I'm so so excited to share some pocket scrap cards I made using some new letterpress plates at Lifestyle Crafts!

Gotta tell ya...these new plates are some of my favorites...ever. EVER.

First up are these MAP Plates...




 This final set is the JOURNALING Plates set...


 Oh, that "handwriting" just makes me so so happy!


For this first card, I ran the plate through my Evolution without any ink...and then I simply painted some watercolors over the top...


Oh my gosh...I love this "ONE PERFECT DAY" plate...wouldn't this be darling as the cover to a little mini album documenting a day-trip to the beach or a museum?




I used three different colored stamp inks for this last card...there is just something about that ombré look that makes me so happy...

 So fun!

And I gotta tell ya...I'm loving using my letterpress plates with stamp ink! Although the colors are not as vibrant and the lines are not as crisp and clear as they are when you use letterpress ink, I love the look. And I love how quick cleanup is!

Have you tried letterpress yet? If not, are you going to?

There are so many more plates out there now...and they just keep getting better and better! If you're looking for a new craft to add to your arsenal, why not give letterpress a try?

I'd love to hear your thoughts!

And don't forget that you can get 20% off anything you purchase from Lifestyle Crafts with the promo code: MIDWESTERN! Yay!!!


Thanks so so much for stopping by!

Last weekend was when the 3rd-graders that go to the local Catholic church made their First Communion...

...our friends have twins that were 2 of those children...and we were honored to have been invited to not only the mass, but also to the celebration that followed.

Here are the cards that I made for the girls...


I have been CAH-RAZY over vellum lately...and the new Sheer Metallic collection at We R is just about as good as it gets.


When you start with paper as luxurious and lovely as this, you really don't need to do too much to it.

To make these cards, I started with some Letterpress Folding A2 Note Cards. I love how thick and sturdy this cards are...they just feel expensive...you know?

To one of these I added a little rectangle of Sheer Metallic Gold Stripe, and to the other I added a piece of Sheer Metallic Gold Dot.

Next came a piece of plain vellum notched at the bottom to create a little banner, a small doily and a paperclip decorated with a little Maggie Holmes resin flower. (I used small glue dots to attach the flowers to the clips...they worked so well!).

I did use a little adhesive to hold the different papers to the card base...I didn't want them to fall all apart if the paperclips came free...

OH! I almost forgot! One little thing I did to the doilies before attaching them...and the one thing that really makes this card stand out...the debossed monograms!


This was a technique I hadn't tried before...but it is one I will definitely be doing again! I love the way this looks...

In order to get this look you do all the same steps you would do for Letterpress...only you don't use ink! So awesome!

I used a letterpress plate/die set from Studio Calico for this project.


Easy, fairly quick, beautiful & unique...just the way I like my projects...

Love this Sheer Metallic Paper? You can get it HERE...and use the code "MIDWESTERN" at checkout to get 20% off your order!

Tomorrow is National Scrapbook Day!

And, in celebration, the Lifestyle Crafts Design Team is having a Blog Hop! Woo hoo!

First I want to share a new layout I made just for this occasion...




What?!?! So so awesome! And, even better, you can enter as many times as you like! Just click HERE for your chance!

And don't forget! Every single purchase you make at Shop We R (the online shopping site for Lifestyle Crafts and We R Memory Keepers) is 20% off with the promo code MIDWESTERN - woo hoo!

I hope you enjoy National Scrapbook Day! And I hope you are inspired to create, create, create! There will be fantastic things happening all over the web, blogland and social media tomorrow...I hope you will find some time to stretch those creative muscles!

Supplies:

Mother's Day is just right around the corner (how is this possible ALREADY???) and this year I vowed to actually make my Mom's card.

I know, I know.

Yes, I usually just swing by Target and pick up a card. BUT not this time.

Yay, me.


I was super-inspired by Maggie Holmes' cards in the Studio Calico Gallery lately. She's been using a lot of layers and banners and they are just so fantastic.

So these are some of the things I started with...


...a couple of Lifestyle Crafts flag dies...I thought these would make perfect little banners...a Lifestyle Crafts embossing folder (Dainty),and some embroidery floss and a paper piercer. I also grabbed a few pieces of the new Glitz Design Carpe Diem paper to use for my layers.


I started by using my Evolution and Genius Platform to cut the flag dies. The little holes you see in the die above are to stick a little pin or stylus through to help you remove your cut paper from your die...but I thought it would be fun to use them as a stitching guide. Soooo, after the banner was cut, I left the paper in the die and used my paper piercer and mat to make the holes that I would use to complete my stitching.


See the little embroidered flag up there??? So cute, right? Love it.

Then I used the other flag die to cut the little lattice-pattern piece you see above. I love using the dies...they make such a sharp, perfect cut.

A few more pieces of the gorgeous Carpe Diem paper fussy cut into banners and I've got almost all my layers ready to assemble.

Next I grabbed a piece of Lifestyle Crafts No. 10 letterpress paper to use for my card base. The No. 10 paper is 4x9.3" and folded in half it's the perfet size. It's also super-thick and soft and is just beautiful and classy-feeling.

After I had my base I took one more piece of No. 10 and cut it just shorter than half. I ran this piece through my Evolution with an embossing folder (Dainty)...and out it came with those fantastic circles of dots you can see just poking out under some of my paper layers.

Almost done gathering my layers!


I've been adding vellum to almost all of my projects lately. I had a small piece and some little punched banners leftover from a layout I had been working on, so I grabbed those for my card, too.

Now here was the fun part. I started with my embossed paper...on top of that I added my vellum. Then came my various banners...I added a small amount of adhesive to the backs of each banner as I was layering them and then I ran the top edges through my sewing machine...randomly adding little vellum punches along the top as I sewed.

Next came my stitched flag...I added that right to the top of the rest of the layers.

Almost done!

Then I took the whole stack and adhered that to my card base.

To finish things off, I added a line of pink stamp ink around the edges of my base (not sure I like this, but meh...it'll do) stapled the little "favorite" sticker (also from the Carpe Diem collection) to my stitched flag, and adhered "LOVE YOU" to the front of my card using a beautiful silver glitter alpha (from Pink Paislee).


ooops! Forgot! Just one more thing...I add a few drops of pink mist to the top of the card...just for some extra ooomph.

And that's it! I love the look of the little embroidered banner...and I want to check all my other dies to see if they have those holes around the edges...so fun!

Like some of the products you've seen? Don't forget you can get 20% off any item you purchase from We R Memory Keepers using the promo code: MIDWESTERN ...so awesome!



Supplies used:

Valentine's Day...

The perfect occasion to break out your crafting supplies...