Spring is in the Air!

 Hi Artzy friends - 

The calendar says it's officially spring! We can only hope that the weather follows suit!

This cute bunny, from the Honey Bunny stamp and die sets is perfect for so many spring and summer cards. I created this shaker card to wish you a happy spring!

I ink blended the Botanical Background die cut and sandwiched it between two pieces of acetate to create a shaker window. I created a frame with the Rectangle Framelits dies and added my bunny, along with my sentiment from the Singin in the Rain stamps and dies and butterfly from the Beauty of Nature stamps and dies.

Stop by the Dare 2B Artzy store to shop for brand new AND older stamps and dies this spring!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day,

Avra

Growing in Unity, Day 1

Happy Monday, friends!

I'm excited to be able to share some of the cards that I have created with Unity Stamps this week!

Be sure to visit every day, and comment on each post, to be eligible to win a $20 gift credit to Unity Stamp Co. Two of you will be randomly drawn at the end of the week for this generous prize!

Unity Stamp Co is a family owned, US based company that manufactures high quality red rubber stamps in just about any design style you can imagine. Be sure to check them out if you haven't!

Today I am sharing a flat shaker card! This type of shaker card doesn't use any foam tape and is super simple to create!

My images, which I colored with Copic markers, are from the Sammy Girl kit. The sentiment is heat embossed with gold embossing powder. 

After coloring my image I cut an oval frame into an A2 sized piece of paper that looks like alcohol ink! So pretty and zero mess! 

All you need to create a flat shaker card pouch is any clear packaging you may have; no need to purchase acetate sheets. I taped my plastic to the back of my card panel on 3 sides, leaving the top open. I used scotch tape; you can use any tape you have - no one will see the back once you mount it to a card base.

Now it is sure simple to pour your shaker elements in through the open flap before you tape it closed. 

I added my sentiment and a few extra doodads right on top of the plastic and mounted my card front to a card base.

I hope you enjoyed my card today, and are inspired to try out a flat shaker card (also called an edge to edge shaker!) I'll be back tomorrow with another Unity Stamp Co. creation!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Floating By

 Hi Artzy friends -

For me, January means the end of the holiday card making season, and time to start making birthday cards for the year. 

I hope this card puts a smile on the recipient's face, especially if they have a winter birthday!

This full front, or edge to edge shaker card is easy to create with any clear packaging you may have laying around. I made a pocket with a card panel that was foiled with the Make Waves Hot Foil Plate and a piece of clear plastic packaging, and filled the pocket with sequins and shaker bits before sealing up the pocket.

I then colored and die cut my jellyfish and other sea creatures from the Jellyfish stamps and dies sets. I added them to the front of my card, along with my sentiment from the Seahorses stamp set, which I stamped on a banner die from the Wavy Slimline Framelits dies.

I just love all the sparkle and shine and "fun factor" of this card!

Join us in the Dare 2B Artzy blog challenge this month with a Winter Fun card for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to the store!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Go Sledding!

Hi Artzy friends-

As I am writing this a few days ahead of posting it, I am wondering what the day will bring to my friends to the south and east in the line of a winter storm, and hoping they stay safe.

I also hope that they will get the opportunity to do something fun, like go sledding!

This adorable adventurous polar bear and penguin are from the Just Chillin' stamps and dies, and the fun sentiment is from Toboggan Fun.

I couldn't resist making a cute little shaker window using a die from the Square Framelit dies. The inside/outside stitching feature of these dies make them perfect for a shaker window!

The snowy background paper is from the North Pole Holidays collection. These wintery designs are perfect to use for the entire cold weather season, not just the holidays!

I got a little over zealous with the shaker bits and you really have to move them around to see the entire sentiment, but I think that makes it extra fun! 

Please join the Winter Fun challenge on the Dare 2B Artzy blog this month for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to the D2BA store!

Thank you for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Hello My Crafty Friend Shaker

 Hi crafty friends -

Today I am sharing an edge to edge shaker card, in mini slim size, featuring a Kat Scrappiness word die set.

Edge to edge, or full front shaker cards are an easy way to make shaker cards, with no foam tape, and using any clear packaging you may have saved from stamps, dies, etc. 

The only products and supplies I used for this card are patterned paper, cut with one of these dies, sequins, this die set, and of course - adhesives and cardstock. 

You can find lots of word dies, many with shadows, and mini slimline dies, in the Kat Scrappiness store.

If you'd like to use my affiliate link when you shop, at no extra charge to you, I would appreciate it!

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Avra

Bold Happy Birthday

 Hi Artzy friends -

 I am always looking for quick easy ways to beef up my stash of birthday cards, so today I have 4 cards to share with you, all created with the same die. The die I used was the Slim Mini Birthday die, but I created 3 A2 cards and a slimline card!

