How To Make a Winter Wonderland Card Using the Best Glue Ever

Today, this card I made for the ScraPerfect design team is super simple but -WOW - what an impact that foil makes!!! I'm in love with working with Transfer Foil and the Best Glue Ever...you've gotta try it. I promise that you won't be disappointed!

I'll be entering it @ Cards in Envy for "Winter Chills" and @ Always Fun Challenges for "One Layer".

This HOTP/TCW stencil also had Santa with his sleigh on it, but I only wanted to use the snowy swirly part, so I taped off the sections I didn't want to use with some washi tape before laying it over top of my A2 sized white card front. I then lightly sponged on the Best Glue Ever, making sure not to move the stencil.

After carefully lifting the stencil and setting the card aside to dry, I immediately covered the gluey stencil with the Best Cleaner Ever, let it sit for awhile and then scrubbed it gently with a baby wipe and a paper towel.

After the glue turned from white to clear, I knew it was ready to apply the foil. I made sure to thoroughly rub over the entire design firmly with my fingers so that the glue was covered completely with the foil. Removing the foil is the best part -it's like a magic trick, lol.

I used the Chilly Time digital stamp set from Craftin' Desert Divas again to print out the skating penguins and colored them with pencils before fussy cutting them out and popping them up in the bottom left corner of my card using mini foam dots.

I then added the finishing touch of several sequins to my card using the Best Glue Ever with the No Clog Writing Cap and the Embellie Gellie tool...they make the perfect combo for handling and applying the smallest of lovelies!

On the inside, I added a digi sentiment that I die cut using 2 circle layering die sets from Itsy Bitsy.

I just love the shimmery blues and greens in this foil -makes for a very stunning CAS card!

That's it for me today -until next time, happy crafting with ScraPerfect!

How to Make an Easy Paper Banner Card Using The Best Glue Ever!

Hello! Kathy from Create.365 here with you today to share a pretty paper banner card that was easily made using several products from ScraPerfect. I was inspired by sketch #219 @ the Atlantic Hearts Sketch Challenge and by the challenge to use Yellow and/or Orange @ House Mouse and Friends Monday Challenge. I will also be entering it @ Sunny Day Crafts for "A is for Animal" and @ The Sisterhood of Crafters for their "Button" challenge.

Choosing paper and ribbon from my stash, I followed the theme of yellow and orange and started with a white top folding A7 size card base. Each banner was trimmed to 3/4" wide and cut progressively shorter in length from left to right. I then used the corner of my old Creative Memories square punch to make the bottom of each banner...keeping it centered before punching it is the key to success in this step!

Each banner was secured using a small amount of the Best Glue Ever with the No Clog Writing Cap on it and the House Mouse image was stamped on to watercolor paper using black Momento ink.

I colored the mouse using Prismacolor pencils and a blender pen before highlighting the water and sky with clear Wink of Stella pen for subtle shimmer and I coated the mouse, walnut raft and daisy in Crystal Lacquer for additional dimension and shine.

I wrapped the card front with ribbon and fuzzy yarn, tied a bow and topped it with 2 buttons stacked and tied with yellow Scrapper's Floss. The buttons were glued to the center of the ribbon bow using more of the Best Glue Ever. I then fussy cut the mouse image out and adhered it over the ribbon using foam dots.

The next step in finishing the card front was to adhere 3 clear sparkle sequins using the Best Glue Ever and the wonderful Embellie Gellie tool for mess free perfect placement!

The small "you're the sweetest" sentiment came from a stamp kit from Unity Stamp Company and was stamped in black in the bottom right hand corner to complete the card front.

Inside, I used stamps from yet another Unity Stamp Company Itty Bitty kit in black ink and again did some watercoloring. I also used up some patterned paper scraps to carry over the theme to the inside. This card is now ready to go in my "cards to keep on hand" stash -just waiting for the right person to need a little lift through some happy mail.

Until next time, happy crafting with ScraPerfect~

How To Make Good Use of Old Rhinestone Embellishments

Today's CAS card was made for ScraPerfect using sketch #65 @ Retro Rubber and will be entered @ The Merry Christmas June Challenge for "Anything Christmas -Optional- Snowmen".

