Merry and Bright

Most water based inks and paints retain their vibrancy when you add water, unlike oxide inks, which become chalky and muted creating a nice contrast for elements placed over them, like the gold embossed sentiment I added to this card. 

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Fancy Edged Z-Fold Card

This little card folds up to just under 4" x 4", but the z-fold shape allows plenty of space for hand-written notes and sentiments.

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Black and White

I achieved a kind of chalk-board look with today's card by stamping and painting my images with white oxide ink on black cardstock. I did have to paint fairly quickly without too much water to prevent my cardstock from tearing, but the ink went on quite easily.

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Breaking Dawn

One of the things I love about water colours and water based inks is that you never quite know what you're going to get. For instance, I had intended to create a simple forest of trees with a pretty blue sky, but once I got some colour into the background I realised it looked more like a pretty sunrise over a tree-lined lake. A little extra yellow on the horizon line was all it took to complete the breaking dawn.

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Just For You

To create a seamless look between my black card base and the magnolia image, I coloured around the flower with a black marker before die cutting. I added a little black ink to the cut edges too, just to remove any visible white cardstock.

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Celebrate Your Day

To add a little more interest to my card, I cut away the bottom of the image panel to line up with the lower edge of the magnolia branch. The angle it created was the perfect place for adding a large organza bow.

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Tutorial - Stamping a Fuller Tree

Sometimes you just want a lovely wide Christmas tree filled with sparkly baubles, glittering tinsel, and topped with a gold star. Let me show you how to use the narrow tree images from the new Treeline set to get the look you're after!

1. Choose your inks. I used a mid brown for the trunk, which is optional, and two shades of green to give a little depth to the branches. I'm using water-based inks, but you can go with solvent, chalk or hybrid inks if you prefer.

2. Ink the entire stamp with the light green ink. Dab a line of brown down the centre of the stamp, roughly where the tree trunk would be - it doesn't have to be perfect. Now dab the dark green ink over the tree making sure you cover sections of the brown trunk. Stamp the image in the centre of your card front. (Note: You may like to experiment by stamping on some scrap paper first and then adjusting the amount of colour you're using).

3. Clean your stamp, then re-ink with the two shades of green. Line up the very top of the tree with the first impression you made and pivot the bottom so that it sits to one side. Stamp.

4. Repeat on the other side.

5. Now you're going to partially ink the stamp by dabbing a little green ink here and there. You want a patchy, random pattern. I've stamped on a clean piece of paper below so you can see what I mean.

6. Stamp the patchy images over the tree, particularly between the impressions, to give a fuller, more random look. Repeat as many times as necessary. (Note: If you prefer, you can use all three trees from the set to create a more random look)

7. Decorate your tree with sparkly rhinestones, gems and gold pearls.

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Old Gold

To create this card, I stamped partial images along the top of a piece of white cardstock, then stamped the individual bells below. I added a little more "string" to the centre bell by masking and stamping just that section of the image, then chose muted tones to give the card a vintage look. To really make the colours pop, I coloured the entire background black and secured it to a black card base.

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Scenic View

Tree stamps are great for creating wonderful masculine-style cards. Just mix in a little kraft cardstock, some tartan paper and a few buttons to create the perfect birthday greeting.

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Yellow Magnolias

Yellow is not one of my go-to colours, which is odd because I'm always happy with the results when I use it, particularly lovely soft shades. It coordinates beautifully with green and white, or if you're looking for something a bit more striking, go for it's colour wheel opposite - purple!

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With Love

This little card started out as an experiment to see how the green oxide ink would look on a black background. I was also curious about whether or not I could create "gold snow" with tiny dots of glue, which also worked better than I expected. It was at this point that I decided to promote my experiment to a fully fledged card.

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Tutorial - Pop-Up Pillar Cards

This card fold is easy and fun and can be modified to suit whatever size you need. The simple pop-up feature appears when the card is opened and allows the sentiment and embellishments to be seen from both the front and inside of the card!

1. Start with a piece of cardstock measuring 8" x 53/4". Place it horizontally on your score board and score at 1/2", 2", 21/2", and 4". Make valley folds along each score line.

2. Bring the left hand edge to the last score line (which is, in fact, the centre of your card). Add glue or very strong double sided tape to the 1/2" section as show in the pictures below.

3. Bring the right hand side of the cardstock over the glue and press in place. Allow to dry thoroughly. 

Your card should fold flat when closed.

4. To decorate, you'll need one piece of patterend paper measuring 37/8" x 55/8", two pieces measuring 15/8" x 55/8", and one piece measuring 3/8" x 55/8". Use glue or double sided tape to secure the patterned paper to your card. (NOTE: If preferred, you can use a piece of plain cardstock for the centre of the card rather than patterned paper)

5. Cut an image panel for the front of your card in any shape you desire. I decided on a circle, but you could use a square, a rectangle or even a large image if you prefer.

6. Using glue or strong tape, secure the image panel to the 1/2" section of the card ONLY. Do not attach the image panel to the first section of the card or the pop-up won't work. See the photos below.

7. Add embellishments and stamped sentiments to complete your card.

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