:

Epiphany Crafts Shape Studio Star 25 punch and bubble shapes
Silhouette die cut machine and images
White velour paper
Distress ink (Chipped Sapphire, Picked Raspberry, Faded Jeans)
Distress Stain (Squeezed Lemonade, Ripe Persimmon)
Distress Marker (Spun Sugar)
Water brush
Versamark ink pad
Easter Greetings (Penney Black) rubber stamp
White embossing powder

I want to thank you for stopping by today, and I hope you will take a little time to visit the Robin's Nest 
online store to check out the fabulous sale going on this month.  And while you are browsing, check Epiphany Crafts web site to see all of their wonderful products, as well.

Have a wonderful and blessed Easter!

Barbara