Rub-On Foil Wedding Card

I was experimenting with the new product, 'Lucky Money Envelopes' that I discovered at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  This set of foil, envelopes, and rub-on images features wedding themed words and pictures.  I thought that the Whimsy Stamps' Enchanted Kingdom' scenery card stock panels would make a charming background for this wedding card.

As with the previous birthday card, I simply followed the instructions that came with the Lucky Money Envelope package to apply the foiled wedding couple and words.  Unfortunately, I touched the bottom of the bride's skirt with a less than clean finger and left a non-shiny fingerprint behind. To cover up this flaw, I glued on a Dress It Up heart button (with shank cut off).  I was happy with the result because it added a dimensional point of interest.

As you can see, depending on the angle of the card to my camera lens the the foil shines differently. In real life, the foil on the card is the same throughout and catches the light wonderfully.  I hope this card gives you ideas of what you can create with the Lucky Money Envelope sets from HM BFC.  I think you'll be excited and pleased making lovely foiled projects. Don't forget there is also a Lucky Money Envelope set with graduation images and words.  I can just imagine the wonderful lei tags, cards, candy holders, etc. that you'll be able to create with this set. Hooray!

 

Panda Bears' Birthday Card with Rub-On Gold Details

I was intrigued by the new product being sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts, Lucky Money Envelope. If you follow my blog, you know that I am a big fan of adding foiled accents to my papercrafts, so when I spied the Lucky Money Envelopes at HM BFC, I knew I had to give it a try.  While I am not likely to pass out red lucky money envelopes, I did like the gold images and words of the birthday and wedding sets so I decided to try them out on some greeting cards.  This card began with a regular sheet of printed card stock sized to fit a blank card.  Following the directions on the package I cut out the designs I wanted and removed the backing from the piece I was planning to apply.  It was a bit tricky to separate the see through film but once I did, I placed it where I wanted it and started to rub with the enclosed wooden stick.  As I was rubbing, the black print started to come off but don't worry this is supposed to happen.  Once almost all of the black ink is gone, the acetate can be lifted and the gold film can be applied and rubbed down. That is all there was to achieve a pretty gold accents to my card.

The Art Impressions pandas were stamped on white card stock and colored in with Copic pens. (I love pandas because they require very little coloring!)  I fussy cut the pandas out and adhered them to the card with adhesive foam dots.  As you can see, the gold foiling really shines and adds to the excitement of the birthday card.  The foiling done with a hot foil machine (Spellbinders) or foil transfers in the MInc machine are easier and faster but this new product from HM BFC is simple and so much cheaper (no machine purchase involved).  I recommend that you try this new product to see if you like adding foil accents to your papercrafts. Be Shiny in 2024! 

 

Quick Ladybug Cards

It is so easy to make these ladybug cards using the Echo Park 6x6 paper pad, ephemera pack, and stamp set that I purchased at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  The papers are two sided so the insides of these cards are pretty, too.  I simply folded the 6x6 sheets in half and the card blank was formed.

The ephemera word cards are perfectly sized to simply adhere to each card.  The sayings on them are so sweet and appropriate.  Although barely visible in the photo, one of the stamps was used to make the flight paths of the ladybug and it was heat embossed with silver sparkle powder.

The inside of this card also has an ephemera card plus a stamped and fussy cut lady bug that was stamped with a wood handled stamp that I discovered in my stash of bug stamps.

For the card on the left I added the ephemera and three Jolee glittered ladybug stickers.  To make the ladybugs on the second card stand out, I coated the stamped, colored, fussy cut images with Glossy Accents.  These cards fit well into the pastel colored envelopes that can b purchase at Daiso for only $1.75 a pack.  I know that I can make an enormous amount of spring ladybug cards using these Echo Park products. HM Ben Franklin Crafts has lots of choices of themed papers and matching items so you need to go to the stores and check everything out.  I'm sure you'll be in shopper's heaven and surprise yourself by making some wonderful handmade papercrafts.  See you at HM BFC!
 

Last-Minute Last Valentine Card

I prepare my blog posts about a month in advance, so by the time you read this post I will have returned from my trip to the Tucson Rock and Gen Show (more about that in later posts).  While tidying up my crafting space before the trip, I came across some bits and pieces of Valentine items that were just too good to throw away. One pretty piece was the foiled word heart (made with Trinity Stamps foil plate) that I miscut with the heart die (that comes with the foil plate) so it was off-centered. By trimming it by hand it looked useable so I glued some scalloped red velvet ribbon around the heart.   

