Mix and Match: Create Beautiful Cards with Spellbinders Kits

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Do you wonder how to use these kits on their own or with other monthly kits?  Do you wonder if you should get more than one club or the whole Deluxe Caboodle?  Spellbinders does a great job of giving each month a theme and running with it to make creating card and scrapbook projects easy.  They also go well with lots of other Spellbinders products.  So here is my Mix and Match with many great products.

BUT FIRST — Remember, the kits are available from the 6th of the month to the 27th of the month.  One more week left for this month!  (And check the end of this post for another hint.)

I just love the striking card that came with the dark red cardstock with the Embossing Folder of the Month and the gold highlights.  After embossing the background I took some metallic gold paint and splattered the red.  From the Small Die Cuts of the Month I cut the small die leaf pieces out of gold cardstock many times and scattered them on the card along with the pumpkin – with the really cute swirly stem.  The sentiment was using red foil on the Glimmer of the Month kit.

For a little taste of Halloween here is “Skully” on a spooky background.  Just look at this background and its shimmery shine!  This is done with Lisa Horton Teal Twist Shimmer Interference ink.   Then run the cardstock through the Platinum with the versatile September Embossing folder of the month.  Lots of texture without the thickness of a 3D folder.   Skully was created using the Fuchsia Flower foil with the Better Press plate for his figure and fussy cut out along with a sentiment from the same Better Press plate. 

This last card is great for a general birthday card.  I had in my stash some beautiful alcohol inking sheets I made a long time ago.  I really wanted to match the deep blue as a card base but couldn’t find a sheet of paper close enough.  Tim Holtz Distress inks to the rescue.  I took a white piece of cardstock and edged it with BluePrint Sketch ink.  Voila!  It was perfect.  Then I ran it through this Embossing Folder of the Month.  At this point it looked strange but I continued on taking my cues from the alcohol inked paper.  Using the Pinking Birthday Etched Rectangles die set I cut the largest one with Silver cardstock and the middle one with the alcohol inked cardstock.

And now for a little hint — did you miss last month’s kit? Don’t forget to shop “Past Kits” as many of the items may still be available. Here are two examples of August, 2024 Wax Seal of the Month.

Let’s use Spellbinders tag line here: NEVER STOP MAKING!

Thanks for visiting today. Leave me a message and tell me what your favorite card is.

Hugs, Penny

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Beveled Fun from Spellbinders

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Do you want a quick and easy card? Do you want a set to give to someone? Do you want to spruce it up a bit too? These Beveled 3D Embossing folders from Spellbinders can do it all in very short order.

This set of cards was made simply by using the Emerald Cut Label Dies then using one of the Beveled 3D embossing folders with either metallic or textured cardstock. The “Gift For YOU” shows how it can stand alone and still be impressive. The “Hello” shows how adding metallic flowers can smarten up the front.

The “Happy birthday” folder shows how you can use cutout flowers from patterned paper to spruce up your card. The “Thanks” was done on textured cardstock from my stash to give a different look from metallic. On these two cards a sander or mono sand eraser was used over the very top of the letters to become white and show off a bit more.

Wouldn’t this make a nice set to give to someone? You can make them as fancy or simple as you like.

Thanks for visiting me today. Hope you come back again soon.

Hugs, Penny

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Glimmer of the Month -August 2024

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This month’s glitter plate makes such a stunning card with very little work. By choosing some patterned glitters the cards can truly stand out on their own.

Crimson Stars hot foil makes this card really sparkle and shine. I just trimmed it down, added some red ink around the edges and popped it up on the card base for a quick and simple card.

This quick and easy card came together by using Emerald Facets hot foil with this month’s glimmer plate. Unfortunately, it doesn’t appear to be sold anymore but a similar version could be done by using the Silver holographic facets hot foil. The sentiments can also be foiled in matching or contrasting foil.

And look at how gorgeous this card is with the gold Starburst foil! These fancy foils really take center stage when used with this plate. Soooo stunning!