To create my A2 cards, I cut the Happy Birthday die out of three different colors of cardstock. I saved all the pieces as I poked them out of the die so I could inlay them back into the other colored die cuts. It was then super easy to create 3 colorful Happy Birthday elements all at once!

These can then be used on just about any size card - mini slimline, slimline, or A2 being the most common sizes that come to mind.

I created three simple A2 cards that I'll be able to use for any birthdays that come along.

First I mounted one to a matching teal background, and added "to you" stamped beneath it, along with 3 red gems.

For the next one I attached my happy birthday to the center of a piece of paper from the Seas the Day collection.

For the next card I mounted the happy birthday in the center of a white card base, and embellished it with the new Mini Stars Border die. 

After completing these 3 coordinating cards, I decided to get a little crazy and create a slimline shaker card.

This time, I cut the Slim Mini Birthday die out of white cardstock and created a shaker element, filling the Happy with blue sequins, and the Birthday with orange sequins. 

I then cut the two background layers for my slimline card using dies from the Wavy Slimline Framelit dies. The wavy frame is cut from paper from the Ice Cream Social collection. I love the fun colors and patterns and the shaker element on this slimline card!

I hope you've been inspired to think of different ways to use your dies, and to create lots of birthday cards to have on hand! 

If you'd prefer to get a jump on your holiday cards, please join us for our Christmas in July challenge for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate to the Dare 2B Artzy store!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

It's Summertime!

 Hi Artzy friends -

Today I have a summery card, filled with two of my favorite summertime features -  flowers and ice cream!

I created the striped background of my shaker and the first layer of the card with Sweetmobile paper. The stitched pink ice cream layer was cut from Sprinkle on Top paper, using a die from the new Slim Mini Wavy Layers dies. 

The front of the shaker was cut with the new Slim Mini Flower Patch die. I filled my shaker with lots of pastel colored sequins, and colored an ice cream cone from the Turtley Awesome stamps and dies. 

My sentiment was from the same stamp set. The little tag die is the smallest die in the new Rectangle Framelits die set. I love that little "something extra" in this set, and I love that the rectangles all have stitching on the inside and at the outside of the shape.

I created a matching envelope with the new Slim Mini Envelope dies, using the same papers from the Ice Cream Social collection.

I hope you are enjoying your summer, and that it's filled with flowers and ice cream!

Thanks for visiting, and have a great day!

Avra

Dare 2B Artzy/Brutus Monroe Collaboration

Hi Artzy friends - 

Today I have a shaker card that I created with some great new Dare 2B Artzy products, along with some fun products from Brutus Monroe!

This adorable raccoon from the Raccoon Party stamp and die sets, is wishing you a happy birthday with a yummy ice cream cone! The ice cream cart inside the shaker window is from the Turtley Awesome stamp and die sets.

The colorful pennants, also from the Raccoon Party dies, along with the cheery rainbow background, created with Brutus Monroe's Rainbow Mixed Media stencil, and  Clay Sprinkles inside the shaker, combine to really make this a party on a card! Don't those sprinkles look just like ice cream sprinkles/jimmies?

To create the sparkly rainbow background I first stenciled my rainbow ink colors, on Ranger Distress Heavystock. This is my new favorite cardstock for ink blending, even with wet techniques.

At this point, I should have left the stencil in place before applying the Ranger Transparent Gloss Texture Paste, but I did not. It was easy however, to line it back up. Because the texture paste is transparent, it will dry clear (whether you are using gloss or matte), to allow the ink colors to show through. This photo is after the paste was just applied.

I then sprinkled on some Lawn Fawn Prisma Glitter, and left the panel to dry overnight.

I was so pleased when I checked the next morning to find that as the panel dried it completely flattened out! And look at that sparkle! 

I shook off the excess glitter and I was ready to assemble my shaker care, with the raccoon and ice cream cart images that I had already colored with Copic markers. The window in my card panel was cut with a die from the Dare 2B Artzy Double Dot Circle framelits, and I still have my pretty sparkly rainbow circle to use on a future project!.

I added my sentiment, also from Raccoon Party, by stamping it with Versafine Onyx Black ink and embossing with Brutus Monroe Ultrafine Icicle (clear) embossing powder.

I cut the pennant shapes from Raccoon Party out of several colors of cardstock and attached them to a piece of twine across the top of my card.

This was a really fun project, and I just love looking at the sparkly rainbows on this card! 

Be sure to check out all of the great products offered by these two wonderful companies!

Thanks for visiting and have a great day!

Avra

Reindeer Games with Dare 2B Artzy and Tombow

 Hi Artzy friends -

Today I have the pleasure of sharing with you some cards I created with a fun Dare 2B Artzy set, along with Tombow Dual Brush Pen Art Markers.

