Rooted in Nature Fancy Fold Card and Gift Box

Hi!  Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday!  Today, I have a couple cards and a gift box to share with you that I created with the Rooted in Nature stamp set and Nature's Roots Dies.

These cards are both z-folds (created by scoring the front of the card base in half, folding it back and then attaching another layer or more on top).  I created my own designer paper for these by stamping the wonderful leaf images from Rooted in Nature in different fall shades (Cherry Cobbler, Cajun Craze, Real Red, Pumpkin Pie, and So Saffron).  I also die cut and embossed some leaves from Copper Foil and added some Copper Thread for an accent behind the greeting, which is cut with one of the Stitched Ovals.

To make this gift box take shape, I did a bit of scoring, cutting, and gluing.  Before assembly, I stamped leaves on the box lid -- it's made of Rich Razzleberry card stock, and I used the same color of classic ink, for a subtle tone-on-tone look.  The box base is Pumpkin Pie, and I made a "belly band" for the box out of Blackberry Bliss and some fun burlap ribbon (now retired, though one of the new Scalloped Linen Ribbons would be a great substitute).  I created a mini card out of Sahara Sand for the tag.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Sunflower Wreath Tag

Hope you are having a wonderful Saturday!  Quick post today to share a sunflower wreath tag, created with the Painted Harvest Stamp Set, and a lot of fussy cutty, to dress up a gift of a box of chocolates:

Hope you like this idea!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

TBT: Country Home Cards

Maybe it's because school is back in session again, but it's really starting to feel like fall to me, so I thought it would be fun to do a throw-back Thursday with some cards I made using the Country Home Stamp Set last year.  These are colored with either Stampin' Blends or watercolor pencils, and the backgrounds are either cardstock embossed with the Tin Tile Embossing Folder (a couple with the folder inked before embossing, aka the letterpress technique) or designer series paper.

Hope these inspire you to create some Country Home or fall-themed cards!  Thank so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

Daisy Lane Smile and Friend Cards

Hello!  Happy Wednesday!  Today I have two cards to share with you that were made using leftover kits from the make and takes at my Annual Catalog Open House, but with the Daisy Lane bundle instead of the Beautiful Friendship stamp set.  

On this first card, I couldn't resist using the Detailed Bands Dies (also available as part of a bundle and save) again on this card -- but decided to use it offset on the card and frame the sentiment with it.

The daisies were colored with watercolor pencils (from the original package as well as the new assortment 2 ).  I added a bit of fine tip glue to the centers to give them more dimension.   Here's a close up of the largest flower:

Here's the second card, this time with daisies blooming on a frame created with the Heirloom Frames Dies and Embossing Folder.  I colored these daisies using makeup brushes, and with fine tip glue and microbeads in the centers.  The sentiment is stamped on vellum:

Which card do you like best?  Please leave me a comment and let me know.

These were so much fun to make!  Looking forward to making more daisies again soon.   If you'd like supplies to create these, please follow the links above to the products in my online store.

Thanks so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle 

Fabulous Friends Friday: Marlene's It Starts with Art Side Step Card

Happy Friday!!!  Hope you had a wonderful week!  Today's Fabulous Friends Friday card is one I received from my amazingly talented friend Marlene in our most recent swap.  This is a side step card made with the It Starts with Art Stamp Set and the Arts and Crafts Dies (available together in a bundle), plus the Crafting Forever Stamp Set: 

I love the backgrounds Marlene painted, using Watercolor Paper on one side and Shimmery White Card Stock on the other: 

Also think it is so clever how she finished both sides of the side step card, as well as the inside:

Thanks so much to Marlene for this beautiful work of art!  And, thank you so much for visiting my blog!

- Michelle

A Couple More Beautiful Friendship Cards

Happy Saturday!!!  I went back and check this morning, and realized that my blog hit a big milestone this week -- on Wednesday, it turned 10 years old!  Can't believe it has been that long -- time flies!

I have a couple more cards to share with you that I made with a couple of leftover kits from the new catalog party!  These cards are again made with three of the new In Colors (Rococo Rose, Seaside Spray and Pretty Peacock), two new stamp sets (Birch Background and Beautiful Friendship), and a new die set (Detailed Bands Dies, also available as part of a bundle and save). At the party, the consensus was that using Pretty Peacock for the Detailed Bands die cut really made the card pop -- and I agree (you can see my original design in this post, if you'd like to compare).  I didn't have any Pretty Peacock die cuts left, so I decided to sponge one of my Seaside Spray die cuts with Pretty Peacock ink, and here's how that turned out:

And here's another design I did, using two of the smallest bands from the Detailed Bands dies, which I cut in Seaside Spray, and partially sponged in Pretty Peacock ink.  I added a couple branches cut from Pretty Peacock card stock using another die from the Detailed Bands set on either side of the greeting as well:

Hope you like these!  Thanks so much for visiting my blog!!!

- Michelle