Do you have a foil in your stash that would make a statement? Please try it with this plate and tag me on Facebook or Instagram (@pennypynnonen).

Thanks for visiting today. Hope you enjoy these beautiful cards.

Hugs, Penny

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Big Cats and Pugs

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Do you like dogs or cats better? Do you like mutts or purebreds? Do you have more than one? Do you have both? I had a grand time playing with Bibi’s Cats and Pugs collection of dies.

Unfortunately, I am allergic to cats but I still love them…just can’t pet them. My daughter has two calico cats so this cat card is for Emma and Bug.

The dies are big and easy to put together with some scoring to show where the top layering pieces go on the bottom layers. The coloring was where I got creative but found that the Distress inks were easy to use with an almost dry brush. I smushed some ink onto an acrylic block and spritzed it with water. With a fan or straight paint brush I dipped into the ink I created the strokes on the cat parts to look ‘hairy’. I used Distress tea dye and vintage photo inks mostly and might have thrown in a darker brown too. The tea dye ink is great for that reddish brown tone in the calico. For the ears I added a touch of pink (whatever was on my blending brush) then a few strokes of brown – cuz the inside of ears are hairy too.

For the background I used one of my favorite embossing folders from Spellbinders – the Diamond Plaid on some kraft cardstock. There is a base die cut of the cat that allows a small white rim and helps the cat stand out against the background.

I do have a dog…but this GoldenDoodle doesn’t look like a pug at all. LOL So this guy is for my stepson’s Boston Terrier -who is much skinnier than a pug but the coloring could be the same. Meet Toby and Lexi.

I started with black cardstock for the pug… this gives him a black rim to help him stand out from the white background. For his coloring it was just adding black and gray in appropriate spots to be similar in coloring to Toby. Again the layering of the dies were easy with the scored lines on the base cuts.

What do you think? Did I capture the coloring of them both? Show me some pictures of your cats and dogs.

Thanks for visiting my page…please follow and come again.

Hugs, Penny

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May you have Fair Winds at your back…

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Do you know someone who loves the water? Loves to Sail? Loves to go to the coast? My husband’s birthday was Saturday and he loves to sail, even though he doesn’t get to do so often. His birthday present this year is a sailing afternoon just off Traverse City, Michigan. We are so looking forward to it and this was the perfect moment to create a birthday card with Spellbinders Fair Winds collection by Dawn Woleslegle.

The two die sets I used were the Set Sail Etched Dies and the Guiding Light Etched Dies. I started by just cutting out the dies to see how they would go together. I moved to the background so I could build upon it to create my scene.

I wasn’t sure what size card I was going to make as sometimes when creating a scene you need a larger space. I used an 8.5″x5.5″ piece of white cardstock and ink blended across the bottom horizontally with Distress tumbled glass and speckled egg inks. To create the waves I used the Summertime Waves embossing folder that was the Embossing folder for the Month of June. Since it only covered about 5.5″ of the paper, I cut off the rest and use it to create the wave in the Set Sail Etched Die set.

Lots of Sail boats have colorful sails so I decided to use my ink blending brushes with only the ink they had on them to put a bit of red, yellow and blue in the sails. I glued the boat together — gingerly as the pieces don’t overlap by much. Now I had my boat and the wave done — moving onto the light house.

I will admit the light house is a bit tricky if you want it to come out with the colors on the package. But I continued to play with it and was pleased with the outcome. Since the card could only hold so much, I used the small rock formation rather than the large on. Using some scraps I created the clouds and did a bit of ink blending for the sky and the sun peaking at the corner. I stamped my sentiment from HoneyBee inside birthday wishes, glued down the cloud and the rock formation. With foam tape I popped up the larger wave and light house then doubled it for the sailboat and added some birds in the sky. Then mounted it all onto a heavy cardstock base.