Even though the weather here has been gorgeous and definitely feels like summer, I still like to get a jump start on my cards for the holidays. This card is an A5 (5 x 7) white card base and the blue cardstock is white cored, so after running it through with a snowflake embossing folder, I sanded the top blue layer off to reveal raised white snowflakes.

I knew I wanted to accent the center of the snowflakes with rhinestones and pearls for some bling factor, so I was rather disappointed when the old rhinestone stickers I pulled out of my stash were no longer sticky on the back. But that was actually a very easy problem to solve with the help of my ScraPerfect Best Glue Ever! Using the ScraPerfect Embellie Gellie  (it's like a magic sticky wand!) to place the bling onto the tiny dots of glue made this step easy and painless. 

Both of the stamp sets I used are long ago retired from TAC (The Angel Company -probably about 7+ years old!) and I used Memento Tuxedo Black ink so that I could water color without the ink smearing. A small strip of silver glitter washi tape added the perfect touch across the front and using the Stamp Pefect tool I was able to double stamp my images to get a nice dark impression.

Close up of some perfectly placed bling!

Using Prismacolor watercolor pencils and a Dove blender pen I colored the snowmen. Using 2 shades of gray to shade the whiteness of the snow , I then followed up with some soft glimmer from a clear Wink of Stella pen over the snowmen's bodies.

Keeping with the CAS style, I simply stamped the sentiment inside in black ink and declared it to be done.

Until next time...happy crafting with ScraPerfect, 

How to Make a Quick and Easy Handsome Birthday Card

Hello -Kathy here from Create.365 with a quick and easy handsome card for a man's birthday using ScraPerfect products that I'll be entering @ Always Fun Challenge "For a Male or Dad" and @ Tuesday Throwdown "For the Men" and @ heARTful Stamping for "Masculine + a Stamp".

I shared how to make the rainbow watercolor background in this post here and when I did it originally, I made 4 all at one time...so far, I have used 3 of the 4 on card fronts. This one, I tore the edges to get the square I would use for my focal stamping scene.

I started with a side folding A2 white card front, trimming the turquoise panel so that there was a white border and punched the corners with the southwest corner punch after spattering it with FSJ Silver Silk. Then I glued it onto the card front with a small amount of the Best Glue Ever.

Using dark green and dark brown dye inks, I stamped the pine trees and the moose (retired stamps from TAC) on the panel and adhered it to the bottom of the card front with foam pop dots.

Using clear embossing ink, I stamped the Happy Birthday sentiment to the top right of the watercolored panel and heat embossed it with dark green embossing powder ...of course, the first step in heat embossing for me it to wipe my cardstock with the Perfect Crafting Pouch to eliminate static and the last step is to clean everything off with the Perfect Cleaning Cloth.

Using a thin jute twine, I wrapped the spine of the card several times, tied a bow at the top and secured the knot down with a tiny bit of BGE. Then I used that same glue, the No Clog Writing Cap and the Embellie Gellie wand to adhere the 3 enamel dots exactly where I wanted them to the left of the sentiment.

Inside, I stamped the rest of my sentiment (retired from TAC) and the smallest pine tree. This card is now ready to go out in the mail to one of my brother-in-laws in July.

Until next time, happy crafting with ScraPerfect~

Foiled Ribbon How -To in Support of Lyme Disease

Hello -Kathy here with my first post as a ScraPerfect Design Team member -woohoo!!! I have been having so much fun playing with all the new ScraPerfect products that came in my design team kit and can't wait to share my creations with you here and on my blog @ create.365 . 

Today's card was designed in support of May being Lyme Disease Awareness month. For those of you who may not know, I went undiagnosed with Lyme disease for over 30 years but began treatment early in 2015 with hopes of someday reaching remission. My young adult daughter was also diagnosed with Lyme within 6 months of me and so we travel this hard road together. This card is for her in our support of raising awareness for Lyme Disease - with hopes that in the future all will be tested, diagnosed and treated properly for this devastating disease that has no cure!

