Tuesday, February 14, 2017

Valentines Day Love

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  Hope you are having a wonderful day!

Susan has created another project for us - this time a beautiful canvas using a variety of Creative Impressions Ribbons and Embellishments.


I started off with a plain white canvas and used paints to add some white, pink and grey touches to the background.  I knew that I wanted to leave the photo is black and white, so those colors complimented the picture well.


Then I took some of my favorite Web Ribbon (in Grey) and adhered it to the left side of the canvas with matte medium.  I also stamped two lovely borders onto a piece of tissue paper, using black ink.  I cut them out and adhered them to the canvas, also using matte medium.


Love that texture I get from the Web Ribbon!  Now it was time to add the photo.


At this point we need some color added to this piece.  I laid out several widths and colors of ribbon and ended up with this:


I used Creative Impressions Pink with Black Dots 1/2" Dot Ribbon and some Braided Ribbon.  They were both glued down using matte medium.  Once they were dry, I created a bow out of the Dot Ribbon and adhered it at the top left.



It is getting there, but not quite yet.  I added some small White Pearls in several places to the stamped border along with another piece of Braided Ribbon at the bottom of the photo with was threaded through a metal word band.  Now to add some sweet little white butterflies from the Soft Butterfly Assortment and some Pink Metallic Hearts threaded through White Mini Clips for a touch of bling and added color:


It still amazes me what a Big difference Small embellishments can make!  This was all this canvas needed to take it to beautiful!  Hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Susan

Friday, February 10, 2017

Vintage Valentines

Today I have two vintage Valentine cards to share with you using our Hearts Felt Shapes.  These shapes make it so easy to put together a last-minute card!



First up is a burgundy card using scrap patterned paper.  Once you have decided on the paper, cut 4 pieces approximately 1 3/4" x 2 " and adhere them in the corners of a cream card.  Then cut several narrow strips of burgundy card stock to place in the gaps between the cut pieces of patterned paper.  Finally, cut another piece of scrap paper slightly larger than the Heart Felt Shape, cut a mat slightly larger and adhere this piece to the center front of the card using foam tape.  Easy!



Now for the Pink Heart Felt Shape:


I went through my paper stash looking for the right paper to use with my Felt Shape.  I found this pink, cream and gray paper that I liked.  However, you can use your own stamps and colored background or any other paper you like.

This Heart Felt Shape has tiny holes all around the edge of the heart.  I decided these would be  perfect for adding some White Mini Round Paper Fasteners through the holes.  Love the finished look!  Now adhere the heart to the patterned paper, add some Valentine stamped images and a lovely Gingham Ribbon bow to the top of the heart and you have a beautiful and fast card!  Layer to a grey card stock mat and then to a cream card and it's done!

Now it's your turn!  Grab some Hearts Felt Shapes and share your creations with us!

Susan

Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Valentines "Creative Impressions" Way!

Valentine's Day is fast approaching, so if you are still in need of some card and gift ideas, Susan has some for you!


Today we have a combination of a darling  pop-up card and some fun treats easy to put together with Creative Impressions Ribbons and Embellishments!

First up, let's make a pop-up Valentine Card.



I used some Valentine paper I had in my stash and cut out the different hearts on the paper.  However, if you don't have paper like this - no problem!  Just grab some pretty paper or create your own backgrounds with paint, inks and stamps and use your favorite die cut machine to cut out some pretty hearts in different sizes.  All you have to do is glue them together and add to a simple center pop-up for the inside of the card.  I adhered a slightly larger pink card stock panel to the card inside for my front and back card.  Here is how this card looked before I added anything else to it:


It is still a lovely card, but does not look at all finished to me.  A stamped sentiment, a piece of scrap designer paper and Creative Impressions Heart Bling to the rescue!


Isn't the difference amazing!  Now it really stands out!  Don't forget to add some Heart Bling to the card front as well!

Now for some little treat bags and a darling decorated lollipop!



These sweet little treat bags feature Creative Impressions Hearts Felt Shapes.  They are already cut for you and are made of high quality felt, perfect to adhere onto the front of these bags!  To create these bags, just cut a strip of card stock 2 3/4" x 9 1/2" and score on the long side at 3 1/2", 4 1/4", 5"and 8 1/2".  Fold on all scored lines.  Fold over the top 1" to the front.  Now take your Heart Felt Shape, adhere it to the front of the bag and add some bling!  Of course every Valentine treat bag needs some candy, so pour some candy in a small cellophane bag (sorry the photo doesn't show it), slip the bag inside the card stock bag and punch two holes at the top through all layers.  Finally, thread some beautiful Organdy Swirl and Red with Black 1/2" Dot Ribbon through the holes and tie a bow!  Easy!