Oh, it was perfect!!!! Are you ready to go out on the sea now? I am! Let me know what you think and if you would like to sail the ocean blue.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs, Penny

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Hydrangea and Landscape Rose from Susan Tierney-Cockburn

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I LOVE FLOWERS and the hydrangea and landscape (or knockout) Roses are two of my favorite. The roses are fairly easy to grow but this type of hydrangea is perplexing me in my garden. It’s much easier with paper! LOL

I always look to Susan Tierney-Cockburn’s You Tube videos for tricks and tips. I’m glad I did again as I wasn’t sure what to do with the three oval dies that came with the pedals and leaves. Turns out they are used to help lift the pedals and give dimension to the blossoms. Once done it works very easily. The second tip I picked up was to do at least 30 pedals per flower — that means die cutting the blossoms three times. The more pedals the fuller the flower becomes. I choose to die cut 60 blossoms and colored some of them with Puffy Heart Altenew marker. The others I left white so that I could show two flowers of different colors.

The leaves were cut from some patterned paper but still colored with green alcohol markers – Swamp Green and Oak Moss. The underlying pattern of the paper only adds to the texture on the leaves.

Before I glued the flowers onto the card front, I splattered the blue with White Splatter, then built up the flowers over the leaves. To the centers of the blossoms, I added a pearl dot for those that would be showing on top. The sentiment is from Smooth Lines Mix and Match.

This second card shows the beautiful Landscape Rose. Again, in Susan’s tutorial video she shows not only how to make the flower but how to make buds. I wanted them to stand out as the main features of this card giving it lots of white background.

But I also recently saw a Braided card front and thought that was very exciting. I researched the information on making this and practiced — lots of times before I felt good about its results. If you are interested here is the link that shows how to make this gorgeous edging. https://brandyscards.com/braided-card-template/ Thank you, Brandy for showing such a great demonstration.

The landscape rose was made with pale pink paper and brushed with Altenew Blush ink on the edges and centers of each layer as well as the buds. The yellow stamens were cut in white and colored with a yellow alcohol marker the touched with pollen powder that looks sooo realistic. These leaves were just inked as the ones above only on white cardstock. The sentiment from Stylish Oval Birthday Wishes was stamped with Distress Spun Sugar. This was such a pretty layout but with just a bit of gold splatter from watercolor paints it is elevated to super unique!

Again, I just love these flowers and how realistic they look and the details Susan puts into her dies. I hope to continue to grow my “paper garden” for many years. What’s your favorite flower? Is it one of the die sets Susan has created? Please let me know what you think and if you have something you would like to see made into a die set.

Thanks for visiting and please come back again soon.

Hugs, Penny

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Holiday cards to Deliver You Joy — with the help of Spellbinders

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“Baby, it’s cold outside.” Ooops I meant “Baby, it’s hot outside.” Temperatures in the 90s but a great way to spend the time in air conditioning and thinking of a sleigh ride!

This die was so fun to work with!! The off white cardstock background is the Embossing Folder for the Month of August then splattered with green ink. I had some fun experimenting with this folder as I ran my red ink cube on the inside of the folder. I didn’t really like it for the background so I cut that up and used it for my presents… never let a piece of paper go to waste! Ha!

The sleigh was magnificent! I wanted to bring out its richness by using shiny black Tim Holtz paper and Champagne metallic paper. The deep red poinsettias looked rich as well. I love the shimmery bows that top the gifts. Once all the items were cut out, it was easy to put together. Then just topped it off with Handmade Sentiments.

Here’s another grand die call Poinsettia Spray Etched Dies from the Home for the Holidays Collection. This is one die of the sprigs then little dies with small flowers and poinsettias. I wanted a clean look for this and one of my favorite embossing folders made this card great. I just love this Diamond Plaid folder. The poinsettias are a deep red paper, the stem and leaves are metallic green and the little flowers are white. The sentiment is again from the Handmade Sentiments collection. I think this is a case of less is more. I really like this look…Hope you do too.

Last but not least is dear sweet Santa. Who doesn’t love St. Nick! He’s pretty cool to cut out and put together making a few nuances here and there. I used patterned paper and glitter paper for the background and Spellbinders foam glitter for the tree. This glitter paper die cuts beautifully. Regular glitter paper used for the stars and the lantern and Jolly ole St Nick is out for a stroll.