So let's get crafty, shall we? I used sketch #63 from the challenge over @ Your Next Stamp, but I flipped it vertically instead of horizontally. As you can see, I also went with a monochromatic theme (Lyme green), so I will also apply this card over at the Dragonfly Dreams Challenges blog for the month of May.

Gathering supplies is always a work in progress -as you just never know how a project will evolve -changing your mind several times along the way is just a given as a designer, right? The main stamp set I used is called "Fight Like a Girl" and is from Amuse Studio. While it is a stamp set designed for supporting Breast Cancer, (like I did in this card here) I love that it will also work for supporting any cause of your choice, just by changing the ribbon colors. The wooden ribbon stamp is from Stampin' Up! 

After trimming my cardstock layers to work with the sketch for my A2 sized card base, I cut the long tail off the small ribbon stamp and used it to randomly stamp a background strip in Twisted Citron Distress Ink. (Don't worry, the stamp is not ruined and the line will be barely noticeable when I use them together to get the whole original image. But after having had this set for 2 years and never using it the way it came, I decided to make the change!)

Using a scrap piece of acetate as my palette, I inked it up directly with the ink cube and sprayed it with water...carefully flipping it over, I then repeatedly applied the diluted ink to my watercolor panel until I got the look I wanted for my background. Once it was dry, I then spritzed it with some water droplets to lift some of the color off in random spots. As you can see with my first go around, I didn't add enough water and you can see the distinct square shape of the ink pad -no worries, I'll just cover that up with my layers later anyway...no one will ever know! (except for you all, lol)

While waiting for the watercolor to dry, it was time to get messy and experimental! I had an image in my head of what I wanted to do, but we crafters all know that our visions don't always work out the way we had imagined they would...this is one such instance. The idea I had was to sponge the Best Glue Ever onto the stamp with a make-up sponge, stamp it onto the cardstock, let it dry until clear and tacky and then apply the green Transfer Foils to it...in theory, it was a great idea -in reality, it was still a good idea, but took some practice to get it right. My first try I added too much glue and after I stamped it down, I went to pull it back off the paper and it brought a layer of the paper with it, lol. UGG -take two -lesson learned that this glue is really strong stuff and you only need the tiniest of bits to get it to work! So I tried it again and this time used the thinnest film of glue across the stamp's surface and it worked perfectly! 

While I waited for the image to dry, I immediately used the Best Cleaner Ever to take the left-over sticky glue off of my stamp...worked like a charm and removed every last bit with no sticky residue -YAY! Once it was "dry", clear and tacky to the touch I laid the green foil with the colored side facing up over the top of the stamped ribbon and rubbed it down to adhere the foil, pulled it away and enjoyed the "magic". Then I fussy cut my newly foiled ribbon out and set it aside. (If you want more specifics on using Transfer Foils, there are some great videos on the ScraPerfect website)

For the "hope" diecut sentiment, I wanted it to stand up off the card a but, so I cut it twice...once from Lyme green glitter cardstock and once from white fun foam.

I then simply used tiny dots of the Best Glue Ever to adhered the 2 layers together...if you've ever worked with fun foam before, then you know that it can be ornery to glue...problem solved when using the BGE!

To make the center panel of the card, I broke out a retired stamp set from The Angel Company to stamp the words that would be behind the foiled ribbon in lyme green ink, sponged that same ink along the edges and then used a distress tool to rough up the edges and add some texture to them. The foiled ribbon was adhered with mini foam dots.

Since the sequins were a last minute designer decision, I completely forgot to take a photo of them being applied, but with the help of the Embellie Gellie "magic wand" and the Best Glue Ever they were a quick and easy addition. (find video details on how to use Embellie Gellie here) The layers were all assembled using the BGE and the small ribbon stamped on the lyme green cardstock was inked in white pigment ink and then heat set to dry.

Inside I stamped the Amuse Studio sentiments and one more small ribbon in the same Lyme green ink. This card is now off in the mail to my daughter and will hopefully bring a smile to her face later this week!

Until next time ~Happy Crafting with ScraPerfect~