Snowman Card

This snowman card came together pretty fast! I used the Mandalay Die from Brutus Monroe on Rinea Foiled Paper to create the beautiful sparkle around the snowman. I stamped the snowman and a few snowflakes on a circle I had die cut from the foundation circle dies by Brutus Monroe . I used Stylefile alcohol markers to color in the scarf, hat and present and added a few bottle cap sequence. I layered it on a strip of vellum and pattern paper.

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Brutus Monroe Feature -- First Day of School Layout!

Brutus Monroe is releasing new stamps on Sept 30, 2017 that are perfect for back to school! The Chalkboard and books are from two of the sets. I really like them because my kids are not little anymore, so a lot of the back to school stamp sets are to adorable for them. They need to be cool! I am over on the Brutus Monroe Blog  today sharing how I created this layout so please check it out!

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Betz Golden

Halloween Cards!

I had a little fun in my craft room. Okay...I had a lot of fun in my craft room creating some Halloween cards!

 For this one I used Distress Ink to create the background and splattered it with black ink. The witch is from Brutus Monroe as well as the circle die and markers I used to shade her face in. The sayings in this stamp set are to die for!

 For this card I stamped the image and cut it out along with the sentiments. I added pop dots and adhered it to a sheet of waxed paper. I finished it off with some black sequin. Once again, you can find the stamp set and paper at Brutus Monroe

This card I really had fun with! I wanted it to resemble a bloody spooky night. I die cut the circles, stamped them and embossed not only the sentiments, but the edges as well. I used Dylusions ink spray in Cherry pie on the sentiment. I colored in the scarecrow and background with markers. Before I adhered it to the card base I splattered it with white ink. I added a few scarlet bottle-cap sequins to finish it off. Supplies can be found Here .

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Jazz Up a Christmas Card!

I know, I know....it is only September. Why am I posting about Christmas? Well, it takes me several months to actually make my cards. I like to have them out right after Thanksgiving. Otherwise I forget, so I start early. I received some really great Christmas themed products from Brutus Monroe . When I saw the stencil I new I wanted to make a card out of it. It is important that my cards are flat so they can go through the mail with one stamp. This is what I created:

 

One of my current obsessions is embossing the edges. It gives a beautiful frame to the card without creating a ton of bulk. Here is a video I made as I created this card. I hope you enjoy! 

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Emobssing Folder Technique 4!

Today I am sharing with you the fourth and final technique in this series -- Embossing on the embossed and misting. Well, in my case, color bursting it! The first thing I did was run a white piece of flat card stock through my machine with an embossing folder. I tool my embossing ink and lightly rubbed it over the raised image and embossed it with penny embossing powder. I sprinkled three Color Burst colors and misted. Lastly I used a baby wipe to pick up the color on the raised image. As that dried I die cut my tag and stamped the image. I used alcohol marker to color it in. I assembled the card on a brown glitter card base.  To see a demonstration of this technique please visit HERE . For supplies check out Brutus Monroe .

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Embossing Folder Technique 3!

Today I am going to share with you the third technique in this four part series -- Foil! That's right --FOIL! Give it a try! You will absolutely love it. I used Rinea Foiled Paper with beautiful stars, but you could use just regular aluminum foil from your kitchen to make a fun masculine card with gears or outer space theme. I like the Rinea for this card because it holds it shape so well and is hard ti wrinkle. You can find the entire line with gorgeous colors and tools Here . I used the embossing folder and stamp set from Brutus Monroe . To see this technique please visit Four Techniques .Make sure you come back tomorrow to see the last technique -- it is a show stopper!

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Embossing Folder: Technique 2

Today I am sharing with you the second technique to our four part embossing series: distressing! This technique is one of my favorites. It works best with cardstock that has a different color core. Run your paper sandwiched between the embossing folder through your machine. Now, lightly sand it until the color in the core of the paper peaks through! To see the tutorial I created for you visit HERE . For the supplies, please find them Here . Come back tomorrow and see the third technique!