Of course no Valentine lollipop would be complete without some Sheer and Felt Blossoms and Leaves!  All you have to do is layer some of the blossoms together, finishing with a leaf and you're done!  Couldn't be any easier!

I hope this gives you some easy and fun ideas for Valentine's Day!

Susan



Friday, February 3, 2017

Valentine "Paper Scrap" cards

Happy February everyone!  Today we are featuring seven of Susan's wonderful Valentine cards made entirely from paper scraps and Creative Impressions Ribbons and Embellishments.  Susan will explain the step-by-steps so that you can see how easy they are to make.  You will also see how incorporating Creative Impressions ribbons and embellishments make these cards "pop".


I'm sure everyone has some beautiful paper scraps at home that they just weren't able to throw away! I had some leftover Graphic 45 paper from Time to Flourish February papers as well as lots of Creative Impressions embellishments!  That's all she needed!  The first card started out like this:


By adding some other pieces from the paper, a tag top and Creative Impressions Double Stitched Gros Grain ribbon, Burgundy Crepe Ribbon and a Burgundy Country Heart to the background, my card went from scraps to this:


Here is start of the second card:
I again pieced the background and added a paper pattern image over the top.


It's pretty, but still a bit boring.  Now you can see the transformation of the card from boring to "bling" with Creative Impressions embellishments.


What a difference!  I added a postage stamp from the paper line as well as a lovely border-punched strip of cream card stock from my stash.   After die-cutting a cream heart, I adhered it over the top of Creative Impressions Single-Stitched Gros Grain Ribbon and placed an Antique Copper Country Heart brad in the center of the heart.

Now for the third card:


I was so caught up making these cards that I forgot to take a photo of the "before" card, however, I'm sure you can imagine what it looked like before I added the lovely Gingham Ribbon and another Antique Copper Country heart.  Now the card really stand out!

By the fourth card I was getting low on background paper scraps.  For this one I decided to create a border directly on the card and placed some cut-aparts and a fussy cut rose bush from the paper collection in the center along with two die-cut cream hearts.


Even though it looks pretty like this, it still needed something.  Ah, I know:


Using a stamp from B Line Designs on a piece of cream card stock scrap along with pieces of the Velvet Shimmer Ribbon attached to the back, now the card "pops"!  That lovely Velvet Shimmer Ribbon adds a lovely bit of bling to the card.

Now I was really low on paper!  What to do for a background?  I have it!  I used Creative Impressions Web Ribbon for a background.  I adhered three strips of the Web side by side on a cream panel using matte medium.  When dry, I trimmed off the excess Web from around the panel.  Here is a photo before I trimmed the panel.


I used another cut-apart from the paper and another cupid envelope popped up with foam tape as well as some red Thin Twine wrapped around the panel and a burgundy Country Heart in the center.


Isn't that a great background!

After making five cards, I wasn't willing to give up just yet!  Here is number six:  This one is really pieced together!


I added two more patterned paper strips to the top and bottom to cover up the missing paper there along with another strip of cream card stock created by using my border punch.  I also took a scrap of burgundy card stock and adhered two postage stamps from the paper along with another tag top from a previous project.  The finishing touch was a beautiful piece of burgundy Crepe Ribbon attached to the top of the tag:



Finally I was down to just a few cut-up pieces, but I was determined to squeeze out one more card!  Here is the main piece I  had to work with.  Am I crazy?


After giving this a LOT of thought, I finally came up with this card.


I backed the postage stamps with scraps of cream and dark brown card stock to match the layer behind the main piece of scrap and added a small die-cut heart and a small butterfly fussy cut from a scrap.  It still didn't "speak" to me until I decided to add some Creative Impressions Light and Dark Silver Pearls in various places along with a Heart Bling in the center of the die-cut heart.  Now I am pleased with it.

Hope you enjoyed the cards.  Now give it a try yourselves!  Pull out those Creative Impressions Ribbons and Embellishments and Make an Impression!

Susan