Be sure to check out the Dare 2B Artzy blog all this week for more inspiration using Tombow products. 

Because I am new to using Tombow markers, I wanted to try out various techniques with them. So - I made 4 cards! This will be a picture heavy post!

Here are the sets of markers I had to work with, along with some neutral colors that I borrowed from a friend. 

There are 108 colors of Dual Brush Pens in all, including a colorless blender.

Dual Brush Pens are a water based marker, with a brush tip and a fine point bullet tip.

They are great for coloring, doodling, journaling, hand lettering, and more. Learning hand lettering is on my "to-do" list sometime soon, and the brush tip is perfect for that!

Now on to my coloring! 

I wanted to choose an image with a lot of opportunity to color, so I chose the Reindeer Games stamp and die sets. This is a whimsical set with some cute sentiments to go with the images.

I stamped the main image, along with the ornaments, on both Bristol Smooth cardstock, and water color paper, using Versafine Clair ink in Nocturne, which is a quick drying, waterproof pigment ink. If you are in a hurry, you could dry it using a heat tool.

Here are the 4 panels of images I colored. I tried: coloring directly on the paper, then blending it out with a waterbrush, coloring directly on the paper, then blending it out with the colorless blender, and scribbling the marker onto a palette and picking it up with a waterbrush. As I mentioned earlier, I tried the techniques on 2 different types of paper. Coloring directly on the Bristol Smooth is preferred to coloring directly onto watercolor paper. Watercolor paper is better if you are adding more water, such as wetting the paper before applying the color.  The first 2 panels are Bristol Smooth; the second 2 are Canson Watercolor paper.

After die cutting all of my images, I added Glossy Accents to my ornaments. I love that the Glossy Accents did not alter the colors of the images. As I did not end up using many of them on these cards, they are ready for me to accent future holiday cards with. So shiny, dimensional, and fun!

Next I created some watercolored backgrounds for some of my cards.

I chose some pretty blues and greens and scribbled them on my craft mat. I then lightly misted the mat with water, and dipped my watercolor cardstock into the color. I continued to add color, add water, and dip and drag my panel through the colors until I was satisfied with the result, drying them with my heat tool in between layers. 

I ended up using 2 of the above backgrounds for 2 slimline cards, and I also created an A2 easel card and a square shaker card.

I cut down one of the backgrounds using the largest die in the Wavy Slimline Framelits die set, and adhered it to a 9" x 4" horizontal card base. I popped up my reindeer and his feet with foam tape. I added my heat embossed sentiment strip, also cut with a banner die in the Wavy Slimline Framelits set. I embellished the card with snowflakes from the Slimline Snowflake dies, an ornament from Reindeer Games, and some additional gems. 

For my 2nd slimline card, I cut a watercolored panel with a die from the Wavy Slimline Framelit dies, and also cut a piece of aqua colored cardstock from the largest die in the set. I heat embossed my sentiment, and a few snowflakes onto the water colored panel, both from Reindeer Games. I layered the two panels onto my 8 1/2" x 3 1/2" vertical card base. I adhered my reindeer, his feet, some light bulbs and holly with liquid glue. 

My next card is an easel card. On the front panel I cut a piece of white fun foam with the reindeer die to pop the image up on. Fun foam is an easy way to give a sturdier base to a detailed image than cutting little bits of foam tape. For the inside of the card I cut a label out twice with one of the Rectangle Fancy Framelit dies - once in white, and once in green. I cut off just the bottom third of my green shape and popped it up with two layers of foam tape onto the white piece to create a "lip" for my easel. I heat embossed my sentiment in gold, and added the reindeer's feet and a sprig of holly to finish off the card. The white label is where I will write my message and sign my card. 

Finally I created a 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" shaker card.

I glued my reindeer image down to a piece of pretty wintery paper from the Snow Much Fun collection, and adhered that to my card base. I then created a frame with a  Square Framelit die, and added a piece of acetate behind my frame. I popped that up onto my card front, leaving a small opening to add my sequins.  I then added foam tape to my opening making sure to close up all the gaps so my sequins couldn't escape. I added a sentiment from the Toboggan Fun stamp set, heat embossed in silver on vellum, and glued on a sparkly snowflake and the reindeer feet. 

I really enjoyed creating this assortment of holiday cards with Tombow markers, and the Reindeer Games stamps and dies, and other products from Dare 2B Artzy! 

We have a sale going on now at Dare 2B Artzy!

Use the code FALL10 to save 10% off all orders, now through November 8th!

Also - join our November challenge with a "Thankful" themed project, for a chance to win a $15 gift certificate!

Thank you for visiting, and have a great day!

Avra