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

How to Use an Embossing Folder: Technique 1

Embossing Folders are so much fun and have lots of uses! They can really bring another layer of depth to a card or project. Over the next few days I am going to share with you four ways you can use an embossing folder. Today I am sharing with you the first and most used way: emboss. To do this technique you simply run a sheet of paper through your machine in the embossing folder. This on its own is a gorgeous use! I used a piece of white card stock to create the card above. I stamped a sentiment and used Silver Embossing Powder. I layered it on a silver glitter card base. The embossing folder I used can be found here Petal Lace.

I created an tutorial on all four of the techniques that you can view: Here .

Check back tomorrow to see the next technique!

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Color Burst Card

I am obsessed lately with Color Burst! I created a couple of cards using an embossing technique. There are a few things to keep in mind when playing with any kind of paint or ink. The most important is to keep your color families together. Keep reds, oranges and yellows in one family and blues and greens in another family. There is one exception to this rule and that is PURPLE. Purple will turn everything brown except for blue and red, so mix it with only those colors. I also like to just use three colors at a time. If you keep those two things in mind sky's the limit and whatever your create surely will be a masterpiece!

Please check out the video to create these cards HERE

For supplies go HERE

Until Next Time ~ Happy Crafting!

When You Have Nothing Left to Give....Give Anyway

The last ten years I have been sick. I did not even know that I was sick because I was so used to not feeling good that I thought it was normal. In the summer of 2016 my general practitioner finally convinced me it was time to see a Hematologist. My blood work had come back for years with a high white blood cell count, but this time it had to be dealt with because it was far to high. It took about a year of medical testings and procedures to get answers and we still are not to the bottom of it. In that year I became hopeless and sad. I had to close down my kennel in which I bred Golden Retrievers and was unable to serve. I was doing everything to hold myself together and get better -- after all I am a mom to three kids. While going for treatments and testings I met a lot of really sick people and it was through this experience and journey that I decided to donate my hair -- the one physical feature that I treasured most.

It has taken me three months to document this journey, but it is a journey that is important to me. I want to share my layout with you and that journey to bring awareness to the organization I donated through that  provide children with hair loss at no charge to their families. In fact the name of it is "Children With Hair Loss".

Now, before I share with you my journey I have to tell you that there are tears involved. I did cry as I walked through putting the layout together. I almost did not share it because I felt so silly crying over hair, but I know it is more than just my hair I am crying over. Please check out the day that I donated here: Children With Hair Loss and the aftermath as I put the video together here:When You Have Nothing Left....Give

Until next time ~ Happy Crafting!

Something Exciting from Rinea!

I am super duper excited to share with you the new GHOST INK by Rinea! Ghost ink is specifically designed to remove color from foiled paper. In January of 2017 at Creativation I was working in the Rinea booth in which I stumbled across a new technique. I had stamped an image and did not like the placement of it. The ink was still wet and I thought I could remove it with a Wet One (all I had on hand). When I removed the image it took off all of the color. I thought that was really cool and wondered what would happen if I let the ink dry. I tried it again letting it dry completely. It did not work at all. So, I tried it again waiting until it was almost dry and it worked! I showed it to the owners of Rinea and they were super excited! We all decided to go home and play with it for the next few months. The technique was hit or mess depending on what ink I used, humidity, and what I used to wipe the foil. I really wanted to showcase this fun technique, but there were far to many variables that did not always allow it to work. Rinea also played with it on their end and decided to come out with an ink specifically for this technique and their foiled paper! I am so happy about this because it opens up so many more ways to use this fabulous foiled paper.

Here is a tag I made using the Ghost Ink, Rinea Foiled Paper and Brutus Monroe stamps and supplies:

You can find the Ghost Ink HERE and the rest of the supplies HERE

Please make sure you check out the tutorial and demo on the Ghost Ink HERE