I often place extra die cut pieces in the die package and so I was pleased to find a light lavender Lawn Fawn Quilted Heart Background die cut piece that I made awhile ago and stored in the package. This die cut piece was just a bit too big to fit on the Paper Accents red glitter card stock so I trimmed the lavender die cut rectangle along the edges.  Everything was glued down with Beacon 3 in 1 Fabri-Tac glue including the artificial flowers that were 'discovered' in my bin of odds n' ends floral stuff. (HM Ben Franklin Crafts has a large selection of artificial flowers that would be very pretty on your paper crafts.) For a last-minute Valentine card made with leftovers, I think this card is rather attractive.  I would never have chosen a lavender and red color combination or used red velvet ribbon with glitter card stock but I think it works. Sometimes crafting on the fly can result in special creations. My only concern is that the flowers might make the card too thick to go through the mail on regular postage.  (The U.S. Postal Service charges extra for thick envelopes.)  Not to worry, you can always hand deliver your card...so romantic!  Here's hoping that your Valentine's Day is all you hoped or planned it to be!  Never give up on the power of LOVE!

 

Valentine Hugs Cards

I love the Hero Arts Hot Foil plate used on these cards and could endlessly apply foil hearts to countless pieces of card stocks.  The little foiled hearts make even plain card stock look instantly cute.  It was super easy to die cut the 'hugs' script (Lawn Fawn) from gold foil and glue it to the red card stock decorated with the tiny foil hearts. I used a piece of Doodlebug printed card stock (old stock) for the card blank. The hugging bunnies (Whimsy Stamps)  were stamped on white card stock, colored and fussy cut out by hand before the image was attached to the card with adhesive foam dots. The printed card stock card blank really adds to the fun of this special Valentine card.

This second 'hugs' Valentine card is different from the first one because I foiled the hearts over a card stock with tiny printed hearts.  Just like the first card, the words (Lawn Fawn) were die cut from gold foil card stock (DCWV) before gluing them down to the card blank.  (The word 'sending' was cut off from the top of the 'BIG'.)  The bear and rabbit hugging image (Whimsy Stamps) were stamped on white card stock and fussy cut by hand before coloring and adhering them to the card with adhesive foam dots.  Even though this card is less colorful than the first one, it still conveys a very sweet message.   

I hope that you've made or are making Valentine cards for all your sweethearts, big and small.  Let's spread  LOVE around the world! Send a Valentine card to someone you care about....brighten the universe!

 

Valentine Conversation Hearts Earrings

I purchased these plastic conversation heart candies (with hanging loops) on Etsy to make into some fun jewelry. There are lots of other heart choices on Etsy including some pretty clear rainbow ones. You could also make your own from Hearty or polymer clay. I think you could even resin over some real conversation heart candies.  Anyway, I used 22 gauge soft sterling silver round wire.  Even though the loop on the heart is a base metal, I decided that soft sterling wire would be easier to shape into a specific shape.  First, I drew a rough pattern on paper to fit around the plastic heart candy. Then I followed the lines with the wire starting with the lower loop that would be used for hanging the heart and ending with the loop that would be attached to the earring wires.  It takes awhile to shape the wire hearts but patience will result in  somewhat smooth matching wire hearts.  The earrings won't be a perfect match but they ARE handmade and will be worn on earlobes far apart enough that they can't be meticulously compared. As a big, long time fan of conversation heart candies, I am very pleased with the way these earrings turned out and I'm looking forward to wearing them to celebrate one of my favorite days, Valentine's Day...HOORAY!  

 

Valentine Floating Mouse Card

This card began with a piece of card stock that was used to test some NUVO shimmering metallic sprays.  The sprays produce a fine mist of color (not the flecks that you get with flicking the bristles of a paint brush) which is quite lovely.  I adhered the sprayed card to a card blank that I made from a leftover piece of printed card stock.  Because I thought that the small balloon that was attached to the Lawn Fawn mouse image was too tiny to lift the mouse, I stamped out two more balloons from a Clearly Besotted Valentine stamp set. All the stamped images were colored with Copic pens and cut out with LF dies (or trimmed free hand).  Adhesive foam dots were used to raise up the images. To add some shine, the balloons were given a light coating of Stickles icicles solution and allowed to dry. The words from the Lawn Fawn stamp set were stamped onto red card stock and heat embossed with silver powder before cutting out the strip.  This card was very simple to make and turned out well due to the NUVO sprays and Lawn Fawn stamps.  For a happy, inspirational time shopping, check out the crafty goodies being sold at HM Ben Franklin Crafts.  Happy Crafty Shopping!