This post is to Deliver You Joy! I hope you have a wonderful day and fun creating Christmas in the summer. Thanks for visiting my page.

Hugs, Penny

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Nichol’s Needlework from Spellbinders

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Do you like to do needlepoint? Or not? I don’t do needlepoint for real but I sure had fun doing some with Nichol Spohr’s collection from Spellbinders. I will show you you can use these dies for something other than a needlepoint look as well!

Here I used elements from the Faux Embroidered Spruce Etched Dies to create my wreath on myfront door!

I have found the most helpful thing to do when faced with lots of dies is to just cut them all out at once. If you think you might need more than one –cut out lots as I did with the sprigs. I also cut out two candy canes. There were already multiple stockings in the set so I cut them as well, and figured if I didn’t use them all I would have extras for another card.

Since I chose to make this a wreath on a door I created my house using the latticework embossing folder and used some Distress Lumberjack Red ink to make it look like brick. Then I cut out the door and the ‘stoop’ rom the Open House Base Die.

To make the wreath I used somewhere between 9-12 sprigs die cuts and I just eyeballed it to make it look as round as possible and very full. Adding the stockings on the wreath were easy with a bit of Gina K Connect glue. I wasn’t sure how many stockings to hang but decided I should use a bow…as most wreaths have bows on them. I found some red ribbon in my stash and created the bow, adhering it with a Zot (Good for holding on tight).

Since the Candy Canes were turned opposite directions I had to do a little trick to make them look good. After die cutting both the red and the white parts I ran the left white piece through the die cutting machine on its own…This flattens the paper a bit so you can’t tell that the piece was actually turned over.

Another tip is…don’t forget to stamp your sentiment before it goes on the card! I had not done this and had to recreate the stoop over again. HA! Lesson Learned! When it was done I also decided to make my house look a little ‘softer’ and rounded the corners. I hope you think my house is more inviting now and you’ll come to visit me!

Now to the needlework. There are 6 embroidery hoops in the package…2 of each size. I chose the middle size. I glued the two together and added a piece of acetate on the top just bigger than the opening. I die cut the faux canvas out but before gluing it to the back of the hoops I die cut all the flowers and stars and elements from the set to create shaker filling. I added a few iridescent rainbow sequins as well then glued the hoop on top for a closed shaker.

Since there was a rainbow theme to the set I chose to ink blend a piece of cardstock just using the ink that was already on my brushes. It made an especially pretty pastel rainbow! I ran it though one of my all time favorite embossing folders – the Diamond Plaid. All that was left was to finish assembling the card by gluing all the pieces together. The sentiment from All You Need Sentiments was just right for something handmade.

Hope you like my shaker and all the pretty colors. So you see, you can use these die sets in many different ways…whatever comes into your mind. What will you do with it? Will you embroider or take a different path? Whatever you do, please tag me at @pennypynnonen on IG or Facebook. I’d love to see your work also.

Thanks for visiting.

Hugs, Penny

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Christmas cards from Spellbinders July Monthly Clubs

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What do you do when you don’t know for sure what to create?  I was pressed for time this month as I was traveling internationally.  So, I took Jennifer McGuire’s approach and made several parts before I made the whole.

  1. The Wax Seal of the Month is a delicate and pretty snowflake.  It came with beautiful pearly white wax. my first piece was to make 3 white snowflakes.
  2. The second piece was the Glimmer Of the Month.  Hmmm, what foil should I use…gold, red, green?  How about all them!
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Speciality Wax Seals from Spellbinders

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Have you ever tried the Blackout Technique?  Have you ever played with wax seals to combine colors other than marbling?  Try stretching your ‘cardmaking powers’ to include these.

Forest Mushrooms Wax Seal

First, emboss a piece of white cardstock using the Mushroom Embossing 3D Folder.  Now turn it over and use the Debossed side of the paper.

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